THE CONTEXT: This has been open season for clean chits, especially from the Election Commission of India to Namo and Amit Shah. Opposition parties have got their hackles up, claiming that the Model Code of Conduct has been reduced to the Modi Code of Conduct. Other than clean chits, has anybody thought of dirty socks?…

The 1st of April is a fun day. With the advent of electronic communication I can now fool people across the world. I get fiendish delight in fooling the “powerful”, and have often incurred their wrath. This April Fool’s Day would have been no different, until I read the story on Antony Madassery, a priest…

This is really pushing one’s luck.  Trying to be Pope, the Prime Minister of India or the President of the USA is bad enough.  But this is downright insane.  Blasphemy. I can almost hear the cries of “Crucify him.  Kill him.  Stone him to death”. Fortunately, I am not in Pakistan or in Judea, so…

In my previous piece I wrote about double agents, piecing together jigsaw puzzles and how pawns are sacrificed in a game of chess. During the height of the Cold War between the USA and the USSR it had been suggested that the Presidents of the two countries sit down to a chess tourney, and points…

Double agents are crucial in both war and peace. They seldom live to tell their tales. Those who do, are those who don’t tell, for a price of course. What does a golfer in Kashmir have in common with somebody who spends his time walking his dog and looking after a castle in coastal England?…

On the 14th February a fidayeen (suicide) bomber attacked a CRPF convoy of 78 vehicles transporting 2547 troopers. It was a hit that ran up a casualty figure of 45 at last count. On the 15th February Prime Minister Modi flagged off Train 18, renamed Vande Bharat Express from New Delhi station. Its official number…