Life with Didi
Interviewing some politicians can be injurious to health at times. Over the years, I have had the good fortune of interviewing almost all the country's top netas. Each one...
The Healing Touch
I have followed Narendra Modi's political career since the Ram Janmabhoomi rath yatra in 1990. Through good times and bad, what has always marked him out is a sense...
The Death of an Editor
In 1992, I had a chance to visit the United States as part of a journalist exchange programme. Among my travel stops was the newsroom of The Washington Post....
Pawar-play
Yesterday, I rang up Sharad Pawar to seek an interview on the Maharashtra verdict. Pawar spoke gently as ever, but refused the request "You called the NCP a cash...
Mahabattle: Five Big Takeaways
a) Modi is a true Pan-Indian leader: the general elections propelled Modi from Gujarat chief minister into India’s neta number one; the state elections have...
Exit, exit polls?
The tyranny of television rating points has meant that exit polls are now part of the great Indian election tamasha. Let me make an honest confession: I am a...
In memory of Khushwant
It takes a book festival in Kasauli to get away from the noise of news. A weekend in the bracing hills of Himachal to attend the Khushwant Singh literary...
Farewell MV Kamath
In February this year, I met MV Kamath for the last time. Kamath, a veteran journalist, was dean of the Manipal Institute of Communication and had invited me to...
From Gaddar to Haider
Cinema often holds a mirror to society. Remember those macho 'war' films of the 1990s: the Gaddars and the Borders that glorified the army and projected Pakistan as the...
Cleanliness begins at home
Of all the ideas that Narendra Modi has thrown up since becoming prime minister, the Swacha Bharat Abhiyan launched on Mahatma Gandhi's birthday is easily his most imaginative and...