Muslim fundamentalists chopped off Prof T J Joseph's hand on charges of blasphemy in 2010. In this excerpt, he recounts how the Church too let him down.
Kerala professor TJ Joseph, whose hand was chopped off by Islamic fanatics, speaks about his autobiography ‘A Thousand Cuts,’ why he doesn’t hate his attackers and how he hopes for a better tomorrow.
'A doctor incarcerated for a long period may end up like Dr. Manette in Charles Dicken’s novel ‘A Tale of Two Cities’, who forgot his profession and even his name in the Bastille'
The communal equilibrium in Kerala is under increasing threat from the progressive radicalisation of the Popular Front of India (PFI) and its cognate groups.
A highly irrational act — of sacking the lecturer whose hand was brutally hacked — is sought to be imbued with legal respectability and given a communal character
He would take his colour, brushes and canvas outside to paint and talk with his love. He would stand close to the window and paint, keeping an eye on his muse.
They say the violin mimics the human sound. In his case, it was that of love, of longing. He didn’t know any other way of loving.
Younger people do not have much progressive beliefs; a 2017 survey found that one-third of young people opposed inter-caste marriage.
The pandemic has made it clear that virtual learning is here to stay. In the West, the big question is whether it will dilute the quality of the college experience and education. In India, which grapples with digital divide, the question remains whether this will reach most people at all.
Even after two years of the Covid-19 pandemic, many 'informed' individuals in India continue to deny the virus with unscientific claims and unfounded data. The latest? Omicron will end the pandemic.
Across Asia there are deeply entrenched obstacles to a mode of higher education that is liberal in multiple senses – disciplinary and epistemological but also social and political.
The two incidents in the recent past, one in Mon district of Nagaland and the other at Lakhimpur Kheri in Uttar Pradesh, undermined the core principles democracy and federalism.