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- Archives: September 2007
- Hinduism, the Buddha, and Other Musings
Here is a culture that is sophisticated and rich – my culture! my birthright! Why did no one teach me this?
- The Off-Playground Matches, Stars and ICL/BCCI Standoff
Indian cricket, like a typical Bollywood movie, has all kinds of masala associated with it.
- Vijay Mallya Bids For Spyker-Ferrari Formula 1 Team
Vijay Mallya had said that he was actively pursuing a purchase and it appears that this has come to fruition.
- Lies, Like Beauty, Depend On The Eye of the Beholder – Part I
Secularism, like beauty, depends upon the eye of the beholding country.
- Blogs, Friendship, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
... thoughts on one’s ailment “should, ideally, have remained locked inside fevered heads”.
- Delhi Teacher Destroys Future of Young Girls
It is not just the girls forced into these horrible acts who were victimized.
- Sania Mirza Loses to Anna Chakvetadze in US Open
Mirza won't be leaving New York for now - she still has her doubles matches to look forward to.
- CIA and the Indo-US Nuclear Deal
The CIA has an extensive intelligence apparatus monitoring the Indian Nuclear Program
- The Goddess as Kakini, The Crow
I learn, on a Sunday morning, that there is a divinity and grace in all living creatures.
- Traditions, Modernity and Women
Whoever said that common sense is so common among Indians?
- Play Review: Opus Prodigiosus
A string quartet, a desi and lots of drama.
- Karnataka's Political Games
If JDS goes for a second honeymoon with the Congress, its position would be worse than being a handmaid
- The Grand Old Trunk Road, Part I
What a fantastic thing the old Grand Trunk Road was, India’s oldest highway, and certainly its most historic one.
- Poetry: gaia* plows
she used to smile / at ribbing plows / but grumbles / at rumbling tractors
- Toilet Papers, India and the West - The "Western" Wo/Man's Burden?
Will the western wo/man ever keep their "western" man's burden to themselves?
- Movie Review: Ram Gopal Varma Ki Aag - Bakwaas!
Somewhere in the city, I can imagine the Sippys hosting weekend long celebrations.
- Yaari, Desktopdating and Other Ill Mannered Websites
Many of the community websites are openly misusing Web Service technology to increase their member base by invading everyone's privacy.
- Terrorist Threat to UK Water Supply Overrated
If you dilute a poison, you reduce its effectiveness, and more the dilution the less effective the chemical is.
- How Specific Spiritual Vocabulary has Chained Mankind
Words, in themselves are useless. They take meaning from the underlying ideas.
- Movie Review: Dhokha
A different treatment given to a common religious terrorism issue. Daring but tad boring due to sermons.
- A Dialogue on Lies and The Campaign to Defame Hindu Nationalism
It is apparent that this attitude is ill-suited to the practical world and cries out for revision.
- Justice for Dalits After Haryana Killing
Until Dalits build up their strength and follow in the footsteps of Dr. Ambedkar, they will keep suffering under the caste stigma.
- Sania Scripts a Thrilling Doubles Upset at the US Open
Sania and her US partner Bethanie Mattek stared defeat in the face before reaching the women's doubles quarterfinals.
- Grand Trunk Road - New Corridor of Asia
The historical Grand Trunk Road could once again function as a corridor for commerce, trade and cultural exchange.
- International War Games Get Underway in The Bay of Bengal
I seriously think they should go to the place where the war games are actually happening and protest there.
- Help! Someone's Stealing My Blog Posts!
I just realised that I am now in the elite company of bloggers like Om Malik.
- Poetry: who's on top?
who discovered / the joys of love-making first? / is this a moot point / or is this speculative? and / who was on top
- Regulation of Foreign Land Ownership Proposed in South Africa
Remember that land redistribution is extra-ordinarily difficult to pull off successfully.
- Satire: From A to B - From Ash to Bachchan
The ultimate Globalized Bollywood Royalty - Beauty, charm and timing. Nepotism, nasal deja vu and Daddy Love.
- The Construction of Synthetic Terror
Can we ever see the Puppeteers or the Ringmasters above them?
- Fiction: Janki and Mansoor (Chapter 1 & 2)
Start of a mystery novel, set in Delhi. An experiment in multiple narratives.
- Home Is Where I Am
Home is a place beyond the walls of the house in which you live.
- I Can't Blow My Horn Anymore
A friend of mine tells me that Indians are the most trusting people on the planet.
