Blog of Parag

Mumbai bomb blasts

Bomb blasts in Mumbai

Hope everyone is safe.

Will they elect her again?

Sonia Gandhi resigned from her Parliament seat because she was accused by the opposition of holding an 'office of profit' as chairperson of the National Advisory Council. A by-election is necessary to fill that seat from Rai Bareli. She filed her nomination papers to contest in the by-election. WTF? What a colossal waste of money?!? Doesn't matter who is in the race against her. Is it really possible that the drones of Rai Bareli will actually elect someone whose name is not Gandhi? Why do all the nautanki of resignation if she wanted to get back right away? What is she really traying to achieve by this?

Dabhol Power Company

Finally, the white elephant of Dabhol will start to do some work. It will definitely be a second round of economic revival for the whole area of Guhagar and adjoining villages. Excellent!

Ratnagiri to start power generation by May

Happy Republic Day

I had seen this video for Jana Gana Mana quite a few years ago on TV. Found it on Google video. One of best of AR Rahman.

Minister of Communication and Information Technology

Microsoft chairman Bill Gates (L) speaks as India's Minister of Communications and Information Technology Dayanidhi Maran looks on during a news conference in New Delhi December 7, 2005. Microsoft plans to invest $1.7 bln in India over 4 years, Gates said on Wednesday. REUTERS/B Mathur

Thank you, Manmohan Singh (or Sonia) for selecting someone for this post who at least dresses up well and looks intelligent. Thanks for not giving this portfolio to old farts like Pranab Mukherjee and Natwar Singh or some self-serving moron like Laloo Prasad Yadav.

Appearance is so important for someone in public life. Til recently, all Indian politicians cared about was connecting with their voters and didn't pay attention to who they deal with in the outside world. I am glad it is changing.

I remember a photo from 15-20 years ago when the Defense minister from some country came to visit India. He was photographed with his Indian counterpart. I don't remember their names but, the image is burnt into my memory. The visitng defense minister was from a military background (all defense ministers should be) with a chest full of medals and in comparison, the only thing the Indian minister had to show was a huge belly.

How to get into a college

There are many many ways:

• If you are a God-fearing meek individual, you should study hard, try to do well in exams and with your marksheet, you can get into college.


• If you are not so good at studying but a resourceful person, you can try to cheat in exams, get good marks, and get into college.


• If you can qualify for reserved seats, you are in.


• If you have access to political influence, you are in.


• If you have a rich daddy, you can buy your way into the college.

But, don't try what these students did in Meerut. Even in a lawless state such as U.P., rushing into admissions office with a gun doesn't work. This has only escalated the situation. Now, the professors are going to carry a gun along with their books. I am so glad that I am done with college.

Women's rights

I had made a post earlier, about Hudood law in Pakistan. If one thinks women in India are in better condition, they are wrong. The plight of muslim women in India is equally bad if not worse than Pakistan. There is muslim personal law in India which seems to be as ridiculous as Hudood law. Recently, the case of Imrana made news in all the media. I heard about this case in this Op-ed by Salman Rushdie in New York Times. (Thanks, Mayuresh).

Imrana, a 28 year old woman with 5 kids was raped by her father-in-law. The panchayat and clerics decreed that she would have to leave her family (because after the rape, she was like a mother to her husband) and get married to her father-in-law. There were no consequences for the father-in-law to face, other than getting a new wife.

The All India Muslim Personal Law board supports the clerics decision too. They went as far as conducting their own investigation and concluding that Imrana was not raped. They have always supported all issues on the side of Muslim Personal Law.

This happened in Muzaffarnagar, U.P. The current CM of UP, Mullah Mulayam Singh had these pearls of wisdom to offer about the case:

Today, Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav also endorsed the view of the Darul Uloom at Deoband on the issue that she can no longer live with her husband.

"The decision taken by Muslim religious leaders in the Imrana case must have been taken after a lot of thought," said Yadav.

"The government will not interfere in the case till we have more details. The leaders after all are very learned," he added.

