Gloria Steinem, who died yesterday at 92, was much more than an American feminist. For more than five decades, she was one of the most recognisable voices of the women’s movement in the United States—a journalist, writer, organiser and campaigner who helped turn women’s equality from a private grievance into a public and political question.Continue reading “The India That Stayed With Gloria Steinem”
Tag Archives: writing
Beyond the World Cup-VI
A Note Before the Final Letter This is the concluding letter of Beyond the World Cup, the second and final part of a journey that began with The World Cup—A Primer from Dadu, a series of twelve letters written to my grandchildren during the 2026 FIFA World Cup. What began as a few letters to introduce Parth,Continue reading “Beyond the World Cup-VI”
Beyond the World Cup-V
Letter V: The Long Road to Greatness My dear Parth, Viyanka, and Veyd, Today I want to take you somewhere that no television camera ever shows. It is not the dazzling stadium where thousands of people cheer. It is not the grand stage where a captain lifts a glittering trophy. It is not even theContinue reading “Beyond the World Cup-V”
Beyond the World Cup-III
Letter III: When Rivals Create Greatness My dear Parth, Viyanka, and Veyd, Today, before I begin my letter, I want to show you something very precious. It is an old traveller’s journal. Its leather cover has faded with age, and its pages have turned yellow with time. On every page is written the story ofContinue reading “Beyond the World Cup-III”
What Remains – The Grace of the Years
(The following message was written for the Golden Jubilee Reunion of my IAS batch, which entered the Lal Bahadur Shastri National Academy of Administration in July 1976. Unable to attend the reunion, I shared these reflections with my batchmates. While prompted by a very personal occasion, the thoughts themselves seem to me relevant to anyoneContinue reading “What Remains – The Grace of the Years”
At Seventy-Three-Part I
A Reflection on Time, Purpose, and Quiet Continuance Part I: The Clearing There comes a time in life when celebration yields, almost instinctively, to stillness. One does not resist the passing of years, nor does one hurry to greet what remains. One pauses instead, —listening for what silence, newly audible, might now be asking. Seventy-threeContinue reading “At Seventy-Three-Part I”
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”
Leaving Bengaluru
I shall be leaving Bengaluru in a day or two, after having lived here during two distinct periods: first between September 2024 and July 2025, and then again during these recent months from March to May 2026. Between them, I have seen the city through almost all its seasons—under monsoon skies, amid flowering summers, in koel-filled mornings,Continue reading “Leaving Bengaluru”
Bengaluru Is Changing Its Mood
Some weeks ago, after an evening shower briefly interrupted the tyranny of April heat, I had written a piece titled “Rain, Briefly!” The rain that evening had felt less like a seasonal turning and more like a passing gesture—welcome, restorative, but uncertain of itself. By the next morning, the roads had dried, the heat hadContinue reading “Bengaluru Is Changing Its Mood”
Conversations at the Edge of History-II
Podcasts as the Archives of the Future The rise of the long-form podcast may ultimately prove to be more than a cultural or technological phenomenon. It may represent a profound transformation in the way human civilisation records itself. What appears today as an explosion of digital conversation may tomorrow be recognised as one of theContinue reading “Conversations at the Edge of History-II “
