Her ability to enter everyone’s lives with selfless gusto is what made her so beloved.

Among other things, no one was better at breaking the news to a hopeful dealer that the object he was trying to sell was spurious.

Mochi embroideries, which have found their way into museums the world over, are the topic of 'The Shoemaker's Stitch' by Shilpa Shah and Rosemary Crill.

Sometimes repetitive, occasionally slipping into cliche, Anu Gupta and Shalina Mehta's book is nevertheless an important addition to the documentation of Indian embroidery.

With the crafts sector in dire straits since the start of the lockdown, many have realised that the way we market craft has to change and are ideating about how to move ahead.

If Indian Muslims did decide to emigrate, Pakistan is probably the last place we would choose.

We, the much reviled liberal secular minority, are here – inconvenient though it may seem. We too are 'proud Indians' in our own right. 

After chowks, airports and railway stations, the business of name-changing has reached 'Dalits,' who are now to be referred to as Scheduled Castes. But renaming is a cosmetic way of dealing with the problem, unless it is accompanied by other transformative steps.

India is one of the few cultures where a race that is itself predominantly shades of brown places a high premium on being a different colour.

A first-hand account of how the national emblem was designed.

Stories like my family's are important not only to give hope to the thousands of less fortunate, but also to defeat harmful stereotypes.

In 'Imprints of Culture: Block Printed Textiles of India', Eiluned Edwards shares the voices of craftspeople while also analysing government and NGO programmes.

In a culture where people seldom speak their minds to friends, the historian and international textile authority could be a fierce critic when she felt one was going astray.

A long-time friend writes about Martand Singh's drive and commitment to document Indian textiles and reveal them to the world.

It is ironic that we ignore the handlooms industry for this is precisely the sector that could make the 'Make in India' and 'Skill India' initiatives work.

We are happy to accept whatever we hear, as long as it confirms our worst fears and biases. But India is a much more complex society