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gladiates · 4 years ago

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175+ non-Western literature recommendations to diversify your academia, organized by continent + country

I love world literature, and I’ve been frustrated by the lack of representation of it in literature + academia communities on tumblr, so here are some recommendations. I haven’t read all of these myself yet, but the ones I have are excellent and the ones I haven’t come highly recommended from Goodreads and are on my to-read list!

With the exception of anthologies of older works, all of these books were written before 2000 (some literally thousands of years earlier), since I’m less familiar with super contemporary literature. Also, I only included each writer once, though many of them have multiple amazing books. I’m sure there are plenty of incredible books I’m missing, so please feel free to add on to this list! And countries that aren’t included absolutely have a lot to offer as well--usually, it was just hard to find books available in English translation (which all of the ones below are.)

List below the cut (it’s my first post with a cut so let’s hope I do it right... and also warning that it’s super long)

ASIA:

Bangladesh:

Pather Panchali by Bibhutibhushan Bandyopadhyay (1929)

China:

Tao Te Ching by Lao Tzu (6th century BCE)

The Art of War by Sun Tzu (5th century BCE)

The Analects by Confucius (circa 5th-4th century BCE?)

The Book of Chuang Tzu by Zhuangzi (4th century BCE)

Mencius by Mencius (3rd century BCE)

The Songs of the South: An Anthology of Ancient Chinese Poems by Qu Yuan and Other Poets (2nd century AD)

Li Po and Tu Fu: Poems by Li Po and Tu Fu (written 8th century AD)

Poems of Wang Wei (8th century AD)

Romance of the Three Kingdoms by Luo Guanzhong (14th century AD)

Strange Tales from a Chinese Studio by Pu Songling (1740)

Dream of the Red Chamber by Xueqin Cao (1791)

Six Records of a Floating Life by Shen Fu (1809)

Diary of a Madman and Other Stories by Lu Xun (1918)

Mr Ma and Son by Lao She (1929)

Family by Ba Jin (1933)

Love in a Fallen City by Eileen Chang (1943)

A Source Book in Chinese Philosophy by Wing-Tsit Chan (1963)

Red Sorghum by Mo Yan (1987)

Soul Mountain by Gao Xingjian (1989)

The Big Red Book of Modern Chinese Literature edited by Yunte Huang (anthology, 2016)

India:

The Rig Vega (1500-1200 BCE)

The Mahabharata and the Bhagavad Gita (around 400 BCE but not known exactly. The Gita is part of the Mahabharata)

The Upanishads (REALLY wide date range)

The Dhammapada (3rd century BCE)

The Fundamental Wisdom of the Middle Way by Nāgārjuna (2nd century AD)

The Recognition of Sakuntala by Kālidāsa (4th century AD)

The Way of the Bodhisattva by Santideva (700 AD)

Gitanjali by Rabindranath Tagore (1910)

Annihilation of Caste by B.R. Ambedkar (1936)

The Discovery of India by Jawaharlal Nehru (1946)

Train to Pakistan by Khushwant Singh (1956)

A Source Book in Indian Philosophy by Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan and Charles Alexander Moore (1957)

Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie (1981)

A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth (1993)

Women Writing in India: 600 BC to the Present V: The Twentieth Century by Susie J. Tharu and K. Lalita (1993)

A Fine Balance by Rohinton Mistry (1995)

The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (1996)

Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri (1999)

Indian Philosophy in English: From Renaissance to Independence (anthology, 2011)

Indonesia:

The Weaverbirds by Y.B. Mangunwijaya (1981)

Iran:

Shahnameh: The Persian Book of Kings by Abolqasem Ferdowsi (11th century AD)

The Essential Rumi by Rumi (13th century AD)

The Blind Owl by Sadegh Hedayat (1936)

Savushun by Simin Daneshvar (1969)

My Uncle Napoleon by Iran Pezeshkzad (1973)

Missing Soluch by Mahmoud Dowlatabadi (1979)

Iraq:

Fifteen Iraqi Poets edited by Dunya Mikhail (published 2013 but the poems are 20th century)

Japan:

The Ink Dark Moon: Love Poems by Ono no Komachi and Izumi Shikibu (9th-10th century AD)

The Pillow Book by Sei Shōnagon (1002 AD)

The Tale of Genji by Murasaki Shikibu (1008 AD)

The Tale of the Heike, unknown (12th century AD)

One Hundred Poets, One Poem Each: A Treasury of Classical Japanese Verse (not sure of year)

Essays in Idleness by Yoshida Kenkō (1332)

Kokoro by Natsume Sōseki (1914)

No Longer Human by Osamu Dazai (1948)

Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata (1948)

The Makioka Sisters by Jun'ichirō Tanizaki (1948)

Confessions of a Mask by Yukio Mishima (1949)

Masks by Fumiko Enchi (1958)

The Woman in the Dunes by Kōbō Abe (1962)

A Personal Matter by Kenzaburō Ōe (1964)

Silence by Shūsaku Endō (1966)

Korea (written before the division into North/South):

The Memoirs of Lady Hyegyong (written 1795-1805)

Lebanon:

Samarkand by Amin Maalouf (1988)

Gate of the Sun by Elias Khoury (1998)

Pakistan:

We Sinful Women: Contemporary Urdu Feminist Poetry (1991)

The Rebel's Silhouette: Selected Poems by Faiz Ahmed Faiz (1991)

The Taste of Words: An Introduction to Urdu Poetry edited by Raza Mir (2014)

Palestine:

Men in the Sun and Other Palestinian Stories by Ghassan Kanafani (1963)

Orientalism by Edward Said (1978)

I Saw Ramallah by Mourid Barghouti (1997)

Mural by Mahmoud Darwish (2000, which technically breaks my rule by a year but it’s great)

Philippines:

Noli Me Tángere by José Rizal (1887)

Saudi Arabia:

Cities of Salt by Abdul Rahman Munif (1984)

Sri Lanka:

Funny Boy by Shyam Selvadurai (1994)

Syria:

Damascus Nights by Rafik Schami (1989)

Taiwan:

Last Words from Montmartre by Qiu Miaojin (1996)

Turkey:

My Name Is Red by Orhan Pamuk (1998)

Vietnam:

Spring Essence: The Poetry of Hô Xuân Huong by Hô Xuân Huong (1801)

The Tale of Kieu by Nguyen Du (1820)

Paradise of the Blind by Duong Thu Huong (1988)

Miscellaneous Asia (country unclear or multiple current day countries):

The Epic of Gilgamesh (circa 1800 BCE)

Myths from Mesopotamia translated by Stephanie Dailey

The Arabian Nights (as early as the 9th century AD, lots of changes over the years)

The Qur’an

AFRICA:

Algeria:

Fantasia: An Algerian Cavalcade by Assia Djebar (1985)

The Bridges of Constantine by Ahlam Mosteghanemi (1993)

Cameroon:

Houseboy by Ferdinand Oyono (1956)

Egypt:

The Tale of Sinuhe and Other Ancient Egyptian Poems 1940 - 1640 B.C. translated by R.B. Parkinson

Palace Walk by Naguib Mahfouz (1956)

The Sinners by Yusuf Idris (1959)

Woman at Point Zero by Nawal El Saadawi (1975)

The Map of Love by Ahdaf Soueif (1999)

Ghana:

Our Sister Killjoy by Ama Ata Aidoo (1977)

Two Thousand Seasons by Ayi Kwei Armah (1979)

In My Father’s House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture by Kwame Anthony Appiah (1992)

Guinea:

The Radiance of the King by Camara Laye (1954)

Kenya:

A Grain of Wheat by Ngugi wa Thing'o (1994)

The River and the Source by Margaret A. Ogola (1995)

Libya:

The Bleeding of the Stone by Ibrahim al-Koni (1990)

Mali:

The Fortunes of Wangrin by Amadou Hampâté Bâ (1973)

Nigeria:

The Palm-Wine Drinkard by Amos Tutuola (1952)

Things Fall Apart by Chinua Achebe (1958)

Efuru by Flora Nwapa (1966)

The Joys of Motherhood by Buchi Emecheta (1979)

Aké: The Years of Childhood by Wole Soyinka (1981)

Sozaboy: A Novel in Rotten English by Ken Saro-Wiwa (1985)

The Famished Road by Ben Okri (1991)

Senegal:

God’s Bits of Wood by Ousmane Sembène (1960)

So Long a Letter by Mariama Bâ (1981)

Somalia:

Maps by Nuruddin Farah (1986)

South Africa:

When Rain Clouds Gather by Bessie Head (1969)

Fools and Other Stories by Njabulo S. Ndebele (1986)

Sudan:

Season of Migration to the North by Tayeb Salih (1966)

Tunisia:

The Colonizer and the Colonized by Albert Memmi (1957)

Zimbabwe:

The House of Hunger by Dambudzo Marechera (1978)

Nervous Conditions by Tsitsi Dangarembga (1988)

Miscellaneous Africa:

The Granta Book of the African Short Story edited by Helon Habila (2011)

The Penguin Book of Modern African Poetry edited by Gerald Moore and Ulli Beier (1963)

AMERICAS:

Antigua and Barbuda:

A Small Place by Jamaica Kincaid (1988)

Argentina:

Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges (1944)

Hopscotch by Julio Cortázar (1963)

The Museum of Eterna’s Novel (The First Good Novel) by Macedonio Fernández (1967)

Kiss of the Spider Woman by Manuel Puig (1976)

The Sixty-Five Years of Washington by Juan José Saer (1985)

How I Became a Nun by César Aira (1993)

Thus Were Their Faces by Silvina Ocampo (2015 but written earlier)

Brazil:

Dom Casmurro by Machado de Assis (1900)

Chronicle of the Murdered House by Lúcio Cardoso (1959)

Dona Flor and her Two Husbands by Jorge Amado (1966)

Pedagagy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire (1968)

The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector (1977)

Vast Emotions and Imperfect Thoughts by Rubem Fonseca (1988)

Chile:

The Obscene Bird of Night by José Donoso (1970)

Emergency Poems by Nicanor Parra (1972)

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende (1982)

Colombia:

One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez (1967)

Cuba:

The Kingdom of This World by Alejo Carpentier (1949)

Cold Tales by Virgilio Piñera (1958)

Dominican Republic:

In the Time of the Butterflies by Julia Alvarez (1994)

Guatemala:

Men of Maize by Miguel Ángel Asturias (1949)

I, Rigoberta Menchú by Rigoberta Menchú (1985)

Guadalupe (part of France but overseas):

I, Tituba, Black Witch of Salem by Maryse Condé (1986)

Haiti:

Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwige Danticat (1994)

Jamaica:

No Telephone to Heaven by Michelle Cliff (1987)

The True History of Paradise by Margaret Cezair-Thompson (1999)

Martinique (part of France but overseas):

Discourse on Colonialism by Aimé Césaire (1950)

Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon (1961)

Poetics of Relation by Édouard Glissant (1997)

Mexico:

Pedro Páramo by Juan Rulfo (1955)

Aura by Carlos Fuentes (1962)

The Hole by José Revueltas (1969)

