Dheeraj Kalgutkar

The long-awaited, more than twenty years, Ayodhya Judgement is here. Before we dwell on the same, ever wondered why people go to the courts? Why they spend on lawyers, on their travels to court? After all, all they do is present arguments from each side which they could do before a sarpanch in a village or that old man in Khaap panchayat or a mutual friend — just anyone but the judge in a court. Why walk to a court? What is it that you expect from a court that you do not expect from other avenues. Why do we say we have to respect the decisions of the court? After all, the people giving verdicts are people like us too. They go through similar lives as we do. They breathe the same air, drink the same water, eat the same food. Why then do we expect them to deliver judgements on our problems and also respect their pronouncements? Is it because we believe that they are impartial, that they rely on facts and facts alone and not on emotions and beliefs and pressures of the society? ...

Recently I received a joining letter from a reputed IT company of India which has its headquarters in Bengaluru (or Bangalore). There wasn't much to the joining letter except mentioning Aadhaar card as the mandatory document for onboarding. Now for people living under rocks, Aadhaar card is a new identity card issued by the government of India that captures not just your name, address, and photograph but also biometric information like fingerprints and iris scanning. Every Indian already owns one or the other existing identity cards that up to this time were all that was required, but for some reasons all-of-a-sudden they have all been pushed to corners in a new world where Aadhaar has taken center stage. I have never understood the purpose of Aadhaar or the problem that it resolves or what was it that existing identity cards didn't solve which Aadhaar can; except of course the behemoth of a tool called surveillance that Aadhaar can so easily accomplish for corporates and g...

Photo by  Ron Hansen  on  Unsplash While we display missiles and what not on Republic Day celebrations in Delhi, remember we as a nation with so much apparent greatness couldn’t protect filmmakers from releasing a movie passed by censor board and cleared by Supreme Court, the highest court of land. We also couldn’t stop goons from terrorizing school children. I don’t see anything to take pride in here. But anyway, since when have we cared for nuances. The states notorious for rapes and worst sex ratio, states that glorify women in  ghoonghat  (veil) are letting cultural terrorists roam on streets and burn everything in the name of protecting a fictional queen’s honour. Long live hypocrisy! And to you, the insignificant voter and my dear fellow countrymen who can’t differentiate a failed state that can’t protect its citizens rights for which it is elected in first place and who takes pride in everything that he/she shouldn’t, who constantly let’s himself...

India’s highest court has ruled out that firecrackers be banned in Delhi NCR. And not very surprisingly it has ruffled the feathers of the old Hindutva crown. Some have welcomed it, as always and some have not, again, as always. But twitter has turned into the new battleground. Battles are no more fought in Kurukshetra or Kargil, new age warriors no more wield swords and battle hammers, they use their clickety-clickety keyboards now. But there is one thing that everyone seems to miss in all this hullabaloo. Ramayana. Yes, the old Hindu mythological text that tells the story of Ram, his wife Sita, his brothers, monkey-god Hanuman and other ensembles of the cast. If you are familiar with Indian Twitter scene, you must already be aware of certain patterns. Like for example, the Hindu right wing, especially certain hardliners, always take back their argument to ancient texts. They talk about how wonderful, scenic and peaceful life was in age-old times. But this time, they are caught...

Sanjay Dutt at his film shooting venue Manoeuvring of its own kind has hit the Indian Superclass who are queuing up to support Mr. Sanjay Dutt whose conviction order has been upheld by SC on March 21st under the Arms Act for possession and destruction of an AK-56 before the blasts. In the undesirable que up, people are forgetting almost everything; from the one's who lost their lives to those who are surviving with blemished scars to even those convicts whose cases looks like being suppressed just because they fall under 'faceless' dogmas. It's understanding when Dutt's family, colleagues and fans argue over his pardon but when arch-political class whom people look to as 'saviours of law and order' behaves in irresponsible way by supporting a convict whom highest court of law has found guilty of crime, it seems a bit of bizzarre. Not just them alone but it in a way shows nation's judiciary in bad light. From Mamata Banerjee, Digvijay ...