Army chief row: Will history repeat?
The real issue is the state and morale of the defense forces, not the leaked letter or petty politics. Fifty years ago, demoralization and neglect of the armed forces by Nehru and Krishna Menon led to national humiliation More...
Power of Love, and Love of Power
Columnist M.J. Akbar – Every good election contributes something to folklore. Uttar Pradesh is the land of lore; and the turbulence of its politicians is matched only by the sardonic wit of its voters. The More...
Portrait of a Revolutionary Writer
Hundred years on, and Faiz Ahmed Faiz still strikes a chord when his poems are revisited. The partitioned India and Pakistan have geographical and political limitations, but his poetry holds the two together, culturally. More...
Long Rooms Of Sex & Nasha
Jeet Thayil’s ‘Narcopolis’ is powered by its vivid, fleshy depiction of the addled, indigent drug underworld of Mumbai. Palash Krishna Mehrotra has reservations, but is ultimately entranced by this More...
An Eid Al-Adha Manifesto: For A Sufi Revolution
Column by Stephen Suleyman Schwartz - Eid Al-Adha has arrived. Known in India as Eid ul-Zuha, to Balkan and Turkish Muslims as Kurban Bairam and to Persian speakers as Eid-e-Ghorban, the four-day festival of More...
The Moral Crisis of Pakistani Barelvism
Column by Stephen Suleyman Schwartz - The week ending 23 October has been replete with complex events. They include the violent end of Mu’ammar Al-Qadhdhafi, the death in hospital of Saudi Crown Prince Sultan More...
Ending – And Beginning – In Damascus
By Stephen Suleyman Schwartz - Libya seems close to complete liberation from the dictatorial nightmare of Mu’ammar Al-Qadhdhafi, although, in a matter for concern, Islamist ideological elements have surfaced in More...
Goodbye, Sir!
Every childhood hero takes away a little bit of one’s life along with him when he dies. Shammi Kapoor filled those wondrously difficult years when laughter and optimism were the only pathfinders from an unknown More...
Amir Khusro: Neglected master of many talents
The Bahaar and Bihaag Raagaas are attributed to Amir Khusro (below) as is Qawwaalee performed at the dargah of Hazrat Nizamuddeen Awlia (above) By Akhilesh Mittal – The vast majority of today’s More...
Locating the everlasting modernity of Kabir
Songs of Kabir (translated) | Author: Arvind Krishna Mehrotra | Publisher: Hachette India | Pages: 192 Rs. 350 Book Review by Rohit Chopra – Poet, critic, and professor Arvind Krishna Mehrotra’s More...
