[Reader-list] reader-list Digest, Vol 63, Issue 11

[T Peter]

On 10/3/08, reader-list-request at sarai.net <reader-list-request at sarai.net> wrote:
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> Today's Topics:
>
>   1. Fwd: [YSC] are you a lab rat ? (Rohit Shetti)
>   2. Re: Fwd: [YSC] are you a lab rat ? (Ishwar)
>   3. When Rama took a break to offer namaz (Yousuf)
>   4. Of Christ and egg parathas (NUAIMAN)
>   5. Re: reader-list Digest, Vol 63, Issue 8 (logos.theword at gmail.com)
>   6. Justice for Soumya - Please join Us ! (Aditya Raj Kaul)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Fri, 3 Oct 2008 08:46:10 +0530
> From: "Rohit Shetti" <rohitism at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: [YSC] are you a lab rat ?
> To: Greenyouth <greenyouth at googlegroups.com>,   "sarai list"
>        <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Message-ID:
>        <c07fc63e0810022016n459f6663o8660c9445b55522a at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="WINDOWS-1252"
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: greenkrish <greenkrish at gmail.com>
> Date: Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 7:55 PM
> Subject: [YSC] are you a lab rat ?
> To: youthforsocialchange at googlegroups.com
>
>
>
>
>
> *
> If you don't pass this e-mail to 10 or more people, you and your family may
> be in danger.*
>
> *(And unfortunately, it is true this time)*
>
> Genetically Modified (GM) food is created by taking genes from an organism
> like bacteria, spiders, frogs etc. and inserting them into the genome (gene
> sequence)  of another unrelated organism like rice, wheat, brinjals etc.
> Studies with lab rats fed on GM, linked GM to adverse health results like
> stunted growth, impaired immune systems, bleeding stomach, liver and kidney
> lesions etc.
>
> In all likelihood, the first Genetically Modified (GM) food – Bt Brinjal
> will be introduced in the Indian market in the near future.
>
> If this message is not passed onto others and all of us do not raise a
> collective voice against GM food/crop, it is likely that we will end up as
> 'labrats' in this grand genetic experiment.
> Send a Petition to the Health Minister
> go to:     www.iamnolabrat.com  <http://www.iamnolabrat.com/labrat.php>
>
> - --
> in tune with nature
>        greenjai
>
>
> - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2008 22:22:13 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Ishwar <ishwarsridharan at yahoo.com>
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Fwd: [YSC] are you a lab rat ?
> To: Rohit Shetti <rohitism at gmail.com>,  Greenyouth
>        <greenyouth at googlegroups.com>,  sarai list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Message-ID: <749492.96075.qm at web31803.mail.mud.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
>
> The website doesn't contain references to any peer-reviewed material on the ill-effects of Genetically Modified crops, and requests people to send a petition to the health minister on unsubstantiated claims. It's a dangerous trend.
>
>
> --
> Ishwar
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> From: greenkrish <greenkrish at gmail.com>
> Date: Mon, Sep 29, 2008 at 7:55 PM
> Subject: [YSC] are you a lab rat ?
> To: youthforsocialchange at googlegroups.com
>
>
>
>
>
> *
> If you don't pass this e-mail to 10 or more people, you and your family may
> be in danger.*
>
> *(And unfortunately, it is true this time)*
>
> Genetically Modified (GM) food is created by taking genes from an organism
> like bacteria, spiders, frogs etc. and inserting them into the genome (gene
> sequence)  of another unrelated organism like rice, wheat, brinjals etc.
> Studies with lab rats fed on GM, linked GM to adverse health results like
> stunted growth, impaired immune systems, bleeding stomach, liver and kidney
> lesions etc.
>
> In all likelihood, the first Genetically Modified (GM) food – Bt Brinjal
> will be introduced in the Indian market in the near future.
>
> If this message is not passed onto others and all of us do not raise a
> collective voice against GM food/crop, it is likely that we will end up as
> 'labrats' in this grand genetic experiment.
