Kusum Choppra

The book has undoubtedly made very much thicker by pages of compliments, but what about its rendering of the story of 1857 and the Last Mughal, Bahadur Shah Zafar? Of the 486 page story, how much is actually about Bahadur Shah Zafar and his environs? The bias would be obvious with a simple page count in each chapter which reveals that against 223 pages which tell the Indian story; almost 263 give the British viewpoint. There is an amazing amount of detail about life for the British in 1857, with elaborate flourishes of verbal embroidery; comparatively very little of the Indian overall picture. Yes, all the possible negatives of the Mughal court are lovingly delineated. But it is difficult to digest that amongst all those thousands of princelings, nawabs and adventurers etc who descended on Delhi in 1857, there was not one single person of any military or other type of leadership or vision? Was that actually so? What Research? Despite the loud claims of exhaustive research fr...

Remember the “Let a hundred roses bloom” of yore? Why not in India? The Lead India campaign is no doubt a welcome initiative. But why are we limiting ourselves to discover one leader for all of India? Is that possible, when our country is so huge with so many disparate elements, each of which presents problems which need solutions specially tailored for them. When we are saluting all these young people, each of whom has attained excellence in the effort they are making within their social ambit, why not endorse their efforts with concrete support. Imagine the India ten years down the road with not one but eight or ten energetic young leaders working in their respective arenas and coordinating with each other. Such efforts go out in concentric circles of development and we may just see such leaders emerge not just in eight or ten major cities, but also perhaps at each district level or even lower in a true spirit of Chak De India!

Woe to India: The day that the netas ambitions overshadow national interests. Sixty years ago, the Father of the Nation wanted to see his Jawaharlal become Prime Minister before he died. Lo and behold, India took birth as a truncated state, scoured by the ravages of mass murder in the Partition. We then had a prime minister, Vajpayee who aspired to a Nobel Peace Prize. Was that perhaps why we were maneuvered through a “war” and later a grandstand peace with Pakistan, which was aborted thanks to the machinations reputedly by his own team mate? Now we are witness to another desperate bid for prime ministership (before I die) attempt. The dramatic announcement of a prime ministerial candidate when no elections have been called, the self same candidate whose candidature was refuted the last time it was raised, by the “elder statesman and former prime minster” who has not yet accepted the candidature. Only been said to have done so, by sources! The same sources who have perhaps rele...

Smriti Tulsi Virani is a TV brand name which is being used to the hilt by her party the BJP. All of us in Gujarat recall how she had railed against Chief Minister Narendra Modi, only to eat her words on the party's say-so. How unlike her Tulsi persona who stands for the truth and nothing but the truth, so help her God and no matter what it costs, even the gunning down of her own son. This Smriti has come so far from Tulsi that she actually calls the traumatised state of Gujarat a bright star in India's firmament "Chamakta sitara". Tulsi dear, please do visit Gujarat without your BJP supervisors to see how far the state is from fastdevelopmetn and responsible samaaj and how close it is to ghettoiasation.

Recently couch potatoes were treated to public outrage on a news channel. The outrage came from viewers as well players in the drama which unfolded in Bhopal where a young bride chose the Varmala ritual in the wedding proceedings to take a stand. Bypassing her waiting groom, the young lady placed her garland around the neck of her boyfriend who had been invited to the wedding. The groom’s side and practically all the male viewers who phoned in were almost apoplectic over the bride’s perfidy in handing out such an insult to the groom, his baraat and Bharatiya Sanskriti which demands strict obedience of parental orders by girls. The outrage outrage over the bride’s INSULT to the groom and his baraat and her attack on Hindu sanskriti had to be seen to be believed. What was that all about?? Our hoary traditions prescribe a Swyambhar wherein the bride selects her groom in an open assembly by placing a garland around his neck. Over the centuries the demands of patriarchy have transfo...

A WEDDING AFFAIR Recently couch potatoes were treated to public outrage on a news channel. It came from viewers as well players in a drama unfolding in Bhopal where a young bride chose the Varmala ritual in the wedding proceedings to take a stand. Bypassing her waiting groom, the young lady placed her garland around the neck of her boyfriend who had been invited to the wedding. The groom’s side and practically all the male viewers who phoned in were almost apoplectic over the bride’s perfidy in handing out such an insult to the groom, his baraat and Bharatiya Sanskriti which demands strict obedience of parental orders by girls. The sense of outrage over the bride’s INSULT to the groom and his baraat and her attack on Hindu sanskriti had to be seen to be believed. What was that all about?? Our hoary traditions prescribe a Swyambhar wherein the bride selects her groom in an open assembly by placing a garland around his neck. Over the centuries the demands of patriarchy have transfor...

Has anyone ever wondered why women are missing from humor when they have made their presence felt in every other field of human endeavour? We have had women heading our country;there are topnotch police women, writers, artists, administrators, stock brokers, business women etc etc etc. but we have yet to come up with a woman who can make fun of husbands, on the stage as easily as our army of "hasya kavis" make fun of women, especially wives on any and every public platform. It is quite immaterial whether the ocassion is a laughter competetion, a hasya kavi sammelan or a social gathering. The male of the species will find every excuse to poke fun at his better half, glamorous or otherwise. The few women who take the stage at mushiaras talk of everything under the sun; but none of them have ever picked up the gauntlet to give back to the males their unholy ribbing. WHY?