#and are killing kashmiris daily

[kashmirichaiwithmehr]

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[timetravellingkitty]

Hindus aren't more indigenous to Kashmir by virtue of Hinduism (more specifically, Trika Shaivism) being present before Islam. Kashmiri Pandits and Muslims are genetically very close so no, not a single Kashmiri Muslim is partaking in settler colonialism. While some of the Kashmiri Pandits killed were working with the Indian state, there were ones that were in fact communal in nature. However, collective blame is not going to solve anything, especially when many Kashmiri Muslims did not support the violence against religious minorities done by a few militants (by that logic, I could blame the entire Kashmiri Pandit community for the few officials that exploited Muslims under the Dogra regime)

The only settler colonialism being done here is by the Indian state which kills Kashmiris on a daily basis, steals land, has co-opted the Kashmiri Pandit cause and exacerbates polarisation between them and the Muslims

everyday i see clueless westerners (especially white people) reblog thinly veiled hindutva propaganda which they wouldn't know cause they know absolutely nothing about what goes on in india. so here are some signs that that the tumblr user you're interacting with is a hindu nationalist:

they either do not acknowledge casteism or claim that caste is a western construct. my personal favourite however is dismissing anyone bringing up caste discrimination by saying that the indian constitution outlaws untouchability. they may also bring up the fact that the prime minister belongs to an other backwards class (obc) so clearly india has moved on from caste and hindutva isn't only for the upper castes. they possess a shallow understanding of caste

harping on about "islamic colonisation" : no, the mughals did not colonise india. when you point this out, they will immediately assume that you think muslim invaders were innocent beings who did nothing wrong, which is very much not what anyone is claiming here

while we're on the topic of "islamic colonisation" they will also refer to the demolishing of muslim sites of heritage and worship and then building hindu temples over them as "decolonisation" (cough cough ram mandir) the hindu right also goes around pretending that they're indigenous to india. this is false

along a similar vein, they will dismiss islamophobia by bringing up instances of hindu oppression in countries like pakistan and bangladesh. it is true that hindus are persecuted in these two countries, however they are used to fuel their oppression complex, that their upper caste hindu self is under attack in india of all places (think a white christian in the united states). you should be in solidarity with minorities everywhere. it is neither transactional or conditional (note: they will never bring up sri lanka. persecution of hindus exists only when the oppressors are muslim)

claiming that hindu nationalism and hindutva are not the same because hindutva means "hindu-ness". that is only the literal translation of the term. like it or not, they're the same thing

they support the indian military occupation of kashmir. they will call it an integral part of kashmir, one reason which will be "hinduism is indigenous to kashmir." they will also bring up the last maharaja of kashmir signing the instrument of accession as further proof, as if the consent of the people was taken

they're zionists. do i even need to explain this. hindutva is just zionism for hindus

they refer to buddhism and jainism (sikhism too sometimes) as branches of hinduism rather than separate, distinct religions

they condemn any resistance to the indian govt as a burden or terrorism) (like calling the farmers who are currently protesting a hindrance or terrorists. funny how sikhs are the same as hindus when they support hindu causes but terrorists when they resist oppression...)

they call you a pseudo liberal or a fake leftist. i'm telling you, they don't know jackshit. they can't even tell the difference between a liberal and a leftist and call US unread lmao. bonus points if they call you a liberandu or a sickularist 💀

they call india "bharat" when they talk in english. there are in fact multiple indian languages that call india bharat or bharatam, but if they say bharat while talking in english, that is absolutely a hindu nationalist no questions asked

please do your due diligence. read up on hindutva. hindu nationalists have already started making gains in the united states, thanks to rich upper caste nris. do not fall for propaganda

[pronatureorganic]

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[mehrauli]

Notes on Kashmir history

The way I learned about the history of Kashmir was actually living there. I’d go to the bookstores and just read books there, so I don’t have an on-hand list of online resources. Also, people would tell me stuff, which I would then investigate or not. This is going to be almost entirely from memory, based on not-that-much research, and so it’ll have huge omissions and possibly errors simply because I do not know those things. The point of this isn’t so you can read this and call yourself an expert, it’s so you know what to ask for further questions. Also, if I do link to big books people won’t read them, but maybe they will read a post.

Kashmir’s history is contentious because hindus have made many attempts to recuperate its history in order to justify their settler colonialism. The hindu mythification of Kashmir is intense. So hindus will tell you a very different story about this than anyone else. Some articles on, for example, wikipedia, consult these hindu myths as real history. This is something to be aware of when doing independent research on Kashmir.

Kashmir is not a part of India, never has been, and never will be.

Islamification

As far as I know, Islam was first introduced to Kashmir by Mahmud of Ghazni in 1015, who did not make serious progress conquering it but did station some Muslims on the outskirts of the valley. Marco Polo (who traveled asia in the late 1200s) reports that the butcher castes in Kashmir were all Muslims. This is consistent with other evidence that Kashmir’s islamification took place over several centuries, and was a bottom-up affair; butchers are a low-caste group.

The first Muslim ruler of Kashmir was Rinchan (r. 1320-1323). He was an heir to a Buddhist dynasty, who considered a conversion into shaivism, which was a form of brahminism which had entered Kashmir somewhere around the time of Muhammad of Ghazni. However he was turned away from the brahmins who considered him to be low-caste. Brahmins at this time called Buddhism “the religion of the Shudras”.

Rinchan accepted Islam instead, and took the name Sadruddin Shah, under the tutelage of the Sufi missionary Bulbul Shah. The first mosque in Kashmir was a converted Buddhist temple which instututed a twice-daily charity meal. To this day, inter-dining between castes is still a really big deal in a lot of parts of India.

Throughout the late 1300s, Sufi missionaries were active throughout Kashmir including Ali Hamidani. Other important figures include Lal Ded, who was a Shaivite poet who has been disowned by Hindus due to her emphasis on social reform and embraced by Muslims for the same reason. Ded is said to have been incredibly influential to Nund Rishi, AKA Sheikh Nooruddin Noorani, who started the Rishi Sufi order, who were social renunciates who lived in caves and helped popularise Islam.

I can find almost nothing online about this subject. There is one story that I remember about Hamidani meeting Nund Rishi. In the story, the other sayyids warn Hamidani not to meet with Nund Rishi, because he is not a sayyid and had a very unorthodox practice. The point of the story is that Hamidani ignores this advice and with his help, Nund Rishi becomes one of the most important figures in the Islamification of Kashmir. I like the story, because it emphasises the importance of social equality in the spread of Islam throughout Kashmir.

Hamidani writes elsewhere, in Volume 10 of his Dhakhirat:

One feels proud of one's self on the basis of one's pedigree, in comparison to others who are better than he as regards to knowledge and action. He understands others as his slaves. His eyes are full of anger. And the signs of his malevolence are lucid in his actions. He can cure this disease, if he realises that it is foolish to understand others low on the basis of pedigree.

Hamidani’s Dhakhirat ul Mulk is still read from mosques in Kashmir to this day.

Dogra Empire (1846-1952)

Kashmir never came directly under British rule. They won it in a war against the Sikhs and immediately sold it to a petty tyrant named Gulab Singh who instituted an overt hindu theocracy, which was characterised by unreasonable taxation, arbitrary rules, etc. During this period the brahmins, predictably,  enjoyed vast social and political privileges. 

As it was explained to me by a Kashmiri friend of mine, an Englishman by the name of Robert Thorpe is considered by Kashmiris to be the “first martyr” of the freedom struggle. He documented the horrific circumstances that Kashmiris lived under and called for Kashmir to come under British rule. I have a copy of this PDF, you can probably find it online yourself if you look. The circumstances he describes are absolutely horrific and mirror . Some excerpts on this post: [x]

(Some of the above excerpts are from Arthur Brinckman, a missionary who documented the same thing around the same time. My pdf is a compilation of their two papers.)

Legend has it that Thorpe was assassinated by the Dogras shortly after publishing his paper, Cashmere Misgovernment.

After Thorpe’s death, there was a famine in which half to three fifths of the population of the valley died. Not a single brahmin died of starvation during this period. It is documented in more detail in the book Hindu Rulers, Muslim Subjects.

Property remained owned by the small hindu minority, who functioned as feudal lords stipulating various forms of untouchability which are common in India as well.

Partition and the Plebiscite

The British only directly controlled about 62% of British India. The rest consisted of Princely States.

The gist of this is that during partition, most of the petty monarchies unconditionally surrendered to, and were annexed by, India or Pakistan. One notable exception to this was Hyderabad, which was forcefully invaded by India which proceeded to slaughter tens to hundreds of thousands of people (estimates vary) because its ruler was Muslim, but it was geographically isolated from Pakistan.

I don’t want to dwell on Kashmir’s case here too much because I’m not that familiar with it. I don’t personally care about the history or the legal arguments. I’ve been to Kashmir and it is manifestly obvious that Kashmir is not and should not be a part of India. Not a single person in Kashmir wants anything to do with India. When you say something to the effect that Kashmir will be free in Kashmir, everyone stops what they’re doing to say “inshallah”. It is not the unenthusiastic lackadaisical “inshallah” of the Arabs. It is an enthusiastic punctuation mark to whatever you just said, which comes powerfully from the gut, a prayer in its own right, as if to flag it as important in God’s inbox. Almost like how African-Americans can use “amen” sometimes.