If this doesn't make a case of Uniform Civil Code, then I don't know what will. But, considering how the Shahabano case was disposed off by Rajiv Gandhi's government to appease the muslim minority in India, this case wil not do a damn thing.

A quote from Rushdie's article that I agree with wholeheartedly:

at the risk of being called a communalist, I must agree that any country that claims to be a modern, secular democracy must secularize and unify its legal system, and take power over women's lives away, once and for all, from medievalist institutions like Darul-Uloom.

While nothing happens with the Imrana case despite all the outcry, it is happening all over again.

Terrorists?? NOT!

If you were enraged after learning about the terrorist attack on the Ramjanmabhoomi complex and were cursing those terrorists. You should stop it immediately, according to Teesta Setalvad.

These individuals should not even be called "terrorists" or "jihadi terrorists". Some organisations are trying to malign them. I suppose they were just misguided youths that were playing with some guns and explosives in Ayodhya. They didn't know what they were doing and the consequences of their actions. They were hoping to walk away after shooting at the Indian BSF jawans. yeah.. and pigs that look like Teesta really do fly... (no offense to pigs.)

More about this from Rajeev Srinivasan and JK.

Police leadership

Framed: Indian Administration
A strongly worded article, criticising the Indian police and political leadership by former director-general of police of Punjab, Mr. K.P.S. Gill.

...in India’s caste and status-obsessed society, you may get a man to risk his life but fail to convince him to clean a public toilet.

Thanks for the link, Sujit.

Reservations & quotas

When I read the news about 50% reserved seats for muslims at Aligarh Muslim University, I wasn't surprised considering who is in power and their vote-bank pandering habits. It is surprising that this hadn't happened earlier than this.

Look who criticised this reservation... A pleasant surprise. Can't imagine I agree on something with CPI(M).

A usual suspect supporting the reservation. Her quote on this matter is really funny.

"This step will ultimately benefit 2000 deserving students," Azmi said.

"It is unfortunate that it has been given a communal colour. It should not have had any political ramification," she told reporters here.

A good actor doesn't make a good politician, and an awful actress doesn't make one, either.

Kille Raigad

On my fourth trip to the capital of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's kingdom, I cheated. The technological advance let me take a shortcut on this pilgrimage. Instead of climbing the thousand+ steps over 2-3 hours, I sat in a cable car and was wisked to the top in less than 5 minutes. It was nice to be not tired upon arrival, but climbing up is fun, too.

Click on the link read more and see pictures...

A view from the cable car, of the steep cliffs that surround Raigad and provide natural protection from enemy.

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Dilapidated remains of living quarters of Shivaji Maharaj, and his ministers' homes.

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The location where the throne of Maratha kingdom stood and where Shivaji Maharaj was annointed as a king. The throne was made of gold and weighed about 1400 Kg. It was stolen by the British when they took Raigad in I think, 1818.




The Nagaarkhana is the entrance to the large courtyard where Shivaji Maharaj held court. This big courtyard is open now, but was completely covered with a roof in those days.

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One of the two entrances to the fort. This is the main entrance, which I missed entering through because of the cable car ride. It is heavily fortified and has huge wooden doors. The natural defense of steep unscalable walls is visible in this view, too. The fort finally fell to the long range canons of the British. They targeted the warehouse that stored gun powder on the fort and the whole place was burning for days.

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Shivaji Maharaj died on Raigad and was cremated here. This memorial was built on the cremation site.

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Takmak tok is the part of the fort that jutts out from the main mountain. From this point, there is a straight fall of about 1000 meters. This is the place where people who committed treason were executed by a simple push over the edge.



This place has some protective railings which have thoroughly rotten due to rainy season. I would not try to get any support from them.




Finally, me standing at the end of Takmak tok enoying the view.

Get lost, you a$$hole

Update: OK. I made a mistake with the timelines. Kargil happened before Musharraf visited Agra. That still doesn't change the fact that he engineered Kargil. Also, shame on Indian politicians for inviting him to Agra when they knew that he was responsible for Kargil. Nothing realised from the Agra visit, so, why try the same thing again? It will be useless and unfruitful again. Indians should wait till Pakistani people are mature enough to democratically elect a leader and not talk with a dictator like Musharraf.

