November 2010
6 posts
Emperor Babur - the Great Indian
DR N S Rajaram is a noted writer, who has published several books on topics related to ancient Indian history and Indian archeology. He has always felt the presence of Eurocentric biased undercurrents in mainstream Indology and the way history is taken in Independent India. According to him, “Its creators were driven mainly by European colonial and Christian missionary interests.”...
Tuzkoy - the Cancer village of Turkey
TURKEY IS located at the crossroads of Europe and Asia which makes it a country of significant geo-strategic importance. Modern Turkey has a rich past. Today, it encompasses bustling cosmopolitan centers, pastoral farming villages, barren wastelands, peaceful Aegean coastlines and steep mountain regions. Its landscape is dotted with battlegrounds, ruined castles and the palaces of great...
Freedom of Expression
LET US look at some simple facts about Kashmir history and thus will emerge some unanswered questions. Before August 15, 1947, the Republic of India did not exist. Maharaja Hari Singh signed the instrument of accession on Oct 26, 1947. Why it took so long for the Maharaja to sign it? What was cooking in his mind? Was there no war of independence going against his dynastic rule in Kashmir when...
What a fall IIT Roorkee
IIT ROORKEE is acknowledged as one of the best technological institutions across the globe. The need for a technological institution in the country was initiated by Sir James Thomason in 1847 as Roorkee College. Earlier in 1854, it was christened as Thomason College of Engineering until it was granted a University status by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru vide [Act No. IX of 1948 of the United Province...
Don't stop dreaming
THE RENOWNED Urdu poet Parveen Shakir has said: “Neend jab khwabon se pyaari ho to aaise waqt mein, Khwab dekhe koun aur khwabon ko de tabeer koun? (in times when we love to sleep, who would care to dream and give the sound interpretations). I couldn’t agree less with her as I also believe that our gigantic and insurmountable problems of today are the product of our inability to dream. We...
President Obama Yes you can !
“Yes, we can !” ‘No, you can’t !” It’s a reminder of pathos we face every day. People love to abandon when we are in adversity. It doesn’t matter if it is of our own making or circumstances have heaped upon us. The difference between an ordinary man / woman and a statesman is the way we react. A great statesman would never allow himself to be the victim of circumstances for too long. He...
October 2010
2 posts
Fiddlers on the Knesset
IT COULD have been the case of ‘left hand doesn’t know what the right hand is doing’ if it didn’t involve Benjamin Netanyahu and his most powerful Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman. “A final agreement between Israel and the Palestinians has to be based on a programme of exchange of territory and populations,” Lieberman told the United Nations General Assembly in New York. And a...
The true Colors of CNN
WWW.MERINEWS.COM
WE HAVE been fed a lesson since our childhood that freedom of expression is the corner-stone of American policy; that Americans are the conscience keepers and guardians of civil liberty and democracy in the world. The Statue of Liberty symbolizes that spirit. Freedom of expression is one of the most fundamental rights that an individual must enjoy even if he can‘t enjoy...
September 2010
7 posts
Religion - the most exploited commodity
www.merinews.com
IF YOU pore seriously at the old speeches of Adolf Hitler you can easily conclude that he was not an atheist or follower of any ancient European cult as some want us to believe. He believed in god, in providence and also in fate. He spoke about God, fanaticism, idealism, dogma, and the power of propaganda and he had justified his fight for the German people and against Jews...
To Jews with Hope and Love
Having lived in close proximity of Indian Jews in Bombay (now Mumbai) at Mazgaon and Bombay Central I had always admired their candid style of thinking, perspicuity and cleanliness. I was lucky to have Mr. Edwin Mendoza, as a principal of my College at Oxford Street IN London. I’ve known Jews who were honest, magnanimous, accommodative, creative, religious and pious. On 18 th Sep 2010 Jewish...
Unequal Partners and a Partisan Broker at Sharm El...
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: Sep 14, 2010 15:31 Updated: Sep 15, 2010 00:28
SHARM EL-SHEIKH, Egypt: Convening a new round of negotiations Tuesday between Israel and the Palestinians, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said the “time is ripe” for a Mideast peace deal.
