Bloody Mary

The anti-neta neta

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 08 May 2013 06:20:00 +0530

AAP is doing what politicians have forgotten to do As the summer kicks in, people's representatives are often seen scurrying for their cool drawing rooms. A wicked theory about

Mr Fixit vs Mr Dreamer

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 07:04:19 +0530

The Modi-Rahul face off is good democracy The forthcoming electoral contest of 2014 is fast passing into pop culture. The Battle of the "Bachelors" - Rahul Gandhi vs Narendra

India's most wanted

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 13 Mar 2013 06:54:16 +0530

The police must answer why innocent Muslims are being implicated in terror cases When in doubt about a terror investigation, blame the most readily available Muslims. Within days of

The closing of the Indian mind

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 13 Feb 2013 09:56:53 +0530

The counter argument to narrow mindedness is missing From the Grand Mufti's fatwa against the all-girl band in Kashmir, to the now lifted ban on the film Vishwaroopam, to

God Of This Great Vast: glimpses of the Mahakumbh

editor@ibnlive.com — Sun, 20 Jan 2013 03:03:40 +0530

Dawn is misty on the banks of the Sangam. Enveloped in a gigantic quiet, the water awaits the pilgrim. Sanatan Dharma - dizzyingly varied, incorrigibly plural, welcoming of all, celebratory

Time to make a choice: are we a modern democracy or a tradition enraptured society?

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 09 Jan 2013 09:18:11 +0530

Almost as shocking as the Delhi gang rape has been the range of voices that have sounded after it. Patriarchy is chillingly omnipresent and kicking harder than ever before.

Riders on the storm

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 12 Dec 2012 08:37:32 +0530

Muslims are seeking a new narrative in Gujarat beyond victimhood The land of historic Gandhian satyagrahas like Kheda, Bardoli and the Dandi March, Gujarat today is curiously apolitical. No

Scoundrels of new India

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 08 Dec 2012 02:38:24 +0530

Shobhaa De's new novel 'Sethji' is a rattling good read Long before chronicling urban India became intellectually fashionable and literary tomes were written on the slums and high-rises of

Power, Pretension And Lemon Tarts

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 01 Dec 2012 09:50:22 +0530

In tribute to IK Gujral, we reproduce Sagarika Ghose's article published in Outlook magazine when he became the prime minister in 1997. Prime Minister IK Gujral's real alma mater

Trapped in a sieve

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 09 Nov 2012 09:31:19 +0530

It's open season on 'modern' women A fashionable cultural conservatism dominates a land in the throes of the seismic shocks of liberalisation and westernisation. Elaborately dressed ladies lined up

Nirvana in the loo

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 09:12:58 +0530

Reforms are as much about toilets as they are about FDI Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh's statement that a nation's salvation lies in more toilets than temples has incurred

Re-thinking Hindus and Muslims

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 12 Sep 2012 07:22:47 +0530

A new lexicon is needed to create a new relationship Old ghosts have a way of re-appearing. Manmohan Singh has warned senior police officers that the communal situation has

Desperately seeking 1975

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 08 Aug 2012 10:09:45 +0530

A new political party needs a new political idea. The Anna Hazare movement has announced they will work towards a "new political alternative". By disbanding Team Anna, Anna has

Telling truth to power

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 11 Jul 2012 11:52:12 +0530

With each new episode of Satyamev Jayate - actor Aamir Khan's 13-part television show - comes a welter of debate. Every episode trends on the social networking site Twitter. There

After Tagore, who?

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 13 Jun 2012 07:34:32 +0530

The closing of the Bengali mind I returned to north Bengal last week for a short holiday in the Darjeeling hills. I spent my early childhood in North Bengal

Aarushi-Hemraj case: Time to switch off the camera

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 09 May 2012 08:39:59 +0530

Nupur Talwar's incarceration in Dasna jail has once again become a cause celebre in the media. Today the Aarushi-Hemraj double murder has become a collection of the many social stereotypes

'Servants' of destiny

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 11 Apr 2012 07:36:51 +0530

The relationship between domestic worker and employer is in a crisis It is urban India's most unresolved relationship. A relationship that goes to the heart of the inequality every

