The noise and hungama of ‘intolerance’ is sheer craziness both on part of those who created it and those who are responding to it! The debate and discussion about actor Aamir Khan’s (the man who signed a public petition in 2005 against PM Manmohan Singh for criticizing the US VISA ban on CM Modi) statement has reached a point which proves that craze for the celebrities by a section of the society overrides everyday problems, as if they are going to solve those film-style! Can you imagine how many pages of print and social media and other media have been spent on this subject! Do you think that the man deserves this much attention?

The sole purpose of few ‘literary intellectuals’ returning their awards appears to be a rediscovery of themselves, that they still exist! Some Indian (and some Western) media created a hype for these masala news and the same junta went “Ra Ra”, proving their own conformist nature! When will the Indian mass be cured of ‘sheep syndrome’, abandon their ‘past way of thinking’ and instead ponder ‘here and now’, independently? Definitely people who chose to be intolerant to this kind of silliness, nay, duplicity are absolutely correct!

And let Indian people be intolerant to any suggestion that the head of a nation of 1.25 billion people, namely the Prime Minister must respond, and blame him for every incident on earth? Honestly, let him focus on his job of governance and not as an apologetic spokesperson for all the happenings in the world! 

Actually, the more you pay attention to the noise, the more you are taking time and attention away from the nation to deal with real issues. Honestly, what was really achieved? If there is any, it has taken away focus from real issues, wasted nations time from the path of progress and divided people!

Let every sane person also be intolerant, extremely, against people who hijack national agenda from real-life issues which affect the masses every moment; deeply rooted problems that are much more painful than some rich wife’s feelings and much more impactful than a handful of sad and violent acts on individuals in a billion plus strong nation. Simply ignore and reject them!

Loss of any innocent life is unfortunate. In India, road accidents alone kill around 400 people daily, equivalent to a jumbo jet crashing every day. 26% of all deaths (2.5 million) in India are due to heart diseases (half are due to lack of a preventive health care system) which costs India close to $100 billion every year.

Sadly, religious violence in India has been a common occurrence for centuries. On average 100 people die due to religious violence in India every year, and the average number of incidents is around 600. Why did the media pay so much attention to one single incident in Dadri? What role was played by the same media, award-returning intellectuals and politicians during clashes between Hindus and Muslims in Muzaffarnagar, Uttar Pradesh in August–September 2013? The event resulted in at least 62 deaths including 42 Muslims and 20 Hindus, injuring 93 and leaving more than 50,000 displaced. And how was that violence was started? A Hindu girl was sexually harassed by one Muslim boy.  In a revengeful fight with two cousins of the girl, the Muslim boy died. Then the two brothers were lynched by a Muslim mob. This is the nature of religious violence in India.

Why not leave India’s law enforcement and judicial system to deal with any criminal incident of this type as it would do otherwise, why politicians must jump in and use these tragedies to push their own agendas? And why must the media hype it up? Should not they be held responsible for damaging social harmony?

This behavior of selective, spiced-up publicity of such incidents in the media borders propaganda and fuels conspiracy theories – perhaps the Indian media and these ‘intellectuals’ and politicians have an agenda, are serving certain groups with vested interest, and are doing an injustice to the people, the country, the government and the Prime Minister. That’s why it is only fairfor people to be intolerant toward irresponsible media incendiaries who sensationalize select stories.   

And what about freedom and tolerance in India? It is much better than many nations around the world because India has a functioning judicial system and full freedom of press (with regular abuse of freedom of speech by certain media outlets who instead of focusing on real issues, become instrumental to divide people). 

And about beef? It is bad for the planet and our health, let the world awaken to this grim reality.

So, let’s all be intolerant and say enough superfluous celebrity attention and show biz – lets get “back to life, back to reality”!

Now let us talk about the real issues starting with Poverty and Hunger

War is typically a man-made phenomenon. If poverty is not fully man-made, we have the power to eradicate it. How many people are hungry at this very moment?

According to the World Food Project: https://www.wfp.org/hunger/stats :

• Some 795 million people in the world do not have enough food to lead a healthy active life. That’s about one in nine people on earth.
• The vast majority of the world’s hungry people live in developing countries, where 12.9 percent of the population is undernourished.
• Asia is the continent with the most hungry people – two thirds of the total.
• Sub-Saharan Africa is the region with the highest prevalence of hunger. One person in four there is undernourished.
• Poor nutrition causes nearly half (45%) of deaths in children under five – 3.1 million children each year. One out of six children — roughly 100 million — in developing countries is underweight.
• If female farmers had the same access to resources as men, the number of hungry people in the world could be reduced by up to 150 million.
• 66 million primary school-age children attend classes hungry across the developing world, with 23 million in Africa alone. WFP calculates that US$3.2 billion is needed per year to reach all 66 million hungry school-age children.

Can we be extremely intolerant to:

• Poverty, Hunger and Illiteracy?
• Discrimination based on caste, creed, skin-color, race, gender, political and sexual orientation?
• Sexual abuse and rape, and elimination of female fetuses before birth?
• Alarming climate change caused by raising billions of cattle, rising sea-water levels, and the displacement of millions of people?
• Farmers committing suicide?
• Child Labor?
• Corruption, Pollution and Terrorism…? The list is long!

Let India be intolerant to all of the above along with other global issues. Alas! More than a hundred years later the words of Swami Vivekananda are more relevant today!

“And, oh, how my heart ached to think of what we think of the poor, the low, in India. They have no chance, no escape, no way to climb up. The poor, the low, the sinner in India have no friends, no help — they cannot rise, try however they may. They sink lower and lower every day, they feel the blows showered upon them by a cruel society, and they do not know whence the blow comes. They have forgotten that they too are men.

“Bring all light into the world. Light, bring light! Let light come unto everyone; the task will not be finished till everyone has reached the lord. Bring light to the poor; and bring more light to the rich, for they require it more than the poor. Bring light to the ignorant, and more light to the educated, for the vanities of the education of our time are tremendous! “

India has some major challenges in the eradication of poverty, universal primary education, gender equality and empowerment of women, rape and child abuse, reduction of child mortality, electricity and proper health care for millions and many more.  More than 20% of India lives below the poverty line and has 287 million illiterate adults, the largest population globally and 37% of the world total. 

Can the rich and elite act intolerantly to up-lift the poor and the illiterate?

It is the duty of every citizen of India including the celebrities and media personnel to examine how the current Government in India deals with all these and succeeds. Every citizen of India including the celebrities and intellectuals has a role to play and duty to support and not hinder! PM Modi has raised hopes for millions in India and abroad, but should petty politics let that go in vain! All indicators from around the world are reflecting the signs of Indian economy soaring (http://www.wsj.com/articles/indias-economic-growth-accelerates-1448886206). Let it accelerate and let the bottom of the pyramid rise. After all, Modi’s success is success of all people in the country!

Let us not give so much attention to the so-called celebrities until they start showing care towards the real issues of average people. Let people of India refuse to pay attention to the fringe issues the media sensationalizes and let them collectively force the media to report real issues touching the masses. Can they do their investigative journalism against the corrupt black money stashers? Can they get real info from each Central and State ministry and track progress and hold them accountable if they don’t keep their promises? Can they draw attention to the problems with clean water, clean air and land for all? Can they constantly be intolerant to harmful fundamentalism – the terror and the root cause intolerance to others?

