President Emmert of the University of Washington, who is on a visit to India along with other university heads, records his impressions of his interaction with Indian students:
But when the talk turns to social relations, particularly dating and romance, comparisons with American students flies out the window. At a dinner with current students and recent [...]
Archive for March, 2007
Aniruddha Kulkarni answers an increasingly asked question with a resounding No! His reasons:
Our cricketers are rich. Our cricket bodies and their bosses are richer. In our country, like Americans, we increasingly associate wealth with personal merit. Therefore, once the dust settles down on India’s world cup performance, we surely will find tons of merit in [...]
Along with Sartre, Albert Camus heralded the existentialist movement in post war France, and it sometimes seems to me that of the two Camus has proved to be more contemporary, despite the far more towering stature of Sartre during his lifetime.
Braveheart reads Camus’ The Rebel‘, in an age where rebellion is passe and conformance [...]
What if, what? To know, you will have to visit Deepika’s post, it is simple but many bloggers will indentify with her thought. Lovely picture too.
Kashmir: One Hundred Years of Solitude
Published by March 31st, 2007 in Cinema, India and Politics. 0 CommentsSanjay Kak speaks with Shivam Vij on his documentary Jashn e Azadi (A Celebration of Freedom) and points to the history of hundred years of oppressive Dogra rule, besides making other insightful observations.
Our ignorance of Kashmiri feelings about India is the outcome of 60 years of a hermetic, controlled knowledge system which forces us to [...]
The Madhesi and the Maoists
Published by March 31st, 2007 in Democracy, Geopolitics and Politics. 0 CommentsDr.Hari Bansha Dulal on evolving social and political conflicts in Nepal:
The Madhesi movement should be seen as an opportunity by SPA to institutionalize democracy and ensure their survival. SPA and the international community should try helping Madhesis—even if it requires a covert operation—to establish a democratic front. As several senior Maoist leaders have already made [...]
Mukta writes about the transformation of her drab office terrace after a bout of rain.
And then it started raining. Nothing else had changed. It was still bright and hot. The trees still looked wilted and the ground still looked like portions of it might flake and fall off. But added to that now was rain, [...]
Hiran Venugopalan tells us about the themes of this year’s VIBGYOR Film Festival (held annually in Thrissur).
Alpha’s in-laws are coming to visit her
Conversations between me and daddy usually end up with one of us hacking the nearest furniture.
‘What’s wrong with you?’
‘Why do you ask after all these years?’
‘People are asking me why you don’t have babies?’
‘Aaarrgggh.’
‘Is there something we should know?’
(Keeping out of it is something he should know, but [...]
Vishal has a collection of interesting links at his blog called ‘India Right to Information, the stories only indicate the Herculean task of getting the law implemented.
A farmer was allegedly beaten up by the sub-divisional agriculture
department officials on Monday evening in Yavatmal district. The farmer had reportedly gone to the department office to seek details [...]
Chandramukhee writes on the other side of India shining:
On March 9, the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD) issued its Concluding Observations regarding India’s compliance with the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. The Committee’s report found that “de facto segregation of Dalits persists” and highlighted systematic [...]
Hindi, Hindu, Hindustani- Not Indian Enough
Published by March 30th, 2007 in India and Language. 0 CommentsCyprus Srinivas on why Hindi, Hindu, Hindustani cannot be a call for Indian nationalism.
And Sanskrit is not the mother of all indian languages…however it has been the most influential language in the indian union, cause its words have been loaned in to usage in all indian languages…Please do some research to know the truth
Surya has an excellent essay on the increasing trend of simultaneous multiple careers.
Gone are the days in which one person could be slotted into one career - the days when you were a doctor or an engineer or a lawyer or a musician or a writer or a janitor.
A lot of people straddle multiple professions [...]
Aishwarya writes…dogs dying is something I cannot stand. But the worst bit has been the reports of the dogs being so trusting and friendly towards the people about to kill them. That part is horrifying to me.”
This is why people (real people) don’t kick puppies – because puppies have no reason to think they’ll be [...]
Feminist Writing: Yet to be Written
Published by March 29th, 2007 in Books, Feminism and Women. 1 CommentN discovers in a meeting organised by Zubaan, a feminist publishing house, that feminist writing actually takes a back seat.
We have come a long way since the time of writers like Mahasweta Devi, Attia Hosain and others who spoke out so eloquently and powerfully about everything ranging from women’s role in society to our power [...]
Meena Kandasamy writes on the racism in an Intel advertisement.
Look at the employer: Clean-shaven, suave, fair, upper class Indian male. Hands in his pockets to show off the power. Staring straight at the camera. Posing, in other words. Look at his central position. Look at his body language: as if he is not even aware [...]
Ashu has some lovely pictures from a trip to Dandeli, in Karnataka.
Shankari tells the touching story of a mother who had a baby born with hydrocephalus, and how she looked after him with pleasure and love.
Often I would ask her- why she chose it so? The doctors had offered her the easier, more convenient option. There would have been a quick termination of the pregnancy and [...]
Lucky shares with us, some pictures from his visit to Angkor Wat.
the-great-gig-in-the-sky has a postmortem analysis of the non- performance of the Indian cricket team.
Lalu Prasad Yadav, former cheif minister of arguably the most lawless state of India, Bihar, according to management gurus at Harvard and Wharton, has solved the issues with the largest state owned company and turned it into a profitable entity.
Now when I [...]
Akshay’s photo blog on Varanasi, ” where many return to die in the hope that they may achieve moksha, the salvation of the soul from the cycle of birth, where it is said that Shiva himself whispers the mantras of salvation into the ears of a dying person.”
Full set of photos on Flickr
Undertaker has a rant against the farce called customer care in India. And though it’s a worthy rant, I wish he had named the e-commerce website he’s talking about: many have used blogging to get exactly the ‘customer care’ they deserve.
Anil is offended by one of the forms of protests against India’s cricketers, after their exit from the World Cup.
The form of protest? A poster of [Sachin Tendulkar's], blackened in places and the girls are (posing for the benefit of the press photographers, obviously) making the Sachin in that poster wear bangles – a classic, [...]
Vidya Subramaniam writes on the futile efforts of a group of Dalits to build a temple to Sant Ravidas alongside other temples in a Haryana village:
On the surface, Bibipur, a tiny village in Haryana’s Karnal district, seems the epitome of untroubled rural life. Brahmin homes occupy the front while Dalits huddle together in semi-finished quarters [...]
Joseph D’Souza, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the enactment of the legislation abolishing slave trade in the British parliament, asks:
The question has to be asked, ‘Why is it that the upper castes have not led a movement for the abolishing of the caste system for 3000 years when the disastrous effect on national development, [...]
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