#fit india movement

[news-trust-india]

Fit India Movement : सीएम धामी के अधिकारियों को निर्देश, फिट इंडिया मूवमेंट के लिए बेहतर कार्ययोजना के साथ चलाया जाए अभियान

देहरादून : Fit India Movement  प्लास्टिक मुक्त उत्तराखण्ड, स्वच्छता और फिट इंडिया मूवमेंट के लिए बेहतर कार्ययोजना के साथ अभियान चलाया जाए। इसमें जन जागरूकता के साथ ही जनसहभागिता की दिशा में विशेष प्रयास किये जाएं। यह निर्देश मुख्यमंत्री श्री पुष्कर सिंह धामी ने नई दिल्ली स्थित उत्तराखण्ड सदन से वर्चुअल बैठक के दौरान अधिकारियों को दिये। Mahakumbh Stampede : महाकुंभ में भगदड़ के बाद प्रशासन ने क‍िए…

[physiovitals]

Jogging just 20–30 minutes a few times a week can significantly improve overall well-being.

[eatmangoesnekkid]

I shared with this lady today that my fitness is non-negotiable and is a reflection of the strength of my spirit. I’m not on and off with working out nor do I work out to get ready for bikini season. I have worked out pretty much consistently for the last 20 years. That's because exercising my body is akin to breathing. It is one way I clear out the gunk from my mind and emotions which is liberation for my mental, emotional and spiritual health. It doesn't matter what happened the day before, I know that exercise, whether gym time, HIIT classes, pole dance, belly dance, aerial dance, pilates, running up hills, long walks in the city, climbing stadium stairs, or hot yoga fuels the life force pulsing and protruding through my body that makes me feel delicious in the best ways possible no matter what challenges I'm facing. Working out for me is not-optional. My ancestral mothers know that I am not meant to walk this earth disconnected from my body and feeling sluggish and incapable. Sculpting a strong back, a strong ass, strong legs, strong arms, strong feet, etc. are some of the most important parts of my spiritual practice. Said differently: Your body is truly the altar. Bless it with some offerings of fitness if movement is accessible for you. Allow these words to be your reminder to get up and get out. -India Ame'ye, Author

[communist-ojou-sama]

I saw how you said that describing the PRC as capitalist betrays a lack of understanding of capitalism and I actually really liked how well you explained that being against capitalism isn't proper Marxism/communism so I was wondering if you could open that post on understanding capitalism a bit more! Only if you're okay with it, of course!

Eventually I should do a real proper Effortpost on this with all the graphs and figures to really drive home the point that I'm making, but very briefly since it's getting late here:

In Marx's time, capitalism was an emergent societal mode of production that was closely entertwined with the enclosure movement and the industrial revolution. On the level of labor, it saw the decline of peasant and artisan labor and the rise of proletarianization, and with it the tendencies of mechanization and rationalization of production (e.g. de-skilling of manufacturing and measurement of efficiency by the labor-hour)

On a consistent historical level, from Marx's time to ours, capitalism has been characterized by the role of liquidity holders (e.g. banks, joint stock companies, investment funds &c) in investigating growth industries and investing in them for the purpose of greater profit. Notably: the demand from financial actors for returns on their balance-sheets is constant, regardless of the state of the development in any given productive market. Meanwhile the nature of industrial development is that it happens in fits and starts, in great surging advances followed by relatively stagnant plateaus. The results of this mismatch are twofold:

First, as Lenin chronicled, it leads for a demand to engage in imperialist expansion to open new markets and seek new profits that way. The other, arguably larger and more important frontier however is that of speculation. Because the inflation of the value of an asset creates purchasing power in and of itself in the short term, which is maintained on balance sheets so long as the arrears on credit derived on it keeps getting paid on a notional path to amortizaiton.

The tendency in capitalism since Marx's time has been the ever-growing importance of these two dynamics and the gradual receding of the importance of low-elasticity economic activity like manufacturing goods.

The tendency of imperialist expansion within capitalism has created a networked global bourgeoisie throughout the financial capitals of the world who extract rentier profits from the various rural peripheries of the global south, and the speculative nature of investment capital in the late 20th and early 21st century defines the quality of the "capitalist develpment" we see in bourgeois states in the contemporary global south: namely, extremely uneven development between rural and urban, trapping of the labor force in a holding-pattern of low-pay low-skill work such as textile production or low-end manufacturing (e.g. Bangladesh and Malaysia) while their capitals enjoy wealth near that of the imperial core, with relatively very high-paying jobs in the knowledge industries (this should ring a bell with India lol). Any country that is actually ruled by its bourgeoisie will follow this pattern, because financialized paper profits are larger (in nominal terms) than the highly investment-intensive industrial development that has gone on in the PRC under the stewardship of the Party. However the result is that the PRC has relatively low inequality among middle-income countries and the technological benefits of the industrialization led by cities is beginning to flow to rural China, which is what allowed them to lift 800 million people out of extreme poverty, something that has yet to happen in actually capitalist bourgeis states like India.

[socialjusticeinamerica]

I go to concerts and events all the time and women use the men’s room no problem when their tiny restrooms overflow. The only time I ever noticed anyone complain was when a drunk women stumbled into a men’s room after a concert in Las Vegas. The men’s room was full of redneck assholes with southern accents, cowboy hats and boots. They immediately surrounded her and began harassing her with vile comments and graphic descriptions of how they were going to gang rape her. Security had to intervene to save her from those MAGA assholes. So much much for those country boys being good Christians. In New England nobody blinks an eye when women use the men’s room and if anyone started saying shit like that to woman they would have gotten the shit kicked out of their redneck asses.

