#India Import

[timetravellingkitty]

KASHMIR MASTERLIST

Background

History of Kashmir from 250 BC to 1947 [to understand Kashmir's multi religious history and how we got to 1947]

Broad timeline of events from 1947 to the abrogation of Article 370 of the Indian Constitution in 2019 (BBC) [yes, BBC. hang on just this once]

Human Rights Watch report based on a visit to Indian controlled Kashmir in 1998 [has a summary, background, human rights abuses and recommendations]

Another concise summary of the issue

Sites to check out

Kashmir Action - news and readings

The Kashmiriyat - independent news site about ongoings in Kashmir

FreePressKashmir - same thing as previous

Kashmir Law and Justice Project - analysis of international law as it applies to Kashmir

Stand with Kashmir - awareness, run by diaspora Kashmiris (both Pandit and Muslim)

These two for more readings and resources on Kashmir: note that the petitions and donation links are from 2019 and also has explainers on the background (x) (x)

To read

Do You Remember Kunan Poshpora? - about women in the Kashmiri resistance movement and the 1991 mass rape of Kashmiri women in the twin villages of Kunan and Poshpora by Indian armed forces

Until My Freedom Has Come: The New Intifada in Kashmir - a compliation of writings about the lives of Kashmiris under Indian domination

Colonizing Kashmir: State Building under Indian Occupation - how Kashmir was made "integral" to the Indian state and examines state-building policies (excerpt)

Resisting Occupation in Kashmir - about the social and legal dimensions of India's occupation

On India's scapegoating of Kashmiri Pandits, both by Kashmiri Pandits (x) (x)

Of Gardens and Graves - translations of Kashmiri poems

Social media

kashiirkoor

museumofkashmir

kashmirpopart

posh_baahar

readingkashmir

standwithkashmir and their backup account standwithkashmir2 (main account is banned in India wonder why)

kashmirlawjustice

kashmirawareness

jammugenocide (awareness about the 1947 genocide abetted by Maharaja Hari Singh and the RSS)

To watch

Jashn-e-Azadi: How We Celebrate Freedom parts 1 and 2 - a documentary about the Kashmiri freedom struggle (filmed by a Kashmiri Pandit)

Paradise Lost - BBC documentary about how India and Pakistan's dispute over the valley has affected the people

Kashmir - Valley of Tears - the exhaustion with the conflict in the post nineties

In the Shade of Fallen Chinar - art as a form of Kashmiri resistance

Human rights violations (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

Land theft and dispossession (x) (x) (x) (x) (x) (x)

A note: I know annoying Desis are going to see this and go "Oh but Kashmir is Pakistan's because-" and "Kashmir is an integral part of India because-". I must make my stance clear: Kashmir belongs to the Kashmiris, the natives, no matter what religion they belong to. Neither Pakistan nor India get to decide the matter of Kashmiri sovereignty. The reasons given by both parties as to why Kashmir should be a part of either nation are bullshit. The United Nations itself recognises Kashmir as a disputed region, so I will not entertain dumbfuckery. I highly encourage fellow Indians especially to take the time to go through and properly understand the violence the government enacts on Kashmiris. I've also included links to learn more about Kashmiri culture because really, what do the rest of us know about it? Culturally and linguistically Kashmir differs so much from the rest of India and Pakistan (also the amount of fetishization of Kashmiri women...yikes). This is not just a bilateral issue between these two nations over land, this actually affects the people of Kashmir. And if you're still here, thank you for reading

[lasttarrasque]

Reminder that the Indian Fascist state's brutal operation Kagar is still ongoing, make some fucking noise!

Do not forget about the Adavasis! Do not forget about operation Kagar! Make some fucking noise!

[canisalbus]

Whenever someone says "This would kill a Victorian child." Or "This would kill a medieval peasant." I have to think about Machete. Would he... would he survive eating a Dorito?

.

[starryalpacasstuff]

Knock Knock Boys: A Queer Asian Lens

I didn't watch Knock Knock Boys as it was airing, because it didn't really seem like the kind of show I'd be into. However, this post by @lurkingshan and @waitmyturtles' enthusiastic recommendation convinced me to give it a shot. Having binged the entirety of the series in a day, I can say that the show was an absolute delight to watch.

