Why is the knowledge of history always the first casualty? Richard J. H. Gottheil. “The Origin and History of the Minaret”. Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 30, No. 2 (Mar., 1910): 152-4. It is a well-known fact that the early Christian basilica had no towers attached or superposed. The same is true of [...]
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I wonder what the world would be saying if this game had the bearded fella sporting peyots along with that sporty ‘stache. But since Muslims are the new (old) Jews, this sort of pure islamophobia will skip by without comment from the cognoscenti. Lest you think this is more generalized immigration phobia and not religiously [...]
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So, I turn to you, my collective hive brain. Who is this “Dr.” “Prof.” Zaid Hamid? He has, from most accounts, secured a niche similar to Glenn Beck in Pakistani media – combining ultra-nationalism with a taste for finding Zionist or Hindu involvement in the Pakistani sphere. Here he explains, for example, what truths lie [...]
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Who among us hasn’t dreamed of unearthing rare historical treasures in old cast-aside trunks? Ok, maybe you haven’t but I stay up all night dreaming such scenarios. Jeremy Kahn, Kulwant Roy: Indian history in a yellow crate of negatives, NYT, Tuesday, June 17, 2008. Also, some of the photos are on Outlook India. I especially [...]
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A german nursery rhyme, that I just found. I need coffee, desperately. C-a-f-f-e-e / C-o-f-f-e-e C-a-f-f-e-e / C-o-f-f-e-e trink nicht so viel Caffee! / Don’t drink so much coffee nicht für Kinder ist der Türkentrank / Not for children is this Turkish drink schwächt die Nerven / Weakens your nerves macht dich blaß lassen und [...]
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Charles Taylor, The philosopher-citizen: In our time, we can almost fear that the public intellectual is an endangered species. On the one hand, the role can be trivialized by the proliferation of collective petitions for fashionable causes which it is very easy to sign. On the other, in the making of policy the intellectual is [...]
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Ok, this is like catnip to me, you know? I just cannot resist. Taru Dalmia aka Delhi Sultanate transplanted from Germany to Hindoostan, lays them slow. I especially like Mental Slavery but ’tis not on youtube. Check it. [h/t Jahnavi P.]
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I really must.
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In a (somewhat cringe-inducing*) video report at NYT, Adam B. Ellick takes aim at some of the very popular Pakistani pop stars and their lack of attention to the Taliban. Not that we could tell much about US campaigns in Afghanistan, Iraq and Af-Pak since 2001 (“Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue” anyone?) from [...]
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Two great opportunities for students from South Asia to pursue graduate education in NY. It is wonderful, and a testimony to the work of the scholars and administrators behind these initiatives, that even in these economic downturns we have these possibilities. At Columbia: Applications are sought for the Ambedkar Sanskrit Fellowship at Columbia University in [...]
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I have a new piece up at The Review, Start A War. We expected something, something better than before. We expected something more.
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I saw/ate a version of this (often called ‘paasti’) in Mianwali but here is how it plays in Bannu (next to Waziristan). The retail version is usually sold as “Afghan bread” – at least in Chicago. [via Nosheen]
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Yasmin Khan, whose Great Partition is highly recommended, has an excerpt up on Random House India site*, The Ghost of Udham Singh: But the story of his life poses interesting challenges for the historian interested in ‘facts’ – for the stories about Singh are fragmented and seem sometimes only to take sustenance from their repetition. [...]
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Another blast in Rawalpindi.
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I been sending the usual links I would hoard for this occasional post over to twitter. But, it has been too long, yes? Some links to tide over the long Sunday:[play Cohen's Avalanche, Famous Blue Raincoat as you read] Jacqueline Rose, A Piece of White Silk, LRB is absolutely must-read – for such careful examination [...]
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