Lessons from SARS have to be applied
[2009-05-06 07:44]I was living in Hong Kong during SARS - and read enough reports from the mainland - to know that the scars of that epidemic haven't yet healed.
Time to spend but I'd rather hold on to my money
[2009-04-03 07:42]Xiao Shenyang: It's regrettable that a man should die without spending money at all.
Innovation zones could be next happy marriage
[2009-02-27 07:40]Wedding ceremonies and celebrations vary vastly across India - but in the past decade, one has assumed a homogenous hue - the NRI (non-resident Indian) Wedding.
At 3 yuan a beer, it's a tough life
[2008-12-19 07:50]I know now that there are two kinds of foreigners living in China. Most of us who are employed in the media, academia, marketing, NGOs and the like, who - mostly - think we are paid reasonably enough to get by comfortably. Let's say the Silent Majority.
Adios - and let's talk again
[2008-12-05 07:46]There's an old saying in Texas, the home state of US President George W. Bush: If it ain't broke, don't fix it. And in Michigan, president-elect Barack Obama's home state (okay, they may now be trying to fix what is clearly broke), the gameplan when things were running well was: Make 'em bigger, and better.
Dear Barack
[2008-11-07 07:45]I don't think I am being presumptuous in addressing you so informally - after all, this is the first time a US president has been born after me, so I assumed the privilege of age.
For a better picture, try more focus
[2008-10-17 10:03]When I was in India a couple of weeks ago, my mother was fretting - about how I would make do without yogurt.
Olympics a tough act to follow, but they did it
[2008-09-19 07:45]When I entered junior high years ago, a senior was the star of the high-school cricket team and a hero to us.
It was a spectacular show - not reality TV
[2008-08-15 08:19]I'll let you into a little Bollywood secret: In all those song-and-dance sequences which are de rigeur in any film - the pair on screen never sing.
Damned if you do, damned if you don't
[2008-07-18 07:31]A senior colleague has a peculiar problem: He owns a car whose license plate allows him to drive on even-number days - but since he works nights, the day turns odd-numbered by the time he leaves for home at around 2 am.
Puffing and huffing: Raise the burden
[2008-06-06 07:46]Two lifestyle-altering events have greeted us lately: One is the smoking ban (partial) in the capital which went into force last month; the other is paying for plastic bags at groceries and eateries, effective nationwide this month.
Spot the real elephants in the field
[2008-05-09 07:23]I eat rice once a day. Cracked wheat or millet - whose prices have not risen much - make up the other meals as part of an attempt at a healthier lifestyle.
