Monday, December 31, 2012

A Song for Kabir (by my friend Allen Fraser Clark)

Image Source - Google
And of what import
is all this?
wonders Kabir,
as he sees a world
where goldfish float,
their tails hemmed
in myrrh, their bulbous eyes
fixed on Urdu soap operas.

Nowadays the only creatures
who read are a few mice
that parse the titles
on the gilded bindings
of the sacred texts
before they devour
the pages.

Friday, December 21, 2012

About Gandhi and Bose!

From the book, 'His Majesty's Opponent' -

"Subhas Bose's escape to Germany had made a great impression on Gandhiji. He had not formerly approved many of Bose's actions, but now I found a change in his outlook. Many of his remarks convinced me that he admired the courage and resourcefulness Subhas Bose had displayed in making his escape from India. His admiration for Subhas Bose unconsciously coloured his view about the whole war situation" - Abul Kalam Azad.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Can Rapes Be Stopped?

Image Source - Google
Well, there has been another rape. Another life is marred and another woman is traumatized and hospitalized. And, expectedly, and to some extent boringly, the social media is abuzz with angry comments and suggestions about neutering the rapists, hanging them and other such harsh punishments. But, wait a minute, am I the only one getting a sense of déjà vu?!

Before you stone me for being apathetic and cruel towards the pitiable plight of an innocent victim, please read on.

I may not be a great savant in psychology or sociology. I don’t boast of any qualifications necessary to convey my opinions on such sensitive topics either. But as a simple human being, and a member of the gender that is capable of committing this heinous crime, I take the liberty to put my views here.

All of us want to curb rapes. Agreed. All of us want women to be respected. No doubts about that. We all want mothers to teach their sons to treat a female as their equal. Agreed totally. We don’t want a woman to be treated as a mere object of sexual pleasure. Er… are we sure about this?!

While the parents may succeed in teaching a boy to respect a female and see beyond her physical form and treat her as a human being, what are we, as a society, doing?! Once you are out on the streets, sleaze and skin-shows pummel the young minds. Movie stars flaunt their powdered cleavages and toned torsos to sell anything – from cosmetics to cameras to chocolates. Television and movies are no better either. Buy a chocolate, a woman is going to swoon on you, buy a perfume, any woman will shed her clothes to be your playmate. Literally, any men’s product in the market today – shave gel to shirts – is being sold as an assured bait to seduce a woman.

And, the commercials for women’s products are not better, either. We teach our girls that being dark-skinned is something they should be ashamed of. A woman is not supposed to have dark color ANYWHERE in her physique, except her hair. A topic as private and sensitive for a woman as a menstrual cycle is being openly commercialized on television and the sanitary napkins are just short of a live demonstration. There are so many commercials that project a woman as nothing more than her curvaceous physique. Tell me if I had missed out any commercial that makes a man think of a woman as respectable human being.

And, by the way, which female are we taking as role model and projecting in the media? Rani Lakshmi of Jhansi? Kiran Bedi, the first female IPS officer? Sunitha Krishnan, a female who is silently working against sex-trafficking? You are a fool if you think that these are the females that are revered and idolized by the media. We worship Poonam Pandeys, Veena Maliks and Sunny Leones. Some regularly visited mail-service-provider websites are volunteering with videos that can enlighten you with information such as the reasons behind Sunny Leone becoming a porn-star, or how Sherlyn Chopra became the first Indian woman to pose nude in Playboy magazine! For that matter, what relevance does a model like Archana Vijaya or a Mandira Bedi hold to comment about Cricket? If women are to be encouraged for Cricket commentary, why not ask a Diana Edulji or an Anjum Chopra – both eminent players of the sport – to take up commentary and inspire more women to play the sport?!

Another question I find so unanswerable is that, if China, a country much larger than India, in terms of area and population, or more relevantly in terms of mobile and internet connections, can block pornography, why can’t India do that?! I don’t think there can be two thoughts when it comes to facing the fact that nothing degrades a woman like pornography, by projecting her as an ordinary sex-toy. Sex, a basic process of reproduction and sustenance of our species is now being touted as a mere source of entertainment. From movies to movie songs we have started accepting a woman’s organs being measured and described in detail. Venereal topics have become venerated.

My senseless and irrelevant point amidst all this razzamatazz and buzz - that might die in a day or two, only to be revived when the next woman falls prey – about killing the rapists is, let us all start doing something in real life, rather than simply venting out our futile anger in social media. It can be as simple an act as that of stopping a friend, who wolf-whistles when a woman passes by. Or it can be a noble act of joining an NGO that works against human trafficking. Let us raise voice first against all those media-supported commercials that exploit the feminine physique for pecuniary benefits. Let us all learn to raise voice when a woman is harassed in a bus we travel, or at the office that we work, or simply in the road that we walk.

As long as we don’t do anything to prevent such things happening in real life, I don’t think we have any moral rights to condemn or raise voice against the rapists, because a person who abets the crime is equally guilty as the one that perpetrates it. And, we all, including the person writing this, are as guilty as the rapists, because we have done nothing so far to save a woman from being exploited!

Ashok Krishna

Tuesday, December 18, 2012

A worthy note from Robin Sharma

Love this thought! :-) ♥

"Suffering has always been a vehicle for deep spiritual growth. Those who have endured great suffering are generally the ones who evolve into great beings. Those who have been deeply hurt in life are generally the ones who can feel the pain of others in a heartbeat. Those who have endured adversity become humbled by life and, as a result, are more open, compassionate and real."

Robin Sharma

Monday, December 17, 2012

Book Review – His Majesty’s Opponent, Sugata Bose

Image Source - Google
I was a young boy when I had my first introduction to ‘Netaji’ Subhas Chandra Bose, through a children’s magazine. Going through a pictographic portrayal of his life and struggle for Indian independence, I couldn’t make much about him at that time. With words like freedom, sacrifice, dedication and death not making much of a sense to my young mind, I didn’t understand him as a leader then. However, the adventures of his escape from house arrest, travel to Japan in a submarine and his death in a plane crash, have all stayed in my mind since then. Hence, when I came across this biography of him in the bookstore, I felt a bit of keenness to pick it up sometime. And, I must say that this book has added so much of details to those sketchy images that I have been carrying about him in my mind so far.

