Random notes

A riot happens in Delhi, the capital of India. It happens on the day of Diwali, the festival of lights.  Now, riots in India can start due to any reason, a property dispute, misbehavior with women, a perceived desecration of place of worship or even a dispute on the volume of loudspeakers. Nevertheless, as usually happens in case of riots in India, police takes some time to control it but finally some people, some of them rowdy and some innocents are put behind bar and riot is  controlled.  So far, so good. Media does not cover it. MSM behaves as if the riot never happened. There is no tyranny of distance or any instructions by administration not to enter the area. Probably, MSM feels that since the riot happened on Diwali, it is easy to identify ‘the’ community responsible and that may not be the politically correct thing to do, as usual. But two days later, without any declared schedule, Election Commission announces dates for by-poll in Del...

This is a rejoinder to “ I ask therefore I am Hindu ” by Sagarika Ghose. In any comment on an article which deals with both faith and politics (of education), the chances of the discourse being adorned with adjectives like malicious, hateful, divisive, etc., are very high. Hence it is better to start with a story to lighten up, to dilute the bitterness which is likely to develop during the discussion. The question was simple. If ‘A’ is equal to 2 and ‘B’ is also equal to 2, what would ‘A+B’ be equal to?  Four people, a teacher, an accountant, an economist and one MSM anchor were invited to answer it. The teacher came and responded ‘4’, promptly & unequivocally. The accountant came, fiddled with his instruments, created a spreadsheet, referred to some books and finally decided that ‘4 ± 10% would be a safe answer, for the time being. The economist (No, not MMS) came, shut the door and closed the blinds, switched off the reading lamp and whispered in the que...