Plane truths: Field notes on desis in the air

Vital questions: Why do so many Indian passengers need wheelchairs? Why can’t men lift toilet seats? Are mushrooms vegetarian?

Girish Shahane

· Oct 17, 2019 · 02:30 pm

How the United States can be trusted to betray its allies

Donald Trump’s abandonment of the Kurds of Syria is only the latest example of American treachery that goes back to 1778.

Girish Shahane

· Oct 09, 2019 · 08:30 am

What the Climate Justice movement misses – and why it is necessary

Everybody wants the comforts Swedish people enjoy, but few have the resources to pay what Swedes do to stay warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

Girish Shahane

· Oct 03, 2019 · 06:30 am

The Saudi Arabia mess proves that religious fundamentalism can’t be the foundation for progress

The Kingdom’s rulers have responded to the latest crisis by asking for more US weapons and troops. This is a new disaster in the making.

Girish Shahane

· Sep 26, 2019 · 07:30 am

How did the United Kingdom get to this sorry pass?

There is a lack of basic competence within the ruling party and opposition.

Girish Shahane

· Sep 19, 2019 · 07:30 am

Why Hindutva supporters love to hate the discredited Aryan Invasion Theory

It lets them dodge the actual evidence for the Indus Valley Civilisation being pre-Vedic and early Sanskrit being the language of migrants to the subcontinent.

Girish Shahane

· Sep 14, 2019 · 06:30 am

Why are the Indian government and ratings agencies not taking the economic slowdown more seriously?

Forecasts of GDP growth are unreasonably optimistic and consistently wrong.

Girish Shahane

· Sep 04, 2019 · 07:30 am

As the Amazon burns, the Mahabharata episode of Khandava forest fire serves up an important reminder

The catastrophic event of ecocide detailed in the epic is probably a symbolic account of a longer historical process.

Girish Shahane

· Aug 29, 2019 · 07:30 am

What the critics got wrong about the politics of Tarantino’s ‘Once Upon a Time In Hollywood’

The director’s latest release is more complex and less nostalgic than reviewers have allowed.

Girish Shahane

· Aug 22, 2019 · 07:30 am

India@73: A government growing more popular, the spirit of India’s Constitution getting weaker

The BJP is focussing on a divisive social agenda and undermining the nation’s commitment to developing a scientific temper.

Girish Shahane

· Aug 15, 2019 · 09:20 am

Kashmir, the Incompleteness Theorem and the China Syndrome

If a government can produce re-interpretations of the Constitution that state that ‘cat’ now means ‘dog’, there is no telling where this will lead India.

Girish Shahane

· Aug 07, 2019 · 08:30 am

Despite Coffee Day’s popularity and scale, why does it make so little money?

The answer lies in India’s dreadful business infrastructure.

Girish Shahane

· Jul 31, 2019 · 12:30 pm