’Our Shiv Sena’

Aha_Snark : ``Modi, the VHP, the RSS, the Sangh Parivar, the BJP, Advani, (and, admittedly, to a lesser extent Vajpayee) are REVOLTING. ``

Modi : Chief Minister of India`s best run and economically most successful state. Introduced a whole lot of economic and adminstrative reforms. REVOLTING.

VHP : Campaigns for the rights og hindus. REVOLTING.

RSS : Social service organisation. Usually at the fore front of most disaster relief efforts in the country. Earthquake , Tsunami , Floods , Railway Accidents. Unlike Christian Missionaries (as in Tamil Nadu , post-Tsunami) do not refuse aid to the needy who refuse to convert. Also involved in providing education to poor tribal children.REVOLTING.

Sangh Parivar : Nationalists. Indian patriots. REVOLTING.

BJP : Enjoys support of 350 million Indians. Did more for the country in the 5-6 years during which it ruled than what the Congress did in all of 50. REVOLTING.

Advani : The dude brought BJP to power by breaking the structure built on the reputed birth site of Shri. Ram by a pious muslim king called Babur , who was famous for having pillars made out of skulls of the Kafeer people he massacred.REVOLTING.

Vajpayee : Wannabe Nehru. Now thats really REVOLTING.

By the way my dad , a South Indian from Mysore , has fond memories of Bombay as he bagged his very first job there as a junior executive in the Tata Group . He lived in Mumbai through the late 1970s. Enjoyed his stay. Was never troubled much by Shiv Sainiks or anybody. His only regret is to give up the job in the Tata , leaving Bombay to join the civil service. So its kinda hard for me to relate to stories of south Indians being attacked by xenophobic shiv sainiks as the one peddled out by this commie Nambiar.

Shiv Sena used to be anti-South Indians........but that was before that day in late 1980s when Javed Miandad hit Chetan Sharma for the last ball sixer......the spontaneous reaction of the muslims of mumbai to that single shot opened up the eyes of the Shiv Sena and its supporters , the Maharashtrians , to the real threat........since then no threats or attacks have been made on the South Indians by the Shiv Sena ....after all South Indians are hindus too......

And then the Babri Masjid demolition happened , after which the good muslims of Mumbai went on a kafeer huntining spree ...later on the Bombay Bomb Blasts ...jointly carried out by the muslims of mumbai and their brothers from across the border....killing a whole bunch of idol worshippers.....

So when South Indians of today in Mumbai refer to Shiv Sena as `ours`......that should hardly be a cause for surprise or sanctimonious shows of irony......

this is commie drivel because it makes far fetched ideological insinuations. shivsena was never feared by south indians. it first ``targeted`` udupi restaurants in an infamous bandh on the platform that all signs in bombay have to be in ghati. they rioted for a couple of days and burned down 2 buses and one udupi restaurant. then the shettys who owned udupis made peace with sena and allow sena chiefs to become part of the mafia of restaurant-owners and real-estate magnates. no madrasis ever felt unsafe in bombay..i grew up near matunga THE madrasi adda ..nearby was the biggest ganapati by the tamil mafioso Vardarajan. no madrasis or anyone left town due to 2 days of rioting by shivsena goons who totalled 500 lbs in weight. after that kerala mafia who controlled the smuggled-goods trade in bombay also got shivsena in the cut, and everyone lived happily until after babri masjid riots. 1969 to 1992 without any ethnic tensions in the largest metro.. that is specacular performance in any book.

karim:

...I`m a bit hard of hearing in my left leg....

go for a leg transplant;)

less seriously: kyuN apna waq`t zayah kartay hO?

rgds

t

Re: # 11
re:cayenne:
///BY-the-by, indian intelligence services may be slow, but they`ll find you///

Excellent. I look forward to meeting with Indian Intelligence Services. I hope you meet intelligence too (the governmental body, of course, not the human attribute).

/// Mr.Smarmy Pants aka Aha_Snark aka who knows??///

Who knows indeed? [1]

/// .Don`t get so cocky, you miss the woods for the trees next time you go for a walk in the park. ///

Holy Headlines, Batman! That`s three clichés in ONE Sentence! If you`re trying to warn me that I`ll get whisked away by agents, could you be a bit clearer? I`m a bit hard of hearing in my left leg.

Oh, and my question still stands. Did you describe, in interact # 2, this article as ``commie``? How did you arrive at this conclusion?

