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Firstly, I don't think foreign approach on the way of developing Africa is a preferable one. It's disadvantageous so to say. As an African, I understand that the west is trying help, but their approach only yields something else. It's a matter of intuitive thinking taking over analytical thinking. As known by everyone, intuitive thinking is the default mode for humans, most people respond with a “quick and dirty” response that gets the answer wrong. For instance, here is the scenario in relation to Africa: You are listening to the 6 o’clock news while enjoying your favorite drink on your favorite couch and stumble across a news headline that makes you really uncomfortable.As a human being, you want to do to something for the greater good of everyone. So what do you do? You open an NGO that provides relief food to people across Africa experiencing famine. You don't have enough funds and so you look up for companies that could at least sponsor your little charity organization. Alas! You immediately find a company willling to sponsor you. The company does not accept your request out of good will, but it's forced to donate in order remain popular among it's costumers. It's the same dirty trick used by celebrities to remain popular among their audience. I have heard a lot about celebrities who have opened NGOs and now probably you understand why they do it.You think you are doing the right thing. You're wrong. Your emotional sense has taken over your logical reasoning. Here are the questions you should be asking yourself, Do these people ever going to become self sufficient? Or they will continue depending on free food? What will happen to them when I'm no more considering my charity might be taken over by someone not as responsible as me? Does the money I'm contributing really reach the intended recipients? What really happens to the local clothing companies after I flood their community with my donated cheap clothes?In this aspect, not only is critical thinking important in the development of Africa, it's a necessity. Understand that it's a frustrating and complicated puzzle that cannot be solved by emotional thinking. So from the example I gave, what would a logical thinking human being do? He would probably think of helping someone through teaching him how to fish sort of thing. It's the right thing to do and all of the questions you asked will immediately be answered.The above response was meant on an individual level. Specifically for those individuals who have interests in opening charities in Africa. On a multinational case, it's a completely different case. How do you lend money to a country that has 100x times less your GDP and expect it to return? To make matters worse, most of the money is completely misused by some corrupt government officials. It's completely absurd and probably not normal even in a different universe. I don't know if foreign governments do it in order to still have their imperialistic grip the countries or what? I don't know, only them have an answer.

Two disclaimers:1 - Despite my following reasoning, I don’t even believe ‘democracy’ is a fundamental end-all and be-all of what it means to be an optimal social primate. And as an American, I am looking at the word as representing the current Multi-national, neo-liberal, zero-sum trends.2 - Despite having American citizenship, I have lived over half my life in Japan … 36 years and counting, and with a permanent visa, this is probably a terminal relationship.On my answer —Many forms of Government have been tried, and will be tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Indeed it has been said that democracy is the worst form of Government except for all those other forms that have been tried from time to time — Winston ChurchillQuite a catchy tune … but I have no idea whether democracy is the worst, or better, or just another experiment in how to manage social primates that have bred to populations of herding / swarming size.I just see democracy as one of many tools for sustainability of the species … and if lucky, perhaps even a higher quality of life.But as any other tool, democracy can be used and misused, depending on one’s inclination and perspective. For example, anyone who has been marginalized as a minority will likely be aware of the dangers of tyranny of the majority.I don’t have the time or scope for exploring the implications of John Rawls’ original position on morality here. It leads down one heck of a rabbit hole. But I would like to make a plug for Michael J. Sandel’s definition of ‘corruption’ as — any time ‘lower level’ values displace ‘higher level’ ideals.Certainly this is a provisional social construct. But I think most of us would agree that ‘everyone has their price’ is an easy to understand euphemism for how Michael Sandel is defining corruption.For my short answer … Yes.Just follow the money — https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/jul/27/fake-news-inquiry-data-misuse-deomcracy-at-risk-mps-conclude?utm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=282232&subid=10308016&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2It