> Send a Petition to the Health Minister
> go to:    www.iamnolabrat.com  <http://www.iamnolabrat.com/labrat.php>
>
> - --
> in tune with nature
>        greenjai
>
>
> - --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~
> _________________________________________
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> DEFANGED.427>
> ----- Original Message ----
> From: Rohit Shetti <rohitism at gmail.com>
> To: Greenyouth <greenyouth at googlegroups.com>; sarai list <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Sent: Friday, October 3, 2008 8:46:10 AM
> Subject: [Reader-list] Fwd: [YSC] are you a lab rat ?
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Thu, 2 Oct 2008 22:24:02 -0700 (PDT)
> From: Yousuf <ysaeed7 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [Reader-list] When Rama took a break to offer namaz
> To: Indo Persian <indopersian at yahoogroups.com>, sarai list
>        <reader-list at sarai.net>,        Peace Initiative
>        <peace_initiative at yahoogroups.com>
> Message-ID: <865033.89500.qm at web51409.mail.re2.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"
>
> When Rama took a break to offer namaz
>
> LUCKNOW: Masood Ahmad recalls the hush that fell when he went onstage to announce an unscheduled break during the raging battle between Lord Rama
> and Ravana, last Dussehra. The huge audience assembled at the Bakshi Ka Talaab ground was not amused. A few even began to boo, till the reason for the interruption was explained.
>
> The Ramlila cast — including Rama, Ravana and Lakshman — Ahmad explained, needed to offer namaz and break roza . Not a single protest was heard thereafter. The show resumed only after the actors rolled up their prayer mats post-namaz and shared the iftari snacks — right on stage.
>
> Masood Ahmad took over as manager of the BKT Ramlila Samiti from his father Muzaffar Hussain, who floated the outfit and also the concept of a mixed cast along with a Hindu friend in 1972. The move generated much curiosity and even a whisper campaign initially. But things have gradually settled down.
>
> The casting coup of the year, says Ahmad, is the new Lord Rama — gawky 15-year-old Mohammad Sher Khan from BKT Higher Secondary School.
>
> Khan, who'd been playing Bharat and Shatrughan for three years, is exultant about his elevation to lead status. ''I have read Ramcharitmanas several times and particularly liked the 'kirdar' of Rama," he declaims grandly. An unimpressed director, Sadiq Khan, exhorts the youngster, just back from school, to go over the script once more.
>
> http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/India/When_Rama_took_a_break_ for_namaz/articleshow/3553853.cms
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Fri, 3 Oct 2008 11:41:04 +0530
> From: NUAIMAN <nuaiman at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Reader-list] Of Christ and egg parathas
> To: reader-list at sarai.net
> Message-ID:
>        <9c57aafc0810022311l6cd82e8fj893cad68c061ca6b at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="WINDOWS-1252"
>
> Of Christ and Egg Parathas
>
>
>
> *Sailen Routray*
>
>
>
>
>
> If you are traveling from Bhubaneswar to Puri on national highway number
> 203, after you are nearly one-third of the way through, you'll pass through
> a small town that seems to be shrouded in appliqué work, and this craft is
> now its only claim to fame. The town's name is Pipili, and it was the
> capital of an important kingdom for a few years many centuries back. But
> those days are long past. In fact the day does not seem far when it will
> soon be reduced to being a mere suburb of the exploding twin cities of
> Bhubaneswar-Cuttack. But the town has an important place in my personal
> history. My youngest sister was born there, and my earliest memories of
> childhood go back to this place.
>
>            I was wrong when I said that its appliqué work is its only claim
> to fame. It has an additional claim to infamy; it is one of the most
> 'communally' sensitive of all the assembly constituencies of Orissa. But my
> memories of the place are idyllic. Happily there was nothing like pre-school
> those days, and I learnt my alphabet from a woman we all used to call
> Guruma. She used to teach in batches of seven to eight children, and my
> earliest memories are of sitting in her lap, and repeatedly moving my chalk
> on the round Oriya letters drawn by her on the slate. These days organic
> learning is all the rage, and rote learning is passé, but I remember loving
> the feel of my fingers going round and round on the slate till the time my
> nails grazed it.
