The Insanity of Guns?
Irregardless. Sometimes, one needs to go outside the confines of conventional dictionaries to express an idea with the appropriate shade of meaning, or in this case just the right weight of emphasis....
View ArticleThe sickness within?
The Allahabad High Court’s judgment on the Aarushi Talwar case makes for extraordinary reading. While it appears from the headlines that the Talwars have got a reprieve, the ‘benefit of doubt’ because...
View ArticleDiwali & the limits of regulation?
There is a Diwali picture that one received on WhatsApp that showed the sky above the Golden Temple spectacularly lit up by an array of lanterns floating gracefully above the imposing structure. Soon,...
View ArticleThe quiet charms of Khichdi
It now appears that there is no proposal to anoint Khichdi as the national dish of India, but regardless of whether khichdi deserves that title or not and glossing over the question of whether in...
View ArticleThe Congress: A sliver of hope?
The world turns on moments. Against the run of play, the mood turns. A few events happen to coincide and the time becomes ripe for a new narrative. For the last few weeks, the Congress...
View ArticleAn Immunity to Criticism?
While the Padmavati issue rages on, it is instructive to observe how little by way of an official reaction by the government has been forthcoming. In the face of public threats made in the full...
View ArticleWe are not like this only!
The demise of Channel V is much an occasion to reflect upon the India of today as it is to think back about the time when the channel was at its peak. It is interesting...
View ArticleAn overdose of negativity?
When Mani Shankar Aiyar gives, he gives freely. First, he himself invoked the name of Aurangzeb in an attempt to defend the electoral process that the Congress is going through, thereby giving the BJP...
View ArticleThe message from Gujarat? Both parties need to do better
A win is a win. Although, this is by all accounts, a modest victory. Given the fact that the BJP is at the peak of its dominance as an electoral force today, and that Gujarat...
View ArticleMr Modi, the incumbent?
This article has been updated The Gujarat results are being made sense of in different ways, but a dominant narrative has emerged. The Congress managed to put together alliances with leaders of local...
View ArticleYear of the number
While the dominant memory of 2016 was running for cash, this year was spent chasing, or being chased by, both public and private service providers who wanted you to link Aadhaar or else… The dire...
View ArticleLiberalising Families?
Writing the first column of the year, one searches for something positive to say, something that makes us feel better about ourselves. In these divided and angry times, this is not easy. But perhaps we...
View ArticleThe Power of Melodrama?
Growing up, one remembers longing for our cinema to become more realistic, or at the very least a little less ridiculous. At one stage, virtually every film made was a lost-and-found potboiler that...
View ArticleThe Bollywood treatment?
If reports are to be believed, schools in some parts of India were advised not to play any song from the film Padmaavat on Republic Day. This is perhaps no more than a minor addition...
View ArticleThe making of the individual in India?
Historically, the idea of being an individual in India could generally speaking, only be expressed in the plural. The ‘I’ was never quite alone, coming accompanied as it did with the overhang of the...
View ArticleHighways of Change?
Roads feel a certain way. Every highway has its own character, its own little quirks. One gets to notice this best when one drives down the same road regularly, but infrequently. As a document of...
View ArticleThe limits of propaganda?
A Rs 11,300-crore scandal broke out last week, and leading English channels immediately scrambled to find a way to protect the government and blame the previous government in a variety of inventive...
View ArticleNegotiating With Power?
On a recent trip to a small North Indian town, one heard a familiar story of an effective local politician who worked hard to solve the problems of the people who came to him for...
View ArticleThe Overachieving Verb
If earlier we liked someone or something, it usually stayed within us. it gave us a nice warm feeling, it was a little fund of goodwill, a splashy puddle of well-being. Sometimes we communicated our...
View ArticleStatues: Remembering to forget?
The recent destruction of statues has succeeded in doing what the statues themselves have forgotten how to do – making us remember. Taking down Lenin’s statue makes us talk about him- something that...
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