A week off actually boosted Sania Mirza’s WTA ranking by one spot, to stand at 67th, and restored her to her former 26th place in the Doubles ranking.

The hop in the Singles ranking made back one of the seven places that Sania slipped last week, after her first-round defeat to American Meghann Shaughnessy at the Bangkok Open. The pair battled for an hour and 21 minutes, with an unfortunately erratic Sania cedeing 6-4, 6-4.

However, Sania had previously scored a personal victory by knocking Martina Hingis out of the Korean Open the week before. The former world number one Hingis, currently standing at eighth place in the WTA rankings, had breezed past Mirza at the Kolkata Sunfeast Open. Not so this time. Sania ousted the top-seeded player in a nailbiting second-round match, finishing up with a score of 4-6, 6-0, 6-4.

“It is my third time to play her this year and I guess that it is third time lucky,” Sania beamed. After losing the first set, one in which both players battled to hold serve, Sania’s rocket groundstrokes pushed her through the second without dropping a game, and holding her own in the third.

“She was too good today, she played too well,” said Hingis, who was graceful and complimentary of Sania in victory as well as in defeat. “She played very well today, much better than last Saturday. I gave her more chances today. In the beginning I lost two 40-0 games. Sometimes that’s professional tennis and little things can make matches.”

“This is the fittest I’ve been in the last two years and it’s the best I’ve felt this year,” Sania said after the match, with her eye to the larger trends in her performance. “A true champion is one who comes back from being down. When I went out to serve at 5-4, I hadn’t held my serve for the last two games and I told myself to do whatever was necessary.”

Former Davis Cup captain Vijay Amritraj has come to Sania’s defence in more recent weeks, when she has begun to receive criticism following her dip in the rankings. He emphasized the need for fans to look at a player’s larger attempts to improve, rather than quibble over a single performance. “It is very tough out there and she has done remarkably well in the last three-four years,” he said. “Now she needs support from all quarters to keep going.” He conceded that Mirza has been inconsistent in her performance, but he notes that “consistency has always been an issue in tennis, or any other sport for that matter. Not everyone is like an Infosys or Wipro that the graph would go up and up. It is important to look at one whole season. I think if you do well in five-six tournaments a year, that’s quite good.”

Each year, $4 billion in tuition and housing leaves India for foreign shores, matched with the even more valuable loss of the country’s brightest students who have the means to pursue higher education in countries such as the U.S., Britain, and Australia. 150,000 are currently studying abroad, and another 100,000 depart every school year; many choose to settle abroad, and never return.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s government is wrestling at this very moment with one possible solution to this conundrum. The Union Commerce Ministry has put forth a proposal to open up India’s education system to foreign direct investment (FDI)—in short, they propose to allow foreign universities to set up campuses on Indian soil, to serve Indian students.

Under Singh, the government has permitted FDI in industries such as telecom, insurance, food processing and retail, with a beneficial impact. The plan proposes to allow the best universities in the world, such as Oxford, Harvard, and the Massachusetts Insitute of Technology (MIT) to create a home in India; many other highly-esteemed American universities such as Stanford and Yale have already declared themselves eager to set up Indian campuses.

As a consequence, world-class education would be located closer to home and available to a larger number of students than those currently studying abroad. The number of college degrees per capita in India is lower than that of China, and only 11% of Indians ages 17 to 23 enroll in higher education, in comparison to 13% in China, 31% in the Phillippines, 27% in Malaysia, and 19% in Thailand. Indian academics would benefit, too, by the top-notch research facilities and educational communities when hired by the foreign universities to teach alongside visiting professors.

In addition, points out Gopal Krishna Pillai, the new Commerce Secretary, the money sent elsewhere could be kept within the country, and the costs for the new local education would be significantly cut. “If they are allowed to set up shop,” Pillai explained, the $4 billion currently going abroad “can be saved.” He elaborated on the proposal, saying that “We are preparing a discussion paper on the matter. Once ready, the proposal recommending FDI in education will be sent to the HRD ministry and Indian universities for their comments.”

