Meena Kandasamy writes a letter to Tehelka’s editor:
I WAS SHOCKED to see your magazine carry the abusive word “pariah” on the cover. Though it is common knowledge that the word passed into English from Tamil, it would have been better if you remembered that it is the name of a Tamil Dalit caste. Only because [...]
Archive for the 'History' Category
A National Museum of History and Culture of Dalits
Published by April 30th, 2008 in Art, Culture, Dalit, History and Human Rights. 0 CommentsAniruddha Kulkarni says India needs to build a museum of Dalit history and culture:
But I do think some psychological displacement is at work when a magnificent Holocaust Memorial Museum, in which the criminals are not Americans, precedes a Washington institution of equivalent stature dedicated to the saga of national violence that is slavery and segregation…[...] [...]
Great moments in sporting history
Published by April 18th, 2008 in History, Humour and Sports. 0 CommentsThe city was in an uproar. Everywhere little booklet biographies of Pele were published, sold and bought in droves. [Abhijit still has one of them], Calcutta having always been a literary city, and the merchandising juggernaut as yet a glint in the eye of international football [one assumes]. The game was to be played at [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Why did they fight, Ma?
Published by April 2nd, 2008 in Geopolitics, History, India, Society and South Asia. 1 CommentManpreet’s little daughter Rasan tries to understand the partition of India and Pakistan:
“I hate England.”
“Why?”
“Because they divided India.”
“Well, they didn’t. Partly it was our own fault. We allowed them, so they could.”
“But they ruled over us. Why did they have to rule over us?”
“You like to mind your class, right? You like to be the [...]
Common School System
Published by March 31st, 2008 in Education, History, Human Rights, India, Policy, Politics and Poverty. 0 CommentsAnil Sadagopal advocates a Common School System:
The role of Common School System in forging a sense of common citizenship and nationhood is yet to be appreciated. This becomes a critical nation-building function in a geo-culturally diverse country like India. How can the present multi-layered school system fulfill this requirement? Today, the school system is like [...]
Why Indians love to hate Nehru
Published by March 18th, 2008 in History, Personal and Politics. 0 CommentsVishal thinks Ramachandra Guha is right when he suggests that Nehru and Gandhi are easy targets because neither was a sectarian leader:
In his fascinating essay Ramachandra Guha calls Nehru and Gandhi “Shock Absorbers”. He points out how we Indians are quite lenient and often eloquent when it comes to criticizing Gandhi and/or Nehru. But for [...]
10 years of heading a gang
Published by March 17th, 2008 in Culture, Democracy, History and Politics. 0 CommentsV.Isvarmurti writes a letter full of good counsel to Sonia Gandhi:
Dear Mrs.Gandhi,
Today is March 14 and it nice to write to you and congratulate you for having completed the President ship of the Congress for 10 long years.
This is a great accomplishment by any measurement and in politics this is something unusually a long [...]
‘Creating’ history
Published by March 17th, 2008 in Caste, Dalit, Education, History, India and Politics. 0 CommentsPardeep examines how history is ‘created’ in India:
Brahmin scholars have ignored all the Dalit- Bahujan revolutionaries like Ayyankali from Kerala who fought for the poor Dalits rights. Birsa Munda – Tribal leader from Bihar, Mahatma Joytiba Phule – father of social revolution, EVR Periyar – Great revolutionary from Tamil Nadu, but where all these stands [...]
‘Gandhi’s spell’
Published by March 17th, 2008 in Activism, Adivasi, Caste, Dalit, History, Human Rights, Poetry and Women. 0 CommentsPremasri points to a growing campaign for land redistribution spearheaded by Dalit women in Andhra Pradesh:
Recognizing the the need to make their voices heard, dalit women in Andhra Pradesh are rising up and demanding their rights by filing applications for ownership of unused land. To date, over 25,000 applications have been filed by women in [...]
Anti-Charitable Contributions?
Published by March 12th, 2008 in History, India, Poverty and Society. 2 CommentsDid you know that in 1877 the British colonial government had passed an “Anti-Charitable Contributions Act”? I did not. Bala posts about this absurd piece of history that led to ten million deaths.
He has also unearthed large portions of the original text of the act. My favourite part, from Chapter IV which deals with examples of offences under [...]
In democracy, there is hope
Published by March 11th, 2008 in Community, Culture, Democracy, Development, Economy, Government, History, India, North East, Personal and Politics. 1 CommentRelating four stories of people he spoke to, Mishti believes there is hope for the country, if the NDA Government comes back to power.
