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Terror amenable scriptures. Who will do the interpretations right? July 30, 2008

Posted by arunpurohit in India.
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  1. Jameel( Name changed) ,An engineer from Jamia who reported to me some time back said once – In the Interpol list of top 20 global terrorist 18 are Muslim, Does this tell you any thing ? The wrongs done by America against us in Mid East will give rise to more.  
  2. Another friend of mine to whom I reported once, Akhtar(Name changed), tells me that he has never been able to avail the connecting flights he books in US. The reason, his name maps perfectly with a top20 terrorist. Every time he lands there, they just make him sit for 3 hours in a cabin and watch his reaction before letting him move.  
  3. Aziz premji on a visit to US was stripped down to his undergarments because he thinks his name Aziz arose suspicions.  

Considering that almost all terrorist attacks in India off late have been claimed by one or the other Islamic Radical Groups, the genesis and seepage of this militant psyche needs to be deeply interrogated ,analyzed and eliminated. 

Why the militant fire which percolated the Sikh psyche now has disappeared where as it continues to flourish in the minds of Afzal and Abid. 

Why the youth in Madarsas have such low flashpoints and gleefully become trigger/detonator happy? 

Are rational progressive Muslims like Saeed Naqvi, Md Hasan, Zakir Naik or Kalaam really a Minority in minority?  

What is it in the Islamic scriptures which can be so easily misinterpreted to go on merciless killing. I read in history book that Taimoor Lung interpreted from Quran that all Kafirs have to be either converted or brought to sword. With that interpretation and military might he had rivers of blood flowing everywhere he went from Kabul to Delhi.

There seems to be a hell lot of work that needs to be done to make people “Lose their illusions” on both side

These thoughts were triggered by a story ,a friend of mine sent to me today

Learn from Gujjars: Indian Mujahideen

Press Trust of India

Sunday, July 27, 2008, (New Delhi)

The little known terror group Indian Mujahideen, which has claimed responsibility for the serial blasts in Ahmedabad, has said in an email sent to media houses that minority community in Gujarat should take a cue from the Gujjar agitation in Rajasthan.

‘If a petty population of Rajasthani Gujjars can use force for fulfilling their needs, then are we even more subjugated than them?’, reads the email sent by the terror group, suspected to be a shadow amalgam of banned SIMI and Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Taiba, minutes before the Ahmedabad explosions.

The Gujjar agitation for ST status, with its epicenter in Rajasthan was witnessed by the country for more than a fortnight in May and June.

 

 

Manmohan Metamorphosis- Arrival of a grey idealist July 24, 2008

Posted by arunpurohit in India, Leadership.
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Bernard Shaw was once asked – Why do you contradict some of the assertions you so strongly propagated a few years back ?.

His answer was – “ Show me a person who doesn’t change with time, If I don’t change will I not be stale and stinking. The very fact that I change my views  and opinions is a testimony that I am alive and awake”.

This brings me to adages. Earlier , “ Try , try and try again till you succeed” and now , “ Try , try and try again and then give up… No use being a damned fool about it.. “So if the commandment which I learnt in military college “ If you have been given a clear objective and you don’t have means, Go – Beg , borrow or steal”  were to appear in a new avatar , it will be “ GO, Beg, borrow , steal or Rob” today.

 

Some years ago Shahrukh when asked what was his world view of competition had said- “When climbing up on a rope I wont pull the leg of man ahead but tell him, Look whats on your leg?? And as he looks down , I’ll zip ahead..  This is the new face of yuppie India where humans don’t appear in black or white but in various shades of grey.. Shining white shirts no longer form the standard corporate attire… We have started admiring bosses who come riding bicycles to work and sport fine polka dots on their crisp cottons ;)

 

We need more Krishnas in this age .. A Sanskrit proverb says- Never be fully straight in life. Straight trees are the one which are cut first in the forest .. coz they readily form good furniture. Its good that wise old Singh has added a little twist to his image. J

Thaddu, the king of erotica July 19, 2008

Posted by arunpurohit in Literary.
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Today,  I read Prashant’s blog epandit : http://prashanktsinha.blogspot.com/ and had memories of Thaddu hitting me allover. Its 1am. everybody @ home is asleep, the dogs in the neighbourhood are raising intermittent barks and I am swept with amazing days  I had with Thaddu. The harder I try to dispel his memories, the stronger is the tune that blares in my head -”THADDU CANT BHAG SAALA”.  

