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Length: 6,752 words - 39,509 characters
Summary: In 1989, British Muslims, who had been seriously offended by Salman Rushdie's novel "The Satanic Verses", because of the insulting fictitious scenes which were falsely attributed to ancient, loved and greatly respected Muslim saints, started a campaign to have the book banned in Britain.
Sheikh Ahmed Deedat, a respected theologian, debater and public speaker, therefore decided on a different approach: "If the British do not care whether the book insults Muslims, we must show them that Rushdie also insults white people, all British people, the British Prime Minister of the time, Mrs Thatcher, and even Her Royal Highness, the Queen".
He therefore meticulously collected all the offensive words and sentences in the novel and published them in a 24-page booklet, stuffed with material, potentially offensive for white British people, "un-expurgated". "When they see this, they will surely ban the book". He gave lectures, up and down the country, attended by thousands of Muslims, handed out the booklet and asked them to distribute it, with the aim of upsetting the white Britishers so much that they would ban the book. They weren't and they didn't.
If you click on the above link, you can read Rushdie's filth, all his filth and nothing but his filth. As Deedat says on his posters: "Not suitable for bashful women and children." You have been warned.
(Essay)
Length: 15,600 words = 74,500 characters
Editorial introduction:
This essay was written during the final stages of the 1990/1991 Gulf War, which lead to the expulsion of occupying Iraq from Kuwait. While seeing the necessity of the military action as such, Klaus Bung criticises the enthusiasm and the self-righteousness with which it was experienced by western politicians, media and people and the empty moralising political slogans (e.g. the millennial 'New World Order', where 'henceforth' justice wins over brute force). Even internally 'democratic' nations, such as the USA and Great Britain, can be brutal imperialists in their international relations (and therefore cause resentment), as was Athens, the oft idolised cradle of democracy.
After giving a potted history of Iraq, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia, Klaus Bung shows the parellels of the Kuwait-Iraq affair and its morality or lack of it with events and arguments in classical antiquity. For instance, Athens behaved like Iraq when, in 416 B.C., it attacked, occupied, depopulated and colonised the independent island of Melos (famous negotiations with arguments of might over right), and like Iraq in Kuwait (or Hitler in Stalingrad in 1943) it got its come-uppance when it overreached itself and attacked the independent city of Syracuse (414 B.C.). The delusions of Saddam Hussain are seen as analogous to those of Don Quijote. The horrendous destruction of the Iraqis withdrawing from Kuwait with their ill-gotten booty were an exact mirror of what happened to the Persian army when their attempt to conquer Athens failed during the sea Battle of Salamis (480 B.C.) and they had to withdraw over land, and is movingly described in Aeschylos's play 'The Persians' (472 B.C.).
These themes are of permanent relevance and throw, from some angle or other, useful light on more contemporary conflicts (esp. all stories of conquest, foreign domination and ethnic cleansing), e.g., at present (2002), the Israeli conquest and occupation of Palestinian land, the recent Balkan conflicts, etc.
A potted history of Kuwait in question and answer form,
Or: A simpleton's guide, or catechism, to the conflict between Iraq and Kuwait
Length: = characters
Summary: file to follow
Length: 991 words = 5586 characters
Date: 1994
Synopsis:
The author comes across a holiday brochure trying to attract Westerners to India (Goa in particular) and is appalled by the primitive and un-Indian mentality and expectations to which it is trying to appeal. He responds by writing a story which quotes strikingly silly phrases from the brochure.
(Essay)
Length: 13,130 words = 78,241 characters
Music is often popularly described in terms of nationalities, e.g. as typically French, as if 'French-ness' were an inherent feature of such music. Similarly some people make an issue of the question whether a piece of literature is English, as opposed to American, to Irish, to Indian etc. Klaus Bung investigates the general question to what extent national labels applied to works of art are significant. His is a case-study approach. He takes 'French music' as an example, extends the investigation to 'English literature', and asks how literature differs from music in respect of such labels. He concludes that in music national labels are generally not significant, but that similar labels are meaningful in literature - not in terms of nationality but in terms of language. His approach is often humorous. Since many readers will not be familiar with French music, he tabulates important names and dates (with cross-references from French to German music) and thus provides a potted history of French music.
1994-04-22 - Klaus Bung - La musique française, existe-t-elle? (Does French music exist) (French version) (Mk1.9)
An exploration of the difficulties which arise if one tries to associate art and style with nationality.
(Essay)
Length: 12,000 words = 72,000 characters (approx.)
Dans le roman 'Tous les matins du monde' de Pascal Quignard, le compositeur Sainte Colombe dit: 'La musique aussi est une langue humaine' (p 71).
On dit que la musique est une langue internationale, c'est-a-dire que tout le monde, de n'importe quel pays, peut la comprendre comme sa langue maternelle. On ne doit pas faire un effort special pour l'apprendre.
Comme tant de dictons populaires, evidemment cela n'est pas vrai. La musique indienne, arabe, japonaise et europeenne sont decidemment differentes l'une de l'autre, et, si vous avez ete eleve dans une tradition, vous ne pouvez pas, sans un effort enorme, comprendre et apprecier l'autre tradition. Alors, tandis que la musique peut-etre est une langue humaine, elle n'est point une langue internationale.
