Brown Pundits

Message of peace: Baha’u’llah, the 19th-century founder of the Baha’i faith-
“Consort with all religions with amity and concord, that they may inhale
from you the sweet fragrance of God,” reads the inscription. “Beware
lest amidst men the flame of foolish ignorance overpowers you.” 

Messenger of peace: Did an Ayatollah actually call for peaceful co-existence with the Bahais in Iran? We are a bit confused about the indirect messaging (Bahai World News Service mentions the Church of England leaders praising Ayatollah Abdol-Hamid Masoumi-Tehrani for his courage).

If true, this can be a small but significant step towards the launching of a powerful (non-violent) revolution in the Middle East and North Africa. Peaceful co-existence can also be a good principle for the South Asians to follow.

News from Iran has given me tremendous hope and optimism for peace
between Iranians, regardless of faith and ethnicity. Ayatollah
Abdol-Hamid Masoumi-Tehrani, a prominent imam and scholar, has taken a stand for coexistence
with the country’s Baha’i minority. He has reminded us that Islam is a
religion of peace that recognises diversity of every kind as part of
God’s design for his creation. And it all came in the form of a gift –
one which I am proud to endorse.

For many, Iran is synonymous with persecution and oppression.
Iran’s authorities routinely target ethnic and religious minorities,
human rights activists, journalists and intellectuals. And the case of
the Baha’is is emblematic of these broader violations.

The Baha’is
are Iran’s largest religious minority with 300,000 followers. For
decades they have been arbitrarily detained, denied education and
livelihood, harassed, vilified in the media, and executed. Hundreds were
killed after the 1979 revolution. More than 130 Baha’is are currently
in prison on false charges. Seven former leaders are serving 20-year jail terms,
just for tending to the basic needs of their community. Baha’is have no
legal protection as a minority because their faith is not recognised
under the constitution.

Such a violent backdrop makes Ayatollah Masoumi-Tehrani’s gift all
the more remarkable. A trained calligrapher and painter, the ayatollah
has produced a large illuminated work of art featuring passages from the
writings of Baha’u’llah, the 19th-century founder of the Baha’i faith. 

Although
I believe Islam is the religion chosen by God, I cannot reject such
words.

The ayatollah offered his gift as a “symbolic action to
serve as a reminder of the importance of valuing human beings, of
peaceful coexistence, of cooperation and mutual support, and avoidance
of hatred, enmity and blind religious prejudice”. He has a long history
of supporting peaceful coexistence between Muslims, Christians and Jews,
including with illuminated calligraphic versions of the Qur’an, the
Torah, the psalms, the New Testament, and the Book of Ezra.

Ayatollah
Masoumi-Tehrani has been repeatedly jailed for his efforts. Speaking
directly to the Baha’is of Iran, he said, in giving his gift, that it is
“an expression of sympathy and care from me and on behalf of all my
open-minded fellow citizens”, to a community that has “suffered in
manifold ways” the consequences of “blind religious prejudice”.
……..
Link: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/21/ayatollahs-stand-bahai-gives-hope-iran
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regards

Issori, North Waziristan (for detailed map of disturbed territories see below). A breathtakingly beautiful land being polluted by actions of ugly foreigners (and foolish locals).

 

Death comes via drones or bullets: “We have been caught between the earth and the skies,” says Sadat, who
has rented a house for his grandparents in Bannu and struggles to set up
a transport business there. “The Americans kill us by firing from the
skies and men with ugly faces (militants) have made our lives miserable
on the ground.”

Aam aadmi at the mercy of ruthless beasts:  Young Taliban militants pulled him out of his
shop and dragged him across the road. “Amriki jasoosi, Ameriki Jasoosi
(American spy, American spy),” Sadat remembers the militants shouting as
they dragged his friend. “Two of them held his arms and the other two
his legs, and tied explosives around the whole body while my friend was
screaming.” The tribesmen, including Deen Wali’s family members,
gathered around but nobody dared to stop the Taliban militants. “The
militants walked backwards, moving away from Deen Wali, and pushed the
remote button. The explosives detonated, shredding him. His flesh and
body parts flew everywhere.” The militants left the scene in a convoy of
vehicles leaving behind the clouds of dust, despair and helplessness.
.
The temperature of hell is this warm: The tribesmen relate that every Waziristani keeps anti-depressant
tablets in their pockets. Sadat takes his grandmother Bi Jan for
psychiatric treatment every week.

