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Avatans Kumar 🕉 retweeted
Again, this proves that even big columnists of @nytimes don’t do basic, basic homework. Not knowing is not a problem, but not doing homework for a post/article is. The liberal travesty of “Ism” ! There is one benefit of this. It saves our time. No need to read them!
I will give @NickKristof a 0 for this, for not going deep enough on this journey.
Sanskrit (śūnya - शून्य): Coined or adapted into mathematical text around the 5th–7th century by Indian mathematicians like Aryabhata and Brahmagupta to denote both the numerical value and a placeholder.
Arabic (ṣifr - صِفْر): In the 8th and 9th centuries, Arab scholars translated śūnya into their own word for "empty," which is ṣifr.
Medieval Latin (zephirum): Italian mathematician Fibonacci introduced the Hindu-Arabic numeral system to Europe in 1202, Latinizing ṣifr into zephirum.
Italian & French (zefiro → zéro): The Latin term naturally softened into the Venetian/Italian zefiro (eventually shortened to zero) and entered French as zéro.
English (zero): English adopted the word from French around 1598–1600.
Avatans Kumar 🕉 retweeted
This is how they save their own. Kaul is not concerned about the money, but the cause of fire. After all, money can be justified as a film prop, fake currency or shit like that. Or, even the fact that no one will talk about it.
#WATCH | On allegations against Justice Yashwant Varma, in an interview to ANI, Former Judge of the Supreme Court of India, Sanjay Kishan Kaul says, "...I felt the investigation was improper because somebody would have found out at least the cause of the fire..."
"That case is something which has troubled me a lot because it came from a person from a very good legal background. No complaints in Allahabad. No complaints in Delhi ever...I felt the investigation was improper because somebody would have found out at least the cause of the fire...The room was built a few years ago. It's not the oldest thing. There were too many questions, too many ifs and buts in it...Yes, money has been found. So there is something that needs to be found out. But that person got damned, I think completely..."
Watch the full interview at: youtube.com/watch?v=Eu5A4eaz…
Avatans Kumar 🕉 retweeted
India-Israel ties have persisted regardless of party/coalition in power in Israel.
Central question for India will be what impact, if any, the result might have on the situation in the Middle East/West Asia, particularly w/r/t the conflict
For New Delhi, the central question posed by Israel's elections is whether bilateral cooperation is strong enough to sustain momentum under a different Israeli government. buff.ly/PONTqFA
“I sent an account of my observations of India on the ground to editors who knew me well at The Washington Post, The New York Times, Foreign Policy, and Fortune, all publications I had written for many times. Every single publication refused to run it; two of the editors told me in confidence that their bosses were not allowed to publish the piece. Hindustan Times published it, and readers in India overwhelmingly agreed with my account.”
~ @wadhwa in @htTweets
hindustantimes.com/opinion/t…
Yet, they didn’t make any religious scripture the guiding light of our nation. They created a new document that reads:
“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.”
I will give @NickKristof a 0 for this, for not going deep enough on this journey.
Sanskrit (śūnya - शून्य): Coined or adapted into mathematical text around the 5th–7th century by Indian mathematicians like Aryabhata and Brahmagupta to denote both the numerical value and a placeholder.
Arabic (ṣifr - صِفْر): In the 8th and 9th centuries, Arab scholars translated śūnya into their own word for "empty," which is ṣifr.
Medieval Latin (zephirum): Italian mathematician Fibonacci introduced the Hindu-Arabic numeral system to Europe in 1202, Latinizing ṣifr into zephirum.
Italian & French (zefiro → zéro): The Latin term naturally softened into the Venetian/Italian zefiro (eventually shortened to zero) and entered French as zéro.
English (zero): English adopted the word from French around 1598–1600.
"But what would a MAGA defeat in the midterms, even if it does happen, mean for Indians, for America? Will the genie, as they say, go back in the bottle?... For a highly visible, and some might say audible, community, we have neither strategy nor ideology, nor story, nor voice."
~ @VamseeJuluri
"How many Indians make for 'too many Indians' in the United States? One more than all the others in the room? Or even just one more than the only other Indian in the room?..."
From my latest, in IE:
In America's identity politics, Hindus aren't even in the running indianexpress.com/article/op… via @IndianExpress
Avatans Kumar 🕉 retweeted
Life, Scholarship, and Legacy of Professor Arvind Sharma, by @avatans avatanskumar.substack.com/p/…
Avatans Kumar 🕉 retweeted
The Nazi symbol of hate was a European hakenkreuz ("hooked cross"), not an Indian swastika. In fact, the one place you would never find a swastika is in Nazi propaganda. It wasn't Adolf Hitler who called his symbol a swastika. It was the New York Times.
indiancentury.org/community-…
Dear Sabeer, Rosebud Chacha Jawaharlal Nehru introduced the Indian First Amendment, seen as a champion of liberal values, but he lacked self-esteem and struggled with criticism. This amendment to the Indian Constitution added "reasonable" restrictions to "free speech." As a result, Indians have not had the same First Amendment guarantee of free speech as we do in the US for more than seventy years.
