Born in July

Islam and India

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Sat, 30 May 2009 12:07:00 +0530

Islam in India is the theme of my writing here. I am not a scholar in history neither am I a well-read person. What I am going to write is from my understanding of India –a land that is like a crucible for acting on something to forge newness. The Hindus of India called the major portion of Indian subcontinent as 'Brahmabhumi'. Some like to define it as 'god's own home'. Hindus know from the age old tradition that India is their own land as Germany is the land of the Germans or England for the English. Hindus should not blame themselves for their conception. It is true and natural for them like the Germans and the English.

But India is more than to be understood as the land of Hindus. By writing this, I do not like to say about secularism. This has nothing to do with this conception of secularism. Secularism is a technical term related to the means of governance.But I have to discuss a little about it before coming to my original theme. The Congress government has done immense harm to the national fabric by highlighting the sense of this Western conception in the minds of the people of India while defining India as a secular country. They had no right or authority to imposing such an idea for the consumption of its people so that they become very much aware to understand the meaning of unity through an awareness of division. Did the British require using the sense of the term while ruling the post Mughal- India? Akbar ruled India in a much peaceful way than the Congress government without its people bothering the question whose country it was –Hindus' or Muslims'. What made Nehru and the Congress party thinking it so necessary to proclaim that their government was not meant for the Hindus only? They –unable to avoid a partition, was subsequently afraid of the vast mass of India's Muslims demanding further division of the country. They tried to placate its Muslim population by introducing an emphatic idea of-'secularism' in the constitution for governance. Thus, they sowed a sense of animosity in the psyche of the Hindu population. The Hindus experienced much sufferings at the hands of Turks, Pathans and Mughals from the time of fall of Prithvi Raj Chauhan who was born in 1159 AD and was the last Hindu emperor of India. Unlike the complete Islamization of Persia, Egypt, Mesopotamia, Turkey, North Africa, the Islamization of India was never complete. After more than one millennium of Muslim Tyranny from 715 up to 1761, more than 70 percent of the population of India remained Hindu. This was not due to any Muslim charity or benevolence, since the murderous and savage beastlike Muslims have none of these characteristics. The Muslim tyranny in India was as blood- thirsty and insidious as it was in all parts of the world. The British in India was never nearer to the tyranny what Mahmud of Ghazni and Muhammad of Ghor had inflicted on the Hindu population of India The Hindus could not reconcile this fact of Islamic tyranny with their attitude toward Islam. It was not because that Islam was an alien culture that allowed eating of beef, which is anathema to the Hindus but because of Islam's intolerance to other faith and their haughty and barbaric attitude to the followers of other religious paths. The Hindus were never so critical of the eating of beef by the British, as the Englishmen were never as barbaric as Muslims were. So, the dormant subconscious sense of helpless anger against the Muslim's upper hand behavior surfaced in the Hindu-psychic when they saw that the Muslims, largely, did not take part in freedom struggle against the British rule in India and their subsequent demand for a separate Muslim state by division of India. What was the message they sent to the Hindus? The message was that Muslims would not like to live under the Hindus whom they had ruled for almost five hundred years. In such a situation, the Hindus regarded 'secularism' as a mode of diffidence on the part of Congress government. Eventually the Muslims and Hindus continue to live without trust on one another. I think the situation would have been better had the government ruled under the absence of an emphatic idea of secularism; even it would have been better for India to be declared as a Hindu-state where Muslims and Hindus would enjoy equally all that life and any government could provide.

Now under such a background I would like to think about the future of Islam in India i.e. in 'God's own home'.

From time immemorial India had been invaded and plundered by foreign marauders; some of them left India after plundering wealth and causing immense harm to the people and some settled permanently. India is a big country. Her Civilization is 5000 years (or perhaps more) old. She has given birth to the world's most important religions. She provided refuge to other leading religions. People of many races have come to India and settled here. She absorbed them all into her blood and fraternized with them as her children. Unity and synthesis
are the embodiments of Indian culture. India-An
Ethnological Museum: India has often been described as an ethnological museum from the human point of view. Her history tells us about the Harappan
people who lived in the Indus River areas prior to the coming of the Aryans. The Vedas speak about the Aryans
and their spread in the Indo-Gangetic regions. The Sangam classics bear testimony to a well-developed culture among the Tamils, even during the pre-Christian Era, in the extreme south of India. Apart from these early settlers, the Persians entered India in the North West. The Greeks, the Saks, the Huns, and the Kushans followed them. The Arabs, the Turks, the Mongols
and the Mughals
came to India during the medieval times. These people belonged to many races. The Europeans, such as the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French
and the English, came in the modern period. Excepting the Europeans, all others have been absorbed into the stream of Indian life. It is due to this fact that many consider India as an ethnological museum
of many races. Indian society is a multi-racial
society.

Now an Indian Hindu cannot be defined obviously in an immune collective system of Hinduism. Actually, Hinduism is not a religion in the sense the term is used for other major religions of the world.

Here in India –people, from time immemorial, sought (and still seeking) the spiritual truth of life and world by renouncing all the worldly gains and enjoyments. No other country of the world devoted so passionately for the sake of God and truth. There have been spiritual seekers, saints in every land of this world but it was never been so revered and sought after task in life as it was in India. Millions of sadhus, saints and sannyasins consecrated all their lives for attaining spiritual truths. Thus the land has been charged with spiritual consciousness as a piece of iron is magnetized in the constant contact with a magnet. This is the explanation for thinking of India as 'God's own home'. India is not only merely an ethnological museum of different races and religions but also a living laboratory where the spiritual identity of man is going to be developed. Not only that-India is a land where exist all kinds of basic human problems. There can be no human problem-religious, political, social, financial and individual that does not exist in India. India is a land of problems and difficulties. It is because that they can only be solved perfectly and permanently in Indian spiritual atmosphere. India is a crucible where the spiritual future of humanity is being moulded into perfection.

Islam was born as the Providence thus so willed. Islam has its unique place in the creation of God's world. It came and it will remain, as the creation would be incomplete without it.

However, Islam has to traverse a long, arduous path of hardships before attaining the meaning of the purpose of their coming on this planet.They stand for valour and beauty and not destruction and perverse defamation. They will have to manifest the type of perfection for which God is waiting in them. This is true for all the organized religions of this world. For this to be true and to be attained, India is the just right place for Islam. I have no doubt that the Indian Muslims (and not the Talibans) will change the face of Islam. Islam was born in the Middle East, in Saudi Arabia. But it will fulfill the promise of Allah here in India as India is the required place for all future possibilities.

Most people are unware of

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 09:39:00 +0530

MOST PEOPLE ARE UNAWARE OF:

**The main difference between http:// and https:// is It's all about keeping you secure**

HTTP stands for Hypertext Transport Protocol, which is just a fancy way of saying it's a protocol (a language, in a manner of speaking) for information to be passed back and forth between web servers and clients.

The important thing is the letter S which makes the difference between HTTP and HTTPS.
The S (big surprise) stands for "Secure".

If you visit a website or webpage, and look at the address in the web browser, it will likely begin with the following: http://.

This means that the website is talking to your browser using the regular 'unsecured language. In other words, it is possible for someone to "eavesdrop" on your computer's conversation with the website. If you fill out a form on the website, someone might see the information you send to that site.

This is why you never ever enter your credit card number in an http website!

But if the web address begins with https://, that basically means your computer is talking to the website in a secure code that no one can eavesdrop on.

You understand why this is so important, right?

If a website ever asks you to enter your credit card information, you should automatically look to see if the web address begins with https://.

If it doesn't, there's no way you're going to enter sensitive information like a credit card number.

World's Top Twentyfive Trains-Fresh list

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:43:00 +0530

On January 16^th , 2008 I posted an article in this blog on WORLD’S TOP TWENTY FIVE TRAINS on the basis of the report of The Society of International Railway Travelers. But who are there in this Society? They are intelligent, experienced travelers from all over the world who love the comfort, romance and fun of traveling on great trains. Owners, staff and editors have evaluated trains all over the world for their magazine, The International Railway Traveler®, giving us a unique perspective and objectivity. Owen and Eleanor Hardy, of Louisville, KY, USA, are the sole owners of Hardy Publishing Co., Inc., and The Society of International Railway Travelers, Inc. International rail-travel specialists celebrated their company’s 25 th Annivesary in 2008.

But there have been some changes in the list and other stuffs related to the world’s top twentyfive trains since I posted my article on this. Eleanor Hardy,President, Society of International Railway Travelers has informed me - “I just wanted to let you know, sadly, that one of the trains on our list has gone out of business as of a few months ago. GrandLuxe Express is now selling their rolling stock and equipment. Bon voyage to a great train”. He also has remarked –“I wanted to pop a note to all of you folks out in Sydney moaning about your suburban rail service. Perhaps it is true that it's not as fast, or as on-time as some others, but Sydney itself is a transit lovers' dream, and everything, from rail to ferries to buses, works together to get you where you want to go. Come to the US sometime to see what a dismal situation we have in many major cities -- just no really good ways to get around except by car. (Some cities of course have fantastic systems but they are the rarity.) Our Society of International Railway Travelers members have absolutely loved visiting Sydney and have enjoyed your long-distance train Indian Pacific and Ghan -- how cool is that to have TWO cross-continental trains?”

So I feel to make a fresh list of the World’s Top Twentyfive Trains from six continents. I think that for people who can afford –travelling in these trains is most enjoying affair of modern world. It’s more attractive than staying in the most luxururious hotel of the world as you can have the equal amenities and comforts in travelling in these trains as you have the added opportunity of passing through nature-the forests, seaside, cities, deserts and everything you love to imagine! It’s like living in your imagination! Here are the fresh list as published by The Society of International Railway Travelers.

