QUEEN KETEVAN'S BONES DISCOVERED AND IDENTIFIED IN INDIA

Georgia, a tiny Christian kingdom, lying on the border of the expanding and fiercely Shia Safavid Empire, was conquered by Shah Abbas I the Safavid ruler snd the captured queen was brought in chains to Isfahan where according to Augustinian sources she was imprisoned for 11 years. Shah Abbas i gave her the unenviable choice between death or life in his harem and the valiant queen chose martyrdom. Her son Teimuraz, for whose safety and protection, the Queen offered herself as hostage to the Safavid emperor, composed a hagiographical text, The Book and Passion of Queen Ketevan and after the Independence of Georgia from the Soviet Union Queen Ketevan has been reinvented as a heroic, national symbol and has become the symbol of nationhood, a role that the deeply religious and spiritual Queen Ketevan would have found both repugnant and distasteful. The horrific torture inflicted on the Queen which include tearing her eyes out with red hot pincers, cutting parts of her body and breaking evey limb before she ultimately died was witnessed by some Augutinian friars who secretly took her body for burial to Goa which was part of the Portuguese empire. The seventeenth century records speak of the interment of her bones near the window of the transept of the great Cathedral built by the Augustinian order in Goa, now a UNESCO world heritage site. Since the Independence of Georgia the Archaeological Survey of India has been carrying out excavations at the site in order to identify the bones of the queen who was canonized in the nineteenth century. The Queen was martyred in 1624 and a few years later her bones were taken out of Persia. Georgia was an early victim of the geopolitical struggles of its day: wedged between the expanding Ottoman Empire and the Duchy of Muscovy, the son of Ketevan tried to play one against the otehr hoping to keep the Safavids out og Georgia. This high risk game required resources which he did not have and his Court was too divided and there were factions tugging in different directions.

The image on the right is a nineteenth century representation of the Queen. Fortunately for historians there is a great deal of contemporary evidence relating to the burial of the queen in the Cathedral at Goa. However it was only from 1989 that Indian archaeologists started looking in earnest for the bones. The interest taken by the ASI stemmed from the political and diplomatic pressure put on India bu Georgia. Is is necessary for the bones of the martyred Queen to be returned to Georgia just to serve the political and ideological needs of the Government in power there. Edward Shevardnadze was the politician who initiated the search for the bones. In 1994 a stone reliquary was found embedded in the wall of the transept and had the windows survived the closest would have been the second window and since that discovery there has been a great deal of public interest over this relic. The Archaeological Survey of India only identified it as the bones, perhaps of a woman and it bore unmistakable marks of great trauma. The Georgians were convinced that it was the bone of their Great Queen Ketevan and they carried the relic to Tiblis where it was received with all the honour due to a Head of State. In the rewriting of History which will inevitable result when the past gets so heavily encrusted with the ideological demands of the presnt, will be forgotten one inconvenient truth: Queen Ketevan had invited Shah Abas I to invade and help her son get the throne and wanted the Safavids to guarantee the security of her son. That however does not justify or mitigate the horrible death she was bore.

The tower of the Augustinian Cathedral where the relics were found In a stunning new development, Indian scientists were able to confirm the remains of the queen by extracting the mitochondrial DNA and comparing it with the descendants of the queen in Georgia. Since mtDNA is passed only along the female line, this confirmation is almost accurate and we know that the Queen did not have an identical twin. The Uib strand in the DNA sequence is not found in the Indian population but is statistically very pronounced in the Georgian population. The identification of this relic is indeed a remarkable instance of how important the skills of a historian are in the reconstruction of the past. Forgotten in all this is a crucial historical issue. Though the Roam Catholic Church claimed Queen Ketevan as its own and canonized her, the fact is she remained steadfast unto the last a beleiver in the Georgian Orthodox Church.

TARUN TEJPAL, TEHEKKA AND THE ROT IN INDIA'S SO CALLED FREE MEDIA

Regular readers of the Indian press would certainly recognize the name, Tehelka. Rabidly pro western in it political and editorial stance and vehemently pro Congress in its ideological orientation, Tehelka acqired a degree of notoriety when it launched what is called a sting operation against Bangaru Laxman, the President of the BJP, a party which is contesting the Congress all over the country. Though the President of the BJP was not holding any public office, nor was he in any fiduciary sense in a capacity to influence decisions in the defense ministry during the NDA rule, the sting operation caught the President accepting one hundred thousand rupees from the Tehelka journalist who secretly filmed this. The Congress went to town proclaiming the "corruption and venality" of the BJP led Government. Never mind that there was no bribe paid and it was perfectly legal to accept party contributions, the BJP abandoned any defense of the President and he was sentenced to a jail term which he served. Tehelka is a new kind of ideologically driven, headline grabbing electronic journalistic venture. It specializes in uncovering scams, scandals and other goings on in BJP ruled on BJP friendly states. Tarun Tejpal the aging Editor and his second in command a woman called Shoma Choudhary are well known faces in the country's English news channels and whenever they appear they very predictable give of the Congress spiel and refuse to subject the drivel they espouse to any critical scrutiny. Even though it was known that the sting operation against the President of the BJP was illegal the successive Congress regimes continued to prosecute the dalit President of the BJP. On almost all majot controversies such as the Gujarat Riots of 2002 and the more recent episode of a woman who perhaps came under police surveillance in Gujarat for extra legal reasons, Tarun and his cohort Shoma were at their shrillest on television channels like NDTV another Congress friendly news channel. Tehelka seems to be a front for a number of illegal companies which are funding this news organization. Though the ostensible owner of Tehelka is a Bengali MP from Mamtha Banerjee's TMC, Tarun Tejpal and his family are the dejure owners as nearly 19% of the shares are owned by Tejpal, giving him effective control over the day to day functioning of the news organizations. The holding companies of Tehelka even managed to get unsecured loans to the tune of 1,400 crores which invited the strong sanction of the regulator, SEBI. The balance sheet of Tehelka and its associated companies are not available for public scrutiny and this itself shows that the Company was involved in many shady and dubious, perhaps even illegal activite. It may even turn out that some of the illegal wealth of Congress politicians may be parked in Tehelka. Tarun Tejpal is in the news for attempting to rape a female employee of his when the International Film Festival was held in Goa recently. Apparently he cornered her in the life of the five star hotel where he and his staff were staying and abused her sexually. When the girl complained to the "Managing Editor" a woman called Shoma Choudhary also from Kolkatta, she made it appear as if the whole affair was consensual and that the woman was making a fuss over nothing. Tejpal magnanimously offered to take leave from the editorial duties and both the man and his woman felt that the ends of justice had been met. In India, there is growing intolerance toward sexual harassment and exploitation and the words of Nancy Poweel mean nothing as she is not aware of the reality of India today. The outrage against Tarun Tejpal and his "Managing Editor" Shoma Choudhary resulted in the Goa police registering a case of rape against Tejpal.The mananagment of Tehelka is putting a lot of pressure on the young girl not to cooperate with the Police in its investigatioon and this is the way the"flag bearer" of the so called secular liberalism behaves in India. The Congress is trying to shield its journalistic hit man with all the power at its command. The Minister of the Congress regime whom we jocularly refer to as the Dr Goebbels of the Regime, the Minister for Mis information and Propaganda, the voluble Manish Tewari has not said a word about this incident in public. Obviously the regime would like the uproar to quieten and then offer him some plum assignemnts like membership of the Prasar Bharati Board. The ammended Rape laws that have been passed allow for procecution even if the woman does not file a written compalint. So the ends of justice may yet be met. Theren is little investigative journalism in India in the American or even the British sense. Blackmail is the name of the game and it is time for a serious rethink on the direction the so called free media is taking. Sting Operations do not constitute investigative journalism and the fact that all the media houses are under the control of corporates is worrisome.

