blockquote>38 · Manju said

33 · Ikram said

his (gori) wife is a lawyer

hopefully she’s not blonde. if she’s italian maybe we can try to pass her off. pull a sonia gandhi or something.

Growl.

But, ok, then, where should I be?

as long as your political stand is clear to yourself, rob, stand alone. you don’t need to join any group. you, of all people, know that the results of private effort can far exceed the efforts of any political party. i understand your frustration with the desi left. ok, but then why join the desi right? as far as economic development goes, these parties (ie congress+allies) have liberalized when india’s foreign reserves were empty, they couldn’t service our outstanding loans. pretty much all govts. have continued to liberalize, there is no other option. there are some projects where politicians need to backtrack because of bad publicity, but c’mon even the US right supported bail-outs when it had to. you want to make a difference? find a good project to which you can donate your hard-earned money. sponsor a scholarship. look up the barefoot schools. give money to a reputable microcredit organization. there are some neat infosys sponsored environmental/infrastructure thinktanks that operate out of bangalore. support VCs who make great projects happen in india. build a library. buy from rural craftpeople. collect indian art. give money to an army welfare organization. there is so much productive stuff happening and so many good people who need your assistance. i once recalled telling you how VHP was actually anti-market a while ago (i worked hard one time on a comment i wrote about anti-liberalization/anti-free trade hindu groups, including VHP (c. 1990s); don’t know if you read it). ok, vivekananda is gifted in many ways (incidentally, my dad is a huge fan; he made a large pen-and-ink portrait of v.n. which still hangs in our house ), but i don’t see him endorsing what goes on with VHP et al. and no, all hindu organizations are not fascist, but some definitely show anti-democratic and anti-liberal (classical liberalism) tendencies.

Hey–I don’t swill! But, ok, then, where should I be? My main objection is to the attack on any sort of Vivekananda-esque pro-Hindu group as being Fascists–I really dislike what the Left has done to Bharat–and, my parents wouldn’t say this, but–please–this is why they left. They got a top-notch education in India–they left for economic opportunity, no (i.e., not allowed to flourish by the Left)? I don’t get along with my relatives in India anymore (my grandparents were awesome, but the aunties and uncles–puuuhlleeeze!), so, again, I’m a bad guy? I think not–I’m more into South Asia than most–I’m cooling my heels in Galle when I need a break from NYC.

We are multitudinous!

send a letter to VHP chief. Tell them you, a member of VHP (a), see nothing wrong with non-Hindus eating beef, and that they should allow butcher shops to sell beef in India, and not ask for bans on cow slaughter. Treat this as a test-case to see if VHP is that accommodating of classical liberalism (the political philosophy, not in the leftist sense). Let me know what happens after. Given your political views, I assume you’re for reasonable autonomy for all.

the truth, rob, is that you would not be hanging out with these people in india. they won’t see eye-to-eye with your cristal-swilling-clubbing lifestyle. they are not for heterogeneity, and your version of a rainbow VHP is misguided. yes, there are a variety of opinions among them, but there’s definitely an end to that spectrum. and were you in india, you would definitely not be included in it. and i’m saying this with an entirely respectful stance.

and please don’t let the VHP/VHP(A) distinction be your fig-leaf.

-portmanteau

where that means most Hindus.

so most hindus believe in exorcisms? that’s news to me. exorcisms are defintely not considered a mainstream ritual practice (usually considered quite distasteful or for the very poor who can’t access any medical care or the very last resort for those maladies aren’t cured by any other means, and who are desparate enough to try anything). i have no expertise on nepalese hinduism, and neither on the region you seem to be referring to where “most hindus” seem to practice exorcisms.

Woot! Welcome back, Melbourne Desi!