Monthly Archives: January 2009

Winter Flagbearers: Delhi Cold and JNU Food Festival

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JNU holds its multi-national food festival in the midst of a Delhi winter that is not very cold

Dinesh Wagle
Wagle Street Journal
[This article originally appeared on the Op-Ed page of the Kathmandu Post today. See it here as it appeared on the paper.]

The hottest news in Delhi is the absence of cold. “Who stole Delhi’s winter?” asked the Times of India the other day and went on to conclude that “winter has cheated Delhiites this season.”

It was widely reported in December that the month entered record books as the second warmest in 108 years. January — traditionally the coldest month in Delhi — too has been freakishly warm with as many as 20 days out of 28 having recorded above average minimum temperatures, wrote the paper. The average minimum temperature of the Indian capital for the first 28 days of January was 8.9 degrees celsius.

Before I came to Delhi almost three months ago people had warned me in Kathmandu about the extreme weather conditions in the Indian capital. “Flying crows fall on the ground in summer heat,” one well-wisher had cautioned me. “And people die because of cold. Delhi has a very different kind of cold: treacherous and dangerous.” Continue reading →

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Hail the Republic: How Indians Wrote the Constitution

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Republic Day is both a day of celebration and introspection for India

Dinesh Wagle
Wagle Street Journal
[This article originally appeared on the Op-Ed page of the Kathmandu Post today. See it here as it appeared on the paper.]

On the 26th day of every January a grand ceremony is held on Rajpath (formerly King’s Way), a wide road that begins from the Indian presidential palace located at Raisina Hills, New Delhi and descends on to run along flat land with spacious gardens on both sides that are filled by thousands of spectators. India puts its military might and cultural diversity on full display through a colorful parade while the President awards medals of bravery to deserving citizens. The day, a national holiday in India, has its own name: The Republic Day. Continue reading →

IT and Beauty in India: The Traumas

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India’s success at producing IT and international beauties hides dark realities that have recently been revealed

Dinesh Wagle
Wagle Street Journal

[This article originally appeared on the Op-Ed page of the Kathmandu Post today. See it here as it appeared on the paper.]

Ene Adobunu, the Nigerian Girl in India
Ene Adobunu, the Nigerian Girl in India

[To read a related story in Nepali- काली काली हिस्सी परेकी- about beauty in south Asia, click here. This PDF file will open the complete four page issue of Kantipur Koseli.]

As India experienced splendid progress in bringing out some of the world’s best information technology (IT) companies and beautiful ladies on the world stage in the 90s, many people considered IT and beauty as two hallmarks of India. The 90s witnessed the phenomenal rise of tech firms like Infosys, Wipro and Tata Consultancy Services and the pleasant arrival of beauties like Aishwarya Rai, Sushmita Sen and Priyanka Chopra on the international arenas of Miss World and Miss Universe pageants. But although India is thriving in both sectors, the ride hasn’t always been smooth. There are countless instances of failures in both industries. Not all Indian beauties make it to the top positions and not all IT companies make the amount of profits they claim. Last month was of particular interest as it saw a missed chance for an Indian beauty on the world stage and the exposure of the largest ever fraud in India that involved an IT company. Continue reading →

Burning Effigies [in the Name of Lord Shiva]

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Dinesh Wagle
Wagle Street Journal
[This article originally appeared on the Op-Ed page of the Kathmandu Post today. See it here as it appeared on the paper.]

Indian Hindu Rightwing Fundamentalists Demonstrate In Agra, India Against Nepal Government Decision To Apointment Nepali Priest in Pashupatinath Temmple

The other day I came across a Reuters video on an AOL web site that showed some angry men on the street burning effigies of the government of Nepal, shouting slogans against the Nepali Maoists and demanding the restoration of the Indian priest at the Pashupatinath temple in Kathmandu. The visuals were not from Gaushala or Chahabil or any other places in the Nepali capital.

They were from Agra, India. The people in the video were not immigrant Nepalis who are in their millions in India but the members and leaders of a radical Indian Hindu outfit called Bajrang Dal. I don’t recall when I first heard about Bajrang Dal but whenever I come across this name, the images of angry men with swords in their hands willing to kill people from other faiths come to my mind. I am always proud of the fact that we don’t have such a squad like Bajrang Dal that frequently promotes religious disharmony in society in the name of defending Hindutva in Nepal. It was widely reported by Indian media last October that members of this group were involved in raping a Christian nun in Orissa. That is why the Agra video frightened and shocked me. Continue reading →

Amazing Book Bazaar of Darya Ganj, Delhi

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Dinesh Wagle
Wagle Street Journal
[This article originally appeared on the Op-Ed page of the Kathmandu Post today. See it here as it appeared on the paper.]

“On a Sunday…if you keep pushing through the crowd that is always there [in Old Delhi], go past the men cleaning other men’s ears by poking rusty metal rods into them, past the men selling small fish trapped in green bottles full of brine, past the cheap shoe market and the cheap shirt market, you will come to the great secondhand book market of Darya Ganj.

“You may have heard of this market, sir, since it is one of the wonders of the world. Tens of thousands of dirty, rotting, blackened books on every subject- Technology, Medicine, Sexual Pleasure, Philosophy, Education, and Foreign Countries — heaped upon the pavement from Delhi Gate onwards all the way until you get to the market in front of the Red Fort. Some books are so old they crumble when you touch them; some have silverfish feasting on them- some look like they were retrieved from a flood, or from a fire. Most shops on the pavement are shuttered down; but the restaurants are still open, and the smell of fried food mingles with the smell of rotting paper. Rusting exhaust fans turn slowly in the ventilators of the restaurants like the wings of giant moths.” Continue reading →