If they don’t do these, instead constantly harp on less important issues, people have the choice to avoid and boycott them altogether and reject yellow journalism! Can all sane people be intolerant to divisive ideologies which fill the world with hatred and spew venom? Can the elected members focus on real issues and cease making provocative comments on less important issues? They must strive to change the public discourse from fringe issues to real issues facing the country today. Can Indian celebrities and so-called intellectuals become extremely intolerant to these burning issues? If not, they must shut up!

Kanchan Banerjee

Featured Image source

Any loss of innocent life is a loss for all of humanity. It is also a fact that more Muslims are killed by Muslims themselves, than by any other group. (One study shows that 11 million Muslims have been killed since 1948 by Muslim groups).

The visible transition from the medieval era to the modern one had begun in France in 1789. The French revolution signaled the end of monarchies, church-state rule, serfdom, feudalism and entrenched aristocracies transformed into democracy. Unlike the American Revolution (1776) which was more to free the nation from British Imperial rule, France’s liberation was into a rational, industrial, secular, and bureaucratic nation-state of the modern era. Both the Revolutions helped to dawn an era for mankind – an era of universal rights, equality before the law, trial by jury, freedom of speech and religious practice (or lack thereof) and the freedom of the press.  

From this perspective, France and America ushered in the free world. And last week’s attack on France, indeed is an attack on the free world. Liberty has special connection between these two countries – the iconic Statue of Liberty was gifted to the USA by France in 1886 (by the famed engineer of the Eiffel tower, Gustave Eiffel).

When it comes to democracy, equal rights, and freedom of expression, many societies are still stuck in the past. While many societies and religions have transformed, much of Middle East and some Islamic nations lag far behind.

We can argue forever that the West may be responsible for fomenting the Taliban in Afghanistan, and Pakistan and Al Qaeda and ISIS in the Middle East. Some of their policies may have encouraged extremist groups. But that’s today. What did the rest of the world do to be at the receiving end of the same fanaticism since the conquest started around 630 CE? What did India do to get punished, in the words of renowned American historian Will Durant:

“The Islamic conquest of India is probably the bloodiest story in history. It is a discouraging tale, for its evident moral is that civilization is a precious good, whose delicate complex of order and freedom, culture and peace, can at any moment be overthrown by barbarians invading from without or multiplying within.”

But why? Because they refused to surrender to the ideas of ‘intolerance’, because they believed in freedom, because they believed in pluralism!

We know today how much India has contributed to our current civilization in terms of mathematics, astronomy, language, culture, and numerous other fields. In the words of Swami Vivekananda:

“The debt which the world owes to our Motherland is immense. Taking country with country, there is not one race on this earth to which the world owes so much as to the patient Hindu, the mild Hindu.

“In ancient and in modern times, wonderful ideas have been carried forward from one race to another. In ancient and in modern times, seeds of great truth and power have been cast abroad by the advancing tides of national life; but mark you, my friends, it has been always with the blast of war trumpets and with the march of embattled cohorts. Each idea had to be soaked in a deluge of blood. Each idea had to wade through the blood of millions of our fellow-beings. Each word of power had to be followed by the groans of millions, by the wails of orphans, by the tears of widows. This is what other nations have taught us.  But India peacefully existed. Here activity prevailed when even Greece did not exist… Even earlier, when history has no record, and tradition dares not peer into the gloom of that intense past, even from until now, ideas after ideas have marched out from her (India) , but every word has been spoken with a blessing behind it and peace before it. We, of all nations of the world, have never been a conquering race, and that blessing is on our head, and therefore we live….!”

So why did the ‘mild’ and ‘patient’ people of India have to suffer so much? One can make it easy for people to understand by some comparisons: Recall what the British did to Indians (‘kala aadmi’ slaves) remember what colonists did to the Africans in America. What the invaders did to India is more than the sum total of  the above plus what American settlers did to the Native Americans, what the Europeans did to the people of South America and manifolds of what the Nazis did to the Jewish people.

Is it an ideological and philosophical war? Is it a political war? Or, is it just a conquest of land?

Yes, all of the above, but more importantly, it is a struggle between the past and future; between the dogmatic Dark Age and free and enlightened worlds.

Generally, human beings tend to believe that ‘I am correct’ and ‘I know it all’ – that arrogance inflicts limited damage to us as individuals by limiting our scope and potential for ourselves and others. But when it comes to groups of people, not just belonging to a religious belief system, but ideologies such as communism – the damage is of a much higher magnitude! Ideologies of separatism inherent during medieval times bred belief systems, that only my god, book and prophet is true – yours is false. And since you don’t agree with it, it is my right to coerce you, bribe you or force you to be on my side or else, I’ve the right to eliminate you. Belief systems are acceptable as long as they do not take away others’ freedom and do no harm.

The current day so-called liberals in India may dismiss relating India’s problems with its past as propaganda or even religious hatred, but two foreign scholarly views draw our attention: (from the book: Negationism in India, Concealing the record of Islam by Belgian scholar Koenraad Elst, first published in 2002):

 “The Muslim conquests, down to the 16th century, were for the Hindus a pure struggle of life and death. Entire cities were burnt down and the populations massacred, with hundreds of thousands killed in every campaign, and similar numbers deported as slaves. Every new invader made (often literally) his hills of Hindus skulls. Thus, the conquest of Afghanistan in the year 1000 was followed by the annihilation of the Hindu population; the region is still called the Hindu Kush, i.e. Hindu slaughter. The Bahmani sultans (1347-1480) in central India made it a rule to kill 100,000 captives in a single day, and many more on other occasions. The conquest of the Vijayanagar Empire in 1564 left the capital plus large areas of Karnataka depopulated. And so on.

“As a contribution to research on the quantity of the Islamic crimes against humanity, we may mention that the Indian (subcontinent) population decreased by 80 million between 1000 (conquest of Afghanistan) and 1525 (end of Delhi Sultanate). [comment added by KB : In contrast in the name of ushering in an utopian era of the proletariat’s, between 50 M and 100 M people perished under various communist movements called ‘revolution’].

“But the Indian Pagans were far too numerous and never fully surrendered. What some call the Muslim period in Indian history, was in reality a continuous war of occupiers against resisters, in which the Muslim rulers were finally defeated in the 18th century. Against these rebellious Pagans the Muslim rulers preferred to avoid total confrontation, and to accept the compromise which the (in India dominant) Hanifite school of Islamic law made possible. Alone among the four Islamic law schools, the school of Hanifa gave Muslim rulers the right not to offer the Pagans the sole choice between death and conversion, but to allow them toleration as zimmis (protected ones) living under 20 humiliating conditions, and to collect the jizya (toleration tax) from them. Normally the zimmi status was only open to Jews and Christians (and even that concession was condemned by jurists of the Hanbalite school like lbn Taymiya), which explains why these communities have survived in Muslim countries while most other religions have not. On these conditions some of the higher Hindu castes could be found willing to collaborate, so that a more or less stable polity could be set up. Even then, the collaboration of the Rajputs with the Moghul rulers, or of the Kayasthas with the Nawab dynasty, one became a smooth arrangement when enlightened rulers like Akbar (whom orthodox Muslims consider an apostate) cancelled these humiliating conditions and the jizya tax.

