Analysis: The options before the UPA

July 08, 2008


The die is finally cast. With the Left formally withdrawing support to the government, the first task before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh [Images] is to win a trust motion quickly.

The government would not like to go to the International Atomic Energy Agency, which it was planning to do on July 28, as a minority government, for that signals a very different message to member countries of the Nuclear Suppliers Group. Parliament may be called sooner than later, and the two dates under consideration are July 20 or 22 and the cabinet is expected to finalise the timetable on Wednesday.

The challenge before the Congress is to get its arithmetic right and mount an operation that is foolproof, particularly after the way things were botched up in Srinagar [Images]. Things had seemed to be under control, and Ghulam [Images] Nabi Azad had assured Delhi that he had the numbers, but he had to quit as chief minister without facing the assembly.

On the face of it, the Congress has worked out its support lines to compensate the loss of the Left parties, and the prime minister has ruled out early elections. The Samajwadi Party has publicly announced its support to the UPA. With the UPA accounting for 225 members, and taking into account SP's 39 MPs, the numbers add up to 264. But if you add three of Rashtriya Lok Dal, three of the Janata Dal-Secular and three from the Telangana Rashtra Samithi, the UPA will be just over the hump with 273 votes. If it also gets five independents, which it claims it has the support of, and some 'others', then it is home and dry.

Of course, there are many 'ifs and buts' in this scenario. First, there have been reports that there are around 10 Samajwadi Party MPs, who have reservations about voting with the UPA on the nuke deal, are in a mood to defy the party whip -- though Mulayam Singh Yadav has declared that all the 39 SP MPs are behind him. Some are Muslims and others have a sizeable Muslim population in their constituencies. Eleven SP MPs reportedly did not attend the meeting called by Mulayam Singh Yadav on Tuesday.

With disquiet in the SP MPs, and with elections not far off, they would have jumped to the Bahujan Samaj Party, were Mayawati to assure them of BSP tickets in the Lok Sabha polls. From all accounts, Mayawati is not thinking of employing this strategy, even though she is keeping a close watch on the situation.

She will play on Muslim fears, having stated that the deal is anti-Muslim, but she may not go the whole hog to bring down the government on the nuke deal, even as she votes against the UPA.

The political grapevine is abuzz with stories about the price the SP will extract for its support, like ten ministers in the government! Essentially, the SP is worried about the series of cases that have been slapped against its leaders, particularly the disproportionate wealth case against Mulayam Singh Yadav.

UNPA or no UNPA, Mulayam cannot think of becoming prime minister, if there is a CBI charge against him. How the prime minister will "manage" this for Mulayam remains to be seen.

The Congress' main headache is to keep the UPA flock together and to 'manage' the demands made by a host of small and big parties, each demanding their pound of flesh in return for their support at a critical moment like this.

While the Congress is banking on the TRS coming around, the regional party had delinked itself from the UPA and it may demand some assurance on Telangana to justify lending support. Ajit Singh will want a ministry of his choice.

Shibu Soren, whose Jharkhand Mukti Morcha has five members in the Lok Sabha, has been sulking at being denied a cabinet berth which was given to Rameshwar Oraon at the behest of Lalu Yadav.

The Congress is planning to fish in the NDA waters, and hoping for support of the Shiv Sena and the Akali Dal, or for these parties to abstain in the trust vote. Bal Thackeray had raised Congress hopes when he came out in favour of the nuke deal, but his son Uddhav ruled out support to the UPA, clarifying that his party would stick with the NDA.

The Akali Dal has also been silent on the nuke deal. Congress leaders hope they will back the prime minister, who is a Sikh, and because a large number of Sikhs in the US support the move. However, it is unlikely the Akali Dal will back the UPA and jeopardise their future politics in an election year.

The ally who could however be more promising for the Congress, and would help it make inroads into the NDA, is Mamta Banerjee, now that the Left has parted company with the Congress. Going with the Congress could have big dividends for her in West Bengal, though she too would have to worry about the Muslim factor.

This thread is to deliberate on India (and Hindus specifically), as a nation and a state and thus encompasses only the current practices that are related directly to the "Identity" and "Society". The presumption is it the Hindu identity (at micro level) and society (at macro level) has been defined and continues to be
redefined by everyone else and Hindus are not wising up to it. If they have, they are in minority.

Of course the presumption is that if micro (identity) and macro levels are (society and practices) not addressed and changed, we will self-destruct (SD) both as a nation and state. The scope of this thread is to explore changes that are needed for us to survive and flourish (SF). The goal is then to chart a way to SF from SD.

The seeds of destruction have been sown long time ago, by various vested groups, and we have ample threads to cover those effects, activities and aspects. But, we do not have threads to proffer and discuss ideas & steps to counter those. That however is not the scope of this particualr thread. Members, feel free to start discussions on that front. These discussions as such will be reactive.

