Tag: Taliban

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2024-44

About: the world this week, 27 October to 2 November 2024: Israel & Iran; Afghanistan-voice ban; America-the Menendez brothers; Spain-Biblical floods; Cricket, Chess; and Deepavali – why burst firecrackers?

Everywhere

Israel

Israel kept its promise to whack Iran for daring to attack it over a third-party problem. And late last week, Israel executed a large-scale, three-wave airstrike on about 20 Iranian military sites, targeting critical infrastructure including air defense systems, missile manufacturing facilities, and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle(UAV) development centres. It was a calibrated attack and at first seemed ‘not loud enough’ in keeping with Israel’s standards, of such responses. However, from the looks of it, and given the grave-dead silence on the Iran side, Israel appears to have achieved its goals: significantly weakening Iran’s military capacity, publicly exposing the regime’s vulnerability, and preventing a larger, drawn-out conflict. Iran was left ‘naked’-for Israel to strike at will, when it decides.

Iran’s air defense, despite years of boasting, proved insufficient, as Israel penetrated deep inside and danced unchallenged in Iran’s air-space. Israel seems to have chosen the least escalatory option, of the various available, and refrained from hitting financial, regime, or nuclear targets.

Back in the Gaza, Israel’s IDF is surrounding and rounding-up remaining terrorists in north Gaza resulting in the surrender of hundreds of operatives, and the process continues in a seemingly never-ending operation. Meanwhile, 101 hostages still remain captive-held by the terrorist Hamas- and are unreachable for over 395 days. Ceasefire talks are doing the rounds, but nothing concrete as emerged, as yet.

Afghanistan: Voice Over

The Taliban continues its antediluvian thought process in Afghanistan and this week, in a bizarre rule, banned women from ‘hearing each other’s voices’. This is a fundamental tactic of misogynist authoritarianism to prevent communication between women who may otherwise organise and resist. The Taliban only backslides Afghanistan, every week.

The Taliban Minister responsible for the ‘propagation of virtue and the prevention of vice’, declared that women must refrain from reciting the Quran aloud in the presence of other women. “When women are not permitted to call Takbir or Azan (Islamic call to prayer), they certainly cannot sing songs or music,” he said. “Even when an adult female prays and another female passes by, she must not pray loudly enough for them to hear. How could they be allowed to sing if they aren’t even permitted to hear voices while praying, let alone for anything else,” A woman’s voice is considered ‘awrah’, meaning that which must be covered, and shouldn’t be heard in public, even by other women, the minister said. The black-veiling only gets darker.

The Menendez Brothers

In the United States, Erik and Lyle Menendez, two brothers convicted of murdering their parents more than three decades ago, are one step closer to being released from prison. The brothers are currently serving life in prison without the possibility of parole, in California. This is a significant development in a case that has gripped America, since it hit the headlines in the year 1989.

The Los Angeles County district attorney formally recommended their re-sentencing in a court filing, arguing for a lesser sentence for the pair. If approved, the request would make the brothers eligible for parole, and the first step on what could be a long road to freedom.

The brothers fatally shot their parents, entertainment company executive Jose Menendez and Kitty Menendez, with shotguns in their Beverly Hills home in 1989. Jose was shot six times, and Kitty ten times, including a shot to her face after Erik reloaded. The brothers were 21 and 18 years old at the time.

The brothers alleged sexual abuse by their father at their first trial. And claimed they killed their parents in self-defense, following years of emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. That trial resulted in a mistrial after the juries deadlocked- a hung jury. Prosecutors argued that the brothers committed the crime out of greed (their parents were worth USD 14 million). They were tried a second time, and packed-off to jail.

Nearly 30 years later, new evidence has emerged: a letter Erik wrote in 1988 detailing the sexual abuse, and another person has alleged that the brothers’ father abused him.

Earlier this month, more than two dozen members of the Menendez family issued a public plea for Erik and Lyle to be released, saying the boys endured horrific sexual abuse at the hands of their father and are not a threat to society. Kitty Menendez’s sister said, “the whole world wasn’t ready to believe that the boys could be raped, or that young men could be victims of sexual violence”. She said that now “we know better” and “a jury today would never deliver such a harsh sentence”. But the family is not in complete agreement. A lawyer for Kitty Menendez’s brother called the brothers “cold-blooded” and said their “actions shattered their family and left a trail of grief that has persisted for decades.” The brother believes his nephews should stay in prison for their “heinous act”, according to his lawyer.

The release of a Netflix docudrama and documentary has renewed interest in the case, with a new generation taking to social media to advocate for the brothers’ freedom.

If the hearing results in a judge approving the new sentence, attention will shift to the California Parole Board. The Board will examine the case, and whether the Menendez brothers are indeed a threat to society if they are released. Even if the Board approves their release, the Governor of California could decide to halt proceedings.

Spain: Super Floods

Imagine a year’s worth of rain-cats & dogs-falling in just under eight hours. That’s what happened in Spain’s eastern region of Valencia this week. Over 95 people have been killed in possibly the deadliest flash flooding to hit Spain in its modern history. Torrential rain battered Valencia, sweeping away bridges and buildings, causing pile-ups on highways and submerging farmland in a region that produces two-thirds of the citrus fruit grown in Spain, a leading global exporter.

Residents in the worst-hit places described seeing people clambering onto the roofs of their cars. As a churning tide of brown water gushed through the streets, uprooting trees and dragging away chunks of masonry from buildings and the water itself standing tall at over 2 metres. It left its mark on the walls of the buildings, in many residential areas. In narrow streets, it was cars ‘flowing over one another’.

Trains to the cities of Madrid and Barcelona were cancelled, and schools and other essential services were suspended in the worst-hit areas. Near about 150,000 users in Valencia were left without electricity.

The scale of the flooding that unfolded in Valencia is truly Biblical and unfathomable. And this is definitely not normal weather or even the ‘normal’ abnormal. There is a footage in Chiva, where a jaw-dropping 343 mm of rain was recorded in just 4 hours between 4:30pm and 8:30pm on a particular day. So severe was the extent of the damage that Spain declared a three-day national mourning.

Sports

Cricket

The New Zealand cricket team is touring India, during October and November 2024, on a three Test Match Series against India’s Cricket Team. The Test Series forms part of the 2023–2025 ICC World Test Championship.

The Kiwis were off to a strong-legged start, winning the First Test in Bengaluru-played between 16th and 20th October-by 8 wickets. And in a stunning ‘flightless walk’ kept the momentum to win the Second Test – played in Pune between 24th and 28th October – by 113 runs. They have climbed to a muscular, unassailable 2-0 lead in the Series.

