Followers of this blog (& my detractors) will know my definition of Indianness. They will be aware that an individual with a unidimensional perspective cannot be a complete Indian in my book.
Here is a dressed up in Raymonds Indian. Take a look at his recent posts, the things he rejoices in, and you will have your blueprint for the kind of Indian we want inhabiting this country!
Here you go!
Friday, September 26, 2008
Poet in me!!!
In the unlikeliest of places, I discovered a poet in me!
Sample this:
swati swati full of bile,
every prophet you revile,
learn your lessons pretty fast,
lies & darkness do not last!
or this:
ah my effort you do mime,
yet your poem does not rhyme,
discomfort I do not feel,
your “wrong” allegations are an easy meal,
to back my word, there’s proof replete,
and seas of victory lap at my feet,
the truth just is! it can never be bent,
you are a mere “voice of dissent”!
and this:
swati while you’re wrong ’bout much,
you’re really not that bad as such…
“Love, peace and Joy are what we need”
right you are! you are indeed!!
come let us dream of a world that’s one,
and this really, truly has been fun!
I must not forget to give credit to swati who in a strange way inspired this. I'd have linked to her blog if she had one; but for now I will have to just link to the conversation where it all began. Enjoy!
oink...
Bluster doen't help. I gave you reasons. Now that you don't have an answer, you're resorting to personal attack. It doesn't offend me one bit since it's coming from you & not from anyone who matters. The reasons don't change. Here they are again!
Your lack of an intelligent response exposes you for the semi-literate, unenlightened soul you are at this moment in time. Hopefully you will use your free time to educate yourself on multiple cultures & religions. A hint: Go to the source instead of relying on people maligning it.
contentious,
Thank you for your admission here. Your admission is refreshingly honest & brave (in the face of hindutva elements who will now gun for you)!
You are probably right about the Wiki editing by closet (or not so closet) hindutvis. The words are surprisingly similar.
So what do we do with this "illumined consciousness"? Do we use it in our country, or have we totally discarded it?
Sample this:
swati swati full of bile,
every prophet you revile,
learn your lessons pretty fast,
lies & darkness do not last!
or this:
ah my effort you do mime,
yet your poem does not rhyme,
discomfort I do not feel,
your “wrong” allegations are an easy meal,
to back my word, there’s proof replete,
and seas of victory lap at my feet,
the truth just is! it can never be bent,
you are a mere “voice of dissent”!
and this:
swati while you’re wrong ’bout much,
you’re really not that bad as such…
“Love, peace and Joy are what we need”
right you are! you are indeed!!
come let us dream of a world that’s one,
and this really, truly has been fun!
I must not forget to give credit to swati who in a strange way inspired this. I'd have linked to her blog if she had one; but for now I will have to just link to the conversation where it all began. Enjoy!
oink...
Bluster doen't help. I gave you reasons. Now that you don't have an answer, you're resorting to personal attack. It doesn't offend me one bit since it's coming from you & not from anyone who matters. The reasons don't change. Here they are again!
Your lack of an intelligent response exposes you for the semi-literate, unenlightened soul you are at this moment in time. Hopefully you will use your free time to educate yourself on multiple cultures & religions. A hint: Go to the source instead of relying on people maligning it.
contentious,
Thank you for your admission here. Your admission is refreshingly honest & brave (in the face of hindutva elements who will now gun for you)!
You are probably right about the Wiki editing by closet (or not so closet) hindutvis. The words are surprisingly similar.
So what do we do with this "illumined consciousness"? Do we use it in our country, or have we totally discarded it?
Saturday, September 20, 2008
continued from the Mutiny...
Eternal Truth from the Mutiny had this to say:
http://mutiny.in/2008/09/16/should-we-take-up-arms/#comment-59884
My response follows:
Eternal Truth,
While I agree with your first 3 paras & your 5th one, I am in total disagreement with what you state in your 4th paragraph. AGAIN, it points to what Yaamyn was saying in his post, and what I have always maintained: You see what you want to or have been taught to see. That is called Prejudice.
Or it could also stem from a fairly innocuous lack of information or perspective, which I am hoping to supply here.
I think the Indian people as a mass have never been able to drop their personal local, cultural or religious identities as a whole. The blame for this doesn't fall only on one community!