The disucssions in thread, however are proactive, and will be on identifying what those changes could be, how they can be brought about (practical steps). Also feel free to disagree if one feels that nothing neeeds to be changed (back up such claims). In other words, we are already flourishing and there is no need to change anything in so far as Hindus' ability to pursue four purusharthas fearlessly and confidently in our own land (or elsewhere).

We may have to spawn off multiple threads depending on 3 or 4 such topics (changes that are needed either at micro and/or macro levels). The topics could be, for example: Developing Hindu (friendly) Media, Conversion to Hinduism, etc ....

There may be few tens of such high level topics, but we can pick 3 or so and focus on that for starters. Please also suggest how best we can structure the discussions.

<span style='color:red'>Conference on Challenges to National Identity and Security in 21st Century</span>
Dr. Syama Prasad Mookerjee Research Foundation

July 05-06, 2008
Ashutosh Mookerjee Auditorium,
National Museum,
Chowranghee Kolkata

India's rising political, economic, and military might, her scientific and technological abilities, and entrepreneurial talent, all combine to make her a significant power in the world. Vast tracts of the world were historically deeply influenced by Indian culture and civilization, a truth immortalized by Zimmer in his memorable phrase 'Indian Asia.'

The pulsating vitality of Hindu civilization, its unmatched ability to be contemporary, has helped India march into the modern era with equanimity, carrying an immeasurably diverse populace into a democratic system that, despite odds and failings, strives sincerely to give a meaningful and dignified life to all.

India's very geographical location places her at the cusp of very difficult international crossroads, which impact upon her security, and often place strains upon her economic interests and religious demography. These challenges can only become more acute in coming times. The post Cold War power equations are being rapidly undermined by new emerging economic power equations and alignments, and India is well-placed to seize the opportunity presented by this nascent order, where old friends of the Cold War era are well represented. Missing the bus could certainly adversely affect India's energy security, and hence her economic strengths and emerging Asian power status.

The old international hegemonies are being rapidly undermined by larger historical forces, and nations well advanced on the path of economic decline cannot easily retrieve their declining fortunes. Nations that control natural resources as national (sovereign) rather than as private wealth, are on the right side of history. It is hardly an accident that in ancient India, all mineral wealth belonged to the State. Current narratives that peddle globalization as the only path to the future are already in disrepute.

Co-current with changing international realities are the intensified regional challenges arising from increased instabilities in the neighborhood, and posing a serious politico-security threat to India. The rise of China is self-evident, as is the instability of other neighbouring countries. India's is yet to formulate a cogent response which will determine its status in Asia and the world. Few challenges wither away themselves, and it seems this may have happened with the ill-conceived Indo-US nuclear deal, if only because of domestic compulsions!

The threat posed by terrorism, however, needs to be tackled head-on, at multiple levels, by security agencies, and by society and civilization. Terrorism is not merely a threat to life and property, a breadkdown of law and order, or a challenge to security agencies . It is an intentional insult to the Hindu-centric civilizational ethos of India, which provides honourable space and harmony for all constituent units of society, never aspiring for a dead uniformity, yet seeking unity in the throbbing vitality of diversity.

Calculated, calibrated, and motivated assaults upon this tradition cannot be allowed to succeed. The persistent nature of the challenge, the near-total concentration upon India for jihadi terror (with only stray incidents in other parts of the world), point to a larger gameplan to destabilize the world's only living non-monotheistic tradition. The security challenge is therefore, the least of the challenges, and one our armed forces are fully competent to meet.

Simply put, Indian civilization poses a continuing threat to Monotheistic traditions, and is thus being undermined at multiple levels. The real challenge is in the mind. India has to demonstrate the intellectual vigour to beat back the ideological challenge posed by jihad in all parts of the country, and spreading Maoist and other insurgencies, and more sophisticated and insidious threats from the West, which seeks to coopt India as a junior partner into its own renewed quest for world dominion.

In order to discuss the multiple issues impinging on India's national identity and security, we are organizing a two-day national seminar in Kolkata on 5th and 6th July 2008. The seminar will feature sessions which will seek to comprehensively address major issues and trends in the Indian security context; assess major challenges and suggest creative solutions for shaping policy options in the new century.

Following is an outline of the sessions to be held:

1. Inaugural Session: Challenges to National Identity and Security in 21st Century

2. International Factors Shaping National Identity & Security

- Jihad's Impact on India

3. Regional Security Challenges

- Unstable Neighborhood and Its Politico-Security Consequences

- Maoism in Nepal, HuJI in Bangladesh

- Growing Talibanization of Pakistan

- Dealing with Rising China

4. Emerging National Security Challenges

- Challenges to India's Nuclear Policy

- Nature and Responses to the Threat of Terrorism

- Emerging Military Threats & Defence Policy Options

5. Internal Security Challenges

- Insurgency Movements (Northeast & Kashmir)

- Naxalite menace

6.Concluding Session

<!--QuoteBegin-acharya+Jun 27 2008, 06:55 AM-->QUOTE(acharya @ Jun 27 2008, 06:55 AM)<!--QuoteEBegin-->
Hope you understand.
I have on the average around 100 posts to make every day in many forums in the wide internet world.

