सलाम नमस्ते INDIA

The Sounds of Surinam: When Bhojpuri creole meets Carribbean beats The 'baithak gana' of the Indians of Surinam has played an important part in the development of popular music all across the Caribbean region. Photo Credit:  via YouTube.com In 1667, in what appeared at the time to be a killer deal, the Dutch East India Company traded an island in north America for a lush chunk of jungle in South America to the British government. The Dutch were happy to get rid of Manhattan and relieve the English (their Atlantic imperialist rivals) of their tropical real estate just north of Brazil. Sadly, as so often happens, what seems like a slam dunk today, turns out (to really mix the metaphorical brew) a white elephant tomorrow. I mean who could have predicted that slavery would ever be outlawed? And that the good times on the sugar plantations of Surinam would come to a grinding halt? The Dutch, being Dutch, squeezed the labor out of their slaves for a full ten...

Kamala Das (31 March 1934 – 31 May 2009 / Punnayurkulam, Thrissur District in Kerala) The Times called her "the mother of modern English Indian poetry". Das once said, "I always wanted love, and if you don't get it within your home, you stray a little. Kamala Das has received many awards for her literary contribution, including: Nominated and shortlisted for Nobel Prize in 1984. Asian Poetry Prize-1998,Kent Award for English Writing from Asian Countries-1999 ,Asian World Prize-2000 ,Ezhuthachan Award-2009 ,Sahitya Academy Award-2003 ,Vayalar Award2001 ,Kerala Sahitya Academy Award-2005 ,Muttathu Varkey Award. Her popularity in Kerala is based chiefly on her short stories and autobiography, while her oeuvre in English, written under the name Kamala Das, is noted for the fiery poems and explicit autobiography. She wrote chiefly of love, its betrayal, and the consequent anguish. Although occasionally seen as an attention-grabber in her early years, sh...

There is Kama Sutra, and for some of us, there is Married Kama Sutra. Simon Rich and Farley Katz are the authors behind this illustrated guide to the very SFW positions most common after marriage. Definitely made us chuckle there.  

Indian culture,LGBTQ, Section 377 & Gay marriage In a historic judgment delivered on June 26, 2015, the US Supreme Court ruled in favour of making the United States of America the 23rd country that allowed same- sex marriages. In India a few years back the Delhi High Court struck down the 150-year-old Section 377 of the IPC, thus legalising consensual homosexual activities between adults. However to the dismay of many, the Indian Supreme Court, which has had a distinguished record in recent times of ensuring fundamental rights and liberty are not taken away by the state, overturned the Delhi HC decision. While the matter is expected to come up for hearing once again before the Supreme Court to review, the issue of "gay rights" seems to have divided the nation. Those opposing the decriminalisation of same-sex relationships among consenting adults include a number of "conservative Indians" led by various religious heads who call this sexual choice "unn...