Slum demolition

Police beat protesting slum dwellers in Bombay

People are left homeless when their 'illegal' homes were demolished. Why do they feel entitled to their shanties? What right do they have to live on land that is not their own? What right do they have to drain and strain resources that are paid for by the legal inhabitants of the city?

Just because they came from where ever they came from and squatted on a piece of land that is owned by someone else or the government doesn't give them any ownership to that place. When the rightful owners want to throw them out, there should be no problem. The slum dwellers should be thankful for getting to use the land for free. What is wrong in having an open space or a garden? Why are they even discussing structures existed before 2000 or 1995. If they don't have proper documents of ownership, demolish them all.

The slimy politicians want to keep their vote banks and support such sprawl. It is just disgusting.

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

Thousand salutations to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, on the occasion of his 375th birth anniversary

Photo taken in Jan2005 at kille Raigad, which was the capital of his kingdom.

Is this real???

Two die in Mumbai chill (NIGHT LEAD)

At least two people died Monday following a cold wave in the country's financial capital with minimum temperatures hovering around 12 degrees Celsius for the past two days.

Police discovered two bodies, suspected to be of homeless vagrants who froze to death, from the suburbs. The deceased, both middle-aged men, are yet to be identified.

I don't believe this is true. The cause of death must be something else. The police is trying to hush up some murder case here. There is no way that someone will actually die from 12 degree C temperature. It is cold by Mumbai standards and people are not used to it, but, die from it... no way.

Let her run away....

HC grants protection to Teesta

Don't know why she is given this special protection. Doesn't the court think there is a flight risk? She can run away to her kind in W. Bengal or China.

Here are the activities of this social activist...

Setalvad had sought the protection fearing arrest in connection with allegations made against her by the prime witness in the Best Bakery case, Zaheera Shaikh, that she was "pressurised" to give false evidence in the court. ... Zaheera had filed an affidavit on November 3 before the Vadodara collector alleging she was forced to move to Mumbai at the behest of Setalvad, kept in wrongful confinement for nearly a month, made to sign documents and pressurised to falsely depose before a Mumbai court.

I hope they find her guilty and burn her at the stake.

Outsourcing Overblown?

Outsourcing makes up what percentage of India's GDP?

• 2%


• 10%


• 25%


• 40%

The correct answer is A. As of 2003, the outsourcing industry accounted for only 2% of India's GDP and employed about one million people. By comparison, 800 million Indians still live in rural areas — and farming still makes up 25% of India's GDP.

Less than 5% of total US tech/call-center jobs have been outsourced to India. That number seems small as a percentage but, when it is translated into actual numbers, it is hundreds of thousands of jobs. So, it is a big deal for people in US who lost their jobs.

Thanks, Mayuresh!

India, an IT powerhouse: Who said so?

I am planning to attend a conference in Hyderabad, India in January 2005. There is a website set-up for information about the conference and they have contracted out registration and accomodation arrangements to Travel Corporation of India (TCI). I am just appalled at the poor quality of web-page design and disgusted with the general service provided by TCI.

I used to be very proud of India's status as an IT powerhouse in the world. Not any more!!! As an amateur web designer, I could have done a better job at creating and maintaining this website.

Individual Olympic Silver for India

Indian army officer, Major Rajyavardhan Rathore won a Silver medal in Men's double trap shooting. This is India's first ever Individual Olympic silver medal. Hope there will be more to come in the coming two weeks. Pricewaterhouse Coopers predicted in a recent study that India's Olympic medal tally will increase to 10 medals from 1 in the last Olympic games.

Congratulations to Major Rathore!

More reservation.

AP declares 5 pc quota for Muslims - Deccan Herald

I wonder what is the percentage of college admissions/jobs that is under "unreserved" category? Must be less than 50%.

Think about it: Half of the people in government jobs (includes many colleges and universities) in India are employed on the basis of their birth and not chosen because of their capabilities. No wonder we can't progress as a nation. Half the government workers are potentially unqualified to do their job. There was news about new legislation to extend reservation in Private sector. Hope that doesn't get through.

