The India Connect



A couple of months back when I wrote about the powerful vocals of Shilpa Ray, a second generation Indian-American who accompanies her songs with an unlikely instrument for a rock band, the harmonium, I did toy with the idea of exploring other musicians of Indian origin who might be making a mark on the contemporary western rock and pop scene.

The band Rupa and the April Fishes is led by Rupa Marya who and grew up in India, US and France.

The band 'Rupa and the April Fishes' is led by Rupa Marya who and grew up in India, US and France.

You know, like grunge rock band Soundgarden’s lead guitarist Kim Thayil who was born in Seattle to parents who’d migrated from Kerala. Soundgarden, which, unfortunately, lasted only for around a dozen years since it was formed in 1984, was a towering phenomenon in grunge rock, becoming among the first bands to bring heavy metal sounds to what was then an emerging alternative music scene. Thayil’s guitar riffs and vocalist Chris Cornell’s singing style trademarked their sound.If you hadn’t heard Soundgarden while they were around, I’d recommend buying their 1994 album, Superunknown. And, if you’ve watched the film, Singles, you’ll have heard one of their great songs, Birth Ritual, which is on the soundtrack.

Soundgarden and Thayil apart, I had heard some even more contemporary bands where Indian-Americans were members or even founders. Voxtrot is a band that was founded in the university town of Austin, Texas, by Ramesh Srivastava, again a second-gen Indian.

If you liked the sound of The Smiths, I’d suggest checking out Voxtrot, although Srivastava’s vocals are not exactly like Morrissey’s and the lyrics are more upbeat and far less reflective than most of The Smiths’ repertoire. And, of course, I’d also heard Goldspot, a much more pop-ish Los Angeles band, formed by Siddhartha Khosla, another second-gen Ind-Am. Indeed, in one interview Khosla talked about how he grew up on a concentrated dose of Hindi film music—the only genre that his parents would listen to.

Watch Cherry Valence perform Boot Shakin

Watch Cherry Valence perform 'Boot Shakin'

Some of Goldspot’s songs seem also to be influenced by Hindi film music, although I can’t say I liked their music as much as I did Voxtrot’s.

Then came an email from my friend and music fiend, Hari Menon in Cochin, nudging me in several new directions to discover a trove of Indian-Americans, many of whom I’d never heard of before. There was Cheetie Kumar, lead guitarist of the Birds of Avalon, a punchy, retro sort of band where she plays mean, screaming riffs. Kumar’s husband, Paul Siler, is the bassist for the band and both are erstwhile members of the now-disbanded Cherry Valence, a two-lead guitarist, two-drummer outfit that played even harder rock than Birds of Avalon.

I watched a few YouTube vids of both the bands and became an instant convert (check out Cherry Valence’s Bootyshakin video and Birds of Avalon’s Superpower and you probably will too).

That wasn’t all. I went on to discover Rupa and the April Fishes, a band led by Rupa Marya who was born to Indian parents in California and grew up in India, US and France.

A polyglot who sings in several languages, Marya, I learnt, is also a doctor besides being a singer, songwriter and guitarist. Her music is unclassifiable, sometimes drawing on Latin bossa nova sounds, Indian ragas, gypsy music and French rock styles–a truly multicultural sound. Their song, Une Americaine a Paris, is a good track to start with and the video version on YouTube is great.

Even in Britain, there are second-generation immigrants from India who’re making waves. At the prestigious South By South West music festival in March this year, a young Briton, Vijay Kishore, made a mark with his music. Kishore, who was born to Indian parents in Birmingham, has often been compared to greats like Radiohead’s Thom Yorke and Jeff Buckley. His voice has a boyish, almost angelic quality, and his songs are accompanied by spare music—often just a drum machine and an acoustic guitar. Given the rave reviews he’s been getting in the discerning music press, I expect to hear more about him in the near future.

Soon I realised that I’d opened a chest full of surprises. Currently, I’m discovering Swati Sharma, whose music is described by her as “acoustic metal” because of the style with which she strums her guitar. Sharma performs simply as Swati and her songs are intense, personal and loaded with emotion. I heard one called 2 O’ Clock In The A.M., with lyrics that are infectious.

