Dec 13, 2024
Dec 13, 2024
Now that Boloji has restarted the interactive platform for reasons unknown to me and we have a feedback about who and how many persons read a given article and comment on it, I like any average human being have succumbed to the curiosity of how many read the output of my mental incontinence and what if anything they say about it. I confess to periodically checking these details but even more importantly checking on the frequency of those articles I wrote, which I love and comparing their readership number to others which are just OK. After all even parents have a tendency to be more attached to one child without neglecting or being unfair to others. Thus to my amazement I found that my article titled “My Analysis of Hindu Myths” seems to have a continued and increasing readership even though it is not featured on the homepage while the far more important articles of the last four weeks regarding the debt crisis, American politics and the Mumbai terror attacks barely garner 200 readers.
The easy supercilious conclusion would be to either denigrate the intellectual capabilities and discernment of readers. After all the absence of traffic on Indian roads, when the serial Mahabharata, Ramayana, cricket matches and Saas bhi kabhi bahu thi is beyond all doubt a fair and reliable estimate of the preferences of an Indian audience in India and the sort of movies which are popular in India as compared to the output in Iran and Turkey which are not that advanced, clearly is a damning indictment of the intelligence, sophistication and gullibility of the general population of India.
This is not to imply that western or American audiences are more intellectual or sophisticated, for they equally gullibly watch Terminator series, Star Trek series and Star War series without being bothered by its implausibility or even impossibility. The other possibility is the excessive religiosity of the target audience or the fact that the Hindu myths constitute part of their heritage just like American history which is broadcast on History and C-span channels and is equally removed from reality, fact and truth in most episodes. Other explanations are just wanting to escape from sordid reality into a land of fantasy while suspending thinking, analysis or reason.
One, not unnaturally, hopes that a significant number if not a majority of those who frequent the website Boloji would be at least American residents of Indian origin and possibly a few of American, European or other national origin. Judging by my limited observations and responses at the site or in my e-mail, it seems that most readers are just too shy, disinterested or not bothered enough to post a response, argument or critique. There are a few who are quick on the draw and shoot from the hip, but they are just reflex reactors without understanding, syntax, coherent thought, cogent argument or purpose other than what I have scathingly labeled as defecating on websites to mark their scent. It is this which worries me because it is reflexive of a typical Indian mentality of not wanting to be involved unless something is a source of imminent present and clear danger to one’s individual well being. It is this mentality which leads to people throwing garbage and trash on the walls of their neighbors even in affluent communities in India, uncaring whether it will facilitate rat infestation, mosquito breeding or other public health hazards to themselves and all.
There is a possibility that some people are just so shy or insecure and unwilling to post a comment even under a pseudonym, but the fact that they don’t even voice their objections, criticism or opinion even directly to the author and not in public view at the website, merely shows a unquantifiable proportion of diffidence, disinterest, or unconcern is responsible. Even worse, they are just bored and have nothing to do and thus surf websites to kill time. One will never know whether this ever leads to being informed, evaluating the data, analyzing it, forming or altering their opinion. Even if it does, it will not lead to any effort to change, improve or correct current problems. It is this curse of Hindu religious thinking which led to a millennium of foreign rule and exploitation by invaders of India, because there probably never was a feeling of nationhood which led the Dutch to overthrow the rule of Spain, the Spanish to overthrow the rule of the Moors, the Persians to overthrow the rule of Arabs, the Egyptians to overthrow the Hyksos. Benjamin Franklin said, “Let us all hang together, otherwise we will surely hang separately”. The Indian motto is, “Let me hang separately unpolluted by some fellow untouchable”.
The other national character flaw is gullibility and unwillingness to question authority based on insecurity, ignorance and unwillingness to think and analyze. To give some examples, you will read pundits unable to explain why Brevik massacred Norwegian youth as a protest against the tolerant and asylum granting policies of the ruling liberal Norwegian party and prime minister. Instead of throwing up one’s arms in frustration and despair and writing an article, why not read the deranged man’s manifesto. He was upset at the tolerant liberal asylum policies of the current Norwegian government which has allowed nearly 4% of the national population becoming Muslims, many from Pakistan. Brevik suffered some harassment from young Muslim youths and was frequently reading biased garbage on the internet without thinking, analysis or other points of view, and his warped mind then concluded that his best contribution to stopping and preventing such liberal policies of the ruling party in Norway was to kill off the youth wing of the party destined to become future political leaders.
