Face to face: Mukul Sinha
Sadiq Naqvi Delhi
JULY 2013

JULY 2013
Cover Story and Featured Stories
What is causing tectonic waves with in the cocky Gujarat government as well as the national security establishment are two crucial questions: Why was dubious intelligence generated and at whose behest? And who ordered the killing of Ishrat Jahan and others?
Hardnews Bureau Delhi
Desperately seeking foreign investments, India faces a rainy metaphor
N Chandra Mohan Delhi
Trinamool MP KD Singh’s Alchemist Infra Realty is told to wind up and repay depositors. Will it?
Sadiq Naqvi Delhi
Even as the beauty of flowers blooms in the picture postcard valley and honeymooners from the heartland click their memories, there is a lingering sense of foreboding in the crisp, cool air
Sanjay Kapoor Srinagar
Unconventional and aiming for the stars, Ranbir Kapoor has broken the rules that superstars swear by—and we love him for it
Shonali Ghosh Sen Kolkata
Photographs of Saatchi grasping Lawson’s neck were released when the couple was seen at a restaurant in London. Lawson was fighting her tears when she left the restaurant
Devika Sahni Delhi
With Change.org as vanguard, online activism is flying on the wings of change
Souzeina Mushtaq Delhi
Even while an obscenely ambitious Narendra Modi, backed by certain corporates, finds himself trapped in inner-party and self-made traps, the going might not be as easy as he projects through daily muscle-flexing and manufactured media hype
Akash Bisht Delhi
More Stories from this Issue
The most willing recipients of such dubious videos were Al Jazeera, BBC and Al-Arabiya. Western print media too gave legitimacy to these events while deploying a manifestly sectarian prism
Sanjay Kapoor Delhi
As the goddess of great food, preparing a new dish became synonymous with love-making and the eating of leftovers from the fridge bordered on the erotic. Her voluptuous comfort with cooking and eating and with her own body in plump or svelte form remained anomalous in our times
Ratna Raman Delhi
Activist Teesta Setalvad, who runs Citizens for Justice and Peace in Mumbai, sent an SOS asking why the media in Delhi is not covering the Zakia Jafri petition’s arguments, which nails Narend
“I lost my friend, Ernestas. All day long I tried to stay in touch with the concerned people with the hope that he’s safe, but we lost him. He was a very dear friend and a die-hard lover of Pakistan. Every time we used to communicate, he tried his best to speak in Urdu. His messages, emails and phone conversations were filled with love for Pakistan and its culture. I never knew that it was going to be his last call when he called me from Islamabad.
Sorry, Erni, we couldn’t save you. As he always said, ‘Salaam, dost.’ Tonight, I say: Salaam forever, Erni. RIP.”
Ever since Taksim Square and Gezi Park hit the headlines in May, Hulya Gulbahar, leading lawyer and women’s rights activist in Istanbul, has been on my mind.
When I was last in Istanbul, I recall sitting with Hulya in one crowded pavement eating house after another till the wee hours of every morn. What we did was to drink, eat, laugh a lot and talk politics around a table full of women.
Not going to Goa. I am sick — of Modi. Refuse to stand beside Rajnath as he declares that upstart Campaign Committee Chief (CCC) of my beloved party. Tried to get Gadkari on my side but he refused. He’s still sulking with me because I ruined his chances of being PM. Come on, as if Fatso will be able to fit into the PM’s chair!
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Called the press and informed them I am indisposed — the nation must know when a great leader sneezes. Uma has called in sick too, and Yashwant has made a cheap excuse — rats ate the engine of the plane he was booked on, or some such rubbish.
The Himalaya has a delicate history, as well as a future of apocalyptic breakdowns in the wake of nature’s inevitable and predictable revenge
Amit Sengupta Delhi