Newsman

Imran Khan: Politics is not a game of cricket

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 17 May 2013 12:13:41 +0530

If not in politics, certainly in cricket Pakistan's World Cup winning captain Imran Khan has always been larger than life. My favourite Imran story dates back to a Sharjah match

Mr Prime Minister, sing the sound of silence no more

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 03 May 2013 12:15:40 +0530

It may seem incongruous to say it today, but there was a time when one found Dr Manmohan Singh's silence as a mark of quiet dignity. In the age of

Ajit Pawar is emblematic of a class of unaccountable political czars

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 12:17:26 +0530

In the 1970s, Marathi cinema threw up a comedian in Dada Kondke who went on to create history by churning out the maximum number of silver jubilee films in a

Unequal justice breeds communalism and terrorism

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 05 Apr 2013 12:16:32 +0530

"Justice", the new rallying cry on the streets and in the studios, can be awfully selective at times. The brutal gangrape of a Delhi girl in December led to an

To be (the PM) or not to be, Rahul's Hamletian dilemma continues

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 22 Mar 2013 12:04:24 +0530

India's two main national parties are facing distinctly contrarian leadership dilemmas: while the BJP is confronted with managing the vaulting ambitions of its multiple leaders, the Congress must deal with

BJP's Modi dilemma

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 08 Mar 2013 12:05:45 +0530

It is not without reason that the BJP in recent times has been referred to as the 'Hindu Divided Family'. Impressed by the speech given by Sushma Swaraj at the

Shinde's list is one of abject failures

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 22 Feb 2013 12:29:56 +0530

Every Union home minister of the country has had to live literally in the shadow of the first occupant of the post. In the stairway of the North Block, leading

Making sense of sensationalist TV journalism

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 12:20:45 +0530

American pop art icon Andy Warhol was probably right: everyone is looking for their 15 minutes of fame; only the time has now been compressed to a 15-second soundbite. In

Rahul vs Modi: the long and short of it

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 25 Jan 2013 12:15:27 +0530

There is nothing journalists and the viewers love more than a 'big fight'. A Roger Federer is a great tennis player, but the legend is enhanced because of his battles

How to take rabble rousers like Owaisi to task

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 11 Jan 2013 12:16:29 +0530

It has been my experience that the best way to deal with political rabble rousers is to call their bluff and bluster. I have never met Akbaruddin Owaisi, the 42-year-old

Police action on protestors marks failure of govt's outreach

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 28 Dec 2012 12:09:08 +0530

In the classic BBC political satire serial, 'Yes Minister', minister Jim Hacker asks his senior bureaucrat Sir Humphrey Appleby how to deal with a group of protestors. "Don't worry sir,

When polls are not about issues but one man

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 14 Dec 2012 12:14:18 +0530

Travelling into Gujarat during election time is like entering the kingdom of an absolute monarch. Never before has a state election been so completely dominated by the personality of an

Neither Mumbai nor Sena will be the same without Thackeray

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 30 Nov 2012 12:03:41 +0530

"Don't insult me by calling me a politician. I am a political cartoonist!" warned Shiv Sena chief Bal Thackeray, lighting up a pipe, a glass of white wine in hand,

Modi in pole position but can his politics have a pan-Indian appeal?

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 16 Nov 2012 12:10:28 +0530

Predicting elections can be injurious to the health of journalists and pollsters, more so when there is still a month to go before voting. Even so, there is a near

After the Gadkari misfire, RSS should leave BJP alone

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 12:06:40 +0530

Nitin Gadkari isn't quite known to mind his language. A few weeks after he took over as BJP president, he expressed himself with typical candour to a group of journalists:

Only if Robert Vadra could learn from Upinder Singh

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 19 Oct 2012 12:02:44 +0530

At a seminar in Delhi a few years ago, a soft-spoken, petite woman in a crumpled sari was one of the panelists. She engaged in the debate and then quietly

Will Arvind Kejriwal succeed where TN Seshan failed?

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 05 Oct 2012 12:14:32 +0530

In the early 1990s, when TN Seshan as Chief Election Commissioner was the flavour of the season, a packed Rotary Club meeting in South Mumbai asked him to stand for

An open letter to Mamata Banerjee

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 21 Sep 2012 12:01:24 +0530

Dear Mamata-Di, Let me at the very outset express a sneaking admiration for the manner in which you have proved your critics wrong yet again: you don't just bark,

An open letter to Raj Thackeray

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 07 Sep 2012 12:06:37 +0530

Dear Raj, This is the second open letter I am writing to you since, as was the case four years ago, you refuse to do interviews in any language

How communal forces have eaten into Mumbai

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 24 Aug 2012 12:10:50 +0530

For a city which has seen so much bloodletting in recent years, it is rather strange that Mumbai's elite still gets shocked every time the city erupts into another bout

Assam riot victims need our sensitivity, not our prejudice

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 10 Aug 2012 12:10:55 +0530

In an emotionally surcharged and polarised polity, even riot politics can become a zero sum game. So, any television debate on Gujarat 2002 must necessarily draw a comparison to the

London Olympics can propel Indian sports forward

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 27 Jul 2012 12:04:30 +0530

These are not the happiest of times for the aam admi. A paralysed government, an obstructionist opposition, an economy in decline, a deficit monsoon, why even the humble tomato is

