Category: General

For the attention of Iran, Libya, North Korea, al-keeda and well yes, anyone interested, this is how to make a nuclear bomb, if you want to have one.

🙂

I recently had a chat with my childhood friend Santosh, who was shaken a bit by recent Indian politics and media. Particularly the threat to Hinduism and the pressing need of its resurrection. I do have my thoughts on it, but I wanted to hear from him what he thought and asked him to email his ideas in installments. I got the first part as below.

Da, Remember the day Sonia Gandhi got elected as the prime minister, which she ‘politely’ declined ‘upholding the principles of renunciation’. (as media hastily put it as if to uphold her Indianness). Whether sonia has become more Indian from that day or not one thing became clear to me, that the media has certainly become less Indian. The fourth estate is now like a fast food parlour. There is no much time for an analytical assessment of events and in that haste to proclaim sonia as Indian in thought and deed, what was lost to us was our own understanding of Indian thought and way of living.

Renunciation, in India has been highest spiritual virtue that stood as a synonym for detachment and adherence to the code of dharma. As Lord Krishna has put it “for the sake of a village forsake a house, for the house of a country forsake a village, … and for the sake of self denounce the entire universe”. This practice of living for a higher ideal denouncing all that is less has been prevalent in India. An India wherein Shankara , Buddha all were born who renounced the princely status to pursue something higher. So were Sita, Gandhari, Damayanti, Anasuya… all who lived the life of renunciation for a cause. Rama abdicated the throne to keep the word of his father.

Now comes the Question, has there been any hero or heroine in Indian epics who abdicated the throne and just kept quiet saying it has been an act of high renunciation? Those of you who have read the charvaka samhita will better understand Krishna’s message to yudhishtira. It is a sin to abdicate the throne, which has come to you by dharma. This is what has happened when the democratically elected prime minister refuses to rule the country. it is whimsical to call it renunciation. And, if her own reasons like “my children fear that what happened to my husband may happen to me” (oops that thought came a little just before the coronation moment… eh?) are considered. More than a concern about renunciation, a genuine concern that arises is the concern about the spine of Indian administration.

What if Vajpayee after having been elected the prime minister had said, “meri maa kahati hai. ki meim PM nahi banoom” and resigned? Could we afford a “dhoodh pine wali PM” for our country? And above all the philosophical question that arises here is “can Indian citizens be taken for a ride?”. When they elect you democratically and you say “meri gharwale log mana kar rahe heim” and decline the post? Hmm, perhaps there was a Vyasa who would call it dharmachyuti, but then the media bhavatita has already declared it renunciation. And this is ‘modern India’. The India is no more, and in”modern India” truly sonia is very much Indian.

Though I disagree that Sonia was “democratically” elected leader, I agree that India is more becoming a country which bends more backwards that remain straight and the media also playing an irresponsible role. In addition to that India now has an added burden of a “secular” government, who have got no direction to head to, other than supposedly carry on ruling “ram bharose”.

To top it, the democracy in India does not make any sense at all. When peoples who dont have a clue about their own rights and what governance is, vote in majority, I dont think democracy works. I have spoken with several people including relatives, some who criticise the government and wont go out to cast their vote. “Sab chor hai”, they say. I somehow have to restrain myself from yelling at them and just has to comment, “phir bhugto”. Democracy sure has a long way to go in India.

Yesterday I missed the program “what the ancients did for us” in BBC2. I have watched some previous episoded and missed some too. But the special thing about yesterdays programme was that, it focused on India. I came to know that today only, and I was told what all I missed, to add to my anguish.

Couple of weeks back they had covered the contributions of the chinese culture. From gun powder to the first siesmograph, i have to admit made with great ingenuity in those times. And the kites, fireworks, paper, resin and football too. It was great and I remember that I wondered if they will make the same on India too.

