Warm Takes

Siapa Anda? Mengapa Anda?

Xu Xi

What begins as a small grammatical curiosity becomes a larger question about language, culture and the way we understand ourselves in relation to others - and, ultimately, about what we risk losing in a world increasingly impatient with reflection, ambiguity and the humanities.

Little Big Things

A passport to the kingdom of the sick

Pallavi Aiyar

A breast cancer diagnosis, a journey to the kingdom of the sick and a determination to describe what lies there without metaphor, euphemism or the word “fight.”

Finer Things

The weight of time

Creative Desk

Richard Mille’s newest ultralight timepiece pares down haute horlogerie to its mechanical necessities, proving that sophistication often comes from knowing what to leave out.

Little Big Things

At this wellness retreat, your poo is everybody’s business

Pallavi Aiyar

Ayurvedagram promises balance through ancient Ayurvedic practices. For four days, I surrendered my schedule, my modesty and, almost, my digestive tract.

Away We Go

All aboard: The case for staying grounded

Sheena Suparman

An eight-hour train ride from Jakarta to Surabaya shows that getting there can be half the fun.

Arts

Questioning and nurturing the self with Abell Octovan

Josa Lukman

The visual artist explores new grounds and mediums in his first solo exhibition, Am I an Artist.

Features

Radio still gives you something an algorithm can't

Handewi Pramesti

You can choose almost anything you want to hear these days. So why are young people still tuning in to radio?

Little Big Things

Travels in the land of Gen Z (Part 2)

Pallavi Aiyar

Beyond the fragility and short attention span, my students proved sharper, more open-minded and more generous than I’d expected. Second of two parts. Read the first here.

Features

Is AI really making us better workers?

Michelle Anindya

AI can make our work faster and more polished. But by eliminating the struggle, mistakes and imperfections, it may also be eliminating some of the ways we learn and become better workers.

Little Big Things

Travels in the land of Gen Z

Pallavi Aiyar

To become a professor to Gen Z today is to take a disorienting journey to an exotic land. First of two parts.

Features

More trains, more stations, but Greater Jakarta still isn’t connected

Andriana Wirrotama

Jakarta now has more trains and stations. But getting to them from Depok, Bogor, Tangerang or Bekasi still means an ojek or a car ride.

Little Big Things

The app life

Pallavi Aiyar

Living in China, where all of life's needs have been telescoped into the mobile phone, feels like the future the rest of the world is queuing for.

The Neighborhood

The quiet chapter: the society of silent book clubs

Sheena Suparman

Silent book clubs are rising in Jakarta as a new way to socialize through a shared love of literature, without the pressure of conversations.

Warm Takes

The long plié

Devi Asmarani

Having discovered ballet in her forties, a writer-cum-dancer learns that mastery is less about talent than the willingness to return, and the joy that comes from learning and growing.

Little Big Things

Of cats and writers

Pallavi Aiyar

After 19 years, a beloved cat leaves behind more than memories: he survives in a family’s lore, two novels, and the peculiar bond between writers and their feline muses.