 

The local clerics, whose influence has steadily grown over the years,
played on the religious sentiments of the tribesmen, calling on them to
host these “mujahideen” out of a sense of brotherhood. Others, who were
less idealistic, were lured with money. So the tribesmen welcomed these
war-battered and defeated warriors and offered them shelter, believing
that they would soon disappear back into the war-torn land of
Afghanistan. But the hordes kept coming, first a trickle, then a flood.

Everyday
there was a fresh convoy of militants of different castes, creeds and
colour. Low key and ‘quiet’, tall and athletic, Al Qaeda militants of
Morrocan, Egyptian, Algerian and Sudanese origin. The round-faced,
flat-nosed and ruthless Uzbeks; the fair-skinned Chechens. The short
Uighur Chinese with their thin scraggly beards. Muslim converts from
America, Germany and France known collectively as the ‘Gora Taliban’.
Thousands of local jihadis joined their ranks, distinct because of their
appearance and inability to speak Pushto, these were the long-haired
and short-tempered Punjabi Taliban. 

The temporary shelters the
militants sought soon turned into entrenched sanctuaries as they allied
with local commanders Hafiz Gul Bahadur and Siraj Uddin Haqqani. After
forming the Tehrik-i- Taliban, thousands of fighters turned this tribal
belt into the world’s most dangerous labyrinth, threatening peace inside
Pakistan with suicide attacks and in Afghanistan by fighting US and
Nato forces. 

“It’s an international war
which has engulfed us,” says North Waziristan’s influential tribal
elder, Malik Shad Ameen Wazir. “The volcano is in Afghanistan but it
erupts in our tribal areas.”
……
Link: http://www.dawn.com/news/1100938/the-walking-wounded-of-waziristan-the-lost-tribes-search-for-spring
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regards

We have now counted more than a hundred articles (national, international) as to why Narendra Modi should not come to power (and we mostly agree with those justifications).

However the extent to which the liberal crowd will avert their gaze to prevent an immodest look at the injustices committed against Sikhs in 1984 is something truly shameful. Has a single person even suffered one day in prison for his crimes? Why have the top people (and they are well known) gone scot-free? How is this dereliction of duty possible in a modern nation where the wheels of justice, even if slow, must turn eventually in favor of the victims? It is already 30 years past, how long must the victims endure the slings and arrows of outrageous (mis)fortune?

Now we have insults adding to injury- clean chits being issued on behalf of monsters by unworthy people. The hand of the liberals are getting stained by virtue of their acts of omission. Speak now or forever remain silent!!!

Scores of Akali activists reached the Congress office at 24, Akbar Road,
holding placards and raised anti-Congress slogans and clashed with
police, which had erected barricades to stop them.

As the protesters refused to budge, police resorted to use of water cannon to disperse them.


 
In his recent remarks to a private channel Singh had said that he
believed Congress leader Jagdish Tytler played no role in fuelling the
violence in 1984 that left hundreds of Sikhs dead.

 
The protesters were detained and taken to a nearby police station.
……
Link: http://news.outlookindia.com/items.aspx?artid=838023
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regards

Usually politicians are a friendly lot cutting across party lines. On public platforms they may huff and puff (and even come to blows) they mostly get along very well. Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s admiration for Indira Gandhi was legendary (Indira is India and India is Indira). In turn the communists had great respect for Vajpayee, especially as the left and right joined hands for a brief while during the genocide of Bangladeshi Hindus during partition II.

However if a Modi govt comes such traditions may be a thing of the past. Modi has faced the wrath of the entire Congress machinery for a decade, because they predicted (correctly) that this was one danger-man that can scuttle the chances of the “natural ruling party.” So how will the response be in turn?

Our suspicion is they will not unleash the sword against Sonia (bahu) and the prince or even the princess. Indians are in their way touchy about these things and people still remain fond of Indira and her brood.

But the son-in-law is a different kettle of fish. He is a (non-royal) outsider and is a soft target. We suspect that people will not mind as much, especially the millions who have had to walk through airport security and observe that while all the VIPs who are allowed to pass unmolested are titled (Prime Minister etc.), there is only one (untitled) man specifically mentioned by name: Robert Vadra.
……
Notwithstanding
BJP’s assertion that there will be no witch-hunt if it comes to power,
Uma Bharati has said that Sonia Gandhi’s son-in-law Robert Vadra will be
in jail if NDA comes to power.

