Zara heads the weekend features and special projects teams in Mumbai. She has been a journalist for 15 years, but a grammar Nazi for much longer.
Articles by Zara Murao
‘It’s a proud Hindi moment’, says Indian author on International Booker shortlist
“I am a bit stupefied and very delighted,” says Geetanjali Shree, speaking hours after her novel Ret Samadhi, translated into English as ‘Tomb of Sand’, went from the longlist to the shortlist of the International Booker Prize
Published on Apr 08, 2022 12:11 AM IST
Zara Murao
Zara Murao, Editor, Wknd, picks her favourite read of 2021
British-Canadian comedian Mae Martin’s book addresses questions, concerns and fears of people new to the idea of sexuality as a spectrum in a way that is informative and funny, and moves the conversation forward rather than around in circles
Updated on Dec 25, 2021 03:50 AM IST
Zara Murao
Lovlina Borgohain: The early years
The 23-year-old boxer who won bronze at the Tokyo Olympics discusses childhood, parents and her take on how winners are made.
Updated on Aug 20, 2021 05:46 PM IST
Zara Murao
I used to live in a bit of fear:Talking boxing, life,loss with Lovlina Borgohain
When the 23-year-old won bronze in Tokyo, it felt like failure, she says. She tells Wknd how she balances hope and loss, what goes through her mind during a bout, how she overcame fear, and what it’s like to score a win that feels like it comes with a rider.
Updated on Aug 20, 2021 05:45 PM IST
Zara Murao
Permanent markers: How India got its national symbols
What were the first icons we turned to, as we defined our new nation? Take a look at how India’s emblem, flag, national animal and more came about, and what they’ve come to mean.
Updated on Aug 13, 2021 05:27 PM IST
Zara Murao & Dhamini Ratnam
Eye for an I: Existential riddles with author Meghan O’Gieblyn
What does it mean to be an “I” in a time of intelligent traffic signals? To what extent are we being mirrored and altered by the newest machines of our making? Excerpts from an interview with Meghan O’Gieblyn, essayist and author of God, Human, Animal, Machine.
Updated on Jul 31, 2021 01:18 PM IST
Zara Murao
Just for the record: An overview of some of the biggest and oddest ones set in India
Scores of records are set and broken in India every year, by individuals, communities and the country as a whole. They tend to be a mix of accidental, intentional and outright bizarre. Take a tour of the most remarkable ones from recent years.
Updated on Jan 16, 2021 06:25 PM IST
Natasha Rego and Zara Murao
The slippery slope of pandemic fatigue, and how to stay off it
Facing months of restrictions, everyone’s starting to bend the rules a little. It’s a reasonable emotional response, if a dangerous one. Here are tips to help you stay the course.
Updated on Nov 08, 2020 10:22 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao
Do you have apocalypse anxiety?
A tightness in the chest, state of constant low-key worry, the sense that nature, the economy and life as we knew it just aren’t ever going to be the same. The pandemic has sparked doomsday anxiety
Updated on Sep 06, 2020 10:32 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao
Alkazi: A guiding light of theatre in India
Teacher. Director. Idol. Man with a fiery temper. These are the facets we know. Days after his passing, we spoke to former students for a more intimate take on the trailblazing former head of the NSD.
Updated on Aug 09, 2020 03:03 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao & Vanessa Viegas
100 days of Covid-19: Learning to parent through a pandemic
As a byproduct of the lockdown, the performative element of parenting in middle- and upper-middle-class urban India has declined. Family time has made a roaring comeback too, but amid anxiety and uncertainty.
Updated on Jun 21, 2020 09:35 PM IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Zara Murao
Jean Paul Gaultier, enfant terrible of fashion, steps off the ramp
There’s more coming; a surprise project, he says. But meanwhile, here’s a look back at the work of an untrained genius, an early champion of diversity, and a 50-year career of firsts.
Updated on Feb 01, 2020 09:06 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao & Raul Dias
#Vision 2020: If imagination were everything
Flying cars, androids you can’t tell apart from humans, colonised planets... here are things we should have had by now
Updated on Dec 27, 2019 08:33 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao, Rachel Lopez, Madhusree Ghosh & Natasha Rego
Newsmaker: A new and improved Sacha Baron Cohen takes on the ‘Silicon Six’
The actor-director is best known for his rather crass film, Borat. But a recent speech that’s gone viral was an elegant takedown of the billionaires behind our social media platforms, for the damage they’re doing to democracies.
