NB: This was the first review of my novel, Revolution Highway, published in 2010. It also reviews Hari Kunzru’s My Revolutions (2007); and was written by Anjum Hasan. It appeared in Caravan in January 2011. More reviews are available here. My thanks and best regards to Anjum and all the other reviewers. DS Dilip Simeon,… Read More You Say You Want a Revolution
NB: I first posted this remembrance of my schooldays in 2018 (it was written in 2008). I dedicate it to my late parents as well as to all my schoolmates, especially those, like my friend Umang, who are no more. Salute! Dilip From Recess: The Penguin Book of Schooldays Palash Mehrotra (ed); New Delhi, 2008 This is… Read More Of Bagpipes, Horses and Golden Orioles (2008)
NB: This post was taken from a HuffPost article in 2017 (the link is void now) and posted by me on Blogger on July 17, 2017. Maliha was a student of mine at the Young India Fellowship at Ashoka University. I might add that she was an excellent scholar. I would like to share this with… Read More Dear Bharat Mata, I’m Your Pakistani Daughter And I Love You. By Maliha Khan
By Beena Sarwar and Priyanka Singh un ka jo farz hai wo ahl-e-siyasat jaanenmera paigham mohabbat hai jahan tak pahunche Let politicians do what they think they mustMy message is that of love, let it reach where it can – Jigar Moradabadi On a muggy Friday afternoon three weeks ago, three men from Pune walked… Read More On the eve of 75th independence anniversary, peace pilgrims from Pune bring message of love to Pakistan
Mukul Kesavan on Salman Rushdie and the violence on free thought NB: In case we forget what’s happened in India between 2013 and 2017: Four Indian intellectuals who were murdered for their ideas (2013-2017) In the decades since Khomeini’s fatwa overset Salman Rushdie’s life, his critics have sometimes suggested that he isn’t really a free speech icon because… Read More Bloodied pen
In 1999, the Tibetan writer Tsering Woeser came across Wang Lixiong’s book “Sky Burial: The Fate of Tibet.” On finishing it, she sent Mr. Wang photographs taken by her father, who was with the People’s Liberation Army when it entered Tibet in the 1950s and documented the early years of the Cultural Revolution in Lhasa in the 1960s.… Read More The Cultural Revolution in Tibet: A Photographic Record. By LUO SILING
Slavoj Zizek is a Slovenian graphomaniac who infuriates some of the world’s most annoying people, and might for this reason alone be cherished. He once enjoyed a high degree of pop-philosophical notoriety, being blamed by pundits who had clearly never read his books for the scourge of pomo relativism that threatened to undermine the ‘moral… Read More Slavoj Zizek: the philosopher who annoys all the right people
Sir – In order to discourage confusions which have been constantly occurring, we beg herewith to state that neither of us is the other. Yours & c.,Russell (Bertrand, Earl Russell)Russell of Liverpool (Lord Russell of Liverpool) One of the stranger sights on the University College London campus is the clothed skeleton of the utilitarian philosopher… Read More The delights of mischief
NB: Iran’s vicious theocracy has never withdrawn the fatwa against Salman Rushdie. The practice of placing monetary rewards on persons heads, i.e., offering money for death, is repulsive and barbaric, no matter who does it. Contract killings are murder, and to for so-called believers to claim this is done for Almighty God is despicable. God… Read More Salman Rushdie has again instructed us in a profound lesson: great literature will always be a matter of life and death
The history of India is essentially a history of Bihar”, announced ‘comrade’ Daleep Singh, my Gandhian-Socialist colleague, as soon as he heard about Nitish Kumar’s decision to dump Bharatiya Janata Party and join hands with Rashtriya Janata Dal to form a new government. Enjoying his kite flying, he continued: “Ever since the days of Buddha, every major… Read More Yogendra Yadav: Bihar coup that changed India’s political landscape
After the truth-shower 