BE K!NG'S MEN: October 2010

Tuesday, October 12, 2010

Was Mahatma Gandhi a Racist?

Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi – commonly referred to as ‘Mahatma’, is known the world over as a symbol of truth and non-violence. That’s why many may find it surprising to know that the ‘Father of the Nation’ has his share of detractors.

Some hold him responsible for the partition of India in 1947 and the resulting bloodshed of both Hindus and Muslims. His decision that India should pay Pakistan Rs 55 crore also drew flak from several quarters. Nathuram Godse assassinated Gandhi in 1948 because he felt that he had betrayed the Hindu cause.

Now in San Francisco, a group that call themselves the Organisation of Minorities for India are demanding the removal of a statue of Gandhi on the pretext that he was a racist.

John Cote writes in the San Francisco Chronicle -

The group was formed four years ago to publicise the oppression of Christians, Buddhists, Dalits, Muslims, Sikhs and other Indian minorities…they say Gandhi was a racist who harboured violent urges.

The group plans to present management of the Ferry building (where the statue sits) with a demand to remove the statue and replace it with one of either Martin Luther King Jr or BR Ambedkar

Thalia Gigerenzer writes in The Bay Citizen -

The great peacemaker a bigot? It may sound sacrilegious in the United States but anti-Gandhi sentiments have long been part of the low-caste political movement in India. But these groups have only recently become vocal among Indians in America

…..While this group is growing more vocal, it is still a minority among the Indian community, for whom Gandhi is akin to a deity. “It’s like calling God racist”, said Neeraj Bakshi of the protestors…many feel that Gandhi is being unfairly maligned.

United Press International writes -

“The popular image of Gandhi as an egalitarian pacifist is a myth…we plan to challenge that myth by disseminating Gandhi’s own words to expose his racism and sham.” says Bhajan Singh, a member of the Organisation for Minorities of India.

***

This however, is not the first time Mahatma Gandhi has been accused of being a racist. Some of Gandhi’s early editorials during his stay in South Africa are controversial. On 7th March 1908, Gandhi wrote in theIndian Opinion – “Kaffirs are as a rule uncivilised…They are troublesome, very dirty and live almost like animals”. His writings can be found in ‘The Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi’.

Two professors of history have also examined this controversy in their book ‘Making of a Political Reformer: Gandhi in South Africa, 1893-1914′. They write that the young Gandhi was influenced by segregationist notions prevalent in the 1890′s..but that his experiences in jail seemed to make him more sensitive and mellow.

Thursday, October 7, 2010

Thekkady – The Abode of Gods

Serenity, placidity, beatitude, repose… I’d like to add one more word to the list of synonyms for tranquility – that’s Thekkady. For a regular tourist, Thekkady is all about a two-hour boating in the calm lake amid dense, evergreen, deciduous forests and savannah grass lands, but it is home to thousands of varieties of plant life and wildlife, which cannot be seen anywhere else in the world.

If you have travelled to other tourist destinations in Kerala like Munnar, you may wonder what’s so exceptional about this boating. To find an answer for yourself, you have to experience it. I have seen people who prefer Thekkady to Munnar, Kumarakom or any other hot destination; why? Just for the tranquility.

I’ve been planning to revisit Thekkady for quite a while but was heartbroken when I made it there. The weather was completely unfavourable for my lens. But I was thanking my lucky stars that I decided to go boating despite the bad weather, one of the rarest sights, a full rainbow, was awaiting me.

Situated at about 700-1900m above sea level and spread over approximately 12.07 sq.kms, the splendid artificial lake formed by the Mullaiperiyar Dam across the Periyar River locates the oldest wildlife sanctuary in India established in 1895 and has been given the status of an Tiger Reserve in 1978.

Below this thick green canopy roam herds of elephants, sambar deer, tigers, oaters, lion tailed macaques and Nilgiri langurs, but you have to be really lucky to see a tiger while boating. Yet you have the opportunity for trekking, mountain walk, and jungle patrol, which will definitely get you the glimpse of a tiger.