I sometimes do not have the links and will be unable to post it immediately. Sometimes I have to post 500 posts every day. You can understand my position with this kind of workload.

To make sure that the message and the post is not lost since I only post what is relavent I had to post without URLt. When ever I get some links I would not miss posting the links in the posts.
My apology if it has caused inconvenience to you that you had to find the URL yourself. I would be try my best to satisfy your request in the future.
[right][snapback]83406[/snapback][/right]
<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->

<b>acharya Ji :</b>

My commiserations and facilitations at the hard task that you have undertaken and fully understand your limitations.

Posting Articles is of course mainly for the benefit of the “Members” of this Forum by way of knowledge and as such I would request you to keep posting - even without the “Link” as if such a stipulation was made then would lose out on some of the most important sources of information.

Please keep up your Good Work.

Cheers <!--emo&:beer--><img src='style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/cheers.gif' border='0' style='vertical-align:middle' alt='cheers.gif' /><!--endemo-->

This thread is to track all large scale social engineering done in the name of revolution and other causes.

Look for the wierd world view and anticipation of their victory



--
THE PRIVILEGED CLASSES.

The town-worker is the aristocrat the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. He sits in the forefront of the Opera House. He gets the first place in the queue when meat is short. He alone is sent to a Rest Home or a sanatorium. It is he who prides himself most upon his birth. To be able to boast of a working-class origin is far more important to a Russian than the possession of Norman blood ever was in England. This domination by one small class, the town proletariat, was the feature, which struck me most during a. recent visit to Soviet Russia. where a knowledge of Russian helped me to get beneath the surface.
THE BADGE OF RANK.

“What is your father? Is he a worker or a bourgeois?” How many Russians asked me that question! A fat Red Army officer who promised to visit me in London when the World Revolution broke out, was exceedingly anxious to find out whether I was tainted with Capitalism or not. When I disclosed that I was bourgeois he treated me with pity. He foresaw a grim future for me when the World Union of Socialist Soviet Republics came into being. Still he said, since I was an “intellectual” rather than a “capitalist” my fate might not be so bad.

The new aristocracy of Russia has many privileges. The greatest of these is the trade union card. British trade unionists will find it hard to realise what a precious possession this is; so precious, indeed, that a roaring business has been carried on in the forging and illicit sale of these cards. If you have a worker’s trade union card, you receive a far larger share of bread or meat or butter (if there is any!) than the poor bank clerk or post office assistant or waitress or shop-girl! You have reduced prices in cinemas, theatre, concerts, gardens and restaurants. You only pay two-pence to visit the Anti-Religious Museum or the Museum of Revolution, whereas the common herd has to pay four-pence!
FAUX PAS.

There is a complete reversal of values in the esteem in which one’s occupation is held, and, of course, in one’s social position. This is reflected in the language of today. The pre-revolutionary equivalents of “Monsieur” or “Mademoiselle” are now taboo, and have been replaced by “Comrade” or “Citizen.” A small incident in a chemist’s shop in Moscow will illustrate the change in the forms of address. A girl who stood next to me, and was probably from the provinces, made the great faux pas of shouting to the shop-assistant “Baryshnia” (Mademoiselle) instead of saying “Comrade” or “Citizen.” I shall never forget the shocked faces of the customers who heard her, nor her blushes when she realised that she had given away her bourgeois origin. An East End costermonger’s wife would not be more embarrassed in a Bond-street jeweller’s shop than was this middle-class or maybe noble girl in the Communist co-operative chemist’s store.
BLUE BLOOD COUNTS.

One evening I went to a Moscow theatre, and was struck by the snobbishness, which the play revealed. The impression, which the performance left on me was that in Russia far more stress is laid on what your father was than on what you are yourself. The heroine of the drama was an energetic Communist girl, who inspired all her companions in the factory with enthusiasm for the Five-Years’ Plan. When things were going badly and output was low, it was she who rallied the workers and saved the situation. Then came a bombshell. A drunken man disclosed the disgraceful fact that her father had been nothing else than a Tsarist policeman! Sensation. “Throw her out of the Party,” was the cry. And out she had to go.

Often Soviet snobbery degenerates into real cruelty. I was chatting with a Russian caretaker and his wife and watching some dirty little children at play. “Look at those children,” said the woman. “They have been born to misfortune, because the fathers are not workers. They will never get on in life. When they grow up they will not be able to go to a university, and now they cannot have food until the workers’ children have had their fill, poor, unhappy ones!”

