Rebecca asks whether partition will be good for Iraq, in light of a similar partition of India and the consequent bloodshed. Her students surprise her with the answer.
yes, the situation is different in many ways, but it’s also similar: artificially reified broad categories (Hindu/Muslim–Shia/Sunni/Kurd) mapped onto territory that itself relies on earlier colonial line-drawing. my [...]
Archive for November, 2006
Dr Kotnis was India’s contribution to the Chinese Revolution when colonial solidarity and not globalization was what fired the imagination of idealistic youth. Sai remembers.
Dwarkanath S Kotnis and four other doctors were sent to China as part of an Indian humanitarian medical mission after China was invaded by Japan. While in China, Dr Kotnis fell [...]
Abi thinks the numbers behind the three new IITs are unrealistic
Why three? Why IITs? Why not NITs? Heck, why not some real universities? What is a reasonable cost per faculty (or, per student)?
But in the comments section, Yogesh K. Upadhyaya notes that the costs are worth if it solves the political problem (which I [...]
There has been some matrimony related sound bites in Blogbharti lately. Here is another one in that series. Brijesh points out to some of the funny ads on Matrimonial sites
I have taken all these from the “About Me” section of keralamatrimony.com. One thing I realized while compiling this list is that you could see [...]
The walls were the MOST interesting aspect of the room. One wall was papered with a magnified version of the TOI issue the day Gandhiji was assasinated. All old and musty in appearance but glossy and the headlines were visible(it was laminated; a wallpaper) . Th other wall was papered with a glossy collage of [...]
Karthik feels that the matrimonial sites are a big failure, from the desi perspective
The failure of matrimony sites, at least with reference to the Desi community. To their credit, the sites have a lot of Indianized features, but the problem is with the person sitting behind the wheel.
Cedoggart, a person from Boston, writes about the good, bad and ugly side of New Delhi
Arriving in India on Thanksgiving Day was a shock to the senses. After ultra-new, monied Dubai, Delhi provided an entirely different experience. After 24 hours of feeling like I was back in middle school (the highs were [...]
Sun makes an impact on FOSS participants
Published by November 30th, 2006 in Science & Technology. 0 CommentsJoseph George quotes Atul Chitnis’ words on the impact of Sun Microsystems on the open source community
I was a member of the Sun FOSS team for 2006. The best part of this year’s participation were the words of appreciation from the FOSS community in India. Just check out these lines from Atul Chitnis, Lead [...]
Nita Jatar Kulkarni puts the onus on school teachers, when it comes to making children score well
All parents want their children to fare well in school, but sometimes intelligent children don’t. What are the reasons? Well, the answers lie with the trained educators - the school teachers themselves.
But I wonder whether high grades in [...]
Saravade is happy the ‘Police Reforms have gained a lot of traction’ of late. His post offers some useful links to diverse opinion :
The 21st century reformer could glance at the police. Today India’s police is an orphan child crying in a desert of neglect. When a three year old is kidnapped in NOIDA, it [...]
Pramit Singh agrees with the Economist’s view that India is boiling over.
For a while we have been getting punch drunk with media reports about how ‘great’ our country was becoming (?); how our GDP beat the U.S.; how everyone wants our ‘for cheap’ coders, our minerals, and our unlimited supply of all-aspiring, all-consuming middle class.
Bombay [...]
Pragya is in Bhopal working with the victims of the tragedy that took place in ‘84.
The 22nd anniversary of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy is quickly approaching, and Sambhavna-ites are constantly running back and forth in hysteria, even if nothing gets accomplished. But a lot is getting accomplished. We will have an exhibition for 3 days [...]
Madhukar gives an example of how liberalisation has been selectively applied.
Liberalisation - i.e., freedom from license-raj, quota system, state controls on ownership and entrepreneurship, etc. - apparently, is a selective animal. It is partial to some, and provides them with the legal freedom to make choices and live a life as they want. For others, [...]
After having two different experiences (one good, one bad) on two different airlines, Govindraj is forming a theory that “Any provider of a product or service is only good as long he is number two.” He has also decided not to fly India’s Number One airline again.
Why does this happen ? Maybe because its been [...]
The Iengar Chick recalls the good old days of matchmaking for Tam Brams….
My dad, the regular comedian would often name the prospectives in the true tam bram fashion…the dudhyonams aka curd rice (the fair and silent types), the puliyogares aka tamarind rice (the not so fair, talktatives) etc etc.
…and cuts to the present with some [...]
Vikram is convinced that the criticism of caste by liberals, who often deny belief in religion, will not cut much ice in making a case for uplifting Dalits. Only the reform by upper caste Hindus will.
Can we reinterpret our understanding of caste enough to eliminate birth-based hierarchy? I think we can, though it will take [...]
The feminists say they’ve been commodified, but I’d disagree. I’ve yet to come across a brief by a fashion label or cosmetic brand or a production house saying, “We’re looking at XYZ model/actress for this product and you know what? Let’s all chalk out a detailed plan to commodify her!” Hell, no! Most models and [...]
The most disturbing trend here is that this dependence on Hollywood just seems so unnecessary, incorporated almost out of fear that people won’t watch anything that doesn’t guarantee them a Hollywood experience. These movies did not need Freeman or Ford or Depp or Winslet; they had visuals and content that were far more arresting than [...]
Blog A has written of the various methods which people have suggested that children be taught, or learn. The post, being only an introduction, merely touches the surface of the various strands of thought- from Rousseau to Neill and Holt. (For instance, the book that he cites by Holt is How Children Fail. This was [...]
Chacko, at the Great Indian Mutiny, writes on the Mullaperiyar dam controversy which has brought the State Governments of Tamil Nadu and Kerala at loggerheads.
The kind of voices we are hearing from Thrivanathapuram and Chennai is close to what sides itching for a battle would do. The one thing this entire episode is not about [...]
Indian tradition demands open source philosophy
Published by November 29th, 2006 in India. 0 CommentsVivek thinks that Indian tradition demands open source philogophy
Indian tradition belives that knowledge grows through sharing. The open source philosophy, based on the principles of collaboration, community, and shared ownership of intellectual resources has much in common with Indian traditions of knowledge. We therefore owe it, not only to India, but to the world, [...]
Vignesh thinks that Indian culture has scientific basis
We, as Indians , are very proud of its rich cultural heritage. What makes it unique is that it is diverse, colourful, exquisite, uh , don’t find enough adjectives to describe it. But could You guess, that our customs and traditions are scientific too?Yeah, and I am [...]
Ram Viswanathan doesn’t agree with this article in The Hindu
#1 Majority of the bloggers I have met in person or virtually have all been men.. would be nice to see a equal mix here..
#2 Do Indian politicians even know about blog? Even if they know the medium, why would they care? It has little [...]
Santosh talks about Walmart’s entry into India
Walmart’s spokes person was quoted as saying that they are aware of these challenges, and are willing to bend to the requirements of the Indian economy. It should be interesting to see how the concept of Walmart is received by the Indian community, and how Walmart adapts to [...]
Kashmiri Pandits: The Minority that Everyone Forgot
Published by November 28th, 2006 in India. 1 Comment‘A Soul in Exile’ examines why this community has been consistently marginalized by every government in power.
So - its obvious that a community which has got so marginalized owing to lack of its political value and being a dispensible minority, would obviously focus all its energy and mindshare in its own plight and suffering, rather [...]
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