Noise

I have realized something on my recent trips to Mumbai (and now Bengaluru). I have realized that Bharat is a country that makes noise. And a LOT of noise.

 

Noise can be just plain honking the car in front of us because its not moving (nevermind that the signal is red), honking at dogs, motorcyclists, rickshaws or anyone who is in front of you! Noise is also using very very loud speakers during the festival times. Sample this - there is an illegal roadside temple in front of my parents' apartment building and then there is a temple on the second floor ramp of a building complex right across from my parents' building. Both play very loud devotional music during Ganesh festival and both direct the loud speaker towards my parents' building! You can guess who and what we can hear those 10 days ..

 

Noise is also people talking. And I mean we people really TALK .. on buses, in trains, on TV sets, on Facebook pages, on Twitter .. and then react to all those who are talking on all these places ..

We have created so much noise that we hardly listen. Actually we have stopped listening a long time ago ..

 

I guess with any kind of new media, a new outlet is created and its new form of engagement and grammar has to be eked out by the users. Something like this happened with internet, then emailing, then chats and now twitter and FB. The problem is, any kind of such new engagements need time - time to form, to normalize and to become one with the humanity using it. We had tons of time to be adapted to the news media in paper form, for example. We had also an ample time to get used to the news media on television. It has been progressively shriller - but progressively so. It did not become shrill from the first week of its launch! But, we have hardly had time to get used to instant outlets to our emotions like the twitters, the whatsapp and FB. This is because the timelines and lifecycles of these outlets are themselves shrinking.

 

This instant availability and need of instant availability of even the most trivial of information causes us to desperately disseminate without any form of editing whatever it is that we want to write, say or voice! Now, if we recall from our print media heydays (as also with our books till date), the editor has one of the most important jobs. Not only the editor used to decide what gets printed but how! What will be said is very important. With 24 hour news media, that has become a luxury not available to any news editor on television (still exercised by some newspapers but then how many really read newspapers today? That is an activity on the way out and once the generation of adults changes to my generation, I am pretty sure there will be a minority of people actually reading newspapers). And increasingly with always online news media, even print (digital print) media is not having much time to pause and edit and sanitize what is being said.

 

The results sometimes are humourous (think grammatical and spelling mistakes .. that would be sacrilege when I was young but you find them quite regularly these days), sometimes outrageous (speaking of a Muslim victim/perpetrator of some crime as if his/her religious identity is all that is important and not the fact that he is a normal Indian citizen) and at times quite dangerous (think about the coverage of 26/11 attacks showing exactly where the Indian Army was air dropping its jawans on which building .. covered live!)

 

This paucity of time to think before reacting is not just on the ones distributing the news and media. The paucity is also omni-present for the receiver. No one today has time for sitting down in a chair and ruminate on something. Everyone wants to know everything there is to know about anything instantly. The compulsion is clear. No one has time. For anything. The noise in our lives claims every second we have in the day.

 

We thought technology and development and all these beautiful digital toys we are building will ease our lives. We will not have to worry about anything. Machines will work for us. The grand utopia will be a reality some day. It is so today. As it stands right now, those same digital toys have started to get us busy. And guess what, they are noisier in their silence. There is no dearth of information now. In fact we are flooded with it. But it is useless more or less. We get addicted to our toys. Slowly we are starting to base our lives around them and around this non-stop information overload. We are using them to substitute other more important things which should demand our attention - like nature, or a quiet time of thinking, introspection, rumination, some music in the evening or a chat with friends.

 

A direct result of this overall noise in our daily lives is that we start using wide brushes and stereotype anything and everything - from the smallest menial detail to the biggest things. In time, this also leads to prejudices and biases. On a healthy level, these biases aid us in discerning the truth. On an unhealthy level (which most of us are reaching today), we become downright racists, xenophobists and phobists of all kinds really. It reminds me of the below..

 

“Prejudice of any kind implies that you are identified with the thinking mind. It means you don't see the other human being anymore, but only your own concept of that human being. To reduce the aliveness of another human being to a concept is already a form of violence.”

- Eckhart Tolle

 

Although Eckhart Tolle's words are more philosophical and more concerning non-violence of even the thinking kind, the idea is valid for us in this noisy digital age. The violence is not just towards people who are suffering our biases. But also towards us as we violently create inactivity in our lives. Inactivity of all kinds because we are busy being online!

 

It is about time we paused our lives. Took a look at what really matters to us and clear the clutter. Sharing your private moments with your loved ones should mean a lot more than sharing them with random online strangers and similarly getting the real factual news should be more important than getting it as it is happening at the very moment. Quality in life is what we should focus on going forward .. quantity is just a number! Isn't that why we wanted all these toys in the first place? Let's get rid of all this noise ..

I, the hypocrite and happy!

I must confess now .. After a really long self-assessment, I concluded that I am hypocrite and a happy one at that .. and I can safely say, having reached this conclusion that .. I am at peace now. Wasn't easy to accept! But, who to lie about this .. You cannot possibly lie to yourself after your own mind has reached a conclusion, can you?

Okay, this is not about hypocrisy as a phenomenon or its honest self-assessment as a virtue. This is about the philosophies that we so espouse or tend to 'live by' or 'think that' we live by or are conditioned from the childhood to live by and accept as truth ... This is about religion and that great human idea of God Almighty!

Before anyone will try and judge that statement, I want to say firmly that I am NOT an atheist. But, my theism seeks to bind itself to reason. No matter how much I think, or force myself to bind to the various human rituals, my mind asks the question of 'Why'. My theism is different from people around me who can be fairly decsribed as 'paapbhiru' in Marathi (noble men and women afraid to commit sins and fearful of wrath of God). My principle objection is to the thousands of myriad thoughtless rituals we follow that have been spawned over the previous few millennias. Those rituals which have now become an aberration of the previous thought; and the original significance and reason behind that idea/ritual has been lost.

Take for example one ritual/practise pointed out by a very respected Indian spiritual guru, Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev. He once said that some stupid practises we carry today are comical. In old ages when a cat passed your path you would retrace your steps back and not go ahead. This was essentially a smart manouvre for the people on the move in ancient times - which most yogis and learned were - and one which guaranteed survival in the abundant forest areas of those times. We all know even today every species in the cat families covers its tracts by stopping and seeing if its being followed. It is an animal and bound to attack if it sees someone is following in its track and again, fighting for its own survival. So, if in ancient times you see a cat passing through your tracts, you re-trace your steps and don't go ahead. Wait for the cat to pass completely and then think of going ahead. What is the use of following such a trick in today's cities? But, we do!

