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- Archives: July 2009
- Happy Canada Day
Of all our dreams today there is none more important - or so hard to realise - than that of peace in the world.
- Delhi High Court Decriminalizes Homosexuality
The Delhi High Court gave succour to everyone today by agreeing that Section 377 was unfairly stated
- Delhi High Court Legalizes Homosexuality In India
In a historical ruling today, Delhi High Court decriminalized homosexuailty in India
- The Bandra-Worli Sealink Opening
It is a big thing for this city and as a Mumbaiker, I feel really proud.
- Delhi - Love Under The Rainbow
Today I am proud of being from Delhi - the capital of India where to love under the rainbow is perfectly legal.
- Delhi High Court Makes Consensual Gay Sex Legal
A huge first step, but a long way to go.
- Nawwab and I: Intercourse, Pa.
With towns named Bird in Hand, Paradise, and Intercourse, Lancaster County in Pennsylvania has added attraction for tourism.
- The Government Should Scrap the NREGS
The Government jettisoned the communists late last year, they should do the same to the NREGS this year.
- Book Review: The Wish Maker by Ali Sethi
Sethi conveys to his readers the sights, sounds and smells of upper-middle class Pakistan
- Revisiting the Pakistani Grand Narrative
The national narrative is fused with a prescribed religious bent that, just like any other major grand ideology, insists on its own universality and absoluteness.
- Sarah Palin Resigns: Aims to Run for President in 2012
fours years can take an enormous toll on a candidate
- Judgement on IPC Section 377: Counterpoints
Liberals and gay organisations are using the wrong method to engage in a conversation with the rest of society.
- Cooking For The Family
Its been eight years to my marriage and I find myself chained to the kitchen and not half a good cook as my mom.
- Katy And I
There was its beautiful hardbound leather cover, its striking pictures and each chapter beginning with old English lettering. And finally there was Katy herself.
- NovelRace Week 2: Adventures Galore!
I dreamed that writing would be fun but I never, in my wildest imagination, thought it would be such an adventure!
- Communist Parties in Disarray in India
Communists in India - conflict within, with the population, and losing support in their core base.
- Fiction: The Reunion
Now all that we have left are remembrances and memories of glorious days.
- Book Review: The Data Access Handbook
Achieving optimal database application performance and scalability
- Movie Review: Kambakkht Ishq
Kambakkht Ishq opens the doors of Bollywood to failed actors and once-upon-a-time hotshots a chance to face the arclights again!
- Homosexuality is Not a Crime Anymore
India took 150 years to reverse a law that criminalized an activity which is now considered natural though different from the majority point of view.
- Another Interview
Making eye contact with a prospective employer in this pure land of ours doesn't do you any favors.
- Movie Review: Kambakkht Ishq - Desi Hypocrisy Laid Bare
Desi hypocrisy was laid bare - Men can fuck around but women must remain frigid men hating sex scared moralistic bitches.
- poetry: blind mirror - andha aaeena
capturing crimes / of centuries past / in the web of words / am fearful / (of this mirror) blind and blinding
- Michael Jackson's Memorial - The Last Greatest Show on Earth
The media treated the event with a mixture of solemnity and awe, unmingled with cynicism. it was morbid capitalism at its worst.
- Farewell, MJ - You'll Always Live In Our Hearts
Holy God!! He is dead, isn't he, I ask myself.
- Fiction: The Best of Both Worlds
If only the adults could be pragmatic and not lug so much excess baggage around!
- Nawwab and I: Knowledge Has Its Limitations, Faith Doesn't
t: Alright last question. What is MJ doing right now? N: Watching reruns.
- The Case Against Section 377 - Is a Simple Gay Life Possible
Why is it so difficult for somebody to find someone to share his primal urge with,to live out life with,to care and be cared for,to
- Fiction: Agents of Discordia, Part I
Some technocrat had done a time and motion study, and found that two people in the graveyard shift were less likely to fall asleep than
- Air India Under Investigation For Over-Boarding
Airlines frequently overbook, and hence there is a mathematics related to the number of people who overbook.
- The New General Motors Emerges From Bankruptcy
It will take an Autobot of gargantuan proportions,much encouragement,and a good dose of luck to bring the new General Motors back to its iconic status.
- How I Love Zoos - Zoo Diligo or Zoo Contemno
The other day I saw a wild animal trying to get into the San Diego Zoo.
- This is Not My Journey
The "ideologies","traditionally mass-monopolised values","Indian religious virtues" that Babas,Maulanas,Priests,Ministers rake up in their anti-gay tirades on TV.