I've seen plenty of people talking about how wonderfully sex positive the show was, so I'm not going to bother with going too much into it, but I will say that the drama clearly showed the kind of sex education and awareness that is desperately needed around the world. I also really liked how Lukpeach and Latte were the ones responsible for pretty much all of the sex education in the show. It was very realistic in that, in my experience, it's extremely common for teenagers and young adults to get a majority of their knowledge about sex from their friends and the internet. The show had a very clear message about the importance of talking freely about sex with younger generations, because the taboo on the topic only harms teenagers in the long run.

Now, besides that, there was one more issue that I thought the show did wonderfully: it showed how asian kids are often hesitant to discuss things with their parents because they assume the worst in the beginning. I'm having some trouble articulating this, because it's such an abstract, ingrained concept to me, so forgive me if this is incoherent. I'm also generalizing my experience as an Indian, so please do correct me if I'm wrong here. That being said, having been raised in a society that values respect and listening to elders without question, discussing alternate ideas with parents can be a very difficult thing for most of us. It's easy to assume what parents would say to an idea and decide that trying to convince them otherwise is a task that is either futile or requires too much energy.

The best way I can describe is that the mindset becomes "It's better to ask for forgiveness if you get caught instead of asking for permission straight away". For example, had Almond asked his mother if he could stay with three other guys, she would've most definitely flat out refused, since she would've had a lot of preconceived notions about the idea. But, because Almond is able to show her that he's happy as he was, she was perfectly fine with him continuing to stay with the others. I think that's the hallmark of most asian parents, they want us to be happy but they're convinced that they know what kind of life will make us happy. They did something similar with Peak and his father, but my feelings on that are a little more complex, so we'll come back to this.

Peak and Thanwa, man. I loved Latte and Almond but these two just stole the show for me. I know some people felt frustrated with Peak's dallying and hesitance, but I just felt so sad for him, and something about his situation just hit very close to home. And Seng, the actor that he is. One particular moment that stuck with me was the scene when he leaned against the door while Jumper attacked Max. I must've rewatched that moment half a dozen times, because his acting was impeccable. I will say, I wish that they'd given us a better resolution on the arc after Max, but those are mostly minor quibbles. What I really wanted to talk about was the arc with Peak's father. Peak gathering the courage to tell his father with the support from his found family was beautiful. The scene at Knock Knock House the day before Peak left was one of the most magnificent, emotionally charged scenes I've seen in asian ql in a while. Coming from a societ wherein arranged marriage is the norm, the storyline hit hard in all the right places.

But. I did not love the resolution of the arc. I think we've had some conversation about how some shows try to be both in the bubble and out of the bubble simultaneously, and the last two episodes of the show felt a little like that. From what we knew about the father, it felt almost too easy for him to simply accept everything right away. There should have been some struggle for reconciliation. I know that the show has a theme of assumptions and lack of communication disrupting parent-child relationships, but in this case how fast they move on just seems unrealistic. My cynicism aside, even if we assume that the father wasn't homophobic, there should've been more of a conversation on the breaking of the engagement! The social implications, the father asking him why he didn't say anything for so long, Jane's involvement (how did the father know that she knew about this?). The only argument I can see against this is that the father, while initially put off by the revelation, chose to act otherwise to support his son. But then, he most likely wouldn't have insisted they take his car. And there still should've been some sort of a conversation about the engagement. Arranged marriages have a purpose; it's to provide financial and social security. I find it extremely hard to believe that a father who arranged a marriage for his son wouldn't have so much as discuss the implications of being gay with him. They tried to have the engagement have consequences with the wedding banquet, but the resolution for that really only made it worse. This is cynical of me, but I simply cannot suspend my disbelief enough to believe that the entire wedding party was perfectly happy with the turn of events. This whole resolution just seemed out of place in a show that was otherwise so wonderfully grounded in reality while still being absolutely hilarious. I think, if the show had done something a little more similar to GAP, it would've felt more realistic.

