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About Me

Former political editor of the Times of India, as representative of the paper in Gandhinagar, Gujarat’s capital, I have covered the state government between late 1997 and early 2013. In formal journalism since 1979, I believe in what George Orwell said, "Journalism is printing what someone else does not want printed: everything else is public relations." 
Before I joined TOI in 1993, I was in Moscow, covering Mikhail Gorbachev's rise and fall between 1986 and 1993 for Delhi's semi-Left daily Patriot and Link newsweekly. 
Though ideologies have fascinated me, I feel, in the changed scenario, they are losing ground. And when someone asks me, what is replacing ideologies, I just have one answer: "I am a newsperson, How do I know?"
On being appointed as political editor, apart from doing routine news stories from Gandhinagar, I began writing blogs for the Times of India's online blogging  site, and my column was called True Lies, where they can be accessed. These blogs can also be accessed here. Some of the clippings during my Link and Patriot days (1979-93) can be accessed here.
Many of my byline stories published in the Times of India between 2001 and 2013, when I covered the Gujarat government under Narendra Modi as chief minister, can be accessed here and here.
My write-ups in Counterview have been a modest attempts to bring forth impressions of the life around and efforts of the establishment to influence it.
Born in Ahmedabad, I was brought up in Delhi. I finished my schooling from Sardar Patel Vidyalaya, a school blessed by Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel's most trusted civil servant, HM Patel. I finished my post-graduation from Kirori Mal College, Delhi University, in 1975.
Between 1975 and 1978, I worked as proof reader in a Delhi-based daily; thereafter I did book editing in a publishing house. I randomly wrote articles in periodicals and dailies in English and Hindi till I joined Link newsweekly in January 1979, beginning my journey as professional journalist.  

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Sattvik Food Festival: Shouldn't one question notion of purity, cultural exclusion in food choices?

Recently, I visited the Sattvik Food Festival, an annual event in Ahmedabad organized by Anil Gupta, professor emeritus at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A). I have known Prof. Gupta since 1993, when I sought an appointment to meet him a few months after joining The Times of India in Ahmedabad—one reason why I have always been interested in the activities he is involved in.
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In lieu of tribute to Pritish Nandy, said to be instrumental in collapse of Reliance-controlled daily

It is widely reported that Pritish Nandy , journalist, author, animal activist, and politician, has passed away. While it is customary to pay tributes to a departing soul—and I, too, have joined those who have posted heartfelt condolences on social media—I cannot forget the way he treated me when he was editor of the Reliance-controlled Business and Political Observer  (BPO), for which I had been working informally in Moscow.
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Challenging patriarchy? Adopting maternal and marital surnames: Resistance continues

Anandiben Patel The other day, I was talking with a group of family friends. The discussion revolved around someone very close to me who had not changed her official name in documents, including her Aadhaar and passport, after her marriage. However, on social media and within her husband's family, she had adopted her husband's surname as a suffix to her own. I mentioned that there is a growing trend—though not yet widespread—where women prefer to retain their maiden names or add their maiden surnames alongside their husband's surname. Another emerging trend is where men choose to add their mother's name, or even their wife's name, to their own. This revelation surprised my family friends.
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To be or not to be Sattvik: Different communities' differing notions of purity and fasting

This is a continuation of my last blog on Sattvik food. When talking about Sattvik, there is a tendency to overlook what it may mean to different sections of people around the world. First, let me redefine Sattvik: it means having a "serene, balanced, and harmonious mind or attitude." Derived from the Sanskrit word sattva, it variously means "pure, essence, nature, vital, energy, clean, conscious, strong, courage, true, honest, and wise." How do people achieve this so-called purity? Among Gujarati Hindus, especially those from the so-called upper castes who are vegetarians, one common way is fasting. On fasting days, such as agiyarash —the 11th day of the lunar cycle in the Vedic calendar—my close relatives fast but consume milk, fruit juices, mangoes, grapes, bananas, almonds, pistachios, and potato-based foods, including fried items. Another significant fasting period is adhik maas. During this time, many of my relatives "fast" by eating only a single me...
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Shyam Benegal's Mathan a propaganda film that supported 'system'? No way

A few days ago, I watched Manthan, a Shyam Benegal movie released in 1976. If I remember correctly, the first time I saw this movie was with Safdar Hashmi, one of the rare young theater icons who was brutally murdered in January 1989. Back then, having completed an M.A. in English Literature from Delhi University in 1975, we would often move around together.
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Barred premise allowed? 'Modi govt fails to seek release of fishermen languishing in Pak jails'

Are the Indian authorities or their Gujarat counterparts softening their stance toward NGOs that flag human rights concerns? I can't say for sure, as only recently the foreign funding license of one of the most prominent NGOs, Janvikas, headed by the well-known civil society leader Gagan Sethi, was canceled. This NGO has been working on livelihood issues for underprivileged sections of society for several decades.
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Would Gujarat Governor, govt 'open up' their premises for NGOs? Activists apprehensive

Soon after I uploaded my blog about the Gujarat Governor possibly softening his stance on NGOs—evidenced by allowing a fisherfolk association to address the media at a venue controlled by the Raj Bhawan about India’s alleged failure to repatriate fishermen from Pakistani prisons—one of the media conference organizers called me. He expressed concern that my blog might harm their efforts to secure permission to hold meetings on state premises.
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No to free thought? How Gujarat's private universities are cowing down their students

"Don't protest"—that's the message private universities across Gujarat seem to be conveying to their students. A senior professor told me that students at the university where he teaches are required to sign an undertaking promising not to engage in protests. "They simply sign the undertaking and hand it over to the university authorities," he said.
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Beyond the Sattvik plate: Prof Anil Gupta's take on food, ethics, and sustainability

I was pleasantly surprised to receive a rather lengthy comment (I don't want to call it a rejoinder) on my blog post about the Sattvik Food Festival, held near the Sola Temple in Ahmedabad late last year. It came from no less a person than Anil Gupta, Professor Emeritus at the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), under whose guidance this annual event was held.
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