Hot off yesterday’s presses (the television channels had a field day speculating) news of Sania Mirza’s decision to not play in the Bangalore Open. Sania, who’s only 21, has had a lot of “flak” from everyone who has a mouth, camera and media access, apparently. Her clothes are indecent, not covering her sufficiently, say fundie […]
Read the rest of this entry »Archive for the 'culture and society' Category
Subtle images of disempowerment
NDTV has been advertising the advent of it’s new channel NDTV Imagine, which starts Jan 21st. One of the advertisements is for the soap “Radha ki betyaan kuch kar dikhayengi”. From the web “Radha Ki Betiyaan is the story of a proud mother who instils the right values in her daughters and believes in their […]
Read the rest of this entry »How to offend Indian sensibilities (reprise)
Have you heard ? Muslim fundies have been offended yet again ! From Mid-day : “The All India Ulema Council (AIUC), an umbrella organisation of Muslims, is ‘shocked’ that the Godrejs gave a warm welcome to Salman Rushdie in Mumbai last week.” . . . . “The AIUC has demanded an apology from Godrej chairman […]
Read the rest of this entry »The last bastion
The New York Times has a pretty interesting article talking about a survey on happiness. It’s titled “He’s happier, she’s less so” and says : “. . .there appears to be a growing happiness gap between men and women. Two new research papers, using very different methods, have both come to this conclusion. Betsey Stevenson […]
Read the rest of this entry »Remembering 9/11 and other dates
September 11th is marked on my kid’s school planner with a ribbon. A little printed red and blue ribbon near the date. And looking at it this past Tuesday I realize that it is that day, once again. We remember, and the world remembers with us. Memorial services are held, one of which I see […]
Read the rest of this entry »Of ghar-jamai jokes and their side-effects
My cousin Ashish is getting married. A love marriage to his non-Punjabi colleague . Both Ashish and Manisha are MBA grads. Working for MNCs in Delhi. Manisha’s family is very well-educated and progressive. Her Dad is no more and she and her Mom live in Delhi. Her married brother lives in Bangalore. Since Ashish is […]
Read the rest of this entry »Cult of Bad Mama – Part 2
There are some words you read written in pithy little essays, and you think “Aww -this is for effect only”. “The author is exaggerating” or “What baloney” etc. Words like “ripping pain”. Words like “the most beautiful”. Word like “angelic”. But they really are true. When they describe labor pain – ripping pain – it […]
Read the rest of this entry »Cult of Bad Mama – Part 1
I’m laughing out loud reading this post, because it’s what I’ve always thought reading and hearing these tales of the sacrificing mother. What perfect rant material ! I mean, let’s face it – I’m no Nirupa Roy. Anyone remember her ? The white-sari clad, ever suffering, bent over a choolah, self-sacrificing mom there ever was […]
Read the rest of this entry »Houseguest tales
[amazon_link id=”B0020PKTAE” target=”_blank” container=”” container_class=”” ][/amazon_link]I’ve had guests from India in large numbers recently; I had mattresses down in every corner of the house. Kith-and-kin and friends of kith-and-kin. Living here for a while now, makes you aware of how high-maintenance desi guests are. The kind that I encounter at least . Here, there are […]
Read the rest of this entry »The I in VIP
Shekhar Gupta has an excellent article in the IE. Gupta who also anchors the program “Walk the Talk” for NDTV, sounds much better in the written word than the spoken. Here he presents an effective case against the pervading VIP culture : And, of these, nothing is more important than our rapidly proliferating VIP culture. […]
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