In the Dying Light

#155 by FarzanaVersey

Yes it seems I had completely missed your opening lines. Thanks for clarifying. Remark retracted with apology as being hasty and uncalled for.

I assume my inner world is not being judged here...

Not judged .... explored maybe ... ;-)

One minute, you close your eyes in contemplative prayer asking for a 4.5% raise instead of the usual 2.5% and next minute you are stone cold dead minus a few limbs and people are carrying you home on a Charpoy singing `Ram Nam Satya Hai`.

How about the person who just threw the pebble and shouted `....Akbarrrrrrrr` when about ten thousand hooves reduce him or her to a pink mist like in a Vita mix?

Organized religion is great.

``I do not see those dead bodies. It is like wanting to remember something that one has cherished as it was. I am not denying what happened,..``

I tried to find what was in Varanasi that Farzana Bibi cherished.
1. Paan Pichkari, blood colored on a cream wall.
2. “Nahin, nahin,” they had laughed. “Murdaa hai…” It was the bloated carcass of an animal.
3. They saw the corpses turn blue and unrecognisable.
4. They laughed and waved and I laughed and waved back cursing myself for interrupting my goal towards mystical enlightenment.
5. From where I was, I could see ochre and white robes, people carrying wood and incense, and lots of marigold garlands. Was this about death or life?..... This was one way to see it. Or you could stick your neck out and feel the air as it camouflaged death.
6. Going through lanes selling rudraksh beads and kiosks hawking real estate....A guy with a box on a stand tried to market the idea of a quickie horoscope....sticky stains left behind by extra sweet chai...suspicious-looking chhole-bhature and pakoras...the slippery floor that is wet with water and urine that mingle with dust and muck to produce a greyish glaze...

Nothing in the whole word picture that Bibi Farzana has painted seems worth cherishing to me.
Superimpose on all the death a minor blip of SankatMochan temple bombing and even Tiny Tim would say `Bah Humbag`. Just the name of the temple seems like some Hindu deity playing the hustler.

That sankat engulfed the gullible idiots who were there for the mochan of some minor imaginary Sankat in their miserable lives is true poetic justice. A case very similar to that of the Hazis who were trampled to their death recently, just when they renounced and stoned the devil.

Who says Gods do not have a sense of humor?..LOL..

#170 Hamidm

[...people from the less developed world are rather insecure and feel it is necessary to run around in leopard skins and dhotis...]

Mian, are you from the less-developed part of the world - or are you simply more developed?

And has that development occurred in a uniform manner? All over you?

#188 Nasah (Addendum)

...and I consider it a great honor!

THERE!

#188 Nasah

I knew it was just a matter of time before I got some nasahat from you!

[...an editor- smitten chowki on the amusing voyage of narcissistic self discovery...]

You mean YOU are not? And the whole gang here is not?

Sure, I believe you.

ALL of you!

Go back to your GWB bashing - dah-ling!

No hard feelings, please!

Re: # 190
[kitchen appliances and other aspects]
Never found anything as good as a Sumeet for grinding those good Indian masalas.-)). Athena`s are Canadian, not Greek, the other greek was a Goddess.)) Wonder if she spoke well, she seemed to have taken care of Ulysses though, whispering into her Dad`s ears.

warrior

i am aware of some of the indian contributions (i already repsect st andrews for its gold course) but will be more comfortable if it were more widely applied in areas like agricultural tools, pullies, irrigation, screws, kitchen appliances and other aspects which make life less miserable. applications like astrology and altar measurements while impressive, dont make me as proud. enjoy your greek speakers.. greeks have always been famous for their speeches.

Re: # 187
[wtf.. bose is no good? so we hindus are back to zero?]
Just my opinion because I`m a cheapskate and hate paying out more cash than necessary. I`ve found other speakers that are as good for less money. For $650 you can get a much better sound from say Athena than Bose would give you with $1200. That`s just me though and other people might disagree. But it`s not that Bose cannot build those speakers. They can and they won`t because they are selling to a different market.

