Defence pacts, like promises, can be impressive when signed, subject to interpretation when tested. Pakistan has now provided a rather entertaining demonstration of the principle with its Makkah Joint Defence Agreement with Saudi Arabia and Turkey. When the pact was signed last month, Islamabad seemed to have rediscovered its strategic swagger. With its nuclear arsenal…
AI has discovered the perfect time machine: one that can also fix our hair, clothes and questionable fashion choices There is a new epidemic sweeping across social media. Thankfully, it is neither contagious nor fatal. It merely threatens to make us look considerably better than we actually did four decades ago. I first noticed it…
If the latest revelations by Israeli newspaper Haaretz are proved correct, Benjamin Netanyahu will have an even more damning question to answer than the one that has haunted him since October 7, 2023: What did he know, when did he know it – and why did he keep it to himself? According to an investigation…
Firstly, I have to explain my silence for over two weeks. There has been a wedding in my family, and I haven’t written a word except names on invitation cards. Secondly, I have stayed away from news, views and nonsense. It was blissful. Then came Swara Bhasker. Swara has once again stirred the pot, this…
So, the mystery of the 41-year-old Gen Z has taken a rather entertaining turn. After the internet did what the internet does best- check the numbers – the woman at the centre of the controversy has now appeared in an apology video with a brand-new revelation: she is actually 25. Now, that explains everything. The…
The Income Tax Department’s nationwide verification of suspicious foreign remittances is a necessary move. At a time when financial transactions are becoming increasingly sophisticated and money can cross borders at the click of a button; the tax authorities cannot afford to look at outward remittances in isolation. The Department’s announcement of August 18 is particularly…
I grew up in an India that was barely a generation old. Looking back over the decades, what strikes me most is not merely how much the country has changed, but how much time we lost before discovering what India could actually become. The India of my childhood was poor, insecure and hesitant. We inherited…
Pallaburusu may not sound particularly appealing. It may even make you chuckle if you are unfamiliar with the Telangana usage. For many Telugu speakers, particularly in rural Telangana, pallaburusu is simply a toothbrush. And it becomes the unlikely centrepiece of a village drama that is far less about dental hygiene than about an ageing father’s…
Responding to the editor’s appeal to reflect on Bharat’s 80-year post-Independence journey, I find myself returning to a subject close to my heart – Indian cinema. What stands out today is not merely its technological evolution, but a deeper shift in its narrative confidence: the move from formula-driven escapism to storytelling that engages with contested…
Artificial intelligence is supposed to make us smarter. There is, however, a lurking danger that it could make us intellectually lazier instead. A new Gallup survey in the US has an interesting finding: about one in five Americans who sought financial advice in the past year turned to AI. Yet only about three in 10…
