DesiPundit

à¤?का वाचकाचà¥?या शबà¥?दात सांगायचे तर…
कोणतेही पूरà¥?वगà¥?रह, कोणतà¥?याही निषà¥?ठा, कोणतेही अहंकार (धारà¥?मिक कारà¥?यकà¥?रमात जानवà¥?यातली लोखंडी किलà¥?ली बाजूला काढून ठेवतात तà¥?यापà¥?रमाणे ) बाजूला ठेवून वाचकांनी ‘निळà¥?या काचेचे पेन’ या चौकस यांचà¥?या कथेचे भाग १ व भाग २ वाचावेत. माहितीजालावर यापेकà¥?षा वरचà¥?या दरà¥?जाचे साहितà¥?य सहसा वाचायला मिळत नाही.

गणपतीची मूर�ती मी �वढ�या जवळून पहिल�यांदाच बघत होतो. प�र�षोत�तमकाकांनी तर मला त�या सोंडेला हातही लावून दिला. मला गणपतीची गोष�ट माहीत होती. पार�वतीच�या साबणाने हत�तीला आंघोळ घातली असे काहीसे. ही मूर�ती साबणासारखीच लख�ख होती. कपाळावरचे सोनेरी रंगातले गंध तर �कास चमकत होते. आणि डोळे.. किती बारीक डोळे. पण रोखून मा��याकडेच बघणारे. मी पटकन प�र�षोत�तमकाकांच�या मागे दडलो.

Put another way, an India less committed to pluralism might find it easier to “give up” on Kashmir, but conversely, given its current political ideology (increasingly under strain by virtue of the rise of Hindutva over the last two decades, but not exhausted by any means), any India that found it “easy” to give up on Kashmir or parts of the North-East could not long maintain even the semblance of pluralism.

In an excellent take on Mukul Kesavan’s article in The Telegraph, Qalandar discusses the limits of Indian pluralism. Don’t forget to check the comment section.

(link via Signal)

Public support for the cause and morale during the war itself were always important. What is new is that the outcome of the war itself is increasingly decided by public opinion—with all its uncertainties, vagaries, whims and susceptibility to manipulation. Of course, this has been true in authoritarian states and closed societies for a long time, where the outcome is unquestionably what the regime says it is. In democratic societies with a free (and freewheeling media) the outcome of wars is becoming what public opinion says it is.

Nitin examines the changing nature of warfare and the role of public opnion.

A succession of weak governments and weaker leaders did nothing to change the impression that India was on the retreat, and governments, rebels and terrorists in the region could pursue their own agenda without the fear of a forceful Indian reaction. Pax Indica—which stabilisedNepal in the 1950s, liberated Bangladesh in the 1970s, thwarted a coup in the Maldives in the 1980s—defaulted to Lax Indica, where the only Indian intervention was an absence of it. The absence of intervention, to turn a Rumsfeldian phrase, is intervention by absence. And not exactly the best way to shape favourable results.

Has India’s policy of not intervening in the neighborhood damaged her national interest?  The problem, as always, is our inability to see the larger picture.

 

 

Sudeep directs us to read this cry for a secular-liberal future for … Bangladesh.

I shout at all of you with rage, because I refuse to accept a haven for me that is a nightmare for others. There is still time to stop this with our words, our actions and our bodies.

Dr Singh, if you are paying attention, you may have figured out that what I am getting at is this: it is not the faith of a person that should concern the government of a nation that puts on airs about being a superpower, but rather about the economic status of a person. And if you are really concerned about improving the economic status of a person, then you should try to give the person an equal opportunity to the person to succeed. I stress equal opportunity because I wish to distinguish it from equal outcome. The government can at most ensure equality of opportunity but cannot—and should not—ensure equality of outcome. You must understand the distinction and I am going to attempt to do precisely that. 

Atanu Day writes a letter to Dr. Manmohan Singh.

कधी वाटतं, त�ला देव�हाऱ�यात बसवतेय का रे मी? त��ी कोणतीच गोष�ट मला खटकत नाही, असं का? कधीतरी..ज�या वयात मूर�तीपूजेसाठी कोणीतरी समोर असण�याची गरज असते, तेव�हा नेमका तू सापडलास म�हणून त�ला बसवून टाकलं का मी तिथे?

असेल. तसं �ालं असेलही स�र�वातीला. त��ा विनोद स�ंदर होता..निर�मळ होता. तू वर�णन केलंस ते ‘हे जीवन स�ंदर आहे’ याचंच. कधी क�वचित �खादी क�रूप गोष�ट आलीच अपरिहार�यपणे प�ढे तरी तिचा विखार मा��या डोळ�यासमोर येऊ दिला नाहीस. सावध केलंस, पण ‘ही क�रूप गोष�टदेखील स�ंदर बनवता येईल’ असा आशावाद आधी दिलास. आपल�याच मनातल�या स�वत:च�या आदर�श प�रतिमेमागे धावत क�चम�बत जगणारे आम�ही..त��ा बंधनांतून म�क�त करणारा ‘काकाजी’ भ�लावणारच आम�हांला.

गायत�रीची अवर�णनिय भक�ती तिच�याच अवर�णनिय शब�दांमध�ये.

Vantage Point वर गौरवनी प�लंच�या पारायणित लेखांचे इंग�रजीमध�ये विलक�षण असं स�वैर भाषांतर केलं आहे. त�यामध�ये - मी आणि मा�ा शत�र�पक�षं, चितळे मास�तर, आणि प�णेकर-म�ंबईकर.

I re-realise the power of blogs because of this exposure to global audience. Thank you.

It is our laws which bind us to mediocrity and indeed to grinding poverty. There are labor laws that make it impossible for even medium sized companies to fire people. And not being able to fire people when necessary is tantamount to not being able to hire them when required.

Examining Paul Graham’s excellent essay on startups, Atanu Dey at India’s Development examines the potential for India but at the same time, warns us of a much-needed paradigm change in almost all aspects of our society and thinking. Possible in our lifetime?

Hundreds of taxis parked in neat lines, long and seemingly endless. The streetlights suddenly more orange, watching over the yellow-black worker ants nesting for the night. Their bodies gleam when the occasional car passes by, and in perfect unison they pass the glow from one to the other, rapidly, and no one drops.

N describes what Mumbai tucked in for the night looks like.

The presence of Muslim minorities in countries around the world provides the major Islamic states with unprecedented leverage in pursuit of their own national interests. The greater part of these minorities is unlikely to respond to a call to terror. But it is quite likely to be riled by accounts of oppression of Muslims around the world and outraged by insulting cartoons or demeaning remarks by the Pope. So it serves the interests of the major Islamic states to keep this ‘Islam under seige’ narrative on the boil.

Nitin at The Acorn astutely comments on the Islam-terror combination by highlighting the often underplayed and underlying power struggles [hat tip: Confused].