Now on ``zero`` itself there are people who will tell you that the Chinese had it that some other folks had it etc etc. I can fish out my copy of ``The nothing that is``, by that Kaplan chap to see what he says. I didn`t agree with what he wrote in his book but I forgot why.
But there is a lot to Indian Mathematics. You can read ``The Crest of the Peacock``, by George GeeVerghese Joseph. He talks about how the measurements for various altars required to perform rites were made. These were the first Indian Mathematical treatises (Sulbasutras). There is also the Mactutor History of Mathematics from St.Andrews University that has a fairly detailed set of Indian Mathematicians. This does by the way include Panini (not the sandwich variety which I believe can be geometrically rectangular and sometimes can be distorted in shape under compression, shear and stress from incisors and molars ).
Now if I wasted your time , it`s your own fault .-))

Re: # 186

``I do try to reread articles unlike others who read it just once....... the latter is uniquely my own, or so I like to believe.....

I agree with the statement regarding several hundred interactors...... in my view, is closer to 150

I was never knowledgdeable (and still remain in the dark)....

(I agree that I did not notice the details....I am not a frequenter of UP......which I do not know.).....

I feel it is off-the-mark to attribute selfish motives to my interacts.....

Who cares for my own visibility - I am not a writer, or a poet, or an expert like many others here.

I know that - sometimes I feel that I don`t even have words of my own.

I certainly may have said things which are inconsistent, or foolish, or asinine -
so what?

I have tried to acknowledge those whenever I could - and I do not care....

There is little else to add except .....what I already said in the last but fourth paragraph of......

I agree that perhaps I could have toned down.....(bjK)

an editor- smitten chowki on the amusing voyage of narcissistic self discovery.......:)

#179 wtf.. bose is no good? so we hindus are back to zero?

Re: # 164 FarzanaVersey

Inspite of its long length, there is little in your interact which is not already well-known around here (at least to the fifty or so individuals who are always signed on here). The nicks have evolved over time, they have been acknowledged voluntarily almost all along and unlike in case of others - never used as a tool of deception. I do try to reread articles unlike others who read it just once and then pronounce a verdict for eternity - then become captives of the same. The inspirational value of certain writers (including yourself, and of both genders) is also plain to see and is clearly reflected in my interacts - both their numbers and intensity - the latter is uniquely my own, or so I like to believe.

I agree with the statement regarding several hundred interactors (the maximum number, in my view, is closer to 150 - but it jumped to over 500 once before falling back - probably because of software bug).

I was never knowledgdeable (and still remain in the dark) regarding the ``previous management``. Until your name was announced as the ``chief editor`` I did not even know there was such a position - and certainly not who were the individuals gracing it.

If you read the two interacts with suggestions (#205 on the ``Foot`` board and the one that it links to) - it will be clear that there are legitimate concerns there. Your wholesale dismissal is off the mark - and is rather typical of you - perhaps ``dictatorial`` is too strong a word - but I have my own (provocative) style and choice of words - like others do! (I agree that I did not notice the details of ``interact index`` before - I am not a frequenter of UP - and the details have been there, true - but there is too much detail all over the place buried here and there - which I do not know.)

In the same way, I feel it is off-the-mark to attribute selfish motives to my interacts. Who cares for my own visibility - I am not a writer, or a poet, or an expert like many others here. I know that - sometimes I feel that I don`t even have words of my own. I certainly may have said things which are inconsistent, or foolish, or asinine - so what? I have tried to acknowledge those whenever I could - you see, there is no ``track record`` for me to defend - and I do not care if the ``track`` is all over the place!

Regarding ``coterie``, please rest assured that there is at least one interactor without any - and likes to keep it that way - and it is fine if in the process gets stuff dished out from every side.

There is little else to add except to reiterate what I already said in the last but fourth paragraph of #159.

PS: You are mistaken about the number of articles. Also, I agree that perhaps I could have toned down #143.

