Tunnel Vision?

Vinod,

Allow me please...

1. I agree with George. Negating the Aryan Invasion theory is either rightist propaganda or wishful thinking.

How else can you explain one set of fair-skinned, light eyed people & another set of dark-skinned, dark haired people? Does this dichotomy exist in any other peoples?

a) Human life did not originate in India. Africa is said to be the cradle of life. So even the very first settlers in India must have come from elsewhere?

b) This concept of India. What is it? When did it originate? What was the map like? Who integrated us into that map first? Was it done peacefully? Or by invading other kingdoms?? Interesting question, na?

c) What was the Ashwamedha Yagya about?

d) Since when are religious texts sufficient proof of History???

e) Sanskrit & Persian have a common progenitor. And common ancient customs. That should tell you something about the origins of some of our people.

2. Oldest Living Civilization? You may want to explain that as to my knowledge Mesopotamia was the first known civilization & that area is still inhabited according to all reports.

3. Mahatma Gandhi passed away????????

What a subtle cover-up Vinod. :-) I wonder why none of the other commenters didn't spot this or bring it up! Did I intrude on a private meeting?

4. Maybe the reason none of the other things were adopted because they didn't work for us. Did they help us at all in fighting invasion after invasion? Nope. Why adopt failed strategies of governance?

I really think we should thank the Brits for having united us into India. Take a look around... they're not here & we're back to fighting among ourselves. Without a common enemy, we're a doomed people! THAT is what is in our gene pool! Apart from the scientific & philosophical brilliance you speak of.

5. Lakshmi Mittal & Dhiru Ambani are only illustrious as far as Industry & Finances go! And they weren't the first. I think you're forgetting that Azim Premji was there before these guys got there! And he wasn't from a Hindi Medium.

Mittal didn't make his fortune in India. He doesn't live here. He lives in London. With the Brits who did us many favours (apart from uniting us) such as railways, machinery etc. And I'm certain he considers himself a Global Citizen more than Indian, Maru or Calcuttan!

Narayan Murthy is an ex-Communist & his Socialist bent is reflected in his company's treatment of employees. And some (uber-patriotic?) Indians go after him with alleged flag-insult accusations.

Nandan is ex-IIT, of course! :-)

Independent India's other gems are Amartya Sen, Rajendra Pachauri, Manmohan Singh. 2 Nobel Prize winners, & one a future Nobel laureate. And none of them come with a Hindi Medium education!

Neither do other gems like Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Arvind Adiga, Kiran Nagarkar, Amitava Ghosh etc. Nor Shashi Tharoor. Nor Amitabh Bachchan!

Nor Rita Faria, Aishwarya Rai, Sushmita Sen, Lara Dutta, Priyanka Chopra etc.

THAT SAID, I must commend you on your intent of awakening pride within Indians. But without balance & truth, it come across as a little jingoistic, uber-patriotic, ultra-conservative or if I may say, rightist.

Some much needed Humour

2 quick links from some of my reading around the blogosphere to bring a smile, and a couple of guffaws to your face!

Ways & Means

Everyone seems to be talking about what we can do about the terror breeding on paki soil.

While some are sane voices, very rightly saying that war isn't an option, others are given to more passion than pragmatism.

I, as is my wont, like to provide multiple solutions. Some will say, more talk than action, but regretfully, that's the way things are these days.

And here's introducing a new blogger who has the mental range to suggest this, & blog about the voices of reason from the other side as well.

Edit: And since Israel in mentioned in one of the links, does anyone have any views on what they've been doing in Palestine over the last 2 days? Over 200 killed, and I saw a picture of a bleeding child being carried away from the scene in the papers today. How different is this from terrorism?

Your views?

TO the War Lovers.

So assuming the Indian government threw all logic into the air and decided to go to WAR with Pakistan over the Mumbai attacks.. How do we know when we win?

What's the objective of this war? How do we know when it's time to END the war?

:-/

Terrorism: 2 Faces

I want to slap pakistan right now. Does anyone know a non-violent way to slap someone?

We've given them so much proof, but their kayani, gilani, qureshi & zardari are trying word-play instead of sorting out the mess they've made?

The US, UK & the UN are all of the opinion that 26/11 was planned on pakistani mud. They've got World Opinion against them, they have a very upset neighbour (one to whom they've lost 2 wars), yet they choose the posturing route???

Listen up pakis: In India we have a saying for this muddle-headedness. Vinaash kaale, Vipreet buddhi.

Your time is up. You've got the taliban attacking you from the West, you've lost a leader to an assassination, you have terrorist camps inside your own country. Even if we don't finish you, I think you're perfectly equipped to do it to yourself. All the best. May you succeed.

I'd like to link to a brilliant satire on the spineless lizards who currently govern pakistan.

