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November 21, 2024
 

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Gautaman Bhaskaran
COMMENTARY
Jun 21, 2011
Poverty highlights gaps in India's economy
In many ways, India can be highly deceptive and contradictory. There are millions of mobile phones floating around. Dozens of swank hotels. Just about every major car manufacturer has set up shop in the country. Several designers are showcasing and selling clothes that are seen on the fashion streets...
COMMENTARY
May 31, 2011
Business bent deflates the sails of India's left
A common joke used to make the rounds in Kolkata, where I grew up and found my footing in journalism. The joke was that West Bengal, whose capital city is Kolkata, was more Marxist than China — this in the heyday of communism. While China retained its Marxist model of governance, it was shrewd enough...
COMMENTARY
Apr 25, 2011
The lower odds for female births in India
India's 2011 census report has many heartening things to say. More educated men and women indicate a surge in literacy. People are living longer than ever before. Stability can be seen in the size of family; couples are having fewer children.
COMMENTARY
Mar 25, 2011
India's Supreme Court allows euthanasia
CHENNAI, India — India's Supreme Court ruled March 14 that an Indian citizen has the right to die with dignity. There are understandable riders to this landmark judgment that said thousands of people leading a vegetative life could have their artificial support systems withdrawn and thus end their...
COMMENTARY
Mar 1, 2011
'Horizontal mobility' staves off revolt in India
CHENNAI, India — Now that President Hosni Mubarak has finally relinquished power in Egypt and the military has taken control, the question in India is whether such a people's revolt can possibly happen there.
COMMENTARY
Jan 31, 2011
Food inflation threatens Congress coalition
CHENNAI, India — French Queen Marie Antoinette's sarcastic suggestion that her starving subjects eat cake instead of bread turned out to be the spark that ignited the French Revolution. In the end, the queen paid with her head.
COMMENTARY
Dec 21, 2010
Wave-spectrum yard sale shadows Singh
CHENNAI, India — India may well be a case of two vastly different stories. One is a grand tale of its phenomenal success, while the other shocks and scandalizes you.
COMMENTARY
Nov 29, 2010
Trigger-happy Indian cops cut corners to deliver quick justice
CHENNAI, India — India's democracy is being increasingly tarnished by its police force, which uses brutally illegal methods to deal with crime. Some officers are staging incidents to murder people who have been arrested on suspicion of committing particularly heinous offenses.
COMMENTARY
Oct 19, 2010
Justice in mosque destruction takes its time
CHENNAI, India — Much like Charles Dickens' immortal classic "Tale of Two Cities," India's own saga of two religious shrines has been fraught with tragedy. On a cold December morning in 1992, a nearly 500-year-old mosque at Ayodhya, central India, was razed to the ground. Fanatical Hindus owing allegiance...
COMMENTARY
Sep 28, 2010
Venetians raise blinds against nuclear plan
VENICE — It seemed incredible when drama rolled off the screen and onto the streets at Venice during its recent film festival. People played loud music, beat drums, blew trumpets and clashed cymbals to protest the government's decision to locate a nuclear reactor just 20 kilometers away from this ancient...
COMMENTARY
Aug 23, 2010
Shameful road to the Commonwealth Games
CHENNAI, India — India's Commonwealth Games, which are set to roll in New Delhi from Oct. 3, have turned into the nation's biggest shame. At a cost of $7.5 billion — excluding improvements and additions to city infrastructure — these will be the most expensive Commonwealth Games ever.
COMMENTARY
Jul 20, 2010
Student-teacher relationship sliding in India
CHENNAI, India — The suicide of a 13-year-old schoolboy suggests there is something grossly wrong with a society and its education system. Rouvanjit Rawla, a student of class 8 at one of India's most prestigious schools, La Martiniere, in Kolkata, killed himself after the principal caned him. The tragedy...
COMMENTARY
Jun 14, 2010
India's post-Bhopal recklessness
CHENNAI, India — More than 25 years ago on a cold winter night, thousands of sleeping people died after inhaling toxic gas escaping from a Union Carbide pesticide plant in the central Indian city of Bhopal. A train full of passengers at the nearby Bhopal station never moved. Nobody on it woke up.
