After 2001, the nation has gone without a Bharat Ratna for six years on the trot. Not that the nation is any poorer because of that, but it surely reflects the poverty of eminence. Or it is also possible that it exposes the inability of the country to look in the right places. But whatever the reason, the fact is that no human Gem (or Jewel)
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The white man of the West (you may include those Down Under too) has always played smart. While historically his has been the hand that has consistently pinched the child and then rocked the cradle, he does them with astute adeptness. He is the one who colonised the entire world, yet he is the champion of freedom; his imperial escapades have killed and maimed millions, still he is the loudest proponent of human rights.
It may be a bit late for an year ender, what with virtually every publication worth its newswprint having done with it, but there are virtues in procrastrination. A leading Indian news agency, for instance, had to recall and redraft two of its year enders, written ‘well in advance’, because Modi’s victory and Benazir’s killing in the last week changed the pictures it had painted.
The tale of two nations runs thus: Not very long ago, in mid-August, 1947 were born twins from the womb of history. Conjoined at the head, the twins were surgically separated and went their own ways, but the wounds continue to bleed profusely to this day.
Marudhur Gopalamenon Ramachandran was also called Minimum Guarantee Ramachandran. And, till his last days MGR remained true to this description as a safe bet, in cinema, politics and life itself — he reigned the box-office till he quit cinema, ruled as CM till death and ranked as the most trusted politician of our times.
At 80, L.K.Advani, with more decades behind him, has become a prospective PM. And, people and paramatma willing, if LKA does make it to PMO (by which time he may be 82), what would it augur for a nation looking to leap into the future? Really, what kind of a leader should the country, be pitching for?
Last week’s terror strikes in UP courts would rank as the fastest forgotten bomb blasts in recent times. Despite another 13 unfortunates becoming soulless statistics, the memories of the blast faded faster than the smoke they sent up. Really, of late, more than the regular bomb blasts …
Last week’s terror strikes in UP courts would rank as the fastest forgotten bomb blasts in recent times. Despite another 13 unfortunates becoming soulless statistics, the memories of the blast faded faster than the smoke they sent up. Really, of late, more than the regular bomb blasts …
It would be of help, to pundits as well as the uninitiated, to brush up on some basic political definitions. The term ‘Left’ has pejorative origins in medieval France, representing the commoners who sat to the left of the King, in contrast to the nobles who were on his right: as the ‘hand that is the weaker of the two’, ‘left’ was a metaphor for the underdogs of society.