My final post is about my final chapter. I deal with textbooks and novels before and after Partition. It is not easy for a historian to deal with novels, especially one trying to figure out “social memory”. Do the novels represent anything more than the solo novelist or market forces? I only hedge my bets [...]
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Nationalism needs heroes. It constructs for them elaborate mythologies. It nurtures, protects, and propagates those mythologies through all channels available to it. Examples can be stated from any given nation-state and let me highlight three that are directly relevant to my topic: the history and memory of Charlemagne in France, Shiva Ji in India, and [...]
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A few things to remind you how precious that sunday sun really is. It is gorgeous outside, so don’t read these. Go play frisbee (in my defense, I am sitting in the sun as I type thanks to Airport Extreme). The Guardian brushes off the cobwebs and reveals details about Prescott Bush and Nazis. The [...]
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The General spoke to the UN General Assembly two days ago; met with Our Fearless Leader before that, and with Sardar ji today. He weaved democracy, terrorism, hope, conviction, and CBMs (Confidence Building Measures not Continental Ballistic Missiles). There is some talk about the “disappointment” of The General remaining the general. But, honestly people, I [...]
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While I have talked about matters tangential and peripheral to my dissertation on this blog, I have never actually talked about “it”. The dissertation itself. Antara’s comment reminded me that I have never actually incorporated my research into this blog. It is hard to say why. In one aspect, a dissertation becomes an extremely personal [...]
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Haven’t had a nice spam in awhile…besides the one promising breast implants in under 2 days but this just came in…from shadowcrew – the victims of an odious spammer/hoaxer. Welcome to our web site!! You’re invited to shop for large selection of bombs and different kinds of rockets such as surface-to-air, surface-to-surface and weaponry available [...]
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September 22 is a good birthday to have, I think. Frodo and Bilbo Baggins share it with me. Also Ronaldo. It is the last day of the summer. Last day of the Eleusinian rituals of rebirth. I hate my birthdays. Its not the getting old part, its the “taking stock of life” part. It is [...]
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Well, four out of five readers wanted the subaltern journal. here it is. This is just the five minute WP install – so expect bells and whistles later. And “folly of trusting newly raised troops” line got to me. hmmmm…this funny thing called history. From the introduction June 16, 1849: The following pages have already [...]
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You might remember that old case of Nike shoes that spelled Allah on the back? Then there was the more recent Danish chapal that also had Allah. I don’t read Danish but that says the company apologizes for inadvertently offending Muslims. Then there was the Roberto Cavalli bikini that had various Hindu deities on it. [...]
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A few things that caught my eye, I submit for your consideration. Now, I am going to go enjoy that late September sun. From Chicago Tribune [r.r.] comes a rather alarmist report on the Muslim Brotherhood. The Ikhwan have not had much ink spilled on them in the US media. Here is their sinister goal [...]
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I needed to breathe. I think I gave up last Sunday. If you scroll down, you can see my post. All week, I have not read the newsites, haven’t gone to dailyKos or Atrios or TPM or, even, Juan Cole. I didn’t read that Musharraf is keeping the vardi. I didn’t follow Putin or the [...]
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In class, we are tackling the life of the Prophet. The framework that I have applied is to ground the sira in the context of Holy Men in Late Antiquity. Basically, we read selections from Peter Brown, Averill Cameron and some primary Desert Father texts. I wanted to give the students a sense of the, [...]
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Every single trip I took to Old Anarkali bazaar in Lahore as a youth had one hidden motive: Try to guess which wall is Anarkali, the nautch-girl who dared love the Emperor’s son, cemented in. I used to think she was still alive and peeking through little holes in the wall, observing the world. A [...]
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Salman Rushdie is great. If you want to know how to work it after a fatwa, look to this man. He hangs around celebs, marries a model he picks out on the telly, writes op-eds supporting other authors and perennially remains the Occident’s only interlocutor with the Orient. His latest “controversy” is porn. Yes, that [...]
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Hero(2002) is playing everywhere and making some good money. I am happy. It was one of the movies that I was really, really looking forward to. Gerry would read monkeypeaches on a biweekly basis, keeping us abreast of this coolness being directed by Zhang Yimou and starring Maggie Cheung and Tony Leung (anyone who knows [...]
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Just wanted to highlight a few things to ruin a nice Sunday. It happened to me. It could happen to you: From Chicago Tribune [r.r], comes the profile of Muhammad Atta. It is a chilling piece and one that shows the risk we run by de-humanizing those murderers. The Independent says that the risk is [...]
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Some happy news on the movie front. I am a huge fan of Neil Gaiman – author of Sandman graphic novels. He is an amazing storyteller or myth-maker, as I like to call him. His 2002 children’s-book-for-adults, Coraline, is on top of the charts at the sepoy household having gone through innumerable readings. It is [...]
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There were times when “freedom fighter” had a romantic tinge to it. Ahmad Shah Massoud also known as “Amer Sahib” or “The Lion of Panjshir” was a “freedom fighter” in those times. He defended his home, the Panjshir Valley, from the Red Army and from the Taliban. Like Che, he became an icon and a [...]
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Compare your significant other to the British Empire, declare yourself a deconstructive reader of Empire, write a 200-page thesis on your significant other’s hegemonic tendencies using quotes from Lacan, publish in a midsize journal, go on to a respectable career…$50,000 plus 4 years indentured servitude No, paul. that’s priceless.
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It is with great sadness that I learned that a great Urdu dramatist, novelist and intellectual, Ashfaq Ahmed has passed away. I always thought of him and his wife, Banu Qudsia, as the gentle, wise uncle and aunt of Urdu. I met him on a few occasions and remember, with great fondness, his kindness. I [...]
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