This post is triggered after watching R...Rajkumar!, Success of few recent movies like Chennai express, Ashiqui 2, Rowdy Rathore etc have made me very uncomfortable, but trust me R..Rajkumar beats them all.. An ultra bullshit movie just like a song bullshit in the movie! Trust me I wanted to shout many times at the movie for all those bullshit "Silent ho jaao varna mein violent ho jaaongi!!"
Whether we like it or not bollywood makes a lot more money than we would want to imagine! An Industry also used to convert black money. More money for a poor country which should not have funded a Low cost mars mission(If you don't get the sarcasm read this!) .
I am sure people might argue that these movies are made for pure entertainment purpose, meant for common people, others are anyways free to enjoy the message and concept in the literary world. But then semi-nude women who are good for nothing, objectifying women as pleasurable objects, projecting drug dealers, rowdy's, eve teasing, dropping out of college as machoism! seriously can't we do better than this ?? Women in real life have a lot better things to do and are lot more courageous than what is projected in movies! If you watch a bollywood movie you would think women would have nothing to do beside impressing men! As a powerful media which reaches billions of viewers, isn't it fair to be more responsible?? A drunken uneducated person watching such a movie would get inspired to repeat more of nirbhaya's case, as he is inspired by such movies, where women are not supposed to be independent, if she is, then she is wrong!
What is even more painful is to see extremely good actors like priyanka chopra, shahid kapoor, amitabh bachhan do such movies, may be others who don't like Rahul bose, shreyas talpade don't survive and vidya balan kind of actors are ridiculed.
At the same time i'm not for overtly done art-movies! Which have a bad reputation of always being shot in low light conditions!! After blasting so much I have to appreciate a few commercial yet good movies like Oh My God, A wednesday!, chak de, Rang De Basanti, swades, Bhag milka bhag, Matru ki bijli ka mandola, to name a few Which comes with a message, Movies that celebrate life! Movies that have good intellectual conversations, understandable to a layman, Movies which have content and yet leaves you refreshed!
There is a Bechdel test,A rating for women portrayal in movies, Adding that as a significant contributor to a movies rating may do bollywood some good! Hail Bollywood!!
Saturday, December 7, 2013
Sunday, November 3, 2013
Where mind is without fear!! God Religion and everything else...
I have asked myself this question, does humanity need religion and the following question would be do we need god? Considering the fact that except for human beings there are no other species which have concept of god. Is it because of our over evolved brain or sheer ignorance ? I was watching croods and I couldn't help but notice that when survival is the biggest concern we would not even think of anything else.
If one considers the recent history of few hundreds of years, religion has done more harm to humanity than good, more than half the world's wars have been fought over it, considering the Nazi's anti antisemitism, evangelism by certain sects, terrorism in the name of religion, etc etc Isn't the whole purpose of religion and god defeated by this ? As it was meant to raise the individuals to a higher plane ? Or is it the problem of people exploiting it for self-interest ?
If you think of it and rewind back to history of India to 2-3 thousand years back, or any other older civilization for that matter, there was no sense of religion but only a strong foot hold of culture, hence it was known as sanatana dharma which means age old, inherent way of nature , A culture that is based on righteousness, culture based on the curiosity, that inquisitiveness to know "the why", hence most of our books on history are based on the question and answer sessions, there are many many instances to name a few, one's between krishna and Arjuna as the famous Gita, Ashtavakra and Janaka, yama and Nachiketa, Yajna valkya and Maitreyi, yama and Savithri. If you notice there is no differentiation that it is only men, women or children. It always stood on one fact
"ekam sat tad ekam vipraha bahudha vadanti"( There is only one truth, knowledgeable call it in different names/forms) . One can argue that there was caste system and only higher ranks had access to knowledge, but again itihasa is full of stories of vishwamitra( A kshatriya turned bramhin), satyakama jaabala( A sudra turned Bramhin), satyvati ( A fisher woman turned kshatriya queen) et al, so it was purely based on merit and determination, That never give up attitude.
It is the same curiosity that has led to develop spiritually(With veda, gita ..) Artisitically(Natyashaastra), Lingustically( panini's vyakarana), Mathematically( Vedic Mathematics, astro physcics) Name it you have it. But the biggest mistake they did is, thinking us as kids who would like a gift wrapped in a beautiful package, they wrapped all the knowledge in stories and hymns, but we as foolish kids hasve only embraced the wrapper and thrown away the content calling it cock and bull story. We today either chide the process as either stupid or blindly follow without giving second glance to the content.
Does it mean we should give up all our customs? No follow it but just try to understand why it was introduced in the first place, it would give a lot more satisfaction i bet!!
I could not help but re-quote Tagore here :-).
Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high
Where knowledge is free
Where the world has not been broken up into fragments
By narrow domestic walls
Where words come out from the depth of truth
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way
Into the dreary desert sand of dead habit
Where the mind is led forward by thee
Into ever-widening thought and action
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.
© Rabindranath Tagore. All rights reserved
Happy Deepavali folks!!
Wednesday, October 23, 2013
when Present will be the past of future...
I wish I am what I was when I wished I was what I am!
I was reading an article about past in marcandangel, and my thoughts started wandering.
