ibtl columns

  • Sandeep Web
  • Ramachandra Guha Gargles Goo Again

    Thursday, Jul 25,2013, 09:31 IST .

    Ramachandra Guha never learns, does he? There’s a limit to how many times his bluff has been called. Or is there? Wait…there is a limit to the number of times his bluff has been called but given his record, his capacity to bluff is infinite. When I searched for “Ramachandra Guha” on my blog, it returned forty nine results. T..

  • Dear BJP: Beware! The Lust for Gaddi Will Swallow You!

    Monday, May 20,2013, 14:14 IST .

    Translation of Pratap Simha’s column 18 May 2013 column in Kannada Prabha.

    An incident comes to mind. The incident is recorded in Shanti Bhushan’s autobiography, Courting Destiny. The incident occurred sometime in 1978.

    Morarji Desai had completed an year as Prime Minister. He began to face threats to his chair. The powerful Janata leader and Home Minist..

  • Narendra Modi Rocks Bangalore

    Monday, Apr 29,2013, 00:25 IST .

    He came, he saw, he spoke, and he wowed. He’d already conquered Bangalore years ago. In his 28 April election speech on the eve of the Karnataka Assembly polls 2013, Narendra Modi simply notched up yet another triumph in a long series of triumphs that began with his third consecutive, definitive victory in the Gujarat Assembly polls. Nobody expected a..

  • How Wharton Scored a Huge Self-Goal

    Tuesday, Mar 05,2013, 18:05 IST .

    The most important thing before we begin is to call things by their proper name. One, our clever-by-half media and secularati have twisted the retraction of Wharton School India Economic Forum’s invitation to Narendra Modi as a “

  • Is Draupadi Rarely Referenced?

    Monday, Mar 04,2013, 08:33 IST .

    After failing to show how Sita’s abduction by Ravana and her abandonment by Rama qualify as “rape” and/or “sexual assault,” Nilanjana Roy turns to Draupadi whom she characterizes as follows:

    Dra..

  • The Snakes in Our Own Grass

    Tuesday, Feb 19,2013, 10:21 IST .

    What’s common to LeT, JuD, Yasin Malik, and Hafiz Saeed? All are terrorists who’ve vowed the destruction of India and have at various points, taken violent steps to make this intention clear. What else is common to LeT, JuD, Yasin Malik, and Hafiz Saeed? All of ‘em terrorists have mourned the execution of the homegrown traitor cum terror..

  • Rabid Grand Mufti Tells the Truth About Islam

    Thursday, Feb 07,2013, 13:00 IST .

    Be very scared each time you hear the words “Grand Mufti.” The first thing it reminds us of is the Grand Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini, the Islamic cleric and extremist leader of Jerusalem who personally oversaw the massacre of Jews not once buttwice. The story of how he ordered the slaughter of thousands of Jews in Palestine first in 1929 and then in..

  • Do Bharatiya Epics Contain Only Rape?

    Sunday, Jan 20,2013, 11:31 IST .

    Nilanjana Roy’s Business Standard piece on Jan 08, 2013 entitled A woman alone in the forest is just the latest in what has become a much-lauded fad. A fad whose staple diet consists of a distorted reading of Indian epics, misin..

  • Most Loathsome People of India in 2012

    Monday, Dec 17,2012, 23:18 IST .

    The list of the Most Loathsome Indians of 2012 is short this time simply because loathsomeness has become a way of life. Some usual names that figure pretty much every year have been omitted. If this surprises you, don’t be. Instead, think. Deeply. But before that, here’s the list.

    9. Girish Karnad

    ..

  • Coming Soon: An Entitlement University Named After a Mass Murderer

    Thursday, Nov 29,2012, 01:16 IST .

    This man has caused great loss not only to the Muslim community but to the entire society. He may be occupying a very high office, but we will not spare him. He has committed grave and deliberate mistakes. I have ordered a detailed inquiry into the bank’s functioning.

    This is how Mumtaz Ali Khan, Karnataka Minister for Haj, Wakf and Minority Welfare 

  • Was Balasaheb Thakre Merely a Great Maratha or the Hero of Hindu Hearts?

    Tuesday, Nov 20,2012, 00:56 IST .

    But who was he really? Do we go by the opinions of analysts who put him on par with political cartoonists like R.K. Laxman? Or, barring Times Now, do we go by the opinion of the rest of the English news channels who unanimously declare him to be a socially divisive force? Or in light of the several unnecessary statements he made about Belgaum, do we regard him—like ma..

  • Are you Spending your Life Abusing Others Girish Karnad?

    Monday, Nov 12,2012, 01:12 IST .

    The Mumbai Lit fest on Friday witnessed major drama when veteran actor and theatre artist Girish Karnad slammed Nobel prize laureate VS Naipaul and called him anti-Muslim. Karnad, who was present at the lit-fest on Friday to conduct a class on theatre, spoke at length about Naipaul.
     
    The first paragraph of CNN-IBN’s news report makes it clear that the purpos..

  • Girish Karnad's Toxic Tantrums

    Tuesday, Nov 06,2012, 00:24 IST .

    So Girish Karnad is back again. In style. And with a fury I scarcely expected he was capable of. It’s really a monumental pity that a fine actor like Girish Karnad can nary control his itch to mouth inanities.

    <..

  • Denigrating Indian Culture: The Girish Karnad Way

    Saturday, Nov 03,2012, 17:44 IST .

    It is surprising how somebody whom you’ve had as your personal icon later transmogrifies in your eyes and then becomes the object of shallowness and intellectual vacuity. To me, Girish Karnad symbolizes this metamorphosis. I was an ardent admirer of this dramatist in my late teens; this admiration spilled over into my early twenties, too. I’ve read almost all of his plays in the o..

  • Varsha Will Live On

    Tuesday, Oct 09,2012, 11:54 IST .

    An obituary is the mightiest writer’s block. And so this shan’t be an obituary. One writes obituaries to dead people. Varsha Bhosle will live forever. Her bodily death is, in the highest tradition of Sanatana Dharm..

  • How Narendra Modi Spoiled Media Prime Time Party

    Saturday, Sep 01,2012, 16:26 IST .

    There used to be a time not too long ago when the most charitable thing that the media said about Modi went something like this: “Narendra Modi is no stranger to controversy.” The story of how that narrative changed after the courts exonerated him in the riots cases and with how the Gujarat economic juggernaut kept rolling doesn’t need repetition. Today, no matter how hard t..

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