Listening for ‘Life’: Notes from Sound+Purpose Conference at Lund University
What do sounds do? They make us feel what it means to be alive. In that sense, sound redefines ‘life’. It shapes the conditions through …
Fieldnotes
The Woman Who Listened
There are sounds that fill our lives, and there are sounds that fulfil. The sounds that fill, but barely fulfil, the streets of every city …
Music and Machines in Charlie Chaplin’s Modern Times (1936)
The politics of sound, shaped by the tortures of visual judgment, implicitly plays a crucial role in forming the spinal narrative of the 1936 film …
Satyajit Ray, Sonar Kella, and The Ruins of Jaisalmer
We boarded the train at the last minute, hustling with the crowd inside an unreserved coach, finally making our way to our allotted seats. Gasping …
Noise in New Delhi and Civil Indifference
December 17, 2023 New Delhi Eyes shut, I navigate the streets on my bike, walk the roads, and linger at the busy crossroads near Saket …
Humans, Plastics, and the Algorithm of Decay
In the not-so-picturesque town of Nishchintopur, nestled beside the serene banks of the Teesta River, people were driven by an unyielding desire to save the …