Stories about South Asia from July, 2009
Nepal, India: Positive Energy To Beat Pessimism
kasthamandap of Thinking About Nepal visited the Indian capital recently and comments: “it just felt good to be in a place where positive energy seems to overwhelm the pessimism, especially going from Nepal where pessimism and negative thinking takes over and often overshadows optimism and positive thinking.”
Pakistan: The Unheard Stories Of Pedophilia
Sana Saleem at Mystified Justice brings up the issue of the shocking presence of pedophilia in the conservative Pakistani society and talks about the affected children living the horrors of their past.
India: Debate On BJP
Shveta Chhatra – Offstumped site for the New Big Tent republishes prominent Indian journalist, author, and politician Arun Shourie's detailed analysis of the political party BJP (Part 1, 2, 3, 4) which ensued a lively debate in the comment section.
India: Chasing a solar eclipse
On July 22, we are about to witness the longest solar eclipse of the 21st century. The eclipse will be visible between 5.20am to 7.40am, from within a narrow corridor spanning half the Earth. In India, the path of the eclipse will cover the cities of Surat, Indore, Bhopal, Varanasi...
Nepal: Cursed By A Widow
Nepal had 20 Prime Ministers and almost 1000 ministers in the past 20 years. “But why they failed and subsequently we failed? We can’t always blame our geographic features and neighbors. Being a Hindu Kingdom until recent past, is this is the nation that was really cursed by a widow?”...
Sri Lanka: Deaths In IDP Camps
Indrajit Samarajiva at Indi.ca criticizes the mention of a large number of deaths in Sri Lankan IDP camps by some International media and comments: “making up very serious numbers doesn’t help anyone. It riles up some hard line diaspora elements, but it’s fundamentally a political missive, not a journalistic one.”
Pakistan: Urdu Transliteration Tool
Saeed at PakFellows blog discusses about the latest developments in the Urdu transliteration tools for ease of computing in Urdu language.
Bangladesh: What Bloggers Can Do On Tipaimukh Issue
JRahman at Mukti urges Bangladeshi bloggers to act “by any means necessary and possible” to highlight the issue of the disastrous effects of the proposed Tipaimukh Dam in India.
Bangladesh: The Aged Student Leaders
Half of the newly appointed leaders of the student wing of the political party BNP of Bangladesh are in their mid 40s and the remaining are in their late 30s. Syed ABM Ashrafuzzaman questions: “how old should a student leader be? “.
India: The Moment of Truth, now in Hindi
Youth Curry watches ‘Sach ka Saamna’, the Indianised version of the American game show The Moment of Truth and realises that we are constantly hiding things, not only from others but even from ourselves.
Nepal: Incentivising widow re-marriage
In the budget for fiscal year 2009-10, the newly elected government in Nepal has proposed an incentive scheme whereby USD625 would be awarded to any groom who married a widow. This proposal has angered widows and women's groups alike, writes Bhumika Ghimire at NewsFlavor
India: The joy of vandalising public property
Random Thoughts of a Demented Mind takes a caustic view of the violent bandh that crippled Kolkata last Friday (17th July) – a day that saw free-for-all vandalism.
India: Once a teacher, always a teacher
I love life…So I Explore tells us how easy it is to spot a teacher – they are always in the teaching mode, inside the classroom and out.
Bangladesh: Stigma of the ‘D’ tag
Life As It Is holds a mirror to the rising number of divorces and examines the stigma associated with the ‘D’ tag.
India: Don't let the camera get wet!
India Travel Blog instructs photography enthusiasts how to protect their cameras in the rain.
Bangladesh: Practice of child labour
Monjuraul at Muktangan discusses[bn] the condition of child labourers in Bangladesh.
India: Family dynamics and domestic violence
Mandy Van Deven's post in The WIP analyses family dynamics and its impact on domestic violence in the context of Deepa Mehta's film ‘Heaven on Earth’.
India: No shortcuts please, this is business!
The world is not Orkut, says Harini Calamur at POV, so people will do well to mind their language – especially when it comes to business communication.
Pakistan: The power of the Fatwa
The Karachi Electricity Supply Company (KESC) has reportedly obtained a fatwa [religious decree] from 12 senior Islamic scholars against the theft of electricity. Kalsoom at Changing Up Pakistan writes in this post how the idea of a major corporation using religious fatwas to give religious legitimacy to their cause is...
India: How History helped shape ‘Indian English’
In this post, PNH at Desicritics reflects on the impact of Indian history and culture on the English language.
India: Is divorce really the easy way out?
Aparna Singh at Ultra Violet shares her view that despite the rise in the number of divorce cases in India, a divorce is never the easy way out of a marriage – never mind what some cynics may say.
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