Underground River and Other Stories by Inés Arredondo (1979)

The Collected Poems, 1957-1987 by Octavio Paz (1987)

Like Water for Chocolate by Laura Esquivel (1989)

Nicaragua:

Azul by Rubén Darío (1888)

Peru:

The Cardboard House by Martín Adán (1928)

The Time of the Hero by Mario Vargas Llosa (1962)

The Complete Poems by César Vallejo (1968)

St. Lucia:

Omeros by Derek Walcott (1990)

Trinidad and Tobago:

The Black Jacobins: Toussaint L'Ouverture and the San Domingo Revolution by C.L.R. James (1938)

A House for Mr. Biswas by V.S. Naipaul (1961)

Uruguay:

Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano (1971)

Venezuela:

Doña Bárbara by Rómulo Gallegos (1929)

Indigenous Writers from Canada and the United States:

American Indian Stories by Zitkála-Šá (Dakota) (1921)

Winter in the Blood by James Welch (Blackfeet and A’aninin) (1974)

Emplumada by Lorna Dee Cervantes (Chumash) (1982)

She Had Some Horses by Joy Harjo (Mvskoke) (1982)

Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich (Chippewa) (1984)

Ceremony by Leslie Marmon Silko (Laguna Pueblo) (1986)

Custer Died for Your Sins by Vine Deloria Jr. (Dakota) (1988)

The Grass Dancer by Susan Power (Dakota) (1997)

Miscellaneous Americas:

And We Sold the Rain: Contemporary Fiction from Central America edited by Rosario Santos (1988)

Short Stories by Latin American Women: The Magic and the Real edited by Celia Correas de Zapata (2003)

Bordering Fires: The Vintage Book of Contemporary Mexican and Chicana and Chicano Literature edited by Cristina García (2006)

#dark academia #light academia #academia aesthetic #academic #academia #academics #studyblr #litblr #reading #books #booklr #literature #world literature #poc literature #writers of color #bookworm #bookaddict

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notwiselybuttoowell · 2 years ago

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India was celebrating 50 years of independence and on the Queen’s itinerary was a visit to Jallianwala Bagh, the site in the city of Amritsar where in 1919 a British general ordered thousands of peaceful protesters to be shot, a massacre that was one of the bloodiest episodes of British colonial rule over India. The hope among many was that the Queen’s visit would finally bring about a long-awaited apology for colonial atrocities. But in the end, the apology never came.

“It is no secret that there have been some difficult episodes in our past,” said the Queen in her address the night before her visit. “Jallianwala Bagh, which I shall visit tomorrow, is a distressing example. But history cannot be rewritten, however much we might sometimes wish otherwise.”

When Queen Elizabeth was born in 1926, her grandfather was still the Emperor of India, which was under British rule for 200 years, but by the time she ascended to the throne in 1952, India had been independent for five years. At her wedding to Philip Mountbatten in 1947, the Queen was given a handkerchief by India’s best known freedom campaigner, Mahatma Gandhi, and it was said to remain one of her most treasured possessions.

The somewhat muted response to the Queen’s death in India reflects her complex position in a nation where the British monarchy is still seen as a lasting symbol of colonial rule that pillaged its lands for 200 years. India’s last viceroy before independence was the Queen’s distant cousin Lord Louis Mountbatten – also Prince Philip’s uncle – who oversaw the bloody partitioning of the country into the separate nations of India and Pakistan.

India remains the largest country in the Commonwealth, which is largely made up of former British territories and is still formally headed by the British monarch. After news of the Queen’s death broke, a national day of mourning was declared and all flags were lowered to half-mast.

“Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II will be remembered as a stalwart of our times,” tweeted India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi. “She provided inspiring leadership to her nation and people. She personified dignity and decency in public life. Pained by her demise.”

But though multiple Bollywood stars sent effusive condolences over the Queen’s death on social media, there was otherwise little public outpouring of grief.

Jyoti Atwal, a professor of history at Jawaharlal Nehru University in Delhi, said that in India, the institution of the monarchy was still lambasted as a symbol of British rule. Hours before the death of the Queen was announced, Modi oversaw the renaming of Rajpath, a central avenue in Delhi that during the colonial period had been named in honour of King George V, Queen Elizabeth’s grandfather. Modi said Rajpath was a “symbol of slavery”, which would now be erased.

However, Atwal said that on a personal level, the Queen’s visits to India, particularly her first in 1961, had earned her much affection and admiration – many people can still recall watching her riding through the streets of Delhi in her royal coach buggy.

“The Queen represented the oppression of British rule and colonialism, but she was also viewed separately as a person, not just as a monarch, and people in India were very charmed by her visits, by that buggy culture,” said Atwal. “My mother still remembers the Queen’s visit in 1961; she was a child sitting in the front row when the Queen was travelling in the buggy. So it captured the public imagination even though it was clearly a remnant of the British Raj.”

Nonetheless, Atwal said, as the furore around the Queen’s visit to Jallianwala Bagh had demonstrated, in India there was a lasting expectation that the British monarchy should apologise for the injustices of colonial rule, which some view as an essential part of the process of decolonisation.

“There are large sections in India who still wanted an apology from the Queen and who still think there hasn’t been closure for the oppression of the Raj,” said Atwal. “The burden of giving that apology falls on the monarchy, not the prime minister or another member of the British government. So now that Charles is King, people in India will be expecting the apology from him.”

Since the the Queen’s death, there have also been calls for the return of the Koh-I-Noor diamond, one of the largest cut diamonds in the world, which sits in the crown of the Queen Mother and is on display at the Tower of London. The diamond, which was mined in India, has been the source of a decades-long dispute between India and the UK, with India saying it was taken illegally.

Over the weekend, the Indian MP and author Shashi Tharoor called its display in London a “powerful reminder of the injustices perpetrated by the former imperial power”. It is thought the crown bearing the Koh-i-Noor diamond will now be worn by King Charles’s wife, Camilla, the Queen Consort.

“Until it is returned at least as a symbolic gesture of expiation it will remain evidence of the loot, plunder and misappropriation that colonialism was really all about,” said Tharoor

#elizabeth ii #india #colonialism #british raj #koh i noor #commonwealth

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typingtess · 3 years ago

Video

youtube

NCIS: Los Angeles Season Twelve Rewatch: “Signs of Change”

The basics: When secret military technology is stolen, Kensi brings in a woman who is not able to serve her country.

Written by: Indira Gibson Wilson and Jordana Lewis Jaffe

Indira Gibson Wilson and Jordana Lewis Jaffe co-wrote “The Frogman’s Daughter” (Wilson’s first episode with the program).

Jordana Lewis Jaffe wrote or co-wrote “Honor”, “Patriot Acts”, “Dead Body Politic”, “Paper Soldiers”, “Unwritten Rule”, “Big Brother”, “Iron Curtain Rising”, “Exposure”, “Savior Faire”, “Beacon”, “Defectors”, “Exchange Rate”, “Black Market”, “Payback”, “Battle Scars”, “Mountebank”, “Vendetta”, “Where Everybody Knows Your Name”, “Pro Se” “Heist”, “Born to Run”, “Provenance”, “Commitment Issues”, “Knock Out” and “War Crimes”.

Directed by: Dennis Smith directed “Fame”, “Standoff”, “Rocket Man”, “Cyberthreat”, “Exit Strategy”, “Patriot Acts”, “Out of the Past” part one, “The Livelong Day”, Between the Lines”, “Deep Trouble” part two, “Black Budget", “Black Wind”, “Blame it On Rio”, “Defectors”, “Matryoshka” part one, “Granger, O”, “The Queen’s Gambit”, “Hot Water”, “From Havana With Love”, “Plain Sight”, the lighthearted “Monster”, “Superhuman”, “One of Us”, “Smokescreen” part one, "Decoy”, “Mother” (episode 250), “Alsiyadun”, “The Bear” and “Angry Karen”.

Guest stars of note: Gerald McRaney as Retired Navy Admiral Hollace Kilbride and Duncan Campbell as NCIS Special Agent Castor are back from “The Noble Maidens”. Other guest stars: Raquel McPeek Rodriguez as Sienna Marchione, Matt Bush as Owen Winnick, Mo Sehgal as Randall/Man #1, Maurizio Rasti as Ehsan Rahman and Abraham Justice as Carl/Driver.

Our heroes: Save the day and make a friend.

What important things did we learn about:

Callen: Provided a Sam anecdote for Kam’s graduation speech. Sam: Was made a Chief when Michelle was eight months pregnant with Kam. Kensi: Really wanted Marchione as part of the team. Deeks: Thinks Kensi needed time with Sienna Marchione and gave it to her. Eric: Absent. Nell: A hard no on a cooperating witness. Fatima: Plays lost local very well. Roundtree: See Eric. Hetty: Does not support using cooperating witnesses.

What not so important things did we learn about:

Callen: Calls for an ambulance against Sam’s wishes. Sam: Said a gunshot wound only stings a little. Kensi: Grandfather fought in WWII. Deeks: Cooler than a polar bear’s toenails. Eric: See Roundtree. Nell: Doing things the Nell way. Fatima: Knows sign language. Roundtree: Absent. Hetty: Hides valuables with her scotch.

Who's down with OTP: Deeks is still making plans about their future family and Kensi finally can tell him why she thinks that’s a mistake.

Who's down with BrOTP: Sam and Uncle Callen are flying to Kam’s graduation. It doesn’t get better than that.

Any pressing need for a cranky retired Admiral? He’s getting his cranky on today. Also realizes that the institution he loves is doing something that hurts other and hurts the institution.

Who is running the team this week? Nell with the “WWHD” – What Would Hetty Do – playbook losing favor.

Fashion review: Medium blue button down shirt for Callen. Sam starts the day in a long sleeve grey tee-shirt before changing into this post-shooting long sleeve red tee-shirt. Kensi is wearing a long-sleeve pink sweater. Deeks is in a dark blue sweatshirt. Nell has on a brown/beige/gold plaid dress. Fatima is wearing a grey blouse with a snakeskin pattern over a black top with a Nehru collar.

Music: The acoustic version of “Unfolding” by Luca Fogale is playing at the end.

Any notable cut scene: Three of them!

Scene one: Before interviewing Sienna Marchione, Kensi and Deeks talk about how well she can handle herself based on the security footage. She is the only member of the engineering team to survive. Deeks figures she has to be a foreign agent or working for a rival government’s security agency with her levels of skill. Kensi is suspicious about a woman who can fight like Marchione working as an engineer. Deeks can’t wait for “Captain Marvel” to talk her way out of trouble.

Scene two: Callen is questioning “Randall” who answers every question with the word “lawyer”. Callen admires his neck tattoo but thinks it is a little feminine.

Scene three: Deeks arrives in Ops offering help. Nell is looking through the different companies at the tech exhibition. A competitor could have killed the boss, Brandon Lindemore. Nell wants to whittle down the list. Deeks didn’t get much from the suspects at the boat shed but he knows they are pros. He doubts some start-up could afford pros. Deep-dive the big dogs. Deeks talks about big dogs including his dog Lenny that was so big, he ate the couch.