It was a historic first Test Series victory for New Zealand against India, in India, ending the hosts’ 12-year unbeaten streak. This also ends India’s remarkable run of 18 consecutive home series wins, since Alastair Cook’s England clinched a famous 2-1 triumph in December 2012. We can safely say that the Kiwis white-washed India in an outstanding series win, their first in India in almost 70 years! To draw a comparison, this is as significant as India beating Australia in Australia in 2018, after 70 years.

Pushed to a corner like never before, India face their biggest challenge at home when they clash with New Zealand in the must-win third Test as they are left to salvage pride and fight a perception about their diminishing ability to negotiate quality spin attack. The Third Test match will be played at the Wankhede Stadium, Mumbai between 1st and 5th November. And India need to win, to remain in contention for a slot in the World Test Championship final at Lord’s in June 2025.

Chess

This week Indian Chess Grandmaster Arjun Erigaisi, 21, crossed the venerated 2800 Elo rating mark in live chess ratings – a phenomenal feat. He is only the 16th player in the world and the second Indian to do so after the legendary Viswanathan Anand.

Arjun crossed the mark in the live chess rating by beating Russian chess grandmaster Dmitry Andreikin in Round 5 of the European Chess Club Cup. Arjun is currently on 2802.1 points and holds the world No.3 ranking in the live rating.

Arjun is also the third youngest player to cross the 2800 points mark. The youngest is French GM Alireza Firouzja who achieved the feat at the age of 18 in 2001. World No.1 Magnus Carlsen is the second youngest. He got to 2800 Elo points in 2009, also at the age of 18. At that time Carlsen was the fifth player to cross the 2800 barrier.

Currently, he leads the list in live rating with 2831 Elo points followed by USA’s Fabiano Caruana (2805.2).

The Elo rating system is a method for calculating the relative skill levels of players in zero-sum games such as chess or e-sports. It is named after its creator Arpad Elo, a Hungarian-American physics professor. Elo ratings are comparative and are valid only within the rating pool in which they were calculated, rather than being an absolute measure of a player’s strength.

Deepavali: Why Firecrackers?

Hindus in India and the World over celebrated Deepavali-typically called the Festival of Lights-this week on 31st October, by lighting oil lamps, mostly earthen-diyas- exchanging gifts, devouring sweets, and bursting firecrackers, among other practices.

Often there is a case to prevent or altogether stop the bursting of firecrackers in the name of noise and smoke pollution. And the Courts are challenged, to step-in.

A ‘lack of fundamental understanding’ on crackers affects the Hindu faith. Bursting firecrackers on Deepavali is not a mere celebratory or merry-making activity, but a ritual integral to Hindutva and laid down in the ancient Hindu texts, of over 1000 years. And at best the Government can regulate or control, but never ban or disallow. Here is an explanation.

There are many variants of the ancient Deepavali festival, and it’s no coincidence that Sikhs, Jains, Buddhists, and Hindus all celebrate on the same day-in about the same period-in one way or the other.

Generally, Deepavali is the triumph of good over evil, light over darkness, knowledge over ignorance; Lord Rama returning to Ayodhya after defeating Ravana (evil-who kidnapped Sita) and welcomed back with an array of lighted diyas and firecrackers; Lord Krishna killing the demon Narakasura-evil; honouring Goddess Lakshmi’s marriage to Lord Vishnu…and a string of many other stories.

The ways of celebrating are also as varied, from buying gold jewellery and ornaments, making and trading sweets, wearing new clothes after an oil-on-the-head bath, exchanging gifts, tightening family bonds-especially brother-sister, lighting diyas… to bursting firecrackers. But, why do we burst firecrackers? This story has not been highlighted much and deserves sparkling attention this Deepavali.

A month before Deepavali, is about a fortnight (a period called mahalaya) dedicated to worshipping our ancestors: we invite them to abide among us-the living on Earth, and receive their attention. The understanding is that your ancestors having come down to Earth from their world, you are supposed to host and feed them. Well, they came, you fed them, and now they -weighed down by the food, and drunk with your hospitality-have to return to where they came from. On the day of Deepavali the ancestors are shown the way to leave, with firecrackers and lights to illuminate their path in the skies above. It’s also a celebration of the spiritual advancement of our ancestors to higher and greater realms.

In summary, the core of Deepavali festivities is to illuminate and resonate the path of our deceased ancestors to the skies above, with firecrackers and and array of lights. This is a fact corroborated in the Ananda Ramayana.

If an Aeroplane needs a lighted runway to land on Earth, so do our ancestors, who require a ‘runway of lights in the sky’ to return to, say, the Heavens above. Hence, it’s important that people burst crackers and fulfil this ritual. That’s the nexus.

The word ‘Deepavali’ is derived from Sanskrit and means ‘row or series of lights’ Though the English version word, ‘Diwali’ is often used, it’s best to use the original Deepavali.

More spiritual stories coming-up in the weeks ahead. Burst firecrackers and light up the skies with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2022-44

About –the stories of the world this week, 30 October to 5 November: endless war, un-covering women, not educating girls, a shooting, firing missiles, political comebacks – left & right, crowding tragedies, and a marriage of beauties.

Everywhere

The Russia-Ukraine War fires-on, with Russia pounding the Ukraine capital Kyiv and mostly hitting civilian targets, perhaps to break the steely resolve of the people. And Ukraine continues fighting back, in a war that seems to be ‘marching slowly into an unclear future’.

The protests in Iran, against the severe, restrictive Islamic Dress Code for Women, continue. Is it possible for Iran return to the more uncovered times of the Rule of the Shah of Iran when, some say, a woman was much more respected if she was not covered from head to toe? In the United States (US) more than 2,000 academics from universities across the country wrote to President Joe Biden urging him to do more to support the anti-government protesters. Many of these protesters are coming out of Iranian universities and schools, as young Iranians take to the streets and face off against Iran’s brutal security services.

In next-door Afghanistan, it’s 410 days since the Taliban banned teenage girls from school and continues to remain the only country in the world preventing girls from getting an education – for the singular reason that they are of the female gender. That’s outrageous: clothes can cover the body, but if your mind is clouded and cloaks your thinking, how do you uncover that? Meanwhile, Opium cultivation in Afghanistan has jumped 32% during this year 2022 despite the ruling Taliban’s ban on narcotics, according to an annual report by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. What does one make of this?

Moving into Pakistan, ousted Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan survived a gun attack on his convoy while holding an anti-government protest in the eastern city of Wazirabad, Pakistan. He was shot in the leg, and seven other people were also hurt, and one killed, when a burst of gunfire hit the container-mounted platform-towed by a lorry- from which he was making a speech. Moments later the suspected shooter was wrestled to the ground by a bystander. And the shooter made a confession saying he acted alone and intended to kill Imran Khan. Khan was rushed to a hospital in Lahore and was declared to be safe and not in any life-threatening condition.

