[Leica] (SPAM: ?) Re: Ganesha Chaturthi Part 1

[scleroplex at gmail.com (scleroplex)]

very lovely photos sir, as always

re "it became a
huge celebration in Mumbai, a religious show of strength, and this attitude
has unfortunately seeped into a large part of the country."

in 1948 the muslim population agitated for and won a massive Partition
along religious lines.
the land of bharat was partitioned into a Post-Partition Hindu India and a
Post-Partition Muslim Pakistan.

naturally people who stayed in Post-Partition Hindu India assumed, phew,
they would no longer be attacked,
kidnapped, beheaded, burnt alive or have acid thrown on their faces.

sadly, none of that ever stopped as the muslims decided one Pakistan was
not enough when the rest of Post-Partition Hindu India was still there for
the taking.

thus they began holding huge muslim prayers in the middle of mumbai, inside
Post-Partition Hindu India, blocking the streets and traffic every friday,
most famously in an area called Mahim Creek.

they also routinely burnt Hindu pilgrims alive for years and years when
they travelled to and from Hindu shrines inside Post-Partition Hindu India.

the hindus of and in Post-Partition Hindu India finally began retaliating,
most prominently after Hindu pilgrims were burnt alive inside a passenger
train in 2002.

there were further attacks on Hindu temples inside Post-Partition Hindu
India as well as bombings of commuter trains in mumbai and even a three-day
armed assault in 2008 by citizens of and from Post-Partition Muslim
Pakistan.

in response, Hindus in Post-Partition Hindu India began to celebrate Hindu
festivals prominently inside Post-Partition Hindu India.
it is certainly a more classy response that Charlie Hebdo's cartoons.

also see - http://www.flickr.com/photos/scleroplex/5470355008/
and
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scleroplex/5488543585/

as i wrote, if Hindus cannot travel to sites of Hindu pilgrimage inside
Post-Partition Hindu India with the expectation that they would not be
burnt alive, where can they?

all major Hindu temples have been under armed protection for years.

and the few Hindus left inside Post-Partition Muslim Pakistan have stepped
up their efforts to flee.

because people have pussy-footed around these unassailable facts for years,
the fascists have been emboldened to now demand
that saying anything deemed offensive to muslims anywhere be made illegal
at the United Nations level.

http://jonathanturley.org/2012/09/24/egyptian-president-demands-criminalization-of-anti-islamic-speech-at-united-nations/

"One of Mursi?s chief aides, Emad Abdel Ghaffour, announced this weekend,
?we call for legislation or a resolution to criminalize contempt of Islam
as a religion and its Prophet. The voice of reason in the West will prevail
if there is mutual respect, dialogue and efficient lobbying for this
critical resolution.?

The ?voice of reason? appears to be saying that we need to sacrifice free
speech on the altar of religion. Moreover, ?mutual respect? now means that
critics must remain silent in their views of Muhammad and Islam."

naturally most people are too scared to call a spade a spade.

this week i just finished reading salman rushdie's memoirs.
well worth one's time.

and a year ago Oxford published another useful book -
http://www.amazon.com/Silenced-Apostasy-Blasphemy-Choking-Worldwide/dp/0199812284


just as it is wrong to rape a woman regardless of the clothes she was
wearing at the time, a point that has since lead to demonstrations called
"Slut Walks" which i wholeheartedly support, it is equally wrong to kill or
threaten someone with death based on a comment or cartoon or book.

the boston globe's wasserman has a delightful cartoon on this point -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/scleroplex/8001625070/in/photostream

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SlutWalk

cheers!
bharani


Message: 2
Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2012 21:31:41 +0530
From: Jayanand Govindaraj <jayanand at gmail.com>
Subject: [Leica] Ganesha Chaturthi Part 1
To: Leica Users Group <lug at leica-users.org>, PSM
        <psm1857 at googlegroups.com>
Message-ID:
        <CAH1UNJ0DCmDmu-k0cQD6woK_wT1-ZUQ_mWVzcnJrni+tZ4WyTA at 
mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

I had taken part in a photowalk on 19th September, together with my PSM
club mates. That was the day of a major festival in India, Ganesha
Chaturthi, in honour of the elephant god, Ganesha. He is the god of wisdom,
prosperity and luck - and so is very widely worshiped. This festival was a
relatively benign affair till a couple of decades ago when it was noticed
that it would always fall close to Ramadan (Eid ul Fitr), and it became a
huge celebration in Mumbai, a religious show of strength, and this attitude
has unfortunately seeped into a large part of the country. Anyway, in
Chennai it still is a relatively benign affair. Traditionally we do pooja
to an idol of Ganesha made of mud, which is then immersed in a water body
and dissipates back into nature. Anyway some shots in and around the the
Kapaleeshwarar Temple, supposedly in operation since the 7th century,
dedicated to Shiva, the Hindu god of destruction - Ganesha is his son in
Hindu mythology. All taken with the Fuji X-Pro 1 - a few with the 60mm f2.4
and the majority with the 35mm f1.4 lenses. I am glad to report that
autofocus speed has increased dramatically after the recent firmware update.

Eye contact with a god:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/DSCF0645.jpg.html

Morning News:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/DSCF0598.jpg.html

Discomfort:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/DSCF0609.jpg.html

Umbrellas:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/DSCF0629.jpg.html

Shade: http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/DSCF0632.jpg.html

Devotee:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/DSCF0646.jpg.html

Fresh Idols:
http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/album254/DSCF0659.jpg.html

Please see LARGE!

Comments and criticism, as ever, welcome.

Cheers
Jayanand