He That Seeketh Findeth.

2012: Book Reviews 1

2012-02-05T20:49:00.000+05:30

This year has started well for me and by the grace of God, i got some time to read two very well compiled collections of essays/speeches. Both relate to the tumultuous time of 1960's and 1970's with a pinch of 1990s.

We the Nation: It is a collection of articles, essays and speeches of the eminent Jurist of India, Nani Palkhiwala. He was a great defender of the fundamental rights and played a key role in the "Basic Structure" concept of Indian constitution. This book renders his thoughts on the political, social, economical and religious spectrum of India after the demise of Nehru. He writes about the fundamentals problems faced by India and their possible solutions. A good read if you want to learn about India's state in 1970s.

Middle East Illusions by Noam Chomsky is an engrossing book on the Ethno-Religious conflicts between Israel and Palestinians Arabs with a peripheral view on Iraq, Turkey, Egypt and US. The more i read about Jews history the more i get sad but that sadness turns into anger when i read about the pathetic conditions of Palestinians Arabs, who were ironically made refugees in their own land by the European Jews. This book is bit outdated as most of the articles were written before 1973 war but still relevant.

The best possible solution of Palestine problem (according to me) is the just division of Palestine between Jews and Palestinian Arabs, and the administration of Jerusalem by a UN authority. This was proposed by UN General Assembly Resolution 181 in 1947. That time it was wrong but now its fine, again a cruel irony of time. Gaza Strip Arabs should be settled in West Bank region and corresponding territory should be given to Palestinian Arabs from Israel in a region bordering West Bank. All the Jewish settlements made after 1993 Oslo Accord in West Bank should be dismantled and that territory should be given to Arabs. The Arabs living in Israel should be a given a choice to emigrate to West Bank with all their properties. The equal amount of land should be given to them in a Jewish region bordering West Bank. This will make West Bank a greater West Bank and a practical contiguous Palestinian Arab state bordering the fellow Palestine state of Jordan. This is the best possible solution at this point of time.

Political Sin

2012-01-16T00:02:00.000+05:30

We live in interesting as well as epoch making times. Indians (specially the followers of Non-Abrahamic religions) believe in the circular concept of time with long linear epochs. 2012 looks like 1912 if we use the lens of Hindu-Muslims relations. So called "Secular" Political parties are vying for the enormous Muslim vote bank specially in the context of UP elections. One national party has even declared to give 9% reservation to minorities (specially to the Muslims as Christians, Sikhs and others are non-existent in UP) and while other regional parties are equally vocal.

People of entire political spectrum except the "communal" people like me often talk about the pathetic condition of Muslims in India and they base their arguments on the basis of Rajinder Sachhar and Ranganath Mishra Committee reports. It appears contradictory that the lower caste converts from Hindus to Muslims remain socially backward although Islam proclaim itself to be an Egalitarian religion, but that does not stop Indian Muslims to have caste based hierarchies. Conversion is an escape from caste based restrictions of Hindu society, so once a lower caste Hindu converts to Islam then his/her social backwardness ceases to exist, then why he is asking reservation (On same ground i oppose reservation to Christians).

The pathetic condition of Muslims is "self made" as Muslims had never been exploited by Hindus in last 800 years of Muslim history in northern India unlike the Dalits and backward castes of Hindus. Muslims were the ruling class of India until 1857 and they were ruling Hyderabad until 1949 so what is the basis of their movement for reservation. And if reservation is the panacea of all evils then why reservation for all Muslims, why not for economically backward classes among Muslims, Hindus and others. There has to be an equal yardstick for all.

Muslims were betrayed by their leaders in British India and that time their leaders were Muslims mainly. They voted for Muslim league in huge numbers in 1940's elections. Except Sir Syed no Muslim leader tried to give a progressive direction to Muslim society as a whole. They played no role in Bengal Renaissance, Hindus got rid of so many evils like Child marriage, polygamy, Sati practice etc because of this very Renaissance while Muslims failed to make any progress. It was and is not the fault of Hindus. There were so many reform movements in Hindu society in 19th and 20th century but i fail to find those kind of reform movements in Muslim community. I can only find three movements, Ahmadiya, Aligarh and Wahhabi movement and out of these three the most orthodox movement is gaining strength in India. This is not good for Muslims and definitely not good for India.

India goes down under in a Down Under series

2011-12-29T15:07:00.001+05:30

The inability to win elusive Test Series in Australia will now become a blot of shame on the otherwise glorious career of the Golden generation of Indian batsmen. The loss at MCG on 29th Dec came as a shock not because of its individuality but because this is straight 5th overseas defeat of India. No one can forget the 0-4 drubbing received by India at the hands of English Team. This is only the second time in my life where i have seen such a grand whitewash, the first being 3-0 loss in 1999-2000 series in Australia. The Indian batsmen were new and inexperienced in that series but the team that played in England in 2011 was one of the finest produced by India. So it becomes very complex to examine the reasons behind the defeat. Indian batsmen ( except Dravid and occasionally Sachin) were completely overwhelmed by the English bowlers. All these golden boys of Indian cricker will retire in a year or so and their absence will create a big black hole in Indian cricket and our Test prospects will go for a toss.

We are not able to find a suitable replacement of Sourav Ganguly (Sourav retired in Nov 2008) and we have given chances to Pujara, Yuvraj, Raina, Kohli but no one has been able to cement his place. There are big question marks on the techniques of Dhoni and Gambhir on bouncy wickets and Laxman has never been consistent in his career, despite of scoring many big glorious centuries. So it creates a huge pressure on Dravid and Sachin and whenever one of them fails, India fails. The same has happened in England,
Dravid played brilliantly but Sachin's performance was not upto the mark and same is destined to happen in Australia. Actually it has just happened in Melbourne, in the Boxing Day Test. Both these batsmen failed in 2nd Inning and India lost the match miserably. So for the betterment of Indian cricket we should not press for the retirement of these great batsmen rather we should first find no. 6th batsman. No need to go to T-20 to find one, get it from Ranji.

