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Two ancient Ambassadors !! 😊

I pray for thee my country. 😢

In Kerala, at my wedding in Guruvayoor temple in 1975, I wore an off-white saree . Brides in Kerala have traditionally worn off-white and not red. Every part of our wonderfully diverse country has its own beautiful customs in tune with our history and geography.

Politics in India today has descended deeper than it has ever gone before. Even the dead are not spared. It’s not how high you can go but how low. What a travesty. Lies and hubris. Is this our daily bread? Weep, India, weep.

What is India’s strategy on Afghanistan? Am sure we realise the HUGE implications of what a Taliban driven by Rawalpindi calling the shots in Afghanistan means for us. As it is, with two hostile neighbours our situation is BAD.

My book hits the stands soon.

Ram, our India above everything.

The scenes of the bloody attack at JNU tonight suggest a wilful, calculated, and deliberate abdication of democracy and civilised debate in open favour of mob rule and thuggery. No law-abiding society can license such behaviour- our conscience as a nation - where is it?

The core of what Naseeruddin Shah was saying was not so much about the fate of his children or about lives of cows versus humans but about the impunity with which the mob defies the rule-of-law. And how that’s where the greatest danger to an India united resides. Douse this.

I wish our former Prime Minister and a voice of sagacity, scholarship, humanism and moderation, the Hon’ble Dr. Manmohan Singh a speedy recovery.

The western front is not a TV studio anchored by those who are unqualified to dictate strategy and are unconscionable flame throwers. Our political leaders should not take the nation’s temperature-readings from the seizure-like screaming on some media.

I am against the physical attack & intimidation experienced by Arnab Goswami. My mind’s picture of him is the young fledgling reporter who used to attend my briefings in 2001-02when I was JS (XP), MEA. But how he metamorphosised into the fiendish Robespierre he is today beats me.

If I read China’s actions correctly, she is more than ready to burn all boats with India and is just waiting for us to make “strategic miscalculations” (her words) before doing so.

When Russia began its military offensive in Ukraine, I expressed opposition to Moscow’s actions. Some weeks down the line,am growing extremely disillusioned with the assumed righteousness of the western response & echoes of post 9/11 rhetoric about “either you’re with us or not”

I wonder how many of our vainglorious TV anchors/those who are screaming for blood on the India-China bdr have read the histories of 1962.

"Years ago, anthropologist Margaret Mead was asked by a student what she considered to be the first sign of civilization in a culture. The student expected Mead to talk about fishhooks or clay pots or grinding stones. But no. Mead said that the first sign of civilization in an

These all-consuming pictures of burning funeral pyres. Of the young lives snatched from us. George Floyd’s dying words “I can’t breathe” are echoing through this space - the context is different no doubt but the cries of the dying are the same. Helplessness. India weeps.

Canada has an extremely spotty and very, very poor record on the whole issue of Khalistanis in Canada. The support these lawless elements have received under the cover of what is called freedom of expression and democratic rights of citizens has enabled the pursuit of a

We talk of Russian intervention in Ukraine as analogous to US/Western intervention in Iraq, Libya, Afghanistan etc.The human suffering and regional instability unleashed by those wars continues to this day. But all those wrongs do not make one giant right for Putin.

A power like India should address the threat from terror groups like JeM quietly, ruthlessly and purposefully. The chest-thumping, blame-mongering cacophony playing out now takes us nowhere. 👎

I don’t see why Indians who are fully vaccinated against COVID and have certification to that effect, should not be able to travel to other countries that have currently imposed a ban on Indians entering, to be with family.

We have gone to great lengths to be dispassionate about the war in Ukraine and Russia’s role, careful not to take sides. But how can we explain President Putin’s war on the territory of Ukraine? Whatever the ‘provocation of Russia by the West’,nothing justifies armed aggression.

We are not done and dusted with our border crisis with China. No time for self congratulation. The echo chamber may provide comfort but there’s a cold harsh reality of a broken relationship that lies outside. And a complete erosion of trust.

