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- Archives: February 2008
- The Law of Unintended Consequences in China
No coal, no power. Welcome to a controlled economy.
- India-Australia Cricket Controversy - Move On Please!
If the reception turns hostile at Australia, God help the Aussies when they come to a cricket mad India later this year.
- Missing Indian History Books
Indian historians were paid to write books on Indian History that were never "submitted" for publication
- Supreme Court: Distinction Between Gifts and Dowry
A fine point of the law made clear
- Fiction: The Silent Companion
Who will win, she wondered.
- Sania Mirza Advised Rest for Adductor Injury
Sania has been sidelined since last week's Australian Open mixed doubles final which she lost partnering Mahesh Bhupathi.
- Education Ministry Holds Out Against Biscuit Manufacturers
After some doubts, Arjun Singh has finally made the right choice
- Book Review: Head First JavaScript
One can almost sense “bugs” getting killed as the author goes about the discussions.
- Social Responsibility — Not Just Corporate Responsibility
Whether we should begin talking not just about corporate social responsibility but the common responsibility of the citizen.
- Women Singers, The Glass Ceiling, & Bollywood Music
There just aren’t powerful solos for women in Bollywood music.
- Microsoft Bids For Yahoo! Will Google Go For Apple?
Microsoft will likely leverage the strengths Yahoo! has in messaging, media and music over search.
- Satire: The Anatomy of a Desi Grad Student
An attempt at classifying Indian students in the United States on the basis of attitude and way of life.
- Employment Programmes - Solutions in Search of Problems
They assumed that anybody who is not white has a problem in getting a job.
- Bahadur Shah Zafar & The Bharat Ratna
His support for the revolt, when it came, was far from being decisive…
- Media Watch: Snowstorms, Obama, Clinton, & Cables
Peace is bad for big business
- Elections, Democracy or Governance
Democracy is useful for what is really desired- a government with whom a convergence of interests is possible.
- Poetry: fickle memory
the prisoner was put in a jar
- Microsoft + Yahoo = Microhoo: Can it beat Google?
Four central ideas surround the acquisition of Yahoo by Microsoft. But can they dream of beating Google?
- Caesar Augustus - An August Personality
Perhaps Augustus was a bigger Caesar than Julius Caesar
- Barack Obama - The ‘Short Change' Candidate
Obama has demonstrated a large number of contradictions from his day to day rhetoric that has attracted many voters
- The Chechen War in Russian Print Media
In the post-Soviet era, the media have played a central role in forming public opinion toward critical national concerns, including the Chechnya conflict.
- Silent Tragedies Among Us
Some insurgencies are man made and some happen as a response to events and then become politicized.
- Photo-Essay: A Memorial to Mom!
Last week, I stumbled across another of those hidden gems of London.
- Charles Simic - A Poetic Journey
Many of my shortest and seemingly simple poems took years to get right.
- Mother Teresa's Prayer
Whatever her inner spiritual, philosophical struggle was, it was hers and should have remained hers.
- IIMB, UNMAAD - Not Quite A Finished Product
You can tell "central committee" folks in a college fest by the presence of a walkie-talkie and the amount of swagger in their walk
- Installing Ubuntu Linux 7.10, Gutsy Gibbon
Enter the Linux and open source world with South Africa's Ubuntu Linux, 7.10, "Gutsy Gibbon," with these easy install instructions.
- On Pros and Cons - A Poessay
Life is full of pros and cons and both lead us down the garden path to execution. Execution is not only cessation of breathing by
- The Illusion of Freedom of Speech
There is a deeper issue here regarding freedom of expression which many people seem to have missed
- Super Tuesday Primaries - Live Report - Updated
Today is the busiest day in the primary calender with nearly half of all delegates available to both parties
- States' Rights - What is Left For India?
The Shiv Sena was earlier more of a pawn which the Congress used to its benefit, and now the same Shiv Sena runs a parallel
- Sania Mirza, You Rock!
A "BCCI for Bhajji" show of strength effort was needed but sadly Sania was on her own here.
- Benazir Bhutto's Will - An Interim Approach
The haste with which the PPP leadership was accepted and passed onto a unsuspecting teenager calls for examination.
