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- Archives: May 2008
- Book Review: HomeSpun
Just by being with the fiery, modern and liberal Anu throws him into a cauldron of thoughts and conflicting emotions.
- Health and Freedom in a Simple Piece of Cloth
Goonj, Shuddham, and Creative Art of Souls are teaming up to bring sanitary napkins to India's poorest women.
- Fiction: An Internet Tale
Engineer-MBA guys were the flavor of the season and he wanted to marry an Engineer-girl.
- Book Review: Sundays at Tiffany's
Something told me that this novel might turn out to be just as good, despite romance not being the author's forte
- Cosmetic Changes in Islamabad
The parachuting of Washington's dream team means status quo remains unchanged in Islamabad.
- Photo Essay: Tramway Trek in Parambikulam
I had to cover close to 50 kms, trekking thorough one of the best biodiversity hotspots in India.
- Relative Truth
Yudhayas was taking a path many have avoided in the past for fear of controversy. He had no fear, for his conscience was pure.
- The Wired Life
I have come to conclude, never take electrical connections lightly.
- Rajasthan Royals Humble Kolkata Knight Riders
Where is the fire, guys? What happened to all that aggression?
- Lip Service: The Smile Train
Compared to the billion people who live in India this may sound like a small number, but in reality it is a huge service to
- Bardolatory - William Shakespeare's Legacy
India was conspicuous by its absence at the 444th birth anniversary celebrations of The Bard of Avon at his birthplace.
- Smoking and Terrorism
Efforts aimed to associate the benign face of a terrorist organization to a social cause are akin to the association of cigarettes to healthy sports.
- Movie Review: The Spiderwick Chronicles
The Spiderwick Chronicles is clever, captivating, and well-paced.
- An Evening At A Brothel
You've been in a brothel? What was so shocking about the experience?
- Photo Essay: Thrissur Pooram
At the end of the event, one is left spell bound with the spectacle of such a magnitude.
- Woes of an Indian Wife
I always wanted to be a career woman, but I am a carrier woman.
- Delhi Daredevils Break Chennai Super Kings
The points table has a bit of an upset after this game, and the remaining games before the knock-out stage should be interesting.
- SlapGate, Suspensions, Referees, and Code
Of course, all these charges of parochialism are absurd, but that is what this seems to have descended into.
- Nirmala Deshpande and the Death of Gandhianism
Nirmala Deshpande died yesterday; and she is being eulogized as a great Gandhian leader in the major newspapers and hailed by politicians across India. I
- Poetry: I Am Just a Little Confused
We all are just a little confused.
- Movie Review: Iron Man Packs a Punch!
With good, in fact rocking, background music and a running time of just under 2 hours, the movie is a real delight.
- Being a Jack of All Trades
A do-it-yourself kit to identify a jack of all trades.
- Movie Review: Iron Man
The Iron Man movie brings the comic book superhero to life with honesty.
- The Magnificence of the Taj Mahal
I felt a surge of happiness sweep through my heart.
- Broadband on Parched Throats
Real infrastructure is crumbling but you can zap up and down the virtual highway.
- Oh, To Be In Error: A poessay on Errorists
The morning after if you forget the companion's first name, or mix it with a former partner's - that error, if not deliberate, could be
- Sphoorti - Sharing Happiness
If you cannot do it or if you do not have time to do it, forgive yourself. At least trust one person who does it
- Congress Lets Raj Thackeray Continue Anti-India Campaign
In yet another rally on the 3rd of May, Raj Thackeray continued on his anti-North Indian campaign.
- Stalking Hasan Elahi: TrackingTransience Delusions
In theory, the project is simplistically brilliant, but for the regular online blogger like myself, Hasan’s site is like a trip down the wormhole.
- Managing Discretionary Spending and Pensions
Manage your internal investments as you would your pensions.
- Fiction: Love you Forever!
Love, however, has a tendency to fade - or that is what they say. She couldn’t believe what she was going through.
- A Murder Conviction 26 Years After the Crime
Is this actually justice?
- Fiction: Why Mona Lisa Smiled
This is true as well. Possession without control is but a cage. And cages can be broken.
- Interview: Michael Levin - The Next Great Clash
He uses a lot of research and the models of other researchers to test his conclusions that are based on his experience and knowledge.
- Why is Argentina Boosting Air Force Spending?
Why is Argentina increasing defence spending right now in the middle of an economic crisis?
- Interview: Bindumadhav Khire, Gay Activist and Marathi Writer
Bindumadhav Khire is a techie who gave up his career in the US to return to India and get involved with issues close to his
- Hands Off! - Gender Biases in Security
They assume I can do no harm, on account of my gender.
