Pudumaipithan
November 14, 2009
I have expanded the wikipedia entry for pudumaipithan. A lot of the material was already there, but there were no citations. I have added new material, bibliography and citations. It has come out good (very difficult to get a narrative out of a encyclopedic article). It has lot of room for improvement especially in the areas of literary criticism and literary legacy but i dont think i have enough knowledge to write on those areas. So had to hold off for now. (may be with more research, will expand the article again)
The Conservative War on Coffee
November 02, 2009
As i have written before culture conservatives are hilarious. All one needs to do is read old magazines to see what ridiculous stuff they were railing against in the past. And less than a hundred years ago, they were waging a war against Coffee!!!. There is this great book called In those Days there was no coffee by AR Venkatachalapathy on how Coffee came into our lives despite their opposition. This is how some conservatives felt about coffee:
"..இந்நாளில் முக்கியமாய் எல்லா வீட்டிலும் புகுந்து போராட்டம் கொடுப்பது காபி,டீ என்ற விரோதிகள். அவைகள் உணவல்ல. சாப்பிட்டவுடன் கொஞ்சம் உத்ஸாகம் கொடுப்பத்து போலத் தோன்றி, படிப்படியாய் ஜீர்ணக் கருவிகளின் வீர்யத்தைக் குறைத்து, தேகபலம் குறையும் காலத்தில் முன்பின் அறியாத வியாதிகளை வெளிப்படுத்தும் என்று அச்சுறுத்தியது"
- ஸ்த்ரீ தர்மா (Official Organ of the Indian Women's Association), 1926
"..சென்ற பல ஆண்டுகளாக வேறு சில நச்சுப் பண்டங்களும் உணவுப் பொருள்களாய் கிளம்பியிருக்கின்றன. அவை: காப்பி, தேயிலை, கொக்கோ, சாராயம் என்பனவாம்.."
- மறைமலை அடிகள்,1933
"அமாவாசை விரத்த்தை அடியோடு கெடுத்தாயே
ஆனதோர் கார்த்திகை விரதத்தைத் தடுத்தாயே
ஏகதாசி விரதம் இடுப்பை உடைத்தாயே
இன்னும் பிதிர் கருமத்தை இன்னல்கள் செய்தாயே
கொலைகாரப் பாவி ஆசாரத்தைக் கெடுத்த சண்டாளத் துரோகி.."
- இங்கிலாந்து காப்பிக்கும் இந்தியன் பழையதுக்கும் நடந்த சண்டைச் சிந்து, 1914
==
The book is great and full of nice nuggets of history. The foreword and the first chapter are available for preview in google books. Go read it.
PS : This blogger does not imbibe coffee, tea, alcohol and other "drugs" ;-)
"..இந்நாளில் முக்கியமாய் எல்லா வீட்டிலும் புகுந்து போராட்டம் கொடுப்பது காபி,டீ என்ற விரோதிகள். அவைகள் உணவல்ல. சாப்பிட்டவுடன் கொஞ்சம் உத்ஸாகம் கொடுப்பத்து போலத் தோன்றி, படிப்படியாய் ஜீர்ணக் கருவிகளின் வீர்யத்தைக் குறைத்து, தேகபலம் குறையும் காலத்தில் முன்பின் அறியாத வியாதிகளை வெளிப்படுத்தும் என்று அச்சுறுத்தியது"
- ஸ்த்ரீ தர்மா (Official Organ of the Indian Women's Association), 1926
"..சென்ற பல ஆண்டுகளாக வேறு சில நச்சுப் பண்டங்களும் உணவுப் பொருள்களாய் கிளம்பியிருக்கின்றன. அவை: காப்பி, தேயிலை, கொக்கோ, சாராயம் என்பனவாம்.."
- மறைமலை அடிகள்,1933
"அமாவாசை விரத்த்தை அடியோடு கெடுத்தாயே
ஆனதோர் கார்த்திகை விரதத்தைத் தடுத்தாயே
ஏகதாசி விரதம் இடுப்பை உடைத்தாயே
இன்னும் பிதிர் கருமத்தை இன்னல்கள் செய்தாயே
கொலைகாரப் பாவி ஆசாரத்தைக் கெடுத்த சண்டாளத் துரோகி.."