BOB< THE STREET CAT: LOVE AND REDEMPTION

The little book by James Bowen, A Street Cat named Bob is a remarkable tale of love, hope and redemption. The author James Bowen, a drug addict and in the jargon of British social welfare office, a substance abuser, finds a large ginger cat near his dwelling. The adventures of this duo occupies most of the book. The author has fallen through the cracks of western society and has ended on the streets of London without a job and little skill,l which can translate into dependable employment. So "busking" for a living is the only career choice that available. The Cat and James set out by tube to Coventry Garden where James has a designated spot busking, playing music for voluntary donations. Since panhandling is forbidden by law in most western counties, busking invites little attention from the law, provided of course there it is done in a designated place and there is no complaint of anticancer James earns at best little more than what was essential to keep .his nose out of trouble. Petty theft and drug addiction were already on his record and James now has a cat to feed and support. The bond between the two develops into a stable and mutually enriching relationship and now James Bowen had a purpose to his life, something he never had earlier. His life settled down to a routine of busking in London and the petty quarrels and jealousies his success and the attention paid to Bob his cat evoked amongst the other derelicts on the streets of London is brought out well. The love between the two transforms Bob from a drug addict to a more responsible human being and the book also documents the reconciliation between James and his mother who after her marriage to Nick seems to have drifted away from James. The spiritual anchor of Jmaes' life is Bob and he gradually helps him find his feet again.

For most readers, the tale of Bob and James may sound surreal. Can a street cat make sucha huge difference to a person's life. As someone who has seen and experienced the rougher side of life, I can say that animals do bring a strange kind of unconditional love to their relationship with their owners that is really unsettling at times. James Bowen was down and out in London, barely eking out a bare living by busking in the posh areas of Londan, loving from day to day, taking life one day at a time and when Bob entered his life all that changed. He had a purpose to live anf that made all the difference. Life Richard Parker in the Life of Pi, who became Pi's spiritual anchor in the Pacific Ocean, Bob was to James. I liked this book immensely and I too am fond of animals and so read the book with interest. The message of redemption comes out strongly in the book.

New Light on Indian Relations with Tibet: The perfidy of L N Nehru

The Indian Government has always pretended to follow a "principled" policy towards Tibet. One the one hand it recognizes the fact that Tibet is an integral part of China and on the other provided space for the Dalai Lama to indulge his fancy for high decibel diplomacy and publicity and China rightly objects to this dual policy. Based on perfidy and exercised through duplicity this policy has stood in the way of realizing the full potential of Indo-Chinese relations. The two form the very heart of Asian civilizations and there is at least 2,550 years of peaceful history behind the civilizational ties between India and China. Unfortunately, successive Congress regimes have built their foreign policy on instinctive hostility toward China, rather than exploring the threads that bind these two giant neighbors together. And in following this policy, the Government of India starting with the first Prime Minister, Jawarhar Lal Nehru were essentially following the colonial policy enunciated by the British Government in order to keep China under constant threat. The greatest failure of Nehru lies in his wooden headed pursuit of an aggressive China policy without taking into consideration the alternatives. Today as we survey the landscape, we find China standing at the very doorstep of economic powerhouse and India is facing a bleak future because of the inherent stasis created by a corrupt political class and corruption. Documents recently discovered in the National Archives of India clearly prove that in the 1940;s even as the country was facing the massive onslaught of the Japanese Empire, the then British Government was instrumental in supplying arms and ammunition to the Dalai Lama and his followers in China.The 11 year old "Dalai Lama" neither had the wit nor the education to understand what the English secret services were up to and after Independence Jawahar Lal Nehru continued the same policy while publicly proclaiming the homilies of "panch sheel". The Revolutionary Government of China obviously saw through this grand pantomime. Therefore the prime responsibility for the border conflict in 1962 rests with the Government of India and its misguided policies and perspectives. The Political Officer looking after Tibet and Sikkhim in the waning years of the Raj, Mr A J Hopkinson put up a note to his superiors asking for funds to equip a brigade level force in Tibetr with 2 and 3 inch mortars, sten guns, machinme guns and Bren machine pistols. The Memorandum of MAY 29, 1947 WHICH IS FOUND IN THE NATIONAL ARCHIVES OF iNDIA (FRONTLINE AUGUST 23, 2013) contains a reproduction of this important document. The officials were certain that this policy of sending arms will be vigourously contested by the Chinese Government and even Chiak Kai Shek did not acquiesce in this wrong and anti Chinese policy.The programme of arming the "peace loving" monks of Tibet began soon after the Francis Younghusband expedition to Tibet and picked up momentum after the Revolution of 1911. Even after Independence when the departure of the British should have induced fresh thinking, the policy of arming the Tibetans continued. In October 1947, Sam Manekshaw, then a Lt Col. approved the transfer of weapons and 1,484,000 rounds of aminutions to Tibet. it is likely that Britain wanted a foothold in Tibet in order to exert pressure on China both with regards to Kowloon and Hong Kong. Independent Indfa did not have any such strategic objective and why was Jawarlal Nehru so utterly foolish and shortsighted.

The Mid Day Meal Tragedy in Bihar: Callousness and Corruption

Two days dack, in a village Chapra located 65 kilometers from the capital Patna 25 schoolg children all below the age of 11 died after having taken their mid day meals in school. In India, the mid day meal is a major incentive for families from poorer sections of society to send their children to school. Origally conceived in the Southern state of Tamil Nadu by the Cheif Minister M G Ram,achandran, the mid day meal program caught on and even in the mis governed states like Uttar Pradesh and Bihar this welfare scheme is presently underway. The fiances for the scheme are part of the state budget and the school appoints a cook and an attender to run the mid day meal programme. However, in states like Bihar and Uttar Pradesh there is massive corruption even in this scheme. In fact Bihar has the dubious distinction of having had a Chief Minister, laloo Prasad Yadava who was caught taking the money ear marked for animal welfare. The now infamous Fodder Scam is reaching its final stages in the courts and will end up convicting laloo Prasad Yadava. Even athug like this Laloo Prasad was not able to kill all the 347 witnesses. The current Chief Minister, Nitish Kumar, a past master in the old style identity politics rode to power on the strength of a very fragile social coalition consisting of intermediate caste, landed caste and the higher castes. After taking over the reins of government for the second time, Nitish Kumar began to feel the weight of his victory, but interpreted it as an endorsement of his personal "charisma". And this wrong and ill conceived notion was his undoing. The tragedy in Bihar took place only because of mis governance. The last 2 years the state administration has been paralyzed due to national ambitions of Nitish Kumar. Ever since he declared his opposition to the Prime Ministerial candidature of Honnourable Narendra Modi, Nitish Kumar regime has been floundering. Corruption, mal administration, scams and scandals have become the order of the day. The death of the 22 school children is a testimony to the plight of Bihar under Nitish Kumar. The shocking facts have emerged from the news reports. The food itmes for preparing the noon meals were sourced from the shop of the husband of the Head Mistress of the school, a man who as it turns out is an activist of the Rasshtrya Janata dal whose leader is the fodder scam accused, :Laloo Prasad Yadava. The shameless state government sought to shift the blame to the RJD by implying that the RJD wasbehind the tragedy in order to undermine the regime of Nitish Kumar. The level to which politics has sunk in India can be understood from the fact that the Government refuses to see the tragedy as one caused by itts own failures, but is quick to see political conspiracies everywhere. Corruption in the mid day meal scheme is the real factor. Even after the children took ill, it took over six hours for the children to be shited to the Primary Health Centre and there there was no nurse or doctor and there were no drips to provide immediate releif. This sate of affairs prevailing in Bihar is a national shame and people must realise that identity politics will lead to the grave as it did for the 22 children The World Bank and the IMF have given loans, soft loans to Bihar but the utilization of these loans is so poor that the international funding agencies are now wary of giving loans to Bihar. The country as a whole has slid backwards under the rule of the Congress Party and its allies and if India needs better Governence it must vote for change..