- Book Review: A Dying Banyan by Manzoor Ahtesam
Society fundamentally questions anyone who is different - in look, in thought and in belief.
- Beauty And The Beast Within - The Ugly Truth of Cosmetic Surgery
Cosmetic surgery is a megazillion industry that people turn to as a cure for everything. Why?
- The Mystic Spouse - Unpredictable, Tough and Happy
Everything is positive from an optimist's point of view.
- Supreme Court Strikes Down AIIMS Amendment Act
The net effect of the Supreme Court action has been that the health minister has suffered a severe reversal in his battle with the AIIMS
- Book Review: Superstar India By Shobhaa De
The book is nothing more than a marketing stunt.
- Organ Donation - Harvesting Spare Parts
In organ donation, the main taboos seem to be social and religious.
- The Phantom Phenomenon
For nearly three months, I did not see him boarding the train, and I did not attach much importance to it.
- Why do Women Get More Tax Exemption Than Men?
If you want equal rights, then shouldn't you be allowed to stand up for it and fight?
- Rough Kitty Love
Their bites are like little itchy needles that penetrate deep into the skin and the psyche.
- Movie Review: Wall Street
Wall Street is the familiar story of the seductive power of greed, and how its accompanying consequences play out in the minds and lives of
- Travel Report: Naldhera - Abode of God
An account of our holiday in the Shivaliks, and how I came face-to-face with a simple faith.
- The Astrologer, Pushan and Other Marriage Tales
I pictured myself sitting behind some rusty iron desk, an inept, corrupt and arrogant Babu, in charge of the marriage registry.
- Movie Review: Iron Man
The best parts of the film are the intensely detailed engineering scenes, a kind of geekporn-meets-steampunk mashup.
- Salman Rushdie and Freedom of Speech
The Stanford Daily report covers important parts of his talk but misses out on the ending.
- Photo Essay: Beautiful India
It has been my long standing dream to travel all around India and capture its beauty permanently in pictures.
- The Elderly - Between The Devil and the Deep Sea
Although the government has announced schemes like the Varishtha Mediclaim, the schemes often come with fine print riders .
- Cartoon: The Generation Gap
Happy Mother's Day!
- Eco Friendly Vehicles: A Case of Misplaced Emphasis?
Are our electric vehicles as environmentally friendly as they are made out to be?
- A Cat Story
I never realised how much I'd miss the cat element of my life until it was actually gone.
- Fiction: Sensual Romance
Since the time of their engagement, they could not keep hands off each other – and 3 months was a long time.
- Peace With Dignity: Another Gift For Israel
Peace in the region is not to be equated with death for the state of Israel.
- Vedic Astrology Goes Global
"My colleague Anne is flying to Mumbai", said my friend from the UK. "She wants to have her horoscope read."
- Movie Review: Bhoothnath & Desi Little Miss Sunshines
For Christ sakes- eight year old wearing torn leggings, skanky tube tops and minis is not okay whether in a kids movie or in adult
- Microfinance - Money, Money, Money
To really make a difference to those outside the normal banking channels, micro finance institutions need to innovate.
- Why Write?
Funny how my dying doesn't cause me discomfort but the worthlessness of my passion to the world makes me depressed.
- Graphic Novel Review: Osamu Tezuka's Buddha: Impressions
Osamu Tezuka's classic graphic novel series scores because of its timeless message.
- IPL, Cricket and Corporate Efficiency
Charu Sharma was fired by owner Vijay Mallya as the CEO of the ridiculously named Bangalore Royal Challengers franchise in the Indian Premier League.
- Weight A Minute!
Although the West is criticized glorifying anorexic beauties, at least when I go to a party I don't get an immediate weight appraisal
- Poetry: Not a majonooN e laila Poem
Indebted for ever
- Coordinated Bomb Blasts in Jaipur, India
At least seven bombs went off in close succession in Jaipur, India, the capital of Rajasthan.
- Putrid Pilgrimages in India
The provocatively titled blog “The Shit of the Saints is Still Reeking” talks of the 2007 mela in Allahabad.
- Travel Report: Korba Street Festival - Heliopolis, Cairo
What I got to see, kind of reminded me a bit of the Kala Ghoda festival in Bombay, but just a little bit.
- Sixteen Flies on a Rope
Harold Bergsma is the only surviving member of the National Geographic Society Ornithological Expedition to West Nepal in 1949-1950.
- Sisyphus And the Israeli-Palestinian Crisis
Why we have to keep on trying to be calm and unemotional specially when dealing with such an emotive subject like Israel and Palestine?
