Soutik Biswas, on K. Malleshwari: On her right arm is a tattoo of elephant god Ganesha, harbinger of good luck and fortune. It has stood Karnam Malleshwari in good stead. The daughter of a police constable from Andhra Pradesh began lifting weights when she was 12. Seven years later, in 1994, she had lifted enough barbells to become world champion. (At Sydney), she became the first Indian woman to win an Olympic medal. This, after she had been written off by some hacks as a glutton and boozer. http://bit.ly/1gGORjJ
Agha Akbar on Yousuf Youhana’s conversion: M.A. Jinnah’s dream of a secular Pakistan has taken yet another shattering blow. Yousuf Youhana—the only Christian in the current Pak cricket team—declared last week that he and his wife Tania had embraced Islam. For long a symbol for those who claimed Pakistan wasn’t biased against non-Muslims—that at least on the cricket field, performance mattered more than faith—Youhana’s conversion leaves behind Hindu leggie Danish Kaneria as the only non-Muslim in the team. http://bit.ly/1L0Td3n
Arvind Kejriwal on the CWG scam: Dear Mrs Gandhi, Dr Manmohan Singh is believed to be one of the most honest prime ministers our country has had. But, ironically, he presides over arguably the most dishonest government machinery we have seen. The latest in the series of scams is the massive corruption in the Commonwealth Games. http://bit.ly/1NHreVp
