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by Porus Havewala

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This is a semi-fictional historical novel, in 5 volumes, on the origins of the Aryan people. The Saga deals with the lives of the ancient Indo-Europeans about twenty thousand years ago, who called themselves the Aryans - the Noble Ones. They were the first MazdaYasnis, the Worshippers of Ahura Mazda (Zoroastrians): God in the ancient Aryan tongue of Avestan. Volume I of the Saga describes vividly the Great Migration of the Aryan ancestors from their ancient homeland Airyanam Vaejo in the North Pole, due to the Ice Age glaciations that occurred in that ancient age. Drawing inspiration from the sacred Scriptures of the Zoroastrians, in which the great journey is told; the book unfolds the trials and tribulations that befell the ancient ancestors of mankind in their great journey to the South and the South-West, towards Iran, India, Greece, Russia, Germany and the other nations of Europe. The Aryans display great heroism against the bitter cold and blizzards, the wild animals and the savage barbarians. Romance blooms among the young, as they travel onwards to Iran. The Saga is interspersed with heroic verse, in the great Aryan tradition.

Porus Havewala is a Parsee Zoroastrian, born in India and now resident in Sydney, Australia. His aim in writing this book is to inspire fellow Zoroastrians, especially the young, with faith and pride in their ancient religion, like their Aryan ancestors in the days of yore.

by Prof. Ashok Kumar Malhotra

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The phenomena of mysticism, meditation, and instant nirvana have caught a great deal of the public's attention in recent years. People interested in these themes are curious to know what these concepts are and how they are related. To meet this need, I have composed the present work.

The main body of the book consists of six articles, which were read at conferences. They were written at a time, when the Transcendental Meditation of Maharishi Mahesh Yogi, the Hare Krishna Movement of Bhaktivedanta, the Divine Light Mission of Guru Maharajji, the Siddha Yoga of Muktananda, and the Dynamic Meditation of Rajneesh, were very popular in the United States. Some of these articles are based upon my personal en-counters with the disciples as well as my interviews with the leaders of these groups. All the papers have been revised to fit into the format of the present text. For a smoother reading of the book, I have paraphrased all the quoted material. Furthermore, I have enlarged the paper on 'Mysticism in the Hindu Tradition' to incorporate the mystical ideas of both Tagore and Radhakrishnan.

The book is divided into four parts. The first three deal with different aspects of mysticism, meditation, and instant nirvana. The fourth part is anecdotal in nature and deals with my personal encounters with gurus and their disciples.

Professor Ashok Kumar Malhotra, Distinguished Teaching Professor, State University of New York at Oneonta. Professor of Philosophy. Teaching experience: Hinduism, Buddhism, and Taoism, Mysticism and Meditation in Indian and Chinese Tradition, Philosophy and Psychology of Yoga, Introduction to World Philosophy Existentialism, Philosophical Ideas in Imaginative Literature, Survey of World Religions, and Religions of India, China, and Japan.

Susanne Hoeber Rudolph and Lloyd I. Rudolph

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Our concern in studying the politics of education is to identify and analyze the institutions and processes that shape educational policy and performance. The rapid and dramatic expansion of higher education in India and elsewhere has helped to generate research in educational so­ciology, economics, finance, manpower planning, and administration. The politics of education, however, remains a relatively neglected field. So talented and comprehensive a survey as the Indian Report of the Educa­tion Commission, 1964-1966, although evidently written with sensitivity to political constraints, neither specifies nor confronts them. With a few -re­cent exceptions, the same is true of the burgeoning literature on the public responsibilities and internal government of universities in America and Europe.
This volume makes two contributions to the study of the politics of education. The first is to identify critical problems in the relationship be­tween politics and education generally and to explore concepts and meth­ods for their investigation. The second is to make a specific contribution to our understanding of the relationship between politics and education in India.
Governments are relying increasingly on the educational system to pro­mote economic and political development and, more generally, to approach the moving frontier of modernity. Politicians are responding increasingly to the demands of their constituents that education be made available so that they can improve their economic and social circumstances. One result of these processes is the concentration of ever larger resources and per­sonnel in the educational system. Another result is heightened competition between politicians and educators for control of the people, resources, and goals involved.

Susanne Rudolph is the William Benton Distinguished Service Professor of Political Science Emerita and took her Ph.D. from Harvard in 1955. She has served as president of the Association of Asian Studies and of the American Political Science Association (2003-2004). She studies comparative politics with special interest in the political economy and political sociology of South Asia, state formation, Max Weber, and the politics of category and culture. Her books include Transnational Religion and Fading States; Education and Politics in India; In Pursuit of Lakshmi: the Political Economy of the Indian State; and Essays on Rajputana. Rudolph also edited Agrarian Power and Agricultural Productivity in South Asia. Some recent articles include "The Imperialism of Categories; Situating Knowledge in a Globalizing World," in Perspectives on Politics, March 2005 , Volume 3, number 1; "Perestroika and Its Other," in Kristin Renwick Monroe (ed.), Perestroika! Revolution in the Social Sciences (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2005); "Engaging Subjective Knowledge: Narratives of and by the Self in the Amar Singh Diary," in Rajul Bhargava Shubhshree (ed.), Of Narratives, Narrators (Jaipur and New Delhi: Rawat Publications, 2004); "Toward Convergence," in Ian Shapiro and Donald Green (eds.) Problems and Methods in the Study of Politics: Proofs, (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2004); "The Iconisation of Chandrababu; Sharing Sovereignty in India's Federal Market Economy," Economic and Political Weekly, Vol XXXVI, No 18, May 5, 2001; and "Living With Difference in India; Legal Pluralism and Legal Universalism in Historical Context," Political Quarterly, July, 2000. She served as Master of the Social Science Collegiate Division, Director of the Center for International Studies, Chair of the South Asia Center, and twice as chair of the Department of Political Science.

Lloyd Rudolph: in June 2002 he retired and became an Emeritus Professor of the University of Chicago's Department of Political Science after teaching there for 34 years and, before that, for seven years at Harvard University. In preparation for the Festschrift Conference on "Area Studies Redux: Situating Knowledge in a Globalizing World" in April 2003 Susanne and Lloyd Rudolph got in touch with as many of their Harvard and Chicago Ph.D. students as we could. Many turned up for the conference.

At various times over the years Lloyd served as Chair of the Committee on International Relations and the Master of Arts Program in the Social Sciences and as Chair of concentrations in Political Science, Public Policy, International Studies and South Asian Studies in the College.

To continue: Lloyd received a BA [Magna] in 1948 from Harvard College, an MPA in 1950 from what later became Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and a Ph.D. in 1956 in Political Science, from Harvard University. Louis Hartz and Sam Beer were his thesis advisers. He wrote on "The Meaning of Party: From the Politics of Status to the Politics of Opinion in Eighteenth Century England and America."

He has benefited from grants or fellowships from the MacArthur, Ford, National Science and Guggenheim Foundations, the American Institute of Indian Studies [AIIS], the National Endowment for the Humanities [NEH] and the Fulbright program; participated in studies for the U.S. Commission on the Organization of the Government for the Conduct of Foreign Policy, The Council on Foreign Relations, The Chicago Council on Foreign Relations, The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, the Asia Society and the Overseas Development Council; and served as a consultant with the Ford and MacArthur Foundations, the National Security Council and the Department of State, the Social Science Research Council, The US Institute of Peace and The American Council of Learned Societies.

These days Susanne and Lloyd Rudolph divide their time among Kensington, California [in the East Bay, next door to Berkeley], Barnard, Vermont and Jaipur, Rajasthan.

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EBOOK

"Whether the bold new venture will succeed or not has been the hottest topic of debate since the sensational auction of the players. With so many giant corporates sinking in so many millions and the telecast rights already sold for over 10 years, a massive fortune is riding on the fanatical Indian public. Club and city/state culture have been very weak in Indian cricket with domestic tournaments attracting barely a handful of spectators and miserable media coverage. Cricket's success in India has been driven by nationalism, bordering on jingoism and this loyalty factor will now be tested as Brett Lee bowls to Tendulkar and Andrew Symonds to Sourav Ganguly"

GULU EZEKIEL ONE OF INDIA'S LEADING CRICKET WRITERS, GULU BEGAN HIS CAREER IN MADRAS IN 1982. HE HAS BEEN SPORTS EDITOR AT ASIAN AGE, NEW DELHI TV AND INDYA.COM AND IS THE AUTHOR OF 11 SPORTS BOOKS. A REGULAR ON INDIAN TV, HE HAS BEEN FREELANCING SINCE 2001 AND HAS CONTRIBUTED TO OVER 100 PUBLICATIONS AROUND THE WORLD INCLUDING IN THE UK, AUSTRALIA, PAKISTAN AND ISRAEL.

by Prof. Masaaki Fukunaga

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It is essential to understand the interplay of social, economic and political forces at the grass roots level, to be able to comprehend the contours and complexities of political life at the Indian national level. The author has taken note of the sea change that has come about in the Indian village life since independence, extensively used the extant literature on the subject, and studied the intra and inter-jati factions in village Cakra in Jaunpur District of Uttar Pradesh in the context of socio-economic structure and political behaviour in the village settings. The author describes land as a symbol as well as a source of political power as evidenced by the Panchayati Raj elections in the village in 1982. Fukunaga's study reflects a scenario of factional dynamics in which there is disunity among upper caste groups leading to consolidation among middle and lower caste groups. The author concludes that conflict and amity in rural India are not exclusive categories but are at work at the same time. The present study of faction dynamics in a peasant community in North India, is thus a landmark on the subject based as it is on intensive field work and participatory observations. The book characterized by sound theoretical framework, collection of rich data and insightful analysis is an important contribution to rural Sociology in India. It is further welcome as it brings in an Eastern perspective of the Indian scene instead of Western one as had generally been the case so far.

Professor Masaaki Fukunaga (b-1955) did his M.A in Japan. He carried out field-work for his doctorate in India and was awarded Ph. D by Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi. His major areas of interest are social stratification, rural politics, political mobilisation and contemporary Hindu culture. He has contributed articles to leading journals in Japan, India and other countries. Masaaki Fukunaga is also associated with several national and international projects on Indian social structure and culture as an expert. Assistant Director and Professor, The Centre for South Asian Studies, Gifu Women's University, Gifu, JAPAN. Also, Managing Director: International Research Forum on SAARC.

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During the last forty years of the nineteenth century India experienced a series of devastating famines, of a frequency and a severity previously unknown. As many as fifteen million people may have died either from starvation or as a result of disease exacerbated by prolonged malnutrition. To what degree responsibility for this total must be borne by the British colonial administration is open to question. Certainly the British reaction was often slow, misinformed and inflexible, though over time experience did lead to the development of greater vigilance and a less economically doctrinaire approach to famine relief. At the time, opponents and critics of British rule, in both India and Great Britain, did not hesitate to associate the evils of famine with the self-interested nature of colonialism, and a standard list of causes of famine emerged, such as excessive taxation and the 'drain' of Indian wealth from the country to pay for a bloated and overpaid administration. Nationalists like Dadabhai Naoroji and R. C. Dutt were prominent among these critics, but there were many others, including William Digby (1849-1904) and the Rev. J. T. Sunderland (1842-1936), both English but writing respectively in India and North America. The British Government of India defended itself and held numerous Commissions to enquire into the causes of famines and ways to relieve their worst effects. Nevertheless a substantial body of polemical literature grew up on the subject, and has continued to swell ever since. At its worst this debate simply polarises into either an attack on the inhumanity of the British or on the laziness and improvidence of Indian peasants. Fortunately, the selective and partisan nature of these discussions has been remedied by later writers such as A. Loveday (The History and Economics of Indian Famines, 1914) and more recently B. M. Bhatia (Famines In India, 1963) allowing us to look back on these desperate decades of hunger with a more nuanced understanding of what was actually going on. The British Raj still stands indicted on several charges of incompetence, and occasionally indifference, but the overall picture of events, and with it our understanding of the complex interlocking causes of the long series of late Victorian famines, is now very much more complete.

This paper examines the years 1860 to 1901 with reference to five great famines, and examines what caused them, how the British responded, and why the series was eventually halted and did not return.

Roderick Matthews, Historian, Obtained a First from Balliol College, Oxford in Modern History. Studied Medieval History under Maurice Keen. Studied Tudor and Stuart History under Christopher Hill, Master of Balliol College. Studied European History under Colin Lucas, later Master of Balliol College and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Studied Imperial History under Professor Paul Longford, Rector of Lincoln College

Ram Puniyani

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Communalism has its roots in the incomplete secularization process in India. The phenomenon begins in the late 19th century with the assertion of declining classes of land lords and clergy, and then goes on to form political formations in the name of religion. The British policy of divide and rule comes as an ideal base for these politics. After partition this phenomenon remains on the margins and then strikes hard from the decade of 1980, with the identity-based issues like Ram Temple, Amarnath Shrine and Ram Setu. What is the real goal and agenda of these politics have been the matter of concern for social activists. This compilation of essays deals with some facets of communalism, its genesis, its rise, and the target of its attack, the values of democracy and the social groups, minorities, Dalits, women and Adivasis. Ram Puniyani gives an indepth and insightful analysis of communalism, covering:

Multiculturalism and Indian Society
Rational Thought in Indian tradition
Secularization Process, Caste and Gender Equality in India
Hinduism: Hindutva: Hindu Rashtra
Rashtriya Swaymasevak Sangh (RSS) - Politics as 'Culture'
M.S. Golwalkar: Conceptualizing Hindutva Fascism
Nepal: Adieu Hindu Rashtra, Welcome Democracy
Gandhi and Indian Nationalism
Communalization of Middle class
Communal Violence, Inquiry Commissions and Deliverance of Justice
Violence against Christian Minority
Fundamentalism and Women's Rights
Struggle for Gender Equality:
Communalism in India: International Dimensions
Whither Indian Constitution?
Minorities: Political Dilemmas
Towards a Peaceful Solution of Kashmir Question
Communalism and Caste
Caste Transformation and Hindutva Politics: Gujarat
Gujarat: Hindu Rashtra in One State

PROFESSOR RAM PUNIYANI was Professor of Biomedical Engineering until 2004 at IIT, Mumbai when he retired. He now works full time for the preservation of democratic-secular values. He is associated with various secular initiatives and has been part of various investigation reports on violation of human rights of minorities. He was also part of people's tribunal which investigated the violation of rights of minorities in Orissa and Madhya Pradesh; conducts workshops in different parts of the country on the themes related to, threats to democracy; the agenda of communal politics; myths about minorities and politics of terror. He has written on the issues related to the human rights of weaker sections of society: dalits, adivasis, women and minorities. Contributes a fortnightly article in e-bulletin, Issues in Secular Politics, has written several books, Communal Politics: Facts Versus Myths (2002), Fascism of Sangh Parivar (2001) Second Assassination of Gandhi (2002) Communalism: An Illustrated Primer (2000), Striving for Peace (2008) and has edited a volume, Religion, Power and Violence (2006), Terrorism: Facts versus Myths (2007) and Fundamentalism: Threat to Secular Democracy (2007)

He is the recipient of Maharashtra Foundation, Association for Communal Harmony and Fr. Machio Memorial Humanitarian and Indira Gandhi National Integration Awards 2006 and National Communal harmony Award 2007.

Maloy Krishna Dhar

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A Gandhi is killed, a Bose is forgotten and a Bhagat Singh no more pricks the conscience of the people who lead the country. This is the story of a nation that boasts of being the largest democracy. The novel undertakes tortuous journeys through the political minefield and discovers that moneybags muscle power and criminal fringes have hijacked Indian democracy.

Satya Sarthi is a psephologicst and wants to bring about a change in the system. He tries to catapult his simple but sharp businessman friend Dharmi into the top corridors of politics. His aim is to dethrone the ruling family which is corrupt and manipulative.

Dharmi's hesitant metamorphosis from a businessman into a naïve politician and finally into a pucca politician is full of pathos. Does he succeed in dethroning the family? Does he end up changing the system? Maloy Krishna Dhar captures the intrigues that are played in power politics in the name of We the People.

We the people of India - The Story of Gangland Democracy is a reminder to Generations Next that they have to fulfill unfulfilled dreams of the savants of the nation.

Disclaimer: this book is a piece of political fiction and does not relate to any factual event and/or incidents. The author has visualized a tale that he wishes to share with the readers. Names of the characters are purely a work of fiction and do not relate to anybody living or dead.

MALOY KRISHNA DHAR is a product of Calcutta University. After joining the Indian Police Service in 1964, he was seconded to the Intelligence Bureau, a platform that offered him in depth perceptions and insight into Indian politics, insurgency counter-terrorism, counterintelligence and other ground realities of the nation.

After retirement he took to freelance journalism and authored many literary works. Some of the best sellers are Open secrets - India's intelligence Unveiled, Fulcrum of Evil - ISI, CIA. Al Qaeda Nexus, Operation Triple X and Black Thunder.

A widely acclaimed author Maloy writes about happening history in and around India, besides wider strategic issues. We the People of India is his fresh journey into the happening history of the country, which bares the uncouth truth behind India's electoral democracy and offers a glimpse into the future that could put the country back on the rails laid down by the founding fathers and martyrs.

Manola K. Gayatri

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The Linga, sometimes associated with the symbol of the phallus, is often misunderstood. This essay is a comparative study in myth, imagery, and ritual of the Linga cult in India between the third century BC and third century AD with Freudian theory of the twentieth century AD. I contrast Freudian phallocentric theory with the ideas that emerged within the linga cult in India from about the third century BC up to about the tenth century AD, but focusing mainly on the visual evidence from the third century BC to the third century AD.

Manola K. Gayatri - currently at Jawaharlal Nehru University undertaking her Ph.D. She specializes in gender, women, theatre and performance studies.

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This is a compilation of 9 articles by the author which focus on the working efficacy of the Chinese state machinery in different fields.

