VISITING Kolkata after more than a decade was like flipping through a sepia-tinted photo album, only to find some pages smudged, torn or missing altogether. The city, with all its unrelenting chaos and ineffable charm, greeted me as it always...
VISITING Kolkata after more than a decade was like flipping through a sepia-tinted photo album, only to find some pages smudged, torn or missing altogether. The city, with all its unrelenting chaos and ineffable charm, greeted me as it always...
DILJIT Dosanjh made history at the 2025 Met Gala. His outfit was not just an eye-turner, but a part of a milestone of South Asian storytelling in the global arena. His debut outfit was designed by Prabal Gurung, who rose...
THE crack of an AK-47 rifle shot is a deafening 150-160 decibels at point-blank range. Opened recently for tourists with its remoteness touted as its USP, the Baisaran meadow — 7 km southeast of Pahalgam — had no security personnel...
A civil defence mock drill, including a blackout, is being conducted nationwide today. A section of the media claims that such an exercise has not been carried out since the 1971 Bangladesh war. This is incorrect, as we shall soon...
INTER-TRIBAL disputes leading to violence are not new to Manipur. In 1992-93, a series of clashes erupted among Naga and Kukis in parts of Churachandpur, Ukhrul, Senapati and Tamenglong districts. The National Socialist Council of Nagaland (Isak-Muivah), a Naga separatist...
AS war clouds loom, the peepal tree above Pillar No. 918 — a silent sentinel at the India-Pakistan border in Jammu — is holding its breath. It listens to tales carried by birds from both countries. A bird from India...
In an era where news often reaches our screens in real time, it’s hard to imagine a world where breaking news took days to reach the public. Yet, that was the reality when I first stepped into journalism in the...
THE saying ‘old is gold’ sums up my enduring bond with my typewriter. More than just a machine, it has been a steadfast companion throughout my career, symbolising dedication, perseverance and craftsmanship. My first job as a document writer in...
DURING Operation Parakram in 2001, my unit was deployed near the India-Pakistan border in the western sector. Tensions ran high, and an attack from the enemy seemed imminent. Our orders were clear: Take defensive positions and dig deep trenches to...
THE government has been actively taking steps to make traffic law enforcement more stringent so that unruly drivers ‘fall in lane’. From CCTV cameras on key stretches to speed radars and speed alerts inside newer vehicles, the Indian driver has...
IT was Dagh Dehlvi who extolled the greatness of Urdu: “Urdu hai jiska naam hami jaante hain ‘Dagh’, Hindostan main dhoom hamari zuban ki hai.” There’s no denying the fact that not only north and central India, but to an...
ABOUT 15 years ago, a maid started working at my house in Patiala. I asked her about her family. She revealed that her husband was lodged in the Kapurthala jail after being arrested four months earlier. When I tried to...
IN December 1987, I arrived at the small town of Sanand in Ahmedabad district to take charge as the SHO of the police station for three months, as part of the practical training of an IPS probationer. I got down...
WE now scroll more than we sleep, and that’s not a metaphor, it’s a grim reality. According to an Ernst & Young report, Indians spent a mind-numbing 1.1 lakh crore hours on their smartphones last year. Perhaps, the most alarming...
IN the 1971 India-Pakistan war, I refused to shoot an unarmed civilian who was perched on a tree and was tracking our movement at night on the outskirts of Shakargarh in west Pakistan. Even as a newly minted officer commissioned...
AFTER the news broke about the Pahalgam terror attack, I initially avoided the urge to write. I wanted the fog of war to clear and the facts to emerge. And then slowly I realised that this was a tale as...
ON my way back home after a morning walk, I spotted a crowd near the majestic peepal tree that has stood sentinel over my village for generations. I preferred not to stop, telling myself that it was none of my...
ON World Earth Day, as the morning sun touches the horizon and the wind carries the scent of awakening soil, let us pause — not just to observe the world, but to feel the divine breath that animates it. The...
A dozen has 12 units, but a baker’s dozen has 13. Sounds strange? Well, this concept has its roots in medieval England, where strict laws were enacted to ensure honesty in weights and measures. Weighing less was a punishable offence,...
IT was a cool morning in Shoghi, near Shimla, the kind that makes you wonder if the clouds have decided to take a leisurely stroll through the hills. Birds chirped, the chai boiled, and at the corner tea shop, sitting...
EVERY year, budgeting transforms from a disciplined exercise into a chaotic spectacle in India — a phenomenon aptly termed the March 31 syndrome. This frenzied rush to expend every remaining rupee before the financial year ends, often disregarding necessity or...
PENNSYLVANIA (US), where we lived for a few years, had its share of fond memories and some scary ones too. One morning, we were getting ready to visit our friends in Philadelphia. Avi, our one-year-old son, had to be forced...
THE sight of an avid golfer rushing at the crack of dawn to beat the tee-off deadline seems maniacal to an onlooker, who is oblivious to the travails of this determined creature. Much before the rooster crows its first call,...
BORN in the 1940s, we, the children of the Partition, are a peculiarly privileged generation. From those poverty-ridden times when each penny mattered to the present day when people squander money as if there is no tomorrow, we have seen...
Early morning is a beautiful time to be out. It is still dark, but slowly the nascent rays of the rising sun give way to dawn — a brilliant skyline and the start of a new day. A walk at...
KASHMIR was rocked by a series of avalanches in February 2005. Intezamia pleas to villagers living on the lower Pir Panjal slopes to shift to school halls/polyclinics had largely fallen on deaf ears. Consequently, hundreds of villagers and animals perished....
AN acrimonious debate took place in Parliament recently on the Waqf Bill. It was poetry that provided some relief during the verbal duel. Presenting the Bill, Union minister Kiren Rijiju recited a shair: “Kisi ki baat koi badgumaan na samjhega,...
A recent news report about Alang, the graveyard of decommissioned ships in Gujarat, took me back to my days as an officer with India’s pioneering shipping company, Scindia Steam Navigation, in Bombay. As a ship aged and became economically unviable,...
DURING a stroll in my housing complex, I overheard an elderly man tutoring a boy, probably his grandson. The boy was on the verge of tears, and the man tried to console him. “Yes! You should cry over spilt milk!...
AFTER retiring from a university several years ago, I have been living in a housing society near the campus. Most of the residents are my former colleagues. My next-door neighbour retired long before me. An elderly widower, he lives with...