A Reflection on the Jagannath Rath Yatra There are festivals that delight the senses. There are festivals that preserve tradition. And then there are festivals that quietly transform the human spirit. The Jagannath Rath Yatra of Puri belongs to this rarest category. Every year, amid the roar of conch shells, the chanting of countless voices,Continue reading “When God Comes Out to Meet Man”
Tag Archives: india
Lindsey Graham: Beyond the Tariffs
The death of Senator Lindsey Graham has attracted more attention in India than the passing of most American legislators ordinarily would. The reason is not difficult to find. Graham had, in recent years, become one of the sharpest critics of India’s trade practices and among the strongest advocates of punitive tariffs against Indian exports. HisContinue reading “Lindsey Graham: Beyond the Tariffs”
Global Platforms, Local Passions
As the FIFA World Cup moves towards its grand finale, billions across continents are once again participating in one of humanity’s greatest shared spectacles. For a few exhilarating weeks, geography seems to dissolve. Fans from Buenos Aires to Bengaluru, from Lagos to London, celebrate the same goals, debate the same refereeing decisions, and watch theContinue reading “Global Platforms, Local Passions”
Horn OK Please
The Motorcycle Manifesto I wonder how many of us have experienced it. A motorcycle roars past, its silencer apparently discarded as an unnecessary accessory. The sound is not merely loud; it is physically invasive. Startled pedestrians look up in alarm. Conversations stop mid-sentence. Birds take flight. For a fleeting moment one wonders whether a movingContinue reading “Horn OK Please”
What Draws Millions to Vrindavan?
The queue moved so slowly that it seemed hardly to move at all. The summer sun beat down relentlessly upon Vrindavan. Faces glistened with perspiration. Elderly pilgrims leaned against railings for support, a few of them confined to wheelchairs, with sons or relatives standing patiently behind them. Women from every background chatted ceaselessly to passContinue reading “What Draws Millions to Vrindavan?”
When Paradise becomes A Parking Lot
In the past few weeks, several friends have returned from summer visits to India’s celebrated hill stations. Their stories were remarkably similar. Not one began by describing pine forests, mountain sunsets, misty mornings or cool evenings. Instead, they spoke of traffic jams stretching for kilometres, vehicles crawling for hours along mountain roads, overflowing hotels, litteredContinue reading “When Paradise becomes A Parking Lot”
Manikarnika: Where Fire Becomes Eternity
I arrived at Manikarnika as the sun was preparing to leave the sky. The evening light had begun to soften the hard outlines of Varanasi. As I walked through the city’s labyrinthine lanes, Kashi displayed all its familiar contradictions at once—pilgrims and shopkeepers, temple bells and motorcycle horns, saffron-clad ascetics and foreign visitors, all sharingContinue reading “Manikarnika: Where Fire Becomes Eternity”
FIFTY YEARS LATER
There are reunions, and then there are IAS reunions. The former involve nostalgia. The latter too involve nostalgia; but also protocol, subtle comparison, and the quiet belief—held with touching sincerity by almost everyone present—that time has treated them with exceptional generosity, and that they have aged distinctly better than most others in the batch. TheContinue reading “FIFTY YEARS LATER”
Service at the Crossroads: Part II
The Test of Our Times—Integrity, Power, and the Demands of Viksit Bharat If Part I is a reflection on what India’s civil services have been, Part II must confront what they are in danger of becoming—and what they must yet strive to be. For all their history and institutional depth, the civil services today standContinue reading “Service at the Crossroads: Part II”
Service at the Crossroads: Part I
The Idea of the Civil Service—From Steel Frame to Living Institution There are institutions that merely administer a nation, and there are those that, in quieter and less visible ways, help shape its destiny. India’s civil services have at their best, belonged to the latter category—an enduring presence through upheaval and change, lending continuity toContinue reading “Service at the Crossroads: Part I”
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