Years ago history books would talk about regional peculiarities like Yankee Ingenuity and Southern Hospitality. I have spent a fair amount of time in the south, I have friends and family there, and in better times even owned property there. Let me tell you that Southern Hospitality is a myth. Unless you’re in a big city or a theme park or some other big tourist attraction, and you don’t have a southern drawl you’re going to be treated like Bin Laden showing up at Ground Zero. The rich modern day Confederates are the most elitist and bigoted people alive. The poor are some of the meanest, rudest, angriest, most hostile, and least Christian people you could ever meet.

Now that’s a blanket statement and obviously everyone doesn’t fit into that stereotype. There are plenty of normal people but very few of them will ever speak up for fear of the way they will be treated. This has been going on since the early days of the Industrial Revolution in the late 1700’s. It isn’t something that can be blamed on The Southern Strategy, Nixon, Reagan, Fox News, the Tea Party, or the MAGA movement.

The North industrialized and modernized everything including banking, transportation, industry, and food crop agriculture. The rich southern Planter Class, the Aristocracy, relied on King Cotton, tobacco, and slavery. None of which was profitable or sustainable. The Planter Aristocracy soon became deeply indebted to northern banks and were at risk of losing their land, property livelihoods, and social standing. When the North and West started pressuring the South to end slavery and pay their bills the Southern

Planter elite decided to secede from the Union of States. They thought it was win-win, they could keep their slaves, escape their debt, and simply trade their cash crops with Europe. Well the Europeans switched to Egypt, India, and the Caribbean for their cotton and to a lesser extent tobacco. Only a handful of wealthy elites in each states could afford slaves in any quantity beyond one. The hillbilly rednecks were propagandized into believing they were defending their way of life and states rights against Northern (and western) Aggression. The west was populated by immigrant farmers who couldn’t afford slaves and came from countries where slavery was banned, never existed, and was condemned by European religious groups.

Long story short the United States, aka the Union or the North, had the food crops, the population, the transportation, the industry, the schools, the banks/money, and virtually every other advantage. The Confederacy was built on lies and propaganda spread by the upper class. They had nothing but bitterness and resent at the North and West that they still have to this day. Treating women and marginalized people with disrespect is ingrained into their DNA and so tightly wound into their societal fabric it may never come out. Even their LGBT community is racist AF. Now their were good people in the South, called Unionists, who didn’t agree with slavery, secession, or the Planter Aristocracy and many of them moved North and some even joined the US Army to fight against the Confederacy. Ironically some of them remained in the Army softer the Civil War ended and took part in the “Indian” Wars, after which they returned to the South as military heroes with their disloyalty to the Confederacy forgiven.

A scorpion can not change its nature. And people who have been propagandized since the 1700’s by the wealthy elite can’t be expected to change their “traditions” overnight. Thanks to Republican oligarchs a disproportionate percentage of Southerners and rural people blame modern Democrats, who are now mainly in the Northeast and the West Coast as they were during the Civil War, for all their problems.

They’ll never understand that the modern Republicans and oligarchs are holding them hostage and denying them jobs, education, unions, prosperity, and healthcare. They have been conditioned to for two centuries to blame outsiders for their problems while supporting their oligarch oppressors. Denigrating women, people of color, and marginalized groups is a sadly a rite of passage for the majority in the Old Confederacy. They’re like the people of Eastern Europe who have been holding grudges for so long they don’t even remember why they they are collectively doing it. They need to be deprogrammed from that Confederate mindset first and then deprogrammed from the Republican/MAGA mindset but that’s not likely to happen anytime soon if at all. We’d have to win back the White House, the Congress, the SCOTUS, and the state legislatures first. Then we’d have to utterly smash the Republican Party and ban the oligarchs and their dark money from politics. Following that Herculean talk we’d have to invest heavily in public education across the South and rural West and return it to modern standards from the plundered mess the oligarchs and their privatized schools have created.

A second civil war may be looming and they are propping for it. Invariably they will lose for the same reasons they did the first time but it will be far more costly and have lingering effects that may never be reconciled. It won’t be a regional war like the first time but rather a bloody mess like the war in Northern Ireland with terror bombings and revenge killings. No single community will be safe. Sometimes I think we’d be better off letting Texas and Florida secede and take Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana with them. The remainder of the MAGAts would flock there and shoot themselves into third world status. The rest of the US would keep the military, the nukes, planes, ships, tanks, and all Federal property. There are blue areas in the sunbelt but as a whole I can’t see those states being reformed. Texas is a cancer since it’s been under Republican rule and Florida is pathetically imitating them. The in between states, with the exception of some blue cities are virtually third world states and as backwards as can be.

I mean no offense to the good people of the red states. My issue is with the Republican misrule over those areas and the backwards brainwashing they have subjected their citizens to. I feel deeply for the Democrats and other decent people there. But history has taught us time and again that unless a majority of the people want change it is impossible to force democracy on them. The Republican oligarchs have spent billions of dollars since the 1960’s to reshape this country and to maintain that Confederate mindset in the South. That’s not something that can be undone by electing a Democratic president and a handful of charismatic congressmen and women.

[diggity-didge]

Reassigning the Main Six Ninja Weapons Because I Lowkey Hate Them

The more I watch Ninjago, the more I realize one thing: I hate the weapons assigned to the ninja. Like, LOATHE them.

