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- Archives: February 2007
- Unfettered Religious Freedom in Islam – A Fact or Fiction? Part 3
Were the Muslims that entered Mecca a peaceful and lovable people or were they deadly and cruel enough to destroy the weak Mecca pagans?
- Book Review: The Acid Alkaline Balance Diet: An Innovative Program for Ridding Your Body of Acidic Wastes by Felicia Drury Kliment
A useful book for people struggling to find a simple, effective diet plan.
- Music Review: Kevin Coyne Sugar Candy Taxi
Even though Kevin is no longer with us, he has left a wonderful legacy behind him
- Movie Review: Shaan - A Look Back
A big-budgeted multi-starrer starring AB himself and we are not talking about Guru either.
- The Complete Works of Sipla Poppadum aka Shilpa Shetty
A critical (!) appreciation of the works of the winner of Celebrity Big Brother.
- The Terrorism Awareness Project
The Terrorism Awareness Project aims to bring awareness to American college students about the threat of jihadi terrorism.
- Travel Essay: Ranganthittu Bird Sanctuary
Just three kilometers off the busy Bangalore-Mysore is an unexpected and delightful surprise for the nature-loving traveler.
- Book Review: Hacks and Headlines- Rashme Sehgal's First Novel
One hopes there is a powerful sequel with a redemptive message for the corrupt soul of Indian body politic.
- Movie Reviews: A Scanner Darkly (2006) and 13 (Tzameti) (2006)
Paranoia, cynicism, sadism, gore, death and really enjoyable movies.
- Website Review: Willow TV - Online Cricket Broadcasting
Cannot get Dish or DirecTV? Try Willow TV!
- Lost in the Supermarket - A Transcultural Perspective on the Retail Business
In their quest to woo the consumer some of these new generation grocery chains are learning from the traditional retailers
- Microsoft Pays Someone To Correct Wikipedia Entries - So What?
Microsoft is being hounded for their decision to pay an independent writer to update some Wikipedia entries, and they should be left alone...
- Movie Review: Savalee - A Sensitive Marathi Film
Savalee is the story of a veteran classical singer Ramabai Shirodkar and her daughter Sanika.
- Unfettered Religious Freedom in Islam - A Fact or Fiction? Part 4
That Islam accords 'total religious freedom to all other religions,' thus, amounts to misinforming, misleading and spreading falsehood.
- Travel Scraps: How I Met Meijin
... all the neighbors stared at me in awe. This was some bargaining – bringing it straight down from 4500 to 350!!
- Twenty Minutes of Water Was All I Could Take - It's Pretentious
... what purpose did exposing, in the raw, the unjustified treatment of widows in Varanasi serve, other than exposing for the sake of an expose?
- Cricket: Does Team India Need Virender Sehwag?
Why would you want Virender Sehwag to return to the fold when all is so supremely hunky dory without him? Right?
- Book Review: Shout For The Dead - The Ascendants Of Estorea: Book Two James Barclay
Barclay is at his storytelling and adventure creation best.
- Cartoon: Priceless Vista
Vista has arrived, minus the Price-tag!
- Confessions of Three Former Terrorists Not Heard
Warning about the danger of radical Islam offends Muslims but preaching of extreme hatred, violence and acts of terrorism don't.
- Guile and Chutzpah at the Mumbai Marathon
A man at the Mumbai Marathon flexed his chutzpah muscles...
- Cartoon: Gates & Windows
So what is Vista all about?!
- 13th Asian Junior Squash Championships, Hong Kong
Asian Junior Squash curtain raiser
- Poetry: wingless dancing queries
Are leaves like us? here today recycled tomorrow
- Bazaar Walks: A Lesson in Mutton Korma
Muslim cuisine in the bylanes of Chor Bazaar
- Movie Review - Partition
A tragic drama about the partitioning of India, Partition is a decent drama but doesn't feel fully realized.
- Television: ER - Rejoined ER and Loved It
ER is back, and this time it is for the better!
- Music Review: Room Full Of Fools Kevin Coyne
Listen to this and you may come away with a little more understanding of how even awareness can be harmful.
- Eco-Friendly Indian Consulate In Need Of Paper Shredder
As we see it, the documents are not confidential.
- Book Review: Know How by Ram Charan
A definite 'must-read' on leadership
- Coming To Terms With Tinnitus
To my dismay, he declared that my operated ear was as good as dead and my ringing is a symptom called tinnitus.
- Does The Education System Promote Elitism?
Public schools almost invariably practice inbreeding by restricting the crop of students they will admit.
- The Wii Comes Home
We have cleared out the living room floor to bowl, golf and play tennis and basket ball.
- Select Bookshop: Grounded By Tonnes Of Tomes
Select Book Shop is a real treasure trove of frayed pages, exciting ideas and six decades of history.
- My Superior Take On The Sinister Cabal
I can deal with not being part of a "sinister cabal". What hurts me most is not being called a "superior writer".
- The Rise of Al Qaeda
Al Qaeda has grown from an organization to a movement. Only a counter movement will defeat it. Are we game?
- Book Review: The Demon-Seed (Asura Vithu), MT Vasudevan Nair
Asura Vithu is a book that, even in an average translation, reads authentic.