Bharati also alleged that Vadra had made money by breaking all the norms.

“Just because he is the son-in-law of Sonia Gandhi, all the Congress
ruled state governments are afraid of him. Union ministers were also
under pressure from him. He has made money by breaking all the norms,”
she charged here on Sunday night.

“Although my party gets annoyed with me, when the power will be in my hand, I will send ‘jamaibabu’ to jail,” Bharati said.

Modi has said recently that there will be no witch-hunt if the BJP comes to power.

“The main focus of the BJP-led government will be to fulfil promises it
has made to people and it will work with a positive attitude. It will
not be vindictive towards anyone. I have paid the price for the past 12
years due to others’ vindictiveness,” Modi had said.
…….
Link: http://www.delhidailynews.com/news/Uma-Bharti-repeats–Will-send-Vadra-to-jail-if-I-get-power-1398075218/
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regards

The critics were luke-warm but our friends who saw the movie (across age group) liked it very much. This is also great news since newbie director Abhishek Varman has succeeded in his first attempt, OTOH Arjun Kapoor and Alia Bhatt will prolong the stranglehold of dynasties in Bollywood (we still wish them well).

……
In
spite of the IPL fever, this film has been declared the biggest hit of
2014 so far. Trade Analyst Taran Adarsh tweeted about the film’s
success,”#2States all set to cross $ 1 million mark in USA-Canada in
opng wknd itself. BIGGEST OPENER of 2014 there. Excellent!”



Writer
Chetan Bhagat who was in an ecstatic mood also took to Twitter to post,
“Kudos @abhivarman and his entire team | 2 States Emerges Biggest Hit
Of 2014. 2 States opening wknd ~Rs40cr, similar to 3 Idiots opening
wknd! Only this time, with debut director, upcoming actors! Miracles do
happen.” 


The
film raked in around Rs.12 crore on its opening day in the country (India).
According to sources, the first day collection for the entertainer,
directed by first-timer Abhishek Varman, is Rs. 12.42 cr net.
The movie was released in nearly 2,400 screens
worldwide. In India, “2 States” released in over 2,000 screens and
internationally, it released in close to 350 screens in 30 countries. 

……Alia Bhatt too could not hide her excitement post the film’s release,
considering her last film Highway did not fare too well at the Box
Office. She tweeted, ” Thank you all for all the love !!!!!! Soo
overwhelmed with the response to #2states !!! We do this for you and
just you .. Thank you #1love…….
……
Review (no spoiler): Pretty Tam Brahm ‘ponnu’ plus ‘hatta katta’ Punjabi munda equals to
match made in heaven? If you go by ’2 States’, yes, but getting to it is
long and arduous. The film sets out to be a solid, emotionally
satisfying rom com, and goes well for a bit but then turns into a
too-stretched-out ‘jhagda’ between the two sets of North-South parents.
And the romance gets short shrift. 

It’s the meet–the-parents aspect of the plot, based on Chetan
Bhagat’s autobiographical novel of the same name, that becomes too much:
just why are parents in this day and age so fiercely opposed to the
union of ‘chicken’ and ‘sambhar’? Mr Malhotra (Ronit Roy) drinks and is
obnoxious. Mrs Malhotra (Amrita Singh) feels that Ananya has
‘phansaaoed’ their ‘gora chitta ladka’. The truth is that Ananya is more
‘gori’ and ‘chitti’ than their sonny boy, and holds down an equally
well-paying job. So what’s the problem?

When the going is good, both Kapoor and Bhatt, she more than he, rise above the film’s flaws. He has a few good moments. But Alia Bhatt is a surprise.
She leaves behind her earlier films, and gets into her character: she
may not be an authentic ‘Southie’ in terms of body language, but she is
all girl, easy and fresh and natural.

It’s nice to see Bollywood attempting to create a contemporary young
couple. I liked the way they proceed without fuss into that most modern
of compacts — of attraction that leads to conjugation, minus coyness.

Get the outdated folks out of the way, make it crisper, and show us what Krish and Ananya did next. I’m waiting.
……
Link (review):  http://indianexpress.com/article/entertainment/movie-review/2-states-movie-review-alia-bhatt-is-easy-fresh-and-natural/2/
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regards

It all started with an anonymous letter. These days it is actually safer to put pen to paper since no electronic trail can be established and all the fancy govt spyware is for nowt.

