Kartikey Sehgal
The author writes that, “‘Indian culture’ is a cover-up for religious enforcements. Most colleges that enforce codes to ‘protect’ culture are protecting the religion. If Indian culture was so dear to them, then the study of Indian philosophy would be an important, if not a compulsory part of the curriculum.”
A popular college in South Bombay (Mumbai) had, some years ago, and much to the dismay of the students, banned the prom night. Nobody called it…
Kartikey Sehgal
I had predicted problems for Omar Abdullah in my earlier story on Jammu and Kashmir’s (J&K) Chief Minister.
“Omar would be better because others would be worse. And that shall be the bane of being Omar Abdullah.”
[Read that story Here]
The Omar led government is now funding an organisation that aims to spread jihad; and cleanse non-Muslims from the state. Former J&K chief-minister and Omar’s grandfather Sheikh Abdullah had described the organisation as “the real source for…
Kartikey Sehgal
I met the poet Gulzar some days before he was nominated for the Oscar award. We were at the National Centre for Performing Arts (NCPA) that was hosting a theatrical adaptation of his writings on Indo-Pak border issues titled ‘Lakeerein‘.
“Would Pakistan have allowed such a performance in its theatres?”
“Is the polity there as embracing as it is here?”
Kartikey Sehgal
About the personal and cultural disintegration of a tribal village
There is a small tribal village in India. Malathi belongs to this village. The women here are happier than women in Delhi.
After puberty, Malathi was inducted into the village dormitory where she learnt weaving, knitting and other arts from the elder women and men. She also learnt the art of love-making through practice. By the time she was out of the dormitory, she was sexually and socially confident. Unlike the city girls, Malathi and her friends did not face ‘growing-up problems’ or ‘attitudinal disorders’ that lead you to the psychologist.
Kartikey Sehgal
[Fiction]
“Oh, you know him not!”
I said to my friend while walking along a peaceful country road. He is a patient of chronic back-ache and today was especially a troublesome day for him.
“Why is he blue? Because he is conscious of having brown skin like Indian men.”
My friend was aghast. He said that the colour blue was only symbolic and that nobody would bother if you drew him brown or black. He also urged me to come back to my senses.
Kartikey Sehgal
Omar Abdullah could not become the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir through honest means. So Omar Abdullah went to the parliament and stated that he would fight for “every inch of Kashmir’s land” and “we will fight till we die.”
And Omar made the Muslims of the state feel that he is with them in fending off the ‘aggressive Hindus’.
Let us quickly relive that glorious period in Omar’s political career which redefined his status as protector of the Muslims.
Kartikey Sehgal
The Pope has stated that he wants to save humanity from ‘gay threat’. According to him, humankind deserves the same attention as the dying tropical rain forests.
It is common knowledge that the biggest threat to rain forests is ‘mankind’ or humans. And the church has maintained that one of the biggest threats to mankind is the homosexual. Thereby, the church has always kept homosexuality out of the realm of normal sexual behavior. Never mind that it has always existed and that the church is among its secretive followers.
Santa Singh
It is difficult to make friends who are free of any associations. All of us feel strongly for some institution or the other; religion, political party, language and even food.
Let me give you a recent example. A Muslim talked to me about problems faced by ‘his people’.
Kartikey Sehgal
If you have read the articles on Jammu and Kashmir (here and here), then you’d know that the Kashmir land issue was political fabrication. While political parties were wasting time in preparing for elections in the state, and provoking people to kill, a bunch of people were preparing to plant some bombs in Delhi.
The politicians and the bomb planters achieved their aim.
The politicians succeeded in dividing people in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K) along religious lines but the bomb planters united many religions on September 13 when the survivors and family of victims cursed terrorism despite any prior religious bias.
Kartikey Sehgal
Violence in Orissa is largely a backlash against the murder of a Hindu leader who ran a local campaign against Christian conversion. Maoist rebels said they had killed him but Hindus blamed Christians.” (Reuters)
The people of one religious group should stop killing people
of another religious group.
And supporters of the other religious group
should organise petitions for floods, droughts and other issues; not just
when they are affected.