Gorab
Midway through the valley.... Breaking some myths on where does Kashmir actually belongs... contrary to the biased Indian side view that it belongs to India and Pak's view vice versa. There is no black and white distinction here... but very interesting points (provided the ones mentioned in this book are factual and not biased!)
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Completed Apples in the basket!! My god, it was funny. Especially all those stubborn princes. Well, it must have been painful at that time, but, honestly, it feels so amusing right now :P
Gorab
On the last chapter of Part 1 - Ideas of India. The refugee wala part was a bit familiar. Saw it in movies. Pinjar. And some more. Plight of women was most depressing.
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Completed the Kashmir chapter. Even though very informative, this gave only vague idea about the problem. Of course, it could not have been covered in a small chapter. Now I have to read more books on this topic. All with different opinions. Ugh!!
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My god, those Pathans!! WHO were they? I don't remember their mention in my history books, or maybe I didn't read well. Mountbatten gave great suggestion then. This book is telling me that there was great chemistry between Nehru, Mountbatten, and Patel.
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Read the wikipedia page of Shiekh Abdullah. Didn't know too much about him. He was very popular, it seems. Did you know he was the father of Farukh Abdullah?
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Ah Pinjar- I wanted to read the novel, but it's in Punjabi!! Don't want to read the translation, at least not English. Will check if there's any Hindi version.
Gorab
about Kashmir - he's mentioned there are no concrete evidence (written or even visual) to know whether or not those Pathans were sent by Pakistan. i don't know what other material I'd look out to....
Gorab
Nehru, Patel, Mountbatten - didn't realise the very crucial role played by each. have recently heard all negative things about Nehru but here in this book I'm liking him. he seems logical.
deleted userGorab wrote: "Nehru, Patel, Mountbatten - didn't realise the very crucial role played by each. have recently heard all negative things about Nehru but here in this book I'm liking him. he seems logical."
That's what I was wondering. There's so much negativity around Nehru nowadays. People blame him for not handling the Kashmir issue properly. That's stupidity. People don't know future, do they? He did what he thought was best at that time. How could he have known about the future?!
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Also it's kinda weird that right wing parties in India are trying to sell us Patel as a replacement of Nehru. Recently, I'm noticing, they are trying to present Patel like a Hindu leader!! -_-
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On second part of the book- Nehru's India. On 7.3 You remember the elections in ASB? I guess those were the '52 election. Nehru thinking about quitting Congress and what not!!
Gorab
don't remember ASB. imagining all in multicolor mode! took parents for shopping and got a decent reading time.... only read IAG... somewhere in chapter 9 or 10. Absolutely loving it. premonition that union territories will be discussed as well...bcoz formation of Bombay is detailed.
deleted userGorab wrote: "is the author biased towards Congress?? doesn't looks like it... but somewhere inside feels like it..."
Not towards Congress, but he IS biased towards Nehru sir. I was surprised that why did I never come across such a positive portrayal of Nehru as I'm reading in this. But it seems, and many articles and Quora answers say so :( But since I'm also biased towards Congress and Nehruji, I wouldn't mind it. ;P
In fact, I love it when he (Guha sir) talks about the communalist agenda of RSS and directly accuses them ;)
Gorab
I'm not against Congress or BJP per se... but idea wise I am inclined against Congress... Mainly bcoz they run it like a family business. I hate it when only family blood runs in as the next heir instead of most capable.
Now that you've mentioned the Sahitya Akademi during UPA, I will pay more attention while reading.
deleted userGorab wrote: "I'm not against Congress or BJP per se... but idea wise I am inclined against Congress... Mainly bcoz they run it like a family business. I hate it when only family blood runs in as the next heir i..."
Better family than communalism. I can't tolerate politics on religion. It instantly puts me off, and I know INC is not better either, but at least they "pretend" to be secular. PS: This family thing will destroy them now. There were nice politicians in the family in past (Indira, Rajeev and even Sonia was/is a strong woman), but there's no hope with Rahul.
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It seems that Gandhi's charm faded as the British left. He doesn't look much like a "politician". And here Nehru shines, or Guha sir says so.
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You know miss Arundhati Roy too does not have a good opinion for Gandhi, but then she criticise, like, every Indian thing. My best friend hates him. He says she doesn't have that national pride.
GorabArpit wrote: "It seems that Gandhi's charm faded as the British left. He doesn't look much like a "politician". And here Nehru shines, or Guha sir says so."
May be because we are reading the part titled "Nehru's India". Guha sir has written a few other books too based on Gandhiji. Gandhi before India...
Gorab
So far all the decisions taken by Nehru ji are very logical and patriotic. Especially the struggle to avoid creation of a separate state of Andhra.
Gorab
I don't have the links ready with me now, but there have been alligations that when Chacha Nehru won Bharat Ratna, he nominated himself. Same for Indira Gandhi. Ok here it is : http://indiafacts.org/the-story-behin...
Plus there have been many degrading stories floating around the family tree of Nehru-Gandhi.