Aug

18

Is America adopting Hinduism’s ways?

August 18, 2009 posted by indiatime | 11 Comments

This week’s Newsweek has an interesting take on America’s changing religious identity. Although more than three-fourths of the USA still identifies itself as Christian, the article argues that America is slowly adopting Hinduism’s values. Recent trends show that more than 65% Americans (including 37% white evangelicals) now acknowledge the validity of other paths towards God. More than a third Americans now choose cremation instead of burials after death. And one in every four Americans, now believes in reincarnation.

There are more than a million Hindus who currently call the United States their home. But Hinduism came to this country way back, more than a century ago. In his book Hinduism Invades America, Wendell Thomas describes the various ways Hinduism slowly made way into the American psyche. Brought to America by liberal Christians who wanted a world view of various religions, Hinduism came via religious congresses and conventions. Vivekananda in early 1890s, Yogananda in 1920, Shiva Yogaswami in 1940s, Yogi Mahesh in the late 1950s, Abhay Charan De aka Swami Prabhupad in the 1960s (and even the notorious Acharya Rajneesh in the 1980s), established movements, which over several decades, became the backdrop for America’s interest in Hinduism and its various forms like yoga.

Some have attributed the quiet rise of Hinduism to the quiet ways of its practitioners. D. M. Murdock (aka Acharya S.) credits Hinduism’s success in America to “its practitioners (in the US) do not rabblerouse, set up terrorist camps, call for destruction of the US constitution, bilk the American public for millions, establish bogus charities, engage in unethical & seedy televangelism, lobby congress for special favors and considerations, challenge constantly the principle of separation of church and state, abuse the First Amendment and all of the fun stuff (sarcasm) we are used to seeing from fervent religionists in our country and elsewhere“.

Still, nothing works like first impressions, they say, and sure enough, I’m sure America’s romance with Hinduism started with its first glimpse of Vivekananda who had this to say to his American audience in his first meeting with them in Chicago:

“…I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration but accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth…

The present convention, which is one of the most August assemblies ever held, is itself a vindication, a declaration to the world, of the wonderful doctrine preached in The Gita: Whosoever comes to me, through whatsoever form, I reach him. All men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me… ”

Incidentally, two Indian names that the Americans have become most familiar with during the last year, Bobby Jindal and A. R. Rehman, were both born Hindus but adopted other religions - Jindal choosing Christianity and Rehman choosing Islam.

And interestingly, a hundred-plus years after that speech in Chicago, the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, recently placed India on a watch list of nations that have failed to prevent increasing communal violence. India has called that report regrettable.

Jul

31

Hashmi can’t own a house ssala

July 31, 2009 posted by indiatime | 6 Comments

It was only a year ago that I commented about Shabana Azmi’s ridiculous sounding claims that muslim actors in Bollywood were finding it difficult to own an apartment of their choice in Mumbai. Fast forward one year. And today there is this news about this ridiculous housing society in Mumbai’s swank suburb of Bandra, a cooperative society that is not cooperating with Emraan Hashmi, Bollywood’s famous kissing king.

One of the residents of the society, one Ms Suvarna, had apparently agreed to sell her apartment to Mr. Hashmi, who put down a good faith retainer of Rs 1 lakhs. At about the time the deal between the seller and the buyer was to close, the cooperative society turned uncooperative and refused to hand over a no-objection certificate needed to transfer the ownership.

Admittedly, the housing cooperative societies have their by-laws and constitutions and are perfectly within their rights to allow or deny any transfer of ownership that is deemed improper or unwelcome for various reasons. The problem in this particular case may be that Mr. Hashmi’s lone disqualification could be his faith. Although the society has so far not given any explanations for its disinterest and dislike in allowing a transfer of ownership, it seems quite likely that Emraan Hashmi’s initial instincts about his inability to find a place of his choice, appear right so far.

