By Allan Jacob
Striking a man when he is down is not my style in these divisive times when everything one says is dissected and damned. However, I find it hard to put a lid on the anger welling inside in me as Indian billionaires, or Bollygarchs, as author and journalist James Crabtree calls them, go unpunished and taunt the law from distant shores.
By Sushmita Bose
I always see the (inwardly) whenever someone comes back from Delhi and revels in carping about getting around in the Indian capital. The traffic, they report, is a nightmare, and getting from point A to point B is like navigating hell. My frequent — but short — trips to Delhi are geographically constricted: I live in a certain area, and my outings have a radius of three to four kilometres… So I cannot jump to my hometown’s defence as fast as I’d like to.
Continue reading Lots wrong with Delhi, but it has its many, many charms
By Suresh Pattali
I’m a racist. A casteist, too. I guess we all are, in one way or the other. It’s a truth we vehemently deny because we don’t have the guts to be candid. We want to present ourselves as the most civilised and refined lot. We masquerade as messiahs of tolerance and harmony.
Continue reading The dark side of racism and casteism and why we strive for more humanity
By Suresh Pattali
Friends, expats, countrymen, lend me your ears;
I come to praise Patel, not to dig his past.
Patel was a great leader, honourable and faithful;
The good that men do lives after them;
So let it be with Patel. The noble Modi
Hath told you Patel was a patriot…
By Suresh Pattali
Growing up in the 70-80s in the country’s south, India was merely a concept we read about in text books. The patriotic pledge that we chanted at the school assembly, especially on Independence and Republic Day, stated: “India is my country and all Indians are my brothers and sisters.” It was a reminder that we are links in the long chain of a great system that everyone called democratic, secular and federal.
Continue reading When I was a kid, festivals were this whole other ball game
By Suresh Pattali
The key wouldn’t turn, so I hesitantly pressed the bell, wondering why she was awake well past her bed time. The door was opened after we exchanged our passwords. All the lights were on in the living room as if she was in the middle of a celebration.
Continue reading Allahabad, tick. Which city is next in the renaming game?
By Sushmita Bose
I recently read a newspaper feature on a hamlet called Dhingakhedi, in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh. It’s been nicknamed ‘centenarian village’, and the story follows the life trails of a handful of men and women in the 100-plus age bracket, who are absolutely unfazed by the fact that they have achieved something the rest of the “material world” is desperately trying to live up to: age is just a number, and you can be happy and healthy despite being well past your (alleged) “sell by date”. (Also, loved how beyond a “certain age” — in this case, 100 — nobody is unceremoniously dumped into silos: a 100-year-old and a 110-year-old, never mind the decade-long gap, are comrades-in-arms.)
Continue reading Learn from these villagers how to live long happy lives
