Month: July 2014

Best quotation from the comments: They banned yoga from the Church Hall. Then they figured out they need the money so they withdrew the ban….not quite the impact of ye olde England pubs being converted into Muslim prayer halls but still, a living, breathing example of demonic powers….

As far as Catholics are concerned, the current Pope seems to see nothing amiss with Marxism, which actually disparages religion as opium of  the masses and which has a lived record of persecuting Christians (in China and elsewhere) much more than Hindus-Buddhists have ever done.

Finally, we are not sure of how spiritual “yoga in the nude” actually is, but we recommend it strongly.
……..

The story of four great languages of South Asia (yes, all other languages are great as well).

Punjabi has faced tremendous head-winds following partition but is now enjoying a renaissance (one problem is that Punjabi Hindus prefer Hindi).
Bangla has benefited due to an independent Bangladesh which fought for the right to speak the language (Bengalis on both sides of the border are united in their love for the language).
Hindi marches on as the national language of India (and now preferred by the Prime Minister when speaking to foreign dignitaries), even though historically it had faced tremendous resistance in the South (and now only Tamil Nadu is proud to be an outlier). With BJP coming to power the Hindu-Hindi camp will be further strengthened.
Urdu has faced ups and downs, it is the national language of Pakistan, but it has been vilified as the language of Muslim invaders (85% of  India) and next as the mother tongue of Pakistani imperialists (50% of Bangladesh), and now it is also under threat from Sindhi and Pashto (and Punjabi).

All these one-time great languages (even Tamil) will ultimately lose out to English as it is the language of the elites…..even your (English) accent can identify your place/class in society. As an indicator- Hinglish is now officially permitted in Govt communications in India.

Thus it is wonderful to see people appreciating cultural treasures in their own language. From an Indian perspective, it points to a bygone era (similar to Mad Men). The generation that loves this stuff will gradually die away. In the meantime Pakistan is slowly losing out to the charms of Turkish TV. Ultimately we will all be drowned in the same-same hybrid culture with no meaningfulness. And worst of all, no appreciation of proper pronounciation!!!
…………….

• Zindagi Gulzar Hai
  The story is about Kashaf Murtaza and her two sisters who are
  brought up by a single mother. Kashaf marries rich boy Zaroon Junaid,
  the serial traces their ups and downs.
• Aunn Zara
  A coming-of-age story of young couple Aunn and Zara and how they
  come to terms with family, responsibility, freedom, friendship, love.
• Kaash Main Teri Beti Na Hoti
  The tragic tale of a young girl sold off to a married man, and her travails later.
• Kitni Girhain Aaki Hain
  A satire based on the ironies and harsh realities of a young woman’s life in Pakistan.

……….
A young woman in her 20s sits scribbling under a fluorescent lamp in a
dimly-lit room. Her thoughts are those of any girl her age—marriage, a
career and the general struggle of getting by. Zindagi Gulzar Hai,
a Pakistani serial now being aired on Zee Zindagi, started off on this
rather mundane vein but it’s struck an instant chord with viewers, at
least in north India. 

Launched this June, Zee’s new and much-hyped
channel has four Pakistani serials capturing the mood on the other side
of the border. Shailja Kejriwal, Zee’s chief creative officer, special
projects, spent nearly two years scrolling through and handpicking
content that would resonate with Indian audiences. Next on the line is
something more substantial—Pakistani films.


….
“The basic idea was to reacquaint Indian audiences with culture from
acr­oss the border. Pakistani television has bought a lot of content
from here, including daily soaps and Bollywood films. So this is a great
way for us also to connect, both at the audience level and at an
art­istic and cultural level,” says Shailja. And it seems to be working. 

Ardent TV soap add­ict Ritu was ecstatic after watching the first
episode of Zindagi Gulzar Hai. “I felt like I was caught in a
time warp,” she says. Ritu can relate, she grew up in Delhi listening to
stories from the old Punjab narra­ted by her grandmother who had
mig­rated to India during the Partition.


…
The initial surge in viewership is also an indication of how parched
Indian viewers are for balanced and bona fide characters. Compared to
Indian soaps, with its women always in gaudy dresses, make-up and
jewellery (even at the breakfast table!) and its over-the-top melodrama,
the imports from across the border do seem more realistic and less
shrill. Mani Sandhu, an avid viewer from Punjab, writes on Facebook: “Aunn Zara
is a fresh kind of story. My mother, who hardly watches television, is a
big fan of the serial because of the characters, the pitch-perfect
Punjabi accent, reminiscent of ’60s Punjab.” 


