Some stuff I am reading today morning:
Realty players upbeat as sales begin to pickup (BusinessLine)
Goa’s economy in a tail spin (ET)
Shipping:Angry seas still (Mint)
Justice for 10000 killed in Gujarat 2002 (Mediacrooks)
Conflict of interest (Subramoney)
PFC India tax free bonds – 2013 (OneMint)
Singapore protests highlights worries about inflation (Bloomberg)
New research on momentum strategies (Empiritage)
Housing as an investment? (Businessweek)
Bernard Baruch’s 10 rules of investing (TRB)
I just love this comment by B.True on the Youtube website for this lovely song.
The 50-rupee note at 1:03 flips to the other side in the close-up shot that follows. But this is only a minor quibble in a brilliantly edited video and an amazing, original composition. This video makes me want to watch this movie even though it is an adaptation of what is at best a mediocre novel. Take a bow, Amit Trivedi!
This post is in continuation of my book review series (see here).
William Dalrymple is one of my favorite authors and his latest book on the First Anglo-Afgan war “The Return of a King” underscores again why he is considered as a master of his craft.
The book covers the events leading upto the First Ango-Afghan war, the massacre of the British Army (which included thousands of Indians) and subsequently the revenge inflicted on the Afghans by the ominous sounding Army of Retribution.
The book is extremely well researched and lucidly written.Its full of interesting factoids and anecdotes.For example, did you know that Ahmad Shah Durrani (who fought the third battle of Panipat against the Marathas) was invited to India by Tipu Sultan from Mysore?
There are quite a few tidbits of Raja Ranjit Singh, the Lion of the Sikhs.In a strange irony of events, he was the one who captured Peshawar from the Afghans.When the British annexed the Sikh empire, Peshawar came along and hence is now a part of Pakistan.
If there ever was a book which proves “History repeats itself”, this is it.There are disturbing parallels between the Anglo wars of yesteryears and what is happening in Afghanistan today.If history is a guide, it would be difficult for Karzai to hold on to power after the Americans leave.
Would strongly recommend this book to readers who love history.
This post is in continuation of my site review series (see here)
Sandeep writes a blog called “The Rediscovery of India” which offers a nationalistic perspective on current events/historical figures.
His research is usually top class and he writes in an incisive style.Take for instance, his posts on the hypocrisy of Guha and the true legacy of the religious bigot Tipu Sultan.
His latest post “The Snakes in our own grass” gives voice to the anguish of millions of middle class Indians who got nauseated by media channels and assorted punditry who condemned the Indian state for hanging Afzal Guru.
Check out the blog for yourself !
This post is in continuation of This is India ! series (see here)
In a daring crime in broad daylight, a builder was stabbed multiple times and then shot from close range outside his office in sector 29 along Kopar Khairane Road in Navi Mumbai at 8.30 am Saturday.
Sunil Kumar, who owned SK Builders and stayed in sector 18, Sanpada, was walking to office after parking his BMW when two men, one of them dressed as a security guard, attacked him.
Eyewitness said one assailant was holding a wooden stool and the other had a coconut and a marigold garland in his hands.
CCTV footage shows the two stopping Kumar and one smashing a coconut on his head. After Kumar lost his balance, one of the assailants stabbed him in the chest and stomach with a knife.
“As Kumar began bleeding, the second assailant pumped five bullets into him from a pistol,” said Purushottam Karad, DCP (zone 1) Navi Mumbai. The two then spread the garland on the bleeding builder and tried to flee on a motorcycle.
Meanwhile, the gunshots had alerted a few neighbours and passersby who chased them and pulled the pillion rider, later identified as Venkatesh Shettiyar (35), down, while the rider managed to speed away.
The locals then beat up Shettiyar till he fell unconscious. They rushed Kumar to hospital but he died during treatment.
“We arrested Shettiyar (from Navi Mumbai Municipal Hospital, where he was being treated) and are looking for his accomplice,” Karad said.
Police said smashing coconut was a ritual of some south Indian gangs operating in Navi Mumbai.-from the Indian Express
