32 thoughts on “Open Thread”

  5. Bean, I can’t say what was the religious background of the one who took the picture. But the one who found it on the web and posted it on his blog is definitely a Hindu.

    I merely observe and say it like I see it. Some don’t like what I say. Tough luck, I say. I just tell them to take a flying fcuk.

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  11. Atanu,

    I see that you no longer require a login. That’s cool because I don’t have to remember my password. 🙂

    Ok, I have not yet read your Pragati post on the urbanisation imperative, but I have been reading your blog for 4 years and so, aware of all the arguments.Most of which I agree with.

    Just want to bring up agriculture into the discussion.

    1.Around 200,000 farmers have committed suicide in India since 1997 – a sign that agriculture has become unviable to most, if not all, farmers.

    2.The farmers can’t decide the prices or count on fair market prices.We see an anomaly in that the prices of all grains and pulses seem to be rising, but the plight of the farmers has not changed.

    We simply can’t urbanise in the right manner with out the surplus labor being released from agri sector.To create surplus labor in agri sector, the productivity and margins for farmers must improve.While I see many convincing arguments for urbanisation, I don’t find any answers to the question of improving agricultural productivity and making it a very viable sector, for the 15-20% of population that needs to be engaged in those activities.

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  13. It tells me that we are all different. I dont like bringing religion since all religions are fundamentally for the weak of mind. You dont need religion to tell you what behavior is appropriate or not. Religion has caused far more strife than it is worth.

    Anyways back to the photo – I have no issue with either type of behavior as long as none of the two couples tried to impose their idealogy on me.

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  14. I’m assuming that the setting for the pic is a Western city. If so, I wonder what’s on the mind of the couple on the right. Is it disgust? Unlikely, because the state of intimacy of the couple on the left is evocative of love and affection, not lust or passion. The couple on the right can’t miss it. So, most likely, the idea on their mind is longing/yearning. That they could also be free.

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  16. What a great picture – sometimes a picture speaks a million words.
    This is how the medieval desert religion is represented in a million words and more – there is no other solution but the forceful eviction of this joke of a religion from the globe.

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  17. Well, debates about low status of women apart, even the man on the right is deprived of the fun. I would love to put my head on my woman’s lap wherever!

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  18. @WSJ, you said “there is no other solution but the forceful eviction of this joke of a religion from the globe.”

    Make that “all religions”!

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  19. There is Kumb Mela in India. More recently, there was a ‘Medaram jaatara’ in Warangal, Andhra Pradesh, attended by around 90 million people. There may not be strict religious texts dictating the second mela. But, regardless, there was such a huge turnout of believers.

    Some of their beliefs are primitive too. But, why should we judge so? What is primitive and what is evolved? Mecca with the strictly followed Quran is evolved vs. Medaram with no religious texts or religion is primitive?

    Setting those judgements aside, if a particular carved-statue means all the world to me, why should I be considered mad?

    What I like about the above picture is:

    There may be many interpretations to what the couple on the right must be thinking. But, they didn’t display their disgust with smirks, didn’t try to look-away in hatred and didn’t go to the couple on left and insult them. That to me, is tolerance and respect shown by the couple on the right to the freedom of couple on the left. I like the fact that two couples belonging to two cultures on opposite ends of the spectrum, co-exist in that photograph without any visual display of violence.

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  21. >>That to me, is tolerance and respect shown by the couple on the right to the freedom of couple on the left

    I see. The folks on the right are doing the guys on the left a favor by not taking up an AK-47 and massacring them on the spot. That makes it all crystal clear. I am beginning to love this ‘tolerance’ thingy.

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  22. The couple on the right is basically full of envy for the couple on the left. I am sure they want to do the same thing but for their cultural and Islamic upbringing which tells them that is it imodest to hug someone in public. I feel that touching and hugging is one of finest ways to express human emotions.
    As long as someone is not jerking off on the pavement I have absolutely no problem with what two grown up adults choose to do in their personal lives. As for the Muslims, they are free to choose to live they way they want as long as they don’t tell others what is right and what’s wrong.