Muslims in India are an outlaw class. As far as we are concerned, there is, properly speaking, no law. This is doubly so in Kashmir. If you walk around downtown Sirinagar, you’ll see a huge number of blind people and amputees, while most shops or pharmacies are raising money for charities for the blind. This is because the Indian army has a policy of shooting Kashmiri protesters in the eyes. It is not secret. The brutality of the Indian occupation is on full display. Most of the tourists to Kashmir are Indian and the brutality is part of the attraction.

So I don’t care whatever horseshit “laws” India rationalises its occupation with. India should fucking burn for what it’s done to Kashmir.

The short version of this story is, though, that Kashmir’s then-petty tyrant agreed to a temporary Indian presence contingent on an eventual plebiscite regarding whether Kashmir would go to India, Pakistan, or remain independent. Or something. I cannot stress how little I care about this.

The fact that a plebiscite was part of the original arrangement, though, does influence activism both in Kashmir and India as well as Pakistan. Pakistan, for its part, has agreed to a plebiscite in Pakistan-Administered Kashmir (PAK) as soon as India allows it to happen in IOK.

Jammu, which is a city south of the Kashmir valley proper, saw the worst violence of the partition, worse even than the annexation of Hyderabad (though, again, estimates vary in both cases and it could go either way). Unlike the case of Hyderabad, the violence in Jammu was organised by Hindu supremacist groups including RSS, the political arm of which is the current ruling party of India, the BJP. After the violence, Jammu has gone from being Muslim-majority at time of partition to 7.1% Muslim at the time of the 2011 census.

Indian Rule

I am also not too familiar with anything here up until the 90′s or so. One important figure to know here is Maqbool Bhatt, a charismatic revolutionary who co-founded the Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front. He was a guerilla organiser who crossed the line of control into Pakistan “illegally” several times in order to work towards an independent Kashmir.

One event that gets disproportionate attention is the exodus of the brahmins from Kashmir. The early 90s were the start of the current insurgency, and political assassinations were carried out against people like local administrators and other active collaborators with the Indian colonial regime. brahmins were disproportionately represented among these people, because duh of course they were. But Muslim collaborators were targeted by these groups just the same. While the number of brahmins to be killed during this period was about 2-300, thousands of Kashmiris were killed by the colonial state which of course did target Muslims exclusively.

Some, not all, brahmins left Kashmir during this period. A few remain in Sirinagar, they own shops and stuff, I bought a pencil from one. They were never numerous because brahmins are never numerous. Since then, though they for their part mostly do not want to return and are well provided for in India and the western diaspora, Much of India’s current campaign of settler colonialism is rationalised as an effort to resttle them in Kashmir. The argument falls apart, however, as they themselves have no such agenda. If they really wanted to go back, they would just go back. They do not face communal violence. In addition, India has never made such an effort to resettle victims of real pogroms, like the Bombay Riots or the Delhi Pogrom earlier this year.

In response to this insurgency, the Indian government began to heavily promote a “pilgrimage” to the Amarnath cave as a tourist attraction. The Amarnath "pilgrims” are the worst and most obnoxious people I have ever met in my entire life. They are drunken (in a place that is 97% Muslim where alcohol is illegal, in full view of the heaviest military occupation in the world), obnoxious, light firecrackers (in a fucking warzone where a Muslim would be killed for it), disrespect the property of the people they stay with, etc.

Since 5 August 2019, there has been no internet in Kashmir and all industry has been shut down. Real journalism is impossible and press and TV media are nothing but mouthpieces for BJP. At first this was rationalised by a false-flag discovery of weapons outside the “pilgrimage” route, because all terrorists like to bury their weapons in the ground outside of where they plan to use them, for convenience, like squirrels hiding acorns for the winter. India quickly dropped this pretense and just maintains an “everything is normal” line now, although there has been no internet or economic activity for over a year and schools have been converted to military bases while the environment is destroyed (not even for “development” purposes, think USA and the buffalo).

At the same day of the internet shutdown important parts of the Indian constitution were repealed which allow Kashmir to maintain some semblence of autonomy with an aim towards implementing a settler-colonial West Bank model; various things have been proposed to the effect of Hindu settlements guarded by the military and this is all completely brazen and open while the colonial administration has started granting residence to non-Kashmiri migrant workers. 

Migrant workers have not faced legal discrimination; the only implications of this are that they can now own property in the Valley and vote in local elections. There is a similar statute in the neighbouring Indian state of Himachal Pradesh where only Paharis are allowed to own property or businesses, despite most of them actually in practice being run by Kashmiri and Tibetan refugees. In Kashmir there is no such contradiction. Businesses are Kashmiri-owned, Kashmiri-run.

This is with an eye to demographic change in the valley by way of which Indian rule can be legitimised through the above-mentioned plebiscite. Again this is all completely in the open, though supplemented with “what about the Kashmiri pandits!!!!” wailing. Pandit is another word for brahmin.

The militants are not bad guys. The people of Kashmir do not fear them and in fact pray for their success. The funerals of martyrs are very well-attended and before the current blockate, India used to shut down the internet on the days of their martyrdom anniversaries. Local people graffiti their names on walls and name streets after them.

The movement for a free Kashmir is an uncomplicated freedom struggle against a brutal military occupation.

See also: Understanding the Indian Occupation of Kashmir

[creepingsharia]

Investigation Exposes Terror Ties Behind Islamic Charity's Humanitarian Facade

Image from Zakat Foundation YouTube video.

by Abha Shankar and Martha Lee

A prominent American Islamist charity is publicizing its role in the nationwide coronavirus emergency response effort.

"Zakat Foundation of America stepped up its nationwide coronavirus emergency response ... delivering thousands of direly needed medical-grade gloves to two far South Side Safety-Net hospitals in Chicago," said the Illinois-based Islamist charity in a March 27 press release.

"We're all in as a frontline charitable provider helping people survive COVID-19, on every level — financially, medically, nutritionally, mentally and spiritually," executive director Halil Demir said in the release. (Demir also spells his first name "Khalil.")

Since its 2001 founding, the Zakat Foundation claims to "have empowered millions of people to recover from disasters and escape poverty by taking control of their own lives." A timeline on the charity's website showcases its humanitarian accomplishments over the years, from providing aid to Iraq war victims to establishing a university for refugees in Turkey.

But behind the Zakat Foundation's outward humanitarian façade lie longstanding terror ties that include support for Hamas- and al-Qaida-tied charities, a joint investigation by the Investigative Project of Terrorism and the Middle East Forum finds.

The misuse of Islamist charitable organizations to support terror is not new. American Islamist charities have been known to use humanitarian assistance as a cover to solicit funds for terrorist groups.

"While some terrorist supporters create sham charities as a cover to raise and move funds, other terrorist groups and their supporters use charities to provide funds or otherwise dispense critical social or humanitarian services to vulnerable populations in an effort to radicalize communities and build local support," says the Treasury Department's 2015 National Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment.

Soon after the 9/11 attacks, several American Islamist charities were either designated terrorist financiers by Treasury or raided by federal authorities on suspicion of funding terror. A prime example is the prosecution of the Texas charity Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development (HLF) and its senior leaders in what is described as the largest terrorism financing case in U.S. history. In 2008, a jury convicted HLF and five former leaders for illegally routing more than $12 million to Hamas.

One of Demir's previous employers also attracted scrutiny from the federal government.

Before founding Zakat Foundation in 2001, Demir worked for the Benevolence International Foundation (BIF). A business card identified him as "Public Relations Officer," and an IRS tax filing from 2000 states that, "The books are in care of Halil I. Demir."

The Treasury Department designated BIF and related entities as terror financiers in 2002. The Illinois-based BIF and its director, Enaam Arnaout, were charged the same year with misusing charitable contributions to support al-Qaida and other terrorist groups overseas. Later, Arnaout confessed to using his charity to support Mujahideen fighters in Bosnia and Chechnya.

Arnaout served "as an administrator" for Osama bin Laden, a United Nations Security Council report said, "at times disbursing funds on his behalf." He admitted that BIF solicited money for humanitarian needs, "including refugees and orphans," concealing the fact that it "was being used to support fighters" in Chechnya with uniforms, boots, tents and other supplies.

In addition to serving BIF, Demir also has worked with the terror-tied Turkish Humanitarian Relief Organization (IHH). A 2010 news release on the Turkish charity's relief efforts in earthquake-hit Haiti describes Demir as an "IHH aid coordinator." The same year, IHH also referred to the Zakat Foundation as a "partner institution."

IHH has helped fund the Hamas military wing, which used the money to buy weapons and build training facilities, Israel's Ministry of Foreign Relations said. IHH has been designated a terrorist organization by Israel, Germany and the Netherlands. IHH was a key player in the 2010 Free Gaza Movement flotilla that sought to break a blockade on Gaza. Ten people were killed when one of the boats refused to turn back and passengers attacked Israeli commandos as they tried to board.

