Articles by Prerona Maity
Why most Indian women don’t root for Sense and Sensibility’s Marianne Dashwood
“I require so much!” Marianne Dashwood made this impassioned declaration in chapter 3 of Jane Austen’s 409-page Sense and Sensibility and sometime into Georgia Oakley’s 2026 movie adaptation currently playing in theatres. Those four words, uttered with such flagrant confidence, caused my Indian body to cringe reflexively. As a lifelong Janeite, Marianne’s demands have always made me uncomfortable in ways I’ve never been able to justify.
都30歲了還能重新開始嗎？她選擇從時尚雜誌實習生做起，歸零重新探索工作的意義
還記得在正式上班前一週，我和一位閨蜜聊天，當時我們漫無目的地閒聊，從痘痘貼聊到交友軟體上那些大男人主義的奇葩男。結果，她突然說出了我此生聽過最傷人的話： 「你都這個年紀了，去雜誌社做實習生不覺得太老了嗎？」 我看得出來她只是脫口而出，完全沒過腦子。那口吻平淡得就像在提醒我褲子拉鍊沒拉，或是嘴角沾了番茄醬一樣。掛掉電話後，我維持著原本的姿勢在沙發上坐了好久，腦袋裡不斷盤算著她剛才的言外之意——偏偏我以前上學時最差的就是算術，好幾次差點被當掉。也許我當時該直接跟她講實話： 「這行業要的是年輕、有經驗、抗壓性強又便宜的肝。明知道自己可能不該應徵，我最後還是投了履歷。」 繼續閱讀 以為每天都在穿高跟鞋拍大片？其實更多時候是在奔波、救場與咖啡續命日常 嚴格來說我還沒滿30歲，目前是29歲，但我真的無力再為了所謂的「熱情」去接受低薪了。我沒辦法再面不改色地說「寫作是我的夢想與一生摯愛」，然後指望大家認同地點點頭。這處境確實挺尷尬的：要說我是職場新秀，年紀似乎大了點；但在資深媒體人眼中，我又菜得可以。明年六月，各種30歲以下菁英榜」的大門就會徹底向我關上。...
At the Museum of Word in Kolkata, Indian languages get the respect they deserve
Earlier this week, the internet exploded with news that Worth a Journey, an international travel magazine, had ranked the Bihar Museum ninth on its list of the World’s 100 Best Museums 2026, placing it ahead of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. That, of course, became the recurring headline that almost every publication ran with. But there’s so much more to the Bihar Museum than the fact that it overtook one of the world’s most famous museums.
I’m an intern at 30—and I have no regrets
I remember talking to a close friend the week before I started this job. We were casually gabbing about salicylic acid pimples and the Neanderthal-esque quality of men on dating apps, when the worst insult of my life came out of her mouth. Aren’t you too old to be doing an internship at a magazine? I could tell she had not thought twice before the words escaped her mouth. She said it matter-of-factly, as if my fly were open or I had ketchup in the corner of my face.
36 underrated places in India from every state and union territory for your long Diwali weekend
Even though we mean for travel to be this life-changing experience that affects us on a cellular level, somewhere along the way, it became a performance, all about how many international trips you’ve clocked in a year, how many bowls of pahadowaali Maggi you’ve eaten, how many times you’ve claimed to find the ‘hidden gem’ that at least 20 other influencers have posted about. Travelling in the past two years has been about the same algorithm-approved spots that every reel seems to end up at.
13 Halloween accessories from homegrown brands inspired by Indian folklores and ghost stories
Every Indian’s childhood has come with its fair share of ghost stories. Among other things, they were used to coax us to finish our meals or fall asleep on time. We’re all well-acquainted with the chudail by the peepal tree whose feet are turned backwards, the shapeshifting naagin who never forgets a face or the lady in the white diaphanous sari who is traversing deserted streets alone. Chances are that we’ve never met these women, but still know them all too well.
We need to stop replacing book covers with movie posters
If you try to purchase the Wuthering Heights novel on Amazon this year, you may wonder whether you have accidentally wandered into a DVD section. The film tie-in edition—a reissued book with a cover featuring art, photos or branding connected to the movie or television adaptation—dedicates two-thirds of the cover to Margot Robbie and Jacob Elordi swooning over each other in a scene from Emerald Fennell’s eponymous adaptation, which came out in February this year.
32 ridiculously easy couples costume ideas for Halloween
Deciding what to dress up as for Halloween can be hard, but coming up with the perfect couples costume ideas for Halloween for you and your best friend, significant other or partner? Nearly impossible. That’s why we’ve decided to make things a little easier for you this year by pulling together 32 of the most iconic pop culture duos across television and film. Before you RSVP to all those Halloween parties, take a look at our couples costume ideas below. 1.
To celebrate Anne Carson, 19 books by Nobel Prize–winning women beyond their most famous works
A little quiz before we dive into this piece. Which of the following is false? 1. Anne Carson was sweeping the kitchen floor at her home in Reykjavik, Iceland, when she received a call telling her that she had won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature. 2. Upon learning that she had won the 2026 Nobel Prize in Literature, Carson reacted with a monosyllabic “Yikes”. Neither. They’re both true. And for those who have writers for friends, neither is unbelievable.
11 things (besides iced coffee) that could ruin your job interview
Last week in Florida, a recruiter looked at a sweating cup of iced coffee and saw the end of professionalism. On TikTok, Caitlin Wehniainen, a recruiter with 16 years of experience who works with large Fortune 500 companies, advised Gen Z candidates against carrying iced coffee or lattes into interviews. To her, a coffee in hand made it seem like the candidate considered the interview a chore they had to get done on their coffee run.