“It is because of Hanifite law that many Muslim rulers in India considered themselves exempted from the duty to continue the genocide on the Hindus (self-exemption for which they were persistently reprimanded by their mullahs). Moreover, the Turkish and Afghan invaders also fought each other, so they often had to ally themselves with accursed unbelievers against fellow Muslims. After the conquests, Islamic occupation gradually lost its character of a total campaign to destroy the Pagans. Many Muslim rulers preferred to enjoy the revenue from stable and prosperous kingdoms, and were content to extract the jizya tax, and to limit their conversion effort to material incentives and support to the missionary campaigns of sufis and mullahs (in fact, for less zealous rulers, the jizya was an incentive to discourage conversions, as these would mean a loss of revenue).”

So, Islamist terror is nothing new to India. For the Islamist warriors there is an internal battle and an external one. One is with the ‘lesser Muslims’ and the other one is with the Kafirs, the non-believers. And this has been going on since the early 7^th century CE. These were precisely religious conquests: Syria 637 CE, Egypt 641 CE, Mesopotamia and the Persian Empire 650 CE. By the early 8th century, all of North Africa and Spain to the west, and the lands of central Asia and India to the east was invaded by these forces and many of these lands lost their past culture and history for good.

And to put this in today’s perspective – read what French writer and journalist Francois Gautier has to say:

“And ultimately the question is: Are the Muslims of today ready to accept Hinduism? Unfortunately no. For Muslims all over the world, Hinduism is still the Infidel religion “par excellence “. This what their religion tell them, at every moment, at every verse, at the beginning of each prayer: “Only Allah is great “. And their mullahs still enjoin them to go on fight “jihad” to expunge the world of the infidels. And if the armies of Babar are not there any longer, and if it is not done any more to kill a 100.000 Hindus in a day, there is still the possibility of planting a few bombs in Bombay, of fueling separatisms in the hated land and eventually to drop a nuclear device, which will settle the problem once and for all. As to the Indian Muslim, he might relate to his Hindu brother, for whatever he says, he remains an Indian, nay a Indu; but his religion will make sure that he does not forget that his duty is to ostracize the Infidel. This is the crux of the problem today and the riddle that Islam has to solve, if it wants to survive in the long run.

“Negationism means that this whole aspect of Indian history has been totally erased, not only from history books, but also from the memory, from the consciousness of Indian people. Whereas the Jews have constantly tried, since the Nazi genocide, to keep alive the remembrance of their six million martyrs, the Indian leadership, political and intellectual, has made a willful and conscious attempt to deny the genocide perpetrated by the Muslims. No one is crying for vengeance. Do the Jews of today want to retaliate upon contemporary Germany? NO. It is only a matter of making sure that history does not repeat its mistakes, as alas, it is able to do today: witness the persecution of Hindus in Kashmir, whose 250.000 Pandits have fled their 5000 year old homeland; or the 50.000 Hindus chased from Afghanistan; or the oppression of Hindus in Bangladesh and Pakistan. And most of all, to remember to BE ABLE TO LOOK AT TODAY WITH THE WISDOM OF YESTERDAY. No collective memory should be erased for appeasing a particular community.

“We will never be able to assess the immense physical harm done to India by the Muslim invasions. Even more difficult is to estimate the moral and the spiritual damage done to Hindu India. But once again, the question is not of vengeance, or of reawakening old ghosts, but of not repeating the same mistakes. Unfortunately, the harm done by the Muslims conquest is not over…”

More details:

http://www.saveindia.com/gautier.htm

http://francoisgautier.me/2013/09/07/chapter-6-negationism-and-the-muslim-conquests-part-ii/

I wish I could dismiss terrorism in India only as a Pakistan sponsored or supported venture. Yes, in most cases that might be the case, but it goes well beyond the Pakistani border – both Al Qaeda and ISIS explicitly want to destroy India. I would like to ask those who think the West is to blame for all these, what is India’s fault? India has giving the idea of ‘entire creation is one family’; India’s Yoga culture is a culture of ‘unity in diversity’. The first requirement in Patanjali’s Astanga Yoga is ahimsa, the second is satya and the last is moksha, the highest level of liberty.

So, what we ought to do? First, zero tolerance policy must be implemented by every nation. There must be better global cooperation against terror. Terror breeding places must be decimated proactively. Countries harboring, supporting and funding terror must be held accountable.

We have been living in denial for long time now, for a long term solution we need to come to terms. Time has come to accept the reality of history and we need to have open and perhaps politically-incorrect, uncomfortable dialogues and formulate plans to deal with extremism. Because this subject needs to be assuaged once and for all, or else the misunderstanding, mistrust and violence will continue for long time to come. For that, one needs to have an alliance with those who are suffering in various societies – be it in the West, Africa, Middle East or India. As a starting point, we can achieve harmony by reviewing the irrelevant and contentious ‘rules of the past’, speak up against any dictum which divides and spreads hatred and work with those who are willing to take the risk of change and reform. Time has come for people of all religions and the atheists alike, to say:  Enough of intolerance to others’, let us try to make a world friendlier to live together with diversity, difference of opinions and beliefs. We cannot impose beliefs on others; we must establish faith in humanity and liberty to live peacefully and progress as a civilization to newer heights. Else, this clash will continue and humanity will bleed and cry every day. The sad part is the world should instead be fighting challenges such as poverty, illiteracy and climate change. Drainage of world’s resources via religious terrorism must stop, after all it is a struggle between the past and the future where the present is giving us ample opportunities to reconcile and unite.

]]> https://newglobalindian.com/ngi-blog/2521 Thu, 05 Nov 2015 16:18:33 +0000 http://newglobalindian.com/index.php/2015/11/05/on-beefism-and-beefist-politics/ Some opposition politicians and sections of the Indian media have made a mountain out of a molehill! The unfortunate death of a Muslim by a mob for his alleged beef-eating has triggered the formation of an ‘intolerance’ bandwagon. Despite plenty of good work done by the NDA government, this provocative issue has been framed as the design of the government, the ruling party and its leaders! While the motive of these ‘beefists’ is very clear, my expectations for this government in the short term are also unequivocal (within the limits of the past sixty plus years of ineffective governance and corruption): Setting up necessary policies and clear direction to the uplift the poor and over all development of India with proper infrastructure in place, curbing corruption, creating entrepreneurship-friendly environment and motivating the youth to become independent and to innovate. Actual deliverables will automatically follow if these requirements are fulfilled correctly. And I feel confident that this government is right on track so far. And how about tolerance? Is communal violence new to India or suddenly up surged? According to Indian Home Ministry, there were on an average 57 communal incidents per month during the last 3 years (2011-2013) of previous UPA government’s rule. Read the following piece by Rupa Subramanya to understand the current ‘communal’ state of the country:

http://www.newslaundry.com/2015/10/14/think-india-has-become-more-communal-under-modi-the-numbers-will-disappoint-you/#

However, the detractors would like to keep the issue alive to serve the politics of communalism. Let’s not be shy now, let’s talk about ‘beefism’.

Ask your dog and cat-loving neighbor what kind of good-neighborly behavior would it be if the next-door neighbor slaughters dogs and cats, sells the meat, eats it, and rejoices? It is a question of common sense social sensibility, right?

