Log margin notes:
The Dec. 29 post titled All are welcome here noted that shopkeepers described German tourists enjoying a daydream of Third Reich glory in a land where the swastika is revered. Of course, the Aryan symbol was brought to the subcontinent by the Aryan tribe who migrated here nearly 4,000 years ago. Today it is hung frequently by religious Hindus for good fortune.
Apart from swastikas, some booksellers say it is Germans buying copies of Mein Kampf sold on the street. However, there is another bookshop owner who tells a different story.
"There are some misguided Indian youth who idolize Hitler," said Nita Puri director of the Central News Agency bookshop on Connaught Place.
She occasionally asks why they buy Mein Kampf.
"He was such a great leader ...," she said is the usual answer.
Many of the Aryan supremacists in India belong to the extreme right wings of nationalist political parties, she said.
"They are not secret groups, they are well known," she said.
However, sightings of actual neo-Nazis are not well known to the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles, according to spokesman Aaron Breitbart.
Further, the German tourists who come into the store are often shocked to see Hitler's memoir, said the fluent German-speaking Puri.
What the duce? The selling of a book and some misguided Indian youth is a thing of note? What has been demonstrated here is that every country has its nuts and merchants like to make money.
ReplyDeleteThe entry would be rounded out with some research into what if anything this "group" is doing or problems they are causing. But other than that it sounds like a book store is profiting on the selling of books...even crappy books. Hardly a new concept. I'll throw out a name Rupert Murdock, main print product crap-o-la.
As far as German tourists being shocked. That's the reaction I would hope to find, but I'm reminded of another man who was shocked, "shocked I say to find gambling going on in this establishment." Again every country has its nuts.
Is it unappealing to discover neo-Nazis literature sold openly in the markets? Yes. Is it surprising to see second world country merchants selling whatever crap it can to make a rupee? No.
I like the effort though, Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. Interesting reference for Indian cultural/political intelligence. Yes I'm being sarcastic. What does LA have to do with India? But again I like the effort.
The title "nationalism of the wrong kind" suggests a movement or an undercurrent. I'm not convinced there is such a thing lurking in the shadows. The story here is about the youth of India. And in your own report it states sighting are not well known. So until the sighting become well known...I'm not convinced this is right angel for this piece.
Now as far as the idiot groups being well known, "They are not secret groups, they are well known" what country doesn't have its nuts?! America sells guns to its fanatics and life goes on.
I would like to think that the key to continued coexistence with the idiots is that buffoonery is not tolerated in the main stream. So why waste time on them?
In reference to your blog, as a reader I’m more interested in your impressions and thoughts about the experience of the travels. The TRAVEL LOG is better reading. The mixing of travel log and hard-copy reporting, however, that’s just “so” Fox News.
Harsh? Maybe. But your best stuff to date is “4 out of 5 dead roaches.” I’m saying its great when you find your voice…a better angle for "nationalism of the wrong kind" would have been observations in your voice with follow up proving or disproving the hypothesis. Coming at it in hard-copy reporting just didn’t play for the reason’s I’ve mentioned. It felt like Fox News…and the world doesn’t need any more of that.