April 2019
The Modi Government’s War On The Intellect, The Telegraph
A term greatly beloved of the Modi Government is ‘surgical strike’. It was first invoked in September 2016, after a cross-border raid undertaken by the Indian Army on camps in Pakistan. In November of the [...]
Jallianwala Bagh In Memory And History, The Telegraph
On 13th April 1919—exactly a hundred years ago—a British Brigadier-General named Reginald Dyer ordered his troops to fire on a crowd gathered in a place called Jallianwala Bagh, not far from the Golden Temple in [...]
March 2019
In Praise Of the Dalai Lama, The Telegraph
In the last week of March 1959—exactly sixty years ago—the Dalai Lama fled to India, after a rebellion by his fellow Tibetans had been brutally crushed by the Chinese military. He entered what is now [...]
Celebrating Club Cricket in Bengaluru, Hindustan Times
In 1992, I published a book on India’s favourite sport. One reviewer, a Mumbaikar named Rajdeep Sardesai, commented in exasperation that ‘Guha’s sometimes excessive love for the cricketers of Karnataka may lead to another Cauvery [...]
Dr Martin Luther King’s Dalit Correspondence, Hindustan Times
In February 1959, Dr Martin Luther King and his wife Coretta arrived in India on a three week visit. The American civil rights leader’s pilgrimage to the land of Gandhi has been extensively written about. [...]
February 2019
Why Mahatma Gandhi Would Not Have Wanted A Grand New Temple in Ayodhya, Hindustan Times
In 1932, a young Christian priest named Verrier Elwin was thrown out of his Church. Educated at Oxford, Elwin made his home among the Gonds of central India. He sought to bring education and health [...]