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- Archives: October 2008
- When the Writer's Block Hits Hard
Have I really found my ass-kicking reason to write something? Well, I still don’t know.
- Mumbai Chronicles, Part 1
I am in Mumbai, the capital of 'spirits', 'fast life', 'high rentals', 'hype', sensex and Bollywood.
- Home Economics
When I grew up in the tight, socialistic 70's in India, I understood the value of a Rupee.
- Mumbai Chronicles, Part 2
When I moved to Mumbai, I was told about its fast life and professionalism.
- The Indian Constitution and Religion
With the recent on-going riots large in my troubled thoughts, I turned to what our Constitution actually says about religion.
- Book Review: The Future of Freedom
The elite chose their values over privilege and yet this choice helped in the decline of their values.
- Media and Politics
I may sound fundamentalist but still I will take the liberty and ask the ‘Softists’ how will they react if one of their kin
- Rape of a Catholic Nun - A Shocking Incident in Orissa
The Bajrang Dal and VHP are no different from the SIMI and Indian Mujahideen terrorist organizations - both aim to terrorize the society.
- Freedom of Speech
The right to freedom of speech is a special case of the right to freedom of action - the only right that man has
- Terror - Reality and Political Perspective
It is easy for any person to convert paranoid society into anarchists.
- Movie Review: Drona - Derivative and Pointless
The actors deliver a mostly superlative performance, unfortunately wasted.
- Tata Leaves West Bengal, Blames Mamta Banerjee
Not a good omen for Bengal's ability to attract business
- Rape victim uses RTI to get case moving
Using the RTI Act prods government employees to get moving
- I Too Am Hurt Dear Father
We would be better off if we nip in the bud the seeds of violence before they are sown
- Poessay: Timeless Queries
Life becomes a bed of roses traversed on strands of cobwebs lined with thorns in full sight of humanity.
- Wall Street - Cold, Flat, and Broke
Madam Defarge and the tumbrels were kept busy while heads rolled in the basket in a grisly fashion.
- Dress Code Hypocrisy At Indian Workplaces
Why are men forced to put up with these double standards?
- Book Review: Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's August 1914
In the First World War, untrained Russian soldiers thrown into battle by criminal and idiotic generals were massacred.
- Pantastic-a-la-Sanya
And then you find the Brussels sprouts in your box.
- To Leave or Not To Leave
A waning love story with a lovely Indian city.
- Some Thoughts on Uri Avnery's "Manifest Destiny"
Uri Avnery's one saving grace is that he demands honesty. I don't agreew with the rest, but 100% agreement is found only in the
- Why Don’t we Get Help for Depression?
Indians live pretentious lives and pay a heavy price of trying to hide from reality.
- The American Financial Crisis — Dejà vu?
Is what’s happening on Wall Street giving us a sense of dejà vu? A peep into the future for the global middle class citizen!
- The Plan: Twelve Months to Renew Britain
The Plan is based on the assumption that the UK is in a bad shape.
- Poessay: Rosary 15 - The Drop
some drops for ever stand apart
- Why Not To Write
For such writers the road to self destruction for the sake of their work is predictable.
- Cops, Drug Smugglers, and Picturesque Himachal
Alongside Goa, Rajasthan and Himachal are fast becoming major transit areas for movement of drugs within and outside India.
- Greetings from Mount Baten
Today we have so many Nehrus and Gandhis of Tamil origin, since they are not aware of surnames.
- Bush Signs Nuclear Energy Deal With India
A deal that the Prime Minister staked his Government for
- Book Review: Devil May Care by Sebastian Faulks
A brilliant litterateur tries to bond with the best of pulp fiction
- Sachin Tendulkar and World Records - The Longest Crawl
Do the new set of selectors have the guts to drop Sachin? Well, that's the question which begs to be answered.
- Mumbai Chronicles, Part -3
Apart from South Mumbai the big positive about Mumbai are the Auto rickshaw guys
- Movie Review: Happy Days - Romanticizing College Life
Can't college lives in movies have themes other than romance and politics?
- The Muslim World - A 'Neutral' View
Muslims are far more like us than the terrorists that many people associate them with
- poetry: coloraffectations
falling leaves have warmth: born-again zombies have none
- Pakistan's "Macabre" Economics vs. Micawber's Economics
The next world war (or its variation - "Clash of Civilizations") will not be won with bombs but by sheer economic expertise.
- Poverty - An Analysis
An analysis of poverty, its causes and the recent calls for action to eradicate it.
