or..Only the Paranoid Survive.
At the risk of looking completely foolish, here is tomorrow’s news today…
Talks on the Jan Lokpal Bill break down sometime between now and mid-June.
Baba Ramdev’s movement increases pressure on government to do something.
Between the 2nd and 3rd week of June, the government agrees to talk with/ initiates discussions with/ invites Baba Ramdev and his supporters for talks/ discussions (and very likely, the Jan LokPal group joins these discussions – which now have a broader agenda of clean government, corruption and bringing foreign money back in India).
Under …

Kapil Komireddi, writing in the Foreign Policy magazine, says:
Moderate Pakistan, if such a thing ever existed, is dead

Below, excerpts from a thought-provoking piece titled, Take Pakistan’s Nukes, Please (emphasis added):
..The attack on Sunday, May 22, by Taliban fighters on the Mehran naval air base in Karachi — its audacity, the foreknowledge it implied, the militaristic precision with which it was executed — carried a message: Pakistan is no longer a contested territory; it is now emphatically their turf. The reins of official power may not be in their hands yet, …

For most Indians of my generation, Savarkar is a somewhat shadowy figure – rarely mentioned in any detail in history books; even less so at public events or occasions that commemorate India’s independence. For a small few though, he is the archetypical hero – the one who fought fearlessly against the British, the “Veer” (brave).
As some of you would know, by the time India became a republic in 1950, Savarkar was already on the path to oblivion. A few years later, he died – unsung and hardly mourned.  In the …

Yes, I was in digital detox slumber..but the worthies at NAC managed to wake me up.  Below , collated readings on the Communal Violence Bill, proposed by the NAC. Do read and worry.  And add “hate propoganda” and attempts to destroy “secular fabric” of the nation to “scandalous information about high-profile people” and other such things you should worry about if you write a blog or say/write anything in public… The signs are not good..not good at all…
To start off, excerpts from Sh Arun Jaitley’s commentary on why the communal violence …

Dear All: I’ll be undertaking a “Digital Fast” over the next 3 days.  Although the idea has been on my mind for the last several month, something prompted me to say “enough” yesterday evening. Perhaps it was the urge to check my email one last time before switching my laptop off..or perhaps it was the strain I felt in my eyes after almost 10+ hours of screen time..or the realisation that my “To Read” list of books/articles is continuously increasing.
I am undertaking this “fast” in the hope I’ll be able …

US President Barack Obama

Pakistan has been very obsessed with India. They see that as their existential threat. I think that’s a mistake

There is one more (emphasis added)..
Our job is to secure the United States. We are very respectful of the sovereignty of Pakistan. But we cannot allow someone who is actively planning to kill our people..we can’t allow those kind of active plans to come to fruition without us taking some action.
Past quotes are here.. Image courtesy: WhiteHouse

Thanks to KV Sarma J for alerting me to this image. KV mentioned that the image reminded him of “Gada-dhari” Hanuman doing “Ram-naam jaap“. I agree.

Wikipedia informs us that:
The howler monkey god was a major deity of the arts – including music – and a patron of the artisans among the Classic Mayas, especially of the scribes and sculptors…
…it are the two large statues of simian figures shaking rattles (see fig.), found on both sides of the ‘Reviewing Stand’ of Copan’s temple 11, that approach much more closely the standard representation …

Dear All: It is my pleasure to publish this guest-post by Nandini. It is actually an email that she sent Shekhar Gupta in response to his editorial titled, “Jantar, Chuu Mantar“. I am not sure whether it will be published by Indian Express. Nevertheless, it is a thought-provoking piece which I felt needed to be read and discussed widely. As some of you know, I have had my differences of opinion with Anna Hazare’s movement but this piece prompted a serious re-think. Without further ado (emphasis added),
*** A Response to …

Two weeks ago, I spent a couple of hours with a remarkable group of youngsters in Pune who truly lifted my spirits. The experience was humbling and inspiring. And it reminded me – once again – how fortunate most of us are and how little we realise this fact.  These youngsters are part of the Niwant family.
“Melting the thick barricade and the wall that is built between the sighted and the people with no sight (in  just the physical sense of the term)” is the mission of Niwant.
It helps visually …

The Leadership Workshop for Political Activists
Join us for a day of richly stimulating and intensely thought-provoking workshop on “Making the Leap: From Discussing Politics to Changing Paradigms”. This workshop – the first of its kind in India – is aimed at concerned and aware citizens who wish to make the transition to active politics. For those of you who may be wondering why bother with politics?, here is the reason, courtesy my friend and FTI colleague, Sanjeev:
Of the things we take for granted in our lives, politics must surely …