Rumi Nations

Give me a break! Probably that's how Indians would react if they knew about this phenomenon that's described as the post-World War II Baby Boom. It's the generation of Bill Clinton and others who belong to his age group. For those interested in arcane Americana, this Baby Boom refers to the eggregious increase in the number of babies that people were having ... this increase took place in the boom years following the end of the Second World War. Those years, late 40s and all of the 50s saw Americans having more than 4 million babies a year. Of course, that's a laughable boom by Indian standards. Indians would defeat Americans in this game any day: Indians today give birth to anywhere between 20 million to 30 million babies in a year. So, what boom are Americans talking about??? It's positively a baby drought rather than a baby boom. Americans would need to do a lot more to compete with Indians in this regard. And frankly, Americnas can't even hope or dream of ma...

The Japanese have a legendary appetite for seafood — much to the misfortune of sea life. Tuna fish happen to be one of the victims of this food fancy. Of course, just as the Japanese have pretty much hunted whales almost to the point of extinction, the seas near Japan have similarly lost much of their population of tuna fish. The Japanese have such a legendary appetite for such stuff that they even import seafood (specifically, prawns) from Orissa in India which happens to be my home state. It seems somewhat astonishing or bewildering that we humans who occupy less than one-third of the planet’s surface which is land should be able to deplete resources from the oceans which occupy more than two-thirds of the planet’s surface. On a completely different note — global warming deniers claim that humans are too insignificant a presence on the planet to be able to affect something as vast as the planet’s climate as the planet is too big. As the state of marine life shows, we humans certainly...

Here are some random occurrences that together make for an interesting tapestry/collage. Abramovich has fitted his yatch with fancy laser devices that will disable digital cameras ... this to protect himself from the prying eyes of the paparazzi. People are committing suicides just because some politician died ... this in apna AP. Or, are they??? Some ladies are using breast enhancement techniques ... but, that's old-fashioned now. So, some who want to be at the vanguard — Pam Anders, Vic Becks — are starting an opposing trend ... that of breast reduction. I say, cheers to that!!! I don't know why though ... I just have one thought. Will Indian ladies follow their Western counterparts as usual??? But then, since things tend to happen in India with a certain time lag, will Indian ladies first go for breast enhancement in the years to come or will they skip that part and go straight for breast reduction??? Interesting possibilities indeed. Talking about contradictions, there...

People of India have decided to go with the status quo by opting for another five years of Congress rule — not that they had any alternatives that are much better. As noted in the last blog post, India is a conundrum ... People in the United States whose jobs have been Bangalored certainly love to hate India ... People in India meanwhile love to admire America ... I am confused about Indians admiring America though ... I am confused about this whole business of India being a 'young' country ... From what I have observed about young Indians, they seem a strange blend of tradition and modernity ... Youngsters don't see any dichotomy in aspiring to all the trappings of material success and yet at the same time they don't mind keeping alive their moribund traditions and rituals ... When it's time for some critical decisions in life — such as marriage — young Indians demonstrate a remarkable resemblance in their mindsets with their ancestors. I find it odd that educated ...