All of that aside, I really did enjoy watching the show. It was hilarious and heartwarming, and the characters were absolutely wonderful. The resolution of the final arc did drag it down a little, but I would be lying if I said that watching two queer couples get to celebrate their relationships with their community didn't warm my heart at all (Also, side note- Jane having a girlfriend was a brilliant subversion). All in all, it's a great series. It definitely felt like something new and fresh compared to the kind of qls that I've been watching lately.

[bitter-post-millennial]

Hello 👋 This is Moamen and his family from Gaza. Please help us evacuate to safety, complete university studies, and find a source of income after the destruction of what we own. We live in difficult circumstances and a difficult life 🙏🏼 ❤️ Please share and spread the campaign because I urgently need help and the matter is urgent. Because the campaign is going very slowly, there is no water and little food. Please donate and share please Moamen Majed, his four brothers, and their parents ($40/$30,000) - @moamenmajed-gaza

and you get a post and you get a post, you all get a post

[peonycats]

india: would you still love me if i was a worm 🥺

china: you’re already a worm in my eyes and no

[sabo-torao]

casting two south asian actors to play the royals of ARABASTA is plain and simple MENA erasure btw. just saying

[mahoutoons]

i'm sure my non indian followers are confused about why i'm suddenly reblogging stuff about a temple. so let me explain.

on 22nd january, 2024, the ram mandir in ayodhya was inaugrated. it was believed to be built on the birthplace of the lord ram, a hindu god. celebrations were everywhere. not just in india, but abroad, the indian hindu diaspora also celebrated the opening of the temple. saffron flags and chants of "jai shri ram" were everywhere.

so, what's the problem?

the first is that this temple was built on the side of a 500 year old mosque, which was demolished by hindu extremists in 1992. you're probably going to hear that this mosque was built on the site of a demolished temple originally, and they're just reclaiming it. but that is a lie. in fact, the supreme court claims that there was no evidence of a temple under the babri masjid. in fact, that is one of the longest run s@nghi misinformation campaigns. once upon a time, the demolition of the babri masjid was seen as a national shame, the actions of a few fringe hindu nationalists. but now, its a celebrated almost mainstream event, which does not hold promise for where this country is headed.

oh, but hindus are just celebrating a place of worship being opened on what they believe to be a holy site, right? wrong. its not just about the celebrations, but how the treatment of religious minorities in india would get worse. it was already pretty bad, especially under our current fascist government, but now we're seeing churches and mosques being vandalized with saffron flags and chants of "jai shri ram", muslim owned shops being burned, crowds calling for the demilition of more mosques, muslim owned properties being subject to more violence than ever, and honestly many more that could be happening as we speak.

india has always been a hellhole for religious minorities and it has been more so ever since m0di gained power. but the building of this temple is just going to make things so much worse, especially for indian muslims. remember that when you see someone celebrating the ram mandir, this is what they're celebrating. this is what they're turning a blind eye to and even encouraging.

with all this in mind, i encourage non indians to steer clear of anyone celebrating the ram mandir. i don't care if its their religion, i don't care if they're "just celebrating", what they're celebrating is a temple built on the site of a demolished mosque and with the blood of many. don't buy their "500 years of struggle" bs, its a lie.

[ambidextrousarcher]

Pertinent Issues I and My Fraternity Face

The above picture states, in simple words, my right as an Indian citizen. (For those of you who might be used to US-centric posts and thoughts alone, I mean a citizen of the country India. In Southeast Asia.)

However, I have felt, throughout my life, and more strongly in the recent past, that as a daughter of the nation and young woman who is a doctor, especially a doctor in training aka an intern, that a lot of these rights are not being met.

I think I would like to enumerate how a lot of circumstances violate the rights of a very large section of the population of this country, more than half of it to be exact, if only to raise my voice, futile though it might be.

I belong to three groups, all of which I believe fall under vulnerable population.

