colonialism

In India's case we have William Dalrymple, a complete social misfit in his own native land, so he decided to transplant himself in the same manner which bubonic plague once ravaged Europe by hitching a free ride on fleas infesting rats. Dalrymple has suddenly become the spokesperson on what he calls Hindu 'extremism' when he [...]

In his A History of Civilisations, a classic study of the origins and evolutions of civilisations, legendary French historian Fernand Braudel (1902-1985) came up, among other things, with a simple and yet perceptive description of civilisation. “A civilisation”, he wrote, “can be approached, only in the long term, taking hold of a constantly unwinding thread—something [...]

To my chagrin and dismay, self-appointed defenders of oppressed cultures who cast contemporary western yoga as the second coming of the East India Company have attached themselves to the fabric of yoga discourse with the stubborn persistence of a burr on a sock. Consequently, perfectly serviceable yoga programs are now at risk of being run [...]

 The furore created by US presidential candidate, the populist and conservative Republican Donald Trump, who stated that Muslim immigration to America should be stopped, needs to be seen in a wider context. It has come hot on the heels of a refugee crisis as millions try and flee war torn Syria, caught between an embattled [...]

‘It is imperative [Pope Francis] is enlightened to understand that Father Serra was responsible for the deception, exploitation, oppression, enslavement and genocide of thousands of Indigenous Californians, ultimately resulting in the largest ethnic cleansing in North America,’ a MoveOn.org petition read.” – Jack Jenkins Pope Francis has been widely lauded as a champion of the oppressed, [...]

The recent furore over the controversial BBC documentary ‘Storyville: India’s Daughters’ has now drawn distinguished biologist and militant atheist Richard Dawkins into the fray. The film examines the values and mindsets of the rapists, and interviews the two lawyers who defended the men convicted of Jyoti’s rape and murder in 2012 on a Delhi bus. [...]

I know cricket is a passion in India, even amongst many of my fans. But not only has the  IPL scandal ( 2013 )shown that there is something rotten in cricket, but unless cricket goes down, other sports in India will never come-up. Here is a game which is a colonial legacy of the British. [...]

 The anti-Hindu bias in western media outlets such as the BBC, CNN and Sky have been well-known. The situation was hardly likely to change for the better with Fox News and Al-Jazeera. Indeed it can be hard to differentiate between them. The BBC is regarded as establishment fodder, and with its ideological moorings to the [...]

In the classic children’s story Goldilocks went into someone else’s house to eat and sleep uninvited. To her horror she was confronted by the owners, which happened to be three bears. Discovered she fled.  At no point were negotiations on the agenda. It was after all pretty indefensible. This is a bit like the manner [...]

Narendra Modi, Chief Minister of Gujarat, was already a controversial figure before the BJP nominated him as party candidate for post of prime minister. But ‘controversial’ to whom? And for what? The constant attacks on Modi have actually had the reverse effect of increasing the popularity of what otherwise would have been one of many [...]