Clinton sat down with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and...
Desecrating the Holy Books - a religious madness
www.merinews.com
SOMETIMES BACK this author had written about the insensitive, irrational and idiotic idea of putting a mosque near Ground Zero. “Unnecessary Provocation” is not the way of Islam. The irony is that the followers of all religions, when they delve into the faith of their interpretation and imbibe, the more fanatic and unreasonable they become. Jews believe themselves to be...
Jews and Muslims - the Monotheistic Cousins
www.merinews.com
“THE IDEA that contemporary Anti-Semitism by Muslims is authentically Islamic ‘touches on some truths, yet it misses many others’. Anti-Semitism is due only partially to Israeli policies, about which Muslims may have a deep sense of injustice and loss. But the primary causes of Muslim Anti-Semitism to modern European ideologies, which have infected the Muslim world.” Thus speaks...
Govinda Aa la Re
www.msn.com
Dahi Handi Celebrations are a mixed ****tail of religion, devotion, fun, adventure and sports. Being an old Mumbaikar I have enjoyed this festival. It is an expression of collective spirit of joy, exhilaration and bravery. There is no coercion in participation in this sports. Those who are willing to take risk of injury are akin to other sportsmen who take risk in other games. I...
Stephen Hawking - a brush with God
www.merinews.com
STEPHEN HAWKING, a journalist called him ‘Master of Universe’. For others he is ‘Einstein’s heir’, ‘the greatest genius of twentieth century’ and ‘the finest mind alive’. This science prodigy, at the age of 21, was diagnosed to be a victim of wasting disease ALS which is also known as Motor Neuron Disease. It was a hazard that forced him to spend his life confined to a wheelchair...
August 2010
16 posts
History in the making - the American Retreat
www.merinews.com
HISTORY WAS in the making in Iraq. Heavy armoured military vehicles, with their headlights on, in the predawn freshness were crossing, hopefully forever, the barbed wires and the metal gates that make the border between Iraq and Kuwait. It was an early Thursday and the last day for many US troops, who were desperate to go back home to their families. For them one chapter of life...
Suicide Bomb in Baghdad again ! When this madness...
Arab News
Baghdad suicide bomb hits army recruits, kills 61
Residents mourn as they wait to claim bodies of bomb attack victims outside a morgue in Baghdad. (Reuters)
By ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: Aug 17, 2010 16:10 Updated: Aug 18, 2010 00:46
BAGHDAD: A suicide bomber sat for hours Tuesday among hundreds of army recruits before detonating nail-packed explosives...
Eden Aberjil - the tip of the iceberg of depravity
www.merinews.com
WE LIVE in a civilised world where we care for the dignity of enemy combatants. Prisoners of war are entitled to full freedom of religion and discrimination based on race, colour, or ethnicity is prohibited. Given the breadth of these rights, prisoners of war often enjoy greater protection under the rules of war than they would under the domestic laws of their captor....
Iran, Israel, U.S. and Nuclear Bomb
Deccan Chronicle
Iranian bomb not just an Israeli concern
-By Christopher Hitchens & Comments by Naim Naqvi
// ]]
// ]]]]>]]> With Russia’s ever-helpful policy of assisting Iran to accelerate its reactor programme, allied to the millimetrical progress of sanctions on the regime of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Iran’s President, and the increasingly hopeless state of negotiations with the...
Who will guard the guards in Kashmir ?
www.merinews.com
IT IS a real story of North Kashmir. No, I am not talking of any ‘kalyug’ or ‘Ravan Raj’. It is the story of a land once proclaimed to be “Agar bahist-e-bareen bar sar-ey zameen ast; hameen ast, hameen ast, hameen ast (if there is a paradise upon earth then it is here, it is here, it is here)” It is a story of treachery and hatred, it is story of cold blood murders. Who will...
