Decoding Democracy

"I am rediscovering myself. And I am indeed amused by what I am," says the friend without a trace of humour. Active in the social sector for long and now jobless, he is amazed by the new…

There is no escaping media pundits. They are out there, on our television screens, social media posts, and newspapers, pontificating on anything and everything and throwing predictions to…

Give it to Arnab Goswami. Nobody symbolises the muscle of the media as he does, nobody makes millions sway to one's tune as he does, nobody challenges power as he does, nobody makes the…

One fine day nearly two decades ago, Lal Bihari, a happy-go-lucky, unambitious farmer in Uttar Pradesh discovers he is dead, officially. With an eye on his small patch of land, his relatives…

In our movies many decades ago, the police landed on the scene after the hero was done with his heroics. They always arrived late. The officer, wielding a megaphone, asked him to surrender…

Tucked safely in his well-equipped home in the suburbs of Bhubaneswar, the capital of Odisha, this young man, all of 26, is busy fighting the supposed enemies of the nation. He is a…

What does the term 'liberal' mean exactly? In the current political discourse it is as much a prejorative expression as 'bhakt' and 'secular' are. Those at the Left of the political spectrum…

The old, overarching vision of India is collapsing. It is too early to judge whether it is for good or bad. It was a construct powered by the intellectual wavelength, clarity…

It's outrage time on social media again. This time it is over the arrest of Arnab Goswami by the Maharashtra police in a case involving the suicide of an architect and his mother. By now we…

Forbearance, a factor critical to sustainability of democracy, is collapsing across the world. Maybe for good reason. Democracies catered to the interests of a few and demanded too much…