The Amol Palekars of Indian Politics

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 05:34:34 +0530

A brave new voice has sounded in the Assembly elections of 2012. The voice of the Indian voter that has thundered out from UP, Punjab, Goa, Uttarakhand and Manipur, is

Power is all Maya

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 04:02:04 +0530

Mayawati's aggressive display of state power is at odds with a new demanding electorate Sitapur, UP: Between the circling helicopter and the massive crowds there is almost a telepathic

Politics of shakti

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 08:56:12 +0530

Decoding amma, didi, behnji and madam. Respect the Trinamool Congress, or else, warns the Ma Durga of West Bengal. Accept that Tamil Nadu operates according to its own enlightened

The bad old days

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 14 Dec 2011 04:01:49 +0530

Nostalgia is becoming a destructive force An interesting finding emerged in the recent Hindustan Times CNN-IBN survey on the public mood. Only 53 per cent of an urban middle

The 2G case is a morality play

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 09 Nov 2011 09:18:34 +0530

Lines from the recent 2G judgement denying bail to Kanimozhi and others are telling. "Kanimozhi belongs to the upper echelons of society and is also an MP," wrote trial court

The yatri and the messiah

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 12:38:09 +0530

Annaji, join politics It's the week of the two As. Advani is on a yatra, Team Anna is campaigning in Hisar. LK Advani, the veteran yatri, creator of India's

A class apart

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 08:15:16 +0530

The powerful must speak the language of equality In the crowds at Ram Lila Maidan, at the height of Anna fever, there was anger against corruption, but there was

Power Bahu

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 02:43:16 +0530

As Sonia Gandhi recovers from her highly secretive surgery, there are justifiable questions as to why the Indian public is not allowed to know what ails the leader of the

It's not all 'DK Bose'

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 13 Jul 2011 12:02:36 +0530

There is too much cynicism and negativism A stray insight sometimes goes unnoticed. Manmohan Singh's closed-door meeting with handpicked editors last month generated controversy about the UPA's communication deficit

Ram Movement Redux

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 11:58:10 +0530

The rightwing revolution is here. The UPA has dispatched Ramdev to his ashram. The police action at Ram Lila Maidan was insupportable and the BJP has now gained a

Stars in the ground

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 11 May 2011 06:56:52 +0530

The last vote has been cast. The surveys are out. EVMs stand at the ready. In 48 hours, the voice of the Indian voter will thunder. In 48 hours we

Whoosh! The simple man

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 30 Apr 2011 09:44:23 +0530

Travelling with Mamata Banerjee in North Bengal, in the first phase of polling in early April, reaping an unusual break and a whirlwind. A kalbaisakhi is blowing through north

Critical mass: Inserting public into the Republic

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 13 Apr 2011 06:56:20 +0530

The Anna Hazare movement crept up unnoticed, pounced suddenly and seized a country by the throat unexpectedly. Within hours of Hazare announcing his fast, the news, disseminated by 24 hour

UPA's sounds of silence

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 08 Mar 2011 11:58:37 +0530

UPA is undemocratically aloof A rough beast snaps at the heels of 21st century democratic governments every minute of their governing lives. That beast is the 24 hour media:

Old at heart

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 07:04:34 +0530

Rightwing conservative youth on a collision course with liberal democracy. Is it fun to be young? Not really. The Hindustan Times CNN-IBN Youth poll surveying urban 18-25 year olds

Sagarika Ghose: Liberals vs 'nationalists'

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 12 Jan 2011 07:14:56 +0530

Pakistani politician Salmaan Taseer's assassination has been viewed by many as the death of the dream of a liberal Pakistan. The believing yet secular Muslim, the openly westernized yet rooted

Sagarika Ghose's blog: Rich behaving poorly

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 12:00:46 +0530

In the season of scams and sleazy tapes, human compassion has blazed like a meteorite. WIPRO chairman Azeem Premji's 2 billion dollar donation to Indian primary education could become a

Sagarika Ghose's blog: Listen to the 'little people'

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 10 Nov 2010 07:48:55 +0530

Indo-US ties are led by people not governments My 13-year-old daughter has been depressed lately. She's missed her favourite TV show 'Friends' due to school assignments. Her classmates are

Sagarika Ghose's blog: Go for gold

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 10:19:24 +0530

Let's win a medal for a Hindu-Muslim charter On the heels of The Verdict, came The Games. Wicked ghosts of the past were dredged up during the Allahabad High