Happy Ramadan to all
www.merinews.com
IN A beautiful tolerant Indian society one doesn’t need to tell what is Ramadan. In many localities, several fast-breaks are organised by non-Muslims as a gesture of goodwill, friendship and respect towards their Muslim brothers throughout Ramadan. Fasting is an exercise of discipline and an act of absolute worship; an unconditional surrender to the will of God. You can’t fast and...
Kashmir Problem and Dr. Manmohan Singh
Indian Express
Nation in shambles—— By: romesh.sharma | 10-Aug-2010 Reply | Forward What a pity to have such incompetant,inefficient,dishonest,callous and dispassionate so to say leaders who failed to resolve Kashmir issue though there had been times of peace and opportunities to be availed.What for a silly statement of PM saying “we need Political solution”!Who...
Netanyahu - a vagabond who can't face the reality
Indian Express
Israel has threatened to pull out of a UN inquiry into a deadly raid on a Turkish flotilla heading for Gaza, after the UN chief said there is no agreement that the panel would refrain from calling Israeli soldiers to testify. Last week Israel agreed to participate in the UN probe into the May 31 raid, when nine pro-Palestinian activists were killed after Israeli naval commandos...
Cloudburst
On August 6th 2010, a series of cloudbursts have left 44 persons dead and over 300 injured in the frontier Leh town of Ladakh. Massive land and mudslides triggered by the bursts and flash floods that followed. Cloudbursts struck the town at approximately midnight, triggering flash floods and mudslides. This article is not about the tragedy but a subject study of the mystery of atmospherics...
Kashmir needs sympathy not bullets
www.merinews.com
AN ARTICLE by Neetu Banga in Merinews about Kashmir made a sensible reading. I have commented in a newspaper earlier that the land, which has produced glittering jewel like Shah Faisal, who topped the IAS exam this year is not a paradise of fools. The youth of Kashmir are all well informed and well connected thorough Internet, TV., news magazines and Radio that has put them at...
BJP will never change !
Indian Express
BJP would never learn By: Naim Naqvi | Friday , 6 Aug ‘10 17:36:02 PM Reply | Forward Older the goose harder to pluck. It is too late to expect BJP to change its lower ethos and low level of political morality. Those who objected artist MF for some piece of art are themselves making a mockery of norms of politics and culture. This cartoon is a reflection of a level of...
The Hindu Fantics
Indian Express
These fanatics do not believe in Law of the Land.By: Naim Naqvi | Friday , 6 Aug ‘10 17:57:57 PM Reply | Forward If they are defeated in next election there is another Qureshi heading the Election Commission against whom they would cry. This is not unexpected from the supporters of BJP and Narendra Modi to call names to those who go according to the law of the land....
Saudi Women - victim of isolation and ignorance
www.merinews.com
IF YOU believe that you can buy every thing with money, you are mistaken. We live in an enlightened world or so we are told. However, sometimes the power of wealth and glitter of religion also can’t take you far if the dominant society incarcerates you in a golden cage of ignorance. The women of Saudi Arabia are a living proof of this statement. Today, the women of Saudi...
World knows the difference between facts and...
Indian Express
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad’s motorcade was not attacked by a grenade on Wednesday, an official in his media office said, explaining that an explosion was from a “firecracker.” “It was a firecracker, and a statement will be released soon,” the source said. He was responding to reports on a conservative website that a hand grenade had exploded...
Wedding of the most protected and shielded...
www.merinews.com I AM really fortunate to have a better half, who knows about all my acts of omissions and commissions in life at least after our marriage. She is the home minister, finance minister and foreign minister. Naturally, with the blight of recession, inflation and Commonwealth Games our resources, like every middle class or lower middle class Indian are strained if not torn apart at...
Disillusioned Indian Muslim Intellectuals who had...
Deccan Chronicle
By Jawaid Naqvi
Saturday will mark the 30th death anniversary of Mohammed Rafi, India’s singing legend who was loved beyond the borders of South Asia. Though he was paired with many playback singers over a career spanning four decades, his more memorable songs were rendered with the iconic female vocalist, Lata Mangeshkar. Rafi was a Punjabi Muslim, Lata a Maharashtrian Hindu....
