Can Terrorism Ever Be Justified? An indefensible act that targets and kills civilians is generally accepted as “terrorism”. When a country is at war, it is prepared to withstand the enemy and lose lives. However, terrorism is different in that it terrorizes everybody and creates in its wake chaos and retreat regardless of race, nationality or religion. Such atrocity is hard to condone whatever its justification might be. The US attacks...

The Grading System – Good or Bad? Most of us are familiar with the popular grading system having been subjected to it all our schooling years. While the objective of the grading system is to chalk the students’ academic progress, it fails to indicate the effectiveness with which students are grasping, absorbing, retaining and applying the knowledge they have gained. The flaw in the system lies in the fact that a...

Amitabh Bachchan Amitabh Bachchan, the name that makes fans go crazy, is still the reason for stampedes at airports, and enjoys India’s ‘numero uno’ star status. His trademark deep baritone voice, his tall brooding persona and his intense eyes are what made Amitabh Bachchan what he is today. True to his name which means ‘brilliance unlimited’ Amitabh shines on like a star. He debuted in 1969 and won the ‘National Film...

Are Beauty Contests Harmful? Beauty contests are a great source of entertainment, and one must admit that there is a certain pleasure in watching a well proportioned body walk the ramp. The catch lies in the fact that beauty competitions conform to a certain idea of physical beauty which is proved simply by the fact that all pageants have at minimum height and weight criteria, suggesting that beauty is height and...

The Great American Dream The American Declaration of Independence states that “all men are created equal and they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights” including “Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” The great American dream to John Winthrop was religious paradise in a “City upon a Hill” while to Martin Luther King, Jr. it was “racial equality.” The great American dream is essentially about providing American people...

Autism Autism is a neurological development disorder. It appears in the first three years of life and severely impairs social and communication skills. There is no cure for autism but early behavioral and cognitive intervention can help autistic children gain social, communication and self-care skills. Discovering that your child has autism can be traumatic. Accepting that the child has a disorder and getting help is just the beginning. Having an autistic...

India versus China at The Olympics It’s a sacrilege to mention India, China and the Olympics in the same sentence. The medal tally speaks for itself. China won 51 gold, 21 silver and 28 in the 2008 bronze; a total of 100 medals at Beijing Olympics. India by contrast won just one gold and two bronze medals. It’s difficult to comprehend why two countries that have more in common than just...

Sports and Steroid Usage Athletes are focused on winning and will do almost anything to achieve their goal. Depending on the sport, every athlete’s ambition is to either get stronger, bigger, to be able to jump higher or to be able to lift heavier. Anabolic steroids, commonly called as `roids’ or ‘juice’ are very powerful prescription drugs that boost athletic performance. They are controlled substances that are meant to be used...