...and the reaction from China

And here's news on 'thank you' from the Mai-baap. Funny last line of the article:

It also quoted spokesman for the Olympic torch relay Qu Yingpu as saying that the relay went off well and "we convey our sincere thanks to the Indian government, Delhi government, the Indian Olympic Association and the Indian people".

"The Indian torch bearers... transferred the Olympic spirit of peace, friendship and progress. We believe today will be a day unforgettable for them, and also for us," he said.

Man, how pleased are they with their servile neighbours! How releieved are the Indian leaders, that they wont have to face the Dragon's anger..

and this caught my eye:

The state-run media hailed smooth run of the relay, with the China Daily saying the Indian capital welcomed the Olympic torch with 'traditional pomp' and 'pageantry'. It carried on its front page a photo of actor Amir Khan running with the torch.

LOL!! 15,000 troops on streets may be traditional and may even constitute what pagenatries are about in Communist states- not in India for God's sakes!!

More feed for laughter:

...Global Times, a publication of People's Daily, the mouthpiece of the ruling Communist Party of China, published the story saying "Tibetan separatist forces were frustrated" and the Western media was disappointed at the smooth passing off of the relay....

enjoy your laughs Indians, the Mogambo Khush hua.

day of national shame!

I will remember April 17th to be one of the most shameful days in modern India's national history.

This ridiculous and spineless congress government bent over backwards to deny Tibetans their right to protest. What a travesty to have 15000 troops guard New Delhi - are Tibetans terrorists?

They sent the poor lady who took refuse in India- Taslima Nasrin, against all historical norms of Indian civilization - just to please the Chinese nationalists in Bengal.

They have divided the society badly in the name of caste. They are about to do something bad on LTTE to please the DMK.

But this is the worst of all their crimes. What do they think- the Chinese Communists will be appeased? Blood given will only lead to larger appettite for the ghosts, not apppease them. These jokers have no sense of shame. What a pity, India has to suffer for their actions, like in the past..

Francois writesa timely piece here. Excerpts:

Today India is encircled by hostile neighbours, from Pakistan to Bangladesh, from Chinese-occupied Tibet, to a Maoist Nepal.

Never has India faced a darker hour whatever gurus say. Never has she faced so many enemies at the same time -- and truly China is one of the most dangerous ones. Yet India always bends backwards to please the Chinese.

Why is that so? Because the Indian intelligentsia, the secular politicians, the journalists, top bureaucrats, are the descendants of these Brown Sahibs, created by Macaulay more than 250 years ago...

...They are no match for the Chinese, who are proud of themselves and their nation and will use any means, open and covert, legal and foul, to foster their dream of a Greater China. The Olympics are just such a tool for them.

Happy Indian New Year!

Greetings on Vishu, PuduvaruDapirappu, Ugadi, Gudi Padva,Baisakhi, Noboborsho..happy Indian new year!

before I continue with my ruminations on India: some very interesting developments in Tamil Nadu: excerpts-

'Thousand members who belong to Dalit Christian community will officially get reconverted into Hinduism on Monday in Tirunelveli town in a colourful function being organized by Hindu Monks Tamil Nadu Council.

This event gains significance in the backdrop March 9 police shootout in which two people were killed when clashes broke out between the members of upper caste Catholics and Dalit Catholics...'

On India-1

For long I have wished towrite on the nature, mission and destiny of India. Not in any ambitious way, but by way of contributing to the thought on India's destiny. Every great nation on earth has a mission, a destiny it has chosen. Although India also famously 'made a tryst with her destiny', She can hardly claim to have had a coherent, well-thought out course of action and will in the past 60 years. The reasons are there for reading, and I am sympathetic to Her reasons so I wont be critical. The biggest questions that dog India are those about Her identity. What is India? Is it an artificial entity like so many other modern nation-states born out of the legacy of colonialism? Or is She an ancient entity, a soul-creation representing some deep aspiartion of a vast part of humanity? Is She at best an incoherently assmebled series of noises- of languages, tribes, castes, religions (and that dirty word, 'races')? Or She the very hamrony and music of the Soul?

well I dont even claim to address such momentous questions. These are thoughts on recent issues, that touch upon some of them. So here goes:

on China-Tibet vs India-Kashmir

I'd say they are related- but not in the way our cowardly intellectuals (the editor of 'The Hindu' for ex) make it out to be.India (and Hinduism for that matter), is held together by an idea. India has never been a nation in the model of european nations.

