The India Blog
The India Blog is about the socio-political-economic landscape of the country, its cultural moorings and the challenges it faces – whatever affects the lives and future of the people living within its boundaries and beyond.Chai or cay, what would we and the world be without it? From the sweet, milky, cardamom-flavoured repeatedly- boiled chai of our dhabas, here I am, thousands of miles away, sipping black Turkish cay in a cavernous enclosure, in the old castle fort of Urfa. I am seated just some metres away from the birthplace of Prophet Abraham, close to the holy pond with the sacred fish, which hundreds of visitors have come to visit this Children's Day. The Golbasi garden around the pool is alive with colour.
I listen to my colleagues talk. Records relate the ancient city of Urfa, in southeastern Turkey, to the 4th century BC. However, scholars pre-date it to 9000-11000 BC, which excavations, barely six miles from Urfa, underscore. The megaliths pre-date the Stonehenge by 6000 years. Called Gobekli Tepe, it has...Read more...
The euphoria of a victory in state elections in Karnataka proved to be pyrrhic for the Congress Party as the observations by the Supreme Court on the Coal allocation scam left it ducking for cover. The Coalgate saga has now dragged the Prime Minister's office and made the highest political authority seeming culpable on two counts. That a lack of oversight led to omission and commission in Coal block allocation from 2006-2009, when the Ministry of Coal was directly being run by the Prime Minister, has severely indicted the Prime Minister's judgment much like the observations in the 2G allocation scam. More damagingly, and reminiscent of the infamous Watergate scandal of the US, there is strong suspicion that there was an elaborate cover up that was executed by the Prime Minister's Office and by his erstwhile Law Minister to ensure that the stain doesn't blacken the starched white...Read more...
It was a piquant, helpless situation for Ananth Kumar, BJP's senior leader, general secretary and local MP when Narendra Modi arrived to campaign in Bangalore on April 28. This was Modi's first public meeting for the BJP in the Karnataka elections. As Kumar began to speak, the restless audience shouted "Modi, Modi". Kumar failed to have his way and then he quietly went back to his chair.
The organisers kept asking people to maintain silence but the demand for Modi continued. Allowing this awkwardness to unfold for considerable amount of time, Modi intervened and appealed to the people to wait: "I have come here to campaign for the BJP and I wish to listen to national leader Ananth Kumarji and our CM Jagdishji first and then I will be at your disposal. I will be with you and will not leave till...Read more...
If you love brandishing your opinions, think you are always right, consider the world too foolish to comprehend your intellect and have ample time to waste, Twitter is the ideal platform for you to script your success story. If you are a bored professional, struggling blogger, wannabe Chetan Bhagat, you get yet another excuse to get distracted and blame it all on Twitter.
All you have to do is compress your anger, poor-me stories, this-country-sucks and my-ex-is-a-bitch histrionics into 140 characters and have complete strangers express their opinion about your non-happening life. That's what social media sites are all about ignoring your friends and family for adulation from McSteamy, HotDawg and NautankiSali!
Success comes only to the desperate and passionate and who knows it better than me?
To start with you must think...Read more...
Former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was laid to rest in a ceremonial funeral in London yesterday. Arguably Britain's greatest post-war Prime Minister, Thatcher was an ideologue who was revered and hated with equivalent vigour. To the world she gave Thatcherism - a liberal, fiscally conservative, Centre-Right ideology that defined the times and something that lives on till today. In the right wing press, the hagiography reads of a person who is both mythological and ideological. The left-leaning media houses vilified her for all that ails our society today. And one thinks Thatcher would have not wanted it any other way. From her famous quips to donning the mantle of the Iron Lady, a moniker given ironically by the Russians as a slight, Thatcher was made for the electronic media age. She, along with then US President, Ronald Reagan, came to define the politics of the 80s and...Read more...
All you wanted to know about the Bong femme fatale and didn't know who to ask.
If you are a reasonably attractive Bengali lady, chances are, you've had a man or two walk up to you and confess his weakness for the Bengali temptress. Being suspicious by birth, I make it a point to clarify if he actually meant tempest. He proceeds to wax eloquent about her raving beauty and I rudely interrupt to ask if he meant raging.
