Stepping Stone

"It is a no-win for the state[read left front]. If its forces do not arrive, the state will cede..."

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 03:10:10 -0400

“

It is a no-win for the state[read left front]. If its forces do not arrive, the state will cede territory to Maoists. Or, there will be a bloody battle. Simple folk will die. Others will be made fearful, resentful, angry. And Maoists will leverage this negative energy

-Sudeep Chakravarti

”

- The siege of red fort- Hindustan Times

"Thus the Mughal empire collapsed not because of the dogmatic religious policy of Aurangzeb and the..."

Tue, 23 Jun 2009 02:24:18 -0400

“Thus the Mughal empire collapsed not because of the dogmatic religious policy of Aurangzeb and the devastating Hindu reaction to it, as Jadunath Sarkar had taught us, nor owing to the rebellion of the impoverished peasantry against the ever-exploitative state, as Irfan Habib had so eloquently argued in 1963. It collapsed when the mansabdars and zamindars, integrated within the empire, mobilised resources thus obtained and sought to carve out their own independent regimes, much as deputy CEOs of corporate organisations set up their own businesses today.
— Harbans Mukhia”

- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1180333.cms

"In many parts of the state, even in small restaurants, there is a ‘two-tumbler’ system, one for..."

Fri, 24 Apr 2009 01:24:51 -0400

““In many parts of the state, even in small restaurants, there is a ‘two-tumbler’ system, one for Dalits and the other for non-Dalits. Even if I go in jeans and an expensive shirt, I will be denied a steel plate and made to eat from paper if they find out I’m a Dalit. It has happened to me.”
-Prof Yendluri Sudhaka, renowned Dalit poet and professor in Telugu University in Rajahmundry”

- Caste and politics in Andhra: why these elections matter

"The villages did not exist “from times immemorial”. The advance of plough-using agrarian village..."

Sat, 18 Apr 2009 09:15:55 -0400

“The villages did not exist “from times immemorial”. The advance of plough-using agrarian village economy over tribal India is a great historical achievement by itself
—DD Kosambhi”

- D.D. Kosambi: Kosambi, Marxism and Indian History

"what had been his greatest difficulty since Independence. Nehru replied: “Creating a just State by..."

Wed, 15 Apr 2009 01:35:00 -0400

“what had been his greatest difficulty since Independence. Nehru replied: “Creating a just State by just means.” Then he added, “Perhaps, too, creating a secular State in a religious country.”
-Jawahar Lal Nehru”

- Tehelka - India’s Independent Weekly News Magazine

"The subjugation of women. As women were once used as “trophies of war” by barbarians, in..."

Mon, 23 Mar 2009 08:10:08 -0400

“The subjugation of women. As women were once used as “trophies of war” by barbarians, in modern times, the housewife also served as a trophy to show off a man’s success. By not allowing their wives to take outside professions, a man could show off her conspicuous leisure as proof of his status and spend money on his wife through conspicuous consumption — Veblen”

- The Theory of the Leisure Class - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

abhishekmittal: It is a risk…but…

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 10:07:22 -0500

abhishekmittal:

It is a risk…but…

"To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable..."

Tue, 03 Mar 2009 05:36:53 -0500

“To love. To be loved. To never forget your own insignificance. To never get used to the unspeakable violence and the vulgar disparity of life around you. To seek joy in the saddest places. To pursue beauty to its lair. To never simplify what is complicated or complicate what is simple. To respect strength, never power. Above all, to watch. To try and understand. To never look away. And never, never, to forget.
—Arundhati Roy”

- We. A documentary featuring the words of Arundhati Roy

"All existential questions, behind your shadow, are a farce, And the universe is your small notebook,..."

Thu, 26 Feb 2009 02:02:59 -0500

“All existential questions, behind your shadow, are a farce, And the universe is your small notebook, and you are its creator. - Mahmud Darwish”

- Obama Celebrations and Balls « Uddari Weblog

Ode to the Nice Guys

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 03:21:18 -0500

abhin4v:

Ode to the Nice Guys http://tinyurl.com/6hnnf

This is really nice :)

"Looking good or being rich is nice. Alas, it is a trap. Money, recognition, power… all these things..."

