A new foreign policy vision

For some years India's foreign policy seems to have become the mirror of US foreign policy. But while advocating close ties with the US, a fellow liberal democracy, I think India can also show some creativity in her own policies.

Traditionally US has allied with Sunni powers in the West Asia, Saudi Arabia being the most notorious and obnoxious of them. The current Saudi regime actively spreads Wahhabism in the world, and may be the single largest catalyst behind the increasing radicalization in the Muslim world. Pakistan is a very good example of the maturing of the typical Saudi experiment.

Can't India do something about this? To be sure, India certianly is doing something through the honest humanitarian work in Afghanistan. Instead of foregoing our relations with Iran if we can use our friendly relations with them to have them give up virulence in their relations with Israel, and moderate them in their millenarian fanaticism, Iran is really not such a bady country, I think. Instead of foregin sponspored 'regime change' if the Iranian regime can genuinely reform from within, nothing better than that. And, democracy in Saudi Arabia will be good to have too.

Renewal

It is almost an year since I wrote something here. It's been a year of silent work and much contemplation. This Deepavali period consolidated some insights - it is a period of inner revival. Rama is the Supreme intelligence, and His return to the rulership of Ayodhya the centre of our existence with Sita, the receptive inner being (the jivatman or the psychic being in Sri Aurobindo's words) - this is the eternal occasion that the lamp of renewal reminds us of. We light this lamp of understanding in our hearts and become aware of the True existence, this is Deepavali. the Truth and our true relation to it, illumining this is Deepavali.

Al Qaeda and the barbarous Mumbai massacre

The brazen Mumbai attack follows an old AQ blue print, says this piece

war on India

now terrorism has morphed into what it always was, more openly, more brazenly and more shamelessly than ever. with deep anguish I write these lines...yet again our nation has failed before an enemy it is not willing to understand. as this article on south asia analysis says, how dare these sick men preach to us Indians! we are a democracy, however much imperfect we are, we still have noble ideals which we have set out to follow...and what are they? a country built on blood of innocents, who have ethnically cleansed their minorities and till today have no rights for them..a country ruled by dictator donkeys forever and who know no human rights..they preaching to us and claiming to fight for our rights? what audacity!

to quote from the article:

I ask today, as I rage at these terrorists who may not even be citizens of my country, how dare you speak for people of this country? And if it is Babri Masjid and Gujarat that you avenge, how many times should we apologise as a nation and justify your barbarity with heads hung in shame and guilt written on our faces? If we are paying the price for being a tolerant and democratic (although not perfect) nation (there are many dissenting voices tolerated in this country including the voices that speak of hatred against communities of all kinds, voices that talk of revenge and exclusion and voices that are overtly seditious against the state), I reject the guilt, shame and tolerance today for it makes me your ‘enemy’. You punish our innocent people for crimes of a few; and scream hoarse when the ‘innocent’ in your community are held up because of your barbarity. You reject our diversity (of our opinion and politics as well that has defended you and stood for you always), you do not like it when we have spoken with different voices.

I am praying that atleast this latest attack wakes our people up..our leaders up..

well it might take a long time when India can stand up to Islamist terror but I believe in our destinty and no matter how many years it takes, one day we will get there and get there as we are, and not as mirror images of those beasts.

Indian tricolur on the moon

how does it feel to be among the only 4 countries on the planet that have their flags planted on the moon!

The Indian Triolour is now fluttering on the moon - a nation is over the moon today!

CNN goes Obi Wan Kenobi!

Jessica Yellin of CNN has had the fortune of doing a Princess Leia for the first time in this solar system of ours:

watch this amazing video where she beams into CNN's election centre last night all the way from Chicago's Grant Park!

the force is all powerful :)

Obama victory!

as someone who hasnt really been convinced about Obama- I feel humbled at being witness to history as just moments back, he clinched the Presidency of the most powerful nation on earth. Seeing millions in Chicago's Grant Park and the genuine feeling of joy and empowerment among the African-Americans across the USA is indeed humbling.

History has been made. And I am honoured to see it all in live action - all the way from the gruelling primary battles with Hillary to this day here. I watched McCain concede defeat graciously and Obama deliver his eloquent acceptance speech, ending with his famously preachy tone of 'yes we can' live on the BBC webcast.

Well this Obama presidency may really not turn out to be all 'goody-goody' as people, often even naively, expect it. For India particularly*, the 'special relationship' with the US under GWB might be diluted. There might be pressure on Kashmir and non-proliferation. But just for the sake of sheer joy of millions in America whose faith in their democracy has been restored this is a remarkable victory.

*But then this is how the world is, what happened during the second term of W. was grace, a rare apportunity for India and obviously it was not going to last forever. Now is the time for India to realize the limits of patronization and the necessity for perseverence. No matter who rules in the US and the world, we in India must work to solve our problems and work towards fulfilment of our destinty.

** on a related note, we can take this rediff.com (which is unabashedly pro-Democrat usually) compilation of Obama's views on India taken out of context with some pinch of salt.

the State of the Union

Chandrayaan, Deepavali and the continuing social unrest...

