Sunday, May 30, 2010
Beyond Bread 'n' Butter
Posted by scorpio at 11:22 AM 4 comments
Labels: BIHAR, culture vultures, FRANK KRISHNER, Honey, INCREDIBLE INDIA, MEMORIES, NORTH EAST, Patna, SHOUT BOX, Sikkim, TEA, TRIBES
Friday, May 28, 2010
Working Men
Posted by scorpio at 10:11 PM 2 comments
Labels: BIHAR, DALITS, INCREDIBLE INDIA, Patna, WORKING MEN
Full Moon Rising
The township of Bodh Gaya has the flavour of Buddhist Multiculturalism, and nowhere can Saga Dawa be better experienced, except, perhaps in the Monasteries of Sikkim. I have observed the festival in Pemayangtse, and at Lachung.
Bodh Gaya, however, remains my preferred destination in May every year, when the full moon of Buddha Purnima rises over the world, commemorating the birth of the Compassionate One.
God in heaven is believed to descend to the mortal world on this day.
Saga Dawa is 15th day of the fourth month on the Tibetan calendar. It is the birthday of Sakyamuni, and the day when he died and attained Nirvana. During this period, hundreds of thousands of people turn their prayer wheels on the street in Lhasa, and then paddle boats in the Dragon King Pool, and sing and dance in the afternoon.
In Bodh Gaya, Bihar, it’s a spectacle, very distracting, and not so awe-inspiring perhaps, but definitely one that’s worth returning to year after year.
Posted by scorpio at 10:15 AM 2 comments
Labels: BIHAR, BUDDHISM, INCREDIBLE INDIA, SAGA DAWA, Sikkim
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Dalits and Education
Posted by scorpio at 4:43 PM 0 comments
Labels: BIHAR, DALITS, education, INCREDIBLE INDIA, MUSAHAR, Patna, TEA, TRIBES
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Madan Tamang - His was A Life
Posted by scorpio at 3:48 PM 2 comments
Labels: Gorkhaland, INCREDIBLE INDIA, NORTH EAST, SHOUT BOX, Sikkim
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
On the road again
But does UTTHAN stand for Un -Touchable-Then-How- Acceptable Now?
Posted by scorpio at 11:51 PM 1 comments
Labels: BIHAR, BRAHMIN, culture vultures, DALITS, education, INCREDIBLE INDIA, MUSAHAR, Patna, TRIBES
Friday, May 14, 2010
Muslim Televangelists – a film by Thierry Derouet
Posted by scorpio at 6:41 AM 0 comments
Labels: culture vultures, Islam, MEDIA, Movies
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
Yes Minister, my Sympathies
Sympathy • noun (pl. sympathies) 1 feelings of pity and sorrow for someone else’s misfortune. 2 understanding between people; common feeling.3 support for or approval of something. 4 (in sympathy) relating harmoniously to something else; in keeping. 5 the state or fact of responding in a way corresponding to an action elsewhere.
— ORIGIN Greek sumpatheia, from sun- ‘with’ + pathos ‘feeling’.
Mahasweta Devi challenged Chidambaram to put her in jail for 10 years, in response to the centre’s newly found enthusiasm for using the UAPA to arrest so-called Maoists sympathizers. As of now, I truly sympathize with the home minister for being humiliated by a gutsy 84 year-old woman.
Yet sympathy is a thought-crime thanks to the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act, 1967, and accordingly, ‘any person who commits the offence of supporting such a terrorist organization with inter alia intention to further the activities of such terrorist organizations would be liable to be punished with imprisonment for a term not exceeding ten years or with fine or with both.’
I like to place some emphasis on ‘intention to further the activities’ of the Maoists. Since we have brought public debate on Operation Green Hunt down to the ludicrous and the farcical, I’d like to ask one question: who has really furthered the activities of the Maoist any more than the exploitive economic policies of the state and their counter-insurgency tactics? I mean, what’s more useful to the Maoists, a Writ Petition filed by activists for the adivasis, or the state’s security apparatus that terrorizes the population on mere suspicion and suppresses dissent and civil society?
