Ramadan Special: The Felicitations of Fasting Naqshbandi, I found your explanation of the Ramzan (without a second a Naqshbandi) Ramadan difference a little unconvincing. Why not use the form you have grown up with (in all of South Asia) RAMZAN. There we go.

And also, what do you mean ``the correct one.`` ? Is there only ONE rigid way to do anything, including worship? Or should we be tolerant and accepting of the ways in which different cultures have adapted religious practices? That is the core prerequisite of tolerance.

Above all, let us be tolerant, accepting and truly respectful of the beliefs of others, whatever they might be, unless they are designed to destroy us eg. Nazism, Bushism, etc etc

God made people and people made god. A fair exchange. Religion is a part of culture. However the feeling of wonder and awe at the created world appears to be part of the innate need of people to understand, explain and categorize the created world.

The Koran was not ``sent down.`` to the people by someone called God.
The Koran was ``sent up`` by the people to someone called Allah. Or to Jesus, Bhagwan, the Great Dog, Deer, God etc etc. just like the Bible, Mahabharata, Torah, and all the other religions and faith systems of the world.

May Ramzan be peaceful and full of blessings.

In Celebration of Ramadan (Part 1): Ala Hazrat’s Poem About The Onset of Ramadan I hope Asif Naqshbandi, I hope you will, as promised provide more glimpses of the spiritual significance and poetic imagination surrounding Ramzan (yes, why Ramadan? as TAhmed inquired? Pray tell).

I am a sociologist. I collect beliefs, I don`t subscribe to them. Still, I cannot but admire and appreciate the faith of the faithful. There is beauty in that fervor.

This Ramzan I will partake of Iftar (easy to do in New York) and hear from Pakistani friends about how they spend their days of fasting and reflection.

I am envious of every Urdu, Persian and Arabic speaker and wish I could quote learnedly and extensively from the Qur` an.

I will send Eid cards out to friends and especially to the children I met in a Madrassah in Kerala, India. Then I will visit them in December.

May the days of Ramzan pass in peace, reflection and love for all.

The In-Security Council: Dump it or Grow it? Let me go aheaed and agree with yu, PM that pointing to the structural inequality of the UN`s IN-Security Council is hardly a hissy fit. Small minds have meagre thoughts a la Arjun.

To those others who are part of the SOLUTION, not part of the PROBLEM, I do hope yu will come to the World Social (Another World is Possible!) Forum in Mumbai, Jan 16-21, 2004. This is the same radical WSF that began meeting in Porto Alegre, Brasil and is now meeting for the first time in Asia, in MUMBAI, no less. We need radical egalitarianism. Think Gandhi, think Martin Luther King, think Mandela, think Mother Teresa.

I will be giving a workshop:

``WOMEN RE-IMAGINING THE UNITED NATIONS: TAKING POWER, MAKING CHANGE.``
of course men are welcome too.

It will be very interactive. no speeches just sharing of opinions and suggestion and a petition to Kofi Annan and Angela King of the UN.

Can the UN be made more responsive to ordinary people, rather than just to powerful nations?

Some of us think so!

See you there.

ussa

Gardens of Secularism and Soapboxes for Orators I was referring neither to caste nor ethnicity, but class when I made that observation. The class interests of that group that RSS represents.

ussa

Gardens of Secularism and Soapboxes for Orators jay I think you made one interesting comment that was not attacking or a putdown. That was the point about many sites in Kerala that represent a mythical consciousness about diverse faith being essentially unitary.
If you have read Giambattista Vico on the subject of myth as literally constructing social institutions, like marriage, the family and occupations, this will perhaps be even more interesting for you.

It is too bad that emails are so limiting, though some among us try to overcome that as best we can, by trying to see the other`s point of view, as having resonance with our own.

To have one`s work read is in itself a privilege so I thank you.

ussa

Gardens of Secularism and Soapboxes for Orators Thanks for your replies --

Saima, Zareen, Saminasha, Umer Murtaza, p.mishra, gujju bania, G. Toheed, ironman, jay, gujjubania, dostmittar


Co-residents at Chowk, based on a considerable number of responses not just to my article, but to may others, across Chowkpur, aka, chowkistan, aka chowkville, whatever...
I am gravely concerned that Hindu males, suffused by patriarchialism and caste privilege,and unwilling to concede power that should be shared, will stand in the way of radical social egalitarianism in India. This is my basic underlying concern in my article about public space and civic modernity in India.