If that indeed is the case, then it is a shame, a big shame. I am not a personal fan of Emraan Hashmi. I think he is an averagely talented person with average acting abilities, not unlike most other Bollywood actors, who can barely twitch a facial muscle at will. Still, he has made a name for himself, has become popular, for all we know, is a good and upstanding citizen with no crimes against humanity or anything. Good for him, I say. But to be denied access or ownership rights on the basis of one’s faith is a gross violation and just hugely unfair. So I completely empathize with Hashmi on this one, and do believe he has a right to live wherever he wants.

It shouldn’t matter whether Hashmi is a Muslim a Hindu or a Christian or a Sikh. Shouldn’t matter whether someone is an upper caste or a lower caste. Shouldn’t matter when you buy a house or enter a school or a university or are hired for a job. Anybody who even mentions religion or caste or color should be exiled to some faraway island and kept there until the next stone age returns.

Jul

14

A teacher’s killers walk free

July 14, 2009 posted by indiatime | 2 Comments

The Nagpur high court yesterday acquitted all six student activists accused of beating a professor to death. Almost three years ago, Professor Sabharwal of Madhav College, Ujjain, was pummeled to death by the activists of Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP), a student body long aligned with right wing nationalist parties.

The Supreme court had ordered the case to be tried in Nagpur after the victim’s son requested the case be transferred outside of Ujjain. Unfortunately for the victim family, the transfer of the case to Nagpur did not provide much relief, and the eye witnesses to the case turned hostile one after the other, leaving the prosecution’s case looking ridiculous and hopeless.

Although not intended by the victim professor’s family, the transfer of the case to Nagpur may actually have helped the accused who have pretty strong connections in Nagpur, the capital of ABVP’s parent organization. Additionally, the chief minister of Madhya Pradesh himself surely did not leave any stone unturned in helping the accused. He is known to have personally met and chatted with the main murder accused on the pretext of paying a surprize visit to that hospital, an astonishing thing to do for a head of a state.

In Nagpur and in Maharashtra yesterday, student activists celebrated the acquittal of their colleagues from the neighboring state, with firecrackers and dances on the streets. “…Everything can be sacrificed for truth, but truth cannot be sacrificed for anything…” read a message on the local ABVP chapter’s facebook site. Quite an ironical statement coming from an organization some of whose supporters sacrificed a professor in front of a crowd of hundreds and a few TV cameras.

There was a time student organizations like ABVP were known for their volunteerism and dedicated and selfless acts in times of national emergencies like droughts and earthquakes and floods. What a pity, that an organization whose followers once made it credible by some incredible volunteer work, is now willing to put everything on line to save and protect some rogue elements who probably do not care a hoot about the ideals once set by its founders.

Jul

10

burger_king_lakshmi_adThe insensitive geniuses at the Burger King (BK) corporation deserve to have their buns whipped. Their creative department recently came up with an advertisement depicting Hindu Goddess Lakshmi sitting on top of a beef (or ham) burger. In a year when their brand is vying to enter various world markets, Burger King, it seems, has made a stupid, stupid mistake that may not go away with mere apologies and superficial gestures.

La merienda es sagrada (The snack is sacred), said the caption below the Lakshmi commercial. The ad ran in Spain, where Lakshmi isn’t a household name or a symbol. So it would seem kind of pointless for Burger King to make a point about the sacredness of some entity few in Spain are even aware of. It’s one thing putting someone else’s Goddess in your commercial (that itself would be enough to generate controversy), but it’s downright ridiculous when the product you’re advertizing is considered taboo, even blasphemy, in the religion that reveres this particular Goddess.

As multinationals sprawl and spread around the world, one of the things they need to be sincerely mindful of, is the sensitivities of the places where they hope to sell their products. If corporations like Burger King do not understand that, then they should stick to selling their value menus to their own countries. It is globalization 101 and Burger King’s smartbuns strategy shows us that they don’t get it yet.

For now, the food chain has supposedly apologized and pulled the ad in question. But they haven’t yet cut the ties with the ad agency and creative partners that created the Lakshmi commercial. Even if one assumes that this was just a wet dream on part of some idiot adman in Spain and not an ad that was to run across the continents, there still needs to be some urgent frying and roasting due, at BK’s creative department. If the BK brand can’t respect one-sixth of humanity, then they don’t deserve to be serving to the rest five-sixth, either. Burger-making isn’t rocket science you know, and there are other brands to choose from.