True, all of these so-called second-generation immigrants are more American (or European) than Indian. Many of them have either never or very rarely even visited India but it’s interesting to discover how they’ve become part of the melting pot of popular music in the countries their parents chose to live in.

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  • http://www.rfidchipreader.com RFID Chip :

    i’m quite sick of listening to pop songs like lady gaga that is why i shifted to alternative music “”

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  • http://www.oscilloscopelab.com Oscilloscope

    when i was younger, i always love the tune of alternative music compared to pop music .,*

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  • Sqque

    This agreement are not worth even the paper written on it. These are done under American pressure, to find the way how to get Indian army involve in Afghanistan. But remember there are many ways to go into Afghanistan… But there is no way out of it,

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  • Anonymous

    I like this straight forward blog and will become a regular reader. This looks better than Vinod Sharma’s inane comments on Indo-Pak issues.

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  • Anonymous

    The only thing USA , India need to understand is that Pakistan is an incorrigibly vile, duplicitous and treacherous entity , which will violate every agreement signed and defraud the other party. So lesson number 1, do not engage Pakistan in any shape or form. Once you disangage ( stop any aid, trade and minimal relations ) , then you can formulate policies to protect yourself from it.

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  • http://nuclearsupremacyforindiaoverus.blogspot.com/ Satish Chandra

    November 18, 2011: When I say the new Chief of Air Staff, N. A. K. Browne, is a CIA-RAW man, I mean he literally sits at CIA-supplied terminals to participate in crimes against India. More than a thousand Indian Air Force aircraft have crashed since 1970, the vast majority of the crashes caused by microwaves from U. S. satellites. In his first week in office as Chief of Air Staff, Browne caused two Indian Air Force fighter planes to crash with microwaves from satellites, to give a boost to his bid to buy worse than worthless foreign aircraft for several tens of billions of dollars of which he will get a hefty cut along with the Defence Minister and the Italian woman who gets the largest cut.//

    I said on October 11 ‘11 ( IndianAirForcePilotsMurderDOTblogspotDOTcom ) that the ’suicide’ of the chief test pilot Baldev Singh was murder, to facilitate the claim of the fraudulent ‘delay’ in inducting the indigenous Light Combat Aircraft, being used to justify the worse than worthless purchase abroad. India builds Sukhoi-30 MKI aircraft from raw materials; why do you need to buy fighter aircraft from abroad?//

    N. A. K. Browne, A. K. Antony and the Italian woman should be booked for the murder of Baldev Singh along with the head of RAW. All former heads of RAW should be booked for the murders of hundreds of Indian Air Force pilots.//

    The murders of several politicians by air crash have also been accomplished by microwaves from satellites. A recent example was the murder of the Andhra Pradesh chief minister by air crash. In my blog I have described how Indira Gandhi when prime minister in 1980 went to her kitchen with the then U. S. Vice President and former CIA Director, George Herbert Walker Bush, to arrange for the murder by air crash of her son Sanjay Gandhi who had taken to slapping her in the presence of others under my influence and the then CIA Director, Frank Carlucci, publicly claimed credit for that air crash via a letter that appeared in National Review.//

    November 17, 2011: Integrated Circuit chips made in the United States are required to provide for access to the United States National Security Agency so it can monitor and take control of their operations at will. Components and electronic equipment from the United States should be absolutely “haram”; far from lamenting ‘technology denial’, equipment from the United States should be rejected even if it is offered on a platter and free of charge as I have said. India’s bought-up Defence, Atomic Energy, Space and other officials deliberately close their eyes to this threat. This also applies to U. S.- made civilian aircraft, for example. There are two hundred thousand Indian engineers and scientists working in Research & Development for foreign companies in India but instead of putting its money in Research & Development ( in my letter dated January 5, 2004 to the press — see my blog — I had suggested one million Research & Development workers in India in government-sponsored projects), India’s CIA-RAW government buys foreign equipment in all fields to keep India poor, weak and enslaved. India’s government lends hundreds of billions of dollars to the U. S. government in exchange for worthless U. S. paper but seeks foreign investment and World Bank loans for projects in India, giving ownership and control of India to India’s enemies, despite the unlimited capital available to India by simply printing the money; see ‘How India’s Economy Can Grow 30% Per Year Or More’ in my blog; as is described there, the United States has been applying my proposal about money by stealth and now also openly but Manmohan Singh refuses to do so because this bugger — a CIA appointee — does what serves the United States’, not India’s, interests.//

