Historically, India lived with the behemoth that was the Congress party. While several other political parties coexisted with strong ideological identities of their own, they largely remained also-rans, unable to surpass the Congress. However, the 1950s and 1960s witnessed the emergence of a genuine multi-party system, with new political formations and organised opposition groups entering…
One wonders if there is any country left untouched by Trump when it comes to being made fun of, including its leaders. The less said the better about how he peddled blatant falsehoods regarding his alleged interference in settling issues between India and Pakistan in the recent past. Time and again, Modi’s lieutenants in the…
When the Chief Justice of India used the term ‘cockroaches’ during a hearing, referring to unemployed youth, he also added that they were parasites of society. Within hours, he clarified that the term was meant only for those with fraudulent and fake degrees and was not intended to apply to everyone. Whether his utterance was…
Chief Minister of Andhra Pradesh, Nara Chandrababu Naidu, has exhorted people to have more children before it is too late to repent. Naidu is not normally known for making out-of-the-box statements of this nature. He is not the type who speaks impulsively without applying his mind. He is perhaps the only Chief Minister in the…
In the small yet picturesque town of Kotagiri, about 29 kilometres from Ooty, this writer stayed for five days even before the election results were declared. During casual conversations with locals, despite exit poll predictions, most people mentioned either the DMK or the AIADMK, largely reflecting their traditional political loyalties. Very few believed that Vijay…
Call it a play on words, but after a recent, rather harrowing drive, this writer is convinced the answer is a resounding yes. What began as a neatly planned road trip from Hyderabad to Bengaluru on April 29 nearly spiralled into a roadside nightmare—saved, quite literally, by a blinking dashboard sensor most of us barely…
Much like Much Ado About Nothing, the enduring drama over Andhra Pradesh’s capital risks becoming an exercise in noise rather than necessity. What began as a legitimate post-bifurcation challenge in 2014 has, over a decade later, devolved into a prolonged political spectacle—rich in rhetoric, poor in resolution. Amaravati has remained at the heart of this…
Among public figures, Garikapati appears to be the first high-profile “victim” of the paraabhava dhaati predicted in the panchangam during Ugadi. Few would have imagined that a preacher admired for his blunt, unapologetic style—often seen as a counterweight to the more measured approach of contemporaries like Chaganti—would face such a sweeping and viral backlash. The…
Happy Ugadi The first two words should bring a smile to you, while the other two—in Telugu and English respectively—may create an eerie feeling of anxiety. But that’s how this year is destined to be, if we go by what the Hindu calendar, or panchangam, portends for us to ponder over. Every year marks the…
This writer has a habit (don’t know whether it is good or bad) of forcefully convincing his close friends and relatives not to miss something which he feels compelled to say. When he was trying to do this over the phone to a former student cum close friend, he shot back,’ Why don’t you write…