Reports from that time allege that IHH distributed aid to the Salafist group Ahrar al Sham, which fought alongside ISIS and the al-Qaida affiliate Jabhat al-Nusra. Turkish authorities additionally found evidence that IHH not only recruits militants for al-Qaida and other terrorist groups, but also provides terrorist groups access to arms and medical treatment.

According to a 2009 IHH report, "The US-based Zakat Foundation and Helping Hand, with which the IHH co-organizes social projects in different regions, sent $80,000 and $30,000 respectively to Gaza through the IHH."

Helping Hand is the overseas charitable arm of the Islamic Circle of North America, which has been described as "openly affiliated" with the Sunni revivalist movement Jamaat-e-Islami (JI). The charity has partnered with people closely tied to the U.S.-designated Kashmiri terrorist organization, Hizbul Mujahideen and its leader Syed Salahuddin. Zakat Foundation also partners with the Al-Khidmat Foundation, JI Pakistan's charitable arm.

Despite these documented connections, often promoted by the charities involved, Demir denies his and his organization's terror ties. He blames terror financing crackdowns targeting American Muslim charities after the 9/11 attacks on "Islamophobia."

"The Islamophobia was so strong, emotions ran so high against the Muslim community that whenever we tried to do good work, some people and organizations tried to portray us as bad guys," Demir says in an advertisement for his book, 9 Myths About Muslim Charities: Stories from the Zakat Foundation of America.

Demir made similar accusations in a January interview with the Daily Southtown. "This is propaganda, Islamophobia of white supremacists and hate groups that spread poison against the Muslim community and charities that do great work," he said.

Demir's book bashes national and international agencies for demanding transparency and oversight of Muslim charities. For instance, he calls the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) global terror finance watchdog "the most powerful and pernicious entity in the world," and asserts that "FATF's recommendations, and counterterrorism financing in general, constitute a complex ineffective sham."

The book also criticizes a 1996 CIA "Report on NGOs with Terror Links": "This two-decade-old CIA-write-up's simple-minded, unvetted, erroneous presumption of a 'regular correlation between Muslim humanitarian organizations and terrorist activity' – which shows nothing more than chauvinism—still underpins global policy of transgressing the civil rights of American Muslim charities."

Terrorists are known to use "charities to provide funds or otherwise dispense critical social or humanitarian services to vulnerable populations in an effort to radicalize communities and build local support," the 2015 National Terrorist Financing Risk Assessment said.

Hamas' dramatic 2006 election victory was fueled in part by its social welfare networks that received funding from American Islamist charities. In fact, the Holy Land Foundation was part of a network called the "Palestine Committee" that the Muslim Brotherhood created to advance Hamas's agenda politically and financially in the United States.

The Zakat Foundation has also generously supported the Islamic Charitable Society (ICS) in Hebron. In 2003, Zakat Foundation "worked in coordination with the Islamic Charitable Society in Hebron to supply $10,000" worth of school supplies to Palestinian children. This is not the first time that the ICS has received funding from U.S.-based charities. HLF gave ICS more than $1.6 million between 1991 and 2001. In 2002, German intelligence services described ICS as "the most important HAMAS association in the West Bank" and concluded that its leadership included "numerous" Hamas members.

The Zakat Foundation's work with ICS and association with Hamas continues. It announced in 2017 that it had "taken on costs for 200 students" of the ICS's Al Rahma School. Dina Karmi, an Arabic teacher at Al Rahma, is the widow of Nashaat al-Karmi, Hamas's southern West Bank armed wing leader. Israeli anti-terror police shot and killed him in 2010 in a raid connected with the murder of four Israelis.

In 2018, Israel's Shin Bet arrested Dina Karmi for "serving as the 'operational arm'" of a ring that "operated in coordination with both Hamas headquarters abroad and in the Gaza Strip."

A year earlier, ICS officials expressed their "deepest of thanks to Zakat Foundation" for its support, and "especially" its executive director Khalil Demir.

Zakat Foundation lists a U.S.-based Islamist charity called Baitulmaal as a partner. The Israeli government in 2006 accused Baitulmaal co-founder Sheikh Hasan Hajmohammad of funding a Hamas charity.

However, instead of calling for more intensive oversight of an Islamist charity with established terror ties, U.S. government officials continue to engage with the Zakat Foundation. In 2017, the charity co-sponsored an Iftar dinner with New York Mayor Bill de Blasio's office. Last year, Halil Demir was invited to Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot's 100th Day Recognition.

Today, as the nation ramps up its fight against the coronavirus pandemic, the Chicago mayor's office "now keeps contact with Zakat Foundation and has welcomed its creative capacity and stalwart efforts, as do an ensemble of social service agencies, not only in Chicago, but in key metro areas across the nation."

For decades, Islamist charities have hidden their terror funding and support under a charitable guise, sometimes winning acclaim and support from federal government officials and others for their efforts. The terror-tied Zakat Foundation's response to the coronavirus pandemic, is the kind of thing that might provide a public benefit, but it also serves as a building block toward legitimacy, opening doors at City Hall and elsewhere.

It also helps the organization further obscure its work with charities tied to Hamas and al-Qaida.

[samaya11]

The Art of Washing Your Hands as Directed by My Grandmother*

*Actually my grandmother would have wanted you to know that Art is a frivolous term to associate with something that requires far more gravity. “The Only Proven Method Guaranteed to Produce Results” would have been her preferred title.

The following is an imaginary conversation set when I’m 13 based on some very real ones I had with her at various times in the two decades our lives overlapped. The setting is very real. At 13, I’ve just been reunited to live with my family after immigrating to the US. My grandmother and sister are both alive, the world has gone to hell but there’s hope, faith, plenty of toilet paper and soap. We never ran out of soap and properly washing hands was a serious sacred ritual. A skill every young lady should know how to do that could change lives like cooking, sewing, praying, obeying, knowing when to stay quiet, you know the thing a good woman the marriageable kind would need to know.

—

First, examine your hands

Are your nails long?

If the whites have grown more than a millimeter

Cut them.

Why would you want to encourage

the accumulation of food, dirt and blood?

I will never understand the fashion of long nails

What work do you expect to get done?

That is for lazy rich women.

Besides if you need a weapon

Thats what knives are for or well chosen words or

Extra Hot Kashmiri Red Chili Powder.

Gundhi chokri. Tara nukh tukha rakh.

Wait , wait, wait,

Is that varnish on your nails?

It’s just clear. To make them stronger, Ma.

Nail polish is poison

You will transfer it while cooking

And kill some one. Probably me. Is that what you want?

Ghandi chokri. Eva shokh apre mate nathi.

My grandmothers hands are the most beautiful I’ve ever seen.

They are very wrinkled, translucent pale beige skin with dark age spots and purple bruises on the backs of her arthritic hands, blue veins showing even in her long thin elegant fingers.

Her nails immaculately trimmed and pale pink. It was my task to trim and file them under her sharp bespectacled scrutiny. The nail and tip of the ring finger on the right hand permanently stained with a slight hint of red and marigold from adorning the foreheads of her Hindu Gods & Goddesses with a tilak of kumkum, then chandan, bhasma & rice daily after bathing them.

Such fragile hands for such a formidable spirit.

They had an ethereal grace in the way she carried them, weathered by age, by journeys on four continents, the heartbreak of becoming a young widow oh too soon and all the prayer books and rosaries she’s devoted them to from waking up at 4am sharp until bedtime at 9pmish in the old days depending when the three of us — my sister, brother and I who all shared the same room with her then let her settle down.

Okay, ready?

Very important.

The soap you use should be high quality.

Imperial Leather brand.

But Ma, we’re in America now.

That a British thing.

Okay, I guess Irish Spring will do.

This is ugly soap.

There’s got to be a better brand.

Let’s just use the liquid kind.

Use twice as much.

3 tablespoons should do.

Second, stand up straight.

No that’s not the second step

But it’s important.

You’re not as tall as I was.

You fall on your mother’s family

Look at those stubby boy hands

*Sigh* Your sister is short too but

At least she has feminine features,

Fair skin, tiny wrists, and hazel eyes

Try harder. Smell floral. Wear pink.

Where were we?

*Sigh* Still on step two, Ma.

Step two.

Pay attention shoulders straight.

This is key.

The water should be hot.

Not lukewarm, not warm. HOT.

GARAM GARAM PANI.

Jaar bharvi juye.

It should feel like lava

You’ll want to wince

But you won’t be weak.

No. You’re not the weak child,

Just a bit of a day dreamer

Like your father.

Just pray to God while washing your hands.

*muttering under my breath* Like what?

Dear Lord thank you for my crazy OCD granny?

Did you know that water, all water, every ocean, every sea, every little lake and stream

These are feminine energies

Look how powerful those goddesses are

The lack of water can bring armies

Of the strongest men to their knees.

Water is as worthy of worship as the sun.

Don’t forget. Recite these 18 names of Gita.