Sagarika Ghose's blog: Ayodhya in New India

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 23 Sep 2010 07:10:04 +0530

Senior jurists have voiced their misgivings about the apex court deferring the Ayodhya judgement by a week to the 28th of September. The Supreme Court has in the past taken

Dr Singh has to kick-start the moral renaissance

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 08:36:43 +0530

'Culture' 'DNA' and 'values' have entered the debate on the spot-fixing controversy. Several cricketers have expressed the belief that dishonesty exists not just in Pakistan's cricket, but in the very

Pride in Kashmir

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 12:02:32 +0530

If we can have Bihari pride and Marathi pride, why not Kashmiri pride? Beyond the stone pelters, a new voice is trying to make itself heard in Kashmir. A

Dot-headed and elephant-nosed

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 08:42:17 +0530

Indians are either imitations of white Americans or overly assertive about culture Indian 'dotheads' with their multiple armed, elephant nosed gods have taken over the once pure white American

The crumpled sari

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 09 Jun 2010 12:04:40 +0530

Mamata triumphs at a time when mass leaders are becoming extinct. The crumpled sari is decidedly unaesthetic. So is the untidy hair and rough speech. But then if you

Caste off those blinkers

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 12 May 2010 12:15:07 +0530

India's elite needs to come to terms with caste The headlines scream almost every day: 'Girl allegedly murdered because of inter-caste romance', 'Couple killed by relatives because of caste

You, me and Dantewada

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 12:10:59 +0530

The Maoist attack in Dantewada has brought out two opposing arguments. One argument focuses on a savagely unequal socio-economic reality where state neglect and exploitation have spawned a fearsome response.

Ladies compartment

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 09:54:10 +0530

High gender justice rhetoric followed by anti-climactic bathos. That seems to be the story of the Women's Reservation Bill that was passed in the Rajya Sabha yesterday. It's the longest

The Dhritarashtra syndrome

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 08:29:49 +0530

Even clever political heavyweights are blind about their sons. There is a well-known syndrome in Indian politics known as the Dhritarashtra syndrome. Last week as expelled Samajwadi Party heavyweight

From Three Idiots to a Nation Of Idiots

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 06:20:50 +0530

Before I went to see Three Idiots watching the film had become something of a sacred duty. Friends telephoned from Mumbai and hissed furiously, "You mean you haven't seen Three

Over to you, citizens of India. It's time to demand justice for Ruchika

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 08:15:29 +0530
Our criminal justice system has once again failed. Once again the ghost of a young girl cries out to be heard. In a country that celebrates its woman president, its

Speaking the language of change

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 02:09:06 +0530
2009 marks the return of the English-speaking politician. Environment and Forests Minister Jairam Ramesh is India's new king of climate, leading our country's charge against Western nations who are

No fear of the law

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:07:01 +0530
Shiv Sena attack on IBN shows the police are non existent in daily lives. After the Shiv Sena's attack on the offices of IBN7 and IBN Lokmat, email messages,

Curtain call

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 12:54:01 +0530
Buddhadeb Bhattacharyya is a Shakespearan tragic hero Defeat sometimes begins at the moment of victory. In 2006, the ruling Left Front had thundered back to power in

Rich Behaving Poorly

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 12:05:46 +0530
Two seemingly unconnected events point to our most urgent contemporary dilemma: how should the rich behave in a country of the poor? Just a week after Corporate Affairs minister Salman

Fight the apartheid

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 12:19:35 +0530
Union HRD minister Kapil Sibal's education reforms, particularly for schools, have electrified students, teachers and parents. The 10th standard Board exam will now be optional for CBSE schools, grades will

FTN Blog: For the BJP, Jinnah is about politics, not history

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 20 Aug 2009 08:23:16 +0530
If only the BJP has read Jaswant Singh's book - Jinnah India-Partition Independence before expelling him! Actually, the thesis in the book is not new. Many earlier writers such as

No checks please, I'm a Bollywood star

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 09:08:56 +0530
Ah, India and its ridiculous VIP syndrome again! Once again the syndrome of Don't-You-Know-Who-I-Am. Once again politicians are outraged that actor Shah Rukh Khan was questioned at Newark airport in

In August company

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 02:14:19 +0530
Lets make a pledge this 15th August 15th August is approaching. We are getting ready to celebrate that great document that forms the foundation of our modern

'Don't you know I am a VIP?'