Jul

2

Today, a high court in India has decriminalized homosexuality, ruling that consensual sexual activity in same-sex adults is legal. Here are some reactions:

1. We have finally entered the 21st Century.
- Anjali Gopalan, Naz Foundation working on HIV prevention

2. As the world’s largest democracy, India has shown the way for other countries to rid themselves of these repressive burdens.
- Scott Long, Human Rights Watch

3. Now, one is not a criminal when anyway one was not in the first place.
- Wendell Rodricks, Fashion Designer

4. Health workers providing help to homosexual HIV sufferers were also working in precarious situations…it’s not uncommon for police to arrest you because you are providing information on something illegal.
- Anand Grover, lawyer

5. The government should not … give in to the demands of a minuscule minority, and …. test the patience of the silent vast majority -

Statement by prominent Muslim Religious leaders

6. - It is between the court and the government…

Congress party spokesperson

7. It is worrisome to some degree, but it is different from a ballistic missile launch…So yes, people are watching it, the military is watching it here, but I don’t’ think it’s related to any plans or operations to attack anyone
Pinkston, International Crisis Group, South Korea

8. High Court Judges cannot decide on everything
- Murli Manohar Joshi, BJP leader

9. India has never been a threat to Pakistan
- Gen Deepak Kapoor, Indian Army chief

10. It is indeed a unique privilege given to a chosen few to represent the hopes of over a billion people
- Man Mohan Singh, Prime minister

11. It would have been good if such a long time had not been taken…..There should not have been such a long delay in such a sensitive matter. This (not delaying) is in the country’s interest..
- Rajnath Singh, BJP President

Jun

27

Fair wives and unfair Gods

June 27, 2009 posted by indiatime | 4 Comments

Rumor mills are still abuzz about how Michael Jackson changed his skin color from black to white. To be fair to Mr. Jackson, the transformation of his own skin turned out to be a skin condition. But most girls of marrying age and most wannabe brides in India, know how critical it is to enhance themselves with at least a couple of shades fairer than their true colors.

In fact, from time immemorial, India’s beauty industry has always focused on selling the secrets of fairness. In a land where dust, sweat & pollution make up the most of the challenges to a person’s appearance, the make-up barons have made a fortune out of the idea that applying certain substances to the skin can eventually turn it into fairer shades, the ones desired by a prospective bride’s future groom and in-laws. Young maidens all over India dream of the haldi ceremony, a fixture in traditional Indian marriages, an elaborate fun-and-giggle-filled musical happening where the bride gets creamed with layers of turmeric mixed with other herbal materials. Even in day-to-day lives, gram-flours to lemon drops to turmeric powder to cow-dung to talcum powders, every substance in nature is routinely tried and tested in the millions of homes all across India, in the hopes of fairer-ness.

Although fairness may appear to be a national obsession in India, the twist in the tale is that Indians do not necessarily worship fairer Gods. In fact, Krishna, India’s erstwhile deity, is revered for his dark skin color with its hypnotic blue shade. The Sanskrit word Krishna literally means dark or black. The traditional songs and prayers to Krishna praise his dark blue skin, a feature that sets him apart from the rest of India’s humanity and moreover, its divinity.

There in the center of it
abides Krishna
Of the color of a dark cloud
In the bloom of youth
Clad in yellow raiment
Splendidly adorned with celestial gems
And holding a flute

- (Horace Hayman Wilson, Translation of Vishnu Purana)

Jun

23

Who exactly doesn’t teach animosity?

June 23, 2009 posted by indiatime | 8 Comments

Six teachers and a teacher’s aide have now been suspended in the state of Kerala, after a textbook was found to include the wrong version of a revered patriotic poem.