Rahul, step in now and don't step out

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 13 Jul 2012 12:10:20 +0530

Salman Khurshid is easily among the brightest politicians in the country: a former Oxford don, he became a Union minister at 38. When he speaks, it is with a certain

Nitish, Modi risk knocking each other out

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 29 Jun 2012 12:02:46 +0530

Before a major heavyweight boxing title bout, there are sideshows on the day's entertainment. Call it a teaser or a trailer, the aim is to whet the appetite of the

Move over George Bush, Baba Ramdev is here

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 15 Jun 2012 12:14:54 +0530

Move over George Bush, Baba Ramdev is here. In the course of a recent interview, I asked India's tele-friendly yoga guru turned black money avenger, the source of his great

Deconstructing the Indian 'Private' League

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 01 Jun 2012 12:02:51 +0530

Politicians are notorious for doublespeak, which is why their public positions are often dictated to by private agendas. So when a Lalu Prasad calls for a ban on the IPL,

Insecure netas and the cartoon ban chorus

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 18 May 2012 12:22:13 +0530

The grand old man of Indian cartooning, RK Laxman, has a delightful anecdote that embodies the charm of political cartooning. Soon after the 1962 Sino-Indian war, Laxman lampooned then Prime

Mixed feelings for Sachin the MP

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 04 May 2012 12:23:11 +0530

In a nation of multiple gods, mortals run the risk of being elevated to divinity. With cricket as contemporary India's mass religion, Sachin Tendulkar has had to live with a

Humble tips for choosing a new President

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 20 Apr 2012 12:06:07 +0530

Five years ago, one 'almost' broke the story of India's next President. Amidst feverish speculation, a source sent an sms: "Congratulations! India is getting its first woman president and she

Indecisiveness renders Antony's honesty hollow

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 12:10:48 +0530

It is not without reason that AK Antony is referred to as 'Saint' Antony. When you've spent four decades in public life and don't have a whiff of a financial

How dictators run the government in a democracy

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 08:48:28 +0530

If you think a week is a long time in politics, just forget it. In India, it can take just a few hours for a zero to become a hero

A tale of two Rahuls

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 16 Mar 2012 12:26:40 +0530

Politics is the original 'dirty picture', cruel and ruthless. Last week, on the day the legendary Rahul Dravid announced his retirement from international cricket, an sms doing the rounds said:

Modi's 'Sadbhavana' and the horror of 2002

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 24 Feb 2012 12:31:02 +0530

Has Gujarat really moved on ten years after the terrible violence of 2002? The answer depends on who the question is asked to. Chief minister Narendra Modi, for example, claims

Decoding the media's Priyanka mania

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 12:08:08 +0530

In 1999, we experienced a 'television moment'. We were covering Sonia Gandhi's Amethi campaign when we happened to meet her daughter Priyanka. For the next several hours, Priyanka took us

Rushdie row takes one back to the politics of 1980s

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:20:14 +0530

Is 2011-12, 1988-89 all over again? The near farce over Salman Rushdie's non-appearance in Jaipur, whether in person or even in a videolink, would suggest so. Rewind to the late

The 'Anna' factor in 2012 polls

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:00:01 +0530

Irrespective of how one views the Anna Hazare movement, there is little doubt that the one feeling it invoked in the political class was one of fear: the fear of

Media, a double-edged sword for Anna, Govt

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 01:37:27 +0530

Those who live by the media often are slain by it. At the 2011 CNN-IBN Indian of the Year awards, Anna Hazare candidly admitted that it was the media which

50 years of liberation: Is Goa losing its sheen?

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 12:14:34 +0530

We Indians are very good at celebrating the ritual of anniversaries. Perhaps, we believe that an annual ceremonial occasion entitles us to have selective amnesia the rest of the year.

Unparliamentary flip flops mar FDI debate

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 02 Dec 2011 12:00:03 +0530

"Many said that Kentucky (KFC) will drive the dhabas out of the market. The dhabas have driven out Kentucky. The Indian sherbet is still there despite Coca Cola and Pepsi.

Dravid, the cricketer of substance

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 18 Nov 2011 12:04:35 +0530

For eight months now the Indian cricket fan has waited with breathless anticipation for the ultimate cricket icon, Sachin Tendulkar, to score his 100th international hundred. All this while, one

Formula 1, undercurrents many

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 12:08:47 +0530

Two of the country's biggest sports events in the last 12 months mirror two Indias. The Commonwealth Games last October were organised by an older India of the cosy neta-babu

Maya & Ambedkar: Incongruous? May be not

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 21 Oct 2011 12:20:47 +0530

At a time when Mayawati's Dalit memorials have sparked off a raging debate, it might be instructive to consider what the original Dalit icon, Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar, would have done

Pranab holds a poorly led UPA together

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 07 Oct 2011 12:02:41 +0530

Conventional wisdom has it that there are two power centres in the UPA; in reality, there have been three. As chairperson of the UPA, Sonia Gandhi is the supreme leader

MAK Pataudi, a tiger among men

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 08:19:43 +0530

It is not without irony that as the news of Tiger Pataudi's death was filtering in, another cricket jamboree was taking off. The opening ceremony of the Champions League T

Irom's cause is riskier to support, Anna's is safe

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 09 Sep 2011 12:02:56 +0530

"Why don't you cover Irom Sharmila's decade-old fast with the same intensity as you did Anna Hazare's 13-day fast?" asked Binalakshmi Nepram, the founder of the Manipur Women Gun Survivors

Rajdeep Sardesai's open letter to Anna Hazare

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 26 Aug 2011 12:00:32 +0530

Dear Anna, I write this to you neither as a fawning cheerleader nor a cynical journalist, but rather as a proud Indian like you. Let me applaud you

It's not all gloom this Independence Day

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 12 Aug 2011 12:10:51 +0530

Journalists are by training cynics, preferring to see every glass as half empty. But cynicism is no longer the exclusive preserve of mediapersons. A wave of negativism seems to be

When should a minister resign?

