The Big Cheese

‘He’s 28 until he’s 29’: A dummies’ guide to the insane world of Football Twitter

If hell on earth exists, it is Football Twitter.

Aug 12, 2022 • 

Akhil Sood

June 2022

The impossible charm of the sports film

Sports films may follow predictable beats and a rigid template, but they're a reminder that real life is as wonderful as anything ever imagined.

Jun 1, 2022 • 

Akhil Sood

May 2022

The iPod goes out not with a bang but a whimper and a shrug

Apple has (finally) discontinued the iPod. It should have been the end of an era, but it doesn't really feel like it, does it?

May 16, 2022 • 

Akhil Sood

April 2022

Al-Bake shawarmas, made by the gods of gastronomy

How the peculiar dynamics of local markets in Delhi led to the unstoppable rise of Al-Bake shawarmas, one of the greatest things to have come out of the…

Apr 2, 2022 • 

Akhil Sood

2

March 2022

The ordinary, everyday sadness of war

Cruelty is ordinary, uninteresting, banal. War is empty and trite, and yet all those affected will carry with them a lifetime of small and big…

Mar 1, 2022 • 

Akhil Sood

1

February 2022

When will Wordle die?

The charming game has captured hearts everywhere. But it has now gone through all the stages in the lifecycle of an internet phenomenon, and the rules…

Feb 11, 2022 • 

Akhil Sood

3

Tennis needs Djokovic more than it knows

Sport is theatre. And all good theatre needs a great villain. Enter Novak Djokovic.

Feb 1, 2022 • 

Akhil Sood

1

January 2022

Attenborough's Gandhi as comfort food

Richard Attenborough's 1982 biopic, his magnum opus, on Mahatma Gandhi and India's great independence movement was on TV all the time. What does it mean…

Jan 26, 2022 • 

Akhil Sood

The subtle art of giving a tip

How much should you tip? To whom? When? Using what notes? That and so many other questions around the complex act of leaving a tip. But no answers.

Jan 20, 2022 • 

Akhil Sood

1

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Music in the second wave: A search for kindness & humanity

How the horrors of the second wave affected people's relationship with music, changed them in ways hard to describe.

Jan 12, 2022 • 

Akhil Sood

3

December 2021

2021 - The year in music

TikTok challenges, a global vinyl shortage, Joe Rogan's millions of dollars, #FreeBritney, Bandcamp and community, The Beatles and Taylor Swift - a look…

Dec 29, 2021 • 

Akhil Sood

1

A cult called Old Monk, the people's drink

How does a humble, underpriced dark rum become the poison of choice for entire generations of Indians? What is the secret?

Dec 21, 2021 • 

Akhil Sood

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