Bollywood invades excellence in sports

What do Aamir Khan, Rani Mukherjee, Vivek Oberoi and Bipasha Basu have in common other than their pathetic displays in movie theaters around the world?

They all got to carry the Olympic torch, which represents excellence in sports, when it went through India for the first time 40 years.

What the hell do these bollywood idiots have to do with Olympics and sports? When will this obsession with filmstars end? I guess, never.

Read more here.

via pseudofreud.

Deccan Queen turns 75

Deccan Queen has a special place in my heart. During my summer vacations in Lonavla, I used to get up in the morning to see the blue and cream srtiped Deccan Queen go by and again wait to watch it going in the opposite direction before eating dinner. It always used to be 'on time' which is not very common for most trains. Have travelled on it on numerous occassions and it used to be a moment of pride to tell my friends that I travelled on the Deccan Queen. It is definitely one of the best ways to travel between Mumbai and Pune.

The white woman and India

An excellent article by Francois Gaultier, in an effort to understand the latest post-election events.

Here is the complete text, if the link isn't working...

The white woman and India
Francois Gaultier
May 20, 2004

The spectacle on the night of May 18, of all these Congress leaders, many of them intelligent men and women, debasing themselves in front of Sonia Gandhi, pleading with her to lead the country, made me feel sick. If Sonia had any dignity, she would have stopped it, but she just listened, with a slightly bored expression, right till the last Congressman and woman had wallowed in dirt?before her.

And again I asked myself the question which has baffled me for 35 years, although I am myself a white man and a born Christian: why do Indians have such an attraction towards the white skin?

After reading the newspapers on Wednesday morning and seeing how newspapers such as The Times of India still root for Sonia Gandhi, with columnists such as Dileep Padgaonkar saying that her becoming prime minister would be in tune 'with the highest Vedantic ideals,' I wonder: does India, one of the most ancient civilizations on the planet, need a white woman to govern her?

I am sure Sonia has great qualities, but are Indians so dumb, stupid and backward, that they cannot find among themselves someone intelligent enough, non-corrupt enough, to lead them? And what about this craze for Mother Teresa? She may have been a saint, but nobody has harmed India's image in the 20th century so much: when you say India in the West, their eyes light up and they answer: 'Mother Teresa/ Kolkata/ poor people/ dumb people/ starving people/ who do not know how to care after their own underprivileged/ who need a white woman to show them how to pick up the dying from the streets/ to look after orphans'!

Is this the image Indians want today? An image that is harming them, which is stopping Western investors from investing in India? Yet, Mother Teresa is worshipped here, from Kolkata to Chennai, from Delhi to Bangalore, and when she will be made a saint by the Vatican, perpetuating this colonial, superior-minded, Christian symbol of white superiority over the brown/black man, all the Indian media will rejoice in its own mental slavery and the Indian government will probably declare a national holiday!

Why don't Indians understand that brown is beautiful? White people spend hours on the beach and put on a hundred creams to get tanned. And in winter they even artificially lie under infrared lamps in beauty parlors to get brown! Why this obsession for the Indian woman to have white skin?

How come the two most popular actors in India have fair skin and nearly blue eyes? Why this craze for 'fair' brides? If you find the answers to these, you will understand why the fatal attraction for Sonia Gandhi and Mother Teresa.

Obviously, colonisation has frozen the Indian mind in certain patterns and the British made sure, through Macaulay's policies, of leaving behind an enduring inferiority complex among Indians, by constantly harping on the flaws of Indian culture and inflating them. That is why today Indian intellectuals repeat like parrots what their masters had said before them: 'Hindus are fundamentalists/Brahmins are exploiters/Gowalkar was a Nazi/Indians are corrupt and no good.'

