How should we understand the CAG report on coal allocation? It's not a simple, straight-forward matter. It has multiple elements.
Karan Thapar writes.
If I ever had doubts about the power and reach of modern communication technology the flight of tens of thousands of residents of the North-east from the cities of south India has, effectively if not definitively, laid them to rest,
Karan Thapar writes.
Now that the Olympics are over and we’ve had a week to ponder perhaps its easier to answer the question: was India’s performance disappointing or satisfactory?
Karan Thapar writes.
Through 15 years of house arrest, Aung San Suu Kyi kept her sanity listening to the BBC. She made it her alternative world.
Karan Thapar writes.
Jaswant Singh is an enigma although I’m not sure that’s the best way of describing him.
Karan Thapar writes.
There's no doubt Pranab Mukherjee has a short fuse. It's probably the one quality most remembered about him. And when it blows, his anger is something to behold.
Karan Thapar writes.
Salman Bashir, the new Pakistani high commissioner and his country’s former foreign secretary, said something last Sunday that made me sit up and think.
Karan Thapar writes.
Perhaps the telephone’s insistent ringing should have put me on my guard. Someone, it seemed to suggest, was determined to get through.
Karan Thapar writes.
Judging by the newspapers and the excited commentary on television you could be forgiven for thinking that the fact Manmohan Singh has assumed personal charge of the finance ministry means the country's economic problems are solved.
Karan Thapar writes.
Perhaps because I don't know many, I used to think of 'royals' as one of a kind. For me they were a type. One was as good or as bad as the other. It turns out that's only a first impression,
Karan Thapar writes.
Give yourself a day to get used to American courtesy and you'll discover it makes human encounters easier, even a little nicer.
Karan Thapar writes.
There's nothing I like more than a clever way with words. I don't mean a smart alec reply but wit and a little twist in the tail, Karan Thapar writes.
There's a telling, if apocryphal, story about former King Farouk of Egypt.
Karan Thapar writes.
Delhi has a number of roads named after former foreign heads of government now, in all probability, forgotten in their own countries.
Karan Thapar writes.
If you're interested in Greek tragedy - or the Shakespearean version, for that matter - you've probably already identified the incredible similarity between Army Chief General VK Singh, on the one hand, and Oedipus and Agamemnon or Coriolanus and Lear, on the other. Each of the last four gentlemen was the cause of his own fall.
Karan Thapar writes.