In the past few months, I have come across a few interesting magazines which I think are worth talking about.

One of them is The Caravan – A Journal of Politics and Culture. I quite like their style of in-depth reporting. It is unlike the other national magazines which have reduced themselves to sensational headlines and shallow content. As the editorial mission of The Caravan says:

The Caravan has been shaped as India’s first narrative journalism magazine a la The New Yorker, Harpers, Atlantic Monthly, The New York Review of Books in United States, and Granta and Prospect in the UK.  It is a change from the linear ways of reporting, a change from impersonal, dry facts, to a narrative story with perspective.

The issue I bought lives up to this mission statement. And I hope they continue to do so in the subsequent issues, unlike many magazines which give a promising start but fail to live-up to the original values. The OPEN magazine, to cite a name that I easily remember, did start off with a unique set of characteristics – giving alternative views, showcasing stories that were not picked up by the mainstream bunch of journals and so on. However, since then, they slowly seem to be slipping into the “do anything to grab eyeballs” business. I do hope they fix this and return to what they were doing about a year ago.

The other magazine, rather a sidekick (if I may call it) to the primary Tehelka magazine, is the Tehelka’s “Original Fiction” issue. It is essentially a collection of short works of fiction in the pulp noir genre by some really wonderful writers. Tarun Tejpal explains the idea behind “Original Fictions” in his editorial letter:

But for one brief week, at the end of every year, TEHELKA lets go. It hands its pages over to the artisans of fiction, leaving them free to decode the world as they choose, with sense or no sense. To the critics — who wonder at such whimsicality — we say, it’s only a fleeting interlude, the stars of reality are straining at the wings ready to regain the stage. So take a deep breath, shake your head, perhaps locate a fresh perspective.

Some of the short stories are brilliant. Do check out the first one written by Atul Sabharwal. And a surprise entry in this list was Devdutt Patanaik, who I thought restricted himself only to mythology. It is an interesting collection and while some of the stories could have been better, the entire package is worth reading.

Another magazine that I came across, albeit online, was Guernica. In addition to the poignant articles and fresh perspectives that this online magazine carries, the site itself is very beautifully designed. If art and politics are what you feed on, Guernica should satiate you quite well.

P. Chidambaram has released this official statement in response to yesterday’s Naxalite attack which led to 76 CRPF personnel losing their lives. Couple of paragraphs:

The State has a legitimate right to deploy its security forces to resist, apprehend and, if necessary, neutralise militants who are determined to strike at the very roots of our nation.

It is the Naxalites who have described the State as the ‘enemy’ and the conflict as a ‘war’. If this is a war – and I wish to say that we have never used that word – it is a war that has been thrust upon the State by those who do not have a legitimate right to carry weapons or to kill. The State – the Central Government and the affected State Governments – are discharging their legal and Constitutional duty to protect the people.

What do you think of that?

The recent earthquake in Haiti has destroyed the country significantly. A lot of international aid has poured in and at the same time there have been views that Haiti should not get any money, since it is a corrupt nation and the money will not end up where it should.

Nicholas D. Kristof  of the New York Times sets things straight in Some Frank Talk About Haiti.

Haiti isn’t impoverished because the devil got his due; it’s impoverished partly because of debts due. France imposed a huge debt that strangled Haiti. And when foreigners weren’t looting Haiti, its own rulers were.

Do read that article and then come right back to help the Haiti cause by donating to the Doctors Without Borders.

Well, most of you who follow me on Twitter or are on my GTalk friend list have perhaps already seen this. But those who haven’t here is the unveiling of  Startup Crush.

It is a Digg-styled clone catering to the niche of news, reviews and information about technology startups. I don’t yet know whether this is going to be focused on Indian startups alone or will want to continue to cover global startup news. An interesting section added there is that of Startup Jobs, which I hope many startup job consultants will make use of to get to the right audience.

And personally, this is an experiment on how user generated content and a social community can be rallied along for a particular subject.

Love to know your comments/reactions on Startup Crush.

Time was slowly slipping by on this blog while things were becoming too fast paced in the offline world. Finally, a balance seems to be on the horizon as we resume interacting here once again.