- Remembering 7/11 Mumbai Bomb-blasts Three Years On
Now that they know, what have they done? Calling the terrorists cowards from their ivory towers hasn't solved a thing.
- The Obsession with Cleanliness
Are we, in the developed world, moving towards a state of unnecessary cleanliness?
- Delhi Metro Construction - Compromises and Consequences
Quality norms not followed or weakness in design?
- Fiction: Obsession
What was that South American poison that was lethal and all traces disappeared from the victim's body in a few hours?
- Mis-Governance in India And The Death of Faith
One after the other news of people dying, human rights being violated, take a moment and mourn for all such deaths.
- Surnames, Globalization, and More
It is high time countries all over the world ditched the notion that every name should consist of a surname and a given name.
- Violence Inc. When Are We Shutting It Down In This Country?
The author, through a personal tale of childhood horror, describes the scars inflicted upon the psyche of children growing up in regions infested with Violence.
- Dr.Shah Rukh Khan Gets His Ph.D - Dilwale Doctorate Le Jayenge
The University of Bedforshire conferred an honorary PhD upon the King Khan, making him Dr.Khan
- Movie Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
The darker themes and snogging find equal time, at the expense of other subplots and a tamer climax.
- TV Review: Sach Ka Saamna - India's Moment of Truth
The psychodrama comes because the contestants come across as well-meaning people, until the camera probes beneath the surface.
- Fiction: The World of Vasadeferentia: Six Shorts in Real Time
Six short shorts in real time from all over.
- Rape: The Most Heinous Crime Of Humanity
I'm mad as hell. I want you to feel the same.
- Banning The Burqa - Not a Solution, But A Start
Muslims (mostly men) around the world have been incensed with the French president's stance.
- Buner & Swat: Plague Around the Corner?
It looks as though there will be no sowing of wheat in Buner and Swat this season.
- Reflections On Indian English
All through this linguistic journey, the role of English in India (and across the world) continued to baffle me, both politically and socially.
- Fiction: Twitter Rendezvous With @GanjuGanesh
GanjuGanesh: @DeeptiLamba That is nice. U two tweet together and my parents meditate together.
- A Petty Vacation
This is a story of a regrettable vacation that two couples took after planning months ahead and finally ended up souring their friendship.
- TV Review: Rakhi Sawant's Swayamvar
NDTV Imagine's venture is a slap on the collective intelligence of the people.
- Book Review: The Color Purple - Alice Walker
“I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.”
- TV Review: Sach Ka Saamna - Moment of Truth
It's the thought police coming to get you.
- Observer Cronkite Dead: "And that's the way it is."
“Our job is only to hold up the mirror — to tell and show the public what has happened.”
- Keep It Between The Lines
"Are we boxed in or screwed up in our relationships?"
- NovelRace Week 4: If You Fall, Get Up & Run Again!
Instead of creating a character, I just picked out people and decided to build stories around them.
- Rendezvous with Prof. P. Lal, the Bhisham Pitamah of Publishing Indian Writing in English
Recognize the role he has played in nurturing several generations of writers,and to pay tribute to his translating every verse of Mahabharata.
- Nelson Mandela at 91 - The World's Greatest Living Leader
Nelson Mandela, the world's greatest living leader turned 91 today.
- Fiction: When the Clock Struck 12:60
The silence of the house engraved silhouettes of strange feelings into my thoughts.
- Fiction: God of Nod
They did the heavy lifting. I did the mundane. They scoffed. I bore their mocks in silence.
- Indian Summer Drinks: Helping You Keep Your Cool
I was looking forward to the wide variety of food and drink that you can enjoy in the various seasons of Delhi.
- Wordfest 2009, Grahamstown Festival, English Museum, Performance Poetry, Pritish Nandy, and More
Performance Poetry at Grahamstown Festival, South Africa 2009.
- Quitters do Win
Winston Churchill and his permanent appendage created a positive association between success and smoking in my mind, turning me into a smoker.
- Pakistan's Phallic Fallacies
Pakistan, its security and the Phallus. Confused? Read on.
- The Most Good-Looking Man in the World & E-mail Forwards
My eyes saw, but they did not believe. but, as the Oracle says "Believe". Why take my word for it?
- Book Review: Revolutionary Road
The book meanders, as books tend to do, and makes much less of a point.
- Censoring Liberty: Sach Ka Saamna
Desi public in general are Johns addicted to the incorrigible salacious whore called Liberty
- Forgive Kasab! Hate his Sin, Not the Sinner!
