India: The Empire Strikes Back in 1600 india producing 22% of world gdp is one of the stupidest oft repeated canard. yes, indian rulers led immensly rich PERSONAL lifestyles compared to their counterparts elsewhere. but what did it mean to the indian nation? the sone ki chidiya was writhing with maggots struggling to survive.

this nation had no universities, servicable metalled roads which could carry carriages, navigable waterways, irrigation sysetms, methodical agriculture, windmills, waterwheels, professional administrative service, effective revenue system, enterprenurial class or industry (industry was limited to producing luxury goods for the rulers). nothing to be proud of imo.

Independence Thinker #253 dont worry yar..there was a civil war after the prophet died..but later the kaliphas created a great islami empire..alls we got to do is wait for that kalipha after this temperory civil war phase is over and then everything will be just fine.

Ellada: 3 Weeks in Northeastern Aegean Islands #21 i mean there seems to be an emerging pattern..bosdia, greece, spain and ayodhya. these guys are just not very apreciative of creative endevours of folks who hung out there in the past. i hear the egyptese were also pretty much ignorant of pyramedes due to its greek names and they were only discovered after the brits found them.

indians are the worst..they think its all ephemeral ...maya an all.

Ellada: 3 Weeks in Northeastern Aegean Islands yar salim its kinda sad that there are so many places where muslims ruled justly in the glorious past. the current folks dont seem to be apreciative of this glorious past..babri masjid etc are cases in point.

Ellada: 3 Weeks in Northeastern Aegean Islands Mr IB can you write about great islami architecture that is preserved in spain etc..thanks.

Ellada: 3 Weeks in Northeastern Aegean Islands kulharee, the turks call it raki, greeks call it ouzo. to an outsider like me, its tastes the same..like sounf. i think before turkiye joins the eu this has to be setteled ..is it the same or not.

Independence Thinker i think the islamis should give big hugs to paki-secularoons..they after all hated gandhis for his ramraj but loved jinnah for his nation based on islami principles. they have their heart in the right place..they are just trying to make it palatable.

Ellada: 3 Weeks in Northeastern Aegean Islands cool stuff..made me all envious while i struggled with people with bad mass accent on beaches here. i remember reading some books about family and other animals a long time back..brought back those memories.

i agree that the greek wine tends to be razor-sharp.

The \'poor\' Neighbour pardesi, have you heard of this? its a small effort..

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Rural_Employment_Guarantee_Act _(NREGA)

Rise of Hindu Right Wing Ideology i dont think extreme hinduvawadis are on the rise..prolly the other way, but more general hindus are definately not as tolerant as before. i recall chatting with an elderly muslim gentleman in 1988 who used to work with Cipla (drug giant) and he was very comfortable in rooting for pakistani cricket team openly in the midst of his mostly hindu collegues and also say while he enjoys living in mumbai, pakistan concept somehow plays with his heart-strings. i dont think he would be able to say such things anymore..hindus are not as tolerant as they used to be.

The \'poor\' Neighbour before anyone notices...wtf? its dalrymple on chowk? is he going to interact?

What about Bombay 1992? yar tahmed, try eating those quaker oats..they cause all kinda violence in the bowels.

What about Bombay 1992? yar pardesi, salim et al..you guys are talking about some strange planet....its very rare that a political demagogue gets prosecuted for this kinda stuff. please talk about what is remotely possible..or join tahmed ;-)

What about Bombay 1992? i have a couple of memories of the 92 riot..although i had left mumbai for a while, i was visiting. once the curfew was lifted there was a sad line of migrant muslim families leaving town for safety. so i asked our local boys..wtf (we never had riots before anyways)? he said, yeah..they are all new to the neighborhood ..look at the new mosque..its fortified with 10-ft high walls.

i got a local politician to get me a ridfe to the airport thru curfew and reached there rather early with some ariline crew. there was no ice at the airport bar. one gora was complaining..so the barkeep said "sala murdey rakhne ke lite barf kam pad rahe hain aur isko whisky mein barf chahiye". so i stuck to beer.

i agree that justice is not to be begged, but demanded.

What about Bombay 1992? just posting a short wiki entry in the riots. its brief.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bombay_Riots

What about Bombay 1992? no police in the world is truly "professional", and to expect indian police, which are extention of the state political machinary is not something possible. the political will eventually gets the police to act. after the riots and the bombs, the police were ordered to make sure that riots dont happen. the police complied by formation of a special RAF (rapid-action force) squads, which can shot-up at any place within 10 minutes, armed to the teeth with automatic weapons and somewhat armoured cars. there were attempts at forming more riots afterwards also, but these RAF vans made sure that it does not happen. but ultimately it was political will of the govt which got this done.

since these riots are not civil wars between communities, such police action is sufficient, esp considering the "rioters" are not armed with serious weapons.

in short, the congress govt (which controlled police) that time calculated wrong and did not press police and that is how the riot got out of hand. as riot develops, political opportunity materializes, that is the simple fact.