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Hotel Death
My story on a home for the dying in Varanasi, India, came out on CNN.com today. I spent a week reporting in the fabled holy city and was fascinated by its spirituality much more this time than I was...
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Looking like change in India
Voters in India get their fingers marked with indelible ink after casting a ballot. Today was the last day of polling in India’s mammoth parliamentary elections. Five weeks of voting; Nine polling...
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India’s day of reckoning
By Friday afternoon, everything should become clear. Who did more than 500 million voters choose to lead India? India’s day of reckoning is here. Election results will be announced soon. All week,...
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No longer one
India now has a 29th state. Telangana. It was six decades in the making, the fruit of a strong separatist movement that argued neglect by successive governments and finally succeeded in breaking off a...
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Reflections on a fresh start
Below is what K.S. Narendran, husband of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 passenger Chandrika Sharma, posted on his Facebook page on the 6-month anniversary of the plane’s disappearance. I have admired...
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Saris to Suits
Please help a good cause and click here: http://www.gofundme.com/j5zs6gFiled under: Asia, Women Tagged: Bangladesh, empowerment, India, Pakistan. South Asian, saris, women
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They own nothing. ZERO.
A woman sleeps on a sidewalk in central Kolkata. Extreme poverty afflicts millions in India. A few weeks ago, when President Barack Obama visited India, I wrote a piece for CNN about how my homeland...
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Missing plane tragedy, one year later
I have been corresponding with K.S. Narendran for almost a year now. His wife, Chandrika Sharma, was one of the passengers on Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 when it vanished from the skies on March 8,...
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Wonderwomen
Practicing for a performance in the courtyard of Kolkata Sanved. On a bright December afternoon in Kolkata, I watched a handful of young women throw their arms in the air, swirl the scarves of their...
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Rangakaka: Remembering a colorful life
Rangakaka and me in New York, 2011. The film “Aradhana” had just made its big splash in 1969 when my family returned once again from a soujourn in America to India. As we settled back to a middle-class...
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Satyajit Ray, or Manikmama
A few weeks ago, I went to see “3 1/2 Minutes, Ten Bullets,” a riveting documentary about the shooting death of Jordan Davis at a Jacksonville gas station. It’s well worth your time. On the way out,...
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Diwali, Lakshmi and good winning over evil
The return of Rama, Sita and Lakshmana to Ayodhya. (From Ramayana online). Today we mark a day of solemnity, remembering all those who fought for our country. I salute you on Veterans Day, especially...
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The saint
Pope Francis announced that Mother Teresa is becoming a saint. She will be canonized next fall. The pontiff attributed the miraculous healing of a Brazilian man with multiple brain tumors, which means...
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War hero, Indian and Jewish
He was known in my native India as the hero of the Bangladesh war. In Israel, he was known as the highest-ranking Jew in the Indian Army. Lieutenant General Farj Rafael Jacob died Wednesday morning....
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Moment of desi pride at the Oscars
Lost in the diversity controversy at the Oscars Sunday night was this: The only woman of color who won was Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy. Who? That’s the problem. Very few people in America know who she is....
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From the darkness of disaster…
I first met Maya Gurung last year, a few days after a massive earthquake struck Nepal. Maya was recovering from the amputation of her left leg at a Kathmandu hospital. I wrote a story about her...
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