Indian bowling looked pretty decent and Umesh Yadav's performance was very very good. Its a very good sign for India cricket but Ashwin needs to improve his bowling.

Performance Rating of Boxing Day Test
Umesh Yadav                8/10
Zaheer Khan                 7/10
Ishant Sharma               7/10
Sachin Tendulkar           6/10
Ravichandran Ashwin    6/10
Rahul Dravid                 5/10
Virendra Sehwag          5/10
Mahendra Singh Dhoni 1/10
Gautam Gambhir          0/10
Virat Kohli                   0/10
V V S Laxman             0/10

Life is beautiful

2011-12-20T17:22:00.000+05:30

For the last few months, i was slogging to get the holy grail of Indian bureaucracy and in between i got a great gift from the God. On 25th October, 12:55 PM, I become father of a 2.75 kg son. To see a new life made of your own blood and flesh and with the grace of God is an unbelievable feeling. Fatherhood is an amazing stage of life and this makes you a complete man or person. I miss my dear Father in this dear moment. He died an unnatural death on 6th December 2008 midnight (3 years back) but i can still feel his presence and blessing with me each and every fleeting moment. Thank you Pratiksha for giving me such a beautiful gift and thank you my God for blessing me with this gift.

In search of an Indian Identity: Part 1

2011-07-31T14:21:00.006+05:30

They say India is a Secular Republic just like US but with a subtle difference. US govt is not supposed to interfere in religious affairs without any exception while Indian secularism allows Indian govt to interfere in religious affair and most of the times this interference becomes a nemesis for the growth of Secularism in India.

Every time when Indian govt had tried to interfere in religious affairs it had attracted its share of criticism. It started with the abolition of inhumane Sati practice, abolition of polygamy, abolition of untouchability (this abolition has to be respected and implemented in every corner of the country, its a shame that untouchability is still prevalent in many parts of our country). But if i look at all these reforms, i can easily observe the absence of any such reform in Muslim society of India. They say polygamy is allowed in Islam but polygamy is also not prohibited in Hinduism then why Hindus are not allowed to keep multiple wives while on the other hand Muslims have that rights. I totally abhor the concept of polygamy but why Indian govt has not made any law so far to ban polygamy in Indian Muslim society. Does that make them less Muslim?

I have digressed a lot from the topic of my post, lets start with India as a country. They say India as a country did not exist before 18th century but so was the case with US, Italy, Germany, Iraq, Malaysia etc. Nation state is a modern concept and we became a nation state and Indians on 26th Jan 1950 but what about the history and people of India before that date. What is the base civilization of India. They say its a synthesis or a fusion of various streams of creeds, religions and people who continuously migrated to this region since the advent of last interglacial period or before that. So who were Indians before Aryans migrated to India (although the migration concept is now hotly debated and Mrs. Romila Thapar has modified his theory of Aryan Invasion from Aryan migration)? A logical answer is the Dravidians or the indigenous people of India or the inhabitants of Indus Valley Civilization. I respect that culture and all places from Harrapa, Mohen-jo-daro to Kalibangan, Lothal etc are very close to my heart and not even in my remotest dreams i will plan to destroy the remnants of that culture. Every Indian should feel attached and proud of that glorious civilization. This is the fundamental premise of Indian identity as well as the bedrock of Indian civilization. In this essay series I will try to search for Indian Identity without wearing the garb of Hindu communalist.

Random thoughts

2011-06-21T16:58:00.000+05:30

This has been quite a hiatus (after stunning World Cup victory by Team India) so its imperative for me to write an article here. There are so many currents to write on starting from Anna Hazare, Baba Ramdev, Digvijay Singh, Rahul Gandhi to M F Hussain. I will pick M F Hussain from this "great" list. There is no doubt that M F Hussain was one of the greatest artists produced by India but he will be known not for his secular paintings but for blashphemous paintings of Sita, Bharat Mata etc. Its a shame to waste such a talent to hurt sentiments of millions of Hindus. I myself was deeply hurt when i first saw those paintings. With every freedom comes responsibility, and freedom of expression is not an exception. Now Mr Hussain has all the time in either "Swarg" or "Narak" to paint angels or daemons either naked or fully clothed. I have no prayers to offer for him but maye God give him some peace.

Last couple of months have been very busy and silent for me. I was not able to read or travel much in these 60 odd days but i was taken aback by the atrocious behaviour of Indian govt against the innocent and harmless crowd at Ram Leela ground in New Delhi couple of weeks back. I have not experienced Emergency period but those Ram Leela Ground TV scenes depict how hard Emergency must have been. No one gives a damn to legitimate demands of Iron Sharmila of Manipur, who has been on fast for last 10 years or so but our Media goes gaga on the fasts of Anna Hazare and Baba Ramdev. No one gives a damn to Swami Nigamanand either who died fasting for the noble cause of cleaning Ganga from the hands of illegal miners. We live in interesting times when an IPL match between bottom two teams attracts 40 thousand people but noble fast fails to attract that number.

Like many things my thoughts also have become random, i am waiting for the promised land, i am waiting for the promised book and i am waiting for my destiny.

The Cup of Joy finally returns..

