CATEGORIES

Prez Zuma's West UP Connect

Proximity to the Guptas brought the South African president under a cloud. But who are the Guptas?

An Outsider Between The Posts

Football’s lesson in dispossession wasn’t in vain. East Bengal’s thraldom reigned at a distance; then came a sudden reinforcement of the refugee status.

JNU Controversy: Broadcast Media Skewed Events On The Ground

Broadcast media’s excessive righteousness in the JNU affair skewed events on the ground.

Spotlight On The Dark Zones In The Ishrat Case

The spotlight is put on PC. And away from the dark zones in the Ishrat case.

Budget 2016: Has Modi Junked Gujraat Model

If you voted BJP because of what you were told Modi did to Gujarat, this budget may look like a case of broken promises. What exactly has changed, if at all?

When Pushp Comes To RTI Shove

A sting-happy journalist faces police intimidation for a story that embarrassed the government.

Hunt For The First Human

Cut marks on bone fossils found on an Indian foothill could well change the narrative on human evolution.

Will Subhash Chandra's RS Destiny Be Rewritten?

Will that sleight of blue ink that wrote Subhash Chandra's RS destiny be rewritten? If R.K. Anand can help it.

Cat-And-Mouse Over The Bull Game

Recent Jallikattu protests can portend fresh potential for Tamil nationalism. But the state's people have developed a stake in the larger federal polity.

The Khanate Without End

A journey extraordinaire. Twenty-five years on, Shahrukh Khan stays at the top effortlessly, retaining an insatiable hunger for excellence in his craft.

Shah Rukh Khan: 'Dignity Is More Important Than Hashtags.'

‘Woh aaye ghar mein hamare, khuda ki kudrat hai/Kabhi hum unko kabhi apne ghar ko dekhte hain….’ If Shahrukh Khan were to ever drop in at someone’s house, this might be the perfect couplet to describe that moment. But it’s he, the Badshah of Bollywood, who has a backstory for this Ghalib gem. Nothing around him—the feverish promotional melee, hopping from one vanity van to the other to meet co-actors, producers et al, delayed lunches, the disarmingly innocent AbRam who demands his dad’s time over “boring interviews”—is conducive to ruminating about poetry. But SRK shares an anecdote about how this couplet was inspired by a kleptomaniac friend of Ghalib’s and then goes on to the symbolic importance of the ‘saaqi’ figure in shayari. He cherishes his father’s reading of poetry, his words of explanation, and promises that none of the chaos will distract him from the conversation at hand, and it would be an interesting one too. Not vainly spoken, as Prachi Pinglay-Plumber discovers. Excerpts:

Trudeau Does Bhangra With Khalistanis

Attenuated over the years, Sikh separatism is given a fillip for cheap political gains even by the Canadian PM

Pak Flag Or The IS Flag?

OBOR's binding terms perplex some in Pakistan, put India on careful watch, open up a vista of geo-political transformation

Several Wrongs Make The Right

Ironclad conservatives of the darkest shades, with a collective net worth of $35 billion, will fill up the Trump cabinet.

Basit’s Quiet K-Diplomacy

Post-unrest, the Kashmiri ‘mainstream’ is courting Pakistan to recover lost ground.

On Home Turf, A Party That Can't Afford to Lose

With an eye on 2019 and Modi again as ­mascot, the BJP’s readying to do all it takes to keep Gujarat.

Taking It Beyond Wazwaan

To the PDP, the ex-IB chief’s appointment as interlocutor is a chance to reconnect with the people. But the mainstream opposition and the separatists are not enthused.

Talking About, Talking With Kashmir

Now that convulsions on Kashmir’s streets have subsided, the Centre makes a careful bid for talks, appointing Dineshwar Sharma as interlocutor. Too late in the day, say detractors; from a position of strength, says the government. But for talks to bear fruit, all stakeholders have to be engaged, backed by flexibility from Delhi.

Cascading Misery

The domino-like latecomer effects of demonetisation, from farm to dinner table

Minority Position

Siddaramaiah has survived the threat of a rift in his cabinet by recognising the Lingayats as a religious minority. But this may not be the end of his troubles.

Digital Falsities To Prime Likes

Cambridge Analytica caused quite a kerfuffle when it was outed by whistleblowers on its questionable tactic of snagging 50 million profiles from FB

Raga Darbari On High Notes

The stage is clearly set for a no-holds-barred faceoff. There is little room for doubt now on whether Rahul would lead his party into the 2019 Lok Sabha polls

Sister's Need For Unity

As the BJP targets Bengal, Mamata looks at the Left, which has eyes only for the Congress. She’s a leading mover behind talks for an inchoate ‘federal front’.

Square Leg Umpire's Sixer

After clipping wings of BCCI supremos, an irate Vinod Rai threatens to hold elections without recalcitrant affiliates

A Bitter Harvest

Multiple agitations show all’s not well with the ‘rich’ state of Maharashtra.

Scholar, SUI Generis 

The mercurial devourer of knowledge—and giver of care and affection—in youth has crafted his own, unique path. Ram Guha is a category- efying scholar who takes on bhakts and mullahs.

That Chink In The Wall

No point delivering liberal homilies to a hierarchical society. But Guha has discarded the questions of power.

Editing A Writing Machine

The academic can complicate what seems simple even while simplifying the seemingly complex —that’s what made Ram Guha a pioneer of sorts as a writer of history.

The RG Who Wrote Off Rahul Gandhi

Biographer, chronicler, equal-opportunity critic and sincere friend are but a few of Ram Guha’s avatars.

The Bat And Beetle Flew

Guha liberated Indian cricket writing from its pedantic rut. He visits the game with empathy, amid its socio-cultural moorings.