Someone on my GChat list had an intriguing link included in their status message. I saw “inauguration”, and since that historic event is still very much on my mind, I clicked it. I was led to the Boston Globe’s website, to a feature called “The Big Picture: News Stories in Photographs“.
Yesterday was a historic day. On January 20th, 2009, Barack H. Obama was sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America – the first African-American ever to hold the office of U.S. Commander-in-Chief. The event was witnessed by well over one million attendees in chilly Washington D.C., and by many millions more through coverage on television and the Internet. Collected here are photographs of the event, the participants, and some of the witnesses around the world. (48 photos total)
Picture number 38 caught my attention, setting my browndar off before I could even read the caption underneath it (which I’ve quoted, well, underneath it):
Pakistani Christian children hold portraits of U.S. President-elect Barack Obama during a prayers ceremony for global peace in Islamabad, Pakistan on Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2009. (AP Photo) [Globe]
At first glance, I didn’t notice the word “Christian”. I just saw “Pakistani children”. I thought I’d just post the picture plus a quick blurb about where I found it, and isn’t it sweet, etc. But for obvious reasons, I started surfing around, and a rambling post was born.Over the past five years, I’ve made numerous references to my family’s faith and Christianity as it exists in Kerala, but Christianity exists in every South Asian country (admittedly in miniscule numbers, in some of those nations). The first non-Indian brown Christian I ever met was my ruthless Montessori pre-school teacher in San Francisco. She was Sri Lankan and my parents strongly encouraged her to get old-school naddan on me, if I were naughty enough. That meant that if some little white kid did something wrong, they were gently scolded. If I did something wrong, I got hissed at and pinched. My parents were overjoyed that they were really getting their money’s worth.
It would be 14 years until I met another Desi who was Christian; at Davis I discovered that someone wasn’t just using an anglicized nickname. “Wait, that guy’s actually named ____??”
“Yeah. He’s Christian.”
me: Baroo?
“Not like you. He said he’s Pakistani.”
me: wow.
“Yeah. Now there are two of you…and three hundred of us!”
I still don’t know all that much beyond a vague, depressing sense that it’s rather dangerous to be a Christian (or a Hindu) in Pakistan, due to the brilliantly just Blasphemy laws, which require nothing more than the insinuation of disrespect towards Islam, to ruin someone’s life:
Ten years ago today, Bishop John Joseph, Catholic bishop of Faisalabad in Pakistan, shot himself dead on the steps of the Sahiwal district court in protest at the abuse of the country’s blasphemy laws. Ten years on, little has changed in Pakistan.
The blasphemy laws impact everyone, regardless of religion – and the tragedy is that almost every case is completely fabricated. When the laws were first introduced, they were used primarily as a tool by extremists to target religious minorities – Christians, Hindus and others. These days, however, Muslims have got wise to the potential for using the blasphemy law against each other to settle personal scores.
The reason is simple. The blasphemy law requires no evidence other than an accusation made by one person against another.
There is no proof of intent, and an inadequate definition of blasphemy. When it comes to court the accuser does not even have to substantiate the charge. If the judge asks what the accused actually said, the accuser can refuse to elaborate, on the basis that by repeating the alleged statement they themselves would be blaspheming. [Guardian]
See? Brilliant!
This made me wonder about the Christians in Pakistan; we all know that Sikhs and Hindus had been there before partition, but I’d never heard much about the history of Christianity in that country. I have a deplorably lazy habit of assuming that the answers to such questions tend to involve colonizers and missionary types. Let’s see if I get lucky:
The exact introduction of Christianity to the South Asia is a debatable topic, with the Syrian Christian community in Kerala, South India being recorded as the earliest. Missionaries accompanied colonizing forces from Portugal, France and Great Britain, but in north western Ancient India, today’s Pakistan, Christianity was mainly brought by the British rulers of India in the later 18th and 19th century. This is evidenced in cities established by the British, such as the port city of Karachi, where the majestic St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Pakistan’s largest church stands, and the churches in the city of Rawalpindi, where the British established a major military cantonment. [wiki]
Had no idea about any of this:
Christians in Punjab and Sindh had been quite active post 1945 in their support for Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s Muslim League. Even before the final phase of the movement, leading Indian Christians like Pothan Joseph had rendered valuable services as journalists and propagandists of the Muslim League. Jinnah had repeatedly promised all citizens of Pakistan complete equality of citizenship, but this promise was not kept by his successors….In the mass population exchanges that occurred between Pakistan and India upon independence due to conflict between Muslims and followers of Indian religions, most Hindus and nearly all Sikhs fled the country, but the Christians remained. [wiki]
I have a million reasons for wishing my Father were still alive, but the one which is relevant to this post has to do with Jinnah, specifically the declamatory 15-minute rant he used to launch in to upon hearing his name. When I was younger I thought it was odd that my Dad, who was born in 1937, was so much older than everyone else’s parents. Now I wish I had written it all down.