2011-04-03T20:23:00.001+05:30

The Picture says it all. Its been a long wait but an eventful one (Image courtesy Cricinfo.com)

Some things never change

2011-03-31T12:57:00.005+05:30

Its a dream for any aspiring cricketer to play for Team India and Its a dream for every Team India player to play in World Cup and no dream is bigger than defeating arch rivals Australia and Pakistan in knock out stages of the World Cup. This Indian team has done it all. When a nation grows then its friends and rivals both change. And because of this reason only that India-Australia match heat is comparable to India-Pakistan match heat. For an young aspiring Indian, victory over Australia is more significant than victory over Pakistan but loss to Pakistan is comparable to a crime that can not be washed even if you take 100 dips in holy Ganges. Its party emotional and partly because of a the confidence of growing middle class of India. India loves to compete and defeat Australia on the one hand while it loves to always defeat Pakistan on other hand. The last 10 years has made this huge change in the mindset of Indians and this reflects in the Buddha like posture of Dhoni. The bunch of jokers have become world beaters and as they say Rome was not built in a day, the same is true for team India. Sachin has remained a great agent of this transformation and all the players starting from Ganguly, Dravid, Prasad, Kumble, Srinath, Laxman etc have played their parts. Dhoni and others are just culmination of the process started by Sachin decades back. Its a fitting tribute to Sachin and we all owe it to Sachin.

There are two things that can unite this nation. War is one and Sachin is second. It has been sheer pleasure to experience Indian wins against Pakistan in 1992, 1996, 1999, 2003 and yesterday. 1992 World Cup was a gone case for India still we defeated Pakistan despite escapades from Miandad. 1996 win was a sweet one as it propelled us to Semi Final against Sri Lanka and we failed miserably in that Semi. 1999 World Cup match against Pakistan was similar to 1992. 2003 World Cup match was the grandest match ever played by India against Pakistan till then. It was the match that added another story in the Legend of Sachin. Akhtar was silenced forever. Anwar and Akaram were retired forever. Yesterday match was very much

one sided and Pakistan managed to fight only till 35 overs of Pakistan inning. I was expecting that the match would go till 49th or final over but 260 was too much for Pakistanis. Pakistan team also deserves some claps as no body gave them any chance before this world Cup yet they managed to destroy Australia, Sri Lanka and West Indies. Afridi looks like a man on mission but you can not win a cricket epic if your team does not perform. Yunis Khan, Razzak looked miserable yesterday and Mohammad Hafiz shot was suicidal.

Sri Lanka is more formidable foe than Pakistan and they have enviable top and middle order batsmen, and bowlers. Greatest bowler Muralidharan will play his last match so this final is destined to become a clash of legends, Sachin on one hand and Murali on other. May the best team wins. Amen.

P.S. Somethings never change. Sun rises in east, India defeats Pakistan in world Cup, capital of Singapore is Singapore etc etc..

Cometh the hour, cometh the team

2011-03-25T11:11:00.005+05:30

And India knocked out mighty Australians from its legendary campaign. It is a sort of coup d'etat and now the onus is on India to win the Cup. I have been following world cup since 1992 and i have only seen India loosing matches against Australia. I have faint memories of 1992 defeat by 1 run but 1996 World Cup defeat of 16 runs still gives me bad odor. That was the last time when Sachin massacred the mighty Australians by scoring 90 runs of 84 balls although India lost the match by 16 runs but it was a match to remember. Since 1996 India had been not able to give fight to Australians and was defeated convincingly in 1999 and 2003 World Cup matches. The World Cup final of 2003 will always make Indians cry specially to those Indians who were students during that time. I was in 2nd year of my engineering and i can easily remember that many of us were not able to eat on that day and it took almost a week to come back to normality.

It was a more difficult match for India at Ahmadabad than for Australia. Australia has won the World Cup three times on a trot and in total 4 times in last 24 years so the hunger to win the cup was not the same for them. Things are different for India, here winning world cup means you are adding yourself to a very limited set of immortals of Indian cricket. The Neo-Indians desperately need a world champion tag and no sport is better placed to provide that than cricket. Australia started well and match was well balanced until the coming of David Hussey to the crease. Ponting was magnificent and his century had shades of 2003 World Cup final hundred. Indian bowlers gave 10-20 extra runs in the end but still 260 was a gettable total. Sachin and Sehwag started well, Sachin was not at his best but he managed to give a decent start to India. Gambhir, Kohli played well in middle and Yuvraj-Raina brought India home just after the dangerous wicket of Dhoni "The Helicopter". It was great to see the awesome hug of Yuvraj and Raina in the end. It was a revenge of 2003 world cup final and just like all bad things come to end similarly India managed to shrug of the tag of losers against Australia. This is a new beginning of Indian cricket and Dhoni and team should not loose the golden opportunity to write the history. History remembers the winners. No one will remember who was Man of the tournament in 2003 World Cup but people will always remember the defeat of 2003 world cup final against Australia.

Team looks very good to me. Dhoni, Harbhajan and Munaaf have still not performed and lets hope that they have saved their best for the last two matches. Its the time to bring the cup home. Its the cup that can join or break more than a billion hearts. Lets pray for the former. Amen.