- இங்கிலாந்து காப்பிக்கும் இந்தியன் பழையதுக்கும் நடந்த சண்டைச் சிந்து, 1914
==
The book is great and full of nice nuggets of history. The foreword and the first chapter are available for preview in google books. Go read it.
PS : This blogger does not imbibe coffee, tea, alcohol and other "drugs" ;-)
Labels: Tamil History
At last..
October 27, 2009
After procrastinating for nearly two years, i have finally completed my wikipedia article on kula kalvi thittam. It has turned out well - go check it out.
Labels: Tamil History
Error Propagation !
October 13, 2009
The Anti Charitable Contributions Act 1877 / Anti Humanitarian Act of 1877 is a satire. It was not a real act
==
The "Anti-Charitable Contributions act of 1877" is a Myth. It is not true. The entire act was made up as a satire about famine relief policies adopted by Viceroy Lord Lytton toward the Madras famine of 1876-78.
If you search the internet for this act (also known as anti humanitarian act of 1877), you will find many articles, op-eds, blog posts (like this one of mine from feb 2008) referring to the act as if it were a true act passed by the Madras Presidency. I myself believed it to be an actual law till today. This error was first made by historian Mike Davis and it has caught on and propagated by various columnists and bloggers like me.
The error first occurred when Davis mentioned the act in his book, Late Victorian Holocausts. First published in 2000, this book contains the following sentence ".. by imposing the Anti Charitable Contributions Act of 1877, which prohibited at the pain of imprisonment private charitable donations that potentially interfered with market fixing of grain prices...". (pages 39-40, Paperback edition). Davis' foot notes show that this was taken from a book Called "Famine Campaign in Southern India, Vol 2" by William Digby published in 1878. This book has been long out of print and available only in libraries, so it hasn't been available quickly to recheck.
The second step in the error propagation occurred when George Monbiot, quoted Davis' book and mentioned the act in an Guardian article titled The Turks haven't learned the British way of denying past atrocities in December 2005. From then on, Monbiot's quotes (and by extension Davis') have been appearing in a lot of articles/blogs condemning the free marketers. I for my part dug up the original book in google books and compiled a partial text of the said "Act". Since for some reason google doesnt even have a partial preview for that book, i did not get the fact that it was a satire and not a real piece of legislation. That post of mine is still among the top 5 google results for "Anti Charitable Contributions Act of 1877" and i still get a steady stream of hits to that blog post (It also got linked in a couple of popular Indian blogs). Then in oct 2008, in an unrelated discussion this act came up in Comment is Free and several free market supporters questioned the veracity of this Act. I waded into the argument ("professional" pride ;-)) and defended its existence.
Now a year after it happened, i started to write an entry in wikipedia for this act and i find that the book is now present in the Internet Archive . And when i read the full text, i found that the entire thing was a satire!!!!. Here is what William Digby had to say about this:
"...In many ways the feeling of annoyance and vexation which had been engendered found expression, and amongst other instances may be quoted the following "skit" in which the practice of Government of India of publishing draft bills in the Government Gazette has been Satirised"
Thats right SATIRISED!!!!!. THE WHOLE THING WAS A SKIT!. To cap it all, the Secretary to the Govt has signed it in "Inhumanville" on August 6 1877.
Let me say, i am not disagreeing with anything else William Digby or Mike Davis have written. I still subscribe to their conclusions and like their excellent books. But it is a good case for error propagation when a error made by one authority(Mike Davis), when picked up by another authority figure(George Monbiot), and repeated by amateur readers(like your sorry assed blogger) becomes fact into the times of Google. And it has made it another book called Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets: Surviving the Public Spectacle in Finance and Politics (page 208) by William Bonner and Lila Rajiva.
What shall i do now?. To repent for my sins, i shall first write to Professor Davis and inform him (i guess he already knows, but no new edition of the book has been published since, so no chance for a correction so far). Then i shall hope google's bots do their work and this post comes up always when people search for "Anti Charitable Contributions Act of 1877". (Psst:It is a satire). And a humble apology to all free marketers - the next time i call you names, i will make sure i have got the right evidence.
