Patriot Bureau
Posts by: Patriot Bureau
How sanity trumped hate
Could it be that the alternative narrative put out through social media and digital news websites actually found purchase? IN MY last column, I asserted that Delhi was not India. After the Aam Aadmi Party’s spectacular victory in the elections, one wishes it was. And perhaps it will be. Who knows? But this is not […]
Government first, citizen last
Delhi Central Vista plan turns democracy on its head. India could learn from how Britain plans to refurbish its Parliament and decentralise its government LIKE INDIA, the United Kingdom is doing a massive refurbishment of its 150-year-old Parliament. Planning has begun and work starts in 2025. It will take six years and cost £3-5 billion. […]
And the Oscar goes to…
Parasite winning the Academy Award for Best Picture is an achievement for more reasons than one “WHEN I was young and studying cinema, there was a saying that I carved deep into my heart, which is that ‘the most personal is the most creative’. That quote is from our great Martin Scorsese. When I was […]
Indefensible murder
Shahid Azmi’s legacy lives on through lawyers he inspired. Sadly, so does the ideology that led to his murder AFTER SPENDING 12 years incarcerated, the two men that Faheem Ansari was really keen to meet as he stepped out of Bareilly Central Jail last November were Shaheed Azmi and Hemant Karkare. He couldn’t, of course, […]
Love story, not a political drama
If you are looking for a historical perspective on the Pandit exodus, its causes and effects, then Shikara isn’t the film for you ONE DAY in the late 1980s Srinagar, a young couple is asked, at random, to walk down a garden path as extras in a film shoot. Kashmir was the beating heart of […]
Love, identity, reckoning
Voices belonging to the LGBTQ community share their stories of struggle “I GOT sick of the intense pressure to get married and finally told my mother that I have no interest in girls. You know what her retort was? “Why? Do you like boys then?’”. Today, Deepak chuckles at the memory, recounting how his courage […]
Amazing cultural mesh
The sights and sounds of the Old City of Jerusalem entice visitors — not just its historical ruins and sites that tell fascinating tales, but also the enduring connections with India “Are you Indian?” is a question that almost any Indian tourist is likely to be asked often in Israel. Not just because Israelis love […]
‘All forms of censorship need to be removed’
Filmmaker Shonali Bose opens up about her personal tragedy, the ongoing protests around India, censorship and more AFTER MAKING her directorial debut with Amu (2005), writer-director Shonali Bose went on to direct two critically acclaimed films, Margarita with a Straw(2015) and The Sky Is Pink (2019). With these, Bose made a reputation for herself as […]