April 2008
A MAESTRO IN MANIPUR, The Telegraph
If the mast-head of this newspaper was long enough, or if the type it uses was smaller, this column could have carried the title: ‘MEETING A MAESTRO ON A MISTY MORNING IN MANIPUR’. Over the [...]
March 2008
VARIETIES OF THE GAME, The Telegraph
In my opinion, Test cricket may be compared to the finest Scotch, fifty-overs a side to Indian Made Foreign Liquour, and 20-20 to the local hooch. The addict who cannot have the first or the [...]
THE RISE AND FALL OF INDIAN ENVIRONMENTALISM, Hindustan Times
Thirty-five years ago this week, a group of peasants in the upper Alakananda Valley stopped a group of loggers from felling a patch of forest. That act of protest gave birth to the Chipko Andolan [...]
February 2008
GANDHI IN ORISSA, The Telegraph
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was by birth a Gujarati bania, but the admiration for his life and work transcended the boundaries of caste, language, religion, and gender. He was a man who was trusted by women, [...]
January 2008
GANDHI’S FAITH, AND OURS, Hindustan Times
Many years ago, I had an argument with the philosopher Ramchandra (Ramu) Gandhi about his grandfather’s faith. I had always admired the Mahatma, but my secular-socialist self sought to rid him of the spiritual baggage [...]
THE CAREER OF A CONCEPT, The Hindu
In an interview given recently by the Pakistani cricketer-politician Imran Khan to Newsweek magazine, he said: ‘My vote bank is increasing’. To whom do we owe the term ‘vote bank’? I wager few readers of [...]