The plot is - Humanity, in BSG, consists of the Twelve Colonies of Kobol. A long time back, they created robot slaves called Cylons to do their work. The Cylons eventually revolted and a bloody war ensued; then an armistice was signed and the Cylons left the Twelve Colonies. The pilot begins with the Cylons nuking the twelve colonies, thus killing billions of humans and virtually annihilating human civilization. The only survivors are about 50,000 people who were in space at the time. These survivors band together along with the only surviving warship, Battlestar Galactica, under the aegis of Commander William Adama and President Laura Roslin, and over the next three seasons they set out to escape the Cylons and to find the fabled 13th Colony called Earth.

What sets this series apart form others is the way events in BSG eerily resemble events that occur on our Earth. Suicide bombers, prisoners of war, religious fundamentalists, "racial" profiling- BSG has them all. BSG is bold enough to display the war in Iraq through the prism of the resistance movement- the humans in the show settle on a planet which the Cylons later invade, occupy and govern in conjunction with a puppet government. And the humans begin an insurgency and use suicide bombers against the Cylons!

BSG is definitely better than several much hyped TV shows like Heroes, Lost, House et al. With a taut storyline, some really great actors and cool SFX, it sure rocks! BSG is a study of sorts of humanity in times of adversity- of people who become leaders and of others who fall apart. And even the Cylons are fleshed out characters- some of them even being good! But the true star of the show is James Callis who plays Dr. Gaius Baltar, a brilliant scientist whose only objective is self-preservation, who is possibly TV's most interesting villain.

IMHO, Battlestar Galactica is one of the most intelligent TV series we have had in a long time- along with Rome and Dexter. And all that remains is to see whether the survivors manage to reach Earth. Hopefully, they will. So say we all!

And frak the Cylons! :)

They were once regarded as the temples of Modern India by our former PM, Jawaharlal Nehru. They are now regarded as the watery graveyards of many hundred thousand Indian hopes, dreams and aspirations. Yes, they would have become the temple of modern India if the power hungry politicians of today gave a little importance to the ambitions of the common man.

In the India of today, plans for building new dams are being discussed everyday. The reason they are made- for fulfilling the politicians greed for money, for corporate factories and industries and capitalist farms. They are being built too on a massive basis, almost everywhere in the name of service to mankind, in the name of solving the endless water scarcity problems of the common man who is in turn evicted from the land his ancestors tended and is given a piece of barren, uncultivable land in the name of rehabilitation.

Is this the marvelous vision Pt. Nehru had for Modern India? Unfortunately, this is the reality for most of the ppl in India. As the cons of the dams keep outweighing the pros and the scales start tipping in the favour of other methods of water conservation like rain water harvesting ,its high time we realized that dams literally damn the nation to an endless cycle of damnation.

- Shruti Nair

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Right from the first book, Rowling's language impressed me a lot. Perhaps it was the fact that i was 11 at the time, just like young Harry! :~) She could describe Harry's feelings so well and the spells seemed so exquisite. But what I liked the most was her numerous quirky references, that make me laugh even now, eventhough i have read the books so many times.[ I'm a compulsive re- reader. I like reading stuff over and over again. I think I've read the Lord of the Rings atleast 18 times, Ashok K. Banker's Ramayana series about 10 times, and most of the Harry Potter books atleast 15 times each]

Another feature that distinguished Rowling's series from other children's books is the fact that the characters mature. Unlike the Secret Seven and the Hardy Boys, Harry Potter and his friends actually grew older. And Rowling was able to brilliantly capture this process of maturation on paper. Eventhough she has utilised most of the standard fantasy tropes, it was the way in which she wrote that made things interesting. Each book of the series has been so good that it is hard to choose one of the six that have come out.

But, if I were to choose my favourite of the series, then I would go for a tie between Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban is the book that made readers realise that this series was no ordinary children's series- whatever it was, Rowling had a plan for the entire series and the backstory about Harry's parents was proof of it. More importantly, it introduced Sirius Black, Harry's godfather who would assume a pivotal role in the series. Wheras Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix dealt with adolescent angst and Harry's explorations of love so brilliantly that critics praised it to the skies eventhough it is considered by fans as a book that could have been edited further. Furthermore, it is in this book that Harry Potter discovers that his destiny is entwined with that of Lord Voldemort- setting the stage for the final two books of the series.

Now that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows is almost out, the question that is on everyone's mind is- Will Harry live? Now that Dumbledore is dead, hope seems to have run out. Is it possible for Harry to discover and destroy the remaining Horcruxes? All these questions shall be answered by tomorrow. But irrespective of the ending, I will say this- its been a great ten years with Harry. Growing up with Harry Potter has been one of the best things ever! I know that when i read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows tomorrow, I shall be sad- because a part of my life will have ended too. Thank you, Rowling, for giving us Harry Potter!

The Last Mughal is not a biography of the last Mughal Emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar, though he is one of the major characters; instead, it is an account of the Indo-Islamic civilisation which he represented. It also deals with the fall of Delhi in the face of the uninvited arrival of the mutinous Indian soldiers of the British Army, and then its destruction at the hands of the British invaders. At the end of the Revolt, Bahadur Shah Zafar was put on trial for treason, his beautiful capital was ransacked and destroyed, his palace [an architectural marvel] was detonated and a British barracks was constructed within it, and the composite Hindu-Islamic culture which he stood for had been eliminated.