C'est donc une bonne idee de se demander
- si la musique europeenne est une famille de langues apparentees (related xxx) (comme les langues indo-europeennes ou les langues latines), c'est-a-dire des systemes qui sont apparentes mais pas mutuellement intelligibles sans un effort special de les apprendre,
- ou si la musique europeenne est une langue, peut-etre divisee en des dialectes (français, allemand, espagnol ou anglais, le dialecte du pays dit 'le pays sans musique') qui sont differents l'un de l'autre mais qui sont mutuellement intelligibles.
| Bridge In principio La jouissance Media Notes on 'The Sense of Non-Sense Poetry' Paradox Proportional representation Quakers |
Salman Submarine-like the spirit of essential essence of sense The English Tone The Point Three Bumblebee Poems Truth When Yasin Scorned Whore |
Length: 11,000 words = 2,000 lines
In French. Poems and essays, partly translated from the Bengali by Paul Georgelin
27 poems by Pradip Choudhuri.
Essay: 'Life and death of literary movements' by Pradip Choudry
Essay: 'Modern Indian poetry' by Paul Georgelin
Note on Pradip Choudhuri by Bruno Sourdin
Note on Paul Georgelin by Alain le Roux
Essay: 'Life and death of literary movements' by Pradip Choudry
Essay: 'Modern Indian poetry' by Paul Georgelin
Note on Pradip Choudhuri by Bruno Sourdin
Note on Paul Georgelin by Alain le Roux
(Essay)
Length: 7,622 words = 43,767 characters
Editorial introduction:
A campaign against racism in England promoted the notion that we should take no notice of other people's skin colour, make no assumptions, and treat everybody as if they were culturally and in every other respect the same. Ashutosh Vardhana argues that the ideal of colour blindness misses the point. Prejudice (prior judgements, acting on probabilities, on the basis of experience with groups) is beneficial and necessary for the functioning of society. What has to be combatted is not recognition of other groups but hostility towards them. The antidote to racism is not colour blindness but that we should learn to love, rather than hate, what is different, we should know as much as possible about other worlds, and take pleasure in exploring the worlds we do not know.
Summary: To follow
(Essay)
Length: 5,174 words = 29,585 characters
An irreverent literary look at the popular excesses after the death of Diana, Princess of Wales, in 1997.
Length: 21,200 words
Summary: An old Hindu priest, astrologer, Sanskrit scholar and guru living in Leicester, England, suffers from a congenital heart defect and is slowly dying. He is offered an operation which will greatly improve his health and extend his life span. He has a devoted disciple, Ashok, who cares for him, and five resentful adult children who have grown up in England, do not understand the Hindu tradition, and for mysterious reasons bear a grudge against their father and neglect him. After many weeks of pondering the pros and cons, the Guru decides to undergo the operation. His children do not show much interest in his medical condition and do not aid him in his difficult decision. Two days before the operation, Ashok takes him to the hospital and stays at his bedside day and night. Final tests are made to determine if he is still fit for the operation, and they show that he is stronger than expected. When the Guru speaks to the surgeon, he confirms that he is ready to undergo the operation. Three hours later, on the evening before the operation is due, his family descends on him. They suddenly see a chance of gaining status by putting on the act of concerned relatives and challenging the professionals. Having taken no interest in their father's health for many years, they start questioning the details of the operation and making their father insecure while refusing to give any clear-cut advice. They merely reiterate: "You must decide", which can only mean: "Do not have the operation for which you have come here." This is 12 hours before the operation is due to start. A dispute arises between Ashok, who favours the operation, and the family. Ashok is accused of bullying the Guru into having the operation. The Guru, as yet undecided, hears of the dispute and the attack on the one person who truly cares for him, unlike his biological children. During the night preceding the operation he decides against it and in favour of a slow decline. He fears that, in the event of the operation failing, his beloved disciple will, for the rest of his life, be accused by his family and his own conscience of having caused the Guru's death. He also wants to give his uncaring children, who he thinks have suddenly become aware of their duties as children, a chance to make up for their past neglect by looking after him properly while "death is eating him in small bites", rather than killing him in one fell swoop as the operation might have done. When he arrives home again, the facade of love displayed at the hospital is forgotten. The children declare that their father does not love them, therefore he cannot expect more than minimal care from them. The Guru's gamble on his children has failed. Ashok accuses himself for not having spoken up more forcefully in favour of the operation, for not having accepted the risk of being blamed for his Guru's death. While the Guru is asleep, Ashok sneaks out to discuss his plight with one of the Guru's friends. The Guru phones him and reminds him of the virtue of doing one's duty regardless of outcome, to accept destiny, to accept that life is chaos, that chaos is divine, and that there are many routes through life, none of which is the only or perfect one. Ashok accepts the teaching. A week later the Guru is invited by the Surgeon to explain his seemingly irrational decision against the operation. Ashok has learnt from his previous timidity, decides to take a risk and speak up strongly. He quotes the same scriptures used previously by the Guru. But they show that we must not accept destiny without battle. The Gita contains two doctrines: (1) To fight the battle, (2) To accept destiny. The doctrine of destiny must not lead us into passivity. Even making no decision is to make a decision and results in responsibility. We cannot escape from responsibility. We have to make positive decisions. We have to fight the battle with the best weapons and with all our might. But we cannot be sure of the outcome of the battle. We might win, or we might be defeated. Only now the doctrine of destiny is applicable. It helps us accept the outcome of the battle (but not to avoid battle), especially if it is defeat. Even that defeat is only apparent. In fact both defeat and victory is only one step forward on our road from birth to death. All roads lead to Benares, all steps take us to death. Every step is a step forward, every step means progress.
Ashok who is bound to serve his Guru does him the greatest service yet by reminding him in his hour of weakness of his own teaching. Ashok dares to speak with a prophetic voice. Guru and disciple agree to accept the risk together, to accept a renewed chance for the operation, and to live or die with the consequences in the knowledge that they have done their duty.