But that does not explain everything: most colonised countries have aped their masters after having hated them. No, in my mind the greatest factor behind India's love for the white is the absurd theory of Aryan invasion

According to this theory, which was actually devised in the 18th and 19th centuries by British linguists and archaeologists, the first inhabitants of India were good-natured, peaceful, dark-skinned shepherds called the Dravidians, who had founded what is called the Harappan or the Indus Valley civilisation. They were supposedly remarkable builders, witness the city of Mohenjo Daro in Pakistani Sind, but had no culture to speak of, no literature, no proper script even. Then, around 1500 BC, India is said to have been invaded by tribes called the Aryans: white-skinned, nomadic people, who originated somewhere in western Russia and imposed upon the Dravidians the hateful caste system. To Aryans is attributed Sanskrit, the Vedic or Hindu religion, India's greatest spiritual texts, the Vedas, as well as a host of subsequent writings, the Upanishads, the Mahabharat, the Ramayan, etc.

This was indeed a masterstroke on the part of the British: thanks to the Aryan theory, they showed on the one hand that Indian civilisation was not that ancient and that it was posterior to the cultures which influenced the Western world -- Mesopotamia, Sumeria, and Babylon -- and that whatever good things India had developed -- Sanskrit, literature, or even its architecture -- had been influenced by the West.

Thus, Sanskrit, instead of being the mother of all Indo-European languages, became just a branch of their huge family; thus, the religion of Zarathustra is said to have influenced Hinduism, and not vice versa. On the other hand, it divided India and pitted against each other the low caste, dark-skinned Dravidians and the high caste, light-skinned Aryans, a rift which is still enduring. Yet, most recent archaeological and linguistic discoveries point out that there never was an Aryan invasion and many historians, including the malevolent Romila Thapar, are distancing themselves from it. Yet, most Indians still believe in this absurd theory.

Wake up?O Indians: you are as great, if not greater than the white man. You can do as well, if not better than the white man. Not only did your forefathers devise some of the basic principles of mathematics, astrology, and surgical medicine, not only are your people among the most brilliant in the world today -- half of Silicon Valley is of Indian origin, 30 percent of the United Kingdom's doctors are Indians -- but you still hold within yourselves a unique spiritual knowledge, which once roamed the world but which has now disappeared, replaced by the intolerant creed of the two major monotheistic religions which say: 'if you don't believe in my true God, I will either kill you or convert you'.

Wake up India, brown is beautiful, smart and it is the future. Dr?Manmohan Singh, whatever has to be said about the Congress, you have partly redeemed India's pride, and our good wishes are with you.

The author is the correspondent in South Asia for Ouest-France, the largest circulation French daily (1 million copies)

Rooting for Chidambaram!

Mukherjee, Chidambaram front-runners for finance minister

I hope P. Chidambaram gets to be the Finanace minister. It would be horrible to see that bumbling fool getting this important portfolio.

Nicely said!

This appeared in one of the articles about Indian elections in NYTimes today.

For India, his swearing-in will be historic, and not just because of the extraordinary political drama of the last week. A Sikh, Mr. Singh will be India's first non-Hindu prime minister. In a milestone that says much about this vast nation's diversity and capacity for co-existence, Mrs. Gandhi, an Italian-born woman raised a Roman Catholic, is making way for a Sikh prime minister who will be sworn in by a Muslim president, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam.

A sigh of relief Smart move by Sonia

Sonia Gandhi reluctant to take office

Looks like someone beat some sense into her head. It is good for Sonia not to bite something so big that she couldn't possibly chew.

Manmohan Singh as PM and P.Chidambaram with the Finance portfolio, even I would support that. Looks like stock market is already making a recovery on this news. This government may last more than 6 months after all. Let us see how it goes down with the damned CPI and CPIM.

Good analysis (conspiracy theory) of Sonia's move by Mayuresh:

I think Sonia is very smart in giving up the PM position. This way, she in fact does more to keep the dynasty intact. Right now, her son is already in Lok Sabha. Priyanka, her daughter may also arrive in six months when re-elections take place beacuse of withdrawal of Left support. She already was in the forefront during the campaigning. This way, the blame of failure of weak coalition goes to Manmohan Singh. She saves her face and then paves the way to Rahul Gandhi, her son to be PM in next elections because by then he would have the 'experience' as MP.

