'Sachin Pilot once calculated that with a million Indians flooding the labour market every month, only an additional 12 million jobs annually could keep unemployment at the same level.' 'That's chickenfeed for the functionaries who cram my e-mail inbox every day with such a constant flow of job offers that trying to empty it is like trying to drink dry the horn connected to the ocean in Norse mythology,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.

'None of his grandparents, and only one of his parents, was born in the US or spoke English as their mother tongue.' 'Of his three wives, one was born in Czechoslovakia and one in Slovenia.' 'Where would Trump have been if they, too, had 'rejected the ideology of globalism and embraced the doctrine of patriotism'?' asks Sunanda K Datta-Ray.

The ultimate was surely Yudhishthira's immortal "Aswathama hatha...", followed by a whispered "iti narova kunjarova..."," says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.

'India, he announced, is a "free, open, inclusive region" committed to the "common pursuit of progress and prosperity".' 'Prosperity yes. But free? Open?' 'Ask the Dalit tanner, the Muslim butcher, the Christian priest who writes pastoral letters.' 'Ask cattle traders of any religion or a Delhiwallah who enjoys a juicy steak.' 'Ask a Muslim who falls in love with a Hindu or vice versa,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.

'Mr Trump is too capricious to be trusted,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.

'No one knows whether exposure to the Nobel process would be to her liking, or would benefit her symbolic position above the fray,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.

'Perhaps it isn't protocol at all, but power before which we abase ourselves,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.

Blackmail on one side and bullying on the other doesn't make for a constructive partnership, says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.

'The non-vegetarian share of the population fell from 75 to 71 per cent between 2004 and 2014, no doubt in anticipation of the lotus blooming.' 'Three years of saffron authoritarianism may have thinned the non-vegetarian ranks even more,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.

'If the volume of ceaseless chatter causes surprise, so does the boorishness of many mobile users.' 'The richer an Indian, the more s/he rates phones over politeness. It screams status,' notes Sunanda K Datta-Ray.

'His prowess in Aikido -- a Japanese martial art that focuses on harmony with the opponent to peacefully resolve conflicts -- gives Rahul Gandhi an advantage that fanatical adversaries lack,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.

An insistence on only one language will inevitably be resented as a form of imperialism and resisted.

'With the appeal of both the Left and the Congress fading, Banerjee fears the saffron brigade's inroads into her citadel,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.

'There is no evidence of newspapers and television channels ganging up to wage a coordinated war to expose the BSP, destroy the AIADMK, malign Kejriwal, discredit Lalu or defame Mamata.' 'But it's of interest that none of these exposes threatens the 12 states the BJP controls,' says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.

Ataturk and Nehru, two liberal secular modernisers, are in peril of being disowned by their successors, says Sunanda K-Datta Ray.

It's something to remember as New Delhi welcomes Sheikh Hasina, says Sunanda K Datta-Ray.

Had the slain Indian-American engineer stayed in India, he would have earned less but his life might have been spared, Sunanda K Datta-Ray says, pondering the question of where one belongs.

Narendra Modi can pick up a tip from the Samajwadi Party ramlila. If he doesn't want L K Advani as President, he might anoint him Bharatiya Bhishma Pitamah, suggests Sunanda K Datta-Ray.

Sunanda K Datta-Ray considers them sound in theory, but incapable of making any dent in the corruption that is India's way of life.

'Can anyone honestly say with hand on heart that our streets and office buildings, railways and other public spaces are any cleaner?'