Aug
31
Is Muslim population growth in Ladakh a part of a plan?
Filed Under Social Issues, Travel | 6 Comments
A major concern of the Buddhist Ladakhis is the population increase by Muslims in Ladakh, where the latter are in a minority, as part of a plan to disrupt the existing demographic patterns. If true, the consequences could be socio-economic as well as political in nature.
And for those indulging in such practices, the law helps them too: in India, polygamy for Muslims is allowed but not for other communities. As a result, large Muslim families are not a surprise with each wife bearing more than a couple of children. The Buddhists feel Muslims are spreading their influence in the mostly Buddhist areas of Ladakh by consciously having many more children – some men have been said to father over 20 – and buying property. The Buddhists believe the money to buy such property and support football team size families comes from the rich benefactors in the Middle East. Read more
Aug
20
Happy birthday, here’s a tree for you
Filed Under Green Dioxide | 1 Comment
There are enough companies who take care to make their employees and customers feel good on their birthdays. It could be in the form of a cake or a day off for the birthday boy or girl at office, or a card sent to a customer. How about making these occasions more memorable?
Plant a tree. And ensure provision is made to ensure it is nurtured over the years. No point having dead saplings and half trees lying around, right? Read more
Aug
19
Let’s get into a car pool
Filed Under Green Dioxide | Leave a Comment
Living in an urban space? Drive to work? Is the drive fun? If the answer to the first two questions is yes, the third is more likely to be in the negative.
Naturally. For one, traffic is on the rise in cities and towns worldwide, making driving a pain. And rising fuel costs are not really adding to make such journeys sound like fun either. Enter car or van pools.
Not a new concept, but its practice is highly limited. Company vans and buses are usually used to pick and drop staff who are way down in the pecking order. Anyone higher up in the hierarchy tends to use their own transport, if they can afford it. Does one need a tutorial on the carbon footprint left behind by the millions of cars zipping up and down to work? Read more
Aug
18
Muslims marrying Buddhists in Ladakh can only mean violence
Filed Under Social Issues, Travel | Leave a Comment
According to a senior and responsible army officer posted at the Siachen glacier, a point of conflict between India and Pakistan, the town of Leh in Ladakh sees the local residents getting violent twice a year on average. The issue: When a Muslim decides to, or already has, marry a Buddhist.
And this sentiment was echoed in many parts of Ladakh. In the town of Padum in the Zanskar Valley, a young student named Ghulam Ali Baig told me Muslim – Buddhist marriages are virtually unheard of. When couples do decide to go in for such inter-religion marriages, their only option it to quietly run away to another place like Leh or Jammu where no one knows them. The only mixed couple living in Padum are Ghulam’s own grandparents: his grandfather is Muslim. But that was many years ago when society was more moderate according to him. Read more
Aug
17
Buddhist monks fear being killed in Srinagar, don’t wear robes
Filed Under Politics, Social Issues | 1 Comment
Buddhist monks (lamas) in Ladakh (and probably everywhere else too) are supposed to be in their robes all the time, even when they are allowed breaks for some leisure. The exception is when they are in Srinagar, the capital of the disputed Indian Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir; if they are identified as lamas, there is the fear of being shot by Muslims. As a rule, they have to be in regular clothes when visiting Srinagar.
This was told to me by Rigzen, a 20-year old lama posted at the Chamba Statue of the Maitreya Buddha in Mulbeck, a 75 minute drive from Kargil when going to Leh during my recent trip to Ladakh. If what he said is true, it just goes on to show how violent elements do not spare even practitioners of a peace loving religion like Buddhism. Read more
Aug
17
What are Apple, Big Bazaar, Motorola, Pepsi, Kellogg and Pizza Hut in the business of? Selling, among other things, computers, groceries, cellphones, beverages and pizzas respectively.
What are they not in the business of? Selling waste.
If both of the above are true, why are brands leaving a litter trail behind in their pursuit of business growth? In the form of pizza boxes, shopping bags, aluminium cans, plastic containers, hazardous e-waste and more? Our streets, garbage dumps, landfills, water bodies, mountains and parks are full of these and other brands resting in shameful glory. Do companies have a right to internalizing profits and externalizing problems? Read more