is not just democracy that is under threat.Family values and its institutions … adoption, weddings, birthdays, or funerals … are all under threat of being devoured by capitalism. It doesn’t take much triangulating to see the relationship between the misuse of corporate human capital in Japan Inc.’s ‘democracy’ to see the devastating effects on demographics … a falling population, but gutting the countryside for further concentration of power and opportunity in the Tokyo area.In pre-reformation Europe, the Catholic church similarly grew rich and therefore corrupt, partially due to selling special dispensations (those express train prayers to heaven) to the robber barons of that era.But here, in present day Japan, depending on the amount of donation offered to a priest performing burial rituals お布施, the deceased is given a new ‘spiritual’ name (kaimyou - Dharma name) that is ranked and correlated with the amount of money donated.I’d call that culturally sanctioned blackmail, but I guess we Americans do the same with weddings and funerals … the more money one has, the more lavish the ceremony is expected to be. I guess it comes with the package of what it means to be a social primate.But how much is ‘enough’? Where does one draw the line if it comes at the expense of others?This jives well with Sandel’s home run definition of corruption.Capitalism is devouring science.Common sense determines that neither scientific fact nor theory have been subject to the values of democracy, though lord knows it is not through lack of trying.I will leave it to the likes of Neil DeGrasse Tyson to point out the incompatibly of democracy with science in many of his excellent documentaries …or an even more scientifically capable contemporary, Steven Pinker …… but the good professors (institutionally sanctioned) are NOT making similar documentaries about how capitalism is devouring science.‘Publish or Perish’ — is NOT a scientific heuristics.It is an economic model, and an ultimately self-destructive one at that.In fact, they, among others (yeah, you too Michio) are making a tidy little sum riding off those gigs. It’s just too bad that the likes of Karl Popper or Thomas Kuhn are not so photogenic. Karl had much to say about what happens when science becomes subservient to capitalistic agendas in the Nazi form of Nationalism.And I think there is quite a bit much more than being ‘politically correct’ at stake when the whole scientific domain is being questioned as gender influenced … How Masculine and Feminine Traits Influence Science.For some examples of how capitalism is devouring of science, I modestly suggest reading Naomi Klein regarding Project MKUltra. Or Noam Chomsky on the M.I.T. - D.A.R.P.A. connection. Or for that matter Google’s true origin partly lies in CIA and NSA research grants for mass surveillance, Big Oil, Big Pharma, Big Agra.As I am making this edit, today’s news alone (Thursday, July 24, 2018 spells it out … Monsanto-on-trial … again.And to bring it closer to home (in Japan) … a copy of July 27-28th news … https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2018/07/27/national/crime-legal/japanese-prosecutors-raid-jaxa-facilities-connection-second-education-ministry-bribes-case/#.W1xSNygVSHoAnd to make sure the article is not ‘lost’ … another source, JapanToday.Prosecutors raid space agency over bureaucrat's bribery caseJuly 28 — 06:55 am JST TOKYOProsecutors on Friday raided locations linked to the space agency after they arrested a senior education ministry official earlier on a bribery charge in the second graft scandal to hit the ministry in a month.Kazuaki Kawabata, 57-year-old former director general for international affairs at the education ministry, was arrested Wednesday on suspicion of receiving bribes in the form of being wined and dined by a consulting firm executive in return for providing a favor to his firm.Prosecutors suspect former consulting firm executive Koji Taniguchi, 47, already arrested and indicted for alleged complicity in another bribery scandal involving a different senior education ministry official, provided 1.4 million yen ($12,600) worth of meals and drinks to Kawabata between 2015 and 2017.Kawabata was on loan at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency at the time and was in a position to evaluate the agency's business contracts.Kawabata allegedly helped Taniguchi invite astronaut Satoshi Furukawa to an event at Tokyo Medical University in November 2016 among other favors he offered him, according to sources close to the matter.Furukawa was allegedly asked by the former chairman of the university's board of regents, Masahiko Usui, about whether the astronaut could take part in the event, they said.Taniguchi bribed Kawabata by wining and dining him more than 10 times, the sources said, adding that Kawabata and Taniguchi have denied the allegations.Other sources said the education ministry bureaucrat is also suspected of receiving taxi vouchers from the consulting firm executive.Earlier in the month, another education ministry bureaucrat, Futoshi Sano, 59, and the former official of Tokyo Medical University were indicted for bribery.Sano, former director general of the ministry's science and technology bureau, allegedly helped the university get selected for the ministry's funding program in return for securing the enrollment of his son at the school.Taniguchi is suspected of bringing Sano and Usui together.The Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology was preparing to set up a third-party committee to investigate the suspected bribery involving Sano, but the minister, Yoshimasa Hayashi, said the plan will be postponed in the wake of Kawabata's arrest.