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- Archives: November 2008
- An Undeserving Booker for The White Tiger
Aravind Adiga is a good writer and has done a decent job at his debut novel. But awarding The Booker prize is quite an exaggeration.
- Humility And Lack Of It
Simple acts of modesty, respect, gratitude are inculcated during adolescent years and not in adulthood. Some things are just khandani, a few of my friends
- The Disease Called “Indifference”
There is no cure for indifference It kills, it maims, it destroys, it breeds
- A Slow Train to Gwalior
When you have traveled all the way over A thought on a flutter of an eye
- Book Review: Damselflies by Jayel Gibson
The book is about the enchanted land of Grimmoirë and mainly of Arcinaë, the future sovereign of Grimmoirë.
- Government Funding of Science
The role of government and the effects of government spending in science and commercial projects
- Prosperity Without Happiness
A little sacrifice, a little precaution, a little consideration, a little forethought, is all we need, and yet that is starkly missing.
- Book Review: The Last Lecture
Pausch: Time is all you have. And you may find one day that you have less than you think.
- An Open Letter to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa
The main battle field, Mr. President, is in the hearts and minds of Sri Lankan Tamils.
- A Letter to My Father
"Yes, I’m unfortunate, and thank you for being sorry."
- So, You Want Me to Reconvert? Come, Let Us Reason
No Force, No Allurement, Only Reason
- Let's Talk!
A conversation with the opposite sex can be interesting, enriching and delightful. It's a cross between an African safari and a minefield.
- Come Tuesday a Victory of Hope Over Rovesque Fear
President George Bush should be handed over to the ICT at the Hague for War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity.
- Islam and Hinduism: Experience of an Evangelist
I believe that one man’s religion is another man’s blasphemy.
- Election Fatigue - Look its a bird, it's a Palin, uh Plane
Is it just me or are we all thrilled Tuesday cometh?
- Truth and Bliss-The Hindu Way
Once the purpose was lost, many of the rituals have lost its splendour, reduced to a shell witout soul.
- Give Me a Dhoti to Wear
I wish we could go back to traditional attire like the dhoti or the mundu or the veshti.
- poetry: gods
in pursuit of smiling gods
- Whisper, There's No Such Thing As A Happy Period
Petals? Yeah sure, twisted, stinky, nauseating petals came to mind.
- Red, Blue and Purple
Away from detractors in the US and at home in India, All I feel is that finally when a US president says "Us, the United
- Barack Obama Elected 44th US President
The words "Yes, we can" ring even truer today!
- The Significance of the 2008 US Elections
This is one of the few posts on politics I have ever written. I feel it is significant and so...
- Yay For Blacks, Nay For Gays
They fought long and hard to see their dream fulfilled on the day when the gay community of California watched their dream crumble.
- I Am Jill's Social Microscope
She's the typical nice-looking, a tad too 'healthy' to be one of the stick-insect-model-types. What strikes me is their clothes. Ah, his clothes.
- The Hindu Terrorist and Current Investigations
This is where the BJP should have been a party with a difference.
- Poem: Children of Congo
I remember you once Stood here with all in idealism
- Heidi Klum - Halloween Kali
Hindus once again have reasons to get offended by the antics of a blundering Westerner. Heidi Klum dressed up...
- Book Review: Javascript: The Good Parts by Douglas Crockford
This book is aimed at those who have programmed in JS and have a working knowledge of the language.
- Poem: Questions & Answers
Questions are asked for change, Opinions that raise doubt and more
- Gilchrist, Ponting and Claims of Racism in the Sydney Test Match
What is remarkable is the element of revelation which is implicit in these offerings.
- Brothers and Sisters; Thanks for Clarifying Demographic Issues
How my doubts were cleared about the RSS
- Republican on Republican Violence: Country First?
Republicans must remember the old adage: "You are what you eat...."