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 29 Jul 2011 12:13:05 +0530

In this monsoon of political turbulence, when should a minister resign from public office? A few years ago, I posed the question to former railway minister Lalu Prasad Yadav in

Ring in the new, India

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 15 Jul 2011 12:09:29 +0530

If politics were to mirror celluloid, then clearly our netas seem out of step. A fortnight ago, two Hindi films were released: 'Budha Hoga Tera Baap' and 'Delhi Belly'. The

Method to Digvijaya's madness

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 12:06:56 +0530

Sanyas obviously means different things to different people. In 2003, soon after losing the Madhya Pradesh elections, Digvijaya Singh rather dramatically announced, "I have decided to take political sanyas for

TV news a zero sum game?

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 12:01:19 +0530

24 x 7 media is an amoral beast and the camera is Shiva's third eye. It sees the positive and the negative, and it doesn't blink: it is indeed a

Like UPA, the BJP also in a mess

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 03 Jun 2011 12:21:58 +0530

For several months now, the media has squarely focused attention, and rightly so, on the travails of UPA-2 and its leadership. A series of scams and double digit inflation have

An open letter to Rahul Gandhi

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 20 May 2011 12:06:32 +0530

Dear Rahul, Since you rarely, if ever, interact with the media, an open letter seems the only way to communicate with you. Last week, your visit to Bhatta-Parsaul village

Rajdeep Sardesai: Two states, two lessons

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 06 May 2011 12:10:01 +0530

This week, two states, separated at birth, completed their 50th birthday celebrations. While comparing siblings is often best avoided, the journey of Maharashtra and Gujarat offer many lessons for the

Rajdeep Sardesai: Is Hazare another Seshan?

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 22 Apr 2011 12:01:20 +0530

"Do you know how elections are run in this country? Liquor for the father, cloth for the mother and food for the baby." "What is not corrupt in

Rajdeep Sardesai: The phenomenon called Dhoni

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 11:59:40 +0530
Mahendra Singh Dhoni is the country's new Pied Piper. From his hairstyle to his helicopter shot, Dhoni's every single move is followed by millions. Sachin Tendulkar may be the presiding

Rajdeep Sardesai: Before Sachin, there was Viv

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 11:04:51 +0530
One of the great joys of journalism is that it introduces you to many wonderful people, including at times childhood heroes. As a teenager growing up in cricket crazy Mumbai

Rajdeep Sardesai: Will TN punish Karunanidhi?

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 12:01:05 +0530
On the night of the 2009 General Election results, the irrepressible Suhel Seth, opinion television's angry impresario for all seasons, described the DMK as Delhi Money for Karunanidhi. Seth's propensity

Rajdeep Sardesai: Advani's apology remarkable

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 25 Feb 2011 12:12:21 +0530
Last week L K Advani did what is considered extremely unusual for an Indian politician: he said 'sorry'. Predictably, in a political environment not used to such courtesies, the BJP

Rajdeep Sardesai: No PM is an island

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 21 Feb 2011 11:34:06 +0530
If this is the age of television news, then Dr Manmohan Singh clearly belongs to another era. During the 1998 elections, we were doing a news programme on a day

Rajdeep Sardesai: PM a man with a defensive bat

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 17 Feb 2011 12:04:44 +0530
What happens when you place a group of 25 television 'editors' in a room with the Prime Minister of the country and broadcast the interaction live across the country? Showtime

Rajdeep Sardesai: 2011 isn't 1983, yet it must be

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 01:11:27 +0530
June 25, 1983: Indian cricket's greatest moment has also been a giant shadow looming over every Indian World Cup campaign since. Every four years when the World Cup comes by,

Rajdeep Sardesai's blog: State of the Republic

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 27 Jan 2011 11:54:34 +0530
On Republic Day eve, the five top news headlines perhaps reflected the state of the nation. The first was the tragic story of the Malegaon additional collector, Yeshwant Sonawane, burnt

Terror's creed is violence: Rajdeep Sardesai

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 14 Jan 2011 09:46:48 +0530
If chain smses are a measure of the 'national' mood, then its clear what the popular opinion has been after every terror attack in recent times. "Not every Muslim is

Rajdeep Sardesai's blog: Media's trust deficit

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 31 Dec 2010 12:04:45 +0530
2010 for the Indian media has been almost Dickensian: it's been the best of times, but also possibly the worst. A chief minister resigning, a union minister stepping down, senior

Rajdeep Sardesai's open letter to PM on scams

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 12:07:00 +0530
Dear Dr Singh, Greetings! This is my second open letter to you this year. The first was in May when I had again raised the issue of political