Re: #184 by myself

[Yes, it would SEEM that way to a the casual observer with no insight or knowledge. If you read a little, and look at the backgrounds of those people in India for example on whose shoulders modern Indian achievements stand and future achievements will stand, you will see that they took their inspiration from their Indian heritage, not the west. ]


President Abdul Kalam is an EXCELLENT example of that - someone I truly respect.

#181 by hamidm2

[.......... inferiority complex is good because it makes you strive to better yourself .......... denial is a horrible thing because it makes you hang on to silly customs and cultural ``values`` that keep you clad in a loin cloth, with red paint on your forehead and squatting on the railroad tracks ...........]


Actually you did not acknowledge that you were VERY WRONG one of your CHIEF ASSERTIONS - i.e. it is insecurity that drives me to post so many things about my grandpas` contribution to humanity - WHEN IN REALITY it is YOUR post equating Hindu contributions to Koranic stuff that drew my response.

Your post btw brings to mind Gandhi`s famous response - when asked what he thought about Western civilization, he said - ``that`s a wonderful idea``. The things that impress you are superficial. The things you do not see are what matters most - respect for elders, respect for education, duty to family and society.

No doubt your inferiority complex has driven you to strive to do better, but I always knew who my predecessors were, and how they compared to people from the west. You guys do not have that sense, because you have an amputated history, and the amputated post-conversion stub has little in it that compares favorably with western civilization. Therefore people like you have two choices - adopt the horrible legacy of Islam (although traditional middle eastern societies have similar concepts of respect for elders, and family values), or reject anything non-western and adopt the west. I can understand your dilemma and the inferiority complex is arises out of.

[...it seems that a people`s degree of ``backwardness`` is directly proportional to their ``pride`` in the local culture - that is why the people of baluchistan are still living in caves, the african american is stuck in the ghetto and the american indian is stuck on a reservation ...........]

Yes, it would SEEM that way to a the casual observer with no insight or knowledge. If you read a little, and look at the backgrounds of those people in India for example on whose shoulders modern Indian achievements stand and future achievements will stand, you will see that they took their inspiration from their Indian heritage, not the west.


[..in any case, there is nothing more disgusting than watching a madrasi eat rice with his hands even though he might call his mama mummy and his pa daddy and knows a panini from a reuben .........]


I eat rice with my hands at home as do my children. When they go to a restaurant, they eat with a knife and fork, because that is the accepted practice at that restaurant, although less comfortable. At home, within our family`s surroundings, we eat with our hands. There is no better way to mix rice with curry than with your hands. If there is an Indian restaurant in India serving rice and curry where it is kosher to eat with your hands, we would do that.

Somehow when westerners eat chicken wings with their hands it looks pretty stylish, doesn`t it?

A lot of things depend on your perspective.


[........... in any case, there is nothing more disgusting than watching a madrasi eat rice with his hands even though he might call his mama mummy and his pa daddy and knows a panini from a reuben .........]

In fact, when I saw a video of OBL eating with his hands with his friends, I liked the fact that he did that, in spite of being a very rich man who is very familiar with the west. (I of course do not like ANYTHING else about him.)

By the way, which one do you find more disgusting - OBL eating rice with his hands or a madrasi?

``it seems that a people`s degree of ``backwardness`` is directly proportional to their ``pride`` in the local culture``(Hamidm)

great math by a man from the land of Panini....!

Re: # 174

``I view societies somewhat like trees. For a tree to be strong and healthy, it needs to be nurtured by fresh air and sunshine, but it also need to have strong roots. It can develop different branches which can all bear fruit. A really strong tree, such as the Indian Banyan tree, is even capable of developing roots wherever the branches go. ``(Dost mitter)

great simile -- meray bhai dost-mitter sahib -- good to have deep roots -- the only problem with roots deep or shallow is that the trees can`t walk away from anything -- the trees that walked away `unfortunately` became us animals......(pun intended.....:)