- Poem: black in white
will it be the same movers / who move in the black man / in the white house
- I Begin to Understand Mithila Painting
I found myself slipping into the shoes of the painter - what was she thinking, this Mundrika Devi of Jitvarpur Village, when she drew these?
- Ending Coercive Land Acquisition - Creating Options
If this method is so simple, why hasn’t it been tried already for land acquisition?Somik Raha
OPINION | BizTech: Development | BizTech: Economics | BizTech: Entrepreneurship | Culture: Bureaucracy | Culture: Education | Culture: Essay | Culture: Philosophy | Culture: Social Issues | Culture: Society | Politics: Asia | Politics: Freedom | Politics: Governance | Politics: India | Politics: US - Relationships - Older And Wiser
"Tell me what it's like." she says, "Does it get better with time?" I pause and wonder what to say. Can I give her an honest
- The End of Dadaism
Sourav Ganguly always made life just a little uncomfortable for his would-be admirers.
- Fiction: Suicide Attack
They would use their traditional weapons for the attack, weapons they had used almost from the time they were born.
- Poetry: Dokkhiney Hawa Prabhatkiran Bose Translated by Amitabh Mitra
I would still say my love, Say something sweet / If only on hearing you I might get fulfilled
- poetry: 10...9...8...7...6......
and in another four years or eight / the merry go round will begin / kissing babies...such is life
- Book Review: Romancing with Life by Dev Anand
Read the book to see a man completely in love with himself.
- Swami and His Foes
If all our acts are purposeful, we no longer need to worry about our physical and mental health.
- Bengaluru International Airport – A Few Rants
Why on earth can’t Bengaluru airport have a restaurant that serves Indian food?
- Is Test Cricket Dying in India?
Attack the BCCI as much as you wish but please leave us test cricket followers alone.
- Python for Unix and Linux System Administration
Efficient problem solving with Python
- Swiss Bank Accounts
Ensure the demise of the poor and the few remaining rich can have the earth to themselves
- Book Review: Tonight, An Anthology of World Love Poetry
Tonight indicates that the included poets are quite sensitive to the varied aspects of love, to its sensuous glory and ecstasies.
- Book Review: NEXT
NEXT is a novel by Michael Crichton that raises serious ethical and legal issues in genetics
- Poetry: Sensitive
A heart bleeds for a world gone all wrong where every lullaby hummed, is a grave-digger's song
- Bye, Bye Mr. Bush, Welcome Mr. Obama
Is this support for Obama the beginning of a trend where people support the common good at the international level?
- Book Review: Head First Physics
A Learner's companion to Mechanics and Practical Physics
- Was Ayyappa a Tool to Fight Conversion?
Lord Ayyappa is analysed in rational context, shedding religious passion
- Thekedaars of the Middle-Class?
Where exactly are we headed in the future as far as freedom of critical commentary is concerned?
- Book Review: Nagios - 2nd Edition
System and Network Monitoring
- Book Review: It’s the Night for Love
Love: the orchid of the East, so delicate to ingress the hummingbird’s sensitive tongue. Or the delicate Western rose so red as lips.
- Survival of the Creative Fittest
She whispered in my ear, 'you dirty sweet scoundrel, I love you too, though you don't deserve'
- An Open Letter to the Dalai Lama
Your Holiness, will history judge you harshly for not having achieved anything much for the people of Tibet?
- Poessay: Rosary 17 - Hemashree
there is a price tag for every one
- Book Review: The Photoshop CS4 Companion for Photographers
Derrick’s book offers a true companionship for Photographers.
- Book Review: A Soul of Steel by Carole Nelson Douglas
Beware Holmes fans: this is the story of The Woman, from her point of view.
- Poem: The African Poet
There sits my friend, an old friend, In the distance, in shadows, As Africa unveils Its beauty and its splendor,
- Book Review: Head First Statistics
A good statistics study book with an emphasis on distributions.
- Poetry: kodak minutes - 1:22-1:42
stray thoughts captured in 20 minutes that mean nothing
- Fiction: A Few Reasons to Return Home
Each time I return to India, I get a jolt when I see the way things are done here.
