Unplugged - Anything Anywhere!!

Now We Should Fight For Accountability

2011-09-14T07:52:00.003+05:30

Just consider the following events:

Mark Papermaster, a 25 year veteran at IBM who had been the vice president of IBM's microprocessor technology development, was sacked from Apple as the Senior Vice President of Engineering for a design flaw in iPhone, the problem which Apple's CEO Steve Job referred to as Antennagate. He was just out for one design flaw that had some (??) impact on Apple's revenue.
Carol Bartz, the gorgeous CEO of Yahoo was sacked over phone because she failed to revive the fallen glory of the company.
Steve Jobs, one of the founders of Apple, was sacked from his own company by the investors in 1985, because they didn't share Steve's vision.
And then there are the regular Employee Appraisal process, the Corrective Action Programs (CAP) and many other systems and processes at almost every professionally managed companies around the world where any who fails to perform properly is first warned and then kicked out.

The key to good performance of any organization is continuous tracking of the performance of every individual, whoever he or she may be, and get the under performers out of the system. It's survival for the fittest. It's veer bhogya vasundhara, the world is for the powerfuls, the intelligents. But when someone is asked to leave an organization it doesn't mean that he or she is useless. There may be other places where the same person can excel and thrive. But the key is kicking out people who fail to perform. This is applicable from the CEO to the lowest peon in an office. Everyone serves someone, my house maid serves me, I serve my company, my CEO serves the investors and the board of governors. Everyone is a servant, some private some public. And like I have the authority to ask my maid servant to not come from tomorrow if I'm not happy with her performance, I'm also vulnerable to be kicked out if I under perform.

But then why our public servants - the ministers, the corporators, all the government employees, etc are exempted of being kicked. They are our servants, very much like my maid servant. I pay them their salaries. And I should be the one assessing their performance, isn't it? But can I sack the engineer whose lack of planning has led to unprecedented delays in making a bridge. Can I sack the minister who has failed to do what he had promised before the election? At least the ministers have a five year window after which they can be dismissed by the people. But what about the equal thugs, the IPS, the IAS and the so many other servants in various departments? There's no debate on the topic that government employees enjoy some special immunity which make them lethargic and less efficient. They all know that they are not accountable to anyone and that their masters (I, you everyone) are impotent.

I feel the next biggest fight, after fighting against corruption, should be the fight for making the Public Servants accountable and 'kickable'. Their appraisals should be published publicly, because they are public servants, they too should be brought under the ambit of three sixty degree feedback where their masters, we, will be asked to assess their performances, and their hikes and promotions should be based on annual appraisals.

Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka Jaye He

2011-08-28T16:02:00.003+05:30

That's what I felt when Anna broke the fast. Yes, this is the victory for the power of the Mind of the people, power of the Jana Gana Mana. And yes, I do accept that the most supreme is the this power, this power of the people. The constitution, the parliament all come later. So when this people's power demand for something then there's no other way than to accept that, implement that. Very aptly Anna said today after breaking the fast that this victory is for the people of India. It's unjust to say that the parliament or anything else is the supreme. Tagore had pointed it out long time back that the victory is always to the Jana Gana Mana. We've been chanting this for so long but how did we forget this? How did our politicians forget this that nothing is above the people of India?

Thanks Anna to remind us all that the supreme power of the country is with the people. If people say something better listen to it.

Arundhati is back again with what she does best: WRITE SHIT

2011-08-23T19:33:00.002+05:30

Arundhati Roy's article:

http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article2379704.ece?homepage=true

This is what happens when an engineer tries to be a doctor and a writer writes to be an activist. She is really the Goddess of all small things, I mean all meanness. She can sleep with the Naxal (who have killed more innocents than perhaps the police), and can openly support the Kashmiri separatist movement (that has created the second largest displaced community of the world - the Kashmiri Pandits), and now she speaks like Manish Tiwari about Anna. Does she mean that she is more intelligent than so many intellectuals who are supporting this movement? I don't think so. She has the right to voice her thoughts, but she can't demean someone, or someone else's thoughts. That shows how mean she is.

Have you ever heard her saying anything about the Sikh riots of 84 that had killed more Sikhs than Muslims killed in Gujarat riots in 2002. No, she never writes. Did she ever write about the Kashmiri Pandits? Did she ever write about the Bhopal Gas tragedy which has been the biggest genocide in India till date - that was something like the concentration camp and still she is quiet. Why? She finds it interesting only when it augers her agenda, I don't know what. She is just a media hungry hypocrite who shouldn't be taken seriously at all.

And what the fuss about using Vande Mataram? Arundhati Roy writes in English. But she could have been a little more aware of Indian languages. I'm not expecting her to be an authority in Sanskrit (thanks God, at least she doesn't shit in that language), but still she should have referred to any Sanskrit dictionary to find the meaning of vandana.

Let me quote from the Monier Williams' Sanskrit to English dictionary. The word vandana comes from the root vad, which means to speak, to utter, to praise etc. And vandana also means praise, other then just worship. Sanskrit is a very metaphoric language and one word has multiple meanings. Vande Mataram doesn't mean only to worship the motherland, it also means to praise the motherland, to speak of the motherland. What's the wrong in that. Is any religion of the world against praising his or her motherland. If yes, I do condemn that religion, and those thoughts.

But I still maintain, she is a good writer!!

BTW, our movement is to fight corruption, and everything that she has mentioned is a fruit of some corruption. We're fighting with ourselves too, because the root of corruption is within me. Whenever I don't want to take a bill to avoid the sales tax, I'm being corrupt. Everytime I ask my CA to find ways to evase tax, I'm being corrupt. Everytime I jump a signal I'm being corrupt. Every time I use office resources for my personal use (even taking printout of fligth tickets) I'm being corrupt. We're fighting against all these. Once we're free from corruption only then we can change the world. And what's the problem in doing that? If Arundhati doesn't want to be the Anna, thanks. Let her sleep with the Naxals and the Kashmiri terrorists!! We don't need her in our movement.

