India's moral bankruptcy

As a popular saying goes:”When good people look away, bad things happen”. It's true of what happens in India. In the 1950's post-independence euphoria, some people in the world thought India had a moral high ground and that India stood for certain ideals, given the way India won it's independence. Now it's clear that India is morally bankrupt. Indians don't care about standards of any sort. The path of least resistance seems to be the Indian way. This is readily apparent to anyone who follows news from India.

Are Indians more spiritually inclined?

I hate the word “spiritual”. It's a pet peeve of mine. It describes the natural human need to try and explain to themselves who they are. It expresses the need for transcendence over the “human condition”, which is another phrase I hate but still use. People search for philosophies that explain what life is about and explain why they are here. This is clearly not a futile endeavor. But, I hate what it has come to represent. Increasingly, people say they are spiritual instead of just saying they are religious. Otherwise and more commonly people try to occupy the space between religions by not admitting to themselves that they are just agnostic or atheist. But, common to all of these people and most nauseatingly so, people think it makes them special that they are spiritual ,leading to spiritual snobbery. I am spiritual and so a higher being and you are not, seems to be the attitude. To which my first thought is. Please go do something rude to yourself. Of course, since I am a “nice” person I would not say that. Being spiritual is like finding an invisible friend. It gives you a warm and fuzzy feeling that makes you think you found a special something that nobody else has. 

Financial Terrorism: Aren't the Swiss culpable?

A good part of the world regards Pakistan a terrorist state. The rationale for this is that the Pakistani ISI supports the Taliban and various other terrorist organizations who perpetrate terrorism in Pakistan and in neighbouring countries like India and Afghanistan. Apart from this they have links with and have harboured other global jihadis. So, they are a terrorist state. Now, one of the ideas of M.K. Gandhi that I agree with is that hunger is the worst form of violence. So, wouldn't supporting corruption that leads to hunger and starvation qualify as terrorism too?

 

Indian Independence: Was non-violence worth it?

A look back at whether India's non-violent freedom struggle was effective for ordinary Indians.

 

In retrospect was India's non-violent freedom struggle good or bad? Many decades have passed since India won it's independence from Britain. Since then the Indian independence movement has been an inspiration for some non-violent freedom and civil rights movements around the world. Politicians in India have milked the associated imagery to define vote banks. Foreign dignitaries who visit India praise Gandhi and India visit Gandhi's Samadhi, or memorial, in Delhi. But, has it been good for India in the long run? It's time to take a look at this story from a layman's point of view instead of a historian's or a self serving politician's point of view.