Imbroglio continues!'

The Indian Government called off the secretary-level talks with Pakistan and that had the newspapers' headlines screaming - 'Imbroglio continues!'

Imbroglio is our word of the week. 

Imbroglio is an expression used to describe a perplexing or an intricate state of affairs that is often more complicated than it appears on the surface. The word also refers to a misunderstanding or a disagreement of a bitter or complicated nature between two entities (now, these could be people, political parties, groups or even nations). 

Categorized as Mawkish.

Political memoirs seem to be the flavour of the literary world this time of the year. You had a former media adviser to the former PM writing his memoirs and now one has Natwar Singh - a former bureaucrat and cabinet minister, penning his version of how events unfolded when he was 'active' in politics. 
The reviews haven't been kind. And both these books, like most in this category in the past, have been categorized as mawkish. 
That's our word this week - mawkish. It reflects having a mildly nauseating flavour  often characterized by sickly sentimentality.   

India regained its sovereignty - this day, another time!

We could not have let this occasion slip and not put up a word. Today is India's Independence Day. 
Well, the appropriate word is 'sovereign'. So when one says that on this day in 1947 - India regained its sovereignty - it means that India became an entity (a nation) that had supreme power. A nation that's supreme, preeminent, and indisputably independent of any other authority or monarchy. 
That's sovereign for you - supreme, preeminent, having supreme authority. 

Denunciation of Dhoni and his boys!

For all those who felt that the shorter versions of the game will take the gloss away from real Cricket, the excitement the current Test Series in England has aroused - this is a moment of truth. It is another matter that the Indian team's fortunes are headed south and that despite being one up in the Series - Indians have completely lost the plot in the last couple of games. If only the passion and intensity with which the denunciation of the Indian team is taking place over cups of coffee and large Patiala-pegs is something to go by - one would wonder what led to this premature burial of the gentleman's game. Test Cricket is alive and kicking.

And our word for this week is 'denunciation'. It means public condemnation or censure. 

Is your mojo working for you?

For long people have either got attracted by someone's mojo or have got disenchanted by the lack of it. That's our word of this week - mojo. It means personal magnetism or charm and the word owes its origin to witchcraft. It also is used for the art or practice of casting magic spells or voodoo.