‘His Majesty’s Opponent’ is a biography of this great leader of men, compiled meticulously by his grand-nephew, Sugata Bose (grandson of his elder brother, Sarat Chandra Bose). Coming from the filial circle, this ought to be the most authentic version of his biographies. With elaborate research and extensive interviews with his contemporaries and comrades in arms, the author has done a splendid job.

Like all the great personalities, Netaji has his own share of admirers and detractors. However, no other leader’s life has ever been a bundle of adventure and mystery like that of Netaji. From the episode of the attack on a college professor to his escape from the house arrest to his marrying his Austrian love and to his death, there are so many portions of his life that still remain shrouded in mystery and uncertainty. However, his contribution to the Indian freedom struggle, his dedication to the cause of freedom of his motherland, his focus and efforts to work for the welfare and equal treatment of women, peasants, poor and underprivileged classes in society as well as the religious minorities are all beyond doubt.

The author has displayed enough tact to push at full strength the leader’s claim to glory, whenever the events are up for all to see, while he does not lift the covers completely on some of the episodes that could cause a dent to the leader’s greatness. Like the case of the attack on the college professor Edward Farley Oaten or Netaji’s having kept his own marriage hidden from the eyes of even his own family members.

However, the author has done a great job in clarifying certain sore points like Netaji’s siding up with the Germans and Japanese in the World War II, his choosing to question the correctness of Mahatma Gandhi’s political stance, and his confrontations with come bigwigs of the Congress Working Committee. While the author has steered clear of any controversy, by not questioning Mahatma’s greatness, lesser mortals like Vallabhbhai Patel and Jawaharlal Nehru are not given any such respite. The author has starkly presented the views held by Subhas regarding these people.

It is always a reality that Mahatma and Subhas have been locking horns often, with contrary views in ways to attain freedom – with Gandhi wanting to get it and Netaji wanting to wrest it. But it is also a reality that both these great humans have had mutual respect and admiration for one another at personal level. After all, isn’t that a quality of greatness?!

Another most important aspect of this book is that it establishes beyond doubt Netaji’s death due to a plane crash in Formosa Island. With elaborate details about his death, narrations by his co-passenger and survivor from that crash, Habibur Rahman, as well as some other accounts of the Japanese military personnel, he clears the mystery that surrounds Netaji’s disappearance.

It might shred the hearts of so many Indians to find that their leader did indeed die a gruesome death without seeing his dream come true, but as Subhas had always believed, ‘in this mortal world, everything perishes, and will perish, but ideas, ideals and dreams do not’, the story of his life and sacrifice will remain a beacon of hope for millions of young minds that believe in a world of equality and justice!

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Prophetic words by Subhas Chandra Bose (in 1940)!

"The more I think of Congress Politics, the more convinced I feel that in future we should devote more energy and time to fighting the High Command. If power goes into the hands of such mean, vindictive and unscrupulous persons when Swaraj is won, what will happen to the country. We should concentrate on fighting the Congress High Command now [,] and to that end, we should make alliances with other political parties wherever and whenever possible."

from the book "His Majesty's Opponent", by Sugata Bose.

Saturday, December 1, 2012

What Drawing Can Teach You About Life

Image Source - Google
Often in life, we receive some lessons directly while some other lessons are taught to us through some indirect methods. If you are one such a person, who believes that keeping eyes and ears – and most importantly the mind – is the way to learn Life, here is for you, some of the lessons that I am learning by learning the art of drawing!

1.    We can buy all the costly tomes about art, read innumerable books, purchase plenty of costly material for use, but in the absence of practice everything counts to nothing. So much like Life, where we can have myriad philosophies and theories about Life, but what counts in the end is how we LIVE our life!

2.    There are so many colors and each of them branch out as so many different hues and shades. But each of them is still worthy and deserves a place of its own. Because nobody likes a palette filled with only one color of his/her choice, no matter how favorite that color might be for him/her – just the same way about people and their personalities!

3.    While getting the tools and materials for your art, you can either choose to buy the pricey ones or opt for the cheap, cost-effective ones. But at the end of the day, it is not the price of the tools you own that matters, but the art you create with them. Just as in Life, where the price of the gadgets and toys that you own has got nothing to do, but the way you lead your Life, with or without them, is what counts!

4.    It is not always necessary to follow conventions and rigid principles. Once in a while, it is OK to forget all the rules and simply scribble and scrawl like a little kid!

5.    Two persons can view the same object from two different angles, represent it in their own different ways and still be completely correct. There is no need that the other person must be wrong in drawing the front side of the object, just because you saw the profile and drew accordingly.

6.    There are so many techniques to painting – Impressionism, Pointillism, Modern, Renaissance, etc., and all of them are special and blissful in their own way. Just because you have decided to follow one method and become an expert exponent in the same does not mean that the other methods are wrong. So like religion!

7.    No matter how great a genius you are, you still need to start every painting from the scratch, from the blank canvas. And, the praise for that painting, most of the while depends on how you have performed with THAT particular piece of work and not how you have done so far. So much like how we should start living each day as a fresh piece of Life’s canvas!

8.    Impressionism can teach you that, at times, all that you need to look at is presentation of the big picture, ignoring the meticulous, trivial details that may not need to bother you. The stain of the shirt, the temperature of the beverage, the silly misunderstandings with friends, the occasional anger with our parents, the lack of some ‘cool’ toys and gadgets and so many such things matter nothing, when we learn to count our blessings and see the much bigger canvas of Life!

9.    There are some small mistakes that we make, which can be corrected easily and leave no trace at all in the final picture. There are some errors that need a bit of effort for correction and might show up a bit at the end. Then there are some mistakes which might force us to bring in a lot of effort and do a lot of corrections and they sometimes even end up changing the entire picture. And, finally some mistakes end up marring the whole work. Caveat, just as in Life!