Now this is no new phenomenon. For decades, Indian audiences had been hooked to Pak serials like Humsafar, Dhoop Kinare and Ankahee, before the great transition took place at home with Kyonki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi. 

“Compared to the Indian soaps, the acting is much better in Pakistani
serials. They also look more realistic and are more slow-paced than
American soaps,” says media critic Shailaja Bajpai. “In Zindagi Gulzar Hai,
the plot is clear by the second episode. It also has a youthful appeal.
The serials talk about women empowerment and problems faced by
middle-class families…which makes it all the more relatable.”


….
But not all Pakistani serials are about strong women or progressive families. Take Kitne Girhain Baaki Hai,
which deals with honour killing. The protagonist, a young girl, is
killed by her bro­ther bec­ause she marries against the family’s
wis­hes. The serial then doesn’t quite den­­ounce this ghastly act, with
none of the male characters, especially the girl’s father, repentant
about what they have done. The female characters, though educated, still
lead a retrograde life, taunted for being divorcees. They have to
remain low-key and, of course, there are the aforementioned honour
killings.


….
The top Indian soaps, in that sense, are a lot more ‘modern’. Diya Aur Baati Hum
in fact has a heroine fighting a feudal mindset to become a top cop. So
why are Indian viewers lapping up the Pakistani stuff? “Well, the
situations shown in these serials are certainly more realistic,” says
Shashi Mittal, who has scripted Diya Aur Baati Hum. “Some of
them do have outdated themes but there is still a large audience in
India which is yet to come to terms with modernisation. Our audience is
huge, it can absorb both types of content—medieval as well as modern.”


….
Navjot Gulati, who’s penned the script for Shoojit Sircar’s runningshaadi.com,
says deep down Indian society is as reg­ressive as Pakistan’s. “But I’m
glad Paki­stani serials are being shown. At least, the Indian serial
writers will be forced to write better scripts. Back in the ’90s, Indian
TV was as good as the films, but now the focus is numbers rather than
creativity. The corporate structure is flawed and most good writers are
not interested in writing for television.” 

The best script, then, would
be if a serial pops up with the realism/nuances of a Pakis­tani soap but
with a more gutsy storyline on women and the ills of society.

……..

Link: http://www.outlookindia.com/printarticle.aspx?291364

……

regards

“These children[converts]….Their hatred for idolatry is marvelous….whenever their own
parents practise it, they reproach them and come off to tell me at once….Whenever I hear of any act of idolatrous worship, I go to the place
with a large band of these children…The children run at the idols, upset them, dash them down, break them to pieces, spit on them, trample on them, kick them about, and in short heap on them every possible outrage” – Francis Xavier, inspiration behind the Goan inquisition
……..
The ‘national guide’ of the
HJS [Hindu Jagran Samity], Charudutta Pingle, was quoted saying that Goans supporting
Portugal in the ongoing World Cup would be “rubbing salt on injuries
suffered in history”
……….

As expected, people are complaining that the burden of “history” is being unfairly foisted on their shoulders.  There are a number of outstanding issues but the Goan Inquisition ranks foremost in the minds of the people whose ancestors were mercilessly persecuted for three centuries for being idolators.

History traditionally has been written by the winners and all over India the sons of Abraham are retreating in face of a relentless onslaught by the sons of Hanuman et al. The plea (from the afflicted minorities) is for an inclusive society so that all communities can co-exist and prosper in a secular republic. 

Indeed we should aim to build an India where it is possible to celebrate the victories of Pakistan (Sunnis for Saeed Ajmal) and Portugal (Catholics for Cristiano Ronaldo). The problem is that the burden of history will not go away by pretending it does not exist. Something must be done, else the poison keeps contaminating the community well.

First and foremost, the Ram Sena and others are pathetic bullies and they do a lot of harm. They are a bit like the bumbling Shia gangs of Iraq (to use an imprecise analogy). Full of reckless bravado, they create disorder and disharmony amongst the people. When the Caliphate troops show up on the scene, they disappear out of sight. They ride on a river of historical grievances but they do not seem to be able to learn from history.

This is the most important question: why the nations that were India so weak that they allowed Portugese (and others) to terrorize from Bengal to Gujarat? The answer is obviously complicated but can be reduced to one word: CASTE (based discrimination).  

