The Basics

Hee - this is funny - I typed "desi atheist" into Google and found an article about Hemant Mehta about three links down. Go Friendly Atheist! :)

I should note that I met Hemant at TAM this weekend and he was one of (I think) three people of Indian origin at the conference. Talking to him was one of the things that really inspired me to start this whole endeavor. Hemant is cool and funny and smart and I want to meet more people like him.

I think that was one of the things I was really most pleased with from this year's TAM experience. Yes, the speakers were phenomenal and inspiring (Eugenie Scott! Mythbusters! Chris Hitchens!) and yes, I got to meet and talk to these great, brilliant and inspiring people but I also got to meet a whole slew of 'regular' attendees who were just as cool and inspiring and fun.

I found, much to my horror, that I had an athiest radio show guy right in my own backyard and didn't know it. Reggie "The Infidel Guy" Finley was there and he and I had a lot of really great conversations - he's another reason that I decided that this project is important and would be so much fun to do.

I really hope I keep this up. Once all the domain name stuff is working, I am going to start pushing this on the JREF forum and I think Reggie and Hemant will help as well. I plan to try to get 'the world' to help me in this project. If I try to get it all done all together, it just won't happen. My day job keeps me just too busy to be able to focus on a project this big. The only way I can feasibly do it is by doing it a little bit at a time.

Ok, so here's what I found with a simple Google of indian skeptic:

Indian Skeptic - "a magazine which publishes articles on the scientific investigation of apparently paranormal occurrences. It has a special emphasis on cases from India, but all contributions which deal in a scientific manner with paranormal phenomena are welcome."

Oooh - definitely need to check out that site for some good Sai Baba debunking. Looks like they're doing the JREF thing and have a paranormal challenge of their own. Excellent.

Mithun Kumar - looks like a personal blog of an Indian Athiest. I should try to get in touch with him - would love to get his input on this project. He's also got what seems to be some good links on his site which I need to investigate as well!

Mukto-Mona - "an Internet congregation of freethinkers, rationalists, skeptics, atheists & humanists of mainly Bengali and South Asian descent who are scattered across the globe. Our mission is to promote science, rationalism, secularism, freethinking, human rights, religious tolerance, and harmony amongst all people in the globe. "

Very promising :)

This article - Debunking the mystical in India - skeptics expose false claims of mystics - It references someone named Prahbir Ghosh who is president of the Indian Science and Rationalists' Association. Back to Google, Robin!

http://indianrationalists.blogspot.com/
India's largest rationalist organisation. Founded in 1949. Fights for scientific temper, secularism, freedom of thought and expression. Defends reason and science. Exposes superstition, blind belief, obscurantism, paranormal claims caste-based social divisions and guru-politics nexus. Strives for a post-religious society. President: Sanal Edamaruku Contact: HQ@indianrationalist.org Phone: + 91-11-2275 3255, 2275 5379, 6569 9012

Interesting - they name a different president. Need to figure that one out.

OK, next search - "Indian Athiest"

Something called Athiesm in India - kind of a messy site but seems like it has some good information. Also based in India.

A good start. Looks like I've got some work to do. More to come. I'm flying home tomorrow and will probably be swamped trying to get caught up at work but maybe this weekend I can spend some more time on it.