This is a solution to the banking crisis in Cyprus. However, it might be termed as daylight robbery by some. What else can a bankrupt nation do? Go the Zimbabwean way and change to US currency? That would be too extreme. Plus you are disrupting the sovereign composition of the country. Woe to anyone who thinks about … Read more
Kerala is a tropical paradise that lies to the south of Indian peninsula. It has green vegetation, plenty of sandy beaches, natural beauty, and an educated citizenry. Every year it sends thousands of skilled manpower to the Persian Gulf for employment and thus received billions of rupees as remittances. Of late, tourism has been the … Read more
I have written about throttling of artistic talent in this post on the website you are now reading. Now one of the controversies have come to an end. However, the resolution is not to my satisfaction. The reason for my disquiet is that the artist made compromises. Kamal Haasan the director of the movie Vishwaroopam … Read more
We, here in India, are going through another frenzy of attack against artistic freedom. Two instances in the past week have delineated this for the observer. One is the banning of Salman Rushdie from the Calcutta Literary Festival and the other is the protest by Muslim organisations over actor Kamal Haasan’s movie Vishwaroopam. Firstly, Rushdie … Read more
What I find pernicious about Indian corporations is the atrocious salaries paid to managing directors and the poor salary paid to employees down the line. I worked in a company where the salary of the peon (the lowest employee) was less than one-thousandth of the managing director’s. The managing director comes in a BMW while … Read more
I would call it an Indian phenomenon. I mean “eve-teasing.” In the aftermath of the Delhi gang rape and the outrage that followed the discussion in the media (and offline) has provided some new insights. (Even the word “gangrape” has been made into one word in Indian media, which would point to its wide prevalence.) For example … Read more
That the Indian cinema – Bollywood – is a corruption of the very basis of cinematic story telling is an overstatement. I have made this overstatement many times, but nobody seems to care. However the following from the newspaper Mirror got my gall: “Bhansali and his team are very confident about Ram Leela. His lead … Read more
After the dust had died down in the aftermath of the gruesome gangrape – and death – of a girl in a bus in Delhi, there has been a rising wave of anger and outrage against rape in India. One of the accused is a boy of 16 years, still a minor. It has shocked … Read more
The recent arrest of two girls from the Palghar area near Bombay has thrown up several issues regarding freedom of expression. The girls – Shaheen and Reenu – had posted a message on Facebook when the ultra-right Hindu party leader Bal Thackeray had died. The original screenshot of the post can be seen on the … Read more
“To suspend the Indian Olympic Association with immediate effect pursuant to Rules 27.9 and 59.1.4 of the Olympic charter until the Indian Olympic Association is in a position to satisfy all the conditions set out in the Olympic Charter and IOC’s requirements.” That’s a quote from a letter from International Olympic Committee (IOC) to India Indian … Read more
Another literary festival is going to be held in Bombay on December 7. This is in addition to the Bombay Litfest organised by India’s top business how – The Tata Group – that concluded a few weeks ago in controversy over its awarding the lifetime achievement award to VS Naipaul, a writer of Indian descent. … Read more
What has shocked internet users – those addicted to Facebook and Twitter – is the recent arrest of a girl who posted a message on her Facebook page as to why a city like Bombay should be shut down because a right-wing leader – Bal Thackeray – died. I have already written about this in … Read more
India’s premier city Bombay saw two noteworthy deaths in the past few days. Firstly, the leader and founder of the ultra-right party Shiv Sena died a natural death at age 86 leaving his legacy to his son and grandson. (Here’s a link to his life and times.) Bal Thackeray founded the party after he resigned … Read more
The continuing crusade against corruption in India has entered a new phase. Arvind Kejriwal, India’s own Julian Assange (who had promised to publicise one case of corruption every week), has come out with more than one case. He has now accused a list of businessmen of hiding black money in Swiss banks. What is more, … Read more
Literary controversies are nothing new to India. Last year when excerpts from Salman Rushdie’s “Satanic Verses” was read at the Jaipur Literary Festival a lot of hackles were raised and the police had to becalled in. But has it become a staple of literary festival culture? It seems likely when Girish Karnad, veteran actor and … Read more
Corruption is not new in India. Politicians who control the funds consider corruption as their birthright. Raising the bogey of corruption has been a constant endeavour in the press these days. Then what happens? Half-hearted investigations are done, a few names are bandied around and the powerful people buy their peace. How? Because Indian politics … Read more
Yash Chopra, the movie moghul, who died last week was important to Switzerland in many ways. When I say important I mean in cultural, tourism, and commercial terms. The king of romance, as he was known, was well known for his preference of the Swiss Alps for shooting the songs in his films. Now why … Read more
For the past half century the Persian Gulf meaning the Arab countries have been a source of employment for Indians, especially for Indians from the south of country. For a year I too was one of these immigrants earning a good salary, which I didn’t get in India. I was able to pay a mortage … Read more
Like many of its religious fundamentalist neighbours, India is not a good place for women these days. So it might seem from recent events. I mean a lot of progress has been made in various fields but still women, especially children, are abused by frustrated parents and men. The government has made education free for … Read more
A few days ago we wrote about the government’s new economic policy. It came as good news to us, waiting for something to boost the economy and recharge the process of development. However, what we saw in the newspaper today is quite disappointing, no, quite depressing. What is depressing is this: Around Rs 200,000 million … Read more