Imran Khan too seems to be in a hurry to get slapped. He expressed his support for the jamaat ud dawa, saying that they're an NGO who helped immensely during the recent earthquake. The same argument is used by the equally slappable hindutvis in India, who contend that the vhp & rss helped immensely during the gujarat earthquake! Does helping during an earthquake make you any less of a terrorist???????
________________________

Engineer MK Gupta loses his life, not to pakistani terrorists, not to misled Jihadis, but to his own countrymen. BSP MLA Shekhar Tiwari, who according to Times NOW coverage is a history-sheeter, is said to be behind the crime.
So how do we now ensure the security of our engineers?
Do we equip our engineers with guns for self-protection?

The question being asked (in the media & accurately so I believe) of Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister mayawati is fairly simple:

Why did her party give a ticket to a history-sheeter?

The question I'm asking (of fellow bloggers) is this: Will maya now quit like vilasrao did? Or will she hang around like modi has been shamelessly doing?
Will India bay for their blood too? Or will political interest make us sacrifice our sense of fairness?

IHM continued...

IHM has a wonderful blog & we agree on almost everything. Except the language I choose to use in my comments. She was uncomfortable with some of the aggression in my comment 4 days ago, and I was unyeilding in that it wouldn't be edited. So we agreed that the comment should be made into a post on this blog, so as not to lose the important things it says, and also not disrupt the peace on IHM's lovely blog. Here is my response to this rubbish:

Krishna...

1. a) The schoolboy isn't tired. If he was, he wouldn't be here. You were staying away (& continue to do till now, those points are still unanswered) because you didn't have an answer. And you could get your leaders to try & answer that for you. I'll be ready. That's exactly the opportunity I'm waiting for. :-)

b) So Socialism is bad in your books? You didn't get the "Moderation is better than Absolutism/Extremism" argument? You can't see what unmitigated Capitalism did to Mexico's economy & now to the USA's? You don't believe ALL THOSE people who've been saying that India's economy survived the global slump because it's approach was tinged with Socialism??? That just makes you an obstinate schoolboy! :-D

2. Not accepted anything yet. Was waiting for you to clarify what you really meant. Now that you've clarified, I will research your NHDP claim, wait for you to respond to my pending queries, & then come back to you. Fair?

3. So you're not going to offer any proof?

Don't worry. I'll offer a few corrections to your half-baked knowledge.

3.1 Nehruvian Socialism did not fail us. Read up. It states that Industrialization picked up during this period & gave rise to our Navratnas.

3.2 Reading on the Era after that too doesn't indict the approach for the crisis. The oil price rise resulting from the Gulf War is referred to as the point that precipitated the crisis. And weren't oil prices again a contributing factor in the recent global crisis? (Refer to points made above in 1. b)

3.3 I am THRILLED that you are giving credit to Dr. Singh & PVN Rao, & therefore to the Congress for initiating the economic reform that causes the World to look with awe at India's economy!

Where does that leave you arguments?

4. Obviously! If you give me a livemint link (who are about as Centred as I am rightist), then I'm going to have a problem. Why don't you try BBC, Economist, NY Times etc? I might set some store by what they have to say.

5. I've always provided proof to whatever I say. I enjoy the so-called burden of proof. You seem to avoid it.You see, I'm on the side of the truth, so it's fairly easy to find. It's out there!

You on the other hand present posts from bloggers as proof!!! LOLOL!!! Who is this sharique??? Anil Kakodkar's equivalent??? You make me laugh so much dear boy...!!! LOLOL!!!

Why didn't you present the first 4 links that Google provided...? Devious malintent...?
Can I give you one?

And WHY are you avoiding the ISRO & HAL argument??? Shouldn't you, a student, be running after the truth, instead of running away from it???

6. I don't know. Will you give me a few non-blog, non-livemint links?

7. Thank you.
And I take the Roy reference as a compliment too. Roy is an achiever, and a woman with a conscience, one who isn't afraid to speak up. I may not agree with all the she has to say, but I admire her speaking up. (In that sense you're a little like her! Only she makes far more compelling arguments!)

Nothing sucks. Generalizations are a sign of an immature mind. No ~ism sucks in it's entirity! Not Socialism, Not Communism, Not Capitalism, Not Hinduism, Not Buddhism, Not Islam, Not Democracy!!! They all have good things in them. The smart thing to do is blend, take the middle path, merge, be at the centre, be moderate. How many times much I say it before you'll finally get it??

FDI in Insurance? Let's take an example. Let's assume that Tata AIG was 75% owned by AIG. How do you think the AIG collapse in the US would've impacted Tata AIG here in India? The only reason they're still standing is because of the caution. Not because of unbridled capitalism!

Learn to listen to non-right-wing people also. You'll develop a more well-rounded personality, more complete knowledge.

