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February, 2006 »
- Archives: January 2006
- Yes, It's Arranged. Deal with It.
An American explains the marriage thing to his American friends.
- Are You A Desicritic?
If you have an interest in South Asia, enjoy writing, and would like greater visibility, Desicritics.org may be right for you.
- The Companies We Keep
The Indian government yearns for foreign direct investment, bending over backwards to attract it.
- Interview: Kay Kay Menon
An interview with Kay Kay, actor in films like Bhopal Express, Sarkar, and Paanch.
- Celebrity Blogging or Just a Fad?
Original voices and celebrity blogging
- Rock 'n Roll Karachi
Bryan Adams finally makes it to Karachi, Pakistan
- The Problems With Cricket
The United Kingdom gave up on cricket a long time ago, but sadly this so called sport still persists in the Empire's former colonies.
- Needed: Deeds Not Words - Will The US Rise To The Occasion?
Terrorism is a parasite that finds hosts in legitimate states. The LTTE has had more than just one host.
- Co-Branding - Dual Existence
Why gift an elephant with every mouse bought? Are marketers crazy, or is it a trap? Lets find out...
- Movie Review: Deepa Mehta's Water
Water, the final film of Deepa Mehta's trilogy which includes Earth and Fire, is a highly controversial, cinematic triumph.
- Movie Review: Crash (2004)
Relations and Race in contemporary America
- Diamonds Aren't Forever
One woman's pleasure is another's destruction
- Who (Wal)Farted?
Internal memo to WalFart stakeholders, reassuring them that the move into the "booming" Indian market is a smart one.
- Culture
An open comments space to discuss culture and society - have you got an opinion?
- The Why Way
This is the why way which has no institutional support
- Radio Redux: Discovering Satellite Radio
A Punjabi listens to satellite radio for the first time - and falls in love.
- A Letter From Andaman Cellular Jail
A mother writes to her son telling him about a hero----his grandfather.
- Solitude In Our Lives
As communal beings, why do we need solitude?
- Chalta Hai?...Probably Not
Right to Information Act in India....is this the beginning of the end of "chalta hai"?
- The Insanity Of Provincialism
What does Bangalore mean to you?
- Playboy Launching Goes On Amid Protests in Indonesia
Playboy's plan to launch an Indonesian version of the magazine is facing protests. What's with that?
- Evolution Of Palm Beach Marg
Changes in the urban landscape of Mumbai
- Crossing the Border: The Normalisation of Indo-Pak Relations
The normalisation of Indo-Pak relations continues.
- Waiting for the Mahatma - The Ramblings of the Confused and the Nervous
Waiting for the Mahatma in Burgundy bearing good news
- Bangalore Terror Implications Are Huge
This time, the terrorists have been extremely clever in locating their target
- Winds of Change In South Asia
Blogging in South Asian countries is unlocking opportunities to express our views, opinions and ideas.
- Desi Google Videos And Some Not So Desi
Desi videos curried with Satire and some western side dishes
- A Ride Home
At the very next station, I manage to get a fourth seat; and balance precariously. And so I balance, and watch the wonderful drama going
- Politics
If you think things can go better, or perhaps there's no hope, tell the world what should be done in this open comments space
- Welcome To Dateline Delhi
I will be very partial in my opinions. But I shall be factually accurate in my details.
- Movie Review: Silent Waters
An amazingly powerful tale of both personal struggle and historical significance set in 1979 Pakistan.
- Mumbai Desicritics Meetup, January 31st
I know its too early for a meet-up but what the heck!
- Bin Laden, The Voice
The United States of America continues to use these voice snippets to reassure the Americans of the constant looming threat
- Inspiring Goosebumps - A R Rahman's "Jana Gana Mana"
Rahman's musical direction in "Jana Gana Mana" video gave me goosebumps and inspired a poem...
- Satyajit Ray and Luis Bunuel - Our Films, Their Films
Pather Panchali and The River are related in many ways.
