SHYAM BHATIA

At the end of a smart road

SHYAM BHATIA

The new expressway to Dehradun opened on April 11 and has already transformed distance. My drive from Delhi took little more than 150 minutes. Sixty years ago, such a journey could consume an entire day or require an overnight train journey. India’s physical infrastructure has changed with astonishing speed. Roads,

Raghav to Ron: The incurable longing to be White

SHYAM BHATIA

I met Joe in the British city of Birmingham — a confident young Sikh with neatly cropped hair, stylish trainers, and a quick grin. “My friends prefer to call me Joe,” he told me, explaining that his full name was Joginder Singh, but it sounded “too heavy” in local

A gala in a palace of plunder

SHYAM BHATIA

Two nations at the ends of Asia — India and Greece — are now bound by a common quest: to reclaim the soul of their civilizations. Both are demanding the return of treasures taken in the age of empire and still displayed in London’s marble halls. The Chola bronzes, the

Finally the truth is out about Blair

SHYAM BHATIA

Sir John Chilcot’s report on Britain’s war in Iraq reveals a style of decision-making in London that has more in common with authoritarian Asian regimes, including Indira Gandhi’s Emergency years, than what is expected from the Mother of Democracies. Chilcot’s comments about Britain’s military participation to topple Saddam Hussein is

Britain’s disdain for scrutiny

SHYAM BHATIA

To borrow a line from an old pop song, let me take you by the hand and lead you through the streets of London. A timely walk as Britain approaches 2026 and finds itself once again confronted by questions of accountability and national purpose. And allow me to pause at

Indian force the Nazis raised

SHYAM BHATIA

Six months before the Red Fort trials turned officers of Subhas Chandra Bose’s Indian National Army into national symbols, another Indian force raised during the war was quietly dismantled and sent home. There were no crowds, no lawyers, no slogans and no trials. Most Indians have never heard of it.

Reporters in the line of fire

SHYAM BHATIA

Unlike in the past, safety protocols have now multiplied for war correspondents For younger journalists entering the profession today, it is hard to imagine how foreign reporting once worked. News organizations now require hostile-environment training, flak jackets, GPS trackers, evacuation plans and liability sign-offs before a correspondent crosses a border.

A war of words

SHYAM BHATIA

Pete Hegseth called Iranian leaders rats In the current confrontation between the United States, Israel and Iran, the shift is both remarkable and unmistakable. The vocabulary of international politics has hardened into insult. Iranian leaders are described as “deranged scumbags”. At a Pentagon briefing, US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth suggested

Iran and its king

SHYAM BHATIA

On a London high street lined with Persian grocery stores and kebab shops, Iranian exile politics has found an unlikely stage. A restaurant window advertises a 20 percent discount to anyone who walks in and says a phrase long taboo in the Islamic Republic: Javid Shah, long live the Shah.

Iran and its king

SHYAM BHATIA