Columns

Being a dyed in the wool (now a ‘dead in the water’) bureaucrat, I have never been the life and soul of any party. But strangely enough, hostesses kept inviting me frequently to dinners, I suspect because of my village idiot qualities, because I could keep a conversation flowing in the silences when everyone else […]

In Pakistan, the sun sets and rises in the west. Political meteorologists saw a waning sunset in US-Pak relations in the U.S. National Security Strategy (NSS) encyclical of 2017, issued during President Trump’s first tenure. They notice a false sunrise in his latest NSS paper, issued in November 2025. NSS of 2017 devoted a precious

The privatization of our national airline reminds one of the Greek legend of Penelope’s loom – a continuous exercise designed to tire suitors. Since PIA’s creation in 1955, its history has been a triumph of experience over hope. Initially, PIA took off with enviable success, under Air Marshal Nur Khan (MD 1959-65 and chairman 1973-79)

The Vande Bharat stable of trains is the pride of the Indian railways, and deservedly so. Their coaches are state of the art, comprising the best in the world in technology and comfort, rivalling the airlines at a fraction of the cost. Each set of 16 coaches costs about Rs. 130 crores, ten times the

At nearly 75 years, I have for long endorsed Bob Hope’s dictum: I’m not afraid of dying but I don’t want to be around when it happens. But of late I am more inclined to go with “Death, where is thy sting?” by the Apostle Paul, in 1 Corinthians of the New Testament. The simple reason is that I

Piety, not punctuality, is the politeness of princes. And none was more pious than the Mughal prince Dara Shikoh (1615-1659). As the eldest son of the emperor Shah Jahan, Dara Shikoh should have succeeded his father. However, Dara’s younger brother Muḥī al-Dīn Muḥammad (later the emperor Aurangzeb) practiced his own version of piety. His flexible

I usually don’t find it difficult to disagree with Mr. Amitabh Kant, the sherpa of Raisina Hill (there are no mountains in Delhi other than the Gazipur landfill, so it has to be a hill and not a mountain), but for once I cannot disagree with him on his recent comments on the lifting of

Himalayan states like Himachal and Uttarakhand are slowly going to pieces, literally, under the onslaught of cloudbursts, flash floods, land subsidence and collapsing infrastructure. In just the last four years (2022-2025) Himachal has lost 1200 lives and suffered a loss of Rs. 18000 crores in these disasters (and this does not include the indirect loss

COMPARISONS can be odious, unless there is a justification. Consider these two examples. On Sept 30, 2025, President Donald Trump and his Secretary of War Pete Hegseth summoned almost 800 US generals, admirals and senior enlisted officers to the Marine Corps Base Quantico. The civilian duo harangued the uniformed, be-medalled corps — men and women,