So, to fix that, here's me reassigning the ninja weapons that fit their element/fighting style/overall vibes more!

Before I start, I will acknowledge that: a) Ninjago is meant to sell toy sets. I get it. The weapons were probably chosen off of what stereotypical ninja weapon looks coolest, and b) that being a Lego restricts what can be made (it’s hard to make Lego gauntlets the size of a minifigure. I get it.), and c) I’m insane and really enjoy the different types of premodern combat weapons the world has to offer and they probably thought people over the age of 11 wouldn’t get quite as invested into Ninjago as I would.

Anyways. Me being a hater outweighs all those disclaimers. This post is a little bit of an essay, so I put everything under the cut.

Cole: I'm starting with Cole because he is, by far, the WORST. He's the reason I made this post.

What screams "rocks, dirt, earth and superstrength" more than a scythe? Just about every other option! In the show, Cole barely even uses his scythe, opting to instead throw hands, which makes so much more sense for someone with SUPERSTRENGTH. Scythes are notoriously not actually weapons and are not good at being a viable weapon. They are hard to inflict damage with due to their limited range and shape of the blade, and the blade can be snapped off with enough force (which Cole has in spades). Piercing an enemy is difficult as the point of a scythe is curved and flat and very small, and very far away from the user so accuracy is also difficult. Big sweeping strikes are not optimal as they are easy to block or evade. If he was the elemental ninja of nature or plants or whatever, he'd get a pass for aesthetics because farmers use scythes.

The solution is to lean into Cole’s strength: strength. Give him gauntlets, like Vi from Arcane or Generator Rex. He's a close range brick shithouse, might as well make him even more of one. Other options for the “boxer on steroids” theme include push daggers (small knives designed for in-between the fingers) or, to really push home the "ninja" bit, give him Chinese deer horn knives.

But, gauntlets aren’t the only weapon associated with feats of strength. To keep with the original scythe having a handle, he could also be given a large hammer or axe, like Amy Rose or Hilda from Fire Emblem: 3 Houses. He’s big and strong and needs something that can handle-and dish out- that same power.

Jay: the second worst offender. He, to me, is the opposite of Cole- the unstoppable force to Cole's immovable object. He is based around speed and long range, and NUNCHAKU ARE ONLY ONE OF THOSE THINGS. It's also very difficult to conduct electricity with such a short weapon, when chain lightning is basically thee lightning attack.

Give him a chain whip (metal is a conductor, after all) or a rope dart. Something that can be thrown far and whipped around (WHIP? LIKE HIT SONG AND NINJAGO THEME WEEKEND WHI-). It’s also a very flashy and eye catching weapon that needs quite a bit of movement and precision to use, and I think it suits Jay’s personality well! He’s a very intelligent character and something that needs precision and maybe even calculations would fit him. Rope darts in particular are, well, as quick as lightning. Speed is his greatest ally, and the wide range and high flexibility allotted to him serves to only make his job easier.

Zane: Shuriken aren’t the worst thing, but they also don’t fit Zane. He's a versatile fighter when it comes to range and never uses his shuriken close-up since they’re typically used as throwing weapons and are too small to really be good at defensive maneuvers.

I would give him either a polearm or chakrams- both weapons that can be either short or long range and take skill to master. (Chakrams are circular blades that originate from India and Southeast Asia that can be thrown or used as hand to hand weapons.) I could also see Zane using throwing knives- once again, they are both long- and short-range weapons that a user can have multiple at a time. In fan art, I usually see him drawn with a bow and arrow (I’m only on season five so I don’t know if he does switch to a bow as his go to weapon), but unless he’s Legolas, if an enemy gets close, he’s cooked.

Lloyd: Lloyd suffers from Specialest Character Syndrome, where the Specialest Character gets the most boring weapon because that’s the most easily identifiable one. He has a katana, which, yeah, cool, he’s a ninja…BORING!! I think he should get Jay’s nunchaku. One of the biggest themes around Lloyd is duality. He’s the green ninja, he’s the golden ninja. He’s so young, but also old after being forcefully aged. He’s a human…but half oni. He’s the son of Garmadon, but the protector of Ninjago, etc. Having a double-grip weapon symbolizes that and allows for enough speed and enough brute strength for him to use effectively. And it’s very ninja.

Kai: Specialest Character Syndrome #2. He’s the Main Guy, and as the Main Guy of a Team, he gets to be red. And have a sword. And have fire powers. It’s just how these things work. It’s cliched, yes, but fire is an interesting element. It’s quick, but devastating. Strong and painful, but not solid.

A sword allows for quick, successive strikes, but also allows for heavy and powerful swings. It’s a good balance, and very unassuming. For someone like Kai, who thought he was the Green Ninja and likes being the center of attention, having such a simple and basic weapon and being forced to learn it’s actually a good choice with a lot of versatility would work. (I can practically hear him complaining: “but, Sensei, even Jay’s weapon is cooler than mine!”) I think he should stick with the sword! There are lots of types depending on the area of the world and time period, so this allows a lot of flexibility.

Nya: I'm not that far into the series so I actually haven't seen her become a ninja and am going off of vibes alone.

Make her spear a trident. Guys. C’mon. It's RIGHT THERE. I think a spear fits the elegant and fluid nature of water, and trident goes with the theme! Yeah, it’s a little obvious, but sometimes you just gotta commit to the bit.