--
Update : I emailed Prof.Davis and he has acknowledged the error. So hopefully any future edition of the book will not have it.
==
The "Anti-Charitable Contributions act of 1877" is a Myth. It is not true. The entire act was made up as a satire about famine relief policies adopted by Viceroy Lord Lytton toward the Madras famine of 1876-78.
If you search the internet for this act (also known as anti humanitarian act of 1877), you will find many articles, op-eds, blog posts (like this one of mine from feb 2008) referring to the act as if it were a true act passed by the Madras Presidency. I myself believed it to be an actual law till today. This error was first made by historian Mike Davis and it has caught on and propagated by various columnists and bloggers like me.
The error first occurred when Davis mentioned the act in his book, Late Victorian Holocausts. First published in 2000, this book contains the following sentence ".. by imposing the Anti Charitable Contributions Act of 1877, which prohibited at the pain of imprisonment private charitable donations that potentially interfered with market fixing of grain prices...". (pages 39-40, Paperback edition). Davis' foot notes show that this was taken from a book Called "Famine Campaign in Southern India, Vol 2" by William Digby published in 1878. This book has been long out of print and available only in libraries, so it hasn't been available quickly to recheck.
The second step in the error propagation occurred when George Monbiot, quoted Davis' book and mentioned the act in an Guardian article titled The Turks haven't learned the British way of denying past atrocities in December 2005. From then on, Monbiot's quotes (and by extension Davis') have been appearing in a lot of articles/blogs condemning the free marketers. I for my part dug up the original book in google books and compiled a partial text of the said "Act". Since for some reason google doesnt even have a partial preview for that book, i did not get the fact that it was a satire and not a real piece of legislation. That post of mine is still among the top 5 google results for "Anti Charitable Contributions Act of 1877" and i still get a steady stream of hits to that blog post (It also got linked in a couple of popular Indian blogs). Then in oct 2008, in an unrelated discussion this act came up in Comment is Free and several free market supporters questioned the veracity of this Act. I waded into the argument ("professional" pride ;-)) and defended its existence.
Now a year after it happened, i started to write an entry in wikipedia for this act and i find that the book is now present in the Internet Archive . And when i read the full text, i found that the entire thing was a satire!!!!. Here is what William Digby had to say about this:
"...In many ways the feeling of annoyance and vexation which had been engendered found expression, and amongst other instances may be quoted the following "skit" in which the practice of Government of India of publishing draft bills in the Government Gazette has been Satirised"
Thats right SATIRISED!!!!!. THE WHOLE THING WAS A SKIT!. To cap it all, the Secretary to the Govt has signed it in "Inhumanville" on August 6 1877.
Let me say, i am not disagreeing with anything else William Digby or Mike Davis have written. I still subscribe to their conclusions and like their excellent books. But it is a good case for error propagation when a error made by one authority(Mike Davis), when picked up by another authority figure(George Monbiot), and repeated by amateur readers(like your sorry assed blogger) becomes fact into the times of Google. And it has made it another book called Mobs, Messiahs, and Markets: Surviving the Public Spectacle in Finance and Politics (page 208) by William Bonner and Lila Rajiva.
What shall i do now?. To repent for my sins, i shall first write to Professor Davis and inform him (i guess he already knows, but no new edition of the book has been published since, so no chance for a correction so far). Then i shall hope google's bots do their work and this post comes up always when people search for "Anti Charitable Contributions Act of 1877". (Psst:It is a satire). And a humble apology to all free marketers - the next time i call you names, i will make sure i have got the right evidence.
--
Update : I emailed Prof.Davis and he has acknowledged the error. So hopefully any future edition of the book will not have it.
Labels: Books
D9
September 03, 2009
Anyone missing good science fiction/action movies ought to watch District 9. A good science fiction movie along the lines of Terminator, Predator, Alien etc.. after a long time.