Maoist sympathizers, or supporters, according to the state, are simply anyone who stands up for the rights of the adivasi. Not long ago in the Supreme Court, an accusation was hurled at just-another-activist who was fighting for the rights of the adivasi, for being a Maoist supporter. The response by the judges was fitting. ‘Suppose somebody fights their (victims) case, so what does that imply? First you say they are Naxals, then you say they are sympathisers, then you say they are sympathisers of sympathisers… Why all these innuendos?’
‘Sympathy is fighting for their cause (victims). Nobody is advocating their cause. They are not saying their action should be condoned.
And who is really advocating the Maoist cause? Anyone with even half a brain would know that even if the Maoists do capture state power, we’d merely be dealing with a whole bunch of clowns, who’d merely shoot the students at JNU, if there was even a single squeak of dissent.
And unfortunately I need to have yet another fashionable pot-shot at Mr. Chidambaram whose policies are single-handedly the greatest support for the Maoists to help ‘further their activities’. First, let’s start with the Salwa Judum, that was given unbridled freedom to do as it pleases – burn, rape, loot and murder in every place that was known to have a strong Maoist presence, and the Maoists had the last laugh – as recruitment was an all-time high. How much did the Salwa Judum help to ‘further the activities’ of the Maoists? Does the centre now know that the Salwa Judum had even burnt down villages that had no Maoist links? And killed people who had no grudge against the state?
No, I didn't write this post. I wish I had. Visit the original blog by clicking on the link.
Read more of this excellent article here
Posted by scorpio at 5:10 PM 0 comments
Labels: BIHAR, DALITS, INCREDIBLE INDIA, MEDIA, SHOUT BOX, TRIBES
Friday, May 07, 2010
So Ricky Martin's Gay?
I've been a bit preoccupied with life. Then yesterday, somebody expressed a great deal of surprise that Ricky Martin turned out 'Gay'.
Frankly, I was surprised Ricky Boy took almost two decades to get it off his chest, considering that about fifty percent of his fans suspected it. His sexuality has been one of the worst-kept secrets in the music industry for years!
But how does that explain the success of Rufus Wainwright, Will Young, Beth Ditto, The Pet Shop Boys, Scissor Sisters or the countless other artists who enjoy great sales and critical kudos and make no bones about being attracted to people of the same sex?
When the late Stephen Gately of Boyzone announced he was gay in 1999, fans were expected to throw their hands up in horror. In fact, they rallied round in support. The same went for Will Young, who came out to fans shortly after winning Pop Idol.
By the way, I heard somewhere that Imran Khan is the new Indian Gay pin-up? Now how does his girlfriend take his statement that it's nice to have men admire him as much as women?
Posted by scorpio at 4:40 PM 1 comments
Labels: BOYS, MEDIA, Music, QUEER CASEBOOK, queer subculture, Temple of Understanding
Monday, May 03, 2010
Adivasi-ism - not Mao-ism or State-ism
Posted by scorpio at 6:20 PM 3 comments
Labels: BIHAR, BOYS, INCREDIBLE INDIA, Jharkhand, SHOUT BOX
Teen din ka Mela - Abhivyakti 2010
Posted by scorpio at 8:18 AM 6 comments
Labels: Abhivyakti, BIHAR, culture vultures, education, FRANK KRISHNER, INCREDIBLE INDIA, MAITHILI, MEDIA, MEMORIES, Movies, Patna
Sunday, May 02, 2010
Abhivyakti: Second day ka Manohar Kahani
Still from Arzoo
“If the film From Hindu to Hindutva shown yesterday left us dismal and depressed, Arzoo fills us with hope, because it shows us that there is a way to heal the rifts, to go beyond ‘religion’ and evolve towards humanism and spirituality,” said a participant.
Posted by scorpio at 7:15 AM 5 comments
Labels: Abhivyakti, BIHAR, culture vultures, education, FRANK KRISHNER, INCREDIBLE INDIA, Islam, Literature, MEDIA, Movies, Patna