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 22 Jul 2009 04:24:58 +0530
Representatives of "the people" are outraged that former president APJ Abdul Kalam was made to pass through security checks on a flight from New Delhi to the US on the

FTN Blog: Bahuguna Joshi's words were horrifying, but not anti-Dalit

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 02:18:08 +0530
Thursday was a day when we heard two kinds of words. On the one hand, meaningless words of diplomatic gobbledygook from India and Pakistan about "debracketing" and "cautious optimism". On

FTN Blog: Our cities are geared for the rich

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 12:50:20 +0530
The metro accident in Delhi and the waterlogging in Mumbai motivated us to start a discussion on which way our cities are heading. Face The Nation on Tuesday

The Morality Budget

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:10:18 +0530
Transforming Indian attitudes might have to be as slow as reforming the economy The reinterpretation of Section 377 by the Delhi High Court, decriminalizing consenting adult homosexual sex, is

A People's Cabinet

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 03:17:21 +0530
The UPA has a social charter, it also needs a democratic charter In the early 1990s, when the economy was new but our mindsets were old, your humble columnist,

Voting for the nation

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 19 May 2009 11:41:26 +0530
Elections 2009 produced a national mandate, above caste and region The most "issue-less" election has thrown up the most magnificent result. It was a grueling marathon five week campaign:

The Elf Of Elections

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 13 May 2009 01:32:50 +0530
In politics, as in business, there's no place for monopolies anymore Covering the election campaign in 2004, your humble columnist had spotted a funny little creature, and had

A deadly quiet

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 12:45:21 +0530
The EC may be jeopardizing electioneering
Is the world's largest democracy undertaking the magnificent ritual of electing its rulers? The prevailing atmosphere is funereal and deathly quiet. The only

Pappu pass ho gaya!

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 12:02:47 +0530
Orissa Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik has shattered myths about the babalog neta
Pappu can't dance, saala, goes the popular song from a recent film. But anyone observing the

Panties and Perverts

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 11 Feb 2009 02:22:16 +0530
Two Indias are pulling in different directions Both the zealot and the sex symbol claim to be the defining face of a new India. Pramod Muthalik, Sri Ram Sene

Mirror Image of the future?

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 15 Jan 2009 12:29:26 +0530
India could soon become another Pakistan. A disconnected elite living in heavily guarded villas or speeding down highways in gleaming Pajeros with tinted glass in the front and gunmen

The worst of times, the best of times

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 07:10:24 +0530
Assembly elections in the aftermath of 26/11 have sent a dignified message. Every action has acquired an unimaginable almost ridiculous trajectory. A friend laughs and sits back in her

Trouble at Om

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 03:31:20 +0530
Hindu rage is the newest threat to civil society. Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur is a woman representing "Hinduism". Yet she is accused of killing innocents in bomb blasts at

Those blasted theories

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 12:40:23 +0530
It is October in India. October of the silken sun and blossoming trees. October is a holy time. Durga comes sweeping down from the mountains. Iftaar dinners are in full

Howdy pardner

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 01:49:03 +0530
A decade ago Jairam Ramesh wrote an insightful essay entitled "Yankee Go Home But Take Me With You". It was an analysis of the elaborate hypocrisy of the Indian political

Chaos theory in the Hindu cosmos

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 01:17:04 +0530
Earlier this year when L K Advani released his memoirs, My Country My Life, his contribution to Indian public life was hailed. Advani was credited with creating a "bipolarity" in

Red Letter Day

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 03:27:12 +0530
A letter to the Left Lal Salaam Comrades! Your tenure in government seems to have ended. How different things were four years ago! Four years ago you were

1..2..3..statue!

