SG OwnBlog

In this Information age, the opinions of people are shaped by the discourse that happens in the media – the newspapers, the internet forums, the videos that are shot, the letters, open letters and counter letters. A vast majority of them are full of half-truths and that is not surprising as every side has skeletons to hide. The problem arises when a gullible population (read Indians) digest these printed words both offline and on as the ultimate Truth without question. Secondary sources and even imaginary accounts becomes Gospels to be used to shut anyone who dares to oppose the mainstream discourse. The Quint has recently published an open letter by a veteran soldier of the Indian Army named Major Gaurav. They apparently waited for a counter to that which was furnished by a Wasim Khan, a ‘Kashmiri’ who now is settled in Mumbai and runs a successful media agency (not surprising). So before we go into braindead blaming attempts, let’s analyze the two pieces one by one and check

Burhan Wani – The man and his mission The death of a young ‘hero’? On the 8 th of July, Burhan Muzaffar Wani died in the Valley of Kashmir. Thousands poured out on the streets to commemorate his services to the movement that he had come to symbolize of late. The relative calm of the region was shattered with curfews, killings and allegations of human rights abuses. His father was proud for the services his son had offered in the name of their faith, convinced that he would go to Heaven. Amidst all this, the romantic ideals of a young boy, just off his teens began to shake up the youth of the entire country, both in and beyond India. There is a lot of unrest in the Kashmir Valley recently, especially in the aftermath of the death, nay execution of Burhan. All of this is not unexpected in any way. In fact, this was foreseen. Even his glorification, his elevation to the status of a martyr in the service of Islam does not come as a surprise to me. Threats to the Indians - In th

I was honestly wondering about the reality or what I perceive it as. And this is what I came across. Of course, I could have ignored it. But since God himself or Himself has decided to come up with a statement, I simply couldn't brush it aside. Ain't no 72 virgins waiting for you, fellas. — God (@TheTweetOfGod) January 9, 2015 This might break some hearts and disappoint young folks who wish to hurry up, literally. Oh, btw, I just uploaded a super cool post on SEO, regarding how to share content better. Do check it out. :D In any case, just when I was about to sign off, I had this clarification - that popped out from the Notification area - I am the Lord thy God, King of the Universe, the omnipotent and omniscient Creator of Space and Time, and I can take a fucking joke. — God (@TheTweetOfGod) January 9, 2015 Have a nice weekend!

Waiting for an appraisal meeting is always difficult. Honestly speaking, I am more excited than scared. Last two years were not all that great, so I hope this time I am in a rather relaxed mood in comparison. Let's see what happens this time. On another note, the world is being shaken up by events that I understand little about. The Charlie Hebdo attacks have thrown many accepted points of view into question. Primary among them is the fact that the attacks have found some considerable support from many moderate voices among the Moslem communities. In any case, these are strange times. Once the mud settles down we can hope to see more clearly.

I have seen various types of people in life. From armchair warriors to snobs etc etc. Religious or ethnic hatred is one of the most common that I have seen. But so far all of those had some political ideology mixed with faith. For example I have mixed with conservative Hindus who did not like Muslims, and fanatical Muslims baying for Hindu/Sikh/Jain/Buddhist blood. But the Hindu was invariably a Hindutvadi or a BJP supporter or something of that sort. The Muslim would also be an Islamist. This time I met a third kind - pure hatred, that does not derive it's strength from any political ideology. This beautiful lady hates Muslims without having any affinity to the Hindutva ideology and not even any to Modi or RSS or the like. I am yet to come to terms with the exceptional exception but I will produce her answers to some of my questions, without any modification. I, of course, don't endorse any of this nor do I insinuate that she is a hate monger. I don't wish to portray he

Recently in India all nutjobs from across the political spectrum are busy painting terrorists with religious brushes. The ultimate motivation for this action is unknown to me. But let's briefly discuss how evil the Hindus have become. In the last few years some of the vilest crimes committed are by Hindus. These are Samjhauta Express Bombing Malegaon blasts version 2008 - apparently terrorists have a certain fixation with this place Mecca Masjid bombing - This mosque is in India and not in Mecca I could not find any major involvement other than these. For an evil militant Hindu civilization, such poor record is disturbing. But anyway - let's examine them one by one. Check out the captions - you are looking at one of Indian media's judgements passed against an individual to increase sales. Note terms - Hindu terror and 'The Believer'. The movie is about a neo Nazi fanatic who likes to attack Jews. Check out the poster here. I did not find any similar

