Just another SOP

There are excellent reasons for this page to look so infuriatingly rudimentary. I first cruised the Net on a Unix box with a text-only browser, and I know what it feels like to be deprived of the bells and whistles. On my browser, this is what all the pretty stuff looked like:

[ISMAP][ISMAP][ISMAP][ISMAP][ISMAP]

And most of the movie sites looked like this: .

Exciting, what?

A horrible fate, and I do not wish it upon anybody. So this page is intended to be accessible to the simplest browsers -- even the ones you can compile in the comfort and security of your living room.

On this site, I will be putting up the sort of writing that no longer makes it into the Indian media, and viewpoints that have become unfashionable. The pity is that these are the very concerns that should obsess a mature nation.

The first offering is an extract from the Babur Nama (translation by Annette Susannah Beveridge, 1921) where the first Mughal emperor chronicles his conquest of Delhi and Agra. The text is a bit messy right now, but I should have proper annotations in place very soon. As far as I know, this is not copyrighted material. If you know better, let me know and I'll pull the damned thing off.

Thanks for dropping by.

Pratik Kanjilal.

Options:

Babur's account

Short backgrounder on the Babri issue

Mir Baqi's insciption dedicating the mosque.