© KYODONo mistake, ‘greed-is-good’ capitalism is devouring science, not driving it.Education, since the dawn of the industrial revolution, has been in danger of being devoured.For one semester, even while I was an Associate Professor at Jissen Women’s College, I took a leave of absence and attended open-classes as a student at a rival institution, Showa Women’s College. Among the courses I took, one was taught by a professor and employee of the central Ministry of Education (For about 7 years, I also used to be one of 2 or 3 native English speaking informants as textbook proofreaders and cultural advisors for the Ministry 平成17年4月文部科学省教科用図書検定調査審議会専門委員（平成23年3月迄). His course was about the history of Public Education in Japan.The Japanese public education system is based on England’s Victorian era education, which in turn was based on the structure and heuristics of two other institutions at that time … the penal system and the military. A liberal arts education was largely reserved for the elite ruling class.That’s a pretty grim hint as to the traditional ways in which large populations are ‘managed’ through capitalist values.Tied up with education, racial equality is in danger of being devoured … DeVos Doesn’t Believe that Promoting Racial Diversity in Schools Is a Worthwhile Cause.That military thing of ‘corruption’ through replacing one value with a lower value can be found in the outsourcing of the U.S. government’s accountability in warfare. Blackwater Protection was and still is, a convenient excuse for the U.S. government’s plausible deniability. But I guess the ancient Roman army did the same thing with ‘barbarian’ mercenaries long before capitalism was a gleam in Adam Smith’s eye.And as hinted earlier, the penal system — in private, for-profit hands?For the CEOs … the more inmates, the merrier. And throw away the keys. There is no financial incentive for rehabilitation.As for U.S. Public Health policy? Outside of the U.S., the laughing stock of the ‘developed’ world. Inside, a crying shame.That alone is enough to make me question the distinction between ‘developed’ and ‘developing’ as an arrogant conceit. A more accurate distinction between countries might better be found along a sliding scale of institutionally sanctioned, legalized corruption.Personal health care costs account for the single greatest cause of family bankruptcy in the U.S. On the the other hand, a cozy little group of insurance company executives and Big-Pharma CEOs can afford another private jet or island retreat.For the personally ambitious, there is big money to be made off of sickness, infirmity, and death.And those ‘closed-door’ international trade talks are closed for good reason.For example, one of the conditions of the TPP was that medical products banned in the U.S. could be used in countries with less economic leverage, and any claims from citizens of those countries regarding health or environmental degradation will not be subject to that country’s laws or judicial system. The multi-national corporation will have the right to regulate, judge, and penalize themselves … as they wish, or not, and citizens of those economically marginalized countries, democratic or not, will have no say in the matter.Even elected politicians are not privy to all of the information in those closed-door trade talks.Anyone here old enough to remember Perestroika or Glasnost?Evidently, ‘what’s good for the goose is good for the gander’ does not apply to Capitalist management.It just goes on and on.One. Horror. Show. After. Another.I would say the loss of ‘democracy’ to the corruption of money should be among the least of our worries.Yanis is brilliant, full stop.Spot-on analysis.And compared to reading Piketty’s massive tome, a lot easier to listen to.Besides, I think his barber is doing a great job.I am just weighing in because of his observations from about 1:10 of the YouTube video above — when he explains how the Chinese economic system may be more humane than the U.S. counterparts. The local governments may allow somewhat more freedom than the national government, and individuals may be arguably just as free to follow, ignore, or game the system as their American counterparts.This is the same in Japan, For now.But as we are seeing in the U.S. now, the authoritarian dynamics could change overnight, and I assume the same could be said for China.Japanese scientists are worried about the