Africa

1.Pride of Africa (Luxury)

Europe

2.Venice Simplon-Orient Express (Luxury)

3.Royal Scotsman (Luxery)

North America

4.Royal Canadian Pacific (Luxury)

Europe

5.Golden Eagle Trans-Siberian Express (First Class)

6.Danube Express (First Class)

Asia

7.Deccan Odyssey (First Class)

8.Shangri-La Express (First Class)

9.Eastern & Oriental Express

Europe

10.Glacier Express (First Class)

11.Bergen Railway (First Class)

12.Flam Railway (First Class)

13.Bernina Express (First Class)

South America

14.Hiram Bingham (Luxury)

15.Andean Explorer (First Class)

Europe

16.El Transcantabrico (Luxury)

Africa

17.Blue Train (Luxury)

Europe

18.British Pullman (Luxury)

North America

19.Rocky Mountaineer (First Class)

20.Canadian (First Class)

Asia

21.Palace on Wheels (First Class)

22.Darjeeling Himalayan Toy Train (Steam/Railfan)

Australia

23.Sunlander (First Class)

24.Indian Pacific (First Class)

25.Ghan (First Class)

An Appeal to Indian Muslims

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Tue, 23 Dec 2008 16:19:00 +0530

It is very unfortunate that even after more than sixty years of partition of India which led to the birth of Pakistan in 1947-Indian political leaders and the intelligentsia in general have failed to grasp the root of all the unfortunate events of communal strife and terrorism (basically Islamic).

India will never be able to solve these two problems so long the state of Pakistan will exist with its existential root in religion. If there is any single community in the world that has the least knowledge of its religion and its philosophy –then it can be mentioned without the least qualm- that it is Pakistan. There are several Islamic states and groups in the world but none of them is so un-Islamic as Pakistan and now Bangladesh. It can not be expected that all the states of the world like India –will effectively pursue the noble idea of states of not interfering in the affairs of the religions of their subjects and thereby remaining perfectly neutral to all religious sects and groups of the people living in these countries. The word secularism is relatively modern in its use relating to governance of states. But when Asoka or Harshvardhana became Buddhists they did not discriminate against the majority Hindus. Religious tolerance is deep in Indian psyche; it’s basically for the Hindus that it was possible for the birth the Upanishads, the Vedas and the Gita. The catholicity of the wisdom as evident from these great books must be considered for analysing the nature and character of the Hindus –if one wants to understand a nation in a scientific way. It is for this rooted wisdom the Indian leaders accepted secularism as a policy of the government and ingrained it in the constitution of free India after the partition. And it was for this same wisdom and catholic attitude that Indian political leaders never accepted the two-nation theory of Jinnah. Indian people never accepted partition. It is not for the love for Hinduism but for India –the land-whom they consider as their mother. Muslims have failed to understand this spirit of the majority Hindus who regard their land as dear and as loving as their mother-a mother who is the source of all sustenance of the life of a child. The most sacred and deep relation is missed when the narrow and sectarian way is chosen for a refusal of a noble and tender feeling.
Muslims of various shades and sects invaded India time and again to plunder away with her wealth and destroy the Hindu temples –and finally they settled in India by conquering the country. Hindus –perhaps destroyed only one- the Babri Mosque in the historical time. But the vehement protests came from the majority Hindus who did not approve of that destructive impulse. But there is no recorded instance in history of a single protest by any Muslim for destroying thousands of Hindu temples by the Muslims in one thousand years. There is no recorded instance of the Hindus invading a foreign country in history. Hindus are basically peace-loving people because of the influence of their spiritual thoughts from time immemorial.
In time of Sepoy-mutiny against the British –the Hindus were at the helm of that revolt and not any Muslim of any consequence. The Hindu militants wanted to oust the British and replace them not with any renowned Hindu but with the Second Bahadur Shah-a descendant of the Moughal emperors. They considered the last Moughal as their own person and not the British. It was because of living under Muslim rule for almost five hundred years. So it was natural for the Hindus to want to remain in an undivided India.

Unfortunately, the Muslims in this sub-continent had an uncomfortable complex to live under Hindu rulers whom they had been accustomed to rule for five hundred years. So it was desirable to them even to be ruled by the British than by the Hindus. Throughout the period of freedom –movement against the British –Muslims –in general remained aloof and did not take any significant part in that struggle. They had no significant political grievance against the British and they never felt it in their passion to see them free from the foreign rule. It was much later the league and some rootless leaders appeared to fish in the troubled water for personal and individual gains. Some argue that the majority of the Muslims in the then undivided India were too uneducated and socially backward to be aware of the value of independence. But why were the Muslims were so backward? They had had the advantage of being patronised by their own Muslim rulers for about five hundred years before the British came to replace them. So for what reasons the Hindus became more associated with the British administration than the Muslims? In all fields of life the Hindus were an overwhelming majority in the British period. The Hindus were treated at par with the Muslims by the British and they did not discriminate Muslims against the Hindus. If we go on tracing the root of this backwardness –we will find it in the dominant mullahs who were the guardians of Muslim society. These mullahs were unenlightened medievalists and fundamentalists. Muslims were –in the name of religion-kept outside the ever changing and progressing world. The evolution of mind as reflected in new thoughts and ideas was anathema to the Muslim world of this sub-continent. The society turned into ghettos thanks to the alienation of the Muslims from the large open world. In this background the Hindus and for that matter any progressiveness was seen as anti-Islam. This anti-Islamic conception was imposed against Hindus emphatically in Muslim psychology. The more the Hindus progressed and developed the more the Muslims became anti-Hindu. This social and economical differences gave a fillip to anti-Hindu feeling as was seen in the case of Jews in many other countries. But here in India the chemistry was more complicated with the elements of religions and the sense of inferiority.
Here the concept of Islam is mixed with anti-Hinduism. This is a very complicated situation. One may argue that why then Osama bin Laden and his terrorist outfits have grown against the US when it has no way been related to the Hindus? Yes –this is a very pertinent point while discussing the issue of Islamic terrorism and the situation in India is also related to a common psychological problem.
Muslims all over the world are victims of a peculiar psychology. They are very sensitive of their religion. They could not think of other identity –however great that may be than the identity in religion. The Christians missed the true spiritual import of Christ and took only the element that ensued from the original consciousness-the element of charity and kindness to the fellow neighbours. So is the reality with the true and proper Islam but in the inferior way. The instinct of organisational cohesion got the better of love, chivalry and universal brotherhood of Islam. So for this instinct to get into the organisation than to remain in the wider air of the world –the Muslims –in general become unusually sensitive of their physical existence as Muslims.
This psychology also plays a in a subtle way in their approach to the Hindus and their affairs apart from what have been told above.
It’s not a question which country the terrorists belong to. There are so many anti-Indian Muslim terrorists in India-and some of them are citizens of India. But the home of all the terrorists is Pakistan –in the full knowledge of Pakistani rulers and the pamparing ISI whose existence is for causing harms to India with the terrorists. They are not state-less but with a home in Pakistan. All these terrorists are trained in Pakistan and Bangladesh and they are moved to action by the instigation and plan of the ISI and Pakistani army. The loss of property and life by the Muslim terrorists are definitely shocking and each terrorist strike caused immense damage to this country. But the most alarming damage –Pakistan has been inflicting on India is communal disharmony among the people of India. Pakistan can not survive without India bashing. Anti-Hinduism and Islam are now tantamount to them. They will be more inimical in future for India’s every step towards material prosperity. For all this the most responsible groups are the group of the mullahs who are the walls against the Light that enlightens.
In such circumstance India can only be safe in dismantling of the state apparatus of Pakistan. Pakistan is now the Mecca of all the terrorists of the world. But in the law of the greater truth Pakistan in its present form will definitely be destroyed in the process.
Or the only way she can survive is to be led by a person of the magnitude of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk.

But before that I would appeal to all Indian Muslims for raising their voice publicly against the terrorists and more emphatically against Pakistan and it is especially on the Indian Muslims now more than the majority Hindus to convince the other religious people of India and the world at large that it is not the Muslims but the state of Pakistan is responsible for all terrorist activities. The purpose of this appeal is for communal harmony and for the welfare of India in general.

Hindus have no right in India as Hindus: The legacy of Nehru

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:16:00 +0530

There are some truths which are universal whenever we discuss matters relating to man in his individual as well as collective nature. One such truth is that we have to pay dearly if we are indecisive and hesitant due to our shaky and fearful psychology to make steps to settle problems permanently. The Congress Party has all along been seen unduly compromising in matters of conflicts between Muslims and Hindus. Their so called secularism is rooted in a confusion and weakness. The Indian Muslims know it well. If one has a complaint against BJP for spreading communalism in the country –I think it was the Congress who has been helping BJP a ground for getting sustenance from the wrong and shaky approach of the Congress towards the Muslims of India. The lack of strength and vision of the Congress have harmed the Hindus and the majority of national Muslims also. If the fabric of communal harmony is destroyed beyond repair –the Congress will be held responsible for this. Ms Sonia Gandhi and her children along with their sycophants will not be affected from the communal disharmony as they being in the ruling class for a long time are neither Hindus nor Muslims. They are a class by themselves without belonging to any community.

