Category Archives: Bad ideas

Bad ideas

Mera Joota Hai Iraqi!

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With utmost seriousness, the news clip replays the incident twelve times for our viewing pleasure, while the ‘LIVE’ on the top right-hand of the screen glints promisingly. Ah yes gentle reader, if wishes were horses…  The Guardian helpfully accompanies the clip with cultural commentary for its readers, just in case we were in any doubt as to the symbolic significance of the action:

In the Arab world, throwing shoes at somebody is considered a serious insult, as is even showing them the soles of one’s footwear, as demonstrated by jubilant Iraqis towards the statue of Saddam Hussein as it was toppled in Baghdad during the 2003 invasion.

Always good to be up on native customs in the global village.

Continue reading Mera Joota Hai Iraqi! →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Media politics

The press freedom bogey

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…is raised every time there’s talk of a law “regulating” TV News channels in India. A rajya Sabha committee now says self-regulation is not enough, the media needs a set of rules from the government. I think that one shoudn’t necessarily view the idea of a law, or regulation, with suspicion. After the despicable 26/11 coverage and even before, many channels have lost the right to hide their TRP-driven sensationalism behind the free speech bogey. 

That may sound self-contradictory, but see what the committee has concluded on the subject:

Continue reading The press freedom bogey →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Culture, Debates, Everyday Life, Language, Media politics, Politics

The Battle of Mumbai

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Guest post by BALMURLI NATRAJAN, a member of the South Asia Solidarity Initiative (SASI)

The Battle of Mumbai did not begin on November 26, 2008. There was no clear beginning, regardless of what somnambulists who have just woken up, or saber-rattlers who have been sharpening their tools for a while, pronounce. Like all modern wars, it burst into public view over the internet, unannounced and in full-swing. Continue reading The Battle of Mumbai →

Bad ideas

A Brahminical Funeral for VP Singh: S Anand

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This guest post was sent to us by S ANAND

Kancha Ilaiah has written an edit-page article in Deccan Herald, 3 December, on VP Singh. I was relieved that at last a newspaper had devoted space to Singh. Ilaiah begins by expressing his disappointment over the media’s lack of coverage and analysis of Singh’s death, and terms him the Abraham Lincoln of India.

Continue reading A Brahminical Funeral for VP Singh: S Anand →

Bad ideas, Debates, Movements, Politics, Violence/Conflict

More reflections as Southasians on Mumbai

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Anjum Altaf has sent us two posts on The South Asian Idea that reflect on the terrorism in Mumbai and discuss how best we can respond as Southasian citizens:
 

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Culture, Debates, Everyday Life, Images, Media politics, Politics

Hotel Taj: Icon of whose India? Gnani Sankaran

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Gnani Sankaran is a noted Tamil writer who lives in Chennai.

Watching at least four English news channels surfing from one to another during the last 60 hours of terror strike made me feel a terror of another kind. The terror of assaulting one’s mind and sensitivity with cameras, sound bites and non-stop blabbers. All these channels have been trying to manufacture my consent for a big lie called – Hotel Taj the icon of India.

Read this scathing critique of the media here.

Bad ideas, Frontiers, Identities

“Mindless,” “Muslims”

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Those two M’s recur, on this blog and elsewhere, in the heated discussions around the tragic, provocatove events that have unfolded this past week. I am reminded of this point Martha Nussbaum wrote after Obama won: Continue reading “Mindless,” “Muslims” →

Bad ideas, Everyday Life, Images, Language, Media politics, Politics, Violence/Conflict

Witnessing Madness 24/7

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What is happening? The Taj is burning, gunmen are shooting, the police is storming, the Oberoi is burning, the army is descending, people are running; bleeding; dying. Barkha Dutt is talking, Rajdeep Sardesai is talking, Srinivasan Jain is talking, Vilas Rao Deshmukh is talking, L.K Advani is talking, Manmohan Singh is talking, Vikram Chandra is talking, an eye-witness is talking, the army chief is talking, the naval chief is talking, an ex-hostage is talking, the terrorist is talking, Javed Jaffery is talking, Arnab Goswami is talking, is anyone even listening, is everyone listening—But what is happening?

Continue reading Witnessing Madness 24/7 →

Bad ideas, Debates, Government, Law, Media politics, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Grotesque Terror Attacks in Mumbai

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Courtesy Indian Muslims Blog
Courtesy Indian Muslims Blog

In one of the most daring and yet cowardly terror attacks, Bombay/Mumbai has been attacked. In an earlier post we had discussed the question of violence – ‘revolutionary’ violence, and the utter futility of resort to such methods. Violence is not a solution to anything; it cannot be. If anything, it is part of the problem; it is the problem. For violence begets more violence. Continue reading Grotesque Terror Attacks in Mumbai →

Bad ideas, Identities

Muslim Madrasa Modernisation

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A rather animated debate is on among different sections of the Muslims as also among the civil and the uncivil society in India about the Madrasa, their importance, the role they play and the need to make them more modern, thereby converting them into institutes that are more relevant to the contemporary requirements of both the Muslims and the market. The former is openly stated while the latter is rarely articulated.

