Vanka Pratap: A Voice from the Inside MS Shanker In the continuing series on resurrecting Hyderabad cricket, we turn the spotlight this week on former Ranji all-rounder and one of the more vocal figures in the Hyderabad Cricket Association (HCA) ecosystem—Vanka Pratap. A gritty cricketer-turned-administrator, Pratap is no stranger to the political undercurrents of Hyderabad…
By all available measures, former President Donald Trump’s troubles—both on the home front and across volatile global theatres—are not just growing, they’re compounding at a pace that even his loyalist base can no longer ignore. The latest U.S. decision to evacuate non-essential diplomats and military families from multiple locations in the Middle East is a…
Thirteen lives lost. A 12-year-old girl was crushed to death in the chaos. Dozens more injured. All because the Congress-led Karnataka government chose optics over order, political spectacle over public safety. And now, as the Chief Minister and his deputy shamelessly distance themselves from responsibility, the question must be asked: how many more must die…
Vijay Mohan Raj’s Blunt Truths: Hyderabad Cricket Deserves Better M S Shanker In this twelfth instalment of the “How to revive Hyderabad Cricket” series, we shine the spotlight on a man whose name is etched across multiple cricketing legacies — Vijay Mohan Raj. A player of exceptional calibre, a certified coach, and until recently the…
In a nation that boasts of a robust Constitution, a free judiciary, and the rule of law, what happens when the guardians of that law become complicit in its corrosion? The quiet, disgraceful farewell to Justice Bela M. Trivedi is not just a breach of decorum — it is a symptom of rot within India’s…
Narendra Pal Singh: A Quiet Warrior Speaks In the long list of Hyderabad cricketers, there are stars and there are workhorses. And then, once in a while, you find a rare blend of both—a genuine athlete who let his performance do the talking, stayed clear of controversy, and yet, quietly left behind a legacy. Narendra…
MS Shanker When the Opposition, particularly the Congress party, rages against the Adani Group, it’s not because it fears corruption—it fears competition. For decades, India’s industrial landscape was shaped to benefit a few favoured families and foreign lobbies, while real self-reliance remained a slogan, not strategy. The rise of a first-generation entrepreneur like Gautam Adani—who…
Well, well. Narendra Modi said he’d make Pakistan bleed—and boy, has he delivered. Within just three days, India’s meticulously prepared armed forces have rained fire and fury on Pakistan with such precision that Islamabad is still reeling, unsure whether to shout, surrender, or simply sit down and cry. And for all its nuclear chest-thumping, what…
MS Shanker A former high-ranking bureaucrat recently asked me to write an article on what language could unite India—given, as he put it, the “widespread regional opposition” to Hindi. Frankly, I was puzzled. Opposition from whom, exactly? Beyond the entrenched, ideologically rigid Dravidian parties of Tamil Nadu, who else is actively resisting Hindi as a…
Can there be a more absurd, crude joke than the recent statement made by former Bangladeshi Major General (Retd) A.L.M. Fazlur Rahman? In a bizarre outburst, Rahman—once aligned with Bangladesh’s interim administration—claimed that if India were to attack Pakistan, Bangladesh would invite China to occupy seven of India’s northeastern states. Let’s be clear: this isn’t…
