Who is .....

1. The lion of Gir ?
2.The linchpin of the lingering party?
3.Rajadhi raja of millions?
4.Pied piper of the league?
5.TheDidi? 6.The saffron sanyasin?
7.Litanies apart from literature?
8.The recurring rulers of JK?
9. The youthful octogenarian?
10 The whistling MP?


.

Living together.

A Tamil cine actress expressed her view that there is nothing wrong in the concept of living together. This hurt the sensitivities of moralists of Tamilnadu who filed a bucketful of petitions against her and the matter came up for hearing before the Supreme court which has rightly declared that law nowhere prohibits persons above 21 years of age to cohabit whether they are married or not.

Legally it is a clear cut case but is it, socially?

It is law of nature that hormones peak from 15 years to 45 years and there after to subside. There fore all young things will experience the dart of the cupid or be curious to experience it.

In these days of IT revolution , women becoming economically independent and moving to other parts of India in pursuance of their career ,can easily give a slip to the eagle eyes of their parents.They are naturally at liberty to indulge in what few decades back was unthinkable or merely fanciful ,by practically living together .

If such a relationship falls through, the man ,belonging to a society seeped with the view 'Jan pillai analum ann pillai '[even if he is thumb sized he is a man ] and winks at male perfidies ,will make a easy getaway.He will find himself another girl and bride soon.For a woman , the society which is not yet permissive and frowns upon any relationship not sanctioned by marriage , she will be considered a fallen woman or as a woman of easy virtue and morals, an unkind epithet that would plague her entire life!

If such a relationship flourishes and stretches , what if the man dies?As per Hindu law ,property of a male dying intestate will devolve on his .wife i.e [only on a legally wedded wife] and children equally.Where the woman has committed herself totally ,emotionally ,and physically and has sacrificed a lot to see the relationship through and if she is not economically independent this concept of living together works against her . She will be bereft of what is her due [ property] and be literally thrown on the streets.

In cases wherein both are well and prospering ,and children are allowed to be born and are raised , will these Innocent young children be able to face the societal barbs , they are sure to encounter,though ignored by their mature[ thick skinned ] parents. They will be by default be saddled with unpalatable names and be the butt of nasty jokes in social circles .

There is a argument that marriages are no longer till eternity as divorce's have become the norm of the day.Divorces are more acceptable than a break up in a living together relationship because a divorce is secured for many valid reasons apart from the only one of a LT relationship viz falling out of love . Moreover Law ensures maintenance in form of regular payments for the spouse and the children .

Living together is a thrilling concept to modern youth but is clearly fraught with all the attending dangers any thrill brings along .

My advise to young women, if you want your man to get away easily after enjoying your company , go ahead ! Hand it over to him in a platter !

Vidhi !

Most westerners writing about India and its main religion 'Hinduism' gawk at the countless varieties of idols worshipped by itspopulation. Some have enumerated them to be 30,000!

Yes ,there are Ayyanars,Ammans, Murugan ,Sivan ,Vishnu,Ganesha ,Durga and so on ...Each village [there are thousands of villages dotting India] has its own reigning deity.

This is bewildering to people following Semitic religions, that repose faith in only one God.
There is a confusing array of gods in India. No one region worships a god similar to the other. As you hop across states , the numbers and variety of gods worshipped and the plethora of rituals followed by countless sects is confounding even to one born and bred in India.

Amidst ll this chaos one single philosophy runs through the length and breadth of India as clear as a crystal.From the richest and highly educated person hailing from westernised neighbourhoods in metropolis to the poorest and illiterate persons living in far flung remote villages believe in-- 'thalavidhi'.
Every Indian believes in this 'Vidhi'.This is the doctrine of Karma which is the single solid foundation for the entire edifice of religious pluralism in India.
This is one rule every one in India knows and unfailingly subscribes to .

Harishchandra.

RajaHarishchandra,did he exist or was he a figment of a ancient's imagination ?Can a mind conjure a person and his unique qualities without coming across such a person?Why is this man deeply embedded in the psyche of a nation that has seen the rise and fall of several kings?

Harishchandra had a steadfast devotion to truth ,undeterred by the miseries it brought in its wake. He lost his empire .his wife and finally his only son and was reduced to burning corpses in funeral pyres.Despite the severe scaling down of his fortunes and power and the loss of his near and dear one's ,not once did he succumb to the temptation of telling a lie and thereby lift himself from his fallen state .