Until and unless Indians realize that it was their own fault that led to a “thousand year slavery” no historical exercise will be complete.

Now to move on to the Portugese and the Catholics of Goa.

When the Portugese empire was rising it killed off (or converted) all the Moors (muslims) in the Iberian peninsula. This was as an integral part of the reconquista campaign led by Christian armies from 711AD – 1492AD (fall of Granada). Not only were the muslims (who were considered as invaders) massacred but the Jews as well.

If the thinking is that Christian Europe has shed all barbarisms of the distant past and embraced ahimsa then it is legitimate to point out that (i) Portugal was fighting colonial wars as late as the 1970s, (ii) Christians (orthodox) have been engaged in ethnic cleansing against Muslims in Bosnia as late as 1990s (a low-intensity war is still going on in Kosovo and Bosnia), and (iii) Catholics are still fighting Protestants in Northern Ireland today. Moral authority will not come so easily to the Christian Ummah, when foot-soldiers are still fighting in its name.

Right now, a “cultural reconquista” is going on in Goa. It is happening non-violently but it nevertheless oppressive. Since many Goan Catholics have Portugese citizenship (thanks to Antonio Salazar, the dictator “prime minister” of Portugal from 1932-1968), Goans have been able to emigrate to Portugal and then on to other European countries (as allowed by the European Union). One may even say that such voluntary migration is de-facto ethnic cleansing.

All this is wrong and deeply worrying, but do the Goan Catholics have any responsibility so as not to be burdened by “history”? A “Truth and Reconciliation” commission sounds like an excellent idea. Sponsorship of an all-faiths-temple in memory of the hundreds of temples that were destroyed can help close the debate on idolatry. A museum of Inquisition on the lines of the Holocaust memorial (which is strangely enough, located in the USA and not in Europe) can be set-up with some funding from the Church.

The Inquisition files were destroyed in 1812, but then people have long memories (and they will have historians on their side). The Hindu brotherhood is the winner in Goa and elsewhere in India. It is now high time to put the religious poison back in the bottle.
…….

………….

You were born in New York and went on
to study comparative religion. Why the decision to write about the
Portuguese inquisition in Goa — a whole other world?

About 15 years ago, while doing research for my first novel, The Last Kabbalist of Lisbon,
I discovered that the Portuguese exported the Inquisition to Goa in the
sixteenth century, and that many Indian Hindus were tortured and burnt
at the stake for continuing to practice their religion. 

Muslim Indians
were generally murdered right away or made to flee Goan territory.


 
I couldn’t use that information for my novel but decided, a few years
later, to do more research into that time of fundamentalist religious
persecution. I discovered that historians consider the Goa Inquisition
the most merciless and cruel ever developed. It was a machinery of
death. A large number of Hindus were first converted and then persecuted
from 1560 all the way to 1812!

Over that period of 252 years, any man, woman, or child living in
Goa could be arrested and tortured for simply whispering a prayer or
keeping a small idol at home. Many Hindus — and some former Jews, as
well — languished in special Inquisitional prisons, some for four,
five, or six years at a time.


…
I was horrified to learn about this, of course. And I was shocked
that my friends in Portugal knew nothing about it. The Portuguese tend
to think of Goa as the glorious capital of the spice trade, and they
believe — erroneously — that people of different ethnic backgrounds
lived there in tolerance and tranquility. They know nothing about the
terror that the Portuguese brought to India. They know nothing of how
their fundamentalist religious leaders made so many suffer.
…………

[ref. Wiki] The first inquisitors, Aleixo Dias Falcão and Francisco Marques, established themselves in the palace once occupied by Goa’s Sultan, forcing the Portuguese viceroy to relocate to a smaller residence.


….
The inquisitor’s first act was to forbid any open practice of the Hindu faith on pain of death
…
Sephardic Jews living in Goa, many of whom had fled the Iberian Peninsula to escape the excesses of the Spanish Inquisition to begin with, were also persecuted.
The narrative of Da Fonseca describes the violence and brutality of the
inquisition. The records speak of the necessity for hundreds of prison
cells to accommodate the accused.


…
From 1560 to 1774, a total of 16,172 persons were tried and condemned or acquitted by the tribunals of the Inquisition.While it also included individuals of different nationalities, the
overwhelming majority—nearly three fourths were natives, almost equally
represented by Christians and non-Christians. Many of these were hauled
up merely for crossing the border and cultivating lands there.