Of all kinds of snobbishness the Communist is the worst, for it is not a superficial airing of class superiority, as in England, that wrecks the lives of many Russians, whose only sin is to have been born of other than working-class parents.

http://www.garethjones.org/soviet_articles...et_snobbery.htm

Filmmakers’ favourites

<img src='http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/fr/2007/07/13/images/2007071350330101.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />


From October 31, 1931, when the first talkie ‘Kalidas,’ was released, Tamil cinema has come a long way. Different directors, different styles... it has been a rich fare. Eight directors list their best ten and explain what makes the first three superior.

Sridhar: ‘Sindhu Bairavi,’ ‘Roja,’ ‘Vedam Puthidhu,’ ‘Thillana Mohanambal,’ ‘Nayagan,’ ‘16 Vayathinile,’ ‘Udhiripookkal,’ ‘Thiruvilaiyadal,’ ; ‘Servar Sundaram’ and ‘Saraswathi Sabadam.’

‘Sindhu Bairavi’ is a masterpiece in its own way. The screenplay and the actors’ performances make it the best. I choose ‘Roja’ for its patriotism. ‘Vedam Puthidhu’ appeals because of its message that all humans are the same.

K. Balachander: ‘Andha Naal,’ ‘Chandralekha,’ ‘Kalyana Parisu,’ ‘Thillana Mohanambal,’ ‘Pasamalar,’ ‘Ulagam Sutrum Valiban,’ ‘16 Vayathinile,’ R 16;Mullum Malarum,’ ‘Kadhal Kottai’ and ‘Kathal.’

‘Andha Naal’ was released in 1954 starring Sivaji Ganesan and Pandaribai. It was the first talkie in India without song or dance. I like the way director S. Balachander tackles this experimental film, an unusual attempt at that time. Just like ‘Sivaji’ today, people talked about ‘Chandralekha’ in the past. Produced at a cost of Rs 30 lakhs (a huge sum at that time), it has grand sets. I have seen it 12 times. ‘Kalyanaparisu,’ a love story, is the first of its kind. I became director Sridhar’s fan after watching it.

<img src='http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/fr/2007/07/13/images/2007071350330102.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />


J. Mahendran: ‘Chandralekha,’ ‘Ratha Kaneer,’ ‘Thillana Mohanambal,’ ‘Nenjil Oru Aalayam,’ ‘16 Vayathinile,’ ‘Veedu,’ ‘Kadhal,’ ‘Imsai Arasan 23r d Pulikesi,’ ‘Paruthi Veeran’ and ‘Mozhi.’

I choose ‘Chandralekha,’ a remarkable film, because of its grandeur in all departments of filmmaking. There are no graphics or special effects. If anybody tries to remake this black and white film, they will make a mockery of it. ‘Ratha Kaneer,’ made in 1954, has progressive ideas and great acting by M.R.Radha. ‘Thillana Mohanambal’ must make all Tamils proud. It not only fuses Bharatnatyam and nagaswaram, but has an outstanding screenplay and a great cast.

Balu Mahendra: ‘Parasakthi,’ ‘Devadas,’ ‘Ratha Kaneer,’ ‘Pasamalar,’ ‘Silanerangalil Silamanidargal,’ ‘Unnaipol Oruvan,’ ‘Aval Appadithan,’ ‘ Kalyana Parisu,’ ‘Nenjil Or Aalayam,’ and ‘Thanneer Thanneer.’

<img src='http://www.hindu.com/thehindu/fr/2007/07/13/images/2007071350330103.jpg' border='0' alt='user posted image' />

‘Parasakthi’s’ heavy dialogue (written in chaste Tamil by the current Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi) coupled with a stunning performance by newcomer, Sivaji Ganesan, make it a favourite. ‘Devadas’ has superb lighting by B.S.Ranga, excellent performance by A. Nageswara Rao and Savithri and haunting music by C.R.Subbaraman. As a teenager, I saw it 40 times. As a filmmaker, I saw it for the 50th time a couple of years ago. It still captivates me now as it did, when I was a teenager.

‘Ratha Kaneer’ has brilliant dialogue and inimitable performance by M.R.Radha.

K. Bhagyaraj: ‘Adutha Veettupenn,’ ‘Parasakthi,’ ‘Nadodi Mannan,’ ‘Uthama Puthiran,’ ‘Kalyana Parisu’ ‘Thillana Mohanambal,’ ‘Ulagam Suttrum Valiban,’ ‘Aval Oru Thodarkathai,’ ‘Mullum Malarum’ and ‘16 Vayathinile.’

I like ‘Adutha Veettupenn’ for the natural acting, ‘Parasakthi’ for its message of social awareness, reform and powerful dialogue. In ‘Nadodi Mannan’ and ‘Uthama Puthiran,’ I enjoyed the way both heroes combine acting prowess with entertainment.