There’s only one place like Thekkady, and that’s Thekkady. The magnificence of this place is just beyond words and thus paying a visit becomes a must.

Indian Spices Help You Lose Weight

India, particularly South India, is known for its spices: cinnamon, pepper, cardamom, turmeric, red pepper, among others. These aromatic spices have long been used to cure common ailments and are in fact, in Indian tradition, hailed as “medicines of the kitchen”.

The west has woken up to this fact – some of these spices are now being sold in tablet form to help alleviate symptoms of many lifestyle diseases like diabetes, hypertension and cholesterol build-up.

Super foods like kale and broccoli are not easily available in India – if you don’t count supermarkets. To keep off weight, improve absorption of sugar into the bloodstream or reduce harmful cholesterol, adding or increasing the amount of these spices in your diet will go a long way in helping you feel light and energetic.

However, do take note that a doctor’s advice is of utmost importance before you increase your intake of these five spices. Excess intake might lead to other complications.

BE K!NG'S MEN: It's a rubbery problem at CWG village

BE K!NG'S MEN: It's a rubbery problem at CWG village: "THE COMMONWEALTH Games (CWG) Village is confronting a civic problem again. It is not the dirty loos or spit-stained bathrooms, but choked dr..."

It's a rubbery problem at CWG village

THE COMMONWEALTH Games (CWG) Village is confronting a civic problem again.

It is not the dirty loos or spit-stained bathrooms, but choked drains, which are now causing problems.

And this time, the athletes themselves are to blame.When some toilets used by the athletes were found clogged, plumbers were called in to clean them. They found that thousands of used condoms, which had been flushed down, were clogging the system.

Related story: Use of condoms in Games Village, a positive story: Fennell

The plumbers reported this to the authorities. Since used condoms are not bio-degradable waste, they can choke the toilets.Officials of the Municipal Corporation of Delhi ( MCD) said the civic agency wasn't responsible for the management of the waste generated inside the Village. "We are not dealing with the garbage inside the Games Village towers. We haven't analysed the exact proportion of degradable and non-degradable garbage. It will be done after the Games," MCD's chief public relations officer Deep Mathur said.

The Delhi government has constituted 34 teams, headed by one officer each from the Delhi, Andaman and Nicobar Civil Service (DANICS), to monitor housekeeping and cleanliness in the towers at the Village.Each team comprises electrical, plumbing, carpeting and housekeeping experts. A protocol team, headed by a DANICS official, has also been constituted for each tower.

So, when complaints of clogged toilets came, plumbers were promptly sent for cleaning. Condoms, being supplied free at the Games Village, are in huge demand. A large condom vending machine has been installed at the Village which contains at least 4,000 contraceptive packs.Officials said more than half the condoms in the machine have already been taken out. The condoms are available at the Games Village polyclinic.

"We have installed a big condom vending machine which contains at least 4,000 contraceptives.According to reports from the Village, more than 2,000 condoms have been used so far. We will refill the machine, if need be," a health official said.

The machine at the polyclinic contains four master cartons, each of which contains 960 packets and one packet contains two condoms.

To prevent the spread of sexually-transmitted diseases during the CWG, the National AIDS Control Organisation, the Delhi State AIDS Control Society and the Hindustan Latex Family Planning Promotion Trust have also installed condom vending machines at various Games venues, hotels and markets.Around 129 machines have been installed across Delhi to make condoms available round the clock. People have been hired to take care of the machines.

"The machines at the Village and other venues have been branded in sync with the CWG theme to spread the message of ' Play Safe'," an official said.

Condoms are always in demand at all residential quarters for athletes during every big international sporting event.There was a shortage of condoms in the Vancouver Winter Olympics held in February this year. Health officials there had provided one lakh free condoms to roughly 7,000 athletes and officials, but the supply ran short within four days of the start of the event.

In the Beijing Olympics Village, too, one lakh condoms were supplied, but the authorities had to replenish the stock at the start of the second week itself.In the 2000 Sydney Olympics, the initial batch of 70,000 condoms vanished within days and the authorities had to order 20,000 on an emergency basis.