Not Just Cows, Beggars, Dirt and Bad Roads

Holy Books and Unholy Wars

2006-05-05T11:08:00.000-07:00

Since I don't believe in 'You scatch my back, I scratch yours'. You'll neither find me linking to my friends (and others) blogs for frivolous reasons or to secondate every post of theirs nor any blog pointing to mine. It's okay both ways.

To find a mention, the blog really has to influence me hard. Given the yard-stick, Animesh has won two mentions back to back. After Vadodara, I find it hard to keep the temptation to comment on his Doda killings post. No, my intent is not to critize him, who posted these in good faith and per his belief/opinion. It just raised some interesting questions.

"I wonder what it takes to brainwash youth to believe that killing innocent
people is holy? Maybe if they were educated, they would read the holy books
themselves and realize that this is not what the almighty asked them to do."

The trouble with the almighty is that He/She chooses to reveal his/her scriptures in either long-dead [for practical purposes] like Sanskrit, Latin and Aramaic. Or in languages lacking basic vowels like Hebrew and Arabic. Given the lost knowledge of these languages and lack of vowels in others, Holy books can be interpreted in several different ways.

As an example, the name of god in ancient Hebrew is YHWH, which can be YaHWeH or YeHoWaH (and other permutations and combinations). The same verse that means 'Keep away from the non-belivers' to one, can mean 'keep away the non-believers' to another! As we can see, the interpretation of YHWH doesn't kill people. Some others might. Now which one do we take as the right interpretation? What shall be the religious grounds to do so?

It doesn't matter what the Holy books contain or preach. The question that should be asked - Is it morally and ethically right to do so? If the Book, in some verse, says 'kill non-believers' it is futile to argue if the verse is in-context or taken out-of-context as 'kill' means 'kill' either way. Ethics, Humanity, Righteousness and Compassion should be used to judge what the scriptures say. We should follow whatever is 'just' and ethically correct. If there is something that goes against humanity, be the hell with it, whatever the almighty meant with it. [ who knows if the almighty actually preached it in the first place?]

While some religions/cultures keep themselves open to such liberal interpretations, unfortunately there are others, that don't. By terming their book as 'Word of God', they keep it out of the purview of human interpretation and criticism. I've read both Hindu scriptures and the 'Word of God' books. Trust me, they aren't any better than our own. They're also full of myths and legends like our Puranas. I couldn't find anything 'Godly' or 'Otherwordly' in them, which I didn't read else where! Mostly the 'Word of God' is a dogma to prevent any sane, rational discussion about these books.

Since no discussions, altenate viewpoints and interpretations are allowed, may be the almighty only knows what he/she revealed in those books. And to make the matters worse he/she speaks in tongues that are hard to comprehend.

Destruction of a Mazaar and Vadodara riots

2006-05-05T08:43:00.000-07:00

The frenzy amongst the intelligensia and the media have reached hysterical proportions thanks to the fact that 4 Muslims have got killed in riots, while death of 32 odd Hindus remains a news unworthy of Front page coverage. As I said the media is biased.

To express my personal feelings. Initially, given the media coverage blaming Vadodara mayor for demolishing a historical 300-year old Dargaa/Mazaar for no apparent reasons, I was led to believe Hindu nationalist movement (as all other movements before it) has sunk to it's nadir. To fan riots to divide people and garner votes can hardly be called as 'Hindu way of Life'.

Till a link posted by a blogger (here) opened up the facts a little better.

demolition of the Muslim shrine — a larger and older structure used by Chishti, a mystical Sufi sect, which stood in the middle of a road. There is a 200 or 300 year old shrine in the middle of TODAY's, meaning 21st century, road obstructing free flow of traffic! It was also not the only shrine demolished, for all the outcry against minority-victimization !

Several others (belonging to Hindus) were demolished too (per above link ) " including about a dozen small roadside Hindu temples" ; the justification of "small" here is laughable. A shrine is a place of worship and must be equally respected, small or large, historical or not. Riots are happening, not because of large or historical nature - though that serves to be justification against the demolition - but because it was a place of worship.

