So here is the thing. We are living in an India where voices can be muffled, and young cartoonists can be jailed for creative dissent and protesters can be beaten up and shown that the State is intolerant of inconvenient ...Read More
It was the Anna phenomenon that threw the Indian middle class into the limelight. For the first time since 1947, a swathe of humanity lifted itself up and marched into the Ramlila grounds and the gaze of the waiting TV ...Read More
As crowds gather to occupy Wall Street in one part of the world, people jubilant at the end of dictatorship in another celebrated their freedom in macabre and bloody images and I wonder if a similar angst is existent in us, ...Read More
"Don't shoot..don't shoot," so he said before being shot in a drain where he was hiding after 42 years of unleashing violence against dissidents. Muammar Gaddafi lived and died by the gun like many dictators before him. But then evil ...Read More
Some years ago, while watching a documentary on Prof. Noam Chomsky, I learned about “The Faurisson Affair”. This opened up new horizons then, and still continues to deepen my understanding of the debate surrounding “the freedom of speech”.
In February 1981, ...Read More
I have always suspected that we Indians are schizophrenic.
On one hand, we send our children to the best schools and colleges, hoping that they would get a seat in the best professional colleges across the world, earn money in dollars, ...Read More
What we felt today was a surge of pride. In Indian democracy. In the idea of people power. It was time for the two to meet. Because for a long time, they have existed in isolation.
Today instead of uncultured politicians ...Read More
It is really upsetting to hear Kiran Bedi's language and public statements like, "When the resolution is passed, the parliament will become a Pavitra Mandir."
The parliament is NOT a mandir, Madam, it is an institution. A democratic institution which has ...Read More
I caught sight of Kiran Bedi the other day, flailing one of her arms like she was sweeping something out of the way, mike in the other hand, standing on the stage in Ramlila Maidan conducting what she referred to ...Read More
I sincerely hope that the 74-year-old leader will now end his fast. Kiran Bedi proclaimed recently that Anna Hazare will continue the fast until the Jan Lokpal Bill is passed. Why doesn't Madam go on a fast herself? Jokes apart, ...Read More
Anna Hazare was arrested and put in Tihar Jail today. A day after India celebrated its independence day. But there is even a bigger irony at play here. Only yesterday, a predictably verbose NDTV anchor was asking some historians and ...Read More
Truth is hard to speak. And harder to live. No one knows that better than a journalist. After 16 years of working in the media and assorted newspapers, I have no illusions left about the purpose of reporting. The hunger for truth does ...Read More