I'll end this with one appeal to the the young man in you:

Insaaf ke dagar pe, Bachchon dikhao chal ke.
Yeh Desh hai tumhara, Neta tumhee ho kal ke!

Insaaf means Justice. Fairness.
If you have any interest in playing a part in nation building, then you must not forget the couplet above. You have to be fair & just. And that entails not hiding the truth, giving credit where it's due, even if it's the Congress that you dislike. Don't hide facts. Be fair & just. Build a nation that we can all be proud of! Not the nation 3 right-wing bloggers dream of!

Z@ki-R:
Don't worry. The bjp is on it's way out. The signs are already there for all to see. They're going to lose completely in the long run. No right wing movement has ever survived for long in History. No hate-based movement has ever survived either. They HAVE to lose. It's mathematical!"

Is there a difference between them & us?

Consider this:

1. pakistan refuses to convincingly ban the jamaat-ud-dawa.
2. it refuses to bring lakhvi, dawood, the memons etc. to justice.

• India refuses to ban the rss, bajrang dal, vhp etc.
• It refuses to bring advani, modi, katiyar, bajrangi etc. to justice.

What's the difference between us & them?

Maybe if we gave them advani & modi, they would hand over dawood & lakhvi? It's worth a shot. Maybe we would be shaming them into action? Or maybe we'd be leading the way, for them to follow?
The only thing is that advani & modi are not their villians. They're our villians! Living (sadly) on & polluting our soil! And yet, we cannot haul their arses to justice! HOW do we expect to get people living on foreign soil to justice?
Beats me!

Maine Kaha Tha Na...!

Sometimes being right doesn't give you the joy you thought it would...

I'd told jokers like these quite a while back, that this is the way to go! Anjan & Zig had said it before me! And we'd just called for an economic boycott of the businessmen who choose to continue to patronize the rogue state.

Calling all those jokers for their views on this community specific boycott. I'd like to see what they have to say to my initial proposal now...

Also, a few more questions:

1. What do we do with Gujarat now? It's fast becoming an extremely polarized, rogue state, guilty of the same persecution that the pakis & b'deshis are blamed of. What do we do with them?
2. Vilasrao Deshmukh drew a lot of well-deserved flak when raj thakre went on his anti-"North-Indians" rampage. It remains to be seen whether narendra modi will draw the same kind of flak...
3. Dr. Manmohan Singh sent a stinker to Deshmukh for his failure to correct the mns created situation in Bombay. WILL l.k. advani send a stinker to modi for his inability to correct the situation in Surat? Or am I forgetting that advani & modi are more like raj thakre...?
4. Do we go in & set it right? How do we go into our own state??
5. Prez's rule? Since the current administration seems incapable of integrating it with the national thought mainstream.

If we don't do something fast, it's very likely that they will soon have very little in common with us & they may have secession demands. In that case we could have another prolonged internal problem. Or if they do secede, we'll have a b'desh on one side, a china on another, a sri lanka on another, a pak on one more & a gujarat on another front! We can't afford to have an open battle on so many fronts. We must nip this problem in the bud!!!

Plug

Another wearer of the Young India tag ;-) jumps on to the Call for Political Reform bandwagon. I wish him luck & your patronage.

kya contradiction hai...

Some people get it, while some others just don't get it.

Funnily enough, in this particular case, a so-called non-Muslim gets it, while a presumably avowed Muslim doesn't.

Edit 1:

And then she goes & blows it!!! I wish she'd clarify her urge to criticize. Is it born out of a desire to reform? That's the only excuse I can understand for criticism.

What will stop these people from arguing over religion in these times??? (Inke beech ka faasla kaun kam karega?) Have they learnt nothing from the rest of the nation? What will it take to unite them? More of the same? Such a shame...! I'm itching to help them merge as one, but I'd said I'd refrain, so I will.

Edit 2:

However I'd also said that I would attempt to change the mindset of every religious conservative that I came across. (Read 1, 2, 3, 4). I'm therefore seriously contemplating writing to Adnan. Apparently Swati has answered my question on her blog. I will check that out shortly & come back with an update.

Kerala CM Achuthanandan MUST GO!!!

BEFORE we do anything, we must ask for this crass, vulgar, disgraceful, insensitive brute to vacate the chair he thinks is his divine right!

How DARE he say something like this to the father & family of a Martyr???

He's shown the nation his absolute lack of class. He is unfit to lead. Show him his place! Take him out! NOW!!!

Where are all those lawyers from Bhopal, Indore etc. who were filing random PIL's for disrespect to the national flag??? Are they going to take umbrage & act now??? And it they won't, can we?

Can we petition the commies to show some spine please?

This post first appeared on the Mutiny in exactly this form, but the edit team there felt differently about it, so it's now available there in a new bottle.