Her Majesty’s Royal Service – Making Sense of the British Raj

When it comes to interpretation of the British Rule in India there are two schools of thought. The popular view is that it was an era of darkness. Then there are intellectuals who attribute everything that is good in modern India to the colonial rule. The Popular View After Shashi Tharoor quit his international career … Continue reading Her Majesty’s Royal Service – Making Sense of the British Raj

The Liberals of Hindustan

Liberalism comes from the latin word libre which means 'free'. Libre is the origin for other words like liberal, liberty, libertarian, and libertine. It is also the inspiration for two of the most frequently used words in Indian social media these days :  librandu and fiberal. Even though its popular use started in 17th century … Continue reading The Liberals of Hindustan

The Missing History of Hindustan

In my first article of this series I have mentioned about the tradition of Boita Bandana and Bali Jatra that commemorate the glorious maritime adventures of Odias in South East Asia. The businessmen who engaged in such maritime trade were known as sadhabas. There is a popular folk tale in Odisha about one of sadhaba … Continue reading The Missing History of Hindustan

my B-town connections

Because ‘Bombay’ starts with the alphabet B and most of the Hindi movies borrowed their style and substance from  Hollywood, I think the naming of Hindi Film Industry as Bollywood was perfectly logical.  The yellow journalists  used to call Bombay  the B-town, while using it with reference to the glitterati that inhabited the city. By … Continue reading my B-town connections