Knock them out

2011-03-21T18:05:00.001+05:30

World Cup 2011 is reaching its most exciting phase after filtering off superb team of Ireland. Ireland came to this World Cup without a serious fan in India but after a month they have more fans in this subcontinent than the entire population of little island known as Ireland. This World Cup has been more democratic than any other World Cup played after 1999 and has more close matches than in any World Cup. The teams that have qualified for Quarter Finals are the expected ones but i still think that Bangladesh and Ireland are unfortunate. They should have been in the Quarter Finals in place of England and West Indies. No offense to England but frankly speaking they do not deserve any a place in QF. I must say that they have played well in patches and they emit the same vigor (although in small proportion) as emitted by Australia not so long back. Pakistan and Sri Lanka have looked pretty well and are strong favorites to win the Cup apart from South Africa. India and Australia are not too far behind. Indian team has played in extremes and they have dominated almost all the matches more than 50% of the time but their death bowlers and death batsmen have let them down. Ideally they should have been playing New Zealand instead of Australia in QF if they had batted few balls more against England and South Africa.
Sachin, Zaheer, Sehwag and Yuvraj have performed exceedingly well for India. Kohli and Gambhir have performed well in pieces. The other half a dozen players have yet to find their form. India can not win the cup if half of its team does not perform. I still believe that India can win the cup but now my favorites are Sri Lanka, Pakistan and South Africa. Lets see what happens in Ahmadabad. May the best team win. Amen.

On a serious note, I offer my prayers and condolences to the people of Japan who are fighting hard to survive and to do things that they do best. May God give you courage to solve out things. You are the light of Asia and beyond.

Indian dream can crash if they continue to play like this....

2011-02-28T18:39:00.000+05:30

And World Cup has now started little more than a week later its official opening ceremony in Bangladesh. India - England match will remain one of the most exciting matches of ODI history and the only ODI match that i watched more than 75% of its duration. It was a match of dwindling fortunes in the first and and last 10 overs of each inning. Sehwag started blindly and was beaten comprehensively by Anderson and Co. in the very first overs. The partnership of Sachin and Gambhir produced one the cleanest and elegant art of batting. Sachin started slowly but after reaching in his 20's, he started batting like batting virtuoso. An artist painting his Monalisa in the midst of a world war, such is the aura of Sachin. Yuvraj played a good inning but would have loved to see Kohli coming before Yuvraj. It was shameful to see India bundled out within 50 overs.
You can not afford to give an inch to your opposition else they conquer your country. England is famous for this. Strauss was excellent and he was aided by the wayward bowling of Indian bowlers. When Harbhajan will learn the real Doosra? The entire Indian bowling hinges around Zaheer and Harbhajan and if India has to perform well in this World Cup then these two bowlers have to best their best in every game. 1983 World Cup was won not by batting but by bowling
while 2003 World Cup was lost not by batting but by bowling. Ian Bell was clearly LBW even by the review system still he was given not out. Zaheer produced one the finiest spell of bowling he has ever bowled but there was no one to finish the game for India. It was pathetic to see two tailenders hitting 28 runs of last two overs of regular Indian bowler. India should have won the match with an ease and this Tie should be taken as a warning by India. They desperately need to pull up their socks specially their bowling department else even million dips in Holy Ganges wont be enough to wash the sins of giving up the World Cup.

Some thoughts on Valentine Day

2011-02-14T13:07:00.001+05:30

Happy Valentine day to all of you, after all 14th Feb was the day when St. Valentine attained his
martyrdom and on this day we "celebrate" the import of his legend to India. I don't understand the logic of importing St. Valentine to India when we have our own Lord Krishna, Meera, Heer-Ranjha. Why we need an occasion to show love to our dearest? Din ho Holi Raat Diwali, Roz manati Madhushala. Like no one has a monopoly over truth, love and morality similarly no day can have monopoly over love and by extension of the same logic no "Sena" has a monopoly over "ethical" and "moral" bedrocks of a society, culture or civilization. No film industry produces more films on Love theme than our own Bollywood and still we need Valentine day to practice love. The same logic applies to the concept of Father's day, Mother's day, Friendship day blah blah blah. The highest selling "item" is the index of the "psyche" of a civilization and in a country where Infant Mortality Rate is 50 per thousand we can do better by contributing something to those unfortunate infants than to give those costly roses to beloved ones. Even if 1% of our population celebrate 14th Feb and if they consume 100 Rupees by most conservative estimate than we have 100 Crore Rupee contribution on this day only and by this i think we can build atleast 100 good hospitals in remote and underdeveloped corners of India. Revolution is not only about blogs, facebook or tweets its also about going and working where no one has gone or worked before. St. Valentine will be very proud.

And the Sphinx roars

2011-02-04T15:05:00.003+05:30

I have always loved Egypt and i will always love it. Egypt to me means a nation with superb mythology, great pyramids, great history and great culture.Pyramids are almost 5000 years old and are more gigantic man made structure than any structure produced by any other Neolithic or Chalcolithic civilization. Egypt was known as bread basked for Roman empire and the mighty Julius Caesar and Mark Antonius used to pay their obedience to the sheer beauty of sensuous Cleopatra. The Pharaohs were so great that they even forced Moses to part the Red sea. Every conqueror in the history of mankind had tried to conquer Egypt (and almost all were able to conquer it)) and that list is tectonically impressive with people like Alexander, Julius Caesar, Saladin, Ottomans, Napoleon, Britishers, Hitler and others. The pride of all conquering Mongols were broken by Egyptians only.
Alexandria was the capital of human intellect and its library was the saturated solution of human civilization. Almost all the major empires of world enriched Egypt and also got enriched by it. The golden period of Indian commerce, from the days of Hellenistic kingdoms to the onslaught of Europeans depended very much on the ports of Egypt on Mediterranean and Red seas.

The situation has changed a lot in few decades and once again Egypt is attracting attention of entire world in their struggle for "Independence" and "Prosperity". Nothing is more worth than fighting for a just cause and all Revolutionaries have a duty and a moral obligation to make sure that their revolution is not hijacked by opportunists. I am praying for well being of common Egyptian on one hand while at the same time i wish this revolution should not result in further restriction on freedom or anarchy. Mr. Hosni Mubarak should step down and should propose a framework for the orderly transfer of power to the people. Revolutionaries should have patience of Mahatma Gandhi and courage of Che Guevara. Some times its better to retreat and wait than to become fodder for the anarchists and counter revolutionaries. Let Truth and Freedom prevail. Amen

Now Kashmir, Tomorrow what?