And this is precisely where some of the problems start seeping in. The FDI in education plan is largely opposed by India’s Human Resource Development Ministry, headed by Arjun Singh, and the Left parties. They contest that it creates a conflict with national interests, and point to the fact that many nearby countries, worried that foreign sensibilities would affect local culture and politics, are denying FDI in education.

Part of the problem is that many foreign unversities will not be interested in setting up campuses unless they are exempt from the regulations placed on domestic universities. The HRD Ministry wants to regulate everything from courses to faculty salaries for any foreign university, an offer that is less than tantalising. The majority of universities are not truly considering the option until the current educational system is liberalised, freeing them from adherence to the controversial quota system that requires a certain amount of seats be reserved for members of underprivileged castes.

But this consideration is almost beside the point for many who oppose educational FDI regardless of regulations. “You can not treat education as an industry. Opening up the education sector for foreign players will be a cultural attack on India. We will not allow that,” stated D. Raja, Communist Party of India national secretary. Politboro member of the Communist Party S Ramachandran Pillai agreed that this move would simply equate education with commerce, rather than respecting it as an important part of culture. “Well, what is the need for us to run foreign playschools, colleges and universities in India?” he demanded.

But if the HRD Ministry does not consider the exodus of brilliant Indian minds and $4 billion anually significant “need,” there are even more issues to consider. 60% of India’s over 1 billion population are under the age of 25, and in order for India’s economy to continue at its current rate of expansion, a larger pool of well-trained managers and well-educated technical minds will be required. Some of India’s domestic education systems turn out word-class professionals, but the competition for these schools is brutal, and many are left behind. A McKinsey study last year found that only 25% of engineers and 15% of finance and accounting professionals trained in India would be competitive in a multinational company. Hard as it may be to believe, Indian companies have even begun looking for foreign talent to fill critical positions.

And the deficiency is not due to a lack of willingness amongst India’s youth. Many are simply unable to travel to receive higher education, a problem that would be remedied by having foreign universities set up local chapters. Many schools have already instituted field offices and research centers to get a feeling for local interest.

For example, the University of Michigan Business School’s economic research center in Bangalore has generated interest, while the Indian School of Business in Hyderabad, set up in conjunction with Kellogg, Wharton and London Business Schools, can be seen as a case study. Global faculty and courses are available at a fraction of the cost of travelling abroad, and the response from many students is the same: stay in India. Yashovardhan Gupta who has a GMAT score of 770, and comes from a business family, explained: “I had got admission in Cornell and Carnegie Mellon University among others. However, I found a global curriculum and faculty in ISB here in the country, so decided to stay here.” It seems that the only thing standing between potential students and an excellent, affordable education is the approval of the government.

Katrina Kaif was causing a ripple of excitement in Ajmer before she even arrived. The former model, who is delving deep into the medium of film with a dizzying number of projects this fall, is beginning to distinguish herself as an up-and-coming actress after first coming into the public eye as Salman Kahn’s significant other.

Her current film, “Namaste London,” directed by Vipul Shah and co-starring Rishi Kapoor, is mostly shooting in England, but the production moved to Ajmer for a couple of days of filming earlier this week. Kapoor plays Kaif’s father, who takes his daughter on a tour of important religious sites in India, where about 20% of the film will be shot. One of these places is the dargah in Ajmer, the shrine for the Sufi saint Moinuddin Chisthti. The Dargah Committee granted the filmmakers of “Namaste London” the right to film pilgrims coming for ziyarat, in addition to several important scenes with the principal actors.

Enter Katrina, followed by controversy. The khadims are currently in a frenzy because the actress was not sufficiently covered, and are battling with those who say she was. A senior Khadim of the dargah, Irfan Rizvi, assessed Kaif’s ‘mini-skirt’ as follows: “The actress came here wearing a very short and skimpy dress. It was like a frock that exposed her legs to a large degree. This is totally wrong and uncalled for.”

