At work today, I'm doing my usual thing, reading the newspaper over a nice lunch of veg pulav with raita and veg gravy (basically peas and potatoes in tomato curry sauce). And then all of a sudden, amidst the stories of various messes with slum rehabilitation schemes, special economic zones, Iraq, Iran, missing children, shame of the Indian cricket team, etc etc- this appears:
Dalit couple burnt alive
Sangareddy (AP)
A Dalit couple was on Thursday burnt alive after being tied to a tree here for allegedly practising black magic.
Pandla Saila, 70, and his wife Pochamma, 65, of Olli Timmaipally village were set ablaze by their relatives and some villagers after they accused the duo of practising sorcery. A few incidents, including the death of a buffalo of Pandla Rajaiah and ailment of a girl in their kinship, were attributed to their black magic. The couple was tied to the tree and beaten up before they were burnt alive, said DSP R B Naik, who visited the crime scene.
(Dalit, by the way, is another name for the "untouchable" caste, also known as "backwards castes." Gandhiji encouraged use of the word Dalit as it is more humanizing than calling people untouchable or backwards. Good ol' Gandhi.)
TII. This is India.
And it's also the new department store I went to yesterday with prices nearly as high as American malls, with sparkling new tile floors and frigid air conditioning. It's also the beggar boy who sleeps spooning a stray dog on the floor in a main train station downtown, directly downwind of the bathrooms. It's also the benchmark of the Indian economy passing $3 trillion (that's just play money, seriously. Trillions??). It's also celebrating the lifting of the mango export restrictions. (Go get some Alphonso mangos, people. They will change your life.) It's also an elephant with a swastika tattoo in its ear. It's also using the internet for free at a movie theatre after seeing An Inconvenient Truth on Wednesday night. It's also the filth caked on the skin of the children I see at the Mobile Creche centers on construction sites around the city. It's also the burn victims flailing their amputated limbs on the walkway to Haji Ali mosque. It's also a pure veg Italian restaurant that also serves nachos, quesadillas, and guacamole when avocado is not "closed."
It is 32 flavors, and then some.
Friday, May 4, 2007
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4 comments:
hey,
I didnt understand what the swastika tatoo was meant to signify ? FYI, in India it is a religious symbol (I guess you already know that) which was used thousands of years before Hitler was even born.
Apparently my blog is worth mention in a local blog filter meta-site: http://www.blogbharti.com/kuffir/india/32-flavors-and-then-some/.
So maybe the Bollywood thing isn't working out, but at least I can be a blog celebrity. Thanks to Akshay for sending me the link!
Gandhiji actually encouraged the use of the word harijan - God's Children. BR Ambedkar and others prefer the use of the term dalit, or the suppressed/oppressed, because they are not merely the children of God. A testament to how stupid, racist, and patronizing Great people can be. Joc, this is an issue of empowerment.
Big B- thanks for the info- I didn't know that. I certainly meant no disrespect with my misinformation. Who are you?
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