…
Seventy-one autos de fé were recorded. In the first few years alone, over 4000 people were arrested.
In the first hundred years, the Inquisition burnt at stake 57 alive and
64 in effigy, 105 of them being men and 16 women. Others sentenced to
various punishments totalled 4,046, out of whom 3,034 were men and 1,012
were women. According to the Chronista de Tissuary (Chronicles of Tiswadi), the last auto de fé was held in Goa on 7 February 1773.
……

Link(1):  http://www.outlookindia.com/printarticle.aspx?291360

Link(2): http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/sep/14inter1.htm

Link (3): http://krishidesh.wordpress.com/2011/08/13/goa-inquisition-bloodiest-conversions-by-christians/
……

regards

Disfavored by Protestants, Catholics and Mormons, loved by Jews, atheists and followers of other religions (presumably Hindus, Jains, Sikhs,…).

But yes, loved dearly, passionately, consistently by muslims. How much of  this is backlash from the Tea Party folks claiming that Obama is a secret muslim? We have observed an automatic -bhai attached to Obama by believers (because his dad was a muslim). Folks also fondly remember the iconic Cairo speech he gave, extending a hand in friendship to all muslims. Who was at fault for the unrealized promises? Well, make a guess, go on!!!

Obama in our opinion is too smart to be much of a believer. Earlier presidents (and their wives) have made a big show of attending the church. But after his pastor was found out to be too radical, Obama has kept his religious side under wraps. His enemies would have never forgiven him anyway. And now he has a lot of friends to choose from, mostly black and brown in skin tone. Praise be to the Lord (Allah).
………..
PRINCETON, NJ — Seventy-two percent of U.S.
Muslims approved of the job President Barack Obama was doing as
president during the first six months of 2014, higher than any other
U.S. religious group Gallup tracks. Mormons were least approving, at
18%.  

In general, majorities of those in non-Christian religions —
including those who do not affiliate with any religion — approved of
Obama, while less than a majority of those in the three major Christian
religious groups did.

The results are based on aggregated data from more than 88,000 Gallup
Daily tracking interviews conducted in the first six months of 2014 — a
time when the president averaged 43% job approval among all Americans.
Gallup interviewed 552 Muslims and at least 1,700 respondents in every
other religious group during this time.


….
The United States remains a predominantly Christian nation, with
roughly half of Americans identifying with a Protestant religion and
another quarter identifying as Catholics. Thus, the opinions of these
Christian groups are by far the most influential in determining Obama’s
overall ratings.


….
The relative rank order of the religious groups on job approval has
been consistent throughout Obama’s presidency. In fact, the current rank
order, with Muslims most approving and Mormons least, exactly matches
the order seen over the more than five years he has been in office since
January 2009.


….
Moreover, current job approval among each religious subgroup is
between five and seven percentage points lower than the full 2009-2014
average for each. Obama’s current 43% overall job approval average is
five points lower than his 48% average so far in his presidency.

…..
In general, when Obama’s approval rating has dropped among all
Americans, his approval rating in each religious subgroup has dropped by
a similar amount. 

The accompanying graph shows how Obama’s average
approval rating among Protestants, Catholics, and Mormons has compared
with the average among all Americans over time. Because the movement in
each religious group has shadowed the national movement, Mormons have
been least approving of Obama in each time period. Protestants have been
consistently below the national average, and Catholics slightly above
it.

…
Similarly, Muslims have been the most approving among the religious
groups in each time period. Jewish Americans and Americans with no
religious preference have also exceeded the national average job
approval in each time period, tracking each other closely.

………

Link: http://www.gallup.com/poll/172442/muslims-approving-obama-mormons-least.aspx

…….

regards

They are the neo-Brahmins.  Also it is the Bharatiya Jain Party (BJP).

Generally the Brahmin class has provided teachers, doctors, lawyers….people who fight with words not swords (that was reserved for Kshatriyas or Khatris). Brahmins are also not noted to be in the top economic bracket (money is in the hands of the Vaishyas or Baniyas).

Brahmins have not been either numerous or durable as rulers (there have been probably more and more long lasting Shudra rulers). Jawaharlal Nehru, who had immense contempt for religion (specifically Hinduism) nevertheless was probably the longest reigning Brahmin.

Meet Amit Shah – a Jain – the newly minted president of BJP. Jains were recently declared to be a minority by the past Congress-UPA regime (as a last-ditch vote-catching measure). Shah is expected to continue the tradition whereby India has been specially alert to the sensitivities of minorities. It is another matter that what is nectar to one community is poison to the others (see below).

