Author: X.T.M

My wife (Vidhi Lalchand, the 200th person to like the status, I was 201) is proud that Professor Nita is Indian while I am proud that she is a Bahá’ís (we belong to the same community).

Professor Nita paraphrased one of Abdul Baha’s most famous quotes: “The world of humanity has two wings—one is women and the other men,” wrote ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, “Not until both wings are equally developed can the bird fly. Should one wing remain weak, flight is impossible.”

It’s interesting that there is a preponderance of prominent female Indian scientists at Cambridge; could almost be a clustering effect!

After the jump; Annie Besant & Abdul Baha’s exchange Continue reading Happy Women’s Day

The video is here, https://instagram.com/p/Bf8nM8OgV08/

The biggest mistake Pakistan did was to move the capital from Karachi to Islamabad.

Probably was a big factor in the secession (the jute profits went to build Islamabad), Punjabified/Pathanicised the country.

Muhajirs, sadly lost political control after that I think until Musharraf, who incidentally was Pakistan’s best leader. Again it was lawyers in Lahore who conspired against him.

I don’t know what to make of this article but many thanks to Kabir for sending this on to me:

https://scroll.in/article/870501/punjab-the-urdu-literary-hub-of-pakistan-is-slowly-waking-up-to-its-lost-punjabi-identity

“In this battle between Urdu and Hindi, it was Punjabi that lost out. As languages acquired religious identities, Punjabi increasingly became associated with Sikhs. It is an attitude that continues to exist in contemporary Punjab. While the language is still used in the vernacular, it is completely cut off from intellectual and educational structures. Just as it was imagined during the colonial regime, it is still often referred to as a barbarous language. In October 2016, a leading private school organisation found itself in the limelight for all the wrong reasons when one of its principals, in a school notice, declared Punjabi an example of “foul language”. It is no surprise, therefore, that Punjabi students studying in the best schools and colleges of Punjab grow up without even a minor acquaintance with classical Punjabi writers or its popular folk stories.”

The SD story isn’t adding up.

BK flies back to surprise his wife (he does back to back reverse flights, which is rough on anyone).

He just happens to be there when she has a massive heart attack and drowns in the tub.

Usually when people have a heart attack, they shout, exclaim or make some juddering noise..

How & why would someone as fit & slim as SD have such a major heart attack at the age of 55?

I incidentally went to a memorial service of a similar aged lady on the same day the news broke out. It was a heart attack but there were signs of ill health a year running up to that..

Shame on Pakistan

https://mobile.reuters.com/article/amp/idUSKCN1G80VR?__twitter_impression=true

My wife gets very offended if I ever compare India and Pakistan in the same breath. I have to agree with her; whatever India’s handicaps, Pakistan is spiralling into a vortex of shame, hate & regressiveness.

Does this have to do with Islam? Maybe maybe not.

But the future is not Pakistan.

It is rapidly becoming the Land of the Impure

Sad shocking news. Amitabh felt it, an hour before it happened!

The girl next door, now everyone’s favourite auntie & an Indian Beauty icon, has passed away.

Update: Trudeau and Bhangra; is he taking it too far?

I had seen a picture of the Trudeaus by the Taj but then the wife did mention to me that there wasn’t any picture of Modi with them. A quick google search:

No PM Modi Hugs For Justin Trudeau. This Is Why

It gets worse. The beautiful, photogenic Trudeaus went to see the Taj Mahal in Agra, where they were welcomed not by the provincial chief minister, not even a junior minister, but by district officials. Still, the Trudeaus managed to make memorable visuals at India’s famous mausoleum of love. Modi often likes to take visiting dignitaries to Ahmedabad in Gujarat, his home state. Many good visuals have been produced in Gujarat with Modi showing world leaders around Mahatma Gandhi’s Sabarmati Ashram or just taking them around the city. But the Trudeaus had to go alone to Gujarat, where they wore ethnic Indian clothes to visit a Hindu temple and Gandhi’s abode.

There seems to be no end to the Indian snubbing of the Canadians, even as the Trudeaus are trying their best to disarm the Indians with a charm offensive.

Why is India being so rude to Trudeau? Answer: It has to do with the Sikhs.

India has often accused Canada of sheltering Sikh separatists. Sikhs in Canada form a voting bloc for Trudeau, so much so that he even attended a Khalsa Day parade organized by a radical Gurudwara, or Sikh temple, in Toronto. Some Sikh Gurudwaras in Canada have also barred the entry of Indian diplomats.

Amazing movie; even the wife (she likes science and I like sci-fi) was impressed!

Throwing in a controversial question: why do Black people have such better PR over brown people?

Does being a model minority make us ever so (slightly) boring?

Either way #wakanda4ever. As an interesting aside I used to live next to Wakanda (in Uganda) for a little while.

My wife sent me this link, exultant in how her fellow countryman triumphed in this particular Indo-Pak exchange. I know better than to disagree with her though I’m quite ambivalent on the K-issue.

The whole Indo-Pak issue seems interminable especially when the future of the world has shifted over to the technocratic West Coast.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PNBm0kCNQE&feature=share

Off-topic words that start with C tends to be quite powerful (it prefigured heavily in Vidhi’s life) but that’s just my bias after seeing Shashi rhapsodise about how India forged a national consensus out of different castes, creeds, colours, costumes, customs & cuisines (he could have added communities but who’s counting).

Other c-words that have a descriptive/identitarian nature; countries, counties, creatures, cretins..

First they came for Babri Masjid, and I did not speak out—

Because they called it Ram Mandir.

Then they came for the Gujarati Muslims, and I did not speak out—

Because 170mn Indian Muslims shivered with fear.

Then they came for Beef and I did not speak out—

Because red meat has side effects.

Then they came for Akbar- and now it’s war!