Samarth Bansal

Mumbai

Reporter and Writer at Freelance

Journalist / The Plank / Media Labs @wholetruthfood / [email protected]

Articles

Notes Toward a Phenomenology of Trying to Get My Shit Together

3 weeks ago | samarthbansal.com | Samarth Bansal

I’m in one of those moods where I badly want to pontificate about life. But out of concerns for social approval and my own self-image—because I’m desperately trying not to be a bore (keyword: trying)—I’ve been resisting the urgent urge to philosophise. Because when you can’t get your shit together, you want justifications.
Why Delhi's Pollution Sources Don't Add Up

Jan 21, 2025 | theplankmag.com | Samarth Bansal

By Samarth Bansal / January 19, 2025 Note: While reporting our last week’s story on air pollution, we discovered something unexpected: even basic questions about pollution sources remain surprisingly contested. The Cutting Room is a new section on The Plank where we share important findings and unresolved questions that don’t fit our main stories but deserve attention.
India Built a Perfect System to Ignore Its Deadly Air. (It's working.)

Jan 12, 2025 | theplankmag.com | Samarth Bansal |Anushka Mukherjee

I. Numbers in the AirThere are two stories about India’s air pollution that reveal radically different truths. The first is a story of progress, told through government monitors. In September 2024, the National Clean Air Programme (NCAP) showed signs of victory: 95 out of 131 cities showing improvement, with 21 achieving more than 40% reduction in pollution levels. India, it seemed, was finally winning its war against dirty air.
Deleted Scenes and Private Shames

Jan 8, 2025 | samarthbansal.com | Samarth Bansal

| It starts with T-shirts. Or rather, with the want to avoid them. It's the shame running deep, of wearing something that exposes my arms, which innocently reveal my irresponsible commitment to fitness, a routine of forgettable ordinariness. This is Bombay's doing. All these only-in-movies category of fit people in Bandra and Juhu have led me to objectify my own body. Disgusting. And it's because of the movies.
A Note On Creator Mode

Oct 20, 2024 | samarthbansal.com | Samarth Bansal

< Home < Blog | You look at the world. Closely. Then very closely. You think. Youfeel. Something doesn’t look the way it should be. Or the way you wantit to be. You see something different, something better, something morebeautiful—or just something you want but can’t justify why. You justwant it that way. It’s not about better or worse, right or wrong. It’sabout taste. Your taste. How you want—or wish—things to be. Then comes the itch. Why shouldn’t it be the way I want it?
Overthinking and Underdating: Confessions of a Socially Awkward Single Man

Oct 7, 2024 | samarthbansal.com | Samarth Bansal

| If I ever get to write a movie with an auto fictional character in aBollywood romcom, I’ve got a goldmine of material for the mostconfused-and-lost-and-thinks-more-does-less perpetually-single characterever. I’m that guy who loves his own company so much that I go everywherealone—art galleries, cinema, coffee shops, even concerts. I don’t needcompany when I plan. But here’s the self-constructed problem when you’re a single personat a social event.
The Existential Afterlife of My June Feelings

Jun 11, 2024 | samarthbansal.com | Samarth Bansal

So here’s something I know to be true, although it’s a little corny,and I don’t quite know what to do with it:What I regret most in my life are failures of kindness. Those moments when another human being was there, in front of me,suffering, and I responded . . . sensibly. Reservedly. Mildly. Or, to look at it from the other end of the telescope: Who, in yourlife, do you remember most fondly, with the most undeniable feelings ofwarmth? Those who were kindest to you, I bet.
Will Bournvita controversy allow us to talk about sugar? | India News - Times of India

Apr 14, 2024 | timesofindia.indiatimes.com | Samarth Bansal

Samarth BansalTIMESOFINDIA.COMUpdated: Apr 14, 2024, 20:12 IST ISTWhat is the Cadbury Bournvita controversy? Is Bournvita sugar content healthy for kids? And are we allowed to talk about this? Editor’s Note: Hey there, Samarth here, the Editor of Truth Be Told, and the writer for this issue, where I zoom out to discuss our sugar-laden food environment, with a focus on the ongoing Bournvita controversy.
My advice for young journalists

Mar 30, 2024 | samarthbansal.com | Samarth Bansal

< Home < Blog | Hello hello, twenty-something journalists or aspiring twenty-something journalists. How are you? (Don't tell me the truth right away—I have enough to deal with already.)I turned 30 last year, and suddenly started feeling like a proper adult. Like, I think I lost the right to share no-one-told-me-adulting-is-so-fucking-hard memes anymore. It's really weird.
Thirty and Thriving

Feb 13, 2024 | samarthbansal.com | Samarth Bansal

The ‘single man at thirty’ label comes with predictable stereotypes: from the perpetually lonely and secretly miserable, to the naively idealistic with sky-high expectations; from the freedom-loving commitment-phobe, to either the sexually adventurous or the excessively sexually repressed; from the career-focused too-busy-for-relationship types, to the colossal failure desired by none. Woof.