Upliftthem re- produces an article on Dr. Ambedkar from Tehelka:
H.Mohan Kumar from Tehelka writes about the real revolutionary, who is the real revolutionary of India in the past 100 years. There is no one in India can claim or come close to the real Revolutionary who is shaping up and uplifting the ordinary Indians, that [...]
Author Archive for bhupinder
Madhukar treks through the road that leads to the hamlet of Naxalbari. Nowadays it passes through Jharkhand, Orissa and Chattisgarh.
When I asked the sister the same question, she said, “No, we never had any problems with them (the Naxalites). Maybe, we are not in “The Corridor”. But even if we were in their area, why [...]
I learned to call it sharifa, but the custard apple is also called Sita- phal in North India, linking it to the Ramayana mythology. Paul Kekai Manansala points out that his particular fruit may be a possible link indicating pre- Columbian encounters between India and America.
The discovery of custard apple seed at the Neolithic site [...]
String theorist/ Physicist Sunil Mukhi writes on ‘Marxism and Intelligence’, check out the comments on his previous post too.
Further to Cheeta’s comment on my previous blog “Communists and freedom”, about the distinction between communists and Communists, I was reminded of the late D.D. Kosambi (a colourful personality who was a TIFR mathematics professor as well [...]
The Man that Hindutva Forgot
Published by April 5th, 2008 in History, Politics and Secularism. 0 CommentsMuch before I became a Marxist and an ideological opponent of Hindutva, I had read an article about England being actually a corruption of “Angulistan” (thus called because of its shape). I did not know that P.N. Oak was from Indore and that he has passed way on the eve of the demolition of the [...]
Vidya pens an obituary to an auto driver, Venkatacalam, who died recently. She remembers a movie that he saw with her family.
Appreciation of art is fine as long as you have the resources to take care of your daily bread! And in the final scene just before Serugalattur Sama falls at the feet of the [...]
Saad Sultan lays down 7 Precepts for living in Pakistan, his take on PTV is reminiscent of the Indian Doordarshan channel:
If, on the other hand, you can’t help but watch the news because you think that being told what’s happening makes up for your doing nothing about it, then watch PTV News. You will be [...]
Five Years of Democracy in Iraq
Published by March 23rd, 2008 in Democracy and Geopolitics. 0 Comments
Madhukar compiles a pictorial history of the five years of US invasion and occupation of Iraq. One can only wonder at anyone who is impressed by this “democracy” that the champions of the “free world” are bent upon conferring to what was, and remains, the third world.
…To me, it is also a time to reflect, [...]
Noni at untouchable EARTH writes on the contradictions in a rapidly globalizing world:
A global citizen a good idea but now a global citizen mostly means a 60% American anywhere in the world as truly said by Lars von Trier. Someone he or she may not allow voting in USA but mind of that global citizen [...]
Why the Rs. 60,000 crore Waiver is not a Sop
Published by March 3rd, 2008 in Economy, India and Poverty. 0 CommentsMadhukar rubbishes the claims that the Rs. 60,000 crores waiver to the small and marginal farmers in the 2008 budget is an electoral “sop”:
The highlight of the India’s Annual Budget yesterday was the waiver of Rs.60,000crore ($15bn approx) debt to the small and marginal farmers.Some hailed this as “revolutionary”, while others criticised this as a [...]
Another Betrayal of the Rural Poor?
Published by February 26th, 2008 in Caste, Dalit, Development, Economy, India and Poverty. 0 CommentsVB Rawat writes on the UPA’s flagship package for rural India, the NREGS, that seems to be floundering, as in this UP village.
Meanwhile, Rupchandrapur people are wondering whether they will be able to get their total amount or not. If for 14 days of work, an individual get Rs 400/- as per calculation of the [...]
Harsh writes on the ‘fifty years of solitude’ of Fidel Castro’s Cuba in the aftermath of his resignation as the President of his country,
Whether you like him or hate him, Castro is a leader who has made a name for himself in the world history. Rarely will any student graduate with a history degree without [...]
Post Elections in the Labyrinth of the Pure
Published by February 21st, 2008 in Geopolitics, Politics and South Asia. 0 CommentsA collection of initial reactions to the election results in Pakistan:
Manoj Joshi points to the continuing role of the army after the elections.
At present, the army has adopted a low profile because its reputation has sunk along with its erstwhile chief Pervez Musharraf. But though the army has delinked itself from Musharraf, it is unlikely [...]
Knitting Tapestries of History and Memories
Published by February 15th, 2008 in History, India, Indiaspora and South Asia. 3 CommentsDesi Knitter recalls working and arguing with the historian, the late Arvind N. Das, while preparing for a 16 week course on “India from the Indus Valley to Silicon Valley”
This emphasis on everyday life reminded me of a documentary film series on South Asian history by Arvind Das, a journalist and historian with tremendous energy, [...]