- Movie Review: Zinda - A Pair Of Panties, And Many Dead People
Zinda is one utterly incomprehensible movie with a crappy ending. But then, such is Bollywood, and such is life.
- The Sri Lankan People Do Want Everlasting Peace
The only answer is federalism, in a sense
- Book Review - Veronica Decides to Die
What happens when you have everything you wanted in life and have led a very satisfying life?
- Living Child Goddesses
Revered Goddesses or burden on society?
- Rhetoric Isn't Sufficient
The developed and the developing countries are not seeing eye to eye since the Doha round of the WTO talks.
- Sports
If you care for sports, or hate the very idea of physical exercise, express yourself in this open comments space
- My Big Fat Indian Wedding - "My Punjabi Nikka"
A remake with a difference
- Interview: Ashok Banker: Author Of The New Ramayana: Pt. 1
I could be a fictional construct you made up and posed questions to for this interview, and then answered yourself. What does it matter that
- Movie Review: Looking For Comedy in the Muslim World
If you are looking for comedy, there are plenty of laughs in this film for Brooks' fans, and for desis
- Hooked For Life
For the love of the game
- Why Does Kunwar Narain Not Have A Wikipedia Entry?
Unlike a typical encyclopedia, a gap in Wikipedia can be addressed by any one.
- 'Google.cn', Damn Ethics, We Do Business!
What happens when a firm faces a conflict between its 'purported' ethics and chance of making money?
- Uncles Long Arm
The U.S. warns India to vote to refer Iran to the Security Council, then backtracks - or does it?
- Dev Sahab And the Oscars
Dev Anand - the greatest living Indian director
- Yours emotionally - I
It is up to each one of us to make what we will of the opportunities that come our way, how we play the game.
- Just Another Thursday
The chasm between guilt and patriotism...
- Making The Horse Drink
President Rajapaske has proved that he is not what his opponents thought he was.
- Economics of Externalities
Guess who is paying for company profits?
- C/O Footpath
10yr old Kishan saw slum children selling newspapers and wanted to do something for them...
- Arrest Warrant Issued For Benazir Bhutto, Al Zarqawi
The first arrest warrant issued against Al Zarqawi, also another against Benazir Bhutto
- Like a Virgin
Our society is fixated on maintaining youth, defying age along with the concept of being 'perfect'.
- The Kindness Of Strangers
Like most orphans she never believed in the small kindnesses offered by the world.
- The Attention Economy
The only incentive to upload content is the "attention" that flows in. However, "attention" can potentially render some content to be more "successful".
- Not A Slave Child
My birth is the outcome of an extraordinary set of circumstances and surprising choices made by men and women who lived by their ideals.
- Movie Review: Rang De Basanti
Every once in a while you find a movie being made in some corner of the world, that stirs your conscience.
- Mumbai - Hutchs Pink City
Hutch revamps brand Orange and paints it Pink - does it really matter? Do colors impact a brand's image?
- Can Indian Companies' HR Help Them Deal With Free Agent And Virtual Teams?
Indian organizations and free agents, virtual teams and diversity
- Imaginary Homelands
They say you can never go home again.
- Tax Agriculture This Budget!
I am going to make a strong plea to bring agricultural income under the tax net
- Interview: Ashok Banker Writer Of The Modern Ramayana: Pt. 2
Yes, of course, I wish to reclaim Indian history. Not only for Indians, but for all to read.
- Walmart Critics - Get The Facts Right
Anti Wal-Mart crusaders are all fart and no shit.
- Introducing Virgin Comics
Richard Branson, Deepak Chopra, Gotham Comics and Shekhar Kapur launch Virgin Comics!
- Science, Religion And Society
The problem with the current discussion on "Intelligent Design" as it is being approached in US is that it is being approached with a premise
- Just Don't Say "Don't Be Evil"
Larry and Sergey, all I ask from you is to drop the "Don't be Evil" motto.
- Expel David Mulford, US Ambassador To India
David Mulford has made India contingent to prove its sovereignty and the debate has shifted from Indo-Iran to Indo-US.
