Naxalites are India's most dangerous revolutionary organization (of which there are many). They capitalize on dissent against the Indian Government where it is weakest, promising a better life to India's poor. This Maoist movement has waxed and waned since its inception in the 1960's. The Government's latest attempt to vanquish the Naxalites, called Salwa Judum, has been a failure. Though little known in the West, the Naxalite uprising has torn asunder large parts of India, devastated local economies, terrorized millions and turned brother against brother.
posted on Jul 8, 2008 - View this thread

Saying His Peace: Rare Recording of Speech by Gandhi Landed in Safe, if Unknowing, Hands. [Via Linkfilter]
posted on Jul 1, 2008 - View this thread

The operation was a success, but the patient is now a mere mortal. When she was born, her neighbors considered her a gift from God and lined up to receive her blessing. However, her parents, who wanted her to have a normal life (and refusing an offer to sell her to a circus) , found a doctor and a hospital who would operate on Lakshmi for free.
posted on Jun 27, 2008 - View this thread

On June 22, 1985, Air India flight 182 left Montreal en route to Delhi with 329 passengers aboard, most of them Canadian. Four hours later, an explosion in the baggage compartment destroyed the plane, killing all on board. Premiering tonight on CBC television, this documentary (trailer) recounts the final hours, days and weeks before the plane disappeared off Irish radar screens. It reveals the story of how Canada’s first major counter-terrorism operation failed to thwart the conspiracy and details the errors that resulted in the world’s most lethal act of aviation terrorism before Sept. 11. (previously on MetaFilter)
posted on Jun 22, 2008 - View this thread

Have you ever wondered what a real IPA tasted like after the long, hot journey to India? Pete Brown found out.
posted on Jun 17, 2008 - View this thread

Rare Kishore Kumar Songs is a website dedicated to the music of legendary Bollywood playback singer and comic actor Kishore Kumar. There are hundreds of songs, many with other Bollywood legends, such as Asha Bhosle and Lata Mangeshkar. There are also songs by Kishore's son Amit. All songs and videos are in Real Player format and in low quality.
posted on Jun 16, 2008 - View this thread

The Dark Side of Literacy - Indian education reform organization Shikshantar, who aims to encourage concepts of "Swaraj", or self-rule in local education, argues that current education and literacy models do not take into account local cultures and languages and gives too much credit to the Western alphabet. They also argue that there are many serious flaws in what they describe as UNESCO's campaign of "McEducation For All".
posted on Jun 13, 2008 - View this thread

Liberalisation's children. The Financial Times interviews seven 24-year-old Indians, all of the average age but of very different circumstances.
posted on Jun 7, 2008 - View this thread

Auroville Funded by Governments all over the world, the city of Auroville is an ongoing experiment 'whose stated purpose is to realize human unity in diversity' through yoga. Unfortunately, it seems the 'rule free' society has attracted some of the least welcome of humanity's outliers, namely child sex tourists.
posted on May 27, 2008 - View this thread

Wealth creation, economic growth and rising employment and salaries are among the factors changing some of India's most ancient social and cultural practices, writes Jason Overdoff for Newsweek.
posted on May 18, 2008 - View this thread

The Rise of the Rest. Fareed Zakaria's Newsweek article about a "post-American" world.
posted on May 5, 2008 - View this thread

The real secret to producing superheroes (bollywood or otherwise) is to start them young, really YOUNG. (Link to single video)
posted on Apr 27, 2008 - View this thread

Indian Superman sings and dances with Indian Spider-Woman. (SLYT) (Previously)
posted on Apr 27, 2008 - View this thread

"Baby Lali with two faces, two noses, two pairs of lips and two pairs of eyes was born on March 11 in a northern Indian village, where she is doing well and is being worshipped as the reincarnation of a Hindu goddess, her father said Tuesday."
posted on Apr 18, 2008 - View this thread

Eviction Slip :"In the spring of 2003 about 8,000 tribal people and low-caste farmers living in the Kuno area of Madhya Pradesh, India, were summarily uprooted from the rich farmlands they had cultivated for generations and moved to 24 villages on scrub land outside the borders of a sanctuary created for a pride of six imported Asiatic lions."[via]
posted on Apr 16, 2008 - View this thread

The Mexican kitchen's Islamic connection :"When Mexico’s leading writer, Nobel Prize laureate Octavio Paz, arrived in New Delhi in 1962 to take up his post as ambassador to India, he quickly ran across a culinary puzzle. Although Mexico and India were on opposite sides of the globe, the brown, spicy, aromatic curries that he was offered in India sparked memories of Mexico’s national dish, mole (pronounced MO-lay). Is mole, he wondered, “an ingenious Mexican version of curry, or is curry a Hindu adaptation of a Mexican sauce ?” How could this seeming coincidence of “gastronomic geography” be explained ?"
posted on Apr 9, 2008 - View this thread