(Each of the articles in this e-book can be purchased individually online if required)

METEOROLOGICAL AND SEISMOLOGICAL DISASTERS AND THE CHINESE EMERGENCY RESPONSE MECHANISM

INDIA'S POKHRAN II DIATRIBE AND CHINA

RECESSIONARY SPIRAL AND CHINA

CHINA'S DIPLOMATIC MANUEVRES AT THE G20: Diplomatic Power Play at G-20 London Summit and China

CHINA'S EYE ON MUMBAI TERROR ATTACKS: Chinese Counter Terror Intelligence Module Compatibility to Nov 26 Mumbai Type Terror Attacks

CHINA'S SPACE INFRASTRUCTURE: Ground Test of China's Space Based Infrastructure and Wenchuan Earthquake Management

CORRUPTION IN CHINA AND THE COMBAT TEETH OF THE SYSTEM

WITHER CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS OF MARKET ECONOMY: Horizon of China's Fight Back against 'Scary Recession'

METAMORPHOSIS OF 'MARKET ECONOMY WITH CHINESE CHARACTERISTICS' AND THE CRITICALITY OF ANHUI PEASANT REBELLION

Dr. SHEO NANDAN PANDEY Born on 14 Jan 1947, Dr S.N Pandey has served both academic institutions of higher education and government departments for the last four decades in India. Fluent in Mandarin, he has contributed hundreds of research papers, based on Chinese language primary and secondary sources. He has equally contributed to various other fields of social sciences research, in particular education, economy, research methodology and defence and security studies.

Maloy Krishna Dhar

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A fiction is not always a fictitious and fantasias rendition of reality. Black Thunder wrapped in the skin of fiction tells the true story of cathartic culmination of follies that fanned competitive religious fundamentalism and pushed the people to the path of ethno-religious insurgency.

Power debauchery had dissected the governing tools into contradictory opinions that immobilized the nation. Political expediency created mass-hysteria and terrorism. Pakistan exploited the fault-lines and pushed the country to cataclysmic fratricidal crimes. Black Thunder is the story of the national crime.

The nation has paid the wages of sin of the governing classes and tools. Black Thunder is a reminder to them and all of us lest we forget our combined sins.

As a ring-side player the novelist had the opportunity to take part in games of blatant political shenanigan bureaucratic debauchery, multiple sufferings of the people, their perceived and real grievances and sacrifices offered and excesses committed by the uniformed protectors of the nation. It is hoped that the inner story told in a literary style shall imprint lessons, which we should not forget, and create self-machinated fault lines all across the country.

Disclaimer: this book is a piece of political fiction and does not relate to any factual event and/or incidents. The author has visualized a tale that he wishes to share with the readers. Names of the characters are purely a work of fiction and do not relate to anybody living or dead.

MALOY KRISHNA DHAR (68) is a product of Calcutta University. After joining the Indian Police Service in 1964, he was seconded to the Intelligence Bureau, a platform that offered him in depth perceptions and insight into Indian politics, insurgency counter-terrorism, counterintelligence and other ground realities of the nation.

After retirement he took to freelance journalism and authored many literary works. Some of the best sellers are Open secrets - India's intelligence Unveiled, Fulcrum of Evil - ISI, CIA. Al Qaeda Nexus, Operation Triple X.

A widely acclaimed author Maloy writes about happening history in and around India, besides wider strategic issues. We the People of India is his fresh journey into the happening history of the country, which bares the uncouth truth behind India's electoral democracy and offers a glimpse into the future that could put the country back on the rails laid down by the founding fathers and martyrs.

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"East Meets West" could well be described as the basic theme of this novel. Ted Spry, an American television and film artist, has a brief but adventurous sojourn at an ashram in India run by Gieve Irani, an unlikely candidate for being a guru since he does not have a Hindu family background, but is of Iranian Zoroastrian extraction. Irani's young wife died while giving birth to their only daughter, Mehrangiz, and Gieve, as a kind of reaction, turned to things spiritual and founded the ashram. Ted, though coming from a Mormon family and having homosexual tendencies, had always been a "seeker" in spite of his busy professional and social life. At the time at which Ted arrives at the ashram it is in the process of being taken over by a conman-cum-criminal, Marcel, who is half French and half Indo-Chinese. Marcel is a fugitive from justice and tries to convert the ashram into a base for smuggling and drug trafficking. He is however thwarted in his plans by Mehrangiz with the help of Ted. The situation gets so bad that Gieve Irani with his daughter, son-in-law, grandson, and Ted is forced to flee the ashram, which is then closed.

After the escape, Mehrangiz who is a qualified medical practitioner settles in Canada with her husband and infant son. Ted returns to California to pursue his career in show biz. Gieve makes a disastrous effort at settling down with his daughter's family in Canada but returns to India, disillusioned. He lives alone in a small cottage on the west coast in an obscure village called Udai. When the daughter of the village headman is abducted for ransom by bandits, Gieve gives himself up to the gang so that the girl may be freed. Coming to know of this matter through a newspaper report Ted reaches India to be with the "Master" in his hour of trial. Obviously there is sort of bond between the two men. Taking advantage of the lax security in the bandits' den, Ted and Gieve manage to escape.

Ted and Gieve return to Ted's house in California. Ted is more than happy to keep the Master at his residence, and the latter sets up practice as a healer. And so the two men pass their twilight years in peace, quiet and a state of comfortable companionship.

ASPI DOCTOR was born in 1940 in Bombay (now Mumbai). He topped the list in his post-graduate examination in 1964 and immediately started his academic career as a lecturer in English literature in a south Bombay college. He graduated from lecturer to head of the department, vice-principal and in the last two decades of his career held the position of principal in two city colleges. He has authored a number of textbooks on Communication which have gone into multiple editions and which are still popular with college students in India. He lives in Mumbai with his wife who is also a retired academician.

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The Hitchhiker is the story of Ebenezer, the son of untouchable Hindus who converted to Christianity. The controversy over Christian missionary activity in India forms the backdrop to this novel. The not-so-religious Ebenezer is on the fence, totally focussed on doing well in the extremely competitive entrance exams to engineering colleges. Joining the Global Evangelical Church has not altered Ebenezer's family's status in their ancestral village, where they are still treated as untouchables. During one of their visits, Ebenezer's mother and sister are killed in caste related violence. Ebenezer plods his way through an unfair world, where not all software engineers do well and where dotcoms go bust and where religion, caste and educational background play an overwhelming role. The one bright spark in his life is Gayathri, the daughter of a rich right-wing Hindu nationalist businessman. Gayathri's family does not want her to marry Ebenezer and try to wean her away. It is an unequal fight between the powerful business family and Ebenezer. However, Ebenezer refuses to part with his soul any More. Find out if Ebenezer wins or loses the fight.

First published in paperback by Books for Change, Vinod will donate his royalties from the first 1000 sales of this digital version to Books for Change.

VINOD GEORGE JOSEPH was born in Kerala (Southern India) and spent the first 18 years of his life in the neighbouring state of Tamil Nadu where both his parents worked as teachers. After school, Vinod went off to Bangalore where he spent five years acquiring a law degree from the National Law School of India University. A corporate lawyer's life in Mumbai beckoned. After four years in Mumbai working for a series of law firms and banks in Nariman Point, Vinod left for the UK in the fall of 2002 to pursue a Masters course in corporate and commercial laws at the London School of Economics. It was while living and working in Mumbai that Vinod started thinking of writing a novel. However, Vinod did not get to start working on Hitchhiker until he reached the LSE. It took Vinod a little over a year to complete the first draft of Hitchhiker, though it was not until December 2005 that Hitchhiker actually appeared in print. Currently Vinod lives in the UK with his wife and daughter. Despite a busy schedule as a lawyer, husband and father, Vinod continues to write short stories and articles which are published on his blog: www.winnowed.blogspot.com

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May 15th, 1995 Gujarat, India. The day was very hot. Perhaps the heat even more oppressive because I had been away from the country for 5 plus years. Now I was sitting in the State Transport Bus (S.T. as it is popularly called) traveling from Godhra to Baroda (town in Gujarat) I was on my way back from visiting my grandmother.
Sitting in the bus next to me was a young man. Being a psychiatrist one cannot help observing people. Clean shaven, neatly dressed with immaculately ironed clothes he seemed to want to look his best.
We struck up a conversation. Somewhere in it, emerged that he was the oldest son of a poor farmer. His 5 younger sisters and father lived in the village. His mother had died long ago during the last childbirth. Father assisted by neighbors had raised the children. The young man had finished his S. S.C (High School) with high grades and now he was going to the city of Baroda for a job interview and was excited about it. He had these visions of helping his father and getting his sisters married one after another.
The Bus passed through the maze of streets in Baroda on its way to the Bus Depot. Finally, it came to a screeching halt at its final destination. To my foreign eyes, the city seemed to have changed a lot. Overflowing with myriads of people, the streets and roads seemingly even more complex than before.
Passengers started getting down from the bus, the young man next to me and I included. We said good-bye to each other. Then I took out the address in Baroda where I was to reach. I felt somewhat flustered at the strange sounding address. Since the young man was still standing close by I walked up to him and asked, "Bhai (Brother) Do you know where this place is?" He said he did and that we could wait and catch the next local bus to the place. I told him I preferred to go in a rickshaw. He elected to go with me so that he could show me that place and so we sat in the rickshaw.
My destination was before his. The Rickshaw stopped and I got down. I started to give the rickshaw man some money which was promptly thrust back into my hands by the young man. Amidst my protests, he looked at me and said you called me a brother, so how could a brother let his sister pay any money? Before I could speak another word he and the rickshaw left.
I stood staring at the dust generated behind the departing rickshaw. I wondered what the young man would have to forego to pay for that long rickshaw trip. It could even be a few of his meals.
Suddenly I realized that in all this I had not even cared to ask the young man his name. I had been away from home too long!!!

Dr. Jayshree Winters is a practicing psychiatrist in New Jersey. She is a caring and compassionate physician, who is held in high esteem by her patients and the medical community. In recognition of her outstanding achievements in her field, the American Psychiatric Association honored her by naming her a Distinguished Fellow of the Association. Dr. Winters is a tireless advocate of giving back to the society. She volunteers her time to several organizations and serves on the boards of Cancer Care and Health Power for Minorities. She is also an active member of the Rotary International. Dr. Winters is a prolific writer and an eloquent speaker, with frequent radio and TV presentations. She has published numerous articles, and is often sought by the media on coverage related to social, cultural, life adjustment issues, immigrant experiences and mental health issues. Dr. Winters is a Distinguished Fellow, American Psychiatric Association, Diplomate, American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology. She is also an accomplished psychoanalyst and holds certification in Disaster Mental Health from the American Red Cross. A graduate of MS University of Baroda, India, she completed her psychiatric training at the New York Medical College, Valhalla, New York. Dr. Winters is also an executive producer of the TV show THEDESIDOCTORS aimed at bringing some of the current medical information to the viewers.

THIS BOOK IS WRITTEN IN SPANISH
ESTE LIBRO ESTÁ ESCRITO EN ESPAÑOL

COOPERACIÓN Y COLABORACIÓN EN LA PRIMERA EDAD GLOBAL, 1400-1800: MODELOS COMERCIALES MERCANTILISTAS EN EL INDOPACÍFICO

© Antoni Picazo Muntaner 2010

Analizar las raíces y los factores que surgieron de la primera Edad Global significa, en definitiva, profundizar en el estudio del desarrollo del capitalismo, aunque en una dimensión mucho más amplia. Es cierto que muchos teóricos han examinado con detenimiento esa temática , incluso una gran cantidad de obras de escuelas historiográficas, en muchos casos divergentes, salieron al mercado pronunciándose sobre esa misma cuestión. No es nuestra intención entrar en las discusiones sobre la definición del capitalismo y los orígenes de su nacimiento -ya hubo debates muy intensos en su tiempo-; aunque sí lo es introducir nuevos conceptos que faculten un mayor entendimiento y compresión de los problemas que afectaron a la sociedad de esa época. También lo es verificar hasta que punto las distintas dinámicas de colaboración y cooperación permitieron, y formaron parte, de aquel salto tan espectacular.
El estudio que realizamos se incluye en un proyecto mucho más amplio, dinámico y prometedor, se trata de "Dynamic Complexity of Cooperation-Based Self-Organizing Networks in the First Global Age" (DynCoopNet), del cual forman parte historiadores, matemáticos, sociólogos, geógrafos, cartógrafos, economistas,%u2026 como se ve un conjunto muy amplio de especialistas con una finalidad común: desarrollar una nueva concepción interdisciplinar para abordar la cooperación en redes no lineales durante esa primera Edad Global. En cuanto al concepto de Historia Global creemos que la cuestión fue muy bien explicada por Mazlish:

"What are the other keys? These we can determine by dividing the definition of global history into two parts. The first focuses on the history of globalization; that is, it takes existing processes, encapsulated in the "factors of globalization," and traces them as far back in the past as seems necessary and useful. The second signifies processes that are best studied on a global, rather than a local, a national, or a regional, level. The second definition is a continuation of much that is to be encountered in McNeill's variation of world history, except that it begins in the present, openly acknowledging its informed global perspective."

Uno de los pilares que se fundamenta todo el proyecto de estudio, y que nos facilita ensamblar y estudiar el conjunto de datos aportados por todas las distintas ciencias, es la asistencia que realizan los expertos de los Sistemas de Información Geográfica (SIG) en una doble vertiente. Por una parte, y de forma prioritaria, el análisis que ofrece el SIG clásico y, por otra, las posibilidades que puede ofrecer un SIG temporal que, con su desarrollo, permitirá que la Historia, como Ciencia, pueda proceder a dar un salto tecnológico y cualitativo de primer orden.
La investigación que aquí presentamos se centra en un área muy concreta: el subsistema indopacífico. Creemos, y así lo señalamos en nuestro estudio, que con esa primera globalización de mercados se desarrolló un sistema único , que al final se impondría en todo el orbe: el capitalismo. Ese sistema no deja de ser una red y, por tanto, como gran unidad, como totalidad, tenía otros subsistemas, interconectados, que lo estructuraban como un todo. Por una parte el subsistema atlántico-mediterráneo; por otra el indopacífico. La fusión pues, de ambos, configuró esa nueva dinámica contractual y mercantil del momento, que permitió diseñar un nuevo esquema de pensamiento, de actividad y, sobre todo, de organización. Por esta razón, la línea básica que hemos desplegado se ha centrado en el análisis de los diferentes modelos europeos que intervinieron en el área de estudio.
Efectivamente, en primer lugar hemos profundizado en la dinámica que formalizaron los primeros en asentarse en la región, portugueses y españoles; por otra, la implementación, la estructura de las primeras grandes compañías capitalistas: la holandesa Vereenigde Oost-Indische Compagnie (VOC); y la inglesa East India Company (EIC). Entre unos y otros, y como veremos, se configuraron modelos muy diferentes, con unas visiones del mercado y de la política metropolitana o económica totalmente antagónicas. Pero ese antagonismo no se centró únicamente entre la disparidad de los dos modelos, sino que también lo encontramos en el interior de las sedes de las compañías que precipitaron el cambio en Asia. Tanto en Londres como en Ámsterdam afloraron debates ideológico-pragmáticos interesantes. Por una parte destacan los enfrentamientos y choques centrados en el más puro mercantilismo entre las dos grandes compañías. Por otra, y en segundo lugar de importancia, las discusiones que se desarrollaron en la Corte londinense por la cuestión de la exportación de metal precioso. Estas enfrentaron a una nueva generación de capitalistas globales, lógicamente a favor de una mayor libertad de comercio, de exportación, en la que primaba la cooperación; y por otra, los acérrimos defensores del mercantilismo más nacionalista, con una tendencia mucho más proteccionista, y anclados aún en la vieja idea que la riqueza era limitada, y por tanto, cabía protegerla a toda costa.
Pero también analizamos otros factores, relacionados básicamente con la concepción espacial, como el trato que se dio a ese espacio, y las dinámicas que se generaron entorno a su asimilación o control. Por eso mismo iniciamos nuestra investigación sobre un primer vector de penetración: la visión espacial del hombre europeo a fines de la Edad Media y principios de la Moderna. Hemos abierto una línea de aproximación teórica a ese esquema de pensamiento, a los puntos nucleares de su estructuración mental y a la conexión del momento entre Mediterráneo e Índico, siguiendo las pautas metodológicas de Braudel .
En un segundo orden de importancia, y basándonos en los postulados teóricos de algunos autores que han trabajado la percepción y la imagen, hemos analizado detenidamente cuales fueron los nódulos más importantes que se reflejaron en la cartografía del momento. Ciertamente, hemos estudiado 250 mapas que abarcan el período de 1400 a 1800; mapas de diferente tipología, y de autores de procedencias geográficas dispares. Ello nos ha procurado un primer modelo perceptivo. Estos primeros resultados los hemos comparado con los puertos de destino, principales y secundarios, de las naves de la VOC y de la EIC. Las revelaciones, aún sabiendo que partíamos de un modelo teórico experimental, han sido más que positivas pues han avalado nuestro análisis cartográfico. Ahora bien, la pregunta que nos hicimos seguidamente era la de acabar de perfilar esa concepción, determinar si la realidad económica era la misma, o bien difería, de la espacial. Y en eso sí que hubo sorpresas. Detectamos una desviación, importante por cierto, entre la información cartográfica facilitada a los lectores europeos y la documentación transferida a las sedes centrales de las grandes compañías.
La documentación trabajada, concretamente la correspondencia emitida por los agentes de la VOC y de la EIC, ha evidenciado que hubo áreas de predominio económico que, por diferentes razones e intereses, quedaban al margen de la representación cartográfica y de los circuitos primarios de abastecimiento y transporte de las naves. Una de esas sorpresas fue confirmar que Japón se configuró como una zona vital, que facilitó la penetración a otras, tales como Siam o China, y que allanó la vía para la capitalización de las compañías europeas.
Para acabar de perfilar la "visión espacial" del europeo del momento profundizamos en otra cuestión, en una pregunta formulada a priori y que considerábamos necesaria contestar. ¿Influyó la obra impresa, los libros, en el desarrollo cartográfico y en la visión global del europeo?
Para contestar esa pregunta el estudio que realizamos lo centramos en una doble vertiente: por un lado, la labor y los escritos efectuados por los embajadores de las potencias europeas en Asia. La información que proporcionaron fue muy valiosa, pero más aún el volumen de datos económicos que enviaron los agentes comerciales europeos asentados en las distintas zonas nucleares o periféricas, que además aceleraron la firma de convenios comerciales con las autoridades de todo el continente, desde Persia hasta Japón. Finalmente trabajamos de una forma directa con las obras de viajeros, la mayoría misioneros jesuitas, que entraron en áreas desconocidas, que narraron de forma descriptiva, muy detallada, la geografía física, humana y económica de los países que iban visitando. Algunas de estas producciones influyeron directamente sobre los mapas que se estaban confeccionando, ya que aportaban una gran cantidad de datos empíricos, pero en algunos casos esos mismos viajeros también se preocuparon de dibujar mapas que facilitaron esa labor.
En definitiva, y ya para acabar, hemos deconstruido el desarrollo de la concepción espacial del europeo y la visión que se tenía de esos grandes mercados lejanos que tantas tentaciones habían provocado, y provocaban. También hemos visto las diferencias entre modelos económicos, y como la información, la colaboración y la cooperación fueron fundamentales para desarrollar ese capitalismo moderno, un capitalismo que sin "conocimiento" habría sido incapaz de superar los estadios iniciales y extenderse globalmente.