- Christian Family Forced to Leave Village in Manipur
This violates the constitutional guarantee of freedom to adopt, practice and propagate religion.
- Mother Teresa For The Munnabhai Generation
A tribute on the tenth death anniversary of Mother Teresa of Kolkata
- Movie Review: LA Confidential
A very slick movie.
- Googlies: Uthappa, Ganguly, Tendulkar and Five sixes off Yuvraj - The Story of India's Thrilling Win
A mini-tribute following the great win on 5th September!
- Bombay's Local Trains
The local trains of Bombay have forever set the pace of this throbbing city
- MI5 Chief Faces Immigration Delays at Heathrow
I still fail to realize why the government is dithering while Rome is burning.
- Do You Really Mean That, Sachin?
Ironically, this is probably the secret of his success and of his continued sanity.
- Can Non-Christians Join Christian University Groups?
Discrimination has to be fought but the legal system already provides that guarantee!
- Movie Review and Story: E.T - The Extra-Terrestrial
An incredibly successful and watchable movie.
- A Tribute To Hrishikesh Mukherjee
A film with Hrishikesh Mukherjee's name ensured a new and original storyline in an industry plagued by unoriginal plots.
- Some Uncharitable Questions on Charity
Is charity a demand-led or a supply-led business?
- Living An Unconstrained Life
How would life be if you threw caution to the wind and lived by no constraints?
- The Rise Of The Mixed Breed
Is the loss of a cultural identity something to mourn or to rejoice over?
- Left Begins March to Protest Against "US Imperialism"
From airconditioned Volvo buses, SUVs, armed with cartons of Kinley (Coca-Cola) waterbottles, pro-poor comrades would rail against US imperialism.
- Do Asiatic Lions Still Roar in Gir?
Their will to survive, to search for new territory, to establish new colonies are encouraging signs.
- Will Congress tie up with Mamata Banerjee in West Bengal ?
The biggest question is, when does this play out?
- The Strange Case of Chinese Executions
Are they objecting to the execution or the fact that it's happening in public?
- Biofuels and the Law of Unintended Consequences
The market is badly out of kilter and the international food stocks are dangerously low.
- Puppy Love and Other issues of a Dog's Life
A comment on hypersensitivity on the one hand, and insensitivity to sentiments on the other
- Sting Operations, Good and Bad
What do you do when investigative journalism shows feet of clay
- Supermarket Supersavings -A Word of Caution
Billing error possibilities at supermarkets
- A Working Sunday in the City
I was looking forward to my journey to the office that day.
- Lies, Like Beauty, Depend On the Eye of the Beholder – II
An Indutva rather than Hindutva so to say, and one will see that many of the inconsistencies and incoherence dies away
- The Joys of Living in "Secular India"
A “tilak” is not exactly a headscarf and is less conspicuous than many other symbols of religious identity.
- Music Review: Britney Spears - Gimme More
The prematurely aged Britney tries to project coolness instead of clueless. Strange as it ever was.
- My Top 5 Sci-Fi Series
Top 5 Sci-Fi book series according to me, no giants counted for fairness.
- Seventh ODI - India vs. England, Lords
India's approach to the modern ODI has been patchy.
- TV Review: Chanakya, Memories of Times Past
Great serial, a must-have DVD collection
- Poetry: valediction/alwidah
we must bid adieu / to meet once again
- Salwa Judum - India's Unreported Hidden War
Have you heard about Salwa Judum, India’s hidden war in tribal dominated area of central Indian state Chhattisgarh?
- Santhi Soundarajan: Sport, Gender and Suicide in India
She didn’t step off that ledge; she was pushed off it. And everybody looked the other way
- Book Review: Longitudes and Attitudes - Thomas Friedman
You can see his feelings develop and change over the 3-4 years, before and after the 9/11 event.
- Is Ex-President Kalam a Youth Icon?
An icon is ‘someone you emulate’.
- Is Shah Rukh Khan Suffering From A Mid-Life Crisis?
This new Shah Rukh Khan all of a sudden seemed like a swan that had reverted back to being an ugly duckling in his middling
- Freedom Of Speech On The Internet
To expect an uncensored voice on a public forum of media is like eating one's cake and having it too.
- Naxal Search in Bangalore Colleges
Government agencies harass academics, looking for Naxalites in Karnataka educational institutions.
- Book Review: Becoming Jane
"You have delighted us long enough" The wit and wisdom of Jane Austen.
- Nightswimming
I do not remember whose idea it was, going to the lake at night.