Quote: Kensi: “So... I didn't know how to communicate this this morning, but, um... after meeting Sienna and hearing her story, it just made me realize that we can do everything right to start a family. You know, I can take all my shots and you can read all the best books, we can go to the best fertility doctors in the city... But... ...just sometimes stuff doesn't work out. You know? Even if we have a plan. And, um... there's nothing we can do about it.” Deeks: “Okay. Um... Well, we will cross that bridge if and when we get to it. And we'll do it... we'll do it together.”

Anything else: In an office break room, a woman is making a cup of coffee. Leaving with her coffee, the woman sees a dead uniformed security office on the floor. There are more bodies all around the office. Three men dressed all in black are starting at really high-tech computer stations downloading data. As one of the men takes out his weapon, the woman races to him and is able to easily disarm him. The two fight and she is amazing – finds a pen and stabs him in the neck. She ends the fight with a fire extinguisher to the head.

As a second intruder runs toward the woman, they have a short struggle until she knocks him out with a sneaker to the head. Going to a computer terminal, she sees the download has been completed. The third man is gone. Pulling out an ear-piece, the woman attaches it to her phone and calls 911.

A smiling Deeks with Kensi walk into the armory. Kensi tells Deeks to be cool. He’s cooler than a polar bear’s toenails. The “would-be” nursery will be cornflower blue, a symbol of hope. Kensi reminds Deeks she closed her eyes and pointed at a color wheel at Lowe’s.

Moving past paint, Deeks is worried about the logistics of two bad-ass NCIS warriors raising a little child. Kensi isn’t interested in that conversation until they need to have it. Deeks is thinking proactive. Kensi gives him a kiss a promises Deeks that everything will be fine.

Walking into her/Hetty’s office, Nell hears noise in the back. She finds the “big guy” – Sam – in the back area looking around and asking for where Hetty is. He needs to speak to her immediately with a question that needs answering and only Hetty can do it. Nell nods her head and notes “it kinda sucks, doesn’t it.” Sam thinks Nell isn’t helping him. She’d like to – what does Sam need and how can she help.

Sam gave his medals and ribbons from his Navy career to Hetty to keep in a safe place. Going to Kam’s graduation the following day, Sam wants to give her a medal he earned when maked a chief with the SEALs. Eight months pregnant with Kam at the time, Michelle could barely move but she was able to pin the anchors on Sam’s collar. Michelle told him that as a chief, he had the hardest job in the Navy. Sam disagreed – Michelle had the hardest job – a Navy wife, Mom. The anchors reflect everything about Sam, Michelle and how Kam is never alone. Nell is getting emotional and it isn’t even 9AM. Thinking “WWHD” – what would Hetty do – Nell was going to start the search.

Asking for Sam, Callen joins Fatima in Ops. Fatima says Sam is looking for a box and Callen thinks that’s very Sam. On the big screen is the website for Heptagon Labs. Fatima tells Callen nearly everyone working at the lab being killed.. The company is working with the Defense Department to come up with the next generation of exoskeleton suits. When Callen asks what does the next-gen tech do, Fatima says the new suits make wearers invisible. “Invisible, invisible?” Callen asks. Fatima gives Callen a demonstration with a small prototype sent to the NCIS offices. This is “pretty awesome” but now someone else now has the tech too.

Callen asks about the survivor – Sienna Marchione, an engineer with the company. Marchione has a clean record and no suspicious bank activity. She is also the lead engineer on the project. Kensi and Deeks are on their way to speak to Marchione at the lab. Callen asks about the thieves. Fatima explains one escaped, two are in custody. Surprised, Callen thinks LAPD found the intruders quickly. Fatima tells Callen of Marchione’s actions and how the men never left the building. Callen wants to talk to the suspects in the boat shed.

Walking into the Heptagon Labs computer room, Kensi wants to speak to Marchione, who has her back to Kensi and Deeks. She’s working on her computer. Kensi keeps talking, Marchione keeps typing. When Deeks moves into Marchione’s sightline, she jumps and moves her hand to her pocket. Deeks pulls his gun and asks why was Marchione ignoring Kensi. Slowly pulling out her earpiece, Marchione said she couldn’t hear Kensi.

Saying they saw the security footage, Kensi and Deeks asks Marchione about her night. It was awful. She thought if she didn’t go for coffee, she could have saved everyone on her team. Deeks mentions she also could have saved the technology. He finds her timing “uncanny” how in the short time Marchione was gone, someone stole the schematics for the exoskeleton suit. Marchione says coincidence, Deeks thinks collusion, especially since she so easily took down two much larger men like it was child’s play. Marchione says “Thank you.”

Kensi is interested in how Marchione learned to fight. Marchione has been training her entire life to serve her country. Deeks asks “this country” and Marchione confirms “this country.” She turns to Kensi and ask if Deeks is always so “warm and cuddly.” Deeks answers, saying he’s having a hard time connecting the dots. Marchione comes from a proud Navy family. It was her dream to serve. Being deaf means she cannot serve. So if she can’t serve, Marchione is going to protect everyone who does. It is both the least and most Marchione can do until someone finally changes the rules. Deeks thanks her for telling them that before Marchione makes it clear, she would never betray her country. Deeks apologizes.

Asking for Marchione’s version of what happened, she tells Kensi that she wasn’t gone for very long and the men who broke in were very fast. There had to be inside help. Deeks asks if Marchione thinks one of her team members is involved. She mentions an engineer who stayed home sick on the day of the break-in. Her boss, Brandon Lindemore, was also going through a pricey divorce. Marchione asks for a favor – find the technology and “nail these guys to the wall.”

As they are leaving, Kensi asks Deeks if he trusts her. Of course he does. As Kensi leaves him, Deeks says he trusts her but now is really worried. Kensi isn’t. Finding Marchione, Kensi asks for her help – “hell yes.”

In the boat shed, Callen and Sam are getting nothing from the two men Marchione took down. Just requests for lawyers. Fatima ran the men’s IDs and Sam’s guy Doug died in 2017, Callen’s guy Randall died in 2011. Callen and Sam have no idea who they are interrogating.

Arriving in Ops, Nell asks Fatima for an update. Fatima provide the info on the men in the boat shed as well as Marchione’s boss Lindemore was one of the dead men in the office and mentioned the engineer calling in sick – Owen Winnick. Nell wonders if someone inside of Heptagon Labs got the intruders into the building and paid for that move with their life.

When Kensi returns to Deeks with Marchione in tow, Deeks needs to talk to Kensi. While Marchione seems like a “perfectly lovely person with a perfectly nasty roundhouse”, Kensi can’t invite people to work with them. As they discuss Deeks’s objection, Marchione mentions she can read lips. Kensi wants to register Marchione as a cooperating witness. Deeks says the first lesson in FLETC is the three ways you can ruin your career: drug and alcohol abuse, interoffice liaisons and cooperating witnesses. Since they’re already doing the interoffice liaison, Deeks thinks there will be fallout. Kensi calls Nell because she knows Nell will say yes.

Nell does not say yes. In fact, it is a “hard pass”. It isn’t going to happen. Admiral Kilbride is impressed with Nell’s harsh tone. When Nell gives him a polite greeting, he’s announces she ruined things by being nice. Nell tries to explain she’s dealing with something and he wants her to deal with it harshly. When Nell explains Marchione’s situation – wanting to serve her country and being denied – Kilbride doesn’t think they are Make-A-Wish. Trying to take the phone from Nell, the Admiral is denied. Nell is dealing with the call. That’s fine, the Admiral just wants Kensi to know that Marchione can work the case.

Making their way to the bullpen, Sam thanks Callen for covering him for Kam’s graduation. Callen shares that Kam wanted a funny Sam anecdote for her speech and was happy to oblige. Sam got Kam a weighted tactical training vest. If she is not going to Annapolis, she still needs to train. Callen believes that is every young girl’s dream graduation gift. “It’s pink,” Sam tells Callen. And there are the tickets to Italy. Michelle left behind a gift as well – Sam thinks Michelle somehow knew she wasn’t going to be there for Kam’s graduation. “A CIA Agent never knows if their next mission is their last,” Callen says. Sam lists all the milestones Michelle is going to miss – Kam’s college graduation, her wedding. Callen says Kam is lucky to have Sam and Aiden. And Uncle G. But nobody will replace Michelle for Kam, Sam says with real sadness in his voice. Callen thinks it is their job to make sure Kam knows how much she meant to Michelle.

While Marchione looks all around the boat shed, Deeks wants to interrogate “thing one and thing two”. As Deeks goes on about his interrogation techniques, Kensi walks over to Marchione. The two look at some of the historic Navy photos hanging on the back wall of the boat shed. Marchione picks out a Douglas SBD-3 Dauntless Bomber. Her grandfather was a lieutenant on the USS Hornet. Kensi is impressed – her grandfather fought in WWII as well. According to Marchione, there is no greater honor than to serve your country. Kensi agrees, telling Marchione they are happy to have her working with the team. It is Marchione’s dream come true.

Kensi gives Marchione a basic review of the office set-up but Marchione knows how NCIS works. She thought of a career with the agency. Deeks is impressed that Marchione knows more about NCIS than he did on his first day. Nell pops up on the screen. The third member intruder – the one who got away – is named Steve Tricks. Kaleidoscope is looking for him. Marchione’s boss’s financials, as well as the company’s were in good shape. The soon to be ex-wife said the success of the exoskeleton suit was part of the divorce – she wanted him to live so she could get her fair share. The only thing on Owen Winnick’s record was he attended a recent conference. That makes sense to Marchione since Winnick is not rules breaker. Kensi wants to take Marchione to see Winnick. Nell wants to send Fatima as well as a precaution. Meanwhile Deeks is going to use the golden rule of interrogation to get info from the two men in custody – listening.

When Fatima meets Marchione, the two exchange greetings in sign language. Fatima apologizes if she is rusty but Marchione thinks Fatima is doing well. Kensi want to talk to Winnick. Asking if Winnick is friend, Marchione says yes – Winnick was helpful when she joined the company. Kensi has to knocks on the door a few times before Winnick answers. When Kensi announces federal agents, Winnick suddenly closes the door. He’s not running, he’s vomiting. “Never eat grocery store sushi after 5PM.” This is Kensi and Fatima’s first questioning of a vomiting possible witness.

Relaxing in his rather spacious outdoor gathering area, Winnick is asked by Marchione if he needs anything. Marchione leaves to get Winnick some water. Winnick calls Marchione “an angel” as she walks away. They had a date when they first started working together but the exoskeleton project took over their lives. When Marchione returns, Kensi asks about the dead boss. Winnick calls himself to Wozniak to Lindemore’s Jobs. After Marchione, Lindemore was the nicest person Winnick ever met.

Marchione asks if Lindemore met with anyone at the tech conference. Lindemore met with a lot of people – even some private meetings. Their technology was so revolutionary, everyone was interested. Asked about the private meetings, Winnick doesn’t know much. When Kensi notes that Winnick said they were close, Winnick starts to cry. Putting his hand on Marchione’s knee, he says it is “just you and me now.” Kensi and Fatima share a look.

