Articles and Views

Rituals in Religion There are rituals in every kind of society. Christians have baptism while the Jews have their circumcision and Bar Mitzvah at adulthood. The Muslims also have circumcision besides the ritual of fasting during Ramadan. Rituals are celebrated throughout one’s life and continue even after one’s death when there are burial services or cremation services depending upon one’s religion. For the Hindus, the Vedas, the oldest spiritual scriptures in the world have shaped our rituals that are performed even today. The origin of Rituals To find out the origin of rituals we have to turn to our old ...

As the festive season in India is getting over many people are happy to know that Chinese product sales  may be down by 30%. It may be a moment of celebration for patriotic Indians in short term although Indian traders will have to bear the brunt since they already had imported these items. Let us ask – why Indians would have to buy Chinese product to begin with? The answer is very simple –  Indian industries don’t make those items  or don’t pay attention to consumers’ concerns for price, choice and quality.  Suddenly one cannot stop trading according to international trade rules. And don’t forget Chinese do invest in the ...

‘Boycott Chinese imports’ is the social media obsession this Diwali season. Recently SAARC and BRICS summits were making headlines both in regular media as well as social media. People are giving way too much importance to these groups than it deserves. One does not have to be an economist or geo-political strategist to figure that out, sometimes common sense is enough! While one should be a good neighbor, help each other out, yet we must ‘think globally and act locally’! In the era of globalization trade, security and prosperity do not have geographical boundaries. The boundaries are built in the ...

Indian Americans generally heavily tilt towards the Democratic party. But this election is different. Many Indians in America think differently, and I’m one of them. So, the final debate is over. Now who should Indian Americans vote for and why? Let’s start with this news of Trump tops Twitter (a formidable medium) during third debate according to an independent website thehill.com: http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/301907-trump-tops-twitter-during-third-debate Media Integrity is a lifeblood of any democracy. But if we follow The Hill, it’s clear how the so-called establishment has shattered its own integrity by shielding Clintons and unleashing witch hunt against Trump: http://thehill.com/blogs/pundits-blog/media/301285-media-and-trump-bias-not-even-trying-to-hide-it-anymore. Confirmation bias can be powerful. ...

A day after US presidential nominee Donald J. Trump said in a New York event that he loves the Hindus and India, not far from New York, in Philadelphia another group of Hindus were silently scripting together a brand new political coalition. Led by Hindu activists Satya Dosapati, Arvind Kumar, African American activist Bruce Carter, it brought together for the first time Hindu, African, Chinese, Hispanic, Korean and Jewish Americans together under the banner of the “All American Rally for Trump”  spelling a new age of minority political activism in America. Among them they already represent a substantial voting population in US. ...

The question is – who will make the cut? The world is shockingly absorbing the US election debates where young children cannot participate! This is one of the lowest points of presidential debates in the US history. While US election fever climbing up a peak, with the Presidential debates the most-watched and the most-talked about events, here’s a look at how the Indian Americans are trying to remain in the forefront. In general, majority of Indian-Americans are supporters of the Democratic Party. However, during this election a large number of them have moved towards the Republican Party or may not vote at ...

One wonders why Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave so much importance to declassify the files related to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose. In the manner and swiftness the files are released on-line is indicative of high importance of the subject matter. Journalist turned researcher Anuj Dhar has written the most well-known books concerning the controversy surrounding the fate of Subhas Chandra Bose. India’s Biggest Cover-up (2012), Vitasta Publishing and latest one is What Happened to Netaji (2016), by the same publisher. He is a co-founder of a group called ‘Mission Netaji’. I had not read the books earlier – only watched videos ...

I was inside a mall today, when suddenly a fragrance from one of the stores struck me. No, it is not a famous brand of perfume! It was the smell of new clothes, which momentarily transported me back in time, to a store in my hometown in Bengal, where I grew up. The same smell, the same feeling – sitting on a chair next to my father – it seems like yesterday! It was only few days away from the pujo. While purchasing cloth, some worrisome thoughts came to mind – will the tailors take the order for our pants ...

The Nobel Committee has announced today that this year’s Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos. This was despite the fact that the referendum last week to ratify the peace treaty was lost by a very thin margin – 50.22% No and 49.78% Yes, though various surveys predicted easy passage. Since 1964 the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People’s Army (Spanish: Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia—Ejército del Pueblo, FARC–EP and FARC) rebels waged a guerrilla war against the civilian governments. This year, on June 23, with an intent to end one of the world’s longest-running conflicts, Colombia’s government and the FARC signed a ...

A one of its kind handmade pavilion, believed to be Australia’s largest bamboo structure designed by an Indian architect using all organic materials from India, opened in Melbourne in Queen Victoria Gardens. The third annual summer pavilion, designed by Indian architect Bijoy Jain of Studio Mumbai, officially opened. Claimed as Australia’s largest bamboo structure, MPavilion 2016 has been included as a part of the programme for the ongoing Indian fest ‘Confluence: Festival of India’ that is running across major Australian cities. MPavilion 2016, a handmade architectural piece, uses seven km of bamboo, 50 tonnes of stone and 26 km of rope ...