In February 1994, I received a hotline call from then state home secretary Manish Gupta. He asked whether I, as Murshidabad DM, could quickly conceptualise a border area development scheme.
Consider Asha Bhosle and Kishore Kumar’s duet ‘Chhod Do Aanchal’. The sequence was set in a flower garden, and the girl’s bashfulness was not even remotely relatable to a cabaret dancer.
We now live in a world order that will keep shifting. India must use this window. This also means we remain disciplined enough not to be knee-jerked into reacting to what Pakistan sees as its moment in the sun.
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