Plug in

@daakvaak: When they met at the Young India Fellowship Programme at Haryana's Ashoka University in 2013, Onaiza Drabu and Prachi Jha bonded over their love for nostalgia and literature. This mutual interest took shape as a poetically-named email newsletter project called Daak in 2017. The same year, the newsletter evolved into a website (daak.co.in) and, as is wont, into the Instagram handle @daakvaak. While the newsletter and site continue to remain active, it's the Insta handle that's thriving with nearly 29,000 followers. Drabu and Jha share photos, artworks, poems and old print advertisements that hark back to an era gone by. Whether it's an early 19th century painting of Radha and Krishna or a picture of the ever so cool Ismat Chugtai standing #likeaboss in her trademark sunglasses alongside Majrooh, Ali Sardar Jafri and the dapper Kaifi Azmi, the captions under each are detailed, well researched and always insightful. It's the kind of #ThrowbackThursday we can get behind.

@brownhistory: For most part, the narratives of the subcontinent's diaspora have been recounted from the margins. Sure, a Rushdie here, a Divakaruni there and a stray Gurinder Chaddha slash Mira Nair movie have translated the brown experience on paper and screen but it's @brownhistory that's taking this story forward. Founded in late 2017 by Ahsun Zafar, 31, the handle offers a fascinating mix of landmark events that have defined the diasporic experience and stories of forgotten brown heroines and heroes. But the most heartwarming (and, occasionally, heart-wrenching) posts are the personal histories that come from its followers who share pictures and stories of their parents who left their homes for a better future. It's difficult to not have a lump in your throat and, at the same time, it's also impossible to tear yourself away from the sepia magic unfolding on your phone.