Translate: Undena tulutu yencha panpuna?

At the ‘Kadala Parba‘ festival as part of the World Tulu Conference at Kinare near Mangalore on Sunday, two participants hold a kite before they let it soar into the skies.

Photograph: Karnataka Photo News

Gandhian activism, fiery journalism & cocktails!

If Medha Patkar was the “box item” girl of the Narmada anti-dam saga, Himanshu Kumar is fast emerging as the poster boy in the Maoism story.

No newspaper, magazine or television article on “the gravest threat to internal security” is complete without a mention of (or quote from) Kumar, whose non-governmental organisation Vanvasi Chetna Ashram in “ground zero” of Maoist activities, Dantewada, was torched in May this year.

In Delhi recently, the “Gandhian human rights activist from Dantewada” was the cynosure of the swish set at the fifth anniversary celebrations of Tarun J. Tejpal‘s e-zine turned magazine, Tehelka*.

After holding forth eloquently for 30 minutes on tribals, poverty, disease, despair, neglect, pro-people this, anti-people that, surely Himanshubhai‘s heart should have skipped a beat, as he slung his jhola over his shoulder, to hear the emcee—Tehelka executive editor Shoma Chaudhury—announce that cocktails would be served on the on the other lawn?

For the record, the scotch maker, Whyte & Mackay, was one of the sponsors of the evening.

Champagne socialism?

Cognac communism?

Perrier proletarianism?

Evian egalitarianism?

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Link via Nikhil Moro in Dallas, Texas

* Disclosures apply

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Watch the first three parts here: One, two, three

Also read: Campaign to free Laxman Choudhury

BBC journalists secure abducted cop’s release

There’s a new ism in town, Arnab-ism

How well do you know your alphabets?

Parantha, suji halwa, kismis and climate change

E.R. RAMACHANDRAN writes: The one-on-one breakfast talks between President Barack Obama and visiting Prime Minister Manmohan Singh were understandably held in top secrecy. Even the top aides were not present.

However, the omnipresent fly on the wall was capturing the talks for posterity.

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“Aapka swagath hai, Manmohanji,” welcomed Obama hands folded in a neat namaskar.

“Dhanyavad, Obamaji. I bring greetings from one billion people!”

Lassi with pudina and kadi pattha surprised the visiting Prime Minister.

“Mr Prime Minister, if you don’t mind, I will straight away come to the point. Please tell your environment minister Jairam Ramesh to go slow in Copenhagen. He doesn’t want to accept any of our plans to reduce pollution and, instead, is taking aggressive postures.”

“He is only doing his job, Mr President. After the pollution of the environment by developed countries for a major part of a billion years, you can’t ask us, developing countries, now to  save trees, rivers and glaciers in the next decade.”

Is Dr Singh unusually aggressive this morning, thought Obama.

“Manmohanji! Aap ka phir swagath hai! Please have the aloo parantha with dahi. I oversaw the preparation of the dal myself. What do you think of our ‘Af-Pak’ policy?”

“Obamaji! When I heard it first, I thought ‘Af-Pak’ was a short form for Afghan Snow in a new card board packing! Please tell me what the policy is all about.”

“Manmohanji! It is not ready yet. Secretary Clinton is studying it for the last few weeks and once she understands that, she will make a presentation to me.”

“Whatever it is, I hope it doesn’t involve arming Pakistan to its teeth so that the Government there and their terrorist friends do not launch attacks on India like they did last year.”

Did they put red chilly for decoration on dahi instead of cherry, wondered Obama? Was it Mexican or Andhra green chilly in my dal? Why is his face red all over?

“Manmohanji, aap ka phir swagath hai. Please have some suji halwa! I know it is your favourite sweet. Mrs Singh herself told this when Michelle called her up. The chef from Jalandhar flew in to Washington last night to prepare specially for you. Have some kismis and badam!”

