Some of my friends have told me that Indians are like “coconuts”. They are “brown” on the outside but “white” on the inside. I do not believe that all Indians behave this way but at the same time I think that there is some truth to these statements. Indians in the United States for example [...]
What are the reasons behind India’s inability to organize an event like the Commonwealth Games in New Delhi? The reason is corruption. Why is India not competitive in most sports except cricket? It is corruption. What are the reasons behind the crumbling infrastructure in our major cities? The reason is corruption. How come after 60 [...]
The Commonwealth (full name is Commonwealth of Nations) is an organization of fifty four member states. Fifty two of these nations were part of the British Empire. The Commonwealth Games is one of the showcase events for this organization. Except a few countries like Britain, Australia, New Zealand and Canada almost all other countries are [...]
I am a little worried about the growing anger aimed at the Commonwealth Games to be held in New Delhi (India). Former Union Sports Minister and a senior member of the ruling Congress Party Manishankar Iyer said “Personally, I will be unhappy if the Commonwealth Games are successful … If the Games do succeed, that [...]
One of my favorite quotes about India is by the first century Greek Philosopher Apollonius Tyanaeus who said “In India, I found a race of mortals living upon the Earth, but not adhering to it, inhabiting cities, but not being fixed to them, possessing everything, but possessed by nothing”. I am not sure if Appollonius [...]
The Canadian High Commission in New Delhi has described the Indian Border Security Force (BSF) as “a notoriously violent paramilitary unit engaged in systematic attacks on civilians and responsible for torturing suspected criminals”. This was used as an excuse to deny visa to a former BSF jawan who wanted to travel to Canada. Such language [...]
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 [...]
Continuing its tradition of passing laws that has no practical use the Union Cabinet of India today approved a proposal submitted by the Civil Aviation Ministry to amend the Anti-Hijacking Act of 1982. This was announced by the Minister for Information and Broadcasting Ambika Soni. The modified act will include the following: Section 3 and [...]
According to the Department of Social Welfare there are approximately 60,000 beggars in Delhi (Non Government Organizations (NGO) claim that this number is actually over 100,000). This should not be a surprise to most Indians but will shock many foreigners including players and delegates who will be arriving in Delhi to participate in the Commonwealth [...]
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 [...]
“I am an aam aadmi (common man). If I can become the Prime Minister, then so can you. I came from a very ordinary, lower-middle class family. It is because of my education that I am what I am” These words were uttered by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to children during the Children’s Day festival [...]
If you are an economist India is today a happy place. More Indians are joining the middle class like never before and almost all vital indicators like poverty level, literacy rate, life span, and health are improving through out the country. Pessimism has given way to optimism.
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. [...]
On August 22 of this year Press Trust of India reported that India remained the largest market and primary driver of air traffic growth for Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates). It is a fact that millions of Indians live and work in the Middle East. Most of these Indians are from the South India particularly [...]
