Mohua Das
Where have all the children gone? Sikkim confronts a fertility crisis
With India’s lowest fertility rate, emptying schools and an ageing population, the Himalayan state is looking beyond baby bonuses and IVF to treat falling fertility as a quality-of-life issue, not just a medical one
- Mohua Das
- TNN
Bastis & hamlets to shiny new jobs, India’s new skilling story
Mock hotel rooms, chopstick lessons, and AI interviews. Vocational training is being redesigned around jobs that actually exist
- Mohua Das
- TNN
I spy with my smart glasses
Temples, protests or streets, covert filming is on the rise. TOI finds out just how easy it is to record strangers
- Mohua Das
- TNN
Malda to Seoul, K-pop dreams lead children down risky road
For a generation obsessed with all things Korean, online groomers posing as talent scouts are selling fake auditions, stardom and a route to Seoul that doesn’t exist
- Mohua Das
- TNN
Why the road to a suitable boy is a hair-raising affair
Siya Goyal’s alleged motive for murder may sound bizarre, but in India’s matrimonial market, receding hairlines and patches do indeed break matches
- Mohua Das
- TNN
Is the perfect murder dead?
Recent arrests, including in the Siya Goyal murder case, show that digital breadcrumbs left by everything from food deliveries to fitness trackers mean suspects can run, but can’t hide
- Mohua Das
- TNN
Now, Indians are getting paid to teach robots how to cook, clean and stitch
Pronto workers are not the only ones recording jobs. Global firms are paying everyone from homemakers to factory workers to film everyday tasks so that AI can do them better
- Mohua Das
- TNN
O Pushpa, I love tears! Indians are getting together to have a good cry
Cry clubs pop up from Surat to Bengaluru as people find comfort in a collective emotional release
- Mohua Das
- TNN
With gaddas and gajras, mehfils are having a moment
Intimate gatherings around music, conversation and craft are drawing a new generation of audiences to floor seating and slow listening
- Mohua Das
- TNN
Now, the bride pays loan EMIs and MBA fees as dowry takes on a new disguise
The Twisha, Deepika and Pushpendri cases have sparked outrage, but activists say dowry never really went away. It simply took on a more invisible and just as deadly form
‘Why should rappers have all the fun?’ How Rishab Sharma made the sitar sexy again
With an LED-lit sitar, DJ instincts, and a wellness twist, the Gen Z musician is turning riyaaz into reels, and classical music recitals into roaring arenas
- Mohua Das
- TNN
Band, bajaa, reverse baraat: The dads turning divorce into a homecoming
If there is one thing these fathers seem to agree on, it is that stigma thrives in silence. So, they decided to borrow from the visual language of a wedding — the procession, band-baaja, and public spectacle — and deploy it at the other end of the marital journey
- Mohua Das
- TNN
Deepfake dadajis make it to the shaadi, thanks to AI
Families across India are relying on AI animated deepfakes to resurrect deceased loved ones for important events
- Mohua Das
- TNN
Reels, rotis and the rise of the desi tradwives
The western phenomenon is now getting a local twist as bahu influencers turn their chai-and-chulha routines into aspirational and monetised content
- Mohua Das
- TNN
A World Cup win, and why we’re still counting seconds on a kiss
The season of PDA, it seems, is upon us and the internet, being the internet, has opinions. Entire Reddit threads have been devoted to the question of whether Hardik ought to have been quite so ‘intimate' with his girlfriend.
- Mohua Das
- TNN
Blackouts to flame games, how online dares are taking over school corridors
Peer pressure, FOMO tempts teens to risk life and limb for social clout and cool badges
- Mohua Das
- TNN
Savita Bhabhi to bot: How AI erotica is rewriting desi desire
Fluent in Hinglish and steeped in hyperlocal charm, chatty virtual girlfriends are thriving in digital grey zones
- Mohua Das
- TNN
Popstar In MAGAland Who Refuses To Be A Star
That a colossally popular Puerto Rican musician, Bad Bunny, who refuses to sing in English and is disliked by the rightwing, won Grammy’s top prize tells you as much about him as his country
- Mohua Das
- TNN
Toothpick! Twiggy! Why does thin-shaming get a free pass?
Despite a culture that idolises skinny bodies plastered across popular media, thinness turns out to be desirable in theory and rather suspect up close. We celebrate it on runways and screens, then mock it in real life
- Mohua Das
- TNN
Six biggest food fads of 2025
Matcha, bubble tea, heirloom rice, sober cocktails, Dubai chocolate, and protein-rich food...
- Mohua Das
- TNN