Monday, August 31, 2009
"Chandrayaan-1 is dead, long live Chandrayaan"
The ISRO has formally announced 'loss' of India's maiden and ambitious Lunar Mission Chandrayaan-1. However, all is not gloomy about this. Considering many firsts it achieved by its launch itself and the probe which landed India's flag on moon, we should be proud of what it achieved. Add to it the fact that it was completed without any overrun of cost or time which is achievement in itself considering India's past record. May be we were over-ambitious with this project but then this is something which I am saying with benefit of hindsight. Only when final scientific report is out can we be sure of the causes. The ISRO team has done great job in this mission and expectations are high for the next mission in Chandrayaan-2. Lets hope that it turns out to be complete success. Amen.
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
Jinnah and the Pseudo Secularists
Last few days we have seen a huge interest in media about Jinnah. This interest has been triggered because of the contents of a book written by Jaswant Singh, who used to be a prominent leader of the BJP which is seen as the right wing party of India.
I am surprised at two things: first, why did Jaswant Singh is so eloquent in praise of Jinnah. I am not talking of his book because I have not read it but of his interviews. Second, why some sections of media are hell bent upon showing Jinnah as a moderate Muslim who was secular and would have never approved of the atrocities meted out to minorities in Pakistan.
Of many ghettos surrounding the Muslim community in India one is that they admire Jinnah or for that matter Pervez Musharraf. Do you remember that Bus during 2004 elections with painting of Vajpayee and Musharraf on it? That was also the time when we had uproar over Advani's remark on Jinnah. This was ostensibly done to win good will of Indian Muslims for the BJP. What happened in that election is history now. My personal experience (because I had interactions with a lot of Muslims in my school days and with some in college days) is that there is no admiration for Jinnah in majority of Muslims. But people like Jaswant Singh think otherwise. And for the second thing I will say so called 'liberals' or more appropriately the 'pseudo secularists' of India think that they are being progressive by showing Jinnah in 'true' light. I want to know if Jinnah did only one thing wrong in instigating partition riots and so is a secularist because of of what he did rest of his life why do this same section castigates Narendra Modi? Mr. Modi has done nothing wrong other than not controlling Gujarat riots. Is he a secularist?
I am surprised at two things: first, why did Jaswant Singh is so eloquent in praise of Jinnah. I am not talking of his book because I have not read it but of his interviews. Second, why some sections of media are hell bent upon showing Jinnah as a moderate Muslim who was secular and would have never approved of the atrocities meted out to minorities in Pakistan.
Of many ghettos surrounding the Muslim community in India one is that they admire Jinnah or for that matter Pervez Musharraf. Do you remember that Bus during 2004 elections with painting of Vajpayee and Musharraf on it? That was also the time when we had uproar over Advani's remark on Jinnah. This was ostensibly done to win good will of Indian Muslims for the BJP. What happened in that election is history now. My personal experience (because I had interactions with a lot of Muslims in my school days and with some in college days) is that there is no admiration for Jinnah in majority of Muslims. But people like Jaswant Singh think otherwise. And for the second thing I will say so called 'liberals' or more appropriately the 'pseudo secularists' of India think that they are being progressive by showing Jinnah in 'true' light. I want to know if Jinnah did only one thing wrong in instigating partition riots and so is a secularist because of of what he did rest of his life why do this same section castigates Narendra Modi? Mr. Modi has done nothing wrong other than not controlling Gujarat riots. Is he a secularist?
Saturday, August 15, 2009
The Great Indian Hype about Swine Flu
I wanted to write about this for quite sometime but found ignition in this article of Soutik Biswas. He talks about the attention swine flu is receiving these days in the Indian media. It is very scary to watch or read media reports about this 'epidemic'. Soutik Biswas also mentions the case of 1145 people infected of Japanese Encephalitis in Uttar Pradesh of which about 300 succumbed to this dreaded disease. Do you remember the attention given to this disease? No because as Soutik puts it "Apart from its name, there was nothing remotely global about this outbreak".
In a way it is good that media is making people aware of this disease but it is more terrifying rather than informative. An image in the same article shows masked girls sweating out in a gym. This is ludicrous if you ask any physio about it. One should be careful but not be intimidated by this disease. And why is it that media never gives same attention to other diseases which claim a lot more lives every year. Malaria, typhoid, tuberculosis require much more attention than swine flu. Are we in an age where even ailments are glamorized?
In a way it is good that media is making people aware of this disease but it is more terrifying rather than informative. An image in the same article shows masked girls sweating out in a gym. This is ludicrous if you ask any physio about it. One should be careful but not be intimidated by this disease. And why is it that media never gives same attention to other diseases which claim a lot more lives every year. Malaria, typhoid, tuberculosis require much more attention than swine flu. Are we in an age where even ailments are glamorized?
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