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There has been considerable research inquiry into the causes and nature of differences in growth rates across countries and regions over time. Even small differences in these growth rates, if cumulated over a long period of time, may have substantial impact on the standards of living of people. Despite considerable research on the subject, cross-country and cross-regional income disparities are on rise over time. Understanding the causes behind such inequalities is essential to formulate appropriate policies and bring about required institutional changes in order to spread the benefits of growth processes across regions.

Dr. Somesh K. Mathur M.A., M Phil, Ph.D, has nearly eleven years of teaching and research experience at the Department of Economics, Jamia Millia Islamia (Central University), Delhi. While teaching at the Jamia he completed his M. Phil and PhD degrees in economics from the Centre for International Trade and Development, JNU. He has joined as Fellow at Research and Information System for Developing countries in April, 2006. His area of interest lies in new trade and growth theories, TRIPS and other WTO issues. He has participated in various national and international conferences and has published in referred national and international journals. Dr. Mathur has taught papers like Pure Theory of International Trade, Quantitative Methods, International Finance and Banking, Microeconomics and Corporate Finance to the post graduate students of the University.

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What might have been had there been no partition? Currently Pakistan seems to stand at a point where all the contradictions in its inception, all the missed opportunities in its history and all the failings of its ruling elite have finally come together to produce an insoluble crisis. Internal stresses and external pressures may now at last have converged to call into question the viability of the state as currently constructed.

To ask how it came to any of this is always to arrive at the same point, at the inescapable conclusion that the failings and weaknesses of Pakistan as a nation state were all present in embryo at Partition in 1947. This inevitably brings a reminder, replete with tragic irony that Partition itself, the very act that conferred such an ill-starred legacy on the fledgling country, was explicitly the wish of the state's founding father, Muhammad Ali Jinnah.

Roderick Matthews, Historian and author of 'Flaws in the Jewel', obtained a First from Balliol College, Oxford in Modern History. Studied Medieval History under Maurice Keen. Studied Tudor and Stuart History under Christopher Hill, Master of Balliol College. Studied European History under Colin Lucas, later Master of Balliol College and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Studied Imperial History under Professor Paul Longford, Rector of Lincoln College.

Dr. V. Anil Kumar

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The proposed book is a study that aims to explore the working of rural institutions, particularly the Panchayati Raj institutions vis-à-vis the drinking water supply in contemporary rural Karnataka. The study draws from both the liberal theory of individual rights and communitarian critique of liberal theory and also draws on the work done by IDS, Sussex scholars on linking rights to participation. Rights are seen to be realized through active participation of citizens in the local governance in general and local water governance in particular.

The methodology:
The study follows case study methodology of village studies. Three villages are studied: two villages from the district of Chamaraja Nagar in Southern Karnataka and one village from the Bidar district of Northern Karnataka. The specific methods adopted to collect primary information and data are the techniques of focus group discussions of the caste groupings of the villages, accompanied by in depth open ended interviews with rural citizens at the village level.
Main findings:
%u2022In Chamaraja Nagar district we found that the right to drinking water is realized better even by the Scheduled Caste communities because a) there is less scarcity at the source; b) better drinking water governance at the village level; still the major hurdles in realizing the right to drinking water are the scant finances of the Panchayats which find it difficult to meet the drinking water supply needs of all village communities; the site-specific topographical problems; and the gradual depletion of ground water. The community wells that historically supplied water to different village communities have long dried up and the hand pumps with bore well too are drying up fast; and this makes the dependence of the village communities on the Grama Panchayat more acute. Drinking water governance at the village level is found relatively better in Chamaraja Nagar.%u2022In Bidar district the problems are three fold: scarcity at the source of water; gradual depletion of ground water; more profoundly the governance of drinking water even with the existing schemes of government and donors such as World Bank. There are leakages in funds and non-completion of drinking water supply projects. The maintenance of existing facilities too is not up to the expectation of village citizens.%u2022In both Chamaraja Nagar and Bidar the participation of villagers in questioning and demanding their right to safe drinking water is open and conspicuous. They are squarely placing the responsibility for providing safe potable drinking water supply on Gram Panchayats. There is no sense of resignation or reticence on the part of citizens. Participation is bearing fruits in terms of rights in some cases but in others participation does not matter owing to local power structures.%u2022Historically in both the districts the community wells have been the source of drinking water supply and they have dried up; then followed the hand pumps fixed on bore wells and now these too are drying up because of ground water depletion; the third step the Panchayats taken chronologically was to supply drinking water through community out-posts but these require regular maintenance and repair; and often these out-posts are in indifferent condition; the final and most recent institutional mechanism of supplying drinking water was through individual piped-water connections to households. This mechanism comes with user charges and maintenance costs as well as proper water governance. The study brings out that as the Gram Panchayats increasingly become the suppliers of drinking water, increasing demands are made on them. In order to meet these demands there is need for more resources and better water governance.This brief study contributes to the increasingly contemporary debate on the right to drinking water and the institutional mechanisms to deal with it in rural India. The book falls in the broad area of water studies and will be of interest to students of Rural Development, Political Science, Sociology, Economics and Development Studies.

Dr. V. Anil Kumar - Assistant Professor, Centre for Decentralisation and Development, Institute for Social and Economic Change (ISEC), Bangalore, India (www.isec.ac.in) Areaa of Specialisation:
%u2022Democratic Decentralisation and Rural Institutions %u2022Agrarian Change and Rural Development %u2022Public Policy and Policy Processes %u2022Social and Political Theory Academic Qualifications:
· Ph.D.: University of Delhi (2004).
Title of the thesis: Capitalist Development and Agrarian Politics in Andhra Pradesh, 1960-1990.

· M. Phil.: University of Delhi (1991). Title of the thesis: Depeasantisation and Marxist Theory: With Reference to Some Case Studies From the Third World.

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This book presents the author's critique of the policy of caste-based reservation in jobs which has since been extended to education sector and is one of the worst things that has happened in the post-Independence India. Motivated by vote-bank politics in the garb of promoting social justice and egalitarianism it has divided the Hindu community into two factions. The vast majority of backward castes listed in the report of the Mandal Commission (1980) and taken to be 'socially and educationally' homogenous are called 'other backward classes' by the acronym OBC while others are 'forward classes' that may be called non-OBC. This dichotomy mistakenly assumes that their were no backward classes amongst the non-OBC Hindus, Muslims and Christians. Worse, to be entitled to job quota one had to be a member of some designated caste. Mere economic backwardness or abject poverty was not enough!

Unfortunately, the Supreme Court of India has, in its judgment on Writ Petition No.265 of 2006 (Ashok Kumar Thakur Vs Union of India & Others) delivered on April 10, 2008 has, for the most part, virtually upheld the majority judgment on the Writ petition No. 930 of 1990 (Indira Sawhney Vs Union of India & Others) and rejected the Writ Petition No. 265 of 2006 which challenged the policy of caste-based reservation for admission in the IITs, IIMs and other Centrally controlled educational institutions In other words, the apex court has affixed its seal of approval on recognition of OBC as a distinctly separate backward class like the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes and ruled for extension of the policy of caste-based reservation to the education sector, debarring, of course, the 'creamy layer' from the quota benefit. It is now for the apolitical academics, scientists, doctors, persons engaged in knowledge-based industries and NGOs committed to seeing a casteless society in India to petition the apex court for review of the judgment by a bigger Constitution Bench.

Foreword by Dr. Subhash C. Kashyap, Consultant in Constitutional Law and Political Management and Former Secretary General, Lok Sabha:

"...The Second Partition is very well written. The handling of the theme is incisive and highly perceptive. The author minces no words in expressing his views. He is precise, candid and logical. He writes as a deeply concerned citizen with no personal axe to grind. One can not miss his commitment to the nation - its unity and integrity - and his patriotic fervour. Sri Misra bases his observations and conclusions on adequate research, study and painstaking analysis. In so far as the book makes a fervent appeal to save the nation from being irretrievably divided between numerous castes and communities for the sake of narrow vote bank politics, it is a voice of sanity. I have no hesitation in commending this book to all those who have the interest of the nation at heart."

Sharad C. Misra is a freelance journalist writing on wide-ranging subjects of national importance. A development economist, he is Fellow of the Economic Development Institute, World Bank, Washington and member of the Centre for Transport Research and Management, New Delhi. He is a former Economic Advisor to the Ministry of Railways and Advisor (Chief) to the Planning Commission, Government of India. In 1978, he joined the United Nations as Technical Assistance Advisor. After retiring from the United Nations service he settled down in Mumbai where he functioned as visiting professor in the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mumbai

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Public health services in India have received an almost universally hostile press. They are held to share some of the blame for India's continuing high levels of disease and premature health. In this study, Roger Jeffery provides the first detailed account of Indian health services since 1947. His work will revise accepted views and will contribute to the development of theoretical approaches that are badly needed if we are to understand the processes of change in the health services of developing countries.

The author carefully outlines the status of health and health services in India before independence. After considering the legacy of British rule, he assesses patterns of health expenditure, the education of health personnel, and the operations of health institutions after 1947. The politics of health in India and the impact of the international economy form the context of his impressive study. He argues that health services are only loosely connected to the patterns of class domination in India. This has allowed them some flexibility and autonomy to deal with the major health needs of the mass of the Indian population as well as to serve the Indian elite.

Examining the patterns of development, the author concludes that Indian health services, in spite of their considerable limitations, are more closely geared to Indian health needs than are those of many other developing countries where a powerful medical profession has been encouraged by international aid to devote resources to hospitals and medical colleges. In India health planners have been supported by international agencies in a rather different agenda - maintaining substantial, though flawed, preventive campaigns, training for paramedical workers, and improved water supply and sanitation.

Reforms since 1970 have continued this tradition, but the limitations of the existing system and the constraints on the likely success of the reforms, suggest that the Indian health system will remain less adequate than it could be. "Health for All" in India is still a long way off.

PROFESSOR ROGER JEFFERY: Sociology, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh

Roger Jeffery has taught in Edinburgh since 1972, and has been Professor of Sociology of South Asia there since 1997. His research has mostly been carried out in the north of the Indian sub-continent (Pakistan, Delhi and Uttar Pradesh). His publications have dealt with health and health policy, agrarian change and the role of tea plantation companies, environmental issues (specifically with the effects of the loss of common property resources, community-based forest management, and environment/ population relationships), on secondary schooling and on social change more generally. In carrying out his research he has disregarded disciplinary boundaries if they stood in the way of attempts to understand and explain social realities.

The Politics of Health in India was the first comprehensive, multi-disciplinary account of the nature of public health services in India, in a historical perspective. It presents a neo-Weberian analysis of those health services, locating the social interests that have influenced (but not determined) key decisions and the development of the structure of health services since 1800. It draws on archival sources, interviews with senior medical politicians, civil servants and ministers, as well as on Professor Jeffery's experiences as a consultant for the Overseas Development Administration.

Since 1981 much of his research has been carried out with Patricia Jeffery, based on ethnographic work in Bijnor District, 100 miles north-east of Delhi in western Uttar Pradesh. In 2000-02, with Patricia Jeffery and Craig Jeffrey he conducted research on secondary schooling, collecting data on attitudes towards different kinds of schooling, and the limitations posed by issues of cost and accessibility, which led to many articles and a book (Degrees Without Freedom, Stanford University Press, 2008).
He is also currently Principal Investigator in Edinburgh on two externally-funded research projects, one on 'Educational Outcomes for the Poor in India, Pakistan, Kenya and Ghana' (2005-10), and the other is on 'Tracing Pharmaceuticals in South Asia' (2006-09).

He has been a visiting Fellow at the Institute of Economic Growth and at Jawaharlal Nehru University, both in New Delhi, and is currently Chair of the European Association of South Asian Studies.

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The Buddha thought of himself as a guide rather than as a teacher of immutable rules. In consequence Buddhism has been the least centrally controlled of all the world's faith traditions and this is very consistently reflected in its history. Where enforcement of a rigid orthodoxy might have killed the faith, its openness gave it a creative capacity for flexibility and longevity that sired a family of endlessly fertile offspring. The local adaptability of Buddhism has enabled it to travel and grow, to diversify and elaborate. Its lack of a Pope-Caliph or a single text has allowed it to grow differently in every soil into which it has been planted. The continuous practice of a system in which consciousness examines itself deeply and at leisure has produced a range of highly sophisticated approaches to spiritual experience over twenty-five centuries. Though it preached calmness it sprang from a dynamic and turbulent India and its Indian origins are clearly detectable in its particular blend of rationality and asceticism, the vocabulary of its cosmology and the imprint it carries of the beliefs it replaced and rejected.

The transmission of ideas does not always leave hard evidence and it is difficult to pinpoint exactly when Buddhism began to spread beyond India. There is a tradition that two brothers from Bactria became disciples of the Buddha during his lifetime and that they then returned home and built shrines to him. If this is true then Buddhism was travelling from its very inception. However talk of building temples to the Buddha smacks of much later practice. Any disciple who had been personally taught by Gautama can surely not have failed to respect the early doctrine, that the Buddha was no more than a man and that he taught a practical Path, not a cult of devotion.

For current purposes the development of Buddhism can be conveniently divided into three main periods, corresponding to the ascendancy of different approaches to the central teachings of the Buddha: the Early period from the Buddha's life to around the first century BCE, the Mahayana period lasting roughly to 600 CE, and the Tantric period, to the disappearance of Buddhism in India around 1200. These periods might also be seen in terms of steps away from the simpler, contemplative teachings of the Buddha in which firstly compassion, then faith, then magic began to replace higher wisdom as the ideal path to salvation. These steps can also be thought of as a movement away from the hope of reaching nirvana in many lifetimes to the goal of attaining it within one lifetime, then within an instant.

This paper expounds the basic tenets of Buddhism and traces the spread of the influence of Buddhism over the pre-modern world, from c. 400 BCE to c 1200 CE.

Roderick Matthews, Historian, Obtained a First from Balliol College, Oxford in Modern History. Studied Medieval History under Maurice Keen. Studied Tudor and Stuart History under Christopher Hill, Master of Balliol College. Studied European History under Colin Lucas, later Master of Balliol College and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Studied Imperial History under Professor Paul Longford, Rector of Lincoln College.

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This title gives a description of an ancient system of mathematics from India. Topics covered:
· Brief description of mathematics during the Vedic period
· The rediscovery
· Who was Bharati Krishna Tirthaji
· The sixteen sutras
· The non mathematical philosophy behind the sutras
· The fourteen sub sutras
· Is Vedic Mathematics eternal?

Abhijit Das: He is a man of many talents. At present he is working as a Consultant Endoscopic Gynecologist with a super-specialization in Urogynecology and Pelvic Floor Reconstruction Surgery. He is also associated with BEAMS (Bombay Endoscopy Academy and center for Minimally invasive Surgery) an exclusive Endoscopy and super-specialty hospital for women. He spent 13 years in the UK after graduation and worked as a Senior Registrar till his time of leaving the UK at the end of 2000 to come back to India. VEDIC MATHEMATICS AND VEDIC SCIENCES: he has participated as a faculty at the International Indology Conference in 2007 and presented an original paper on Vedic mathematics. He is an international faculty for the World Academy of Vedic Mathematics and has edited a number of books on the subject. He has given hundreds of lectures on the subject in educational institutes and regularly takes workshops in the same including a big one in Calcutta organized by Padatik and covered extensively in newspapers including Times of India. At present he is in the final phases of writing a book on Vedic Mathematics with Kenneth Williams from the UK, one of the masters of the subject. He has numerous published articles in Pure and Vedic Mathematics and is working as part of an international project to promote Vedic sciences and Vedic learning.

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King-Tales from Rajasthan: This is a translation of Raj Kahini, the very popular 1905 Bengali literary classic, written by Abanindranath Tagore. The book features nine tales retold from The Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan by James Todd (1829, 1832). Abanindranath's stories, written at the inception of the Bengali nationalist swadeshi movement, present a psychology of subjective mysticism in their treatment of clan oral history, with an intent to stimulate alternate approaches and ideals for post-modern and anti-colonial resistance. The translations have been made with a careful eye to the subtleties of literary use and subjective nuance.

Debashish Banerji completed his undergraduate studies in English Literature from the University of Bombay. He served as a cultural correspondent with some of the leading English language newspapers in India. He completed a Master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Louisville, Kentucky and a Ph.D. in Indian Art History from the University of California, Los Angeles. From 1991 - 2005 Debashish served as president of the East-West Cultural Center in Los Angeles founded by Dr. Judith Tyberg. Debashish is part of the adjunct faculty of Pasedena City College teaching Art History. Presently, he is Educational Coordinator at the distance-learning graduate level University of Philosophical Research in Los Angeles and is Director of the International Center for Integral Studies in New Delhi.

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Rajnikant is an incredible phenomenon who has stunned the Tamil screen so hard that you almost tend to believe that there has never been anybody like him in the history of Indian Cinema so far! Yet, if you pick and choose any film randomly among his 150 odd movies like 'Manithan', 'Maveeran' or 'Mannan' chances are that it will be badly shot, poorly crafted, containing kitschy sets and absurdly choreographed stunt sequences. Yet, what transformed so many of them into silver jubilee hits? What motivated the hundreds of his fans associations to be so devotedly busy? How is it that producers managed to make at least 6 films each year with him from 1980 to 1995? The answer is simple - the amazing presence of this one man army, Rajnikant. At the same time, I am more or less sure that he had very sketchy ideas about the kind of scripts that were being written for him. He was just destined to be the lucky god, happy to be amidst the right devotees in the right place at the right time!