There was some sweet news from India in the past few weeks, but the continuing rumble of severe social unrest is worrying and is spoiling all the joy.

The succesful launch of Chandrayaan-1 moon mission was very heart-warming. Although we still are a bit away from manned space missions and quite a distance from where other established world powers are, this was a powerful showcase of our increasingly advancing technical prowess. I hope we indeed go on to develop a space propgramme, one that will give our kids (for once, real- and not bollywood type reel-) starry eyes and dreams!

But the disturbing signs of rapidly spreading social unrest - semingly unending and increasingly audacious Islamist terrorist attacks (Mumbai, Gujarat, Delhi, Manipur, Guwahati...) with fuzzy masterminds, the resurrected parochialism and separatism in the Kashmir valley, the ugly Marathi-Uttarbharatiya spat following on the heels of Tamil-Kannadiga discord on Cauvery, rudderless and chaotic pandering to Tamil ethnocentric passions, rowdy clashes with Christians and Maoist Terror in the tribal belts - and now an irresponsible trial-by-media and the 'Hindu Terror' namecalling : really points to a leadership clueless on the state of the nation.

with the global financial crisis likely to hit investments into India badly over the coming months and such a restive society, the outlook appears very grave indeed. The Chandrayaan appears to be the one of the few silver linings on the cloud hiding the moon...

this IS funny!

watch barak obama revealing his funny side.

and yes, its going to be releaved in the coming weeks that his middle name is 'steve' lol

beautiful words from Kate Knapp Johnson's poem Parker's Mountain

...I was twelve
and though I knew language
I did not know the meaning of things--
I lived within a lattice of time, unhurt,
undifferentiated, so that even in remembering now
there is only the singular quality
of that time itself; while I was there,
in its duration, I was possessed, wind-mastered
as the scrolled fields of clouds and disappointed
when the spell was broken and the real snow
came, and the cold.

(italics mine)

haikus

A haiku on life and lifelessness in urban enclaves

Torrential downpour-
Dry, morose, barren buildings;
solitary tree.

I was peering out of the window next to my desk at work: heavy rain. I love rain, for all its lifegiving energies. But here it was falling into a rectangular enclave of dry, barren buildings. But imagine even just a solitary tree in this picture, what a change it would bring to the experience!

On the response of India's pseudointelligentsia to Islamist terror

Pontificating:
from an ivory tower;
A shivering earth.

How long before the platforms of these pontificating falseleaders far removed from reality collapse? the earth has begun to tremble and shake - better for them to get down from those towers and egnage with truth - before it does so even more violently and drop them off their seats.

what a magazine!

This is a lovely new magazine I've come across. This is the direction I'd like India's incipient 'enlightened rightwing' to take.

Its latest issue is dedicated to the morass in Kashmir valley and nails the coffin on its head on most issues I wanted to comment upon. Mandooka, the article 'No more partitions please, we are Indians' on pg 4 is a special read for you .

Ramananda Sengupta puts it quite bluntly and appropriately in his recent piece. why Kashmir, start to give India away.

and if what he quotes has any truth in it, about intelligence sources saying that all this is a 'trial balloon' being floated by the UPA govt - let them just start on track and see what people's reaction will be. the movement they will precipitate will leave no one, no political party standing on its feet.

battle for Kashmir's soul is the battle for India's soul

I have also sometimes pessimistically thought, 'ok lets just give up this piece of land, why keep fighting these rogues'. in pretty much the same vein as Mandooka does in his recent post.

But I was discussing with a friend of mine the other day and she reminded me of something, 'what about the rest of India then? many states have muslim majority areas. some states like UP, Bihar, Assam and WB have huge Muslim poulations, equalling or more than 25% of the state total'

extend those lines, and you have a recipe for a deadly broth. the majority areas in these regions could also follow the 'kashmir path': ethnically cleanse the Hindus and others out, claim a 'unique culture watered by the great river of Islam', 'historically separate' and then want to secede.

so ultimately, there is no short-term solution to the problem of Kashmir valley. we cannot give in to bullying by separatists. we have been very shoddy in the past 60 years in handling this problem. the battle in Kashmir is not about Pakistani landgrab or jehadi separatism per se, it actaully the battle for India's very soul: the very idea of what India is.

Can a people sharing a common spiritual culture yet diverse and even disparately different in practical matters manage to live together in harmony through the philosophy of Dharma? 'yes' is the Truth enshrined as India's soul. 'No' says Muslim separatism on the subcontinent. In fact Muslim separatism and extremism hold similar views all over the world. This battle cannot be won if we do not corner the moderate section and converse with it directly with the light from the lamp of India's soul flashed on its face. We have to engage all sections of Indian society and make them accept the idea of India - not just the Hindus, as has been done always.

in the Kashmir valley, we must slowly build a relationship with the moderate and rational leadership of the civil society. we must engage in a debate with them on the issues of sovereignty, religious fanaticism and pluralism, economic growth, freedom. I am sure the idea of India has enough to cover their aspirations in all these respects. I think this is the long term way forward. In the short term, we must not allow separatists to get away with mischief such as passing off a murder of their leader as a killing by security forces or creating an artificial myth of 'economic blockade'. also the larger civil society in India must rap the political class for their absentee leadership and bankrupt vision.

post-independence day reflections

the ever so sublime lyrics in the heart-rending voice of Manna Dey..

