Category: English

August 18, 2016 /

Malignant Narcissists are paranoid and don’t trust anyone, apart from one or two cronies who are like extensions of themselves. And although they have an unquestioning belief in their own perfection, they constantly need another, like these cronies, to tell them so, to give them ceaseless attention and to feed their ego.
One of the world’s most infamous Malignant Narcissist Hitler had two cronies he stayed loyal to for life, Goebbels and Goering.
Modi has Amit Shah and Adani who he seems to be deeply loyal and committed to.
I hardly have to remind anyone of Modi’s obsession with selfies, an obvious sign of negative narcissism but since becoming Prime Minister, the everyday, simple-living, high-thinking chief minister of Gujarat has transmogrified into a veritable peacock.

August 15, 2016 /

Uniformed nationalism is not only limited to the idea of the nation within the territorial boundary but it transcends to all other nations where Indian origin persons are located. Such nationalism limits the possibilities for people to be global citizens whose humanism supersedes their insular nationalism.

August 13, 2016 /

Andrew Lyndem, 25, is nocturnal and starts his day at 3 pm ending it at the witching hour. Ratul Hajong, 24, is awake before him but in circulation around the same time. Together, they are Cryptographik Street Poets (CSP) a rap act in Shillong, Meghalaya. Touched by the civil rights/black power movements in intangible ways, their sigil is the raised fist of solidarity and revolution, the Black Panther Party logo. Although they live in separate homes with their parents, they are in constant society with each other.

August 13, 2016 /

River of flesh and other stories: the Prostituted Woman in Indian Short Fiction is a book that begins with an aim of prescribing an Indian prostitute’s problems through pity. The choice of the title, which is a title of one of the stories in the book, as a representation of the collection of stories, relegates the whole collection to a simplified, moralistic view. It is telling of the editor’s and publisher’s condescending attitude towards prostitutes. By appealing to pity and sensationalization, it reveals the patronising disregard they have towards the complex varieties of voices from prostitutes.
And yet the stories on the other hand portray the complexities of a prostitute’s life and experiences very effectively…

August 12, 2016 /

When Narendra Modi described Gau Rakshak vigilantes as anti-socials at a town hall-type gathering at the Indira Gandhi Stadium Complex in New Delhi, centrism-minded Indians breathed a sigh of relief. He followed that up with an overture to Kashmiris, this time at a rally in Madhya Pradesh. Finally, the silence, that silence, had been broken. What they were referring to was the Prime Minister’s insistence on maintaining a mauna vrat in the midst of a series of atrocities against ethnic minorities that had unfolded across the length and breadth of the country.

August 11, 2016 /

In the present day world-order and given the historical perspective, can Independent Kashmir [IK] exist? Moreover, regarding the small area and population of the region, will it be practical? Given the poor educational status, the IK could be a breeding ground for ‘Islamic Jihadist’. And the much talked about issues are: security, land locked region, economic dependency and many more which are often raised. The most obvious question to be followed should be: Is an Independent Kashmir practical and a viable solution? Let’s examine it through various dimensions:

August 10, 2016 /

So who’s a chinky anyway? Personally I think Saif Ali Khan is very chinky. Did he get that from his Afghani (fairly chinky people) forefathers or from his Bengali mother? And yes, Bengalis are quite chinky. Especially those from the East, which is why the Bengalis won’t discriminate against you based on your facial features. They will do it because of religion, language, culture but never on what sort of face you have. That’s just crude! What would Bollywood be today without the chinky RD Burman and his even more chinky father, SD Burman? What about the half-Burmese chinky, Helen ‘’Golden Girl’’ Richardson? This is a country of diversity we are told but to watch the nonsense of Bollywood today one would think otherwise.

August 9, 2016 /

We’re far from liberal as a group, except on issues where being liberal helps our survival. Like many other immigrant groups, we’re opportunists and political chameleons. Isn’t it time to dispassionately ask what the term ‘model minority’ should really mean, and whether we Indian-Americans deserve that label?

August 8, 2016 /

This dead body is Raju Mistry’s corpse was the bewildering claim by the Police, which was then quickly corrected, to the right Dalit, Kamal Valmiki. The plan backfired and Police were now asked to produce Raju Mistry from my depths. All 15 policemen of my outpost have been suspended. One has been accused of murder. A few are on the run. But what difference does it make? The fascists are in Government and they have the judiciary in their pocket. Indict with impunity but your caste clout will guarantee your acquittal. Raju Mistry will return but not empty-handed. He has thrived as an outlaw after his escape. He has heard about Kamal Valmiki’s murder. He has rounded up the fleeing policemen. Only gangsters can catch the police that the police can’t catch.

