To Goanet - I agree with the spirit and substance of this opinion piece by Dr. N. Kamat.
What I find odd is the citing of Wendy Doniger, a known Hindu baiter masquerading as an academic. Really, Hindus should get over this habit of quoting white folks on matters pertaining to their own traditions, especially white folks in prestigious universities in America & the West. Not all white folks are automatically suspect, of course. But it pays to be vigilant. This may shed some light on Doniger and her cohort - http://rajivmalhotra.sulekha.com/blog/post/2002/09/risa-lila-1-wendy-s-child-syndrome.htm Also, today my friend Dr. Arun Gupta posted this. And Wolpert of UCLA is considered by some as an "authority." I know of many white "experts" in Indian music who are anything but. But if you can wangle a position at Harvard you automatically have Indians worshipping at your feet. (*) http://arunsmusings.blogspot.com/2010/07/wolpertisms.html Now it is true that these folks in the American academy are powerful, and they have cultivated brown sepoys to carry water for them. Anybody objecting to their shenanigans is readily labeled "right wing" "Hindutva" and so on (Admin Noronha et al are the low level foot soldiers in this brigade). (*) Note that my comments apply to what are considered the Humanities depts. The faculty at Science & Engineering depts in top US universities is usually at or near the top of their game. Regards, r * * * In every way, the Goans of Bombay were part of the great mêlée that was this metropolis, distinct perhaps in the way communities often are, holding on to their own traditions but merging slowly nonetheless and forming the thin thread of nationhood that would eventually become India. -- Selma Carvalho, in *Into the Goan Diaspora Wilderness*. Available at Broadways Book Centre, Panjim [Ph +91-9822488564] Price (in Goa only) Rs 295. http://selmacarvalho.squarespace.com/ * * *