Ajmal Kasab on his tour in Mumbai - Mumbai Terror Attack Islamic terrorism is a reality and anyone denying it is living in denial. It is also a known fact that the terror activities are largely inspired by faith. Of course, when I asked a mufti he said it was entirely due to politics and there may have been some religious justification but that the casus belli was politics. So this quesiton has been posed many times by academics, scholars, intellectuals, right wing lunatics, conservatives, bleeding heart liberals and so on. Everyone has their own point of view. Of course there are plenty of verses that can be used to justify the acts of terrorism. I can say that there is plenty of justification present in other Abrahamic religions. But hey, Jews are not blowing up a bus of school children in Iran. Christian extremists are considered extreme even when they only shout against abortion. But Islamists have been engaging in acts of terror long before 9/11. This post is not a

The man made pyre Once upon a time in the dark days of February..... The evening mist has just settled. A middle aged man wrapped in a grey shawl waits in the station. Beside him is a cup of tea, long since cold. On his right is a Gujarati newspapers loosely folded. On the paper is a big Motorola cellphone. Just about a hundred meters away a couple of house are filled with strangers. Numbering about 30, they remain in silence waiting for a call from a Motorola wireless transmitter. A couple of days ago, news came in that women and children were coming in from kar seva. On route to home, they would have to pass through a small station in rural Gujarat. The group were to take part in a small 'welcoming'. As the middle aged man looked at his watch, the station signboard glistened at the passing lights of some nearby car. It read - Godhra. Substantial preparations were already made for the party. The photographers among them were highly trained and equipped w

The message is clear. USA will leave Afghanistan. So will all NATO forces. It is nice to see that American intentions are laid bare. Once the job is done, they are content to go. The Afghans can kill themselves, thrash their women to death, stone people, indulge in terror attacks in the neighborhood, blow up babies, pour acid or shoot women and so on. All is fine as long as USA is not again attacked. Fine job, gentlemen. If they would have said we are coming to get Osama, I would have had some respect for them. But all those talks of 'bringing democracy' sounds just so hollow. USA does not care. It never did. Afghanistan is a hell hole. There is no doubt about it. It was a shit hole and a hell hole before the Americans arrived. If you walk the streets of the country, you may feel transported to the 9th century or earlier. Brutality reigns supreme and whatever compassion is there is enshrined in tribal codes and does not usually come out of compassion. With the NATO presence

It was 15th June, 2004. Gujarat Police gunned down four people between the Gandhinagar - Ahmedabad road. The killed were Ishrat Jahan Raza aged 19, Javed Gulam Sheikh, Amjad Ali Rana and Zeeshan Johar. Allegations were raised that the encounter was fake. In 2004 itself, a Lahore based publication of the Lashkar e Tayyiba confirmed that Ishrat Jahan and the other three were indeed operatives. This definitely gave a jolt to many parties who were crying foul. After three longs years, Jamaat-ud-Dawa stated that it was a 'journalistic mistake' to include the name of Ishrat Jahan and sent an apology to her family. This stirred the other folks into action. The hibernating political jumbos immediately filed a number of cases and after a long investigation, that is after 5 years, the Ahmedabad Metropolitan court declared that the encounter was staged . Important thing to note here is that it did not claim that Ishrat Jahan was innocent. Something quite damning then happened. Dav

Kashmir is a beautiful place. Just like the rest of the world, Kashmir is also home to many rockstar Islamists Secularists. Problem is that Kashmiris are a generally peaceful lot. Unlike their neighbors in the South, East and West they primarily have rice all day. Just like Bengalis. But out of this population sometimes some young guy gets highly inspired - helped by a few overly 'vigilant' CRPF guys. Also attach to this the romantic aspirations of freedom, secularism, Islamism etc etc. You end up confused. Getting a way out of this confusion and reaching a conclusion is more difficult than killing someone. Quite a few do so. No. This is not the guy! This guy is really dangerous. Haneef was a normal guy. Her mother fell down the road after an Army truck speed past her. The poor old woman could not take it. She slipped and fell. A few bones got dislocated. But due to ignorance or poverty she was neglected and after almost a year she died. Haneef convicted the Indian Army

Islamic Terrorism is Unique in our Time Islamic terrorism is defined as    a form of  religious terrorism [1]  committed by extremists of  Islam  for the purpose of achieving varying political and/or religious ends. Now many posts have targeted the term saying it to be discriminatory. Well, it is true. It is discriminatory. But you know why? Because they should be discriminated against. It is a security mechanism. I am not going to say that morally it is something right to do. But personally it is unavoidable if you live in a country with a sizable Muslim population.  What sets Islamic Terrorism apart from other forms of Terrorism? I read an amazing post here. This point has been repeated in many places. They are indeed true and thought provoking, but the comparison is not justifiable. Islamic terrorism terrorizes with a specific purpose - to establish terror in the hearts of kafirs  and by subversive means 'guide' them to the 'true path' of Islam. The ultimat