Oh!! Mobile, I love you...

For close two two months, Paddy Rangappa a freelance writer based in Singapore is writing about the affection we have to our mobiles in DNA...

In his third version of the same he has illustrated his colleagues' affection to his mobile...

You can't help chuckling when you read this...

The disease that is mobile: Part 3

The truth...???

Close to four years ago, A young 14 year old girl named Aarushi was found dead on her parents' apartment's terrace...

Who killed her? Are her parents really the murderers?

Will the truth ever come out?

Sunetra Chowdhury who had heard about the same version that the SC upheld for trial by a stranger asks the same questions that the general public is asking...

Aarushi murder: Will we ever know what happened?

Madrasi Bar...

Chennai is one of the conservative cities where the pub culture has not really taken a good foothold like Mumbai, Delhi or even Bangalore...

However, the old rustic authentic south-Indian Cabaret atmosphere that provides traditional Indian whisky is what that is described in this rather funny article by Ashok Krish...

He has titled it with the same authentic rusticity --

"A shot of whisky with a plate of Masala Wada"

How Camus Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

How Camus Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest

An article on Albert Camus's writings coming to light very significantly in the recent past. In my view, a great article that talks about Camus's contribution through a "heightened sense of justice, bereft of ideological trappings, his faith in democracy and his emphasis on the need to align thought with action..."
Great tribute to a great man. 

Art fair director says marketing and selling Brand India have boosted India's art scene

Times View - Art gains from commerce

Counterview - Art is for art's sake

-The Times of India, January 14, 2012

For The Common Good

In pursuing public goals, can private initiative substitute for government action?


For The Common Good

-The Times of India, January 14, 2012

The role of private initiatives in the form of "corporate social responsibility, public-private partnership, and NGO activism" is expounded on along with a growing public perception that "privately motivated activities are now perceived as essential not just for pursuit of private interests, but as the only reliable means to secure public goods."

What's Up, Poll Doc?

How the EC makes electoral medicine go down


What's Up, Poll Doc?

-The Times of India, January 14, 2012

Our dear old EC has been putting in place great measures for the coming elections in five states. The article calls it the "electoral medicine," and indeed for political parties and politicians, it is a bitter pill to swallow.  

A year after Jasmine and Tahrir

"It is still early to come to any conclusion about the dénouement of the churning in West Asia. Things are far from settled."

The Hindu : Opinion / Lead : A year after Jasmine and Tahrir

The euphoria generated by the Jasmine and Tahrir revolutions has all but dissipated during the past year. The unrealistic expectations, the hype built up mainly by the western governments and the media have given way to doubt, disappointment and even despair over the fate of ‘Arab Spring.'

Kabul's stadium of horrors

"A U.S.-sponsored refurbishment has failed to exorcise the memories of Taliban atrocities that haunt the Ghazi stadium."

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Kabul's stadium of horrors

Afghan leaders together with U.S. Ambassador Ryan Crocker and the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, General John Allen, hope that reopening of the completely refurbished 25,000-seat stadium will do what past efforts have failed to achieve.

Auto shows still use women as eye candy

"Automakers are desperate to sell cars to ‘millenials' — who are hardly likely to be impressed with such tired, tacky sexism."

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Auto shows still use women as eye candy

Using women to sell stuff is hardly new. And to be fair to the auto show, it's done in reasonably good taste. What other major industry so blatantly ignores the fact that half its customers are women?

They need to do something different: no millennial is going to be sold by this 70s game show aesthetic. It's time to end the march of the dolls.

Pushing the boundaries of magnetic storage

"Researchers at IBM have stored and retrieved digital 1s and 0s from an array of just 12 atoms, pushing the boundaries of the magnetic storage of information to the edge of what is possible."
The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : Pushing the boundaries of magnetic storage

Until now, the most advanced magnetic storage systems have needed about 1 million atoms to store a digital 1 or 0. The new achievement is the product of a heated international race between two elite physics laboratories to explore the properties of magnetic materials at a far smaller scale.

"The information storage side of this is fantastic, but this truly changes our ideas of the behaviour of materials at molecular levels."

Over the top

Can there be the slightest doubt that the EC's order to cover up all statues of Chief Minister Mayawati and those of the elephant, her Bahujan Samaj Party's election symbol, in election-bound Uttar Pradesh with the politically neutral pink-coloured cloth or plastic sheets falls in the over the top category?

The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Over the top

The Election Commission of India has just given new meaning to that phrase ‘pink elephants'. The order is supposed to “ensure that these statues do not influence the minds of the electors, disturbing the level playing field” during the election.

What the Election Commission must learn to do is understand the limits of its power, even in election season, keep off the grass, and leave the matter to the people's court.

Saving people, and tigers

"The answer to this human-tiger conflict lies in good conservation science and in mitigation measures that help people co-exist with the carnivores at the landscape level."
The Hindu : Opinion / Editorial : Saving people, and tigers

Relocation of people from tiger territory with handsome compensatory packages is a superior alternative to crisis management techniques that invariably follow attacks. It may still be necessary to use lethal methods to remove some problem tigers in order to avoid widespread retaliatory actions by villagers. Creating wider undisturbed habitat will benefit

India for Security Council representation from Africa

"Strongly pitching for the expansion of permanent membership of the U.N. Security Council, India has said the powerful body should have representation from developing countries, including Africa."

The Hindu : Opinion / Op-Ed : India for Security Council representation from Africa

[Since] as much as two-third of the active items on the Council's agenda concerned Africa and about three-fourth of the Council's time was spent on African issues, [this] demands expansion of the permanent membership to make the Council reflective of contemporary realities and increased representation from developing countries, including Africa.