Recall former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was assassinated at a public rally in 2007. The chaos continues, but after a very long time Pakistan is seeing the emergence of a popular leader in Imran Khan. Could the powerful Pakistan Army, who fire the shots from behind, finally be tamed?

Swinging across to East Asia, North Korea thinks only missiles and nothing much else. And this week they went about launching a dozen of them – including an Intercontinental Missile that apparently failed. This comes at a time when the United States and South Korea are staging their largest-ever joint air drills, which North Korea has strongly criticised as ‘aggressive and provocative’. North Korea launched a ballistic missile over Japan – the first time it has done so in five years. And it fired some into the seas bordering South Korea, which actually crossed the delicate Northern Limit Line (NLL), a disputed maritime border between the Koreas. This time South Korea got its tail up and returned in kind, firing three missiles about the NLL. There is a slow fire brewing there.

Brazil: Lula’s Comeback – Left

Presidential Elections held in Brazil early this October were bitterly divisive and saw one of the most abrasive campaigns in recent times. And without an outright victory for any of the contesting candidates, it led to a run-off on 30th October to decide the winner.

Recall, Ex-President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva (Lula) secured 48.4% of the vote to incumbent President Jair Bolsonaro’s 43.2% and a third candidate Simone Tebet obtained 4.2%, in the Elections. The run-off became necessary as no candidate crossed the threshold of the mandatory ‘at least 50%’ of the vote.

This Sunday the run-off Election was held and Lula beat Bolsonaro by a razor-thin margin winning 50.90% of the votes, while the latter won 49.10%. This marks Brazil returned to left-wing politics.

It’s a stunning comeback for the lathe-machine-metal-worker-turned-politician Lula, who could not run in the last presidential election in 2018 because he was in jail and banned from standing for office. Lula was President of Brazil for two terms, from 2003 to 2006, and 2007 to 2011, where he led the country through a commodities boom that helped fund huge social welfare programs and lift millions out of poverty. Those were the times when BRICS was a famous term used for the five emerging economies of Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa.

Lula left office with a 90% approval rating, but this record was tarnished by Brazil’s largest corruption probe, dubbed ‘Operation Car Wash’, which led to charges against hundreds of high-ranking politicians and businessmen across Latin America. Lula himself was convicted for corruption and money laundering in 2017, but a court threw out his conviction in March 2021, clearing the way for his political rebound. By the time, Lula had spent 580 days in jail.

“They tried to bury me alive, and here I am,” said the 77 years old Lula, kicking off his victory celebrations. He made the right noises of the importance of unity and moving Brazil upwards. However, his rival, Bolsonaro, has not unambiguously conceded defeat and could dampen Lula’s victory.

Israel: Bibi’s Comeback – Right

This week, if Brazil swung to the Left, balance in the World was restored by Israel swinging to the Right!

Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing coalition headed to victory in Israel’s parliamentary elections-the 5th in less than 4 years. With his ongoing bribery and corruption trial running in the background the win may provide Netanyahu a means of staying out of jail. But he is not the Election’s biggest winner. That honour goes to Israel’s Religious Zionism party led by neo-Kahanist Itamar Ben-Gvir, who have moved from the fringes to the mainstream, winning 14 seats in the 120 member Knesset. He achieved what his hero, Meir Kahane – the assassinated extremist rabbi who was banned from Israeli electoral politics – only dreamed about. Ben-Gvir may become the minister of public security, in charge of the country’s police – as already demanded of Netanyahu. That means the hard right would have a guiding hand on the country’s internal security apparatus. “It’s time to be the landlords of this country again”, said Ben-Gvir when he sighted victory.

The coalition of Netanyahu’s Likud, the Jewish nationalist Religious Zionism/Jewish Power Bloc, Shas and United Torah Judaism would, on paper, be the most right-wing government in Israel’s history, winning 64 seats – a comfortable majority.

Current Prime Minister Yair Lapid and his allies won 51 seats. An Arab alliance called Hadash-Taal won 5 seats, and is unlikely to support either Netanyahu or Lapid to lead the country.

The final election results confirm that Bibi can now build a stable majority government with his ultra-nationalist and ultra-Orthodox Jewish allies, this will also end nearly four years of an unprecedented political stalemate.

Tragedy, Tragedy

South Korea: a Street too Narrow

Late last week and early this week we saw two absurd and avoidable man-made disasters which killed over 300 people who were just going about their lives in South Korea and in India.

In South Korea, during most weekends the narrow alleys of Itaewon, the neon-lit nightlife district in the capital Seoul, are busy with partygoers and tourists. Now it’s the site of one of the country’s worst disasters.

Last Saturday night, tens of thousands of people flooded into the area in central Seoul to celebrate Halloween, but panic erupted as the crowds swelled and surged into a narrow alley. It became hard to breathe in the crowd, which precipitated a stampede in which mostly young people became trapped and crushed, killing at least 151 people and injuring over 80 others. The casualties were young, mostly in their teens and early 20s. Among the 151 dead were 19 foreign nationals, with victims from Iran, Norway, China, Thailand, and Uzbekistan.

Saturday night marked the first Halloween since the country lifted various restrictions including that related to the pandemic – lending it particular significance for many eager participants in Seoul, as well as international visitors, foreign residents, and tourists.

Hotels and ticketed events in the neighbourhood had been booked solid in advance, and large crowds were expected. Itaewon in particular is popular among backpackers and international students.

It’s hard to pinpoint what might have triggered the crush, but authorities would have anticipated high numbers, before Saturday night. There is a responsibility on the part of the authorities to be monitoring crowd volume in real time, so they can sense the need to get people out. Standing out, is the failure by the Police to manage and control the surging crowds.

India: a Bridge too Old

In the 1600’s Morbi, in India’s present day Gujarat State, was founded as a princely state and rule by the Jadeja clan of Rajputs who bore the title ‘Thakur Sahib’ until the last ruler, Sir Waghji, gave himself the title ‘Maharaja’. It became a British protectorate in 1807, during British rule in India.

To reflect the progressive and scientific nature of the rulers of Morbi, Sir Waghji built a 1.25 metre wide 230 metre span suspension bridge across the Machchu River, which is similar to the Ram and Lakshman Jhulas across the Ganga in Uttarakhand. It used the latest technology available in Europe in those days, and material for the construction of the bridge was sourced from England.

The bridge served to connect the Darbargadh Palace and the Nazarbag Palace, which were the residences of the royal families. It was first inaugurated in 1879, by then British Governor of Mumbai. And was ‘kept alive’ as a heritage bridge, all these years, becoming a tourist spot to hang-out on.

The bridge was entrusted to a company called Oreva for operation and maintenance under a 15 years contract. In March, this year, it was closed to the public for renovation and reopened on the Gujarati New Year Day, celebrated on October 26.