Over the last four years, Darlymple tirelessly worked through many of the nearly 20,000 virtually unused Persian and Urdu documents relating to Delhi in 1857, known as the Mutiny Papers, found on the shelves of the National Archives of India. These documents allowed 1857 in Delhi to be seen for the first time from a properly Indian perspective and not just from the British sources through it has been viewed till date. Meanwhile, the Delhi Commissioner’s Office Archive contained the records of the revived British administration, which describe the full scale of the viciousness and brutality they unleashed in the city after regaining it. Darlymple was also able to gain access to the Punjab Archive in Lahore, which contained the complete pre-Mutiny records of the British Residency in Delhi. And a visit to Rangoon yielded Bahadur Shah Zafar’s prison records.

Using all these disparate sources, Darlymple succeeds in creating a masterpiece that challenges the existing theories about the Revolt. Instead of the single coherent mutiny or patriotic national war of independence beloved of Victorian or Indian nationalist historians, Darlymple says that there was in reality a chain of very different uprisings and acts of resistance that were determined by local and regional factors.

Darlymple sets the stage by introducing the main characters and describing how people lived in Delhi in the 19th century. The city of Shahjahanabad becomes alive through his marvelous prose and we begin to get an idea of the problems that the people faced. Bahadur Shah Zafar was an emperor only in name when he succeeded his father, but he managed to create a court of great brilliance and fostered a literary renaissance. He was extremely talented- an expert in calligraphy, verstaile poet, architect, Sufi mystic, patron of painting and much more; but he was not an able king and had a tendency to be indecisive- his greatest failing.

Darlymple suggests that the influx of Victorian Evangelists who tried to disrupt the Hindu- Islamic synthesis practiced by the successors of Akbar and regarded Indians as heathen natives who needed to be emancipated, was one of the major factors that led to resentment among Indian sepoys and civilians alike. This aggressive Christian sentiment in turn led to the rise of militant Islam- the jihadis who played a prominent role in the defence of Delhi till the end.

Once the sepoys came to Delhi and declared Bahadur Shah Zafar to be their leader and emperor, the die was cast. Even though the unruly sepoys looted the city, killed every Englishman they could find and harassed courtiers, Zafar felt that this was a God-given opportunity to re-establish the Mughal Empire and so he made the critical decision that linked the fate of his dynasty and that of the city of Delhi to the Uprising. Zafar’s openness to the Uprising, though never whole-hearted and always ambivalent, transformed the whole nature of the rebellion- a simple army mutiny evolved into the biggest war any empire had ever faced in the 19th century.

Ironically, it was the sepoys who were to blame for the failure of the Revolt in Delhi. Since the sepoys were not trained to command regiments and had no knowledge of battle strategies, their strikes almost inevitably failed. Although Bakht Khan’s arrival in Delhi almost led to the defeat of the British forces stationed nearby the city, political intrigues by his enemies among other regiments and the Mughal courtiers led to his departure from the city alongwith his regiments.

In the end, as people began to see the writing of the wall, thousands of sepoys began a mass exodus from the city of Delhi. Meanwhile, Muslim jihadis kept pouring into the city for a battle to the death. If the Uprising in Delhi started as a contest between the English and a largely Hindu sepoy army drawn mainly from Awadh, it ended as a fight between a mixed rebel force, atleast half of which were Muslim jihadis, taking on an army of British-paid Sikh and Muslim mercenaries from the North West Frontier and the Punjab.

Upon victory, the British celebrated their triumph by letting loose a reign of terror on the fleeing insurgents and Delhi's inhabitants. The Mughal princes who had participated in the Uprising surrendered unconditionally to a British officer, William Hodson, hoping that their lives would be spared. Hodson stripped them naked and immediately shot them in cold blood. Then he promptly proceeded to strip the corpses of their rings and amulets, which he pocketed. In the Kucha Chelan neighborhood, Dalrymple says, about 1,400 residents were cut down: "After the British and their allies had tired of bayoneting the inhabitants, they marched forty survivors out to the Yamuna, lined them up before the walls of the Fort, and shot them." Among them were some of the most distinguished poets and artists of Delhi.

The victors made very little distinction between insurgents and civilians. George Wagentrieber wrote in the Delhi Gazette Extra: "Hanging is, I am happy to say, the order of the day here." Believing that the rebels had sexually assaulted their women (this was proved false by a subsequent inquiry commission), the British officers did little to stop the raping of the women of Delhi. To escape the victors' wrath, most of Delhi's residents fled to the surrounding countryside, finding shelters in tombs and ruins and scavenging for food. Looters went house to house, seizing whatever they could, while Prize Agents stalked the city, confiscating native property and delivering it to Europeans.

To punish the residents for having supported the Uprising, the British considered leveling the entire city. Fortunately, cooler heads prevailed. Even so, great swathes of the city- especially around the Red Fort- were still cleared away. Many fine mosques, Sufi shrines, palaces and the houses of notables were demolished. Dalrymple relates this story in all its horror, quoting extensively from the melancholy descriptions written by Delhi's literary elite and from accounts by the victors, who gleefully recorded the terrible vengeance they wreaked on the vanquished in what became known as the City of the Dead.

