The perpetual loot
Ye nagar sau martaba loota-gaya Was the romantic verse recited by famous Urdu poet Mir Taqi Mir almost two hundred years ago? "Nagar" (meaning his heart having fallen in love…
Shameless persistence
I have written about Bhopal before in my columns. Since Urdu was the official language and because Bhopal had close ties with Delhi, there were a number of very good…
Nuclear weapons competition
Every state possessing nuclear weapons has difficulty answering the question, ‘How much is enough?’ It’s natural to think that more weapons will result in more security because nuclear weapons are so fearsome and because it’s hard to know what hand the competition is holding.
The hunt for Aladdin’s lamp
When President Pranab Mukherjee in his inaugural address described his journey “from the flicker of a lamp in a small Bengal village to the chandeliers of Delhi”, he may have…
A handy name for an enemy
It’s baking hot in New Delhi, but there is a spring in the walk of its Pakistani diplomatic community. Some are savouring the prospects of a new posting, reward for…
Can Kashmir rescue Obama?
According to the Times of India, President Obama wants India to resolve the Kashmir dispute with Pakistan to strengthen Delhi’s case for Security Council membership. The news item on Wednesday…
Lost between bail & bailout
If the final fatality of this summer of suicides happens to be Dr Manmohan Singh`s government, some intrepid, future historian of Congress affairs could be tempted to point a finger…
American blackmail
President Obama’s unwarranted remarks on the international dispute of Kashmir are timed to blackmail Pakistan. What’s worse is that the American president appears to be signalling to hawkish elements in…
The good, the bad and the ugly
"Is media jingoism fanning Indo-Pak tensions?" was the topic of a panel discussion at the sprawling India International Centre (IIC) in New Delhi on April 15. Indian and Pakistani journalists,…
Strengthening relations
I grew up with the notion that the only good Indian is a dead Indian and I mean the South Asian variety. However, as I grew older, a number of…