As Deeks calls for “no whammys”, Nell has a hit on Steve Tricks’s location. As she sends it to Callen and Sam, Deeks is going back to the list of tech companies at the conference. Listening to Deeks’s suggestion, Nell narrowed down the tech companies that she can check out. Nell asks if Deeks is going to join Kensi and Marchione. He’s not. Deeks thinks Kensi needs some time with Marchione. Nell doesn’t know what that means. Deeks really doesn’t either but being with Kensi for so long, that he just knows. “Couples goals,” Nell says as Deeks leaves to talk to the suspects again.

In their full tactical gear, Callen and Sam approach Tricks’s SUV outside of a long closed club off Cahuenga. The club could be a hideout. Approaching the SUV, there are some firearms magazines in the back seat but not Tricks. That is until the door to the club opens and Tricks is firing at Callen and Sam, hitting Sam in the arm. Nell hears all this through the earwigs.

Saying it just “stings a little”, Sam is still in the gunfight. Callen and Nell are worried. As Callen goes to the other side of the vehicle to distract Tricks, Sam is flat on the ground looking at Trick’s feet. When Sam shoots Tricks around the ankles, a second SUV arrives. More shooting as Tricks drags himself into the vehicle. Against Sam’s wishes, Callen tells Nell to send an ambulance.

In the bullpen, Callen has Sam’s pain meds but Sam isn’t doing pain meds. Callen offers to put them in applesauce. Sam laughs and he’s not wearing a sling. Kilbride arrives, pleased to see Sam up on his feet, not pleased with the team’s “lackluster performance” so far. The SecNav called about the technology that the Navy invested a whole “crapload” of money in is still in the wind. Callen thinks there is more to the technology than the SecNav has shared – does the Admiral know? While the SecNav doesn’t owe any of them any more information, the technology not only makes people invisible to the naked eye, they are also invisible on radar and countersurveillance devices. Planes, tanks, subs all unseeable, untraceable would change modern warfare

The Admiral starts to leave, asking if Sam is up to the job. How long has it been since he felt the “hot lead of hostile fire penetrate his flesh.” An angry Sam stands up and says “two years, ten months, three weeks and a day.” Sam finished his work that day and he’s finishing his work today. “Outstanding Agent Hanna, that is the first good answer I’ve heard today.” Callen thinks Sam’s timeline sounds like a country song.

Leaving Winnick’s, Kensi is amazing how talkative he is but seems nice. Marchione agrees – he’s like a brother to her. Fatima says Winnick doesn’t see her as a sister and mentions the date. They had one date but it felt wrong, according to Marchione. His house smells like her grandmother’s house and the grandmother she didn’t like.

Knowing about Tricks’s escape, Marchione believes he’s part of a bigger operation. The question isn’t the size of the operation, it is who out there would kill an office full of people for the technology. When Marchione says “my grandmother,” Kensi and Fatima are stunned. Remembering when she was sick visiting her grandmother, Marchione was forced to drink this awful syrup – Ipecac. It made her throw up. She smelled the same thing in Winnick’s house. Winnick may not be sick at all.

Leaving Ops, Nell sees the Admiral and tries to return to Ops. She’s called into his office instead. The Admiral is impressed by Marchione’s impact on the investigation, he’d like to know Nell’s thoughts, especially since she was against Marchione working the team. Nell didn’t doubt Marchione’s abilities, Hetty was just… Before Nell could finish her sentence, Kilbride tells Nell that Hetty isn’t here. And while he has no idea where goes on in Hetty’s mind, he’s pretty sure he did not put Nell in charge just to have her do what Hetty would on every tough call. Nell talks about protecting the team and putting Marchione in harm’s way. She’d be negligent not to worry about breaking Hetty’s precedents. Worrying about what Hetty would do will leave Nell “a day late and a dollar short,” according to the Admiral.

Returning to the boat shed, Kensi is talking about snacks while Marchione looks at her shoes. There is blood on the shoelaces. When Kensi asks if Marchione is alright, she’s more worried about Fatima watching Winnick. Kensi assures Marchione that Fatima will share everything. Asking what happens if Winnick is involved, Kensi explains that in a case like this, everyone is a suspect. “Everyone’s gone,” Marchione says. What is she supposed to do. Kensi tells Marchione that things will be hard for a while but they have a responsibility to her dead coworkers. Fatima calls in – Winnick is on the move. Fatima is going to stay with Winnick “like a bad perm.”

Icing his sore arm, Sam asks Nell if there is any news on Trick’s back-up crew. Nell doesn’t have that information but she knows who owns the abandoned club – Tabalah-Gulf Holdings, a Saudi Arabian commercial real estate company. With no obvious connection to Tricks, Nell is looking into company CEO Eshan Rahman, a Saudi billionaire with a private “Super Model Island”. Tabalah-Gulf Holdings could be reopening the club for his model/pop star/movie starlet pals or he could be using the club to hide criminal activity. Sam and Nell believe it to be the latter. As Sam leaves, Nell asks him to wear the sling.

Watching Winnick at a coffee shop, he’s meeting with Eshan Rahman. Fatima sends some photos and Nell confirms it is Rahman. An alert comes from Winnick’s bank – he just made $3 million. As Fatima is about to approach the two, Kensi asks Marchione if there is a digital key to open the downloaded files. There is. It’s likely they downloaded the encrypted files and Rahman needs Winnick to unlock the files. Sending Callen and Sam, Nell wants Fatima to slow Winnick and Rahman down.

Knocking on the window of Rahman’s SUV, Fatima tells Rahman’s driver that she left her phone in an Uber and the Uber driver left her in the wrong neighborhood. Rahman’s driver can’t help. Fatima flirts a little with the driver and then with an arriving Rahman to stall. That doesn’t work when Winnick passes by and asks why Fatima is there. Rahman orders his driver to go. Winnick tries to escape but Fatima has him. When he struggles, she punches him in the stomach and we have more vomiting.

Cutting off Nell in the hallway, the Admiral had another call from Washington, this time from the Secretary of Defense. The Admiral said they’d have the case wrapped up by the end of the day. Nell thinks that he shouldn’t make promises he can’t keep. He will heed the advice if the case is settled today. Nell has confirmation that Marchione’s boss met with the biotech firm Quantumgencis, which as Rahman as a lead investor. Quantumgencis is working with a Saudi prince for a “City of the Future” plan. Nell gets an alert. Rahman is moving west to LaBrea. She updates Callen and Sam.

Chasing Rahman, Callen and Sam think he’s on his way to the airport. The Admiral disagrees – there is no way Rahman is flying commercial, he has a jet ready at a moment’s notice. At a private airstrip, Rahman and his driver are just at the property’s gate. Hey break thought the security gate with Callen and Sam right behind them. As they race along the runway, Kensi is near the plane in the Audi. She is able to cut Rahman’s vehicle off. Rahman and his driver are arrested.

As the sun goes down, Sam is packing his gear. Nell found the medals where Hetty keeps her prized possessions – in a compartment in the back of her liquor cabinet. If Sam wasn’t in a hurry, he’d hug Nell but he’s already missed his flight. He has a long drive ahead. No he doesn’t. Nell made a special transportation arrangement for Sam – a private jet. Rahman’s getaway plan gave Nell an idea. When Sam calls the private jet a Hetty move, Nell thinks it is a high compliment but tells Sam it is actually a Nell move. Callen arrives – he’s going too.

In the boat shed, Agent Castor is learning sign language with Marchione. They are both laughing and having a good time. Kensi arrives and Marchione gives her a big hug. She was so grateful for the opportunity to show what she could do. Kensi asks what’s next for Marchione. Advocacy and awareness. She is one of many people who want to serve but are being kept from serving. Kensi thinks the team would do well to have someone like Marchione. “Someday,” Marchione signs and shows Kensi the same.

The Admiral joins Nell in Nell/Hetty’s office. Sitting and thinking, the Admiral shares that he is proud that he devotes his life to the US military. 99 times out of 100, he thinks they get things right. Noticing his tie is loose, Nell wonders if she should break out the gin. She’s not sure how to read the situation. He’d like her to let and old, tired man talk. The Admiral says they don’t always get things right. Sienna Marchione was really something.

When Kensi walks into the Armory, Deeks asks about Marchione. Kensi and Marchione are going hiking next Sunday. Deeks starts talking about hiking trails but that’s not what Kensi wants to talk about. Admitting she didn’t know how to tells Deeks this morning, Kensi realized after meeting Marchione that they can do everything right with their fertility treatments and planning for their lives as parents and things may not work out. Deeks thinks they’ll cross that bridge if and when they get to it. Kensi isn’t up to any logistics talks and Deeks agrees. After Deeks says he was being a big, dumb jerk, Kensi disagrees. Her worry is that all the logistics talk is making a bet that everything is going to work out. Deeks hugs her. He apologizes and they share I love yous.

What head canon can be formed from here: This was a really good season 12 episode.

The cuts scenes helped explain Deeks’s attitude with Sienna Marchione in the start of the episode and Nell’s gratitude to Deeks for coming up with a way to sift through the companies. I’m not sure what you cut to get those scenes in but they would have helped.

Episode number: This is episode 16 of season 12, the 278th episode overall.

#NCIS: Los Angeles Rewatch #NCIS: Los Angeles #NCIS: LA #NCIS Los Angeles #ncis la

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southeastasianists · 3 years ago

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The tragedy of what appears could be a long-running civil war remains a distinct possibility in Myanmar today. Nevertheless, the term “civil war” itself is inappropriate. Rather Myanmar today resembles Europe during the Nazi occupation. While the sense of occupation by a foreign force had always existed in the ethnic minority areas with their well-armed insurgent organizations, there is a sense today that this is also the case in the Bamar heartland. The occupying army is Myanmar’s own national army (the Tatmadaw) which, from its foundation, has largely functioned as an autonomous state within a state. Those civilians who support the military, such as the members of the USDP, are treaters as collaborators.

Seen even from the conventional paradigm of military coups replacing a democratically elected government the reaction of the international community, and above all the “West”, is disappointing. Yet, once we change perspective to conceive of Myanmar as an occupied country then the reaction of the international community is simply irresponsible. To use a metaphor, Myanmar today is an international orphan. This is not to say, to pursue the analogy, it does not have a family. This ‘family’, in our view, can be divided into three: the kindly, but unengaged aunts, the self-serving and self-indulgent uncles and the feckless cousins.

The kindly, unengaged aunts

The first group, of kindly but unengaged aunts, is a caricature of the United States, the EU and the United Kingdom. Other countries, particularly the other three members of the Quad—Australia, India and Japan—can be considered part of this grouping. Certainly, they rapidly condemned the coup and, in some cases, introduced targeted sanctions against the generals and their immediate families. These were later reinforced to include military-linked conglomerates.

In recent years their political leaderships have heralded a pivot towards the Indo-Pacific with the aim, declared in various official strategy papers, of promoting democracy and confronting autocracy. By not making Myanmar a priority concern in their democratic Indo-Pacific posturing they have revealed the emptiness of these pompous declarations. Is there any post-coup situation in the world today of any greater moral clarity?

The failure of the Australian government to even introduce a basic system of targeted sanctions is puzzling. Cynically, in the context of Sino-Australian tensions doing so would send a clear message to Beijing on the unacceptability of its support for authoritarian regimes, while not being seen to directly criticize the PRC itself. The Morrison governments hesitancy to even provide permanent resident status to the 3,000 or so Burmese students in Australia represents a repudiation of Canberra’s bipartisan principled middle power tradition dating back to Dr Evatt.

This attitude is understandable from Narendra Modi in India in the light of his own autocratic ethno-nationalist agenda. However, it represents the betrayal of the Nehru tradition in foreign policy and, in realpolitik terms, is counterproductive given the continuing aggravation in Sino-Indian relations. Is it really in Delhi’s interest to see Mizoram and Manipur destabilized through a further influx of Myanmar refugees? In the context of Sino-Indian hostility is it in Delhi’s interest to see the PRC providing recognition, and carving out new economic benefits, with the Myanmar junta? It is puzzling why India’s vaunted Look East Policy does not begin with its closest eastern neighbour but, so far, the Indian government has even prevented the Quad from making a clear statement on the release of political prisoners. India abstained in the 18th June vote in the UN General Assembly demanding an arms embargo and he release of political prisoners, unlike the other three Quad members who voted yes. Yet for Quad members, with their principle objective of constraining China, Myanmar is of secondary importance. This, once again is amazingly short-sighted: constraining, but also cooperating with China for mutual benefit, begins in Myanmar.

The United States bears, at least indirectly, responsibility for the coup. It was the leader of the world’s greatest democracy, President Donald Trump, himself who in propagating the Big Lie of a stolen US presidential election in November 2020 provided a rhetorical fig-leaf for would be dictators everywhere to justify their actions. Certainly, in the Myanmar case it gave occasion for Senior General Min Aung Hlaing to play by the Thai playbook and undertake a coup in order to defend democracy against democratic irregularities, corruption, etc. with a vague promise of “free and fair” elections in the future.

The junta is implementing the next steps in the Thai playbook in using a subservient and compliant judicial system to imprison the leaders of the democratic opposition, making Aung San Suu Kyi ineligible to run again. As with the Future Forward Party in Thailand, the banning and dismantling of Myanmar’s National League for Democracy, is just a matter of time.

The Biden Administration’s overwhelming priority is the strengthening and reinvigorating of alliances in Europe and in the Indo-Pacific, to both constrain China and check Russia. Objectively drawing a redline in Myanmar would be a concrete way of achieving these multiple objectives but, alas, with the withdrawal from Afghanistan and other overriding issues, Myanmar remains largely invisible in the “Washington beltway”

In Europe as a result of Brexit, Myanmar no longer has a champion in the “Brussels bubble” and even in the United Kingdom, the PRC’s turpitude in Hong Kong is the key Asian issue, alongside mercantilist policies to promote a Global Britain. Elsewhere in the European Parliament political representatives would rather spend their time making rhetorical points on the Uighur and Hong Kong, than come to the aid of the Myanmar people who overwhelmingly ask for their support.

How can this be explained? We would suggest that the close link in Western eyes between the person of Aung San Suu Kyi and Myanmar’s democratic trajectory has been a double-edged sword. When she was under house arrest and in opposition, she was perceived as incarnating the democratic aspirations of the Myanmar people and maintained these in the arena of public debated. However, when the democratic icon of the 1990s and 2000s fell from her pedestal due to both her autocratic demeanour and, above all, her defence of the Tatmadaw against charges of genocide in the International Criminal Court, concern with Myanmar evaporated. The orphan baby of Burmese democracy was thrown out, so to speak, with the bathwater of personality-centred politics.

Rather than acting decisively on Myanmar, the “kindly but unengaged aunts” have has chosen to delegate the resolution of the Myanmar crisis to the “feckless cousins” of ASEAN discussed below. In Europe this appeals to the somewhat narcissistic encouragement of regional integration elsewhere as well as the hubris surrounding interregionalism. As the world’s most institutionalized regional entity the EU has a rather optimistic view of its oldest regional partner, ASEAN. Yet, to date none of the mechanisms provided in this partnership—such as EU-ASEAN parliamentary dialogue or the ASEAN Strategic Partnership Agreement—have been activated.

The self-interested and self-indulgent uncles

The second part of the family is the self-interested and self-indulgent uncles, namely China and Russia. While it is debatable whether Beijing encouraged the coup, it is clear that since it has been most accommodating in providing recognition to the junta. The PRC has legitimate security, especially energy security, interests in Myanmar and real concerns about instability on its southern borders. The paradox is that these would best be protected under a civilian administration supported by the people of Myanmar than by a Sinophobic and incompetent junta. Yet, as with Modi’s India, Beijing’s ideological blinkers on the benefits of authoritarianism has meant that the PRC is not the loveable country Xi Jinping seeks to project.

Russian behaviour in Myanmar, namely ensuring sales of its weaponry and promoting Putin’s autocratic agenda worldwide, is more perfidious and self-indulgent. Like in the Donbass and Belorussia, Myanmar provides an occasion for Putin’s macho promotion of Russia as a great power. Having largely lost both Vietnam and now India to the West, Moscow is left with Naypyidaw and Vientiane as its last Asian playgrounds.

The feckless cousins

Finally, the third group is the feckless cousins, Myanmar’s Southeast Asian neighbours of ASEAN, to whom the international community has bestowed responsibility to resolve the crisis. In our view, this misconceived sub-contracting is premised on the vague notion of ASEAN’s regional centrality. Yet, it is one thing to pay lip service to “ASEAN centrality” out of diplomatic politeness. It is another thing to actually believe that it can bring results. “Centrality” is a question of positioning and, indeed, by default ASEAN has been the core around which other regional bodies such as the East Asia Summit, the ASEAN Regional Forum, APEC, the RCEP, etc, have been grafted. But “centrality” per se indicates to us nothing about capability or capacity, let alone political willingness.

It took almost three months after the coup for ASEAN on 24th April to organise a summit on Myanmar to which the junta leader, and he alone, was invited. Five months after the coup ASEAN’s promised special envoy has not been appointed both due to internal failure to agree on a candidate and a lack of approval from the junta itself . All ASEAN has achieved so far is to provide de facto legitimacy to the junta and buy it time. At both its emergency summit of 24 April and in the visit of two of its emissaries on 5 to 7 June, ASEAN has given legitimacy to the junta, without even any contact with the democratically elected leaders in Myanmar. It is hard to see how an even-handed dialogue can be organised between the jailers and the jailed, as calls from Indonesia, Malaysia, and Singapore for the release of political prisoners have gone unheeded.

ASEAN has been successful over 50 years in maintaining peace between its members. However, it has neither the “carrots” nor “the sticks” to bring about change within one of them. For example, under the 2008 ASEAN Charter there are no provisions for any member to be expelled. Above all, the sacrosanct, and self-serving, principle of non-interference will always negate the application of the seventh of the Charter’s purposes and principles: the strengthening of democracy and the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Moreover, not only is there a serious systemic issue, but there is also clearly a lack of political will to promote a return to democracy in Myanmar: the majority of ASEAN members have authoritarian or semi-authoritarian regimes. What is the interest of the Thai master of coups, ex-General, now PM Prayut, in seeing the Burmese civil disobedience movement succeed? Would it not further encourage the Thai members of the Milk Tea Alliance who periodically occupy the streets of Bangkok to continue denouncing a kindred patriarchal regime? Does the Politburo of the Vietnamese Communist Party want to see netizens succeed in virtually challenging an authoritarian regime? As for Cambodian PM Hun Sen, and Philippines President Rodrigo ‘Digong’ Duterte, aka The Punisher, democratic values are the least of their concerns. Finally, ASEAN is chaired at the moment by the Sultan of Brunei, the last remaining absolute monarch in Asia.

The divisions within ASEAN came into focus during the non-binding vote in the UN General Assembly on 18 June, calling for an arms embargo and the release of political prisoners (item 34-A/75/L.85.Rev. 1). Six ASEAN countries voted yes: Indonesia, Malaysia, Myanmar itself, the Philippines, Singapore and Vietnam. The other four—Brunei, Cambodia, Laos and Thailand—abstained. Divisions of this kind within a regional entity based on the principle of consensus have only one result: procrastination and a degree of immobilism, otherwise known as the ASEAN Way.

Conclusions

When an orphan’s extended family fails lamentably, fortunately there is an alternative: turning to your friends. In the countries of the “kindly and unengaged aunts” their parliaments—for example the French Senate, the US Congress and the Australian Parliament—pushing for more assertive action from their country’s respective executives. Civil society groups in Southeast Asia increasingly see the combat for Myanmar’s democracy as their own. In the West a vocal Burmese diaspora, advocacy groups, academics and other supporters are pushing to ensure that this orphan is not forgotten. It remains a moot point whether this will lead to concrete and tangible actions, such as the recognition of the National Unity Government, and international intervention of the basis of the Right to Protect will ensue.

#Southeast Asia #Burma #Myanmar #ASEAN #Foreign Affairs #Military Junta

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ark3750 · 3 years ago

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The Constitution of India

Jan 29, 2022

On January 26, 2022, India celebrated her 73rd Republic day!

Why is it a very important date in the Indian calendar?

Republic Day marks the adoption of the constitution of India and the transition of the country to a republic on January 26, 1950. Every year, the celebrations marking the day feature spectacular military and cultural pageantry.

On January 26, 1950, after 165 days of deliberation, 284 members of the Constituent Assembly of India unanimously adopted the Constitution. We know that Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar was the father of the Indian Constitution. But how many know that the Original Constitution of India was hand written and also designed and illustrated by hand.

Shri Prem Bihari Narayan Raizada, a resident of Delhi, was the calligrapher of the Indian Constitution.

234 pages in all, the entire original constitution was hand-written by him in a flowing italic style. Working in a room in Constitution Hall (now known as the Constitution Club of India), he rendered the document - consisting of 395 articles, 8 schedules, and a preamble - over the course of six months. He incorporated his flowing style of calligraphy into the document, using hundreds of pen nibs in the course of his writing. No other instruments were used to write the whole constitution.

Shri Prem Bihari was a famous calligraphy writer of that time. He was born on 16 December 1901 in the family of a renowned handwriting researcher in Delhi. He lost his parents at a young age. He was raised by his grandfather Ram Prasad Saxena and uncle Chatur Bihari Narayan Saxena. His grandfather, Ram Prasad was a calligrapher. He was a scholar of Persian and English. He taught Persian to high-ranking officials of the English government.

Dadu used to teach calligraphy art to Prem Bihari from an early age for beautiful handwriting. After graduating from St. Stephen's College, Delhi, Prem Bihari started practicing calligraphy art which he learnt from his grandfather. Gradually his name began to spread side by side for the beautiful handwriting. When the constitution was ready for printing, the then Prime Minister of India, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru summoned Prem Bihari. Nehru wanted to write the constitution in handwritten calligraphy in italic letters instead of in print. That is why he called Prem Bihari. After Prem Bihari approached him, Nehru asked him to handwrite the constitution in italic style and asked him what fee he would take.

Prem Bihari told Nehru, “Not a single penny. By the grace of God I,- have all the things and I am quite happy with my life. ” After saying this, he made a request to Nehru,- "I have one reservation - that on every page of the constitution I will write my name and on the last page I will write my name along with my grandfather's name." Nehru accepted his request. He was given a house to write this constitution. Sitting there, Premji wrote the manuscript of the entire constitution.

Before starting writing, Prem Bihari Narayan came to Santiniketan on 29 November 1949 with the then President of India, Shri Rajendra Prasad, at the behest of Pandit Nehru. They discussed with the famous artist, Shri Nandalal Bose and decided how and with what part of the leaf Prem Bihari would write, Nandalal Basu would decorate the rest of the blank part of the leaf. The original, calligraphed copies of the document were sent to Shri Nandalal Bose and his students at Santiniketan, who decorated each of the 22 parts with elaborate art.

Nandalal Bose and some of his students from Santiniketan filled these gaps with impeccable imagery. Mohenjo-daro seals, Ramayana, Mahabharata, Life of Gautam Buddha, Promotion of Buddhism by Emperor Ashoka, Meeting of Vikramaditya, Emperor Akbar and Mughal Empire, Rani Lakshmibai, Tipu Sultan, Gandhiji's Movement, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose and Rupachitra is all reflected in their drawing ornaments. All in all, it is a pictorial representation of the history and geography of India. They painted the pictures very thoughtfully according to the content and paragraphs of the constitution.

Prem Bihari needed 432 pen holders to write the Indian constitution and he used nib number 303. The nibs were brought from England and Czechoslovakia. The nibs will be made there. He wrote the manuscript of the entire constitution for six long months in a room in the Constitution Hall of India. 251 pages of parchment paper had to be used to write the constitution. The weight of the constitution is 3 kg, 650 grams. The constitution is 22 inches long and 16 inches wide.

Prem Bihari died on February 17, 1966. The original book of the Indian Constitution is now preserved in the library of the Parliament House, Delhi. Later, a few books were published in print under the supervision of the Survey of India in Dehradun.

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rainbowandstardust · 3 years ago

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Death, a reappearing event in the Gandhi family

The Nehru-Gandhi family governed India for almost 50 years out of the total 74 years since our independence. As we approach our 75th Independence day, we should learn about the period of deaths the history of our politics saw in the early years. All of this started with the assassination of the father of India-"Mahatma Gandhi" who was not in politics but his death was the beginning of a series of deaths. First, let's rewind a little bit.

While there are various theories revolving around how the Gandhi name was acquired. The first story that I was told as a kid which has now been proven to be wrong by the internet goes as follows, Feroze Jehangir Ghandy was a Muslim and Jawaharlal Nehru, the first prime minister of India did not approve of an inter-religion marriage of his daughter Indira Gandhi, the first and only woman prime minister of India. Mahatma Gandhi decided to adopt Feroze and then convince Jawaharlal Nehru to marry him with Indira. His name changed to Feroze Gandhi and Indira Nehru became Indira Gandhi. Thus, started the legacy of The Gandhi Family.

On further research from different articles on google, a different story was discovered. Feroze Ghandy was a Parsi and a politician along with being an activist who was inspired by the works of Mahatma Gandhi and hence changed the spelling of his surname. He married Indira Nehru who then became Indira Gandhi.

The first death the Gandhi family saw was Mahatma Gandhi's assassination which occurred on 30th January 1948 when Nathuram Godse shot 3 bullets for what he thought would lead him to be celebrated across the whole nation. Instead, he was hanged.

Indira Gandhi one the day of her death. She was wearing a beautiful saffron saree.

Then followed Indira Gandhi. While some people celebrate Indira Gandhi's era some believe it to be the darkest period of Indian democracy. She was shot 33 bullets on 31 October 1984 by her two Sikh bodyguards Satwant Singh and Beant Singh. Operation Blue Star was ordered by Indira Gandhi and was carried between 1 June to 8 June 1984. It was to remove leader Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and his followers from the buildings of the Harmandir Sahib complex in Amritsar, Punjab. This operation led to many casualties from both sides and the reason many people turned against Indira Gandhi-The Iron Woman of India. Allegedly Indira Gandhi had predicted her own death a day before in her speech given at Bhubaneswar. She said, "I am here today, I may not be here tomorrow. Nobody knows how many attempts have been made to shoot me I do not care whether I live or die. I have lived a long life and I am proud that I spend the whole of my life in the service of my people." The Sikh bodyguards were to be removed after the blue star operation but Indira believed this would create her image as anti-Sikh, a life-threatening mistake she did. Following her death, riots broke out across the whole country.

Rajiv Gandhi was in Contai, 150 km away from Calcutta when Indira Gandhi was shot. He was asked to be the next prime minister following his mother's demise.

Rajiv Gandhi on the day of his death.

This was not the end of the circle of death looming over the Gandhi family. The successive prime minister Rajiv Gandhi took the office in 1984. He was the youngest prime minister of India at the age of 40 and governed from 1984-1989. Like Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi also anticipated his own death a few moments before the bombing. Neena Gopal asked Rajiv whether he felt his life was at risk, to which Rajiv Gandhi said, "Have you noticed how every time any South Asian leader of any import rises to a position of power or is about to achieve something for himself or his country, he is cut down, attacked, killed look at Mrs. Indira Gandhi, Sheikh Mujib, look at Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, at Zia-ul-Haq, Bandaranaike."

Gopal says within minutes of making the statement that hinted he was aware that he was a likely target of dark forces at play, Rajiv himself would be gone (Statement from India today). Following the Civil war in Sri Lanka, Rajiv Gandhi sent the military to end the uprising. Many soldiers lost their lives and LTTE could not be stopped. India then stopped its involvement in the Sri Lankan civil war, but LTTE became the enemy of Rajiv Gandhi.

He was campaigning in Madras on 21 May 1991. When he was on his way to deliver his speech, Thenmozhi Rajaratnam bent down to touch his feet and took out RDX explosive-laden belt from underneath her dress. Rajiv Gandhi, his assassin, along with 14 others died in the suicide bombing orchestrated by LTTE.

The LTTE leveraged genuine issues of linguistic discrimination, political disenfranchisement, and anti-Tamil riots in the island nation where Sinhalese-Buddhists are a majority — but adopted the politics of violence and terror as the method to attain their objective. And it was this terror that cost India’s former PM his life. (Hindustan Times)

LTTE then lost its support from Tamil. “Rajiv Gandhi was expected to come to power in the 1991 general elections. The results showed that in his death, he was stronger than in his life,” says Thiyagu.

Sanjay Gandhi in his plane

This was not all. Prior to these assassinations occurred the death of Sanjay Gandhi, the youngest son of Indira Gandhi. During the emergency period in India, Sanjay Gandhi is believed to have a really strong hold on what was happening around the country. He had a liking for adventures and did acrobats in planes. One day prior to his death he was travelling in the same plane with Maneka Gandhi who then came home and informed Indira about the plane ride, telling her to stop Sanjay from flying in that plane again. Indira talked to Sanjay about the safety of the plane. To which he replied that it would be fixed in 2-3 days. The very next day i.e 23 June 1980 Sanjay died in a plane crash. One more person who was flying the plane along with him died. He was supposed to be his mother's successor in politics.

There are many conspiracy theories regarding some of which state that Indira had her son killed. I don't think a mother and one like Indira Gandhi can do such a thing. After his death she said. "It feels like my right arm has been taken away." No one can understand the love of a mother. Moreover, there are no strong arguments backing up this conspiracy theory. One must keep in mind that Sanjay had a liking for adventures and he had been doing such acrobats in the planes for a long time. But, he was still not so experienced. It is most likely that it was an accidental death.

Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi

Flashforward to 2021 when Sonia Gandhi is the leader of the Indian National Congress, Rahul Gandhi is often portrayed as a person who is dumb in front of the public. One cannot neglect the fact that he and his sister, Priyanka Gandhi, and his brother, Varun Gandhi had a very traumatic childhood. At the mere age of 10, Rahul Gandhi saw his uncle's death followed by his grandmother who was killed by people he thought were his friends. In one of his interviews, he said he thought they were his friends. They once taught him to play badminton and out of anger, they killed his grandmother. Following Indira's death, Rahul Gandhi and Priyanka Gandhi were homeschooled for security reasons. This led to their seclusion from society. After this when he was studying at Harvard he heard the news of his father's death. He shifted to Rollins College in Florida again for security reasons. The amount of trauma this family faced is a lot. Their childhood had been full of deaths and social seclusion. No one can even imagine the trauma surrounding the Gandhi family. Sonia had pleaded with Rahul not to take up politics, "I begged him not to let them do this. I pleaded with him, with others around him, too. He would be killed as well. He held my hands, hugged me, tried to soothe my desperation. He had no choice, he said, he would be killed anyway." What has politics ever given Rahul? It has taken away everything from him.

-Vrinda Kwatra

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rjt4 · 4 years ago

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Here are the results of a legendary meeting that way it was reported, we start with The Militant reported that: On September 19th, 1960 Fidel Castro traveled to the United States to address the United Nations, General Assembly.

. . Castro did not receive a warm welcome from the U.S. government during his visit to New York City in 1960.

The Cuban delegation moved to Harlem after being kicked out of the Shelburne Hotel amid a racist slander campaign in the press that included baseless charges – repeated to this day by the Associated Press – of plucking live chickens at the hotel.

I always remember when I met with Malcolm X at the Hotel Theresa (which was managed by the father of Harlemite Ron Brown’s, who was a former United States Secretary of Commerce under President Bill Clinton), because he was the one who gave us support and made it possible for us to be accommodated there.

We had two choices: one was the patio in the United Nations; when I told this to the Secretary-General he was horrified at the thought of a delegation camping in tents there; and then we received Malcolm X’s offer, he had talked to one of our comrades, and I said: “That is the place, Hotel Theresa.” And there we went. – Fidel Castro

Ralph Mathews of the New York Citizen Call in 1960, reported that: To see Premier Fidel Castro after his arrival at Harlem’sHotel Theresa meant getting past a small army of New York City policemen guarding the building, past security officers, U.S. and Cuban. But one hour after the Cuban leader’s arrival, Jimmy Booker of the Amsterdam News, photographer Carl Nesfield, and myself were huddled in the stormy petrel of the Caribbean’s room listening to him trade ideas with Muslim leader Malcolm X.

Harlem was a more gracious host to Castro than high-society Midtown had been. Crowds gathered outside the Hotel Theresa, as the honored guest held court in his room. He received official visits from foreign leaders—like Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev, Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser, and Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru—as well as American civil rights figures, such as Malcolm X, New York NAACP President Joseph Overton, and, according to some reports, Jackie Robinson. Juan Almeida Bosque, the Afro-Cuban army commandante, became an instant icon, with throngs of people trailing behind him on the street.

Dr. Castro did not want to be bothered with reporters from the daily newspapers, but he did consent to see two representatives from the Negro press. . .

We followed Malcolm and his aides, Joseph and John X, down the ninth-floor corridor. It was lined with photographers disgruntled because they had no glimpse of the bearded Castro, with writers vexed because security men kept pushing them back.

We brushed by them and, one by one were admitted to Dr. Castro’s suite. He rose and shook hands with each one of us in turn. He seemed in a fine mood. The rousing Harlem welcome still seemed to ring in his ears. . .

After introductions, he sat on the edge of the bed, bade Malcolm X sit beside him, and spoke in his curious brand of broken English. His first words were lost to us assembled around him. But Malcolm heard him and answered: “Downtown for you it was ice. Uptown it is warm.” The premier smiled appreciatively. “Aahh yes. We feel here very warm.”

The New Republic reports that the local Amsterdam News at the time, James L. Hicks commented that, “Though many Harlemites are far too smart to admit it publicly, Castro’s move to the Theresa and Khrushchev’s decision to visit him gave the Negroes of Harlem one of the biggest ‘lifts’ they have had in the cold racial war with the white man.”

Then the Muslim leader, ever a militant, said, “I think you will find the people in Harlem are not so addicted to the propaganda they put out downtown.”

In halting English, Dr. Castro said, “I admire this. I have seen how it is possible for propaganda to make changes in people. Your people live here and they are faced with this propaganda all the time and yet they understand. This is very interesting.”

“There are twenty million of us,” said Malcolm X, “and we always understand.” . . .

On his troubles with the Hotel Shelburne, Dr. Castro said: “They have our money. Fourteen thousand dollars. They didn’t want us to come here. When they knew we were coming here, they wanted to come along.” (He did not clarify who “they” was in this instance.) . . .

On U.S.-Cuban relations: In answer to Malcolm’s statement that “As long as Uncle Sam is against you, you know you’re a good man,” Dr. Castro replied, “Not Uncle Sam, but those here who control magazines, newspapers…”

Dr. Castro tapered the conversation off with an attempted quote of Lincoln. “You can fool some of the people some of the time,…” but his English faltered and he threw up his hands as if to say, “You know what I mean.”

https://youtu.be/UAcgbsPgCbo

Credits: 1) Via source. 2-6) Malcolm X and Fidel Castro. 7) Fidel Castro and Hotel Theresa workers Photographs via Source.8) Video via source. The Militant.

#fidel castro #Malcolm X #hotel theresa

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comparatist · 4 years ago

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Here goes the actual work...Aaaaaaaa Read.

Arati Saha: The First Asian Woman To Cross The English Channel

Arati Saha was an Indian long distance swimmer, known for being the first Asian woman to swim across the English Channel on 29 September, 1959. Born in a middle class Bengali family, her mother passed away when she was two and a half years. Father, Pachugopal Saha an ordinary officers serving the armed forces had the elder brother and younger sister of brought at their maternal uncle’s house while she got raised in her grandparent’s place in the north Calcutta.

 Childhood Interests:

From the age of 4, she would accompany her uncle to Champatala Ghat for bath, where she showed interest in swimming. For her fondness for the said activity, she got admitted to Hatkhola Swimming Club. Her liking for the mentioned sport found a stable direction after she achieved gold in the 110 yards freestyle at show Shailendra Memorial Swimming Competition in 1946. She was five years old then.

 Career: State, National and Olympics

She participated in various swimming competitions in between 1946 to 1956, won 22 state level ones in West Bengal. 100 metres freestyle, 100 metres breast stroke and 200 metres breast stroke were her main events. In 1948, she participated in the National Championship held in Mumbai and won silver in 100 metres freestyle, 200 metres breast stroke and bronze in 200 metres freestyle, making an All India record by 1949. In the 1951 West Bengal State Meet, she clocked 1 minute 37.6 seconds in 100 metres breast stroke. At the same Meet, she broke down the state level old records of the 100 metres freestyle, 200 metres freestyle an 100 metres back stroke.

1952 Summer Olympics saw her representation from India along with Dolly Nazir. At the competition, she took part in the 200 metres breast stroke event and finished the race at 3 minutes 40.8 seconds.

 Crossing The English Channel:

Arati received her first inspiration to cross the English Channel from Brojen Das. He had come first among the men in the 1958 Butlin International Cross Channel Swimming Race and earned praise for being the first person from Indian subcontinent, to cross the English Channel. Greta Anderson, a Danish swimmer from United States stood first among the men and women by completing the race at 11 hours and 1 minute, which inspired many female swimmers all around the world, including Arati. Arati congratulated Brojen Das for the proud moment of his life. He replied back by saying that she too is capable of achieving the same honour and proposed her name to the organisers of the aforementioned competition for the next year.

Brojen Das’s assurance made Arati think about participating in the event, seriously. She got encouraged by Mihir Sen alongside. The Assistant Executive Secretary of Hatkhola Swimming Club, Dr. Arun Gupta, took the initiative to facilitate her participation in the event by fundraising campaigns. Apart from him, Jamininath Das, Gour Mukherjee and Parimal Saha provided their aid in organising her trip. However, in spite of sincere efforts from her well wishers, money accumulated till then fell short of the target. It is then, eminent social workers like Sambhunath Mukherjee and Ajay Ghosal took up the matter with Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy, the then Chief Minister of West Bengal and managed to arrange an amount of Rs. 11,000.

When the logistics of her help was properly arranged in adequate amounts, Arati began her training. A major element of her training was swimming for long hours. On 13th, April, 1959, Arati swam for 8 hours without a break in the pond of Deshabandhu Park with thousands of supporters and eminent swimmers gathering there during the practise. Later she swam for 16 hours at a stretch. On 24th July, 1959, she flew away for England accompanied by her Manager, Dr. Arun Gupta. After the basics, she started her final training at the English Channel from 13th August. She was assisted with mentorship by Dr. Bimal Chandra, who was also participating in the 1959 Butlin International Cross Channel Swimming Race.

The competition comprised of a total of 58 participants including five women from 23 countries. The race was scheduled on 27th August, 1959 at 1 AM local time from Cape Gris Nez, France to Sandgate, England. However the pilot boat of Artai couldn’t make it to her in time, hence she had to start late by 40 minutes and lost the suitable conditions. By 11 AM she had covered more than 40 miles and was within the touch of the coast of England by 5 miles, when she faced a strong current from the opposite direction. As a result, by 4 PM she could only cover about two more miles. While still determined to go all the way, she had to leave the race under the pressure of her pilot.

In spite of the quit, she was determined not to give up and started preparing for a second attempt. Her manager Arun Gupta's illness made her circumstances difficult, but she carried on with her practice. On 29th, September 1959, she made her second attempt, starting from Cape Gris Nez, France, she swam for 16 hours and 20 minutes, battling through the waves and covered 42 miles to reach Sandgate, England. On reaching the coast, she hoisted the national flag of India, Vijaylakshmi Nehru was the first to congratulate her. Jwaharlal Nehru and other such personalities personally congratulated her for her success. The All India Radio announced her victory on 30th September.

 Later Life:

In 1959, she got married to Arun Gupta under the supervision and pleasantries of Dr. Bidhan Chandra Roy. She had a daughter named Archana afterwards. She was employed in the Bengal Nagpur Railway. On 4th August 1994, she got admitted to a private nursing home in Kolkata with jaundice and encephalitis. After suffering for 19 days, she breathed her last on 23rd August 1994.

 Recognition:

She was awarded the Padmashree in 1960. In 1996, A bust of Arati Saha was erected near her residence. The 100 metre long lane in front of her bust was renamed after her. The Department of Posts celebrated her conquest by bringing out a postage stamp of Rs. 3 denomination in 1999.

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laceyspencer · 4 years ago

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Post-Modern Feminist Ideology in Nayantara Sahgul Select Novels-A Critical Study-Juniper Publishers

Introduction

The motive of feminist movement strives towards the aim that women should have the same rights and opportunities as men. Though feminism is not a relatively new concept and has always formed part of the women’s liberation movement, its emphasis has been changing, in form and content with gender equality being one of the aspects. There is no doubt that feminism is today a major accepted fact of modern life with women competing with men in all walks of life, and even doing better than them in some areas. Women’s liberation was not merely an endeavor to obtain rights and privileges but the seeking after opportunities to show that though they may be called “the second sex” (the title of Simone de Beauvoir’s book). They are generally not treated on a par with men in all respects of human activity. Whether working in the fields or operating women lag men in any sphere.

Over the years, there has been a positive change in the standpoint of feminism towards humanism. Simone de Beauvoir has set the ball rolling when she explained the relationship of feminism with humanism in a frank, concise manner. The crux and thrust of The Second Sex are based on the emphasis that women should be considered as basic human beings. To her, 2 the expression of women and their status seemed discriminatory, with them being denied the right to be identified as separate entities as such and prevented from choosing their own destiny[1].

Nayantara Sahgal is one of the great Indian women novelists writing in English. She began writing since her childhood and became a professional writer in the post-Independence years. Her novels deal with men and women, especially women struggling against oppression and injustice heaped upon them in the name of tradition and culture. Nayantara was born on May 10, 1927 to Ranjit Sitaram Pandit and Vijayalakshmi Pandit as the second of their three daughters. She lived as a child in Anand Bhavan, a large 3 aristocratic home of Motilal Nehru, a flourishing lawyer in Allahabad along with her parents and with her Marnu (uncle) Jawaharlal Nehru (later to become Prime Minister of India) and her cousin Indira Gandhi (she also became the Prime Minister, after Nehru). Nayantara’s father Ranjit Pandit was a Maharashtrian, a lawyer by profession, erudite, and a scholar, well versed in many languages including Sanskrit. He was a man of abundant love and understanding with a healthy zest for life, indulgent toward his child Nayantara.

He gave up his lucrative profession answering the call of Mahatma Gandhi and entered whole heartedly in the non-cooperative movement against the British regime. He inculcated the literary fervour and noble sentiments of patriotism and an unbending will to fight against injustice and oppression. Jawaharlal Nehru, attracted by the ideals of Gandhiji, involved himself in the struggle for Independence. His father, Motilal Nehru followed the example of his beloved son, espoused Gandhian ideals, eschewed the life of luxury to which he had been accustomed. Anand Bhavan was the meeting place for the great leaders of political movement including Gandhi himself. Nurtured in such a congenial atmosphere for the flowering of an independent spirit the young Nayantara imbibed the spirit of independence with great vigour.

Nayantara believes that it is not a serious moral offence in a woman to break away from the “sacred” marriage bond, if she finds the shackles too oppressive to the growth of her inner self. She finds that a woman’s duty to be sincere to her inner self is far greater and urgent than to be for her family and society. Nayantara portrays the inalienable right of freedom in women in many of the characters in her novels, such as Simrit in Storm in Chandigarh, Saroj in The Day in Shadow and Rashmi in Rich Like Us.

Nayantara Sahgal has in fact introduced a considerable number of autobiographical elements in her novels. To a question, she asserts that “all art is autographical”. Her work ranges from factual and emotional autobiography to fictionalized autobiography. In her address to Colloquium at Radcliff Institute (America) she confesses the close links between her own experiences and that of some of the leading characters in her novels. She describes succinctly in an article as to how she grew up moulded by congenial circumstances, she says:I grew up during the National Movement. My parents went to jail repeatedly during our fight for freedom. My father died because of his last imprisonment released too late to be cured of the serious illness contracted in jail. My uncle became our first Prime Minister. I was born and brought up within the atmosphere and hopes and ideals of the Congress Party.

Its leaders were familiar to me. Our home was their meeting place and many decisions momentous to India were taken in it. I became a novelist and a political journalist, and all my writings, fiction and non-fiction, has been about contemporary India. (Voice for Freedom 55). This Time of Morning is another novel, which she completed in Kashmir in 1965[2]. The Day in Shadow was published in February 1971. This novel, acclaimed to be the best by most of her critics, describes her attitudes to marriage and the condition of women in general. She wrote an article “Of Divorce and Hindu Women” in The Hindustan Times (Dec, 18, 1971), which is an example of her liberal and permissive outlook: She stands for new morality according to which a woman is not to be taken as a mere toy, an object of lust and momentary pleasure, but man’s equal and honoured partner, in word and deed, as against the inhuman tradition postures (l8).

Prison and Chocolate Cake (1958) and From Fear Set Free (1962) are autobiographical in which she has given a graphic account of her experiences during the freedom struggle which naturally were responsible in moulding her as a writer. A Time to be Happy (1958). A Situation in New Delhi (1977) and Storm in Chandigarh (1969) are classed as her political novels. Rich Like Us published in 1985, uses Emergency as its backdrop and the theme is about freedom. She won a Fellowship of Woodrow Wilson International Centre, Washington DC for writing it. Sahgal herself has adjudged this novel as her best. Plans for Departure (1986) is an interesting novel in which a foreigner Anna Hansen visits India, takes up an in-depth study of Hindu customs and behaviour and passes dispassionate judgments. Mistaken identity (1988), a historical novel, is the story of Bhushan Singh, the only son of a feudal raja of Vijaygarh, a kingdom of one hundred villages in the Gangetic Plain. Set during the years 1929-32, this novel is a satire on the role of the raja or the British. As it mainly deals with rajah and has no relevance for the present study, this novel has not been included in the thesis. Her latest work, Lesser Breeds, was published in 2003, is not included in this present study simply because of its irrelevant concept regarding this research work.

The present paper is the result of my hard work and dedication. It mainly focuses on Feminism in the of Nayantara Sahgal. Though She works on various themes but here concerns are the pathetic condition of women in the patriarchal society. Nayantara Sahgal’s leanings towards feminism even though mild, are quite marked in her novels Storm in Chandigarh and A Situation in New Delhi. The fact comes and to light when one studies the underserved ill-treatment many her women characters in these novels must undergo in the society and tries to know. Why they are driven to committing suicide or to seeking divorce, or to undergoing torments defenselessly when it becomes unavoidable. The women character who is driven to committing suicide is Madhu in A Situation in New Delhi. The society that Nayantara creates in A Situation in New Delhi is one which fails to protect women even on the university campus in the capital city of the country as here Madhu a student of Delhi University is raped in the Registrar’s office[2].

The boys who rape Madhu clearly consider Madhu only as an object of lust to be used at their disposal and have no regard for her feelings will and self-respect. A society which produces such men and cannot punish them does not deserve to have women in it. One may raise an objection and argue that the whole society should not be disparaged for what three boys do, because if this society has produced these three boys it has also produced Usman Ali the Vice-Chancellor, who only expels the three guilty boys but6 also braves a physical assault and finally resigns as Vice Chancellor in the order to organize people against fights the forces responsible for the rape of the girls, but the fact remains that his efforts bear little fruits and at last, the girl realizes that even her brother would be thankful when he was relieved the responsibility of her” and commits suicide in a state of helplessness by immolating herself. So, it is obvious that this society has failed to create conditions in which women feel themselves safe and out of the reach of immoral men.

The women characters who have opted to move out of the conjugal walls to escape ill-treatment are Saroj in Storm in Chandigarh, and Lydia and Nell in A Situation in New Delhi. Saroj’s husband under ill-treats his wife chiefly for her having lost her virginity before her marriage as is evident from the following piece of conversation between him and his wife:“Well why did do it? That” I keep coming back to why did You do it?” “I was fond of him,” she said wearily “and I was curious. Is that a crime?” “Good God. Didn’t you have Any inhibitions, any Sense of modesty? Couldn’t your curiosity Wait till you got married” (23).Nayantara Sahgal has a central woman character that gradually moves towards an awareness of her emotional needs.

Nayantara Sahgal’s novel reads like commentaries on the political and social turmoil that India has been facing since independence. Mrs. Sahgal’s feelings for politics and her command over English are rather more impressive than her art as a novelist. She is a novelist as well as a successful political columnist for different newspapers. Her writing is generally characterized by simplicity and boldness. Her writing abounds the latest political ups and downs with a tinge of western liberalism. Her novels portray the contemporary incidents and political realities saturated with artistic and objectivity. All her major characters of the novel are drawn towards the vortex of politics [3]. Besides politics, her fiction also focuses attention on Indian woman’s search for sexual freedom and self-realization. As a women novelist, Sahgal recognizes that her primary obligation is that of advocating the emancipation of women. She has probed deep into the female psyche in her novels. She describes in her novel how women exploited even during the modern times by both the individuals and the society. She tried to Portray the sensibility of woman that how a woman looks at herself and her problems [4]. She considers her novels political in content and intention and in her view, each of the novels her contemporary reflects and political era.

The use of the fictional genre is one of the main aspects of her novels, wherein she can explore the problems of women in contemporary society. Though Sahgal has been hailed chiefly as a political novelist, her feminist concern is obvious and her fighter spirit quite vocal in her fiction. In all her works, there is juxtaposition of two worlds: the personal world of man-woman relationship and the impersonal world of politics. The portrayal of her memorable women characters and the feminist tone in her fictional discourse make Nayantara Sahgal one of the most outstanding feminist Indian novelists writing in English [5].

Nayantara Sahgal is not only a novelist of repute but also a journalist by profession. She confesses that fiction is her “abiding love” journalism her “conscience”. Talking to Ram Jha in 1987, Sahgal said that her two kinds of writing experiences-that of a novelist and that of a political journalist-though contrary to each other, are mutually sustained because, her central focus in both areas in the same-the concept of freedom in human beings, national and personal and her increasingly feminist concerns. Most of her characters belong to the affluent upper class, she does not caste-ridden middle class or the poor Indian village just to conform to the accepted image of India. Her range of characters simplifies her technique. She does not have to struggle to present Indian conversation in English as most of her characters are the kind of people who would talk and think in English in real life [6].

Storm in Chandigarh is Mrs. Sahgal’s third novel written after A Time to be Happy and This Time of Morning. It deals with complex human relationships in which love, friendship, honesty, freedom and equality play a vital role. The ‘Storm’ in the lives of three married couples, Inder and Saroj, Jit and Mara, Vishal and Leela is portrayed against the political backdrop of the storm or confrontation between the newly divided states of Punjab and Haryana over the issues of Chandigarh and Bakhra Nangal territory act…Gyan Singh, the ambitious Chief Minister of Punjab has announced a strike in the whole region for the selfish purpose of demonstrating his political strength. He is only concerned with his personal gains and does not even hesitate to use violence as a means for achieving his selfish ends. While Harpal Singh, the Chief Minister of Haryana acts as political counter oil of Gyan Singh as he is a behavior of Gandhi an ideology of non-violence. He has always given priority to the interests of people against his self-interest[7].

The union Home Minister is assigned the task of affecting a rapprochement between the two warring states of Vishal Dubey, an honest and promising central officer. Dubey goes to Chandigarh from Delhi to solve the political impasse but unwillingly involves himself in the private lives of the estranged husbands and wives especially those of Saroj and Inder [8,9].

Nayantara Sahgal’s contribution about treatment of themes is enormous and varied. She dwells upon contemporary events in her novels like Storm in Chandigarh, Rich Like us and A Situation in New Delhi. Her novels Plans for Departure and Mistaken Identity were a creative vision towards the happenings of India before Independence. The influence of Nehru and Gandhi on Sahgal is clear and she has offered a fresh insight into Gandhism, Nehruism and their impact on the evolution and progress of India. A.V. Krishna Rao [9] succinctly states:“Nayantara Sahgal has inherited and cherished a certain set of values and attitudes towards like which can be best described as a complex of political liberalism, social sophistication, economic moderation and cultural catholicity in continual interaction with the Gandhian idealism” (44).

Nayantara Sahgal’s Storm in Chandigarh depicts the suffering of marital friction apart from the political and social ups and downs. It narrates the life of Inder and Saroj. Sahgal pens the suffocating experience of marriage for both the partners. Most importantly, the writer highlights those wrong features in marriage which causes separation. Sahgal, in this novel, deals with marital as well as political crisis. Division in political front and friction in marital relationships are the main themes of the novel. Duality and deceptiveness are prevalent in politics and marriage. In this novel character come close to each other but without any emotional attachment and sincerity. There is no sensitiveness or loyalty in their relationship; It seems a temporary bond[10].

In the novel Storm in Chandigarh Sahgal narrates how the attitude of dictatorship destroys harmony of marital status. Marriage which strongly needs love and faith of both the partners, can breakdown also in presence of doubt and frustration. The main protagonist of the novel Saroj has committed mistake before marriage. She has her first sexual encounter with one of her friends before marriage. When Inder came to know that, he started tormenting his wife physically as well as mentally. However, Inder himself indulges in an extra marital affair with Mara.

Love and satisfactionare not much prevalent in this affair also. Basically, Inder is a character who always denies individuality of women. He considers woman as a parasite; who could survive only with the support of a male figure. Here the writer portraits the pathetic plight of Saroj who tries to show her love and affection towards her husband but in vain. Throughout their lives, Vishal and Leela remained strangers to each other. He is possessed by a deep sense of guilt for living with her without love and his relationship with Leela abruptly ends due to her death. Vishal’s marriage had been a failure[11,12].

Being a widower, he is deriving satisfaction in a connection with Gauri, a Bengali businessman’s wife who finds security in arranged marriage but who needs and establishes a relationship with Dubey which is based only on sex. Nayantara Sahgal is quite bold in her political approach. She dismantles the age-old notions of women being inferior. She is one novelist who is clear in her perception that man-woman relationship should be based on equality, understanding and love. Man-woman relationship without love is prostitution and nothing else[13].

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Conclusion

Among the women novelists of Indian Writing in English, Nayantara Sahgal emerges as a powerful voice to challenge and question the “received” versions of history. She not only calls the officially-ordered ‘histories’ into question but also exposes the male-dominated and patriarchal power-structures behind them. By delineating India’s history and politics in her fictional narratives, she creates an alternative discourse to subvert them and thereby construct her own writer-specific version. She achieves this purpose by using the various narrative techniques and devices and puts them side by side with the official discourse. Sahgal’s fiction also centers on the political history of India and how it has affected the perceptions of ordinary men and women. Her main interest, however, remains to raise the questions of women and so the basic purpose of envisioning India’s history in her fiction rests on her concerns with the social and individual problems of women and their search for identity. Sahgal herself has overcome her problem of identity-crisis through her writing.

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