10.    There are some people who might find your work as a masterpiece and appreciate it a great way. Such people give you confidence. There might be others who might find it unimpressive and find so many flaws. Those critics add to your learning. And, for improving your skills you need a balanced supply of both!

11.    Not all of us can become a Dali or Raphael or Ravi Varma, but all of us are blessed with our own innate skills. And, each and every one of us has his/her own learning phase and pace. Just because you have become a master artist doesn’t mean that Life has given you any prerogative to belittle the work of a learner. With Time, every person learns!

12.    And, finally, no matter what you do, learn to enjoy what you do. Remember, that all the great works of art were produced by people who were passionate and enthusiastic about what they were doing. A grumbling Da Vinci couldn’t have produced Mona Lisa, nor could Monet have produced the ever-lively water lilies in a somber mood!

Sunday, November 4, 2012

மாரி (written by my father)

Image Source - Google
ஆழ்கடல் நீரை
அள்ளிப் பருகி
சூல் கொண்ட கார்மேகம்
சுழன்றோடி சென்றது!

மேகத்தின் வண்ணத்தில்
மோகித்த குளிர்வாடை அதில்
மோதித் திளைத்ததினால் மாறி
முத்தாய் முகிழ்ந்து சொரிந்தது!

வான் பார்த்து வாடி
வனப்பிழந்த பசும்புல்
மேனி சிலிர்த்தது
மெல்ல நிமிர்ந்தது!

நாள் பார்த்து, காய்ந்த
நன்னிலம் பார்த்து நலிந்த விவசாயி
தேனாய் மழை பொழிய
தீரா உவகையுடன்

எருதோடு ஏர் பூட்டி
எண்ணற்ற வலு கூட்டி
கடைமடை வரை காட்டை
கடிதாய் உழுதான்

கோடை பொறுக்காமல்
குமுறி தவித்தோர்கள்
வாடையோடு நல்வருணன்
வாரிப் பொழிந்ததனால்

ஓடைக் குளிர் நீரில்
ஆடிக் குளித்தார்கள்
ஆடிப் பெருக்கென்று
பாடிக் களித்தார்கள்.

பாலாய் வழிந்தோடி
பாய்ந்து பொழிந்து விட்டு
பகட்டும் பவிசுமின்றி
நூலாய் இளைத்து விட்ட

சீராடும் அருவியெல்லாம் நீர்
சீறிப் பாய்ந்து வர
நீராடும் உறவுகளால்
நிரம்பிச் சிரித்தன!

ஊற்றுக்கும் நீரின்றி
உலர்ந்து உறைந்திட்ட
ஆற்றுப் படுகையெல்லாம்
அமுதாய் வழிந்தோட

சோற்றுக்கென மற்றோர்
மாற்றுத்துணிகளை மருவின்றி
தோய்த்தெடுக்கும் தொழிலாளி
வேர்த்து விறுவிறுத்து விரைவாய்ப் பணி மேவ

காற்றுக்கெனவும் – கண்
காட்சிக்கெனவும் – மலர்
தோட்டம் துரவென்றும்
தோகை செடியென்றும்

பார்த்துப் பார்த்து அதைப்
பாங்காய் வளர்ப்போரும்
பாத்தி சரி செய்து
பதமாய் சமன் செய்து

நீர்ப்பெருக்கை அதில்
நிறைப்பதோடல்லாமல்
நீரூற்றும் சமைத்து
நிழல் குடையுமமைக்க

பட்டு விட்ட தருவெல்லாம் - நீர்
பட்டு விட்ட தருணமே
பட்டென்று தளிர் விட்டு
படர்ந்து பனித்தனவே!

ஏரி குளமெல்லாம்
எவ்வளமுமில்லாமல்
காய்ந்து சருகாகி
கடிதாகி போகையிலே

மாரி பெருக்கெடுத்து
மடையெல்லாம்  நிறைகையிலே
வான் பறவை மட்டுமல்ல
வண்ணமயமான - நீர்

வாழ்கின்ற ஜீவன்களும்
பேருவகைப் பெருக்கெடுக்க
சீரோடு பெருகினவே -
சிறப்பெல்லாம் எய்தனவே!

ஆறு குளம் ஏரி
ஆழ்கிணறு அகழி வரை
அலை அலையாய் நீர் புரள
அதனாலே வளம் பெருக

எங்கெங்கும் பசுமை
ஏதுமில்லை வெறுமையென
எவ்வளவோ சீர் பெருகி
அவ்வளவும் சிறக்கையிலே -

பாருக்கு நற்பயனை
பரிசளிக்கும் பருவ மழை
பதமாய்ப்  பொழியாமல் – சற்றே
பலமாய்ப் பெருக்கெடுத்து

வீதி நிறைத்த வெள்ளம்
ஆறு சென்றடைந்து
அலை மீறிப் பாய்கையிலே
அணை மீறிப் போகையிலே

ஆழ்கடல் நிலை மாறி
அலையெல்லாம் மேலேறி
ஆங்காங்கே பேராழி
அழிவாகி அமைகையிலே

போற்றித் துதித்து
புகழ் பாடி மகிழ்ந்தோரும்
தீங்கு விளைந்ததினால்
தீராத சினம் கொண்டு

தூற்றி வசை பாடி
தூவென்று இகழ்ந்தனரே -
இரண்டும் எனக்கொன்றென்று மாறி
இனிதாய் நகைத்தனளே!

மாரி போல் மாந்தரெல்லாம்
போற்றலும் தூற்றலும்
பொதுவென்று கொண்டால்
மாற்றமுண்டு ஏற்றமுண்டு!

கிருஷ்ணாஜி

Tuesday, October 16, 2012

पूरण सूरज ग्रहण / Total Solar Eclipse (a poem by Sh.Gulzar)

This is a lovely poem that I came across in the book 'Neglected Poems' by Sh.Gulzar. The translation to English is done by Sh.Pavan K.Varma. Happy to share this with you all!  :-)

Image Source - Google
पूरण सूरज ग्रहण
कॉलेज के रोमांस में ऐसा होता था
डेस्क के पीछे बैटे बैटे
चुपके से दो हाथ सरकते
धीरे धीरे पास आते...
और फिर एक, अचानक पूरा हाथ पकड़ लेता था
मुटटी में भर लेता था
सूरज ने युहीं पकड़ा हैं चाँद का हाथ फलक में आज!

