SG OwnBlog

The Ram Mandir verdict was pronounced by the Supreme Court of India yesterday. The judgement was decisive as it clearly asked the state to handover the erstwhile disputed site to the Hindus for the building of a Ram Mandir and the Muslims to be given a 5 acre land for the construction of a Masjid if they need one. Both sides seem to have accepted the judgement so far. Of course, neither side could do much in any case. The judgement was unanimous, all five judges pronounced the verdict in favor of the Ram Mandir and hence the chance of a review petition by any party was unlikely to be entertained by the Court. Besides, the Hindus got what they wanted (mostly) as they have restored ownership to the 2.77 acres of land where the previous Mandir was supposed to have been standing. Wat Chaiwatthanaram, Ayutthaya, Thailand I will not go into archaeological evidence again to justify the verdict. The court has done a decent job in noting the reports that were provided to it by the ASI ...

Tomorrow is June 6th. The world may be well on its way to forget the importance of the day. But I, far away from the historic places, value it. Yes, I mean the battlefield of Normandy or Normandie. On June, 6th , 1944, the Allied forces began their Operation Overlord . English, American and Canadian forces assaulted the German forces of Festung Europa , perched on the imposing but ineffective Atlantik Wall. This is not going to be a war account. I have no veteran stories or other war manuals or diaries to share either. I just write this in memory of the countless number of Allied soldiers killed my MG42 s while they were coming ashore, the disfigured bodies of many Allied men (nay boys) who faced hell from the German artillery batteries and static naval guns. I write about the hundreds of paratroopers who went behind the lines to harass German forces in their rear, the pilots who broke the back of the German transport and logistics network, about the valiant few members of the Fr...