Bharat Rakshak

arnab

In China that interpreter is going to be costly (much more than it is in India). That creates demand for Mandarin in the West. That is because of the income differential between the two countries and not because the Chinese have a single uniform language. It is equally important for China to engage...

arnab

You must be kidding. In my company if you want to be in customer relations, you better know the language of the country your customer is in. Her Mandarin would be a trump card that can be used while engaging China :). Can that be done with Hindi? Depends on where you are based presumably. Yes if in...

arnab

^^^^ Sure, your dad might be one in ten-thousand. The rest 9999 would probably wont have such a good story to tell. Mandarin will be learned, because China has it as a language that will give her opportunities in China. Hindi will not give you an edge in India :). Spot the difference. The Chinese a...

arnab

^^^ Keyword is "UNIFORMLY" ... NOT :) It was imposed everywhere, but not uniformly across the strata of the society. I had a tough time learning English, my mom knew it but was not fluent with it. My cousins had it worse because their parents were not English literates. I ended up getting...

arnab

? This is how I see it :- English had been IMPOSED on India by the Briturds, everywhere uniformly. It was an invaders tongue, it was a non native language. There would be resistance against anyone trying to impose another language on anyone, and that is what you pointed out. I dont know what is it ...

arnab

Exactly as it is (and was) in Japan or Germany. When Japan industrialized after the Meiji restoration, they were working on translating most of the scientific and industrial works on the west to Japanese. That means anyone who knew Japanese had access to knowledge which can give them better opportu...

arnab

This is not a miracle, or magic, or some divine superiority that English has. There were around 5 - 10 posts above explaining why this is so, please read them. English is not some Miracle portion you take and get upward mobility. It is the result of colonial destruction of the native language econo...

arnab

The economic drain of WB is/was not due to kicking out of english language out of schools, even though many people will claim that. Actually people are claiming just the opposite - They (some of them) are saying that the 'colonial' infrastucture of which the colonial language was a part, should hav...

arnab

I guess the tactic is to ignore uncomfortable points. The commie gov's push was totally insincere, and many schools continued biz as usual. . umm - are you claiming that WB govt / semi-autonomous schools continued to teach in english even though the WB govt. banned it? The fact that commies themsel...

arnab

When we became independent, the local economy was so malnourished that the only way up was to learn Engleesh. Since the colonial structures that were used to loot India were left intact and nurtured by successive Indian govt, the only way for upward mobility was Engleesh. Then it became a network p...

arnab

GOI has done its bit to promote Indian languages. You can answer civil service exams in hindi / regional languages. Correspondence in hindi is encouraged in Class A cities. Of course in cities of the south and north-east - it is not (guess why?). Not sure whther the Indian IT sector promotes Indian ...

arnab

In effect what you are saying is Indian psyche is "somehow" different from psyche of other people. This is a rather racist statement to make :) very subtle one at that. And ofcourse, if there was a person around here with an agenda, you are providing him a dagger to shove it into our coll...

arnab

Lakshmikanth ji, As you know, McCaulay Putra ism is itself a representation of their deep seated inferiority complex of not being good enough on their own, their hatred towards the other natives which converts into boot licking for the british. Yes sir 100% true and agree. Now we have people here s...

arnab

Frankly, OIT is not that politically fraught, one has to look at genetic evidence and astronomical observations only no? Oh wait.......... I still maintain that it is 'politically' fraught as opposed to scientifically fraught. But I confess, frankly I do not know much about it. About the internet w...

arnab

I think you should take sometime to read up the OIT thread. Pir review has failed miserably there, coz the Pirs themselves are ideologically biased. Assume this is 1939 and you are trying to publish a paper detailing the perils of antisemitism to a German publication on sociology. I can only imagin...

arnab

Arnab ji, I did not say I was speculating - again you seem to have picked up a lot from the professional historians by imputing things to people that hey have not said. You dismissed Dr. Sharma's arguments because you didnt care to actually verify his arguments, and took cover behind "peer rev...

arnab

[The pertinent point to Noor Inayat Khan's case is that she was serving the cause of brits and french. Let them honour her, she deserves it. India has its own heroes who need to be honoured. You continue to ignore this simple point and go off in tangents. JohneeG, I agree with your post though I wa...

arnab

Does he? fighting for a cause where he bore no personal risk was my definition of a hero? Arnab, humble advice, dont you think you should acquire a modicum of knowledge of history before pontificating on such matters? It is frankly very irritating to see pages after pages being devoted to expose pe...

arnab

So an Indian king fighting to reclaim Indian territory from foreign invaders is as little relevant to you as Noor Inayat Khan fighting for France? Every past Indian king fought for his own territory (or to acquire more territory). Or for that matter every past king anywhere, including your much bel...

arnab

nachiket wrote:
Doesn't matter what I think. He satisfies the definition of "hero" that you gave and with which most here don't agree.