- Breaking News: Soft Take-off, Hard Landing for Nawaz Sharif
In the biggest gamble of his life Nawaz Sharif headed for Pakistan. He was turned back from the Airport and is allegedly headed for Jeddah
- A Backpacker's Lament - Those Were The Days
The days of leisurely camaderie and caravan rides across much of Europe and Asia forever extinct.
- Movie Review: Darling
Suspense thriller or laugh riot?
- To the Haptic Y-Chromosome
There is an inherent aggression in boys. It needs to be channeled not stifled.
- The Monster In My Computer
The monster is grinning and advancing closer to your hard disk every moment.
- Lady with the Lotus - Sojourn in Sigiriya, Sri Lanka
I must visit Sri Lanka again, this time with a digital camera so I can download Sita and make her my screen saver.
- Movie Review: Madhumati - A Great Movie With Some Wonderful Music
One of the first movies on reincarnation.
- Poetry: counting
if you get a chance / you should eavesdrop / when they talk about you / such racy language / will make you squirm /
- Ramachandra Guha and the Indian Revolutionaries
Guha tries to show that both the Left and the Right converge on violence as a means to achieving their respective political ends.
- Death in the Clouds - The Heroes of Flight 93
It was a small wave of humanity that rolled together.
- Wisdom - What Our Elders Gift us
Wisdom and its importance cannot be ever weighed on a scale. Its power is subtle and its influence nuanced.
- China, Are You With Us?
It is time somebody told the Chinese to back off from fooling around with us
- State Of Victimness
Not many victims get the support they need to reach an honest assessment of how they contributed to and fomented their own victimness
- Two Years of the International Financial Reporting Standard
There is a reason why I am talking about this anniversary and this is because this standard is going to impact every person on the
- Framing the Cricket Debate
To a lesser of greater degree, every cricket follower probably identifies with these interests.
- Some Perspectives on the Nuclear Deal
Why should be they be so nice to us?
- Pakistan Courts - Veni, Vidi, but not Vici!
The Rip Van Judges have to play on the same chessboard tomorrow with the hostile Rip Van Politicians tomorrow
- Book Review: Georgette Heyer - A Wit Par Excellence
She was one author who made me feel comfortable about my shortcomings and taught me to laugh at myself.
- Picture Essay: Arizona's September 11 Memorial
I had not been there at all, but spent about 40 minutes there today as a stop on the way to work.
- T20 - Hit and Run Cricket is Here!
Love it or hate it, Twenty20 is here to stay. The Gentleman's game is all set to evolve to it's next stage.
- What The Heart Says - Satsangs With Isaac Shapiro
Learning to focus on attention itself rather than on the thought process
- A Passion for Faloodas
A Falooda Fan recently tried converting me to the cause of faloodas. I thought he was nuts.
- Ruskin Bond - The Teller of Tales
With his simple characters and enduring charm, Ruskin Bond captures in the manner of Cartier-Bresson, images and stories that will surely outlive us.
- Breaking News: Earthquake in Indonesia - Tsunami Warning for Andaman
A 8.2 on the Richter scale earthquake struck near the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia at 6.10 pm local time.
- Movie Review: Unforgiven - A Classic Western
More of an anti-western though with all the grime.
- Vinoba Bhave – A Visionary or a Fool?
Vinoba was a communicator of Gandhian thought. Though he had not one bit of Gandhi's charisma, sincerity oozed out of him.
- Poetry: pigeons, jamil naqsh and i
Taste buds they have more than 30, and we, 9000 plus / they are not fussy eaters, we cherish fine cuisine.
- Fiction: Janki and Mansoor (Chapter 3)
All episodes are complete narratives in themselves.
- Know Your Desi English
Are they aware of this error, and basically following "While in Rome, do as the Romans do"?
- Satire: A Letter from a Spoilt Teenager
A letter from a spoilt teenager to his parents.
- The Ramayana, the Sethusamudram and Indian Archaeology
No secular Government has the prerogative to pontificate on religion unless the public good is adversely impacted.
- Politics & Corruption: How to “Fix the System”
Governance reforms are needed at both levels - to reduce opportunities, and to eliminate the incentives.
- Ayodhya Redux?
The perception of Hinduism and Hindu philosophy, Gods, symbols, and icons today is not the same as it was in 1992.Sandeep
OPINION | Culture: Desi | Culture: Essay | Culture: History | Culture: Religion | Culture: Social Issues | Culture: Society | Media: Blogs | Media: Internet | Media: News | Media: Newspapers | Media: Television | Politics: Corruption | Politics: Elections | Politics: Freedom | Politics: Governance | Politics: India | Politics: Laws | Politics: Religion | Politics: South Asia - Photo essay: The Women of Delhi
Wandering around Delhi with a camera can be rewarding.
