Forget the old English proverb, ‘When in Rome, do as the Romans do.’ That may work for Romans. It certainly does not work for Indians. We are perhaps the only people on earth who carry our culture in hand baggage, check-in luggage and, if necessary, excess baggage. Whether it is Europe, America, Australia, Africa or…
The chilling slogan ‘Raliv, Galiv, Chaliv’ still haunts the collective memory of Kashmiri Pandits. Roughly translated from Kashmiri, it meant: ‘Convert, Leave, or Die.’ In the winter of 1990, these words echoed from mosque loudspeakers across the Kashmir Valley, accompanied by threats and intimidation that forced an entire community into exile. Thousands of Kashmiri Hindus…
Donald Trump has once again done what he does best – charm, flatter, praise, and leave everyone wondering whether to believe a word of it. At a glittering event in New Delhi marking the 250th anniversary of American Independence, Trump virtually wrapped Bharat and Prime Minister Narendra Modi in a warm embrace. ‘I love India…
Indian politics has entered a new phase. We have had lotus politics, hand politics, broom politics, cycle politics, lantern politics and enough defections to start a furniture showroom. Now comes the newest entrant – the CJP. Not one, but two. First came the US-based Abhijeet Dipke’s Cockroach Janta Party – a movement that appears to…
Twenty-two seconds. One packet of Melody. And social media did the rest. Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s gift of a packet of the humble Indian toffee to Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni in Rome was not exactly earth-shaking diplomacy. No agreements were signed over caramel and chocolate. No strategic pact emerged from the packet. Yet the…
There was a time when a five-paise increase could trigger a public uprising. That, of course, was a few decades ago. Students and youth would pour onto the streets if bus fares were raised by five or ten paise. A one-rupee hike in the monthly bus pass was enough to spark protests. Buses were stopped,…
Aditya Dhar’s Dhurandhar franchise has achieved what political commentators and cultural critics often fail to understand — audiences eventually decide for themselves. The films were attacked in Pakistan and by sections within India as BJP propaganda, accused of pushing a nationalist narrative, distorting history and reducing geopolitics to cinematic spectacle. YouTuber Dhruv Rathee called the…
Pakistan apparently decided that if Bollywood could produce a roaring blockbuster like ‘Dhurandhar’, it too could roll out a cinematic missile in response. The result was ‘Mera Lyari’ – a film that now deserves entry into record books for achieving what most filmmakers spend crores trying to avoid: empty theatres. The film reportedly sold just…
There was a time when TV interviews at least attempted to maintain the pretence of neutrality. The anchor asked difficult questions, the guest replied, and viewers decided who made more sense. In today’s hyper-polarised media climate, however, the mask often slips. The interviewer’s ideological discomfort becomes more visible than the answers he seeks to challenge….
Indian politics periodically develops a sudden fascination for ancient civilisation, usually after election results produce a sufficiently dramatic map. Television anchors begin sounding like archaeology lecturers. Political strategists discover forgotten kingdoms. WhatsApp universities reopen ancient trade routes overnight. This time, the resurrection phrase is ‘Anga-Banga-Kalinga’. And unlike many political slogans assembled in a digital marketing…