- Identity - The Sum of Many Parts
I wonder when people will start to look at one another with a more patient, “holistic” eye. To see someone as the sum of many
- Movie Review: Gojiri - A Love Story
Gojiri is worth a look once despite the shortcomings.
- The Vanishing Rights Of Women
whether it's the so-called developed or undeveloped world women are still second or, lower, class citizens.
- Cartoon: Bailing The Rich
Sidhu's bails and sticky wickets.
- The Grind And Crunch Of Blog Production
The neurotic, incessant, nearly haunting drive to get in front of a keyboard.
- Movie Review: Parzania
When will the world learn that there are no Hindu or Muslim terrorists?
- Cartoon: America Goes Green
It's about time the world's greatest polluter did something other than pay lip service.
- Selling Stories to the Media - Five Points to Consider
Listing five key factors for successfully selling stories to the media.
- A Twenty20 Shocker And A Wish For Better Contest
Afridi's outing on Friday was as uncharacteristic as was Sunil Gavaskar's when the latter scored a Test ton at Delhi in 1983.
- Super Bowl XLI: Sigh, Chicago Bears, You Let Me Down!
Chicago gets thumped by Indianapolis, and deservedly so!
- Cartoon: Communal Violence
We find ourselves amidst communal violence once again. I guess we will never learn.
- Essay Review: "On Some Aspects of the Historiography of Colonial India" by Ranajit Guha
Peasant uprisings and such subaltern revolts had a constant element of antagonism to elite domination.
- Cauvery Tribunal Verdict Announced - The Water Wars Have Begun
The Cauvery Tribunal verdict indicates that Tamil Nadu gets 419 tmc, Karnataka 270 tmc, and no satisfaction.
- Cauvery Tribunal Delivers Verdict - Will There Be Violence?
The verdict is not the final word, either state may appeal and it is most likely that Karnataka will appeal.
- A Tribute to Pandit Bhimsen Joshi on His 85th Birthday
He has set his own distinctive style to his music and relentless riyaaz has made his renditions seem smooth and effortless.
- Super Bowl XLI: Peyton Manning Gets The Monkey Off His Back
Peyton Manning leads the Indianapolis Colts to a Superbowl win and is able to finally silence his critics and prove that he is the best
- Music Review: Kevin Coyne: Carnival
If you go into his world once, you may find yourself drawn back in again and again.
- A Flawed Rationale for Rough Justice?
Till the judicial system is reformed, the rough and ready judgments we all despise will continue to occur.
- An Immigrant's Super Bowl Ruminations
What's not to love about a game in which you can watch tight ends to your heart's content?
- India's Foreign Aid Program - Playing Like The Big Boys
With economic growth has come the ability to play like the big boys, even if not with them.
- Kidney Theft - The Other Side of the Story
It is perfectly healthy and legal for any living person to donate his/her kidney out of free will.
- Review of Photo Exhibition: Representing Indian Women 1875-1947
Photographs, they say, speak louder than words. Within each frame of a given photograph are hidden varied emotions – joy,...
- Treaties of Sagauli and Sinchula –Our Colonial Past
In its foreign policy, India is beginning to abandon the Raj approach to its neighbors
- Resolving The Cauvery Dispute: A Market-Driven Approach
A new frame and a possible solution for the Cauvery Water Dispute.
- Bazaar Walks: God is a Woman. Without Bawling Babies.
Strangely enough, for a country that is hung up about fertility, none of the goddesses I see in temples today seem to have borne children.
- Cultural Conflict: Looking Beyond the Skin and the Tongue
A problem of river water, becomes a clash of languages.
- Bollywood's Fair and Lovely Foreign Extras
In a society that equates fairness with beauty, the blue eyed blonde haired westerner fulfils a crucial role in providing instant background glamour.
- Nepal: A New Dawn and Some Scepticism
Nepal's rapid progress towards a Republican state from a marxist insurgency invites scepticism.
- Taking Children to Bollywood Movies
So without proper ratings, what is a parent to do? Here are a few hints.
- Israel May Attack Iran, With or Without The US's Help
If sanctions fail to stop Iran's enrichment Israel will attack, alone if necessary.
- Book Review: Thomas Pynchon Against The Day
Thomas Pynchon is probably the most skilled writer to be published in the English language since Joyce and Wolfe.
- Kabul Express in The Hippy, Happier Days
Unlike John and Arshad in the film my script didn't include any life-threatening situations while driving through the Afghan countryside.
- More Emphasis on Product-Making, Less on Servicing
High-tech product manufacturing companies are a must for India to scale up to becoming an economic power.
- Cartoon: Unending Communal Violence
More Communal Violence. First it was Bangalore, then Gorakhpur, so we will just wait for the next one.
- The 'M' Word - Part 3: Shopping Mall and Astrology
"Tujhe koi milta nahin, shopping mall ya party sharty mein".
- Chetan Chauhan, Have You No Shame?
The decision to appoint Azharuddin as captain of India Veterans can only be described as a cheap, ill-judged and unpatriotic publicity stunt.
- Fiction: Himadri
"This is not a story about how things are, but of how things were."
