The Chowkidar against corruption?
The defining image of the 1989 Lok Sabha elections was VP Singh campaigning across the country and claiming that he had in his pocket the Swiss bank account number...
RIP Himmatwali!
Last night, as I tuned into my nightly ritual of listening to a song before sleeping, Sridevi was top of the mind. The tv news since the morning had...
When NiMo meets NaMo
When NiMo meets NaMo One good thing in the often joyless times in which we live is the flowering of satire and cartooning on social media (yes, RK Laxman’s...
Will 220 be the new 272?
February is arguably the nicest month weather-wise in the national capital: the icy Himalayan wind gives way to a gentler cool breeze signaling a gradual change of seasons. This...
What Bollywood could learn from South Cinema
On the day when a group of alleged Karni Sena protestors attacked a school bus in Gurugram, the guest co-ordinator of my prime time tv news show came to...
Two cheers for Judicial ‘revolt’
‘There is one thing that journalists and lawyers have in common, we both love to gossip!’ a senior jurist reminded me helpfully a few days ago. In the week...
In the name of caste
Caste narratives expose inner fault-lines in our hierarchical society and can easily spark off controversy. Last week, when Jai Ram Thakur was selected as the BJP’s Himachal Pradesh chief...
A prayer for India in 2018
With apologies to the great poet-laureate, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore, a prayer for my country in 2018. Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high. Where...
Gujarat Gives Congress Oxygen but Revival is Still A Challenge
In a movie-crazy country, election victories too often are projected in ‘filmi’ terms. So in response to my clichéd remark in the television studio on the BJP’s narrow victory...
Gujarat: Urban-rural is split wide open
If there is any city that is seen to represent the public anger over demonetisation and the Goods and Services Tax, it is Surat. Textile traders had shut shop...