Day of Judgement is already here, and verdict is—guilty
It is early morning in the hills beyond Shimla around Mashobra. The world is fortunately not yet awake; the sun just about is. Its first...
top of page
All Writings
- Oct 1
- 3 min
Kim Jong Un's love for train
There’s something about Kim—the Jong-un, not the Kardashian. For one, his smiling visage. I do not recall a single picture of him where...
- Sep 3
- 3 min
Some knights are forever
The most dramatic and immediate denunciation of the Jallianwala Bagh massacre came from Rabindranath Tagore. He wrote to the viceroy,...
- Aug 13
- 3 min
Why west wants to de-risk China ties, not de-couple from it
Coupling is a word usually associated with intimate relations or railway wagons and not with international relations: countries don’t...
- Jul 16
- 3 min
Need a direct flight between Male and Delhi
A short-story collection by Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald titled Bits of Paradise came to mind as I took a sea plane from Male to the island...
- Jun 18
- 1 min
Why British refused to return the remains of Prince Alemayehu of Ethiopia
It is not just looted diamonds and valuable artefacts that former colonial powers want to hold on to; they can also be possessive about...
- May 8
- 5 min
King Charles's coronation: The crown comes with challenges
On May 6, as King Charles III and Queen Camilla are crowned in all their finery at Westminster Abbey, over a thousand people, dressed in...
- Apr 23
- 3 min
How Punjab is becoming an old age home
Mr Bains, a kindly 90-year-old retired customs officer, hosted us last month at his home amidst mango orchards outside Gurdaspur. Alone,...
- Mar 26
- 3 min
What are the implications of Sunak’s effusive overture to Macron
French President Emmanuel Macron receiving UK premier Rishi Sunak at the Elysée Palace last week certainly made for good television. Two...
- Feb 26
- 3 min
Is Nikki Haley the generational change Republicans are looking for?
In a recently released teaser video, Nikki Haley—or more fully Nimrata Nikki Haley nee Randhawa—comes across as a forthright fighter. She...
- Dec 25, 2022
- 3 min
When Jerusalem called on Mukteshwar
It was October 1945. World War II had just ended. Atomic weapons had been deployed for the first time in history. Millions of lives had...
- Nov 27, 2022
- 3 min
Donald Trump’s 1,001 insults
A friend invariably refers to Trump as Drumpf. I thought it was a nickname inspired by The Smurfs and doused generously with indignation....
- Oct 30, 2022
- 3 min
Will Camilla wear the Kohinoor?
A delightful clip on Twitter brightened the autumnal grey beyond my window: Liz Truss arriving for her weekly meeting with King Charles...
- Oct 2, 2022
- 3 min
The urbane and dignified Naresh Kumar
The world was still young and fresh, and life was an adventure waiting to unfold. I was not yet 12. A Phillips transistor radio, gifted...
- Aug 29, 2022
- 3 min
How and why Japan wants its youth to booze more
Should five per cent appear too small/ Be thankful I don’t take it all… said the taxman in the famous Beatles number. But then there is...
- Aug 5, 2022
- 3 min
The diplomat as scholar
Time was when Indian diplomats, having done with decades of writing policy notes, cables and speeches, would settle down in their...
- Jul 10, 2022
- 3 min
Importance of a few good men in US
A select committee of the US house of representatives has been conducting televised hearings on the January 6, 2021, attack on the...
- Jun 12, 2022
- 3 min
The transfer of 2 officers to Ladakh, Arunachal
A Chekhovian drama was recently played out in Delhi. Media reports front-paged flagrant abuse of power by a senior IAS couple right in...
- May 15, 2022
- 3 min
Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II and The Big Jubilee Read
A year-long celebration is under way to mark the Platinum Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II, as she becomes the first British monarch to...
- Apr 11, 2022
- 3 min
Surviving Global Warming | The move away from fossil fuels is not happening fast
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, in a stark statement this week, sheared the jargon off the latest report of the Intergovernmental...
bottom of page