The “short and skimpy dress” in question, was, in fact, a peach-coloured skirt that fell just below Kaif’s knees. The spokesperson for the Khadim Association of Ajmer Dargah, Sarwar Chishti, attempted to dismiss the indignation of the more conservative of his peers. “Women should cover their head. This is what is followed. Row over actress’ skirt is completely unjustified.” Chishsti, who led the stars around the dargah and performed the ziyarat for the film, was adamant that brouhaha surrounding her costume was undeserved. “In no way was it obscene and it did not violate the sanctity of the shrine,” he proclaimed.

Director Shah revealed that the objections took place entirely after the fact, and that Kaif’s costume had even been approved by the dargah committee beforehand. “We had discussed Kaif’s costume with the dargah committee. They said she should cover her head with a dupatta, which she did.” Furthermore, the shooting was all done in full view of the dargah’s authorities, and the stir only began after the filming was completed. “Nobody objected to it. It was only about half an hour after the shoot was over that this issue was raised,” Shah said.

However, Shah is repentant for any injury the issue may have caused, and has expressed a willingness to cut the scene from the film should the khadims request it. “My intention was not to hurt any religious sentiments, I am not the kind of man who would go to any extent for a movie,” Vipul said.

Katrina, meanwhile, claims no responsibility for the skirt, which was only the clothing decided upon and given to her by the costume department of the film. She is looking ahead to the prospect of shooting the rest of the film, followed by her other projects. Most notably, she has been signed on by Rituparno Ghosh to play the title character in Bankim Chandra’s “Devi Choudharni,” an exciting move for her and her blossoming career.

Approximately 900 million Hindus live in India, which, at 81.5% of India’s 1.1 billion population, constitutes the overwhelmingly largest number of Hindu citizens of any nation on the globe. It might be initially surprising, then, to consider that many Indians feel ‘more Hindu’ when they move to the United States, and out of the world’s epicenter for the religion.

For example, 13-year-old Samyuktha Shivraj, who moved with her family to New York five years ago, clearly remembers her childhood in India and can accurately compare the family’s religious practices before and after the move. She confesses that they are far more observant, go to temple more often, and have more discussions about the meanings of prayers and the significance of celebrations now that they are in the United States. “When I say those prayers now, I actually know what it means,” she explains. “It’s not just a mundane ritual routine that I’m doing.”

Apparently, this has been the experience for many Indians who move to the United States. Rather than losing touch with their origins, their faith becomes more integral to defining who they are. Going to temple is an act of associating oneself with a tight-knit community, and identifying with one’s Indian heritage, not solely the religion. To this end, many temples in the United States also serve as centers for community events and education.

Samyuktha, for example, is a member of the youth club at her temple, and attends Indian heritage camps. This summer, she assisted her mother, who is a classical Indian singer, in organizing a weeklong camp themselves. Another camp in Rochester, New York, called the Hindu Heritage Summer Camp, welcomes 150 children between the ages of 8 and 15 for a two-week experience in which philosophy and religious lessons are juxtaposed by arts and crafts and sports. “If we don’t know where we come from and where we are, we are lost,” said president of the camp, Dr. Padmanabh Kamath.

Diana Eck, professor of comparative religion at Harvard University, explains that the shift in conscientousness occurs precisely because practicing Hindus represent a fairly small percentage of the population in the U.S. “To be Hindu in America is much more an intentional choice than it is in India,” Dr. Eck opines. “Even if you’re first generation, you have to decide if you perpetuate it or if you just kind of let it go.”

After all, Hindus comprise about 1 million of the U.S.’s total of 300 million people, a percentage that could very easily become “lost,” in the words of Dr. Kamath. The community centers in temples and organizations like the summer camp create a consciousness about traditional practices and the precepts of Hinduism itself that would otherwise go unregarded. Dr. Uma Mysorekar, one of the trustees of the Ganesh Temple in Queens that the Shivraj family attends, recalls that in India, “We just observed and followed and never questioned.” Though it is beautiful to be surrounded and inundated by the religion’s culture, it is beautiful, too, to be inspired to look more deeply into the doctrine.

This year, Delhi University received 93,000 applications from Indian students. This flourishing number of area youth looking to attend postsecondary school would be a cause for pride, but with only 40,000 seats available, it has turned into a cause for concern.

