Aryans: Arya (a person of culture or noble blood)

It's been an established theory that the Vedas and the caste system was a result due to an invasion by an Indo-European group of people. The Aryan Invasion with German Max Muller as one of its original proponents has been more or less accepted in the field of Indian History.

However recent geological and archealogical findings (including the remains of the Saraswati River) have put into question the whole Aryan Invasion theory. There is a growing chain of thought that the Aryan Invasion never occurred agressively promoted by the Hindu Right wing groups.

After doing my bit of reading including the book "In Search of The Cradle of Civilization" by Feuerstein, Kak and Frawley, my thoughts tend to agree that the whole Aryan Invasion Theory never occured. Though this right wing theory is debunked by emminent indologist's like Romila Thapar, it should be addressed with an open mind without being influenced by the various ideologies.

On that note, here's wishing everyone a Very Happy New Year !
May it bring peace to all

America and its foreign policy

Haven't posted in a while, brought to my attention by my friend (Mike thanks for keeping it real, bling bling and all that sort). So thought of posting something about america.

America has always had questionable foreign policy being responsible for supporting coups and installing dictators. It's association with Saddam Hussein and supporting the mujahideen and Osama bin Laden to fight the Russians is well documented.

Unfortunately the trend doesn't seem to be changing much. Let's do a bit of reverse analysis.

Most of the terrorists threatening the western world have at some point or the other passed through the madrassas operating mainly in afghanistan, pakistan and to a lesser extend indonesia. Most of the madrassas teach the extremist Sharia form of Islam . In effect the madrassas became the training centers for jihad. This extreme form of Islam called Wahhabism is rooted in Saudi Arabia and supported to an extent by the house of Saud.

And the major form of revenue for the Saudi royal family and the house of Saud is oil, primarily American Dollars. So in effect the american taxpayer and anyone buying saudi oil is to an extent funding the next stage of extremism.

Yossarian in the Indian Parliament

For those who follow Indian politics and politicians, I'm sure the recent sting operations which filmed Indian MP's accepting money to raise questions in the parliament, must have come as no surprise.

I was looking into what questions were actually raised in the parliament and a couple of questions stand out showing not only the ingenuity of the journalist as well as the ignorance of the people who represent the largest democracy of the world.

Excerpts from ANIRUDDHA BAHAL article on cobrapost.com:

"Q) Whether the Railway Ministry has placed any order for purchase of the Yossarian Electro Diesel engine from Germany? Is the ministry aware that the Tom Wolfe committee report in Germany has halted its induction into the Euro Rail system?

Q) Whether the Government has given sanction for the seed trial of Salinger Cotton of Monsanto? If so, has a report been prepared on Catch 22 cotton so far?

AB- And now, that I have paid homage to Yossarian, I am a little upset that Major Major and Milo Mindbinder got left out. But I am happy that the Yossarian brand name has infiltrated the German market in spite of strong opposition from Tom Wolfe thanks to the foresightedness of the Indian parliamentarians. As for the Catch 22 and Salinger cotton strains I hope they are tremendously profitable for farmers"

I'm sure Joseph Heller never thought that his book catch 22 would be creating such havoc in the indian parliament ... Our parliamentarians have done us proud

And the chasm widens

Australia's image of a multicultural and multiracial society seems to be in tatters. Three nights of racial riots in Sydney with no signs of stopping have left local residents terrified with innocent bystanders being targeted as well.

The riots seem to be have started on rumors of two lebanese youths who were believed to have attacked a lifeguard. Around 5000 white people patrolled the streets looking for soft targets who looked of an arabic descent. This seems to have escallated beyond proportions a sad reflection of how mob mentality has become a bane of our society.

Australia along with the Paris riots recently seem to have shown how the deep routed disconcent amongst different communities has grown, looking for a spark to bring to the fore. The clash between cultures and believes just looks to be starting.

Maybe there is a lesson to be learned from the spanish government headed by "zapatero". Madrid which was a target for al-qa'ida bombings and later pulled out of iraq as a result seems to have pursued a policy of inclusion of all instead of targetting based on racial and religious profiling. This seems to have done wonders for the psyche of people who feel welcomed and not discriminated against(though only time may tell).

This is in stark contrast to the policy followed in France (and possible future policy in Australia), which would probably increase the chasm of divide between people of different cultures. It will be interesting (in a dispassionate view) to see how the clash between cultures turns out.

Muriel Degauque - belgian suicide bomber

In November, among the normal run of the mill suicide bomb attacks on US troops in Iraq, one stood out. The suicide bomber was female which isn't very surprising considering the attacks in Jordan and Israel and their use by the LTTE of Sri Lanka, but she is arguably the first white female european suicide bomber.

The belgian press which covered the story, has put forward brainwashing by her husband as the major motivation for the act. What kind of brainwashing would be required for a woman to disregard a natural tendency for survival and travel half a world away and blow themselves up for an almost alien cause.

This act has characterized the steady shift from regional ties to religious ones and the growing chasm between knowledge of the cultures.

An Act of rememberance - Manjunath Shanmugam and Satyendra Dubey

I've just come back from my short vacation so haven't been posting for a while (its nicer for my ego to believe that someone other than myself is reading this site)

Recently Manjunath Shanmugam lost his life while fighting corruption in IOC. His life like Satyendra Dubey (ex-IITian who was also killed fighting corruption) before him has been cut short for the greed of some.

Manjunath's friends have set up a blog in his memory where a signature petition is undertaken for justice. I hope to have two signatures from this blog. Since I'm the first one, I hope you (the only other reader on this blog) will handle your onerous responsibility and take some time off to sign this signature petition.

People like Satyendra and Manjunath will hopefully stand out as role models for us lesser mortals.