Now, comes the hypocrite moment. Even though I abhor such stupid rituals, I want that I follow all the religious practises in 'to-to' and as mentioned by the gurujis and scriptures. I want that if we do something in terms of religion, let's do it 'properly'. I don't end up questioning the significance or the 'whys' of it. Much of that is due to ignorance and nothing much else, I agree. But, that is a hypocrisy I cannot shrug off as that will have to lead to an extensive study and I am probably too lazy for it. So, I let myself be a hypocrite. And then, there is an added lucre of having all the extended family gather, have great food and discussions .. sort of, I buy my peace with it.

I think (maybe due to my grounding in sciences) that everything is 'science'. But, the science of today also will have to have an open mind and ask why all religions think of God descending from skies (and not from lakes, ponds, oceans and mountains!), for instance. It will have to address the mystery of similarity of most religious philosophies at some basic level. Why do we pray above and not below? These are some of the questions that science has conveniently looked away from and termed them 'mythologies' conveniently.

But, having said this, I still agree to follow a few rituals enthusiastically and love them too. Ganeshotsav is one of them. Diwali is another. Invariably, food is too good a lucre to give these food fests up ;) and I believe I won't ever give them up. It also helps me stop and breathe and appreciate all that I have and be thankful to the 'God' ..

As I said, I am not an atheist. I believe in existence of God. But, that God is not necessarily a Lambodar or even a Vishnu. I am at ease with the Advaita philosophy and accept non-duality of God or that God is formless. But, more than what any of the world's religious philosophy can tell me about God, I believe that the laws of physics which guide the movement of even planetary and other such bodies represents to me the existence of God. For, I 'feel' that there is a 'controlling force' that guides all these things. I am also ready to accept that all we see is 'Maya'. I accept this 'controlling force' which causes the 'Maya' as God.

So, I do not want to follow the religion as it is today. I love some rituals which bring family together and makes us appreciate the gifts of life. I love the food. I won't give any of those rituals up and I will do everything that is asked of me in the way of my religion and try and follow all the rituals to the 'T'.

I now accept that I, a hypocrite (now out of the closet) ... is a happy man for being one!

We and melodrama

Saw this video. After this, if we (and I am speaking for Mumbai and Mumbaikars for now) record 40-odd percentage attendance at voting booths, will we then stop this whole melodrama?

We are so fond of chest beating and over-the-top reactions that we forget that these emotional swears and all are nice. But, if we want to effect change, first we have to be one, implement one in our daily life and be consistent in it to the point of making it an everyday activity and then speak that I did this and will continue doing so. We, the Mumbaikars have consistently proved that we don't care a dime for our nation and hence, I believe this melodrama and B.S. must stop immediately.

If, after the recent furore and all this melodrama, we fail to get past the 75% voter turnout mark; we will have (and rightly so) morally lost our right to complain and crib ..

We the Bharatvarsha ..

The seclusion that is brought on by living in a foreign land where you do not know the language and culture so well and in which you cannot easily assimilate into so easily, has its own set of advantages for the discerning and the studious. I guess that is why great writers go to some secluded resorts and such places where they can think and write in peace. A great idea which I didn't appreciate till I did not leave the shores of my beloved Bharat.

Anyways, that is not the point of my writing. I was reading this post by Pritish Nandy in the Times of India. Critical as I am about the Times of India becoming a page three newspaper (just look at its website! hardly a piece of sensible journalism or a studious opinion), I still read a few columnists because they still possess the power of shaping opinions. Pritish Nandy though not one of them, does sometimes write very sensible blogs making some very obvious yet unspoken social comments.

In that respect, his present blog re-opened in my mind an important thought that has had me disturbed for quite some time. Why is there a need for India/Bharat to be one country governed by Delhi. I am saying this not least because I am growing concerned by high handed behaviour of our north-heavy diplomacy but more because, I genuinely feel that in last few years (and more so during the times of the Congress governments), it is almost as if any and every policy (even at state levels) is being approved/sanctioned/checked/done-something-to-it by Delhi! I am wary personally of the capital of India being a stone's throw away from India's two borders as it is, but I am also not happy that it represents the capital of the worst of rulers of this pious land - the Mughals.

And I do agree to the point that Pritish Nandy makes in his blog that we are crushing the various Bharats we have in our midst. I am yet not so knowledgeable to call myself an Indian scholar. But, the seclusion I talked about when I left Bharat afforded me some time to at least try to garner some information about the various people that we are! What really do we mean bythe word 'diversity' and why is it important that we preserve it in its entirety!

Just sample this. I belong to Maharashtra and to Thane district to be precise. The language spoken in my state  is called Marathi. It is the 4th largest spoken language in India and 15th most spoken language in the world. Importantly, it is spoken majorly in as far away countries like Mauritius and Israel (where they speak Judeo Marathi) not to mention all those Marathi speaking emigrants in bigger and developed nations like the US, Germany, UK and others.

Importantly, Marathi is a descendent of the Maharashtri Prakrti which in turn is directly descended from the Vedic Sanskrit! The Yadav dynasty of Devgiri of the 12th century adopted Marathi as their official language and made it grow in to the major cultural language of the time. And last, but not the least, it has 42 intelligibly different dialects! That is WHOA-inducing statistic ... isn't it? How many Maharashtrians know this? I didn't till I googled it. Is Marathi (especially its dialects) not getting crushed under the written/spoken Marathi which due to heavy handed administrative methods of a class/caste rulers is crushing a lot of dialects or rendering them unimportant/irrelevant? I think its happening. I do not know if I have ever heard Varhadi/Vidarbhi dialect in my life. Nor, is it important in any social media it seems, as I cannot recollect any ad/movie making use of it ... now I maybe wrong. I recently heard there is a film coming up in Varhadi language which I think is a little too late as this should have happened long, long time ago! After all, Maharashtrians started the Indian film industry and first language in which films were made was Marathi!

If Marathi and its various dialects and culture is facing such erosion, we cannot even start to think what of all those various tribal cultures and languages in all of India ..

I think time has come when we should think about becoming a huge but loosely-held confederacy of the central government in Delhi. Meaning, almost like the UK, each state can represent a single country and its central functions be centralised in Delhi. Why should only Jammu and Kashmir talk about autonomy. It is important that if we want to grow our diversity and let it flourish, we should be able to give representation in policy to all the types of people and allow all the various cultures to come up and be respected instead of steamrolling or bulldozing them with a strong central government with its policies of minority-appeasement. Culture is never religion-specific, especially in India. Just take for example, the Christians in India wear sarees in marriage! My Christian friends did not kiss the bride ... its just not their culture. So, making out minority in religion and extending benefits is something that is done by politicians. The effort should be on promoting the single culture like the Maharashtra Dharma concept! After all Maharashtra Dharma is something that is defined by a Marathi way of living - which derives a lot from Hindu religious ways - and yet it is not religion-specific...

