Deccan Chronicle - OP Ed

A gamble that Sena has to play

publisher2@dc.com — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

Periodically, the Shiv Sena, the parochial regional party that once ruled Maharashtra along with its ally, launches a campaign for the ostensible protection of the sons of the soil, the Marathi manoos (Marathi people). In its four decades’ history, there have been many such programmes — the party first began by asking South Indians to get out of the city, then shifted for a brief moment to Guj

Can euro survive?

publisher2@dc.com — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

Among the many unfortunate features of capitalist history that tend to repeat themselves with depressing regularity is the conversion of crises of private activity in financial markets into fiscal crises of the state. This is already happening once again, as the very expansion of public expenditure that was necessitated by the financial crisis (which itself resulted from the irresponsibility of pr

It’s all in the mind

publisher2@dc.com — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

One of the most telling passages in the Gita is the discourse on what is Brahman, what is Atman — questions that Arjuna puts to Lord Krishna. And Lord Krishna avers, “Brahman is the supreme, the imperishable creator. Everything emanates from brahman. Brahman alone is the eternal truth”.
Brahman is the creator of the universe, the universal soul, the eternal self; Atman is the individual so

Tiwari loses face, Montek’s wife her cool

publisher1@dc.com — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

A song for Naughty Narain

The ignominious exit of the former Andhra Pradesh governor, Narayan Dutt Tiwari, from his post over a sex scandal has helped a folk singer rake in the moolah.

The singer, Narendra Singh Negi, who is popular in Uttarakhand, has composed a song titled Nauchhami Narain (Naughty Narain), which dwells on a leader’s sexcapades (no prizes for guessing who it is) and also

If winter comes

publisher1@dc.com — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

I AM lucky I survived a month of fogs and chilly winds. I can’t recall another January when the sun was blotted
out by dense mist and the only warmth available was by the fire side or under a quilt hugging a hot-water bottle.
Lohri came and went but the cold did not relent. So did Basant but the Paalaa (cold) didn’t udant (fly away).
Bhartrihari took a more philosophical view of the wint

Cleanse your soul, awaken higher forces

publisher1@dc.com — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

The movements of earth change the dimensions of time. Earth lies tilted on its axis; when it rotates about the axis, seasons change and when the axis shifts, yugas change. Every transition from one dimension to the other brings about a transformation because each day has its own unique energy patterns. Based on the energy patterns, four nights are given great importance in the life of a spiritual

‘Chalo ek baar phir se ajnabi ban jaye...’

publisher1@dc.com — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

Socialist Mulayam Singh Yadav and hardcore capitalist Amar Singh were inseparable for 14 years. Recently, their relationship suddenly evaporated. In this interview with
Sanjay Basak and Pramod Kumar, the former all-powerful general secretary of the Samajwadi Party (SP) traces the reasons for the bitterness and expulsion from the party.

Q. So, what went wrong?
A. It all started with Jaya Pr

Madonna or room service?

publisher1@dc.com — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

Right from the early days when they came up with the inimitable dish “Saas nu Macchi”, (sauce with the fish’s permission) the Iranian people have always seemed a step ahead. Recently they proved this again, by sending mice into space. Mice were chosen because they were found to be highly intelligent and came in a variety of colours. These findings were based on 37 years of research, studying

Obama gets his groove back

publisher1@dc.com — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

Where has this Obama been?
Since the State of the Union address, US President Barack Obama has been bounding about, displaying a new sense of vigour and confidence and a fighter’s spirit. He almost looks like the President people thought that he would be — a paladin, not a pacifist.

Last week, he provided a fascinating bit of political theatre by toying with House Republicans at their own

BETWEEN THE LINES

publisher1@dc.com — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

Headlines from the US, most of which you will never get to read:

* Schwarzenegger discovers something he can export to Mexico: Prison inmates.

* A new survey challenges 40-year-old idea of mid-life crisis: Theory now having mid-life crisis.

* A study says sugary drinks prevent impulsive decisions: Like buying sugary drinks.

* McDonald’s introduces McItaly burgers in Italy: Hopes to a

Well done

publisher1@dc.com — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

In line with Cabinet Secretary K.M. Chandrashekhar’s plan to use a system of “third party” assessment instead of in-house appraisals of civil servants that had been failing to reward the performers in a just manner, a team of four retired bureaucrats — P. Sankar, S.N. Menon, Kumud Bansal and S.C. Mehta —recently carried out the exercise. “Outsiders” for the first time short-listed 80

Mumbai’s KKK and King Khan

publisher1@dc.com — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

Getting away is addictive. And infectious. It spreads from friend to friend, enemy to enemy, uncle to nephew to cousin to followers. And finally to the people of the land unrelated to the infected lot, people who wish to be bad and get away with it. Once you get used to flouting the laws of the land, to violating the principles the nation was built on, you have a tendency to believe that you are K

Passion or violence?

publisher1@dc.com — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

What is more terrifying? That a nine-year-old Russian girl was raped in Goa while on a beach holiday with her mother or that the Russians are furious and Goa risks losing its fun-in-the-sand image and precious tourist dollars?