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 07:15:59 +0530
A courageous newspaper editor, whose commitment to his home state of Maharashtra has never been in doubt was attacked last week at his home by fellow Maharashtrians. His windows were

The rise of the tropical modern

editor@ibnlive.com — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 04:17:12 +0530
When Kareena Kapoor attained "size sero", there were fears of an apocalypse of suicidal dieting among young Indian women. Instead our level-headed behenji brigade (with the exception of a few

City of dreadful knights

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 07 May 2008 02:29:46 +0530
Ah, the great Indian city! The lack of urban infrastructure destroying the infrastructure of the human soul. By 2020 Mumbai will have a population of 20 million. Bangalore, already with

Back to anger and hatred

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 12:45:25 +0530
"It's all one skin and bone, one piss and shit, one blood, one meat. From one drop, a universe. Who's a Brahmin? Who's a shudra?

Rahulbaba and Mahi

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 10:51:50 +0530
The Congress could learn a few things from the Indian cricket team. Two young Indian men are on a unique journey. Rahul Gandhi, 37 year old MP from Amethi

Farming the colonial dream

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 15 Feb 2008 02:39:12 +0530
Those who speak for "the farmer" are destroying him.
As this Budget approaches, there are many worries about the future of "the India economic story". The National

Disinvest the Bharat Ratna

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 07:43:41 +0530
The current clamour over India's national jewel or the Bharat Ratna is priceless to say the least. The furore began, in fact, with a story by a canny young television

The politics of seeing

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 10:41:15 +0530
The "chappan ki chaati" or 56 inch chest as Narendra Modi likes to describe himself as campaigned like a whirlwind in the Gujarat assembly elections, addressing thousands of meetings and

Narendrabhai & Buddhababu: separated at birth

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 08:42:13 +0530
Historian Sumit Sarkar is not known to mince his words. His 'Modern India' is a magisterial left wing sweep of the Indian independence movement in which the struggles of "non

Casualties of an accident

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 26 Oct 2007 08:56:59 +0530
Manmohan Singh failed to usher in a new era of educated politicians
"I am a politician by accident," the prime minister said at the Hindustan Times Leadership summit, "I

A Mythical Bridge To Voters

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 28 Sep 2007 07:31:52 +0530
In the Valmiki Ramayan, the character Ahalya, was transformed from a stone into a beautiful woman because Lord Rama merely stepped on her. In a similar way Lord Ram has

No power to the people

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 09:07:37 +0530
The nuke deal controversy shows a chilling distance
between politicians and people The fracas over the Indo-US Nuclear deal, 123 Agreement and Hyde Act has revealed one chilling fact.

The Cult of the Sex Goddess

editor@ibnlive.com — Sun, 26 Aug 2007 01:12:42 +0530
In its 60th year as an independent nation, India has just elected its first woman president. Yet the ascent of the demure Pratibha Patil - with her covered head and

Shshsh... Muslim!

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 07:51:23 +0530
A conspiracy of silence has followed the conspiracy of terror. There is a certain chilling predictability about the list of convicts, a dreadful Orwellian litany of sameness. After a

Rather a dull Party

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 06 Jul 2007 12:54:01 +0530
The Presidential elections of 2007 have illustrated writer Martin Jacques' famous phrase, "The End Of Politics." Politics, wrote Jacques in the Nineties, is fast becoming a "backward sector". The central

Goan the right way

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 08 Jun 2007 08:47:19 +0530
Snatching victory from the jaws of defeat, the hapless (and astonished) Congress party has secured (along with its ally the NCP) 19 seats in the Goa Assembly elections and is

Uttar Pradesh Private Limited

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 11 May 2007 09:28:45 +0530
A dalit ki beti has become Uttar Pradesh ki rani: Mayawati has created a historic win in Uttar Pradesh. "Caste" and "religion" are the dominant words used to describe UP's

Bharat's first citizen

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 08:29:32 +0530
NR Narayana Murthy is one of Mother India's most admirable sons. He is a homegrown capitalist, the boy next door who made good at home and abroad, the son of

Hurley in the morning

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 16 Mar 2007 07:29:44 +0530
A range of outraged critics have expressed their fury at the media's coverage of the Elizabeth Hurley Arun Nayyar wedding. Similar fears of a "trivial" "sensational" media were voiced during

Memories of the Samjhauta Express

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 21 Feb 2007 11:24:47 +0530
On a freezing January night three years ago two journalists queued up to board the train to Pakistan. The Attari-Samjhauta Express stood at the Old Delhi railway station decorated with

A reformer for the poor

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 16 Feb 2007 09:28:20 +0530
Franz Kafka's 'Metamorphosis' has haunted West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee since his university days. There are many interpretations of the play, the most popular one, being how a salesman

