Reaching There

Himalayan Blunder by John Parashuram Dalvi History repeats itself, the true embodiment of this concept revealed itself during the May of 2020. On May 5 - 6, v iolent clash between Indian and Chinese patrols on the northern bank of Ladakh’s Pangong Tso lake. Soldiers exchange blows, throw stones at each other and Chinese troops attack Indian soldiers with nail-studded clubs. A timeline of series of events until end of June are available on Hindustan Times here . As a nation we need to retrospect and look at the series of events that culminated in the Indo-China war of 1962. A lot of blame has been placed on then Prime Minister of India, Jawaher Lal Nehru, and his Defence Minister, V. K. Krishna Menon. Political historians will debate for decades whether the above duo insulted and ignored then Army Chief, General KS Thimayya. Brigadier John Parashuram Dalvi's fair account in his book, Himalayan Blunder: The Curtain Raiser of Sino-Indian War of 1962 , gives a fair and factual acc...

Hindu Philosophy is unique in its way that it includes Samkhya (rationalism and atheism), Yoga (focusing on mental as well as physical study) and Nyāya (logic/rules) as part of its six philosophies. While world debates on monotheism, atheism, iconoclasm, superiority, equality, proselytization and other such subject which are bound to create controversy and divisiveness, Hinduism is comfortable in the diversity of thoughts from ancient time and is still evolving. As author, Prafull Goradia in his book Hindu Masjids , says 'it is well known that the conceptual purpose of every Hindu is self actualisation". Some call it moksha , mukti , nirvana or bhagwat prapti . Although the goal sounds a simple enough endeavour yet for a logical mind there needs to be a rationale that helps you to identify this as a goal one needs to focus & strive for. I think Hinduism is the only religion (or way of life ) which believes in self-critique, debates, logical analysis and takes considerable...

The Danger of Amateur History  Although I am starting this post with Indian actor Saif Ali Khan's interview where he said "the concept of India didn't exist before the British. I don't intend to berate the actor, he is a successful actor but he is no expert in the field of history. Any celebrity blurting out some silly words is not a line in stone, especially in the age of social media where emotions can be riled up very easily and everyone has the right to free speech (including humble me).  A brief geographical history of India An article  in an online magazine quotes Hindu scriptures that describe the concept of India in great detail with corresponding scriptures as proof. We don't need to go into the far depths of our historic past to understand the concept of India. This existed even when India was an amalgamation of over 500 princely states and provinces of British India.  A brief political history of India When the British made a hurried decision to move the...

I had a surprisingly smooth time renewing my Indian passport which was last issued in Hyderabad, India in 2010. One has to use Cox & Kings, who are the official partners of Indian embassy in US.  I had to begin with the Application of Indian Passport online on Cox & Kings website where you start with the services required. In my case I chose Applying for 'Reissue', Type of Application as 'Tatkal' (you can chose normal depending upon urgency, as I needed within a month I chose 'Tatkal' and actual received within 15 days) and Type of Passport Booklet i.e. 30 or 60 pages.  I used my Indian address even though I reside in US, since my Aadhaar Card already had my verified Indian address I wanted to keep the address on passport as my Indian address. BTW, I also shared my US driver's license as one of the address proof for a US address. I also filled Affidavit for Change in Appearance & Signature, Annexure 'E', Authority Letter for Passport Coll...

When one thinks about World War One one probably thinks about Britain, Germany and United State of America. Or the  assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in 1914. And during this war that lasted till 1918,  Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers). There is a "not so tiny" detail missing here - the role of India in World War One . It is a story almost entirely missing from the public domain, including the memory of Indians, most of whom likely never even think about it.  As a youngster I was hooked to the history of world wars ever since I saw Steven Spielberg's movie 'Saving Private Ryan' which. As I watched and read more about the world wars I didn't found any reference of India. I haven't found any book that talks about India and World War One in great depth, perhaps just a parting reference h...

The days of 'Chacha' Nehru are long gone. He is one of the tall and prominent figure of Indian history which impacted (and still impacts) the destiny of over a billion Indians. His beliefs and decisions changed the course of history that impacts the modern political discourse to this day. He will always be scrutinized by ifs and buts not only by political parties but equally so by the common masses.  In an interview with Republic TV , Home Minister Shri Amit Shah, said, “I don't have a problem with Nehru, I have a problem with what Nehru did.” This is not a critique of Nehru as a human being either. Nehru's ideas and actions should be dissected and debated. His ideas formed the vision of India after partition of India & Pakistan in 1947. His visionary decisions still have a ripple effect in form of IIT, IIM, NID, ISRO that have been pillars of modern India as well as his "other" decisions on Kashmir in 1947, Balochistan in 1947 , with China in 1962 , conti...

As a kid I remember reading about Civil Disobedience Movement.   It sounded like a foreign but interesting topic which I never really fully understood.  And to be honest, history as a subject in the school curriculum was just a series of statements taught without any context.  I don't even remember my history class or my history teacher!   I sailed through the history of India without realizing the struggle, and sacrifice generations before me went through to free India from the chains of colonialism that leeched India for over three hundred years.  Civil Disobedience Movement galvanized the entire nation, and brought the masses from cities to villages, farmers to barristers, and turned scattered disobedience into a national movement. But, what did Civil Disobedience really entailed?   It's a question I grappled recently when I started reading ' The Man Who Saved India - Sardar Patel - And His Idea of India ' by Indic author Hindol Sengupta....