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INDONESIA – THE BEAUTIFUL ARCHIPELAGO BY AFTAB SETH PUBLISHED BY BIRCH BOOKS, 2026. There are two types of diplomats, as Mani Shankar Aiyar points out in the review appended to the book. The first are the wolf warriors, of the type so ably represented by Mr Sibi George of the recent press-conference-in- Denmark fame, who […]

This is not an obituary. Far from it. It is a tribute to someone who is completing the first hundred years of a crowded, productive life. Syed Babar Ali was born on 30 June 1926. For the past few weeks,  numerous relatives, friends, business associates and educationists have joined in celebrating his centenary. Eleven years

Born in 1966 in Ranchi and educated up to his MA in Gaya, Bihar, Tabish Khair did a PhD from Copenhagen University and is now an associate professor at Aarhus University, Denmark. His scholarly books include Babu Fictions (OUP, 2001), The Gothic, Postcolonialism and Otherness (Palgrave, 2009), Literature against Fundamentalism (OUP, 2024) and the co-edited

by Samiksha Ransom “I envy you, Betty. You’re free as a plant.” ~ Tiffany McDaniel, Betty Tiffany McDaniel’s Betty, published by Knopf in 2020, is the coming-of-age, coming-of-voice story of Betty Carpenter. Given the environment in which the author’s mother grew up, the story blends truth and fiction. Betty narrates the story of the women

[It was reported by the Satya Hindi news channel, and reiterated by a Congress spokesperson, that after the declaration of the West Bengal results, the CEC Gyanesh Kumar told a group of reporters: “Tiger abhi zinda hai !”] My faith in the Chief Deletion Commissioner, Mr Gyanesh Kumar (may his tribe decrease), has been fully

Since these are tricky times, let us begin this week with a trick question: what do the following events have in common with each other ? : * The huge, and sometimes violent,  protests in NOIDA last month by factory workers and domestic help over increase in minimum wages. * The refusal of a High

The Air India board meets today, May the 7th, to address the challenges of record financial losses, future strategy, and CEO succession. A good opportunity for everyone who leads any organization (or even a team) to reflect on the lessons for each of us. __ During my teenage years, Air India was a global leader,

Civilisations are created by poets, writers, painters, architects, but are destroyed by politicians and their armies. We would do well to remember this truth at a time when an existential civilisational war is taking place almost on our borders, in West Asia. Make no mistake, the illegal assaults on Gaza, Lebanon, Syria and Iran are

[Published by Paranjoy Guha Thakurta. 2025] Before we get into this thought provoking book two things need to be said about it. One, it reaffirms that courageous journalism and writing still breathes in India, notwithstanding the utter capitulation of most of the shameful media to power and commerce. Second, the book raises troubling questions about