Saima, Zareen and Asha (saminasha, did I get your name right from your monikker?), I immeditely felt that feeling of proud and rising sisterhood that nearly always characterizes South Asian women`s relationships with one another. Of course jealousy, envy, anger and all the other epic emotions, but there is no denying the visceral feelings of amity and shared subordinate herstory that South Asia`s women feel. My lovely Pakistani friend in Manhattan, Amtul Husain of Lahore and I will sudenly burst out laughting together at some behavioral subtlety of a common male Pakistani friend. We are joined at the heart, hip, breast, but mainly the brain, I guess. I enjoy equally the afternoons after lunch with a young sister in law in Chennai. Again the laughter and sly knowingness in which we hurt no one, least of all our male relatives and friends. I think harsh South Asian patriarchialism, whether Muslim, Hindu or Christian, Dalit or indigenous (read tribal), has partly made possible this precious sisterhood.


So yes, as you do, I think all our public spaces are heavily gendered. When I undertook fieldwork on a faculty research grant this past summer in Erumeli, in Kottayyam district in Kerala I was repeatedly asked ``You came all alone? Where is your husband? Where are your children?`` You are staying alone in your lodge? Who will take care of you?``

Saima and Zareen, you are wondrous writers! I feel privileged even to have a response from Saima. Have I missed an article from Asha? Zareen, I hope you found my comment on your excellent piece. Saima`s remark on `egalitarian` , hell yes, I am proud to be on a path where I have no more than the next person. My sons joke ``Mom can leave any place in fifteen minutes.`` I give away most of the money I make. Of course I am not stupid, I don`t want to be at the mercy of any government for my livelihood.Of course I am privileged to have had a home and education.
But to have when others don`t, I find that painful. I

I have a question. Are any of you women and men going to be at the World Social Forum in Mumbai Jan 16-21? Please let me know.

More comments:

Umer Murtaza, thanks for the reminder about the board. I appreciate that.

Ironman, no, thankfully, I am not the ex-CM`s relative. But my late father founded the Center for Earth Sciences in Thiruvananthapuram, and there is a Professor Karunakaran Memorial lecture every year. Anil Kakodkar, M. S. Swaminathan and Kasturirangan his have keynoted there so far.
We are not politicians but scientists.

gujjubania, does your name reveal all that is narrow minded, self-centred and bigoted about you? Even the Mahatma must have feared the class superiority that you appear to represent. Indeeed he was assassinated by a member of your class. Lest we forget.

G. Toheed, I agree a nominal fee to enjoy a public space as in Lahore (a city I dream of visiting) might be acceptable but what about those millions who cannot pay and need it most? The tragic cost of conflict between our nation-states is slightly more than a strip og green with a bench or two! Our governments and municipalities have chosen to kill rather than foster the public space.

dostmittar, yes, I agree, middle class South Asian persons do indeed, and are fortunate to have the leisure to use such limited public spaces for exercise, as we have. But I agree with Saima that egalitarian public spaces have been severely curtailed. Commerce now dictates our public social interactions to an unprecedented extent.
Isn`t this regrettable and one that has to be reversed? I would often sit down on filthy public steps next to beggars just to make this point. I think South Asians` public spaces can in time be a revelation to the world because our societeis are so rich with social interactions. But only if we want them and build them of course to reflect our new civic modernity.

Of course I don`t think I have the answer. But it seems so very regrettable, a true loss, that our municipalities are not providing the simple amenities that make life livable and sociable for all people, not just the privileged who are increasing living in gated communities in India.

Saminasha, yes, I agree, I noticed a ``glut of SUVs`` already in our Indian cities! Thanks for the warning. have refused to ride in one, to the embarrassment and chagrin of some of my Indian relatives who proudly own them. If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem. That`s my point.

#6 pmishra, pl. don`t assume I am a ``young person`` for that is ageist and I am sure you would not wish to be that! I am pleased to be older and striving to be better by the day! Thank for your kind words about ``good criticism`` in reference to public space, but I am sure you can recognize that language (which you take issue with me for) is a critical instrument for constructing the very space we are discussing.

Language is the thin line that separates me from the higher primates, and it is also the tool that helps me recognize I am one of them! Get it? Our humanness is largely derived from our language. Language shapes what we perceive. Our language makes us human. Humans are hardwired for language, we make language and are made by language.

jay, I have no idea what drives your denigration of others, as individuals and as collectivities? Is it self-loathing?

The Dueling Divas Why does this have to be a conquest?

Each singers`s voice is unique each one`s appeal is timeless.

ussa

In Loving Memory of Nazia Apa (aka Nazia Hasan) Nazia was a pioneer, profesionally speaking.

