Tom Horne, opinion contributor Published 6:00 a.m. MT Oct. 13, 2020 | Updated 6:45 a.m. MT Oct. 13, 2020

In Jan. 2011, outgoing Arizona schools chief Tom Horne announced in Phoenix that a major school district in Tucson was violating a new state law by continuing an ethnic studies program designed primarily for Hispanics.(Photo: Ross D. Franklin/Associated Press)

In an August column, Elvia Diaz criticized me personally for destroying bilingual education in the state, and Mexican American Studies in Tucson, when I was the state superintendent of schools, and later as Arizona attorney general. She called for making ethnic studies a graduation requirement.

Ethnic Studies in Tucson divided students by race. African American students to Classroom 1, Mexican American students to Classroom 2, etc., just like in the old South.

The students were taught critical race theory. This is their quote: Unlike traditional civil rights, which embraces incrementalism and step-by-step progress, critical race theory questions the very foundation of the liberal order, including equality theory, legal reasoning, Enlightenment rationalism, and neutral principles of constitutional law.

Thats just what we need: teaching our students to be opposed to Enlightenment rationalism and neutral principles of constitutional law.

They referred to the states taken from Mexico in 1848 as Aztlan. Their materials stated,we are slowly taking back Aztlan as our numbers multiply.

They had a table that promulgates racial stereotypes by detailing the differences between white individualism (e.g. white people interrupt a lot) and colored collectivism.

The founders of the program describedthemselves as neo Marxists.Marxism taught that all history is about class struggle, to the exclusion of everything else. Neo Marxists substitute race struggle for class struggle as the only thing worth studying.

One of the textbooks wasOccupied America. It sings the praises of a leader named Jose Angel Gutirrez, one of whose speeches is described in the textbook as follows: Gutirrez called upon Chicanos to kill the gringo, which meant to end white control over Mexicans.

The textbooks translation of what Gutirrez meant contradictshis clear language.

Another textbook gloatedabout the trouble the U.S. is having controlling the border: Apparently the U.S. is having as little success in keeping the Mexicans out of Aztlan [US states taken from Mexico in 1848] as Mexico had when they tried to keep the North Americans out of Texas in 1830. the Latinos are now realizing that the power to control Aztlan may once again be in their hands (page107).

My main source was other teachers in the schools, a number of them Latinos, who were profoundly shocked at what they saw.

Hector Ayala,whowas born in Mexico and an excellent English teacher at Cholla High School in Tucson,told me thatthe director of Raza Studies accused him of being the white mans agent and that when this director was a teacher, he taught a separatist political agenda. His students told Ayalathat they were taught in Raza Studies to not fall for the white mans traps.

One teacher wrote me that he heard students being told they need to go to college so they can gain power to take back the stolen land and return it to Mexico. Another reported to me that Latino students told him that the land is not part of the U.S. but "occupied Mexico."

This teaching wasa betrayal of the students parents. They came to this country as the land of opportunity. They expected their children to be taught that this is the land of opportunity, not that they are oppressed so it is all hopeless, or to hate the country their parents chose to come to.

After I was no longer attorney general, a judge declared our statute unconstitutional. I hope the state Legislature and a new AG will try again.

Ms. Diaz accuses me of destroying bilingual education. I plead guilty:A periodical published by HarvardKennedy School found that students in English Immersion outperformed those in bilingual in every category studied.

Tom Horne served as Arizona's superintendent of public instruction and attorney general. Reach him at tomhorne2824@gmail.com.

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Ethnic studies teach Latino kids to hate the US. It is dangerous for Arizona - The Arizona Republic

Watching the recent US presidential debate led me to the saddening yet bitterly true conclusion that we live in an age of decay. Two adult men, with past records filled with corruption, take the stage trying to convince you that one of them deserves to decide for you instead of you. The show was nothing more than a laughingstock, and people seem to be aware of that which is the most frightening part. Donald Trump had a temper of an 8-year-old maybe less, while Joe Biden was hardly able to phrase a complete sentence without a cognitive black out.

Many Democrats have come to suggest that this election is the most important one in American History because supposedly democracy is at stake with Donald Trump refusing to give a clear answer as to whether he will leave the Oval Office if he is defeated in November. Well I am sorry to break it to them, but if a choice between a corrupt politician and a multi-billionaire is what democracy looks like I do not think there is much point in saving it, it is already dead.

Most younger people, like myself, realize this. Politics to us seem like a bad anecdote, we laugh at it because we do not know how else to respond. We, being nave to the power of the status quo, believed in the vision of the progressive movements that former leader of the Labour Party Jeremy Corbyn, in Britain, and Senator Bernie Sanders, in the US, represented. We hoped that perhaps we would not have to pay enormous tuition fees in order to get basic education. That maybe we would live in a world where decent healthcare would be provided freely, or that when we grew up we would be able to have a well-paying job and then earn a satisfying pension. Instead of this the great leaders of the world have set out to reverse the clock of history and undo all the great accomplishment that, through the bloody protests and revolutions of the past century, humanity had come to enjoy.

In this war against the many, nobody seems to be doing anything. This is why I call this age the age of decay we sit un-bothered as the decomposers of the world cause us to rot. The Millennials will be the first generation in the history of humankind to be worse off than the generation that preceded it. Here I urge the reader to re-read the previous sentence and let it sink in. This halt of progress is nothing more but the result of a society that can no longer question and oppose its leaders. The revolutionary specters that haunted the ruling classes of the 19th and 20th centuries, forcing them to behave, have been shot down through the well-planned propaganda of the educational system and mass media, or died by suicide due to their own contradictions. Parliamentary Democracy, this child of Aristocratic French Parlements, seems to be the only legitimate and acceptable system of governance. People have stopped seriously doubting it or bothering to find alternatives. Change, now, only comes through elections and in a packet of two.

