Musings on the Human Condition

I spent most of my younger years in New Delhi, India. I lived with my family on the campus at IIT Delhi and attended Modern School, Vasant Vihar . The campus where we lived was like a walled city within a city. School buses weren't allowed inside the campus. So, in order to catch their respective school buses, kids had to walk from their homes to the campus gates, of which there were three or four. This could easily be up to a half mile walk. On occasion, I missed the school bus and had to take the public transport bus. Delhi's public transport system is known as the Delhi Transport Corporation or DTC. As anyone who has lived in Delhi would know, taking the DTC bus is an adventure and a test of fitness. During rush hour (i.e. when I missed my school bus in the mornings), DTC buses don't quite stop at designated stops. Rather they merely slow down because while they must let off passengers they don't quite have room to let on more passengers. Therefore, those who ne...

A fascinating debate , with a well-rounded panel, on India's superpower status, aspirations and potential. The panel: Manish Tewari (politician), Anil Dharker (columnist), Gayatri Shah (journalist), Rizvi Syed (poet), Vimlendu Jha (environmentalist), Neera Chandhoke (academician), Y P Singh (police).

According to the decoupling theory, BRIC (Brazil, Russia, India, China) economies or emerging economies would be largely unaffected by a downturn faced by the advanced economies. Over the past few months this theory has been largely discredited, as evidenced by this report from the Reserve Bank of India (India's central bank) and this writeup on the decoupling theory . The reasons for coupling are primary related to India's globalization levels -- 34.7% trade globalization (measured by two-way trade as a proportion of GDP) and 117.4% financial globalization (external transactions as a proportion of GDP).

Slumdog Millionaire won eight Oscars last night including best picture, best director, best cinematography, best adapted screenplay and best soundtrack. It is ranked #35 (with 68,758 votes) on IMDB 's list of Top 250 (of all time). And yet, Indians, especially those living in India, remain largely unimpressed. The elite in India don't like the movie's emphasis on India's underbelly. The masses don't like the film because it is essentially in English and has little star power (the lead roles are performed by rookies). Furthermore, even though the great Rahman won two Oscars for it, the music will remain under-appreciated in India because the heavy influences from foreign genres have rendered it somewhat intangible to the masses.

I hope I never have a shoe thrown at me. And, in case I ever spot an airborne shoe approaching my coconut, I hope my reflexes turn out to be as good as those of former US President George W. Bush . I can readily understand the dissatisfaction with Bush or Wen Jiabao . But seriously, I feel that shoe throwing is a most unimaginative and inarticulate form of protest. How handicapped does one have to be to succumb to throwing one's shoe? I'm guessing that the folks who throw shoes must have some serious speech impediments. I suppose I've developed a particular distaste for show throwing because it is a most common expression of disagreement in the national parliament and state assemblies in India, where I grew up. And I am totally disgusted at all the people joining Facebook groups that lionize shoe throwing as some sort of heroic act.

The Qutub Minar is the world's tallest brick minaret and a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The tower was a fixture throughout my years growing up in New Delhi. The image is etched into my memory since it is located just a few miles south of the Indian Institute of Technology's Delhi campus , where I lived. Somehow, as we moved from one campus residence to another over the years, we always ended up with a south-facing balcony and a clear view of Delhi's iconic tower. However, despite having lived next door to the famous Qutub for most of my childhood, there was much that I didn't know about it until last year when I set out to help my daughter, Ria, with a school project. The tower is 72.5 meters high, consists of 5 storeys, and is made of fluted red sandstone and white marble (the first three storeys are pure sandstone; the fourth and fifth storeys are sandstone and marble) The minar was built over a period of almost 200 years (1199-1369) by a succession of Mughal (Mongol...

As I write, we're just beginning to understand the full impact of today's bombings, shootings and hostage-taking at seven of Mumbai's (formerly Bombay) most recognizable venues including the Taj Mahal Palace and Tower hotel, the Trident Oberoi hotel, the Chhatrapati Shivaji (formerly Victoria ) Terminus (Mumbai's largest ground transportation hub), Chabad House (formerly Nariman House and now a base for the orthodox Jewish group Chabad Lubavitch), and Leopold Cafe . Most reports coming out of India's financial capital, Mumbai, are citing over 100 fatalities and 300 injured, many of them foreign citizens. I am keeping my fingers double-crossed. I lost a family member in the Delhi bombings of October 29, 2005 - two days prior to Divali - while she was shopping with her fiance at South Delhi's popular Sarojini Nagar market. And now this - one day prior to Thanksgiving! To borrow Obama's terminology, all sides need to learn the use of a scalpel; the sledgeh...