Any loaded philosophical book you read, they all shout out saying don't let your past affect you and ask you to live in present. To be frank it doesnt make one bit of sense to me..Isn't past is what makes us what we are ? Every time we look at heavenly distant object we are always looking at the past isnt it given the time taken by the light to travel record and process in brain? So the whole concept of time and past itself is goofed up isn't it?
Re-cognition itself means cognizing what is known right? Any action be it Object identification, color processing is all based on the reference to past, then how is it that we can break the continum ? Or is not that past that is talked about ? If not what is that past ??
Now if I think of my recent past, then I can think of changing job, I was in my all time low on concentration and not in the right mindset to change, so much that some people told that it would
be a career suicide that I would be committing to move out of my forte at that juncture
and plunge into something unknown, But one article on joyfear made me take that decision and I am not dead yet so it was not suicide afterall, Thank god for that as I didn't have to be a Phoenix!
But thinking again May be I am not even 10% good as i used to be but then in the process and have been guilty about it at times, But then I have tried to make myself as uncomfortable as possible and this has given me a all new perspective which again would help me way forward.. As TS Eliot says the way up is the way down and vice versa..
See this is what happens, most of the time with past you tend to remember the negative and we often ask "why me ?"(This song perfectly reflects my sentiment now) May be that's why there it is said
that the biggest of the battle is always fought in the silent chambers of the mind.
See this is what happens, most of the time with past you tend to remember the negative and we often ask "why me ?"(This song perfectly reflects my sentiment now) May be that's why there it is said
that the biggest of the battle is always fought in the silent chambers of the mind.
So if i think breaking of the past needs not in not remembering the past but to build positively on it,Accepting things and moving on, The thought is well captured in this article by scott adams. So there is hope afterall. Probably that would be the first step to living in present i suppose. When there is no way One can change the past, it's always possible to make my present the best I can do so that In future my past has something nice to say ??
Let me experiment and see how it goes..
Why am i writing this ? Somehow writing has been my thought cache flush.. Now for all of you If I have depressed you or this whole article didn't make sense listen to this Yeh hosla song ...
After All tomorrow is another day!
Monday, October 14, 2013
Mahabharata War - A result of woman's rage ? A character Analysis
I have been hearing this statement that Mahabharata war was a result of woman's fury and all the blame has been shifted on Draupadi. My views on it has been completely orthogonal, so what better day to write about it than Durgashtami on Navaratri which celebrates shakthi.
My love for the book is because it is too human, neither black nor white but shades of grey. Also Best thing about these scriptures is that it is completely available for anyone to add one's own perception and write a view about it, taking that liberty, my views are completely based on the books I have read and insights on topic from various sources, including a wonderful book on "krishnavatara" by K M Munshi. I have learnt that any piece of history has be to read contextually, keeping in mind the socio-economic conditions of the time, I have been inspired by scholarly writings of aravind sharma.
Now coming to the topic, Instead of defending why it is not because of draupadi that Mahabharata war was fought, I shall try to do a character analysis of major characters. Let me start with the good old Bhishma.
Bhishma : One of the best example of spineless theorist who never thought beyond his own greatness, No matter how much he has been praised, his whole life was one mistake after the other, He was one person who had the authority and choice to make things better. After taking the terrible vow to never get married or take the throne to get his father shantanu marry satyavati, even when he knew that both the sons of sathyavati chirangada(dead in a battle)and vichitra virya(diseased) were not fit to propogate the line, Instead of marrying on sathyavathi's advice who pleads with him to take back his vow he takes his own promise higher than the greater good which a king, thus defying his own words which he much later tells in the shantiparva explaining the characteristics of a king to Yudhistira. Later when satyavathi calls for krishna dvaiyampayana ( Later known as vyasa, son of satyavathi and parashara), he though a sage shows great vision and agrees to beget children to vichitra virya's wives by niyoga( A then prevalent norm). Unfortunately both the son's born of them are again blind(dhritarashtra) and diseased( pandu known as the pale one). Bhishma again Instead of taking the throne which would have benefited the greater good, gets them wives and hands over the kingdom to Pandu. But then diseased pandu renounces the kingdom and takes vanaprastha with whom kunti and madri plan to take company, Bhishma is not seen in the picture there. Then again the next generation race starts with son's of pandu and dhritarashtra. Although the impartiality of Bhishma is commendable in brining up the both the kids and showering love to pandu's kids of fatherly love after pandu is dead, he does nothing to reduce the rivalry between the jealous kaurava's with pandavas. Even later it was only Vidura who saved the pandavas and kunti when duryodhana hatched a plan to kill them in wax palace. Let me skip the rest and move to court of draupadi's vastrapaharana, The actual scenario is not very clear and changes with the mahabharata versions, but then taking only the human aspect, Bhishma being one of the oldest could have chided and his words would have worked on Dhritarastra, But he decided to keep mum with his head low, he did not even have the courage or wisdom of Gandhari to stand for what is right. As though this was not enough, later when krishna Inspite of 13 years of exile of pandavas comes to court make peace by giving pandavas their share, duryodhana insults him and sends back then again Bhishma was the one who could have held peace, Why does it is not clear. Later even when Mahabharata was decided to be fought he fights on the kaurava's claiming his vow to Hastinapura or throne, At his grand old age after taking no action all those years he could have chosen not to participate but again he does not stand by common good. If he kauravas had no support from Bhishma or Drona they would not have gone for war. So I see a major wrong in Bhishma's part in all of it.
