Category: X.T.M

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But why was Afghanistan (& Iran) never really able to develop to the levels of India? Even if pre-colonial India’s GPD wasn’t 23% of the world (Tharoor), it was still massively richer than its neighbors to the West. My Ottoman history professor told us that majority of Ottoman..>

— Syed (@gypsy_heart6) January 9, 2019

I don’t have many answers but the Indo-Gangetic plains have certainly fared a lot better than the Mesopotamian and Nile River Valley.

It may be that certain civilisation required manmade constructs and when depredations occurred; they simply collapsed. It seems that the Indo-Gangetic was ringed with a massive dessert (the Thar desert and Deccan plateau notwithstanding) in the same manner the Nile, Iraq, North Africa or Central Asia were.

Just a few thoughts on what is surely a complex matter..

https://www.channel4.com/news/tulip-siddiq-questions-over-links-with-bangladeshi-ruling-party

This is why I dislike the Labour Party; they constantly make Faustian pacts with ethnic minority candidates.

However after seeing the full video I also feel it’s a hit-piece on MP Siddiq. It’s the perils of rising as a high-flying coloured woman; so many British MPS are so morally compromised that they don’t get the same scrutiny.

So it’s a very delicate mix of stubbornness, racism (so invisible as to not be noticed) and the need to “template” Bangladesh in a certain way.

I was speaking to a Bangladeshi friend of mine, who’s an Awami supporter. He would prefer a healthy opposition but Bangladesh’s economy seems to be glowing and people are happy.

He also mentioned that Bangladesh’s exports are higher than Pakistan’s now and that it’s doing better in many metrics; he couldn’t believe it until he heard Imran Khan say so himself.

So in many ways I feel that even though Sheikh Hasina is morally compromising herself, if she is able to rouse a sluggish Bengal tiger into full strengthen well then she mustn’t be so bad. Maybe Pakistan can do with a Sheikh Hasina, which ironically it may have had it the 1970 election had proceeded and her father had won it. We may have had alternating governments between a West & East Pakistan..

In an example of art imitating life; I was in Mahabalipuram last week reading up on the Persian origins of the Pallavas and then somehow there was a thread about it here on BP.

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-features/tp-metroplus/The-Pallavas-and-the-Pahlavas/article15376550.ece/amp/

https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=92zsCgAAQBAJ&pg=PA26&lpg=PA26&dq=pallava+iranian&source=bl&ots=Zi67DOl_c9&sig=FQhjHCOl4d7N00KKv6JJkH4sdwM&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjGg9G3ydvfAhXV5-AKHbOUAXYQ6AEwGXoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q=pallava%20iranian&f=false

The article I was actually reading (note it’s hideously jingoistic and downright offensive at times):

https://www.google.co.uk/amp/s/iranian.com/2003/05/14/indias-parthian-colony/amp/

Our South Indian podcast sort of fell through after the lead guest flaked out at the last minute (rather annoying in light that he insisted that we have a Dravidian focus).

We’ll probably now do a more general linguistics-genetics podcast and take it from there.

Ever since I got back from Chennai I’ve been ruminating on the “deep Hinduism”‘of the south. I have a few thoughts on it but it’s difficult to express them succinctly..

We are hoping to record a podcast on this important topic this weekend. Please share any questions you may have in the comment thread.

Of course we won’t be limiting ourselves to this topic but it was the request of our guest commentator, who is looking to correct the “North India” bias in our discourse.

It is not lost on me that apart from our Bang-Pak commentariat, virtually all of our regular commentators either are South Indian or based in South India.

It seems Aryavarta has boycotted BP?

The comments thread talked about the education history of Indian school kids. This is LV’s atlas book that I came across. I found it interesting that India went from Moghul to Maratha to Independence. If only it were so 🙂

On an unrelated topic I have noticed why Desis and third worlders (partially) obsess over skin colour to the extent that we do. People in the third world (generally) have bad complexions in comparison to the West. The skin clarity is poor because of grooming & pollution. So fairness creams are a “hack”‘ to simply improve the “quality” (transparency) of the skin. Also the unfortunate fact remains that colour is correlated with caste & class.

This is such a dangerous deleterious, and also a false thesis

There is no such thing as "South India".

A Telugu speaker is as distant from me as a Maharashtrian. A Keralite is even more distant.https://t.co/XWK1dQRyOe

— श्रीकान्तः (@shrikanth_krish) December 29, 2018

The original article by Mahatma’s grandson is equally intriguing, People of the South constitute an equal and single community: Rajmohan Gandhi.I don’t have too many opinions on this (for a change) but my inclination is that caste (and then creed) have dramatically reduced regional identities in India.

The states that have been most problematic to the Indian Union (East Punjab, Srinagar area, 7 sisters) have more homogenised profiles (and incidentally happen to be on the periphery). Continue reading No such thing as South India

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Javid said stripping offenders of British citizenship would happen only in extreme cases involving individuals with dual nationality.

He was pressed on the issue by the programme’s guest editor, the Pakistani-British writer Kamila Shamsie, who pointed out that the lack of sex offender registers in Pakistan would make it easier for offenders deported from the UK to repeat their crimes.

Javid responded: “I’m the British home secretary. My job is to protect the British public.”

Seeking to clarify, Shamsie asked: “If you are sending members of grooming gangs to Pakistan, knowing that there is not a sex offenders registry, what they do there is not anything to do with you?”

Javid said: “My job is to protect the British public.” Continue reading I stand with Sajid on Pakistani Pedophilia

Demonetisation cost India a direct loss of $ 25 billion in lost output. Indirect losses would be about 2 to 3 times that amount.

The loss was more than the loss caused by all the wars that India has fought since 1947. Who is India’s enemy if not ignorance?

— SonaliRanade (@sonaliranade) December 26, 2018

The Indian Property prices took a wobble after demonetisation and despite my admiration for PM Modi, what deeply upsets me is that he attacked the middle classes.

The whole idea of “cleaning up India” is that it needs to be a top down effort. Beyond chasing Vijay Mallya and Nirav Modi there are oligarchs in India who cripple the country. Continue reading Demonetisation will lead to DeModisation-

https://twitter.com/dvatw/status/1077870550163300353?s=21

Happy Boxing Day; just had a lovely walk around Chetpet EcoPark. I was shocked to find out that allegedly it cost 25 Crores (allegedly).

Time for Kerala to throw out the communists whose prime goal is destroy Kerala's Hindu culture starting with Sabarimala. Otherwise Kerala will cease to be Kerala and lose its ancient heritage, becoming another failed socialist state.

— Dr David Frawley (@davidfrawleyved) December 26, 2018

There is a trend in the West that the Parties of the Left can only unite their diverse coalitions of minorities (gays, blacks & feminists) with straight middle class male WASPs (Justin Trudeau, Jeremy Corbyn, Beto O’Rouke). Continue reading Why India must become the Hindu Israel!

There’s a mild festive spirit in Chennai; Christmas is au fair and there are enough Christians here to make it merry. Continue reading Happy Christmas from Chennai