If we don't start talking and doing this, I believe like the Indian restaurants outside India catering only Punjabi food as Indian, we will end up having just one culture across our lands. One way it is good that it will develop a single identity of an Indian. That is something we have lacked all along in history. We have never had a single definition of what it means to be a Bhartiya, but then, how good is it if we, like the barbarian Muslim rulers of India, become barbaric about our various cultures and diversities? How Bhartiya will we be in that case? Probably time has come, that we form our sub-national identities as our real identities and retain the Bhartiya identities for only such endeavours as border protection, international relations and sports. Rest should be all 'local' ... That way, we will achieve the best of both worlds. Jai Hind :)

Autoimmune disorder of writing ..

Writing can sometimes be afflicted by self doubts. Especially, it is true when you think 'too much' about the efficacy of your thought process, its ethical nature, its being based in rationality or otherwise. This self-doubt is almost akin to the autoimmune disorder diseases in which the body's immune system becomes so overactive that it starts attacking its own cells..

I have first hand experience of this. Not on one, but many occasions. I started writing a blog to give vent to my thoughts. It could also serve to document my thought process at various stages in life to indicate how I have evolved - although, it was never a thought when I started but was realised by my slow thinking a little later. It was my outlet to some things which I want to think aloud. But, as fearless and unaplogetic as I would love my writing to be, of late, I found myself scrapping not one not two, but almost five to seven variuos drafts of my writing many times beset by doubts that I am not thinking straight or that the thought process in this particular essay is not coherent..

Now, that I am looking back at these things, I feel like a stupid. I never wanted to be politically correct. I never wanted to be socially correct either when I am writing my thoughts. Then, why in the world should I worry if something is coming out right or something is not looking 'that right' ....

Conditioning of mind to make all things in your work look 'professional' and 'right' is something that wipes away our originality making us all assembly line thinkers. Assembly line is great for a standard product, for an army or a cult. But, it is a bad production process for state of the art excellence. That requires job work. And hence, you should be ready to keep working non stop producing scrap till you descend or stumble upon excellent product.

One should write and write fearlessly and uninterrupted. Because, a thought when written uninterrupted, maybe a better thought in quality than when it is edited by a conditioned mind which is mindful of who will not feel this right and how this is not correct and that is how something should be represented..

The whole purpose of using विवेक in thoughts is to not let your mind experience the raw feelings, but to arrest the feelings and bind them in various conditionings of culture, ethics and such. Which is not bad. But, if we do not experience the raw emotions first completely, the raw thoughts as they actually appear on your mind spontaneously; how will we be able to make ourselves realise that this is what 'I' think! That this particular is my thinking and thought process and that this is what makes me different form the next human being breathing the same air as me..

I think hence I am said Descartes. But, I believe I must think unconditionally for me to realise who I really am. Otherwise, like I experienced recently, I run the risk of the writer's autoimmune disorder ... and that only builds frustration to a thinking mind and never gives you any satisfaction...

Fearlessness...

Witnessed the recent pre-quarters of FIFA World Cup between England and Germany. Was thrilled by the manner of German victory. If one word characterised their performance, then it was fearless!

If there is something magnetic about the youth, then it is the willingness to be bold, fearlessness, freedom from dogmas and readiness to try things without worrying about failures. There is a certain certainty about being able to bounce back from defeats and reverses and conviction in one's ability to fight it out in a determined way. Exactly the opposite was England's attitude - both in attack and defense - utter dubiousness and complete lack of conviction. It was almost apparent that they were fearful of defeat!

Now, I may be a bit biased about Germany, more so because they came into this fixture as underdogs. But, I know in my heart that I am not far from truth in the above conclusion.

But, that is just an example of what fearlessness can bring to an individual and a team. In cricket, it is said that as one ages, one becomes a better batsman as he understands what he can/cannot do. I beg to differ. I think more than anything, one becomes an average player as one ages since he doesn't want to try harder! The hunger has already given way to 'adjustment' with the 'as is' situation - forced out of conviction that one cannot transcend what one has perceived to be personal limitation in terms of skill and also the fact that it might be too late to learn and try newer things. So, I believe that one becomes a better survivor and economiser. But, not necessarily a better batsman.

Similarly, in life, one becomes a better manager of his/her own destiny and living conditions. But, not necessarily a better human being. We all (or most of us!) are guilty of weaving a comfort zone around us. A sort of cocoon of limitations beyond which we hardly have the courage to venture. We will venture and test the air outside the cocoon only when we are forced by some calamity or personal problem. And even that effort will be just enough to regain the comfort of another cocoon and immediately, we are ready to abandon the few courageous breaths in fresh and free air.

It takes courage to not use the beaten path and to go and walk in tall wild grass right next to the pathway taken by millions and billions before you. You are more capable of it when you are young and have not yet found your heart's calling.

How about you have a heart's calling and you keep yourself alive to possibilities outside that calling. You love your cocoon, but there are other cocoons you want to experiment too and experience! You will have to cross  the threshold of your comfort in your own cocoon. You will have to learn to become fearless, and fly to weave a new one.

What that means in real life is, we should not be content with what we have learnt and learn more. That is what life is all about. That is what our scriptures tell us: go ahead and find the truth for yourself! The Vedas tell us this. They give us fundamentals and exhort us to be courageous and explore. Every time we stop at something, we must make sure that this pause is only temporary.

Every time we find a cocoon, the threshold to climb out of the comfort offered by it will be higher than the previous one and it will progressively only get higher. Just like in a computer game! Once you cross a level, the next levels are going to be progressively tougher. What carries you through those levels is your conviction in your own ability to break those thresholds. And this conviction probably comes from our fearlessness towards the game and its challenges. But, it also comes from the known fact that not much is at stake here.

Also in life, the progressive thresholds will always get tougher. But, it is important that we develop the conviction within ourselves to venture out of our cocoon and breathe fresher air every time we feel comfortable. It is imperative that we regenerate our will to learn more and know more. That is the essence of youth, the essence of life and indeed the essence of the great Vedas which exhort us to become better human beings. What is it then that will help us become fearless and bring conviction to each endeavour of ours?... That probably is the true holy grail ...

Better development?

Okay for some more serious ramblings ... the readers may switch off when dozed!

I was watching the Discovery channel's wonderful documentary about the lost ancient temples of India and they tried to derive the methods that Raja Raja and his people would have employed to get those huge 40 ton granite blocks to the Thanjavur temple top.

Obviously they employed the elephants they said. And apparently they successfully experimented using the logs of wood and the elephants did indeed push those experimental 25 tons of granite blocks! Also with ease claimed the voice-over.

Now, I must say here, that if there is any one animal on this planet I absolutely love, then it has to be the elephant. Nothing is more intelligent and graceful a creature outside the human race as the elephant. To top its intelligence, the inherent compassion in the animal and its social nature in general endears it to me. When in the company of an elephant, the tamer creatures do not fear for their life as even lions and tigers are supposedly not ready to attack tamer species in the presence of an elephant. Such is the patriarchal nature of this huge body of compassion. In India and in Maharashtra in particular, this particular species is extra adored as the elephant headed God, Lord Ganesh.