Rajdeep Sardesai: Trial by media stings journos

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 12:06:55 +0530
There was a time when editors were not seen or heard, only read. One of the best illustrations of the original 'ivory tower' approach was NJ Nanporia, a venerable editor

Rajdeep Sardesai's blog: Nitish Raj in Bihar

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 19 Nov 2010 12:42:53 +0530
Predicting elections is hazardous business, and can be detrimental to a journalist's health. In the highly competitive world of Indian elections, the 'hawa' (wind) we base our analysis on can

Rajdeep Sardesai's blog: A house out of order

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 17 Nov 2010 10:44:14 +0530
Here's a story which reveals how Maharashtra, the state of the 'Makers of Modern India' like Phule and Ambedkar, Tilak and Gokhale, is now best known for the 'Builders of

Rajdeep Sardesai's blog: A level playing field

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 10:42:06 +0530
It's been called the 'Jatification' of Indian sport. There were 50 Jats in the Indian contingent at the Commonwealth Games and they won 27 of India's 101 medals, or more

Rajdeep Sardesai's blog: A half-way house

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 08 Oct 2010 08:34:12 +0530
It has been my considered view that December 6, 1992, would not have happened in the age of 24-hour news television. Through the forest of microphones and broadcast vans that

Rajdeep Sardesai's open letter to Suresh Kalmadi

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 01 Oct 2010 09:49:25 +0530
Dear Shri Kalmadi, It's good to see the smile back on your face just ahead of India's biggest sporting spectacle. Must admit that a lesser man would have been

What Omar, Rahul could learn from Orissa CM

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 20 Sep 2010 10:01:17 +0530
It was a made-for-television moment: on the night of the Jammu and Kashmir election verdict in 2008, we had the Abdullahs, Dr Farooq and Omar, together on an analysis show.

Pak match fixing row stems from a 'moral crisis'

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 12:00:01 +0530
Hypocrisy like corruption appears to be a sub-continental affliction. No one exemplifies this better than Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari. In the wave of moral outrage following Pakistani cricket's latest

Manmohan's indecisiveness costing India dear

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 20 Aug 2010 12:08:15 +0530
A few years ago, when Greg Chappell was Big Boss, I asked Saurav Ganguly on how he felt losing the Indian captaincy. Ganguly, candid as ever, replied, "I miss being

CWG isn't 'national pride' vs 'national shame'

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 12:10:18 +0530
Mani Shankar Aiyar has probably not read Dale Carnegie's best-seller, "How to win friends and influence people". A few years ago, in a St Stephens alumni register, former external affairs

The Reddy Republic

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 12:00:19 +0530
When Karnataka's infamous Reddy brothers make their Diwali gift list this year, they might consider sending a large present to Congress president Sonia Gandhi. Had Mrs Gandhi not chosen the

Indian middle class, invisible and indifferent

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 12:15:59 +0530
Long before Mamata Banerjee, there was Mrinal Gore. In crumpled sari, rolling pin in hand and fists clenched, the socialist leader was the original political streetfighter who built a formidable

Denials, contradictions and Bhopal tragedy

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 25 Jun 2010 12:01:18 +0530
Where were you in December 1984? It's a question raised with unfailing regularity across the news media in the last fortnight as the verdict in the Bhopal gas tragedy was

Why India is a minnow in world football

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 12:10:45 +0530
"Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that,"

An open letter to Manmohan Singh

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 28 May 2010 12:30:04 +0530
Dear Dr Singh, At the outset, many congratulations on completing six years in office, making you the longest serving Indian prime minister since Indira Gandhi. For a self- confessed

English-speaking, educated politicians soft target

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 14 May 2010 12:26:15 +0530
What do Shashi Tharoor and Jairam Ramesh have in common? Both are incredibly bright, articulate men with impressive CVs: Jairam is a mechanical engineer with degrees from the IIT and

Politics is far more slippery than cricket

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 30 Apr 2010 12:32:18 +0530
Fourteen years ago, as a 13-day Vajpayee government fell, the BJP's man for all seasons, the late Pramod Mahajan offered an interesting explanation for what had gone wrong. Speaking to

Gochi in Kochi: let's play it straight

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 16 Apr 2010 10:25:59 +0530
Here's a story that perhaps best exemplifies how far Indian cricket has traveled. In the mid-1950s, India was playing New Zealand. The players at the time were paid a princely

The politics of victimhood

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 01 Apr 2010 11:48:03 +0530
On the face of it, a Narendra Modi's politics is as different from Mayawati's as a Gujarati dhokla is from a Lucknowi seekh kebab. One is a Hindutva icon, the

Running out of steam

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 08:31:19 +0530
Lalu Prasad is the Pied Piper of Patna. One of the more special moments in journalism was travelling with the RJD chief to Pakistan in 2003. Indo-Pak relations were at

The age of extremes

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 09:42:46 +0530
A few months ago, when Sarah Palin, the postergirl of right wing Republicans was contracted by Fox News to be a guest anchor, she remarked, "I am thrilled to be

An open letter to Uddhav Thackeray

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 12 Feb 2010 12:23:27 +0530
Dear Udhavjee, At the very outset, my compliments for the manner in which you've literally 'stolen' the headlines from your cousin Raj in the last fortnight. After the Assembly

Indo-Pak schizophrenia over IPL

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 12:40:42 +0530
Indo-Pak cricket, like diplomatic relations between the two countries, suffers from acute schizophrenia. Rewind to January 1999 when a Chennai crowd gave a standing ovation to Wasim Akram's men after