2011-01-25T13:17:00.002+05:30

Is Kashmir a part of India? This is a very emotional question and answer varies depending on whether you are an Indian, a separatist, a "Secular" breed of Left Liberals, Media or Indian National Congress et al. So let me clarify my stand here, I am an Indian and i don't belong to the self rightist breed of left liberals. For a nation state to survive its essential that its territorial integrity remain sacrosanct and it should follow an uniform principle in all the cases and that principle should remain subject invariant.

Last summer we saw a very unfortunate volatile situation in Kashmir and more than 100 lives were lost. Media says that they were fighting for their rights democratically. Can stone pelting be a part of peaceful demonstration? The Kashmiri leaders are more responsible for the death of these 100 odd young Kashmiris than the Indian security forces. Why people don't see that no prominent politician get hurt in case of any demonstration? These 100 odd deaths don't include even a single Kashmiri Politician.

When Geelani, Arundhanti Roy et all assembled in New Delhi to do a "Tamasha" and openly asked for freedom from India, our Breed (i will call self rightist left liberals and "seculars" as breed from now on) did not speak a word, they even advocated and endorsed those statements of Roy and Geelani after all they were all using Right to Expression granted by the constitution of very country(they were trying to disintegrate). Our honourable Chidambaram saheb did not do anything. But now when BJP is trying to unfurl Tiranga at Lal chowk this same breed and Congress are seeing "Divisive" politics in it. Can unfurling of Tiranga be a divisive issue and if it indeed a divisive issue in Jammu Kashmir then we should stop saying that Kashmir is an integral part of India. Kashmiris openly unfurl Pakistani flag at Lal Chowk without any issue, our great PM Manmohan singh and great Breed don't speak any single word of protest against this heinous act but they go all out against the unfurling of Tiranga.

Any one who has a problem with Tiranga is free to go to Pakistan or to Hell. I don't believe in forcefull occupation of any part of India and if Kashmiri people do believe in seceding from India then India should give a serious consideration to it but remember one thing it can open a pandorra box. Today is Kashmir, tomorrow it can be UP or even Tamil Nadu. In all this drama we are loosing the agony of innocent Kashmiri Pundits who were driven from their homes in the worse possible case of ethnic cleansing. They were raped, murdered in huge numbers but our Breed don't see any issue in it. They will go all out for the case of Muslims of Gujarat or Christians of Kadhmal but for the Hindus of Kashmir they have not words of support. If we keep on doing this again and again the day is not far when India will consist of many Independent Republics and Kingdoms and we will be responsible for that tragedy.

We have a right as well as duty to India as well as to our coming generation to pass them a safe and peaceful India and we should be better ready for this Crusade.

Tragedy of being a Hindu

2011-01-21T13:38:00.003+05:30

Indians entered in 2011 with the pride of hosting great powers in Nov-Dec 2010 and with the dream of making high but what about Kashmiri Pundits. They entered in 22nd year of their exile but no one including the so called Secularists, Liberals have bothered to tell their stories of their agony and genocide. More than 500,000 Kashmiri Pundits were forcefully expelled from the serene valley of Kashmir starting 1989. Thousands were killed, raped by the proponents of so called "Kashmir Independence Movement". This was not done in some medieval period this was done just two years before opening of Indian economy and more so in our own life time. Nowadays i see all the liberals and so called Secularists shedding tears over the agony of Kashmiri Muslims when over 100 were killed in unfortunate stone pelting incidents last year. They started talking about giving "Freedom" to Kashmir but no one says a word about Kashmiri Pundits. Is it so bad to be a Kashmiri Pundit?

When there were riots in Gujarat in 2002 precipitated by the unfortunate killing of train coaches at Godhra these same "Secularists" and Liberals went all out against the then government of Narendra Modi. This was like a crusade for these Secularists and that crusade is still on. These intellectuals compare Modi with Hitler's Germany. It is shown to the world that state machinery openly sided with Hindu goons in killing Muslims. The total number of causalities in these riots shows that almost 30% of the victims were Hindus. So if these riots were organized and supported by state machinery then why such a significant percent of Hindus died in these riots. No body has an answer. These riots were precipitated by the burning of train coaches taking Hindu pilgrims from Ayodhya. Think about it in perspective what could have happened if the same accident had happened with Muslim pilgrims coming from Hajj or going to Hajj. Why we have selective definition of Secularism?

When State government and Central government can not stop separatists from hoisting the flags of Pakistan or burning Indian flags then why these governments are stopping some people from hositing Tiranga in the territory of India. Anyone who objects to the unfurling of Tiranga is not an Indian by any definition of Nationalism or citizenship. Then why our so called "Secularists", Liberals and governments are opposing this unfurling. BJP may have its ulterior motives but they are doing a very nice thing by this ekta yatra. Peace should not be shaky or precarious and if it is so then it is not peace and if any one who does not want to live in India, who does not respect national flag or constitution is free to leave the valley in particular and the country in general. We can certainly live without them.

P.S. In 2009 Oregon Legislative Assembly passed a resolution to recognize 14 September 2007, as Martyrs Day to acknowledge ethnic cleansing and campaigns of terror inflicted on non-Muslim minorities of Jammu and Kashmir by terrorists seeking to establish an Islamic state. Why can not we do this?

