OPEN 18 JANUARY 2021 / 50 www.openthemagazine.com VOLUME 13 ISSUE 2 13 ISSUE VOLUME 18 JANUARY 2021 18 JANUARY CONTENTS 18 JANUARY 2021 5 INDRAPRASTHA 12 TOUCHSTONE 16 OPINION 20 OPEN ESSAY By Virendra Kapoor Truth as the beginning Whitelash Who is an Indian? By Keerthik Sasidharan By Minhaz Merchant By Mani Shankar Aiyar 6 MUMBAI NOTEBOOK 14 SOFT POWER 18 WHISPERER By Anil Dharker America’s ally By Jayanta Ghosal By Makarand R Paranjape 28 Introduction By S Prasannarajan 30 THE POLITICS OF GRIEVANCE The cycle of agitations against the Modi government is unlikely to end anytime soon By PR Ramesh 40 THE DAY OF 36 THE WOLF WARRIOR WAITING FOR With all eyes on the new US administration, China looks THE STIMULANT Vaccination and restoration set to consolidate its gains while of mobility can enable the India may find itself lonely government to undertake a By Sudeep Paul fiscal stimulus without fear 44 of wasting money By Siddharth Singh OFFICE POLITICS The future is remote and virtual. For better or worse? By Madhavankutty Pillai 48 A TEST FOR NEW INDIA 52 MASTERS AND 56 THE RUSTLE OF IDEAS The challenges of being the best SUBVERSIVES The art of everything personal and political By Lhendup G Bhutia Orhan Pamuk’s plague novel By Nandini Nair to Kazuo Ishiguro’s love story, from Jhumpa Lahiri’s first 62 TRUE TO LIFE 65 NOT PEOPLE LIKE US Italian novel to Jeet Thayil’s Biopics and adaptations Thank you, dear reader feminist testament add to the thrill By Rajeev Masand By Nandini Nair By Divya Unny Cover by Saurabh Singh 18 JANUARY 2021 www.openthemagazine.com 3 OPEN MAIL
[email protected] EDITOR S Prasannarajan LETTER OF THE WEEK MANAGING EDITOR PR Ramesh C EXECUTIVE EDITOR Ullekh NP Leaders are marked out by their resolve and EDITOR-AT-LARGE Siddharth Singh DEPUTY EDITORS Madhavankutty Pillai composure in adversity (‘Forged in Fire’, January 11th, (Mumbai Bureau Chief), 2021).