- Of Babysitting And Child Labor
From Virginia to Bangalore, and the distance between.
- Book Review - Cuckold by Kiran Nagarkar
It is a triangular love story, a story of peace, a story of friendship, a story of war and strategies
- Disabled: The Invisible Minority
Of course I notice they don't have handicap elevators or ramps leading up to bell towers
- Not So Ordinary Women
There was a time when 'Journalism' was considered one of the non-traditional professions for Indian women.
- Google Launches Search Website For Sri Lanka
Google launches an exclusive search engine for the Sri Lankan community, and indications of a verticalized Google.
- The Dirty Thirty
A UCLA alumni group is targeting professors to expose their apparent leftist agenda...
- Book Review: The Interpreter of Maladies
Stories of the immigrant, the stranger, the other. They leave us with new understandings of loneliness and longing.
- Indian Self Fulfilling Prophecies
A self fulfilling prophecy is a prophecy in itself.
- Bathiya & Santhush 'Celebrate The Fusion' In Sri Lanka
Bathiya & Santhush will serve as Coca Cola brand ambassadors in Sri Lanka
- "Will I Become Fairer Like Her, If I Go To Amrika?" - Discovering India
You encounter beauty within the utter chaos, get lost in the multitude of crowds shoulder to shoulder.
- Morality Is The Greatest Roadblock In Our Journey
These are days when, at least in the US, Morality is big business.
- American India Foundation Calls For Medicorps Applications
Applicants with HIV/AIDS-related expertise are encouraged to apply.
- Delicious Desi Aunties
Baraka fondly recalls an era when girls blossomed into voluptuous womanhood - without rabbit food or torturous exercise devices being involved.
- Sex, Lies and Videotapes.
The phenomenon of sexual abuse of the young, of widows and other single women is more than evident in the daily newspapers.
- Kiran Desai And "The Inheritance Of Loss"
A discussion of the book with Kiran Desai
- Paritrana, The Ideological Chimera
Paritrana calls themselves "the" Political party for the Bharat of the 21st century
- The Desi Party
"So when did you have your first cultural shock when you first came to America and what was it?"
- Rang De Basanti - Inquilab Zindabad! - Well, The Rebel Has Arrived
We have one leg on the past and one leg on the future, and we are peeing on the present
- Ms. Rita Goes To India - A Short Vignette
She is an Indian-American and is right now in Delhi, India for Christmas break.
- An Interview with Robert Scott, Co-Author Of The Eldarn Sequence
So sit back and enjoy reading Robert Scott telling the story of the creation of The Eldarn Sequence
- Gay Sexuality Not Welcome
For centuries being a homosexual in India has been a taboo and considered a curse.
- The Story Of Three Chickens -TCS, Wipro & Infosys
For the record, I disagree with the rankings or the comparison made in such a narrow sense.
- Movie Review: Rang De Basanti Sucks!
How many times will a Muslim have to prove that he is an Indian as much as any other in a movie?
- What Are These Double Standards? Would America Share Power With Bin-Laden?
Lets be done with Peace Talks. Lets not go to war.
- One Giant Robot "Looking For Humor In The Muslim World", India, and Albert Brooks
One could be gracious and give the benefit of the doubt to Albert Brooks and those involved in his most recent film.
- Desicritics On Rang De Basanti
Desicritics have varied reactions to the film - a roundup.
- Sania Mirza And The Padma Shree
Why can't we achieve global excellence in sports?
- Mittal Steel Bids For Arcelor - Why?
The bid of Rotterdam based Mittal steel has stunned everyone including Arcelor which has termed it as 'hostile'.
- Revisionist History For California Textbooks - Whose History?
Were the Aryans like the Muslim invaders, colonists, or migrants like them, from the north-west?
- Politics Of Terrorism
What is terrorism? Is it what the 'good countries' say it is?
