A renewed lease of life
K T John had lived for pleasure; after a brush with death, he decided to dedicate his life to God

A meetings of faiths
The people launching the United Religions Initiative hopes to build an organization that will promote co-operation.

Big trouble in Osho Commune
Ma Yoga Neelam, who was stopped at the gates, says crass commercialisation rules the place and that she may move the Charity Commissioner's office.

Southern Baptists Refuse To Cancel Massive Outreach Program in Chicago
The controversy about Southern Baptists' Chicago plan began in November with a letter from a group of Chicago religious leaders which was sent to people of various faiths and their leaders.

Temples are not enough!
'In the half century that Indians have been in America in substantial numbers, there is not a single college or university, or even to our knowledge, a high school to our name. Ensconcing our culture in a cocoon of temples insulates our community; harnessing our heritage to educationally-oriented institutions can energize it.'

Making Sense of Cricket in New York
'I was jealous of cricket because it took the attention of the boys away from me. I wanted to be the object of their concentration, subject of their fiercest passions and the most precious of their possessions. I wanted to be that cricket ball,' Shoba Narayan on her wicket, wicket ways.

'We Ignore Asia Only At Our Peril'
The swift rise of Asia is one of the truly remarkable phenomena of the 20th century -- and a political fact that will reshape the contours of world power in the 21st century, says Robert Manning.

An Indian In Times Square
As Indians living abroad, we live in a divided time. Time is split between India and the country we live and work in, says Amitava Kumar.

Confessions Of A Cross-Carrying Immigrant
I am sure every minority has gone through the guessing and second-guessing that comes with being stereotyped. After a while, it gets to you, says Shoba Narayan.

Have You Sent Your New Year Cards Yet?
Pausing after mailing mine, I had the sudden idea that I could become rich by writing a self-help book for shoppers, says Amitava Kumar.

Spicy Chunks In The Melting Pot
If you want to meet the mark of real assimilation of Indians into American society, you should meet Priya Bala and Vijai Nathan, says John Laxmi.

It's One Hell Of A Life
Medicine is a wonderful field, but it asks, it demands, much of anyone who enters it, says Dr Balamurali K Ambati, and Dr Jayakrishna Ambati.

Staying Home For The Holidays
'We were advised to avoid discussions of religion and politics at holiday dinners unless our hosts requested our views. The advice was useless. We received no invitations.'

Feeling GOOD SAMARITANS About Being South Asian
NRI professor Amitava Kumar reflects on his recent visit to India.

The Beauty Raj
The last century had begun with the British Raj consolidating its hold. This coming century will give way to the reign of new rulers, the beauty queens.

My Own New York
'Honking cabbies, stinking urine, homeless beggars, strident activists and all -- the parallels between India and New York are remarkable. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else,' says Shoba Narayan.

A Desi Goes Shopping in America
Shopping in America is doubly exciting because of the 'sales' that pop up everywhere -- dollar-day sales, Christmas sales, the day-after-Christmas sale and so on, says Padma Ramachandran.

A Journalist First...
'It's important to think of yourselves as journalists first, rather than as a male/female journalist, a minority/majority journalist etc,' Peter Bhatia tells Indian Americans in the business.

My Nalla-ma
Maybe the old village astrologer was right. Maybe her grandmother's soul has come to roost in her daughter's little body. Or maybe she is just missing her grandmother, says Shoba Narayan.

Aunt Sheila's Wake -- In Cyberspace
Have you ever given a eulogy by email? Well, Shoba Narayan has and she assures you that it is nerve-wracking.

The Recycling Race
Indians were reusing material long before it became a fad in the west, says Shoba Narayan.

Karma Chameleon
'And who are these guardians of Indian pride, anyway? Maharishis with penance on their mind? Hardly. For the most part, the liberated desis around this part of the planet can't tell a shloka from one of Leno's monologues,' says Ashwin Mahesh.

English vs The Mother Tongue
Parents who encourage their children to only learn English seem oblivious to the higher verbal SAT scores achieved by multilingual children and those taking foreign languages, say Jayakrishna Ambati and Balamurali Krishna Ambati.

Showdown In Seattle
The WTO conference has become a catalyst for a massive mobilization of activists from all corners of the globe, says Naeem Mohaiemen.

Does Ashok Krishnamurti Know How Many Nudes Manet's Painting Has?
But Asians especially have found another way to become millionaires. Forget the show, 'Who Wants to be a Millionaire?' They find their way to Silicon Valley, says Emil Guillermo.

Life Is Unfair
It isn't easy being a taxi driver but it's got to be done -- and well, says former New York mayor Ed Koch.

Life Is Cheap
San Francisco Chronicle columnist Arthur Hoppe on why the 217 lives lost in the Egyptair crash merits more coverage than the death of 3,000 people in the Orissa cyclone on the same day.

The Indian Cybertechie in America
Amitava Kumar on why the American computer industry has this thing for Indians.

The Currency of Arundhati Roy
'The successful enter into the Faustian contract: they sell their souls to fame and become its servitors. Roy didn't. On the Narmada issue, as after the nuclear tests, her words have contested the pious dogmas of the bureaucracy-cum-political establishment,' says Amitava Kumar.

Of Doctors and Gardeners
'The new millenium is upon us but we doctors remain incarcerated in obsolete nineteenth-century one-disease-one-diagnosis-one-drug model of medical thinking,' says Dr Majid Ali.

Do South Asian Women Need Separate Shelter Homes?
Writer Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni speaks of the American experience.