Posted By
Shobhan Saxena
28 July 2010, 02:10 AM IST
Since very few people in this country have a sense of humour, we often fail to differentiate between a joke and a serious statement. And since TV channels are desperate 24x7 to play up anything sensational as breaking news, even a serious and sensitive remark...
Posted By
Shobhan Saxena
01 July 2010, 12:30 AM IST
I would be lying if I say I am not enjoying the football world cup in South Africa. There have been many spectacular moves and fantastic goals in this global festival. Like millions of others, I too have enjoyed Messi’s mesmerizing speed, Maicon’s swinging...
Posted By
Shobhan Saxena
21 June 2010, 06:08 PM IST
Because the line between democracy and manipulation is very thin, at times it becomes blurred. Today, this line dissolved completely as the Group of Ministers (GoM) reportedly recommended a number of steps to cool down the public anger over the last week's...
Posted By
Shobhan Saxena
07 June 2010, 11:26 PM IST
Around 22,000 dead. More than 5,70,000 crippled or injured. Rs 1 lakh for each body. Rs 25,000 for every poisoned lung and damaged heart and blinded eyes. 26 years of long wait. And just 2 years in jail for the men who committed the worst crime against...
Posted By
Shobhan Saxena
02 June 2010, 12:19 AM IST
A new video released by the Israeli government shows one of the soldiers who took part in yesterday’s bloody attack on the Gaza Freedom flotilla. In this propoganda clip, the Israeli soldier justifies the attack, claiming they were attacked first by the people...
Posted By
Shobhan Saxena
25 May 2010, 06:30 PM IST
This must be the mother of all Freudian slips. At his press conference yesterday, the prime minister said, "We are a nation of one billion dollars, sorry, people…" Manmohan Singh’s tongue slipped while replying to a question on the issue of...
Posted By
Shobhan Saxena
19 May 2010, 07:24 PM IST
When an oil rig run by a humongous MNC blows up and kills 11 workers in the Gulf of Mexico, how does the US government react? It tries to raise the liability cap on BP to $1.5 billion. Compare this with Bhopal gas tragedy, the worst industrial disaster in the...
Posted By
Shobhan Saxena
11 May 2010, 01:11 PM IST
Jairam Ramesh has been rapped on the knuckles and he is keeping quiet at the moment but the controversial issue raised by the environment minister during his Beijing visit will not die down easily. In his defence, the minister has said that he was...
Posted By
Shobhan Saxena
07 May 2010, 08:06 PM IST
The British people have spoken. Though there is a long night ahead and a lot depends on the Lib Dems, it seems Conservative Party leader David Cameron is all set to become the next Prime Minister of UK. In 2006, soon after becoming the leader of his party,...
Posted By
Shobhan Saxena
24 April 2010, 03:27 PM IST
While you were glued to your flat screen, with your eyeballs popping out every time the ball was hit for a six, in a dark corner of India - in a Haryana village very close to the national capital - a dog was barking. Since it was a Dalit dog (in India, even...
Posted By
Shobhan Saxena
13 March 2010, 09:13 PM IST
Lima Duarte (Brazil): As we were driving down to this small, scenic village in the state of Minas Gerais in the southern part of the country, a story I had read a few years ago kept coming back to my mind. The story was about a cow in Varanasi. The stray cow...
Posted By
Shobhan Saxena
05 March 2010, 03:27 AM IST
SAO PAULO : Hillary Clinton was in town today. She caused a little bit of traffic jam in the downtown area. She also addressed students at a private university in a town-hall style meeting, as if she was still campaigning for the US presidential election...
Posted By
Shobhan Saxena
01 March 2010, 09:48 AM IST
SAO PAULO: The earth was green. The sky was black. The rain came down in red, blue and purple sheets of water. The air was pink with gulal. And there was Rang barse, bheege chunar waali – written by a Bachchan, sung by a Bachchan – pulsating the cold,...
Posted By
Shobhan Saxena
23 February 2010, 08:17 PM IST
Rio de Janeiro: "When will India qualify for the world cup," asked Bruno. "Never, I guess," I said. "No, they can qualify some day," said Bruno. "Maybe, but certainly not for 2014, which will be played here," I replied....
Posted By
Shobhan Saxena
16 February 2010, 11:37 AM IST
Rio de Janeiro : First things first. The Rio carnival is not a topless show. There is a generous display of flesh by Brazilian beauties at the annual samba parade, which is also known as the world’s biggest party, but it’s a serious affair for thousands of...
Shobhan Saxena is an editor with Sunday Times of India. Though his interests range from international issues, human rights and politics to art & culture, what really fascinates him is the extraordinary lives of ordinary people -- the men and women on the street, their lives and their views on everything under the sun. Here, he tries to capture small slices of those colourful lives in India and abroad.
The views expressed in Main Street are the author´s own.
