Category: People

I had seen and heard the late leader “Anna” (C.N. Annadurai) as a student when I was at Pachapayya’s College during the 1953-55 period. Anna himself was an old student and as such there was much affinity between his old college and the same college students. The first time I came to know the name…

Thakazhi Shivasankara Pillai — Three visionaries I don’t know how the rest of India think of Kerala, the narrow strip of land at the West coast of South India and where some of India’s greatest minds had come from. Adi Shankara and Narayana Guru are the two most revered names. As for the rest of…

What I learned from Harold Laski? He shaped my political beliefs in my younger days My another favourite writer and thinker was Harold J.Laski (1893-1949). I must have read and re-read almost all his volumes at one time. Now, as I read his biography (Harold Laski: Isaac Kramnick and Barry Sheerman, 1993), I felt inspired…

When Democractic Socialism was at its best phase Under Gandhi’s influence we can say now that the rest of the nationalist movement was under an unclear mindset about our Independence. We were still made to believe in the benign rule of the British government. It was the emergence of Hitler, we in India too began…

On an unexpected day I had a caller in Bangalore. It was C.S. Ramakrihnan (CSR), a long time friend. I have had many friends, big and small and I often wondered whether I have friends in the sense others talk of theirs. I cant say I have childhood friends whom I remember now. Nor my…

Eric Hobsbawm, the Marxist historian, at the end of his rather elaborate essay on the fall of Communism in 1989 asks the question: Whether or in which of its forms, Marxism, the intellectual justification and inspiration of communism, would continue remainsa matter of debate. Clearly, if Marx would live on as a major thinker, which…

December marks the hundreth year of the birth of Mulk Raj Anand who lived to a ripe age of nearly 99 years. And who in his life time strode the Indian arts stage, literally like a colossus! I had the good fortune to come into contact with this multi-faceted great Indian who inspired countless fellow…

A series of scandals ! Yet Indians deny themselves all truths! What about the special Indian traits? Our attitudes? Our character? Why we don’t talk so much about our Indian weakness for double talk and double standards? Each nation and culture has its own special raits, attitudes and character. US President George Bush talks and…