Surangama Guha Roy

Feluda! The very name instantly evokes a sense of cosy nostalgia, fuelled by a deep-seated familiarity of the adrenaline-driven, essentially pure ethos of a particular iconic trio in Bengali literature.

“Water, water everywhere, /Nor any drop to drink.” – Samuel Taylor Coleridge (The Rime of the Ancient Mariner). The water crisis is real and all set to explode in the course of a few years. According to the UN, by 2050, India is projected to add 416 million urban residents to its already mammoth population. The UN also reports that the demand for water supply in India will be doubled from what it is today by 2030.

I still remember the day I got my first period. I was 11 (I was an early bloomer), my mom and I were visiting my dad in Delhi during the Durga Puja vacation. Like so many young girls of my generation, I had been unaware of the idea of menstruation and of what women go through every month throughout the prime or their youth, and well into middle age.