Launch of Shashi Tharoor’s Ambedkar: A Life
A discussion about the disparity between what India’s constitution envisioned and the reality today. Did we fail to listen to the warnings sounded by B. R. Ambedkar, the chief architect of what is considered to be one of the world’s most progressive constitutions? Tharoor writes that Ambedkar believed that despite the high ideals of the constitution, India could become truly democratic and egalitarian only through “the cultivation of constitutional values among the masses, by defeating the forces of feudalism, casteism, bigotry, and parochialism.” Ambedkar also warned against the Indian proclivity towards hero-worship in politics as being a “sure road to degradation and eventual dictatorship”.
The secret lives of Thomas Mann
Colm Toíbín in conversation with Siddharth Dhanvant Shanghvi
Exploring the fractures of a post-apartheid society
Damon Galgut in conversation with Salil Tripathi
The perilous pursuit of power and prosperity
Pankaj Mishra in conversation with Sonal Shah