And let us talk about tolerance – yes, I’m talking about cultural and social sensibility! Why should the burden of tolerance be imposed upon the non-cow-eaters? Why do they have to tolerate a person’s behavior of non-sensibility? To quote Oliver Wendell Holmes: “The right to swing my fist ends where the other man’s nose begins.” And no, this idea does not work in favor of the beef-eaters, since beef-eating is not a requirement by law (social or judicial) or religion or a nutritionist!

A surprisingly large number of Hindus eat beef too. So why are there cries of ‘intolerance’? Why does religion come into the picture? This question is for all beef eaters; it does not matter if you belong to a religious group or are an atheist.

Let us not get into the debate of whether the Vedas approve beef eating or not, the debate is of today – present and future is more important. In fact, today the majority of the Indian population do not eat beef and abhor cow-slaughter.

On the other hand, beef is projected as the ‘poor-man’s protein’ by some groups, especially the Marxist breed, which has no scientific substantiation. Actually the scientific evidence shows that beef is very unhealthy. A recent WHO report and recommendation (http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2015/pdfs/pr240_E.pdf ) very clearly states the perils of processed as well as other red meat including beef. There is plenty of information available on this subject – beef is bad for people and the planet’s health. I suggest a quick read of Brahma Chellany’s article:

http://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/climate-friendly-diet-meat-consumption-by-brahma-chellaney-2015-06

And by the way, cows disseminate flatulence and you may not hear it or smell it – but it hurts the planet – cows typically expel 200 to 500 liters of methane gas (more dangerous than CO2) everyday day, especially if you feed them processed food!

But Indian ‘liberals’ will say – eating beef is a sign of progress; I say, man, eat rats or bed-bugs -the choice is yours, but take responsibility for these actions – both personally and socially.

The ‘comrades’ may have a reason to eat beef. After all, ‘religion’ is the opium of people and according to them, the Hindu ‘religion’ is root cause of all evils in India! Ask them about the difference between ‘dharma’ and ‘religion’ they will look at you as if you are from a pre-historic time!

India never had the idea of a ‘religion’. The Indian idea and ideal is dharma: principles, means and acts to sustain and progress. Religion is an Abrahamic concept – a belief system, a concept superimposed on Indian traditions. Therefore this debate is not really about ‘religion’ – it has to do more about cultural, social and environmental sustainability, sensibility and responsibility. And remember, meat-eating is not a mandatory practice in Islam or Christianity. Cow-slaughter was enforced by the invaders to humiliate the Indians and used as a weapon to convert and subjugate.

And if Indian liberals continue to believe in an obsolete colonial era and Marxist idioms, it is their choice in a democracy, but their days are numbered. Indians have been most liberal people since the dawn of our civilization – because they did not have a belief system. They always welcomed new ideas from everywhere because they were mostly seekers of truth (except for a few fringe extreme elements and aberrations, some of which occurred due to the influence of the ‘belief systems’ – including Marxism).

I always wondered what the origin and context of the English phrase ‘beef up’ was. During this ‘it is my right to eat beef’ tsunami of debate, the root cause is revealed! Beef eating, along with many other habits such as cigarette smoking and ideas such as the Vedas were the poems of the primitive tribal people of ancient India, came through colonists’ racist viewpoint. 19th century British neurologist, George Beard, a white supremacist who believed beef-eating made the British superior to all stated, “In proportion as man grows sensitive through civilization or through disease, he should…increase the quantity of animal food, which is nearly related to him in the scale of evolution.” Also, “[Indians are] little removed from the common animal stock from which they are derived. They are much nearer to the forms of life from which they feed than are the highly civilized brain-workers, and can therefore subsist on forms of life which would be most poisonous to us. Secondly, savages who feed on poor food are poor savages, and intellectually far inferior to the beef-eaters of any race.”

Further, British imperialism could be explained and justified because they were “higher,” a more evolved “nation of beef-eaters.” Therefore, they claimed: “the rice eating Hindoo and Chinese and the potato-eating Irish peasants are kept in subjection by the well-fed English.”

Another British scientist, Edwin Lankester believed: “Those races who have partaken of animal food are the most vigorous, most moral, and most intellectual of races.” Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire argued: “without meat the brain stopped functioning and civilization became impossible,” which “explained why the rural poor, who ate a vegetarian diet of maize, salt, beans and pulque, were so sluggish.” So according to this logic, the majority of Asia was brainless and vigor-less!

Similarly, Sarah Hale, the American author of “Good Housekeeper” wrote that the portion of the human family, who have the means of obtaining animal food at least once a day… hold dominion over the earth. Forty thousand of the beef-fed British govern and control ninety million of the rice-eating natives of India. This was because animal food “strengthens the reasoning power, or the brain, the organ of the mind, better than vegetable food could do.” But modern science and more than a billion vegetarians around the world is a living proof of fallacy of these old theories.

Meat may bring physical strength and vigor for people who perform hard menial work or fight in wars, but by not eating it, the question of how can a nation become deficient or inferior needs to be answered by the liberals since they still draw their intellectual fuel from the colonial ideas such as the Aryan Invasion of India, that Aurangzeb was the best ruler of India etc.

Some of you may recall Babington Macaulay’s declaration: ‘I have never found one among them who could deny that a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia.’ And in Macaulay’s letter (1836) to his father: “Our English schools are flourishing wonderfully; we find it difficult to provide instruction to all. The effect of this education on Hindus is prodigious. No Hindu who has received an English education ever remains sincerely attached to his religion. It is my firm belief that if our plans of education are followed up, there will not be a single idolater among the respected classes 30 years hence. And this will be affected without our efforts to proselytize; I heartily rejoice in the prospect”. This man introduced such an education system in India so that Indians think and act as them yet hate anything Indian. Plenty of Indians are still suffering from this Macaulay syndrome!

Today some researchers are suggesting that the current rigid ‘caste system’ in India has much to do with the colonists, and perhaps making beef eating a common practice in order to instigate the Muslim community in their divide and conquer strategy. They also did so to humiliate the ‘inferior’ kala aadmi (slaves) by hurting their sentiment by killing cows! But would the ‘brown sahibs’ relent?

And imperialism makes a comeback with beef again! According to Benjamin Barber’s book Jihad Vs. McWorld (1995), McDonald’s is a symbol of not just the American way, but the soul of global capitalism. Unfortunately Indians are in love with what average health conscious Americans avoid eating: McDonalds, KFC etc.

The current declarations of a Chief Minister and some other public figures in India to announce “beef eating is my birth-right” – reminds us of an incident when the erstwhile vegetarian Japan’s fate was sealed in January of 1872. It was publicly announced that Emperor Meiji ate beef and mutton on a regular basis, breaking a centuries-old official ban on meat eating. This announcement placed the emperor at the center of the newly emerging meat-eating fashion while setting the foundation of a huge meat industry. Along with the bellies of the Japanese people, the pockets of the meat exporters like America is becoming fat every day!
Must we not say, like smoking, the choice is yours to eat beef? But you need to be held accountable, cover the cost of pleasing your taste buds. Smoking increases the likelihood of cancer for the smoker and bystanders. In many parts of the world smokers are taxed for two reasons – as a deterrent as well as the means of gaining money to treat patients suffering due to smoking related ailments. Smoking is an addiction, and even though people know it is dangerous, most cannot easily quit. In the case of beef, it is a choice. To many it is like the Duryodhana syndrome – “I know what is right and what is wrong, but I can’t stop doing wrong things!” If you still want to continue eating and promoting beef you may cover the cost. What is wrong in imposing a ‘beef tax’ to compensate for the grim effects of beef-eating – societal, health and environmental?