K. Hariharan A student of Film Direction from the Film & TV Institute of India, Pune (batch of 1976) after completing a graduation in Commerce and Business Management from Bombay University in 1973. Later settled down in Chennai to make 7 feature films, which include 'Ghashiram Kotwal' (1978), a film in Marathi which was screened at the Berlin, Edinburgh and Valladolid film festivals. "Ezhavathu Manithan' (The 7th Man), the next film in Tamil got the national award for the best Tamil film in 1982 and the Afro-Asian Solidarity Award at the Moscow International Film Festival in 1983. In 1992 the Hindi film entitled 'Current' starring Om Puri and Deepti Naval got the best critics award that year. Between these films, directed 3 films for the Children's Film Society of India; 'Wanted Thangaraj' in 1979, 'Crocodile Boy' in 1986, and 'Dubhashi' (The Translator) in 1999. Has also been concentrating on a lot of documentary and educational films as an independent filmmaker. This includes 'Take a Break with Hugh & Colleen Gantzer'- a 26 part Travel series; a 26 part educational series called 'Understanding Cinema', and a long dramatic series on the Bhakti poets of south India called 'Maale Manivanna'. Teaching on film production & cinema studies has been an equally important passion. Regular visiting faculty at the University of Pennsylvania since 1995 in the South Asia Regional Studies department teaching two courses titled 'Indian Cinema & Society' and the 'Cinema of Satyajit Ray'. Guest faculty at the Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and at the Film & TV Institute in Pune, India, the Asian College of Journalism, Chennai. The new LV Prasad Film & TV Academy is an ambitious and pioneering project of the Prasad Group, Asia's largest post production house. As the Director of the Academy, he is responsible for training students through a 2 year program to become competent Filmmakers and Television producers and technicians. In active collaboration with Arcadia University, USA, the larger objective is to create filmmakers with a holistic vision of Cinema & as an extension of the study of Liberal Arts. And of course happily married to Rama, a Homeopathic doctor and father of Anjali, also a Homeopathic doctor and Vivek an engineering post-graduate student

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Unlike most books on divorce which focus on the trauma of divorce (which indeed it is), Vandana takes a positive perspective and hides her pain beneath a cloak of humour. She does it without rancour and does not ask for sympathy-you are provoked to question diverse issues in Indian society - the patriachal values, the double standards, the hypocrisy and pretences-her 'incidents' make you laugh and cry - the italicised last lines of each chapter show a maturity (beyond her years) and carry a wealth of meaning which is so relevant to life - the book reaches out and is a learning experience....

VANDANA SHAH is a young woman from Ambala City who moved to a metropolis, Mumbai. She was orphaned at a young age. She has degrees in psychology and marketing and is in her final year of studying law. She was married for six months to a man from a wealthy Indian family. When he filed for divorce, her life was shattered. 360 Degrees Back to Life is the story of humiliation and social stigma surrounding divorce that still exists in India, her realization of the need of divorce support groups, and her courage to start such a group. She does charitable work for Mother Teresa's Charity and the International Institute of City Farming, where she is working to publicize a method endorsed by the United Nations.

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From birth to death we are in a visible spectrum which can be perceived by human sense organs. What happens to us after death or before we are born? Are we in a different mould, in a different spectrum? Do we exist at all? If we do, is it as an individual or a whole? Living our life everyday, we tend to take so many things for granted, even the life that we have; never stopping once to actually understand our origin, our path and final destination. Our universe could be the result of an upsurge from an underbelly of a volcano but it was coming of a process of a seed to a bloom. The book attempts to understand this overwhelming spread where our own position is like that of a sand particle in an enormous ocean. The book looks at life from various angles. How space and time bind us? What else is there other than space and time that is essential for sustenance of life within this universe? How we evolve from a single cell entity to present complex human being; the actual journey from unconscious to consciousness? How addition of instincts, emotions, intelligence and then intellect make us a complete human being. Where does this mind reside? Is it a separate entity or part of the brain function? How mind works and why it works in a particular fashion? What happens to mind after death? Where do emotions and intellect and ideas go after this body decays? It also ponders on why we dream; how we dream and what meaning can dreams convey? Why some people have extra sensory perception? The kind of personality we have and how we all differ from each other. We also evolve as human beings. As we continue to acquire finer qualities, we keep graduating from basic selfish person to more giving and tolerant personality. It tells us the broad subsets where we can fit ourselves as self centered or benevolent; from preconditioned phase to finally reaching to reconditioned phase. Fate or destiny is something we all wish to know about. Fate is predictable if we carefully look closely at pointers in our personality. Personality, our tendencies and desires give direction to our fate. Does astrology tell us about our fate or is there something more in us that defines our destiny? If you want to know more read on%u2026%u2026%u2026

Dr Madhvi Karol is a maternal and child specialist practicing in Delhi. She also provides counseling for families. She has been practicing for more than 25 years and this book is her own view of her experiences.

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I. HEAVEN AND HELL AND THEIR LOCATION IN ZOROASTRIANISM AND IN THE VEDAS; and
II. HEAVEN AND HELL AND THEIR LOCATION IN ZOROASTRIANISM AND IN PLATO

Sorabji Naoroji Kanga, B.A.

Two papers first published in 1933 looking at Heaven and Hell in Zoroantrianism on the one hand and the Vedas and Plato on the other.
"The comparative study of religions and philosophies is necessary for the correct understanding of a religion, especially so in the case of a very old religion like the Zoroastrian, and one which has supplied subsequent religions with some of its own fundamental ideas. In an article in Dr. Sir J. J. Modi Commemorative Volume, published in 1930, entitled "The Spenta Mainyu in the Gathas, the source of Fravashis in the Avesta and of the Logos in Christianity", the usefulness of comparative studies has been amply illustrated. As another example of a similar nature I may mention my attempt to trace "The Gathic Doctrine of Dualism in Aristotle" from the Metaphysics of Aristotle, Ch. VI, Book VI, and pub­lished in the "Indo-Iranian Studies" brought out in 1925 in honour of the late Dastur Darab P. Sanjana. The Dialogues of Plato again give abundant evidence for comparison with certain doctrines of Zoroastrianism. For instance, in the Phaedo, we come across ideas about heaven and hell, which vividly remind us of similar ideas in the Zoroastrian literature. In fact, so vivid is the comparison, that .Jowett in his Introduction to the Phaedo states that Plato describes the soul and her attendant genius in the language of the mysteries or of a disciple of Zoroaster%u2026..Some time back I had the pleasure of reading a paper before the Gatha Society on " 'The Ideas of Heaven and Hell-and their Location-in Zoroastrianism and in the Vedas", and which appears in this publication as Part 1. The present paper forms Part II: of the comparison which we seek to institute between Zoroastrian and other writings. In the former paper we had seen at great length the abstract and ethical meaning of the terms good and evil, of heaven and hell, and the import of subjective rewards and punishments, both in this life and in the life hereafter. We therefore do not enter into them again in this paper, beyond emphasizing that the Zoroas­trian writings talk of states of existence for weal or woe, of Vahishtem Ahum or Achishtem Ahum, for the soul. For the above reason the Gathas do not countenance the idea of a material heaven or hell, and cannot and do not talk of their supposed location anywhere in the Universe. In the present paper, we try to see what we can find on the subject of heaven and hell, and their location from the Phaedo, one of Plato's Dialogues. Before I proceed with that subject, I may state that the compari­son between the Zoroastrian and Vedic accounts would take us to that period of time when, before the Aryan schism occurred, the forefathers of the Zoroastrians and the Indians lived in a common land under the common appellation of Aryans. Thus there was not much of borrowing in the accounts by anyone party from the other. But in the case of the Zoroastrian and Greek accounts it would seem that there has been a borrowing by the Greeks from the Zoroastrian writings. We gather this fact from a perusal of the various Dialogues of Plato. I had occasion in my former paper to state that in the opinion of B. Jowett, M.A., as given in his Intro­duction to his translation of the Phaedo, Plato has described the "Soul and her attendant genius in the language of the mysteries or of a disciple of Zoroaster". "

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Writers from both East and West regularly describe the raga-based music of India as 'classical'. If this is an attempt to dignify serious Indian music then it is misplaced, because the 'classical' label is not an honour that Indian music is in any need of. The factors that make western classical music 'classical' are such that to apply the word to Indian music is simply to ignore the main virtues and unique features of Indian music. Thus the well-meant word becomes instantly either inaccurate or redundant. Or worse, it betokens an inability to see beyond western standards. In making parallels between Indian and western music the word 'classical' might in some ways be applicable in terms of tradition or discipline, or to distinguish serious from popular, but all the correct implications of the word totally ignore the one central basis of Indian music practice - that of dhyana or devotion. The personal, transitory, improvised nature of Indian music combined with its devotional element mean that, if one insists on framing its distinguishing traits in western terms, it would be better described as a form of 'holy jazz'. The purpose of this essay is to explain some of the more significant differences between the Indian and western 'classical' traditions and to argue that the word 'classical' is an import that Indians would do well to reject.

Roderick Matthews, Historian, Obtained a First from Balliol College, Oxford in Modern History. Studied Medieval History under Maurice Keen. Studied Tudor and Stuart History under Christopher Hill, Master of Balliol College. Studied European History under Colin Lucas, later Master of Balliol College and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Studied Imperial History under Professor Paul Longford, Rector of Lincoln College.

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An Indo-Greek dialogue on morality. An Indian philosopher residing in Persia accompanied some ayurvedic doctors in the Persian armies of Darius invading Greece in 492 BC But before the battle of Marathon, he disappeared into the country side. A decade later, he came to settle in Athens, disputing and debating in the agora and came to be popularly known as "Pharatos." After his death, he entered the Elysian Fields; from where like other philosophers and learned souls in Hades, he continues to look at the global human affairs from his times to the present, as an unexamined life is not worth living even after death. We give, here, a dialogue of Pharatos, "Relativism: A Moral Twilight"

Bharat Gupt Associate Professor, CVS, Delhi University. Founder member and Trustee International Forum for India's Heritage. Born in 1946 in Moradabad, a small town in the Uttar Pradesh province of India of mixed Hindu-Muslim population, best known for its engraved art on brassware and a little less for Hindustani music and Urdu poetry. Parents moved in early fifties to Delhi, the new capital of modernity and political intrigue, where I went to school and college and studied English, Hindi, Sanskrit and philosophy, but spent every summer in the district town. Spent a year in the US at the end of Counter-Cultural days and took a Master's degree from Toronto. I learnt to play the sitar and surbahar under the eminent musician Uma Shankar Mishra and studied musicology , yoga sutras and classics under Acarya Brihaspati and Swami Kripalvananda. Trained both in modern European and traditional Indian educational systems, I have worked in classical studies, theatre, music, culture and media studies and researched as Senior Onassis Fellow in Greece on revival of ancient Greek theatre. As a classicist I came to realise that ancient Greek drama and culture as a whole, was given an unduly empirical color by the modern West. Looking at things from my own location I saw that Greek theatre was closer to ancient Indian theatre as an ethical and religious act or hieropraxis. Instead of being seen as Western and Eastern, Greek and Indian theatres should be seen rooted in the Indo-European cultural beliefs, myths and idolatory and the aesthetics of emotional arousal. I have lectured on theatre and music at various Universities in India, North America and Greece. I am on visiting faculty at the National School of Drama, Delhi and the Bhartendu Academy for Dramatic Arts , Lucknow.

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As British rule spread across the Indian subcontinent in the first years of the nineteenth century, one area in the north-west remained apart, independent and untroubled by the new empire builders. In 1803 General Lake captured Delhi for the British, but he then halted on the line of the Jamuna river, uncertain how to proceed. The Marathas to the south and south-west were still unconquered, and the Punjab, lying beyond the Jamuna, was an open territory containing a problematic geography of hills and rivers, inhabited by a highly heterogeneous mix of peoples, all of whom were inured to armed struggle. There were Sikhs, Rajputs and Pathans in the centre, with hill tribes, Gurkhas, Sindis and Afghans all around its edges. There was no good reason to push on, and the Punjab remained unmolested. In the years immediately prior to the British arrival one man had arisen from the religious and ethnic crucible of the Punjab. Ranjit Singh, a local petty chieftain of Jat farming stock, had climbed steadily to a position of unchallenged personal authority over the central area of the Punjab, setting himself up in Lahore and declaring himself Maharaja in 1801. He was to go on, over the next thirty-eight years, to build a dominion that abutted China, Afghanistan, Sind (still then independent) and British India. This was a man who truly filled a power vacuum, largely by his own merits as a campaigner, diplomat and ruler. It was his instinctive ability to understand the currency of power that first gave Ranjit Singh his hegemony and then allowed him to keep it for four decades during some of the most turbulent times in South Asian history, throughout which he remained sandwiched between the formidable and acquisitive might of the British to his south and east, and the unstable and deadly world of Afghan politics to his north and west. This paper examines how he came to build such a successful state in such a dangerous corner of the world, and how his successors proved unable to sustain his work, swiftly losing the autonomy he had bequeathed to them.

Roderick Matthews, Historian, Obtained a First from Balliol College, Oxford in Modern History. Studied Medieval History under Maurice Keen. Studied Tudor and Stuart History under Christopher Hill, Master of Balliol College. Studied European History under Colin Lucas, later Master of Balliol College and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Studied Imperial History under Professor Paul Longford, Rector of Lincoln College.

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Although by 1858 the British were unquestionably the supreme power in India, still about 40% of the landmass and a quarter of the population remained in the hands of traditional ruling dynasties. This 'Indian' India was never subject to direct British control. The Princes who ruled it remained in power, protected partly by British reluctance to incur the expense of conquering them, and also by the Princes' own willingness to play ball politically. This arrangement had many mutually beneficial aspects, of which the most obvious was that both sides enjoyed an enduring peace. The Princely States got by without the expense of large armies, and in return the British assumed limited rights to supervise the internal affairs of the States, expecting 'good government' in return for the 'protection' that the native regimes now enjoyed as allies of the British Empire. From the start the British took upon themselves the right to make decisions for these States directly in the areas of defence and foreign policy, and over time enlarged this remit to include 'communications', a broad heading that covered railways, canals, telegraphs and postal services. The twentieth century saw this cosy relationship break up, as political reform, then the move towards independence profoundly changed the role the Princes were expected to play in the wider political life of modern India.

This paper examines Princely India, asking what it was, how it worked and how, ultimately, it disappeared in the process of Partition and Independence.

Roderick Matthews, Historian, Obtained a First from Balliol College, Oxford in Modern History. Studied Medieval History under Maurice Keen. Studied Tudor and Stuart History under Christopher Hill, Master of Balliol College. Studied European History under Colin Lucas, later Master of Balliol College and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Studied Imperial History under Professor Paul Longford, Rector of Lincoln College.

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Scholars now have little doubt that Zoroaster (Zarathushtra, Zardosht) was a real historic personage. However, there has been a very long and technical debate about the exact dates of his life. The disagreement is mainly between scholars who place his birth at an earlier date, around 1200-1000 BCE and Zoroaster's own followers, who uphold a date around 630 BCE. Remembering that in religious terms ancient origins are generally better than modern ones, this represents a highly unusual situation, where the believers have a precise, late date for the life of their Prophet and disinterested unbelievers are prepared to make him much more ancient. Although very little is known of Zoroaster, even less is agreed. For a figure that had such a long-lasting and profound effect on the course of world religion, this is remarkable. It has meant that since his time (whenever that was) the things he said (whatever they were) have never quite stood still and have been constantly reinterpreted in ways that often tell us more about the interpreters than they do about Zoroaster's life and teachings. All the familiar problems of ancient history, problems of language, chronology, partisan bias and anachronistic assumptions, appear to obstruct our understanding of the subject. This paper looks at some of these issues.

Roderick Matthews, Historian, Obtained a First from Balliol College, Oxford in Modern History. Studied Medieval History under Maurice Keen. Studied Tudor and Stuart History under Christopher Hill, Master of Balliol College. Studied European History under Colin Lucas, later Master of Balliol College and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Studied Imperial History under Professor Paul Longford, Rector of Lincoln College

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During the last forty years of the nineteenth century India experienced a series of devastating famines, of a frequency and a severity previously unknown. As many as fifteen million people may have died either from starvation or as a result of disease exacerbated by prolonged malnutrition. To what degree responsibility for this total must be borne by the British colonial administration is open to question. Certainly the British reaction was often slow, misinformed and inflexible, though over time experience did lead to the development of greater vigilance and a less economically doctrinaire approach to famine relief. At the time, opponents and critics of British rule, in both India and Great Britain, did not hesitate to associate the evils of famine with the self-interested nature of colonialism, and a standard list of causes of famine emerged, such as excessive taxation and the 'drain' of Indian wealth from the country to pay for a bloated and overpaid administration. Nationalists like Dadabhai Naoroji and R. C. Dutt were prominent among these critics, but there were many others, including William Digby (1849-1904) and the Rev. J. T. Sunderland (1842-1936), both English but writing respectively in India and North America. The British Government of India defended itself and held numerous Commissions to enquire into the causes of famines and ways to relieve their worst effects. Nevertheless a substantial body of polemical literature grew up on the subject, and has continued to swell ever since. At its worst this debate simply polarises into either an attack on the inhumanity of the British or on the laziness and improvidence of Indian peasants. Fortunately, the selective and partisan nature of these discussions has been remedied by later writers such as A. Loveday (The History and Economics of Indian Famines, 1914) and more recently B. M. Bhatia (Famines In India, 1963) allowing us to look back on these desperate decades of hunger with a more nuanced understanding of what was actually going on. The British Raj still stands indicted on several charges of incompetence, and occasionally indifference, but the overall picture of events, and with it our understanding of the complex interlocking causes of the long series of late Victorian famines, is now very much more complete.

This paper examines the years 1860 to 1901 with reference to five great famines, and examines what caused them, how the British responded, and why the series was eventually halted and did not return.

Roderick Matthews, Historian, Obtained a First from Balliol College, Oxford in Modern History. Studied Medieval History under Maurice Keen. Studied Tudor and Stuart History under Christopher Hill, Master of Balliol College. Studied European History under Colin Lucas, later Master of Balliol College and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Studied Imperial History under Professor Paul Longford, Rector of Lincoln College.