To tweet or not to tweet

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 11:52:50 +0530
If the twitterati were India's voting class, then Shashi Tharoor would be the Supreme Leader. A few weeks ago, when Tharoor's tweet on the government's visa policies generated much fuss

'Paid news' undermines the foundation of journalism

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 11:54:16 +0530
We live in the age of institutionalized corruption. From politicians to judges, from senior bureaucrats to policemen, from corporate tycoons to petty officials, everyone it seems has a price. As

The Power of the Fast-

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 12:49:45 +0530
In politics, never write off anyone. A few months ago, I was invited by the Telangana Rashtra Samiti leader, and politician of the moment, K Chandrasekhar Rao, to his residence

The Cycle of Terror-

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 01:14:05 +0530
As the media goes into overdrive on the first anniversary of last November's Mumbai terror attack, we should remember that before 26/11, there was 12/3. Way back in 1993 -

Czar of Cricket

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 01:21:38 +0530
Where were you on November 15, 1989? I know where I was: glued to the television in my newspaper office watching a 16-year-old boy with curls and rosy cheeks take

Home Truths

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 02:30:40 +0530
In the forbidding corridors of North Block, the shadow of Sardar Patel, the country's first home minister looms large. Every person who has since occupied the powerful office is constantly

Wake up, Mumbai

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 01:39:57 +0530
As the megapolis one grew up in, there is an obvious emotional attachment to Mumbai. Which is why, at a studio discussion this week, when a panelist referred to the

Maharashtra becoming recipe for political chaos

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 02:16:40 +0530
The mess that is Maharashtra is perhaps best exemplified by the Mahim Dadar constituency in the heart of Mumbai. Considered the fortress of the Maharashtrian middle class, once famous for

Politicians and Paise-Pinching

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 03:37:40 +0530
In this period of competitive austerity, there can be nothing more tiresome than a sanctimonious politician. With netas now offering to travel in the cargo holds of aircrafts to save

YSR: The one man show in Andhra

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 04 Sep 2009 12:42:38 +0530
A decade ago when Sharad Pawar was quitting the Congress over the Sonia Gandhi foreign origins issue, he told a group of journalists, "In the Congress party, there is no

Jaswant's book: Reading between the lines

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 05:12:41 +0530
This independence day weekend, as the tricolor fluttered in the rain, I chose to sit at home and read Jaswant Singh's book on Mohammed Ali Jinnah. It might seem odd

George: From Giant Killer to lonely Bhishma

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 01:37:18 +0530
In the din of Parliament, it was a despairing sight that could only evoke pity and sadness: the once mighty George Fernandes struggling to take his oath as a Rajya

RIP Cronkite: The original TV anchor

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 03:53:04 +0530
Television news anchors, despite rather large egos, are clearly not rock stars. Which is why the passing away of the legendary American news anchor Walter Cronkite a few days ago

Statu(e)tory Warning for Mayawati

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 03:40:42 +0530
India is still par excellence the land of idolatry. There is idolatry in religion, there is idolatry in politics. Heroes and hero-worship is a hard if unfortunate, fact in India's

TV news: Good, Bad and Ugly

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 12:02:42 +0530
Within hours of India's defeat in the 20-20 world championships, the headlines on some television channels were screaming : should Dhoni be sacked. Just 24 hours earlier, Dhoni was the

NCP's dilemma: To exist or not to exist

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 02:52:08 +0530
If a week is a long time in politics, then a decade is truly an eternity. That ancient political truism has been driven home this week yet again as the

Why India voted for Congress

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 29 May 2009 03:21:56 +0530
As a news anchor who lives in a television studio, and whose reporting days are rapidly becoming a fading memory, my one connection with the 'real' world is a morning

Hazards of being a political journalist

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 15 May 2009 12:30:06 +0530
One of the professional hazards of being a political journalist is that you are expected to predict exact election outcomes . It's meant to be your USP, the basis for

Priyanka, the natural politician

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 01 May 2009 02:38:00 +0530
The discovery of Priyanka Gandhi began in 1999 with your humble columnist. We were filming a day in the life of a politician, and almost stumbled on Priyanka, partly because

T20 vs Polls09: A tale of two IPLs

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 03:29:29 +0530
This season, television ratings are about to witness a new battle and it isn't saas bahu versus Balika Badhu. As a ratings agency SMS suggests, "it's a battle of the

Who's afraid of the Third Front?

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 03 Apr 2009 03:13:45 +0530
Remember the classic Sholay dialogue, "in the night when a child is crying, the mother says, go to sleep or Gabbar Singh will come." A similar warning is now being

Let not 'BJP ka Gandhi' get away easily

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 20 Mar 2009 03:24:46 +0530
In the backlanes of Uttar Pradesh, Varun Feroze Gandhi is referred to as the "BJP ka Gandhi". It's a reference indicative of what's been perhaps the 29-year-old poet-politician's central dilemma

Terror And Politics Find A New Pitch

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 01:21:16 +0530
One of the most politically courageous decisions the Vajpayee government took was when in the spring of 2004 it decided to allow the Indian cricket team to go and play

Age of Ideas

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:00:09 +0530
When 81-year-old L K Advani was seen lifting barbells in a gymnasium in Ahmedabad to kick off his election campaign, it seemed to confirm the prevailing wisdom that a critical

Pakistan's Reality Bytes

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 04:39:19 +0530
Oneupmanship has always been an integral part of the schizophrenic love-hate relationship that exists between India and Pakistan. Sometimes serious, often innocuous , Indians and Pakistanis have reveled in comparisons.