Caste and Indian political parties

The recent decision of the Allahabad High Court banning "caste rallies" is a welcome step for two reasons. First, the Indian voter being a caste oriented individual finds himself unable to resist the pull and pressures of caste lobbies. Second, the social scientists in India have taken whole sale the post colonial theories which revolve around identity, identity formation and political mobilization on identity lines. What is shocking is that in the Indian context Identity politics is being seen as a sign of democratic functioning without understanding the divisive and violent role played by identity politics. Democracy in India has degenerated into a numerical game, a mere arithmetic of assembling caste voting blocks for one or the other alliance. In fact voters in India do not have much of a choice since ideology is underplayed and caste factors dominate the electoral battle. And after the promulgation of the Mandal Report the backward castes and the political parties associated with them have come to dominate the landscape and the language of post colonial social science legitimizes such politics. Cast based rallies are not only the basis of political mobilization but also an important marker of the strength of a political party and a very important bargaining chip in the distribution of tickets for the elections. In Tamil Nadu the caste based political parties like the DMK and the PMK openly indulge in violence in order to firm up political support. In the name of democracy violence is unleashed against an unsuspecting electorate and the people have no protection from criminals who have come to dominate the political space. The Allahabad High Court has taken a small step in the right direction and already the political parties have begun to make threatening noises. In Uttar Pradesh, as in Tamil Nadu, caste based politics dominates. The Samajwadi Party with its Yadava support base and the BSP with its dalit and more particularly the Jatav support base are openly indulging is violence against each other. Uttar Prasesh and Bihar are in the grip of caste mania and violence is now reaching alarming proportions. It is against this background that the Allahabad high court has issued its decision banning caste rallies. All political parties with the exception of the Communists and the BJP have condemned the Allahabad High Court order on the ground that it is an infringement of democratic right of free expression. The Supreme Court of India has taken another giant step towards cleaning up the political sewage in India. It is a shocking statistics that 40% of Indian MPs and MLAs are criminals and even after being convicted continue to occupy positions of power on the strength of the "appeal" process or the most ridiculous instrument of Indian jurisprudence "anticipatory stay". With the present judgement criminals who have been convicted cannot contest elections or occupy elected office. This is a welcome sign of things changing. The criminals who run India are unlikely to yield ground that easily and will try their best to undo the two judgements. I hope that they do not succeed.

The Way of the Knife: CIA and its secrets

One of the many myths surrounding USA is that it is a great power, a bulwark of liberty in a sea of tyranny. This self serving ideologically laced self representation of USA has made people, especially historians and analysts, ignore certain important aspects of the political and institutional conduct of US. In India, the tele intellectuals of JNU and other leading Universities are only too willing to buy American self ratiocination as the hegemonic weight of post colonial theories seriously impedes our intellectuals from seeing reality from behind the fog of illusions created by American propaganda. India has to learn lessons from the USA, if it wants to be a hard state. Unfortunately the cold comfort of being a soft state gingerly side stepping all important political and security questions is too attractive a prospect for our "intellectuals" to lose. So they continue to mouth the platitudes taught to them by American establishment. A case in point is the controversy over Martha Nussbaum. There are enough morally obnoxious events happening in the USa for this white woman to fret and fume over. But she will issue "fawas" against Narendra Modi and her shrill rhetoric is magnified by Indian intellectuals ever eager to be seen on the same page as the Gucci and Benetton of the American academia. It is in this context that Mark Mazetti's The Way of the Knife is an eyeopener. This book deals with the policies and strategies pursued by the USA in its war against Islamic fundamentalism. What is so striking is the close coordination between the Military and the civilian leadership especially in the fields of espionage and "special operations" US speak for targeted assassinations. Right from the Administration of George W Bush the CIA was involved in an active chase for Islamic militants in Iraq, Somalia, the Horn of Africa and Afghanistan, The hunt had started even before 9/11. The CIA and its method of working is given in some detail. In India we have seen the absolute incompetence of IB and RAW to achieve any national goal. RAW operatives must read this book to get a first hand account of the ethos prevailing in the intelligence community in USA. First of all the Americans rightly think that Intelligence is not the domain for policemen and detectives. Somehow there is a false notion prevailing in India that political and strategic intelligence can be left to policemen. This is like leaving open hear surgery to the chief nurse in the cardiac ward. It is high time India understood that Intelligence is a highly specialized field of expertise and policemen are just not adequate for the job. Another point worth noting is the integrity with which field operatives do their job. They do not white wash reports or tailor them for the political basses. The only instance when this was done was during the WMD crisis when the CIA operatives or eather the outsources espionage hacks filled exaggerated reports. In India the RAW and the IB put up reports with both eyes firmly fixed on the next promotion or the needs of their bosses. Americans usually claim that their Government follows Rule of Law. By and large one can agree with this statement at a very general level just as I will say with utter confidence that in India we have rule of outlaws like Laloo, Mulayam, Karunanidhi and slum dog politicians like them. However, when dealing with grey areas the US Government outsources its policy of inflicting violence. Blackwater is a case in point, Whenever dirty work of killing people or whisking them away for "serious interrogation" read Git Mo treatment, then Blackwater fills the bill. The American tax payer pays heavily so that his President and his Cabinet can deny "criminal culpability" for the actions Black Water carries out. Even in an Outlaw State like India, this kind of deniablity is not possible. The political opposition will not allow the Government to get away with callous, calculated mursder as is done in the USA and Mark Mazzetti has documented several instances of such dubious behavior. The book makes fascinating reading and is written in a racy, page turner sort of style which makes the book more interesting than John Le Carr's Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy. However, the author like all Americans is a bit squeamish when it comes to drone warfare. He hints that there are questions about the legality of such attacks but does not explicitly state that US policy is illega. However, the author has provided enough instances to show that the much vaunted drone warfare has caused huge causalities. In Somalia and in Afghanistan drone attacks has led to more than 5,000 deaths and the body count is rising. I like the book and I reccomed this book to all those interested in US policies in our part of the Globe