Gita, Ganga, Gayatri,

Sita, Satya, Sarasvati,

BrahmaVidya, BrahmVali

Trishanda, Muktagehini

Ardhramatra, Chidanandi

Bhawagnti, Bhaynashini,

Chira, Paraa, Anantaa

Tatvagyanmanjiri

These names are how I breathe they are still with me. I don’t think I ever remembered to stop reciting. As I wake, as I sleep, the four different High Schools I would be subjected to, the heartbreaks, the betrayals, my missteps, my inevitable fall from grace in the eyes of my family, every moment that should have otherwise been quiet or lonely, the chanting continues in my head like the waves in steady rhythms back reassuringly even after the most tumultuous storms of life.

Ingredients:

Good quality soap

Access to hot and cold water

Trimmed nails

No rings (or take them off and let them soak separately in sudsy water. Avoid wearing rings they are filthy dirt magnets. Real wedded Indian women wear mangalsutras, rings are for your toes. )

Attention to detail

A clean hand towel (change this out at least once a day, better yet keep a separate hand towel for yourself especially if guests are in your house. You don’t want others germs)

The Method:

Open the hot water tap

As it gathers steams

Add soap to your hands

Rub your hands together

Pour this sudsy water on the taps

To rinse off any germs others have left behind

Now the water should be steaming

Concentrate

You’re not just rubbing your hands together to create a foam, start intertwining your fingers, go over and over the back of your hands

flex each crease, the lines like rivers of destiny on your palms, your knuckles, your cuticles, this is where germs thrive,

Get under your nails,

Get under your skin,

Get under your nerves

And let the pain of hot water on your now red skin remind you that we are all born sinners in need of spiritual cleansing.

Move on to your wrists and work your way to your elbows.

Turn off the tap of hot water.

Now you can use cold water.

Wash your hands again in cold water.

The End.

Using the same amount of soap again or...

Yes! This is a question? We’re washing hands not playing in it! Wash to your elbows and let them drip dry in the sink. Turn the tap off using your wrists not your fingers. Take your clean, dry, thick towel and thoroughly pat down from elbows to finger tips. How much instruction do you need? You tell a donkey twice not a human.

*Triumphant*Done!

Aarey Bhagvaan bachaavo aa chokri thi!

Wait. What did I do wrong?

Hai Prabhu! You don’t even know? You just touched your face!

Again, now

From the beginning.

— Priya Ramesh Desai, 2020

[humans-for-humanity]

If you're wondering about the current situation in Kashmir....

We're talking about a district which has been illegally occupied for decades. This valley has seen terrible times. Kashmir is under lock down right now, but surely, any person with even a little sense can see that the valley was NOT happy with its situation. There were protests, and killings, on a daily basis. They wanted freedom. It's all over the internet, go and search it up if you want to. India was using its military to control Kashmir. Yes. Armed soldiers against ordinary civilians.

And now, we have a government known for its Islamophobic views. They suddenly strip Kashmir of its autonomy, the only bit of protection they had. They declare that Indians can buy property in Kashmir. And then suddenly there's a communication black out. They suddenly send thousands of soldiers to the place. Kashmiris themselves have no say in all this.

Does it look like India is trying to 'save' Kashmir?

It looks more like the beginning of a mass genocide to me. Ethnic cleansing. They would be happy if Kashmir wasn't a Muslim majority area any more, because they want the land. They don't care about the people. If they did, honestly, Kashmir would've been a part of India, and they would NOT have been shouting for freedom. They would've been Indian citizens. And quite happily so. It's only when you oppress someone that they protest.

And when Kashmiris do so, they're silenced with guns.

Nobody stopped Hitler. And nobody is stopping Modi, either. The world always realizes, a little too late, that something is wrong.

Kashmir is NOT okay. Kashmiris are NOT safe.

[newstfionline]

Headlines

American tourists face bans and restrictions across the world amid pandemic (Yahoo) The reputation and prestige once associated with a passport from the United States have suffered as a result of the coronavirus pandemic. For Americans right now, traveling is harder than ever before—they aren’t welcome in the majority of the world’s countries because of the U.S. response to the outbreak. As a result, the U.S. passport ranking has fallen 50% in the last year, down from the no. 3 spot to the no. 19 spot in the Passport Index. “The American passport was always in the top five passports over the last five years,” Armand Arton, founder of Passport Index, told Yahoo Money. Pre-pandemic, an American passport holder could access 70% of the world’s countries without a visa. Arton said the “only reason” for America’s sudden fall from grace was the coronavirus. “It is not foreign policy,” he said. “It is not the visa restrictions. It is really the temporary limitation of travel of U.S. citizens, based on the fact that the rest of the world doesn’t want U.S. citizens coming to their countries.”

Millennials and younger are new US majority (AP) Sorry, boomers. Millennials and their younger siblings and children now make up a majority of the U.S. population. A new analysis by the Brookings Institution shows that 50.7% of U.S. residents were under age 40, as of July 2019. The Brookings’ analysis of population estimates released this summer by the U.S. Census Bureau shows that the combined millennial, Generation Z and younger generations numbered 166 million people. The combined Generation X, baby boomer, and older cohorts represented 162 million U.S. residents. Millennials typically are defined as being born between 1981 and 1996. Baby boomers, long considered a primary driver of demographic and social change in the U.S. because of their large numbers, were born between the end of World War II and the arrival of the Beatles in the U.S. in 1964.

The Pandemic Workday Is 48 Minutes Longer and Has More Meetings (Bloomberg) We log longer hours. We attend more meetings with more people. And, we send more emails. From New York City to Tel Aviv, the telecommuting revolution has meant a lot more work, according to a study of 3.1 million people at more than 21,000 companies across 16 cities in North America, Europe and the Middle East. The researchers compared employee behavior over two 8 week periods before and after Covid-19 lockdowns. Looking at email and meeting meta-data, the group calculated the workday lasted 48.5 minutes longer, the number of meetings increased about 13% and people sent an average of 1.4 more emails per day to their colleagues. During the two month time frame, there was one part of working that did improve: Those additional meetings were shorter, according to the analysis by researchers at Harvard Business School and New York University.

Pandemic Is Changing the Military, From Boot Camp to Office Work (Bloomberg) The U.S. military is finding its footing and changing how it operates as cases of the coronavirus keep rising. The services have been forced to continue widespread use of quarantines and to rethink future training, deploying, and day-to-day work. The virus curve has shot up from 10,462 cumulative cases in early June to 37,824 total cases by late July, according to the Defense Department. The figure includes more than 14,300 current infections among active-duty troops, as well as total cases reported among civilian workers, dependents and contractors since the pandemic began.

Seeking refuge in US, children fleeing danger are expelled (AP) When officers led them out of a detention facility near the U.S.-Mexico border and onto a bus last month, the 12-year-old from Honduras and his 9-year-old sister believed they were going to a shelter so they could be reunited with their mother in the Midwest. They had been told to sign a paper they thought would tell the shelter they didn’t have the coronavirus, the boy said. The form was in English, a language he and his sister don’t speak. The only thing he recognized was the letters “COVID.” Instead, the bus drove five hours to an airport where the children were told to board a plane. “They lied to us,” he said. “They didn’t tell us we were going back to Honduras.” More than 2,000 unaccompanied children have been expelled since March under an emergency declaration enacted by the Trump administration, which has cited the coronavirus in refusing to provide them protections under federal anti-trafficking and asylum laws. Lawyers and advocates have sharply criticized the administration for using the global pandemic as a pretext to deport children to places of danger. No U.S. agents looked at the video the boy had saved on his cellphone showing a hooded man holding a rifle, saying his name, and threatening to kill him and his sister, weeks after the uncle caring for them was shot dead in June. And even though they were expelled under an emergency declaration citing the virus, they were never tested for COVID-19, the boy said.

Coronavirus surprise: Remittances to Mexico rise during pandemic (Washington Post) It was an intuitive prediction, supported by virtually every expert who had studied the subject: As the coronavirus pandemic caused the global economy to tumble, remittances to Mexico and Central America would crash. It turns out the forecast was wrong. Instead of collapsing, remittances to Mexico were up year-over-year in five of the first six months of 2020. In June, payments to El Salvador, Guatemala, Nicaragua and Honduras also increased compared to the same period in 2019, after a dip earlier this year. In March, the month the World Health Organization declared a pandemic, remittances to Mexico topped $4 billion—a record. Across the United States, migrants and the children of migrants say they have prioritized sending money to family in Mexico and Central America during the pandemic.

Economy tanking, Cuba launches some long-delayed reforms (AP) With its airports closed to commercial flights and its economy tanking, Cuba has launched the first in a series of long-promised reforms meant to bolster the country’s struggling private sector. The island’s thousands of restaurants, bed-and-breakfasts, auto mechanics and dozens of other types of private businesses have operated for years without the ability to import, export or buy supplies in wholesale markets. While the communist government began allowing widespread private enterprise a decade ago, it maintained a state monopoly on imports, exports and wholesale transactions. As a result, the country’s roughly 613,000 private business owners have been forced to compete for scarce goods in Cuba’s understocked retail outlets or buy on the black market. That has limited the private sector’s growth and made entrepreneurs a constant target of criminal investigation. With the essential tourism business cut off by the novel coronavirus and the government running desperately low on hard currency, the government last month announced that it would allow private restaurants to buy wholesale for the first time. Ministers also announced that private businesspeople could sign contracts to import and export goods through dozens of state-run companies with import/export licenses.

