Apr 15, 2020Reliving the Times of Rowlatt.During the last pandemic our freedom was shadowed under the imperial regime, today it is a brutal authoritarian government. We might have somewhat accepted suppression of free speech as a concomitant of the British barbarism, but did we learn anything from it? Let’s roll back the clock to some 101…4 min read
Mar 14, 2020Will COVID-19 Balk Sanders’ Campaign?After last Tuesday’s primaries Senator Sanders blamed and rightly so, the youth of the nation that continues to turn out in disappointing numbers during polls for his performance. …Bernie Sanders3 min read
Mar 8, 2020MY GOD IS A WOMAN?“I’m a proud Brahmin”; my father exclaimed to me. Ensuing a usual dictatorial tone; “And so should you”, said he. So as a Brahmin I went to the temple; The love of Durga was tender and supple. She taught me how to love every being alike; Maa Durga! What caste was she, what was she like? Outside, on the red-sandstone steps the Dalit beggar looked pale; With angry, crimson eyes she gazed at Durga’s idol and shrieked —1 min read
Feb 14, 2020Happy Birthday Faiz Sa’ab!Today during our evening Chai session my grandfather (to the left) told me that in the early 1940s, his dad (my great-grandfather, to the right) would often lodge ‘comrades’ from the Communist Party of India in his house (now my ancestral home) in Punjab. I never got to know my…Faiz Ahmad Faiz4 min read
Oct 6, 2019The Star Crossed Lovers of KashmirAnd maybe in the fabled paradise of Kashmir, the sun would once set in the lap of a peaceful valley; Peace, now whispers his sweet-nothings to his eternal, pining lover — Freedom. Freedom, who until now had not forgiven her lover for his frequent infidelity, jadedly clasps onto his wiggly, sagging wrist; They’re now too senile. The wait was too long — for they last met at ‘the stroke of that midnight hour’?Kashmir1 min read
Jul 4, 2019Delhi’s Traffick: An UnderbellyAs the traffic is bottlenecked under the curved openings of the Ajmeri Gate most people do not pace hurriedly either — their gait looks desultory. The city’s pace is still racing, somehow, ironically. Just a few stones throw away and a few minutes walk away, lies the infamous GB Road…Feminism4 min read
May 6, 2019He Wasn’t Mourning a Daughter’s Death.“I was standing in a compact queue, at the nearest State Bank branch to our house, waiting to be called by the clerk. Even though, India had barely circumvented a famine by executing the Green Revolution; technological advancement had not completely seeped into our national priorities yet. So I had…India5 min read
Apr 26, 2019Living Along Bulleh Shah’s Alley.‘Kanjari BaniyaaN Meri Izzat Na Ghat Di’ Being a harlot does not lessen my dignity ‘Mainu Nach Ke Yaar Manaawan De’ Let me dance with liberation and celebrate my Lover Finally, I had managed to finish reading the verse in a languid staccato — Nanaji was giving me his weekly…Poetry5 min read
Apr 4, 2019India’s Rhapsodic Religious RhetoricIn January 1950, India adopted its constitution that was ornately decorated with democratic- secular views, which simultaneously also provided room for dissent. India was now afoot to be the biggest secular democracy in the world and did a praise-worthy job at diversifying its first Union Cabinet — as the Dominion…India3 min read
Mar 31, 2019Ahmadiyya Persecution- A Constitutional Genocide?In the seemingly peaceful autumn of 1978, when Pakistan’s Chief of Army Staff, General Zia-Ul-Haq used all his might to overthrow the democratically elected Pakistani government, he plunged the country into years of instability, violence and civilian strife. After imposing a decade long martial law, Zia not only became the…Pakistan7 min read
