Today, we know that while floods, droughts, fires, earthquakes, and tsunamis do not discriminate on the grounds of caste, religion or gender, their impact is profoundly discriminatory. Studies have shown that it is women (and the poor and marginalized) who bear their heaviest burden. When Swarna Rajagopalan, a political scientist who specialises in gender issues, […]
Women should lead the way in rebuilding Kerala Read More »
There’s a sickness infecting some of our boys caused by a toxic combination of over-indulgent parents, schools obsessed with ‘brand image’ and the normalising of sex and violence by mass media. On Instagram, the seventh-grader threatens to have his teacher and her daughter raped. The eighth-grader emails two of his ‘very hot’ teachers and invites
Over-indulgent parents and brand-conscious schools are failing our kids Read More »
Delhi’s well-off function as independent city-states with their own security, water filtration and supply, power back-ups and, now, air purifiers. Our kids don’t study in government schools, we don’t use public transport, we don’t seek treatment at government hospitals. With no stake in public services, we don’t demand better quality or, for that matter, any
We, the elite of India, are to blame for the state of our cities Read More »
It can help me cope with a changing, unpredictable world, enlarging a personal worldview to embrace those outside my own experiences and ideology. And before you know it, it’s here again. That time of year to make fresh resolutions, determined to wake up energized and renewed. Learn a foreign language; meet new people; read more
I have just one word on my new year’s resolution list: Empathy 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 »
Atrocities against Dalits are hardly new, even if the sense of impunity to the gau rakshaks is. Dalits have been denied entry into temples, access to drinking water and beaten for the most minor ‘transgressions’. Beyond the politics lies the far greater moral question of social justice. How does any modern nation tolerate such widespread,
Annihilation of an old order Read More »
In the narratives we weave, Kashmiri citizens must be blamed for their own swift repression. In the Kashmiri narrative, the crackdown is yet another instance of the mainland’s immoral suppression of the natural Kashmiri longing for azadi. Neither side is prepared to hear the other. At the time of writing, 37 people are dead in
We no longer hear the voices of our citizens in Kashmir Valley’s narrative 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 »
Perhaps I have been watching far too many intolerant nightly debates on our lack of tolerance, which tend to wear me down with their decibel level and leave me no wiser. In the words of a friend, I am suffering from intolerance fatigue. Walking along the hills near Shimla, schoolgirls in pigtails greet me with
The road to tolerance begins with civility Read More »
Readers wrote letters to the editor — and they still do — because they wanted to express an opinion, vent or just see their name in print. This was their space. In India, most editors agree, the art of letter writing has plummeted. Perhaps the imperative to win the argument in our polarised times has
Letters to the editor: We must get this write 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 »
The sari will endure because when we Indian women want to dress up, when we attend weddings or festivals, when we want to feel special, the inevitable garment of choice is the sari. We are not the generation of our grandmothers and mothers who wore only saris (yes, even on the beach, alas), but our
A never-ending love affair with saris Read More »