gaelikaa's diary

One of the things which some people here in India love to tell me is that: 'your Christianity is only two thousand years old, while our Hinduism is over five thousand years old'.  As if Hinduism, being more ancient, somehow has more legitimacy than the Christian faith.  So the first thing I always say when I hear something like that is that the roots of Christianity reach further back than two thousand years until the beginnings of mankind.  The Old Testament which traces the history of mankind's fall and God's gathering of the Children of Israel to be His people goes back into the mists of time and if age validates religion, then the Judaeo-Christian faith would not be found wanting.  However, I'm not in competition with anyone to prove 'my' faith is better than theirs.  I've heard the message of Jesus Christ and I believe in it.  Amen.
The life and sacrifice of Jesus Christ was the culmination of God's promises to his Chosen People throughout Old…

This is by far the darkest piece of Indian fiction I've picked up for a while.  A paranormal thriller with thrills and chills galore, it has that peculiarly Indian feel to it.  The author doesn't seem to want to come out publicly, simply going by the nickname 'Adi', obviously the short for 'Aditya', an everyday Indian name.

Anu, the main characater,  is a young woman who can look after herself.  Recently arrived in Delhi from New York, she's no sheltered Indian princess.  She's walked on the wild side since she was young, having the unique gifts and training which make her a vampire hunter. She stalks the night in black leather with an impressive array of weapons hidden about her person, not to mention the ability to shift and give chase across rooftops in the dead of the night.

But now, the East/West culture shock kicks in.  Her aunt insists she do the 'dekhan dekhai' custom like a good Indian girl and meet eligible young men from 'good…

As a foreign woman living in India, I'm very much aware of  the negative publicity India has received with regard to the area of the position of women in society and the security of women in this country.  The truly horrible story of a young woman literally gang raped to death while out for an evening with her boyfriend has resonated with right thinking women everywhere.  The 'honor killings' where young women have been brutally done to death to save their family's honor have horrified the world and don't get me started on female foeticide......

The truth is, it's impossible to generalize about a whole society because of certain, negative news reports.   Even though there have been horrific crimes against women in India's recent past, I know for a fact, having lived here for eighteen years, that India is not necessarily a nation where women are under constant threat of misogynistic crimes and hatred.  There are many Indian men who stand up for women all th…