Exam Begins For SIR

In Bihar, the final voter list is out – it has 7.4 crore names. But getting here wasn’t easy. The Election Commission (EC) carried out something called a “special intensive revision” (SIR) of the list...

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Elevated roads on Doon’s Rispana and Bindal rivers must prioritise human safety and climate resilience

Rispana and Bindal rivers are not just water channels but historic lifelines of the Doon Valley. Older generations often recall a Dehradun where Rispana and Bindal flowed clean, surrounded by lush greenery, orchards, and quiet...

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Art of the Matter

Think about how India looks during festivals. It’s like stepping into a rainbow — bright clothes, glowing lights, tasty food served beautifully, and decorations everywhere. But the moment the festival ends, the magic disappears. The...

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Out of control

As long as overcrowding at events is celebrated, stampedes will increase in frequency & intensity. India has perfected a template it follows after every terrible stampede. Organisers blame local administration. Compensations fly. Survivors – in...

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Silent baraati

He’s in the driver’s seat but in control of nothing. Few tasks are more exacting than being the driver of a vehicle carrying the groom to the venue of a destination wedding. It’s hardly 100m...

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2 Daddies? Too Many

Pakistan is stuck in a tricky spot. On one side, it wants to be close friends with China, which has given it a lot of money and built big projects like roads and power plants....

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#56: Keto, vegan, Mediterranean…which diet is right for you?

A vegan, a ketogenic dieter and a Mediterranean diet adherent walk into a bar… My topic for the blog post this week was born out of a few different conversations I was having with friends...

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Learning from the democratic experiments next door

Recent news from Nepal has rekindled an old refrain in India: that we are the only true democracy in a region riddled with instability. The sentiment is flattering but also misleading. While India is rightly...

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Why it’s folly to recycle a failed ideology like socialism in India

Yogendra Yadav’s recent call to revive the legacy of Indian socialism carries a familiar lament. He argues that its moral compass is fading just when it is most needed to resist inequality, authoritarianism, and global...

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Oak Culture & Humans

What the life of tree teaches us on survival strategies Humans can brag about their ability to control nature, but the reality is we’re powerless in the face of heatwaves, floods, wildfires and natural phenomena....

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Why the ‘inefficient’ things may be your best productivity tools

At first glance, certain uses of time look unproductive. But if you zoom out, they often turn out to be among the wisest investments you can make. Breaks that push you forward Consider breaks. Stepping...

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Adieu, MiGhty fighter

It was an uncompromising teacher of fighter pilots, a nimble “bird” with handling comparable to a sportscar, but as MiG-21 flies into the sunset today after 60 years of service with IAF, what will be...

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Approving govt

From wine shops to whatnots, everything and everyone might be worthy of a sarkari stamp of merit A large sign I pass daily in Gurgaon says Govt Approved Wine Shop. This is clear evidence that nitpicking...

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Quantum theory: Spooky action at a distance?

By G S Tripathi This year is being celebrated as the International Year of Quantum Science and Technology to mark the centenary of major discoveries of Quantum Mechanics. Ever since quantum theory was discovered, it...

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Construction job

Probe into bank-builder nexus, which made patsies out of middle-class homebuyers, must be thorough   Home loan subvention schemes – advertised as “book now, pay nothing till possession” – always smelt fishy. But many thousands...

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Saudi-Pak: It doesn’t Sheikh up everything

Riyadh-Islamabad defence pact adds a fresh layer of complexity for New Delhi. But India’s diaspora of professionals & its energy demand are valuable assets The signing of a mutual defence pact between Pakistan and Saudi...

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Plenty in a name

It takes much to build a brand but not much to tarnish it. A good brand can even survive market reversal About 5,000 years ago, Kushim was the administrator of a silo in what is...

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From egocentric to ecocentric: Revere all life

By Paromita Roy In the wake of the recent ‘stray dogs’ controversy that raised vital questions about preserving fragile ecosystems, we must turn to ancient Bharatiya Jnan Parampara (Indic wisdom traditions) for humane, reverential, compassionate,...

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Helpless together

Global critique of Israel is getting sharper. But what does it matter if US keeps backing Netanyahu?   Canada, Australia and Portugal joined UK in recognising Palestinian statehood over the weekend. This came ahead of the...

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Hello Swadeshi

Globalisation isn’t dead. But self-reliance, spotlighted in PM’s speech, across sectors is now an urgent necessity  It was very much against the backdrop of yet more Trump policy damage to India, that PM addressed the...

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Kolkata’s Durga Puja – Not just a festival but one of the grandest cultural events on the planet

India is a land of festivals, living expressions of culture, community, social unity, and faith. The country glitters year-round with vibrant celebrations of multiple festivals. What makes them extraordinary is the spirit of inclusiveness from...