If you look closer you will find people with churkhis dangling behind bad haricuts. Sometimes you will see even worse... churkhis dangling behind entirely shaven heads!!! You will see naked upper bodies of men with potbellies protruding far out in front and male-breasts bouncing on the potbellies. You will see dhotis hanging so low that they threaten to fall off! You will see vermilion tilaks and sindoor proudly proclaiming their choice of relision/culture! You will see mangalsutras & ghungats!
In South India, you will see three stripes on each forehead and an elongated crescent over them!
In Punjab & elsewhere in the country turbans & beards (& kataars!) proclaim a different identity!
I think it is unfair & shameful of you to say that one community hasn't wanted to get integrated in the national mainstream; Or wanted to maintain a different identity, when every other community is guilty of the same! I also think that there are groups responsible for feeding you with this kind of propaganda & making you think in this manner.
I would very much like to hear from you again on this subject.
Gujrati Mujra-hideen - a display of the degree of “sophistication”
I HATE to even mention this monster’s name, but what must be done must be done.
AT a rally in Delhi narendra modi showed the difference in “class” that exists between modern India’s top leaders & bjp leaders! While on the one hand we have the likes of “Political Saint” Dr. Manmohan Singh; popular new hope Omar Abdullah; self-sacrificing, multi-lingual, multi-cultural, educated abroad, daughter-in-law of India’s first family Sonia Gandhi; US Ivy League educated Sachin Pilot; & others like Milind Deora, young Scindia & Rahul Gandhi… on the other hand you have (mass-murdering apart) men whose speeches are peppered with coarseness that would excite the front-benchers in a B-grade film. I am actually glad that they open their mouth, because everytime they do, they expose themselves for who they really are.
According to DNA reports, modi said: “Gujarat aatankvaad ke saamne mujra nahin karega (Gujarat would not perform a dance in front of terrorism).”
What masterclass on display!!! And these are the people India wants to showcase to the world?
rajnath singh and advani who were also present at the rally “had to wrap up their speeches midway as the drizzle turned into a downpour.” Looks like even the gods had heard enough!
Read here: http://www.dnaindia.com/mobile/report.asp?n=1191571
Monday, September 15, 2008
Islamophobia in India.
India's increasingly becoming a society of Islamophobes. Yes, Racists and Islamophobes. Rabid Muslim haters who can't even begin to assume that there's no difference - anatomically, mentally, physically or personality wise between them and their counterparts from a different faith. Did I say 'different faith'? I'm sorry. I meant Muslims. I shall pull no punches today... [Continue Reading..]
[This article is cross-referenced to my personal blog because it contains some strong, emotional and un-parliamentary language. I notice that 1conoclast has refrained from using uncivil language on this blog, and I'd like to keep it that way. :-)
However, I woudn't recommend reader discretion for my article. Every Indian needs to read it and ponder. I apologize for any offense it causes.]
[This article is cross-referenced to my personal blog because it contains some strong, emotional and un-parliamentary language. I notice that 1conoclast has refrained from using uncivil language on this blog, and I'd like to keep it that way. :-)
However, I woudn't recommend reader discretion for my article. Every Indian needs to read it and ponder. I apologize for any offense it causes.]
Saturday, September 13, 2008
I’m doubly scared: kaheen ke nahin rahe
Before I begin, I’d like to send up a prayer for those who have lost their lives & loved ones in the ghastly & condemnable acts of violence perpetrated in Delhi today.
May God grant their souls peace & strength to the ones they were snatched from. Amen.
Every time there is a bomb blast in India, it leaves me a little more scarred. My worry & fear grow each time this happens. By God’ grace, thankfully it hasn’t interfered with normal life yet & may it never, but the aftermath of the blasts for me is consternation, worry & a growing fear.
Fear that every Indian living in a city feels; but there is another fear that I face – one that snehal joshi in the shame on you bal-t thread encouraged – the fear of a backlash.
So I live with two fears. I am now the proverbial dhobi ka kutta, na ghar ka na ghat ka!
Isn’t that the intent of the terrorists?
Make Indians feel insecure.
Make them mistrust each other.
Make them fight each other.
Weaken our country.
My wife asks, “What do these terrorist get from exploding bombs & killing innocents of all religions? How does Muslims being mistrusted more & more by the less enlightened masses help their cause?”
