A visit to the hill districts of Dailekh, Kalikot and Jumla in west Nepal in February 2003, three weeks after the declaration of the ceasefire between government and Maoist forces, reveals that the much-touted female involvement in the Maoist movement is ethically problematic for the Communist Party
Ever present high wind
Sweeps the fog in Blocking all that is dear to the eyes.
There is a lull, the air rests.
The fog remains.
–Gujarati poet Sitanshu Yashchandra
Maps are a peculiar kind of visual text. Their mundane practicality makes them appear to be mere instruments of utility, which tell us where we are going, and puts everything
If South Asia were more prosperous and less divided politically, our skies would be congested with aircraft flying hither and yon keeping pace with our population. Sure, the railways left
Successful people
Have separate shoes
Some for celebrations
Others for grief
–Govinda Mathur, Bache huye shabda
President Hamid Karzai has more faith in his American guards than in his own
If a sensitive long-distance microphone were to be dangled in geostationary orbit somewhere over Chattisgarh at the centre of the Subcon on a workday morning, it would pick up
Slumming India: A Chronicle of Slums and Their Saviours
by Gita Dewan Verma
Penguin Books India, 2002, New Delhi, paperback, pp xxiv + 183, INR 200;
ISBN 0-14-302875-8