Mani Ratnam: ‘Udhiripookal,’ ‘16 Vayathinile,’ ‘Aval Oru Thodarkathai,’ ‘Andha Naal,’ ‘Mullum Malarum,’ ‘Uthama Puthiran,’ ‘Anbe Vaa,’ ‘Pitha Mag an,’ ‘Moondram Pirai’ and ‘Pasa Malar.’

I had just stepped into the industry and Mahendran’s ‘Udhiripookal’ just bowled me over. It was a breakthrough film in commercial cinema. The negative character in it and the way it ends make it outstanding. ‘16 Vayathinile’ is memorable for its script, high standard and realism. K.Balachandar has done some of the best films before and after ‘Aval Oru Thodar Kathai.’ But I choose it mainly for its storyline. It is not the plot or the story, but the character that carries the film through. Although it was released about 25 years ago, the character remains fresh in one’s memory. That is the greatness of the film.




K.S.Ravi Kumar: ‘Pasamalar,’ ‘Nenjil Or Aalayam’, ‘Aval Oru Thodar Kathai’, ‘Kadhalikka Neramillai,’ ‘16 Vayathinile,’ ‘Mullum Malarum,’ ‘Nayagan,’  216;Deivamagan,’ ‘Ulagam Suttrum Valiban’ and ‘Puthu Vasantham.’

As a kid I saw ‘Pasamalar’ and cried. As an adult, each time I have seen it I was moved to tears. Recently when I saw it, the film left a lump in my throat. That is the power of the script and the performance of lead players. Sridhar’s ‘Nenjil Or Aalayam’ depicts the supremacy of love. Through his script and direction, Balachandar brings out the tender core of his middle-class heroine, assailed by problems, in ‘Aval Oru Thodarkathai.’

Ameer: ‘Andha Naal,’ ‘Nenjam Marappadhillai,’ ‘Thiruvilaiyadal,’ ‘Ulagam Suttrum Valiban,’ ‘Moondru Mudichu,’ ‘Aval Appadithan,’ ‘Udhiri Pookal,’ ̵6;16 Vayathinile,’ ‘Moondram Pirai’ and ‘Sethu.’

‘Andha Naal’ by S. Balachander was a trendsetter. When songs were the mainstay those days, this film was a bold attempt as it did not have any. Each camera angle makes watching it worthwhile. In fact one can say that this film changed the sound concept in Tamil cinema. ‘Nenjam Marappadhillai’ not only breaks free from the formulaic screenplay but director Sridhar does something revolutionary by introducing new faces in it. Recently I read in a paper that the film has been remade in Hindi. This is the power of Sridhar’s script. Director A.P. Nagarajan’s ‘Thiruvilaiyadal’ is imaginative. It treats a mythological subject in an interesting way. It is one of the best films in the annals of Tamil cinema.

A very good interview on the basis of the East India Company. The movie Mangal Pandey alludes to this but Indian history books hardly menion it or gloss over it as a minor fact. It is because of this that most Chinese have lot of resentment towards India. THey know its the Brits who did it but Indina merchants and sepoys were part of the trade Note I said sepoys of the East India Company. Most of the Indian trading companies of the 19th century were prosperous because of this trade. This is a blot and needs catharisis for rapproachment with the Chinese.
I came to know this in college when a junior told us he was from Neemuch, MP and his father, a chemist, was the mgr of the govt opium factory! We wondered what was the govt doing that for and found out the history of it all. Its used for medicinal precursor products.


Pioneer, 19 June 2008
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>'India was the biggest opium producing region in the world' </b>

<b>Sea of Poppies, the latest novel by Amitav Ghosh based on the cultivation of poppy along the Ganga in the Bhojpur region to feed East India Company's opium factories and sustain Britain's illicit opium trade with China that left the imperial coffers in London overflowing with wealth, has just been published.</b> It is a fascinating story that unfolds in the 1830s, centred around Deeti, and reminds us of the journey undertaken by 'girmitiyas' -- indentured workers who signed an agreement or 'girmit' -- across the forbidden kala paani to foreign shores to work in sugar plantations. <b>It is about disinherited nobility, disempowered peasantry, caste, community and kin -- the many identities that make up the Indian identity at home and abroad</b>. The following are excerpts from a conversation between Kanchan Gupta and the celebrated writer that took place on a rain-drenched afternoon in Delhi --

Kanchan Gupta: I am sure it feels great to have your tenth book published. Sea of Poppies has made a big entry and been received with rave reviews. The British newspapers have lavished praise on the book, especially The Times. <b>And this is only the first of a trilogy...</b>

Amitav Ghosh: A trilogy, yes...

KG: So, how do you plan to carry forward the story of Sea of Poppies?