- Barack Obama in the Indian Context
Reservation is an opportunity, in the absence of efforts, negates its very purpose
- Temporary Mates
When kittens get affectionate with their human surrogate mother, it's time to give them away.
- BJP MLA Commits Suicide in New Delhi
He belonged to the era when politicians were god fearing and truly believed in performing their duty towards their constituents.
- The Audacity of Hope: Great Expectations from Barack Obama
I hope that for once America hears the voice of their new President and stands behind him and becomes his strength, so he can become
- Now I Have A Right To Reputation
The SC ruling reveals an approach of rampant pragmatism
- Fitness, A Way Of Life
Most people at the gym watch their diet. Talking to them makes my resolution firmer and easier to carry forward
- Poessay: Rosary 18 - burning blazing fire rages
your rage is creative, consuming / and enraged we can only bow down / and continue the destructive forays
- Do Locals Hold 90% of The Jobs in Mumbai?
Be careful of what you read these days. Validation is critical as everybody is driven by their own agenda
- Book Review: The Enemy at the Gate by Andrew Wheatcroft
There were so many areas where the Ottomans were much superior to the Habsburg forces.
- Dancing on the Streets, World Literature Festival Oslo, September 2008
Dancing on cobbled streets with strangers at midnight in Oslo is sheer poetry
- When Is It The Right Time To Die?
Its like the maturing of the wine. Only the good grapes make great wine centuries past.
- Barack Obama’s New Secretary of State
Obama could do to Hillary what Bush did to Colin Powell
- P. Sainath and Farmers' Suicides in India
Good reporting is lost in the blind rhetoric of anti-globalization.
- Book Review Dal – Chawal
Dal-Chawal is not just a staple food of millions of Indians but it is a way of life.
- Poessay: Rosary 19 - Word Whirlpool - BhaNwur LafzouN Ka
fervours of a feverish faith / lost forever in the desert / of the word's un-harnessed journeys / in search of some lost fisherman.
- Ashutosh the Big Boss 2 Final Winner
A riveting drama
- Miller's Worldview
People share some of the moral ideals of socialism alongwith belief in personal responsibility, freedom and free enterprise.
- My Friend, the Landlord
A remarkable woman who is transforming the hearts of Indian landlords in the hinterland
- Deconstructing the Orthodox - C. P. Aboobacker in Conversation
E-publishing, as I do it, has no difference from orthodox publishing. But the possibilities of the former are various and varied.
- Kumbakonam, Cheats, Pariahs, and Conversion
Recently few words of "Inglish" such as 'prepone' and 'airdash' were included in English dictionary.
- TV Review: Apparitions
The series has started promisingly and the concept of exorcist gunslingers defending the modern world against ancient monsters is an interesting one.
- Book Review: Hacking VoIP
Protocols, Attacks and Countermeasures
- Movie Review: Rachel Getting Married
A point of interest in the film, for me, is that Rachel’s wedding has an Indian theme.
- Citibank - The New State Bank of America
Welcome to Citibank, the new State Bank of America.
- Who Will be the Next Prime Minister of India?
The coming months are very crucial and would decide who would become the next Prime Minister.
- Saving India's Missing Girls
Caring for unwanted children, feeling their pain and doing something to save their lives beyond yelling and criticizing in media platforms is rare.
- Unearthing of Indian Writing in English: Conversation with Christopher Rollason and Ludmila Volná
What should be the language of one's creativity—one's native language or a second/alien one?
- Cape Malay Music
Cape Malay Music is South African Music that reflects the many clours of this beautiful rainbow nation.
- First Annual Desi Meet in Washington, D.C.
As you probably have not read (from my poems) less is preferably more.
- Fiction: An Office Incident
A team leader was scared of reporting a one year old programmer who had the audacity to sexually harass her.
- Chocolates - A New Desi Delight
I'm telling you, there's a chocolate revolution sneaking up on us.