A great Prussian philosopher, Immanuel Kant, when set out to write an essay answering the question What is Enlightenment? that puzzled 18th century philosophes, claimed that they did not live in an enlightened age, but they did live in an age of enlightenment. According to him, being in age of enlightenment meant that people had finally begun to doubt the age-old hierarchical structures and authorities that stood above them. Be it religion, monarchy, feudalism (or Parliamentary Democracy, or Presidency) people who wished to be enlightened needed to never accept someones rule without first questioning its purposes. Sounds simple, but apparently it is not. Of course, that was the age when humanity made its leap to the modern world, leaving back the tyrannies of the Middle Ages. Sadly for Kant, and perhaps even sadder for us who are still alive, three centuries later the enlightened age has not arrived, but worse: the age of enlightenment seems to have receded. Humanitys blindfolds are being worn again.

So, in the question Biden or Trump, I answer cake.

Image credit: cbcindustries

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'Biden or Trump?' is a question that signifies the age of decay - GlobalComment.com

Written by Devyani Onial | Updated: October 11, 2020 9:39:48 am Manbeena Sandhu and Ma Anand Sheela.

She was 16 when she accompanied her father to meet godman Rajneesh in Baroda, the beginning of a complex relationship that endured until she fled his ashram in the US in 1985. From setting up a commune in a wild outpost of Oregon and unsettling a conservative local community along the way, the flamboyant Ma Anand Sheela (born Sheela Ambalal Patel) was personal secretary to Osho, as Rajneesh later came to be called, and the face of the movement till her falling out with him, which ended in a 39-month prison spell for a series of charges, including immigration fraud, wiretapping and poisoning. In this interview, Manbeena Sandhu speaks on what led her to document the story of an unconventional life and the inner world of a controversial cult. Excerpts:

Your biography of Ma Anand Sheela comes after having followed the Osho movement for two decades. When did you know that you wanted to write on her?

As soon as I was introduced to Oshos work, I got introduced to Sheela as well. Not through the Gurus books or talks, but through his sannyasins. In my opinion, Ma Sheela and Rajneesh are inseparable. I havent heard one story of Rajneesh without the mention of Sheela. As I got seeped into the movement, information about Sheela started pouring from all directions. A few of Gurus disciples loved her, a few despised her but none could ignore her. She seemed intriguing. Right off the bat, I knew that I wanted to meet her, know her and write about her. Even though the information of her whereabouts was not easy to access, the desire to capture her life story kept getting stronger over the years.

It was Chapman and Maclain Ways Netflix documentary Wild Wild Country (2018) that drew everyones attention to Ma Sheela. She was, in many ways, the anti-hero of the series. When you met her last year, how much of that tough-talking, controversy-courting woman did you see?

Other than catching a glimpse or two of that old time Sheela in her sharp eyes, brisk gait and quick wit, I couldnt see much of that controversy-courting woman that the world knows her as. Time doesnt stand still, it moves on and with time we evolve and change; so has Ma Sheela.

What was your first meeting like?

I first met Ma Sheela in May 2019 in Switzerland. Prior to meeting her, I had, over the phone, expressed my desire to write her story. But she was not convinced just by a voice at the other end of the line and wanted to see me in person. I first saw her at the airport. I stayed in Switzerland for about 10 days, and, during those days, I spent six to eight hours each day in her company. Before meeting Ma Sheela, I was a little intimidated by the personality that I had seen and heard of. She was very different from what I, and the world, perceives her to be she was soft and full of emotion.

How open was she with sharing the unsavoury episodes of her life with you?

The unsavoury episodes were rather interesting to talk about. She could sense my hesitation and would rather come to my rescue by answering most openly and candidly. She is very bold that way.

Did she ever express remorse about some of the things that she was accused of?

Ma Sheela maintains that she has dedicated her life to Bhagwan (Osho) and she served him the best way she possibly could. Yes, there was insurmountable pressure that she was reeling under and she made her judgements according to the demands of place and time. Ma was (or, rather, still is) head over heels in love with Bhagwan. So much so, that at times her emotion in the past may have coloured the reality to appear different than what it actually was. It happens to all of us. But in her case, she may have gone a step further, or maybe 100 steps further, than an ordinary human being in pursuing her love and her goal of upholding the entity of the ashram.

Besides Wild Wild Country, there is also Ma Sheelas memoir, Dont Kill Him! The Story of My Life With Bhagwan Rajneesh (2012). What made you feel the need for a biography on her?

Even after reading her memoir and watching the series, I was not satisfied. Just like me, I felt there would be many who had questions. In Nothing to Lose, I have answered those questions, filled in the vibrant colours, the intricate details, followed the timelines and have covered the gaps, as much as possible. Through this book, the reader will walk through the Orange world, along with Ma Sheela. He will be able to peep into her heart and her mind; and hear the conversations and witness the actions that took place behind closed doors.

How do you assess her feelings for Osho now?

She still has photographs of him at her home. She explains her 39-month prison term as simply her guru dakshina. She is still dearly in love with her Bhagwan. His pictures hang in the living room of her care home and her bedroom is full of images of Bhagwan and Sheela in love. One gets thrown back in time as one steps in her bedroom. Suddenly, Bhagwan, Sheela and the Orange world come alive. From running a sprawling commune to running care homes in Switzerland at age 70, its been a long journey. Her life is very different now, it is purely a life of service dedicated to those in need. But she still is the queen of her kingdom. She has a staff of over 30 people who are constantly at her beck and call and a number of chauffeurs to drive her and her patients around.

In interviews from those heady Oregon days, she is supremely dismissive and deliberately provocative. What was the most provocative thing she said to you?