Media seems to be confused on the actual age of the road-blocking disputed structure with no legal documents, some say 200 others 300, any thing with two zeroes following it seems acceptable to prove historical nature. Recent reports from the - so-called - secular press is increasingly getting silent and ambiguous on the exact age of the structure (like the NY times link)!! Needless to say, the initial reports based the age on pure hear-say or the imagination of the reporter.

And it was done per the order of Gujarath High court to clear the roads. To have not done so would tatamount to 'Contempt of Court'. A matter - conveniently - omitted by our leftist media. Do you find any mention of HC order here or countless other news reports? Oh, I forgot, Court orders are only meant to be reminded to us Hindus ONLY. My bad!

The structure was an impediment to traffic flow. The highest court in the state ordered the demolotions. It was carried in a secular way (Hindu temples included). Those opposed to it should have got restraining order from Supreme Court earlier [ don't tell me Modi runs Supreme Court too!], instead of crying foul and victimized now.

My advice to Animesh - whose skit on Himsa - prompted this post. You need to add media to the picture, buddy. It's the media in it's frenzy to outsell competition and create sensation, gives communal color to even legally sanctioned moves by Hindutva-parties in power. This is done by omitting and twisting facts, rhetoric (against Hindutva), and biased coverage.This often results in riots.

I am not blind to the plight of Rahim chacha, I am also worried about the dead Ram chacha who didn't find mention in the news ( except as 2 Hindus/pigs died). I sympathize with the roadside-vendor who got attacked for his skull-cap, and also some others who got stabbed because of their Tilaks.

Policemen come from the society. It isn't possible to change attitudes of law-enorcement without changing the attitude of the society. A sense of equality can only prevail when everyone's subject to same SECULAR Uniform Civil Code, with no minority institutions and minority reservations. And everyone's place of worship finds same respect be it a small temple or large mosque. For starters we should stop asking for 'special privileges' to places of worship of some communities. Too tall a order to ask for in a so-called secular country?

32 Indians killed and response remains muted

2006-05-02T11:19:00.000-07:00

While the outrage against the beheading of an Indian Engineer by the Taliban is understandable, what is not - is the silence in the Indian blogosphere about the cold-blooded massacre of 32 Indians in our own country; including a nine year old girl.

The only fault of the victims that they belonged to Hindu religion. And the 'politically correct' silence maintained by the Intelligensia, the elite, the so-called NGOs and most of the bloggers is despicable to say the least. These very people would have gone hyper and created considerable hullabaloo, if the victims were Muslims and the perpetrators were say Bajrang Dal or Shiv Sena.

What makes the silence heinous is - it's not an unconcious miss. The deliberate ignorance of attacks on Hindus has been a long-standing tradition in the so-called liberal circles. Be it murder of pilgrims at Godhra, or the genocide of Pandits in Kashmir... these hypocrites have maintained a steady silence. It's only when we Hindus retaliate in kind (like in Gujarath), they wake up and create an outcry; some Hindu-apologists pop up from nowhere and claim to be 'ashamed of being a Hindu'. In fact it should be the other way round. We, believing and practicing Hindus should be ashamed to have these double-tongued hypocrites as our co-religionists.

Finding a Christian or a Muslim, who doesn't criticize violence against his/her community is as futile as searching for a needle in a haystack. We Hindus are not so fortunate. Throw a penny into a Hindu crowd, and you're likely to hit at least a dozen liberal, modernist Hindus who whimper at the very thought of doing so, lest it taint their credibility as a member of the 'secular' elite.

It's because of them that the 'Hindu Right' has been growing stronger with each incident of attack on our co-religionists. Right now the main oppostition party might be in a disarray due to internal squabbles, it's just a matter of time before another party emerges and uses this strong undercurrent feeling of isolation, victimization and betrayal to reap the politcal benefits. Thanks to the sycophansy of the Leftists in countering Islamic fanaticism, there is no dearth of fuel to start a wild-fire. Someone just needs to strike a match.

