World acknowledges this is India’s century. In an earlier blog I had written about how the advent of swine flu has led to the west adopting a common Indian practice—the namaste instead of hugging and kissing. Now comes another blow for India....

MANNA DEY, MELODY OTHER THOUGHTS Just a few weeks ago I had the unforgettable experience of listening to Manna Dey[91 years old] LIVE at Richmond not very far from where I live in the US The organizers had informed him that the audience taste was a...

Advantage of Suicide. Our people especially Netas are in a constant search of status symbols. This may be called a 3rd world mentality. In the years immediately after independence leaders sought ways to downplay their status and tried to be as...

Md. Rafi, Coffee and Terrorism The Brihadaranyaka Upanishad says that our beliefs shape our character, our character shapes our personality, our personality shapes our attitudes. our attitudes shape our actions and our actions shape our...

HAVE YOU HEARD OF THE GRINBA ? When three of my Indian friends in U.S asked me how they could go about setting up scholarships for educating orphaned girl children back home I was touched by the very idea .Till I saw that there was a catch—these...

Why we must be ashamed to be Indians. I attended a gathering in Washington DC a few months ago, the occasion being the celebration of the 145th anniversary of the arrival of ‘indentured’ laborers from India to Trinidad and Tobago [T&T]. I...

WHAT AILS INDIA–GRINGLO A friend of mine of Indian origin who lives in Canada sent me some amazing photographs of animals and birds in that country taken by celebrated photographers. I know—as do many readers –that Canada is a...

The Islam you may not know. It was the year 2002. I was traveling by a suburban train in Mumbai from Andheri to Mumbai Central. Alongside me was seated a girl dressed in a smashing T- shirt and low hip jeans. I noticed that she was occasionally...

ARE YOU ARGUMENTATIVE? The Indian Prime minister addressed top government officials a month ago and told them that the system was ridden with corruption. I did not think he said something not known to us for decades. I recall Nehru announcing — to...

TERRIBLE TERRIBLE How does the film audience in India decide which is the first family of Indian cinema, assuming that this is really required? To the best of my knowledge the criteria are [1] popularity [2] several stars in the family [3]...