-The Indian Express Here lies Ashis Nandy, who died of a bad joke". This would be the most appropriate epitaph for Nandy, insisted my colleague and sinologist, late Giri Deshingkar, in his rare moment of black humour. The reference, of course, was to Nandy's unusual way with words. Over the last four decades, Ashis Nandy has presented his insights through some very powerful symbols. He loves paradoxes and uses aphorisms, ironies...

-The Hindu It is symptomatic of the times we live in, of the climate of political discourse that we have contributed to, that even relatively innocuous statements can get so easily misrepresented and twisted to convey a meaning that is diametrically opposite to what was said and meant. The Jaipur Literature Festival 2013, which until the morning of Republic Day had managed to successfully steer clear of any controversy, was suddenly...

-Outlook The Jaipur Literature Festival today witnessed fireworks after political critic Ashis Nandy made a controversial comment on corruption and people belonging to OBC, SC and ST communities which drew a strong response from the audience. At a panel discussion at the Festival, Nandy said, "Most corrupt people come from OBC, SC and ST communities". Journalist Ashutosh, who was among the panelists, and most members from the audience took strong exception to the...

-PTI Salman Rushdie today said he does not need a visa to visit India and the government made it clear it would not stop him from coming. The author, reacting to an Islamic seminary’s opposition to his trip to the country, wrote on Twitter: “Regarding my India visit, for the record, I don’t need a visa.” Yesterday in a statement, Dar-ul Uloom Deoband vice-chancellor Maulana Abul Qasim Nomani said the “Indian government should...

IT IS one of the inspirational legends of Indian journalism that James Hickey, founder and editor of the Bengal Gazette — this country’s first newspaper, with its first edition going back to January 1780 — was a fearless seeker of the truth, taken to court and imprisoned by Warren Hastings, then governor-general. Reality is a little different. Hickey’s paper was often a gossipy, yellow rag. It thought nothing of publishing scurrilous...