Published on Dec 06, 2019 09:10 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao
Newsmaker: As India fetes David Attenborough, a look at an incredible career
The face (and voice) of wildlife documentaries recently won the Indira Gandhi peace prize. A look at a legacy unmatched, and things he might have done differently.
Updated on Nov 29, 2019 06:40 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao
#Newsmaker: As BoJack airs its last season, a look at all we’ll miss
Hollywoo won’t be the same without the horse-man has-been.
Published on Nov 08, 2019 05:38 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao
Hot Tip: Why you should be reading Lie With Me
Set in a small French village, it’s a tale of love and loss and how life moves on, told through 17-year-old boys who fall in love, are separated and almost reunited decades later.
Published on Nov 01, 2019 04:00 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao
Newsmaker: Robert Pattinson has been quietly remaking himself since Twilight
The future Batman was a reluctant star, then a recluse, then an arthouse wonder. A look at his unusual journey.
Updated on Nov 01, 2019 03:46 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao
Who is Billie Eilish and why is everyone talking about her?
The 17-year-old singer took over the #1 spot on the Billboard charts for the first time last month, with songs unusual for a pop star — on depression, loneliness, suicide.
Updated on Sep 07, 2019 01:34 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao
#Newsmaker: Greta Thunberg has sailed across the Atlantic. What now?
The 16-year-old climate activist is strident, angry. And justifiably so. But as today’s rockstar of green energy and sustainable living, it’s time for her message to evolve.
Published on Aug 30, 2019 05:44 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao
The changing romcom: Romantic hero types through the years
From the rather stern husband-in-a-good-mood of the ’30s and ’40s to Jack and Ennis in Brokeback Mountain, our heroes have come a long way. Take a look...
Published on Aug 23, 2019 02:20 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao
#Newsmaker: Taylor Swift has a new song out, a new album and a new persona
The pop superstar has rebranded herself, this time as an LGBTQ ally. With hundreds of millions listening, should timing and nuance matter?
Published on Jun 22, 2019 05:17 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao
‘Transport apps holding customers to ransom’
A first person account of the difficulty train commuters faced on Tuesday because of surge pricing by app-based taxi aggregators
Published on Jun 01, 2016 01:02 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao, Mumbai
Women cannot do it all. And they shouldn’t
Can women, whether rich and powerful like Nooyi or middle-class and anonymous like the rest of us, do it all? If we said it right, we might even arrive at the right answer, writes Zara Murao.
Updated on Jul 08, 2014 11:14 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao
How to pick travel buddy
The truth is, there is no such thing as the perfect travel buddy. Even when you find someone who checks all the boxes – same interests, similar income, flexible schedule, neat, clean, punctual, pleasant – there will still be the odd disaster. Finding the ideal soulmate to vacation with can be harder than you think..
Updated on Mar 23, 2013 05:25 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao
An all-new Brand Bandra
Once a haven for the middle-class, this suburb that has been forced into innumerable makeovers over the years, has now become the address to flaunt, and a new breed of rich youngsters is altering its identity, finds Zara Murao.
Updated on Dec 02, 2012 12:25 AM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao
The worst form of bullying
Some argue that if Troy Davis, a convicted killer, had lived, there is a danger that he would have escaped and killed again. Others insist that only his death could deter other criminals from killing.
Updated on Sep 29, 2011 11:38 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao
The chef who does 'seva'
New York's 'hottest chef', Amritsar-born Vikas Khanna, is set to launch a humanitarian food project at the White House.
Updated on Jul 16, 2011 11:51 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao
Molls of Mumbai
It’s strange to think of underworld don Dawood Ibrahim as a frightened young man, hiding from his enraged policeman father after beating up a young thug in a gang fight. Zara Murao writes.
Updated on Apr 15, 2011 11:01 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao
Does India win only if we win today?
‘All this over a game?’ asks Lisa Simpson in what was perhaps a programming masterstroke on the part of Star World. Zara Murao writes.
Updated on Apr 01, 2011 10:49 PM IST
Hindustan Times | Zara Murao
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