    I had asked the Indian Army to arrest the top one thousand or so officers of RAW. It has not done so. But, as I have said, India’s nuclear forces obey Satish Chandra. He does not need India’s conventional forces or the rest of the government and citizenry to defend India which requires the destruction of RAW which will be done by nuclear means, that is, the simultaneous nuclear destruction of New Delhi, Washington and New York, with a warning that additional U. S. cities will be destroyed, with nuclear warheads already emplaced in them by special forces, if there is any retaliation. //

    I am India’s expert in strategic defence, the father of India’s strategic program including the Integrated Guided Missile Development Program, the world’s greatest scientist (my biography can be found in Marquis’ Who’s Who in the World, 2011 and earlier editions) and India’s legitimate ruler; for more on the subject above see ‘What You Should Know About RAW’ in my blog titled ‘Nuclear Supremacy For India Over U. S.’ which can be found by a Yahoo/Google search with the title.//

    Satish Chandra

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  • Anonymous

    It’s only three years of the incident and hopefully we would not forget the same in another 300 years, as we lack more important issues. We have a lot of different names of Islamic terrorist groups to blame for such incidents, but who knows whether they really exist? There might be thousands of such incidents in the past, but the coverage is given to the massacres involving rich and elite class and no one cares to talk for underprivileged dying of starvation throughout the country. Politicians were there on the seats during the incidents and would remain there forever and only difference could be of names or working location because that is the class, which has to be benefitted in all cases and conditions.

    Our country and people are in not in a good state and there are lot of more important issues like poverty, inflation, deteriorating condition of roads & water supply, corruption & failure of democracy etc, which media has to raise rather than popping up same old and useless issues like 26/11, incidents of demolition of Babri mosque & Godhra etc.

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  • Anonymous

    A very balanced article.

    It would be wrong and stupid for us to forget the acrifices our defence personnel have made.

    Not to forget, the jehadis i Pakistan are being primed to attack us again…

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  • Anonymous

    It is because of people like you who always prefer to sit on the edge, the country has come to this passe. The nation needed a strong willed person to lead the cause & we have got it in the form of Annaji. You do not seem to have observed the conduct of Parliament in past few sessions. You may prefer sleeping & let the people wear Anna cap.

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  • Ravi

    Let me confess: I also find Anna Hazare preachy, prickly, sanctimonious, dogmatic and dictatorial.

    For reasons listed above some clever person has given him the sobriquet TalibAnna.

    If team Anna had stuck to a single issue – corruption – then it would have acted as a pressure group and would probably have been more effective.

    By widening its agenda and attacking other people, it has become just another political party. If that is what they want then they will have to participate in electoral process and if mandated can bring about the Lokbal Bill of its choice and ferocity.

    Parliament must remain supreme.

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  • Anonymous

    Anna is from very begging arrogant, dictator everybody accept his order.His only qualification is he can sustain hunger some day. On this capital he agitating movement against corruption in Maharashtra from last forty years..Remove this minister send jail to that officers this kind of demand he forced on government.He have no knowledge how corruption arises,how we can reduce corruption.? Corruption is very deeply inserted in our psyche.Hindu too much afraid to break the law of caste religion but not afraid to break the law of government.He think himself guilty when consciously or unconsciously he break the law of religion but never feel guilty when he break the law Government on the contrary he think government doing injustice for punishing him. When Laloo Yadhav came out of jail on bail he declared what is wrong if I went jail even Lord Krishna was also in jail

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  • Yahoo1

    Govintra: Anyone in the whole world , who is against corruption is against Congress.

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  • Guest

    Cunningly crafted article to personally attack and malign an ex-soldier who by some unknown who believes in a “mandate” to stand against corruption. Pathetic article by a low life human being.

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    Bob M Reply:

    I’m sorry to disappoint you…not an ‘ex soldier’ but an ‘ex army truck driver’

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    Anonymous Reply:

    Any member of the land component of an armed forces is termed as soldier. Please don’t get disappointed. Understand English. Ignore Italian.

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    Go Anna Reply:

    Bob, When IEDs go off the brave truck driving soldiers get killed, not the generals.
    Take some time off from being stupid and have some shame. Meantime go Anna.