- E-Governance and Grassroots Governance
If E-governance is the panacea of the future, it is at places where the public interfaces with the government.
- Aamir Khan Blogs Shahrukh
An Indian blog that gets about 1288 comments belongs to a fellow called Aamir Khan
- Much Ado About the Moustache
The moustache is so much more than a line (or jungle) of hair. It's a style statement, an extremely sexual one at that!
- Fishing For Wishes: A Fish Who God Listens To
Red is still accepting wish-applications: Visa, Amex and MC accepted!
- “Oh Boy!”
Man, woman, short. Tall, fat, skinny—what does it matter? Aren’t we all human?
- Hong Kong, The Perfect Shopping Destination
Rebelling against such a schedule was futile because you see; these women were on a mission. A mission to fill up their bags to the
- New Delhi's Bus Rapid Transit System - Democracy Rides a Bus
The lesson for us in democracy is that sadly the common man who is the most important stakeholder is seldom consulted
- Patang Fever - For the Love Of Kites
Childhood memories make us what we are.
- The Dangers of Being a Man
At adolescence, boys are learning to drive, to drink, to try and get girls into bed. How about self-defense? Women are no less corruptible than their
- Supreme Court Reiterates "No Goons For Collections"
Perhaps it had to be a team of women entrepreneurs who wouldn't think like men to be able to come up with a humane and
- The New Jahanpanahs
In India, “their lordships” are the new jahanpanahs and will not tolerate any lesse majeste!
- What Goes Wrong With MLM Companies?
What goes wrong with MLM companies, which on paper offer a novel concept to make everyone rich...
- Book Review: Rough Music by Patrick Gale
Patrick Gale’s book “Rough Music” is no easy reading with melancholia cascading through every page
- Fiction: After the Blasts
"We did it. The whole media is discussing it in their usual style, accusing and defending each other as it suits them."
- The 'U' Factor
We Indians are always at a disadvantage, in either learning our age-old philosophy or imbibing the modern one from our Western counterparts.
- Doing Peace Wrong
Unlike Gandhi-ji, the Dalai Lama has never understood the indispensable political utility of harm’s way.
- Emerging Markets And The Decoupling Myth
According to the decoupling theory, economies of emerging markets and the U.S. can grow at the two different ends of the growth rate paths.
- Cramped Space, Cramped Aura: Elevator Odyssey
Confinement alters behaviour?
- Lesbian Couple Pushed to Suicide - The Pursuit of Normalcy
Pushing someone to the very edge where death is the only option out is normal.
- A City of Villagers
No matter how cosmopolitan our cities might be, the social integration of a composite culture has not happened.
- Reliance Communications - Go, India Go
Despite the likely hurdles in its path, I expect RCOM to reap the benefits from the aggressive strides that the company is looking to make.
- Book Review: The Global Food Economy by Tony Weis
Going beyond the platitudes of corporate PR, the author ‘examines the human and the ecological cost of what we eat.’
- Natural Instincts and The Gadget Community
The truth is that most us are losing some of the vital and inherent faculties endowed within us.
- My Own Private Idaho
I believe it’s better one maintain a relationship only with those who respect you for what you are and love you unconditionally.
- Fiction: A Love Like No Other
Being a creature of the world she can never be completely mine.
- Photo Essay: Sunfeast World 10K Run
To be a part of the Sunfeast World 10K run, this is an international annual event, and was organized in India for the first time.
- Albert Einstein on God
Einstein was not a religious man the way most people describe religiosity, and he was no believer in personal god.
- Book Review: The Post-American World - Fareed Zakaria
Ordinary Americans aren’t normally accustomed to analyzing the world in the way Zakaria has laid out for them here.
- Remembering Vijay Tendulkar’s Mitra
As I look back now at the play, it’s distressing how the fiction of his play is still a truth for many lesbians even today.
- The Archer Aims For the Heart
As I sink back to terra firma I wonder how I'll describe him in my post. Politician? Jailbird? Novelist? Firang-in-India? I settle for Charmer.
- Book Review: Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri
Jhumpa Lahiri does not write stories, she crafts them.
- Left Loses Panchayat Polls in Nandigram
Something that will be worrying for the Left
- In Ten Simple Steps: Chemistry Text Book Writing for Dummies
Ever wondered how the totally wonderful Chemistry textbooks are written?
- THE 'Q' FACTOR
Queer thoughts about breaking the 'Queue'
- Bollywood Blogging, Welcome Salman Bhai
Apna Sallu has entered the nasty world of Hindi Film Industry blogging.
