Category Archives: Anything under the sun

10.26.11
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The greatest Heist in Indian History..Part 2: The real story of the Islamic rule that we were never told

Read Part 1 here

Imagine a country called X, a country with a continuous lineage of 5000 years. And it was filthy rich. In fact it was richer than the rest of the world, at that time, put together. And everyone knew that. For the ancient non X, earth dwellers who were not cavemen, X was not a country but an entire freakin continent. And their papyrus scrolls showed it that way.


Rest of Asia, You are not worthy to be on our precious papyrus

Anyways, as what happens to a rich house in a poor locality, all the have-nots in the world, realizing how much wealth was there for the taking, converged onto X. They came in droves, time after time,  to help themselves to the unlimited booty on offer. And after a while (seventeen times), someone just said ‘screw it, let’s settle down in India once and for all’. And in the process they claimed X theirs, by birth.

It was as if a huge guy walked into a house, sat on its sofa, took out a cigar, and said the house belongs to not only him, but his ancestors as well. Without even as much as looking at the original inhabitants. What would or could the poor souls do?

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09.12.11
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The greatest Heist in Indian history..How Indian History was changed and we didn’t even notice. Part 1:The lost eon 6th Century B.C to 1174 A.D

Remember those long-staying, TV-remote hogging, serial TV-serial watching distant relatives who used to arrive unannounced when you were a kid. And then stopped you from watching cricket in favour of their crappy TV serial. What were your feelings towards them? Whatever it was, it did not resemble love and affection.  Now replace those crummy, intractable relatives of yore with your school subject of History or Social Sciences. Weren’t your feelings towards History kinda similar? I stake all the contents of  my nearly empty wallet, that at least for the most of you, it was.

However, There is one thing that tops the 'I hate' list by a distance

History for most of us, was always a major impediment, an obstacle, an immovable object opposing our unstoppable drive towards knowledge ( Read Maths and Science). Useless questions like  ‘how does Babar’s fun and frolic in 1476 affect my future’ were raised, without an iota of  hope for a definite answer. What we used to get was a growl or a scowl or perhaps both. What we could only do was utter the choicest expletives under our breath, memorize those never ending dates and practice our artistic talents on the unfortunate photographs of the great souls printed in our textbooks.

How will this dead dude help me get ahead in my life?

In our academic pecking order, Maths and Science always figured at the top,  subjects that we had to master. History mostly figured somewhere at the bottom of this list, lower than drawing, craft, value education and even Aayo Naga perhaps. Has our monumental indifference towards History enabled our educationists and academicians to disfigure, hell mutilate..our own history and actually get away with it?

BlogJunta - An ode to the Blogosphere

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08.19.11
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To the janata that thinks Anna hazare is wrong and the Jan Lok Pal is a bad idea, Please read my response

When Anna Hazare walked towards the Ramlila Maidan, he knew he had knowingly/unknowingly sparked off one of India’s biggest movements against anything. This fight however, is against the gravest of ills afflicting the country today, Corruption.  Like a pandemic virus, corruption has infected every facet of Indian life, from the water we drink, the roads that we travel on and even to the ubiquitous mobile phone. It was but a matter of time before the tolerance limit of the common man was breached and the revolution to begin.  However, every revolution has its detractors and naysayers and this one is no different.

So in an attempt to discredit this renaissance, here are some of the gems gifted to us by the Government and some of my fellow countrymen/women.

According to some of them the Jan Lok Pal, as Anna Hazare proposes, will become a

The other awesome theory by the party in power was

The second theory is so preposterous that even the thought of discussing it is blasphemous.  However, there are some opinions which make the first theory look like a realistic possibility. I am just taking some of the points raised by a blogger who I also believe is a member of the print media.

This gentleman says, Anna Hazare is wrong and Lok Pal is a bad idea. He has raised a few red flags in the Jan Lok Pal bill. I will try to rebut all his arguments and try pointing out, why he may not be correct. (The original blog is here:  FAQ: Why Anna Hazare is wrong and Lok Pal a bad idea). Continue reading →

08.15.11
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A Parallel Universe inside a Mumbai Local Train

Mumbai is the city of dreams, it’s India’s proverbial El Dorado. This is where millions of people  land from the smallest of corners of the country searching for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. Few do find it and many end up disillusioned. Some of them make it really big, some are happy to  stay contented, and some are reduced to rundown shanties, always craving for more. But in this complicated matrix of the rich and the poor, the haves and the have-nots, there is a common thread that binds them all. It is ingrained in the fate of every Mumbaikar, a thing none can escape from. It is something on which Mumbai’s very existence as a financial powerhouse rests. It is Mumbai’s very lifeline,The LOCAL TRAIN.

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