nobs

There are two sites.


http://nobsword.blogspot.com/ has its archives since October 17, 1993. Is it possible? I think it is older than Googles. However the latest entry is of May 05, 2005.


Second one is http://nobsnews.blogspot.com/. It has archives since December 31, 1989. It can not be possible. Blogging is hardly there since 1997 if I am right. However the latest entry is of March 09, 2005.

There is another blog with the same characteristics as nobsblog.blogspot.com.

It is fascinating. On one blog, where it is permited, the blog profile declares that blogger is blogging since October 2004. On the another blog with the same title, it is declared that the blogger is there since March 2005.

In one profile, the blogger claims that he is in New Mexico and in other, in North America. At one place he writes that he is in consulting industry and in other, he declares that he is researcher by occupation. He is putting others to research.


Any how, this site source has a huge bank on numerous books and other intersted links.

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Editing Just after Ten Minutes:

The Trail is not ending.

Here is another blog with the same title http://nobsoppo.blogspot.com/.

Here in the profile, the blogging is being declared to have taken place since June 2005. As per the posting, the recent posting is of November 15, 2005. However, blogsearch on google shows that the last update was done August 7, 2005. The links are missings but overall a pattern of architecture of the blog is same.

Quite interesting.

More Digital Book Sources available ONLINE

It is continuation of the post "Is the contention against the google print valid".

Here are listed some more digital sources which are freely available to the Internet users and research scholars.
The California eScholarship Initiative
The Electronic Text Center of the University of Virginia Library
Humanities Text Initiative of the University of Michigan
University of Pennsylvania Library

The following sources are given in the syllabus of Punjab University Chandigarh for the subject of history.
http://archives.econ.utah.edu
http://www.history.rochester.edu/
http://www.marxism.org/
http://ohiou.edu/

Similarly, the members of H-Net under different sections keep on providing such links from where you can access online sources.

Apart from that, the legendary gutenburg project of Michael Hart is already there since 1971 and now 17000 + rich.

In addition to that there is a posting on www.infotoday.com attributed Paula J. Hane which has surveyed the future of the digital projects going to come in future.

Another source is The New Zeland Digital Library of the University of Walkato.

A comment of James Hilton sums up the need to digitize the sources available. To quote, "In the future, most research and learning is going to take place in a digital world. Material that does not exist in digital form will effectively disappear. We need to decide whether we are going to allow the development of new technology to be used as a tool to restrict the public’s access to knowledge, or if we are going to ensure that people can find these works and that they will be preserved for future generations."

It should be further added that no ethics and reason can stop the march of the technology and the aversions of those who presently dominate the dispersion of knowledge and value based information.

The google book project has really taken hold of my imagination. It is in a way hampering my other important tasks at hand. But, after reading the article by Paula J. Hane, it is given to think that so much fuss about google book is unnecessary. I doubt that all this commotion was a market gimmick and intentionally created. It seems to be a media management before bring some new market product.

The idea behind google book is strong and it is here to stay. It was already there but the google book has just brought the recent publications in its ambit also. In that case, they have brought in next logical activity before us. Now the need is to organize and regulate it. You can not stop it. You have to permit it. The only thing which is required is to regulate it.

Rizwan Kadri on Sardar Patel

It is believed that Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi had never fought any election in his lifetime. Secondly, there is no reference to the election participation by Gandhiji himself in his autobiography, "My Experiment with Truth".

The Second established notion in the history of Modern India is that it was Gandhiji who had given the label of "Sardar" to Vallabbhai Patel, the first Deputy Prime Minister of independent India and first Home Minister in the cabinet of Jwahar Lal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of Republic of India.

Dr. Rizwan Kadri (37) has presented his doctoral thesis to Gujarat University under the title Sardar Patel – Ek ‘Sinh Purush’. In his thesis, on the basis of archival records, and publications like Prajabhandhu (Gujarati – since defunct) and Gujarat Mitra (Gujarati), it is proved that Mahatma Gandhi had contested the 1915 Gujarat Congress Subject Committee election. Again in 1919,Gandhiji contested Gujarat Sahitya Parishad election. It is stated therein, as per a report in India Today, Volume XXX, Number 46, November 15-21, 2005, released on November 14, 2005, a publication of Living Media India Ltd, New Delhi, that Gandhiji had lost both the elections on both the occasions. It is believed that he had never stood in any election after that.