Similar sounding words that can mean Heaven or Hell grammar Gods were sure having fun at our expense!
Chances are he will not be a Bengali himself and has dedicated his life to observing this quaint species from a distance. The Bengali bhodrolok community, on the other hand, prefers to live by the...Read more...
It is a beautiful sunny day. The streets are busy, traffic flows easily and the matatus are in action. Come rain or shine, these vans never fail to run their daily course. Speed is the essence of their existence.
The people need their regular matatu. It is their lifeline and the fares are reasonable.
Recently, early in the morning, one of our gardeners was mugged on his way to work. He avers he was attacked by 'children' looking for easy money. Two broken ribs have made him all the more stubborn to continue to walk through the park, as it saves him twenty minutes to his particular matatu-stop. He is only upset that they did not treat him with the respect due to an elder, a mzee.
Matatus are 12-seater vans, the...Read more...
The Karnataka Assembly elections are less than a month away. All political parties are in the process of finalising their nominees for the 224 seats in the state. The general mood seems to favour the Congress party being in the lead with the BJP and the Janata Dal(S) being quite a distance away and the KJP and BSR Congress remaining at the margins. The decision of the Karnataka voters on the 5th of May, however, may surprise many.
The upbeat mood in the Congress is discernible. So is a uneasy nervousness, given the record of the Congress in Karnataka - one of converting 'sure' victories into 'hotly-contested' fights. The Congress could not have asked for a better political context - a ruling BJP haunted by a lacklustre performance and mired in internal squabbles provided a ready made recipe for success....Read more...
Don't get me wrong. Not that he needs any defending or that he can't defend himself. Nor am I a fan of either Rahul Gandhi or Narendra Modi. But let's give Rahul Gandhi's speech at the CII an honest shot. I feel the need to say what I don't mean about Rahul Gandhi, because he seems to be so concerned to get the message across on what he is not. He is not the swashbuckling hero on horseback to save you. He is not the pro-market/corporate sector honcho. He is not going to answer questions that you want answered such as on his marriage or him becoming PM. He basically doesn't want to be judged. That's the long and short of his speech at the CII, or anywhere else, for that matter.
He seems to want to say through his speech, its language...Read more...
A few days ago, an Indian news channel carried a lively discussion on whether it is tougher for a single woman in the city than for a married one. My first reaction was that at least a young woman today has the freedom of choice. Yet, single or married, life at all levels is tough for most women in India, especially in a city. I will only touch upon an English-educated one here but it also depends on the nature of the extended family she has been brought up in.
Nearing 60, almost a senior citizen, I often wonder how my life would have turned out if I had remained single instead of succumbing to an arranged marriage at the age of 21. I returned to my parents' home at the age of 27, with two daughters in hand. Being single...Read more...
Jayshree Misra Tripathi
Life of an Indian woman in the cityA few days ago, an Indian news channel carried a lively discussion on whether it is tougher for a single woman in the city than for a married one.
Karan Thakur
Why Thatcherism survivesFormer British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher was laid to rest in a ceremonial funeral in London yesterday. Arguably Britain's greatest post-war Prime Minister, Thatcher was an ideologue who was
Prabhanjan Verma
Manufacturing perception: following Modi's battle withinIt was a piquant, helpless situation for Ananth Kumar, BJP's senior leader, general secretary and local MP when Narendra Modi arrived to campaign in Bangalore on April 28. This
Purba Ray
Unravelling the Bengali bombshellAll you wanted to know about the Bong femme fatale and didn't know who to ask.
If you are a reasonably attractive Bengali lady, chances are, you've had
Sandeep Shastri
Karnataka Assembly polls: The 'May' results may be a surprise for manyThe Karnataka Assembly elections are less than a month away. All political parties are in the process of finalising their nominees for the 224 seats in the state. The
Vidya Shankar Aiyar
In defence of Rahul GandhiDon't get me wrong. Not that he needs any defending or that he can't defend himself. Nor am I a fan of either Rahul Gandhi or Narendra Modi. But
