MY PROFESSIONAL LIFE takes me across India, and the rest of the world, which is both fortunate (I love travelling), and problematic, because I spend a lot of my precious moments at airport lounges. On one such wait, after devouring dozens of magazines, my thoughts turned to my own, Democratic World....
A trouble shooter, an avid reader, eternal optimist, a doting grandfather—meet the man set to rescue Indian aviation There is something magical about Lutyen’s Delhi—in its sheer dignity, beauty and magnitude. To see all that bathed in the soft afternoon light of a chilly October afternoon is...
World Condemns Taliban’s Attack
World \\ There was global outrage over the shooting of a 14-year-old Pakistani activist, working for education and empowerment. Malala Yousufzai, who opposed Taliban restrictions on woman education, was left in a critical condition after gunmen shot her in the head and neck, while she was leaving fo...
Cricket \\ West Indies were crowned the new World Twenty20 champions after a 36-run victory over hosts Sri Lanka in a dramatic final in Colombo, Sri Lanka. The West Indies, restricted to 137-6 after electing to bat, hit back to bowl Sri Lanka out for 101 and silence a sell-out crowd of 35,000 at the...
Nobel \\ Two Americans shared 2012 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for deciphering the communication system that the body uses to sense the outside world, which will aid development of new drugs. The winners were, Dr Robert J. Lefkowitz, professor at Duke University Medical Center in Durham, NC, and Dr Bri...
Schumacher announces his retirement
Announcement\\ Michael Schumacher announced his ‘second’ retirement from racing at the age of 43 years in the Suzuka paddock in Japan. It came as no real shock, considering Schumacher’s seat was given to Lewis Hamilton for season 2013 onwards. That left Schumacher with few alternatives for his...
India Plagued by Financial Irregularities
Scams\\ India witnessed a slew of protests against high-profile politicians and personalities in October 2012. Robert Vadra, the son-in-law of Congress Party president Sonia Gandhi, came under the scanner. It was alleged that Vadra had bought as many as 41 premium apartments from DLF, and subsequent...
Writers by nature are quite bipolar; we switch on and off, personas
SWATI KAUSHAL: I was born in Delhi. My father had a transferable job, as a result we moved around a lot when I was a child. Looking back it seems that my destiny was somehow connected with the US. My father was posted in Washington DC, at the Embassy, when I was merely three years old. We shifted, f...
Dump those books and click the keys to get that perfect getaway From flipping through outrageously priced Lonely Planet guidebooks to asking well-heeled and well-travelled friends for recommendations on where to go and what to do, travel has always had a social component to it. So it’s no surpris...
Huawei risks for Indian defences
50 years after the 1962 defeat A STREAM of newspaper articles last month (October) marked the 50th anniversary of China’s 1962 war victory with headlines such as “The war we lost—the lessons we didn’t learn” and “Lessons from 1962—India must never lower its guard”. India’s guard ...
An ad-man, a scuba diver and a wannabe filmmaker, Prahlad Kakar is the man who dons many hats Creative people, artists, are generally moody, and just a bit loony. You never know what to expect from them. Despite this notion of ‘crazy people in showbusiness’, I was not prepared for this one part...
Northeast India has been an enigma for the nation. An area which has more than 2,000km of international border but is connected with India by a narrow 20km-wide corridor, the region’s tenuous geographical link makes it politically and economically volatile. On the other hand, the international bor...
Lessons to be Learnt From T20 Cup
Some things change so quickly that it’s easy for others to stay just the same THE WORLD T20, a tournament that Sri Lanka hosted, West Indies won and India participated in—taught us some vital lessons about cricket’s past, present and future. Here, I list a few (in no particular order). 1. An...
...Is what the students of Haji Public School are singing, and they are not the only ones celebrating Once on the banks of Chenab, a bunch of children were busy chatting amongst each other. As the villagers heard them, they began to wonder—the children looked like one of their own. But none of t...
The Illicit Happiness of Other People: A Novel
A quirky look at the average, domestic life of a pre-liberalised India THE ILLICIT HAPPINESS OF OTHER PEOPLE is set in pre-1991 Madras, when India was not shining and Madras was the name of a 17th century town rather than a modern metropolis. Joseph says in his acknowledgements, “It is where I s...
Is Narcopolis Thayil’s antidote after all the decades spent smashed? Yes, it probably is AN ALCOHOLIC and an substance abuser for over two decades, firsttime author and long-time poetcum- musician, Jeet Thayil perhaps found his antidote in writing. It is not surprising that Thayil found his cure ...
Small and serene, Arusha is a jewel tucked away in Tanzania “But is it safe?” Between my husband and I, we have a truly extended family. Nearly everyone in that rather large and well-meaning Bengali family of ours expressed their dismay when we declared our decision to move to Africa for good....