Dhritarashtra : A typical example of how blind love for son with lack of judgement can destroy a clan. Every child is like diamonds which can be etched into something beautiful and ornate or it is as worthless as charcoal its base component, Had Dhritarastra chided duryodhana's jealousy at an early age and atleast stood for sharing the kingdom with his brother's son's, he would have not have to see the days with all his son's dead. But who know's what was in his mind.
Kunti: Her character is a mix of grey, at one point she stands for strength to have taken all the burden's of bringing up the children as a single mother, and at another shows magnanimous character in brining up madri's sons nakula and sahadeva as her own, It's not just that she also shows vision in getting Bhima married to Hidimba to survive in forest after kaurava's plan to kill them in wax palace, or in getting married draupadi to all her post-marital son's to maintain the unity (although there are many stories about he mistake assuming it was a fruit, I think it was something genuine and we have to see that in those societal conditions polyandry was common in the hill tribe where she had gone with pandu).Only mistake of kunti I see is wrt karna, Again in society where it was acceptable for a woman to have children before marriage and perfectly normal for them to be legitimate after marriage why did she do this with karna is something not understandable.But well if karna had been treated as the eldest then again I wouldn't say the war would not have been fought, as duryodhana would have added karna to jealousy list as well.
Yudhistra : I seriously don't understand why he is called Dharmaraj, One of the biggest impractical fool who showed his foolishness time and again , had Bhima or Arjuna were the eldest all this saga would probably never have happened. He never did anything on his own, even the Indraprastha was hard work of arjuna and Bhima on krishna's guidance, When it was not his own he did not have any right to agree on the game of dice offered by Duryodhana after the rajasuya, even if he had agreed he could have set his own limits and given up, instead of holding onto his false prestige and gambling his own wife. Where was the theoretical wisdom he lectures on in the yaksha prashne ? when he was playing the game of dice ? All his life he only shows personal ambition and weakness.
Draupadi : Also known yagnaseni, Her character is too human, more on the impulsive side may be, but very true to herself, Powerhouse of strength, wonder if she got that strength from krishna. In the whole Mahabharata I think she might be one who has suffered the most, Firstly put to an awkward situation of polyandry, then hardships and insults, only to lose all her sons in the war to be brutally killed. There are few things about her which are not clear, especially one where people accuse that she and Bhima laughs at duryodhana at Indraprastha in palace built by Maya where he thinks clear crystal as water and carefully passes only to fall off in water where it appeared like land with lotus. If you ask me laughing would be a normal tendency, which even me and you would do, but then there are few additions which tells that she also tells "son of a blind is blind too", an Insult which triggers duryodhana to call for a game of dice which ultimately results in war. But might have been added later to justify why it all started. But then again in the hall where she was dragged to after she was pledged by yudhistra in the game of dice, she shows the strength of her character by asking a question whether he pledged her before he pledged himself or afterwards, Incase he has pledged himself as a slave before he then had no right to pledge her, Holding to logic in the criticality of situation is commendable to me, but then again she is put down by the so called intellectuals in the sabha, but seeing her rage gandhari speaks up and convinces dhritarashtra to free her and give her boons, using which she frees her husband and gets back the kingdom, but then again yudhistra loses it, Using the word stupidity is too soft for yudhistra's behavior. It is then draupadi vows to destroy the kauravas, a rage which is only natural, Atleast Bhima had the spine to stand by her vow, else what an irony to have 5 husbands and not one to stand by in the need of the hour.
Karna : I somehow have stopped feeling bad for karna, may be he was put down, may be he was supported by duryodhana in the need of the hour, but the consciousness of right and wrong should come before pride/ego, many a times he admits that duryodhana was wrong, but does not stand against him, a friend who does not have the courage to tell you the truth about your wrongdoings/shortcomings is not worth having. Also I agree any human would have reacted the way he did when kunti tells him that he is the eldest of the pandavas and he could turn the side and join them he turns her back, When it is all but natural when krishna goes to talk to him about it, he could have thought rationally, both the kauravas and pandavas would have accepted him as the heir, it would have been worked out the best for the whole clan, but then again he shows the vulnerability of human emotions of an uncontrolled mind, only to not fight in the war for first ten days only because Bhishma insulted him. Where was the same friendship to duryodhana then ?
Duryodhana : I have covered most of his character through others, If not for his jealousy and headfastedness he could have realmed hastinapur and let pandavas live at peace in Indraprashta.
In this whole story, if you ask me to pick someone who truly wanted peace and always worked towards the best of the society putting his/her own personal interest at bay, one person who had his head on shoulders, it is none other than krishna, A statesman, A philosopher, A friend , A guide... I could go on and on.A search for historical krishna by NS Rajaram truly captures essence of him.
So in this complex story, with a lot of perspectives involved, just shifting the blame on one character (draupadi) for the whole of Mahabharata war is truly not justified. Who know if any single event in the above mentioned passage would have change we might have had a totally different history, Nevertheless most important thing about this whole saga is what do we learn from this? I am still in the process :-).
