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 so do I find Stay at Home Mothers or Beauty Queens. But their right to remain that way, that I completely agree with. Just as I do not prefer their personal opinions about how I should live my life dictate me, I cannot let my tastes dictate their chices , however poor they seem to me.

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 fear and rituals. Nature is indifferent to good and evil, and history does not bear witness to Divine Providence. Pleasure and pain are the central facts of life. Virtue and vice are not absolute but mere social conventions. The Carvaka advised:

While life is yours, live joyously;
None can escape Death’s searching eye:
When once this frame of ours they burn,
How shall it e’er again return?

Very interesting.

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’ is the message that the ‘Friends’ seek to convey, ‘not like those barbarous, unwashed, unlettered natives who abound in the filth of India. It is our duty to educate (read civilize) them and take India forward’. So as to make a point, the bouquets to the guests at this meeting in Panjim, were presented by two Catholics, both middle class, and almost certainly upper-caste. It is for this reason, that all of Catholic Fontainhas votes convincedly for the BJP. This civilizing mission is common to all the upper-caste elements of all religious groups in India, be it Christian, Muslim or Hindu. They all believe in the need for the lower elements to be educated and civilized, failing which, policed.

However, those who are victims of the TATA tea ad and feel allured to turn up to the polling centre, may like to glance through the following paragraphs as ramblings of an old foggy who turned a holy cynic tiger after eating hundreds of humans and animals. I promise I am not a clawless and toothless foggy tiger. I learnt while doing certain jobs and I share what I learnt from the Bihar prabhari. So, be prepared to be shocked.

Prabhari Ubacha (the in charge said):

1.What you have given here is the darshan money. It qualifies you to be short listed and your name to be forwarded by the Pradesh party to the High Command (HC). The High Command (whosoever it might be) would be the final arbitrator. The HC is helped by A, B. C. & D (no name please).

2.Once your name is forwarded, go over to Delhi with a few supporters meet A, B, C, & D with adequate lubricants. Carry trunk full of money. Do not forget to meet X Patel. He is the conscience keeper of the HC. Satisfy him with the demanded amount. The final satisfaction lay with the HC. If you have any conduit to reach the HC, spend lavishly and reach there. The entire process may cost you rupees 10 million.

3.Once you figure in the honour list you have to take several steps to jump into the real election war. Do not treat it as election. It is a war against your opponents and this war has to be fought with all the weapons you have. I am here to suggest some of weapons and ingredients that go in winning an election war. Remember one cardinal point. You have to generate hundreds of temporary employment to run the machine. Keep apart 10 million for the heads you have to hire.

Very, very interesting.

Though it is believed that despite the middle-class and educated class openly speaking in favour of Zahid Ali Khan and opposting the hooliganism by Majlis cadre, the masses may still vote for Majlis.

Khan says that he is fighting a corrupt and communal party that has not brought any change to the lives of even ordinary Muslims for which it claims to speak.

Siasat is considered one of the most respected newspapers and has played an important role in Muslim society in the Deccan. However, it is felt that despite the grand alliance which Khan seems to have forged, it may not translate into votes.

An interesting overview.

The most dangerous sign of the times is the anti-US rhetoric, appropriated by the extremists, which has confused an exploited citizenry. Key segments of Pakistan’s power-wielders and thinkers are silent, trying to skirt around the issue and naively shrugging off the imminent threat. If anything, sections of the state agencies share this anti-US sentiment; and sadly it appears that there shall be many hosts to the new invaders. In medieval Delhi, Bengal, Oudh and Ranjit Singh’s darbar, capitulation was the name of the game.

The Indus Valley’s mysterious ruins of Harappa and Mohenjodaro testify to the fact that they could not resist invaders. However, the curse of history is neither deterministic nor beyond resistance.

Now India has been recognized for what it is, a country with the material and human resources to become one of the most important players in the global market. But the very success of the market economics, which have brought about this change, has led many in India to believe that the country’s future lies in following without questioning that school of economics. I believe that would be contrary to one of the basic principles of Indian culture – the principle which makes it tolerant. That principle is to accept the uncertainty of certainty, to acknowledge there are no final or complete answers, to keep an open mind.

Terrorism-and this includes terror resorted to by non-state actors as well as by the state-today poses a grave threat to the peoples of both India and Pakistan. Islamist and Hindutva terrorism feed on each other, while posing to be each other’s most inveterate foes. I recall reading some years ago-I cannot recall where, though-the perverse pleasure that a senior Lashkar expressed when the BJP-led NDA government came to power. Syed Maududi, the chief ideologue of the Jamaat-e Islami, who can be considered the major architect of modern-day Islamism, is on record as having declared that he would prefer India to be an officially Hindu country to being secular because that would further his case for the ‘Islamic state’ that he dreamed of establishing in Pakistan. Islamist outfits in Pakistan find ready fodder for whipping up anti-Indian and anti-Hindu passions by pouncing on acts of terror and anti-Muslim violence spearheaded by Hindutva groups in India, often abetted by the state. Likewise, gruesome acts of terror committed by Pakistan-based Islamist groups are quickly seized upon by Hindutva forces in India to further demonise Muslims and to build their Hindu vote-bank. Hindu and Islamist terror thus enjoy a symbiotic or mutually beneficial relationship while claiming to oppose each other. This obvious fact must be recognized when conceiving responses to the challenge of terrorism in our region.

