· January, 2007

Stories about India from January, 2007

India: Beating the Retreat

30 January 2007

Ultrabrown on the Beating The Retreat ceremony – the finale of Republic Day celebrations in India. “What you don’t see in the photos is the gasp when the lights come on all at once. You don’t see the security men pausing dramatically before peeling away from the running boards of...

India: In Korlai

  30 January 2007

Trivial Matters on Korlai, with some wonderful photographs. “You would be surprised to hear that I am not in Korlai for the views or even the crisp Arabian Sea breeze. I am in Korlai, in a search for haunted forts, fallen churches and a lost Portuguese Creole soon to disappear.”

South Asia: Forced marriages in the UK

  30 January 2007

A House of Lords discussion in the UK on forced marriages covered at Pickled Politics. “Lord Lester said that on the bicentenary of the abolition of slavery, it was scandalous that we were turning a blind eye to the sexual and domestic slavery of women; he said is was fully...

India: Wild Owls in Kashmir

  29 January 2007

Wild Kashmir on wild owls. “Trust us Kashmiri's to put our own spin on things and end up on a ‘Wild Owl Chase’. If recent news reports are to be believed, an unknown person is offering a Rs. 30 lakh [approx 70,000 USD] reward for the capture of a 3-kilogram...

India: Bangalore and 2 Blocks

  29 January 2007

Keith, a Hong Kong born New Zealand Chinese journalist on being in Bangalore during a riot. “Two blocks away, that very night, pro-Saddam mobs clashed with police while youths looted and burned stores. 40 people were injured, and an 11-year-old was killed when police fired at the crowd. In India,...

The Arabist: Saudi Arabia Persecuting Ahmadis

  25 January 2007

The Arabist reported today a Human Rights Watch plea to the Saudi monarch urging him to stop presecuting Ahmadis. According to the letter, “Saudi Arabia has so far arrested 56 non-Saudi followers of the Ahmadi faith, including infants and young children, and deported at least 8 to India and Pakistan.”

India, Latin America: Bangalore, a Role Model?

  25 January 2007

Kamla Bhatt, a resident of Bangalore herself, is intrigued by an argument set forth by Miami Herald columnist Andres Oppenheimer who calls the Indian tech metropolis a “role model for Latin America.” Boli-Nica, who usually writes in English, this time addressed [ES] his Spanish-speaking readers with a comparison of Oppenheimer's...

India: Mylapore Festival 2007

  25 January 2007

Metroblogging Chennai has notes from Mylapore Festival 2007. “Outside, once you cross the archway that proclaims the Mylapore Festival, the city follows the usual Mylapore routine: rickshaw and cycles tinkle along the roads pedestrians squeeze by after office hours and harried home-makers and office-goers alike stop by the pavement to...

India: Cricket Advert Gone Bad

  25 January 2007

The advertisements for the India-West Indies cricket series don't quite do the trick. Almost As Good As Chocolate on all that is wrong with the advert. “At worst, these ads are racist. At best, they shout out a message that Indians are not hospitable and treat our guests terribly.”

India: In Bihar

  23 January 2007

Feringhee: The Indian Diaries writes on going to Bihar. “Every week, the paper has an account of a prominent person's child, or even just successful middle-class person's, kidnapped and held for ransom. The headlines of the “Bihar Digest” section sometimes defy belief (“Child's fingers chopped off for stealing spinach”; “Son...

India: Indians in Kenya

  23 January 2007

Sepia Mutiny on the Indian community in Kenya. “Today, the community in Kenya is perceived, not without justification, as wealthy and aloof. Rajan is critical of what he sees as the community's lack of engagement with Kenya's many challenges.”

The Global Voices Show #4

  22 January 2007

Finally — the fourth episode of The Global Voices Show has landed! In this edition we feature excerpts from the following podcasts: - The IndiCast (India) – also see Global Voices article “The Blogospheres on Big Brother, Shilpa Shetty, Bullying and Racism“ – Pambazuka News (Zimbabwe) – Palabras Libres (Bolivia)...

India: Blogging Monkeys

  22 January 2007

A mainstream media newspaper publishes a cartoon that seems to hint that bloggers are nothing but typing monkeys. Marketing Practice comments on the cartoon in the context of Consumer Generated Media. “The depiction of the blogger as a monkey also reveals another side of the arrogance: do the editors feel...

India: Motherhood and Technology

  20 January 2007

The Mad Momma on mommy blogging, technology and communication and its contribution to making motherhood a slightly different experience. “Yet here we are, tech savvy women, changing templates (!), mailing other bloggers from our blackberrys while in the labour room (yes, I know someone who was doing that), more concerned...

Nepal: Racism and India as a bully

  20 January 2007

Looking beyond the Indian blogs, Wagle Street Journal from Nepal comments on the racism and Shilpa Shetty in the Big Brother show issue with the insight of living next door to a country that maybe seen as a bully – India. “When an Indian goes to an English television channel...

India: On Pottery

  20 January 2007

Swajana posts videos on their blog of snippets of life in India. A video on pottery. “As in many other parts of the world – this art has developed a long way in India too. But simultaneously – its also maintained its roots by being done pretty much in the...

India: The Big Book and Reviews

  20 January 2007

Amardeep Singh writes on a rather long book that has reviewers writing the review without finishing it. “There seems to be something about Vikram Chandra's heavily-hyped, 900 page Bombay gangster novel, Sacred Games, that has led reviewers to publish evaluations before they've finished reading the book.”

India: The President on Yahoo!

  18 January 2007

At digg.com, a user links to the President of India's question at Yahoo! Answers. Watch out for the interesting discussion at digg, where a wide range of issues – including Bush, internet penetration in India, efforts to reach out by the government etc. are raised.