- Theatre Review: Bali Aur Shambhu
A funny but poignant play that opened in Mumbai on 26th January
- The Future Of Technology & Business
A report on a panel at the WEF with Geoffrey Moore, Bill Gates, John Chambers, Eric Schmidt & Niklaus Zinnstorm
- Balochistan Blues: Another Bangladesh In the Making?
A round-up of events in Balochistan, Pakistan - the next Bangladesh?
- Four Guys, A Manager And The Pie
The unofficial pies are bigger and of better quality than the official ones!
- Exclusive Interview With Pakistan's Pervez Musharraf (Satire)
Pervez Musharraf talks about the Indo-Pak peace process. He also invites Sonia Gandhi to Azad Kashmir for the Italy-Pakistan Badminton series,
- Jargonnaut - Ideas Beget Ideas
An idea emerges. Suddenly, a band of thinkers leaps out and proceeds to love it not wisely, but too well.
- It Is Included!
There is definitely something about food that comes as part of something else you have paid for.
- Tender Humanity
Inspired by Anne Rice - a tribute to the victims of the Tsunami and the New Orleans disaster
- Sri Lanka Dialog Launches BlackBerry Mobile Device
Dr. Hans Wijayasuriya explaining the new product said that the company had waited a long time to launch the device.
- Tendulkar - Is This The Beginning Of The End?
So, there is still some life left in the Tendulkar industry. And it is that life that Moin Khan is trying to latch on to.
- Searching for 'Sita'
Indian society (at least a part of it) and it's obsession with a 'Sita'-like image for every women !!
- Music Review: The Darkness - One Way Ticket To Hell And Back
They should have never been sold the ticket back from hell.
- James Frey And An End To Sharing
...he marked the beginning of the end of sharing oneself, and we can all go back to sharing chocolates and comics.
- Friendship Across Borders
India and Pakistan may be fighting for each inch of land, but the people on the other hand are the innocent fun loving people
- India Ascendant
It is just not possible to control the fire when ample fuel is available.
- Bangalore v Rest of India
A native Bangalorean's take on the subtle differences between the "IT city" and the Rest of India.
- Passenger Train Derails In Pakistan
Six or Nine coaches plunge into a ravine, casualities feared.
- Filmfare Awards: Pain Is A Many-Splendoured Thing
Anticipating the 51st Filmfare Awards with a retrospective of the Golden Jubilee edition in 2005.
- Hatch Your Chickens Before They Count - Mall Road Introduces Insurance For Blogs
I always told my blogger pals to get their blogs insured. They said I was alarmist. See how some superior blogs are being attacked!
- Karachi Rocks To Bryan Adams
Bryan Adams comes to Karachi for the first ever international mega-concert and Karachi greets him with a Night to Remember
- The Notebook - Remembrance Of Things Past
What is true love? It is what was shared between my grandparents as by elderly Noah and his wife.
- Global Warming
It is a question of when, not if.
- Movie Review: Rang De Basanti - Watch The Film
A movie with a heart. A movie that will make you laugh a lot and allow you a tear or two.
- Merging Wal-Marts Into Indian Cities
Any talk of rabid and profit-hungry corporations with scant regard for societal good cannot exclude Wal-Mart.
- Young & Resurgent India Time For An Action Bias
Keen focus on India at the World Economic Forum in Davos
- Yours Emotionally - II
...A fairly plausible story whose value is documenting the realities of Indias homosexual males.What does it do beyond that?
- Americans, Peace Talks And Terrorists
"We do not negotiate with terrorists. We put them out of business. We must not stop until they are defeated".
- An Interview With Paritrana
An interview with Paritrana's national treasurer, Chandrashekhar.
- Media Errors And Miss India 2006
Trina Chakravarty crowned Miss India 2006, or is she?
- Controversy On Hinduism In California Text Books
I subscribe to the "open-source" nature of exploratory spiritual journey that all the Vedic Rishis subscribed to AND adhered to.
- Cafe Chino : Pepsi's Bad Idea
Why did Pepsi India go ahead and launch a Pepsi Caf Chino flavor?
- Making Money Off Iraq
The Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction finds over $90 million unaccounted for.