As far as policies go Jains are as strict as any of the famous sons of Abraham. They also have immense wealth and they have the ear of the political establishment. Amit Shah is credited with the BJP victories in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar – critical for Mission 272 (parliamentary majority). It was Shah who memorably told the Jats of Muzaffarnagar that “this election is a fight for honor and revenge.”

In Europe there has been considerable tensions of late between the left-liberals (aligned with animal rights groups) and Jews/Muslims over kosher/halal rituals. The fight is over stunning animals before they are gored. The multi-culturalists say (with some justification) that only people who are perfect vegetarians can proclaim their moral authority on this matter, everyone else is a hypocrite and an Islamaphobe (also anti-semite).  

By this logic, Jains who introduced the concept of ahimsa to the world, have all the moral authority to over-ride objections of the filthy meat eaters….

Interestingly enough, vegetarianism is one area in which the Dharmic religions can all agree to put up an united front against the Desert religions. All our Sikh friends choose to eat vegetarian when dining out since they are actually forbidden to consume halal food.  

The only Hindus who will have serious objections to veg-only strictures are the denizens of un-India (TM)- Kerala, Bengal and Tamil Nadu. Perhaps they should be labeled apostates and barred from visiting Varanasi and Palitana.

Welcome to the land of vegetarian Iftars. Hope you enjoy the experience.
…………
Parimal, a nondescript neighbourhood in Palitana, near Bhavnagar, in
Gujarat, is much sought after for the Jain pilgrimage town’s few
Muslim-run non-vegetarian eateries. But it’s eerily deserted on what
should have been a bustling, cheerful iftaar evening.  

Kababs and chicken
lollipops are displayed promisingly on the menus of the stalls but the
kitchens that roll them out have been shut down since the Gujarat
government promised to look at Jain leaders’ demand that the pilgrimage
town be made a vegeta­rian-only zone. 

The stall-owners are suspicious,
reluctant to talk, and refuse to give their names. A seething resentment
fills the air. “There’s nothing for us to celebrate this Ramzan,” says
Haji Ghulam Ali, offering us goodies from the vegetarian entree to his
humble iftaar meal. He’s the only one willing to be quoted. “Our
business is hit, we’re on the verge of bankruptcy, and we can’t even eat
our regular food!”


 
The government notification hasn’t yet come into effect. But in
Palitana, it’s already futile—and generally has been difficult—to find
non-veg food. The carts that used to sell omelettes and boiled or
scrambled eggs around the town’s mosque and cemetery, on the outskirts,
have vanished. 

Interestingly, this region is predominantly meat-eating.
“As high as 55-60 per cent of the population are non-vegetarians—not
just Muslims, but Kolis, Sindhis and Dalits also,” says Pravin Mishra,
an Ahmedabad-based filmmaker, artist and columnist. The Jain presence is
in a few thousands, largely a floating population of pilgrims and
ascetic, peripatetic monks and nuns. In contrast, Muslims constitute 25
per cent of the resident population. It will be worst hit if
vegetarianism is enforced.

But the monks spearheading the movement say it’s not a matter of
numbers. “Palitana is like the Mecca or Kashi of Jains,” says Virag
Sagar Maharaj, a leading monk. He invokes Jain lore. Palitana has been
visited by all 24 Jain tirthankars. The Shat­runjaya hills are clustered
with 3,000 temples and 27,000 statues. There’s the symbolic ord­eal of
3,600 steps, a 3.5 km climb that takes two to three hours. 

Jains come
here to pray for moksha. 

The sentiment runs in laity too. “It’s the
centre of our faith,” says Shireesh Kotari, international president of
the Jain Social Groups Inter­national Federation. And Janki Shah, owner
of a textiles company in Ahme­d­abad, says, “It’s one of our holiest
shri­nes—our shashwata tirtha. We believe that, whatever happens,
Palitana will never vanish from the earth. It is eternal.”


 
They draw on the concept of ahimsa, a central tenet of Jainism: you
are not meant to hurt anything, not even a fly. “It’s not merely about
preventing people from eating non-veg food. Our movement is based on the
concept of Jeevdaya and is primarily against animal slaughter,” says
Virag Sagar Maharaj. 

