12 Another Summer of Discontent In a city where crackdowns on protesters as are common as the azadi chant, and lives can be lost routinely, what exactly is different about the police action at NIT, Srinagar 32 Camera Obscura The NDA government’s Pakistan policy suffers a lack of clarity 54 Thought-less Bubbles Has the spirit and the sizzle gone out of advertising Ad gurus, creatives and account executives are all unanimous—it has. 82 Armed, Adorned, Not to be Scorned Body-builder, trainer, biker and belly-dancer all at once, Yashmeen Manak is redefining the world of competitive fitness for women 3 LEADERS 6 LETTERS 16 SEVEN DAYS 52 BIZTRO 64 THE SKED 84 BOOKS 86 THE REVIEWS 88 TRENDING 90 DIARY POLITICS Headwinds against ‘Poriborton’: The “balanced” appeasement of neominorities by the Congress- Left alliance in Bengal by SANDIP GHOSE POLITICS Analysing Assam: Predicting the poll outcome, only the basis of the turnout has its perils, especially in lower Assam INTERNATIONAL America’s unpaid crusaders: volunteers are the backbone of the current US presidential election campaign by ABHIJIT MAZUMDAR EDUCATION An open letter to Smriti Irani on the HRD ministry’s ranking and non-ranking of B-schools