Re: India, GZG-style (LONG)

>On still -further- re-reading (after I sent it, of course), the
following
>appears to suffer from more than a little hubris. This was intended to
>supplement canon, not necessarily to be 'added to', as in 'be made
>official'. While I'd love it if that were the case, I could hardly just
>dump something onto the list and say, 'Jon, make it so!'

No fear; exactly the way I took it, and I think so would Jon.

>    I had thought that brahmins lost caste by crossing the ocean (eg
>sailing to Britain), and I'd expect that crossing space would be worse.

I've known folks that appeared 'high caste' in the US, but don't know
HOW
high, or even if they weren't 'posers'. My impression was of sincerity.

> Obviously this isn't a concern for a lot of Indians, since there are a
>lot of them in other countries eg Canada, but I don't know why -- are
>they just from a lower different caste?  In any event, I don't think it
>likely that "scientific reassurance eases religious concerns"--I think
>you'd need a convincing religious authority to do that.

And therefore a convinced religious authority. I took it to possibly
mean
that religious authority found reassurance in the science, which has
happened before, though rarely.

>    It's my understanding that there are a lot of ethnic problems in
>India, more severe than there are in e.g. the US.   For instance, a
>friend of mine is from the northeast--about a year ago, raiders came
>through a village near her home and killed all the males.  There ought
>to be some mention of either the ongoing problems or the
solution--IMHO,
>ongoing problems would be more interesting (and a heck of a lot more
>likely).

>From the text:
While making great strides in technical and industrial fields, it was
still
weighed down by internal divisions, low literacy, and grinding poverty
for
much of its citizenry.

I considered it mentioned with the 'internal divisions', which, as so
much
of the good canon, allows one to either assume that threat from without
can
unite, or that the terrible troubles are glossed over in the 'official'
histories. Pollyanna or morose skeptic, your choice.

I'm really starting to warm to this new creation, and had tepid feelings
at
first. Well done, Noah, and congratualations to Chris for, once again,
getting your humble lurking servant to pipe up!

The_Beast