More in Short Posts
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How to Use Technology for Censorship
Preamble Censorship is an onerous responsibility and should not sit lightly on the shoulders of the honourable gentlemen and gentle ladies tasked with this duty. Fortunately in Independent India we have had a rich, varied, and long tradition of exercising this civil right with gay abandon mixed with sombre pronouncements of...
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Migrating Realities – Urban Migration
As they say, in India, politics is a sewer. It is full of filth and all sorts of evil. Communalism, fake secularism, regional parochialism, and a lot more isms that keep a common man a mile away from it, are its calling cards. Yet, when Raj Thackeray said, that ‘Bhaiyas’ (People...
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Sad State of the BJP’s Central Leadership
Without an iota of doubt there is a growing disconnect between the common BJP karyakarta and the party’s central leadership. Many of the party’s Delhi-based leaders are actively encouraging factionalism within the state units. If the trend continues, I have doubt whether the party will be able to exploit the anti-incumbency wave...
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The Afghanistan Syndrome
Back in 2001, when NATO forces, invaded Afghanistan in the search of Osama Bin Laden, apart from the other obstacles which they faced was the lack of information system. As they say, in war, truth is the first casualty and information becomes priceless. Apart from weather, terrain and terrorists, lack...
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Boston Bombings and Islam
Two Muslim brothers mercilessly placed a bomb at a marathon finish line in Boston recently, killing innocent bystanders. The victims included an eight year old child, who was waiting at the finish line to greet his father participating in the marathon. The Muslim terrorists were educated American citizens who had...
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Gujarat 2002: Riots or “Genocide”?
Any question around Narendra Modi’s complicity in the Gujarat 2002 riots is best left to the judiciary, precisely, to the Supreme Court appointed SIT (Special Investigation Team). The judicial battle to prove or disprove Modi’s complicity in the Gujarat 2002 riots has been fought like none other, hence only the...
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India, Pakistan and Game Theory
This is what the Times of India reports - India will retaliate massively even if Pakistan uses tactical nuclear weapons against it. With Pakistan developing “tactical” nuclear warheads, that is, miniaturizing its weapons to be carried on short-range missiles, India will protect its security interests by retaliating to a “smaller” tactical...
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Cheergirls
(Updated with Prasanna’s note – I have personally used cheergirl reference in few tweets. I was castigated by a dear friend . She pointed out that word carries a pejorative connotation. I have tried to avoid such terms after that . This post is not an editorial but anguished feedback from a...
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An Amdavadi’s Response to Zahir
For last few months, a ‘certain activist Zahir Janmohammed from Ahmedabad has become a darling of the anti-Modi camp from twitter. He has been lamenting about the “discrimination”, “persecution” and what not, of Muslims in Ahmedabad, specially from the locality of Juhapura. As an “Amdavadi” myself, I could not help...
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The Indian Conception of Skin Color
William Blake’s “The Little Black Boy” is a highly significant poem for historical, cultural, social, political, and religious reasons.Very crudely put, the poem is an attempt at course correction, one of the several eye openers–it was written by a White man in Blake’s typically weepy-sissy style, trying to prise open...
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Should Governments hand out civilian honors?
Silly, it’s Congress Ratna, not Bharat Ratna! Bharat Ratna (or India’s jewel) is the highest civilian honour granted by the Government of India to its citizens. Since its inception in 1954, government has awarded Bharat Ratna to 41 people. Given that the Congress party-led governments have been at the Centre for almost 54...
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India needs private investment in defense sector
Defense is a tightly guarded sector in India. Indian defense forces; Army, Navy and Air force have participated in numerous battles and have held their own. Considering the continuous threats that the country faces from its neighbours, Indian defence forces must be the most agile both in terms of innovation...
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Arranged Disarray
“What’s the point, adding to the flurry of words? You better decide not to write on this.” This was but a rather reasonable response from a friend, when I called him up, some ten days back to know what led to Sudipto Gupta’s death, so that I could write on...
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ORIENT AND OCCIDENT – II
Truth and World Most of the manifest aspects of a society descend from how it looks at truth and universe, its worldview. Thus understanding how the Indic and occidental worldviews see truth and its relevance to life is essential to understand where most of their other differences come from. In...