The famous poem ‘Sare Jahaan se achcha‘ (aka Tarana-e-Hindi), written by once proudly patriotic Indian poet Allama Iqbal, was originally meant to say this -

Religion doesn’t teach animosity (or ill-will)
We are Indians (Hindi), India (Hindustan) is our homeland…

‘Sare Jahaan se achcha’, the patriotic poem first published in 1904, is one of the most widely known and liked pieces of patriotic poetry in India. Kerala’s board of education was aghast, however, when the Malayalam (local language) version of the famous poem changed the most famous lines in the poem at the most important word. The six teachers and their aide, mistakenly (big mistake, they know now) replaced the word ‘religion’ by the name of prophet Muhammad.

The mistake was exposed by a teacher from the Kozhikode district, and is soon slated to be withdrawn from the textbook. The teachers have now been suspended and an investigation has begun into how the word ‘religion’ was replaced.

Interestingly, only a few years after he wrote the Tarana-e-Hindi (Song of India) however, poet Iqbal changed into a much less secular version of his former self, writing a patriotic song for an Islamic homeland, a song called ‘Tarana-e-Milli’.

Back in 1984, when asked by his prime minister how India appeared from space, Rakesh Sharma, India’s first man in space replied, ‘Sare Jahan se Achcha‘ meaning ‘The best in the world‘. Whenever India decides on the first man/woman to walk on the moon, none of the seven teachers from Kerala will be making the list. Who knows what they will say when Rahul Gandhi asks them that same question in 2015.

May

31

Nations that live in glass houses…

May 31, 2009 posted by indiatime | 7 Comments

Increasing incidents of violence against Indian students in Australia are prompting widespread condemnation and outrage in India. Some have even called for UN intervention (come on now), and others have temporarily protested by turning down stupid honors by Australian universities (I promise you they all will eventually accept those honors).

While such outrages seem to temporarily unite fractious populations, they seldom work towards removing the divisions and fractures that divide those fractious populations in the first place. e.g. amidst all the outcries about discrimination in Australia, India’s newly elected government chose the speaker of the parliament based on, you guessed it, caste. In a few weeks, a new batch of Indian students will begin their educational curriculum in India for the academic year 2010, and the most important criteria all those students had to go through was, yet again, caste and religion. Even the so-called elite institutions in India routinely practice a caste-based entrance system, which has now become a fixture in India, and about to get only worse. Most government jobs and placements, too, go through similar caste-based filters, and the most important and the most critical line on the resume is one that describes the caste or the religion.

So my question is this. If India’s own laws and India’s own government and India’s own educational institutions happily and merrily practice racism and casteism, why blame other countries when elements from those countries behave on the same lines? And what about attacks on foreign tourists in India?

And what about rapes and murders of German and Russian and British women in Goa? What about the incessant invisible muggings that outsiders routinely go through at the hands of beggars?

And forget the outsiders, for a moment. What about our own babies getting killed by our own mothers? What about our own women getting attacked and killed by greedy in-laws and abusive husbands? What about our own public getting duped and tricked by our own politicians? What about our own schoolchildren getting mauled over by city buses in our own capital? What about criminals routinely getting elected despite active pending cases? Man, I can give a thousand examples of racist crimes happening within India, perpetrated by Indians against Indians, just within the first 5 months of 2009.

So stop the hypocrisy, folks. India is a glass house and a huge one at that. Let’s not pretend that racism is just an Australian issue. Are some Australians racist? I’m sure, they are. Do the Indian students need some protection? Of course there needs to be a way to deal with such hate crimes. But long before all that, India needs to clean its own house and get real about race and caste issues. Nations that live in glass houses cannot and should not throw stones at others.

May

6

As India gets busy with the last critical phases of its huge multi-step electoral process, the leaders across India’s northwestern borders are in the white house, discussing the strategies to counter the Taliban offensive. It is telling that Pakistan’s new president has flown thousands of miles to seek help countering the Taliban who are now literally at a stone’s throw from the Pakistani capital. So much for the world’s 7th largest armed forces. And so much for all those promises Pakistan has been making to the west throughout the last decade, milking the American treasury for billions, making nothing but empty and unaccounted for promises.

No wonder most in India believe that Pakistan is taking the Americans for a ride. And that it has, for not just the last decade, but for last 6 decades altogether, duping 12 American presidents and their administrations into bending the American policy backwards to help out the world’s largest non-secular military. More than the American diplomacy, it is a testament to the charm and charisma of Pakistan’s political and military leaders over all those years. Plus, it is also a testament to the lack of charm and charisma of India’s political and military leaders over all those years.