- Sethusamudram, Moolah, and Sivaji
We not only pay taxes, we now buy shares and double pay our way into digging a canal.
- Anniversary of the V2 Missile
The first ballistic missile launch in anger.
- New Social Movements, Post-modernism, Gandhism and Ambedkarism - Part I
If the new social movements really want to serve the downtrodden they should reorient their ideology
- Things You Should Know About Big Bazaar
I will write a detailed review of other parts of this book in a separate review soon.
- Saving the Indian Soldier
The Indian Army has a hoary history with the origins of some units going back to the East India Company.
- Interview: Rahul Bajaj - Author, Bollywood Roulette: Inside the Struggle!
Rahul Bajaj: An Inside view of Bollywood and my 'brother' Shah Rukh Khan
- Is The Old Lady of Threadneedle Street Losing Her Marbles?
A Central Bank's reputation relies on a firm hand on the tiller.
- Rama Sethu: Civilization Vs. Nation State, Myth Vs. History
when a nation state decides to fight a civilization, historians and history centered institutions become the tools through which it decides to organize its fighting.
- Rahul Dravid's Resignation - A Bolt from The Blue!
It is to his credit that he has the foresight to check himself and take stock.
- Pakistani Special Services Officer Turns Suicide Bomber
I would be afraid, very afraid.
- Googlies: India's Twenty 20 Cricket Cup Win Over Pakistan
Not a match report. Not even an analysis. Yet it reads like both. Worth a grin.
- The Hidden Baggage of Blogs
The blogging world presents itself as a purged community driven by ideals and values and inclusiveness
- Rama and Rama Sethu - the Literary and Historical Evidence
What is important is to know if Adam’s Bridge/Ram Sethu is a man-made construction or not.
- Today's Ram Never Existed
The Ram of Guru Nanak and Kabir and the one in Yoga Vasistha is no more today!
- New Social Movements, Post-modernism, Gandhism and Ambedkarism - Part II
In this part we look at Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar's world view.
- Moser Baer's Cheap Movie CD/DVDs
Are you aware that original VCDs and DVDs can be purchased at the cost of pirated ones?
- The State of European Muslims
They want to have a nice document, with some quangos overseeing the process, nicely arranged into nice tower blocks.
- Now a Finn blogs about Bollywood
Anu H, 29, is so enamoured by the Indian film industry that her blog is choc-a-bloc with photos of several Bollywood actors.
- Silently Calling All Children
How a child can help the world
- Book Review: Isaac Asimov's Foundation
The starting point of an epic series in Science Fiction
- OJ's Controversial Book Sees The Light Of Day
OJ Simpson is well known around the word. Last year he attempted to publish a book describing how he would have murdered Nicole Brown Simpson
- Ganesh & The Globe: An Eco-Friendly Ganesh Chaturthi
finding a way to be kind to the environment while indulging in the festivities is a responsible thing to do.
- Book Review: Barbarians at the Gate
A classic book about the Financial deals of the 1980's
- Job Satisfaction: Happy Is What Happy Does
Somewhere along the line this adventurous sentiment gets replaced by adult sensibilities.Aditi Nadkarni
OPINION | Culture: Arts | Culture: Children | Culture: City Life | Culture: Desi | Culture: Education | Culture: Family | Culture: Hobbies | Culture: Personal History | Culture: Relationships | Culture: Society | Culture: Social Issues | Culture: Survey | BizTech: Entrepreneurship | BizTech: Innovation - Twenty20 - An Anti-Cricket Mishap
Is Cricket shooting itself in the foot with Twenty20?
- The Curious Case of Somalia and Belgium
This is one strand of thought for those who think about rewinding the colonial boundaries.
- North East Support Centre and Helpline Inaugurated in New Delhi
A deeper study has shown the vulnerability of a newer generation of youthful workers and students from the North East.
- Morality is a Selfish Religious Blasphemy
Mother Teresa did Good because she thought it would bring love of Jesus to her. Were her actions selfish?
- Twenty20's Impact on World Cricket
Twenty20 cricket will significantly improve the skills of cricket players
- Why Are Hindus so Offended?
Rama’s un-existence suddenly invalidates their confidence levels. It is like pulling the rug from under their feet causing them to lose balance.