In passing, Ashok tells how he learnt love and service from his sister disciple, how they cleaned the Guru's kitchen which had deteriorated into a pig-sty, how they admired the apparent chaos in a temple, why chaos is divine and the Western preoccupation with order may be deadly.
(Didactic poem)
Length: 155 lines
A Muslim tries to convert a misguided Hindu to monotheism.
(Didactic poem)
Length (poem only): 160 lines
Length (poem and notes): 2,419 words = 13,934 characters
Date: 1998-07-21
Summary: On religious intolerance (Christian), the burning of heretics, and specifically the fate of Serveto de Tudela (1511-1553)
(Postmodernist fable)
Length: 1,824 words = 10,015 characters
A fox falls in love with a postmodernist hedgehog and soon is deeply hurt by the hedgehog's bristles. The vet confirms that only a hedgehog could have caused such wounds. The hedgehog claims not to be a hedgehog and proves it by reference to Aristotle, Gorgias and other postmodernist books. The fox believes that his wounds are not real and he must be hallucinating when he believes them to be real.
(This story has been published in THE WORLD OF ENGLISH, Peking, and PPHOO LITERARY MAGAZINE, Calcutta. First serial rights are available for UK, North America, France and other countries.)
(Surrealist story)
Indescribably colourful.
Length: 2,214 words = 13,110 characters
(A short story)
Length: 10,904 words = 61,022 characters
"Le Non, ou: La maitresse veut etre maitre" is astream-of-consciousness story in the vein of the apres-midi d'un faun. A French intellectual, with roots in several European countries, muses, about his international sexual experiences (ma in Spagna son gia mille tre) while he denies his body to his mistress. He is a Dionysian, who protests against all attempts (puritan, conservative, feminist, libertine, politically correct, etc, alike) to regulate the uncheckable forces of sex instead of letting it take its natural course. He neither wants to have sex forced upon him nor to be forced to forgo it. The story is unusual in being a non-story, describing a non-event, the refusal of sex, where a libertine does the refusing. and it is the prude who is left high and dry.
Do Muslims have to be fanatics. Or: How to live with doubt.
(Essay)
Length: 16,800 words = 81,000 characters
Summary: This essay deals with the Salman Rushdie ("The Satanic Verses") affair from the point of view of a young British Muslim, who has a progressive and affectionate attitude to his own religion, is averse to fanaticism and sees good and bad in the attitudes and actions of all parties involved in the affair. He sees that there are lessons to be learnt not only by his own community, but by followers of all religions and by Western secularists. Rushdie's book has something important to say to all of them. The author describes the incident which gave rise to the title "The Satanic Verses" and its social background. If this incident is true, it is apt to destroy blind faith in any scripture. The author explains to western readers the mechanisms of Muslim sensitivities and taboos. He asks Muslim readers whether they are not oversensitive, and have not cultivated over the years a form of excessive respect to aspects of their own religion, which may be bordering on covert idolatry, which is in itself anti-Islamic. He gives examples of misreadings of the novel "The Satanic Verses", and discusses the need for sensitive, i.e. metaphorical interpretation, of secular as well as of sacred literature. He discusses the benefits of doubt, e.g. that it reduces fanaticism and violence. This however is no cause for western readers to gloat and feel superior. The essay concludes with examples of Solomonic judgements (fatwas) delivered by Muslim sages in past centuries about offending poets. These show how wise and tolerant the Islamic tradition can be and asks that this tradition be revived and cultivated.
(This essay will be published in Pphoo Literary Magazine, Calcutta, August 2002. First serial rights are available for UK, USA, France and other countries.)
Length: 3,525 words = 19,271 characters (excluding list of references)
Editorial introduction:
The first anniversary of R K Narayan's death (13 May 2001) has passed. R K Narayan was born in Madras in 1906. He is one of the best-known Indian novelists writing in English. Among his many novels, set in a southern Indian town, are: Swami and Friends (1935), The Bachelor, The English Teacher, The Vendor of Sweets, A Tiger for Malgudi. He spent most of his life in Mysore. He died on 13 May 2001. Graham Green was a life-long friend of Narayan and put him on a par with Tolstoy, Henry James, Turgenyev, Chekhov and Conrad.
Blanca Hernandez, Professor of English in San Sebastian, Spain, lived in India for ten years and wrote a thesis about the women in R K Narayan's novels. She visited him at his home and corresponded with him for eight years. In this article she describes her experiences when trying to meet, and eventually meeting, the great man.
Length: 836 words = 4170 characters
Prose poem describing the rude awakening of a masterful woman in a Latin country. 'But that, surely, is blasphemy!'
(A story)
Length: 3,769 words = 22,164 characters
Date: 2001-00-00
Summary: This story relates the Portuguese celebrations of the New Millenium on 1 January 2000 to the Manhattan terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001.
Length: 25,400 words = 136,000 characters
Summary: The devil incarnates as Robert, our narrator, to test his skills of seduction and corruption. He picks an unpromising victim and a difficult environment. His victim is a Betschwester (German), a 'beata' (Portuguese and Spanish), no English term found yet (a woman who spends a hell of a lot of time in church) who is sure to reject his advances. He turns up at the coast of Normandy with his sister Salina, with whom he has, of course, an incestuous relationship. Nobody knows their true identity. They make a bet that they will continue swimming daily in the cold sea from November to April. The beata feels safe in the company of Salina and joins in the enterprise. After a few days Salina has to leave on a longer journey. Robert has managed to make the beata feel safe or to attract her erotic attention. Thenceforth Robert and the beata continue their daily swim, and it is no longer clear whether the beata persists because of the sport or because of the erotic potential offered by Robert.
