Remembering Kamal Khan
‘Kamal was news tv before the circus took over’ It’s been a pretty miserable Makar Sankranti. Early this morning a call from my old NDTV friend Manish Kumar was...
Dilip Sardesai: Stamping his legacy in the joyful islands of sun and sand
The first month in high school can often be unnerving and discomfiting in a new environment. As a six-year-old stepping into Mumbai’s Campion School in January 1971, I was...
50 years of Sunny Days
I am a 70s kid, or like to at least believe I am one. The 70s were India and Indira Gandhi’s decade of socialism and the emergency, which meant...
Manohar Parikkar: the original ‘Aam aadmi’ neta
In December 2013, the entire national media was in a tizzy over Arvind Kejriwal and his Aam Aadmi image. Every move of the man who would be Delhi chief...
When Pak-bashing becomes an Indian Election Issue
When Narendra Modi is on the campaign trail in his ‘janmabhoomi’ of Gujarat, his rabble-rousing rhetoric usually gets even more theatrical. Not surprisingly then, he chose a public rally...
Open Letter to Imran Khan
I write this with sadness as much as anger. Yes, like every Indian citizen, I am bloody angry at what happened in Pulwama, the killing of 40 CRPF jawans...
Tracking India in the Modi era – The-Ken Interview
“When sensation has replaced sense or noise has replaced news, you know, you feel—I don’t want to say that, but I feel almost an anachronism. Ancient, wrestling with self-doubt.”...
Five Things we learnt in a No-Confidence Motion
1. Pappu can Hug Saala: this was never so much a No Confidence Motion (NCM) against the NDA (the ruling alliance always had the numbers) as much as a...
Sport Knows No Caste But…..
Few issues agitate Indians as much as caste. So when soon after France’s win at the World Cup, I tweeted about the remarkable multi-cultural identity of the French football...
The Mumbai Story that Must be Told
Since everyone – or almost everyone – seems to have a Sanjay Dutt story to tell at the moment, here is my blast from the past. I was the...