“Thank you, Obamaji! You and Mrs Obama are as sweet as suji halwa! When you were in China, you made a joint statement with Prime Minister Hu  Jintao saying, China will oversee the South Asia region and will try to ‘solve’ India-Pakistan outstanding problems. I want to know how China is qualified to interfere in our bilateral issues.”

Did the chef put salt instead of sugar in the suji halwa, wondered Obama.

‘Did we say that? Maybe I said that in China. Please ignore that. I will have a clarification issued first thing in the morning Mr Prime minister, I have made sure FBI provides all details about Headley and Rana. Your police can question them. If you want, we will both question them. Right here, over a glass of beer, OK?”

“Thank you, Mr. President, for welcoming me so many times! I want to know when Pakistan will hand over their terror suspects to us.  I think Pakistan is running with the hare and hunting with the Hounds. This double game must stop.”

I think it is better to play the trump card now, thought Obama.

“Manmohanji!  I have a small present for you. Different shades of blue for your pagdi; if you don’t mind will you teach me how to wear one?  When I step down from the plane in Delhi, you will see me wearing one. Now regarding Copenhagen….”

“I will talk to Jairam.”

The beaming leaders were then ready for a joint ‘Meet the Press’ session.

Is China India’s greatest security threat, or not?

The relationship between India and China has in recent months become, as the cliche goes, the cynosure of all eyes. Border roads and dams; military incursions; a row over the Dalai Lama; illegal Chinese workers on Indian soil, Google™ maps, all have become milestones in the steady escalation of tensions.

The media has been at the centre of the dispute, and there is a feeling that “sections of the Indian media” (in other words, “anti-China media”) have been inclined to ratchet up the volume, ostensibly at the nod of their American, capitalist masters.

But could the opposite also be equally true? That “sections of the Indian media” (in other words, “pro-China media”) have been inclined to play down the tensions, ostensibly at the nod of their Chinese, communist masters?

Some proof comes from the manner in which the Lowy Institute for International Policy‘s survey of Chinese attitudes about their country and its place in the world is being reported.

# Exhibit A, above, is from the December 2 edition of The Indian Express, New Delhi, whose Delhi-based correspondent avers that 40 per cent of Chinese think India is their country’s biggest threat “after the United States”.

# Exhibit B, below, is from the December 4 edition of The Hindu, Madras, whose Beijing correspondent reports that environmental issues are perceived to be the biggest challenges facing their country. “60 per cent of Chinese did not view India as a threat…, only 34% viewed India as a threat an the rest were non-committal.”

For the record, prime minister Manmohan Singh said during his recent State visit to the United States that he could not understand the reasons for China’s recent “assertiveness”.

Turned on its head, is China India’s greatest threat? Or not?

Newspaper facsimiles: courtesy The Indian Express and The Hindu

Also read: Is India right in barring foreign media?

Censorship in the name of “national interest”?

CHURUMURI POLL: Most exciting batsman today?

Virender Sehwag‘s dismissal for 293 in the first hour of play on the third day of the third Test match at the Brabourne Stadium erased hopes of his becoming the first batsman ever to score three triple centuries or of becoming the first Indian to reach 400.

Nevertheless, that should not deflect attention from a key truth: the Nawab of Najafgarh in full flow is a breathtaking sight on the cricket field. Cruel, carefree, uncluttered and total paisa vasool. As the chairman of the selection committee, K. Srikkanth, puts it, only Viv Richards was more brutal.

That said, smaller boundaries, terrific bats, ridiculous rules, unimaginative bowlers, not to mention one-day cricket and Twenty20, have resulted in a surfeit of Sehwags around the cricket-playing world. So, the question: who is the most exciting batsman to watch today?

‘Hinduism is in a crisis; there’s a civil war within’

Kancha Ilaiah, professor of political science at Osmania University, Hyderabad, and author of Why I am not a Hindu, in The Times of India:

“Hinduism is in a state of crisis, facing a kind of civil war within. The primary reason for this is the stranglehold of the varnashram system which keeps 750 million Hindus subjugated and humiliated. These are the Dalits, tribals and the backward classes. Hinduism has failed to convince them that they are part of it, despite the fact that they were the carriers of all science and technology for centuries.

