As Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton stood at a Dec. 1 press conference in Chicago to announce her nomination as secretary of state, they promised the country, and the world, a much-needed push toward the restoration of world order.
It would be, Mr. Obama said, “a new beginning—a new dawn of Read More
New York joins the world in mourning the horrific and senseless terrorist attacks in Mumbai last week, during which over 188 people lost their lives, and grief and fear flooded India’s financial capital. As home to one of the world’s most flourishing communities of Indian émigrés, New York shares a brotherly bond with Mumbai, now Read More
Private School? Play Here! Public School? Wait Over There!
On Buffy, on Preston, on Danforth and Arianna! The Randall’s Island fields are yours!
The city’s Franchise and Concession Review Committee on Feb. 15 approved a deal that allows 20 private schools to help finance renovations of Randall’s Island’s existing fields and the construction of new Read More
Charges of racism are flying over the State Liquor Authority’s decision to suspend for two years the liquor license for the Chelsea building that houses Club Mumbai. It’s racked up dozens of violations in the last four years for underage drinking, excessive noise and blocked exits, the New York Post reports.
But Read More
The frontpage, 4th column feature (I think it’s called an A-head) in yesterday’s WSJ, unfortunately firewalled, was a sweet piece of reporting by Eric Bellman about daytraders playing the Indian stockmarket at internet cafes in Mumbai. They’ve left their jobs as sailors and real estate agents to try and eke out a profit of $10 Read More
You’d never guess this used to be a Jewish delicatessen serving pastrami sandwiches, lox and bagels. Now, the walls are covered with gold-on-red gauze curtains and inset with antique palace doors brought over from India. Blue, red, green and white lanterns made from etched colored glass hang like jewels from the ceiling, which is two Read More
I spotted the wooden zebras on a high shelf in an antiques warehouse in Bombay last year and dragged my wife over from the hotel to eyeball them. She was unimpressed. But when I got back to the States I thought of Rajesh, the fine-boned young man who had climbed the dusty shelves to hand Read More
The Ground Beneath Her Feet , by Salman Rushdie. Henry Holt, 575 pages, $27.50.
A slow moderating trend in Iranian politics at last resulted in the cancellation of the fatwa against Salman Rushdie. At least that’s the idea. I pray all the mullahs heard the word. On the assumption that Mr. Rushdie will be allowed Read More
On Jan. 16, I took a boat from Goa to Bombay a day ahead of my traveling companions because I had a romantic errand. Twenty years ago, the only other time I’d been to Bombay, I’d visited an opium den. A young Indian took me there and we lay on the floor among dried-up veterans, Read More