same thing — Japanese scientists call for boycott of military research. But that is already old news. Japan is well under way in following the U.S.’s model of tax funded research at M.I.T. being funneled into Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.I think it was only three or four years ago, that Tokyo University was bringing out damage control PR in denying they were involved in military related research. Things have changed in a very short time. … Scientists and defense research | The Japan Times——————————————In any country, the socially progressive left will always be less united than the right. It's like trying to herd cats ... or order a jazz musician to follow a note for note transcription of a military marching band score.IMHO, the above observation points to something fundamentally contradictory about human nature.As a social primate, we do pretty well in small communities with empathy-driven morality. Of course even small groups can be led by bullies, and many a spouse has suffered at the hand of their 'beloved'.But when we become herding primates, probably anything larger than Dunbar’s Number, and guided by a rule-driven morality (or algorithm), it is just a matter of time before we become self-destructive swarming primates ... that 'Tower of Babel' thingy.I guess part of it is because large populations necessarily become hierarchically institutionalized, and therefore dependent on a rule-driven (legal/logical based - not empathy based) morality.But when empathy is no longer the basis for morality, the 'Dark Triad' personality types are most able to take advantage of the inevitable gap between empathy and rules ... the narcissists, machiavellian opportunists, and psychopaths among us.You know … your boss.(kudos to Alan Louis)Altruists become relegated to fools ... Diogenes carrying a lantern in the daylight, looking for an honest man.Diogenes … my hero, the template for ‘pro-social trolling’ … and the capitalist in me is wondering if I can get a copyright on that phrasing ;-)Compared to more egalitarian communities which are small enough for us to acknowledge and recognize each other as unique individuals, large populations and accompanying institutions simply provide too many niche opportunities for those dark-triad types to rise to the top.It might be useful to think of the ratio of dark-triads to altruists in a hierarchy as similar to the increase of surface area to volume of any structure as it increases in size.This surface area to volume ration, as biologists understand, is a salient variable which limits the size of living things.Surface Area to Volume Ratio - OBEN Science 7EAnd to extend the metaphor, as the surface area of hierarchies expand in proportion to the volume of its limited natural resources (can’t outsource costs and losses forever ya know), those dark-triad vampires, also proportionally increase to the point that those behavior traits become the dominant culture of the institution.Hmmm … the capitalist in me wondering if I should coin the above observation in the domain of social sciences as ‘Martin’s Law’. Or in the spirit of open source … ‘more like guidelines’.No matter what 'fool-proof' system is in place, those dark-triad types will suck the human capital dry, siphoning all resources into their own gated communities, until inevitably, 'too big to fail', fails, like a dinosaur collapsing under its own weight.'Housing loan crisis', 'Lehman Shock', the Great Wall Street crash of the ‘20’s ... a stinkweed by any other name would smell as rank. Alas, were it just restricted to smell.2012, what we ‘learned’ — Fukushima reactor meltdown was a man-made disaster, says official report.As a former Comparative Culture teacher, I should say a bit about how Japan Inc. parses ‘human error’ and ‘man-made’ disasters. Imagine a wide range of meanings ranging from an ‘honest mistake’ at one extreme, and getting caught doing what hierarchical social primates are primed to do … ‘gaming the system for personal advantage’ at the other extreme.Those two terms conveniently cover the gamut.Well hey, it’s the Fourth of July, 2018, and following good pedagogic practice, let’s see if, indeed we ‘learned’ anything.Just 3 stories today is enough to say it all …1 — Nuclear watchdog OKs restart of aging Ibaraki nuclear plant hit by tsunamiPhoto: REUTERS file(Read it while it’s ‘hot’ folks, to aid our short collective memories, Japan Today will typically delete the article from its archives in a week or so, so I have it copy-pasted for any future readers interested, assuming there is a future.)Yours truly, as an English teacher at the Tokai Mura nuclear power plant - before.And after?Can’t really say. Like the weather and earthquakes, that will be up to the Watchdog Committee’s official stamp of approval.2 — Japan oks ambitious nuke energy target plutonium reuse plan — Japan on Tuesday approved an energy plan that sets ambitious targets for nuclear energy use and sustains a struggling program for spent-fuel recycling despite setbacks after the 2011 Fukushima disaster.