November 2015
A Green and Pleasant Land, The Telegraph
Some twenty years ago, my wife and I called on Nirad Chaudhuri at his home in Oxford. The great little writer was happy to see us, but less pleased with my wife’s apparel. ‘That [chooridar [...]
October 2015
Why Gandhi Would Have Been Appalled By The “Gandhi-Mandela Trophy”, The Telegraph
India and South Africa have just concluded a five match one-day series for the ‘Gandhi-Mandela Trophy’. Next week, they will commence the first of four Tests for a trophy carrying the same name. When, back [...]
A 19th Century Politics For a 21st Century State, Hindustan Times
Some years ago, I edited an anthology of Indian political thought, profiling nineteen individual thinkers. The usual suspects—Gokhale, Tilak, Phule, Gandhi, Nehru, Ambedkar, Lohia, JP, Periyar—featured, but also some less conventional choices. One of these [...]
The Dark and Desperate State of Uttar Pradesh, Hindustan Times
A recent report in the Financial Times, caught my eye. Headlined ‘India advert for tea boys and guards attracts 2.3m applicants’, it spoke of the desperate desire for a government job among the young men [...]
September 2015
The Enduring Charm Of Independent Bookstores, Hindustan Times
For many years now, I have spent much of my time, and most of my money, on books bought in stores owned by individuals rather than corporations. Within India, I had four favourite bookstores; Premier’s [...]
Why Canada May Be The World’s Most Underrated Country, Hindustan Times
The President of the United States is the most powerful person in the world. This is why every Presidential campaign attracts such wide attention, both the primaries of the two main parties and then the [...]