Former Colombian president placed under house arrest (Economist) Colombia’s Supreme Court ordered that Álvaro Uribe, a conservative former president, be placed under house arrest. It is examining whether Mr Uribe had tried to tamper with witnesses in an investigation that he instigated against a left-wing senator. Mr Uribe, the mentor of Colombia’s current president, Iván Duque, is the first sitting or former president since the 1950s to be detained.

Emergency lockdown in Scotland (Foreign Policy) Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon moved quickly to impose a partial lockdown in the city of Aberdeen on Wednesday, after 54 new cases of COVID-19 were reported. The outbreak was linked to a bar, leading Sturgeon to close all pubs in the city and impose a ban on all non-essential travel. Sturgeon told reporters that the lockdown was a necessary measure. “We need to take decisive action now in order to prevent a larger outbreak and further harm later on,” she said.

Closed for vacation: France faces new virus testing troubles (AP) With virus cases rising anew, France is struggling to administer enough tests to keep up with demand. One reason: Many testing labs are closed so that their staff can take summer vacation, just as signs of a second wave are building. Testing troubles have plagued the U.S. and other countries too. But France’s August ritual of fleeing cities for weeks of holiday rest on seashores, mountainsides or grandma’s country house is an added tangle. “Closed for vacation” signs dangle from door after door across Paris this month, from bakeries to shoe shops and iconic cafes. Doctor’s offices and labs are no exception. Their staff need a rest more than ever this difficult year. But this August, socially distanced lines snake outside the scattered Paris labs that remain open, from the Left Bank to the city’s northern canals. Trying to get a test appointment can take a week or more. So can getting results.

Pakistan stands behind Kashmir (Foreign Policy) On the first anniversary of the Indian government’s decision to revoke Kashmir’s special autonomous status, Pakistani Prime Minister Imran Khan heaped criticism on his Indian counterpart, Narendra Modi, and reiterated his support for Kashmiri self-determination. In a statement, Khan called Indian activity in the region since the move a “crime against humanity,” and in a subsequent address to the legislative assembly, he said Modi has been “exposed in the world.” One year later, the region is still saturated with troops, communications are slow, and arrests are a routine part of daily life.

He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named (Foreign Policy) Anti-government protests took place in Thailand earlier this week as demands for limits on the power of the monarchy grow. Due to strict laws forbidding criticism of royals, the demonstrations featured a happy twist. Many of the 200 activists showed up dressed as Harry Potter and other characters from the popular book and film series in an effort to draw parallels between their fight against the government and Harry Potter’s battle against the totalitarianism of Lord Voldemort.

Survivors mark 75th anniversary of world’s 1st atomic attack (AP) HIROSHIMA, Japan—Survivors of the world’s first atomic bombing gathered in diminished numbers near an iconic, blasted dome Thursday to mark the attack’s 75th anniversary, many of them urging the world, and their own government, to do more to ban nuclear weapons. An upsurge of coronavirus cases in Japan meant a much smaller than normal turnout, but the bombing survivors’ message was more urgent than ever. As their numbers dwindle—their average age is about 83—many nations have bolstered or maintained their nuclear arsenals, and their own government refuses to sign a nuclear weapons ban treaty. The United States dropped the world’s first atomic bomb on Hiroshima on Aug. 6, 1945, destroying the city and killing 140,000 people. The United States dropped a second bomb three days later on Nagasaki, killing another 70,000. Japan surrendered Aug. 15, ending World War II and its nearly half-century of aggression in Asia. But the decades since have seen the weapons stockpiling of the Cold War and a nuclear standoff among nations that continues to this day.

As Smoke Clears in Beirut, Shock Turns to Anger (NYT) Since an orphaned shipment of highly explosive chemicals arrived at the port of Beirut in 2013, Lebanese officials treated it the way they have dealt with the country’s lack of electricity, poisonous tap water and overflowing garbage: by bickering and hoping the problem might solve itself. But the 2,750 tons of high-density ammonium nitrate combusted Tuesday, officials said, unleashing a shock wave on the Lebanese capital that gutted landmark buildings, killed 135 people, wounded at least 5,000 and rendered hundreds of thousands of residents homeless. Beirut’s governor said the damage extended over half of the city, estimating it at $3 billion. The government has vowed to investigate the blast and hold those responsible to account. But as residents waded through the warlike destruction on Wednesday to salvage what they could from their homes and businesses, many saw the explosion as the culmination of years of mismanagement and neglect by the country’s politicians. And with the country already deep in the throes of a major economic crisis, residents had no idea how they would afford to rebuild. Because of the financial crisis, banks have placed strict limits on cash withdrawals to prevent runs.

U.S. eyes Saudi nuclear program (NYT) American intelligence agencies are scrutinizing efforts by Saudi Arabia, working with China, to build up its ability to produce nuclear fuel. A classified analysis has raised alarms that doing so could be a cover to process uranium and move toward development of a weapon, U.S. officials told The Times. American officials have searched for decades for evidence that the Saudis are moving toward a nuclear weapon, and the kingdom has made no secret of its determination to keep pace with Iran. But the spy agencies have been reluctant to warn of progress, for fear of repeating the colossal intelligence mistake that led to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003.

[infantisimo]

On daily life right now,

Sadki cha ne maech pakaaan.

There is not even a fly on the streets.

Yemov ditch taar – band chakh kermich wath.

They’ve laid the barbed wire – closed the roads.

Dapan Chanapori zolukh auto.

They say, an auto has been set on fire in Chanapora

Pathrav chu jaeri!

Stone-pelting is on.

Dapan doctor waelikh gadi manz ti detikh choab.

They say, the doctors were brought out of the car and beaten up.

Yath mahlas chi wayn wanan Modi Nagar, yi chu yalai asan.

This neighbourhood is now called Modi Nagar. It is always open.

Rastaas aes helicopter naczaan. Kyah taen ba karan yim zaelim.

Helicopters were dancing around all night. They’re definitely going to do something, oppressors.

Airportas nish oas internet. Pate, zan lajikh payi. Chunukh czathith.

There was internet connectivity near the airport. Then, as if they found out, they shut it.

Yim dapan travikh 72 school yalla. Pagal gamit. Kus traavi mosoom shuyr, yiman halatan manz

They’re saying they’ll open 72 school. They’ve gone mad. Who will let innocent children go to school in these conditions?

Niyakh beyi bijli!

They took away the electricity again!

“Dapaan phone travan Eiz doha.” “Sawali chu nae. Zan chakh chaet.”

“They’re saying they’ll switch the phones back on for Eid.” “There is no way! It is not like they’re obliged to.”

This is psychological warfare!

Wayn chu civil curfewyi yota. Khabar kya bani saani Kasheeri. Yi chu zyuuth kesse.

There is only civil curfew now. Who knows what will happen to our Kashmir. This is a long story.

Dapan loriyan seeth maar dyutmut doctaran te pakenaevmit. Dapaan che, ‘Agar men moj paki cze kyazi na.’

They say the doctors have been beaten by sticks and told to leave the car and walk to hospitals. They (protestors) tell them, If my mother can walk, so can you.

Agar armyas lihaz aasi iman shurten aasi.

Even the army may have some pity on us, but these young boys protesting wont.

Hata modiya gokha myon hyu!

Oh Modi, may what has happened to me happen to you!

On the future,

“The future is bright for Kashmiri youth.”

“If they’re alive to see it that is.”

Agar ye saeb abhi nahi uthenge toh bohot nuksaan hoga.

If we’re not able to pick these apples now, there will be a huge loss.

“We had a debate on 35A in class. Turns out the girl said, I’m very happy as it gives us equality.” “Aen phaetir gamichz.” Oh, she’s just gone foolish.

Dapaan aek mael dit pannis dah warishi shuris choat mahlas manz. Su oas dramut kani jangas. Wahm thovun saarni shuryen mahlas manz.

They say that a father beat his ten-year-old child black and blue in the middle of his street. He’d gone out stone-pelting (the kid). He’s now scared every child in the neighborhood.

On what is happening outside of their homes,

Paaze apzi chine vanan kiheen

Truth or false, the authorities say nothing!

Ye wanhav muslalman chi hindustanas khosh, Tati ti azaab.

If only we could say Muslims are happy in India. They’re miserable too.

Dapan Kathua chikh 72 Musalman Marith. Tavai gov internet band.

They’re saying 72 people have been killed in Kathua in communal riots. That is why the internet has been cut off.

Dapan, akh bichor nafar chu moodmut. Temis aamit tear gas shell te dihi seet moodmut. Tre shury chis, lokit lokit.

They’re saying a poor man has died. He was hit by a tear gas shell and choked because of the smoke. He has three kids, all very young.

“Ratas 12 baji booz aesi taas. Pata lukh kreke diwan.” “Ahansa, ye oas Mahjoor Nagar. Dapaan 15 laedke nimit tulith. Shury– 10 wuhury, 15 wuhuyr.” “Mye booz 60.”

