Today, I watched a movie. Nothing special about that. But, the movie in itself was rather special. Those in India must have heard of Chak de…India, a movie with Shahrukh Khan in the lead. To cut a long story short, the movie was worth watching. More on that a little later. Before that, I would…
Month: August 2007
Bihari is not a bad word…but Madrasi?
Yesterday, The Hindu published an article on its Open Page titled, “Musings of a Bihari“, in which the author, Mayank Rasu laments the bad name politicians like Laloo have earned for Bihar. So far, so good. What got my attention, and subsequently, made me angry, was the veiled reference to the apparent disloyalty of Tamil…
Temple of gold?
This morning, NDTV, or was it CNN-IBN, ran a news story about the consecration of a new temple in Sripuram near Vellore in Tamil Nadu. So, what’s the fuss, you may ask. The fuss is that the said temple is built using 1.5 tonnes of gold. Yes, you read that right. 1.5 tonnes of gold….
Music?? Really?
One day, a few weeks ago, my zealous neighbours decided that their children must learn Carnatic music. A commendable desire I must say. So, they set out to find someone who would teach the kids Carnatic music. True to form, they found someone to teach the said kids, how to sing. Or, so they said….
Freedom of expression and religious sentiment
This is a continuation of my previous post on the attack on Taslima Nasreen. As I said before, the attack is simply outrageous. So, you can imagine my outrage and disgust when I read that the Hyderabad has slapped a case against Ms. Nasreen for hurting Muslims’ religious sentiments. The way the Hyderabad police is…
Right to free speech?
Yesterday’s attack on controversial Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen speaks volumes about the increasing intolerance in Indian society. We, as Indians, pat ourselves on the back about democratic tradition in our beloved homeland and pride ourselves on the inherent tolerance of the Indian people. But, where has that tolerance gone now? Ms. Nasreen was in Hyderabad…
Sex-selective abortion and demographics
I came across an article in NDTV (link expired, I can’t find the article) a short while ago detailing the horrors of sex-selective abortion and its impact on demographics in India. This, coupled with a conversation with my neighbour’s mother a few days ago, set me thinking about why exactly a girl child is such…
Revisiting Hinduism
I realised a few months ago that most Hindu temples do not allow non-Hindus to enter the temple premises. A few years ago, I would not have stopped to think about this issue. Today, it takes on an entirely different dimension. Maybe because it appeals to my sense of justice, or maybe because I have…