The Importance of Being Narendra Modi

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books The elevation of the Hon'ble Narendra Modi to head the election campaign for the 2014 General Elections was not unexpected. The BJP has seen in the Chief Minister a new kind of leader, one who has the largest appeal in a country where the majority of the population is less than 30 years of age. The demographics of the electorate dictates the choice of a campaign strategist who can connect with the younger sections of the population. Another important point. After fomenting "identity politics" based on confessional sects, the country particularly the Muslims were willing to give the Congress party its thumbs up by default. The Congress party had learned the art of whipping up minority fears for its own dynastic purposes. The happy fallout of the Jaswant Singh controversy has been that it has led to a rethinking about the role of the Congress in the tragedy of Partition and many are now willing to concede that the Congress too was complicit in the tragedy. Minority fears also revolve around the unsettled and ongoing controversy of the role of the Congress Party and its leadership in the anti-Sikh Massacre of 1894. One happy consequence of all these developments is that the Congress propaganda of being a party which protects minority interests has been questioned. The changing nature of Indian society and demography has led to VIRTUAL REJECTION OF POLITICS OF the "old kind". The cobbling together of caste groups, vested interests and sundry other sodalities into a combination that can hurl a candidate across the winning post and in the first past the winning post system this strategy was often successful. The only exception to this general rule was the 1977 election which was a referendum on the Congress Party imposed Emergency. The 2014 Elections is showing every sign of snowballing into a referendum on the Congress and its performance. The series of scandals involving powerful congressmen like P Chidambaram and Pawan Bansal, regional allies like the DMK and the rest has made the entire country restive. Indians have come to accept a fair degree of corruption as then price for democracy, unlike China where the Confucian ethics curbs the predatory instincts. However the rising crime graph and the impunity with which the Congress dealt with the question of accountability has outraged the nation and so the 2014 Election will be fought on the issue of governance and accountability. The Chief Minister of Gujarat, Hon;ble Narendra Modi has been able to articulate a vision of politics which the young find highly inspirational. He has turned politics over to Economics and has made development the sole criterion for political legitimacy. In this, Modi is essentially following the East Asian and China model which placed salience on develpment. The growth rate of Gujarat over the past decade has been virtually in the double digits and even the hostile Indian print media has had to acknowledge the vast improvement in the economy of Gujaratt. There are however questions of inclusion which still remain. We must say that only after the economy has grown can one address the issue of inclusion. The ideologues of the Congress and their cohorts in the Indian "social science" establishment have raised questions about the "inclusive" nature of Gujarat's growth story. What these ideologues fail to grasp is that over the last decade Gujarat has become almost a developed state and all social indices are positive. It is against this background that Narendra Modi began to draw attention. The people of India, particularly the young want better lives for themselves, better education and better living standards and are convinced that the old style of identity politics favored by the Congress is not taking the country anywhere except toward crime and corruption. The schemes launched by the Gujarat Government if replicate on a national scale will lead to tremendous progress. Governance in GujarAT IS FREE FROM THE MALAISE OF CORRUPTION. hON.BLE nAREDRA MODI is perhaps the only chief minister who does not face charges of corruption and financial maleficence. And the people of India want to give this new kind of politics a chance. The BJP like any Indian political party is full of factions. L K Advani has virtually disassociated himself from the leadership of Shri Modi, This is unfortunate as Advani is a tall leader and well respected within the party and outside. I have great respect for L K Advani and I think that he is too great a man to let the clouds of today rain out the prospects for a better India. However Modi has a toough job ahead of him. Being the chairman of the Election Committee he would need to interact with state level leaders who are aligned to various factions and the defeat of the party in Karnataka must have led to the realization that factionalism is self defeating. Modi must quickly develop a line of command which reports directly to him and not to the faction bosses. The 2014 Elections will be fought on the issue of governance and corruption and Modi has demonstrated success in both.

The Naxalite Attck in Chatisghar: Is the Congress responsible for political violence in India

The Naxalite Movement has created a state within a state in India and with the eroding legitimacy of the Indian state based on the 1947 Settlement it is time to ask the fundamental question: Is the Indian political class of which the criminal organization called the Congress party is the preeminent example the main and fundamental cause for the cycle of violence. During the course of the last 60 years the dynastic fascists have ruined India by foisting a corrupt political culture in which courtiers masquerade as politicians. Every institution of the land, the Parliament, the steel frame of the bureaucracy, the constitutional bodies like the CVC and investigative agencies like the Enforcement Directorate and the CBI have been perverted to serve the cause of the dynastic fascists. The Indi9an constitution does not advocate a dynastic sate and the criminal CONGRESS PARTY HAS CONVERTED THE POLITICAL PROCESS into manipulated endorsement of dynastic rule. Unfortunately the other political parties like the BJP and the Communists play along without realizing the fact that dynastic fascism is the root cause of political and administrative corruption in India. The present regime of ManMohan Singh is floundering in the ocean of corruption on a monumental scale of which the Coal Allocation Scandal and the @G Spectrum Scandal have caused a loss of nearly 15% of the GDP.If India did not have this parasitical political class it would be a very rich country indeed. It is against this background that the violence against the Congressman unleashed by the Maoists in Chatiisghar has to be viewed. The Congress Party always speaks in two voices on all major issues and hence there is no consensus in India on any issue. All criminology parties will unite in the name of fighting communslism without understanding that the bogey of ":communalism" was created by Nehru in order to defelct attention from the Congress complicity in enforcing the Partition of the Country and since then the artificial fears of "majority" rule has been cleverly used to fragment Indian electorate into pliable voting blocks. The BJP unfortunately plays along with the Congress without realizing that the political futre of India lies only in the demise and extinction of political forces like the Congress. In Punjab the Congress sided with the Sikh militants and lent support to Bhindrenwale, in Sri Lanka the Congress Government of Indira Gandhi armed and trained the LTTE and in Assam, the Congress is in direct cahoots with the ULFA and uses the militancy in order to intimidate the other parties including the BJP. Therefore for the Congress leadership to say that the attack on the "Parivarthan Yatra" is an attack on the "democratic process" is both false and disingenuous. The Congress has been using Dig Vijaya Singha to discredit any attempt at reigning in jehadi inspired terrorism. Now when it has to face the consequences of its own misguiged policies to cries out as if "Democracy" is in danger. The dynastic fascists re the biggest threat to democracy in India not the Naxalite Movement. Unfortunately, establishment figures like Ramachandra Guha fail to emphasis the obvious link between Congress double speak and the culture of violence unleashed by that party. Now the people are responding in kind. Another example of the double speak is the patronage given to the anti naxalite militia, the Salwa Jadum founded by Mahendra Karma who was killed in the attack recently. The petition of Ramachandra Guha made the Supreme Court oder the disbanding of the Salwa Jadum while the Naxalite movement did not get any adverese notice from the Court. The ideologues like Arunditti Roy and Ramchandra Guha denounced in very strong language the violence of the Salwa Jadum but were certainly not too vehemnet in teir criticism of the Naxalite. In fact Arunditti Roy even calls them "Gandhians with Guns". In fact the Congress patronage of the Salwa Judam made this anti naxalite movement into a major force in the so called anti naxalite movement. The Congress trumpeted its Operation Green HUnt" after the Dantewada Incident but as is always the case with the Congress it lacks both the skill and the expertise to do anything excet corruption. Operation Green Hunt degenerated into a tribal killing movement and this engendered more support for the anti Congress Naxalite Movement. If the Naxalite target the Congress and other criminal political forces the p[eople of India will not give a whit. It was Karma, a Congressman who created and launched the anti tribal militia and the naxalites took him out in a ruthless amnner. Jairam Ramesh the "intellectual" face of the dynastic fascists publically humiliated Mahendra Karma in the rally signalling the Congress no longer found Karma useful and therefore expendable. The result the brutal killing of this Congress tribal political leader. The Congress Party itself is responsible for the killing not the state Government under Dr Raman Singh. The Home Ministry guidelines are very clear that in Naxalite liberated areas the conventional political parties should not move in large convoys. The convoy of nearly 40 cars was struck by well trained and armed militants. As was the case with the Rajiv Gandhi rally in which Rajiv Gandhi was eliminated by his political rivals the LTTE, in which the participation of Congress insiders is still suspected. in the case of the present attack the route of the convoy was changed at the last moment and this led to the attack. In other words the congress men themselves were responsible for the brutality. Had the route not been changed then the attack may not have taken pl;ace. Do we care about what happened. I think the Indian nation does not care for the fate of its politicians. V C Shukla was the Information and Broadcasting Minister during the Emergency and that says it all. The BJP must not go overt board in condemning the attack as the Congressmen invited the attack on themselves.