Morality lesson? No! If you want to hurt yourself, it is your choice, but please don’t hurt us because of your choice.
India stood and still stands by the dictum: Responsibility of your choice and action is only yours. Your health, progress, your relationship with your neighbors, co-citizens and nature depends on your actions! And if your human ethics is awakened against killing cows or your ‘religious’ Hindu neighbor feels awkward for your slaughter, sell, cooking and eating of beef – it will only be humane!

Are you on the ‘faith’ side or the ‘rational’ side? In either case, your lifestyle can be tested by beef! If you are not convinced yet, you should watch ‘Cowspiracy’ at: www.Cowspiracy.com

Some unknown inspired Americans are telling us what India should have taken leadership in. It may be a great idea if PM Modi, just like the International Yoga Day – encourages the UN to create a ‘cattle credit’ system in the lines of carbon credit for other human activities which produces greenhouse gases and make the sellers and consumers pay for it? But before that, India may consider completely stopping meet export (including buffalo) – after all it hurts the health of the consumer and the planet. Only additional task for the government will be to rehabilitate the workers in this industry.

In the coming decades, especially in India use of bulls for ploughing and cart-pulling will be nearly over. The only economic role the cows would have is to give milk. If we must drink milk and eat butter, ghee and sweets – we must take some extra responsibilities. The society needs to do much more to take care of old and unhealthy cattle after their ‘productive’ years are over, else – the world will have an excuse to kill and eat them!

Before we end, shall we have a toast with the ‘intolerance’ theorists and remind them of Holmes: “The moststringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater. .”

Kanchan Banerjee

True leaders lead, inspired by their beliefs, which form a religion on its own

Yes, it’s ideas trapped in the minds of most powerful humans that have liberated the world forever. Good and bad. Hitler and Mandela: one wanted to enslave, the other to free. Einstein wondered if future human societies would be wandering in posterity if not for Mahatma Gandhi. 

2013 celebrates the 151^st anniversary of one of the greatest sons of India, Swami Vivekananda. The world is yet to fully understand his contribution to the global ‘freedom’ phenomenon India indeed, was enslaved politically and culturally by foreign forces, for over 1000 years. Vivekananda inspired a new generation of Indian leaders, who worked on an overdrive, to earn freedom. And, that struck a chord around the world, unleashing a chain reaction.

On 4^th July 1776, the West encountered its first dawn of freedom after the American Revolution. Mankind witnessed a new era of freedom and democracy. British imperialism ended in the Indian sub-continent, after around 200 years. Indian freedom actually inspired many other nations, globally. Greatly inspired by Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. worked for the freedom of the enslaved ‘blacks’ in America. President Nelson Mandela too was deeply inspired. Even President Obama personally acknowledged the influence of Gandhi, MLK and Mandela.

One may not see a direct link. But this is how the world works – in mysterious ways! The power of thoughts travel faster than light and influence the world.

Sadly, India, the land of Dharma, is perhaps at the lowest end of the ladder of ethical societies! India needs to regain its faith in ‘Satyameva Jayate’ (truth alone triumphs). But how? India needs a change in leadership. Fact is – for 67 years India has been politically free, but, is  India mentally free from its past? Free fom the baggage of invading cultures? Are Macaulay’s ‘brown sahibs’ still managing the affairs of India?

Frankly, it’s not just a crisis. It is a country at cross-roads  between total extinction and a new beginning! Historically,  rejuvenation always follows after a downfall. It is inevitable that India will bounce back.

Who will be India’s Mandela, MLK, Gandhi,  Sardar Patel or Subhash Chandra? In poet Rabindranath Tagore’s words – “Into ever-widening thought and action; into that heaven of freedom’, let my country awake”.

India is actively waiting for the right leadership now. Swami Vivekananda said: “To devote your life to the good of all and to the happiness of all is religion. Whatever you do for your own sake is not religion.” Who is that person, whose religion is the welfare of the  people of India? And, Indians must have an answer soon, if they are really serious about their welfare!

The lure of India is historic. One can trace the journey over the centuries and how western people came to view India.

Gone are the days when voyagers from Europe went searching for India, for a brighter future by sailing across seas. Remember that Europe especially people of England around 15^th century, was poverty-stricken, controlled by the orthodox churches; hence there was an urgent need to go out in search of  religious, economic and political freedom.  With that as prime force, and a dash of adventure, many courageous souls sailed out for the unknown. Christopher Columbus missed real India’s soil, but Vasco da Gama (Portuguese) reached the shores of India; then came the Dutch, the Danish, the French and the English along with their leaders such as François Caron and Robert Clive. 

But it was the British, who colored the Indian mindset and even influenced how the world viewed India.

India was ‘shining’

But before the arrival of these 18^th century future colonists of India’s land, people and economy (even after the tyranny of nearly 1000 years of invasions and foreign domination) was more ‘shining’ then compared to today!

According to economic historian Angus Maddison (in his book The World Economy: A Millennial Perspective), India was the richest country in the world and had the world’s largest economy for 11 centuries. When the British occupied India around 1760 the currency conversion rate was 2.8 pounds per Indian Rupee. When British left India in 1947, after prolonged exploitation of the land, the rate was – 1 Pound to 5 Rupees.

British colonists in order to dominate and rule India fabricated and introduced the Aryan Invasion theory and proclaimed that “…a single shelf of a good European library was worth the whole native literature of India and Arabia.”¹  As if India had no history, no culture, no contribution to the world; and the ‘white’ masters gave the impression that they were the saviors, out to save millions in various colonized nations ( mostly non-white population).

Thomas Babington Macaulay confessed and planned for a change the psyche of Indians:“I have travelled across the length and breadth of India and I have not seen one person who is a beggar, who is a thief. Such wealth I have seen in this country, such high moral values, people of such caliber, that I do not think we would ever conquer this country, unless we break the very backbone of this nation, which is her spiritual and cultural heritage, and, therefore, I propose that we replace her old and ancient education system, her culture, for if the Indians think that all that is foreign and English is good and greater than their own, they will lose their self-esteem, their native self-culture and they will become what we want them, a truly dominated nation.” ¹

India: historically a trailblazer

Fact is, Macaulay was successful in creating ‘brown sahibs’ in millions, and there are plenty of them in various Indian institutes, who forget that India has contributed substantially in most areas of modern civilization like  – mathematics, language & grammar, astronomy, chemistry, metallurgy, health – you name a field, and India has a hand in it! Before the Muslim Invaders destroyed the Nalanda University in 1193 CE after emanating knowledge to the world for over 800 years, it was credited to be the source of over 900,000 manuscripts on thousands of knowledge sectors!

Thanks to Macaulay and Indian education system which is still influenced by his thoughts, many Indians believe even today that only the West has reached the peak of civilization. As if the West has the right to pass judgment on other societies, cultures and governance based on their  standards and world view!  

Living in peace, spiritual health is important

Standard of living does not mean standard of civilization. Economic prosperity is only one major part of our civilization. Living in peace, harmony and good physical, mental and spiritual health is also important.  

