Mayawati is one of my favourite politicians. It's a Herculean task to build a political party from scratch. She along with her mentor Kanshi Ram has done that in style. So I salute her at the very outset. Why then I feel so agitated with her strong action against an IAS officer whose wife decided to organise a fashion show at their official residence? Is it a crime if a group of women decided to let their hair down and feel a little liberated in otherwise suffocating environs of Lucknow. Irrespective of which section of the society you come from, if you are a woman, you will not dare to venture out either in Hazratganj or Ameenabad on your own. You could go to Not Just Jazz by the Bay in Bombay, a TGIF or any swanky mall in Delhi..but you cant go for a nice evening walk along the Gomti...

Cricket has won the hearts and minds of an entire nation once again. Just a few months back after crashing out of the first round of the 50-over World Cup in West Indies, the Indian team could do nothing right. The coach was bad, Irfan Pathan had lost his swing, and Virender Sehwag could not face two balls before edging one to the slips. Cut to September 2007, Pathan bowls magnificently to help India win the TT World Cup ( 20-20 and not table tennis), Sehwaag doesn't play the final but does enough to show that the booming drives are back and we the fickle minded cricket lovers are smiling once again. The same advertisers, who were pulling down the billboards showcasing Dhoni and Yuvraj are back in business, TV channels who were still licking their wounds after suffering huge financial losses in the World Cup with India's early exit, are partying again. But has Indian cricket rediscovered its...

I walked in for my interview with Amitabh Bachchan with a thumping heart. Would my hero live up to my expectations? Through my growing up years, I had lived in his shadow. I had cried with Vijay, I had sung with Anthony, I had ridden down dusty streets on a rickety bicycle convinced that I too was the angry young man facing a heartless world. There he was, this handsome rebel, without family, without godfathers, without privileges. Always on the side of the poor, always the coolie, the lovable gangster, the brooding cop or the lonely alcoholic and yet it was he who won in the end, it was he who triumphed over those with money and wealth. Amitabh was more than even a hero, he was a moral statement, in his suffering eyes I saw the storms of my own heart. Amitabh? Amitabh was it. As I walked in for my interview with him, I prepared myself for disillusionment. What...

The months from April to June are described as silly season for news. Summer vacations, politicians jaunting abroad, and journalists feeling the heat, where is the story, the refrain from most editors. Summer of 2007, though has been anything but silly. One after the other, we have seen constant BREAKING NEWS. The year began with elections in Punjab and Uttarakhand, peaking with Mayawati's sweep in UP. BJP's embarrasement in Goa and finally culminating in race for Rashtrapati Bhavan. But hold on we ain't done just yet. In just a few months, you will start reading and watching items related to Narendra Modi and Moditva and 5 crore Gujarati's pride.. So the year has been full of what we might call, top political stories. Its in the maze of all these political stories, events, that I wonder, whats the state of our polity" What lies in future for the young Indians" Is there something that's changing now which will change the shape of our...