Using Licensed Images in Blog, the Right Way

Quality media, especially colourful images, make a blog attractive on the very first look, and encourage readers to take a closer look and actually taste the contents. Initially I was unsure of how to do this without the risk of infringing on somebody else’s copyright. I also couldn’t find many resources on the net that […]

Living with Differences – the Indian Ideal

In 1947, when India got independence, the country was divided in two in accordance with the two-nation theory proposed by Mohammed Ali Jinnah. He claimed that Hindus and Muslims were separate nations sharing only a geographical region. It is well-known that this thought was a result of the divide-and-rule policy which was conscientiously followed by […]

My Experience with Blogster

Long long ago, when I was in college and had a lot of free time on hand, I used to blog on a platform/community called Blogster under the pseudonym of meanderthalis. In spite of all technical and functional shortcomings of platform, it was a good social experience, thanks to many of the bloggers there who […]

The Seeds of a Crime

Images of Velupillai Prabhakaran’s young son eating biscuits (presumably in Sri Lankan military custody) and later lying dead on the ground shot through the chest, that were in the news yesterday were literally heartbreaking. When that initial shock and pain in the heart eased, many questions popped up. Is this news true? Why would they […]

Salarying Housewives

Late last year, there was news of a law being drafted, that would require husbands to pay a “salary” to his wife if the latter were a homemaker. As expected, there were many discussions on this law and, interestingly, some men’s groups vehemently opposed this proposal. I am very much for gender neutral laws in […]

Demystifying Luck

Luck is what we wish for, and lucky is what we wish to be. From ancient times, men have tried using specific stones, names, numbers, and even tattoos that they believed would bring them good fortune. These days, universally applicable charms that attract luck and guard against misfortunes, available for sale online or over the […]

Right to Express – Sense over Sensitivity

Hardly a month goes without news of protests by groups claiming that their religious sentiments were hurt by a cartoon, film, or other works of art and literature. I think it is perfectly okay. Everybody has the right to be offended and to protest (peacefully and democratically). But the trouble starts when they start demanding […]

A Bout of Illness

For the last 10 days or so, I have not been in the best of health. There are thoughts that are not likely to come to us in a state of perfect physical well-being, in which we tend to think of this body as a tool that will always be available at our service. But […]

Fringe Cases in Democracy and Tyranny

I happened to read an article that compared ‘ostensibly democratic regimes’ with openly tyrannical ones. The author presses the point that there are “genuine differences between explicitly repressive regimes and ‘ostensibly’ democratic ones” and that the latter are still better than the former. I have no complaints so far, and I also share the author’s dislike […]