[afledglings-guideto-witchcraft]

Can you PLEASS explain what chakras are and how they've been "westernized"???

The chakra system originated in India between 1500 and 500 BC as part of the Hindu and Buddhist spiritual practices.

"Chakra" means "wheel" or "mystical circle" in Sanskrit, and the earliest found writing of chakras is found in the Vedas, ancient Indian texts of Yoga Philosophy.

"The chakra system is based on the idea that life energy flows through the body and to universe. The chakras are psychoenergetic centers in the body that are thought to connect with this life energy.

The chakra system is used in various healing and spiritual practices, including yoga and Ayurveda. Yoga uses breath and movement to move energy through the chakras, while Ayurveda uses herbal medicine and meditation to open and balance the chakras."

Here's this ask about if auras and chakras are the same thing.

Tldr, they are, and they were introduced into the western world by Charles Webster Leadbeater, who had studied Chakras in India. However, when he popularized chakras to the Western world, he literally reconstructed and reinterpreted them by mixing his own ideas into them and calling it fact.

From Leadbeater, other interpretations of chakras came about; Rudolph Steiner, Edgar Cayce, and more popular than the other two came Christopher Hills' interpretation of Websters interpretations.

In 1977, Christopher Hill wrote a book Nuclear Evolution: The Rainbow Body, which presented a modified version of Leadbeater's occult anatomy. Leadbeater had drawn chakras with intricate designs and multiple colors. Hill presented them as a sequence of centers, each point being associated with a color of the rainbow.

In the 1980s and 1990s, more new age writers based their own writings on their representations of Hill's interpretations of Leadbeater's ideas.

It's kind of like a game of telephone, with one person saying one thing and the rest going by what they hear. As more and more new age books began coming out with different ideas surrounding chakras and auras, they rapidly devolved from their original practice and became ingrained in westernized spirituality.

Many people in witchcraft spaces will often do the same as those before them and interpret chakras as they see fit.

While witchcraft is a custom spiritual practice, unique to everyone who practices, it's a good idea to know where these spiritual practices originated.

At the end of the day, what you do with the information is up to you. At least now you should have a better understanding of how the practice has been westernized.

[juniperpyre]

how does writing james as south asian change his character?

i've seen a few people discussing this recently—how they don't like the hc because no one seems to account for how much this would change his character.

i agree! i write canon james as indian (usually hyderabadi but there's a few fics where i've changed that) but yea it can be difficult to reconcile him as the popular golden boy in 1970s GB with the racism of 1970s GB. not to say anything about the subconscious racism that often comes with this interpretation of his character.

we never really see james. we see him in snape's and voldemort's memories, and in harry's dementor-induced recollections, not in-person.

there are a few character traits we can pull out: arrogant, clever, athletic, loyal, brave, cruel, self-involved. when i think of james potter i try to imagine what an eton boy would be like if he actually took part in self-reflection. these traits connect to him being popular and talented in a way that makes severus jealous.

he's the masculine ideal. james naturally fit into the idea of a what a man "should be", with the exception of his race if you hc him as south asian. men do not have to be kind, they have to be powerful. his rivalry with someone in a lower class—and it should be noted that severus' main rival is james, not sirius—and his subsequent wins cement his class status.

so, severus and james' rivalry. if you take the canon white, half-blood, working class severus and a hc of south asian, pureblood, upper class james, you have tension between these three markers of status.

my impression of GB society is that class operates cross-generationally, in a way it follows genetics. social class in england (and a lot of parts of south asia) was seen as a marker of your inherent status and worth.

so severus is white, but he's got a muggle dad, he's working class, and he's far from the masculine ideal. james is south asian, pureblood and upper class while being the masculine ideal. their dynamic in this context could be seen as either trying to assert their status, though i think it's severus who is consciously doing this. james just sees most people as less than him and sirius.

severus may also be more jealous of james than sirius because he doesn't think james deserves his status, it should be severus who is raised beyond what his birth entitled him to! severus' ideology is blood supremacist, and though he hates sirius at least sirius acting like he's better than severus is par for the course. it's not as embarrassing as james potter's superiority complex.

but, how did james develop a superiority complex in a world that actively oppresses him? the same way me and my bestie did. meeting young, understanding each other, being naturally intelligent, and having no one else who really gets it. prongsfoot 5eva. james even has an advantage neither of us had, being the only child and being spoiled. open your minds. oppressed people can be arrogant assholes.*

but how did he get popular? this is a better question. honestly, i think charisma, money, and the "rebel" aspect of james made him intriguing to a lot of people.

when it comes to integrating the greater world politics of the period, i hc that due to the collaboration of some upper caste families in india during the colonial period (historical fact) there's a fair amount of south asian wizarding families that have middling status. this makes it easier for him to integrate into the hogwarts social sphere.

the social mores of muggleborns and half-bloods who interact with the muggle world would also be impacted by the multiple civil rights movements of the 60s and 70s. generally young people put on a rebellious, progressive veneer, so this melts into general hogwarts society.

all of this to say, i think james fits the social roles of a pureblood man with a "rebellious" edge that is appealing to young people, and if he is south asian part of that edge is because of his race. that's gross! it's realistic, imo. he doesn't deviate too far from acceptable until he joins the anti-fascist militia. i think most of us understand what it means to be the "acceptable other"

i don't think james being south asian weakens his role in the story as the perfect man. that role is deconstructed, and the contrast of james having more social power in the wizarding world and lily having more social power in the muggle world is interesting to me.

tbh, i've been hc james this way since i was a teenager and didn't think it out until the last few years. i really like the hc but i needed it to make sense to engage with the canon in a complex way.