Welcome to IBNPolitics.com

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 16 Feb 2009 04:29:08 +0530
"If the British left, India will fall back quite rapidly through the centuries into the barbarism and privations of the Middle Ages." So spoke Sir Winston Churchill in 1930. It's

Manmohan as Brown Sahib

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 12:04:58 +0530
In good health, Dr Manmohan Singh was dismissed by his critics as a 'weak' prime minister; in sickness, he is acknowledged as being indispensable to the ruling UPA.

Ambition lives eternal in Indian politics

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 23 Jan 2009 10:39:13 +0530
Ambition lives eternal in Indian politics. A few years ago, Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar was asked whether he still believed that he could be the prime minister of

An age for politics

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 12 Jan 2009 12:33:16 +0530
It was reality television of the political kind: on the night of the Jammu and Kashmir election results, father Farooq and son Omar were both pitching for chief ministership on

Something's got to give

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 01:57:24 +0530
One of the more joyous moments of fatherhood was taking my son, then all of nine years, to watch an India-Pakistan One-Day match in Lahore in 2004. Our Pakistani friends

Times change, politicians don't

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 12 Dec 2008 03:14:03 +0530
Times change, politicians don't, voters do. Rewind to 1984 and the ad campaign that became the signature of the Congress's election appeal then: scorpions, snakes and barbed wires, Indians were

26/11: Terror comes precariously close

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 03:42:16 +0530
Dear Reader, forgive my self-indulgence, but I write this as an angry and anguished Indian citizen and south Mumbaikar as much as a professional journalist. Over the last few days,

Maharaj or Dada, Ganguly's legacy lives on

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 08:04:04 +0530
In the first innings of the Nagpur test, as Saurav Ganguly was batting with remarkable assurance, an excited senior government official rang up: "You guys in the media have to

An Open Letter to Raj Thackeray

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 31 Oct 2008 01:23:32 +0530
My Dear Raj, My apologies for having to communicate through the editorial pages of a newspaper, but frankly am left with little choice since you seem to have

Otherhood of man

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 07:40:07 +0530
All over the world, a killer is a killer and a rapist is a rapist. Only in India do criminals have religious and caste identities: they are either Hindus, Muslims

Television, for politicians with a vision

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 01:26:20 +0530
Barack Obama and John Mccain have just concluded round one of the US presidential debates. Sarah Palin is getting herself battle ready to face upto Democratic vice presidential candidate Joe

A Wednesday and beyond...

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 03:58:56 +0530
"Awesome!" shrieked the young lady in front of me as she munched her popcorn. It was the final scene of the film, A Wednesday, and aam admi turned potential bomber,

Tale of Two Azmis

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 02:32:09 +0530
Shabana Azmi is a remarkable woman: five times National award winner, she has performed multiple roles in life and cinema. That someone from the increasingly vacuous world of Bollywood has

Bhiwani to Beijing: Lessons from a journey

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 01:25:30 +0530
Journalism has a nose for nostalgia : Twenty years ago ahead of the Seoul Olympics, I was sent as a cub reporter to track down the family of KD Jadhav,

Gujarat beyond Ahmedabad

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 01:54:40 +0530
In the terror map of this country, Hansabehn Makwana will probably not even be a footnote. As she battles for survival in the burns ward of Ahmedabad's civil hospital, the

Trust Vote in Technicolour

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 01:22:11 +0530
India's first Trust Vote in the age of 24 hour news television transformed parliamentary debate into a reality show. The politicians were the star performers while the nation played judge

Amar Chitra Katha

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 03:06:06 +0530
When the history of contemporary Indian politics is written, Amar Singh will have a special place as arguably the first neta to bridge the gap between political and corporate India,

Separated at birth

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 27 Jun 2008 11:39:26 +0530
The state of the UPA government is a bit a like a bad old Ajit joke about liquid oxygen: liquid usse jeene nahi deta, oxygen usse marne nahi deta (liquid

Who will be India's Obama?

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 07:37:51 +0530
In the week when 46-year-old Barack Obama was being anointed the Democratic party's presidential candidate in the United States, Tamil Nadu's chief minister M Karunanidhi was being felicitated on his

Congress, the ageing family firm

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 30 May 2008 03:25:11 +0530
Political soundbites can be rather tiresome and predictable on television. Nothing exemplifies this better than when a Congress politician is asked at election time who the party's chief ministerial candidate

Bite the Bullet

editor@ibnlive.com — Sun, 18 May 2008 05:40:04 +0530
If Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh were to ever look for a contemporary political soulmate, West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee would be a likely choice. Both are individuals of

Twenty20: The Page 3 of Cricket

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 02 May 2008 09:40:44 +0530
The Indian Premier League has rammed home a new meaning to the notion of a 'generation gap'. Taking my 13-year-old son to watch the Delhi Daredevils playing their first game

Aaj Ka Arjun

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 10:21:10 +0530
Eighteen years can be an eternity in politics: on the 6th of September, 1990, a stirring speech was made in parliament criticizing the Mandal commission report. "If you believe in

