The Statesman decided to celebrate International Women's Day on March 8 this year by running a review of my novel, Where Mayflies Live Forever. Of course, I was pleased to see the book reviewed with enthusiasm and feeling, but it led me to think about what this day means to all of us today. International Women's Day didn't start as a day for flowers and brunch — it was born in the gritty heart of the labour movement, when women workers in the early 1900s hit the streets demanding fair pay,...

While working on a short-term project on the baori or stepwells of Jodhpur, I had the opportunity to read many Rajasthani stories and folk-tales surrounding a unique cultural practice of the state: the conservation of water. Before the Indira Gandhi Canal revolutionized civic life in Rajasthan, all rural and urban communities in the state practised several techniques of water conservation. The baori is more than a historical monument to that ancient life; it lies at the heart of Rajasthani...

Starting April 2024, Anupama will be at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich's Rachel Carson Centre for Environment and Society as...