*this is a joke. i understand that this is complicated and discrimination will always have an impact. i just also think a lot of you see oppressed ppl (esp. poc since this is such a white fandom**) as pure angels and it's weird. most of the ppl making the initial argument at the top of the post are NOT being weird about it

**i am a white american so take what you want from that

[jewellery-box]

Robe à la Française

French, ca. 1770

The robe à la française, with open robe and petticoat, was the quintessential dress of the eighteenth century. Characteristic of 1770s costume are the piece's low neckline, fitted bodice, narrow sleeves with double layered cuffs, as well as the sack back and fullness at the hips supported by panniers. This exquisite example is constructed from a rare Chinese export silk dating from the first quarter of the eighteenth century. The textile is an ivory "bizarre" patterned damask (created by reversing the weave structure so that both the warp-float and weft-float faces of the satin are on the same surface).

As early as the late sixteenth century, Chinese craftsmen created silks for the European market, which were exported by the East India companies of England, France, and Holland. Due to the exchange of design motifs by both Eastern and Western artisans, Chinese export silks often bore little relation to traditional Chinese aesthetics. While this patterned damask closely resembles the European "bizarre" silks popular during the first quarter of the eighteenth century, the selvedge-to-selvedge width, fabric weight, and selvedge markings all indicate Chinese manufacture. To fully appreciate the sumptuousness of this dress, one might imagine the sense of movement candlelight would have created across its surface.

The MET Museum

[read-write-thrive]

part 1 (both girls in their full outfits) ; part 2 (Edwina in several other outfits/sketches) ; part 3 (the companion to this piece aka Edwina getting ready :)

part 4 of my fem!payneland fanart series!!!! as I talked about with the poll, I have quite a few variations of this piece as I couldn’t make up my mind on a few of the elements, but I listened to your feedback and have included them all here !! the winner of the poll is above the cut with the rest of the variations below to hopefully make this not take up too much of your dash lol

lmk what you think - especially people who voted on the poll!! I’ve also included my thought process below the cut since I know y’all are interested :)

- first and foremost: I have absolutely no idea what order someone would get ready in with all these outfit components, so if you’re sitting here like “why is her makeup done when she has to pull a shirt over her head?” or something like that: you’re probably correct but my getting ready process is always chaos and there aren’t exactly articles on this sort of thing

- along with that: her straightening her hair is probably not accurate to how hair works but again I’ve got v little experience to pull from and trying to find a proper reference was a pain in the ass

yes her bra is fully rendered and then got covered up by her arm. I'm still mad that I did that to myself but I like the pose too much to change it so oh well

- (onto actual historical stuff!!)

- her hair is being straightened here despite straight not being in style during this era for several reasons:

1. I based her hair (and a lot of her style, as per part 1) on Rhoda Dakar of the band The Bodysnatchers, which was an all-female band that was part of the ska revival in the late 70s/early 80s. Rhoda Dakar in particular is a British artist (who’s still making music!) with an English mother and Jamaican father—so not only was she one of the only women of color I could find as part of this subgenre/in ths era/with plenty of photo references, but considering Jayden Revri is Jamaican and English (alongside Indian) himself I thought it was fitting! Her Bodysnatchers look is also much more femme leaning than the rest of the band, as well as her hair styled in a way that suggests straightening, so I carried that over to Charlotte here as well.

2. On a related note, there is a clear historical and modern difference in hairstyles worn/made popular/deemed fashionable by non-white versus white individuals and I thought it only appropriate to acknowledge that in my design of her. I even went so far as to research how her mom’s hair may have been styled since I assume that’s who would’ve been teaching her how to care for her hair in the first place. With that, I looked at popular Indian hair trends from the 60s (figuring that’s when Charlotte’s mom could’ve still been in India and following those trends) which also involved a preference for straight/wavy hair, with soft fringe made popular by Sadhana and the styles ranging from long and luscious to styled up into a very 60s beehive. Charlotte could easily also rock a beehive, especially since the 60s revival was a part of the ska revival movement and Dakar herself styled her hair as such, but I figured Charlotte is a little too much of a rebellious teenager to go for a look she’s seen her mom wear!

- her makeup is based off of the different members of The Bodysnatchers as well as other punk/ska fans at the time. The look usually required more blush that what I gave her here, but I wanted to make sure the eyes were the feature (since Charles wears eyeliner himself) and then the lips being any less just looked weird to me. Also, Dakar doesn't seem to wear the same heavy blush that the other members do, which could be a stylistic choice but could also be the potential lack of blush shades that would work well on her skin tone, so I went that route for Charlotte here

- her underwear is all based off of meticulous searching of historical advertisements, though I will admit the sources are (presumably) American since I couldn't find British equivalents (I'm hoping the styles were similar enough...) in particular:

1. Her bra is based off of: Playtex’s New Made for Me, Playtex’s Right For Me, and Playtex’s Thank Goodness It Fits (which are seriously the names of these as per the ads—how creative /s)

2. Her panties (or pants or underwear or whatever term you want to use) are based off of: Sears Best’s Nylon tricot panties, Sears Very Impressive Panties Nylon panties, and JCPenny’s eiderlon fashion panties

3. (In the below variations) Her pantyhose are theoretically based on L’eggs and Spirit by Stevens’s Slim & Slender pantyhose. But, honestly, they’re mostly based on my own experience wearing hose bc almost none of the ads showed how the gusset of the pantyhose actually looked so I needed to fill in the gaps (one of the many reasons I’m still unhappy with them—plus the wrinkles would not look right no matter what I did !!)

