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The Big Three
But the dynamics of geopolitics has led old Sino-Indian rivalries to acquire new dimensions. Teaming up with Pakistan, China is trying to contain India through multi-pronged moves. On the one hand, it entered into strategic/economic pacts with Burma, Nepal, Maldives, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka and on the other it provided Pakistan with military hardware and missile technology (via North Korea) and helped in the fructification of its nuclear weapons programme. It also became aggressive on the Sino-Indian border and encouraged Maoists in various Indian states. USA, being increasingly challenged in the Asia-Pacific region, decided to enter into strategic partnership with India with twin aims of countering China’s growing strategic reach as well as acquiring a credible ally in its war against terrorism. India willingly accepted the American embrace as it bolstered its own economic-military efforts vis-`E0-vis the threats from China and the growing terrorist menace emanating from Pakistan. Bhasin, a seasoned diplomat with impeccable credentials, has provided comparative studies of USA, India and China’s strengths and weaknesses even as he dwells upon the emerging geo-strategic scenarios globally as well as in the Indian Ocean-Asia-Pacific regions. The Happy and
Harmonious Family
This book attempts to re-introduce such traditional values as mutual acceptance and support in order to promote peace in the lives of individuals as well as families. It also stresses upon the importance of developing spiritual consciousness for peaceful co-existence within the family and hence the society. You will find the parables/examples worth mulling over. Have Some Chilli
Snakes
It requires a sardonic eye and a certain way with words that would conjure up images/situations that are at once surprising and hilarious. Such talent is, of course, rare; after all Ben Johnson, PG Wodehouse et al are not born every day. This book tries hard to make us laugh. But the backdrop (a Mumbai housing society) and the middle class characters are so stereotypical and their antics so predictable that one can hardly smile.
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The
Soviet Union’s disintegration left a yawning gap in the international
power structure, which no single country was capable of filling in. The
USA became the sole global power. Although the European Union did try to
counterbalance the growing US clout it was too disjointed to make any
concerted move – what with the UK acting as Uncle Sam’s cat’s-paw
and France remaining the perennial maverick. However, with the setting
in of the globalisation process and China taking to market economy in a
big way (and India belatedly following suit) there emerged new power
centres in Asia that could effectively check unbridled growth of the US
influence.
The
Indian way of life, as prescribed in our scriptures and depicted in the
ancient literature, had evolved over a period of time into a
well-structured and vibrant system based on the wisdom garnered through
experience of millennia. In those days joint families were the norm
wherein individual roles, rights and duties were clearly enunciated and
understood. Mutual tolerance and empathy inculcated the spirit of
cooperation both at the level of family and the society. However, the
system began to come apart when foreign invasions introduced alien
sensibilities. The process was hastened by the phenomenon of
industrialisation. Today, individualism is the predominant sentiment.
This has led to breaking up of not just the joint family edifice but
also the traditional social structures leading to chaos and anarchy.
This has resulted in a dysfunctional society.
Writing
comedy – be it of humours (wherein characters personify a single
quality instead of being an amalgam of various shades) or of manners
(which lampoons the conduct and/or fashions of a social class) – is a
serious business.