“McCarthyism’s Indian rebirth”:http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/may/13praful.htm
bq. So vicious and depraved is this campaign that the Library of Congress is unlikely to reverse Prof Thapar’s appointment. But other US institutions and universities might want to play safe and avoid appointing Indian scholars of Left-wing or anti-communal persuasion.
Wouldn’t that be something. So Mr. Bidwai equates Left-Wing == ant-communal. Let’s see for a moment what that means in the state of West Bengal where some Left-Wingers are conducting elections.
Continue reading “More Praful Bidwai Jokes” →

While the IMD has predicted “a below normal monsoon this year”:https://varnam.org/archives/000072.html, the IRI is predicting that the monsoon will arrive on time and bring good rains. IRI is the US-based International Research Institute for Climate Prediction
“Now, some good news on monsoon”:http://www.indianexpress.com/full_story.php?content_id=23818
bq. In its sumBook Review: Pakistanreport, the IRI notes with satisfaction that the El Nino of 2002-03 ??has now nearly dissipated to neutral conditions??. That?s very good news for India because El Nino years have a 60 per cent chance of of average rains being below normal and 55 per cent chance of the driest season.
It seems El Nino is out and La Nina is in. No one tells me anything these days. And here is some accusing IMD of “gratuitously staying prisoner to the exigencies of vote bank politics”. Note that the IMD is just the Meteorology Dept.
“Prospects For South-West Monsoon 2003”:http://www.financialexpress.com/fe_full_story.php?content_id=33995
bq. However, by not making public the details of its own forecasting exercises, the IMD is gratuitously staying prisoner to the exigencies of vote bank politics. The only way to establish its professionalism is to make public the product of its exertions without an eye to the comfort or discomfort of politicians. Else, it fails to serve the public interest.
This blog will keep track of who won the prediction contest. The IMD or the IRI.

There are many people who believe that it was due to Buddhism that Vegetarianism was introduced into Hinduism. Again let me quote some paragraphs from the book I am reading now “Gem in the Lotus”  by Abraham Eraly.

Buddhist monks were not vegetarians, but they were forbidden to eat the meat of an animal specifically slaughtered to feed them, for that would indirectly make them the killers of the animal. Said Buddha: “Let no one, O monks, knowingly eat the meat[of an animal killed for that purpose…] I prescribe, O monks, that flesh (or fish) is pure to you in three cases: if you do not see, if you have not heard, if you do not suspect[that it has been caught or killed specially to prepare food for you].”

That was from the chapter titled “Gem in the Lotus”, which is what Eraly calls Buddha. He continues to mention that Buddha himself was a non-vegetarian. On his way to Kushinara, Buddha was resting at a place called Pava and one of his devotees, a metalsmith of the name Cunda invited Buddha for a meal.

There sitting the Exalted One called to Cunda and said: “Cunda, as to that fat hog’s flesh which you have prepared, serve me with it, but serve the brethren with whatsoever food both soft and hard, you have prepared”
Buddha, it seems had a weakness for pork—his favourite food, says Milinda-panha, was “tender boar’s flesh, and rice porridge boiled in milk”

But after eating this food prepared by Cunda, Buddha fell seriously ill, and with great difficulty he reached Kushinara and left his body.

In Kerala, last week, a group of Hindu fishermen “were attacked by an armed”:http://www.rediff.com/news/2003/may/09rajeev.htm Muslim mob and 9 people were murdered. The Government has taken over the local mosque after a large amount of arms were discovered there. When the police went to enter the mosque, “they were stopped”:http://www.keralanext.com/news/index.asp?id=10356 by the Muslim League leaders.
Continue reading “Hindus Murdered in India” →

There is “lot of discussion”:http://www.ashoo.org/blog/archives/cat_india.html#000109 going onin the Indian Blogosphere about the decision of the central govt. to ban cow slaughter. The book I am reading now “Gem in the Lotus”:http://penguinbooksindia.com/Books/aspBookDetail.asp?ID=2951 by Abraham Eraly has the following passage about beef eating during the Vedic times.
Continue reading “Holy Cow!” →

What is common between these
* Euro-Asian snow cover in December
* Temperature over North West Europe in January
* Pressure gradient in Europe in January
* The 50 millibar wind of January/February
* Arabian Sea surface temperature in January
* Atmospheric pressure of East Asia in February
* Sea surface temperature over Southern Indian Ocean in February
* El Nino status of the previous year.
Continue reading “Small is beautiful” →