Meanwhile Back Home...

Kashmir does not rest. The media party has ended, sure. But nothing has really changed since last summer's horror.

Tehelka is possibly the only popular publication that continues to show real interest in Kashmir, after all the hurly burly was done.

I recommend subscribing to tehelka.com's Kashmir Uncut YouTube channel, for some real reporting, ugly truths and hopefully, eye-openers. Special series directed by Pragya Tiwari and team.

Note: Most vids are- well, apart from worth watching - saddening, disturbing or plain infuriating. Keep that in mind before you start.

Happy Halloween, Ms Roy - XOXO

From Hari Kunzru's blog, direct C&P here:
[This message from Arundhati Roy arrived in my inbox this morning. The allegation that the news media is colluding with those orchestrating the violence is extremely serious and requires a response.]

SOMETHING FOR THE MEDIA TO THINK ABOUT

 A mob of about a hundred people arrived at my house at 11 this morning (Sunday October 31^st 2010.) They broke through the gate and vandalized property. They shouted slogans against me for my views on Kashmir, and threatened to teach me a lesson. The OB Vans of NDTV, Times Now and News 24 were already in place ostensibly to cover the event live.  TV reports say that the mob consisted largely of members of the BJP’s Mahila Morcha (Women’s wing). After they left, the police advised us to let them know if in future we saw any OB vans hanging around the neighborhood because they said that was an indication that a mob was on its way. In June this year, after a false report in the papers by Press Trust of India (PTI) two men on motorcycles tried to stone the windows of my home. They too were accompanied by TV cameramen.

What is the nature of the agreement between these sections of the media and mobs and criminals in search of spectacle? Does the media which positions itself at the ‘scene’ in advance have a guarantee that the attacks and demonstrations will be non-violent? What happens if there is criminal trespass (as there was today) or even something worse? Does the media then become accessory to the crime? This question is important, given that some TV channels and newspapers are in the process of brazenly inciting mob anger against me. In the race for sensationalism the line between reporting news and manufacturing news is becoming blurred. So what if a few people have to be sacrificed at the altar of TRP ratings? The Government has indicated that it does not intend to go ahead with the charges of sedition against me and the other speakers at a recent seminar on Azadi for Kashmir. So the task of punishing me for my views seems to have been taken on by right wing storm troopers. The Bajrang Dal and the RSS have openly announced that they are going to “fix” me with all the means at their disposal including filing cases against me all over the country. The whole country has seen what they are capable of doing, the extent to which they are capable of going. So, while the Government is showing a degree of maturity, are sections of the media and the infrastructure of democracy being rented out to those who believe in mob justice? I can understand that the BJP's Mahila Morcha is using me to distract attention the from the senior RSS activist Indresh Kumar who has recently been named in the CBI charge-sheet for the bomb blast in Ajmer Sharif in which several people were killed and many injured. But why are sections of the mainstream media doing the same? Is a writer with unpopular views more dangerous than a suspect in a bomb blast? Or is it a question of ideological alignment?

Arundhati  Roy

October 31^st 2010

The Hate Brigade

"Don't you just love it when 'Anonymous' comes into your life and pees in a corner of the room?"
This is something I happened to ask Good Gawde after a nonsense person left a rude comment on one of his posts. What is up with that? It was a charming post, I thought personally. Amusing, sarky, serious and informative in the right proportions. *applause*

Once upon a time I posted a harmless home video of the tragicomic reaction of my family minutes after Pak's 'Misbah 5 Runs' loss to India at the first T20 World Cup, on YouTube. Shockingly got lots of hits and even more shockingly started a war of words (and not very kind words) on the India-Pakistan-Kashmir situation. I tried replying reasonably for a longish time and deleted most of the obscene stuff coming in. So many kind suggestions from Indians for me and all bloody Kashmiris to go 'back' to Pakistan (obviously on foot, and not in the sense that Kashmir should go to Pakistan), Pakistani friends effing and $%#%#-ing Indian counterparts in equal measure, religious extemporising, Islam-Terror-Jihad allusions etc. Lots and lots of pleasant stuff like that. Then, wonder of wonders, one day I found the 'Disable Comments' option and life was so much simpler after!

I can understand not liking something someone has written or an opinion expressed, but wherefore the rudeness and getting personal and juvenile arguments that follow? Take any YouTube video and chances are you'll spot some loser saying something really nasty in the comments. Here's what amazes me: What a shit load of time people must have to post comments on random sites and pick fights with strangers who then also get involved with their hearts and souls. Entertaining actually if it wasn't so annoying.
I hate rude people. Just saying.

Agony Aunt counsels BJP

Agony Aunt counsels BJP

Great link from noiseofindia.com.
Suggest you subscribe to them.

They don't update too often; their excuse: "Angelina Jolie has pledged to adopt a child everytime we update this site. So we update sparingly."

