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How are you spending the last day of the year? We're drinking coffee and doing a tweet 
of some of our favourite 2020 stories from India & the neighbourhood, based on the opinions of our readers, contributors and team. Ready?
of some of our favourite 2020 stories from India & the neighbourhood, based on the opinions of our readers, contributors and team. Ready?
Needless to say this is a subjective, partial and incomplete list. The selection is limited to English-language stories from publications based in the subcontinent. Fifty Two's past contributors, team members and close pals have been excluded for obvious reasons. (Exes too.)
this thread if this runs a little long for your taste, or if you got our newsletter. If you didn't get our newsletter -- why not go to http://fiftytwo.in and sign up? Happy 2021! On to the list.
A moving portrait of life in Bengaluru’s Basavanagudi, surviving deadly caste norms, joy as resilience amidst the fragility of life, and more. @rumlolarum's essay, originally in @HuffPostIndia, was on almost every selector’s list. https://rumlolarum.com/2020/12/28/give-a-dalit-man-a-pair-of-scissors-and-hell-show-you-what-freedom-is/
On the Ardhakathanak of Banarasidas, the ‘half story,’ told in verse, of a sort-of ordinary merchant who afforded us a rare glimpse into 1600s Hindustan. Doubles up as a long and fascinating book recommendation. By @KapadiaAparna in @scroll_in. https://scroll.in/article/969727/what-a-jain-merchants-rare-and-candid-autobiography-tells-us-about-life-in-the-mughal-era
Deeply reported story from Samastipur, Bihar, about the labourers who keep Indian agriculture alive through changing migration patterns and upheaval: women. @theplainjain in @Article14live. https://www.article-14.com/post/no-one-knows-about-me-india-s-left-behind-women
A now-eerily familiar phenomenon: devastation by flood in a South Asian megacity. In the aftermath, Arif Hasan combines urban policy, history and deep environmental knowledge to explain the damage + future challenges. In @dawn_com. https://www.dawn.com/news/1578061
Short essay considering the dragonfly. “By turns a public information address and appeal for appreciation wrapped inside a childlike view of the wonders of nature,” our reader Steve Lockett commented. @nehaa_sinha for @TheSlowMovement. https://turnslow.com/give-dragonflies-their-due-your-life-may-depend-upon-it/
In a year full of excellent metro journalism, this from April about how the pandemic and lockdown struck one of India’s densest and most entrepreneurial neighbourhoods hit hard. @smrutibombay in @livemint. https://www.livemint.com/news/india/dharavi-s-economy-goes-down-the-tubes-11587152095394.html
Amarnath Sandipamu's essay begins with Telugu superhit Gang Leader and megastar Chiranjeevi, moves nimbly to India in lockdown, Chiranjeevi’s social media, and becomes a thoughtful, layered reflection on being unmoored from reality. In Round Table India. https://roundtableindia.co.in/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=9960:when-chiranjeevi-cannot-sanitise-aaj-ka-goonda-raaj-part-1&catid=119:feature&Itemid=132
This year the world bid goodbye to Bhanu Athaiya, most famous for her Oscar-winning costume design. @ranjithoskote immerses us in the art of Athaiya the painter, and its place in the modern Indian tradition. A masterclass, for Prinseps. https://prinseps.com/research/bhanu-athaiya-ranjit-hoskote-part-1/
Not many lockdown diaries produced this year will be remembered. This, by one of India’s most sharp-witted novelists, offered unusually good advice on preparing for an unpredictable year––and the era to follow. @NamitaGokhale_ in @htTweets. https://www.hindustantimes.com/books/lockdown-diaries-to-return-where-we-began-by-namita-gokhale/story-gFqXjAW2zAD4kuOiBXuugM_amp.html?__twitter_impression=true
Indian prisons are a microcosm of India’s social hierarchy. @sukanyashantha's reportage and tight, shocking story uncovered how the prison system amplifies caste segregation and indignity of labour. For @thewire_in https://thewire.in/caste/india-prisons-caste-labour-segregation
An oil fire at a gas well in Tinsukia deepened shock and misery in a region already at odds with the Indian state on multiple fronts. A richly detailed explanatory essay about this and more. @psychia90 in @scroll_in. https://scroll.in/article/966525/an-assamese-psu-the-baghjan-blowout-exposes-long-suppressed-resentments-against-oil-india
