This post was prompted by a winding but thought-provoking conversation I had this summer with a friend and his cousin – a young serving officer in the Indian Navy. We talked politics, Jammu & Kashmir, 26/11, bribery, corruption and Pakistan…until talk got around to attitudes of young people towards the army and the general lack of interest in a career in the armed forces.
The young naval officer felt that at least part of the blame lies with our attitudes towards “heroes”. As a society and as a nation, …

Just finished reading Oh, But You Do Get It Wrong! by Aditi Banerjee …a commendable analysis of Wendy Donger’s prejudices and liberties with truth. I’m reproducing excerpts below. The full article is also available for download from my Docs and Slides widget on the Links page.
*** Excerpts from “Oh, But You Do Get It Wrong!” ***
…Defamation of Critics
The introduction to the interview begins with a misleading quote:
“[Doniger] has continued to infuriate the Hindutva brigade with her unorthodox views on Hinduism and its sacred texts, earning for herself the epithet: “crude, …

Here is something to jolt you out of your mid-week complacency. In a two-part series on “hygiene & sanitation in India”, I will carry excerpts from various, recent articles on this subject to highlight this commonly seen but rarely discussed challenge.
In Part I, excerpts from Jason Gale’s article that remind us on the need to grapple with some very fundamental problems first before we can aspire to be a “super-power” or say “India Shining” with some conviction.
From India Failing to Control Open Defecation Blunts Nation’s Growth” by Jason Gale, …

From Chapter 6, “Eclipse of the Hindu Nation” by Radha Rajan:
…The mind-games that Gandhi thought he was playing brilliantly with Jinnah and the British eventually boomeranged on the nation. Jinnah felt betrayed by Gandhi and the Viceroy when the League was not invited to form the interim government on its own as per Clause 8 of the statement of June 16 and the Muslim League rejected the Cabinet Mission proposals in toto making the threat of a violent eruption by the League very real. But contrary to what the …

West Bengal Chief Minister Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee:

I will teach them (Maoists) a lesson in the future…

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Full context of the quote:
Asked whether the State government, by agreeing to the swap (of tribals in exchange for a police officer), sent out a message to Maoists that abducting police personnel was a certain way for to secure the release of their sympathisers , he said: “If they learnt this lesson, they are wrong. I will teach them a lesson in the future.”
Related Post: On Naxals, Red Corridor and Operation Green Hunt
Past Quotes.

This post is dedicated to Devi Ahilya Bai Holkar – perhaps the greatest of any warrior queens we had in history.

Many of you must have heard about her….but unfortunately her story is largely unknown and has not got the attention it deserves.  Although her 30-year reign is widely regarded as the model for a benevolent and effective government and administration, her rule is usually a  footnote in medieval history – which is a shame considering her astounding achievements and philosohpy of governance.
Devi Ahilya was born into a Patil …