My love for the book is because it is too human, neither black nor white but shades of grey. Also Best thing about these scriptures is that it is completely available for anyone to add one's own perception and write a view about it, taking that liberty, my views are completely based on the books I have read and insights on topic from various sources, including a wonderful book on "krishnavatara" by K M Munshi. I have learnt that any piece of history has be to read contextually, keeping in mind the socio-economic conditions of the time, I have been inspired by scholarly writings of aravind sharma.
Now coming to the topic, Instead of defending why it is not because of draupadi that Mahabharata war was fought, I shall try to do a character analysis of major characters. Let me start with the good old Bhishma.
Bhishma : One of the best example of spineless theorist who never thought beyond his own greatness, No matter how much he has been praised, his whole life was one mistake after the other, He was one person who had the authority and choice to make things better. After taking the terrible vow to never get married or take the throne to get his father shantanu marry satyavati, even when he knew that both the sons of sathyavati chirangada(dead in a battle)and vichitra virya(diseased) were not fit to propogate the line, Instead of marrying on sathyavathi's advice who pleads with him to take back his vow he takes his own promise higher than the greater good which a king, thus defying his own words which he much later tells in the shantiparva explaining the characteristics of a king to Yudhistira. Later when satyavathi calls for krishna dvaiyampayana ( Later known as vyasa, son of satyavathi and parashara), he though a sage shows great vision and agrees to beget children to vichitra virya's wives by niyoga( A then prevalent norm). Unfortunately both the son's born of them are again blind(dhritarashtra) and diseased( pandu known as the pale one). Bhishma again Instead of taking the throne which would have benefited the greater good, gets them wives and hands over the kingdom to Pandu. But then diseased pandu renounces the kingdom and takes vanaprastha with whom kunti and madri plan to take company, Bhishma is not seen in the picture there. Then again the next generation race starts with son's of pandu and dhritarashtra. Although the impartiality of Bhishma is commendable in brining up the both the kids and showering love to pandu's kids of fatherly love after pandu is dead, he does nothing to reduce the rivalry between the jealous kaurava's with pandavas. Even later it was only Vidura who saved the pandavas and kunti when duryodhana hatched a plan to kill them in wax palace. Let me skip the rest and move to court of draupadi's vastrapaharana, The actual scenario is not very clear and changes with the mahabharata versions, but then taking only the human aspect, Bhishma being one of the oldest could have chided and his words would have worked on Dhritarastra, But he decided to keep mum with his head low, he did not even have the courage or wisdom of Gandhari to stand for what is right. As though this was not enough, later when krishna Inspite of 13 years of exile of pandavas comes to court make peace by giving pandavas their share, duryodhana insults him and sends back then again Bhishma was the one who could have held peace, Why does it is not clear. Later even when Mahabharata was decided to be fought he fights on the kaurava's claiming his vow to Hastinapura or throne, At his grand old age after taking no action all those years he could have chosen not to participate but again he does not stand by common good. If he kauravas had no support from Bhishma or Drona they would not have gone for war. So I see a major wrong in Bhishma's part in all of it.
Dhritarashtra : A typical example of how blind love for son with lack of judgement can destroy a clan. Every child is like diamonds which can be etched into something beautiful and ornate or it is as worthless as charcoal its base component, Had Dhritarastra chided duryodhana's jealousy at an early age and atleast stood for sharing the kingdom with his brother's son's, he would have not have to see the days with all his son's dead. But who know's what was in his mind.
Kunti: Her character is a mix of grey, at one point she stands for strength to have taken all the burden's of bringing up the children as a single mother, and at another shows magnanimous character in brining up madri's sons nakula and sahadeva as her own, It's not just that she also shows vision in getting Bhima married to Hidimba to survive in forest after kaurava's plan to kill them in wax palace, or in getting married draupadi to all her post-marital son's to maintain the unity (although there are many stories about he mistake assuming it was a fruit, I think it was something genuine and we have to see that in those societal conditions polyandry was common in the hill tribe where she had gone with pandu).Only mistake of kunti I see is wrt karna, Again in society where it was acceptable for a woman to have children before marriage and perfectly normal for them to be legitimate after marriage why did she do this with karna is something not understandable.But well if karna had been treated as the eldest then again I wouldn't say the war would not have been fought, as duryodhana would have added karna to jealousy list as well.
Yudhistra : I seriously don't understand why he is called Dharmaraj, One of the biggest impractical fool who showed his foolishness time and again , had Bhima or Arjuna were the eldest all this saga would probably never have happened. He never did anything on his own, even the Indraprastha was hard work of arjuna and Bhima on krishna's guidance, When it was not his own he did not have any right to agree on the game of dice offered by Duryodhana after the rajasuya, even if he had agreed he could have set his own limits and given up, instead of holding onto his false prestige and gambling his own wife. Where was the theoretical wisdom he lectures on in the yaksha prashne ? when he was playing the game of dice ? All his life he only shows personal ambition and weakness.