BJP, in its present strength, has evolved as reaction of the wrong approach of the Congress toward Hindu-Muslim matters. It is not required to be a supporter of BJP to be in unison with them that the Congress has been a practitioner of pseudo-secularism. It’s now open to all to see that the Congress is yet to gather courage to hang Mohammad Afzal who was behind the killing in Parliament House. Even the merci-petition by his family was not placed before Abdul Kalam for consideration. It was only placed after Kalam’s term was over and a new president took over. The heinous killer is a Kasmiri terrorist. What message does this fact send to the people of India-Hindus and Muslims alike? The Congress is afraid of Kashmiris and Pakistan. If Congress fails to be unduly soft to the wickedness of some Muslims (read pro-Pakistanis and Islamic terrorists) the situation will bound to be out of control in near future to the detriment of the whole nation and to the jubilation of ISI of Pakistan.

I’m quoting some lines published under the first-page headline news of a National English daily which is supposed to be a subtle supporter of the Congress so far the BJP is concerned. While reporting the recent troubles in Jammu –the newspaper has reported the Jammu crisis in the following lines:

[…History is often a cause and effect lesson. The immediate cause of what’s unfolding today probably goes back to 1990 and the exodus of Pandits from the valley under the sweep of the ‘azadi’ movement. The accumulated causes go even further back the decades. Amarnath is probably merely the latest flash point.

Jammu, were you to get a sense of reigning sentiment in this shuttered, khaki and concertina-ridden city, is feeling sackfuls of its old and perceived grudges to these fires.” ‘We’ve put up with this for 60 years, 60 long years’, says Rati Razdan, a politically unaffiliated schoolteacher who has been at the barricades in Gandhingar each morning, ‘all in the name of national unity. Those who blackmail the nation with threats of separation have been pampered; those who have been loyal have been ignored. What am I to do to be heard, pick up a green flag and shout anti-India slogans? Why can we not have land in Kashmir, why must Kashmiris have their way all the time in his country?’

Why does the Valley have more seats in the state Assembly even though Jammu is greater both in population and land area? Why must they have three MPs and we only two? Why must they have all chief ministers and we none? Why do they get 80 per cent of government jobs? Why must they have 60 per cent of power? Why must they have reservation in colleges and technical institutions even though our boys and girls do better? Why is it that we can be thrown out of our homes in the Valley and nothing happens? Why is there such a crisis if we want to set up facilities in the Valley for two months each year? Why do their leaders get to build private mansions in the forests of Jammu’s vaunted Bhatindi outskirts whereas we can’t even be granted land in the name of shrine? Why are they part of an all-party delegation? They are the creators of this problem, why should they now become judges? And why should we go to them?

Why? Why? Why? Us and Them. Us and Them. Jammu is an angry trigger-burst of questions wherever you go………..-The Telegrah, Calcutta, August 10, 2008]

The Hindus of this land of India may obviously feel hapless even after almost 700 hundred plus years of foreign rules (Mughal & British + Congress).

All this is a legacy of Jawaharlal Nehru. The tragedy of India is that he was her first Prime Minister.

NO ENGINE DEFEATS GOOGLE

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Sat, 3 May 2008 15:50:00 +0530

There are several search engines in the internet. Yahoo, MSN, Ask Me, Google etc. But generally most people use Google search engine. Google has spread its name through propaganda blitz. Gone are the days when the best known brands are best quality brands. Now a different genre of business has intruded in the internet. This class of internet service providers is not always honest. Google has a good name as a mail-service provider. There is no doubt that the top three mail-service providers are Yahoo, Hotmail and Google. But this is Google’s emphatic front not its core activity. Google-it may be said, spreads itself through various ways and in many areas with the sole aim of earning from advertisement. There’s no harm and nothing bad in earning from advertisement. But when it is done by harming the interests of the internet users-it’s definitely bad and must be protested against.

Google filters and prevents millions of results in its search engine. Firstly, it only shows those results for which they are paid. Secondly, any regular user of search engines may have experienced the fact that Google brings out millions of irrelevant results against a single search. One innocent person wonders at this volume at first. But gradually-if he or she is little alert –may discover the click behind these millions of results. Google does this intentionally as it has to serve its advertisers by opening the false or irrelevant pages where the ads lie. It’s unethical as Google makes the search-engine user a prisoner of innumerable results. One can not check and see ten million results that Google brings in for a single search. Unfortunately-the desired and meaningful results are prevented by Google as it would go against its business. A search with four or five key words should bring the maximum possible rational results. But Google is infinite in its maximum false results.

Those who are professional persons have already realized it. You will go with the search words “Google Evil” or “Freedom from search engine” or say “AyAy Sir INC’ –you will find what Google brings in.

Considering all this, a good organization tried with their own advance algorithm to help people coming out in to the light from the bewildering jungle of sites. It’s a search help. Its name is NO ENGINE.

From the very name one may guess that it functions with a human face. I have written about it in my previous post.

Any person may use No Engine to see it for him/her whether I’m right or not. No Engine still runs on donations and it has no intention to use it as a profiteering tool. For the general people it will take sometime to know about this wonderful helping hand. It has come into existence to help people and for doing that it must reduce the impact of Google from people’s mind. So No Engine now supports Yahoo against Google. Actually, scientifically and mathematically No Engine has already won over Google as it wraps all the contents of Google and Yahoo now. No Engine is far superior to Google also for the following reasons: No Engine is able to:

Wrap contents of any search engine.
Trace contents of any search engine.
Dump contents of any search engine.
Modify contents of any search engine.
Join contents of any search engine.
Improve contents of any search engine.
Unite contents of any search engine.

As all search engines in the market provide search results for making money from advertisements-they have the motivational compulsion to limit/block 99% results.

No Engine is not business –it stands for justice-as evident from its name.

So go to the website of No Engine by clicking:

http://www.noengine.com/

Follow the old saying: SEEING IS BELIEVING

winner

Are we carnivores or herbivores-by Nature

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Fri, 2 May 2008 20:26:00 +0530

Although some historians and anthropologists say that man is historically omnivores, our anatomical equipment teeth, jaws, and digestive system favors a fleshless diet. The American Dietetic Association notes that “most of mankind for most of human history has lived on vegetarian or near-vegetarian diets.”

And much of the world still lives that way. Even on most industrialized countries, the love affair with meat is less than a hundred years old. It started with the refrigerator car and the twentieth-century consumer society. But even with the twentieth century, man’s body hasn’t adapted to eating meat. The prominent Swedish scientist Karl von Linne states, “Man’s structure, external and internal, compared with that of the other animals, shows that fruit and succulent vegetables constitute his natural food.”

Comparison between carnivores, herbivores and humans

When you look at the comparison between herbivores and humans, we compare much more closely to herbivores than meat eating animals. Humans are clearly not designed to digest and ingest meat.

Meat-eaters: have claws
Herbivores: no claws
Humans: no claws

Meat-eaters: have no skin pores and perspire through the tongue
Herbivores: perspire through skin pores
Humans: perspire through skin pores

Meat-eaters: have sharp front teeth for tearing, with no flat molar teeth for grinding
Herbivores: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding
Humans: no sharp front teeth, but flat rear molars for grinding

Meat-eaters: have intestinal tract that is only 3 times their body length so that rapidly decaying meat can pass through quickly
Herbivores: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length.
Humans: have intestinal tract 10-12 times their body length.

Meat-eaters: have strong hydrochloric acid in stomach to digest meat
Herbivores: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater
Humans: have stomach acid that is 20 times weaker than that of a meat-eater

Meat-eaters: salivary glands in mouth not needed to pre-digest grains and fruits.
Herbivores: well-developed salivary glands which are necessary to pre-digest grains and fruits
Humans: well-developed salivary glands, which are necessary to pre-digest, grains and fruits

Meat-eaters: have acid saliva with no enzyme ptyalin to pre-digest grains
Herbivores: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains
Humans: have alkaline saliva with ptyalin to pre-digest grains

Based on a chart by A.D. Andrews, Fit Food for Men, (Chicago: American Hygiene Society, 1970)

Clearly if humans were meant to eat meat we wouldn’t have so many crucial ingestive/digestive similarities with animals that are herbivores.

Why do people eat meat?

Many people ask me, “If we weren’t supposed to eat meat than why do we?”. It is because we are conditioned to eat meat. Also, the ADA (American Dietetic Association) tells us that “most of mankind for most of human history has lived on a vegetarian or Lacto-ovo vegetarian diet.

A popular statement that meat eaters say is; “In the wild, animals kill other animals for food. It’s nature.” First of all, we are not in the wild. Secondly, we can easily live without eating meat and killing, not to mention we’d be healthier. And finally, as I have already shown, we weren’t meant to eat meat. Meat and seafood putrefies within 4 hours after consumption and the remnants cling to the walls of the stomach and intestines for 3-4 days or longer than if a person is constipated. Furthermore, the reaction of saliva in humans is more alkaline, whereas in the case of flesh-eating or preying animals, it is clearly acidic. The alkaline saliva does not act properly on meat.

The final point I would like to make on how we as humans were not meant to eat meat is this. All omnivorous and carnivorous animals eat their meat raw. When a lion kills an herbivore for food, it tears right into the stomach area to eat the organs that are filled with blood (nutrients). While eating the stomach, liver, intestine, etc., the lion laps the blood in the process of eating the dead animals flesh. Even bears that are omnivores eat salmon raw. However, eating raw or bloody meat disgust us as humans. Therefore, we must cook it and season it to buffer the taste of flesh.

