menu_open Columnists
Harikrishnan S

Harikrishnan S

Mathrubhumi English

We use cookies to provide some features and experiences in QOSHE

More information  .  Close

Defiance in Bengal, suspense in Tamil Nadu, Shakespeare in Kerala

Defiance in Bengal, suspense in Tamil Nadu, Shakespeare in Kerala

India's political theatre has always had a flair for melodrama. But what is unfolding across the country now is no longer politics that...

latest 4

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

Epic fury, declared victory, denied reality

Epic fury, declared victory, denied reality

There is a peculiar kind of dishonesty that creeps into discussions on war, especially when the facts are uncomfortable. It dresses itself up as...

previous day 10

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

Onions, folklore and failed scientific temper

Onions, folklore and failed scientific temper

It begins, as these things increasingly do, with something that sounds harmless. A Union Minister says he keeps an onion in his pocket to beat a...

05.05.2026 10

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

Great Nicobar may not be a scam, but it may be too much

Great Nicobar may not be a scam, but it may be too much

The debate over the Great Nicobar project has quickly turned into a familiar shouting match. It was re-ignited a few days ago when Rahul Gandhi...

01.05.2026 20

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

UAE's OPEC walkout will not end USD reign

UAE's OPEC walkout will not end USD reign

The temptation, when a country like the United Arab Emirates walks out of Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), is to read it as...

29.04.2026 10

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

Donald Trump and the discipline of Indiscipline

There is a temptation to dismiss United States President Donald Trump as an aberration, a crude interruption in an otherwise continuous arc of...

25.04.2026 20

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

An extended ceasefire that changes nothing

There is a certain pattern to the way this crisis (Iran-US) has unfolded, and it is hard to ignore once you see it. A ceasefire is announced with some...

22.04.2026 20

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

US-Iran meet in Islamabad: Vance moves, but motives mute

There is a particular kind of analysis that thrives in moments like this. An analysis that stitches together travel schedules, silences,...

21.04.2026 20

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

Counting women, counting seats

There is a peculiar comfort in numbers. They arrive with an air of finality, stripped of emotion, seemingly untouched by ideology. In public policy,...

18.04.2026 20

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

Delimitation and the illusion of neutral numbers

India is once again at one of those quiet turning points that do not announce themselves with drama, but with data. The map doing the rounds is not...

17.04.2026 20

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

Trump's absurd Strait stunt

United States President Donald Trump has said and done countless stupid things in public. Few, however, match the spectacular idiocy of ordering the...

14.04.2026 20

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

A ceasefire built for headlines, not peace

Donald Trump is once again doing what he does best. He is trying to market confusion as statesmanship, improvisation as strategy, and a pause in...

11.04.2026 10

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

The Profanity of Power : How Donald Trump turns war into spectacle

Donald Trump has a gift for taking an already dangerous situation and making it utterly morally vulgar. What should have been handled with discipline,...

07.04.2026 10

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

When Rupee speaks more honestly than the government

India's falling rupee is not an illusion. Nor is it some harmless technical fluctuation to be explained away by the same regime that once treated...

04.04.2026 20

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

Middle East War: When brinkmanship becomes policy

There is a particular kind of instability that does not announce itself with declarations of war but rather advances in increments; each actor...

01.04.2026 20

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

When history is edited: Rethinking Iran’s story

The conversation around Iran is rarely an honest one. It is curated, edited, and presented in fragments that serve a larger narrative. What is offered...

23.03.2026 30

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

India at the edge of the Strait

There are moments in geopolitics when abstractions collapse into hard reality, and right now we are witnessing one of them. For years, India has...

19.03.2026 30

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

Washington headed for Vietnam-style trap in Iran?

History has a habit of repeating itself, not in identical form but in familiar patterns. The United States learned one of its most painful strategic...

17.03.2026 30

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

Process as punishment: When procedure becomes optional

A Delhi court has done something both ordinary and extraordinary. It has simply applied the law. In acquitting Arvind Kejriwal in two cases arising...

28.02.2026 20

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

Inside the Robot Dog episode; Lessons from the AI Summit row

At first glance, the controversy over the quadruped robot displayed at the recent AI summit in Delhi may seem trivial: a university overreaching, an...

22.02.2026 100

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

If the government believes this agreement strengthens India, it should present the full strategic calculus. And, if it...

The joint statement on the so-called Interim Agreement between India and the United States reads less like a partnership document and more like a...

16.02.2026 70

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

Between Washington’s tariffs and Beijing’s ambitions: India’s diplomatic dilemma

It is one thing for a nation to be squeezed by great powers; it is quite another to look like you are enjoying the squeeze. Unfortunately, that was...

10.09.2025 20

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

National Film Awardee: Mediocrity took a victory lap in 2025

Once upon a time, not so long ago, the National Film Awards were the most coveted honour in Indian cinema; a rare sanctuary where craft mattered more...

08.08.2025 40

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S

View: Has Israel bitten off more than it can chew?

Israel, that ivory tower of martial confidence, now finds itself precariously perched on a crumbling edifice. What seemingly began as a determined...

18.06.2025 30

Mathrubhumi English

Harikrishnan S