Draupadi : Also known yagnaseni, Her character is too human, more on the impulsive side may be, but very true to herself, Powerhouse of strength, wonder if she got that strength from krishna. In the whole Mahabharata I think she might be one who has suffered the most, Firstly put to an awkward situation of polyandry, then hardships and insults, only to lose all her sons in the war to be brutally killed. There are few things about her which are not clear, especially one where people accuse that she and Bhima laughs at duryodhana at Indraprastha in palace built by Maya where he thinks clear crystal as water and carefully passes only to fall off in water where it appeared like land with lotus. If you ask me laughing would be a normal tendency, which even me and you would do, but then there are few additions which tells that she also tells "son of a blind is blind too", an Insult which triggers duryodhana to call for a game of dice which ultimately results in war. But might have been added later to justify why it all started. But then again in the hall where she was dragged to after she was pledged by yudhistra in the game of dice, she shows the strength of her character by asking a question whether he pledged her before he pledged himself or afterwards, Incase he has pledged himself as a slave before he then had no right to pledge her, Holding to logic in the criticality of situation is commendable to me, but then again she is put down by the so called intellectuals in the sabha, but seeing her rage gandhari speaks up and convinces dhritarashtra to free her and give her boons, using which she frees her husband and gets back the kingdom, but then again yudhistra loses it, Using the word stupidity is too soft for yudhistra's behavior. It is then draupadi vows to destroy the kauravas, a rage which is only natural, Atleast Bhima had the spine to stand by her vow, else what an irony to have 5 husbands and not one to stand by in the need of the hour.
Karna : I somehow have stopped feeling bad for karna, may be he was put down, may be he was supported by duryodhana in the need of the hour, but the consciousness of right and wrong should come before pride/ego, many a times he admits that duryodhana was wrong, but does not stand against him, a friend who does not have the courage to tell you the truth about your wrongdoings/shortcomings is not worth having. Also I agree any human would have reacted the way he did when kunti tells him that he is the eldest of the pandavas and he could turn the side and join them he turns her back, When it is all but natural when krishna goes to talk to him about it, he could have thought rationally, both the kauravas and pandavas would have accepted him as the heir, it would have been worked out the best for the whole clan, but then again he shows the vulnerability of human emotions of an uncontrolled mind, only to not fight in the war for first ten days only because Bhishma insulted him. Where was the same friendship to duryodhana then ?
Duryodhana : I have covered most of his character through others, If not for his jealousy and headfastedness he could have realmed hastinapur and let pandavas live at peace in Indraprashta.
In this whole story, if you ask me to pick someone who truly wanted peace and always worked towards the best of the society putting his/her own personal interest at bay, one person who had his head on shoulders, it is none other than krishna, A statesman, A philosopher, A friend , A guide... I could go on and on.A search for historical krishna by NS Rajaram truly captures essence of him.
So in this complex story, with a lot of perspectives involved, just shifting the blame on one character (draupadi) for the whole of Mahabharata war is truly not justified. Who know if any single event in the above mentioned passage would have change we might have had a totally different history, Nevertheless most important thing about this whole saga is what do we learn from this? I am still in the process :-).
Sunday, September 22, 2013
Come Explore India with me
I am always fond of expeditions and exploring new places. Maybe it is genetic. When I the reached place it looked very familiar as though I had lived there all along, yet unexplored. Meanwhile an aged person looking similar to myself drove towards me and asked me if I would go on a safari to explore the place.As the woman looked trustworthy I readily agreed.
Even before I thought I had settled in my vehicle, the lady in car gave a full acceleration and in 6s we were levitating towards Himalayas, But the place didn't look that it belonged to time, I saw someone writing a script, and when we approached him he told that he was Manu, writing a script on Dharmashatra called Manusmriti, which was supposed to a be guiding book on Dharmashastra for yuga's to come although it needed modifications based on time. oh wow it was 200BCE then.That is when I realized we were time traveling,Oh god! so quantum physics with alternate universe is a reality!! I thought. When he got busy we moved on.
We then landed in the place which was once known as the holiest of the place, which was also the place where one of the deadliest battle between the cousins had taken place, The Mahabharatha(~3500BC). I saw krishna from afar. After all the principles of krishna whom I adore is not a fictional character. I remembered The search for historical krishna by NS Rajaram.
When I was still lost in the thoughts I had reached Badami, Place of rock-cut temples where there is a story that agastya had killed vatapi, Just then I met a statesman and scholar taking ablutions in the water, I just walked to him and asked who he was, he said he was Agastya. Finally I thought that I could get the facts cleared about the myth and asked him , Is it true you killed vatapi ?? He smiled and told that with time facts become a story and then a myth, I did not understand, he said if you want a plain answer yes I killed vatapi but it was in battle of wits and politics and moved away.
And then as we drove we reached Hampi, it was magnificent, Beautifully carved idols and temple builty by people trained in the sculpture schools in Aihole. As we moved on we saw they were selling gemstones and gold in kilos in the market around! It was the era of krishnadevaraya. When i was just awed and tried to get some for myself, I saw that people were leaving their wares and running haywire. I wanted to stop someone and ask why were they running but then I saw few folks with sword coming on horse.This was yet another moghul invasion, In front of my eyes I saw them destroying those statues and looting gold, Finally the empire which had stood strong on many invasion was giving away, I wanted to stop but couldn' t I felt helpless.
Least did i know that my next destination is going to be more painful. It was none other than the beautiful Andaman Islands, The rich blue green sea, coral reefs , I was mesmerized, I saw someone swimming, he looked very determined, As he walked towards me, he told that he was veer savarkar, He was trying to escape from kalapani, A deadly place where Indian Freedom fighters were put to solitary confinement by the British east India company. He told me heart wrenching stories about Indian Independence, I thanked god that we were a free nation now.
