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Air Conditioned Vehicle: No hand signal, please
On the miracle that is the Indian road, M.K. VIDYARANYA captures a stainless steel shop on the wheels of a moped made by the old firm of T.V. Sundaram Iyengar …
Yediyurappa’s shocking bid to shield the Reddys
MATHIHALLI MADAN MOHAN writes from Hubli: It is now clear as crystal. Either the chief minister of Karnataka, B.S. Yediyurappa, is mortally afraid of annoying the Reddy brothers, lest it …
Why should they pay Rs 200 to play in their park?
BHARGAVI S. RAO and LEO SALDANHA write from Bangalore: Employing a highly illegal policy, the government of Karnataka intends to restrict entry to Bangalore’s heritage Cubbon Park and Lalbagh only …
Does BJP have no decency left to defend its own?
The Liberhan Commission report on the demolition of the Babri masjid throws no new light on the dastardly designs of its its 67 execrable perpetrators. What it does is throw …
Think local, act global? Or think global, act local?
Stories of employees of call centres and outsourcing companies in Bangalore working on major Indian holidays just so that their company’s commitments to clients are met, makes news every now …
Like, bombers get scared looking at bombshells?
OK, Rang de Basanti and Munnabhai may help us bullshit a bit, but does anybody have any idea how (and why) “candle lit vigils” have become a part of our …
Winners of churumuri Deepavali greetings contest
With a speed that would put Manmohan Singh Liberhan to shame, churumuri.com is pleased to announce the winners of the Deepavali greetings contest. The first prize of Rs 1,001 goes …
6 proposals from (and 3 questions for) Lalit Modi
E.R. RAMACHANDRAN writes: The Board of Control of Cricket in India (BCCI) has signed a contract with Nimbus Corporation for a jaw-dropping $612 million. The BCCI’s present sponsorship and sale …
CHURUMURI POLL: Should the BJP apologise?
The indictment of the entire top management of the BJP, including the party’s moderate mascot, Atal Behari Vajpayee, for the demolition of the Babri masjid by the Justice Liberhan commission …
‘A narrow idea of India fuels illiberal tendencies’
Professor Jyotirmaya Sharma of the University of Hyderabad in Mail Today: “The label of India being the largest democracy is not enough. It is not sufficient for us to go …
CHURUMURI POLL: Should the RSS be banned?
Nothing is what it seems in politics. Once the manufactured fireworks over the leak of the Liberhan report even while Parliament was on (and then the hard thud of reality …
‘Ayodhya destroyed what is essentially Indian’
The former India correspondent of the BBC, the Calcutta-born Sir Mark Tully, on 6 December 1992: “I witnessed… many tragedies often involving people whose names will not be recorded in …
Who does the chief minister owe allegiance to?
Depending on who you would like to believe, the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) is either a noble, benign, cultural organisation of volunteers, straining every sinew to strengthen the moral and …
One question I’m dying to ask Justice Liberhan
After 17 years—three more than Lord Rama‘s exile—and 48 six-monthly extensions, the Justice Manmohan Singh Liberhan commission’s Rs 7 crore quest into the “truth” behind the demolition of the Babri …
CHURUMURI POLL: A pardon for Mr Azharuddin?
A classic cliche in Indian cinema is the criminal who tries to gain legitimacy by standing for an election and getting elected. Something quite like that but not the same …
Join the campaign to free Laxman Choudhury
India’s war on Maoists, described by prime minister Manmohan Singh as the “gravest internal threat” facing the country has begun to ensnare journalists too. Laxman Choudhury, a stringer with the …
In a team of lottery tickets, one surefire winner
Kunal Pradhan in The Indian Express: “At a Thai restaurant in Islamabad, after the first day’s play in the final Test in 2004, Rahul Dravid politely declined to stay for …
Of course, one of them was crying on TV recently
Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa, and his cabinet colleagues (from left) Suresh Kumar, Vishveshwar Hegde Kageri and K.S. Eshwarappa are all smiles for the cameras at the BJP’s state core …
The unfolding tragicomedy of Yedi & the Reddys
Ajay Sukumaran in The Telegraph, Calcutta: “The man who performed the Herculean feat of getting the BJP to power in the south is now carrying out, like the Greek hero, …
It’s true, political analysis = fortune telling
Astrologer Veenu Sandal on what the stars foretell for Karnataka chief minister B.S. Yediyurappa in M.J. Akbar‘s fortnightly magazine, Covert: “His stars indicate that his long experience of more than …
Why Jagadish Shettar’s film could be ‘Oye Lucky’
MATHIHALLI MADAN MOHAN writes from Hubli: Luck, more than anything, has played a major role in the ascendancy of Jagadish Shettar, who has resigned from the post of speaker of …
Does art imitate life or is it the other way round?
22 students of a teachers’ training institute in Tamil Nadu get caught cheating in an exam using mobile phones. The incident happens shortly after the Kamal Hassan starrer Vasool Raja, …
Not as crowded as the Kumbh but a lasting curse
Silhouettes are made of these: an early-morning sun, a river, a swami. At Talakad, the site of the famous curse that is believed to have rendered the Maharajas of Mysore …
CHURUMURI POLL: Tendulkar vs Thackeray?
Sachin Tendulkar‘s comment that Bombay belongs to India, and that he was a proud Maharashtrian but an Indian first, has predictably kicked off a storm with the hobbled Shiv Sena …
Let there be no doubt: tail doesn’t wag the dog
Does a “cultural” organisation like the RSS interfere in the affairs of a political outfit like the BJP? As Nitin Gadkari, an unknown Maharashtrian of unknown leadership skills, prepares to …