Incredibly Indian
Despite the global economic meltdown, thanks to the Incredible India campaign a trickle of western tourists continues to make a passage to India.
View ArticleVirtual Jamgalore
Bangalore's insistence on sole proprietary rights to traffic jams had intrigued me. If the Garden City had indeed become Gridlocked City how was it that it still managed to go places and get to be...
View ArticleAnthem of anger
As regards the question of lack of respect for the national anthem, the government's ill-advised directive during the 1960s and the 1970s that the song be played in movie halls.
View ArticleAngrezi? Maro goli!
Mulayam and the others of the 'Angrezi-hatao' brigade are only asking for the removal of a long-dead corpse, massacred by us in our daily usage.
View ArticleOur man in hawala
I don't know how serious the new government will be about tracking down the estimated $8 billion stashed away by Indians.
View ArticleSaving Pakistan
Taliban insurgents, battling the Pakistani army in Swat, have threatened to carry the jihad home into the civilian population by mounting 'major attacks' in cities spread over the country.
View ArticleRace against caste
Though racism continues to be practised in many parts of the world, after the end of apartheid in South Africa it has no fig leaf of political or social legitimacy.
View ArticleSilver lining
As President Pratibha Patil's address to Parliament made clear, the Congress-led government will have to walk an economic tightrope to deliver on the mandate it has received from the electorate.
View ArticleThe amaltas's secret
I watch the amaltas outside my window. I try to describe the tree in words. But the more I try, the more the beauty of the tree escapes my attempts.
View ArticleGet even with Oz
What should India's response be to the racist attacks on Indian students in Australia, compounded by...
View ArticleThe business of fear
Did the person next to you sneeze? Could he have swine flu? Can he give it to you? With WHO having declared it to be a pandemic, swine flu has added to the sum of all our fears.
View ArticleTalking back
Forget swine flu, or World Cup-itis. The real pandemic doing the rounds these days is backache, in its myriad manifestations. Everyone's got a bad back.
View ArticleNEWS pandemic
Should you get into a pother about catching influenza A (H1N1), commonly known as swine flu which the World Health Organisation has declared to be a pandemic, the first pandemic in 41 years?
View ArticleDon't buy racism
Minister of state for external affairs Shashi Tharoor has, rightly, said that the government of India's official position on the racist attacks on Indian students in Australia is that it is a domestic...
View ArticleSuit yourself
The other day I regretfully turned down an invitation to a get-together. The reason? The postscript tagged on at the bottom of the invitation card Dress: Lounge Suit.
View ArticleLet's Dilli-dally
Should Delhi be renamed Dilli? A nominal controversy has been created over a chance remark by Union sports minister M S Gill that the capital be renamed as Dilli.
View ArticleRum deal
Ram Prasad, popularly known among his clientele as Rum Prasad, was a part-time bootlegger in Calcutta who specialised in police rum.
View ArticleWhy chromosome?
In countries like India, men outnumber women by a ratio of 10:88 is because of social, cultural and economic factors ranging from female infanticide to gender-biased calorie consumption which favour...
View ArticleHygiene on tap
What's the greatest invention India's ever come up with? The zero? IPL? The Nehru-Gandhi Family? All legitimate and worthy candidates for being called India's greatest invention.
View ArticleTo kill a tree
The tree was young and strong and it took a long time to kill. It took two workmen with axes two days, including tea breaks.
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