Hillary Clinton, once mocked as Senator from Punjab, shines in India – India shines back!

“If Hollywood and Bollywood were how we all lived our lives, that would surprise me. … And yet it’s often the way our cultures are conveyed, isn’t it? … People watching a Bollywood movie in some other part of Asia think everybody in India is beautiful and they have dramatic lives and happy endings. And [...]

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“Houston, we have a problem” …. President of India abused – Not acceptable – DUMP CONTINENTAL AIRLINES!

Outrageous, and hard to believe!! A US based airlines broke protocol and body scanned a President of India. More shocking, the airline employee brushes it off as routine!! Such impudence would not have been tolerated by any human being except President Kalam – one of the gentlest human beings alive besides His Holiness the Dalai [...]

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Remembering Reetika Vazirani – A midnight wail across the cultural divide.

I knew there was something in the air when I felt like reading poetry aloud early this morning. There was a restless feeling too, that just wouldn’t go away. And a sense of yearning that made me go through a lot of old notes and files, and look up people not lately contacted. In short, there [...]

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Comprehensive overview of Slumdog Millionaire

Some of you never can get enough of Slumdog Millionaire. A variety of reasons – nationalistic pride, joy, delight, and the sheer musical thrill – all add up to the historic creative confluence, itself limned vividly against the background of the historicity of a phenom called Obama, it can get all too giddy for some. [...]

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When Hindi films went Jewish – The story of Baghdadi Jews and Bollywood

You never know what you run into when you just drift along, and let the surf take you where it will. That’s the joy and beauty of leisurely Internet browsing. The above image and link popped up unexpectedly while meandering from site to site, and somewhere along the way I stopped at The Kamla Show [...]

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Raj Kapoor and Oak Ridge Boys – A pair of multi-culturalists across the cultural divide.

(This post has to speak for itself. Those who get it, please comment openly. If you don’t get it, email me via the link in the sidebar.) I am in a celebratory mood, and will offer up these two songs. Each is wonderful and very satisfying in its own way. Together, they are mighty good. [...]

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A Slice of India – Madraasi in Maatunga

What is India but the sum total of her parts? Well, some will argue that the totality of India is more than the sum of her parts. It will be argued, there has to be added that little bit extra something to explain the “real” India. I suppose that such may be true of all [...]

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Our Selves, Hidden Selves – “The Butterfly Diaries” of Aswin Baindur

Just how well do you know India and Indians? A banal question you say? Well, over a hundred years ago the Mahatma asked it of himself, and found the answer to be so unsatisfying, he set off on a journey at once. The rest as they say is history. A similar motive, equally unpretentious, is [...]

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Through another’s eyes – “Our Delhi Struggle”

[Under the title Through Another's Eyes I am starting a new feature that will hopefully become something of a fixture, and offer a window of a different sort to the Indian condition. We Indians are a proud and mindful people. We know that our roots are deep and that makes our collective consciousness deeper. It [...]

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