An Amateur Aesthete Assamese (He/ Him/ His) 'Scribble, Submit, Repeat!' Words in @HooghlyReview @fullhouselit @SanAntoReview and others
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*cw: EoY '21
My journey as a poet began in 2021. Thank you! 🙏
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Ankur Jyoti Saikia retweeted
Our own Bishnu Rabha embraced Marxism, opposed Cong govt after Independence & had a ₹10,000 bounty placed on his capture.
Yet Assam remembers him as Kalaguru, a patriot, revolutionary & cultural icon.
Dissent was never anti-national. It was part of India’s political history.
Ankur Jyoti Saikia retweeted
#কণপাইৰ_লেকচাৰ
#Zubeenism
সাধাৰণতে দেখোঁ যে শিল্পী এজনৰ যাত্ৰা কেৱল তেওঁৰ সৃষ্টিতেই আৱদ্ধ হৈ নাথাকে। সময়ৰ লগে লগে তেওঁলোক একোটা 'ধাৰণা' বা দৰ্শন হৈ পৰে।
সাহিত্যতে চাওঁক.. ফ্ৰাঞ্জ কাফকা কেৱল এজন লেখক হৈ থকা নাই, তেওঁৰ পৰা জন্ম হৈছে Kafkaesque নামৰ ধাৰণাটো যিয়ে আধুনিক জীৱনৰ absurdity আৰু অবাস্তৱ ধাৰণাবোৰক বুজায়! যেনে: আপোনাৰ এটা সৰু কামৰ বাবে তিনিখন form পূৰাব লাগিল, পাঁচটা department ৰ পৰা চহী আনিব লাগিল, আৰু শেষত কামটোৰ decision কোনে ল'ব সেয়া কোনেও নাজানে- সেইটোকে ক'ব, Kafkaesque ! একেদৰেই ফ্ৰেডৰিক নিৎসেৰ পৰা আহিছে 'Nietzschean' দৰ্শন, যিয়ে ভগৱানহীন পৃথিৱী বা মানৱীয় অস্তিত্বৰ গভীৰ সংকটৰ কথা কয়। মানে, “জীৱনটো কিয় এনেকুৱা?” "ইয়াৰ কিবা meaning আছে জানো? এই ধৰণৰ কথাবোৰ।
সংগীতলৈ আহিলেও একেই কথা দেখা যায়। John Lennon বুলি ক’লে কেৱল এজন গায়ক বা songwriter ৰ কথা নাহে; Anti-war ৰ ভাবনা বা এক বিশেষ counter-cultural ideal ৰ কথা আহে। Tupac Shakur ৰ নামৰ সৈতে সংগীতৰ লগতে Black identity, সামাজিক বৈষম্য আৰু প্ৰতিবাদৰ কথা জড়িত হৈ পৰিছে। Bob Marley এতিয়া কেৱল এজন musician নহয়; তেওঁৰ নামটোৱেই এক সাংস্কৃতিক বিদ্ৰোহ, স্বাধীনতা আৰু resistance ৰ প্ৰতীক। মুঠতে এই নামবোৰ এতিয়া কেৱল ব্যক্তি হৈ থকা নাই। এইবোৰ একোটা idea- একোটা প্ৰতিবাদ, শান্তিৰ আকাংক্ষা বা জীৱনদৰ্শনৰ প্ৰতিশব্দ।