Labels: Movies
Deromantizing palayakarars
August 24, 2009
Recently i bought "History of Tirunelveli" by Robert Caldwell. The book (atleast the tamil translation) is a dry screed which makes me sleep within a couple of pages. It would have ended somewhere near the bottom of the "never to be touched again" book pile, but was rescued by my mother. Till recently her view of history has been the kalki/sandilyan historical romances singing paens to kings and emperors. And this book turned her historical world view upside down. Robert Caldwell has that effect on you - dude was a evangelist curmudgeon who leaves none spared in his scathing narratives. All the childhood heroes and demigods whose larger than life images have been carefully built up by a thousand movies/dramas, non-detail texts and tireless myth making by jathi sangams are exposed to be nothing more than common thieves, bandits and charlatans.
Anyone who needs a sober reading of southern tamil nadu history, ought to read this book.
Anyone who needs a sober reading of southern tamil nadu history, ought to read this book.
Labels: History
Doing Democratic Duty
August 17, 2009
There is a vote to be cast tomorrow. My MLA jumped parties and had to resign, now there is a fierce contest between the also rans for the second place - There is no ADMK in the fray and the ruling party wins 90% of all by elections. This would be the last time i vote in this particular constituency (a huge rural one, where suburbs like ours are immaterial) . In the next election, reorganization kicks in and there will be brand new seat to vote for - a smaller one made of suburbs.
Labels: misc
The content mind
August 03, 2009
is not prone to ranting - thus the paucity of posts. Living at home for the past five months has made me domesticated. But this too will come to pass. I have had much time to do stuff in the past months. I have read a lot - about a hundred books in five months, became a part of an open source community and then came out of it in a schis and i have gained 10 kilos. I guess regular posting will resume soon
Labels: Personal stuff
The big losers of 2009 elections
May 16, 2009
Wen Jiabao:
Now that his Indian sockpuppet Prakash Karat will not get anywhere near the corridors of power, the chinese politburo has lost a valuable (and cheap) agent of influence in India. If they want a replacement of this caliber, the price is going to be too huge. However, they still have N Ram to publish the Xinhua version of truth.
Kongunadu Munnetra peravai:
The big losers here ought to be the kongunadu munnetra peravai (gounder caste party). They have come in the third place in a lot of places in the kongu belt. But the ADMK still won all those seats even without them. Their future looks bleak - they cant ally with the DMK because historically their caste votes against the DMK and the vote wont transfer. And the ADMK wont touch them, now that it knows it doesnt need them to win in West Tamil Nadu. Before the next elections they are going the Makkal Thamizh desam/ pudhiya needhi katchi (if you are wondering who they are, that proves the point) way into the graveyard of caste outfits.
Dr Ramadoss
The trouble with luck is it eventually runs out. The good doctor (and his son, the little doctor) has finally made one switch too many and is now feeling the pain. Look, you run a caste outfit. No amount of posturing on the Tamil Eelam or playing the moral police is going to change that. You rode to power on the "Vanniyar vottu anniyarukku illai" (Vanniyars wont vote for outsiders) strategy. The other castes are not fools to vote for you again and again without something to show for it. And your own base would get bored eventually. All it takes is a wildcard like Vijaykanth to cut into your base and you are exposed as the 5 percenter that you actually are. Good bye and good riddance Doctor. It is a pity to lose the little doctor because he actually got it when it comes to the HIV policy and article 377.
Cho Ramasamy / ADMK / "Padhicha Makkal" types from chennai:
The lesson you ought to learn is - dont believe your own spin. MK is a wily operator. The free TVs and 1 rs rice are popular, the money power is over whelming, the turn out operation is superior and Vijaykanth takes a third of the anti DMK vote. And you still believe that you will win 40??. And you want Amma as the next PM while contesting only 23 seats?. Talk about delusions of grandeur. Whats wrong with you people?. I am tempted to go the old DK way and laugh it off as the crassness of parppaniyam. After all you are the geniuses who bought us the "animal slaughter ban law" in a state where more than 90 percent eat meat. If you cant stop waging class war, atleast be subtle about it.
Me
I am now represented by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the Indian parliament. Sigh!.. of the 16 odd MPs they got, one is from Coimbatore. Seriously this is the party which split from the CPI to support the chinese invasion of 1962!. Sigh again. I sleep soundly knowing that Wen Jiabao effectively controls my representation to the Indian parliament
Now that his Indian sockpuppet Prakash Karat will not get anywhere near the corridors of power, the chinese politburo has lost a valuable (and cheap) agent of influence in India. If they want a replacement of this caliber, the price is going to be too huge. However, they still have N Ram to publish the Xinhua version of truth.