(But praise the lord we have government officials and Watchdog Committees!)3 — Senior education ministry official arrested over bribery — Tokyo prosecutors on Wednesday arrested a high-ranking Japan education ministry official on a bribery charge, suspecting he granted a research subsidy to a medical school in exchange for admitting his child as a student.Oops.Might as well add another few for good measure …(edit July 7, point 4, because of the relevance to points 1 and 2)4 — 5.9-magnitude quake felt in Tokyo, no tsunami warning. I felt that one. ALL of Tokyo felt it … and for close to 30 seconds.Mother nature couldn’t give a f.f. for the government’s official approval of where and when the next temblor will be permitted. But money-driven authoritarianism and mother nature have never been on good speaking terms, much less happily wedded.5 — Fukuoka's 'guest teachers' of English outstay their welcome. — After 36 year years of studying and teaching here, I found out the hard way that Japanese work contracts are not worth the paper they are written on. And this is not restricted to lay-teachers … Cautionary tale: Bern on how no protections against harassment in Japan’s universities targets NJ regardless of Japan savviness and skill levelHaving worked in American and Japanese Universities, high schools, and volunteered at kindergartens, I know a little bit about education. Now, having resigned in protest from a tenured Associate Professor position (qualifications here … Steven Martin, I am forced to pick up odd jobs at universities, but not as a professor — though still desperately trying to hang on to my identity as an educator, following its best, subversive to authority, liberal arts tradition. Now working for a subcontractor, likely similar to those mentioned above in the Fukuoka article.I have a contract here before me, that I will not sign. It makes no mention of accountability to the students who educators should be serving.Educational content and pedagogy have been boiled down to little more than economic constraints and opportunities. Just like any other business, everything is based on the bottom-line.Now with falling demographics and numbers of Japanese students to draw on, the overabundance of ‘educational institutes’ are forced to accept anyone who can breathe, and now an increasing number of the young and restless from China and Southeast Asia. This makes for some interesting cross-cultural possibilities.But it is an extra pedagogical burden on those who speak only Japanese and English, and these outsourcing companies are choosing teachers whose main qualification is ‘they look foreign, speak English, and are desperate enough for money to just sign on the dotted line and follow orders’.I try to make do.Here is a sketch done in my English class last week, by a speaker who maybe can say ‘Hello, how are you today?’ — yet she could visualize and understand Plato’s Allegory of the Cave better than most American counterparts. Bright girl.The ‘most recent comment’ under the following YouTube link describes how I got their attention last week, kept it, built on it .., and enjoyed a blast from the past.As bad as my situation is, still can’t pay the rent, it could be worse.6 — Japan’s open to foreign workers. Just don’t call them immigrants … The latest LDP plan is to open the door to 500,000 low-skilled, kkk workers (no not Jeff Sessions and company), the 3k jobs are kienai, kitsui, and kikken (dirty, hard, and dangerous) — jobs that anyone tries to avoid, but dirt-poor immigrants see as opportunity. There are just two teensy-weensy conditions to the special 5 year visas (10 years if language skills are up to snuff).• There is no legal path beyond the expiration date of that visa allowing for immigration or naturalization. When that visa expires, the worker has no choice. They MUST return to their native country.• If the 5 year or 10 year worker has a spouse or kids, even those immediate family members will not be allowed into Japan. All human needs will be taken care of by the Japanese company they work for.‘Special work visas’? I would call that a legal euphemism for ‘human trafficking’.It appears that Japan Inc. is hell bent on using hidden labor to build the infrastructure catering to the wealthy visitors who come to ‘do’ Japan. Not so different from Qatar, the UAE, and other oil rich sultanates.(edit) Today’s morning headline in Japan Today … https://japantoday.com/category/national/japan-firms-used-foreign-trainees-at-fukushima-cleanup-reportsI have saved the above to hard disc because as per policy, that website typically deletes its articles a week or two after posting it. No wonder we fail to learn from history … we are not allowed to even make a collective memory. So for anyone who wants the details of the article above (which are few — even the guilty companies were not named), I have saved the article to hard disc. And again, that title …4 firms made foreign trainees do Fukushima decontamination workYokoso (welcome to) Japan … tourists and ‘trainees’ alike.Japan’s 4th of July headlines is one for the record books … to hell in a hand basket. A big one.