Removing GST from sanitary napkins and menstrual hygiene products is only one of many issues we need to address when talking about menstruation. Hay, dried leaves, straw. Nature’s bounty? Hardly. These are just some of the innovative blotters used by many Indian girls and women who menstruate. That word itself; so troublesome, so awkward. Perhaps […]
Remove the cultural baggage, awkwardness about menstruation Read More »
The meek acquiescence by citizens to the growing intrusion of state and other actors is alarming. Don’t eat beef. Don’t transport cows. Don’t buy cows. Don’t drink alcohol if in Gujarat and Bihar or within 500 metres of state and national highways. Don’t play cricket with Pakistan and don’t hire Pakistani actors in films. Stand
Welcome to the vigilante nation Read More »
We do the army no favours by placing it on a pedestal from where it cannot be asked legitimate questions. We do it no favours when we seek to draw it into an emotional public debate. Military action cannot be based on populist sentiment; wars are not fought and won in TV studios. A solution,
Hyper-nationalism does not help the cause of the Army Read More »
Nothing exemplifies the moral slide from Dadri to Alwar as much as the indifference on display. A family counts itself blessed that the 85-year-old mother is blind and is ,therefore, spared from having to watch the video of her son being told to escape – then chased and lynched. We shrug at a bride’s disappointment
Fear and loathing in new India: Dadri, Alwar lynchings leave us unmoved Read More »
Narendra Modi’s decision to strike at black money and corruption by wiping out 86% of the currency notes in circulation has hit women vendors the hardest. These are women who are not part of the banking system, survive on one income (their own), which is entirely in cash earned daily and must negotiate petty bribes
Women vendors who exist on cash income hit hardest by demonetisation Read More »
If we are to talk about apologies with any degree of honesty, then there’s plenty to be remorseful about in post Independent India. It’s not a foreign colonial power, but our own governments that also owe us a range of apologies. Nobody is owed an apology more than the Dalits and the women of this
It’s not just the British, but our govts also owe us a range of apologies Read More »
When Bollywood bluebloods like Karan Johar must prove their patriotism and grovel before the ruling regime for protection, you know you’re in trouble. Like the writer Perumal Murugan before him, you know which side is winning: The thugs with muscle. Perhaps we should have been more worried about the images on our TV screens in
Is India sliding down the slippery road to anarchy? Read More »
Politicians in India have rarely been forthcoming about their health, taking refuge in the argument that they are entitled to their privacy. Do we as citizens have the right to know? In hindsight, we know that at the time of Independence, Pakistan’s Quaid-e-Azam MA Jinnah had advanced tuberculosis and died just over a year later
The lack of transparency about Jayalalithaa’s health is worrying Read More »
The injection of religious symbolism into the idea of India is deliberate, and dangerous. The sons of Bharat Mata have put their love on public display and it is not a pretty sight. At the Patiala House district court, men in black shout Bharat Mata Ki Jai as they assault journalists, students, teachers and even
We have reached a place of ugly, triumphant majoritarianism Read More »
Who decides what is nationalism and how best it is to be displayed? For some, standing up for the national anthem is tokenism; for others it is a sacred duty. For some, our flag and national anthem are the glues of nationhood; for others, nationalism is best expressed through being good citizens. In 2009, months
Mob at Mumbai cinema diminished spirit of national anthem Read More »
Several incidents in the last few months show that though the country is celebrating its 69th Independence Day, it still has miles to go to achieve real freedom from many challenges. The only problem is that the list seems to be growing every single day. Independence Day is a good a day to reflect on
I-Day musings: Still miles to go before true freedom Read More »
As a bonafide member of Delhi’s power elite, Lalit Modi knows too many secrets. Is he trying to cut friends-turned-adversaries down to size? Who will he implicate next? Can Sharad Pawar, Praful Patel, Shashi Tharoor and Rajeev Shukla be safe? What is the security threat that Modi goes on and on about? At some point
Is Lalit Modi trying to cut down friends-turned-adversaries to size? Read More »