Head to Haid-ar

Waiting in the General Lounge

editor@ibnlive.com — Sun, 24 Aug 2008 02:55:45 +0530

Eventually it was all three speeches that Musharraf decided to read out. For the week preceding his address to the Nation- he must have been considering his options-

It's our Retaliation They Want

editor@ibnlive.com — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 06:37:14 +0530

There are hardly any parallels to what happened in Ahmedabad- in terms of terror attacks, IEDs and suicide bombings, never has a hospital been targeted in the cruel and completely

Don't bunk History class, if you want to pass Math

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 03:22:30 +0530

Forget the numbers, never have the letters meant so much to Manmohan Singh, his party, and government. I mean letters of the alphabet, not letters of support- but I guess

Tiddly Pom to Technology

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 23 May 2008 12:28:50 +0530

The more it snows
The more it goes
The more it goes
On snowing And nobody knows
How cold my toes
How cold my toes
Are growing - AaMilne It's an old poem

A Promise is a Promise

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 09:52:35 +0530

Travelling through Pakistan just after Benazir's assassination, I was surprised by one thing. Amidst all the recrimination, all the accusations, and all the conspiracy theories, not once did I hear

Pak Poll Diary: From a journo in bullet-proof vest

editor@ibnlive.com — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 10:17:31 +0530

As I pack my bags for the Pakistan elections, I pack a lot of advice too - from my family to the neighbours, to the immigration official who stamps my

Pak Poll Diary: In and out of exile

editor@ibnlive.com — Sun, 24 Feb 2008 10:16:18 +0530

Pakistan is a revolving door for its politicians, all of whom have taken regular turns to come in and go out of the country in succession. What's more amazing,

Hating Hillary is a Head and Heart Thing

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 11:53:53 +0530

It's a head and heart thing. Each time I see Hillary at a rally or a debate I am turned off. Her body language, her tone, the way her eyes

Bhuttos and Gandhis: Common Chord, Common Curse

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 05 Jan 2008 10:16:48 +0530

As another Bhutto dies a violent death- the comparisons between that tragic dynasty in Pakistan and our own Gandhis have become the cliché with the most currency. I succumb too,

A Rivalry Cut Short

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 01 Jan 2008 09:25:41 +0530

It's a visit filled with so many ironies. The visit by Nawaz Sharif to the grave of Benazir Bhutto. A visit by the leader of one of Pakistan's biggest parties

Double jeopardy or quit

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 05 Nov 2007 12:06:16 +0530

Musharraf's only chance of salvaging any of his bets made in the past eight years,is to lift the emergency as soon as possible. In the sea of scorn

Out and About with Mian Bibi and the Fauji.

editor@ibnlive.com — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 12:53:06 +0530

There's a lion in the cage next to me. No, I am not kidding- I am travelling in a forklift about fifty feet high, making my way up to the

In search of an identity - document

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 04 Oct 2007 10:31:26 +0530

You already know what I am going to tell you- but the system of getting a passport issued, your right as a citizen, something we are all encouraged to get,

The Devil is not in the Details

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 05:55:56 +0530

Every journalist knows that if everyone is unhappy with a story, it must be a good story. By that logic, Manmohan Singh must have got something good going with the

Talk to terror and it will come back to bite you

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 11:16:33 +0530

"We're interrupting that story to bring you this news just coming in..." When you're in journalism school, you always wonder what the breaking story will be when you

Talk to terror and it will come back to bite you.

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 11:07:39 +0530

"We're interrupting that story to bring you this news just coming in......." When you're in journalism school, you always wonder what the breaking story will be when you

Consensus isn't all its cracked up to be - II

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 25 Jun 2007 02:01:14 +0530

And I thought I was the cynic. President Kalam suggests he may want to stick around in office and everyone disapproves. He now says he doesn't - and there's cheering

Consensus isn't all it's cracked up to be

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 22 Jun 2007 09:07:18 +0530

Its crunch time with the presidential elections, as anyone with a television will tell you, there's a new possible candidate everyday, and the word with all the currency is Consensus.

Keeping the Faith

editor@ibnlive.com — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 08:42:25 +0530

"I wish to inform you that your daughter is registered to marry a Muslim" said the postcard addressed to my father, "If you are aware of it, please accept my

We Are Family

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 24 Mar 2007 08:10:16 +0530

Delhi is a city of name-droppers. Everyone 'knows' or needs to know someone- from school admissions, to driving licenses, to walking your dog in the park, nothing can be done

The Face of Fear

editor@ibnlive.com — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 12:28:51 +0530

"Come quickly" he whispered, "Or it may be too late." It wasn't the way he said it that froze my blood, and made me want to do what he said-

