The new year has come and gone. Let me rephrase. What I mean by that is that New Year’s Day or January the First Anno Domini has come. And gone. In the blink of an eye. The new year 2025 is very much with us, alive and kicking, and will overstay its welcome until the …
Author Archives: sureshsubrahmanyan
A Mani-Splendoured Maverick
Book review Diplomacy is about surviving until the next century – politics is about surviving until Friday afternoon. Sir Humphrey Appleby in Yes, Prime Minister. The one thing you can never accuse inveterate ex-diplomat and Congressman Mani Shankar Aiyar of is being parsimonious with words. To put it pithily, the man is never short of …
Vedic flights of fancy
Recently, the Governor of Uttar Pradesh, Anandiben Patel claimed that Vedic-era sage Bharadwaj conceptualised the idea of the aircraft. She also described the mythological sleeping giant, Kumbhakaran, brother of Ravana from the epic Ramayana, as a technocrat, who spent six months secretly making machines. Presumably he slept soundly during the next six months. The Governor …
India and China see eye to eye
While I cannot totally admit that the game of chess is a closed book to me, it can be safely stated that beyond being aware of how each of the pieces moves on the chess board, I will not be able to claim even the slightest degree of proficiency. I have, on the odd occasion, …
The Deep State in deep waters
There have been occasions when I have had the pleasure, a dubious pleasure some might say, of overhearing conversations at unexpected moments and in unexpected places. I have not gone in search of snooping around expecting to pick up spicy gossip from strangers. I am not that kind of person. Things just happen. One minute …
The Winter’s Tale
The English winter – ending in July, to recommence in August. Lord Byron. I have been turning my mind to the weather lately. There is just the hint of a cold snap in the air and most of us are rubbing our hands in joyful anticipation at the onset of winter. Now, I do realise …
Bingeing on subtitles
At the outset, let me make it abundantly clear that my specific focus with respect to this article is on English serials and movies on home television with the aid of subtitles. Home television because I have all but stopped visiting cinema halls, even with our state-of-the-art multiplexes offering plush seats at extortionate rates with …
If you must deny, sound plausible
The important thing is we maintain plausible deniability. Richard M. Nixon. The accepted definition of the term ‘plausible deniability’ is the ability to deny knowledge or responsibility for actions taken by others, even if one was involved or at least wilfully ignorant. It’s often used by high-ranking officials to avoid blame when illegal or unpopular …
‘Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything’
In his comedy As You Like It Shakespeare, as is his wont, gave us one of his long declamations, waxing eloquent about Man’s seven ages. I am talking about the ‘All the world’s a stage’ speech. From the newborn baby puking all over the place to the spavined geriatric whose every faculty was being threatened …
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Deepavali and Diwali. One festival. Two facets.
Caveat: This piece was written nearly a decade ago and published in the Deccan Chronicle. It is being presented here with some added embellishments and cosmetic changes. I am counting on the fact that more people would not have read it than have. And among those few who have, only a handful might recall having …
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Suresh's Corner 