AR Thakur

Observations - long & short.

[AR Thakur @smashranjan]

The only true minority in India is the community of income tax payers.

[AR Thakur @smashranjan]

Not a fan of banning but this is a move with its heart at the right place. Our bodies are not configured for the dopamine triggered tsunamis. Unfettered scrolling has impact on executive function and mental wellbeing of the kids. They may find other avenues to access SM but this will be the first of many deterrents that we need to devise in safeguarding them.

[AR Thakur @smashranjan]

@Anviksiki That surely is the task and a big one at that - to raise a generation which is a worthy recipient of this great legacy and one which furthers this work (instead of just marvelling at the past laurels).

[AR Thakur @smashranjan]

Reminds me of the short story "The Lotus Eater" by Somerset Maugham. Thomas Wilson, a man who gave up his London life to live in leisure on the Italian island of Capri goes to see the moonlight and dies by the mountainside, looking out over the Bay of Naples and the Faraglioni rock formations.
"Perhaps he died of the beauty of that sight." The narrator concludes.

[AR Thakur @smashranjan]

All in all, it’s fair to say that the DS has lost its finesse. Earlier, their Arab Spring type operations were sophisticated- players suitably camouflaged to look innocuous. This time around, reputation precedes the arrival of the players. They are outed for their political leanings and the game is rather well understood even by common folks. Aise kaise chalega?

[AR Thakur @smashranjan]

@iMac_too Empires of Indus*

[AR Thakur @smashranjan]

@iMac_too Alice Albinia’s book Empires of India details some of this. It also mentions that the departing Hindus/non-muslims had to be called back as streets became filthy.

[AR Thakur @smashranjan]

Today I wore the @MarchTee tees to gym (am tired of polyester/nylon). My trainer and his friends asked me about how to order so I sent them the website deets!

[Ministry of Culture @MinOfCultureGoI]

This 4,500-year-old terracotta dice from the Indus-Saraswati Civilization is a powerful reminder of India’s living heritage. Dicing is also mentioned as a popular game in Rig and Atharva Vedas (two of the four sacred Vedic scriptures).

From symbols and craftsmanship to rituals, yogic practices, and collective memory, numerous elements of ancient Indian civilization continue to thrive in the daily social and religious life of Indian society across regions and communities.

Civilizational inheritance is not just about geography or ruins, it is defined by living customs, symbols, rituals, and unbroken cultural consciousness. India is the enduring living continuity of the Indus-Saraswati Civilization.

#IndusSaraswatiCivilization #AncientIndianHeritage

[AR Thakur @smashranjan]

Conversion of our Adivasi brothers, people of my land, is a disgrace and it needs to be called out. Exploiting someone’s miseries is neither Christian nor human - I rarely see Indian Christians discuss this- there’s a complicit silence.
Equally what needs to be called out is how the Hindu society did very little to help the Adivasis (till RSS stepped in).

[Champai Soren @ChampaiSoren]

झारखंड के आदिवासी इलाकों में चर्च की बढ़ती संख्या पर मेरे बयान से काफी हंगामा हुआ। अपना धर्म बदल चुके कई लोग इस बात से परेशान हैं कि मैने सिर्फ चर्च की बात की, मंदिरों की नहीं। चलिए, आज इस मुद्दे पर विस्तार से बात करते हैं।

झारखंड के अधिकतर गांवों में आदिवासी-मूलवासी एक साथ रहते हैं। हमारे गांवों में हजारों सालों से जाहेरस्थान/ सरना स्थल/ देशाउली/ मांझी थान है और सनातन समाज के मंदिर भी, जिनमें मूलवासी पूजा करते हैं। आदिवासी- मूलवासी दोनों समुदाय एक दूसरे के पूजा स्थलों में सिर झुकाते हैं, एक-दूसरे के पर्व - त्योहारों में शामिल होते हैं और दोनों सबकी आस्था का सम्मान करते हैं।

इसके अलावा दिउड़ी मंदिर, रंकिणी मंदिर जैसे कई मंदिर हैं, जहाँ आदिवासी समाज के पाहन पुजारी की भूमिका में होते हैं, और सनातनी लोग भी वहाँ पूजा करते हैंं। ठीक उसी प्रकार, हम भी उनके पर्व-त्योहारों में शामिल होते हैं। लेकिन एक दूसरे के धार्मिक स्थलों एवं परंपराओं का यह परस्पर सम्मान हमारी आस्था, हमारी जीवन शैली को कभी नहीं बदलता।

