The Greatest Hindu King - A Translation and Analysis of Maratha Fury and Shivaji Can`t we guys start taking up issues which concern the Present and the future instead of raking up the past and reviving past glories-Its kind of pathetic.
Look at europe ,France and Germany fought the bloodiest wars,WW2 caused so much death and destruction.The people have learnt to forget the past and work towards a better future- AN ECONOMICALLY UNITED EUROPE.

Lets learn from them ,and try to improve the standards of living of our people.For a region is one of the poorest regions of the world.

Enough of this .

My Dudley! A nice piece..........impressive debut asmaa.I liked the style and the pace..

Keep writing

Regards
Nandan

Reinventing Pakistan: The Rise of The Left
A very optimistic article,I hope for the sake of the subcontinent that reasons for this optimism is well warranted.
A peaceful and progressive pakistan is the interests of all south asias especially Indians.

Regards
Nandan

Faith No More Shandana

One of the most touching...moving articles I read on chowk.Its a pleasure to read your articles.Keep your ``kalaam`` flowing.

Regards

Nandan

Faith No More Shandana

One of the most touching...moving articles I read on chowk.Its a pleasure to read your articles.Keep your ``kalaam`` flowing.

Regards

Nandan

Maulanas cry foul over a ’suhaag-raat’ Re:# 12
I could,nt agree with Burpinder more,we Indians are a bunch of hypocrites when it comes to sex.. . Talking about sex,hugging,kissing is a taboo... even Sex education in schools is considered `` not a part of our culture`` ,thats strange for a country which has the 2nd highest number of HIV +ve people in the world.

While hip gyrating govinda style bollywood songs and Vulgar ( I would rather prefer a porn movie) music videos are acceptable ,even the SAANS BAHU serials which are regressive to the core are widely watched without a fuss.
I sometimes wonder what our ``culture`` is

Regards
Nandan

The Leveling of America AHMEDMADANI` #82
You Sound like a typical Paki Loser.Lets clear a few points
Islam -a religion of brotherhood and peace ,sure mate Gauri,Ghazanavi,Abdali were creatures of Non Violence-what do you say
India- held back because of Armies of China ,Pakistan, Bangladesh-Does Bangladesh have an army?Memory recall-1947,1965,1971-KNOCK KNOCK ANYBODY THERE

Saudi collabaration in Paki Madrassah`s - GREAT INVESTMENT

Indian Microsoft Slave better than a Paki Taxi Driver /Terrorist Driver-Have you heard about THE SILLIC0N VALLEY WHERE 40% CHIP DESIGNERS ARE INDIANS.

Indian Monkey is far superior to the paki dog who is completely dependant on American aid

By the chinese is spelled as CHINESE NOT CHISENE,reuter as REUTERS NOT RUTERS
WHICH MADRASSAH DID YOU GO TO.

THINK ABOUT IT (IF YOU CAN )

Hidden Hindus hyasit

Islam means ``surrender`` .Become a slave of an outdated Ideology.

JOIN THE NEAREST MADRASSA ,THEY ARE WAITING FOR HATE MONGERERS LIKE YOU SPREADING THEIR VENOM.

PEOPLE LIKE YOU MAKE THIS WORLD SICK


P.S DO THEY CALL YOU A NIGGER AS WELL

Halloween Party Dear beej,

it was a nice article, touching.....really.But what is big idea quoting this American jerk Lou Hawthorne .. who gives me the F... right to judge us .He comes across as a racist Gora with a scant regard for everything not american or white.

True there are many things about us which are disgusting....but there are a lot of things about America which disgust me even more.

Regards
Nandan

Why Democracy? Democracy as a form of government always has the following characteristics:

there is a demos, a group which makes political decisions by some form of collective procedure. Non-members of the demos do not participate. In modern democracies the demos is the nation, and citizenship is usually equivalent to membership.

there is a territory where the decisions apply, and where the demos is resident. In modern democracies, the territory is the nation-state, and since this corresponds (in theory) with the homeland of the nation, the demos and the reach of the democratic process neatly coincide. Colonies of democracies are not considered democratic in themselves, if they are governed from the colonial motherland: demos and territory do not coincide.

there is a decision-making procedure, which is either direct (for instance a referendum) or indirect (for instance election of a parliament).
the procedure is regarded as legitimate by the demos, implying that its outcome will be accepted. Political legitimacy is the willingness of the population to accept decisions of the state (government and courts), which go against personal choices or interests. It is especially relevant for democracies, since elections have both winners and losers.
the procedure is effective in the minimal sense that it can be used to change the government, assuming there is sufficient support for that change. Showcase elections, pre-arranged to re-elect the existing regime, are not democratic.
the demos has a long-term unity and continuity, from one decision-making round to the next - without secession of the minority.
in the case of nation-states, the state must be sovereign: democratic elections are pointless if an outside authority can overrule the result.

