Marginalia
53 articles
Erasing Lutyens: The Man Who Built for Eternity, Not Himself
History can’t be undone by bringing down either the city or the man who designed both an ode to colonial power and India’s layered history
Ghost Newspapers That Exist for Government Advertising
Not just a scam, it’s a symptom of an old rotting system that places levers of media control in the hands of political and bureaucratic power
A Cyclone of Poor Response: A South Asia Story
Ditwah exposes the shortcomings of not just one country, it mirrors a story we have become familiar with
Inventing an Enemy Within: ‘White Collar Hate’ to Combat ‘White Collar Terror’
Judging a community by the actions of a few breeds injustice, communal prejudices and threatens both the secularism and security of the country.
Fake Journalists: A Prescription Worse Than the Ailment
The issue of impostors in journalism is a bigger challenge for the professionals, but to hope that the government that promotes this industry of fake news and c...
Common Concerns, Unbridgeable Gaps
The post-2019 reality should have led to a consensus in the three regions – Jammu, Kashmir, and Ladakh – over similar grievances and challenges, but they stand ...
India and Taliban: Meeting of Two Ideological Cousins
Friendship with Afghanistan under Taliban control is not as much a problem, but a foreign policy anchored in dogmatic moorings, vote-bank politics, and a lack o...
BJP is Fanning the Ladakh Flames into a Raging Inferno
The state’s one-size-fits-all response to every crisis is being tried in Ladakh but it will end up shaping cross-regional alignments and dangerously igniting ex...
The Himalayan Deluge: Lessons from Ancient Wisdom, Scotland & Climate Diplomacy
The way forward is in drawing lessons from our traditional wisdom of being in harmony with nature, in innovative climate diplomacy framework.
If jailed, the PM Can be Removed Too: Is the reality that simple?
The three bills are an act of deception aimed to both befool citizens and completely subvert democracy.
On What Indices Do We Measure Operation Sindoor’s ‘Success’?
Did the strikes inside Pakistan achieve the perceived objectives of damaging terror outfits, discouraging terrorism? Or did they bring war and international iso...
If the photographs didn’t belong to the Pahalgam attackers, what were the actions based on?
Two months on, all we have is supposedly two men who fed the terrorists, and actions that brought a war on the doorstep and trapped Kashmiris in a vortex of ‘ex...
The Grand Circus of Indian Delegations Abroad
Who spoke well, who didn’t, it doesn’t matter, who they spoke to, perhaps, yes; but more importantly, this high-cost exercise cannot cover up the crisis of cred...
A Chance to be the Real Vishwa-guru: Is it Wishful?
The ceasefire gives a breather but the way forward is in reflecting what happened, what could have been done differently and of embarking on a new road.
The Big ‘Deal’: Trump, Zelensky and the godi-media
Did the US president turn the Oval office into a gladiator’s arena on purpose?
Inside MAGA team, clash of supremacists
Trump’s team includes an odd mix of technocrats, Hindu supremacists, and White supremacists. How the tensions play out will not make a pretty picture.
NC’s silence will serve BJP’s aim of discrediting it
Omar Abdullah government’s sole asset is the election mandate. It must not prioritise an evasive conciliation with the Centre over this.
Modi’s delusion of divinity is a deviously crafted project
Men of little substance are compelled to aspire for a higher pedestal they are on, lest the distance between them and the rest becomes bridgeable, lest they com...
The act of voting is a defiance against the forced silence of Kashmiris
Caught between a cycle of jails, raids and intimidations, Kashmiris in the last five years have been silenced apart from being humiliated. Suppressed and silenc...
From Khaliq-made-MLAs to BJP opting out of the contest, it’s worthwhile to view Indian elections from Kashmir lens
“Shadowy incidents, indicating possible foul play and abuse of power, do not exist in a vacuum. They are intrinsically linked to arrogance and display of brute ...