No, not that India hasn’t had charismatic leaders leading India in the corridors of Washington. But their charisma was never effective or eloquent enough to reveal to the west its worst mistake of the last century - their financial and military support to their worst enemy whom the west traditionally labeled, treated and considered to be their staunchest ally. No reports of humanitarian crises, genocides, atrocities or ethnic cleansings made it through the American policymakers’ ears, as they kept hoping and wishing for a Pakistani democratic revival that was never to come and was hardly in the making in the first place.

Today, Zardari is up to yet another charm offensive. Last year, he tried to charm American vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin by telling her she looked more gorgeous in person that on television. Today, he will try the same tactic on Michelle Obama. In the past, such cheap tactics have yielded surprizing and amazing results for Pakistan. And once again that might be the case today, as well.

Today, Zardari is asking for more money and more military equipment, especially the drones - the multitasking unmanned predator aircrafts. How ludicrous it is that as Taliban knocks on his capital’s doors, Pakistan’s top leader is thousands of miles away asking for unmanned aircrafts. That tells me that the world’s 7th largest armed forces is a joke. And the notion of civilian leaders being in charge of that military is also a joke. What is hardly a joke however, is that the same inept armed forces controls an arsenal of at least a few hundred nuclear warheads which can destroy half of planet earth if not the whole of it.

For a second, imagine a few unmanned drones carrying a few of those nuclear warheads. Think of that risk the next time you see and hear a Pakistani leader speak his or her Oxford English.

May

2

The law is an ass…
Charles Dickens (Oliver Twist, 1938)

Almost two centuries after Dickens wrote those lines, the lone captured terrorist of Mumbai’s 26/11 horror show, is trying to make Indian judiciary dance with a cute twist in his terror tale. Ajmal Amir Kasab, of Faridkot, Pakistan, on trial in a Mumbai court, is arguing that he is really a minor, a juvenile, a child who wants to be treated as one.

So for last few weeks, the Indian taxpayer has been paying to waste the court’s time in deciding whether this killer of many, is merely a juvenile offender and not a criminal. A series of medical exams and investigations, lab tests such as x-rays, and expert testimonies about the follies of medical science, Kasab’s juvenile status will finally be ruled upon by the court sometime today.

Dickens wrote those lines for Oliver Twist, his troubled boy protagonist from London’s poor slums, whose harsh childhood and an orphan’s life expose the then society’s attitude towards poverty and the underclass. Kasab, the terrorist of Faridkot, was neither an orphan nor as destitute as Twist. Kasab’s father ran a food stall, meaning there was always enough food for one last meal. And he doesn’t appear to be ill-treated by his on family either, since he lived with them almost until 17, supposedly leaving his home over a gift spat when his family didn’t buy him a new shirt on the religious holiday. Where Oliver Twist’s options were a workhouse, a prison and an untimely grave, Kasab’s had many more - a loving family, education, a real job and what not.

The real twist in the tale is Dickens’ bad guy - Fagin the jew, the leader of the juvenile delinquents, who makes criminals out of poor kids. Kasab’s mentors were political operatives of Pakistan’s terror outfits. And while many characterized Dickens’ Fagin as the archetypal jewish villain, Kasab’s mentors were the typical Islamic villains of today, brainwashing young ones, using them as pawns and dogs in their own wars.

But Fagin failed to corrupt Oliver Twist who managed to remain the good soul that he was to begin with. Kasab however, did manage to turn his uneventful childhood into a soiled youth, training to kill and harm innocents, and eventually fulfilling his evil mentors’ plans. Once caught, he tried playing the lost and innocent kid, crying for his mommy and daddy. His only plan seems to be to postpone a certain capital punishment, trying to dodge the bullet for as long as possible, managing to mock the Indian constitution and making an ass of the Indian democracy for as long as possible.

