Sandip Roy

'Priya's Mask' is the latest in the Indian superhero comic series. This time out, she's trying to get important info to young people — and to stop a superspreading villain.

It's been hard to sell the sacrificial animal in India for the Eid al-Adha holiday amid COVID-19. Goat dealers are trying everything from a pageant hosted by a TikTok star to WhatsApp orders.

With Mother Teresa in the headlines, so is the name of the city where she lived for decades. But is it ... Calcutta? Or Kolkata? And what's the difference?

She truly embraced the suffering that was often ignored. But that's not all there is to Kolkata.

Darjeeling is one of India's most prized and priciest teas. For over a century, it was sold at live auctions steeped in tradition, with all due pomp. But the last of those auctions ended this month.

Kolkata now has its first food truck: Agdum Bagdum, which hawks Indian fusion food. It was inspired by American food trucks — which were originally inspired by street food in places like Kolkata.

Seen as indestructible in the West, fruitcakes are indispensable in the bustling Hindu city. Bakers of all faiths have the ovens running round the clock to feed Calcutta's appetite for the cakes.

Commentator Sandip Roy says the traditional sari has been falling out of fashion in the new India, but designers are turning to pop art prints and other changes to boost its appeal.

It began like a typical Bollywood story. Boy meets girl in pre-independence India. They fall in love. Her family says no way. So one night, she escapes. NPR commentator Sandip Roy recounts how his great-aunt jumped off a moving train for love, and went on to have a happy 60-year-long marriage.

Women on the subcontinent may have gained more economic and political clout in the past few decades, but many still cannot escape indiscriminate acts of violence known as "eve teasing." Commentator Sandip Roy takes a look inside the problem and at what women are doing to fight back.