Clik here to view.
THE GREAT INDIAN, HINDUTVA DIET
As recently as a few decades back, once widowed, women in Bengal had to shave their heads, wear starched white sarees and do hard labour. But most importantly, they were hit where it hurt the most....
View ArticleClik here to view.
LOVE IN THE TIME OF CONSTRICTION
Then must you speak Of one that lov’d not wisely but too well (Othello, William Shakespeare) Most of us would not be able to point to Belize, Seychelles and Nauru on a map, but these three little...
View ArticleClik here to view.
HOW UNA MADE NARENDRA MODI’S PR UNRAVEL
Image credit: Facebook/ Truth of Gujarat. Ever since he started his bid for the Prime Ministership, Narendra Modi has worked hard to build his image. Wiping off the stigma of 2002 communal riots in...
View ArticleClik here to view.
WE’RE HERE. WE’RE QUEER. GET USED TO IT.
(The following is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to a person living or dead is in most cases, quite deliberate.) “We used to call them pansies,” my cousin said, elbowing me in the stomach, as if...
View ArticleClik here to view.
WHAT DOES DELHI THINK ABOUT ‘FREEDOM’, THIS INDEPENDENCE DAY?
As we have entered our 70th year of Independence, it is only natural to wonder if we really are free and if we do think we are, then what is that particular freedom that is the most important? Is it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
STAY-AT-HOME FREEDOM
Last year was a rollercoaster ride where the Modi Government, in Miley Cyrus’ wise words, came in like a wrecking ball. India became a polio free country; Sushma Swaraj finally let the world know that...
View ArticleClik here to view.
LETTER FROM PAKISTAN ON #INDEPENDENCEDAYINDIA: A THOUGHT FOR PARTITION SURVIVORS
Nearly 20 years ago, my parents and I were returning to Lahore from Islamabad, on the glorious M-2 Motorway. A long night of travelling was ahead of us and Pakistan was about to turn 50 the next day....
View ArticleClik here to view.
#CHALOUNA: ‘THIS IS NO DANDI MARCH’
Since the Dalit Asmita Yatra started on August 5, the bandobast has been tight. People have joined the march in different places — making the ranks of the protestors swell — and then left it as it...
View ArticleClik here to view.
KHABAR LAHARIYA, NOW AT A WEBSITE NEAR YOU
By Ila Ananya Khabar Lahariya, an eight-page weekly newspaper brought out by a collective of rural women journalists from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar in local languages, was founded in 2002. Last year,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
CALLING YOUR POLITICAL OPPONENTS ‘STUPID’ IS A STUPID THING TO DO
If there is one key word we are likely to hear mentioned over and over again during the upcoming US election it will be “stupid”. Some see Donald Trump’s campaign as a “cult of stupidity”; others...
View ArticleClik here to view.
AMNESTY INDIA FACES SEDITION CHARGE OVER ‘ANTI-INDIA’ SLOGANS
Karnataka Police filed a First Information Report (FIR) on Monday against human rights watchdog Amnesty International India. The charges include sedition because ‘anti-India’ slogans were allegedly...
View ArticleClik here to view.
RSS AND PATRIOTISM: SAFFRON OVER TRICOLOUR
While a massive Dalit rally marked Independence Day in Una, at Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh’s (RSS) office in Delhi, August 15 was a bland affair. At around 5.30 am, a handful of shakha members...
View ArticleClik here to view.
WATCHING DIPA KARMAKAR
By Deepika S Moments before Dipa Karmakar’s Produnova launched her temporarily into second place during the women’s vault finals at Rio, I was so nervous I tried flipping channels to calm myself down....
View ArticleClik here to view.
IS CHHATTISGARH POLICE’S ‘HARDCORE NAXALITE’ JUST AN INNOCENT KID?
The news in mainstream media was more or less the same this morning: “Four naxalites gunned down in Chhattisgarh.” The news was mainly based on a statement released by Chhattisgarh Police, which said...
View ArticleClik here to view.
KASHMIR, ASSAM, MANIPUR — THE DEATH WORLDS IN INDIA’S BORDERLANDS
On Monday, India celebrated its 70th year of freedom with pomp and gaiety. The Independence Day is, more than anything else, a celebration of a national identity that was supposedly forged during...
View ArticleClik here to view.
WHEN 7 JOURNALISTS DEFIED ALL DIKTATS TO HOIST THE INDIAN FLAG IN ASSAM
It was a scene of absolute defiance. Seven journalists hoisted the Indian national flag against the backdrop of deserted streets in Guwahati. This was in the year 1998, when diktats against the...
View ArticleClik here to view.
THE AWFUL AND AWESOME ENTERTAINMENT WRAP – EPISODE 6
Did your last week go by watching uber patriotic videos that made your chest swell up to 56-inch with pride and nationalism and drove you out on the streets to celebrate the Independence Day? No,...
View ArticleClik here to view.
MULAYAM’S DILEMMA: SIDE WITH AKHILESH OR LISTEN TO SHIVPAL?
Samajwadi Party (SP) chief Mulayam Singh is a worried man these days. Caught between his son Akhilesh Yadav and brother Shivpal Yadav, Mulayam’s situation is that of a patriarch who can see his house...
View ArticleClik here to view.
#CHALO UNA: SEE THE PROTEST THAT BIG MEDIA IGNORED
#gallery-1 { margin: auto; } #gallery-1 .gallery-item { float: left; margin-top: 10px; text-align: center; width: 33%; } #gallery-1 img { border: 2px solid #cfcfcf; } #gallery-1 .gallery-caption {...
View ArticleClik here to view.
WANT TO END THE CASTE SYSTEM? MARRY FOR LOVE
“If you decide to get involved with a girl, make sure she is from our caste only,” my mom once told me. Marrying a person from a caste other than your own is considered a radical act, a transgression....
View Article