With my thoughts still running, I felt someone nudging me, When i turned to see who it was, I just opened my eyes and my mother was calling out saying that I was late to office :-). So much for my journey I thought.They were all the places that I had explored some point in time, but this new exploration with my mind stitching history and my trips was something an experience I really enjoyed, albeit for free. I woke up refreshed, There was a sense of pride to have born in a Nation with such great diversity and history that we often forget. I made one resolution that I want to leave this world a little better than what I was left, all thanks to the courage, intellect, sacrifice of so many other people in the past.What about you ??
This blog is written for Indiblogger I'm the explorer contest.
Even before I thought I had settled in my vehicle, the lady in car gave a full acceleration and in 6s we were levitating towards Himalayas, But the place didn't look that it belonged to time, I saw someone writing a script, and when we approached him he told that he was Manu, writing a script on Dharmashatra called Manusmriti, which was supposed to a be guiding book on Dharmashastra for yuga's to come although it needed modifications based on time. oh wow it was 200BCE then.That is when I realized we were time traveling,Oh god! so quantum physics with alternate universe is a reality!! I thought. When he got busy we moved on.
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| Manali Copyright Mythri P K |
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| kurukshetra copyright of famecity |
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| Hampi Narasimha Copyright of this blog |
With my thoughts still running, I felt someone nudging me, When i turned to see who it was, I just opened my eyes and my mother was calling out saying that I was late to office :-). So much for my journey I thought.They were all the places that I had explored some point in time, but this new exploration with my mind stitching history and my trips was something an experience I really enjoyed, albeit for free. I woke up refreshed, There was a sense of pride to have born in a Nation with such great diversity and history that we often forget. I made one resolution that I want to leave this world a little better than what I was left, all thanks to the courage, intellect, sacrifice of so many other people in the past.What about you ??
This blog is written for Indiblogger I'm the explorer contest.
Wednesday, September 18, 2013
Nandini - part 2
I had Initially written about Nandini a long time back, I just got an idea of recreating it. Nandini is a fictional character I have created, I like to discuss some observation and my naive philosophy via her.
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Nandini thought that things would finally fall in place, least did she assume that the whole world she had created would come tumbling down. When it did, she didn't know what to do.
After all she was not prepared.
But then life doesn't wait for someone to be prepared to place a blow? Or does it?
It was raining very heavily outside but only she knew that her tears were pouring faster than the rains. When there were no more tears to shed, she did what she knew best... devouring all the books to find meaning to life(was she kidding?).
Why does life always have to be a mystery ? or is it that we don't see it and make a mystery out of it?
Like how our vision is restricted to electromagnetic spectrum, are our perception and thoughts also limited, which needs some other dimension to be comprehended ?
As she was looking out of the window and when her thoughts wavered like the ruffle of leaves in rain, she remembered that It is said that you don't go in search of a Guru, but a Guru finds you.
Like ways her mind was as ready as a hot iron which is ready to be molded.
she had heard right since her childhood one of vivekananda's quote that "Faith can move mountains" It did not make much sense for her though, How can you move a physical object with something virtual ? Funny isnt it ? But Einstien with his relativity comes to resue, sometimes she wondered if theory of relativity is more philosophical than physics, But then isnt philosophy and physics
the distinction created by the same restricted mind and duality does not exist in nature :-) ?
Well she then picked up yogavashishta a book with teaching of vasistha to rama, One of the most profound statement made in the book was that there is nothing called existence, world is as you see it/create it. Come on that should be idiotic, if i am creating it then why is the whole world around me also seeing the same as I do? But a thought came to her mind, isn't it true that
in dream we create a whole new world and only when we wake up we realize it was a dream not otherwise, in a dream you would always think it is reality.
It was only later when she listened to bhagavat geetha she started seeing a pattern,to her surprise even the geetha said that for a yogi it is night when it is day for others, what are you kidding me ?? was her first thought, how can it be and what it means was elusive to her, but thanks to zen habits she had subscribed, there came a copyleft book by leo babuta, Titled "Little book of contentment", which was a momemt of realization for her. The book said if someone has a problem with you, they are dealing with their own problems than with yours. It also said something very convincing you can only give what you have,not otherwise, so it occured to her that the world is what you create it, It is just set of boundaries one creates is what defines the world, when the person or his vision itself does not exist world ceases to exist for that person, which exactly means what was stated in geetha too. Its not for neigh is it said that the world is what you see in mirror, So she looked at herself and smiled, all set to start a new world for herself where there was contentment.
---
Nandini thought that things would finally fall in place, least did she assume that the whole world she had created would come tumbling down. When it did, she didn't know what to do.
After all she was not prepared.
But then life doesn't wait for someone to be prepared to place a blow? Or does it?
It was raining very heavily outside but only she knew that her tears were pouring faster than the rains. When there were no more tears to shed, she did what she knew best... devouring all the books to find meaning to life(was she kidding?).
Why does life always have to be a mystery ? or is it that we don't see it and make a mystery out of it?
Like how our vision is restricted to electromagnetic spectrum, are our perception and thoughts also limited, which needs some other dimension to be comprehended ?
