God in Vedas and Upanishads #8 Hasanji,
Conrad Lorenz I think it was, described a bird with beautiful plumage that evolved with the single-minded purpose of attracting many mates. But, alas, the plumage was so heavy the bird could no longer fly and could walk only awkwardly...
Egalitarian societies tend not to survive very long.

Gods of War Haditha is nothing compared to Falluja and Falluja is a much smaller crime compared to the invasion and occupation itself. Let`s not lose sight of the big picture.

The Birdman of India #32
Interesting observation. We overemploy as a means to reducing unemployment - go to a bank or any organization where you need to get work done, we need to go from counter to counter getting papers stamped or new pieces of paper issued, etc. Why have one person do the job when five can share it? This idea in modern india is partly a tradition carried over from our obsession with castes and partly an import from the old Soviet Union where, again, the state created a lot of useless, bench-warming jobs as a way of keeping people employed. Employment was not about productivity, it was a welfare measure.

Risky Routes and Rootless People #227 Yasser
It`s perfectly understandable that the maulanas would oppose a whiskey-drinking, pork-eating anglophile presenting himself as savior of subcontinental muslims. They recognized an opportunist when they one...

Risky Routes and Rootless People #223 Yasser, all right if you take back your accusation. I don`t know who Grenier is, but he seems to be insinuating that Gandhiji was guilty of all those things you have highlighted. Does he furnish any proof? He very much sounds like a rumor mongerer.

BTW, I suspect there`s more than one person in your household (as in mine) ``defecating in the same room`` - just not at the same time. So there`s some wiggle room for you.
Gandhiji was heavily into ``nature cure`` that he had learnt from visiting westerners.

Now about your bringing these up as tit for tat, if memory serves me right, you have been bandying about this ``sleeping with his nieces`` thing for years now. Therefore, it was not like an unusual outburst provoked by other things.

Feel free to believe Greinier or whoeverelse says about Gandhiji but be prepared to be challenged when you quote them as authentic sources.

Risky Routes and Rootless People #206 Yasser,
In the thread where I had taken your quote from I had cited Ved Mehta and a few others as to Gandhiji`s unusual habits, so it`s not like you were revealing something new. OTOH, you had insinuated that Gandhiji had had sex with young girls and you had explicitly mentioned that they all had `defecated in the same room` (sic). You cited FAM as your source for this and it turns out, as I had suspected, that you had plain made it up. The fact that you`d make up stuff like this shows (1) how weird you are yourself, and (2) contrary to your denials you are a rumor monger who`d stop at nothing in attacking Gandhiji.

Just to be clear, it`s fair to attack anyone based on facts but not on fictional accounts.

Risky Routes and Rootless People Ooops, I meant 197. Mea culpa.
Here we have had Yasser expounding on various topics for years - but it`s the same old same old. He makes up quotes to suit his prejudices and when asked to post from his specific citations, he pulls up something tangential. It`s funny to see him questioning other people`s honesty.

Risky Routes and Rootless People #191 Before you question the honesty of others, please answer my question honestly in #169

Risky Routes and Rootless People #151
Yasser, how does this translate into what i quoted you saying in #147?
Seems to me that you have no case and yet you have made a semi-career out of this.

Risky Routes and Rootless People #131
Yasser, here it is:
Soyasauce...

Like I pointed out... it is immaterial whether Gandhi was completely naked or partially naked... but the evidence is there in a book whose name I have given you. Please confirm if you have checked it in that book... I don`t have the book (Freedom at Midnight) on me to quote the exact page number... but it is quite clearly written both about sleeping naked and about defaecating in the same room.


Please quote the ``clearly written`` part.

Risky Routes and Rootless People #99
OK YLH, I assumed you were still looking for the quotes. Let`s have them then.

I Could Invent a Religion… #86
Excuse me sir, what are you going on about?
If there is no personal God floating up in the clouds, overseeeing every nanosecond of everybody`s existence, then what are people doing abiding by and living mortally afraid of the supposed wishes and dictates of nonsubstantive apparitions?

Seems to me that`s what the author would like to know too.

Risky Routes and Rootless People #89 Bdeshis are suspicious of indian (``hindu``) designs too and india makes a very good boogeyman (justifiably in many instances) for bdeshi politicians. However, bengali nationalism seems to keep islamism under control. In pakistan otoh islamism is pretty much the only uniting factor. With the amount of regional diversity that pak has you`d think they`d find representational govt attractive.

Risky Routes and Rootless People BTW Veeresh, this one makes a nice read.

Risky Routes and Rootless People #70 It is quite fascinating, isn`t it, how B`desh has chosen a completely different route than West Pakistan eventho political islam is equally strong in both places. Pakistanis are enamored of their military and find little worth in representative governments.
Why is that I wonder..

Risky Routes and Rootless People Veeresh, would it be possible for you to send a copy of Freedom at Midnight to Yasser Hamdani?
He quoted stuff from the book from memory but wasn`t able to substantiate `cos he didn`t have the book. As you know, it`s hard to get books in pakistan and I`m sure Yasser would appreciate you kind and generous gesture.