Indian lives are NOT cheap

2006-05-01T08:27:00.000-07:00

It's a sad day for every Indian. One of our very own, has been brutally murdered by a bunch of cowards.

We might be the No. 2 , in the world population-wise. That doesn't mean our lives are cheap. Every loss of life deserves equal condemnation, be it a single person or a whole group of people. My sympathies to his family. May God give them the strength to face the situation and overcome their grief.

I, however, take heart in the decision of our government to stay put. It's seldom that our government takes such a sensible decision. It would have been a knee-jerk reaction to pull out of Afghanistan, which would neither bring back Suryanarayana, the engineer killed; nor would it safeguard us Indians against future attacks elsewhere.

Our previous, so-called nationalist government, is infamous for the act of sending our cabinet ministers to accompany the Terrorists on their way to freedom, during the Kandahar hijacking episode. Such acts of easy-submission have served no purpose, besides turning us Indians as a group of easy-targets. Easy to target, considering the scant security, protection and support our Embassies/government provide to expats; with maximum returns - kill/kidnap a person and hold a nation hostage.

It's high-time our government took a strong measures, not only in condemning the incident, but also in protecting Indians working in such countries; for starters by posting highly publicized security alerts, travel advisory etc., and building co-ordination with the individuals working there and the security agencies working there. Since, by definition, a democratically elected government is For The (it's) People, there is no way government can shirk the responsibility.

I find the argument, being developed in certain sections, that Indian government shouldn't care about Indians working in conflict areas, is dangerous to say the least. As it is, we receive very little, if any, support from the bureaucrats of our consulates who live in Ivory Towers. I would shudder to think what would be the situation, if 'save your own a**' were to become the de facto state policy. As long as there is an Indian Embassy in the country, it's automatically the right of every Indian to receive support and security there [ that's what embassies are for, in the first place]

Finally, our media out to act sensibly in such situations. I find the 'sensationalism' that buffets media-coverage of these incidents nauseating. For e.g. it was disgusting to hear the incidents of bombing in a Egyptian resort getting repeated ad nauseam for the 15-17th time on Zee News, repeatedly every three minutes! Sensationalizing will only encourage the perpetrators to commit more such heinous acts. It also ties the hands of the government and makes the executive reluctant to take tough decisions and crap out fearing adverse PR. Exactly happened, shamefully, during Kandahar hijack. Some lives were saved, but a nation lost it's face.

Not Just Cows, Beggars, Dirt and Bad Roads

2006-04-27T14:24:00.000-07:00

I am not saying India doesn't have these problems. India has these problems and may be many more. But, India, isn't just synonymous with problems. It's a living, ever evolving, developing country with hopes, ambition and hopeful of a better future.

Poverty

Happens to be the first weapon in every India-baiters arsenal! Is there any country in this World without poverty? Any major city without slums , prostitutes and beggars? As most of us globe-trotting Indians have found, there isn't a major Western country/City where Homeless don't sleep over benches in the parks, that are free of slums, beggars and prostitutes. It's also a fact that good number of people live in Trailer parks, unable to afford a decent house.

Strangely our Western friends don't seem to notice 'Poverty' in their own backyard, when at home. They seem to realize the existence of this alien term only while visiting India and other developing countries.

Yes, the number of poor in India is more than any other country. And so is our population. Even if India were to have same poverty ratio as most developed nations, the number of poor will still be larger than the population of some countries [ not suprising since the population growth in India per year is greater than the total population of some developed countries]. So it's given that any visitor will run into a lot of poor people.