Mon, 23 Feb 2009 02:57:47 -0500

“Looking good or being rich is nice. Alas, it is a trap. Money, recognition, power… all these things are traps. Avoid them. I am serious. If you can learn to avoid power and recognition… if you can learn to lay low and yet be smart and ambitious, you’ll have incredible freedom - Daniel Lamire”

- The Windmills of Academia

"the absolute best way to judge a society objectively is to look at the relative condition of the..."

Tue, 17 Feb 2009 06:31:14 -0500

“the absolute best way to judge a society objectively is to look at the relative condition of the women in that society. The less free, the less educated, the less empowered they are, the more backward that society inevitably is —Natty Adams”

- Civilization and its Discothèques: Feminism’s Greatest Perpetual War Front: Let’s not let the line down.

"It never really occurred to me to believe in God - and I had nothing to rebel against, my parents..."

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 05:44:21 -0500

“It never really occurred to me to believe in God - and I had nothing to rebel against, my parents told me nothing whatsoever. But I do remember looking at my headmaster delivering a sermon, a classicist, extremely clever … and thinking, he can’t really believe all that, can he? How incredible! - David Attenbrough”

- Attenborough reveals creationist hate mail for not crediting God | World news | The Guardian

"Maybe India’s young, instead of trying to be like characters from Sex In The City, should try to..."

Wed, 11 Feb 2009 01:54:03 -0500

“Maybe India’s young, instead of trying to be like characters from Sex In The City, should try to emulate Sarojini Naidu and Jawaharlal Nehru. While the ghastly cultural hoodlums must be dealt with sternly by the law, the lifestyle norms we choose, especially in public, must be attuned to our surroundings. If we persist in trying to create a mindlessly imitative mythical Las Vegas, we will not be able to defeat the Sri Rama Sene, however many pink panties we may throw at them. — Sagarika Ghosh”

- What lies beneath- Hindustan Times

"It is disobedience that opens the doors of the imagination towards uninhibited and absolute freedom...."

Tue, 10 Feb 2009 00:36:56 -0500

“It is disobedience that opens the doors of the imagination towards uninhibited and absolute freedom. It is disobedience that leads to subversion which is literature’s first duty. A man who repudiates his own religion and commits this repudiation to writing — that is, brings to bear on his religion the full weight of the history of cultural dissent, without being struck down immediately by lightning — sets a dangerous precedent for others to follow—- Soumitra Das”

- Midnight’s stepchildren- Hindustan Times

"Every time I was writing ‘Bombay’ in my novel… it was resistance, and it was celebration. You can..."

Mon, 09 Feb 2009 03:27:26 -0500

““Every time I was writing ‘Bombay’ in my novel… it was resistance, and it was celebration. You can change the name of my city. And I will change it right back. Watch me, sunshine.””

- By [Sidharth Dhanwant Sanghvi]

A person like us- Hindustan Times

teethmaestro: Palestines fault? (via WiZaNe)

Sat, 07 Feb 2009 02:25:18 -0500

teethmaestro:

Palestines fault? (via WiZaNe)

Python: programming the way Guido indented it

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 07:05:30 -0500

abhin4v:

Python: programming the way Guido indented it. seen on a google tshirt back yesterday.

"Night is the darkest when the dawn is near !"

Tue, 13 Jan 2009 06:58:03 -0500

“Night is the darkest when the dawn is near !”

- unknown, courtesy Piyush (http://silicontryst.wordpress.com/)

"He that will not reason is a bigot. He that cannot reason is a fool. He that dare not reason is a..."

Sat, 27 Dec 2008 05:59:13 -0500

“He that will not reason is a bigot. He that cannot reason is a fool. He that dare not reason is a slave - H.Drummond”

- Facebook | Krishnan Subramanian