December 2003
CHURCHILL IN BANGALORE, The Hindu
In October 1896 Winston Churchill reached Bangalore, then not a bustling megapolis but a small, sleepy, cantonment town. He liked the climate: ‘the sun even at midday is temperate and the mornings and evenings are [...]
RECONCILING THE NAGAS, The Telegraph
Since its birth, the Indian nation-state has been challenged by rebellion and insurgency. In the late forties it was the Communist Party of India, who launched a countrywide insurrection claiming that the freedom we got [...]
October 2003
THE BIRD MEN OF INDIA, The Hindu
My old home town, Dehra Dun, occupies a special place in the history of Indian ornithology. It was here that Salim Ali spent five years with his wife, Tehmina. While living in Dehra Dun he [...]
September 2003
THE CONVERSATION OF POETS, The Hindu
Those who believe that climate determines social behaviour should take a closer look at the American state of Wisconsin. This is cold in winter and cold in summer. In December, the snow lies high upon [...]
August 2003
THE LOCALITY AND THE NATION, The Hindu
On Independence Day this year I was driving from Bangalore to the small temple town of Melkote. At traffic lights within the city we were hailed by vendors selling the National Flag. When we got [...]
A SALUTE TO THE SECOND-HAND BOOKSTORE, The Hindu
In twenty years as a workaday writer, I have published several million words, of which only about a thousand have actually helped anyone other than myself. These were contained in an article published in a [...]