From lmadhura77 at gmail.com  Mon Oct  1 00:09:47 2007
From: lmadhura77 at gmail.com (madhura l)
Date: Sun, 30 Sep 2007 14:39:47 -0400
Subject: [Reader-list] Urban Spaces and Identity Creation: Post # 5
Message-ID: <4dea04310709301139mb0ca65dr8dab27f5d7bc8001@mail.gmail.com>

Hi all,
Sincere apologies for missing on the last two postings, but I was busy
organizing my visual data into a photoessay and it was a most interesting
exercise to say the least. It is not comprehensive, the images serve as a
lead to several areas which need to be explored in detail. But my aim in
constructing this photoessay is to flag off certain larger themes that
emerge from this study. I've also categorically made this into a format
which is devoid of any jargon  or a theoretical  exposition on  public
spaces.  For me, reaching to the maximum number of people with this theme is
as important as elaborating upon the theme itself.

I call my photoessay as 'Articulate Spaces' for self-evident reasons. It has
been divided into 5 themes in all and I'm really sorry for the extremely
unwieldy format that it has materialized onto my blog. If there is an easier
way to organize all these images and the accompanying text  I havent been
able to figure it out. So any help in this regards is most welcome.
The five themes are as follows:
Locating the Vartaphalak
Articulate Spaces
What they say
For Men Only...
People behind the Words.

I really look forward to your comments on the photoessay.
Here is the link:

http://vartaphalak-photos.blogspot.com/


Cheers,
Madhura


From peekayblr at dataone.in  Mon Oct  1 07:44:01 2007
From: peekayblr at dataone.in (Tara Kashyap)
Date: Mon, 01 Oct 2007 07:44:01 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] CFP  M/C - Media and Culture Journal 2007
References: <20061120104614.c4re7n1c4qo000@mail.mbar.fi>
Message-ID: <004401c803d0$bc22b050$0201a8c0@tara>

Dear All
Kindly note that we have changed over to Boradband, as such our new e-mail 
ID is peekayblr at dataone.in
With Regards
Tara Kashyap

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Tapio Makela" <tapio at translocal.net>
To: <reader-list at sarai.net>
Sent: Monday, November 20, 2006 2:16 PM
Subject: [Reader-list] CFP M/C - Media and Culture Journal 2007


>          M/C - Media and Culture
>                     http://www.media-culture.org.au/
>            is calling for contributors to the 2007 issues of
>
>                                M/C Journal
>                   http://journal.media-culture.org.au/
>
> M/C Journal is looking for new contributors. M/C is a crossover journal
> between the popular and the academic, and a blind- and peer-reviewed
> journal. In 2007, M/C Journal celebrates its tenth year in publication.
>
> To see what M/C Journal is all about, check out our Website, which 
> contains
> all the issues released so far, at <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/>.
> To find out how and in what format to contribute your work, visit
> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/journal/submission.php>.
>
>                              Call for Papers
>
> M/C Journal is now calling for contributions to its six issues scheduled
> for 2007. Articles should be up to 3000 words in length.
>
>
> 'mobile':  article deadline 17 January 2007, release date 14 March 2007
>           edited by Larissa Hjorth and Olivia Khoo
>           contact   mobile at journal.media-culture.org.au
>
> 'adapt':   article deadline 9 March 2007,    release date 2 May 2007
>           edited by Patrick West and Jeanette Delamoir
>           contact   adapt at journal.media-culture.org.au
>
> 'complex': article deadline 4 May 2007,      release date 27 June 2007
>           edited by Jayde Cahir and Sarah James
>           contact   complex at journal.media-culture.org.au
>
> 'home':    article deadline 29 June 2007,    release date 22 August 2007
>           edited by Andrew Gorman-Murray and Robyn Dowling
>           contact   home at journal.media-culture.org.au
>
> 'error':   article deadline 24 August 2007,  release date 17 October 2007
>           edited by Mark Nunes
>           contact   error at journal.media-culture.org.au
>
> 'vote':    article deadline 19 October 2007, release date 12 December 2007
>           edited by Graham Meikle
>           contact   vote at journal.media-culture.org.au
>
> For more information on these issues, please contact the editors, and see
> <http://journal.media-culture.org.au/journal/upcoming.php>.
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------------
> M/C - Media and Culture is located at <http://www.media-culture.org.au/>.
>
>
> Tapio Makela
> Researcher, media artist
> tapio at translocal.net
> _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> Critiques & Collaborations
> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with 
> subscribe in the subject header.
> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/> 



From theunderscoredhood at gmail.com  Mon Oct  1 12:56:47 2007
From: theunderscoredhood at gmail.com (Raheema Begum)
Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 12:56:47 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] [reader-list]Naomi Klein's 'The Shock Doctrine!'
Message-ID: <ba9e54260710010026p19268378s49cc47c661ce4048@mail.gmail.com>

'One of the world's most famous antiglobalization activists and the author
of the best seller "No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies," Klein
provides a rich description of the political machinations required to force
unsavory economic policies on resisting countries, and of the human toll.'
                   - Joseph
Stiglitz<http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/books/review/Stiglitz-t.html?_r=3&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=books&adxnnlx=1191080508-xgqHp+i170M7vW5X5Q4Yeg&oref=slogin&oref=slogin>

Watch The Shock Doctrine :
http://www.naomiklein.org/shock-doctrine/short-film


From theunderscoredhood at gmail.com  Mon Oct  1 13:21:51 2007
From: theunderscoredhood at gmail.com (Raheema Begum)
Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 13:21:51 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] [reader-list]Support the Burmese Uprisng
Message-ID: <ba9e54260710010051g7282a136k1a6dfb995a634648@mail.gmail.com>

Dear All,

This is an avaaz.org petition to support the Burmese Resistance.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/stand_with_burma

In solidarity,
Raheema.

http://raahi.wordpress.com


From sudeep.ks at gmail.com  Mon Oct  1 14:51:28 2007
From: sudeep.ks at gmail.com (Sudeep K S)
Date: Mon, 1 Oct 2007 14:51:28 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Campaign against death penalty
Message-ID: <ae74e8f90710010221q3a40fcbne4adc31f65e156ab@mail.gmail.com>

See mail below. I have signed the online campaign at
http://www.amnesty.org.in/dp/default.aspx

   -sudeep

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Joe Athialy <joe at amnesty.org.in>
Date: Sep 29, 2007 4:10 PM
Subject: Campaign against death penalty : Online petition - An Appeal

Dear friends,

We are reaching out to you with an appeal to support our campaign
against Death Penalty.
Amnesty International (AI) along with many other organisation all over
the world has been campaigning for the abolition of death penalty
worldwide since the early Seventies. We oppose the death penalty in
all cases and without exception believing it to be a violation of the
right to life and the right not to be subjected to cruel, inhuman and
degrading punishment. The death penalty legitimizes an irreversible
act of violence by the state and will inevitably claim innocent
victims, as has been persistently demonstrated.

The worldwide trend against death penalty has been gaining momentum,
with the European Union moving a resolution in the upcoming 62nd UN
General Assembly asking for a moratorium on death penalty. The
campaign against death penalty is led by AI and World Campaign Against
Death Penalty in mobilising support in favour of the resolution.

For more details, please visit http://www.amnesty.org.in/dp/deathPenalty.aspx

Among the few things that we are doing, one is an online petition.
Please sign the petition at http://www.amnesty.org.in/dp/petition.aspx

If you have any queries, please do not hesitate to revert back to us.

Your help means a lot to us.


Best,
Joe Athialy


Did you sign the petition?

Take a minute to sign a petition on death penalty |
http://www.amnesty.org.in/dp/default.aspx


Joe Athialy
Campaigns and Communication Coordinator
Amnesty International India
Program office: C 1/22, First Floor
Safdarjung Development Area
Hauz Khas, New Delhi - 110016

Tel:011-41642501, 26854763 Extn 22
Fax: 011-26510202
Email: joe at amnesty.org.in
Web: www.amnesty.org.in


From justjunaid at rediffmail.com  Mon Oct  1 21:04:12 2007
From: justjunaid at rediffmail.com (junaid)
Date: 1 Oct 2007 15:34:12 -0000
Subject: [Reader-list] Reply to Pawan
Message-ID: <20071001153412.14355.qmail@webmail6.rediffmail.com>

  
Mr. Pawan Durrani,

Possibly you should have read Mridu Rai's book to understand why Dogra rule was 'Hindu' and why other rulers Mughals and Afghans could not be described as essentially 'Islamic', though it was surely Muslims who ruled. (By the way, there were no separate Turks and Mughals who came to rule Kashmir). An Islamic rule would be one where laws are made on the bases of Koran and Hadith, and would be called as Sharia. Both temporal and spiritual realms would be regulated by it. Both civil and criminal law would be quintessentially Sharia. And they are made by religious scholars. This was not the case for Mughals or Afghans: It was either laws made by the sovereign or the tribal laws. And even though both may have invoked Koran and Hadith, yet most of their content was inspired by local needs than religious zeal or inspiration. (I should not be understood as saying Islamic law is anyway superior to other laws, like tribal laws etc. Or that Afghans or Mughal rule was any benign.)  

For Dogras, who drew a fake Rajput lineage, with an opportunistic support from state-sponsored historians, both Dogra and British, the way they invoked Hinduism in ruling Kashmir was stupendous. It is no secret that poor Kashmiri Muslim peasants were stripped bare by Dogra rulers to fund temple constructions in not only Kashmir and Jammu, but in Punjab too. The Dogras restarted the hated practice of Begar (forced labour), originally invented by ancient Hindu rulers of Kashmir. Begar resulted in wide spread death and destruction of Kashmir Muslims. Thousands of Muslim youth perished carrying load, like mules, barefooted, to Maharaja's Gilgit frontier. And while this was going on, Kashmir's Hindu population, laying exclusive claim to literacy, and through their landed influence, sustained this terrible rule loyally. (And they were powerful even during Mughal and Afghan times, when they occupied much of the bureaucratic positions). 

Dogras depended on the so-called Pandits to extract revenue from Kashmir's poor Muslim peasants as well as artisans. At times, despite verbal protests from even the East India Company officials who were so brutal in their own way, Gulab Singh took away half of the produce of the Muslim peasants. In his greed to collect more booty he even taxed marriages among Muslims. The Hindu Kashmiris were exempt. The Dogras took away the lands of some leftover Muslim elite and reduced them to penury, but during this time, the Hindu landlords expanded their estates. Thus a miniscule Hindu population, not more than 5 percent, came to rule 95 percent Muslims of Kashmir. That too brutally. 

Pawan Durrani should be given compensation for the grand estates his forefathers had to give up. But who will compensate all those millions of rickety, malnourished, barely clothed Kashmiri Muslim peasants who were not only materially degraded but dehumanized too? In 1947, by a sleight of hand, and without bothering to ask Kashmiri Muslims, who constitute an overwhelming majority of its people, Kashmir was handed by a Hindu ruler to India. In this, some Muslim political leaders were coaxed too; they realized but only too late. During this time, many Kashmiri Muslim leaders were forced into exile. During the same time, hundreds of thousands of Muslims from Jammu were either forced to flee or massacred. 

A bearded Kashmir Muslim militant provokes a frenzied response from Pawan, and he begins to shout: "Hatay Mauji, Islamic Fundamentalism hay aau!" For him an Indian soldier with a tilak on his forehead, a saffron ribbon around his waist, a poster of Shivji hanging inside his bunker is Bharat Mata's secular poot. 

In 1990, Kashmir's Hindus made a choice: They wanted India. That is why they left. No doubt there was a threat perception. Some Hindus were killed. According to Sumantra Bose out of 273 killings by 20th January 1990, almost 73 were Hindus. No doubt, disproportionate. Most of these were highly influential Hindus, including a Jan Sangh leader. No other minority left. Even though, many Sikhs were killed in Chattisinghpura, (by who, we should know by now) they remained in Kashmir. In a state-sponsored exodus one and a half lakh Hindus were transported overnight to Jammu and other Indian cities. And remember it was a day after Jagmohan took over as governor, and promised to punish Kashmiri Muslims. True to his word, after many Hindus left, he imposed a protracted curfew strangulating Kashmir's Muslims. Dozens of Kashmir's Muslims were massacred at a number of places. Gaw Kadal, just being one example. 

In Jashne Azadi, nowhere is it said that 60000 Muslims have been killed in 15 years. Although even by conservative estimates 80000 Kashmiri Muslims have been killed over these years (some believe that even the 10000 odd disappeared have been eliminated too), but the film leaves it open. It states how the actual number is widely conflicted.

It is not Kashmiri Muslims who Arabicized Kashmiri names. (Give examples if you can). It is in fact Dogras who Sanskritised it, and India which sustained it. Consider, for example, changing the popular name Islamabad to an official Anantnag. And it is not Kashmiri Muslims who deny Kashmir's ancient Hindu rulers, but Kashmir's Hindus who deny the existence of Kashmir's Muslims. It is as if all Kashmir is about is its miniscule Hindus. It is as if the only tragedy in Kashmir is that of its Hindus. As if death, destruction, plunder and rapine of its Muslims is not an issue that merits world's attention. It is time world speaks about Kashmir's Muslims. 

Much has been spoken about Hindus. Many lethargic comparisons have been made with Holocaust. Many chick pea-brained 'film makers' have lamented that world remained silent, while Kashmir's Hindus got free salaries, reservations in education and tremendous material support and publicity. It is time for appropriated voices to speak up. For stories buried in fake encounters to be exhumed. For alternative histories and memories to unsettle the state-sponsored, miniscule-made-mainstream, litanies.  

Pawan you really should run after Jashne-Azadi. Follow it wherever it goes. It might tire you out of your ignorance, prejudice, and hatred. 

Mohamad Junaid      
  
 

Pawan Durrani wrote:          

Dear All:
On Thursday September 20th Mr. Sanjay Kak's movie Jashn-e-Azadi (yajynya has
become Jashn-e)was screened in the Louis McMillan Auditorium of the Yale
University. Rajni Ji  and I attended the screening. 

The screening was sponsored by Ms Mridhu Rai, Associate Professor
mridu.rai at yale.edu. She has recently published a book Hindu Rulers, Muslim
Subjects: Islam Rights & the history of Kashmir. (Apparently this book was 
part of the motivation for Mr. Sanjay Kak to make the movie. Given below in
parenthesis is her back ground.

