Nandan Nilekani on his Imagining India blog makes an excellent case why Indian cities need to have local control rather than being controlled by state or central government agencies.

In keeping with what he did last year, this year too Sandeep has compiled a list of 16 India’s Most Loathsome People. The prime minister makes it next to the top spot; Sonia Gandhi wins the coveted top of the list. I disagree. I think that the top of the list, like the Time’s Person of the Year, must be “YOU — the average Indian.” My comment on Sandeep’s blog:

The latest issue of Pragati: The Indian National Review, Dec 2008, is available for download here (pdf; right click on the link and “save target as”.)

Hi from Philadelphia, PA.
“Blasphemous bras, heretical heels, yoga and me,” a funny opinion piece by Julia Suryakusuma for The Jakarta Post (Dec. 3, 2008) on a not-funny subject:
Yesterday morning I woke up early as usual and got ready for my early morning meditational yoga. It’s something I’ve been doing since 1981, clearing my mind and reinvigorating myself for the day ahead. It’s like getting your cell phone recharged, as simple as that.
But then I remembered reading that the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) is thinking of issuing a fatwa declaring …

{Continued from part 1.}
In the ultimate analysis, ideas matter. Ideas are what distinguishes humans from all known forms of terrestial living beings. The differences one observes in the development of various societies ultimately boil down to the set of ideas that a society developes, borrows, adopts, adapts, and uses. Ideas as embodied in the institutions and mores of society ultimately dictate how prosperous it is. A set of ideas that persist and pervade the collective consciousness of a society can be called an ideology. After controlling for all other factors …

Cyclic Tragedy and Farce
Perhaps we need to update Marx’s idea of history that it “repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce” to suit the history of terrorism in India where each cyclic repetition consists of a brutal tragedy immediately followed by a hopeless farce.
The script is tiresomely familiar. Islamic terrorists attack and kill by the scores, if not hundreds, in acts of mindless mayhem and destruction. Even as the short tragedy is unfolding, the farce begins with the prime minister and other government officials declaring that they will punish …

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