You may have heard of the movies ‘Bwana Devil’ (first American 3-D Color movie) and ‘The Ghost and The Darkness’ (starring Val Kilmer, Michael Douglas and our very own Om Puri) that were based on real life incidents connected to the Tsavo man-eaters of Kenya.
New research suggests that the number of victims may have been much lesser than previously thought.
Over nine months the two voracious hunters claimed 35 lives _ no small figure, but much less than some accounts of as many as 135 victims.
It was 1898, when laborers from …

One most important thing that is inherently Indian, is the respect given to Gurus in India. The first question as a graduate student the first week in Amrika was do I stand up when the professor walks in? I mean, logically I would follow what the rest of the class does, assuming there were non-Indians in the class . And from what I understand this is not the normal practice in American schools. But as a kid growing up (and fully grown up),  students in schools were expected to …

On the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the Chinese occupation of Tibet and Dalai Lama’s flight to India, the UK Times has an entire section dedicated to this event. Dalai Lama’s arduous flight to India has been captured in these unique photos. [Times UK]
Also of interest is this news clip from the Times published in 1959. [News Clip]

Martin Luther King III, the eldest son of the civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr., is in India retracing the footsteps of his father, who made a similar trip to India 50 years ago.
King Jr., who arrived in India on on February 9th, 1959 along with his wife, spent a month understanding Gandhi’s mode of non-violent protests and his teachings, nearly 10 years after Gandhi’s death.

MLK Jr., Image source: pace.edu
MLK 3 with Mahatma’s grand daughter.Image source: LA Times

Earlier this week, the U.S. senate passed a resolution comfirming Gandhi’s …

Via Boing Boing comes this amazing story about dark forces and spiritual healing, an incident that will be out of place on a Twilight Zone script. And we, at UberDesi would not have even batted an eyelid, if not for the fact that the main protagonist in question was our own Bobby. No, not that Bhabhi (Hate to disappoint you, Amit!), but the Bobby who occupies the gubernatorial mansion in Baton Rouge.
Piyush Jindal’s faithful following of the Catholic Church is no news. But it appears he has had one more …

The Persian Gulf War begins. A U.S. led international coalition launched the First Gulf War a.k.a Operation Desert Storm primarily to remove Saddam Hussain’s invading forces from oil-rich Kuwait. The war ended in abject defeat for Saddam’s forces.
The Kuwait invasion mattered at that time because a number of Indian and South Asian expatriates suffered as a result of Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait. [link]

Today marks the 3 year anniversary of the Indian Ocean Tsunami that ravaged Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and other nations lining the Indian Ocean. [link]
The Indian Ocean Earthquake/Tsunami killed over half a million people and ranks among the top 10 natural disasters in modern history. Sambol, did some great work in raising money for those affected by this disaster in Sri Lanka.
Other Über Desi referencing the 2004 Indian Ocean Tsunami.

I can’t believe its already been 15 years.
15 years ago, on this day mobs belonging to the BJP, Shiv Sena, VHP, RSS and other Hindu extremist groups tore down the Babri Masjid. This was followed by days of communal riots throughout the country, followed by another round in January 1993 triggered by the Radhabai chawl killings in Mumbai and culminated in the Bombay bomb blasts in March 2003.
Further fallout from this day – around 10 years after this incident, a group of Hindu activists returning from the same location of …

There are some questions in life that seem paradoxical. Why are desis intent on making their skin lighter while goras suntan to make their skin darker?
Finally, we may have discovered the answer to this question – nerve gas. I read this story on numerous websites about the British military using Indian soldiers as guinea pigs in testing agents for chemical warfare. The logic for performing these tests on Indian soldiers was mind boggling – the British wanted to see if the Indians’ skin was more susceptible to nerve gas than …

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe during his recent visit to India met with Pransanta Pal, the son of controversial judge Radhabinod Pal.
Radhabinod Pal – the controversial Indian judge
The meeting was controversial because Radhabinod Pal was the lone dissenting judges on a war crimes tribunal on Japanese war crimes (1,2,3). Pal was of the opinion that the war crimes tribunal by the victors
As for Shinzo Abe, the leader of the ruling Liberal Democratic Party of Japan, his comments on sex slaves held by the imperial Japanese Army in World War 2 …

Before their now controversial list of villians, Outlook came up with a list of 50 heroes in post-Independence India.
As with any list, there are some great selections, surprise picks and some WTF picks. Instead of concentrating on the negatives, on the occasion of India’s 60th Independence Day, here’s a list of some underappreciated folks on the list whose names might get lost in a sea of who’s whos.
Vallabhbhai Patel – A no-nonsense hawk and architect of the current map of India, Kashmir notwithstanding. Patel worked tirelessly to create an union …

62 years ago, the United States of America on August 6th 1945 dropped the atomic bomb on the city of Hiroshima and 3 days later on Nagasaki, effectively bringing an end to World War II.
The bomb killed around 80,000 people on the spot injuring another 35,000 while levelling the entire city within a matter of seconds. This is the worst instance of human massacre ever in recorded history in terms of speed and efficiency. Another 60,000 died from the nuclear fallout within a few months. Since that day (thankfully), an …

The high priestess of politics and corruption in India, Indira Gandhi, was found guilty of corrupt electoral practices by the Allahabad High court.
When members of the opposition, admittedly not any less corrupt, took to the streets to protest, she declared a state of emergency and clamped down on civil liberties including freedom of press and freedom of expression. Later, she got legislative laws passed that would result in charges against her being dropped. She was ousted in the 1977 elections but thanks to weak opposition and an apathetic Indian populace …