I tell her that up the entire line, there is money being made. Someone is financing these terrorist activities. It’s absurd to imagine that the financing comes from within India. It has to be from someone who is India’s strategic, commercial or ideological enemy. And that there could be many.
So why is the needle of suspicion deliberately pointed in one direction?
Can’t there be others whose humanity & patriotism is up for sale?
There are examples where bomb factories were found in Nagpur under the auspices of the sangh parivar.
There was a blast engineered by them in Kerala & the people apprehended were workers from one of their affiliates.
The authorities have been saying for quite some time that they know that the Indian Mujahideen who is claiming to have engineered all these blasts is merely a front for some other organization. They don’t know for a fact which organization. Is it possible that anyone from Naxals to Maoists to Mujahideens to the Hindutvis sitting in the Opposition are behind all of this? After all, there has to be a vested interest here; and there is no guarantee of anyone’s patriotism. Traitors & terrorists can be from any community. Is it possible that this entire exercise is an elaborate plan to create disharmony & mistrust, and is beginning to succeed? I don’t know for sure.
What I do know is this: I don’t want the terrorists & their backers to succeed. I don’t want to be scared & I don’t want anyone to scare me.
Another personal story to share:
I had a friend over for dinner the other night. She is a Gujarati, one who was in Baroda, fresh out of college, during the 2002 riots. Her family sheltered their neighbours & close friends of many years, a Muslim family (for which they drew a lot of flak from their other neighbours) for which her father had to stand outside & single-handedly argue down the hindutvis who had come for the fugitive Muslim family. Thankfully he succeeded.
She talked of the changed nature of Baroda. She talked of how modi was seen as the unifier of Hindu forces in Gujarat. She talked about how her father voted for modi because of that, not because of the so-called development that he has been taking credit for.
She is a fairly disillusioned Indian today, one who takes pride in her apathy.
She went so far as to suggest that since my Muslim name will never allow me to prove my patriotism to most people in this country, I too should develop apathy towards what is happening in my country.
I’m trying but not succeeding…
May God grant their souls peace & strength to the ones they were snatched from. Amen.
Every time there is a bomb blast in India, it leaves me a little more scarred. My worry & fear grow each time this happens. By God’ grace, thankfully it hasn’t interfered with normal life yet & may it never, but the aftermath of the blasts for me is consternation, worry & a growing fear.
Fear that every Indian living in a city feels; but there is another fear that I face – one that snehal joshi in the shame on you bal-t thread encouraged – the fear of a backlash.
So I live with two fears. I am now the proverbial dhobi ka kutta, na ghar ka na ghat ka!
Isn’t that the intent of the terrorists?
Make Indians feel insecure.
Make them mistrust each other.
Make them fight each other.
Weaken our country.
My wife asks, “What do these terrorist get from exploding bombs & killing innocents of all religions? How does Muslims being mistrusted more & more by the less enlightened masses help their cause?”
I tell her that up the entire line, there is money being made. Someone is financing these terrorist activities. It’s absurd to imagine that the financing comes from within India. It has to be from someone who is India’s strategic, commercial or ideological enemy. And that there could be many.
So why is the needle of suspicion deliberately pointed in one direction?
Can’t there be others whose humanity & patriotism is up for sale?
There are examples where bomb factories were found in Nagpur under the auspices of the sangh parivar.
There was a blast engineered by them in Kerala & the people apprehended were workers from one of their affiliates.
The authorities have been saying for quite some time that they know that the Indian Mujahideen who is claiming to have engineered all these blasts is merely a front for some other organization. They don’t know for a fact which organization. Is it possible that anyone from Naxals to Maoists to Mujahideens to the Hindutvis sitting in the Opposition are behind all of this? After all, there has to be a vested interest here; and there is no guarantee of anyone’s patriotism. Traitors & terrorists can be from any community. Is it possible that this entire exercise is an elaborate plan to create disharmony & mistrust, and is beginning to succeed? I don’t know for sure.
What I do know is this: I don’t want the terrorists & their backers to succeed. I don’t want to be scared & I don’t want anyone to scare me.
Another personal story to share:
I had a friend over for dinner the other night. She is a Gujarati, one who was in Baroda, fresh out of college, during the 2002 riots. Her family sheltered their neighbours & close friends of many years, a Muslim family (for which they drew a lot of flak from their other neighbours) for which her father had to stand outside & single-handedly argue down the hindutvis who had come for the fugitive Muslim family. Thankfully he succeeded.
