Letter from Dhiraj Bhandary

Hi NL Team,

Let me jump straight to the Anand Vardhan episode in Hafta 116. I shall not comment on the gang up, use of expletives etc …. But I think Ranga Uncle’s article on Farook and the art of selective amnesia of not just the media but the general public (in India and world over) kind of puts things in perspective. But I would like to comment that there was a comment that Madhu made about her generation of people feeling that Hindus felt that they were weaker and being pushed over, that is what Anand Vardhan should have latched onto rather than use “feminization”. And I would also add that Hindus even today (minus the VHP’s and Bajrang Dals) feel the same even today. 

I have used the word – “feminization” on purpose, because unfortunately even there – things have turned into ugly “Us vs Them, Man vs Women” debates. From a time when say 10-15 years ago when things would be allowed to pass, today there is a lot more finger pointing rather than letting it go. Which has more to do with the mental concept that if you allow 1 there will be 100’s queuing up to use the loop hole. Being a man, to consciously to do the right non offensive thing is sometimes very difficult which is why men tend to shut up.

It is sad that today we have to take sides on everything. 

I for one support the BJP but I am an atheist, I believe in humanism love animals but do not think twice before I eat my Chicken Tikka or my KFC. I believe in capitalistic GDP growth and socialistic spending. India has been guilty of doing the opposite for a long while. Oh ya I also hold a Masters in Renewable Energy but I am at present working for an Oil and Gas company. Beat that …..

The point I am trying to make is of my contradictory beliefs and circumstances. It seems today having such beliefs are wrong and unacceptable and that is why I found Mr Ranaganathan’s article on Farooq as well as that of Islam and BR Ambedkar to be brilliant. Comprehensive, well researched and referenced (No wonder he heads the science desk) and very nuanced. When I joined my MSc at Manchester, one thing we were constantly told was Dont stop questioning, status quo means nothing :). Dig as deep to reach the absolute truth because there is nothing more pure powerful and offensive as the truth. 

I mean cows were sacrificed and eaten by the Hindus who sacrificed them. 

We all know religious conversions and wapsis have a monetary element to it. 

Despite supporting BJP,

 I feel ashamed of the surrogate bill which says that you can use only the next of kin as a surrogate. In our culture, is it possible that anyone would ask the next of kin ….. 

The shambolic defeat of the Gay bill put forward by Shashi Tharoor. 

Tarun Vijay going bonkers on South Indians being dark skinned. By the way Abhinandan which side are you on – Punjab ya Tamil Nadu :P. Honestly if you were to reply with I don’t take sides that would be the right answer and no not a diplomatic one. 

But can I express such seemingly contradictory points of view without being visualized as a mentally unstable person, take your pick ! 

Charvaka was an atheist and was a scholar in the nasthik belief. Hence Nasthik was the atheistic sect of Hinduism. Why do I bring this up. Well the two biggest propagators of the two nation theory – Jinnah and Savarkar were both if not atheistic, agnostic to say the least. Is that not hilarious ? Maybe not because for Savarkar it was a way of life and Jinnah as the leader of Pakistan had made it a secular state, Ayub Khan made it Islamic. 

All this I write only to show the ironies ….. Maybe the bard of Avon realized this when he said – All world’s a stage. And all men and women merely players. Isnt the irony striking. Isn’t the world we live in today with a lack of comprehensive understanding an absolute comedy. I find the contradictions amusing, putting me on the verge of bursting into laughter. 

Would love to hear all your views on what I have written. Politics bahot ho gaya, Science Desk bhi khol diya, ab thodi chai aur biscuit par thodi bahut philosophy ho Jawey 🙂 

Best Regards, 

Dhiraj

Letter from Sneha Uplekar

Dear NL Hafta team, 

As is customary to the point of being ritualistic, let me announce that I am a SUBSCRIBER. 

Now that I’ve professed my allegiance to the tribe, let me also confess that I’ve been consuming NL content since 2013, but it was only recently that my conscientious better half (while overhearing Abhinandan’s attempt at shaming freeloaders) heckled me into finally paying up; glad that I did. I’m a designer and film maker living in the UK, and NL is one of the few places I turn to for news and comment re. India. 