Rivals, not enemies

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 02:34:19 +0530
Life in exile can be a sobering, as well as a gastronomic experience. Within weeks of the 2004 general elections, I happened to be in Jeddah and was taken to

Goan with the Wind

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 01:24:04 +0530
In the early 1990s, Air India printed a calendar showcasing people from different states in their traditional costumes. The Goa portrait had a couple at a church wedding in bridal

The Kisan Connection

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 02:53:42 +0530
For someone who had finally been embraced by his party and anointed its new poster-boy, Finance Minister P Chidambaram seemed awfully truculent a day after the union budget. Perhaps, it

Cricket's Big Bazaar

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 22 Feb 2008 03:55:08 +0530
My father was obviously born in the wrong generation. For his first test for the country in 1961, he got a cheque of Rs 150. When he was part of

The Legacy of Goonda Raj

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 01:19:06 +0530
Long before there was 'monkey' (sorry, 'maa ki'), there was "bhaiya". The 1979 Ranji game between Mumbai and Delhi at the Wankhede stadium witnessed the repeated chants of "bhaiya" every

Married to the Mob

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 12:41:11 +0530
Last Saturday, as India was celebrating a famous cricket victory over Australia in Perth, NDTV's Ahmedabad office was ransacked by a mob calling itself Hindu Samrajya Sena. The alleged provocation:

Why the CNN-IBN Indian of the Year awards

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 07 Jan 2008 10:07:57 +0530
Who is the greatest filmstar? Dilip Kumar, Amitabh Bachchan or Sharukh Khan? Who is the finest Indian batsman of all time? Sunil Gavaskar or Sachin Tendulkar? Who was

Modi Mandate: Myth and Reality

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 26 Dec 2007 02:29:00 +0530
In this age of instant punditry, it's often easier to arrive at conclusions without even attempting analysis. When the person in question is Narendra Modi, then it becomes even more

Brand Modi on sale

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 08:18:30 +0530
DK Barooah's singular contribution to Indian democracy was his coronation of Indira Gandhi as the Empress of India with his infamous remark: "India is Indira, and Indira is India". Barooah

Dr Modi and Mr Hyde

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 09 Nov 2007 08:35:56 +0530
On the very day that Lalu Yadav marched to the Prime Minister's residence demanding Narendra Modi's arrest in the wake of the Tehelka sting expose, a small group of Sikh

The Political 20-20

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 04:17:18 +0530
Why the Deve Gowda brand of politics now threatens the center My most intimate experience with former prime minister HD Deve Gowda was in a rather incongruous setting: the

New India's New Heroes

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 26 Sep 2007 11:17:06 +0530
On the face of it, Wanderers 2007 is Lords 1983 all over again. As Mahendra Singh Dhoni lifted the ICC world 20 20 trophy, the beaming smile brought back memories

Sting in the Tale

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 14 Sep 2007 11:26:37 +0530
A few weeks ago, I received an SMS: "Dear sir, I am from Patna. I have more than 40 stings with me. Meet me once, you will not be disappointed.

Karat and Stick

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 09:46:35 +0530
We always knew the Prime Minister had a mind of his own. Now, we know he's finally added some muscle. When the history of Dr Manmohan Singh's prime ministership is

Needed: A Lesson in History

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 15 Aug 2007 12:00:14 +0530
I am not a midnight's child or a child of partition. Actually, I was born the year after Nehru died. In a sense, I represent the post-Nehruvian generation, those for

Kalam, a man for all reasons

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 20 Jul 2007 10:38:25 +0530
It was meant to be a celebration of excellence in journalism. The Ramnath Goenka award ceremony was a gathering of the country's power elite: top politicians, captains of industry, cerebral

Jai Maharashtra

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 02:27:44 +0530
Within minutes of Mrs Pratibha Patil being "chosen" as the UPA's candidate for president, a chain sms was floated: "After 300 years, the Marathas are finally set to conquer Delhi",

The Royal Sickness

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 25 May 2007 12:00:01 +0530
In the furious debate in Britain over sending Prince Harry to Iraq, a royalist voice angrily remarked on a television show, "We cannot barter our future for an uncertain present."

Lady in Waiting

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 12:26:17 +0530
In this media age, Mayawati is the ultimate "outsider". Openly contemptuous of the "manuvadi" media, she will rarely come to a television studio. Even if she does speak, it is

Death of a game

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 10:17:13 +0530
Here's a candid confession: as India were losing to Sri Lanka, for once I didn't really mind. After a lifetime of cheering for the men in blue, for the first

Where art thou Sonia?

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 02 Mar 2007 10:08:57 +0530
If a week is a long time in Indian politics, then three years must seem like an eternity. It was, after all, three years ago this month that Sonia Gandhi

The Two Modi(y)s of Gujarat

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 02 Feb 2007 11:29:43 +0530
There are two Mr Modis I know in Gujarat, one spells his surname with an 'i', the other with a 'y'. Mr Narendra Modi is a familiar household name. He

Ghosts in the machine

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 09:21:00 +0530
A few days ago when the alleged murderer of Meerut professor Kavita Rani decided to turn himself in to the law, he chose a television studio to enact his surrender.