Why Democracy? Democracy as a form of government always has the following characteristics:

there is a demos, a group which makes political decisions by some form of collective procedure. Non-members of the demos do not participate. In modern democracies the demos is the nation, and citizenship is usually equivalent to membership.

there is a territory where the decisions apply, and where the demos is resident. In modern democracies, the territory is the nation-state, and since this corresponds (in theory) with the homeland of the nation, the demos and the reach of the democratic process neatly coincide. Colonies of democracies are not considered democratic in themselves, if they are governed from the colonial motherland: demos and territory do not coincide.

there is a decision-making procedure, which is either direct (for instance a referendum) or indirect (for instance election of a parliament).
the procedure is regarded as legitimate by the demos, implying that its outcome will be accepted. Political legitimacy is the willingness of the population to accept decisions of the state (government and courts), which go against personal choices or interests. It is especially relevant for democracies, since elections have both winners and losers.
the procedure is effective in the minimal sense that it can be used to change the government, assuming there is sufficient support for that change. Showcase elections, pre-arranged to re-elect the existing regime, are not democratic.
the demos has a long-term unity and continuity, from one decision-making round to the next - without secession of the minority.
in the case of nation-states, the state must be sovereign: democratic elections are pointless if an outside authority can overrule the result.

Why Democracy? I think its too simplistic to weigh democracy and monarchy/dictatorship in terms of social welfare and `revenue maximizing` as however altrustic motives of the Rulers in an monarchy ,there is simply no accountibilty ..rulers are simply not answerable to anyone.Take the case of Hitler,Stalin,Mao and now Saddam or take King of Saudi Arabia which inspite of being a wealthy nation is socially backward.

Democracy inspite of seemingly multiple drawbacks resolves around some kind of concensus. For example take the NDA in India ,Even though it had BJP and Shiv Sena in the coalition it could go on ``building the Ram Temple` or impose the``uniform civil code``
because the other partners were averse to these ideas.
Democracy in a way dilutes the various idealogies and provides a kind of `Cocktail` which helps sustain the various interests of all its people avioding conflict.

Mercy beau-coup? Farzana Versey is a commi from Stalinist Russia .I think She has a major attitude problem
or perhaps she gets a kick in taking a stance which is diametrically opposite popular perception.
Whatever the case I would like to bring out two points ,which are(atleast thats what I think)
more relevant to the case of Sarabjit Singh.

1. The confession made by the accused could have been made in duress.

2. The identity of the accused could be easily acertained by a DNA test (from a sample taken from his family members)so that we can all know whether the accused is Sarabjit Singh or Manjeet Singh.

so Farzana dont jump to your guns ,take up some other cause ,after all its a matter of a human life ,a person who has been languising in a paki jail for 15 years
just leave Sarabjit and his family alone!!!


Regards
Nandan

Bus Baby Nice verse,pure intentions.I found the first two para`s moving.For the war mongering hate filled jerks in chowk I hope this poem strickes a chord - who knows perhaps they might find their humanity again.
Nandan

Indian Classical Music in Lahore Dear chowk moderators,

its people like Lt Col. Rathode aka Salim Chauhan who make this world such a beastly place with their hatred ,intolerance and venom. I strongly suggest people like these should be removed from chowk as they defeat the whole purpose of CHOWK which is dialogue and discussion and not blind hatred.
INTOLERANCE CAN NEVER BE TOLERATED.

BY THE WAY YOU CREEP RATHORE MOST OF THE MUSLIMS IN THE SUBCONTINENT ARE CONVERTED HINDUS.
HOW MANY CAN YOU KILL.

Paleoanthropology and Evolution of Humankind
Nice article.Well written Dr Gill.I don`t see anything dull in these articles by Dr Gill.
In fact such kind of articles make science popular ,stimulating and Fun,Instead of being in confines of `nerds.`

Yeah it`s cool.Keep it up Dr Gill

About this particular article what stands out is that all of us(all humanity) have a common ancestor irrespective of race,colour ,creed or religion.
Makes you ponder....




Nandan