The Modernity Conspiracy Re: # 15

I think this assumption is a bit exaggerated. China’s modernization or rapid growth is somewhat similar to Singapore’s in the sense Singapore also had controlled political environment during it’s hyper growth period.

The Color Yellow
One technical point. Signal doesn`t turn green after yellow, it is the other way round.

God is merely a probability. If you throw marbles, one or two may drop in pit rest will scatter. I would have preferred that conversation with an old man rather than a boy.

Why do Pakistanis consider Mahmud Ghazni, Mohammad Ghauri and Aurangzeb Great Muslims?
Hindus in general don`t regard Aurangzeb a good man either but the fact the remains that he was a better administrator than some of the other kings of his time and also less cruel than some of the Hindu despots.

In the Dying Light Re: # 118

``(1) Where have some of the most hateful forms of the religion been born?, and (2) who have been among the most rabid promoters of these supremacist and violent doctrines worldwide? We may not want to stomach them, but the answers are: (1) right here in India, on our own soil, and (2) by Indians - our neighbors and day-to-day friends, living along side with us. For those who like such things, one can even invent a name for this pattern - Zakir Naik phenomenon. ``


Will you please elaborate?

In the Dying Light Re: # 90

Answer is in ancient Indian wisdom i.e. Neti! Neti! ( not this! not this!)
We don`t have direct answer but we know what not to do.

Why do Pakistanis consider Mahmud Ghazni, Mohammad Ghauri and Aurangzeb Great Muslims?
Yes.

Though Aurangzeb wasn`t so bad apart from being an obsessive muslim.
And heros were actually people like Kabir, Nanak and other wandering saints with their simple but incisive ability to think rationally

In the Dying Light
Some twenty years back passed through Banares, sucked in it’s smells, sounds and images for an hour and moved on. But then I lived in Allahabad for a few years and I believe Banares is but only a lot more intense Allahabad. Crimson towns these! Paan chewing men looking at heaven while talking to you until their mouth saturated with saliva and splat! The wall gets colored. Arms sporting colored threads, saris, bangles, gamchaas, bindies, hard cover of holy books and the cloth that wraps them, fluttering flags atop temples and ugly unplastered walls of houses; everywhere shades of red. From distance these places look inanimate, trapped in a forgotten time warp yet like anthills bustling with activities inside.

I think the writer made a mistake looking for ‘Nothing’ in Banares. She should have instead looked for ‘Void’. Buddha in me says these words connote different things and I tend to agree. Void is everywhere permeating everything. You could see it in the wrinkles of that rickshaw-puller politely trying to strike a conversation, in the hollow boast of boatman, in the beady glazed eyes of shocked widows, and blank innocence of orphaned children and awed bystanders.

It must have been at the place where bomb exploded and surely in the mind of brainwashed zombie who planted the bomb.

But ‘Void’ is not a substitute for ‘Nothing’ if you want nothing but ‘Nothing’

In the Dying Light Re: # 23

You sound like counting potatoes, 22 here 3000 there

In the Dying Light
Strange! Looking for surrealism in macabre.

The Interview Re: # 3

I don`t think you have seriously read my comment. I have no thinking problem. It is the reflex response that is the problem. I don’t believe in ghosts that doesn’t mean I can roam around graves in the dead of night without fear. Convincing subconscious is another matter.

The Interview

Honestly I too will get a shock if I heard a girl from my community announce ``Sangeeta Shakir Ahmeb``

But it will be a reflex response and not a rational reaction. Samskar sit deep in our subconscious, it is not easy to shake them off.

Is the Koran Truly Amazing? Re: # 520

``Yeh zindagi ke mailay duniya mein kum na hongay ``

try saying that!!!!

try reading that ``mailay`` it reads dirty.

A Lot is Rotten in the State of Denmark
http://web.mid-day.com/diary/diary.htm

scroll down to see cartoon of M F Hussain.

A Lot is Rotten in the State of Denmark
Anybody who writes this kind of article must be a true masochist. The assault on his ego by interactors must give him great pleasure. Enjoy!

Nude Art and the \'Pure Land\'

Edward Manet`s ``Luncheon on the Grass`` did create a bit of controversy in Paris, but the reason was not entirely Nudes. Nudes were acceptable form of paintings even in those days provided done in formal pose making the whole thing look artificial.. Luncheon on the Grass`` had a nude shown in more realistic situation. By the way there is only one nude woman, the other one is not nude but attired flimsily.

Nude Art and the \'Pure Land\'
The aura of mystique surrounding Nudes is our own making. The more we are inhibited about it the more magical and mysterious it will seem. Critically, Nudes by various painters are no more or no less emotionally exhilarating than any ‘Still life’ paintings. Paul Cezanne arguably the best of Impressionist and credited with first simplification of form into geometric distortion, hardly painted Nudes. His ‘Still Life’ paintings the most endearing works of art just as Van Gogh’s works are so expressive.

Our fascination and undue importance to Nudes is absolutely misplaced