Part of the problem is that Delhi University, which was until recently the only college in the area able to affiliate itself with other institutions, has pushed this possibility to its extreme. Currently affiliated with 81 colleges, of which eight are government colleges and 12 others are governmentally funded, DU finally announced several years ago that it would be unable to grant affililation to any additional institutions.

The void left behind this decision was partially filled in 1998 with the creation of Indraprastha University, which has since granted affiliation to a total of 86 educational institutions, nine of which are managed by the government, and 68 of which are self-financed. Most of the programs that IP University affiliates with are career-oriented tracks, such as law, engineering, management, computer technology, education, communications, medicine, and physiotherapy.

Consequently, many students looking to study humanities, arts, or pure sciences, could only recourse to correspondence courses; many Delhi students were also forced to move or commute to far-off cities to receive an education.

In response, the government has announced its plans to set up a new university, with a majority of seats reserved for students from the capital who have witnessed the crowding of Delhi University. The university will provide courses in the social and general sciences, the arts, and languages, in addition to courses targeted to emerging industries.

A committee, assembled under the Chief Secretary, will conduct a study of the needs of the community and the needs of the prospective students, in order to decide precisely which courses will be offered. One proposal, made with an eye towards distinguishing the new university, suggests that it should run courses that inform the role of Delhi in the development of India as a whole.

The Government has apparently already been looking for plots of land on which to start the new educational institution. A senior Higher Education Department official explained, “We would prefer land near a Metro station so that students can easily approach the university.” The hope is that the new university will become associated with further new colleges and centres after it has been established, in order to answer the demand of India’s bright students.

Advances in marketing and technology have propelled India’s book publishing industry forward into a rapid and glorious expansion. By the estimation of Shakti Malli, president of the Federation of Indian Publishers, the Indian publishing sector is currently “worth Rs.80 billion and it is growing by over 15 percent every year.” The country is seeing fresh promotional strategies in all aspects of the bookselling field: publishers are using blog discussions, email lists, and small booklets for a ’sneak preview’ of a new title to market books, and bookstores are responding to the flourishing industry by making changes to the store environment.

When Shobhit Arya, chief of Wisdom Tree Publishing house, said, “In the last two years the industry has grown manifold,” he was hardly guilty of overstatement. What was once a Rs.330 export industry in 1991 has blossomed into Rs.4.6 billion global force. 45 per cent of titles published in India are in English, placing the country behind only the U.S. and the U.K. as the third largest publisher of English books in the world.

And Arya attributes this change to new marketing strategies more than anything else. “From an unorganised cottage industry, it is slowly turning into a strategy-driven organised sector,” he summarized. Arya’s company has had success promoting online through associated blogs, and more recently via preview booklets. The pamphlets, which contain an overview of some chapters, the author’s life, and a few photographs, increased orders for the book “three-fold,” according to Wisdom Tree’s publishing chief.

Meanwhile, Tejeswar Singh of Sage Publications swears by sending emails, and even making individualized phone calls, to readers of the company’s publications in the past. “Readers feel for your publication and you get a loyal customer,” Singh explained.

Either way, the burgeoning field has had implications both at home and abroad. Bookstores like the chain BookCafe have answered publishers’ “lifestyle business” approach by making the bookstore a leisure environtment. “All our stores are inside Café Coffee Day parlours,” said Sandip Dutta, owner of BookCafe. “Knowledge through refreshment is our mantra.”

At the same time, the industry is making forays into neighboring countries. Chinese publishers expressed interest at the Beijing Book Fair, and books in vernacular languages are entering Bangladesh and the Gulf countries in great numbers, according to Sage Publication’s Singh.

Most recently, Google’s announcement that it has developed a partnership with India’s publishers for Google Book Search serves as an indication of the clout that the industry in India is beginning to claim around the world. Sage Publications are among the companies already involved, along with Orient Longman, Roli Books, Orient Paperbacks, Diamond Publications and New Age International, and Google is still looking to expand its affiliate base.