Before proceeding with an exploration of some of these concerns and to try to understand the trigger behind the proselytising zeal to modernise the madrasa, let us understand the institution of the madrasa itself. Continue reading Muslim Madrasa Modernisation →

Bad ideas, Culture, Everyday Life, Identities, Politics, Right watch

Bhaiyya Troubles in Mumbai

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The Juhu Versova beach is divided into two sections, guarded by two stray dogs and the bare dirty arses of bhaiyyas who step off their kholis to shit straight into the sea. The other side of the invisible divide is reserved for the civil society which comes to walk, exercise and meditate in the morning. Including well off bhaiyyas like ourselves.

Returning from the beach when I accosted the panwalla by calling him bhaiyya, three bystanders gave me a sharp look. I figured they were marathi manoos. Leaving the shop I tried to inject some pathos by saying that it has become so dangerous to call anyone bhaiyya these days. They did smile, all of them. But I detected a gleam of satisfaction in their expression.

Continue reading Bhaiyya Troubles in Mumbai →

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Everyday Life, Identities, Language, Politics

हि‍न्दी के वर्जित प्रदेश में…

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[यह लेख कुछ अरसा पहले वाक् पत्रिका के लिए लिखा गया था – पुराने दोस्त सुधीश पचौरी के इसरार पर। जब यह लेख लिख रहा था तब से अब तक हालात कुछ बदल चुके हैं। इसे लिखते वक़्त तक भी मुझे यह गुमान था कि शायद एक रोज़ मैं हिन्दी के क़िलानुमा परिसर में घुस पाने क़ामयाब हो पाउंगा। हज़ार पहरों में घिरे इस क़िले में एक रोज़ ज़रूर दाखिल होने का मौक़ा मिलेगा। मगर इधर कुछ समय से ऐसा लगने लगा है कि यह क़त्तई मुमकिन नहीं है। हिन्दी के पहरेदार ऐसा कभी न होने देंगे। लिहाज़ा अब इस क़िले में घुसने की कोशिश छोड़ कर हिन्दुस्तानी के खुले और बे-पहरा मैदान में, खुली हवा में टहलना चाहता हूँ। कह देना चाहता हूँ पहरेदारों से कि मैं आप के मुल्क का बाशिंदा नहीं हूँ। मैं एक लावारिस मगर आज़ाद ज़ुबान में पला बढ़ा और वही मेरी ज़मीन है। अलविदा। – आदित्य निगम]
एक ज़माना हुआ हिन्दी से जूझते हुए। यह दीगर बात है कि हिन्दीवालों को इसकी ख़बर तक नहीं। हो भी क्यों? आप बेचते ही क्या हैं?
Continue reading हि‍न्दी के वर्जित प्रदेश में… →
Bad ideas, Capitalism, Everyday Life, Identities, Law, Left watch, Media politics, Right watch

Welcome to Kerala’s Haven of Ease and Vice — Chengara

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Make no mistake — this is not my assessment. I’ve just borrowed it from our Chief Minister, the redoubtable V.S. Achuthananadan, the foremost of (official) revolutionaries in Kerala, whose memories of struggle stretch back right up to the workers’ uprising of the 1940s in south Kerala, the Punnapra-Vayalar, celebrated in communist myth and legend.  In September this year it appeared as if the CPM was ready to negotiate with the protestors, but nothing has really moved. The latter have hung firm in their resolve, it requires a rather strange imagination to read that as evidence for ‘peace and prosperity’ at Chengara. The Congress has now emerged, after much slumber, with support for the struggle, and V.M. Sudheeran, one of the most popular and respected leaders of the Congress, has sharply condemned the CM’s statement (below).

Continue reading Welcome to Kerala’s Haven of Ease and Vice — Chengara →

Bad ideas, Capitalism, Frontiers, Technology

Whitey On The Moon

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guest post by S. ANAND

We Back on the Ground (WeBOG) would like to congratulate the Indian state for sending up a rocket towards the moon. Continue reading Whitey On The Moon →

Bad ideas, Culture, Everyday Life

Phool Walon Ki Sair

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Akbar Shah Saani (the second) ruled over a rapidly disintegrating empire between 1806 to 1837. It was during his time that the East India Company dispensed with even the fig leaf of ruling in the name of the Mughal Monarch and removed his name from the Persian texts that appeared on the coins struck by the company in the areas under their control.

