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• “Tonight’s the night for a drop. Go on let yerself go!”

  Broadcast On January 3, 2000

  “Happy Nu Yeah” said the voice behind me and then as I turned around it added “And if you give us a bob I’ll make that Happy New Millennium!” That, I suppose, was how the year 2000 began for me. It ...

• “Say cheese”

  Broadcast On November 25, 2004

  "Pride and prejudice " It was an odd, if flattering, comment and perhaps that’s why my jaw dropped with amazement. For a moment I felt like a bottle of wine rather than a subject posing ...

• “Mataji zara raaste se hatiye!”

  Broadcast On May 1, 2000

  It wasn’t the horn that he had been blasting but the strange words that woke me up. I was slumbering at the back of a hired car and it was nearly ten at night. The road was empty but a couple of cows ...

• ‘The Lady’ in Delhi

  Broadcast On November 18, 2012

  I’ve always believed that it’s the small little kindnesses that matter more than the big grand gesture. At some point or another, all of us are capable of huge generosity. But the more meaningful acts ...

• ‘Open wide please’

  Broadcast On November 13, 2009

  Until I met Siddhartha Mehta I used to dread visits to the dentist. Just looking at the array of drills, usually ominously but prominently on display, would fill me with apprehension. Even after twenty ...

• You’ve got mail

  Broadcast On November 10, 2004

  It may seem odd but it’s true. One of my fondest memories is Daddy opening letters. I can remember him slicing through the top of envelopes with a letter opener. Perhaps because he was a military ...

• You’re wrong, Mr. Nayar!

  Broadcast On October 14, 2002

  You could say I have a love-hate relationship with the UK. It’s a ghastly cliché but it reflects my feelings accurately; I love to criticise the country but hate it when others do. I justify this on ...

• YOU HAVE NO CHOICE, PUT THAT IN YOUR PIPE AND SMOKE IT

  Broadcast On July 27, 2014

  Is it fair that governments unhesitatingly increase the tax on cigarettes with almost every budget they pass? No doubt this happens all over the world. In Britain, in fact, cigarettes can’t even be displayed ...

• Yogi's big challenge: banishing encephalitis

  Broadcast On August 20, 2017

  We perceive encephalitis as a disease of the poor and, more especially, their children and, consequently, our response is one of callous unconcern. It occurs in distant Gorakhpur, which is not just far ...

• Yes sir or no sirree!

  Broadcast On November 14, 2011

  I’m beginning to fear I may have lost my name. These days when I walk into an office only a few people shout out ‘Hello Karan’. Instead, what the majority says is ‘Good morning Sir’ or, if they’re being ...

• Yeh koi pagalpan to nahin

  Broadcast On September 11, 2000

  “Aap kya chahte hein? Yeh koi pagalpan to nahin?” “Nahin bhai sahab, yeh pagalpan nahin hai.” I replied before I banged down the phone. But by then, to tell you the truth, I was truly mad. It ...

• Yechury's Rajya Sabha exit a godsend for NDA

  Broadcast On August 6, 2017

  Soon one of the most effective performers in Parliament will disappear from our national legislature and both the Rajya Sabha and our democracy will be the poorer. I speak of Sitaram Yechury, the General ...

• Wrong for the right reasons

  Broadcast On September 16, 1998

  There's something admirable about the American political system in the middle of one of its periodic fits of moral righteousness. I suppose that's why it is the greatest democracy in the world. Yet ...

• Writing about yourself

  Broadcast On June 29, 2010

  I’m sure you would agree that autobiographies are not easy to write. Even authors who have led fascinating lives are often mistaken about what events to include or judiciously omit leave aside ...

• Wound with humour, it's remembered

  Broadcast On August 28, 2016

  When we in India don’t like someone or don’t approve of something we tend to say so bluntly and upfront. The British, on the other hand, have devised the witty put down. Its magic lies in the fact that ...

• WORLD CUP TAKEAWAY: GREAT TEAM, BAD LOSERS

  Broadcast On November 26, 2023

  I would say of the many ways of gauging a gentleman perhaps the most critical is grace in defeat. If that gentleman is a sportsman it’s even more important. How you behave when something you desperately ...

• Words, words, words

  Broadcast On May 7, 2010

  Who said Indians don’t have a sense of wit? Trawl the net and you’ll discover how inventive and clever we can be. But what has really surprised me is how good we are at devising puns and ...

• Words of advice for the silly season

  Broadcast On June 19, 2000

  It’s the silly season again. That’s a British term for the time of year when politicians take off on holiday and television devotes itself to old movies and re-runs. The Indian equivalent is determined ...

• Women in Parliament

  Broadcast On March 11, 2010

  The Women’s Reservation Bill is an illuminating example of how politicians can promote a deserving cause in a most unfortunate way. In Mahatma Gandhi’s terms, where the means are more important ...

• Women and War

  Broadcast On November 26, 2009

  Would you agree that Pratibha Patil looked rather fetching in a G-suit? The picture of her waving from the cockpit of a Sukhoi, a radiant smile on her face, could transform the image of Indian women. ...