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Enter the dragon: A bitter gourd fashioned into a crocodile.

Bitter gourd: croc in the kitchen

All my life, I have avoided the bitter gourd like poison until that fateful rainy day, when I cooked a delicious karela navratan.

At an election rally in Anand, Gujarat, on May 2.

From the Sidelines

Is Modi past his best?

The Prime Minister’s grip is weakening, evident in BJP State unit squabbles and growing pushback from allies, signalling a shift in power.

Counter Culture

Vijay’s GOAT is a film overburdened by its star

While this is not unusual for star films, what is exceptional is the limits to which GOAT stretches this.

Prathyush Parasuraman

SUM AND SUBSTANCE

How conflict is bleeding Manipur dry

Record internet shutdowns, soaring inflation, and plummeting tourism bring financial ruin to India’s “Gateway to the East”.

Mitali Mukherjee

Prime Minister Narendra Modi attends ‘Ganpati Poojan’ at the residence of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud, in New Delhi on September 11, 2024.

Does the CJI’s Ganesh Chaturthi celebration with Modi cross a line?

Prime Minister Modi’s visit to the Chief Justice’s residence has set off debate on the separation of powers and post-retirement sinecures for judges.

FROM THE SIDELINES

Can the BJP recover in Uttar Pradesh?

Yogi government faces the challenge of regaining disgruntled urban voters while wooing OBCs and Dalits who rejected it in the Lok Sabha election.

Economic Perspectives

Commerce Minister flip-flops on e-commerce

Piyush Goyal’s criticism of foreign e-commerce platforms for “predatory pricing” defends Indian businesses that similarly marginalise small retailers.

C.P. Chandrasekhar

More stories from Columns

BRS leader K Kavitha reaches Hyderabad after being released from Tihar Jail in Delhi following the Supreme Court’s decision to grant her bail in the irregularities in the “excise policy case” by the CBI and the ED, on August 28, 2024.

Supreme Court champions bail reform. But will lower courts listen?

Recent judgments reaffirm “bail is the rule, jail the exception”. Yet crucial bail pleas languish in courts for years on trivial grounds.

Schoolchildren reciting the Hanuman Chalisa in Bhopal on January 20, 2024. Author Vikram Seth recently completed a translation of the widely recited hymn and poem into English.

Can poetry survive translation?

Translators face a delicate balance between fidelity and creativity, but some argue audacity trumps sincerity in preserving poetic essence.

Prathyush Parasuraman

The ordinary Indian travels in appalling conditions in crowded trains, squatting on floors, aisles and in toilets.

Bring back the Railway Budget

Merging rail finances with the Union Budget has led to less scrutiny, more accidents, and questionable priorities.

Mitali Mukherjee

A still from Slaves of the Empire directed by Rajesh James.

Anger as the constant

At the International Documentary and Short Film Festival held in Kerala every year, the audience is hammered down for a week by raw courage.

Prathyush Parasuraman

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath and BJP leader Jitin Prasada at a meeting ahead of the Lok Sabha election, in Pilibhit, Uttar Pradesh, on April 9.

BJP is discovering that its prized defectors may be more liability than asset

The 2024 Lok Sabha election showed that turncoats winning on BJP ticket had a lower victory percentage than the party’s own candidates.

Securities and Exchange Board of India Chairperson Madhabi Puri Buch at the National Stock Exchange in Mumbai on July 30.

SEBI: The Buch stops here

The SEBI chairperson must now lead by example and demonstrate her actions did not amount to financial impropriety.

Mitali Mukherjee

Indian cuisine celebrates the okra like no other.

Okra: What’s in its ick?

On a planet as diabetic as ours has become, the okra’s medicinal properties might well spell salvation for us

The latest cyber-attack on WazirX has brought to light the concerning absence of regulation over the sales and purchase of virtual digital assets.

WazirX: No one’s problem, everyone’s money

This brings us to the Finance Ministry in whose hands India’s crypto policy has largely been so far.

Mitali Mukherjee

The family of a deceased sewer worker at a protest called by Bezwada Wilson at Jantar Mantar in New Delhi on September 25, 2018.

Subclassification of Scheduled Castes: Policymakers face the challenge of addressing inequality without fracturing unity

Supreme Court ruling aims to level the playing field within marginalised communities, but risks deepening existing fault lines.

Fawad Khan in a still from the teaser of Barzakh.

The pathetic man is rewriting the macho script

How filmmakers are redefining masculinity on screen by embracing vulnerability.

Prathyush Parasuraman

Prime Minister Narendra Modi with business tycoons at a meeting to discuss ways to improve growth and job creation, in New Delhi on January 6, 2020.

India’s corporate boom: Not for the greater common good

Modi era may have promoted the union of big capital with Hindutva, but people are beginning to see that cronyism is hollowing out the nation.

Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman with the Budget briefcase.

Budget 2024: An exercise in manipulated accounting and a poor attempt at propaganda

Priorities have shifted from comprehensive planning to accounting exercises, with limited spending on crucial areas like employment and food security.

C.P. Chandrasekhar

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