[Leica] Qutb Shai Tombs, Hyderabad

[Jayanand Govindaraj]

There is nothing wrong with the political environment here at all. We have
175 million Muslims and 85 million Christians in this country, do you think
the nation would survive serious religious discontent? We will have
destructive civil war, which is clearly not the case.

All this nonsense the western media is putting out on Jammu and Kashmir
(J&K), in many cases using Indian journalists totally discredited here
(e.g. Barkha Dutt of Washington Post), or academics living in the West, is
quite pitiable.  A democratically elected government has taken a decision,
according to our constitution, and won the requisite votes in both houses
of parliament, with huge majorities. If someone thinks it is illegal, then
there are special appeals possible directly to our quite independent
Supreme Court available for redress. Let the constitutionally prescribed
legal process take its course!

The Jammu & Kashmir (J&K) autonomy has been an unsuccessful and totally
failed experiment over the last 70 years, just fomenting terrorism, extreme
corruption concentrated in a few political and quasi religious families and
no investment at all for jobs, and something different had to be tried. Did
you know that most of the Indian laws are not applicable in J&K? The
majority of the land mass in the state of J&K consists of the Buddhist area
of Ladakh and the Hindu area of Jammu, where there is celebration in the
streets for this political move, by 50% of the state population. The valley
of Kashmir is about 15% of the area and about 50% of the population (about
3 million people in a nation of 1.2 billion). The original drawing of the
seats to the state government was artificially drawn by Nehru in 1949 to
give 60% of the seats to the Kashmiri Muslims, which was never redrawn,
therefore damning the Hindus and Buddhists of the region. Besides, the
Kashmiri Pandits (the Hindus of the Muslim dominated Kashmir Valley) were
butchered, and driven out out of their ancestral homes and lands beginning
in 1989, and effectively 100% ethnic cleansing carried out by terror
squads, as the state and central governments of the day looked the other
way, because it suited their short term political interests to do so.

What our government has done has caught everyone by surprise, and with all
the subtlety of a hammer, so the hand wringing is intense. The situation on
the ground has really not changed at all, it has been equally bad for the
last 20 years or so. It might not be the right decision, only the future
will tell, but the status quo could not have continued, something had to
give. Incidentally, my estimate is that probably 60- 70% of the population
of the country approve of this political move! It is becoming increasingly
clear, as in China as well, that it is very difficult to have one country
with two classes of citizens, and drastically different levels of
applicability of national laws.

Sorry for this political rant!

Cheers
Jayanand

On Tue, Aug 13, 2019 at 1:30 AM Nathan Wajsman <photo at frozenlight.eu> wrote:

> Such incredible magnificence!!! Thanks for sharing.
>
> Given the current political environment in India, is Aga Khan’s financing
> of such projects controversial?
>
> Cheers,
> Nathan
>
> Nathan Wajsman
>
> Alicante, Spain
> http://www.frozenlight.eu <http://www.frozenlight.eu/>
> http:// <http://www.greatpix.eu/>www.greatpix.eu
> PICTURE OF THE WEEK: http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws <
> http://www.fotocycle.dk/paws>Blog: http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/ <
> http://nathansmusings.wordpress.com/>
>
> Cycling: http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator <
> http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/belgiangator>
>
> YNWA
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > On 10 Aug 2019, at 12:32, Jayanand Govindaraj via LUG <
> lug at leica-users.org> wrote:
> >
> > I had been to the former princely state of Hyderabad, India a few weeks
> ago.
> > The Qutb Shahi tombs were in total disrepair, and crumbling into
> oblivion,
> > when I used to stay in Hyderabad in the 1970s and 1980s. The Aga Khan
> > Foundation has taken up an ambitious programme of restoring these
> > magnificent set of tombs, belonging to the rulers of this area in the
> 16th
> > and 17th centuries. Work is still going on, but the results are already
> > unambiguously visible!
> >
> > Arches:
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/India/hyderabad/Hyderabad-20190706-132.jpg.html
> >
> > Lady:
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/India/hyderabad/Hyderabad-20190706-140.jpg.html
> >
> > Photo:
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/India/hyderabad/Hyderabad-20190706-142.jpg.html
> >
> > Love in the Ruins:
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/India/hyderabad/Hyderabad-20190706-116.jpg.html
> >
> > Mausoleum of Mohammed Quli Qutb Shah:
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/India/hyderabad/Hyderabad-20190706-144.jpg.html
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/India/hyderabad/Hyderabad-20190706-150.jpg.html
> >
> >
> http://gallery.leica-users.org/v/jayanand/India/hyderabad/Hyderabad-20190706-150BW.jpg.html
> >
> > Please see LARGE
> >
> > Comments and criticism, as ever, welcome.
> >
> > Cheers
> > Jayanand
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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>
>
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