The letter claims– boys and girls were
segregated in classrooms and assemblies, sex education was banned, and
non-Muslim staff were bullied. In one case it was alleged that the
teachings of a firebrand al Qaida-linked Muslim preacher were praised to
pupils.

This could be a massive hoax or it could be a careful plan by the Wahabbists to replace moderate leadership with militants in schools in Birmingham, Bradford and other locations. The Education Secretary Michael Gove is so worried that he has deputed a special Tzar to investigate the allegations. This has the appearance of an internal power struggle. The Salafists are late-comers to the party but they want all of the cake.
……..
Twenty-five schools in Birmingham
are now under investigation following 200 complaints received by the
council in relation to allegations of Islamist “takeovers”, according to
the leader of the city council

….
Link: http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/19/birmingham-schools-pupils-multicultural-britain
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regards

Filed under the truth is stranger than fiction category: the only men who escaped the (ice) cannon balls of the avalanche were under protection of a big wall of ice.

This is symptomatic of larger problems which need resolution through long-term planning and action. While Himalayas earn a lot of foreign exchange for Nepal, the high volume of thrill seekers – even so far as to creating a traffic jam at 29000 feet –  does not do any good to either man or mountain. The relentless pressure to ease access – there is actually a mad plan to attach ladders on mountains to make climbing easier (see below) – may lead to larger disasters. And now 13 Sherpas are dead due to avalanche (and they will not be the last to be killed).

Another Sherpa guide has died in Friday’s Mount Everest avalanche,
bringing the death toll to 13, a Nepalese government official said
Saturday.

……..
It was the final obstacle, the 40 feet of technical climbing up a
near vertical rock face that pushed Sir Edmund Hillary to the limit.
Once climbed, the way to the summit of Mount Everest lay open.
Now,
almost exactly 60 years after the New Zealander and his rope-mate,
Sherpa Tenzing Norgay, stood on the highest point in the planet, a new
plan has been mooted to install a ladder on the famous Hillary Step, as
the crucial pitch at nearly 29,000ft has been known since it was first
ascended. The aim is to ease congestion.
“We are now discussing
putting a ladder on the Hillary Step but it is obviously controversial,”
said Dawa Steven Sherpa, who runs commercial expeditions on Everest and
is a senior member of the Expedition Operators Association in Nepal.
This
year, 520 climbers have reached the summit of Everest. On 19 May,
around 150 climbed the last 3,000ft of the peak from Camp IV within
hours of each other, causing lengthy delays as mountaineers queued to
descend or ascend harder sections.
“Most of the traffic jams are
at the Hillary Step because only one person can go up or down. If you
have people waiting two, three or even four hours that means lots of
exposure [to risk]. To make the climbing easier, that would be wrong.
But this is a safety feature,” said Sherpa, who co-ordinates the work to
prepare the traditional route up the mountain for clients who pay
between $45,000 and $75,000.
The plan has received some support from the world’s mountaineering authorities.
Frits
Vrijlandt, the president of the International Mountaineering and
Climbing Federation (UIAA), said the ladder could be a solution to the
increasing numbers of climbers on the mountain.
…….
Link (1): http://www.cnn.com/2014/04/19/world/asia/nepal-everest-avalanche/
Link (2): http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/may/27/mount-everest-ladder-hillary-step
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regards

Nigeria may be winning on the economic front (rated #1 in Africa ahead of SAfrica) but it is surely losing the hearts and minds of its own citizens. (Step 1) The Boko Haram terrorists recently kidnapped 129 girls from a boarding school (presumably imparting western education which BH hates). (Step 2) The govt is unable to do anything about it except make a piss poor announcement that most girls have escaped. (Step 3) Some 14 lucky girls do manage to escape, 115 more are still trapped in the forest. (Step 4) The terrified, poor (in all sense of the term) parents are now scouring the forests and have contracted the services of a vigilante group.

If all this does not suggest end of times, what does? Where is the outrage?? Apparently according to the (white) liberals (of the Guardian) the outrage should be directed at the Nigerian state for not having spread the (oil) wealth around (which is fine in our opinion), however, equally they suggest that Boko Harams’ approach “makes sense” and the goal of enforcing Sharia is “not an unreasonable position.”

It is beyond us to work out a therapy for this specific condition (liberalitis) but we humbly suggest that Simon Allison talks to the dad who is on record saying that he is willing to die so that his daughter may live. It may help focus the mind.

