CATEGORIES

Degree Of Pain On Calculus Of Caste

A new discourse on caste sweeps the campuses.

Indian Advertising: No Ideas, Sir Ji

An explosion of brands, consumer choices, multiplicity of media, squeeze on talent and focus on profit over creativity is posing challenges for the advertising industry. Can it regain its mojo?

From Bodybuilder To dancer, She's Breaking All The Barriers

Bodybuilder and dancer at once, this woman is breaking all the barriers

Will Subrata Roy Win A Breather From The Court?

He has paid the bail, his properties are being sold and he claims to have paid off investors. Subrata Roy may win a breather from the court.

Will The Taint Stick On Sonia?

One note purportedly naming people to be managed in India. Is that all it takes to bring a bribe charge home?

Memory: A Wound, A Womb

Memory is a contested field. Demagogues have tried to erase and rewrite it. State apparatuses have bent it to their needs.

How Painful Is That Mottled Lattice Light

Vetri Maaran on cinema in times of the ubiquitous camera, multiple screens for consumption and the democratisation of the craft.

The Highway, Yes. But Not Her Way!

More and more of those who had rallied behind Mamata’s poriborton call now stand against her

Chaar Annas Of Rare Mettle

A cool, memorable repertoire, there’s something remarkable about Raghubir Yadav’s versatility

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