Maybe we have lost the quality of friendship in becoming too particular about whom we choose to have as friends, and in a sense eroding what is, after all, the essence of friendship—camaraderie of various kinds and a fundamental trust in the other : From Just Being NB: Professor Romila Thapar is a stalwart of… Read More Romila Thapar: Just Being
First posted January 29, 2014; and published in the Asian Age (January 30, 2014 was the 66th anniversary of Gandhi’s assassination) The music of humanity The force of love is the same as the force of the soul or truth. We have evidence of its working at every step. Hind Swaraj – M.K. Gandhi One of the… Read More The music of humanity
Book Launch: Tuesday May 7; 5.30 pm; Jawahar Bhawan; Rajendra Prasad Road Gandhi’s Assassin. By Dhirendra K Jha ‘The Poets of Rapallo’ Review: Ezra Pound’s Fascist Paradise Theodor Adorno’s Minima Moralia is a warning against resurgent fascism Christopher Bollas: The fascist state of mind (1992) Walter Benjamin: Capitalism as Religion (1921) Against homogenisation: Advancing diversity through Democratic Confederalism Ten Theses… Read More गांधी का हत्यारा गोड़से: नाथूराम की ज़िंदगी और उसके सपनों का भारत
NB: Those of us who see the events of the late 1940’s in black and white terms ought to study the complexity of historical events as well as of the views of the actors in those events. Some may be surprised to read B. R. Ambedkar’s views on the transfer of population on a communal… Read More Jogendranath Mandal hoped for Dalit-Muslim unity in Pakistan. He’s remembered as a ‘villain’
Akhtar Balouch; November 4, 2015 Jogendra Nath Mandal has the distinction of representing the Muslim League as minister in the 1946 pre-partition political setup of India. Later, he presided over the historic session of the Constituent Assembly on 11th August 1947, where Mohammed Ali Jinnah was sworn in as the first Governor-General of Pakistan. Jinnah… Read More Jogendra Nath Mandal: Chosen by Jinnah, banished by Pakistan’s bureaucracy
Gandhiji has been killed by his own people for whose redemption he lived. This second crucifixion in the history of the world has been enacted on a Friday – the same day Jesus was done to death one thousand nine hundred and fifteen years ago. Father forgive usHindusthan Standard January 31, 1948 Sarojini Naidu’s AIR… Read More Sarojini Naidu’s broadcast February 1, 1948: My Father, Do Not Rest / T. N. Madan: Secret of Gandhi’s Greatness / Gopalkrishna Gandhi: We need to do more than lament the tragedy
NB: An introduction to this event was first posted on March 30, 2012 on my older blog; and reposted on November 26, 2022, as Another Time, Another Mosque. Readers may refer to it for the historical background which provided the impulse for this fast (Gandhi called it his yagnya, or sacrifice). It lasted till January… Read More Mahatma Gandhi’s last fast against hatred and violence began on January 13, 1948
No one expected the abrogation to be reversed. But SC’s judgment lacks the reassurance that it has the integrity to uphold the Indian Constitution, in whose name it speaks, in full measure The judgment of the Supreme Court, upholding the abrogation of Article 370, is a massive legal victory for the Narendra Modi government’s approach to Jammu and… Read More Pratap Bhanu Mehta on abrogation of Article 370: Has SC established a dangerous precedent for federalism?
War, we were learning slowly, is a terrible thing that turns men into beasts, women into zombies and children into scarred and introverted human beings for the rest of their lives… Mrinal Pande When in primary school, we did not know or care about the Partition. Why would neighbours suddenly begin resenting each other enough… Read More Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, Really?
I am reminded of a conversation years ago with Pakistan’s defence attaché in London, who later became the Director-General (Analysis) in the Inter-Services Intelligence. I got a call from Brigadier Javed Alam asking what I was doing then. I responded that I was working on my doctoral thesis and a chapter titled ‘threat perception in… Read More India calling itself Bharat fulfills Pakistan’s age-old wish
After the truth-shower 