Similarly, the misunderstood brouhaha about Air Chief Marshal Naik against the new 60 km. Range theater tactical nuclear missile. Readers need to understand that Pakistan developed nuclear missiles to make sure that India would not be able to do a repeat of Bangladesh by attacking from Rajasthan and isolating Sind and eventually Baluchistan from Punjab, NWFP and occupied Kashmir. The threat of nuclear war would prevent India from attacking Pakistan. Benazir, Bhutto, Nawaz Sharif to a lesser extent and Musharraf predominantly, then pursued a salami tactic (slicing of thin parts of and from India) with Bangladesh extremist and Nepali messy situation co-operation. They promoted insurgencies in Kashmir, Punjab and the Northeast. Musharaf even started the Kargil war, thinking India would not retaliate for fear of a nuclear war. The bangle wearing Bajpai and Manmohan Singh in Purdah behaved as expected after the attack on the Indian parliament, Mumbai, Ahmedabad and Bangalore. Idiot Singh and his other incompetent and impotent colleagues, then touted “Cold Start” as a limited offensive maneuver, as a response to repeated Pakistani terrorist attacks with a plausible deniability by attributing them to unknown or out of control extremist groups. Pakistani army last week announced that they had developed a 60 km. Range tactical theater nuclear weapon of low yield which they would use to blunt and stop any conventional non-nuclear cold start attack by the Indian offensive corps. They implied that the use of a tactical theater nuclear weapon should not be considered a nuclear attack but a defensive strategy.
ACM Naik rightfully and sensibly warned that the use of even a mini nuclear weapon as theater tactical defense would elicit a massive nuclear response from India. Manmohan Singh and his bangle wearing defense minister chastised Naik and immediately pulled down the ghungta of their pallu and clapped their bangled hands in protest against Naik, while hugging Pakistani terrorists and using their sarees to protect them from the Indian evil eye, as they performed a folk dance with the pretty Pakistani foreign minister and voiced admiration for her designer clothes and sunglasses, while ignoring security and terrorism concerns. They were just following in the footsteps of their idiot predecessors, Indira Gandhi in releasing 90,000 Pakistani prisoners without settling the borders at the Simla conference and idiot Sushma Swaraj had done kurnish to terrorist Musharaf at the Delhi summit and Advani paid homage to Jinnah, while visiting Pakistan. Maybe the best deal for India would be to trade all the worthless Congress and most BJP members by giving them to their homeland Pakistan in return for manure, which is abundant in Pakistan.
