THE BEAR, THE PANDA AND THE TIGER TALK BULL

On Tuesday the 27th of October 2009, S.M. Krishna, Yang Jiechi and Sergei Lavrov had a tripartite meeting at Bangalore, India. The gentlemen mentioned are Foreign Affairs ministers, respectively of India, China and Russia. The meeting itself was given the fancy name ‘RIC’ for Russia, India and China. ‘RIC’ represents 20% of our earth’s land [...]

Asianet Kerala’s Broadcasting Embarrassment

Non-resident Keralites, at least in UK, do not have much of a choice when watching Malayalam TV channels. They are usually at the mercy of local dish TV operators that do their own scheduling and editing, showing scant respect for the subscribers. They even truncate serious interviews and documentaries to show old Prem Nazir-Jayabharathi film [...]

THE NOSTALGIA MERCHANTS FROM KERALA

KNOW THE KERALITES

 

Keralites, the Malayalam speaking natives of Kerala, India, are unique as expatriates go. You can find one almost anywhere in the world where skilled or unskilled manpower is hired. Coming from the best educated state in India, Malayalis, as known to their countrymen, are trained to work as doctors, nurses, engineers, accountants, teachers, [...]

WHITE POWDERY STUFF BEATS BRITAIN

 
During the last week of January, the media extensively covered the newly built British Destroyer HMS Daring as it docked in at Portsmouth, its home port. Set to join active service later this year, the Royal Navy’s Type 45 vessel was hailed as the most advanced battleship ever and British Glory was flying at high [...]

PADUKONES- OF FATHERS AND DAUGHTERS

I have mentioned somewhere in this blog that the Metro Newspaper, distributed free every morning in London and other major cities, is a firm favourite of mine. Belonging to the Daily Mail group, it is well laid out and professionally edited. Though printed only on weekdays, the paper’s area of interest is fairly wide and [...]

GODDESS KALI IN STILETTOS

 
Come Kali, Klum Heidi
It was a little after five o’clock, Monday morning, on the third of November, 2008. London was cold and a sharp autumn wind was blowing. I was waiting for an early train with a paper cup of coffee and a free Metro Newspaper picked up from the kiosk. Balancing the coffee mug [...]

WHAT AILS INDIAN POLITICS

 
It is the second day of October again. The newspapers doggedly carry the same old monochrome pictures of Mahatma Gandhi and his trusted lieutenants. We see them conferring, marching with and speaking to the Indian Public. Carrying these pictures is an annual ritual rather reluctantly observed by the newspapers, losing a fortune in column centimetres [...]

ENGLISH HEROES, TABLOIDS AND AMIR KHAN

 
It is a wet and dismal Sunday morning and the newspaper itself came in a bit damp and limp. On an inside page, there is a tightly framed snap of English boxing hero Amir Khan sprawled out on the canvas. An unknown black Colombian boxer stands over him, gloved fists raised in triumph.
 
For the British [...]

The Bomb in Kabul

 
As the week began, a car laden with explosives was driven into the Indian Embassy in Kabul. Now, almost two days later, most governments and the UN has condemned the attack. The investigating agencies have so far cleared The Divorced Women’s Association of Mumbai, The Bee Watcher’s Council, Save Street Dogs Forum, Greater Mexican Flamenco [...]

When Islam wrote to me

It had been going on for some time. Every week I received at least a couple of letters that told me of the greatness of Islam and the wonderful Moslem way of life. For some reason, these letters always arrived at my personal email address, evading the spam blockers.  The writers’ names included James Joseph, [...]