Honestly, nothing! I had once jokingly asked her to say tough titties for me and she laughed and said, Oh Manbeena, those kinds of words are only for those shrewd journalists who deserve every bit of it and who need to be set straight, not for a person like you.

Nothing to Lose: The Authorised Biography of Ma Anand Sheela By Manbeena Sandhu HarperCollins India 332 pages Rs 599

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Manbeena Sandhu: Ma Anand Sheela is still the queen of her kingdom - The Indian Express

It has been a busy summer transfer window for Reading.

FC Porto full-back Tomas Esteves was the final arrival on deadline day on Monday evening.

Striker Marc McNulty was the final departure, joining Dundee United on loan in the Scottish Premiership for the rest of the season.

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There is still just over a week before the domestic window shuts, so Royals still have some time to do deals with Premier League sides or fellow EFL clubs.

Several players could still head out while Veljko Paunovic will be trying to strengthen further with a few more additions no doubt.

Here is a full list of the senior players who have left and joined Reading over the past couple of months.

Josh Laurent - Shrewsbury Town, free

Ovie Ejaria - Liverpool, 3m

Lewis Gibson - Everton, loan

Alfa Semedo - Benfica, loan

Tomas Esteves - FC Porto, loan

Chris Gunter - end of contract, free agent

Garath McCleary - end of contract, free agent

Vito Mannone - end of contract, Monaco

Adrian Popa - end of contract, free agent

Tyler Blackett - end of contract, Nottingham Forest

Jordan Obita - end of contract, free agent

Gabriel Osho - end of contract, free agent

Danny Loader - end of contract, FC Porto

Charlie Adam - end of contract, Dundee

Mo Barrow - undisclosed, Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors

Lucas Boye - end of loan

Matt Miazga - end of loan

Pele - end of loan

Ayub Masika - end of loan

You can get the latest news on our dedicated Reading FC page

We're also on social media:

Twitter: You can follow our Twitter account @readingfclive and our Reading FC reporter Jonathan Low @jonathanl50

Facebook: Get the latest news and views on our page Reading FC Live

You can also get the latest news for Berkshire straight to your mobile or tablet when you download the free BerkshireLive app.

You can sign up to receive push notifications - including Reading FC specific ones - which means you'll always be the first to know what's happening.

You can find it for Apple devices here and Android devices here.

Reading are back in Championship following the two week international break.

They travel to Teesside to take on Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium.

Kick-off is 3pm on Saturday, October 17.

Join us for live coverage of the game throughout the day with all of the build-up starting in our live blog from 12pm.

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5 arrivals, 14 exits - every Reading FC transfer in and out this summer - Berkshire Live

We love stories, and even in the age of Netflix-and-chill, there's nothing like a good book that promises a couple of hours of absorption whether curled up in bed, in your favourite coffeehouse, or that long (and tiresome) commute to work. Every Sunday, we'll have a succinct pick of books, across diverse genres, that have been newly made available for your reading pleasure. Get them wherever you get your books the friendly neighbourhood bookseller, e-retail website, chain store and in whatever form you prefer. Happy reading!

For more of our weekly book recommendations, click here.

***

FICTION

A Drop of Blood By Joginder Paul; translated by Snehal ShingaviPenguin Random House India | Rs 399 | 184 pages

Author and associate professor of English at University of Texas Snehal Shingavi translates award-winning Urdu writer Joginder Pauls debut novel Ek Boond Lahoo Ki. It follows Mohan Karan, blessed with good looks and a rare blood type. While his degree in English literature makes him little money, he discovers that selling his blood to a private blood bank has promising returns. While unexpected possibilities open up, little does he realise the personal cost these come at.

Read more about the book here.

POETRY

Open Your Eyes: An Anthology on Climate Change Edited by Vinita Agrawal Hawakal Publishers | Rs 500 | 202 pages

Award-winning poet Vinita Agrawals anthology investigates the relationship between human beings and the natural world, and aims to bring to readers attention the threat that is climate change. Each contributor has interpreted the theme differently, looking at climate change through physical, emotional, and spiritual lenses. The book also includes a foreword by poet Ranjit Hoskote.

Read more about the book here.

MEMOIRS and BIOGRAPHIES

Nothing to Lose: The Authorized Biography of Ma Anand Sheela By Manbeena Sandhu HarperCollins India | Rs 599 | 272 pages

Writer Manbeena Sandhu followed the Osho movement for two decades before finally meeting Sheela. In this book, she outlines Sheelas life, from her intense relationship with Bhagwan to heading an ashram at Rajneeshpuram, Oregon, in the 1980s. The book also discusses her alleged spearheading of the largest bio-terror attack in American history, and the 39 months she spent in jail.

Read more about the book here. Read an excerpt from the book here.

NON-FICTION

The City-Makers: How Women are Building a Sustainable Future for Urban India By Renana Jhabvala and Bijal Brahmbhatt Hachette India | Rs 399 | 208 pages

Social workers Renana Jhabvala and Bijal Brahmbhatt tell the story of the Mahila Housing SEWA Trust (MHT), established in 1994 with the aim of mobilising and empowering the urban poor women, who are living in slums and bearing the burdens of housework, childcare, and earning a livelihood. Over 25 years, MHT has affected the lives of over 1.7 million individuals. The book records this journey, sharing accounts of courageous women who have taken steps to bring change at the personal and community level.

Read more about the book here.

Fractured Forest, Quartzite City: A History of Delhi and it's Ridge By Thomas Crowley SAGE Publications India and Yoda Press | Rs 795 | 368 pages

Researcher Thomas Crowley tells the history of Delhi, placing its environment at the centre of the narrative, focusing especially on the Ridge, referred to as Delhis green lung. Even as the city has been a hub of politics, warfare, trade, and religion, the Ridges trees cant be separated from the stones below them, nor the cities that rose and fell around them. Through an ecological vantage point, Crowley offers a new light in which to understand the citys historical and geographical interconnections.