কিন্তু অসমৰ প্ৰেক্ষাপটত কথাবোৰ বেলেগ দেখোঁ । জ্যোতিপ্ৰসাদ আগৰৱালাৰ কথাই ভাবকচোন। তেওঁ কেৱল গীতিকাৰ, নাট্যকাৰ বা চলচ্চিত্ৰ নিৰ্মাতা নাছিল। তেওঁৰ ব্যক্তি-সত্বাক এটা সম্পূৰ্ণ বৌদ্ধিক আৰু সাংস্কৃতিক ধাৰণালৈ ৰূপান্তৰ কৰিব পাৰি। কিন্তু তেওঁৰ ‘ন-অসমীয়া’ ধাৰণাটোক লৈ মাজে-সময়ে কিছু তৰ্ক-বিতৰ্ক হোৱাৰ বাহিৰে, তেওঁৰ সমাজ আৰু অসমক লৈ থকা vision-টোৰ সৈতে আমাৰ সামূহিক বৌদ্ধিক সম্পৰ্ক যেন নাইয়েই ।
একেদৰে বিষ্ণুপ্ৰসাদ ৰাভাৰ ক্ষেত্ৰতো চাব পাৰি। ৰাভাৰ জীৱন আৰু কৰ্মৰ সৈতে সাম্যবাদী চিন্তা, সামাজিক সমতা আৰু শোষণবিৰোধী আদৰ্শৰ গভীৰ সম্পৰ্ক আছিল। কিন্তু কালক্ৰমত অসমৰ ৰাজনৈতিক আৰু সামাজিক পৰিসৰত সেই আদৰ্শৰ প্ৰভাৱ ক্ষীণ হোৱাৰ লগে লগে ‘বিষ্ণু ৰাভা’ নামটোৱেও তাৰ মূল ideological context টো হেৰুৱাবলৈ ধৰিলে।
শেষত গৈ বিষ্ণু-জ্যোতিৰ বিশাল দৰ্শনৰ এক বৃহৎ অংশ হাৰমনিয়াম-তবলা, জ্যোতি সংগীত-ৰাভা সংগীত, YouTube ৰ unplugged rendition বা Instagram reel ৰ মাজতেই আবদ্ধ হৈ পৰিল। গানবোৰ থাকিল; কিন্তু গানৰ ভিতৰত থকা দৰ্শনবোৰ হেৰাই গ’ল।
এতিয়া প্ৰশ্নটো হ’ল- জুবিন গাৰ্গৰ ক্ষেত্ৰতো ভৱিষ্যতে ঠিক তেনেকুৱাই হ’ব নেকি?
ভৱিষ্যতে এদিন যদি ‘জুবিন’ সম্পৰ্কে প্ৰশ্নটো কেৱল- “জুবিনে কি গান গাইছিল?”- এইখিনিতেই আৱদ্ধ হৈ থাকে, তেন্তে সেয়া হ’ব ‘জুবিনত্ব’ৰ পৰাজয়। তেওঁৰ গান মানুহৰ মুখে মুখে চিৰদিনলৈ জীয়াই থাকিব- এইটো নিশ্চিত। কিন্তু এজন শিল্পীৰ legacy কেৱল তেওঁৰ গানৰ longevity-ৰে নিৰ্ধাৰিত হয় জানো? সময়ৰ লগে লগে তেওঁৰ নামটোৱে কি cultural idea-ক প্ৰতিনিধিত্ব কৰিবলৈ আৰম্ভ কৰে, সেয়াহে হয়তো অধিক গুৰুত্বপূৰ্ণ!
‘জুবিন’ নামটোৱে যদি সীমাহীন বিশৃংখলতাৰ মাজতো নিজৰ শিল্পীসত্তাক অক্ষুণ্ণ ৰখাৰ সাহসক বুজায়; যিকোনো পৰিস্থিতিতে মাত মাতিব পৰা এক নিৰ্ভীক মানসিকতাক বুজায়; প্ৰকৃতিৰ সৈতে একাত্ম হৈ থকা এক friluftsliv ধৰণৰ lifestyle বুজায়; আৰু খ্যাতি, ভোগ আৰু বাহ্যিকতাৰ বিপৰীতে এক ধৰণৰ minimalism ৰ ধাৰণাক বুজায়- তেন্তে এদিন ‘জুবিন’ কেৱল এটা নাম নহৈ, ‘জুবিন’ এটা বিশেষণ হ’ব। এটা মানসিকতা হ’ব । এটা সাংস্কৃতিক ধাৰণা হ’ব।
