Five Great Reads: the biggest election, the ‘forgotten war’ and a really good band

An art school student in Mumbai gets her face painted to encourage people to vote in India's general elections. Photograph: Indranil Mukherjee/AFP/Getty Images

Good morning, time is speeding away like a slippery ferret (late April! I ask you!). What if you could make it stand still, by reading something fascinating on the Guardian? Stash your leftover food, put on some Arthur Russell, and take a look at the pieces that caught my eye this week.

1. Six weeks, 969 million voters, 2,600 parties