- Dev Anand at 83 - Fifty-five Years of Romancing With Life
Depending on how you look at it, Dev Anand’s current film related pursuits can be ridiculed or admired.
- Poetry: where do the smiles go?
why do smile-prints wall-paper memory ville? / why do they awe and shock and...?
- Don't Underestimate The Muslim Brotherhood
Before you think that I am saying that they are gods on earth, remember that I am comparing them to frankly garbage and filth.
- Roads in Delhi are Not for Driving
A car-tree collision is a remote possibility if car owners in Delhi can learn to drive and not ‘zip’ on the road.
- Seeing Mumbai with a New Yorker
I went on a tour of the Fort district yesterday, with a young American lady. Her reactions to Mumbai were interesting.
- Religious Freedom: Can the US be our Policeman?
Every year the US State Department documents the state of religious freedom around the world.
- Memories of Chinars - Kashmiri Treasures
Our sojourn in life is much like that of boats passing on Dal Lake in the sunset.
- Fiction: Lord Rama's Viewpoint on Ramasetu
He sends his angel Mohandas Gandhi to see what was happening and report back to him.
- United Nations Adopts Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples
If we are specifying group rights, what are the rights of an individual within that group?
- Love, Grief, Pain, and a Kitten
To some love comes easy.It is as easy as making an eye contact and forming bonds of eternal attachment and for others love takes time.
- Is Anurag Kashyap Bollywood’s Newest Motor Mouth?
An urgent lesson in nobility from fellow contemporaries such as Madhur Bhandarkar, Vishal Bhardawaj and Shimit Amin is highly recommended.
- Evidence of Rama's Existence
It was not until i graduated to literacy that i found a more definitive account of the Ramayana.
- Andhra Pradesh Ordinance on Reservations to Muslims Challenged
Trying to get an ordinance passed that was rejected earlier
- Book Review : Cairo - The Family Guide
If you plan to pick up only one book to sight-see in Cairo, this is THE one to choose.
- TV Review: Channel 4, Dispatches - Religious Conversions
I think that organized proselytism is very dangerous and should be banned.
- Book Review: City of Djinns
A great book describing the history of Delhi
- Understanding India's Kidney Trade
An estimated one lakh people develop End Stage Renal Disease or chronic renal failure every year.
- Perspectives on the N-Deal - Part 2
Should India Consider the offer? It's a very straight and a big YES.
- The Ram Sethu Issue: Some Racist and Xenophobic Tamils Do Not Represent all of South India
Most people in Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka do not share the racist, exclusivist, supremacist and xenophobic outlook of the Dravidian "rationalists."
- Can We Make Public Toilets Free For Use?
A business model, which if implemented can not only make public toilets free for all, but also make them a profitable business.
- Poetry: idiots, idiots, everywhere
wait! i know we are all idiots - / some of the time - that'll make us tempidiots / but what of those who
- Movie Review: The Shawshank Redemption
A truly great movie
- A Conversation between Polar Opposites
A conversation between a Verbal Bully and a Passive Aggressive Individual
- Music Review: Om Shanti Om
It's not a work of unparalleled genius but it definitely has its moments
- United States on Religious Freedom in India - Big Brother Sermonizes
In all, the report is appalling for its overt, almost perverse prejudice.
- Mob Justice, Medieval Justice and Modern Justice
If we have to escape vigilante folk justice which is totally mindless, we have to reform our judicial system.
- Buying and Sourcing Spices in Egypt
Where to get your dose of masala!
- Pakistan At The Twenty20 World Cup: Adding Method To Madness
There's something about this Pakistan side and its recent performances in the Twenty20 World Cup that has really struck me.
- If You Think Education is Expensive, Try Ignorance
If the OECD countries want to compete in a knowledge economy, then they have to work very hard and improve their education systems.
- Ram Sethu: Should Religion be left out of the Domain of Science?
Religion should be the homemaker while science should be the guide.
- Hepatitis, Food and Politics: Life in Israel During a Sabbatical Year
Calling something "kosher" does not necessarily mean it's clean. Politics can kill you - even just for eating a salad.
- Koffee with Karan - Kutting Koffee Awards 2007
FYI, while selecting the recipients of Kutting Koffee Awards, I swear to Not have been partial, bribed or a sucker but only my true nasty
- Confessions Of Webaholics: Internet Addiction Exposed
Compulsive Internet use isn’t uncommon, many of us admit to it, but is it fair to label such overuse as “addiction”?
