First I have to tell what this book, “Pakistan:In the Shadow of Jihad and Afghanistan”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374228949/jksobservat-20 is not about. It is not a history of Pakistan, nor does it attempt to tell it anywhere. It does not talk about the partition or the origin of Pakistan. These are all very casually mentioned.
In the introduction the author says “This book grew out of my own personal journey through Pakistan and my curiosity about the paradocical forces that shape the Pakistani life”. This book is a part travelogue, part biography, part I-was-there-when-it-happened, kind of book. This is a collection of seven articles written by the author based on her travel in Pakistan and the angle of the book mentioned in the subtitle “In the Shadow of Jihad and Afghanistan”.
Continue reading “Book Review: Pakistan”
Buddhist troves
The cash strapped Archeological Survey of India is still doing excavations, this time in Chattisgarh state. The items discovered include
* a Buddha statue dating back to the 6th century
* various scriptures
* monasteries and nunneries
* a six foot statue of a lady with a missing hand and Greek like features
* the only depiction of bison fights
* a unique hollowed out cylinder with ?jali? work carved out of a single stone
“Antique trove unearthed at Sirpur”:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=46997117
bq. The discoveries have been mentioned in the writings of Huen Tsang, who had visited Sirpur in the 7th century. The writings also reveal that there is a Bodh Stupa made by King Ashoka, 100 Bodh Vihars and 150 temples in Sirpur. These when excavated could reveal a city that could be four times biggert han Nalanda.
Huen Tsang, is a person we all have learned in our history books. He was the person running the Lonely Planet channel in the 7th century AD.
(Source “Indian Archeology Mailing List”:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndiaArchaeology/ on Yahoo)
Ancient Indian Mathematics
The Jains recognized five kinds of infinities. They had various rules regarding combinations and permutations. They concieved of large amounts of time. The founder of Jainism is said to have been a mathematician (the first time I am hearing this). Another prominent person is Bhadrabahu.
“Ancient Jaina Mathematics: an Introduction”:http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/t_es/t_es_agraw_jaina_frameset.htm
bq. As mentioned before, the Jainas recognized five different kinds of infinity: infinity in one direction; infinity in two directions; infinity in area; infinity everywhere; and infinity perpetually. This is quite a revolutionary concept, as the Jainas were the first to discard the idea that all infinities were same or equal, an idea prevalent in Europe till the late 19th Century.
Pakistan's Peace Processs
” 4 women, 2 children beheaded in Rajouri”:http://www.sulekha.com/redirectnh.asp?cid=309614
bq. In a gruesome act of reprisal against the family of a security services personnel, militants belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammad beheaded six members, four women and two infants, in Chowikan Kotedara village of Rajouri district last night. The militants stormed the house around 11 p.m. on Sunday and beheaded the six persons, including two infants, Arshad Mohammad (4) and Maroof Ahmad (2).
I have nothing to say.
Democracy — Whore, Judiciary — Meaningless
I have always wondered why Arundhati Roy is against democracy and prefers dictators like Musharraf, Saddam Hussein etc. I got my answer in her speech at Centre for Economic and Social Rights in New York on May 13th
“Democracy is the Free World’s whore, says Arundhati Roy”:http://www.sulekha.com/redirectnh.asp?cid=309501
bq. “Democracy, the modern world’s holy cow, is in crisis … every kind of outrage is being committed in the name of democracy. It has become little more than a hollow word, a pretty shell, emptied of all content or meaning,” she said. “Democracy is the Free World’s whore, willing to dress up, dress down, willing to satisfy a whole range of tastes, available to be used and abused at will.”
See that is the problem with democracy. Sometimes you have to accept the fact that there are people who do not agree with your point of view. In Saddam’s land, you never had that problem. You could have a different point of view, so long as you were willing to spent rest of your life as “a dead body”:http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0515graves15.html.
She did not spare the judicary as well.
bq. Free elections, a free press and an independent judiciary mean little when the free market means they are on sale to the highest bidder, she said.
Call the Judiciary stupid if you want, but they do not “like it a bit”:http://www.ashoo.org/blog/archives/cat_moron_watch.html#000114 when you violate the rules of the land and “build houses in protected land”:https://varnam.org/archives/000084.html.
Again, don’t you see the irony here. You are able to come to United States and criticize it in public. Now go to Cuba, China, Iran or North Korea and say the same thing about their administration.