It is almost certain that the court will rule against Kasab’s plea of being a juvenile. Even if that isn’t the case, the only toys he should be playing with are the gallows in Mumbai’s prison. And sooner the better. If this boy is this dangerous as a juvenile, we certainly don’t want him to grow into an even more dangerous adult, do we?

Apr

25

The longevity of trees and men

April 25, 2009 posted by indiatime | 4 Comments

Early his morning I called an aunt of mine who lives in a city that could easily have passed for a hill station or a resort town only a few decades ago. I rang her up a little early in the morning, at least for me. Nobody picked up her land line and that had me a little worried. So then I called her cell. She answered but the ambient noise on her side made it impossible for her to listen or speak and I promised to call back and hung up.

A couple hours later, I called back the land line and this time, she picked up. “where were you so early in the morning”, I asked her. “Well, don’t you know, that’s the only hour of the day I can do things outside anymore”, she replied, “The heat is killing me, so I do all my chores between 7 and 8 in the morning, and am home before 8 am”.

The heat is killing indeed. In her town, the mercury has been romancing mid-forties (celsius). Only a decade or two ago, those mercury numbers were the territory of a cities in northwest Asia where mercury regularly moved in that range. That kind of heat has now engulfed many cities and towns in India that were once just modestly hot this time of the year. And there is something else that has happened to aunt’s town during the same time frame. There are thrice as many people, ten times as many vehicles, and one-hundredth as many trees as a few decades ago.

Ages ago, some wise men in India foresaw some of these issues, and built their ideas of religion and culture around such problems. And they tied those ideas up with the social fabric in a way that tricked people into loving their environment, the trees and plants, the animals, everyone. A case in point is the festival of karwa-chot where womenfolk tie cotton threads around banyan trees, circumvent it several times chanting folk songs and mantras, and pray for their husbands’ long lives. Only God knows if their Indian husbands indeed gained in longevity because of such festivals, but what we do know is that such practices turned the banyan tree into a regular fixture all across India, giving shade to travelers, halting land erosion, providing shelters to various avian and reptilian species. Great environmental initiatives in the name of culture and religion. Another case in point is people planting the Tulsi (holy basil) tree in their backyards. There was a time when practically everyone household in the south and the north and the east and the west had a Tulsi tree in the backyard. Such practices were more or less a religious thing for the practitioner, but in reality , a suggestive nudge to be more understanding of the environment in general.

But new wisdom is kicking in and the old wisdom is getting lost. We are smarter, brighter and more cynical about people’s longevities tied up to tree-worshipping. Or maybe not. These times need almost everyone to get into the act of treeworshipping. Not just women, but men, children, old people, babies, everybody. Come to think of it, a few more trees planted a few years ago would have made it at least 5 degrees celsius cooler than now.

Apr

2

Jagdish Tytler, a former cabinet minister, who was once implicated in the 1984 riots against Sikhs in New Delhi, has now been cleared by India’s Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI). Families of the riot victims protested and Tytler celebrated as the case has now apparently been closed.

In 1984, after the assassination of former prime minister Indira Gandhi at the hands of her two Sikh bodyguards, angry mobs rampaged the Sikh neighborhoods in New Delhi, attacking and killing Sikhs. Tytler, then a young politician and a close friend of the Gandhi family, was accused of cheerleading the attacks, a charge that has dogged him ever since. But the investigating authorities have continually claimed that they did not find any witnesses who had seen Mr. Tytler actually participating or spearheading the riots or the attacks.

Strangely, the CBI has refused to share the contents of its reports on the Tytler investigation, casting doubt about the authenticity of the investigation and the veracity of government’s claims. This is the second time in two years that the CBI has shown its inclination to clear Mr. Tytler. Back in 2007, a Delhi magistrate had ordered the CBI to reopen the case based on a couple of purported eyewitness accounts. A team of CBI officers flew to the US to interview the witnesses, but concluded that their versions and stories weren’t credible enough.