As she was looking out of the window and when her thoughts wavered like the ruffle of leaves in rain, she remembered that It is said that you don't go in search of a Guru, but a Guru finds you.
Like ways her mind was as ready as a hot iron which is ready to be molded.
she had heard right since her childhood one of vivekananda's quote that "Faith can move mountains" It did not make much sense for her though, How can you move a physical object with something virtual ? Funny isnt it ? But Einstien with his relativity comes to resue, sometimes she wondered if theory of relativity is more philosophical than physics, But then isnt philosophy and physics
the distinction created by the same restricted mind and duality does not exist in nature :-) ?
Well she then picked up yogavashishta a book with teaching of vasistha to rama, One of the most profound statement made in the book was that there is nothing called existence, world is as you see it/create it. Come on that should be idiotic, if i am creating it then why is the whole world around me also seeing the same as I do? But a thought came to her mind, isn't it true that
in dream we create a whole new world and only when we wake up we realize it was a dream not otherwise, in a dream you would always think it is reality.
It was only later when she listened to bhagavat geetha she started seeing a pattern,to her surprise even the geetha said that for a yogi it is night when it is day for others, what are you kidding me ?? was her first thought, how can it be and what it means was elusive to her, but thanks to zen habits she had subscribed, there came a copyleft book by leo babuta, Titled "Little book of contentment", which was a momemt of realization for her. The book said if someone has a problem with you, they are dealing with their own problems than with yours. It also said something very convincing you can only give what you have,not otherwise, so it occured to her that the world is what you create it, It is just set of boundaries one creates is what defines the world, when the person or his vision itself does not exist world ceases to exist for that person, which exactly means what was stated in geetha too. Its not for neigh is it said that the world is what you see in mirror, So she looked at herself and smiled, all set to start a new world for herself where there was contentment.
Saturday, August 24, 2013
5 Small Steps To Take To Strengthen Indian Rupee
We have been hearing about the weakening of the rupee in last few days, Irrespective of whether it is a Local Indian fretting about increase in the fuel, interest and food prices because of it, or a happy NRI thinking of making more money by exchange rates, or the great Indian Media happy that they have something to make long news about it, It has been in the news nevertheless.
So It got me thinking as well, and devoured a lot of articles about it thus,If you are keen on why it is falling there is one such interestig explanation here. Athough a person from non-economic background there were some ground truths that hit me, when there is nothing I can do about the falling rupee at the national level it struck me that If do my part and if every Indian does then yeah we could do a great deal about it. There are a lot of small changes that we can easily make in our day to day life which would have huge impact on our nation and us in turn..Also these are the changes that would do a lot good for our health and ecology as well.
I thought Let me make a list of changes that would be great.
1. One of the most common and big impact is petrol and diesel, As the petrol and diesel are traded in $'s and depreciating rupee means you pay more for it, and given that diesel is partially deregulated there is government money going when you drive your luxury diesel car which inturn affect the rupee. Also the increase in transportation would inturn push the inflation high. Thus a small step to take either public commute or common transportation to office and schools, or use bicycle to work would actually save the rupee.
2. In India we take great pride in telling that we are using imported products, Every other conversation you hear, be your neighbor who takes pride in saying that she bought an imported apple or used imported kale and parsley for her soup or your co-worker filling him/herself with so-called sugar filled fresh juices we unknowingly increase the import and thus indirectly cause in rupee fall. Instead using local seasonal vegetables and fruits close to the home while reducing packaged foods would not only help the rupee but also your health, and ease environmental pollution by reducing the carbon footprint by reducing the distance your food travels.
3.India which is known for its variety of culinary dishes with tons of local beverages and foods, It is sad state of affairs to see kids addicted to Coke, Pepsi and burgers, This addiction when increases the obesity of people having it, depletes health of consumers and sadly rupee strength as well.This sugar drink with profit margin is more than 100% is indeed a costly addiction, Going to home made dishes and local drinks like lemonade and lassi's is something which all of us can imbibe.
4. Fashion market has grown very big in India with loads of shopping malls mushrooming in every corner of the city, All the internationally branded clothes and fashion we buy impacts our import and hence the rupee, When the international market craves for Indian made clothes we ourselves look at it with contempt, so next time give desi-brands a try and I'm sure you will not regret.
5. One of the most innocent looking industry is that of beauty products, every channel that you browse, every actress tries to sell some or the other beauty product be it for hair care or face care.
All the fairness cream ad's that come create a false need, We Indians who were once proud of our golden brown to wheatish skin tone are now craving fair skin thanks to those ad's, because they have created a need that to be confident and likable you need to be fair and sadly we fall prey to it. Most of those brands have SLES, parabens etc which are considered a bane for skin health, more about that in another blog, Instead we could use local organic brands which have low margins and thus not widely advertised.Also I plan to talk about organic stuff and DIY's in another blog in here in coming months.
These are very simple steps which you and me can take to save rupee instead of cribbing about it.Do share it. I would add more points if I can think of and I would be glad to take comments on this.
Thursday, March 7, 2013
Are you good enough for kitchen ?
Women's day is around the corner, my fingers were itching to write this blog. Finally found some time today and got started...
Based on my observation, this is a question to all the married woman reading this blog...