Robert has 21 minutes a day to get at the beata, 7 minutes undressing in wind and rain, 7 minutes swimming in the icy sea, and 7 minutes dressing. Then she has to race back to her husband and he goes to have breakfast in hell to get warm again.
From now on Robert manages to muddy the waters and smutty the conversation and gradually to confuse all the moral categories: good and bad, divine, diabolical, the limits of what is compatible with, or permissible in, marriage. He destroys her idols, like the man on the cross, and elevates instead the true God, her own body. Day by day, a little of her past is revealed (Strip) or teased out of her (Tease). The beata is 60 and is married to a man 20 years her senior. The readers are left in doubt as to whether the beata is being seduced and corrupted, or whether she tries to seduce Robert whose identity she does not know, whether he uncovers her true beauty (physical and spiritual as she gradually loses her inhibitions and reveals more and more about her former life [the moral judgement depends on the preconceptions of the reader]), whether she appears better during those 21 minutes on the icy beach, or with the image she has in church, whether Robert is doing her a favour by allowing her to become herself [natural and randy] and offering her his body with which she can, for the last time in her life, act out some of her real fantasies without running any danger, since Robert, the cynic (the Don Alfonso of Cosí fan tutte; the Viscount de Valmont of Les Liaisons Dangereuses; the Mephistopheles of Faust) sees no point in leading her to actual sexual intercourse (cunt teaser) but is quite happy with some groping and stripping and with either confusing her moral attitudes or with loosening them up [depending on the reader's point of view]; making her do things which would shock her husband and her parish priest. It is not clear whether the beata, having yielded to Robert, is 'better' or 'worse' than she was before he started working on her. This is intellectual seduction, and as a result, the beata's virtue (in a life devoted to the pleasures of the flesh) is exalted or her virtue in being a beata is exposed as being merely virtual. Their sexual relations are not real but virtual (the devil need not fuck; one can sin without fucking), etc. Salina returns to celebrate Christmas with Robert - no devil would fail to do that. The beata goes off on a Christmas holiday with her husband. She never returns. 18 months later, Robert receives a religious postcard in which she tells him that her husband has died, she has entered a convent, thanks him for the encounter, and prays for his salvation. The saint on the postcard is not Mary Magdalene but St Sebastian.
Length: 6,425 words = 37,703 characters
An essay on Klaus Bung's story 'The Hedgehog and the Fox'
(Essay)
Length: 6,915 words = 41,194 characters
Summary: The author, a British Hindu, discusses the current campaign against terrorism in religious terms. Christian and Muslim ethics alike (unlike Hindu ethics) put man's duties towards God and authority (commandments 1 to 5: only one God, no images, no blasphemy, sabbath; honour your parents) above his duties towards men (commandment 6: no killing). Fanaticism can be undermined by sowing doubt in the infallibility of scriptures and gurus, and there are traditional ways for doing so. This approach is more subtle and effective in the long run and less dangerous than brute force or political correctness and legislation.
German translation of No 001: A call to doubt.
Der Gedankengang:
Der Verfasser, ein britischer Hindu, diskutiert die aktuelle Kampagne gegen den Terrorismus von einem religiosen Standpunkt aus. Die christliche und islamische Ethik (im Gegensatz zur Hindu-Ethik) stellen die Pflichten des Menschen gegenuber Gott und der Obrigkeit (Gebot 1 bis 5: nur ein Gott, keine Bilder, keine Blasphemie, Sabbath; ehre die Eltern) uber seine Pflichten gegenuber den Menschen (Gebot 6: nicht toten). Fanatismus kann untergraben werden, indem man Zweifel in die Unfehlbarkeit von heiligen Schriften und Gurus sat; und es gibt traditionelle Argumente, die diese Wirkung haben. Dieser Ansatz ist weniger gefahrlich und auf die Dauer subtiler und wirksamer als Brachialgewalt.
Length: 1736 words = 9860 characters
Date: 11 October 2001
Summary: On 15 November 2001, Hindus all over the world celebrate the festival of Diwali, the festival of lights. It is not only one of the most popular Hindu festivals but also one of the few that non-Hindus are aware of. Ashutosh Vardhana, a Hindu writer living in England, writing on 11 October 2001, four weeks after "the 9/11 Manhattan attacks", puts the ancient festival into a topical context: .
(Article)
Length: 1471 words = 7143 characters
Summary: Society has to defend itself against terrorists and to punish them. However, by calling them 'evil' we concede that we do not understand them and are not willing to consider the causes of their actions. Calling them cowards is often plain silly. Western belief in the superiority of its civilisation matched with Muslim belief in the superiority of its secular and religious values, must lead to contempt. Contempt breeds hatred, hatred breeds violence, in both directions. We must stop calling our enemies evil and try to understand them if we want to stop the cycle of violence.
(This essay has been published by Q-News, London, UK.)
Description:
Ten stories are planned for this book, each telling the story of one of the major Hindu festivals. Four of these are ready, the others are to follow. The stories are primarily aimed at Hindu families. They are told in a family living in a northern English town by a Pandit, who modernises them, spikes them with topical references, and explains their significance to sceptial children. They can also be used in schools to teach non-Hindu children about Hinduism in an entertaining way, and they can be read by adults (and children) as pieces of narrative literature.
Length: 1976 words = 10998 characters
Date: 18 November 2001
Summary: The author, a Hindu, was invited by his close Muslim friends in Yorkshire, England, to share the family meal with which they break their fast during Ramadan (iftar). He describes the occasion in intimate detail, relates the private joys and tribulations of an ordinary Muslim family. An opportunity for non-Muslims to see the obvious, namely that Muslims are generous, human and can suffer - like all of us.