I wanted to find out more about the ceremony for global peace in Islamabad at which that picture was taken, but all I found were a few more photographs of the event and no news story. Oh, well. It’s poignant how the inauguration of our latest President has affected not just this nation, but the world. South Asians for Obama, indeed. 🙂
Let’s all get something clear. All the good stuff in India – Hindu values. All the bad stuff – westerners, macaulayite apologists, invaders. Can I make this any simpler for you tourists?
300 · Kiran P said
Yes sir!
1.) I would not feel it good to comment on a seperatist movement that I have not studied extensively. I have not studied the ‘Nagalim for Christ’ movement so it would not be fair for me to comment on the movement at this time. 2.) Killing people is wrong. It’s despicable. But it is not an excuse to burn, torture and threaten any people living in the area. Trying to find the people who commited the act is one thing, becoming a mob riot and hurting anyone in the wrong place at the wrong time is another thing entirely. Unfortunately, the second happens far too often (by fundamentalist Hindus, Muslims and Christians (I guess?) against all the other religious groups as well) all the time. This riot-raaj really breeds more violence, hatred, and pain for everyone involved than create any sense of justice for those originally killed/harmed/etc. 3.) I think I already stated my opinion on conversion. I don’t really need to consult Gandhiji on that. (It is, in case you forgot, if someone, freely and openly, chooses to convert, this is their own personal right.) 4.) Bush is gone. I didn’t vote for him. I have always been active in the U.S. towards pressuring the government to be more ethical and moral than it has been. It has done many unethical things, and I do not blindly support my nation just because I was born here. I examine it will a critical eye and fight for equal rights for citizens as well as people worldwide. I do not support the CIA. or how it attempts to undermine peoples rights and communities for American agendas. 5.) See the above.
You have convniently ignored my answer. True sikhs know what happened.
To be frank no else but Hindu civilization as a group has suffered the largest genocide and pogroms in history of mankind. Probably the native American elimination comes next. I am not sure how many Aztecs, mayans, incas were slaughtered. Jewish holocaust was smaller. Continue with your factually incorrect rants. If something meaningful comes up I will try to answer.
306 · Kiran P said
It’s PAYBACK TIME, mofos!
“My name is Indraneel Maitreya. Your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather might have killed or otherwise known somebody who might have caused harm to my great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great grandfather. Prepare… to die!”
Isn’t that the excuse and even the premise for conversions, like nun teresa made a businss out of poverty!
That fact has not changed after conversion. So why cheat dalits with false promises?
302 · Kiran P said
Yeah right, blame the british for hindu casteism, untouchability, misogyny etc. Who do you think you can fool with such stupid lies?
These societal evils were around long before the europeans had ever even heard of India. Buddha condemned casteism and brahminism 2500 years ago, for example.
309 · Dhoni said
Buddha was the original tourist. Did you know he came to India from Nepal? Without even a visa?
310 · stand up said
hehe. I knew something smelling fishy about that man…
So you need to study. Agreed.
Instigated by missionaries. The converted and non-converted tribals were at each others throats. Take the missionaries out and this wouldn’t have been an issue in the first place. And for ‘Christians’ it’s only a guess! For the record they assasinated a Hindu saint doing social upliftment. My god! how this is all warped in your statement and disappeared altogether. I still agree with you with very important corrections!
Agreed. You still need to refer Gandhi, what he says is beyond that regarding missionaries and their mischiefs.
Good.
keeping silent is approval. You need to react positively. Are you going to work in the US to dissuade policymakers about 4 and 5 ? Of course issue 1 is self study. Talk to stephen Knapp. Thanks.