Diplomacy in the Full Glare of the Arc-lights

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 01:16:35 +0530

It was something the Foreign Minister of Pakistan Khurshid Kasuri said that struck me as a sign of our times. "The India Pakistan peace process in the past few months

They Also Serve, Who are on Standby to Report

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 29 Dec 2006 12:19:23 +0530

Ask many journalists, but particularly television journalists, what their most "alive" professional moment was- and the ugly dark truth - it's likely to be a catastrophe or a disaster of

Gandhigiri is Not About Coming Second

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 01:57:47 +0530

I know- no point flogging a dead horse, kicking a dog when its down, crying over spilled milk etc etc. But it is still a cause of amazement to me

De-nationalise Our Symbols If They Mean So Little

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 16 Sep 2006 12:32:06 +0530

The Vande Mataram controversy seems to be over- a very brief, self-contained fire that died out without many embers left behind. Because for some political parties it was all

Watch them watch you as they die

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 25 Aug 2006 12:51:09 +0530

As a man watches you watch him die - you can't simply carry on doing what you are doing - like it's just another story. I burnt myself making

INS Mumbai Dreams

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 29 Jul 2006 12:09:19 +0530

Now this is a real exclusive, I think. No, not the story, but being the only woman for miles around as the INS Mumbai makes its way out of Larnaca

A walk in war zone

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 27 Jul 2006 06:02:16 +0530

The security expert I spoke to before heading out to the South Beirut area called Dahyeh had two bits of advice. Don't go there without contacting a senior Hezbollah leader.

Cyprus chronicles

editor@ibnlive.com — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 09:10:15 +0530

A wise man once said - if you see a building on fire with dozens of people rushing out, and few crazy men fighting to get in - chances are

Pakistan needs our help on terror not the other way around

editor@ibnlive.com — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 02:59:20 +0530

Mumbai's terror Tuesday, serves to convince us - if that was needed, that terror is not going away, that those that targeted commuters on the western local line, will also

The Prime Minister's Semi-circular Table

editor@ibnlive.com — Sat, 27 May 2006 11:00:59 +0530

Spies, I was told by my father - are trained to eat, sleep, and go to the bathroom whenever they can. Because you never know when your next chance will

The Bon-fast of the Vanities

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 17 Apr 2006 04:31:12 +0530

The facts should shock- unfortunately it is the personalities that do. It's been six years since the governments of four states and the centre assured the Supreme Court that

The Rites of Renunciation

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 02:41:58 +0530

If you stand in the same place long enough, they say, you'll see political events come around full circle. I have clearly spent too much time standing outside on Sonia

The Mommy Mahabharata

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 17 Mar 2006 11:08:12 +0530

It's the war no one talks about- and that's partially because, many don't realise it exists. Not the women- who are so busy working out their own schedule with kids,

Stand Up and Take a Bow

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 08 Mar 2006 12:01:14 +0530

Every journalist is basically just a curious little kid. All we want to do is go into people's homes, look at how they live, find out how they feel, ask

Once Upon A Time There Was Outrage

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 12:53:56 +0530

The facts at first seemed confusing- many newspapers didn't even get the story that first morning after Jessica Lall was killed. It seemed easy at first to write it all

Darkness That Kills

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 05:47:26 +0530

The details of model-TV actor Kuljeet Randhawa's death are everywhere. Her body found hanging from a ceiling fan, an apparent case of suicide. I've heard many TV channels talk

No Gnu Taxes, Please!!!

editor@ibnlive.com — Tue, 31 Jan 2006 06:37:37 +0530

It's february- it's spring, what joy, what fun.... oh hell. It's tax time. Time to start looking at all your papers for the year. First you decide how

On the Dilemma of Horns

editor@ibnlive.com — Fri, 20 Jan 2006 12:54:01 +0530

On Makar Sankranti this year, I saw something beautiful.I was walking around the newsroom, where producers were busy preparing for our coverage of all the celebrations for the day. I

Say Nothing if it's a Girl

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 12 Jan 2006 11:10:23 +0530

"Don't ask me whether you are having a boy or a girl, because I am not going to tell you," said the ultrasound specialist- a genial old friend of the

Guilt-Edged Metro

editor@ibnlive.com — Wed, 04 Jan 2006 05:17:25 +0530

I know I am lucky to live in Delhi- when I was a child, my mother, a bombay-ite to the core (I still don't know whether that has changed to

Bangalore: No Lessons To Be Learned

editor@ibnlive.com — Thu, 29 Dec 2005 05:55:52 +0530

It was a bright morning in Srinagar- and I was quite cheerful- I was going home to Delhi. We had been covering the breakdown of talks and the end of

Wave of reminisces

editor@ibnlive.com — Mon, 26 Dec 2005 01:49:28 +0530

In the business of 24-hour news a year is an age. So many news flashes, news updates, breaking news situations, sometimes its hard to remember the details of a story