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Medicine and the arts were interdependent in ancient India as they were in ancient Greece. This fact has not been given due recognition by the scholars of ancient history. For this reason, the most significant relationship between art and medicine, which was once the cornerstone of medical and artistic faith in these two cultures, has remained in the dark. In ancient times, not only the physician but also the artist was also very much aware of his responsibility as a healer. There was little or no room for aesthetic theories, which could argue that art was for art's sake. The artist and the physician were both involved in the common purpose of healing. They could exchange notes and share a common vision of life. It was not like the present times, when the two work in different, and sometimes in opposite directions, one professing to be rational and scientific, while the other claiming to be inspired and intuitive. The unity of art and medicine was then, taken for granted. It was supported by institutional and social activity. This is reflected so well in the presence of theatres in found in every ancient healing site in Greece. Most of the sixty-three ancient temples of Asklepios excavated by now, have theatrons near them, and the most famous of them all at Epidauros has the finest theatre.

In modern times, when there is a continuous increase in the destructive powers of Man, when the entertainment value of culture has totally obliterated its therapeutic function, the need to heal society is greater than ever before. Now unless art combines with medicine to work for a common aim of creating a violence-free society, there little hope for world health and peace. An example of ancient unity of medicine and art can be of much help.

Bharat Gupt Associate Professor, CVS, Delhi University. Founder member and Trustee International Forum for India's Heritage. Born in 1946 in Moradabad, a small town in the Uttar Pradesh province of India of mixed Hindu-Muslim population, best known for its engraved art on brassware and a little less for Hindustani music and Urdu poetry. Parents moved in early fifties to Delhi, the new capital of modernity and political intrigue, where I went to school and college and studied English, Hindi, Sanskrit and philosophy, but spent every summer in the district town. Spent a year in the US at the end of Counter-Cultural days and took a Master's degree from Toronto. I learnt to play the sitar and surbahar under the eminent musician Uma Shankar Mishra and studied musicology , yoga sutras and classics under Acarya Brihaspati and Swami Kripalvananda. Trained both in modern European and traditional Indian educational systems, I have worked in classical studies, theatre, music, culture and media studies and researched as Senior Onassis Fellow in Greece on revival of ancient Greek theatre. As a classicist I came to realise that ancient Greek drama and culture as a whole, was given an unduly empirical color by the modern West. Looking at things from my own location I saw that Greek theatre was closer to ancient Indian theatre as an ethical and religious act or hieropraxis. Instead of being seen as Western and Eastern, Greek and Indian theatres should be seen rooted in the Indo-European cultural beliefs, myths and idolatory and the aesthetics of emotional arousal. I have lectured on theatre and music at various Universities in India, North America and Greece. I am on visiting faculty at the National School of Drama, Delhi and the Bhartendu Academy for Dramatic Arts, Lucknow.

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BUSINESS CYCLES-upswings and downswings in the economy, booms and bursts are a characteristic of the capitalist economy. The current recession had its origins in USA due to reckless lending by mortgage banks leading to their inevitable bankruptcy. The financial empires built by securitization and leveraging of these loans, collapsed like a pack of cards and several banks and financial institutions-with such well known and reputed names as Bear Stearns, Lehman Bros. have disappeared from the scene.

What started as a Wall Street crisis has rapidly spread to Europe and to a lesser extent to Asia, leading to collapse of business confidence, everywhere. It has resulted in growth contraction and rising unemployment-a result of recession. Global institutions like OECD, UNCTAD, World Bank, IMF etc. along with economic groupings of nations like G-8, G-20, ASEAN are working out possible solutions to come out of the mess. But it is for individual nations concerned to come out with appropriate policy measures relevant to their situation, to save their economies and lives and jobs of their citizens.

Ultimately, Recession is an opportunity-to bring about drastic changes in the economic and taxation policies and the economic system with the aim to not only eliminate the defects of capitalism as also the evils of unsatiable greed which they give rise to.

The book takes a peep into various aspects of Recession, Deflation, financial bubbles over centuries like Tulip Bubble, Mississippi Bubble etc. It also covers in greater detail the several financial crises in recent history with detailed analysis of the latest one-US financial crisis, as it continues to hurt a large number of economies, including ours and what lessons it has for us. It also looks into Dubai's recent debt crisis.

PROF. V. KRISHNA MOORTHY currently is a Consultant and Trainer. He is CEO of Parivartan Centre for Change Management, Executive Empowerment and Leadership Studies, Mysore specializing in executive development programs. A Rank holder of the University of Mysore, in the post-graduate course in Commerce, he started his career as a Lecturer in Business Studies in a Bangalore College. Later moving to commercial banking with the State Bank Group as a direct officer, he spent over three decades with the Group holding several key positions in the areas of Commercial Banking, International Banking, Corporate Credit as well as Technology Services. He also had a stint in Rural Banking as Chairman of Kalpataru Grameena Bank. He was Chief of Bank's HRD Department and also headed the Bank's Training College at Bangalore. He represented Associate Banks of State Bank of India in the 42nd International Banking Summer School at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland for over a fortnight.

Prof. Moorthy has been a regular contributor to several business journals since his post-graduate days on issues relating to banking, consumer affairs, environment, finance, human resources development, management, training etc. He has to his credit over 50 publications in reputed financial dailies and journals like Business Line, Economic Times, Financial Express, Southern Economist, Indian Banker, Freedom First, Business India etc. During his long banking career he was editor and publisher of in-house journals Organizational Kaleidoscope, HRD Spectrum, Kalpataru Harvest, and Touchstone. He was also editor and publisher of a Management monthly: Managerial Perspectives. He has presented papers in national and International Conferences on contemporary issues. He edited a compendium titled: Seminar on Development of Exports with special reference to Small and Medium Enterprises. Two of his books, Financial Institutions and Markets and Global Business Finance have been published recently.

After three decades with the State Bank Group, he obtained voluntary retirement in 2001 and settled in Mysore. Since then, he was Visiting Professor in Finance Area, in the Post-graduate Dept. of Commerce, University of Mysore for over 5 years teaching M.Com. and MFAM (Master of Financial Analysis and Management) students. A Life Member of ISTD, he is a regular visiting faculty in some of the management institutes and bank training centers at Mysore and Bangalore.

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Arthur Wellesley, who became the Duke of Wellington (1769-1852), spent eight years in India, from 1797 to 1805. It was during this tour of duty that he established his reputation as a master of logistics and a winner of battles. After his return to Europe he inflicted a series of defeats on the French in Portugal, Spain and France from Vimiero in 1808 through to Toulouse in 1814, finally beating the French Emperor himself at the battle of Waterloo in 1815. This was the decisive European battle of the age and ended the Napoleonic Wars. In the peace that followed he entered British politics and eventually became Prime Minister from 1828 to 1830. This paper examines his years in India and the effect they were to have on him.

Roderick Matthews, Historian, Obtained a First from Balliol College, Oxford in Modern History. Studied Medieval History under Maurice Keen. Studied Tudor and Stuart History under Christopher Hill, Master of Balliol College. Studied European History under Colin Lucas, later Master of Balliol College and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Studied Imperial History under Professor Paul Longford, Rector of Lincoln College.

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Among the seven chakras or psychic centers in each human, the third manipura has special spiritual significance. This power center is buoyed by a strong ego identity which swings our choice in favor of either the spiritualistic or animalistic. This transformative center is powered by the emotional weapons of fear or anger. It is lit by the psychic fire of consciousness. Our seers believed this inner fire could either purify us by burning out our spiritual impurities. Or stoke itself further, thus destroying us spiritually. Its important to be aware of the strengths and weaknesses of this center in order to contain any spiritual damage we may unwittingly inflict on ourselves, through its imbalances. The manipura finds itself perfectly poised between the other six chakras which line our spiritual highway, along the spine. At the lowermost chakra at the spinal base (called mooladhara) lies the Kundalini, symbolized as the female serpent power. She represents the unmanifested super human potential lying coiled in each of us. Her original destination is the topmost chakra (called sahasrara) where she unites with pure consciousness, represented as her male half or Lord Shiva. But because we swing between the divine and the mundane, she is confined to the base, hardly rising. Even when she does rise she subsides to her base because of the impurities that block the chakras. It is through sadhana or spiritual practices and keen awareness that we can clear this roadway for her.

Shameem Akhtar: a certified yoga shiromani with the internationally-acclaimed Sivananda Yoga Centre, Kerala (headquartered in Canada), she is also a certified yoga acharya (advanced level in teacher's training in hatha yoga) with them. (Both courses are set in ashram atmosphere with yoga training and practice extending from pre-dawn till night-fall). She has done the Sadhana Intensive course (also with the Sivananda Institute, at its Uttarkashi branch) which includes nine hours of yoga daily (with the majority of this focused on pranayama or breathing practices). She is also a certified yoga teacher with the Chennai-based Asana Andiappan Institute for yoga and naturopathy, and a certified yoga shiromani and yoga acharya with the Chennai-based Shiva Yoga Institute. She is also certified practitioner, trainer and master trainer in Neurolinguistic Programming (the latest buzzword internationally in mindpower training) with the US based American Federation of NLP, and was trained by the founder himself, Dr William Horton

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The Mahabharat is with the Ramayana, one of the two great epics of ancient Vedic India. It was passed down to us from time immemorial by word of mouth, entrusted to the Brahmin or priestly caste lineage and only written down in the eighth century AD.

It is the story of a great war planned by the Gods and ultimately by the one supreme God Vishnu, to end an age of human arrogance and herald the beginning of a new epoch of the Universe. The age of the warrior caste, the Kshatriyas, who were getting above themselves and losing the idea of dharma, their duty and position in the scheme of the Universe, was to be brought to an end by a great war between the cousins of the greatest warrior Royal family on earth, the Kauravs dynasty. The dynasty, at the time of the main event of the story, the war, is divided into two clans, one of the five sons of Pandu and the other of the hundred and one sons of Dhrithrashtra his brother. The cousins are brought into this fatal earth-destroying antagonism through the nuances of their own characters and ambitions and through the machinations and intentions of the Gods. They fight the final war. The Mahabharat tells the stories of several generations of creation and of this dynasty. Literally hundreds of characters, earthly and divine, are woven into the story.

One of these is Karna, born through the impregnation of a young princess Kunti by the Sun God Surya whom she invited to her bed. The princess cannot acknowledge the child and sets him as the mother of Moses did, afloat in the bulrushes on the river and he is found and adopted by the family of a charioteer, a keeper of horses. Kunti, her secret well kept goes on to marry Pandu the prince of Hastinapura and gives birth to the five Pandavs. Karna grows, through many tribulations and against his supposed caste, to be the leading warrior of his age.

When the war comes he finds himself on the opposite side to that of his brothers whom he knows not as brothers and his blood, but only as enemies. The tragedy of Karna works its way through the hatreds loves and confessions before and during the battle.

The story of Karna, the Warrior of the Sun, is as an isolated story one of the most compelling in the epic and its retelling involves seeing the whole of the epic in microcosm. It is a story which contains elements of drama that dramatists in other cultures and at other times have used. In the story of Karna is the story of Moses, the tragedy of Rustum and Sohrab, the fatal choice of Shakespeare's Coriolanus and elements of the tale of William Tell.

Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production.

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India is completing six decades of its independence. Today where do we stand in our resolve to have a secular democratic India? It is a tragedy that conditions have so shaped during last couple of decades that one is forced to think about the very future of the democratic foundation of the country. The fundamentalist politics has drawn its trishuls to attack the democracy and its accompanying liberal space.

Right from the 1960s, communal violence began and was on at the low and medium pitch till the decade of 1980s Communal violence is a superficial manifestation of the deeper process of communal politics, the very anathema of democracy. Starting with the decade of 80s, Meenakshipuram conversions of dalits to Islam and the Shah Bano case fiasco, were used as pretexts by the Hindutva politics to go on the high offensive and shift the social debate to non issues like the Ramjanmbhoomi, Baba Budan giri and the Kamal Maula Masjid (Bhoj Shala). Using the double level of communal propaganda, through the section of media, and through the word of mouth, fear was instilled amongst the Hindus that despite being in majority, they are in danger due to the minorities, Muslim and Christians. Winning over of the social space and common sense by the Sangh combine went on getting strengthened after every episode of communal violence, it peaked with post demolition riots and the Gujarat carnage. With the Mumbai blasts of 11thJuly, the picture is close to complete and now the demonization of Muslims has become excruciatingly painful. It has gone to target the very precepts of Koran, the one's related to Jihad and Kafir. Christians, have been targeted for their work in the Adivasi areas, and the bogey of conversions has been so firmly planted by now that truth and census statistics don't matter any longer with the average understanding in the social arena.

The RSS propaganda has not been effectively countered by the democratic elements, many of them themselves coming under the spell of the same. Case of Chunibhai Vaidya, a renowned Gandhian, alleging the missionaries of conversion, is a case in point. He is not alone, there are lots and lots of people seriously committed to non violence and democracy who have partly or fully come under the grip of RSS propaganda even without realizing he same. RSS dictum is that your success is not just in coming to power, but to see that your opponents start talking in your language. This has occurred to the extent that many a gullible Muslims and Christians have started talking the RSS language in a holier than thou fashion. It is quite likely that some of them have surrendered to the ideology which aims to suppress their community, out of opportunistic reasons, but all the same such elements also do exist.

Professor Ram Puniyani was Professor of Biomedical Engineering until 2004 when he retired. He now works full time for communal harmony. He is involved with human rights activities and has held a number of posts: Secretary - All India Secular Forum; Secretary - Center for Study of Society and Secularism; Secretary - EKTA, Committee for Communal Amity. He is the recipient of a number of awards. He conducts numerous workshops and writes widely on communalism and related topics

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This is a short story with a very poignant message - the man, Kingo, invents a weapon and acquires strength. He uses it over weak, mainly women. He dislikes the words spoken against him. So at the birth of every child, he cut its tongue and keeps all the tongues in his custody. But one young woman revolts and steals her tongue. Kingo fears. He dislikes a free woman. The woman with a tongue ignites fire of revolt in another woman, too. Kingo orders death for both the women. He kills the woman with a tongue. The tongue-less but pregnant woman runs out of the kingdom of slavery. She wants her child to be free and having a tongue, too.

Its Message is simple: the weapons give power to the holder, and the holder uses the weapon and its power to suppress the weak, making them fearful and speechless.

Naval Langa - is a freelance writer based in Ahmedabad, India. He has written numerous articles that are published in Indian media

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This book is aimed at all managers who need to have an understanding of economics. Economics, though variously defined, is essentially the study of logic, tools and techniques of making optimum use of the available resources to achieve the given ends. Economics thus provides analytic tools and techniques that managers need to achieve the goals of the organization they manage. Therefore, a working knowledge of economics, not necessarily a formal degree, is essential requirement for the managers. Subjects covered include: Demand Analysis, Elasticity of Demand and Their Estimates, Demand Forecasting, Production Concepts, Cost Analysis, Market, Imperfect Competition- Monopolistic Competition, Inflation, Business Cycle.

Dr. Rahul Misra is a Financial and Management Consultant specializing in Corporate Finance, Financial Re-engineering, Fraud Examination and Project Management. Dr Rahul Misra is a seasoned academician having 17 years of experience internationally he served in different important positions formerly worked as a dean in IILM, worked as an Additional Director in IEDUP advisor to WLC COLLEGE, visiting professor in different institutes and universities both in India and abroad. Associated with IILM Academy of Higher Learning, Lucknow as Dean Academics. Also associated with MIST University, Cananda as Dean Academics on Honorarium basis. Managing director of RFPI-USA, India Chapter.

Qualifications include amongst many others:

i) Doctorate from Belford University, USA

(ii) Fellow from Royal Society of Arts, UK

(ii) Fellow from American Academy of Financial Management, USA

(iv) Fellow from Institute of Business Administration, UK with specialization in Corporate Finance.

(v) Certified Fraud Examiner from the Association of Fraud Examiners, USA. Specialization in Financial Investigation, Fraud Examination and Forensic Accounting.

(vi) Certified Government Financial Manager from the Association of Government Accountants, USA. Specialization in Government Accounting, Budgeting, Auditing and International Law.

(vii) Certified Financial Service Auditor from the National Association of Financial Services Auditors, USA. Specialization in Investment Banking, International Finance and Financial Services.

Mr Anoop Kumar Srivastava, who assisted in the research for this book, is a science graduate, qualified journalist and economist heading a prominent NGO in India, a prolific researcher and writer based in India

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Varun Gandhi is a young adult age about 29 years and a candidate in the General Elections to the Parliament of India. He has been arrested and is currently released on bail for his incendiary invective against the Muslims, the largest community of India. Varun Gandhi hails from the famous Nehru-Gandhi dynasty largely composed of Jawaharlal Nehru and his daughter, Mrs. Indira Gandhi. While Nehru can be said to be the architect of modern India, his daughter, Mrs. Gandhi gave shape to India after Independence much as we know of it as today. Central to this Nehru-Gandhi legacy is the idea of India as a secular socialist sovereign democracy based upon inclusion, participation and equality of all Indian citizens. Varun Gandhi's tirade against the Muslims thus comes as an out of character statement, represents at once a rebellion against his illustrious ancestry but also confirms the black sheep image of the family. Varun Gandhi is a personality type of the present day xenophobic youth who believes that the extermination of the Muslims from the face of India is the route to India's global image and it is the mind of such youth that we shall presently address

Susmita Dasgupta is Deputy Chief Economist with the Ministry of Steel, India. Her other interests are Indian cinema and politics:

Doctorate "Sociology of the Hindi Commercial Cinema - A Study of Amitabh Bachchan" Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Post Doctoral Dissertation on the "Modernity and Tradition - Agenda, Mission and The Social Philosophy of the Hindi Commercial Cinema." National Film Archives of India, Pune.

M.Phil. "Social Construction of a Hero - Images By Amitabh Bachchan" at JNU.

P.G.D in Development & Planning from Institute of Economic Growth, DSE, Delhi.

Masters Degree in Sociology, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi.

Masters Degree in Economics from Jadavpur University, Kolkata

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Coloured Rice offers a rare opportunity to delve beneath the surface and explore the inner meanings of some popular customs of rural South India. You join women and men in the privacy of their homes and fields as they quietly perform rituals to ensure the well-being of their families and the harmony of past and present generations. You see the ancient and cosmic significance of the everyday objects they use as offerings in their varied puja rituals. You listen in on the recitals of myths they learned from their elders, and which they pass on to their children.

