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Category Archives: india

Games Indians Play, by V. Raghunathan

A great book. The author clearly feels that the Indian national character has some fundamental problems – we are free-riders, seek to serve self over society, are way too intelligent for our own good. These traits lead to the phenomena which plague Indian society – things like corruption and it’s general acceptance, unhealthy levels of […]

A walk at Versova beach

I was home for just a weekend, but no trip home is complete without a walk on the beach, which thankfully happens to be just a hop, skip and jump away from my house. The first thing to catch my attention was this fellow, whose name was Nilesh and he happily agreed to be photographed. […]

Why I love the Economist

From a recent article about the Shilpa Shetty issue in the UK: British celebrity culture is tolerant: ethnic minorities and homosexuals feature prominently. And it is democratic: no discernible talent is needed to enter the aristocracy of celebrity. If there’s better way of targeting both democracy and aristocracy in such a compact fashion, I don’t […]

Indian Summers by John Wright

One of the books that I’m really thankful I’ve read. Without doubt, a wonderful read for any Indian cricket fan. John Wright describes his whole stint as Indian coach; starting from his selection as coach to finish. Few can argue that since John Wright, Indian cricket has improved in a number of ways – professionalism, […]

Postcard from Mumbai

Hope everyone’s been having happy holidays. Happy 2007 to all. This, by the way, is the view from my window at home. Probably the greatest wealth I will ever have.

India: From midnight to millennium by Shashi Tharoor

I’ve been meaning to read this book for a long time, just never got around to it until now. The book was written around 1996 and presents the high points and trends of India’s history from independence till that time. One of the things that inspired me to finally read and finish this book was […]

Happy Independence Day!

India’s 60th independence day, and the 10th that I celebrated outside India. A decade ago, there used to be just a handful of people who attended the ceremonies on 15th August and 26th Jaunary at the High Commission. To have a family there was extremely rare, and mostly it was just students and officials who […]

Indian government banning blogs?

This is just in via digg and other sources – apparently the Indian government has issued orders to ISPs to block blogging sites including blogspot. One of the reasons cited for this is that blogs are apparently being used by terrorists to communicate and spread information. I think this is not only draconian, but quite […]

Mumbai’s response to terror

Last night, CNN and BBC world were both running feeds off Indian news channels for an hour or so to provide coverage of the blasts in Mumbai. I remember one particular commentator saying “Although Mumbai is no stranger to terrorist threats, this particular incident is one that affects everyone, and I feel that despite the […]

7 blasts in Mumbai local trains

In or around the following stations: Matunga, Mahim, Khar, Bandra, Jogeshwari, Borivali and Bhyander. So far, the news networks are quoting official figures of 135 dead. Given that the trains were packed during rush hour, the ultimate toll will be much more. A sad day.