Kongunadu Munnetra peravai:
The big losers here ought to be the kongunadu munnetra peravai (gounder caste party). They have come in the third place in a lot of places in the kongu belt. But the ADMK still won all those seats even without them. Their future looks bleak - they cant ally with the DMK because historically their caste votes against the DMK and the vote wont transfer. And the ADMK wont touch them, now that it knows it doesnt need them to win in West Tamil Nadu. Before the next elections they are going the Makkal Thamizh desam/ pudhiya needhi katchi (if you are wondering who they are, that proves the point) way into the graveyard of caste outfits.
Dr Ramadoss
The trouble with luck is it eventually runs out. The good doctor (and his son, the little doctor) has finally made one switch too many and is now feeling the pain. Look, you run a caste outfit. No amount of posturing on the Tamil Eelam or playing the moral police is going to change that. You rode to power on the "Vanniyar vottu anniyarukku illai" (Vanniyars wont vote for outsiders) strategy. The other castes are not fools to vote for you again and again without something to show for it. And your own base would get bored eventually. All it takes is a wildcard like Vijaykanth to cut into your base and you are exposed as the 5 percenter that you actually are. Good bye and good riddance Doctor. It is a pity to lose the little doctor because he actually got it when it comes to the HIV policy and article 377.
Cho Ramasamy / ADMK / "Padhicha Makkal" types from chennai:
The lesson you ought to learn is - dont believe your own spin. MK is a wily operator. The free TVs and 1 rs rice are popular, the money power is over whelming, the turn out operation is superior and Vijaykanth takes a third of the anti DMK vote. And you still believe that you will win 40??. And you want Amma as the next PM while contesting only 23 seats?. Talk about delusions of grandeur. Whats wrong with you people?. I am tempted to go the old DK way and laugh it off as the crassness of parppaniyam. After all you are the geniuses who bought us the "animal slaughter ban law" in a state where more than 90 percent eat meat. If you cant stop waging class war, atleast be subtle about it.
Me
I am now represented by the Communist Party of India (Marxist) in the Indian parliament. Sigh!.. of the 16 odd MPs they got, one is from Coimbatore. Seriously this is the party which split from the CPI to support the chinese invasion of 1962!. Sigh again. I sleep soundly knowing that Wen Jiabao effectively controls my representation to the Indian parliament
Labels: politics
The Flat Tax magic wand
May 15, 2009
One good thing about this whole "Not-Depression" we are in is the opportunity to test the soundness of the various economic doctrines. One such doctrine is the Flat Tax regime. It has been propounded by the "free market" fundamentalists as (one of the) panacea to all the ills of the "socialist" world we live in. The eastern european states coming off the commie yoke, in the 90s drank this kool aid and adapted flat tax regimes of varying percentages. And thus became the poster boys of the flat tax crowd. When everything was well and the credit bubble was alive and kicking, they soared. But when all went to hell, the "Baltic beacon" too has faltered.
Latvia, which has a flat tax of 25 percent, and Lithuania and Estonia, which have 21 percent tax rates, are all in deep economic trouble. They all have huge government budget deficits, a sign that they took in too little in tax revenue to cover their costs, primarily state expenditures to provide a generous welfare state. Conservatives might argue that they didn't slash welfare benefits enough, but there is no dispute that the flat tax didn't provide the expected revenue.
So flat tax regimes are not doing any better than the progressive tax regimes. Everyone is equally in the crapper. The magic runs out when the going gets tough.
Latvia, which has a flat tax of 25 percent, and Lithuania and Estonia, which have 21 percent tax rates, are all in deep economic trouble. They all have huge government budget deficits, a sign that they took in too little in tax revenue to cover their costs, primarily state expenditures to provide a generous welfare state. Conservatives might argue that they didn't slash welfare benefits enough, but there is no dispute that the flat tax didn't provide the expected revenue.
So flat tax regimes are not doing any better than the progressive tax regimes. Everyone is equally in the crapper. The magic runs out when the going gets tough.
Labels: Economics
