[Reader-list] after yesterday in Delhi

Sun Sep 14 16:28:53 IST 2008

Dear Radhika Rajen,

In may mails on this list you have pointed out how the elected
representative is only a beneficiary divided caste votes and not a true
representative.

Now you jump to another point altogether and talk about the UPA chairperson
and the eloctorate.

Please  stick to a viewpoint as it is hard to trace what your viewpoint is.
If you have changed your viewpoint, then please denote so.

In any case, saw the killings (directly and first hand in Delhi) during the
Sikh militancy days and have seen communal riots in Baroda, Gujarat; and all
I can say is that when herd mentality takes over the common sense is lost.

Also, from Babri Masjid to the incapable idiots who got blown up some time
back, we have seen Hindu militancy.

Either we can agree that militancy in all forms is wrong or we can quibble
about shades of right or wrong.

So, where do you stand:

a)   Militancy & armed conflict is wrong

OR

b)   Hindu's are allowed to have a conflict as they have been repressed as a
majority
      and that cases like Godhra, Sikh killings in Delhi and Babri Masjid
are justified.

Rgds, Partha

PS: I do note that when you talk of terror, you never refer to the LTTE
(Hindu & Indian) which is considered as one of the most dangerous terrorist
organisations and has killed a Prime Minister of India (and is not Muslim or
Christian) or the killing of Indira Gandi - or is it that since they were
not BJP/RSS that you do not consider them a loss?
.....................................................

On Sun, Sep 14, 2008 at 4:05 PM, <radhikarajen at vsnl.net> wrote:

> Without getting in to blame games, the need of the moment is the
> chairperson of UPA who is now proxy governor of the nation should have good
> introspection of the events and see if her Home Minister who was once
> speaker, but discarded by the electorate, got into rajya sabha by nomination
>  and then is the Home minister, is he capable of any action. A dummy like
> Prime minister, again diitto to the governance who has no incentive to
> perform as Prime minister being discard beaucrat, has been  of yester years,
> can not make up his mind to take tough action for fear of votebank getting
> "hurt". By this inaction, in actual practise muslims are getting branded as
> terrorists for the simple reason, they are not willing to be ready to
> identify, isolate and give up those who indulge in terror activities. It is
> sad scene indeed. Wheras the hindus do not want violence and bhajrang dal
> gets no sympathy for its acts of violence, muslims by floating NGOs to
> defend the accused are helping the ter
> ror accused, sheltoring the accused for plain and simple lots of money in
> the trade of defending the terror.
>
> regards.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Priya Sen <senpriya at gmail.com>
> Date: Sunday, September 14, 2008 3:18 pm
> Subject: [Reader-list] after yesterday in Delhi
> To: reader-list at sarai.net
>
> > Dear All,
> >
> > India Gate, September 13th, 6:20 or so in the evening. I had
> > decided to walk
> > from Triveni Academy towards Khan Market, determined to buy a
> > bicycle and
> > thinking, it's getting dark and maybe I should wait until Monday
> > and I
> > shouldn't tell my mother about my biking plans and even though I
> > plan to
> > ride early mornings I need to ride it back home now and so on and
> > so forth.
> > India Gate was as India Gate is on a weekend evening. Walking
> > through it
> > made me think of other times I had been there, a few specific
> > memories and a
> > general sense of being in Delhi - of familiarity and ease from
> > having been
> > here for as long as I have, and of curiousity, the kind that comes
> > fromknowing that places are never the same - making mental notes
> > for no one
> > really about the Kwality Walls ice cream cart that had a board
> > saying 'Old
> > Vendor, India Gate since 1956', and the astrologer who sits in the
> > sameplace always, and people with video cameras filming the gate
> > who always make
> > me wonder at what they think  when they play it back later. It
> > took 15
> > minutes to cross over to Shah Jahan Road. Me, a couple of young
> > men, and a
> > papad seller who the policeman who was also waiting for the lights to
> > change, generally swore at, and I laughed at how swearing is so
> > integral to
> > ones day in Delhi.
> >
> >
> > Later I heard there were a couple of bombs that were defused, one
> > at Regal
> > Cinema and one at India Gate. I realized how many stories there
> > are now. Of
> > yesterday. Of where we were when.. . Of places we know so well. Of
> > our lives
> > up until the moment life changed for so many people in our city.
> > Of the
> > things that make our days what they are and will continue to.
> > Everyone will
> > have a story because everyone needs to claim something from
> > moments like
> > these. And everyone (in this city) must because this moment was
> > about Delhi.
> > It's happened before. Here, in other places, it will happen again
> > and again
> > and these will be 'the times according to people who live in these
> > times'.And all we can really do is to embrace our lives a little
> > harder.
> >
> > The last time I mourned for this city, a little like this, is when
> > I watched
> > Nanglamachi being demolished and people gathering their lives into
> > bundlesand tempos and going wherever. The ruthlessness was
> > overwhelming. Not to
> > make analogies here. Although nothing wrong with analogies and
> > other things
> > that make us feel what we feel. No rules for that! Think, feel
> > whatever -
> > it's all part of the way we make sense of things on day 2. It was like
> > watching the news right after the blasts happened, when the
> > reporters were
> > as bewildered as everyone else. Somehow in their floundering the news
> > channels were credible for a moment. Before the information
> > started coming
> > in and before they started interpreting it, that is. We know what
> > they do
> > and do well. Nothing is surprising, just a bit defeating and then
> > you think
> > why. Maybe we're defeated by the way we think, are told to think,
> > don'tthink. Maybe sometimes it has nothing to do with how we live.
> >
> >
> > Delhi feels quiet today, but that's also from where I am. Also
> > it's Sunday.
> > It will probably not seem very different when I go out later in the
> > afternoon. But my sister called me this morning and was in tears
> > and saying
> > she couldn't sleep because of all this and is feeling restless
> > because lakhs
> > of people are going to be out on the streets today for Ganapati
> > visarjan in
> > Bombay. For her it's about Bombay as well, the place where she has
> > her life.
> > When public places become vulnerable it means having to make
> > decisions about
> > things one doesn't necessarily think about. It's about everything
> > outside of
> > us that is essential to how we construct our lives. It's about
> > everydaydecisions, small things, immediate concerns. About being
> > able to imagine,
> > and dream and lose ourselves in places. For a few days we will be
> > excruciatingly aware of how we move around the city. There will be
> > remorseand anxiety and conversation. We will share a common grief,
> > in degrees, and
> > it will bring us together more intensely. We will count and blame and
> > speculate. And then we will thankfully, move on.
> >
> >
> > Right now though, I would rather not. Not for today. I just want
> > to be with
> > what this city means to me. Aside from its symbols, its creation
> > of itself,
> > its skewed power dynamics and unbearable inequalities. A friend
> > and I are
> > convinced that "Delhi steps in when we really need something to.".
> > Like the
> > wisdom of places. Not to get melodramatic! I'm glad I was here
> > when this
> > happened and not somewhere else.
> >
> >
> > Regards,
> >
> >
> > Priya
> >
> > --
> > Priya Sen
> > Sarai-CSDS
> > 29, Rajpur Road, Civil Lines
> > Delhi - 110054
> > priya at sarai.net
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>
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-- 
Partha Dasgupta
+919811047132