If a deer is burned in a forest fire, a carnivorous animal will NOT eat its flesh. Even circus lions have to be feed raw meat so that they will not starve to death. If humans were truly meant to eat meat, then we would eat all of our meat raw and bloody. The thought of eating such meat makes one’s stomach turn. This is my point on how we as humans are conditioned to believe that animal flesh is good for us and that we were meant to consume it for survival and health purposes. If we are true carnivores or omnivores, cooking our meat and seasoning it with salt, ketchup, or tabasco sauce would disguise and we as humans would refuse to eat our meat in this form

Blog of the Day Awards

It's a nice place-SITARAMPUR

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 19:58:00 +0530

Sitarampur is a small railway station in Bihar. There are thousands of railway stations big and small in India. Bihar is bound by Nepal in the north and by Jharkhand in the south. Very few people know about this place outside the district of Rohtas, where falls this small town of Sitarampur. However The British liked this place perhaps the surrounding of Sitarampur was picturesque. The climate was healthy. There was a deep forest near Sitarampur. The Englishmen camped here frequently for hunting. And there was beyond the jungle a mica mine. The mine was owned by the British. So –quite naturally the local people of Sitarampur were accustomed with the white sahibs and they liked them also. It was because of the British- railway line was laid through this place and the Sitarampur station came into existence.

The British have gone and also the old people with them, who knew many things about Sitarampur. They were fond of their past and tales. So we heard many stories that still hang around the air of Sitarampur.

It’s a calm place with greenery on every side. I love this place and especially the railway station and enjoy strolling on the not so crowded platform or sitting on the bench under a tree to think about impermanence of life as the station is not a permanent destination of a train.

There is one passenger train running through this station. This is 2115 UP and 2116 DN. But like people of Sitarampur –I’m also accustomed to know it as 2115 UP. I love trains still like a child who loves to watch the driver of the engine with awe and wonder.

So if you ever feel to visit Sitarampur, just start for the place Sitarampur by 2115 UP and leave your destiny along the rails. Wish you a happy journey.

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 10:48:00 +0530

Those in India love to compare India and China as the two emerging giants of Asia should see the the train and other photos of China by clicking :

TRAINS IN CHINA

BEIJING OPENS SUBWAY

SHANGHAI METRO NETWORK

SHANGHAI IN NIGHT

From the above sites Indian leadership should be ashamed of their non-performances.
One may argue that China could do many things with its dictatorial rule without facing any opposition party. There is no labour union and so China can compell its labour force to work at the way it wants-which is not possible in India.
But is it impossible to build world class airports and railway system in 60 years in a democracy? It's not for the labour class but for the corrupt and visionless politicians India has always been lagging behind China and can never be equal to China in twenty years if not more.
In 2030 India will surpass China in number of popilation. Then it will be more difficult to keep pace with China.

Blog of the Day Awards

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Mon, 21 Apr 2008 11:24:00 +0530

Everybody is talking about the rising prices of food stuffs. The costs of cereals, vegetables, pulses and edible oils have sky rocketed –in so short a period-that experts from all over the world have been profusely offering their opinions as to the probable causes of this tremendously inflationary impulses. The causes –the majority of them believe lie behind mainly two factors. Firstly, it’s the US financial depression with their sub-prime mortgage crisis has created shock waves throughout the world. Secondly, some people think that the rise of oil prices has affected the cost of commodities. As of today the price of petrol is above $60 a barrel. According to some this will continue to go up and will reach approximately $100 by the end of this year. So there will not be any let up in inflationary pressure.

So this is a matter, I think, should better be left to the economists and governments or simply to the process in times with unthought-of situations.

But what one finds at least in India that the prices of consumer goods like electronic gadgets, apparels, jeans, alcohol and hundred other items are not going up. So why is the inflation biased for this area? If we try to discuss a little –we find some ominous signs for the future.

The economic reform started in India not long ago. There were many other countries in Africa and Asia which accepted the principles of economic reform much before India. If we compare China with India we will see that China was much advanced in this matter than India. Perhaps this reform in economic sector was necessary and almost a fait accompli considering the global economic and political conditions. Owing to this economic reform the total number of employments all over the world and especially in India has much increased. So the ability to spend more has helped many persons and consequently the flow of money in the market has increased considerably. In this matter we know that this extra flow of money comes from the same group of persons who did not have the ability to spend almost nothing five years ago. In respect of India’s self sufficiency in food Amartya Sen’s opinion was that a good majority of people in India do not manage square meals a day. Most people are half-fed as they don’t have the money to go to the market for buying food articles. If all of these people went to the market to buy their needed food there would be famine in India. It’s because of some half-fed and un-fed people India are not a famine stricken country and we are able to buy food in reasonable prices. What happens now is that people who were unemployed a few years ago are coming to buy food. Moreover the the overall population has exploded into a figure of 1.13 billion in India. So there has been much demand on food articles. The middle class –whose salary has increased two fold in the last ten years are consuming without caring any control. A regular visitor in the urban markets of India is witness to this fact.

India is seriously in need of increased production of food crops. India, long one of the most productive agricultural regions of the world, could not meet its basic need for food grains during the early years of the nation's independence. The Green Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s dramatically improved yields in India. With considerable national pride, India boasted that it had achieved not only self-sufficiency in food grains, but had become a grain-exporting nation. In 2006, however, for the first time since the Green Revolution, and in part because of changes in agricultural policy, India had to import wheat. India will again have to import food grains in 2007.Now India has banned food export.

The price of steel is also soaring. In the last ten years there has been boom in the housing sector –which ultimately caused a shortfall of steel supply in the market. The price of crude oil and the future scenario has pushed many countries to produce more bio-fuels. Many governments are giving subsidies to the farmers for cultivating plants for bio-fuel leaving the traditional food production. So there has been shortage of food production in many countries. But India is still not involved in producing bio-fuels.

But there is a danger of which the governments of all the countries must be alert. This is reduction of agriculture land producing food in order to creating SEZ and bio-fuels.

Is production of more cars necessary in India? The more cars mean more oil consumption. To procure oil for these increasing numbers of cars government must have to spend more foreign exchange. How many persons can be employed in a car industry? The car market is thrived in India by the banks. But this industry can wait at least for ten years for increasing the rate of production.

Actually in India the causes of inflation are complicated. Though it can not be seen separately from the international scenario Indian situation should not be compared even with China –the country which follows communist dictatorship. Indian authorities in every field should have a deep insight keeping in mind the phenomena of economic reform-while planning for future. India is still an agricultural country and the majority of her people follow a life style (including food habit) that is in no way similar to those of the developed countries even including countries like Egypt, Brazil etc.

The most unfortunate thing is that India is dangerously lacking an efficient, strong and determined political party and leadership to govern her affairs.

Will Advani be the next P.M.?

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Sat, 12 Apr 2008 16:44:00 +0530

It is desirable that BJP wins the next general election in 2009. I am telling it because no single party or a same alliance should rule a country for more than two consecutive terms in a democracy. Otherwise the ruling party or coalition may be as callous as to be uncaring to the need for betterment and there grow vested interests. In our country no political party is immune to corruption and so the situation becomes worse when the same rulers continue for considerably long time as it has happened in West Bengal. The party or the coalition takes people for granted without any scruple. The UPA government has made a mess in all the major arenas of administration. So if they are given another term it will be disaster for India and democracy. It goes without saying that Rahul Gandhi and the so called babalog will rule the country-only to establish a conception that dynastic rule is better that democracy.

But BJP under L.K. Advani will not be able to snatch power from the present dispensation. Advani unlike Vajpayee does not have an acceptable personality. He is not confident of himself. His remarks on Zinnah are enough to prove that he is not credible. He has recently engage himself to make himself acceptable to people by writing that he was not a party to the decision to handover the terrorists in Kandahar although he was the home minister at that time. What would he want to gain by such statement? It’ll only belittle his party in the eyes of the people. Surely –he has yet to achieve such personality and charm to put Vajpayee in poor light. If his intention is to harm Brajesh Mishra or Jasvant Singh-then it is an exercise to fight with shadows. He should have realized that the main issue of the next election will be the price rise and non-governance.

One of the greatest recent blunders of BJP was not to back APJ Abdul Kalam as their presidential candidate. Mere arithmetical calculation showed that BJP’s nominee had no chance. When defeat was a fait accompli why not standing by a very popular scientist who was also from the minority community! The defeat of Kalam in that case would be a loss of face for Congress for various reasons especially when people were not aware of a name-Prativa Patil. The decision –not to support Kalam as a candidate-must have been backed by Advani.

The gradual eclipsing of Vajpayee from the throne of BJP has been showing its signs. Advani may rouse a religious emotion but he has not that vision and diplomacy to determine a path for the people of as complicated a country as India.

The name of Modi has been made a synonym for maud. The whole press of India and the Congress and its left allies was successful in their propaganda blitz against Modi. But the Congress killed far more Sikhs in Delhi and its surroundings in two days at the instigations of some prominent Congress leaders. It was not a riot. It was genocide. No single bullet was fired from the police against the killers. Advani has been a failure to make people remind of that ghastly act of the Congress after ModI’s victory this year. Advani should have made it a point in this spectacular victory of Modi that Gujratis are not rioters or supporters of riots. This is the failure of Advani. I’m not supporting Modi for his role in that ghastly riot in Gujrat. I am raising the issue only to make a comparison between the two uncivilized incidents and the point of political diplomacy.

Advani should also be more alert about the fact that Indian press in general is more in favour of Ms Sonia Gandhi and the dynasty than they are for Advani.

