Nicholas D. Kristof: A Most Meaningful Gift Idea, Kuldip Nayyar, Cyril Almeida and Ahsan, Harris Khalique, Ayaz Amir

Nicholas D. Kristof: A Most Meaningful Gift Idea A needed and laudable column...strangely missing from his recommendations is Edhi and Mortenson's foundations!

Kuldip Nayyar - Advani has said that with Sushma Swaraj as his successor in the Lok Sabha and Arun Jaitley as the opposition leader in the Rajya Sabha, “a new chapter” has begun. A change of personalities does not usher a new chapter, a change of policies does. The BJP has given no evidence to suggest that it has jettisoned its communal agenda or that it has distanced itself from the fanatic Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).

Cyril Almeida's response to the volleys of Kurd and Gilani. And another lame response by Iijaz Ahsan.

Change of guards ceremony at Quaid’s mausoleum

Harris Khalique - The dilapidated Quaid-e-Azam House Museum in Karachi, which I visited last week with a colleague, is a reflection of what importance Jinnah really enjoys. Neither there is water to maintain the lawn nor does the building structure is lit up in the night. Remember, we do have resources to build lush green parks by the sea in posh neighbourhoods and maintain a palatial Governor's House in the vicinity.

Ayaz Amir - Zardari has a past. But who in the current pantheon -- politician, tycoon or even jurisprudential giant -- is without some kind of a past or the other? All their lordships in the Supreme Court once-upon-a-time were counted as PCO judges, taking oath at the altar of Musharraf's first PCO. But no one is saying that because of that they should commit hara-kiri. On the contrary, the nation is wishing them well and urging them to do their best in the performance of their duties (although, at the same time, earnestly wishing that their lordships would refrain from the temptation of fixing the prices of such things as sugar and petroleum).