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  • Gargmurari

    How much money you have taken to write this article from Congress.

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  • Support Anna

    1) Mr Arnab Mitra wants to get his article published by negative publicity
    2) HT is another congress-pro news reporter
    3)Govt is forcing these channels to change the peoples mind.
    4)All the above

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  • Indian

    Why you are writing on behalf of NRI, I am also NRI and support Anna ji. It seems Arnab Mitra is a Congress agent like Digvijay Singh, whose only motive is to have a weak effective lokpall bill and please congress party

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  • anil

    Are you practising an year 7/8 essay?
    Even kids in schools can write better with sensible arguments, now a days!

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  • Kattooparambil

    The BJP is jumping into Anna bandwagon is to fish in the trouble waters-congress headed UPA is beset by venality. Anna is an antithesis of Gandhian ideologies, who has some extreme views-like violence against people. He is a disgrace to call himself as a Gandhian. He is an attention seeker who is set out to wipe out corruption from the Indian polity and has corrupt ones in his fold and the BJP is also one big happy with corrupt ones in its fold as well. Combination is the key to impact; the Anna coteries and the BJP are the perfect combination-like Tweedledee and Tweedledum. Even more bizarre is Anna is going to bed with the BJP-a member of the BJP’s parent organization, the RSS killed Mahatma Gandhi.

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  • Greatthnkr

    Anna has sacrificed every thing what he has and willing to sacrifice every thing for the future of this country. There is no personal gain for this soul who has led a life of sacrifice for the betterment of the people. Only an individual who lives this life can pass a judgement on a person of his stature.

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  • Virumandi

    Even if you want, you cant be. Paid Kongross blogger. Kongross is digging its own grave by throwing muck on Team Anna.

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  • Virumandi

    no one can stop the movement.

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  • Nsharma

    Anything written objectively and thought provoking is labelled as congress propaganda.
    Keep it up ,very well written

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  • Deepak

    Who gave Anna the right to represent all people. I too was supporting him initially, until I saw more of him. He didn’t say a word against the Modi Govt not appointing a Lokayukta for 7 years. And not a single comment against corruption in the BJP. Yet, he has extended his scope to tell people to vote against Congress in Hissur. And he has been bashing Congress leadership with vague baseless statements. Add to that his flip flop on the Pawar slapping incident. And the reaction of his cronies to the corruption issues against them. I still support Anna’s efforts to get a strong Lokpal bill through as also anyone else on the same issue. But Anna’s real agenda and political bent makes him unappealing on the rest of the issues he is extending to.

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  • Anonymous

    I agree with the blog, especially part on being dictatorial. Here is guy that seems to be fighting corruption by not checking that around the people surrounding him and I at times feel he is fighting corruption or the administration in the guise of corruption. I was on his side until it became to wacky in his own circles. By doing what he is doing, he is placing too much trust in the people opposing the govt who themselves aren’t any saintly. One disadvantage he has is that he had never been in administration (pardon me if he had held some position in the past and I’m ignorant of the fact) to know how changes need to be implemented. I don’t think he should try to destabilize the govt (I’m not a fan of any particular political party) to get what he wants –without any clear understanding of what the country wants.

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  • Anonymous

    I think he can have his own independent thought that you and Anna don’t like

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  • Rakesh katyal

    Mr Mitra let us forget the personal credentials of Arvind or Kiran. Let us simply get on with our fight against corruption. From issue based your blog is cleverly trying to make it personality based. Let us not forget that if we want better future for our children then the corrupt sharks have to be brought down. And if we keep waiting that only the very pure will take up that task then I am afraid it will be too late. Let us wake up and fight this cancer of corruption which is eating everyone. WE will achieve nithing by discussing Arvind or Kiran but will achieve a lot by discussing how to fight corruption.

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  • http://samirsrivastava.typepad.com Samir Srivastava

    How many people vote to elect these parliamentarians? Are they true representatives? We need ELECTORAL reforms. We need good education. So that people can make good educated decision while polling. We need to sit down and devise carefully new system in place of our hopelessly broken system whether in India (largest Democracy) or USA (Greatest Democracy, they too have lobbyists etc…). We have the system where GDP is NOT at all reflected in the Quality of Life of Citizens. We need to eradicate misuse of privacy, IMO, lokpal bill is just for corruption in public life… When watchers get corrupted then? Judiciary, PM, UN Human Rights Council, etc….