If a person were to *specifically* look for poverty, he/she is likely to find more poor, than the actual numbers. Anyone not wearing latest fashion is not poor. A lot of *really* rich Indians dress and live modestly [ to avoid Income tax raids ]. Spending lavishly on clothing is a recent Urban, youth phenomenon, which hasn't, yet, become imbibed by the entire society. Indian dress sense also differs from the West [ our preference for colorful attire]. There are also conmen who act poor to swindle tourists (Indians included). So, it's possible that many of "poor" people you saw, might be living a better quality of life than the one you envisioned [ in terms of food and housing]

The proportion of poor in India is proportionally high compared to others. But that was not always the case. There was a time, pre-independence, when gold, diamonds and other precious stones were sold in the streets in baskets. United India had 25% share in World Trade (equal to that of Europe) in those days. Then British colonialism happened. Not only were treasure of immensurate value stolen from our temples and palaces, even the tombs (Taj Mahal) wasn't spared. It's disconcerting for an Indian, with the sense of history, to see Westerners shed crocodile [false] tears about India's poverty, when our most precious legacy "Kohinoor" diamonds (costliest in the World) lies locked up in the museums of The West [London].

It's not just the valuables in stone that were stolen (ever wondered why GBP hovers at a higher rate than US Dollar?), but our home-based cottage industries were also utterly destroyed to make way for England's factory-made goods. No, they didn't die in fair market competition. They were burnt down by the British. In the about 300 years of British rule, Worlds (once) largest producers were turned into the largest consumers. Since the cottage industries were the primary source of income for the people, it caused massive unemployment. Some of the worst famines in history [where millions perished] happened during the British rule.

Gandhi, for all his impractical philosophies, understood the importance of small-scale cottage industries in providing jobs to the multitudes, there by eliminating unemployment. One of the reasons he was opposed to massive Industrialization. But his succesors abandoned micro-level industry development under the garb of socialism. Understand that India was under total Government control and industrial/financial monopoly till a decade back [ there was a time when it required to obtain a licence to own a TV]. Considering post-liberalization, that we have made noticable [not to a Western eye] progress in a short span

The other major factor for unemployment has been the 'McCaulay Education' system introduced by the British. As per it's founder McCaulay it was meant to be a system to develop Indians as clerks [who unquestioningly accept orders] under the British. The quaity of output can be guaged from the purpose it was meant to fulfill. Unfortunately, Indian governments have stuck to the same format [owing majorly to the colonial slavish mentality], producing millions of unemployed with no vocational skills, other than being a clerk in government office. Lucky are those few who got into professional courses like Medical or Engineering. Most of the rest are left to the fate [with absolutely zero job skills].

On the one hand there is a huge demand for plumbers, electricians etc. in the cities. It is extremely hard to find one, and get him to work. On the other, there are millions roaming the streets unemployed. McCaulay system with it's overtly-high preference for White-collar jobs has killed the 'dignity of labor'. So the unemployed are ready to steal, but not ready for decent paying manual jobs.

Fortnately, a large number of newer opportunities like BPO, Call centers, CPA and other avenues of alternative employment have opened for our youth in recent years. With the flow of jobs to India from the West, the condition will hopefully improve. With proper planning, resource management and loans, unemployment can be reduced to a great extent. [So the next time you whine about Indians stealing your jobs, keep our 'poverty' in mind ;-)]

After explaining the reasons for your benefit, I have a question to the pitying visitors. What have you done to help those poor people? [other than blog thousands of pages about them]. You definitely can do something to help given the imbalance between your currencies and Indian Rupee. How many of you have even attempted to help? One Mother Theresa for millions of visitors visting India every year? The intent here is NOT to force you to help. A poor man needs a job and the sick - medicines. False pity is the last thing they need [from you].

So, the next time you find a poor Indian, Don't Pity Him/Her. Instead, hang your heads in shame for the Western colonialism that has turned generations into desitutes; that is if you have any righteousness left in you. Otherwise pretend that the truth doesn't exist and blog yet another 'I pity the poor in India living under sub-human conditions' post.

India is Much More

2006-04-27T10:43:00.000-07:00

Blogging hasn't appealed much t me in the past. Whenever I've tried it earlier, it hasn't kept me interested for long. I believe the reasons are personal. I haven't been able involve into posting mundane details of life over the net. To just keep posting links to other blogs/web-sites has also not been my style of writing. Add to it little or no interest shown by bloggers to sites with real original content. Blogging was boring.

