What happens when a Westerner decides to write a book or make a movie on somebody belonging to the Dynasty? The outcome depends on what truth the said book or movie purports to reveal. If the truth even as much as hinges on the door of discomfort to the Dynasty, rest assured the book is [...]
The steady extermination, and/or conversion of Hindus in Pakistan has been a steady feature since 1947. On this side, we have exhibited characteristic apathy, in the same period. This news report is a continuation of the same status quo. In the past four years, some 5,000 Hindus may have crossed over from Pakistan, never to [...]
The October 2009 issue of Pragati is out. This month’s theme is Naxalism, a problem that–like most other, similar problems–successive governments let fester and now threatens to disrupt India if something is not done now. Download your copy here. Technorati : Blogs, Current Affairs, INI, India, Indian National Interest, Politics, Pragati Del.icio.us : Blogs, Current [...]
With reasonable assumption, I can safely say that regular readers of this blog were also readers of Offstumped in its previous incarnation as part of the excellent Indian National Interest umbrella of blogs. It was hugely popular for informed political and poll analysis, notable for publishing superb pieces of investigative blogging, and confident in its [...]
A few weeks ago, I made a hurried list that broadly categorized contemporary Hindus based on certain general parameters. Gurcharan Das of India Unbound fame adds to this list by slotting himself into a new category: Liberal Hindu. Much of what he says in that post is along familiar, “safe Hindu” lines but he does [...]
Newspapers give space to writers like Khushwant Singh mostly for antique value. I read this piece with the same mindset as I approach an antique piece: possibly priceless but I won’t risk buying it. Singh has made no secret of his support for the Congress party and hasn’t protested when he was termed an establishment [...]
My friends felt sorry for me when they heard that the Principal had rejected my scholarship. “Had you told us this earlier, we’d have stopped you from meeting him. The Principal gives any number of scholarships and freeships if you get a letter from Swamiji of his caste’s Mutt. Nothing else works with him,” they [...]
I rarely watch news channels. I’d rather go to a local car tinkering garage if I was that desperate for noise. I made an exception today because I fully wanted to experience the expected orgy of insanity that I was sure would be unleashed when a guy like YSR dies. The Congress party and its [...]
Assuming there are still visible traces of a vibrant civic society and media left in the US, what’d be the reaction to an incident like this? (link courtesy: JK) The Kerala High Court on Friday released two girls, who were allegedly detained for religious conversion, to their parents…In the petition, Jacob Thomas of Pallikkal, Kottarakkara, [...]
Hindu nationalism…is a self-description used in the post-Independence period by the main political embodiments of Hindu revivalism, the Hindu Mahasabha…the Jana Singh…and the BJP…in India, “nationalism” doesn’t have the negative connotations which it has in Western intellectual circles. On the contrary, the term is hallowed by its assocation with the freedom movement. It is also [...]
