starry night

  Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay vs Union of India 2024 (ongoing)  The present case is a public interest litigation filed by one Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay seeking the striking down of the act.  The said act was passed by the Parliament in 1991. The object of the act is to protect the status of the places of worship as it stood in August 15 1947. The act provides an exemption for Ram Jan bhoomi Dispute and except that specific dispute all disputes regarding the status of the places of worship shall cease to exist. The arguments advanced by the petioner is that the said act is violative of Article 14. This act brings an arbitrary classification. Moreover dissolving existing disputes without hearing is violative of principles of natural justice.  The intervenors have called for a stricter implementation of the act. Citing that places of worship act explicitly prohibites suits ascertaining relgious character.  It has said that there is multiple suits whether it be in gyanvapi ...

These are part of a selection of stories that have been gathered from conversations I had  with friends, acquaintances and strangers. I have grouped together the stories  which have a common theme.The following stories have been a gentle reminder for me to be a kinder human, something which I sometimes fail at. All of these stories are real. Now you know them too.  1989-90 . Mumbai near Kamathipura Roby Antony, 21 old aspiring graphic designer  is penniless and crying . There is a malayali mess house nearby run by a man named Shankar. The young man cries lamenting the situation he is  in. An unnamed friend barges into the room. It is unclear whether he heard him crying. Incidentally he asks him whether he had eaten lunch, to which Roby said no. Both of them went down and ate at Shankar’s. As he was leaving Roby realizes this unnamed friend also did not have money but due to his relation with Shankar he could put it in his credit. Into the due amount the unnamed ...

Wild West  Blood Meridian is American Novelist Cormac Mcarthy’ masterpiece. Mcarthy’s novels are usually set in the American Frontier. As we know Frontiers belonged to Native Americans before being taken over by Americans. Mcarthy’s novel revolves around ‘Kid’ who has romanticized view of the wild west. He wants to embark upon an adventure. Mcarthy paints a gruesome picture of such expansionist ventures. The explorer is long dead. To survive in a frontier whether it is in the frontier of knowledge or territorial expansion you have to be a wolf. The wild west is the land of wolves .  Nihilism  The core argument is that Humankind is a species which has a predisposition for violence. According to Judge Holden, the philosopher antagonist of the book, war predates mankind. War was waiting patiently till its greatest practitioner, Humankind was born. Massacres happen in the novel left and right. Humans are  trapped in a cycle of violence, both settlers and natives alike. N...

 All religions are good or rather all religions are bad. There can't be no two ways, at least for the atheist. For the fundamentalist, whether Hindu Muslim or Christian, their religion is supreme. The modern Muslim is subjected to more questions about his religion and identity than any other mainstream religion. The actions of fundamental forces within the Muslim religion aided by the fundamentalists from Christianity and hinduism have created the isolated Muslim. The isolated Muslim is a follower of Islam who is not a fundamentalist. A person who believes in compassion and love. However the creation of the isolated Muslim can't be solely placed under the feet of fundamentalists of all religions, but also on the global imperial interests of Americans who have plundered resource rich Muslim countries on their “war on terror “. It has also legitimized to a certain degree by the creation of Israel. Jewish resurgence after the horror of holocaust was a great moral victory to the We...