Zafar was tried and convicted for hatching an international Muslim conspiracy against his English benefactors, and exiled to Burma. The charge was legally and factually absurd. Since Zafar had never renounced sovereignty over the Company, he could not possibly be guilty of treason. In fact, Dalrymple explains that, from a legal point of view, a good case could have been made that it was the East India Company which was the real rebel, guilty of revolt against a feudal superior to whom it had sworn allegiance for nearly a century. Equally groundless was the allegation that Zafar was behind an international Muslim conspiracy stretching from Constantinople to Delhi. "The Uprising in fact showed every sign of being initiated by upper-caste Hindu sepoys reacting against specifically military grievances perceived as a threat to their faith and dharma; it then spread rapidly through the country, attracting a fractured and diffuse collection of other groups alienated by aggressively insensitive and brutal British policies." The British "bigoted and Islamophobic argument" reduced the complexity of the rebellion to an oversimplified and fictional picture of a "global Muslim conspiracy with an appealingly visible and captive hate figure at its centre." Back in England, the Uprising and the aftermath of British bloodlust shocked the Parliament into assuming direct rule over India. Company rule was abolished, and Queen Victoria became the Empress of India.

In the years after the Revolt, there began a rift between Hindus and Muslims that widened under the “divide and rule” policy adopted by the British and finally led to the Partition of India. Indian Muslims, themselves, got divided- the modernists, led by Sayyid Ahmed Khan, embraced Western learning while the extremists created a madrasa at Deoband that went back to Koranic basics and stripped out anything Hindu or European from the curriculum. And more than a century later, the Deobandi madrasas in Pakistan and Afghanistan were instrumental in the development of the Taliban, “the most retrograde Islamic regime in modern history”, and the Al Qaeda who committed the most powerful and destructive counter attack the West has ever encountered. Darlymple draws parallels between 1857 and the world post 9/11- an ongoing struggle between Western Evangelicals/Imperialists and Islamic jihadis.

Darlymple portrays the Uprising as a human event of extraordinary, tragic and capricious outcomes, and shows us ordinary people whose fate it was to be accidentally caught up in this great upheaval.The Last Mughal is a beautiful elegy in prose of the composite Hindu-Muslim civilization of the Later Mughals. Darlymple has written a masterpiece- a scholarly work and yet a hugely enjoyable read, especially for people who have a keen interest in Indian history. I would definitely recommend it to any student who had to read about the Revolt of 1857. Books like this are required to make history interesting.

“ahimsa” deals with the struggle of the Narmada Bachao Andolan to make its voice heard in India’s policy deciding bodies. In this world that is increasingly fixated on terrorism and other movements of violent resistance, it is increasingly difficult for the votaries of non violence to be heard. She notes that “Any government’s condemnation of terror is credible only if it shows itself to be responsive to persistent, closely argued, non violent dissent”. What Roy fears is that people will be forced to abandon modes of non violent resistance and commit violence in order to grab headlines in today’s ‘free media’. Should such a thing come to pass, it would be a veritable deathblow to the theory of ahimsa that Mahatma Gandhi propounded and executed to great effect during the struggle for independence against British rule.

Roy says in “come September” that nationalism was the cause of genocides in the 20th century. Like a surgeon wielding a scalpel, she deftly shreds our most sacred doctrines. "Flags are bits of coloured cloth that governments use first to shrink-wrap people's minds and then as ceremonial shrouds to bury the dead." She enumerates the innumerable crimes committed by the United States government against humanity right from Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, the penchant for engineering coups and regime changes throughout South America, the wars in Korea and Vietnam, and finally the staunch support to Israel in order to prevent an equitable solution to the issue of Palestine issue- all under the excuse of ‘championing the cause of freedom’!! Arundhati Roy accurately points out that the real reason for the war against Iraq is to grab control of its oil resources. After an incisive analysis of the corporate globalization project and its end results, she concludes that just like Soviet–style communism, the American style market capitalism is doomed to failure- because it allowed too few people [“a handful of bankers and CEOs whom nobody elected”] to usurp too much power.

“the loneliness of noam chomsky” is Arundhati’s tribute to one of the world’s greatest and most radical intellectuals- Noam Chomsky, who showed us that nothing is what it seems to be in the free world. He showed us how phrases like ‘free speech’, the ‘free market’ and the ‘free world’ have little, if anything, to do with freedom. And he analysed the penchant of the United States to commit crimes against humanity in the name of ‘justice’, in the name of righteousness’, in the name of ‘freedom’. Chomsky brought out the grisly truth behind the American Dream and the American Way of Life. The USA has successfully rewritten its grisly history of massacre of millions of native Americans, and the kidnapping and enslaving of millions of Africans. And yet, it is amazing that Americans believe that theirs is a peaceful nation, a nation built on fundamental values! The sheer amount of research and analysis Chomsky did on the American invasion of IndoChina [Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia] in his book For Reasons of State is astounding. Arundhati praises Chomsky for revealing the “pitiless heart of the American war machine, completely isolated from the realities of war, blinded by ideology and willing to annihilate millions of human beings, civilians, soldiers, women, children, villages, whole cities, whole ecosystems- with scientifically honed methods of brutality”. The unsaid inference is that the United States has learnt nothing from its misadventure in Vietnam- and continues to make mistakes in Iraq, at the cost of millions of innocent Iraqi lives.

In her speech at the World Social Forum 2003 titled “confronting empire”, Arundhati Roy identifies the many arms of the monster called the New American Empire- the US government, organizations like the IMF, the World Bank and the WTO, and the multinational corporations. Using India as an example, she elucidates how dangerous byproducts like jingoistic nationalism, religious bigotry, fascism and terrorism are created by the corporate globalization project. Thus, empire is nothing but a “loyal confederation, this obscene accumulation of power, this greatly increased distance between those who make the decisions and those who have to suffer them.” Hence, if we are to tackle the spectre of Empire effectively, we must be prepared to lay siege to it. Roy says that America’s ugly past is out in the open; hence, this is the moment to convince the American public to rise up in defiance. As she concludes, “Remember this: we be many and they be few. They need us more than we do.”