To this day I remain against the western/US interventions in Iraq, Libya and Syria, and the impact of these actions. Tragedies of unimaginable scale. These countries have not recovered. Similarly, I am concerned about Russian intervention in Ukraine.

The face of this young child is the face of Gandhiji himself weeping inconsolably that brother should fight brother in our beloved land.

This happened in July 1962.

For all those in the autumn of their lives, as Winter approaches: “Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities have no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely. And with

On May 21, 1991 at Sriperumbudur in Tamil Nadu, Rajiv Gandhi was assassinated by an LTTE suicide bomber. He died because he did not support separatism and had crossed swords with the LTTE. He was martyred in the cause of a united Sri Lanka. End of story.

I think he’s basically saying that at this moment neither side can be said to be in the area that saw the action on Monday night.All Quiet on the Western Front.The bloodshed happened,our men were martyred, we fought bravely,taught the enemy a lesson & the area is now clear.

Second dose of vaccine done.

Dark days. How?How?Whatever the scale of the disaster,we need not have come to this pass.This is the taste of hell.Friends speak of the terrible experience of being struck down by the virus and beg to keep them in my prayers.Grief. Is there a place called hope?Pl tell me there is

And then ? She will still roam the prairie?

"How many deaths does it take ‘til he knows, that too many people have died?”

Teacher, teacher, can I ask a question? Why not seek a career in government? While I agree that taking the UPSC exam multiple times may take away from an individual’s best years, seeking a career in public service does NOT embody a poverty of aspirations. Government work is

Analyzing PM’s statement of yesterday: Government has taken realistic view of constraints emanating from asymmetry of power with China . It is also reading the Chinese reaction to J&K reorganization more seriously than before and trying to calm situation along LAC/staunch Galwan

A young friend just said this to me: "Beef gets more attention in our country than rape". Sad, but true.

Guy at airport security yesterday asked me if I was from Bollywood. Must say I was totally amused but quite flattered.. Had to dissuade him saying I was ex-External Affairs. Droll.

We are Indians. Not Hindus, not Muslims, not whatever religious or linguistic or ethnic or caste denomination we are. We are sons and daughters of that Bhoomi. The sum is greater than all the parts. We, the people.

News of Civil Services Examination results brought back memories of my entry into the I.F.S in 1973..

“Warm and fuzzy”?Don’t mistake us for Paddington Bear,please.But that apart,on an average,UK citizens know very little or even nothing,of the troubled history of British colonialism in India. At ground level, hv occasionally seen hostility to Indians. So warmth &fuzziness,really?

We are Indians, whatever religious or linguistic or ethnic or caste denomination we are. We are sons and daughters of this Bhoomi. The sum is greater than all the parts. We, the people. Divisions and Partitions are not what we are about. I hold these thoughts dear.

Chinese always present themselves as injured party &blame opposite side for the consequences.A dark hour like this with all the blood that has been shed is such a dreadful tragedy. Efforts made for normalization since 1976 have come to nought.

‘The water in Afghanistan must boil at the right temperature’: Zia-ul-Haq, 1979. Masterchef Pakistan can cook.

Russia’s is an imperial overreach as I see it in Ukraine today. It must stop this madness. The global order is being upended. All because of the flawed hubris of a leader who has let down what has always been a great nation, Russia.

“Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward, All in the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. “Forward, the Light Brigade! Charge for the guns!” he said. Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred. “ substitute 600 with 20

Voted. For inclusiveness, for One India and One Karnataka. For humanism. For the only truth which is our Constitution, for rapid development and against corruption. One hopes and prays. We must not give up.

We cannot withdraw into a helpless huddle. Our consulates have closed (will we ever reopen them? My hunch is perhaps, never).All that we did in Afghanistan for 20 years is in jeopardy. Wish we had publicly expressed our deep reservations and opposition to the US withdrawal.