Vikram Nandwani is probably the best cartoonist I know. Here’s his latest:The background according to Vikram,The NSA (National Security Advisor) said there was a need to effectively deal with organisations like SIMI and Bajrang Dal “because then there …

Dialog once again slashed the prices. This initiation is an expected one as Mobitel offers cheaper call rates and Indian mobile giant Airtel enters market.
Per-second billing is given to both prepaid KIT and to post paid packages. According to new rates post paid package users can enjoy 1000 minutes D2d free calls. Still incoming calls […]

Dialog once again slashed the prices. This initiation is an expected one as Mobitel offers cheaper call rates and Indian mobile giant Airtel enters market.
Per-second billing is given to both prepaid KIT and to post paid packages. According to new rates post paid package users can enjoy 1000 minutes D2d free calls. Still incoming calls […]

Dialog once again slashed the prices. This initiation is an expected one as Mobitel offers cheaper call rates and Indian mobile giant Airtel enters market.
Per-second billing is given to both prepaid KIT and to post paid packages. According to new rates post paid package users can enjoy 1000 minutes D2d free calls. Still incoming calls […]

There is a financial crisis in the U.S. and we are hearing the same old silly arguments. Apparently, in the last few weeks capitalism has collapsed, Bush has become a socialist and it’s all the fault of the World Bank and the IMF. If you belive any of …

Centre for Civil Society is organizing it’s annual seminars on public policy, now called “I, Society and Public Policy” renamed from “Liberty & Society Seminars” starting in October in Delhi, Cochin, Bangalore and Pune. If you are between 18 - 25 w…

Finally, there’s some good news on the reform front :Sri Lanka has been rated the top South Asian reformer in an annual business regulation study by the World Bank group, with a new company law and credit information improvements boosting its scores. […

I just finished watching Rock On, which is quite a good hindi movie about four guys and a band. I dont think I like the music all that much, but generally there is a decent hindi rock scene. I’m wondering why there aren’t any(?) Sinhala Rock bands. Doe…

A friend of mine likes to obsess about the article 14 of the Sri Lankan constitution, which according to him guarantees freedom of expression. Here’s what Chapter 3, article 14 say,(1) Every citizen is entitled to -(a) the freedom of speech and express…

Now Google is offering Voice Search in Hindi and Telugu. According to Google it’s a pilot service and they are working on it to improve.
It is Google’s new experimental service making local business information, movie show times and real time flight status available from any phone for free. You get fast access to the […]

Partnhe Wali Gali, Old Delhi. Pic Courtesy: Krishna 1951 Lanka Reviewed has a post on my favorite street food joint in Colombo, “Burger King” in Malay street. Here’s a brief about the setting from LR,Mr Burger King is imaginatively located in Colombo 2…

Swaminathan Aiyar offers an explaination:I was asked once by a Chinese magazine for a ‘short’ article of 3,000 words on the Indian economy. I protested that 3,000 words was much too long. ‘‘No,’’ said the Chinese editor, ‘‘when translat…

Finally, a Sri Lankan judge makes an excellent proposal. From LBO:A top Sri Lankan judge has called for laws such as a freedom of information act to enable people greater access to information to create an ‘informed public’ that is essential for a demo…

NHM writer is one of the most famous Tamil Unicode writers. It lets you type in Unicode Tamil format, which is a globally recognized encodings.
Recently NHM writer released their new version with support to several languages such as ssamese, Bengali, Gujarati, Hindi, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Punjabi, Tamil & Telugu.
I prefer NHM writer over Keyman for […]

Everybody’s been bitching about the SAARC summit. The government is spending some 2.8 Billion, Colombo is (supposedly) under a draconian security plan, as a part of which a bunch of poor people kicked out from their homes and while their houses were de…

Everybody’s been bitching about the SAARC summit. The government is spending some 2.8 Billion, Colombo is (supposedly) under a draconian security plan, as a part of which a bunch of poor people kicked out from their homes and while their houses were de…

Cato’s Johan Norberg has a detailed rebuttal on Naomi Klein’s superficial claims about Milton Friedman and free-market policies made in her book, The shock doctrine. Here’s a video of Norberg explaining how Ms Klein misrepresents what Friedman said: Al…

Cato’s Johan Norberg has a detailed rebuttal on Naomi Klein’s superficial claims about Milton Friedman and free-market policies made in her book, The shock doctrine. Here’s a video of Norberg explaining how Ms Klein misrepresents what Friedman said: Al…

Williem Buiter writing for Maverecon blog paints a gloomy picture about a world with $500 oil. He thinks when it comes to Oil prices, “sky is the limit”. With ever increasing demand from places like India and China, he thinks Oil prices will continue t…