    Is there anyone on this planet who has not done single WRONG
    (unfair) thing in his life even as childhood activity… Even hinud gods Rama killed Bali from behind the Tree, Krishna (Butter Thief) also played tricks in Mahabharata..

    Sir could you fast for a day for the common man?

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  • NpIrnbru16

    Good article, but do u write same things for Sibal or Sonia?

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  • Sb

    another paid article by Govt. Utterly shallow and baseless argument. Can he say with the other person in the govt? Why object someone who is fighting for ppl. This is a ploy to confuse the minds of the ppl.

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  • TopCorner

    I agree with “SB”. Its not about Anna… Its about people. He is asking for a better future, which Indian politicians were not able to provide to indian people even after 60 years of indepenedence. Only SCAM and SCAM…. Also this article is very much paid… Its quite visible. I haate HT for this.

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  • Indian

    Why do you not write about what you disagree with in the article ??Why are you so biased that any article against Anna is being brushed aside ??His own conduct is suspect with him going maun when Kiran bedi …

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  • PJ

    Mr Indian… Or Mr Aam Aadmi.. Or whoever You are… I hope You are truly indian because what ever you are saying is totaly bluff! and you are trying to convince the people of india that there is a better life after death.. And about HT.. Dear Sir it is the people who are going to make your newspaper number one and not congress so please stick to honest reporting as it is required from a matured Newspaper such as yours or are you trying to gain cheap publicity as Miss rakhi Sawant does so often!!

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  • Sb

    who says you have to agree with him but don’t hinder it.. this is just a beginning.. someone has to start the revolution… u are talking only when he has raised it publicly

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  • Indian

    Very easy to paint some one with tar .I think the points raise by the writer ring a cord with a majority of the people o the country.The country wants answers not baseless comments like you have written.Why not answer point by point i you think you have a point of view ??

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  • PJ

    Hahaha Yes it strikes a point with the people that is why u can see so many people at the jantar mantar!

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  • Indian

    Is Anna some angel that he has no failings? Everybody else seems to be wrong but him. What stand!

    I wish he acted more like JP, at least JP openly supported one party over the other during the emergency.

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  • Irnbru16

    Good article, but do u write same things for Sibal or Sonia?

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  • GS

    Straight from Congressi HQ. Arnab kitney mai bech diya apna IMAAN.

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  • Tina

    I have always supported corruption. I have always supported corrupt politicians. I will support corrupt Sonia and incompetent Rahul Gandhi who has to read a speech , lust like his mommy.
    Rahul’s great grandpa, grandma, father and mother were all corrupt politicians.
    Totally agreed.
    Still I will support them.
    i will never support Anna or anyone’s Anti-corruption movements.

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  • Sam

    You can always find a reason to blame anyone. You are just helping deviating public from the main topic. Personally I don’t care about Anna’s views on other matters. But the issue he is raising now matters most to me. I find journalists like you as a keyboard warrior who will never importance to the main topic, but everything else.

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  • Mohan

    very true. these people are not important to us as they do not care of public good. What is important to all of us is what Anna is attempting to do because that will potentially turn millions of lives around for the betterment.

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  • Guest

    Still another brilliant analysis. Who’s actually deviating from the main topic of corruption? Team Anna members or Arnab Mitra?

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  • Singh

    exactly!!!!!!!

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  • Ravi

    Mr Mitra
    Tragedy of professional class is exactly what you are going through . Before we achieve our objective , we start analyzing our action and start dragging our feet. You must analyzed how your criticism of annaji is going to affect this movement. This movement is against corruption and what kesariwal or x,y,z is saying or how some team member behaving shoul not matter because they are seasoned politician. We should give them opportunity to improve . Yes if they have done any thing wrong action should be taken but government should pass strong lokpal bill. One can see how political class has cleverly tried to buy time and has tried to discredit Anna team. They are not interested in lokpal bill because they do not want to give up their power to loot this country. After 60 years of independence, politicians of all parties have not done any thing to remove corruption. All are beneficiary to loot , some directly, some indirectly. Let us support annaji in this movement. This is last chance to get lokpal bill. You and others like you and me have no time do any thing for this country which this old grand man called annaji is doing at the age of 75 plus. Get up man , do some thing and stop criticizing.

