AS I WRITE this editorial, I am plagued by a sense of déjà vu. It seems that only yesterday Delhi emerged out of President’s Rule to elect a Chief Minister. A mere 48 days after his appointment, Mr Arvind Kejriwal of Aam Admi Party (AAP) has resigned from his post. Now, we are back to square one...
Meet the one-man chess industry. Without Viswanthan Anand’s moves, the Indian chess scene would have been that much poorer “My mother taught me how to play after I pestered her. I was around six years old and would see my elder siblings play. I wanted to be a part of the magic circle.” His pa...
Calls BJP, Congress, puppets of Mukesh Ambani RESIGNATION\\ Arvind Kejriwal quit as Delhi CM just 48 days after he assumed office. His move followed a threat to resign if the Legislative Assembly did not pass the Jan Lokpal Bill. On February 15, 2014, when his motion in favour of the Bill was rejec...
Row over release of Rajiv killers:
SC to hear Centre’s plea SENTENCE\\ The Supreme Court on February 15, 2014, commuted the death sentences of the three assassins of Rajiv Gandhi to life imprisonment, holding that the 11-year delay in deciding their mercy petition had a dehumanising effect on them. An apex court bench headed by Ch...
Reddy to Float Own Party STATE\\ Unfazed by protests, the Andhra Pradesh government in February moved the controversial Telangana Bill for consideration and passage in the Lok Sabha. Union Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde moved the AP Reorganisation Bill-2014 for consideration even while ministers ...
Russia Emerges as Overall Victor GAMES\\ The Winter Olympics started this month at Sochi, Russia, amid protests from the LGBT community after the Russian government criminalised homosexuality. Russian protest group Pussy Riot were beaten with whips by Cossacks helping patrol Sochi during the Winter...
I think it is great to have some idea of what you want to do with your life”
MY FAMILY have been farmers for generations in Punjab. In 1938, my grandfather left his village of Thakarki and settled in Somerset in the southwest of England. In 1950 my parents emigrated to Taunton. A few years later they moved to Wellington. Barely, five miles from where I was born was Milverton...
Gamification of the Social Media
What is it? Tushar Kanwar explains... The What-ification in Social Media? If that’s your reaction to the word gamification, you’ve come to the right place. At its simplest, gamification refers to the application of typical elements of game play—point scoring, competing with others, rewards an...
India, like its national bird, the peacock, wears many coloured plumes. Delhi, the cultural melting pot, of this multicultural, multiethnic, tolerant nation has remained largely immune to the occasional regional skirmishes marring the democratic image. But no longer...It has many new labels to wear...
Life as a Unisex Salon I WOULD LIKE TO meet someone who has never had a haircut. It’s a silly urge, I know, but this goes back to my Sunday Doordarshan days, of near miracles shown in a programme called Aisa Bhi Hota Hai, a colloquial for yes-it’s-true-suchthings- also-happen. Sunday mornings w...
What makes math wizard Anand Kumar’s life less ordinary? He is your average common man. More common than the men who are flaunting caps emblazoned with aam aadmi logos and are hogging the news headlines. Yet, Anand Kumar is a newsmaker in his own right. As recently as at the time of filing this s...
SPACE WHERE PERSONAL IS POLITICAL
A Leftist, Marxist thinking NGO “AI was started by some forward-thinking women such as Primla Lewis and Sreelatha Swaminathan who realised and were concerned by the loss of agency of the marginalised classes. I was a school teacher and a homemaker at that time teaching at the mobile creches and I...
Danubia: A Personal History of Habsburg Europe
Winder gives readers humour and pathos in the history of the Habsburgs EUROPA REGINA is a mannerist-era map of Europe drawn in the guise of a queen. The river Danube, like an artery, runs through the continent that for over four centuries was controlled or more aptly was in the fidgety hands of the...
A Call for India to Reboot REIMAGINING INDIA is a topical book. McKinsey & Company have chosen a great time to unleash more than 65 thought leaders from around the world to scourge India’s already tottering self-worth. The ratings are down and economic growth in India decelerated to 4.8 per c...
… culmination of grand tradition and warm hospitality We don’t realise how important Google and Wikipedia have become in our lives. But with the age of blogging, looking up just about everything on the internet—that too, on our cellphones—it is inexcusable to be ignorant about the culture a...
Surendran Nair is an artist who defies description, his work more so. In the melee of India Art Fair’s VIP-vernissage this year, I was missing something. I could not quite put my finger on it till I took a second round of the makeshift stalls. Yes, the numbers were down this year (from 104 to 80)...