4. Her socks are called slouch socks! I don’t have a specific brand for them but the style was all the rage in the 80s-90s (and I want to own some so bad ngl)

- the hair straightener is just a blob based on the reference photo since trying to research historical hair tools was beyond me at the time apparently, but the style of outlet/plug is accurate to Britain in 1989 so there’s that at least (I have no idea why my brain works like this)

- since I talked about it in the poll I feel like I should address it here: technically having a bush was well out of fashion by 1989 due to the grooming boom and new types of hair removal popular throughout the 80s and 90s. However, she’s wearing multiple layers over it and is technically a teenager (in an abusive household and a catholic all-girls school, at that) so I kept going back and forth on it. It won the poll so it’s in the main post, but you’ll see in the below variations that I really went back and forth on it. that being said I do think it’s interesting given her nylon pants being semi-sheer besides at the gusset, so I’m not mad at it. plus I figured she was definitely shaving her legs/underarms, so maybe that balances it out ?

and finally here’s the other seven variations of this piece :) lmk what you think!!

[literary-illuminati]

2024 Book Review #27 – From the Ruins of Empire: The Revolt Against the West and the Remaking of Asia by Pankaj Mishra

Yet another work of nonfiction I picked up because an intriguing-sounding quote from it went viral on tumblr. This was the fifth history book I’ve read this year, but the first that tries very consciously to be an intellectual history. Both an interesting and a frustrating read – my overall opinion went back and forth a few times both as I read and as I put together this review.

The book is ostensibly a history of Asia’s intellectual response to European empire’s sudden military and economic superiority and political imperialism in the 19th and 20th centuries, though it’s focus and sympathy is overwhelmingly with what it calls ‘middle ground’ responses (i.e. neither reactionary traditionalism nor unthinking westernization). It structures this as basically a series of biographies of notable intellectual figures from the Islamic World, China and India from throughout the mid-late 19th and early 20th centuries - Liang Qichao and Jamal al-Din al-Afghani get star bidding and by far the most focus, with Rabindranath Tagore a distant third and a whole scattering of more famous personages further below him.

The central thesis of the book is essentially that the initial response of most rich, ancient Asian societies to sudden European dominance (rung in by the Napoleonic occupation of Egypt and the British colonization of India) was denial, followed (once European guns and manufactured goods made this untenable) by a deep sense of inferiority and humiliation. This sense of inferiority often resulted in attempts by ruling elites and intellectuals to abandon their own traditions and westernize wholesale (the Ottoman Tanzimat reforms, the New Culture Movement in China, etc), but at the same time different intellectual currents responded to the crisis by synthesizing their own visions of modernity, and tried to construct a new world with a centre other than the West.

I will be honest, my first and most fundamental issue with this book is that I just wish it was something it wasn’t. Which is to say, it is a resolutely intellectual and idealist history, convinced of the power of ideas and rhetoric as the engine for changing the world. Which means that the biography of one itinerant revolutionary is exhaustively followed so as to trace the evolution of his world-historically important thoughts, but the reason the Tanzimat Reforms failed is just brushed aside as having something to do with europhile bureaucrats building opera houses in Istanbul. Not at all hyperbole to say I’d really rather it was actually the exact opposite – the latter is just a much more interesting subject!

Not that the biographies aren’t interesting! They very much are, and do an excellent job of getting across just how interconnected the non-Western (well, largely Islamic and to a lesser extent Sino-Pacific) world was in the early/mid-19th century, and even moreso how late 19th/early 20th century globalization was not at all solely a western affair. They’re also just fascinating in their own right, the personalities are larger than life and the archetype of the globe-trotting polyglot intelligentsia is one I’ve always found very compelling. While I complain about the lack of detail, the book does at least acknowledge the social and economic disruptions that even purely economic colonialism created, and the impoverishment that created the social base the book’s subjects would eventually try to arouse and organize. And, even if I wish they were all dug into in far more detail, the book’s narrative is absolutely full of fascinating anecdotes and episodes I want to read about in more detail now.

Which is a problem with the book that it’s probably fairer to hold against it – it’s ostensible subject matter could fill libraries, and so to fit what it wants to into a readable 400-page volume, it condenses, focuses, filters and simplifies to the point of myopia. Which, granted, is the stereotypical historian’s complaint about absolutely anything that generalizes beyond the level of an individual village or commune, but still.

This isn’t at all helped but the overriding sense that this was a book that started with the conclusion and then went back looking for evidence to support its thesis and create a narrative. Which is a shame, because the section on the post-war and post-decolonization world is by far the sloppiest and least convincing, in large part because you can feel the friction of the author trying to make their thesis fit around the obvious objections to it.

Which is to say, the book draws a line on the evolution of Asian thought through trying to westernize/industrialize/nationalize and compete with the west on it’s own terms (in the book’s view) a more authentic and healthy view that rejects the western ideals of materialism and nationalism into something more spiritual, humane, and cosmopolitan, with Gandhi kind of the exemplar of this kind of view. It tries to portray this anti-materialistic worldview as the ideology of the future, the natural belief system of Asia which Europe and America can hope to learn from. It then, ah, lets say struggles to to find practical evidence of this in modern politics or economics, lets say (the Islamic Republic of Iran and Edrogan’s Turkey being the closest). It is also very insistent that ‘westernization’ is a false god that can never work, which is an entirely reasonable viewpoint to defend but if you are then you really gotta remember that Japan/South Korea/Taiwan like, exist while going through all the more obvious failures. One is rather left feeling that Mishra is trying to speak an intellectual hegemony into existence, here. (The constant equivocation and discomfort when bringing up socialism – the materialistic western export par excellence, but also perhaps somewhat important in 20th century Asian intellectual life – also just got aggravating).