AG: You know, I think my approach to it is going to be like driving a car at night. You can't see very far ahead of what you can see in your headlight. You keep driving slowly down the road so someday you will get there. I don't think that one can have a sense of what it is going to be like at the end of it. The interest and pleasure of it will really lie in the writing.

KG: But surely there's a big picture... there could be various routes to reaching the final destination. Even if you are driving at night you do know where you want to go...

AG: Yes, there are various routes, various options. But you know, two or three years down the line I may decide to take a different route... It's impossible to talk about something that's not written yet.

KG: In a recent article you have mentioned how one of your ancestors travelled from East Bengal to Chapra and although there's no conclusive evidence, most probably he was involved in the opium trade... Is that what triggered your interest or is it that you wanted to build a story up to 1857 since it is very much there in our conscience now?

AG: No, it's nothing like that. You know my interest really began while I was writing the Glass Palace. <b>I became very interested in the whole business of indentured workers. The process of indenture and how it happened.</b>

It's a curious thing about indenture... <b>the children of the indentured workers, I mean the great, great grand children, you know, there are some very great writers among them... VS Naipaul, Shiva Naipaul... some of our greatest contemporary writers... and they have given us a very vivid picture of what it was for the descendents of these people to grow up wherever they happened to be.</b>

<b>But from our end, from the Indian end, we really never had any sense of what happened</b>. How those processes came into being, how the indentured labourers left, what was the mechanism by which they left. <b>And for me this had a very personal connection simply because of my family having lived in the Bhojpur region for a long time.</b>

I wanted to write about the early years, when indenture first started, which is actually in the 1830s. Once I started looking into it and researching it, it became pretty inescapable because, <b>I mean, it's a strange thing that we have so completely forgotten it now, but this was the biggest opium-producing region the world has ever known.</b>

<b>KG: Michael Binyon, in his review of Sea of Poppies in The Times, begins his article with a very telling line, "The British version of history glosses over the time when this country was the world's biggest drug pusher." That was 200 years ago...

AG: Not even 200 years, until the 1920s it was the biggest drug pusher in the world.</b>

KG: And now you have Afghanistan growing the poppies and feeding Europe's hunger for heroin!

AG: You know, we can take no pleasure in that, this is one of those stories. <b>The whole business of drugs is quite an incredibly grim and hideous thing. I mean, I don't think it's a pleasurable irony in that sense. You don't want this scourge inflicted upon any nation. It's good to remind ourselves of this history. You know, really it was these drugs grown in India that brought about the downfall of China.</b>

KG: Some Indian authors have written about indentured labour, or mentioned it in their novels. Sunil Gangopadhyay...

AG: Aachchha? I didn't know about this...

KG: <b>Why did you choose poppy cultivation and the opium trade? It could have been indigo</b>. After all, indigo cultivation and the entire process was equally dehumanising and fed imperial coffers, it was equally devastating.

AG: <b>Indigo and opium are not quite similar, you know. Indigo was a plantation crop, opium was not a plantation crop.</b> There was some idea of converting opium into a plantation crop. So, <b>we must resist the temptation of assimilating them, although they were similar in the sense of imposing a monoculture. But the mechanism was quite different.</b>

<b>These (poppy cultivators) were peasant farmer who basically were given advances to work on the land and it was through this mechanism of credit that things intensified.</b>

KG: How did you think up Deeti?

AG: You know, the difference between writing history and writing novels is that history scholars are there already while in novels sometimes you just have an idea or you have an image. All my novels have begun with certain images, certain pictorial or visual images. And that's how it happened with Deeti.

As much as Deeti sees Zachary (who steers Ibis, the ship carrying indentured labourers to Mauritius, in the book) while she is standing in the Ganga, I similarly had a sense of actually being able to see her. She became for me the centre of the book around whom the story unfolds or anchors itself.

It happens like that. You know, you can't plan a book the nuts and bolts way.

I knew Deeti would be an important character right from the start -- all my characters are important -- but I didn't really expect she would become the central figure the way she has. She did become for me, how shall I say, she became the mast...

KG: She carries the book forward, linking the various strands and layers or the story...

AG: That's right.

KG: And then you built the other characters keeping her in mind or they just happened?

AG: No, no. They are completely individual and separate characters.

KG: Kalua, the 'untouchable' bullock cart driver who rescues Deeti, for instance...

AG: Kalua, too. He is a completely individual and separate character. You know what happened with Kalua (laughs) was when <b>I went to the Mahatma Gandhi Institute in Mauritius -- which is a truly marvellous archive and they have preserved all the earliest papers of the indenture, including the immigration sli</b>ps - I looked through the papers carefully and I came upon one which had this name Kalua!

It's a strange thing, a lot has been written about these indentured labourers and immigration certificates that they took, but I discovered something which I have never seen anyone comment upon. I will tell you what it is.

