WITH THE GENERAL ELECTIONS 2014 around the corner, Indian politics is set to change. After all, in the past few decades, urban and semi-urban attitudes and aspirations have changed. The new generation of Indians is more self-assured than their parents ever were. Their needs are different. They posse...
To write about a poet with the sensitivity and lyricism of Gulzar, one needs at least some level of penmanship. Lacking that, it is best left to the poet to describe himself. In this profile of the poet, we have done just that—liberally used Gulzar’s immortal lines to decipher the man behind the...
General Elections to Start in April
Poll to Take Place in Nine Phases ELECTIONS\\ India’s General Elections-2014 will be held from April 7 to May 12, 2014, in nine phases, the Election Commission announced in March. The votes will be counted on May 16. The election schedule will ensure that security forces can be moved across the ...
Legendary Writer Khushwant Singh Expires
He was 99 years old OBITUARY\\ Writer, journalist, one of India’s best satirists and former editor of Hindustan Times, Khushwant Singh, died on March 20, 2014. He was 99. The man who spared none and spread ribald cheer with his celebrated column— With Malice towards One and All—was Hindustan ...
Conflict over Crimera Intensifies
US Warns Russia CONFLICT\\ Russian President Vladimir Putin moved swiftly to annex Crimea on March 18, 2014, in the first land grab in Europe since the Second World War. The move was condemned by the US and EU and worries remain over Moscow’s intentions elsewhere in Ukraine. A deadline Ukraine’...
MH370 in Indian Ocean MISSING\\ China demanded that Malaysia turn over the satellite data used to conclude that the Malaysia Airlines jetliner had crashed in the southern Indian Ocean, killing all 239 on board. Chinese officials narrowed the search area as a result of that assessment, but the zone ...
Get the right people together for the social media dream team. Here’s how... An analogy I often give to businesses who’re reluctant to include social into their marketing mix is one of stepping onto a running treadmill – if you’re not up to speed and just want to stand still, you’re likel...
Notes on India on the move INDIA LENDS ITSELF to kinetic metaphors. Commentators frequently speak about India being in flux, on the move, rising. Arundhati Roy describes the country as a “heaving ocean”. At the end of the spectrum, many also bemoan India’s chaos, or as V.S. Naipaul put it, In...
The artless archer is simply focussed on her game “I want to be Sachin of my field”, says Deepika Kumari. Her deep steady eyes dare you to refute her confident words. After all she is just 19 and well Sachin Tendulkar is leagues apart. But former World No.1 and current World No.2 archer Deepaka...
Ramu Ramnathan and Vijay Pratap represent democracy in all its diversity. While one penned an extempore satire in his response, the other presented a well thought out argument to the debate. With elections around the corner, we leave it to the readers to draw their own conclusions. RAMU RAMANATHAN/...
Will this General Elections curve a different path? HOW TIME FLIES. On May 27, 1964, Jawaharlal Nehru passed away. It is difficult for today’s Indians, used to fast-paced events and frenetic news cycles, running from one blockbuster happening to another, to imagine what the death of the great man...
BENDING IT LIKE BECKHAM IN BOONDOCKS
Yuwa has an interesting agenda—girl child empowerment in the tribal belt of Jharkhand through football. What brings Franz Gastler to India or rather what keeps him in the rural interiors of Jharkhand? Consulting with Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), working on corporate social strategies.....
A sketchy effort that leaves you wishing for more SOMETIMES THE simplest questions are the hardest to answer. Say I ask you, why do you feel at home in your home? There could be a multitude of answers you could offer. Comfort, familiarity, security, history, etc. However, I could as easily toss the...
A glimpse into the universe of one of the world’s unforgettable men WHERE A 1,000-page biography fails to tell about the authorman, a one page epistle tells all. It is a mirror to his mind and a string that plays the harp of his heart. Take for instance the famous epistolary collection Letters fr...
The magic of the olive tree changes with the terrain in this region It was my first day in Tunisia and I had been whisked off by my hosts to visit a museum. Not any old museum, mind, but one that had mosaics as its theme. Bardo had mosaics on the walls, on plaques, on the floors, even on the ceilin...
A khichdri of surprises—here’s Cafe Lota I wish to begin with a disclaimer; I walked into Cafe Lota and was immediately smitten. I have visited too many cafes and dhabas next to picture-perfect waterfalls or misty mountains to list Lota as one of the most visually pleasing places. It is pretty,...