“peace is war” deals with the importance of the ‘free media’ in the corporate globalization project. Roy describes how neoliberal capitalists have managed to subvert democracy- by infiltrating the judiciary, the press and the parliament, and moulding them to their purpose. As she says, “Free elections, a free press, and an independent judiciary mean little when the free market has reduced them to commodities available on sale to the highest bidder.” Roy points out that six major companies own America’s main media outlets, a disconcerting fact; this is why the American mainstream media does not critically examine the reasons for invading Iraq: a majority of the U.S. corporate media is owned and managed by the same interests. She commends the efforts of New Media in showing what Old Media really is- an elaborate boardroom bulletin that reports and analyses the concerns of powerful people. The mainstream media practice “crisis reportage,” but Roy challenges journalists in New Media to become “peace correspondents instead of war correspondents,” and expose the “policies and processes that make ordinary things… such a distant dream for ordinary people.”

In “an ordinary person’s guide to empire”, Roy depicts the brutal barbaric destruction of a civilization by the American army. Agreed, Saddam Hussein was a dictator, but the fact is that the American and British governments supported him during his military excesses, against Iran and during the extermination of Kurds. It was only when he invaded Kuwait that he turned into a liability- a dog who wouldn’t obey his master anymore. And so, he deserved to be killed. The enormous level of double standards that the United States committed during the war is appalling. Bombing civilian areas is just one example. Western ‘embedded’ journalists are called heroes for doing their duty from the frontlines of war but Iraqi viewpoints were denounced. In fact, the Allies even bombed the Iraqi television station. And the most ironic thing is- while the American taxpayers end up footing the spiralling war costs, the MNC friends of Bush, Cheney et al gain plump contracts for the ‘reconstruction’ of Iraq. The American Empire is “a superpower’s self destructive impulse towards supremacy, global hegemony.” Roy commends those Americans who have opposed the war as the ‘true heroes’, not the soldiers fighting in Iraq.

In “instant-mix imperial democracy,” a talk originally in New York City, Roy suggests that some of her listeners might think it “bad manners” for an Indian citizen to come to New York to criticize the U.S. government, but “when a country ceases to be merely a country and becomes an empire, then the scale of operations changes dramatically. So may I clarify that tonight I speak as a subject of the American empire? I speak as a slave who presumes to criticize her king.” In snappy, provocative prose, Roy argues that democracy “has become Empire’s euphemism for neo-liberal capitalism” and gives numerous examples from India, South Africa and the United States itself! She urges Americans to engage in civil disobedience in resistance to the war in Iraq because “the only institution more powerful than the U.S. government is American civil society.”

“when the saints go marching out” was first broadcast on the BBC and reflects on what has happened in the lands of Martin Luther King, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Nelson Mandela after their times have passed. These three public figures were the representatives of three different struggles, the only common feature being the reliance on the mode of non violent resistance. Yet, in today’s India, religious fundamentalism is on the rise; South Africa is still festering with the pre-apartheid problems of extreme economic and social disparity; the United States has lost all manner of legitimate authority by the illegal invasion and occupation of Iraq- more importantly, the blacks, for whom Martin Luther King devoted his life, make up nearly one fifth of America’s armed forces and nearly one third of the US army [though they account for only 12% of America’s population] by way of the poverty draft. Roy appeals to black Americans to follow the teachings of King and to take to the streets in protest of the war in Iraq.

In a talk held at Raipur in October 2003, Arundhati Roy gave a tribute “in memory of shankar guha niyogi” to the leader of the Chhattisgarh Mukti Morcha, who passed away twelve years earlier. Roy lauds him for defending people’s rights, whenever they have been in danger. Shankar Guha Niyogi launched the CMM in order to fight for the rights of workers at a time when the Indian government was busy undermining labour laws. She praises the CMM for its numerous positive contributions to society, like building Shaheed Hospital for the poor and starting several schools to educate the children of the workers. Hence, Roy considers him to be a pioneer in the struggle against the forces of neo-imperialism.

“do turkeys enjoy thanksgiving” deals with the contours and the elements of what Arundhati refers to as ‘New Imperialism’. Unless countries surrender their resources willingly to the corpoates, either civil unrest will be fomented, or war will be waged. Roy explains the concept of New Racism, which is the cornerstone of New Imperialism, wonderfully using the allegory of the ‘pardoned turkey’ during Thanksgiving: “A few carefully bred turkeys-the local elites of various countries … wealthy immigrants, investment bankers … some singers, some writers- are given absolution… The remaining millions lose their jobs, are evicted from their homes…” Another instrument of New Imperialism is New Genocide which is facilitated by economic sanctions- the most notable case being Iraq, where more than half a million children have died during the last decade of sanctions. Since the Empire is so powerful, it is necessary that "local resistance movements should make international alliances in order to inflict real damage and force radical change”. She urges the WSF to lead the charge against the American Empire by rallies, non cooperation and economic boycotts.

Arundhati Roy explores behind India’s glittering facade and uncovers some bitter truths in her article “how deep shall we dig?” Some of the numerous problems facing us are terrorism in Kashmir and the Northeast, the rise of religious fundamentalism, POTA, targeting of minorities, incidents of starving or malnutrition. It is increasingly difficult for people to confront their own government. As Roy remarks, “The space for non violent civil disobedience has atrophied. After struggling for several years, several non violent peoples’ disobedience movements have come up against a wall and feel, quite rightly, the need to change direction.” Since the poor and the minorities are the most affected by the dual assault of communal fascism and neoliberalism, she urges them to take the lead in opposing the growing influence of Empire in India.