2010: A controversial year

2010-12-27T11:19:00.001+05:30

2010 will always be remembered as the year that exposed the much respected Indian democracy. It exposed the dirty nexus between politicians,military, media, beareacracy and the corporates. Radia Gate is just a tip of an iceberg.

This year also saw some great sportings feats like 200 runs in an ODI inning and 50 centuries in Test career by Cricket Virtuoso Sachin Tendulkar, Indians some how managed to keep Test Rank 1 against all odds, Australia is fighting so hard against their colonial masters and an Australian is making life hell for almost all the diplomats by much publicized and highly required leaks. India as a democracy has "survived" yet another disturbing year despite of strong corruption charges against the current UPA government. Ayodhya verdict was another landmark judgment that exposed the ideology of so called left liberals and secularists. I have never seen people changing their positions within few hours after the judgment. This year will also be remembered for Mary Kom, Saina Nehwal, and Gagan Narang apart from other great athletes who showed their mettle in CWG and ASIAD.

On a personal front i completed my first year of wedding life and this was a great achievement for me. Thanks a lot Pratiksha for making my life sweet and beautiful.

I wish next year to be free from corruption, riots, wars and calamities. Wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

Book Review: Hegemony or Survival

2010-11-25T12:23:00.001+05:30

Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky is a nice analysis of US "war on terror" since the days of President Wilson. Noam Chomsky in his own style decimates the moral foundation underneath the bloody wars in the "service of mankind". But sometimes he loses almost everything and tries to depict an oversimplifying picture of major world crisis. For him US is the bad guy and whoever opposes US is the nice guy without any exception whatsoever.

You can not defeat the evil without fighting using all the means you have at your disposal. This is your right as well as moral obligation. The mess of our modern world is the legacy of the western renaissance. The once mighty and well advanced African civilization of Carthage was destroyed to dust by the mighty Western Roman Empire. The once mighty Persian empire of Asia was destroyed to dust by the young Greek, we call him Alexander The Great. When some one from West conquers the world we call him Alexander The Great but if some one from East conquers the world we call him Barbarian like Xerxes or Ghengis Khan. The differencebetween Alexander and Ghengis Khan is same as the difference between Bush and Laden. We call one a terrotist and other a proponent of infnite justice. As they say we live in interesting times. We live in time when ego of only super power on earth lies in destroying the least powerful, least educated, most corrupt and most poor nation in our world. They call it a wise war now and we are fine in supporting it. Overall this book is a nice book and after reading chomsky i will say if you have read his one book assume that you have read him all.
P.S. Kabul is near to Delhi than Bangalore.

No one is a holy cow here

2010-11-20T16:29:00.001+05:30

19/11 is a day that has changed the face of Indian Media, forever. The so called last bastion of Indian Republic is under sever fire after the expose by Open Magazine. I don't know whether the tapes are authentic or fabricated but the boycott of this news by entire English media fraternity raises a lot of unanswered questions. I am a regular viewer of NDTV and CNN-IBN and some times i really ponder about the immense power these guys have at their disposal. These guys can make any party, organization or person look silly if they wish. This power is very dangerous as there is no guarantee that these media houses and these journalists follow the standards of journalism. And by sheer virtue of this power they can intern dictate policies and terms. I always thought that the NDTV is bit inclined towards Congress and CNN-IBN is not to different. CNN-IBN top anchor has coined a term "Internet Hindus" to call those internet savy Indians who persistently attack CNN-IBN and NDTV for following double standards in their reporting and their shows.

I am not a member of BJP or CPI or Congress and neither i vote (because i don't find any candidate worthy of my vote) but i was shocked to see the one sided coverage of CNN-IBN and NDTV during assembly election in Gujarat in 2007. These channels were openly campaigning with congress against Narendra Modi. This was totally against all the standards of journalism. The coverage of Ayodhya verdict by NDTV was highly biased although CNN-IBN did a balanced coverage. Media persons can have ideologies but that ideology should not in any way impact their job of fair and true journalism. NDTV and CNN-IBN are perfectly fine to have ideologies but they have no right whatsoever to impose them on their viewers.

The tape controversy is nothing but a tip of the iceberg and i won't be surprised if this controversy is skirted in a day or two as these media houses in particular and all in general are very very powerful.

P.S. I have tweeted to Sagarika Ghose, Vikram Chandra and Rajdeep Sardesai that why CNN-IBN is not reporting Barkha Dutt - Nira Radia tapes but so far got no reply. CNN-IBN and NDTV has lost be as a viewer, switch back to Doordarshan :)

Autobiography: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

2010-11-13T22:11:00.000+05:30

Dr. King(1929-1968) was the one of the greatest apostles of non-violent struggle against the unjust laws and played a key role in civil rights movement of USA. It is hard to believe that pathetic racist laws such as different schools for blacks and whites, different churches, clubs ,different seats in buses etc were prevalent in USA even in 1960's. But the Blacks never lost the hope and under Dr. King they were able to win back their rights after more than 400 years of serfdom. Freedom is not given, its always taken. His dream eventually came true (although symbolically) when Barrack Obama became the president of USA in 2009. USA has made great strides in abolishing almost all racial barriers among different racial groups and it has to be commended for this. As an India, i feel enormous shame when i still see the same caste system is still prevalent with almost same vigor in almost all the villages of India. If Gandhi can inspire some one too distant in space and time why we are not getting inspired. Has the paradise been lost forever or still we have some bits left? The best time for justice, freedom and peace is always now. Its better to die on the roads, jails, fields of India fighting for justice than to make a butchery of our conscience.