August 8, 2016 /

Having accustomed to lecturing the Dalit movements of all stripes to focus on ‘real’ issues like economic resources, the Hindu Left will now have to decide what to do with a mass mobilisation that demands land as much as dignified employment, two revolutionary demands, in the same breath.
Relatively well-off sections among the urban educated Dalits, who are used to the easy method of invoking the pain of others (manual scavenging and other degrading forms of obligatory work, caste atrocities, especially in the enclaves where being a Dalit is as much an advantage as a drawback, with their greedy and narrow dream of keeping away the other victims of Hindutva such as Muslims and Christians, and other opponents of Hindutva such as Leftists and Tribals, will now have to decide for themselves if they are ready to throw in their lot with fighting Gujarati Dalits and their leftist and Muslim supporters.

August 7, 2016 /

As a Christian, it has often been impressed on me that I need to be involved in evangelism. However, in spite of my sincere belief of the need for the same, i find for some reason I have been very reluctant. When I think of it, it is not because of a fear of some sort but rather a difficulty of a different kind.

August 6, 2016 /

Numbness doesn’t go away. It’s suffocating to hear the loud proclamations of news anchors on Indian TV channels, describing it as a victory for its ‘jawans’. I want to get rid of this suffocation. I ask a friend to meet me outside. We meet and proceed towards Jamia Masjid. People are slowly assembling at the square. It’s a mass of people. The mass palpitates with anger; a subdued anger of the sort a martyr’s death evokes. Slogans pierce the tense air.

August 6, 2016 /

Beyond the FACEBOOK shared nostalgic mist covered view of Shillong lies the reality of very Shillong kind of deprivation – unspoken and silent. Students of Christ Church’s Morning School, Mawlai Syllaikariah decide to hear the truth. This is a story burom-class of Shillong do not want to be told.

August 5, 2016 /

Nita Ambani becomes the first Indian woman member of International Olympic Committee, and social media is outraging already, questioning her credentials. That is so not fair. She has been involved in promoting multiple sports in the country, and deserves a seat at the IOC for all the right reasons.
If you don’t believe me, this compilation should help.

August 5, 2016 /

While village after village was being lost to the mighty Brahmaputra, officials in Delhi were more concerned with the man made flood in Gurugram – a result of just bad unplanned urbanization. Dirty sewage water reaching the affluent and the expatriates are definitely Prime Time news worthy unlike the flood in Assam which is seen as a part of life of the people languishing in tents and relief camps.

August 5, 2016 /

The internet has rewired civil society, propelling collective action into a radically new dimension. Democracy is now not only exercised at the ballot box, but lived and experienced online on a day-to-day basis. While this may have positive implications for political participation, it’s also causing problems for leaders. They have been elected through time-honoured democratic systems, but now find themselves vulnerable to the whim of the baying internet mob.

August 5, 2016 /

Bastar today is witness to the most cynical mockery of constitutional values and civil liberties. Under cover of a war to ‘save Bastar from Maoism,’ or ‘make Bastar safe for democracy’, the Constitution is in fact being trampled to ‘make Bastar safe for corporations’ and ‘purify Bastar for the RSS.’ Every day, every week, there are horrific atrocities being unleashed on Bastar’s people – and the incidents outlined in this report should be seen, not as isolated aberrations but as the tip of the iceberg. Raiot is extracting the chilling testimonies of persecuted Christians in Bastar from AIPF report BASTAR-WHERE THE CONSTITUTION STANDS SUSPENDED.

August 2, 2016 /

The Sanders campaign is itself proof that true progressivism is no longer a “fringe” politics. After all, its self-declared “democratic socialist” standard-bearer ran a very strong second in the Democratic primary – this on the back of over 13m votes and with next to no corporate backing. Progressive values are also getting more popular, particularly among the younger generation.

August 2, 2016 /

Our country does not lack in skilled people, it only lacks in respect for these millions of informally skilled people. Instead the crony capitalists who skim off public resources at will without providing sustainable development opportunities are the ones who command respect and that is why despite all the economic growth in recent years, poverty and hunger continue to dog most of the people.

August 1, 2016 /

Dear Mr. Mishra,
So I heard you beheaded a Dalit today and axed his wife to death. What a pity that all this is doing the rounds on social media, alternative media and on all international media except our own of course. Don’t worry Mr. Mishra, our media love you but they are compelled to run this story for fear of being labelled as anti-human, which they are but only when it comes to Dalits, mind. They’ll run the story as a token and claim that you did it in a fit of insanity and that you are quick to anger, not because of the casteist animosity that courses through the country’s veins…

July 31, 2016 /

While the real sangbaaz are busy heroically fighting one of the mightiest armies in the world and their local stooges, some “unknown elements”, allegedly J&K Police Sangbaaz Association in collaboration with IB Stonepelters League, have been busy putting up fake posters in some localities in Srinagar to bring disrepute to the sangbaaz by showing them as misogynistic etc.
We made a few additional posters to demonstrate the name of the game. Check ’em out.