India is held together by the idea that humans can find a common spiritual ground behind diverse expressions of mankind's deeper aspirations. this aspiration of man to find something deeper within himself, a greater beauty and order of things than that revealed by mere mind- is universal. but India asserts that everyone can find this goodness, beauty and joy hidden in the depths of their being- and this core of the indicidual is also the core of the universal.

So the whole quest of India sinces ages has been this: to seek this dimension out, by whatever means as feasible for the evolving human conditions. The Vedas, the Upanishads, the gospel of the Buddhists and the Jains, that of the devotees of different great ideals (Shaiva, Vaishnava, Shakta), the Tantra, Yoga, and in the modern times, that of the Islamic Sufis, Christian mystics and Sikh ones and even that of the leftists (isnt the Truth of onself the Truth of all!)- all these are but different manifestations of that same basic quest. the Indian spirit never tires of discovering ever new paths to this Truth, as suited to the changing times- and as Sri Aurobindo has shown, of formulating greater and greater goals.

the belief in this deeper dimension or Truth, the belief that it can be and should be reached by every one, the pursuit of it as a dedicated quest (whether under Gurus or teachers or individually), and the organization of all life around that quest and the conclusions reached thereof- in short, these points describe all regions that ever came under the umbrella of 'India' throughout history. even those Hindus who accepted Islam out of choice and not force, they too accepted only the Sufi path, that of quest of the divine and not the orthodox and dry Shariaism...(to be contd)

a nice website

I found this lovely website today. It has tips on so many things and written in a simple way. The author doesnt make any references to religion or spirituality anywhere but the gist of all things he says ins the gist of religions and spirituality also! Actually the author has visited India and perhaps India did influence him- it is unbelievable how India does her silent work, in those memorable words of Swamiji, 'like the silent dew that yet brings to blossm the fairest of flowers'

An example is this piece.

Excerpt:

We humans are funny creatures. We seem to be part animal on one side, and part angel on the other. When I go to the zoo and I observe the creatures there, I'm often struck by how similar their behaviours and motivations are to our own. They act on lust, hunger, power, love and anger, just as we do. Yet, there is part of us they will never know. Somewhere inside us is the ability to create great works of art, discover new worlds, and understand the universe in ways they could never contemplate.

It is this conflict between our two halves that dominates much of our lives. On one side, we have our base animal instincts pulling at us urgently. On the other, our higher faculties of reason try to motivate us to do the right thing and think long term. It's these higher faculties that take time and effort to develop. You should put work into allowing them to dominate and control your inner-beast.

Another example is this article. A brilliant one I would say! Excerpt:

"I'm right, you're wrong and you have nothing new to teach me" was the prevailing attitude during all the ages of intellectual stagnation throughout history. The story of the Renaissance is largely one of humanity realizing that maybe it wasn't as smart as it thought.

The shortcomings of the arrogant philosophy appear pretty obvious to me. And I see evidence of this in people I meet who are of genuinely high-intelligence. Usually they're quite modest and very open to new ideas.People I meet who are conceited about their intelligence are often smart in one particular area, but stumble once they leave their specialization. They think because they know a lot about computers or some other area, their ideas in almost any other field are also valid. Thus arrogant specialists can often seem hopelessly naive outside their field - even if their views are expressed in a loud voice.

A wonderful poem by Sri Aurobindo (from Collected Poems (Centenary Library, Vol. 5, p.143)), as recorded here, a marvellous exposition of the Yoga:

Surrender

O Thou of whom I am the instrument,
O secret Spirit and Nature housed in me,
Let all my mortal being now be blend
In Thy still glory of divinity.

I have given my mind to be dug Thy channel mind,
I have offered up my will to be Thy will:
Let nothing of myself be left behind
In our union mystic and unutterable.

My heart shall throb with the world-beats of Thy love,
My body become Thy engine for earth-use;
In my nerves and veins Thy rapture's streams shall move;
My thoughts shall be hounds of Light for Thy power to loose.

Keep only my soul to adore eternally
And meet Thee in each form and soul of Thee.

surprising solution!