- The Admission Maze
Well settled. Happily married. Now thinking of expanding your family? In that case, let’s see what your concerns should be-
- Childhood Fights - Bonding Or Juvenile Misdemeanors?
Thats how my life was until I was ten years old and was told that 'girls don't fight nor do they play with boys'.
- Why Is No Action Being Taken Against Raj Thackeray?
What Raj Thackeray is doing is almost equivalent to sedition, when he argues that outsiders essentially have no place in Mumbai.
- TV Review: Idea Dhoom Macha De - Not A Bad Attempt
Most Indian Entertainment Channels are busy these days unleashing one reality show after another.
- Manhunter's Guide to the States of India
Let's just say the list above comprises the people I seem to keep running into?
- Mayawati Declares Her Crores of Assets
No wonder the Congress is sinking lower and lower in terms of middle class approval.
- Unmasking Islamic Terror in Hyderabad
There has been a shift in the operational strategy of the foreign militant outfits from the restive J&K in northern India to the commercial
- Gender Imagery: How Advertising is Shaping Attitudes
Social change doesn't happen overnight. It doesn't happen quickly. Permanent change usually requires commitment, tenacity and real action.
- The Divided States Of America: Democratic Dilemma
For the very first time the liberals will contradict their own ideologies by revealing their subtle biases.
- Cultivating the Savings Habit in Children
Gives a set of suggestions, if implemented can bring in a habit of savings among youngsters
- A Trail Through Old Bangalore
It can be fun to be a tourist in your city and explore the areas that you usually do not get to go to.
- The Historial Spear - A Poessay
The prickly spears spawned a paleolithic arms race that has continued unabated to the present Remote Age
- Marching Off the Map – Fragments From a Diary
For as long as I can remember I have wanted to impact the world or at least a small portion of it.
- Hindi is a North Indian Language
Hindi is by far the most spoken language in India, but it is in no way the language that binds India.
- Concert Review: Disney's Mickey's Magic Show, Bangalore
There are many of us who will never get to visit Disneyland so the much loved Disney characters visited us instead.
- Communal Loo Breaks
And we get up in unison and leave.
- Movie Review: Mithya - Leaves You Cold
Tongue-in-cheek, sharp humor - but only in one half. Same goes for the crisp plot & performances. Refreshing background music though
- Maharishi Mahesh Yogi and the Beatles
I did manage to spot Paul McCartney, and even exchanged pleasantries with him, while location scouting for a documentary on the pilgrim town.
- Book Review: Those Days by Sunil Gangopadhyay
Those Days” reminds us afresh that history is not about kings and queens and rulers and their reigns alone.
- Abuse of Corporate E-Mail in India
None of my friends working for the same companies here in the US abuse corporate email, while their counterparts in India do.
- Torture - The Monstrous Deception
The moral justification for torture is again based on the monstrous deception that the best interests of liberal democracies are served by causing a little
- Myths of Gandhism, Ram, and the Partition
What was the purchase that the Indian National Congress expected to get from Ram?
- No Nobel For Baba Amte: In Good Company
He was a social activist and shared his passion for working with the downtrodden with Mahatma Gandhi
- Interview: Shah Rukh Khan - "Let Deepika Touch BBC's Body"
Khan parries a barrage of questions with practised ease.
- The House that Al Saud Built
Saudi Arabia (like Pakistan),is one of the artesian wells of global Islamist terrorism and the rulers are frankly what can be politely described as robbers.
- Book Review: My Antonia by Willa Cather
My Antonia is a great novel and reminds me of its relevance in twenty first century India.
- 2008 : Africa Cup of Nations
Tomorrows winner gets to represent the Confederation of African Football at the 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup.
- Photo Essay: The Joys Of Gardening
A few pictures from my garden
- The Plight of Dharavi Potters
Dharavi Redevelopment Project threatens the very existence of kumbhar ( potter) community.
- Tax Sensitivity in Electronic Commerce
Generally speaking, if you have high sales tax locally, then people will shop online more.
- A Season of Passion
To Kalidasa, winter is the season of long nights in warm scented beds, of beautiful curvaceous women and amorous husbands.