 
Total Solar EclipseIn college romances it used to happen so:
From behind a desk two hands
Would furtively, slowly, one would completely hold the other
Cover it fully by the palm;
Today the sun has caught the hand of the moon
Just like that

Sunday, October 7, 2012

Another Excerpt from the book - 'Messages From The Masters'

In view of the innumerable 'super-gurus' and 'saints' selling spirituality these days, this serves as a helpful lesson in discerning the real spiritualists. Thank you, Brian Weiss!  :-)

// "The key to discerning a real teacher from a pretender is to follow your own intuitional wisdom. Do the teachings feel right to you? Are they loving, compassionate, non-violent and fear-reducing?  Do they include all other groups, all other humans as equals, as divine souls on the same path of destiny? Do they teach that one is no better than the other, that we are all rowing the very same boat? And do they acknowledge that though they can point out the way, they cannot “bring you” to spiritual fulfillment? Only you can reach your goal, because ultimately our journey home is an inward journey, a personal return." //

Wednesday, October 3, 2012

How to make changes around - From 'Messages From The Masters'

"We all dream of a better life in a better society. However, it has become difficult to go through a complete day without becoming disillusioned, disappointed, and drained by the mean-spirited and selfish people who surround us. So many people seem to be interested only in their personal gain. They have become rude and arrogant, critical and insensitive. Not only do their actions drag us down, but most of us feel that there’s nothing we can do to change this, that only those in power have the capacity to make a difference.

If we accept our task to be the enlightened beings of our planet, we can begin to change the world. Realistically, I think the changes will occur slowly as we begin to practice acts of kindness every day, doing little things to help make other people happier. Perhaps the answer is volunteering to help the less fortunate. Perhaps it’s something as simple as being nice to someone, doing a kindness without asking for or expecting anything in return."

- From the book ‘Messages From the Masters’ by Brian L.Weiss

Book Review – Unaccustomed Earth, Jhumpa Lahiri

Give her a recipe with the following ingredients – NRI families in the USA, especially from West Bengal, neither old nor young, neither settled nor adrift, lives spiced up with emotions, with lots and lots of cooking to be written in between, and you can expect Jhumpa Lahiri to produce palatable stories for satiation. ‘Unaccustomed Earth’ is no exception!
This is the third book by this author and my third interaction with her ideas too. The book is a collection of eight short stories, with the last three deserving to be published as a novella themselves, since they are more of the episodes of the same story, rather than individual stories.

As always, Jhumpa has woven a colorful and lovely tapestry of human emotions, riding on her previous successes of ‘The Namesake’ and ‘Interpreter of Maladies’. These are characters that we might meet in our daily lives and interact on the markets or malls. These aren’t the fictional heroes and heroines of NRI lore, roaming around in costly cars or residing in swanky mansions. These are normal human beings, with loads of emotions and yearnings of their own, trying to come to terms with the fact of being in a stranger in a foreign land but at the same time not having their roots properly rooted in their native land either. With the background of this emotional chaos and their inner loneliness, they go through life and the other surprise packages that Life shares with each and every one of us.
The first story in the book, which shares the same title as the book, ‘Unaccustomed Earth’ is the story of a septuagenarian NRI who has recently lost his wife, but found a companion to fulfill the needs of companionship and the deep bond, not to forget the sense of belonging that comes with having a person of one’s own. The story revolves around the protagonist and his daughter and how graciously she accepts his need for a companion.

‘Hell-Heaven’ tells a subtle love story of a married Bengali woman – through her daughter’s words - that finds solace amidst her lonely NRI existence in the form of a Bengali stranger, whom she meets by chance. The person goes on to become a family friend and shares so many interests with the woman and makes her feel special and gives her the care and importance that her husband has not succeeded in giving. The woman develops a deep interest for the man, only to suffer deep emotional wounds when she finds him developing emotions for another woman and settling in life with her. Was the love worthy? Check it out.
‘A Choice of Accommodations’ is a story of an Indian man, married to an American woman 5 years elder than him. The age difference has got nothing to do with the story. It is rather a simple story of how love vanishes a few years into marriage and how routine makes people take things for granted, things which they once found so cherishable. It is a strange story of emotions being rekindled and love being rediscovered with a physical relationship at the strangest of places.

‘Only Goodness’ is the story of a younger brother becoming an alcoholic and losing out in life on more aspects than one, due to the elder sister’s ‘friendly’ offers. It goes on to show how one alcoholic in the family ruins the entire soul of a family and how the woman’s deeply-seated guilt at having introduced her brother to the drinks comes back to haunt and ruin her peaceful family life.
‘Nobody’s Business’ – what would you do when you have a friend, or even an acquaintance, who is being cheated by a philanderer? What would you do when another woman calls up asking for your support in getting her person back, only to brand you as a liar later on? Whom will you support in the game where a man plays with the emotions of more than one woman and uses them as mere pawns for his personal gratification? This story answers it all.

‘Hema and Kaushik’ – This story is split into three segments that could have very much been published as a separate novella. Hema is a young girl in an NRI Bengali family, who goes through life watching her parents accommodate another NRI Bengali family, trying to grapple certain hidden issues of its own. Kaushik is a boy of the other NRI Bengali family, trying to settle once again in the USA, but accommodated into Hema’s house for the time-being. How both of them create tangles of emotions in one another, how Life conspires to bring them back into one another’s lives and how Life decides who will stay with whom is all this segment is about.

As always, I found each of these stories readable and relatable. And, Jhumpa Lahiri’s vivid descriptions make you a part of the scene rather than keep you a mere reader. Her eye for details and the attention to the minutest of information in the scene is both a boon and a bane.