————————————So class, what have we learned since that 2012 official government report?Hmm. Something about a dead parrot?More like a whole menagerie — George Orwell's 'Animal Farm' in a nutshell.Credit: Carl Glover via FlickrJust a guess, but those 'dark triad' types probably make up between 1 and 5 percent of any population.But even among the remaining, more typical, members of ours species, Hannah Arendt .... and then later the behavioral psychologists Solomon Asch (conformity experiment), Stanley Milgram (experiment in obedience), and Philip Zimbardo (the malleability of identity in the Stanford Prison experiment) pointed out how easily even the average Joe Blow's behavior can be manipulated with relatively light touches of authoritarianism.Noam Chomsky in 'Manufacturing Consent', and later later Naomi Klein in 'The Shock Doctrine', shows us some blueprints. Antony Loewenstein is showing how this is playing out down under with Disaster Capitalism: Making a Killing Out of Catastrophe.And William Blum shows us some of the gut-ugly details in Killing Hope.A couple of yeas ago, Stephen Hawking wrote an editorial for The Guardian saying This is the most dangerous time for our planet ... implying we will either make it to Mars and exploit its resources, or destroy ourselves in a final malthusian meltdown over the remaining resources on earth.An increasing number of STEM specialists believe we may have already passed a species-ending tipping point.Chomsky, in his 2010 Chapel Hill speech, 'Human intelligence and the environment’ began that speech with a couple of paragraphs referring to the debate between Carl Sagan and Ernst Mayr regarding the probability of intelligent life elsewhere in the cosmos. Predictably, and sensibly, Sagan argued for the probability, on statistical chance alone.But Mayr gave a surprisingly sensible counter-argument from an evolutionary biologist's point of view. The biological record indicates an average of about 100,000 years for the shelf life of an apex (dominant) species ... and we are at about that point.Mayr said that while there is probably life out there, it is not likely to have a human-like intelligence. He went on to further imply that human intelligence is not the apex of evolution — it is merely one of many tools for the survival of a social primate.But worse, he suspects human intelligence is more likely a fatal mutation. An evolutionary spandrel at best.The more I observe of our swarming, self-destructive nature, the more I tend to agree with Mayr.

Did you know Iyengers didn't celebrated Deepavali? Even Jayalalitha was an Iyenger BhraminNow,your question will be why didn't she celebrated Deepavali. Now,don't assume that Tamils don't celebrate Deepavali! They do on the day of Narak Chaturdarshi,on the day in which Lord Krishna annihilated Narakasura Demon. The day is known as Choti Deepavali in North.Deepavali-the biggest festival of Hindus is not celebrated by Iyenger Bhramins of Karnataka & Late Jayalalitha was also an Iyenger Bhramin. The reason is mass scale genocide of Iyenger Bhramins by none other than Tipu Sultan-who is considered as ‘great’ ruler by our so called seculars & liberals.If we have to count the number of genocide of Hindus then it will be impossible. From the invasion of Mohammad Bin Qasim-hero of Pakistan to the firing during Anti-Cow Slaughter protests during reign of Indira Gandhi,Hindus have been persecuted many times but this massacare by Tipu Sultan during the day of Deepavali still haunts Hindus and whenever a Child from an Iyenger Family will ask her mother why we don't celebrate Deepavali,will remind her all of those horrific incidents done by Tipu’s Army. Obviously,at that time many people have to maintain their best ‘Secular Silence’. Here is what exactly happened:-When Hyder Ali captured the throne of Mysore in a treacherous way from Immadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar II, the royal family of Mysore was kept under house arrest. But the queen of Wodeyar,Lakshmi Ammani Devi constantly made efforts for restoration of the rule of Mysore royal family after looking at various atrocities committed on the hindu population by the government. She started negotiating with the british in 1760s with the help of her Pradhan,Tirumala Iyengar which resulted in the imprisonment of relatives of Tirumala Iyengar by Hyder Ali. These people were called as Mandyam Iyengars and they lived between Mandya andSrirangapatnam area, mainly in Melkote.Some years later during his rule, Tipu came to know of an agreement between General Harris, the then Governor of Madras, and Tirumala iyengar. As he already was trying to destroy the allies of british by repeatedly waging wars on the kingdom of Travancore, Tipu decided to end the other uprisings happening against his atrocities in his kingdom. Hence Tipu thought of massacring the Iyengars who were living in Melkote. The day he selected for this was Naraka Chaturdashi.Yes,’Secular King’ Tipu Sultan choose that day only!When all Mandyam Iyengars were immersed in Deepavali celebrations, Tipu’s men entered Melkote and massacred