Who knew the subject of conversation could arouse such diverse and contradictory takes? Our Special Report this week looks at conversations as facilitators between people but also as tools to shut others down. From professorial authority to conversing with the natural world, conversations inside mardaanaas and zanaanaas to the emojis and memes of today, the subject of conversation clearly lends itself to a vast array of opinions. Too many of us hear of the death of conversation in the age of the smart phone, but aren’t the typed conversations going on in virtual spaces just as valid as the baithaks of old? The ability to converse distinguishes humans from other animals, yet animal lovers can have conversations with pets that are more meaningful than any they can have with humans.

Also read: The art of conversation

Human conversations developed as a consequence of leisure, which gave rise to what we call culture today. The raconteur - one with the talent to capture an audience’s attention - is a central and powerful figure in society, in times of peace just as important as the soldier is in times of war. Stories that humanise counter the tyranny of unbridled rationality. Over and over again conversations prove to be the antidote to certainty and totalitarian authority. In her article, our erstwhile Editor Farah Zia makes an essential point about conversations today; she says ‘the biggest conversation that is happening now, across and between cultures, is between genders. A far cry from the ever-present gender-segregated drawing room conversations, this one may lead to a better understanding of each other’s point of view and, hopefully, a more equitable world."