Patralekha Chatterjee

Mar 15, 2011

Liberal thoughts in illiberal India

“Jack Sprat could eat no fat
his wife could eat no lean.
And so between them both, you see,
they licked the platter clean.”

Brazil learns to drape the sari

Politics and economics are not the only things that bind Brazil and India. The two emerging economic powers with increasing geo-political clout also share a passion for melodramatic love stories on the screen. If India has Bollywood, Brazil has its “telenovela”, a dramatic soap opera.

The Google delusion

National harmony, national integration, national interest. Words like these typically pop out of school children’s civics textbooks or grand political speeches made on august occasions. No one doubts that these are necessary, but most people are content if they can figure out how to live in harmony with their spouse and neighbours.

It’s time India got smart

If the Mayans were right, and we are headed towards the end of the world in 2012, then let the tuneless among us start practising, so that on that last day, we sing our last song more mellifluously, Jim Morrison style, “This is the end… the end of our elaborate plans, the end of everything that stands...”