ANOU’S BLOG

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All about loos: cynicism versus realism

All about loos: cynicism versus realism

If there is one topic that has received unprecedented publicity in the last months it has been loos! Unfortunately, the reason 'we' remember the importance of loos are often tragic: rapes, girls dropping out of school or having to defecate in the open even in cities...

Question your sons too!

Question your sons too!

I guess we were all waiting for our new Prime Minister's address to the Nation with bated breaths. Many of his admirers as well as detractors were a little discomfited by the fact that one had not heard him at all after he took over as PM. I do not know about you, but...

An apologia for English

An apologia for English

I think I am well placed to write an apologia in defence of the English language which has come under fire in recent days. Courtesy my sometimes quirky parents I barely spoke English as a child as Kamala, my unique mom, wanted her child to speak Hindi which thus...

No S.. please we are Indians

No S.. please we are Indians

An article by a namesake in a leading magazine begins with these words: The first test tube baby was born in India, 7,600 years ago, and he was called Dronacharya. Ancient sages divined a long time back the leaps in technology we see today, such as stem cell...

Transparency revisited – an answer needed

Transparency revisited – an answer needed

I urge you to read this post and give your take on it. Thanks. AnouIt was more than a decade ago that my dear friend and mentor DV suggested we have a detailed budget on our website as he felt that total transparency would help us gain the trust of people and hence...

The third chapati

The third chapati

In the past days we have been 'treated' to what I can call call the absurdities of one Dr B, who has taken on single handed the mantle to defend India in a rather inane way. But beware this is not just a lone crusader that would at best be laughed at and set aside....

and on the west by the day of judgement

and on the west by the day of judgement

Neil Gaiman begins his book American Gods with the following quote quote from Joe Miller's jest book: The boundaries of our country, sir? Why sir, on the north we are bounded by the Aurora Borealis, on the east we are bounded by the rising sun, on the south we...

Dispassion is a gift but not for me

Dispassion is a gift but not for me

Dispassion is a gift not given to all, certainly not to me. I found this turn of phrase in the personal histories column of last weeks Tehelka magazine. The piece is entitled How Does One Deal With So Much Suffering Every Day. This is a question I ask myself day after...

Hold your breath and your sanity

Hold your breath and your sanity

Did you know that we Indians should be credited for inventing stem cell technology. According to Dina Nath Batra - yes the one who compelled a publisher to pulp a book not to his taste - and I quote “…America wants to take the credit for invention of stem cell...

That does not bite me….

That does not bite me….

I am about to finish reading Zia Haider Rahman's In The Light of What We Know. It is intriguing as well as delectable and challenges the reader at every page. I am enjoying every line and even find echoes to my own life journey. Somewhere along the way of the...

Is this the only news we have?

Is this the only news we have?

Is this the only news we have, snapped the Karnataka Chief Minister when asked about the horrific assault on a six year old in Bangalore. No sir we have a lots more of you want to listen: today's news and yesterday's news too. In your very state Sir, a mentally...