Does he? fighting for a cause where he bore no personal risk was my definition of a hero?

arnab

Sorry aren't we talking about Baji Rao II of the Anglo Maratha war fame? No. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baji_Rao_I My bad. Interesting quote from your link: Let us transcend the barren Deccan and conquer central India. The Mughals have become weak indolent womanizers and opium-addicts. The accumu...

arnab

arnab, Perhaps you could expertly refute B-Ji's arguments with equal panache. That would be interesting to see. What arguments? He says he is speculating because every historian speculates (as opposed to rigorous proofs in exact sciences) so he too has a right to his speculations :) Fair enough - b...

arnab

Baji Rao Peshwa fought against Islamic rulers of India and thus against expansion of Islamic dominance over Bharat. That makes him a Indian hero. Sorry aren't we talking about Baji Rao II of the Anglo Maratha war fame? (Incidentally as per your example shouldn't you say 'hindu hero'). Which is fine...

arnab

Arnab ji, you also speculated that opposition to Noor Inayat being touted as an Indian hero - was because she is a Muslim. It was clearly stated, at least by me, that I saw her declared chief intention of helping out the Brits was because she "hated the Nazis" and the "Nazi occupatio...

arnab

It is difficult to keep track because you keep bringing all kinds of things into your argument. See the underlines - presumably the looting commenced when they arrived, as well as the bootlicking / national interest (take your pick) :) Alright, your original post in reply of Bji is: Well Indians ha...

arnab

You were making some arguments using Alexander's global popularity as a hero. You still haven't said, what is the relevance of Alexander or his popularity for India or for that matter for your argument about Inayat Noor Khan. Actually it was irrelevant but it took a life of its own :) People were a...

arnab

[Noor Inayat Khan was captured in Oct 1943 and executed in Sept 1944. You had originally said: at the time let us say the alignment with the british was guided by what passed for 'national' interest at the time (given that there were many 'nations' then) er..that quote was made in the context of lo...

arnab

Ah Arnab ji, that final refuge word of intellectual rascals [again a pithy English word meant for whom?] : "heh heh do you have peer reviewed articles eh?" Slimy folks cleverly take the exact sciences peer reviewed paradigm - which is feasible there because people can independently verify...

arnab

As brihaspati garu pointed out earlier, and I did too, as far as Alexander/Sikander is concerned, his fame in India shows a certain demographic pattern. Also his fame is quite low, and if present simply there due to a film "Muqadar ka Sikander" which overlays Alexander's popularity among ...

arnab

2) Absolutely agree - and to do that, one cannot start by ascribing underlying reasons to some Indians for their heroism, whether it be Noor Inyat Khan or Cariappa or Bose. They are all heroes IMO in the perspective of unertaking the task that they were assigned (or assigned themselves) to do. So s...

arnab

Let's say Baji Rao Peshwa is lesser known worldwide than Alexander. The only two conclusions I can arrive at are: 1) That has no affect on who should be better known in India. Indian heroes have a higher right to fame in India. And Baji Rao Peshwa may indeed be better known in India. 2) The civiliz...

arnab

Arnab, the term a$$-whole and its localization and various words for the term "a$$" exist all over the world., does that mean a$$-whole is an influential thinker and actor? Since more people know about it - across linguistic and cultural divide? er.. if a 'term' could think :) sorry your ...

arnab

Ji - care to read up on colonial historiography as to why it was so important for the Brits? Or you are reluctant to find motives that do not show the Brits in good light? Arvind Sharma's post should be a good starting point - he alos gives refs to source material you can find on the net or standar...

arnab

If one obsesseses so much about Alexander as some kind of universal legend, then it merely shows the lingering influence of British historiography of the colonial period on the mind. Indians - as this is an Indo-UK thread - should try to reassess all the Brit historiography led icons and myths and ...

arnab

No by the looks of it - the Bengal commies have done a good job of retaining admirers of Alexander the all conquering hero who must be an all-over-the-world heroic figure. The centre of the world is England, English and Anglophilia according to the derivatives nourished under left liberal thoughts....

arnab

:eek: :shock: You make a spurious claim, and then compound it with wild allegations. What do I have to do with Baji Rao or Dhingra? Saar then before jumping in - why not read the whole discussion in the past few pages to get a better understanding of how Alexander's name crept into the UK discussio...

arnab

This is a stretch. Alexander is a name of greek origin (as are many other christian male names), and there have been many rulers called Alexander before and after Sikander. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander So you are seriously trying to run with the argument that Baji Rao Peshwa / Madan ...

arnab

I doubt that most of "them" have heard of Alexander at all, and some might be thinking of certain Popes more than the Greek supposed conqueror of the known world [according to Greek hagiographies written some 150 years after his supposed conquests.] You might persistently want to avoid th...

arnab

Your feelings are matched by those of Churchill. India is a geographical term. It is no more a united nation than the Equator. Winston Churchill You say: a) There were many 'nations'. b) alignment with the British was 'national interest'?!! (a) & (b) seem self-contradictory. If there were many ...

arnab

Those who ensure(d) India's global preeminence in politics, culture, military, commerce and technology, and contribute(d) to empowerment of the Indian people. In any case, anybody who acts servile and submissive to a foreign group and its national and ideological interests cannot determine India's ...

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