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Is democracy India’s biggest hurdle to progress?
SUNAAD RAGHURAM writes: Someone I met recently, and who had been in China for a long time in a senior corporate capacity, had this to say about the country: “Language …
The sartorial difference between India, Pakistan
E.R. RAMACHANDRAN writes: There has been much international speculation over whether President Pervez Musharraf would shed his military uniform by the end of the year. As the issue was snowballing …
Should Congress withdraw Pratibha nomination?
The ongoing presidential campaign has been called the “dirtiest” in the Republic’s history. The Prime Minister and the Congress have called the digging up of Pratibha Patil‘s past as “mud …
Swami Vivekananda at the Chicago Conference
V. RAMPRASAD, in Trichy, forwards us a YouTube video, which is actually an audio of a voiceover rendering the actual text of Swami Vivekananda speaking at the World Parliament of …
Is corruption in our genes, yes, in our genes?
New York (Press Trust of India): An NRI father-son duo in the United States have been charged with defrauding the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) of funds meant for victims …
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru: naive and romantic?
India’s first Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru has been called many things by his detractors—and he still is called many things by his detractors—who blame him for most of India’s …
CHURUMURI POLL: ‘President’ Patil, a disaster?
It seems unfair that the whole world should be piling on India’s first woman president to be, but here’s a simple question: Will Pratibha Patil as President prove to be …
A righthand legbreak ‘batsman’ bowls a googly
Former Karnataka medium pacer Doddanarsaiah Ganesh joined the Janata Dal (Secular) on Wednesday in the presence of Mohammed Azharuddin, his first captain in the four Tests he played for India. …
For the doyen of downtrodden, assets is all Maya
The Bahujan Samaj Party supremo Mayawati has filed her latest declaration of assets and liabilities, and it provides conclusive proof—if proof were ever needed for something so conclusively proven—that Indian …
Congrats: Medicines were cured of your disease
MADHUSUDHAN S. RAO forwards an ayurvedic centre’s all-inclusive publicity campaign. OTOH, you can laugh at the fantastic claims and the imaginative use of the English language. OTOH, you can marvel …
Should a President rub shoulders with godmen?
Either we are in the most well-directed campaign to derail Pratibha Patil‘s presidential hopes. Or the Marathi mulgi is truly gifted with a gab that will ensure that journalists earn …
Just because I’m a ‘tantri’ don’t expect me to…
Kantararu Mohanaru, the controversial “junior” tantri (traditional chief priest) of the Lord Ayyappa temple in Sabarimala—a man who has been linked to the Kannada actress Jayamala and who was barred …
‘Despite boom, Indian journalism is shrinking’
The Indian media is getting bigger, fatter, richer, but is it getting any better? More importantly, does it have any possibility of getting better? These are evergreen questions. They have …
Should Karnataka review IT land allotment?
ASHWINI A. writes from Bangalore: The Andhra Pradesh government, according to a report in today’s Deccan Chronicle, has decided to stop rolling out the red carpet for Information Technology companies, …
CHURUMURI POLL: Was Emergency good for us?
It’s June 26. It was on this day 32 years ago that Indira Gandhi‘s government clamped the Emergency on the country. The excesses are well known: the suspension of democratic …
Are we talking of the President of India here?
Bombay: The Shiv Sena has broken ranks with the NDA and pledged its support to the UPA’s presidential nominee Pratibha Patil. Sena spokesperson Sanjay Raut said the party supported Ms. …
Malayala Manorama is read by people who think…
GIRISH NIKAM forwards the suspected reader profile of Indian newspapers. It’s an old list, sure, but still an interesting one if only because it shows how much some of the …
Wish good night to K.V. Kamath & his whizkids
ASHWINI A. writes from Bangalore: If a person is known by the company he keeps, how does one know a company? Perhaps by the persons it employs? Another day, another …
‘Hi, I’m Deepak Thimaya, and I invite you to…’
Deepak Thimaya, the man behind ‘Mysooru Utsava’—the “Fun for all, Mass entertainment, Unique variety artistic presentation,” as the ads shout—to be held from July 26-29, talks of the reasoning and …
‘Sterilise people with hereditary diseases’?
The ink has barely dried on her nomination papers, but the UPA’s presidential candidate Pratibha Patil has shown that she has a fine ability to put both her feet in …
Not everybody is a loser in the Cauvery dispute
Karnataka may have lost the Cauvery battle in the popular perception, but the lawyers representing the State won big because of the long-drawn dispute. A story by Chamaraja Savadi in …
A priest and a teacher in a study of contrast
Jaipur: The decision of Mahant Gosvami Achutanand Maharaj, the high priest of the much-revered Baneshwar temple in Rajasthan’s tribal district of Dungarpur, to end his brahmacharya has sparked a row. …
“Surely, you must be joking, Mr President?”
The outgoing Indian head of state, Avul Pakir Jainulbdeen Abdul Kalam, has been a darling of the media. His hair, his “repeat-after-me” routine, his air and submarine rides, his telegenic …
Somewhere in the sovereign republic of Mandya
SUNAAD RAGHURAM recovers in the nick of time to write: Having logged more miles on the Mysore-Bangalore highway in recent times than I can manage to remember, I inevitably drove …
Reality’s an illusion caused by alcohol deficiency
E.R. RAMACHANDRAN does everyday party birds like Sunaad Raghuram et al a favour by alerting us to the side-effects of you-know-what and the possible remedies for them in this made …
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