हम आदिवासी पेड़ के नीचे बैठ कर पूजा करने वाले लोग हैं, और जन्म से लेकर शादी-विवाह एवं मृत्यु तक, हमारी बिल्कुल स्पष्ट जीवनशैली है। बच्चे के जन्म, नामकरण, विवाह समेत जीवन के सभी महत्वपूर्ण पड़ावों पर, हमारी सामाजिक प्रक्रियाएं मांझी परगना/ नायके/ पाहन/ मानकी/ मुंडा/ पड़हा राजा आदि पूरी करवाते हैं। जीवन के हर महत्वपूर्ण पड़ाव पर हम जाहेरस्थान/ सरना स्थल/ देशाउली/ मांझी थान जाकर मरांग बुरु/ सिंगबोंगा की पूजा करते हैं।

हजारों सालों के इस सामाजिक सह-अस्तित्व में हम लोग एक-दूसरे के हर सुख-दुख के साथी बने, यथासंभव सहयोग किया, लेकिन उन्होंने कभी हमें हमारी आस्था या जीवनशैली बदलने के लिए मजबूर नहीं किया। अभी धर्मांतरण की रफ्तार देख कर लगता है कि अगर उन्होंने ऐसा किया होता, तो शायद हमारी संस्कृति बहुत पहले खत्म हो गई होती।

हजारों सालों के हमारे इतिहास में, आपको ऐसा कोई भी मूलवासी/ सनातनी नहीं मिलेगा, जिसने किसी मदद, सहायता या सहयोग के बदले, अथवा हमें लालच/ धमकी देकर हमारे लोगों का धर्म परिवर्तन करवाने की कोशिश की हो। वे कभी स्वयं को आदिवासी नहीं बताते। वे लोग आरक्षण समेत हमारे समाज को मिले अन्य अधिकारों को छीनने अथवा उसमें अतिक्रमण करने भी प्रयास नहीं करते, तो फिर उनसे कैसा बैर?

दूसरी तरफ, इस क्षेत्र में ईसाई मिशनरियों ने 1845 में धर्म प्रचार शुरू किया, लेकिन मात्र 180 वर्षों में इन्होंने हमारी परंपराओं एवं धार्मिक आस्था पर चोट पहुंचाई, आरक्षण पर कब्जा किया, भाषाओं/ लिपियों का विरोध किया तथा हमारे अस्तित्व को मिटाने की हर संभव कोशिश की। हमारे लाखों लोगों का धर्मांतरण कर के इन्होंने ऐसे हालात बना दिये हैं कि सिमडेगा समेत झारखंड के कई हिस्सों में हमारे जाहेरस्थानों/ सरना स्थलों पर ताला लग चुका है, क्योंकि वहाँ धर्मांतरण की वजह से पूजा करने वाला कोई नहीं बचा।

आदिवासी समाज की पहचान पारंपरिक जीवनशैली, विशिष्ट संस्कृति, भाषा, रीति-रिवाज एवं रूढ़िजन्य परम्पराओं से है, लेकिन ये लोग उसे मिटाने में लगे हुए हैं। ये लोग DNA की बात करते हैं, लेकिन यह नहीं बताते कि इन्हीं मिशनरियों की वजह से दुनिया के कई हिस्सों में आदिवासी संस्कृति विलुप्त हो गई।

लैटिन अमेरिका की अयोरेओ जनजाति, केन्या की संबुरु जनजाति, ब्राजील की वाई वाई जनजाति, फिजी और पैसिफिक आइलैंड्स की जनजातियां धर्मांतरण के बाद अपनी मूल संस्कृति को भूल चुकी हैं। उनके पारंपरिक रीति-रिवाज, त्योहार, भाषा, नृत्य, पूजा-पाठ और सामाजिक संरचनाएं खत्म कर दिए गए। आप खुल कर क्यों नहीं कहते कि भारत में भी आपका असली मकसद यही है?

धर्मांतरण कोई राजनैतिक मुद्दा नहीं, बल्कि हमारे समाज के अस्तित्व से जुड़ा मामला है। अगर धरती आबा भगवान बिरसा मुंडा, वीर सिदो कान्हू, वीर पोटो हो, वीर टाना भगत, वीर तेलंगा खड़िया एवं अन्य मार्गदर्शकों के दिखाए राह पर चलते हुए अगर हम लोग अपनी परंपराओं को नहीं बचाएंगे तो भविष्य में हमारे जाहेरस्थानों, सरना स्थलों, देशाउली आदि में पूजा करने वाला कोई नहीं बचेगा। हमारा अस्तित्व ही खत्म हो जायेगा। (Part 1/2)

[AR Thakur @smashranjan]

@smitaprakash It’s an epidemic here in the UK. You have to read every single label, it’s the same thing- reconstituted milk, whey, palm oil, guar gum and some flavouring agents. Took me sometime to find the old school icecream with just milk n cream.

