Friendship Archives

Friendship Cancel: Why Breaking Up With BFFs is Worse Than Ending a Romance

Falling out of friendships rarely gets as much attention as falling out of love. A breakup between friends does not carry the weight of the breakup of a romantic relationship. We might be prepared for heartbreak, but nobody tells us about the friends we are going to lose along the way.

Runjhun Noopur July 22, 2016

Pop Culture

New York Times’ Modern Love is Lost in Translation: Therapy is Best Delivered in Text

It was with great anticipation that I awaited Modern Love, the Amazon Prime Original show which dramatises, with fictional flourishes, some well-loved Modern Love columns. But I needn’t have held my breath. The show takes everything that makes the column series profound, and flattens the hell out of it.

Karanjeet Kaur July 18, 2016

POV

A Love Letter to My Work Spouse in the Time of Work from Home

Like Jim and Pam from The Office, our deadline-laden stressful work environments demand that we have a work spouse of our own. It's like having a safety net even when you’re comfortably sheltered; sort of like being gifted a colleague with endless benefits.

Poulomi Das July 12, 2016

POV

“Tu Kala Hai!”: What’s Our Obsession with Fair Skin?

I occupy super-woke circles and work in a liberal office where I get periodic reminders to check my privilege. But years of higher education have not been able to entirely erase the prejudices and biases over fair and dark skin that I grew up with.

Aryan Malhotra June 28, 2016

Modern Family

My Didi, My Keeper: Did My Illness Steal My Sister’s Childhood?

When I was nine and my sister 13, I was diagnosed with leukaemia. Suddenly, my family’s plans changed overnight. My father gave up a job offer, my mother became my full-time carer. And my sister, always the mature, responsible one who never needed supervision, was left to her own devices.

Kahini Iyer June 20, 2016

Pop Culture

7 Years of Queen: The Complicated Legacy of the Film that Celebrated Feminism

Rewatching Queen is a surreal experience. For once, it isn’t because a movie has aged so horribly, you question your own sensibility and past self for ever liking it. On the contrary, Queen is a rare legit classic, as relevant today as it was in 2014. Queen’s legacy, however, is a complicated mess.

Runjhun Noopur June 6, 2016

Love and Sex

How Do You Grieve the End of a Relationship That Has No Name on Paper?

I’m experiencing the end of a glorious relationship that existed outside the bounds of marriage. Over the last few weeks, I’ve heard every variation of the “get some action” line of advice. Why do we treat relationships that don’t have a clearly defined, recognisable name like they were somehow inferior?

Sonali Kokra June 6, 2016

Bollywood

Mujhse Dosti Karoge: What Bollywood Gets Wrong about Friendships

Hindi cinema made us believe that friends are forever and that dosti comes without an expiry date. But life’s not all Kuch Kuch Hota Hai or Dil Chahta Hai. Friendship requires work and filmy fundas such as “Pyaar dosti hai” and “No sorry, no thank you” are flawed.

Tara Bhatnagar May 20, 2016

Pop Culture

We Found Friends in a Hopeless Place

I’ve never had a single sour experience on Tinder. Contrary to the shallow connections that the app is known for, I’ve managed to hone relationships that are meaningful.

Shruti Sunderraman May 10, 2016

Bollywood

Bulbul Can Sing Reminds Us of the Price Girls Pay to Experience Adolescence

When boys come of age, they enjoy the freedom that permits them to make mistakes. But patriarchy doesn’t afford the same luxury to young girls. Rima Das’s Bulbul Can Sing argues that when girls come of age there is some trauma attached to it.

Poulomi Das April 20, 2016