- Who Is An Intellectual?
Many of them appeared "stoned", for they had the capacity to stone wall any uncomfortable questions
- A Wave To The Microwave
Life expectancy is on a rise, despite the pesticides, despite the synthetic products, despite the hormones and yes, despite the microwave
- Pondicherry - The People Fight Back
Last week was a good one for democracy in Pondicherry.
- A Moratorium on Conversions: Who Decides?
They neither need the State nor upper caste religious leaders to tell them how to make their choices.
- US Supreme Court Refuses To Stay Troy Davis Execution
Life teaches you many lessons through example..I'm afraid I just don't understand this one
- Aravind Adiga’s Booker Prize - A Time for Introspection
Are we unduly critical of fellow-desis?
- India Shining Generation Wakes Up to Layoffs
Youngsters need to realize that layoffs are part and parcel of the glamour of working for a swanky corporation.
- Jet Airways Lay Off and Raj Thackeray's Tears
Raj Thackeray stands for the right of every Marathi who has been deprived of his/her rights in their own land.
- Kuzhali Manickaval Has Wings
"Insects Are Just Like You and Me Except Some of Them Have Wings" by is a book of tremendous imagination and beauty.
- Jet Airways Reverses Layoffs, Naresh Goyal Apologizes
Mr. Goyal apologized to the employees and indicated that the move might have been a hasty decision.
- When Desperation Overwhelms
Maybe if there were effective tools for them to use, they would not resort to violence
- Another Milestone For Tendulkar
Tendulkar's records are more than just personal records.
- Cricket Eclipsing Commonwealth Youth Games
Does the media or the rest of the nation know that there is a Commonwealth Youth Games (CYG) going on in India?
- Indian Politicians And the Current Military Action in Sri Lanka
LTTE had been criticized for brain washing people to become suicide bombers, as well as forcing children to become soldiers.
- Fiction: Pink Slip Cover
By denying claims arising out of wars and God's act of natural disasters, insurers equate God with war mongers.
- Ganguly Goes With a Bang
Why do we Indians shy away from praise?
- Pobody is Nerfect
“wages of sin is death”, though we all know that death is the only certainty, whether one sins or not
- Book Review: Intellectual Property and Open Source
The book is as good a reference or as a read to fit an Intellectual Property within the appropriate legal framework.
- Flash Fiction: The Breakup
The beginning of the end is such a cliché!
- Movie Review: Drona
Drona is supposed to be a fantasy-film, but was nothing short of a nightmare!
- Congress Losing Ground
Forecasting has never been my forte, but then you don’t need to be an astrologer to see the obvious.
- Book Review: Three Cups of Tea
Mortensen’s inspiring chain of achievements were enough to spur me on to continue reading page after page.
- Fiction: The Glass Is Still Empty
I walked up to the refrigerator once again, for a sip, I noticed the glass on it. It was still empty.
- Poessay: Rosary 16: Ageless Quest - tishnagi
a vigorous pursuit / of flickering shadows dancing / with foggy apprehensions / to nature's cascading melody
- Fiction: It Ain't Easy!
For the love of god it ain't easy to deny the fruit of passion that drove Adam and Eve out of the Garden of Eden.
- Poetry: In My Disappearance
The world and its mechanics/Offer all its splendour and vacuum
- Bubbles and The Current Financial Crisis
Is there an end to the current financial bloodbath that is plaguing the world markets
- Expansion of IIMs - Credibility At Stake
Expanding IIMs introduces risk of IIMs losing credibility - one thing that they have always banked upon in the world
- Bush Administration: Mercifully, the End Is Near For His Lies And Deception
Words will not mollify nor ameliorate the suffering and death that has been caused by the policies of the Bush Administration
- Book Review: Sea of Poppies
With ‘Sea of Poppies’ Amitav Ghosh takes you on a journey that you will be glad to be part of.
- The Death of An Indian
The truth remains that he died because he was a North-East Indian
- Poessay: Takht, Takhta and Takhti
under the peepul tree, mat, breeze and takhti / not to forget the zee nib, ink and pot / now the a-c room, PC and
- Chandrayaan-I - Not A Waste of Money and Resources
There is an inherent lack of understanding amongst the people in India about the use and potential of technology to improve the well being of
- Chandrayaan-I: Money Down the Drain or Time to Celebrate?
How can you quantify the benefits and the advantages of being at the vanguard of space research and exploration?
- Indian Traffic Sense - Unity in Diversity
The British unified India and M.K. Gandhi taught us to defy laws through his civil disobedience movement.