এই কথাবোৰ অৱশ্যে এক-দুদিনত নহয়। ইয়াৰ বাবে সময় লাগে। প্ৰজন্ম লাগে। আৰু লাগে- শিল্পীজনৰ সৃষ্টিৰ ভিতৰত থকা মূল প্ৰশ্ন, মূল্যবোধ আৰু দৰ্শনক পৰৱৰ্তী প্ৰজন্মই পুনৰ আৱিষ্কাৰ কৰা। হয়তো এদনি মানুহে জুবিনে কিমানটা গান গাইছিল, তাৰ তালিকাতকৈ বেছি আলোচনা কৰিব- ‘জুবিনে’ আচলতে কি প্ৰতিনিধিত্ব কৰিছিল? হয়তো তেতিয়াই তেওঁৰ পৰা নতুন কোনো ‘-বাদ’, নতুন কোনো ‘ধাৰণা’, আনকি নতুন কোনো ‘শব্দ’ৰ জন্ম হ’ব। সেইটোৱেই হ’ব এজন শিল্পীৰ আটাইতকৈ ডাঙৰ উত্তৰাধিকাৰ।
Ankur Jyoti Saikia retweeted
সময়ৰ নগ্ন ৰূপটো চাওঁকচোন! আজি গোটেই সংবাদ মাধ্যমত কেৱল জুবিন বন্দনাৰ প্ৰতিযোগিতা।অথচ এনে সংবাদ মাধ্যমেই তেওঁৰ প্ৰথম হিন্দী এলবাম “ছান্দনি ৰাত” ওলোৱাৰ সময়ত তেওঁক সম্পূৰ্ণ ব্লেকআউট কৰিছিল।
ঘটনাটো কি আছিল জানেনে? সেইদিনা এলবামটোক লৈ গুৱাহাটীৰ হোটেল নন্দনত অনুষ্ঠিত সংবাদ মেলত মদ্যপান কৰি অহা কেইজনমান অহংকাৰী সাংবাদিকে যা-তা, অসংলগ্ন প্ৰশ্ন সুধি জুবিনক ৰেগিং কৰাৰ দৰে অতিষ্ঠ কৰি তুলিছিল। স্বাভিমানী জুবিনে সেই অপমান সহ্য নকৰি ঠাইতে প্ৰতিবাদ কৰি হোটেলৰ পৰা ওলাই আহিল। আৰু তাতেই ‘সাংবাদিক’ নামৰ প্ৰভু কেইজনমানৰ ফোঁপোলা অহংকাৰত বোলে মস্ত আঘাত লাগিল! ক্ষোভত তেওঁলোকে ফতোৱা জাৰি কৰিলে- জুবিনৰ খবৰ আৰু কোনেও পেপাৰত লিখিব নোৱাৰিব!
ইয়াৰ বিপৰীতে আজিৰ টিভি বা মোবাইলৰ স্ক্ৰীণলৈ এবাৰ চাওঁক। জুবিনৰ ‘শুভাকাংক্ষী’ বা ‘বন্ধু’ সাংবাদিকৰ কোনো অভাৱ নাই। জুবিনক লৈ পেপাৰত প্ৰকাণ্ড প্ৰকাণ্ড স্তম্ভ লিখা কেইজনমান বোলে সেইদিনাৰ ঘটনাটোৰ লগতো জড়িত আছিল! আৰু আইৰনী (Irony) এটা চাওঁক- এই একেখিনি মানুহেই পিছলৈ জুবিনৰ সুৰাপানক লৈয়ো সমালোচনা কৰি পেপাৰত ডাঙৰ ডাঙৰ কথা লিখিছিল।
ঘটনাটো ১৯৯০ দশকৰ শেষৰ ফালৰ!! গতিকে ময়ো এইবোৰ কথা সেই সময়ৰ লেখা-মেলা আৰু আনৰ মুখৰ পৰা শুনিহে জানিছো । কিন্তু মানুহে সময় সলনি হোৱাৰ লগে লগে কিদৰে নিৰ্লজ্জভাৱে মোট সলাব পাৰে- সেইটো সংবাদ জগতখনৰ কিছুমান সুবিধাবাদী চৰিত্ৰ দেখিলেই বুজিব পাৰি।
সেইবাবেই ডিজিটেল বা টিভিৰ এই সস্তীয়া নাটকত মই কেতিয়াও জুবিনক বিচাৰি নাযাওঁ। এংকৰৰ চকুৰ পানী বা ইনফ্লুৱেঞ্জাৰৰ প্ৰতিটো আৱেগিক শব্দৰ আঁৰত এতিয়া কিমান TRP, views আৰু বাণিজ্যিক স্বাৰ্থ লুকাই আছে, সেয়া বুজিবলৈ কাৰো বাকী নাই। এওঁলোকৰ বহুতৰে কোনো নৈতিকতা নাথাকে, কেৱল বতাহ চাই পাল তৰে!