The attack on the school was also particularly symbolic. The name
Boko Haram loosely translates as ‘Western education is forbidden’, and
the group encourages parents to send their children to Islamic schools
instead. The attack on the school in Borno is a punishment and a warning
to those who disobey.  

This approach makes sense, in a strange, twisted
way: it is at schools that children are inculcated with the theoretical
values of the state – in Nigeria’s case, a commitment to secular,
liberal democracy – and it is these values against which Boko Haram
fights, wanting to replace them with a strict commitment to Islamic
Sharia law.

This is not an unreasonable position. The Nigerian state has, by and
large, failed its population. It may be awash in oil wealth, but none of
that trickles down into the population which has yet to see much in the
way of material benefits from an independent Nigeria. Who wouldn’t be
looking for an alternative?

…..
The parents of some of
the girls abducted from a school in north-east Nigeria have headed into
the forest in a desperate search for their daughters.

More than 100 schoolgirls were taken by suspected Islamist
militants on Monday night. The military said on Wednesday that most of
the girls had escaped.

However, local officials and parents said more than 100 were still missing.


It is thought Islamist militant group Boko Haram took the girls to forested areas near the Cameroonian border.



The attack on the school in Chibok, a remote part of Borno
state, happened late on Monday. Gunmen reportedly stormed the school and
ordered the students onto lorries.

On Thursday, Asabe Kwambura, principal of the school where the girls
were abducted, told journalists that the report from the military was
“not true” and that only 14 of the 129 kidnapped girls had escaped.

Parents of the girls have told the BBC that more than 100
girls are still missing. The girls are believed to be being held in the
Sambisa forest in north-east Nigeria.

One father told the BBC he was willing to die in the forest in the attempt to free his daughter.
…..
Link (1): http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/apr/17/boko-haram-will-keep-killing-and-nigerias-leaders-are-powerless
Link (2): http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-27069675
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regards

He is a just a kid filled with dreams, but for now it is closer to reality with admissions to Stanford and Harvard. Another Indian who will do very well for himself in the USA (hopefully morning shows what the day will be).

However it will be great if he can come back and give something back to his impoverished nation. That “something” need not be idle money, but ideas about how to create jobs (he wants to be an entrepreneur), and develop algorithms that would help cut down waste and remove the stain of corruption from our daily lives (his preferred majors are maths and computer science).

Congratulations to Arunavha (and his family for support).
……
A
19-year-old boy from the city has received admission offers from seven
top US varsities, most of them Ivy League, after achieving a perfect
score in SAT, the standardized examination for admission to American
colleges….Arunavha Chanda had applied to eight US
universities and got through seven — Harvard, Stanford, Columbia, Duke,
Cornelle, Georgia Institute of Technology and Dartmouth College. He has
got prestigious scholarships from Columbia and Duke and financial aid
from the rest as they do not offer scholarships at under-graduate level.

Arunavha and his mother Bani, a doctor and hospital
administrator who gave up her job to take care of him when he was in
class V, are now researching on the universities to check which has the
best to offer. His father Amitabha is a consultant neurosurgeon.

At Columbia,
Arunavha has been offered the prestigious C. Prescott Davis scholarship,
awarded to the best engineering/applied sciences students across the
world. As a CP Davis scholar, he has the opportunity to enter the
university as an elite student and work on projects alongside 102 Nobel
Laureate alumni and faculty. Duke has offered him the Karsh
International Scholarship, the first to an Indian.

Arunavha sailed through with a perfect 2400/2400 in
SAT, scoring full 800 in Physics, Chemistry and Mathematics Level II.
Having topped every year from class II to XII, scoring over 90% in all
subjects, his academic record was exceptional. In addition, he has won
gold medals at Olympiads and achieved international ranks of 4 and 7 in
Cyber Olympiads and has figured among the top 10 in Science and Math
Olympiads. Arunavha is also a three-time national champion in quizzing
(he won the Limca Book of Records Quiz 2011 at the national level), was
the school head boy, president of the Interact Club and a stage actor.
 Arunavha wants to study Computer Science and
Engineering, do a second major in Mathematics and a degree course in
Theatre.

……
Link: http://article.wn.com/view/2014/04/20/Kolkata_boy_achieves_perfect_score_in_SAT_gets_calls_from_7_/
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regards

S Anand is a ferocious Indian super-caste liberal, his mission is to fight on behalf of all the down-trodden against the (as he sees it) upper-caste dominated Indian society.

