This was published on Gandhi’s death anniversary this year, Jan 30 2017. Here is the link. Below is an extract: In a documentary on the making of the movie, Attenborough expressed phenomenal admiration for one of young Gandhi’s most profound insights: “It has always been a mystery to me how men can feel themselves honored… Continue reading Conversing With Gandhi in Digital India
As an Indian citizen, the present times give me much cause for worry. Just when we thought Indian society is on the way to getting more mature in terms of prioritizing issues, there has been an unfortunate rise of low-level politics and intolerant societal attitudes. The ‘idea of India’ has suffered from numerous setbacks. It is… Continue reading Ram Guha and the Idea of India
I wrote this article on the occasion of National Doctors’ Day in India (July 1). It was published in ‘thewire.in’. Here is the link. Below is an excerpt: Satyajit Ray and Pather Panchali – Satyajit Ray had to struggle to fund his film Pather Panchali, later on a world-famous venture. After several dead-ends, his mother… Continue reading When India’s ‘National Doctor’ Was Denied Service By an American Restaurant
Reproducing this from my Facebook post: This February an important anniversary went past us without much commemoration: the withdrawal of the Non-cooperation Movement by Gandhi in Feb 1922. While many alternative theories are put forward to explain why Gandhi withdrew such a ‘successful’ anti-colonial movement (including the assumption that he was ‘protecting capitalist interests’), it… Continue reading Gandhi and Chauri Chaura, and What We Can Learn From It Today
An ‘India’ bookmark that a good friend gifted me while I was leaving for the US This article was published in HuffPost India on 24 June 2015. Here is the link. An excerpt: That is what this splendid country, with its magnetic magnificence, has always done – infused people’s lives with glorious purposes. Several centuries… Continue reading Why I Decided to Return Swades
The odd thing about assassins is that they think they have killed you. Mohandas Gandhi was never fond of the Mahatma (the Great Soul) title that India’s people gave him. When the late Richard Attenborough met Jawaharlal Nehru around 1963 to discuss a potential movie on Gandhi, a point that Nehru particularly stressed was to… Continue reading Forgive Us Gandhi For We Have Killed
The Huffington Post carried this on Dec 8, 2016. Here is the link. Below is an extract: “Just as it was for Gandhi then, the process of reading and understanding a restaurant menu in the West is exhausting and painful even now. The first time at a Starbucks in the US, a friend and I… Continue reading Gandhi, Tata, and the Uncomfortable Indian in the West
Harsh and Kiran are young Indians and friends since school, with Harsh in a PG program in the US and Kiran working in India. This is a recent chat they had. Harsh: Bharat has made the final decision, he’s staying back here in the US. Kiran: Screw him. Traitor. I knew he wouldn’t be able… Continue reading Diaspora Dilemma
CARING FOR INDIA 