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The African Catfish Is Banned in India. It's Still Spreading Through Our Rivers.

In 2000, the Government of India banned the import and farming of African catfish, Clarias gariepinus, after ecologists flagged what it does to freshwater ecosystems. The fish is still here. It is in the Yamuna, in Kerala's backwaters, in wetlands across Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu, and in farm ponds…

Times Life · Oct 23

How Lantana Camara Is Quietly Destroying India's Tiger Reserves

Lantana camara produces a berry that looks edible, smells faintly sweet, and is mildly toxic to most mammals. That detail captures the plant's entire strategy: it offers just enough to get dispersed, and then it poisons the competition. Brought to India by the British as a hedge ornamental in the…

Times Life · Oct 23

Does Goddess Lakshmi Really Visit Your Home on Diwali?

Diwali, also known as Deepawali, is one of the most celebrated festivals in Hinduism. Known as the festival of lights, it symbolizes the victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and hope over despair. Every year, families clean their homes, decorate entrances with rangoli, light earthen diyas, and perform…

MyLifeXP · Oct 23

Homecoming for Australian ballet at the State Theatre

It's been more than two years since The Australian Ballet has performed at its traditional home, and it's finally returning with The Nutcracker.

AAP · Oct 23

What Happens to a Girl Who Is Called Sharp Looking Instead of Beautiful

The first time someone called you sharp looking, you probably smiled and said thank you. You filed it somewhere between a compliment and a consolation prize, not sure which shelf it belonged on. You were not wrong to hesitate. The Compliment That Keeps Its DistanceSharp. Striking. Interesting face. Strong features.…

Times Life · Oct 23

When They Said You Look Like Your Father's Side

The comment usually came from an aunt, or a neighbour who had known your mother since before you existed. Said with a kind of finality, as if the case were settled. You take after your father's side. Sometimes it meant your nose. Sometimes your complexion, the width of your jaw,…

Times Life · Oct 23

Why Your Mother Still Tells You to Comb Your Hair

She clocks it the moment you walk in. Before the hug, before the tea, before she asks about the drive, her eyes go to your hair. Then comes the line, delivered in the same tone she used when you were seven: comb your hair. You are thirty-one. You have a…

Times Life · Oct 23

How Kunti’s Selfless Service Changed the Kuru Dynasty

Why did Sage Durvasa give a young princess a secret mantra that would later shape the future of the Mahabharata? The answer lies in an act of selfless service and a crisis that had not yet arrived. Before Kunti became the mother of the Pandavas, she was Pritha, a princess…

MyLifeXP · Oct 23

Vidura's Place in the Palace Is a Role Every Indian Family Knows

He ate in the palace. He slept under its roof. His counsel shaped wars, saved lives, and went completely unheeded. Vidura was the wisest man in Hastinapura and also, by the logic of the household, the one whose word carried the least weight when it mattered most. That particular combination,…

Times Life · Oct 23

What Nakula and Sahadeva Teach About Being the Sibling Nobody Remembers

There is a particular kind of invisible that has nothing to do with absence. Nakula and Sahadeva were present for everything. The dice game. The forest. The year in disguise. Kurukshetra. The long walk north. They never left, never defected, never faltered. And yet when the Mahabharata is retold, in…

Times Life · Oct 23