We heard a loud bang at midnight. And then screams of people.” “Oh yeah, it was Mehjoor Nagar. They’re saying they picked up 15 boys. Kids – 10  year olds, 15 year olds.” “I heard they took 60.”

“Mahra me wani tav yiman battan kyah govmit. Who are these Kashmiri pandits that are ecstatic?

Sir, please tell me what is wrong with the Kashmiri pandits.”

On the state of politicians in detention,

“Dapan temis chu na attached bathroom ti. Aki aki chikh walan bata khyene, ki yutna kath karan. Bey chukh panun ponsu diyun palavan, mineral water botli.” “Jaan kyah gokh. Hindustan, Hindustan aes na karan boed.”

They’re saying he (the politician) doesn’t even have a bathroom attached for his use in his detention area. The politicians are brought down one by one for food, so they don’t talk to each other. And then they have to pay for their own food, water bottles. “Good. They deserve it. They’d keep chanting India, India.”

On TV News,

Apuz!

Lies!

[go2harsha-blog]

Krishna on the Beach

Harsha Prabhu wanders on a beach in Goa and stumbles upon the God of Love

Arambol, Goa, August 2019

The Photoshoot

It was the weekend of the global protest against the destruction and burning of the forests in the Amazon basin, aided and abetted by the Brazilian government.

A few of us decided to hold a pop up demonstration at Arambol beach against this act of environmental vandalism that threatened the livelihood of the indigenous people of Brazil - and 20% of the world’s oxygen supply. The demo would be in the form of a photo shoot, with people holding placards that spelt: SOS Amazon! We needed a quorum of 12 people to hold the placards. Seemed easy enough.

But it wasn’t. It took us a full hour of hustling on the beach to get the magic 12. Many we asked begged off for one reason or another: they did not understand what I said (Russian tourists); they were waiting for someone; they had to be somewhere else; they had to discuss it with their group before agreeing to participate. Some of these procrastinators were clearly entitled, middle class Indian tourists from major metros, visiting Goa as part of a package tour, sporting t-shirts with the tour logo. Somehow, we managed to find 12 souls willing and able to be a part of the the visual petition against the Amazon destruction.

After the photoshoot I wandered along the beach. Then I heard the sound of bells. Turning, I saw a group of men striding down the beach. One of them was carrying something on his head; the others were playing zills and chanting “Radhe Krishna ki jai!” (Hail Radha and Krishna).

The man who was carrying an idol of Krishna - Bal Krishna, Krishna as a child - placed it on the beach. His companions dug holes in the sand and placed incense sticks, to light which they borrowed my lighter. Slowly, people gathered around the idol; bits of camphor were burnt as offerings; prayers offered.

There was a large group of young boys who were playing in the sand nearby. Ever the opportunist for a photo grab, I went up to them and, addressing the biggest boy, asked: “Have you heard of the burning of the forests in the Amazon in Brazil?” “Yes” , he replied “ I saw it on the news.” “Would you like to help us stop it?” I asked him. “How?” he asked. “Simple. Just join with your friends in holding these placards,” I replied, “ I’ll take a photo and send it to the Brazilian government.”

“Yes, yes,” he shouted and turned to explain to the rest of his friends what was proposed. Before I could say ‘Krishna’ I had 12 eager and willing young participants in the photoshoot. In an attempt to get them all in the frame I almost stumbled onto the Bal Krishna image on the sand.

Krishna Lila

It was only then that I realised the young boys where part of a group that had come to participate in the Krishna ritual on the beach. In my mind’s eye, I saw them as the gopas (cow-herders) of Vrindavan, Krishna’s accomplices in his childish pranks, which, to the devotee, is an expression of the God’s ‘Lila,’, life as play.

And play they did, that evening on the beach, first the young boys, then the older youth and some men joining in. Games of tag, of skill and strength and guile. Then they attempted to smash the ‘Dahi Hundi’, the pot of yogurt - an object of mischievous fascination for Bal Krishna, called ‘Maakhan chor’, the butter-thief - held tantalizingly out of reach by a man wielding a rope and pully. Both groups of young boys and older youth managed to smash the Hundi, splattering themselves and those nearby with yogurt.

Where were the gopis (milk-maids) in all this play? Some stood by watching, like the ladies from Rajasthan, looking, with their aquiline features, nose rings and veils, like they had stepped out of a Kishangarh miniature, the 18th-century school of painting from Rājasthan, celebrating Krishna as a lover. Other gopis, possibly tourists from interstate or overseas, cavorted in the sea, holding hands in the water, playing their water games, framed by the setting sun.

Then it was time for more prayers and - as the sun set and the horizon turned maroon - time for the ‘Visarjan,’ the ritual immersion of the Krishna idols - the Bal Krishna being joined by a Krishna playing the flute - in the sea.

Who is Krishna?

Yesterday was Gokulashtami , the birthday of Krishna. Today is Visarjan. Who is Krishna, this God who was born yesterday and is committed to the waters the very next day?

Who is Krishna? This question bedevilled Arjun, the hero of the Mahabharata war, contemplating the field of battle. Is he my charioteer? My devoted friend and wise councillor? Or is he a God whose true face I dare not see?

There are many Krishnas; you can pick and choose.

There’s the culture hero of the Ahir, a tribe of pastoralists found in north and western India. The Ahirs are mentioned in the Mahabharata and some Ahir claim descent from the Yadava clan of Krishna.

There’s Bal Krishna, the baby Krishna, whose exploits form the material of songs mother’s sing to their children, whose devotion parallels the cult of baby Jesus.

There’s Krishna the lover, flirting shamelessly with the gopis of Vrindavan, all the while knowing his heart is with Radha, another man’s wife, in an erotic wheel-within-wheel of transgression, celebrated in much Indian song, dance and art.

There’s the Krishna of the Bhagvad Gita, Arjun’s initiator into the terrifying mysteries of cosmic time, including the need to do one’s caste-defined, destiny-propelled duty, regardless of the consequences (nishkamakarma).

This was the Krishna that troubled M K Gandhi, possibly the greatest Vaishnav (Krishna devotee) of them all in recent times. The arguments in the Geeta rationalising violence, no doubt the work of Brahmins versed in the arts of sophistry in defence of the status quo, stuck in Gandhi’s throat. Gandhi would have agreed with D D Kosambi, polymath and Marxist historian, who said: ‘This slippery opportunism characterizes the whole book. Naturally, it is not surprising to find so many Gita lovers imbued therewith. Once it is admitted that material reality is gross illusion, the rest follows quite simply; the world of "doublethink" is the only one that matters.’

Bhakti

There’s the Krishna of the Bhakti saints, the social movement that was anti-caste, that talked up love for one’s fellow human as the highest goal.

The Bhakti saints came from all castes. Nammalvar was a peasant. Namdev was a tailor. Gora was a potter. Cokha Mela was Dalit. So was Ravidas, guru of Mirabai and contemporary of Guru Nanak. Jyaneshwar, who introduced the Gita to Marathi-speakers, committed ritual suicide. Tukaram, the greatest Marathi Bhakti poet of them all, was a peasant, who ran afoul of Brahmins,  and is supposed to have drowned himself in the river Tungabhadra. There’s more than a hint that he was murdered by caste Hindus. Luckily, his abhangas (poems) survived…

What made Bhakti so radical?

Here is Chandidas, the 15th century Bengali poet:

"Shobar upor manush shotto tahar upore nai,” (“Above all is humanity, none else”).

Or Kabir, possibly the greatest of India’s many poet-saints, also from the 15th century, and a Muslim to boot, though not a practicing one by the looks of it. He wrote in the vernacular and, even to this day, his poems explode in the face, like existential firecrackers.

Saints I see the world is mad.


If I tell the truth they rush to beat me,


if I lie they trust me. — Kabir, Shabad  4, Translated by Linda Hess and Shukdeo Singh

Or this:

Saints I've seen both ways.


Hindus and Muslims don't want discipline, they want tasty food.


The Hindu keeps the eleventh-day fast, eating chestnuts and milk.


He curbs his grain but not his brain, and breaks his fast with meat.


The Turk [Muslim] prays daily, fasts once a year, and crows "God!, God!" like a cock.


What heaven is reserved for people who kill chickens in the dark?…


— Kabir, Śabda 10, Translated by Linda Hess and Shukdeo Singh

Or this one:

If God be within the mosque, then to whom does this world belong?


If Ram be within the image which you find upon your pilgrimage,
then who is there to know what happens without?…


— Kabir, III.2, Translated by Rabindranath Tagore and Evelyn Underhill

Interestingly, Kabir ran afoul of both Muslims and Hindus during his lifetime. It is said that, upon his death, both sets of believers fought over his corpse. When they lifted his shroud, all they found were flowers.

Knowing the pain of others

Here is Narsi Mehta, the 15th century Gujarat poet-saint, with a song that was a favourite of M K Gandhi:

Vaishnav jan to tene kahiye je/ Peed paraayi jaane re /Par-dukhkhe upkaar kare toye /Man abhimaan na aane re

Only he is a true Vaishnav Who knows the pain of others Does good to others without letting pride enter his mind.