So, naturally, it pained me to see those elephants rudely chained across their bodies and made to pull and push those heavy granites using their teeth to pull the heavy ropes tied to the block. It made me sick to the intestines. Try putting a rope in your mouths and pull something, I wanted to blurt out. The pain in using the heads to push that block was visible clearly in the eyes of the elephants. It was cruel to do that to another living being and for what? To re-establish how it was done 10 centuries back!!!! For what?

I am all for the research and unearthing the truth. But, not in this way. The research has to be first done of the scriptures and talking to locals who have preserved all this knowledge in their local folklore. And it's impressively wonderfully preserved in the local Tamil folklore, if only the discerning care to talk to the people who live there!

Come to think of it, we are harming the environment today with our polluted development. Yes, it is bad. But, we are at least directly not harming many species the way we did in the past. Is this not a better development? Probably. But, I am a little sceptical of this statement too. Come to think of it, we have abdicated our responsibility to maintaining the balance of nature to the sheer human greed. Probably we do not have much use for other animals any more and hence, we do not care for their survival.

But, history teaches us again and again - even from the times of Ramayan and Mahabharat - that, the victor has to take upon the burden of the vanquished in a war - look no further than Iraq and Afghanistan! If one doesn't want to do that, he should provide for the protection of those entities which are not as powerful as oneself. Also, a very important factor we forget in not protecting those species and their habitats is that we are endangering our own survival. We are still a part of the food chain after all!! We have a responsibility towards those species which have no control on their destinies thanks to the greed of humans.

So, this is a comparatively (and probably, qualitatively too!) better development today we are having without directly using the species like elephants and horses... But, it is time, we take up the mantle of being protector and stop encroaching wildlife spaces and habitats and disturbing and making a hell out of the wonderfully wild life that these species are having. We should be 'man' enough and say thank you to them and show them gratitude for their help through out those important millennia of discoveries and inventions without which today's world would have been an improbability. Remember that today's horsepower came from the measuring of forces based on horse's abilities!

It is high time that we stop this tinkering with our own survival at once... otherwise, tomorrow may never come ...

Perspectives

Riding back from scenic Waterloo with Alan after a well earned cricket victory in a friendly match, we were making small talk about Alan's home town, Melbourne, my home town Mumbai, Europe and living here and how it contrasted with situation back home...

Suddenly Alan pouted something that made me sit up and look at him with my mouth wide open as I never expected him to say that! To quote him, The first thing that struck me after coming here in Europe was just how many people there are here! Everywhere you go, there are people ...

I recollected my reaction when I had landed here in Europe for the first time and it went something like this..Just how much space these guys have here in Europe! How well-spaced are the structures here. The sky looks so big!! So few people .... lovely open greens!

Now that you know our reactions when we landed in Europe, you can see how same place can evoke absolutely contrasting reactions/images in people's minds. What it tells you is how differing people's backgrounds are. How differently people live in this world!

Just to put these contradictions in perspective, sample these statistics. I have been born and brought up in a distant suburb of Mumbai. The megapolis (considering its entire urban agglomeration) has roughly 20 million people living in it. My small suburb has a population of roughly 1.2 million which is almost equivalent to the total people living in entire Brussels! Brussels has a population density of 6,697 people per sq.km while my small suburb in Mumbai has a rough population density of 8,700 people per sq. km. Now, lastly, and hold your breath for this, entire Australia has a population of 22 million - which is roughly equal to population of urban agglomeration of Mumbai!!!!

After these last bit of statistics, you can imagine how different and how vastly sparse was the land that Alan was coming from and how densely populated the land that I was coming from ...Come to think of it, because one grows and spends formative years in such vastly different conditions, one develops one's approach, attitude, survivalistic skills and living ideas and values in sync with his/her surroundings.

I believe Indians have roughly the same amount of opportunity available for its populace as entire Europe has for its populace. But, for a population that is roughly 62% more than entire Europe. What that does to human mind and how abominable our existence becomes especially in view of how meagre our resources are in view of our huge population. We have learned to maximise our meagre resources. We have that peculiar survivalistic gene handed down for generations now. But, what that has done is put in our minds a view that there is a vulgar display of wealth by those well-off. We think if someone owns a farm land outside the city or has a farm house and such stuff or owns a Mercedes, that's flaunting of wealth and mostly termed vulgar. And more so because we always point out how many people are living below poverty line and how they don't have food to eat and such 'important' facts.

But, the same Mercedes is fairly common here in Europe and the farm house is a generally accepted way of living a normal conservative life. People have nice gardens in their homes. This is a luxury in India. People in Europe don't spend 3 hours one way to work! And now scale this to Australia. Such abundant resources and opportunities and so less people.

These wonderfully diverse conditions bring people to different responses for same situations. I see Europeans struggling in this economic climate at work. So less money to pull this off they think. They see gloom. But, people from Eastern Europe, India and China and importantly the employees from these backgrounds see opportunities. They are putting up ideas which don't often make sense to European colleagues who have the habit of working with ample buffer of money and such. They don't have the habit of scraping through by the skin of one's teeth. Its wonderful what happens when people from such diverse backgrounds come together in a team. This is where you see that 1 and 1 actually is greater than 3 ...the wonderful manifestation of humanity and that divine phrase Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam ...the world is one family. When these different family members come together, world does indeed become a better place...

It's time that humanity accepts its universal nature and that its the same in Carribbean to Europe to India to Japan! We are the same ... no use fighting and trying one-upmanship ... also, there is a strong reason that we in India should try to get our growth rates down and let our kin enjoy similar affluence and resource-abundance of some other places in world. I would say the aim should be at least Europe, if not Australia!

Perspectives differ because of where you come from and how you have been brought up ... they matter in the end to making this earth more 'liveable' ..... hugely... don't they??

Strange happenings in a sane town!

What is happening to my favourite part of world!?!

Of all the places, Dombivli should arrange a (of all the things!) a dog marriage! Strange things are happening and stranger things are being planned ..

Rotary club should arrange this is another jolt ..

Am I dreaming or this news is for true?

Can't being myself to imagine even this can happen in Dombivli!! Used to be called the second cultural capital of Maharashtra and now this ... used to be a sane town of practical people ... what in the world has happened here? Why is it going to dogs .. literally! .. phew!

LSDDDDD......

My my ... Sneha Khanwalkar & Dibakar Banerjee... take a bow!!

I cannnnnnn't hold it any longerrrrrrrrrrrrrr ......

