Good Express, Bad Express

Indian Express has done a commendable job in exposing the bankruptcy of thinking within the Anna bandwagon. Those who are easily overwhelmed by a crowd and a carnival should remember that the wisdom of the crowd is best appreciated from the stories of a clay idol vanishing and no milk in the pond. Democracy, contrary to popular notion, is not a rule by the majority, but by a small minority duly authorized. Presently, it is a tough time to talk to anyone on this point, as all seem to be sold to the pro-Anna campaign by the TV news channels.

Another such moment was during the anti-Mandal Commission agitation. V. P. Singh was demonized to such an extent that to speak in his favour was really risky. Even Indian Express let us down at that point. Alas! [TNM]  

Merit in caste system

[Stamp out khap panchayats: court The Hindu - ‎While deprecating the caste system in the country, the Supreme Court has declared illegal 'khap panchayats' which often decree or encourage honour killings or other institutionalised atrocities against boys and girls of different castes and religions ]

Social intercourse demands multiple yardsticks for assessing others in order to overcome Caveat emptor eventualities. Like language, religion, and nationality, caste, too, provides a safety net for several filtering purposes. Even the Constitution of India recognizes the castes for certain identification. Unfortunately, the system is derided without going deep into its genealogy and overlooking how intimately is it imbricated with the social consciousness. Wishful thinking by a few city-dwellers, obviously, can't serve as the bedrock of a stable future of the nation. [TNM]

Primacy of ontology

The current discourse over corruption and civil society is, appreciatively, provoking more and more minds. The issue is no longer a straightforward schism between anarchy and democracy. Rather, matters ontological have started percolating into more thoughtful articulations. All questions of politics, ultimately, are better probed through philosophical methods and, therefore, judging the dynamics of civil society against a larger canvas can surely supply more dependable answers.

The life divine, as envisaged by Sri Aurobindo, can be said to be the most perfect paradigm of a civil society. A republic or a democracy etc. are all various steps in that glorious direction. Such an evolutionary arrow, however, is comfortable with a non-linear trajectory – a disclosure which somewhat disappoints. But playing back and forth as in hermeneutics is perhaps a necessary means for pushing the envelope.

Fed on free mother’s milk, it takes a long span of time for man to distinguish corruption. Some prefer to play blind and consider everything as their own, thus transcending subtle ethical demarcations. They love to presume that others perpetrate corruption, just as accidents are meant for others. The Guna canons and Varna distinctions also somehow condone such personal foibles by assigning causal or genealogical imperatives. Overlooking such fundamental insights would imperil the outcome of the present impatience. [TNM] 

The Lives vs. Life and Times

A million kudos to Manoj Das and his "dedicated researcher friends" for the new biography that has blossomed in the Mother India of this month. May it spread ample cheers after three years of dismal emission generated by Heehs' hostile book. [TNM] 

Compare and contrast

[Moily rules out ban on Lelyveld's book on Mahatma Gandhi Economic Times

NAGPUR: Union Law minister Veerappa Moily has ruled out Centre imposing a ban on the controversial book on Mahatma Gandhi by Joseph Lelyveld stating that the American author himself has denied writing anything adverse about the leader.]

[The Trial and the Verdict -- by Alok Pandey

...Perhaps the phrase ‘a stitch in time saves a nine’ applies here aptly. When early warnings are ignored, then we are only waiting for the volcano to erupt and its lava and ashes to scorch the earth and cloud the skies. Was this avoidable? We can never know with certainty, but one thing is sure. The responsibility of the storm that has been raised... from A critique of the book "The Lives of Sri Aurobindo" by Peter Heehs]

Compare and contrast! [TNM]