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Questions to authority
Two nights ago I attended the launch of [In]Complete Justice?, S Muralidhar’s book of essays about the state of India’s Supreme Court, which turns 75 this year. The hall at India International Centre brimmed with senior advocates, journalists, and politicians soon after six that evening. By the time the event began—a conversation between J. Murali, Continue reading
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NYT and NPR pick The New India
Bloody hell. The New York Times and NPR *both* have The New India (The Identity Project) on their year-end books list. The NYT has something called 100 Notable Books, which I was vaguely aware of until 8.14pm yesterday and then incredibly aware of by 8.16pm. Going down the list of titles yesterday, I saw my Continue reading
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Review: Washington Monthly on The New India
The book has its first review in the US, and I’m happy to say it’s a very good one. I wondered if American reviewers would find echoes of their own struggles with extremism in the book, and if they would look at the century-old project of turning India into a Hindu state and see how Continue reading
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Eminent people
At 2.44pm on 30 May 2022, I received an email from a professor of horticulture in Haryana. It began with such respect that I, a journalist, was immediately wary: “Respected Sh. Rahul Bhatia Ji. Namaskar. Sadar Vande.” It was the text equivalent of a guest who unexpectedly finds himself garlanded and fed sweets while someone Continue reading
Rahul Bhatia 