Hate mail over Aurangzeb book and other Scroll.in stories you may have missed this week

Let us rewind the past week.

How Neroca FC fought blockades in Manipur to break into the top division of the I-League

Training hard was one thing, but the club struggled with their preparations for entry to the top flight of Indian football because of the highway blockade in November. There was no petrol for the team bus, no eggs for the players. Yet, they persevered. Read more here.

‘Some of the hate mail is chilling’: Historian Audrey Truschke on the backlash to her Aurangzeb book

Aurangzeb is widely believed to have destroyed thousands of temples, forced millions to convert to Islam, enacted a genocide of Hindus. But Aurangzeb is controversial not so much because of India’s past but because of its present, writes the author. Read more here.

Meet the anonymous Indian blogger who has built a food video empire with only a digital camera

Hebbar’s Kitchen has over 94 million Facebook video views. But little is known about the blogger, Archana, except that she lives in Australia and shoots videos in her kitchen with a DSLR camera. “I like to keep my personal things very personal,” she says. Read more here.

How traditional Kashmiri architecture was designed to withstand even severe tremors

The abiding image of Srinagar is of its riverfront houses. Cantilevered balconies for moon-viewing, rooftops that bloomed with lilies and tulips in April, and intricate ceilings were once common. The traditional architecture was also developed to withstand fairly severe tremors. Read more here.

Takht-e-Babri, the first Mughal construction in the subcontinent, is grand only in name

The throne of Babur, the first Mughal structure in undivided India, was just a small rock platform with a grand name. It was the construction of a king on the run, in search of an empire, not an emperor whose family had been at the pinnacle of power for generations. Read more here.