October 2011
THE SARDAR OF SPIN, The Telegraph
In the third week of August, I got a call from a friend in Delhi, the great slow bowler Bishan Singh Bedi. ‘Everyone around me is shouting Anna Hazare! Anna Hazare!’, he said: ‘A few [...]
September 2011
NEARER THAN OUR NEIGHBOURS, Hindustan Times
When I was invited to visit Kabul, my family were naturally unenthusiastic. I disregarded their advice for two reasons: first, because my host was a brilliant and brave diplomat, whom I was loth to let [...]
A MAN TO MATCH HIS MOUNTAINS, The Telegraph
The importance of the India International Centre (IIC) in New Delhi is gauged, in part, by the number of armed security men who pass through its portals. These come to accompany—and, one supposes, protect—the big [...]
LOST IN THE WOODS, Hindustan Times
In August 2010 — that is, exactly a year ago — Rahul Gandhi told a group of tribals in Orissa that he would be their soldier in New Delhi. There is no record of his [...]
August 2011
A PATRIARCH FOR THE NATION – DEBATE, The Telegraph
Debating Anna Hazare On the 27th of August, the Telegraph newspaper published an article on Anna Hazare by Ramachandra Guha under the title A PATRIARCH FOR THE NATION?. The article sparked a debate between the [...]
A PATRIARCH FOR THE NATION?, The Telegraph
About twenty years ago, I found myself in the same room as Anna Hazare, at a meeting organized by the Centre for Science and Environment in New Delhi. Mr Hazare was becoming known in environmental [...]