Kashmir – a bloody tale of lost vision

The death toll in Kashmir due to the recent flaring up of protests continue to rise. Now it is put at 37, most of them young street protestors, falling to bullets of the security forces.

In the wake of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Muzaffer Wani’s killing in an encounter on July 8 in Anantnag, Kashmir has been seething. Paramilitary forces and the Jammu and Kashmir Police have been deploying excessive measures to counter the violent protests.

The death toll on the sixth day has increased to 37 and over 1,500 others have been injured in the clashes. The Valley remains curfew-bound since the protests broke out. This is the worst violence in the state since 2010, when massive demonstrations were held.

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A century of posts

I just now realised that I had passed the landmark of hundred posts in this blog in just under four months. I never imagined I will be posting so regularly. I am usually a little bit lazy in such aspects.

Image credit here

Image credit here

Reaching a century I thought I will take a look back. The statistics counter says till now I had around 32000 views and around 16000 visitors. Around half of the views came from USA, 12% from India and about 9% from UK . The blog had 219 comments too.

The most viewed post was on Charlie Hebdo. The post on Religion and phobias came second and the review of Meera Nanda’s book came third.

References came mostly from my own Facebook and Twitter posts.

I thank all my visitors for finding time to read my posts. I will try my best to post here regularly my views on all subjects that I feel like writing. I invite suggestions and criticisms if any to make this blog better.

Happy reading

Arun

Sacred water of Railway station

Instead of autobiographical writings like this that encourage superstitious beliefs, I wish Indian schools taught this article by Dr Abraham Kovoor.

Abraham Thomas Kovoor, a renowned  rationalist of South Asia, was born and educated in India. After his studies he worked as a teacher in various colleges in Sri Lanka. He was instrumental in forming Rationalist association of Sri Lanka. He campaigned widely in both India and Sri Lanka, exposing as frauds many god men and para normal phenomena.

A.T.Kovoor

A.T.Kovoor

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Teaching superstitions

This Sunday evening I was helping my son with his lessons. In his Malayalam language textbook there was a portion from the autobiography of the former Indian President, Late A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Dr Kalam, before assuming the rather ceremonial post of Indian President, was a scientist and a science administrator at Defense Research and Development Organisation and Indian Space Research Organisation. He was closely involved in India’s space programme, development of missile technology and nuclear weapons.

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Kashmir boiling again

Eleven people have died and nearly 200 have been injured in clashes in Kashmir, a day after Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani was killed, the police said. Police stations and minority camps have also come under attack, a senior officer said.

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An eye for an eye is never a solution

A gunman who served in the U.S. Army Reserve and said he was “upset at white people” was part of an attack in which five Dallas police officers were killed and another seven were wounded, authorities said on Friday.

The attack ended hours later when police used a robot carrying a bomb to kill the shooter, the Dallas police chief said.

The Thursday night killings, at the end of a protest over this week’s pair of fatal shootings of black men by police in Louisiana and Minnesota, fueled a national debate over excessive police force. The overnight attack raised fears that others would seek to retaliate against police.

He said he was upset about the recent police shootings,” Chief Brown said. “The suspect said he was upset at white people. The suspect stated he wanted to kill white people, especially white officers.”

Authorities said that the gunman fired at least some of the shots in the attack but have not ruled out that other shooters were involved.

A U.S. government source told Reuters the shooter was identified as Micah X. Johnson, a member of the U.S. Army Reserve.

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Gunning down people because of their race

Two more men of colour who did not pose any lethal threat gunned down and killed  in cold blood by Police in USA.

Alton Sterling on Tuesday and Philando Castile on Wednesday were killed by Police for apparently no reasons.

Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man who was shot and killed by Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police.

Alton Sterling, a 37-year-old black man who was shot and killed by Baton Rouge, Louisiana, police.

Philando Castile was fatally shot by police during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minnesota on July 6, 2106. Courtesy Of Castile Family

Philando Castile was fatally shot by police during a traffic stop in Falcon Heights, Minnesota on July 6, 2106. Courtesy Of Castile Family

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Helium discovery in Africa – a game changer ?

Actually I have only a vague idea about uses of Helium. Also I did not knew much about its dwindling supplies. Only by reading this post by fellow Ftb blogger and scientist Abe Drayton about the new discovery of Helium in Tanzania that I realised its importance.

When we hear day in and day out about valuable resources drying out, this discovery is quite a game changer. Hope such good news will keep on coming. Hope the poor in Africa will get some real benefit from this.

“If you do not like a book, throw it away” – Madras High Court

On January 13, 2015, a well known Tamil writer,  Professor Perumal Murugan announced his decision to stop writing in a Facebook post.

Perumal Murugan

Perumal Murugan

He was under tremendous pressure from Hindutva organisations and caste groups. He came under attack for his novel Madhurobhagan in 2014, though the novel was first published in 2010.

Madhorubhagan is a fictional account of a poor, childless couple, and how the wife, who wants to conceive, takes part in an ancient Hindu chariot festival where, on one night, consensual sex between any man and woman is allowed.

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Atheism, Racism and Casteism

Just happened to see a disgusting video frothing with racism by a popular atheist You Tuber. It was deservedly decimated by Martin Hughes and P Z Myers wrote a post about it too (of course that’s how I came to know about the video).

While watching that video, I had a déjà vu feeling.  So I tried substituting in parts of the transcript the word Dalit for black.

The video is in the format of a group of blacks questioning the You tuber.

Admit it, you hate blacksDalits !

If I hate anything about Black Dalit culture, it’s that it’s such a victim culture. Almost a victim cult — “Our Lady of Perpetual Victimization.” Every unfairness that exists in your life is the fault of white upper caste people or society stacked against you. You might as well tattoo, “It’s because I’m black Dalit, isn’t it?” to your fucking forehead.

When asked about pushing out blacksDalits out of slums to make city beautiful

What would I rather have — a slum Ambedkar colony filled with thugs who would probably shoot rob me as soon as look at me, or shops, cafe’s, restaurants, and apartments?

“What are you going to do about systematic racism casteism ?”

[Racism Casteism against black Dalit people] is not my problem in the first place. What are [the people in the video I’m responding to (Dalits)] going to do to end discrimination against atheists? Right, you ain’t gonna do shit, because it’s not your problem and you don’t give a shit

Yes, I have heard these sentiments from some upper caste “Hindu atheists” in India. Have also heard somewhat similar things from some ex Christians and ex Muslims too.  I also know atheists who believe Dalits and black Africans are less “brainy” and it is due to their “genes”.

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Yes, atheists can be racist and casteist too, and when they are like that,  they are much more toxic.