Indians have different standards of personal hygiene to Westerners, says...
The hue and cry over the state of Delhi’s Commonwealth Games athletes’ village reflect cultural differences in personal hygiene between Indians and Westerners, the Games’ official spokesman has said....
View ArticleIndia's Ayodha holy site: divine legal ruling as pragmatic and surreal as India
Yesterday’s verdict in the dispute over who owns the holy site at Ayodhya is still messing with my mind. For Muslims it is the site of the Babri Mosque, built by the Mughal emperor Babur in the 16th...
View ArticleDelhi Commonwealth Games: cynicism swept away by breathtaking opening ceremony
As we sat in the splendid Jawaharlal Nehru Stadium on Sunday evening, looking at the five million pounds ‘aerostat’ blimp waiting to be raised for the opening of the cursed Delhi Commonwealth Games, a...
View ArticleIndia craves Barack Obama's approval. But I'm not sure why
If a “friend in need is a friend indeed” then Barack Obama and the Indian PM Dr Manmohan Singh are made for each other. The reality is that it's a one-sided relationship. There is great excitement in...
View ArticleIs India worthy of a permanent seat at the top table of powerful nations, the...
One in every six people on the planet is an Indian. India is the world's largest democracy, the second fastest growing economy in the world and both its growth and population are forecast to overtake...
View ArticleSalman Taseer murder: In Pakistan, liberalism and tolerance remain secret...
The murder of Salman Taseer, the feisty governor of Punjab province, marks yet another grim new year for Pakistan and a depressing reminder of its limited tolerance. He was shot dead by one of his own...
View ArticleTo Indians it's Inderjot Singh who looks reckless, not Alexandra Aitken
It appears that years of hard partying with other Yahs, It-girls and socialites has finally addled the brains of Alexandra Aitken. She has married a Sikh. And not just any Sikh, but an "SAS-type" Sikh...
View ArticleShahbaz Bhatti killing: What hope now for Pakistan's Christians?
When Pakistan legislator and former information minister Sherry Rahman launched her amendment to the country’s pernicious and discriminatory blasphemy law last November, her two greatest supporters...
View ArticleBarack Obama wasted his breath in India last year
When Barack Obama visited India last November he lectured his hosts on the responsibilities which come with the world leadership New Delhi craves. The price of our own freedom is "standing up for...
View ArticleWhat happens when a foreigner tells India that Gandhi was racist and bisexual?
A reader has contacted me to ask if I would support a ban on Joseph Lelyveld’s new biography of Mahatma Gandhi, which questions his sexuality and suggests he harboured some racist attitudes during his...
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