COLUMNIST: S. ARAVINDAN NEELAKANDAN
Notes from the South
S.Aravindan Neelakandan is a social scientist working with an ecological NGO called Vivekananda Kendra -- Natural Resources Development Project in Nagercoil, at India's southern tip. His work involves research on traditional rural communities, as well as educating farmers on cost-effective technologies to boost their agricultural output. He holds a master's degree in economics from Madurai Kamaraj University and in psychology from Madras University. He writes articles on popular science, social and philosophical issues for local publications; an anthology of his articles has been published in a book in Tamil titled "God and 40 Hz."
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May 18, 2009Nagercoil, India — India is fast descending into a banana republic of sycophants. As we all witnessed in the aftermath of the brutal majority Rajiv Gandhi got in 1984, the sycophants filled the Cabinet berths and the media. Beyond the euphoria of the Congress party, things are going badly for Indian democracy and secularism.
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September 29, 2008Nagercoil, India — Recent attacks on Christian missionaries in Bangalore have pained my heart. Animosity goes back as far as 1857, when missionaries set up schools to teach “heathen Hindoo” children about their white-skinned god. The church has remained at war with the heathens ever since.
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August 29, 2008Nagercoil, India — What does Wahabbi fundamentalism have in common with the worldview of Marvin Olasky – the “spiritual advisor” of U.S. President George W. Bush? Seemingly on either side of the famed “clash of civilizations,” they both find themselves shaking hands when it comes to fighting evolution.
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February 07, 2008Nagercoil, India — "Ram Rajya" is described as a society where a beautiful young girl decked in the finest gold jewels can walk on a deserted road at midnight, unmolested. Whenever someone tries to justify an attack on a woman because of her "provocative dress" I remember this definition of the ideal moral state.
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December 06, 2007Nagercoil, India — It seems that historical injustices permeate the existence of all humanity. What happens when a section of humanity is violently plucked from its motherland and transplanted to another region in dreadfully subhuman conditions?
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November 09, 2007Nagercoil, India — Deepavali is the Festival of Light celebrated by Indian religious traditions -- Vedic, Jain and Sikh. Multi-level mythologies and history have made the festival cherished in the memories and lives of the billion-strong Indian communities.
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September 20, 2007Nagercoil, India — Consider the following scenario: The Jordan government wants to lay down a road over a small hill that would fetch it some million dollars in profit. Laying down this road means knocking down a particular natural rock formation facing the direction of the
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August 16, 2007NAGERCOIL, India — At a function in the southern city of Madurai last Sunday, Sonia Gandhi praised the state of Tamil Nadu as a model state. On Tuesday, just one day before Independence Day, a dusty town in the district of Thirunelveli witnessed a ghastly scene -- a pitched
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July 19, 2007Nagercoil, India — This is the heart-rending story of a family, belonging to a religious minority, that has been torn apart by a theocratic state machinery that has lost its basic humanity. This is the story of a mother whose young child was snatched from her hands in the n
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July 05, 2007NAGERCOIL, India — Our guide was leaning on a walking stick and limping, yet he patiently led a couple of friends and me through more than 100 panels at an exhibition on Islam, held in Chennai (Madras). Suave and gentle, he explained skillfully how science vindicates Islam.
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June 28, 2007Nagercoil, India — The words "women activists" conjure up certain images in India -- the likes of author Arundathi Roy, social activist Medha Patkar and communist Brinda Karat. Leftist, pro-Islamic and anti-establishment, these activists always find themselves in the media
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June 07, 2007Nagercoil, India — A debate is raging about artistic freedom in India, which is supposedly under threat from Hindu nationalists. One eminent artist termed it the diktats of the "neo-Taliban" on society.
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May 17, 2007NAGERCOIL, India — India's earliest science magazine "Science Today," subsequently renamed "2001," eventually died a valiant death. It featured many memorable articles during its active publishing days.I vividly remember one issue where eminent Indian scientists, technolo
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May 03, 2007Nagercoil, India — Ian Malcolm is not exactly a lovable character in the novel "Jurassic Park." Even though he may be considered the alter-ego of the book's author, Michael Crichton, he comes across more as a doomsday prophet.
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March 29, 2007Nagercoil, India — The Discovery Channel recently aired a controversial documentary all over the world, titled the "Lost Tomb of Jesus." Well, not exactly all over the world.