Every major independent commission that investigated the ‘84 riots, pointed to either the negligence by the police or implicated some of the local political leaders of the ruling party. Marvah Commission (1984), the first one appointed to investigate the riots, was ordered to suspend its investigation. Next came the Misra commission (1985) which didn’t want to identify anyone but remarked that the police had failed to register or file charges against local politicians. The Mittal Commission (1987) implicated several local police officers. Banerjee commission (1987) and Potti Rosha commission (1990) tried to bring charges against Sajjan Kumar, another ruling party politician, but were intimidated into closing shop. Aggarwal Comittee (1990) recommended filing charges against three top Delhi politicians, but the police failed to act on those recommendations. Besides these, Ahuja (1987), Dhillon (1985), Narula (1993) and Nanavati (2000) commissions basically found grounds for filing charges against some of the local political elite. So, every independent commission or committee appointed by various governments in power from 1984 to 2004, found enough evidence and credible grounds to prosecute some local politicians for their hand in the 1984 riots.

CBI however, has now shown that all of those independent judges and commissions were either wrong or dishonest or deceptive in their rulings. That’s a great relief for Jagdish Tytler who can now contest the parliamentary elections and once again seek high political offices that he maintains he is so deserving of. The hope dwindles for the victims’ families though, and 25 years after the incident, there is now little chance of any closure for them. The rest of the country will just move on and cover up those wounds. And get back to drinking the Bollywood and Cricket cool-aid.

Mar

28

The politics of hate speech

March 28, 2009 posted by indiatime | 6 Comments

Varun Gandhi, the next-generation representative of India’s first prime minister Nehru, sits in jail today, thanks to a not-so-rousing burst of hate speech. What seemed to be a news without legs barely a week ago, has now morphed with wings in a politically charged year. “…I will cut the hands of those who raise their hands in violence against Hindus….”, said Varun Gandhi to a crowd of supporters, and those few words now have him facing his first political prison term, something his great-grandpa had once gotten used to.

Newbie as he is to politics, Varun Gandhi’s words did hardly fan flames of hate or anything. He isn’t that important. At least yet, that is. The accusations that his antiloquence challenged and probably came close to inciting violence, seem a little exaggerated because there is a difference in being an eloquent antiloquent and an ineffective antiloquent. For now, Varun Gandhi belongs to the latter category, and so must consider himself lucky to have got himself into this controversy, because this controversy has finally got him the name recognition he seems to have been vying for.

Back in the 1950s, noted Harvard psychologist Gordon Allport devised a grading scale to measure prejudice within a society. In it, he covers the spectrum of prejudicial hatred from antilocution or hate speech, all the way to extermination or genocide -

1. antilocution or hate speech
2. avoidance
3. discrimination
4. physical attacks
5. genocide

India’s election commission is trying to send a message to Varun Gandhi that hate speech, especially in a multiracial country like India, can quickly turn into physical attacks, at the least. Most who have followed India’s recent history know and are surely aware of many other politicians and leaders cleverly playing hopscotch with Gordon Allport’s hate scale. What Varun Gandhi has yet to learn is that fear is a weapon which cannot be used with reticence. Almost everyone will agree that Varun Gandhi hardly has the ability to rouse people into riots or fighting on the streets. He is merely trying to get his name out there by doing what every other Indian politician has done in recent years, pandering to this group, bashing that group, banking on racial vote banks and endangering the lives and destiny of everyone around.

Varun Gandhi is still a kindergarten student at that hate school. India is full of politicians who have gone on to doctorate level hatred, learning and teaching the tricks of the trade, building huge political parties and making billions for themselves. Had India’s election commission had any balls, they would have sent almost every other Indian politician to the slammer, freeing those outside of the hatred and prejudice we have had to live with.

Mar

26

NRI fights for open funeral pyres in Britain

March 26, 2009 posted by indiatime | 7 Comments

Davender Ghai, a non-resident Indian in Great Britain, is fighting for his life. Actually, it will be fair to say that he is fighting for his afterlife. 69-year old Davender Ghai is fighting to change England’s century-old cremation laws that forbid open-air funeral pyres, a common funeral practice in Hinduism. That Cremation act of 1902 restricted burning of human remains outside the confines of crematoria, consequently shutting down the Hindu practice of open funeral pyres.

