I thought the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena chief Raj Thackeray knew about God and his magnanimity: that He transcends man-created regional, communal and linguistic issues. I thought before trying to recreate history, he had read some of it. Read more

Some dinner talk first. The discussion is hotter than the soup. Topic: the Thackerays, the Chavans, the Yadavs — politicians in general. A senior army official laments, “We are lucky to have weak neighbours. Or by now they, the politicians, would have divided the nation.” Joins in another,”Now that there is some respite on the communal front, they are stoking regional sentiments. They simply don’t want India to remain one.” A bureaucrat looks at the television and quips,”It’s very painful when they refer to bhaiyas in such a derogatory manner. What is the difference between Mumbai and Australia today?” Read more

Let me correct myself.  Hindi is not our national language. It is just an official language, which the architects of the Constitution thought would gradually replace English in 15 years time. Read more

I don’t remember when I last sung Vande Mataram. Try and remember. Not many of you would have sung the national song since you left school. There is hardly any occasion to sing Vande Mataram. All one gets to hear and hum perhaps is Lata Mangeshkar’s Vande Mataram or AR Rehman’s Maa Tujhe Salaam on one of the FM stations these days. Read more

Those were the days when the goons of Maharashtra Navnirman Sena were bullying and bashing up the North Indians in Mumbai. A friend from Texas sent me an email sharing the revolutionary step taken by a school to break racial barriers.

Why can’t you ape our schools? How can geographical, linguistic or communal barriers stay in an era of online communities? Read more