(Mridu Rai joined the department in July 2001 as an assistant professor. She
was educated at Delhi University; the Centre for Historical Studies at 
Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; and Columbia University, where she
received a PhD in modern south Asian history. Her doctoral research focused
on the problem of religion and politics in the making of protest in modern 
Kashmir between the 1840s and the 1940s. In 2004 it culminated in her book,
Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the History of Kashmir
< http://www.yale.edu/history/faculty/materials/rai-hindu.html> . Professor
Rai's new research turns to the region of Bihar, to explore the
relationships between caste, territory, region and nation as they evolved 
from the period of British colonial rule into the postcolonial)

There were 23 people in all present in the screening hall. That included Mr.
Sanjay Kak and us two. Most of the attendants were from the South Asian stud 
department of Indian origin. There was one or  two students of Pakistani
origin and may be two or three of American and European descent.

The documentary is about two and a half hour long monologue. The thrust of 
the documentary is to manipulated to portray the burning desire for the
freedom among 'Kashmiris' (read Kashmiri Muslims). The movie touches upon
the 500 years of colonization of Kashmir. It was interesting to note the 
wordings of narration and the imagery of this narration. Mr Kak introduced
the Kalhanna's Rajatarangani as the Hindu rule of Kashmir. He also stated
the "Hindu" rule of Kashmir before 1948. But then he chooses to describe the 
500 years of pre-Dogra rule as the colonial rule of Turks, Afghans, Mughals,
and other nationalities as if it was not an Islamic rule. In that one
sentence he tries to pass the suffering under these colonizers as the 
sufferings of Muslims and not of Hindus. That during this period 100%
Kashmiri Hindu population was reduced to at most 25% of the population was
presented as Muslim suffering. He quotes Kalhanna "that Kashmir can not be 
conquered by colonization but by spiritual merit", as the ethos of Kashmiri
Muslims. That the Muslims (both foreign and the converted) were the rulers
under whose reign Kashmiri Hindu were massacred, humiliated and forced out 
of Kashmir (as evidenced by the Saaraswats and Vaadama Ayers and Kashmiri of
Gujarat)  and converted to Islam is completely presented as the sufferings
of the Muslims.

That since the 1948 till 1990 the successive J&K Governments were formed by 
the  National conference (previously "Muslim Conference") and the people at
the helm were Kashmiri Muslims is also presented as the colonization by the
Indians. That this Government systematically marginalized the Hindus of 
Kashmir by putting reservations for the majority, snatching any landed
property with out compensation (there by violating the property rights of a
minority) is portrayed as the land reform act of the Government.  The sole 
livelihood of the Kashmiri Hindus through education was denied and they were
forced out of state (to achieve Islamization) is also supposed to have
happened because of the colonization by India. That 1947 incursions of 
Pakistan and the development of Islamic Fundamentalism with support from
Pakistan and the outsiders is completely glossed over. Even though the
mention is made of the foreign Islamic mercenaries in Kashmir but it is 
portrayed as acceptable and not such an important issue, where as presence
of Indian troops and the Indian tourists is presented as the yoke on the
local Muslims. (Who shown as pulling the tourists snowy upslope of the 
Gulmarg.)

The presentation of Shaheed (A Islamic category used for the Shahaadat ) and
the Mujahideen (An Islamic religious category used for the fighters of the
faith) is presented as freedom fighters. The time and again portrayal of the 
"Muslim Cemeteries"  and dead Muslim Mujahideen is lamentable but their
killing and raping of the innocent victims both hindu (and Muslims) is
accepted as the justifiable for the Azadi.
Mr. Kak mentiones 200 dead and 160,000 migrated in bold numbers with the 
small print of "in one year". One wonders why did he choose only one year
numbers to show about the Hindu sufferings but boldly says 60,000 total dead
or lost in the last 15 years. This choice is made show the balance in his 
approach like a chameleon Indian leftist/secularist.

Finally when the documentary was screened we were the first one to raise
hand for questions.  We turned toward the audience and challenged the very
notion this being a struggle for the Azadi. We put forth that this is 
movement for the Islamization of Kashmir. We also pointed out the 500 years
of colonization Mr. Kak mentions is 500 years of Islamic rule in which our
population was reduced from 1055 to 20% . It was Kashmiri Hindu tragedies 
which Mr. Kak is portraying as the Muslim tragedies. We pointed out that the
first act of this movement in 1990 was to throw out 400 hundred thousand
Hindus from the valley and became refuge in their own country. If it was a 
Azadi movement why would valley be cleansed of the non-Muslim minorities.
That scenario fits the Islamization movement better.  We asked, why would
all the imagery and the language of this movement be couched in the Islamic 
categorization? Why would Arabic be used instead of Kashmiri language? Why
would the names of the Kashmiri place names be changed to Arabacized and
Islamic names? Why would the past Hindu history be denied? Why would 
non-Kashmiri foreign Muslim mercenaries be allowed in and create havoc in
Kashmir? Why would Pakistan be so heavily involved?

Mr. Kak had no answers for any of these; he tried to pass the Islamic
language as the normal use of religion in freedom movements. But I asked why 
was not inclusive religious symbolism used for the independence?
Kak admitted to the audience that there was Jihad like situation created for
Kashmiri Hindus who had to leave valley.    Eventually I was asked to allow 
others to ask questions. But there were only two other people who asked one
question each, one on the lines of secularism and the other, a Pakistani,
gave some comments on state of JKLF in Pakistan.

We attended the dinner after the movie and we continued to occupy Mr. Kak's 
and several others attention on the dishonest portrayal of the Kashmir
issue. During dinner we distributed the copies of  Ashokji Pandits
Documentary ....And world remained silent.... to some of the attendees and 
requested them to watch it and pass it on to other students.

That is the story from Yale...

Thanks


From vishal.rawlley at gmail.com  Tue Oct  2 03:21:19 2007
From: vishal.rawlley at gmail.com (Vishal Rawlley)
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 03:21:19 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Hygiene and the City- Pages from the book 2
In-Reply-To: <dc0435230707300755j5359f5dfhb4b04a944ed77aff@mail.gmail.com>
References: <dc0435230707300755j5359f5dfhb4b04a944ed77aff@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <31d5ea920710011451o62379ad8g6d7ed0b25a3c9b3f@mail.gmail.com>

Chitra,

I discovered your project quite by chance, going on to find that you are a
Sarai fellow and have been posting to the reader list - posts that I had
never bothered to open. I never could guess that 'Hygiene and the City' is a
graphic book project.

This is to congratulate you. Your project is just brilliant!!! You capture
the unquantifiable essence of the city that shrouds it yet escapes
description. There is the macro and the micro view of things, but here is an
electron-microscopic view of the urban condition - the Mumbai protoplasm
stands exposed. Your illustrations are really evocative and the narrative
strategies very fresh. The combination of the scientific approach dissolving
into fantasy, testimonials blurring into myth and faithful
documentation turning into surreal imagery left me quite stunned!

It has been a bit tedious going through the low rez images with barely
readable text but well worth it. I hope that you can compile your book into
a pdf form - whenever you are ready. One can see the tenuous narrative
coming together, do keep at it.

Best,
Vishal

p.s. [Download my comic strip book
here<http://cvenkataramani.googlepages.com/comicstrips.pdf>.]
- from http://cvenkataramani.googlepages.com/ does not work correctly. The
pdf file for download is corrupted. Can you fix this please! Thx.


On 7/30/07, Chitra Venkataramani <clinicalexam at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> Hi,
>
> The book continues to be posted on
>
> http://www.hygienebook.blogspot.com
>
> Regards,
>
> Chitra Venkataramani
> _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> Critiques & Collaborations
> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with
> subscribe in the subject header.
> To unsubscribe: https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/reader-list
> List archive: &lt;https://mail.sarai.net/pipermail/reader-list/>


From nutan_du at yahoo.co.in  Tue Oct  2 09:04:54 2007
From: nutan_du at yahoo.co.in (nutan maurya)
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 04:34:54 +0100 (BST)
Subject: [Reader-list] Help me to find out the Dhobi (washermen) Katara in
	old Delhi
Message-ID: <884402.8424.qm@web8712.mail.in.yahoo.com>

Dear Friends,
   I am writing here to request you all if any one can help me to locate the washermen Katara in old delhi.I have heard that they have changed their place and now this Katara is somewhere else. If any one of you know anything about it, please do inform me it would be a great help to me.
  thanks and best rgds,
  Nutan

       
---------------------------------
 Flying to Bangalore or Bhopal? Search for tickets here.

From kj.impulse at gmail.com  Tue Oct  2 10:19:57 2007
From: kj.impulse at gmail.com (Kavita Joshi [Impulse])
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 10:19:57 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] [Announcements] THE FACE - URGENT - PLEASE FORWARD
	TODAY - THANKS
In-Reply-To: <ee76fb5e0710011318l1a8e7b8t17d8e8f3bd22c3d@mail.gmail.com>
References: <ee76fb5e0710011318l1a8e7b8t17d8e8f3bd22c3d@mail.gmail.com>
Message-ID: <821019d70710012149s5bf8266bk145cbed2baf8314d@mail.gmail.com>

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: amar kanwar amarkanwar at gmail.com

Dear Friends,

We can recognise George Bush or Saddam Hussein or Pinochet and some may even
recall what Idi Amin looked like but do we know what the head of the Burmese
military Supreme Dictator  Senior General Than Shwe looks like ?

*Tune into NDTV 24X7  * *at 10 p.m. *
*on the 2nd of October *
**

*to see my film - THE FACE *



( The Face will be telecast within a program entitled 'A Force more
Powerful' )



*THE FACE*  ( 9 minutes ) is a tribute to the democracy movement in Burma .
Here you see a unique image of most brutal dictator in the world
-General Than Shwe of the Burmese Military. *The FACE* also remembers Win Ma
Oo and Thet Win Aung and the sacrifices of the students of Burma in their
movement for freedom.

THE FACE is also available as dvds for screenings at cost price . If
required write to  thetornfirstpages at gmail.com



Please forward to those who may be interested


regards
amar
AMAR KANWAR

- -- 
AMAR KANWAR
New Delhi
India

Email :
amarkanwar at gmail.com
-------------- next part --------------
_______________________________________________
announcements mailing list
announcements at sarai.net
https://mail.sarai.net/mailman/listinfo/announcements

From pawan.durani at gmail.com  Tue Oct  2 12:05:37 2007
From: pawan.durani at gmail.com (Pawan Durani)
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 12:05:37 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Reply to Pawan
In-Reply-To: <20071001153412.14355.qmail@webmail6.rediffmail.com>
References: <20071001153412.14355.qmail@webmail6.rediffmail.com>
Message-ID: <6b79f1a70710012335p5256e0c6t7c176e69c4366d01@mail.gmail.com>

Junaid,

A long mail from you , and I would like to few of your points only for time
being . As I have cant write that long for my life is not dedicated to
"Jihad" & "Libeartion" in the name of relegion.

I have learnt to live and behave in a multi religious & cultural society. It
may take "some" many ages and at the cost of millions of more innocent lives
to understand that.

During the land reform act in Kashmir The names of Hindu landlords who were
only two in number were frequently projected as the exploiters and
blood-suckers to solidify the ranks of Muslims on religious grounds for
nefarious political objectives. Ahmad Mir and Musmat Ashraf Begum possessing
4,202 kanals of land and 3,915 kanals of land respectively were never
projected on the public mindscape because of the religion they espoused. Two
Muslim shrines of Baba Reshi and Dastagir Sahib had a land grant of ten
thousand kanals which are said to have been partially snatched away perhaps
again on religious considerations. Despite the Hindu ruler, there was no
Hindu shrine which had in its possession the same measure of land to augment
and supplement its resources.

 Talking about current Islamisation of Kashmir , by changing the names of
places I would quote you few examples. You have call AnantNag as Islamabad
though even the official name is AnantNag . I wish you would accept the fact
that this place AnantNag finds mention even in Bhagwad Gita , and I am sure
you knoe Bhagwad Gita existed much before even Islam came to India.

Again you have started calling the world famous Shankracharya Hill as
Takht-E-Suleiman , though the temple was built on Gopadari hill in BC age.

The hill whereShraika Temple is situated is aclled "hari Parbat" which again
you have started to call "Koh-i-maran" .

Junaid If you draw inspiration from Talibans....and still defend the wrong
.......there is hardly i can do anything to help you.

May God Bless you with Wisdom.