For Ghai and his followers, is is the issue of religious freedom, the kind of which they believe has already been extended to every other religion being practiced in today’s Great Britain. Plus Ghai is also trying to point attention to a few prior examples of open funerals that did take place after the passing of the 1902 cremation act. The open air funerals of world war 1 Hindu and Sikh veterans in the 1910s and that of a Nepali royal in the 1930s have already pushed the limits of the 1902 act. Ghai himself did his bit as well, when, a few years ago, he himself helped organize an open air funeral for an illegal immigrant, to honor the grieving family’s wishes.

Gita, the Hindu scripture that is the gist of Hinduism, Lord Krishna’s own words about ways of living, and the most frequently cited poetic chants during the Hindu funeral pyres, itself does not include a directive on where the funeral pyres can be held. But for most Hindus, it’s usually the banks of their sacred rivers, at specific locations called ghats. It’s not clear whether Ghai and his followers are aiming to build such ghats on the banks of British rivers. For now, their fight seems to be just against closed and electric crematoria.

Ghai’s fundamental objection to the closed crematoria probably stems from the Hindu belief that Prana, the soul, the vital force of a human being, leaves the body through the cranium, and that the closed crematorial practice restricts that last passage of the human soul. A hundred years ago, such objections may not have mattered as much as they would in this day and age, when there is a huge number of Hindus and Sikhs in Great Britain, and the British are in no shape to decline a popular request by a powerful minority. But Ghai’s request is not as popular as he would like to believe and most Hindus or Sikhs all over the planet aren’t really uniting or anything behind him with much fervor.

We’ve truly come far from the days the British used to crack open the Indian freedom-fighters’ skulls with their sticks. Now, some Indians are fighting for the right to allow their skulls to crack open after death. The vital force of change is in the air once again, confirming Krishna’s assertion that nothing lasts forever.

Mar

9

Musharraf’s extreme makeover

March 9, 2009 posted by indiatime | 25 Comments

“….Don’t try to alienate Indian Muslims by your remarks, here or in Pakistan….”
- Mehmood Madani, Indian muslim leader to Pervez Musharraf

Remember the Iraqi minister whose delusional and amusing press briefings during the Iraq war, made him world famous? While Pakistan’s interior minister Rehman Malik was distinguishing himself as a clone of the much-ridiculed delusional Iraqi information minister Al-Sahhaf, its ex-president was deluding himself as a global peacemaker at the recently concluded India Today conclave. In a matter of mere months from his being forced out as a military dictator, Musharraf came as the subcontinent’s new Gandhi. He compared India and Pakistan’s former political, diplomatic and military records; equaled Pakistan’s ISI with India’s RAW, blamed both militaries, and condemned extremism on both the sides. And Musharraf, the thespian, supposedly got a standing ovation. The military man, who had stifled free speech in his own decade of dictatorial dominance, was enjoying the fruits of free speech in the neighbor’s backyard, plucking and cannibalizing the moderate and the secular brains of the impressive roster of conference attendees.

But a member of India’s upper house, enraged by Musharraf’s condescending words of advice to Indian Muslims, stood up and told Musharraf to stop injecting poison of discord in the Muslim politics of India. “….Don’t start your politics of Pakistan from here…We don’t need your advise. Don’t try to alienate Indian Muslims by your remarks, here or in Pakistan…..”, Mehmood Madani told Musharraf, when the latter went into an analysis of why the Indian Muslims felt alienated from India.

In reality, people like Musharraf are a few magnitudes more dangerous than the self-avowed jihadi terrorists of the northwest. That is because Musharraf’s kind of extremism is hidden behind an Armani suit. Take an extremist bitter to the core and boiling inside with anti-Indian hate, and dress him immaculately in an Italian suit and gold-rimmed banker glasses. You have made yourself a Musharraf bobblehead, a man the world thinks it has rid itself of. But the world and especially Pakistan itself, can’t delude itself into thinking so. Musharraf has already started those wheels in motion, which will very soon unseat Pakistan’s current president and put the subcontinent’s new peacemaker back into his chair, back into his dry-cleaned military garb with not a spot of blood on it.

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