Although he does not justify it, sociologist
Gaurang Jani says the demand for a no-meat zone in Palitana is linked to
the strict vegetarianism Jains practise. And Vidyut Joshi, former
vice-chancellor of Bhavnagar University, says, “I guess some ethos of
the Jain religion has to be maintained at its biggest pilgrimage
centre.”


 
The posters outside the ashram of Jambudweep, a subsect of the
Shwet­ambar Jains, talk of 2,000 animals butchered every day in
Palitana, 60,000 monthly and 7 lakh annually. They demand a “hinsa,
kasaai, vyasan mukt Palitana”—sanitised of violence, butchery and vice,
that is. It’s an organised effort. Each of the 68 butchers in town has
been identified by name—and the kind of animals he slaughters. 

The
Jambudweep group claims this is the first step in their rehabilitation.
It offers butchers  a compensation of Rs 9 lakh and eatery owners Rs 5
lakh. So far, 15 butchers—the campaigners have agreeme­nts on notarised
stamp papers as proof—have agreed to give up their profession.

But Muslim residents of the Parimal area say the promises aren’t being
made good.  And, compensation or not, it’s difficult to uproot oneself
from a place or give up a trade. In Gujarat, there are hardly any
non-Muslim butchers, so the demand for vegetarianism will mostly hit one
community. Mishra says it’s a case of religion being used as a
political and electoral tool. 

But it’s not just Muslim butchers; the
Sikligar Sikhs, who breed pigs and trade in them, are also under the
Jains’ scanner. Palitana looks like a starting point. Virag Sagar
Maharaj wants to take the movement forward in all of Gujarat, and later,
Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. “The whole
world,” he resolutely says, “should become ahimsak.”

 
What is unfolding right now is clearly a clash of faiths and opposing
ways of life. “It seems all about ‘My faith is bigger than yours’,
which defies the spirit of secularism and acceptance,” says Mishra.
Ironically, the temples atop the sacred Shatrunjaya hills tell a
different story. They reflect a history of peace and togetherness, of
cultures and religions in harmony. At one of the holiest Jain sites
here, there’s the Muslim shrine to Angar Pir, at which childless couples
of every religion—including Jains—have been seeking  blessings since
time immemorial.

 
All is not well within the Jain sect itself. There has been dissent
amongst Jain monks too. One group accuses the other of being taken in
too easily by the promises made by the administration. Monks are even
being accused of having pocketed money meant for rehabilitating
butchers. “It’s a stunt,” says Divya Shek­har Maharaj, a monk who has
distanced himself from the movement, though he himself practises a very
rigorous form of vegetarianism. “They have promised a lot but nothing
has happened.”

 The proposal has led to sharp criticism from civil society. “Ritual
slaughter is as much an act of faith for Muslims and Hindus as animal
protection is for the Jains,” says Aakar Patel, a columnist. “To ask
another faith to change to what you think is right is an imposition and
fundamental intolerance.” 

According to education consultant Manisha
Modha Patel, no group can treat a town as its private pro­­perty. At
best, proscription of non-veg food can be applied at temple complexes.
Already, since 1999, non-veg food is not allowed within 250 metres of
Taleti, the point from which the climb up Shatru­njaya hills begins. The
road leading to the Shatrunjaya river, too, is a vegetarian zone. Now,
they want vegetarianism imposed in a 9 km radius. “Tomorrow,” says
Manisha, “they may seek a ban on onion and garlic. What if Ajmer decides
to declare itself a meat-only zone?” But Virag Sagar Maharaj counters
by drawing on the example of Haridwar and Vaishno Devi, both vegetarian
zones.


 
What the Palitana movement does prove is the influence of Jains in
Gujarat. They form less than one per cent of the state’s population but
dominate the economic space, and through it wield disproportionate
influence on the social, cultural and political space. Many say the
ascendancy in the ruling BJP of Amit Shah, Modi’s right-hand man, now
slotted to be party president, is adding to their clout. Shah is a Jain.


 
Their dominance has also been creating the misperception that
Gujaratis are vegetarian. Actually, 68 per cent of the population,
according to the last census, eats meat—this includes tribals, obcs,
Muslims, Christians, Parsis and Jews.


 
Meanwhile, Bhavnagar collector P.K. Solanki says that, at the moment,
the Palitana municipality is inviting objections to the proposed move
and has received 1,980 so far. Legal opinion is also being sought. The
board of the municpality is likely to decide on July 30. The decision
will be forwarded to the state government for appropriate action. Till
then, Palitana remains in suspended animation. And iftaars will remain
dhokla-khakhra affairs.