“Hinduism is the only religion that has failed to negotiate and engage with reason and science. No social reformer, except [Jyotiba] Phule and [Babasaheb] Ambedkar, challenged the caste system. Other religions are now competing to win over these people hence there is an imminent explosive crisis.”

Read the full interview here: ‘Edit all spiritual texts’

2 celebs who won’t appear on page 3 tomorrow

On World Disabled Day, physically challenged Taazuddin says “I do” to physically challenged Husanabi in Bagalkot on Thursday.

Photograph: Sangamesh Badiger/ Karnataka Photo News

We are all outsiders & insiders in India i.e. Bharat

In the RSS mouthpiece, Organiser, Jay Dubashi addresses the “outsider” bug that is biting several States and cities against the backdrop of the assault on Samajwadi Party MP Abu Azmi by MLAs of Raj Thackeray‘s Maharashtra Navnirman Samithi (MNS) because he addressed the Assembly in Hindi instead of Marathi:

“We are actually both insiders and outsiders, particularly in India. In fact, I cannot see how an Indian can be an outsider in India. This whole great country is ours, no matter where we are. I am an Indian. I belong to all and they all belong to me. But there is a problem. If I belong to all, I must show that I belong to all of them and they belong to me. I must not run them down, because they do not speak my language or because they dress differently. We are all Indians, we are all one people, wherever we may live.”

Link via The Indian Express

Can a photograph ever do what a cartoon does?

Anant Nag, the Kannada actor who also blazed his way through Bollywood to critical acclaim, inaugurates an exhibition of cartoons by the Shettegar brothers at Indian Institute of Cartoonists in Bangalore on Wednesday.

Photograph: Karnataka Photo News

Also read: Once upon a time, such a star lit up the screen

And, oh, we forgot that actress from the Punjab

If Chiba San is not a son of the soil, who is?

The strange case of Justice Dinakaran (continued)

Lawyers from Karnataka have presented the chief justice of India, K.G. Balakrishnan, a memorandum seeking the transfer of Justice P.D. Dinakaran from the Karnataka high court to some other HC following the allegations against him. Until the transfer is affected, no judicial work should be given to him, they say.

The former Bombay high court judge, Hosbet Suresh, writes*:

“Justice Dinakaran sits in court with no restraint on him. If what has appeared in the press cannot be hidden from the public ear and eye, will the public have confidence in his administration of justice?”

Senior advocate Pramila Nesargi has presented a complaint to the central vigilance commission (CVC) seeking a probe into the allegations of corruption against Justice Dinakaran, a public servant as defined under the prevention of corruption Act.

Now, the former chief justice of India, J.S. Verma, has weighed in, in an edit page piece in the Indian Express:

“I neither know Justice Dinakaran, nor do I comment on the merits of the allegations made against him. I speak only on the basis of the information in the public domain brought out by media reports of the uncontroverted facts, which to my mind are sufficient for his non-appointment to the Supreme Court on the above ground….

“If the available material is sufficient to create a reasonable doubt warranting further inquiry, the test for non-appointment laid down judicially is satisfied and it is difficult to appreciate the propriety of keeping alive the issue of his appointment to the Supreme Court.

“I for one, with experience of the office of CJI and as the author of the opinion that lays down the existing law, find the persistence with the recommendation embarrassing and contributing to an erosion of the image of the institution. I wish the imbroglio ends soon with withdrawal of the recommendation. “

* Disclosures apply

Read the full article: To judge or not to judge

Full coverage: The strange case of Justice P.D. Dinakaran

CHURUMURI POLL: Is Dalit Dinakaran above the law?

If he is unfit for Supreme Court, how is he fit for Karnataka HC?

If he is unfit for Supreme Court, how is he fit for Karnataka HC—II?

‘Integrity + competence + judicial temperament’

Yella not OK, but Supreme Court silent yaake?

The brazen conduct of Justice Dinakaran