July 2010
27 posts
Nitin Gadkari did it again !
Indian Express
You have really improved Mr. Gadkari this timeBy: Naim Naqvi | Tuesday , 27 Jul ‘10 18:22:13 PM Reply | Forward We never expected any intelligent comment from Mr. Gadkari knowing his old Trade Union Congressman-turned RSS background. However, let me congratulate the BJP president for using a fine language of sarcasm this time. Calling CBI the Congress Bureau of...
Mohammed Rafi - the immortal singer
www.merinews.com
IT WOULD be no exaggeration to state that Mohammed Rafi was the most versatile singer in the history of Indian Cinema. He was capable to sing for anyone in any style. Rafi proved his versatility by singing for Dilip Kumar, Dev Anand, Shammi Kapoor, Rajendra Kumar, Johnny Walker, Sunil Dutt, Biswajeet, Joy Mukherjee, Dharmendra, Shashi Kapoor, Raaj Kumar and Amitabh; and many...
When you rush the fences !
Indian Express
Pillai is not yet well versed in the art of International RelationsBy: Naim Naqvi | Tuesday , 27 Jul ‘10 12:25:51 PM Reply | Forward Common Sense dictates that when you negotiate with your adversaries you have to show restrain and try to encourage an atmosphere which should be conducive to a fruitful talk. The more detailed dictionary definition of Diplomacy is the the...
The Fallen Tower of BJP - Amit Shah
Amit Shah, an old friend and a close aide to Gujarat C.M. Narendra Modi made a dramatic entry into the BJP office in Ahmedabad at 11.35 am and angrily denied the charges that he was involved in the 2005 killing of Sohrabuddin Sheikh, an alleged Lakshar-e-Taiba activist. He tried to put up a bold posture and made a detailed defense of his case before the gaggle of journalists and then he drove to...
Helen Thomas - the latest victim of US Freedom of...
HYPOCRISY-THY name is US Freedom of Press ! Since the fall of Great Britain, after the second World War, we have been fed with a belief that US is the “greatest in the world,” “the greatest ever,” or “the greatest in the history of mankind.” Some older nations—that have survived many cycles of history—might think this strange. Greece, Rome,...
What's Kashmir Martyr's Day
www.merinews.com
IN 1814, Jammu became part of the Sikh Kingdom of the Punjab, under Maharaja Ranjit Singh. Ranjit Singh bestowed the place as a jagir on Gulab Singh, who belonged to the Jamwal Rajput clan that ruled Jammu. As a jagirdar for the Sikhs, Gulab Singh extended the boundaries of the Sikh kingdom to western Tibet with the help of Zorawar Singh. The Sikh rule was then extended beyond the...
The academic and cultural boycott of Israel
www.merinews.com
RSS AND its fellow travelers in Congress have succeeded in selling one idea - India and Israel are both victims of Islamist terrorism; India and Israel are the only two states that are not caving in before the Islamic terror. After independence, the Nehruvian India had always kept aloof from Israel. India was one of the best friend of Palestine. The geo-politic realities like...
Shakira and Waka Waka
AFRICA HAS no dearth of singers, especially female to perform for the World Cup. To name a few: Amani from Kenya is one of the biggest female singing sensations of Africa and had been nominated for several awards. Siphokazi is one of the most popular Mzansi singer. Ary from Angola and Zamajobe from the host country South Africa - the soulful jazzy singer, and Lira from the same place who had an...
Kashmir - Call Mufti Mohd Saeed again
Deccan Chronicle
The Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister, Mr Omar Abdullah, on Saturday said that he had no intention of demitting office because of the recent developments in the state.
Rejecting suggestions that his government or the state security forces had lost control over the law and order situation prevailing in the state, Mr Abdullah said: “I will not resign. I, and neither my government,...
