tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10690995227212267872024-03-19T10:31:39.172+05:30The Times of BullshitBringing you news, views and, well, bullshit since 2016Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.comBlogger170125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-64991003671949781562015-09-30T14:46:00.001+05:302015-09-30T23:48:04.939+05:30Fringe Indian group demands ban on human slaughter citing religious sentiment
In a definite sign of the increasing religious polarisation that
India is undergoing right now, a fringe groups has demanded that the government
introduce a complete ban on the slaughter of any kind of human being.
Ravi Kumar, spokesperson for the action group “Human Hamari
Mata Hai” (Humans are Our Mothers) based this outlandish demand on his ancient religious
beliefs. “We believe in Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-80534715900302420962014-08-25T16:36:00.000+05:302014-08-26T12:08:58.384+05:30Love Jihad Inc. Shares Slump As Competition Captures Market Share In Uttar Pradesh, Other Major Markets
From our Business Correspondent
Love Jihad Inc.’s (LJI) shares slumped more than 7% on Monday after the firm gave a weak forecast that sparked concern about future conversion growth.
LJI executives tried to calm analyst concerns during a conference call by arguing that underlying growth is stronger than the top-line guidance suggested. CEO, also confirmed that the firm will be entering newShoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-89591604946559972972014-08-11T14:45:00.000+05:302014-08-11T14:45:27.603+05:30The BJP's bumbling on Taslima Nasreen's visa reflects its broader lack of vision
On secularism, as on much else, the BJP seems to have no overall strategic plan. My piece in Scroll.in today.
Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-57442987488221068162014-07-04T11:58:00.001+05:302014-07-04T11:58:18.641+05:30Congress Appeasment Has Never Helped Minorities
AK Antony last week decried his party's appeasement of Muslims, but Congress policies have never addressed the genuine needs of the community.
My piece in Scoll.in today.
Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-382900335747925962014-06-27T00:36:00.000+05:302014-06-27T00:36:01.218+05:30Why Maharashtra’s Promise of Muslim Reservations is a Pie in the Sky
The Maharashtra
government’s attempts at attracting the Muslim vote by promising reservations look
rather jaded, especially given how some other states have gone beyond empty
words to actually implement Muslim quotas which are working well.
An edited version of this piece was first published on Scroll.in
After 2 months or so of calm, the word “Muslim” is trending in
the media again. Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-13466166977114332592014-06-07T10:45:00.001+05:302014-06-07T10:45:55.398+05:30The BJP and the UCC
I have a piece up on Scroll.in which explores why the BJP is so eager for a UCC but strangely silent and even keen on other religion-based laws.
Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-37229980291363689482014-05-22T14:33:00.001+05:302014-05-22T14:33:33.875+05:30Your Mangoes are Lovely
Stop by the bazaar
And see the carts laden
With plump Alphonsos
Tempting me like sin
Get home and slice one open
Like unwrapping a present
Glistening in the rich orange
My eyes have a lusty tint
Bite into the flesh, yes!
With groans and a spasm
Pleasure washes over me like waves
As I multiple mouth-orgasm
“Oh Lord, yes, yes, yes!”
I acknowledge the God true
But in my thanks, I also include
Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-84424913845353620402014-05-08T11:47:00.001+05:302014-05-08T11:47:08.256+05:30Why does the Anglo-American Media refuse to give Modi a Clean Chit on 2002?
For a decade and a bit now, the English-language
Indian media has criticised Modi rather sharply on his role in the 2002
anti-Muslim violence and Modi, in turn, had projected himself as a victim of a
nefarious “limousine liberal” plot. In his aborted interview with
Karan Thapar, for example, Modi flatly rejected any wrongdoing on his part with
respect to 2002 and contended that thisShoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-87603247533497628612014-04-25T16:25:00.001+05:302014-04-25T16:35:45.590+05:30From the Diary of a Bombay 'Voter'
This is an excerpt from
the diary of Nitin, a 19-year old college student who lives in Bandra, Bombay.
It is dated from 24 April, 2014, the day the city went to the polls and might
go some way in explaining the city’s abysmal voting percentages.