- Masala Central
I was walking through Crawford Market when a row of bottles with neat blue labels grabbed my attention.
- Book Review : Changing Gods by Rudolf C Heredia
In his work, Changing Gods the Jesuit sociologist Rudolph Heredia very eruditely unpacks the rather prickly subject of religious conversion.
- Forgiveness, actually
If intimacy is what happens when love and hate collide, Then seperation is when they lie together in the same bed...or grave.
- In Traffic: Window With Many Views
The society, the changing dynamics of the economy, the emotions in action are the dominant players in this movie called "The Race."
- The 'M' Word Part 6 : Saying No
I am hoping it will help others in a similar situation understand that sometimes being selfish is the only way out.
- Fifty Years Ago Came The AFSPA - India's 9/11
After fifty years of the Armed Forces Special Powers Act we need something less violent that works, instead.
- The Lion People
Everyone knows about the Masai of Africa, but have you heard of the Lion People of Gujarat?
- Book Review: The 3 Mistakes of My Life by Chetan Bhagat
And what disappoints even further is that this is Bhagat's third book with two bestsellers preceding it!
- BJP Wins In Karnataka
This election result has the potential to have an effect on the fortunes of two of the largest political parties in India
- Youth Beaten To Death Over One Rupee
A new low to the value of human life
- Marriage, Loving Style
We celebrated the anniversary of the 1967 Loving Day two weeks ago by having lunch with our friends.
- Bigotry, Mental Illness, & Doubting the American Dream
"Mental Illness" vs" Prejudice
- The Bangalore International Airport - The Day One Experience
It was a nice experience to be there on Day 1, far better than what most newspapers make it out to be.
- Barkha Dutt & The IPL Cheerleaders
Dear Barkha, Your article was totally in bad taste.
- Summer Games
"Let's play Monopoly", says my niece suddenly. All at once, the mood changes and the afternoon seems filled with promise.
- Movie Review: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
It is inspired slapstick, and while I cringed, my kids laughed at the silliness.
- Narayana Murthy on Entrepreneurship
I was privileged to attend an interview of Narayana Murthy, the co-founder of Infosys Technologies...
- What is Prejudice?
Is prejudice something learnt in childhood or do we get prejudiced every day?
- Book Review: Stardust by Neil Gaiman
Till I read Neil Gaiman’s Stardust, I was of the firm conviction that Fairy Tales were for children
- Gujjar Protests Paralyze Delhi
Government unable to prevent traffic blocks and jams
- Justice Delivered in Nitish Katara Murder
A mother's long battle finally comes to an end
- A State With No Teeth - The Gujjar Protests
How much really do you respect someone who doen't stand up for himself/herself?
- UK Indian Couple Abandon IVF Twins - "The Wrong Sex"
Have we truly emerged from the era of female foeticide/infanticide, or merely adde new dimensions to the practice?
- Observations on the IPL - The Non-playing Area
My off field experiences while attending the last 2 matches of the Deccan Chargers at the IPL
- Israeli PM Ehud Olmert Faces Storm in Corruption Scandal
This scandal has cast a cloud on the prospects of peace in the Middle East, and upon President Bush's recent trip to the region.
- India - Democracy or De-mockery?
Its a mockery of democracy more often, not by chance but by choice
- The Un-ensconced Women
Men are so busy trying to grow up with women that they no longer have time to sing their paens.
- Rachael Ray Serves Iced Coffee and Jihadi Donuts
Is that what we do now? We don't like something so we link it to terrorism?
- 'Simply' Timeless - 100 Years of Sachin Dev Burman
This quality to pamper and nourish the vocal element in his songs is the key behind the everlasting freshness in Dada's music.
- Poetry: rictus *ab aeterno**
a child with matted hair / stupefied, locks eyes / with the bird and smiles
- Kingdom of Tides
Are we the watchers or the ones being watched?
- Paranoia, Transformers, & the Free State
Mid-air, Megatron would metamorphose from the T-Shirt, hijacking them away in search of the Cube or would he demand destruction of all hard detergents?
- Movie Review: Sex And The City
Light-hearted movie with oodles of glamour. But the obsession with clothes, shoes and frivolity grates a bit.
- Pakistani Activist Ansar Burney Deported From India
Could it because the new Pakistani Government did not like his actions and wanted to humiliate him and got the Indian Government to issue a
- Rats!
How Rats and Humans interact - not that well, I am afraid.
- Caste-based Reservations Demands Increasing
As long as the politics of reservation continues to be patronized by various Governments, they will face such issues.
« April, 2008 || June, 2008 »
- Book Review: HomeSpun
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