Bahadur Shah Zafar who succeeded him was not Akbar Shah Saani’s choice as his successor, Akbar Shah was, in fact, under great pressure by one of his queens, Mumtaz Begum to declare her son Mirza Jahangir as the successor. Akbar Shah would have probably accepted this demand but Mirza Jahangir had fallen foul of the British and they will have none of this.

The Phool Walon Ki Sair or Sair-e-gul-Faroshan that is celebrated with much fanfare and official patronage had its beginning in a fracas between Mirza Jahangir and Sir Archibald Seton, the then British resident at Delhi. According to contemporary records of the event, Mirza Jahangir was extremely resentful of the manner in which the British threw their weight around the Red Fort and violated all customs and traditions. He was a strong man, moved around with a band of his followers and kept getting into arguments with the Goras. Continue reading Phool Walon Ki Sair →

Bad ideas, Ecology/Environment, Everyday Life, Excavation, Government, Images, Law, Left watch, Media politics, Metropolis

Some images do not disturb

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CBI-employed manhole workers in Noida
CBI-employed manhole workers in Noida

guest post by S. ANAND

There are times when our critical antennae do not perk up. We do not wish to decode certain signs because we are all implicated in them. Following the 14 September blasts in Delhi, suddenly the media found a new value in ragpickers, street vendors, auto drivers and others who live on the fringes of the city and are generally looked down upon by people who inhabit apartments, blogs, cars (and autos, I must add).

Suddenly, by 15 September, ragpicker Krishna was canonized as a ‘hero’ by the media, the police and the state (the Delhi government claims credit for saving some lives with its ‘eyes and ears’ policy). Yet, Times of India prefaced its report about Krishna thus: Continue reading Some images do not disturb →

Bad ideas, Culture, Excavation, Identities, Images, Language

Mother Kerala

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Mother Kerala
Mother Kerala

Continue reading Mother Kerala →

Bad ideas, Debates, Ecology/Environment, Everyday Life, Metropolis, Right watch

On dealing with fuss-tration

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So for those of us who thought that frustrated, naive and aggressive car drivers are a caricature, Hey we at Kafila found one just for our readers.  He is loud, aggressive and fuss-trated as they come. Read on …

The wonderful thing about blogging, I am told, is that it allows everyone to publish their opinions.  At times however, forgive me for saying this, I wonder if everyone should.  My most recent reason for this harsh indictment of the blogging world, is based on this recent post titled “This is what the fuss is about (you twit)”. The title stems from a spot of witty wordplay on one of my recent posts.

The “you twit”, I might hasten to add, is not my addition. it is the author’s impression of my arguments.  While his post is reasonably, if somewhat naively, argued; his frequent abuse stems, perhaps, out of the need to get his blog read. Or maybe it is a style that is much appreciated by his readers.  I will however, thank him for his incisive – if somewhat excessively enthusiastic – critique of my work.

Continue reading On dealing with fuss-tration →

Bad ideas

Demand Justice: Get (Amended) Laws

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The recent move by the Ministry of Social Justice to go for important amendments in the Scheduled Castes & Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act (POA) 1989 supposedly to simplify the process of hearings and strengthen investigation mechanisms has largely gone unnoticed.
 Continue reading Demand Justice: Get (Amended) Laws →

Bad ideas, Identities, Law, Right watch

‘Dhule was burnt after 40 years, despite its glorious tradition of communal harmony’

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Aurangabad Times]
[This report about the recent riots in Dhule comes from from PRATIBHA SHINDE and AMBARISH RAI.] Continue reading ‘Dhule was burnt after 40 years, despite its glorious tradition of communal harmony’ →

Bad ideas, Culture, Debates, Everyday Life, Identities, Politics, Right watch, Violence/Conflict

Converting lions to elephants

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As the most hideous kinds of violence are unleashed on Christians in Orissa and Karnataka by proud Hindu terrorists, one issue that the liberal Hindu mind-set stumbles over is that of conversions. Of course, violence is bad, it bleats, nothing justifies killings, but mass conversions, you know…

Conversions. Images of Muslim hordes waving their fierce banners, sweeping across the North Indian plains; images of sly Christian missionaries swindling innocent tribals and dalits with food and education and social status, into accepting an alien god. The liberal Hindu, who would never dream of converting anybody to Hinduism, shrinks at these images.

Aditya has drawn our attention to Ambedkar’s clear-eyed insight into why Hinduism is not a proselytizing religion. Can you convert a non-Hindu into a Brahmin? Nope.

Continue reading Converting lions to elephants →