Indellectual

2004-09-01T22:01:00.000-05:00

India has such a rich diversity of cultures, cuisines, religions, religious practices, languages, etc. I feel that there is a quality among Indians that is uniquely Indian , yet there is so much I don't know about the country.

The states of East India, like Sikkim, Manipur, Meghalaya, Nagaland, are almost foreign to me. Perhaps my ignorance comes from my having grown up in the US. Do Indians who've grown up in the larger, mainland Indian states of Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Bihar, etc. have adequate knowledge about their neighboring states on the other side of Bangladesh?

It makes me want to seek out a website that covers basic information about each one, like its language, or the customs, religious practices, or holidays observed. If anyone has found something like that, please send it our way!

And from me, here's an interesting webite on the cooking of Sikkim:
http://www.sikkiminfo.net/food&drinks.htm

-Rajul Parekh

2004-08-21T17:24:00.000-05:00

Pemberville Stomachs "Fair Factor"
By Elizabeth A. Shack, The Toledo Blade, August 21, 2004

As if chowing down on live worm pizza and bobbing for meat out of toilet bowls weren't bad enough, most contestants who return for the final round of Pemberville [Ohio] Free Fair's "Fair Factor" competition tonight could face something even more disgusting.

The competition, added as a new twist to this year's free-admission fair, is based on the NBC show Fear Factor, in which contestants are covered in roaches or spiders, locked in coffins, or made to eat live snails, among other stunts.

"We wanted to bring all the kids into town to have a ball," said Audra Headley, owner of the Front Street Cafe in Pemberville and one of the event's organizers.

Mrs. Headley said there would be "a rolling contest with a ball and a foreign substance," a Dumpster dive, and an event that was on the Fear Factor television show.

The contestants weren't too concerned.

"We're daring," Katelyn said.

With all the imitation of the West that goes on in India, does that mean we are to expect shows like this to crop up there too?!

We'd be curious to know what religious leaders like the Shankaracharyas and the Imam of the Delhi Jama Masjid think about this?

2004-08-19T13:29:00.000-05:00

These 2 comments are from a newsgroup. It's interesting to see what others think of us:

Actually, the sauces and methods of cooking in Indian cuisine tend to make the specifics of the meat or whatever in the dish rather unimportant.

>>That's what I thought. The few times I've ordered Indian food, I've wondered, "What the hell difference does it make which dish I choose? After the first bite, it's just going to burn the hell out of my palate until I can't taste anything for the next 6 weeks anyway."

To some extent I can understand these comments, since some of my friends with an Eastern-European background really want to be able to taste the meat that they're eating. They desire that specific flavor of the lamb or pork or beef in a meal, and if they can't taste it, they're unsatisfied.

On the other hand, I wonder if some of this strong reaction to Indian food is simply due to bad restaurants which dump ingredients in, without giving proper care to the unique flavor of each dish? I myself have felt that some restaurants make several dishes all look and taste basically the same.

-Rajul Parekh

2004-08-09T22:54:00.000-05:00

Kerala News > Martial arts village in Kerala turns into a boxing ring

Pooladikunnu (Kerala), Aug 3 (ANI):
Here is a village where almost everyone, be it the old or the women, has a passion for boxing. From 10-year-old boys to 30-year-old housewives, every third person at Pooladikunnu village is aspiring to be a boxer....

While for parents, who often spend lifetime savings on educating their children, boxing has suddenly become the one-stop ticket to ensuring a career for their wards who are facing cutthroat competition in the ever-shrinking job market.

"...boxing has suddenly become the one-stop ticket to ensuring a career for their wards..."

How? By becoming trainers for eternally warring Indian politicians?!

It almost seems that if Kerala's famous son Shankaracharya were alive today, he might have written "Bhaja Boxingam" instead of "Bhaja Govindam"!

2004-08-05T15:23:00.000-05:00

S. Africa cited as attack target
Nationals arrested in Pakistan raid
--By Paul Haven, Associated Press, The Boston Globe, August 5, 2004

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan -- Two South Africans captured along with a senior Al Qaeda terrorist were plotting attacks on tourist sites in their home country, Pakistani officials said yesterday, a surprising target for Islamic terrorism given the African nation's vocal stand against the war in Iraq and Israel's treatment of Palestinians.

All the good Muslims aspire to go to Mecca for Hajj; and it seems like all the Islamic terrorists aspire to go to Pakistan!