Thaddu was a guy of above average height , he was clean shaven ,  had receeding hair hairline. His eyes had a mischief behind those thin rimmed steel glasses. Thaddu was the abstraction of his surname Thadani. This Sindhi guy from some town in Madhya Pradesh  always had a smile on his face and was quickly a hit amongst all for his earthy cracks.

 Early in the college years , frugality used to pour cold water on our urges to buy ‘ Debonair’ (An Indian avatar of Playboy), the stringent penalty on bringing TV and VCR in hostel put a price not worth the fun.The digital entertainment was not ubiquitous and internet was avaialble in cities like Delhi@ Rs90 for half an hour. Repressed and pent up there was an acute need for something which could fuel our imaginations/arousals. The specialty of Thaddu was not in retelling jokes from books. He was a fountainhead of erotic imagination. His oeuvre was in creating stories out of live characters. The characters which were present around us. The English teacher, the Malaysian student on campus, the shy girl in Civil Engineering all. One such… narrative in a hostel room after nerve wrecking exam..and 3 days of gap between.

“I am coming back from a post lunch class, the eyes are heavy , the road to hostel on this mid summer afternoon appears long and lonely. I curse myself to peg my steps. The lips are dried up as I wag my tongue to enliven them. In this desert where do I see the hope of filling my thirst. There in a distance I see Shakshi mam( Name changed) walking leisurely towards her quarter. I see her posterior rise up and fall in smooth harmonic motion as  if an oscillator has been let loose on a slow pulse.. I follow her into her home garden and whip up my smile. She smiles back and asks me gently why ? how I am here. I say- ” I am thirsty”. She has come inside.  I slowly step in as the creaky spring door wriggles on the circular arc on floor to force a closure. . The room is dark, the heavy curtains let only a minimal flux of light define the boundaries of furnishings on the sofa. The carpet below is heavy.. the silence make me hear my beat which is thumping by now. She is now back in the hall, with a tray and a silver glass filled with water laced with fragrance of rose. She bends down and the end of her Pallu slithers. She it seems is in some thoughts .As I slowly sip the sweetest water I have drunk in my life , i am aroused at the lustre of her skin.From the neck.. moving down below I see the heaven.. i never thought … I will…

Then he stopped, there was pandemonium in the room.. nobody could stand this interrupt.. Bhen***** ruk mat.. Bhosri..kyon le rahaa hai… aage Bol..  and curses to goad him into doing something. He put a price, thodi thandee beer le kay aa.. and then he would move ahead.

Thaddu was in demand in various Hostel rooms for his uncanny imagination and twists. As his reputation spread, there were bookings for him .Guys would come up with their crushes, obsessions , hotlists and Thaddu would deflower them all with is profound visual imagery. This used to be a bigger paisa vasool than hanging from overstuffed buses and going all the way to the city to seek gratification.. He was a bigger hero than mast ram or letters to pent house. The characters in his shows were all real, the sorroundings were the ones we lived in and the depiction of love always had spontaneity with a little bit of linguistic crudity which spiced up our imaginations. Enamored by his skills we thought of launching a clandestine yellow publication. Like many of my great business ideas this too suffered infant mortality. Only my best friend Viru had a buy in for its business case.

Even if I F*** aside the loss of elusive millions I could not make out from this hugely original prospect ( Like Hefner did) , whenever I meet my  College friends and we get drunk, the only scream that comes of my heart is- “ Aaj Thaddu Kahaan hai”

Nuclear deal- Indian National Interest, Muslims and Have nots July 10, 2008

Posted by arunpurohit in India.
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I reccently got a mail from a senior Professor Dr Hasan as to why the Indo US nuclear Deal should not go ahead.

