Om gate gate paaragate paarasamgate bodhi svaaha
I always wake up around 4 AM on Buddha Purnima — perhaps because of the bright moonlight streaming in through the window. And now I am listening to the Perfection of Wisdom Heart Sutra aka “Prajnaparamita Hridaya Sutra“.
Arun Jaitley, the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, in an interview he gave to rediff.com said that “it was evident that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has the capacity to damage institutions to remain in power.” Not a very nice thing to say. But then, when talking of not nice people, one cannot say very nice things. Actually, Jaitley understates — perhaps deliberately — how despicably Mr Singh has behaved. Mr Singh has clearly overused his capacity to do damage. Continue reading “Only the Bad and the Ugly”
Sorry people I have not been in touch. A bit of traveling and a lot of reading is taking up time. I will be back soon, just in case you were wondering. Until then, remember that tomorrow, May 20th, is the big day for supporting the right to free expression — which as Bill Maher puts it, is non-negotiable. The video embedded below the fold reminds us that some cultures are not only different but are better than one that makes death threats to cartoonists. Continue reading “Some things are Non-negotiable”
My colleague Rajesh Jain in the second part of a series “It’s Up to Us Now” notes, that “even after 63 years, India is in many senses worse off than it was in 1947. We have to understand the whys and hows of India’s failure to develop. That’s the unavoidable first step to putting India on a path to recovery. We cannot fix problems that we don’t understand the causes of, or worse yet, if we don’t even admit that we have problems.”
Continue reading “Giving the Planned Perpetual Poverty of Socialism a Quick Burial”
In the face of all that is grim and distressing, there’s always the relief of reading the TOI — affectionately referred to by its admirers as TOI-let paper or the Slimes of India. This hot Summer Sunday morning was brightened by an article, “The Benefits of Surya Namaskar.” Continue reading “Comic Relief: Reading the Times of India”
Faisal Shahzad’s bomb bombed. I have a few questions for you, dear reader.
Two facts are undisputed: first, the US is the richest, most powerful nation on earth; second, that it has been an occasional victim of Islamic terrorism. I believe that there is another fact that is not widely appreciated but which explains to a large degree the where, how and whys of Islamic terrorism. That fact is that the US funds global Islamic terrorism. That not only explains why there’s so much of it around these days, but also gives us hope that there is a way out of this insanity. That hope arises from the conjecture that the US can stop global Islamic terrorism if it wants. Continue reading “The US funds Global Islamic Terrorism”
I have not had an opportunity to read A New History of India by Francois Gautier (Har-Anand Publications, 2008) but I intend to since I got this brief review of the book in an email from a colleague. I post it below the fold with permission. Continue reading “Francois Gautier’s “A New History of India””
Pakistan is back in the news for what it is best known in the world — Islamic terrorism. It has been the epicenter of global terror for a while, and also a front line ally of the US in its so-called “war against terror.” Talk about making an alliance with the fox to guard the hen house. Pakistan and terrorism is old hat. Anything written about that is apparently eternally relevant. This is what I had written in October 2009 — but it would be relevant in any month of any year. Continue reading “The Jihad’s Come Home to Roost”
Thus spake Heinlein. “The America of my time line is a laboratory example of what can happen to democracies, what has eventually happened to all perfect democracies throughout all histories.” Continue reading “Heinlein On Democracy”
Life is a Random Draw 