“the road to harsud” is Roy’s blistering take on the contentious topic of Big Dams and the struggle by the poor people who haven’t been rehabilitated as yet, to make themselves heard. Harsud is a town in Madhya Pradesh which is slated to be submerged by the reservoir of Narmada Sagar Dam. What use is a dam if the drawbacks outweigh the potential benefits? Roy says that the dam will submerge more land than it will ever irrigate, will produce power that is even costlier than Enron, and will destroy a vast reservoir of biodiversity, wildlife, and medicinal plants. And yet, the government of Madhya Pradesh relentlessly plows ahead with its disastrous plan and in the process, has rendered more than 30,000 families homeless. And worst of all, in spite of repeated assurances by the government, the displaced people have not yet received adequate rehabilitative measures.

Roy analyses the power ordinary people like us wield in today’s world in her essay “public power in the age of empire”. The world today is a deeply skewed reality. She says that both terrorism and the war on terror share the same excruciating logic- they make ordinary citizens pay for the actions of their government. And eventually, Roy concludes that “radical change cannot and will not be negotiated by governments; it can only be enforced by the people. By the public. A public who can link hands across national borders.” If we are to successfully confront the Empire, then we have to channel our energies into ‘concrete action’. Arundhati speaks in detail about three dangers that threaten resistance movements across the world- the meeting point between mass movements and the mass media, the dangers of NGO-isation of resistance, and the confrontation between resistance movements and repressive states.

“peace and the new corporate liberation theology” was a speech first delivered in Sydney on the occasion of Arundhati Roy winning the 2004 Sydney Peace Prize. She says that war in Iraq is a sign of things to come- a logical conclusion to the corporate globalization project. History, it seems, has turned full circle with the return of imperialism like a phoenix from the ashes. The corporate-military cabal has been busy at work, dispensing its unique brand of ‘justice’ and ‘freedom’ to the world at large. Roy concludes by saying that it is our duty to join the ‘war against Empire’ now or it will be too late.

In conclusion, although the essays deal with various movements in different countries (the U.S., India, and South Africa, to name a few of the prominent examples Roy cites) the common cord running through each one is empire, which Roy defines as “a superpower’s self-destructive impulse toward supremacy, stranglehold, global hegemony.” Arundhati Roy draws parallels between various resistance movements and with her lucid analysis, she succeeds in elucidating the forces that work against ordinary people everywhere. But she also illustrates the great strength those ordinary people can muster if they can cooperate in opposing, for example, the building of a dam that will wipe out the homes and livelihoods of thousands of people. Despite its title, this book is not a guide to empire, rather it is a call to arms. Roy, thus, motivates those who may already be passively critical of U.S. policies to join the activists out in the streets. “History is giving you the chance,” she writes. “Seize the time.” And so we should. Before its too late. Before all that we treasure in this world and stand for is lost.

But is our idea of history perfect? No. Since our historical records are limited, our history can only hope to be a summary at best- a pale shadow of what actually happened. Hence, history is never static. It can be best described as a flux of ideas. With each new discovery [of artifacts/documents, etc], our concepts of history undergoes changes.

And the best example that I can think of at the moment is the Revolt of 1857. In 2002, William Darlymple and his colleagues Mahmood Farooqui and Bruce Wannel discovered a treasure trove of Persian and Urdu documents relating Delhi in 1857, which are now known as the Mutiny Papers. He also was able to get access to the Punjab Archive in Lahore which contained the complete records of the British Residency in Delhi until 1857, and the National Archives at Rangoon which had the Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar’s prison records. Incorporating all these new information, Darlymple wrote a book titled The Last Mughal, in which he challenges “the traditional concepts of the single coherent mutiny or patriotic national war of independence beloved of Victorian or Indian nationalist historians”. He says ”it was not one single unified movement but many, with widely differing causes, motives and natures”. But more of Darlymple in my next post.

A couple of days after my first post, I received a reply from a visitor to my blog who referred me to an editorial in the Times of India on the Revolt of 1857 by a historian named Amaresh Misra. In this editorial, he argued that contrary to popular opinion, the Revolt of 1857 was neither confined to a particular geographical region nor organized by a particular caste or community. He also provided numerous examples from different parts of India to give credence to his statement.

In fact, he says that-
New research reveals that the 1857 uprising encompassed not only the entire Indian subcontinent but also several castes, communities and classes. Bahadur Shah Zafar’s August 1857 Delhi manifesto is path-breaking. It has separate sections dealing with material benefits accruing to peasants, landlords, merchants, public servants, artisans as well as pundits, fakirs and other learned persons. The attempt to move beyond religion and caste is clear.

For those who didn’t know, the Manifesto of the King of Delhi, as it came to be called, was almost wholly secular in tone and was aimed at a broad base of different interest groups; indeed it was akin to a manifesto of national independence. It notes that “both Hindus and Muslims are being ruined under the tyranny and oppression of the infidel and treacherous English” and calls on “pundits and fakirs” to join the Mughal armies. But most of its space is devoted to complaints that the English have overtaxed the landowners, monopolized “all the posts of dignity and emolument” in the civil and armed services, and put Indian artisans out of business by flooding the market with cheap British goods. With its explicit mentions of economic and social grievances, it also says that the revival of Mughal rule shall rectify these problems.

