This recount is related to an earlier post written elsewhere. It’s about the events before the actual incident which has already been rendered Please Read:  https://www.timesnownews.com/international/article/the-pak-hand-in-first-person/379637 *              *              * It was impossible to venture beyond the borders of Kabul. The city’s southern part was being bombed intermittently by the Pashtun warlord Gulbuddin Hekmatyar. And he had agreed to an interview when contacted on his satellite phone! So to cut down on the agony, we stepped into the Kabul Museum, or whatever was left of it. There were a few stone idols of Buddha that were different avatar. With curly, but ancient Roman-styled hair, and sporting a mustache! The tour was cut short by sounds of heavy thuds coming from some place nearby. “Suckers!” cried our local contact: “The...

“Intolerance! Insults! Lynching! It’s getting bad… What’s happening?” wondered Ravi, carefully folding back the morning’s newspaper. “’Magnanimous’ is confined to dictionary only and ‘liberal’ is a cuss word today! How do you judge a person so quickly? How do you determine someone’s ‘character’? Mostly, without even knowing a person… Tell us Daju...” Daju ( the know-all – for introduction, please see ‘Beyond The Crash!’ Or ‘The Ubiquitous Potato’ ) sighed, “Reminds me of King Canute… The Danish King and great warrior, who conquered parts of Europe and even ruled England from 1016… for close to two decades. His is one story how a person can be interpreted differently...” “And what was that?” I was eager to know more since the name rang a bell. “King Canute’s achievements are well chronicled in various English texts. There is a famous poem too by William Makepeace Thackeray – a great novelist in the Victorian Age – better known for writing ‘Vanity Fair’. “The rendi...

The other day, someone had posted an innocuous question on the social media: “What’s wrong with Bongs, why potatoes in Chicken or Mutton ?” Sharing this in our evening ‘adda’ ( participants in an   adda love to believe it to be an intellectual conversation or debate but it’s usually a group of people sharing gossip or nonsense ); I   wondered aloud if there’s any recipe in the Bengali cookbook that ignores the potato? “It’s only the so-called ‘Bengali Biriyani’ that includes a full round potato – whether vegetarian or non-vegetarian! And when in Kolkata, I ask for two of them in a plateful of Biriyani!” I added. “No other Biriyani includes this tuber…” Daju did a “Tch!” for emphasis, and said gravely: “So you don’t know how British merchants pushed potato in the eastern parts of India?” “Of course I do… I know representatives of the East India Company introduced potato and tea to Bengal…” This time he repeated the unsavoury “Tch!” a number of times. “I s...

March 1979, my first visit to Srinagar. We took a train from Patna to Jammu, via Delhi. From Jammu, a bus ride to Srinagar… through the Jawahar Tunnel, around ‘Khooni Naala’ – longingly eyeing cricket bats lined on road-sides – all the time cracking walnut shells, popping in mouth the kernel. Had ‘pink tea’ for the first time at a place 60km before Srinagar – called Anantnag… ! Three days in Srinagar never enough; Dal Lake, the boat ride around Char Chinar, the long climb to Shankaracharya Temple, Chasma Shahi, Shalimar Bagh, Nishat Bagh. On yes, I also remember a sound-and-music presentation at Mughal Garden … Breathtaking! And two days never ever enough to explore Kashmir Valley; Tobagganing at Khilanmarg, snowball-fights at Sonmarg, marveling the Lidder River in Pahalgam… Picturesque! And shopping; carpets, knick-knacks made of walnut wood… my mother bargaining in a shop in the overcrowded market at Lal Chowk… She proudly held up the trophy afterwards – a white ru...

We call him Daju. He calls himself ‘know-all’. Whenever anyone starts a conversation, and if there is a “You know what?” or a “Do you know?” embedded anywhere, pat would come his reply, “I know!” Sometimes we try to be patient; sometime we try to point out that it’s impossible for a person to know everything; but Daju would cross his arms, throw back his head, and reply: “I know everything!” So I thought I’ll put to him in an inconvenient, controversial, contradictory and improbable situation today. I started: “Can anybody know… tell…?” As expected, Daju butted in: “Yes, of course …!” “…what exactly happened to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose? Where is he…?” Daju looked as if he was about to start scratching his head, instead he patted his hair, lightly swept around his lips with a thumb and forefinger; eyed the cup of tea in front of him, and coughed… “Let me tell you… there are three distinct groups who differ in their beliefs… and each is strongly opiniona...

The Queen of Hearts was sad. This one had a good heart. So she was sad because the only thing The Prince wanted to do was attend The Mad Hatter’s Party. He had no interest in either playing croquet or getting anyone’s head offed! So The Queen of Hearts sought the advice of her courtesans. A few told her to leave The Prince at The Mad Hatter’s. Most had their heads offed! However, the majority of those present and voting advised her to anoint him King. They said that he will like a new Party; a Party much, more, bigger than The Mad Hatter’s. Unknown to them, heads were getting offed by themselves. The heads happily got offed voluntarily and bobbed and rolled to join The Cheshire Cat on his tree. The grin of The Cheshire Cat was getting bigger and broader. And even when you could not see The Cheshire Cat at all, you could always see the grin! Now The Prince was The King. He played croquet where the balls were live hedgehogs, the mallets live flamingoes, and the cou...

Veni, vidi, vici – Latin for I came; I saw; I conquered – is said to have had been quoted by Julius Caesar in a message to the Roman Senate after his victory in the Battle of Zela. Nowadays, it is used to refer to a swift and conclusive victory. The phrase sits well on the shoulders of Prashant Kishor. Well, he doesn't need any introduction. After all, who hasn't heard of " chai pe charcha "? He is credited with many political victories; no wonder West Bengal CM Mamata Banerjee chose him as an advisor just ahead of 2021 assembly elections. This, after the 2019 Lok Sabha setback – losing a dozen seats compared to 2014 in her home turf. And no wonder, a film star-turned-politician is also reported to have also sought his services in strengthening his party in Tamil Nadu. Insiders say Kishor’s I-PAC has close to 800 youth working for him in West Bengal and about 500 in Tamil Nadu. Surprisingly, there is no effort on the strategist’s part to either learn...