NB: The title of my WordPress blog ‘After the truth shower’ originates in this poem, which was written one evening in 2010. I posted it on Blogger on October 12, 2012, after unsuccessfully attempting to publish it. It was written for my close friend Rabindra Ray (Lalloo), who passed away in January 2019. Here it… Read More My friend
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: Amidst all the flames of outrage, let me add a small reminder taken from daily life: it is not merely the speaking of factual data that counts, what counts more is the manner of speech, the way in which we speak what we think is the truth. In all religious traditions, there are theories… Read More Bharat Bhushan: New Bharatiya Janata Party's troubled road ahead / Sickular Libtard: Nupurgate and after
NB: Our honourable senior judges may kindly let us know if they have totally abandoned their constitutional duty to exercise oversight on the actions of the executive. In face of their silence, may we assume that this kind of hooliganism by the Yogi government will be allowed to continue with impunity? Should we also assume… Read More Totally illegal, says ex-CJ of Allahabad High Court; bulldozer cases in limbo / Owaisi's questions for Yogi govt
NB: Beneath this link are two comments I made in response to articles published in Scheerpost about the Russo-Ukraine war. One comment has appeared, the second not yet. DS Wars aren’t civilized. The very definition of war includes death and cruelty, and everyone who dies has loved ones who mourn them. But some wars are… Read More Jason Fields: Putin's brutal record in Chechnya and Syria is ominous for Ukraine / My comments on Vladimir Putin's apologists
NB: The UN General Assembly has condemned Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and called for withdrawal. Putin is a gangster in absolute power, and those Indian commentators who find excuses for this brutal invasion in the name of ‘national interest’ are ethical nihilists. By the way, it was the Soviet Union, not ‘Russia’, which stood by India’s… Read More Rebecca Solnit: It’s time to confront the Trump-Putin network / George Monbiot: We must confront Russian propaganda / Moscow police detain children for laying flowers at Ukrainian embassy
NB: The article below is provocative. Readers may consider the implications. But two points need to be made about the author’s last few sentences. One, the phrase ‘Putin’s imperial nostalgia’ is misleading unless post-USSR geo-politics are examined carefully. Two, the world’s ‘liberal democracies’ don’t seem very committed to liberal democracy these days, and neither (to… Read More Ukraine: India refuses to take a clear position on the Russian invasion / Prominent Russians join protests against Ukraine war amid 1,800 arrests
NB: India’s rulers have invented several bits of political abuse over the years, including tukde-tukde gang, and urban Naxals. Some years ago during the wave of violent ‘actions’ undertaken by the CPI (Maoist) I was often asked to join TV programs debating the issue. I was invited because having been a Naxalite cadre myself in the first phase… Read More Some uncomfortable thoughts on 'urban naxals'
NB: The debate on the Holocaust unleashed by Whoopi Goldberg‘s comments about race could be about her ignorance; but it could also arise from a linguistic misunderstanding around the concept of race. An issue related to this one is the origin of Nazi race legislation, the study of which may be found in this book… Read More Racism, the Nazis and American media
NB: A timely comment on a sinister speech. The NSA is telling us that civil society itself is a war zone. This is not surprising, as the militarisation of civil society is precisely the goal as well as modus operandi of totalitarian politics. This is nothing new. It was evident in the Nazi and Fascist… Read More Bharat Bhushan: Frontier of warfare? Wrong to securitise civil society discourse