She talked of the changed nature of Baroda. She talked of how modi was seen as the unifier of Hindu forces in Gujarat. She talked about how her father voted for modi because of that, not because of the so-called development that he has been taking credit for.
She is a fairly disillusioned Indian today, one who takes pride in her apathy.
She went so far as to suggest that since my Muslim name will never allow me to prove my patriotism to most people in this country, I too should develop apathy towards what is happening in my country.
I’m trying but not succeeding…
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
Musings on China
I haven't been fond of China ever since the Tiananmen Square massacre.
1962 happened before I was born & I only read about it later. Anyway I felt more anger at ourselves for losing that war rather then at the aggressors. This inward anger thing is strange.
Then I read about their invasion of Tibet. And I read stories of the Iron Curtain.
By this time I was sure I didn't like them, but since Tiananmen Square I have totally despised them.
I've joined in when people have called them commie bastards and have begrudged every success that they've been able to notch up in the economic arena. I have celebrated the one thing that we are better than them at, the BPO industry, although I don't know for how long we'll stay ahead, knowing them...
Their censoring of the press has rankled too.
When they won the Olympic bid, I wasn't too happy at the fact that they've stolen yet another march over us.
When there were protests in Tibet & in India over the Olympic torch, I felt happy. I was glad that someone else felt bad & was expressing themselves.
Now of course I feel bad that the world at large is recognizing this rogue country as a superpower.
I feel glad though that India is now being put on the same platform economically & geo-politically as them. And we have Dr. Manmohan Singh to thank for that! This man deserves a Bharat Ratna for the things he's done for India. I think posterity will give it to him. If I have my way I will!
I am glad that we're not seen as a rogue country the way they are & for that I am glad that extremists are not in power in our country. Events like gujarat & orissa are the Tiananmen Square equivalent in the eyes of the international community. Somehow we've escaped being viewed like them. Is it because we've majorly been neither rightist nor leftist but centrist?
Is there a lesson in this for us? Should we actively continue to toe the centrist, moderate line & consciously, aggressively avoid leaning over to either extreme? I think so.
Coming back to China, one must give them credit for what they've achieved.
Although, more research & opinions are required on the means & the quality of their output.
Their means I'm certain haven't been all good & their quality of goods has been a joke for quite some time.
I do hope the international community can find a way to put pressure on China to improve their human rights record. Maybe putting aside profit considerations for some time will help?
1962 happened before I was born & I only read about it later. Anyway I felt more anger at ourselves for losing that war rather then at the aggressors. This inward anger thing is strange.
Then I read about their invasion of Tibet. And I read stories of the Iron Curtain.
By this time I was sure I didn't like them, but since Tiananmen Square I have totally despised them.
I've joined in when people have called them commie bastards and have begrudged every success that they've been able to notch up in the economic arena. I have celebrated the one thing that we are better than them at, the BPO industry, although I don't know for how long we'll stay ahead, knowing them...
Their censoring of the press has rankled too.
When they won the Olympic bid, I wasn't too happy at the fact that they've stolen yet another march over us.
When there were protests in Tibet & in India over the Olympic torch, I felt happy. I was glad that someone else felt bad & was expressing themselves.
Now of course I feel bad that the world at large is recognizing this rogue country as a superpower.
I feel glad though that India is now being put on the same platform economically & geo-politically as them. And we have Dr. Manmohan Singh to thank for that! This man deserves a Bharat Ratna for the things he's done for India. I think posterity will give it to him. If I have my way I will!
I am glad that we're not seen as a rogue country the way they are & for that I am glad that extremists are not in power in our country. Events like gujarat & orissa are the Tiananmen Square equivalent in the eyes of the international community. Somehow we've escaped being viewed like them. Is it because we've majorly been neither rightist nor leftist but centrist?
Is there a lesson in this for us? Should we actively continue to toe the centrist, moderate line & consciously, aggressively avoid leaning over to either extreme? I think so.
Coming back to China, one must give them credit for what they've achieved.
Although, more research & opinions are required on the means & the quality of their output.
Their means I'm certain haven't been all good & their quality of goods has been a joke for quite some time.
I do hope the international community can find a way to put pressure on China to improve their human rights record. Maybe putting aside profit considerations for some time will help?
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