Read more about the book here.

COVID-19

And We Came Outside and Saw the Stars Again: Writers from Around the World on the COVID-19 Pandemic Edited by Ilan Stavans Penguin Random House India | Rs 799 | 400 pages

As COVID-19 has become a defining global experience, writers, artists, and translators from over 30 countries including translator Arshia Sattar from India come together to offer a portrait of the time, and be an antidote to the confines of isolation. Edited by writer Ilan Stavans, the book takes its name from the last line of Dantes Inferno, when the poet and his guide emerge from hell to observe the beauty of heaven once again. The stories, essays, poems, and artwork follow in that spirit, pointing toward a more connected future.

Read more about the book here.

A Crown of Thorns: The Coronavirus and Us By Kalpish Ratna Context | Rs 399 | 264 pages

Surgeons Ishrat Syed and Kalpana Swaminathan write together as Kalpish Ratna. They assess the current narrative of COVID-19, which has so far focused primarily on the virus. But instead of just the novel coronavirus, the book considers the relation between the virus and humanity. We have coexisted with viruses since the dawn of evolution. So, what has changed? Have we disrupted something crucial in nature? The book combines science, history and the human story, offering the long view of the pandemic.

Find latest and upcoming tech gadgets online on Tech2 Gadgets. Get technology news, gadgets reviews & ratings. Popular gadgets including laptop, tablet and mobile specifications, features, prices, comparison.

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Books of the week: From An Anthology on Climate Change to Kalpish Ratnas A Crown of Thorns, our picks - Firstpost

New Delhi | October 11, 2020 11:04:50 am

Is coding a must-have life skill of the future?

The digital native that she is, eight-year-old Hirranya Rajani, with her experience of building an app and multiple skirmishes with pesky bugs, takes no time to break it down. Coding is like, say, your friend comes home and asks for a glass of water. You are busy. She doesnt know your house, and you have to tell her how to go about it, step by step. Tell her where the glass of water is kept, which way to turn till she gets there . . . Coding is like that, communicating with your computer and telling it what to do, and how to do it, she says. For over a year, Hirranya has been learning the elements of the language on the ed-tech coding platform, WhiteHat Jr, that helps her do just that.

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How UK-born Barry John turned generations of Indians into theatre professionals

In 1968, 22-year-old Barry John from centralEnglands Black Country, an area cloaked in soot and smoke from factories and mines, arrived in India and began to create theatre that would free the minds of children. People were not used to the idea that children have voices and opinions. I was working from my heart, rather than my head, in fighting for the right of children to make their own choices instead of being told what to do, when to do or how to do, he says over phone from Dharamshala, where he has been living in retirement since 2015.

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How social media kills information by overproducing it

What do you do with dead information? Not information that is no longer valid. Not information that is no longer relevant. Not information that has fallen out of fashion. But the information that has become truly and profoundly dead scrambled in an irreversible glitch, corrupt on fickle storage devices, residing in formats that nobody reads, written in machine languages that are long since forgotten. What do you do with information that is inaccessible, illegible, and not intelligible?

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Why animals fear us more than we could ever fear them

When faced with danger, every living creature responds in two ways, only one of which can be used at a time fight or flight. Usually, when the threat is smaller and weaker, the creature will fight and vanquish it. At times, the threat is on a par with it and the animal has to decide whether its worth getting injured in a do-or-die fight or to simply retreat and live to fight (a weaker enemy) another day. Sometimes, of course, tempers short-circuit and a fight to the death commences: usually, no one comes off a clear winner. The loser may lose its life and the winner limp away, ready to be taken on by another challenger, which it is, now, in no condition to do.

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The essential Louise Glck reading list

After its controversial selection of Peter Handke for the 2019 Nobel Prize for Literature, the Swedish Academy returned on course this year with a Laureate who met with all-round approval: Louise Glcks mastery at laying bare the inner life of the individual has long been acknowledged. Heres a list of four collections that give a glimpse of Glcks poetic genius:

The House on Marshland (1975)

Glcks second book of poetry, which came seven years after her debut volume, Firstborn, is considered to be the one that announced the arrival of a powerful new voice in American poetry. One of the poems in the collection, Gretel In Darkness, in particular, drew both censure and acclaim for its exploration of the theme of familial and cultural trauma, told from the perspective of Gretel, one of the protagonists from the Grimm Brotherss fairytale.

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Did the First Amendment to the Constitution lay the foundation for an authoritarian state?

The story of Indian politics is one of continuities more than ruptures contrary to the popular imagination, bolstered by arguments by several mainstream political analysts that the period since 2014 has paved the way for a new regime that has jeopardised democracy and tarnished the idea of India. Singhs book, which narrates the story of the passage of the First Amendment to the Indian Constitution by theJawaharlal Nehrugovernment in June 1951, provides an important interruption to this narrative.

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Manbeena Sandhu: Ma Anand Sheela is still the queen of her kingdom

She was 16 when she accompanied her father to meet godman Rajneesh in Baroda, the beginning of a complex relationship that endured until she fled his ashram in the US in 1985. From setting up a commune in a wild outpost of Oregon and unsettling a conservative local community along the way, the flamboyant Ma Anand Sheela (born Sheela Ambalal Patel) was personal secretary to Osho, as Rajneesh later came to be called, and the face of the movement till her falling out with him, which ended in a 39-month prison spell for a series of charges, including immigration fraud, wiretapping and poisoning. In this interview, Manbeena Sandhu speaks on what led her to document the story of an unconventional life and the inner world of a controversial cult.