Why politicians get edgy when judiciary plays God

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 12:24:10 +0530
The day union minister Shibhu Soren was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder, the mood in parliament's central hall was distinctly somber. "Bechara Shibhu," said one member of parliament. "Phas

In the name of Ambedkar

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 07:51:46 +0530
The late Kanshi Ram was the hellraiser of the 1990s. His shirt always unbuttoned, hair uncombed, a towel around his neck, the Bahujan Samaj party leader was keen to maintain

In the Name of Ram

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 10 Nov 2006 11:35:13 +0530
It is perhaps symptomatic of the times we live in that a 20 second noisy soundbite will echo far more than a 1200-word reasoned argument. Which is why a

A revolution gone wrong

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 14 Oct 2006 12:11:08 +0530
Many years ago, the frenzied search for an elusive soundbite led me to climb a rather perilously shaky electric pole. I clambered with painful desperation in my attempt to enter

Maharashtra: The New Bihar

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 03:58:31 +0530
A journalist friend from Patna was recently transferred to Mumbai. During his many years in Bihar, I often wondered how he coped with a daily dose of murder, kidnapping, death,

Lotus in Crisis

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 01:16:24 +0530
A picture sometimes does tell the story. The photo-op of opposition leaders lining up behind Natwar Singh in parliament was one such moment. That Amar Singh would be in the

Citizen Mumbai

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 21 Jul 2006 02:16:18 +0530
One of Mumbai's principal contributions to popular culture has been the creation of its own vocabulary. The word "bindaas" typifies Mumbai. It means a happy-go-lucky, fearless attitude. It's a spirit

No goal for India

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 26 Jun 2006 01:16:52 +0530
28 years ago, the world cup soccer experience entered my life courtesy the crackle of the radio. Buenos Aires 1978s was the cup of Mario Kempes, the legendary Argentinian with

Prime Time reservation

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 29 May 2006 02:38:14 +0530
Satellite television in India is just over a decade old. 24 hour news networks are the excitable younger siblings of the venerable voices of the broadsheets. Yet today, mutually competitive

My Friend, Mr Mahajan

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 28 Apr 2006 04:38:47 +0530
In the corridors of power, politicians and journalists share a peculiarly incestuous relationship based on mutual need. It's a strategic alliance. The politician "feeds" the journalist with privileged information, the

Sonia's "Sacrifice"

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 04 Apr 2006 03:14:53 +0530
In the tele-democracy that we have become, Sonia Gandhi appears to have emerged a clear winner. If sms polls are a barometer of the public mood, then Mrs Gandhi's singular

Southern Discomfort

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 28 Mar 2006 06:39:38 +0530
Think about it.. more than 60 per cent of the english speaking audience for television news channels is south of the Vindhyas (atleast thats what the television audience meter ratings

Sting Season !!!

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 20 Mar 2006 11:13:06 +0530
In my new avatar, most people who call or sms me to wish a happy holi are usually job-seekers. A few days ago, a young aspiring journalist rang up to

The Face of Intolerance

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 07:53:37 +0530
An editor once told me that he believed his magazine had "arrived" the day two legal notices were slapped against it (no, we're not referring to the editor of Maxim

Amar Chitra Katha

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 04 Mar 2006 08:08:58 +0530
You cannot help feeling a little sorry for Samajwadi party leader Mr Amar Singh as he scurries from city to city, from one tv channel to another crying hoarse that

THE NEW JOURNALISM

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 08:36:04 +0530
At the risk of sounding ancient, I see myself today as part of the penumbral generation in journalism. We were the guys who joined print, ran around with pad and

Sting In The Tail ......

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 18 Feb 2006 07:25:35 +0530
Oh no, not another sting operation.. the cynics were at it again within moments of us airing the stories of netas for sale in Uttar Pradesh. But this wasn't just

The Love of Cricket

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 13 Feb 2006 06:32:26 +0530
I write this while watching the Lahore India-Pak one dayer like millions of other Indians. When you have cricket on air, "news" in the conventional sense seems boring, even irrelevant.

In Search of the Middle Ground

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 06 Feb 2006 06:09:43 +0530
I must confess that I never quite expected the kind of response that the last blog I wrote got. A majority of those who have written in seem to feel

Journalists or Fire-Fighters?

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 28 Jan 2006 03:39:22 +0530
The debate over media ethics has never been stronger (and shriller) than it is at the moment. As the "media" becomes a gigantic beast, there has been a growing tendency

A News Channel with a Difference?

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 03:19:21 +0530
Ever since we set off on our journey of discovery on CNN_IBN exactly a month ago, we have received a fair response, the good, the bad and, of course, the

Breaking the big story

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 13 Jan 2006 05:33:01 +0530
A recent survey in the United States suggested that the credibility of journalists was at an all-time low. Its just possible that a survey in this country would throw up

what a weekend

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 07 Jan 2006 08:19:02 +0530
At CNN-IBN, we have all the enthusiasm that anyone would if they were dealing with a new born baby. Every day, for us is a new day, a day full

a week on

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 26 Dec 2005 04:30:15 +0530
hi guys.. CNN_IBN is a week old..its been a week ending with some satisfaction. atleast some of you out there are saying that they like the channel.. remember guys, this

Opening stroke-

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 20 Dec 2005 05:30:19 +0530
It is strange what your 40th birthday does to you. Suddenly, you realise that you aren't a thirty something young urban professional (emphasise on the youth factor, please). The twenty