INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION - TWO DIFFERENT JOURNEYS - 25 YEARS AFTER 9/11

Swaminathan S Anklesaria Iyer writes in The  Times of India, September 20, 2026

25 yrs after 9/11,  two different journeys for Muslim Inclusion

Democracy should be about minority rights as well as majority rights. That makes the comparison with America so poignant. India started much further ahead. A generation ago, its Muslims could look at Rashtrapathi Bhavan and see Abdul Kalam. They could look at the Union Cabinet and see Muslim ministers. They could see that political power was open to all. 

That was an India worth marveling at.  One that could teach the world. None of this means America has conquered Islamophobia. Far from it. Pew Research found this year that "public attitudes toward Islam have become more 'negative' and more 'partisan'  than they were in the wake of the attack. 

Twenty five years after the al-Qaeda attack on 9/11, something remarkable has happened in the US. While Islamophobia has not disappeared - by some measures it has worsened - democracy has overcome hate at the ballot box.

No one  could imagine this on Sept 11, 2001.

The US had just suffered  the deadliest Islamic terror attack in history. Almost 3000 people had been killed. Mosques were threatened. Muslims were attacked. Hate crimes soared.                   

The US Congress did not have a single Muslim.

Yet Muslims did not retreat from American democracy. They entered it. 

Today, there are four Muslims in the US Congress. 255 Muslims have been elected in 26 states  - 46 state legislators, 11 mayors, 18 elected judges, 98 council members and 63 education officials. 

43%  of the elected are women.

The latest is the election of Zohran Mamdani as the mayor of New York, the target of 9/11.

It is truly a triumph of democracy.

Now turn to India. Twenty five years ago, India was hardly free of communal hatred. But its political landscape offered striking examples of democracy at its best. Vice President Dick Cheney marvelled at this in 2006, noting that "the religious majority is Hindu, the largest political  party is led by a Christian, the President is Muslim and the Prime Minister is Sikh."

However it doesn't conform in the current scenario.

 'Bulldozer justice' has become part of India's political vocabulary. India's Supreme Court has spoken words that should shame any democracy. "Justice through bulldozers are unknown to any system of jurisprudence."

America provides an unexpected lesson in how political Inclusion can grow even while prejudice survives. India provides a warning about how political Inclusion can shrink even as elections continue.

The pupil and the teacher have exchanged places.

ROAD RAGE AND THE INDIAN DRIVER

 Indian roads demand something Indians are not properly trained to handle - Equality between strangers.

A traffic signal in any modern society means that people with unequal money, class and muscle mass have to accept the same rules.  A Fortuner and an Alto must stop behind the same white line. This is disappointing for a man who bought an SUV and who srongly believes higher ground clearance is synonymous with higher hierarchy. His philosophy of a public road is private property with other people on it. 

Hence, the constant restlessness to prove, to himself and to everyone around him, that he is a VIP, a very important person, stranded among VOP - very ordinary people. 

This phobia of ordinariness turns his car into a low grade art installation. The windows are blacked out, the number plate has an official looking red strip, and the rear windscreen displays the ultimate Indian brand: caste. You might mistake this for a thoughtful gesture towards overworked caste census workers, saving them from the trouble of going door to door. 

Every slight inconvenience injures his ego. Every driver who refuses to move aside becomes a junior artist wandering into the hero's frame. The back ground music consists of  popular songs that scream, "We will go where we want, turn as we please and break every traffic signal."

Caste supplies the most important assurance behind this VIP performance. He wants to announce the protection available to him, where the surname announces the possibility of ten men arriving after one phone call, if you dare to say anything to him.

In that sense, the Delhi- NCR man is the freest of all men in the world. 

In a viral Thar reel, the driver who drives proudly on the wrong side explains with the calmness of a meditation practitioner, "The biggest benefit of a Thar is, you can drive on the wrong side and no one will flash their dipper or say anything." 

The car has five star safety. 

Everyone, outside it, is on their own.

Recently, a video from Pune showed a Fortuner fitted with a button operated device that concealed its number plate. My first reaction was reluctant admiration. At least  the man had worked to hide his identity. Across NCR, so many vehicles don't have any number plates at all.

It's no surprise that lane discipline remains such an unfinished project in India. 

Civic sense demands a small surrender.

It asks a man  to believe that  a stranger's claim to the road is as valid as his own

But surrender is not something the NCR man practices.

He has spent his whole life learning to occupy space, not share it - or in some cases collecting rent from it.

This attitude is so difficult to fix because, for this particular variety of men, the white lines marking traffic lanes are the bars of a cage and a traffic signal turning red dares the bull inside him to smash through whatever stands ahead

Anurag Minus Verma
The Times of India
20 September 2026

N. CHANDRASEKARAN - CHARMAN -TATA SONS - LIFE IS A MARATHON

 Life is a marathon race, not a sprint. It is about becoming better by the day, not overtaking others. There will be ups and downs. Don't fear downs. Do not turn your overconfidence into arrogance. 

Enjoy the journey.

It applies to both sports and life. It is all about the willingness to put in the effort to prepare. It is not about winning. Understanding what it takes to win is crucial. 

I have been a runner. It's a hobby I took up 18 years ago. I would advise everyone  and that includes students as well, to run for themselves with a clear target in mind. 

The world is full to the brim with possibilities, though it is rapidly changing, disruptive and increasingly led by AI.

I am urging the young generation to keep learning and use social media to their benefit.

It may be unnerving to read through the negative stories about job losses due to AI or any other factors. But a number of new sectors are opening up. 

The art of the possible is becoming clear every day with AI and it is going to throw up so many things we have not imagined today. New industries will come up in the next five years and we may not even know their terminology yet.

He winds up quoting:

1. Tennis legend, Billie Jean king

"To earn the right to feel the pressure is a privilege."

And:

2. Tanzanian marathon runner, Juma Ikangaa:

"The will to win means nothing without the will to prepare."

Venkadesan.S, The Times of India, September 20, 2026

 

MASCULINE HUMILIATION

 

This is an anecdote from the newspaper yesterday.

The writer met a hotel owner in Rajasthan whose daily routine included a personal battle against gravity to keep his moustache pointed upwards.

While showing the writer his car, the hotel owner took offence at a fairly simple question, "Why did he not drive an automatic?"

His reply was, "If I drive an automatic, then I won't be driving it. It will be driving me."

The writer continues, "Initially I couldn't understand what he meant. But then I realised his local philosophy. The car had to remain under his control. Obedient much  like the ideal wife in his imagination."

"A machine changing gears on its own was a form of masculine humiliation."

Anurag Minus Verma
The Times of India
20 September 2026

EVANA ABRAHAM

 

Evana Abraham

September 17, 2026

Evana's imagination goes wild

                                             Evana's imagination goes wild

                                           It's her whole day's effort

Shara queries                      

We need the artist to explain this. I am art challenged

I respond

I asked her that even before forwarding it.
She said she did that as it came.
That's why I put the caption like that

Shara resigns 

Ahh! We will have to content with that

WRITING OUT A PLAN FOR YOUR LIFE - E.L.DOCTOROW

 

According to E.L.Doctorow, writing out a plan for your life, 

"is like driving at night in the fog.  You can only see as far as your headlights, but you can make

 the whole trip that way."