at least 800 people including women and children. The survivors abandoned Melkote and ran away and the town became a ghost town. Friends and relatives of Tirumala Iyengar were killed in cold blood. Thus Naraka Chaturdashi became a black day in the history of Mandyam Iyengars belonging to Bharadwaja gothra who were the people massacred on this fateful day.While I am writing this,my eyes are filled with tears. Like every year,think of that how they might have been busy in Deepavali preparations. Who knew that the Deepavali, they celebrated the previous year was the last Deepavali of the entire community!After the genocide of these Brahmins of Karnataka, their descendents till date have not celebrated a single Deepavali festival. The cruelty inflicted on the innocents has parallel only to the Nazi concentration camps of the second world war. The Karnataka Brahmins belonging to community of the Mandyam Iyengars of Bharadwaja gothra observe Deepavali as a Dark Day.Another one of the forgotten genocides is the genocide of 13,000 Vaishnav Hindus of Srirang am. Here is one of the legends:-Headed by Malik Kafur, the crushing army came to the banks of the Kaveri. On an island between the Kaveri and Kollidam stood a magnificent temple, gleaming with riches. Sri Rangam, the holy abode of Lord Ranganatha. Malik Kafur was astonished by the grandeur of the temple and by its sheer size. But his instincts immediately kicked in. “Charge”, he thundered and his army broke into the largest functioning temple complex in the world.So huge was Sri Rangam that Malik Kafur took days going around the Prakarams, plundering the people. The inner temple,was fiercely protected by the staunch vaishnavas, who refused to let the muslims defile their holiest shrine. They held out the army for three days, time sufficient enough to build a wall in front of the main sannidhi and to hide out the reclining god. The priests even managed to bury the utsavar of Ranganayaki under a neem tree, but alas, before they could save the utsavar of Ranganathar, the army broke in. They killed every one in sight, took the utsavar and marched back to Delhi.The whole city of SriRangam wore a forlorn look. People mourned the deaths of their near and dear. More so, they mourned the loss of the utsavar from their temple. A few brave, bright men came forward and vowed to bring back the idol from Delhi. “We will not return without Arangan”, they said and over the next few days, they hatched their master plan. A couple of days later, the group set out to Delhi, disguised as an entertainment troop.Meanwhile at the palace of Malik Kafur in Delhi, strange things were afoot. When the soldiers brought in the idol, the daughter of Sultan, Princess Surathani, was overwhelmed by the charming face of Arangan. “Baapa”, she called out to her father, “Can I have this sweet idol as my doll? I like him a lot. Please do not melt him too.”, she begged. Malik Kafur allowed her to play with the idol and Surathani imediately carried him to her room. Over the next few weeks, Surathani never used to be away from Arangan. She bathed the idol, dressed it, offered food and even slept with the idol. Pleased with her acts of love, Ranganathar used to appear before her every night and offer her darshan in various forms and avatharas. Without actually realising it, Surathani fell in love with Rangar.Ranganathar offering Darshan to Surathani, a quick sketchThe entertainment troop from Srirangam finally reached Delhi and asked for permission to perform before the sultan. When the permission was granted, on a sacred Ekadashi day, they performed before Malik Kafur’s court. They put up their best dance and song skills and ultimately won the sultan’s liking. Malik Kafur was so overjoyed by the performance, that in return he gave them what they expected. “You have been excellent, just excellent. For your talent I offer you anything within the confines of this palace. You are free to take anything”, he offered. “Shahenshah”, said the lead man, bowing deeply, “we would like to have the statue of Arangan back. That is all that we need.” “You got it”, granted Malik Kafur and walked away. The troop however knew that the princess was deeply involved with the idol and that she would make a fuss if they took it away. So they waited for night to come upon, and when the princess was deep in sleep, they retrieved the idol and started out of the city.They ran as fast as their carts could take them, lest the sultan sent his army behind………If you think this story ended happily,then you are wrong. Don't get happy that Malik Kafur was so kind & generous & was the mouthpiece of‘Secularism’.To their bad luck, Surathani was so distressed to find her idol gone, that she immediately jumped on to her horse and followed the entertainment troop. Malik Kafur followed with his humungous army. Frightened by the army, the troop split into various smaller groups and decided to meet back in Sri Rangam. The man carrying the idol, his father and his son, ran into a dense forest and totally lost their way. The grandfather soon succumbed to the shock of