ইয়াতে আকৌ এটা কথা লিখি থৈছোঁ- media ৰ ব্যৱস্থাটোয়ে অপেক্ষা কৰি আছে মাথোঁ ৰাইজৰ ক্ষোভবোৰ শাম কটালৈ! চাই থাকক, সময় বাগৰাৰ লগে লগে এই একেই সংবাদ মাধ্যমতেই ‘ফেষ্টিভেল মহন্ত’ক মাতি আনি আথে-বেথে বহাই পডকাষ্ট, সাক্ষাৎকাৰ পাতিব। আৰু তাত তেওঁ টেবুল থপৰিয়াই মাৰি ক'ব- কিদৰে তেওঁ সম্পূৰ্ণ নিৰ্দোষী আছিল!
সেয়েহে, এই সুবিধাবাদী, ভণ্ড ব্যৱসায়িক জগতখনত মই জুবিনক নিবিচাৰোঁ। প্ৰকৃত জুবিনক মই বিচাৰি পাম কটনৰ KBR বা GU-ৰ BKB-ৰ আড্ডাত, ৰাস্তাৰ পাণ দোকানৰ কথা-বতৰাত, বাটৰ কাষৰ চাহৰ মেলত, কোনোবা গাঁৱৰ বিহুৰ মঞ্চত, অথবা কলেজলৈ গৈ থকা কোনোবা ডেকাৰ ওঁঠত ভাঁহি উঠা গীতৰ কলিত। কাৰণ মেডিয়াই স্বাৰ্থৰ খাতিৰত মোট সলাব পাৰে, কিন্তু জুবিনলৈ থকা ৰাইজৰ বুকুৰ খাঁটি মৰমবোৰ কেতিয়াও সলনি নহয়।
Ankur Jyoti Saikia retweeted
The Small City Middle-Class Dream Is Dying. The Problem Is Nobody Has Shown Us the Next One.
One of my favourite speeches from history is Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream.”
Sometimes a civilisation’s most powerful dream is simply the promise that if you work hard enough, your children will live slightly better than you did.
America had one. Get a decent job. Marry. Buy a house somewhere in the suburbs. Send your children to the neighbourhood school. Save for college. Grow old on a lawn that you spent thirty years complaining about mowing.
We had our own version of this dream in India.
And if you grew up in a middle-class family in a Tier-2 or Tier-3 city like Guwahati, you probably know the script.
Your parents moved away from the joint family or eventually wanted to. They saved money. Bought a small piece of land somewhere that everyone complained was “too far from the city.” Twenty years later the city arrived there anyway.
They built a house. But their greatest investment was rarely the house. It was you.
Send the child to the best school we can afford. Tuition after school. Science if the marks permit it. Engineering, medicine or a Master’s from a respectable university.
Then there were broadly two endings to the story. A government job through a competitive examination. Or an MNC job somewhere in Delhi, Bangalore, Gurgaon or Mumbai.
That was the Indian middle-class dream. Study well and you will get a good job. The problem is that the sentence no longer ends so neatly.
Government employment remains one of the great aspirations of small-town India, but no government can possibly provide a government job to every graduate entering the labour market. The demographic dividend is simply too large.
So thousands of young people spend their twenties preparing for competitive examinations where the vacancies are limited and the applicants seem infinite.
Some eventually take Grade III jobs despite having Master’s degrees from excellent universities. There is nothing undignified about those jobs. The tragedy lies elsewhere.
You were educated to expect that every additional degree would take you another floor upwards. Then one day you discover that the elevator isn’t working.
The private-sector dream isn’t looking particularly romantic either. Move to Bengaluru. Move to Gurgaon. Move to Mumbai. Get the corporate job.
