I had written a story on January 19, 2015 – twenty-five years after that dreadful date of January 19, 1990. And put it on my blog a day later, January 20th. A few months later, I sent it out to an online literary magazine which I used to read during those days. They liked the… Continue reading Revisiting an Old Story from Seven Years Back
Now that the CBSE, ICSE and many other state boards in India have declared their results for class XII and X, and the students are busy figuring out next options for their academic pursuits and choices, it is appropriate time to re-up this piece I had written three years ago. Since I wrote this piece… Continue reading Do We Really Need the Board Examinations?
Talking about and discussing important matters with our friends, acquaintances, social networks etc. has the potential to widen our understanding. But a recent online interaction once again made me ask a question I have often wondered about, why are so many of us so quick to take things personally in a discussion? Even if the discussion is about, say, a national level… Continue reading The Art of Discussion
If one were to believe the Delhi-centric “national” media, a 20-year-old college student has become a household name in the last few days. That’s another matter that the media which claims to be “national” is neither interested in much news about the ‘nation’ beyond a few blocks of New Delhi nor does it bother to understand… Continue reading Meandering Musings
We are living in the days of post-truth and alt-facts. Whatever these terms mean, or may not mean. We are living in the times when everything and anything is available for ‘re-telling’ and ‘re-interpretation.’ When all [his/her]stories from the collective memory of a people are being twisted and re-twisted in the name of ‘artistic license’ and… Continue reading Remember the Truth
Money is the talk of the town these days, actually of the whole nation. And of course, we know the reason. From the corrupt politicians whose stacks of cash suddenly became useless overnight to the mafia of the fake currency industry who found themselves out of business; from terrorists of all hues and their propagandists who relied on loads… Continue reading Show Me the Money!
CONTINUED FROM PART 1 I became more at ease when I accepted a partly-colonized, partly-decolonized consciousness as part of the modern day educated Indian experience. I felt mentally calm enough to accept that it is part of how I interpret my experience and that of others. But I also realized that this was… Continue reading Reading Political Speeches – 2
Last week, in honour of the Indian Independence Day, a special article on Sri Aurobindo, the revolutionary was shared on our sister blog, Matriwords. This two-part reflective post may be seen as a continuation of that theme. May 2006. At my suburban home in the Midwestern United States. I was stuck in bed with a… Continue reading Reading Political Speeches – 1
As far back as I can remember I have always had an aversion to the phrase ‘aam aadmi‘, the ‘common man’. Before anyone accuses me of elitism or snobbery, or labels me anti-equality or anti-democracy or haute bourgeois or anything else, let me explain. I dislike the phrase because it reduces all the great diversity inherent among and within individuals, sub-groups and… Continue reading The ‘aam aadmi’ obsession
Ma Durga is in news these days. No, not because it is Durga Puja time. But because the Asura is in news these days. A bunch of folks who see themselves as the voice of the marginalised, the advocate of the down-trodden, the champion of the oppressed have been made the ‘news of the hour’ by some vested… Continue reading She, who rides the Lion
A new post in Current Events Lately in India it has become fashionable among some self-styled intellectuals and their unthinking proteges and admirers to say that they don’t believe in the ‘idea’ of nation and nationalism. These can be found saying this sort of thing in some of our university campuses, TV studios, and also social… Continue reading Why Nationalism?
A new post in the series: Current Events Disclaimer: In the heat of ideological posturing often we are quick to see a view opposite to ours as something that it is not. Hence the need for this disclaimer. This is not, I repeat, NOT a defense of a much-reported and much-analysed barbaric and horrendous hate… Continue reading Enough with the Collective Shaming
Beauty Interprets, Expresses, Manifests the Eternal 