Limited nuclear war would damage ozone layer. Apart from the human devastation, a small-scale nuclear war between India and Pakistan would destroy much of the ozone layer, leaving the DNA of humans and other organisms at risk of damage from the Sun's rays, say researchers at the Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics. Michael Mills at the LASP and his colleagues used computer models to study how 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs would affect the atmosphere. They say that their scenario – in which each country launches 50 devices of 15 kilotons – is realistic, given the countries' nuclear arsenals. "The figure of 100 Hiroshima-sized bombs compares pretty accurately to the approximately 110 warheads that both states reportedly possess between them," agrees Wyn Bowen, professor of non-proliferation and international security in the War Studies Group at King's College, UK. Here is an earlier 2006 report by Michael Mills about the devastating effect even a limited nuclear war would have on the ozone layer.
posted on Apr 9, 2008 - View this thread

The Great Tantra Challenge - "On 3 March 2008, in a popular TV show, Sanal Edamaruku, the president of Rationalist International, challenged India’s most “powerful” tantrik (black magician) to demonstrate his powers on him. That was the beginning of an unprecedented experiment."
posted on Mar 25, 2008 - View this thread

Film-maker John Downer fitted four elephants with cameras and set them loose. Many of the resulting photos are cute, and some seem made for photoshopping.
posted on Mar 24, 2008 - View this thread

First, a bit of an introduction to the game of Cricket (youtube) for those of us who may not be familiar with the sport. Next, a few clips (1, 2, 3, 4) on how awesome the Gentleman's Game can be (and you thought we didn't do anything but roam around in our white pants and cotton shirts...). But, if that wasn't enough for you, then here's a taste of Twenty20 Cricket (the fast, fast paced version of the game), and the new DLF Indian (pdf) Premier League. (This is in addition to the One Day Matches, which were instituted to bring in a bit more excitement into the game during the 1970's, prior to which the match only consisted of Tests. However, some purists still maintain that the game would've been better served had it not been commercalized to the extent that it has, and still prefer the leisurely pace of the original format to its current incarnation.)
posted on Mar 20, 2008 - View this thread

It started in 2006 as a small group of women angry at corrupt officials in the Banda district, Uttar Pradesh (the Indian state that brought you Phoolan Devi). Led by a former tea vendor, Sampat Devi Pal (badass, Magnificent 7-like picture here), the Gulabi gang counts now hundreds of women, dressed in fluorescent pink and ready to use their lathi to fight corruption, domestic violence, child marriage and the many other ills that affect their society.
posted on Mar 15, 2008 - View this thread

Queens of Carnatic singing: Nithyasree Mahadevan: 1, 2 and 3. Sudha Ragunathan: 1, 2, 3 and 4. And the legend of the legends, M.S. Subbulakshmi, in her film appearances from decades past: 1, 2 and 3, and as an elder stateswoman of Carnatic vocal artistry: 1, 2, 3 and 4.
posted on Mar 15, 2008 - View this thread

A collection of comic books, Amar Chitra Katha is like the American Illustrated Classics, except that the stories are from Indian sacred texts, mythology, history, folktales and legends. It was conceived by Anant Pai. The series has sold over 86 million copies of about 440 titles.
posted on Mar 3, 2008 - View this thread

Politics of Hate: What's happening to the city of Mumbai
posted on Feb 13, 2008 - View this thread

Images of Asia l India then and now video l Historical Chinese Postcard Project: 1896 - 1920.
posted on Feb 8, 2008 - View this thread

Glimpses of South Asia before 1947 1,150 illustrated pages by the world's leading Ancient Indus Civilization scholars 774 photographs, postcards, lithographs, engravings, and archival film of India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka before 1947
posted on Feb 8, 2008 - View this thread

Oh, I say old chap--do you mind not going all "immigrant" on me, and spitting all over the place? Thank you very much. (how Britain proposes to solve the problem of integrating its migrant population)
posted on Feb 6, 2008 - View this thread

Mahrishi Mahesh Yogi: 1917-2008
posted on Feb 5, 2008 - View this thread

The Tata Nano (pic) is a car that costs less new than the amount I've spent on gas during single car trips, recently announced to the auto market in India. The Chery QQ ^, successful , widely exported, and recognized as the Hostage Taker's Vehicle of Choice by China Car Times, is the runner-up for the world's cheapest car but is still approximately twice as expensive. Yes indeed, the price of gas is not going to come back down. So much for my coast-to-coast road trips.
posted on Feb 3, 2008 - View this thread

The Cheating of Salim Baba [video | projector]
posted on Jan 29, 2008 - View this thread

He's probably the first person you'll see if you've ever been to an Indian Train Station. Not as dramatic as has been immortalized on screen, but certainly no less forgettable either. He is one of many who waits for his turn to carry your luggage on his head, or his shoulders, and maybe even around his neck. He has dreams and ambitions too, and just wants to earn a decent enough living. But it can get tedious at times, especially with the odds stacked against him.
posted on Jan 26, 2008 - View this thread

Japanese places and people photographed by Felice Beato, a pioneer 19th century photographer who documented the Crimean War, the Indian Mutiny and the Anglo-French military intervention in China before opening a studio in Yokohama in 1863. He also seems to have been the first photographer in Korea.Wikipedia NYPL archive First two links are units in MIT's Visualizing Cultures project.
posted on Jan 23, 2008 - View this thread

