A master, not an Accidental Apprentice
Young India is bound to make Vikas Swarup's new book - The Accidental Apprentice - a bestseller. Contemporary India comes alive in this page-turner from the author of Slumdog Millionaire and published...
View ArticleWhen Kochi-Muziris Biennale leaves you asking for more (questions)
Kochi-Muziris Biennale (KMB) is soon coming to a close on March 13. How corny can art get? The biennale began on 12/12/12 and will end on 13/03/13. Thank God, Malayalis haven't discovered a 13th month...
View ArticleWhat happened to the great Indian debate on cricket captaincy?
Pundits, who had predicted a change in leadership after Pakistan’s visit to India for a short one-day series, have sealed their lips. As India plays Australia in the first of a four-Test series in...
View ArticleWhy we are a cellphone nation
When minister for rural development Jairam Ramesh said India has more mobile phones than toilets, many were surprised. Ramesh was, however, only stating the obvious. We are a nation of cellphones. And,...
View ArticleKerala Budget: Mani's revenge on Malayali
To give shape and present 11 budgets of a state government is more than a mere statistic - it is an achievement. May be such an achiever should be called Mr Money, rather than K M Mani. On Friday...
View ArticleWhy Indian cricket should thank its stars
Play enough matches at home, and you are bound to win finally. India on Monday clinched the Border-Gavaskar Trophy by a stunning 3-0 margin against Australia. Stunning, because India had never won more...
View ArticleDurbar of Ms Sonia Gandhi
Everyone knows that Sonia Gandhi is the most powerful individual in India now. But how little one knows about her. Ms Gandhi, despite being the fountainhead of two successive UPA governments and...
View ArticleIt is a Kochi Queue: Malayali and McDonald’s
The threat was that Maoists were coming. But they never did. What finally came was the mall and McDonald’s. And instead of a terrible beauty at midnight, there has been a long winding queue from...
View ArticleWho among us has not been a wife beater?
Behind every successful man, there is a woman. Sometimes, more than one. If you have any doubt, ask K B Ganesh Kumar, the minister for forests and sport affairs, who stepped down from Kerala’s...
View ArticleIPL 6 begins: It can't get bettor
Who would have bet that Australians would lose the Test series against India in an abject manner, by a margin of 0-4? Australia, compared to their own past squads, was a less than formidable team and...
View ArticleIt is time to end Indian occupation of Saudi Arabia
It is time to end the Indian occupation of Saudi Arabia. There is much breast-beating in India, especially among Malayalis, about Nitaqat, the Saudi Arabian government’s project to ensure...
View ArticleIs this the new, brave Malayali woman?
On an average, every week two Malayalam films are being released in Kerala, taking the annual tally well past 100. The new found vigour in making films is welcome. But not so welcome are flaccid movies...
View ArticleIn Goa, the rape of innocence
Are women safe in India? With Asian Development Bank issuing a warning last week to its delegates who were attending a session in New Delhi not to show bare legs in order to avoid sexual harassment,...
View ArticleHow Congress won Karnataka
Now it is certain that Congress will form the government in Karnataka. The party has secured a simple majority in the 223-seat state assembly. Political pundits are, however, quick to point out that...
View ArticleDoes, and should, IAS attract the best and brightest?
Are the best and the brightest of Indian minds getting attracted to Indian civil service? Last week, Union Public Service Commission announced the results of the civil service examination and since...
View ArticleKerala’s big idea: Vision 2030 targets Nordic norms
Here is a state government thinking different and thinking big. Moving away from band-aid concepts of development, the UDF government has unveiled broad contours of what it calls Vision 2030, an...
View ArticleWho should be afraid of S Sreesanth?
On April 3, the very day IPL 6 began, Times Blogs carried a cautionary post by me-- IPL 6: It can’t get bettor . Let me quote from that post. “Players, and more than them, the franchise owners have a...
View ArticleHow fixing Pakistanis has been a good fix for India
There is good fix and, then, there is bad fix. We, Indians, love the good fix. There has been an avalanche of protests, shocked expressions of fans, former players, commentators and administrators...
View ArticleWhy is the cricket establishment silent?
Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) is in a blue funk. The world’s richest and most powerful cricket body has little control over what is happening in Indian cricket. Its biggest brand IPL is...
View ArticleA letter to the bookie who fixed S Sreesanth
Dear bookie, I know you have stumped Indian cricket by snaring S Sreesanth, Ajit Chandila and Ankeet Chavan into spot-fixing during IPL 6. I know that you have your own reasons to do so. But is that...
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