Ideas News - Page 11

Is India 'occupying' Kashmir? Why the Lefties are wrong

Is India doing an Israel in Kashmir? Some pseudo-Leftists seem to think so. But they should know that India is fighting sectarian forces in Kashmir, and not just fighting for a piece of land there.

There's something about a physical book

There is both comfort and exhilaration to be derived from a physical book. The solidity of a book reassures us that answers exist, in a way that a virtual library, with no dimensions except an abstract sense of depth, cannot.

The catch-22 of being a Jyotirmoy Dey

India, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, ranks 13th in the world on the Impunity Index which measures the degree to which a country can’t or won’t bring the killers of reporters to justice.

The man who painted India: What Husain was all about

Labeled as an anarchist of sorts, ironically, Husain's best paintings are nationalist emblems of an India forming its own identity in the wake of Independence.

The most dangerous place for intrepid journalists is home

As Jyotirmoy Dey's killing demonstrates, local journalists on their daily beat, with no flak jackets or armed bodyguards, are more at risk than their counterparts in war zones. Here's how his killing can be avenged...

Why I love Lady Gaga: an Indian woman's ode to liberation

A twenty-something explains why the pop star offers a liberating role model in a culture obsessed with hot Bollywood beauties.

The God Market: Meet the gurus of karma capitalism

The new tribe of Indian god-men like Baba Ramdev and Sri Sri Ravi Shankar combine business savvy with a soft Hindutva, making them irresistible to upwardly mobile Indians around the world.

Why writers fight: A guide to global literary feuds

VS Naipaul’s 15-year-long tiff with author and former protégé Paul Theroux, ended with a handshake at the Hay Festival between the two. We scrutinise how and why writers quarrel with each other.

Two visions of Shangri-La: Bhutan vs Los Angeles

A young woman from Bhutan, "the happiest place on earth," visits Los Angeles, the world's dream factory and wonders if happiness can come out of a dishwasher.

Bollywood attitude to World Cinema: I pee on you!

A studio executive's antics at Cannes reveal Bollywood's attitude toward the world: you watch your films and we’ll watch ours!

Dateline India: why Arundhati Roy's pants are on fire

Arundhati Roy's claim that foreign journalists in India are discouraged by their own publications from writing on the 'dark side' of India is fanciful - and demonstrably untrue.

Posted! Your reactions to our content

Outrage at the Prime Minister and horror at India's human organ market defined our reader comments today

Audience posts today

Baba Ramdev and the UPA government elicited the most opinion and debate on Firstpost today

Notes from a broken fast: why the 'other India' was there

A Firstpost postcard from the scene of Baba Ramdev's fast, capturing the hopes and aspirations of those who had come - before they were beaten away at midnight.

The Thieving Magpie

Sunandini Banerjee, collects images from a wide variety of sources and creates innovative, humourous digital collages—a potpourri or a medley or a luck bag, call it what you will.

Anna Hazare and co. walk tightrope after Ramdev's exit

Anna Hazare and other civil society leaders need to come down hard on the government for its raid on Ramdev but not kill its own Lokpal bill.

Ramdev vs Hazare: The politics of saffron and white

One is a saffron-clad messiah of health. The other a Gandhian high-priest in white. Together, they create a T-20 version of politics around corruption.

Firstpost welcomes its first community bloggers

Firstpost is happy to announce that Shining Path and Subir Ghosh, two of our readers, will begin blogging for us on a regular basis starting from today.

Looking for love and lingerie in modern India

Black lace intimates, transparent bras and satin girdles — wedding shopping in India gets daring, but knowledge of sex hasn't kept pace, finds NPR reporter Miranda Kennedy.

Posting your opinions

Baba Ramdev, Maran and corruption in general garnered the most response from readers today.

Food for thought: Why Baba Ramdev really wants to starve

The hunger strike is the VIP's activism of choice, and only works if you are an Anna Hazare or a Baba Ramdev. That's why the powerless opt for self-immolation.

Forget Marathi, Tamil, Bengali: your kid is English only

English now reigns supreme even within our homes. It is easy to blame the schools, but it is more often we, the urban professional class, who have spurned the language of our childhood.

You posted back

From a headline given to us by our Facebook community to comments on Baba Ramdev, corruption and Omar Abdullah, this is our selection of your comments, tweets and facebook posts in response to our content

A release date for The Hobbit! (and other web stories)

From the official announcement of the release date of "The Hobbit" to the finalists of the Wikimedia picture of the year contest, this is our selection of the news, images and multimedia that we liked on the web today.

Wikipedia's bold bid for World Heritage status

The Wikimedia Foundation plans to apply for a UNESCO World Heritage label. But can a virtual site claim to be “a masterpiece of human creative genius" of universal human value?

Sexy aliens and copyrighting flesh: On the interwebs today

A list of 9 of the sexiest movie aliens, uproar over Mike Tyson tattoo in the Hangover 2, a video that makes visualizations oh human data and other things we found interesting on the web today.

Trash your intuition; it only deceives you

How the illusions of our mind deceive us, and why we should never judge a book by its cover.

Super days: A remembrance of Bollywood past

Remember when Rajesh Khanna ruled the roost, Bobby was all the rage, and there was no such thing as Bollywood? Namita Gokhale takes a witty trip down memory lane.

How Mr Facebook makes a killing: he slits throats, kindly

Talk about the lifestyles of the rich and famous! Mark Zuckerberg's new challenge is to eat only what he kills.

Goodbye Onida devil, hello bionic man: Mapping gay desire in India

Gay images are everywhere these days in India from buff Bollywood stars to rocking gay parties in big cities. But the visibility hasn't demolished the closet, just made it better furnished.