See the immigration slips are like this (draws a rectangle in the air) and they have a few printed lines for name, age, caste, appearance, weight. Later they began attaching photographs but on the earlier ones there were no photographs.

All of this is written in English. <b>If you turn the thing over, in the corner it's written in Bangla, you know, little notations are written in Bangla.</b> And that was what really caught my attention. <b>The things that were noted on the back of the slips tell a peculiar history. Each of the notations ended with a Dafadar - for example, Ismail Dafadar, Rafiq Dafadar or Lallu Dafadar and so on</b>.

That's one thing you would see on the back of the slips. And also in Bangla you would see a version of the name of the indentured labourer. <b>So, clearly what happened is that these dafadars were the ones who recruited the indentured labourers and brought them to Kolkata. There he went to some gomusta or serishta, a Bengali babu, to whom he would hand over the slips and he would be told to bring his gang. The gomusta or serishta would ask for the names of those seeking indenture, scribble them on the back of the slips and then put down the dafadar's name who would be paid per head. This would be the initial notation.</b>

<b>The slips were then passed on to another gomusta or serishta, also a Bengali clerk, who would then translate the names into English. So, on the back of the slip in Bangla it is written 'Kalua', on the other side it is 'Colver'! When you see that piece of paper you already see such an enormous journey.</b>

KG: <b>In Trinidad I was told that the corruption of names took place when the indentured labourers got off their ships and English clerks entered their names in ledgers. So Basudev became Basdeo ...</b>

AG: This is the mythology. They had to have the migration certificates before they left. The corruption of names was done by Bengalis sitting in Kolkata! That was to me a real discovery.

KG: Why Mauritius and not Trinidad? After all, Trinidad symbolises everything about indentured labour.

AG: Well, the Trinidad indenture began much later. <b>Mauritius indenture is the first. In proportion of numbers, it's the biggest. Also, it is the only place in the world where the descendents of indentured labourers are a numerically preponderant group.</b>

So, in many ways the Mauritius indenture is the most interesting because it establishes the patterns for all the subsequent indentures. <b>Among the girmitya communities around the world, they look upon the Mauritians as the aristocrats!</b>

KG: We have forgotten that Mauritius was also a penal colony where people were despatched as punishment. People only refer to Andaman islands...

AG: Yes, and prisoners would be stripped and photographed. <b>In a way, the penal colony in Mauritius was the original Abu Ghraib. Photographing them naked was an assertion of control and served the purpose of humiliating the prisoners. It remains the metaphor of the imperial experience.</b>

KG: You have used words that we don't come across every day... a language that was spoken during the East India Company days by the sahibs. The reviewer in The Times could not comprehend most of the stuff. He has written, "But the clothes -- zerbaft brocade, shanbaff dhoti, alliballie kurta, jooties and nayansukh -- or the ranks and offices -- dasturi, sirdar, maharir, serishtas and burkundaz -- are frankly incomprehensible. And that is Ghosh's trick: We clutch at what we can, but swaths of narrative wash over us, just as they did over those caught up in a colonial history they could neither control nor understand."

AG: It's all about assimilation of words. I have used words from the Oxford English Dictionary. <b>Today we hear that English is more absorptive and assimilative, that it has become global. But in the 19th century the role played by Asian languages in English was much, much greater than today. In the 20th century what happened, without being stated, is a purification of English where Asian words were dropped or treated as marginal to English language.</b>  <i>{Decolonization of English started in 1900s just as assimilation started with the arrival of Sir Thomas Roe in 1600s! Thats why I say the study of humanities is a strategic necessity for it gives precursor or indicators of trends!}</i>

When you read this book, you will find many words that have crept in so completely that they are not even recognised to be foreign. <b>But there's a category of words that even though they are English, appear in the guise of something alien.</b> If they go and look at the Oxford English Dictionary and find these words there, what is The Times going to say? <b>Why are these words any more foreign to English than the other words they are accustomed to? </b> <i>{Because the misson of England has changed. So its suitable for Times to refuse to understand these words which were earlier acquired as part of the colonization project}</i>

We are taught there's a standard English and these are the words that can be used. So, if it's a gun, you can't call it a bandook, although it is in the Oxford English Dictionary. Take for instance balti. If you look up the Oxford English Dictionary, balti is defined as north Indian style of cooking. But actually balti is a Portuguese word which was introduced to Indian languages by the laskars, it meant a ship's bucket. Which Indian will believe balti is not an Indian word?

<b>Languages, for me, are like water, they flow into each other and cannot be distinguished from one another.</b>

KG: You deserve to be complimented for the effortless ease with which you introduce entire phrases and sentences in Bangla and then continue in English. Do you do this because you just take it for granted that the readers will get the hang of it, even if they do not understand Bangla?

