Lewis M. Simons writes in an absorbing story for the National Geographic, titled Moving Forward, Holding On:
Watching his daughter on a homemade ladder smoothing varnish over the red-and-yellow trim of their large new log house, Norbu Choden smiled with the satisfaction that even if there was no getting the Chinese out of Tibet, he’d [...]
It’s happening again.
You’ll get a holiday. Thousands of people will suffer for no fault of theirs. Businesses will lose money. Some property will probably be damaged. (Theatre owners have already probably lost money. You notice how the hooligans activists always strike at the non-multiplex theatres? Easier access because of lack of security? Probably.)
Some people, who [...]
In an excellent opinion piece about bigotry in India titled The Crowded Centre, Ramchandra Guha writes:
The creation of linguistic states was a legitimate concession to the pride that Indians took in their respective mother tongues. It is permissible for a state to demand that the language of administration be in the mother tongue; also [...]
Yesterday’s Deccan Herald’s magazine section had pieces by author Anita Nair, enterpreneur Subroto Bagchi and filmmaker Sudhir Mishra. I liked the pieces by Anita Nair and Subroto Bagchi probably because they live in Bangalore but were not born here and like them, I too am an “outsider”.
Given the ridiculous crap that’s gone on in [...]
I’d heard about Craig Murray because of his comments regarding the controversy that took place when Alisher Usmanov bought shares of Arsenal Football Club.
When I saw his book at the British Library, naturally, I picked it up. Murder in Samarkhand is about Murray’s stint in Uzbekistan as the British Ambassador and about how he [...]
Interesting article by Shoma Chatterji on India Together titled Two new documentaries explode Gujarat’s myths. Excerpts:
…Rakesh Sharma has released two new Gujarati documentaries earlier this month. The films — Sharma has even used RTI to collect government data — expose unsavoury truths about farmers suicides as well as lower-caste rioters now in prison.
…
Khedu Mora Re [...]
Asne Seierstad’s book With their backs to the world: Potraits from Serbia, is an account of the life in Serbia from 1999 to 2004 during a period of conflict.
Seierstad, a journalist from Norway famous for her bestseller The Bookseller of Kabul, follows the lives of different people in Serbia and tells the story of [...]