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  • Sanj

    It is shocking to see that most of the main newspapers in India is under the influence of corrupt Indians. I fed up with TOI and for a change typed Hindustan Times in google. Now, look at this article. Another paid penpusher’s unsolicited opinion published here. These kinds of people are the curse of modern India and should be considered as an antinational pest. He is trying his best to stress that he is against corruption and trying to divide anti corruption supporters, but in an idiotic way apparently supporting the corrupt politicians and defaming the individuals who is selflessly leading the anticorruption campaign. He is manipulating the whole anti corruption campaign and challenging the intelligence of the readers. What a shame on Hindusan Times by publishing these third rated article.

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  • Gsmahla

    Who has given any right to this Hazare & the company to speak on behalf of the people of India??

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  • Govintra

    You are right. Let the elected members rule and loot the India.

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  • Sanj

    It is shocking to see that most of the main newspapers in India is under the influence of corrupt Indians. I fed up with TOI and for a change typed Hindustan Times in google. Now, look at this article. Another paid penpusher’s unsolicited opinion published here. These kinds of people are the curse of modern India and should be considered as an antinational pest. He is trying his best to stress that he is against corruption and trying to divide anti corruption supporters, but in an idiotic way apparently supporting the corrupt politicians and defaming the individuals who is selflessly leading the anticorruption campaign. He is manipulating the whole anti corruption campaign and challenging the intelligence of the readers. What a shame on Hindusan Times by publishing these third rated article.

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  • Rahul

    Hope khaungrass paid you well to sell your soul. Thankfully the average Indian is smarter and can read through the paid articles.

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  • TopCorner

    Agree with Rahul. Atleast there is a Rahul who understands the difference in paid and genuine articles. Jai Hind mere dost. Long Live India and lets hope for a better and scam-free india.

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  • Delhite

    Why are u a BJP /RSS guy ??? If any one who question Anna is a Congressman ??

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  • Cynic

    Hello!! What mandate??
    Anna came out alone, people joined him because they were fed up.
    So if you think you are giving some sort of “mandate” to Anna, just get lost. He doesn’t need “mandate” or support of cowards who need a 75 yr to go hungry for 15 days to rouse them out of their sleep.Take your mandate and leave.

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  • http://blogs.hindustantimes.com Hindustan Times

    Our biggest problem is, we are afraid of leading a good cause but if someone doses it for us we criticize him or her to show I am an intellectual. I think we don’t need so-called intellectuals like this gentleman.

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  • http://blogs.hindustantimes.com Hindustan Times

    truly…….d pseudointellectuals will ruin ol d efforts made by any ppl……

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  • http://blogs.hindustantimes.com Hindustan Times

    I share the same views as the writer. I lost faith in Anna when he started literally lying after “just one slap” remark and his narrow views on FDI – especially his comments about East India Company. Anna seems to me like very simple and old fashioned person, but he cannot go on acting he knows everything.

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  • http://blogs.hindustantimes.com Hindustan Times

    ‘anna’ says what he is paid do say, isn’t that obvious?? Whom are we kiddin here?

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  • Guest

    Really? I thought you were anna and wanted to be Anna lol

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  • Ravi

    Mlamba

    If I am from Mars then you must be from Venus.

    Parliament must remain supreme.

    The Parliamentarians are corrupt, I would agree, but they were elected by their constituents. Anna is not mandated by any one.. He is free to get elected and then fight corruption from within the Parliament.

    The Parliamentarians are corrupt because our whole society is corrupt.

    So I think if you look in the mirror then you will see a man who is aloof from reality and steeped into an unreal form of idealism.

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  • Pankaj#1

    Manohar;
    Wanted to reply to you, but only in 10 minutes or so, the blog has gone viral and I do not have patience/ time to go that far back. You said people who welcomed Arnab Mitra’s last post should eat crow? why, what is there which suggests that you have discovered a perfect hook for Vijay and Co.? First few lines of Arnab, where he is in total agreement with Anna and his motive, to remove corruption from public life, is all that is supported by 99% of people. Rest is aberration, which must not be there but some how one feels that Arnab is saying here–U unwashed, trying to preach us. While he was silent, when just behind the veneer of being politico ( MPs, MLAs or just office holders), this class was riding roughshod over everybody.

