Dabs & Jabs

Cartoons and caricatures through the eyes of Zero the donkey!

Madversity

Madversity — A little bit mad, a little bit adverse, Madversity takes a creative, tangential look at society, politics, economics and show business. Using one-liners, aphorisms, limericks, verse and other forms terse, it offers biting insights and irreverent perspectives with the magic of words.

Singly Political

This is a blog about the trials of a single woman journalist covering the big, bad world of  Indian politics – and sometimes wolfing down, well, the wolves. It will take you behind the scenes into what really goes – or does not — into netagiri, rip off some masks, doff a (Gandhi) cap or two and still hope to come up gasping.

@ Hindi Heartland

This blog is all about the Hindi heartland, its vibrant socio-cultural ethos, its poor economics and volatile politics. Dubbed derisively as India’s cowbelt, bhaiyaland or the badlands, it’s the Hindi heartland that produced the best of babus. But it became infamous for its incontrovertible controversies and crimes. If Mumbai is known for its undying spirit, cowbelt can be known for the special warmth that the people here exude.

Foreign Hand

One-sixth of mankind is emerging from self-imposed isolation. The changing relationship between India and the World is about economics, security and all that stuff. But it’s also about how India’s worldview is evolving. The “foreign hand” once referred to sinister overseas manipulation. Today, it’s really about a world taking the pulse of an awakening India.″

Download Central

Download Central is about discovering new music. The Internet has opened up an exciting vista for music lovers as well as musicians. While fans of great music can use the Net to access almost anything they want, for many independent musicians, it’s the best way to reach listeners. DC is a fortnightly update on the cool stuff that’s playing out there.

Just People

This is a blog about those whom we elect. The way we see them and the way they are. Bits known but a lot unknown. The funny and flippant side of those who claim to shape India and to an extent our destinies.

Kurakani in Kathmandu

As its two neighbours—India and China—race to become developed nations, Nepal is still caught in a social, political, economic and religious time-warp and remains one of the poorest nations. This blog is an attempt to look at the former Hindu nation as it tries to metamorphose. It will discuss issues—serious and the seemingly trivial—sometimes from an Indian perspective.

Mind’s I

This blog deals with the realities of life, its beautiful as well as the not-so-beautiful aspects. It tells you how to enjoy life even in the worst of crisis. It tells you the key to happiness is there in your mind, and that your enemy is actually your best friend. It tells you to repeat every morning, as a mantra, ‘all is well with the world’!

Tailor Talk

There’s more to fashion than you think… bitching, back biting, power politics and then of course, if time permits designing. A peek into the fascinating world of fashion and its people.

Car-Nama

Cutting out the jargon without omitting any of the details, this blog will help you discover the best set of wheels, and occasionally also help in getting the best out of the set you already possess. With an attempt to give a snapshot at what makes India one of the most active automotive markets in the world, it hopes to make the second most expensive investment in a lifetime, a worthwhile and enjoyable one.

Ecostani

Environment concerns every one but a very few care for it. Call it deficiency of policy or lack of individual will power but there are voiceless in Save the Planet fight whose future depends on sound ecology for survival like Mowglii from Jungle Book. From tribal communities in India’s richest mineral districts to the fast vanishing wildlife, this blog will present such stories which miss the politically heavy news headlines. Occasionally, there would be insight on ongoing environmental issues.

Hutong Cat

From a city of 7 lakh, Colombo, to Beijing, one of 20 million; the transition was smooth, as smooth as having a burning shot of Chinese baijiu. This blog will be about transition and change; like ‘hutongs’ or Beijing’s ancient alleyways making way for roads paved with the contemporary. It will be an attempt to write about people and places. About a heavily urbanised society living their lives furiously on smart phones and bullet trains while the government quietly dictates what is read. It could be about anything – and that basically means everything – I find difficult to understand.

Desi in DC

Get another look at the land of opportunities, everything Hollywood will never show and everything successful Amreekan relatives will never reveal.

Sportoholic

In spite of all the corruption, cheating and scandals, we continue to love the world of sports. The name of the blog speaks for itself and so whether you’re a Sportoholic or not, our bloggers will take you inside major sporting events and engage you in ways by making you think from a totally different perspective.

They Call Me Muslim

Am I a Muslim or an Indian first? Are Muslims a monolithic community — uniform and inflexible in character? Does Islam gel with secular constitutional principles? This blog predicts that the next big jihad would be about reviving the reformist tradition in Islam. (There you go again, ranting and raving.) Cool. Reform is an Islamic process.

Separated At Birth

India and Pakistan, sub-continental siblings who look alike but seldom think alike. Peace between them is as infrequent as it’s fragile, a long history of distrust driving them into demonizing each other. This blog will seek a constituency of reason across common boundaries of these perennially distant neighbors.

Notes from the Front Row

This is a blog about the life of a movie junkie. I watch movies for a living.  It’s great fun but also, like any good Hindi movie, full of drama, chaos and colour.  These are my notes from the Bollywood trenches with occasional forays into Hollywood and film events around the world.

Proto Indian

There are opinions the Right call Marxist, the Left call revisionist and the liberals call anarchist. Then, there are world views that are pro-American or pro-West, pro-Pakistan or progressive and pro-China aka “independent”. But take a pronounced pro-India stand and the bleeding hearts, who brook no criticism, will immediately label you a jingoist. That’s a burden this blog will manfully bear…  only to test if the right of expression is really free.

Page Turner

A journey through life and books and reading – from the point of view of one to whom those things are indistinguishable.

Capital Closeup

This blog is about Delhi, one of the oldest capitals of the world and arguably the best city in India. It will contain observations about life in general and occasionally about the intrigues and conspiracies that get hatched here. It will also have something on Hindi music and how urban India is evolving. The changing face of Delhi reflects the changing face of this country.

Kaleidoscope

The blog takes you through events and action in the world of politics, glamour, business, sports, science, life and universe. And sometimes, it peeks into lives of ordinary people through the camera lenses of photographers.

Medium Term

Medium Term takes a critical look at the issues, challenges and controversies facing the Indian media. Written from the perspective of a veteran of both print and television, it seeks to confront the issues rather than dance gingerly around them in vague generalities. It names names, gives examples and delivers highly subjective judgements .

Terminal 3

The blog takes its name from the busiest terminal at Heathrow for long-haul flights serving Asia, America and Africa. Its a symbol of many races, religions and nationalities. Of arrivals and departures. And of the East, the West and the spaces in between.

Inside Story

This blog — call it a due diligence report — intends to cover behind the scenes action when the country and its political leadership are in crisis mode. It will collect, collate and analyse pieces of information to construct the big picture and it will often recommend solution to defuse the situation at hand.

Gyan at a Glance

This blog takes you beyond the news headlines, tells you the story behind
the story and helps put it in perspective. In short, it offers you the big
picture on things that are happening around you.

Middle Order

A reporter transplanted from teeming Mumbai finds herself in the capital of India’s most powerful neighbour, in an orderly city of 17 million people and less than 1,000 Indians. When she is not struggling to decipher her bank statements in Mandarin, Reshma Patil is scouring around Beijing’s centuries-old alleys to skyscrapers. Catch her as she blogs on the world’s fastest-changing country that was once the Middle Kingdom.

Past Bloggers

Have a look at what our former bloggers had to talk about.