Recommended Sunday Reading—January 15

Sushma Swaraj ko gussa kyun aata hai?

Western doormats have things like ‘Welcome’ written on them, and it is fine to step on them because there is no cultural offense. The doormats are offered in the colours of any nation’s flag and most people buy their own to show their pride. In India, or rather South Asia, the feet are supposed to be unclean (perhaps because we are unable to keep our surroundings clean) and therefore doormats are seen in a different light. In The Express Tribune.

A new BBC series in UK on the most amazing homes

From an eco-friendly retreat built from compressed earth in the depths of the Arizona desert to a glamorous alpine chalet only reachable by cable car, new BBC Two series The World’s Most Extraordinary Homes will inspire viewers to push the boundaries of what they thought possible when building their dream home. The four-part run is presented by award-winning architect Piers Taylor and actress and property lover Caroline Quentin who's squeals of delight speak for everyone watching on the sofa at home.

One subject that Donald Trump knows well is golf

Trump owns or manages seventeen courses, including two in Scotland, one in Ireland, and one in the Bronx, and most of them are highly regarded—and not only by him. They also appear to be more successful, as businesses and investments, than many of his other businesses and investments, especially the casinos and his so-called university. In The New Yorker.

The man who is setting the agenda for the US and Europe

He has never taken criticism well (he once suggested a French journalist’s penis should be cut off, following a hostile question at a press conference) and western leaders’ habit of referring to the human rights abuses committed by his security forces has repeatedly poisoned relations, as did US encouragement for uprisings in the ex-Soviet states that he considers to be his sphere of influence. That came to a head in 2011, when thousands of young Muscovites protested in the depths of winter against vote rigging, something he blamed on the then US secretary of state, Hillary Clinton. In The Guardian.

Harish Khare on Swami Vivekananda and a lot more

At Chicago, the Swami had exhorted against “sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendent, fanaticism.” He was a supreme nationalist. Mahatma Gandhi’s observation still holds valid for each one of us: “I have gone through his works very thoroughly, and after having gone through them, the love that I had for my country became a thousand-fold.”

And, as Nehru noted, the Swami was “one of the great founders of the national modern movement of India.” In The Tribune.