By Dr. K. Javeed Nayeem, MD With its most recent announcement that the holding of an Indian Passport cannot be considered as proof of our Indian Citizenship, our Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) has created a legal paradox, which may soon snowball into a situation akin to the opening of the proverbial Pandora’s Box. Hitherto, the possession of this presumably…
Feature Articles, In Black & White, Top Stories
Uncivil Services, Social-boycott needed
June 27, 2026Three days ago, news broke of an Enforcement Directorate (ED) raid on the residence of an Additional Excise Commissioner. Almost at the same time, a bureaucrat’s wife on her Instagram page posted her pics carrying a designer handbag that probably cost half of her husband’s annual salary. For a fleeting moment, I was envious and muttered, “I wish I were a bureaucrat…
Feature Articles
Nandi: The Meditative Bull
June 26, 2026Mystic’s Musings By Sadhguru – Founder, Isha Foundation Shekhar Kapur: I understand Nandi is Shiva’s vehicle. Is he waiting for Shiva to come out and say… what? Tell me more about the Nandi. Sadhguru: He is not waiting for him to come out and say something. He is in waiting. Nandi is a symbolism of eternal waiting, because waiting is…
Decoding Mythology, Feature Articles, Top Stories
Did Missionaries construct the Buddha we know?
June 25, 2026By Dr. Devdutt Pattanaik – Author, Speaker, Illustrator, Mythologist The historical Buddha is largely an artefact of 19th-century European scholarship rather than a recovered fact, as per scholars like Bernard Faure. He argues that virtually nothing is known about the figure known as the Buddha and historical reconstructions are just as pious and imaginative as the myths and legends they claim to supplant. Far from…
Feature Articles
Troubled Waters
June 24, 2026Hebbal Lake’s restoration success story loses its way By Bhamy V. Shenoy A visit to Hebbal Lake, located next to the Infosys campus, has always been a pleasant experience. However, my visit on June 22 came as a shock and left me deeply saddened. The foul smell was evident the moment I entered through the lake gate. I later learnt that the lake currently holds…
Feature Articles, The Lighter Side
Confessions of a Card-Carrying Middle-Class Indian
June 24, 2026By Dr. R. Balasubramaniam There is a particular variety of human being that the great Indian experiment has produced with remarkable consistency over the last several decades and I have the dubious honour of being a specimen in reasonably good working condition. We are the middle-class Indians, a tribe so distinct in our habits that anthropologists, had they…
Feature Articles, Top Stories
Pramoda Devi Wadiyar speaks to Star of Mysore on… Ashada Parking, keeping area around Lalitha Mahal Palace green & restoration of Rajendra Vilas Palace atop Chamundi Hill
June 23, 2026By B.C. Thimmaiah and M.N. Lakshminarayana Yadav The consent granted by erstwhile Mysore Royal Family member Pramoda Devi Wadiyar to the Mysuru District Administration for vehicle parking at ‘Shashiranjan’ Grounds (aka Lalitha Mahal Grounds) during the Ashada Fridays atop Chamundi Hill is valid only for this Ashada season and Sri Chamundeshwari Vardhanthi celebrations and does not extend beyond that period. Speaking exclusively to Star of Mysore at Mysore Palace yesterday evening, Pramoda Devi clarified that the permission covers only the four Ashada Fridays this…
Feature Articles
Vintage Vignettes … from a Princely State
June 22, 2026By R.G. Singh, Secretary, Ramsons Kala Pratishtana This endearing photograph of H.H. Yuvarani Kempu Cheluvajammanni avaru seated on the floor along with her son, Prince Jayachamaraja Wadiyar, was shot at an unknown location. The unusual angle of the photograph shows that the photographer must have shot this image while seated on the floor. The bamboo…
Feature Articles
Don’t fear… Anti-Rowdy Squad is here but…
June 20, 2026At last, Mysuru has its Anti-Rowdy Squad. Credit must go to City Police Commissioner Seema Latkar for reviving a service Mysureans have been demanding since 2022. It is a move that is both timely and necessary because the city is changing, unfortunately not for the better. Mysuru’s economic growth, particularly the boom in real estate and money flowing through drug trafficking, has created a new…
Feature Articles
The Cost of India’s Cancer Policies
June 19, 2026Denied, Delayed, Dead By Dr. B.S. Ajaikumar India’s cancer crisis is not defined by a lack of science. The drugs, treatments and expertise exist. And yet, patients are still dying — because the system refuses to let them access it. This is not a story about affordability alone. It is a story about denial. Consider…
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