[1] http://www.unc.edu/depts/jomc/academics/dri/idog.jpg

Re: # 10
re: cayenne:

///This essay is a boring read and i said so and i say so again.///

I never took issue with that. You called this essay ``commie drivel``. While you`re welcome to your opinion that this essay is ``drivel``, I`m just trying to understand how you came to the conclusion that it is ``commie``. I`m sincerely trying to enter into a dialogue with you on this point. How is this essay ``commie`` ?

///What i don`t understand is how REVOLTING YOU ARE.I`m trying to.SO THERE!.///

Please accept my best wishes in your endeavour. Are you going to reply to the categorical query that I have posed ? I`m really trying to understand the thoughtprocesses that go into
the creation of your stunning and thoughtprovoking posts here.

respectfully yours,
Aha_snark

Re: # 6

BY-the-by, indian intelligence services may be slow, but they`ll find you Mr.Smarmy Pants aka Aha_Snark aka who knows?? .Don`t get so cocky, you miss the woods for the trees next time you go for a walk in the park.

cheers.

Re: # 6

This essay is a boring read and i said so and i say so again.Hey, the guy must have had other things on his mind when he churned out this piece.I understand.What i don`t understand is how REVOLTING YOU ARE.I`m trying to.SO THERE!.

A whole article has been written dissecting the intention behind the word ``our``. This matter could have been laid to rest immediately if you had simply asked her what she meant by ``our Shiv Sena``.

I bet the answer would be very mundane and not worthy of an article at all.

Hi Harish:

I would have thought that her reference to ``our`` Shiv Sena was in relation to your Bombay as opposed to Gujarat`s Modi - and not a reference to ``our`` as in Hindus. But there was probably more to your conversation with Durga aunty than you reveal here.

By a coincidence, I was at the house of a Kerala christian friend last night. I met there a Malayalee Christian visiting from Bombay. I asked him what was the lasting effect of Shiv Sena on Bombay`s South Indian community. He said that there was none and he, in fact, painted a very harmonious picture of integrated communities in Bombay, including Muslims, who he said are now in all apartment buildings.

harish:

your best in this series...ethereal, ratiocinative, perspicacious and mellifluous....you danced well with our and still remained on the gujrat floor:)...

rozaiba:

this is a continuation of both the physical and the metaphysical story weaving that he mentioned off handedly in the last segment....Once I was sure of the comfort level Rohan now felt, I decided to make a quick overnight trip to Mysore by bus. A very dear friend’s widowed mother stayed alone in her bungalow....

rgds

t

Re: # 2
re: cayenne:
/// This guy`s now reverting to his `commie` drivel.Boring.///

Dear cayenne,

Kindly tell me where you can find anything even vaguely left of centre (let alone communist) in this entire article. Assuming you, like me, cannot find any direct reference, you must mean one of a few things:

A) Those who criticise the Sena, the BJP, the RSS, the VHP, the conduct of the last government, must be communist
B) Those who write about Alzheimer`s disease must be communist
C) None of the above ... in which case, kindly tell me how this article is communist.
D) Both A & B

Alzheimer`s disease is horrifying, both for the sufferer and for those close to them. Modi, the VHP, the RSS, the Sangh Parivar, the BJP, Advani, (and, admittedly, to a lesser extent Vajpayee) are REVOLTING. Given this, it`s especially thoughtprovoking, in my opinion, that some people who have been the targets of these entities feel greater affinity with them than with a community with whom they have always had peaceful relations.

Kindly draw out the ``commie`` thread from the above paragraph.

Oh and as for the piece being ``boring``, if something truly bores you, you don`t log on and post saying it`s boring.


``For, although common Snarks do no manner of harm,
Yet I feel it my duty to say
Some are Boojums--`` The Bellman broke off in alarm,
For the Baker had fained away.[1]

Cheers.

[1] http://home.earthlink.net/~lfdean/carroll/snark/fit2.html

So what was ‘our” about them?


Umm..it means our goondas..just like our filthy streets......

I think this one part hangs together quite well. (Didn’t I tell you good things will follow if you dump certain seedy companions?)

The profile of “Durga aunty” is very touching! So is the description of Alzheimer`s – for me it gives an Indian face to what we read so much about over here. Sometimes it makes one even wonder if a “long” life is all it is cracked up to be - it can not be much fun when the most recent and vivid images of your life-long companion are those of the shell fumbling around – the bird having left the nest a while ago.

Your musings about what might have been the causes (“the Stockholm syndrome”) of using the term “our” are interesting but I personally think they may be off. The actual explanation may be a lot simpler – “our Shiv Sena” was her way of saying of “the local Shiv Sena”.

I also think your titles are definitely improving (becoming more exciting, even though the last one was a little too long)!

There seems to be disconnect here with the last piece....