AG: Look, when we were kids, we were reading books in English, books which had things like 'potted meat'. I had no idea what potted meat meant, but that didn't stop me from reading the book! You can't expect to understand every word of a book, and why should you? In any book that you are reading there will be things that will elude you, that are going to be outside your comprehensive understanding.

KG: It was a pleasure speaking to you.

AG: We had a very interesting conversation.

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I plan to read this book to learn more about that phase of Indian history.

Khoon Pasina (1977)

Ram alias Tiger is the local criminal don in his part of the town where he lives with his mother. His mother wants him to marry and settle down, and give up his criminal activities. Ram meets with Rekha and both are attracted to each other, and soon get married. Rekha is appalled at the way Ram leads his life, with everyone around petrified of him. She asks Ram to give up his criminal activities, and get a job. Ram agrees, but the question is will he keep to his promise or will he just pretend to be honest in front of Rekha. And on the other hand is Shera, a dacait with a good heart. Both Ram and Shera are rivals. When Shera hears of Ram attemtping to go straight, he decides to move in on Ram's territory, with results that will change their lives forever. Written by rAjOo (gunwanti@hotmail.com)

At the time of Partition, two boyhood friends Aslam (a Muslim) and Shiva (a Hindu) are taught by their fathers to abhor lies and injustice and fight for the communal good. Their fathers, Rahim and Ram, stand up to gangster boss Zalim Singh who has them murdered by stirring up religious hatred. The boys are separated in the chaos. Aslam is presumed dead and Shiva is brought up by Aslam's mother. Shiva becomes "Tiger" a vigilante who battles villains and the oppressors of the poor. Aslam becomes "Shera" a respected and feared figure living on the fringes of society, earning his living protecting merchants from thieves. He uses his wealth to help the poor but cannot get over the loss of his boyhood friend. When Tiger is (falsely) accused of killing a poor farmer, Shera sets out to track him down and confront him, not knowing that the man he seeks to kill is none other than his long lost friend... Written by van Goethem

Is Bobby Jindal -- Who May Be On McCain's Veep Shortlist -- An Exorcist?
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->As others noted during his 2003 and 2007 gubernatorial campaigns (see update), in an essay Jindal wrote in 1994 for the New Oxford Review, a serious right-wing Catholic journal, Jindal narrated a bizarre story of a personal encounter with a demon, in which he participated in an exorcism with a group of college friends. And not only did they cast out the supernatural spirit that had possessed his friend, Jindal wrote that he believes that their ritual may well have cured her cancer.<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
Jindal - exorcism is just tip, this practice is more common in West than it's portrayed. It's something your local friendly missionary won't tell you while he passes judgment your beliefs.

Hi, this possibly qualifies as the unlikeliest of all possible conversions - but I have recently become fascinated by the entire world of Indian culture, religion and music. (By recently I mean probably over the last 18 months or so). Indeed the more I learn, the more fascinated and engrossed I become.

I was originally drawn into the subject by a guy I met on the street who was a practitioner of the Hare Krishna faith - who was handing out some leaflets. The craziest thing was these 'leaflets' had nothing on them except some incredibly colourful and beautiful artwork. He didn't ask me for anything and all he said was that he hoped I would have a nice day.

Well anyway, maybe it was psychology - but it worked. I became intrigued. Not so much about the Hare Krishna religion - but about what the image was about and why this small incident seemed so significant.

From then on I found out more about the image - and this led me to reading more about Indian art - and also as a result of this, about Indian Hindu gods - and from there I moved on to Indian reverential music - popular dance, literature and so on - and - well, I guess the story is a pretty familiar one to many of you from there on.

The only slight departure is that I seem to have come to this a little late in my life (I'm 41), at a time when I'm certain I really should probably be concerning myself with more serious matters.

At this stage however I am at a point where I am very much interested in finding out more about the Hindu religion.

The difficulty is that I have done enough reading about it - and I want if I can to take it to the next level and physically talk to and meet members of the Hindu faith.

Right now I feel very lost and alone - and am drifting without direction, because I have literally no one I can speak to about my interest. I know no-one who knows anything about Hinduism - and I am concerned that right now all of this is something that exists purely in my head.

I would very much like to change this if I can and meet and speak with other members of the Hindu religion.

I am not saying that I am quite ready yet to fully convert to Hinduism - but I do feel that I am at least ready to begin to attempt to move in that direction - providing I can have appropriate support and guidance.

I am also interested in meeting and speaking with other novices, or people who have recently converted to the Hindu religion - but again I have no idea where to start?

I feel one can only go so far in a spiritual journey by reading books and posting messages on forums such as these - and that it is important that such and interest should have some kind of physical manifestation, preferably in the form of being able to meet with and speak to other similarly interested people.

Can anyone here please help?

If it is of any help to know this, I live in Newcastle upon Tyne in the North East of England in the UK.