Ok, the day started off in a fairly confusing manner, a sign
of things to come. All the newspapers outside my door carried the exact same
Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-17794565640003405512014-04-15T20:10:00.001+05:302014-04-15T20:10:40.416+05:30Why Arvind Kejriwal is the only politician in India to wear shirts and trousers
Arvind Kejriwal is the
only major politician in India to sport Western wear in public. What does this
tell us about his politics?
A couple of days back, Arvind Kejriwal released a video
titled “Samvaad - Arvind Kejriwal's message for all Indians”. Not having enough
money to advertise on mass media (a fact that Kejriwal mentions in the video
himself to gain sympathy) the Aam Aadmi Party Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-3485520410471379392014-04-07T23:46:00.005+05:302014-04-07T23:46:55.769+05:30Is Bengal’s Muslim vote bank headed for Mandalisation?
The AIUDF has decided to fight the Lok Sabha elections in West Bengal. Given their success in Assam, this could point to the rise of a similar Muslim formation in Bengal, along the lines of the post-Mandal caste parties of the heartland. [Read my entire piece here]
Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-35669567026167056872014-04-07T12:30:00.001+05:302014-04-07T12:30:57.376+05:30Modi and the Looming Spectre of Authoritarianism
As Ambedkar had warned, Indians have a curious predilection towards bhakti and hero-worship in politics, one that has caused the country much harm. Given Modi’s iron grip within the BJP, we must guard against repeating old mistakes.
The last few days have been especially eventful for the always hectic Modi campaign. The BJP disciplined three of its patriarchs, Advani, MM Joshi and Jaswant SinghShoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-57567369226593685722014-04-04T10:19:00.000+05:302014-04-04T10:19:10.839+05:30The UPA’s Rights-Based Approach and its Impact in India
The UPA, in the past decade, has introduced a new paradigm in India’s development story: the Rights-Based Approach. This article explores the origins of this strategy and evaluates its impact on India.
It would be a bit of an understatement to say that the UPA is in a bad way. Large swathes of public opinion have turned against it, the media uses it as a punching bag and even its own Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-53358235586949136842014-03-25T11:29:00.001+05:302014-03-25T11:30:52.056+05:30A Short History of the 1962 War and its Lessons
Cross posted on Tarikh Par Tarikh
On Tuesday, Nevile Maxwell, a former journalist with The Times, posted in Delhi, published sections of the Henderson Brooks–Bhagat Report on his personal website. The report was an investigation into the 1962 military debacle and is still classified as ‘Top Secret’ by the Government of India. Maxwell wrote that he was publishing the report on his Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-28426185492090422462014-03-22T14:12:00.000+05:302014-03-22T14:12:22.344+05:30Opinion polls are predicting a doubling of the BJP’s vote share in Bihar. Is that possible?
Opinion polls are projecting huge gains for the BJP in Bihar in 2014 with one survey even predicting a doubling of its vote share. I have a piece up on DNA which uses past voting and demographic data to show why such a windfall is unlikely.
Opinion polls are predicting a doubling of the BJP’s vote share in Bihar. Is that possible?
Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-80705825885448303992014-03-11T11:37:00.002+05:302014-03-12T14:16:06.044+05:30Chicken "Biryani"
There are many signs of the decadence of our society. Signs
that point to its slow but inexorable descent into chaos. Markers that warn of
losing order, civilisation and all that is good.
Of those signs, there is none more obvious, more dire than
the very existence of Chicken "Biryani”. BIRYANI! (strides up and down; voice
booms); Biryani, ladies and gentleman is a dish which exploits the Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-58003178675647163032014-03-06T12:06:00.000+05:302014-03-06T12:06:35.131+05:30Faiz is Beautiful but Can You Really Call Him a People's Poet?
I recently came across a short debate I had with Mr Sohail
Hashmi on Kafila. I found rereading it quite interesting so thought I’d post it
up here for posterity.
Mr Hashmi, of course, is a writer I much admire and I have, especially,
read his writings on the architectural heritage of Delhi with great interest.
