yazadjal.com

One of the first thoughts that passed through my mind on hearing of the Tsunami was “more evidence that God does not exist.” Every disaster leading to a huge loss of life reinforces my atheism. Natural disasters, of course, are stronger evidence!
MadMan was the first to write about it.
At times like these, I’m glad I’m […]

I was chatting with a close friend yesterday. He is generally quite composed, but seemed very disturbed over the destruction caused by the Tsunami. Disturbed enough to tell me that he’d been crying for some time. I was surprised. He had lost no family or friends and thus was not affected personally. He’d never been […]

The next few posts by me will be on peripheral (but very interesting) aspects of the deadly Tsunami that hit us this week. I’m not going to focus on the well covered areas like news and relief operations. For that, go to the excellent South-East Asia Earthquake and Tsunami blog.
Ravikiran has a few thoughts […]

We may be at the end of the year, but this mela is largely about the beginning of the alphabet.
A for Atul Arora. As he was the first in the fray, go on and read about his poor dog, confused between countries and on life in a HOV lane. (both posts in Hindi)
Ashish Hanwadikar […]

Get a job that has a punishing schedule
Travel during the Mela week
Catch a bug during your travels
On your return get your doctor to prescribe a cocktail of strong antibiotics that make you drowsy
Do not slack on the punishing schedule – instead make sure your office fixes meetings with high profile people – meetings which you […]

Ouch! I just remembered that I host the next blog mela. And it’s on for the day after tomorrow!!
I’m currently in IIM Bangalore for a seminar. Will be here till Sunday. Which is when I shall post the mela. So we have a slight stretch of dates. Nominate posts dated December 10-19th. Drop all nominations […]

As expected, the chief minister of Andhra Pradesh, Mr. Y.S. R. Reddy has had to reconsider his populist strategy of free electricity for farmers. Quite unsurprisingly, rich farmers were major beneficiaries of this scheme. The Financial Times reports:
Jayaprakash Narayan, head of Lok Satta, a “citizen’s movement” in Hyderabad, says there is already nostalgia for Mr […]

Steven Landsburg writes in praise of Ebenezer Scrooge and miserliness.
In this whole world, there is nobody more generous than the miser—the man who could deplete the world’s resources but chooses not to. The only difference between miserliness and philanthropy is that the philanthropist serves a favored few while the miser spreads his largess far and […]

Shanti says that married men who watch porn by themselves are committing “mental infidelity”, which is just as wrong as physical infidelity.

I’m browisng through a great blog: Vice Squad. They concern themselves with
Explorations of public policy concerning alcohol, nicotine, other drugs, prostitution, gambling, pornography, ….
How sorely do we need this in India with the police (and media) going after activities between consenting adults — like these. Could we perhaps concentrate on the rapes, murders and […]

There is a very interesting exchange of views between Tavleen Singh and Teesta Setalvad in the Indian Express. Teesta and Javed Anand (her husband and co-editor of Communalism Combat) also list a sample of Communalism Combat cover stories and special reports since 1993 which go a long way in showing that they’re not […]

These senseless attacks on livelihood really get my goat.
BMC demands Rs 1,200 for a bicycle
On Wednesday, 74-year-old Mohammad Rangwala — who works for the Royal Society of Mumbai as a collector for the daily saving scheme — left his bicycle outside a shop at Abdul Rehman Street as he went in to collect money […]

Janani is a non-profit organization in Bihar that "leverages private sector resources to supplement public sector service delivery". In plain speak, their mission is to provide the means for planned parenthood for low-income rural Biharis. Abortion, especially that of the unsafe variety is rife in Bihar. Janani offers a means to do it safely. They […]

One of the joys in working for the Centre for Civil Society was meeting various libertarian luminaries who used to visit. One of the most interesting, Prof. R. K. Amin, passed away on Tuesday, November 30.
I have happy memories of him. During his Delhi visits, he would come over and borrow a whole load […]

The main reason I visit Cricinfo is the live commentary they have for both Test and First class matches.
But that’s not all. Their writers are of a high calibre and the reports are often excellent. This short piece by Chandrahas Choudhury makes me feel like I was sitting right next to him in Eden […]

Which is funnier? Kiruba’s latest post about some film star being caught naked on tape by a hidden camera? Or the reaction from his conservative Chennai readership that is aghast that Kiruba is not setting a good example for his readers?
There are comments about the “ethics of blogging”. Some people even think college kids […]