"[T]he second most important and populous country in the Western Hemisphere won’t be fully aligned with the Trump administration during its final two years. With right-wing leaders winning elections across Latin America in recent years, Team Trump was building a coalition of countries that would follow its lead on China policy, narco-trafficking and the Middle East. But with Canada, Mexico and now Brazil in the hands of leaders opposed to key elements of Mr. Trump’s hemispheric vision, the White House will have to rethink."
~ @wrmead in @WSJopinion
wsj.com/opinion/the-common-g…
Prof. Arvind Sharma, Birks Professor of Comparative Religion at McGill University, passed away on 29 September 2026 at the age of 86. Prof. Sharma was a prolific scholar of Hinduism, Advaita Vedanta, and comparative religion. Sharma described himself as “an academic, who is also a Hindu; or conversely, as a Hindu, who is also an academic.”
Here is my conversation with Prof. @subhash_kak and Prof. @RameshNRao about Prof. Sharma’s life, scholarship, and legacy on the Rooted & Roaming podcast.
avatanskumar.substack.com/p/…
Who’s this “Additional Secretary on deputation?” 🤔
BIG BREAKING: Gyanesh Kumar and EC goes on the front foot.
ECI FILES AFFIDAVIT BEFORE SUPREME COURT
ECI SAYS ALL DECISIONS PERTAINING TO SIR UNANIMOUS
Election Commission of India files counter affidavit in Supreme Court on plea against CEC's functioning; says petition built entirely on a single news report
What ECI says:
Affidavit approved unanimously by all three members: the CEC and both Election Commissioners
All three SIR orders (June 2025, October 2025, May 2026) were unanimous decisions of the Commission
Notes, queries or suggestions by the CEC or ECs while a file moves are not decisions of the Commission
Files go to one EC, then the other EC, then the CEC. In urgent cases, approval is taken electronically and recorded on file later
Any officer issuing orders beyond delegated powers will face action
July 28 work allocation order was issued by an Additional Secretary on deputation. Both ECs wrote to the Cabinet Secretary the next day. The order was never implemented after the ECs' joint direction of July 30
Form 6 has not been amended. Only the Centre can amend it. The SIR declaration is a separate document
Admits the online display could be read as an amendment. From October 21, the online application will be split into Form 6 and the declaration, as in the physical form
Unmapped voters need not attend hearings. BLOs will collect documents from their homes. Hearings only in exceptional cases, preferably online
ECINet: no name is added or deleted except by order of the ERO. A committee with experts from IIT and IISc has been set up to check compliance
Goa: of 97 "left out" voters, 88 had already been enrolled, 6 were abroad and 3 held Portuguese passports
West Bengal appeals against inclusion of voters were filed by officers of the CEO, West Bengal, under Supreme Court orders. "These matters were not brought to the Commission"
Plea to restrain the CEC is not maintainable. CEC can be removed only like a Supreme Court judge
Commission never released or authorised the release of any internal note or file to the media
Repeated challenges to EVMs already rejected by the Supreme Court
Short reply filed due to Dussehra vacation. ECI seeks liberty to file a detailed para-wise response
Avatans Kumar 🕉 retweeted
In my latest @ThePrintIndia opinion piece, I argue that rising anti-Hindu sentiment in the US should be understood in its historical context.
My article traces the arc from colonial-era stereotypes of Hindus and early 20th-century exclusion to today's online hostility and a recently foiled plot against a Hindu temple in a Chicago suburb during the Navratri festival.
theprint.in/opinion/history-…
Avatans Kumar 🕉 retweeted
That's the head terrorist of Khalistani terrorist movement. Indian security forces eliminated him in the 80's. And in response these terrorists assassinated the then Prime Minister of India. Canada and USA gave safe haven to these terrorists. Trump administration has Khalistani sympathizers. So, you voted for this.
A genuine question, Lydia. What, in your opinion, constitutes “an extraordinary protest?”
Let’s look at participation levels. How many people on the streets would constitute “extraordinary”: 5,000 people or 50,000? Arguably, the crowds in the streets are nowhere near the upper edge of this range.
Then there’s spread. In a subcontinent-sized country, it's largely localized to a small pocket of Delhi, the designated protest site—with no sign of that “extraordinary protest” outside it.
Then there’s scale. Even 50,000 people mean little in a country of 1.4 billion. India is not France, and whatever size it is, it ain’t “extraordinary.”
Finally, whatever protests, they constitute the same old, tried, tired, and electorally decimated group of people who are loud and have even louder outlets in the West. They failed to expand their circle of influence anywhere near the “extraordinary” level. Not even close. Most Indians don’t care much about these leftists.
You guys can keep writing narratives like that for elite Western readers. Indians give two hoots about it.
What is extraordinary is your level of effort to put lipstick on a pig.
I spent a week in Delhi, watching an extraordinary protest movement unfold. Here's what I saw, and what I think it means for India, and the world. nytimes.com/2026/10/26/opini…