Eggless, Meatless…

• Haridwar, Uttarakhand. No meat, no eggs, no fishing allowed in the Ganga, no alcohol.
• Badrinath, Kedarnath, Gangotri, Yamunotri,
  Uttarakhand. All hotels, guest houses, restaurants and eateries serve
  only vegetarian fare. There are no bars.
• Jagannath Temple, Puri, Orissa. No sale or preparation of meat, fish, poultry, eggs in all restaurants in specific areas around the temple
• Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. No meat, fish, eggs or liquor except in certain parts of the city.
• Vrindavan, Uttar Pradesh. No non-vegetarian food, smoking, drinking, no leather objects in the temple vicinity.
• Golden Temple, Amritsar. No meat in the temple complex. No smoking in the city.
• Katra, Jammu. Only pure vegetarian food, not even onion and garlic allowed.
• Rameshwaram, Tamil Nadu. Only vegetarian food in the town though it is a major exporter of seafood.

………

Link: http://www.outlookindia.com/printarticle.aspx?291371

……..

regards

Announcing graduate studies in “how to be a suicide bomber.” The Unique Selling Point: campus recruitment is 100%, they would like many more students!!!
…….
It was one of the many non-descript buildings around, located at the
dead-end of a small street inside Serai Darpakhel. “Go straight and
there is the door on the left”, we were told by a guard outside the
street. But even then it was hard to find the iron door, opposite
a power transformer and a heavy generator to ensure uninterrupted power
supply. 

For the unsuspecting outsiders, there was nothing
unusual about this place, except that it was known to all those who
lived nearby. It was a facility to indoctrinate and train suicide
bombers.

Step inside and there is a courtyard with big columns, mats spread out, bedrolling piled up in one corner.
Nothing unusual. Stairs lead to the upper portion painted in light cream and brown colours.
Plastered on one of the walls is a white banner inscribed with kalma and beneath it ‘the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan’.

This
was one of the five suicide bombing facilities, locals now say, owned
and operated by the Haqqani Network in Serai Darpakhel, frequented by
would- be-bombers in their teens and twenties; Afghans and Mehsuds
mostly but boys from Mohmand and Orakzai too would turn up.


Rarely were the religious indoctrinators, mentors or those running
the centres seen outside the iron gate that shielded the dead-end house
from passersby.
No -one living in Serai Darpakhel knew who they were, except that it was a centre for suicide bombers.

Even
those brought or enrolled at the centre for ‘esteshahadi’ or martyrdom
were not allowed to step outside till the completion of his mandatory
two-month stay inside the centre.

The undertaking or affidavit all ‘esteshahadi’ friends were required to sign was elaborate.

It
had a printed colour picture of the would-be bomber, his name, assumed
name, his father’s name, age, address, education, personal contact
number, family contact number, family occupation, names of
friends and acquaintances, father’s past and present political
affiliation, the number of members in the family and their monthly
income and experience, if any, in militant activities.

And the
seven rules the ‘esteshahadi friend’ were required to live by were
pretty stringent too. The use of cell phones were neither allowed nor
considered necessary, the undertaking said. For two months, neither
would the enroller be allowed to go outside nor was he allowed to go out
without permission, it read.

He was also required to make no
attempt to befriend anyone else except his other ‘fidayi brothers’
teachers and mentors. He was supposed to hand-over his personal
belongings to the centre in-charge and ask for things he might need from
him. 

Other than that, things inside the centre were kept tight with a
strict regimen of praying, spiritual and religious indoctrination and
cooking, locals say.

Even a man, who came looking for his son, was
turned away by the centre’s administrator, feigning ignorance about his
whereabouts, a local resident recalls. It was only after a lot of
contacts here and there, that the centre reluctantly let the boy go.

Not
very far from Serai Darpakhel, drive to the main Miramshah bazaar. And
there is the two-storey building of what once was the Government Girls
Higher Secondary School. When militants first moved in and started
bombing schools, this too was soon abandoned and later occupied and
converted by militants of all hue and origin into a facility for
training and distribution of dead bodies on their arrival from
battlefield or of those killed in drone strikes.

The 450 to 500
girls were later shifted to continue their studies at a degree college
inside the military cantonment in Miramshah. The militants,
surprisingly, had no objection to that.

……

Link: http://www.dawn.com/news/1118706/startling-facts-about-suicide-bombers-training-den

……

regards