If you scan the statements made by our various politicians, the trend is troubling. First, a brief recap of what happened: a nine-year-old Russian girl was allegedly rap

White cars and English

publisher1@dc.com — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

London, united kingdom

“Rraaaaaaaacissst!” — that Pavlovian whine of complaint, almost always from a white person, an idle and meaningless howl of outrage where once, when uttered by a black or Asian person who had suffered discrimination, it had a point and a potency. “Raaacisst” — a new definition; a word which, as soon as it is uttered, can cause debate to cease, people to be pun

How the lion lost his throne

publisher2@dc.com — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

It was a coup with a difference. No life was lost. No blood was shed. No one lost power. There was, to use a common phrase of this century, no regime change. But a king lost a crown. A new claimant became an icon.
It was a momentous time in human affairs. Conservation was among her priorities as Indira Gandhi tightened her grip on the polity. But it was the tiger that took pride of place, and not

Sisterhood in Congo

publisher2@dc.com — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

Five years ago, Lisa Shannon watched Oprah and learned about the savage, forgotten war here in eastern Congo, played out in massacres and mass rape. That show transformed Lisa’s life, costing her a good business, a beloved fiancé, and a comfortable home in Portland, Oregon — but giving her a chance to save lives in Congo.
I found myself stepping with Lisa into a shack here. It was night, the

The lure of ‘buy one, get one free’

publisher2@dc.com — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

“Buy one, get one free” is an alluring line around which all marketing experts plan their sales. And we, the buyers, come rushing for the items.
At that time it does not matter how much we pay for the “one” item that we are suppose to purchase, or whether there is a genuine requirement of the goods that are being advertised so attractively as our eyes are fixed on the item or goods that

Goa: A paradise lost?

publisher1@dc.com — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

Police must act as professionals

Lyndon Monteiro
The actions of the police in some of the cases has not been above board. It is imperative they act professionally and speedily to handle any crime that is reported, rather than try to fob off complainants, as they sometimes tend to do. Professionalism is lacking in the force. If the police are seen as acting seriously in tackling a crime, then t

The long gay lie

publisher1@dc.com — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

I’ve had high hopes for Admiral Mike Mullen ever since I learned that his mom was an assistant to Jimmy Durante and his dad was a Hollywood press agent whose clients included Bob Hope, Ann-Margret, Phyllis Diller, Jimmy Stewart, Carol Burnett and Dyan Cannon. That’s the dream United Service Organisations tour.

On Tuesday, the craggy chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff showed that a lifeti

Imagine if you were a cloud...

publisher1@dc.com — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

Suppose you are a cloud. You are made of tiny crystals of ice and water and you are so light that you can float. And maybe while floating as a cloud, you encounter a block of hot air as a result of which you become drops of water and fall as rain. You go down, you come up again, you go down, and you come up again. Transmigration, reincarnation, rebirth is always taking place in a cloud.

And ye

India’s slippery moral high ground

publisher1@dc.com — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

Western colonialism collapsed after the Second World War, leaving much of the world in shambles, resources looted, and people suppressed and impoverished. As Indians know all too well, borders of newly independent states were often carelessly drawn, leading to violence that plagues us generations later. Those most affected by these decisions never had a voice at the high table.

Decades later, n

Take your pick: Greed or God?

publisher1@dc.com — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

Once upon a time there was a rich man who dressed in fine purple linen and lived in luxury. At his gate lay a beggar named Lazarus, covered with sores and longing to eat what fell from the rich man’s table. Even the dogs came and licked his sores. The time came when the beggar died and the angels carried him to Abraham’s side. The rich man also died and was buried. In Hell, where he was in tor

China: Perestroika, no glasnost

publisher1@dc.com — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

There has been one thing missing from the debate between Google and the People’s Republic of China. The decommunisation of the world was not supposed to happen this way. Countries which dismantled their systems of oppression and fear were supposed to prosper economically; while any who declined to do so would remain in economic permafrost. Instead, it is becoming increasingly clear that the form

A simple socialist

publisher1@dc.com — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

It is rare to find an individual who is equally at home discussing the intricacies of politics, the complexities of finance and the aesthetics of music, dance and drama. He was not a dilettante, someone who superficially dabbled in many disciplines. He was a public person who pursued different goals with diligence. His wide-ranging interests did not dissuade him from digging deep into specific sub

To feel divinity, annihilate ‘I’

publisher1@dc.com — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0530

Mevlana Rumi, the famed mystic poet of the 13th century, wrote the charming story of a disciple who knocks at the house of his spiritual master. When the master wishes to know who is at the door, the disciple says, “It is ‘I’”. The master tells him to go away. After many years of seeking the truth, the disciple knocks at the same door again. This time when the master enquires of the caller