The clarification that it was not Leo Tolstoy's War and Peace, but a little known title "War and Peace in Jungle Mahal" authored by a journalist that was found objectionable by the police among other 'incriminating documents' in the much publicised case does little to cheer one up. Historically, rulers have always had a strange... Continue Reading →
A Journey to the Lap of Nature
When a friend told me that there was a hill station in the state of Haryana I couldn't believe it. Even some friends from Haryana itself were ignorant about its existence. Thinking of Haryana the image that comes to mind is of a predominantly agricultural province, with some highly industrialised and modern cities, glittering... Continue Reading →
Lok Sabha Elections 2019 – Predicament of a Bong outside Bengal
An election in Delhi is quite a drab and lifeless affair. It seems to be more so in this sprawling sub-city where I live. Even the warmth - let alone the fury - of electioneering was hardly felt here. Except for a few, very few, posters of the main warring sides and one small procession... Continue Reading →
The Sangh Parivar’s Netaji Dilemma : The existence and popularity of the INA refuted the two nation theory
On the face of it, the Bharatiya Janata Party seems to have realised it was time it did something to honour Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and the Indian National Army. There is nothing wrong with this. In fact, after the new government declassified some files on Netaji and sent them to the National Archives, researchers... Continue Reading →
Karnataka II – The Ancient Nursery of Temple Architecture
The cave temples of Badami, and the temples of Aihole and Pattadakal together represent an extremely vibrant and productive period - between the 6th and 9th centuries - in the history of temple architecture in the Deccan. My friend and guide Ananthakrishna said that Aihole, the ancient town, was a sort of laboratory of temple... Continue Reading →
Karnataka I – the Marvels of Vijayanagara
"On the Banks of the Tungabhadra" is a historical novel in Bengali penned by Saradindu Bandyopadhyay, who perhaps is known to readers outside Bengal as the creator of the detective character Byomkesh Bakshi. In the novel, the web is spun around a story that the ruler of Kalinga offered his daughter in marriage to Krishnadeva... Continue Reading →
Why I adore Swami Vivekananda
It started early - at an age when one was yet to learn reading. In those halcyon days children were not sent to school till they were old enough to join Grade I. In that golden period of life for us it was mostly playing, and maybe a bit of learning and memorising Bengali rhymes.... Continue Reading →
Arunachal – the Virgin Beauty of the North East
As our car slowed down on the narrow, hilly road and came to a halt behind a long line of stranded vehicles, we noticed the men and machines at work. A huge crane was busy removing the boulders and earth that obviously had rolled down the hill and blocked the road. It looked like... Continue Reading →
Croatia : My Favourite Team Today
In August 2010, when I told my relatives, and friends outside the Ministry of External Affairs, that I had been transferred to Zagreb, many of them had no clue either about that city, or the country of which it is the capital. In fact, Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was better known to... Continue Reading →