A tragedy occurred late this Sunday when the heritage bridge collapsed packed with tourists and city residents at around 6.30 pm, killing about 135 people. Prima facie, the bridge gave away as too many people in the mid-section were trying to sway it from one side to the other. About 200 people were on the bridge, at the time of collapse. And it was actually meant to hold about 125 people at a time.

The Oreva Group is a company which once described itself as the ‘world’s largest clock manufacturing company’, before foraying into making lighting products, battery-operated bikes, home appliances and TV sets. With no background in ‘maintaining heritage bridges’ one wonders how they won the contract in the first place.

It’s also learnt that the bridge had not received a thumbs-up Fitness Certificate from the local Municipality, after completion of the renovation work.

One can see a clear failure to ‘understand the bridge’ and carefully regulate the people on the bridge, given its heritage nature. The investigation should be able to reveal the actual reasons.

Going back in time, in 1979 the Machchu-2 Dam across the same river collapsed sending a wall of water through the town of Morbi, killing more than 2000 people is one of the greatest dam-burst tragedies of all time.

The Machchu-2 Dam is an earthfill dam meant to serve as an irrigation scheme. Considering the long history of drought in Saurashtra region, the primary consideration at the time of design was water supply, not flood control. It consisted of a masonry spillway of 206 metres with 18 sluice gates across the river section and long earthen embankments on both sides. The failure was caused by excessive rain and massive flooding, leading to the disintegration of the earthen walls of the four kilometre long dam. The actual observed flow following the intense rainfall reached about three times above the flow the dam was designed for, resulting in its collapse. 762 metres of the left and 365 metres of the right embankment of the dam collapsed. Within 20 minutes the floods of 3.7 to 9.1 m height inundated the low-lying areas of Morbi industrial town located 5 km below the dam.

The Machchu-2 Dam failure is listed as one of the worst dam bursts in the Guinness Book of Records

Please Yourself

There is a new power couple in Town: a tale of picture perfect love – literally.

A former Miss Argentina and a former Miss Puerto Rico shocked and awed fans by announcing their surprise marriage on Instagram. Mariana Varela and Fabiola Valentin met at the 2020 Miss Grand International Competition in Thailand, where they represented Argentina and Puerto Rico, respectively. After making it to the pageant Top 10, the two beauty queens remained close friends on social media and secretly dated.

The pair posted matching Instagram Reels showing moments from their relationship, including romantic walks on the beach, candid cuddles, champagne toasts, and a proposal with gold and silver balloons saying, “Marry me?”

The pair did just that and married on 28 October at the City Courthouse in San Juan, Puerto Rico. “After deciding to keep our relationship private, we opened the doors on a special day”, said the two beauties – in one frame!

More delightful and beautiful stories coming up in the weeks ahead. It’s alright to stay married to World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-42

About: the world this week, 10 October to 16 October 2021, education in Afghanistan, wide-eyed America, a quiver full of arrows, a stabbing, lots of India, a Nobel Prize, star trekking, and a stunning Sinhala song.

Everywhere

World

Afghanistan was becoming quite silent when a suicide bomb blast in a mosque in Kandahar late this week, and another one, the week before, rocked the country. The former was deadly, killing at least 37 people, in a place of worship. I was beginning to think that the silence was a time to reflect and get the country back on track. And maybe Afghanistan was growing a beard and looking to cover-up as many things as it could (One of my favourite, worn-thin expressions is, ‘it’s so silent I can hear my beard growing’).

The Taliban’s Religious Police have been instructed to be more moderate-wonder what that means in Taliban land-but vulnerable Afghans say brutal justice is still being meted out and blood flows easily. It’s almost a month since the Taliban ban on girls returning to secondary school in Afghanistan took effect and millions of teenage girls across the country are unable to return to their classrooms. In what is a tragic exclusion, they continue to be deprived of an education. Is not right to education a fundamental human right?

America appears to be getting crazier by the week. To give an example: the Governor of Texas – of the Republican Party opposed to the ruling Democratic Party – on Monday, issued an executive order banning all state entities from enforcing vaccine mandates, the latest escalation in resistance to public health measures during the pandemic. The order also included private employers. The Governor’s argument is that the COVID-19 vaccine is safe, effective, and the best defence against the virus, but should remain voluntary and never forced. This is using a lousy definition of freedom, and deploying politics, to fight a pandemic, instead of science.

Keeping up the act in America, removing a condom without consent – called stealthing – is now illegal, and signed into law, in the State of California. This brings attention to nonconsensual condom removal during sex. This is the first law of its kind in the United States and gives victims a legal avenue to sue perpetrators in a civil court for damages. Advocates of the law said it highlights ‘the importance of consent’, and sex-workers, who are most impacted by stealthing, applauded the measure. Wow, that’s a new word that has been rubbed-in this week: keep the word in mind, when you have the rubber in your hands or in the right place!

The winners of the Nobel Prize in Economics – not really called a Nobel- was announced on Sunday. They are, David Card, ‘for his empirical contributions to labour economics’ – he played his cards well: gets one half of the prize amount; and Joshua D Angrist and Guido W Imbens, ‘for their methodological contributions to the analysis of causal relationships’ – they share the second half of the prize money, in a casual relationship building exercise. Lots of economics out there! I’m but a David in a Goliath of Economics:do these head-spinning equations actually work!

China’s renewed assertiveness at the Himalayan border with India is getting worrisome. Thirteen rounds of high-level military talks aimed at easing tensions has achieved little and with the deadly winter looming ahead it’s becoming increasingly frosty on both sides. The standoff, which at times has exploded into deadly clashes along the about 3,490 km Border – the Line of Actual Control (LAC) – is now in its 17th month. India has moved more troops into the area and so has China. And the relationship between the world’s two most populated countries is at its nadir. Can it sink further? It’s a wait and watch ‘shifting’ border at the moment.

Norway

This Wednesday, a man with a bow and a quiver full of arrows, slung on his shoulder, moved about, over a period of half an hour, in several locations in the Norwegian Town of Kongsberg shooting at people. He killed four women and one man, all aged 50 to 70 years and seriously injured two, including an off-duty policeman.

Police were quick to arrest the suspect, a 37 year old Danish citizen, who lives in the town of about 28,000 people. The suspect appears to have been acting alone and the reasons behind the bow and arrow shooting are being investigated. His actions are suspected to be an outcome of some kind of religious radicalisation. It is also being talked about as an act of terrorism.

This is the first such incident in a long time in Norway. In August 2019, a man stormed an Oslo mosque armed with guns before being overpowered. That year, the country’s intelligence service reported that right-wing terrorism was on the rise globally, and warned that the country would likely be targeted in the near future. Going further back, in July 2011, Norwegian far-right extremist Anders Behring Brevik killed 77 people, many of them teenagers, in a bomb attack and gun rampage. He was sentenced to 21 years in prison, the maximum possible term in Norway.

