Lexicon of democratic literacy

The introduction of educational qualifications as eligibility criteria for contesting panchayat elections has shocked and angered rural Rajasthan, including supporters of t...

Flyover Memories

December 1, 2014 isn?? just significant as the Golden Anniversary of the Eucharistic Congress and the first ever visit of a pontiff to India. It is also memorable for the s...

Of Mirth And Soaps

There was this scene in Thakan, last week, where the newly married bride Sadaf goes into the kitchen to make tea. Foxed by an unfamiliar kitchen in the lavish house of her ...

Amitabh's Blockbuster Presence

Undoubtedly, Comedy Nights with Kapil is Colors’ channel driver. The demand to get on the show as audience, also paves the way for that brief time to be on camera and...

3 Screens and The Missing 4th “R”

Screens surround us, and our children.

First of all there is the big screen, with its larger than life images, with its tinsel moorings, colors and the celebrities ...

Crow Tales

Even now as I sit in my bedroom writing this piece, my friendly crow sits perched on the window cawing and daring me to shoo him away. I ignore him, so he hops on to the wi...

Corruption, Institutions and Sustainable Development

When civil servants make decisions based purely on their own personal interests, their decisions are not likely to be of benefit to society

An argument has been rum...

Of Khobragade, Richards, Equality, Fairness & Uniformity

I’ve been following the Devyani Khobragade story since its emergence at the prime centre of global media, and to me, it smacks of one more gaping hole, bigger than th...

The Stow Away Who Touched Our Lives

As was customary, when our friend SD’s ship sailed into Bombay Harbor, my mother, brother and I visited his ship. As we headed towards the bridge, we saw two havaldar...