READ MORE

How Gandhis assassination left one family not only shocked, but also politicised

I like to call myself and those of us who were young adults in India in the 1950s, the before midnights children. Unlike Salman Rushdies protagonists who were born at the very midnight hour of August 15, 1947, the moment that India was declared free from British rule, I was born in 1933 and was a teenager at the time of Independence, and a young adult as we threw ourselves into the work of a new and free India. I would say that we experienced an India which we still fantasize about, and which also shaped our politics profoundly. I would go further and suggest that we got deeply attached to some ideas, ideologies and aspirations that were born of that experience that we are not able to shed, even today, in our eighties.

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Sunday Long Reads: Of coding, Gandhis assassination, Louise Glcks best books, and more - The Indian Express

Sri Aurobindo was born in Calcutta on August 15, 1872. In 1879, at the age of seven, he was taken with his two elder brothers to England for education and lived there for fourteen years. Brought up at first in an English family at Manchester, he joined St. Pauls School in London in 1884 and in 1890 went from it with a senior classical scholarship to Kings College, Cambridge, where he studied for two years.

Sri Aurobindo passed thirteen years, from 1893 to 1906, in the Baroda Service, first in the Revenue Department and in secretariat work for the Maharaja, afterwards as Professor of English and, finally, Vice-Principal in the Baroda College. [. . .] A great part of the last years of this period was spent on leave in silent political activity, for he was debarred from public action by his position at Baroda. The outbreak of the agitation against the partition of Bengal in 1905 gave him the opportunity to give up the Baroda Service and join openly in the political movement. He left Baroda in 1906 and went to Calcutta as Principal of the newly-founded Bengal National College.

The political action of Sri Aurobindo covered eight years, from 1902 to 1910. During the first half of this period he worked behind the scenes, preparing with other co-workers the beginnings of the Swadeshi (Indian Sinn Fein) movement, till the agitation in Bengal furnished an opening for the public initiation of a more forward and direct political action than the moderate reformism which had till then been the creed of the Indian National Congress. [. . .] Sri Aurobindo hoped to capture the Congress and make it the directing centre of an organised national action, an informal State within the State, which would carry on the struggle for freedom till it was won.

Sri Aurobindo was prosecuted for sedition in 1907 and acquitted. Up till now an organiser and writer, he was obliged by this event and by the imprisonment or disappearance of other leaders to come forward as the acknowledged head of the party in Bengal and to appear on the platform for the first time as a speaker. He presided over the Nationalist Conference at Surat in 1907 where in the forceful clash of two equal parties the Congress was broken to pieces. In May, 1908, he was arrested in the Alipur Conspiracy Case as implicated in the doings of the revolutionary group led by his brother Barindra; but no evidence of any value could be established against him and in this case too he was acquitted. After a detention of one year as undertrial prisoner in the Alipur Jail, he came out in May, 1909, to find the party organisation broken, its leaders scattered by imprisonment, deportation or self-imposed exile and the party itself still existent but dumb and dispirited and incapable of any strenuous action. For almost a year he strove single-handed as the sole remaining leader of the Nationalists in India to revive the movement. He published at this time to aid his effort a weekly English paper, theKarmayogin, and a Bengali weekly, theDharma. But at last he was compelled to recognise that the nation was not yet sufficiently trained to carry out his policy and programme. [. . .] Moreover, since his twelve months detention in the Alipur Jail, which had been spent entirely in the practice of Yoga, his inner spiritual life was pressing upon him for an exclusive concentration. He resolved therefore to withdraw from the political field, at least for a time.

In February, 1910, he withdrew to a secret retirement at Chandernagore and in the beginning of April sailed for Pondicherry in French India. [. . .]

During all his stay at Pondicherry from 1910 [until his passing in 1950 he] remained more and more exclusively devoted to his spiritual work and his sadhana. In 1914 after four years of silent Yoga he began the publication of a philosophical monthly, theArya. Most of his more important works [. . .] appeared serially in theArya. These works embodied much of the inner knowledge that had come to him in his practice of Yoga. [. . .] TheAryaceased publication in 1921 after six years and a half of uninterrupted appearance.

Sri Aurobindo lived at first in retirement at Pondicherry with four or five disciples. Afterwards more and yet more began to come to him to follow his spiritual path and the number became so large that a community of sadhaks had to be formed for the maintenance and collective guidance of those who had left everything behind for the sake of a higher life. This was the foundation of the Sri Aurobindo Ashram which has less been created than grown around him as its centre.

Sri Aurobindo began his practice of Yoga in 1905. At first gathering into it the essential elements of spiritual experience that are gained by the paths of divine communion and spiritual realisation followed till now in India, he passed on in search of a more complete experience uniting and harmonising the two ends of existence, Spirit and Matter. Most ways of Yoga are paths to the Beyond leading to the Spirit and, in the end, away from life; Sri Aurobindos rises to the Spirit to redescend with its gains bringing the light and power and bliss of the Spirit into life to transform it. [. . .] It is possible by opening to a greater divine consciousness to rise to this power of light and bliss, discover ones true self, remain in constant union with the Divine and bring down the supramental Force for the transformation of mind and life and body. To realise this possibility has been the dynamic aim ofSri Aurobindos Yoga.

Written by Sri Aurobindo. Edited material marked by brackets. From the booklet,Sri Aurobindo and his Ashram, pp. 2-6, published in 1983 by theSri Aurobindo Ashram, Pondicherry.

Go here to see the original:
Sri Aurobindo Sri Aurobindo Sadhana Peetham

In a special introduction to mark the 20th anniversary of her iconic book The Other Side of Silence: Voices from the Partition of India (1998), author Urvashi Butalia wrote, All the questions that remain alive today how citizenship is defined, how the State relates to its citizens, what a relationship of trust means, how refugees are defined and understood, how many of our cities have developed, the lands they took in, the settlements that were built and so much more find resonance in that violent founding moment.

