Farewell Homai Vyarawalla

"India's first woman press photographer passed away on January 15, 2012. Sabeena Gadihoke, close friend and biographer, remembers her 14-year journey with Mrs Vyarawalla and pays tribute to her life and work."

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Farewell Homai Vyarawalla: This article is a biopic in nature that captures the interactions and the personal side of Vyarawalla.

Nothing that came Homai's way was discarded easily. Everything was put to good use. Her simple and sparse home had pieces of driftwood that looked like sculpture. Her walking stick, polished with age, was carved out of a piece of wood while her nameplate was made from broken glass bangles.


Many who knew her intimately wanted to photocopy her hand-written book of recipes and medical home remedies. She could also cut her own hair and tailor her own clothes. She once sawed an oversized baking tray, repaired my slippers and fixed the plumbing in her water tank. All this and more when she was well into her nineties!

She often said she was like Robinson Crusoe. Her island was her home in Vadodara where she lived independently till the end with her plants and a few personal photographs.

The author - Sabeena Gadihoke is Associate Professor at the AJK Mass Communication Research Centre, Jamia Millia Islamia and author of India in Focus: Camera Chronicles of Homai Vyarawalla, Mapin/Parzor, 2006.

Salman Rushdie and India's new theocracy

"India's secular state is in a state of slow-motion collapse. The contours of a new theocratic dystopia are already evident."

The betrayal of secular India in Jaipur, though, is just part of a far wider treason: one that doesn't have to do with Muslim clerics alone, but a state that has turned god into a public-sector undertaking. The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : Salman Rushdie & India's new theocracy: Few Indians understand the extent to which the state underwrites the practice of their faith. The State's subsidies to the Kumbh Mela, Haj pilgrimage, education funds committed to teaching pseudo-sciences like astrology, among them. In 2006-07, these kinds of activities accounted for Delhi's budget allocation ahead of environmental protection and civil defence.

"India is a country that most needs a decline in the scope of religion in civil society for it to turn its constitutional promise of secular democracy into a reality. But, India is a country least hospitable to such a decline". The real costs of India's failure to secularise: among them, the perpetuation of caste and gender inequities, the stunting of reason and critical facilities needed for economic and social progress; the corrosive growth of religious nationalism. India cannot undo this harm until god and god's will are ejected from our public life.

The time has come for Indian secular-democrats to assert the case for a better universe: a universe built around citizenship and rights, not the pernicious identity politics the state and its holy allies encourage.

Designers giving the traditional sari a modern twist

Times View - In sync with the times


Counter View - Don't destroy the sari's elegance


-The Times of India, January 21, 2012

Governing Our Governors

An office meant to ensure the smooth functioning of our federal structure has been subverted


Governing Our Governors

-The Times of India, January 21, 2012

The office of the governor has been "subverted," claims Minhaz Merchant, and provides a historical account of the relationship between the office of the governor and the president of India, along with the intricacies shared between the state and central governments. Furthermore, he emphasizes the need for a governor to focus most importantly on being a "guardian of public interest" rather than "a cynical political check on opposition-ruled state assemblies."

More Than A Tactical Shift?

More Than A Tactical Shift?

"The recent visit by China's Supreme Councillor and special representative Dai Bingguo for the 15th round of border talks was marked by uncharacteristic bonhomie."

Nayan Chanda suggests a shift in the attitude - moving towards 'fence-mending' - initiated by China during the recent border talks. The shift is elaborately discussed. 

Heart Shaped Ballot Box

It's about learning to tell netas: Love me, love my vote


Heart Shaped Ballot Box

-The Times of India, January 21, 2012

Restore our lost heritage

"At a time when the Archaeological Survey of India is celebrating its 150th anniversary, and doubts about the protection of the Taj Mahal still persist, many monuments have gone mysteriously missing as in Delhi; while Varanasi is yet to be comprehensively conserved.

The greatest concern of all is the future of 700,000 unprotected heritage structures spread across many cities. As important as protected monuments, these buildings are the most vulnerable since they are in use and do not have sufficient legal protection." The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Restore our lost heritage

The Lokayukta deception

The Gujarat Lokayukta has been headless since 2003, thanks to a protracted battle over the choice of nominee that saw Mr. Modi ranged against the Governor and the Chief Justice of the High Court.

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : The Lokayukta deception: "The divergence is clearly seen between the BJP's strongly argued theoretical position in favour of a powerful and independent anti-corruption ombudsman, and the wilful disrespect shown to the same institution by one of its own Chief Ministers."

In an extraordinary judgment that must count among the sharpest indictments ever handed out to any State government, the Gujarat High Court has upheld Governor's appointment of Lokayukta over objections by CM Modi.

Putin to meet 'old friend' Henry Kissinger

PM Vladimir Putin will meet with former Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger to discuss world affairs, including elections in Russia and the United States.

"The meeting comes six weeks before Russia's presidential election and amid accusations that the United States was behind a series of street protests that began after the Dec. 4 parliamentary elections that were widely dismissed as fraudulent." The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Putin to meet 'old friend' Henry Kissinger

Mr. Putin has cited Kissinger as a trusted foreign policy adviser.

The alternative to the slow boat of democracy in Pakistan is failure

"Before a democratic government can stabilise, the middle classes, schooled in the Pakistan Military Academy narrative, start aching for another saviour on horseback, but none exists."

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : The alternative to the slow boat of democracy in Pakistan is failure: General Zia-ul-Haq tried authoritarian rule, with dangerous personal Islamic vision. The narrative he chose to guide the state was incompatible with peaceful co-existence in the region and with democracy. It promoted jihadist militias and covert foreign adventures and undermined already weak democratic traditions and organisations. After he exploded, his vision continued inside a partly Islamicised, partly mercenary military high command and a spectacularly stupid public ideology that now floats somewhere between the Jamat Islami and the lunatic fringe.

If Zia-ul-Haq's Islamic vision were to be enforced at all, it would destroy the existing cultures of Pakistan and it would lead to an endless civil war and then to wider war in the region, undermining any possibility of serious economic development.

The fundamental problem with the army's vision and its "system" is that it repeatedly collapses before it can reach the Promised Land, each time leaving bigger problems behind. Then the "failed politicians" return, but without obtaining full power, especially over the army and its agencies. They are constantly harassed and "legacy problems" remain outside their purview, further undermining any possibility of real progress.

The question is not about democracy versus authoritarianism. It is about whether an "under-developed" state, such as Pakistan, can develop as a capitalist democracy without going through a fascist phase. It either stabilises as a democracy, or it violently fails.

Since there is NO good authoritarian alternative, it may be time to go the slow route of democracy!