No god but God

2010-11-02T11:42:00.000+05:30

No god but God is a story of the evolution of Islam since the first revelation in a small cave at Mt Hira not too far from the thriving "Pagan" city of Mecca in 610 AD. This book talks in detail about the first 100 years of middle east from the Battle of Elephants in 570 AD, the evolution of Sufi thought, the Inquisition and the rise of Islamic fundamentalism and Wahhabism. It asks very fundamental question about the socio-economic basis behind the evolution of this great movement. 7th Century Arabian society was a very primitive society with very primitive laws and rules compare to the highly sophisticated Byzantine, Sassanian and Indian civilizations still it managed to defeat all these civilizations and was able to conquer entire middle east, parts of Pakistan and north Africa in a span of just 50 years. Persian history is an apt manifestation of the Tragedy at Karbala. Around 330 BC, a young prince from a tiny Kingdom of Macedonia decimated the mighty Achaemenid Empire and after 100 years a primitive society of Arabs destroyed the mighty civilization of Persia. The Zoroastrian culture and religion disappeared from Persia like column of smoke in mighty winds. When ever Persians think that they are going strong, they go straight in a deep gorge. It has happened in 330 BC, 650 AD, 680 AD. So their mourning to celebrate the martyrdom of Husayn at Karbala has a deep rooted anguish. I completely believe that Islam is nothing but Arabic imperialism in the guise of religion. Why Arabs always try to impose the archaic and barbaric laws of 7th Century Arabia on the converts from highly advanced societies of India, Iran and middle east?The only tragedy with this great religion of Islam is that it had evolved in a wrong society at a wrong time. This religion should be read and followed only after separating the politics and culture of 7th century Arabia and if its not done then no one can stop the spread of Wahhabism and Talibanism in any society. Amen.

The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order

2010-10-31T13:14:00.002+05:30

Samuel P. Huntington's "The clash of civilizations and the remaking of world order" is an extensively researched work on the fault lines across various civilizations. I bought this book almost 2 years back and never got a chance to go through it until last week. Its a must read book for any student of world politics.
People lose a set of identities to get new ones. Take the case of India just before 1947 citizens of India on the other side of current border were proud of India but only one date made them ardent Pakistanis and they fought 2 major wars, 2 minor wars and consistent proxy war in a normal life time of a South Asian native. This is too much for countries having almost everything in common except majority religion. In way its a manifestation of the civilizational conflict war fought between Qasim and Dahir in Sindh 8th Century, Mahmud Ghazanavi and Rajputs in 11th Century and between Ghurids against Rajputs in 12th Century and ultimately resulted in a period of relative "peace" under Islamic rule of the subcontinent for more than 600 years. Pakistan, Bangladesh and Muslim minority in India are legacy of that 600 years rule. This is strikingly similar to the story of Yugoslavia. Kosovo is Pakistan and Bosnia is Kashmir and India is Serbia. Serbia was under Turkish rule for more than 500 years since 1389. The entire disintegration of Yugoslavia took place along civilizational lines i.e. Croatia, Slovenia: Western Christianity; Serbia, Montenegro: Orthodox Christianity; Kosovo: Islam and Bosnia is divided among Serbs, Croats and Muslims. Orthodox Russia supported Serbia; Germany and west supported Croatia/Slovenia; Iran, Saudi Arabia, Turkey and USA supported Bosnian Muslims. Bosnia and Kosovo are nothing but legacy of Turkish rule or the remnants of Turkish civilization in Balkan. This book talks in detail about the decline of Western civilization and rise of South Asian and East Asian civilization.
The Chinese and Indian civilization will be able to rise rather spectacularly but this can not said about Muslim civilization as it lacks a core state of that civilization. Western Civilization has core states in USA, France, Germany and UK, Chinese civilization has core state in China, Indian civilization has core state in India, Islamic civilization lacks a strong core state almost all the Islamic states are more or less at the same level. Pakistan, Indonesia, Iran and Turkey have potential to become one. Pakistan is ethnically and linguistically divided state and has been a torn state since Independence. Indonesia can become one but it will not be accepted by middle east countries because of distance and culture. Iran can not become because its Shiite state. Turkey looks more formidable but its more inclined to be a part of EU than to become leader of Arab states although the recent trend shows a clear tilt of Turkey to become leader of Islamic civilization. Core state is very necessary for the survival and glory of Islamic civilization and only the core state has the power to mediate and control fitna and wars in Islamic states. This book is too good and i strongly recommend it.

Islamophoebia

2010-10-17T22:01:00.001+05:30

People are making a lot of noise against the veil ban in France but why these same people don't make noise against the oppressive regime in Saudi Arabia and many Arab countries. Maldives is such a tiny country, known for exotic islands but no one makes a noise when the new constitution of Maldives defines citizenship on this basis of Islam. I don't know which direction we are heading on. The recent attacks on Sufi Shrines in Pakistan is a blatant attack on Islam and its not even on the agenda of so called proponents of the theory of Islamophoebia. I simply do not understand why we concentrate on trivial issues and lose out the major ones. Someone in Denmark draws something and we are on streets in thousands and may be in millions but why we are not on streets when some one bombs the 1200 years old shrines. Before pointing fingers on France, Switzerland or on Belgium we should first look at our record. Its thousand times more inferior than those European countries.

A very happy Vijayadashmi to all of you, lets start a crusade against the Ravans of this epoch. Lets atleast try for some sanity.

Hope and Betrayal

2010-10-10T19:44:00.001+05:30

When Indian govt was fighting hard in 2008 to get Indo-US nuclear deal approved in Indian Parliament against heroic crusade by Prakash Karat led left and sluggish NDA, Mr. Omar Abdulla came like a divine light for the Congress. He exalted with superb confidence that 'He is an Indian first than anything else', his speech was reverberated throughout the breadth and length of India. My friends became great fans of Mr. Abdulla but being a cynical i wanted to wait.

