Words are Weariness

Fukushima had its first victim in distant shores, Kudankulam in South Tamil Nadu. The four people who have so far died at the plant have not been victims of radiation. Not even Japan has proposed to close any of its functioning reactors nor decided to forsake the nuclear option for power generation! It is in fact likely that Japan builds a new plant with better safety features at the same location! There are 441 working nuclear reactors deployed for power generation the world over. China has the largest number of 12 in advanced stages of completion with another 18 in the pipeline! Except for Germany, nobody has talked of closing down or abandoning nuclear power. France has about 70% of power sourced from nuclear facilities. The nuclear scientist who came on the Times Now TV talk show could not hide his exasperation. He was arraigned in front of Sunita Narain of pepsi fame and another voluble professional activist who was trying to draw parallel to Bhopal Gas Tragedy!. The scientist...

“Journalism is unreadable and Literature is unread” is one of Oscar Wildes famous wisecracks.  Journalism of the 'The Hindu' ( or 'The Chindu' as some would prefer) kind is tiresome and full of insidious pontification. Have you ever come across a genuinely humourous article in 'The Hindu' ? Of all genere of creative work, humour is the most difficult. That is why most wannabe writers settle for the pedantic like yours very truly here. I have a small collection of rare instances of eminently readable articles in humour and satire that have appeared in the press. Most of them are from Pakistani writers, yes, a society in distress produces the best in its writers, and a few Indian. Here is one that has appeared in the latest edition of “The Outlook”, http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?278250 . The writer is one of those directors who are redining Bollywood for us. Having lived in the Punjabi part of Delhi myself for more than a decade, I could live thr...

http://carnegieendowment.org/files/pakistan_dysfunction.pdf The link above is a Policy Outlook authored by George Perkovich recommending a course correction for US vis-a-vis Pakistan. The analysis is accurate when, in one broad sweep from 1947,  captures the evolution of Pakistan as the 'migraine of the world'. But curiosly, the author is suggesting that  if Pakistan is today a demented dog, some blame is to be placed on America and in fact, the whole world for Overindulging India! We are not taken in by America and the West wooing us, sir. They are doing it in their own self-interest. The author has cited slow progress on the Samjauta case and in the same breath adds that the perpetrators of Gujarat and Ayodhya violence has not been brought to justice!. While admitting that Paksitani nationals were killed in Samjauta terrorism, pray how is Pakisan concerned with gujarat and ayodhya ? Does the author think Pakistanis were killed in Gujarat or  is Indi...