For those who have not been listening to alternative music ... alternative means anything not dished by Yashraj and the likes ... there is a definite silent revolution in the music ... from Gulaal, to DevD to OLLO to Road, Movie and now LSDDDD.... what an albummm ...as you can see I am still hallucinatinggg ... and I listened songs something like 2 days agoo ...... is it a real LSD or what ...

Kailash Kher is absurdly talented and you need to listen to his renditions not just in this one but also Road .. It is fair to say that in the times that we are in, there are hardly one or two others who will come close to what Kailash Kher can make you feel with his renditions. Listen to his Nam batati tu and well .. there is little more I am in a position to say right now ..

Go... Get your dope ASAP .... and gooo 'EFF OO' ;)

Unthinkable agreement ..

I am in unthinkable agreement for the first time in my life about the personal views aired by a certain Rakhi Sawant...

This momentous and an epoch making event happened because for the first time, I feel her derring-do and devil-may-care attitude is taking on the censors and that too in a factually correct manner!

Socha na tha doston ke aisa bhi din ayega :P ... GOD IS GREAT INDEED ...

Cheers Rakhi! After Rao's bhookh hadtal, only your's seems justifiable!!

Are we trapped?

Just thinking loudly here... so readers beware :P

Comparing Indian and western households, I believe that the notion that we still live according to how our ancestors lived looks hollow. We pride ourselves that we are really still living as a family, we care for fellow humans (which is something incredible!) and that in general, we have a culture that is so far above the rest of the world.

Granted that the culture which we have inherited is indeed more pious, far more credible a force in itself and also, appreciably more humane than any other in the world. It genuinely has the strength of keeping an entire populace honest in general and true to the spirit of humanity.

But, I cannot help but think that today's trappings of entertainers and sensationalisers (read saas bahu sagas and aaj tak and its ilk) have incapacitated us. We spend most part of the day at work, office, schools and colleges. If you play a sport (which is a rarity in our times and alarmingly, that is an increasing trend) then you might give an hour to it. Most food today is microwaveable. And hence, as an effect, an average Indian spends at a minimum 3 hours a day in front of the idiot box - in complete grasp of the modern day David Copperfiled. And this modern David Copperfield has as its allies, the terrorists, the politicians and the paid protestors - all pretty efficient and professional at their duties to entertain and maintaining the daily fix that the remote controlling consumer of this daily saga needs...

We are in front of the TV so much time that we dine in front of it, hence mostly we don't appreciate what we are eating. We also do not appreciate who we are eating with. We have no time to take a stroll after dinner. We also do not care about some simple hobbies like gardening or socialising with friends just because we need our daily dose of entertainment. Its like a drug - a nasha! Everyone just needs their daily fix ... One cannot imagine what will happen God forbid if this is not dished out on a day or if there is no electricity or worse still the cable television goes off air... I also heard that the last time this happened, the issue was discussed in the Parliament .. no joke ..

Since we need this, we have no time to think out of box or in it. We don't have time to appreciate the degradation of society and mother nature around us. We see the Aarey Milk colony's greenery on TV and its serials, and feel like wow, my Mumbai is soo green.. We don't think that India - our country - needs a better government or better roads or better public transportation or even safety. We are living so opulent lives because the serials and its characters are grand, grander, grandest!!! We may have suffered terrorist attacks, and may have lit candles. It was just our chance of taking part as active entertainers for a change. Thats it. We forgot and went back to the TV sets to appreciate our very own act ...

Even if someone wants to do something, as Rocket Singh will say there are no people to do business or something hatke with, as most are in front of their TV sets. And any activity needs people and not numbers...

Compare this to the western world (I mean Europe where there is a 'culture' not the extreme west whose culture cannot be compared to either Europe or the subcontinent) and I find people still have time to appreicate the gardens and its fountains. They still take time out to go for a walk, jog or theater. They discuss paintings and actively indulge in art activities. They may know what goes on in a TV but not so many discuss it in offices, schools and colleges! There is no public outrage if a character dies or worse still if an actor leaves a serial ... that is NOT national news!! They still maintain personal small gardens and spend weekend evenings also at a coffee shop actively talking with their friends and partners... They know their surroundings.

I am not sure if a newly settled man say in Navi Mumbai will know who lives two floors above or below him or which building for that matter is right next to his... We might not know that there is a big garden nearby or that since not so many visit it, it's being used as a concrete dump by local builder mafia. We have no time to care for it! Who cares if that builder is disturbing the area near my building!? I am fine till he is not dumping it in my living room. Rest may go to hell!!!

Just this question then remains about our existence ... Are we trapped?

Political wastage!

Our state's politicians have gone crazy as they normally do - this time with their illegitimate censorship of free expression (by the way, this is a fundamental right of an Indian citizen guaranteed by the Indian Constitution of which these very politicians are the guardians... really?!!). All because WE have allowed goondas to come to power. We allowed them to legitimately claim their illegitimate right to be where they are. So, we must suffer for our transgressions!

We will be held guilty (for our own rights assertion!) before their illegitimate courts and justice will be dispensed as per their will. You and I - the normal and average common man and woman - will be submitting to them as always since we are incredibly guilty of either being corrupt ourselves (selling our dignity to these very hooligans) or then we are incredibly careless about our lives or then we are incredibly indifferent to our state of living!

We get the government we deserve. We cannot blame our governors for being corrupt when we have sold ourselves - our soul and importantly, our votes! We cannot accuse of nepotism because we voted for it! We cannot accuse of non-constitution-adherence as we have allowed these illegitimates to get elected. Now, they will rule us. And they are ruling. Even when they are not elected, they will rule with their own takes on what is allowed/decent/moral through their very 'able' sons and daughters! And then there are those wannabes who will disrupt your fundamental rights because they have offered us an illegitimate share in their corrupt plunder by division of society according to more and more importantly unimportant castes .... (sic).

We have only us to blame. We are corrupt. We are silent. We are a bane to the word 'civilisation' and a shame to that revered word 'Aryan'! We are not civilised. That's a myth. We are not educated. That's a WHITE LIE. And NO we are NOT MORAL by any standards .....

I wish Gandhi, Gautam, Shivaji, Ranjit Singh and Thorla Bajirao were not born here. They would and should have had more proud inheritors of their legacy ... alas!

Aal izz well?

Needless to say where the title is coming from. Saw it two days back. And again seeing it now ...

As Forrest Gump would have said it... 'It (shit) happens!' ...

Needless to say I loved the movie!

Needless to say ....

But then, I should not write this isn't it? If it's so needless I mean ... I should not be writing! But then there is something ...

Nothing 'new' exists in the movie in terms of the fundas of life that the movie has espoused. What it has is electrifying chemistry between the three stars, their comic timing, etc. But then, when you have such fine actors putting up a performance, that should ideally be a given!