- Movie Review: Aggar
Overactive background scorer & plot-twists-writer make it a bore. Ample cleavage to shame a whore, actors-wooden to the core
- Advertisement & News Breaks On TV Channels In Pakistan
What is disconcerting is that these interruptions bring only news that is seldom newsworthy of a break...
- Zara, UK Fashion Chain, Withdraws “Swastika” HandBags
Fashion faux pas and social opprobrium
- Periyar - The Iconoclastic Reformer
whereas Dr. Ambedkar found his answers in Buddhism, Periyar felt than the answer lay in humanism
- Twenty20 Googlies: India Defeat England, Yuvraj is the Crown Prince
Six sixes off six balls: need I say more.
- Solving Karachi's Civic Problems - Elephants Never Fly
With this sort of an experience with dealing with the City Government officials I'm not even sure why I entertained the idea of filing a
- Short Trips - Comparing Airlines and the Railways
Eventually there is no time that a flight saves you.
- What is Rationality?
It is the ability of a human to think, ask questions, get answers, debate, discuss, and reason to arrive at a standpoint using a set
- The Sad Decay of a Once-Proud Institution - Aligarh Muslim University
of this august institution are all over the world and is considered to be one of the premier Muslim Universities in the world.
- Theatre Preview: Evam's And Now For Something Completely Different
A preview of Evam's production at Chowdiah Hall, Bangalore on Sept 23 (Sunday). The play is adapted from Monty Python.
- Khmer Rouge Leader, Nuon Chea, Brother No. 2, Arrested
The arrest of Nuon Chea, a now obscure leader reminds us that the war against terror is not new.
- Myanmar Monks Launch Non-violent Protests Against Generals
There is only one weapon against the guns of the generals, and that is non-violence.
- Soccer: Jose Mourinho Quits Chelsea
Three years and six trophies later, Mourinho and Chelsea have parted ways
- Twenty20 Googlies: India Enter Twenty20 Semi-Finals
India beat South Africa comprehensively, qualified for semi-finals and hurled South Africa out of the Twenty20 World Cup!
- Movie Review: Because I Said So!
In front of them, most of our Indian mothers and daughters look like saints.
- Yuvraj Singh - "Payback" - Seriously?
There is no payback of any sort, especially in Twenty20 cricket.
- Human Rights Lessons for Karnataka Police
Shouldn't the cop-on-the-bike incident merit suo moto attention from the court?
- The Demise of the Dollar?
Were the US Dollar to lose its status as the 'world's reserve currency',it would be the largest financial shift since World War II.
- Indians and Awards
Awards should be given for really special achievements so that the people who receive it actually believe they are someone special.
- Book Review: The Greatness Guide, Robin Sharma
Each of these chapters can be considered as groundwork to construct your monument of greatness.
- Fiction: Janki and Mansoor (Chapter 4)
Each episode is a complete short story in itself. Part five of the novel "Janki and Mansoor"Vivek Sharma
SATIRE | Culture: Desi | Culture: Crime | Culture: City Life | Culture: History | Culture: Humor | Culture: Language | Culture: Men | Culture: Original Fiction | Culture: Relationships | Culture: Satire | Culture: Social Issues | Culture: Society | Culture: The Writing Life | Culture: Women | Culture: Urban - Book Review: Mrityunjaya by Shivaji Sawant
Review of Marathi classic, "Mrityunjaya" by Shivaji Sawant, based on the life of Karna.
- The Virtues Of Being Creative In Education
Ingenious approaches to teaching that focus on helping students develop an interest in the subject can achieve outstanding results.
- India's Development Noise - Good For Growth?
It takes one set of qualities to succeed as a country and quite another to survive as a civilization.
- Flintoff to Yuvraj - "I Will Smash Your Face, You Just Wait"
Yuvraj's reaction was brilliant in my view.
- Movie Review: No Reservations
The movie, too, rather disappointed, but perhaps I was partly to blame.
- Church Set on Fire in Uttar Pradesh, India
Pastor Singh and his wife Bhawana were severely beaten up.
- Children's Health - Hope Springs Eternal
I cannot imagine the pain and courage required for a parent to see their child go through this.
- Lies,Lies and More Lies: Anti-Christian Acts
According to their warped sense of values maligning the Hindu groups is itself synonymous with truth.
- More Lynchings in Bihar
Symptomatic of a breakdown of law and order
- M Shamim - Tribute to a Delhi Friend and Film Critic
He was pampered by most Bollywood busybodies; and many held him in high regard.