Then spend half your salary on rent, another portion getting to the office, order dinner because you returned too exhausted to cook, and spend Sunday wondering why exactly you moved 2,000 kilometres away from home.
COVID accelerated another change. People came back. And many discovered that they actually liked being back. The parents were here. Friends were here. The air was familiar. Life was cheaper. The fish tasted better.
Then Monday arrived. Where are the jobs?
Read the full article here -
nibirdeka.substack.com/p/the…
Ankur Jyoti Saikia retweeted
Difficult Roads build Skillful Drivers,
Difficult Waves build Amazing Sailors,
Difficult Situations build Strong People.
Bigger the Struggle, Bigger the Rewards.
Something heavy for Father's Day! 💙
At the height of the Assam Agitation, police surrounded our house. In that moment, we were already guilty in someone’s story.
My father was accused of murder.
The victim was a man many would have dismissed with a single word - "Miya." The accusation against my father was not born from evidence. It was manufactured by men who called themselves "Jatiyotabadis" - men who found it easier to eliminate a rising rival than to confront him. My father had been growing into a figure in the movement. That, it seems, was reason enough.
The Assam Agitation, as I came to understand it, was always as much about power as it was about Axomiya identity.
For years, he lived under that weight.
The courts moved slowly. They always do.
When the judgment finally came, it acquitted him. Completely.
By then, he had already stepped away — from the movement, and from the men who spoke of the motherland while quietly fighting for its control. He joined government service, built a quiet and honest career, and retired as a senior engineer.
He rarely spoke about those years. I never asked enough.
It was only after his death that I read the full judgment.
What I found was chilling in a way I did not expect.
Not the verdict - I already knew that. What chilled me was the architecture of the lie. How easily a man can be placed at a crime scene through whispers hardened into testimony. How history can be arranged around a person - against a person - before they even realize they are being rewritten.
I saw how close it came.
The court cleared his name. But a judgment cannot return the years a man spent carrying an accusation like a stone in his chest. It cannot give back what those years cost him - or our family.
Many of those who shouted the loudest are forgotten now. The Agitation has its monuments, its martyrs, its mythology. He is not in any of it.
But the court record exists.
And I exist.
Happy Father's Day, Deuta.
Your son remembers ♥️
Ankur Jyoti Saikia retweeted
Today is World Liver Day 2026.
Here are 8 things your liver actually wants you to know.
1
There is no such thing as a "liver detox."
Your liver runs phase I and II detoxification 24/7 on its own.
No juice cleanse, no milk thistle, no herbal detox speeds this up.
In fact several have caused liver injury - the opposite of the claim.
2
Alcohol has no safe dose.
Liver harm begins from the first drink.
The old "moderate drinking is protective" myth came from flawed studies contaminated by abstainer bias - now debunked by Mendelian randomization.
Zero ml is best.
3
"Natural" supplements are now a leading cause of acute liver failure.
Ashwagandha. Green tea extract. Garcinia. Kratom. High-dose turmeric. Giloy/Tinospora.
They dominate drug-induced liver injury registries across India, the US, and Europe.
Natural ≠ safe.
4
Coffee is genuinely liver-protective.
2–3 cups/day (caffeinated or decaf) lowers the risk of fibrosis, cirrhosis, and liver cancer.
One of the very few dietary interventions with real, replicated evidence.
5
Fatty liver (MASLD) now affects ~1 in 3 adults worldwide.
A 7–10% body-weight loss:
• clears Liver fat
• reduces inflammation
• can regress early fibrosis
No approved drug currently beats this. Your plate and feet are the first-line therapy.
6
Sugar-sweetened drinks independently cause fatty liver.
Fructose is metabolized almost entirely by the liver - straight into fat.
One daily soda raises MASLD risk even after adjusting for total calories.
Lesser is better.
7
Get vaccinated against hepatitis B. Get screened for HBV and HCV at least once in your lifetime.
HBV vaccine prevents >95% of chronic infection, cirrhosis, and liver cancer.
Hepatitis C is curable in 8-12 weeks with >95% success - but most carriers don't know they have it.
8
Exercise protects the liver independent of weight loss.
150 min/week moderate OR 75 min vigorous activity reduces liver fat and stiffness - even when the scale doesn't move.
