World is talking about india

Last week, TIME magazine
carried a story by its writer Joel
Stein entitled “My Own Private
India”. His piece on Indian
Americans didn’t go down well
with the Indian community
settled there. In India too, those
who read the article were critical
of his article. Before the issue
could snowball into anything
larger, the magazine came out
with a public apology and said
didn’t mean to offend Indians .
So this week, I surfed
international news sites to see
what news of India was making
the headlines.
In the World section of The New
York Times, Kashmir violence is
featured as a slide show with
little details of the reason of the
conflict. But what is more
prominent is a long article on
Switzerland being a preferred
travel destination for Indian
tourists, all thanks to Bollywood
and one man in particular, the
eternal romantic, Yash Chopra.
But looks like Switzerland is
getting stiff competition from an
equally breathtaking country-
New Zealand. The recently
released ‘I hate luv storys’ chose
to skip the Swiss alps for the
New Zealand countryside.

Even before the “jaadu ki
jhappi” was popularised by
Sanjay Dutt, one person had
been preaching its healing
powers. Amma (as she ’s
popularly known) is said to cure
the ailing, comfort the lonely
with just a simple hug.
Huffington Post features “India’s
hugging saint” in their Living
section. This comes in the wake
of sainthood in India coming
under the scanner, due to the
likes of Swami Nityananda and
his shenanigans.

“‘Shining India’ makes its poor
pay the price of hosting
Commonwealth Games “,
screams a headline in The
Guardian . With the CWG fast
approaching and the demolition
drive continuing to displace
many who ’re in its way, we ask
– what exactly are the
Commonwealth Games about?
India as a tourist destination, an
elaborate eyewash to lure in
more tourists or India ’s sincere
attempt at making its presence
felt in the global sports arena?
The Daily Telegraph, Australia,
has a travel feature on the
world ’s best hotels. And guess
what, of the 11 hotels in the list,
two are from India- the Oberoi
Amarvilas and Oberoi Vanyavilas.