A Tragic Tale of Callous Hindu Indifference

The Russian word “pogrom” means “to destroy, to wreak havoc, to demolish violently” and is applied to “any incident of wanton and unrestrained destruction on a mass scale.” According to the wiki, the word came into English via Yiddish. The etymology of the word makes sense. Yiddish literally means “Jewish”. Jews have been the victim of pogroms by Christians and Muslims for millennia everywhere in the world except for India. The world will never be allowed to forget that because the Jews will make sure that they themselves will not forget what is the most tragic part of their civilizational history. Continue reading “A Tragic Tale of Callous Hindu Indifference”

Bose, Gandhi, Ghadar and India’s Independence

Did you know there’s a connection between UC Berkeley and India’s political independence from the British? Let me get to that after this.
Continue reading “Bose, Gandhi, Ghadar and India’s Independence”

In Love, Losing is Winning.

On my way to Ahmedabad last week on Saturday, at Mumbai airport, I saw a poster which had increased the number of sri’s in Sri Sri Ravishankar. It proclaimed Sri Sri Sri Ravishankar. But I think I will stick with the SSRS short form instead of updating it to SSSRS.

One of the perils of reading newspapers in India is that you are exposed to some rather mindless nonsense. Sunday morning in Ahmedabad, I recklessly picked up a newspaper. It was the DNA Sunday. To my horror but not to my surprise, there was Sri Sri Sri Ravishankar’s hirsute image atop a column titled, “In love, losing is winning.”

losingiswinning2
Continue reading “In Love, Losing is Winning.”

India: A Case of Bad Governance

In today’s Business Standard, Pranab Bardhan in his article “India — A case of bad governance“, makes a number of very important points.
Continue reading “India: A Case of Bad Governance”

A Fascinating New Dictionary: Visuwords

If you love words the way I do, you’d love this. Continue reading “A Fascinating New Dictionary: Visuwords”

India needs a New Set of Rules, not Rulers

“we should invite britishers again to manage our country step by step. first Bihar & UP last kerala. like they developed Hong kong.”

That’s a direct quote of a comment from a reader, Jitendra, on a rediff.com article, “India’s ‘real’ Poverty“. Don’t bother reading that rather pointless article — it goes into details of how the poverty line should be defined and what the level of real poverty is in India — but let’s ponder that non sequitur quoted above. Continue reading “India needs a New Set of Rules, not Rulers”

Truth in Advertising

That ad is from 1979. It says, “Via PIA” but if there was truth in advertising, it would be “Via Pakistan”. [via Liberty News Central.] And talking of Islamic terrorism and advertising, here’s something that does not surprise me. Continue reading “Truth in Advertising”

From the archives: “The Lumpy Universe”

I am off to Mumbai for a couple of days. I hope to write a real post later today but for now, I recommend this one hauled from the archives of “the tangled web” series on “The Lumpy Universe.” Now I must go as I have a train to catch. Bye.

In Defense of Village Idiots

If the people of the village, in the best traditions of the hallowed democratic process, elect the village idiot as the King and Supreme Ruler of the village, I cannot for the life of me bring myself to find fault with the village idiot. It’s not the idiot’s fault that nature dealt him or her a lousy hand in the random genetic draw of life. He’s a congenital idiot and makes no demands on being recognized as a paragon of wisdom and insight. Based on that principle, I indicted the American voter for electing — not once but twice — Mr George W Bush. I can see no reason for not applying that principle to India. Continue reading “In Defense of Village Idiots”