- Marathi Film Industry: 75 Years and Growing
Despite many firsts to its credit Marathi cinema still finds itself caught in a bind from time to time, with good quality films proving elusive
- Book Review: The Little Book of Hindu Deities, Sanjay Patel
A kid-friendly look at Hindu Mythology
- Yahoo Switches To New Panama Search Engine Model
Yahoo's recent changes to its search engine advertising model - good or bad?
- Canadian Politics: Foreign Aid Comes To Canada
How to help people who have had their will to live gradually sapped out of them, generation after generation?
- Parzania Unofficially Banned in Gujarat
Gujarat unofficially bans Parzania; it should instead be supporting the right of the movie to be displayed
- Travel Report: The French Riviera : A Perfect Destination to Unwind
I would say that the French Coast is a perfect honeymoon spot or for those who simply want to unwind from life's constant struggle.
- Cricket: Is Greg Chappell a Horrible Task Master?
Let's not start grilling Chappell for another supposed "team management" issue.
- What is Honor?
In Sanskrit, the word for honor is "Maan." And the word for bruised ego is "Abhi-maan." They are deeply connected.
- Shahrukh Khan versus Amitabh Bachchan - The Slugfest
A long, hard and highly subjective look at who would win a quintessential fan-slugout.
- Book Review: The Oracle by Valerio Massimo Manfredi
Manfredi's first contemporary novel is a good read
- Bye Bye Hot Samosas
In a rush to make Delhi another Singapore or Shanghai, one cannot forget the millions who make this a vibrant city
- Poetry: Dear Blank, Blah Blah Blah and Blah
I would like to have a dialog with you but it makes no sense if I can only call you "void".
- Meet Indicast: A New Breed of Indian Podcasters
Meet the guys from Indicast, one of India's first podcasts
- Caring About Caring: Who Cares?
If you look closely enough at care, you can see how easily it could become caress; an act of love.
- Wanted: Keen Eyes, Sharp Intellect, Thick Skin
We need editors (read willing slaves) in different time zones.
- Blog to Blog Exchange: The Journey Begins - From Delhi to London
When I mentioned to Subhash that I was packed and ready to leave for Europe by road with just three pounds' worth of Forex, he
- Some Personal Notes On Guru
Guru was not a great movie but it was affecting in ways few films are ...
- Islam is in Desperate Need of a Little Bit of Idolatry
Islam was based on hatred against idolaters of Mecca, who were by any standard an exemplary people in civility and tolerance.
- Tax Exemption for Guru - The Unspoken Message
Typically movies are tax exempt when they combine healthy entertainment and healthy ethics. What ethics does Guru preach?
- Hidden Places: Blogging from Geneva
I wonder why I feel compelled to reach behind the displayed books to find the ones hidden from my gaze.
- Israel's Bedouin: Hidden Victims
Native Tribes tormented, subjected to deprivation and forced into homelessness, all away from the media spotlight.
- Abhiwarya at the Box Office
So we know Abhiwarya can sell magazines. But can they sell movies?
- French Court To Rule On Whether Prophet's Cartoons Were Offensive
If the same standard applies to Christianity and Islam, then they were offensive - Not!
- poetry: crimson cobwebs / surkh dOray
crimson cobwebs of serrated sighs
- Colour of the Skin in Indian Mythology
The use of skin color as proxy for character attributes is a product of White racial superiority theory and holds minor or no significance in
- The 52nd Filmfare Award Nominations: Something's Odd
Something doesn't seem quite right with the 52nd Filmfare Award nominations.
- Big B Gifted Rolls Royce Phantom By Vidhu Vinod Chopra, The Mother Of All Gifts
Director Vidhu Vinod Chopra gifts actor Amitabh Bachchan a Rolls Royce.
- I'm A Time Traveller
I'm afraid you'll just have to take my word for it when I tell you that I'm a time traveller.
- Reengineering, Not Reform Is Needed Urgently in India
Campaigns like India Everywhere or India Poised - made by few for a country with 1.1 billion shows our global ignorance.
- Shilpa Shetty: From Hindi Film Star to Global Celebrity
Globally, we all know Aishwariya Rai. Rani Mukherjee and Preity Zinta may also get nods of recognition. But Shilpa?
- Watching Movies in Cinema Halls in India
Watching a Bollywood movie in a theater hall in India is an experience unlike any other
- What Makes Us Indians?
Enough is enough. Today, I ask my nation to grow up. To step up to the role the world expects us to fulfill.
- Cricket World Cup 2007 Preview: West Indies
Can West Indies avoid the host nation jinx?
- Prof. Sabharwal Murder Trial : And the Hostility Continues...
Main witnesses turn hostile once again.
- Tennis: Give Me A Federer Match Any Day
Federer and boring? Never!
- Palestine: Excluding Hamas Won't Bring Peace
Recent policies to bring Middle East peace, were pushing Palestinians apart and peace further away.
- TV Review: Has 30 Rock Gotten Funnier?
Can Tina Fey save her ratings-challenged sitcom?
- China's Space Program, The Linear Collider, Climate Crisis, Franken-Chickens and the OQO
A new column which summarizes the latest innovations in science and technology.
