Taking sides on truth
There's a song by Munni Begum of Pakistan that's been popular with us for a good twenty years: Ae mere hamnashin.... About three verses down, she husks, Woh yakeenan sunega sadaqat meri, Kya tumhara khuda hai, hamara nahin? (He'll hear my prayer for sure, is He your God -- but not mine?)



Why in election season?
Prime Minister Vajpayee is to visit Washington from September 15 to 17. Political hype and media frenzy about the visit has begun, in a way utterly irrelevant to the substance and prospects of Indo-US relations.



Intolerance -- Kannur to Nannur
Trained to believe that they were all in Stalin's care, people were lost and bewildered without him. All Russia wept. And so did I." -- Yevgeny Yevtushenko



Other headlines
We must first unlearn and then re-learn
From Philly to LA
The seven samurai