1. I am a young woman.

I feel the fact that there is one rape every sixteen minutes in my country violates my right, our right to freedom and equality. For the right to freedom means I can live my life and enjoy personal liberties without any obstacles.

However, that seems to be hardly the case, because the response to the above fact about rape is restriction of our freedom and equality. How? Because the response I have heard by and large in the society, even by people I love, to such incidents is unequivocal and the same:

Don’t go outside at night. Don’t go outside with a boy. Don’t dress in a particular manner. You should always be alert. Always be polite, because what if someone stronger than you, a man, is offended and decides to sexually assault you? What if you “deserve it”?

How, I ask, can any woman deserve such horrors? When we are not safe anywhere, not in our homes, not in our workplaces, not in means of transport, not on the roads, how, then, is our right to freedom and equality protected? Especially when said equality is against discrimination on the grounds of sex as well?

I think these pictures would do a better job than I at explaining what I mean.

Image credit to Arihant Publications for the first image, and WeAreYuva on Instagram for the rest of the images.

[aichabouchareb]

Where is humanity????

[handweavers]

reading about the history of the tin mines in sungai ujong and malay (esp minangkabau) peasant and chinese labourer resistance to british colonial rule in what is now negeri sembilan and how the malay ruling class weaponized communalism - ie. the classic "malay ethnic solidarity vs chinese and indians" in opposition to class solidarity - in order to get the malay peasantry to stop fighting british colonial rule and help the malay nobility profit from british imperial rule, to the detriment of the class interests of the majority of malays as well as those of chinese and indians in the region. tale as old as time

[reflectismo]

INT: How much singing and composing did you witness [in India]?

PS: I didn't see much, because they did that kind of thing mostly at night. So I only ever saw or was part of that one session that I photographed. I was walking back to my tent late one afternoon before dinner, and I just heard John and Paul singing from behind the trees. And I walked over and saw what they were doing, and I went and got my camera, which is the only time I took my camera out on purpose. So I took a few shots through the fence, then I walked through and just sat down, with Paul and John side by side, and just hung out. Paul had a piece of paper with the words, "Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da, oh, how the life goes on," and it was on the step beneath him. The first picture in the book is the shot of him looking down and his hand is off the guitar, and he's reading the words, which he didn't have memorized yet. And they just played with it for about five minutes, having a wonderful time fooling around. It was such fun, I mean them having so much fun. When I first sat down, they were actually just playing bits and fragments of their older songs.

INT: Previously recorded material?

PS: Yeah, like Michelle and Eleanor Rigby. Just musically meandering. Then Paul started looking down at the piece of paper and I took a picture.

INT: Was George around?

PS: No. But Ringo was siting there with his leg crossed, a cigarette in his hand. So after they had played Ob-La-Di, Ob-la-Da over and over again, they stopped for a breather, and that's when Paul looked up at me, smiled, and with this really wonderful twinkle in his eye, said, "That's all there is so far, we haven't got the words yet." So that was the only time I experienced it.

INT: That's interesting because Lennon had stated in many interviews that he and McCartney had really stopped composing together in late '64 or early '65, but Paul said in his recent book that they actually composed together right to the end. So what you witnessed reinforces Paul's version.

PS: That is interesting. And they were having so much fun together. There's no question about it.

— Interview with Paul Saltzman (Beatlology Magazine, January/February 2001 Edition)

[bitter-post-millennial]

Helo,lwish you and your families safety and happiness from the bottom of my heart. ❤️

Please, help me by reblog my post on my account to save my family's lives and escape the horrors of this brutal war💔.

Your assistance will be a lifeline for us and

could save innocent lives desperately seeking survival This is my account:{https://gofund.me/23f6654d}

Good morning y’all!

[365filmsbyauroranocte]

A Night of Knowing Nothing (Payal Kapadia, 2021)    

[procrastinating-falcon]

One of the things that crack me up about episode 2x01 is Kala celebrating Christmas with Rajan, like what are they doing???

I don’t remember if Rajan says what his religion is at any point but I doubt he’s Christian, and his father def seemed like an atheist. And Kala… well she’s definitely not Christian

[where-our-stories-start]