These questions cannot be dismissed as the idle preoccupations of scholars raking up the past to problematise what is done and dusted. They are intimately connected to questions of survival. Delhi-based photographer Anuj Arora (27) realised this when he began working on a photography project to document the lives of Rohingya muslims, one of the most persecuted communities in the world, living in refugee camps in and around Delhi-NCR. It struck a personal chord because his grandparents were Partition refugees who fled Lahore in 1947.

Having grown up on his grandparents stories, Arora could readily empathise with the experiences of the Rohingyas. They were forced to leave behind their homes in the Rakhine state of Myanmar and find shelter wherever they could. Many of them escaped genocide and came to Delhi. During his research for a diploma project on documentary photography at the Sri Aurobindo Centre for Arts and Communication, Arora learnt that they reside in four main areas Shaheen Bagh, Madanpur Khadar, Okhla and Vikaspuri. Titled Unsettled Identities, his series of photographs is now being showcased on a digital platform curated by the Prameya Art Foundation. It is an intimate record of their everyday experiences.

A mother combs a childs hair. Children huddle together and read. Family photographs and identity documents are tightly held on to. A bonfire provides warmth on a cold night. Youngsters play with abandon. A father looks lovingly at his child. Some are immersed in their cellphones; others rest on the ground and stare at the sky above. Arora says,Delhi has been a place of shelter for migrant communities from Sindh, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Jamaica, Myanmar, Bangladesh and many other parts of the world. I wanted to focus on Rohingya Muslims because they have lived amidst us for decades, but we know so little. They face linguistic and cultural barriers and problems related to education, housing and employment.

Earning trust

Just being curious was not enough. Arora had to earn the trust of the community leaders. They wanted to understand why he was interested in their lives. It occurred to him that the Rohingyas in these refugee camps live in a state of constant fear, so it was natural for them to be on their guard. Arora says,They wake up each morning and check on what is happening in Myanmar. They migrated because of ethnic cleansing, but there is a lot of sentimental value attached to their memories. They are not only worried about themselves, but also about relatives in Myanmar since the verification forms used in India ask them to mention addresses and contact details of those people.

Building a relationship was important. Once they warmed up to Arora, he was invited to meals and became a regular recipient of their hospitality. While interacting with them, he found a lot of tender moments to capture. Soon, he decided to shoot the entire series in black and white and shades of grey, in order to reflect the mood in the refugee camps most accurately. The children who gathered around him wanted to learn how to use the camera, so he also conducted some informal photography workshops and encouraged them to practise the craft.

Bearing witness

Arora believes that official documents and school history textbooks usually focus on the hard facts. They do not reflect the feelings of refugees and the hardship they go through. Each person, and every family, has numerous stories to tell. Nobody can predict when the wounds will heal, if they do so at all, but what artists can do is bear witness. We cannot take away the pain that they have gone through, but we can sit there and listen as they speak, remarks Arora.

Spending time with them brought up questions about what his own grandparents must have encountered when the carnage in 1947 made them pack up their bags and migrate to the Indian side of Punjab, from where they moved to refugee camps in Delhi. Arora wonders whether they too felt out of place all their lives, while trying to adjust to a new homeland and feels grateful that they survived despite everything that they lost. His photographs are also, in a sense, a tribute to their resilient spirit.

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Portraits of the persecuted - Deccan Herald

File photo: Prime Minister of India Narendra Modi addresses the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly at UN headquarters in New York, on September 27, 2019. (REUTERS/Brendan Mcdermid)

Narendra Modi has completed 19 years as a top administrator and his journey from being a chief minister to a prime minister has entered its 20th year, making him a rare personality in Indian politics. After spending around a little less than 13 years in Gujarat as CM, he has been the PM of the country since May 2014. The question is, from whom does Modi who has inspired many world leaders draw inspiration? The list is long.

On October 7, 2001, Modi entered the world of administration. Before that, he was a Pracharak of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) since 1971. After spending three decades in the Sangh as a Pracharak, also serving as the BJP's central organisational secretary, Modi became the chief minister of Gujarat after Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Lal Krishna Advani seconded his name.

Modi had no administrative experience before he took over as the CM of Gujarat. The only expertise that he had was the organisational skills which he had in abundance and he used them in bringing people together, to strengthen the party and making new experiments in politics. When Modi became the chief minister, he did not even have the experience of running a panchayat. At that time, he had not even fought an assembly election. It is another matter though that he had played a major role in getting the BJP to power in 1995 in Gujarat. He had also headed the BJP campaign committee in the 1998 Gujarat assembly elections to pave the way for the party's victory. Apart from this, he had already impressed his party with his work in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and other states.

But till then he had no hands-on administrative experience and he accepted this while chairing a meeting with top officials of Gujarat after he became CM. Modi had his task cut out for him. In post-earthquake Gujarat, relief and rehabilitation was a major challenge and the administration was facing a slew of criticism. His predecessor Keshubhai Patel had to leave the post for this reason. Before this, the BJP had lost crucial panchayat, assembly and Lok Sabha polls.

Narendra Modi took the reins of the administration and responded with the speed of someone attempting to win a one-day match that turned into a marathon test innings which has lasted 19 years and is entering the 20th. Nobody knows when this innings is going to end neither his supporters nor his opponents, who have been outwitted by him on numerous occasions in poll battles.

