Columns

Himachal’s beautiful and priceless rivers are facing a new threat in their ongoing battle against “development”. First it was the roads hacked out in their valleys, dumping tens of millions of tonnes of earth and debris into their waters, constricting their flows and devastating aquatic life. Then came the hydel projects, extinguishing whatever little aquatic […]

Lahore dozes in the summer. In spring, it comes alive with LitFests. The Faiz Festival occupied last weekend; the Lahore LitFest the next. In between, there has been the Horse & Cattle Show in the Fortress Stadium. Once the showcase for Punjab’s agricultural livestock and agro-produce, it has been revived as a showpiece by the

A long, long time ago when people still read books and were not educated exclusively by Whatsapp forwards or Tik-Tok reels, Nirad Choudhry, the last Englishman in India, claimed in his book of the same name that India was a continent of Circe, where humans were turned into beasts. Now, 70 years later, he has

Read the article here. Posted here by kind permission of the copyright holder, Mr Kamal Malhotra.

Read the article here. Posted here by kind permission of the copyright holder, Mr Kamal Malhotra.

To enjoy any LitFest, one needs to be a hyper-active octopus, with eyes and ears at the end of every tentacle. The Lahore LitFest 2025 – the last in a trilogy before the abstinence of Ramzan – offered a banquet of intellect, spread over four halls in cruel competition. To attend one was to forgo

Yes, Kejriwal has lost the Delhi elections. But make no mistake- the AAP put up a valiant and courageous fight, and came to within inches of winning. Don’t let these sold out media platforms and sundry Yogendra Yadav clones tell you otherwise, look at the official figures. The BJP at 46% of the vote share

The first Karachi Literature Festival (KLF) 2010 was the crucible. Since then, each year, it has moved higher up the ladder to its present maturity as the 16th KLF, held this year on 7-9 February and as usual at the Beach Luxury Hotel. The first KLF 2010 had an attendance  of 5,000. This year, the number

One key aspect of the Budget which has been highlighted by India’s mainstream press is the tax cut for India’s salaried class earning up to Rs I lakh per month (roughly UK£930 or US$1100 in today’s money). Rather than this inconsequential and inappropriate Rs 1 lakh crore tax cut, the money should have been spent