- World Oceans Turning More Acidic
Human activity may be overwhelming the capacity of the system to respond.
- Multiple Terror Attacks in Mumbai
In the most shocking attacks in Indian history, a series of bomb blasts and terrorists have laid siege to Mumbai at night.
- Continuing Hostage Situations in Mumbai Terror Siege
India awoke to an unending wave of terror in its financial capital Mumbai while Mumbaikars continued to live in a city under siege through the
- Why the Mumbai Terrorist Attacks Could Become America's Problem
Homeland security is within the borders but terrorism is not.
- Mumbai Terror Attacks: Rage, Retaliation and Restraint
How do we retaliate without making things worse for ourselves?
- Former Indian Prime Minister V P Singh, 77, Passes Away
This former Raja who battled against numerous challenges through his political career left his mark on history
- Mumbai - The Day After: It's Not Yet Over
We raced to the terrace, hearts thundering. It turned out to be nothing more than the daily workers going about their deed at the construction
- Mumbai's Tragedy - India Bleeds - What Will Manmohan Singh Do?
The memories that this will leave behind will make us shudder from the pain, the helplessness and the fact that many of the dead were
- Amchi Mumbai
Bombay was to me self-important, self-obsessed, and yet it always was India's city of dreams.
- Cry, My Beloved Country
When people ask me do you love your country, I usually don't have an answer.
- My City Burning: Scaling the Aftermath of the Mumbai Attacks
I watched the name of my beloved city flash repeatedly across television screens
- Mumbai Burns
Did you see the sobbing reporter describe how the Taj of Mumbai burns? How many will Asuras cause to die before O Vishnu as avataar returns?
- Disjointed Questions on the Bombay Blasts and Its Aftermath
Questions and musings in my mind over the past 48 hours.Kim
OPINION | Politics: World | Politics: War on Terror | Politics: War | Politics: Terrorism | Politics: Peace | Politics: Laws | Politics: India | Politics: Governance | Media: Television | Media: News | Media: Journalism | Media: Events | Media: Citizen Media | Culture: Urban | Culture: Society | Culture: Personal History | Culture: Crime | Culture: City Life | Culture: Bureaucracy | BizTech: Management - Reality Show: Terror Mumbai
Well past 3:30am I collapsed into bed from sheer exhaustion. Emotional roller-coasters are tiring and I'd been riding for over 5 hours nonstop.
- Mumbai Terror: Musings of a Desicritic
Is there really a gap of leaders who can inspire young men and women to abhor violence and use more human methods of communication?
- A View from Pakistan: I Am a Mumbaikar Today
I think - I hope - that she would understand how I feel. I can only imagine what she is going through.
- A Wednesday - Mumbai, Politics & Life Imitiating Art
This attack raises important questions on our security establishment.
- Reacting to Terror - Time We Looked Inwards
If we have been unable to provide basic amenities to the citizens, how can we expect our governments to handle something as evil and complex
- Why Did They Attack India?
It does not matter whether Pakistan is involved. As a country they are just like us. They are severely compromised and lack the courage to
- Mumbai, I Bequeath My Death
I bequeath my death to the fireflies at Queens Necklace That never arrived that day
- Obituary: Sabina Sehgal Saikia
Sabina will be sorely missed in the food writers world.
- Book Review: Imagining India - Nandan Nilekani
A reader will have to acknowledge the clarity of thoughts that have gone into covering an extraordinarily wide swath of topics.
- Terrorism and Democracy
It is time to choose - freedom, responsibility and security or democracy, corruption, paternalism and terrorism
- Mother India Raped
We have started to believe in our own PR and forgot the basic truth that our security apparatus is in the same state as our
- Is it Time for a United South Asia?
Are there really leaders with the foresight for implementing such an arrangement?
- Mumbai Limps Back To Life
In case you’re wondering what an atmosphere of terror looks like, come to Mumbai right now.
« October, 2008 || December, 2008 »
- An Undeserving Booker for The White Tiger
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