Over the past 19 years, much has been written all over the world about his administrative style. As chief minister, he had developed the 'Gujarat model of development' and popularised it across the country; it got him elected to Parliament and helped him become the Prime Minister. His was the first non-Congress government in 2014 to have full majority. After that, he led his party to victory in the 2019 Lok Sabha polls as well and was rewarded by the electorate with an even greater majority. His government is going to last till 2024, and, be it the public or pundits, no one is giving the opposition a chance before 2029. So how long Modi's administrative period lasts will be either decided by the man himself or the people of this country.

Now the question is who inspired Modi to become such an efficient administrator? Who are those people from whom he learnt the tricks of the trade? Hundreds of books have been written on Modi but no one has dealt with this issue at length.

Modi has given ample indication about this on several occasions. The first glimpse was in 2014, when he was filing his nomination from Vadodara for the general elections. That year, he had filed his nomination first from Vadodara before doing so from Varanasi. At that time, on April 9, 2014, when he was speaking to the media in Vadodara, it offered an insight into his inspiration as an administrator.

Vadodara, once a model of development and administrative acumen, was ruled by Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III, in whose name the city is also called Sayaji Nagari. Modi remembered Sayajirao that day, heaping praise on him, and not just as a mere formality.

Modi said that to know about Sayajirao's skills in administration and self-governance, one should read the book Minor Hints. It surprised not just the media persons but also millions of people watching and listening to him on TV at the time. They wanted to know what was this 'Minor Hints' and why was Modi waxing eloquent about Sayajirao?

'Minor Hints' is a collection of speeches which was given to a 12-year-old boy Gopal, born on March 11, 1863, in Kavlana village of Maharashtra, in his preparation to become the ruler of the kingdom of Baroda. Gopal was adopted by the ruler of this kingdom, Maharaja Khanderao Gaekwad, from a distant relative, Kashiram Gaekwad. After the death of Khanderao, his widow, Maharani Jamnabai, adopted the boy on May 27, 1875.

Gopal was taught the royal ways before he could be placed on the throne and about 150 speeches delivered by experts and senior officials were part of that education process. Of these, 46 speeches were delivered by the-then diwan T Madhava Rao, which formed the book 'Minor Hints'. This book is famous as Shasan Sutra in Gujarati and is revered like the Gita in the administration and is gifted to officials at the beginning of their career.

T Madhava Rao had trained Sayajirao Gaekwad and had taught him all the practical aspects of the administration which included how an administrator should behave, how he should keep himself away from sycophants and how to spend day and night thinking about ones subjects. Madhava Rao himself was a very talented man and was rightly given the title of Raja. He told Sayajirao that flatterers try to surround every administrator and they tell the king that the nation is made for him and not that he is made for the nation. In that situation, a king immediately thinks that administration is his paternal right and he considers his subjects as nothing. Madhava Rao had warned Sayajirao about this and told him not to behave irresponsibly as his responsibilities were immense. He also told him that the ultimate aim of an administrator was to keep his subjects happy.

With such education and training, Gopal was made the ruler of the kingdom when he was 18 years old and he was given the royal name of Sayajirao Gaekwad III. He ruled for 58 years and died in 1939. In his lengthy career as an administrator, he was known for caring about his subjects, and promoting reforms, scientific thinking, development of basic infrastructure, empowerment of women, education, etc. There are many famous stories about his patriotism. In 1911, he did not bow before the King of England who presided as the Emperor of India in the Delhi darbar and helped Sri Aurobindo and other revolutionaries and freedom fighters, risking British displeasure.

That Sayajirao Gaekwad has been an inspiration for Modi was apparent on several other occasions. During his first tenure as PM, when Modi was taking part in a discussion in the Rajya Sabha on women's education, he had mentioned Sayaji. Modi had said that in the reign of Sayajirao Gaekwad, not a single woman was illiterate, though some instances could be found after his rule. That's how much emphasis Sayajirao put on women's education.

Even Narendra Modi knew this from experience. His native place Vadnagar, where he was born, was previously in Mehsana which was under the Gaekwad kingdom. The school and its library where Modi read innumerable books were opened during the reign of Sayajirao Gaekwad III. Modi was born just 11 years after Gaekwad's death and it was but natural that people still talked about Sayaji. When Modi grew up, he came to know about the many talents of the king.

Modi also praised Sayajirao Gaekwad when he participated in his 150th birth anniversary celebrations in 2012 in Vadodara. In his speech, Modi had said that he comes from a place which has been part of the Gaekwad administration and even today every auspicious work is started in Sayajirao's name. Modi said that after being born in an ordinary family, brought up in a royal household and taking charge of the kingdom of Baroda at 18, Sayaji's work in administrative reforms continues to find resonance among the people 70 years after his death.

Obviously, Modi has not only read 'Minor Hints' very minutely but has also been inspired by Sayajiraos life and regime which he has adopted in his own life. After his early days as a Pracharak in Vadodara to becoming the CM in 2001 and as PM of the country for the past 6 years, he has always given the impression that his sole aim is to serve the people of this country. And that is why he has presented himself not as the Prime Minister but as the Pradhan Sevak of the citizens.

In his run as CM and PM over 19 years, Modi has ensured that benefits of government schemes reach the lowest strata of the society. His policies have been framed keeping in mind the situation of the disadvantaged people. That is why, in Gujarat, after taking over as CM, he kept tribal people, fishermen, Dalits and backward communities at the centre of his planning. After he became PM, he ensured that policies are framed to help women, farmers and the poorest of the poor in the country, and that is why today he is the darling of the masses.

Sycophants have not been able to surround him and he has kept himself connected with the people. That is why, Modi, today, is available to everyone. He always knows what is happening on the ground. Out of Delhi, he visits the hinterland, stays in touch with the people and their problems, and solves these issues. Not a single day goes by without him meeting the common people.

