India | GlobalPost

Indians love a giant Michael Jackson statue

Saritha RaiFebruary 18, 2010 07:30Updated May 30, 2010 13:21

BANGALORE, India — Indians have a thing for statues. We are also obsessive about giant-sized cutouts and massive digital posters of our favorite movie stars and politicians. Such larger-than-life street art is part of the urban visual scenery and skyline in many Indian cities. Now one Indian is trying to take his fanatical hero-worship to gargantuan levels. R. Chandrasekaran, a granite monument exporter who runs RC Golden Granites in the eastern Indian city of Chennai, has commissioned and completed a mammoth statue of pop king Michael Jackson.

Was it Pakistan?

Saritha RaiFebruary 16, 2010 17:18Updated February 16, 2010 17:18

Top News: India’s government held its composure and refused to point fingers in the mid-February bomb attack in the western city of Pune, which killed nine, including two foreigners, and injured 60 people. The bomb was left under a table in a popular café frequented by tourists and foreigners.

After Pune attack, what will happen to Indo-Pak talks?

Hanna IngberFebruary 14, 2010 11:52

There had been a sense of inevitability in India that the country would face another major terrorist attack after the Mumbai massacre of November 2008. The only question – when? – was answered Saturday night with the bombing of a bakery in Pune, a city in Western India. Now, the nation asks a new question: How will the attack affect the upcoming talks between India and Pakistan?

Going greens: India's golf boom

Jason OverdorfFebruary 13, 2010 11:21Updated May 30, 2010 13:21

NEW DELHI, India — Germany's Marcel Siem took advantage of a last-minute putting tutorial from India's top-ranked women's amateur to take the lead on opening day of the country's newest international golf tournament this week. Tipped to slow greens that foxed other European players, Siem notched an eagle and several birdies by stiffening his stroke to avoid leaving his putts short. But fans still hold out hope for local favorite Jeev Milkha Singh, ranked 59th in the world.

Dalai Lama: Blackballed from Thailand

Patrick WinnFebruary 12, 2010 07:47Updated May 30, 2010 13:21

BANGKOK, Thailand — In the age of growing Chinese influence, there’s a simple measure of a country’s willingness to test China’s wrath. Will they stamp the Dalai Lama’s passport? Add Thailand to the shrinking list of nations that won’t.

Opinion: Goa is no rape capital

Armstrong VazFebruary 19, 2010 09:30Updated May 30, 2010 13:20

GOA, India — India's smallest state has been in the news for all the wrong reasons. The recent rape of a 9-year-old Russian girl in Goa's Morjim village has resonated far beyond the beaches of this former Portuguese colony.

Goa rape case threatens India-Russian relations

Sonya FatahFebruary 4, 2010 23:12Updated May 30, 2010 13:20

GOA, India — The approach to Morjim beach is dotted with signs in Russian. "Prechechnaya" (laundry) says one sign painted on a wooden slat hanging from a tree. "Russkaya Kuxna" (Russian food) says another. Over the last few years Morjim, a beachside village in north Goa, India’s smallest most popular tourist destination, has become a veritable Russian enclave.

Cricket triggers a diplomatic crisis with Pakistan

Saritha RaiFebruary 1, 2010 19:14Updated February 1, 2010 19:14

Top News: The battle lines are drawn inIndia’s buzzing financial capital, Mumbai, home to the country’s thriving Hindi movie industry, Bollywood. The right-wing Shiv Sena party, led by political supremo Bal Thackeray, is espousing that the city should be dominated by the local, Marathi-speaking people.

Ambulance chasing in Mumbai

Hanna IngberJanuary 30, 2010 10:47Updated May 30, 2010 13:19

MUMBAI, India — Dr. Saeed Ahmed gets a call – a patient at Noor Hospital in South Mumbai needs to be transferred to another hospital with better medical equipment. The doctor, his assistant and driver load up into the ambulance, turn on the siren and head downtown. A similar scene could have taken place in New York. But there is one glaring difference: During the approximately 30-minute ride not a single car, taxi, bus or person moves out of the way for Dr. Ahmed's ambulance. Not one even pauses.

India: New freedom to find information

Saritha RaiFebruary 16, 2010 08:13Updated May 30, 2010 13:19

BANGALORE, India — In a country that has the dubious distinction of topping almost every ranking of the world’s corrupt, bribe-taking countries, a law called the Right to Information Act is altering the equation between the gigantic government and its vast citizenry. The Right to Information Act — popularly called the RTI — was enacted as national law four years ago to pry open the opaque nature of governance in India.