298 · LinZi said
Do you think modernizing a country as vast and diverse as India is going to be quick or easy? A lot of people talk as if reform movements are just a matter of snapping your fingers and having everything magically fall into place. Why don’t you try building schools there with modern texts and curricula? You can start by arguing with 1,001 special interest groups who will criticize your curriculum for being anti-secular, so I guess you have to eliminate the kinds of religious studies that could actually promote interfaith dialogue in the first place because if kids learn Sanskrit they might actually respect Hindu culture. We can’t have that.
Then you have to worry about anti-Christian or anti-Islam complaints. So do you strike stuff like evolution from the curriculum or not? Then complaints that it’s anti-Hindu because your history curriculum is too kind towards guys like Aurunguzeb. But crap! If you tell the truth about Aurunguzeb then suddenly it’s anti-Islam! I guess we can just pretend nothing bad happened during Mugal rule in India. We’ll just fast-forward from Akbar’s death to British rule!
Now that you have a swiss-cheesed curriculum, you can start instituting a plan to build schools. But wait! You don’t have the money to build schools everywhere. So you’re going to have to allocate where the schools go based on assessments of need. So now you have to fight with 1,001 politicians and special interests who all think their neighborhood or community is more entitled than everyone else’s. Woe unto you if you don’t put it in a Dalit area because that’s anti-dalit. But if you put it there instead of the Christian area next door then you’re automatically being anti-Christian. Or would you rather be anti-Muslim? Decisions decisions.
So you’ve hammered out a compromise and decided where you want to put your schools? Great. Now let’s start disbursing funds and hiring teachers. Oh wait! Because of linguistic and religious issues we can’t find qualified teachers to staff all these schools that don’t draw the ire of various special interests. To make matters worse, the unionized teachers already there won’t let you impose the kind of oversight and merit-based norms that would actually guarantee that they’re going to work and teaching once they’ve been hired. We can’t even fire them for not showing up to work because the Marxists will be down our throats about how we’re oppressing the lower classes. And not only that, the money we allocate to these schools is leaking away at every point in the chain. It’s so bad that in places like Bihar almost 98% of all allocated funds for rural health-clinics never actually get there! Education money is slightly better, but not enough to matter. So how are we going to stem the corruption and inefficiency that makes all this money disappear? Especially since the bureaucracy that is responsible for this rank corruption is too entrenched and too powerfully unionized for the country’s fragmented and unorganized government to effectively rein it in?
And then, once you manage all that you then have to figure out some way to actually persuade the parents to enroll their kids in those schools to begin with.
Accuse me of being a racist or a bigot or whatever else suits you, but don’t you dare try to accuse me of not caring about or not paying attention to the plight of India’s poor. I work in this field. I live and breathe this stuff. And people like you trying to say that just because I’m Hindu and refuse to apologize for it then I must automatically be some heartless monster is beyond insulting. It’s not like people want the country’s backwaters to be poor and uneducated. People all over India of all stripes are working as hard as they can to fix these problems. What gets in their way, however, are narrowly defined interests that are too busy fighting over where they get to sit to bother making any food.
When did I whine? You are aware that words often have different definitions depending on the context in which they are used right?
Ah you can’t run from this one Prema old chap. You just previously mentioned the “numerous indian saints and sages who did not found new religions” but as soon as it becomes inconvenient for your racist diatribe you decide to ignore people like Ramakrishna, Vivekananda, or the Karves. You also seem to enjoy conveniently ignoring all the misogyny and bigotry that was inherent to every religious group throughout history when they were at a comparable level of economic development to the most backwards parts of India. But don’t let facts get in the way of your racism.
Of course one should ask, how fast do you think someone would get banned around here if they unleashed half the vitriol you throw at Hindus towards Muslims or Christians? See how far Hindus are willing to bend over backwards to tolerate your shenanigans?
