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SG Writings On The Wall

Writings on the Wall is a metaphor that grew out of my travels, mostly through the poll-bound regions of India and the neighbourhood over nearly 25 years. Because, even more than its big festivals, the subcontinent comes to life during its elections. And what’s on people’s minds, their aspirations, joys, concerns and fears, you can pretty much understand by reading these writings on the wall. These can be graffiti, advertising, skylines, fences, or even rubble.

2015 Writings on Bihar walls:First stirrings of aspiration beyond caste, identity & bijli-sadak-pani

ThePrint Videos - October 6, 2025

Bihar isn’t ‘ruined’ by agri reform. This ‘branded underwear theory’ from 2010 shows why

Punjab’s frustration & anger is rooted in its steep decline, now visible in farmers’ protests

Aspiration and desperation in UP’s East

Huggies diapers in Vaishali, Muslim-Dalit IIT-Jee coalition

Shekhar Gupta - May 7, 2014

Bihar is the cradle of India's post-1975 politics. The JP movement that provoked the Emergency and started the process of the Congress party's decline,...

The rich and the ostrich

Shekhar Gupta - April 30, 2014

Absolute truths do not matter. Which is why, even in landslide election verdicts in India, voter swings are rarely in double digits.

Mere pass space hai

SGIN - April 23, 2014

Space is the currency of Mumbai and in such short, finite supply, it occupies the minds of everyone — the rich, the poor, and the powerful.

Navi Calcutta

Shekhar Gupta - April 23, 2014

Wasseypur, immortalised in Anurag Kashyap's violent two-part epic, is now more or less subsumed by the expanding coal town of Dhanbad, and located in...

Stumbling on Sonianomics

Shekhar Gupta - April 23, 2014

You want to know what I mean, come to Borunda, a village deep in Rajasthan's desert wilderness. You heard and read that name for...

In a tearing hurry-ana

SGIN - April 22, 2014

A new Haryanvi machismo & urbanisation-fuelled hedonism is on the rise while identity politics is slowly on its way out in the heavily caste-ridden, allegedly khap panchayat-ruled state.

Coaching colonels in Bundelkhand, Einstein Public School in Lalganj

SGIN - April 22, 2014

From coaching classes in Bundelkhand to 'international' schools in Lalganj, Uttar Pradesh is reflecting the upsurge in aspirations just like the rest of the country.

Bengal stands up to ask for more

SGIN - January 13, 2014

Every teacher in a journalism school and, subsequently, every guru in a newsroom tells you one central principle: Never approach a story with pre-conceived...

From Soviet Union in Alimuddin Street to a Watch Repair Shop in Singur

SGIN - May 12, 2011

Some conclusions look obvious after travelling through West Bengal in the last week of the election campaign. One, that we are guilty of exaggerating...

When lonely Lalu misses ‘gentleman’ Sonia, and a Muslim calls Nitish ‘sher ka bachcha’

SGIN - November 23, 2010

Bihar's traditional political equations are changing and all you have to do is look at the two biggest names — Nitish Kumar and Lalu Prasad Yadav.

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SG Writings On The Wall

2015 Writings on Bihar walls:First stirrings of aspiration beyond caste, identity & bijli-sadak-pani

Bihar isn’t ‘ruined’ by agri reform. This ‘branded underwear theory’ from 2010 shows why

Punjab’s frustration & anger is rooted in its steep decline, now visible in farmers’ protests

Aspiration and desperation in UP’s East

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