Sunday Editorial Anna, hold your fast at Gandhi Maidan, Patna, forget Jantar Mantar: and let Delhi come to you! By Ratnakar Tripathy . The idea seems patently absurd, doesn’t it? But look at it hard enough and long enough and it will begin to make sense. Is the purpose of the imminent fast to gather around the king’s palace and wave one’s fists in anger in the face of the deaf ruler? Or does the symbolic act of fasting aim at continuing with an unending conversation among the citizens of India about corruption, misuse of power and criminal inaction? It is probably both. But what is more... 

Sunday Editorial Our common Bihari trait – seesawing between too much respect and too much contempt! By Ratnakar Tripathy 'Come let's think!' This may not be a very pleasant topic to discuss on a Sunday morning. But it has its moments of humour! Way back when I first landed in Mumbai as a young boy, I was very disturbed to find everyone address me as ‘tum’. Every ‘tum’ in a sentence seemed like an insulting slap in the face. Gradually, as I got to know the languages, Marathi as well as Mumbaiya, I found out that being addressed as ‘ap’ was not such a great deal – it... 

Sunday Editorial The most boring question I am asked – are you pro or anti Nitish? By Ratnakar Tripathy . Decidedly the most boring political question I face in Patna is – are you pro Nitish or anti-Nitish. At times I hear a whispered query – is he/she pro or anti-Nitish directed at someone else, which is equally boring. I have not hitched myself to any political party and have the freedom to be pro-Nitish for a full five minutes and turn from admiring words to absolute venom with utter freedom and no shame felt. And switch back to the earlier mode again, too! I think I have that in common... 

Sunday Editorial Time to excavate recent times: emergency, 25 June 1975 By Ratnakar Tripathy Over breakfast next morning! I have always believed that those who cannot see the history happen in their own lives will never find it in text books, research papers or the fat tomes that pass as history. The sense of continuity, the sense of break, the joy of changing, the sadness of leaving people and places behind are all stuff of history. But all this is about personal history for which no one but you will be able to make time. At the most, you will share a tale or two with the younger lot and if... 

Sunday Editorial The emperor is poor: and poverty is begging for a definition! By Ratnakar Tripathy 'Groping from across' Supposing we were walking down the road and I asked you to identify the poor among the passers by, would you find this an impossible challenge to deal with even if you find my request a bother? My guess is not at all! Supposing then we sit down in a tea shop after you point out one poor person after the other as we pass them, and I ask you – ‘okay, I can see you know who the poor are, but can you define poverty to me’? What would you say? Let me guess again.... 

Sunday Editorial About variety within Bihar: why it should make us feel proud not worried! By Ratnakar Tripathy Being away from Bihar for the next fortnight, the overpowering thought this morning is the juicy dripping litchis, which is likely to remain just a thought, a pure drooling thought without action! But since a self-respecting human being must rise above petty greed and desire and also above the envy of the fortunate folks who will be parking themselves in an orchard on a Sunday to indulge and then over-indulge, I will try to dismiss the thought of litchis in favour of some urgent ideas!... 

Sunday Editorial RJD demands report on Janta Durbar: but why doesn’t RJD call for its own opposition Durbar? By Ratnakar Tripathy . In politics you often join causes that others are supporting on the basis of reasons you don’t agree with! Recently, when RJD President Ramchandra Purve demanded that the Bihar government should bring out a white paper on Janta Durbar, I support him in his demand. The reason given by him is that Janta Darbar is a disaster and the public should know. I support Purve but the reason given by me is exactly the opposite – a white paper or any other form of public... 

Sunday Editorial The future of Panchayati Raj in Bihar: an unavoidable hazard of intimate politics By Ratnakar Tripathy Family = Panchayat: The biggest family in the world lives in BAKTWANG, India. A man called Ziona Chana has 39 wifes and 94 children Probably the most important thing to remember about Panchayati politics is that its human social context is radically different from state level or national politics. Unlike large scale politics, Panchayati politics is not impersonal and anonymous if we focus on the candidate-voter relation. The implications of this are immense. If this is difficult... 

Sunday Editorial Growing up with Hindi: and how Hindi grew up with me! By Ratnakar Tripathy Learning hindi I grew up learning a kind of Hindi in school that seemed rather removed from the milieu of Bihar and eastern Uttar Pradesh. I say this with hindsight, since as a growing child and adolescent I did not give much importance to this obvious hiatus. My ideals of Hindi usage and pronunciation came from what I later discovered to be the Hindi of Western Uttar Pradesh. This was also a very urbane style of Hindi, perhaps a bit too urbane to settle comfortably in the rustic climes of Bihar. I am...