God isn’t dead, so we better believe
An argument for established religion The modern world is wary of religion. But Believe: Why Everyone Should be Religious by Ross Douthat makes an intellectual case for faith, and why we would be...
View ArticleBuch the trend
Some merit-based lateral entry is good, period Sebi’s first woman chief, Madhabi Puri Buch, signed out on Friday. Like all records, hers is a mixed bag. On the plus side, she brought stricter norms for...
View ArticleLabs to riches story
If every trick in the book is recommended but the most obvious, then it’s clearly from a govt manual. To get our economy to top speed, we have gone from encouraging vocational training, to handholding...
View ArticleThat blind spot on the back
“Will you scratch my back?” I asked my wife. She looked at me with a suspicious expression. “So that you can scratch my back?” Romance was the last thing on my mind. I was being...
View ArticleRazed shops: Toll for the smart city
In the graveyards of what were once extensions of the old bazaars of the Durgapur Steel township stand the carrions of shops – grocery stores, barber shops, tea stalls, and every other conceivable...
View ArticleA bigger India: Tourism beyond the Taj
In the 1990s, I flew a lot between Delhi and Udaipur. This being part of the ‘Golden Triangle’, the plane usually had a fair number of tourists, many from France. Seated somewhere near on the...
View ArticleIndispensable yet inconvenient, the paradox of being Shashi Tharoor
Last month, a helicopter sliced through the skies of Kozhikode, Kerala, carrying the state’s most eloquent political anomaly — Shashi Tharoor. While fellow Congress leaders, including V D Satheesan,...
View ArticlePilgrim’s progress: Why this Kumbh was indeed Maha
The recently concluded Kumbh 2025 certainly lived up to its prefix — maha (great) — in many ways. It attracted 65 crore attendees, according to govt figures. They came not just from across the country...
View ArticleAsthma & COPD
Emphysema & chronic bronchitis Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease (COPD) is the third most common disease and a leading cause of death in the United States, following heart disease and...
View ArticleDalit distress
Why should they squat on dirty roads? Banned from the dreams they themselves weave Why shouldn’t they find the hidden code? To endorse their life with belief Why should they live in slums half...
View ArticleLife’s library: Skim, read, or devour?
‘To spend too much time in studies is sloth; to use them too much for ornament, is affectation; to make judgement wholly by their rules, is the humour of a scholar.’ (Francis Bacon, Of Studies)...
View ArticleChecking for cheating, quickly
Some important people from SEBI (the group that makes rules for India’s stock market) are in trouble. A court says they might have helped a company break the rules when it joined the stock market....
View ArticleTaking stock, fast
Sebi brass, including ex-chief Buch, face corruption charge. Probe fast for investor confidence Madhabi Puri Buch’s three-year term as Sebi chief ended last Friday, but she’s yet to wash her hands of...
View ArticleBeyond Kyiv
Trump’s attitude to Ukrainian sovereignty holds a worrying message for India, given its neighbourhood Trump’s brutish treatment of the idea of Ukrainian sovereignty – televised across the world as he...
View ArticleWhy Trump’s view on Ukraine matters for India
U.S. President Donald Trump doesn’t seem too worried about Russia attacking Ukraine. Recently, he and his team treated Ukraine’s leader, Zelenskyy, very harshly. Even worse, Trump seems okay with...
View ArticleCan planet Earth count on us?
By Thich Nhat Hanh Dear Mother Earth, Human species is but one of your many children. Many of us have been blinded by greed, pride, and delusion, and only a few of us have been...
View ArticleOur children have told us a wonderful story
A moment comes, not too often, when a society can sense joyful satisfaction. Not elation but a quiet happiness. I believe we should savour such a moment now. The recently released Annual Status of...
View ArticleWhy Ukraine must fight on
Ukraine’s war for freedom from Russian aggression was mocked during the televised Trump-Zelenskyy meeting. The upshot has been an intensified anxiety about whether the civilised world will continue to...
View ArticleMeow and claws
A cat writes to her manager, who’s being managed by Musk Dear manager, it has come to my attention that you have requested a list of five things I did during the past week. I...
View ArticleAdvocacy of infiltrators will be a costly affair
‘Borders of the country are to be drawn with the tip of the sword, not with the thread on the Charkha (spinning wheel)’, said Swatantrya Veer V. D Savarkar. This underlines the importance of taking...
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