The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Writers must serve a social purpose
The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Writers must serve a social purpose More reason why people should refrain from commenting on areas that they have little knowledge of....
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Ma! Let Me Be Born...
The trip to Jhansi nearly didn’t happen. Relying on the self proclaimed largest radio taxi network in the country Meru cab, was not such a great idea I realized, as I stood waiting for the taxi to show itself, vacillating between the extremes of anger and nervousness and feeling the biting cold seep through all my insulations. It was 5:30 in the morning, and despite frequent calls to the cab’s control room, I didn’t see the cab anywhere in sight, until it arrived, tearing through the surreal fog like a scene from an Alfred Hitchcock movie, with barely 20 minutes to departure time. But make it I did, thanks to the energy levels of two coolies who appropriated my rather small pieces of luggage between them as soon as my cab drove into the station ramp. They ran, like twin heroes in a Hindi film, undeterred by baggage checking machines or the crowds on the platform or even the inexorable tick tock of the clock ...
The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : Salman Rushdie & India's new theocracy
The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : Salman Rushdie & India's new theocracy
Footloose in Bhopal
Ejected from the aircraft, the walk across the tarmac terminates into a swanky, building - the Raja Bhoj airport in Bhopal. Its clever architecture and clean lines, make one take a double take, for it’s a vision of modernity most unexpected in anything other than the A 1 class cities; in Madhya Pradesh even more so, a state associated with many kinds of unflattering data. But it makes a statement, political as well as an aggressive bid to woo the tourist and capital. The drive from the airport unveils a city, which breathes easily with its past when a succession of four Begums ruled the city from 1819-1926, and its contemporary avatar – green and spread out, the waters of its two lakes uncluttered by polythene or other refuse. It’s an example other cities in India could well emulate. And while a BJP ruled state, which has very recently passed the rather hair brained order of according seven years imprisonment for cow slaught...