Beyond A Boundry by C L R James: The Horror of Match Fixing in India

The recent expose has of course, shocked everyone. Each time a juicy scandal breaks out and the heart wrenching dirges that are sung about betrayal reminds me of the famous line in Casablanca when the police officer says, "I am shocked that gambling in goin on here" even as he pockets his earnings. Sreesanth has been caught largely because he is an outsider and a marginal member of the Indian test team. In fact, right from the time of Kapil Dev Indian cricket has been bedeviled by allegations of match fixing and Mohammad Azuruddin the Hon'ble member of thew Congress Party and an MP to boot from Rampur, UP was even convicted of match fixing. Unfortunately, the man went on to become an MP and thus prove to the whole country that even if you are caught in a scandal the political class is above common consideration of decency, loyalty to country and dignity. In fact Indian cricket is a mirror of contemporary India in which fixers of every kind, colour and shape thrive. Just see the shenanigans of the Congress Party over the Coalgate Scandal and the involvement of the Law Minister in the whole affair. Cricket has had a rich and colurful history. Ranjit Singh documented his life in cricket in the Jubilee Book of Cricket. India unfortunately has not produced a single historian who has been able to write the history of the game as a reflection of social, political and cultural trends. The last great cricketer which India had was Gundappa Vishwanath, a stylish batsman who displayed both verve and style on the wicket. Now we have corrupt clowns masquerading as national icons and the decline began, yes, with Sachin Tedulkar. The clamour for giving his a "Bharat Ratna" is indeed obscene. Beyond a Boundry by C L R James is one of the best books on cricket that I have ever read. I have read Neville Cardus and the like but James is able to interweave the history of cricket in the West Indies with social history. The racist society of Jamaica and Trinidad did not allow the blacks, the descendents of slaves who worked on the sugar plantations any venue for social mobility. C L R James write the history of west Indian cricket as a social history of the blacks trying to assert their identity in the face of intense institutional racism and marginalization. Obviously with such a history, you are not going to see match fixing and and like. Every lover of cricket must read this book. In India, the game of Criket has become both commerilised and politisized. Consequently the game has started attracting the wrong kind of people. C L R James talks about men with passion for the game who played the game for one of the 5 clubs of the islands in order to assert their dignity and identiry. No wonder the West Indians are not caught in the web of scandal unlike their cohorts in India

Autonomy for the CBI; Why the misue of the CBI by the Congress Party must stop

The observations of the Supreme Court of India that the CBI is a "caged parrot" mimicking its master,s voice has resulted in a debate in Indian liberal circles. As usual the India liberal will always jump to extreme conclusion. The "policeman" cannot be "autonomous" screamed one well heeled liberal as if the Supreme Court mandated an unaccountable CBI. The issue here is the rampant misuse of the Government investigative agencies for partisan political purposes. The Income Tax Department, the Intelligence Bureau, the Enforcement Directorate, the CBI and scores of other Central and State agencies are being misused almost on a daily basis for either protecting political clients or harassing political opponents. Consequently Rule of Law has succumbed to the Rule of Outlaws and the Supreme Court is only attempting to set right the balance. The Indian liberals abet in the crimes of the Establishment of staking extreme positions which results in the existing aberration in institutions go unchecked. The ease with which they jump up and down ranting and raving about a "police state" in case the CBI is insulated from political control shows that the liberals actually want the current misuse of the CBI to continue. The other favorite ploy of the Liberals is to see "communal" conspiracies in any attempt at improving governance: the result once again is status quo. The Congress Party has been misusing the CBI right from Independence. The investigation carried out by the CBI in cases involving high level criminals has always been lackadaisical. An example may be give; The investigations in to the Nagarwala Case in which all the prime accused were killed including the magistrate who conducted the trial still haunts the pages of history. The Investigation into the 1984 riots against the Sikhs organized by the Congress Party has drawn the ire of the courts repeatedly. The main problem with the CBI is that it calibrates its policy to the political demands of the Congress Party. I must say that the BJP did not abuse the CBI in this shameless manner when Hon'ble Lal Kishen Advani was the Deputy PM and Home Minister. Unfortunately given the ideological blinkers of the Indian liberals they are unable to see that the abuse of the CBI is the original sin of the Congress Party which the other major party of governance did not commit. The use or rather abuse of the CBI to coerce political allies and associates is yet another problem. See how the Taj Corridor case is progressing according to the co operation or otherwise of Mayawati. The CBI is now going slow on Laloo Prasad Yadava and the other Yadava, Mulayam Singh Yadava because of political compulsion and see the alacrity with which it raided the house of the DMK rougue Stalin just days after the withdrawal of support by the DMK. What the Supreme Court is trying to do is to insulate the CBI from such abuse. The Supreme Court is not mandaing a police state and the Indian liberals by raising this bogey are actually playing to the Congress Gallery,

Sajjan Kumar, the Dynastic Fascist Party and the 1984Massacre:Why India cannot forget

he news that Sajjan Kumar, the senior Congress leader from De3lhi has been acquitted as come as a rude shock to many of us who have been following the 1984 Massacre Case. To recapitulate: On November 1st after Indiara Gandhi was eliminated by two Sikh bodyguards, masquerading gangs of Congressmen aided and abetted by the highest political functionaries including her son, Rajiv Gandhi went on a murderous rampage alll across Delhi and killed Sikhs in retaliation and revenge. The Sikh President of India, Zail Singh and his Home Minister Narashima Rao were silenbt spectators when Sikhs were pulled out of their homes and petrol thrown on them and set ablaze in full public view. The police were instructed to keep quiet and even Sikh policemen were attacked. The complicity of the Governmenbt of India was all to clear and the more notorious killers like Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar were even give tickets by the Congress Party and they went on to become MPs and one of them even became a Cabinet Minister of the dynastic fascist party. Nearly 29 years later, the Sikhs are still awaiting justice and not a single Congressman has been convicted. The police were instructed not to file the FIRs and the Sikh survivors approached the Courts and in the case of Jagdish Tytler the CBi even closed the case on the ground that there is no evidence against him. This is the same CBI which rushes to show its interim report to the outlaw Minister Ashwini Kumar on the coal gate scam. The closure was contested and last month the Delhi High Court gave the order that Tytler can be prosecuted. Sajjan Kumar another notorious killer from the dynastic fascist party, the Congress, the darling of the Indian middle class. The criminal investigation procedures were all subverted in order to shield the criminals and in this the Congress Party should be made accountable in every manner for abetting the crime of 1984. By making a Sikh the Prime Minister behind whose back the dynastic fascists amass wealth, does not absolve the Congress of its barbarism. The Government of India under successive Congress regimes adopted a set of 3 strategies in order to shield the criminals of 1984. First, it deliberately filled wrong details about the lo9cation and events leading to the c crime and in some cases even fabricated names which could be easily proven to be wrong so as discredit the victims of the crime. The second strategy was to question the wrong people and then say that no witnesses could be found. The Sikhs like most Indians have a set of common names. If the witness is named Jasbir Singh, the CBI would get a statement from the wrong Jasbir Singh and produce it in the court. The third was the good old Congress method: intimidation and physical threat. The acquittal of Sajjan Singh is a blot on the entire judicial system. The case must be reopened and the criminals punished. Due to the fact that several decades have passed and many of the witnesses and the corroborative evidence destroyed, the words of the Witness must be taken as the truth, just as was done in the Eichman Trial. The Criminal procedure and its code is being misued to shield the dynastic fascists from the punishment due to them and this must stop if India is to be regarded as a civilized country with rule of law.