Seriously, isn't it sad that Pakistan, a nation that had such high ideals of becoming a model for a Holy Land for all Muslims across the world, has fallen into such a chasm?

This should serve as a good lesson for extremists of any hue and in any place; and that includes Hindus, Jews and Christians.

2004-07-29T22:26:00.000-05:00

From Ramesh Lahoti's July 14, 2004 letter to The Indian Express:

If the communists have a better solution, why have they not implemented it in states ruled by them? They have ruined the states of West Bengal and Kerala.

2004-07-27T22:07:00.000-05:00

From the newspaper, New Kerala

Antony agrees to discuss student's suicide in assembly
Thiruvananthapuram, July 26 (IANS) :

Rajani Anand, 20, a third-year engineering student, jumped to her death from a seven-storey building here Thursday night after she failed to get a loan to pay her fees at a self-financing engineering college.

This, after 57 years of independence?!

2004-07-25T18:48:00.000-05:00

Condoms Add shine to Silk Saris
Sunday, July 25, 2004, The Times of India

Call it use or misuse, but in India condoms have apparently found their way into Benarasi silk saris, roads, water containers and more.

They may be distributed free by government agencies in India to check population growth and diseases like AIDS, but safe sex is not what they always get used for.

"Condoms are being used in the finishing of the famous Benaras silk saris; providing a smooth finish to tarred roads; as well as in waterproofing ceilings in India," said a report presented at an international conference in Bangkok....

...[Rama Kant of King George's Medical University], who is a surgeon of high repute, believes not more than 20-25 percent of condoms distributed freely are put to their proper use.

"Naturally, condoms worth billions are being misused across the length and breadth of the country," he said.

"And that is bound to reflect in the virtual failure of the WHO objective to promote the use of condoms for prevention of AIDS and check population growth," he added.
(IANS)

These practices should be condemned outright; there is no way to condone them!

2004-07-19T17:21:00.000-05:00

India School Fire That Killed 90 Reveals Gaps in Nation's Progress
-By DAVID ROHDE, July 18, 2004, The New York Times

While the country's high technology economy surges ahead, inefficient — and in some ways, weak — federal, state and local governments, as well as a poor public education system, threaten to slow the country's development.

Friday's fire illustrates how all those strains can come together to craft tragedy. Kannan Saravanan, 9, said from his hospital bed that his teacher told his fourth-grade class on Friday morning that their school was on fire. The teacher told the children to "run away," the boy recalled, and then ran away herself.

Abandoned with as many as 190 other students in an overcrowded second-floor classroom, the boy did not know what to do, he said.

He said he saw flames near the room's only exit, so he retreated farther into the classroom with dozens of other children and climbed under a bench as a searing fire roared above him.

"I watched three people burning and dying in front of me, young children," he said. "They didn't say anything. They were just crying."

...and India has been crying for a long time but hasn't been saying anything!

"Whatever the highest level of prosecution, that will be done," Mr. Radhakrishnan vowed.

How high? The education minister? The chief minister? The prime minister?

Sparks from a fire made by a cook, who is one of the people who has been arrested, somehow ignited the thatched roof that hangs over the kitchen.

All Indians, especially those who can think and judge (and care), should check to see if a thatched roof hangs over all of India, a rising world power.

2004-07-18T12:39:00.000-05:00

From the web page of an Indian graduate student in computer Science at the Iowa State University:

Bits & Bytes rule the mankind!!

My comments:

And bit by bit, they bite our souls!!!

2004-07-17T14:10:00.000-05:00

I came across this on the Internet:

LONGEST POEM ON EARTH WRITTEN BY NIKHIL PAREKH
Longest poem written on earth, ONLY AS LIFE composed by prolific Indian Poet Nikhil Parekh, measures a Herculean, 1470 lines, 1100 stanzas, 7900 words, 38,900 characters (without spaces). It is also exclusively the first of its kind in pure poetry fraternity and English language; without containing the most infinitesimal of elements of dramatic theater/stage plays/ dramas/ conventional theater/ stage sequels/opera performances.. etc. This makes it the longest on earth in the 21st Century and English Language, weaving through countless lines of immortal love and life; wholesomely and irrefutably distinguishing it from conventional theater/dramatic philosophies/poetic plays/poetic memoirs/personal biographies/ plays/ancient scripts.

My response was in the form of a poem:

Brief Encounter

Something wrong?
Why so long?

