Dr. Valson Thampu

Though most people do not dare to say so in public, the citizens of India, who are largely not involved in politics, felt unconvinced by the public display of sadness by the Prime Minister at the vast toll that the pandemic has taken on our sisters and brothers. Many felt that his seemed a less […]

I am at a loss these days to decide whether to vote for the Congress, or to vote directly for the BJP. I don’t like middle men. Why should I vote and help a Congress candidate win, only for that candidate to be “bought” in a matter of months by the BJP? Isn’t it a

In times of stress, it relaxes the muscles and de-clutters the mind to look elsewhere. So, Hamlet comes to mind. His soliloquy, ‘To be, nor not to be…’ haunts me these days. When anything haunts you, the best you can do for yourself is to modify it. That is the academic’s version of exorcism. I

What was staged in the Capitol, Washington, DC, on 6 January 2021 was a hybrid event: part religious, part political. At the centre of it was the image of the QAnon shaman, Jacob Anthony Chansley, alias Jake Angeli, described picturesquely by Chris Cuomo of the CNN as the ‘horned heathen’. Angeli is no politician. Nor

When “Howdy Modi”, a near-celestial mega event, was unfurled in Houston, Texas, on the 19th of September 2019, Trump’s victory in the November 2020 presidential election seemed settled. My Prime Minister turned prophetic on that occasion, and decided that Trump would continue in office. ‘Abki baar, Trump Sarkar!’ (meaning, “This election will result in a