DELHI UNIVERSITY'S FOUR YEAR UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMME; WHY THE FUSS

Indian academics need some issue to scream their throats off. A few years back it was the Ayodhya question, then it was the Godhra issue and now the four year degree programme. I am amazed at the tenacity with which they enter the public domain and start screaming about issue over which they have just not applied their limited minds. I cannot say that they oppose innovative schemes just for the sake of sounding the bugle of war. Rather it is an identity issue. To be taken seriously as an "academic' one must reinforce his/her credentials by staking out positions which are then amplified as they move form one opinion maker to another. Soon we have a cacophony of noises and the real issue gets submerged. Unfortunately these opinion makers and academics have very close links with the ruling establishment and any voice of dissent is branded "sfforization". Thus India has intellectuals whose only claim on public indulgence is the capacity to stray from one noisy issue to another without waiting to think of the consequences. The same is true of the 4 year degree programme introduced by the University ofDelhi. These public intellectuals who rail against this new innovation are well aware of the fact that all over the world the undergraduate degree is of 4 years duration. India is not able to make the cut to the Shanghai list o9r the Times list only because there is a serious disconnect between undergraduate and graduate programmes. Even in USA the undergraduate degree is of 4 years length. Indians wanting to go to the USA for their post graduate education are now expected to have an MA degree which is recognized as the equivalent of the 4 year degree course. Delhi University is only falling in line with global norms. The cacophony has already started. This morning's Hindu published from Chennai carried a center page article by a tele intellectual from that bastion of intellectual and social snobbery, JNU, in which the author has stated that the 4 year undergraduate programme is an error both in letter and spirit. She finds fault with the courses termed bridge courses which have been introduced in order to make the students competitive on the job front. It is highly elitist to say that the University should be concerned only with knowledge and not the job market. These privileged academics unlike those of us struggling in less well endowed universities do not have to bother about the first generation learners and their concern for the education of "dalits" is just that, notional and theoretical. The courses suggested and introduced by the University will go a long way in helping the stu dents get jobs in an ever shrinking job market especially after the introduction of the Mandal reservations for the OBCs who are both politically and economically well off. The major criticism seems to be that procedures were not followed. If the Academic Council and the due procedures were to be followed no innovation can ever be introduced as vested interests will organize themselves with such vigour that the Vice Chancellor will look foolish. I think the University of Delhi has done the student community a great favor and the UGC must ensure that the rest of the country follow

The Boston Marathon Terrorist Attack: Lesson for India

The President of the US, Barack Obama vowed in the memorial service that justice will be done to the victims of the Boston Attack. And just four days later one of the terrorists is dead and his brother Zzhovar Tsarneav has been arrested. Can we in India ever imagine a terrorist attack being brought to such a speedy and resolute end. I say it is very near impossible because at every step of the way Congressmen like Dig Vijaya Singha and others will advocate politics based on the identity of the perpetrators of the terrorist attack and Indian law enforcement has become the joke of the country and even in those rare cases where the terrorists have been convicted and sentenced to death identity politics is ensuring that the sentence is reduced or "commuted" to life imprisonment. India can learn quite a few lessons in becoming a hard state from the example of the USA. Right from the moment the bombs went off the Boston, Massachusetts and Federal; Law enforcement agencies like the Alcohol, Firearms and Tobacco Bureau (AFT), the Boston city police and the FBI acted in clear concert with each other without making politics over jurisdiction. In India whenever there is a terrorist attack the first casualty is investigation because "Law and Order" is a state subject. Of course when the silly constitution of India was drafted it lifted whole passages from the Government of India Act of 1935 which instituted Dyarchy and at that timne terrorism either as a national or international issue did not plague India or for that matter most of the Asian world. Now the state are unwilling to concede to the CBI because under successive congress regime the Central Bureau of Investigation has become a political tool to harass and intimidate opponents and the most recent being the Coalgate issue which is supposed to be monitored by the Supreme Court of India directly. Yet the CBI allowed the Outlaw Minister Ashwini Kumar to whet the report so that the involvement of the Prime Minster and others can be obfuscated. I call Ashwini Kumar an Outlaw Minister because he is been found guilty of misconduct in a court for bribing the witness and yet he is the Law Minister of the UPA. Just imagine what credibility this fellow has. In USA on the other hand the case was recognized as a potential federal case and all niggling issues over jurisdiction set aside till the man hunt was over. This is the first lesson: Investigation should be done by an Independent body which is not controlled by the executive as most Indian ministers are rapists and criminals. The participation of the public in the investigation was exemplary. The call from the FBI and the police to post video and cell phone footage of the race was rewarded immediately as the 2 brothers were spotted walking with absolute nonchalance toward the spot where they detonated the bombs. No attempt was made to sensationalize the crime. I remember Brakha Dutt and her "heroics" during the Kargil war and more recently during the November 26, 2008 terror attacks on Mumbai. Her coverage of the 26/11 attack provided advanced information to the terrorists holed up in the Taj Hotel who could see on their television screens the landing of the Black Cat Forces thanks to that f@c@ing B@@ch Barkha Dutt. Many policemen lost their lives due to the senseless acts of this Padma Shri of the UPA government. Then came the statement of the m,ad dog of the Congress Party Dig Vijaya Singha that Henant Khrakhae was not killed by the Pakistani terrorists buit by "Saffron" terrorists. This code word is now used in India to deflect attention from Jehadi terrorism. Even the flak jackets used by the India special forces was sub standard because the dynastic fascists took commissions and sub standard flak jackets were supplied. I was amazed at the professional manner in which the police took charge of the crime scene and imposed the lock down of Boston, Waterfront and Cambridge. The American police Identified, Isolated and Killed the prime suspect. If this happens in India the first thing which the tongues of our so called "experts" and Teleintellectuals from JNU will holler is that it is "fake" encounter" and then all kinds of silly conspiracy theories will do the rounds in the electronic media. Dig Vijaya Singha did not even spare the Bhatala House encounter in which a policeman was killed. I think it is time policing became professional in India and freed from line control of the political class. In UP a young honest and perhaps earnest police officer called Zia - ul - Haq qas killed by the criminals associated with Raja Bhaiya aa thug turned politician of the Samajwadi Party. Till now that fellow has not been even questioned let alone arrested. In USA a young officer was killed on the campus of MIT and within hours the terrorist was killed. This is the right way to enforce justice. The people of Boston behaved in an exemplary manner and I salute the Federal State and County police.