- Machiavellian Fire Fighters
It is always better to blow up the problem and then get recognition for fire fighting than to nip it in the bud.
- Movie Review: Karzzzz
I wish Himesh would stop acting and concentrate only on his music.
- A Uniform Civil Code For India - Will It Happen In Our Lifetime?
Has the Kerala High Court given up hope of ever having a a uniform civil code implemented in India?
- A Jewel of a Controversy
I find the whole fracas about The Jewel of Medina, to be tiresome and as thrilling as a bad case of hives.
- Kashmiri Muslims and Their Choices
Ultimately, we are all responsible for the choices we make
- A Reviewer's Dilemma
Roger Ebert's 1 star review of Tru Loved would have become a controversy, but for his exemplary behavior.
- Suicide Note (4 Parts)
My poetry could not save her Neither the distance nor the knowledge
- Conversions, Sham Marriages and Organ Donations
Various distasteful matters can be perfectly legal!
- Book Review: The Art of Debugging
A good book in an area where interest is difficult to inculcate due to widely dispersed documentation.
- Book Review: The Other Side of Israel: My Journey Across the Jewish/Arab Divide by Susan Nathan
This book will make even the most committed Israel fan re-appraise his or her stand.
- Missionaries Have Little Impact on Indian Society
Enough has been said and shown on these pages that show what missionaries have been printing and saying about Hindus in our country.
- Who's Sane About Obama's Middle Name?
Not even Obama could truly denounce the subconscious link some Americans have forged.
- Book Review: Building Embedded Linux Systems
Concepts, techniques, tricks and traps
- Why the Kid Glove Treatment for Raj Thackeray?
Congress refuses to crack down
- Supreme Court Orders Police Officer To Compensate The Victim
In the more advanced nations, powers given to the police are exercisedwith responsibility and they can be prosecuted for excesses.
- Lost In The Republican Translation Of Joe Biden's Warning
Senator Biden's comment may unintentionally bear a hint of why America's international image has suffered through the past years.
- Poem: The Revolutionary's Tale
Let me be your magic, lend me your time
- Book Review: Refactoring SQL Applications
The book is a must have for the database practitioners and IT specialists working in this field.
- Sarah Palin - The Wardrobe Controversy
In these tough economic conditions where there is a problem with respect to consumer spending, such behavior can be a problem.
- Book Review: The Art of Black and White Photography
The Art of Black and White Photography is the first serious book I have read on photography.
- Tension between Sarah Palin and McCain's advisors
Looking beyond the 2008 election
- The Marathi Manoos - A Not So Difficult Poser
It will be a million dollar question how will the BJP justify the protest against MNS on the one hand and the cake-talk with the
- Poem: One Thousand and One Nights
Dispersed in the desert, within my remains, An old existence and its beginnings
- Poessay: Sea of Affliction and Omni Vincit Amor
Every inadvertent touch is euphoric, delirious, ecstatic, devouring, entrancing, rapturous, and transporting - transporting them to the distant stars.
- Polygamy: Why The Step-Motherly Treatment?
Whatever two consenting adults can do, three or more consenting adults should be able to.
- Photo Essay: Kabini
Kabini is a good weekend getaway for nature lovers and KJLR is a perfect place to stay.
- Colas and Religions
Both are useless, that's why they require powerful marketing strategies to thrive
- Poem: Swat
In there, lies the answer to our quest for brutality As the smoke arises from snows of purity The blood that flows in human rivers Amidst beautiful snow,
- Are Religious People More Charitable?
Not all's well with the slogan "There's probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life."
- Book Review: The Way We Will Be 50 Years From Today
There are a few essays that really should be the only ones they should have published - and boy, they're good.
- Book Review: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer
Perfect continuation to a very good series. Or, perfect back-story to a very good series. It's a paradox.
- Medical Ignorance and Patient's Bliss
Ignorance could be bliss, at times in medicine too
- Balochistan (The Earthquake Poem)
I am beyond those limitations Of suffering and indifference
- poetry: coffee break persiflage
the heading says it all
- Fiction: A Delightful Old Lady
'It's so good to see someone from England,' the old woman told them.
- Terrorism All The Way
Nepal and Bangladesh have now established themselves as a safe heaven and a launching pad for carrying out anti-Indian activities. Illegal immigrants continue to enter
- The Office Spouse
Sometimes you can't stand them and you wonder how you'd get through the workplace madness without them!
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- When the Writer's Block Hits Hard
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