2001-11-21 - Ashutosh Vardhana - Mission Impossible: President Bush hijacks an iftar (compact version) (Mk2.1)
Length: 1421 words = 8247 characters
This is the compact version. There is also a "full version" available.
This is the compact version. There is also a "full version" available.
Date: 21 November 2001
Summary: Iftar is the name for the modest meal which Muslim families take when breaking their dawn-to-dusk fast during the holy month of Ramadan. Only a Muslim, who has fasted, can do iftar and invite close friends for the occasion. President Bush, in ignorance of this fact, 'put on' an iftar dinner at the White House and invited 53 Muslim ambassadors (who could not decline and, being guests, had to listen politely). He abused the occasion by bragging about America's generosity to Afghanistan, disregarding not only Muslim custom but also the Biblical injunction that charity and prayer are meritorious only if done in private and not for show.
Length: 2765 words = 15380 characters
There is a long and a short version of this article: This is the long version.
There is a long and a short version of this article: This is the long version.
Date: 22 November 2001 (Three months after the 9/11 Manhattan attacks)
Summary: This article contrasts the genuine iftar of a Muslim family with the for-show-only iftar laid on by President Bush for 50 Muslim ambassadors. Iftar is the name for the modest meal which Muslim families take when breaking their dawn-to-dusk fast during the holy month of Ramadan. It is not a dinner party or an occasion like Christmas dinner. Ashutosh Vardhana, a non-Muslim writer living in Yorkshire, England, who has for many years enjoyed the close friendship of Muslim families, describes his very personal iftar experiences during the first two days of Ramadan. He concludes with a sideways look at the iftar charade put on at the White House for the benefit of the media. Note that we are in 2001, three months after the 9/11 Manhattan attacks.
2001-12-20 - Ashutosh Vardhana - Why we Celebrate Maha-Shivaratri, or: The Wedding of the Gods (Mk2.1)
Length: 1740 words = 9800 characters
Date: 20 December 2001
Summary: On 13 March this year (2002) Hindus celebrate the festival of Maha-Shivaratri, the great night of Lord Shiva, his wedding to Goddess Parvati, and how she managed to win him for a husband. Ashutosh Vardhana tells the story behind this great festival.
&
Giovanni Boccaccio: The Story of the Rings
Length of both stories: 5,452 words = 29,993 characters
Summary: In this story, the narrator provides a foolproof method to determine which of the three Abrahamic religions is the true one. It is eminently useful because it eliminates the need for war, force or legislation to determine this and to induce people to worship the correct god.
(Story, adapted from Johann Peter Hebel)
Length, English version with Footnotes: 1,775 words = 10,502 characters
Length, German original: 540 words = 3,483 characters
Date: 2002-00-00, Mk1.9
Summary: One of two Muslim twin brothers from Bradford, Yorkshire, England, becomes a Christian. Some years later the two meet in order to decide once and for all which is the true faith. (Based on a German story by Johann Peter Hebel (1760-1826).)
Length: Version 1 (Full version): 1,625 words = 9,302 chars
Length: Version 2 (Short version): 372 words = 2,189 chars
Length: Version 2 (Short version): 372 words = 2,189 chars
Editorial introduction:
It has been argued that the USA need not be subject to the newly established International Criminal Court because it is a democracy and democracies do not commit war crimes. Klaus Bung looks at this fond belief from a historical perspective.
(Fable/essay)
Length: 1,176 words = 6,912 characters
Summary: In this true story, set in the North East of England, three youngsters from the Indian subcontinent work together on a computing project. They are: Uzman (Muslim from Pakistan), Aisha (Muslim girl from India) and Ashok (Hindu from India). How do they respond to the rising hostility between India and Pakistan?
(This story has been published in Asian Voice, London, UK, in Kazakhstan and Mauritius. First serial rights are available for UK, USA, France and other countries.)
Length: 1536 words = 8665 characters
Date: 7 January 2002
Summary: On 28 March this year (2002) Hindus celebrate the festival of Holi. It is a boisterous occasion. Bonfires are lit and on this day the rules of respect are dropped and people are allowed to let rip. Ashutosh Vardhana tells the story that gave rise to the festival.
Length: 495 words = 3211 characters
Date: February 2002
Summary: On 14 February 2002 (a few months after the 9/11 2001 attacks), a delegation of the British Stop the War Coalition called on the High Commissions of India and of Pakistan to hand in a petition urging the two governments to resolve their problems by peaceful means. The delegation contained Muslims, Sikhs, Hindus and Westerners, and the petition was signed by about 400 members of all communities.
Length: 1426 words = 8143 characters
Date: 18 February 2002
Summary: Monsoon Wedding: During an upper middle-class wedding of a westernised family in Delhi, the bride's father learns that his rich brother, on whom he depends financially, is a paedophile and the bride wonders whether she should confess to her arranged-marriage Indian fiancee from America, whom she meets for the first time four days before the wedding, that she has only just ended an affair with her boss, a television producer. How should the bride, the groom, the father resolve their dilemmas? What would you do?
Length: 3672 words = 21346 characters
Date: 6 March 2002
Summary: In 1992 religious riots in India and Bangladesh were sparked which left several thousand dead, when a group of politically motivated Hindus tried to right a wrong committed by Muslims 500 years earlier and demolished an ancient but unused mosque that had been erected by Muslim conquerors of the time in place of a temple which marked the birthplace of Lord Rama. The government imposed a stand-off and put the matter into the hands of a court which in ten years was unable to produce an equitable decision. The Hindu faction then announced that, on 15 March this year, they would go ahead with the building regardless of consequences.