Yes, poorer, less developed countries cannot meet the basic needs of their people. But that does not mean that West has achieved everything! Every household in America did not have a car and refrigerator till a few decades ago. And sadly, we have seen in last few years  a sharp decline of living standard, even though America consumes a great chunk of world resources.

There are biases not only how western and developed countries view less developed countries and its people. It is found in the media, text books and even in the statements of certain world leaders.  Two recent incidents open our eyes on how the world views India and her people.

First one was to do with India’s spectacular and successful Mars mission. Unfortunately, the world news headlines were not necessarily very positive about this achievement of Indian scientists.

After all, each breakthrough and milestone (discoveries and achievements) by science and technology is in reality a milestone for the entire humanity. When others look at these achievements with colored lenses, it may reflect not just ignorance, but also racial biases.

Here are some newspaper headlines:

 “India Mars Mission to Launch Amidst Overwhelming Poverty.”– CNN ²

 “ISRO to launch India’s first spacecraft to Mars:  Critics of Britain’s aid programme in the country have also been angered by the mission. The UK gives India around £300m each year.” – The Guardian ³

“How can poor countries afford space programmes? What if the 16,000 scientists and engineers now working on space development were deployed instead to fix rotten sanitation?” – This Economist ⁴

The second one has to do with building of Sardar Patel’s statue. In a recent Yahoo story titled ‘India’s Modi aims at history and Gandhis with world’s tallest statue’ ⁵ the writers (jointly written by white and brown folks) misses the relevance. And then read the readers’ comments – most commentators, apparently western, have deep rooted biases – very similar to the ones written about the Mars mission!

The West must first know the real India

We, the people of the West, white or brown need not learn from the ‘colonized’ Indians, but need to do our independent research to know India. While we feel for the poor of India, sometimes we overlook our own backyard! We must not shy away from these facts before we poke our nose in others’ affairs!

Check these facts:

• Total cost of Iraq and Afghan war may be $6 Trillion. ⁶

Could we possibly spend that money in industries at home and for job creation?

• Every 1 in 6 American goes hungry every night. ⁷

Shocking, but true!

• Unofficial figure of unemployment in America is more than 14% in America. ⁸

Unbelievable but true?

• Over 600,000 people do not have a home to sleep every night. ⁹

Pathetic, but true!

We the West (especially Europe) is more or less responsible for the current state of affairs in India, to begin with, and then the Nehruvian model of development caused major setback to India’s growth. Then came the dynastic rule which is credited with scandals and corruption stories every month, which actually is detrimental to India’s development!

India can reach for the stars!

India is free to do everything to respect their leaders/heroes.  India is not all about poverty, it is only one facet of ‘India the wonder it is‘! If Patel is the true hero of India (both sides of the political spectrum agree with that)  – there is nothing wrong in making his statue, since most of the cost will come from people’s donations (cash or scrap metal)! One can know the exact details of the project here: http://www.giganticstatues.com/gujarat/#chitika_close_button

Prime Ministerial candidate Narendra Modi has the right to do it because he has developed his state Gujarat, beyond anyone’s imagination. He has earned his right to build such a statue. India has the right to reach for the stars, build the best, biggest, tallest everything it can.

Modi can and will build a new India, if elected. And we, the global citizens should be part of the success story, and not eternal pessimistic critics!

 References:

1. 1.(Thomas Babington Macaulay, “Speech in Parliament on the Government of India Bill, 10 July 1833,” Macaulay, Prose and Poetry, selected by G.M. Young (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1957), pp. 716-18)
2. 2.http://www.cnn.com/2013/11/04/world/asia/india-mars-space-race/
3. 3.http://guardianlv.com/2013/11/india-mars-mission-to-launch-amidst-overwhelming-poverty/
4. 4.http://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2013/11/economist-explains-0
5. 5.http://news.yahoo.com/indias-modi-aims-history-gandhis-worlds-tallest-statue-090452150.html
6. 6.http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-03-28/world/38097452_1_iraq-price-tag-first-gulf-war-veterans
7. 7.http://feedingamerica.org/hunger-in-america/hunger-facts.aspx
8. 8.http://www.forbes.com/sites/dandiamond/2013/07/05/why-the-real-unemployment-rate-is-higher-than-you-think/
9. 9.http://www.endhomelessness.org/pages/snapshot_of_homelessness

These days I have this tremendous desire to win something. Something to do with the everyone driving away with luxury cars and, worse, some of them being people you actually know and you have to say congrats, well done when what you really want to say is, I hate you because all I get is a card to scratch and it says, thank you try again.

I’d like to win a top of the range car that has more than a 1.4 litre engine and is bigger than a suitcase. A villa on the Costa del Sol. A family trip Business Class to Disneyland all expenses paid. Gold. Cold cash. Oodles of it. Stuff that makes all our friends play house to the green eyed monster.

Then I can act blase, pretend these windfalls come into my life on a monotonously regular basis and really, good fortune isn’ t everything in the world, there are other more important things like family life, health and sitting together with good friends watching one day matches on the telly…where do you guys live, here, eat my dust.

I want have my photograph in the papers and be interviewed so I can say all these intelligent things that winners say when they win like the money had upgraded their wisdom quotient.

Like, I am thrilled, I didn’ t expect it.

I believe in good, clean virtuous living, which is why I won.

I will give 32 percent to charity and nine percent to my favourite aunt who looked after me when I was young…gawarrrrrrnnnnn.

The winners look happy as they perch on their cars(even if they don’ t have driving licences) and they say these sweet, syrupy things about thanking everyone around them for their blessings and you want to say, look, really, don’t thank me, because I am so miserable about your win, you can’ t even guess how miserable.

Like with bullets, I know that somewhere out there is a fortune with my name on it, just waiting to be won.

Only a question of time before I can hold the press conference and take my million home.

Lying in bed at night I practice my acceptance speech. What’ll I say as I drive the Aston Martin out of Dubai Duty Free? How I’ll tell the Manager of the Bank folks, thanks for the million bucks but I am putting it offshore.

Then I want to swan into one of the Malls and be stared at as that guy who won the villa or the ten kilos of gold and act cool, so cool.

I have been wanting to act cool since2003 and it just does not happen.

I don’t think anyone realises exactly how depressing it is to win mini prizes, ones that people laugh in your face for and then sarcastically say, good show, well done, luckysod.

Lucky sod : For winning a packet of  toffees when that fellow out there has a sore thumb counting his lolly and he hasn’t even been through half the stack. and I am determined to be a big winner. Then I can philosophise on cosmic subjects and everyone will listen to me. My wife’s eyes will shine with pride as she looks at me and says, my husband, wattaman. My children will have respect, they will genuflect and look up to me rather than have that perpetual expression of ‘who, him?’ that today’s children generally reserve for their parents.

It has been said that the tea is as sweet as the sugar you have put in it. Well, I have paid my dues. I have bought 33 tickets for several lotteries and several raffles. I am investing daily in lucky bonanzas by the dozen, if it has a prize, Vohra is there battling it out with the best of them because you don’t muck about with Lady Luck, she is very sensitive. I have filled more forms than I did paying for a US visa.

And if you do come to our home it isn’t that I am serious about superstition, it is just a sheer coincidence that we have four leaf clovers, horseshoes, lucky talismans, charms and other such celestial investments and I do have this tendency to touch wood and keep my fingers crossed and generally read my horoscope before marching out to test my luck. After all, if there is a million bucks out there who cares if the neighbours

think you are nuts.