The author's insights about ritual and mythic symbolism reveal conscious and unconscious dilemmas at the heart of every family's struggle to maintain an 'auspicious' state and fend off 'inauspiciousness' and tragedy. In her explorations of the communal fears and hopes that motivate festival activities. Dr. Hanchett unearths strong ambivalence about women and deep anxieties about the future of the family as a whole. This study, based on several years of ethnographic fieldwork in Karnataka state, provides scholars with an impressive array of new information about the home-centred rituals and myths of multiple castes; and it adds a new dimension to the concept of 'family' itself as past, present and future unite and interact on festival occasions.

Suzanne Hanchett is an anthropologist who began her studies on rural life in South India in 1966 when she conducted a community study for her doctorate at Columbia University. Stanley Regelson worked with her on her first field trip to Karnataka, and this book results in part from their long-term professional collaboration. Dr. Hanchett, who made two subsequent field research trips to Karnataka, has taught at Bard College, the City University of New York, and Barnard College, Columbia University. She now works as a Senior Planner for the New York City Human Resources Administration. Her other Publications include (as co-author) Guide to Hindu Religion and several articles on South Indian rural life.

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China and India's commodity demands and their prices and the terms of trade. With China and India surging ahead as world economic powers, Africa's economy stands to be impacted in various ways. Eco­nomic interactions between the Asian giants and Africa show promise of intensifying over time. This study by the OECD analyses possible future scenarios.

Policy interactions appear to be relevant in the areas of raw material price levels and volatility, exchange rate developments and resource allocation (de-­industrialisation, vertical integration), low-wage competition and income dis­tribution, industrialisation strategies, input linkages (in China and India), capital-flow effects (such as through FDI, project finance, public-private joint ventures). Last but not the least, they are relevant in the context of under­standing rent-seeking behaviour and the frictions arising from the unequal distribution of income among ethnic groups.

African economies are affected differentially by Asian economic growth. Complementary effects are possible in certain cases, as producers benefit from increased Asian demand. Asian countries may want to secure more raw material, may want to improve export infrastructure in selected African countries, while offering project finance, FDI and other forms of trade-linked capital flows. In other cases where Asian economies indirectly divert investment resources away from African economies, interests may be competitive rather than comple­mentary. While on balance the short-term opportunities of Asia's ascendancy and the concomitant effects on South-South trade may outweigh the economic costs for Africa (in particular for its raw material and energy exporting economies), serious long-term risks may be involved.

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The present study examines the growth performance of India's IT industries, with particular attention paid to the role of policy in this process. The study recognizes that emergence of a strong Indian IT industry happened due to concerted efforts on the part of the Government, particularly since 1980s, and host of other factors like Government-Diaspora relationships, private initiatives, emergence of software technology parks, clustering and public private partnerships. In this study we further look at the major parameters of the Indian IT and ICT industry in global context and give justification for including the main factors responsible for the IT boom in India. The study has looked into the past and present trends of the Indian IT industry and has considered further needs of IT sector to act as a catalyst of growth and development. The study has examined whether the Indian IT growth does have enough lessons for other countries to model their IT policy which may help them to shape their IT industry as driver of growth and development.

Dr. Somesh K. Mathur M.A., M Phil, Ph.D, has nearly eleven years of teaching and research experience at the Department of Economics, Jamia Millia Islamia (Central University), Delhi. While teaching at the Jamia he completed his M. Phil and PhD degrees in economics from the Centre for International Trade and Development, JNU. He has joined as Fellow at Research and Information System for Developing countries in April, 2006. His area of interest lies in new trade and growth theories, TRIPS and other WTO issues. He has participated in various national and international conferences and has published in referred national and international journals. Dr. Mathur has taught papers like Pure Theory of International Trade, Quantitative Methods, International Finance and Banking, Microeconomics and Corporate Finance to the post graduate students of the University.

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An intense and vicious propaganda is on nowadays that conversions to Christianity have become a threat. This is affecting life in the remote areas of our nation in a very serious manner. Voices of intimidation are heavy in 2the air and programs like Shabri Kumbh and Hindu Mahasangam are taking place regularly. The basic problems faced by Adivasis are being put on hold and these emotive, identity-specific issues are dominating the social debates. Accompanying this is an atmosphere of hatred against Christian missionaries and has resulted in the sporadic but regular acts of violence against the minorities, Christians in particular. The only official investigation on this violation has been the Justice Wadhwa Commission. Some other reports like, the Narendra Prasad (M.P.) report, have also been commissioned but overall these are few and far between. On the contrary the human rights groups have put in enormous efforts, despite the odds, to investigate these issues. These reports from Human rights groups, barring a few, have not much seen the light, remaining restricted in circulation. My aim in putting together these reports is to ensure that these violations are brought to the attention of civic and political society in a more effective way. I have tried to incorporate as many such reports as possible, including the one on Dangs in February 2006. To make the picture comprehensive, I have picked from among the enormous contribution of essays and articles, a few which have analysed the basic issues pertaining to this violence. Thanks are due to the authors and publishers of these essays and articles. I am thankful to all the friends who generously permitted me to put their reports in this compilation. Final thanks are due to Professor K.N. Panikkar, who took time out from his busy schedule to write a foreword for this volume.

PROFESSOR RAM PUNIYANI was Professor of Biomedical Engineering until 2004 at IIT, Mumbai when he retired. He now works full time for the preservation of democratic-secular values. He is associated with various secular initiatives and has been part of various investigation reports on violation of human rights of minorities. He was also part of people's tribunal which investigated the violation of rights of minorities in Orissa and Madhya Pradesh; conducts workshops in different parts of the country on the themes related to, threats to democracy; the agenda of communal politics; myths about minorities and politics of terror. He has written on the issues related to the human rights of weaker sections of society: dalits, adivasis, women and minorities. Contributes a fortnightly article in e-bulletin, Issues in Secular Politics, has written several books, Communal Politics: Facts Versus Myths (2002), Fascism of Sangh Parivar (2001) (available on IDEAINDIA.COM), Second Assassination of Gandhi (2002) Communalism: An Illustrated Primer (2000), Striving for Peace (2008) and has edited a volume, Religion, Power and Violence (2006), Terrorism: Facts versus Myths (2007) and Fundamentalism: Threat to Secular Democracy (2007) (available on IDEAINDIA.COM)

He is the recipient of Maharashtra Foundation, Association for Communal Harmony and Fr. Machio Memorial Humanitarian and Indira Gandhi National Integration Awards 2006 and National Communal harmony Award 2007.

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This article looks at how history is revised to suit the politics of the day: "The film Jodha Akbar, a historical blockbuster made by Director Ashutosh Gowarikar who made a name for himself with Lagaan has run into trouble in India. It has been banned in four states and the distributors are taking the government of Uttar Pradesh, a huge Hindi speaking territory to court to get the ban reversed, the film shown and their bank balances more towards the black again. The film stars two of the biggest names in current Bollywood neon lights Hrithik Roshan the heartthrob of millions, rivalling Johnny Depp in his appeal to numbers and Aishwarya Rai who was Miss India some years ago. The story is that of the Mughal Emperor Akbar who was, in this history I learned at school, the Great Mughal who united India militarily and then in spirit by reaching out to Hindus and other religions. He married, again according to the history books I read in school, written by British historians and then by Indians who used these historians as their sources, a Hindu Rajput princess called Jodha Bai. The union was supposed to consolidate the agreement to co-exist between Hindus and Muslims. The next Emperor of India, we always assumed, though I don't think it was quit spelt out, was therefore half Hindu and half Muslim and the destiny of India as respectful of both religions was knotted at the top by imperial alliance. Akbar has always been held in contrast to the murderous and Islamic fundamentalist Aurangzeb, his great grandson and last of the dynasty of Great Mughals... The state governments who have banned the film, including Rajasthan, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh may today be quibbling about Jodha Bai's name, but their real agenda is the rewriting of history, especially in the new media of film and TV, to fit in with the ideology of looking at events through 'Hindu' eyes, the vision that they claim should represent Indian democracy."

Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production.

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Labour unrest in the People's Republic of China (PRC) has attracted a wide range of media and academic enterprises. It is a wonder that the Chinese workers have come to the streets now when the Chinese economy is somewhat back to the trails of recovery from the recessionary spell in the face of the global financial crisis and the global economic downturn. Again, it is a puzzle that the Chinese workers choose to vent their fury selectively, against foreign concerns, in particular the Japanese and Taiwanese firms, and that the row should taper out in one stroke with wage hikes.

To some degree, strikes are not something new in China. There are studies that speak of tens of thousands of protests taking place in China every year over a wide range of issues from workers' back pay to illegal land seizures. Most end peacefully after the government meets some demands. However, there is little evidence of Chinese media highlighting the issue as happened now. Nor the Chinese security forces should have sat tight as onlookers. In fact, during the Asian financial crisis in late 1990's, as widespread worker unrest started taking place after the Chinese government rolled back cradle-to-grave welfare and slashed payrolls in struggling state-owned enterprises across the northern rust belt, the security forces were quick to arrest kingpins and suppress the protests, while the media was forbidden from covering them. In a telling contrast, the Chinese authorities allowed strikers to take to streets and provide them negotiating space to talk over concessions.

While yet discernibly minuscule, the development is phenomenal. It has to have first, bearing on the mosaic of industrial relations. China espousing the tenets of communism publicly notwithstanding, the industrial work force has been treated little different from submissive drones, who could be put to long hours of work in wretched conditions for low wages. If this image held true and worked magic in attracting foreign manufacturers to set up factories in China for three decades in a row, it may not be so hereafter. Those not-so-submissive workers have won wage concessions in several industries. It is to be seen how long the docile ones, working in foreign concerns as much as those with the native concerns, in particular, state owned enterprises (SOEs), would hold breath and remain tight lipped, much less patient. The labour unrest, which had been mainly in the south, now shows signs of spreading to less developed regions. In epidemiology terms, what is happening in China has gone beyond being a "cluster." It's beginning to look like the beginning of an epidemic.

The paper is aimed at exploring the phenomenon of labour unrest as it cropped up, blossomed and found all stakeholders first, pitching and then ironing out differences in their perception and approach. In the run, the paper goes on to crystallize the catalysts of change at work, and the future shape of things in making in foreseeable future. Methodologically, the paper delves into what, why and how perspectives of the phenomenon. The events and their sequel, contributing to the blow out, be it a string of suicides among young workers while in the factory premises or other such violent forms of protests, have since attracted umpteen number of explanation. Nonetheless, there have been unprecedented media hypes.

In addressing what, why and how of the phenomenon, the study design thus takes to phenomenological enquiry route with a mix of media analytics, though eclectically and with a difference. It recounts lived experience of the happenings, not with personal account of either the victims or eye witnesses but through the studied opinions of cross section of expertise in the field. This is in keeping with the limitation, and inventing out plausible alternative to the quest of an objective study. The paper is accordingly, sequenced to focus on: Outbreak and Incubation Trends; Trigger Factor; and, the Bearings on Future. Assumptions include: the current waves of labour unrests in China is the end product of three decades long sweatshop work environment; the young Chinese workforce in their mid 20s with better access to information and education could no longer submit blind folded; and, unless and until China looks afresh and brings about meaningful amendments in over all industrial relations, the string of labour unrests of the kind could pose an acute challenge to China's ruling Communist Party and a dilemma for the All-China Federation of Trade Unions.

Dr. Sheo Nandan Pandey Born on 14 Jan 1947, Dr S.N Pandey has served both academic institutions of higher education and government departments for the last four decades in India. Fluent in Mandarin, he has contributed hundreds of research papers, based on Chinese language primary and secondary sources. He has equally contributed to various other fields of social sciences research, in particular education, economy, research methodology and defence and security studies.

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The introduction of railways to India in the 1850s produced far-reaching change. In many ways it was meant to. New markets for goods were opened up, raw materials were made accessible, tunnels were dug and bridges built, soldiers were moved further and faster. Above all, capital was invested and returns secured. As a secondary effect internal regional trade was redirected and the labour market altered so that over the next century agricultural production was reshaped in tandem with a mass migration to the cities. For the British rulers, administrative and military efficiency were enhanced, as foreseen, but at the same time opposition to the Raj was more easily mobilised. Worse, the new expensive technical infrastructure of colonial rule proved to be alarmingly vulnerable to popular disruption in a country of such extended scale. Physical change appeared around major cities with the expansion of suburban sprawl, and in rural areas too, with deforestation and the creation of new malarial swamps by the enormous earthworks flung across the land. The line between pilgrimage and tourism became ever more blurred. Physical as well as spiritual health was compromised as epidemic diseases could now pass as rapidly among the population as political ideas%u2026.

There is also the complex irony that although many nationalist figures resented and opposed the railways from a variety of angles, it is also arguable that the making of India as a political nation was vastly abetted and accelerated by the coming of those same railways. The rapid physical transportation of people made the early conferences of Congress Party possible in a way that bullock carts could not have, while it also facilitated the dissemination of the printed material essential to the formation of a national opposition. The creation of the modern Indian nation economically, politically and figuratively is inextricably bound up with steam engines. They provided the accelerated movement of men and goods that generated both economic grievances and the means to discuss and protest against them. They demonstrated the political manipulation of the country in a physical way and at the same time provided physical freedom to assemble in opposition. As with education the British were directly responsible for fashioning the tools that guaranteed their own expulsion. And as in the field of wider politics, the two world wars of the twentieth century were crucially defining moments for India's railways.

Roderick Matthews, Historian, Obtained a First from Balliol College, Oxford in Modern History. Studied Medieval History under Maurice Keen. Studied Tudor and Stuart History under Christopher Hill, Master of Balliol College. Studied European History under Colin Lucas, later Master of Balliol College and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Studied Imperial History under Professor Paul Longford, Rector of Lincoln College.

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This EARTICLE week looks back at the political situation in the Caribbean and South America:

"In the early eighties, attending to my eighty-something friend, the Trinidadian philosopher and sometime critic and cricket commentator CLR James, I was witness to a very interesting and, in hindsight even tragic Caribbean political discussion. I remember it as the 'nutmeg socialism' discussion, a phrase coined by James. But before telling you about it, a few introductions to the context. James, whose autobiography I wrote a decade later after he died, was living in a sort of self-imposed exile in Brixton in England. He had a house in north west London but he had disagreements with his wife, an American feminist younger than himself whom he had met in the Marxist movement and had consequently moved out to rooms in South London. He was looked after by friends and visited by a regular stream of international callers who treated him as something of a black eminence gris and a celebrity. James was born in Trinidad and acquitted a precocious education there before wanting to be a writer and subsequently coming to England to further such an ambition. In England he became a very different sort of writer from the one he thought he might be. He had already written pamphlets on the West Indian Middle Classes and on Caribbean self-government. This was the twenties and James joined at first he anti-colonial agitators of Britain and soon, identifying with the working class intellectual movement he saw all round him, began to study and propagate Marxism.

He went to the US in the thirties and again joined Communist movements and Trotskyist groups. He wrote pamphlets and propaganda as an activist in the movement and, being still wedded to the ambition of writing wrote Black Jacobins, a history of the slave revolt of the eighteenth century in the Caribbean island of Haiti...."

Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production.

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Despite the fact that The Black Hole of Calcutta is more properly a place than an event, the incident known popularly by that name has, over its 251-year history, acquired a sort of double notoriety. The death in confinement of a number of European survivors of the siege of Calcutta, in June 1756, attracted a brief blaze of sensational attention when news of it reached London a year later in mid 1757, whereafter the incident eased itself into an obscure old age. But the tragic events of that June night eventually came to enjoy a notorious career in more modern times as a bone of contention between moralistic imperial apologists and sceptical Indian nationalists. Did such an incident ever really occur? What were the precise statistical facts? How many died? Exactly who was to blame?
This paper examines the events of that night and asks what really happened, why, and what purposes the legend was subsequently put to.

Roderick Matthews, Historian, Obtained a First from Balliol College, Oxford in Modern History. Studied Medieval History under Maurice Keen. Studied Tudor and Stuart History under Christopher Hill, Master of Balliol College. Studied European History under Colin Lucas, later Master of Balliol College and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Studied Imperial History under Professor Paul Longford, Rector of Lincoln College.

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"In north Mumbai on writing work, I find myself one morning in a traffic jam which is to normal traffic jams in the city as a Tsunami is to the monsoon. It's bad. In London one would inevitably have a radio in the car and, tuning to any local station would, every eleven minutes or so, be given a traffic bulletin, enabling one to avoid the worst knots and jams. I dare say the same facility exists in Mumbai but I was sitting in a rickshaw and not a car and the rickshaw-wallahs choice of electronic devices was a very loud cassette player and an I-pod which he'd plugged into one ear. Throughout the hours we were in the jam he seemed to be listening to one private tune through his left ear and another public one through his right. Or perhaps the volume to the left drowned out the film songs that were imposed on me and our neighbours in the jam. It seemed to retain its pride of place in the front of the rickshaw to announce and demonstrate, loudly, the affluence of the vehicle and its owner rather than for any entertaining purpose. Finally I got out and walked towards the static knot of traffic and was told that the traffic jam had been occasioned by the police shutting off a street where a riot was taking place. The only traffic which seemed to be getting through to the front-line were news gathering TV vans that floated past us escorted and enabled by the police, with the satellite dishes on their roofs which seemed to act as their visas to the forbidden streets. The riots were occasioned, a by-stander told me, by two opposing political factions fighting each other. The Maharashtrian chauvinism Party of Raj Thackeray, the Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) were fighting with supporters of the Samajwadi Party on the streets. Several taxi drivers, very many of whom come from UP and Bihar and were characterised as alien immigrants by the MNS, were dragged from their blockaded vehicles and beaten. Raj Thackeray began..."

Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production.

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Read Marian's journey to find meaning in her life, about her travels through several countries including India and the effects her travels have had on her.