Mass killings are rare in low-crime Norway and the incident arrowed back almost forgotten memories.

United Kingdom

A ‘political surgery’ or constituency surgery, in British politics, is a series of one-to-one meetings that a Member of Parliament (MP) holds with his constituents to give people an opportunity to meet him and discuss matters of concern – to find solutions.

This Friday, Conservative Party MP, Sir David Amess, 69, representing Southend West, was holding one such surgery at the Belfairs Methodist Church in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex when he was attacked and stabbed several times. He was treated by emergency services but died at the scene. A 25 years old man was quickly arrested after Police arrived at the scene on suspicion of murder.

Sir David served as an MP for 38 years and was knighted in the 2015 New Year’s Honours List for political and public service. He was known politically as a social conservative, a prominent campaigner against abortion, a committed campaigner on animal welfare issues, and supported a ban on fox hunting. He was a Brexit supporter and vocal champion for the town he represented, particularly in his long-running campaign to make Southend a city.

Every week brings a new kind of violence and law enforcement across the World is becoming on helluva challenging job. We need to get better with it – there is no other way. Or, do we need to get back to school and re-educate ourselves?

India

One of India’s movie superstars Shah Rukh Khan is spending sleepless nights in his vast mansion, in Mumbai. This follows the arrest of his son by the Narcotics Control Bureau (NCB), on 3 October, after drugs were seized from a rave Party on a Goa bound cruise, where the son was an invitee. The Courts have denied him bail after the NCB established sufficient evidence for the arrest. The superstar will require all the ‘Mannat’ and superpowers to get his son back home – to the safety of his room.

Meanwhile, this Monday, India’s indefatigable Prime Minister (PM) launched the Indian Space Association (ISpA) with the objective of making India a global leader in commercial space-based excursions… and milking the Milky Way. The Virgins, the Musks, and the Amazons, beware!

The stakeholders in the Association include Government bodies such as the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) and Bharat Electronics Limited, and private business heavyweights such as Bharti Airtel, the Tata’s, Larson & Toubro, MapMyIndia, OneWeb, Walchandnagar Industries, Ananth Technology Limited, Azista-BST Aerospace Private Limited, Alpha Design Technologies, Godrej, Huges India, Centum Electronics, and Maxar India. Get ready for a ride to Space?

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has projected India becoming the fasting growing, post-pandemic Economy, in the World, with GDP(Gross Domestic Product) growth expected to be 8.3% in 2021 and 9.6% in 2022 – readjusted to the calendar year. Perhaps, with this in mind the Prime Minister launched the PM’s Gati (Speed) Shakti (Power) Scheme – a National Masterplan for Infrastructure, for multi-modal connectivity – on 13 October. It aims to bring together sixteen Ministries and seven core infrastructure sectors, on a single platform to synergise project planning across ministries to avoid duplication, plug gaps, and expedite clearances. It will act a multi-modal connectivity platform and will ensure seamless movement of goods and people, cutting logistic costs, increasing cargo handling capacity and reducing the turnaround time. This way, the infrastructure schemes of various ministries and state governments will be designed and executed with a common vision. Further, the tax-payers money will be put to better use, which in the past was ‘insulted’ through a lethargic approach to development work, with departments working in silos and there being no coordination between projects.

The way I see it: Someone lays the road, someone else digs it up for laying power cables; someone else digs it up again for laying telecom cables; someone digs it up yet again for laying internet cables; someone digs it up again for laying water supply lines; someone digs it up yet again for laying sewage and drainage lines, all staggered with yawning gaps for obtaining permissions. Finally, you have everything but a road. I hope, all this is done at one time by ‘one someone’, and this is what the Gati Sakthi means!

Please Yourself

Most of us must have watched, or heard about ‘Star Trek’, the TV Series and the movie series, as well. Many must have grown up with it. It follows the voyages of the starship USS Enterprise built by the United Federation of Planets, in the 23rd century, with a mission ‘to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations, to boldly go where no man has gone before’. Commander Spock, played by Leonard Nimoy and Captain James T. Kirk played by William Shatner are memorable characters in the original series.

After all the years of reel acting and living in a dream space craft, Actor William Shatner, now 90 years old, finally got his real chance to actually fly into Space – well, almost. This week he endured a 10 minute, rocket-powered ride to the edge of space in a suborbital space tourism rocket built by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin. And became the oldest person ever to travel to space withstanding those g-forces and experiencing weightlessness. Anybody can become an Astronaut. Age is only a number, ask Captain Kirk!

I’ve always liked William Shatner’s role as the ‘becoming-eccentric-and-senile’ Denny Crane in the TV Series Boston Legal and enjoyed his ‘Balcony musings’ sitting with protégée Alan Shore over many drinks, overlooking the City of Boston.

Now, over to some kind of music.

Ever since I heard Yohani & Satheeshan’s adorable, bewitching, and hummable Sinhala song, Manike Mage Hithe… which broke the internet after its re-launch in May 2021, I have asked many, during start-up conversations, whether they’ve heard the song. While the oldies threw a blank white-screen look, the young ones lighted up in technicolour: caught the tune and came out grooving to the song. And a six year old girl even reeled out the lyrics with amazing ease.

The song is a ballad about a man’s admiration for a woman: her character and beauty, and how close she is to his heart. Yohani’s soprano tone, Satheeshan’s rap, and the engaging music, are highlights of the infectious song, which leaves an indelible impression on the mind.Music knows no boundaries…and there are no China Walls or borders! Mind it!

More star treks coming up in the weeks ahead. Stay with World Inthavaaram: I’ve been telling my stories -without a break-for over a year, with this post!

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-36

About: the world this week, 29 August to 4 September 2021, end of a US war, India medals the Paralympics, which in turn lessons us about keeping time, India sprints in a marathon vaccination-drive, and a famous Pop Music group is on the comeback, Mamma Mia!

Everywhere

The United States (US) seriously kept a commitment of withdrawing its armed forces from Afghanistan and did it one day ahead of the scheduled 31 August 2021. It was an inevitable good decision, though it would have been better if the ending was, ‘and they lived happily ever after’ kind. On the contrary it was unimaginable chaos up to the last flight out of the country. And the US did its best – they have fought so many of the World’s wars and deserve our support. And now they do not wish to bring about change in another country through military action – twice bitten forever shy!

The World needs to move on, and away from war: instead, spend the money, the effort, and the brains on education, healthcare, and the kind. Arm people with weapons of knowledge and missiles of clear thinking. Maybe we should be able to say a ‘Farewell to Arms’, one day?

Meanwhile, resistance to the Taliban is alive, kicking, and roaring in the Panjshir Valley, the last region holding-out, which is not under Taliban rule, in Afghanistan. News of attempts at a negotiated settlement; of the internet being cut-down; of the Resistance Forces repealing attacks by the Taliban- which has the place surrounded, are doing the rounds.