- Melbourne ODI - India v Australia
This series will test the young indian middle order like little else in the world.
- China Wants to Repress Olympic Athletes
I have always maintained that it is one of the worst diplomatic decisions to award the Olympics to a country like China.
- Baba Amte - Maybe We Will Meet Again!
How do you feel when a great man leaves the world?
- A Hasidic Parable Retold
Once upon a time, there was a Rabbi. His father too was a well known Rabbi.
- Dichotomy in Electioneering: A Perspective
Why must "do as I say, don't do as I do" be permitted in the political arena?
- Photo Essay: Encounters of the Green Kind
I have been shamefully negligent in writing about flowers - some photos from Lucknow
- Urdu Poetry at a Funeral
“Haath lage nirman me, nahi marane, nahi mangane (let's use our hands to create, not beg or beat)”
- Satire: Dear Marathi Manoos Thackerays
Once you have done that let us talk about your demand for not allowing non-Maharashtrians to work in Maharashtra.
- Paris Hilton Accessorizes Home With Neglected Pets
Taking care of pets comes with enormous responsibilities.
- Maharashtra Riots - The Right to Uncultured Protest
It is in this uncultured way they seek to protect the 'Marathi Culture'.
- A 70s Love Child Reviews The 50th Grammy Awards
The best of the awards shows delivered well, but wasn't golden.
- Poetry: panicked bird
how did she end up here? where would she find repose now? why do we refer to birds as females?
- I Want to Go to Bologna, Italy as a Pastafarian
I want a subsidy to visit Bologna in Italy, which is where the great flying spaghetti monster lives and I want to go worship him.
- Jallikattu - Taming The Bulls In Thammampatti
The ancient bull taming sport of Jallikattu comes alive on Republic Day in Thammampatti as Supreme Court revokes the ban.
- Baabul Moraa - The Original Inheritance of Loss
My loved ones will become strangers/ The innermost portals of my home will be unreachable
- Mumbai US Consulate - Bureaucratic Hassles
Just outsourcing a service does not make "the end justify the means".
- Photo Essay: My Mum's Cooking!
She cooks divinely. Oh!, she can ride, hunt and shoot.
- The Marathi Manoos versus the Thackeray Brand
It might be time to dissociate the identity of the long suffering "Marathi Manus" from the Thackerays.Aditi Nadkarni
OPINION | Media: Journalism | Media: Magazines | Media: Internet | Media: Television | Media: News | Media: Newspapers | Politics: Asia | Politics: India | Politics: Peace | Politics: Religion | Politics: Reservations | Politics: South Asia | Politics: World | Politics: Laws | Culture: Social Issues | Culture: Society - That Freedom of Speech Sh*t
Oh no, you're not writing about that freedom of speech crap are you?
- Media Review: Damazine - A Literary Journal From Damascus, Syria
A journal that hopes to foster a new dialogue
- An Idiot's Guide to Political Galaxy
The word 'idiot', at some point in time, used to refer to one who does not vote. Here are my thoughts on being one.
- No Condoms For The HIV-Infected in Switzerland
For a disease on which our understanding is still very grey, and we have no cure, I find this absurd.
- A Farewell Ode to India
I started to dig into a culture that was once a mystery to me
- Darjeeling Hills - Development Caught in Politics of Gorkhaland
What really matters is the fulfilment of the genuine demand of Gorkhaland considering the distinctiveness of the region from the rest of the state.
- Palestine - Shifting Borders & Shifting Sands
As an amateur historian, I am always curious about the boundaries and how history is framed.
- Do You Know Your ABCDs?
While living in India some youngsters ape the Western lifestyle and upon arriving in the United States label those born and raised here as "confused".
- Lead India - A Corporate-Sponsored Circus
The covert agenda of campaigns like Lead India is to spawn corporate friendly leaders who spread the gospel of neo-liberalism.
- Movie Review: Jodhaa Akbar
Once the stars have aligned to put Jodhaa and Jalal in proximity to each other, the movie turns into a charming love story.
- Photo Essay: Food Street, Bangalore
If you want something simple and want to see the colors of life, places like Food Street at V.V.Puram are a must to visit.
