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The three best minutes of my life, in two frames
Everybody has his own favourite story of seeing a tiger in the wild. More precisely, everybody has his own favourite story of having missed seeing a tiger in the wild. …
Has media become ‘accuser, prosecutor, judge’?
Like a bad host, who abuses his guests after calling them home, the prime minister of India launched into the media today after calling a bunch of five editors for …
There are trees—and then there are VVIP trees
Whether it is Bangalore or Mysore or anytown India, City authorities have just one solution to meet the relentless menace of vehicles on our roads. Which is to kill the …
One question I’m dying to ask Manmohan Singh—III
The irony is stark. The tenure of an acclaimed economist has seen galloping inflation running over the aam admi on whose shoulders his government came to power. Even while the …
CHURUMURI POLL: Is Jayalalitha PM material?
Tamil Nadu has generally played a big role in the formation of coalition governments at the Centre for nearly 15 years now, and the size and scale of the victory …
You are never too old to say, ‘Remember me’?
This is a picture to both salute and to smile. The former first: the man in the middle of the frame, the veteran food scientist T.N. Ramachandra Rao, passed away …
Even God needs proof of what the buffoons said
As two arrogant, power-drunk, mammon-worshippers shamelessly cross the line between “State” and “Church” and put the good lord in an embarrassing position, OB (outside broadcasting) vans of the TV newschannels …
Of course, if some VIP had been held hostage…
E.R. RAMACHANDRAN writes: When our sailors were caught by Somalian pirates for over 10 months, their families ran from Pillai to post in New Delhi to get our government to …
So, how many Dalit or tribal friends do you have?
Shekhar Gupta in the Indian Express: “…at a recent institutional investors’ conference which I was addressing on contemporary Indian politics. “Just a little bit disconcerted by how many questions were …
India’s greatest match-winning batsman ever is…
For long, the Sunil Gavaskar versus Gundappa Viswanath debate has been firmly sealed, signed and delivered in favour of the latter’s style, selflessness, civility and above all, match-winning prowess. With …
Sadly, their grandfather didn’t tweet their arrival
We could, of course, have used the opportunity to take a silly potshot at Amitabh Bachchan for T-410, or at astrologers predicting twins for Aishwarya Rai, but we won’t. We simply …
Should papers implement Majithia wage board?
Notwithstanding the exponential growth of the print media post-liberalisation, it is clear that the voice of journalists in the publications they bring out is subservient to that of the proprietor, …
Just one question ‘God’ should ask Yedi & HDK
Now that two power-drunk, sons of the soil lording over the real estate that is Karnataka have decided to subject the presiding deity at Dharmasthala to His biggest test yet—to …
Should netas swear before God in secular India?
Long years ago, the American author Kurt Vonnegut wrote that disaster is brought on most frequently, not by sceptics who agree to live under flawed and cumbersome human laws, but …
Why Majithia wage board is good for journalists
The recommendations of the Majithia wage board for journalists and other newspaper employees have clearly split newspaper owners and newspaper workers. The big dads of the Indian Newspaper Society (INS) …
9 reasons why wage board is bad for journalism
The recommendations of the Majithia wage board for working journalists and “other newspaper employees” has set the proverbial cat among the paper tigers. The industry body, Indian Newspaper Society (INS), …
BCCI, Infosys, Anil Kumble & a silly PR exercise
ARVIND SWAMINATHAN writes from Madras: You scratch my back and I will scratch yours, is India’s most famous sport, especially in the upper crust of society. And the country’s richest …
CHURUMURI POLL: Is Baba Ramdev’s yoga bogus?
Baba Ramdev‘s tragi-comic crusade for the return of black money has ended in a farce, with the idiot-box yogi calling off his fast-unto-death after nine short days. While the issue …
Thundering rain yahan, sweltering heat wahan
While the Delhi-based media begins unveiling the standard-issue “lifestyle” stories of summer holidays and getaways, villagers brave the lashes of the monsoon near Bagalkot, in north Karnataka on Tuesday. Photograph: …
Have you paid a bribe? Well, then, tell the world.
The Bangalore-based citizens’ group Janaagraha has set up an interactive website called “I paid a bribe” to uncover the market price of corruption. The anonymous citywise chronicle of those who …
3 deaths, 14 attacks on journos in last 6 months
GEETA SESHU writes from Bombay: The killing of Mid-Day (special investigations) editor J.Dey on Saturday, 11 June 2011, was the third death of a journalist in India over the last …
14 parties for media in 36 months of BJP rule
PALINI R. SWAMY writes from Bangalore: Although the size of the Karnataka market is smaller than Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Kerala, Bangalore probably has the largest news media presence …
What should a film on Yediyurappa be called?
In the kind of news that reveals all there is to say about Karnataka politics and Kannada cinema—and indeed about the state of Karnataka itself—news trickles out that the State’s …
Once upon a time, when Baba could thumb a nose
Even as Baba Ramdev does some heavylifting in a hospital in faraway Haridwar to salvage his reputation, credibility and indeed his health, a lensman takes a close look at the …
‘Hindus make bad devotees, but are good clients’
Dipankar Gupta, senior fellow at the Nehru memorial museum and library, on the thin crowds around Baba Ramdev after the midnight eviction from Ram Lila grounds in Delhi, in Mail …