NYTimes.com: Single Mothers in China Forge a Difficult Path

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Wed, 9 Apr 2008 17:16:00 +0530

This page was sent to you by: debabratahere@yahoo.co.uk

Message from sender:
The world is being complicated

INTERNATIONAL / ASIA PACIFIC | April 6, 2008
Single Mothers in China Forge a Difficult Path
By HOWARD W. FRENCH
China’s single mothers are often marked as social outcasts in a country that still strictly controls population growth and limits the rights of their children.



COPYRIGHT: NEW YORK TIMES

Bhutan, India and democracy

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Tue, 1 Apr 2008 18:57:00 +0530

It’s an advantage for the politicians and the media to feign an idea that everything in India happens under democratic rules. They frequently claim that it is the world’s largest democracy to be followed by the US. The general people outside India especially those of the West knew very little of India and do not care to know this country. But those who care know that India is ruled by a democratic government. They do not know that the country is in the hands of some corrupt people, the politicians and the bureaucracy. The election is like a great gamble. The winners are only gainers. So it is an advantage to take part in a gamble by giving it a sacred name.

Here the Congress party’s sole aim to keep the dynastic rule by using this democracy. Actually Congress has long ceased to be a political party. It’s a private enterprise-a particular house. Its present President has been holding this post for the last ten years. Its presidents were the cream of this country in the past. They were people India was proud of giving birth on her soil. But never before, none of them occupied the post of presidency for so long a period. It’s because the party does not represent the people of this country. The party now is a brand name of Nehru-Gandhi family.

Democracy has failed in this sub-continent. Nowhere has it been possible for democracy to find its roots i.e. in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Myanmar. Only it’s partially successful in Sri Lanka.

Unfortunately in Bhutan which was so far been ruled by a king has now become a democratic country. The king, Jigme Kesar Namgyal Wangchuk relinquished the kingship and told his people to select their ruler democratically. Nowhere in this world has happened such an incident in the past. People were not happy to accept democracy. They were very happy under monarchy. A study in 2006 ranked Bhutan as the eighth happiest country in the world. The king- Jigme Kesar Namgyal Wangchuk, and his father-the earlier king- Jigme Singye Wangchuk are extraordinary persons as kings. But I do not know whether this happy, peaceful and corruption-less tiny Himalayan country will be able to feel so happy after some years of living in democracy.

So let us compare the two situations in India and Bhutan. Here the Nehru-Gandhi family is hell bent to make Rahul Gandhi to be the next head of the state. And there in Bhutan the King is averse to be the ruler anymore.

KNOW--NoEngine-the best search device in the world

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Sat, 29 Mar 2008 16:28:00 +0530

I have been thinking of writing on NO ENGINE -an internet search device which will come to the help of millions of people of this world one day. I have had some talks with those soft-ware engineers who are behind the algorithm of NO ENGINE. Recently I asked one of their directors the following question:

"The algorithm differs between engines, which is why different search engines may produce different results for the same query. Each search engine has its niche. It is however not uncommon for a user to use more than one search engine at a time. This further demonstrates the importance for website owners to be indexed and ranked well on all search engines. The aim of a search engine is to put itself in its user's shoes. They therefore want to deliver appropriate, relevant, information-rich sites that will satisfy users, first time round. How you get the websites owners indexed on NoEngine?"
In reply he informs me the following matter which is the content of this blog-posting today.

"The aim of a search engine is to put itself in its user's shoes.”

Some think that, “the importance for website owners to be indexed and ranked well on all search engines". This is a wrong conception held by the most website owners nowadays. After you study and test more, you will find ~money~ is the only way for most search engines to index commercial keywords for web pages. For example, Google won't index the keywords "GPS" to AyAy-Sir.com, no matter how good they follow Google's rule. Some website owners have the same problem for their web pages.

To get the websites owners indexed on a search-engine like No Engine the solution is providing Keyword Submit feature to a webpage owner; this is an old way algorithm but it's 100% reliable and which never misses a keyword of a person who would like to speak keywords for his/her pages. Another way is searching web pages without prejudices. Google is prejudiced since it needs to show profit to its investors, which they do by way of blocking valuable keywords of pages of excellent products of millions of good companies and internet sellers.
Google has announced that it can automatically index good results for people, but it's not true since Google’s results are results from their prejudices. "Automatic index" has its benefits, however it doesn't mean "automatic" is absolutely better than "manual", especially when Google search algorithm is full of prejudices and are meant to drop commercial, freedom and science keywords.
The name of NoEnige is since there is no search engine of trust because search engines index keyword for money. All of them speak louder for people who pay them higher. There is a FAQ- how NoEngine can make money if NoEngine does not follow the ways of other search engines?
Our idea is -if NoEngine can search keywords without prejudices and lies as Google, NoEngine can be much better than Google". Google need trillions dollars profits per year for its overhead, but we're very happy if NoEngine can make millions dollars.
Google has become evil since it has been big as Microsoft. Google must know how to lighten the pockets of millions people of in their business and the way for building an empire.
**For further reading please see what is written in Scobleizer(http://scobleizer.com/2006/02/08/):

February 8, 2006

Why do search engines lie?

Here, do a search for Memetrackers (Google, MSN, Yahoo). Now, why are none of their numbers accurate? Google says there are 713 results, but can only display 62. MSN says there are 101, but only can display 100. Yahoo says there are 368, but only can display 44.

Why aren’t there any truth in advertising laws for search engines?

Update: the numbers are changing. Google now says there are 699 results, but can only display 692 (this is after you tell it to display all duplicates).

Oh, and no engine can display more than about 1,000 results, so if they say there’s 42,000,000 results there’s no way to verify whether those numbers are accurate or not.

Update 2: Yahoo is actually accurate once you tell it to display all duplicates. It says 429 results and displays 429 results. So, Yahoo wins! (although I wish they’d all be a little clearer up front).

India-An Unfortunate Country

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Fri, 21 Mar 2008 18:10:00 +0530

NEHRU AND SIR STAFFORD CRIPPS
INDIRA GANDHI

People –educated people in India still love to side with the Second Bahadur Shah and the mutinous sepoys, as they think that they might be the harbingers of freedom from the tyranny of the British. If Sepoy mutinies were successful and Bahadur Shah would have been the Emperor of Hindusthan –people in general had to suffer from an unthinkable anarchy.

Notions and natural tendencies for customary thoughts die hard. Even it takes centuries to be replaced with the truths.

I’m telling all this as I see the criminal stupidities of a political party named Indian National Congress which has always put itself in the wrong footings during critical historical moments of this hapless country. India would not have been partitioned if the Congress had accepted the proposal of Sir Stafford Cripps as advised and insisted on by Sri Aurobindo.

In 1957 Pakistan was in doldrums and at the verge of disintegration. At that time a feeler was sent to Nehru by Pakistan for some sort of overall arrangement which would undo the stark partition of 1947 but they were altogether rejected. Afterward again when Ayub Khan who had not yet superseded Iskander Mirza as President, made an unexpected visit to Delhi and proposed joint defence for India and Pakistan. As per Amal Kiran (K.D. Sethna)-“Here was the clearest sign of Pakistan’s insufficiency and her call for a fresh start pointing towards ultimate reunion……But again the Indian Government failed to cooperate. It replied to Ayub in effect ‘Joint defence against whom?’ India in that period was doing ‘bhai, Bahai’ to Red China and looking upon Soviet Russia as a close ally. If Soviet Russia was our dearest friend and red China our beloved brother, we could militarily be in no danger at all. What other power was there to pose a military threat to us?” [Our Light and Delight by Amal Kiran-page 115 to124]

The subsequent events are now a history to every Indian. The situation is such that no nation now stands as a strategic friend to India. Now India’s relations with her northern neighbours are far from good. If her relation with China is now ‘comfortable’ it’s because of her stance as an underdog. India has to buy peace with China as she can not afford to assert her say before China. Even she appears to have no courage to strongly condemn that China’s claim over Arunachal Pradesh will be a bearing on mutual relationship. And surprisingly Pakistan has very good relations with all of them including China. There is no way to show Nehru the present situation vis-a-vis Pakistan and China. Nehru did an immoral and politically blundering move to support China for her occupation of Tibet. I’m coming back to Nehru after concentrating a little about the Congress under the leadership of Sonia Gandhi. We claim to be a growing superpower. But in reality Indian Government fails to be assertive against the wrong doings of Myanmar, China, Malaysia, Indonesia and even the tiny Bangladesh. India wants to be a permanent member in the Security Council of the UN. But in spite of a possibility Sashi Tharoor-India’s nominee could not won. It was because of China’s influence over George Bush.India holds no courage and influence in matters of any lapse in human rights, suppression of fight for freedom and in any serious international matter. She would never find words to utter against China even if there was genocide of Tibetans in Lhasa or elsewhere in Tibet. India would remain silent if Aung San Suu Ski were further tortured by the military junta of Myanmar.

Coming back to Nehru. He would not be forgiven in the pages of history even it takes a thousand years. He will be termed as most indecisive (his dillydallying in sending troops to Goa), his lack of courage to face a challenge (he died of heart attack after Chinese aggression), his lack of political wisdom (about China), his romantic ideas about politics and for his Himalayan blunder in putting the Kashmir issue in the UN and his refusal to act on Ayub’s feelers.

But one may forgive him for giving birth to a daughter who unlike her father was courageous and capable of taking decisions singlehandedly. She might be criticized for hundreds of her follies but so far her guts and courage is concerned one must say to her in the words of Mathew Arnold “Thou art free”. His father divided India. She divided Pakistan.