On 28 February 2002 a train with Hindu devotees coming from the disputed site was set alight by a gang of Muslim youths. 58 Hindus were burnt alive. This sparked off Hindu reprisals against Muslims in which more than six hundred people died on both sides.
In this article, Ashutosh Vardhana, a Hindu writer from England, argues that the temple project offended against the spirit of Hinduism and is in fact blasphemy.
On 28 February 2002 a train with Hindu devotees coming from the disputed site was set alight by a gang of Muslim youths. 58 Hindus were burnt alive. This sparked off Hindu reprisals against Muslims in which more than six hundred people died on both sides.
In this article, Ashutosh Vardhana, a Hindu writer from England, argues that the temple project offended against the spirit of Hinduism and is in fact blasphemy.
Length: 492 words = 2877 characters
Date: 22 August 2002
Summary: On a full moon day in July/August (22 August 2002) Hindus celebrate the festival of Raksha Bandan which celebrates the love and loyalty which brothers owe to their sisters. Ashutosh Vardhana describes the customs of the festival and the philosophy underlying it.
Length: words = characters
Date: 31 August 2002
Summary: On 31 August this year (2002), Hindus celebrate the festival of Krishna Janmashtami, the birth of Lord Krishna. Ashutosh Vardhana explains the significance of this festival.
This file contains three versions of this article:
• Version 1, length 422 words, which explains the story underlying this festival and its theology (divine incarnations).
• Version 2, length 1410 words, which consists of version 1 plus information of festival customs at home and in temples, the significance of Lord Krishna for Hindus, and comparisons with Christian beliefs (childhood of Jesus). Additional illustrations can be found in Version 2.
• Version 3, length 921 words, same as version 1, plus information on customs and rituals, but omitting similarities between Krishna and young Jesus. For greatest choice of illustrations see Version 2.
Length: 1,078 words = 6,635 characters
Synopsis:
The Church of England refuses to support war-mongers. Blackburn is one hour north of Manchester, in the North West of England. 20% of its population is Muslim. There is also a small Hindu and Sikh community. Generally Blackburnians are calm and live together in harmony. There are even some very close friendships between Muslims and non-Muslims. Klaus Bung describes how Blackburnians commemorated 11 Sep at their Cathedral on the first anniversary of the event.
2002-10-14 - Ashutosh Vardhana - Celebrating the Divinity in Woman (The Hindu Festival of Navaratri) (Mk2.2)
Length: Version 1: 951 words = 5369 characters
Length: Version 2: 485 words = 2744 characters
Length: Version 2: 485 words = 2744 characters
Date: 2002-10-14, Mk2.2
Summary: On 14 October this year (2002), Hindus celebrate the festival of Durgashtami, the worship of Goddess Durga. From 7 to 15 October they celebrate Navaratri, the Nine-Day-Festival, during which the great battles of the Goddess against the forces of evil are commemorated. Ashutosh Vardhana, a Hindu writer who lives in England, explains what the festival means to Hindus.
Length: 465 words
Date: 4 November 2002
Summary: On 4 November this year (2002), Hindus celebrate Diwali, the 'Festival of Lights'. They also worship Lakshmi Devi, the goddess of wealth, and business people have their new accounts books blessed. The day after Diwali is New Year's Day. Gujarati Hindus greet each other with the Muslim phrase "Sal Mubarak" ("Happy New Year"), a charming tradition, which purists, sadly, discourage. Ashutosh Vardhana explains the origins and meaning of this festival.
Length: 22,459 words = 127,574 characters
Date: 2002-12-24, Mk2.3
Summary: The narrator, no longer a Christian, has been challenged by a native atheist: 'Christmas isn't Christmas for you'. He explores the meaning of that statement by relating his childhood memories of a Roman Catholic Christmas in the post-war Germany of 1945 to 1948. These merge with Lutheran Christmas memories, largely resting on Lutheran chorales and church music. He describes the lasting subliminal effects and benefits of these early memories and argues that they were beneficial, even though he no longer takes the Christian doctrines literally. Notwithstanding the scepticism of his later years, the early teaching, firmly asserting the truth of the Christian stories, was beneficial and desirable. There is an important subliminal message which can only be learnt if it is learnt in early childhood and on the basis of stories and practices which are, at least then, taken as absolute truth. It is not enough to give a child information about religion: only one religion should be taught, and it should be practised rather than talked about. As an adult, the narrator has Christmas experiences in many countries, none of which have the evocative power of those of his childhood.
The naïve Christmas of childhood is balanced by the philosophical Christmas in the rarefied atmosphere of a desolate Swiss mountain village, in which the adult narrator finds himself on Christmas Day. He hears a rather unorthodox sermon from a priest who has been posted there, out of harm's way, because of his progressive (or heretical) beliefs. The atheist narrator and the old priest warm to each other, both lonely in their own way. They discover that they share many of their views on God, on religions. The narrator knows many of the foreign places the priest has visited, and they find that they have been influenced by the same books and theologians. They agree that the old religious traditions must be kept alive, that lifestyle is more important than truth in practising and evaluating a religion, and that atheists and believers do not "come from different planets". Even from a religious point of view both are of equal value and both must exist.
"We, the atheists," says the narrator, "need the believers and the priests to keep the churches warm, the organs sounding and God alive. They need us to stop them from becoming too confident and overbearing. It is a symbiotic relationship. I thank God every day that not everybody is as smart as me. Otherwise who would pray for me, just in case? A God who is not worshipped dies, as happened to the gods of Egypt, Greece and Rome, who were once as real as God Father Son And Holy Ghost. A God-forsaken church building, however artistic, without prayers becomes a sight, and a pretty sad one too."