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The last meeting we never planned

Laddu Pinto had a strange yet fascinating habit. Whenever he heard about the passing away of someone in his circle, he would pause and rewind the memory reel of his last meeting with that person....

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Mahalaya: Google Home, Birendra Krishna Bhadra, and the Inheritance of a Dawn

This morning I told my Google Home to play Mahishasur Mardini. The machine, which otherwise insists on confusing Rabindra Sangeet with some Spotify lo-fi remix, got it right. And in that instant, as Birendra Krishna...

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Why SC’s sexual harassment order hurts both survivors and accused

The Supreme Court’s recent judgment in the West Bengal National University of Juridical Sciences (WBNUJS) case has been described as “unprecedented.” A faculty member accused the Vice Chancellor of repeated sexual harassment, the last incident...

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Lobon or noon? The trouble with using language to draw borders

There is indeed a ‘Bangladeshi’ language. But it’s not what Delhi police were thinking when they put out a notice looking for interpreters “proficient in Bangladeshi national language”. Nor is it what BJP IT cell...

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Peace is not just absence of war

By Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar Peace is a deep, positive inner experience. If we look at life closely, three things are essential for peace: passion, dispassion, and compassion. Passion is essential to achieve anything...

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Crushing Question

Why are crowds in India so often unruly? It’s hardly surprising that India loves crowds. With 1.4bn people – a significant number of whom live cheek by jowl – crowds are an everyday part of...

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When skies gather their white robes to retreat

By- Partha Sinha When the first drops of rain touch the earth, it is not only the parched soil that responds. The mind too is stirred. Something hidden begins to move. The dust of summer...

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Don’t pomp up

UK royally flattered Trump. Democracies should find virtue in simplicity  On Wednesday, while BBC aired Brazil prez Lula’s view that Trump isn’t “emperor of the world”, the British establishment tried hard to convince him otherwise....

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Mumbai and other cities: Local elections are very late

The Supreme Court, India’s highest court, told Maharashtra’s election commission to stop delaying local elections. For the past five years, many cities in Maharashtra have waited too long to hold their elections. Out of 29...

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The media’s power to shape public priorities

Maxwell McCombs and Donald Shaw helped popularize the phrase “Agenda-setting theory.” Following the publication of the Chapel Hill studies’ findings in 1972, numerous other academics carried out additional study on a variety of topics pertaining...

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Why India must let her tigers wander freely

Tigers don’t recognise administrative and political boundaries. They roam, disperse, recolonise, and thrive only when the landscape is permeable. Yet our conservation practice ignores them in the spaces between protected areas. In 2006, India amended...

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War ’n’ peace

Trump’s renamed Department of Defence is inspired by Orwellian doublethink  With America’s Department of Defence renamed Department of War by presidential decree, Second Opinion sought an interview with the White House which is literally gunning...

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Shirt off my back

In solidarity with Nepali protesters and Sourav Ganguly Kamala glared at me as she entered the house. ‘How can you watch the match – as a token of protest we must at least boycott cricket...

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THEYDUNNIT…

…Why can’t we? TOI’s Christie-in-India story is a reminder how we do disservice to India’s vernacular crime fiction  Agatha Christie’s fiction gives one a sense that she travelled lots. And she did. For example, in...

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Aurangabad, Ajanta Caves & Ellora Caves – Part 3

Our final day unfolded in the historic city of Aurangabad, a living canvas where the echoes of Buddhism, the grace of the Mughals, and the artistry of modern India converge into a timeless tale. The...

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The quiet enemy that steals your time and peace

Every great story needs a hero and a villain. In Greek mythology, Hercules fought the Hydra. In the tale of David and Goliath, the shepherd boy faced the giant. In the Indian epic Ramayana, Ram...

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The tile-high club: How mahjong became the hottest social currency

Unexpected but true: Mumbai’s elite have a new passion, and it’s called mahjong! Living rooms and club lounges from Chembur to Churchgate echo with the clack-clack-clack of 144 tiles shuffling — a sound that has...

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As Nepal navigates transition, India should offer only quiet support

The announcement of former chief justice Sushila Karki as interim prime minister could help restore a measure of normalcy to turbulent Nepal. The country is in the midst of its third Jan Andolan in 35...

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Argue, Don’t Shoot

When people disagree in politics, they’re supposed to argue with words, not weapons. But sometimes violence takes over, and that can hurt both families and whole countries. Recently, Charlie Kirk was killed. That’s very sad...

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Spot the gaps, ignore the maps

I have always had immense respect for cartographers because they are among the most curious and enterprising people in the world. Everyone else follows paths that others have laid out for them. But in life,...

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Attachment is antithetical to love

Love is an emotion; it is part of the human mind. Synonymous with affection, fondness, compassion, kindness, and endearment. The test of love lies in one’s ability to identify with others. True love is based...