306 · Kiran P said
You need to go to some sikh forums to see what they think of your kind.
http://www.panthic.org/news/129/ARTICLE/4495/2008-11-07.html
“Sikhs still vividly remember the November 1984 State-supervised nation-wide pogrom in which nearly 10, 000 innocent Sikh men, women and children were put to death by Hindu mobs lead by ruling Congress party leaders
As no one has been found guilty for that crime against humanity, despite passage of a quarter century, the Diaspora Sikhs are lobbying for a boycott of the October 2010 Commonwealth games in Delhi, a major venue of the November 1984 bloody Sikh massacres
Washington, D.C. Wednesday, November 05, 2008: If India’s morally repugnant rulers think that the Sikhs, after a short passage of only twenty four years, have forgotten that thousands of innocent Sikh men, women and children were murdered mercilessly in India, by armed Hindu mobs, in a state-supervised nationwide pogrom, (Oct. 31 to November 3, 1984) launched with a ‘wink and a nod’ by the then Indian Prime minister (Rajiv Gandhi) then, they have another thing coming.”
312 · Kiran P said
Seriously, you seem really really sad about Hindus getting killed. And of course it is wrong. But I don’t hear you crying for all the unjustly murdered Christians, Muslims, Sikhs, or Jews in India. And please, please, educate me on all the genocide and pogroms the Hindus have been subject to? How are they at the TOP of the list worldwide? Please fill me in!
313 · NV said
No, but I don’t think sticking your head in the stand, or idealizing a situation will help. You need to study and understand the issues, and work towards a goal. Communalism and reactionary attitudes will only worsen the situation, not help.
315 · LinZi said
Were they Hindu Christians, Hindu Muslims, Hindu Sikhs and Hindu Jews? Seriously, I love this construct. All my friends will be so happy to hear I got them the gift of a shiny new religion this new year. Change has come to India!
Highlighted for your clarity. I still condemn those Hindus. I have done it before and I will do it again. The less said about Congress party the better!
Hindu mobs lead by ruling Congress party leaders led by christian Jagdish Tytler and Sajjan Kumar whould have clarified it better.
318 · Kiran P said
Linzi, don’t you understand. Kiran’s staunch opposition to the evils of pornography, same sex experiments, spouse swapping and blind dating in America also extend to the prospect of seeing Hindus engaged in congress.
319 · Kiran P said
I love this. It’s a political problem, except that “christian” has to be highlighted. I wonder if these are Hindu Christians. And wonder what strain of Macaulayite HKL Bhagat was…
316 · LinZi said
Oh please spare me this contrived bullshit. My patience is at an end. I just gave you a 1,000 word essay about all the bullshit that gets in the way of actually getting anything done and you reply by telling me I haven’t studied the issue thoroughly enough or have my head in the sand or have idealized the situation? God damn are you ever stuck in your way of thinking. You’ve caricatured everyone who disagrees with you to the point where you can’t even reply to what I’m saying without retreating to pre-digested talking points and implying I’m some kind of reactionary communalist radical.
Fine. If you can’t dispute the message shoot the messenger. Go ahead and assassinate the character of everyone who is actually gives a shit about India if it suits you.
251 · LinZi said
I have no interest in fueling an argument, but I have heard my Syrian Christian aunt, who isn’t the most open-minded person in the world, saying that Hinduism (in it’s broadest definition) is part of our heritage and that people who reject that are fools and this was said in completely Christian company. People might not voice it, but I’m sure many Muslims and Christians feel that there is ideally a “desi way” of being religious. A not desi (or Indic, if you will) way of being religious would be thinking like the evangelicals, Wahhabis, or those who share the RSS mentality.
What makes you think this is not happening? Just because the western funded english media does not report it very often? Or is it because it does not report fairly regarding indegenous efforts compared to “cloak of charity” christian missionary organizations? Do you read regional newspapers?
Or do you think it’s because we believe in nishkaama karma and we dont need to advertise the good work what we do compare to missionaries who are seeking souls in return?
322 · NV said
No, no, just reactionary and communalist. Unfortunately, that’s not all that radical these days.
What? You were called a Macaulayite missionary brainwashed by westerners???
check with dhoni, he wanted to paint anti-sikh riots as hindu-muslim riots. So I put in details. huh!
After assasination of Indira Gandhi, Rajiv said – “when big banyan tree falls earth shakes” justifying the riots that was instigated later by Congress leaders. Painting this as Hindu-Sikh riots is intellectually dishonest.
Dhoni said
Dhoni/Vyasa/Prema/Chairman Meaow/Whatever your name is…. Let’s not get into this finger pointing game. If I start listing, you will miss all your patriotic re-education classes reading it.
