BY JAMIE FOSTER In an era of relentless testing and digital distraction, Adhirath Sethi’s The Moving of Mountains arrives like a cool drink on a dusty lane. This is not merely a book about an educational charity; it is a gentle, immersive ramble through rural India, and a powerful reminder that the best lessons are often learned with dirt on your hands and wonder in your eyes. … Continue reading The Moving of Mountains
BY ALEXIA JAMES This rather silly viral story about Indians ‘owning London’ in the Mint newspaper from earlier this year is a classic case of a statistic being weaponised to feed a narrative, while completely obscuring a far more powerful and entrenched reality. The ‘karma’ jibe it refers to is not just simplistic; it is mathematically and economically illiterate. The report states that Indians are … Continue reading Misleading Headline from India
BY DR KAUSTAV BHATTACHARYYA I frequently pondered my failure to write even a single article on Indian Civil Service (ICS) officers, even though it is a central theme of my doctoral dissertation. This close connection to the subject has hindered me from producing anything since I completed my doctorate nearly a decade ago. The ICS was the administrative body responsible for the bureaucratic governance of … Continue reading A Tale Told By An Idiot
BY PETER HARRIS Russia and China have never been so close in their relations as they are now. As affirmation of this deeper tie, in July 2023 around a dozen Russian and Chinese warships conducted naval exercises in the Sea of Japan (East Sea) and in waters near Alaska. These had the double effect of demonstrating both nations’ commitment to being the hegemon within their … Continue reading Can Sino-Russian Cooperation Last? Part I
BY RYAN LOBO On January 4, 2007, columnist Tavleen Singh was ordered to pay a fine of Rs 500 when her dog defecated on Marine drive in Bombay. She refused, arguing that when the city was overrun with stray dogs pooping at will in public spaces, it was unfair to fine her. An animal rights activist feeds dogs on Morjim beach in Goa as a … Continue reading Who Let the Dogs Out?
BY ANTONIA FILMER The newly released book Cold War 2.0 completes the author’s 2023 trilogy, all three are connected by his take on foreign policy. Prof Nalapat is India’s first professor of geopolitics, since 1999 he has been the UNESCO Peace Chair at Manipal University, and has concentrated much of his effort at keeping peace between states in conflict. This last book is a feast … Continue reading Cold War 2.0
BY RYAN LOBO For centuries, Jallikattu’s cultural reverberations have gone far beyond current definitions of the event – a sacred rite of passage with characteristics of folk craft, ritual, festival and sport, integral to animal husbandry and tradition, providing millions of farmers with entertainment, connection to the sacred and a profound sense of cultural belonging. Unsurprisingly, massive protests rocked Tamil Nadu after the Nagaraja case … Continue reading The Neo-Colonialism of Animal Rights in India
BY KENNETH ARTHUR MILN Dr Babu, better known as Old Cha Cha by the jute wallahs living at Meghna Compound during the 1940s, was our much-respected company doctor and a most dignified Bengali gentleman. The old man stood pole straight to over six feet. His spare frame usually supported a white cotton suit with the trouser bottoms held in place by bicycle clips: the good … Continue reading Dr Babu and the Catla Fish
BY ANTONIA FILMER For the first time in 35 years we are planning a Christmas abroad. The loss of our 30-year-old daughter from neuroendocrine cancer last June made the first Christmas at home without her an unbearable time. My husband, Charles, and I are Mr and Mrs Jack Sprat, he was born and raised in Kenya before joining the British army. I was born and … Continue reading Travels in India
BY ANTONIA FILMER Madhav Nalapat is no stranger to the English-speaking world and has been a contributor to Country Squire Magazine. In the Manipal University professor’s latest book, “75 Years of Indian Foreign Policy”, is found a concise yet comprehensive review of India’s past, present and future bilateral relations and multipolar ambitions since Independence in 1947. Nalapat has from the 1980s considered India to be … Continue reading Journey of a Nation