- Movie Review: Jodhaa Akbar
Painstakingly made but painfully long. A visual treat! Romance remains same in 450 yrs & Politics teacher in rush to cover syllabus
- Imran Khan: The War on Terror is not a Religious War
"There is no doubt we are facing multi-crises but if these crises had not occurred the status quo would still be strong and if that
- Movie Review: Jodhaa Akbar- Befitting a Shahenshah!
A Movie befitting a Shahenshah! Gowarikar has delivered this jewel by simplifying the elaborate complexities in the royal love story.
- Commonwealth Bank Series: A Look at the Indian Batting
If Indians don't make the final, there will be pressure to recall Sourav Ganguly and Rahul Dravid back to the ODI side
- The Dabba Roster
The Mumbai train commuting is an experience not to be missed
- Kosovo's Independence - The Emperor is Wearing Albanian Clothes
If the ethnic Albanian Kosovars now oppress the ethnic Serbs as it will happen, will NATO bomb the ethnic Albanians?
- Book Review: The Way of Love: Learning To See
Transformation in life has more to do with being able to see, than with "doing".
- Jodhaa Akbar And So Much More.
If you have grown up reading Tinkle Comics, then you are bound to relate to many characters in the film.
- Book Review: Empire Falls by Richard Russo
There are things that grown ups want to do, but some times just cant”. Adulthood is about rediscovering that truth.
- Vulture Funds - Recovering Non-Performing Assets
Now you might call them vulture funds, but these funds do work on what nobody else wants to touch. Good for them.
- The Secular Identity Crisis in Nepal
B.P.Koirala could be aging and senile but he is only mirroring the identity crisis in Nepal.
- Pakistan Elections: Free, Fair and Transparent
The only certainty is the King's Party is wiped out and the two winners have a checkered past.
- Photo Essay: A Suburban Garden in Bhopal
A Photo Essay of a suburban garden of Eden
- The Symonds "Catch"
Symonds definitely dodged a bullet there.
- Reasons Congress (I) Will Lose The Elections
There is more than one issue that will play on the minds of the voters when the country goes to poll next year.
- Offensive Ads - The Cad Fad
It's not a crime to be a cad, but it should be.
- Breaking the Cycle of Consumerism and Poverty
I'm now questioning what I can do,
- How Does The World Treat Fidel Castro's Resignation?
Castro is well received in many countries, though many of his tactics of freedom of speech suppression have been universally decried.
- God is A Demonstration of Ignorance
Our collective and historical lack of confidence in admitting the obvious has created this unique need to believe in a utopian God.
- The Demise of the Joker - India's Vanishing Circus
The 130-year-old Indian circus industry, once the favorite form of entertainment with family and friends, is struggling to survive.
- Movie Review: We Own the Night
The movie is scary, moving and makes you think all at once.
- 24/7 Religious Cacophony
4:30 A.M my eyes opened and I sat up in my bed. "What the hell? You've got to be kidding me! I am in HELL!"
- Book Review: Oracle Essentials, Oracle Database 11g
What you need to know about Oracle database architecture and features
- Losing Your Life, One Post at a Time
As any serious blogger, whoever has lost any post for whatever reason will tell you, losing a blog post is like losing a part of
- Blogging and Journalism: Amongst the Best the Line is Blurry
The best among both are well grounded in facts, clear, lucid, precise, objective and write for the target audience.
- IPL Frenzy
It is obvious that there is no difference between BCCI and Zee TV or any other company that wishes to make a quick buck off
- The Closet and the Scale
For the longest time my stomach was like an endless pit that could down any amounts of junk food without it showing anywhere on my
- Movie Review: Fool's Gold
That being said, it was a fun children's movie and I had a nice overall time.
- The Problem of Conversion - Two Simultaneous Identities?
The converts are usually very hesitant to talk about their relationships with Muslims of immigrant background and would prefer to keep it secret.
- Bhojpuri Films And Jaspal Bhatti
One cannot ignore the consistently growing, Bhojpuri film industry.
- Movie Review: Checkmate (Marathi)
My basic problem is with the pace of the movie.
- Aggression in the Air
Certain kinds of aggression can be liberating in that they set you free.