- West Indies Cricketers Implicated in Match Fixing
I think the only solution to get rid of match fixing is to legitimise the betting on cricket in India.
- Hot Chick or Madrasi Chick or Just a Man's Fancy?
So I say, get over it and move on cause it ain't wrong if a man fancies one breed over another.
- Israel and the Jews - Causes of Hatred, Or The Absence of Cause?
Why use religion as a measure to assess achievement?
- Book Review: Sacred Games by Vikram Chandra
...a great story, with amazing characters, and incredible atmosphere written by a superlative writer, what more could you ask for?
- From Software Consulting To Film Production - Mukund Moorthy's Boomerang
When you want something, the entire world conspires in helping you to achieve it.
- I Hate Valentine's Day
One billion valentines are sent worldwide, making it the second largest card-sending occasion behind Christmas.
- Lost and Then Found in Translation
Remembering the poetry of Faiz Ahmed Faiz, as it gets lost and found in translation.
- India Win Bronze At Asian Junior Championships, Hong Kong
Following Saurav Ghosal's bronze medal at the Asian Games, our juniors win the Bronze in Hong Kong
- India A Superpower?
Is India a Superpower? What to you think? One author says think again...
- Graphic Novel Review: 300, Frank Miller
Accuracy is besides the point in Miller's bold depiction of the Battle of Thermopylae.
- Interview: A Man With a Vision - Anurag Kashyap (Part 2)
Will Bollywood burn down his passion for cinema? Only time will tell.
- The Art of Giving: Valentine's Day Tips
The whole concept of making a list of presents, the expensive thingummyjigs for spouses in favour all seemed a bit too excessive to me.
- ULFA - What Is The Congress Upto?
Action against ULFA happens in fits and starts.
- Family History: Facts And Hopes
...a nice fantasy family history that every so often looks very real.
- Blog to Blog Exchange: The Nostalgia - Leaving London
I was leaving London for good, and had chosen to do it over land, in a 12-seater van.
- Cartoon: Bail The Rich, Jail The Rest
How come Sanjay Dutt keeps getting bail after bail, while the others remain in jail?
- Superpower, India?
India is at a cross roads at this moment and what it decides will determine its destiny.
- Racism, Discrimination and Indian Hypocrisy
A thought on racism and discrimination in the Indian context.
- Cartoon: The Nero of Bengal
With violence erupting again in Singur & Nandigram, one can't be sure whether Buddhadeb has any clue what he should be doing.
- Movie Review: Woody Allen's Scoop
How much Woody Allen can you take?
- US-Sponsored Mass Destruction and the Bhagavad Gita
Wrongly quoting Bhagavad Gita to explain the mass destruction caused by US and its allies
- TV Review: Koffee with Karan - Two Thumbs Down
Karan's revamped Koffee served Cold.
- Book Review: Writing Now - More Stories From Zimbabwe, Edited by Irene Staunton
"I’m gonna sing to the stars because humanity has a blind cruelty. I’m gonna sing that I need a life, a dignity..."
- Canadian Politics: Green Games
The real losers in this game are going to be all of us.
- Globalisation Yes, But Not At Any Price
The urban poor cannot be wished away, they stand at our door step with the same dreams as ours.
- Are We Teaching Students to Learn?
Is the Indian education system serving the purpose? Are the students really learning?
- Book Review: Himalayan Blunder
Review of Brigadier John P. Dalvi's banned book, Himalayan Blunder
- Cricket World Cup 2007 Preview: South Africa
Can South Africa get rid of their choker tag this time around? The Desicricketers opine.
- Fiction: A Valentine's Day Date with Miss Heptulla
I found myself entangled with a mysterious girl.
- Dr. Mahatir Mohamad's 2003 IOC Speech: A Turning Point In My Perception of Islam
Most Muslims grow up with irrational hatred against the Jews from childhood and so did I. But Dr Mahathir's extreme Jew-hatred changed me forever.
- Indian Politics and St. Valentine
Be it political or religious, every group has its reasons against Valentine's Day.
- Book Review: Aleppo Tales by Haim Sabato
Faith does not have to be a burden, it should be a blessing
- Shshsh - Don't Laugh! We're Muslims!
From little mosque on the prairie to a little masquerade on the prairie to a little laughter on the prairie?
- Who Will Take Up the Cudgels on Their Behalf?
An appeal to break the deafening silence that surrounds 50 abused girls
- Photo Essay : Love Is In The Air
The manoeuvres, displays and exercises made me realize that human beings were playing music in the air.
- A Winter Day in the Midwest
It was like watching the world move in slow motion, through a black and white television
- Book Review: Alan Dean Foster's Sagramanda
Sci-fi thriller imagines hi-tech India
- Poetry: A Valentine's Poem
Ok, I admit it - I hate the gift-giving pressure of Valentine's day, but I love the romance.
- Indian Culture and Valentine's Day
Reasons given by VHP/Shiv Sena to protest against Valentine's day does not hold any water.
- Naxalism In India - A Review
Naxalism in India continues to be a major decelerator for growth, says Citigroup. What is the reality today?
- Fiction: Confessions of a Murderer
Murder is the end of the ecstasy; the real pleasure is in the foreplay.