How many times were you asked the question
"Are you cooking now" ?
and now following that
"How many of you are working woman , who earn on par with your husbands with equally stressful jobs"?
Sounds familiar?
Leaving that aside, A self assessment question,
"How many of you would have taken the defense and tried to answer that you are trying your best to help or that you find it very difficult but still try to cook something?"
With these questions in mind, i would like to recount two experiences i have had,
There is a popular show that runs in star plus called Nach baliye, where the couples dance, They are all television stars, with a busy life, When one of the to be married couple came on stage and the guy proposed to the girl, they called upon stage guy's mother, she said i would like to see how she can feed my son, so i want her to prepare chapati's, and they actually got all the materials.. even when the girl insisted that she did not know. This whole thing was for fun, but there is a subtle message here.
Why should it be considered that with marriage the girl's sole purpose should be to feed the guy and not vice versa? The problem here is, we as woman accept things too easily without questioning, And such things where a woman is expected to cook is taken for granted.A career of a woman is a choice whereas that of man is not. It might have made sense in a different social setting but expecting the same even today needs to be questioned, as the vow of marriage itself is in sharing...
When the above scenario was disturbing there came another disturbing experience...
I have been driving for last 6 years, I follow 99% of the rules religiously, Recently we had to go to a movie and i was driving,when i was about 300mts from the signal, I saw the traffic signal turning orange, I knew i cannot cross so i gave a hand signal that i am stopping after seeing an Innova far off and applied brakes, But to my dismay the innova guy tried to apply brakes but it banged the back of our Figo, Thankfully it was minor damage and when i got down, the guy who was driving and a woman in her fifties got down, When the guy was apologizing for his mistake, the lady started yelling as though it was my mistake that her son did not follow the rules and started saying that i should not be driving, this is what happens if i drive instead of cooking in kitchen! I seriously was taken aback and couldn't help muttering "B***h"! but thanks to her son he took the idiot woman back and apologized again.
From this incident it is evident that in most of the cases insecure woman who have absolutely no sense, try to put down woman. Probably they even feel jealous about independent woman, Also unlike a man, even when a woman is 100% right, a woman is considered a culprit.
I have read in articles of multiple successful woman that a woman has to be 200% better and be the best to be considered as even average. But that somehow doesn't seem right!. I have to know for myself that i am not a superwoman who can do everything,
So it is very important for us woman to ignore people who try to put us down and accept the limitations,I myself have not been able to come to terms with that yet but i know deep in my mind that ,it is the right thing to do.
So for all the women out there, Stop burning out and stop proving yourself ! And all the men please try to understand this fact.
Happy women's day!!
Based on my observation, this is a question to all the married woman reading this blog...
How many times were you asked the question
"Are you cooking now" ?
and now following that
"How many of you are working woman , who earn on par with your husbands with equally stressful jobs"?
Sounds familiar?
Leaving that aside, A self assessment question,
"How many of you would have taken the defense and tried to answer that you are trying your best to help or that you find it very difficult but still try to cook something?"
With these questions in mind, i would like to recount two experiences i have had,
There is a popular show that runs in star plus called Nach baliye, where the couples dance, They are all television stars, with a busy life, When one of the to be married couple came on stage and the guy proposed to the girl, they called upon stage guy's mother, she said i would like to see how she can feed my son, so i want her to prepare chapati's, and they actually got all the materials.. even when the girl insisted that she did not know. This whole thing was for fun, but there is a subtle message here.
Why should it be considered that with marriage the girl's sole purpose should be to feed the guy and not vice versa? The problem here is, we as woman accept things too easily without questioning, And such things where a woman is expected to cook is taken for granted.A career of a woman is a choice whereas that of man is not. It might have made sense in a different social setting but expecting the same even today needs to be questioned, as the vow of marriage itself is in sharing...
When the above scenario was disturbing there came another disturbing experience...
I have been driving for last 6 years, I follow 99% of the rules religiously, Recently we had to go to a movie and i was driving,when i was about 300mts from the signal, I saw the traffic signal turning orange, I knew i cannot cross so i gave a hand signal that i am stopping after seeing an Innova far off and applied brakes, But to my dismay the innova guy tried to apply brakes but it banged the back of our Figo, Thankfully it was minor damage and when i got down, the guy who was driving and a woman in her fifties got down, When the guy was apologizing for his mistake, the lady started yelling as though it was my mistake that her son did not follow the rules and started saying that i should not be driving, this is what happens if i drive instead of cooking in kitchen! I seriously was taken aback and couldn't help muttering "B***h"! but thanks to her son he took the idiot woman back and apologized again.
From this incident it is evident that in most of the cases insecure woman who have absolutely no sense, try to put down woman. Probably they even feel jealous about independent woman, Also unlike a man, even when a woman is 100% right, a woman is considered a culprit.
I have read in articles of multiple successful woman that a woman has to be 200% better and be the best to be considered as even average. But that somehow doesn't seem right!. I have to know for myself that i am not a superwoman who can do everything,
So it is very important for us woman to ignore people who try to put us down and accept the limitations,I myself have not been able to come to terms with that yet but i know deep in my mind that ,it is the right thing to do.
So for all the women out there, Stop burning out and stop proving yourself ! And all the men please try to understand this fact.
Happy women's day!!
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