Archive for January, 2008
A Suitable Denial
In his typical, acerbic style, BarbarIndian dissects the Goddess of Absurdity. His summation of the essence(!) of her support for native US Indians (is Red Indian a term of abuse now?) caught my attention.
Her version of the story is as simple as those jerky moving images that passed for motion pictures prior to the invention […]
On how the Grandson Squandered his Legacy
I didn’t know Mohandas Gandhi had a grandson named Arun Gandhi until I read this.
Now, intemperate remarks about Israel and Jews being "the biggest players" in a global culture of violence have gotten Gandhi removed as president of the peace center he launched in 1991.
"My intention was to generate a healthy discussion on the proliferation […]
Overdoing Martyrdom
I was surprised to read this about the People’s Paper considering what others and I have written about it.
But the news is not as good for the country’s boldest English-language news magazine, Tehelka. The crusading independent weekly is struggling to expand and take a bigger slice of a highly competitive print market.
Like many anti-establishment publications […]
Republic?
A culturally-battered civilization whose geography was cut into two pieces on arbitrary grounds in a hurry three years before it conferred republichood on itself.
A country that had never defined itself in any terms except a shared spiritual consciousness still struggling to redefine itself in a language alien to it.
A fledgling republic where power was transferred […]
On Government
Government is an evil; it is only the thoughtlessness and vices of men that make it a necessary evil. When all men are good and wise, government will of itself decay.
It’s pretty easy, but I’ll still ask: who said this? No Googling.
Vote Bank Politics as Rama’s Saviour
The latest update on the Sethusamudram project depends on how you look at it.
The Congress has all but decided to put the skids on the Sethusamudram project. Not because it has lost faith in the project, but because it is concerned about the political fall-out and the possible impact on the electorate in the north […]
Sex and the British Empire
Like Atanu, I’m fond of Christopher Hitchens’ writings for simple reasons: clarity, lucidity, and a care-a-damn attitude. So here’s a delightful piece tantalizingly titled Victoria’s Secret. He uncovers more dirt on the British empire through a book review and shows how ultimately, the proud and efficient Brits were essentially insecure males.
. And in […]
Supercop’s Christian Truth
Getting stuck in Bangalore’s interminable traffic jams has its uses as I discovered over the weekend. I didn’t take my camera or I’d have attached a picture with this post.
After the traffic signal just after the Vellara Junction is yet another signal. To my left, I saw a huge hoarding with wordings to this effect: […]
Message of Indian Philosophy
Professor M.Hiriyanna is one of the little-known scholar-giants who gifted us new insights, and corrected thriving misperceptions in Indian philosophy. The title of this post is derived from his 1939 Indian Philosophical Congress lecture bearing the same title.
His lecture delivers the message of Indian philosophy in the layman’s language both in content and presentation. That […]
Will She Apologize?
As in Taslima’s case, a certain Maulana Sayed Athar Ali has suddenly rediscovered Salman Rushdie via Parmeshwar Godrej.
The All India Ulema Association on Thursday said socialite and member of the Godrej industries family Parmeshwar Godrej should apologise to the Muslims for hosting controversial author Salman Rushdie, failing which it would ask community members to boycott […]