I consider myself to be fortunate enough to be brought up in a family environment where religion was not important. As a family we rarely talked about religion. Although a skeptic myself I am very fascinated by the history of religion, the mythologies that are part of it and the reasons why religion still plays [...]
This is Part 2 of an article about Thomas the Apostle of India. Please click on the link for Part 1. As I mentioned in Part 1, one of the most controversial aspects of the Saint Thomas story (other than the question of whether it is true or not) is how he died in Mylapore. [...]
We I was young my family used to travel a lot. One of the trips that I remember clearly was the one we took to Shravanabelgola. Shravanabelgola is a relatively small town in the South Indian state of Karnataka. It is known all over India as one of the most important pilgrimage centers for members [...]
One of the most common responses we hear when a terrorist attack takes place is that the attackers and their organizations are just criminals and that they do not represent any religion or caste or creed. A similar sentiment was echoed by the President of the BJP Nitin Gadkari who spoke with reporters yesterday in [...]
The President of the Bharatiya Janata Party has said that the controversial Chief Minister of Gujarat, Narendra Modi is a role model for India. Talking to the media the new president of the BJP Nitin Gadkari said that “the riot case summons to Modi makes no difference; he still remains a role model for the [...]
Swami Ramdev (real name is Ramkishan Yadav) is well-known in India as a Hindu swami and a promoter of Yoga. He is the founder of the Divya Yog Mandir Trust and offers Ayurvedic treatments to millions of Indians. The popular swami has announced that he is launching a political party named Bharat Swabhiman. His party [...]
The Chinese lady behind the counter looked at me asked “Do you want white rice or fried rice with your Kung Pao Chicken”? I replied that I wanted fried rice. She looked a little confused. She asked me again “You want Pork fried rice”? I again said yes. As I stood and watched her husband [...]
Switzerland became the latest country to fall into the trap laid by Osama Bin Laden and the likes since September 11, 2009. More than 57% of the Swiss voters approved a referendum to ban the building of minarets. This decision by the voters was unexpected considering that the Swiss are well known for their openness [...]
In an editorial on Saamana (Shiv Sena party mouthpiece) Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackeray has mentioned that “fundamentalist Muslims are the biggest threat to the country and that we need to fight against it”. He added that “Except some like Salim Khan, Javed Akhtar, Mukhtar Abbas and Farooq Abdullah, the rest are trying to destroy [...]
Shiv Sena President Uddhav Thackeray indicated that “If you don’t want to salute the motherland, then whom do you salute? What is the shame in saluting Bharat mata? Those who don’t want to salute Bharat mata should go to Pakistan or Bangladesh.
Writer and activist Arundhati Roy has said in an interview on CNN-IBN that the Maoists are “justified in taking up arms”. She added “my fear is that because of this economic interest the government and establishment actually needs a war. It needs to militarize.
CNN is reporting that one of the most popular bloggers in the world Yoani Sanchez of Cuba has been informed by her government that she cannot leave the country. She writes a popular blog called GeneracionY which gets more than a million hits every month.
This is a very simple question. On the surface the answer seems to be very obvious. Since 9/11 there have been no terrorist attacks on American soil. There were some attacks on American interests abroad but nothing major. There are constant reports of senior members of
The Israeli consulate in Mumbai has launched a Hindi and Urdu version of their website called “Namaste Israel”. In addition the Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs has launched a web site called “Gaza Facts” which provides a lot of detail about “Operation Cast Lead”.
Doordarshan is 50 years old. The first broadcasts (a few hours each day) started in September 1959 in New Delhi. Daily transmission started in 1965 and by about 1975 seven Indian cities had television service. Doordarshan went “national” only in 1982 and it was around the same time that color television was introduced in India. [...]
A Dutch company (AZS Media Group) has announced that it will launch search engine for Muslims. The search engine will be called ImHalal. According to news reports the search engine will have filters and will block sites that have “non-halal” list of words. The companies founder (Reza Sardeha) is also in talks with Imams to [...]
Every once in a while you read something that just blows your mind away. A few days ago I read an article that basically indicated that the high literacy in Kerala is because of the Catholic Church. According to the Malayalee Catholic Fellowship (MACAF), this comment was made by well known historian Dr. M.G.S. Narayanan [...]
Key members of the BJP will meet in Srinagar for a three day “chintan baithak” or “introspection summit”. The goal is to discuss the state of the party and its future. The survival of BJP is important. The BJP and Congress remain the only two national parties (albeit in smaller magnitude for the Congress as [...]
