· December, 2006

Stories about South Asia from December, 2006

Bangladesh: A divided nation

  21 December 2006

drishtipat on Bangladesh as a divided family, with parallels drawn on quarrels in slums and the blogosphere. “Well, we, 150 million people are divided into two groups in support of two families who are trying to somehow grab the ruling power of the country.”

Sri Lanka: Discrimination and those of the Indian Origin

  21 December 2006

Moju on workers in Sri Lanka of Indian origin being paid less than average and the troubling times for this ethnic community. “Their call on an indefinite strike to raise their daily wages to an amount of Rupees 300 from Rupees 135 per day is staged when elsewhere in the...

India: The glory of strikes

  21 December 2006

Random thoughts of a demented mind on enjoying a Bandh (strike) in West Bengal. “Postponing a bandh? What kind of lunacy is that? Don’t people understand that the bandh needed to be on 21st (Thursday), 22nd (Friday) so that with the weekend (23rd and 24th) and Christmas (25th) we would...

Pakistan: The return of the Expat

  21 December 2006

Metroblogging Islamabad on Pakistani expats returning to the city and not quite fitting in. “All they can do is complain and try to pose something they are not with their myopic perspective. If you look at foreigners, the ones who do not even belong to Pakistan, they always manage to...

India: The Martial Race

  20 December 2006

Amardeep Singh on the myth of martial races in colonial India. “And recently I've been reading a book on the Gurkha regiments, (Byron Farwell's The Gurkhas), and after reading a number of chapters I'm ready to throw out the designation entirely. “

India: Reservations and Muslims

  20 December 2006

Indian Muslims on exclusive spaces in Higher Education for minorities. “I do not support exclusive schools and colleges for a particular community because they just are a blow to the secular ethics of this country.”

Sri Lanka: On Chikungunya

  20 December 2006

Having affected large parts of India, chikungunya is now in Sri Lanka. indi.ca says “When I first heard of Chikungunya I thought it was a joke. It is a laughable name given to a very serious disease, now an epidemic in Sri Lanka.”

Nepal: The refugees from Bhutan

  20 December 2006

Democracy For Nepal on the 100,000 refugees from Bhutan. “The same chauvinistic thinking among the Nepali elite that has kept some five million Madhesis deprived of citizenship papers for decades worked among the Bhutani elite to kick these people out of Bhutan”

Sri Lanka: One Soldier

  20 December 2006

Manshark's Random Rants on soldiers in Sri Lanka. “In reality then, doesn’t that one soldier, that one person who died forever, or in bits and pieces as he was de-limbed, therefore remain to me forever nameless? Faceless?”

Bangladesh: Islam, Bangladesh and Secularism

  20 December 2006

Me, Myself and Bangladesh on secularism in the context of Islam, South Asia and Bangladesh. “Now the problem gets even complicated when it comes to Islam and secularism. The first conflict is ideological. Islam is a complete way of life and since most Muslims are Sunnis and to them Islam,...

Nepal: The Maoists, strikes and ambassadors

  20 December 2006

United We Blog! on the Maoist reaction to a list of names of nominated ambassadors. “Maoists said that they called the instant banda (closure) of the Kathmandu Valley to protest Nepal government’s decision to nominate 14 ambassadors for different countries including the US, India, China and Russia.”

Pakistan: Healthcare in Islamabad

  20 December 2006

Metroblogging Islamabad on healthcare in the city. “Although you can get a prompt emergency check up for Rs 5 registration charges, but the medicines are very expensive, and I am wondering how the poor manage it all.”

Bangladesh: Submarine Cables and the Economy

  20 December 2006

Drishtipat on the possible impact of submarine cables on the economy. “I think IT offshore work and back-end BPO can really be that much needed strong second industry to textile that our economy is so depended on and narrowly focused on.”

Nepal: The roads of Khatmandu

  18 December 2006

Wagle Street Journal on the chaotic traffic in Khatmandu. “If you want to protest, just go to the road and lie down there. Traveling in the city has become difficult because of these kind of small scale protests, I don’t know how many.”

India: A monastery in Zanskar

  18 December 2006

It isn't has wonderful photographs from Zanskar of a monastery called Phuktal. “The monastery, which belongs to the Yellow Hat Sect of Tibetan Buddhism, has a history which dates back to 15th century. It is carved out of the lime stone mountain wall, with a walled frontage.”

Nepal: The head and tail of the State

  18 December 2006

Nepali Netbook on the ambiguity of positions in the interim constitution in Nepal. “The king is no longer head of state. The interim constitution is silent on who is. As political solutions go, Nepalis have strictly conformed to tradition.”

Pakistan, Bangladesh: In conversation with Uzma Aslam Khan

  18 December 2006

black and gray in conversation with the author of Trespassing, Uzma Aslam Khan. “The Soviets were in Afghanistan, Pakistan was ruled by its most brutal military dictator, General Zia ul Haq, a United States ally (one Pakistani general referred to Pakistan as the condom through which America entered Afghanistan), billions...

Bangladesh: Dogs and their licks

  18 December 2006

a bengali in TO on the status of dogs in Islam and how cleaning a utensil with detergent to get rid of a dog's lick will suffice. “Involuntarily I stepped back due to years of training. I was going to go for prayers later and didn't want my clothes to...

India, Haiti: Matrimonials

  18 December 2006

India-based Haitian blogger NatifNatal ponders (Fr) India's matrimonials. Whereas in the West, she says, people fall in love and then marry, “here you marry the one your parents chose along many parameters such as caste, religion, income, dowry etc… and then, after many years of joint living, you just can't...

GV Summit Delhi '06 Session Four: Tools and Technology

  18 December 2006

The room is alive with post-coffee buzz, as this session, led by Salam Adil and Preetam Rai, tries to get under the skin of the tools and technology that would broaden out the range of people writing and reading blogs worldwide. In Salam’s twist on GV’s tagline, The world is...

Bangladesh: Remembering genocide and celebrating victory day

  18 December 2006

Some days are very special for a nation. 16th December is one such day for Bangladesh. Drishtipat Blog remembers the independence of Bangladesh 35 years ago. Time magazine December 20, 1971 named it “the bloody birth of Bangladesh“. For those who do not know why it is called so, Mash...

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Rezwan
Rezwan is the South Asia editor. Email him story ideas or volunteer to write.