Yoginder Sikand says there are no easy solutions to the predicament we find ourselves in today- Hindus, Muslims and those who do not find a place for God in their lives, Indians and Pakistanis.

Then there was someone named Reena Ninan waxing eloquently about “our 9/11? on FOX News. Which, to the anchor, meant only that India must now act like US did (given the usual suspects, so far):

1. Bomb Pakistan
2. Bomb Dubai
3. Bomb Somalia
4. Bomb England

Here is Dalrymple chiding the Indian government for “continu[ing] to make matters worse by its ill-treatment of the people of Kashmir, which has handed to the jihadis an entire generation of educated, angry middle-class Muslims.” Is that really so? Let’s assume that these perpetrators are angry about Kashmir. Lots are. Hundreds. Thousands. Hundreds of thousands, even. Maybe, they are all Muslims as well. Maybe, devout, even. And yet, the injustice of Kashmir over the last 60 years seems to have not turned the lot into kamikaze fire-spewing terrorists. Why is that? Are Indian Muslims willing to kill all other citizens of their own land, Muslims included, because of 60 year old grievance? And they chose now why? More consequently, how is the manufacturing of this particular dissent made possible in Pakistan? Dalrymple plays up the ISI but nary a word on the role which the conflict of Kashmir has played in the self-construction of the state of Pakistan?

Read the other posts in the ‘Bombay Attacked’ series too- very interesting.

As i watch the news and the announcement of Shivraj Patil’s resignation – i am left numb. Why was he allowed to continue when he was so bloody inept? I am left even colder by the BJP making political capital out of this. Did Advani resign when the Parliament was attacked ? Did Modi resign when 2000+ people died in terror attacks in his state? Did anyone take moral responsibility for Kandahar ? Why the hell did Modi come to this city to politicize our tragedy? Where was the Thackeray family? It is all very well to sit in AC TV studio’s and pontificate about what the Government would and could and should have done. But, what did you do on the ground. How many of them donated blood, or money or support the men who keep us safe ?

Iconoplastic makes a passionate appeal:

Some of us did not die. But some of us did. And for those who didn’t die, it’s important that we seek a revolution in this city. In this country.

Ram Vishwanathan says: I am a Mumbaikar today.

But one thing that angered me was the sight of politicians at such a solemn occation. They came in their spotless white kurtas with their gun toting security to pay homage to an officer whom they were blaming till a few days back as being partisan.

I believe that we deserve the politicians we have elected. Elections are coming up. We should show our discontent. There is a FORM 49 (O) that one can fill in case he/she does not find any candidate deserving enough – in case these 49(O) vtes outnumber the votes of any candidates – those candidates will be disqualified. Let’s do this.

I believe that not everyone in the government is corrupt. This gives them a chance to flush out & cleanse the system. Get the bad guys out. Put in the tough guys. Mere resignations won’t do. We need to see some positive action & anger from our ‘leaders’. Look at the disrespect shown to all politicians by the media houses. If they have any ‘sharam’, they’ll get their act together.

Ajay Pathak asks:

How many terrorist attacks does India require before it is going to wake up to the fact that we have become a major terrorist target? Terrorist are attacking one Indian city after another with complete impunity. The politicians just keep on bickering among themselves. The last thing they are worried about is the innocent man who has to bear the brunt of these terrorist attacks. How many more people have to loose their lives before any real action is taken?

Ingrid Srinath wants Mumbaikars to take charge:

We need to each redefine our own priorities. Take the time to be a Mumbaikar rather than parasites that live off its resources. Stop looking the other way when unscrupulous politicians and crass media barons offend our sense of civility. Speak up when family, friends or colleagues voice their bigotry. Turn up to vote. Look at, really look, and listen to, and care about the people we share this city with.

Psyched is more disgusted with the Indian people than the politicians. Read what happened when he went to attend a vigil outside an Indian Consulate:

So during all this, I requested the guards, if I can speak to someone in the consulate, only to learn, there was some kind of celebration happening inside the consulate, some plays and all… which actually was the last straw on the horse’s back, until now I was still feeling ok, but once I learned that the consulate was hosting activities, I was broken, I wanted to scream at the top of my lung in remorse, what shushed me was the fact that when the play got over, there were people ( supposedly all were Indians) who walked past us, no one stopped at the vigil… not even for a second, everyone was laughing… and walking away… and there was this one lady dressed in black, who couldn’t even refrain clearing of the ash of her cigarette in the candle lit area, not shushed exactly… but silenced for sure.For this indeed is a “Black Day” for me… I couldn’t help but question, how colored and cold have we grown…

Mayank Austen Soofi compiles a list of top Pakistani bloggers who’ve stood up for the people of Mumbai:

On the day the siege of the Taj Mahal Hotel ended in Bombay, Aaj Tak, an Indian TV channel, announced that the hands of Pakistanis are now stained with the blood of Indians. I disagree. These are a few of Pakistan’s top bloggers and it seems Mumbai is their heritage, too.

