1/
70% is the problem. Sorry. No one can save those bent upon decimating themselves. Eroding & gaslighting themselves.
Even those Indic wingers who blame Modi-Shah are dumbistanis. Sorry.
What happened this weekend in cricket, in the backdrop of the anti-Hindu riots in B'desh
+ 2/
has sealed my belief that Hindu society has brought this upon themselves. Like a battered housewife who continues to blame herself for the beatings, Hindu society does the same.

Countless discussions on WA. Responses on FB, all prove that Hindus have internalized Stockholm
+

I don't even know where to begin with this; but let's just start with false equivalence, shall we?
When Newton identified gravity, he was *shunned* by the Catholic Church. Notwithstanding the fact that Newton was a Christian.
In fact the church 👇
(1/)
prezi.com/df5p5wenxkjv/n… shunned *anything* scientific. A struggle that continues, in some fronts, even to this day. (Ask the Evangelicals about the creation of earth. LOL.)
So the true statement would be that Yoga is as Hindu as the Adam & Eve story is Christian!

How can @SadhguruJV or anyone
(2/)

Most of us are lucky & never see this, but I do know a few people whose parents emotionally stunted them due to (unintentional?) abuse.

I've heard stories of a distant relative who insisted that his kids speak only in English with each other. This was back in (1/)

https://twitter.com/DrAmbardar/status/1355288345195077637

India in the 50s & 60s. The kids were SHAMED & punished if they broke into the vernacular by mistake.

Can you imagine that?

Today, while their English is ok 😏, I see these folks (now in their 60s and 70s) struggling to establish/maintain connections with their own
(2/)

Make no mistake; folks like Divya Dwivedi are the ones who practice caste-based discrimination.

Notice how they never eschew their (ex?) Hindu identities? Observe how they always sneak their "UC / Brahmin privilege" into the conversation? It's always about staying in the (1/)

https://twitter.com/thecaravanindia/status/1354436499614347266

spotlight, & staying relevant.

As folks from all social groups advance their status in India, these people feel threatened. So they have to spin these stupid narratives. It's a desperate cry for attention.

Ideally, we should ignore them. However, Unfortunately, given the (2/)

I love the poetry of Ram Dhari Singh Dinkar, & this is my favorite. 💕 & the reference to Shri Ram🔥

क्षमा, दया, तप, त्याग, मनोबल सबका लिया सहारा
पर नर व्याघ सुयोधन तुमसे कहो कहाँ कब हारा?

क्षमाशील हो ॠपु-समक्ष तुम हुये विनीत जितना ही
दुष्ट कौरवों ने तुमको कायर समझा उतना ही
1/ अत्याचार सहन करने का कुफल यही होता है
पौरुष का आतंक मनुज कोमल होकर खोता है

क्षमा शोभती उस भुजंग को जिसके पास गरल है
उसका क्या जो दंतहीन विषरहित विनीत सरल है

तीन दिवस तक पंथ मांगते रघुपति सिंधु किनारे
बैठे पढते रहे छन्द अनुनय के प्यारे प्यारे
2/

First things first: good riddance to bad rubbish; I am glad Mathangi S no longer considers herself a Hindu.
(Could you please stay the eff out of defining it as well?)

When I read articles like these by ex-Brahmins (?) suffering with some strange (1/)
harpersbazaar.com/culture/politi… mix of guilt, superiority complex ("look we know we are better but we'll try our best to hide it"), I really feel like telling them to STFU.
Firstly, Brahmins make < 5% of India's population. So please. While people like Mathangi definitely don't represent Hindus; neither (2/)

Observations. #371.
1/n
BIGOTRY OF HIGH EXPECTATIONS

#WokeStapo: Listen ye Hindus, you cannot celebrate Navratri unless there are 0 crimes reported against women in India.
Hindus: But.. but that's impossible! No country has that stat!
#W: 💅
H: 👀
+ 2/n
H: But not all are Hindus!
#W: Always Hindu-Muslim! You people are bigots!
H: 🙄
#W: Hs, you cannot celebrate Holi since face-paints have chemicals & so much water wastage!
H: But.. but we can use natural colors...
#W: You are wasting water! Also, excuse me, I need to paint+

Observations. #222.