FREE texture from NinianLif

L.K. Advani's historic failure

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Fri, 14 Mar 2008 17:52:00 +0530

I remember that once L.K. Advani visited Nirod C Choudhury’s home in Oxford. Nirod C Choudhury was already above ninety then and a widower, stayed alone in his house. Advani with some people of his party (total ten or twelve nos.) visited him without prior appointment. All this I read in newspaper then. I also read that Nirod Choudhury was very much embarrassed as he was not ready to receive so many guests all of a sudden and more so when there was none with him at that time. I am telling this trivial incident to show that L.K. Advani lacks common sense. He has been projected as the next prime minister of India. I have nothing against him to decry this projection. But unfortunately L.K. Advani is not a shrewd and intelligent person. He is not even as patriotic as he and his party likes to have the people of India believe. Let us explain:

If Advani were a patriot he would have collaborated with Manmohan Singh to get the Indi-US Nuclear deal come through. He may enjoy seeing that the Congress –his opposition party, in serious troubles in retaining power in absence of left’s support. It’s natural. But it is not a question of pulling down the government; it is a question of saving India’s prestige. Moreover India stands to gain much from this nuclear deal. So the national interest is also involved here. Everybody in India knows that if BJP was in power it would move for the deal. Here lies the difference between Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Advani. Advani has failed to rise above petty party politics. The former US diplomat Strobe Talbot told on NDTV that Vajpayee Government was ready to settle for much less than what is being offered. According to him:

"The Clinton administration negotiated with the BJP-led government on the nuclear issue and that knowing what the goals of my Indian interlocutors at work at that time and seeing how those goals compare with the current Indian government has gotten out of President Bush by way of the civil nuclear deal, I can't understand how is that the BJP could oppose the deal as it obviously does." Vajpayee’s aide and former national security adviser Brajesh Mishra gave his “personal approval” to the nuclear deal, a view contrary to the BJP’s official line. This inspired Dr Manmohan Singh and he said- “I was happy to see that, responding to the call of conscience, he has openly supported the nuclear deal…Now I urge the Bhishma Pitamah of Indian politics, Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee, to also listen to the call of his conscience and rise above narrow party interests to support the deal”. It is clear that Atal Bihari Vajpayee has full support for the deal. But alas! He has no say in the party now.

This could have been a historic moment for Advani if he moved in support of the deal. It is a great moment to cut the communists to size. If Advani were successful to thwart the ominous and pro-Chinese moves of the left-it would be BJP who would gain more than the Congress politically.

But unfortunately Advani is not a visionary.

Shanghai-Maglev Train

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Wed, 5 Mar 2008 17:32:00 +0530

China is not only an Asian giant but also she is rapidly progressing to be at par with the few best of the first world countries. In India and elswhere in the world some people compare China with India with the same breath. I think it's too much to be inspired of India's growth with the yardstick China is measured with. India will require fifty years more to be equal to China. Let us see the magical extent China has changed to.

China's two biggest cities, Beijing and Shanghai, are the places to seek out the best in this explosion of new design and now have restaurants, bars, shops, galleries and hotels that can rival anything in London, New York or Tokyo. Beijing is also playing host to the 2008 Olympic Games, which take place from 8 to 24 August; for more details see en.beijing2008.cn.

Just an example of Shanghai-Maglev Express train puts India in poor light. The train runs at the speed of 430Km/hour which still remains a dream for Indian Railways. One may have an idea of just visiting the site of the
train.

Shanghai-Megalev Train

INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT-BEIJING

Marion Cotillard thinks herself too big

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Mon, 3 Mar 2008 18:52:00 +0530

The Oscar winner, this year for the Best Actress, Marion Cotillard, is no doubt a talented actress. She is also the first Best Actress winner in a non-English language performance since Sophia Loren won it in 1961 for her acting in Two Women.

Unfortunately, in spite of her outstanding talent in acting she is just like some village women whose imaginations never cross the horizon of their villages. Actually in these days people do not care to know who Dorris Lessing is; but all perhaps know Angelina Jolie. Is this time determined by philistines? No. But for media, some persons, involved in entertainment world get wild exposure and so these celebrity-persons think that they, by virtue of their fame, have achieved eligibility to comment on any matter and which they believe would carry some worth for consideration by the people. So –Marion Cotillard-an Oscar-inflated person has thought that she is a great person and so her thoughts and beliefs are to be made public for their benefit. Hence she has not hesitated to comment on two very serious matters-one pertaining to the history of Man’s achievements and another an example of devastating fanatic action by the Islamic fundamentalists in recent time. According to her, NASA’s historic Moon-landing mission with Apollo-11 was a hoax. Even the Soviet Union –a keen competitor of the US in space technology never doubted this event as arranged. Marion never cared to think or read about the world’s best scientists’ opinions. She, by virtue of her Oscar award, wanted to be more than Neil Armstrong. Her second statement was that the Americans lied about what is known as 9/11 disaster in New York. For coming to this unique conclusion she employed her own understanding about the way how the tall building collapses. If such statements were made by any person of the third world-it would be considered as natural third-world phenomenon. However, the less said the better about such celebrity persons. But as Marion is the first to tell that it was a lie that the WTO building could not collapse in few minutes –she should call for a press conference only to elaborate on these two matters for the benefit of common people.

Scotland and Sean Connery

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Mon, 3 Mar 2008 15:23:00 +0530

Sean Connery’s recent comment that Scotland would soon be liberated as an independent nation- is not based on reality. The British will never accept to part with Scotland. If it were to be so the Northern Ireland would have long ceased to exist outside the Republic of Ireland. Moreover culturally, geographically and linguistically there is no difference between the two Irish of the north and south.

And none can say with some reason that the demand of the IRA is justified.

Gaeilge is a Goidelic language, originating in Ireland, and historically spoken by the Irish. It enjoys constitutional status as the national and first official language of the European Union. Though Scots use Scottish English, lowland Scots and Scottish Gaelic –they do not appear as distinctive as the Irish compared with the English. The Irish, if they want, can do away with English. But The people of Scotland can not feel well to live without English in spite of Connery’s willful Scottish accent in the movies he spoke English.

However I’m not going to say that the Scots should not have an independent land outside UK. If the Scots want it there should be no reason to prevent them. My point is that if Scotland is allowed to be a free nation the British will not be able to retain North Ireland. And then what about the Wales? With the introduction of Welsh language Act 1993 Welsh has enjoyed a strong revival in recent years and has an equal status with English in the public sector in Wales. Of the 611,000 Welsh speakers in Wales, 62% claim to use Welsh daily, and 88% of those fluent in the language, use it daily. Though the people of Wales have not yet demanded a separate state but if Scotland is allowed separate nationality there might grow secessionist tendency in the UK.

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 12:54:00 +0530

Udaipur

Boosting Traffic to Your Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 15:21:00 +0530

Most of the bloggers get disappointed to find that their blogs are not attracting as much traffic as they want. Whatever the nature or type of a blog, the blogger wants a wider readership. But there are millions of blogs in this world. So who reads whom? At the same time there are millions more who are not bloggers and many of them may be good readers. One browses internet for many things and he or she may be benefited by reading a blog in the process of surfing internet. So there are two things in this matter, one who wants to find and the other who wants to reach.

A blogger, therefore, must place him prominently in the area of readers’ viewing field. But this is easier said than done. One has the ingenuity and the necessary home work to turn the blog attractive and beneficial to the taste of the viewer. I hope the following marketing agencies may be to some extent helpful to build traffic to intelligent bloggers.

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They recommend three simple ways to build your traffic.

So read it as they say:

Creating a blog is simple with either WordPress or Blogger.
But how to you get traffic to your blog?

After all, what's the use of having a blog if nobody comes by to visit?

You must have had a goal for your blog when you created it

and whether it's to promote yourself, make money promoting products,

to promote a cause, or something else, the more traffic your

blog gets the better, right? Here are three proven methods

to increase blog traffic.

1. Post New Content Regularly.

A common mistake many new bloggers make is not
posting on a regular basis, especially at the beginning.

You have to give people a reason to visit your new blog.

It's best to post daily for the first month and then a few times

per week after that.

You should post on a regular basis so your visitors and search engines

may know to expect new content added to your

blog on a regular basis. As long as your posts are informative or enter

taining, you'll attract more visitors over time. And you want the search engin

es to come regularly to index your blog posts which in turn will attract even

more visitors.

2. Make Comments to Other Blogs

Another way to increase blog traffic is to m

ake comments on other blogs. The best way is

to find high PR links from blogs on the same

topic. You can use your favorite search engin

e or Google's BlogSearch tool. You shouldn't have much problem findi

ng several blogs on similar topics.

Take some time to read several posts on the blog

to get a feel for it. Then make a constructive
comment to one of the posts. Don't just comment with some
rubbish, contribute to the conversation. If your comment
add value, people will be more likely to want to visit your blog.
Leave your name and a link to your blog to allow
readers and easy way to click over to your blog.

3. RSS

RSS is really simple syndication and most blogs
come with it these days. I use aweber's autoresponders
service which comes with the capability to send an email
notification to a list every time you make a new blog post.
This is helpful because not every
reader who reads your blog will remember to come back
frequently. A friendly email reminder increases repeat visits to your blog,
which is more traffic.

RSS works very similar to an opt-in list.
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is made to your blog. It's very simple to do
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11. Building blog traffic for newbies

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12. Try also the ways as recommended by:

http://www.dailyblogtips.com/traffic-generation-tips-final-list/

They are showing 30 ways to increase your traffic viz.

Blog Project: 30 Traffic Generation Tips

1. Sridhar Katakam
Keep track of blogs and leave comments on them. A good way to keep the conversation going is to install a MyBlogLog widget and visit the blog of people visiting your site.