- Happy St Valentine's Day, Amit Bhaiyya
On Valentine's Day, a tribute to another kind of love!
- Poetry: Love Is Not Part Of Our Culture
Happy glass-breaking, card-burning day all you thugs and goons.
- Rapid Rise in Air Pollution Around the Taj Mahal
Air pollution affecting the atmosphere near one of the world's heritage sites.
- Rahul Dravid 'The Wall' Crosses a Milestone
Rahul Dravid crosses 10,000 runs in One Day International cricket, while steering India to a great win against Sri Lanka.
- Book Review: Adjusting Sights by Haim Sabato
...we need to adjust our sights away from fighting and lift them up to a more worthy goal
- M T R Foods Sold for $100 Million
An end (?) to an era of amazing South Indian Food
- Book Review: Marvel Zombies
Your favorite superhero makes a gruesome zombie
- TV Review: Celebrity KBC - How Shahrukh Khan Spent His Valentine's Day
A two-hour glitz'n'glamour episode of Kaun Banega Crorepati III, featuring celebrity guests, musical overtures, balloons and simplistic quizzing.
- The Forest For The Trees: Manglik Dosham and Same-Sex Marriage
The tree-bride practice has come under fire without the broader issue of conjugal rights in India being addressed
- Book Review : National Geographic Series - Holidays Around the World: Celebrating Diwali and Ramadan
The books are an excellent buy for someone who is trying to introduce children to an alternative culture and festival
- Lack of Awareness About Cleanliness
How can our cities remain clean unless we do our bit ?
- Movie Review: Close To Home
A timely and insightful view of daily life in the turbulent Middle East.
- Music Review: Viggo Mortensen, Hank Mortensen, & Scott Wannberg are 3 Fools 4 April
A wonderful opportunity to see and hear three great poets
- Abuse and Harassment in Today's World
In a world full of perverts, they innocently trusted their daughter to travel everywhere by herself and come back home unscathed.
- Homosexuality in the Subcontinent: Men and 'Masti'
I learned two things: 1) homoeroticism sells and 2) teachers don't like it.
- National Commission for Women and its Twisted Nature
Why is it so hard to play fair or at the least try to?
- Cricket World Cup 2007 Preview: Sri Lanka
How loud will the Lions roar?
- Street Food: Egypt vs India
Who serves better food on the go?
- Fiction: Absent in the Spring
Instead of a little of understanding, hard toil and humiliation was their lot.
- On Identity and its Loss
Indians in India must retain their identity... I agree.
- Poetry: torn / khalish
mid ocean / sans oar
- Book Review: I Forget You For Ever Viggo Mortensen
This isn't the idle passing fancy of a bored star; this is the work of a dedicated and thoughtful artist.
- Sponsored Prayers
The evening aarti in Varanasi is now sponsored by a five star hotel
- Pataudi's Plight - The Danger of Religious Stereotyping
Fundamentalists of all shades find it expedient to track the externals to determine whether a man or woman is religious.
- What Can We Do to Fight for a Better Broadband?
I welcome more ideas and let us do something together for a long lasting solution
- Movie Review: Eklavya
Is Eklavya the movie you should be watching this weekend?
- Introducing Charlie Chaplin
Chaplin’s The Kid is a great way for children to get to know the comedic master
- An Ordinary Day in Ordinary India
While lawmakers and executors are trying to fix things in time for the next election, these ordinary Indians are busy surviving one day at a
- Movie Review: Eklavya - Reinforcing Orientalist Stereotypes
The Buddha Smiled suffers through one of the worst movies he's seen recently.
- Interview: Yasmina Khadra, A Famous Algerian Novelist
The Arab world is not just a postcard with dunes and caravans, nor is it only about terrorist attacks.
- Wikicamp in Chennai on February 25
The guys behind Blogcamp.in and Proto.in are back!
- Movie Review : Eklavya - Dharma Redefined
The beauty of Eklavya does not lie in its theme, rather it's the director's vision and actors' sincerity that make it stand out.
- Missing Children: A Cri de Coeur
Though these girls are invisible, they too are victims of the society we live in.
- Urban Jungle: The Pigeon Chronicles
The only time that pigeons get into trouble in Bombay is in January during Makara Sankranti, when the kite festival begins.
- A Brighter Palestinian Future
The new unity government accepts the demands and maintains credibility by watering down the wording and expanding on the stipulation.
- Book Review: Climbing the Mango Trees: A Memoir of a Childhood in India
What sets Madhur Jaffrey's account of Delhi in the pre-Partition days apart is not the space devoted to mouth-watering descriptions of kebabs and gosht.
- Has Parity Been Restored In Cricket?
What started as a loss to England in the Commonwealth Bank Series in Australia, has now started to take alarming proportions.
- Have You Heard of The National Games?
A good beginning would be to revamp Doordarshan and ensure it is as competent and as highly watched as ESPN
- Enlightened Moderation and Islamic Militancy: Pakistan's Flawed Tactics and Its Consequences
Suicide bomb in Quetta kills fifteen people - three months after the Bajour military raid, ordinary Pakistanis continues to suffer.
- Music Review: Michael Fahres The Tubes Minimal Minimalism
The Tubes will give you a good overview of the different forms minimalism can take.
