A friend recently offered a profound insight, viz., the Rand Corporation headquarters at Santa Monica, visible on its website, is shaped like the “Jesus fish,” the secret sign by which Early Christians recognized each other and under which they organized to overthrow the Roman Empire. Today, the Jesus fish is … Read More
Evangelical Christianity, funded and backed by the United States, is threatening to escalate into China’s new Opium War. Unless timely measures are taken, the land of Confucius, degraded by Chairman Mao into a spiritual, cultural and economic wasteland, may well emerge as a major outpost of a new imperialist thrust … Read More
With Islamic fundamentalists determinedly leaving their signature tune upon hitherto unvisited world capitals, and religio-ethnic violence taking a grim upturn in Jammu & Kashmir with the recent beheading of a woman and slitting of throats of five men, India needs to take a pro-active interest in getting the United Nations … Read More
The Hindu mind, it has been said, is subtle when it analyses, simple when it believes. Though intended as a barb, the statement has some merit. Hindu intellectual subtlety is without parallel; surrender to the Divine is the hallmark of faith. The American mind presents a stark contrast: crude when … Read More
Even as the public uproar following the Deoband Dar-ul Uloom’s fatwa annulling the marriage of 28-year-old Imrana after her alleged rape by her father-in-law refuses to die down, at least two other cases have come to light in which the victims of a similar tragedy had their marriages terminated … Read More
Since West Bengal chief minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharya is more mature than his Assam counterpart, there has been no unseemly controversy over Governor G.K. Gandhi’s warning that the State is sitting on an “infiltration time bomb” (Pioneer 21 July 2005). Mr. Gandhi has informed President Kalam that unchecked infiltration is creating … Read More
Evangelists are targetting the sacred site of Tirumala and in a direct affront to the Hindu community, which has for centuries regarded all seven hills as holy, have starting gathering on the slopes in groups for public prayers. Even though an officer of the State-controlled Tirumala Tirupati Devasathanam (TTD) which … Read More
In the cyclical battles between the Devas and the Asuras, there are moments when the latter, ensconced in an overweening arrogance, appear all-powerful and invincible. The wise know their fall will be sudden, dramatic, and complete. And so it shall be with the so-called Revolutionary Leader of Tamil Nadu, who … Read More
As in the United States after 9/11, so also in Britain after 7/7, the Sikh community bore the brunt of the first backlash against the London blasts with a gurdwara in Kent being set on fire. Prime Minister Tony Blair called a high level meeting to discuss “community tensions” as … Read More
Startling as the Imrana rape case and its aftermath have been, some issues have crystallized with the controversial Islamic verdict that has stunned the entire country. We would do well to examine the tragedy and its denouement dispassionately to arrive at a reasoned understanding of how the continued operation of … Read More
