Ram's Cafe

I have written before on the curse that is the caste 'system' in India. What is so outrageous is that caste-based discrimination is still practiced in Tamilnadu - one of the first places in India that woke up to fight this unacceptable 'practice'. The fight was led by 'Periyar' E.V.Ramasamy and was quite effective - up to a point.

So, finally someone in Congress(I) learned to say the word 'sychophancy'! I wonder why it took them so long when the whole country has been witnessing this phenomenon for god knows how long. Did it occur to Arjun Singh that India would end up as a laughing stock in the eyes of the world if indeed Rahul Gandhi was anointed Prime Minister?

So, it's official now - Land Rover and Jaguar are now brands owned by Tata Motors. That's great news from an Indian perspective. Something to be proud of, no doubt. The Tatas were the best among the potential suitors for these brands - they have been pioneers in India, and their work ethic, labour standards and work culture have been far, far ahead of the times. Those in western countries who might whine about selling off these famous brands to an Indian company have to be either ignorant or biased.

I used to have great respect and admiration for 'The Hindu' newspaper and its other publications such as Frontline and Sportstar. There's simply no question that this group continuously raises the bar when it comes to journalistic quality while maintaining a healthy market share. But there is one subject that constantly bothers me - so much so that I almost feel betrayed - and that is their fervent, almost religious pro-China stance.

After a long hiatus, I decided to restart Ram's Cafe - but this time with a slightly different focus - mostly on Asia and, particularly, India. Since the site was largely inactive for several months, I think the earlier visitors would have dropped out. I am unable to transfer the user accounts to this new hosting arrangement - I apologize for any earlier visitor who lands here and finds everything different and mostly unrelated to the earlier stuff.