It began in September 2001. It’s eight years since. But has the US-driven “global war on terrorism” made the world a safer place? The US aside, the short answer that anyone reading newspapers or watching news channels the world over knows is: No. Ask the afflicted — count the deaths in Mumbai, Madrid, London, Bali, Sinai, Amman… [Read more]

I wrote a rather long piece on the Irish economy last week. Titled Desperate in Dublin, it looked at the impact of the global slowdown, banker-builder greed and opportunistic politicians through the eyes of data as well as people. Today, I want to show you the beautiful people of Ireland — strikers, musicians, beggars. And the future of this country — its young. [Read more]

Browsing through the various shops of life that the sculpted modern civilisation presents every day — school, work, conference, columns, stories, managing, meeting and so on — finding peace has become elusive.

So elusive, in fact, that the business of providing it through books, CDs and other mediums run by self-appointed gurus has become a full fledged multi-billion-dollar industry. [Read more]

In October 1990, as part of a young band, we gave our last rock concert at Siri Fort auditorium in New Delhi. We didn’t know that then, of course, and were planning a life of music. But within no time, pressures of subsistence and the financial insecurity around music pushed down hard and within months, the band split up. [Read more]

Why do celebrations mean noise? What is this need in the urban Indian that makes him want to show that he’s having a good time? Can a good time be had in silence? [Read more]