Anindita Sengupta

A few days ago, I changed the look and feel of this blog and didn’t explain it. The change had a lot to do with drawing lines between personal and public selves and explaining my motives, I felt, would be counterproductive. I’ve changed my mind since then because this whole business of drawing lines is quite fluid really. One is constantly tripping over them and adjusting them and so on. I also want to talk about this because there’s been some discussion about different aspects of online identity in the blogosphere lately, here and here. » Read the rest of this entry «

Is it just me or does anyone else find Nokia’s “the next episode is about to begin” commercial a bit disturbing? I mean, it’s really slick and artistic with all these staccato images, a Philip Glass song in the background and a voice-over that alternates between sounding like George Clooney and Brad Pitt, but I have this sudden, mean urge to switch off the TV when it comes on. » Read the rest of this entry «

Whose sea is it anyway? The question begs an answer. Increasingly, the coast is under threat from industries like sand mining, tourism and organized fisheries which erode the rich ecosystem and threaten the rights of traditional fishing communities. The only piece of legislation that stands between these forces and the sea is the Coastal Regulation Zone (CRZ) notification of 1991 which regulates industrial and commercial activity on the coasts. Since its institution, the CRZ notification has been violated or diluted several times and in the wake of globalization, is being viewed as an obstacle to ‘development’. » Read the rest of this entry «