Word: deva
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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John G. Marshall ’11, a Currier House resident and the oldest player in the game, chose to be a Deva Avenger, an immortal spirit created to serve the gods of good. To make his role more interesting—fighting for good is just too simple—John reflavored the Deva such that he is a human who has had an evil spirit ritually implanted in him. So though he is innately good, he is fighting an evil spirit that is now also part of himself. And because an Avenger is a holy fighter who smites...
...that day in May, a raiding gang of some 300 Maoist insurgents had attacked a plant belonging to Indian steel giant Essar, the radio news program declared. More than 50 trucks and pieces of heavy machinery had been destroyed. The commander of the unit in the camp that night, Deva, a boyish-looking man of just 24 or 25 (he wasn't quite sure), allowed a smile to spread across his face for a moment. His comrades-in-arms against the government of India and the companies that drive its booming economy had struck again. That, he said, should answer...
...Born in the hills he now fights from, Deva - he gave just one name - is an Adavasi like most of the insurgency's foot soldiers. Naxalite commanders have historically come from the movement's educated ranks and often speak English. Deva speaks only Gondi, a local tongue. If he has a second language it is the strange, religious-like discipline of Maoism. Our conversations were punctuated with long silences as he turned questions over in his head before answering them, often with a slogan or a long monologue that sounded torn from the small collection of books and newspapers that...
...Domestic Violence That textbook description of how an insurgency works was on show in the village we visited - a small collection of huts Deva and his unit of 130 men and women use as an occasional base as they constantly shift around the hills. There, as elsewhere, the Naxalites run a parallel administration, complete with tax collectors, a school and very basic health facilities. Late in the afternoon, seven women militants dressed in tunics and red sashes danced and sang for gathered villagers, preaching the benefits of Maoism, railing against exploitative mining companies and chanting about the evils...
...Until that happens, the Maoists will continue to bleed India. "We want every person in India to have equal rights and the Maoist flag flying in New Delhi," Deva told me in his camp, a small group of cadres gathered around him, nodding as he spoke. How long will that take? I asked. A few of his men giggled. "We cannot say," Deva replied. "But in our life we will do whatever is possible." It is a sentiment that captures both the enormity of the Maoists' aims and the huge challenge New Delhi faces in the years ahead...