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Sunday, November 22, 2009

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Venkatesan Vembu
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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.

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Indian bankers feel the heat

Indian professionals in Hong Kong’s banking sector are increasingly on edge, with the prospect of job losses mounting with each outbreak of grim economic news
November 19, 2008

An Islamic Reformation?

Politics abhors a vacuum, and the space for moderation in politics — at every level and across the world — has been pretty vacuous for a long while now.
November 11, 2008

Whoever wins, it’s party time

A thrill of excitement is sweeping across Hong Kong, and it isn’t just about the imminent victory of Barack Obama, who is hugely popular here, as he is around the world.
November 5, 2008

Why ‘Mahatma’ Obama may fail

A week from now, it appears near-certain, Barack Obama will be elected the first president of the world. (That’s right, the world.)
October 28, 2008

Why China won’t ‘bail out’ the West

By ‘bailing out’ the West now, China will only help itself. But that’s a tough sell in Beijing
October 14, 2008

Hindi tunes rock China

The nine-tonal Cantonese language, which is spoken in Hong Kong, is a linguistic challenge for most non-Chinese people.
October 8, 2008

Panic waves crash on Hong Kong

The realisation is dawning among Hong Kong’s large army of investment bankers that the days of bountiful bonuses and the high-flying Good Life may be at an end.
September 30, 2008

Karma on four wheels

Two Hong Kong policemen are preparing to embrace a 'karmic experience' in India, which involves driving a 37-horsepower Ambassador through some of the most challenging terrain in the Western Ghats.
September 24, 2008

Wanted: an anti-terror ‘Golden Shield’

The serial blasts in New Delhi have shown up two glaring failures in the Indian security agencies: the first is of intelligence, and the second is of a security system.
September 16, 2008

Governance lessons from China

Since Moynihan’s time, the number of visitors to China who leave dizzy and awe-struck has only increased exponentially, with good reason.
September 2, 2008

The two faces of China

China has given the world much cause for wonderment in the way it has organised the Beijing Olympics and the manner in which it has demonstrated its ascent as a sporting superpower.
August 19, 2008

One China, many dreams

On the streets of Hong Kong, there are plentiful reminders of the “big event” that gets under way in less than three days.
August 5, 2008

‘The Olympics will be a celebration of sports’

The Beijing Olympics, which get under way in 10 days, are for China a chance to showcase both its ancient and contemporary strengths.
July 27, 2008
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