RAM S. VARMA's BOOK ON THE RAMAYANA   By Pranay Gupte   Some professional writers – particularly journalists -- will tell you that writing is a breeze. All you need to do is get your facts straight through relentless reporting, sit in front of your computer, and the words will flow. There’s a story – and it happens to be true – of the late R. W. “Johnny” Apple Jr. of The New York Times dashing out a 7,000-word cover story for The Times&rsquo...

NEWSNOW PEOPLE The Chronicles of Pranay Gupte   VETERAN JOURNALIST, editor, author and media consultant Pranay Gupte was in Mauritius last week and I was fortunate enough to snatch an hour or two with this global observer.  Presently Mr. Gupte is writing for publications in the United Arab Emirates (The National, Khaleej Times and Gulf News) in addition to contributing his knowledge to other major international publications such as Yale Global and Post Global.&...

My new book, "Mother India: A Political Biography of Indira Gandhi," has just been published by Viking Penguin (India). The 600-page book marks the 25th anniversary of the assassination of the Indian prime minister.    Review copies and author interviews can be obtained by contacting Hemali Sodhi at Penguin. Her e-mail: hemali.sodhi@in.penguingroup.com

The Power of “Yes!”   By Howard Leedham, M.B.E.   (Note: Howard Leedham, M.B.E., is Chief Executive of Burj Holding in Dubai.)   During the 1980’s a British Bank used to run a television commercial using the catch phrase that it was the “The Bank that likes to say Yes”! Of course while many who watched British TV through those times can doubtless remember the phrase, probably only a few can remember the bank, which was TSB (lat...

Please check this out: His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the United Arab Emirates, and Ruler of Dubai, has a Facebook page at: http://www.facebook.com/sheikhmohammed.

June 21, 2009 Times Reporter Escapes Taliban After 7 Months By THE NEW YORK TIMES David Rohde, a New York Times reporter who was kidnapped by the  Taliban , escaped Friday night and made his way to freedom after more than seven months of captivity in the mountains of Afghanistan and Pakistan. Mr. Rohde, along with a local reporter, Tahir Ludin, and their driver, Asadullah Mangal, was abducted outside Kabul, Afghanistan, on Nov. 10 while he was researching a book. Mr. Rohde was par...

By Pranay Gupte   It all seems terribly familiar, the chaos and uncertainty in Iran these days -- the daily headlines that highlight protests, the television images of vast crowds in a state of agitation, the truncheon-wielding cops plowing through swarms of people, the vague sense that some major social upheaval is being generated, however inchoate.   It may be premature to call today’s angst a full-scale revolution, but in my mind, at least, there are hauntin...

The wild ride is over but don't rule out Dubai comeback By Roula Khalaf Published in the Financial Times: April 9, 2009 Traffic is thinner, housing prices are in freefall, and hotels are more affordable. Schools that once furiously turned students away are suddenly welcoming, and snobbish sports clubs are unexpectedly friendly. This is the new Dubai - a city that, for the fortunate ones who are holding on to their jobs, now feels a lot more pleasant. The gossip among expatriates - and ...

Lunch with Chander Rai   By Pranay Gupte   NEW DELHI—Chander Rai, who makes his living parsing phrases, can also be said to be a man for all phases. That is to say, his professional life has embraced the dynamics of virtually every stages of growth in the United Arab Emirates, and that he has flourished, failed, and flourished again.   So what’s he doing here in the Indian capital city of New Delhi? This is where Mr. Rai first made his mark at a...

LUNCH WITH ANDREW TARBUCK   By Pranay Gupte   Andrew Tarbuck has one of those visages that don’t lend it to pinning down his age. Of course, he isn’t much older than his early 30’s, but he could jolly well pass off as a younger graduate student at Newcastle University in Britain, or the Chester College of Law, his alma maters.   One thing is for sure: Mr. Tarbuck, whose academic career was lined by vigorous rugby competitions, is very fit...

Do not believe reports of Dubai’s demise By Afshin Molavi Published: March 11 2009 22:11 | Last updated: March 11 2009 22:11 Dubai must feel a little like Mark Twain, these days. Upon reading his own obituary in the newspaper, Twain wrote: “The report of my death was an exaggeration.” Dubai has had its share of obituaries as it suffers from a property bust and contagion from the global credit crisis. Headlines from Cairo to London to New York, laced with schadenfre...

Attacking Cricket   By Pranay Gupte (Published in Khaleej Times, March 4, 2009)   (Note: The writer is a former foreign correspondent for The New York Times, and an author. Based in Dubai, his new book, co-edited with Fatema Hadroom Aleghfeli, “Global Emirates: An Anthology of Tolerance and Enterprise,” will be published this month.)   You would think that cricket, the sport invented by Britons and one followed fanatically in the former colonies of Britain,...

By Pranay Gupte   I don’t know how many business leaders in the oil-rich Gulf have seen “Slumdog Millionaire” -- which won the Oscar for Best Film on Sunday night – but they might want to. After all, quite of a few of the business elite of the United Arab Emirates were born or spent their childhoods in Mumbai, India’s commercial capital, where much of the movie was shot.   The parents of many of them were traders, or had some commercial dealings w...

Based on projections from the Energy Information Administration's February 2009 Short Term Energy Outlook (STEO), members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) could earn $402 billion of net oil export revenues in 2009 and $530 billion in 2010. Last year, OPEC earned $971 billion in net oil export revenues, a 42 percent increase from 2007. Saudi Arabia earned the largest share of these earnings, $288 billion, representing 30 percent of total OPEC revenues. On a per-cap...

I found the following article surprising in its shallowness and bias. Any reactions?   From its artificial islands to its boring new skycraper, Dubai's architecture is beyond crass By Germaine Greer The Guardian, Monday 9 February 2009 If Monaco is, in Jack Nicholson's phrase, Alcatraz for the rich, what shall we make of Dubai? Dubai is a city built between the desert and the pale blue sea, that uses more water per capita than anywhere else in the world, and derives 97% of it fr...