Further, it is again stated in the report of the India Today, in their Offtrack section under the pen of Uday Madhurkar, that Dr. Kadri believes that it was not Gandhiji who had bestowed the label of ‘Sardar’ on Vallabbhai Patel. It was the people of Bardoli, who had started calling him Sardar. This fact is also claimed by Sumit Sarkar in ‘Modern India 1885-1847’.


Nature of Reporting on a Muslim Scholar:

The achievement of Dr. Rizwan Kadri, a lecturer in Swaminarayan Arts College, Ahmedabad, under the organisation, which is famous for Akshardham Temple, is really commendable. However, while reporting the achievements of the scholar, a peculiar tone has been given to the article.

It is reported in the Offtrack section of the prestigious India Today magazine. The Offtrack is a general feature of the prestigious magazine. Under this section, reporting is done on such personalities and activities which are generally in nature of individual achievements. That justifies the tile of the section as Off Track.

The achievement of Dr. Rizwan Kadri in the eyes of the reporter seems to be an individual achievement. He has concluded his 430 words report on the scholar in the following words.

"In age of short attention spans, Kadri stands out for his dispassionate and meticulous research."

Being a student of history, I have felt perturbed. India is suffering from one major shortcoming. There is great need of scholarly work in major areas in social, political, cultural and economic fields. However, all such research is coming from outside and Indian scholars especially in the field of sociology, history, anthropology and archeology, are just reacting to what the foreigners are saying about this part of world. This is not some thing new. Similar view had been expressed long back by Romila Thapar. Here, it is pointed out in field of other social sciences also. Whenever, some good work comes up, it is rated as offtrack. That is the irony. It is a cause of agony for many of the teachers and scholars in the field of social sciences.

Further, the reporter had pointed out what the scholar has found in case of relation between Patel and Jinnah and also in case of Lokmanya Tilak. Similarly, his scholarly work and its findings are compared with the views of Mulana Azad. The value of his work is not rated for its contents but emphasized on the point that who has done it.

There are some other reports on Dr. Rizwan Kadri. Those reports are related to the activities of the employer of Dr. Kadri. There is a report on the web site of Swaminarayan Gadi in which the release of the book of Dr. Rizwan Kadri had been reported (One may find the photograph of Dr. Rizwan Kadri standing in silken Kurta in there). The report is projecting the activities of the organization more than the actual achievement of Dr. Rizwan Kadri. Similarly there is report by the same organization on the activities of NSS. It is specifically pointed out that social work had been supervised by Dr. Rziwan Kadri. I just fear that at the maximum he would be appointed as Principal and with that "dispassionate" scholar will whittle under the weight of his gratitude and work. Similarly, there is another report on K. K. Shastri (100) (a report of Asian Age) a veteran founder of Vishwa Hindu Parishad. It has been attributed to this legendary personality that he is mentioning the name of Dr. Rizwan Kadri in order to bring out the real nature of the present fight of Hindus under Vishwa Hindu Parishad.

There is another report on the preservation activities Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation. It is about preserving the historic buildings in Gujarat which is actual heritage of Republic of India. Now there is a general neglect of such buildings by the Indian nation on the whole. However, in that report also, the news piece considered it important that Dr. Rizwan Kadri should be quoted. The report has been picked from Indian express another important news publication of India. Well in case of this report, it can be understood, that as the building in question is somehow associated with Sadar Patel, and the scholar being an expert on it, he is the right person for such comments.

Being a student of history, I have been making this point, that there is need of reinterpretation of Indian History and some real work which is not coming up. There is a need that print media should also take up this issue. However, the way it is being taken, leaves lot to be desired. A scholar is not identified for the contents of his work but for his religion. The achievement of the scholar is emphasized not on the basis of his work but on the basis of his religion. The religion of the scholar is subtly being used to convey a different message. The actual message should have the need to identify nature of the research activity in India but that is not there and it is well projected in the quotation of a reporter given above.

I wish a great success for the young scholar. However, I fear that he may not be used as a tool. This is what for which the history and historians are being used. I can just feel the hurt of Firdausi, when he was cheated by Mahmud Ghaznavi.