- Twenty20 Googlies: India Goes Aussie Bashing, India-Pakistan Finals
The current generation of Indian players was born and brought up in a world where the script was always the same.
- China - The Party, Crime, and Corruption
The issue arises from the fact that the party is above the law.
- Science and Mythology
Science is not good enough to answer these questions because such stories exist in the minds of the people.
- The "Animal" Attraction - Why Do We Love Pets?
Why do we love our pets so?
- Book Review: Tom Clancy's Executive Orders
Tom Clancy has the concept of honor woven into his books, and Jack Ryan is a honorable man.
- Shanthakumaran Sreesanth - Which Way Will he Go?
Sreesanth's fate may just determine the fate of the Indian side in the next 4-5 years.
- Bihar High Court Allows State Appeal Against Laloo Acquittal
A slap in the face to the CBI
- Movie Review: North by Northwest
A classic Hitchcock thriller
- N-Deal - Pushback From West Bengal Communists
Both Chief Minister and Jyoti Basu speak up
- Movie Review: Apocalypse Now
A dark movie about the horror of war and the effect on the human soul.
- Bangladesh's Cartoon Controversy: The Prophet and His Honor
I shudder to think what the Prophet would have made of our efforts to protect his reputation if he were alive.
- An Introduction to Hindu Literature
If you can't tell the Aranyakas from the Brahmanas, you might want to check out this brief introduction to Hindu religious literature.
- Where are the Homosexuals In India?
Apparently there is a common belief that Indians do not do queer.
- The Seabed Land Grab Continues
Be prepared for big furballs. Watch this space,
- TV Review: Nach Baliye 3 - Disadvantage Rakhi Sawant
I guess being popular actor Govinda's (who also happens to be Judge David Dhawan's best buddy) nephew does have some perks.
- India's Feudal Culture Hasn't Changed
In the framework of the “Off with His Head” feudal culture not much has moved in centuries.
- Cricket: India are Twenty20 World Champions
India held their nerve to beat Pakistan in the finals of the Twenty20 World Cup
- Twenty20 - Reactions From a Non-cricket Watching Indian in Egypt
This was a good opportunity for us to get together and celebrate being Indian outside of India.
- Googlies: India beat Pakistan, win the Twenty20 World Cup
For years we will remember how a bunch of young ones lifted a trophy of greatness and celebrated on this very day.
- Stanley Kramer, Rama Sethu and The Inheritors of Wind
Two Stanley Kramer movies reviewed in the light of the Ram-Sethu issue
- Paris is a Moveable Feast
I have visited Paris many times and traced the steps of Ernest Hemingway on the Left Bank.
- India's Twenty20 Triumph - An Analysis
India's win augurs well for the future.
- Fallacies of God and Force, Matter, Space and Time
God, like electro-magnetic force, is a matter of faith. A fallacy born out of circular logic.
- Twenty20: India Wins Against Pakistan - Chau-bees Saal Baad
A tongue-in-cheek appreciation of our win over Pakistan
- Restaurant Review: The Dosa, San Francisco
Marianne found the service appalling. I wonder how she would rate Mysore’s GTR Tiffin Room or Indira Bhavan; and the Bangalore Udupi.
- India's T20 World Cup Win: Is There Any Better News Today?
On India's win and Malik's PR Skills.
- Movie Review: Dhol
Usual Priyadarshan fare.A few good lines placed randomly across script & delivered badly.Over-insensitive men objectify women.
- Fair and Lovely Accents
Are accents the fair and lovely creams of the language world?
- British Telecom Plans Faster Broadband - Optical To The Last Mile
I fully expect that the additional fibre optic bandwidth will be given away free.
- India Nominates Eklavya To Oscars, Sparks Fly
Patriotic movies may be the latest flavor in Bollywood but they do not seem to garner much millage at the Oscars.
- Is Homosexuality A Crime?
And to begin, all we need is an open mind and above all, an open heart.
- The Oscars Debacle: Is Eklavya A Worthy Entry?
Working towards a united goal is not on the priority list of the Indian Film Industry.
- Overheard At An Airport Lounge
fp: you got her number?,/br> sp: no, not interested fp: are you gay
- Ganesh Chaturthi - Sacred Ritual Or An Outlet For Frustration?
Is the purpose of a festival to deafen and drive people insane?
- Sports and Religion Do Not Mix
The world online and off has made a huge noise about Shoaib's comment.
- I Guess That's Why They Call It The Baby Blues!
