Category: English
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Arguments for Gun Control – 1
The Stoneman Douglas High School shooting last week has left 17 students and faculty dead, 15 injured, and the whole country arguing on social media about gun control. I spent a lot of time myself this weekend arguing with people on Facebook, pushing the same arguments over and over. Now I decided to compile my…
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Ramjas and Freedom of Expression
Umar Khalid should have been listened to at Ramjas College. He has a right to freedom of expression. The seminar should not have been canceled. Shazia Ilmi should not have been dropped from the speaker’s list at Jamia. Lipstick Under My Burkha should not have been banned by the Censor Board. In fact, there should…
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Much Ado About Theresa's Sari
Recently, pictures of British Prime Minister Theresa May wearing a sari have been doing the rounds on social media, with captions on the lines of “New British PM’s first day in office and she chose to wear an Indian sari. Many Indians don’t do so. Salute to new lady PM of Britain.” This is partly…
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Dirty Old Man of Indian Journalism
Even though I grew up reading Khushwant Singh’s columns in the 70s and 80s, for recent years I had not read much from or about him. For a short period I wondered if he was even alive — until my last trip to India in August when I laid my hands on what may have…
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7 Myths Broken for Pro-377 Indians
In 1861, the British created Article 377 of the Indian Penal Code, criminalizing homosexual behavior. A century and a half later, our attempts to get rid of this archaic law have come to a naught. Most of my friends on social networks have had something to say about the situation, and very few of them…
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God, Jerusalem and Democrats
In the Democratic National Convention yesterday, rationalism died a painful death, just in order to keep God alive. In spite of two evenings of great speeches, the DNC’s decision to sneak God back onto the platform, that too via the back-door, did not win any fans. Briefly, this is what happened. Democratic party’s “platform” (party…
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Doodle for Google 2012
Google has announced an interesting competition for creative school kids in the US. Children K-12 (Kindergarten through 12th Grade) can participate in this competition to submit “doodles” with the theme “If I could travel in time, I’d visit…”. The prize is a $30,000 college scholarship for the kid plus a $50,000 technology grant for his…
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Law, Sausage and the Apple
It is said that if you love sausage and respect the law, you should watch neither being made. Now here is something that will make you add your favorite Apple gadget to the list of your dear things that you would rather not watch being made. Actually, this applies not just to the Apple devices…
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Google Books Ngram Viewer
Google does some interesting things. Ngram Viewer which I found about just today is one such. To know what the Ngram viewer does, we first need to know what an Ngram is. Well, according to Wikipedia, an Ngram is “a subsequence of n items from a given sequence.” If you just wanted to know how…