Category: Narratives
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WHAT ATISHI’S DEFEAT AND PRAGYA SINGH THAKUR’S WIN TELL US ABOUT INDIA
More than 100 years ago, in the iconic Citizenship In A Republic speech, US President Theodore Roosevelt outlined the key drivers of a successful republic: the quality of its citizens and high calibre political leaders who would hold the average citizen to a high standard—not just by words, but by deeds as well. The Aam…
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Nightmarch: an intimate journey into India’s Naxal heartlands
Alpa Shah’s book is an insightful exploration of conflict and its origins, and how the understanding of both eludes politics and policies for tribals in India.
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Is the Aam Aadmi Party dying?
Once a beacon and anchor for those fed up with corruption, the AAP’s ambition of achieving national prominence seems to be over.
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#Elections2019: Five ways the media says all is not well with the saffron sweep
One of the most compelling worries of the fourth estate in recent years has been the restricted window of communication it was offered with Narendra Modi during his first term as India’s prime minister. This, many journalists argue, has undermined their position and journalism’s place in matters of national interest. But for journalists across the…
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What Atishi’s defeat and Pragya Singh Thakur’s win tell us about India
More than 100 years ago, in the iconic Citizenship In A Republic speech, US President Theodore Roosevelt outlined the key drivers of a successful republic: the quality of its citizens and high calibre political leaders who would hold the average citizen to a high standard—not just by words, but by deeds as well. The Aam…
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Thrills, TRPs and precarious predictions: can we trust exit polls?
Without transparency on methodology, exit polls are more like an astrologer’s day at the science fair with its share of hits and misses.
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Plan panel mulls ways to spur Dalit capitalism
The government has begun discussions with Dalit entrepreneurs on what can be done to promote business ventures set up by members of their community. As a part of its discussions with various groups before it finalizes the 12th Plan for 2012-17, the Planning Commission has sought suggestions from the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and…
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Bhicoo Manekshaw | Feast of love
On a December day in 1974, at a small dinner party to celebrate the wedding of then prime minister Indira Gandhi’s younger son Sanjay, the menu was appropriately sophisticated: a hot lobster soufflé, duck à la orange and a jardinière platter of vegetables. Dessert was a problem, though. A cold dessert was out of the…
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From Bhopal to London, quest for justice travels in a bottle
Bhopal: It was probably the label that deterred shoppers in London from grabbing a free bottle of water being distributed one summer afternoon this year. B’eau Pal’s water was deceptively clear even though it came from a slum colony hand pump in Atal Ayub Nagar, Bhopal. Its bold red label told the real story, the…
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Bharti’s cellular theory of growth
Olhanpur, Bihar: Until about three years ago, Nizamuddin Ansari, 65, a retired head clerk from the Indian Railways mail service, spent most of his days on the verandah at home. The monotony of watching over his courtyard as the women of his family went about their household chores would be broken by the occasional visitor…
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Reading Hindustan in Bihar
Raghopur, Bihar: At 3am, a newspaper van from Searchlite Printing Press in Patna sets out in the dark with bundles of Hindustan, the best-selling Hindi daily in Bihar (Hindustan is published by HT Media Ltd, which also publishes Mint). It makes its way through a narrow, straight road to Khushrupur, around 40km away, every day.…
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85% quota seats going empty as candidates fail to make the grade
With barely a month to go before they begin their new academic session, the six new Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), launched by the government this year, are struggling to fill their incoming classes. Against the backdrop of the government wanting to implement 27% quota for other backward classes (OBCs) in higher educational institutions, the…
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Kamla Balan bridge: it’s a disaster waiting to happen
Jhanjharpur, Bihar: On an apology of a road leading to this small town in Madhubani district, thick and diverse traffic—from trains to four-wheelers—chugs along on a century-old bridge over the Kamla Balan river. Lifeline: The century-old bridge facilitates the movement of 14 trains and 500 vehicles every day to and from Jhanjharpur. Ashish Gupta /…
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Indian campuses get a foreign flavour
Opportunity brought Tatiana Alejandra Cardona to Phagwara, 335km north of New Delhi. This past summer, during her arduous search for a job, Cardona, who hails from Colombia, stumbled upon an online advertisement for faculty positions at Lovely Professional University (LPU), a private institution. Cardona, who is 23, recalls that “the university appeared very big”, and…
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Jamia Millia fights to preserve secular spirit
In just a fortnight, Jamia Nagar, best known as the host of the historic Jamia Millia Islamia, has become a world of fear. The realization hit A.K. Ramakrishnan, a professor at the university’s Centre for West Asian studies, after 19 September. That’s when bullets fired by the police at Batla House, one of the several…
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25 years on, what’s next for Mayawati?