July 31, 2016 /

The Devil came to your home KHADC greeted.
In the form of a UCIL Limited, illegitimate – in every sense of the word & sentiment.
It’s evident they came for what’s rightfully yours,
Khasi council allowed, never cared to ensure…
The ecological consequence, it’s ok, then?
For water pollution to ruin the lives of fishermen?
And they at it again, seeking an NOC.
Stop ’em dead in their feet before they proceed.

July 31, 2016 /

Talking about individuals, local visitors going to rural destinations travel in their beautiful and posh cars, loud music and cases of booze stuffed on the back of their vehicles, beautifully dressed up like supermodels and celebrities with huge and colorful sunglasses/shades, finishes a packet of chips and a sip from the bottle by throwing outside the car’s window and after sometime stops the car somewhere and pee on the road side. Intoxicated youths are breaking bottles all over the destination.

The Sixth Schedule of the Indian Constitution was enacted to protect the indigenous community from getting alienated in their own land. But the forces of alienation are present within the indigenous community and are getting further intensified. Sadly there is no protection from it; no right for the tiller; and no restriction on hoarding of land. What this will lead to is not hard to guess. Should not changes be deliberated? Only those who wish to hide the wretchedness of the poor for personal benefit will want status quo.

July 29, 2016 /

While walking the streets of Kashmir even on a usual day but especially in the month of Ramazan, you can’t help but juxtapose two stark Indian presences. One is that of the Indian soldiers patrolling or bunker bound – brandishing their guns, poised and ready. Second is the iconic face of the Indian panhandler – dusty, beseeching, and tired. The military a symbol of India’s physical and ruthless prowess while the panhandler, a manifestation of a deep-set, endemic poverty of its viscera. India’s poorest of the poor, the panhandlers manifest a specific kind, almost laudable type of professionalism, which the Indian military has failed at instituting and which should be the wont of any occupying force.

July 28, 2016 /

In his unpublished memoir, Pandit Rughonath Vaishnavi writes that it was clear that Kashmiris had been “relegated to the position of slaves” after India gained its independence. “Kashmiri freedom fighters were lifted during the darkness of the night and kicked into dark cells without knowing the grounds of their imprisonment.” Pt. Vaishnavi was himself jailed seven times for his steadfast commitment to the Kashmiri right of self-determination. Along with some of his supporters he was jailed under the most brutal conditions and ordered several times to cease his political activities.

July 27, 2016 /

What comes to your mind when you think of India? If you’ve been seduced by films, books, pictures and anglophile Indians over the last century then you will no doubt paint a happy picture. You might romanticise the poor yet happy people, the colours, the cuisine, the attire, the mystics, the music, the dance, the cacophony, the heat and the sensory overload of this one country. The only colour missing in your picture will be any shade of black because black is a colour that India hides. Black is a colour that India detests whether it be the colour of your skin or the colour of the sewer that you’re lowered in. A bottomless pit is where you will find the true colour of India.

Frontier, started its journey in April 1968. The journal, founded by Samar Sen, continued to be edited by him till his death in August 1987. It was a time of great political upheavals not only in the state of West Bengal but also at certain parts of India as well as the globe. There were uprisings everywhere. The students, workers, peasants, middle class people, every section of the society was looking for a change and Frontier was among the most faithful reflector of that period of turmoil.

July 23, 2016 /

In every community there are varying shades of political opinion. One of the shadiest of these is the liberals. An outspoken group on many subjects, ten degrees to the left of center in good times, ten degrees to the right of center if it affects them personally. A song by Phil Ochs

July 23, 2016 /

In principle, water ATMs had been proposed for areas that did not benefit from piped water supply. Even this was controversial because the underlying message was that only basic drinking needs would be taken care of, rather than all basic household/domestic needs. In practice, there has been slippage. In the first place, the Delhi Government was meant to be installing water kiosks providing free water in ‘underdeveloped’ areas. Yet, the first water kiosk installed was near a metro station for the convenience of the travelling public. Further, alongside the free water distributed in those kiosks, the Delhi Jal Board (DJB) agreed in late 2015 to a proposal for setting up water ATMs in various parts of Delhi at a price of Rs 5 per 20 litres. Supply through water ATMs is probably an excellent option to fill specific gaps where there is no water supply, preferably on a temporary basis. There are, however, various reasons why water ATMs should not become a permanent tool for accessing drinking water.

July 22, 2016 /

People were returning from their regular chores, when the news that the famous Kashmiri local rebel who had turned to militancy at the age of 15, had been killed in an encounter near Kokernag, 15 kms away from district Anantnag. People in long chains came out from their houses, leaving the comfortable life aside, with sloganeering “Burhan tera khoon sa inqilab aayega” just to mourn the death of their hero who had become an icon for many youths across valley.