In the Dying Light

Re: # 30
In all honesty did not like her timing of this article and mockry about dead people floating in Ganga?????

I dont know why, but I really felt that way, and if there is something I need to learn to sober up then I will. She has always been attacking India(which is ok sometimes), but there is nothing positive about her other articles. They are always single track Semi-Secular but attacking Hindus indirectly.

Perhaps, she is right about India or it is pseudo Seculars of India who have made otherwise an accomplished person into what she has become.

http://powerlineblog.com/ >>

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In the post below John asks in connection with yesterday`s bombings in India what Islamist terrorists have against the Hindus. Professor Dilip Balamore explains:

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I found this a slightly amusing rhetorical question. My Pakistani students, here in New York, are not averse to telling me (a presumptive Hindu) that the reason for all the attacks on the Hindus, in India, is because India really belongs to them. India would, they say, have become a model Islamic country had ``those British bastards`` not restored it to the Hindus. Then, there is always the never ending Kashmir question which seems to be at the heart of Pakistani identity, but it is not clear whether Indian Muslims (as opposed to Pakistani Muslims) want Kashmir to be turned over to Pakistan. It is however sufficient reason to set off bombs, in Hindu temples, while they are deciding on the exact course of action. If these are not sufficient reasons, it is always possible to find others.

A decade ago, on one of my very rare visits to the Motherland, I stayed with my Muslim uncle-by-marriage, in Madras. Not only was the food better in his house, he was also the Noblest Indian of them all, with an intellectual honesty and a charity towards all that I have not met in any other. I had a number of long discussions with him regarding the differences in the legal doctrines of India and the US, since he had been the Advocate General of Tamilnadu for some time, and, of course, we talked about the Hindu - Muslim problem. He told me of his ongoing efforts within his community to persuade radicals that Indian Muslims ought regard themselves as Indians first. He remarked that when dispirited by the slowness of progress, he had often had to recapitulate and reiterate his vision of India as a wise nation tolerating various religions, and with a multitude of languages and literatures. That vision had been inspired by having met Gandhi, as a boy, and had been shaped by the great man`s ideas. My uncle`s son, on the other hand, was quite a Muslim firebrand, and was eager to indulge in religiously divisive talk and actions. He was horrified that I had spent a day walking the streets of Madras (now Chennai) and told me sternly that he could have given me a car with a driver, to keep me off the crowded sidewalks. ``You actually walked amongst the people?`` he asked, ``Amongst all those Hindus who worship idols? You don`t know this place—you coming from New York!`` I told him that I had only been walking in the familiar streets of my hometown, and, for that matter, I was a Hindu myself, as had his mother been before she had married his father. ``But do you worship idols like these idiots?`` he kept asking. I had to tell him that that was not my personal predilection, and in my Long Island neighborhood there was nary an idol in sight. This reassured him somewhat, but he kept muttering that ``those bastards are worshiping idols right outside the house. Don`t they have any shame? They should be shot!`` (This was an allusion to some Hindu festival or the other that was being noisily and colorfully celebrated in the streets near his walled house.)

Well, there you have another reason to bomb Hindu temples. It is just a reasoned protest against idolatry! Bombings may seem unpleasant, to the onlooker, but it is all for the good of India, really!

I must say that I agree with Glenn Reynolds that it seems to be poor tactics on the part of the radical Islamists to have the whole world hating Muslims at the same time. Let`s hope they do not soon wise up.

Best wishes,

Dilip Balamore

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The Buddha denied that we exist, denied that we do not exist, denied that we both exist and do not exist, and denied that we neither exist nor do not exist. The Fourfold Negation.

Farzana`s piece and dost-mittar`s recollection of a bizarre place where a sect of sadhus live who eat human caracasses, reminds me of what Kerry Packer had said when asked after he had been clinically dead for seven minutes. He said ``I have been to the other side, but there was nothing there``.

I can believe that.

Re: # 32
Very thought provoking blog.

There is some truth in the fact that Islam/Shariat/Hadith do make people into believing that Islam is everything and rest is evil. Unlike other Religions Islam never had any moderate version and since Muslims hold Islam as highest, majority of them turn into what we see here.

Surprisingly, they demand secularism from Western world when in their own homelands their is no room for the same.

.....

Re: # 30
you dont find her anti-hindu?
I am surprised, every Chowkie thinks otherwise.

this deserves a Pulitzer or maybe even an Oscar. So alien a place to FV..that she refuses to believe that she belongs to the same people or country. Wowzers!!! I got the feeling that FV is floating up above as the bombs are exploding below. She knows something ain`t kosher but the sari looks fucking great. I mean, the shehnai is so cool..plus dead hindus are reincarnated anyway, or do they go to hell? Tricky that one...

This was not written yesterday.

Yesterday, I put up a report so that people here could have a forum to express their views. There was not a single sensational statement in that report.

