Uneven Democracy : The Cry from Chhattisgarh Re: # 18
Riaz:

Indians are finally beginning to realise that Obama is no friend of India. In his world vision, India is a problem and not a solution. Just like Bush, Obama is also looking for a strategic partner in South Asia but in Obama;'s case, it is China and possibly even Pakistan, but not India. Thankfully for India, Obama has to work under the US institutional constraints.

Uneven Democracy : The Cry from Chhattisgarh Haven't read this article but since I am in India these days and the article is about Indian democracy, I take the liberty to report this dialog between the two Hindi-Cheeni bhai-bhai who met after 50 years:

Cheeni: Aaj meray paas daulat hai, shohrat hai, trillions of dollars hain, alishan airports hain, infrastructure hai, logon kai pass roti hai, kapda hai, makan hai, saari duniya mera loha maanati hai, khud amreeka mujhe superpower maan ke meri khushamadein karta hai. Tumhare pass kya hai?

Hindustani: Meray pass damokracy hai!

Irrational Patriotism, Liberalism and Nuclear Arsenal Re: # 52

"Founded in 1968, RAW focused largely on Pakistan. Its formation was initially motivated by reports of Pakistan supplying weapons to Sikh militants, and providing shelter and training to guerrillas in Pakistan."

Anyone who says that is totally ignorant about India. There was no Sikh militancy in 1968.

Irrational Patriotism, Liberalism and Nuclear Arsenal Re: # 47

"For a journalists to get up to a million rupees a month salary"

You are not serious, malik saab, are you? I am aware of many Canadian journalists who would be willing to work for a fraction of that amount.

Irrational Patriotism, Liberalism and Nuclear Arsenal Re: # 24

"Only good taliban are the dead taliban"

Replace taliban with "jihadi killer" and you have my vote.

Irrational Patriotism, Liberalism and Nuclear Arsenal "Due to a combination of all these factors we simply assume that the entire world’s foreign policies are devised around Pakistan"

In a way, they are now, aren't they?

Squatters, Scavengers and A Gandhian Re: # 23

Shahji:

Thanks for sharing this info. My childhood was in a city - Lyalpur - and we had two latrines, one on the ground floor and the other on the roof which opened to sky. I always preferred the roof one as it was more airy and less stinky. But if we were outside and had the "haajat", we would go to a field near the canal, always making sure that we went upstream for washing from the boy who washed before us.

Squatters, Scavengers and A Gandhian Re: # 22

This was another Madani classic. May I suggest you switch to Perrier. Its pur eau minerale and is bottled in curvy glass bottles:)

On Reason, Freedom and Democracy KHYBER:

"The military acknowledges that it has struck deals with two other militant factions, both Mehsud rivals who focus their attacks in Afghanistan. Displacing the Taliban might empower those groups, some analysts said."

The amazing thing is that, despite a multitude of such reports, there are deluded Pakistanis who think that the civilian govt. and army are now of one mind in cleansing Pakistan of all jehadis. If they are of one mind, it is only that they have this notion of anti- and pro-taleban (thanks zee!). And there is no better way of doing so that calling some taleban as hindu and zionist agents. Works like a charm!

Squatters, Scavengers and A Gandhian Re: # 18

cheema saab:

I don't think there is any irony. I believe the word crap comes from Crapper.

Squatters, Scavengers and A Gandhian madani saheb:

Does water in tank storage really get stale? When I am in Delhi, I do not use water that much and my stored water stays there for a week or more. Is it unsafe?

Driving Through Poetry razia:

Beautiful description! Fall is the most spectacular time of the year in both Canada and Northeastern states, more so in Canada. You could be describing my yard and the trees on my lawn. The only downside is that there is a mountain of leaves on my lawn and they are still falling. Hopefully, my lawncare guy will clean the stuff because I do not enjoy stooping to gather all that stuff.

I hate to inject a note of realism in your poetry but what you see is not a celebration but a slow and painful, though spectacular death. The leaves are fighting a last-ditched battle to retain their life and using declining daylight to save the most critical part of their sustenance. But this is the process of renewal, without this death, there wouldn't be a punar-janam next spring.

Waziristan Operation Re: # 312

Both you and nkg are wrong. "Muslas" did not choose to live in separate neighbourhoods; they were forced by the hindutva brigade to do so. Even prominent Muslims and middle class muslims have been forced to leave mixed areas. They are refused places to rent or purchase by hindu gujaratis in the better areas of Ahmedabad.

Squatters, Scavengers and A Gandhian Re: # 8

Kulhari saab:

I may have left India but to quote the cliche, India never left me. I have also drawn from my own experience in writing this, both while growing up as well as going there as a visitor and now as a "snowbirder". [Will be there next week :)]

Squatters, Scavengers and A Gandhian bhs75:

I think that the Indian tradition puts more emphasis on washing hands and people are expected to wash hands before and after sitting down to eat. I suspect that the concept there has as much to do with ritual purity than to hygiene even though hygiene was perhaps the original reason for the ritual.

Squatters, Scavengers and A Gandhian Re: # 5

Riaz saheb:

Thanks for that informative post. Wikipedia credits Sir John Harrington for inventing the flush toilet in the 16th century. Crapper, however, was the one whose system of a cistern came to be widely used and is still in use with the hole-in-the-ground type toilets in India that most older people are more comfortable with.