Category: Where are the leaders

  • Close Encounters of the Terminal Kind

    Ralph Chaplin said: “Mourn not the dead that in the cool earth lie, but rather mourn the apathetic throng, the coward and the meek who see the world’s great anguish and its wrong but dare not speak.” A friend asked me for my opinion about the Bhopal ‘encounter’ which is in the news at present…

  • If I advised the AIMPLB

    Okay! So, you are laughing. Good! I love to make people happy and after all we all have our right to fantasize. The question I asked myself was, ‘If I were to be invited to advise the AIMPLB at this rather heated moment, what would I say?’ Key word? IF. Please don’t get too worked…

  • Uniform Civil Code and the Law Commission Questionnaire

    An alternate perspective The ongoing debate on the questionnaire circulated by the Law Commission on the proposed implementation of a Uniform Civil Code and the predictable knee-jerk reaction of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB), is a very good opportunity to learn the basics of conflict resolution. With over thirty years’ experience in…

  • When the voiceless get a voice

    If there’s one overwhelming sign that numbers mean nothing and organization means everything, it is the plight of Dalits and Muslims in India. Dalits and Muslims are officially 17% and 13% of the population. That means that together one in three Indians is a ‘Dalim’ – Dalit Indian Muslim (my coinage today – in case…

  • Stopping radicalization through the barrel of a gun

    One of my friends sent me this article and asked for my opinion. http://www.firstpost.com/india/we-are-losing-kashmir-to-islam-ten-ways-to-counter-radicalisation-in-india-2997302.html My answer: Actually what this guy proposes is quite tame. See what some others did: Albania: the only European country with a majority Muslim population was ruled by Enver Halil Hoxha (born Muslim) communist leader of Albania from 1944 until his…

  • Entrepreneurship Development is the key to economic upliftment

    This picture which I took in Pune on my way to the airport after teaching a leadership course at SKF, is my all-time favorite. It is a picture of a man who decided to take his future into his own hands and become an entrepreneur. He gives the lie to all those who complain about…

  • Dealing with a political problem called ISIS

    This is truly one of the saddest pictures that I have ever seen. You can see how she is holding back her tears. What have we adults done to our children? I defend Islam. Not those who call themselves Muslim but go against Islam. ISIS is a political problem. Not a religious one.  So trying…

  • Accepting Freedom

    Many years ago, I wrote a piece which I posted on my blog called, ‘Same Chairs, Different Bottoms’. Here it is for those who may not have read it. It is necessarily full of Indian (and Hindi) idiom which is not translatable so I apologize to those who don’t understand Hindi in advance. Also you…

  • Turkey – 2016 Coup aftermath

    The coup in Turkey failed and democracy was saved. The president Tayyip Erdogan got a real vote of confidence where ordinary people from all walks of life came out in support of his call to defeat the coup and Allahﷻhelped them. Subsequently a state of emergency has been declared in Turkey and over 60,000 people…

  • Democracy in practice

    slavery. Today as I write this (July 18, 2016) a coup happened in Turkey but the people defeated it. So democracy apparently has more meaning in Turkey than it had in Egypt. But now what? And what really is the position of democracy in the Muslim world? A brief, even cursory look at the history…