He had a doctoral degree, a contractual job in the university and a bright future ahead in academics. He was married to a girl barely 20 years of age and was respected as a teacher....
In 1999, as part of a British Council showcase programme, I travelled to the Edinburgh Festival and that set in motion the idea of creating platforms for Indian contemporary and classical art forms across the world....
This year -- the year before the 2019 Lok Sabha elections -- was to witness elections in a total of eight states. Three are already done, and it will be interesting to see how voters' opinions shape electoral outcomes in the remaining five states....
A huge statue of Karl Marx was unveiled in his birthplace in the German city of Trier to mark his 200th birth anniversary on May 5 -- and it was donated by the Chinese government. But wasn't China's move towards market capitalism, even more than the Soviet Union's demise, the final epitaph for this...
For a decade and a half now I've been a tireless advocate of India's soft power, arguing that in the information age, it is not the side with the bigger army that wins, but the side that tells the better story. In the past India has successfully managed to be what I've called the "land of the better story": As a society with a free press and a thriving...
Telangana Chief Minister K. Chandrashekar Rao is among the more active opposition leaders at the national level who are trying to form an alliance against the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)....
It was what a film director would have described as a perfect take. "You are a beginner," he said, grinding his teeth in simulated anger. "These are your days to learn." A measured pause; he then emoted. "And you are insulting a former Prime Minister, a senior-most leader?"...
The cities of Bombay (Mumbai), Madras (Chennai) and Calcutta (Kolkata) had deep cultural roots and urbanised commerce and industry even during the colonial period, possibly because a diversified and robust economy is important for the growth of cultural activities, beyond the purely traditional forms. Delhi has had the cultural inst...
Welcoming the Supreme Court's concern over discolouring of the Taj Mahal, the 17th century monument to love in Agra, historian Prof R. Nath, an authority on Mughal architecture, said "mud-pack treatment with 'Multani Mitti' was the chief cause (of its browning) and this should be stopped forthwith"....
There has been, in recent times, a great churning in what can be called India's "cultural space". Public institutions, hitherto custodians of all things "cultural", have been eclipsed by the rise of new-age festivals and events. Indeed, the involvement of the state in promoting culture is fast diminishing, with private event management companies ...
