Not unlike Herodotus and Heraclitus, we too are living at the juncture of two epochs: between the era of oral history being overtaken by the era of written history and bloody wars that erupt suddenly.

To allow religious heads or corporates to intervene in the organic path of scientific exercises and regular data collection is to invite chaos and hostilities.

To allow religious heads or corporates to intervene in the organic path of scientific exercises and regular data collection is to invite chaos and hostilities.

The current dispensation's preternatural ability to politicise everything from science to religion fills you with awe and wonder. 

As the globe gets warmer, sea levels rise and tornadoes rage, one is reminded of a tiny folk tale from Uttarakhand about rats who tilled the land and grew paddy.

Poor tulips made to bloom in New Delhi’s diplomatic enclave are not for mass adulation, as they have neither fragrance nor tiny colourful petals that can cover the TV screens as the road shows and rituals progress.

Indians of all classes are by and large still wary, if not totally outraged, by the thought of their young choosing their own partners on the basis of something as tawdry as love.

Mothers and youngsters are the new MY (Muslims and Yadavs) factor – a glorious combo whose collective votes shall bring a massive victory for the ruling party. The earlier version of MY pales before it.

The lives of farmers’ wives are the real miracle sustaining the community. Unlike their male counterparts, these women are not listed as the primary owners of the fields they cultivate and have no access to government subsidies.

A new species of pilgrims has changed religion into an industry that follows pilgrims’ algorithms keenly and creates bespoke exclusive packages.

In its intent, the UCC can not be faulted. But the present Uttarakhand UCC law is full of holes.

The pran pratishtha samaroh was more of a victory celebration.

Traditional gendered hierarchies remain firmly in place both on the streets and in the temple in Ayodhya.

We cannot claim that democratisation is an easy process or that there are easy answers to current problems, but these, for heaven’s sake, are some of the darkest times we have known.

Migrations today may be due to poverty and natural calamities but they are more of a demographic bulimia eroding overpopulated lands. Once upon a time, there was great anxiety about ‘brain drain’. One scarcely hears the word today.

Strange to hear the privileged complain about feeling miserable and persecuted while the silence of those grappling with poverty and unemployment goes unnoticed.

The December 13 incident showed us a rare glimpse of what many did not see. What seems to be a play gone bad could, if immediate remedial action is not taken, become a violent rapacious spectacle where characters will again invade the stage suddenly, looking for a new author.

The new North versus South debate is alarming because it signals a democratic environment increasingly under the threat of a xenophobic intolerance of our smaller cultural republics.

When one of the retired kings of the hi-tech corporate world speaks on work hours, India listens. Yet, much remains unsaid.

According to locals, angering the local deities by disfiguring the hills has brought on the Uttarkashi tunnel collapse.