- Knowing Your Neighbours
Indian society is going the western way - losing the 'community' angle.
- The Promised Land – As Promised in the Three Holy Books
While it is clear that they did break the covenant, it is still not clear that the land grant was withdrawn.
- Movie Review: Breach
Breach fails to shed enough light on the spy, Robert Hanssen, who is quite fascinating.
- Cross Your Ts, Mr Government
There seems to be a concerted effort to ensure that good schemes do not reach the true beneficiary
- Fiction: 4:50 From Paddington
It got there only a little late for some people.
- Help! How Do I Read Global Financial Markets? Part 1
Theories and conspiracy theories state different things on the status of the global economy and the sustianbility of it.
- Help! How Do I Read Global Financial Markets? Part 2
The global economy seems to be heating up all over with alarming signs of imbalances with real money flowing from poor nations to rich nations.
- The Fall of the Australian Cricket Empire?
The Australian cricket team has, for the first time, slipped from the top spot in one-day international cricket.
- Movie Review: Jeremy Clarkson's The Good, The Bad & The Ugly
Jeremy Clarkson hates America but he does love the Ford GTX1
- Music Review: Clarence Williams Jug & Washboard Bands Whoop It Up Volume 1 1927 - 1929
Williams was a musician, producer, entrepreneur, performer, agent, and a little leery of the truth.
- Pulp Pages: "Something For The Sweeper" by Norbert Davis
He looked "as mysterious and hard-boiled as possible in view of the fact that his feet were hurting him more and more all the time.”
- Blog-to-Blog Exchange: The German Experience - A Tale of Two Visits
I felt somewhat indispensable, and flattered by Germany’s preferential treatment towards a desi.
- Urban Jungle: Of Horses and Kings
When you write about Hampi, cliches threaten to swamp you. It is so very splendid!
- Cartoon Shin Chan : Bad Role Model For Kids?
Shin Chan's future in India?
- Blinded By Capitalism
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), in its report released last week in Paris. Is it the wakeup call Indian policy-makers so badly need?
- Graphic Novel Review: Daisy Kutter: The Last Train
A Sci-Fi Western that looks better than it reads
- Cricket World Cup 2007 Preview: New Zealand
So they beat Australia. But can they convert that into World Cup glory?
- Prince Of War - Harry to Iraq?
Are we back to those old days of Princes fighting battles? Not!
- A Cradle in Every District: The Latest Programme to Check Female Infanticide Is Absurd
A responsible government must think about the long term consequences before shooting out absurd programmes.
- Cartoon: Killer Policies
Seventy more farmer suicides in Vidarbha in 2007! Is anyone listening?!
- Cartoon: And The Future Is...
Orange turned Hutch turned Vodafone
- Religious Language: Interpretative v. Literal
Is the language of religion too literal or there are too many (mis)interpretations?
- Swim, DG, Swim!
Grabbing hold of it for dear life, I tried turning the various tricks my teacher suggested.
- Cricket World Cup: The Indian Squad
Sehwag and Bajji do not deserve to be in the squad.
- What Makes The World Go Round?
After two days of falling asleep to the lullaby, one evening Big N sat down at his piano and plucked out the song on the
- Bookstores and Indian Fiction
A fair bit of "Indian fiction" basically seems to be the same stuff told in different ways.
- Music Review: The Golden Gate Orchestra, Crazy Words, Crazy Tune
...bands like (The Golden Gate Orchestra) cemented the popular song as a legitimate form in music,
- Idolatry and Christianity
On the evil of idolatry, Christianity has placed itself in a hypocritical and conflicting position
- Poetry: prisoner of landi kotal
the body can be incarcerated: bars are incidental
- Surviving the Transatlantic Nightmare - Part 1
Aspi survives a 25-hr ordeal from Delhi to Chicago with two pieces of squirmy baggage
- Poetry: barbecue pits
It's about time a class action suit was filed against the Indian Railways to add emergency exits. And more.
- Cricket World Cup: What Are The Teams' Chances of Winning?
Will Australia do it again?
- UEFA Champions League: PSV - Arsenal 1-0
Arsenal, simply, never hit their stride
- The Politics of Slum Demolition
Studied indifference to the plight of the urban slum dwellers by the middle and upper class and the political establishment
- Canadian Politics: Election Winds Blowing
...very funny how a political party so unwilling to fight an election, is as prepared to fight one as the Conservative Party
- The Prayers of a Blind Man
Stumbling and bumping, walking with a cane down a busy street, he was intent on getting to the mosque.
- The Textbook Controversy: How History is Taught in School
History books, instead of teaching past failures, teaches hatred, intolerance and differences.
- The Tandoor Murder Case: Will The Murderer Ever See The Gallows?
A division bench comprising justices R.S. Sodhi and P.K. Bhasin said there could not be a better case for awarding a death sentence.
- Mad About Matrimony
If you've hit thirty, you're definitely past your use-by date.
- Policy-Research in India - The Need
Policy research, critical for any economy, more so for transient economies where policies change, remains neglected in India.
- Funding For Policy-Research - A Budget Wish
Along with hard infrastructure, soft infrastructure, industry demands; we researchers wish support for policy research from the Finance Minister.