Recently, I came across several friends posting real content along with personal experiences and their success in getting the message across served as a confidence booster to return. And, yet, I decided to keep clear of Politics, Movies, Books etc.; Not because I don't have opinions on these subjects, but that there are way too many blogs dedicated to them. So I decided to concentrate more on the Technical (Computer Programming) side with my new 'Decoded' Wordpress blog.

A India travelogue blog posted by a Westerner has jolted me out of hibernation, as also the fact that I was lead there by a major Indian vortex (portal) in the Indian blogosphere. It brought out two hardfacts. The West hasn't gotten over the colonial hangover of White people visiting exotic countries carrying the 'White man's burden', of civilizing barbaric natives, in their hearts.
They are yet to understand (the reality) that a good part of the Net is inhabited by people of races, ethnicities, cultures and religions, other than their own. And that, they could feel offended by insensitive observations and mocking of their culture and religious practices.

As I commented there - "people find what they look for", and by another blogger "please post about historical monuments", I've begun to feel that lot of outsiders come to India to see Poverty, Dirt, Cows and Beggars! Just like the elite natives "Slumming out" in the Irish-dominated Hell's kitchen area in Martin Scorsese's 'Gangs of New York'. This appears to be of greater interest than Food, Handicraft Shops, Shopping and visiting historical monuments. And understanding INDIA, as usual, is the bottom-most priority. More the local culture can be ridiculed, the merrier. Greater the "shock value" [ in the face poverty, every body appeared poor, emaciated Cows roaming the streets] greater the number of hits (to the blog).

A tourist normally visits another country to look at it's Historical monuments and places. If I were visit, say, London my interest would be in visiting Buckingham palace, museums, Madame Tussads' and other such interesting places. If it were NY, it might be Empire State building, Times Square, Liberty Island etc. Visiting ghettos in Bronx would hardly be on my list of priorities! If I were to find beggars soliciting in London's tube system, it would be a minor factoid in my travelogue, and not consume 60-70% of my post.; as that wouldn't be at the top most priority in my discovery of London or New York. Considering the coverage Poverty, Cows and Beggars receives in most Westerners blogs, it shouldn't be surprising if some of us felt 'Visiting Poverty' IS infact the main interest in these visits.

Given the stark reality, isn't it time our Ministry of Tourism started (officially) 'Visit Poverty' advertising campaign. Now that we are officially advertising it, imagine the countless White-less folks , with no beggars in their countries, no smog in their streets, no homeless folks sleeping over benches in their parks, no poor people living in trailer-parks, no kids going hungry in their country etc., flocking to India in droves to witness and experience the extra-terrestrial phenomenon. Wouldn't our coffers be over flowing with dollars? [ Of course, I am kidding and being sarcastic]

I can understand to certain extent the behavior of the Westerners, given the long history of colonization and Western dominance of World economy and Political affairs, treating other cultures and nations has become a naturally ingrained mentality in the deepest subconscious. So much so that some even refuse to believe it exists in them. (We never find fault in us, do we?)

But what's more appalling in the boot-licking-native mentality among Indians which refuses to die, even 50+ years after our Independence. We still need to collect those brownie points from our White masters to feel good about ourselves. The coverage our media provides to Aishwarya Rai even when she keeps starring in English movies that keep bombing in the Box Office, or of our B-grade starlets displaying their cleavage at Cannes. So it comes as no surprise ,that we, Indians, provide Free publicity and coverage to all such travelogues, even when they paint a partial, biased and a bad picture of our country. As long as it comes from White skin, any sh*t feels good for some of us.

I have found it a waste of time to make such know-all westerners understand the subtleties and deeper inner meanings of Indian through discussions and educating. It's also an exercise in futility to try and develop a sense of self-respect in (some) Indian zombies who have lost all vestiges of it. But I do feel the need, in light of these misinforming/misleading Blogs, that there is a need to educate the neutral audience - other communities/cultures and Westerners genuinely interested in understanding the reality (I am sure there are some) - about the 'Real India'

My next post 'Not just Cows. Beggars, Dirt and Bad Roads' will attempt to answer the question marks raised by these travelogues.