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Hello and welcome to another edition of The Weekly Vine. In this week’s edition, we wonder whether the BJP has become the Bhadralok Janata Party, decode the hype around The Devil Wears Prada, offer a brief Star Wars lesson for beginners, and finally celebrate the joys of the perfect club sandwich. Bhadralok Janata Party   May the 4th…

I once came across a humorous parody of the classic advice columns you often see in magazines. (I’m paraphrasing here, but the spirit is intact.) Reader 1: “I never feel hungry. What should I do?” Expert: “Read Sahastra Pakakriya (सहस्त्र पाकक्रिया).” (A grand old-style title — roughly, a compendium of a thousand recipes.) Reader 2:…

Every election delivers a verdict, but what follows reveals the character of a democracy. In West Bengal, recent polls have exposed an unsettling pattern: victory celebrated with excess, and defeat greeted with derision. This is not the political culture Bengal deserves. The state has long taken pride in a tradition of argument, literature, and public…

By Sumit Paul Our attitude decides how far we can go. With a positive attitude, one can succeed in life; with a negative attitude, one will fail to achieve the desired level of success. When there’s hope, Lady Luck smiles upon you. A negative attitude fosters hopelessness; Arjun’s winning attitude made him the most successful…

“Karmaṇā manasā vāpi vācā vāpi parantapa,  yan me kṛtaṁ brāhmaṇeṣu tenādya na tapāmyaham”   “In consequence of what I have done in thought, word, and deed, I do not feel any pain now—even as I lie upon this bed of arrows.”  These words from the Mahabharata, spoken in a moment of intense physical suffering, carry an extraordinary philosophical calm. Here is a man pierced by arrows, yet untouched…

Long before the Covid pandemic made physical contact with others in the form of the Western handshake a no-no for fear of infection, the namaste, the salutation of bidding ‘Welcome’ and ‘Farewell’, had a truly universal significance. Elegant and graceful, in the true sense of the term as being full of grace, the namaste is…

Indian politicians come from a delightful range of occupationsWhat does one make of the extraordinary feat of Martin family’s winsome ‘threesome’, who won three assembly seats, from three parties, in two legislatures, TN and Puducherry? Lottery businessman Martin’s wife, TN’s richest candidate ( Rs 5,863cr, gulp), is now an ADMK legislator, their sonin-law is a…

She was looking tired, surrounded by central security forces who were pushing her own security detail further away, creating a distance that felt more than physical. At 71, the strain of the moment showed. Mamata Banerjee was speaking to media outside the Bhabanipur counting centre. She stood there in her white sari with the blue…

Vijay’s victory in Tamil Nadu is easy to interpret as the rise of another film star in a state in which cinematic acclaim and political success are enmeshed. It may, however, mark a more consequential shift to a post-Dravidian phase in Tamil politics. Post-Dravidian does not mean anti-Dravidian. It means that welfarism, social justice, and…

Uneasy lie heads burdened with crowns. More so when US and Iran are trading fire again, crude is inching up, and rumours of petrol and diesel price hikes are swirling. For the incoming CMs of Kerala, TN and Bengal, plus Himanta in Assam, this isn’t the best time to start an innings. Vijay, TN’s prospective…