>
> She used to take fifteen rupees per month from all of us as tuition fees.
> But on looking back I think she must have made a 'loss' on me because on
> most months. She'll make me stay back after the lessons, and feed me goodies
> that must have cost her more than the measly tuition fees that my parents
> paid her. Once in a while she used to make a lovely egg paratha with the
> whole yolk staring at me like the setting sun from the center of a perfectly
> formed isosceles triangle. All the egg parathas I have had after we moved
> out of Pipili (my father had a transferable job) never quite come to the
> mark; nostalgia is after all the secret ingredient of most successful
> recipes.
>
> My mother of course was mad at me for eating at Guruma's place all the time.
> The fact that Guruma was a Christian had nothing to do with it. What really
> offended her was the mere fact that I ate regular meals at another home, as
> if it were beyond her ability to feed me adequately. Whereas on looking back
> I could easily give a 'communal' tinge to the incident, and offer an
> explanation that what really offended my mother was the fact that I was
> eating at a Christian household. But I know that it's not true. What I want
> to foreground here is how easy it is to over-read a certain social
> situation, behaviour, or phenomena, and give it a label which distorts its
> significance and occludes understanding.
>
> The recent, so-called, 'communal' violence in the Kandhamal district in
> Orissa is a case in point. Over the last few years the violence between the
> Kondhs and the Panas in the district has generated two parallel sets of
> narratives. These narratives have a certain consistency not merely in terms
> of their form and structure, but also in their geographical habitation. The
> first set of narratives is generated by local newspapers, other local media
> organisations and local academics, and seems to set forth the dictum that
> Orissa is a 'peaceful' (*santipurna*) state and Oriyas are a 'peace-loving'
> (*santi*-*priya*) people, and that the present run of 'communal' violence
> are an aberration.
>
> The second set of narratives generally resides outside the state, and is
> generated by the usual suspects of national media and human rights
> organisations, and academics based outside the state (some of them Oriya).
> This set of narratives sees Orissa as the 'next Gujarat,' and sees the
> recent violence in Kandhamal not as an aberration but as a symptom of a
> thorough communalization of Oriya Society, and a trailer of things to come.
> As is the case with most such dichotomies the truth is neither close to any
> of them nor is it even in the middle. The possibility of even starting to
> understand such violence in the state is available to us only when we cease
> asking the questions that lead to such dichotomous logjam.
>
> Such a dichotomy as observed in the case of Kandhamal and Orissa mirrors the
> broader rules of writing narratives generated at the national level around
> the issue of 'communalism.' The first set of narratives in this case is
> merely the inverse of the first set of the couple mentioned earlier. Instead
> of positing a 'history of peaceable coexistence' it posits a history of
> millennium long communal conflicts, especially between the 'Hindus' and the
> Muslims. The Muslim league in the pre-independence era was able to create
> Pakistan (albeit 'moth-eaten') by the successful deployment of such a set of
> narratives; the sangh parivar are the ideological progeny of the Muslim
> league in this regard as they also use the same set of narratives, albeit
> with a different political axe to grind.
>
> The second set of narratives of this dichotomy may be loosely defined as a
> left-liberal one that posits that communalism was essentially a result of
> cynical manipulation by powers that be (be it some Muslim rulers in times of
> political crisis or the British in the post-Sepoy Mutiny period) to enable a
> policy of divide and rule. Most left-leaning commentators allow for the
> presence of the 'communal virus' in Indian society over a longer period of
> history (since we all know "'religion' IS the opium of the masses"). Most of
> the commentators of a more 'liberal,' poco/pomo (post-colonial/post-modern)
> persuasion will tend to argue that 'communalism' (like other categories such
> as 'caste', and 'tribe') is a 'colonial invention.'
>
>            But these two positions are not as divergent as they seem. They
> seem to agree that there exists such a phenomena called 'communalism' in
> India, that it is characterised by violence between the followers of
> different 'religions,' and that such violence has a 'history'. In fact they
> implicitly seem to argue that the historical mode of apprehension of social
> reality (as opposed to say fiction, or *vamsavalis*) is the only valid and
> effective one for apprehending such social phenomena.
