Ambika Soni-We were all cowards!

“WE WERE ALL COWARDS!” When Anand Mohan and Chaitanya Kalbag called on Mrs. Ambika Soni in Delhi on August 17, they expected her to come forth with the defensiveness and the self-righteousness most of her colleagues in the Congress Party display. Mrs. Soni, after all, had occupied a powerful and coveted position during the Emergency—as…

Last Word
Ear To The Bestsellers

Two weeks into 1977, the Ear is again put to the Ground, and monitors the subterranean noises of the Ten Approaching Bestsellers of the New Year: • PAWS: Peter Benchley will follow up The Deep with this blood-curdling story of a giant Royal Bengal Tiger that stalks the outskirts of Calcutta, gobbling up little Bengali…

Train to Uzbekhistan

Fortnightly Take off on Bestsellers  A short, spicy travelogue-cum-novel, “Train To Uzbekhistan’ is replete with descriptions of the locomotive that hauls the assortion of bogies, one of which holds Dukhwant Singh. The author has drawn obvious inspiration from Agatha Christie and we find him attempting half-heartedly to describe the distribution of the compartments, just like…

Slavery at Noon

Our fourth bestseller take-off this fortnight is the controversial ‘Freedom at Midnight’, a book that sold the maximum hardcover editions in India in the past ten years.   SLAVERY AT NOON by Harry Rollins and Feminique Rapierre. Published by Lucas. 555 pages, Rs. 55.   The authors attempt to present fiction as pulp history. Rollins and…

Western Court

There is some spectacular courting in this unique hotel in Delhi Western Court, an official hostelry in the heart of New Delhi, epitomises the decay of our political .system. It has become a classic symbol of everything that is corrupt, debauched and venal in our political life. Gossip about Western Court exploded into lurid fact…

St Xavier’s College – Fight For Democracy

Authoritarianism may have professedly ended with the Emergency, but it continues to afflict many walks of our life. It has raised its ugly head, from time to time, in the country’s premier educational institutions. Young people, supposedly “tomorrow’s leaders”, are systematically subjected to stifling control, unenlightened concepts of discipline, and any protests they raise are…

Godspellbinding

On four Rock evenings beginning Christmas Eve, a few hundred Bombayites Filled the Bhulabhai Desai auditorium to watch, and to listen to, the Theatre Group weave two and odd hours of phantasmagoric GODSPELL. The musical presentation of the Gospel according to St. Mathew was produced and directed by Pearl Padamsee. GODSPELL, conceived by John Michael…

L. K. Advani

INFORMATION & BROADCASTING MINISTER L.K. ADVANI 

‘I Am Not Happy with The Pattern of Newspaper Ownership’

Transindia: Mr. Advani, many people feel today that the Janata Government’s image is quite clean, and that it is innately decent, but that its performance has been quite poor. Would you comment on that?  

L.K. Advani: This impression is erroneous, though if people hold that impression, I wouldn’t blame them because we came into office in a situation in which the people expect- ed wonders from us.

Janata Party President Chandra Shekhar 

Transindia: Mr. Chandra Shekhar, do you think you have one of the most thankless jobs in the country today, what with having to build up a party composed of such varied components as the Janata is?
Chandra Shekhar: I agree that we have had to create a party from scratch. But I would not say that my job is thankless. There are certain advantages which one cannot ignore and there are many difficulties, too.

R. K. Narayan

The Man From Malgudi It took me some time to discover Rasipuram Krishna Swami Narayan’s house. Yadavagiri, the suburb of Mysore City, where Narayan stays, is an incredibly quiet area, with long, neat streets, tree-shaded bungalows lining them. It was late afternoon, and the neighborhood was just emerging from its siesta. “R. K. Narayan?” asked…

PROF. C.N. VAKIL 

The Government Is Helping Create A Privileged Class!’   Professor C.N. Vakil, eminent economist, formerly Director, School of Economics and Sociology, University of Bombay, and Director, Central Board, Reserve Bank of India:  “The Janata government was suddenly thrust into power, and there was hardly any coherence between the various constituents of the Party. So decisions were…

BRAHMANANDA REDDY

CONGRESS PARTY PRESIDENT- BRAHMANANDA REDDY “We Will Return to Power Soon”  Transindia: Mr. Reddy, many people feel that the Congress Party has had a great past, but does not have a great future. Would you like to comment on that?   Brahmananda Reddy: That the Congress Party had a great and glorious past is accepted by…