Middle Class Went From Dreaming of a Pension to Dreaming of Avocados
I remember my parents being absolutely simple creatures. In our evening conversations over snacks, they used to tell me of their dreams of a pensionable job, a nameplate that said 'Branch Manager'...
Boong, Angh, Shape of Momo —are Northeast Indian movies finally getting their due?
I remember going to watch Boong for the most Indian reason possible. Apparently, an international jury had bestowed accolades on this Northeast Indian film. When news broke that a Manipuri film had won the BAFTA for Best Children’s & Family Film, I had the urge to watch it immediately. Never mind that it had sat at a theatre near me several months prior. The plot of Boong, directed by Lakshmipriya Devi, is simple, yet devastating.
Lust Stories 3 confirms what we already know: Indian men suck at communicating
Varun and Sainee cannot finish a sentence without fighting, but they can finish each other. In Shakun Batra’s segment of Netflix’s Lust Stories 3, the couple, played by Ali Fazal and Radhika Madan, is going through a court-mandated cooling-off period before their divorce is finalised. There is a lot of heating up though, and almost every argument they have, whether it is about Varun’s controlling mother or Sainee’s unresolved emotional pain, ends with them in bed.
Can You Separate Art From Artist? Why the Debate Is So Complicated
I have heard separate art from artist at gallery openings, in comment sections, and once from a man at a wedding who wanted me to know he still watches Woody Allen films. He said it the way people say “no offense” right before offending you. “You can separate art from artist,” he told me. “It’s a skill.” He told me. I don’t think it’s a skill. I think it’s a coping mechanism with very good PR. So let me put my position up front.
The Value of Art in Society Beyond Productivity and Purpose
Stand in front of a painting with almost anyone, and the same question arrives within seconds. What is it about? Then come the follow-ups. What is the artist trying to say? What does this piece do? Who does it speak for? What conversation is it part of? Pablo Picasso, Les Demoiselles d’Avignon (1907) We ask these questions the way an employer asks about experience. The artwork sits there while we check its qualifications. If it answers well, it earns our attention.
I Think We’ve Forgotten Looking at Art
The last painting I looked at was about three inches tall. It sat on my phone between a video of someone icing a cake and an ad for running shoes. I gave it maybe two seconds, liked it, and kept moving. I could not tell you the scale of it, the color underneath, or whether the paint was thick or thin. The Framed Landscape by Duc Cuong Ha This is not an admission of guilt. It’s a description of the normal condition.
Are These Artists Who Predicted The Future?
Hopper, Caillebotte, and Tooker were not artists who predicted the future of our loneliness decades in advance. They were filing a report on the present that accumulated to now, and we have spent a century refusing to read it. Every few months the carousel comes around again. The artists who predicted the future. Dali saw AI imagery. Bosch saw the algorithm. Hopper saw the smartphone before the smartphone existed. Don’t get me wrong, the images are gorgeous. The captions land and the saves pile up.
Do We Misunderstand Contemporary Art, or Simply Dismiss It?
You have probably watched this happen. Someone walks into a contemporary art gallery, sees a pile of wrapped sweets on the floor or a single line running across a wall, and says the sentence everybody says. My kid could do that. Then they leave. Untitled (Portrait of Ross in L.A.) by Felix Gonz We say we did not understand the work. Misunderstanding sounds fair. But most of the time, we make no attempt at all. We look for four seconds, decide the work was not serious, and walk on.
The Dream of Making a Living From Art Isn’t Always Beautiful
You can graduate with a fine arts degree, a decade of technique, and no idea what a licensing clause actually does. Difficulty in making a living from art is not a personal failure. It is a curriculum decision that is roughly four hundred years old. Salvador Dali Ask most art students what they were taught and you will hear a familiar list. Color theory. Composition. Material behavior. Critique. How to look. How to fail productively.
It Is Time to Retire the Myth of Tortured Artists
Vincent van Gogh did not eat yellow paint because he wanted to swallow happiness. He ate it because he was trying to poison himself. The first sentence travels far and beyond on Instagram. The yellow shows up in reels or tote bags of people who have never quite grasped the haunting life of Van Gogh. A man so starved for happiness that he tried to drink it from a paint tube might be a beautiful sentence. But it is also false. And I firmly believe that art without honesty is just empty.
The Most Radical Thing Marina Abramović Did Was Look at You
When was the last time somebody just looked at you without waiting for their turn to talk or deciding what to make of you? The Artist is Present by Marina Abramović If nothing comes to mind, you are the audience for this piece, and so were the fifteen hundred people who sat down opposite Marina Abramović at MoMA in the spring of 2010. This Serbian performance artist sat in the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) for 736 hours.
What Makes Something “Art” When AI Art Can Make Anything?
The most common thing that art cost you was time. Sometimes a marriage. Sometimes a whole decade of people telling you that you wouldn’t amount to anything. Now? Honestly, I cannot think of anything. Nothing a machine makes has ever cost it anything. AI art never had sleepless nights for constant self-doubt. It did not starve itself for days and still refused to let go of the paintbrush.
Where Lies The Solution Of Mental Health Crisis In India’s Labyrinth
The law is written with a very archaic view of mental illnesses," says a 24-year-old lawyer from Kolkata, West Bengal. When a person practising law tells you that the book is archaic...
“India’s Mental Healthcare Seems Like A War Against The Mentally Ill”
"I was taken to a shrink when I was in 8th standard to become a boy. And he told my parents, I need shock treatment..."
Asexual Relationships Are Not Seen As Valid
I remember we had booked an OYO room to spend time with each other and that's when my partner had an outpouring of thoughts. They shared how they had never wanted to have sex.
Fear And Punishment: My Stay At A Mental Health Institution Exposed A Dark Reality
We're sorry but Youth Ki Awaaz doesn't work properly without JavaScript enabled. Please enable it to continue. Where Young India Writes
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