OPINION: In India it is all about getting or not getting a Government job. But let it be known: the Government machinery is the bane of this country, pinning it to its original position. That is also the only non-living thing in the world that reproduces itself (Read Parkinson’s Law). Look at its size and flab, the exponential growth over the years. For those getting in, of course, it is a lottery's first prize—while the masses on empty stomachs are kept at bay.

It is also a neutral fortress for the coming-and-going politicians who enthusiastically proclaim—quite 'sharamlessly'—the creation of lakhs of more jobs in the Government every other day (what is the work?) not knowing the money they are splurging is not coming from their homes.

In India, Government jobs are the only guarantee for a secure, stable life till end, including for your spouse, not excluding benefits for your children. Where else, except perhaps in Britain's colonial history, do the clerks carve out a kingdom for themselves.

We do not know what work defines a permanent job. But we do know even nature's greatest gift of breastfeeding is a time-bound service!

OPINION: One of the many frantic activities taking place across the country is the quiet, rapid rush to build highways to every Indian doorstep. Yet, the public remains blind to the hidden motives—hidden through twisted subterranean tunnels—distracted by frivolous social media memes and posts. If you try to look for these highways in two or three years, you will fail to find them even with a microscope. In this country, anything goes because there are mountains of public money to splurge and loot—money that nobody feels ownership over. This systemic exploitation has been going on for over seven decades, and it will continue unchecked until true democracy finally dawns in the country.

Commercial flight operations are officially scheduled to kick off on August 17. There are 40 check-in counters, and the runway has a capacity flow of 10 to 12 flights per hour.

The Supreme Court has opened a window for a transformative conversation about the very fundamentals of democracy. Let a debate open Pandora’s box to reveal that there can be only "One Democracy." Currently, there are as many versions of democracy as there are countries. In India, because of a derivative Constitution, we have been pedalling for decades without moving an inch, still pedalling but we are where we were! Much like the fallacy of collective responsibility, our much-touted system of checks and balances has acted as a bane, functioning like police barricades on streets that prevent forward motion, stopping us in our tracks. That is the reality. What then, in essence, does a meaningful Constitution look like? It cannot be a Bible or a Gita that dictates what future generations should eat or wear. Let them have their own.

New signboards were installed at the Park Town and MGR Central railway stations in Chennai and at Kallakurichi.

ANALYSIS: Those who resisted did so not because they comprehended the purpose. They could only go to the extent they saw it as violation of freedoms. No further! The purpose they missed: To make it—by practising over the years and decades—a religious occasion or what is called in social sciences as a 'totem'! And a mythological interpolation, unlike what Julius Caesar and Pope Gregory XIII did to January 1st. They were honouring Janus, the mythological character, not manipulating the future. The machination behind testing the waters in the Indian case was to slowly associate a religious modifier—a halo—to Republic Day. When images of dates and offices and functions are created for facilitating governance, life will be shaped and governed by religious folklores rather than by decisions based on biological realities. That may truly be diagnosed as institutionalised obsession. What is sacrosanct about R-Day? What happned in Koraput was that religious pretenders surreptitiously made the district collector to issue such an order. He himself has cleared the air. But the event is programmed to repeat over the years for acceptance. However, there is still some sense if we stick to the scriptures: The universe was created on the first day of Chaitra Navratri! (Birth of Time).

The arrest of Indian-origin Ashley Tellis (64), foreign policy adviser to the US Government since 2001, who has worked at US Department of State, the National Security Council and the Department of Defence, has sent shockwaves through diplomatic and academic circles, given Tellis’s longstanding role in shaping Indo-US relations and his deep involvement in strategic policy formulation.

The arrest has sparked intense speculation about the nature and intent behind the alleged offences. It is certainly India-centric.

1. The fault is that he was the architect of Indo-US relations for a long time, especially his behind-the-scenes role in the nuclear agreement of 2008.
2. His essay “India’s Great-Power Delusions” published in Foreign Affairs in July/August 2025 provided the spark for getting targeted although he was seen as playing a partisan role in Indian politics in India and abroad for long.
3. It can consume President Trump any time, if the Democrats get to the root of the issue, not the symptoms.
4. What is the quid pro quo?

The ultimate trick of an instant money transfer of such a huge amount to the women folk—who in most villages do not get to see currency notes in their life time—has earned Modi an unending stream of bouquets and brickbats, with just one stroke of a button. This windfall looked surreal, unlike of all other freebies born earlier.

TO MR. DONALD THE NEW TRUMP: Thank you, Mr Trump, for doing more good for India than for America—like the 50% tariff! That said, India's Keynesian tribe remains ill-equipped to grasp the long-term implications of your new visa and tariff regimes—assuming they endure.

Paradoxically, domestic prices in the US are bound to rise. This will be the consequence of the pattern of your actions on illegal immigration, tariffs on goods and services, and the overhaul of the H-1B visa program. Brace for that event, Mr Trump!