We need to watch that Valley of Resistance. I believe that are some tough people – maybe lions- out there.

The US based Pew Research Center is a nonpartisan fact tank that informs the public about the issues, attitudes, and trends shaping the world. And a Pew Survey conducted before the Taliban took over said that nearly 99% of Afghans favoured Islamic Sharia Law being enforced in Afghanistan. Need we say more?

If only Pew could predict Hurricanes – based on the ruffle and tremble in people’s voices? Whatever, Ida, a Category-4 Hurricane, found its way through America and smashed the State of Louisiana, wrecking havoc, rendering thousands homeless, and those who kept their homes, lived in darkness without power. The rising water levels also brought to the surface, Alligators from the deep, who easily found their footing – roads to walk (and swim)- competing with human folk. A 71 years old man was attacked and killed by an Alligator while he was walking in the flood waters. Next up for Louisiana is the scorching heat, in the days to come.

In another deluge, in flash flooding caused by remnants of Hurricane Ida, parts of New York were submerged in water and as many as 40 people were swallowed by the ‘alligator waters’. New Yorkers termed it a ‘Historic’ Weather Event. Record rainfall, which prompted an unprecedented rain and flood emergency warning in New York City, turned streets into rivers and caused subway services to be shut down. Perhaps we should keep Noah’s Ark on standby, at all times – talk to the spanking new Governor of New York. New brooms sweep well, they say. Can she sweep-off water? For a start she said, “I don’t ever want again to see Niagara Falls rushing down the stairs of one of the New York City subways.”

Otherwise, the cycle keeps cycling. I’m tired of saying Climate Change.

Paralympic Games, Tokyo

While Hurricanes and tornadoes are swirling and wandering around wealthier nations, it’s raining medals for India at the Paralympic Games.

India’s Bhavina Patel started the drizzle by winning a Silver in the Singles Class-4 Table-Tennis Tournament, playing from her wheelchair. And suddenly India struck a gold seam. Sumit Antil – wearing an artificial leg – threw 68.55 meters to win the Javelin Gold Medal, while Avani Lekhara, with her spinal chord injury – paralysed from waist down -showed real spine in consistently hitting the target in the 10m Air Rifle competition to score 249.6 and win Gold. She is the first Indian Woman to do so in this event. Later, she went on to add another medal – a bronze in the 50m Rifle 3 Position Event becoming the first Indian Woman (again) to win two medals in the Paralympics. Records are shot outside the arena too!

Then the Indian medal tally jumped high when defending champion Mariappan Thangavel, hopped on his artificial leg to clear 1.86m to win the High Jump Silver (Gold was 1.88m) and polio affected Sharad Kumar followed behind to take the Bronze with a 1.83m jump.

Nishad Kumar won the Silver in another High Jump event, clearing 2.06m, for those with a unilateral upper limb impairment. Devendra Jhajharia won a Silver Medal, in men’s javelin category for those with arm deficiency, with a 64.35m (metre) throw, while Sundar Singh Gurjar picked up Bronze with a 64.01m travel of his javelin. Paralytic limb affected Yogesh Kathuniya won himself a Silver Medal in the men’s discus with a throw of 44.38m. Polio affected Singhraj Adhana grabbed the Bronze in the men’s 10m Air Pistol Shooting with points of 216.8. On Friday, Harvinder Singh, who lives with a limb deficiency, won India’s first ever Archery medal, clinching Bronze.

In total India bagged 13 medals (Gold-2, Silver-6, Bronze -5) as at the time of publishing this Post.

Never mind the handicaps, the Paralympic Games set an example on the importance of keeping time. I am a stickler of time, always arriving well-ahead of an important event, or a meeting, or making my World Inthavaaram post every saturday morning, but many never bother to keep time…a few minutes is not all right. Malaysian shot putter Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli, along with two other competitors arrived three minutes late for the Shot Put event. And was allowed to compete as they might have a logical reason for being late, which was being examined by the Tournament Referee. Meanwhile, Muhammad Ziyad Zolkefli ‘putted damn well’, and went on to win the Gold Medal. But, by then the Referee came back, after studying the evidence, and concluded that ‘there was no justifiable reason for the athletes failure to show up to the event in time’. This resulted in Zolkefli being stripped of the medal and given to the person who won Silver. Rules are rules – they must be followed as the gold standard. Tardiness can be costly.

COVID-19 Vaccination

India is going strong: after jabbing more than 10 million arms last week, it repeated the feat this week. Who said India cannot do it? Media news company, CNN, said so: that India doing 600 million doses by August 2021 is an ‘incredibly ambitious undertaking’ with its ‘poor rural healthcare infrastructure and inadequate healthcare system that is already buckling under tremendous pressure from the coronavirus’. India did over 654 million does by 31 August 2021. Hope someone in CNN is reading…and listening. It’s time the world looks at India with eyes wide open. The ‘Snake Charmer only’ days are over – everything India does these days is charming.

Please Yourself

The Return of ABBA

During the Wonder Years of my school days, in the late 1960’s and 1970’s my English music voyage began with the Beatles, Bee Gees, Boney M, Osibisa…and yes, ABBA. Songs that still sing in the mind are: Mama Mia, Dancing Queen, Tragedy, Knowing Me Knowing You, Name of the Game, Take a Chance on Me, Fernando, Waterloo…

The Swedish Pop Music group – Benny Anderson, Agnetha Faltskog, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, and Bjorn Ulvaeus are reuniting for a new album called ‘Voyage’, their first in 40 years. The Album will be released on 5 November 2021 and includes a Christmas song. Two tracks from Voyage, ‘I Still Have Faith in You and ‘Don’t Shut Me Down’, are already out in the air. Their 1992 greatest hits collection, Abba Gold, is the longest running album in the United Kingdom’s album charts. In July, it became the first to surpass 1000 weeks in that position, and is currently sitting at No. 14.

They have also announced a new concert experience in London, also called Voyage, beginning in May 2022. ABBA says, “London is the best city to be in when it comes to entertainment, theatre, musicals…We have always felt that the Brits see us as their own”.

ABBA was formed in the 1970’s with the first letters of the names of the group’s members, and went on to become one of the most successful pop bands ever, reaching the height of fame in the mid 1970’s. Their song catalogue is also one of the most brilliant in all Pop Music.

Knowing ‘A’ and knowing ‘B’, the letters started looking and singing to each other and they became married couples with each of the A’s taking a B. I recall most of the promotions had the B’s reversed, facing the A’s. Sadly, both couples consciously uncoupled in 1981 and it was a tragedy that by 1983 the Group fizzled out – wonder which Winner took it all! They cut their final Album in 1981. Then in the year 2016 they briefly go together to perform one song to celebrate 50 years of songwriting partnership, ‘The Way Old Friends Do’.