MARIAN LARSEN in her own words: I am Danish, a woman, and 52 years old. I have had, and continue to enjoy, a wonderful life. Luck and happiness have followed me wherever I go. I had a lifestyle that many would envy-a great job, a beautiful home, a good husband, and the financial means to do whatever I pleased. Five years ago, I left it all behind to follow a call that was so strong and so intense I hardly felt I had a choice. A part of me said I was crazy; but I could do nothing about it. I had to go. I had to travel the world, learn about myself and discover how I'd survive without a home. It was hard for me. The first time I left Denmark, tears poured from my eyes. It was challenging enough, emotionally, but it was even harder in other ways. I'd always been good at organization. I thrived on juggling many balls in the air, challenging myself, taking things to their limits. I'd never failed at anything I tried. It had never occurred to me those skills wouldn't be of use to me as I stumbled along in my new life. Every time I tried to coordinate my travel schedules, my plans would blow up and come fluttering down around me in tiny pieces. Every time I tried my juggling routine, weird things would happen, and the balls would burst like soap bubbles right before my eyes, leaving me with a wondering gaze on my face. I've learned that I can plan, but the whims of fate can wreck it all in minutes. I no longer attach such importance to my plans or their outcomes. I adapt more easily to new situations. I have learned the value of doing one thing at a time, and doing it totally. I have learned to be present, to live fully in the moment. I have traveled around the world, every year, for the last five years, and still haven't settled anywhere. I've had amazing adventures on my travels to New Mexico, Hawaii, India, Australia, and New Zealand. I'm not a tourist; this is my life. I don't go to see the glittery, pretty wonders; I go to places that call to me, and I usually stay for a long time, to get to know the culture, the people, and the natural surroundings of the area. I have connected to the Earth, and have never been more satisfied in my life; I have never felt life more. I accepted the challenge, the test, and found that I passed an entrance exam for life. I felt limited by the prosperity of my country, because we could afford to have experts in everything. Too many experts leave too little space for the individual to grow as a person, though. It isn't easy for the ordinary person to take responsibility for his or her life, when there are experts around who know everything better. People stop dreaming. They don't have to be creative to survive. It's all taken care of for them. I have seen chaos at work. When man loses control, instinct takes over, and out of chaos comes creative and amazing solutions. By systemizing everything, we have removed the need for innovation. "No fear, no limits," has been my motto these last years, and it expresses a truth that grows larger inside me every day. I am not afraid of death anymore; it could come today or tomorrow. I found that when I am not afraid of living, I am not afraid of dying, either. I love life, and by committing to it in the present, I can embrace death, too.

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"WHILE I AM SEEKING": A Collection of Poems
© Dr. Gunjan Raizada Chakravarty 2008

A collection of modern poems, which have come through Gunjan Raizada Chakravarty. She was born and brought up in New Delhi, India. After completing her doctorate in Physics, she moved to Ca, US. She began her career by working in the fiber optics industry, shifting to teaching Physics at the local University, and then publishing experiential writings in a local magazine. Presently, she is sharing, some writings and poems (which have and are coming through her) on a blog called "Surrender, Listen and Give" (at http://surrenderlistenandgive.blogspot.com). She would appreciate feedback at gunjanwriter@yahoo.com. She believes in the sacred Sanskrit mantra, "Aum Tat Sat", which implies, God is the Truth, or translates (word by word) to Supreme Infinite Spirit (Aum) is the Absolute (Tat) Truth (Sat). With pride, she dedicates this collection of poems to that Divine Spirit in All.

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'CANNES DO' ATTITUDE

f-mail
25 May 2008

© Farrukh Dhondy 2008

f-mail is a weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. This week looks at Cannes:

"I am in Cannes at the annual International Film Festival. For those who've never been, Cannes is accessed through Nice airport on the Cote D'Azur by driving West along the populated French Mediterranean in the opposite direction to Monaco. For the purposes of the Festival, Cannes is a croisette, a crescent bay which is half the size of the bay of Bombay, from Walkeshwar to Nariman Point for those who know Mumbai. On this croisette are the great hotels, stormed by the film fans who gather to catch a glimpse of Leonardo Di Caprio or Harrison Ford or Sharon Stone, all of whom were here this year. Beyond the ten or so hotels, which charge a £1000 for a small room per night and even $40,000 (one goes American with such prices) for an attended apartment for the stars, there is the Palais, the conference centre and auditorium for the screening of the main films. Then there is the yacht marina next to the Palais and further down there are hills with roads leading to private villas to which one may go if you are invited to an exclusive party by the millionaires or corporates who own it. In the bay, any evening are a cluster of ships, some world cruisers brimming with decks, the skyscrapers of the sea, some large yachts, some fancy antiques with three masts and sails, all lit up as the dark comes on, their yellow illumination dotted about the bay..."

Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production.

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The paper encompasses the development of a political organization in Bombay, the Bombay Association during the period 1852 - 1879. Central to the analysis is the interplay between Colonial policy and the role of the Bombay Association in grappling with several issues of political, social and economic importance.

The political consciousness that had developed in Bombay in the first half of the nineteenth century crystallized in an organized form into the formation of the pioneering political association in Western Inidia, 'The Bombay Association' on 26 August 1852. The western educated intellectuals, the 'intelligentsia' and the mercantile community of Bombay, the 'shetias' such as Jamshedji Jijibhoy, Jagannath Shankarshet, Naoroji Furdunji, Manakji Kharshedji, Narayan Dinanathji, Dr. Bhau Daji Lad and Dadabhai Naoroji were proactive in its formation. Sir Jamshedji Jijibhoy became the Chief Patron and Jagannath Shankarseth became the First President of the Bombay Association. Dr. Bhau Daji Lad and Vinayakrao Jagannathji were the secretaries. There were 23 ordinary members and the Association was well represented by different communities like the Parsis (10), Hindus (7), Muslims (3), Goans (2) and Jew (1).

The members of the Bombay Association outlined its main objectives: a) as to ascertain the wants of the Indians in the Presidency of Bombay: b) to suggest measures to the British authorities for the advancement and improvement of the welfare of the country: c) to make representation to the British Parliament concerning the inquiries which were then being made into the administration of India: d) to memorialize the Government to remove the existing evils or prevent proposed measures which might be considered injurious. Membership to the Association was open to all those who could pay an amount of Rupees 25 per year and one could become a life member on payment of Rupees 300.2

The intelligentsia saw the Association as a means, where through political activity, the same end of the regeneration of the Indian people could be achieved, which they were striving to obtain through social and religious reforms.

LOUIZA RODRIGUES - lecturer, Dept. of History, Ramnarain Ruia College, Matunga, Mumbai

MA 1987 History, Mumbai University First Class
MPhil 1992 History, 'The Bombay Association': 1852 - 1879, Mumbai University
Pursuing Ph.D in History from Mumbai University
Visiting Lecturer to the Mumbai University, History Dept. since 2003

Papers and articles presented and published:

December 2005 "The Goan Christian Settlers of Bombay" - A historical perspective, at the 42nd Annual National Historical Conference, Kolkatta,

March 2007 Dr. Alexander Gibson and the emergence of 'Desiccationism' and 'Conservationism' in Bombay: 1838 - 1860 at the National Indian History Congress held at Farookh College, Kozikhode, Calicut

19 Jan 2009 Naoroji Furdunjee (1817-1885): Pioneering Educationist and catalyst of social change' at the National Conference of Cama Oriental Institute, Mumbai.

21 Jan. 2009 'The Annales School: Towards New Frontier, Environmental History - Role of Fernand Braudel' at the National Seminar of ICLES M J College, Navi Mumbai.

'Dr. Alexander Gibson and Emergence of 'Desiccationism' and 'Conservationism' in Bombay:1838-1860' published in 67th Proceedings of National journal Indian History Congress December 2007

'Parsi Elite Leadership in the politics of Western India in the mid nineteenth century' published in International journal of Cama Oriental Institute in 2008

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'HINGLISH'

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27 April 2008

© Farrukh Dhondy 2008

f-mail is a weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. This week looks at the changing face of the English language:

"British lexicographers are playing the numbers game. They predict that as the century progresses with global communications increasing at an exponential rate, the dialect of English spoken or used by the majority of speakers will spread itself and become the universal standard. This indicates that Indian English, or even its modified market form known as Hinglish, will dominate the world of usage. There will be more English speaking Indians than English speaking Britons, Canadians, Americans, South Africans or Australians and New Zealanders. The English that Indians speak will be disseminated across the world wide web and buzz over the lines of call centres. As business moves towards the subcontinent, the language of communication, if not of culture, will tend towards being English or Hinglish and the billion and a half potential speakers of the subcontinent will by osmosis and then by sheer numbers and frequency of communication, drown out the real thing and its American and Australian offshoots. That's the contention of the theory...."

Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production.

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f-mail
27 January 2008

'Russia, China and India'

by Farrukh Dhondy
f-mail is a weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. This week concerns ties between Russia, China and India:

"...As I recall, it was all to do with whether the Communist Party of India should be subservient to the Soviet Union and go along with its diktat that Indian Communists should support the ruling Congress Party because it was allied to Moscow on foreign policy and received aid from it. The breakaway factions argued that Russia was not the sole arbiter of the destinies of the Communist movement and, with the acknowledgement that China was a rising star in the firmament of the leftist world and even challenged Russia for ideological leadership, the faction felt that it should retain its independence from Moscow's diktat. The faction became a Party. One of its main contentions was reserving the right to beat the Congress Party and not to join it... But what if the Chinese government perceives that its neighbouring countries in Asia are exporting militant Islam to within its borders. That, for instance, the Taleban are spreading their ideology to the contingent provinces of China. How hard will China hit back? Will it change its stance towards Iran, Sudan and other regimes antagonistic to the US today? Can there ever be a real and practical and even military alliance against Islamism between China and that Great Satan? This space is worth watching."

Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production

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'THE NEW HEALTH SERVICE'

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6 April 2008

Farrukh Dhondy

f-mail is a weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. This week looks at medical tourism:

"...It is estimated that in the last year half a million medical tourists came to India, from the Far East, the Middle East and from Europe. That statistic includes the likes of me who are really classed as non-resident Indians who take advantage of the medical facilities while on any sort of family or business trip to India. What the statistic doesn't cover is dental medicine and if it did I think it would soon double. It does cover heart bypass graft surgery, heart valve replacement, angioplasty, hip replacements, hysterectomies, bone marrow transplants, liver transplants, neurosurgery, knee surgery and cosmetic surgery...."

Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production

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f-mail
23 December 2007

'Caste'away?

© Farrukh Dhondy 2007
f-mail is a weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. This week concerns recent events dealing with the issue of caste:

"Most bad news is good news but within the bad category is the shameful. An Indian story reported round the world this week was clearly bore this caste-mark of shame. It wasn't a national disaster, no earthquake no tsunami, just the sort of news that became noteworthy in the reformist Gandhian era and now catches the world's attention as a contradictory state of affairs in a country which claims to be the world's largest democracy and one of the tiger economies destined for domination of production and the markets.

To the Indian newspapers it may have been a common enough occurrence but I think the more thoughtful journalists found a rich irony in the reports. Start at the beginning: The northern state of Uttar Pradesh elected Mayawati of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), an alliance of what used to be labelled the 'lower castes' of the Hindu system as its Chief Minister last May. She is Ms Flamboyance herself.

In a previous government when she was not the sole boss of the state, her supporters threw a birthday party for her and ordered a cake which cost as much as a foolish millionaire's daughter's wedding. A sectional alliance of the Uttar Pradesh electorate has projected Mayawati into power in the State and put her on the road to National popularity. She has declared that she will make a strong bid for the vote in Maharashtra on her caste appeal and will from a vantage of winning a few states in the next years descend on the centre and has said openly that she is eyeing the Prime Ministership of India.

But her own house is not in order. The disturbing event in question is the boycotting of school lunches by 300 pupils of the Bibipur Primary and Junior high school near Lucknow. The pupils won't eat their school meals - not because the food is unpalatable, but because it has been cooked by Phool Kumar Rawat, a cook employed by the school authorities, on the grounds that she is of a 'backward caste'..."

Farrukh Dhondy was born in Pune, India in 1944. He first went to England in 1964. He read English at Cambridge and then taught for many years before concentrating on his writing. His books include East End at Your Feet and Come to Mecca (both winners of the Other Award), Poona Company and his short story collection Trip Trap. His book Bombay Duck was shortlisted for the 1990 Whitbread Award for the best first novel. He has written widely for television and the stage, including two situation comedies for Channel Award for a series of six plays for BBC TV

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'BLESSING OR CURSE'

f-mail

7 September 2008

Farrukh Dhondy

f-mail is a weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. This week looks at the Internet and its effect on education:

'If you are reading this, chances are that you accessed it through Google. In order to begin writing this I might have referred a query about its substance to the search engine and it would have provided me with answers. Google is ten years old on the 7th of September (fact supplied by Wikipedia through Google) and has been the fastest and perhaps the most innovative step if not the most crucial or originating, in the history of information technology....The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) is a respected institute which carries out social surveys. In 2006 it instituted an enquiry into the scientific acumen and knowledge of 15-year olds in 30 countries across the globe. The USA was placed 17th in this assessment. The same tests carried out in 2003 placed the USA exactly where they remained in the three ensuing years - 17th out of 30 countries. The UK, incidentally, was 4th in 2003 and fell to 14th in 2007.'

Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production

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'Dynastic Democracy'

f-mail
6 January 2008

Farrukh Dhondy

f-mail is a weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. This week concerns recent events in Pakistan:

"...Bhutto's Party, while openly secular and declaring on the one hand its socialist credentials and on the other its determination to generate the capitalist expansion of Pakistan, is and always has been run as a fiefdom of the family. In any other country this latest Bhutto 'will' would be treated not as the holy grail but as an outrage against democracy....In the Congress Party in India, the nearest thing to a democratic monarchy in the modern world, Indira Gandhi, Rajiv Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi and now Rahul may have all been the choice of their predecessors from the family but all of them were elected to their positions, of leading the Party as Prime Ministerial candidate or as president of the Party, through a mass constitutional vote. In between the members of the dynasty other members of the Congress Party were elected through the same procedures and held office. It may be said that the electorate within the Party are foolish to demand and vote for these dynastic successions, but that doesn't detract from the democratic nature of the process of accession in the Congress Party. With Bilawal and Zardari no protest has been raised and no process has been mooted or mentioned. It's a biblical decree --- "and a child shall lead them" and his father, known universally as Mr. 10 Per Cent, a man who spent 11 years in jail for corruption and who seems to have become miraculously rich after marrying the prospective Prime Minister, a man who today owns stud farms, palaces, property and bank accounts all over the world, will be the champion and voice of Pakistani 'democracy'."

Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production.

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WISDOM OF THE TAO TE CHING
The Code of a Spiritual Warrior

Copyright © Ashok Kumar Malhotra 2006

(Introduction by Ronnie Littlejohn, Chair, Philosophy Department, Belmont University)

One Saturday afternoon in July 1992, I was working on a manuscript, Pathways To Philosophy, when the telephone rang...I said mechanically "good afternoon, this is Dr. Malhotra's office." The person on the other end said that it was Warner Brothers TV department....asked the reason for the call. The caller was a woman who introduced herself as a research assistant to Mr. Ken Parks, the lawyer for the Warner Brothers. I reiterated my original question, asking her the reason for the call. The conversation proceeded as follows:

Caller: "Warner Brothers is doing a new series called Kung Fu: The Legend Continues. The series will consist of 22 episodes, some of which will be shot in Toronto."
Ashok: "In what way can I help?"
Caller: "We are using some lines from an ancient manuscript from China or Japan. These lines will be spoken by David Carradine. We need your help in finding the source of these lines, as well as transforming these so that they could be used in the TV series."
Ashok: "How did you find my name and why do you think that I could help you with this project?"
Caller: "Our research department found your name because you are a reputed scholar in this area."
Ashok: (in the state of half belief) "Could you please fax the text so that I could look at it? Here is my fax number."
Caller: "I am faxing you the text immediately. Please respond when you receive it. Thanks."
Ashok: "I am looking forward to receiving the text."

...The fax arrived a few minutes later. I looked at the letterhead and it was from the research department of Warner Brothers. I could not believe my eyes! I glanced through the pages of the text and was surprised to see that they were from the Tao Te Ching of Lao Tzu. My surprise was due the fact that I had just finished a chapter on Taoism to be included in Pathways to Philosophy. I could not believe this miraculous coincidence. I readily accepted the offer from Warner Brothers....After the TV Series was aired during the 1993%u20111994 season, I received many encouraging comments from scholars regarding my transcreation. Inspired by their remarks, I decided to transcreate the entire text of the Tao Te Ching for use by the undergraduate students as well as the general public.

The origins of the Tao Te Ching are shrouded in mystery. Legend has it that the book was composed by a Chinese sage known as "Lao tzu" (circa 600 BC). According to one popular account, Lao tzu was stopped at the western border of the kingdom by a seemingly ordinary guard. Fortunately, this was not your stereotypical gruff, ignorant border guard who searched travelers for jade and other material objects considered precious by his society, but rather an exceptional man who had the presence of mind to realize that Lao tzu was leaving the country with something of far greater value: timeless insight and understanding concerning human nature as well as the world in which we live. He prevailed upon the traveler to jot down the essential elements of his wisdom in a sort, pithy book known to generations of Chinese as "The Lao tzu" (i.e. the book written by Lao tzu). It is now known to the world at large as "The Tao Te Ching" (roughly, "The Way/Power of the Tao and the Te").

The tale of the border guard who sees what others miss is a lovely story, but many contemporary scholars regard it as just that: a story. Textual and historical evidence, they argue, suggests that the text was composed over a period of years - perhaps even several hundred years - by an unidentified assortment of authors. For scholars, the difference in these two accounts is profoundly significant. The first presupposed a virtual god-man, a singular sage who reluctantly shared a small portion of his knowledge with a world he was leaving behind: a world that did not - and perhaps even still cannot - understand more than a tiny fraction of the wisdom contained in the pages of the text. The second account makes a very different set of assumptions: namely, that there was an ongoing community of scholars who discussed and debated the principal issues of the text over a period of time, gradually working out a reasonably consistent set of answers to questions about human nature (the social and/or political world in which we make our lives), relationships between humans and nonhumans (the so-called "natural world" in which we are immersed), and even relationships between each of these and a more fundamental/basic/all-pervading yet paradoxically elusive "reality" known variously as "Tao" or "Te".

Even Lao tzu himself is a figure shrouded in mystery. One legend claims that he was already an old man when he was born (bearded, wizened, etc.). The term "Lao tzu" (also rendered "Laozi") means roughly "ancient, revered teacher" and thus is not likely to be a proper name, but rather an honorific title used by his students. Not surprisingly, some scholars have come to question the existence of Lao tzu as a singular, historical individual, choosing to treat him instead as a composite of the many different sages who pondered the Tao and composed the various segments of the Tao Te Ching over a protracted period of time.