Read it now
Or postpone?

Better yet,
Stay away
And say good-bye?

So long!

2004-07-15T00:04:00.000-05:00

There was recently a program about India and the people who commute to work on trains in Bombay. Each car has a capacity of 1000, but is overloaded to several times that number, which means that some people must arrive very early to get seats, and countless others are forced to stand. However, one man who was interviewed said the commute poses no real problems for him. He and his fellow commuters have become very close friends: they play cards with each other, talk, laugh, but make sure to avoid topics about politics and religion.

In America, many of us have certain basic amenities in life, and in some cases, luxuries -- driving to work in our very own car with our plush seats, our coffee or muffin in hand. We, who are used to these conveniences, complain when we have to undergo some small discomfort, unlike those Indians, who seem to adapt so well to life's hardships, without complaint.

I wonder, on the other hand, how good it really is for them to suffer and not realize the difficult conditions they are made to face.

The following headline was published in a local Ohio newspaper: People Want Biased News: Most Seem to Want Easy, Not Difficult-To-Understand, News This was an article written by David Shaw of the Los Angeles Times.

This makes us really wonder, whether in India, the U.S. or elsewhere: how is it possible to help people help themselves out of the adverse conditions they live in if they don't even realize they're facing adversity?

-Rajul Parekh

2004-07-13T20:28:00.000-05:00

Another comment regarding the suggestion we made on the 7th about testing truck drivers for HIV. Today on ABC's World News Tonight, they said the truck drivers avoid getting tested because they are afraid of the stigma of being HIV positive. But what if they were at risk of losing their jobs if they refused to get tested? What if testing were made a mandatory requirement by the trucking companies? Would that put more pressure on them? Additionally, can they be rewarded in some way for going to get tested?

-Rajul Parekh

2004-07-09T11:30:00.000-05:00

Exposé of Peasants' Plight Is Suppressed by China
By Joseph Kahn, The New York Times, July 9, 2004

EFEI, China, July 5 - In their muckraking best seller about abuses against Chinese peasants, the husband-and-wife authors, Chen Guidi and Wu Chuntao, told the stories of farmers who fought the system and lost.

The book, "An Investigation of China's Peasantry," describes how one farmer's long struggle against illegal taxes ended only when the police beat him to death with a mulberry club. It profiles a village activist who was jailed on a charge of instigating riots after he accused a local Communist Party boss of corruption.

Now, Mr. Chen and Ms. Wu say, it is their turn to be silenced.

Though their tautly written defense of China's 750 million peasants has become a sensation, their names have stopped appearing in the news media. Their publisher was ordered to cease printing at the peak of the book's popularity this spring, leaving the market to pirates who subsequently churned out millions of copies in violation of the copyright.

A ranking official sued sued the authors, accusing them of libel, in his home county court. In a country that does not protect a right to criticize those holding power, it is a case they say they are sure to lose.

Top Beijing leaders acknowledge that China's surging urban economy has done relatively little to benefit the two-thirds of the population living in rural areas.

Politicians, journalists, businessmen and even economists never tire of talking in glowing terms about China's growing strength as a world power. Now everyone has started talking about India in a similar fashion. However, the recent Indian elections underscored and brought into focus how the great mass of rural poor did not benefit from the economic liberalization of India.

Here in America, we regularly hear about the gap between the rich and the poor.

What does this suggest? Is there some common thread in this global phenomenon, despite the all-round advances of mankind in every field of human activity?

2004-07-07T18:44:00.000-05:00

On BBC World News today, they reported that India may even overtake Africa soon in the number of AIDS cases. In Rajasthan, for example, truck drivers are spreading the disease along the highway routes they drive on.

Just a thought since Indian bloggers as a whole seem to be well-educated: can Indian bloggers start a brainstorming dialogue among themselves about possible ways to curb this disease?

One suggestion is that blood tests be routinely performed within the high-risk area. In the case of the truck drivers, even before the risk of AIDS presents itself, perhaps they should be told that if they become HIV-positive, they will lose their jobs. This may be just the deterrent needed to force them to behave more responsibly, which includes using condoms.

-Rajul Parekh

2004-07-02T21:19:00.000-05:00

The rivalry between two warring factions in a temple in Gondal, Gujarat reached such intensity that one group forcibly removed the idol of the other faction's deity from a sacred place. They then placed it in the open courtyard, exposing it to the rain and hail. (Akila, July 1, 2004)

Poor God!