- Movie Review: Rang De Basanti
Rang De Basanti is a movie you should watch. Great characters, terrific music, slick and a strong concept.
- History Colored, Again!
We live in an era of a market-driven economy. Competition is accepted as healthy in all aspects of life.
- Book Review - One Night@Call Centre
The narrative can be said to be gripping, but lacking content.
- Revolutionaries of One Era are Moderates of Another
The sanctity of a journey is in the journey itself.
- Is India Getting Expensive As A Devolopment Base?
Many things can be accomplished more effectively without making press statements
- Was Nehru Bad for India?
Of all the incompetent people India has had to deal with over the last 5000 years, he is way up there.
- And That's How You Lose The Initiative
How India let the initiative go in the 2nd Test at Karachi
- India And Hamas - India's History With The Palestinian Cause
In a sense, India and Palestinians share the same revolutionary ethos-- that of oppressed people
- Movie Review: Munich
This controversial film doesn't underline an overwhelming point of view and therein lies one of its strengths.
- Can We Trust Google?
Who has ever said that Privacy is only the concern of criminals?
- Sevagram Notes: The Two Gandhis
I realized that to understand Gandhi was to understand India and vice-versa.
- Book Review: Scarless Face & Other Stories
A fine collection of retellings of stories from the Buddhist, Hindu and Muslim canon.
- Random Transcontinental Thoughts
No women were hurt in writing this blog. The only hurt remains with yours truly.
- Angrezi Phillum, Hindustani Raag - Project Outsourced
On Hindustani Compositions in Project Outsourced
- Book Review: The Hickory Staff
The Hickory Staff is a book well worth reading, and what's even better is that you know there's more of the same still to come.
- The Hamas Victory - What It Means For Democracy
The victory of Hamas in the Palestinian elections is being seen as a failure of democracy.
- The English Patient - (Not) A review
The English Patient is a novel for those who enjoy "good literature", specially "good poetry".
- Western Muslims Are Terrorists' "Collateral Damage"
When my father came to England in the 1960s, London was a nasty, brutish place for Asians.
- Will McKenna Endorse Buddy Ignatieff ?
It is a black Monday for the Canadian Liberal party.
- On Narnia - The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe
First impressions on Chronicles of Narnia
- Hemingway In Haryana
I'm interested as a writer in the injustice rampant in our societies, but I'm also curious about language and its uses.
- Book Review: Bodies In Motion - Mary Anne Mohanraj
The post-colonial experience is still fresh for the children of the sub-continent.
- Google- Dont be Evil
The reality vs. the hypocrisy of Google's latest move.
- What's Thy Name, Basanti?
Most people seem to see "Rang De Basanti" as the Swades of 2006
- Living in America
Living in America, or Amrika, is initially a challenge for many newly arrived immigrants, espcially desis.
- Indo-US N-deal: More Clarity Needed
We follow up on the issue of Indo-US nuclear deal with details on the recent developments.
- Thoughts On Baluchistan
The origins and present state of Baluchistan's disaffection with Pakistan.
- Laloo Joins The BJP
The charismatic leader cites divine intervention.
- Bangladesh Is Still Waiting For Mujib
We are the first generation that has benefited from those struggles without having to go through sacrifices.
- And Yes, Australia Is Racist
"What is Racism?" Is it, when you dislike a man who is brown? Or is it when you only dislike him because he is brown?
- Why Can't Women Keep Secrets?
How many people does it take to keep a secret?
- Enron India - You've got mail
An investigation of Enron e-mails reveals some interesting facts about its India operations.
- Our Glamorous World
Being under "a glamour" used to mean being under a spell. Now, well it means pretty much the same thing doesn't it?
- Indrajal Comics - The Game Of Treachery (Hindi)
The game of treachery is being played out at Wamba Falls Inn and someone has to stop it. Soon.
- Where The Mind Is Without Fear
Today, at the dawn of a new century, India is well on its way to realizing its true potential.
February, 2006 »
- Yes, It's Arranged. Deal with It.
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