It’s somewhere between interesting and bleakly amusing that modernity and liberal democracy have apparently been discredited and ideologically exhausted for more than one hundred years now! Truly we are ruled by the ideals of the dead.

I could honestly complain about the last chapter at length – the characterization of Islam as somehow more deeply woven in and inextricable from Muslim societies than any other religion and the resultant implicit characterization of secular government as necessarily western intellectual colonialism is a big one – but it really is only a small portion of the book, so I’ll restrain myself. Though the casual mention of the failures of secular and socialist post-colonial nation-building projects always just reminds me of reading The Jakarta Method and makes me sad.

So yeah! I felt significantly more positively about the book before I sat down and actually organized my thoughts about it. Not really sure how to take that.

[iismmumbai]

Barriers to pursue Sports as a Mainstream Career-SAI RC Mumbai-Panel Discussion-IISM Mumbai

Sports Authority of India, Regional Centre Mumbai, is organizing a Y-20 Panel Discussion at IISM, Mumbai, on 29th May 2023, from 10 a.m. onwards.

Topic of Panel discussion: "Barriers to pursue Sports as a Mainstream Career." The panel discussion intends to reach the greatest number of youngsters and provide a lively and energetic debate on the same.

Join us for the panel discussion and stay tuned to learn more about our esteemed panelists from the sports background.

International Institute of Sports & Management-IISM

[eatmangoesnekkid]

Even if you are celibate, you want to still have access to arousal in your body instead of numbed out. You still want to have connection to your orgasmic range as well. I also know it's tender thing too because we weren't necessarily taught to think of arousal or orgasm beyond being in relationship to men or a lover. That's the huge shadow I'm seeing buried in the female psyche that hinders us in accessing deeper mysteries. We are literally the only mammal on the planet who has an organ whose sole function is pleasure: the clitoris. I want to be pristinely clear though that when I speak about "arousal" or "orgasmic range," I'm not necessarily talking about sex with a lover. I am, however, speaking the primal truth of the divine nature of a healthy female body and how it functions best--with orgasmic arousal energy flowing throughout from root to crown, whether due to seeing a stunning sunset over the wild horizons of South Africa, feeling the seat of the machine move deeper into your body while doing seated calf raises at the gym, or taking your time while making sourdough bread or incredible love with your Beloved lover. What's important to emphasize is that when you have high arousal or a large orgasmic capacity, you also have an enlarged amount of creative energy. Even if you are celibate, you have to transmute this energy beyond chronically masturbating, moving it up your spine and turning it into spiritual energy to manifest the most incredible ideas, next step directions, and advanced intuition. With celibacy, a movement practice is essential so that your energy doesn't pool or become too dense or heavy. And masturbation is fine, but too much masturbation drains your chi. You need art, hobbies, skills like learning a new language, fitness, creative projects, entrepeneurship, music, dance lessons, and the like. -India Ame'ye, Author

[octuscle]

What's up bro? After that lunar landing, India seems like the place to be! Problem is, I don't think the suitcase I brought will be enough for me to last seeing everything from the Taj Mahal to the golden temple. Can I borrow one of the DEL suitcases?

There is actually another suitcase. A fairly new aluminum suitcase from RIMOWA. Looks very expensive. And doesn't necessarily match your dusty and sweaty tourist outfit…. But since no one else has contacted me: Have fun with it!

Delhi… A really huge city. But also really challenging for a tourist who doesn't speak Hindi. But slowly you get used to the strange English they speak here. And somehow you finally find the Airbnb in the old city, a stone's throw from the Red Fort. It smells of sweat, urine and exotic spices in the stairwell. The stairs are steep and you are pretty tired. Heaving your suitcases up is really exhausting. But you have made it. You'll see what's in the big new suitcase tomorrow. You just want to sleep. It looks like the bed in the room hasn't even been made yet. You don't care about that now. Just sleep…

When you wake up the next morning, your old suitcase is gone. But also your old pajamas are gone. You lie naked in bed. And something is different… Your morning wood is hard as steel. Hehehehe, that's not bad… But it's also darker somehow. A shade like a coffee with a shot of milk. Coffee! Yes, you need it now. You get out of the silk-sheeted bed and your boner leads you like a divining rod to the coffee maker in the alcove between your dressing room and the master bath. After the first coffee, quickly take a shower and then get dressed.

And then a second coffee. Your driver will be here soon. Good thing your suitcase is already packed next to you.

You don't like Noida. But many of your friends live there because they have located their startup companies there and it is easier to find capable software developers. But that's not your world either. Your family made their money generations ago in real estate and in the textile industry. And you now head the banking and finance division in your family holding company. After all, you have financed some of your friends' startups. And today one of your friends is getting married. In Noida. You'll survive that, too.