At Pak Tea House, Shaheryar Ali calls Bombay the City of Lights. At the end of the post is a poem by Faiz (translated by Agha Shahid Ali), originally written for Lahore. An excerpt:

But let all be well, my city, if under
cover of darkness, in a final attack,
my heart leads its reserves of longings
and storms you tonight. Just tell all your lovers
to turn the wicks of their lamps high
so that I may find you, Oh, city,
my city of many lights.

Omair, again at Pak Tea House, reflects on the Terrible Silence of Peace:

“The earthy and cold hand of death

Lies on my tongue” (1 Hen. IV 5.4.84)

What has happened in Mumbai is tragic. Mass murder of unsuspecting victims, a life of grief and fear for those left behind who feel powerless, and scars upon the memories of those whose beloved Amchi Mumbai has been ruthlessly defiled.But the worst of it is captured by the master of tragedy Shakespeare as quoted above: the silence that comes after, when the hand of death binds our tongues. What silence, angry Pakistanis point out to me, as they deal with the blame (and the very real possibility) of collusion from within their own ranks. And voices like mine get drowned in the flurry of impassioned political discussions about political alliances, internal power contests, cross-border terrorist linkages, etc. etc.

This way, I now have a fair idea about how politics functions in this country. There is a ruling Government, that apparently sells party tickets to the highest bidder making leadership a full-fledged inner-party auction and democracy a vilified punch bag, and there is an Opposition that goes beyond the dictionary definition of the word oppose and stands up to accuse independent security agencies of “being influenced” by the ruling party every now and then, in a pursuit of their faith but un-secular national commitments. In between, people die and religion is associated with politics and so-called “defenders” of their faiths resort to ridiculous accusations of all democratic institutions in the country, including the law.

Like Manoj and other Indian rationalists, I have often been chided by fellow Indians – fairly mainstream, middle-class bhadralok, most of them — for picking on Hinduism.  I am asked if I am so concerned about irrationalities and pseudo-sciences, why don’t I take on Islam and Christianity?  Aren’t they full of faith-based nonsense? Hinduism, my critics tell me, is far more rational and “scientific” than these other “Semitic” religions in which you have to take the revelation purely on faith, no questions asked. I am often told rather gleefully that all my labors are wasted because they I am not aiming my rationalism against Christians and Muslims.   Some go even further and assume that because I am critical of Hinduism, I must be a secret Christian, and I must be working for “the proselytizers”! Apparently, no one born a Hindu can legitimately raise questions about the “Eternal Truths” of the faith.

This is an event that tries to gather voices in favour of a tighter political coalition between India, Pakistan and Bangladesh.

Bloggers, writers and rabble rousers are invited to say things, all things that concern cultural cohesion,communalism, identity, inter-community issues and such like. Tag your posts ossw’08.

Well, I wouldn’t blame her friends supporting her (after all they are her ‘friends‘), but I am not sure about some of their substantial reasons in their articles in support that “I am a born Christian and an atheist…” or “I am a Muslim but never felt…” kind of tone. Do Sonal having Christian friends or Muslim friends make the accusations look less important? Heck, BJP has a Muslim MP on their fold, does that make them secular? And sometimes back Advani had renewed his admiration towards Jinnah and recently he met the Christian leaders here in Kerala, but does that put away the riots following Babri Masjid demolition and the renewal of the Hindu-Muslim hatred in India?

My key disappointment with the entire debate that has sprung up over Shah’s appointment – and her own response to it – is that it continues to be framed, if unwittingly, in problematic binaries: in the waning days of Bush, we still seem to settle on ‘you’re either with us, or against us’. On the one hand, Vijay Prashad is absolutely correct in demanding some sense of accountability for Sonal Shah’s political antecedents. If she was national coordinator of VHP-America till 2001, it means that at least until the age of 33 (she is reportedly 40 now), she was in a position of leadership in an organisation that has been implicated in egregious acts of bigotry, hate-mongering and sectarianism back in India. Amardeep Singh may claim that a scrutiny of Shah is not warranted till she is in a government appointed position that has connections with India; this seems to me to be a case of acquittal by dis-association… surely we have a right to ask probing questions of someone who is ‘representing’ both issues of ‘development’ and (even if unwillingly) issues of the Indian American community?

Update: Also, please check this post (and comments) at Pass the Roti by Dr.Anonymous on the same issue.