Mr. Amaresh Misra’s next statement is-
Though it is commonly believed that Sikhs, incensed by the Poorabia sepoys’ pro-British role during the two Anglo-Sikh wars in the 1840s helped the colonial rulers in crushing the Delhi and Lucknow rebellions, documents in the Patna archives reveal that there was a plan even in the 1840s of a Poorabia sepoy mutiny in conjunction with the Khalsa army.

Moreover, after the disbanding of the Khalsa army, it was the ex- Khalsa soldiers who took the lead in several Punjab mutinies- in Sialkot, Peshawar and Lahore. Punjabi Muslims and Pathans also played prominent roles in revolts all over what is now Pakistan, Jammu and Kashmir and Himachal Pradesh.

Meanwhile, in Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, revolutionary movements were begun by diverse castes like the Jats, Gujjars, Mewatis and Meenas.

Mr. Misra also offers numerous examples of uprisings by various communities as well as revolts by sepoy regiments throughout west, south and east India.

What is interesting is that the groups who collaborated together were usually of disparate castes, communities and religions. The most prominent among this is the rebellion in Hyderabad by anti-Nizam Rohilla Pathans, Hadhrami Arab warrior/traders and Hindu Kayasthas in July 1857. Another major civil rising along the east coast, in the Godavari-Andhra region, saw Girijan adivasis collaborating with anti-British Reddy landlords. Further south in Malabar[now a part of the state of Kerala], Moplah Muslim and Nambuthiri Brahmin agitators jointly organised a revolt that was sadly short lived and were arrested for unleashing anti-British propaganda. In Saurashtra, the Okhamandal-Dwarika area produced the only instance of anti-British naval resistance, which continued till the 1860s. From 1858 to 1860, a regular guerilla war spearheaded by Mahar, Maratha and Poorabia sepoys, as well as Konkan Bhandaris and Chitpavan Brahmins, raged all along the Indian west coast in the Raigad-Mangalore belt. There were also numerous instances of revolt by the sepoy regiments in Bombay, Karachi, Gujarat, Salem, Assam and Chittagong. Thus, inference is that the Revolt of 1857 took place on a much larger and widespread scale than was previously thought of.

But then, if so many revolts and uprisings occurred in that period, why dint the Revolt of 1857 succeed? The fragmented nature of the revolt is probably the main factor.Most of these movements had totally different natures and were led by different sections of society. And the British [alongwith those regiments who hadnt revolted] were better organised to fight such a war and had access to the latest in munitions, artillery, etc.. If there was a unified leadership that had coordinated the revolt, the British East India Company would have definitely lost the war lock stock and barrel. What would have happened if Bahadur Shah Zafar was a young man? What if….? Such questions are never easy to ponder.

It is of utmost importance that we do not forget the factors that led to the rise of British East India Company as well as the root causes of the Revolt of 1857 and the reasons for its failure. For, as Edmund Burke said, those who fail to learn from history are always destined to repeat it.

A worldwide movement was started in 2001 to protect humankind's heritage across the globe by bringing out a new list of the Wonders of the World. It was exactly 2,200 years after Antipater of Sidon compiled the original list of Seven Wonders of the World. Twenty-one monuments across the world were in the fray for six slots, as the Pyramids of Giza are already a part of the list, being the only surviving ancient wonder. The Taj was easily shortlisted as one amongst the 21 monuments, but the journey after that has been turbulent.

The contest is to be decided on the basis of votes each of the monuments receive, and the result will be announced at Lisbon, Portugal on 7/7/07. And it is here that the Taj has fallen way short of the goal. Peru is leading the list with its Incan sanctuary, Machu Picchu, getting 25.5 per cent of the total votes. Other front-runners for the six slots are The Easter Island Statues in Chile, Mayan ruins of Chichen Itza in Mexico, the Statue of Christ Redeemer in Brazil, Petra in Jordan, and the Alhambra in Spain. The Taj Mahal is at the 14th position, having garnered a mere 0.7 per cent votes.

Says Bharat Kapadia, chairman of an organisation that wants to ensure that the Taj gets its due place amongst the Seven Wonders of the World, "While there is no doubt that the Taj holds a special place in every Indian's heart, voting from our country has been abysmally low. A proactive stance is needed."

Even music composer A R Rahman wants the Taj to get its due place and has composed an anthem for it. He says, "The idea is to inspire Indians to vote for the Taj. We have composed the anthem at a very short notice, but we did it because the reason is so special. I am sure Indians from all over the world will feel motivated and vote for the Taj."

Even the tourism ministry has decided to do its bit. "We are planning to take an active part in this campaign. We will ensure that the Taj makes it to the list," says Amitabh Kant from the ministry.

so guys, what are you waiting for? Go vote for the Taj here!

It is unfortunate that sometimes the Revolt of 1857 is denied a national character since the ideal of a unified all-India nation state was premature for most people of nineteenth century India. But how can we deny a national character to a popular outburst against an alien regime, particularly when it enjoyed the support of a large mass of the population and affected a considerable part of the country?

Consider the facts- the Revolt of 1857 was the most widespread challenge against the British East India Company. It brought together soldiers of different regions and many rulers and chiefs of different rulers and principalities together- all with the common aim of ousting the British from India. The sepoys of the Bengal regiment revolted and were joined by other section of society-landlords, peasants, artisans, scholars- who made common cause against the exploitation of the British officers.

