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Hatred in the Belly: Politics Behind the Appropriation of Dr. Ambedkar's Writings by Ambedkar Age Collective Where to read book? Here . ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Highly Recommended Public intellectuals  have largely abandoned holistic, critical reasoning for ego-driven discourse.  They justify and comment everything under the sun without the courage to admit when they do not understand something or are not the right people to speak for a particular tradition.  In s uch a scenario, celebrity intellectuals complicate an honest debate as those with the highest stakes can get sidelined. Intellectual honesty, therefore, begins with recognizing the limits of one’s own authority and allowing those closest to a lived tradition to speak for themselves. Reading Hatred in the Belly: Politics Behind the Appropriation of Dr. Ambedkar’s Writings reminded me why this principle matters. The book responds critically to Arundhati Roy’s lengthy introduction, “ The Doctor and the Saint ,” published with a new e...

Catherine Belton, in Putin’s People , recalls Zbigniew Brzezinski’s piercing question to Russian officials: “ If so much Russian wealth is parked in Western accounts, whose elites are they — Russian or Western — and whom do they really serve?” That question no longer belongs only to Russia. It has become one of the defining questions of our age. A significant section of India’s political, judicial and corporate elite relies on foreign universities, careers and global residency options even while public discourse frequently stresses domestic education, self-reliance and institution-building.  Vivek Doval, the younger son of National Security Adviser Ajit Doval, is a British citizen and an Overseas Citizen of India (OCI). Separately, Isha Ambani and Akash Ambani, children of Mukesh Ambani, and Isha Ambani’s twins, Aadiya Piramal and Krishna Piramal, were reportedly born in the United States. Children and members of several prominent Indian political and corporate families have r...

Let me answer a question on Pakistan from Indian point of view:  How geography, military dominance, ideological transformation and dependence on external powers shaped Pakistan’s history, its rivalry with India and its continuing search for a stable national identity?  Pakistan’s geopolitical history is marked by a recurring contradiction. It seeks strategic autonomy and regional influence, yet much of its security architecture has depended on relationships with larger external powers, principally the United States and China. Pakistan became important not primarily because of what its economy produced, but because of where it was located, whom it bordered and what strategic services it could provide to larger powers. Its geography repeatedly brought military assistance, financial support and diplomatic relevance. Yet this external importance often reduced the pressure to build autonomous political, economic and civilian institutions. Pakistan consequently achieved strategic re...

बचपन में टेलीविज़न पर देखी गई कुछ कहानियाँ पूरी तरह याद नहीं रहतीं। उनका कोई चेहरा, कोई धुन, कोई संवाद या पर्दे पर काँपती हुई रोशनी भर हमारे भीतर रह जाती है। वर्षों बाद हम उन्हें खोजने निकलते हैं, तो पता चलता है कि कार्यक्रम से अधिक हम उस समय को खोज रहे थे, जिसमें हमने उसे पहली बार देखा था।  शायद पुराने कार्यक्रमों की खोज वास्तव में अपने ही बीते हुए रूप की खोज होती है।  इस पर पहले भी लिख चुका हूँ:  90s नॉस्टैल्जिया: एंटीना, केबल और एक पूरा बचपन और Search for Lost Stories of Childhood .  वे चेहरे, वे भ्रम और दूरदर्शन कभी-कभी कोई पुराना नाम स्मृतियों की पूरी शृंखला खोल देता है। बचपन में दूरदर्शन पर मैंने पहली बार मराठी फ़िल्म ‘ माझा छकुला ’ देखी थी। तब मैं शायद आठ-नौ साल का रहा होऊँगा। भाषा पूरी तरह समझ में नहीं आ रही थी, फिर भी कहानी, भावनाएँ और बच्चे की मासूमियत सीधे दिल में उतर गई थीं। बरसों तक यह फ़िल्म केवल धुँधली स्मृतियों में बसी रही। कुछ बरस बाद बाद में जब मैंने ‘ मासूम’ देखी, तो कहानी के भीतर कोई पुरानी पहचान-सी जागी। लगा, ऐसी ही भावनात्मक दुनिया से मैं कभी...