Balaji looks at religion’s role over the years
As the dawn of economic revival started in India in 1991, so did the start of the end of Indian secularism. As people started to get more educated, more of them started to believe in religion. they also came to realize that intellectuals like Einstein, Da Vinci and [...]
Archive for the 'Religion' Category
Economics and religion
Published by January 13th, 2010 in Development, India and Religion. 0 CommentsMayank Austen Soofi recently attended a Ramayan paath (reading and recitation) in Delhi and has a wonderful write-up with some pictures about it:
The Ramayan Paath is an important event in the Singhs’ social calendar. Mrs Singh’s daughter, son-in-law and granddaughter came the day before. Her niece arrived from Aligarh. The reading lasts for 24 hours. [...]
Saxicola Rubetra has begun a series of posts describing her journey into atheism. A thought-provoking read, to say the least:
The real change came about due to Social Studies, in Class 8. That was when we studied modern history, and in particular detail about all the social reformers of the 18th and 19th centuries: the beliefs [...]
The Hip Hop Grandmom reflects on the place of God and prayer in her life :
Unlike my Christian friends we, in our family, were under no compulsion to pray on a regular basis or go to the temple on a particular day. But we were expected to leave all work and assemble in the room [...]
Eid pictures
Published by September 21st, 2009 in India, Photoblog, Photography and Religion. 1 CommentThe Sacromento Bee blog posts assorted Eid pictures from India.
A more environment friendly Ganesh visarjan
Published by September 2nd, 2009 in Culture, Environment and Religion. 0 CommentsOver at the Punekar blog, Sagar says there are more ways of making the Ganesh utsav environment friendly than bans on immersion processions:
Moreover, I feel it is high time the government bans the production of Ganpati idols made from plaster of paris (PoP) preferred for its moulding characteristics. Not only is PoP non bio-degradable but [...]
A ban on headscraves in Dakshina Kannada
Published by September 2nd, 2009 in Government, Religion and World. 0 CommentsAn unofficial ban and a complicit Government is escalating tensions in Dakshina Kannada.
Says Aysha Ashmin, an 18-year-old student from Bantwal in Dakshina Kannada district, “Initially, Muslim women were asked to remove their burkas before entering class rooms. A month later, this was extended slightly – no burkas in college campuses they said. So women hurriedly [...]
Today is our heritage..
Published by July 2nd, 2009 in Gender & Sexuality, History, Human Rights, India, Justice, LGBT, Prejudice, Regulation and Religion. 5 CommentsDilip says – today gives reason for every Indian to celebrate:
Well, the best news of I don’t know how long is what transpired in the Delhi High Court today. The judges there did overturn Section 377. No longer are our gay brothers and sisters breaking the law by doing what the rest of us do [...]
Equal Opportunity Commission
Published by June 24th, 2009 in Activism, Adivasi, Caste, Dalit, Policy, Prejudice and Religion. 0 CommentsTarunabh, of the Centre for the Study of Social Exclusion, writes to the Ministry of Minority Affairs, to further the public debate on equality of opportunities.
Seems to me more like an attempt to start a private, exclusive debate among a select group of elites in the academia, lawmakers and the enforcers, among others.
Unveiling martyrs
Published by June 23rd, 2009 in Culture, Human Rights, Racism, Religion, Secularism, Women and World. 0 CommentsAlankrita doesn’t understand why a democratic nation would want to impose a dress code:
The veil , however confuses me. I find the basic idea of covering up to prevent others from getting tempted, unadulterated nonsense. But there are those who choose to. I might find that choice stupid, or ill-informed or even regressive. But then [...]
No poverty of contempt here
Published by June 22nd, 2009 in Blogging, Cinema, Media, Poverty, Religion and Society. 0 CommentsChurumuri follows the angry public exchange of notes that started between Amitabh Bachchan and Jug Suraiya, across the media, after the success of Slumdog Millionaire. Select portions from the post:
Bachchan:
I accuse the journalist Jug Suraiya of failing his professional ethical code of conduct by means of wilful error in the collection of facts…. He should [...]
Adnan learns about the tradition of chillas:
I was surprised and asked him to wait for a while so that I could take a look at the chilla. The gate had ‘Ya Ghaus dastgir‘ written in nastaliq Urdu. I sensed that it was Sufi-inspired shrine a la mazaar though of a different kind.
And there were dozens [...]
The terrorist in Hindi cinema
Published by June 17th, 2009 in Cinema, Culture, Geopolitics, Government, Human Rights, Politics, Prejudice, Religion, Society, South Asia, Terrorism and Violence. 0 CommentsPurdah is trying to figure out ‘the shifting figure of the terrorist in the Hindi language film industry’:
The military events at Kargil in 1999 launched a slew of Indo-Pakistan war films. A few were romance films on patriotic steroids like Anil Sharma’s Gadar: Ek Prem Katha, Yash Chopra’s Veer-Zaara, and Kunal Kohli’s bizarre Fanaa. The [...]
Iran’s lost generation
Published by June 16th, 2009 in Democracy, Politics, Religion and World. 0 CommentsAddicted to Friends reflects on recent events in Iran:
It was Khatami’s second term, a time when hopes of rapid social liberalization were fading. Despite that the impression you gained was of a society that assumed change would occur, if only more slowly than many people wanted. That the change could come from within the system [...]