Length: 704 words = 3,839 characters
Date: 2003-00-00, Mk1.3
Summary: Two texts: "Tiger" and "Listen Good"
2003-08-15 - Ashutosh Vardhana - An Impossible Dream: What Pakistan and India Can Do with their Independence (Mk2.2)
Length: 1,183 words = 6,814 characters
Date: 2003-08-15, Mk2.2
Summary: This is a reflection on India and Pakistan Independence Day, 14 and 15 August 2003.
On 14 and 15 August 1947 Pakistan and India gained their independence from British colonial rule. Bloody conflicts and continued distrust between Hindu and Muslim communities followed. On the anniversary of this day, Ashutosh Vardhana, a Hindu writer living in England, proposes the creation of a common market for India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Myanmar (Burma) (&c) on the model of the European Community, which ended the centuries of war between Germany and France and brought prosperity and peace to Europe.
On 14 and 15 August 1947 Pakistan and India gained their independence from British colonial rule. Bloody conflicts and continued distrust between Hindu and Muslim communities followed. On the anniversary of this day, Ashutosh Vardhana, a Hindu writer living in England, proposes the creation of a common market for India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nepal, Myanmar (Burma) (&c) on the model of the European Community, which ended the centuries of war between Germany and France and brought prosperity and peace to Europe.
Length: 4,704 words = 24,073 characters
Date: 2003-11-00, Mk1.7
Summary: Ruki met a young girl, Pakiprincess, in an Internet chat room. She agreed to meet him in the flesh. He became her first boyfriend. Five months later she discovered that he was married with three children. She had him followed and collected photographic and documentary evidence. She then created a website in which she exposed his treachery and advertised it among his friends in the chatrooms. Such occurrences are not uncommon, but this is pure fiction and any similarities with real people, dead or alive, are accidental.
Length: 68 lines
Date: 2004-08-00, Mk1.2
Summary: A poem about the ages of (wo)man
Length: 2570 words = 14902 characters
Date: 2004-09-00, Mk2.2
Summary: Ashutosh Vardhana witnessed the visit of a group of Christian and Muslim secondary school students to a Hindu temple. The Maharaj (Hindu priest) of the temple was on annual loan from India, was fluent in Sanskrit and Gujurati but did not speak English. A temple administrator was therefore tasked to guide the students and answer their questions. The result was a disaster.
Length: 2,595 words = 14,529 characters
Date: 2004-12-00, Mk1.8
Summary: Two neighbours, Kevin and Shahabuddin, have a long-standing feud. After a public slanging match, Shahabuddin writes a masterly letter of complaint to the police. They resolve the dispute on Christmas Eve.
2005-00-00 - Ashutosh Vardhana - Some things which Christians want to know about Hindus (in preparation) (Mk1.23)
Length: 1541 words = 9232 characters
Date: 2005
Summary: This booklet is now in preparation. At present the page contains only some of the questions, in random order, but none of the answers. If you are aware of any questions often asked by non-Hindus, please send them to me, so that I can take them into consideration while working on this booklet. If you would formulate differently the questions already listed on the site, please send me your formulations. Thank you.
Length: 1402 words = 7392 characters
Date: 2005-00-00, Mk2.3
Summary: Quaggy Moor is a fictitious primary school in Skelmersdale near Liverpool. Janie, a pupil, describes what she recollects of the school plays they put on recently, a nativity play with some mishaps, and most memorably a play about The Pied Piper of Hamelin (den Rattenfänger von Hameln), Germany. Inevitably, her recollections soon go haywire (so is her English and her speling) but she bravely manages to tell the whole sad tale, including a prank the children played on their unsuspecting audience.
Length: 2,491 words = 14,837 characters
Date: 2005-01-30, Mk2.3
Summary: This is the text of a speech Madhu Pandya, Chairman (2004-5) of the Interfaith Council in Blackburn, Lancashire, gave on 30 January 2005, the National Holocaust Memorial Day.
Length: 804 words = 4,635 characters
© 2007 Klaus Bung
Date: 2007-00-00, Mk1.7
Summary: The author has a friend in Calcutta whose son is about to get married. The author sends his good wishes to the son.
Length: 868 words = 5176 characters
e: info@rochdalewriters.org.uk
Date: 2019-00-00, Mk1.2
Summary: A series of five photographs showing how three Jewish soldiers arrest an unarmed Arab man, strip him down to his underpants, pin him to the ground and then blow his brains out. Their behaviour is praised by their military superiors.
The caption reads: "The least you can do while sitting in the comfort of your home is forward this file to as many people as possible, especially Westerners, so they can have a glimpse of what Palestinians go through!!" Nur received these pictures and the text over the Internet. She does not know the source. Draw your own conclusions. She added the passage from the bible, 'The voice of thy brother's blood crieth unto me from the ground.'
Length: 15,500 words = 90,700 characters
e: klaus.bung@rochdalewriters.org.uk
© 2023 Klaus Bung
Date: 2023-11-15, Mk1.59
15 November 2023, updated September 2024
This essay is divided into three parts.
Part 1 (4,000 words) deals with the grievances of the Palestinians. It emphasises the fact that the current conflict and its 100-year prelude is not a specifically Jewish project, but that the "Israelis" (Zionists) are members of White Western society and share its illusions of racial superiority, have historically helped to create them (Hebrew Bible) and that their attempt to take over Palestine is just the most recent of innumerable previous cases of settler colonialism since 1492 (Columbus). It highlights the traditional belief in creating security by force and violence, which drives Netanyahu and his supporters.