- Governing Somalia
What is more important, freedom or security?
- Cricket World Cup 2007 Preview: England
England are on a four match winning streak but can they continue this form in the World Cup? Desicritics opine.
- Movie Review: Eklavya, by Vidhu Vinod Chopra
A brave effort, though disappointing
- Surviving the Transatlantic Nightmare - Part 2
Aspi survives a 25-hr ordeal from Delhi to Chicago with two pieces of squirmy baggage
- The Crucial Difference
We need to get rid of the notion that understanding an imperial ideology like Islam does not mean that we are hurting Muslim sentiment.Sandeep
OPINION | Politics: Governance | Politics: Freedom | Politics: Corruption | Media: Journalism | Culture: Society | Culture: Social Issues | Culture: History | Culture: Religion | Culture: Essay | Culture: Desi | Culture: Books - Non Fiction | Politics: India | Politics: Laws | Politics: Pakistan | Politics: Religion | Politics: Terrorism | Politics: US | Politics: War | Politics: War on Terror - Understanding the XBox 360 in India - The Ground Realities
It's meaningless to compare sales figures with more developed, and culturally different markets.
- Movie Review: Black
Sanjay Leela Bhansali's Black - Birth of the new Bollywood cinema.
- Music Review: Corey Stevens Albertville
Corey Stevens may be a guitar player, but he's a musician first...
- Dog is OK, Beware of the Master!
By bowing and scraping before any cassocked figure, we make them think that they are above the common ilk.
- Bob Woolmer and Pakistan Cricket: An Underachieving Combination
Woolmer and Pakistan look set to separate after the World Cup, but what will be the lasting legacy of this partnership?
- Cleopatra was Ugly, Dolphins are on Patrol and Other Tales of Science
Continuing the "A Bit of Science, a Byte of Technology series", this edition looks at topics ranging from chimpanzees to Cleopatra
- Andhra Government Screens HIV in the Police Force
Is preventing AIDS patients from joining the police force something that is acceptable ?
- The 2007 Formula One Season
Along with the driver lineup changes, there have been massive changes in the rules and regulations for the next two years.
- Monster in a File
It's cold and and I think of Spalding on the ferry, staring into the cold waters of the East River and letting go.
- Chilling Reality
In every abused woman, lies a spirit that does not die
- Pakistan Women's Cricket: One Step Forward at a Time
The scheduling of World Cup Qualifiers in Pakistan will give the sport a tremendous boost in the country
- Poetry: Oh, Prince Harry!
An open Poem to the Royal Nitwit since he's 'over the moon' about going to Iraq.
- Anatomy of Friendship
Slumber party, midnight feasts, movies, trips to exotic locations, the odd song and dance number,you name it, we'll do it.
- Community Next - Welcome to The Era of Online Communities!
How can an entrepreneur leverage the fact that "Man is a social animal"?
- Canadian Politics: Prime Minister Steven Harper - How Low Will He Go?
How low does Steven Harper plan on going to hold onto that power and that office?
- Egyptian Blogger Jailed for Insulting Islam
Suppression of free speech is another facet of an underlying internal struggle between the moderate and extreme inside Muslim world
- Abdel Karim - The Crime of Obeying God, and Al Azhar's Curse
Getting imprisoned for following the Egyptian Constitution and the Qur'an!
- American Idol: I'm Not Voting for Sanjaya
I’m not going to vote for Sanjaya Malakar’s boring pipes and I’m not less of an Indian for saying so.
- What We Think of America
The truth about America is that it is at once deeply democratic and instinctively imperialist.
- Movie Review: Idiocracy
A movie 20th Century Fox would like you to forget finds new life on DVD
- Seek Power, Don't Snatch it
Snatching power is dispossessing and self serving; seeking power still has at least the glimmer of serving a larger constituency
- Movie Review: Honeymoon Travels Pvt Ltd
All in all, good time-pass
- Canadian Politics: Supreme Court Strikes Down Security Law That Denied Individual Rights
A first step in restoring many of the individual freedoms that governments have chosen to ignore in their haste to be impressive with security.
- PCB Tells Media to Act Professionally
A case of the PCB calling the kettle black
- Book Review: Bomb Squad
A realistic portrayal of the men and situations in the NYPD Bomb Squad
- Movie Review: Eklavya - Taut and Slick
The movie revolves around Eklavya and Yash but since it is so short, there just does not seem enough time for the characters to develop.
- Television: Why Karamchand 2007 is a letdown
Karamchand's second coming on the Indian TV screen. What has changed, if anything?
- Satire: A Preview of the Budget Speech 2007-2008
It is a pain to present the Budget for the year 2007-08.
- Restaurant Review: Sbarro’s in Jerusalem’s City Center
A bomb attack and international publicity do not, in and of themselves, improve the quality of food in an establishment.
- Movie Review: Honeymoon Travels Pvt. Ltd
This is a film where you get some nice, funny moments sprinkled in an uneven fashion across the 108 minute duration of the film, but
- War On Terror: Europeans Demand Justice For All
In their quest for justice the Americans have ignored justice for too long and it's now coming back to haunt them
- Writers and Their Creative Quirks
A street thug who morphed into a published writer, Loya said he sought salvation through writing during jail term.