2. Ian Delaney
Nothing creates long-term traffic more than value. Consider writing posts with resources or explaining how things work. Useful things get linked to and they get onto del.icio.us, which is far better long-term than a digg front page.

3. Scott Townsend
Inform search engines and aggregators like Technorati (using the ping functionality) when your blog is updated, this should ensure maximum traffic coming from those sources. (check the List of Ping Services)

4. Kyle
Simplify. Pay attention to complex issues in your field of work. It may be a big long publication that is hard to wade through or a concept that is hard to grasp. Reference it and make a shorter “for dummies” version with your own lessons learned and relevant tips. When doing this, I have been surprised to find that the simplified post will appear before the more complex version in search results. Perhaps this is why it results in increased traffic; people looking for more help or clarification on the subject will land on your blog.

5. Grant Gerver
Try to be polemic. I write obsessively about all-things political from the left-wing perspective in the form of humorous, sarcastic one-liners.

6. Daniel
A simple tip that will probably boost your page views: install a translator plugin. I decided to use a paid plugin for this, but if I am not wrong there are some free ones as well. The translation is not very good, as you can imagine, but it helps to attract readers that are not fluent in English.

7. Rory
Submit articles to blog carnivals (http://blogcarnival.com) that are related to your niche. Your article almost always gets posted, and it must generate a handful of visitors, at least.

8. Ramen Junkie
Newsgroups. I always see a spike when I post a review to a newsgroup.

9. Eric Atkins
Create a new design for your website. Not only will it be more attractive to your regular readers, but you can submit it to some CSS gallery showcase sites that feature great designs. This will give you exposure on those sites while generating a lot of traffic and backlinks from those types of sites.

10. Megan Taylor
Participate in conversations on related blogs. Start conversations on your own blog. Don’t just post about a story and leave it at that, engage your audience, ask questions and call to action.

11. Guido
Comment on blogs, write useful content and make good friends on forums.

12. Brian Auer
You must be active to generate traffic. I post comments on other blogs that are related to mine, and I post my site link in my signature at the forums. Spread the word about your blog and it will certainly attract readers.

13. Shankar Ganesh
Just browse around MyBlogLog.com and you will surely get visitors to your blog. Also try to join as many communities as possible that are related to your topic.

14. Andrew Timberlake
A great tip for generating traffic is off-line by including your url in all your off-line liturature from business cards, letterheads, pamphlets, adverts through in-store signage if applicable. I even have our website on my vehicle.

15. Cory OBrien
Read lots of other blogs. Leave trackbacks. Make sure your blog is optimized for search engines. Leverage social bookmarking sites like digg (both for new ideas and for traffic).

16. Jester
Leave comments on other blogs. If you’re already reading them, it takes
just a couple of seconds to leave a message agreeing or disagreeing
with the author, you get to leave a link to your site, and you will almost
ALWAYS get traffic from your comments.

17. Goerge Manty
Post 3-5 times a day. Use ping services like pingomatic or set up wordpress to ping some of the ping services. Engage your readers. Put up polls, ask them questions, give them quizes, free tools, etc. Make them want to come back and tell their friends about you.

18. Engtech
Community. It’s one word but it is the most important one when it comes to blogging. The only “blog metric” that makes sense is the vibrant community of readers it has. Building a community around your blog will bring you increased traffic, but how do you start? The boilerplate response to building traffic is always “SEO, social networking sites, and commenting on blogs” but it can be simplified to “be part of a community”. The easiest way to seed your blog is with an already existing community. But the only way to do that is to be part of the community yourself.

19. Chris
Squidoo Lenses are a good way to generate traffic. By using a lense,
you can generate your own custom “community” of webpages, including some
of the more popular pages in your “neighborhood.” Including your own
webpage in such a list is a good way of generating traffic.

20. Splork
I’ve had good success writing articles and submitting them to EzineArticles. Articles that have been written from well-researched keyword phrases and accepted by EzineArticles tend to rank very high in Google for that search term. Placing anchor text in the footer of those articles so the reader can visit my relevant website has always increased my site traffic.

21. Jen Gordon
I came upon some unexpected traffic when my blog popped up on some css design portals like www.cssmania.com and www.webcreme.com. If you can put some time into the concept behind and design for your blog, I’d recommend submitting your site to a design portal not only for
additional traffic but to build an additional community around your site.

22. Kat
I’ve recently gotten involved with several “MySpace-like” community sites that focus on my target audience. I share my thoughts in their forums, post intros to my real blog on their system blog and I’ve even created a group for my specific niche. It’s been very, very successful for me.

23. Inspirationbit
Well, obviously everyone knows that social bookmarking sites like Digg, del.icio.us, etc. bring lots of traffic. But I’m now submitting some of my articles to blogg-buzz.com (a digg like site for bloggers), and I always get not a bad traffic from there.

24. Mark Alves
Participate in Yahoo Answers and LinkedIn Answers where you can demonstrate your expertise, get associated with relevant keywords and put your URL out there.

25. Tillerman
Be the first to write a post about the ‘Top Ten Blogs’ in your niche. The post will rank highly in any general search for blogs in your niche and other bloggers in your niche write about the post and link to it.

26. Nick
Participating in forums is a great way to get loyal readers. Either link baiting people in your signature or posting great advice and tips will give you high quality traffic, which will result in return visitors.

27. Brandon Wood
A simple trick I’ve used to increase traffic to my blog is participate in group writing projects. In fact, that’s what I’m doing right now.

28. Alan Thomas
Don’t forget your archives. I just posted a roundup of all interviews I did over the past seven months. One of them generated a new link and a big traffic spike from a group of users that look like they will be loyal readers now.

29. KWiz
Write something controversial. I don’t think it’s good to write something controversial just for the purpose of getting traffic necessarily (especially if it’s only for that purpose and you’re being disingenuous), but it works.

30. Dennis Coughlin
Find the best blogs on your niche and contact the authors. Introduce yourself and send a link of your blog. This might help them to discover your blog, read it and possibly link to it.

The Burden of Age

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Wed, 20 Feb 2008 12:55:00 +0530

China’s rapidly aging population could wipe out the country’s low cost labour advantage within the next few decades and stifle the economic growth, according to the Chinese state media. The China daily, quoting a report by the China National Committee on aging, said that sometime between 2030 and 2050, there will be only two workers for every retiree-down from the current ratio of six workers to one retiree. While China’s population is growing, the number of elderly people is increasing at a quicker pace. According to the report, China had 149 million people over the age of 60 last year. That is expected to grow to 248 million in 2020 and 437 million in 2050. China now has a population of 1.3 billion. “With fewer people of working age and more pressure on supporting the elderly, the economy will suffer if productivity sees no major progress”, the deputy director, Yan Qingchun of the committee on aging was quoted as saying. Economic reforms over the past three decades have turned China into the world’s factory floor on the back of cheap labour costs. But pressure as generated from reforms has also caused the communist welfare system to disintegrate, with lay-offs from state owned enterprises and a lack of social safety nets. Yan was quoted as saying that China “might encounter the heaviest burden, especially after 2030”, when there could be an end to economic growth fueled by the growing number of people of working age.

Now let us examine the Indian situation. As per census 2001, the number of old persons in India in 2001 was 70.6 million (6.9%) which was projected to be 83.5 million in 2006(7.5%). As per the projection the percentage of older persons will be 94.8 million in 2011 (8.3%), 118 million in 2016 (9.3%), 143.7 million in 2021 (10.7%) and 173.1 million in 2026 (12.4%).

In Japan the percentage of Japan’s population over the age of 65 had surpassed 21.6% adding that the problems of an aging society, coupled with a declining birth rate were thus of great concern. Regarding the family issues-the family plays an important role in shaping society, and Japan is committed to addressing a growth difficulty of balancing family and work-life, a weakening of bonds within the family and child abuse.

In Brazil, the population, like others in the Latin American and Caribbean region, was aging at an accelerated rate. Currently, there are more than 9 million people aged 60 and over in Brazil and soon it will have the sisth largest population of older people in the world.

In the US, the older population i.e. persons aged 65 years and above is 37.3 million in 2006 according to the latest data. They represent 12.4% of the US population, about one in every eight Americans. By 2030, there will be about 71.5 million older persons, more than twice their numbers in 2000. People over 65 represented 12.4% of the population in the year 2000 but are expected to grow to be 20% of the total population by 2030.

World's Top Twenty five Trains

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 18:49:00 +0530

If there is anything that is not mechanical in the world of science and technology it is certainly travelling by trains. In my childhood it was very romantic to even hear the sound of train whistling past in far. Even a person who dislikes most to be in a crowded place feels glad to be in the midst of crowded Howrah Railway station and waiting for his train. A long distance travel by train is itself a festive occasion even before the journey begins. The airplane can save time and afford comfort but it cannot make a journey a joyous affair as the train does. I do not know if there is an association of air-travelers internationally; but there is one with the railway travelers. The Society of International Railway Travelers with its office in Louisville, Kentucky, USA has recently announced the names of world’s top twenty five trains. Their assessment is based on their practical experiences, their writers, editors, members- world over and their staff. The list has been published in January 16, 2008. They have not made a ranking list. Their list is given below:

NORTH AMERICA

1. Canadian Express

2. Royal Canadian Pacific

3. Canadian Rockies Steam Express

4. Rocky Mountaineer (Canada)

5. GrandLuxe Express (US)

6. Sierra Madre Express (Mexico)

SOUTH AMERICA

7. Andean Explorer(Peru)

8. Hiram Bingham (Peru)

AFRICA
9. Blue Train (South Africa)

10. Pride of Africa(Rovos Rail-South Africa)

ASIA/INDIAN SUB-CONTINENY

11. Palace on Wheel (India)

12. Eastern and Oriental Express (SE Asia)

13. Shangrila Express(Tibet)

14. Darjeeling Toy Train (India)

15. Deccan Odyssey (India)

EUROPE

16. Danube Express(Central Europe, Turkey)

17. Al Andalus Express (Spain)

18. El Transcantabrico (Spain)

19. Trans-Siberian Express (Russia)

20. Venice Simplon-Oriental Express (Europe)

21. Glacier Express (Switzerland)

22. Royal Scotsman (Scotland)

DOWN UNDER
23. Ghan (Australia)

24. Indian Pacific (Australia)

25. Sunlander (Australia)

According to the President of the Society-Eleanor Hardy, the above trains met stringent standards for service, accommodation, scenery, itinerary, off-train experiences and passenger enjoyment.

