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The beginning of the end of Narendra Modi?
The Gujarat government has admitted today before the Supreme Court that Kausar Bi, the wife of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, the extortionist who had been killed in a fake encounter in November …
If prayer has power, why can’t it get you an…
The mindblowingly prolific, versatile and acid tongued Christopher Hitchens has a new book out called God is not Great. In an interview with New York magazine’s Boris Kachka, he has …
CHURUMURI POLL: A pardon for Afzal Guru?
Pending a final decision for almost six months now, the mercy petition of Mohammed Afzal Guru, the death row convict in the Parliament attack case, has bounced back into international …
A Mysore jewel very few Mysoreans know about
BAPU SATYANARAYANA writes: In an environment populated by pretenders of shallow learning who garner awards by the power of lobbying; by men who flaunt their learning by their power to …
Why teetotaller Banta still drinks two glasses
MURALI KRISHNAN forwards a joke which he claims “won the best joke prize in London”. *** Banta Singh walks into a bar in London and orders three glasses of beer …
Should VIPs get special treatment at temples?
The controversy over the Abhishek Bachchan-Aishwarya Bachchan post-marriage trip to Tirupati reopens an evergreen question: can our temples of worship—sab ka maalik ek and all—really roll out the red carpet …
Indian cricket will improve in four to eight years
Two of India’s smartest advertisers—Hindustan Lever and Pepsi—seem to have come to the conclusion that the future of Indian cricket is really in the far future. In a Surf Excel …
All mouse work and no spouse play makes…
“They spend more time with their mouses, but they have no time for their spouses,” is NDTV reporter Sam Daniel‘s thunderous opening line on a story on the sexual woes …
John, Tom or Jimmy: coaching the new coach
E.R. RAMACHANDRAN writes: There is an unnecessary brouhaha about who the next coach of the Indian cricket team will be. Will it be Dav Whatmore or Tom Moody or John …
CHURUMURI POLL: World Cup—good, bad, oh god?
The 2007 World Cup is just one game away from receiving its boarding pass for the home of one of the 16 participating teams: Australia or Sri Lanka. How was …
A box of poems is mightier than a sten-gun
The Telegraph, Calcutta, has a cute story on the paranoia that has gripped American campuses after the Virginia Tech shootout. Kazim Ali, an Indian professor of “Middle Eastern descent” in …
Should Karunanidhi be hauled up for contempt?
In a sign of chutzpah bordering on contempt that seems to come all too easily to politicians who have made language, caste and religion their leitmotif, Tamil Nadu chief minister …
CHURUMURI POLL: Kalam for President again?
The hunt for a successor to President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam has hit a dead end—and bounced back. On the one hand, the names of potential candidates (Somnath Chatterjee, Karan Singh, …
We live and learn the English language
SAC forwards a picture, presumably from Bangalore, that elevates the Queen’s Tongue to stratospheric heights. But it’s the thought that counts, surely?
If only Hutch service was as good as its ads
Is a mutt head more qualified than a scientist?
The coalition government in Karnataka has reportedly decided to release Rs 30 crore—yes, Rs 300,000,000 i.e. three followed by nine zeroes—to Sri Raghaveshwara Bharati of the Ramachandrapura Mutt in Hosanagar …
Sign of an alive democracy, or a sad mobocracy?
The Kaveri Krishna Horata Samanvaya Samithi has put up this quite extraordinary notice at the Bangalore railway station, with pictures of T.A. Narayana Gowda and Kodihalli Chandrashekhar of the Karnataka …
How the sardar fooled the conductor on April 1
E.R. RAMACHANDRAN forwards a dozen Sardarji “jokes”, quips and oneliners. “Some of them are really good ones,” he warns. You figure out which ones. *** 1. Lecturer: Write a note …
The mother tongue gets into an underwear ad
‘Adjust Maadi‘ has become the calling card of Kannadigas in the eyes of advertising copywriters, and the phrase that epitomises the ‘chalta hai‘ attitude sneaks into the new television commercials …
The job of cricket selectors just got a little easy
A CNN-IBN report says the Punjab government, bolstered obviously by the Centre’s unshakable resolve on the OBC reservation issue, is planning to introduce 25 per cent reservation in sports selections …
Is this the best one-day side in the world?
The Set Max “selection committee” comprising chief selector Tony Greig, captain Arjuna Ranatunga, and coach John Wright has come up with the Best XI of the 2007 World Cup on …
CHURUMURI POLL: Dr Raj Kumar Jayanti?
In a mark of tokenism and cheap populism that only a serving politician can muster, Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy has reportedly said the State Government was planning to Dr Raj …
Our MLAs, our ministers need sex education first
VINUTHA MALLYA writes: And once again our ‘rich culture’ has become the figleaf for the lack of political will to implement something useful for society. This time they are catching …
When the Mysore-Bombay train fare was Rs 12
K. SATYANARAYAN forwards us a link to a podcast interview with V.K. Murthy, the legendary cinematographer of the legendary Guru Dutt, who was behind the camera for Kagaz ke phool, …
‘Hi, darling. It’s me, Brian Lara… I’m back’
Brian Lara‘s departure has sent cricket writers to their best, and the anecdotes and the prose on The Flawed Genius—“a batsman of rare gifts, a night owl, a complex, haunted …
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