Doosri Nazar ... My Perspective

You’ve seen these pictures before - email forwards, blogs, facebook! Here is a chance to see them live! U.S. Consulate General Hyderabad in association with the Sarojini Naidu School of Performing Arts, Fine Arts and Communication, University of Hyderabad bring to you American street painter Tracy Lee Stum. She is best known for her spectacular 3D anamorphic and interactive street paintings. Come, watch her paint and learn more about this fascinating artist. November 16-18, 2009, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. at DST Auditorium forecourt, University of Hyderabad. To know more about Tracy visit her website http://www.tracyleestum.com/ ( All pictures from Tracy Lee Stum's website)

As the ‘Great Indian Election Jamboree 2009’ draws to a close and everyone waits with bated breath for the results to come out on May 16, 2009, poll analysts are working overtime to analyze who voted for whom and who will come out trumps. From politicians, political parties and their supporters to the ubiquitous media crews, it has been a tough two months for everyone involved. Campaign tours have been rhetorically charged. On several occasions it was difficult to say what was generating more heat – the election speeches or the torrid summer! As the decibel levels at election rallies and television studios increased, one question that everyone was asking was “who would the Indian Muslim vote for?” This is one question that never ceases to amuse me. In fact it always brings forth a counter question – Is there an Indian Muslim vote? Let me try to answer this one. The ‘Muslim vote’ theory is an extension of a common myth – that the Indian Muslim community is a monolithic block...

Today I want to tell you about an Indian who makes us all feel proud. So just take a little time out and read what I have written. His name is Suneel Yadav. A few of you here reading this blog might know him personally or might have heard about him from other Picketians. Suneel joined me in Kendriya Vidyalaya Picket, Secunderabad in 1988 in the eighth. His father was a soldier in the Indian Army. Suneel was an average student in school and Maths was his Waterloo (like for many of us here). But he was a sportsman par excellence. He was especially good at cricket and kabaddi. He was keeping wickets for the school senior cricket team in the 9th standard itself. After his 10th he joined the Humanities stream (finally getting rid of Math!). He was the Sarojini House captain in the 12th and continued his good work on the cricket field leading the school team and later the regional team, finally playing the KVS Nationals. Despite participating in various sports, Suneel cleared the 12t...

Ok here is one more at the expense of our beloved neighbours: An ingenious example of speech and politics occurred recently in the United Nations Assembly that made the world community smile.A representative from India began: 'Before beginning my talk I want to tell you something about Rishi Kashyap of Kashmir, after whom Kashmir is named. When he struck a rock and it brought forth water, he thought, 'What a good opportunity to have a bath.' He removed his clothes, put them aside on the rock and entered the water. When he got out and wanted to dress, his clothes had vanished. A Pakistani had stolen them.'The Pakistani representative jumped up furiously and shouted, 'What are you talking about? The Pakistanis weren't there then.'The Indian representative smiled and said, 'And now that we have made that clear, I will begin my speech. 'And they say Kashmir belongs to them.'

The terror attack on Mumbai has left the nation angry. The people - irrespective of creed, color, caste or region are saying "enough is enough". Investigations into why this incident was allowed to happened have been underway and there are many theories (some conspiracy theories too) floating around. Who could have benefitted from the attack on Mumbai? Was Pakistan responsible? Why were Americans and Britishers, along with the Jew family being singled out? Too many questions... In my opinion, this whole thing looks like the work of a Taliban-Al Qaeda combine. Why? The reasons are pretty obvious. On the one side Taliban and their cohorts are being 'smoked out' of their hiding places in the NWFP region of Pakistan by the American forces. While the Pakistani Army is at them from the other end. The only way to get some pressure off would be to see that the Pakistani forces got diverted to other places.. an audacious attack on India's financial capital ensured just tha...

A friend of mine forwarded this to me. Makes a lot of sense. We have been through these situations a few times.. the friend who forwarded this lost her younger brother (a dear friend of mine too) in a Army Aviation chopper crash in August this year .. May his soul rest in peace.. A tribute to Defence Forces of INDIA Your alarm goes off; you hit the snooze and sleep for another 10 minutes He stays up for days on end You take a warm shower to help you wake up He goes days or weeks without running water You complain of a 'headache', and call in sick He gets shot at as others are hit, and keeps moving forward You put on your anti war/don't support the troops shirt, and go meet up with your friends , He still fights for your right to wear that shirt You talk trash about your 'buddies' that aren't with you, He knows he may not see some of his buddies again You walk down the beach, staring at all the pretty girls, He walks the streets, searching for insurgents and terr...