Pawan Durani



On 1 Oct 2007 15:34:12 -0000, junaid <justjunaid at rediffmail.com > wrote:
>
>
> Mr. Pawan Durrani,
>
> Possibly you should have read Mridu Rai's book to understand why Dogra
> rule was 'Hindu' and why other rulers Mughals and Afghans could not be
> described as essentially 'Islamic', though it was surely Muslims who ruled.
> (By the way, there were no separate Turks and Mughals who came to rule
> Kashmir). An Islamic rule would be one where laws are made on the bases of
> Koran and Hadith, and would be called as Sharia. Both temporal and spiritual
> realms would be regulated by it. Both civil and criminal law would be
> quintessentially Sharia. And they are made by religious scholars. This was
> not the case for Mughals or Afghans: It was either laws made by the
> sovereign or the tribal laws. And even though both may have invoked Koran
> and Hadith, yet most of their content was inspired by local needs than
> religious zeal or inspiration. (I should not be understood as saying Islamic
> law is anyway superior to other laws, like tribal laws etc. Or that Afghans
> or Mughal rule was any benign.)
>
> For Dogras, who drew a fake Rajput lineage, with an opportunistic support
> from state-sponsored historians, both Dogra and British, the way they
> invoked Hinduism in ruling Kashmir was stupendous. It is no secret that poor
> Kashmiri Muslim peasants were stripped bare by Dogra rulers to fund temple
> constructions in not only Kashmir and Jammu, but in Punjab too. The Dogras
> restarted the hated practice of Begar (forced labour), originally invented
> by ancient Hindu rulers of Kashmir. Begar resulted in wide spread death and
> destruction of Kashmir Muslims. Thousands of Muslim youth perished carrying
> load, like mules, barefooted, to Maharaja's Gilgit frontier. And while this
> was going on, Kashmir's Hindu population, laying exclusive claim to
> literacy, and through their landed influence, sustained this terrible rule
> loyally. (And they were powerful even during Mughal and Afghan times, when
> they occupied much of the bureaucratic positions).
>
> Dogras depended on the so-called Pandits to extract revenue from Kashmir's
> poor Muslim peasants as well as artisans. At times, despite verbal protests
> from even the East India Company officials who were so brutal in their own
> way, Gulab Singh took away half of the produce of the Muslim peasants. In
> his greed to collect more booty he even taxed marriages among Muslims. The
> Hindu Kashmiris were exempt. The Dogras took away the lands of some leftover
> Muslim elite and reduced them to penury, but during this time, the Hindu
> landlords expanded their estates. Thus a miniscule Hindu population, not
> more than 5 percent, came to rule 95 percent Muslims of Kashmir. That too
> brutally.
>
> Pawan Durrani should be given compensation for the grand estates his
> forefathers had to give up. But who will compensate all those millions of
> rickety, malnourished, barely clothed Kashmiri Muslim peasants who were not
> only materially degraded but dehumanized too? In 1947, by a sleight of hand,
> and without bothering to ask Kashmiri Muslims, who constitute an
> overwhelming majority of its people, Kashmir was handed by a Hindu ruler to
> India. In this, some Muslim political leaders were coaxed too; they realized
> but only too late. During this time, many Kashmiri Muslim leaders were
> forced into exile. During the same time, hundreds of thousands of Muslims
> from Jammu were either forced to flee or massacred.
>
> A bearded Kashmir Muslim militant provokes a frenzied response from Pawan,
> and he begins to shout: "Hatay Mauji, Islamic Fundamentalism hay aau!" For
> him an Indian soldier with a tilak on his forehead, a saffron ribbon around
> his waist, a poster of Shivji hanging inside his bunker is Bharat Mata's
> secular poot.
>
> In 1990, Kashmir's Hindus made a choice: They wanted India. That is why
> they left. No doubt there was a threat perception. Some Hindus were killed.
> According to Sumantra Bose out of 273 killings by 20th January 1990, almost
> 73 were Hindus. No doubt, disproportionate. Most of these were highly
> influential Hindus, including a Jan Sangh leader. No other minority left.
> Even though, many Sikhs were killed in Chattisinghpura, (by who, we should
> know by now) they remained in Kashmir. In a state-sponsored exodus one and a
> half lakh Hindus were transported overnight to Jammu and other Indian
> cities. And remember it was a day after Jagmohan took over as governor, and
> promised to punish Kashmiri Muslims. True to his word, after many Hindus
> left, he imposed a protracted curfew strangulating Kashmir's Muslims. Dozens
> of Kashmir's Muslims were massacred at a number of places. Gaw Kadal, just
> being one example.
>
> In Jashne Azadi, nowhere is it said that 60000 Muslims have been killed in
> 15 years. Although even by conservative estimates 80000 Kashmiri Muslims
> have been killed over these years (some believe that even the 10000 odd
> disappeared have been eliminated too), but the film leaves it open. It
> states how the actual number is widely conflicted.
>
> It is not Kashmiri Muslims who Arabicized Kashmiri names. (Give examples
> if you can). It is in fact Dogras who Sanskritised it, and India which
> sustained it. Consider, for example, changing the popular name Islamabad to
> an official Anantnag. And it is not Kashmiri Muslims who deny Kashmir's
> ancient Hindu rulers, but Kashmir's Hindus who deny the existence of
> Kashmir's Muslims. It is as if all Kashmir is about is its miniscule Hindus.
> It is as if the only tragedy in Kashmir is that of its Hindus. As if death,
> destruction, plunder and rapine of its Muslims is not an issue that merits
> world's attention. It is time world speaks about Kashmir's Muslims.
>
> Much has been spoken about Hindus. Many lethargic comparisons have been
> made with Holocaust. Many chick pea-brained 'film makers' have lamented that
> world remained silent, while Kashmir's Hindus got free salaries,
> reservations in education and tremendous material support and publicity. It
> is time for appropriated voices to speak up. For stories buried in fake
> encounters to be exhumed. For alternative histories and memories to unsettle
> the state-sponsored, miniscule-made-mainstream, litanies.
>
> Pawan you really should run after Jashne-Azadi. Follow it wherever it
> goes. It might tire you out of your ignorance, prejudice, and hatred.
>
> Mohamad Junaid
>
>
>
> Pawan Durrani wrote:
>
> Dear All:
> On Thursday September 20th Mr. Sanjay Kak's movie Jashn-e-Azadi (yajynya
> has
> become Jashn-e)was screened in the Louis McMillan Auditorium of the Yale
> University. Rajni Ji  and I attended the screening.
>
> The screening was sponsored by Ms Mridhu Rai, Associate Professor
> mridu.rai at yale.edu. She has recently published a book Hindu Rulers, Muslim
>
> Subjects: Islam Rights & the history of Kashmir. (Apparently this book was
>
> part of the motivation for Mr. Sanjay Kak to make the movie. Given below
> in
> parenthesis is her back ground.
>
> (Mridu Rai joined the department in July 2001 as an assistant professor.
> She
> was educated at Delhi University; the Centre for Historical Studies at
> Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; and Columbia University, where she
> received a PhD in modern south Asian history. Her doctoral research
> focused
> on the problem of religion and politics in the making of protest in modern
>
> Kashmir between the 1840s and the 1940s. In 2004 it culminated in her
> book,
> Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the History of Kashmir
> < http://www.yale.edu/history/faculty/materials/rai-hindu.html> .
> Professor
> Rai's new research turns to the region of Bihar, to explore the
> relationships between caste, territory, region and nation as they evolved
> from the period of British colonial rule into the postcolonial)
>
> There were 23 people in all present in the screening hall. That included
> Mr.
> Sanjay Kak and us two. Most of the attendants were from the South Asian
> stud
> department of Indian origin. There was one or  two students of Pakistani
> origin and may be two or three of American and European descent.
>
> The documentary is about two and a half hour long monologue. The thrust of
>
> the documentary is to manipulated to portray the burning desire for the
> freedom among 'Kashmiris' (read Kashmiri Muslims). The movie touches upon
> the 500 years of colonization of Kashmir. It was interesting to note the
> wordings of narration and the imagery of this narration. Mr Kak introduced
>
> the Kalhanna's Rajatarangani as the Hindu rule of Kashmir. He also stated
> the "Hindu" rule of Kashmir before 1948. But then he chooses to describe
> the
> 500 years of pre-Dogra rule as the colonial rule of Turks, Afghans,
> Mughals,
> and other nationalities as if it was not an Islamic rule. In that one
> sentence he tries to pass the suffering under these colonizers as the
> sufferings of Muslims and not of Hindus. That during this period 100%
> Kashmiri Hindu population was reduced to at most 25% of the population was
> presented as Muslim suffering. He quotes Kalhanna "that Kashmir can not be
>
> conquered by colonization but by spiritual merit", as the ethos of
> Kashmiri
> Muslims. That the Muslims (both foreign and the converted) were the rulers
> under whose reign Kashmiri Hindu were massacred, humiliated and forced out
>
> of Kashmir (as evidenced by the Saaraswats and Vaadama Ayers and Kashmiri
> of
> Gujarat)  and converted to Islam is completely presented as the sufferings
> of the Muslims.
>
> That since the 1948 till 1990 the successive J&K Governments were formed
> by
> the  National conference (previously "Muslim Conference") and the people
> at
> the helm were Kashmiri Muslims is also presented as the colonization by
> the
> Indians. That this Government systematically marginalized the Hindus of
> Kashmir by putting reservations for the majority, snatching any landed
> property with out compensation (there by violating the property rights of
> a
> minority) is portrayed as the land reform act of the Government.  The sole
>
> livelihood of the Kashmiri Hindus through education was denied and they
> were
> forced out of state (to achieve Islamization) is also supposed to have
> happened because of the colonization by India. That 1947 incursions of
> Pakistan and the development of Islamic Fundamentalism with support from
> Pakistan and the outsiders is completely glossed over. Even though the
> mention is made of the foreign Islamic mercenaries in Kashmir but it is
> portrayed as acceptable and not such an important issue, where as presence
>
> of Indian troops and the Indian tourists is presented as the yoke on the
> local Muslims. (Who shown as pulling the tourists snowy upslope of the
> Gulmarg.)
>
> The presentation of Shaheed (A Islamic category used for the Shahaadat )
> and
> the Mujahideen (An Islamic religious category used for the fighters of the
> faith) is presented as freedom fighters. The time and again portrayal of
> the
> "Muslim Cemeteries"  and dead Muslim Mujahideen is lamentable but their
> killing and raping of the innocent victims both hindu (and Muslims) is
> accepted as the justifiable for the Azadi.
> Mr. Kak mentiones 200 dead and 160,000 migrated in bold numbers with the
> small print of "in one year". One wonders why did he choose only one year
> numbers to show about the Hindu sufferings but boldly says 60,000 total
> dead
> or lost in the last 15 years. This choice is made show the balance in his
> approach like a chameleon Indian leftist/secularist.
>
> Finally when the documentary was screened we were the first one to raise
> hand for questions.  We turned toward the audience and challenged the very
> notion this being a struggle for the Azadi. We put forth that this is
> movement for the Islamization of Kashmir. We also pointed out the 500
> years
> of colonization Mr. Kak mentions is 500 years of Islamic rule in which our
> population was reduced from 1055 to 20% . It was Kashmiri Hindu tragedies
> which Mr. Kak is portraying as the Muslim tragedies. We pointed out that
> the
> first act of this movement in 1990 was to throw out 400 hundred thousand
> Hindus from the valley and became refuge in their own country. If it was a
>
> Azadi movement why would valley be cleansed of the non-Muslim minorities.
> That scenario fits the Islamization movement better.  We asked, why would
> all the imagery and the language of this movement be couched in the
> Islamic
> categorization? Why would Arabic be used instead of Kashmiri language? Why
> would the names of the Kashmiri place names be changed to Arabacized and
> Islamic names? Why would the past Hindu history be denied? Why would
> non-Kashmiri foreign Muslim mercenaries be allowed in and create havoc in
> Kashmir? Why would Pakistan be so heavily involved?
>
> Mr. Kak had no answers for any of these; he tried to pass the Islamic
> language as the normal use of religion in freedom movements. But I asked
> why
> was not inclusive religious symbolism used for the independence?
> Kak admitted to the audience that there was Jihad like situation created
> for
> Kashmiri Hindus who had to leave valley.    Eventually I was asked to
> allow
> others to ask questions. But there were only two other people who asked
> one
> question each, one on the lines of secularism and the other, a Pakistani,
> gave some comments on state of JKLF in Pakistan.
>
> We attended the dinner after the movie and we continued to occupy Mr.
> Kak's
> and several others attention on the dishonest portrayal of the Kashmir
> issue. During dinner we distributed the copies of  Ashokji Pandits
> Documentary ....And world remained silent.... to some of the attendees and
>
> requested them to watch it and pass it on to other students.
>
> That is the story from Yale...
>
> Thanks
> _________________________________________
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From nutan_du at yahoo.co.in  Tue Oct  2 09:05:26 2007
From: nutan_du at yahoo.co.in (nutan maurya)
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 04:35:26 +0100 (BST)
Subject: [Reader-list] Help me to find out the Dhobi (washermen) Katara in
	old Delhi
Message-ID: <672542.56735.qm@web8715.mail.in.yahoo.com>

Dear Friends,
   I am writing here to request you all if any one can help me to locate the washermen Katara in old delhi.I have heard that they have changed their place and now this Katara is somewhere else. If any one of you know anything about it, please do inform me it would be a great help to me.
  thanks and best rgds,
  Nutan

       
---------------------------------
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From nutan_du at yahoo.co.in  Tue Oct  2 09:05:18 2007
From: nutan_du at yahoo.co.in (nutan maurya)
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 04:35:18 +0100 (BST)
Subject: [Reader-list] Help me to find out the Dhobi (washermen) Katara in
	old Delhi
Message-ID: <227507.1741.qm@web8705.mail.in.yahoo.com>

Dear Friends,
   I am writing here to request you all if any one can help me to locate the washermen Katara in old delhi.I have heard that they have changed their place and now this Katara is somewhere else. If any one of you know anything about it, please do inform me it would be a great help to me.
  thanks and best rgds,
  Nutan

       
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From nutan_du at yahoo.co.in  Tue Oct  2 09:05:05 2007
From: nutan_du at yahoo.co.in (nutan maurya)
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 04:35:05 +0100 (BST)
Subject: [Reader-list] Help me to find out the Dhobi (washermen) Katara in
	old Delhi
Message-ID: <953525.36780.qm@web8707.mail.in.yahoo.com>

Dear Friends,
   I am writing here to request you all if any one can help me to locate the washermen Katara in old delhi.I have heard that they have changed their place and now this Katara is somewhere else. If any one of you know anything about it, please do inform me it would be a great help to me.
  thanks and best rgds,
  Nutan

       
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From zeenath.hasan at gmail.com  Tue Oct  2 16:29:37 2007
From: zeenath.hasan at gmail.com (Zeenath Hasan)
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 12:59:37 +0200
Subject: [Reader-list] the space interlude/corridor spaces/6th posting
In-Reply-To: <158254.83713.qm@web7708.mail.in.yahoo.com>
References: <158254.83713.qm@web7708.mail.in.yahoo.com>
Message-ID: <34F9BA38-9EC0-4E7E-826D-92784BF0AB45@gmail.com>

dear sayandeb

thank you for your post
here are two practitioners/ researchers theorising the  
phenomenological aspect of sound in lived spaces,

Brandon LaBelle, http://www.errantbodies.org/labelle.html
Jacob Kreutzefeldt, http://www.errantbodies.org/sound_house.html

bests,
zeenath

..
Zeenath Hasan
CULTURAL PRODUCER  /  MEDIA ARTIST

Copenhagen +45 3191 5499
Helsinki +358 45 652 3833

w w w . z e e n i a c . n e t


On Sep 27, 2007, at 8:54 PM, sayandeb mukherjee wrote:

> i regret for the delay for it took time to prepare
> scientific and theoretical explanations on
> acoustics/acoustic responses of different kinds of
> corridor spaces
>
>
> 6TH POSTING
>
>
> BEFORE dealing with the psychoacoustics of these
> spaces it is important to give an account on the
> acoustic behavior or acoustic responses of these
> spaces.
> Corridors are generally interspersed with doors which
> are once again the interfaces of individual
> flats/rooms/enclosures. The sounds that are emanated
> from the indoors (i.e. the rooms or flats) are
> transmitted to some extent through the walls and
> closed doors to reach this common passage. If the
> doors are open, like it remains in colleges, hospitals
> or mostly public spaces/unprivatized spaces, the sound
> from the source directly reaches the passage. But a
> person who’s passing through the passage and is away
> from the door also hears a portion of the incidental
> sound. That is due to reasons – a. a portion is
> transmitted through the walls and b. a major portion
> is diffracted at the ends of the opening of the door.
> Unlike optical shadow, sound shadow is not so defined
> because of the diffractive properties of sound. Refer
> to the figures drawn (will be posted later). It shows
> how a listener, in spite being away from the room, is
> able to hear sound sourced from inside the
> rooms/enclosures.
> The diffractive properties differ throughout the
> entire audio-frequency spectrum. A low-frequency / low
> mid-frequency content in the sound is diffracted more
> than the high / high mid-frequencies. Also, the high
> frequency sounds are more directional than the low
> frequency sounds. Hence the high frequency sounds
> generally don’t reach the ears of the listener who is
> off / oblique from the direction of the source. The
> low frequency-content of the source gets more
> scattered and diffracted while reaching the ears of
> the listener distant from the direct opening of the
> room. As the high-frequency content is depleted a
> person perceives a booming or wooly sound of a speech
> when he traverses in the corridor-like-spaces.
> We construct four cases:
>
> CASE A:  Where the corridor is having one side open
>
> This scattered diffracted and transmitted sound passes
> away to the opposite opening unreflected or
> unobstructed. In these kinds of spaces, not much dense
> sound-field is generated.  The sound generated from
> the space doesn’t confront much
> reflections/refractions (for there is no substantial
> reflective surface) and the listener hears it almost
> dry, or without being reverberated. This substantially
> detriments the depth of the sound-field and hence the
> space appears acoustically colorless. In this single
> loaded corridor the property that is distinguishable
> from the double-one is the mammoth interference of the
> extraneous sounds – the environmental sound elements
> that give a characteristic spatial definition to the
> corridor space. In the single loaded corridors, that
> can be called a verandah, the visual attributes along
> with ambient audible qualities provides a positional
> reference to the space. So the listener is not thrown
> into an abstract field with no clues of time and
> space, whereas he is well posited for the re-assurance
> of the environmental associativity. Even if there are
> reflections, reverberations of the sounds generated
> from verandah that would immensely get masked by the
> ambience coming from the open side and the audio
> qualities doesn’t become audible until and unless gets
> diminished to a considerable extent. So when this
> ambience gets diminished, the sonic-scape   of this
> veranda takes a different look/shape. The depth of the
> audio field increases and there happens a resurgence
> of the sounds and its reflections generated from the
> verandah. This happens in the late hours of the night,
> for example in the case of a college which is located
> beside a road with heavy traffic plying during the
> daytime, the acoustic details of the traffic gets
> prominence with the redemption of the traffic during
> night and attains more clarity with the fall of the
> night and as silence prevails in the surrounding. The
> incidental sounds like footsteps with its length
> stretched throughout the verandah, door banging, some
> people talking standing in the verandah acoustically
> establishes that it is a single loaded corridor.
>
> CASE B:   Where the corridor space is having walls on
> both the sides
>
> As discussed earlier, that the sounds generated from
> inside the rooms/enclosures/flats connected to this
> common interface – the corridor undergo 1.transmission
> through the walls of the corridor, 2.diffraction from
> the openings of the rooms (like doors, windows)
> thereby penetrating this double loaded corridor space.
> A major portion of the generated sound remains inside
> the room as they are reflected/bounced back to the
> other walls of the room getting absorbed therein. The
> sounds leaking out from the room, after losing most of
> its high frequency content (as stated earlier) and a
> portion of it being transmitted and diffracted reaches
> the opposite wall of the corridor which acts as a
> reflective surface. The intensity of reflection
> depends on three factors primarily – (i) the intensity
> of the source, (ii) the dimension of the corridor and
> (iii) the reflective properties of the walls.
> The intensity of reflection is directly proportional
> to the intensity of the source and the reflective
> qualities of the wall and is inversely proportional to
> the distance between the walls. The louder the source,
> the more it will undergo reflections from the walls.
> Generally, the sounds are not so impulsive or loud
> (like an explosion) to sufficiently generate higher
> order images.
> Since the sound is being generated at a considerable
> distance from the passage, inside the room and also
> because sound is inversely proportional to the
> distance, its energy content gets appreciably
> diminished by the time it reaches the common space.
> Hence, the reflected image of this leaked out sounds
> is too weak to reach the opposite wall of the
> corridor.
> The possibility of second order images, (i.e.
> reflected images from reflected sounds) further
> reduces as the distance between the corridor walls is
> increased. With the increase in the dimension of these
> spaces, for the sounds arriving from these openings,
> its early reflections from the surfaces will take some
> time to get depleted and a considerable time elapses
> before the sound content decays to an imperceptible
> level.
> The corridor spaces are mostly comprised of masonry
> walls with cemented surfaces sometimes coated with
> plaster of paris. When it is uncoated with plaster of
> paris then the texture is not so regular to produce
> specular reflections like that of light and the
> surface is porous enough to render diffusion for
> certain range of the audio spectrum.
> [About Specular reflection – specular reflection is a
> mirror-type reflection, similar to the reflection of
> light from a mirror.  In specular reflection, the
> incidental sound beam is reflected off the reflecting
> surface as per Snell’s law. For specular reflection to
> occur, the surface irregularities in the texture
> should be smaller than wavelength of sound. And higher
> the frequency of the sound wave, the smaller will be
> its wavelength. So, with surface irregularities of
> smaller dimension specular reflection of high
> frequencies with small wavelength will be affected
> more than low frequencies.
> About Diffuse reflection – in diffuse reflection, the
> incidental sound is reflected equally in all
> directions causing a uniform scattering of sound. For
> diffuse reflections, the reflecting surface must be
> irregular and heavily textured. The dimensions of the
> irregularities should be not less than or
> approximately equal to the wavelength of sound. Thus,
> for a wall to provide diffuse reflection at 1 kHz
> (?=wavelength approximately equal to 0.3m or 1ft), its
> surface irregularities should be of the order of 0.3m
> (1ft). Surface irregularities of a few cm will provide
> specular reflection at 10 kHz frequency. Now a sound
> with a frequency of 100 Hz will have wavelength
> approximately 3m or 10ft. With this wavelength, the
> sound will be specularly reflected from a wall with
> surface irregularity of dimension 0.3m or 1ft. In
> other words, a 100 Hz sound will not see these
> irregularities and the wall will behave as a smooth
> wall. On the other hand, a 1 kHz sound will be
> diffusedly reflected from this surface. At a frequency
> of 10 kHz, with a wavelength of approximately 30mm
> (nearly 1 inch), each individual irregularity will be
> large enough to function as an independent reflector.
> Therefore, sound will be specularly reflected from
> each surface irregularity thereby providing some
> scattering of sound (since the surface irregularities
> are oriented in different directions). ]
> For small little surface irregularities like it
> remains in corridor walls in most cases, the high and
> somewhat high-mid frequencies of the sound spectrum
> are more diffused than the lower end. This attenuates
> the harsh reflections of the higher end (or mutilates
> the acoustic glare caused by the reflectivity of the
> walls). Because of this diffusive property of sound, a
> portion of it is evenly scattered thereby reducing its
> energy so that it doesn’t reach the opposite wall of
> the corridor after being reflected. And as mentioned,
> the high frequencies contained in the sound will be
> more diffused than the lower thereby making the sound
> more muffled giving space to the boomy lower
> frequencies to get partially or fully specularly
> reflected and travel in the walls of the corridor. The
> residual portion of this leakage from individual
> openings gets absorbed in the wall. Now the quantity
> of absorption depends on the absorption coefficient of
> the walls
> contd.
> [Absorption coefficient determines the strength of
> absorption of the walls; this provides a value needed
> for the qualitative analysis of the acoustic materials
> used for acoustic treatment of studios, theatres,
> auditoriums.]
> Mostly for corridor walls, unless it is a special
> case, the walls are made of concrete with a required
> number of coatings and sometimes for affluent/well off
> places it would probably be finally coated with
> plaster of paris. The concrete surface with coarse
> texture and no plaster will have an average absorption
> coefficient 0.34 (0.36 at 125Hz, 0.31 at 500Hz, 0.29
> at 1 kHz, 0.25 at 4 kHz) partially absorbing the
> incidental sound thereby evading unusual reflections
> to happen. The absorption by these kind of walls are
> better than marble or glazed tiles or metallic
> surfaces which will have acoustic glare thereby
> rendering unusual fluttering of the sound and
> sometimes discrete early reflections to happen which
> would be very annoying for the listener.
> When the sound source or the sound-activity is
> happening ‘in’ the corridor then, 1.the intensity of
> the sound would be more in comparison to the sounds
> generated from inside the room and meeting this space.
> When the observer himself is the acoustic centre and
> if he makes an appreciably loud sound, then the sound
> wave instantaneously reaches the opposite walls of the
> corridor. Here the two parallel walls act as two
> parallel reflectors. As we know, when there are two
> parallel reflectors, we will obtain an infinite number
> of images of the source since each image works as a
> source for the other reflector. This may be confirmed
> by standing between two parallel mirrors; an infinite
> number of the self will be seen.
> This is simply another way of stating that the sound
> will be reflected back and forth between two parallel
> reflecting walls infinite number of times before
> exhausting to inaudibility.
> Now imagine a sound source(s) located between two
> reflective parallel walls 15m apart, as shown in
> FIGURE (to be posted later). Obviously, this situation
> produces an infinite number of images of the source.
> The first-order images, image I1 and I2, are behind
> wall 1 and wall 2 respectively. The second order
> image, I12, is the image of I1 and is formed behind
> wall 2. I21 is the image of image I2 behind wall 1.
> Similarly, I121 and I212 represent third order images
> and so on.
> If we determine the distance between images, we find
> that the distance between successive order images
> increases by 30m – twice the distance between walls.
> Thus, the first order images are 30m apart, second
> order images are 60m apart, and third order images are
> 90m apart and so on.
> Since the speed of sound is 344m/s, the time gap
> between each successive reflected sound will be
> 87milliseconds. This, according to the Haas effect,
> will produce echoes. Since these echoes recur after a
> regular interval of 87 milliseconds, they produce a
> flutter effect; hence this phenomenon is called
> flutter echoes.
> If the distance between walls were 5m, successive
> order images would be 10m apart. Therefore the time
> gap successive reflections would be 10/344, i.e. 29
> milliseconds, which (according to the Haas effect)
> should not be perceived as echoes. However, the
> flutter is heard all the same. The reason lies on our
> ears being extremely sensitive to periodic repetition
> of sounds
> ..contd.
>
>
> thanking you
>
> sayandeb mukherjee
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> SAYANDEB MUKHERJEE
>   FT#308, SUBBARAJU TOWERS,
>   ROAD NO.4, VIJAYAPURI COLONY,
>   KOTHAPET, HYDERABAD
>   PIN: 500 035
>   PH#9849383863
>
>
>
>       Forgot the famous last words? Access your message archive  
> online at http://in.messenger.yahoo.com/webmessengerpromo.php
>
> _________________________________________
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> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with  
> subscribe in the subject header.
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From ayushdelhi at yahoo.co.uk  Tue Oct  2 22:47:22 2007
From: ayushdelhi at yahoo.co.uk (ayush)
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 17:17:22 +0000 (GMT)
Subject: [Reader-list] Reply to Pawan
Message-ID: <484439.31268.qm@web25402.mail.ukl.yahoo.com>

Why miss the point in this war of words which has such relegious overtones that it is people of Kashmir who are bleeding and being bled by all sundry including people like us .  

Ayush


 

----- Original Message ----
From: Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com>
To: junaid <justjunaid at rediffmail.com>
Cc: reader-list at sarai.net
Sent: Tuesday, 2 October, 2007 12:05:37 PM
Subject: Re: [Reader-list] Reply to Pawan


Junaid,

A long mail from you , and I would like to few of your points only for time
being . As I have cant write that long for my life is not dedicated to
"Jihad" & "Libeartion" in the name of relegion.

I have learnt to live and behave in a multi religious & cultural society. It
may take "some" many ages and at the cost of millions of more innocent lives
to understand that.

During the land reform act in Kashmir The names of Hindu landlords who were
only two in number were frequently projected as the exploiters and
blood-suckers to solidify the ranks of Muslims on religious grounds for
nefarious political objectives. Ahmad Mir and Musmat Ashraf Begum possessing
4,202 kanals of land and 3,915 kanals of land respectively were never
projected on the public mindscape because of the religion they espoused. Two
Muslim shrines of Baba Reshi and Dastagir Sahib had a land grant of ten
thousand kanals which are said to have been partially snatched away perhaps
again on religious considerations. Despite the Hindu ruler, there was no
Hindu shrine which had in its possession the same measure of land to augment
and supplement its resources.

Talking about current Islamisation of Kashmir , by changing the names of
places I would quote you few examples. You have call AnantNag as Islamabad
though even the official name is AnantNag . I wish you would accept the fact
that this place AnantNag finds mention even in Bhagwad Gita , and I am sure
you knoe Bhagwad Gita existed much before even Islam came to India.

Again you have started calling the world famous Shankracharya Hill as
Takht-E-Suleiman , though the temple was built on Gopadari hill in BC age.

The hill whereShraika Temple is situated is aclled "hari Parbat" which again
you have started to call "Koh-i-maran" .

Junaid If you draw inspiration from Talibans....and still defend the wrong
.......there is hardly i can do anything to help you.

May God Bless you with Wisdom.

