SG OwnBlog

I came across this post by the reknowned author, William Darymple on Pakistan promising to renovate and return 400 temples to the Hindu community . Something of a contrast... Pakistan to restore, hand over 400 Hindu temples https://t.co/ufTdlW3joH via @indiatoday — William Dalrymple (@DalrympleWill) November 12, 2019 That is great. However, there was something problematic about the tweet. Notice the first line - 'Something of a contrast'. The inference is hard to miss. The fact that the Indian Supreme Court had given its verdict recently to return the Ram Janmabhoomi to the Hindus stands (as per William) in direct contrast to Pakistan returning its temples to Hindus. The moral signalling is relevant. Hindu majority India is handing 'Muslim' places of worship to Hindus, while Pakistan being a Muslim majority nation is  transferring Hindu places of worship back to Hindus. Katas Raj Mandir Comples Indian nationalists will take a serious offence at the p...

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 ...

I have always been enamored to war. It is different from being in love with war. I never disliked war, considering it a tool in the instrument of politics or policy making. In that I am more in line with what Clausewitz had in mind . But my fascination for war and especially conventional modern warfare (WW1, WW2) has only increased. I remember picking up Zhukov's Memoirs and Konev's war diaries when I was in Class IX. Then I devoured von Manstein's Lost Victories, Achtung Panzer by Guderian, Keitel's War Memoirs, Stuka Pilot by Hans Ulrich Rudel and so on. In addition, I have extensively studied about war strategy - all that is available in the public domain - from economics of warfare to Manstein's favorite sickle cut, from Beweigungkreig to Deep penetration Warfare and Cold Start doctrines. In all these accounts the individual glories of generals, and officers or political figures reigned supreme. They never claimed otherwise, but the grim realities of war es...

Life throws new challenges everytime you decide to do something new. When you plan to try anything new, you area aware of the challenges that you are likely to face. But Life usually will have other plans. When you expect a right turn, Life will show you a left. When you least expect x to turn up at your door, you find y. And then there is a dead end job. This is one job that I at times enjoy. Because I get to work directly in the technologies that I like to work with. At the same time, I feel terrible about the senior management and my future prospects here. What is the worst is that I don't see any way out of this either. It is not that I have not forwarded my resume over to the other firms. I have. But I have not received any meaningful reply yet. Any response that I have so far been able to elicit are of no interest to me whatsoever. I feel I have to chalk out a path for myself again. Problem is, the task becomes more and more difficult with age. I can take less risk...

Kite flying has always fascinated me. Every year, especially during Makar Sankranthi, kites are flown all over India to celebrate the beginning of Spring, end of Winter, the God Surya etc. The religious significance of the day is varied - and various Hindu narratives converge here. What remains is the beautiful way it is celebrated. When I was a kid, I never got around to flying kites except for some of the occasions like these. But the universal nature of the festival allowed people from even other religions to participate in great numbers. Kite flying and its associated Hindu origin was largely frowned upon in many Muslim countries. The Taliban had banned it in Kabul because it went against the Islamic principles. Even Pakistan had briefly banned flying kites in the Panjab state where it was quite popular because of the use of the Chinese sharp manja. But they turned around the ban last December and this was celebrated widely - especially in the city of Lahore. Considering th...

Republic of India has been independent for over 70 years now. Ever since 1947, and particularly since 1950 many Governments have come and gone. The Constitution of India has been amended. By over 370 times and counting. The name of the nation has also changed. From the simple 'Republic of India' it was changed to the 'Secular Sovereign Socialist Democratic Republic of India' for reasons best known to the then ruling elites. Few policies have remained unchanged or unchallenged regardless of the different Governments, political parties, emergencies and so on. That is the systematic institutional and legal discrimination of Hindus. Sounds surprising? And yes, BJP fanboys - you are just as guilty if not more. Let me explain why. There are plenty of laws, rules and regulations that this marvellous Republic of ours has given us. Learning about the laws that govern our lives require us to take a Law degree. Literally. The Constitution that we are bound to live by is s...

A group of young guys had gathered around a lifeless body on the road. A minivan had just hit a girl and sped off. The girl bounced on the road and rolled around once and came to a stop. The rest of the girls on the street scattered. A couple of guys came to check on the girl. A crowd gathered and collected what little valuables she had left with her. A girl saw it all from her second floor window on Sheil road, Liverpool. Natalie was aware of the hazards of what she used to do. She knew the roads were dangerous, especially at night. But then, day or night - she was never truly safe. Her escape was only in heroin. She did not dare to build a world of her own by her own means. She tried before. It never worked out. So she had transferred the responsibility to what society calls ‘substance’. Heroin gave her a cushion, her sleep and let her keep her sanity. Or so she used to think. Natalie was alone. Her addiction was not. It came with dependence, depression, homelessness and reject...