And yes, it has guided us to some mirage whose existence we all have known about but could not attain. That's why it's a mirage right? We can see it, yet we cannot get to it! We all know how well we can perform when we don't care of the consequences!

This happened with me when I was pretty young. I was playing within my building's compound. Normally, the occupants at ground floor would have broken loose on us when we broke their toilet's window panes. But, I knew that they weren't home (had been visiting their relatives or some place!) and hence, I did not check my pull shot and played a full-blooded one right at the center of the window panes. Interestingly, I was wondering some days before that if I could break 4 panes in one shot (generally we used to break one and that too the top one ... so I was wondering if its possible to break the center four and make a gaping hole for the audience ;) ... !). To my ghastly surprise, I had accomplished what I was thinking about.

I wanted to die then ... but I could calm myself reminding myself that I was anyways leaving for my vacations the next day and won't be back so soon... so I fooled my heart into believing that aal izz well and that's when I had an aha moment while watching the movie. Unlike the movie though, that particular family welcomed me from vacations in a way that saw me never playing inside the building compound thenceforth, but that's another unimportant story!

I am writing this post especially because one of my closest and only 'writing' pal told me that she would have done so much more in life if she was in my shoes (but importantly this is not a response to her retort! It's merely a reflection..). I was just watching the movie and was thinking, well, I don't want to be on the hospital bed at 60 years to think only if I had done this and not done that .. So, I told myself, I will make an effort to get out of present inertia ... and also importantly, I will try to live in the moment. I tend to (as I am sure others too) live in future ... I will be this and be that .. will be here and there and everywhere... but forget to think about where I am NOW! It's common sense isn't it ... but I guess that's why it is so tough ...

I know that fooling your heart into disbelieving the risks attached as a package deal is not a very smart way of living ... especially for those who have studied mitigating risks (I know the cool word is hedging!) this sort of behaviour can amount to harakiri ... but I am convinced that in a world where only fools are cocksure and the knowledgeable full of doubts, it's sometimes worth it to be a stupid idiot and commit that foolishness than to be mired in doubts and not try! Hopefully, the experience won't hurt so much.. and in any case, one is wiser always in hindsight :P ...

I guess I can try soothing my heart for some time with Aal izz well .....

Night Club - the naked human psyche

I am not one given to parties in the night club, pub or a dance bar... There is definitely a case for me to uphold morality here (always an effective cloak for shyness, two left feet and all related shortcomings..but that's another story). My ideal party is to gather friends, have a sumptous dinner in a hotel like the one on the highway in Navi Mumbai, have live ghazals, people enjoying the atmosphere which due to the late hour of the night (and also the artificial springs' effect) is nicely, cosily cold (I must mention Indian cold here! 20 odd degrees and nothing less) ... just nice and calm, friends, laughter and ... ohh well I am straying here ...

So, all in all, I am not a pub-hopper of this yippie generation - quite a misfit for many my age and definitely for those younger than me!

But, I happened to go to a office party just yesterday - a general year-end Christmas party and that was in a NIGHTCLUB! With bar, smoking, dancing et al!! So you might expect that and truly the case was that I was bored. But, not really... it was quite an experience for me ...

It started with us getting to drink whatever we wanted - making some friendly talks with colleagues and seniors, normal dinner and cheering each other. The president taking time to thanking all the employees for their contribution and stuff. Then the enthusiastic few (but not indeed great dancers - or at least still shy of dancing with colleagues!) started going to the dance floor to shake a leg as they were no more able to resist it - what with some pretty young execs from a dutch bank were also letting their hair down in the next room! Lets say that was contagious... But, the real fun or enlightenment was not with my colleagues; but indeed; with the people who had come to the nightclub on what was a weekday(!!!!) and their behaviour while they were at 'it' .. i mean partying..

Sample two examples ... There was this pretty American gal who came to the club and stayed pretty late. She had actually arrived with some cool dude (seemed like a bf) and partied hard with a mid-eastern fella with her bewildered-only-for-a-moment-boyfriend getting over it in a matter of minutes and grooving his pelvis to another lass' ass!! (Pardon my language but this is an absolute ankhon dekha haal!) Then there was a very mid-aged woman who tried pretty hard to get an Italian colleague to dance with her and probably also have an after-party meet! She was actively wooing him and it was quite a sight especially that of our embarrassed colleague who had fewer answers to her wooing than questions ;) !!

But importantly, a lot of such incidences and previous small experiences (two, to be precise) of nightclubs have given me a whole new take on gender bias regarding sexual aggression, cigarette addictions and such. Now, before you guys think I am making a general statement, or am a MCP(!), let me make it clear these are only observations from night clubs and as such do not take into account the population (majority) which does not visit night clubs. I do not think anymore that only men make passes or lewd comments, light a cig, catch other gender's ass (literally!) or are prone to fight with our own gender to seek other gender's attention - Men, the women have arrived at this junction too!! They actively seek sexual pleasures and are ready to behave as badly and sometimes more nastily than you can think of... ouch!

I have observed these things in the nightclubs here in Europe or also probably the one at Purdue University in USA! Not been to an Indian one but I am sure it won't be much different.

Nightclubs! People get drunk. Ladies puff cigarettes like chimneys of Indian kitchen. But, importantly, the human nature - the human psyche - is absolutely naked and in its most basic instinct at these places. We are the animals which we many times are not outside those smoky rooms in the outer world. We are the animals whose only morality is about seeking bodily pleasure and multiplying. We want to survive and we want to rule. Remove the conditioning of the mind that culture did to you - which is exactly what these places afford to individuals - and we are truly what we are - the next evolutionary step from the apes! Women seek healthy and attractive males. Males attract lovely females and their testosterone does the rest. Its pure survivalistic violence and I guess, one that is at all levels much lesser in intensity than the mental, societal violence that we indulge in and be a part of as a consequence of being a society and culture. There are some things to be learnt by us as a race before we assume the cloak of culture. I am not saying nightclubs will teach us that. But clues do lie there!

Mumbai dreams pink..

I was once upon a time a fellow of the cult called Mumbai or Bombay ... whichever suits your taste - for I don't care as the city is just as great with/without that name change! I though must be politically correct here and say that I like Mumbai better ;) ... I am no more the same fellow as I am no more dreaming what Mumbai dreams or what an average young fella in Mumbai is dreaming ... I don't have any starry eyed illusions of life that you have when you are on the right side of the age of 25 ... or those lovely can-do moments where you discover a new you!

I am another 'mature' probably youngish man who has now experienced struggle in life, come out battered and bruised, yet alive ... drifted away from Mumbai (and nation) and instead of becoming even more selfish (which every careerist in Mumbai is!), grew (much to my astonishment) a hardline nationalist ... and in this transition, probably lost forever the innocence that the struggle instills in you while you are at it.