The heroic life and story of Harishchandra caught the imagination of the young Ghandhi who, also armed himself with the weapon -'truth ' that was the only weapon in the armoury of that long gone hero of Bharat. And brought the mighty British empire to its knees!

Einstein once remarked the future generations will wonder whether a man called Ghandhi actually walked on the face of this earth!

Naipaul a Nobel laureate, has observed in one of his books that nowhere in the world is a country,its soil ,land and water regarded as sacred as it is in India!

Bharat is regarded as 'Punyabhoomi' . The sacredness of the land is derived from it being trod by many a righteous and pious men and women through the ages !

Prayer.

I hail from a family of staunch Vaishnavites . My grandparents have shut the doors and windows when Saivaites took their idols in procession in the streets adjacent to their house.The logic behind this behaviour was that a Vaishnavite' s eyes must be filled only with the pure form of Vishnu or Narayana and no other deity.That the senses ,mind and the intellect should soak in only the magnificence of the Lord and none other.

Vaishnavites subscribe to Visishta Dwaita philosophy as opposed to Advaita philosophy, adhered by Saivaites.My paternal great grand father had thoroughly researched Visishta Dwaita philosophy ,wrote several treatises, books and was the leading authority in this branch of Hindu philosophy in his days.My paternal ancestors were SwayamAcharya's i.e they were the direct descendants of the disciples of Sri Ramanuja ,the proponent of this school of philosophy.

Advaitan's describes the supreme being or God as emotionless , filling up the entire universe and is eternally blissful and full of knowledge.

Visishta Dwaitan's meticulously disprove the above view and are of the belief that the supreme being or God is not emotionless but is the embodiment of all good qualities like ---kindness ,charity , protector of devotees and is worthy of constant worship .

When ,I was grappling with the grief of my bereavement ,I reached out to the philosophical teachings of Acharyas to quell my sorrow and to get a grip over myself, I found more truth in Adavita than in VisishtaDwaita philosophy . That god is emotionless . He has neither good or any other qualities . He just knows.

I turned my back on the philosophy ,assiduously followed by my ancestors ,as no charity was shown in my case and concluded that God is emotionless . He creates you and puts you and watches ,as you blunder and flounder and reap the fruits of your actions.
Then I remembered an important injunction of the Acharyas professing of VisishtaDwaita school of thought ---Do not pray .Chant his name, sing his glories and have immense faith in his good qualities and surrender absolutely to his will .I had grossly disobeyed this directive. I had prayed and prayed . So had Vidat , in January 2007 in the sanctum sanctorium of Srinivasa at Tirumalai , for happiness and peace .

God ! Is he there?

Does god exist?If so where ? Who created God? He couldn't just exist . Someone or something has created him or her. Then who has created that something?This question can agitate one's mind to infinity. What is the rishimoolam or the root cause? Then who caused that rishimoolam? And so the inquiry stretches on to infinity and trouble our rational mind that cannot accept the fact that something can come out of nothing.

According to Advaita philosophy expounded by Adhi Shankara , who relied heavily upon the Upanishads,the conclusion arrived at is ,that God is there .And that he is, formless , is of pure knowledge, without emotions and full of bliss..That life is a illusion a 'Maya' . We the people are mere actors . An mirror of his existence.

According to Visishta Dwaita philosophy propounded by Sri Ramanuja few centuries later[12th century AD] God is there .But he is not emotionless and is full of good qualities . He occasionally takes human form to uphold Dharma or righteousness [ e.g avatars like Ram,Krishna and so on].He is the supreme Atma ,that resides within each Atma [us] .As a subtle , minute indescribable thing or energy.This force resides in all his creations.
Though I often wonder , who created that 'Paramatma', I nevertheless know that he is there.Since I felt his presence as a creator all through the night of my severe labour in the run up to the delivery of my child.
As rightly pointed out by our ancient seers and philosophers one can never know but can only
feel the presence of the creator.
He is that something from which nothing can be concealed or hidden .He can pierce our innermost thoughts . He knows!

Butterflies and bees.

There are two types of people.
The butterflies---who flit into your life and lift you up .
The bees -----who impinge in to your life and sting you down.