Pawan Durani



On 1 Oct 2007 15:34:12 -0000, junaid <justjunaid at rediffmail.com > wrote:
>
>
> Mr. Pawan Durrani,
>
> Possibly you should have read Mridu Rai's book to understand why Dogra
> rule was 'Hindu' and why other rulers Mughals and Afghans could not be
> described as essentially 'Islamic', though it was surely Muslims who ruled.
> (By the way, there were no separate Turks and Mughals who came to rule
> Kashmir). An Islamic rule would be one where laws are made on the bases of
> Koran and Hadith, and would be called as Sharia. Both temporal and spiritual
> realms would be regulated by it. Both civil and criminal law would be
> quintessentially Sharia. And they are made by religious scholars. This was
> not the case for Mughals or Afghans: It was either laws made by the
> sovereign or the tribal laws. And even though both may have invoked Koran
> and Hadith, yet most of their content was inspired by local needs than
> religious zeal or inspiration. (I should not be understood as saying Islamic
> law is anyway superior to other laws, like tribal laws etc. Or that Afghans
> or Mughal rule was any benign.)
>
> For Dogras, who drew a fake Rajput lineage, with an opportunistic support
> from state-sponsored historians, both Dogra and British, the way they
> invoked Hinduism in ruling Kashmir was stupendous. It is no secret that poor
> Kashmiri Muslim peasants were stripped bare by Dogra rulers to fund temple
> constructions in not only Kashmir and Jammu, but in Punjab too. The Dogras
> restarted the hated practice of Begar (forced labour), originally invented
> by ancient Hindu rulers of Kashmir. Begar resulted in wide spread death and
> destruction of Kashmir Muslims. Thousands of Muslim youth perished carrying
> load, like mules, barefooted, to Maharaja's Gilgit frontier. And while this
> was going on, Kashmir's Hindu population, laying exclusive claim to
> literacy, and through their landed influence, sustained this terrible rule
> loyally. (And they were powerful even during Mughal and Afghan times, when
> they occupied much of the bureaucratic positions).
>
> Dogras depended on the so-called Pandits to extract revenue from Kashmir's
> poor Muslim peasants as well as artisans. At times, despite verbal protests
> from even the East India Company officials who were so brutal in their own
> way, Gulab Singh took away half of the produce of the Muslim peasants. In
> his greed to collect more booty he even taxed marriages among Muslims. The
> Hindu Kashmiris were exempt. The Dogras took away the lands of some leftover
> Muslim elite and reduced them to penury, but during this time, the Hindu
> landlords expanded their estates. Thus a miniscule Hindu population, not
> more than 5 percent, came to rule 95 percent Muslims of Kashmir. That too
> brutally.
>
> Pawan Durrani should be given compensation for the grand estates his
> forefathers had to give up. But who will compensate all those millions of
> rickety, malnourished, barely clothed Kashmiri Muslim peasants who were not
> only materially degraded but dehumanized too? In 1947, by a sleight of hand,
> and without bothering to ask Kashmiri Muslims, who constitute an
> overwhelming majority of its people, Kashmir was handed by a Hindu ruler to
> India. In this, some Muslim political leaders were coaxed too; they realized
> but only too late. During this time, many Kashmiri Muslim leaders were
> forced into exile. During the same time, hundreds of thousands of Muslims
> from Jammu were either forced to flee or massacred.
>
> A bearded Kashmir Muslim militant provokes a frenzied response from Pawan,
> and he begins to shout: "Hatay Mauji, Islamic Fundamentalism hay aau!" For
> him an Indian soldier with a tilak on his forehead, a saffron ribbon around
> his waist, a poster of Shivji hanging inside his bunker is Bharat Mata's
> secular poot.
>
> In 1990, Kashmir's Hindus made a choice: They wanted India. That is why
> they left. No doubt there was a threat perception. Some Hindus were killed.
> According to Sumantra Bose out of 273 killings by 20th January 1990, almost
> 73 were Hindus. No doubt, disproportionate. Most of these were highly
> influential Hindus, including a Jan Sangh leader. No other minority left.
> Even though, many Sikhs were killed in Chattisinghpura, (by who, we should
> know by now) they remained in Kashmir. In a state-sponsored exodus one and a
> half lakh Hindus were transported overnight to Jammu and other Indian
> cities. And remember it was a day after Jagmohan took over as governor, and
> promised to punish Kashmiri Muslims. True to his word, after many Hindus
> left, he imposed a protracted curfew strangulating Kashmir's Muslims. Dozens
> of Kashmir's Muslims were massacred at a number of places. Gaw Kadal, just
> being one example.
>
> In Jashne Azadi, nowhere is it said that 60000 Muslims have been killed in
> 15 years. Although even by conservative estimates 80000 Kashmiri Muslims
> have been killed over these years (some believe that even the 10000 odd
> disappeared have been eliminated too), but the film leaves it open. It
> states how the actual number is widely conflicted.
>
> It is not Kashmiri Muslims who Arabicized Kashmiri names. (Give examples
> if you can). It is in fact Dogras who Sanskritised it, and India which
> sustained it. Consider, for example, changing the popular name Islamabad to
> an official Anantnag. And it is not Kashmiri Muslims who deny Kashmir's
> ancient Hindu rulers, but Kashmir's Hindus who deny the existence of
> Kashmir's Muslims. It is as if all Kashmir is about is its miniscule Hindus.
> It is as if the only tragedy in Kashmir is that of its Hindus. As if death,
> destruction, plunder and rapine of its Muslims is not an issue that merits
> world's attention. It is time world speaks about Kashmir's Muslims.
>
> Much has been spoken about Hindus. Many lethargic comparisons have been
> made with Holocaust. Many chick pea-brained 'film makers' have lamented that
> world remained silent, while Kashmir's Hindus got free salaries,
> reservations in education and tremendous material support and publicity. It
> is time for appropriated voices to speak up. For stories buried in fake
> encounters to be exhumed. For alternative histories and memories to unsettle
> the state-sponsored, miniscule-made-mainstream, litanies.
>
> Pawan you really should run after Jashne-Azadi. Follow it wherever it
> goes. It might tire you out of your ignorance, prejudice, and hatred.
>
> Mohamad Junaid
>
>
>
> Pawan Durrani wrote:
>
> Dear All:
> On Thursday September 20th Mr. Sanjay Kak's movie Jashn-e-Azadi (yajynya
> has
> become Jashn-e)was screened in the Louis McMillan Auditorium of the Yale
> University. Rajni Ji  and I attended the screening.
>
> The screening was sponsored by Ms Mridhu Rai, Associate Professor
> mridu.rai at yale.edu. She has recently published a book Hindu Rulers, Muslim
>
> Subjects: Islam Rights & the history of Kashmir. (Apparently this book was
>
> part of the motivation for Mr. Sanjay Kak to make the movie. Given below
> in
> parenthesis is her back ground.
>
> (Mridu Rai joined the department in July 2001 as an assistant professor.
> She
> was educated at Delhi University; the Centre for Historical Studies at
> Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; and Columbia University, where she
> received a PhD in modern south Asian history. Her doctoral research
> focused
> on the problem of religion and politics in the making of protest in modern
>
> Kashmir between the 1840s and the 1940s. In 2004 it culminated in her
> book,
> Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the History of Kashmir
> < http://www.yale.edu/history/faculty/materials/rai-hindu.html> .
> Professor
> Rai's new research turns to the region of Bihar, to explore the
> relationships between caste, territory, region and nation as they evolved
> from the period of British colonial rule into the postcolonial)
>
> There were 23 people in all present in the screening hall. That included
> Mr.
> Sanjay Kak and us two. Most of the attendants were from the South Asian
> stud
> department of Indian origin. There was one or  two students of Pakistani
> origin and may be two or three of American and European descent.
>
> The documentary is about two and a half hour long monologue. The thrust of
>
> the documentary is to manipulated to portray the burning desire for the
> freedom among 'Kashmiris' (read Kashmiri Muslims). The movie touches upon
> the 500 years of colonization of Kashmir. It was interesting to note the
> wordings of narration and the imagery of this narration. Mr Kak introduced
>
> the Kalhanna's Rajatarangani as the Hindu rule of Kashmir. He also stated
> the "Hindu" rule of Kashmir before 1948. But then he chooses to describe
> the
> 500 years of pre-Dogra rule as the colonial rule of Turks, Afghans,
> Mughals,
> and other nationalities as if it was not an Islamic rule. In that one
> sentence he tries to pass the suffering under these colonizers as the
> sufferings of Muslims and not of Hindus. That during this period 100%
> Kashmiri Hindu population was reduced to at most 25% of the population was
> presented as Muslim suffering. He quotes Kalhanna "that Kashmir can not be
>
> conquered by colonization but by spiritual merit", as the ethos of
> Kashmiri
> Muslims. That the Muslims (both foreign and the converted) were the rulers
> under whose reign Kashmiri Hindu were massacred, humiliated and forced out
>
> of Kashmir (as evidenced by the Saaraswats and Vaadama Ayers and Kashmiri
> of
> Gujarat)  and converted to Islam is completely presented as the sufferings
> of the Muslims.
>
> That since the 1948 till 1990 the successive J&K Governments were formed
> by
> the  National conference (previously "Muslim Conference") and the people
> at
> the helm were Kashmiri Muslims is also presented as the colonization by
> the
> Indians. That this Government systematically marginalized the Hindus of
> Kashmir by putting reservations for the majority, snatching any landed
> property with out compensation (there by violating the property rights of
> a
> minority) is portrayed as the land reform act of the Government.  The sole
>
> livelihood of the Kashmiri Hindus through education was denied and they
> were
> forced out of state (to achieve Islamization) is also supposed to have
> happened because of the colonization by India. That 1947 incursions of
> Pakistan and the development of Islamic Fundamentalism with support from
> Pakistan and the outsiders is completely glossed over. Even though the
> mention is made of the foreign Islamic mercenaries in Kashmir but it is
> portrayed as acceptable and not such an important issue, where as presence
>
> of Indian troops and the Indian tourists is presented as the yoke on the
> local Muslims. (Who shown as pulling the tourists snowy upslope of the
> Gulmarg.)
>
> The presentation of Shaheed (A Islamic category used for the Shahaadat )
> and
> the Mujahideen (An Islamic religious category used for the fighters of the
> faith) is presented as freedom fighters. The time and again portrayal of
> the
> "Muslim Cemeteries"  and dead Muslim Mujahideen is lamentable but their
> killing and raping of the innocent victims both hindu (and Muslims) is
> accepted as the justifiable for the Azadi.
> Mr. Kak mentiones 200 dead and 160,000 migrated in bold numbers with the
> small print of "in one year". One wonders why did he choose only one year
> numbers to show about the Hindu sufferings but boldly says 60,000 total
> dead
> or lost in the last 15 years. This choice is made show the balance in his
> approach like a chameleon Indian leftist/secularist.
>
> Finally when the documentary was screened we were the first one to raise
> hand for questions.  We turned toward the audience and challenged the very
> notion this being a struggle for the Azadi. We put forth that this is
> movement for the Islamization of Kashmir. We also pointed out the 500
> years
> of colonization Mr. Kak mentions is 500 years of Islamic rule in which our
> population was reduced from 1055 to 20% . It was Kashmiri Hindu tragedies
> which Mr. Kak is portraying as the Muslim tragedies. We pointed out that
> the
> first act of this movement in 1990 was to throw out 400 hundred thousand
> Hindus from the valley and became refuge in their own country. If it was a
>
> Azadi movement why would valley be cleansed of the non-Muslim minorities.
> That scenario fits the Islamization movement better.  We asked, why would
> all the imagery and the language of this movement be couched in the
> Islamic
> categorization? Why would Arabic be used instead of Kashmiri language? Why
> would the names of the Kashmiri place names be changed to Arabacized and
> Islamic names? Why would the past Hindu history be denied? Why would
> non-Kashmiri foreign Muslim mercenaries be allowed in and create havoc in
> Kashmir? Why would Pakistan be so heavily involved?
>
> Mr. Kak had no answers for any of these; he tried to pass the Islamic
> language as the normal use of religion in freedom movements. But I asked
> why
> was not inclusive religious symbolism used for the independence?
> Kak admitted to the audience that there was Jihad like situation created
> for
> Kashmiri Hindus who had to leave valley.    Eventually I was asked to
> allow
> others to ask questions. But there were only two other people who asked
> one
> question each, one on the lines of secularism and the other, a Pakistani,
> gave some comments on state of JKLF in Pakistan.
>
> We attended the dinner after the movie and we continued to occupy Mr.
> Kak's
> and several others attention on the dishonest portrayal of the Kashmir
> issue. During dinner we distributed the copies of  Ashokji Pandits
> Documentary ....And world remained silent.... to some of the attendees and
>
> requested them to watch it and pass it on to other students.
>
> That is the story from Yale...
>
> Thanks
> _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> Critiques & Collaborations
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From anivar.aravind at gmail.com  Wed Oct  3 08:51:32 2007
From: anivar.aravind at gmail.com (Anivar Aravind)
Date: Wed, 03 Oct 2007 08:51:32 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] =?utf-8?q?India=E2=80=99s_Myanmar_Policy=3A_Is_ther?=
 =?utf-8?q?e_a_credible_China_factor=3F?=
Message-ID: <47030ABC.6040005@gmail.com>

  India’s Myanmar Policy: Is there a credible China factor?
Dr.TT Sreekumar
http://lankaguardian.blogspot.com/2007/10/indias-myanmar-policy-is-there-credible_02.html

Nevertheless, the situation is problematic in a crucial way. Visiting 
Myanmar meant lending economic support to the junta. But campaigning for 
boycotting Burma leading to decreased visitations meant adding to the 
miseries of vulnerable communities, particularly marginalized women who 
probably have no other economic avenue to depend on. Tourism is a major 
source of income for rural communities and millions depended on it for 
their everyday survival. This is the micro political economy of Burmese 
freedom struggle.

(October, 02, Singapore, Lanka Guardian) India’s lukewarm response to 
the current crackdown on the democracy movement in Myanmar is explained 
by diplomatic circles as conditioned by a compelling need to protect 
India’s interests in the changing regional politics characterized by 
growing Chinese hegemony. The explanation begs two interrelated 
questions: What do we normally mean by India's interest and how do we 
understand/situate the China factor in India's foreign policy?

If the logic of India's reluctance to support the democracy movement is 
guided by the motivation of protecting its own interest as a reaction to 
Chinese policy, then it looks quite contradictory and beckons to unpack 
the whole 'China factor' in India's contemporary foreign policy practices.

'China factor' has also been highlighted as playing a role in India's 
attempts to move away from the non alignment politics of the post 
colonial period as much as the fall of USSR, and of cold war and 
emergence of uni-polar US hegemony. Most recently, in the discourses on 
the Indo-US nuclear deal's implications, coalition of the left parties 
have been put to task for their failure to explain the stand taken by 
China on the nuclear issue. India's position, it is argued, should be 
analyzed in the context of China's nuclear ambitions and military 
strategies.

However, the way in which Indian regime negotiates the China factor, 
whether imaginary or real, has been contradictory. This has become 
evident in its diverging positions on the democracy movements in two 
neighboring countries Nepal and Burma.

In Nepal, when Beijing in an intriguing maneuvering of regional 
politics, supported the Gyanedra Dictatorship, invited him to Beijing 
and extended military support to the monarchy, covert and overt support 
from India was given to the democracy movement. US support to the 
movement was then viewed as a positive development, disregarding its 
long run consequences for the political and economic integrity of the 
countries in South Asia.