- Reliance Fresh vs. Inefficiency - Smart vs. Stupid
if you can do suicide bombing for inner struggle objectives or secessionist objectives, why can you not do it for opposing Reliance Fresh?
- Is the Communist Party of India Extinct or Getting There?
Is the Left on the way to become a party of the past?
- What's In A Rose?
My roses are the run of the mill kind but I am quite proud of them.
- Photo Essay: Athirapally Falls, Kerala
I settle under a rock, and watch this inexplicable performance of the nature as the water falls down this 150 feet cliff, with a standing
- A Parting Wish for India
I dare you to find me a woman over 20 in this country who has not been molested in some way.
- Muhammad Abduh - A Reformer Who Died Too Soon
When you look around the Muslim world today, his words and his ideals are still as valid as they were then.
- Raj Thackeray - Let Him Be Maharashtrian, Not Indian
Those who want by the yard but give by the inch, should be kicked by the foot!
- Office Spouses, The Internet, and Other Marital Dangers
You find yourself talking to someone other than your spouse.
- Vallu & Checkmate: Cinematic Bonanza in Marathi
Two Marathi films - an audio visual treat
- Raza Rumi, A Pakistani Blogger Comes to Delhi
A budding writer from Lahore visits the city of his beloved author.
- Why Do Doctors Get A Raw Deal?
Why do you claim yourselves to be the watchdogs of society when you can't even pinpoint the problem staring in your face?
- Blogetiquette for Dummies
This is a list of some things that I've culled under the general idea of good blogging etiquette.
- YouTube, Idol Worship and Fanaticism
Of course, the issue occurs when this workaround becomes the sine qua non of holiness and God realization.
- Shravanabelagola: Lord Bahubali's Abode
Two girls on a sacred trail to Lord Bahubali in Shravanabelagola, a sleepy town in Karnataka that teems with history.
- Photo-Essay: The Magical Collection of Ganesh
I see those statues and I feel the love. Perhaps that is worship indeed.
- Poetry: cold hands at 3 a.m.
'where is the chart?' the nurse shuffles from her station, handing the chart, asks 'why are your hands so cold?'
- New Anti-HIV Microbicide Gel Shows Promise
Gel will allow women to protect themselves from HIV without having to rely on their partner's decision to wear or not wear a condom.
- Movie Review: The Spiderwick Chronicles
A good kid-friendly fantasy movie, with a feel-good ending and some good humour.
- Movie Review: Jumper
If you could teleport yourself somewhere right now, where would you go?
- Purist Entertainment, Twenty20 and Cricket
Twenty20 is a game of chance not a battle of players' wits and skills.
- Muslim Children Education in India
The challenge that comes is from the lack of modern subjects in the madrassah curriculum but that will take much longer to overcome
- Memories of Lahore Breezes
She, unbeknownest, returned something to my family that we had left "back there". Lahore's persona.
- Poetry: it is written on the clouds
on parochial possession of usurped passion
- Movie Review: Valu
Peek into rural Maharashtra. Adorable characters, witty language make slow yet charming watch
- Travel Report: Skandagiri - The Stuff Dreams Are Made Of
Trekking the Skandagiri on a full moon night with a group of shutterbugs and waking up to a dream.
- Fiction: A Muslim Wife's Birthday
Jane wondered if Rabia ever got upset or angry with her husband, her kids, life in general.
- Book Review: Nazi Literature in the Americas... and India
Literature is a battlefield in the recovery of humanity and is not outside the realm of politics
- Raj Thackeray's Gag Order Lifted
The Mumbai police had put a gag order to try to hide lack of any other action
- South Asian Food Habits
Isn't that a whole lot of eating? Not to mention the neurotic addiction to chai?
- Activism - The Forgotten Facet of Being American
This nation is built and run by immigrants of today and yesterday.
- Drag Queens - Political Bellwethers of Pakistan?
Does the irony of all this leap out at you as it does for me?
- Rizwanur Rehman Committed Suicide, CBI Reports
Heavy police pressure drove the young man to such a step
« January, 2008 || March, 2008 »
- The Law of Unintended Consequences in China
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