Category Archives: India
Gandhi’s Rendezvous with Movies
I thought Ram Rajya (1943) was the first and only movie that Gandhi had ever seen. So I was quite surprised when I found out that it was not the only movie that he had watched. Moreover, it appears that it … Continue reading
In Search of the Sacred in Modern India
I’ve just started reading William Dalrymple’s Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India. I loved his last book The Last Mughal (my review), and if the Introduction chapter of Nine Lives is any indication, another great read … Continue reading
And So He Left…
About a year ago, I wrote about Delhi High Court’s exemplary verdict that disposed off the charges against M F Husain; I cherished each and every word of Justice Kaul’s verdict that emphasized the importance of tolerance in a free … Continue reading
Filed under Cartoons, Current Affairs, India
Divine Justice?
The idiotic claims from televangelist Pat Robertson — that the earthquake in Haiti may be a blessing in disguise and is a result of the pact the Haitians made long time ago with Satan to help them against French imperialists … Continue reading
Filed under Current Affairs, History, Religion
Vande Mataram
The “dead issue” is brought back to life yet again by some Muslim clerics who issued a fatwa against the recital of Vande Mataram by Muslims. In response, Hindu hard-liners retorted that those who refuse to sing the national song … Continue reading
Filed under Current Affairs, India, Politics
Indian Summer
I just ordered Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire written by Alex Tunzelmann. Below is the first paragraph from the book: In the beginning there were two nations. One was a vast, mighty and magnificent … Continue reading
Cattle Class
The recent Twitter controversy about Shashi Tharoor’s “insensitive” remark reminded me of this cartoon by Mike Luckovich published about two years ago. The joke, as Amit Verma explained on Times Now show, is on the airlines, not on the passengers.
Filed under Cartoons, Current Affairs, India, Misc
Blaming Nehru
Here we go again. Nehru-bashing has been quite a popular fad nowadays (especially among the rightists) and so far he had been blamed for myriad things. But this recent assault, has a new edge. I was quite excited when I heard … Continue reading
Like an Ever-flowing River
Last month, English language added the millionth word to its repertoire. (Don’t ask me, kaun sa labz?) Compare this with Hindi, which has only about 120,000 words. And meanwhile, only 14,135 people listed Sanskrit as their primary language in the … Continue reading
Filed under Current Affairs, India, Language
Musht-e-Gubaar
The great-great-granddaughter of the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, Madhu, is illiterate, and makes a living by running a tea-stall with her mother in the slums of Calcutta. Thanks to an initiative by a journalist to rescue her from … Continue reading
Filed under Current Affairs, History
