In Part I, we read how the history taught to young minds has been deliberately twisted and distorted -presumably in the interest of maintaining peace and harmony. Continuing in the same vein, today a look at the Mughals – “descendants of two great lineages of rulers” and a “chieftain“ who established an empire that effectively de-throned the Mughals and rivaled the Mughals at its peak.
The “chieftain” is a reference to Chhatrapati Shivaji MahaRaj. My simple dictionary tells me that a “chieftain” is usually a leader of a group, clan or tribe. …

…are condemned to repeat it…Several weeks ago, I chanced upon the NCERT website with links to “History” text-books for middle school students in India. Curiousity led me to download some of the chapters from the text book for students of Class VII. I was angry and sad at what I discovered.
The tales of Rajput valour and their determined resistance against the Mughals find no mention in this History text for students of Class VII (Age 12-14). There is no mention of the three Jauhars of Chittor (or of the more …

Thanks to Jay for the link to this talk by Tarek Fatah. In this 15-odd minutes video, he talks of Islamism, the truth that dares not speaks its name & how it starts with the Jews…
As Jay mentioned in his email, this is
A really thought-provoking analysis of Islamic terrorism by  a Canadian of Indian origin, who also happens to have been born as a Muslim.. A self-proclaimed and critical Marxist.
His honesty and sincerity about the religion of his birth are something that Indian Marxists should try and emulate. What we have …

Start your Sunday evening with It’s Tracking Your Every Move and You May Not Even Know by Noam Cohen:
A favorite pastime of Internet users is to share their location: services like Google Latitude can inform friends
when you are nearby; another, Foursquare, has turn ed reporting these updates into a game.
…But as a German Green party politician, Malte Spitz, recently learned, we are already continually being tracked whether we volunteer to be or not. Cellphone companies do not typically divulge how much information they collect, so Mr. Spitz went to court to find out …

The majority of our people are Muslims. How can we not talk of Islam?

I can’t help wondering – what happened to the famed “Kashmiriyat”?
Source: Interview of Syed Ali Shah Geelani by Kaveree Bamzai, India Today, November 8, 2010
Additional Reading: Rajiv Sikri on what happened to the much-touted Kashmiriyat? and Is this man the biggest roadblock to peace in Kashmir valley?

in Londonistan and elsewhere…
This thread was triggered by a startling report in the Daily Mail published on Sunday. Titled “Britain goes halal…“, it mentioned how famous British institutions were regularly serving Halal meat without informing patrons, customers or the general public. Excerpts:
A Mail on Sunday investigation – which will alarm anyone concerned about animal cruelty – has revealed that schools, hospitals, pubs and famous sporting venues such as Ascot and Twickenham are controversially serving up meat slaughtered in accordance with strict Islamic law to unwitting members of the public.
All the …

From the first part of this story:
As Guru-ji returned to Punjab in 1670, news of his increasing influence reached Aurangzeb. Royal reporters mentioned how “For years by now…he (Guru Tegh Bahadur) has been conducting an extensive whirlwind tour of the country. He has been going about with many thousand men. He is also collecting funds”
Aurangzeb received these reports in the North-west where he was dealing with the rebellion of Pathans. As Kartar Singh-ji notes:
He (Aurangzeb) had no time to make intensive enquiries about allegations. …

Many of you would remember the promise I made some days ago to share  the inspiring story about the life of Guru Tegh Bahadur-ji on this blog.
I was hoping to do last week but my visit to North-East delayed this post. That said, Guruji’s story is timeless…and will no doubt be retold many many times…What follows is my humble attempt at depicting the life of this saint.  Although we are all very familiar with Guru Tegh Bahadur’s name, his deeds – like hundreds of other proud chapters from Indian history …

I first became aware of Mata Gujri after reading a poem by my friend Gurmeet which she shared on Facebook. The poem was a tribute to Mata Gujri-ji on the occassion of Mothers’ Day. It was enough to spark my curiousity. I decided to find out more…and was not disappointed. Here – in excerpts – is the extraordinary story of Mata Gujri Ji, from the almost forgotten pages of Indian History.
In a talk Gurmeet delivered in 2004, she called Mata Gujri a  perfect woman,a “Puran Istree“.
The word “Stree” originates …

Some of you may have already read this post from Atanu which he published in early Feb ’10. In this deeply thought-provoking and remarkably forthright post, Atanu explained his views on Islam (strong) and discussed related issues including that of Islamic terrorism. He has been kind enough to allow me to post excerpts on my blog (added emphasis is mine). Without further ado,
*** Excerpts from The Distinction between People and Ideologies by Atanu Dey ***

…my claims that Islam brainwashes people to become terrorists and suicide killers is supported by …