But, to tell something frankly to Jhumpa, it is a little tiresome to read only about Bengalis in USA. I, for one, believe that there are other Indians, from other parts of this country, settled in the USA. I know she is playing to her strength and isn’t willing to dilute her style. But she can’t always be dealing her trump card or delivering her best punch every time. She can do a bit of research about other cultures and inculcate them in her writings. Because, the more she is going to write, the themes and scenes have this risk of appearing repetitive and the zing will be lost with all the stories starting to sound like one another.

Also, I know that she is writing about NRI culture. But I found too much of focus on promiscuity, explicit discussions of sex, fleeting relationships and drinking to be a bit annoying. Paulo became boring when he repeatedly started using sex and wine as the only things to spice up his writing. I am not saying that she shouldn’t be explicitly writing certain things. But rather, if she adds more things like this in every story, it will be more of an erotica rather than an emotional indulgence. And, I, for one, don’t pick up Jhumpa’s works, hoping for any erotic gratification!

Overall, a good book, with its occasional flaws and staggered flows, but worth picking a copy of your own!

Tuesday, October 2, 2012

ट्राफिक सिग्नल / Traffic Signal, by Sh.Gulzar

This morning, came across this poem in the book 'Neglected Poems', a collection of poems by Sh.Gulzar. Was pleasantly surprised to find the theme very similar to my humble work, 'Guilty Coins'. Happy to see that one of my poems is matching the wavelength of a great poet himself.  :-)

ट्राफिक सिग्नल
होंट हिलते हैं भिकारी के, सुनाई नहीं देता
हाथ के लफ़ज उछालते हैं, वो कुछ बोल रहा हैं
थपथपाता हैं हर इक कार का शीशा आकर
और उजलत में हैं
ट्राफिक के सिग्नल पे नज़र हैं!

'चेंज' हैं तो सही
कौन इस गर्मी में अब कार का शीशा खोले
अगले सिग्नल पे सही
रोज़ कुछ देना ज़रूरी हैं, खुदा राज़ी रहे!


Traffic Signal (English translation of the same, by Sh.Pavan K.Varma)

The beggar's lip move, but can't be heard
Words, formed by hands, spring up
Indicating that something is being said.
He taps the panes of every car
And is in a hurry
His eyes are on the traffic signal.

I have some change
But in this heat who wants to open the window
At the next signal then...
God be pleased, something must be donated every day!

Sunday, September 30, 2012

Excerpts from 'Messages From The Masters', by Brian L.Weiss

Every line of the book 'Messages From The Masters' by Brian L.Weiss is proving to be worthy of contemplation and inculcation. Sharing a portion of the book here.



"Since it is important to love and honor yourself, you should not remain in a destructive relationship, even if you feel that you love the other person. The connection with that person might not work because of your partner’s problems, lack of understanding, or exercise of free will, but it is important to remember that love is timeless. You will have many more chances to get it right.

See the other person clearly, and don’t put that person on a pedestal. Your parents, your teachers, your authority figures are just people like you. They have their own fears, doubts, anxieties, and imperfections. They also have their own agendas, and sometime you are a pawn in their games. See them as equals, as your brothers and sisters. Their judgements carry no extra weight. Consider their opinions. They may be wise. They may be right. But they may also be wrong."

Monday, September 24, 2012

An Excerpt from 'Messages From The Masters'

These are some wise lines from the book 'Messages From The Masters', by Brian L.Weiss -

"Projection is the psychological action of denying your fear and unconscious motivations and then giving these fears and motives to others. Be careful not to project your hidden feelings onto another or to ascribe motives and intent when there are none. This distortion of reality harms both you and the other."

Thursday, September 20, 2012

An Open Appeal To All Islamic Brothers

19th September ‘12

It was another morose and sweltering afternoon in Chennai. What made the sweating and the heat worse was that the bus wasn’t moving from its place for the last 25 minutes and with the driver turning off the engine, there didn’t seem to be any chances of the bus moving in any short while either. With the music player and the book I was reading proving incapable of offering any comfort, I turned to listen to the talks of the people around me. I heard that the traffic in the city was diverted from towards Mount Road to the Beach Road. The cause – people are staging protest against American Government at Mount Road!

Then slowly the information spread across the bus – there was this blasphemous movie produced in the USA, which has shown the Prophet Mohammed in a very bad light. And, all the Muslims are protesting against it. I was just starting to wonder – are we moving in the right direction and are we fighting in the right way!

I don’t remember the exact verse, but having read the Holy Koran out of respect and interest, I can say for sure that there is a verse to this effect, which, when paraphrased, goes like this – “When the ignorant and non-believing people argue, the wise, believing people will not argue with them, but rather they’d say ‘Peace be upon you’ and move ahead with their work”. Now I know that some of the wisest and well-meaning people are fighting against the movie. But what is the point in fighting against the movie when the best way to defeat it would be to ignore it?!

First of all, not many people were aware of the movie in the first place. Thanks to these ‘protests’ and ‘road-blockades’ the word about the movie has spread and the same is all over the news, social networks, calls and every other form of media. More people are now curious to see the movie, which has only resulted in the movie becoming more popular than it ought to have been in the first place.

Second, being a so-called ‘secular’ country, the Indian government has managed to block the access to the movie in Youtube and some other countries in the Asian region have also done the same. But as we all know better, Youtube is only one option to spread videos or content of graphic nature. In this age of fast networks and instant interactions, it is almost impossible to prevent the spreading of any information. The best way to defeat the movie would have been to not speak about it at all, rather than create quite a ruckus over it.

Three, any sane person would agree that the Prophet, as like any other great soul that walked on this Earth, is a person worthy of respect and casting aspersions on such a person is only the work of uncivilized, dirty and immature mind. We’d rather go by ignoring such dimwits, rather than start up arguing with such people at their levels and bring down the respectable Prophet to the level of an ordinary human being in need of explanation and justification. Because, those who stand the middle-ground will never be bothered about who says what about the people they respect and those non-believers are going to see only what they want to!