There were uprisings against the British all over India, right from Punjab to Assam. But the fiercest battles were fought in north and central India. Delhi, Meerut, Kanpur, Lucknow, Jhansi, Awadh were some of the prominent centres. The Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar was acknowledged as the rightful Emperor of India and the sepoys fought in his name. Even the Marathas, the Mughals’ eternal antagonists, supported the emperor. Such was the interest among [most of] the Indian ruling classes to rout the British. Leaders like Nana Saheb, Kunwar Singh, Rani Lakshmi Bai, and Tantia Tope became famous for their bravery and leadership.

Almost a lakh Indian sepoys revolted against the British and along with the armies of Jhansi, Awadh, the Marathas & other kingdoms that had joined the War, they nearly succeeded in defeating the British. The main reason for their failure was the lack of a coordinated military strategy, and the Indian kings who chose to either side with the British or dint fight at all. But for this, the battle might have been won and India would have attained freedom much earlier.

What then is the lesson to be drawn from the 1857 Revolt? The uprising underlines the importance of fighting imperialism at all costs. The 1857 rebels fought and died for a cause – the cause of national liberation from an alien rule. They raised the standard of revolution when the English power in India was at its ascendant height, and fought relentlessly shoulder to shoulder for a national cause till the last hour, irrespective of religious, ethnic and regional divides.

Since the success of the Revolt certainly would have meant freedom from colonialism it is difficult to imagine what might have occurred. One thing is certain: it would have saved the country from the "benefits" of colonial modernity. Would it have led to the “resurrection of the feudal order” as Jawaharlal Nehru felt in his Discovery Of India or would it have enabled an independent path of development towards modernity? There is no definite answer.

If we want to truly honour the martyrs of 1857, then we should strive to achieve self reliance in all spheres of development. For it was their memeory that inspired the freedom struggle. As Somnath Chatterjee said in the Lok Sabha, "The War of 1857 was undoubtedly an epoch-making event in India’s struggle for freedom. For what the British sought to deride as a mere sepoy mutiny was India’s First War of Independence in a very true sense, when people from all walks of life, irrespective of their caste, creed, religion and language, rose against the British rule.... Not only did these martyrs give up their lives for the sake of the country’s freedom but also left a message for the future generations --- a message of sacrifice, courage of conviction, a strong belief in the ultimate victory of the people in their war against oppression." I couldn't agree more.

But things began to change when I joined college in 2004. I had bought the first two parts of a retelling of the Ramayana by an author named Ashok K. Banker that had received rave reviews. And I was hooked right from page one. I liked them so much I bought the sequels and joined his online community Epic India. There, I met lots of like minded people who shared a common fascination for science fiction and fantasy novels. I began buying the books which were highly recommended- and thats when my journey truly began.

Over the last two years, I have read quite a lot of books that would be termed SFF. I’ve travelled through galaxies at speeds faster than light, jousted with knights, killed Greek gods [!], and made love to many a woman [:~)]. I’ve discussed the relative merits of Shakespeare vis-à-vis Proust [in an SF novel!], cast magic spells more devious than the 3 Unspeakable Curses of HP lore, fought numerous battles and dodged more characters than I could imagine. Ah! The vicarious thrills of reading… Such is the magic of SFF- it broadens our horizons, its beauty both inspires and reflects nature, it offers a large canvas on which the quirks of humanity are dealt with unconventionally [perhaps, even ironically!]

In the west, SFF has managed to create a niche of its own, but it’s the stupendous success of the Harry Potter books that allowed it to enter the mainstream. All of a sudden, YA fantasy [or, young adult fantasy] has become the most successful genre in the publishing industry. Just consider the sheer number of fantasy or SF movies that come out nowadays, and you will realize that SFF has come a long way…

So, if you are interested in skinny dipping in the realms of fantasy and science fiction, here are some of my picks. Trust me- most of these books have either defined or redefined the genre. Hope you go ahead and try them out!

Fantasy :-

1] George R R Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire
2] Steven Erikson’s A Tale of the Malazan Books of the Fallen
3] Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series
4] Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series
5] Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy
6] Jonathan Stroud’s Bartemius trilogy
7] Terry Prattchett’s Discworld series

Science Fiction :-

1] Dan Simmons’s Hyperion Cantos
2] Frank Herbert’s Dune series
3] Peter F. Hamilton’s Night’s Dawn trilogy
4] Alastair Reynolds's Revelation Space series
5] Dan Simmons’ Ilium and Olympos
6] Douglas Adams’ Hitchhiker’s Guide series
7] Peter F. Hamilton's Commonwealth Saga

...well, stop it – this is the best we can do, for now.

Thus begins the introduction to the site called Internet Books List, a site where members can rate and review books that they like and dislike. A kind of IMDB for books, if I may say so. With over 55,000 books and 13,000 users as of now.. And rapidly increasing.

This is probably the next big thing, guys. So check it out!

Peter Hamilton established his status as one of the finest British SF writers of all time with the Night's Dawn series. With nearly 4000 pages, this trilogy is a landmark in SF- the space opera kind. Writing a review for a series this huge is a nightmare worthy of Quinn Dexter, but here goes-

Once you're past the first 60 or 70 pages, The Reality Dysfunction is an extremely good read. What we have waiting for us is epic SF, with interplanetary warfare, an innocent transcendental race being drawn into something that might have disastrous implications for humanity all over the galaxy, a treasure hunt in the orbiting ruins of a long-lost alien civilization. And more, much more.

Though the story contains literally hundreds of characters, the plot goes on hyperdrive when swashbuckling daredevil cum treasure hunter Joshua Calvert, while scavenging the remnants of the mysterious and long-dead Laymil civilization, stumbles upon a Laymil storage cell that can be restored. On examination, it reveals information that might help explain the Laymil's sudden and catastrophic annihilation, an event that is mysteriously referred to as the Reality Dysfunction.