The author and the audience:

Professor Ashok Kumar Malhotra is a critically acclaimed author who has published books in Existentialism and Asian Philosophy, as well as translations of two classic texts of India: the Bhagavad Gita (Prentice Hall, 1999) and the Yoga Sutras of Patanjali (Ashgate, 2001). Because he is also an uncommonly conscientious and gifted teacher, he has been named a "Distinguished Teaching Professor" by the State University of New York (the highest rank available, awarded only to a select few following extensive review and recommendation by the Chancellor to the Board of Trustees). As such, he approaches a text like the Tao Te Ching with a dual perspective cultivated over a lifetime of intellectual inquiry and human exchange: he combines the critical, scholarly, and insightful mind of a philosopher with the patient, skilful, and experienced heart of a true teacher. The result is a product that Dr. Malhotra likes to call a "transcreation." Instead of focusing on a "translation" of the words from one language to another, he labors to find a clear, easy-to-understand way of expressing the meaning. Hence the title of this text: "Wisdom of the Tao Te Ching: The Code of a Spiritual Warrior." As Dr. Ronnie Littlejohn indicates in his [preface], Dr. Malhotra's "transcreation" is not only more accessible than many alternative translations, but conveys the vitality of the text in a way that often gets lost in the process of trying to render a strict linguistic equivalent.

The Chinese term rendered "Tao" or "Dao" is pronounced with a sound somewhere between the two alternative spellings: i.e. with an initial sound somewhere between a "T" and a "D" followed by "ow" (as in "how now brown cow"). In similar manner, "Te" is sometimes rendered "De" (pronounced somewhere between "duh" and "day") and "Ching" many be expressed as "jing" (as in "Jingle Bells"). In recent years, the People's Republic of China and many scholars (e.g. Dr. Littlejohn) have come to prefer "Daodejing" to "Tao Te Ching". Thus in creating the present "transcreation," Dr. Malhotra was faced with a choice. Should he use the linguistic form popular with contemporary scholars (Daodejing) or the one most readily recognized by ordinary Americans (Tao Te Ching)? For Dr. Malhotra, the choice was obvious; for his goal was not to impress other scholars, but rather to make the text accessible to college students as well as the general public. Moreover, in the final analysis, the choice between "Tao" and "Dao" is at best arbitrary and incomplete: neither corresponds directly to the Chinese symbol it attempts to represent. In fact, as expressed in the opening line of the Tao Te Ching (Chapter 1), even the Chinese symbol fails to correspond to the true Tao!

Because Dr. Malhotra has used ordinary, easy-to-understand language, Wisdom of the Tao Te Ching: The Code of a Spiritual Warrior is an ideal book for beginners. You do not need a background in either Philosophy or Chinese Studies to access the wisdom of the Tao. It is also a useful book for intermediary students who have already encountered the Tao Te Ching in another translation, for passages that seem abstruse or impenetrable in other formulations spring to life in Dr. Malhotra's capable hands. Finally, the text will also appeal to advanced students and professional scholars: even those who believe they have grasped the "deep, underlying meaning" of the Tao Te Ching will be forced to re-examine the linguistic and metaphysical foundations of their interpretations. The central lessons of the Tao Te Ching concerns the human tendency to classify everything we encounter as "this" rather than "that". The Tao, it teaches, is beyond this type of dichotomous pigeonholing. The restrictions of either-or and us-them logic limit, not the Tao, but rather the hearts and minds of those who are confused and unenlightened. To embrace the Tao and live a richer, more authentic and more satisfying life, we must be willing to leave behind (or at least set aside) a series of assumptions about ourselves as well as the world(s) in which we live.

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'DEAD HAND'

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21 September 2008

Farrukh Dhondy

f-mail is a weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. This week looks at mortgages, Wall Street and Capitalism:

"Everyone in our wired-up world knows that the collapse of Wall Street is not part of a natural disaster, that it doesn't mean that a street with walls has succumbed to flood-waters of busted levies or that a hurricane has blown its structures down. Even the peasantry of remote areas of the globe knows what the collapse of Wall Street, an American phenomenon whose waves rock the oceans of global capitalism, means.

Even so most people, apart from those intimately connected with the mysteries of the stock market with some intimate knowledge of what sub-prime, 'Alt-A' and hedge funds are, don't quite know what the meaning of the daily mantra of falls, disasters, dissolutions, take-overs, mergers and meltdowns means..."

Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production.

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f-mail 11 November 2007

'Truth of Convenience'

Farrukh Dhondy

f-mail is a new weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with cuurent issues each week. This week concerns bad habits that die hard.

"In the early sixties, cycling through Pune, known then as Poona, my friends and I saw a fellow-student, a young man with an enviable reputation for mischief and fun, being led away in a queue of villains guarded by four policemen. The poor suspects or criminals were tied by the neck to each other via a thick rope. Their hands were bound with another equally thick and crude rope which was concatenated down the queue. "XX," we called out(Using his real name of course, which I shall keep discreetly secret lest he or his children, grown, I suspect, rich and powerful now, sue me for telling the truth) "What's going on? Ticketless travel on the train? Roadside Romeo? Cheating at cards?" "No yaar," he says, as we draw up alongside him and slow down to the pace of his convict convoy. "Nuisance! I committed nuisance and this bastard cop nabbed me." The females in our group didn't quite get it. "What nuisance?" one asked. "Against the wall," he said. "There was a notice saying 'Commit No Nuisance' and I didn't see the cops so khoolla I committed nuisance." The constable in charge interrupted the conversation. We were not to talk to the suspects. They were being taken from the 'chowkee' (The British still call a lock-up or jail a 'chokey') to be presented to a magistrate in the courts a little further down that road. We pleaded with the constable. One of the more street-wise guys in our gang loitered and lingered and caught the Havaldar's attention, took him aside and came to some arrangement to let our friend 'XX' go. There was some pretence of an 'instant fine' being levied for the release. Money changed hands and XX's neck, released from the suspects' snake, was soon being examined by our girls for rope-cuts. They 'oohed' and 'aahed' over our hero's injuries. He protested that he had suggested a bribe to the arresting constable but didn't have any money on him and they wouldn't accept bribes on credit. Everyone in India knows that defecating in public is part of the national culture and for 70% of the population not merely a tradition but a hopeless necessity - something they can't avoid because they have never had the use of a toilet in their lives. The tradition or habit comes from centuries, millennia even, of relieving oneself in the fields and on the beaches and now, with more than half our urban population being housed in shanties as rural overspill, along the sides of railway lines and on relatively isolated patches of urban road and even, regrettably on the clean sands of our beaches%u2026."

Farrukh Dhondy was born in Pune, India in 1944. He first went to England in 1964. He read English at Cambridge and then taught for many years before concentrating on his writing. His books include East End at Your Feet and Come to Mecca (both winners of the Other Award), Poona Company and his short story collection Trip Trap. His book Bombay Duck was shortlisted for the 1990 Whitbread Award for the best first novel. He has written widely for television and the stage, including two situation comedies for Channel Award for a series of six plays for BBC TV

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WHO IS INDIA'S OBAMA?

f-mail 16 November 2008

Farrukh Dhondy

f-mail is a weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. This week looks at who could be India's Obama:

"Being in India as the American election proceeded and after, I was invited by a national TV channel to nominate or choose the person I thought as closest to being the Indian Obama. It wasn't the sort of question one or invitation one can't resist, like being asked to judge the Miss India or Miss World contest. Nevertheless, because I didn't want to alienate the researchers and producers of the channel by telling them that I wasn't prone to answering absurd questions, I got down to wondering. I did come to a sort of conclusion after several arguments with myself, but like a good thriller writer I shall keep my nomination for the penultimate sentence of this column. No fast-forwarding!...."

Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production.

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THE FLAT-EARTHERS

f-mail

10 August 2008

Farrukh Dhondy

f-mail is a weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. This week looks at strange beliefs:

"A cranky Prime Minister of India, one Morarji Desai who served a brief and undistinguished term when the country was taking a break from continuous and arrogant Congress rule, was perhaps best known for his insistence on drinking his own urine. It wasn't his leisurely evening choice of tipple, a substitute for a chhota peg. It was some medicinal theory he believed in which led him, perhaps before dawn, to collect his urine as he expelled it and then swig it down. It was immediate and ultimate recycling but he wasn't doing it to save the planet's water supply. He believed it kept him buoyant and healthy. Desai became famous for this eccentric act and spawned a whole sty of followers who wrote books extolling the virtues of 'urine therapy'. They and he claimed that the practice was capable of curing cancer, of keeping diabetes at bay or being the antidote for some other deadly ill that flesh is heir to, but the claims didn't receive any currency. These particular claims and this particular eccentricity did not creep by osmosis into the policies of the Health Ministry of India. Apart from subjecting some foolish followers to an unpleasant ordeal each morning, these piss-takers did no general social harm..."

Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production.

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f-mail 23 September 2007

Gene Game

Farrukh Dhondy

f-mail is a new weekly title by Farrukh Dhondy. f-mail deals with current issues each week. This week is the patenting of genes of old remedies by multi-national corporations:

"Some years ago the liberal, anti-globalistion, anti-capitalist networks of the world were alive with the allegation that the trans-national multi-billion pound drug companies were researching and registering patents for granny's remedies. The remedies at risk didn't strictly belong to granny or indeed to Grannies United. They were age-old nostrums used by Ayurvedic doctors, hakims, saddhus, village wise men, swamis, Gandhian nationalists, primitive naturalists and bullying aunts. One of these was the chewed Neem twig as toothbrush and toothpaste%u2026.."

Farrukh Dhondy was born in Pune, India in 1944. He first went to England in 1964. He read English at Cambridge and then taught for many years before concentrating on his writing. His books include East End at Your Feet and Come to Mecca (both winners of the Other Award), Poona Company and his short story collection Trip Trap. His book Bombay Duck was shortlisted for the 1990 Whitbread Award for the best first novel. He has written widely for television and the stage, including two situation comedies for Channel Award for a series of six plays for BBC TV

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BOMBAY DUCK

© Farrukh Dhondy 1990

First written in 1990, Bombay Duck is a novel of astonishing wit and insight that examines the great cultural divide between the East and the West.

Part One: Scenes in London, Edinburgh and Delhi. Gerald Bloom, unacclaimed actor of Caribbean origin, assumes the name of Ali Abdul Rahman and finds fame and fortune. His greatest moment arrives when David Stream, international impresario and guru of cross-cultural hype, casts him as Lord Ram in his dream project - a stage adaptation of the Hindu epic, Ramayana. Success attends them until fate and religious fundamentalism intervene.

Part Two: Scenes in London and Bombay. Mr. Xerxes Xavaxa, supply teacher and sometime Parsee historian, accidentally stumbles upon his fortune. It is given to him also to fulfill the dreams of others, for he too is a master of cross-cultural transference. From a bedsit in Earls Court he plans his future.

Through the characters of Ali and Xerxes, Bombay Duck explodes many old myths and conjures up new ones. It reveals an unexpected world, a seething subculture of actors, shopkeepers, politicians, farmers and gunrunners.

Bombay Duck shows incredible prescience since it was first written.

Farrukh Dhondy is a writer, columnist and former Commissioning Editor of Channel 4 TV. As a commissioning editor he has been acknowledged as the originator of a trend of international cinema from India, having commissioned Salaam Bombay, Mississippi Masala, Bandit Queen and for initiating and sponsoring the careers of Mira Nair, Shekhar Kapoor, Mira Syal and others. He has written fifteen books published in the UK, the USA and India, written widely for British TV, in the comedy and drama genres. His most recent film, The Rising, starring Aamir Khan, was released in its Bollywood version last year and is soon to be released in its 'international' English version. It will be the first film to be given two distinct treatments for very different audiences. His other recent films included Red Mercury which has been released in several festivals to great critical acclaim and will be shortly released theatrically. He is working with Ketan Mehta on the next film from the Indian Mutiny Trilogy and has five other screenplays in pre-production and under production.

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SARTRE AND YOGA
(3rd Edition, 2010)

© Ashok Kumar Malhotra 2010

Writing on Jean-Paul Sartre is like going to a shrine. The way is well trodden. However, the journey continues to be uphill and the path winding and circuitous. There are blind alleys, labyrinthine pathways, and distracting lights. Time and again one has to pause and look for direction. I have been a devoted pilgrim to the Sartre shrine. As a token of my debt to Sartre, I have written this work in an effort to telescope the long and arduous intellectual journey for the newly initiated.

The book is directed to the grassroots course in Sartre's brand of existential philosophy. My experience in teaching introductory courses in philosophy has convinced me that the philosophy of Sartre can be best introduced to students through Nausea which is replete with existential themes. It is easier for the beginner to identify oneself with Roquentin and his use of the phenomenological method in Nausea than with Sartre and his abstract and vague descriptions of this method in Being and Nothingness. The ideal of philosophy as a presuppositionless discipline is also best conveyed through the character and experiences of Roquentin who by living his universal doubt reveals existence in its immediacy.

The book does not claim to be a substitute for Sartre's popular novel Nausea, or his philosophical work, Being and Nothingness. However, it can be treated as a companion volume which by simplifying the complex phraseology can be a handy guide for comprehending the above two works.

The first edition of the book appeared in 1978 under the title of "Jean Paul Sartre's Existentialism in 'Nausea'." It consisted of four chapters dealing with "Nausea: A Controversial Work;" "Nausea as a Work of Art;" "Existential Themes in Nausea;" and "Nausea: An Expression of Existential Philosophy." The second edition appeared in 1995 under the title of "Jean Paul Sartre's Existentialism in Literature and Philosophy." It contained the first four chapters and two new chapters on "Sartre's Existentialism and Its Relevance;" and "Philosophical Ideas in Imaginative Literature." These two chapters were added to make the volume more comprehensive. This third edition keeps the first five chapters, eliminates chapter six and substitutes two new chapters on "Sartre's Existentialism Versus Samkhya-Yoga," and "Self in Sartre and Samkhya-Yoga." By adding these two chapters, this present edition brings together the two popular traditions of Sartre's Existentialism and the Yoga Philosophy thus guiding the reader towards doing comparative philosophy in the 21st century. Acknowledgements are due to the Journal of the Asian Thought and Society and the Westview Press for their kind permission to reprint the articles on "Sartre's Existentialism Versus Samkhya-Yoga" and "Self in Sartre and Samkhya-Yoga" respectively.

Professor Ashok Kumar Malhotra is Distinguished Teaching Professor of Philosophy at SUNY College at Oneonta. Honors include SUNY Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Teaching; United University Professions Excellence Award; Friends of Education Award; Bharat Excellence Award; Jewel of India Gold Award; Spiritual Leadership Award (SIUE); Gullands Non-Resident Indians (NRI) Excellence Award; East West Center Distinguished Alumni Award and University of Hawaii Distinguished Alumni Award.

His works include: Jean Paul Sartre's Existentialism in Nausea; Jean Paul Sartre's Existentialism in Literature and Philosophy; On Hindu Philosophies of Experience; Pathways to Philosophy (with Douglas Shrader); Guidebook for Pathways to Philosophy (with Douglas Schrader); Culture and Self (with Douglas Allen); Transcreation of the Bhagavad Gita; Instant Nirvana, First Edition; An Introduction to Yoga Philosophy; INSTANT NIRVANA: Americanization of Mysticism and Meditation, 2009; WISDOM OF THE TAO TE CHING: The Code of a Spiritual Warrior, 2006; JOURNAL OF YOGA: Yoga and Meditation Now, 2009

Other publications include more than 50 papers on Asian and Comparative Philosophy, a dozen poems and articles on Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism and Yoga for the Religious Column of The Daily Star, a local newspaper. Malhotra is the founder of the Yoga and Meditation Society at SUNY College at Oneonta that has invited more than 25 scholars and practitioners from all over the world. His interviews of these scholars as well his TV show on "Gentle Yoga for Relaxation" are being shown on the Public Access Channel in Oneonta. Malhotra is the founder of the Ninash Foundation that helps build schools for the impoverished children of India. He is a poet and painter and has been a guest on ABC World News Now, NBC News, National Public Radio, Australian Public Radio, Holland Radio and All India Radio. He was a consultant for Warner Brothers TV series "Kung Fu: The Legend Continues."

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BRITISH INDIA AND THIRD GENERATION IMPERIALISM

By Roderick Matthews

Before they took on government in India, the British had for some time been ruling subject peoples overseas, in Ireland and in the thirteen North American colonies. After the acquisition of Bengal, however, it soon became obvious that very little of what had been learned from these previous overseas ventures was of relevance in India, where the people and the laws seemed so alien that familiar constitutional principles could not be applied. New solutions to the problems that arose, both conceptual and practical, would therefore have to be found. The Anglo-Indian relationship that eventually emerged was of a new type, which stood apart from the empires of the ancient world, or from those of Spain and Portugal. It was based on a new approach to the political and economic domination of lands at a distance, forming a new imperialism that went beyond the previous strategies of invasion (1G) or absorption (2G). It was a third version of an imperial relationship.

The 3G imperialism built by the British in India after 1757 sprang from a capitalist country, unlike all previous imperial models, and was curiously antithetical to the political system that devised it. A Britain obsessed with legalities, representation and consent produced a system that contained none of these. This system was well adapted to the India out of which it grew, but in the years after 1858 it became rigid and unresponsive and it ceased to develop. No attempt was made to replace it with the next wave of British imperial thinking, so that while colonies like Canada and New Zealand moved on, India remained fundamentally set in her place in the imperial scheme. Before 1914, with India still secure within the Empire, there was neither need, willingness nor method to change the fundamental relationship defined over the first hundred years of British rule. The rush to adapt the system after the First World War was too little and too late. The one thing that had always been missing - consent - was never willingly or fully given, when at last it was sought through political, as opposed to social, institutions.

This paper is an examination of that Third Generation imperialism, its roots and its content.

Roderick Matthews, Historian, (author of Flaws in the Jewel) obtained a First from Balliol College, Oxford in Modern History. Studied Medieval History under Maurice Keen. Studied Tudor and Stuart History under Christopher Hill, Master of Balliol College. Studied European History under Colin Lucas, later Master of Balliol College and Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University. Studied Imperial History under Professor Paul Longford, Rector of Lincoln College.