Two articles I read this morning stayed with me the entire day.
The first was this uplifting ( sarcasm) headline “India at bottom in man-woman equality index: World Economic Forum” in the Times of India. India ranked a shameful 114 out of 134 developing countries , indexed in terms of man-woman equality. The gender gap is increasing – not the least because of an estimated 25 Million ” missing women ” in India.Missing because of female foeticide or abortion. On the list , India ranks behind Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri …

This is a post that I would rather not have written. It is one of those that is deeply uncomfortable and yet it must be written. Especially after the minor meltdown I had last week. Diepriye Kuku, an African American Phd Student at the Delhi School ofEconomics gives a searing and first hand account of the racism he faces daily in India in a piece entitled wincingly enough ” India is Racist, And Happy about it ” published in Outlook India. (link

Prof. Ravi Shankar is a published poet, and a faculty member at the Central Connecticut State University. On July 10th this year, he was arrested on false charges, and detained for more than 30 hrs in a NY detention facility while being hurled with racial epithets. His record only had an unpaid speeding ticket, but he was being arrested as he ‘fit’ the description of a 140 pound caucasian male, while being a 200 pound, East Indian male.
After being produced before a magistrate after 30 hrs of detention and being …

Today is International Women’s Day. I cannot wish all our readers a “Happy Women’s Day” because truth to be told there is not much to be happy about.
The Times of India says so (link)
Studies show that a woman is raped every 35 minutes in India; female child mortality is higher than male by 25%-50% in India, Bangladesh and Nepal….. the average South Asian woman’s risk of dying in childbirth is a hundred times greater than for a woman in an industrialized country
Before we start congratulating ourselves on living in the …

The constitution of India begins “We, the people of India”. Nowhere does it say “We the people with exceptions…” . So I cannot figure out at what point the Government of India decided that a complete section of people can be excepted from constitutional protection. I read this article in the “Times of India” which deals with the court case being heard in the New Delhi High Court. A group of activists has requested a change to Section377, specifically a :

toning down of the act …

(scroll to the bottom for an update)
The makers of the new Mike Myers homage to juvenile toilet humor, have managed to garner support from an unlikely source. The same source that the movie parodies, well sort of.
The North American Chapter of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) has just urged Hindus protesting Guru Pitka’s on-screen antics to lighten up and be enlightened. And pleasantly surprised as we are at UberDesi, all we are going say about it is “asphinctersayswhat”.
Say what? Exactly!
Perhaps the first Hindu organisation to comment on the …

Much has been said about the Olympic torch relays and the fact that some people are calling for the torch bearers to boycott it to express solidarity with the Tibetans. I have a couple of things to say, things that seem to have been conveniently forgotten in all the politics and events of the past two weeks. And I will take the risk of being labeled heartless (and possibly leftist/communist etc., if the trolls get here).
I have constantly seen three stakeholders in this issue – the Chinese and the Tibetans …