Butterflies and bees.

There are two types of people.

The butterflies---who flit into your life and lift you up .

sssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaasssssssssssssssssssssssssddddddddddddddddddddddddddddzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Nachiketas.

Nachiketas was a innocent but a courageous boy who had the temerity to question his father's gesture of donating sick and diseased cattle , after performing a grand hommam ,to propitiate the gods so that they may shower him with material wealth.The father in a fit of rage gifted his son to Yama the lord of death , as a punishment for pointing out the faults of his lord and master , the father.

That sincere boy obeying his father's orders reached the empire of Yama and sought his audience ,who promised Nachiketas three wishes as he had made him wait for 3 days .

Nachiketas first two wishes included the dousing of his fathers rage and to be sent back to him as he had no other issue. His third wish was tricky. He sought the key to the mystery of life and death.,brushing away treasure troves and vast empires ,dangled enticingly before him by the lord of death in lieu of the knowledge sought.

Philosophy it seems is more closely aligned to death than to life . It agitated the minds of the human beings then as well those living now.

What is death ? What happens there after were the questions put forward by Nachiketas and the answers he received is found in the Katho upanishad.

After death the subtle [invisible] Atma leaves the body to reach the heavens , after exhausting the fruits of good karmas it comes down along with the rain and starts a fresh cycle of life . Being born a man is the greatest gift and greater is the man who can control his senses , like a man keeping a horse drawn chariot in a firm grip. He must not be disturbed by the duplicities of life,like--pain and pleasure, good and evil, happiness and sorrow ,success and failure and so on.

This attitude need to be cultivated not only by sanyasi's but by every householder, in every action , if one's quest is to escape the relentless cycles of birth and death and seek merger with or be near the one and only truth,knowledge and bliss - ''that which is '' or'' Paramatma''. [God]

The Gita draws heavily from KathoUpanishad .

What happened to Nachiketas? He was sent back to be received by a tearful and relieved father.

This happened thousands of years ago!

And time rolls on.

I was patrolling the rooftop of my flat for a dash of fresh air and to see the splash of colours in the western sky,when my neighbour's son whose regular beat was--every nook and corner of our apartment complex and included the terrace ,and who would be concentrating on keeping his kite aloft or winding the 'manja' ,acknowledging my presence only with a quick smile accompanied by a deft oscillation of his palm, started talking nineteen to the dozen!

He asked ''Aunty ,are those dried up 'vathal' yours''?I said ''No''. I had quit ,cooking and then evaporating and then storing such things a long while ago.

I inquired''Aren't you flying kites anymore? ''He replied ''No , the season is over'', tugging all the while at the clothesline, swaying to and fro.

I continued walking. Again he called .''Aunty,look at that bird . Is it a owlet or a young one of an eagle?''

I stopped to look where he was pointing. It was towards the adjacent flat. There was a bird sitting on the ledge . So were, several girls of his age giggling and laughing on roof top of that flat.

Now I understood the sudden demand I was in . This boy whom I had first seen howling ,kicking everything and protesting roundly and loudly at being bundled off to school[KG] every morning has grown up!That kid is a lad now.I noticed a faint moustache. He was trying to draw the attention of those gaggle of giggling girls.

Whilst I was totally embroiled in my life ,time has not stood still , it has moved on .

Ruling families.

What is this mystery behind the macabre maladies that strike the ruling families of this subcontinent?

Towards the east ,in Bangladesh ,Deshbandhu- MujubirRehman and his family were eliminated in a military coup,within a few years of his assuming power of a nation he had valiantly liberated.

In the west , first it was Bhutto [elected PM] who was hanged and then his daughter Benazir ,who with the backing of her country men had forced the military dictator[who was also responsible for her father's death] to cede power to her , also died violently falling prey to a assassin's bullet,whilst campaigning against another military dictator.

Back at home , Indira Gandhi the iron women was ruthlessly gunned down by her own security guards and her successor her son Rajiv Gandhi was blown to bits in a suicide bomb attack.

Then towards the lofty Himalayas , the only Hindu kingdom , whose monarch was liberal and flexible and was adjusting to the changing needs of the times was wiped away ,his wife, children and all in a horrific palace drama, being bitten by the one that he had fed.