Kairana, Muzaffarnagar: The young lady was dark, dressed in a salwar-suit, and had been through college —a rarity for a Dalit woman 25 years ago (as was the dress itself). Khem Chand remembers the day in December the lady, a candidate in the parliamentary elections, came campaigning in the Al Darmiyan area of Kairana where…
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Government’s madrasa reform plan hits theological hurdle
The impasse over a government proposal to modernize madrasas, or traditional Islamic schools, illustrates how a “minority mindset” imposed by the ulema, or clergy, and politicians could draw Muslims deeper into the morass of conservatism, poverty and unemployment. Fostering education: (from left) Shafiqur Rahman, Abdul Khan, Afaque Rahmani and Salim Akhtar Bellali at a New…
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Not enough teachers to educate India
Roop Singh Taroke, huddled in the back rows of a damp and congested classroom, drew a blank at the mention of a geometry box and looked to his teacher for help. At the upper primary school in Amazhir village, only 30 students out of the 180 enrolled in classes I to VIII had turned up…
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The management of Bihar
At Patna’s congested Dak Bunglow intersection, where maddening traffic throbs like the impatient pulse of its people, a life-size billboard dazzles passers-by, announcing an ambitious venture: a “world-class business school for transforming Bihar”. The plan for the proposed transformation is simple: The B-school will help students set up new ventures, consult and collaborate with public…
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The roads more travelled
By any measure that day in May, at the peak of summer, was an important one for Nawada, one of Bihar’s 37 districts. The bridge over the teeming Sakri river at Kadirganj block opened that day and soon enough two decisions on either side of the river, though seemingly disparate, were taken. In Kadirganj, on…
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Bihar sees a growing tribe of rural migrants
Amipur may be a small dot along the national highway from Patna to Nawada, but its ambitions are big. In the 50-odd households in the village, sparsely populated and rife with an uneasy quiet, most men have left for work outside Bihar. Siyaram Chauhan is the one who returned. He was rescued last month by…
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Bihar sees reverse brain drain
It was perhaps the worst of times. With the fall of night, Patna would blanket itself in a pall of darkness, interrupted occasionally by traffic thinning rapidly with each passing hour. Downed shutters in shops would signal fearful business, rickshaws would accept no late evening passengers and women and children would be home before sunset.…
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In this book of history, you are the hero
Shubhashree Sangameswaran was a software engineer, decoding programming questions with her technical expertise and poise. Then she became a life chronicler. One fine day in Bangalore, where pleasant weather makes up for the congestion on roads, she began to unravel human hearts. Preservation movement: Founder of My Life Chronicles and personal historian Sumit Chowdhury (right)…
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The girl with the peacock tattoo
One evening in February last year, a girl raised many eyebrows in the conservative Jat neighbourhood of Matiala in west Delhi. She was returning home from work when a group of young men passed lewd comments. Almost in a rage, the girl hopped off her autorickshaw and grabbed one of the boys by his collar.…
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Theatre | Hullabaloo in the hinterland
Fringe groups from small towns are revving up the theatre scene with themes that have mass appeal
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Delhi’s Belly | An equal music
As the first batch of girls graduate from one of the Walled City’s oldest schools, it prepares for more change
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Holidays by Shatabdi | On a train, spotting birds, scaling mountains
Trains carry a nostalgic value, relics of a childhood when holidays began and ended with rail journeys. The Shatabdis, Indian Railways’ super-fast trains that connect the metros to tourist, pilgrimage and business centres, still retain that quintessential charm, says Lonely Planet’s latest travel guide. In a pocketbook format, Holidays by Shatabdi lists 30 possible great…
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Vanessa Able | Freewheeling around India
Vanessa Able travelled around India in a Tata Nano in 2010 and wrote her book ‘The Nanologues’
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A disciple’s tribute to Pandit Birju Maharaj
Kathak exponent Saswati Sen on her memoir on Pandit Birju Maharaj and how the maestro gave the dance form a lyrical beauty
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Book Review | Manoj and Babli: A Hate Story
chilling account of an ‘honour killing’ exposes some brutal truths about contemporary India
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Omair Ahmad | ‘Objectivity is a dream’
The author balances myths, history and politics in his new book on Bhutan
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Book Review | A Matter of Rats
Unruly rats, all-pervasive filth and old myths in an engaging biography of Patna
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