Beyond Borders in New Delhi, India are organizing a two-day workshop on sexual and reprudctive rights on the 19th and 20th of July 2008.
“Reproductive and Sexual Health Education”(RSHE) workshop has been specifically designed for young people of age group 16- 22 years, to enable discussions around the issue of reproductive and sexual health, by making […]

I was recently reminded by a friend that Sri Lanka actually does have legal access medical Marijuana (Ganja). The practitioners of traditional Ayurvedic medicine are allowed to carry 1kg (figure unconfirmed) amount of Ganja to be used for medicinal pur…

Crosswords in Bangalore. Pic courtesy:Kishore

This last post reminded me how much I rue the fact that Sri Lanka doesn’t have good book stores. The Vijitha Yapa is not really a book store, it’s a small book-shop. There’s no place to just chill, read …

var AdBrite_Title_Color = ‘0000FF’;
var AdBrite_Text_Color = ‘000000′;
var AdBrite_Background_Color = ‘FFFFFF’;
var AdBrite_Border_Color = ‘CCCCCC’;
var AdBrite_URL_Color = ‘008000′;

These days in Kollywood everyone speaks about Dasavatharam. Dasavatharam is the latest Tamil movie which is screened all over the world. This movie is financially […]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “Dasavatharam (2008) Review”, url: “http://mayuonline.com/eblog/dasavatharam-2008-review/” });

Early days I hardly see a site to download Tamil movies, but today there are enough sites offering Tamil movie downloads. Just like music pirate (in MP3 format), Tamil movie pirate also very hot in the internet these days.
As number of Internet users in Tamil Nadu, India grows, the number of Tamil pirate movie sites […]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “Tamil Movies Online”, url: “http://mayuonline.com/eblog/tamil-movies-online/” });

According to an email that was sent to me, it’s not because of Subash Candra Bhose, Bhagath Singh or even Gandhi, it’s because of…Jawaharlal Nehru Ji.

A message from Centre for Civil Society, which annually organizes Jeevika, a film festival focusing on livelihood issues.  filmakers and students from all over South Asia are encouraged to participate :
Inviting Documentary filmmakers interested in : FILMS For SOCIAL CHANGE
Zoom in on a mode of living…Give a voice to people’s struggles and triumphs…Defend the basic […]

Our friends at swechha has put out a new blog dedicated to a project called “Monsoon Wooding”, aiming to recover New Delhi’s green cover. Here’s an excerpt from the first post :
In an attempt to restore Delhi’s green cover, Monsoon Wooding was launched in 2005 by Sweccha-We for Change foundation. It aims to bring together […]

Our friends at swechha has put out a new blog dedicated to a project called “Monsoon Wooding”, aiming to recover New Delhi’s green cover. Here’s an excerpt from the first post :
In an attempt to restore Delhi’s green cover, Monsoon Wooding was launched in 2005 by Sweccha-We for Change foundation. It aims to bring together […]

Don Boudreaux has an interesting explanation :Women are more decent than men.Fewer women than men itch to lord it over others. Also, women are less willing than men to perform the countless asinine stunts and soul-shriveling pandering necessary to win…

The official publication of Beyond Borders India is out now. From the inside cover:
Beyond Borders India are young change makers who have resolved to challenge the existing restrictive order. As the decision-makers of tomorrow we should not only be aware of our own responsibilities but should remind others about their duty as well.
As […]

Ajay Shah points me to this article on this economist article on Inflation on emerging economies, arguing it bare resembles to the great inflation of developed countries in the 1970s. With inflation of about 25% in Sri Lanka and with the Central Bank …

The advert above from PETA asks people to “Turn over a new leaf and try vegetarian”. Now, Imagine if how it would look if they promoted hunger….p.s. the advert is in Kannada - talk about peaching to the converted! sigh. NGOs.[Link via India Uncut….

is that no one really knows why they are so high. At least for sure. Everyone has their own pet theory or scapegoat - peak oil, speculation, ethanol, hungry Indians, Ben Bernanke, you name it. This dawned to me when Tyler Cowen blogged about this Ajay…

var AdBrite_Title_Color = ‘0000FF’;
var AdBrite_Text_Color = ‘000000′;
var AdBrite_Background_Color = ‘FFFFFF’;
var AdBrite_Border_Color = ‘CCCCCC’;
var AdBrite_URL_Color = ‘008000′;

I’m sure Dham Doom songs are going to hit the top chart very soon. I usually enjoy Harish Jeyaraj’s melody. He owns his unique style. […]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “Dham Dhoom (2008)”, url: “http://mayuonline.com/eblog/dham-dhoom-2008/” });

