Colonial India : From West to East....

Hold your horses (Actually your thoughts) before you ask yourself why I have posted "India" and not Bhaarat. You will find that explanation in the subsequent paragraphs.

Digging into our history books, in our primary and secondary school days we had those lessons about how the East India Company arrived with an excuse of trading and went on to capture the entire Indian sub-continent by pitting the locals against each other in the game of one-upmanship. Things have not changed if colonialism is to be studied. It was West first; East now.

To be or Not To be....

Long time back, April-May 2010, I was at Nashik for the prep leave and I attended a 5 day lecture series titled Arya Chanakya which was organised on the occasion of Maharashtra Diwas. The lectures were delivered by Mr. Vivek Ghalsasi, the editor of Tarun Bharat and a fantastic orator. With the thoughts that were already brewing in my mind this lecture series acted as a catalyst leading to me starting Livin' Free on 14th May 2010. The complete story of Chanakya as a scholar, an economist, a teacher, a strategist; and above all, the ultimate patriot inspired me to start pouring out my thoughts and share what I learn from such great men; to build up a mass movement of knowledge and freedom. Well, I am back home for Sem 7 prep leave and I was listening to the recordings of this lecture series and my memory was stirred a bit and there is 1 story from this lecture series which I will share in this blog.

Irom, Iron and Ironic....

Firstly, Happy Diwali to all of you my friends.

May this Diwali, God bolster your strength and give you courage and freedom to survive against all odds and fight against all challenges and grow better and better!

Since the past 2 days a 38 yr old lady from Manipur named Irom Sharmila Chanu, dubbed "The Iron Lady" by our dear media, is in the spotlight as far as the news reports are concerned. She has been on a 10 year hunger strike against the AFSPA (Armed Forces Special Powers Act) in Manipur after an incident on 2nd Nov 2000 in which 10 Manipuri citizens were killed by the Indian Army while retaliating against a militant attack at Malom the same day. Now nearly every news report from different channels/papers is singing the praises of this woman. They have criticized the Indian Army and are drawing attention to this lady and how much she has suffered. Has the media or the activist wing ever wondered how much the Army goes through?

Missing Dagger, Twisted Intent....

Ever since I got hold of Shivaji Maharaj's photo tearing the guts of Afzal Khan (posted under the caption 'Eliminating Terrorism' on my blog) I have been planning to post on the subject. The beauty of the search for that photo was that it led me to a very interesting website. At first sight, it amazed me that this website carried the said photo but then upon closer look it spoke of the same ignorance and fanatic hatred with which we are well acquainted of from our 'dear' north western neighbours.

"Secular India : Anti-Muslim Shivaji statue to guard Bombay shores" this was the title of the article which I am referring to. We used to have those spot the difference games in our childhood. Friends, please spot the difference in the following images :