They had, and I missed it. But after some search I found that the BBC made the documentary isn association with open2.net, the open university of UK. Their site contained the details of what I had missed in the program. The one hour program yesterday highlighted Indian contribution to the world. This included yoga, chess, cotton, metallurgy, complementary medicine, city planning, pioneering plastic surgery and cataract operatiosn and not to forget the contributions in mathematics and astronomy including the shoonya. Just the fact that I didnt watch the program didnt prevent me from bragging about it at the work 🙂

Read the synopsis of the documentary here.

I have upgraded to wordpress 1.5. The upgrage itself took only 10 minutes. Now my site runs on the WordPress default design theme. I will work on the theme to bring back my original design, but more importantly I need to put more content.

This one is excellent.

From a Forum, the ant and the grasshopper story retold.

Classic Version

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter.

The grasshopper thinks he’s a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the ant is warm and well fed. The grasshopper has no food or shelter so he dies out in the cold.

Modern Version

The ant works hard in the withering heat all summer long, building his house and laying up supplies for the winter. The grasshopper thinks he’s a fool and laughs and dances and plays the summer away.

Come winter, the shivering grasshopper calls a press conference and demands to know why the ant should be allowed to be warm and well fed while others are cold and starving.

BBC, CNN, NDTV show up to provide pictures of the shivering grasshopper next to a video of the ant in his comfortable home with a table filled with food.

The World is stunned by the sharp contrast. How can this be that this poor grasshopper is allowed to suffer so?

Arundhati Roy stages a demonstration in front of the ant’s house. Amnesty International and Koffi Annan criticizes the Government for not upholding the fundamental rights of the grasshopper.

The Internet is flooded with online petitions seeking support to the
grasshopper. Opposition MP’s stage a walkout. Left parties call for “Bharat Bandh” in West Bengal and Kerala demanding a Judicial Enquiry.

Finally, the Judicial Committee drafts the Prevention of Terrorism Against Grasshoppers Act [POTAGA]”, with effect from the beginning of the winter. The ant is fined for failing to comply with POTAGA and, having nothing left to pay his retroactive taxes, his home is confiscated by the government and handed over to the grasshopper in a ceremony covered by BBC,CNN and NDTV.

Arundhati Roy calls it “a triumph of justice”.

I got this from intelli briefs blog.

thunder was magnificient
we gave birth to indra
fire kept us warm
we called him agni
the breeze was calming
we named him vayu
water gave us food
we called him varuna
death was reality
we invoked yama
sun gave us life
we called him surya
stars gave us the universe
we called out to saptarishis
mystery of universe kept us wondering
we named it brahman

I never forget my marriage anniversary-date, nor do I forget my wife‘s birthday or even valentine’s day. but i forgot it was today…

It has got nothing to do with the dolby-digital-eastman-color-5.2-megapixel memory that I have, which is a topic I will broach some other time. I am just mentioning that I am not allowed to forget those special days. I will be dropped huge boulder-sized hints two months in advance to begin with, and as it nears one month, the demand for gifts becomes vocal, peppered with some piercing glances.

I am a normal guy with really good skin-thickness. All the threats I receive from my better half, just bounces off my body. And for that I get accused of being “thick-skinned”. I have a theory that evolution has designed the male-human-skin in such a way that the skin increases in thickness after marriage. I only wish if some dermatologists took this theory up as research topic and proved it beyond doubt.

The piercing glances of my wife that attack me during such period, just pass through my head, as if its some darkmatter, undetectable by any scientific instrument. But when the threats becomes UFOs (unidentifiable flying objects) flying around in the house, I panic. No wonder, I am then left with tensions of last minute gift-hunting to maintain a “happily-married-life”.

I protest against this western culture influencing me and my country(wo)men, in the guise of days like “St.Valentines day“. I want all the support I can get to root out this evil day. I want to counter it. I say, why do we need to celebrate such an atrocious day, the day when you have to buy some koochi-koo gifts just to tell your wife that you love her. I am sure this is eroding our long standing culture.