"SPREADING BRANCHES"

A false allegation made against NRIs like me is that if we really loved our roots, how come we are not living in India? How come we gave up our citizenships & adopted foreign lands.🤠
The aim of this statement is to delegitimize our
1/n claims to our roots. Honestly, it's cruel.🥺

Two kinds of people do this:
a. Fellow Dindu / Abrahamic NRIs who envy our unabashed love for our culture & traditions. It pricks at their low self-esteem issues which urge them to be more like their white counterparts - at which
2/n

Observations. # 45.
1/n
"THE GODS LOOK BLUER ON THE OTHER SIDE OF THE FENCE!"

In the west, you hear of all the Abrahamic faiths. Of the eastern religions, you hear of Buddhism, Sikhism, even Jainism, but Hinduism falls by the wayside. People know Yoga, Meditation, Ayurveda...
+

https://twitter.com/English_bahen/status/1307212933525630976

2/n
but not Hinduism. Why?
The truth is that when your context is Abrahamic, you will only give credence to the "one god" of the "one book" or the "one guru" faiths. Anything that deviates from that footprint, seems strange, weird, odd - in short PAGAN.

So, at best, it's
+

Observations. #345.
1/n
"Sabarimala 2.0?"😩

I support gay marriages (or any kinda marriage between consenting adults) & I really think the government should stay out of people's bedrooms.
OK, having gotten the notes out of the way, this may be controversial but will say it..
+

https://twitter.com/dharmicverangna/status/1305482905926479872

2/n
why is only the Hindu marriage act only being modified? Why not others? Actually, I take that back. In a SECULAR (that word!) nation why is the government being invited to interfere in the matters of faith (HINDU only)? Isn't this Sabrimala all over again?🥺
I am OK if the +

Observations. #721.

1/n
"BECAUSE THEY ARE WORTH IT"

I was chatting with a friend who lives in Delhi this morning & we were discussing the remunerations for priests in Hindu temples.
There's a temple being constructed in his neighborhood & he actually asked the priest his + 2/n
salary & the man said it was going to be 9K plus accommodation (modest) in the temple premises.
9K! For a Hindu priest. For someone who knows the Vedas & our scriptures. For someone who reads mantras & does pooja when you buy a house.. buy a car.

Think again.

My friend +

Conversations. # 56.

"SELF-FLAGELLATION. 101"

1/n

Criticizing Hinduism over glasses of wine is the preferred activity of the so-called liberals. I was at a party where a non-Hindu said: "Did you know about the breast-tax in South India?" And the other Hindus
+

https://twitter.com/sheila_seattle/status/1303716395725672450

2/n
jumped in to talk about casteism.
"Do you know this happened as recently as the mid-1800s?"
A Dindoo responded: "Yeah, also, they made the lower-caste people tie brooms to their waists so they could clean up the streets as they walked."
All: 😱😱😱

That's when I got up +

Personal Stories. #27.
1/n
GUNSLINGER

As I sat on the grass in my sideyard, playing with the puppy, she drove up in an unassuming car & parked by the curbside.
I dragged myself up & said hello. She had come to pick her son up from my place (my kid & his friends had a party
+ 2/n
at my place last night). Her kid is not really my son's friend... he's a friend's friend..but you know how teenagers are.
Anyway, I digress.

I started chatting on the lawn.. too lazy to entertain anyone in a messy house.

I made assumptions. Gujju lady = housewife.
+

Observations. # 89.
EQUAL-OPPORTUNITY OFFENDERS. NOT.

1/n

When Christmas rolls around I celebrate it. Yes, I have "secularized" it; however, I recognize that it's a Christian festival & my putting up a tree is more for the decor of the season + I love gifts 😎
+ 2/n
(even though I bought them!). I don't shit on the festival by discussing cultural appropriation or decimation of native cultures or the pedophilia scandal in the Catholic church.
Why can't Hindus & non-Hindus let at least one freakin' Hindu festival go by without making
+

Personal Stories. #20.