- Vint Cerf on The Internet
One of the founding fathers of the internet talks about the birth, growth and future of his child.
- Book Review : Beowulf - The Graphic Novel
Book review of Gareth Hinds' graphic novel, Beowulf
- Inter-state Transport - the Delhi-UP Border Bus Impasse
Delhi and UP transport officials twiddle their thumbs while passengers suffer.
- Textbook Controversies: A Rejoinder to Diganta
A Rejoinder to the history textbooks post made by Diganta, another DC author.Sandeep
OPINION | Culture: Books | Culture: Books - Non Fiction | Culture: Desi | Culture: Education | Culture: Essay | Culture: History | Culture: Religion | Culture: Social Issues | Culture: Society | Media: Blog-a-Thon | Media: Blogs | Media: Internet | Media: Journalism | Politics: Corruption | Politics: India | Politics: Pakistan | Politics: Religion | Politics: South Asia | Politics: War - Common Indian: Born Victim
With rising Inflation & Train Bombings, the new year doesn't seem to be getting better for any of us.
- The Ash and Abhi Romance: Enough Already!
Why are we getting so hysterical, so caught up in this romance?
- Biden Plan for Iraq: An Indian Partition
The Biden plan effectively gives cover for various militant factions to carry on their activities all through Iraq.
- Poetry: oscar moments - tales of slore splore
Are we doing enough to leave a healthy earth for future generations?
- End the Textbook Circus
The case for disbanding the Department of Education
- Somalia's Government, Somalia's Affair
As recent examples are showing, a country's government has to be chosen by its people.
- Oscar Roundup: Jack Nicholson Scares Martin Scorsese
Martin Scorsese finally won his Oscar... right before Jack Nicholson scared his pants off.
- Cricket World Cup 2007 Preview: Zimbabwe
After a mass player exodus and politico-social conditions in disarray, things aren’t looking good for Zimbabwe Cricket.
- Women and Bollywood Masala Movies
As the revenue streams of the multiplexes dictate what Bollywood produces, the days of the cat calling front benchers may be waning.
- Canadian Anti-Terror Law Not Struck Down, Only Fair Trial Demanded
The Supreme Court of Canada...reinforced the right of every person in our society to have representation during legal proceedings against them
- Oscars 2007 | Al Gore's Strategy
A take on Al Gore's strategy, on Oscar night, to take out the competition for the Presidential bid of 2008.
- Close Encounter Of The Most Horrific Kind
I grabbed my things and ran away from the room as fast as my wobbly legs would carry.
- The Unborn Girls of India
Maybe the couple in question also forgot that their chosen child will one day need a wife
- The Samjhauta Express Tragedy - Intimations of Mortality
Is Indo-Pak peace possible in the midst of such regional volatility?
- The Great Satan, The Wounded Snake - The U.S.-Iran Imbroglio
To understand and appreciate the mental strength of your enemy, history is a very good starting point.
- Relationship Patterns
I think I might have finally come to an understanding of the pattern and MO of my past relationships.
- Canadian Politics: More Anti-Terrorist Legislation In Trouble
These type of special powers should not just be renewed for the sake of scoring a few political points
- India's Hi-Tech Waste Mirrors Its Booming Economy
A small percentage could kill people.
- Cheated By Technology: Poor Oscar Viewing
You think you can simply record something and view it later? Think again!
- Pillars Of Democracy In Conflict
In the U.S. and India, the two largest democracies, the judiciary and law makers are increasingly at conflict.
- Lebanese Army Standing Up to Israel
A stronger stance may be an attempt to regain support for the government.
- A Third Canada?
Every time I hear the words "English Canada" and "French Canada", I wonder about the Canada I live in. Let us call it the
- Book Review: The Physics of The Buffyverse
Ouellette has written an excellent book to bring together her two great loves - Buffy and Physics
- Deccan Herald Indulges in Self-censorship
Our media is also known to have exercised their prerogative to play favorites or not hurt their advertising interests.
- It's Official: I'm Odd!
I always thought I was sort of like Howard Roarke, the rebel who refused to conform to norms and let society dictate terms.
- Chidambaram Presents Indian Budget 2007-2008 Amidst Falling World Markets
It'a a hard time to be a central banker, chief economist or finance minister.
- How Do You Deal With Uninvited Guests?
The courteous Indian goes on strike
- Is There a Fate Worse Than Loneliness?
A visit to an old age home - a home of loneliness for the aged.
- Yet Another Sexually Transmitted Disease
Sexually transmitted diseases don't have to place anyone at risk no matter your level of activity.
- Attitudes Stop Israeli/Palestinian Peace
Changes are needed to allow both sides to sufficiently compromise.
- Budget 2007-08: 'Higher and Higher Growth'
High GDP. High Inflation. Farmer Suicides. High School Drop-out Ratio. Abysmal Health Care. All Budgeted!
- Samjhauta Tragedy - The Security Lapse
How do we prevent security lapses such as the Samjhauta Express explosions from happening?
« January, 2007 || March, 2007 »
- Unfettered Religious Freedom in Islam – A Fact or Fiction? Part 3
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