If we depend on an adhoc and post facto framework to justify India's 
foreign policy, the incoherence and contradictions can probably be 
wished away. Otherwise there are important inconsistencies and ironies 
that require further explanation. It is both in the interest of India 
and the people of Burma, that India should support the democracy 
movement as it did in the case of Nepal. What does one mean by India's 
interest? The ethical question is ultimately more important if by 
'India's interest' one means furthering democracy in the region as well 
in India. This has both a macro and micro dimension. Systematically 
building up deep economic ties with a country that has a questionable 
political record and later using this newfangled relationship as a 
justification for the silences against its increasingly unbearable 
atrocities, is a tactics that can at best be seen as a pale imitation of 
the US super power policy everywhere in the world.

The 'micro' dimension is also ethically significant. I have myself felt 
this while finally deciding to visit Myanmar sometime back. Civil 
society organizations challenging inequitable tourism practices had been 
debating the whole issue of the implications of 'visiting Myanmar. The 
junta was carefully opening its doors for tourists to show the world 
that everything is normal in the country. Moreover, the dilemma was 
accentuated by the fact the income from tourism is emerging as a crucial 
source of foreign exchange when sanctions were straggling its 
threateningly fragile economic base. Indigenous communities are paraded- 
literally-it is called indigenous fashion parade-for the gaze of the 
tourist. Myanmar's dependence on tourism is further exacerbated by the 
relative retardation of other productive sectors. Kachin, Kayyan, 
Palong, Wa, Bao, Rawang, Moon, Lahoo, Lushan. Lisoo and even the Shan 
from China are paraded in a blatant commoditization of culture and space 
in contemporary Myanmar.

Nevertheless, the situation is problematic in a crucial way. Visiting 
Myanmar meant lending economic support to the junta. But campaigning for 
boycotting Burma leading to decreased visitations meant adding to the 
miseries of vulnerable communities, particularly marginalized women who 
probably have no other economic avenue to depend on. Tourism is a major 
source of income for rural communities and millions depended on it for 
their everyday survival. This is the micro political economy of Burmese 
freedom struggle.

This is precisely the context where India's silence becomes 
objectionable from the point of view of global civil society. India has 
to recognize the right of the Burmese people to oppose the military 
junta and help them regain 'Burma' from 'Myanmar'. This is a 
responsibility that cannot be compromised either in the name of ties 
with the junta or the Chinese factor. This is not only in the interest 
of India, but also in the best interest of building stable democracies 
in the region.

Interestingly, China and ASEAN have also now come down heavily on the 
crackdown. How long can India remain silent?

(The writer is an Assistant Professor, Communication & New Media 
Programme ,Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences ,National University of 
Singapore. Email-sreekumartt at gmail.com .)

PS:The new column "Asian Mirror” will be written by Dr.T.T. Sreekumar. 
Our editorial team chose the name of the column in consultation with Dr. 
T.T. Sreekumar, who sent his good wishes to the Lanka Guardian.


From rashneek at gmail.com  Wed Oct  3 09:52:19 2007
From: rashneek at gmail.com (rashneek kher)
Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2007 09:52:19 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Reply to Pawan
In-Reply-To: <20071001153412.14355.qmail@webmail6.rediffmail.com>
References: <20071001153412.14355.qmail@webmail6.rediffmail.com>
Message-ID: <13df7c120710022122u35213c5o245d097d5239a322@mail.gmail.com>

Dear Junaid and Pawan,

For every Mridu Rai we have so many historians who have written exactly
opposite of what she has written.So I suggest every piece of writing should
only be viewed as the writers' understanding/perspective/ideology of a
certain period or event.On a friend's suggestion I did read Mridu
Rai.Kashmir is to be looked in grey and not black and white as we may tend
to,sometimes.Mridu Rai's book is a similar attempt.
It is time we dont get swayed by one book,maybe historians(who have worked
on Kashmir) like Stein,Gierson,Buhler or Younghusband or even Lawrence would
be more appropriately balanced despite their biases.

Best Regards

Rashneek


On 1 Oct 2007 15:34:12 -0000, junaid <justjunaid at rediffmail.com> wrote:
>
>
> Mr. Pawan Durrani,
>
> Possibly you should have read Mridu Rai's book to understand why Dogra
> rule was 'Hindu' and why other rulers Mughals and Afghans could not be
> described as essentially 'Islamic', though it was surely Muslims who ruled.
> (By the way, there were no separate Turks and Mughals who came to rule
> Kashmir). An Islamic rule would be one where laws are made on the bases of
> Koran and Hadith, and would be called as Sharia. Both temporal and spiritual
> realms would be regulated by it. Both civil and criminal law would be
> quintessentially Sharia. And they are made by religious scholars. This was
> not the case for Mughals or Afghans: It was either laws made by the
> sovereign or the tribal laws. And even though both may have invoked Koran
> and Hadith, yet most of their content was inspired by local needs than
> religious zeal or inspiration. (I should not be understood as saying Islamic
> law is anyway superior to other laws, like tribal laws etc. Or that Afghans
> or Mughal rule was any benign.)
>
> For Dogras, who drew a fake Rajput lineage, with an opportunistic support
> from state-sponsored historians, both Dogra and British, the way they
> invoked Hinduism in ruling Kashmir was stupendous. It is no secret that poor
> Kashmiri Muslim peasants were stripped bare by Dogra rulers to fund temple
> constructions in not only Kashmir and Jammu, but in Punjab too. The Dogras
> restarted the hated practice of Begar (forced labour), originally invented
> by ancient Hindu rulers of Kashmir. Begar resulted in wide spread death and
> destruction of Kashmir Muslims. Thousands of Muslim youth perished carrying
> load, like mules, barefooted, to Maharaja's Gilgit frontier. And while this
> was going on, Kashmir's Hindu population, laying exclusive claim to
> literacy, and through their landed influence, sustained this terrible rule
> loyally. (And they were powerful even during Mughal and Afghan times, when
> they occupied much of the bureaucratic positions).
>
> Dogras depended on the so-called Pandits to extract revenue from Kashmir's
> poor Muslim peasants as well as artisans. At times, despite verbal protests
> from even the East India Company officials who were so brutal in their own
> way, Gulab Singh took away half of the produce of the Muslim peasants. In
> his greed to collect more booty he even taxed marriages among Muslims. The
> Hindu Kashmiris were exempt. The Dogras took away the lands of some leftover
> Muslim elite and reduced them to penury, but during this time, the Hindu
> landlords expanded their estates. Thus a miniscule Hindu population, not
> more than 5 percent, came to rule 95 percent Muslims of Kashmir. That too
> brutally.
>
> Pawan Durrani should be given compensation for the grand estates his
> forefathers had to give up. But who will compensate all those millions of
> rickety, malnourished, barely clothed Kashmiri Muslim peasants who were not
> only materially degraded but dehumanized too? In 1947, by a sleight of hand,
> and without bothering to ask Kashmiri Muslims, who constitute an
> overwhelming majority of its people, Kashmir was handed by a Hindu ruler to
> India. In this, some Muslim political leaders were coaxed too; they realized
> but only too late. During this time, many Kashmiri Muslim leaders were
> forced into exile. During the same time, hundreds of thousands of Muslims
> from Jammu were either forced to flee or massacred.
>
> A bearded Kashmir Muslim militant provokes a frenzied response from Pawan,
> and he begins to shout: "Hatay Mauji, Islamic Fundamentalism hay aau!" For
> him an Indian soldier with a tilak on his forehead, a saffron ribbon around
> his waist, a poster of Shivji hanging inside his bunker is Bharat Mata's
> secular poot.
>
> In 1990, Kashmir's Hindus made a choice: They wanted India. That is why
> they left. No doubt there was a threat perception. Some Hindus were killed.
> According to Sumantra Bose out of 273 killings by 20th January 1990, almost
> 73 were Hindus. No doubt, disproportionate. Most of these were highly
> influential Hindus, including a Jan Sangh leader. No other minority left.
> Even though, many Sikhs were killed in Chattisinghpura, (by who, we should
> know by now) they remained in Kashmir. In a state-sponsored exodus one and a
> half lakh Hindus were transported overnight to Jammu and other Indian
> cities. And remember it was a day after Jagmohan took over as governor, and
> promised to punish Kashmiri Muslims. True to his word, after many Hindus
> left, he imposed a protracted curfew strangulating Kashmir's Muslims. Dozens
> of Kashmir's Muslims were massacred at a number of places. Gaw Kadal, just
> being one example.
>
> In Jashne Azadi, nowhere is it said that 60000 Muslims have been killed in
> 15 years. Although even by conservative estimates 80000 Kashmiri Muslims
> have been killed over these years (some believe that even the 10000 odd
> disappeared have been eliminated too), but the film leaves it open. It
> states how the actual number is widely conflicted.
>
> It is not Kashmiri Muslims who Arabicized Kashmiri names. (Give examples
> if you can). It is in fact Dogras who Sanskritised it, and India which
> sustained it. Consider, for example, changing the popular name Islamabad to
> an official Anantnag. And it is not Kashmiri Muslims who deny Kashmir's
> ancient Hindu rulers, but Kashmir's Hindus who deny the existence of
> Kashmir's Muslims. It is as if all Kashmir is about is its miniscule Hindus.
> It is as if the only tragedy in Kashmir is that of its Hindus. As if death,
> destruction, plunder and rapine of its Muslims is not an issue that merits
> world's attention. It is time world speaks about Kashmir's Muslims.
>
> Much has been spoken about Hindus. Many lethargic comparisons have been
> made with Holocaust. Many chick pea-brained 'film makers' have lamented that
> world remained silent, while Kashmir's Hindus got free salaries,
> reservations in education and tremendous material support and publicity. It
> is time for appropriated voices to speak up. For stories buried in fake
> encounters to be exhumed. For alternative histories and memories to unsettle
> the state-sponsored, miniscule-made-mainstream, litanies.
>
> Pawan you really should run after Jashne-Azadi. Follow it wherever it
> goes. It might tire you out of your ignorance, prejudice, and hatred.
>
> Mohamad Junaid
>
>
>
> Pawan Durrani wrote:
>
> Dear All:
> On Thursday September 20th Mr. Sanjay Kak's movie Jashn-e-Azadi (yajynya
> has
> become Jashn-e)was screened in the Louis McMillan Auditorium of the Yale
> University. Rajni Ji  and I attended the screening.
>
> The screening was sponsored by Ms Mridhu Rai, Associate Professor
> mridu.rai at yale.edu. She has recently published a book Hindu Rulers, Muslim
> Subjects: Islam Rights & the history of Kashmir. (Apparently this book was
> part of the motivation for Mr. Sanjay Kak to make the movie. Given below
> in
> parenthesis is her back ground.
>
> (Mridu Rai joined the department in July 2001 as an assistant professor.
> She
> was educated at Delhi University; the Centre for Historical Studies at
> Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi; and Columbia University, where she
> received a PhD in modern south Asian history. Her doctoral research
> focused
> on the problem of religion and politics in the making of protest in modern
> Kashmir between the 1840s and the 1940s. In 2004 it culminated in her
> book,
> Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects: Islam, Rights, and the History of Kashmir
> < http://www.yale.edu/history/faculty/materials/rai-hindu.html> .
> Professor
> Rai's new research turns to the region of Bihar, to explore the
> relationships between caste, territory, region and nation as they evolved
> from the period of British colonial rule into the postcolonial)
>
> There were 23 people in all present in the screening hall. That included
> Mr.
> Sanjay Kak and us two. Most of the attendants were from the South Asian
> stud
> department of Indian origin. There was one or  two students of Pakistani
> origin and may be two or three of American and European descent.
>
> The documentary is about two and a half hour long monologue. The thrust of
> the documentary is to manipulated to portray the burning desire for the
> freedom among 'Kashmiris' (read Kashmiri Muslims). The movie touches upon
> the 500 years of colonization of Kashmir. It was interesting to note the
> wordings of narration and the imagery of this narration. Mr Kak introduced
> the Kalhanna's Rajatarangani as the Hindu rule of Kashmir. He also stated
> the "Hindu" rule of Kashmir before 1948. But then he chooses to describe
> the
> 500 years of pre-Dogra rule as the colonial rule of Turks, Afghans,
> Mughals,
> and other nationalities as if it was not an Islamic rule. In that one
> sentence he tries to pass the suffering under these colonizers as the
> sufferings of Muslims and not of Hindus. That during this period 100%
> Kashmiri Hindu population was reduced to at most 25% of the population was
> presented as Muslim suffering. He quotes Kalhanna "that Kashmir can not be
> conquered by colonization but by spiritual merit", as the ethos of
> Kashmiri
> Muslims. That the Muslims (both foreign and the converted) were the rulers
> under whose reign Kashmiri Hindu were massacred, humiliated and forced out
> of Kashmir (as evidenced by the Saaraswats and Vaadama Ayers and Kashmiri
> of
> Gujarat)  and converted to Islam is completely presented as the sufferings
> of the Muslims.
>
> That since the 1948 till 1990 the successive J&K Governments were formed
> by
> the  National conference (previously "Muslim Conference") and the people
> at
> the helm were Kashmiri Muslims is also presented as the colonization by
> the
> Indians. That this Government systematically marginalized the Hindus of
> Kashmir by putting reservations for the majority, snatching any landed
> property with out compensation (there by violating the property rights of
> a
> minority) is portrayed as the land reform act of the Government.  The sole
> livelihood of the Kashmiri Hindus through education was denied and they
> were
> forced out of state (to achieve Islamization) is also supposed to have
> happened because of the colonization by India. That 1947 incursions of
> Pakistan and the development of Islamic Fundamentalism with support from
> Pakistan and the outsiders is completely glossed over. Even though the
> mention is made of the foreign Islamic mercenaries in Kashmir but it is
> portrayed as acceptable and not such an important issue, where as presence
> of Indian troops and the Indian tourists is presented as the yoke on the
> local Muslims. (Who shown as pulling the tourists snowy upslope of the
> Gulmarg.)
>
> The presentation of Shaheed (A Islamic category used for the Shahaadat )
> and
> the Mujahideen (An Islamic religious category used for the fighters of the
> faith) is presented as freedom fighters. The time and again portrayal of
> the
> "Muslim Cemeteries"  and dead Muslim Mujahideen is lamentable but their
> killing and raping of the innocent victims both hindu (and Muslims) is
> accepted as the justifiable for the Azadi.
> Mr. Kak mentiones 200 dead and 160,000 migrated in bold numbers with the
> small print of "in one year". One wonders why did he choose only one year
> numbers to show about the Hindu sufferings but boldly says 60,000 total
> dead
> or lost in the last 15 years. This choice is made show the balance in his
> approach like a chameleon Indian leftist/secularist.
>
> Finally when the documentary was screened we were the first one to raise
> hand for questions.  We turned toward the audience and challenged the very
> notion this being a struggle for the Azadi. We put forth that this is
> movement for the Islamization of Kashmir. We also pointed out the 500
> years
> of colonization Mr. Kak mentions is 500 years of Islamic rule in which our
> population was reduced from 1055 to 20% . It was Kashmiri Hindu tragedies
> which Mr. Kak is portraying as the Muslim tragedies. We pointed out that
> the
> first act of this movement in 1990 was to throw out 400 hundred thousand
> Hindus from the valley and became refuge in their own country. If it was a
> Azadi movement why would valley be cleansed of the non-Muslim minorities.
> That scenario fits the Islamization movement better.  We asked, why would
> all the imagery and the language of this movement be couched in the
> Islamic
> categorization? Why would Arabic be used instead of Kashmiri language? Why
> would the names of the Kashmiri place names be changed to Arabacized and
> Islamic names? Why would the past Hindu history be denied? Why would
> non-Kashmiri foreign Muslim mercenaries be allowed in and create havoc in
> Kashmir? Why would Pakistan be so heavily involved?
>
> Mr. Kak had no answers for any of these; he tried to pass the Islamic
> language as the normal use of religion in freedom movements. But I asked
> why
> was not inclusive religious symbolism used for the independence?
> Kak admitted to the audience that there was Jihad like situation created
> for
> Kashmiri Hindus who had to leave valley.    Eventually I was asked to
> allow
> others to ask questions. But there were only two other people who asked
> one
> question each, one on the lines of secularism and the other, a Pakistani,
> gave some comments on state of JKLF in Pakistan.
>
> We attended the dinner after the movie and we continued to occupy Mr.
> Kak's
> and several others attention on the dishonest portrayal of the Kashmir
> issue. During dinner we distributed the copies of  Ashokji Pandits
> Documentary ....And world remained silent.... to some of the attendees and
> requested them to watch it and pass it on to other students.
>
> That is the story from Yale...
>
> Thanks
> _________________________________________
> reader-list: an open discussion list on media and the city.
> Critiques & Collaborations
> To subscribe: send an email to reader-list-request at sarai.net with
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-- 
Rashneek Kher
http://www.nietzschereborn.blogspot.com


