Reflections

For the developed world the car was the ultimate symbol of the last century. For the developing world it has been the ultimate aspiration which, many thought would come to fruition in this one. However just as Indians were thinking of the Nano as the model T Ford for India, albeit one century late, comes the economic downturn and many of these dreams seem to be turning to dust. The pioneers of the automobile industry in Detroit are in dire straits. The mighty three automobile makers of the USA, all based in Detroit, are on the verge of closure To many , Detroit is the home of the automobile, and home to three of Americas biggest car makers: General Motors, Ford and Chrysler. In the heady post World War II days they made as many as 80% of all the world’s cars. The Chief Executive of General Motors Charlie Wilson famously said “What is good for General Motors is good for America”. These automakers spent the last two decades fighting all regulatory measures that were proposed by...

What is it about the water and air of Hindusthan that makes even incorrigible critics like me and many of my ilk feel an aching emptiness as soon as we are removed from its soil? For the past two weeks I am abroad, living in a much advanced society. The creature comforts are far removed from the bustle and untidiness of Siliguri. The roads are like Hema Malini’s cheeks and the electricity is always on. There is no noise on the streets and you don’t trip over garbage over every corner. Driving is a breeze, everybody follows rules and there is no pollution. And yet!! It is not India. There is something about the land of my birth that is inside my skin. It itches and aches and leaves a something that can never be satisfied in a foreign land. I sometimes try to analyse what it is. What is it that made Pritish Nandy say “ if you exile me, please put out my eyes before I go” ( I quote from memory, so that I may be wrong in the actual words though not in the sentiment) I was reading Sunil Ga...

The Teesta is now the focus of builders of dams. Sikkim and the hills of North Bengal are the proposed sites of a large number of dams which will, if all goes well generate a large amount of electricity. Several of these dams are already in the process of being built and the hillsides are already being torn apart to accommodate these leviatans. This had already proved to be controversial as the Llepchas in Sikkim are vigorously opposing the project and have been on hunger strike to prevent the project from drowning their ancestral lands and desecrating their sacred forests. These issues are very important. It has been estimated that since independence, at least 5 million people have been displaced by the large dam projects. Most of them were tribals who have traditionally been voiceless in the power dispensation. It is not a coincidence that these areas where the tribals have been deprived of their land and even more important, their identity that are racked with Naxalite violence toda...

There is a tradition in an old Muslim text that Bhaktiar Khilji, who famously conquered Bengal with 18 soldiers, later planned and executed an invasion of Tibet. The source for this tradition is most likely to be the The Tabaqat-i-Nasiri of Minhaj-ud-din . The same story has been repeated by the Riyazu-S-Salatin by Ghulam Husain Salim. This book was written at about the end of the eighteenth century and was used as a sourcebook for various Histories of Bengal written by the early British administrators. The book became available in English in 1902 when the Asiatic Society of Calcutta published a translation by Maulavi Abdus Salam who was a civil servant then posted in Cuttack. The story is interesting and bears repetition. Bhaktiar, fresh from his conquests in Bihar where he dealt the deathblow to the Nalanda University, decided in 1205 to invade Tibet. He led a force of cavalry 12000 strong to the mountains of North Bengal. The story goes that he was guided by a Koch warrior who ...