tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post112296282774204887..comments2024-03-27T14:57:37.031+05:30Comments on Jabberwock: Amartya Sen’s The Argumentative IndianJabberwockhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comBlogger18125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-37923151651611827082008-05-12T13:13:00.000+05:302008-05-12T13:13:00.000+05:30I know this is a very old post, and I am sure that...I know this is a very old post, and I am sure that you have already come across this rather old conversation, but here it is just in case you missed it - http://www.opendemocracy.net/<BR/>arts-Literature/pen2_3520.jsp<BR/><BR/>the Q&A session at the end still sucks.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-50016350888360662262008-03-25T18:16:00.000+05:302008-03-25T18:16:00.000+05:30The Bhagavad Gita is not for the materially intell...The Bhagavad Gita is not for the materially intelligent but spiritually unintelligent people like Amartya Sen. He will have to take some more births before he becomes able to understand Bhagavad Gita. He wants the Bhagavad Gita to be supplemented. Anyway it was not possible for Arjuna to read that as the Mahabharata was written after the war was over. For people like Amartya Sen there is the Mahabharata to read. Leave Bhagavad gita alone. It is beyond your xcomprehension, Mr. Sen.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-24673851471525517332007-07-13T06:51:00.000+05:302007-07-13T06:51:00.000+05:30Hi Jai,I started reading this book recently and go...Hi Jai,<BR/>I started reading this book recently and got gelled to it as you did.. There is a book reading tonight by the author at Tanglin club and I registered myself for the talk..<BR/><BR/>Will let you know how it went in Singapore.. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1166633129704681272006-12-20T22:15:00.000+05:302006-12-20T22:15:00.000+05:30the book gets you thinking right from the start......the book gets you thinking right from the start... one of the things you think about is the inter religious relations in india... that's why i picked that topic for a college project and now i need some help please... can you tell me, what in your opinion is the effect of terrorism on inter religious relations in india??? please!!!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1152100615111535212006-07-05T17:26:00.000+05:302006-07-05T17:26:00.000+05:30I wrote about Identity and Choice here, incidental...I wrote about Identity and Choice <A HREF="http://jaiarjun.blogspot.com/2006/03/putting-people-into-boxes-amartya-sen.html" REL="nofollow">here</A>, incidentally.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1152099695149841922006-07-05T17:11:00.000+05:302006-07-05T17:11:00.000+05:30But don't you think the 'argument' in The Argument...But don't you think the 'argument' in The Argumentative Indian is rather too facile and rests on only a few citations? If the central thesis of the book was to prove that the tradition of dialectics existed in India big time, then, I guess, Sen should have analysed more texts with more depth. <BR/><BR/>His next book I like more. Its seeds are in The Argumentative Indian, in the corollary that 'arguments' have been used by various groups/individuals to form their unique and distinct identies.<BR/><BR/>I remembered Crash, the movie, when I read Identity and Violence (hope I got the name right). Anybody remembers that particular line in the movie (or was it a lead in text?) which has a statement on how we "crash in to each other" in order to be ourselves? The process of identity formation is inherently violent...<BR/><BR/>Now that is literature and epistemology rolled into one!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1136859018171591132006-01-10T07:40:00.000+05:302006-01-10T07:40:00.000+05:30I loved this book, especially that essay on Tagore...I loved this book, especially that essay on Tagore. His interview that he did for NPR was actually pretty interesting, and the questions were...well fun to listen to.Themadihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15616421924510169326noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1135757294227126782005-12-28T13:38:00.000+05:302005-12-28T13:38:00.000+05:30Excuse me, i'm a bit late. I thought Jai was a se...Excuse me, i'm a bit late. I thought Jai was a sensible young man - that's why i visited the site. Find his columns in Business Standard (the only newspaper i find worth reading) interesting. Find it a bit weird that Jai has such a shine for Amartya Sen of all the people. I thought Amartya Sen belonged to the "Arundhati Roy" brand of people - electricity is bad, dams are bad, metro trains are bad, privatisation is bad, let's go back to lantern days etc. etc. For my taste (which includes both social and economic liberalism), Amartya is too conservative/rigid on economic matters which is opposite to the liberalism he advocates on social issues.