…in which “opinion” masquerades as “news”.

Pl. read these concluding lines from Austerity proves costly for BJP:
In pursuit of happiness or their own lives, voters expect our netas to be honest, not corrupt but not really austere. Voters want accommodating vision, accurate polices for them. They know what’s austerity, what’s tokenism, who is working for the nation and who for self .
I wondered whether I was reading an Op-Ed. By the way, this is why I love NDTV
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Earlier posts in the series: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part …

Dear All: It is my pleasure to publish this guest post on “Dharma” by K Harapriya. I will be posting this in three parts. At the outset, I am grateful to her for a very well articulated exposition of a difficult concept. Please read and share widely. Today, a definition of “Dharma” and the role of Itihaasa in the Hindu value system (formatting and emphasis is mine).
*** What is “Dharma”? by K Harapriya ***

In the last great battle of the Kurukshetra war, Bhima is engaged in a fight to death …

From the Indian Army website:
The Param Vir Chakra is awarded for most conspicuous bravery or some daring or pre-eminent act of valour or self sacrifice, in the presence of the enemy, whether on land, at sea, or in the air. The decoration may be awarded posthumously.
*** Saluting our Heores – Naik Jadu Nath Singh, PVC ***

A tribute to Naik Jadu Nath Singh who sacrificed his life on this date,  62 years ago.
January 1948: The battle to liberate Jammu & Kashmir is now in its final stages. The airlift in Oct …

This post has been pending for awhile. But I felt today was a very appropriate day to reflect back on five years of blogging that has generated more than 1000 posts.
As you will notice from the screenshot below, the blog had the highest number of daily hits yesterday (by a wide margin) following the “Open Letter” post that went live on Rediff.

At one point, the site was pulling in hundreds of comments every hour. As I noted elsewhere, although I was overwhelmed, I should not have been surprised since this …

Adarniya BalaSaheb, Pranaam.
I would have written this letter in Marathi but most of my blog readers are Indians.
I have never done a survey to find out how many of them are Maharashtrians – nor made any attempt to block non-Maharashtrians from reading what I write. Indeed most of my writing is in English. This is not because I am ashamed or embarrassed about my mother tongue. On the contrary, I am grateful to my parents for cultivating in me a love of languages and for helping me learn a language …

Amar Singh-ji in The Indian Express:

The real cake (of the SP) comprises (criminal politicians)…the celebrities..were the whitewash…the icing on the cake.

..traditionally we were very fond of such characters in the party.

Past quotes are here.
Image courtesy: Indian Express (Photo by Tashi Tobgyal)

On the occassion of Martyr’s Day
Please take a moment to remember the ones who did not come back
And have a look at this series on National Heroes
|| Jai Hind, Jai Bharat ||

Start this weekend with a story on Hyderabad’s links to Islamic terrorism
Next, read Sandhya Jain on the apparent unravelling of Jammu & Kashmir
Then read a retelling of the story of Shantanu by Jai Joshi
and finally, a personal request from Sanjeev Sabhlok, founder-member, Freedom Team of India.
Excerpts from all the articles below, as always.
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*** Excerpts from How Indian-born Islamic …