For the past few weeks having been told not to touch my face I have started behaving like cricketer Krishnamachari Srikkanth — contorting my face, as I am unable to scratch my eyes, nose or face when it itches. I also feel like putting a sticker ‘Keep distance’, like they have behind lorries as we…
Hate in the time of Coronavirus
February 29, 2020Coronavirus brings death, but it sure is less macabre than the death brought by rioting mobs of Delhi. Coronavirus kills one with fever, unlike rioters in East Delhi who killed Ankit Sharma with hundreds of stab wounds or shot Mudassir Khan in his head as he simply stood outside his house. May be the real…
Political Pawns?
February 22, 2020On 20th of February at an anti- CAA event in Bengaluru, a 19-year-old Amulya Leona, an under-graduate student, was given the microphone to say a few words against the CAA. And she did so in dramatic fashion. She began by shouting “Pakistan Zindabad.” Then after a dramatic pause she again shouted “Pakistan Zindabad”, hoping the…
Aam-azing!
February 16, 2020First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win. These words ring so true for the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP). Many may remember in 2013 the National parties, BJP and Congress, first ignored them. Then they ridiculed them, with the BJP calling them a ‘chillar party’ and Congress calling…
Misinformation virus (Coronavirus)
February 8, 2020As we stepped into the New Year, we were welcomed by a new strain of Coronavirus (CoV). A virus named so because the protein spikes around the virus makes it look like a crown and in Latin corona means crown. Coronaviruses are a large family of viruses that cause illness ranging from common cold to…
Voters’ Day
January 25, 2020Today is National Voters’ Day and the Election Commission of India has released advertisements asking voters to take a pledge. And that pledge goes like this: “We, the citizens of India, having abiding faith in democracy, hereby pledge to uphold the democratic traditions of our country and the dignity of free, fair and peaceful elections,…
Armed Forces… stay at arm’s distance
January 18, 2020In the last few years, Army Chiefs and senior security personnel have met the Press and spoken quite candidly. And that interaction has dragged them into a public debate, interpretation and criticism which has become political fodder. Recently, the first Chief of Defence Staff General Bipin Rawat said, de-radicalisation camps are operating in the country…
Power-Stress
January 11, 2020As we have had a politically charged week with protests and violence, it’s time for some inane banter. This reminds me of my dinner a few days ago. I had been to Olive Garden restaurant and after we sat down, I noticed a young girl frantically asking the waiter if he had an iphone charger?…
A credo for 2020: Acceptance & Kindness
January 4, 2020As the New Year rolls in, so also gifts. And like all offices do, I too get annual diaries and calendars as gifts. But this year, a gift rolled into my office that reminded me of an India we all have forgotten but exists. The gift arrived in a narrow and long three-foot high box….
Secular Who?
December 21, 2019So, protests continue. While initially the protest was against leaving out illegal Muslims from Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA), it has now moved to a ‘pre-emptive protest’ against National Register of Citizens (NRC). We say ‘pre-emptive’ because there is no draft in place for a nationwide NRC. Now, the protestors claim, if NRC is implemented and…
Recent Comments