Some thoughts about the discussion about liberalism vs conservatism – I find that the categorisation Abhinandan made to be puzzling. When you say conservative, do you mean someone who’s socially conservative? Say someone wants to preserve innocuous cultural traditions, does that make them conservative in your argument, someone with a dark, gaping hole instead of a ‘soul’? 🙂 When you say liberal, do you mean someone who supports personal liberty? Or liberal values? (these can often fall into contradictory positions) I think it is necessary to define these terms very narrowly, especially terms which are already being used loosely in popular discourse, and ESPECIALLY when you launch into dramatic soliloquys attributing moral turpitude and dark gaping soul-holes 🙂 

Don’t get me wrong, I find your passionate monologues very entertaining. But in truth, the broad categories of left or right, liberal or conservative have become largely meaningless. It’s a spectrum and it’s about individual positions. 

Firstly, because the overarching paradigm of our times is Neoliberal Capitalism, where every country in the world irrespective of political or social ideology has a share of this pie and believes in the same common definitions of progress and development, is willing to accept and CREATE the same victims as collateral damage, and nobody is offering any real alternative to it despite its many pitfalls, no matter how politically left you travel.

But secondly, and more relevant to the sense of your argument, there are other problems in these categorizations. Here in the UK for instance, it’s quite interesting to see the left, which has traditionally been in favour of gender equality and freedom, or LGBTQ rights, being quite silent on these issues when it comes to ethnic and religious minorities. So what can sometimes happen is that the minorities will get represented only by the conservative or, if you will, the ‘right-wing’ voices within it, which gives rise to rather unlikely alliances. One does see a slight loss of consistency on the defense of liberal values when other factors such as religion, race or demographics come into play. The very unfortunate part is that this inconsistency has been seized upon by divisive and nativist voices in Europe and elsewhere for furthering their agenda, in obvious ways. 

I found Anand’s epiphany regarding social Darwinism intriguing, if somewhat unclear. He said the Darwinian theory of evolution can be used for ‘psychoanalyzing’ humans, and then concluded that conservatism is somehow ‘anti-science’ but in the sense of being ‘anti-evolution’? In my limited understanding of the origins of religion, religion has had evolutionary advantages, which explains the fact that it has survived both as a meme and in practice. Aren’t religion/clan/nation all categories essentially based on the same principle – tribalism? To want to conserve the integrity of any of these categories is driven by the same impulse, one which humans and other primates seem to have been hardwired for and one that seems to have served an evolutionary purpose. 

Of course human civilisation should have by now outgrown these impulses, but it clearly hasn’t. On the contrary, things will probably only become worse as resource shortage and climate change begins to play a greater role in the future. 

Anand’s brief comment on population genetics in India led me to read this paper – fascinating. However, he claimed that the manusmriti was an addendum to the Rigveda which seems implausible, since both texts are dated more than a thousand years apart at the very least? Would it be possible to share a source for this claim that the manusmriti is in any way related to the Rigveda? 

Regarding the tagging of cattle, this is commonly done in several so called developed nations. In the UK for instance, all domestic livestock including cows and pigs need to be registered, tagged with an RFID ear tag and have a passport if they are to be moved out of or into the country. This is for record keeping as well as to ensure that livestock is being responsibly managed. 

Good to have Deepanjana back. Does this mean she’s going to rescue Awful and Awesome? Kidding. Sree and DP have great chemistry which unfortunately Abhinandan cannot replicate or improve upon. Also, who can battle change aversion? Not his fault.

Lastly, I just want to say – Newslaundry is doing important work in a time when media is increasingly disconnected and agenda driven, not to mention facing unprecedented levels of mistrust. Well done and thank you Madhu, Abhinandan and everyone else. 

To alleviate the guilt for being a freeloader for so long, I plug you when possible and have talked a friend into subscribing. I may be godless but I do believe in redemption! 🙂

Love to all the team, 

Sneha