In this instance he wrote a lovely piece on Faiz, Urdu’s greatest poet of the
Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-32907756670663929052014-03-01T12:49:00.001+05:302014-03-01T12:49:27.910+05:30Hindi Nationalism
Cross posted on Tarikh Par Tarikh
Relating an incident related to the formation of the Eight Schedule of the Constitution (which contains a list of India’s official languages), Alok Rai says:
“Nehru had asked him [M. Satyanarayan] to draw up a list of languages, and he came up with a list of the twelve major regional languages of India. Nehru added a thirteenth, Urdu, before putting the Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-57167747972254426702014-02-24T00:37:00.001+05:302014-02-24T00:37:42.890+05:30The Withdrawal of Doniger’s Book and the RSS link
First Published on NewsYaps
“If you don't want a man unhappy, don't give him two sides to a question to worry him; give him one. Better yet, give him none.”
--Captain Beatty, Fahrenheit 451
On the day Wendy Doniger’s The Hindus: An Alternative History was withdrawn by publisher Penguin under pressure from right-wing fundamentalists, it would seem rather apt to recall Ray Bradbury’s Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-44694812238594163872014-02-19T10:04:00.002+05:302014-02-19T10:10:51.607+05:30A Short History of the Blasphemy Law Used Against Wendy Doniger And Why it Must Go
The main stick used by Dinanth Batra to silence Wendy Doniger was a law called Section 295 (A) of the IPC.
I have a piece up on Scroll.in which goes back to 1920s Lahore and explores the history of how this blasphemy law came about [link].
P.S: Have you checked out Tarikh Par Tarikh?
Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-68186099550914944942014-02-14T10:25:00.001+05:302014-02-14T10:25:53.372+05:30New History Blog Up
One of the most enduring trends in business is that when an industry matures, it reverses the process of vertical integration. So, when the PC industry was young, a company like IBM did everything: made the processors, RAM, wrote the software and applications and marketed its PCs to consumers.
Then deverticalisation happened: Intel took over processor manufacture, Windows made your OS, a whole Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-58161278550317854582014-01-29T13:01:00.001+05:302014-01-29T13:15:50.364+05:30Dedh Ishqiya and Urdu in India Today
First published in NewsYaps
In a riotously funny scene from recently released comic thriller Dedh Ishqiya, Jaan Mohammad (played by Vijay Raaz) aggressively threatens a very drunk Khalujaan (Naseeruddin Shah) to leave town so that he can win the hand of the beautiful Begum Para (Madhuri Dixit). In a twist typical of the film, fist fights and gun brandishing suddenly give way to poetry, as Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-52166558088622151862014-01-04T01:21:00.000+05:302014-02-12T12:41:16.929+05:30Which Calendar are You?
First published on NewsYaps
This New Year and the celebration around it reminds me of some rather contrarian graffiti outside my engineering college in Ranchi from many moons ago. It read, in bold, angry crimson Devanagri letters, “Angrezi saal hataao” (or something to that effect, at any rate).
That was all there was: a three-word angry rant. There was no real solution. The protester didShoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-10758818653722286032013-12-23T23:40:00.000+05:302014-01-15T12:13:13.214+05:30The Future Language of India
First published on NewsYaps
In 1916, the Mahatma spoke in Banaras Hindu University on
the question of English. He said:
“I am hoping that this University will see to it that the
youths who come to it will receive their instruction through the medium of
their vernaculars. Our languages are the reflection of ourselves, and if you
tell me that our languages are too poor to express the best Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1069099522721226787.post-44837465722691635992013-12-23T23:35:00.004+05:302013-12-23T23:38:03.579+05:30Campa Cola Shows the Inordinate Power of the Middle Class in India Today
First published on NewsYaps on 20 November 2013
So I’m sitting there, all of 8 years old, listening to the
conversation of a gaggle of aunts and uncles at a cousin’s birthday party. The
topic revolves around the perfidy of maid servants, always a popular topic at
our family gatherings.
“And that’s it. She just left. Without any notice, no
nothing. And after all that I’d done for her,” an Shoaib Daniyalhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14505444520025822214noreply@blogger.com0