Four, what are we trying to prove by storming into the offices of the American Embassy?! The sight of gun-wielding policemen, prepared to confront any crowd and standing vigil at the vicinity of the Embassy is sore. Will the Prophet or for that matter even Allah the God Himself will really accept hurting the innocent ones in the name of fighting blasphemy?! If you claim that not all Muslims are terrorists and bad people – I believe strongly that Muslims aren’t terrorists - you have to equally trust that not all Americans are bad and against Islam either. Just because one idiot made a dumb movie doesn’t make the whole of Americans blasphemers.

Already one precious life is lost in these ‘protests’ against the movie. And, the more we indulge in violence like pelting stones and hurting innocent bystanders, we are only adding fuel to the fire. It is a shot in the arm for those detractors to attack the tenets of Islam with a much higher vigor. They can now claim that Islam is more about terrorism and violence than about love and peace. Should we give them a chance for that?!
Just imagine yourself as one of the passengers. You might be a pregnant woman feeling queasy, or an old man that didn’t get any seat in the bus, or a young girl who is suffering from nature’s calls but unable to find a place to go, a guy who is going for office or any urgent time-based commitment. Will you be accepting the cause that is being fought for – no matter how genuine or worthy it might be?! Or will you be feeling angry against the people that are blocking the road and obstructing the traffic?! Trust me, on these occasions, people feel more against the agitators rather than in side with the cause.

My humble opinion is, the movie should have been ignored and let die a silent death, rather than having been given such a huge popularity. All my experiences with the followers of Islam have been pleasant and peaceful. I remember friends who shared food and clothes with the poor voluntarily, people who spoke well and practised against social ills of drinking and smoking, friends who helped the studies of fellow students without expecting anything in return, people who helped those in financial struggle and lent them money without taking any interest, a friend who worked hard in the evenings in beedi workshops to save his poor family and continue his studies but who was high in self-respect that he refused to accept any monetary help from others and a poor old woman who used to sell snacks near my school and made two visits to the Haj with her meager earnings!

When there comes a time to guide my younger generation, I will talk to them only about all those nice friends, the goodness of Islam as a religion, the rights of women as given in Islam, the five noble duties of a Muslim, how Islam is against the social evils of gambling, adultery, adulteration, smoking, drinking, money-lending and so on. I don’t even have time to watch or remember such filthy movies or change my good opinions about Islam over such meaningless rubbish produced by some nondescript moron. Because I have read the Quran and understood the message and also none of the Muslim friends that I was fortunate to have, had ever carried a weapon or bomb in his hands or even at home. All that I had felt with my friends of Islam, or for that matter, friends of any religion, is only love and warmth and a feeling of being with an extended family.

During childhood, I was so scared of dogs. My father used to tell me that I shouldn’t be scared and should not definitely run when they bark. He told me that if I run, they are going to chase me and make it all the more difficult for me. He told me that I should rather ignore them and keep walking without even looking at them. Whenever I come across dogs, I still remember his words. Of course, the dogs still bark, bare their teeth and snarl for a while. But as I move ahead on my path ignoring them completely, they just whine and go back to their lazy and lowly existence.

I wish you people try to understand what I am trying to convey! Islam is a way of life and not just a religion. Prophet Mohammed does not need us to protest and protect his name. He is a great human being for the things that he was able to convey to us. Those who are wise will always know it and there is no way for the not-so-wise to understand his greatness. As Quran says in another place, ‘only people whom Allah has ordained, will be able to understand His messages. He has already sealed the minds of the ignorant and He has raised a curtain around them. They are destined to wallow in ignorance’!

Let us stop stoning every dog that barks at us and let us proceed on the path of positive progress by spreading the good things about Islam. I prefer speaking good things about Islam and thus proving the detractors wrong. Pelting stones and obstructing lives of the innocent people is not Islam. Because Islam for me is about the five sacred duties and the unwavering loyalty to the One God and belief in words of His prophet! Nothing else!

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

பாரதியார் கவிதை - வேண்டுவன

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வேண்டுவன


மனதிலுறுதி வேண்டும்
வாக்கினிலே இனிமை வேண்டும்
நினைவு நல்லது வேண்டும்
நெருங்கின பொருள் கைப்பட வேண்டும்

கனவு மெய்ப்பட வேண்டும்
கைவசமாவது விரைவில் வேண்டும்
தனமு மின்பமும் வேண்டும்
தரணியிலே பெருமை வேண்டும்

கண் திறந்திட வேண்டும்
காரியத்திலுறுதி வேண்டும்
பெண் விடுதலை வேண்டும்
பெரிய கடவுள் காக்க வேண்டும்

மண் பயனுற வேண்டும்
வானகமிங்கு தென்பட வேண்டும்
உண்மை நின்றிட வேண்டும்
ஓம்! ஓம்! ஓம்! ஓம்!

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Excerpt - Messages From The Masters, Brian L.Weiss



Some authors are special, because their words have the ability to jump out of the pages and speak to us directly. The following is an excerpt from the book ‘Messages From The Masters’ by Brian Weiss. Looks like the perfect advice for the current emotional turmoil that I am finding myself in.

// Progress is not always linear. You may be very advanced when it comes to charity and compassion, but more of a novice concerning anger or patience. It is important not to judge yourself. If you don't judge yourself or allow others to judge you, you will not become frustrated. //

Tuesday, September 11, 2012

An excerpt from a letter by Mahatma Gandhi to Nehru!

An excerpt from a letter by Mahatma Gandhi to Jawaharlal Nehru -

"They do not realise that I shall cease to be useful as soon as I cease to be myself. It is a wretched situation, but I do not despair. My faith is in God. I know only the moment's duty. It is given to me to know more. Why then should I worry?"

Friday, September 7, 2012

Book Review - 'The Namesake' by Jhumpa Lahiri

Image Source - Google
06th September ‘12

It is hardly minutes since I closed the book for the last time and I am forced to write this down. Seldom has a book given me an empty feeling, a sort of a vacuum, a feeling of strange bereavement, as if I have lost a friend, when I finish reading it. This book left a deep impact within me, making me feel bad that it is over. I was at once feeling happy and sad for having picked this up. This is one of those books that absorb you within and make you feel a part of the story every now and then.