'Ai mere pyarey watan'

Aye mere pyaarey watan aye mere bichhade chaman tujh pe dil kubraan
too hee meree aarazoo, too hee meree aabaru, too hee meree jaan

tere daaman se jo aaye, un hawaaon ko salaam
choom loo mai us zubaan ko jis pe aaye teraa naam
sab se pyaaree subah teree, sab se rangee teree shaam

maa kaa dil bankey kabhee seene se lag jaataa hai too
aaur kabhee nanheesee betee ban ke yaad aataa hai too
jitnaa yaad aataa hai too, utanaa tadapaataa hai too

chhodakar teree zameen ko door aa pahuche hain hum
fir bhee hai yahee tamannaa tere zarro kee kasam
hum jahaan paidaa huye, us jagah hee nikle ye dam

the emblematic problem

cut back to the last days of Mughal rule in Delhi: the saltanat was in disarray, crumbling from invasion after invasion. The Marathas are the final nail on the coffin, invading the streets of that capital of 'Hindustan' like a scourge, pillaging and plundering like a vanara sena. This was it: the long Islamist invasion of India starting from 8th century was being rolled back. The Marathas won the war for Hindus. But what they then did is emblematic of the damaged Hindu psyche, down to this present day. They installed a Mughal prince on the throne, a token emperor and withdrew, instead of throwing the legacy out and occypying it themselves.

This is the fact that Hindus have refused to accept: in the war against foreign imperialism over India's flesh, heart and soul, India won. But Hindus somehow think, they have been defeated. This was the the strongest and meanest military machine that humanity has yet produced, the Islamist juggernaut that rolled over into India in waves after waves successively. The Arabs, the Perians, Thr Turks, the Mongols.. That same juggenaut which none of the anicent civilizations it struck could resist, Egypt, Byzantium and Persia all fell to its sword. Yet India took that shock and rolled it back. The sword of the heathen Hindus did that work. By 18th century the vast Maratha confederacy was entrenched in those areas which once constituted the Indo-Islamic empire of Hindustan.

This refusal, this fear in ones' own ability, strength, is emblematic of the Hindu psyche. Why if the Lord Himself is the sarathi of this ratha of Hinduism, will any Kaurava army however powerful can ever defeat it - this faith is totally lacking. Thats why you talk to a Sangh activist and he will sound as if Hinduism is on its detah bed, is teetering on its legs and is about to collapse tomorrow. negativism is our bane. infidelity- in the sense of faithlessness-is our emblematic problem

What We Call as Ourselves

from a recent email by Sri Aurobindo Society forwarded to me:

What We Call as Ourselves

...what we are now
or rather what we perceive as ourselves and so call
is only an ignorant partial and superficial
formulation of our nature.

It is not our whole self,
it is not even our real self;
it is a little representative personality
put forward by the true and persistent being in us
for the experience of this brief life;
we not only have been in the past
and can be in the future
but we are much more than that in the
present secret totality of our being and nature.

Especially, there is a secret soul in us
that is our true person; there is a secret self
that is our true impersonal being and spirit.

To unveil that soul and that self
is one of the most important movements of Yoga.

-Sri Aurobindo

Thyagayya's balakanakamaya

the beautiful lyris to this kriti [source: musicindiaonline.com]:

raagam: aThaaNaa


29 dheera shankaraabharaNam janya
Aa: S R2 M1 P N3 S
Av: S N3 D2 P M1 P G3 R2 S

taaLam: aadi
Composer: Tyaagaraaja
Language: Telugu

Pallavi

Ela nI dayarAdu parAku jEseda vEla samayamu gAdu

Anupallavi

bAla kanakamaya cEla sujata paripAla shrI ramA lOla vikrta shara
jAla shubhada karuNAlavAla ghana nIla navya vana mAlikAbharaNa
(Ela)

CaraNam 1

rArA dEvAdi dEva rArA mahAnubhAva rArA rAjIva nEtra raghuvara putra
sAratara sudhA pUra hrdaya parivAra jaladhi gambhIra tanuja samhAra
madana sukumAra budhajana vihAra sakala shruti sAra nAdupai
(Ela)

CaraNam 2

rAjAdhirAja muni pUjita pAda ravi rAja lOcana sharaNya ati lAvaNya
rAja vandita padAbja jAka dinarAja kOTi sama tEja tanuja gajarAja
nicaya mrga rAja jalaja mukha
(Ela)

CaraNam 3

yAga rakSaNa parama bhAgavatArcita yOgIndra suhrd bhAvita Adyanta rasita
nAga shayana vara nAga varada pannAga uma dhara sadhAga mOcana sadA
gatija drupadAgamAnta cara rAga rahita shrI tyAgarAjanuta
(Ela)

...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.