Mumbai: 26/11

Arundhati Roy with another gripping read: http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/12/mumbai-arundhati-roy. (Thanks for the link, Sir Fahad.)
Ms Roy mentions something that hit me and my folks here in Kashmir during the long hours we followed the TV broadcasts. Here's an excerpt:
"Over three days and three nights we watched in disbelief as a small group of very young men armed with guns and gadgets exposed the powerlessness of the police, the elite National Security Guard and the marine commandos of this supposedly mighty, nuclear-powered nation. While they did this they indiscriminately massacred unarmed people, in railway stations, hospitals and luxury hotels, unmindful of their class, caste, religion or nationality. (Part of the helplessness of the security forces had to do with having to worry about hostages. In other situations, in Kashmir for example, their tactics are not so sensitive. Whole buildings are blown up. Human shields are used. The U.S and Israeli armies don't hesitate to send cruise missiles into buildings and drop daisy cutters on wedding parties in Palestine, Iraq and Afghanistan.) But this was different. And it was on TV."

Exactly. This sort of an 'encounter' would be over in half a day here in Kashmir. Hostages/civilians be damned. Blow up the damn block if you must. But it's easier to just set the building on fire, if you ask me. Okay, let's do that.
Then. Ms Roy makes a mention of one Arnab Goswami, which was a pleasant surprise in a bitter sort of way. This man has infuriated me from the time he's been given that front-runner role for TIMES NOW. (Blehh.) Frothing and foaming at the mouth any time there's a big, dramatic news incident. Check him out in any of TIMES NOW's news broadcasts of a terror attack or a kid stuck in a well, or when interviewing a subject he doesn't like. I've seen him go into scary, straining falsettos of diatribe when he's primed for it. And spouting personal opinion instead of reporting objectively. Well done, Goswami. Where did you learn journalism?

Gloom from Gujarat. Blogs about. Comments on. India today.

Very loud silence after the Gujarat revelations. Surprise, surprise, looks like nothing is going to happen.

I have been reading various random blogs on the Tehelka expose and its aftermath and the vehemence and ugliness of the comments posted, the virulent support for Modi (especially from Gujarati readers), the very disturbing anti-Islam tone of a lot of comments left me not a little perturbed. Because unfortunately, this is what a lot of young Indians are thinking. That Islam is a religion of hate and terror and that Muslims deserve anything that hits back at them.
Apart from a few comforting voices that actually expressed regret over the gross subversion of law, the loss of lives and the select targetting of Muslims during the riots, an overwhelming majority of comments I came across put forward the viewpoint that Modi is a hero, that what happened in 2002 is actually what the people wanted, that the Tehelka sting instead of knocking Modi out of the elections might just bring the BJP back into power, that if Muslims don't like it they can lump it, and the ever famous proclamation: 'they' [Muslims] can go (back) to Pakistan.

One gets a very negative feel from assessing recent blog commentaries and this casts quite a gloomy pall over India's Gen Now and Next and its thinking. I was really hoping that this lot here on would have somehow gotten over the 'Hate Pakistan' (why, no one knows, just go for it), the "Muslims, get outta here" (yes, even now) attitude, which was pretty pervasive throughout India's post-Independence era and continued alongside the various border skirmishes with Pakistan. Instead of these 2 views subsiding, there is now the additional widespread nonsense post-9/11 opinion that Islam sucks, all Muslims are out to kill everyone else, and that Osama is a great hero for Islam and Muslims world over [now, really. He's nice-looking and bloody intelligent maybe, but no single man has ever managed to tarnish the image of Islam like this dude and his guerrilla super-commando followers all over the world. Or at least to have his name associated/credited with this new easy-to-attack image of Islam. Whatever. Media games, political conspiracy, whole different blog required about this issue] .

In my own friend circle, all voices are the voice of reason. We have long, fruitless discussions about what has just transpired, we share the exact same feelings on the twisted use of religion by man and communal division by politicians for their own ends. We say silly and comforting things like "Oh, come on, obviously I don't judge all Hindus based on what happened in Gujarat" or "Oh, come on, obviously because a handful of people are killing mindlessly and saying they're doing it for Islam, doesn't mean they're right and we label Islam as a religion of terror." Yadda yadda yadda. Much as these coffee table outpourings and shaking of heads and meeting of minds is desirable, my fear is that religious tolerance and understanding is rapidly waning. And this is scary because young people today are probably the most aware and well-educated generation that India ever has seen.
So, are the comments on blogs an accurate yardstick to judge contemporary opinion with? I hope not. That would be really depressing.

