Javed Anand

Apr 07, 2011
jawed.JPG

Bhagwat ka Bharat

Respected Bhagwat Ji,

First you said that rapes and gangrapes happen in India, not Bharat, because the former has embraced Western ideas and abandoned Indian values. You’ve spoken again now, to put women in their proper place:

Lest we forget

As I put this column in place, the calendar says it’s December 6. On this very day, 20 years ago, the Babri Mosque was demolished. In the pre-planned communal violence that followed, over 2,000 people were killed and property worth hundreds of crores destroyed in Ayodhya, Bombay (now Mumbai), Surat, Ahmedabad, Bhopal, Kanpur and elsewhere.

Raj ki aag or Aag ka raj?

Bombay was renamed Mumbai in 1995. It was among the first things the Shiv Sena-BJP coalition sarkar did on coming to power in Maharashtra. You might think the news has yet to reach ’em posh people who still refer to their quarter of the metropolis as “South Bombay”. In fact, it’s SoBo now! Bombay, remember, is the New York of the East: SoHo, SoBo. Folks at SoHo might be deeply embarrassed at this likening. But for SoBo, appearance is what matters, darling.

Blinkers of bias

The continuing debate over the hastily withdrawn NCERT textbook — a cartoon in which Dr B.R.

Fiction and fact

In his article in these columns (Friendly Advice, May 16), senior Supreme Court advocate and former additional solicitor-general of India, K.N.

Decoding Islam

On the face of it, the ulema’s advice to the ummah (community) sounds eminently reasonable: For building a house, you go to an architect; when ill, you go to a doctor; to look good, you go to a beautician. In short, in secular affairs, you turn to experts. So where would you go to gain knowledge about Islam? The religious experts (ulema) of course. Right? Perhaps you should think again.

Crime and forgiveness

Satyameva Jayate, it seems, must wait if it’s not forgotten altogether. We are all Jains now and the chant is “Michhami dukkadam”: I ask forgiveness for any hurt I may have caused you by thoughts, words or actions, knowingly or unknowingly. Readers of The Asian Age/Deccan Chronicle (refer to BJP spokesperson Nirmala Sitharaman’s article “Modi-baiters and the ghost of 2002” on September 19) have also been told that embedded in these two words are layers upon layers of meaning: seeking forgiveness, forgiving others, forgiving self, hoping that forgiveness gets extended to all beings around us.

The Jamaatis’ new robes

Indian Muslims just got luckier. Already spoilt for choice, the Spring of 2011 has brought two fresh bonanzas for the country’s “second largest majority”. One comes gift-wrapped as a brand new political party; the other is a forum of Muslim advocates of Maharashtra. Many compliments of the season, Badhai ho badhai!

Politics of the burqa

Could this be the mother of all ironies, a delightful one at that? Whatever your view on the subject, one thing is beyond dispute: de-sexualising the female body, rendering a Muslim woman invisible in the public space is what the burqa (niqab, a head-to-toe veil) is all about. Yet, this very garment continues to draw global attention

Politics of the burqa

Could this be the mother of all ironies, a delightful one at that? Whatever your view on the subject, one thing is beyond dispute: de-sexualising the female body, rendering a Muslim woman invisible in the public space is what the burqa (niqab, a head-to-toe veil) is all about. Yet, this very garment continues to draw global attention to the

No Articles Found

No Articles Found

No Articles Found

I want to begin with a little story that was told to me by a leading executive at Aptech. He was exercising in a gym with a lot of younger people.

Shekhar Kapur’s Bandit Queen didn’t make the cut. Neither did Shaji Karun’s Piravi, which bagged 31 international awards.

Horoscope