opinion - Comfortably Numb

Opinion: No catchers in the rye anymore

No catchers in the rye anymore Just the other day, a line in a news report caught my eye. The article was an update on the death, five years ago, of a courageous activist who had been dear to us here in Bangalore. The case was proceeding at a pace that would put most common…

Guest column: Sin City Blues, Bangalore through Kerala`s eyes

Sin City Blues Bangalore is home for me, and for upwards of 10 lakh Malayalis. Now, I don`t know about the other Malayalis in the city but it took me a while to realise just what Bangalore stood for in my home state of Kerala. The multiple mentions the city receives in multiple Malayalam films …

Opinion: Is Age Just a Number? Well, Yes and No.

Is age just a number? Well, yes and no There`s age-shaming of women on Big Boss, there`s age-shaming in the workplace, there`s age- shaming on the runway, there`s age- shaming on the streets. And given that a report by the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation titled `Elderly in India 2021` has put the ageing…

Opinion: Confused and confounded

Confused and confounded The new year has slunk in, bringing fresh tumult and trauma in its wake. And the one prevailing emotion across the world at this moment in time is confusion. Utter, total, complete confusion. What`s more, Omicron is where the confusion buck stops. When the Covid-19 pestilence first hit us, we were undoubtedly…

Opinion: 21 Things that Got Me Good and Mad in 2021

Twenty-one things that got me good and mad in 2021 The anti-conversion Bill, with its implicit threat to religious freedoms, looking for passage in the Karnataka Assembly, on the ominous lines of similar laws passed in Uttar Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Gujarat. Consistent spurts of vandalism in places of worship, usually of the minority…

Feature: Too bad, Aziz Ansari

Too Bad, Aziz Ansari A quick recap of the whole distasteful affair first. A few weeks ago, Babe, a feminist website targeted mainly at youngsters, ran a graphic account of an anonymous woman’s sexual encounter with Ansari. Grace, the pseudonym used in the article, described the encounter as sexual assault. The two had gone…