Archive for October, 2005
Yahaan - portraying life in Kashmir
Yahaan is a beautiful film outlining the touching story of the brave soldiers and the equally courageous people of Kashmir. Shoojit Sircar has done an excellent job of showing the real situation and not some glorified fantasy of the Army.
A city bred boy comes as Captain to Kashmir and falls in love with a girl [...]
Eroding Science in USA, while focus on Evolution
Oh well, I don’t have a category for this in Indiblog, but how could I let such a hot burning issue pass?
Only recently an influential advisory committee in US has revealed that American science is fast losing ground to emerging countries like India and China. Research and Development of engineering, chemical and pharmaceutical companies have [...]
Indian Press releases many False Reports!
It is very surprising, though most of us are by now used to it, that there are numerous media stories in the Indian Press that get rescinded within a day or two.
It is quite common to read among the headlines: “…denied having said that”, “…was misinterpreted”, “…deny report…” etc. all of which are just denying [...]
No appreciation of Relief support to Pakistan?
Musharraf has graciously accepted the first 25 tons of relief material from Manmohan Singh. Whew! That was such a huge step for Indians and Pakistanis.
India reached out a friendly hand to an enemy, who grabbed it immediately. Am I seeing the beginning of a friendship?
But what is really surprising is that not one political party [...]
IITs best in technology but not in science
The IITs are certainly gathering a lot of outside attention these days. And of course the recognition is very much its due. Now, they are the 3rd best Technology institutes in the world! Congrats!
Mind you though, in science they rank only 36th - which is quite sad. For a scientist, that I am, it is [...]
Even among the Bengalis there are exceptions!
Who would have expected that even among the Bengalis there are those that do not like all the sounds and flavours of this season - of course the dhaak and gaan of Durga puja! Have you heard this old Bengali joke?
When does the beat of the dhaak sound the sweetest?
When it stops playing.
That’s [...]
Most British died during the Raj in India
The mortality among British officers stationed in Indian cities were staggering, according to Mike Dash’s excellent book on the murderous Indian cult - Thug. He says:
In the 17th and 18th centuries it was not uncommon for half the Europeans scattered through India to die of fever, drink or heatstroke in a single year. In Bombay, [...]
Earthquake’s devastation extensive!
Reuters has this heart-breaking story of a schoolgirl with the caption: An Indian student cries outside a school building following an earthquake in the northern Indian city of Jammu.
In Pakistan and PoK, where the majority of the devastation has occurred, many thousands have died and a few villages have been razed to the ground. The [...]
Supreme Court scared of the Govt?
The Supreme Court has judged that the dissolution of Bihar’s assembly by the Governor Buta Singh and it’s approval by the President Abdul Kalam was absolutely unconstitutional! What are these rulers of our country doing breaking the constitution?
If the President of India does not follow the constitution, then who will?
This is a very important question [...]
When a big tree falls, the earth shakes!
As if the people of Jammu and Kashmir do not have enough crises already! (It is good that Rajiv Gandhi is not around to give us another of his nonsensical quotes.)
But let’s hope that the damage is only minimal and that the people find courage to rebuild quickly. People have perished in the hundreds on [...]