Once upon a time, almost every intellectual was a leftist

Communism's left luggage Ravi Kapoor - The Indian Express - December 25, 1997
Once upon a time, almost every intellectual was a leftist - and every leftist could pass himself off as an intellectual. The Berlin Wall came down, the Soviet Union collapsed; at home, the economy was opened up. Socialism was out, bag and baggage. And since the leftist intellectual was part of the baggage, he too...

"Principled" politics (a letter) N. Harihara Subramaniyan, Chennai - The Hindu - December 23, 1997
Sir, - If the BJP-AIADMK tie-up is an unprincipled alliance, can anyone truthfully, say what the principles of Indian politics are? Have not our politicians let them go a long time ago'? Thirteen parties, very different in their ideologies, without any pre-poll ...

What does 'dynamic instability' mean? Sunil Sethi - The Times of India - December 12, 1997
When John Kenneth Galbraith, the modern messiah of economic health in the 1970s and a dedicated India hand, called India a "functioning anarchy" he invented one of those smart phrases that stuck for decades with the persistence of a designer label. It lingered because, in its time, the witticism had the ring of truth. It ...