I’m surprised that Indian Independence seems to be a bit more low-key even though Pakistan did give a remarkable goodwill gesture by releasing 55 Indian fishermen (15 of them teenagers; this also in addition to an earlier release of 311 Indian fisherman). At any rate this is a really great article about a Hindu elderly couple and their former home in Lahore:

India and Pakistan: Let’s recover our natural bond

When we returned, the first thing my father did was he developed the photos, and present it as an album to our former landlords.

Upon receiving the album, the old couple broke down. Tears and simultaneous smiles shone on their faces as they touched and saw the pictures. My parents gave them details of the house, verbatim from the current residents in Lahore. They were particularly moved by the symbol “Om” still being in place, and the name of the street still being Ram Gali. Maybe, sitting across the border, they had the idea that Pakistan is extremely anti-Hinduism and all their belongings would have been destroyed or reconstructed by now.

Finally via Razib’s pinboard, Desi’s prettifying New York (not; Whitechapel, which is Asian dominated looks like Lahore in terms of urban hygiene). Just as an aside:

“It’s disgusting,” said Tala Haider, 16, who grew up in Pakistan and lives in Flushing. He said he occasionally bought sweet paan in Jackson Heights, but would never spit on sidewalks. “You’re seeing blood on the street,” he said, “and it just makes you sick.”

If you’re 16yrs old are you really done with “growing up?”

Finally finally an important article that Social media is lying to you about Burma’s Muslim ‘cleansing’; essentially lots of manipulated images are floating around the web (facebook) about Rohingya massacres, when they’re essentially distortions of earlier pictures of different unrelated incidents (rioting in Thailand, earthquakes in Tibet) and relabeled. Got to hand it to the Muzzers they’re pretty useless propaganda/pr properly (all-round incompetent?).