"In the last decade alone, the share of the world population living in autocracies has shot up from 49 percent in 2011 to 70 percent in 2021."—Michael Hirsh, "The Month That Changed a Century." Foreign Policy. April 10, 2022.
Tag: India
Remembering Boro Mashi
"The neighbors want to know, “Who will give mukhagni?” — only menfolk are allowed to go with the dead to the cremation grounds. Only sons or designated male family members are allowed to light the pyre, mukhagni (adding fire to the mouth of the dead). Women are second-class, not permitted. Women are to bear children … Continue reading Remembering Boro Mashi
এই রাত তোমার আমার | This Night, Yours & Mine by Hemanta Mukherjee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_DLXmzoaoE A classic Bengali song.
Mouli Maka
Ingredients 8 cups of puffed rice (or Rice Krispies)4 radishes, sliced1 radish, diced1/4 red onion1/2 cup of cauliflower1/4 cup of coriander (cilantro) leaves2 tbsp. of ginger, minced3 cloves of garlic2 small potatoes, boiledhot peppers (usually Thai, but any will do), to taste16 oz package of fresh snow peas2 tbsp. of mustard oil1 small package of … Continue reading Mouli Maka
The Green Gang — The California Sunday Magazine
"'You need to call the Green Gang.' The Green Gang. It was a strange, frightening phrase. Rajput had never heard of the group before. When she began asking about it in local villages, the details seemed too fantastical to be true. It was a gang of hundreds — no, thousands — of women, almost all of them poor and … Continue reading The Green Gang — The California Sunday Magazine
Temple in Vishnupur
Hammer & Sickle
At the Maacher Bazaar, Fish For Life
"The daughters are to stay at home. The wife, more so. The dead are never accompanied to the cremation grounds by women. We aren’t allowed. Not in our custom.And so, we went to the cremation grounds — Ma and her daughters, to cremate our father, her husband. I took Ma’s hand and guided her from … Continue reading At the Maacher Bazaar, Fish For Life
Caste is Social Control
"It’s in a way right because Hinduism is a tailor-made religion. As one anthropologist said, it’s mysticism, but basically it’s a system to prop up caste system. It tells you the rules for untouchables and for women. That is all Hinduism is about. Shorn of mysticism, it’s a prop for caste system. Caste system is … Continue reading Caste is Social Control
cafebedouin.org 