31-Jul-2011
More by : Gaurang Bhatt, MD
I can not agree more with most of what Mr. Bhatt writes. India is not a nation in any sense of the word. It is just a land mass with people who have little concern for each other but obsessed with themselves on individual basis. I have worked with Indians stabbing other Indians to please some white thugs for a few $s. The Indian Govt. is just a reflection of what Indians are. The world faces 4 groups threatening humanity. They are terrorist Islamic jihadis, Chinese communist butchers,white racist thugs of of Europe & north America & last but not least the filthy corrupt of India. These 4 groups will eventually wipe out democracies(what is left of them), societies & in the end humanity itself from within & /or without. It is not a question of if but when & how soon? |
There are a few who are quick on the draw and shoot from the hip, but they are just reflex reactors without understanding, syntax, coherent thought, cogent argument or purpose other than what I have scathingly labeled as defecating on websites to mark their scent. GB. The recourse to scatological comments is unwarranted as it is patently false. Anyone who comments on a website has taken time and trouble to do so, and this must be acknowledged as constructive; it serves of no advantage to 'mark their scent', thus it is not so motivated. That it is perceived in scatological terms betrays an intolerance and contempt that one associates with the self-opinionated. At any rate, I am protesting the use of scatological language by Mr Bhatt, and a copy of this comment is being posted to the editor. |
Sajan, Thanks for comments and appreciation. One can never be sure what goes on in the minds of other persons, so I have avoided definitive conclusions about the psyche of readers and stuck to likely possibilities. This non-responsiveness of readers is like the Sherlock Holmes story of the dog which did not bark. Either the guarding dog was unconscious, restrained or extremely familiar with the intruder. Then as Holmes puts it in another story, when you have eliminated all possibilities which are impossible, and only one possibility remains, it is probably the correct one, no matter how improbable. On the other hand there are also instances where Occam's razor and unification are the wrong way to go. Sen in his book, "The Argumentative Indian" emphasizes the ancient tradition of dissent , discussion and debate, by mentioning the many Indian philosophical traditions, the status of the Charvakas (which was transient and ephemeral in history), Yagnavalkya and Gargi debates (full of overt male chauvinistic bias), Megasthenes' writings on India during the Maurya empire, the golden age of the Gupta empire, the world or international Buddhist conferences and symposia (latest under king Harsha in the seventh century at Kanauj. By the time al-Biruni came to India and wrote about it in his comprehensive book on India, he observed early sclerosis and rigidity of thought in the eleventh century CE and it has been pretty much downhill for the millennium thereafter. The only poor solace we can claim is, that the caste system though bad was not worse than slavery or European colonization; and Hinduism, while not unified, centralized and organized, did not develop an inquisition, jihad, crusaders and ghazis. "I am by nature benevolent to all mankind", said the bishop, as he fondled the serving wench. Or "Jaltaa ghar krishnaarpan kiyaa or lootata ghar renounce kiyaa", as the devout Hindu proclaimed as his Dharma. gaurang bhatt |
Gaurang, Interesting thoughts on reulctant attitude of Indian people.. somewhat contradicts the picture Amartya Sen tried to portray in his "Arugumentative Indian". Wanted to let you know that I just browse Boloji just to read your articles. Hope you write more frequently. regards sajan |
To RK, And when Caesar was told that he was unsusceptible to flattery, he was flattered most! Alas, I am not in the same class as Caesar, though like him, I moved west and north.I came, I saw, but I was not conquered and neither did I try to conquer or cross the Rubicon, so thanks for your kind appreciation. But I console myself, that like George Washington, I serve without pay, will free my slaves posthumously and like him have slept at many places but only during the daytime in conferences and meetings. What worries me is the nature of humanity. Its penchant for unthinking hero worship like the current article on Zafar, which I am going to comment on, the electing of dynasties like Nehru, Bush, Kennedy, the electing of celebrity film actors to parliament, congress, governorships and presidency, the temples to film actors, sports celebrities. the faith in astrology, the replacement of democracies and republics by plutocracy and oligarchy and all this with either unconcern by the public or even coalescing into organizations like Blacks for slavery, Jews for Jesus, Hindus for Muslim Jihad against infidels or Tea Party dancing to the tune of Koch brothers AFP (Americans for prosperity) music. As in Ecclesiastes -- I returned and saw under the sun, that the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, neither yet bread to the wise, nor yet riches to men of understanding, nor yet favour to men of skill; but time and chance happeneth to them all. The response is to become a social Darwinist as in Republican American plutocracy, a Hindu or Buddhist fatalist as in the fruits of sins of a previous birth, a born again Christian or Jew accepting the unfair justice of God, while awaiting his mercy, a Salafist craving Sharia but practicing terrorism, a humanist atheist doing good and weeping, while subjecting the psyche to masochistic torture or an Indian chameleon politician, who can mimic all the above forms and shapes for temporary convenience while concentrating on the ultimate goal of selfish motives. gaurang bhatt |
Gaurang, I am an Indian residing in the USA and regular follower of your articles. I fin them very enlightening and I could not agree with you more on most of your views. My best wishes for the excellent work you put in week after week with such consistency! Sincerely, RK |