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  23. Your ‘lekhani’ is gripping.

    I do not see you commenting about the current affairs of west-bengal ever.

    Your blogs are generally very one-dimensional. You talk about only one aspect of the issue, giving a complete miss to any alternative point-of-view. For example Manmohan Singh is an unmitigated disaster. Congress party has done only bad things to the country.

    Your hatred has led you to incorrect conclusion in the blog once. I am talking about the search-islam-is-in-google topic. One person indicated the flaw of your rationale in the comment section.

    You yourself have called for this open thread and then you hit back at ‘Bean’ with offensive language. Atanu, are you okay?

    I check your site at least once every day scanning for new posts and I will keep doing so.

    I could not navigate to your page properly when you moved to asian-correspondent-thingy. I am glad that you are back to earlier deeshaa.org

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  24. I just see different ways of expressing your love. you might choose to be physical, or not, but love is still love.
    i can’t believe folks gave only the answer you expected. cmon, folks, there are tons of different ways in which you can interpret the image.

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  25. Hm, I think its a picture of a European city where both kind of residents live – and there are many.
    The couple on the right is not exactly unaware of the scene on the left, but just dont indulge in it.
    The predominant thought on their mind probably would be ‘how do I get out of here without bringing it up with the other.’ Kind of like what a teenager feels when an explicit scene lights up the TV at home with his parents.

    I dont know, I feel they are both comfortable in their boundaries – whatever they be. They are just not comfortable with the boundary being displayed in front of another.

    No envy, no disgust, just squeamishness. And probably a wish that the couple on the left shuts up.

    -Hindu Girl 🙂

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  26. THERE is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
    There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
    There is society, where none intrudes,
    By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
    I love not man the less, but Nature more,
    From these our interviews, in which I steal
    From all I may be, or have been before,
    To mingle with the Universe, and feel
    What I can ne’er express, yet cannot all conceal.

    —- Lord Byron

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  27. Different they are. But saying that is saying nothing at all. Lets go deeper just for the thrill of it…

    The white couple seem relaxed, doing what they are doing. So it cant be an Islamic country. The wooden doors and stone building suggests Florence or any of the renaissance cities in Italy.

    The muslim couple shows no visible signs of assimilation with the local culture. The woman covers herself from head to toe, while the man wears a long beard. Tourists or immigrants, they are likely to be highly orthodox. When people adapt to another culture, the external appearances change before their way of thinking.

    Since they have not made any effort to fit in, even outwardly, there is no reason to believe that their view would be different to that of orthodox Islam about such acts, that of disgust and revulsion.

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  28. About the pic – to each his own 😉

    In general – depressed about traffic, governance, corruption, cities, mismanagement, AI in loss yet the same civil aviation minister who owns the costliest commercial space in Mumbai, BSNL entering red, traffic slows down to allow the VIP, roads dug here and there, potholes, tress fell, Should I be angry or happy with Medha talking to college students?, why media reports some news and avoids some?, what is this brouhaha about jaipur literary festival in The Hindu and NDTV? what is so great about Jyoti Basu that all MSM are praising him a lot, unmindful of the fact that WB is no heaven… not even comparable to Cuba!! Why the heck should govt control all Hindu temples while “trusts” and “wakf” boards control churches and mosques? is referendum the right way to take decisions on SEZ, land sale for industry etc? Where is Arundhati Roy? Why should EU send a committe to probe Kandhamal issue which is an internal India issue? How to banish the leftists from the Indian mainstream? …………………..

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  31. The friction between the societies has come due to merging of different societies only. Like in this picture, the couple on the right sees the openness and might get influenced by it. When the couple will try to emulate it, their religious gurus will consider this an attack on their religion.

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  32. The couple on the right are thinking – “That is the last thing you want to do in this city after what you have gone through. If the police come around, you would now also be charged with ‘an indecent act in public’.”

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