‘The Namesake’ is Jhumpa Lahiri’s first novel and my second tryst with the writing skills of this author. I have never been keen on reading novels, especially those that scare me with the size and soap opera sentiments printed inside them. But, ‘The Namesake’ has been an exception and quite a revelation at that.

As for the story, Ashoke and Ashima are a simple Bengali couple from Calcutta, of the late 1960s, who settle down in the USA, trying to acclimatize and create a world for themselves in the new country and the new continent, all the while struggling to cling on to their roots and keeping their bonds alive across the world, in India. They give birth to a son, who is named ‘Gogol’ under unenviable circumstances, named after his father Ashoke’s favorite author and a writer with whom Ashoke shares an esoteric bond. However, as Gogol grows up he starts hating his name for the combined uniqueness and the rareness of the same. He is not quite comfortable playing the role of an NRI either, since he shares no perceptible emotional bond with the homeland, India, unlike his parents, who have been brought up in the humble, simple, rich traditional surroundings of this country.

Gogol - or Nikhil, as he comes to call himself - grows up as one of those innumerable children of the NRI parents, who don’t feel the need to abide by the traditions and upbringing of their parents’ native country. He is born American and he immerses himself all qualities American – be it good or bad. He grows up as a pot-smoking, drinking teenager with some intimate affairs and saucy relationships in his kitty. He also tries to distance himself from his parents and all the retrograde traditions and mindset of them, as he sees it. But, some unpleasant incidents, one after the other, follow and he slowly learns that a man’s identity is not just in his name and his roots and relationship are what matter the most.

The book begins at the birth of Gogol and makes us leave him at one of the most crucial times of his life. All along the book, Jhumpa succeeds in making you feel as if you are sitting alongside the characters, watching them eat, listening to their conversations, ogling at their sensuality, grieving at their pains and smiling at their happiness. Page after page of emotional journey is mapped out and you feel as if you are a part of Gogol’s life as he moves on from stroller to high-school to higher academics to the life of an adult.

There is a tinge of irony in this book though - I happen to be the ‘Namesake’ of the father’s character and share his interest for reading – especially the Russian authors - while his son reminds me a lot about myself in my past. Be it the love relationship, be it the way he feels about his parents, be it the way he feels suspended between two different cultures, be it the emotional pangs and distress he is subjected too, Gogol reminds me of a person that I was and I am. I couldn’t resist a drop of tear welling up when one of the lead characters ‘departs’. It is only a character in the book that can be brought alive by turning back the pages, but being the kind of author that she is, Jhumpa manages to make you feel as if it is one of your own kin and kith that you have lost!

Jhumpa Lahiri succeeds in making you feel a part of the scenes with her excellent and exceptional portrayal skills. The amount of details that she packs into each page is amazing. But the same can prove to be a little tedious at times too. The elaborate description about the food items, furniture, architecture, travels, restaurants, garments and so on, is sometimes too tiring. Especially, when she explains the preparation of dishes, it sounds as if you are reading a cookbook. This could appeal to people with a desire for culinary skills, but for someone like me, whose culinary skills are unenviable and limited to using a kettle and refrigerator to change the temperature of the water, I find them too tiring.

There are authors with an eye for details. Jhumpa Lahiri is an author with eyes and eyelids, nose and nostrils, ear and earlobes, mouth and teeth for details.
But ignoring the lengthy description of products, prices, cuisines, places, eateries, attires and furniture, this is an amazing book of life and emotions. If you are a person that loves reading books which kindle your emotions and make you delve deep into yourself while sharing the journey of those characters in the plot, this book is for you.

Pick this up! This is one book which you do not want to miss in your life!

Thursday, September 6, 2012

Excerpt from the book ‘The Namesake’. About me?! ;-)

Does it ring a bell to you?! Coz’ it does to me!  ;-)
 
“Not your ordinary guy, Nikolai Gogol,” Mr.Lawson says. “He is celebrated  today as one of Russia’s most brilliant writers. But during his life he was understood by no one, least of all himself. One might say he typified the phrase ‘eccentric genius.’ Gogol’s life, in a nutshell, was a steady decline into madness. The writer Ivan Turgenev described him as an intelligent, queer and sickly creature. He was reputed to be a hypochondriac and a deeply paranoid, frustrated man. He was, in addition, by all accounts, morbidly melancholic, given to fits of severe depression. He had trouble making friends. He never married, fathered no children. It’s commonly believed he died a virgin.”

Thursday, August 30, 2012

Book Review - The Gnostic Gospels, Elaine Pagels

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The history of the world religions has always been a fascinating subject for me, since I loved playing the role of the Devil’s Advocate and always took a strange, self-righteous pleasure in questioning many of the tenets and events in those scriptures.

When I picked up ‘The Gnostic Gospels’, I was of the opinion that this is to be another book in the lines of a ‘Jesus Lived in India’ or a ‘Holy Blood and Holy Grail’, woven around facts and what-could-have-been-the-facts. I am disappointed on the positive side with my expectation, because this book is of the genuine genre and does leave you in no doubt over the events or incidents, since the author does not, in any place, ‘assume’ as to what could have happened!

This is a book of sheer historical nature and a true one at that. The author views the origin of the Orthodox Church as we know it today, in light of the discovery of the ancient scrolls in the Nag Hammadi caves. In 1945, an Egyptian shepherd, Muhammad Ali, identified some earthen jars that contained scrolls of vellum and papyrus carrying the wisdom that has come to be known as the forbidden gospels of the Gnostics. These contained the gospels attributed to some of the most unlikely disciples and followers of Jesus Christ, like Mary Magdalene, Thomas and Philip. The author discusses and analyses the reason as to why the words of some disciples have been banned as heresy, while some others have been accepted partially, while some others have gone on to form the bedrock of Christian principles as we know them today. And, she does it not just from a religious perspective, but rather from a political and social angle.