I wrote this today. Did I rush to do so? Yes, as much as I rush to hold on to someone who I feel deeply for...in this case, it was memories...

Is there a connection with what happened? I have spelled it out.

To say that talking about dead bodies floating in the Ganga is bad timing reduces everything else I have said...what about the mystical experiences? the seeking? the sense of calm?

If I had wanted to `politicise` the issue, it would be easy. I call my pieces political when they are political. I do not hide behind skirts.

I have not used sensationalism; I could have put up a picture of carcasses, but I chose this one from my album.

If you want to accuse people of insensitivity, then you will find them here and on the other board. In fact, I urge you to post political posts there. I do not want hits. This is a ``boring`` piece.

So, please leave the popcorn and Coke...

Re: # 37

Farzana Ji… too many “I”s in your reply. Whatever credibility it might have had, that too is now questionable. It’s better to take the arrow in the chest than in the ass. Just admit that your piece might have sounded (Might) a little on the insensitive side, and write something better tomorrow, like you always do.

Best wishes.

Re: # 37
Thanks for the clarification.
Like I said in my previous post in reply to our friend ``dostmittar``, if there is anything for me to learn then I will learn about judging people.
In my own asessment regarding this and prior posts, where not just me but others(mostly Indians) have accused you of being too-cool or devoid of emotions and even sometimes Anti-Indian, It all could be discounted as bad timing.
I find that you are a talented writer but very negative. I am sincerely hoping that I am wrong about the negative part and in future you will provide us Chowjunkies with good humor and neutral articles.

Thanks again!

Re: # 38
Kulharee Mian,
She is being herself. I would leave her alone.
She is not a Punjabi like you and I and maybe that is why we have cultural differences, though she does share same religion as you.

Chaddo Paran, I am really enjoying by Punjabi Baaj(Jorri), Teen-Taal and Daadra.
Dha Dhin DhinDha
Dha dhin dhin dha
Dha tin tin ta
ta dhin dhin dha

Re: # 40

Dilli Pai… Ik Hoor tintaal lay..

Dha tete ghere Naga, Ghere Naga tit
Dhadha ghere naga, tuna ghere naga

(This is also 3taal…. Repeat this 4 times, and you can Chakardaar this too).

I like Farzana ji too.

one thing obvious to notice is the weak imaan of the hindus. a test case is that of chowk. a while back when some cartoons were published in denmark (no one died except some trees for the newsprint), chowk FP had 200 articles and 2000 showed up in self-publish. now we have one by chowk-staff admonishing VIPS to not to go to banaras (if they dont go, they will get admonished too), and one by ferzana about how banaras is putrid at worst and tacky at best, only relief is self (I) generated after closing eyes and imagining 786 and budha quote to legitimize the smug smirk.

Re: # 41
How would you play Keherwa in Pakistan?
Dha-Ge-Na-Ke-Ta-Ke-Te-Tun (Does this Bol make any sense to you).

Also, I keep hearing that there is a Paki Tabla player in NJ, who used to be Tabla player of UStaad Nusrat FA Khan.

Patay hai kithey haiga oho?

Re: # 42
I agree Hindus do have a weak imaan. With the exception of Punjabi/Marathi hindus rest of the Hindus are like Thailee ke Baingan, as far as religion is concerned.

OTOH, Sikhs can be easily provoked and are more similar to hardcore Muslims(minus the fanatical part).

Re: # 43

Dili Meray Khalazad Bhai (my Masayr)

Kherwa in Pakistan goes like this:

Dhe Te Te Te Te Te Dhe Te (1st and 7th beat is a Dha)

Ustad Tari lives in PA. He accompanied many Pakistani and Indian singers/mousikaars, including Mehdi Hasan, NFAK, even Ravi Ji.

And since we are talking about Benares......

Here is a Benares Tintaal Tukra (mostly played on Pakhawaj, but you can Tabla it too). It’s one of my most favorite Tukras:

Din Din tete tete Gheghe Tete Gadi Gani Ta Kate Dha ni Dha
Tete kate gadi ghene dha ghene dha (X3)
kate gadi ghene dha ghene dha (X3)
gadi ghene dha ghene dha (X3)
ghene dha ghene dha (X3)

My Guruji plays this by reducing each two beats to play it in 12s.

He does that 4 times, and he calls his tukra Gao Poocha (Cowtail). When we meet, I will show you how to Chakardaar it.

Analysis from Praveen Swami, india`s most analytic terrorism journalist. This is the kind of work needed, not this bevakoof advani-mulayam bandarbaji.

Unending war

http://www.flonnet.com/fl2301/stories/20060127006800800.htm

``TODAY, inshallah, I announce the break-up of India,`` thundered Hafiz Mohammad Saeed, the patron of the Lashkar-e-Taiba, at a rally in November 1999, organised by its parent organisation, the Markaz Dawa wal Irshad.