CATEGORIES

NO ONE'S GODSON

Sushant Singh’s suicide puts the spotlight on nepotism and the price outsiders pay to fit in Bollywood.

‘Hong Kong's youth are desperate. They no longer care about their lives.'

June 12 marks the first anniversary of major clashes between pro-democracy protestors and the police in Hong Kong after its government introduced a controversial extradition bill. It was later withdrawn in face of mounting opposition, but protests continue unabated. Evans Chan has traced the evolution of the city’s resistance from the 2014 Umbrella Movement to the leaderless protests of 2019 in his engaging documentary We Have Boots. He talks to Syed Saad Ahmed about the film and the struggle against Chinese authoritarianism.

Lotus Wilts in Loktak

Former CM ibobi Sigh of Congress (left) and CM N. Biren Singh, who leads the BJp alliance

Every Home A Studio Rasa

Driven by passion, enabled by technology, this is how Chennai’s musicians are serving concert-starved rasikas

‘My body is in great shape, tennis muscle memory runs deep'

To measure the contribution of the inimitable, and irreplaceable, Leander Paes to Indian tennis, one just has to look at the success percentage of his 30-year Davis Cup career: an astounding 72.65 per cent (singles/doubles, on all surfaces). Also, the 1996 Olympic bronze medallist holds the Davis Cup world record of most wins: 45 (77.58 per cent) in 58 ties played. Still, the ageless Paes, who turned 47 on June 17, is not averse to continuing, postCovid shutdown. While cleaning his Mumbai apartment during the lockdown, he spoke to Qaiser Mohammad Ali in a free-wheeling interview. Excerpts:

Change or Perish

The immediate need for infrastructure and a credible military ecosystem is all very well. But the PLA’s ability to fight a transformational, algorithm war—non-kinetic and non-contact—is the danger in the future.

Vaccine Race— The Candidates

The starting gun was sounded as far back as the weekend of January 11-12, when Chinese authorities released the full sequence of the COVID-19 genome.

Who ‘Created' Covid?

Was the Moon landing fake? Do reptiles rule us? Is Elvis alive? When conspiracy theories start proliferating like mutant viruses…

Did The Lockdown Work?

This one executive decision was deemed at first to be a no-brainer.

WHERE IS THE DATA?

So we have a bio-earthquake with shifting epicentres in Covid-19, still rumbling unpredictably over our demographic plates.

WHAT ARE VIRUSES?

A glimpse into virosphere—that mysterious cusp between life and non-life—will tell us they are part of us, within us, and wrote us into being

WHO DECIDES COVID POLICY?

The pandemic has not been kind to Delhi. The state government, no stranger to pugilist moves in politics, is locked in a grim battle. Even since the lockdown was eased, horror stories have been escaping out of city hospitals like ghouls out to torment the populace. The city’s Covid graph is soaring; overloaded hospitals are turning away patients, letting them die without proper medical care. But what’s a crisis if not an opportunity for some extra lashings of mayhem?

WHAT IS THE PEAK?

Whe the air is vacuum-cleaned of real information, what fills it is the elements of empty anticipation. Rumour, speculation, fear…all these form a suspended particulate matter that we then breathe in. The latest talk doing the rounds was that India would duck back into hibernation—into a strict lockdown—by the middle of June or so. Since Indians are familiar with the phenomenon of a late-evening broadcast fundamentally altering their realities, appending a ‘could be’ or ‘maybe’ on that rumour is pointless. But the reason why the situation spawns such speculation is clear.

DOES INDIA (NOT) HAVE A MILDER EPIDEMIC?

This is a question that has mutated right in front of our eyes, almost as if to mock us.

PLASMA THERAPY SILVER BULLET OR NOT?

Leave, for a moment, those telescopic shots—those world maps filled with red dots, the Covid Tracker popups spinning and dancing on your screen.

OUR LIVE-IN VIRUS

Corona has settled over this landmass like a moving cryptic crossword. How do we read its clues?

Small Scale, Mega Mess

The government needs to take steps beyond the relief package for the revival of the pandemic-battered MSME sector

Indian FMCG Sector

Which way will you tilt during COVID times? Hope or Fear!

Treating A Tunnel Vision

The China-India border standoff can indeed be resolved through diplomacy. But unless the LAC is clarified beyond dispute, it would remain hostage to competing perceptions and growing Chinese intransigence.

Stand to: A Principled Command

China’s aggression is born of insecurities about India’s foreign policy and its stand on issues of mutual interest. India must make no compromise in reverting to status quo positions at LAC.

SWADESHI SWAGGER

It’s an opportunity, yes, but keeping China out is also fraught with risk in the post-COVID era

“Indian sectors must serve both domestic and global demand”

Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s call for self-reliance along with Union minister Nitin Gadkari’s statement about taking advantage of foreign investors leaving China has triggered a discussion about India emerging as a manufacturing superpower, which can rival China eventually. In an exclusive interview to Saibal Dasgupta and Jyotika Sood, NITIAayog CEO Amitabh Kant talks about India’s preparedness, ambition and capabilities. Edited excerpts:

Birds Of Prey Keep Us Healthy

Where Solicitor-General Tushar Mehta—he of the heated outburst against all critics of the government—is coming from

NO HAO

(SAY NAMASTE)

Bend With The Wind

The coronavirus runs wild, migrant crisis deepens, a cyclone blows in, BJP calls him a failure—Uddhav Thackeray rallies allies, steers shaky ship

A Pincer in the Making

Tensions with China may complicate India’s efforts to integrate Kashmir, but it’s too early to predict the full picture.

Driest Land, Deepest Sea

Migrant workers who returned to Hamirpur’s Jhalokhar village oscillate between hope and disillusionment. There’s little work at home, and the cities have let them down badly.

What The Otter Knows About The Cyclone

The Sunderbans is safe—as is the tiger. Nature has no intention to create disharmony within itself

Cycle Ride To Uncertainty

He cycled 1,700 km from his workplace to a home with no prospects

Silence of the Malls

Northeasterners who worked in Chennai’s malls and parlours are waiting to go back home