Yesterday morning I received a rather urgent phone call.Bob, said a voice on the line, the engineers have come to check the beams and pillars of my flat.The caller was a visually impaired gentleman who lives in
Friday, 13th March, 2026
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Bob’s Banter
War has finally arrived at our dining table. Not with tanks, not with soldiers marching past our windows, but with something far more terrifying. The possibility that tomorrow morning our kitchen gas cylinder m
Around where I live the temperature has climbed to forty-two degrees centigrade. Forty two. The kind of temperature where the sun does not merely shine. It interrogates you.You step outside for three minutes an
India won.Not in kabaddi, not in gilli-danda, but in cricket.We thrashed New Zealand, and a few days earlier we had done the same to England. And that is where the comedy of history begins. Because cricket, in
Something quite extraordinary has happened in our country this week.Silence.Not the peaceful silence of meditation. Not the calm silence of a choir rehearsal. Not even the slightly suspicious silence of a child
India has quietly become the global headquarters of war expertise. Not in the Pentagon. Not in NATO headquarters. Not even in the United Nations. No, the real military command centres are located in Indian livi
Somewhere in the mysterious headquarters where society writes its unwritten rules, a committee must have once met and decided something very important. Men must be tall. Women must be short.In fairy tales the p
This morning I began my sixth book. Sixth. Which either means I am hardworking or that publishers have not yet figured out how to block my emails.The book is titled One Note at a Time. It is about choral music
Ninety-seven runs in fifty balls!That is not a cricket score. That is a public announcement that the bowlers may kindly reconsider their career choices.The West Indies had piled up a total so enormous that even
The other day we were clutching our collective hearts over a robotic dog that turned out to be less Make in India and more Made Somewhere Else. For a brief shining moment, we were united in embarrassment. How c
When I first read about the Galgotias University robotic dog that turned out to be a Chinese import wearing an Indian nametag, I felt an unexpected wave of nostalgia.This is exactly the sort of thing a classmat
The other day I heard that old tune, How Much Is That Doggie in the Window, and suddenly I was transported back to a much thinner version of myself, clutching a mouth organ as if it were life support.My school
I read that the Taliban has very kindly clarified that husbands in Afghanistan may beat their wives, provided they do not break any bones.How thoughtful.One can almost imagine a government circular being issued
As a fellow sufferer in the noble profession of writing, I have been watching the great national excitement over General Naravanes book with mild amusement and the occasional longing to peep in at liquor shops
Today, in a moment of reckless bravery that can only come on a wedding anniversary, Im going to ask my wife the most dangerous question known to husbands across civilizations.Do you love me?Now before you appla
This mornings Times of India did not just carry a headline. It carried a memory.Three men sentenced to death for gang rape and murder. Clinical words. Legal words. Necessary words. And in the middle of it all,
The opposition has very kindly sponsored a no confidence motion against the Speaker of the Lok Sabha. It is almost certain to fail. Arithmetic is a stubborn creature.If you have the numbers, you win.But numbers
A few weeks ago, in a moment of generosity I still consider Nobel Prize worthy, I offered someone close to me, a pair of black pants. I seem to have collected quite a few over time. Black trousers multiply in c
People say they want honesty. They demand it. They post about it. They frame it on their office walls. Speak the truth, they declare with moral authority, usually while hoping nobody actually does.Because the m
There is something deeply exhausting about watching very wealthy people argue about who gets the slightly bigger slice of an already enormous cake. In the ongoing court case over the wealth of the late Sunjay K