Jallianwallah Bagh Incident and David Cameron: Why Apologize

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books The Prime Minister of Great Britain, the Rt. Hon'ble David Cameron was extremely gracious and this is not said in a condescending manner. He visited the site of the April 19th, 1919 Jallianwallah Bagh Incident and performed the parikrama and knelt down before the memorial in an apparent gesture of contrition and homage. I think this gesture was both sincere and a genuine expression of the fact that the Anglo-Saxons have finally come to the realization that the Empire over which the 'sun never set" is done and over with. Winston Churchill, then a liberal MP had condemned the Incident and within India the incident of 1919 sparked off fumes of outrage which the Congress party successfully used for its own political ends. There is a larger question: Why should the present Prime Minister of Britain, a man who was not even born at that time and who is not in any way connected to the event apologize for the Incident that happened nearly 100 years ago. Are we now seeing the Great Powers of the past making amends for the real and imagined crimes of the "imperial" rulers. Can we now expect the Commander in Chief of the British Army to come and apologize for the barbarism of General James Smith Neill in 1857. While such gestures are useful in terms of diplomatic and political relations, the historian must necessarily see things differently. The Congress Party gave a call for a public meeting at Jallianwallah Bagh to protest against the Rowlatt Act and the Governor of Punjab had declared Martial Law. The day chosen by the Congress was the day of Baishaki, a very important public holiday in Punhab when people go out and gather in open areas to greet people and generally exchange pleasantries. The cynical use of a public holiday by the Congress has not drawn the attention of scholars who do not seem to understand that for its own political purpose the Congress sought to hijack an innocent and a political gathering for its diabolical scheme of provoking a reaction from the Administration which would add fuel to the fire that had already started in parts of India. The Congress which was leading the movement was aware of the fact that the martial law in place would result in bloodshed and with cynical disregard for the lives of innocent people gave the call for a meeting in Jallianwallah Bagh. What does this decision represent? It means that the Congress wanted bloodshed so that its political purpose would be served. While the British Prime Minister has now been gracious to apologize for the Incident, it is time for the Congress to own up for its role in the Incident. The history of the freedom struggle everywhere is full of violence and it is time to lay to rest the ghosts of the past. 319 people were killed according to the official Inquiry Report and the real number will never be known. The Cingress party has improved on the record of the Jallianwallah Bagh tragedy when it slaughtered more than 15,000 sikhs in New Delhi alone after one of their women leaders was eliminated. And for this crime neither the Congress nor anyone of the political leaders of the Party were tried and punished. In fact 28 years after the event not a single person has been convicted for the crimes of 1984. So let us have some perspective here.

Pondicherry: The land of PI and Richard Parker: A Historical Exploration of the landscape

The Life of Pi by Yann Martel is a novel set in Pondicherry, at least a part of it. Recently I read the book and being a historian by inclination and profession decided to locate the sights and scenes of the novel in the actual real context. The surreal echoes of the novel in some ways reflects the very real spiritual ambiance of the city, I had an earlier opportunity to research the history and built heritage of Pondicherry when Professor J A K Tareen requested me to do the Pages from History. Since then I have been interested in the past of this city where I have lived and worked for more than a quarter of a century, a city I now consider my home as my child was born here. The past creeps upon you in Pondicherry" the names of the streets, the town planning with is grid like pattern of streets and residential areas, the division of the town into a black town--ville noir-- and a white town--ville blanche--the churches and temples and above all the spiritual radiance from the Ashram which houses the graves of both Sri Aurobindo and the Mother. Any visitor to this city leaves a part of his soul behind when he or she leaves.Life of Pi is also a story of struggle, longing and memory making it a great piece of contemporary literature. The novel is a first person narrative of a boy,Piscine Moiltor Patel, named after a swimming pool in France. The French presence is still heavy in Pondicherry, The history of Pondicherry really began when the French East India Company in the late seventeenth century acquired a piece of land on which it buit Fort Barlong, perhaps the very site of the Government Park which stands opposite the Governor's Palace in the heart of the White Town. We know a good deal about the life and conditions in Pondicherry in the eighteenth centry due to the fortuitous survival of the Journal of a bi lingual trader and merchant of the town, Ananda Ranga Pillai. In the early centuries of the Christian era, when Rome was the most powerful empire in the world, the emporia of Podule is mentioned by the Roman geographer, Pliny. Perhps it sttod close to the placid waters of the Ariyankuppam River.

Close by the archaeological site of Arikamedu are the remains of the Jesuit House built in the eighteenth century. Local legend has it that the bricks used for the construction came from the archaeologica

The wars between the French East India Company and thhe English East India Company, a part of the global struggle for supremacy played itself out with great fury in Southern India and Pondicherry bore the brunt of the destruction during the wars. The American War of Independence and the Anglo-French struggle for supremacy called the Carnatic Wars by historians are both parts of the same historical moment. The English defeat in North America made the East India Company ever more intense in its determination to conquer India and defeat the French. A contemporary wood cut illustrates the destruction of the city.

he war memorial erected by the soldier who won the Battle of Buxar, General Hector Munro in memory of a soldier who was killed in one of the battle for control over the fortified town of Pondicharry stands near the entrance to the town. A contemporary report refers to the fall of Pondicherry and calls the area Red Hills now corrupted as Gori Medu.

i must have seen and wondered what this monument represented. Such memorials re common all over the battle grounds of the English and the French. In the eighteenth century the town of Pondicherry acquired the shape that it has today. The map given below illustrates the town as is would have been at the time of the Napoleonic Wars in the late eighteenth century. There was a real fear that the alliance between Tippu Sultan and the France would result in ann invasion of Pondicherry. There are references to a Jardin de Botanique in historical souces of the eighteenth and nineteenth century. Pi and Richard Parker lived in the contemporary Botanical Garden which was established by Poivore in the first quarter of the nineteenth century. When Victor Jacquemont visited the garden in 1829 he saw more than 900 spices of plants spread over an area of 1.5 arpents. The French were great gardeners and where ever they went they established gardens which had both economic and botanical purposes. The French were interested in introducing new plants from their overseas territories. Trees with economic and military potential were particularly sought after. We have evidence of Mahogany, Teak, Rubber and other economically advantageous plants and trees being introduced. Richard Parker lived amidst trees which were nearly 200 years old. Some pictures of Richard Parkers's home.

he grave of the founder of the Botanical Garden is located within the Jardin de Botanique. Surely Pi must have played hide and seek there. Perottet was responsible for bringing hundreds of seeds and planting them in this veritable Garden of Rden in which Richard Parker lived. The tall tress in the Jardin de botanique have faces the vagaries of the monsoons for over 2 centuries.

Pi experimented with different religions and this shocked his family. At one point he says that he is a Hindu, Muslim and Christian. The religious atmosphere in Pondicherry is indeed quite eclectic. The Bussy street Mosque is a famous landmark of Pondicherry. There is no way of proving it, but local tradition has it that after Hyder Ali dies in Dindigul his body was smuggled back to Mysore and on the way prayers were offered in this mosque. The town in which Pi grew up was filled with beautiful relics from the French past. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception located on Mission Street still retains its Gallic extravagant beauty.

There is a native belief that the Temple dedicated to Lord Siva stood at this site. However there is no archaeological or historical evidence to link this monument to the temple whose destruction was ordered by Dupliex and recorded as such by Ananda Ranga Pillai. Beautiful stained glass windows are found in all the major churches of Pondicherry and this one illustrates Jean d'arc. Much of the architectural heritage of Pondicherry is due to the interest taken by Napoleon III during the Second Empire (1848-1871). The nephew of the famous Bonaparte, Napoleon III was interested in transforming Pondicherry into a vibrant capital of the French Outre Mer. One striking example is in the Government Parade Ground later converted into a Park. Now the place is called Bharati Park and perhaps Fort Louis stood on this exact site. While the palce was being beautified recently a number of interesting historical objects were uncovered including the remains of an underground staircase.