I miss myself sometimes... probably a lotta times when I am reflecting alone. I think and shudder to realise that my '18' was a decade ago! I miss the fact that no more can I just drop out of house careless of what I am wearing and jump the compound wall of my building (it almost looks like an olympic feat to me now!) and go to play cricket in the next gully or just run down a kilometer at break neck speed to the nearest friend's house or playground...no more can I just shout to my friend from below his 'balcony' and expect that he will shout back half eating his poha and obviously appear shirtless in his favourite part of the house to let me know that he is coming down ASAP... no more can I dart across from one part of the city in the local train in 2 hours to the other part completely alien to me ... just to get a glimpse of a friend leaving city or to a date away from the family's (and 'wellwisher's) prying eyes ...I am grown up now.. and pretty sad for that last detail ... a transition you look up to when you are young and a transition you hate to accept when you achieve it finally. You imagine the freedom that maturity and grownup-ness brings and pretty much hate that very thing when you are actually on your own in the end!

When I travel to Mumbai now, I hardly feel that I can relate to the mall-hopping culture or then the crazy train-cramming (even though I used to achieve this feat myself when I was there!). The average Mumbaikar's selfish dream actually looks selfish from this distant land and yet, you strive to achieve it religiously when you are there and doing that. What am I blabbering right? Just some rumblings that my mind is completely filled up with ... just clearing some conundrum ... nothing more ... better still and probably truly, boring those who care to read this blog..

But, I do think that Mumbai is dreaming on its own ... for better streets, better air, clean water, clear skies (by this I mean freedom from the towering concretes!) and yes, an important thing called respect for the life of an average and selfish Mumbaikar and his dreams and aspirations ... will we ever have 'human' elected members of state legislative assembly who will think about letting an average Mumbaikar lead a life that he/she wants without making him/her go through this circus of being a Mumbaikar and put his/her life on the line everyday for as simple a task as travelling from his place of residence to his work or whatever thing he/she wishes to do (even as trivial as dating someone!)? Mumbai is dreaming pink (I mean with rose-tinted glasses here before all those alternative meanings of pink are applied) for itself and its fellow dreamers ... I only wish that these pink dreams are fulfilled...amen!

Heart in right place?

Just read about the monsoon warning by the World Meterological Organisation and the almost double probability of the El Nino happening this year. We are, as a nation, staring at a possible drought - the probability of the said calamity happening being twice that of each year.

From the view point of our normal, regular and insane neglect, this is a 'natural' calamity if it so happens and one which we can do nothing about but to fold our hands and recognise it being invincible and just measure losses, lick wounds and carry the dead to the pyre ....

But, is this really a natural calamity that we will face, if at all?

Think about it. Our agriculture is still rain dependent. It needs water for it to do well. And, if we can arrange water through the year, we won't need to look skywards all the time. Not to say, we won't need rains. But, just that, with good water management, we will be in a position to not depend on 'good' or 'normal' monsoons for our subsistence! But, next 'yakshaprashna' is .. what is good water management?

Good water management will entail proper and planned development of concrete and 'green' structures, continuous monitoring and maintainence of ground water tables, efficient use of water as well as electricity, proper garbage recycling, so on and so forth. But, the real reason lies in the concretisation of any and every available space and complete neglect of sustained increase in forested areas.

What effort does our elected representative put in for aforestation? Plant and few saplings on world environment day, thats it? No one even glances at those strggling saplings next hour onwards and the soon barren land that it becomes is then made available for the use of some builder to raise some more glass and concrete's mindless structures of 'development'. The truth cannot be more farther than that. The fact of the matter is .... we are digging our own grave and lighting our own pyre!

Look at this wonderful post from a great blogger which details the growing concretisation and receding forest area ... http://20twentytwo.blogspot.com/2009/06/mumbai-concrete-jungle.html

Interestingly, this is only Mumbai which has lost almost 100% non-forest greenery and gained 200% more concrete!!!!! And this we are not measuring the height of the concrete yet ... only floor area .... think what will be the equation when we compare with the heights we have cut and heights we have raised ... I cannot even start to think the damage that Mumbai has sustained... and it ain't broke yet and so, we are still in the game and hence, continuing with this madness ...

Same is the story of all the 2-tier and 3-tier cities in the country. We are not even starting to look at the desertisation that is happening to the country side. Rains are attracted by the green cover on the land. This is a simple equation. As we plan concrete, we MUST plan greens too. Harsha Bhogle once said a very interesting thing that the Australian cricket board is all about cricket and hence, they are successful at it... Indian cricket board is all about money and hence, we have all the money! It shows what happens when we have our hearts in the right place... just when Indian administrators started putting all those well-earned dollars in the right places, we started getting a far superior crop of Indian cricketers...

Isn't the lesson too obvious? We talk of spirituality being our USP as a civilisation. Are we spiritual anymore? Or is greed guiding each and every action of ours? I consider western countries like Germany better and more spiritual as a society than ours who care so much about the entire environment that they are living in and not just their living quarters ... It is already past eleventh hour; yet this is a burning question which we as a nation must figure out ASAP ... because this will decide whether we let our next generations to live or we let them die ... we must ask for that particularly important reason to ourselves... Are our hearts in the right place???

What a thought!

One of my friends is in the habit of putting some sagely advice under her name in the google id. The recent one was so good that I thought its worth sharing with absolutely everyone! I don't know where she gets these pearls or if its by her own wit ... whatever it is (and you know I am referring to you!).....  just keep the pearls coming!

So folks, here it is the present one:

'Often people attempt to live their lives backwards; they try to have more things, or more money, in order to do more of what they want, so they will be happier. The way it actually works is the reverse. You must first be who you really are, then do what you need to do, in order to have what you want'

What a thought indeed ..... Cheers to you my dear!!!

Mood alterers!

Just listening to Chak De India's title song. I was almost in a stupor and now I am awake and full of life. Strange isn't it? Just a song ... that's all it took for me to come to life and feel like I want to do something.

Songs always had this quality. Especially Indian songs with meaningful lyrics. Unlike some mind numbing guitar laden '****-ful' songs of the west (if you know what I mean ;) ). But, come to think of it, I guess movies and songs have a tremendous capacity to enhance your moods, deepen it, make you playful, sad, thoughtful, at peace .... they can and effectively, you can, control your moods by what you watch/see!

A movie like Chak de India will make you full of josh. A song like Shabd Gurbani can descend a ton of calm on our psyche or then, a Rang de Basanti can arouse millions to action while a Swades can tug at the most sensitive heart strings of Indians abroad!

If you are listening to songs, its interesting that your mood can fluctuate wildly subconsciously. I was once listening to Behka from Ghajini and then, I listened to Masakali and then, Maula mere from Chak de India. I was so full of enthusiasm which changed to a need to go out and go wild and suddenly, with Maula, felt nostalgic of not being back home ... my home... India and felt the pain of being away in a foreign land. All this in a matter of minutes!