The famous political families of this subcontinent are swathed in blood and gore in this stretch of land ,which was once, sanctified by the presence of several apostles of peace . Hey Ram.

Fatal attraction.

Some people across the border ,the land of our enemies for the past 63 years ,have attracted me with their magnetic personalities.

The first and foremost was Imran Khan, whom as an teenager I saw him, also as a teenager running thunderously with a muscular physique yet possessed of a sweet and handsome face , bowling to our cricketers. It didn't matter that he was the denizen of our enemy country and whether we [teenage girls] liked cricket or not, made sure we would when Imran played,and were glued to the TV when matches in which Imran played were telecast.

He requested the TV channels not to show him in close up on being ghareod in Australia by all those Australian girls wanting to have a glimpse of him in flesh .He was surprised at all this adulation's as he was considered to be the ugly duckling of the family, by his sisters. Probably to his sisters but not to us then ,but now when I see that he has not weathered 'time' well ,I think his sisters were right.

Then comes WasimAkram . I was greatly taken in by his charm ,specially when he courteously bowed to the queen of England whilst accepting the runner up cup in a world cup final ,whilst the winners the Australians were behaving like a bunch of rowdy school boys.

Finally Mushraff . The architect of Kargil. Yet all the hatred evaporated to be replaced by admiration ,when he landed in India and looked superbly confident,trim and spoke pleasantly to all those he met and created a Mushraff mania for quite a while.But after being shown the door ,shorn of all his powers ,his charisma has crumbled rapidly and he looks as vapid as any ageing politician of the sub-continent.

Sea of poppies.

I pestered the people at the lending library counter to issue the 'book' ,for 3 long months.They couldn't fulfil my request as it was constantly in circulation . They promised to inform me over the phone in the immediate event of it being returned. A promise that was never kept.

Last week I gave up asking for the book as I concluded that it was an exercise in futility.I selected a short novel to see me through the week when one of the librarians popped up with a copy of the book Sea of poppies.

Amitav is a master story teller . He has blended history of British India and the 'opium wars' [British- Chinese wars] skilfully with the abysmal poverty the common folks were pushed into under the British rule as well as with those faint patriotic stirrings of the gentry in the 1830's.

But I am miffed by his' manipravalam'.He has dipped generously into 'colloquial Hindostanee' 'words and phrases . This is distracting and one has to use one's language skill considerably to decipher those words and phrases..

He has spiced his narrative liberally with humour. Though ,this mainly revolves around the male obsession with 'excretion'.

His succinct observation of the 'opium wars 'from the British view point--''The long tails have to be given a taste of the lattee''.And their crude justifications at flooding China with opium and the conversations of Mrs Burnham would bring smiles to the dourest of souls .

A historical ,social narrative peppered with humour.I should have bought this book at the outset instead of being squeamish about its price.

Techi.

Now that I am handling the computer quite often ,I have become a little skilled at it and have summoned the confidence to experiment with all those tiny squares on the screen.

I remember how I had made up my mind to attend a nearby class for people like us viz middle aged and whose computer knowledge was nil -to open the computer , draft and send E mails at a fee of Rs 5000 .The classes were an hour a day for a week.

Vidat, who was then working at Wipro , on hearing this was scandalised and said ''This is daylight robbery .I will teach you on a Sunday.''And he did.I wrote down all his instructions .It taxed him at having to repeat every thing which he did automatically without thinking ,twice or thrice and in trying to jog my slowly plodding brain to get a hang of it.

Even after several sessions spread over the weekends ,I didn't make much headway .My brain having gone rusty with constant disuse and lacking in genuine motivation.

I promptly forgot his patient instructions in the following days but haven't forgotten what he said wearily after one such session ''Ma, this is jujupee.Do you know what I ,your son does at the office?I make the code for these things [generally speaking] to work!''

Three men.

Two prime ministers unobtrusive and soft spoken ,standing in the shadows flamboyance and demogogy ,Narsimha rao and Vajpayee are the two men who ushered in a process of economic reforms quietly but firmly and have carried it forward with iron determination that has transformed India, once touted world over as a land of elephants, snake charmers and malnutritioned babies into a voraciously consuming middle class society!They have brought the dream of good life within the grasp of a majority of the teeming billions.