You were honest and forthright. You wear no mask! You don’t act to please “friends”; you’ve shown that your role has no permanent allies. You make no bones about what you believe must be done. And, you have shown absolute courage. Symbolically, Jerome Powell was the last barrier to fall in your relentless march toward absolute power.

Your approach—and your American culture—is alien to vote-bank politics. Unlike in India, where many a politician cloaks the intentions behind welfare schemes and legions of projects and consolidates vote-banks—you operate with unapologetic clarity. In India, vote banks define the entire polity where crooks, pretenders, fake elites, masqueraders and 'masketeers' rule the roost (But it takes just a day to change what it has been there for over seven decades!).

Mussoorie, a popular tourist destination, Haridwar, a great sanctum of salvation, Rishikesh, the abode of the saints, Tehri and Nainital, also a tourist spot, are all cut off. The historic Tapkeshwar Mahadev temple in Doon is submerged, with water levels rising above the idols. Earlier, the newly built highways to the Char Dhams—major pilgrim centres—built by breaking the Himalayas and that with tens of thousands of crores of rupees of the poor people, converting the shrines into tourist spots, were destroyed in a series of flash floods as if ordained from above. The devastation is now complete for Uttarakhand. Pilgrim centres were set up by the ancients not for pleasure hounds but to be trekked for various other benefits for humanity.

A Critique: What matters is not merely the installation of a female Prime Minister for the first time. In the historical context of Nepal, what truly matters is the transformative shift within a society long perceived as primitive. The people have asserted themselves, like in Lanka, but unlike the 'Buddhist' upsurge, here it has been a million times more intense, more fierce, more violent—compressed into the shortest span of 24 hours.

Breaking free from a perceived inevitability, the revolution, unlike any other in modern history, shows they are no longer a tribe ordained to live by the strength of their brawn—as security guards, as Gorkhas. A people have come of age.

Nepal is burning literally, unlike of anything history has witnessed in any part of the world in modern times. The “Gen Z Rebellion” has set fire to Prime Minister Oli, President Poudel's houses and Parliament building. They are burning—flames and smoke billowing out high into the skies.

Neither the fate of former Prime Ministers Pushpa Kamal Dahal alias Prachanda and Sher Bahadur Deuba was different!

KP Sharma Oli, who reportedly resigned as PM earlier, and Prez Ram Chandra Poudel are scrambling army choppers to flee. Protesters are setting fireworks around the airport to stop leaders and the elite clerks from leaving the country. India has partially closed its border.

Gen Z protesters took to arson and vandalism all across the tiny Himalayan country.

Army is getting ready to take over.

(The violence was more of an eruption of underlying discontent over corruption in high places, the lavish lifestyles of legions of unproductive clerks constituting what is called the Government machinery and the resultant grinding poverty across an underdeveloped country—than a simple ban on social media.)

Black proofing of the 2000-km iron wall is the brainchild of Trump although he is innocent of physics or for that matter anything of science. To demonstrate the will power behind the President's decision, Noem also picked up a roller brush where the work is going on. (Aside: But illegal immigrants can cross the border at night! Nights are cooler.)

WHO GOT WHAT: For Putin, the summit marked a symbolic return to global legitimacy—an escape from diplomatic isolation - a great leap forward, standing on his head. He even floated proposals for joint US–Russia ventures, signaling a bold pivot toward normalization. (Where have the sanctions gone!)

For Trump, the meeting served to boost his self-styled image as a master dealmaker, inching him closer to what some insiders describe as his “obsessive” pursuit of the Nobel Peace Prize. Whether this ambition compromises national interest is a question critics are now asking aloud. Ironically, the original Alaska agenda was left untouched—overshadowed by optics, ambition, and the choreography of power.)

(Aside: Let’s put the Ukraine issue simply. Imagine India is obsessed with national security. It decides to invade and own not the bordering Pakistan or Bangladesh but Sri Lanka or the Maldives—not across a land border, but across the sea—because it perceives growing Chinese influence in the ocean as a threat. Now apply that logic to Russia. Putin wants to annex Ukrainian territory across the strategic Black Sea—not just for land, but to control the strategic sea route itself. Same style, a decade ago it annexed Crimea. So he invaded Ukraine again for more. It is not a war but is an invasion. It’s not just about borders. It’s about expansion and dominance. Now let the common man take the explanation forward! Let us not be confused! Ukraine is not at war! There is no war!)

"We were taught to see a world beyond just ourselves. To be conscious and compassionate about the struggles of all people." - Kamala Harris, Vice-President-elect, United States of America. She is releasing a series of her reminiscences of her early period, of people and events that had deep influence on the course of her life and thoughts, in the coming days leading up to her inauguration as the Vice-President of America, the first woman ever to occupy a position that high in the greatest democracy yet.