Dheeraj Kalgutkar

My favorite thing about America is the divorce rate. & I mean that sincerely. — Arnessa (@Rrrrnessa) September 7, 2016  In my usual morning chore of digging through Twitter, I stumbled upon the above tweet and was stunned at first. I mean, what? Divorce rate? Why would someone be happy about broken marriages, couples getting separated? But then I followed the thread. Arnessa goes on to make you believe why the divorce matters and how women are treated in most parts of the world. Although she keeps most of her discussion around immigrant communities, I would like to remind people how the tale is same in most parts of India and other developing nations as well. The more and more women are not educated, the more pathetic their lives. By education I don’t mean the knowledge to read and write but general awareness about their right, equal say in marriage etc.. It was high time somebody spoke it how it was ought to be. Following are the text of short and crisp tw...

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI's) much awaited Prohibition of  Discriminatory  Tariffs for Data Services Regulation, 2016, is being hailed for its support of Net Neutrality. In fact, some have gone on to christen it as the law that is all powerful than what the FCC passed in the US. The order comes nearly two months after TRAI floated a paper asking whether differential tariffs should be allowed for data services linked to specific content. This paper was linked to one of the key principles of Net Neutrality - that all data should be treated equally, with no preference in speed of pricing to any particular set of contact. But does it achieve all that, and is it really that strong a law as few want us to believe it to be? First and foremost, sorry, hold your horses, it is just an order not law and in the absence of law the aggrieved parties (read telcos) can question the order in High Court under section 227 of the Constitution. And for...

Legend has it that goddess Gadhimai appeared to a prisoner in dreams and asked him to establish a temple to her. When he awoke, his shackles had fallen open and he was able to leave the prison and build the temple, where he sacrifices animals to give thanks to goddess. What is unknown is why in the world he sacrificed animals to present his thanks! Did goddess Gadhimai suggested him anything as such will never be known. What began as one man’s thanksgiving offer has turned into world’s largest abattoir today with tens of thousands of people flocking to Gadhimai temple in Bariyapur village of Nepal, 60 miles from Kathmandu. Thanksgiving which is celebrated across United States and other western countries is inescapably visible and thoroughly documented orgy of turkey slaughter with its origin in 1621 – more than a century before the most often claimed date for the origin of the Gadhimai sacrifice. Moreover Thanksgiving has been celebrated annually since 1841, when Dr. Al...