Another man standing away from conservatism ,a superb scientist,a scholar and the ex president of India, is Abdulkalam .An unassuming ,simple and easily approachable person who stokes confidence and pride in young minds, inducing them to reach for the moon ! He is to the present generation what Vivekananda was to ours!

33 %.

Sabash, Sonia, Sushma and Brinda. The Centrists,Rightists and Leftists.,The bitter rivals in political arena.They have sunk their differences and have joined hands to level the playing ground to ease the way to all those women aspiring for a piece of the Indian political pie ,by seizing a sizable chunk from ,hitherto ,a patriarchal stronghold!

Segue to Loksabha and sail through!

Temples.

I visited several' Divya Desams' recently.Divya desams are temples dedicated to Vishnu or Perumal . The presiding deity has been worshipped by Vaishnavaite saints --Alwars in earlier centuries [before 7th centuryAD ] . They have expressed their immense faith in a flood of stirring poems and songs ,in chaste Tamil.Most of the Divya desams out of the total 108 are found in the length and breadth of Tamilnadu.

I observed that the small temples , tucked away from the glare of the usual pilgrim circuit are clean,surrounded by neat gardens and are well maintained . They are serene and ideal places to meditate .

The big and famous temples drawing huge number of devotees are untidy and disorderly.The sprawling precincts are crowded with shops ,and littered with plastic covers.There is general confusion and disarray.

When I visited Tirumala 20 years back it was also in a similar state.The thick forests surrounding the hills had been completely denuded .Now with patient greening of the slopes and careful maintenance of well laid out flowering and herbal gardens the temple city is nestling once again amidst lush forests and is as enticing as any picturesque European town.

The encroachments abutting the temple have been removed and a battery of sanitary workers are constantly at work in keeping the place spick and span .Considering the volume of devotees who stream in at any given point of time ,it is a Herculean task to maintain such high levels of hygiene.The prasadam given to all devotees inside the temple is delicious and incomparable. Kudos to TTD!

The total absence of monkeys, who were once teeming in troops ,pestering indulgent pilgrims but carted off to scientific labs across the world in pre Menaka days, tugs a little bit at the heart strings.

A trip to Tirumala is a solace to the spirit.

Surrogacy.

When a woman comes forward on her own accord to bear a child of a childless couple, known to her and willingly accept the rigours of childbirth and the emotional ramifications ,out of compassion ,it is truly a sacrifice that has no parallel.

When a woman lends her womb to total strangers for a fee ,to lift herself and her family out of poverty ,isn't it commercial?Is it condemnable?

Ensconced in a middle class society all my life ,I have no first hand knowledge of the debilitation's of crippling poverty and having reached an age and experience where 'I have seen it all' ,I can't judge a poor, young and illiterate woman's bubbling enthusiasm for life to be met only by such drastic measures.

Yet a niggling doubt persists.

Fort.

Savouring the majesty of state on crossing the moat surrounding the secretariat and dodging a stream of white ambassador cars with revolving red lights atop,speeding up and down the narrow road leading to the Fort , I entered the law department after getting myself a gate pass ,and showing the contents of my hand bag in compliance with the demand of a raw recruit ,unlike seasoned security personals who would have sized me by a mere glance and wouldn't waste their time and efforts in frisking me ,I found myself in the corridor of powers in my quest to renew my license to practise as a notary public.

Memories of my last visit to the fort that was exactly 5 years earlier came flooding . I had trundled around in the passage way of powers ,confused by the maze of corridors and offices tucked deep within its yawning recesses,weary bureaucrats,politicians reeking of power and groups of people seeking favours ambling around and the flapping of startled pigeons added to my bemusement. After handing over my application at 'tapal' I had decided 'then', to utilize the trip to visit the Fort museum as well as the quaint little church nearby.

The museum housing the relics of British rule was once the dancing room of the Governors.Clive is said to have thrown a ball there.The culture of dancing ,with free admixture of opposite sexes appears to be a part and parcel of Westerners custom since a long while ago.It is so unlike ours where we do not participate but only view as audience's ,trained classical dancers performing at podiums or in temples or folk dancers at street corners .Tribal women sway to the beat in villages or in forest clearings .In villages and in small towns group of women clap their hands synchronizing it with leg movements in 'gummi's and' garbhas' .Men are mere onlookers or are made to beat the drums to keep up the rhythm!Is this why Rudyard Kipling or some earlier English author commented' East is east and West is west and the twain shall never meet '?

