Author: admin
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GOING…GOING…GONE
My family established its auctioneering business in 1858. It lasted for about 120 years. The Sunday morning auctions were a major source of interest and entertainment. When a bid was nearing completion the hammer would be raised with the solemn intonation “Going, going, gone”. The bid was closed, as an auction cannot go on indefinitely….
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POST MERRIMENT POST MORTEM
It bugs me when people wish me a “Merry Christmas”. It’s worse when it gets corrupted in the Hindi heartland to Marry or even Mary Christmas! Despite the goodwill in the greeting, it annoys me. It indicates that such a person doesn’t really know the meaning of Christmas, or is just blindly following a British…
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IS IT R.I.P. 4 R&P?
Exactly 5 years ago, in December 2018, I had written a piece “Pappu can Dance Wallah”. It was inspired by the 2008 Bollywood song “Pappu Can’t Dance Salaa” from the movie “Jaane Tu Ya Jaane Naa” starring Genelia D’souza (now Deshmukh). For years Rahul Gandhi (RG) had been disparagingly referred to as Pappu (the simpleton)….
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CHRISTMAS RUBBLE
On Sunday 10th December I heard the first reading from Isaiah (40:1-5, 9-11) on freedom from the Babylonian exile. The reference to Babylon reminded me of the foot-tapping Boney M. song “By the Rivers of Babylon”. The music is pulsating, though I’m pretty sure that most people don’t know the meaning, context or even the…
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ANOTHER WICKET (D) DOWN!
In cricketing parlance, once five wickets are down, the tail is exposed. The batters have been exhausted and only the bowlers remain, to put up some resistance. After the fall from grace (pun intended) of Cardinal George Alencherry and Abp Andrews Thazhath of Ernakulam, I had commented that for the Indian hierarchy it was now…
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क्या संविधान खतरे में है ?
MAGSAYSAY AWARDEE डॉ संदीप पाण्डे से विशेष मुलाकात
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जवाहर लाल नेहरू को याद किया
क्या नेहरूजी धर्म निरपेक्ष और गुट निरपेक्ष थे
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SCRAP THE CONSTITUTION!
There are two types of people that believe that the Indian Constitution is a scrap of paper. They are those who deliberately choose to ignore its provisions, or those that are grossly ignorant of it. This 26th November marked the 74th anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution in 1950. I was asked to address…
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ROLLER COASTER
A roller coaster ride can throw one upside down or side to side. Not meant for the faint hearted. After my daughter was born 38 years ago, this was probably the first time that I was travelling out of my hometown Kanpur for more than 10 days. It was a roller coaster ride through 3…
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COASTAL COLLATERAL
(A sequel to “Roller Coaster”) In war, and even out of it, those who resort to aerial bombardment use the term “collateral damage” to explain away the loss of innocent lives, or destruction of non-military targets; as is now happening in Gaza. It is a convenient justification, or escape route, for what should be classified…