Blogs

Soaring temperatures and unpredictable climate behaviour have thrown ecosystems out of order. We cannot deny that what is happening around us is our own creation. Our current lifestyle and excessive consumerism are major factors behind this. Earth has a limited carrying capacity, and it cannot be exploited beyond that limit. Climate change and global warming are clear…

Ganesh Kolambakar In every organisation, authority is defined by designation and detailed in manuals. Roles are specified, powers are outlined, and procedures are codified. Such a structure is necessary, for it ensures order, accountability, and functionality. Yet leadership in real situations rarely unfolds according to laid-down rules. Human emotions are complex, contexts shift rapidly, and…

In Tamil Nadu, politics has never been just politics. Ever since independence, it has always been a theatre. A fusion of cinema and politics, star and statecraft. From M Karunanidhi to M G Ramchandran to J Jayalalithaa to Vijay, cinema and politics have always been playing into each other’s territory. Kalaignar used cinema as a…

Even as the war in Ukraine shows no signs of ending and West Asia remains stuck in a No-War-No-Peace quagmire, it’s important to benchmark Operation Sindoor against other conflicts in recent times. The stand-out features of Op Sindoor were the decisive application of sharp and controlled military force, along a manageable escalatory ladder to achieve…

Though Kerala has returned UDF to office with a thumping majority under the leadership of LoP VD Satheesan, the question remains, who will become chief minister? From the moment the exit polls were released, predicting UDF’s win, the contest for CMship has revolved around three principals: Satheesan, former home minister Ramesh Chennithala, and KC Venugopal,…

Trump and Iran better make a deal soon, or your beer will cost quite a bit more. Not that beer comes from the Gulf. They hardly make any. And glass bottles – 80% customers prefer them to cans – are entirely homemade. Problem is, gas to fire glass furnaces is largely imported, and right now…

Vijay winning in Tamil Nadu is a big surprise—and a big lesson. For a long time, many experts believed that just being famous (like a movie star) doesn’t easily turn into votes. But they missed something important: people wanted change. Vijay spoke about changing the way politics works, and many voters connected with that idea….

How many a page, how singular a partnership we shared  1970s Bombay. Khushwant Singh had pulled The Illustrated Weekly of India out of its dog-eared irrelevance in dentists’ waiting rooms and taken it to kudos, controversy and a circulation thrice that of the current TOI. The daily was still the stolid Old Lady of Bori…

Vietnam and Sri Lanka share notable similarities in history, geography and culture. Their relationship predates the establishment of consular relations in 1964. Initially, the ties were shaped by anti-colonial solidarity, support for Vietnam’s independence and Afro-Asian cooperation.  At the Bandung Conference, India and Sri Lanka welcomed Ho Chi Minh and supported the national liberation movement…

Right next to the Taj in Mumbai, that grand, perfectly lit overachiever of Indian hospitality, sits the Royal Bombay Yacht Club, looking like it has absolutely no interest in competing. If the Taj is a well-dressed host who knows exactly where the light falls, the Yacht Club is that old uncle in a cane chair…