The Right Perspective

After a Century it is time to revisit Sir Syed Ahmad Khan’s legacy   Sir Syed Ahmad Khan, the founder of the Muhammadan Anglo Oriental College (now, The Aligarh Muslim University), was the pioneer of the ‘two-nation theory’ in India.  As the theory gained momentum, it boasted towering leaders like Muhammad Ali Jinnah.  It eventually resulted in the partitioning of India in 1947 into two countries based on religion and the Islamic Republic of Pakistan was formed.  Sir Syed, a descendant of Prophet Muhammad, was a member of the upper class Muslim nobility in India.  During the time leading up to the First War of Independence in 1857, Sir Syed had established himself as a man of repute, both within and outside the Muslim community of India.  He was known as a scholarly Muslim with great understanding in many fields, including Sufism, mathematics, and astronomy.  He wrote articles, and books.  He traveled across India and gave numero...

Hindu Rituals: A Case for Attitudinal Change Rituals, in their most simplistic form, are characterized by a series of actions or types of behavior regularly and invariably followed by individuals or by groups. Rituals are part of human social existence and as such they highlight some of the most integral, emotive, and elaborative practices of human life. However, the rituals of the followers of Hindu faith are considered by many, including many Hindus themselves, irrational and unnecessary. There isn’t a day goes by when one can’t find someone railing and outraging in media as well as in academic circles against Hindu rituals, be it  Karwa Chauth ,  Yagyopavit , or something else. When we think of rituals we usually associate them with some ‘primitive’ or ‘mystic’ activities.  We also associate rituals mostly with religion.  Rituals, however, are associated with all aspects of human experience – from secular to religious and from sacred to profane....

Book Review: ‘Not For You’ – Where there is a beautiful story woven around food Food and stories are inherently interconnected.  Not only are stories aplenty around our dinner tables, food we eat themself tell stories.  They tell the stories of the land, of the people.  They also tell the stories of people who transport them, stories of people who harvest & prepare them, as well as the stories of people who ultimately devour them.  One author who has brought the food and the related stories together on one splendid platter of desi comfort food with her simple yet powerful story-telling is Nandita Godbole.  She is one foodie who has carved out her name in the field of cook-books and has charmed her clients, friends, and family alike with her sumptuous food preparations both at her home and at her supper club.  But this is her first foray into storytelling, that too, in the food fiction genre.  Of course I am talking about her latest boo...

POLITICS  |  6-minute read  |   27-06-2019 Avatans Kumar   It was the evening of March 15, 1888. Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, founder of the Muhammadan Anglo Oriental College, which later re-incarnated itself as the Aligarh Muslim University, was in Meerut at the invitation of local Muslims. At a very well attended meeti...

POLITICS  |  7-minute read  |   11-05-2019 Avatans Kumar   @avatans Each election — be it the state Assemblies or the Lok Sabha — has its own idiosyncrasies in terms of issues, concerns, rhetoric, etc. The level of bitterness, shrillness and rivalry, however, ha...

Christchurch vs Pulwama: Why the world's reaction towards the two terrorist attacks must be questioned   POLITICS  |  5-minute read  |   31-03-2019 Avatans Kumar   @avatans   ...

~Avatans Kumar (@avatans) Life is all about connecting the dots, making sense out of the webs of complexities.  This making sense is an eternal journey of the human race, a journey that makes a Adi Shankara leave the comfort of his Kerala house at a tender age of 8.  From Gautam the Buddha to Swami Vivekananda, there are numerous similar examples in the Indic Tradition as ‘Self’-exploration is the ultimate goal of human existence. But what happens when dots don’t connect and the path one has been made to follow turns out to be a hoax, not a ‘satvik’ one?  Connecting the dots may not be child’s play, especially when it comes to navigating Indic/Hindu identity. Identity is usually how individuals or groups in question chose to define themselves. However, in case of Indic/Hindu identity, others defining them takes precedence. This phenomenon, what Arvind Sharma calls “outsider to outsider” view in the academic world, has reached to a level where a Hindu scholar’s vi...

The Pulwama attack has ushered in a new India, conscious of dharma and unafraid (from DailyO ) Referring to India’s response to the Pulwama terror attack on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) convoy by an operative owing allegiance to the Islamic Republic of Pakistan-based jihadi organisation, Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), the South Asia scholar Christine Fair recently  wrote that it “seemed to have awakened a somnambulant giant”. Judging by the reactions from across the length and breadth of Bharatvarsh, the ghastly and dastardly act did indeed seem to have woken India up from its deep Kumbhakarana-like slumber of ‘strategic restraint’ that had come to characterise New Delhi’s policy towards Pakistan over the years. The attack that saw India lose 40 of its CRPF personnel — in a non-combat situation — also indicated the violation of what many call India’s 'Shishupala Principle' — according to the Mahabharata legend, Shishupala was destined to be kill...