Don't hang our values before you hang Afzal Guru
Indian Express
By: Naim Naqvi | 10-Jul-2010 Reply | Forward Nitin Gadkari is a pathetic example of bad upbringing and ugly politics. You ought not to go in society if you can’t accommodate yourself in it. BJP or RSS JUGGENAUT are not left with any option but to defend this putrid diatribe of its pigmy politician. In the heart of hearts, everyone who is taking up the cudgels for Gadkari...
Twin tales from one nation
This writer has tasted poverty himself and knows well about its different shades. As famous Urdu poet Moin Hasan Jazbi had said - “Rang-e-Sahba aour hai, sahba ki masti aour hai; Khwaab-e-hasti aour hai, tabeer-e-hasti aour hai; Zikr-e-pasti aour hai, ehsas-e-pasti aour hai.” Close transliteration : Color of wine is different than the pleasures of wine. Dreams of existence are different from...
BJP Chief should be sent to reformatory
On 12 th May 2010 at Chandigarh, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) president Nitin Gadkari Wednesday said Samajwadi Party chief Mulayam Singh Yadav and Rashtriya Janata Dal (RJD) leader Lalu Prasad were like “dogs who lick the feet of the Congress” but later took back his words saying he didn’t mean to be offensive. In a rally at Dehradoon, Gadkari accused Mulayam Singh and Lalu...
Sonia Gandhi is getting awful bad advice these...
Indian Express
Gimmicks would help to no one By: Naim Naqvi | 08-Jul-2010 Reply | Forward Let the Congress Party understand that it can’t win the elections on the wings of frightful memories. What had happened in Gujarat would haunt the memories of every Indian with a conscience till Naredra Modi flaunts his diabolic presence in the political sky of Gujarat. However, Modi had failed to...
How to surmount my ego
MSNIndia
- by Naim Naqvi 02 May 2010 This story has been read 1097 times. Category: Technology Topic: Others
I do always harbor a delusion that I’m a nice man. I feel everyone should have a good opinion if not an fulsome admiration for me. I’m not Mr Perfect but I’m not a bad entity either. If you aren’t necessarily bad, you are a good man. I love the people I come in contact, why...
Shah Faisal gave us something to smile
MSNIndia
- by Naim Naqvi 07 May 2010
This story has been read 987 times. Category: Technology Topic: Others
In the finest hour of glory and fame a beaming Shah Faisal reminded me the following quotes: “Dictionary is the only place that success comes before work. Hard work is the price we must pay for success. I think you can accomplish anything if you’re willing to pay the price.” “The...
Mumbai or Bombay ?
MSNIndia
What’s in a name !
- by Naim Naqvi 12 May 2010 This story has been read 1849 times. Category: Technology Topic: Others
“Zara hut ke, zara bach ke, yeh hai Bombay meri jan.” The melody is old but still ringing fresh like the morning breeze for a lot of Indians who were born and brought up or landed in Bombay before 1993. They have an emotional nostalgic attachment to this...
The death of a 'Love Story'
MSNIndia
- by Naim Naqvi 24 Jun 2010
This story has been read 1617 times. Category: Technology Topic: Others
The Cecil B. DeMille of Indian Cinema Kamal Amrohi along with Khayyam Saheb were going over and over again through the 200 stanzas submitted by the lyricist for now the famous lyric “Aarzoo kya hai ? Justuju kya hai ?” which could be unsuccessfully translated - “What does the...
Does poverty result from the pathology of the...
MSNIndia
by Naim Naqvi 15 Jun 2010
This story has been read 392 times. Category: Technology Topic: Others
I had just finished the last bite of my anti-sugar Veg sandwich; gulped the last drop of sugar-free tea with dregs of absolutely extracted tea-leaves, allowed the specks to explore every available space inside the hidden territories of my mouth and spitted them out expecting tranquility of...
Winners and the Losers
www.merinews.com
It is a world of survival of the fittest. I know the fact that achievers shape this world and people like me get benefit of their hard work, devotion, sacrifices and abilities. They lead us and we follow them. But here the buck stops. We all are different. Those who follow are not necessarily absolutely devoid of the traits the successful people possesses. Many of the...