Communist Double Standards
Few years back when the Communists were in power in Kerala, they sanctioned a Pepsi bottling plant. Now the Communist controlled panchayat has decided to cancel the licence. The official party policy is to boycott multinational goods in protest against the Iraq war. But all Pepsi bottling plants in West Bengal are running fine. No one is shutting them down.
“Kerala govt to provide legal protection to Pepsi”:http://www.keralanext.com/news/index.asp?id=10766
bq. In West Bengal, there were three Pepsi units and two Coca-Cola units. CPI-M was boycotting the products of these companies in the state while allowing the companies in West Bengal, he said, adding CPI-M’s “attitude was against the development of the state.”
The comrades in Bengal are currently “busy killing people”:https://varnam.org/archives/000097.html. So time cannot be wasted on implementing stupid official policies.
Book Review: Gem in the Lotus
“This book by Abraham Eraly”:http://penguinbooksindia.com/Books/BookDetail.asp?ID=2951 starts from pre-historic times (when India was attached to Africa) to the end of the Mauryan Empire till the reign of the Asoka (made famous by a really bad movie by Santosh Sivan). In the process Eraly covers the Indus Valley Civilization, the Vedic Culture, the rise of philosophical thought in the Upanishads, and then the rise of Jainism, Buddhism, finally resulting in Appendix A.
Eraly has taken lot of effort to give us a real feeling of life of normal people during various periods of time. So you have an idea of the food and housing of people during Vedic Times to how things were for a Buddhist Monk living in the Sangha.
This book is an easy reading. Each chapter is divided into small sections each covering a concept. For example, one of the sections talks about about various practices in the society. It seems in the Vedic period people slept with whomever they liked. Even women had this freedom. During the marriage ceremony, the priest would ask the woman to name her lovers or atleast indicate the number. Once she confessed it was no longer a sin.
Continue reading “Book Review: Gem in the Lotus”
Buddha's Bones
“Buddha’s bones on display to public”:http://www.sulekha.com/redirectnh.asp?cid=309383
bq. The bones were found during the 1958-1962 excavation by noted archaeologist AS Altekar of a Buddhist monastery at Vaishaligarh, 35 kilometres from Patna, capital of the Bihar state. “The bones of Lord Buddha were found in a casket made of a stone along with a gold plate, zinc coin and glass beads,” Ms Aggrawal said. The bones have been authenticated by archaeologists.
Did not know that they had discovered Buddha’s bones.
Monsoon Predictions – II
We are now two weeks away from the onset of monsoon, and one more participant has entered the monsoon prediction game. This time it is a Think-Tank called Centre for Mathematical Modelling and Computer Simulation, based in Bangalore.
“Indian think-tank sees 15% monsoon deficit”:http://www.rediff.com/money/2003/may/14monsoon.htm
bq. “Basically, there is a 15 per cent deficit for the whole country for the entire year,” Prashant Goswami, scientist at the Bangalore institute, told Reuters. The Centre uses sophisticated software to predict rainfall based on an analysis of patterns of past data.
This is a deadly combination: ‘think tank’ and ‘sophisticated software’. Like any other model, this one too could not predict last years drought. But no other model predicted it as well.
So at this point in time here are the main contestants with their predictions:
* Indian Met Dept: “96%”:https://varnam.org/archives/000072.html
* International Research Institute: “normal”:https://varnam.org/archives/000093.html
* CMMC: 85%
But then the Indian Met Dept. in a bold move made an announcement on when the monsoon will hit India. This time it will be “June 1”:http://www.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=21370. This works out fine for everyone, since June 1st is the day the schools re-open after summer holidays.
This blog will be reporting from Kerala on June 1st on this prediction (unless the Communists there, upset at the thought that rains are hitting India before China, decide to destory all communication facilities)
PS: Why are think-tanks called so ? Do they think in a tank ?
Definition of Peace
Here are the results of the elections held in a state ruled by the Communist Party of India.
“Bengal panchayat poll violence takes 14 lives”:http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=23728
bq. West Bengal today put Bihar to shame in the three-tier panchayat election which left at least 14 dead and 36 injured, as per official figures. Police had to fire 27 rounds to quell violent mobs from both the ruling CPI(M)-led Left Front and Opposition in more than three districts. Unofficial circles put the death toll at 19.
Even women were not spared. Two women voters were gunned down by Communist Party of India(Marxist) group members. Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee claimed that the elections were by and “large peaceful”:http://www.tribuneindia.com/2003/20030512/main1.htm.
This is the definition of peace according to the Communists of India.