[Reader-list] Revolts & Rebellions : Arundathi Roy Interviewed by David Barsamian

Thu May 12 18:49:27 IST 2011

How do you think of a hypothetical situation when you are calling a story
about some people vandalizing a food festival as a sycophantic exercise. i
wonder!!!

On Thu, May 12, 2011 at 6:38 PM, Lalit Ambardar
<lalitambardar at hotmail.com>wrote:

>  The post was in response to the interview of ADR whose admirers, who are
> in plenty on this forum, could have done a little better in their
> anarchistic idol’s glory. This petty ‘beef festival’ story is just a
> sycophantic exercise. However, eating beef by choice is one thing but  in
> view of the  aversion to ‘beef’ by an overwhelming population not just
> limited to upper casts across the country, holding ‘beef festival’ is a
> sinister provocation that  could come from a perverted mind only. Try
> holding ‘pork festival’ in Hyderabad ……. Rgds all LA
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ------------------------------
> Date: Fri, 6 May 2011 20:51:49 +0530
> Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Revolts & Rebellions : Arundathi Roy Interviewed
> by David Barsamian
> From: c.anupam at gmail.com
> To: lalitambardar at hotmail.com; reader-list at sarai.net
>
>
> "Continued diatribe against so called upper
> class Hindus is a crap. It is a deliberate attempt to divide Hindus. How
> many
> upper cast Hindus, today preside over how many political parties in India
> at
> national or state levels? The ruling party head at the centre who also is
> the
> de-facto ruler of the country is of foreign origin & not a born Hindu.
>  Today upper class Hindus are also competing
> in general category for the jobs reserved for the lower casts. One can only
> derive sadistic pleasures in differentiating poverty & deprivation on the
> basis of religion & cast."
>
> I am supposedly a Brahmin. Yesterday, I spoke to a few students from EFLU
> in Hyderabad. Every month Dalit students organise a beef festival in the
> mess. Since beef is not readily available in this country, with a regime
> which calls for a ban of the selling of beef, but have been also kidnapping
> the animals from farmers (hundreds of instances in Rajasthan and Gujarat),
> these students bought buffalo meat. What my friends told me is that they
> have this festival every month.
>
> A few Upper Caste north Indian students, mind you some Brahmins as well,
> attacked these Dalit students. There are documentary evidences that these
> students urinated on the food, threw it on the walls. Altogether the
> incident left a bad taste beyond all the discourses and other things. It was
> food. The upper caste students, from what I have been told said that how can
> you organise a beef festival in the hostel mess.
>
> Thanking you Lalit. I hope I am able enough, with my whatever caste
> identity to keep replying to such "crap" over and over again.
>
> Anupam
>
>
> On Fri, May 6, 2011 at 6:44 PM, Lalit Ambardar <lalitambardar at hotmail.com>wrote:
>
>
>
>
> The whole conversation sounds depressing.
> ‘I’, ‘me’ & ‘my’ are symptomatic of narcissism that overlays the hate India
> campaign.
> Besides self flagellation ad nauseam by her, Arundhati Roy’s affirmative
> contribution in ameliorating the living
> conditions of the very people she purportedly is concerned about is hardly
> anything. She has a list of grievances but no concrete suggestions to
> remove
> those.
>
>
>
> It is because of her chronic hostility
> towards the state that she readily embraces even the proponents of
> ‘azadi-
> bara- e- Islam’ (freedom for Islam) in Kashmir.
> Her comrade-in arms- Geelani who like other Kashmiri Muslim separatists
> regards
> Kashmir as the unfinished agenda of Jinah’s religion based two nation
> doctrine
> & wants Kashmir’s inclusion with Pakistan has just declared Osama a
> ‘martyr’
> calling for mass prayers today in Kashmir. ADR does not mind this religious
> blackmail of gullible masses. Her rhetoric on Kashmir might be a
> moral-booster
> for Kashmiri Muslim separatists & their indoctrinated foot soldiers but it
> can not erase Kashmir’s civilisational links with rest of India. It doesn’t
> bother her
> conscience that those Kashmiri jihadists who self admittedly got trained in
> Pakistan & ferried weapons from there & launched anti India jihad in
> 1989-90 & who deserve to be tried for crimes against humanity are roaming
> free, practicing ‘politics’. Even the brutal ethnic cleansing of Kashmiri
> Hindu
> Pandits at the hands of Kashmiri pan- Islamists in the land of their origin
> does not cause her any indignation.
>
>
>
> Continued diatribe against so called upper
> class Hindus is a crap. It is a deliberate attempt to divide Hindus. How
> many
> upper cast Hindus, today preside over how many political parties in India
> at
> national or state levels? The ruling party head at the centre who also is
> the
> de-facto ruler of the country is of foreign origin & not a born Hindu.
>  Today upper class Hindus are also competing
> in general category for the jobs reserved for the lower casts. One can only
> derive sadistic pleasures in differentiating poverty & deprivation on the
> basis of religion & cast.
>
> Talking about exploitation of tribals, it
> was way back in seventies that a journalist ‘bought’ a tribal girl from
> somewhere in central India
> to prove a point. Continued apathy towards tribals deserves utmost
> attention.
> But is ‘violence’ the answer? Maoists’ guns have brought the Maoists &
> their overt sympathisers in the limelight but development continues to
> elude.
> Induced ‘Christianisation’ over the decades has only divided the families &
> communities.
>
>  As
> if all that is evil exists in India
> & in India
> only. Yes, we are no where close to claiming a system that ensures a fair
> degree of socio-economic justice. Crony capitalism is a serious threat. But
> there is a growing awareness of our shortcomings & positive activism is on
> rise. In spite of apparent pitfalls, it can not be denied that democracy is
> evolving in India.
> Civil checks & balances are necessary to counter the propensity to misuse
> democracy. If there was 2G scam, the media exposed it & the Govt. of the
> day is nailed. Civil society is pursuing introduction of severe laws
> against
> corruption. People are demanding return of Indian wealth illegally parked
> outside. Sustainability is the topic of discussion today. Peaceful
> awareness
> & opinion mobilisation campaigns would go a long way in nation building
> than antagonistic activism.
>
>  Intellectual
> manipulations do not bring about genuine revolutions & revolution need not
> be synonymous with violence or anti India hate campaign.
>
>
> Rgds all…LA
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > From: aswathypsenan at gmail.com
> > Date: Thu, 5 May 2011 12:50:48 +0530
> > To: reader-list at sarai.net
> > Subject: [Reader-list] Revolts & Rebellions : Arundathi Roy Interviewed
> by    David Barsamian
> >
> >
> http://www.malayalanatu.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=703%3Aarundhati-roy-revolts-a-rebellions&catid=15%3Aessay&Itemid=19<http://www.malayalanatu.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=703:arundhati-roy-revolts-a-rebellions&catid=15:essay&Itemid=19>
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