India
Sainthood of Sister Alphanso!
Sister Alphanso, who was born in Kerela, was canonized by Pope Benedict XVI at a ceremony at St Peter’s Square on Sunday, becoming the first Indian woman saint. The other woman from India on the path to sainthood is Albanian-born Mother Teresa, who was beatified five years ago.
Sister Alphanso is credited with curing illness and [...]
Child Marriage!
I started watching a serial called “Balika Vadhu” on colors recently. It’s like a cool wave of fresh air as it brings respite from the conventional “saas bahu” serials. Besides breaking the monotony of serials showing scheming women, it highlights the still prevalent evil practice of child marriage in India, especially rural India. This serial [...]
Top things which sell as hot cakes in India!
Nowadays it’s all about TRP. Media has gone ignorant of the fact that it has a responsibility of providing healthy and useful information to people. Instead all every channel is striving for is a better TRP rating than others.
Arushi murder case was followed every day by Aaj Tak as if it was an investigating firm [...]
Crushed in Devotion!
August 27, 2003: 39 pilgrims killed, 125 injured when devotees who were waiting to bathe heaved over a flimsy fence triggering a stampede at Kumbh Mela bathing festival in Nasik, Maharashtra.
January 25, 2005: 340 devotees trampled to death during an annual pilgrimage at Mandhra Devi temple in Maharashtra.
March 7, 2006: 28 killed and 101 [...]
Freedom from Smoke Rings!
The world health organization had estimated that there were around 94 million smokers in India in 2007. Surely the numbers have risen this year (it’s estimated to be around 120 million), engulfing the lives of not just the smokers but also the non-smokers (it’s said that passive smoking is as injurious as active smoking). According [...]
India’s Most and Least Corrupt States!
In the Global Corruption Index, a survey of 133 nations conducted by TI (a Berlin-based anti-graft watchdog), India is ranked 72 among 180 countries as far as corruption is concerned. In India all the states are categorized into 4 categories: Alarmingly Corrupt; Very Highly Corrupt; Highly Corrupt; and Moderately Corrupt.
Alarmingly Corrupt:
There are four states in [...]
Faults in the Education System!
Education in India is a privilege enjoyed only by the middle and rich class of society. When a rich man’s son learns the complexities of trigonometry, the poor man’s son learns the tricks to combat his poverty. Though this itself is a grave situation to ponder on, what is more intriguing is that even after [...]
Each One - Teach One!
I had asked the guard of my building to send a maid some days back. One day the door bell rang and I saw an aged woman with a very small child, who was sucking her thumb and holding her mother’s hand, standing at my doorstep. “Yes, how can I help you?” I asked. “I [...]
Flood Situation in Bihar - Whom to blame?
I came to Delhi In May and some weeks later I heard the news of a slab of the flyover near Janakpuri District center getting collapsed. This flyover was constructed barely 6 years ago and now it is closed for public under the pretense of construction again. The tragedy is that no signs of renovation [...]
Tata is evacuating the Singur!
“It is a very unfortunate day. It is a very bad day for West Bengal,” West Bengal industry minister Nirupam Sen told a private Bengali TV channel. He said that “the Tatas have communicated their decision to me after a meeting which took place today to review the ground situation at Singur.”
Tata Motors, in a [...]