All these trains have a high fare-tag except the Darjeeling Toy Train which earns Rs 26,000-64,000 from fare for an entire train for a day. The Train was declared UNESCO World

Heritage Site in 1999. The Train was introduced in 1879.

The Maneater and Super Sarko

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 15:33:00 +0530

Never in the history of France –has she been as unfortunate as having led by a person who lowered the prestige and dignity of this cultured nation as Nicolas Sarkozy has done. One wonders why the people of France are still allowing Sarcozy, a slave of his sexual impulse for a cheap woman Carla Bruni to hold the highest post of their country. What is most sickening situation is that Sarcozy does not feel it to keep his affair as something private. He enjoys brazenly the delight of his relation with Carla. Was it possible for de Gaulle to go in such way? Can the British people tolerate such situation with their Prime Minister? One can not think of seeing Sarkozy the man as the President of the US. The whole of American People and the media would have revolted. Bill Clinton was just at the verge of being impeached for his secret relation with Monica Lewinsky. In 1983 John Profumo, the then Secretary of State for War had to resign on the face of wide spread criticisms for his relation with a show girl-Christine Keeler. Even Harold MacMillan retired after some months for this scandal.

CLINTON AND MONICALEWINSKY

CHRISTINE KEELER AND JOHN PROFUMO
Sarcozy accompanies his girl friend whenever he visits a foreign country. This causes embarrassments for other countries in treating a girl friend of the French President within the norms of protocol. By what right Sarkozy can claim that a foreign country must have to bear the troubles of treating his concubine as the First Lady of France? Has Sarcozy lost his normal sense? Yes he has lost. Francois Fillion, the Prime Minister is worried that Carla Bruni has turned Sarkozy’s head. He is reported by le Canard to have said “When you talk to the President, he does not always listen”.
But who is Carla Bruni? She is 40 years Old Italian singer and model has now been living in France for five years. According to the Telegraph.com “Only someone without a heart could begrudge Nicolas Sarkozy his moment of happy insanity with Carla Bruni. Ms Bruni, an Italian heiress and former supermodel who has reinvented herself as a successful chanteuse, is evidently made of extraordinary stuff. Rather like the actress Angelina Jolie, she possesses that dangerous, high-octane combination of unusual beauty and wily intelligence that can reduce even quite sensible men to mush within seconds. Mr Sarkozy has clearly been comprehensively liquefied: he will have to guard against any political opponent in possession of a large straw.”
Now Sarkozy has brought her to Elysee Palace and Carla has been assigned a room for her song writing. The ‘First Lady’ and the potential first mother-in-law have now got the full control of Elysee Palace and expect everybody to take commands from them.
Now it’s for all whether to explain Sarcozy –opera as a symbol of future Western society or to see it as an exceptional accident in the French Government. Actually Sarcozy is a philistine. According to weekly Canard Enchaine –Sarcozy is such a person who laughs over the slightest thing and likes to tell jokes and dirty stories. Now just have a look as an example –what these shameless duos have shown the French people through a five-course lunch at an exclusive Paris restaurant amidst the VIP guests including the ex-Prime Minister of UK-Tony Blair. The former PM was invited to the five-star Hotel Bristol after addressing a rally of Sarkozy's Union for a Popular Movement party. But all eyes were on the 40-year-old Bruni, who every now and again lifted her sunglasses to lean in and nuzzle the presidential cheek. Sarkozy reciprocated with kisses and cuddles, oblivious of any uncomfortable fidgeting from those around them.
What France is getting from their democracy? Is it better than India under Jahangir?

JAHANGIR

Benazir and her father were die-hard enemies of India

noreply@blogger.com (Devabrata) — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 19:10:00 +0530

Following article was recently published by Francois Gautier the editor in chief of Paris-based La Revue de l'Inde.

Francois Gautier | December 31, 2007 | 16:11 IST

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh described Benzair Bhutto as one of the outstanding leaders of our sub-continent, who always looked for reconciliation between India and Pakistan'.

Most magazines are doing cover stories on her.

Bhutto is on the verge of becoming a 'martyr of democracy'. It is a sad that a mother of three children was so brutally killed and we all mourn her terrible death.

Nevertheless, truth must be told. For, as usual, what the press says is not exactly what happened.

Firstly, under Bhutto, anti-Indian terrorism in the Kashmir region was fostered and increased. Benazir was also directly responsible for the ethnic cleansing of Hindus in Kashmir.

"She was instrumental in sponsoring jihad, openly inciting
militants to intensify terrorism in India," says Ajai Sahni, the executive director of the New Delhi-based Institute for Conflict Management. "I find it very difficult to discover a single element with her relationship to India that is positive and for the betterment of her country or the region," he adds.

Remember how she was shouting her slogans of azaadi, and exhorting the people of Kashmir to cut Jagmohan, then governor of the state, into pieces, as in "jag-jag, mo-mo, han-han". She would say this while making chopping motions with her right hand as it moved from her left wrist to the
elbow, leaving nobody in any doubt as to what she meant.

Secondly, under Bhutto, the Taliban formed and, helped by
Pakistan's intelligence service, swept across Afghanistan and later hosted Osama bin Laden. It is a bit of an irony that she may have been killed by the very people she helped foster if at all she was murdered.

Thirdly, she deliberately increased tension levels and then
threatened India with a pre-emptive nuclear strike. The tension peaked when Bhutto repeated her late father's immortal boast of waging a 1,000-year war against India. Even Rajiv Gandhi was forced to mock her in Parliament, asking if those who talked of a 1,000-year war could last even a 1,000 hours.

And fourthly, in her last speech before she died, she alluded to India as one of the threats Pakistan had to face, implying that if she was elected she would deal firmly with it.

Then why is it that Prime Minister Manmohan Singh calls her a
friend of India and that Indians mount candlelight vigils in the Gateway of India for her?

I interviewed Benazir Bhutto twice, the second time as she was campaigning to be re-elected for a second term. The first question I asked, was about Kashmir, as she was the one who had called for Azad Kashmir, a Kashmir free from India, which had triggered the ethnic cleansing of most of the Hindus of the Valley of Kashmir -- 400,000 of them had to flee their ancestral land.

"You know," she answered, "You have to understand the Pakistani point of view on Kashmir. If one goes by the logic of Partition, then at least the Kashmir valley, which is in great majority Muslim -- and it should be emphasised that for long the Hindus Pundits in Kashmir exploited and dominated the Muslims, who are getting back at them today -- should
have reverted to Pakistan. But let us say that officially we want to help grant Kashmiris their right to self-termination."

"That's the only reason?" I continued.

"No," answered Benazir. "It should be clear also that Pakistan never forgot the humiliating loss of Bangladesh at the hands of India, although India claims it only helped Bangladesh to gain its freedom in the face of what the Bangladeshis say was Pakistani genocide. Zia's emergence was
a result of that humiliation."

"But Zia hanged your father?" I interrupted.

"Yes and I hate him and god the almighty already punished him for that," said Benazir, alluding to Zia's death in a plane crash. "But Zia did one thing right, he started the whole policy of proxy war by supporting the separatist movements in Punjab and Kashmir, as a way of getting back at India."

"And what about Pakistan's nuclear bomb?" I asked.

"That's my father's work," she said proudly. "He realised, after having lost the 1965 and 1971 wars with India, that both numerically and strategically, we can never beat India in a conventional conflict. Thus he initiated the programme by saying that 'We will get the nuclear bomb, even
if we have to eat grass'."

"But is it not a dangerous weapon if it falls in the hands of the fundamentalists of your country?" I asked.

"No such danger," Benazir answered. "Anyway, it is not only a
deterrent against India's military conventional superiority and an answer to India's own nuclear capability, but also the ultimate weapon to re-assert Islam's moral superiority."

"We in Europe are going to unite in a Common Market, why don't Pakistan and India forget their differences and form some kind of confederation with other South Asian countries, instead of killing each other?" I asked.

"Pakistan and India were never one country," answered the imperiouslady. "They were only kept together by force, whether by Mauryan, Moghul or British rule. Hindus have recognised the reality of Islam, and we needed our own country to feel free."

I was flabbergasted: here was a lady educated in Oxford and
Harvard, who mouthed such irrational statements. She spoke good English, was pretty, articulate and pleased the press.

But when in power, she had to resort to anti-Indianism to please her voters. Her husband was known as Mr 10 Per Cent. She was hounded out of power twice for incompetence and corruption. Is she then a martyr of democracy? History will tell.
Francois Gautier is the editor in chief of Paris-based La Revue de l'Inde

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