There is but one ray of hope. That more often than not, when a person disagrees with a blog or a writer's opinion, he/she is more likely to leave a comment, dissing the writer and/or the blog, leaving nasty remarks , getting personal, saying really offensive things related or unrelated to the topic of the blog. And a corollary to that, if a reader agrees with the content, he/she may nod and move on and not really leave a comment or add his/her two bits to the page. I know I do this, especially when I'm on random blogs. If the blogger is someone I know or have communicated with earlier, I'll probably leave a line or two. Or if the post really moves me. But more often than not, unless I disagree with the content and take offense to it, I just read and move on.

I hope this is why I see more unhealthy opinions than sane, level-headed, educated and articulate commentary.

The Tehelka Stink

Which is what last week's Tehelka/Aaj Tak/Headlines Today 'sting' dredged up. An almighty stink but not much more.
So we were witness once again to grainy videos and casual blood-curdling statements made by the perpetrators in Gujarat 2002, who were quite clearly operating freely and at will with the blessings of the State Government, a disturbingly large majority of the police and even members of India's esteemed, independent and proud legal system.
Now, honestly, nothing that has come up in these videos is new or shocking. I mean, we all know exactly what happened back in 2002. The facts were just never caught on tape nor was there any real evidence damning the offenders.
The media at that point completely failed to report the truth of what was happening in Gujarat. [I was very much in India at the time, I had full access to TV but I'll be damned if ANY channel, any ONE channel pointed out the 'genocide/mass murder/ethnic cleansing' etc that is now being made a very big deal of.] Are we expected to believe that no one in the media covering the ugliness at that time saw fit to bring to light the atrocities that were obviously and openly being committed? Whatever. 'If it's not going to go down well with the overwhelming majority, we can't show it.' I have seen half-baked, sensationalised, one-sided presentation of stories by the glorious media too often to start frothing at the mouth over this issue again.
Anywhoo. Pat on the back to Tejpal and Ashish Khetan for at least ruffling some dirty feathers.

Now, here's the thing.
What I find most disturbing about the sting in today's context is the deplorable behaviour of politicians in response to it.
Far more infuriating and unbelievable than Babu Bajrangi's proud recollection of the murders he committed, or Suresh Richard's comments on police killings or all the other sordid facts that came out of this expose [and boy, are there many] was the immediate onslaught of miffed BJP leaders and spokespersons on various news channels, distraught at the underhanded techniques being used by the slimy Congress party and the UPA alliance. Tsk tsk. Bechaara BJP. Being made a tool in the hands of the opposition, that too just before the elections! Can't everyone see that the issue is not the gross human violations that had take place in 2002? Obviously the only relevant point is that the BJP is but a poor sacrificial lamb placed in front of the power-hungry, opportunistic Congress? That, forget what happened, the point is that NOW this is seriously going to affect the outcome of the elections. (Possibly, but not probably. I myself don't think it's going to do any good.)
One after the other viewers were privy to disgruntled, peeved BJPians who evaded any real response to the questions that this expose threw up and were only concerned with pointing fingers at the timing of this revelation, the fact that Tehelka was the Congress party's PI agency and that excuse me, but why did Aaj Tak and Headlines Today give a disclaimer at the beginning of their broadcast? This last query was screeched in a exceedingly accusatory and victorious tone by some BJP spokesperson, leaving the melodramatic presenters of the show stumped for a few moments. They soon regained their composure when they realised this was possibly the worst comeback of all time on live television, that it was all fart and no shit from said BJPee-Pee [BJP-Personality], and went on to explain to him what the disclaimer actually said. There was a lot of caterwauling and stuffed-shirt huffiness on the part of truly despicable representatives of the party, and more than anything else, this non-apologetic attitude and blatant dismissal of the seriousness of the issue is what sickened me.
Obviously the opposition [primarily the Congress party] themselves didn't hold back from jumping in and slinging some mud, aimed specifically in BJP's direction. But again, it came across as political posturing and insipid and too bloody little and too late.
I HATE POLITICIANS. They truly are a smorgasboard of all things despicable and every time we think things can't possible get any more filthier than they are already, we see a new low in sordidness.

Some choice excerpts from various people the night this news broke (sic). Also 'sick', now that I think about it.

An irate BJP leader, when asked on live TV for a response to one of the open admissions [bragging] of mass Muslim murders committed during the riots, screamed: "So? What about the Hindus that were murdered?" Err. Yes, good point. Since you put it that way, it all seems okay.