The almost existential problem he faces (but refuses to acknowledge) is that the down-trodden may identify with a humble chai-wala Shudra (who is also the face of Hindutva). Indeed Modi has strongly campaigned in Bihar and in many other places as a leader of the OBCs and by necessity (and also by nature) he has had to clear out the super-caste dominated top order of the BJP.

In another life (Bollywood movie script that will never be written) Anand and Modi would have been brother revolutionaries engaged in up-ending the social order in their own way. But here they are, representing the magnetic north and south poles of an India at cross-roads.

Anand now`admits that his decision to censor (he does not like the word, naturally) Joe D’Cruz (famous Tamil author and Modi supporter) may have been made in anger/haste, but the logic of the social justice movement is relentless (see below comments of feminist translator V Geetha), any friend of Modi must be denounced as an enemy.

Anand (in our humble opinion) is too blinded by the BJP packaging. He is a smart enough guy to be able to visualize an India in which Shudras are the kings, and who are quite capable of keeping Dalits and Muslims under-foot. The upper-caste vs. the rest was a clear cut case, it is not clear how Anand and his fellow travellers will handle the rise of the dominant middle-castes (who want to terminate the Dalit Atrocities Act officially and prevent cross-caste marriage socially). Will they even bother to listen to an upper-caste guy like him?

Finally we feel compelled to repeat our statement (since we really love Americanisms), censoring speech is always wrong. All free speech fundamentalists (includes journalists and publishers, writers and readers) must believe that (bad, even evil) speech must be countered by (better) speech.



The formal agreement with D’Cruz had been signed on 7 April, and he
announced his support for Modi on 9 April. Our decision to halt the
publication was taken on the evening of 13 April (Sunday), after
speaking to both Geetha and D’Cruz, and may well have been a hasty
error of judgment. But the sequence of events is important. When we came
to know of D’Cruz’s position via a Facebook update on 9 April we did
not jump to conclusions, and both Geetha and Navayana tried to get in
touch with him. 

However, since he would not respond to phone calls, we
both sent him separate emails expressing dismay and concern. As
publisher, my email to him on 11 April merely said this:

Dear Joe, 
I read with distress the news that you have endorsed Modi. Initially,
I thought it was a lie; that someone posted this on your FB, and
that these are not your views. I spoke to Geetha too. After some Tamil
newspapers reported this, there has been no clarification from you. This
is disturbing.

Do tell us it’s a lie. For me it’s not merely a question of whether
Navayana will publish this book or Geetha will allow you to use her
translation. Your endorsement of Modi, if it’s true, makes me lose
faith in humanity. 
Anand

There was no talk here of annulling the agreement. Geetha had sent a
similar mail a day earlier. D’Cruz chose not to respond to both of us,
but instead he was quoted by the Tamil and English media misrepresenting
our views. 

For instance, on the morning of 13 April, the Chennai
edition of New Indian Express, had this to say: On the reaction in literary circles, he alleged “certain people
blackmail. Others threaten that my literary work that are currently
getting translated will be in trouble. For instance, a translation of
‘Aazhi Soozh Ulagu,’ which is under the process of publication in
English will be halted, they say. Some have sent hate mails that shower
abuses.”

Joe D’Cruz chose to directly speak to the media rather than
communicate with his publisher, or the translator who had worked closely
with him over several months. This, we think, was a breach of trust. 

When the media started calling Navayana and Geetha for responses, we had
to respond. It was only after a desperate SMS on Sunday that D’Cruz
returned our call and stoutly defended his decision to support Modi.


In retrospect, I believe, as a publisher I responded more in anger than using sound judgment.

V. Geetha: “As the translator of Joe D’ Cruz’s novel, I am in the unenviable
position of feeling both bereft and bewildered. While some think that I
have taken a principled stand, others wonder if I should have separated
the work from the man. I can only say that I find it difficult,
personally, to think beyond what Modi stands for, and for me and many
others, he remains the principal architect of the Gujarat pogrom of
2002.  

This is why I have withdrawn the translation. I would like to
reiterate that I stand by the novel, and am glad to have translated it.
However, given D’ Cruz’s insistent and clear-cut support for Narendra
Modi, I cannot bring myself to allow my translation to be published. I
would therefore like to wait on that decision, until Joe D’ Cruz and I
can have a conversation on how we see and understand what has happened.”

…..
Link: http://www.outlookindia.com/article.aspx?290312
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regards