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  • http://twitter.com/lofty2304 lofty

    Mr Mitra, you picked on the wrong guy. Anna hazare…..bad timing Mr Mitra..now time for my 2 cents. i totally agree with you. i am shocked and mortified at how intolerant people are for anything negative said against anna hazare. well we are a democracy so deal with it. from lokapl bill …F.D.I….now whiskey….he wants them all… good intention but i love my whiskey …so my viewpoint is “butt out” Mr hazare.. learn to be more flexible…and.. Mr kekriwal….i see a politician in the making and a damm good one too… Mrs Bedi…you madam were my hero still are but show some flexibility.. live and let live… “I agree to disagree with you all”.

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Shekhar-Lamba/100000180826821 Shekhar Lamba

    Dear Mr. Mitra… It is sad that the media and journalist like you have mess up this country. Like the congress says to team ANNA to contest elections … I suggest before you give your views please prove that if you can be like Annaji ,,,,,,, just fast for 3 days an d I will admire you as the most dedicate Journalist of this country. I will accept that you are not the one who is looking out for stories for fame and wealth….. Jai hind

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  • Concerned about India

    You are absolutely right and our country in in need of objective thinker like you. Sadly people are following Anna as some kind saviour, but people need to put their trust in our democratic institutions.

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  • http://twitter.com/saurabh_In saurabh kumar

    This article by HT, who sponsors the likes of Veer Sanghvi, one of the most corrupt journalists. The likes of Barkha Dutt and Veer Sanghvi who are being openly endorsed by such platforms as HT and NDTV can not be relied upon. Both Veer and Barkha played key role in the 2G scam. Why the hell is India even wasting time, rather concentrate on building the economy ?

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  • http://twitter.com/IndiaGarage India Garage

    Which is better – cng / lpg / petrol / deisel http://www.indiagarage.com/thread11689.html#post27169

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  • pradip

    can i fit CNG kit in maruti 800 1999 model??

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  • http://www.facebook.com/sushill.sundar Sushill Shyam Sundar

    You are a rockstar..Very nice and thoughtfully writtten article..Please have a look at the article in the link below and let me know your views.

    http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-03-22/news/31225054_1_cng-models-cng-cars-diesel-cars

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  • Shraman N L

    Very good article.

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  • ajay

    very well written. sumant can u suggest CNG factory fitted car in range of 5 lakh ?

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  • akshay

    I HEARD THAT ANY gas ENGINE WILL BE DOWN AFTER 60,000 KMS IS IT TRUE ?
    PLZ LET ME KNOW IF THERE WILL BE ANY DIFFERENCE BETWEEN GAS AND OTHER FUELS ??
    PLZ REPLY ME AT katakam.akshay@gmail.com

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  • James Allen

    There is another problem which is not addressed in the CNG cons, that is the cars servicing. The cars using CNG will take up more air and thus the air filter will need to be changed frequntly, it also dirties the mobil so the oil change frequency needs to be increased. These costs do add up.

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  • रक्स

    इस लेखक ने अपना नाम नहीं दिया कहीं पर। ये बंदा ग़लत कह रहा है। भारत के लोगों में अब इच्छाशक्ति जाग उठी है बदलाव लाने की क्योंकि उनको अब ये पता चल गया है (thanks to Arvind Kejriwal’s Aam Aadmi Party and Baba Ramdev’s active campaigning across the country) कि दोनो भाजपा और काॉग्रेस भ्रष्ट हैं। ये क़तर और भारत की तुलना अापस में क्यों कर रहा है? भला क़तर को आंदोलन की क्या ज़रूरत?

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    harjit singh Reply:

    Media wale sale chor hai

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  • Venkat

    Irrelevant comparison, wasted 5 mins. by reading this…

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  • Samira

    Writer is not clear about what he wants us to say. What kejri has to do with Qatar?

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  • Samira

    Writer is not clear about what he wants us to say. What kejri has to do with Qatar?

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  • Samira

    Writer is not clear about what he wants us to say. What kejri has to do with Qatar?