BJPeePee v Congressor argument in studio:

BJPeePee: Why is the Congress bringing this up now, blah blah blah, just before the elections, blah blah blah?
Congressor: This was a Holocaust committed by the ruling BJP! *vent*fume*looks shocked*
News channel host: Erm, the Holocaust is a very specific term used to refer to the deliberate extermination of millions of Jews by Hitler during WWII.
Congressor: *looks nonplussed* I mean, ethnic cleansing. [Ooh, good one!] Yes, the Muslims in Gujarat were systematically targeted for killing etc etc, blah blah...
News Channel Chump: These are strong terms you are using! [*looks suitably and dramatically impressed*]. But what about the atrocities against the Sikhs in '84? Wouldn't that be ethnic cleansing under the then ruling Congress party? [What??!!! Viewers are reeling at the non-sequitir and unnecessary needling by said channel chump, but still....]
BJPeePee: *looking vindicated and relieved at the same time* Oh, yes! Oh, ha ha! Oh, yes, what about that, hmmm?
Congressor: *lamely* I have nothing to say on that matter. *Mutter*mumble*
BJPeePee: *not wanting to lose the upper hand* (screaming suddenly) And what about the Hindus that died, hmmm!!!!? What about the Godhra massacre?!!!
News Chump: Yes, but is the BJP not going to come out and respond to these terrible charges, these clear facts that have just come to light.....
BJPeePee: Aha! And why is it only now coming to light? These cunning UPA politicians......
And so on and so forth ad nauseum.

PS: A week later and this Sensational Breaking News is no longer featuring in the top stories section. Aishwarya's first Karva Chauth at the Bachchan's rooftop got live coverage though.
PPS: Still no apologies, condemnations, acceptance of wrongdoing, official action or resignation from the BJP or the state government in Gujarat.
PPPS: And frankly, no hope of anything happening in the near future either.

This is India, folks. We get used to living with stinks all the time.


Full story from tehelka's website.
Also, interesting [and disturbing] related read, "Compassion Doesn't Scale", from the India Uncut Blog.

Kashmir (Not the Led Zep version); And 'A+' to BBC.

اگر فردوس بر روی زمین است
همین است و همین است و همین است

Agar firdaus bar roo-e zameen ast,
Hameen ast-o hameen ast-o hameen ast.

If there is paradise on face of the earth,
It is this, it is this, it is this.
-Amir Khusro

I thought Shah Jahan was moved to poetic outburst on taking in the beauty of Kashmir when he said this, but like all romantic notions this seems to be an exaggeration, a fallacy and not a little bit of an anticlimax. See this post [on a blog called AMAR AKBAR ANTHONY] for a fuller explanation. How interesting.

Anyway.

In the beginning of October, BBC online posted a great Special Report on Kashmir. There are several related links and articles here, starting from a very factual Background [roots of the crises, the forgotten plebiscite, the LOC etc], Voices from Kashmir, Key Questions Answered, even a page on Possible Solutions and Pitfalls.
It's kind of your summarised overview of the problem. Read and understand, my friendships. It's a non-propaganda-angle report. Not the Indian, Paki or Chinese version. Facts as is.

There are many reasons BBC World is my preferred news source.
Objectivity in news stories is the primary one.
Newsreaders and presenters don't have that annoying nasal twang from umreeka. [This is very important.]
Also, an overwhelmingly large number of these respectful presenters have no notion of frivolous Botox-usage. They exhibit more than one facial expression and it's usually the right one for the story.
You can often find obscure news pieces here, special reports, great documentaries, some really kick-ass shows like Hard Talk and The World Debate, even their travel and entertainment segments are top-notch. Oooh, which reminds me, how nice is Top Gear?
I could go on and on but here is where I stop.

Hyderabad Horror, about

I have nothing new to say. God rest the souls of the innocents who died again.
Just wanted to drop in a link here to a nice article I found while reading up on the blasts. This article was written after the Mecca Masjid blasts back in May.
If only, Mr Bobby Ramakanant.

Within minutes of the incidents, the internet was seething with anti-Islamic diatribe, spurred on by a helpful media with their easy use of incorrect-but-easy-on-the-tongue contemporary slang: Islamic terrorism [what???], jehadi/Islamist groups, Muslim terrorists etc ad nauseum.

It pains one. That's all.

Is the Left right?

I don't know.
As things stand with the nuke-deal impasse, I obviously don't know the merits of the case to swing either way.
All I know is:
-Do I like anything to do with nuclear power? NO. Deep inside of me, I still think it's a horror that shouldn't have been discovered in the first place. Don't give me some rot about it being the source of all energy in the future, please. What's wrong with hydel- or solar-power and windmills? Even the aesthetics are better. Why not spend billion and billions of dollars, Euros, pounds, rupees or whatever-have-you to work in this direction? Beats me.

-Do I like the US Govt and its policies? N-O. Pronounced "Nohhhhhhhh!!!!!!" And this is where I am all for the Left approach. Don't get into bed with the US, because the next morning you'll find she'll have disappeared and left no loose change on the dressing table for your services.
I know, crass film scenario is jarring but that's what I think of when any deal with America is in the offing. Getting screwed.

[PS: While posting, I had to choose where I wanted the image: Left, right or center? Hyaahahahaa.]