THERE ARE many words that may be used to describe Arun Shourie; erudite, articulate, verbose, and controversial. He is all that. However, he is so much more. During our interview with one of India’s most familiar journalist, we asked—who are you really? “A doting slave to my son,” came the a...
Arun Shourie occupies a complicated space in the minds of millions. He is undoubtedly an editor par excellence, who stood up to the Emergency, exposed Bofors and had Chief Minister Antulay sacked. He is a defender of human rights who campaigned for 40,000 undertrials. He is a man of unquestionable f...
Anand Chosen as CNN IBN’s Indian of the Year for Second Time
CHESS \\ Chess legend Viswanathan Anand was chosen as the CNN IBN Indian of the Year 2012 in sports category for defending his title for the third year in a row. Other nominees were billiards ace Pankaj Advani for claiming eight world titles at an age of just 26 years, shuttler Saina Nehwal for winn...
Shooter in US School Kills 20 Children
CARNAGE \\ A gunman named by Connecticut Police as Adam Lanza, 20, shot and killed his mother Nancy Lanza at their home in Newtown, an affluent town of 27,000 people about 60 miles north-east of New York City and then went to his former school, Sandy Hook Elementary School to go on a killing rampage...
Pandit Ravi Shankar, Sir Patrick Moore No More
Icons leave a gap in hearts of millions DEMISE \\ The world mourned the demise of sitar maestro Pandit Ravi Shankar who breathed his last on December 12, 2012. Shankar was 92. Ravi Shankar was born in Varanasi and spent his youth touring Europe and India with the dance group of his brother Uday Sha...
Punter Retires Leaving Gap in Aussie Cricket
RETIREMENT\\ The 37-year-old former Australian Captain, Ricky Ponting, announced his retirement from cricket in December 2012. Ponting announced his decision at the conclusion of the third Test match against South Africa. But he agreed to play for Tasmania and represent Hobart Hurricanes in 2013 in ...
FDI in Retail Gets Nod in Both Houses
Kerala CM to Oppose FDI in State FDI \\ The Centre managed to pass the FDI in retail quite comfortably in both houses of the Parliament in December. As seen by the UPA government, this win will give fillip to implement economic reform agenda seen as crucial to revitalising growth and slashing a swo...
I have maps with every chapter so people know such places exist
I GREW UP in a joint family surrounded by siblings and cousins. It was a very liberal household with no discipline of any kind. Such was the case that when we needed money, we just took it, we never had to ask. Unlike other families, academics weren’t all that important in mine, but debates and el...
Can you spot the celebrity worker in the office and use her to the firm’s advantage? Look around your workplace. Can you spot a celebrity in your midst? You know, that one employee who has tens of thousands of followers on twitter and as many fans on Facebook, many of who care a lot more about wh...
Acknowledging highland systems of governance ON RECENT VISIT to Nagaland, a place that conjures up all sorts of disturbing stereotypes among many of us “plains people” of northern India, I had a number of humbling and clarifying moments. The beauty of this region was breathtaking. I was also mo...
She may be the daughter of one of the most famous fathers in India, but danseuse Sharmistha Mukherjee is happier when people know her for her moves and mudras Despite how cliched it might sound, I have noticed that in most middle-class, Bengali families there is an affinity towards art—most forms...
In December 2012, the Lok Sabha witnessed a repeated uproar before the quota in promotion bill was to be taken up for consideration, with the Samajwadi Party members storming the Well in protest against the measure. As Lok Sabha reassembled at noon after an adjournment soon after question hour began...
The world survived the Apocalypse, but can India survive Sachin’s retirement? GROWN up Indian men, their stubbles haggard, are weeping copious tears. Pot-bellied uncles, who have seen their share of life’s challenges, are walking around like disoriented wrecks. Many are spending their Christmas...
THE LONE GRAM WHO BUST THE OVEN
Friends, readers and countrymen, let me tell you a story. A story of a young boy who lived far away in a small village of Bihar, called Mohammadpur. This young boy was the son of a poor farmer, he went to a government school, his books weren’t brand new and his school bag was a home-stitched polyt...
How language shapes our lives and transforms the world IS IT A COINCIDENCE that the month in which the DW team decided to decode the poetry of the Taliban, Found in Translation—a book that re-emphasises the worth of translations, and the work of translators and interpretors—makes its way on our...
It is an honest and important political project, albeit not a literary one. Read it, for these voices have never been heard before THE POETRY of Taliban, which is a collection of poems, picked up and translated from the Taliban website is an intriguing book. One never thought that one could juxtapo...
Welcome to the ‘spookiest’ Indian town. Two mad men made a visit and lived to tell the tale But is it haunted?” my friend Ram asked as we discussed whether to embark on a road trip to Bhangarh, other factors appeared secondary. As we started our research about the abandoned city located betwe...
Chef Manish Mehrotra is trying to revive the lost ingredients with his eccentric style In my small tenure as a journalist, the chefs who I have interviewed, have had one thing in common: most were inspired by mothers or grandmothers, and in some cases, even their fathers. But the Indian Accent Chef...