Who is Afraid of Al Qaeda? While the article dealt with the ifs, ands and buts of the Osama tapes, I was more struck by your somewhat casual reference to the primer Taleem -ul - Islam that you allude to. Is this polemic to hate and intolerance still being distributed to our young Muslim children? And you were offered this diatribe in your school in Free India, presumably in the early 1980`s?

I shudder to think of the challenges that secularism faces in the place of my birth, if this is still the case.

Perhaps you as a reflective and educated citizen will see that it is distributed no longer.
Freedom of speech does not cover hate and bias indoctrination, as this drivel appears to represent.

---

The author wrote:

When I was in school, ..... I was struck by the prophecies of doomsday. In the Islamic primer Taleem-ul-Islam, a part of compulsory moral education in our school, we were warned of a time before the doomsday when the world would be divided into two camps: the Muslims and the Non-Muslims. A leader would emerge from amongst the Muslims and declare a war against the seemingly all-powerful heathens. The war would result in a victory for the devout Muslims, and those who were not devout would perish................

Free Thought is Key to Progress I was very pleased to read this piece because it focuses on a wider question of critical thinking, which is essential to the practice of science including the science of society.

By holding unexamined ideas, conceptions and perspectives we lack the critical ability to compare and contrast them. In all our exchanges with others, whether personal and intimate or political or economic we are relying on our view of the world. A world view. If that world view is limited we will have limited and dangerously uniformed views. If that world view is open, critical and constructive, we will be able to make a contribution to our own lives and the lives of others.
Thanks for the article.
ussa

Free Thought is Key to Progress I was very pleased to read this piece because it focuses on a wider question of critical thinking, which is essential to the practice of science including the science of society.

By holding unexamined ideas, conceptions and perspectives we lack the critical ability to compare and contrast them. In all our exchanges with others, whether personal and intimate or political or economic we are relying on our view of the world. A world view. If that world view is limited we will have limited and dangerously uninformed views. If that world view is open, critical and constructive, we will be able to make a contribution to our own lives and to the lives of others.
Thanks for the article.
ussa

Our Racism Prejudice and hatred are so damaging. I am so glad I did not grow up with it. But yes, I was aware of it. This article is a sober reminder of the work ahead of us. Love, Tolerance and acceptance begin at home, like charity.

How to waste a day a lighthearted, fun, personal story giving me a taste of pakistani life, so like life everywhere, something to appreciate.

Adam Smith’s Invisible Hand and Kashmir I was charmed by this story because it addresses a profound point in a human way. While I am not necessarily an admirer of Adam Smith, the fact is that most ordinary persons like ourselves manage to make the best of what we have and maximize our worth. In my book, that is not so much a lesson in economics as it is in governance and politics. Let the people have the opportunity to live freely, provide them with some social benefits and services and they will give of their best to themselves their families and in the process their communities and their societies. The haatos in this story were caught up in something larger than themselves with the politically orchestrated ``insurgency.` But fortunately they were not oppressed or killed. They prospered and helped us all to appreciate the ingenuity of the human spirit.

The changing face of America Aliya, I guess the only way to overcome such treatment is to continually reach out and be yourself -- intelligent, considerate and generous. And of course stand up and fight, if it is oppressive
There is always someone trying to make you the Other. WE do it ourselves.

The In-Security Council: Dump it or Grow it? puyu`s point about making a start is exactly right. We are making some headway here.

and my proposal to dump the SC is a solution. So stuka`s comment comment about not offering solutions is lacking in substance.

A million petitions, sent by We the People, cannot be entirely ignored, even by that apathetic and self-preserving intergovernmental body.

Do some people here think that the UN is capable of undertaking significant structural internal reform.? Self-destructing their own jobs and perks?

If the UN Charter says ``We the People`` I am going to asume they mean me and you. So I am willing to take action to talk back.

I did not write this piece as hot air., and never waste my time at the watercooler. Maybe we can save some lives, put some of the money into the hands of women and children, cotton growers and milk producers, solar energy developers and windgenerators, who need it badly.

So if anyone wants to float a petition on Petitions on Line website, let me know. I notice some good writers here.

I will not be responding to any further posts. Thanks everybody, no matter what your position is on this topic.

Lastly, if you want to help you are welcome to send the article along with your comments to:

Fred Eckhard Annan`s Spokesperson
Shashi Tharoor Secretariat
Angela King Women

All bureaucrats., and no, I don`t hobnob with bureaucrats.

CKK