The Science of Tradition
For years the mystery of how homing pigeons found their way home confounded scientists. Accurate navigation in adverse weather over long distance flight is a skill that human technology is only now mastering. Yet, pigeons have been doing it for millennia. Recent research by Hans-Peter Lipp from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, suggests that More...
Does ‘Varna’ provide a religious basis for the present Caste System?
Caste system and its accompanying discrimination and occasional violence have been the bane of Indian society. Even today, incidences of discrimination and violence have been reported from time to time, despite More...
California Textbook Controversy: ‘India’ not to be replaced with ‘South Asia’
Sacramento, California, May 20: In what may bring relief to hundreds of Indian American families of California, the Instructional Quality Commission (IQC) that met on Thursday to decide upon the final stages of More...
Kargil and the Manufacturing of History –III
[contextly_sidebar id=”Mgin1FqHgad1s782C1hodCMbJoB9O7QM”] In Pakistan in 1999, the “war-like” conflict in Kargil was a powerfully relevant ‘real-time’ example of my scholarly research, as I was More...
A visit to Ayodhya
I have been visiting India for more than 30 years and probably 30 times in all. India is in my system and I have an abstract, but deep connection with Hinduism, which was confirmed in a private ritual by Guru Brahmashree More...
South Asianist sepoys oppose ‘Idea of India’
The Caravan published an article titled ‘In California, A Debate Over History Curricula Has Brought to Fore Denials of Caste in the Indian American Community.’ by its copy-editor Aria Thaker on April 12, 2016. More...
Kargil And The Manufacturing Of History-II
[contextly_sidebar id=”jovmbKmY9GY76GXY4apfRvvEstVV4WVj”] The diplomacy bus was sparkling new as I rode from Delhi to Lahore in June 1999, our high profile vehicle had a military escort all the way from More...
California Textbook Controversy: ‘Scholars for People’ sends final letter to CBE
California is currently debating the portrayal of Indian history in their school textbooks. A small group of South Asia studies faculty had asked the California Board of Education (CBE) to remove references to More...
Kargil And The Manufacturing Of History-I
In the spring of 1999, when the “war-like” situation erupted in Kashmir in the Kargil district, I was doing research regarding history textbooks in Bangladesh. A few weeks before I left Bangladesh, a direct More...
Does the Left feel overwhelmed by ‘Buddha in a Traffic Jam’?
In a performance that won him a posthumous Oscar, Peter Finch’s television anchor, Howard Beale, exhorts people to open their windows, lean outside, and scream loudly “I am as mad as hell, and I am not going More...