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  • NITYA

    it sounds like the assignments given in school, write an article about “Arvind Kejriwal if he were in Qatar”. THE BEAUTY OF INDIAN SYSTEM AND INDIAN GOVERNANCE.. HE CALLS THE PROTEST AGAINST SONIA AND ROBERT OUTRAGEOUS, GUESS THAT’S ALL WHO MATTERED TO HIM.

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    harjit singh Reply:

    Media ka baap mukesh ambani hai in ki maa sonia

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  • Vinod

    Please give me a chance to vote with negative star rating.
    The beauty of the Indian system is that the corrupt people are allowed to roam freely, allow people like this blogger to make funny comparisons against people like kejriwal. These kind of bloggers are earning their daily bread by commenting on Kejriwal. Lookout, how important is Kejriwal.

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  • vivek

    क्या लिख रहे हो यार, निरङ्कुशता सिर्फ एक तरफि होता है क्या ? ये बात क्योँ नहि समझते कि अगर केजरीवाल बादशाह होता तो जनता सुखि होते और आप, सोनिया , गडकरी और मोदि जेल मे होते ।

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  • YZ

    A school boy writing an article on a topic given to him by his teacher.

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  • http://twitter.com/harjit100280 harjit singh

    Javid pakistan se comparison karta hai. Media wale qatar se .inko uk. Usa . Canada nhi dekhi nhi deta. In ke jija ji ko arvind ne kata hai. Aab in ke baap ko v kata hai. Media walo ki majboori hai.

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  • http://twitter.com/harjit100280 harjit singh

    Qatar hahaaaa

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  • alhazoor

    It appears that this Qatari writer of this essay was born of ilg wedlock of qartai maa so he is remembering his glorious past iin the haram of sheikh bin tuglak shahi shabur, Goodlubck kanzi khan

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  • sagar

    what a stupid comparison….javed shab telling in aaj tak to arvind kejriwal that if u go to **** for 5 days …and when u will return u will kiss the land of india…what he was trying to say that time…what is happening in india is good or better in comparision to ****…i dont knw what journos what to tell…i want to ask all the journos of india,,,whom they gonna vote in 2014(if they ever vote)… BJP, CONGRESS or AAP or some other party…

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  • appu

    you dumass..Qatar is a monarchy..India is a democracy..What the fish are you comparing..Yet there would be neglegible corruption in Qatar..Long live AK ..Hail o AAP

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  • ajay rawal

    stupidity at its best!one

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  • hello

    Look at the way india handles protest in Kashmir, worse than Qatar!

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  • sahil

    i think HT shud compare itself with US, UK & other countries where media dont work like a government stoog……………..i think i these countris HT would be already suspended

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  • arpit mittal

    HT are you threatening Mr. Kejriwal…..
    it seems like you do, so for your kind information I like to tell you that he is not alone and this is not Qatar, this is India where even a newspaper like yours is allowed to publish the most rubbish articles. This is India where Bhagat Singh was born, who took the most powerful britishers head-on, so think twice before threatening anyone because it is the common men because of whom your business is there you fools…… and this common man is with Mr.Kejriwal, just and watch.
    I have never expected HT to lead a fight against corruption but this threatening is way over the limit, you will face the same fate as the other corrupts when the common man will raise to the power.

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  • AAM AADMI

    Ye to vahi baat ho gyi ki hindustan times ko BBC/NY TIMES se compare karo…hahahahahha…….ARVIND KEJRIWAL KI JAI….AAM AADMI ZINDABAD….INDIAN PAID MEDIA MURDABAD !!!

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  • IIT’ian

    And you Journos (like zee news) would have been BEHIND THE BARS TODING SOOKHI ROTI had INDIA been USA/CANADA/RUSSIA…….thank god you journos are in INDIA !! shame on indian media !! thoo

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  • satyadevkhare

    Is this article meant for praising Kejriwal or criticize Approach of Quatar towards demonstrations? Had Indian leaders been in qatar, they would have been hanged in public for corrupt practices.

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  • sudhir patil

    As we are free to take on Govt. They also feel free to loot the treasury and rob the common man as such.

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  • rat

    the writer want us readers to understand that the democracy in india is due to the generosity of people in power and that why people like kejriwal is able to speak freely.he should stop writing articles on social issues as his understanding of social structures are unbelievably stupid.plz go and do some other business to make money.

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