Article 370 – is it political pluck or incompetent tomfoolery?
There is an old joke where a tourist’s car got stuck in a muddy patch and raising acceleration didn’t help. A local on a bullock cart was passing by and helped him in exchange for a certain favour. This seemingly helpful local told the politician that he assisted many such people who regularly got stuck...
Politics inside a bottomless well
The days preceding elections are the ones that are brimming with crisis analysis and hypothetical solutions. Thus every article emerging out of the media boombox is yelling about every issue from corruption, unemployment, development, farmer’s issues, education, health, and pollution, carelessly meandering through jargon that includes coalition governments, caste politics, dynastic ambitions, and business interests...
Women’s day in search of a new relevance
Women’s day is an opportunity. ‘For what?’ you may want to ask. The answer to this meanders around newspaper adverts, TV spots, radio jingles, emailers, social media updates, and whatsapp messages. The blitz began a couple of days back and my inbox has almost every sort of seller remind me of either what to do...
Political comedy is a show that never ends
Indian politicians are either smart or street-smart and they assume that whatever they say will finally get them votes when the time comes. I use the word ‘assume’ because more often than not these politicians speak things that lie somewhere between being utterly dumb to being absolutely unsavory. When we are in a charitable mood...
There’s a lot that Modi forgot tonight
The PM spoke at Wembley in London tonight and I listened. So did Cameron. And the British PM applauded more than once… and I could see that he was excited when Modi informed the Indians in London of the jugaad way of knowing the time in India – that is, without having to add hours...
The activist in BJP: Sudhanshu Mittal
I’m sure not many know that Sudhanshu Mittal (SM throughout the interview here), the absolutely charming spokesperson for BJP is also a hearty foodie, loves to play badminton, and was the one to provide logistics for the Oscar winning movie ‘Gandhi’. He makes accurate psephology predictions and uses Google mapping to map out the constituencies...
It’s time for B-team to command
To BE is to be in the B-team today. So it is right if a politician stings like a bee and leaves the A-team to join the B-team because BEEing there is to BE in the middle of everything. Yes, this is a time when even ‘Baa Baa Black Sheep’ has decided to have some...
We all need our ‘hakuna matata’
Tidal waves don’t win over people… they sweep them away, destroy everything in their way, and never create a problem-free world. So I wouldn’t call Modi’s victory a ‘tidal wave across India’ or a ‘tsunami in the country’ or a ‘tornado that led BJP into the parliament’. Some people in the media do get all...
To write, or not to right
‘Does a name on a form over-shadow an appearance in the heart?’ he asked and then went on, ‘Both are shadows but one pulsates forever and the other smudges and fades away in a few years.’ The feminists argued that the name on a piece of paper pulsates with life and demands more than just...
The race of his life
My first impulse as I sat down to write an article on Narendra Modi, was give it this title: Bhaag Modi Bhaag… and despite all the defence for it, I kept it aside. Why? This is because Modi is not a mere caricature anymore now. He is a formidable entity in national politics now. However,...