COMMENTARY
May 17, 2010
'Honor killings' aimed at suppressing castes
CHENNAI, India — India can be sparkling white and deadly black. While it brags about its scientific achievements, including space exploration and nuclear arms, fancy cars and elite educational institutions, it must hang its head in shame over some heinous, dark-age practices.
COMMENTARY
Apr 19, 2010
Terrorists gain from inequality, recruiting those without options
CHANNAI, India — The recent massacre of 80-odd para-military soldiers by the Indian rebel group the Maoists was terrorism in its bloodiest form.
COMMENTARY
Mar 9, 2010
Intolerance in India putting artists to flight
CHENNAI, India — Indians have always taken pride in being a tolerant and understanding society, and the country's predominant religion, Hinduism, has often been described as a way of life that never relies on conversions, force or violence. These virtues, however, appear to be fading.
COMMENTARY
Feb 5, 2010
India wonders where Aussie welcome went
CHENNAI, India — Melbourne was the nicest city during my visit to Australia a couple of years ago. The people were very friendly, smiled often — even at strangers like me — and made me feel comfortable. Since then, Melbourne and the state of Victoria seem to have turned ugly — at least for Indians,...
COMMENTARY
Jan 14, 2010
India is taking the fast lane to car chaos
CHENNAI, India — India is in the midst of a car boom. At the latest count, there were a staggering 123 automobile models manufactured by 30 companies, and each model comes in several varieties. Despite the recession, the country's appetite for cars appears insatiable. Tacitly encouraging this is the...
COMMENTARY
Dec 8, 2009
Sexual liberation taking tragic turn in India
CHENNAI, India — As sexual freedom sweeps across India, women are increasingly finding that the price they have to pay in this euphoric atmosphere is very heavy.
COMMENTARY
Nov 17, 2009
Obama, Dalai Lama figure in Indo-China rift
CHENNAI, India — New Delhi recently allowed Tibet's spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, to visit the Buddhist monastery town of Tawang in India's northeastern state of Arunachal Pradesh. This region, which lies on the Indo-Tibetan border, has long been claimed by China as its own — or at least parts...
Ishiba delays meeting with Trump, citing legal restrictions
Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba waves upon arrival for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum, in Callao, Peru, on Friday.
Two of America’s biggest debt holders are dumping Treasurys
The U.S. Treasury building in Washington. Investors in Japan and China sold a pile of U.S. debt in the last quarter, just before the U.S. presidential election.
Rising sex tourism exposes loopholes in Japan's anti-prostitution law
While financial misfortunes during the COVID-19 pandemic may have driven some women to work the streets, others simply want more money to spend — or want to pay off their debts — at host clubs.
Japan ranks last in romance satisfaction for second straight year
In a survey of 31 countries, Japan ranked last in terms of those who felt loved, with just 51% of respondents saying so.
Ruling coalition and DPP strike last-minute deal over economic policy
DPP policy chief Makoto Mahaguchi speaks at the party's policy gathering in Tokyo on Wednesday.
Japan, U.K. and Italy discuss inviting more countries to joint fighter project
A new concept model of a next-generation fighter jet to be jointly developed by Japan, Britain and Italy is on display in Farnborough, Hampshire, in July.
Haruki Murakami's 'The City and Its Uncertain Walls' gives deep deja vu
For “The City and Its Uncertain Walls,” translated into English by Philip Gabriel, Haruki Murakami confronts the ghosts who won't leave him alone.
Japanese expats in Asia find community through rugby
The Taiwan Fivewoods celebrate their victory at the 2023 Asian Japanese Rugby Cup in December of last year.
In Fukushima, a weekend of prose, poetry and translation
Aomori-based writer JJ Carter presented on tabletop gaming as creative inspiration for building characters and narratives.
For Dr. Nakamats, aging is just experience in action
Though he didn't win the recent gubernatorial election in Tokyo, the 96-year-old Dr. Nakamats' run was seen as inspirational in Japan's aging society.

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