First news first, Dhi Junior aka Taksh has well and truly arrived. Taksh is named after the founder of the Takshila University. For those with a mythological interest, Taksh was the name of Bharat’s son (Bharat being Ram’s younger brother of course). For those who think this is a wonderful name, we should let you know how the name got selected. Those who think this is quite a bad name, we should still let you know how the name got selected.

Rewind a few months back and the Mrs. and I are thinking whether we should start thinking about names. The Mrs. thinks perhaps and I say perhaps and then we go about doing other important things like solving crosswords and drinking tea. Rewind a few weeks before Taksh is due and we are thinking whether we should start thinking about a name. But then again, we don’t know the gender so why bother right now? More crosswords and more tea follow and we nod in unison at our decision.

Taksh arrives, known and recognized more as the son of the Mrs. and Dhi. We are still thinking whether to start thinking of names. I get online (what more could be expected of someone who blogs) and search for names. That becomes a tiring exercise so we break for a crossword and tea. Then we get possession of a book of baby names and believe that this was the best thing to happen to us (after the baby of course). We are told by the powers that be that the baby’s name should start with an R or a T. We run through the Rs and don’t find anything interesting, anything remotely difficult to pronounce or explain. We then browse through the Ts and immediately stumble upon Taksh. It’s got a slight tongue-twisting feel to it and the dude is going to have to spend some time explaining the word and the spelling.

“So much like my name,” I beamed to myself. That was sufficient for us as far as naming him was concerned. And thus arrived Taksh. We are back to our crosswords but are briefly and rightly so interrupted by him every few hours of our sleeping time. He is one of the reasons why I have groggy eyes and sleepy afternoon meetings. He is also one of the reasons why blogging, apart from other essential activities, has taken a back seat.

Moving on to other things now. During one of the nights that I spent at the hospital, I am walking on the corridors at around 11:00 pm. A couple of nurses with worried faces are running behind a sort of matronly looking nurse.

“Sister, sister, we don’t know what are the exact procedures to be put up in the list sister”, one of the younger ones complains with a hassled face.

“Yes sister, how can we know the procedure?” adds her companion meekly.

The matronly sister turns around and says “Eh, what ya! Take it from the net no! It is there on the net, just take it from there.”

I smiled and felt glad that even hospitals were referring to pieces of information on the internet to know procedures of some kinds. Hoping it wasn’t exactly some life-saving procedure, I walked along as the nurses turned around and trotted away with immense happiness.

Ladies and gentlemen, it’s time to give Taksh his due attention lest he decides to bawl through the night.

More later. Enjoy.

My interview in Times Ascent, covering this blog, my book and The Better India.
Please click below:
Read interview

MNS is at it again. 

You got to read this.

That was news worthy enough. But here is the icing:

However, Bharti later told a press conference that Rai was like her brother and she had a right to “love or hit him”.

And some more:

Rai, who was also present at the press conference, said Bharti was like his elder sister and she had the right to “beat him or love him”.

Read it all here. Fun eh?

The Mid-day has covered The Better India in this article yesterday. This is encouraging and will help us spread the word faster.
And of course, we are super thrilled about this

Thanks to L Romal Singh for featuring us there!

This was something expected with the rapid rate of construction and infrastructure development taking place in the country.
Eric Bellman and Jackie Richie write in this article of The Mint about how the lack of safety standards is affecting the construction industry.

When Subhash Rathod piled his pregnant wife, some blankets, vegetables and a stove into a small truck for the 15-hour drive from their village to Mumbai, the couple joined a wave of rural workers on the front lines of India’s building boom.

A labour contractor had persuaded Rathod and about 50 others from the village of Gandhari to make better money—about Rs170 a day—building a warehouse.

A couple of months later, one of the towering warehouse walls collapsed, killing 14 villagers and injuring more than 50 others. Rathod’s wife, brother, sister and sister-in-law all died in the accident.

It is saddening to note that most construction workers are illiterate and hence are unaware of the safety standards that they are entitled to.

Read the article here.