I still have faith in ABBA and will certainly not shut them down…not yet!

Sharks

My respect for sharks grew teeth ever since I read the Elle McNicoll’s superb book, ‘A Kind of Spark’ where the central character Addie is awfully fond of sharks and swallows a ton of books on sharks-finds them more fascinating than ‘dull’ Dolphins. These are some interesting facts about sharks that I hunted down:

‘Sharks are older than trees and have been around for a very long time. They have existed for more than 450 million years, while the earliest tree lived about 350 million years ago. Sharks are also one of the few animals to have survived four of the five mass extinctions – they outlived the Dinosaurs. There are over 1000 species of sharks with new ones being discovered every year.

And you may be surprised, sharks do not have bones- they are made up of a flexible cartilage skeleton. Shark teeth are constantly replaced throughout their life – springing up in about 10 days or several months. Typically, a shark looses about 30,000 teeth during its lifetime, and grows them back!

More teeth to grow about sharks; stories of music and comebacks will be sung in the coming weeks. Listen and swim with the World Inthavaaram!

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-34

About: the world this week, 15 August to 21 August 2021, India’s Independence Day, the Taliban steam-rolling through Afghanistan, and a beautiful world heritage temple in South India.

Everywhere

India

At the top of this week, on 15th August, India celebrated its 75th Independence Day. It may be an off-beat thought, but I think it’s time India stops celebrating Independence Day: only keeps reminding us of Colonial Rule and the antics of the British in India, when they plundered its riches and cooked their own one-sided, make-believe stories. It’s meaningless beyond a point. Forget the unsavoury past, learn and carry forward the lessons it taught, turn the pages; open a new book.

For example, the story of the brave exploits of Kongu Chieftain, Dheeran Chinnamalai, who fought the British between the late 1700’s & early 1800’s, and was considered undefeatable in battle, was hidden by the British least he becomes a stirring example and inspires others. In the end Dheeran Chinnamalai was not defeated by the British, but by his own cook who gave him away, leading to his capture and hanging at Sankagiri Fort, near Salem, Tamilnadu. Indians were always their own best enemies.

Commemorate 15th August 1947 as a Remembrance Day to pay quiet homage to those who suffered, fought for freedom from foreign rule, sacrificed their lives; and those irreparably scalded by partition and the bloody exodus that followed.

Instead, divert energies to celebrating Republic Day with great gusto, with re-dedication to nation building, and improving the quality of life. Reimagine the ancient, rich culture of India, its plurality, traditions, and yesteryear greatness. And think about the reasons of how India allowed foreign invaders to invade the country and plunder at will, despite fantastic natural boundaries. If only India’s Kings, of the pre-invasion era, had stayed united! Resolve never to repeat the past mistakes of history.

Prime Minister Modi heard, and has declared 14th August as Partition Horrors Remembrance Day to take cognisance the scarifies of people due to the violence that followed partition of India into the two countries of India and Pakistan (which further broke in two-with Bangladesh becoming an independent country). A tragic period in history when millions were displaced, and the killing, looting, and rape still vivid in many memories.

Afghanistan: enter the Taliban

The Taliban just strolled over, almost cat-walked, and took control of Afghanistan in one of the coolest ever take-overs of a country. The Afghan President, Ashraf Ghani, fled; the Afghan Army-trained for nearly two decades by the United States-crumbled on the mere sound of the Taliban approaching; and there was a rush to exit the country through the Airport, fearing the worst of times. On the contrary, the Taliban marched steadily, paused, and just walked-in brandishing their guns, and flaunting their beards. Almost everyone had a deadly gun in their hand; some, menacing rocket launchers too.

The media decried the decision of the United States (US) to leave Afghanistan. Some even said hastily – after 20 years? I think it was the right thing to do, and I support the decision to pull-out US Troops from over two decades of fighting someone else’s war and training the Army and Police to defend the country. See the results! No country likes foreign occupation and control. The best time to leave was 19 years ago (after knocking out Bin Laden); the next best time is today.

Only the people of Afghanistan can decide what they want. If they want the Taliban, so be it; and by the looks of it, the Taliban could not have make such a naked comeback without the tacit, fully-clothed support of Afghans. If eventually they discover the Taliban to be unfit to govern – with their beards, guns, whips, and antediluvian beliefs and laws -they need to get together and find a way to throw them out.

Well, who are the Taliban, anyway?

The Taliban was founded in Kandahar, Southern Afghanistan, in 1994, by Mullah Mohammad Omar, of the Pashtun Tribe. He was once a Mujahideen (Islamic guerrillas who engage in jihad) Commander that helped push the occupying Soviets out of the country in 1989. Mohammad Omar formed the Taliban with about fifty followers, who rose up to challenge the instability, corruption, and crime that consumed Afghanistan during the post-Soviet-era civil war – they lived by a code.

The Pashtun constitute the largest ethnic group of Afghanistan and bore the exclusive name of ‘Afghan’, which came to represent Afghanistan.

The Taliban, or ‘students’ (in the Pashto language) are also linked to Northern Pakistan. The predominantly Pashtun movement-that the Taliban is- first appeared in Pakistan’s religious seminaries-mostly funded by Saudi Arabia-which preached a hardline form of Sunni Islam.

The core Taliban fighters are Afghan refugees mainly drawn from the ‘madrasas’ of Pakistan. These refugees had moved across the Border into Pakistan during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan. And Pakistan established religious schools and seminaries in these refugee camps to gain influence by indoctrinating the refugees. Over many years, these seminaries were converted into Arms and Bombs making factories, and terrorist training centres by the Pakistan’s Inter Services Intelligence (ISI). Typically a Mosque had a labyrinth of factories in its underground floors. These madrasas provided numerous cadres of Al Qaeda and fighters for the Afghan Taliban using enormous funds from the Middle East and Pakistan.

The promise made by the Taliban was to restore peace; provide a corruption-free government, and security; and strictly enforce their own austere version of Sharia, or Islamic law, once in power. Perhaps this become a ‘catch word’ and many Afghans fell for these early charms, after years of struggle against an outside force. The Taliban quickly subdued local warlords who controlled Southern Afghanistan and gradually swarmed all over the country. They climbed into the seat of power in 1996 by capturing Kabul and forming a Government with Mohammed Omar as the Emir and Head of the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan – as they called it.

Following the 9/11, 2001, terror attacks on the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York City, the US began hunting down the terrorists responsible and nailed Osma Bin Laden as the brain behind the unbelievable attack on America. They tracked Bin Laden to Afghanistan where he was in hiding, harboured by Mohammad Omar’s Taliban.

When the Taliban refused US demands to hand over Bin Laden, American forces invaded Afghanistan, in 2001, and quickly toppled Mullah Omar’s government. Mullah Omar and other Taliban leaders escaped the country and found sanctuary in neighbouring Pakistan from where they mounted an insurgent campaign to regain power in Afghanistan.