The journey was long, as usual. Getting out of Delhi takes time. But at least you were able to make a number of phone calls while your driver navigated the car safely through the traffic chaos. Now you have moved into your suite. In the corridor hectic movements between the rooms. Bridesmaids and other guests scurry from room to room. You hate this hassle. In life, you would never think of getting married. But the bellboy who carried your suitcase upstairs was hot. You call the front desk and ask for someone to help you unpack your luggage and get dressed. The hotel is one of the most preferred locations for weddings in Noida. You are a regular guest here. They know your preferences. And the bellboys love your cock. You can already imagine that now there will be a fight again, who is allowed to blow you and gets the tip for it.

Yes, that was good… Your cock dangles relaxed between your legs. Your clothes fit perfectly. So on to the ballroom. And let's see who is your boring dinner companion this time.

[hobiebrownismygod]

Headcanon: Pavitr knows Kalaripayattu and uses it when he fights

History:

Kalaripayattu is an ancient form of martial arts that was specifically designed for the battlefield. It originated in a state named Kerala, in South-western India and is actually fairly similar to Kung-Fu.

In the 13th-16th century, Kalaripayattu was a way of life in Kerala, believed to have been often taught to children as customary training. However, after the British Invasion and imperialism of India, Britain set laws in place to quell any possibility of Indian rebellion, preventing people from practicing or training in this martial art form. After this, it was only taught and practiced in very rural areas in order to avoid confrontation with the law.

Eventually, in the 1920s, it was revived and during a period of traditional rediscovery. There was a rise in the number of Kalaripayattu schools and Kalaripayattu presentations gained a lot of popularity. Now, although still not as well-known as many of the other Asian martial arts, it is a widely-known martial art form in South India and practiced by many.

It is also believed to be the oldest surviving martial art in the world, with a history spanning over 3000 years.

Style:

Like most martial arts, Kalaripayattu focuses on mind over body. Having complete control over your mind is essential to being able to succeed in mastering this art.

Ashtha Vadivu are 8 poses derived from the instinctual movements of wild animals, poses that were designed to make your body more flexible and powerful. They also help the student develop balance and stability.

Maithari are 18 different exercises practiced to achieve peak physical fitness and heightened reflexes. By practicing these, one can strengthen their body and their mind in order to be able to properly participate in combat situations.

Kalaripayattu also involves the usage of different kinds of weapons. Spears, swords and shields are all used, along with maces and really any weapon that can slash, stab or cut. Special wooden whips, knives and staffs can also be used.

This is an example of a Kalaripayattu tournament!

Headcanon:

In the comics, Pavitr was often bullied because of the fact that he came from a small town and wore different clothes than the other boys in Mumbattan. He was given his powers by an ancient Yogi, gaining the magical powers of a spider.

Because Kalaripayattu is very spiritual and based off the religious myths, it would make sense for Pavitr to incorporate it into his fighting style! I think he would've learned it prior in order to protect himself from his bullies, and eventually began to use it when he fought villains as Spider-man as well.

Its a lethal fighting style with weapons, but in hand-to-hand combat, wouldn't be as deadly so it would make sense for Pavitr to use it when he fights, in order to defend himself or strike his enemies.

Just random thoughts <3

Sources below the cut!

[nateconnolly]

Two styles of narration dominate the field of history: progress and alteration. These are two ways of describing change. Progress narratives and alteration narratives are mutually exclusive. The first tells the story of the past as a movement, or “progress” toward some ultimate end. Alteration narratives do not analyze the arc of history as movement toward any destination.  An “ideology of progress” (Chakrabarty 7) posits that humans and events move toward a teleological endpoint. Progress narratives are defined by their implicit or explicit assumption that history is a process of development. They are “stagist” (Chakrabarty 9) because their stories of history proceed in delineated stages. In this type of model, societies and/or Society grows in the same way that child becomes an adult. Humanity has a “Youth” and will have an “Old Age” (Nietzsche 30). The growth never ceases — every action, every accident, makes “the world… more complete” (Nietzsche 6). The world moves closer to “its end in every moment” (Nietzsche 6). That end is a moral, religious, or cultural completion. Progress narratives declare that all nations or cultures begin incomplete, and that they will — they must — become complete over time. History, in these models, is the journey toward the End.  Progress narratives are as diverse as they are plentiful. Marxism posits that societies and/or the globe as a whole move toward the Communist state. Social Darwinianism directly compares historical changes to the evolutionary concept of fitness. Colonialist ideology is based on the assumption that societies undergo a process of “development and civilization” (Chakrabarty 8). One such colonial philosopher is Mill, who believed “[humans] were all headed for the same destination,” and that India had to become like Europe (Chakrabarty 8). Schiller describes the end as “a harmonious totality” (Nietzsche 24). Note that there is not a shared endpoint in all progress narratives. Nietzsche writes that the endpoint of a progress narrative could be “happiness, resignation, virtue or repentance” (6). Sometimes, two progress narratives directly contradict each other. Marx’s ideal endpoint is a secular, atheistic state; Mill’s colonialism is fundamentally religious. But they share their belief in a “shape” of history that bends in service of a great good.  On the other hand, alteration narratives accept that human societies change, but do not assume that this change is a form of evolution. They do “not entail any necessary assumptions of teleology” (Chakrabarty 23). While it is true that societies are always “developing” (Chakrabarty 23), there is no universal endpoint toward which they must move. Alteration narratives do not only dispute that society must move toward this or that end. They dispute that society must move toward any ideal at all. The alteration from one organization of society to another is always “secular, empty, and homogenous,” according to Walter Benjamin (Chakrabarty 23). 

You can read the rest on Substack: