Shashi on Sunday

The 'All That Matters' page in The Sunday Times has for long contained columns by a bunch of eminent writers -- 'Swaminomics' by Swaminathan A. Aiyar (Consulting Editor, The Economic Times), 'Men & Ideas' by Gurcharan Das (Author, India Unbound) / 'Indiaspora' by C. Rajghatta, 'Jugular Vein' by Jug Suraiya (the man behind Dubyaman), 'Politically Incorrect' by Shobhaa De / 'Flat World' by Thomas Friedman (Author, The World is Flat) and 'Erratica' by Bachi Karkaria. But this post is about non of these. Its about a new column that has been added to this illustirous list since January this year. I am talking about 'Shashi on Sunday' by Shashi Tharoor.

The man who joined the United Nations at the age of 22 and captured national headlines a few months back when he was nominated by India as its candidate for the post of UN Secretary General, has written a series of interesting articles in the weekly edition of the national daily. I generally don't like to make sweeping statements, but I would not hesitate to say that 'Shashi on Sunday' is arguably one of the best columns that I have come across in the Indian print media in recent years.

This post is not about Shashi Tharoor - the person. So, if you interested in knowing more about him, you might want to visit the following links :
His Website
Information about him on Wikipedia

Coming back to 'Shashi on Sunday', what has captured my imagination the most are the views expressed in it by Shashi Tharoor, and the easy and free flowing narration of the column. Also interestingly, the column refuses to comment on the 'Big Story' of the week. It ignores the hot debates and takes up relatively lighter issues. It comments on matters which are not immediate but are never-the-less relevant in these 'Times of Change'. To cut a long description short, I would simply refer you to some of my favorite editions of the column :

Making the most of India's soft power
The elephant who became a tiger
India, Jones and the Temple of Dhoom

If you go through these articles, it will give you a better sense of what I am trying to say. As for me, this is Saturday night and I am waiting for the morning, when I will get hold of yet another edition of The Sunday Times and turn to my favorite column -- 'Shashi on Sunday'.