Movement is "medicine".
🫂
PS: we also need a liver emoji
Ankur Jyoti Saikia retweeted
India is diverse. If that threatens your ego, maybe you’re the one who doesn’t belong. From Kashmir to Kohima, India wears many faces. Please Respect Them All.
#StopRacism
Ankur Jyoti Saikia retweeted
In the Himba tribe of Namibia, a child’s birth is not marked by the day they enter the world, nor even by conception. It begins much earlier, on the day the child is first imagined...
When a woman decides she wants a child, she sits beneath a tree and listens. In the stillness, she hears the song of the child who wishes to be born. She carries that melody back to the man who will be the father and teaches it to him. When they come together to conceive, they sing the child’s song, inviting the spirit into life.
During pregnancy, the mother shares the song with midwives and elders. And when the baby is born, the community gathers, singing the child’s song to welcome them into the world.
As the child grows, everyone learns the melody. If the child stumbles or is hurt, someone sings their song to lift them up. If they succeed or pass through rites of passage, the song is sung to honor them.
There is another moment when the song is sung. If a person commits a crime or acts against the community, they are brought to the center of the village. The people form a circle around them—not to punish, but to remind. They sing the person’s song, calling them back to who they truly are.
For the Himba, correction comes not through shame, but through love. To remember your song is to remember your essence and to live in harmony with others. And when age has taken its toll, and a man lies ready to die, the villagers gather once more. They sing his song one final time, carrying him out of this world with the same melody that first invited him in.
© Reddit
#drthehistories
Thanks to @MariaCorinaYA and @realDonaldTrump , the @NobelPrize Peace Prize has become the greatest joke of human history! #MAGA
Ankur Jyoti Saikia retweeted
[SHARIABOLSHEVISM]
1/20
About 50 years ago, campus commies and career Marxists helped Khomeini turn Iran into a Shariʿa hellscape.
But this was neither an anomaly, nor the first. Islam and communism have always been ideological bedmates, but first let’s talk Sudan.
Ankur Jyoti Saikia retweeted
Dear, Hindu organizations who are vandalizing St. Mary's School in Nalbari..
পৰৰ ধৰ্মক নিহিংসিবা কদাচিত ৷
কৰিবা ভূতক দয়া সকৰুণ চিত ॥
হুইবা শান্ত-চিত্ত সৰ্ব্বধৰ্মত বৎসল।
এহি ভাগৱত ধৰ্ম্ম জানা মহাবল ॥
Ankur Jyoti Saikia retweeted
His insights into the distribution of primes and Partition Theory laid the theoretical groundwork for the encryption that secures the entire global financial system.
His work on Mock Theta Functions (which he wrote on his deathbed) has had applications in signal processing and even in understanding the entropy of black holes, ergo String Theory.
His Ramanujan Graphs are arguably the most efficient way to organize communication networks, and are used to architect fiber optic cables and supercomputer connections, ensuring data travels quickly without blocking.
Western science is richer today because when he arrived in England 111 years ago, nobody went “imagine the smell.”
Happy birthday, legend!
Ankur Jyoti Saikia retweeted
প'ষ্ট মেলনৰ কথা দেখি অসমৰ এজন পুৰণি ৰেপাৰৰ কথা মনত পৰিল ।
কৰতল কমল... কমল দল নয়ন...
ভবদব দহন.... গহন বন শয়ন...
নপৰ নপৰ পৰ.. সতৰত গময়...
সভয় মভয় ভয়... মমহৰ সততয়...
If rap = rhythm + message + performance + flow..
then Sankardev was dropping “verses”
500 years ago...
Ankur Jyoti Saikia retweeted
What is life?
• Dostoevsky: It’s hell.
• Socrates: It’s a test.
• Aristotle: It’s the mind.
• Nietzsche: It’s power.
• Freud: It’s death.
• Marx: It’s the idea.
• Picasso: It’s art.
• Gandhi: It’s love.
• Schopenhauer: It’s suffering.
• Bertrand Russell: It’s competition.
• Steve Jobs: It’s faith.
• Einstein: It’s knowledge.
