Slate: Death on the Hippie Trail
A young man disappears in the Himalayas, his companion dies in a jail cell, and a writer revisits her own days on the hashish trail to learn more.
Foreign Policy: India’s Hindu Nationalists Still Feed Off Partition’s Wounds
Assam's citizenship crisis is the latest legacy of a division that made nations.
The Guardian: Rebels with a cause: the female biker clubs reclaiming Delhi's public space
In India’s male-dominated capital where women are often in danger, a group of female bikers are taking to the road to reclaim women’s rights to public space.
Buzzfeed News: How "3 Idiots" Destroyed Ladakh
A new Indian middle class, thirsting to travel, now has the means. As they flock to their favourite big screen backdrops, Ladakh's fragile ecosystem bears the brunt of Bollywood tourism.
Atlas Obscura: The New Crusade
How the mysterious, millennium-old, stateless Order of Malta outlived its contemporaries and established a place in the modern Middle East.
HuffPost: As The Glaciers Melt, These Farmers Have A Plan To Save Their Vulnerable Land
Herders in one of the most biodiverse places on earth are reviving ancient traditions to cope with climate change.
Al Jazeera: Inside the world's biggest Yazidi temple in Armenia
New Quba Mere Diwane temple in village near Yerevan includes statue park featuring Nobel winner Nadia Murad.
Foreign Policy: Make Armenia Green Again
Can planting 10 million trees shore up the country’s borders and save its environment?
VICE: The Ancient Cleanse That Will Kick Your Ass
Panchakarma—an intense Ayurvedic cleanse—is not about instant gratification.
Gastro Obscura: This Indian Winery Wants You to Try Kiwi Wine
A wife-and-husband team hopes the unusual drink will benefit a remote and rugged region.
Quartz: Paris, Beirut and cultivating genuine empathy in the digital age
Inclusive gestures should be lauded. But the problem with our response to global violence isn’t just about etiquette: it’s about empathy.
Undark: To adapt to a changing climate, Kyrgyzstan revives its nomadic past
In Central Asia, one country’s climate change crisis prompts a revival of herding and farming practices.
Roads & Kingdoms: Between gods and the government
India’s government has committed to rebuilding indigenous faiths in the country’s northeast, which has helped tribal religions gain new ground. But that has come at a price. Ariel Sophia Bardi reports from Arunachal Pradesh.
Hakai magazine: God or Geology? The Genesis of Ram’s Bridge
Secular and religious Indians are butting heads over the origin of an important shoal.
Yes! Magazine: When Hospitality Was the Norm and Multiculturalism Was a Good Thing
Despite border walls and travel bans, the Middle East is still a region where the weary traveler is welcomed and embraced.
The Atlantic-CityLabs: Can Nepal Use a Natural Disaster to End Caste Discrimination?
Planners want to use the country’s 2015 earthquake as a springboard for tackling deep-seated divisions through long-term rebuilding.
Atlas Obscura: Reflecting on the Cost of Conflict at France’s Interactive WWI Museum
At Romagne 14-18, visitors are encouraged to touch and even rearrange the objects on display.
LA Review of Books: The Soft Nationalism of Amma, India’s Hugging Saint
“While using the language of universalism, tolerance, good health, and peace, they very clearly propagate a world view of India as a Hindu nation, Hinduism as a superior religion, and the need to make India (indeed the whole world) more Hindu,” wrote Indian historian Meera Nanda in 2011.
The Guardian: Six amazing places to stay for free around the world – if you volunteer
At Helga’s Folly, a boutique hotel in historic Kandy, central Sri Lanka, amateur artists add to the distinctive murals – and get free bed and board via the Workaway website.
Fodor’s: 6 Innovative Eco-Villages in India
Though tradition lives on in rural India, Indian villages have also emerged as centers of experimentation in sustainable living.
Atlas Obscura: How to Craft Your Very Own Version of Mexico’s ‘Dapper Queen of Death’:
La Catrina is an icon of Día de Muertos and the focal point of this doll-making workshop.
Columbia Journalism Review: In India’s ‘rape capital,’ designers change how people picture assault
“It’s about planting a seed of doubt, questioning the narrative.”
The Atlantic: How Holi Got Politicized
India’s festival of colors is usually a religious and cultural celebration, but this year it had a distinctly partisan hue.
Aeon: How ‘Hindutva’ recast multi-faith India as the Hindu homeland
‘Hindutva,’ explained Vinayak Damodar Savarkar in 1923, is ‘not a word, but a history.’
BBC Travel: The village divided by a border
Without social media or mobile phones, estranged family members exchange recorded video messages on flash drives, sent by post.
Al Jazeera:
Without safe homes or jobs, Italy's Roma fear coronavirus impact
Following quarantine rules is near impossible for many Roma, who do not have financial backup or job security.
France 24: People & Profit India special (video)
Find out how New Delhi is adapting to the needs of millions of Indians working night shifts in international call centres.
Quartz: A luxury hotel in Nepal is still hosting a camp for earthquake survivors, over one year later
“We don’t hope for anything from the government”
Atlas Obscura: Stitching a Future for an Age-Old Palestinian Embroidery Tradition
Wafa Ghnaim is introducing people to “tatreez” through her workshops.
+972: Between a wall and a Green Line: Palestinian life in 'Seam Zone'
Al’Seefer lies uphill from the settlement of Beit Yatir, just beyond the South Hebron Hills, but the tiny Palestinian village feels worlds apart from the 33-year-old settlement.
Extra Crispy: Bed Tea Is a Tough Habit to Shake
Tea in bed is much more than it seems
TimeOut: The 11 best bars in Delhi
To truly experience the city, visit the best bars in Delhi, where old and new seamlessly and gorgeously mingle