Does Iraq Prove Samuel Huntington’s Argument?

No, No, No. We are not talking here about Harvard political scientist Samuel Huntington’s controversial thesis on the Clash of Civilizations. We are talking about Huntington’s earlier work, Political Order in Changing Societies (Yale University Press, 1968). In that now forgotten classic, Huntington famously argued in the opening sentence: The most important political distinction among […]

Delhi’s Killer Buses Take Heavy Toll

As Delhi’s doddering Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit bumbles along, the city’s killer buses continue their merciless death ride. Particularly eggregious of Delhi’s buses are the privately owned Blueline buses, popularly – and correctly – referred to as the “killer buses.” According to Saturday’s New York Times, the Blueline buses have already claimed 62 lives this […]

Govt Acts After Woman Strips

It usually takes a lot for the government to get moving in India. But in the case of Pooja Chauhan of Rajkot city in the western Indian state of Gujarat, it actually took a lot less. A lot less clothes, that is. Frustrated by the indifference to her complaints of dowry harassment by her husband […]

China will Overtake India in Offshoring by 2011: IDC

IT research vendor IDC has developed a new Global Delivery Index, which forecasts that Chinese cities will overtake Indian cities like Bangalore and Mumbai in offshoring by 2011. Currently, Indian cities are highly ranked with Chinese cities said to be nipping at India’s heels. According to IDC, Bangalore is presently the #1 offshoring destination followed by […]

Sicko – An American Tragedy

Yesterday, we did something unusual. We traveled over 330 miles (about 520 KMs) to New York City just to watch a new movie. But then Sicko is not just any other movie. Made by the controversial documentary filmmaker Michael Moore (of Fahrenheit 9/11, Bowling for Columbine and Roger & Me fame), Sicko is a wake-up […]

10th Grade Indian Kid Does Caesarean; Heart Bypass Next?

Indian news media report that in their eagerness to get their kid into the Guiness Book, a doctor couple in the town of Manaparai in the South Indian state of Tamil Nadu have allowed their 15-year-old son Dileepan Raj to perform a caesarean  operation. The boy is studying in the 10th grade. Several doctors were […]