On the eve of the Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, India’s foremost authority on geopolitics urged the United Kingdom to play a more assertive role in the Indo-Pacific to counter China’s dangerous “authoritarian capitalism”. The Global Britain Centre held its launch reception at the Carlton Club in London on Tuesday 1 February. Amandeep Singh Bhogal and Lewis Feilder have created the new venture to further … Continue reading Global Britain Centre Launches
Madhav Das Nalapat (born 1950) aka M D Nalapat is India’s first Professor of Geopolitics and the UNESCO Peace Chair at Manipal University, where he is Vice-Chair of Manipal Advanced Research Group and Director of the Department of Geopolitics & International Relations. A journalist and a former Editor of The Times of India and of Mathrubhumi, he is currently the Editorial Director of ITV Network … Continue reading The MD Nalapat Interview
BY DR KAUSTAV BHATTACHARYYA In a recent book on Anglophiles, I came across the essay on English pubs by George Orwell, ‘Moon Under Water’ which was irresistible and charming. George Orwell is the quintessential British writer who covered all things British from the ‘Empire’ to the ‘Pubs’ with felicity and in plain, simple and comprehensible language. The essay is about an imaginary country pub named … Continue reading My English Country Pub
BY RUCHIRA GHOSH She may well have been an icon of colonialism, pertaining to a bygone era, but modern-day aficionados of English literature in my home country India simply cannot do without Agatha Christie. This prolific author whose novels were outsold only by The Bible and Shakespeare (an unbroken record yet) still enjoys global popularity (including erstwhile colonies of Great Britain) decades after she walked … Continue reading India Loves Agatha
BY DANIEL KAWCZYNSKI MP Most Britons could not locate the British Indian Ocean Territory (BIOT) on a map. But this far-flung outpost plays an absolutely critical role in our national security. Home to a joint Anglo-American naval facility on Diego Garcia, the peninsula is known as America’s ‘unsinkable aircraft carrier’. In the 1960s, the BIOT helped to contain Soviet ambitions in the Indian Ocean. In … Continue reading The Overwhelming Case For BIOT
BY RUCHIRA GHOSH Ingredients: 1 – 2 medium sized aubergine/ brinjal/ eggplant 1 cup shelled peas 1 large onion chopped 1 large tomato chopped 1-2 garlic cloves chopped 2 tbsps of chopped parsley Cooking oil Salt as per taste ½ tsp chilli powder Method: Dry roast the aubergines over an open flame. Peel the singed skin, wash the mass inside with water and transfer to … Continue reading Spicy Mashed Aubergine with Peas
BY RUCHIRA GHOSH Ingredients: Gram flour: 2 large scoops Plain white oats: 2 large scoops Salt to taste Cooking oil:2 tbsps per pancake Carom seeds/Bishop’s weed: 1 pinch Onion: 1 medium chopped Green chilli: 1 /2 large chopped Parsley: 2 tbsp chopped Procedure: Combine all of the above ingredients into a smooth batter neither too thick nor too watery. Heat a large griddle, sprinkle oil … Continue reading Gram Flour & Oats Pancakes
BY MAHIMA SHARMA What do you seek from Life? What do you seek from the Divine? Health, wealth or peace from Sunshine? Or the ultimate blessings of the mighty Divine? What do you seek everyday from Life… Have you ever discussed it with family or Wife? The needs, the wants…or any urge that haunts? The greed, the grants…or the societal pressure that commands? What do … Continue reading What You Seek, O Human?
BY MAHIMA SHARMA Metaphors of the Moon…. And the countdown to a twinkling Night, The Night knows nothing, while the Quill scribbles love notes, Verses soaked in the Moonlight or the Stardust? The Sky inks the beauty…with Moonlight Love! As the Wind sings familiar melodies from its ancient book, The trees sway with joy to the green rhythm of life, The full Moon … Continue reading My Quill’s Moonlight Love
BY MAHIMA SHARMA Longing for their Love, rips my heart apart… Smiling through pain…trying to perfect this Art! As the clouds swift past the Moon, the longing creeps in…. As the wind caresses my hair like Mum, My heart sings the lullaby to the Moon…the one my Granny used to hum, The two brightest stars, they say, are my Granny-GrandPa, Grown up I am, but … Continue reading Catharsis
