Known Turf

" I don't like the jargon "sex workers". We are all sex workers these days, unless we are celibate, as we are all encour...

Everyone who likes to talk about the public distribution system, foodgrains subsidy, tribal unrest etc, should look at the way crime unfolds...

Those are the words in which this reviewer describes my last book . Am very flattered. Actually, I'm halfway over the moon. And I promis...

Guns : Two groups allegedly affiliated to the Maulana and his opponents openly clashed on the Deoband campus to sounds of booming gunshots...

There are things one knows about the world. That is can be ugly, for instance. And beautiful. Most things are a little of both, and most peo...

Happenings So often, this sort of thing will happen. A man will meet a woman and find his voice is deeper than a well in the sort of village...

Dear Crossword You and I have a long and fruitful relationship. As a schoolgirl, I was stuck in a place that was, effectively, rural. Th...

Had a conversation with a young man selling a bunch of pirated books at a traffic signal. I asked how much he makes per sale. He said Rs 50-...

Because I could not resist doing this one too. Another poem from Sarveshwardayal Saxena's 'Garm Hawayein', once again hurriedly ...

Trouble on the streets is always new, no matter how often you've spotted it, smacked it back, run from it. Trouble will always creep up...

Excited about discovering another Hindi poet I like and once again feeling absolutely compelled to share his work with those of you who don’...

Helping to spread the word around: Members of the Christian Medical College Alumni Association, who have helped to support social activist ...

Words fail me. Insanity, travesty, shame etc are words that sprung to my mind. But how does one even begin to deal with this outrage called ...

If you have an opinion on paid news, now is the time to air it - direct to our lawmakers. There is a parliamentary standing committee on pai...

How does Rs 240 crore sound? Good? Yeah, am guessing. It sounds good to me. If it's in your bank account, it sounds very good. If it...

I have been reading Tabish Khair ’s Man of Glass lately (am on my second reading already). The book has three sections – each one a kind of...

Irom Sarmila needs no introduction. But there's nothing like poetry to understand someone's politics. So here's a new collection...

The title 'Dreams death' is nowhere as poetic as Gulzar's line ( kuch khwaab sisakte rahte hain, kuch khwaab magar mar jaate hai...

Update on Renuka-ji dam project: Just got another press release from the Himalaya Niti Abhiyan and it seems like Jairam Ramesh met the group...

So we all saw Slumdog Millionaire . Famous people took sides in the debate around whether Indian poverty should be milked by foreign peoples...