>
>            These descriptions are a bad fit especially in an area such as
> the Kandhamal district in central Orissa. At first sight the 'problem' is a
> straightforward one of 'communal' conflict. Over the last couple of decades
> there have been increasingly intense conflicts between the 'Hindu' Kondhs
> (classified as a scheduled tribe by the Government of India) and the Pana
> (an ex-untouchable *jati* group) Christians. As put forward by the dominant
> narratives surrounding the conflict, the last three to four decades have
> seen an increasing penetration of the district by the Hindutva brigade
> resulting in an increasing polarization between the 'religious' communities
> that takes the form of organised violence periodically.
>
>            Let's see what this means in practical terms; such a narrative
> suggests that the Kondhs are a simple, gullible community that are amenable
> to manipulation by a few outsiders. Nothing can be further from the truth.
> They are one of the most resilient tribal groups of peninsular India, and
> rose again and again in revolt against British infractions on their
> traditional rights and privileges. They have been traditionally a dominant,
> landowning community in the Kandhamal district, and until a couple of
> generations back, had close patron-client relationships with the mostly
> landless Panas. In fact as the saying went those days – 'Kandha raja, Pana
> mantri', to translate - 'The Kondh is the king and the Pana is his
> minister'. The earliest colonial accounts in fact point at the structural
> closeness between the two communities, some officials in fact went so far as
> to record myths of origins of Panas that described them as the progeny of
> marriages between Kondh men and the women of other castes. In those days,
> the Kondhs and the Panas also seemed to share similar *devas*, rituals, and
> ceremonies, and it was not unusual for the Pana clients to attend the
> meetings of the Kondhs patrons, albeit as mere observers.
>
>            The adoption of the pan-Indian deities by the Kondhs of
> Kandhamal is hardly a couple of generations old; in fact the first 'Hindu'
> temple in the district headquarters of Phulbani has been constructed within
> living memory. So has been the growth of Christianity in the area. The
> Kandhamal district has seen sustained missionary activity from the time the
> British extended their control over these highlands; Christianisation, like
> in many other colonial regions, was seen as a part of the process of
> pacification of these so-called wild tribes. It is an irony of history that
> it is the Panas that have been increasingly Christianised and not the
> Kondhs. In fact, over the last four decades or so, the so-called
> Hinduisation of the Kondhs in the district (spearheaded by the recently
> murdered VHP politician Laxamanananda) has been concurrent with the
> Christianisation of the Panas.
>
> Orissa has a really small Christian population; out of a population of over
> 36 million in 2001, less than a million are Christians. But nearly a seventh
> of the total population of Christians of the state live in the district of
> Kandhamal, and constitute around a fifth of its population. This
> Christanisation must have happened along with the loss of their traditions
> as a people. The effects of the so-called Hinduisation must have also been
> similar. The Panas and the Kondhs no longer seem to worship the same/similar
> *devas* and *devis*, they no longer practice similar rituals, and they no
> longer seem to share communal spaces.
>
>            I have never set feet in the district. I have never done
> 'fieldwork' there; so my statements do not have the validity of ethnographic
> science. They do not even have the validity of reportage. I do not 'know'
> the reasons behind the violence in Kandhamal, nor do I have any clues about
> the ways out of these cycles of violence in Kandhamal and elsewhere in
> India. But one thing I am sure about; asking the wrong questions is the
> surest way of getting the wrong answers. And one of the ways of starting to
> ask the right questions is by looking at our own experiences unflinchingly,
> and by using these experiences to interrogate the narratives offered as
> explanations of our social realities. Some of the questions that one needs
> to ask in this context are: what is it that makes a conflict 'communal,'
> does such a thing called Hinduism exist and what does Hinduisation mean in
> practical terms, is there a way out from these cycles of violence, and
> lastly but not the least, how is the current state of affairs in terms of
> theorizing in Indian social science implicated in this violence.
