There is a way to make yourself heard even by voting against ALL the canditates.. I have been made aware of this by Navin's comment under the Lonely Planet Blog. The 'Conduct of Election Rules 1961 act, Section 49(O)' of the Indian Manual of Election Law states that " "If an elector ..... decided not [...]
Lonely Planet
The Scottish Goverment have an annual competetion (and apperently there is huge demand) to invite people to live in the remote bleak and freezing island called Fair Isle. if you are 'lucky', you get to spend the rest of your life with a total population of 76 inhabitants, more or less cut off from civilization. [...]
The Goa Film Festival
In light of this continuing dialogue over child trafficking in Goa... ......I have to admit that I was one of the prime motivators of shifting the Indian International Film Festival to Goa. There were many reason and the then Chief Minister , Panniker backed the idea and the film festival was born. However..There was, as [...]
Child sex abuse in Goa
While everyone is ga ga over India's 10% pa economic growth, and cell phone companies are valued at $ 25 Billion, little children are killed for their organs while the parents are still searching for them a year later. And now a new report says that Goa is taking over from Cambodia and Thailand as [...]
Shedding crocodile tears for Saddam
So Tony blair and other leaders in UK and the US now condemn the hanging of Saddam Hussien and the way the trial was handled. Hang on... ... both hail the death sentence and say that the trial was just and fair ? Didn't the US forces deliver Saddam on the morning of the hanging [...]
Staring at the Universe forever
I was about 9 years old. We lived in Delhi at a time when there was no pollution. In summer the nights were cool and the whole family slept on the 'Kotha.' The terrace of our little rented bungalow in Nizamuddin. I still remember the earthy taste of the water from the clay baked 'Surahi' [...]
Oprah’s School
Sure, there is going to be a lot of critcism about the elitist nature of the enterprise, and about the immense amount of media coverage. But this one so obviously comes from Oprah's heart. She is welcome to India anytime. Do read Nikita's comment under "A Mother's letter from Noida" where she sees Oprah's actions [...]
A mother’s letter from Noida
I was told that they found my daughter's body. Not the whole body, just the legs, arms and severed head. The agony now ends. For a year I have been begging the police to help find her. They would humiliate us, and sneer. " She must have run away with a boy" they laughed. My [...]
A Riddle
I run towards a stationary man. I can measure the distance, my velocity and the time it takes for me to get to him. Conversely, the stationary man too, from his point of view percieves exactly the same time, velocity and passage of time as I do. We move in exactly the same space time [...]
Paani pictures
Sharing with all of you one of the pictures I took of the Dharavi slums in Mumbai slums during my visual research for Paani.