June 28, 2008

If one wanted to find an iconic journalist whose work straddled both the colonial period and the post-independence India, the first inspired by the spirit of Gandhian thought and the latter influenced by the many avatars of Nehruvian socialism clashing with the rational and militant ideologies of the Left parties, I would unhesitatingly name Nikhil Chakravartty. He was the best representative of an era that was great and sick at the same time and listening to him talk one saw how much (…)

These times when life’s mad rush
– Overtakes our days, inverts our rights
– Your memory places a soothing palm
– On my fevered brow.
I recall
– You walking slowly
– To light a candle at the last post
– Separating India from Pakistan.
I recall
– You watching with bemused disdain
– Hate filled postures, martial clip clop
– Of Pakistan Rangers and Border Security Force.
I piece together the rest.
Returning to your room late at night
– You lift your ink-filled pen
– Recalling (…)

For several of us doing political reporting in the eighties and the nineties, one of the things we looked forward to were the political discussions we could have with people like Nikhil Chakravartty and Madhu Limaye. Both kept open houses and we could walk into their home in the evening, often without appointment, and chat about the latest political development. Often we would try and decode the latest political googly by one or another player. Besides giving a new angle or new insights (…)

Last week it was suddenly discovered that the portrait of Nikhil Chakravartty was missing from the Press Council of India’s Conference Hall where President K.R. Narayanan had unveiled it on February 28, 1999. It had been missing since mid-2003.
After the attention of the present Chairman of the Press Council, Justice G.N. Ray (who took over in March 2005), was drawn to the missing portrait, the original portrait was found and restored within fortyeight hours, though without the plaque, (…)

Afghanistan has endured a quarter century of brutal wars during which human rights have been violated systematically by the occupying forces, the various regimes in power and the insurgent groups. The “war on terror” unleashed by the US promised a new dawn. But the Operation Enduring Freedom has brought neither the end of nightmare and miseries for the Afghans nor freedom of any consequence. The war on terror has led to widespread civilian deaths, often at the hands of unaccountable units (…)

Lest We Forget Thirtythree years ago on June 26, 1975, Emergency was proclaimed throughout the country as the ruling leadership bared its fangs nakedly displaying its dictatorial proclivities. We present here write-ups and poems that bring back the nightmare of those dark days when our freedom was sought to be snatched away and our voice throttled. —Editor
Not a leaf stirs in my kingdom without my leave. See how quiet my people sit. —Atahuallpa the Inca
To those whose only preoccupation (…)

The Editor’s Notebook in Mainstream (June 28, 1975) after the promulgation of Emergency and the imposition of press censorship appeared as follows:
Somewhere in the excitement of National Emergency, the editor has lost his notebook. However, Rabindranath Tagore has, in the abundance of his generosity, lent him his own notebook:
Freedom from fear is the freedom I claim for you, my Motherland!—fear, the phantom demon, shaped by your own distorted dreams;
– Freedom from the burden of ages, (…)