Drishtikone
What a lovely shot!! Look at the color at the foothills... Read more
What a lovely shot!! Look at the color at the foothills... Read more
Netherlands is one country where Coccaine and Prostitution is legal. And it does not mean that these two evils are more in this nation. Others where they are banned, it is a greater problem. Same goes for the ban on alcohol in Gujarat. Arguably, in no state of India is liquor - from the black market - consumed as much as in Gujarat! And there are no safe-guards! Now, bribing is also an evil in India. Here comes a Municipal Commissioner (Ajay Shankar Pandey) in Ghaziabad who has made Bribery LEGAL.. yes legal in his city. So, you dont have to push the money "under the table". Contractors simply issue a cheque! Read more
This joker - Zakir Naik - is answering an "aggressive" question of a "Hindu Brother". Here are the two points that the questioner made that he talks about: 1. How the Muslims differentiate between Believers and Non-believers and the treatment. 2. How Muslims emphasize on killing of people - non-believers - and animals and so are inherently a violent lot. So how does this guy answer this question? 1. Believers and Non-believers: Every religion has believers and non-believers. So, how is Islam different? Well, the difference is pretty simple. In the way the non-believers are judged - in the eyes of the believers and their "God" and "Prophet"! Here are the examples of what is to be done with the Non-believers: - 2:191, And slay them wherever ye catch them - 3:28, Let not the believers Take for friends or helpers Unbelievers rather than believers: if any do that, in nothing will there be help from Allah - 4:141, And never will Allah grant to the unbelievers a way (to triumphs) over the believers Its not that in Islam the humanity is divided into two - believers and non-believers.. but how the non-believers are treated. That is the major difference. Any one who goes out to "convert" does have an inherent assumption that my belief is better than yours and yours is useless. Read more
Friends: I am really sick of seeing the same 100-200 blogs that everyone knows of - whether in India or abroad - being available everywhere. When you go to any site in India - you see the same culprits - Amit Varma's, Gautam Sabnis etc. Not that they are bad, but surely there are other, as worthy and good, if not better voices out there in things Indian and other topics - whether technology or other things... surely techcrunch/slashdot/gizmodo are not the end-all of technology nor is Huffington or the popular conservative voices the only main voices in US politics.. Read more
Modi has won and won BIG in Gujarat! Where he was supposed to lose or be in "close fight".. he won big. The Congress and the Communists did not leave any stone unturned to characterise him as a "Hitler" and "merchant of death". Yet, he succeeded. How did this happen? Just for the record, this was the result (in no. of seats won): Total - 182 BJP+ - 117 Cong+ - 62 Ind & Oth - 3 There were sting operations from Tehelka - the timing being so uncanny that one can assume that they were politically "inspired". The mainstream media also did not have any restrain in comdemning Modi at every thing. And in all this his only negative during his rule was the riot of 2002. Beyond that whatever he has done has been positive for his state. He has run the state in a way that had little corruption and prosperity was high. Read more
There are reasons why I call the American administrations dealing with Pakistan blind. Indians knew the reality behind the "alliance" between US and Pakistan when Pakistan got into it! We all knew that the money - in billions - that they were going to get would end up in weapons that would be aimed at us. For, to fight with Al Qaeda, Pakistan did NOT need any weapons. They just needed to "tighten" those idiots. Pakistan's top brass had their main organization in their hands firmly and tightly! And this is a verity that no one can argue with me on! IN fact, Musharraf had made this claim unabashedly from a Chinese Hotel to his Lieutenant at the height of the Kargil War. Now, the US Administrations acknowledge that the money given to Pak, in fact has made its way to fighting India as opposed to fighting Al Qaeda! As if the Americans will learn.... In interviews in Islamabad and Washington, Bush administration and military officials said they believed that much of the American money was not making its way to frontline Pakistani units. Money has been diverted to help finance weapons systems designed to counter India, not Al Qaeda or the Taliban, the officials said, adding that the United States has paid tens of millions of dollars in inflated Pakistani reimbursement claims for fuel, ammunition and other costs. Read more
This is a very interesting cartoon from IndiaInk.org. The cartoonist is Rahim Baggal Asgari from Iran. Very interesting and direct take on the concept of 4 women witnesses in Shariat court not being still equal to a man's witness. Here is a quote from an Islamic scholar. Volume 3, Book 48, Number 826: Narrated Abu Said Al-Khudri: The Prophet said, "Isn't the witness of a woman equal to half of that of a man?" The women said, "Yes." He said, "This is because of the deficiency of a woman's mind." source Read more
There is a general story about the 9-11 incidents - which every one knows. And then there are conspiracy theories. Both sides are equally convinced that they are right! Now, I feel there is some truth to both the sides. The things really don't "add up" properly! For example, CIA knew that ISI (Pakistan's Intelligence agency) Chief had had $100,000 wired to Mohd Atta before 9-11 and the same Chief was in NYC on 9-11 morning holding discussions with CIA, when it all happened! How could this have possibly happened? And till date nothing has ever happened to that guy? If US could make a mincemeat of Saddam, then that ISI Chief could have been written off as simply 'collateral damage'. But nothing ever happened. WHY? Now, the Commission investigating the 9-11 incidents has come out saying that they are "convinced" that CIA made a "conscious" decision to impede the 9-11 inquiry! That is a VERY significant statement. Again the same question. Why? The commission that investigated the Sept. 11 attacks made repeated and detailed requests to the Central Intelligence Agency for information about the interrogation of operatives of Al Qaeda and was told by a top official that the CIA had "produced or made available for review" everything requested, according to a new review of classified documents by commission members. Read more
Infosys is a top IT consulting company? WRONG! In a year it will also become the largest hotel chain in India. Read this: Infosys, an Indian software giant with 66,000 employees worldwide, has built a 500-room, in-house hotel next to its headquarters in Bangalore. By June, it expects to have 15,000 company- owned rooms across India — an eighth of all the rooms in the country and more than any Indian hotel chain. Read more
This is one poster (from Amnesty International) that simply got my attention. Very well thought of and it hits hard for one who is Indian and completely against the bias towards the girl child! Text on the poster: In Indien sterben jährlich tausende mädchen nur weil sie mädchen sind. English Version: In India every year thousands of girls get killed just because they are girls. source Read more
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