(ATTN EDITORS: This is the last in a 10-part “Translating India” series where noted translators — in articles written exclusively for IANS — share their experiences of translating from their respective languages.) By Arunava Sinha…
By Amit Dasgupta My wife and I recently visited Sri Lanka on a holiday with friends. For both of us, it was the first visit after almost 15 years. At that time, the idyllic island…
By Vikas Datta Someone once quipped that the “universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any human accomplishment an incredible miracle” and devoted book readers know it too well. Any of the (sadly-diminishing) tribe would be familiar…
By Saeed Naqvi Incidents, similar in their chilling monstrosity, came to mind when I saw photographs of a row of Rohingya Muslim young men, on their knees, hands tied behind their back. Gun-wielding military police,…
By Amulya Ganguli For the Bharatiya Janata Party’s supporters, the growing belief that the party is no longer as favourably placed as before must be both bewildering and disheartening. They must be wondering what could…
By Frank F. Islam For the last half of the 20th century, the United States was the world’s beacon for democracy and economic development and India was a laggard. These roles are reversing as the…
By Taponeel Mukherjee Current global macro-economic news has two key trends that stand out: Monetary policy tightening and fiscal policy expansion. Hawkish commentary by global central banks regarding rate hikes and balance sheet reduction has…
By Rajendra Shende “A one-km auto rickshaw ride in Ahmedabad takes Rs 10 and India reached Mars at Rs 7 per km, which is really amazing,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi emphasised the achievement in his…
By Vikas Datta Another Valentines Day is on us, and will be enthusiastically observed by those who want against the backdrop of usual noises about it being a “western custom”, “against Indian traditions” and the…
By Amit Kapoor The usual brouhaha around the Budget strips the Economic Survey of the attention it deserves. The Survey document, especially since Arvind Subramanian has taken over as the Chief Economic Advisor, has consistently…
By Vikas Datta Along with philosophers, tax lawyers and computer programmers, scientists are perceived as speaking in a language which is supposedly the same as that of common people, but scarcely intelligible to them. And…
By Saeed Naqvi Conspiracy theorists, who prove mostly right in the topsy turvy post-9/11 world, are these days busy switching channels — Syria, Afghanistan, Korean peninsula and, yes, one more theatre which will be in…
By Subhash K. Jha In the West it’s Armie Hammer and Timothy Chalamet giving interviews as a couple for their gay love story “Call Me By Your Name”. We haven’t reached that nirvanic stage in…
By Amulya Ganguli There are three aspects of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s speech in parliament — which was probably his most combative in recent times — that deserve attention. First and foremost is the undeniable…
By Nury Vittachi This columnist no longer listens to the international media; luckily I still have the voices in my head. Which leads me to the following query. Question: What is the main activity of…
By Admiral Arun Prakash (retd) One hopes that Indian diplomats and national-security managers are doing some serious soul-searching about how and why events spun, so swiftly, out of control in neighbouring Maldives. Given India’s self-assigned…
By Amit Kapoor & Chirag Yadav History has strange ways of repeating itself. The economic situation in the US and the stock market drop eerily resembles the “Black Monday” of 1987. During that fateful year,…
By Amit Kapoor About 82 per cent of the growth in global wealth accrued to the world’s top one per cent over the last year while the bottom 50 per cent saw no increase at…
By Saket Suman In its 11-year journey, the Jaipur Literature Festival (JLF) has seen speakers using the platform to send out strong political messages. But the hundreds of thousands who gather at the literary extravaganza…
By Vikas Datta When we happen to recall the Second World War’s notable battles, the emphasis is more on those fought by the Western Allies — Dunkirk, Pearl Harbor, El Alamein, Midway Island, D-Day landings…