Ms. Naitthani is a teacher at St. Xaviers College-Mumbai
Her contention”My campaign is not only against nudity; it is against the Adult content, which includes both Violence and vulgarity, my whole effort is to make media safe for (more…)
Kaveeta Kaul
Professor Harbhajan Singh Sabharwal of Ujjains Madhav College of Arts and Commerce, was done to death by irate students belonging to the ABVP (Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad). Hooliganism and rioteering struck mayhem in the college campus when the Professor along with two of his colleagues, suspecting foulplay, announced a cancellation of campus elections.
“There is nothing training cannot do. Nothing is above its reach. It can turn bad morals to good; it can destroy bad principles and recreate good ones; it can lift men to angelship.” Mark Twains words seem an anachronism today. With the recent spate of these incidents the writing is on the wall that we need to sit up and take notice before the ongoing trend turns pandemic. (more…)
Hinduism is quintessentially said to be a religion of millions of Gods. (more…)
In an interview with a TOI reporter, Rashid Ansari, Salems lawyer ,unknowingly provided a shockingly honest analysis of the political scenario, on a question as to what were the possibilities of Salem winning the elections, if he chose to enter the fray. An indication of the abyssmal state of Indian polity, a first hand picture which is reponsible for the gumption of criminal partcipation in governance.
A: Tell me, out of the politicians you see in UP or the other states, how many of them do not have criminal cases registered against them? You have examples of Raja Bhaiya (a minister), Mulayam Singh (Chief M inister), Mayawati (former Chief Minister) and Mukhtar Ansari (MLA) who is touted as a don. All these people have cases registered against them, and yet, they are out in the open and contesting elections. In Bihar you have the likes of Shahabuddin and Lalu Yadav’s brother-in-law, Sadhu Yadav.
Today, the electorate is fed-up with politicians who make false promises and do nothing for them. People have realised that politics is no longer a decent man’s cup of tea. The constituents of Mubarakpur believe that it’s some one like Salem who can survive in this and because of his popularity, he will be able to help and uplift them. You must visit the area to gauge the public mood.
Unquote
Any wonder then that a Gandhi cap might soon adorn the don !!
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Dreaded gangster Abu Salem presently lodged in Arthur Road jail in Mumbai,is in search of ‘respectability’ by fighting elections in U.P. Whether donning the mantle of a politician alludes to that, is highly debatable. What perhaps nudged the decision was the similarity of milieu and mindset between his ‘yesterday’ and ‘tomorrow’. He was a criminal ‘on the run’ to now officially turn into a criminal in the ‘chair’. (more…)
The recent uproar over the singing of Vande Mataram by Muslim clerisy had its origins in a Fatwa issued against it as far back as 12th June. While it had not created headlines then, it caught my eye and had written a post, re produced here. The ripple effect was bound to turn into a storm sooner or later..
Vande mataram..India accords its citizens the right to voice protest even against singing of a song denoting nationalistic fervour, intrinsic to the intention.
Does enforcement through political will constitute pontification? As much as refusal to sing it does!
Does the matter merit attention? If secularism needs to be re-defined-yes.
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12th June’06
Islamic clerics have done it again! A fatwa has been issued against the singing of ‘Vande mataram’ by Muslim children.
Without indulging and succumbing to anger, outrage, revenge and retributive averments, let us attempt to make a balanced, unbiased assessment. (more…)
Karan Johar has indicted the treatise of marriage as a committment. What comes through pre-dominantly as the raison d’etre of this enterprise is, to present the notion of ‘holy matrimony’ as a nebulous institution open to a re-definition, where accepted norms have been questioned, vows overlooked, sanctity ignored. All this with a plaintiff ‘cry of the soul’manner of treatment, a refuge in stars gracng the scenes with their glitzy presence and in a sense lending weight to what might have otherwise been a half baked attempt of reviewing an (more…)
Unbelievable as that may sound, if one is to go by the mass hysteria presently on at Mahim creek on the coast of Mumbai, then it is nothing short of a miracle that the thronging crowds claim, has occurred.
Last night at about 11.00p.m., close to the Dargah of Pir Maqdoom Shah, a revered Muslim saint believed to have lived around 300years ago, sea water lost its salinity. Word spread (more…)
Hey guys!! Its been a while..Lifes like that..Wifely duties beckoned beyond all since hubby was embarking on a new project on 14th..wish him luck friends..thanks
I have written a piece for Kavita Chhibbers e-mag titled:
Mumbai- Mater Civitas.
When I think of Mumbai, a sea of impressions, etched deep in my psyche, inspire a deluge of sensations, undulating like ocean waves in my mind. And yet, how does one encapsulate the soul, the essence of Mumbai in words?
Quite unabashedly, I claim that Mumbai is my ‘jaan’ (life)! Just as one doesn’t question love for one’s mother, I’d rather not analyze what it is about Mumbai that binds me to it.
And yet how can one escape history? When King Charles II of England married Princess Catherine de Braganza of Portugal in 1661, he received as part of his dowry the isles of ‘Bom Bahia’, the ‘Good Bay’. Reclaimed from the sea, these would become the modern city of Bombay. In 1995, Bombay was renamed Mumbai, after the goddess Mumba Devi.
I was born in Mumbai, have lived here for most part of my life, save the years when foreign lands beckoned. ‘Home’ however, was always one place- Mumbai.
Art it seems has prostituted itself . Cinema has for long now, ascribed to the reasoning and rationale that ‘only two things sell in india, Sex and Shah Rukh Khan’. Having thus absolved themselves of responsibility of turning heroines into item numbers, and using profane sexual innuendoes to keep the box office registers clicking, they were resigned to the phenomenon of altered metaphors in cinematic language having taken centrestage. After all, they averred, art and commerce had to go hand in hand for either to survive.
As is wont to occur, this trend spread eagled itself into other artistic spheres. Recently, two wannabe ‘artists’ held an exhibition of their paintings and named it, hold your breath, ‘Tits, clits n Elephant dick’.. and mind you this was not the irreverent Salvador Dali known for (more…)
Despite the fact that news of pesticides in Colas far exceeding the standard norms had filtered in three years back, yet, nothing seemed to have shaken up the Government to undertake appropriate action against erring companies.
Consider this: (more…)
If only ..Life were one l-o-o-o-n-g vacation!
Some of my most memorable holidays have been while in Greece, Australia and believe it or not, Israel. The uniqueness of the people was fascinating. Of that ..another time.
In India, Goa heads the list. For serious fun in the sun..scramble there, without second thoughts
Another hot favourite has been Panchgani. Proximity to Mumbai, though not the sole, was a determining factor. However, what magnetically wooed us was a quaint hotel “Il Palazzo” (more…)
On reading this in Mumbai Mirror, this morning, the immediate reaction was one of glee..What fun!! Imagine the pranks, ‘badmaashis’, trouble one could happily be the epicentre of.