GO Gandhi Dynasty!!! Frankly speaking in the country where 'family following' has been in the culture of the society for thousands of years, it does not surprise me at all that this fmaily has got waya by convincing so many Indians that they are the only ones who can 'rule' India.

Indian stock market crash

Sonia Gandhi faces crisis, stocks crash

This happened even before they leftists squeezed Congress to make any policy decisions. That day is not too far away in the future. Communists have decided not to join the government but, to support from outside. It is a nice way to get your policies implemented without bearing any responsibility for the consequences.

If I had any money in the Indian stock market, I would cash out right now to prevent any more losses.

Shares on the Bombay bourse plunged as much as 17.5 percent -- the worst fall in its 129 years. Trading was halted twice, for a total of three hours, before the index closed 11 percent down, extending big losses last week. The rupee and bonds also fell.

The crash, including a big drop on Friday, has wiped tens of billions of dollars off the value of listed companies. Hundreds of brokers and small investors protested outside the bourse on the day Gandhi was due to visit the president to claim power.

Leftist parties, which hold more than 60 of the new parliament's 545 seats, decided not to formally join Gandhi's Congress party and its allies in the coalition expected to be sworn in on Wednesday.

Just the beginning...

Scrap divestment policy: Left parties

Even before a government is formed, the leftist morons of India have started asking for their pound of flesh for support. I hope that Congress will not agree with all these demands and completely stall the economic reform process. That would be a real disaster for India.

Thanks for the link, Sujit

I am shocked

I was simply stunned to read the news about BJP/NDA's loss in the National Election. This result just means that India will have to go through another round of elections in a few months after these elected idiots fight amongst themselves and stall the economic reforms. A major waste of money, but, there is no other choice.

Received an email from Mayuresh, this morning. He puts my exact thoughts in words.

Frankly speaking, I am SOOO concerned about the country that I would not be surprised if the parliament dissolves in two months for re-elections. hmm... Sonia Gandhi Prime Minister, Mulayam Singh Defence Minister, Laloo Yadav Foreign Minister and Mayawati the minister of Railways - GOD ! please save us ...

Sorry, Sujit, Parag and Navtej...

Mala, RD, Nithin, Uday, Ashwin, Michele - HIP HIP HOORAY !!! Though, I am concerned with the fragileness of the future coalition and reforms under the government represented by the Left and Laloo Yadav, Mayawati, and Mulayam Singh, I still am happy that the party that felt giving cheap cell phones, numerous call centers and master minding the most audacious communal split in the nation's democratic history would win them people's mandate was SOOO wrong !! I am especially proud of Mumbaities who were strong enough to vote Ram Naik and Manohar Joshi out. Unfortunately, voting the film star Govinda in could be as impotent.

Frankly speaking, I am SOOO concerned about the country that I would not be surprised if the parliament dissolves in two months for re-elections. hmm... Sonia Gandhi Prime Minister, Mulayam Singh Defence Minister, Laloo Yadav Foreign Minister and Mayawati the minister of Railways - GOD ! please save us ...

SO, all in all, BJP gets a lesson, parliament dissolves due to heavy infighting, BJP apologizes for Gujrat and puts forward a concrete plan for addressing income distribution (The stock market and businessmen are not enough to win elections), GIVES UP the damn stupid uniform civil code, signals its committement towards lower caste in villages and poor in the cities (hey, Mumbai's so called upper caste middle class voted you OUT and Thakurs from UP are not enough to win elections), BUILTS back the mosque in its place and may be a temple next to it (to keep those religious faggots happy) and FIRES Advani, Joshi, and all VHP/RSSites (they did jack for you this time), I think I will support them. After all, we all would prefer Vajpayee, Jaswant, Jaitley, Shourie, and Mahajan over Sonia, Mulayam, Laloo, Mayawati, and Surjeet...

Hard to believe

I thought Andhra Pradesh was doing very well under the stewartship of N. Chandrababu Naidu. I was completely surprised to read the news about TDP's overwhelming loss in the elections to Congress and its allies. If you are equally surprised read more analysis at Shanti's and JK's blog. I hope this is not the first act that will be followed by similar horrific results in the National elections.