In late 2008 when Kashmir government decided to give few acres of land to Amarnath Shrine Board for arrangement for the Amarnath pilgrims, Mr. Abdulla vehemently opposed it and declared that "Jan De Denge par Jamin nahin Denge in Parliament". I was simply outraged, it was a transfer within the state of Jammu and Kashmir. How can a person who calls himself as a proud Indian could oppose this? But this was opposed rather successfully. This was the real beginning that would culminate in violent protests of June-September 2010.

Elections were held in Jammu and Kashmir after this Amarnath controversy and in January 2009, Mr. Omar Abdulla became the youngest Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir (I don't know what are the qualifications for this post but being an Abdulla certainly helped him). Soon there were protests in Shopian because of rape and murder of two women allegedly by Police. Mr. Abdulla was not able to handle the protests and eventually the protests died their natural deaths. Last 4 months have been most pathetic in the history of Kashmir. In the modern world there is no place for stone pelters but again police could have used rubber bullets/tear gas instead of gunning them down. More than 100 protesters were killed in the protests. Indian government only heeded after so many deaths and literally did nothing even after that to solve the problem. The situation is still very tense in Kashmir and will remain so unless it is solved politically. The statement made by Mr. Omar Abdulla questioning the "sacred fact" of integration of J&K with Indian is the worse possible statement ever made by a CM of India. And the real shame lies with Indian National Congress, Indian Media and Left Parties. I am not able to understand why these parties and media are silent on such outrageous comments made by Mr. Omar Abdulla. Being a friend of Mr. Rahul Gandhi certainly helps.

Judgement Day

2010-09-30T21:33:00.000+05:30

Babur was a invader and no one should deny it. He constructed a Mosque at Ayodhya either by demolishing a standing temple or on the ruins of an ancient temple in 1528 or so. Muslim kings of medieval period had a history of demolishing temples, churches or converting them to Mosques, Temple of Mount, Kashi Vishwanath, Hagia Sophia etc. This list is never ending. Now the point is whether we use this modern century to settle scores of the past or to reconcile and make a better world where no one can destroy any temple, church, mosque etc. Historical injustices take the strength of civilization to endure. The monuments erected by invaders are symbols of defeats and will remain our symbols of defeats irrespective of the religious allegiance of the invaders and the monuments destroyed by invaders will remain symbols of broken pride.

Now the point is we live in a Secular Democratic Republic of India and if we call ourselves Indians and enjoy the immense freedom it gives then we should also abide by the law of the land and its constitution. Another thing is if we accept historical injustices meted out to dalits by the upper castes since time immemorial and can easily accept the concept of affirmative action (by making special provision for them) then why do not accept the injustices done by those invaders. Alexander, Seleucus, Babur, Ghori or Gazni can never be heroes for Indians irrespective of the faith practiced by them so we should not define heroes/villains by their faiths. Iran still considers Saudi Arab as its enemy because of the deeds done by Saudi Arabia in 7th century AD although they share the same religion although different sects. The gory side of Pakistan is that Pakistan considers Ghori and Gazni as its national heroes and thats very shameful. The same invaders first pillaged and plundered Pakistan before setting their feet in India. I don't believe the theory that the entire population of Pakistan is descendants from those invaders. It simply can not be true. The population of Pakistan is more than the population of all those invading countries combined together.

If i convert to Islam, will i stop considering Prithviraj Chauhan as a hero of India since he fought against a Muslim invaders? I will definitely not. Can Latin America forgive the Spain for all the crimes committed by Spain during colonial time because Latin American has become Christian? I bet not. These are inconvenient facts but we need to accept them and move forward with out heads high. Do not let them say "India by definition is a myth".
We should accept the judgment of High Court and we all should keep our held high. Its better not to have any monuments associated with invaders in this country. Amen.

Kosovo or Kashmir

2010-09-20T19:13:00.001+05:30

Last month International Court of Justice endorsed the unilateral declaration made in 2008 by the tiny Republic of Kosovo. For Serbia, Kosovo has always been the cradle of her civilization. Serbs still celebrate the epic battle fought in Kosovo against the invading army of the Islamic Turks in 1389. Prince Lazar died fighting and Kosovo and rest of balkan peninsula was open for Islamicization. Although Serbs were able to reconquer Kosovo in 1912 but they had to return the favor in 1998 because of the delusions of grandeur by Slobodan Milosevic. Demographically speaking Kosovo contains more than 90% Albanian Muslims and only 4-6% Serbian Christians, but the demography was quite different in 1912 when Serbs made more than 25% of the Kosovo's population. The mass exodus of Serbs because of the hostile attitude of Islamic Albanians (fueled by the neighboring country of Albania) in Kosovo and high birth rate of Albanian Muslims changed drastically the demographic nature of Kosovo. Kosovo became a tinderbox of Balkan and Milosevic used it "beautifully" to destroy the Beautiful Federation created by Joseph Tito. Lots of Albanian Muslims were massacred in the bloody wars of 1990's. In the end Serbia lost everything and Milosevic had to defend himself in the International Court of Justice for "his crimes against humanity".

The case of Kosovo is strikingly parallel to the case of Kashmir and India has to tread very carefully. If we want to save the federation of India then we must not in any case allow anyone to settle scores of history in 2010 India, but the people should also acknowledge the treatment meted out to Hindus post 1192 AD including the destruction of temples else we will never be able to reconcile. Change of religion should never mean change of nationality or loyalty. Amen.