• Stephen Hawking: It’s hope.
• Kafka: It’s just the beginning.
Ankur Jyoti Saikia retweeted
A sweeping visual map of India’s great philosophical traditions, from the radical materialism of the Cārvākas to the subtle metaphysics of Vedānta.
This chart brings the orthodox and heterodox lineages into a single frame, showing how they argue, overlap, and part ways on the soul, karma, God, and the means of knowledge. A clear snapshot of how an entire civilization reasoned about reality, truth, and liberation.
CREDITS
Scrolls and vectors: Freepik (freepik.com)
Tree: Google Gemini Pro
Thumbnails: Google Gemini Pro
Title font: Samarkan Indic
Body font: Gill Sans
Full resolution (3,500px X 3300px) up for patrons at my Substack (schandillia.com).
My second attempt at infographics. Hope you find it useful.
open.substack.com/pub/schand…
Ankur Jyoti Saikia retweeted
They can’t lecture Hindus about “hate” simply because they refuse to erase history.
Acknowledging what happened is not communalism, denying it is intellectual cowardice.
Every civilisation has wounds. Ours survived because we gave invades back, not because we pretended nothing happened.
Speaking about the destruction of temples, imposition of jizya, forced conversions recorded in Persian— Arabic chronicles themselves is not “hating another religion.”
If quoting the Baburnama, Tabaqat-i-Nasiri, Futuh-us-Salatin, Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi, or Ain-i-Akbari becomes “hate,” then by that logic even the chroniclers who wrote them were hateful.
This argument is not about Muslims today unless they wish to replicate deeds of Aurangzeb or praise them.
It’s about centuries of invasions that happened.
Erasing the past is amnesia disguised as virtue.
The fashionable claim that “Hinduism survived invasions thanks to peaceful Bhakti so stop talking about history” is textbook cherry-picking.
Bhakti saints were compassionate (for many reasons), but never blind.
Kabir tore into Islamic ritualism too.
He says:
“Mullah bawla hua, katha kare Qurān;
Masjid chadh kar bolta, kaun suney pukār?”
(Kabir Granthavali, Sabda 76)
Then is it not “hate?”
He directly criticises empty loud ritual:
“Mullah kahe Allah ek hai, par jhagṛa kare din-raat.”
Kabir never pretended everything was peaceful.
He confronted injustice wherever he saw.
Guru Nanak, in the Babur Bani (SGGS, Ang 360–363), condemns Babur’s invasion:
“Babar vāni phiri, jotak kare pukār.”
“Modesty and honour of women were trampled under the boots of Babur’s men.”
Is Guru Nanak “hating Islam”?
Or simply refusing to lie about what he witnessed?
Eknath, Tukaram, Chaitanya, Meerabai, Ravidas; all lived in an age shaped by Islamic polities. Their works repeatedly mention oppression, humiliation, or forced conversions when they happened. They did not sugarcoat their time.
Bhakti gave emotional oxygen to a civilisation that was being politically crushed.
That’s why it flourished during the Sultanate & Timurid centuries.
But Bhakti was never an invitation to:
A) ignore invasions,
B) romanticise violence,
C) or pretend history was a flower garden.
Bhakti protected the soul of a civilisation.
It didn’t erase the blows on its body.
You do not build harmony by lying about the past.
You build it by acknowledging everything , the good, the bad, and the brutal, and then choosing wisdom over vengeance.
Hindus speaking about:
A) Somnath’s destruction,
B) Kashi’s repeated temple demolitions,
C) the atrocities at Chittor,
D)the forced conversions under Sikandar Butshikan,
E) the massacres at Mathura recorded in Tarikh-i-Firuz Shahi,
F)the jizya revived under Aurangzeb…
…is not “hate.”
These events are written in Persian chronicles, not WhatsApp forwards.
You can’t tell people that recounting their own history is “hooliganism.”
Pluralism isn’t built on gaslighting.
It’s built on acknowledging wounds without inflicting new ones.
Bhakti saints criticised all.
They didn’t cancel history.
They confronted it.
If they could speak without fear, why shouldn’t we?
Remembering is not hatred.
Forgetting is not peace.
And truth is not communal.
