Known Turf

Two days after Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev were hung, another glorious martyr gave his life for India. Most of us have forgotten him a...

There's a conversation I often play back in my head. I keep wishing I could back in time and argue properly. I had gone to an ar...

I have a favourite poem. Not necessarily a favourite poet, but a single short poem that demands that I hold on to it, remember it, like a t...

I'd been told the village I was headed to would be twenty-five or thirty kilometers from the kasbah where my family home was. I cou...

A few days ago, I had decided to visit my ancestral home in eastern Uttar Pradesh. As the taxi neared our destination, I was re-introduced ...

Today is Maulana Abul Kalam Azad's death anniversary. I knew very little about him, except that he was one of the tallest leaders of In...

If there is one trait of our citizenry that betrays itself visibly on city roads, it is our tendency to try and bend the rules just a ...

The street is an eternal shapeshifter. It transforms quickly, urgently, and then collapses back into its grey, rough stillness at ni...

I have just finished reading a biography of Khan Abdul Ghaffar Khan by Rajmohan Gandhi. I started by wanting to share some snippets from th...

Journalists quoting chauffeurs, cab or auto-rickshaw drivers has become a bit of a cliche. After the last election, there was a f...

Here's a twist on the Ship of Theseus paradox. The original paradox is this: if a ship has been restored or fixed after having all its ...

Last week, I was very upset with Kirron Kher for shifting blame onto a gangrape victim, suggesting that she shouldn't have gotten into...

At 18, you are expected to bear children, keep them healthy and craft a judicious citizenry. You are expected not to die in the process. A...

I had been in the hills a few weeks ago, wandering around with a notebook. One afternoon, I went to a little restaurant on a highway and d...

I am not overfond of long car rides, especially not in cities. Most people aren’t. What’s called a ‘drive’ in other locations is ‘the damn ...

I've been racking my brains for the English equivalent of 'sannaata'. More precisely, to try and translate the idea of '...

One of my favourite travel stories is from a reporting assignment in rural Rajasthan. For trips into rural areas, I'd usually have to ...

A lot of floodwater had entered the apartment while it was empty last month. Lots of damage to clothes and papers. I opened an old...

तोड़ दो पिंजरा, फोड़ दो भांडा! यही न कह कर थे बहलाए? रहना भीतर, यही भला है? समझो अब असल अभिप्राय। बात ये है, उनसे न होगा!...