From vivek at sarai.net  Wed Oct  3 10:26:57 2007
From: vivek at sarai.net (Vivek Narayanan)
Date: Wed, 03 Oct 2007 10:26:57 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Reading by Sampurna Chattarji and Sridala Swami
Message-ID: <47032119.40502@sarai.net>

For those interested in poetry in Delhi--
passing this on on behalf of Sampurna Chattarji, who has a piece in 
Reader 06 here:
http://www.sarai.net/publications/readers/06-turbulence/04_sampurna.pdf

Sampurna Chattarji and Sridala Swami (Sampurna based in Mumbai and 
Sridala in Hyderabad) both had their first collections of poetry with 
Sahitya Akademi this year, and they have also worked on poetry 
collaborations together.

If you're in town tomorrow, do attend!
Vivek

   Sahitya Akademi
                                  cordially invites you to
                                an evening of poetry with
                                    Sampurna Chattarji
                                                  &
                                         Sridala Swami
                                      Poets in English

                                    Rukmini Bhaya Nayar
            Poet and critic in English will chair the programme

                        Thursday, 4 October 2007 at 6 p.m.
                                                Venue:
                             Sahitya Akademi Auditorium
                                 35, Ferozeshah Road
                                         New Delhi
                                        Tea : 5.30 p.m.
                                    R.S.V.P : 23386626-28
 
             Visit our Website : http:/www.sahitya-akademi.gov.in

-- 
www.sarai.net

Vivek Narayanan
The Sarai Programme 
Centre for the Study of Developing Societies
29,Rajpur Road, 
Civil Lines
Delhi 110 054.




From christina112 at earthlink.net  Wed Oct  3 10:55:52 2007
From: christina112 at earthlink.net (Christina McPhee)
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 22:25:52 -0700
Subject: [Reader-list] October 2007 on -empyre-: "DNA Poetics"
Message-ID: <CFDC9D81-DF02-465D-BF07-8184A013AFBC@earthlink.net>

October 2007 on -empyre-: "DNA Poetics"


Two words well placed, no?  After Judith Roof's  "The
Poetics of DNA".  That DNA (hereafter Code) is
perhaps, but a metaphor for a substance (and/or
protocol?) is what concerns us here, this month of
October, on -empyre-.

The Code is meaningful, we can agree.  But of what
meaning is it full? Meaningful of biology?  Meaningful
of poetry?  Should we speak of the people's (public)
Code?  A corporatized (private) Code?
Who is charged with its derivation?
With the responsibility of Code's proof?

Is there no Code, and only 'codes'?


please join us:  subscribe at


http://www.subtle.net/empyre



==============================================================

Moderated by Nicholas Ruiz III (US) Editor, Kritikos

with special guests

Judith Roof (US) is professor of English and Film
Studies at Michigan State University. Her books
include All about Thelma and Eve: Sidekicks and Third
Wheels, and The Poetics of DNA.

Eugene Thacker (US) is associate professor of New
Media in the School of Literature, Communication, and
Culture at the Georgia Institute of Technology. His
books include Biomedia, The Global Genome, and The
Exploit.





Nicholas Ruiz III
CoModerator, -empyre-





Dr. Nicholas Ruiz III
Editor, Kritikos
http://intertheory.org


From ghosh.ranu at gmail.com  Wed Oct  3 11:16:24 2007
From: ghosh.ranu at gmail.com (ranu ghosh)
Date: Tue, 2 Oct 2007 22:46:24 -0700
Subject: [Reader-list] changing Industrial landscape in kolkata
Message-ID: <80ea5720710022246g24f2b69amfd1aa9c68ff55727@mail.gmail.com>

*The changing industrial landscape of Kolkata: documenting the
transformation of a half century old factory, Joy Engineering Works, into
Kolkata's South City Project, "Eastern India's largest mixed use real estate
development"*

* *

*Posting 4:*

I am sorry for the delay in posting.

*THE LONESOME SOLDIER FIGHTS ON*

* *In my earlier posting I had mentioned about my dramatic first encounter
with Shambhu Prasad Singh and my resolve to follow and document the twists
and turns in his future along with the 'development' of the South City
Project. Till date Shambhu continues to hold on to his ground 'zero'amidst
the rapidly rising towers of eastern India's most ambitious real estate
project. Shambhu does not know how much longer he will be able to put up
with his fight. He takes each day as it comes.

 *A sudden turn of events:*

On Friday, the 7th of September, Shambhu Prasad Singh was told that Bimal
Chatterjee, the erstwhile President of the Union of Joy Engineering Works,
would like to meet him. Shambhu went to Bimal Chatterjee's office just
outside the premises of the South City Complex. This used to be the Trade
Union Office. Now the signboard outside announces it to be the office of
some philanthropic organization. Here, Bimal Chatterjee and Sanjoy
Chowdhury, the CEO of the South City project, were waiting for Shambhu. They
informed him, " A cheque worth 3.5 lakhs has been sanctioned for you. You
will be handed over the cheque as soon as you vacate the South Citypremises."

 Shambhu thought for a moment and replied, "No Sir. I must have the cheque
first. I shall give you in writing that as soon as the cheque is honoured, I
shall vacate my quarter and move out of the walled city."

 Shambhu told himself, "I cannot trust you and your team after what you have
done to my colleagues."

 *Shambhu's dilemma:*

His mind was ticking!!! Bimal Chatterjee and his team (read hoodlums) had
been the mediators between Joy Engineering Works and the factory workers
right from year 2004 – or even earlier. They had forced most of the workers
to accept the voluntary retirement scheme. They were instrumental in
persuading the other 14 workers who had refused to accept the VRS, to vacate
the quarters. Shambhu was the only bone of resistance sticking out of the
otherwise smooth pie of 'development'. South city had not made their full
payment to Joy Engineering Works because of Shambhu. JEW would get Rs. 45
Lakhs from SCP as soon as Shambhu vacated the premise. Bimal Chatterjee must
be feeling the pressure from both sides.

 Was this talk of 3.5 lakhs true after all? Bimal Chatterjee had said, "
Take the deal while Sanjoy Chowdhury is there. He will quit his South
Cityjob next month and then there will be nobody to protect your
interest."

 Shambhu had heard that there were charges of corruption against Sanjoy
Chowdhury.

 Apartments in South City would be handed over to the owners in a few
months' time. Shambhu's two room quarter, without electricity and water
supply since the past two years, needed to be razed to ground and made over
very quickly. They could not afford to have Shambhu hanging around when the
residents moved in.

 But how would Shambhu verify the truth of Bimal Chatterjee's offer? It was
difficult to figure out who was hand in glove with whom. Under Bimal
Chatterjee's leadership the 14 workers who refused to take VRS, eventually
vacated their quarters and filed a case against South City Project. That
case is still pending in the court. Shambhu escaped this eviction because he
had independently filed a case against Joy Engineering Works and South City.
His contention was that since he did not accept the VRS scheme, officially
he was still holding on to his job and was thus eligible to live in his
quarter.Thus had begun Shambhu's lonesome battle against the mighty Goliath.

 *Shambhu and me:*

I had stepped into the picture around 2006 beginning and have since got
indirectly involved with Shambhu's fate. He is the subject of my latest film
and he finds in me a friend and a confidante. Since I am not allowed inside
the South City premises, I have given a handy cam to Shambhu to document the
rapid change in his life and his environment. I have also given a mobile
phone to him and one more to his family – to make sure that we are always in
touch with each other. Given the precocity of their existence, they needed
this support system. Shambhu often called me from his mobile and kept me
updated of the new twists and turns in his life. He proved to be a 'natural'
with the camera and captured his crumbling environment with great love and a
sense of loss.

 Now Shambhu was faced with a new dilemma – whether or not to believe Bimal
Chatterjee's offer. How would he resolve this dilemma? How would he verify
the truth of his offer?

 *Shambhu connects to the big man:*

Why not verify the latest situation from the highest quarter? Shambhu found
himself wandering towards the residential quarters of Mr. S.K. Todi, the
Director of the South City Complex.

 "Mr. Todi is in Mumbai", informed his security guard, Peter. Shambhu had a
good rapport with Peter  - and most other guards and workers who lived
inside the walled city. Peter gave Todi's mobile phone number to Shambhu.
The past year of struggle had emboldened Shambhu. He punched the number on
his mobile and asked, "Sir, has the Board taken any decision about me?"
Todi's voice responded from the other side, "Yes. The Board has sanctioned 7
lakhs in your name." 7 lakhs? But didn't Bimal Chatterjee say 3.5 lakhs?
Shambhu decided to inform the CEO of his conversation with Bimal Chatterjee.
The Director assured him, "I am coming back to town on 5th October. I'll
look into the matter as soon as I am there."

 Would Shambhu really start dreaming of the life outside the walled city? He
had everything lined up for the eventuality. He would take up a place in
Maniktala. He would buy an auto rickshaw and ply it in the Maniktala route.
He would survive in this city where he was born and his father and
grandfather earned their living. He could not relate to his hometown in
Bihar any more. Kolkata was his real home town.

 But he must get his compensation. That is what he has been fighting for
more than two years now.

* Shambhu's cases:*

Shambhu's case against Joy Engineering Works and South City was dismissed by
S.K Gupta of the Kolkata High Court. He wrote, *"The dispute between the
parties is clearly civil in nature, and as such, I find no illegality in the
order, as passed by the learned Executive Magistrate in dropping the
proceeding. If the petitioner's civil rights is in jeopardy, then he has to
approach the appropriate court for getting the remedy."*

 On 15.12.05, he wrote a letter to 19 persons – from the Chief Justice of
Kolkata High Court to the Governor to the Mayor to the editors of all the
major newspapers in town.  It was a letter written in Bengali, informing
everybody that he was being pressurized and harassed in many ways to leave
his quarter. The letter mentions that he was even given a threat of life by
some outsiders and ex-leader. Nobody responded to his letter

 He filed another case against South City for the life threat and harassment
they were causing him.

 *Inside the walled city:*

He continued with his precarious life in the South City premises and
remained a witness to the rapid pace of construction flouting all norms of
basic protection to the construction labourers. The labourers worked at high
altitude without any safety belt. No. of labourers lost their lives by
slipping and falling from a height. He witnessed the death of  seven workers
caused by the sudden collapse of a water tank  The authorities vanishd some
bodies and showed the death toll as four. Shambhu played an active role in
protecting the other dead bodies from disappearing. Through his activism he
won the sympathy of the construction labourers.

 He was also a mute witness to the work at breakneck pace going on at night
– even after 10.30pm, to the illegal filling up of the water body with
rubble – and to so many other irregularities.  He has managed to document
some of these 'developments' in the handy cam I have given him. The handy
cam has also helped him to befriend many people. He shot a video footage of
the guards. I made a DVD and he handed over that DVD to the guards. They
were deeply grateful to him.

 Shambhu is a survivor. He has been pressurized not only by Bimal
Chatterjee, but also by the lawyers fighting for him  - to withdraw the case
and opt for an amicable settlement. In many ways he is at the mercy of his
lawyer and the lawyer exploits him in many ways. Many a times I have made
payments to the lawyer to help Shambhu come out of a tight spot.

 *Latest update:* The case filed against South City has been dismissed.
Shambhu was not informed about the date of court hearing. One more case has
been filed by Shambhu against South City.

 Shambhu will soon meet Mr. S.K. Todi to hear from the horse's mouth what
compensation the Board has decided to give Shambhu.

*End of posting 4*

* *


From rashneek at gmail.com  Wed Oct  3 12:23:05 2007
From: rashneek at gmail.com (rashneek kher)
Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2007 12:23:05 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] =?windows-1252?q?=91Hum_chaahte_hain_ke_log_hum_par?=
	=?windows-1252?q?_naaz_karein=92_by_Hassan_Zaidi?=
Message-ID: <13df7c120710022353m7cb2c1b7g6fa96b0c0909e088@mail.gmail.com>

Twenty-five underprivileged teenage girls—many from the Dharavi and
Kandivali slums and some rescued from brothels—have made five short films,
on issues ranging from dowry to the problems of the girl child, that were
screened on Tuesday.