No one talks about the panic or the crying by yourself late at night because you feel like maybe you made a huge mistake.
- Burma's Monks - Buddha's Warriors
In our obsession with Pakistan and our fluctuating mild interest in other neighbors, Burma might as well be on Mars.
- RP Singh - The Unsung Great of Twenty20
Why is nobody talking about RP Singh? This lad showed potential par excellence, scalping wickets with fantastic variation in line and length.
- Shoaib Malik - An Utterly Needless Controversy
It’s unfortunate that Shoaib’s gaffe came at the time that it did, but let’s not lose sleep over it, shall we?
- Iranian Professors Question Lee Bollinger & the USA
Now this is absolutely criminal and I have to agree with the Iranians.
- Tata Broadband Faces Customer Criticism
TRAI is supposed to act as a regulator but is more like an emasculated paper tiger.
- Durex Survey: Urban Indians Have Exciting Sex Lives
Sex, for most, it seems is not merely a bodily function - they want the romance and happily ever afters to go along with copulation.
- Twenty20 - Not So Plenty
Most importantly I feel, India winning the tournament can be detrimental to the game itself.
- The Cricket Season Begins in Earnest This Weekend
After a surreal interlude in South Africa, the 2007-08 cricket season begins in earnest on the coming weekend.
- Stop Torturing Rama
In the end, I can only be amazed at the tizzy over Rama/Ramayana in public discourse.
- Twenty20 Winners And The Money Rainfall
Why are the State Governments allowed to fool around with our money in an attempt to match their neighboring State's generosity.
- Mumbai Misses Indians at Kingfisher Open
No Indians are left in the singles draw and best hope Mahesh Bhupathi has withdrawn from the men's doubles.
- Older Indians and Romance
In India, we see other family members either as crutches, or people who need crutches
- Buddhist Monks' Uprising in Myanmar
One million Buddhist Monks and civilian led the protest march fighting for democratic rights
- Doing Business Improves In Most Countries
There is nothing like getting entrepreneurs to kick off work.
- Interplanetary Spaceships, Cosmic Hotties, WMDs, and Mission Accomplished!
We are finally ready to check some cosmic bodies out!
- Poetry: Bush and Ahmadinejad - On the Internets
A fond hope. After all, stranger things have happened.
- Whispers in New Delhi's Corridors of Power
Contacts are the life blood of a newsman; and Suresh had it in abundance. Whispers thrives on official shop-talk.
- General Musharraf Can Contest the Presidential Elections in Uniform
There have been other instances of the dichotomy where the up holders of the laws declared publicly to take the law in their own hands.
- Is Twenty20 the Future of Cricket?
The sustenance of any sport depends on the needs and wants of its key stakeholders.
- Review Jhalak Dikhla Ja 2: Mona Singh Gets On My Nerves
The whole “Look I am so bubbly” behavior is way too sugary, so much so, I am scared if I watch her for long I
- Eklavya's Oscar Selection: Vidhu Vinod Chopra Speaks Out
The Oscar-bound Director defends his film
- Ammonites and Sri Salagrama Shila
This ammonite has captured the minds of many throughout history, bards, poets, and religious saints.
- Burmese Refugees in India
The public of India has generally heard of military rule in Burma but fail to understand the nightmares the public of Burma are facing from
- The Junta's Misrule In Burma
The human rights violence in Burma under junta rule can be defined in three-fold drives known as “Three Bs”
- Book Review: The True Face of Jehadis by Amir Mir
This book is ostensibly about Pakistan. But it has lessons for everyone of us.
- War of Independence, the Great Mutiny, and The Last Mughal
The final disappointment was that it was a savage little war/mutiny and nobody comes out of it with any good reputation.
- The End of Dollar Hegemony
The United States retained its preeminent status as a world power by virtue of her being a creditor to the world.
- Tech/Music Review: Musicovery
Find new songs and pamper yourself with different styles of music.
- Team Twenty20 Returns Home
Crowds gathered in thousands to get a glimpse of their Heroes.
- Book Review: Learning PHP & MySQL
A step-by-step guide to creating dynamic, database-driven web sites
- The Ugly Briton
The British should "commemorate" their historic crimes against Humanity in the UK itself and not here.
- Book Review: The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
A detective novel set in the middle ages
- The Ethics of Slum Tours
"Is this not voyeurism?” the reporter asked me. "The affluent stare at the poor, and you make money off it?"
« August, 2007 || October, 2007 »
- Hinduism, the Buddha, and Other Musings
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