Google Book Search allows people to browse portions of a book online and search it for specific terms. The service also connects with publishers, websites, and local bookstores that carry the title. To protect those titles which lie under copyright, no more than 20% of the book can be viewed, no more than 5 pages can be scrolled through consecutively, and no text can be downloaded or printed.

The service is highly advantageous for the publishers, who recieve a share of the advertising revenue, and the entire portion of any book sales. It’s free for the publisher to provide their books, and it will give Indian publications an even larger presence worldwide. Singh declared: “Indian publishers have certainly come of age and are inventing new ways to woo readers.”

The Sunfeast Open, held in Kolkata, has been the needed balm to Sania Mirza’s WTA ranking, which had been suffering from early exits in recent singles competitions. Sania’s Singles ranking leapt 11 places to 59 by virtue of her appearance at the semifinals of the Sunfeast.

Her performance in doubles has been consistently strong in the recent past, a promise kept in Kolkata’s Open, where Mirza and her partner Leizel Huber of South Africa won the Sunfeast title. Though this win only bumped up Sania’s WTA Doubles Rating by two spaces, it places her at a career-high of 26th best in the world. The joint win also advanced Leizel’s ranking by three points, to stand at 18.

Although less successful than her Doubles performance, Sania’s singles matches were still worthy of pride. After masterfully opening with a win of 6-0, 6-4, against countrywoman Rushmi Chakravarthi, the Hyderabadi teenager won against German Sandra Kloesel 7-5,6-3. Mirza’s early game showed some weaknesses with sloppy serves, which were fortunately mirrored by rival Kloesel, and fortunately countered by a few searing wins from Mirza.

The delightful surprise in Mirza’s Sunfeast performance was her defeat of Aravane Rezai of France in a thrilling game ending 6-4, 7-5 in Sania’s favour. Rezai was seeded at fourth, one place above Sania, and also held four WTA places over Mirza’s former ranking. In both sets, Mirza and Rezai were tied at 4-4, but both times Mirza pulled ahead in a heartthumping clincher.

And if Martina Hingis’s graceful triumph over Mirza, 6-1, 6-0, seemed even more effortless than Sania’s win in the first round, one must concede that Hingis, formerly ranked no. 1 in the world and now at no. 9, went on to win the entire singles competition. Hingis’s defeat over first-time finalist Olga Poutchkova of Russia was hardly more complete at 6-0, 6-4, and it marks the Swiss tennis star’s second WTA title this year.

It is a triumph for Mirza to have gotten to the match that was so widely anticipated, especially after her second-round elimination in the Sunfeast last year. Sania had understandably high praise for Martina, calling her “a great athlete and a great mover on the court. There are only a few girls as fit as her on the Tour.” She also dubbed her “a natural athlete,” saying, “she makes the game look effortless.” Hingis returned the admiration to Mirza, saying to the cheering croud, “She is a great player. She has a great future. I hope to play against her in future.”

Indian men held their ground in the doubles competition, too, with both Leander Paes sticking to his no. 9 WTA ranking, and Mahesh Bupathi not slipping from no. 25. The other women did not fare as well as Sania, with Shika Uberoi plummeting from 193 to 232, and Ankita Bhambri and Isha Lakhani suffering slight drops from 360 to 369 and 390 to 391, respectively. Rushmi Charkravarthi did not drop from 454, despite her early loss to Mirza.

The true triumph for Sania and for her fans, however, was the doubles title that she garnered with partner Huber. The pair sailed past their opening opponents, Indians Archana Venkatraman and Ragini Vimal 6-2, 6-4. Their supremacy persisted throughout the match, entering the final with a win 6-3, 6-2 over Algelique Widjaja and Hana Sromova. They won the Sunfeast with a final match against Ukraine’s Yulia Beygelzimer and Yuliana Fedak, executing an equally deft two-set match with an ending score of 6-4, 6-0.

Despite these successes, Sania has remained focused and critical of her game, pushing herself towards an even better performance. She said that she was “not happy” with her performance in the opening match, pointing to “a lot of mistakes.” Sania continually attributed her doubles success to Leizel, bowing to her partner in the final match after the elder player scored with a particularly blazing forehand.