Mohammed Omar died in 2013 of tuberculosis, while in hiding, and his death was kept secret by the Taliban, for almost two years. Following his death, Mullah Mansoor, the deputy of Mohammad Omar, became the leader. And following his death, in a US drone strike in 2016, his deputy Mawlawi Hibatullah Akhundzada took over and is now the reigning supreme leader of the Taliban.

A new interim Afghan Government was formed after the defeat of the Taliban, in 2001, headed by a local chieftain, Hamid Karzai, until the county could put in place a democratic process to elect a President and a Parliament, to form a government. He went on to becoming an elected President for two terms and was then succeeded by President Ashraf Ghani who was into his second term when the Taliban breezed-in.

Meanwhile, the Taliban were re-building and became a consistent thorn in the flesh – with relentless killings and assassinations – throughout the terms off Hamid Karzai and Ashraf Ghani until the present ‘coming of second age’ and return to power. The Taliban had also opened a political office in Doha, United Arab Emirates, to enable talks and facilitate their return from the fringes to the mainstream.

In February 2020, the US and the Taliban signed a historic deal that laid out a 14 month timetable for America to withdraw all of its forces from Afghanistan. In the interim, talks between the Taliban and the Afghan Government meant to end the war gained little traction. By leaving Afghanistan, the US has kept its commitment, and not much is known about the ‘terms of endearment’ except that the Taliban will not attack US troops; that they will not harbour terrorist groups…and the kind.

What does the Taliban want? Their aim is simple, they want what they lost in 2001 to America. They want their Islamic Emirate to be back in power and their vision of Islamic law enforced. They don’t want a parliament. They don’t want electoral politics. They will have an Emir and a council of mullahs (a learned muslim of Islamic theology, practices, and law), and that’s the vision they see for themselves, guided by Islam.

The Taliban says, they will rule Afghanistan according to a strict interpretation of Islam’s legal system called Sharia law. What is Sharia?

Sharia literally means, ‘the clear, well-trodden path to water’. Sharia law is derived from both the Koran, Islam’s central holy text, and fatwas – the rulings of Islamic scholars. It acts as a code for living that all Muslims should adhere to, including prayers, fasting and donations to the poor. It aims to help Muslims understand how they should lead every aspect of their lives according to God’s wishes.

In simpler implementation terms, it means that if you get caught stealing, your hand could be cut off – as punishment, and if you commit adultery you may be stoned to death. If a woman wears nail polish, the tip of her finger may be cut-off. Women need to be fully covered when they venture out of their homes – allowed only with a male companion. Girls aged 10 years and over cannot go to schools and are practically slaves to men. And men have to grow and keep beards. Newspapers and Television are taboo…the list goes on. Archaic, medieval? This is just the beginning and has a lot to do with interpretation of Islamic Laws. And the Taliban have their own peculiar way of doing it.

Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head -and survived-by the Taliban, when she was 15 years old, for campaigning for girls’ education in Pakistan is a monumental symbol of the Taliban Effect. And, remember, this happened in Pakistan.

There is wild speculation on what would happen. Are the Taliban freedom fighters? Are they militants? Are they terrorists? They are definitely militant: we have read stores of their inhuman brutality, in the name of religion. Will Afghanistan become a hotbed for hot-heads and terrorists who want to impose a new world order- their order? The Taliban, for example, wants to see the whole world follow Islamic law. We have to wait, watch, and be prepared at the same time.

Like getting used to living with the coronavirus; with North Korea, with Burma; maybe we, rather the Afghans, should get used to living with the Taliban?

The story is not over. There is still one region, which has not given up as yet, which has not fallen into the hands of the Taliban: the Panjshir Valley of northern Afghanistan, near the Hindu Kush mountain range, 150 kilometres north of Kabul.

Panjshir means ‘five lions’ in Persian and local folklore says it refers to the five Pandava Brothers of the Mahabharatha Epic who are believed to have based themselves in the Valley and defended it. There is another legend which tells about five brothers who managed to contain the floodwaters in the valley by building a dam, for Mohamud of Ghazni. Is it the same five brothers? Let our imaginations run wild.

Local commander Ahmad Shah Massoud famously and successfully defended the Panjshir Valley from being taken during the Soviet-Afghan War from 1980 to 1985 and also defended it from being overrun by the Taliban during 1996 to 2001. The Panjshir Valley is considered a natural fortress and one of Afghanistan’s safest regions: it has never been conquered by any foreign force or the Taliban.

In this imbroglio, Amrullah Saleh, Afghanistan’s Vice President, has declared himself the care-taker President of Afghanistan. He hails from the Tajik-dominated Panjshir Valley, and is a member of the Northern Alliance which is opposed to the Taliban. He is currently lodged in the Panjshir Valley and along with Ahamad Massoud, the son of slain Northern Alliance leader Ahmad Shah Massoud, and Bismallah Khan Mohammadi, Afghanistan’s Defence Minister in the Ghani cabinet, is mobilising forces to counter the takeover of Afghanistan and offering the only known resistance to the Taliban.

You guessed it, India has leaned towards the Northern Alliance in the past being supportive of its fight against the Taliban. Watch this space.

Please Yourself

The Ramappa Temple, also known as the Kakatiya Rudreshwara Temple, located in Palampet Village, about 200km from Hyderabad, in the Mulugu District of India’s Telangana State recently made it to United Nations, Scientific and Cultural Organization’s (UNESCO) list of World Heritage Sites.

The 800 years old Temple is dedicated to Lord Siva and is known for its intricate sandstone and basalt sculptures of high artistic quality that have stood the test of time: they illustrate dance customs, postures, and Kakatiyan culture. The Temple has decorated beams and pillars of carved granite and dolerite with a distinctive pyramidal horizontally stepped tower made of lightweight porous bricks – called floating bricks – which reduce the weight of the roof structures making it bearable for the unique sand stone and sand box foundation on which it stands to this day.

The Temple sits on a six foot high star-shaped platform provided with a 10 feet wide corridor with walls, pillars, and ceilings adorned with elaborate carvings. There is a hall in front of the sanctum sanctorum with four polished black pillars, which are placed with mathematical precision.

The Temple was built in the year 1213 CE, by Recharla Rudradeva, a Military Commander of the Kakatiya Kings Dynasty. And named after the chief sculptor Ramappa, who completed the job is 14 years. There is also an inscription, which mentions the name of the Builder and the year. The Temple has survived wars, plunders, natural disasters including an earthquake. That sure is foundation worth standing on.

The hidden stories of India are marvellous, fascinating, and truly incredible. And there is still so much to discover.

More stories will be sculptured in the weeks ahead. Float with the World Inthavaaram: you are on a strong foundation.