ambainny

Sagarika Ghose has a good piece on the choice presented between "Panties and Perverts" by two very divergent groups in India, the "rootless elite" and the Shiv Sena. Two Indias are pulling in different directions Both the zealot and the sex symbol claim to be the defining face of a new India. Pramod Muthalik, Sri Ram Sene chief says that he represents a tidal wave of public revulsion against western culture. In sharp contrast, bare midriffs and cleavages stare down from every hoarding as if to declare proudly that it is they who represent the aspirations of every young Indian. A Facebook group, `A Consortium of Pub-Going Loose and Forward Women' (a group to which your columnist also belongs) is now planning to send "pink chaddis" to Pramod Muthalik in protest. No one doubts that the Sene's actions are loathesome and unacceptable, but sending pink underwear to perverts is pretty undignified too. In fact, therein lies the dilemma of most educated In...

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A wonderful guest blog post on Devis with Babies, by a man and how he works on his relationship. My son was born a nearly bewildering three years ago. My amazing wife of almost seven years is due to give birth to our precious baby girl very soon. My wife's jovial father lost an excruciating two year battle with cancer at the beginning of this year. My own father underwent double bypass surgery four months before my wedding day. Life delivers perspective with all of the subtlety of a woman in labor demanding an epidural. It's this perspective that I've learned to try to keep in mind as I wage war on myself and others in my role as a son, father and husband. I'm no wiser or less fallible than any other man or woman, nor do I try to be. I'm simply satisfied knowing that I attempt to live each day so that at its end I can say that it was, in sum, a happy one (not a perfect one). Not that they have always been or will always be happy days (I can recall many tough days an...

Visibly pregnant Spanish Defense Minister Carme Chacon reviews an honor guard of Spanish troops. Thanks Nayan for the link

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sheba Thayil, writes about Lata Mani's latest book Sacred/Secular and her interesting experiences after her accident. FACE TO FACE Inner journeys SHEBA THAYIL Author and cultural critic Lata Mani talks about how a horrific accident changed her lives in more ways than one. I was being taught to open to every one of life’s experiences as being inherently meaningful. We all live in such a productivist environment that unless we are seen to be doing something, we do not recognise the value of our existence. To be reading Chris Hitchens’ God is not Great and then get a copy of Lata Mani’s SacredSecular is one of those moments when you have to believe there is no such thing as coincidence. Their style is as wildly differing as their substance but when you learn that to Mani, God is the love that visited her on a hospital bed, you tend to understand better than ever what the Hitch meant when he said religion is man-made. Mani sees it from another angle. “The sacred,” she says, “came looki...

Babble has an article on single motherhood by actress Kimberly Elise. What's important to you as a single parent? I make sure my daughters know they have no limitations, that everything about who they are is an asset. Being black is an asset. Being a woman is an asset. I also want them to know they should never let anyone tell them anything about them is a liability. And I think it's important to let them explore the world and to investigate what speaks to them, not point them in any specific direction. But I also want to give them exposure so they can find things and not feel limited.

What is this fear? Why are you, why is anybody, afraid? Is it based on not wanting to be hurt? Or is it that one wants complete security, and not being able to find it - this sense of complete safety, of protection, physically, emotionally, psychologically - one becomes terribly anxious about living? - so there is this sense of uncertainty. Now why is there fear? You have been hurt, haven't you? And out of that hurt you do all kinds of things. We resist a great deal, we don't want to be disturbed; out of that feeling of hurt we cling to something which we hope will protect us. Therefore we become aggressive towards anything that attacks what we are holding on to for protection. As a human being sitting here, wanting to resolve this problem of fear what is it that you are frightened of? Saanen, 7 August 1971

CM 's blog has a document by Ensaaf on Violent deaths and Enforced disappearances during the Counterinsurgency in Punjab 1984 to 1993.

3qd again on the blend of Japanese and Sri Lankan Ceramic traditions. by Aditya Dev Sood From my window, I can see the illuminated window of a shop named Dankotuwa, which promises ‘world-class tableware.’ It seems a dated claim, one that we’ve stopped making in India. I’m in Colombo on work, but this seems a fateful time to be in Sri Lanka. My ride in from the airport was interrupted at three different checkpoints, and at each of them the identity cards of my driver and his companion were checked and my passport was scrutinized. I’d been fantasizing about renting a motorcycle and driving around the countryside on my free Saturday, but there is a tension in the air, and a surfeit of paramilitary presence everywhere. Earlier this week, a Letter from the Grave was published around the world, and the Sinhalese Army is said to be on its way to finally wiping out the Tamil L.T.T.E. It’s looking like Dankotuwa might be all I’ll be doing on Saturday morning. The next afternoon, after a field ...