We just won’t invite them for the celebrations.

Notice something different?

Three words fraught with danger.

There is the husband back home after a rigorous day at the office looking forward to nothing more than putting his feet up and relaxing watching the Champion’s Trophy when the wife says, notice something different?

Immediately panic descends. What could it be? The sofa covers, the cushion, some new painting, dash it, has to be something, has she redone the table setting, what on earth is it?

For wives this is a major event and not to be taken lightly. A husband worth his salt is expected to get it right. Those who are a little smarter stall for time. Give me a clue, they say, everything looks so perfect, it is impossible to tell what’s new. Now, that sort of blatant flattery might wash under normal circumstances but it hasn’t a chance when it comes to find the change, the stakes are far too high.

By now, the husband is on his knees and she is going into freeze mode and she says, don’t tell me you can’t figure it out, after all the trouble I took…this means we are now moving into very sticky territory and things are not looking good.

So, the poor husband, he takes a deep breath and says, now, ummmmmm, let me see, it isn’t the curtains, not the pelmets, and it isn’t the sideboard, nor is it the potted plant, running off this list in the hope that her body language will give her away, was that flipping potted plant always there or has it been changed?

Finally, he says, the cushions, you have changed the cushions.

She goes all rigid and chilly as the wind that blows through the room. Then she says those awful words that made the strongest of husbands quail. “I don’t know why I bother, not that it makes any difference to you.”

A more intimidating version of this exercise comes about when the wife says much the same words about herself. The husband is busy doing his accounts or watching an absorbing Al Pacino retro  and she says, notice something different? Same words, different inflection. Then she does a little spin and a two step and poses there for him. Now, with old Scarface in trouble and the movie rushing to its climax, he has absolutely no clue what she is talking about and dread is the uppermost sentiment that fills his mind. Why now?

Usually, it is the hair but not necessarily so. It could be twitched eyebrows, or a new nail varnish or a new dress or shoes or anything, one of ten different options.

Of course, says the sensible husband grandly, you look wonderful. 

Yes, but what is different.

Gorgeous, stunning.

Yes, but what is different?

Migoodness, says the warrior, knowing he is losing ground, now let me see.

It is a risk at the best of times because once you have got it wrong you don’t get a second chance at it. No second shots, that’s the name of the game. 

The wife will instantly whisk off in a huff and no amount of making up will suffice. Later on, when the secret is out, you can make all the mewling sounds about how you knew all the time that it was the new color tone to her hair or new ear rings only you were fooling around but it won’t make any difference. In this business, once you have goofed up, that’s it. A friend of mine didn’t notice she had her nose pierced. Ten year since the gaffe and he is still paying for it.  

Just go buy her something expensive.

A friend of mine he actually keeps a diary with regular updates on his wife’s changes in person and the house. Believes he can beat the odds. 

Suffice it to say, he still gets it wrong.

Everybody has his or her own way of enjoying life. I do that by seeking humor in news. I don’t aspire for Wodehousean comic subtlety in news-based offerings. But, this is what I get. Following a television channel’s sting operation, the India Against Corruption leader Arvind Kejriwal has alleged that an NGO for the physically disabled run by Union Minister Salman Khurshid and his wife Louise has misappropriated funds. In a frantic attempt to defend Khurshid, his colleague Beni Prasad Verma said, “I don’t think a person like Khurshid will do anything for an amount like 71 lakh. It is a very small amount for a Central minister.” He added, “If it would have been Rs 71 crore, I would have been serious.” The already beleaguered Congress party was in a tight spot. After all, Verma had suggested that small-time corruption was beneath the dignity of a Central minister. Could that get any worse? The media grabbed the opportunity. Stories of large-scale corruption involving ministers were recycled once again. I thought of Verma and laughed. What a guy!

Entertainment journalism entertains. It can make you howl with uncontrollable laughter. In the last few days, two events have taken place. The first, Amitabh Bachchan’s 70th birthday. Bachchan’s wife Jaya had planned the grand celebrations. Nothing wrong with that. He is a rock star. Seventy is a significant milestone. They have the money to splurge. The celebration plans were supposed to be wrapped in mystery. ‘Secret plans’ as an expression was used more often than it had been for Danny Boyle’s spectacular opening act of the London Olympics. The funny thing: one newspaper printed a bit about the plans, another, another bit, while some television channel host chirped about something else. The text of the reports went along these lines. ‘Amitabh Bachchan’s birthday celebrations whose plans are a closely guarded secret will have will have this and that and….’ I laughed.

Hollywood has Brangelina. The Hindi film industry – I should have used Bollywood for a change – has Saifeena. Just like Bachchan’s birthday, Saif Ali Khan’s marriage to Kareena Kapoor was a major event. I am still trying to figure out why. But it was. Once again, entertainment journalism which is mostly based on PR releases and personal equations with stars decided to shake the nation with its series of revelations about the plans that had been made in the ssshhh…mode. Secrets kept on tumbling out of the unlocked closet. The choice of words echoed the Bachchan-related reports. ‘Saifeena’s marriage plans are a closely guarded secret. Saif mother’s Sharmila Tagore has planned….” I laughed, although the intensity of joy was somewhat less. Too similar, too soon, that’s why.

Finding humor where there is supposed to be none can simplify our lives. When there is a flood and someone drowns, our media is known to rush to the spot and ask the victim’s father, “How are you feeling?” Come on. His son has died. How would he feel? The earnestness with which the reporter asks is so ridiculous that the tragedy gets eclipsed for a while. After a reasonably well-off businessman was arrested for his alleged involvement in the August 1 serial blasts in Mumbai’s neighbor Pune, the media did many stories. The brother of the accused said that his brother was being framed, for instance. Every time any such accused is arrested, we come across the same ideas. Only, names change. Some might find the reluctance to use imagination – or perhaps, the inability to think differently – very irritating. I laugh.

Unintentionally funny politicians are interesting.  Some arrogant film stars spawn comic moments. A TV host’s pretentious accent, a reporter’s dumb questions, a print journalist’s badly written report: the India media can make us smile, one way or the other. What the media has to offer beyond that – and there is a lot of that too – is what matters. They tell me what we ought to know. That doesn’t make me smile.

(New York, Sept 24, 2012) Global Indian Business Meet (GIBM), a 3 day conference held at the Marriott Marquis, in Manhattan, was organized by NGI Foundation (New Global Indian) to provide a platform, for entrepreneurship, innovation, partnership and growth. The event was inaugurated by Swami Tyagananda on the occasion of his 150th birth anniversary of Swami Vivekananda. Swami Tyagananda of Ramakrishna order, Swami Bhoomananda Teertha, underlined respect, justice and charity to be the hallmarks of businesses to make businesses sustainable and rooted to true Indian values.

“For the first time a small group of people with a gigantic mission before them is organizing this event to truly impact the world of business and entrepreneurship.” says event Chairman Mr.Vijay Nahata.

GIBM kick started with The Nanoholdings CEO, Justin Hall-Tipping, outlining futuristic nano-technologies and the Marketing VIP’s of Du Telecom, Gulf’s second largest telecom company, outlining the future and importance of reinventing the telecom industry. The conference additionally held engaging sessions on venture capital and their next focus of investments, healthcare, tourism and media investment scenarios, and an international session on Caribbean business promotion.