Joshua's newfound wealth after discovering the Laymil relic ensures him an invite into the life of the rich and famous, and after numerous adventures including a bit of smuggling and lots of sex with the heiress who rules the bitek habitat Tranquillity, he bags a deal to export the exotic wood mayope throughout the galaxy. And mayope is only found on an insignificant backwater colony world called Lalonde. But all is not what it seems and there are problems, to put it mildly, on Lalonde.

What at first appears to be a common uprising among convict labor on the planet takes on a more sinister turn when reports start trickling in of colonists who appear possessed, whom no weapon will kill. And their numbers are swelling rapidly, leaving burned out colony towns in their wake. At first there is alarm that this could be the work of a renegade Edenist (a "Serpent") whose crimes resulted in the deaths of thousands and whose name is still widely feared years after his apparent disappearance. But it is soon clear that there is much more to it, that the Confederacy is in fact facing an invasion the likes of which has never been dealt with before. Can this be the Laymil's Reality Dysfunction, come again to sound the death knell for humanity?

In The Neutronium Alchemist, three subplots unfold simultaneously. The first subplot deals with the machinations of Al Capone, who returns from the dead -- sans syphilis -- to begin an organization of Possessed, bent, essentially, on galactic domination. The second of these subplots is the attempt by the Possessed to take over the habitat run by a sentient identity named Rubra. The third subplot is the fate of the device known as the Alchemist -- a weapon with the power to extinguish a sun. Dr. Alkad Mzu, whose entire planet was destroyed in a war, has vowed to use the Alchemist as vengeance. Mr. Hamilton succeeds here as well in putting together a taut conclusion to this storyline.

The Naked God is the concluding part of this trilogy in which the Adamists and the Edenists combine forces to find out solutions- conventional or unconventional- to the possession that threatens humanity's existence.

In this series, Peter F Hamilton has created a stage of interstellar commerce, politics, war, and faith; a loose alliance of numerous colonized worlds called the Confederacy. Humanity has split off into two branches, the Adamists, whose bodies are extensively nanoenhanced, and the Edenists, who have gone one step further- they developed an "affinity gene" which allows them to communicate telepathically not only among themselves, but also the organic and sentient spacecraft they pilot. The Edenists have also perfected a "bitek" technology that has resulted in the creation of the sentient orbital environments where they live — and into which, once they die, their affinity-bonded consciousnesses are absorbed; effectively creating a "habitat with a soul". Hamilton's Confederacy is an extraordinary panoply of contrasts, and there are many moments throughout the story where readers are invited simply to bask in the majesty of the universe, recapturing that sense of wonder we all look for in SF.

His characters are also very well done. From the easy manner of the irrepressible Captain Calvert to the frighteningly vivid Quinn Dexter, Hamilton's created a large and formidable cast of characters. Chapters frequently switch between points of view, and although this may seem a bit complex, it allows for the series to maintain a frenetic pace. Hamilton manages the daunting task of keeping all characters equally interesting quite ably, making the temptation to skip to another character's chapter almost nil.

One of the best features of the series is the smooth blend of science fiction and horror. It's not often that a science fiction book can actually make you scared, but if any of them can pull it off, it's the Night's Dawn trilogy. Hamilton also includes some excellent technology, and the explanation and implementation of innovations such as affinity, neural nanonics, and even his take on spaceflight make for an exciting, if not interesting, read. It's almost unheard of for a series so huge to not drag on at points, but between the engaging characters and fantastic storyline, Hamilton manages just that.

The Night's Dawn trilogy is absolute vintage science fiction: grand, interstellar space adventure crammed with lots and lots of ideas and action! Peter F Hamilton succeeds in writing a mammoth masterpiece. If you've got to do it big, then do it like Hamilton! This one is definitely near the top of my all time SF list. 10 on 10! :~)

They look good, dont they? For detailed views, check out Muggle Net.

Each book of the series has broken records, and HP7 is expected to break even more. An unprecedented 12 million copies have been printed for bookstores in USA. Realists estimate that it might all be over in the first three days! Thats the magic of J K Rowling. Will she ever be able to shake off the tag of "the creator of Harry Potter"?

Well, I'll be getting my copy of the hardcover edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on July 21st itself courtesy Landmark, Spencer Plaza, Chennai [Landmark rules!!!!]- and will post my review asap. What about you all? :~)

I always thought that 6th semester would be a very productive time for my blogging activities; but I'm sorry to say the opposite has occurred. Too much leisure time has resulted in laziness, thus continuing an endless feedback loop. Hence, this long break. I'll be back, I promise you. Just let me relax for some more days. Or weeks. Or months!

Book 1: A Game of Thrones
Book 2: A Clash of Kings
Book 3: A Storm of Swords
Book 4: A Feast for Crows

Definitely the finest fantasy series ever written. Martin succeeds in portraying a world where there is no black and white, only varying degrees of grey. Will post my review as soon as i finish the fourth part!

Well, this is politics at its best, or should i say, the worst? I'm already rooting for Daenerys Targaryen to return to Westeros and assume her place as the rightful queen of the Seven Kingdoms. But I hope nothing bad would happen to the Stark children [especially Arya!], Jon Snow, Tyrion and Jaime... The only problem is that its extremely frustrating to wait for the next part. Can you believe that he has taken ten years to write these four books? Considering that he still has three parts left, it could easily take up another decade, before the series is finally over!