Happy Birthday, India

Its been seventy years since India got its independence from the British. Its birth was accompanied by the traumatic cleaving into two of British India and the traumatic loss of the Father of the Nation, Gandhi only five months later. Yet, India under its first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru embraced a democratic and inclusive vision for India. This vision is under serious threat right now, but that is a post for another day.

I am going to celebrate this milestone by blogging about India. The highs, the lows and everything in between, over the next two weeks. I plan to cover movies, science, history, geography of the original melting pot.

I leave you with  national anthem  written by Rabindranath Tagore, performed here by its preeminent and beloved artists, representing India’s tremendous linguistic and religious diversity. First there is an instrumental version, then a vocal one, both arranged by A. R. Rahman, an example of India’s many cultural strands come together to form  a unique whole.  This version is from  2000, many of the performers featured here are no longer with us, like Jagjit  Singh and Bhimsen Joshi.

Jana Gana Mana

Writer Kitteh Is Back

Last year was an eventful one for me personally and also for the world. We moved again, this time to a home of our own, I became a citizen of the country that has been my home for over two decades. Meanwhile the United States and India seem to have lost its collective mind and soul.

I have realized that we must keep speaking the truth as we see it, because those who want to destroy liberty, first try to obscure the truth and muddy it. This includes scientific truth. Power and money are no match for it in the long run. We know Galileo and Einstein by name while their detractors languish in relative obscurity.

There is so much to say that I haven’t said yet, where should I start?

ETA: Blogger kitteh made it to the FP of ICHC/lolcats.