Indian PM Modi also claims to love ‘Vaishnava jan to.’ He launched a version of the song in October 2018, sung by artists from 40 different countries, as the start of the year-long celebration of the 150th birth anniversary of Gandhi.

Does Modi know the pain of others?

This was his reply to a Reuters journalist in 2013, when asked what he felt about the communal carnage in Gujarat that lead to over a thousand deaths, mainly, but not only, Muslims, and the displacement of many more while he was CM in 2002: “If someone else is driving a car and we’re sitting behind, even then if a puppy comes under the wheel, will it be painful or not? Of course it is.”

Does Modi know the pain his policies, including demonetisation and high GST rates, have caused his people?  The pain of all those who have lost their jobs due to an economy in shambles, largely due to the wreaking-ball of his government’s own policies? Does he know the pain of the farmers who commit suicide due to failing crops, drought and the inability to pay back loans? Or the pain of all the human rights defenders and tribals who languish in jail on trumped up charges? And what about the pain of the Kashmiri people?

What about the pain of Gandhians? The fact is that M K Gandhi himself was assassinated by a Hindu ring wing terrorist, a member of the Hindu Mahasabha, an off-shoot of the RSS, the very organisation that Modi belongs to.

What about the pain of all those people - mostly Muslim, Dalit or Christians - who have been lynched in India by mobs yelling “Jai Shree Ram”?

In July this year, eminent writers, filmmakers and intellectuals wrote an open letter to PM Modi, beseeching him to act, saying: "It is shocking that so much violence should be perpetrated in the name of religion! These are not the Middle Ages! The name of Ram is sacred to many in the majority community of India. As the highest Executive of this country, you must put a stop to the name of Ram being defiled in this manner.”

Modi has yet to respond to the letter.

Clearly, when it comes to knowing the pain of others, Modi has a lot of catching up to do.

Krishna the Redeemer

The Krishna story should make all tyrants everywhere worried.

For Krishna is also the redeemer. He comes to deliver the people of Dwarka from the rule of the evil tyrant Kamsa. Indeed, all tyrants dream of everlasting rule, but Kamsa himself hears a voice that tells him his end is near. This sets into play the whole Krishna myth, of the child abandoned by the palace, like Moses was among the bullrushes, a foundling fostered by another family, who grows up to avenge wrongs and claim his rightful throne.

According to Joseph Campbell: ‘The work of the incarnation is to refute by his presence the pretentious of the tyrant ogre.’

Further, Krishna, as the God of Love, refuses to allow himself to be weaponised by the armies of the Hindu Right, as opposed to the fate of poor Ram, where “Jai Shree Ram” has become a rallying cry of the lynch mobs.

Ironically, the actual form of greeting in parts of North India is “Jai Sia-Ram”; ‘Sia’ being a short form for ‘Sita’. But there’s no use for Sita, the Goddess of the Earth and Ram’s wife, in the hyper masculine world of Hindutva politics. The Goddess - and women - are the first casualties in Hindutva’s Raas Lila (sacred dance, dedicated to Radha-Krishna), where rape is a political tool to terrorise and subjugate people, sanctioned by V D Savarkar, the father of Hindutva ideology.

For Krishna devotees, Krishna is nothing without Radha; therefore it’s always “Jai Radhe-Krishna.” Behind Krishna stands the Mother Goddess. Vrindavan, the scene of the Krishna idyll, is the sacred grove (vana) of the Goddess Vrinda, another name for the Tulasi (holy basil) tree. To this day, the marriage of Krishna to Tulasi is celebrated every year in Vrindavan as Tulasi Vivaha. And even in Goa, for my landlord, Pritesh, was married to three Tulasi trees before he got a wife. Thus does the Great Mother break through Hinduism’s patriarchal bonds.

And it’s not just Hindus who worship Krishna.

According to literary critic Kuldeep Kumar, writing in The Hindu: ‘Many Muslim poets, the most notable among them being Raskhan, wrote devotional poetry to celebrate the Krishna legend and to rejoice in his bhakti. Abdur Rahim Khan-e-Khana, who is known in Hindi literature simply as Rahim, wrote many Barwais, Dohas and Sorthas in praise of Krishna. For example, this couplet is worth reading.

Jihi Rahim man aapno keenho chandra chakor Nisi baasar laago rahai Krishna chandra kee or (The way chakor always looks at the moon, similarly my face is always towards Krishna’s face that is as beautiful as the moon is). ‘ Chakor is a kind of partridge.

Passion Play

The passion play I witnessed on the beach was part of an ancient story, of the birth and sacrifice of a God. Like the Greek hero, Achilles, Krishna dies when an arrow pierces his heel, betraying his tribal, pagan origins. The culture hero dies, but the energies of an archetype never die, but live on, forever green in the hearts of men and women.

Surely Krishna - the hero with a hundred faces - will come to the aide of his people, wherever they may be, on a beach, in a temple, in the factories, on the land, in the forest, the vana, his favourite playground - or at the next political or environmental protest.

In a time of human-induced climate chaos and species extinction, driven by corporate fascism’s dystopian republic of greed, ruled by the global police state, the Radha- Krishna myth - of the world as a garden of plenty, as a playground for the divine erotic impulse to manifest, of love as the highest form of worship - is a very compelling counter-image.

Another world is possible. Krishna tells us it is.

While lovers of radical equality and seekers of bliss rejoice, tyrants everywhere better beware. Even as we speak, Krishna is on his way to Dwarka…

Pics: Harsha Prabhu

A note on the photoshoot:

Amazon photoshoot, Arambol, Sat 24 Aug 2019

SOS AMAZON! SOS CLIMATE EMERGENCY! Arambol, Goa, India Sat 24 August 2019

Members of Extinction Rebellion Goa staged a pop up demonstration at Arambol beach in solidarity with the native people of Brazil’s Amazon basin, whose forests are being burnt by the Brazilian government to facilitate development projects, including roads and big dams, in an ecologically sensitive bio region.

The burning forests of the Amazon are also a matter of grave concern as they supply 20% of the world’s oxygen. These forests are characterised as the lungs of the planet, taking in carbon dioxide and breathing out oxygen.

In addition, this wanton destruction feeds into the cycle of human-induced climate change. With the accelerated melting of the Greenland ice field via global warming predicted to raise sea levels by a frightening 25 feet, coastal communities like Goa are at special risk of being inundated by such irresponsible actions.

Activists also pointed out that India’s environmental record too was a scandal, with the continued destruction of forests, especially in the Western Ghats, leading to flooding in several states, including Goa, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. In Mumbai, the Aarey Forest in the centre of the city, also earmarked for development, and coastal mangrove destruction, are causing environmental stress on one of the world’s mega cities, also subject to periodic flooding.

India ranks among the bottom five countries on the Environmental Performance Index for 2018, according to a biennial report by Yale and Columbia Universities and the World Economic Forum. India also has the dubious distinction of overtaking China and Russia as the world’s top sulpha dioxide polluter, according to a Greenpeace report released on 19 August 2019. Sulpha dioxide is a by-product of coal-based electricity generation. Fossil fuels are also the key culprits in the global warming feedback loop and the proliferation of plastic pollution world-wide, including on Goa’s beaches.

With extreme weather events - like drought followed by floods in India - the norm, activists worldwide are calling upon governments to address the climate emergency, stop the reliance on fossil fuels and rapidly move towards adopting sustainable solutions to meet world energy needs.

The Brazil solidarity action - which included Arambol youth and local and international visitors - was part of a global weekend of similar demonstrations to put pressure on world governments to act now before it’s too late!

Pic: Harsha Prabhu, Design:Camelia Oberoi

#SOSAmazonia #SaveOurForests #ClimateEmergency #extinctionrebellion #extinctionrebellionindia #extinctionrebelliongoa #arambol #goa #DeclareClimateEmergency #SaveAareyForest #SaveWesternGhats

[fdhfjdafdajfa]

The large number of people thronging encounter sites to save armed fighters represents that change as well. The embedded practice of running away from encounter sites due to fear has vanished. Instead, it has reversed. The movement is towards encounter sites. Civilians are ready to lay down their lives for those whom they value much. Trying to save militants, boys from Shopian are killed in Kulgam encounters, and vice versa. They choose their own death. They claim their “right of death”.

On the other hand, those who survive are depressed, traumatic, and frustrated by the daily dose of violence. They survive the psychological onslaught of the occupational state which otherwise, with its sheer brutality, would have destroyed the strongest of souls. They put their faith in God, they resort to cigarettes, they love, they marry. They live. They claim their “power over life”.

[webseomentor]

Islamic State Claims its Province in Shopian, Kashmir

SRINAGAR- Islamic State’s activities are growing in Kashmir recently. After the recent clash between security forces and a group of militants in Kashmir, the Islamic State for the first time claimed a province. The News agency of IS- Amaq News which brings the Latest Muslims News in Indiato induce Kashmiri Muslims announced, that their new province is called “Waliyah of Hind”.