Part 2 (6,517 words) contains two traditional Buddhist stories, giving their full text: Story 1 (1,300 words) and Story 2 (2,500 words). These stories illustrate the doctrine "Hatred is not quenched by hatred, but by non-hatred". The implications of these stories are then analysed. Netanyahu's brutal attacks on the Palestinians can only help to perpetuate the cycle of violence but never end it. Since Netanyahu is enthusiastically supported by White governments with their White populations, many of whom instinctively believe in their right to rule "inferior races", by violence if necessary, they are not likely to take these Buddhist stories on board.
Part 3 (1,400 words) contains some stories which may give comfort to the oppressed Palestinians.
2023-11-15 - Klaus Bung - Israeli Usury in Palestine (Mk1.08)
ISR:PAL - What is the Rate of Exchange for corpses
ISR:PAL - What is the Rate of Exchange for corpses
Length: 2,029 words = 12,551 characters
Date: 2023-11-15, Mk1.8
Summary: Articles published by the New York Times and by BBC News show that the Israelis knew months in advance that Hamas was training for a major "attack". They could have prevented this "attack" but they ignored the warnings. Was this a regrettable intelligence failure as they claimed after October 7 2023, or was it intentional because the Israelis wanted this "attack" to happen because they needed, as so often in the past, a pretext for a war to promote their long-term programme of ethnic cleansing and genocide. Does it matter to the Zionists whether they get their hostages back, or is the loss of 1,500 lives and of the hostages a price well worth paying for the benefits of their "war"? This article calculates the benefits for the Israelis.
Length (of Editorial Introduction and English translation): 402 words = 2278 words
Date: 2024-00-00, Mk1.3
Summary: In Brecht's play "The Caucasian Chalk Circle" (Der kaukasische Kreidekreis) there is a revolution. A dictator who thought himself invincible is toppled. The dictator has been arrested. His family has fled. His wife has grabbed jewellery to take with her but forgotten her baby. The chorus says:
"They trust
Into force which has lasted so long.
But long does not mean eternal.
O changing times! You give hope to the people."
Into force which has lasted so long.
But long does not mean eternal.
O changing times! You give hope to the people."
(Story, adapted from J P Hebel)
Length:
• Klaus Bung:
A Simple Cure
Length: 1,125 words = 6,023 characters
A Simple Cure
Length: 1,125 words = 6,023 characters
• Johann Peter Hebel (1760–1826):
Der geheilte Patient
Length: 899 words = 5,202 characters
Der geheilte Patient
Length: 899 words = 5,202 characters
• Nikolai Leskov (1831-1895):
The Bishop and the Gynaecologist
Length: 1,935 words = 10,716 characters
The Bishop and the Gynaecologist
Length: 1,935 words = 10,716 characters
Date: 2024-09-06, Mk2.2
Summary: An obese patient from the South of England is cured by a wise doctor in the North. Based on a German story by Johann Peter Hebel, 1760-1826. The file ends with a similar story by Nikolai Leskov (1831-1895). Leskov's story ***may*** have been inspired by Hebel's story. Leskov was born five years after Hebel's death.
Length: 921 words = 5,723 characters
Date: 2024-10-07, Mk1.12
Summary: On 7 October 2024, the first anniversary of the 2023 uprising of Gaza against Israeli oppression, the ghostly voice of a dead Hamas freedom fighter was heard from the battlements of the Al-Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem reciting a speech from Schiller's patriotic drama "William Tell", so loud that it could be heard all over Jerusalem and miraculously so that, while spoken in Arabic, it was heard by each of its many international listeners in his own language. It announced a day of reckoning for the oppressors.
Length: 1,780 words = 10,165 characters
Date: 2024-10-25, Mk2.7
Summary: In this poem, the author imagines himself in Netanyahu's shoes and evaluates success and failure from his point of view. Netanyahu is working relentlessly towards his objective: to kill all Palestinians so that their land can be settled by Jews. His bible orders him to do this. Netanyahu's White supporters (the Axis of Evil) continue to send ammunition but demand that Netanyahu feeds his Arab victims before killing them. The rest of creation see with horror what White Man (Techno-Man) is doing to the world, not only in Palestine, destroying nature, exterminating one species after another, converting beaches into rows of hotels, fields into blocks of houses. They long for the day of salvation when all mankind has been exterminated and animals, plants, lands and seas can live and breathe again without being threatened by the virus called "man".
Length: 239 words = 1,496 characters
Date: 2024-12-11, Mk2.3
Summary: A compact version of five ancient precepts, here laid out and formulated by Klaus Bung, which are designed to help us avoid thoughts, words and deeds which, in the long run, lead to misery for ourselves and others, and a list of their positive counterparts which are conducive to happiness for the giver and the receiver.
Length: 3,771 words = 21,212 characters
Date: 2024-12-14, Mk1.3
Summary: These are eight extracts about the virtue of moderation from James Hilton's 1933 novel "Lost Horizon". They are likely to dampen the fervour of enthusiasts, zealots, fanatics, extremists, do-gooders, politically correct activists, moral crusaders, delusionists who think their will is the will of God, people who are determined to be saints, to do the will of God to the letter and make the life of ordinary people a misery. Applying these principles can lead us towards (moderate) happiness. We do not need perfect happiness, perfect justice, or perfect (and therefore eternal) hell. Every silver lining has a cloud.
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2100-00-00 - Klaus Bung - The Rape of Palestine in Eighteen Bullet Points (work in progress) (Mk0.1)
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