I feel that a little India is residing right here. And the good thing is that the boys and girls are working together with superb energy, enthusiasm, integrity, team-sprit, maturity and above all wisdom. I think that they are bringing the best out of their Indian roots and are passing it on to the west and this is what most of our past rhishi’s (monks) and saints did. This is what Yogananda, Swami Rama and Maharishi did. They brought Indian wisdom and philosophy to the west.

You are merging the humanity into one and addressing the need of the self. Self is not Hindu, Muslim or Christian. Self is not American, Indian, or European. Self is self. Later on we cloth it with whatever clothing we want. I think that you have gone beneath the clothing to reach out the human mind and that is a universal message that you young Indian boys and girls are able to spread which will make the world peaceful and ethical. MORE

A Sketch by Kruti Patel

Mandate for Indo-Pak peace settlement

By Moorthy Muthuswamy

A coalition will take over at the helm in New Delhi after the elections. General Musharraf of Pakistan has been putting pressure on the Indians to seriously talk about Kashmir. He appears to strongly demand a composite dialogue that focuses on resolving Kashmir conflict by July-August. At the moment there exists no analysis as to what kind of a mandate exists for any regime in power now to undertake a far-reaching “peace settlement” with Pakistan. This paper takes up this issue in detail.

The emerging India has seen Indians competing successfully in several areas, including software industries at the international level. This sector is creating wealth as well as people with ability to solve problems. However, governing the country continues to be poor due to the limited quality of people embracing politics. This is also true with journalism and media. India has largely been a dysfunctional democracy for these two reasons -- when two key pillars that can make a democracy work are so under-performing.

In a dysfunctional democracy like India, where the elected leaders lack a strategic vision, it should be made possible to have inputs from institutions involved in national defense and security. In any dialogue with Pakistan, the strategic/security angle should also be looked with.MORE

(Moorthy Muthuswamy is Director of Indian American Intellectuals Forum)

Seven Astonishing Ideas

By Subhash Kak

There is a list of the wonders from the Greek world that was compiled in the Middle Ages.There are other lists too that are not Greek-centric.But here I don't wish to speak of wonders of stone and metal. Rather, I wish to propose a list of the 'Seven Wonders of the Ancient Mind'.

These are revolutionary and astonishing ideas that have had a lasting influence on the world. Not surprisingly, it is hard for us to place these ideas in context. For most of them, we cannot name the originator.

The ideas that I chose are perhaps fundamental. Ultimately, I used the criterion of not just originality, but continuing relevance and sheer improbability of the thought of it in the ancient world. MORE

(Dr. Subhash Kak is a professor in EE at LSU)