*Mumbai, October 2:* When fifth standard dropout 17-year-old Shabnam Khan
discusses camera angles, she is not just talking close-ups and zoom-ins, she
is actually telling you that she sees her future in the frames. Similarly,
17-year-old Neha Belkar from the slums in Dharavi knows how to weave the
narrative in a way that will wrench your heart.

Shabnam and Neha are part of a group of 25 underprivileged girls—many from
the Dharavi and Kandivali slums and some who were rescued from
brothels—whose nascent efforts at filmmaking will see fruition on Tuesday at
the Manek Sabhagriha auditorium in Bandra when their five films, four of
10-minute duration and one seven minutes long, will be screened.

An initiative of a clutch of NGOs and others, who include Laadli, MAM
movies, Uncle free coaching classes, Apne Aap, LEARN and Bombay Cambridge
School, the 25 girls learnt the ropes from filmmakers Sudhir Mishra, Madhur
Bhandarkar and Ashok Pandit in 45 days.

The girls have made films on issues ranging from dowry to the problems of
the girl child. Sixteen-year-old Pranati (name changed), who has made a
10-minute film on the rescue of a girl from a brothel, has herself undergone
the trauma of being kidnapped and serving in bondage in such a place.

Pranati's story travels to a distant village where a little girl lives her
little dreams until the bulwark of the family, the mother, dies leaving the
children rudderless. The father is disinterested; in this situation, two men
walk in and promise the stars. They con the girl into taking a train to the
big city, Mumbai, and then she wakes up in a bordello.

Another group of girls from Dharavi led by Neha Belkar, Shaikh Ayesha,
Shabnam Khan and Renuka Gajakosh have made a movie about a dialogue between
an infant boy and a girl and the story of the little girl who fears what is
in store for her: perhaps, she will end up washing dishes, cleaning the
house and doing menial work instead of studying and making her parents
proud. The 10-minute movie is named Naaz. "Hum sab chaahte ke log hum par
naaz karein (We want people to be proud of us)," says Neha, an HSC student
of KMS night college at Dharavi.

Then there is a story about a girl in a womb and her first person account as
she watches her family go into a spin after they hear the news of the
pregnancy and how the girl is suddenly not sure in the next few weeks if the
dissenting grandmother will prevail. Eventually, she is aborted.

The girl child and the troubled times she lives in is the central theme of
most of the movies, all of which have a common theme song sung by a
13-year-old budding musician, Raj Pandit, son of Ashok Pandit. The song
talks about hope for the girl child.

"The artistes who performed in these movies are all neighbours and relatives
of the girls. These girls now say we are filmmakers," says Madhusudan
Agarwal of MAM movies who learnt his trade in San Francisco, US.

So enthused are the veteran filmmakers by the girls' efforts that they have
already decided who the next batch of 25 girls will be for their next
session of filmmaking. "Daughters of police constables and BMC scavengers
and sweepers will form our next batch," says Ashok Pandit who along with
other filmmakers and NGOs conceived the idea of teaching filmmaking to the
girls. "We are also planning to recruit some of the girls into the
mainstream team for big movies as assistants in handling cameras, scripting
and other aspects of filmmaking," says Pandit.

**


-- 
Rashneek Kher
http://www.nietzschereborn.blogspot.com


From rana at ranadasgupta.com  Wed Oct  3 12:29:29 2007
From: rana at ranadasgupta.com (Rana Dasgupta)
Date: Wed, 03 Oct 2007 12:29:29 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Myanmar
Message-ID: <47033DD1.6040201@ranadasgupta.com>

good articles in this week's Economist about the geopolitics of the
intractable Myanmar situation if you get a chance to see it.

The EU and especially the US have placed severe sanctions but India,
China and particularly - as the article below from the NYT describes -
Thailand are providing good revenues to the generals because resource
shortages in the region are just far more pressing than anything else.

R


The New York Times - Myanmar's Resources Provide Leverage
By THOMAS FULLER
Published: October 2, 2007


BANGKOK, Oct. 1 — For two decades, Myanmar's neighbors have grappled
with the question of how to respond to the unrelenting repression by
the country's ruling generals of its people. In Thailand, the answer
comes each time Thais pay their electricity bill.

   Natural gas from Myanmar, which generates 20 percent of all
electricity in Thailand, keeps the lights on in Bangkok. The gas,
which this year will cost about $2.8 billion, is the largest single
export for Myanmar's otherwise impoverished and cash-strapped economy.

Thailand's gas imports highlight the dilemma facing China, India,
Singapore and Malaysia, among other countries, as they vie for
Myanmar's hardwoods, minerals, gems — and access to its market of 47
million people.

At a time of spiraling world energy prices, the prospect of extracting
resources appears to override the embarrassment and shame of dealing
with a junta that has attracted world notoriety. For this reason, the
countries that have the most leverage over Myanmar seem to be the most
reluctant to use it, analysts say.

>From the perspective of Myanmar's generals, the gas purchases by
Thailand are only the beginning of what promises to be a significant
infusion of cash. Myanmar will soon announce the winner of a
concession in the even larger Shwe gas fields off the coast of western
Myanmar. Companies from India, China and South Korea have put in bids
for those contracts.

In eastern Myanmar, Thai companies are building hydropower plants and
have contracts to pay the government billions of dollars for the
electricity generated there.

"For a country that's used to a hand-to-mouth existence there is
suddenly a bonanza of foreign exchange," said Sean Turnell, a
specialist on the Myanmar economy at Macquarie University in
Australia. "Burma is now getting the wherewithal to tell the world to
bug off. It strengthens their position immeasurably."

The cash has allowed the generals who run Myanmar to buy weapons from
China and helicopters from India, order a nuclear test reactor from
Russia and construct their new capital north of Myanmar's main city,
Yangon.

"The natural gas drastically changed the military government's fiscal
position," said Toshihiro Kudo, director of the Southeast Asian
Studies Group at the Institute of Developing Economies, a research
organization run by the Japanese government.

Myanmar's gas reserves are small by global standards. BP, the oil
company, estimates that Myanmar's total reserves are 538 billion cubic
meters, or 19 trillion cubic feet, far less than the reserves of
nearby Malaysia or Indonesia. But the billions of dollars these gas
fields will produce is valuable to the ruling generals, whose sources
of financing are extremely limited due to American sanctions.

Last year, Myanmar sold $2 billion worth of gas to Thailand, which
amounted to more than 40 percent of the country's total exports for
that year. Largely because of the gas deal, Thailand is Myanmar's
biggest trade partner, not China, as is widely reported.

"Thailand and Myanmar are increasingly integrated, increasingly
dependent on each other," Mr. Kudo said. As a result, he said, "I
don't think that Thailand is applying any very serious pressure on the
military government."

There is a stark contrast in Thailand between public anger over the
beatings and the business-as-usual attitude that underlies Thai policy
toward Myanmar.

At the United Nations last week, the Thai prime minister, Surayud
Chulanont called the Myanmar crackdown "unacceptable." Newspapers have
run scathing editorials about Myanmar's generals. And Thailand remains
a refuge for dissidents from Myanmar.

But the bottom line, Thai officials say, is that Thailand is competing
for the world's energy resources, and if it doesn't buy the gas,
someone else will.

"We need power," said Suthep Chimklai, director of the system planning
division at the electricity authority. "We need to balance our sources
by importing more power from our neighboring countries." Thailand also
buys small amounts of electricity from Laos and Malaysia.

To keep up with its demand for electricity, Thailand is building four
power plants, all of which are designed to run on natural gas. If the
supply of gas from Myanmar were disrupted, Mr. Suthep said, "it would
be a serious problem."

The natural gas reaches two power stations on the outskirts of Bangkok
by way of a pipeline laid a decade ago by Total, the French oil
company; Unocal, the American oil company which has since been
absorbed by Chevron; and PTT Exploration and Production, Thailand's
leading company in the field.

According to Thailand's Power Development Plan, the government plans
to increase energy imports from Myanmar, thus further bolstering the
financial position of the junta.

Thailand's policy calls for buying an additional 8,200 megawatts from
Myanmar over the next 14 years. Most of this is likely to come from
hydroelectric power plants on the Salween River. The Electricity
Generating Authority of Thailand has completed feasibility studies on
a dam at Hat Gyi in Myanmar's Karen state. A private Thai company,
MDX, has been given a contract to complete a larger dam at Tasang in
the Shan state.

Thailand's PTT Exploration and Production has won the rights to
explore three potential off-shore sites in the Gulf of Martaban, south
of Yangon.

Gen. Sonthi Boonyaratglin, the army chief who led Thailand's
military coup last year, said last week that Thailand should stay
engaged with Myanmar. "There are many friendly nations who help
Myanmar like China and Korea because Myanmar is a country with plenty
of natural resources that the powerful nations want to obtain,"
General Sonthi said.

For China, the attraction of Myanmar is both economic — Myanmar
imported $1.3 billion worth of Chinese goods in 2006 — and
geostrategic.

As part of its bid for the gas fields in western Myanmar, China has
proposed building a pipeline running from the Indian Ocean to Yunnan
Province. An additional pipeline could carry crude oil, allowing ships
coming from the Middle East to pump oil directly into China without
making the long journey through the Straits of Malacca.

For Myanmar, the gas fields would mean more cash. Mr. Turnell
estimates that gas pumped from Shwe platforms would have a value of $2
billion a year.



From aman.am at gmail.com  Wed Oct  3 14:47:20 2007
From: aman.am at gmail.com (Aman Sethi)
Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2007 14:47:20 +0530
Subject: [Reader-list] Chitra Venkataramani's Hygiene and the City:
	resolving language
Message-ID: <995a19920710030217i51d09e86qd41545d76ee7340f@mail.gmail.com>

Dear Chitra,

I realise that this is a rather late response to a post you almost six
months ago - but i  read your latest post (on your blog) and decided
to go through your previous postings.  Needless to say, the project is
brilliant.

What i wanted to ask you was whether you had resolved the "language
problem" you faced in sxn two of your book.  I too have been
struggling with the notion of language of late- particularly in the
translation from hindi (or marathi or any other language) into
english.  I have been working and writing about construction labour
for a while now - but am yet to figure out how to render their richly
textured dialects into english.

I did try reading a number of travel books to see how travel writers
deal with non-english language speakers in their books.  What i
realised was that very few travel writers (who write in english) speak
the language of the places they visit - and so the only people they
speak to are "natives" who speak some sort of broken english.  This
broken english is then faithfully reproduced by the travel writer and
provides comic relief.

However, in my interactions with labourers, we do not converse in
english at all!  Translating edgy yet poetic hindi into edgy yet
poetic english (in the off chance where this is possible) makes the
labourers sound rather strange and alien, and my narrative seems fails
the essential "Who talks like this in real world" test.

Would be interested in learning about your experiences with the same.
Best
a.

On 4/29/07, Chitra Venkataramani <clinicalexam at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hygiene and the City.
> Second post.
>
> I have spent the past month figuring out the stories that constitute
> the book and collecting data.
>
> The book has three parts. The first part is a compilation of parts of
> interviews that looks at individual notions of cleanliness and order,
> mostly in domestic set up. It also goes through Advertisements for
> cleaning products, objects catalogued as being harmful (taken from old
> newspaper articles).
>
> The second and the third parts of the books both chronicle traveling
> through the city in trains. But while the second part looks at the
> journey as a series of maps, the third is the journey of a medical
> student in a crowded compartment, looking at the idea of paranoia and
> contagious diseases.
>
>  The second part of the book is narrated by a woman who imagines clean
> and unclean as ideas that exist simultaneously. Her story maps objects
> in a busy market place, the difference between private and public
> gardens, and lastly the naala that run along the Central Railway line-
> where is it the deepest, where is it murky and where is it clear; what
> vegetation grows around it (strips along the railway lines are given
> away for farming vegetables like spinach and coriander) and where do
> these vegetables go?
>
>
> The third part narrated by a medical student looks at the idea of
> proximity and disease. If we go in a crowded train, what diseases do
> we catch? How clean are crowds? Of course, it moves from the
> surroundings in the train itself to how he imagines the disease will
> enter our bodies. It also looks at ads put inside trains for curing
> infections like ringworm to ads for faith healers and the ergonomic
> data based on which spaces are designed.
>
>
> Another part that had to be resolved was the language of each of the
> three stories. The fist was pretty clear as each image could change
> with the excerpt from the interview. The third borrows its language
> from medical posters and from the ads, where figure are drawn out as
> stenciled lines or as figures in screen printed pamphlets. I am still
> working on a language for the second story.
>
> I will be posting a few images from the book by next week and upload
> them onto a blog. Will post that link later next week.
>
> My primary sources of data have been newspaper ads (articles taken
> from CED), Books documenting ads from the 40's (especially post war
> advertising), books on anatomy, ads posted around the city on
> telephone boxes and inside trains, and product design projects like
> domestic scrubbers, road cleaning devices and a few medical posters
> (hard to get- hospitals do not encourage people taking pictures or
> even borrowing the posters)
> --
> Chitra Venkataramani
> 7B, Orchard Avenue,
> Powai Mumbai 400076
> 9819 474375
> www.flipsearch.blogspot.com
> _________________________________________
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From priyababu_sudar at yahoo.co.in  Wed Oct  3 15:24:58 2007
From: priyababu_sudar at yahoo.co.in (priya babu)
Date: Wed, 3 Oct 2007 10:54:58 +0100 (BST)
Subject: [Reader-list] aravanis in Madurai - Priya Babu 6th posting
Message-ID: <950295.42077.qm@web94401.mail.in2.yahoo.com>

Aravanis in Madurai – Priyababu 6th posting
   
  There is a Panchayat system for aravanis within Madurai and adjacent districts. The system addresses the issues of the aravani community in the areas where it is followed.
  In Madurai, all aravanis come under this system. This system is stronger in the south of Tamil Nadu than in the North. The leader of the system in a given area is the Nayak of that area.
  One bade haveli Nayak and one chhote haveli Nayak will lead the system. 
   
  The selection criteria of the Nayak include one or more of the following:
  1)      The old Nayak’s first chela (first adopted daughter),
  2)      A long follower of the community traditions and laws,
  3)      The verdict of the old Nayak when she is about to die,
  4)      The old Nayak’s sister (must have been close to the Nayak i