Mainstream, Jun 8, 2024
Mainstream BOOKS: IMAGE & SOUND: Editors Picks:
Month: June 2024
Indian politics heads towards normalcy
Bharat Bhushan The 2024 general elections will be remembered for returning Indian politics to normal. As he prepares to lead a coalition government, Prime Minister Narendra Modi will now be forced to listen to both the Parliamentary Opposition for whom he has shown nothing but disdain, and regional parties whom he had specially targeted. He… Read More Indian politics heads towards normalcy
Rushdie, Khomeini and Me
NB: This is a fascinating account of one of the most deadly confrontations of modern times. I learned from it that Ayatollah Khomeini was less interested in religious orthodoxy than in seizing absolute power and cutting down moderate clerics to size, and used the book to assert his authority; that Rushdie’s assailant Hadi Matar, 26,… Read More Rushdie, Khomeini and Me
Society of the Spectacle
The spectacle is the guardian of sleep: Guy Debord # 136 The monotheistic religions were a compromise between myth and history, between the cyclical time that still governed the sphere of production and the irreversible time that was the theater of conflicts and regroupings among different peoples. The religions that evolved out of Judaism were… Read More Society of the Spectacle
मोदी – शाह तानाशाही पर सबसे सार्थक टिप्पणी
गुनाह करके कहाँ जाओगे ग़ालिब // ये जमीं और आसमां सब उसी का है Mayur Jani, 4 PM News Gujarat: एक अकेले की हवा निकल गई, अब उन पर ही भारी पड़ेंगे उनके सहयोगी ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Ravish Kumar: आपके पास सत्ता है पर ताकत नहीं.. बहुतों को डराया जा सकता है.. उस डर का आप क्या… Read More मोदी – शाह तानाशाही पर सबसे सार्थक टिप्पणी
The Unbearable Pathos of Thomas Mann
By Morten Høi Jensen – March 25, 2016 IN THE MAGIC MOUNTAIN, Thomas Mann’s great novel of 1924, a young man travels to a sanatorium in the Swiss Alps intending to visit his tubercular cousin for three weeks but ends up staying seven years. Among many other experiences “up there,” the young Hans Castorp becomes audience to… Read More The Unbearable Pathos of Thomas Mann
Entire Mainstream Media Spoke as BJP Spokesperson: Yogendra Yadav
NB: Never a truer word has been spoken about India’s mainstream media under the BJP/RSS government. The question is why? Fear and intimidation and blackmail in some cases, yes; but can everyone be bought or scared? Clearly not, as the independent YouTube channels have persisted in critical reporting. But if powerful corporate owners can force… Read More Entire Mainstream Media Spoke as BJP Spokesperson: Yogendra Yadav
Ex-Arunachal CM’s Explosive Suicide Note that the government refused to probe (2017)
NB: The systematic destruction of India’s criminal justice system is something that few bother to investigate. As a result we carry on as if nothing has happened. Mass carnage, rampant corruption, disappearance of witnesses, the mysterious death of a judge siting on a crucial case, death in custody of an 84 year old priest with… Read More Ex-Arunachal CM’s Explosive Suicide Note that the government refused to probe (2017)
Unsolicited thoughts from an elder citizen
Questions, observations, suggestions. The addressees should be able to recognise themselves अहंकार व्यक्ति के अज्ञान और मूर्खता का परिचायक है : गीता (३ / २७) The spectacle is the guardian of sleep: Guy Debord Good is self-existent, evil is not. It is like a parasite living in and around good. It will die of itself when… Read More Unsolicited thoughts from an elder citizen
Seven Reasons Why Modi Has No Moral or Political Right to Head the Next Government
Narendra Modi and the BJP fought this election in only his name. The lack of majority, then, should come down to him. Ashutosh Bhardwaj One can call it a Surya-Tilak in Ayodhya. The rejection of temple politics, it’s a telegram from Uttar Pradesh to the Varanasi MP. The state that gifted him the Delhi throne… Read More Seven Reasons Why Modi Has No Moral or Political Right to Head the Next Government
After the truth-shower 