Date posted: January 28, 2007

Edward Luce, In Spite of the Gods. The Strange Rise of Modern India

I just finished reading "In Spite of the Gods. The Strange Rise of Modern India" by Edward Luce. It is the perfect companion to "China Shakes the World. The Rise of a Hungry Nation" by James Kynge. I don't think it's an accident both authors write for the Financial Times, which gives its journalists a lot of freedom. Apart from that its reputation, which its journalists help sustain, opens doors which may remain closed for other newspaper journalists.

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Date posted: January 28, 2007

Devdas

I finally got around to watching Devdas. The dvd had been lying around for some time, but because of its Titanic length, it had remained in the pipeline. Since I had just finished reading Edward Luce's "In Spite of the Gods. The Strange Rise of Modern India", the moment had finally arrived.

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Date posted: January 18, 2007

Our Daily Bread

I just went to Our Daily Bread, a brilliant documentary about the food industry directed by the Austrian filmmaker Nikolaus Geyrhalter. The film is entirely without commentary. All you hear are the sounds recorded during the actual filming. It is hard to imagine what a voiceover could have added. The images make any commentary superfluous.

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Date posted: January 7, 2007

A Short Note about Wal-Mart's Entry into India

Last November Wal-Mart announced its plans to enter India by way of a joint-venture with India based Bharti Enterprises Ltd. India restricts so called Foreign Direct Investments by law to protect the local retail sector so Wal-Mart had to find a side entrance.

While supermarkets and today's hypermarkets do have benefits, they also produce ripple effects that are often overlooked. One such ripple effect is the transformation of shopping culture and the destruction of social ties.

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