Not to be outdone, the opponents staged an angry protest for the humiliating treatment meted out to their God. The police had to intervene.

Poor police!

We ask our "followers" if the following multiple choice question can help these poor people find a new home for their God.

Where does God reside?

1) Under the Guru's thumb

2) On the Bollywood screen

3) In the businessman's pocket

4) In the cabinet minister's home

5) None of the above

Thanks for tuning in.

And God bless you!

2004-06-29T22:52:00.000-05:00

Indian models are starting to appear in Playboy magazine and other adult media:

The XXX files: Desi models blow hot
-By Nona Walia, Times News Network, Tuesday, June 29, 2004

Have you seen this story? What was your reaction?

Perhaps young and old alike should be surveyed on their reactions to this "cultural" phenomenon that is newly emerging on the Indian scene?

2004-06-26T11:31:00.000-05:00

A Politician Looking for Funds? Here Are Two Useful Addresses
-Glen Justice, The New York Times, June 23, 2004

"If you give someone more than a nod in New York, they start to get nervous," Mr. Schlossberg said.

This, in the cultural capital of America!

2004-06-23T11:21:00.000-05:00

"I just do think people should examine him as a normal human being and as a politician, rather than as some kind of secular saint," said the journalist [Peter Hitchens].

Mandela's no saint - UK journo, Edited by Iaine Harper, news24.com, May 10, 2004

It is high time that people stopped worshipping their leaders and started evaluating them objectively. Even a great man like Nelson Mandela should not be an exception.

For instance, the international press rarely talks about his achievements as an executive or an administrator. Could he have done a better job in alleviating the poverty of his people? Has he done enough to encourage a genuine multi-party democracy in South Africa?

2004-06-18T22:33:00.000-05:00

Rahul Gandhi and Benazir Bhutto are both from influential families, both children of one time prime ministers and both are alumni of the prestigious Harvard University.

What benefits did Benazir Bhutto bring to Pakistan? And considering Rahul's personality and record so far, what benefit is he likely to bring to India?

Do you think these are fair questions?

2004-06-14T10:01:00.000-05:00

As these issues do affect the whole world in big and small ways, please read today's post on our blog Invitation to Think.

2004-06-12T21:45:00.000-05:00

Q: Why are Indian leaders unable to hold their heads high?
A: Because of the weight of the garlands around their necks.

2004-06-11T21:19:00.000-05:00

It's not even necessary to know the context in which this was written. The description is self-explanatory.

Mentoring for Rahul G, please from the June 11 online issue of the Times of India:

...Then, of course, since the prince cannot to be wrong...

The world loves royalty so it shall forgive Rahul his gaffe....

Should journalists be a part of such "royalty-promoting" behavior? Even more so because, in Nilanjana Bhaduri Jha's own words, "there is a very thin line between sounding smart and sounding foolish."

2004-06-06T22:09:00.000-05:00

On Friedman and India

It is about getting your fundamentals right: good governance, good education. India's problem is not too much globalization, but too little good governance.
-- Tom Friedman, Making India Shine
The New York Times, Thursday, May 20, 2004

The liberalization of the Indian economy has led to rapid economic growth. This means that a greater array of products and services are available for the daily necessities of life, which have improved the quality of life. India, like other developing countries, including China, is trying to catch up with the West and Japan.

Overall, this is a welcome change, but it's invariably also accompanied by an endless hedonistic search for luxury. This type of consumerism has such mass appeal that it has swept aside all traditional values like self-restraint, balance and fairness with blinding speed.

At times, India seems to even outdo the West. The New York Times rarely has pictures of actresses and models on its front page, whereas the online version of India's leading daily, The Times of India, features them every day!

It is not surprising in such an atmosphere that the voices of reason are few and far between.

Everyone worships at the altar of Lakshmi, the Goddess of money!

Politicians have their eyes on money, for themselves and for their political parties. In their grab for power and money, they need the help of bureaucrats. The general public also needs help from those bureaucrats in everything they do. In poor countries like India and China especially, there can be only one outcome to this -- corruption.

Even a new generation with "good education" such as the one mentioned by Tom Friedman cannot by itself bring about the needed change from this malaise.

Can India, with its ancient heritage and modern scientific and industrial potential, find new approaches to deal with such an eroding, negative force?

Are there any Indians, in particular, who have any new solutions? We would like to know.