NB: World War Two began in Europe between September 1, 1939, when Nazi Germany invaded Poland; and September 3, when Britain and France declared war on Germany. For China, the war began on September 18, 1931, when Japan invaded Manchuria and set up the puppet kingdom of Manchukuo. The Outbreak Of World War II A full-scale Japanese… Read More The Second World War
I know he had unusual eyesWhose powers no orders could determineNot to mistake the men he sawAs others did, for gods or vermin (Thomas Gunn, on a German soldier who risked his life to save Jews from deportation to the camps. Cited by Terry Eagleton, in Ideology, Verso, 1991, 2007; p xxii). What persuades men… Read More Evil
First posted September 6, 2013 The edge of oblivion – by Dilip Simeon(The Tribune Sept 6, 2013) The primitive mind is, in the fullest meaning of the word, imperishable: Sigmund Freud, 1915 The choice today is no longer between violence and nonviolence. It is either nonviolence or nonexistence: Martin Luther King, 1958 Do the tense thoughts of… Read More The edge of oblivion
First posted December 5, 2011 By Dilip Simeon; published in Bruised Memories: Communal Violence and the Writer, by Tarun Saint (ed), Seagull Books, Calcutta, 2002 Early in the year of grace 1988 certain (dis)reputable members of the academic community in the University of Delhi organized a public address on an unspeakable subject by a reluctant speaker in an… Read More Venue for a Speech on Tamas: A Chronicle of an Event That Should Never Have Happened
My article in The Hindustan Times, 6 December 2000. (For those who may not know it, this date is the anniversary of the destruction of the Babri Masjid) In the year of grace 1989, I visited the Wagah border [India Pakistan Border] with a friend. It was evening, time for the lowering of flags, for the BSF and Pakistan… Read More A WHITE LINE AND A MOSQUE (December 2000)
NB: The title of my WordPress blog ‘After the truth shower’ originates in this poem, which was written one evening in 2010. I posted it on Blogger on October 12, 2012, after unsuccessfully attempting to publish it. It was written for my close friend Rabindra Ray (Lalloo), who passed away in January 2019. Here it… Read More My friend
NB: I first posted this remembrance of my schooldays in 2018 (it was written in 2008). I dedicate it to my late parents as well as to all my schoolmates, especially those, like my friend Umang, who are no more. Salute! Dilip From Recess: The Penguin Book of Schooldays Palash Mehrotra (ed); New Delhi, 2008 This is… Read More Of Bagpipes, Horses and Golden Orioles (2008)
NB: Amidst all the flames of outrage, let me add a small reminder taken from daily life: it is not merely the speaking of factual data that counts, what counts more is the manner of speech, the way in which we speak what we think is the truth. In all religious traditions, there are theories… Read More Bharat Bhushan: New Bharatiya Janata Party's troubled road ahead / Sickular Libtard: Nupurgate and after
NB: Our honourable senior judges may kindly let us know if they have totally abandoned their constitutional duty to exercise oversight on the actions of the executive. In face of their silence, may we assume that this kind of hooliganism by the Yogi government will be allowed to continue with impunity? Should we also assume… Read More Totally illegal, says ex-CJ of Allahabad High Court; bulldozer cases in limbo / Owaisi's questions for Yogi govt
NB: Beneath this link are two comments I made in response to articles published in Scheerpost about the Russo-Ukraine war. One comment has appeared, the second not yet. DS Wars aren’t civilized. The very definition of war includes death and cruelty, and everyone who dies has loved ones who mourn them. But some wars are… Read More Jason Fields: Putin's brutal record in Chechnya and Syria is ominous for Ukraine / My comments on Vladimir Putin's apologists
After the truth-shower 