Meanwhile, the clash between Indian security forces and the militants of Kashmir occurred in the town of Amshipora in the Shopian district of Kashmir. This clash resulted in Indian Army killing one of one militantwhich Indian Army claimed had ties with the group.

Ishfaq Ahmad Sofi, the militant was involved in various militant groups in Kashmir for the last one decade. Moreover, he in an interview to a magazine in Srinagar accepted his involvement with IS.

IS’s Attempt at Strengthening its Ground in Kashmir

It appears that this is an attempt by the militant group to strengthen its standing in the region. The group which was at one time controlling thousands of miles of territory in Syria and Iraq has been unable to withstand the Indian Armed Forces in Kashmir lately.

In the past, IS has been unable to strengthen its group in India but the recent attacks at Sri Lanka which killed more than 250 people on Easter proves to be a threat to Indian people as well. We at Carvandaily believe that this Latest News on Indian-Muslimsis just a stunt to mobilize Muslim men in Kashmir to join its group.

The director of the SITE Intel group which tracks Islamic terrorists said that the announcement of establishing a province should be taken seriously.But we think that the intelligence need to completely vanish the group in the region which many believe has come to an end with the killing of Ishfaq.

However, many strategists in the region believe that it might be supported have several political groups and people in India which work for Pakistan and have strong influence in Kashmir like Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Syed Geelani.

This might not look threatening but keeping at check at such parties and groups will prevent any such attacks by the so called “Waliyah of Hind” rulers. A spokesperson from the Home Ministry meanwhile did not respond to our request for comment on this incident.

Author Bio

Caravan Daily is an independent online media platform, articulating the concerns and aspirations of voiceless minorities and disadvantaged groups from India and South Asia. Latest & Breaking India News helps to know about Muslim community and their thoughts.  It was a troublesome however perceptive choice, in light of on the official remain of the new Indian Government which needed to be perceived as a common state.

[zuberjournalist-blog]

3 more Muslims martyred by Indian Terrorists.

3 more Muslims martyred by Indian Terrorists.

Reported by Journalist Zuber Srinagar Sunday: Aug 22, 2021 ISLAMABAD / Srinagar: State Sponsored terrorism of India under central terror force (Hindu Taliban) killing innocent Kashmiri Muslim on daily basis. The killing and kidnapping, harassment by the terrorists of ISIS (Indian Saffron In Srinagar) started on the day of Ashura has not stopped yet. Harassment by the terrorists of ISIS…

[expatimes]

Villagers along India-Pakistan border sceptical of ceasefire deal

Villagers along India-Pakistan border sceptical of ceasefire deal

Jammu, Indian-administered Kashmir – Milkhi Ram is 80 and has witnessed three wars between India and Pakistan during his lifetime.

The lean, silver-haired man has little faith in a rare ceasefire agreement between the two South Asian rivals announced last week.

“Both sides agreed for strict observance of all agreements, understandings and cease firing along the and all other sectors,” said a joint statement issued by the two armies.

But living in Suchetgarh, the last village on the Indian side of the volatile border with Pakistan, some 35km (21 miles) from the main city of Jammu in Indian-administered Kashmir, Ram has reasons to be sceptical.

Milkhi Ram, right, outside his home in Suchetgarh village

For decades, mortar shells fired by Pakistani guns have arched over a razor wire obstacle and landed in Suchetgarh – a nightmare for the villagers caught in the crossfire as the armies of the two nuclear-armed nations continued to violate a fragile ceasefire deal agreed upon in 2003.

“This time there is calm, but we don’t trust these statements,” Ram told Al Jazeera, adding that similar promises in the past “never lived too long”.

“We have seen these lies since 1947,” he said, referring to the year India got independence from British rule and was partitioned, leading to the formation of Muslim-majority Pakistan.

Since then, both India and Pakistan have claimed the Himalayan region of Kashmir in its entirety while ruling it in part. The bloody dispute has turned the region into one of the most militarised in the world, with near-daily skirmishes happening at the frontiers.

“We live in fear and have to run to other places leaving our cattle and crops behind. We are poor and no one listens to us,” said Ram at his home in Jammu’s Ranbir Singh Pura sector, which is surrounded by vast mustard fields tended by farmers – men, women and young girls.

The announcement of the India-Pakistan ceasefire deal along the LoC is being seen as a significant thaw in relations between the two nuclear-armed nations, who have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir.

Since 1947, tens of thousands of Kashmiri rebels, civilians and security forces on both sides have been killed in the dispute.

The February 25 ceasefire deal is also a breakthrough since relations between India and Pakistan worsened since New Delhi abrogated Indian-administered Kashmir’s limited autonomy in August 2019.

But while the guns have fallen silent on the borders for more than a week, the scars in Suchetgarh are too deep.

In fact, 2020 was the worst year since the 2003 ceasefire as the two armies skirmished nearly 5,000 times, according to the data by India’s home ministry, killing and wounding dozens.

Indian officials said last year’s ceasefire violations were an increase of 48 percent from 2019.

Ratno Devi with her grandchildren at her village near the India-Pakistan border

‘Felt like a dark night’

In November 2016, Kamlesh Devi was washing clothes when a shell landed on her home in Suchetgarh, injuring six of her family members. “It felt like a dark night, it (shell) exploded with a bang and everything turned dark.”

Devi’s daughter Sakshi was wounded and blinded in the left eye.

“She lost sight in her eye which despite multiple surgeries she is yet to gain completely,” Devi, 40, told Al Jazeera. “She can’t watch TV, her friends ask what has happened and she feels stigmatised. She doesn’t want her pictures taken.”

Devi said medical treatment of her daughter’s eyes could not remove a splinter, which remained stuck, causing an infection.

“We fear for our children. We are not sure about our safety. Life is very difficult here. We are neither safe inside nor outside our home,” she said.

Kamlesh Devi at her home attacked by a shell, which injured her daughter’s left eye

Devi says every time she looks at her daughter, it reminds her of the tragedy they went through.

“This happened to us because we live on the border. Our cattle were also here, one buffalo died and others were hurt. There is uncertainty and mental trauma.”

Ratno Devi, a 60-year-old resident of Suchetgarh, says she has never felt peace in her life.

“We don’t trust Pakistan, they can start shelling again,” she told Al Jazeera as she was surrounded by her grandchildren.

‘Violence has made them orphans’

The wounds, suffering and fears are echoed across the 740km (460-mile) volatile LoC, with residents along the frontiers having little faith that their lives will ever change.

Farooqa Begum was killed on November 13 last year when she was sorting wood in her attic as a shell landed, killing her, in Balakote village.

The village is located near Haji Pir in a remote corner of northern Kashmir, where a stream divides the Indian and Pakistan-administered parts of Kashmir.

Begum is survived by her husband, Bashir Ahmad Dar, a labourer, and five children.

“The youngest is 18 months old. Would these (ceasefire) agreements bring the dead back? Then we would have any trust,” Begum’s nephew Muhammad Maqbool Dar told Al Jazeera.

“Her husband cannot go to work because he has to take care of children. The older daughter is 16 and she has to cook for the family. The violence has made them orphans.”

On the day Begum died, 10 others were also killed along the LoC, including five Indian soldiers.

Dar’s neighbour Farooq Ahmad is also sceptical of the ceasefire deal. “When we go out for work, our hearts are always at home because you never know when the shelling would start,” he said.

‘Only time will tell’

India’s Minister of State for Home Affairs G Kishan Reddy recently told the parliament that 70 civilians and 72 security personnel have died in more than 10,000 ceasefire violations along the LoC in the last three years, while 341 civilians and 364 security personnel suffered injuries.

Indian security analyst Rahul Bedi says “only time will tell about the finality” of the ceasefire deal.

“This is an 18-year-old agreement and this agreement has been violated more than it has been observed,” Bedi told Al Jazeera. “It’s quite surprising that this has happened.”

According to Bedi, Pakistan has “little choice but to ease tension on its eastern borders” with Afghanistan.

Sameer Patil, a fellow for international security studies at Gateway House, while admitting that the joint statement on ceasefire was “a welcome development” also expressed a note of caution over its sustainability.

“Given the kind of exchange of fire on the borders for the last many months and years, it (deal) is significant. But at the same time I am a little cautious.”

Milkhi Ram in Suchetgarh is equally unsure. “They are only doing jumlabazi (wordplay),” he says, referring to the two South Asian rivals fighting for decades over Kashmir.

Read full article: https://expatimes.com/?p=18721&feed_id=36110

[thenorthlines]

Kashmiri Pandits offered three choices by Radical Islamists

Kashmiri Pandits offered three choices by Radical Islamists

Col (Dr) Tej Kumar Tikoo (Retd.) On Jan, 04, 1990, a local Urdu newspaper, Aftab, published a press release issued by Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, asking all Pandits to leave the Valley immediately. Al Safa, another local daily repeated the warning.These warnings were followed by Kalashnikov-wielding masked Jehadis carrying out military-type marches openly. Reports of killing of Kashmiri Pandits continued…

[pakistannewsupdates]

[Daily Sabah]Indian forces kill top Kashmiri militant commander