This monument in typical neo classical style records the legend surrounding the excavation of the large artificial tank at Mutrapalayam. The view of the same structure in the late noineteenth century is given below.

here are frequent references to ports, and harbours in the Life of Pi. In fact his father charters a ship, a cargo ship to ferry the animals of the zoo, including Orange Juice, Richard Parker and the Hyena along with his family to Canada and the cargo ship sets sail from Pondicherry. In the last century Pondicherry was a road stead and with the opening of the Suez Canal the port of Pondicherry started exporting ground nuts, oil seeds and cotton goods. A contemporary photograph gives us a glimpse of the port of Pondicherry. The Port building itself has become the Le Cafe Cafeteria on the Promenade.

The stretch of the sea shore now known as the Promenade appears frequently in the Life of Pi. The Asram Swimming Pool whre Pi learnt to swim is located at the far end of this stretch of the road.

he Light house visible was built in 1838. The story behid the construction of this Lighthouse is interesting and is recorded in the Annales Martimes. Apparently the large chiney of the Porto Novo Iron ans Steel Works located near Cuddalore was visible to the sailors and many of the ships mistook the flaring chimney to be a lighthouse and headed straight to the dangerous shoals and sand bars. To warn the sailors of the impending danger this light house was constructed and is now a major landmark of Pondicherry. The custom house is located close by

Accoding to the inscription in French the statue of Dupliex was reected by Governor BonTemps when Napoleon III was in power. After sending him in chains from Pondicherry, this great patriot was recognised as a hero of the French Nation hundered years later during the waning days of the Second Empire. The statue stands on pillars--spolia-- from Hindu temples and after Independence this statue and the pedestal were removed. Pondicherry remains to this day a beautiful city. Though the culture of the place has deteriorated and lawlessness is rampant and the city or Union Territory suffers from the close nexus between politicians and criminals, tourists like to see the LAND OF PI. Richard Parker Pondicherry is your real home and we will bring you back from Mexico. The statue shown above ignited a furious controversy in the 1770's when Richard Parker and Pi perhaps lived in Pondicherry. As a site of memory the statue of a white man standing on a pedestal of hindu gods was found to be offensive" to local sensibilities, a century after it was erected. The statue was removed and exiled to the far end of the beach. If Richard Parker and Pi were to return they would find this familiar landmark gone.

Asis Nandy and Corruption in India: Is Corruption caste sensitive in India

A look at the world of politics, statecraft, diplomacy and books Asis Nandy is the infant terrible of Indian political journalism. From time to time he stirs up the hornet's nest and there is considerable speculation for some time. India today has become both caste conscious and status conscious and there is no neat fir between the two. In the past political power was in the hands of the educated elite which had some values. Post Independence brought mass democracy to India and with the vote came the temptations of power. The Other Backward Classes ot the OBCs as they are derisively referred to in India are the most powerful political grouping in India and they have administrative, political and muscle power. If we look at the list of the mega corrupt in India we find that they are usually of the OBC variety. Laloo Prasad Yadava has become the symbol of corruption due to his involvement in the Fodder Scam. For the benefit of my readers who may not know let me describe what the fodder scam is. Money meant for animal welfare was swindled to an alarming extent and Laloo and his political cronies were directly the beneficiaries of the scandal. The corruption and mal administration made Laloo lose the election. Other OBC politicians like Kalmadi, Mulayam Singh Yadava, Vilas Rao Deshmukh, Sharad Pawar are all involved in corruption and there corrupt deals are common knowledge. Even the BJP has had its share of corrupt OBC politicians: Nitin Gadkari is the most recent. There is nothing wrong in what Asis Nandy has said. The OBCs in the IAS are notorious for their corruption. The recent conviction of the IAS officer Neera Yadava the former Chief Secretary of Uttar Pradesh is a case in point. OBC officers have accumulated tonnes of gold which has beeb recovered in raids ususally conducted by other OBCs and so perhaps like the Kula ring reciprocity and exchange govern these transactions. What Asis Nandy has said is usually spoken in hushed tones in the privacy of ones home. People are afraid of the "goonda" support enjoyed by the OBCs and hence even the press keeps quiet. In Tamil Nadu the backward caste have been in power since 1967 and the state is a cultural desert with atrocities against dalits increasing by the day. Asis Nandy has provoked outrage by his remarks because in these days of Indentity sensitivity which borders on political correctness one does not talk about OBC corruption. The dalits are not on the same scale for the simple reason there is more value formation in the dalit society and also there is fear of being scapegoated by powerful OBC officers. In the medival scam of the dalit queen bee in UP all the officers involved were OBCs. Asis Nandy has not said anything objectionable. He has spoken the truth.

Rahul Gandhi's Coronation: The Triumph of Dynastic Fascism in India

One of the promises of Indian freedom movement was the transformation of India from a society of privilege based on birth to a society of "opportunity" albeit not equal opportunity for all. The Congress Party by nakedly promoting dynastic rule has broken this historical contract between the people and the Constitution. With the sole exception of North Korea,no other country has established a dynastic rule in the name of democracy and this truth itself highlights the absolute hollowness of Indian claims to being the world's largest democracy. The usual justification given is that other countries like the USA have dynasties: the Kennedys and the Bushes etc. What the apologists for dynastic fascism do not realize is that there are dynasties within the Republican and the Democratic parties, the Congress in India is the only dynasty which possesses a political party and its members are not politicians serving a public cause but courtiers fawning and grovelling at the feet of the Dynasty. The very presence of the Congress and its Dynasty on the political landscape is an affront to the dignity of India and its people. The hidden cost of dynastic rule is borne by the people of India. Political accountability for actions done by public personalities is just not there. Even the very idea of public accountability is alien to the political culture fostered by the dynastic fascist, Congress party. Congressmen are routinely accused of rapes and murders and because of the clout of the factions aligned to the ruling family are able to escape the long arms of the law. In Rajastan a leading Congressman and a Minister in the cabinet had his concubine killed and her body disposed off using another Congress MLA. In Himachal Pradesh a Congress MLA who was recently elected in on the run having been accused of the rape and murder of a young girl. Congress Ministers even from pre Independence days are notorious for raking in the moolah and Jawaharlal Nehru's Planning Raj made it possible for ministers to indulge in unlimited corruption in the name of "socialism" and "Party Funds". Since there is no legal requirement in India for the audit of Party Funds, there is the practice of parking ill-gotten wealth in party coffers and hence the temptation to covert political parties into family possessions. The Congress Party was responsible for this horrible tradition is followed by all regional allies of the Congress. The DMK in the southern state of Tamil Nadu has already undergone the transition to full blown dynastic rule as the 2 sons of the old bandicoot called Kaunanidhi are engages in a full fledged war of succession. We hope the two sons fight to the finish. Dynastic fascism of the sort encouraged by the Congress has undermined rule of law. The mass killings of Sikhs in 1984 after the death of one of their leaders is a direct fall out of the dynastic politics. The son of the dead leader was named her successor and local party leaders like Jagdish Tytler, HKL Bhagat, Lalit Makken and Sajjan Kumar organised mass killings of innocent Sikhs in the name of the Party and the ruling dynasty in order to prove the loyalty to the new crown price. The Crown Price famously said: When a big tree falls the earth shakes. Retribution caught up with this man when he himself was mercilessly eliminated a few years later. The elevation of Rahul Gandhi to the Vice Presidency of the Congress Party in in line with the dynastic fascist ideology of the Congress Party. The fact is that the people of India are sick and tired of the corruption, criminality and monumental mis governance of the ruling party and its allies. The BJP is caught in its own internal factional squabbles and unless the Hon'ble Narendar Modi is given the reins of the Party it is unlikely that the party will do well in the next elections. The regional parties are emerging stronger and that is the unfortunate fallout of the opportunistic politics of dynasty, corruption and crime.