US exports trash to India

Exporting Coke, Pepsi, Pizzza Hut and Kentucky Fried Chicken to India wasn't good enough. Now, US exports its trash to India.

Thousands flock to Benny Hinn meetings in Mumbai

Another cool train ride in India

rediff.com: The Lure of the Deccan

I would love to go on this train ride next time I am visiting. The train is decorated really well. Looks excellent.

First PM of India

JK posted an article about right of people to elect a PM for India. Here is the excerpt from TVR Shenoy's article on Rediff that appeared in JK's post. It describes how the will of Indian people was ignored on the whim of "Father of the nation".

Let me take you back to the year 1946. Everyone knew that Independence was around the corner (though the precise date remained undecided). The choice of Congress president became crucial since it was certain that the Viceroy would invite him or her to head the interim government. Twelve of the 15 Pradesh Congress Committees proposed the name of Sardar Patel; not one of them sent up the name of Jawaharlal Nehru — not even his native United Provinces (as Uttar Pradesh was then titled). It was at this point that Mahatma Gandhi made his last decisive intervention in the affairs of the nation.

He asked Acharya Kripalani — who, if I remember correctly was the choice of the United Provinces Pradesh Congress Committee — to circulate a note to the Congress Working Committee asking that body to nominate Nehru. From this distance in time, the Mahatma¹s reasons seem less than convincing. ‘He, a Harrow boy, a Cambridge graduate and a barrister, is wanted to carry on the negotiations with Englishmen.’ Again, the Mahatma believed that Nehru could ‘make India play a role in international affairs.’ More realistically, ‘Jawahar will not take second place.’ Whatever the rationale — and the last suggests that our much-worshipped first prime minister was a spoiled brat in the Mahatma’s estimation — the fact remains that Bapu¹s suggestion carried the day, and Sardar Patel, the choice of the people, failed to become prime minister through a palace coup.

Update: Inspired by the same TVR Shenoy article, Sandeep writes more about election of "India's Spoilt Brat".

Can't believe this...

Saddam is Islam's hero: Imam

Revelation

Even after making hundreds of trips on these routes, I never had a clue about relative locations of the places shown in this map. Actually, I had never seen a detailed map of this region with roads before. I feel ashamed that I am infinitely better acquainted with the geography of US than India.

BJP's favourite West Asian

BJP's favourite West Asian

This article is written by Mani Shankar Aiyar, a major proponant and benefactor of minority vote-bank politics; belongs to the same group of government bashers as Prafool Bidwai. They forgot to make any noise about being fair and balanced when Yasar Arafat was making trips to India. Oh, wait! But, that was supporting their vote-bank politics. So, it was perfectly fine to welcome Arafat to India without paying any attention to the Israeli side. Mr. Aiyar talks about 80 years of Indian tradition in supporting the Palestinian cause. There was no India before 1947 and there was no Israel before the end of the world war II in 1945. So, what is he talking about? Indian support of Palestine is one of the planks of vote-bank politics, nothing else. It needs to be dumped. It doesn't matter what Sharon did in his previous life. He will visit India as democratically elected representative of Israel. India must develop good relationship with Israel, improve trade, and learn from their experience of fighting terrorism.

Certifiable Moron

It is hard to believe that this certifiable moron was a senior editor at Times of India and is probably being said to write idiotic articles like the following on Rediff.com.

Cancel the Sharon visit!

Shanti and Gaurav have dissected his article very well. Worth reading.

Interesting view

WOW! This is an interesting thought.... Never thought about it from this perspective.

"Without doubt, one of the reasons West Germany and Japan forged ahead of the United kingdom after World War II was that the entire industrial stock of those two countries had been bombed out of existence while that of the latter had survived."

From Arun Shourie's part 3 of 3 articles from Indian Express written on the occasion of India's 56th Independence day.
This is India's moment but it's only a moment, can we grasp it?:

Hizbul chief urges Hindus to

Hizbul chief urges Hindus to return to Indian Kashmir

What for? Are they running out of targets for shooting practice?