Dubious Distinctions
Our yearly Roll of Dishonour. Please tell us the ones we missed -- make up your own awards and send in your nominations.
The Insult Exchange
*#$@! Bashi-Bazouks! Brutes! Ectoplasms! Nikamma! Mother****** from Shivaji Park! Disgusting! Nauseating! Dog!
India - Bharat = Nothing
The algebra of infinite idiocy. Sandeep Adhwaryu puts his pen's nib on why we invented the zero.
Oh, Just Changed My Mind
No, it was not a case of the best lacking all conviction... Er, yes, no... but then, well, isn't consistency the virtue of an ass?
Sweet Smell Of Home
Namrata Joshi accompanies the Gilanis from Pakistan on their homecoming to Masanian
The Belonging Heart
"Calcutta, Delhi, and then Madhya Pradesh—but home will always be a place in India"
The Soil Beckons
The years in other cities have only strengthened my sense of belonging to my roots in Assam
Calcutta Chromosome
The city casts a spell so deep, the chronic attack of nostalgia transcends time and space
Sterling Rd Meetings
Time touches a city after its own manner, often unaiding memory. Still, I remain a Chennai boy.
Protests 2008
Everybody, it seemed, was entitled to his own, personalised, custom-made notion of victimhood
Background Colour
I might not have gone back to my native place—Poona—but it has always stayed with me.
Friends, Lend Me a Year
"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." You can say that about most years. But 2008? Thank God, it's over...
Beyond Your Doors
Arrivals, departures. A little bit of Seer and the Valley and the distance from the world.
Patterned Blanket
Three cities have shaped my life, knitting and weaving across each other in little strings
Dear Reader, A Handsel
Check out the reading list of Sonia Gandhi, Manmohan Singh, LK Advani and an eminent galaxy of persons from all spheres
Mountain-Spirited
Kumaon and its people are forever a watercolour memory, much like its mild sunlight
Society 2008
Young cinema? Reality TV? The IPL? Demand for education? Amplification of violence on TV? Environment consciousness?
Foreign 2008
Indo-US Nuke deal as the defining trend? Bilateral educational exchange agreement? The long list of terrorist attacks? Global financial meltdown?
Going Native In Bits
'Back home' was always going to be a problematic place. And not just because it was not one place.
Polity 2008
Was there a defining trend? The assembly polls, N-deal's passage, Right to Education Bill, youth in public life...
Rooting For Home
In humans, as in plants, roots grow deeper if left to grow in one place, untransplanted
No Place Like Home
In location and language, I was more an Agrawal from Delhi than an Iyengar from Mysore
The Great Indian Chaos Theory
Was this the worst year experienced by India (and Indians) since the country was founded? Our annus horribilis?
Sweet Uses Of Adversity
How can I conjure up a rainbow? We are looking for a sliver of hope... a sort of CMP of optimism.