Mahesh Jena cycled home to Odisha from Sangli when India announced a national lockdown. An example of how journalism rose to the challenge of covering the early days of unprecedented upheaval. @RudraneilSengu1 & @debabrata2008 in @htTweets https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/india-under-lockdown-migrant-labourer-peddles-1-700-km-in-7-days-to-reach-home/story-FTrl4Jlc0K7HOxO63cyonM.html
As military tensions rose on the eastern border, the backlash in India’s increasingly unpredictable public discourse was immediate. The cycle is familiar to Chinese-Indians, whose history is elegantly retold by @asmitabee in @Mint_Lounge. https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/the-love-and-longing-of-the-chinese-indians-11595576581716.html
Absorbing, enlightening personal essay about a very unusual legal internship. The twist (if you haven’t read it already) packs a delightful punch. @vdurai in @barandbench. https://www.barandbench.com/columns/the-maruti-omni-van-lawyer-the-guy-whose-transfer-worries-you
One of those stories that really deserved to be longer: a business-focused investigation of how Naturals (and other ice-cream makers) were––ahem––frozen out during quarantine. @madhikary87 in @businesstoday. https://www.businesstoday.in/current/economy-politics/bt-buzz-how-to-throw-away-26-tonnes-of-ice-cream/story/412227.html
This personal and social history of food is simultaneously reserved and exuberant. Contrasts sharply with the memories of comfort and domestic ease that mark a lot of ‘prestige’ food writing. Vinay Kumar in @GoyaJournal. https://www.goya.in/blog/blood-fry-other-recipes-from-my-dalit-childhood
We are in the era of celebrity dominating politics; the internet is one of its main instruments. This report is an excellent harbinger of what lies in store. @NidhiSuresh_ in @newslaundry. https://www.newslaundry.com/inside-the-online-cult-of-justice-for-SSR
Close look at the Indian Army’s controversial “sahayak” system, its effects on morale and what it represents in an institution that considers itself egalitarian. Sagar in @thecaravanindia. https://caravanmagazine.in/reportage/sahayak-system-must-go
In the words of @vikramshah1991: “I’d read Rahul B if he wrote a medicine label. I’d watch Shane Warne bowl to a single stump.” Rahul Bhattacharya in @cricketmonthly. https://www.thecricketmonthly.com/story/1230036/the-balls-of-the-century--no--4--shane-warne-to-andrew-strauss
A great instance of @sohinichat's clever and insightful writing about popular cinema, delving into the minutiae of images and subtexts we rarely think about, or often take for granted. Originally published on @HuffPostIndia. http://sohinichattopadhyay.com/2020/12/the-unpaid-labour-of-housewives/
Luminous and heartfelt personal history of teaching classrooms full of elite students, where ignorance of caste and its deep entrenchment go hand in hand. @Datlitwriter in @Outlookindia. https://www.outlookindia.com/website/story/opinion-the-dalit-teacher/361829
Rich, multi-faceted silver jubilee celebration of one of the last good Hindi movies*. @yooday in @Mint_Lounge. https://www.livemint.com/mint-lounge/features/25-years-25-reasons-to-love-rangeela-11599204927899.html
* I said what I said.
* I said what I said.
Breaking away from the long features and essays on the rest of this list. @PARInetwork's diligent and variegated journalistic response to the pandemic, and its effects on rural Indians, told many little-heard stories. https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles/covering-the-human-cost-of-covid-19/
One of the most memorable of these for @supriyan was this report by @kavithamurali. https://ruralindiaonline.org/articles/burying-1100-bodies-and-loads-of-prejudice/
According to government agencies, this imprisoned lawyer is a violent perpetrator of crimes against the state. Chitrangada Choudhury's profile of her life and work cuts through the noise. In @Article14live: https://www.article-14.com/post/the-sudha-bharadwaj-the-govt-doesn-t-want-you-to-know
Terrific long review about crime in Sri Lankan novels and the haunted halls of national history, social conflict and politics. @smriti_daniel in @thecaravanindia. https://caravanmagazine.in/books/sri-lankan-crime-novels-engage-with-the-country-past
Profile of Anjali Patil, the gorgeous, talented star of Newton and Kaala. An exploration of how art can break barriers, while entertainment industries build and maintain them. @knowleena in @vervemagazine https://vervemagazine.in/cinemaissue/#/anjali-patil-cover-story
With that, we close. Thank you to everyone who made our reading and writing lives better in 2020. We'll see you with a new Fifty Two story next year.
