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Somewhere over Athens, and very much online. Many years ago — and I say this not with the smugness of an ageing tech evangelist, but the quiet trauma of someone who once had to borrow coins to make an STD call — incoming mobile calls in India were chargeable. Yes, you paid to be yelled…
Guru Dutt was a man of many parts — a consummate actor, a perceptive writer, a trailblazing director and an accomplished producer. A significant element of his oeuvre, worth a deep dive on his birth centenary this July 9, is his flair for conceiving and conjuring up musical set-pieces that haven’t just stood the test…
The Indian diaspora today hails from every nook and corner of the country and has dispersed across vast oceans, cultures, and continents. Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently visited the nation of Trinidad and Tobago, where he was welcomed by the country’s Prime Minister, Kamla Susheila Persad-Bissessar, now serving her second term in office. Her…
Sleep is essential for our survival—just like food and water. Yet, almost two out of three people in the US don’t get enough sleep. One-third sleep six hours or less, double the rate from 50 years ago. The CDC now calls insufficient sleep a public health epidemic, and about 60 million Americans suffer from chronic…
The recent Middle East crisis which started on October 7, 2023, has important aspects such as (1) almost complete demolition of Hamas and Hezbollah supported by Iran; (2) occupation of Syria by the modern and people oriented militants; (3) decline in Iran’s military power and her influence in the region; (4) excellent intelligence operations, precise…
Panic no longer arrives with a bang. It slips in quietly these days, through headlines, notifications, WhatsApp forwards, and hushed conversations at tea stalls. We don’t go looking for it, yet we are always on alert. Each day begins not with calm, but with a mental scan: What’s gone wrong today? That quiet vigilance turned into…
Growing up in Kolkata in the 1970s, caste was not a big part of my life. You knew it existed of course, from the bride wanted ads and occasional distasteful references to somebody being chhoto jaat (lower caste) as an explanation for their ‘misbehaviour’. But mostly, we lived in the comfortable world of Banerjees and…
Shift The Shame: Mishra probably counted on the fact that the woman wouldn’t dare to speak up, but survivors are done with being silent I’m obsessed with the pompous, self-righteous, son-of-a-priest, baby-faced visage of Monojit Mishra, the 31-year-old history-sheeter who allegedly raped a 24-year-old law student in Kolkata, supported by two younger men (co-accused Pramit…
Election Commission’s Plan Is Creating More Worry Than Help The Election Commission (EC) is trying to update Bihar’s list of voters before the upcoming elections. But instead of making things easier, it’s causing a lot of confusion for ordinary people. Bad Timing This update is happening during the monsoon – the rainy season – which…
EC’s revision is more confusing than comforting EC’s assurances about the efficiency of its Special Intensive Revision of Bihar’s voter roll aside, the ground reality is that many ordinary voters are confused, more so since state poll commission is in overdrive just months before elections. Bad timing | The issue’s bigger than opposition concerns. The…