I consider these people in the entertainment industry to be great magicians. When I hear stories of Tansen singing and making rain, I think that today's musicians and singers are pretty much capable of doing that to the emotions of an individual. Ditto for movies. You are down, or simply bored and need a good outing? Watch any of comedy flicks having Paresh Rawal! You can rest assured that at the very least, you can be chuckling so much that you will have completely refreshed yourself by the time it ends. If you want to watch a touching story as you are feeling like watching something meaningful or you want to snuggle with your partner? Watch honest flicks like Dasvidaniya ... If you want to have some tapori and bindas attitude or simply want to arouse your wild side, watch any of the bindass movies from Company to Bhiku's act to Rangeela...or then, if you want to relieve all the pent up frustration? Watch a Bheja Fry!

As you can see from my last paragraph and the progressively degraded writing, my attitude has changed quite a bit, because I am listening to a very varied set of songs right now and its pretty difficult to keep in one mood to write! Did I not title this one mood alterers!??! The songs have already altered my mood for this one ... I can't go on any more...

What is our history?

There has been a lot of debates over the last two decades in my state and subsequently, in entire India about the re-writing of History text books. I recently read some chilling facts about our history. I am saying 'some facts' since they have been attributed to some notable historians and historians have in general been very honest in their recording of history - yeah, all right, history is written by the victors. But, there are also some historians who in spite of being official historians of an era bygone, have recorded accurate account (sometimes tastelessly boastful) of what was done by whom and how.

Our politicians have shown a tremendous aversion to denting the sentiments of Muslims and Christians over the entire post-independence era in India. And, sometimes with good reasoning. But, mostly, for votebanks! Sadly, this is the truth that we were, are and will remain, business people. We know only convenience. Recently, a great artist, Shri Prabhakar Kolte remarked in an interview with  a lot of anger that we are not a nation and that we were never a nation. I got terribly angry over his comments. But, I do think he has a point. And only a nation-loving person can come to such frustration.

Let's sample some historical facts. India is a land of civilisation for centuries. It was at some point of time influenced by teachings of Bhagwan Buddha and Jain tirthankars. We have had a rich tradition of people devoted to the service of mankind and to guide people on the righteous path. This was in stark contrast to what was happening to the west of our civilisation. We had Judaism coming out of Zorastrianism (which was a civilisation like Hinduism), then Christianity from it and then Islam from Christianity. Most of them, political in nature after the demise of their founders. Most of them, aggressively propagating their religions unlike Zorastrianism and Hinduism - which practise worshipping mother nature and harmonial coexistence. Also, Christianity and Islam have engaged in bloody conflicts for capture of newer people in their sects. Though, neither Prophet Muhammad nor Lord Jesus, the son of God, ever asked their followers to do so. These messengers of peace taught what was right. What was correct. Yet, the politicians who ascended the seats vacated by the end of the teachers of these small sects at those times, completely twisted their teachings on their head.

Now, the Hindu civilisation extending from Afghanistan to as far as South East Asia was a tremendously calm and wonderfully harmonious place to be. We had small kingdoms and people were in general 'business minded' and leading a life of serenity and at peace with their surroundings. At this point, entered the Muslim invaders, first from Turkey and then from Central Asia. The conquests of these so-called future rulers of India have been probably the bloodiest in entire history of mankind. Even Hitler cannot match them. They tried to ruin an entire civilisation. In fact, they succeeded to a certain extent. Today, entire Afghanistan is Muslim. Most of Malaysia and Indonesia are Muslims. So is Central Asia. Pakistan is. But, then, Pakistan is an unnatural country whose sole existence and reason for existence is it being an anti-India entity. Beyond it, the country really has no meaning being a country with all the ingredients pulling in different directions. The Muslim invaders went on such a massive killing spree that similar to Auschwitz, we also got Hindu Kush. A mountain range dedicated to the memory of massacre of Hindus in the valley and around. The name literally means the death of Hindu. This is truth across all the Muslim rulers, the Turks, the Afghans and the Central Asia rulers. The  way they tried to kill the civilisation is recorded by their own court historians as a matter of pride. And this includes, Jalaluddin Akbar - the only monarch in Delhi who is supposed to be a lover of people of all religions and all. I found from the readings that I did, that this is not so and that even he engaged in bloody propagation of Islam!

Also, the tortures of the Portugese in India and Goa, in particular are legendary. It was worse treatment a human can inflict on another human being. It would have been better had they simply killed the people like the Muslim invaders. But, to inflict such horrendous tortures would qualify them to be history's worst torturers. They also, similar to their Muslim counterparts, have tried their best to destroy the Hindu civilisation in all its facets. The temples, people, culture, music, everything! Again, we are well aware of the ways in which other Christian missionaries used tricks over gullibles and converted them...

This is also the history that we are never taught in school. I beg to know why. Why should we not know who inflicted pain on us? Why should we not know how our forefathers had to constantly live under the threat of being barbarically killed? Why do we not mention how well organised our earlier kingdoms were and the policies practised by them? Why are we not taught that the Maratha kingdom (the most righteous kingdom ever in the modern Indian history) which spanned from Afhganistan to Travancore in South, was the one which brought  every religion and caste and creed in the India under the real umbrella of being Indian! We are taught only sparingly from that. But, we are still taught 'British' Indian history in a lot more detail than we should learn - at least thats what I think.

History has an importance in the life of a nation. It has a knack of repeating itself. Unless, we are vigilant. Unless, we learn from it. History has been repeating itself now - at least starkly enough for last two decades - in all of India in the form of Muslim terror. Politicians allowed riots. Since that allows them to say minorities are threatened and then, by giving more concessions to them and more 'protection' from actually their own agents, they try to win their votes. We are still a nation of people who do "business" and are happy and at peace with that notion of calm which business of convenience brings. But, Shivaji Maharaj, Peshwa Bajirao, Maharana Ranjit Singh all showed, business is not the profession of those who want to lead a nation. Their profession is to walk a path of righteousness, of assuring protection to all those whose profession is business. Their profession is to quash - and this is the right word - any descent to the order of things or any threat  to the existence of their nation. And we have examples from our own history for the same too.

By not teaching the 'right' history, we are discarding the unilateral thread that binds us all - and I mean all the Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, everyone! We are a nation today and an average Indian Muslim and Christian is equally proud of this heritage. Let's not allow these politicians to play dirty games with us. Let's learn our real history and let's pledge that now that we a nation, we develop this idea of India further. Let us not keep the room for grudging acceptance of what is facts. Fact is, our civilisation has faced a holocaust of its own and for centuries. Billions have lost lives in that. There is also, a Hindukush signifying the extent to which we have been persecuted. Let us learn from our history and behave like a nation... Let us learn our  REAL HISTORY!