[AR Thakur @smashranjan]

Humanity has reached a place where if you use em dashes in your prose, it get flagged as written by AI.

It's a unique problem, and I don't know how people deal with it, especially the ones who are working on some literary material.

[AR Thakur @smashranjan]

@DeanTTraining @anandnagu @BerbarianWizard Thank you so much, this stays on the meal plan then!

[AR Thakur @smashranjan]

Do the gym bros have a view on one of my snacks? I'm cutting and one of my meals is 250g of 0% Fat Greek yogurt with 30g of blueberry and "100g of fresh mango pulp". It is hard resisting those Kesars and Alphonsos. @anandnagu @DeanTTraining @BerbarianWizard

[AR Thakur @smashranjan]

@TheNavroopSingh Congratulations Navroop bhai and wish you all the best. Look forward to reading - seems like some tremendous amount of work here!!!

[AR Thakur @smashranjan]

@anandnagu @DeanTTraining @BerbarianWizard And thanks for your lovely videos- keep them coming!

[AR Thakur @smashranjan]

@anandnagu @DeanTTraining @BerbarianWizard Thanks a ton. Am overall within the deficit and the macros I need to maintain. While this was one off - usual is just greek yogurt and berries, it tasted so good that it was worth checking :-)

[AR Thakur @smashranjan]

@BerbarianWizard @anandnagu @DeanTTraining You are awesome, have learnt so much from you.

[AR Thakur @smashranjan]

To be filed under “you can lose, but never be a loser”

[Yogendra Yadav @_YogendraYadav]

I did not to go to the Supreme Court today to hear its order in the SIR case.
As a litigant in this case, and as someone who was given the honour of addressing the court, I should have been hopeful, anxious, or at least curious. I was not. The case was decided long ago. We were only waiting for the transcript and its fine print.

The course of this case was settled in August last year. Having heard arguments against SIR for three days, the court moved away from examining the constitutionality of SIR and effectively converted itself into a Consumer Forum, focused on grievance redressal and arbitration, rather than constitutional principles.

The case was effectively decided when the apex court allowed the ECI to rush through the Bihar elections without first deciding the matter, and without requiring the ECI to rectify even the most glaring defects in post-SIR rolls.

There was little left of this case once the ECI proceeded with the second and then the third phase of SIR, while the Hon’ble Court leisurely heard arguments about its constitutionality. SIR had become a fait accompli. Any remaining doubt disappeared when the Hon’ble judges observed in open court that no one would be allowed to obstruct SIR.

The final nail in the coffin of this petition was hammered during the hearing of another petition before the same Bench, when an Hon’ble judge remarked that millions denied their right to vote need not fret, since they could vote in the next election. At that moment, the court abdicated its constitutional responsibility.

Shorn of legalese, the simple truth is that the highest court of a constitutional democracy has already authorised the disenfranchisement of millions of citizens — at least 59 million so far, could go up eventually to 100 million.

It was inconceivable that the court would now declare SIR unconstitutional and annul all post-SIR elections. The lawyers were waiting for the the exact legal reasoning deployed to arrive at a conclusion that was already known. Such legal gymnastics did not interest me. Some friends were looking for some crumbs in the hope that the court might at least wish to save face, if not save the voters. Eventually that too did not happen. Polite noises apart, the Court has handed over a carteblac to the ECI to do what it pleases with the voters list.

ADR vs Union of India (2026) is to our times what ADM Jabalpur vs Shivkant
Shukla (1976) was to the previous assault on our democracy. We must hope that the SIR judgment does not mark the crumbling of the last constitutional wall, as ADM Jabalpur once did. We must believe that one day this constitutional abdication by the guardian of the Constitution will be recognised for what it was. And reversed.

Jai Hind!

[AR Thakur @smashranjan]

@coolfunnytshirt This is for everyone cribbing about India. Two years ago, we were aboard a train from Florence to Livorno (Italy), it was mid August and the AC was not working. It felt like torture. Europe is built for mild summer - it crumbles in extreme summer.