During Parliament sessions, people from all over the country come to meet him: from poor fishermen to ordinary farmers. He finds time for everyone but does not waste even a second. He is punctual and understands the value of time. He never takes leaves and works for 18-19 hours every day. It is obvious that his opponents today can neither match his energy nor his willpower. Rivals appear like stray clouds. After a bit of thunder and lightning, they quickly disappear to Thailand, Europe or America .

Modi is still a mystery for his political rivals. When he came into the administration, he did not have practical knowledge to run it. He was taught the intricacies of administration by IAS officer PK Mishra. Modi had appointed him his principal secretary in 2001 just after he took oath as CM. Modi himself has talked about how Mishra helped him in administration, and taught him the pros and cons.

Modi had so much faith in Mishra that after he retired as agriculture secretary during the UPA administration, Modi appointed him as chairman of the Gujarat Electricity Regulatory Commission and then made him chairman of Gujarat Institute of Disaster Management. From there, he came straight to Delhi when Modi became PM in 2014. Mishra was made his additional principal secretary. Since then, PK Mishra has continuously been with him and now in Modi's second term, he occupies the post of principal secretary and helps the PM formulate important policy decisions.

Modi has always tried to learn new things in the past two decades, from teachers at IIM Ahmedabad to eminent jurist VR Krishna Iyer whom he met by visiting Kerala. He has always been a learner which has helped him in becoming an efficient administrator. That is precisely why leaders from across the country and the world are trying to pick up tips from him on how to be a good administrator, have a finger on the pulse of the people and try innovations in governance for public welfare.

From CM to PM, the list of his experiments is long and they are part of hundreds of books and lakhs of articles. Yet Modi, who once learnt from Sayajirao Gaekwad, is still learning and trying new things. With his newly grown beard, some people see a glimpse of Shivaji in him. After all, Modi is constantly striving to realise the dream to implement the Hindavi Swarajya philosophy of this great patriot. Modi has a special fondness for the mega play based on Shivaji's life called Janata Raja and had seen it many decades ago and ensured its public enactment in every part of Gujarat when he was CM there. Modi has not stopped learning and that too when other world leaders are vying to learn the intricacies of administration from him.

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Modi Has Learnt Art of Good Governance from Shivaji & Sayaji, and Now World Leaders are Learning from... - News18

The term quantum computing gained momentum in the late 20thcentury. These systems aim to utilize these capabilities to become highly-efficient. They use quantum bits or qubits instead of the simple manipulation of ones and zeros in existing binary-based computers. These qubits also have a third state called superposition that simultaneously represents a one or a zero. Instead of analyzing a one or a zero sequentially, superposition allows two qubits in superposition to represent four scenarios at the same time. So we are at the cusp of a computing revolution where future systems have capability beyond mathematical calculations and algorithms.

Quantum computers also follow the principle of entanglement, which Albert Einstein had referred to as spooky action at a distance. Entanglement refers to the observation that the state of particles from the same quantum system cannot be described independently of each other. Even when they are separated by great distances, they are still part of the same system.

Several nations, giant tech firms, universities, and startups are currently exploring quantum computing and its range of potential applications. IBM, Google, Microsoft, Amazon, and other companies are investing heavilyin developing large-scale quantum computing hardware and software. Google and UCSB have a partnership to develop a 50 qubits computer, as it would represent 10,000,000,000,000,000 numbers that would take a modern computer petabyte-scale memory to store. A petabyte is the unit above a terabyte and represents 1,024 terabytes. It is also equivalent to 4,000 digital photos taken every day. Meanwhile, names like Rigetti Computing, D-Wave Systems, 1Qbit Information Technologies, Inc., Quantum Circuits, Inc., QC Ware, Zapata Computing, Inc. are emerging as bigger players in quantum computing.

IEEE Standards Association Quantum Computing Working Group is developing two technical standards for quantum computing. One is for quantum computing definitions and nomenclature, so we can all speak the same language. The other addresses performance metrics and performance benchmarking to measure quantum computers performance against classical computers and, ultimately, each other. If required, new standards will also be added with time.

The rapid growth in the quantum tech sector over the past five years has been exciting. This is because quantum computing presents immense potential. For instance, a quantum system can be useful for scientists for conducting virtual experiments and sifting through vast amounts of data. Quantum algorithms like quantum parallelism can perform a large number of computations simultaneously. In contrast, quantum interference will combine their results into something meaningful and can be measured according to quantum mechanics laws. Even Chinese scientists are looking to developquantum internet, which shall be a more secure communication system in which information is stored and transmitted withadvanced cryptography.

Researchers at Case Western Reserve University used quantum algorithms to transform MRI scans for cancer, allowing the scans to be performed three times faster and to improve their quality by 30%. In practice, this can mean patients wont need to be sedated to stay still for the length of an MRI, and physicians could track the success of chemotherapy at the earliest stages of treatment.

Laboratoire de Photonique Numrique et Nanosciences of France has built a hybrid device that pairs a quantum accelerometer with a classical one and uses a high-pass filter to subtract the classical data from the quantum data. This has the potential to offer an highly precise quantum compass that would eliminate the bias and scale factor drifts commonly associated with gyroscopic components. Meanwhile, the University of Bristolhas founded a quantum solution for increasing security threats. Researchers at the University of Virginia School of Medicine are working to uncover the potential quantum computers hold to help understand genetic diseases.Scientists are also using quantum computing to find a vaccine for COVID and other life-threatening diseases.

In July 2017, in collaboration with commercial photonics tools providerM Squared, QuantIC demonstrated how a quantum gravimeter detects the presence of deeply hidden objects by measuring disturbances in the gravitational field. If such a device becomes practical and portable, the team believes it could become invaluable in an early warning system for predicting seismic events and tsunamis.

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What is Quantum Computing, and How does it Help Us? - Analytics Insight