The Voice of God: A Birth Anniversary Tribute to the Timeless Legacy of Hemant Kumar
On June 16, the music world pauses to remember and celebrate one of its grandest titans, *Hemant Kumar* (born Hemanta Mukherjee). Gifted with a rich, deep baritone that could effortlessly soothe a broken heart or elevate a simple melody into a spiritual experience, he was fondly hailed as the *”Voice of God.”* The legendary composer […]
The Master of Dreams and Restraint: A 90th Birth Anniversary Tribute to Shahryar
On June 16, 2026, the literary landscape pauses to remember one of its finest architectural minds on what would have been his 90th birth anniversary. Akhlaq Mohammad Khan, known universally by his pen name *Shahryar*, remains a monumental bridge between the classical depth of Urdu modernism (*Jadidiyat*) and the golden, melancholic soul of Indian cinematic […]
Main Vaapas Aaunga: Imtiaz Ali’s Poetic Reckoning with Partition’s Enduring Wound
Naseeruddin Shah as 95 – year old Keenu in “Main Vaapas Aaunga” In the summer of 1947, as British India lurched toward independence, a hastily drawn line by Cyril Radcliffe—a British barrister unfamiliar with the subcontinent—cleaved Punjab and Bengal. Announced on August 17, two days after Independence, this boundary triggered one of history’s largest forced […]
Suraiya: The Last Singing Star and the Lost Queen of Hindi Cinema
Woh paas rahen ya door rahen, nazron mein samaaye rehte hain*(“Whether near or far, they remain forever in my sight.”) Some stars illuminate an era; a rare few become the era itself. Suraiya belonged to that extraordinary category. Nearly seven decades after her peak and more than two decades after her passing, her voice continues […]
The Neelakantha Strategy: Rahul Gandhi’s Pivot from Electoralism to Total Resistance
At the INDIA alliance meeting in New Delhi on June 8, 2026, Rahul Gandhi delivered an address that was less a conventional political briefing and more an existential recalibration of the opposition’s grand strategy. By invoking the Shaiva myth of *Neelakantha*—the blue-necked deity who swallows poison to save the cosmos—Gandhi signaled a profound shift in […]
The Night the Mahatma Was Born: Pietermaritzburg and Gandhi’s Awakening
On the night of June 7, 1893, at the Pietermaritzburg railway station in colonial South Africa, a young Indian barrister named Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi faced a raw confrontation with racial bigotry that would redefine not only his destiny but the trajectory of anti-colonial resistance worldwide. Travelling from Durban to Pretoria on a valid first-class ticket […]
The Melancholic Maestro of Indian Cinema: A Birth Anniversary Tribute to Bharat Bhushan
June 14 marks the birth anniversary of Bharat Bhushan, the gentle, chocolate-faced superstar of the 1950s who came to personify the very soul of tragic romance and classical music on the silver screen. In an era dominated by the legendary trio of Raj Kapoor, Dilip Kumar, and Dev Anand, Bharat Bhushan carved out a unique, […]
Mehdi Hassan: The Voice That Time Could Not Silence
Ab Ke Hum Bichhde Toh Shayad Kabhi Khwaabon Mein Milein” ( “If we part now, perhaps we shall meet in dreams.”) Fourteen years after his passing, the voice of Mehdi Hassan continues to inhabit those dreams. On June 13, 2012, South Asia lost one of its greatest musical treasures. Yet, the passage of time has […]
Democracy Deferred: The Supreme Court, Meenakshi Natarajan, and the Shrinking Space for Electoral Justice
When Procedure Defeats Representation The Supreme Court’s refusal to intervene in the rejection of Congress leader Meenakshi Natarajan’s Rajya Sabha nomination from Madhya Pradesh may be legally defensible within the narrow confines of existing electoral jurisprudence. Yet it raises troubling questions about the health of India’s democracy, the powers vested in Returning Officers, and the […]
When the Referees Leave the Field: The Natarajan Case and the Crisis of Democratic Accountability
How an Electoral Contest Was Settled Without a Vote—and What It Reveals About India’s Constitutional Institutions The unceremonious end of the contest for Madhya Pradesh’s three Rajya Sabha seats is not merely a state-level political episode. It is a revealing snapshot of a deeper institutional malaise that increasingly shadows Indian democracy. What should have been […]
