July 5, 2017
On Stage by Anil Dharker They don’t use the proverb ‘Make hay while the sun shines’ as a slogan for one obvious reason – the sun rarely shines at the Hay Festival. The sun could have made an exception for the festival’s 30th year, but it didn’t. No matter : the crowds came, rain or […]
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July 3, 2017
London Notebook by Anil Dharker Not by design but by pure chance, I happened to be in Londonduring two important events – the Brexit vote, and now the general elections. The results of both were unexpected and caused much dismay everywhere. Incidentally, this is just an observation : I take no credit for the disruption. This […]
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June 23, 2017
Oh Romeo, Romeo by Keki N. Daruwalla What next for UP police? Keeping a headcount of legit butchers, and confiscating meat cleavers? I am told there is much excitement in Firenze, Milano and Roma over the pro-Juliet squads launched by our hardline ascetic newly-appointed chief minister. Instead of watching a Raphael Madonna or Botticelli’s “Birth […]
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June 21, 2017
A dearth of designers by Quasar Thakore Padamsee Since theatre activity was sporadic and also cash-strapped, designers find it virtually impossible to make a living off of it. There is no question that theatre in Bombay is thriving; particularly in the traditionally less prolific areas of Hindi & English non-commercial theatre. The emergence of numerous […]
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June 19, 2017
Garima and a Buried Fragrance by Keki Daruwalla Taken from Keki Daruwalla’s book ‘Daniell Comes to Judgement’ I wake up at four in the morning. Bad time to go to the loo. When you come back to bed you discover sleep has deserted you. Father, decent old man, fond of me though he could never bring […]
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June 16, 2017
Mumbai Notebook by Anil Dharker Because of travel deadlines, this is being written before June 2 which is (or ’was’ when you read this), World Environment Day. I don`t think I am sticking my neck out too much by saying that the day will be commemorated by printing many special newspaper supplements, by holding a number […]
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June 7, 2017
Time for a change by Shashi Tharoor Back in 1974, as a teenage collegian, I spent a summer holiday at the tea estate of a classmate’s father near Jorhat in Assam. One of the first things I discovered during that idyllic escape was that I had to reset my watch to “tea time”, an imaginary […]
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June 5, 2017
The shadow of the past by Keki Daruwalla The past is destiny in a way. The past also embodies the concept of determinism, something that cramps elbow room, free will of the present. In politics, the past in many ways sows the present. The future, shall we say, reaps.
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June 2, 2017
Modi Tries Hard, But Foreign Policy Needs More Substance by Shashi Tharoor As Chairman of Parliament’s External Affairs Committee, I have always proudly articulated our tradition that political differences stop at the water’s edge – there isn’t a Congress foreign policy or a BJP foreign policy, only Indian foreign policy. Yet I can’t help feeling […]
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May 31, 2017
One of the late R K Laxman`s best ‘You Said It’ cartoons featured the city`s favourite subject, its roads. Laxman`s befuddled Common Man, umbrella in hand, glasses in place, is peering into a large pothole. Inside has fallen a Maruti 800. There are people in Mumbai who go around the city taking an annual […]
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May 29, 2017
School’s out, what should our children do? by Manu Joseph As children spend summer vacations preparing for the serious business of life, are they losing their ability to practise boredom? In the summers, city children are made to undertake so many recreational activities, it is as though they are inmates of Tihar jail. They learn […]
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