Shivaprasad Khened

A liberalism that polices cultural expression risks becoming what it once claimed to resist. Two recent pieces of journalism - the first by eminent columnist Shobhaa De in ‘The Print’ (March 24), titled “Why Arjun Rampal saying ‘Bharat Mata Ki Jai’ should worry Bollywood audiences,” and the second by Rahul Bedi in ‘The Wire’ (March 26), titled “Deeply Problematic: Military Veterans React to Senior Army Officer’s Lecture on Bhagavad Gita” - illustrate a section of our intellectual society that...

As we gear up to ritualistically welcome another New Year (2026) by instinctively flipping old calendars — virtual or printed paper — to the new year, exchanging greetings and making resolutions and plans for the year ahead, let us pause to think about what calendars truly mean and how profoundly they impact and shape our lives. Just as every citizen in a democracy has the right to vote, every person — whether lettered, illiterate, intellectual, or novice — uses calendar and are impacted by...