Is Contention Against Google Print Valid?

I am unable to understand that why there is so much hue and cry about the Print Google.

They have been accused of stealing the printed contents of the rightful owners and making them available to the rest of the souls on the earth without any price and thus causing the monetary loss to the writers and the publishers. They are being accused of infringing on the intellectual property rights and copyrights and thus forcing the victims to take them to the court. They are being accused of starting the trend in which the laws have to be re-written.


For three days, I am trying to experiment with the Print Google dot com. I am using the terms, concepts, the names and authors related to Indian history. I am getting a huge list of books. It is very exhilarating to see the list of the books, the name of the authors, the date of publication and all the material, which are required for any research scholar to start his work. The lists which comes up can be used by a teacher or student or a researcher in a field to plan his study in more effective way. I am excited to see them because I feel that if I have to submit a synopsis in future for some research work and write a bibliography then I will be able to do all that while sitting before my monitor. The time will be saved. With a well defined question in the research activity, the work will be done in one sitting for collecting the material which is required for the research.

However, If I try to check the links, I am showed some pages under the link “some more results for the book”. I am definitely showed some of the pages. However, some of the pages are listed there but with a rider that they are not allowed to be seen there. I am also showed the contents of the book and also the bibliography section along with the index. I can tell from experience that all those pages are gif files which are created on scanning a book. (Please do not sue me in telling that because I know some may have concluded that even I have scanned some books.) But I am not shown the whole book. Yes, they do not show you the whole book. You can check the whole book in a book store and come out without buying any book. Here you are shown the book for some pages as per the query you have put in the search. But you are definitely not shown the whole book. Further, for each page there is warning that it is a copyright material.

However, if you are interested in buying that book, just on the right hand side they have given the links to the publisher or froogle or some other book selling portal. But you can not see the whole book at all. Well I can understand that by changing you query for search, you may see more pages but I have not tried that yet.


Well, what actually has this Print Google done? I think they have done a great job. They have given a practical shape to a great Idea. I think that all the publishers and authors should be dancing on their own heads and shouting for coming good days. They should thank the google people for having done that. They should go and kiss their hand. They should pray for their long life and the company. They should visit their houses and sweep their floors for what they have done to earn fortune for them. (Sweeping floor of someone is an Indian concept.) But No and a BIG NO. They have not done that. I have learned that they are suing the Google for this trouble.

Are they really true businessmen? Have they themselves checked that what is the true picture? Whatsoever is accessible on Print Google, you can get it by visiting any bookstore and library. In some of the libraries, they are even providing the photostat facility. In India, I have found people getting a whole book Xeroxed. I have seen medical students having Xerox copies of established book which cost less by being Xeroxed than to buy a fresh copy. Well, I am revealing a breaking of law in India but it is quite rampant here. Similarly, if you have good rapport with a bookseller, he may allow you to get a book Xeroxed. But whatsoever the google people are doing, it is not going to do any harm. What I see is that it will rather boost their sale. I believe that they are doing a free job for the publishers. They are promoting their sale. But it is strange that the publishers are perturbed and annoyed by their act. It is strange.

On thing is sure that those who are leveling different allegation against the google, have not actually checked what they have done. They are unnecessarily making wrong noises. They should first check what they are doing. They are becoming self appointed sales men. It is really goes to credit of those publishers who have offered them their books. They have made the smartest move of their business activity. They are going to be benefited.

Those who are undertaking a tirade against the Print Google, they better first check what actually they have done.

Jinajik

This is a site by Ian Sinclair.

As per the profile, he is interested in Tantric Buddhism (Vajrayana).

He has given many informative links which can be good source material on the online sources.

Some of the examples are as follows:


Indology

Kaiser Library (Nepal)

Digital Library of India


The site and the links deserve further exploration.

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Later Addition:

Ian Sinclair continues to provide links on Vajrayana. As it is emphasised as the aim of the blog and I quote, " A digest of public information on Indian tantric Buddhism; with emphasis on Sanskritic traditions of the Vajranyana in Nepal, South East Asia and beyound", regular addition to the information is made. The blog started in April 2005 and there are similar type of addition for each month. Each information is a substantial information.

