Ravi ShankarProvocateur |
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The tyranny of little guys
Indian public life has become ludicrously litigious with a police complainant hiding behind every door, ready to leap out with a punitive yell to torment cocky columnists and social media mavericks.
22 May 2022
Leave Lord Hanuman Out of Power Games
Trust politicians to warp the most sacred of symbols to feed their power hunger.
15 May 2022
Out of the Blue
Elon Musk buys Twitter, the world’s most powerful social media weapon which has 23 million Indian users. What does this mean for free speech, trolls and government control?
01 May 2022
Humour is freedom’s subversive statement
Was it fine for Will Smith to get pissed off at funnyman Chris Rock for joshing his wife Jada who has a hair fall problem?
03 Apr 2022
Selective indignation is racist hypocrisy
All lives are equal but some are more equal than the others. Caucasian lives command a larger premium in the outrage market than others.
27 Mar 2022
The menace of the solitary dictator
The personality profile of tyrants is a stereotype with a few variations in the scope of their cruelty. They are mesmerising orators.
13 Mar 2022
Truth and Lies Behind the Veil
Metaphors have a purpose. They allude to a deeper meaning that represents the human initiative to hedge a bet.
27 Feb 2022
Inside the mind of Vladimir Putin
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine looks imminent and the world teeters on the edge of war. At the centre of the maelstrom is the enigmatic Russian president, popular at home and hated by the West.
13 Feb 2022
Saris are the answer to the raging hijab row!
A hijab cannot be worn to school or college. Just as a religious symbol of any faith, ideally, has no place in any temple of learning.
13 Feb 2022
PG vs MoGi war will dictate dynasty's fate
Priyanka Gandhi faces a different G-Force now than Indira and Sonia Gandhi ever did -- MoGi, which combines Modi's mass appeal and Yogi's Hindutva.
30 Jan 2022
Yogi Adityanath is no alternative to PM Modi
The mouthy monk could pull off a return to Lucknow. But that cannot make him Modi’s equal, let alone his superior.
23 Jan 2022
The Blasphemy of Mother Teresa
A news report in 1991 in the respected German magazine Stern estimated that only seven percent of the millions of dollars MoC received were used for charity.
09 Jan 2022
The importance of being Shashi Tharoor
Tharoor is one of the few most illustrious Congressmen -- a former senior UN diplomat, celebrated author, what is more, a three-time Lok Sabha member from Kerala. And a civilised man too.
02 Jan 2022
The Heartland's Insecure War on Humour
Social media, the dark pasture where trolls and constables of bigotry graze, is where wit is hunted, killed or driven out.
26 Dec 2021
Why the Opposition can’t figure out Modi
A paradox of chronology is that how personalities see themselves is not how all the world perceives them.
19 Dec 2021
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