Factor Daily

1 month ago | factordaily.com | Pankaj Mishra

Illustrations by Somesh KumarPhotographs byPankaj MishraSaba Khan was five years old when she first began borrowing comic books from a neighborhood kirana shop in Bagh Dilkusha, on the outskirts of Bhopal. She would thumb through Chacha Chaudhary and Natraj comics for one rupee an hour, racing against time to finish them before returning the worn-out copies. “I would finish them in a few minutes!” she recalls with the same excitement she felt as a child.

Sep 2, 2024 | factordaily.com | Shadma Shaikh

Sixteen-year-old Ashmita (name changed) has had a very difficult year. Buffeted by social anxiety and fear of failure but unable to make her family understand her problems, she had to cry herself to sleep every other night. The COVID19 lockdowns and restrictions ended physical meetings with her peers. A ligament injury in her ankle left her almost bedridden and unable to play badminton, a sport that used to be an outlet for her. Being stuck indoors for months did not help.

Sep 1, 2024 | factordaily.com | Anand Murali |Pankaj Mishra

by Anand Murali and Pankaj Mishra Discover how you contribute to India’s ever-growing pollution and health problems This story is based on actual on-ground reporting. A white mini truck loaded with electronic waste collected from across the country has just arrived in Delhi… THIS IS SEELAMPUR A suburb in northeastern Delhi - and India’s largest electronic waste (e-waste) market.

Sep 1, 2024 | factordaily.com | Pankaj Mishra

The 300 million Indians older than 60 years by 2050 will owe it big time to a team of scientists, psychiatrists, and local health professionals in Kolar today. It is prospecting for gold of a different kind: data on how Indians grow old. It’s a dry and nippy Monday morning in Dalasanur, a village in Karnataka’s Kolar district some 100 km east of Bengaluru. Seethamma and Rama Reddy amble into the no-frills government primary school, followed by some 30 other elderly people.

Dec 4, 2023 | factordaily.com | Pankaj Mishra

As I sat across from Dhiraj, I couldn’t help but wonder about the duality of his public persona. To some, he’s an enigma—edgy, even a bit restless (a lot, at times). To others, he’s disarmingly simple and brutally honest. It’s a duality that doesn’t escape him, yet he seems largely indifferent. Depending on the person you’re asking, the replies to the question, “What do you think of Dhiraj?, can get you extreme responses.