After all, it’s hardly a mistake that all three WTA doubles titles that have come to Sania were the result of a partnership with Huber, and the younger player self-consciously fashions herself as her partner’s student. “She hates me for saying this in public, but Liezel is truly my mentor. I have learnt so much from her. She has taught me how to carry myself,” glowed the Indian tennis star. But it seems to be a mutual admiration society. “You guys should be excited about the fact that she is only 19 and having won three doubles titles already and has such a promising career,” said Huber. “For me its an honour to play with her, specially in her home country.”

The story was over for India as of Friday, a melancholy finish after the series opened with Sachin Tendulkar’s storybook comeback of an unbeaten 141. The Australian team edged past the Indians with 18 runs, to take its place in the series final on Sunday.

Australia elected to bat first, and its runs were kept down respectably by another fine showing from the Indian bowlers. Opener Matthew Hayden scored 46 runs and Brad Haddin claimed 46; despite a middle-order collapse that included three run outs, the Aussies garnered an average total of 213 in 48.1 overs. 213 was a reasonable target, but the Indian batsmen failed to match it.

The Indians’ downfall was their batting; one could also say that the Australian’s triumph was their bowling, but India won on Wednesday against the West Indies more or less in spite of similarly mediocre batting, rather than because of it. It does seem, however, that both sides of that statement are true, as Australian fast bowler Brett Lee took five wickets, making him the star of the match.

Meanwhile, India lost its top four wickets for a scant 50 runs. Lee eliminated Tendulkar with only 4 and Virender Sehwag with 10. Tendulkar was declared caught off, but when replays showed the ‘catch’ coming off of Tendulkar’s shoulder, umpire Mark Benson took back his decision. Observers noted that the batsman did not seem the same after he was called back, and the confusion may have addled him. Suresh Raina, on the other hand, was notable for a classy handling of the sharp bowling, though his knock only led to a modest 26 runs.

Surprise hero Dinesh Mongia had the highest score of the match at an unbeaten 63, and a sixth wicket partnership with Mahendra Singh Dhoni made India’s hope surge before Dhoni was out for 23. The rest of the lineup fell through, giving India only 195 runs in 43.5 overs.

But it must be said that India fared considerably better against Australia than the West Indies, who were plowed under by a margin of 127 runs at the series final on Sunday. The Windies’ bowlers, most notably Ian Bradshaw, gave their batters a fair target of 241 runs to chase, but the team ultimately collapsed with a mere 113 runs. Brent Lee claimed four wickets, once again proving himself a formidable foe. No doubt: India fell to reigning world champions.

And in the meantime, the debate has raged on about what is to be done to improve the Indian team. Skipper Rahul Dravid said that the loss on Friday was “a hard one to stomach.” “Today was a great opportunity,” he continued. “We lost it with the bat. There is no doubt about it. We didn’t string enough partnerships together.”But Dravid’s captaincy has drawn critcism from former all-rounder Ravi Shastri, who says that Dravid does not assert himself enough against coach Greg Chapell in decisions affecting the team. But Dravid denies assertions that the batting lineup strategy, which placed Dravid, Sehwag, and others in anomolous order, is the cause. “You need to bat well,” he reiterated. “I don’t think we are losing games because of poor strategy. If you are asked to chase 213 on a pretty good wicket, you need batsmen to score and get good partnerships.”

Indian writer Kiran Desai’s second novel, The Inheritance of Loss, has been shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Prize. The shortlist rocked the expectations of those in the publishing world who follow the prize, as the longlisted author favoured to win, David Mitchell, was eliminated, along with other likely contenders Peter Carey, Andrew O’Hagan, Nadine Gormider and Barry Unsworth. Most of the writers remaining on the shortlist, including Desai, are less well-known, often because they are relatively new to the literary world.

The Booker Prize is open to authors from Britain, Ireland, and current or former members of the Commonwealth. The winner of the prize will be announced on 10 October, and will be awarded £50,000. The other contenders for the prize now on the short list are Kate Grenville, for The Secret River, M.J. Hyland for Carry Me Down, Hisham Matar for In the Country of Men, Edward St. Aubyn for Mother’s Milk and Sarah Waters for The Night Watch. Of these, only Waters has been previously shortlisted.