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1128235981187697362005-10-02T12:23:00.000+05:302005-10-02T12:23:00.000+05:30I read _TAI_ last month and quite enjoyed it mysel...I read _TAI_ last month and quite enjoyed it myself. I had been looking forward to the book and was completely hooked once I read that couplet by Roy about the tragedy of death. :)<BR/><BR/>Good stuff. :)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1123253590995562462005-08-05T20:23:00.000+05:302005-08-05T20:23:00.000+05:30Brill Felix - I like cats too!DDBrill Felix - I like cats too!<BR/>DDAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1123253561634585972005-08-05T20:22:00.001+05:302005-08-05T20:22:00.001+05:30Brill Felix - I like cats too!DDBrill Felix - I like cats too!<BR/>DDAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1123253535361709912005-08-05T20:22:00.000+05:302005-08-05T20:22:00.000+05:30Brill Felix - I like cats too!DDBrill Felix - I like cats too!<BR/>DDAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1123249049967171662005-08-05T19:07:00.000+05:302005-08-05T19:07:00.000+05:30"Many are my names in many countries. Mithrandir t..."Many are my names in many countries. Mithrandir to the Elves, Tharkûn to the Dwarves; Olórin I was in my youth in the West that is forgotten, in the South Incánus, in the North Gandalf; to the East I go not."<BR/>Hey Anonymous, we in the less glorious East got a little book-learning too y'know. Jabberwock, please forgive use of your blogspace for retaliatory rant.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1123220017595175502005-08-05T11:03:00.000+05:302005-08-05T11:03:00.000+05:30Thalassa: thanks. It is pretty entertaining when s...Thalassa: thanks. It <I>is</I> pretty entertaining when someone stands up and says in belligerent tone "How can you say we Indians are argumentative!!" <BR/><BR/>Hemangini: nope, missed that. But can hear the two tinny voices in my head now! Should've been fun.Jabberwockhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10210195396120573794noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1123219787545517332005-08-05T10:59:00.000+05:302005-08-05T10:59:00.000+05:30In my youth, which is long past, in the glorious w...In my youth, which is long past, in the glorious west, we had a simple way of cutting down on stupid questions when guest lecturers visited. <BR/><BR/>It was a 15-word-rule-if you couldn't frame the question within 15 words, <BR/>either, it was too complex to be asked at a public forum <BR/>or <BR/>you were disrespecting everyone present by demanding their attention while you framed sloppy questions. <BR/><BR/>It works like a charm especially if you appoint a cheerleader squad to count down every word as the interrogator speaks, and chant "Out!! Out!!" if they overstep the limit.<BR/><BR/>:)<BR/><BR/>DD <BR/><BR/>(I will be truly impressed if somebody identifies the quote with which I started this comment)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1123216413861323432005-08-05T10:03:00.000+05:302005-08-05T10:03:00.000+05:30After a number of seminars I have realised most pe...After a number of seminars I have realised most people ask questions purely in order to put their stupendous cleverness on display. Fifteen seconds when everyone will gawp at their brilliance, or so they think. Which is why most questions in academic or semi-academic do's exemplify colossal undiluted stupidity and even worse assholishness, pardon the francaise. A reluctance to listen, and a stubborn failure to understand. That's what passes for and even worse is excused as "the reading of the thesis." Fuck-all post-modernese for idiocy.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1123075682944101462005-08-03T18:58:00.000+05:302005-08-03T18:58:00.000+05:30Did you watch him interviewed by Karan Thapar? I t...Did you watch him interviewed by Karan Thapar? I thought that a few good points were made.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8204542.post-1122999173306683882005-08-02T21:42:00.000+05:302005-08-02T21:42:00.000+05:30Great review Jai, and definitely whetted my apetit...Great review Jai, and definitely whetted my apetite for the book. By the way, linguistic analysis does assign the Bhagavad-Gita a latter date than the Mahabharata, so it was a tack-on text, rather than an integral part of the epic. <BR/><BR/>Don't despair of silly questions, even those who were disputing Sen's depiction of Indians as argumentative were doing it from a fine argumentative tradition :)thalassa_mikrahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01942716364297839680noreply@blogger.com