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Just after 6 pm, August 23, Chandrayaan-3 landed on the moon. ISRO — the Indian Space Research Organization — erupted in cheers. Vikram-lander and a rover called Pragyan were deposited on the lunar surface. India was only the fourth country to be on the moon, and the first on the particular spot on the lunar surface on the far side of the moon. Future generations of Indians, nay the world, will profit from the landing. It is the politicians who disappoint, squabbling over bragging rights. The Congress says India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru started the whole shebang and should get the credit. Supporters of Prime Minister Narendra Modi say “Modi hai toh mumkin hai”.

Timely holding of parliamentary elections is a part and parcel of any functioning democracy and Pakistan ought to be no exception. Yet the dance of democracy seems set for a delay in this neighbouring country of India.

The Argentine election brought a seismic shift on Sunday, August 13. The extreme right-wing libertarian candidate — and outsider of traditional politics — Javier Milei won first place, with 30 percent of the votes. The liberal-conservative opposition came second, with fewer votes than expected at 28 percent, and Peronism, for the first time in history, came in third, with 27 percent.

Biographies make fascinating reading. Not only because one gets involved in the life of the central character, but they’re also full of anecdotes that are fun to read. This is where serious books of history differ. They’re more analytical and, therefore, more demanding. Often, when they re-valuate something, they can be formidable.

From 19th century German statesman Otto von Bismarck to economist John Kenneth Galbraith and, more recently, US President Joe Biden, politics has been described as the “art of the possible” by many crafty practitioners of the art.

The reported move by the Narendra Modi government to create a new post of Chief Investigation Officer of India (CIO) on the lines of Chief of Defence Staff (CDO) and the National Security Advisor (NSA) is a blatant attempt to circumvent the Supreme Court as a collateral target and institutionalise the use of premier investigative agencies as the ruling party’s, or to be more precise, the PMO’s political tool as part of a nefarious design.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has meticulously built a narrative against corruption in India to project political parties in opposition and their leaders corrupt and to make himself appear free of blemishes. However, his narrative is only half of the truth, since all the opposition leaders are not corrupt on the one hand, and there are financial irregularities and corruption galore on the other under his premiership.

With Prime Minister Narendra Modi losing charisma and mass appeal in the eyes of the people, and the corral of ‘ghar wapasi’ amongst the turncoats who had opted for the BJP in more certain times energising the Congress headquarters, the ruling party is faced with the increasing threat of desertion by senior national leaders just ahead of the 2024 Lok Sabha elections.

In the rush of Chandrayaan-3 coated with the latent fear whether Vikram-Lander will do a Vikram-Vetaal and never complete its mission, the Opposition experiment, INDIA, appeared to have gotten clean out of mind with the INDIA constituents doing what each of them is adept at. So, Rahul Gandhi with wanderlust strong as ever, went to Ladakh and did more people-contact, which had been his wont since the Bharat Jodo Yatra took India by storm.

SANTA MONICA: Backstage at Carnegie Hall during the mid-1980s I found myself standing next to a tall, older gentleman. Looking up, I gasped, realizing I was in the presence of arguably the world’s greatest living playwright. I blurted out: “God bless you, Mr. Miller!”