I thought over this for quite some time while taking bath. I somehow had to find something to negate the influence of St.Valentines day. There has to be something in our culture which was much better. And that was when the tubelight flickered – I struck upon this brilliant idea, and as with all the great people, I shouted “eureka”!! I had the perfect answer for St.Valentines Day.

The solution was simple and belonged to our “indian culture”. All we had to do was to celebrate “St. Valmiki Divas”. Very Indian idea, very Indian celebration and moreoever, it’s going to be really good for all married/unmarried people as I explain the idea behind this day.

Obviously we all know S(an)t. Valmiki. Unlike the obscure St.Valentine, our Valmiki-ji created the epic poem Ramayana, the story of which everyone in India is acquainted with.

So here is my idea…let’s celebrate St.Valmiki Day as begun by Lord Rama. You don’t have to buy very expensive gifts or tell anything that sounds “koochikoo” to your wife/girlfriend. Let me bring the first recorded incident of St.Valmiki Day from our history books as written by Karl Marx and his followers. Our hero, Lord Rama is back at his palace after the long 14-year “vanvaas” with his wife Sita and his brother. He has vanquished Ravana and his cohorts, in a 14-day long battle (all the 14s are very significant as you will see) and released his wife – Sita – from prison.

Then on the following 14th of February (see I told you 14 is important), Our great Rama starts the First St.Valmiki Day. This is the day he decides to put an end to the untold sorrows of all men in his kingdom, and sets an example. He decides to abandon his wife Sita in the forest.

So on the 14th of February, Sita-maiyya is taken in a chariot to a deep jungle outside Ayodhya and is left there. That day of celebration is the first recorded incidence of St. Valmiki Divas. The only expense that day for the male population of our world is a one-way ticket to some forest outside the town. What a great idea!! I am sure this will be celebrated as it was years ago, and all the male population will thank me profusely for re-discovering St.Valmiki day.

After shouting “eureka” in the bathroom, I rushed downstairs to give this excellent piece of discovery to my wife. As I explained my latest discovery animatedly, the expressions on her face changed. At first I thought that it was something to do with the carpet getting wet, as my eureka moment happened while taking bath. But while I continued with the details as to how to celebrate the St.Valmiki Divas, I had this feeling, the feeling of impending doom.

I wouldn’t go into what happened next, but here I am, deep inside this forest, far far away from my home, writing this to you (needlessly I was dumped even before I could explain my discovery fully). The woods are lovely, dark and deep, and cold, very cold. Siggghhh…lucky I have my laptop for company.

Anyway, join me in celebrating Sant Valmiki Divas. And don’t worry about me, somehow I will find my way back from this jungle.

Happy St.Valmiki day.

ps: India does have a celebration for sant valmiki.

Welcome to WordPress. This is the first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

There are some characters in life, which you know will never see again. As we move on in life, we lose several of them only holding the memories of them. Just like time, life too ticks away even before you could capture it. We stand there wondering what our children are going to miss. Thaadi kallan was one of them.

He was generally knows as “thaadi kallan” (bearded thief). His residence was on the circular platform around the very old temple banyan tree. The banyan tree stood exactly opposite the temple. The visitors to the temple sat there for a few moments enjoying the cool breeze before leaving to their respective destinations.

Though the platform was his residence, his visibility there was restricted to only two times a day. He would be found sleeping on the platform early in the morning, covered in his long dirty “thorthamundu” (thin traditional cotton towel), and would make the mandatory exit before people started coming to the temple, and again in the afternoon, when the temple was closed. He would have a short siesta, now lying on his thorthamundu below the breezy banyan tree.

He was the petty thief in our town, and mostly stole small things like utensils, vegetables from the gardens etc. The people were also used to him, mainly as he was a source of cheap fresh vegetables. Tell him to get a particular vegetable, and lo, he will produce the same thing by evening from somewhere. Give him fifty paise and he would happily go away.

