The Right Perspective

The role of media in Kashmir is suspect to say the least.  The left wing media (remember, this is गड्ढा से गधा media) that relies heavily on 'my taxi driver' account has its own compulsions in creating a narrative which is not necessarily a reality. So we take whatever a heavily com promised and an entirely demoralized (they have lost all its recent battles) media says with a pinch of salt.   Keep in mind that only a small pocket of the state where Muslims have majority has issues. Jammu and Ladakh are not affected. Only small but loud fraction of Muslim population that is radicalized in Islamism, Jihadism, Wahhabism is the trouble-maker. Then of course you have media, the secular-left-liberal groups, the Abdullahs and the Yechury's of the world, and not to mention the Congress and the Nehruvadis.  Those who think Kashmir is a political issue are either naive or dishonest to the core because it is not. BJP is wrong in putting the 370 on the back burner. Demographic reeng...

A LINGUISTIC, CULTURAL OUTLOOK TO ENGLISH As a student, I took a summer job in the US, where one of my responsibilities was to answer incoming telephone calls. In midst of a telephonic conversation, the voice on the other side asked me if there was someone else in the office who could speak better English. I paused for a second and replied ‘no’. The person on the other end decided to hang up. English is not my first language. Nor is it second, third, or even fourth. Before I was exposed to any formal English language instructions, I learnt Hindi, Magahi, Bhojpuri, and Maithili. I learned English as a foreign language in public schools of Bihar. Then used it as a medium of instruction at the Jawaharlal Nehru University, but never developed a habit of using it on a daily basis until one day I landed up in a remote sleepy campus town called Champaign-Urbana, home to the University of Illinois. For me, learning English was not a pain-free exercise. Understanding the grammar, memori...

Yaska’s Nirukta and his reflections on language. -Avatans Kumar (@avatans) “The person who is able to recite the Vedas but does not understand its meaning is like a post ( sthaanu ), or a mere load-bearer ( bhaarahaara ); but he who understands the meaning will attain to all good here and hereafter, being purged from sins by knowledge.” ~ Yaska Introduction: The history of the science of linguistics in India can be traced back to the age of the Vedas, some 3,500 (or more) years ago.   The necessity of ensuring that no corruption or modification should creep into the Vedic texts (and language itself) led Indian scholars to discuss, debate, and put forward theories of language, and discourse.   Some of the prominent among those early scholars were Panini, Yaska, Katyayana, Patanjali, Bhartrihari, Shaktayana, Gargya, Audambarayna, etc.   Yaska is known for his pioneering work in the science of etymology, the Nirukta.   The exact date of Yaska’s existen...

  The Grand JNU Narrative I arrived in JNU on a clear, balmy August afternoon of 1990. The subsequent 4 years I spent there, first as an MA then as an M. Phil student in Linguistics, were one of the most formative for a middle-class next-door guy from Patna. I owe a lot to my JNU education and overall I have a very fond memory of being there. I learned from some of the most outstanding teachers and Acharyas, met some of the brightest young minds of India, and developed lifelong friendship with many. Amidst the cacophony of all those fierce dhaba debates, post-dinner talks in the dining halls, GBMs, and JNUSU presidential debates, etc., JNU helped me carve out my own path for which I am ever indebted to my alma mater. On that first day, as I walked along the narrow winding streets atop the Aravali hills, I tried to soak in the naturally endowed beauty all around the 1,000-acre sprawl of the JN...

The Significance of ॐ: A Linguistic and Philosophical Analysis The Significance of ॐ: A Linguistic and Philosophical Analysis Here, I present A Linguistic and Philosophical Analysis of Om (ॐ)

(A version of this article appeared in the Pioneer 's Oped, on August 4, 2016 l) Ramchandra Guha’s penchant for ignoring and twisting the facts at piddling ease and indulging in partisan opinion making renders him as what Arun Shourie once called ‘Eminent Historians’.   A part-time historian, part-time media personality has opinions on everything under the Sun – from cricket to politics and everything in between, including of course, history.   And Guha is everywhere – from the confines of a posh TV studio to seminar halls to newspapers.   But this is where his eminence ends.   When the facts become dispensable and opinions aplenty, a Ramchandra Guha is born.   In the thick of the controversy surrounding the renaming of Delhi’s Auranghzeb Road to Abdul Kalam Road, Guha presented this gem in his column in the Hindustan Times: “Why not have a road named after the greatest modern scientists of India, CV Raman?” The way backward and a way forward, b...