Aug 21, 2005
Level Playing Field The Hindu, 21 August The British opening of Aamir Khan’s ‘The Rising’ was a low-key affair. In fact, there were a grand total of seven of us sitting in the darkness at the first-day screening in my local north London cinema. Yes, it’s easily the biggest ever UK opening for a Bollywood… Read more
Aug 7, 2005
Level Playing Field The Hindu, 7 August “The Bombers Are Among Us!” the hoardings across London screamed. It’s the kind of headline that generates heat but not light. And it’s typical of the obstacles Londoners have to negotiate as they struggle to make sense of recent events. The rapid sequence of fearful happenings has bewildered… Read more
Jul 24, 2005
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 24 July The mid-afternoon queue in my high street bank is long and sluggish. It’s a hot day, by London standards, and everyone looks a little sleepy. There’s a woman in hijab and full length dark cloak, who seems cooler than most of us, standing in front of a middle… Read more
Jul 10, 2005
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 10 July THE love affair between the Indian and U.S. establishments continues to blossom. Recently, Defence ministers Pranab Mukherjee and Donald Rumsfeld signed a new 10-year deal on military cooperation. Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will shortly be a guest at the White House. Early next year, we’re told, President Bush… Read more
Jun 26, 2005
LEVEL PLAYING FIELD The Hindu, 26 June “FROM July 6 to 8, violent extremists will be converging on Scotland,” declares the Dissent Network, one of the groups planning militant opposition to the up-coming G8 summit, “They’ll be trying to meet at the Gleneagles hotel, and we’ll be trying to stop them.” A neat inversion of… Read more
Jun 14, 2005
Level Playing Field The Hindu, 12 June, 2005 It’s been an interesting experience, being an American abroad, especially since 9/11. Whether in Europe or south Asia, people gape with disbelief at what appears to be an unchained American empire, contemptuous of the rules that apply to others, murderously indifferent to the value of non-American life…. Read more
