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The notion of purity and pollution underpins personal habits, social mores, public health challenges and India’s resilient caste system. This is the last of a three-part series. This final piece of a three-part series examines the Indian psyche and how it effects society and everyday lives....
“Namaste, brother” says Chaitanya, a pudgy, rosy-cheeked man from Charlotte, North Carolina, smiling broadly at me and my friend Alison. He wears a sleeveless orange tank top and white cotton balloon pants. He tells us the moniker was bestowed on him after an elaborate naming ceremony conducted...
In 2012, Ashweetha Shetty left a remote village in Tamil Nadu to join the Young India Fellowship, a one-year post-graduate diploma program at Ashoka University in the northern Indian state of Haryana. Shetty was the first among her family members to finish college, breaking many social barriers to...
The seemingly simple act of cleaning bottoms reveals invaluable insights about the Indian psyche’s fixation with purity and pollution. This is the first of a three-part series. Understanding how Indians clean their bottoms demands a deeper examination of Indian culture. It requires an analysis...
The re-election of India’s Hindu right-wing government could put minorities at risk. India’s general elections were the most wide-ranging and possibly most expensive election campaign in the nation’s history. In emphatic style, Prime Minister Narendra Modi of the ruling Bharatiya Janata...
Revulsion for corruption and nepotism makes Indians vote for a leader with humble roots despite his poor track record and authoritarian tendencies. In April, this author called Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s economic record abysmal. Yet he has now been re-elected with a thumping...
As congratulatory messages for Modi pour in from all parts of the world, it is important to remember that the journey doesn’t end at victory. Narendra Modi, the god-like leader of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), appears to have won another landslide victory. Predicted to secure at least 300...
This is the end of election season in India. Parties have announced many schemes. Although the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is projected to win, the results may not be a foregone conclusion. To win public support, the Indian National Congress, the opposition party, has promised Nyuntam Aay...
In this guest edition of The Interview, Nilanjana Sen and Varuna Shunglu talk to Maheish Girri, the national secretary of the BJP. In 2014, the world’s largest democracy elected the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to power, with Narendra Modi as the prime minister. Modi came to victory on the...
India needs to introspect as to why it has fared so miserably when it comes to being happy. The UN's 2019 World Happiness Report released in March shows that India is on a declining trend when it comes to happiness. The county ranked 117 in 2015, 118 in 2016, 122 in 2017, 133 in 2018 and is now...
In this edition of The Interview, Fair Observer talks to John L. Harper, the Kenneth H. Keller professor of American foreign policy at Johns Hopkins University. Foreign policy decisions made by US President Donald Trump have been widely criticized both by his opponents and his own party....