But perhaps Desai is not quite the mystery she seems; though this is only the promising novelist’s second book, her mother, Anita Desai, was shortlisted for the Booker Prize three times, in 1980, 1984 and 1999. The Inheritance of Loss takes place in the northeast of India, near Nepal, at the brink of the movement for Nepalese independence in the mid-1980s, and alternates with another story in New York. Orphaned Sai Mistry is sent to live in Kalimpong with her grandfather, an embittered judge who has little interest in or affection for the girl. His disintegrating mansion houses this ramshackle family, rounded out by the talkative cook, Nandu. The New York segments of the story follow Nandu’s son, Biju, who struggles to find work as an illegal immigrant.

Desai’s novel, then, though not autobiographical, is a product of her cross-continental life. She was born in India in 1971, and was educated in India, England, and most recently Columbia University in New York. She currently lives and travels between the three countries, but feels “no alienation or dislocation” and her novel is evidence that this international experience is one of enrichment.

After all, Salman Rushdie has said of Desai’s newest novel that it “fufills the promise of the first,” and a press as international as Desai herself has given her universal praise. The Guardian calls it “a novel that manages to be both warm-hearted about human nature and clear-sighted about humanity’s flaws,” while the New Yorker summed it up: “Briskly paced and sumptuously written, the novel ponders questions of nationhood, modernity, and class, in ways both moving and revelatory.”

The rain finally allowed India to finish a game in the ODI tri-series with Australia and the West Indies—and what a game. India brushed past the West Indies in a low-scoring nail-biter by a margin of 16 runs, keeping India in contention for a place in the final on Sunday.

The future looked grim during the first half of the match at Kuala Lumpur’s Kinara Oval, when India was dismissed with just 162 runs in 39.3 overs. Dwayne Smith of the West Indies kept the Indian batsmen restricted, taking 4-31 from his 10 overs.

But the match was won by the Indian bowlers, pinning the Windies back even further; the islanders were all out at 146 in 40.5 overs. Harbhajan Singh was proclaimed ‘man of the match’ this time, finishing with 3-35 off eight overs. He did the mopping up after the commendable performances of Munaf Patel, Agarkar, and Sreesanth, who all took two wickets each.

India’s bowling success stemmed from an attack on the Windies’ middle-order, making the weaker links cave in. The West Indian battling lineup was tweaked for this game, placing opener Chris Gayle at six and captain Brian Lara at eight, in hopes that the underperformers would step up to the challenge. Shivnaraine Chanderpaul and R Morton made a decent showing, with 21 and 27 runs respectively, but only Lara’s unbeaten 40 showed any significant contest to the Indian bowlers.

Meanwhile, Sachin Tendulkar was once again the high batsman of the game, though his 65 runs were not even half of his magnificent unbeaten 141 in India’s first game of the series. Harbhajan Singh earned hero of the match twice over by proving the second-best Indian batsman as well as the team’s finest bowler, with a deft 37 runs.

Captain Rahul Dravid was elated but not surprised with the team’s victory, asserting that the team’s belief that the match could be won had pulled them through. “It was not a coincidence. We did believe that we could win this one. We talked about it in the break,” Dravid said. “We knew that the West Indies batting has been struggling except for Lara who comes out to bat in the middle. So we thought if we could pick a few early wickets, we would stand a chance of winning.”

The skipper praised the “great performance” of all of the bowlers, saying that they “bolwed beautifully.” And as for the less-than-phenomenal batting, Dravid concedes that “We did not bat to our potential.” But, he points, out, “one must keep in mind that we haven’t played for the last two months, to come back and win in this fashion is good.”

The West Indies have already garnered a spot at Sunday’s final, with a total of nine series points. Australia stands behind with seven, and India now treads upon the Aussies’ heels with six. The Indians will need to beat the Australians’ world-champion team on Friday in order to meet the Windies once again on Sunday.