There are many pressing issues in the world today, some directly affect us while most are indirect and thus ignored. Young people have a thirst for knowledge and an acute interest in voicing viewpoints and thoughts on most issues but there isn’t a space for them to do so which is constructive as well as […]

This piece by Amit Varma on victimless crimes reminds me of something I’ve been thinking of recently about illegal prostitution.Like I wrote earlier on this blog, there’s no such thing called free sex. Sex has costs, just like any other thing, not all…

As you probably know, the world’s food prices are soaring. So far I’ve come across two basic explanations which I find reasonable for the hike in food and commodity prices.Increased demand, constrained supply.This one is straight from your basic Econ …

Sometime back, a friend of mine writing an article for the ST Mirror commented that I have a passion for “Liberal Economics”. Immediately, that label is confusing. After all, economics is just, well, economics. There’s the good economics, the bad and…

(A journey following river Yamuna in India to witness the sources of pollution that has given rise to the black river in Delhi.  This river is one of the main sources of water in Delhi and the surrounding cities, and carries a large portion of its water to river Ganga, the largest river in India. […]

var AdBrite_Title_Color = ‘0000FF’;
var AdBrite_Text_Color = ‘000000′;
var AdBrite_Background_Color = ‘FFFFFF’;
var AdBrite_Border_Color = ‘CCCCCC’;
var AdBrite_URL_Color = ‘008000′;

Dasavatharam is a forthcoming Tamil feature film currently being directed by K. S. Ravikumar, who with Dasavatharam, pairs up with Kamal Haasan for the fourth […]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “Dasavatharam (2008)”, url: “http://mayuonline.com/eblog/dasavatharam-2008/” });

A few BB-ites in Pakistan have set up a Beyond Borders Pakistan Blog, to reactivate Beyond Borders in Pakistan.
Here’s a few key paragraphs from the Sunniya’s post outlining why she started the blog:
Beyond Borders Pakistan started under British Council in 2003. Several projects were conducted for the welfare of the society and to create awareness […]

var AdBrite_Title_Color = ‘0000FF’;
var AdBrite_Text_Color = ‘000000′;
var AdBrite_Background_Color = ‘FFFFFF’;
var AdBrite_Border_Color = ‘CCCCCC’;
var AdBrite_URL_Color = ‘008000′;

Today Sri Lanka is a country devastated by the bloody war, ravaged to scratch. People are suffering from hunger and war. No politicians seem to […]SHARETHIS.addEntry({ title: “Sri Lanka & India relationship – A Political Drama”, url: “http://mayuonline.com/eblog/sri-lanka-india-relationship-%e2%80%93-a-political-drama/” });

var AdBrite_Title_Color = ‘0000FF’;
var AdBrite_Text_Color = ‘000000′;
var AdBrite_Background_Color = ‘FFFFFF’;
var AdBrite_Border_Color = ‘CCCCCC’;
var AdBrite_URL_Color = ‘008000′;

People tend to stick to the relations. Today Information and Communication technology helping all of us to full fill this human need.
When I was talking […]

The Sri Lankan left (and it’s modern-day ‘mainstream’ apologists) often point to 1977, the year when Sri Lanka started liberalizing the economy to describe anything ‘bad’ to do with Sri Lanka, from moral degradation, the persistence of poverty and occa…

The Liberal Youth Forum (LYF-India) is a movement of young individuals, informal groups and formal associations collaborating to create access and choice in social, cultural, economic, political and environmental spheres for a freer and more prosperous India. On April 5th, 2008, the Liberal Youth Forum will formally announce its launch at Hotel Peninsula Grand, Andheri East, […]

Young people in South Asia and in particular Sri Lanka are disillusioned with both mainstream and alternative spaces for political action says K.Guruparan speaking at the International Conference on Youth and Democracy in South Asia in Pune, India.
Guru was presenting a paper on youth participation in decision making and policy making processes using Sri […]

Here’s a tip ladies, next time - wear old cloths. More pics from the DailyMirror

Energy crisis has reached its peak in Sri Lanka. Day by day need for energy in Sri Lanka is escalating, but the supply is insufficient. Nowadays Sri Lankans are enjoying electricity bills (??). In whole Asia, Sri Lankans are paying highest bills than any other nations. Sri Lankan government is seeking for several alternatives and […]

William Dalrymple, the historian and popular author has an insightful piece on the recent elections in Pakistan. He’s quite optimistic about the country’s future. Here’s a relevant excerpt:widespread publicity given to the [recent] crisis obscured the …

During the days of recent the spilitzer scandal, A reader of Andrew Sullivan’s site asked, Why can’t there be “medical Prostitution”. That is, prostitution be legal for medical requirements. After all, in some states in the U.S. have legalized Mariju…