Ever heard of Pakistan, Bangladesh, China, Saudi Arabia, Sudan etc etc etc? you need to seriously get some perspective. Or to stop eating all that opium.
Also what on earth is this Brahminism that you keep whining about? is it related to Zionism, as postulated by Zaid Hamid? And why stop at misogyny, child abuse, brutality, callousness, superstition, casteism. I hear that in their secret Rat temples the dirty hindus of Bharat also practice sodomy, burking, garroting, cannibalism, colonic irigation and foot fetish. Why stop at bombing their temples, parliament, hotels, markets and science centres?. I say nuke the buggers. The relieved minorities will thank you for eternity.
322 · NV said
Hey man, it’s hard to keep track of everything everyone said said last night.. it’s been a very loooong debate.. kya karu? You and I agree on more points than I do with Kiran, and I don’t discount everything you are saying. I may not agree with you on quite a bit, but I don’t disagree with you on any of the things you say about difficulties in creating a curriculum, for example. I understand all those issues, and I know it’s difficult. The “sticking the head in the sand” part is more addressed at types like Kiran, who only see, (as someone before said) the other as the monster,but doesn’t fairly examine how his own behavior and beliefs could affect the situation.
I have no interest in fueling an argument, but I have heard my Syrian Christian aunt, who isn’t the most open-minded person in the world, saying that Hinduism (in it’s broadest definition) is part of our heritage and that people who reject that are fools and this was said in completely Christian company. People might not voice it, but I’m sure many Muslims and Christians feel that there is ideally a “desi way” of being religious. A not desi (or Indic, if you will) way of being religious would be thinking like the evangelicals, Wahhabis, or those who share the RSS mentality.
Interesting Lea; I remember reading in Brick Lane, a story about Bangladeshi immigrants in UK, that the character of the father (who was a strange man) say that in the beginning all Bangladeshis were all Hindu, and they shouldn’t forget that.
that is why a tourist is incapable of understanding Indian problems.
324 · Kiran P said
I read the Hindi media too, thanks
329 · PS said
Akhand Bharat, FTW!
He has been whining on that since y’day. I am not falling for it. Typical missionary tactic of bring nonsense and justifying conversion.
330 · Kiran P said
If by “Indian problems”, you mean the views of people like yourself, I congratulate you on your self-awareness.
322 · NV said
Who are you kidding? Why did you or your parents run away from India if you are so deeply attached to it?
Psuedo-nationalists like you, wallowing in denial, delusion and dishonesty, blaming whites for every social and economic problem in India, are the real enemies of India. People who dont give a rats ass about the inhumane conditions in India are the ones who dont give a shit about India.
330 · Kiran P said
A Hindi speaking, Hindu Marrying, Bihar/Delhi/Jaipur living-in dirty ignorant tourist! That’s what I am! I just realised, How can I know ANYTHING about India, my skin is the wrong color… oops… I must be lost.
anything concrete other than 1 liners while standing up!
They have wrong color? But talk to Francois Gautier and you will know. Or Koenrald Elst. to get a better picture. they have gotten it right, how come not you? why? It takes time atleast a few years with western/missionary propoganda off.
Put on some sun-screen. You’ll be fine.
337 · Kiran P said
I’m actually pretty sold on your anti (Bush-western inspired non-Hindu) Christian program. Is there any way I can fund something that will expand awareness of this important social problem among Indians in America so they can donate more to this fight? I am definitely going to use your comments to publicize this important aspect of right-wing Hinduism to all my friends here. Too many people fixate on Gujarat to the detriment of understanding the broad bold compassionate conservative vision of the Sangh.
339 · NV said
And stay Hindu, Linzi!
No, I think with Obama things might get better. That’s why he is a man of hope. He might shelve this faith based initiative that’s funding missionary intolerance causing internal turbulence in India. That’s why his mention of Hindus is of such significance to people of Indic origin. Your ideas are welcome.
342 · Kiran P said
I wouldn’t be so complacent. It is the typical deviousness of the west that they will strike when you least expect it. There are many wealthy westerners who will continue funding these programs, which in the long term, pose a bigger problem than Islamism. Best to be prepared and create big nationwide awareness programs – both in America and Bharat – of the threat posed by the west to Hindu values. That’s the only way Hindutva will win.
