I usually avoid posting large sections of articles, interviews etc as “excerpts” but I am making an exception for this one…I stumbled on this interview of Sh Arun Shourie an hour ago – and am putting these excerpts up, given the nature of its contents…Please read on – and please share widely…All is not well, All is desperately not well… More on this when I have some time to gather my thoughts…In the meantime, I am grieving for the country.
*** Excerpts from Karan Thapar’s interview with Arun Shourie ***
Karan …

Some of you may remember this tweet from barbarindian yesterday in which he referred to this report by PTI on the demolition of an “illegal” religious structure:
..Police on Wednesday lobbed teargas shells and used force to disperse scores of people protesting the demolition of an “illegal” religious structure in south-east Delhi…“A number of people gathered at the area police station and marched towards the demolition spot. They were prevented from entering the spot. They broke the barricades and tried to enter the premises. We had to resort to lobbing teargas …

UPDATE: For those who missed the *real news*, here is the link (Hat Tip: JKV; For those who cannot open the site, here is a PDF version of that page http://scr.bi/dkQTaG, courtesy Srikanth)
..or the great joke that is Indian media – Part XV. Offered without comment, but with emphasis added…
Saumya A will never forget the surprise 27th birthday gift — a handshake with India’s most eligible bachelor Rahul Gandhi and a photograph of the two to flaunt the chance encounter.
The MP created a flutter by strolling into a well-known …

Dear All: This is a *lazy* post. As long-time readers of this blog know, a *lazy* post is one comprising entirely of comments and/or passing remarks. In this case, it comprises tweets. It was prompted by a tweet by Salil Tripathi that I stumbled on quite by chance yesterday. In his tweet, Salil wrote (emphasis mine throughout):
but many temples were destroyed to build temples, jain/buddhist temples destroyed to build hindu temples. Reopen all?
I responded by asking him:
Re. “..many..jain/buddhist temples destroyed to build hindu temples”, can you please name three? Thanks
He …

Most of you reading this may have never heard of Deganga before…It is a small town on the banks of Bidyadhari (Vidhyadhari) river in Barasat Lok Sabha constituency. Courtesy Wikipedia, I learnt that the river was a major navigation route in earlier times and had a major port along its banks from the Mauryan era.  However, history is not the reason I am writing this post about Deganga. Over the last two days, I got various emails on “looting and clashes between two communities” in this town which prompted me …

*** CAUTION: Not Suitable for Children and May Not be Suitable for Workplace Viewing ***
About 10 hours ago, late afternoon yesterday, Times of India published an article headlined, “Incest: Haryana’s shameful social heritage” by Sukhbir Siwach.

Most of you probably missed it…I did too…until I was alerted to it by centerofright. The article talked about disturbing incidents and reports of incest in Haryana and appeared to suggest that this practice was widespread in rural Haryana:
These are not isolated incidents: incest is reportedly a real part of life in rural Haryana
It …

The day of coronation appears to be coming closer…The machinery seems to be working full-time to establish the dynasty in the “hearts and minds” of the people of India.
First you had the “celebrations” around the Prince’s coming of age. Last week we witnessed the pleasing face of the late patriarch beaming from hoardings, posters and advertisements in newspapers…Today, I was alerted to this painstakingly compiled photo album, courtesy NDTV that talks of (emphasis added):
“Priyanka’s aura…that definitely cannot be ignored

Wait there is more…
Her poise and elegance coupled with her settled attitude, …

…or how some news is best left out of the main pages. Courtesy Ashok-ji,  my attention was drawn to this brief news-item about a Dutch missionary who was asked to leave Jammu & Kashmir within weeks  – just after his visa was renewed for four years. Read on:
A Dutch missionary of the Institute Mill Hill working in the Kashmir region of India has been asked by authorities to leave the country by the end of July.
His expulsion came as a surprise since the government had just renewed his visa until …

Continued from Part-I. Dear All: I am opening this thread to avoid overload of comments on the previous thread. The last few comments have been reproduced here.
Please continue the discussion on this new thread. Thank you.
***
Comment by Sid:

Just to add some discussion here:
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1100730/jsp/frontpage/story_12749135.jsp Note the last para:
“Attacking Hindu terror works fine for us. But taking on Muslim extremism is a very sensitive issue and so we should be careful. Achuthanandan is sounding like the Bajrang Dal and the central party is backing him,” said a senior …

Thanks to JKV and Sudhir Kumar for alerting me to this nugget (UPDATE: Credit for picking this story must go to Venkat Kumar. Thanks).
From a PTI news-story filed by a staff writer (6th Aug ’10; 14:21 hrs IST; emphasis added):
Alappuzha (Ker), Aug 6 (PTI) The right hand of a 24-year-old man was nearly severed by a gang, allegedly to wreck revenge for his questioning one of them for teasing his cousin sister near Cengannur here, police said here today.
Abhilash, an autorickshaw driver, was waylaid and attacked by the gang on …