Another features which has attracted the eye is that some of the related blogs which are suggested on this blog, prefer to use black background. Is this a symbol or based on their study of Vajranyana? However, the frame of the blog is well made and does not disturb. On the other hand, the appearance of pages is slow, may be because of the use of unicode for writing devanagari script.

Edited on November 17, 2005 local time, 7.35 pm.

Hermeneutica

What is Hermeneut?

I do not know. The dictionary which is lying before me also fails to answer it!!!

What is exegete?

I do not know. The dictionary is no help.

I am just attracted to the one of the posting titled The Historians Reliance upon Testimony . The contents have reference to just those remarks especially the second task as given by R. C. Majumdar, which I have made in my post titled Task of a Historian. A hurried reading attracted me but the two words mentioned above occupied my time. Hence, I am just making a post here and intend to read it again.

Task of a Historian

In the preface of the Volume IX and Volume VI, The History and Culture of the Indian People, the General Editor R. C. Majumdar, has defined the following three tasks of a Historian.

a. That history is no respecter of persons or communities. Hence, the historian has to rise above the fear of being accused by either of them.

b. That its sole aim is to find out the truth by following the canons commonly accepted as sound by all historians.

c. To express truth.

In case of the first task, it has more relevance for the volumes and the context in which it has been enunciated. The General Editor faced the issue of discussing the Hindu Muslim relation during the Mughal period and in the nineteenth and twentieth century and also the relation of Britain as an imperialist power with Indians. The author has claimed that he would be unbiased in his judgement but accepts that he is a human being and there is every possibility that the passions and prejudices would reflect on his analytic faculty. Though it is an argument but somewhere it is justifiable on his part to emphasis that even the British historians have been pleading for the acts of omission and commission of the British Indian government. No doubt, that the volume IX, titled the British Paramountcy and Indian Renaissance turns up as a pamphlet (though spread over too large a number of pages) on bringing before the future generation the injustice and unlawful activities undertaken by the Governor Generals. The other British scholars and especially the Cambridge History have performed the role of justifying the act of the compatriots.

As far as the second task is concerned, I have great reservation about the techniques and the practices adopted by the whole world of historians. I am unable to convince myself till this day that it is fruitful activity to perform to evaluate the written records and then reinterpret the activities of the bygone days in the light of present demands as it is being done. I believe that there is need to establish more well defined techniques, practices and methods on the world level which should be invariably followed and practiced by all the historians. The journalistic works should be clearly identified and excluded from the field of history writing. They have done the biggest harm to this subject. Yes, this is what the historians do all the time. General public may not accept that it is useful to read history or what is the fun in digging out the graves when one is moving towards the future. Well, I have to ask them one thing. Go and ask the people of Croatia, Herzegovina, Kashmir, Pakistan, Taiwan, North and South Korea, or even Hawaii that how far they are being made to live the history. You may just look at Iraq. You may look at the issues before UN concerning TNC (MNC for Asians), the so called the presently most happening and in-things which will take you to the future and tell you that if you can not predict the future than make the future. Somewhere, if you are not able to appreciate the need of historic perception of the present, then you are bound to grope in dark. Make yourself satisfied that you are moving towards future with firm feet but the truth remains that just like an anthropoid you are still blind about you present submit and forget of making a future. At the most, God may save you from tragic accident. But before that historians themselves have to set their research techniques and methodology in order and stop digressing in every new way of putting their findings in form of literature or even movies.

Yes, the last task has always reinstated my faith and hope that there is need to study history. But the question of methodologies being adopted and the absence of the fixed methodology in field of history always make me unstable again and again in my pursuit of history as a faith and vocation.

R. C. Majumdar passed away in 1980. He was M. A. Ph.D, associated with International Commission for a history of the Scientific and Cultural Development of Mankind established by UNESCO, Fellow of Asiatic Society, Fellow of Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland, Former Vice-Chancellor of University of Dacca and visiting professor of Indian History, Universities of Chicago and Pennsylvania. He was also member of the Board of Editors established by Government of India in 1953. However, it was disbanded latter when the issue of Modern Indian history was taken up and latter that period was got written by Tara Chand. For a photograph of R. C. Majumdar you may visit the following link and that is http://www.kamat.com/kalranga/itihas/rc_majumdar.htm.