If winter’s gone…

Winter is on the wane and the smell of spring speaks of new hope, fresh makeovers once again. After a winter of de-monetisation, a resilient nation wakes up again to embrace the oncoming spring, getting ready to celebrate the most colourful and joyous of all festivals, Holi. It’s this amazing ability to overcome adversity with such stoicism and a smile that makes our nation what it is and gives democracy a vibrant and natural crucible. It is Hope and it is this very idea of hope that we try and understand in our essay on contemporary India and its inner resilience of democracy

But in politics for some Holi will be celebrated a couple of days in advance with election results for five states setting the course early for the rest of the year; the most important verdict being from the most populous and large state of Uttar Pradesh, the weather wane for our political future. In this political storm, the Congress party hopes to weather it somewhat by riding tandem on Akhilesh Yadav’s bicycle. But will the party also show its full hand by playing its charismatic card which rests with the charming Priyanka Gandhi? We take a look up close to unravel this political enigma and the Congress trump

The distance between India and Bharat is shrinking and even though we tend to keep our noses close to our cities, it is the rural and small town India that is fuelling the growth story even as a new disease seems to be creeping up on us to devour our collective minds — the curse of social media and its banality.

Apart from these thought-provocateurs, this issue of DW packs an amazing punch of variety from Cuba after Fidel Castro to a virtual world where the physical and digital blur; from Raees’ Miyabhai ki daring to Shashi Tharoor’s fencing with the British Raj in An Era of Darkness and lots, lots more. So Happy Holi and Happy Reading!