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All the king's horses and all the king's men

New Delhi, Oct. 15 -- The success of Leader of Opposition Rahul Gandhi's rally on October 12, 2026, gathering 2.5 lakh marchers against electoral malpractices, should not blind us to the fact that Kin... Read More


A Georgian murder mystery best served with ice cream

New Delhi, Oct. 1 -- This summer abroad, I read books old and new, including the mammoth Middlemarch by George Eliot (born Mary Ann Evans), which Martin Amis called the best English novel (in a 1967 l... Read More


Would AI run India's elections better?

New Delhi, Sept. 24 -- For all the handwringing over AI's threat to humanity, here's a thought experiment. Given the authoritarian way Chief Election Commissioner Gyanesh Kumar has run the constitutio... Read More


As China lays the BRICS

New Delhi, Sept. 17 -- Some in BRICS unofficially suspect Prime Minister Narendra Modi of being a Trojan horse. They believe that US President Donald Trump has excessive sway over Modi, which may or m... Read More


Governance lesson: A good government is recognized by how effectively it ensures good outcomes, not the power it wields

New Delhi, Sept. 13 -- On 6 September, a five-storey building in Delhi's Satya Niketan being used as a paying-guest facility collapsed, killing seven people, most of them students. The building was un... Read More


The Crying Hitler syndrome

New Delhi, Sept. 10 -- Adolf Hitler, the Fuhrer of the German Third Reich (1933-1945), never openly wept, though he was reportedly tearful on occasion. Music moved him, particularly Richard Wagner's (... Read More


Who is afraid of Sonia Gandhi?

New Delhi, Sept. 3 -- Your columnist is looking forward to Sonia Gandhi's 544-page memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, which will be published by Alfred A. Knopf in the US two months from now. It wa... Read More


Return of the Ugly American

New Delhi, Aug. 27 -- Americans try and succeed at looking their best (other than the poor, and the mass of President Donald Trump's unwashed voter base). Americans wear the best clothes; they have th... Read More


A visitor's guide to American decline

New Delhi, Aug. 20 -- Ilast visited America in 2022,during my father's finalSpring, andstayed fortwo and a halfmonths,squeezingina visit to Peoria, Illinois, and Boulder, Colorado,formy youngsters. Th... Read More


Trump's Iran war is running out of missiles and excuses

New Delhi, Aug. 13 -- Your columnist woke up one morning in America to find the news outlets abuzz with the story of President Donald Trump evading an assassination attempt by hiding in an airline cat... Read More