Kumbh 2007

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 09:00:04 +0530
The Ardh Kumbh is in progress in Allahabad. It is not perhaps as grand as the Mahakumbh of 2001. The crowds are less formidable. The sadhu samaj not on full

Citizen 2006

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 05:35:44 +0530
Behold, a new baby! Pushing its way through tubes blocked by national apathy. Bumping against a diseased uterus overgrown with tumours from the colonial past. And breaking free of the

A murderous society

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 22 Dec 2006 10:28:44 +0530
After an acquittal now a conviction. Manu Sharma, son of the well connected Haryana politician Vinod Sharma, has been sentenced to life imprisonment for murdering Jessica Lal. After Sharma's acquittal

8 pc growth of social change

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 10:46:33 +0530
Two and a half years after the inauguration of the government of the aam admi, there are different analyses of the record of the Manmohan Singh government. If the golden

Qaum or country?

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 27 Oct 2006 11:11:27 +0530
In 2005, Imrana Bibi of Charthawal village in UP was raped by her father-in-law. A year later, a Muzaffarnagar sessions court has now sentenced her rapist, Ali Mohamad to ten

Patron saint of the shopping mall

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 10:27:49 +0530
A wonderful new film has given us a new word. "Gandhigiri" has entered the popular lexicon. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was never more trendy. The young are buying books on him.

We don't need no education

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 01 Sep 2006 07:42:47 +0530
Those who believe that India's hopes reside in its youth might glance at the events of the recent week and take off their rose- tinted glasses. In Madhav College in

House of Spirits

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 08:18:29 +0530
Monsoon sessions of Parliament are generally turbulent. Under hovering rainclouds, the mid-year gathering of peoples representatives generally sees the rage of the long summer reach boiling point. But if you

The Cosmic Glass Ceiling

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 07 Jul 2006 01:05:48 +0530
Not one but two women have created a storm of protest by claiming that they have entered the shrine of Sabrimala. The Sabrimala shrine, where women between the ages of

From India Shining to India Snorting

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 09 Jun 2006 01:19:58 +0530
On the face of it, as Atal Bihari Vajpayee said, Rahul Mahajan is just a youth who made a mistake. The night before he was to take his father's ashes

Secession of the successful

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 12 May 2006 06:55:52 +0530
The term "secession of the successful" is a particularly evocative term. This phrase occurs in the late JK Galbraith's works as well as in the writings of other economists and

On shaky ground

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 14 Apr 2006 10:35:04 +0530
Twenty-seven per cent reservation of seats for OBCs, in all IITs, IIMs and central universities proposes Arjun Singh, Minister for Human Resource Development, who has inevitably been reminded of social

Varanasi's religion

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 10:29:52 +0530
Never was there a greater contrast between Hinduism and Hindutva. Three bomb blasts shattered the calm of 2,500-year-old Varanasi on Tuesday, March 7. Immediately, the political party that claims to

Rang de Bizarre

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 21 Feb 2006 09:47:53 +0530
Five badly behaved but photogenic young louts, and their hanger-on girl, regularly gather at night at a geographical feature resembling the Grand Canyon. There they take deep slugs of beer.

Re-write the Purusa-Sukta

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 09 Feb 2006 01:46:41 +0530
There is a wonderful work on the Indian caste system called Homo Hierarchicus by Louis Dumont. Some critics have called Dumont's book an oversimplification, others have called it Orientalist, but

An old party needs new gatecrashers

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 12:54:18 +0530
The Husain Sagar lake in Hyderabad is almost as well known for its suicides as its beauty. Across Rayalseema, Telengana and coastal Andhra, farmers drink endosulfan pesticide to end their

The argumentative Hindu

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 31 Dec 2005 04:06:58 +0530
Lal Krishna Advani is not your average Mr Nice Guy. He described the Ayodhya movement that led to the demolition of the Babri masjid in 1992, as a mass awakening

Corrupt MP or BIMARU MP?

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 30 Dec 2005 04:28:19 +0530
Gosh, what a turbulent winter session of parliament! First the drama over the Volcker Committee report and the exit of Natwar Singh. Then the daily walkouts over the NDA's ridiculous