It’s interesting how the debate over Aseem Trivedi’s cartoons has twisted and turned. It began with knee-jerk responses from most people who said that freedom of speech was being trampled on. Read more

As a life-long Dara Singh fan, I can’t help being devastated by his death. But I am also pleased by the deluge of emotion and affection that his demise has evoked. It is many years since we saw Dara Singh on the screen (Jab We Met was the last significant role that I remember) and decades more since he stepped into a ring. So it is gratifying that his passing has moved so many people, including many who were not even born during his wrestling and film heyday. Read more

Free speech has been much in the news recently: Salman Rushdie; the writers who read from The Satanic Verses in Jaipur; Jeremy Clarkson; and even Jay Leno. Though every case is different, the uproars that have resulted serve to reflect how much our society has lost sight of the underlying principle that must govern all our decisions on freedom of speech. Read more

The Union Cabinet decided on Monday to put off approving a hike in the salaries of MPs and ministers. Read more

I grew up in the 60s and the 70s in a vaguely Lefty family. This was a time when the phrase ‘the ugly American’ was in common use, when the US was involved in unpopular exercises of its power (in Vietnam, for instance) and when the CIA was actively interfering in Indian politics (just because we exaggerated its influence, do not believe that the Agency was idle). Read more

The relationship between television and politicians continues to fascinate me. Many politicians claim that TV is biased against them. Usually, those who complain are conservatives who feel that journalists are liberals and are therefore biased against them. Read more