>
>            One of the earliest memories that constitute my 'personal
> present' is that of Guruma bent in prayer below a photograph of Christ on
> the Cross, and of me falling in love with him. I fast for Shiva on Mondays,
> chant the Hanuman Chalisa thrice a day, and sporadically practice vipassana;
> but a part of my heart still belongs to Christ as he is perhaps the only
> form of divinity that seems to have experienced and known real human
> suffering. And I know that he has enough mercy in his heart to forgive the
> likes of Laxamanananda and his followers as well as the proselytizing
> missionaries in Kandhamal, for quite a few of whom increasing the size of
> the flock seems to be a bigger and better challenge than making the peace of
> Christ a reality.
>
>
>
>
>
> (*Sailen Routray **is a research scholar at National Institute of Advance
> Studies, Bangalore. His research areas include *Sociology of development and
> environment in Orissa)
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Fri, 3 Oct 2008 07:14:40 +0030
> From: logos.theword at gmail.com
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] reader-list Digest, Vol 63, Issue 8
> To: reader-list at sarai.net
> Message-ID:
>        <33bc2ee60810022344n50027325p801e3f68a2d8d1fa at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="ISO-8859-1"
>
> Just a thought, sparked off by, funnily enough, a bollywood film
> called A Wednesday (a right- wing propaganda film only thinly
> disguised as secular narrative). It is not beyond belief that the
> police may shoot one of their own non-fatally to lend credibility to a
> fake encounter. Was the Delhi cop's death due to such an attempt gone
> wrong?
>
> --
> Logos Theatre
>          In the beginning was the word
> No. 126,
> 3rd Main Road,
> Jayamahal Extension,
> Bangalore 560046
> --------------------------------------------------------
> If it be now, 'tis not to come;
> if it be not to come, it will be now;
> if it be not now, yet it will come: the readiness is all.
> Since no man has aught of what he leaves, what is't to leave betimes?
> Let be.
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 6
> Date: Fri, 3 Oct 2008 15:11:28 +0530
> From: "Aditya Raj Kaul" <kauladityaraj at gmail.com>
> Subject: [Reader-list] Justice for Soumya - Please join Us !
> To: "sarai list" <reader-list at sarai.net>
> Message-ID:
>        <6353c690810030241n6df797cfj7938c43843c63a42 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="WINDOWS-1252"
>
> Forwarded Message by Achint Anand - Headlines Today
>
> ******************************************************************
>
> All of you are aware of the tragic passing away of our colleague Soumya
> Viswanathan.
>
> A promising young Producer, Soumya was loved by her seniors and peers, and
> revered by her juniors. Soumya was murdered while driving back home from
> work after completing an unusually long shift at work, having stayed back to
> help with her channel Headlines Today's coverage of the blasts in Gujarat
> and Maharashtra on the 29th of September, 2008.
>
> She was killed by a bullet to her head in the wee hours of Tuesday, the 30th
> of September.
>
> Weare waiting for the police to find the person (or people) who committed
> this dastardly act. We are waiting for answers, as we struggle to come to
> terms with our dear friend's unfair death.
>
> But while we wait, we want to help the investigation. We want to do what we
> can to do the only thing we can for Soumya – find the murderer, who is still
> walking free.
>
> To that end, we want to launch a campaign – Justice for Soumya, of the sort
> we have participated in on numerous occasions for the likes of Aarushi
> Talwar, Jessica Lal, Nitish Katara, Priyadarshini Mattoo and others.
>
> This note is to invite you to join the campaign. This is to request you to
> lend your voice, lend whatever power you have, to help us in our campaign.
>
> Come. Bring your friends. Bring whoever you think can help us.
>
> VENUE: The Press Club of India, Raisina Road, New Delhi
> DATE: 4th October 2008
> TIME: 1.00pm
>
> From,
>
> Friends of Soumya Viswanathan
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> reader-list mailing list
> reader-list at sarai.net
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>
>
> End of reader-list Digest, Vol 63, Issue 11
> *******************************************
>