the past few days and attained the lotus feet of Vishnu. The child too tripped and fell into a deep ravine, and ultimately reached Vaikuntha. Now, this was too much for the man carrying the idol. He lost his senses and became mad. Totally lacking any interest in life he wandered around the forest. He wandered and wandered…Back at Srirangam however, Surathani searched all over for the idol. Not finding it, she gave up her life before the very doors of the sanctum. Seeing this, Malik Kafur was so enraged that he ordered every Vaishnava to be killed. A bloody war followed in which close to 13000 Vaishnavas lost their life. The beautiful Devadasis of the temple, finally,managed to seduce the army generals and sent them back home.The temple survived the catastrophe,but not all things were in order. Later,a new identical Idol was made secretly & put in Temple. Interesting fact is that a shrine was also built for Surathani,who was later called as Muslim Wife of Lord Ranganaatha. Sixty years later,the original Idol was also found and was re-installed in the temple. That is totally different interesting story but what was forgotten is the genocide of 13,000 Hindus.EDIT:-There are different legends of Thulukka Nachiyar but the fact is that Malik Kafur invaded Srirangam & massacred a lot of people.During the period of invasion by Malik Kafur and his forces in 1310–1311, the idol of the deity was stolen and taken to Delhi. In a daring exploit, devotees of Srirangam ventured to Delhi and enthralled the emperor with their histrionics. Moved by their talent, the emperor was pleased to gift them the presiding deity of Srirangam, which was requested by the performers. Things took a drastic turn immediately. Surathani, his daughter, fell in love with the deity and followed him to Srirangam. She prostrated herself to the God in front of the sanctum sanctorum and is believed to have attained the heavenly abode immediately. Even today, a painting of "Surathani" (known asThulukha Nachiyar in Tamil) can be seen in the Arjuna Mandap adjacent to the sanctum sanctorum for whom, chappathis (wheat bread) are made daily.Having assumed that the magical power of the deity had killed his daughter, there was a more severe second invasion to Srirangam in 1323 AD. The presiding deity was taken away before the Malik Kafur's troops reached Srirangam by a group led by the vaishnavite Acharaya (Guru), Pillai Lokacharyar, who died en route to Tirunelveli in Tamil Nadu. The Goddess Renganayaki was taken in another separate procession. Swami Vedanta Desika, instrumental in planning the operations during the siege of the temple, closed the sanctum sanctorum of the temple with bricks, after the processions of the presiding deities had left, thereby protected the temple for generations to come. 13,000 Sri Vaishnavas, the people of Srirangam,laid down their lives in the fierce battle to ensure that the institution was protected. In the end, Devadasis, the danseuse of Srirangam, seduced the army chief, to save the temple.The only difference in this is about the Princess’ death which led to killing of 13,000 Hindus.In 2nd invasion of South, including Srirangam by Delhi sultanate in 1323 AD. Murthis of temple were taken away 2 secret location by priests. Temple was defended & 13,000 Hindus of Srirangam died in fierce battle. Our ancestors are warriors, make them proud today.#ReclaimTemples pic.twitter.com/4SFclBowzq— Advaita (@AdiShankaraa) February 5, 2018EDIT: -3I have written 3rd part of my edited answer before 2nd edit because it is related to this part of the answer. The main focus of my answer was about the Invasion of Madurai by Malik-Kafur & the killing of 13,000 Vaishnavas. There are many different legends/takes about how the idol was saved! Thankyou for reading!EDIT:-2As many people want to know about the firing on Protesters by Indira Gandhi government, I am adding this part:-In 1966, several Hindu organisations and a political party agitated to demand a ban on the slaughter of cows in India, as enshrined in the Directive Principles of State Policy in theConstitution of India. Among others, theShankaracharya fasted for the cause. The agitation culminated in a massive demonstration outside the parliament housein New Delhi on 7 November 1966 (corresponding to Kartik Shukla Ashtami day also known as Gopa Ashtami as per Indian national calendar, Vikram Samvat).The Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi did not accept the demand for a ban on cow slaughter.Demonstrators broke curfew and burned cars and tried to set fire to central government buildings.After lathi-charges and tear-gas shells failed to disperse crowds, police guarding Parliament House opened fire on the swelling mob. According to official sources, seven persons were killed and over 100 injured in the violent incidents.Sources:-The genocide of Mandyam Iyengars by the tyrant Tipu Sultan.Why Tamil Nadu CM Jayalalitha cannot Celebrate Deepawali-History Behind.The Saga of Thulukka Naachiyaar, Sri RangamSri Ranganathaswamy Temple, SrirangamTravel India1966 anti-cow slaughter agitation - Wikipedia