Mumbai CST (then and now) | Cuttack Railway Station | Howrah (1927) | Gorakhpur Railway Station (then and now) | Chennai Central Station (day) | Trivandrum Central {via}
posted on Jan 21, 2008 - View this thread

Jallikattu, [Stunning Photographs | Jallikattu YouTube] an Indian version of the Running of the Bulls, takes place in the State of Tamil Nadu, during the Pongal festival each year. This year, the Supreme Court directed the State Government to put a halt to the practice, in vain, and the bulls were forced to participate as usual (with 129 people being gored, and many more injured).
posted on Jan 17, 2008 - View this thread

Manipur, which has a population of 2,388,634, has the highest rate of HIV in the country, which is also the reason why it has the most number of NGOs working in the area. However, what is disturbing is that a day or two ago, one of these NGOs bribed a group of children into getting their blood tested, so that they could increase their chances of garnering more funds.
posted on Jan 16, 2008 - View this thread

Meet Muchhad ( ~ someone with a prominent mustache), the name given to a Paan seller in Mumbai, and his shop. (Never eaten a paan before, no matter, here’s what the folks at IndiaMike have to say.) Of course, you’d better be careful, it can be hazardous to your health. But, there are other alternatives for its taste. [video of muchhad paan waala | youtube | paan virgin spits]
posted on Jan 12, 2008 - View this thread

Team India to lodge protest against umpiring Gone are the days when the words(actions and decisions) of the umpire were taken as final. Even the RULE BOOK states that the word of the umpire is final. Would Team India still complain if the bad umpiring decision had gone in their favor ?
posted on Jan 4, 2008 - View this thread

As two women were molested by a mob of 70 to 80 men on New Year’s Eve in Mumbai, all Mumbai’s top cop has to say is—it happens everywhere, and admonishes the media for making a mountain out of a molehill. This, after a similar incident had taken place at the Gateway of India, exactly one year ago.
posted on Jan 2, 2008 - View this thread

Wombs for rent: "Anand's surrogate mothers, pioneers in the growing field of outsourced pregnancies, have given birth to roughly 40 babies. More than 50 women in this city are now pregnant with the children of couples from the United States, Taiwan, Britain and beyond. The women earn more than many would make in 15 years."
posted on Dec 30, 2007 - View this thread

India's Ancient Art. "Fifth-century painters created stunning murals in dim man-made caves. A gifted photographer brings them to light."
posted on Dec 25, 2007 - View this thread

A judge has issued a court summons for Lord Hanuman and Lord Ram, two Hindu gods, to settle a dispute over ownership of a temple. The initial summons were rejected due to an incomplete address, following which adverts were placed in the local press.
posted on Dec 7, 2007 - View this thread

For 200 years, the city has been the center of a shadowy network of bone traders who snatch up skeletons in order to sell them to universities and hospitals abroad. In colonial times, British doctors hired thieves to dig up bodies from Indian cemeteries. Despite changes in laws, a similar process is going strong today. (More on the unsettling subject of the human bone trade from the author of the first link, and his Wired article too. And Photos.) Via the excellent Sepia Mutiny.
posted on Dec 4, 2007 - View this thread

The new UN Human Development Report is out. Lots of interesting stuff on climate change. But for me, nothing beats the Human Development Index, a number that means different things to different people.
posted on Nov 28, 2007 - View this thread

The Roma Journeys - contemporary photographs of Roma life in Hungary, India, Greece, Romania, France, Russia, and Finland by Joakim Eskildsen. For more photo essays and info on the Roma, see two superb prior posts by plep and taz.
posted on Nov 15, 2007 - View this thread

The battle over Nandigram continues (after the massacres of March 14), as a fresh spate of atrocities have been reported.
posted on Nov 13, 2007 - View this thread

Diwali: the festival of light. Go ahead, light a diya (no, not that Diya) or something a bit more festive. Burn a few firecrackers, but be careful not to harm yourself. And be sure to have a taste of those mouth savouring sweets.
posted on Nov 9, 2007 - View this thread

Today's Indian Pizza Hut Special:  
Buy one large tikka masala pizza, get one Bollywood-style dance routine free. Yay!
posted on Nov 6, 2007 - View this thread

The Guajurati State Government has been directly implicated in a massacre of over 2,000 moslems during riots in 2002. There has been surprisingly little coverage by world news media. via pickledpolitics a British based SE Asian current affairs / political blog.
posted on Oct 30, 2007 - View this thread

When life imitates Simpsons (i.e. skittlebrau), it's generally funny. With the Onion, not so much.
posted on Oct 28, 2007 - View this thread

Supra-terranean Homesick Blues: Somewhere up there in the clouds, there exists a town called Shillong (wiki), a quaint picturesque town that is often called India's rock-capital. Every year, they celebrate Bob Dylan's birthday with a big bash, a splash that evokes nostalgia, piety, devotion and hard cash. This year though, they'll celebrate Bob Dylan with an even bigger bash, the world's largest strumming session.
posted on Oct 26, 2007 - View this thread