Saturday Feeling: Why Arijit Singh took a break from Hindi cinema and other stories to read this weekend

Until my colleague Uday Bhatia sent me a list of lesser hits and insisted I listen to them, I’d found Arijit Singh somewhat formulaic, too much guitar, too much weepy heartbreak. There’s no doubt that Arijit is a superstar of the music world, his giant hits, sold-out concerts, streaming numbers and collaborations are plenty of proof, and the sad songs are certainly soulful, but Hindi cinema seems to provide few challenges to a singer with Arijit’s artistic range. Songs like the complex Binte Dil (Padmaavat) or the poetic Gulon Mein Rang Bhare (Haider), which take Arijit out of melodic moodiness and demonstrate his arc, are rare in his repertoire. I can almost understand why Arijit retired from playback singing at the height of his fame at age 38. What led to his boredom is the question we examine in our cover story this week, written by Zico Ghosh, who has followed Arijit’s career and Bollywood closely. The problem is not just the music but the Hindi film industry, too, which as it gets increasingly corporatized is unwilling to take risks, try new arrangements and shake things up. There’s a shrinking of imagination in cinema, which has led to Arijit’s fermata, and we’re waiting for what he’ll do next.

Try a Bohri thaal with sushi and khow suey

The Bohris relationship with food is anything but ordinary—while the world begins meals with appetisers and ends with dessert, they start sweet, move to savoury, and dance between the two throughout. The centerpiece of the meal is the thaal, a large communal platter around which eight or nine people sit—a practice that dates back generations—sharing not just food but space and conversation, writes Insia Lacewalla. But traditions don’t survive by remaining static and the modern Bohri platter includes tres leches, croissants and more.

This book turns India’s complexity into simple charts

Listicles have a bad name on the internet. Elite readers routinely chide this format as clickbaity traffic magnets, bereft of substance. But when done well, listicles can show a maturity that parallels more serious forms of writing. With 100 Ways to See India: Stats, Stories, and Surprises, the listicle format comes of age by combining its strengths with traditional print gravitas in a digital-native avatar, writes Tanay Sukumar. Rohit Saran's data-driven book, designed by Sajeev Kumarapuram, treats low attention span neither as a constraint nor a creative challenge, but as its very fuel.

Follow the ‘Outlander’ trail across Scotland

Scotland’s history has always drawn filmmakers as well as fans of books and shows who want to turn on-screen drama into lasting memories. There’s been Braveheart, the James Bond films and the Harry Potter series, among others, that have drawn tourists by the planeload, but TV series Outlander, which began in 2014 and is in its eighth season, has been the biggest gamechanger for Scottish tourism. Outlander’s filming map covers Scotland, from Glencoe’s cinematic valley opening the credits to Edinburgh’s Royal Mile reuniting lovers across centuries. Teja Lele follows the Outlander trail across Scotland and finds that the show has also opened a door to the country’s culture and traditions, and tourists can try their hand at waulking, kilt-making and whisky distilling.

The case for upgrading your Bluetooth tracker

Apple’s diminutive, unassuming little Bluetooth tracking devices have been helping us track keys under the sofa cushion or locating checked bags that land in Dublin instead of Delhi since they first launched in 2021. Five years later, the second generation AirTags ( ₹12,900 for a 4-pack) have arrived. The old and the new look exactly the same, from the white plastic exterior to the shiny aluminum backplate, but the new AirTags come with Apple’s second-generation Ultra-Wideband chip, which locates objects 50% farther away than the original AirTag. Tushar Kanwar carried the new and the old on a recent trans-Atlantic trip to see where the gains are.

Why we can’t sit with our feelings

In workplaces, romantic relationships, friendships and family situations, psychologists are noticing that people are increasingly quick to exit uncomfortable conversations, abandon slow-moving goals, or seek immediate reassurance. No one seems to have the time and patience to work things out. Therapists describe this as “discomfort deficit”, or a reduced capacity to stay with psychological, emotional and interpersonal difficulty long enough for it to be processed, integrated, or resolved. Divya Naik speaks to experts to understand what’s driving this inability to face difficult conversations and situations, and how it impacts the larger society we live in. Read

How to do the Russian Twist

Russia dominated sport in the Soviet Era. Whether it was Sergey Bubka at pole vault or Yevgeny Grishin at skating, Russia used sporting success to show its dominance, with fitness becoming a cornerstone of the national culture. An offshoot of this dominance was people looking up to them as fitness idols. And these idols were spreading one particular exercise for a strong core: the Russian Twist. The conventional form of the exercise is done in a boat position by twisting the core from one side to the other, eventually adding weight or resistance. Pulasta Dhar tells you how to do the Russian Twist right to get abs of steel.