His real name was narayanan, and I know it as my dad and mom called him by that name. He would come home once in a while when he is hungry and exhausted all avenues to get some food. My father being one of the “avatarams” (incarnation) of the famed giver Karna, glorified in the epic mahabharata, had a standing rule at the house, never to let anyone coming for food go empty bellied. My mother, in league with other “pativrata ratnams” like sita, savitri, mandodari, anasuya etc never swayed from the orders. (dont tell me you dont know these exemplary ladies). Though there have been times when the family struggled to make ends meet, this rule has never been abandoned.

I wonder if anyone knows where he came from. Even my dad has seen him during his youth, staying below the same banyan tree. I used to think was narayanan was born old, and he will remain the same always. There have been times when police would pick him up from his base below the banyan tree, but the same police normally would also drop him off at the same spot.

After college I left for mumbai in search of work, and life moved on. It was only during my last visit home that I saw narayanan again, he was frail and his abode was still the platform around the banyan tree. He had come home requesting some food. He recognised me and wished me well before tottering back to his residence. Thats when dad narrated me one of narayanan’s old adventure.

Maathu mama, who was one of our distant relatives and family friend needed some roof tiles. He had been planning to extend the roof of his kitchen, which need to be extended before the next rainy season, so that the water wont get to the verandah just outside the kitchen. The cheapest way to get some roof tiles was just few minutes walk away, below the banyan tree. Narayanan was the person for the job. Though initially reluctant Narayanan took up the job and said maathu mama will get his tiles in 2 days time, and the price was fixed at 10 rupees. A bargain for maathu mama.

Maathu maama was happy as the whole set of roof tiles were delivered to him as promised. He give 10 rupees to Narayanan as agreed and an additional 2 rupees on top for a job well done. Narayanan went away apparently spending the windfall on some liquor. It was only next day when work-men came to extend maathu mama’s kitchen roof that they noticed something. One complete row of roof tiles were missing from the kitchen roof!

That was the last I heard about “thaadi kallan” Narayanan. Maybe he will die before my next visit to kerala, but he will be there in some of my memories, and I am sure in maathu mama’s memory also.

This I must post, though normally I refrain from posting the email forwards. Pardon me non-mumbaite readers, if the joke doesnt make sense. Here we go.

4 Mumbaites – a Gujju, a Bhaiyya and a Bihari & Malayali died and were facing Yama. Yama asked them if they wanted some facilities & told Chitragupt to decide on their accommodation.

The Gujju said : “Hey Yambhai, aa marathi loko toh mane shaanti thi jeeva nathi deta. Maari dukaan fodi naakhi. Aa marathi loko ekdum junglee chhe. Mane maari baaju maa marathi maanas nathi joto.”

The UPite said : “Theek kaha gujjubhai ne. Shriman Yam, in marathi logo ne to hamara jeena hi mushkil kar diya hai….eemaan se! Arre, meri dukaan ka board bhi kala kar diya. Kahat rahi ki dukaan ka naam marathi bhasha mein hona chaahiye. Ab ee bhi koi baat hui kya? Mujhe bhi mere baaju mein marathi aadmi nahi chaahiye.”

The Bihari said : “Yeh dono sajjan aadmi theek kahat hain. Arre main thode din pehle railway ki pariksa dene mumbai gaya tha. Raam Lalla ki sougandh, in marathi logun ne humka bahut hi peeta. Hamaar haddi pasli ek kardi. Aisa junglee marathi humka hamaar saath naahi chaahiye.”

The Malayali said “aiiyoo humoko bhi marathi baaju main nahi mangta, bahto pareshaan karta hai yeh log. kuch kaam kerne ko nahi aata phir bhi hosiyari maarke kaheta hai ki tumko hamare mumbai se nikal dega.

Yama turns to Chitragupt : “Aayla Chitrya, ya saglyanchya files majhyakade gheun ye re!!! Baghto ekekala”