Dhoni said
How do you you know that? Or are you just pulling that out of you posterior to prove a point?
And stay Hindu, Linzi!
I don’t think that’s what Kiran is saying at all; why do you keep twisting the argument. No wonder this discussion has almost become useless. She doesn’t want India to become like Saudi, Sudan, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Iran, Eqypt, etc – she wants it to be a society where people have the freedom to worship how they want…which is what goes on now.
She’s describing a situation of conversion, that exploits and draws on the unequal power dynamics. Do you not think this goes on? And it doesn’t go on as well. Even in my American schools we discussed this.
It’s so funny that a blog about Christians in Pakistan, no freedom of religion, has become a silly diatribe against India, a multireligious, multicultural democracy that actually pays it’s Muslims to go to Mecca….what a joke! Of course religious persecution has happened and we should decry them and try and change the situation (even Indians aren’t perfect; I know the standard is so high for us) but have some perspective or better yet, move to Saudi or Burma and convert in those countries or try and practice your religion in those countries the way you want. Let’s see if the Saudi govt is going to fund the building of a temple, synogogue, the wrong mosque…have fun.
327 · Lupus Solitarius said
India callously tolerates more hunger, humiliations, degradations among its citizens than any other nation (in hunger Bangladesh comes closest to India). Who do you blame for this inhumane mistreatment by India of its own citizens? Are white westerners to blame like your ilk keeps insisting, or is the native culture guilty? Heres Nobel Laureate Economist Amartya Sen on India’s abysmal record:
http://209.85.173.132/search?q=cache:qU_yAvQiigAJ:www.righttofoodindia.org/data/amartya.pdf+endemic+hunger&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=8&gl=us
“India has not, it should be absolutely clear, done well in tackling thepervasive presence of persistent hunger. Not only are there persistent recurrences of severe hunger and starvation in particular regions, but there is also a gigantic prevalence of endemic hunger across much of India. Indeed, India does much worse in this respect than even Sub-Saharan Africa…… It is astonishing that despite the intermittent occurrence of famine in Africa, it too manages to ensure a much higher level of regular nourishment than does India. About half of all Indian children are, it appears, chronically undernourished, andmore than half of all adult women suffer from anaemia. In maternal undernourishment as well as the incidence of underweight babies, and also in the frequency of cardiovasculardiseases in later life (to which adults are particularly prone if nutritionally deprived in the womb), India’s record is among the very worst in the world”
If most Americans can trust Obama I can trust him. The day he throws away the Hanuman statue that he reportedly has may be the day I will begin to worry 🙂
nah. Their wealth is dwindling. Millionaires are checking their 401k balances too. On the other hand Bill Gates is awesome. So is Warren Buffet. Let their tribe increase. They are true do gooders.
you are right, ps. i stand corrected. the standard we should aspire to is to be better than pakistan or saudi, the highest common denominator of modern civilization, and look how wonderful they are for their citizens as a result.
347 · Kiran P said
hey! most americans trusted bush too. these people are the epitome of the missionary western agenda.
Bush did not have Hanuman statue. Instead he came to the office with a belief that Hindus go to Hell. So 2 reasons to trust Obama v/s Bush. Great comedy from you standing up.
Goodbye folks for now. I hope I will not be banned by SM for speaking the truth.
350 · Kiran P said
To you too. Thanks for all your comments and your articulation of the anti-west non-Hindu-christian mission of the Hindutva movement. It will be very helpful.
No, India should aspire to such an unrealistically high standard that it gets mugged repeatedly by the bad, rough men of the world. Filipinos, Thais, etc. can be smart enough to focus on the enemy without and within, but Indians–must turn the other cheek repeatedly.
And, BTW, “stand up,” I am really impressed by the compassion you display in repeatedly mocking Kiran P. You’re really a figure to be emulated.
PremaDhaoni saidYes. Our white masters shall not be blamed for colonising us, looting our economy, creating famines which killed millions,exploiting our religious divides and catalysing the partition of our country.No sir. How can they – they are white after all!
That is true. A lot needs to change in India. And it slowly is. Change takes time, specially when it involves a billion plus people. However, as far as you are concerned, all I can detect when you talk about the misfortune of Indians, is Schadenfreude.