31st May 2008 was an important day for all those opposed to acts of terrorism being carried out around the world and which are wrongly attributed to Islam and its teachings. On a hot Saturday afternoon New Delhi ’s historic Ram Lila maidan witnessed a huge turnout (between 10,000-15,000) of Muslims at a peace-conference organised under the aegis of Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind and Darul Uloom, Deoband. This meeting was supported by other important organisations including All India Muslim Personal Law Board and the Nadwatul Ulama, Lucknow , and leaders of different faiths and sects. The aim of this anti-terrorism and peace conference was summed up by Darul-Uloom’s deputy rector Hazrat Maulana Qari Sayed Mohammed Usman, “Terrorism is the gravest crime as held by Quran and Islam. We are not prepared to tolerate terrorism in any form and we are ready to cooperate with all responsible people.” The highlight of this meet however was a fatwa sought by the Jamiat leader and Member of Parliament, Maulan...

The second cricket Test match between India and England played at Trent Bridge was a important as it went on to underline the success that the Indian cricket team has been enjoying on foreign trips in the recent past. However, the Trent Bridge test had another noteworthy feature – Australian umpire Simon Taufel’s apology for handing out Sachin Tendulkar a faulty decision leaving the batsman nine short of what would have been his 38th Test hundred. Taufel, who has won the ICC Best Umpire of the Year award for three successive years, was forthright and honest in admitting that he had made a mistake in giving Sachin out and ‘denying fans a chance’ of watching the great batsman in action. This whole episode went on to prove that even the best can err. And Simon Taufel only enhanced his standing as an umpire by owning up to his mistake. On the same day that Simon Taufel expressed disappointment with his decision, we had another Australian, the continent’s Prime Minister John Howard, ruling ...

Manf-e-at ek hai is qaum ki nuqsaan bhi ek, ek hi sab ka nabi, deen bhi imaan bhi ek, haram-e-paak bhi Allah bhi Quran bhi ek, kuchh bari baat thi, hote jo Musalmaan bhi ek ~ Muhammad Iqbal ~ (There is one common gain and one common loss for all Muslims. One Prophet for all and one Iman for all. One Ka’aba, one Allah and one Qur’an for all. How great it would be if Muslims also were one!) Another year, another Eid eve, another night of confusion.Is it chaand raat ? Is it Eid tomorrow? Should the sheer khurma be readied? What about gosht for the biryani? If not, will we have another day of fasting? When should we wish our friends and relatives in other parts of the world? Questions, questions and more questions!Once again it was a tussle between faith and science. Despite having facilities to correctly predict the phases of the moon, the 'faithful' has to rely on spotting the moon according to the Sunnah. Thats all ok. But how does one rationalise the stance taken by the aalim...

London’s "9/11" has once again brought the danger that terrorism presents to world peace, to the forefront of academic and media debates. Once again Islam, its teachings and the demeanour of Muslims have become few of the most sought after themes for debate and discussion in academic congregations and editorials. Quite dismayingly, Islam despite being one of the fastest growing religions of the world is being seen as suffering from an image problem. The demonisation of Islam has acquired such proportions that the world today sees it as ‘dogmatic, intolerant and confrontational’. It is being perceived as providing the ideological and intellectual foundation for the perpetrators of violence in the garb of jihad across the world, setting up stage for a “clash of civilisations”. As things stand today, there is no religion more misunderstood and misinterpreted than Islam. And the most distressing part is that some groups of Muslims themselves have contributed to this distorted und...

Two incidents, one local the other international, involving the Muslim community were in the news recently. The first one was regarding the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten publishing cartoons caricaturing Prophet Mohammed as a terrorist. The second was the desecration of the Holy Qur'an in Ladakh. Both incidents led to protests by the Muslim community against the disrespect shown to their Prophet and the holy book. Nothing wrong with it. In fact the protests were justified. However, what raises doubts is the manner in which these protests were conducted. Lets look at both these incidents separately and see where the demonstrations went off the track. To begin with, it has to be acknowledged that the cartoons published by Jyllands-Posten were in bad taste and bound to provoke even the least devout Muslim. Arguments that the publication of these cartoons falls within the ambit of ‘freedom of expression’ or ‘right to freedom of press’ do not hold water. Caricaturing Muslims as terror...

I had written a few articles, on different occasions, in reponse to certain events. These articles were published in print and on the net. Having started this blog of my own, I thought it prudent to republish those articles here. Some pieces might seem outdated but then the message that I have tried conveying through them remains relevant. Comments are welcome. ~ Salil ~

Another blog added to those millions out there. Creating a space where I can put down my thoughts on events and incidents that confront us on a daily basis.. hope the second look at things could give a different perspective to those who read these pages... This, incidentally, is my second blog.. dont know what happened to the first one which went by the name doosrinazar.blogspot.com .. by the way, the current spelling (duusri) has nothing to with the numerological proclivities of a Sanjay B. Jumaani or Chiero .. hoping that no one hacks this blog.. Happy reading.. ~ Salil ~