In the Dying Light

Dubya comes to India and she writes a scathing screed.

Dead Indians and she talks about chocolate and toilet paper.

Color me surprised..

oye arjun...

Tu aj kar color bara kar raha hai apnay ko....
``color me unimpressed ... color me surprised... color me stupid... color me idiot ...``

Is it the holi season?


Farzana ...

Powerful.. and touching.

mullah mulayam blames Pakiland for the bombs? christ...let me out of bizzaro world already...

Pakistan behind Varanasi blasts: Mulayam

March 08, 2006 16:38 IST

Terming the twin bomb blasts in Varanasi as a ``terrorist act``, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav hinted at the role of a Pakistan- based terror outfit behind them and said the state government would work together with the Centre to solve the case.

Addressing a crowded press conference at the Circuit house, Yadav said Tuesday`s blasts were ``definitely an act of terrorism``. Referring to an encounter at Gosainganj near Lucknow today, in which a terrorist was killed by the Special Task Force of the state police, Yadav said he had been told that the slain terrorist was a Pakistani.

Strange! Looking for surrealism in macabre.

Varnasi, Babari Masjid, Gujrat conflagration, so on and so on, have become so recurrent that they don`t touch you with the same impact that they should. No matter whose sacred icon is blasted and set to fire, it is the humanity which is the coeective victim.

A`ah ko chahiyay ikk umar asar honay takk

This line seems to have a new meaning to me now.

Mohammad Gill

this has to be the most boring piece ever by Farzana! The connections are too contrieved and rather inapt and given the context rather inept. Come on Farzana you can do a lot better than this...still I predict heavy traffic here abouts, and I better get my popcorn and coke and watch from the sidelines

Re: # 3
lol - you are a genius arjun. Now when you have constipation do you also Pakistan (I know your leaders do).You know they should also blame Pakistan for the Gujrat riots and oh of course Gandhi ji`s flight to oblivion....

“Pakistan behind Varanasi blasts: Mulayam”

Actually that appears true. It was a revenge for Karachi bombing by the Indian agents.
Now I think Indians will follow suit and then Pakistan….

This war of attrition will go on between the ISI and RAW.

Usually people have delayed reaction to something this horrific.

Ideally, Muslims should just stay quiet at such times, or raise hell against those who are responsible.

On a different note, Benares is the only “Hindu” Tabla Gharana (other 5 are all Muslim Gharanas) and Benares Gharana has taken the art of Hindustani to a totally different level. If you care for what the city of Benares is musically, listen to the following 3 CDs by Pundit Sharda Sahai Ji.

- The Spirit of Benares
- The Art of Benares Baj
- Compositions of Benares

Advani to launch another Rath yatra!

He is on a roll!

http://ia.rediff.com/news/2006/mar/08up7.htm?q=np&file=.htm

“Advani maintained that despite the country being partitioned on communal lines and Pakistan declaring itself an Islamic state, India has remained democratic and secular because it is pre-dominantly Hindu. ``India is what it is because it is Hindu.``

Love this guy…He is da man!

“Yeh to roz ki baat hai,” he said.

Yes. This is what I felt when I saw that woman begging outside the red fort with an infant in her arms with his eyes gouged out ... just empty pits in the place where eyes are supposed to be. Probably her son; thrashing about arms and legs as normal babies do, including ours. I almost fell out of my car but it was roz ki baat for her. Same thing in Calcutta. Hordes of people cohabiting amongst raw sewage alongside busy roads, children merrily pissing on the streets, housewives calmly washing clothes in the gutter .. yet there was a certain tranquility in their eyes ... no sign of misery ... maybe what Farzana terms as `nothingness`. It was their destiny, and they fully accepted it, without complaint. Ram meant it that way.

Now a bomb ... shattering that tranquility ... adding another dimension ... when these people actually wanted `Nothing` from anyone, except favour with their Ram.

Roz ki baat it is .. but unfair.

Madam,
I am wondering what made you write this memo at this time is not clear to me? It sounds like something that you wrote in hurry yesterday.
Why do you always have to score a point while trying to look sympathetic, I don`t get it? You describe the scene in Varanasi as viewed by an outsider not an Indian(that you claim you are).
After reading I get following impression:
Poor Hindus throw their dead in the river Ganges as a normal practice, so what is the big deal if some more die by bomb blasts.
Please write something about Shias killed by Sunnis in Pakistan or Iraq or write about Shia Mosque`s desceration by Sunnis, and then the fact that there is no mention by any Muslim newspaper of the same(CNN is not a Muslim channel).

Have you written anything about Non-Muslims visiting Nizamuddin or Ajmer and tying the threads around the doors? Maybe it`s about time that you changed your outlook about India or took an open stand. FYI, my family visits Muslim shrines and do tie the threads as a custom.

I realize that this post will go down as another waste of key strokes between my busy day, and I know that you dont have an answer to anything that I asked for. Yet still, in my opinion anyone who is an editor of a chatsite should have the courtsey to explain their position for every hot topic, not just the ones that they please.

Thank You for not listening and ignoring!

#12 by delhiwala

After reading I get following impression: Poor Hindus throw their dead in the river Ganges as a normal practice, so what is the big deal if some more die by bomb blasts.

That is an unfair accusation. Farzana is altogether on a different plain. It`s not about Hindus and Muslims. It`s about the sanctity of life and the humiliating ignominiousness of death.

Re: # 9

which are all the gharanas??

Re: # 9
I am learning Amritsari baaj, it is from Patiala Gharana.
Have you played that?

Does Pakistani gharana(if there is any) also play dhrupad?

FV,

Identifying with the dead is indeed difficult........I did not feel anything when my father died (took me quite a while to come to terms with his death)........I do not feel for the death of the people blown up in Varanasi......could not register the death of people I saw jumping out of the flaming WTC (was just awed by it).......do not feel for the collateral damage in Iraq, Waziristan, Kashmir etc........This actually makes me feel guilty and let me tell you why. It is because I wonder: Could I also plant a bomb whose victims I only get to see on TV or a newspaper. There is a kid in the other forum jumping up and down demanding that mosques be blown up and communities be penalized. I asked myself, could I blow up a mosque? ....I know I can! As long as the bomb is clean and I do not get warm blood splattered on my face and have to taste it......or I do not have to smell a cauterized limb which falls on my face......seeing it on TV is OK for me. I mean it is just like giving advice to a think tank whose deal is to maximize the efficiency of obvert or subvert killing by some govt. (India, Pakistan, whatever) of some group of people who I do not have to identify with. It is scary!

Liked and disliked your writeup as it brought such thoughts back.