GIBM’s main mission was to focus on Business, Entrepreneurships, Investments, India business Opportunities, and Global Partnerships. The NGI Foundation Chairman Kanchan Banerjee noted, “This is only the first of a series of similar meets across the world, one each year, through which we want to take the Indian growth story to every nook and corner and also share experiences and cases for better business and entrepreneurship development among business leaders of Indian origin globally.”

High profiles speakers at GIBM included, Desh Deshpande, Ajit Manocha, Poonam Ahluwalia, Nicola Arena, Ajay Bhakshi, Ashish Chauhan, Md. Irrfan Ali, Swadesh Chatterjee, Ajit Dayal, Sachin Duggal, Dr. Vijay Eswaran, Dr. Anita Goel, Atul Gupta, Justin Hall, Stuli Jalan, Satish Jha, Dr. Vinod Juneja, R.V. Kanoria, Dr. Sunita Kanumury, Sushil Mantri, Shubash Menon, Louise Nair, Alkesh Patel, Rajen Pillay, Sajay Puri, Ashok Rao, Chandrakant Salunkhe, Fred Schwartz, Dr. Ashok Sinha, Anand S. Krishnan, Edie Weiner and Manoj Soma. Mr. Vijay Nambiar, Nirupama Rao, Robert Orris Blake, Upendra Chivukula, Mr Mitul Deasi, Ambassador Prabhu Dayal, Denzil Douglas, Debashis Chatterjee, Lord Meghand Desai, Meleveetil Damodaran, Mitul Desai, Vibhuti Jha, Ashoke Rao, Ranjana Khanna, Dr. Rajiv Kumar, Dr. Navaratna Rajaram, Dr, Anil Lamba, Prof Dasarath Chetty, and Minocher Patel. Kelly Wright from Fox News, Spiritual leader Swami Tyagananda Maharaj and Swami Bhoomananda Tirtha.

New York Governor Mario Cuomo’s top cabinet member Alphonso David to NY State Labor Commissioner Peter Rivera and New Jersey DMV Chair and Chief Administrator Raymond Martinez, who is also adviser to the Governor or NJ, attended the event.

GIBM held an NGI Excellence Award Ceremony to recognize many great leaders in various fields. Awards categories and winners included Swami Vivekananda Leadership Award in Entrepreneurship Philanthropy to Dr Gururaj Deshpande, NGI Excellence Award for Educational Leadership to Thumbay Moideen (UAE), Communication Leadership to Atul Gupta (South Africa), Community Initiatives to Kallicharan (Guyana), Indian Diaspora Leadership to GOPIO President Ashook Ramsaran (USA), Community Leadership to Dr Dasarath Chetty (South Africa), Finance and Banking Leadership to Rajen Pillay (South Africa), and Business Leadership to Dato Dr Vijay Eshwaran (Malaysia).

In addition, an outstanding entertainment program was planned for the 3 evenings that featured Sarod Maestro Ustad Amjad Ali Khan with Ayaan Ali Khan & Aman Ali Khan, Stem Dance Group from Bangalore, Standup comedy show by Rajiv Satyal and a Bollywood song and dance evening by Shweta Pandit.

ABOUT NEW GLOBAL INDIAN: Global Indian Business Meet 2012, www.GIBM2012.org, is organized by the New Global Indian (NGI) Foundation in partnership and with the support of many East Indian CEOs, MDs, trade bodies and associations. It will bring together business leaders, academics, investors and entrepreneurs from south, east and central Asia, US, the Middle East, UK, and South Africa. For additional information, email info@GIBM2012.org or call 1-603-682-0210 (US).

Lights, camera, action!

It was an era where working in cinema was a taboo, where a man with vision and courage made it possible. Mumbai’s affluent crowd had no idea of witnessing something ground-breaking. Minus sound everything was perfectly set on April 21, 1913, at Olympia theatre where Dadasaheb Phalke premiered the first ever full-length film, Raja Harishchandra. A silent movie based on the legend of King Harishchandra, enumerated in the Ramayana and Mahabharata, it was released on May 3, 1913.

Indian film industry that Dadasaheb gave birth to inadvertently with his first film enters its centenary year, India is ready to pay an abiding tribute to the date he immortalized with the first public screening of the maiden full-length Indian feature film. In a nation, where more than 1,000 films are made every year, in multiple languages, when we celebrate a century of filmmaking excellence, how do we define Indian cinema?

Indian cinema encompasses regional films (Tamil, Telugu, Kannada, Malayalam, Marathi, Oriya, Bengali, Gujarati, Bhojpuri, Punjabi etc) but the larger stake comprise of Hindi film industry. Larger than life movie sets for candy floss romances salted with lavish song-dance sequences shot in exotic locales, spunky underworld flicks, bone-tickling comedies, well-crafted offbeat cinemas, jaw-dropping action capers to social melodramas and titillating stories — the Indian movies have just about touched every genre of entertainment.

Everything is so fascinating here, from top grosser blockbusters to multiplex movies tailor-made for overseas Indians, to colourful crossover films with NRI connect high on emotional content to tug at the heartstrings of homesick Indian diaspora, the platter is dynamic and diverse.

Fraternity Action

Here’s an ode to every individual who strives to make that virtual space seem to be a part of our daily lives. A documentary is being made as a tribute to celebrating the 100 years of cinema, four distinguished filmmakers Karan Johar, Anurag Kashyap, Zoya Akhtar and Dibakar Banerjee will be making 20-minute short films each based on Bollywood. The four documentaries are being made under the banner of Flying Turtle Films which will give varied taste under one maincourse and will be later clubbed and released as an 80-minute documentary film, titled ‘Bombay Talkies’.

According to a leading film website, Zoya’s documentary has planned is titled Sheila Ki Jawaani and narrates the story of a young boy and his obsession with the song Sheila Ki Jawaani. The film will unfold the tales of all the popular item numbers and how peppy and raunchy songs have become over the century. Zoya’s film features Katrina Kaif and also an in-depth interview with Ranveer Singh. While Anurag’s film untitled yet, but it is confirmed that Priyanka Chopra will be a part of it. Karan Johar and Dibakar haven’t started work on their projects yet.

Government Action

From this year onwards, the National Film Awards will be given away on May 3 every year. At the 59th National Film Awards ceremony in New Delhi, Ambika Soni, minister for Information and Broadcasting, said, “There are a few interesting projects to commemorate the centenary of Indian cinema. We are planning to open a museum of Indian cinema. The museum will be in Mumbai, in the heritage building of Gulshan Mahal. It will be ready before May 2013.”

The museum will showcase the history of the industry and its global impact. It will be a storehouse of information, artifacts, equipments like cameras, editing and recording machines, projectors, costumes, photographs and other material. The properties, dresses, sets, tapes, vintage equipment, posters, copies of important films, prints, promotional leaflets, developing equipment books, biographies, sound tracks, trailers, transparencies, cinema magazines and statistics covering film distribution are also expected to be displayed in a chronological manner.

‘Climax’ Action

Let the festivities begin. The journey from silent films to contemporary cinema has been amazing and that becomes a part of our heritage. From producers to directors, from exhibitors to distributors, from actors to villains, from musicians to technicians all are basking in glory of magical century of Bollywood. The Indian film industry will celebrate 100 years of its existence in 2013. The Indian cinema story continues… The Indian film industry continues unabated.