Lifetimes in journalism
This photograph of the legendary political reporter, editor and columnist Kuldip Nayar appeared in the long defunct Sunday Observer towards the end of 1981. The news item was about a publishing group launching a fortnightly magazine on politics and economics, which the left-of-centre Nayar was to edit. The project was implemented and shelved within six months. Nayar never got to edit the magazine whose demise was heralded as being ahead of its time.
This was taken at Nayar’s residence in South Delhi towards the end of 2011. The veteran journalist’s life story will be published shortly, joining a long list of autobiographies from the media which recently hit bookshops.
Vinod Mehta, editor-in-chief of the Outlook magazine group, was on the cover of the weekly shortly before his memoir Lucknow Boy entered the market. This veteran, who too spent a lifetime editing newspapers and magazines made some gossipy revelations in his book. Nayar and Mehta, although being born a decade and a half apart, are good friends. Let’s wait to see what the older Punjabi’s book will disclose. This photograph was taken at a shop in New Delhi’s Connaught Place.
Lokpal Fail
Here’s the result on the voting in the Lok Sabha on whether or not the Lokpal should attain constitutional status. The vote failed.
The government needed 273 votes which is over 50 % of the total membership of the house. Apparently about 15-20 MPs who would have supported the UPA government were not in Parliament at the time of this vote, a costly number at such a crucial juncture.
In any case, the government’s bid to push through the Lokpal failed in the Rajya Sabha two nights later on 29 December.
The bill will come back before the Rajya Sabha in the budget session in 2012.
Day one of the December protest by Team Anna at the Ramlila Maidan in Delhi hardly drew any supporters in comparison to the stellar turnouts during the August demonstration. The proportion of journalists, cameramen and technicians from the media was incredibly high in relation to the number of attendees at the protest.
Honey Hand
A long-haired guy on the street stopped me and put some fresh honey from a hive into my palm. It tasted much sweeter than the bottles sold in shops, almost like jaggery. It made my walk to work nicer.
Finally someone says something about our “so-called” good Prime Minister
For the first time since he was appointed Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh came in for some harsh criticism last week, and deservedly so. For all the things that people say about him, he’s made some serious omissions while having been an incumbent of the top seat. Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s stinging opinion in the pages of the Indian Express craftily captured the problems with the aging economist and Sonia Gandhi, the woman behind this now unsuccessful man:
The Congress president is insulting the country by implicitly suggesting that the sense of moral crisis and betrayal large numbers of citizens feel is entirely a product of opposition politics. She was right to point out that the Congress has at least asked some individuals to resign; the BJP cannot even claim that high moral ground. But she has to acknowledge that in the current climate those resignations are being seen largely as politically protective measures, designed to absolve the government of responsibility rather than fix it. And she has not even begun to probe the deeper question: what is the responsibility of the leadership when the country sinks to an unprecedented low? As for the prime minister: his worst failing may not be corruption, it may not even be standing idly by. His worst failing will be that by not coming clean he has undermined any reason to trust so-called good men.
India Gate in all her glory
I would not have found the time to do this had it not been for my siblings visiting me in Delhi. We set out on a cool November evening and indulged our cameras with this golden glow. Here are some exploits:
Here’s a long exposure of a grimy pond and the traffic nearby.
Selling bubbles at India Gate
He’s been selling these for about 30 years, since he was 7. He earns about Rs. 100 – 500 a day depending on the tourist traffic through India’s largest junction.
The Journalism Building at Columbia post a snow storm
Road Trip
Manhattan goes Desi
In tribute to the 62nd Anniversary of the independence of the Indian Repubic, the Empire State Building wears the Tri-colour of the Indian flag on 15th August, 2009.
Sunday at Columbia