A man, you and I, are worst monsters in our personal lives! Let's not forget that! Don't condone the Sin, but condone the Sinner, let
- Delhi Police Cleared in Batla House Terrorist Encounter
Politicians of different hues jumped on the case, given that it involved police vs. minority issues.
- Nawwab and I: Restless and Talking of Michelangelo
Restlessness camouflaging inactivity is crime against Peace.
- Virtually Real - How Life Imitates Art
Mistaking reality for fantasy can be dangerously explosive
- Fiction: A Room Of One's Own
This story has been written in third person and then in first person. Which works better and why?
- Going to the Pictures
More than social, the cinema-going experience is closer to the communal.
- A New Intelligence: The Only Hope for this World
The hope faor a better world would not come from 'chronic mind chatter' that ails humankind today leading to wars and crime.
- Google vs. Microsoft - Battle Of The Century
Still, I consider myself very lucky to be living in the era of Microsft and Google.
- The Mystery Behind Balochistan
History of the Baloch struggle and what does its inclusion in the joint statement mean.
- Working in New Age Groups to find Inner Light
Small Groups around the world are seeking the New Light,new alternate ways of living:through psychotherapy,strengthening relationship with Nature,& meditation
- Sunlight
The weight of the world comes crashing down on me when I step into the blinding sunlight.
- Continental Airlines Gets Notice for Frisking Abdul Kalam
This is one of the many flaws which makes way for other debauched malpractices like Corruption to seep into the system.
- NovelRace Week 5: The Lone Runner
A major part of story-telling is letting the story grow in your own mind and that's just like gestation.
- School Mints
Schools have become mints - minting money ruthlessly.
- What I Would do if I was in Nandan Nilekani's Shoes
A matrix structure will allow Nandan to create a culture in which things will happen fast and move fast.
- Insomnia - A Personal Experience
I should have been consulting a psychologist. I should've been on medication. I wasn't.
- Poessay: Noon Meem Rashid and the White Cliffs of Dover
with words as well as deeds they reincarnate desh in pardesh...desi bazaars in gorascapes
- Torrential Rains Pound Delhi
What would happen if it did not stop raining?
- NSG Security Cover Withdrawn By Home Ministry
I thought the one person who needed security cover the most was our poor old LS Speaker!
- Book Review: Forgotten Wars
The End of Britain's Asian Empire
- Art & Technology: A Decade After I Took That Humanities Course
Like a good professor is wont to do, he smiled, and assigned me an essay on "Art and Technology: A decade after that Humanities course".
- The Starbucks Syndrome
Starbucks and its fans: How would you rank them?
- A Tale of Two Presidents
Our politicians aided by the media will never discuss serious issues. I have given up hope about our media.
- Allegations Against Omar Abdullah - Can Democracy Survive in Kashmir?
Democracy, that fragile curtain which separates us from millenia of barbarism, is most often beset by internal enemies.
- Nawwab and I: Pamela Constable's Ahu
Dogs (and the poor) in Pakistan are for ever on the look out for a curse, stone or stick hurled at them.
- Looking for History in All The Wrong Places
Jameson viewed postmodernism as a cultural formation that accompanied globalization and multinational capitalism.
- Poetry: Mdantsane
'hawa ke siwaye koiee zinda nahi hain'
- Fiction: He Who Laughs Last Is The Dumbest Bloke On the Block
Mehmood was a bitter young man. The bitterness had grown to a point where he would hate everything he could relate to.
- India From the Outside In
India - and everything to do with it - has always been an anchor in my writing, photography, and indeed, my life.
- Celebrity of the Year - Ajmal Amir Kasab
All thanks to our glorious Indian Judicial System and a babbling Media, Kasab has become nothing short of a famous figure.
- Schumacher Reloaded
Lets hope that atrophy has not set in and celebrate this return of the legend.
- You Know You Are Happily Married When.....
You hold yourself back from watching a show or movie so that you can watch it with your spouse
- Kashmir Governor Rejects Abdullah's Resignation
Expected to happen, but lends some benefits to Omar
- Additional Security For Online Card Transactions
The Banks have neglected their responsibilities by not alerting customers in a timely manner to the implementation of this policy.
- Why India Should Not Hang Ajmal Kasab
We will not allow Kasab to turn into a martyr! We will allow him time and the opportunity to change his ideology and reform, as
- Iran - People Getting Killed in Prisons
It is the action of this force in the prisons that has become very controversial in the last few days
- Hang Kasab
Kasab is what evil is all about and there is only one way to deal with evil - respond with righteous fury and just sentence.
- Fiction: Under a Lemon Tree
He comes from a family that believes in the gyrations of a superlative mind.
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- Happy Canada Day
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