He believes that the  deal is against the interest of Indian Muslims. His argument against nuclear power plants as as below :

“For who, pray, is civil nuclear deal energy security? For the elite malls and neighbourhoods or poor slums and tribal areas? Is the so called ‘clean’ nuclear energy really clean and risk-free from disasters, given the poor accountability and skills of our secrecy-shrouded nuclear bureaucracy?  When governments can’t save its people from pervasive fatal manholes, can it from nuclear disasters? Bhopal’s Union Carbide disaster is a grim reminder. 

There are abundant  cleaner cheaper sources of energy in India which can be harnessed economically and independently: solar, wind, tide, river, and biogas. The Iranian gas is beneficial economically, environmentally, culturally and politically for regional peace and friendship, than the ‘strategic’  alliance with the USA, which always considers its own geopolitical interests above global environmental and economic fair play.  Apparently, our policy makers, some with a past of serving international agencies where they got ideologically groomed, are more overawed by western policy makers rather than concerned about the peoples’ priorities at home who elect government and pamper them. ”

The dangers of  nuclear power plants are either mostly misunderstood or are often misrepresented. My initial feelings favoring India going ahead with it are:

   Nuclear energy generation now is as safe as aviation. It has killed less no. of people than malaria in last 50 years. This off course needs installation of mandatory safeguards.

1.       Nuclear energy generation now is as safe as aviation. It has killed less no. of people than malaria in last 50 years. This off course needs installation of mandatory safeguards

2.       Its very frugal on transportation. A few grams of U238 or thorium are sufficient to power a reactor as against 1000s of tones of organic fuel transported for power generation.

3.       It has very low carbon emission thus saves global warming. The radiation emission can be suitably contained with radiation shields.

4.       Technologically it’s a step forward in comparison to thermodynamically less efficient pawan chakki, drift or solar means.

5.       With  eternal threat of hostility from Pakistan/ Afghan a long pipeline from will be under a constant threat of military /terrorist attack and manning /safeguarding it will be a seemingly impossible task.

My further search for facts have got me concluding this:

The hyper link http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf06.html discusses the safety of nuclear plants. Its interesting to see the death statistics given at the end of this article/ It reinforces the belief that nuclear power generation is much safer than any other means. There have been only 2 nuclear power plant accidents in entire history (Chernobyl and 3 mile island) . Here also , human error caused the security breach  caused deaths 

 

The hyper link : http://www.world-nuclear.org/info/inf06.html    discusses the safety of nuclear plants. Its interesting to see the death statistics given at the end of this article/ It reinforces the belief that nuclear power generation is much safer than any other means. There have been only 2 nuclear power plant accidents in entire history (Chernobyl and 3 mile island) . Here also , human error caused the security breach  caused deaths 

Among the leading cause of human deaths the contribution of nuclear power plants is not even 0.06 % .. In fact , it doesn’t figure at all in WHO list of leading cause of human death .http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_killer 

So there can be political opposition to Nuke deals for attaining narrow political gains but I see little/no reasons why purely on national interest any body should oppose it. A committed votary to this deal has been President Kalaam and I believe there is no bigger amalgam of scientific vision and Muslim perspective than him.   

Installation of more nuclear plant will likely generate more high end employment for all and will probably solve some ‘ Have Nots problem’ . Just imagine what it can do if we have a nuclear plant powering Taranagar, Churu, Junjhunu. It will necessitate attention to development of good roads, communication , infra structure . Who will benefit from the projects which are executed ? Will not the ‘ Shoe shine guy ‘ or his son move to become a process controller there ?  or securing the plant , arranging for distribution of power ? 

Well , Shoe shines , hand pulled rickshaws , 10 Rs whores and dilapidated trams will remain the symbol of Calcutta for next few decades (Marx knows in heavens how many ?) , we in Pune have moved to a polish machine where we press our shoes to a cream dispenser and swing our shoes below a fiber wheel to get the shine we want. 

Congress in my opinion should be lauded for doing whatever it takes to make this happen and so will be the braveheart who makes these automated Shine machine as ubiquitous as ATMs in Kolkata .