Starting at the historical circumstances that led to the discovery, analysis and publicizing the scrolls of the Nag Hammadi caves, the author presents the different views of the Gnostics and the Orthodox share with regard to the Crucifixion and the subsequent Resurrection of Jesus Christ, and the need for Monotheism and unified authority of the one church under one bishop, the gender interpretation of the Creator, the presence of the Demiurge (the probable Rex Mundi of the Cathars) and the persecution and Passion of the Christ. She finally presents arguments from both sides as to whose church is the true church – Gnostics or Orthodox. She suggests as to what made Orthodox Church an all-hugging, omnipresent institution, while Gnosticism remained in seclusion for the selected few, at least in the early days.

If you are looking for the controversial flavor of the ‘Holy Blood and Holy Grail’ or the fictional or probably elements of a ‘Jesus Lived in India’, please don’t pick this up. This is a well-researched and well-documented book of intensity that presents arguments from both the sides and quotes abundantly from both Gnosticism as well as Orthodoxy. Though the author herself confesses at the end that she prefers Orthodoxy instead of Gnosticism, nowhere in the book can you feel such partiality. She has stood the middle-ground while writing the book and you can feel it when you get to read valid and genuine arguments from both the sides over each and every topic.

One thing that I don’t understand is, Jesus lived in this world and delivered some worthy messages for us, all humans, to follow. Why should it matter, whether he got married, ate or slept like ordinary mortals, whether he really suffered at the cross or not, whether he really came back from the dead in physical form or not or whether he really visited India or not?! He has given us some absolute words of wisdom. Rather than following the map, why are we sitting at the roadside and discussing the colors of the lines used?!

Overall, this is a great book to pick, if you are a fan of religious histories and ancient wisdom.

Ashok Krishna

Tuesday, August 28, 2012

Excerpt from the book 'The Gnostic Gospels'.

These lines are attributed to the words of Jesus Christ as per the Gospel of Thomas. I love these lines!

// If those who lead you say to you, 'See, the kingdom is in the sky,' then the birds of the sky will precede you. If they say to you, 'It is in the sea,' then the fish will precede you. Rather, the kingdom is inside of you, and it is outside of you. When you come to know yourselves, then you will become known, and you will realize that it is you who are the sons of the living father. But if you will not know yourselves, you dwell in poverty and it is you who are that poverty - Gospel of Thomas. //

Monday, August 27, 2012

An Old Joke!

A lady manager of a big reputed office noticed a new man one day and told him to come into her office.

" What is your name?" was the first thing she asked the new guy.

"John ," the new guy replied.

She scowled, "Look... I don't know what kind of a namby-pamby place you worked before, but I don't call anyone by their first name. It breeds familiarity and that leads to a breakdown in authority. I refer to my employees by their last name only ... Smith, Jones, Baker ...that's all. I am to be referred to only as Mrs. Robertson. Now that we got that straight,   what is your last name?"

The new guy sighed, "Darling..... ....... My name is John Darling."

" Okay John, the next thing I want to tell you is . . ."


Tuesday, August 21, 2012

My Ordeal with a ‘Fair’ Bride (Part Three)

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In India, liking a girl’s photo is just the beginning and it sets off a big mechanism. The guy is supposed to make a visit to the girl’s place with his relatives, friends and whoever-else-cares-for-an-evening-at-a-stranger’s-place-with-coffee-and-snacks. This is when he gets to have a direct look at the girl. This occasion is normally used by the boy’s side to show their ‘might’, their arrogance, and to settle the bargains and negotiations about the monetary aspects involved in a wedding and to start the relationship on a note of strength by proving to the girl’s family as to who will call the shots in future.

The girl’s family will always fall behind and play it soft. Even though they play the hosts, even though they offer all the snacks and coffee (or tea), even though it is their daughter that is going to make that guy complete, they still play second fiddle happily. The father will silently accede to all the demands of the guy’s family and the mother will be silently taking in all the scenes with a calm and forced smile, since they both know that they have a daughter to get married now and hence cannot afford to talk in terms of protecting or projecting one’s self-respect. But, trust me, the mother will be calmly assuring herself that when her son is going to get married, she will wring the neck of that girl’s family and have her vengeance for all this humiliation.

Wait, I have digressed, but this how most Indian families get their daughters married off. Now, I didn’t want any such happenings or demanding relatives to come and jeopardize my opportunity to marry this ‘very fair’ girl. So, I told my parents that only my immediate family will go – my parents, my sister, her husband and myself – and see the girl. My mother was hesitating in the beginning, since she had some plans to bring her not-so-favorite in-laws (read, ‘my aunts’) to see how she is going to get a rich and pretty fair bride for her son. But knowing my attitude and adamant nature, she gave in.

So, an auspicious day was fixed and we travelled to the girl’s place. With all the initial welcoming formalities and fake smiles were presented, we were made to sit in the big living room of that girl’s house. I was so keen to see the prospective, nay, the DEFINITE wife.

There she came!!! Clad in a dark blue silk saree and in a sleeveless blouse of a matching color, she walked into the hall. Wow! What a fairness! Such a fairy-like fairness! I appreciated my inventing a new word  ‘fairy-like fairness’ and decided to note it down in my diary, so that I could show it to my wife later and brag about my language skills. While my eyes were fixed on her face, my mind was doing all such dreamy calculations.
 
Meanwhile, my brother-in-law signaled surreptitiously to me, pointing at my eyes and my mouth. Only when my sister, who was sitting next to me, pinched my thigh slyly, did I realize that I had been staring all the while at the girl in a wide-eyes-and-open-mouth expression. What a shame! Thank God, there was no sign of drool near my mouth. I appreciated my dignity!

But amidst all the scenes of happiness, I noticed a specimen – a dark-skinned woman who was walking alongside my bride and was standing near her when she sat. What a contrast! Looking at both of them together, I was reminded of my chess board, where the opposing pawns happen to stay in front of one another, presenting a picture of contrast. I decided to tell my bride that she shouldn’t keep such ugly personalities nearby, allowing it to spoil her charm.

Meanwhile, my prospective father-in-law saw my enthusiasm – to dignify my drooling expression – and he said, “Why not let the boy and girl talk in privacy?”

Man, was I flying?!

(To be ended with the next installment...)

Happy New Year 2024!

As the first Sun of 2024 went back home, I was busy preparing my new diary and journal, packing off the old ones to their crammed space insi...