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What’s Eating Kids?

More and more children in India are becoming overweight, and that’s a big problem. The United Nations (UN) says that being overweight is now one of the main health issues for kids and teens in...

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Bibi’s Forever War

This week, Israel attacked Qatar, a small but powerful country in the Middle East. The attack killed some Hamas leaders (a group that fights Israel) who were in Qatar to talk about peace. A Qatari...

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Our man in Armani

Has haute couture lost its hauteur?                    Indian designers now strut Oscar red carpet and Met galas so frequently that vaunted French and Italian labels may no longer be as wanted. So many fancied international brands...

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After the Z-quake

Nepal is going through big changes after young people protested against their government. The protests had been building for months because many youths were unhappy. Things exploded when the government tried to control social media...

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Increasing financial inclusion – A mine of opportunity

The efforts for financial inclusion (FI) started with the nationalization of major banks in 1969/1980. The journey of FI included many milestones, each building on the last to promote FI further. The RBI introduced ‘No-Frills...

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Nepal in trouble

Right now, Nepal’s capital city Kathmandu is seeing big protests, and things have turned really serious. Reports say at least 20 people have died in clashes. The protests were started by a youth group called...

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A Taylor-Travis point

India’s very wealthy rarely have prenups. That’s not necessarily a sign of happy marriages  Celebrity relationships make a very large number of people fantasise about amour wrapped in wealth, looks – natural or surgically obtained...

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GST relief for the seed sector: An urgent need to ignite economic growth & agrarian resilience

India’s 56th GST Council meeting on September 3, marked a notable moment for agriculture’s reform agenda, announcing valuable reductions in GST rates on several inputs, including packaging materials, and farm machinery from 18% and 12%...

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Habibi, Gurugram’s a swimming pool, Noida isn’t

This year’s monsoon has been unforgiving across north India. But if there’s one city that summed up the chaos of this monsoon, it was Gurugram. A place long celebrated as the Millennium City was left...

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Myth of merit: Why courts must act on gender parity

The late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg of the US Supreme Court was once asked when she would consider that women were adequately represented at the country’s top court. She answered—when all nine seats are filled...

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India, China reset ties but can’t replace the US

The US is unpredictable but New Delhi can’t be sure that Beijing won’t violate border pacts again PM Modi’s visit to China for the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation (SCO) summit was notable but not surprising. It...

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Economics ideas that taste really good

Learning how the world works is like learning to cook Per economist Ha-Joon Chang , America’s manufacturing decline is self-inflicted – it came via “empowering a capitalist class that prefers outsourcing and offshoring to investing...

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Onam, vamana, and divine footsteps of grace

Shashank R Joshi and Shambo Samrat Samajdar During Onam, homes are decorated with pookalam flower carpets, families gather over feasts, and joy fills the air. Yet beyond the outward celebration lies a spiritual story that...

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Age of Power

Imagine two powerful leaders, Russia’s Putin and China’s Xi, secretly chatting about living forever. A microphone caught them talking about “immortality” – which means never dying. Putin, who is 72, thinks science might one day...

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Up To Companies Now

Think of taxes like the extra money added when you buy something – like when you order a pizza and the taxman takes a slice before you get it. That’s what GST (Goods and Services...

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Ganesh Pooja: When Tilak’s Sarvajanik Utsav met ‘Mohalla’ politics

Once upon a time, Ganesh Chaturthi wasn’t about neon lights, five-storey mandaps, and self-appointed ‘Mohalla’ “treasurers” collecting chanda (donation) at every corner. It was about Swaraj. Yes, the same festival where today’s DJ systems rattle...

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Slim Chance

A new study is warning people about intermittent fasting – that’s when you only eat during a short time window, like less than 8 hours a day. The study, which followed 19,000 adults for 8...

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Why India must preserve Air Power’s strategic flexibility

During the recent tri-service conference on War and Warfighting at the Army War College in Mhow, the long-debated MoD proposal towards integrating single-service operational commands and dedicating them to various theatres featured in the deliberations....

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Light as creation is a surreal signature

Divyaman Singh’s solo Light as Creation at Bikaner House, featuring a mix of old and recent work that employs the artist’s signature use of surreal qualities and the idea of commenting on nature and our place within...

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Tale Of Maximum City

In Mumbai, a big protest led by a man named Jarange caused the city to almost stop working. Roads were blocked, people couldn’t get to hospitals, students missed classes, office workers and delivery people lost...

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Choking A City

Mumbai’s on forced standstill for four days. HC responded. But when will Maha govt act? Bombay HC correctly called for Jarange-Patil led protesters to vacate public spaces in Mumbai, large parts of the city have...

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