Incorrect, then correct

Two stray thoughts.
1) It is incorrect to say “OBCs need reservations because OBCs are oppressed and poor.” (It is incorrect because all OBCs are not oppressed and poor). Right?
Then is it incorrect to say “OBCs don’t need reservations because they are all wealthy landowners by now”? Or “OBCs don’t need reservations because they are the [...]

Open letter

This is a letter written by Harsh Mander. Offered without comment.
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Open Letter to Striking Medicos
Harsh Mander
Throughout history, in every country and every culture, it is young people who have been at the forefront of struggles to fight for and build a more just and humane world. Therefore stirring images on the front pages of newspapers [...]

To earn that sentence

Perversely, America’s public awareness of the Holocaust often seemed to set the bar for concern so high that we were able to tell outselves that contemporary genocides were not measuring up. As the writer David Rieff noted, “never again” might best be defined as “Never again would Germans kill Jews in Europe in the 1940s.”
…
To [...]

Taking it forward

Just got done reading the now-famous letters by Pratap Bhanu Mehta and Andre Beteille, offering their resignations from the Knowledge Commission over the issue of reservations. Then I read the letter from Yogendra Yadav to Mehta, taking issue with some of the points he raises; and after that, Mehta’s response to Yadav.
The letters, and especially [...]

Long distance call

My column for India Together, on a village in Vidarbha where we visited the families of two farmers who took their lives last month, is here.
Your comments welcome.

I want my Rare Oak Cask

It’s a curious thing. I’ll be walking along, minding my own business, humming “Attack of the Killer Tomatos” to myself. Without warning, the thought enters my mind, a burning desire that cannot be quenched: “I want an oak cask.” Sometimes it’s “I want a rare decanter”, or “I want an Extra Strong Mug”. But mostly [...]

Priest on a hill

This is one of the oldest puzzles I know, one I’ve always liked. Give it a shot. (If you know the answer, please hold off telling us so as not to spoil it for those who want to think it over).
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A priest lives at the bottom of a middling hill. Once a year, he makes [...]

Lying high

In 1980, the US and many allies boycotted the Moscow Olympics, in protest against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. (Seems like ancient history, now).
Naturally, this meant that in 1984, the Soviet Union and its allies had to retaliate by boycotting the Los Angeles Olympics. Only, they didn’t have a reason, like Afghanistan, that they could [...]

Courier of cricket

Watched the beginning of the fourth India/WI one-day match last night. I think I’m finally convinced of two things. I don’t like the way Virender Sehwag bats, and I don’t think he has got his mind to grasp the one-day game.
Second point first. Sehwag is a fantastic talent. What else can you say about [...]

Of some interest

Hindustan Times of May 21 2006 has a feature called “Chipping away at the language barrier”, about English-speaking classes in Bombay. There’s much to learn from this, and I think I should share what I learned from it with you because it might interest you.
Do rest assured that when I say “it might interest you”, [...]