The editors of Himal believe that India's chairmanship of SAARC, beginning the SAARC Summit of 3-4 April, is a good opportunity to strike a firm blow for Southasian
After completing the first phase of my studies of the Tamil-Brahmi script in 1968, I turned my attention towards the Indus script. I had been particularly attracted to this study
When reports about the possible entry of China into SAARC first appeared a few years back, quite a few eyebrows went up. When China was subsequently given observer status to
Perhaps no other railway in the world could have competed with the new Qinghai-Tibet railway for the amount of attention, comment and opinion it inspired. The fact that the Chinese
Prominent Tibet supporter and Tibetologist Robert Thurman once compared the Tibetan cause to that of baby seals. This appears to be quite an accurate comparison. Indeed, the plight of the
In this painting by Sabir Nazar, a bird sits in a cage. Outside, people go about their activities, good and bad; their lives, pleasant and painful. They pray, they nap;
The tussle between the judicial, executive and legislative branches is an old one. Competing loyalties, political interference and plain corruption have challenged the independence of the judiciary in most countries
Regional energy integration has long been a pie in the Southasian sky. And like other grand visions that fail to materialise, the blame for this lack of success has fallen
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, who assumes the SAARC chair in April, has spoken of the importance of assessing Southasian regional cooperation "in the larger Asian context". The implications
In a tiny room with blue walls full of charts about birds, fruits and vegetables, 10-year-old Tamanna sits on the floor, drawing on sheets of paper strategically folded to resemble
REGION
Pipeline ahoy!
Sanctions are not supposed to work this way. After seemingly endless stops and starts, India, Pakistan and Iran decided during the second week of March to begin
The English-language poet Jayanta Mahapatra did not begin writing poetry until rather late in life, around the age of 40. At that time, English-language poetry in India read very haltingly