For the sake of the aam aadmi, for the sake of the immigrant workers in Mumbai, for the sake of our highways, for the sake of our pride as Indians, for [...]
Beyond the Open Road, Wandering and Wondering
Published by March 3rd, 2008 in Adivasi, Culture, Environment, History, Language, Personal, Spotlight Series and Travel. 1 Comment[ This is Essay # 22 in our Spotlight Series. Click here for the archives.]
Beyond the Open Road, Wandering and Wondering
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Anil P
Now when I look back I wonder if I’ve been lucky to not confront, even once, any introspective thought on the merits of travel. However, I’ve been asked just that by people. This [...]
Angkor Vat
Published by February 27th, 2008 in Geopolitics, History, Photoblog, South Asia and Travel. 2 CommentsKamini traveled to Angkor Vat and has written a series of posts on her experiences, along with some lovely pics:
Deep in the Cambodian jungles lie some of the world’s most astonishingly beautiful temple ruins. Built between the 9th and 15th centuries, during the years of the Khmer Empire, they are mind-boggling in their sheer exquisiteness, [...]
The Growth ‘Miracle’
Published by February 27th, 2008 in Development, Economy, Education, History, Policy, Spotlight Series and Theory. 0 Comments[ This is Essay # 20 in our Spotlight Series. Click here for the archives.]
The Growth ‘Miracle’
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Shromon Das
‘Growth’ is an issue that gains importance in almost any context; firms worrying about business growth, teenagers worrying about how tall they can grow, and of course, economists worrying about economic growth. One of the most fascinating case [...]
The Palace of Illusions
Published by February 27th, 2008 in Books, Culture, History, India and Literature. 0 Comments“It is quite admirable to see how the author managed to squeeze in almost all of the notable small tales that are linked to the main novel. She also does an admirable job in keeping true to the theme of biography. If an event occurred without Draupadi’s presence, she’d raconte it to us in retrospect [...]
Manish thinks Washington has an advantage over Gandhi:
Since today is George Washington’s birthday, let’s compare how India and America honor their respective fathers of their nations.
Washington doesn’t even get his own day - it’s widely known as Presidents Day. Gandhi’s day is called Gandhi Jayanti.
Washington’s mug is on the one dollar bill. Gandhi’s is on [...]
Will India apologize too?
Published by February 18th, 2008 in Caste, Democracy, Development, Economy, History, Human Rights, India and Racism. 0 CommentsAditya applauds the Australian government’s apology to the aborigines and wonders whether this would ever happen in India:
The incident in Australia marks an important revelation in the progress of a welfare state. To understand that the state program must secure the rights of all is one of the most important facets of the democracy. But [...]
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, [...]
Buddha, the Taliban and Pakistan
Published by February 15th, 2008 in Art, History, India, Religion, South Asia and Spotlight Series. 7 Comments[ This is Essay # !5 in our Spotlight Series. Click here for the archives.]
Buddha, the Taliban and Pakistan
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Raza Rumi
I have been working on this composition for quite a while. I was angered, rather revolted by what the Taliban were doing in the pristine Swat valley that has recently undergone full scale war. What has [...]
Bauls
Published by February 12th, 2008 in Art, Culture, History, India, Language, Music and Religion. 1 CommentKalyan sheds some light on the world of the Bauls:
The word ‘Baul’ refers to three terms- betul meaning ‘out of rhythm’, vayu meaning ‘air’ or the inner flow of energy which gives life and harmony to all living beings ; and auliya, a term of Arabic origin, which means ’saint’ or ‘holy man’. This is [...]
Congress loves the Thackerays?
Published by February 6th, 2008 in History, Language, Politics and Prejudice. 0 CommentsAbhinandan Mishra foresees the unfolding of an old story in Maharashtra: pawns become wazirs as a spineless government looks on:
The Shiv Sena was earlier more of a pawn which the Congress used to its benefit, and now the same Shiv Sena runs a parallel government in Maharashtra. There is more than enough evidence to book [...]
Gandhian economics
Published by February 3rd, 2008 in Capitalism, Community, Development, Economy, Environment, History and Theory. 0 CommentsHow practicable an economic philosophy was Gandhian economics? Rob Staley offers his views:
The tagline that stuck was this: “Production by the masses instead of mass production.” This roughly summarized his opinion on the direction in which India’s young budding economy should take as they pulled away from the British in the 40s. The idea was [...]
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 [...]
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