Meeting Baba Amte, on way from the Beatles to Bhils
Published by February 9th, 2008 in Activism, Development, Environment, Health, Human Rights, India and Poverty. 0 CommentsRahul Banerjee recalls his encounters with Baba Amte who passed away today:
The most poignant contradiction is that between my two fathers. While my biological father was dead against my decision to go into the wilds among the adivasis my sociological father Baba Amte not only lauded this decision, which as it happened duplicated his own [...]
D.D. Kosambi Festival of Ideas
Published by February 1st, 2008 in Announcement, History and India. 2 CommentsGoa is hosting a festival of ideas in memory of the great Indian mathematician and historian, Damodar Dharmanand Kosambi between the 4th and 7th of Feb. The programme is as follows:
4th February :1. Hamid Ansari , Vice President : Inaugural Lecture – DDK’s Thoughts on Peace2. Meera Kosambi : DDK - the scholar and [...]
Whither the Left in Pakistan?
Published by December 8th, 2007 in Politics and South Asia. 0 CommentsHaider K. Nizamani explains the decline of the Left in context of Pakistan’s position in the Cold War and the result of that decline for Pakistan, and thereby on South Asian politics.
The Rawalpindi Conspiracy, as it is commonly known, was used as a ruse to suppress dissent and punish those individuals who were identified with [...]
Khoya Khoya Chand- the Majaz Connection
Published by December 7th, 2007 in Cinema and Poetry. 1 CommentAt the Edge discovers a connection between Khoya Khoya Chand and the incendiary Urdu poet Majaz.
Jee mein aata hai murda sitare noch loonIdhar bhi nooch loon udhar bhi noch loonEk do ka zikar kya mein sare nooch loonI had a feeling about these lines when I first heard the song, a feeling that made me [...]
Jugaadu Modernity of Gautam Nagar
Published by December 7th, 2007 in Caste, Dalit, Economy and Travel. 0 CommentsSay what you will, but the DDA flats of Gautam Nagar have style. Climbing the steps through ascending levels of that geometric, stained yellow concrete public housing architecture of the 1960s, past ingenious alterations and illegalities, past urban gardens and rampant creepers, past leftover Divali lights busted and dusty tangled with marigold garlands buzzing with [...]
Humpty Dumpty’s Great Fall
Published by December 1st, 2007 in Capitalism, Economy and Globalisation. 0 CommentsMadhukar examines the continuous decline of the mighty US dollar in context of worldwide political developments especially the distancing by a close US ‘ally’ Saudi Arabia.
In the recently concluded meeting of OPEC heads, a closed door meeting “accidentally” got telecasted to journalists. In response to pressure by Venezuela and Iran to replace US$ by a [...]
In the Land of Seven Sisters
Published by November 26th, 2007 in Adivasi, Human Rights, India, North East, Society and Women. 3 CommentsBadly Drawn Girl writes on the stripping and beating of an adivasi woman in Guwahati yesterday.
peaceful protest on a street of guwahati (assam) turned violent. an adivasi woman was stripped naked, chased after, kicked repeatedly on her breasts and vagina and paraded down the street.This news played over and over again with a caption [...]
Rahul Banerjee translates a few poems by Vaharu Sonawane, an adivasi poet from Western India, and points to more translations available on the internet.
My tattered quilt
soiled.Inside the quilt I remain
suffocatedat
its sour smell nose
twitching up and down
turning from one side to the other
nose buried in the quilt I kept
suffering its sour smell.
In this same quilt
ancestors had [...]
Kunal Chattopadhyay takes strong exception (link via Sanhati) to the statement on Nandigram whose signatories include Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn and … and our own Tariq Ali.
And yes, on 14th November, despite attempts to turn the protest demonstration into an “apolitical” show by some high profile figures, there were banners and posters, like the one [...]
China’s Path is Our Path
Published by November 13th, 2007 in Activism, Capitalism and Politics. 0 CommentsVikas Pathak summarizes the developments in Nandigram where the CPM is following the Chinese Communist Party in ushering in capitalism in West Bengal.
Lord Buddha from the City of Joy is “smarter” than Modi. Remember, it’s not for nothing that Communists are intellectuals and Sanghis fools. Firstly, Buddha did not allow the media to get incriminating [...]
A Dialectical Islamist
Published by November 13th, 2007 in Politics, Religion and Theory. 0 CommentsAt Pak Tea House, Shaheryar Ali recalls the prominent Iranian intellectual, Ali Shariarti’s attempts to fuse Marxist- Hegelian thoughts with Islam in the 1960s. Unlike liberation theology in Latin America, this attempt to retrieve ideology from religion was crushed even before it could become popular.
While those who cut heads of people in Sawat, Iraq and [...]
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