No bias in California
Published by June 11th, 2009 in Books, Indiaspora, Media, Prejudice, Religion and Women. 0 CommentsAn article in this morning’s Times of India is headlined Hindus teach California a lesson, and carries the sub-heading: Group wins $175,000 from state education board for defaming Hinduism. The Sacramento Bee covers the case rather differently; Its headline reads, Hindu group to get just $175,000 in textbook bias suit.
It appears the Bee is right [...]
Sacred threads and knots
Published by June 4th, 2009 in Caste, Patriarchy, Religion and Women. 4 CommentsVidya revisits the the rights of women in ‘the golden sanatana scheme of things’:
While it is very convenient to blame invading cultures and encounters with them as possible reasons for denial of education in Medieval India this does not tell the complete story. The fact remains is that the exceptions were far and few and [...]
Savarkar’s apology
Published by June 2nd, 2009 in History, India, Politics, Religion and South Asia. 0 CommentsA Dalit analyses Savarkar’s petition for clemency to the British:
That Savarkar did not participate in any freedom struggle activities post his cellular jail is an established fact…as promised in the letter.
That Savarkar opposed congress and Gandhiji(who backed his release from cellular jail) is an established fact…. as promised in the letter
That Savarkar diverted lacks of [...]
Intelligent Design for Dummies
Published by May 28th, 2009 in Humour, Politics, Religion and Science & Technology. 0 CommentsJigar Patel explains Intelligent Design for dummies:
In the beginning, there was no life, and then;
POOF!
There it was.
Oops.. There was not a single poof. In fact, there were seven poofs spread over a period of seven days that created everything.
Creationism states that in 4004 B.C., God poofed everything into existence in a week using the highly [...]
Why the Green Revolution wasn’t such a blessing
Published by May 28th, 2009 in Caste, Dalit, Development, Economy, History, Indiaspora, Politics, Prejudice, Religion and Violence. 0 CommentsVidya Bhushan Rawat looks at the roots of the current conflict in Punjab:
Problem is in our perception about Punjab as a casteless society where Sikhism grew. The fact is that inspite of great preaching in the Guru Granth Saheb and their own sacrifices, the leadership that emerged in Punjab is upper caste dominated feudal Sikhs. [...]
Violence in Vienna
Published by May 27th, 2009 in Caste, Dalit, History, Indiaspora, Prejudice and Religion. 1 CommentAmardeep Singh reflects on the violence in Vienna and tries to ‘imagine a narrative that led to these events’:
Then, when a new temple opens, many of the heterodox members of the congregation jump at the chance for a different kind of experience. The new temple is run by heterodox Ravidasias, who do things slightly differently [...]
The Carvakas
Published by May 25th, 2009 in Culture, History, India, Literature, Religion and Secularism. 0 CommentsNamit Arora throws some light on the Carvakas, the tradition of materialistic thought in ancient India:
According to the Carvaka, the soul is only the body qualified by intelligence. It has no existence apart from the body, only this world exists, there is no beyond—the Vedas are a cheat; they serve to make men submissive through [...]
The brown man’s burden
Published by May 13th, 2009 in Activism, Adivasi, Caste, Dalit, Democracy, General Elections 2009, Human Rights, India, Politics, Prejudice, Religion, Secularism and Women. 0 CommentsAnother good post (after Adnan’s) that I found today: Jason Keith Fernandes looks critically at the dynamism of the ‘Friends of the BJP’:
It is because the BJP and the ‘Friends’ stresses this coded language of the club, that they appeal to the middle-class constituents of the ‘minority’ groups in India. ‘We are one of you’ [...]
The Assam Agitation: A Subjective History
Published by May 6th, 2009 in Children, History, Human Rights, India, Language, Law and order, North East, Politics, Prejudice, Religion, Spotlight Series, Terrorism, Travel, Violence and Women. 1 Comment[ This is Essay No. 37 in our Spotlight Series. Click here for the archives.]
The Assam Agitation: A Subjective History
by Nitoo Das
—————-
But then, I believe, all histories are subjective.
I was seven when the Assam Agitation started in 1979. I was ‘promoted’ to the next class without a final examination. I do not remember [...]
The Great Indian Circus
Published by March 31st, 2009 in Business, Caste, Culture, Dalit, General Elections 2009, History, Human Rights, India, Media, Politics, Religion, Secularism, Society and Women. 1 CommentMaloy Krishna Dhar, ‘having seen Indian elections since 1952 as a school kid, managing a couple of these exercises during service career in the IB, manipulating a few on orders of the ruling cabal and witnessing the bones, marrows, and soul of the Indian electoral process’ describes an encounter with an election manager of a [...]
Suhel Seth’s blog
Published by March 21st, 2009 in Business, General Elections 2009, Politics and Religion. 0 CommentsYes, the adman and talking head. Should that be talking head and adman? In this post he asks: should hate always win? The title looked promising but the body copy, I mean content, turned out be a muddled piece of writing. But it does say something forceful against hatred in politics and Varun Gandhi’s speechmaking.
If [...]
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