Last week as news of the tragic suicide of singer Asha Bhosle’s 56-year-old daughter Varsha hit the headlines, it once again turned the focus on the collateral damage that can befall those related to the rich and famous.

The price of fame

Business Standard

Do virtuous acts contravene a person’s wrongdoings? Friends and admirers of fallen icon Rajat Gupta have all cited his numerous deeds of philanthropy and altruism, the acts of generosity that he has performed in his personal capacity. No less than world statesmen like Kofi Annan and Bill Gates have written letters citing instances of these.

The battle of good and evil

There is a well-known canon about human character: “If you want to judge a person’s character, observe what he does with his power.

Sins of omission

While the pundits are slicing up the Obama victory into byte-size pieces of demographic information, one over-arching truth needs no punditry: women and women's issues were the tiebreaker in the recently-concluded US presidential elections.

The feminine advantage

Now that Shashi Tharoor has introduced the "L" word into the political narrative, we can only imagine the havoc it will cause. "My wife is worth more than the Rs 50 crore that Mr Modi imagines. For me she is priceless. But I guess you have to love someone to know that," he said.

Love in politics

Our great leader is going to die. Let us go on a rampage, shake down shopkeepers, burn half a dozen buses and torch a few minority communities.

We are like this only

I write this for the first time in a state of panic. It is not the skittish panic of a newborn foal that’s heard a gunshot, but the slow burn of someone who is watching a wheel turn.

Tale of two cities

A friend’s post on Facebook soliciting names for “a breed emerging whose only occupation is attending trendy creative conferences, lit festivals and cultural talks” results in an avalanche of responses.

Earnest is passe

In the early ’80s , my mother and I were holidaying in Goa when we happened to run into Dilip Kumar and Saira Banu who were staying at an adjacent hotel. He had been an old friend of my father’s, but still, beyond the warm Pathan embrace and social niceties we did not expect anything more from the encounter.

Gentleman hero

Not to put too fine appoint on it, in this day of television ubiquity, a man’s face carries his destiny. This thought occurred to me while watching the heads of various sports bodies facing accusations of corruption.

On the face of it

These days, often as a refuge from the disquieting content and presentation of television news, I find myself seeking cover in entertainment channels.

All in the family

The sight of Delhi’s daughters heroically standing up to water cannons, lathicharge and tear-gas shells in the bitter cold to demand a change in the way women are regarded in India is impacting us in ways that are profound and subtle.

The sham of equality

Next Wednesday, Joan Baez will be 72. Never has there been a more compelling need to listen to the riveting vibrato of this singer-activist whose songs (played all day by my Marxist “Baez and Belafonte”-worshipping parents) imbued my childhood with an early idealism.

A conscience keeper

As I write this, TV news channels are playing and replaying clips of Narendra Modi’s ‘English speech’ at the Vibrant Gujarat 2013 summit. Almost equal to the lavish praise afforded him by captains of Indian industry is the attention his breaking out in the Queen’s language has attracted.

English-Vinglish

The higher they go, the harder they fall.

Lessons in saying 'sorry'

A well-heeled 30-something Indian couple in a car. The atmosphere is rife with the uneasy static of modern Indian couples. The woman is nagging the man for getting them lost in the wilderness. Why did he not ask for directions? What's with this dependence on the car's GPRS system? It's all his fault.

What women want

It was a mock serious comment but in the way we communicate these days the flip humour masked the very real anxiety behind it.

The male angst rises

How is it possible for one so high to fall so low so quickly?" a talk-show host was overheard asking when news that "Blade Runner" Oscar Pistorius would be appearing in court on charges of murdering his girlfriend this week first broke.

Another public letdown

This is being banged out from a seat near the emergency door in the economy class of a Mumbai-Delhi flight. The flight is full, the queues at Mumbai airport long and slow-moving.

You are not in queue

Is there a subject more universally popular than that of billionaires and their worth? Annual lists, monthly lists, weekly lists, daily lists and soon perhaps a minute-by-minute, blow-by-blow account of pole positions throughout the day? After all, isn't Azim Premji immortalised, much to his embarrassment, as the man who rose to the top of the heap and became the richest man in the world for one day in his life? Are billionaires cast in a different mould? They're just like you and me with a few special hang-ups.HANG-UP 1: INSECURITY"If you want to be a millionaire, start with a billion dollars and spend all your time partying and having fun." I once found myself having tea with the son of a billionaire on a Saturday at his well-appointed office after a long interview. It was 8 pm; outside his window the area was emptying of its taxis and commuter queues and the twinkling lights of nearby hotels had begun coming on in a city that was getting ready to party. Why was this young man  wan,

Who wants to be a billionaire?

In an election year, is it too idealistic to expect a Budget independent of political exigencies?

Malavika Sangghvi