Daily News & Analysis
  • Home
  • Mumbai
  • India
  • World
  • Money
  • Sport
  • Entertainment
  • Opinion
  • Speak Up
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Sci/Tech
  • Academy
  • Gallery
  • Blogs
  • E-Paper
Sunday, November 22, 2009

Columns

Advanced Search

Venkatesan Vembu
Syndicate
this column

Venkatesan 'Venky' Vembu attained his first Fifteen Minutes of Fame in 1984, on the threshold of his career, when paparazzi pictures of him with Maneka Gandhi were splashed in the world media under the mischievous tag 'International Affairs'. But that's a story he's saving up for his memoirs...

Over 20-plus years, Venky worked in The Indian Express, Frontline newsmagazine, and Outlook Money, before joining DNA ahead of its launch. Additionally, he has been published, at various times, in, among other publications, The Times of India, Hindustan Times, Outlook, and Outlook Traveller.

From his current station in Hong Kong, where he is frequently (and quite inexplicably) mistaken for the bumbling movie character Mr Bean, Venky endeavours to convey through his despatches the dramatic changes that are sweeping across the East Asian region and the glacial but steady Asia-ward shift in the geopolitical and economic centre of gravity.

When he is not scrambling to meet manic deadlines for his contributions across the different sections of DNA, Venky overdoses on Zhang Yimou movies - and struggles valiantly with the tonal complexities of the Chinese language.

more...
less...

Who wants to be a slumdog?

That, pretty much, was the theme for the day: over-the-top rejoicing of the enormous success of a film that holds up a mirror to the grinding poverty.
February 23, 2009

The sound of one-handed economists clapping

More disturbingly, the stimulus plan also incorporates a provision that would restrict US banks’ from hiring workers on H1-B temporary work visas.
February 17, 2009

Knickers in a twist

But it appears that the Sri Ram Sene’s foot-soldiers are getting their (pink) knickers in a twist for all the wrong reasons.
February 11, 2009

It is time to begin afresh in Sri Lanka

An end to the 25-year-long military stalemate in Sri Lanka appears near at hand, with government forces poised to decisively crush the separatist LTTE.
February 3, 2009

15 minutes of moral TRPs

The assault and abuse of young women in a Mangalore pub on the eve of India’s 60th Republic Day marks a new low in the record of crimes against women.
January 28, 2009

The economy will make or break Obama

For all the sense of history associated with Barack Obama’s inauguration as US president, he doesn’t really have the luxury of time to savour this defining moment.
January 20, 2009

China's Cultural Revolution II

A storm raged on the Chinese-language internet after paparazzi photographs of Zhang Ziyi, lounging on a beach with her Israeli billionaire boyfriend made it online.
January 14, 2009

China plays a losing hand in Pakistan

On the international platform, China also looks out for Pakistan, its ‘all-weather ally’, as happened after the Mumbai terrorist attacks.
January 6, 2009

Big Brother 2.0 is here

China looks beyond censorship to mould online opinion with outsourced cyberwarriors.
January 2, 2009

The cycle of the ages

Periodic ritual: What we’re witnessing is the collapse of a civilisation and the rebirth of another.
December 23, 2008

The madness of rage

Even a fortnight after the terrorist attacks in Mumbai, people across India are seething with rage.
December 9, 2008

‘Pakistan must show it is against terror’

In his 2005 book Future Jihad, Walid Phares, a leading commentator on global terrorism, portrayed a grim Urban Jihad scenario, like the virtual terrorist takeover of Mumbai earlier this week.
November 29, 2008

All hail Western ‘crony capitalism’

The US financial meltdown and the administration’s inept responses to it have established two things beyond reasonable doubt
November 25, 2008
«
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
»


Interviews »
  • ‘India is not doing enough to protect China border’
  • Salaam Aleikum, China!
  • ‘Don’t make excuses for poor quality Made-in-China’
  • ‘China’s fears about India’s N-sub reveal small heart’
  • ‘China cannot really dump the dollar’
Analysis
  • ‘Disastrous failure of China’s policy in Tibet’
Reports
  • ‘India is misreading Sino-US ties’
  • Obama approval dips on job losses, ineffectual trip to Asia
  • The great Chinese car sales mystery
  • Did Obama stoop too low?
  • Obama runs into Great Wall

Our columnists
  • Anil Dharker
  • Antara Dev Sen
  • Arati R Jerath
  • Arati R. Jerath
  • Ayaz Memon
  • Cyrus Broacha
  • Dilip Vengsarkar
  • Gaurav Kapur
  • Javed Gaya
  • Madhu Jain
  • Magandeep Singh
  • Malavika Sangghvi
  • Mallika Sarabhai
  • Meghnad Desai
  • N Raghuraman
  • Parsa Venkateshwar Rao Jr
  • R Jagannathan
  • Ranjona Banerji
  • Robin Sharma
  • Sandeep Shanbhag
  • Sathya Saran
  • Siddharth Bhatia
  • Sidharth Bhatia
  • Suresh Nair
  • Vinay Kamat
Contributors
  • Ankita Pandey
  • Arjun Parthasarathy
  • B Krishnakumar
  • Deblina Chakrabarty
  • Fahad K Samaar
  • Firoz Bakht Ahmed
  • Koel Purie
  • Manjula Pooja Shroff
  • MS Kamath
  • Mukul G Asher
  • Naini Setalvad
  • Pillman
  • Prof R Vaidyanathan
  • R N Bhaskar
  • Rakesh Bhatnagar
  • S Gangadharan
  • Shraddha Jahagirdar Saxena
  • Sumit Chakraberty
  • Vijay L Bhambwani
  • Vivek Kaul
  • Yatin Pandya
  • Zaheer Abbas
Popular Columns »
  • Suresh Nair : 2012: The end?
  • R Jagannathan: Fighting Hindi hegemony
  • Anil Dharker : For Muslims, the enemy lies within
  • Ayaz Memon: Twenty years is a couple of lifetimes in any sport
  • Mallika Sarabhai: Dubai: City of gold
  • Venkatesan Vembu: Before his Asia trip Obama should see 2012
  • Ranjona Banerji : Maharashtra’s issues come home to roost
  • Sandeep Shanbhag : Go for gold — the ETF way
  • R Jagannathan: Pink Panther strikes
  • Sidharth Bhatia : Laurel & Hardy are passé
About us | Contact us | Advertise with us | Subscription | Reprint rights
© 2005-2009 Diligent Media Corporation Ltd. All rights reserved.