There are slight changes in recent times .In north the families of the bridegroom and bride ,shake a leg together during 'Baraat'.And of late this culture has rubbed of on some south Indian marriages as well. 'Dhandia' the Indian answer to Ball room dancing is gaining wide popularity. Yet 'Ball rooms' or the joys of communal dancing associated with such structures has not percolated within our society.

Then I visited the church , as old as the fort. It was closed.As the caretaker assured me ,it would open shortly for the evening service , I stood around waiting outside the entrance on a marble floor shuffling impatiently as I had to get back home in time to prepare tiffin to satiate the ravenous appetites of my two sons on their return from their college in the next hour ,when I happened to glance down .

I shrank back in horror when I read the words clearly legible on the very floor or marble slab I was standing that ran 'Here lies Mrs....[an English woman] who died at age 40 ...... and so on in late 1700's .The gates of the church was opened at the very moment and I entered it hurriedly.

I was filled with remorse at the fate of that hapless woman who had to shed her life in an unknown and alien country far from her familiar shores and her final resting place to be trampled by all and sundry visiting the church over the years.This disrespect and desecration of the deceased wrought by stream of visitors and devotees could not have been foreseen then ,when the entry to this place of worship would have been restricted to a privileged few.

In hindsight, as things came to pass I have become aware that it is a cherished few ,who are lucky to die in dignity and peaceably in their home and hearth surrounded by their near and dear .

Women I admire.

The women I admire are Rani of Jhansi,Indira Ghandhi, Jayalalitha and SheikHasina.

An ruler must uphold the law and enforce it summoning all the might of the state and protect the citizens from internal disturbances and external aggressions.When at the helm of affairs the above mentioned personalities have risen remarkably to dispense this single most important duty of a sovereign state.

The former two did a admirable job in rushing to the protection of their subjects , citizens in the face of threat from invaders and enemies.Rani valiantly clashed swords, face to face with many a battle scarred soldiers and resisted the greedy Britishers in gobbling up her kingdom ,till her last breath.

I admire Indira Ghandhi at her courage,her refusal to be cowed down by American pressures and threats and unyielding in her determination to send our,Indian army to liberate Bangladesh from the tyrannical clutches of Pakistan.When India was the under dog in comity of nations ,considered to be a nation of beggars ,relying heavily on the doles of Western nations to feed her starving millions ,Indira Ghandhi's courageous stand when confronted by streams of refugees from a neighbouring country , is the stuff real rulers are made of!

I admire Jayalalitha at her strict enforcement of laws and doing every thing a state can to raise the standard and morale of the police forces.Her erudition coupled with stamping herself as the undisputed leader of men who wouldn't think twice to whisk the rug underfoot are by no means a mean feat. Several paeans have been sung in her praise ,perforce for one that has been punctiliously over looked, shelved to be applauded in posterity is enforcing 'rain water harvesting' with an iron hand ,in every building of Tamilnadu. This single act has ensured that 'water' the basic need of humankind is assured to succeeding generations of this state .The gratitude of the future generations is the top most award she is sure to receive for this unsung achievement.

I also admire SheikHasina the head of Bangladesh at her perseverance and patience to avenge the death of her father and family , by first storming to power in elections and then tightening the screws and finally signing the warrant of execution of those assassins ,who were in power for considerable period of time,nearly 30 long years, and had tried every trick in the book to scuttle the due process of law and her plea for justice.

The other two women I respect are KiranBedi and Kanimozhi. The former , at her sincere endeavors in transforming ,cattle shed like prisons into rehabilitation centres.The latter's plain speaking and her tireless efforts in restoring the ancient folk arts ,music and dance forms of Tamils which are withering away out under the onslaught of T.V.


PS :The two men I admire at present are Chidambaram and Putin .

I am amazed at the formers transformation from a light weight F.M to a leviathan Home minister !This portfolio is a vocation close to his heart .He is doing a tremendously good job out of it .He has taken to it as duck is to water or more appropriately a bullet is to a gun .A tough customer indeed !

I admire Putin's iron determination in restoring a chaotic Russia to its former glory ,that had gone into shambles after perestroika and the erratic rule of Yeltsin.