"Socialism = Lines"

1/n.

As we drive toward a restaurant in Brooklyn, he asks: “Have you ever stood in line to collect rations in India?”

“No.” I smile. “Never. I actually never stood in line anywhere until I moved to the US."

Hmm.
+ 2/n

He continues: “When I was a kid in the 80s, I used to live in a one-room apartment in a chawl in Mumbai with my family. There were four of us: my sister, my parents, me. And then there were my mom’s students – she took tuition for kids – who took up space in the cramped
+

Poetry. # 2
1/n
I wrote this in anger/sadness after the Badaun gang rape in 2014. Was meaning to polish it before I posted.. but .. oh well. FB just reminded me...

MANGO TREE

I am the Mango tree, standing tall, standing free.
Witness for the prosecution, 2/n

Burdened by my fate, burdened by the girls.

Because on this barren parched earth, they had the audacity to take birth.

The audacity to walk freely, to giggle and to live easily.
Until that day when they were torn, and then left behind like they were never even born.

+

Personal Stories. # 18.
"Ganga" Or "What Shashi Tharoor wants to Steal from us"

1/n.

The other day my son was driving me to a friend's house when we passed by a cemetery. Actually, we drove thru it - the gravestone were on both sides of the road.
"So, your thing is to be
+ 2/n
is to be cremated, right?"
"Our thing," I corrected him.
Son: 😁
Me: Do me a favor, when I die, throw my ashes in the Ganga.
S: Really? You want me to do that? I thought it wasn't mandatory.
M: It isn't... but dunno why I feel like that these days.
S: Hmm.
+
#Observations

Personal Stories. #15.

Languages of the Heart.

1/n.

I love languages. Especially Indian ones. I can speak Hindi (obviously!) / Telugu. Understand Kannada / Punjabi. Can follow Marathi. At one point understood Assamese too. And as a child, my sis spoke Bengali. She rues that +

https://twitter.com/Indic_Angle/status/1283071311950970881

2/n

she lost it. I love multilingual peeps. When I see MSD's daughter say stuff in Tamil, I get the feels. LOL. Once I was on a train from Sec'bad to Delhi & the Sardarji next to me had such a wonderful conversation - he would speak to someone on the phone in Punjabi, while +

Conversations. #90.
"Language Arts"
1/n
Back in 2011, while visiting India, I met a friend. A Feminist, an environmentalist, a Communist, Bruce Springsteen fan... I was impressed. He seemed so idealistic.
Until one day he said that Sanskrit should be "scrapped." +

https://twitter.com/sambitswaraj/status/1282491742810341377

2/n
"No one speaks it. Why do we need it?" he asked.

I wondered. Back in Cal State, while doing my 2nd UG, I had history professor who could speak Latin. Once she caught me translating an old Japanese poem into Hindi - I was writing in the margins of the book.
Intrigued she
+

Observations. #62.

Do re me fa...

1/n

Songs have such an influence on all of us - whether Hindi cinema or regional cinema. A tweet from a few days ago set me thinking about the songs that have left a deep impression on me from a Hindu perspective.
Here are a few...
+ 2/n

Right off the bat, Deva Sri Ganesha from Agneepath. The rousing beats, the crescendo.. this song just does something. Your heart starts thumping. Even if you are not a Maharashtrian, when you listen to it, the Marathi manoos in you wakes up!😀🙏😊💕👌

Observations. #1947.

"English-Vinglish"
1/n
I am going to say something uncomfortable... but I think one of the reasons Modiji gets hate from the leftists is his thick accent while speaking in English.

English-speaking has such a hold on Desi mindset despite the years since +

https://twitter.com/narendramodi/status/1281186129035669505

2/n
independence - it's amazing!

Sharing one of the BEST poems I've read that captures this angst that many in the Indian sub-continent carry with regards to this language. It's called
"COPULATION IN ENGLISH".😃 - Mohja Kahf (Pakistani, I think.) +