The long dark tea time of the soul

Today is Shankar Guha Niyogi’s 15th death anniversary, Shahadat Divas. My friends who are not from Chhattisgarh will ask Niyogi who? To classify Niyogi as just a ‘trade union leader‘ would be an understatement of his achievements in the short life that he led. But that is where we can begin. Shankar Guha Niyogi was [...]

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That seems to be the mantra in selecting Rang De Basanti as India’s official entry to the oscars. Of course, we know that it won’t win the nomination for best foreign language film. But we are going there to participate, winning does not matter and its the spirit of participation that needs to be kept [...]

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I don’t know Nagesh Anna. I have never met him or seen him, I have never seen his photograph, nor heard his voice. I don’t know his real name, nor am I sure whether he is a real person or not. For all it matters, Nagesh anna might not exist at all, he might be [...]

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Dhurli is a nice little village nearly 14 km from my hometown Bacheli. When I was young, a favourite pasttime in the summer holidays used to be to go cycling down from Bacheli to Dhurli, catch up with our friends at Bhansi en-route, go further ahead and rest in the banks of the river Shankani. [...]

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