'Christian boy, Muslim girl and a Hindu wedding'

Looking radiant in a gold-coloured bridal attire with the Hindu symbols of marriage — vermilion mark on her forehead and a thali (mangalsutra) — bride J Serina Banu, 23, completed the seven rounds around the ritual fire at a small Ganesh temple with husband M Justin, uttering the vows in Sanskrit prompted by a Hindu Brahmin priest.

"We were scared of triggering communal riots back home due to our inter-religious union. Now that we are married through another religion, the danger may have abated. Though we do not wish to change our names or faiths, we will live as practising Hindus for the rest of our lives," Banu said.

Tibet, China and the soul of India

the debate about the issue of Tibet and Chinese tactics there has raised some disturbing questions which show how less some Indians understand India and our national positions and goals.

B Raman addresses some of them in his open letter to Amir Khan

Excerpt:

...You and others, who have written on this subject, are correct in their references to Kashmir, our northeast, the grievances and anger of Khalistanis and Muslims etc. We too have been having problems with our religious and ethnic minorities just as the Chinese have problems with their minorities. No country in the world is free of such problems.

The question to be asked is not whether we have the same problems as China, but what has been our approach to these problems. Do we deal with these problems in the same way as the Chinese do or do we follow a different approach?

The religious and ethnic minorities in India, who have taken to arms against the government, have accused the government and its policy-makers of rigging elections, political, economic and social discrimination, lack of adequate political powers to manage their own affairs etc. They have accused the security forces of being prejudiced against the minorities, of excessive use of force against the minorities, of police torture etc. Has any group in India accused our government and policy-makers of indulging in cultural genocide of the minorities as the Dalai Lama and the leaders of the Uighur Muslim community in China have accused the Chinese government?

In India, since we became independent in 1947, no government -- whether of the Congress or the Bharatiya Janata Party or any other party -- has ever even thought of settling members of the majority community in areas where the minorities are in a majority. Pakistan has systematically settled Punjabi ex-servicemen in Pakistan-Occupied Kashmir and in the Northern Areas (Gilgit and Baltistan) in order to reduce the ethnic Kashmiris to a minority in their traditional homeland. It has systematically settled Wahabised Sunnis in the Northern Areas in order to reduce the Shias to a minority. China has systematically settled Hans from mainland China and the Hui Muslims from central China in Tibet in order to reduce ethnic Tibetans to a minority and dilute the majority status of Buddhism. It has similarly settled Hans in Xinjiang in order to reduce the Uighurs to a minority and dilute the impact of Islam. In our country, our laws will not permit such abuses.

In Jammu and Kashmir, no non-Kashmiri has ever been chief minister. Same is the case in Nagaland and Mizoram. Can you cite an instance since the occupation of Tibet by the Chinese in 1951 when an ethnic Tibetan has headed the local party and government set-up?

We have been fairly regularly holding elections in the northeast and Kashmir except during periods when serious insurgency situations did not permit the holding of elections. In Kashmir, there were allegations of rigging of the elections. Because of this, in recent elections, we allowed foreign diplomats and journalists to visit Kashmir before and during the elections to satisfy for themselves that the polls were free and fair.

Has China ever held a single democratic election in Tibet, Xinjiang and Inner Mongolia since the Communists captured power in 1949?

We have many insurgent and terrorist organisations purporting to speak for the religious and ethnic minorities, which have taken to arms against the government. Have you ever seen our political leaders and policy-makers indulge in a campaign of demonisation and personal vilification similar to the Chinese campaign against the Dalai Lama? Beijing calls him 'a liar, a conspirator, a cheat, a terrorist' and so on. Even the Chinese Red Guards, who ran amok in China during the days of Mao, never used such expressions against political dissidents...

... A highly-respected religious leader of the world has been insulted and demonised like no other religious leader of the world has ever been demonised...

...The way we handle our problems in the minority areas is totally different from the way the Chinese handle them. We handle them like civilised, democratic people. The Chinese handle them like Hitler and Stalin used to do. It is, therefore, totally unfair and incorrect to project as you have sought to do and as many leftist-minded intellectuals in India have sought to do, as if China is more sinned against than sinning and that its negative human rights record is no different from that of many other countries, including India.