From Freedom Park

2011-08-19T15:57:00.000+05:30

by Tapas Datta

www.owasfilms.com
Founder & Managing Partner,
OneWithoutA Second Films LLP Company,

I just came back from the Freedom Park in Bangalore today after sharing a few hours with the people fasting in support of Anna Hazare. The old patriotic songs were playing - among them the songs of Nazrul, songs of INA (Netaji's) and you would be surprised - of Charan kabi Mukundadas who raised the fire amongst Bengal Independence fighters. Although many people didnt understand the Bengali words - they were shedding tears ! Great things never die, I suppose.

Thank You Congress!!

2011-08-19T14:45:00.002+05:30

This may sound ridiculous that at this point of time I'm thanking the very party that's at the center of all the storm, or in the words of Manish Tiwari, steeped in corruption from head to toe (he had used this for Anna though).

Well, that's the irony. There's a concept of Srishti-Sthiti-Laya in Hinduism. We believe that to create something you have to first destroy something else. That's what we've learnt in our basic physics too - conservation of energy. You can't create new energy, but only transform one to another form, kinetic energy gets converted to potential and vice versa. Congress has proved the natural law in a very interesting way. Lot of potential energy was stored within 1.2 billion people. But somehow that untapped energy was not getting converted into kinetic form to move things. India is a massive country of billion plus people and trillion plus bucks. It needs serious kinetic energy to move and lo, Congress has enabled this conversion of potential energy (in the form of angst, frustration, helplessness, hopelessness, depression, oppression, inflation bla bla bla) to a fission and fusion of kinetic energy that's now moving, rather shaking, the whole country!!

Thank you Congress and all the thugs (do you have anything else) in your party to arouse a country that had slept for thirty plus years saying 'chalta hai'. Thanks to you for making Anna a household name from Jaipur to Jhumritalaiya, from Calcutta and Cuttack to Cochin, from Guwahati to Gandhinagar, from Kashmir to Kanyakumari; thanks to you for making all of us realize that India is still ruled not by you but the Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka; thanks to you for making us realize that we're stronger than you; thanks to you for making us believe in ourselves; thanks to you for making us believe that no matter how bad you can be, we would be still good; thanks to you!!

BTW, last time too, it was you who had aroused us - in the 70s, under JP!! Great. Keep doing the good work and arouse our country every after 40 years!!

Thought of the Days

2011-07-19T08:44:00.005+05:30

For the past few weeks one of my colleagues, Pankaj Arora, has been sending a mail every morning with the subject - Thought for the Day. Initially, like any other forwards, I would glance through the mail casually. But very soon his mail became a part of the morning. He was on leave for a week and every morning when I would open my mail I would feel something was missing. That's what I would say is becoming a habit. Good things come and become a part of your day, without you knowing what it has become.

Here is the collection, sent one each day.

When someone is telling you that you can't do something, don't quit, just smile and say I'LL SHOW YOU !!

"When You Do Anything New,
At First People Laugh At You,
Then They Challenge You,
Then They Watch You Succeed,
And Then....
They Wish They Are Like You"

You have enemies? Good.
That means you've stood up for something, sometime in your life !!

"Many Of Life's Failures Are Men Who Did Not Realize How Close They Were To Success When They Gave Up"

Always mistrust a subordinate who never finds fault with his superior.

"Don't be Afraid of Pressure , Because Pressure is What turns a COAL into DIAMOND "

When one door of happiness closes, another opens,

But often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.

"Do Not Be Afraid Of Going Slowly, But Of Standing Still”

Ship is safest at the harbour . But that's not the place it is meant for .

"A hero is no braver than an ordinary man, but he is braver five minutes longer."

"I have not failed. I've just found 10,000 ways that won't work."

- Thomas Edison

Falling down is Not Defeat. Defeat is when one refuses to Get Up!!!

"Your Life is Defined By How You Correct Mistakes & Not By How You Avoid Making Them"

"Take care of your body. It’s the only place you have to live"

If you learn only methods, you'll be tied to your methods,

but if you learn principles you can devise your own methods

"I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career.

I’ve lost almost 300 games. Twenty six times,

I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed.

I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life.

And that is why I succeed."

- Michael Jordan

I’m a great believer in LUCK ,

and I find the harder I work the more I have of it .

The quality of a man's life is in direct proportion to his commitment to

excellence,regardless of his chosen field of endeavor

"Vision without action is daydreaming and action without vision is a nightmare"

“We Cannot Direct The Wind… But We Can Adjust The Sails”

"We cannot hold a torch to light another's path without brightening our own"

"Even if you are on the right track, you'll get run over if you just sit there"

There are three kinds of people in the world, the wills, the won'ts and the can'ts.

The first accomplish everything; the second oppose everything;

the third fail in everything.

Happiness doesn't mean everything's perfect.

It just means you have decided to see beyond the imperfections!!

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost;

that is where they should be. Now put foundations under them.”

There's something you may give,

To a friend and a stranger too;

It seems that when you give it,

It's given back to you.

This present is worth a million,

But doesn't cost a dime;

It's lasting in effect,

But doesn't take much time,

This simple little gesture

Can make the day worthwhile;

It's just as good as sunshine;

It's what we call a smile

If An Egg Breaks By Outside Force, Life Ends, But......

If An Egg Breaks From Within, Life Begins,

Great Things Always Begins From Within .

If You Think You Are Too Small To Have An Impact,

Try Going To Bed With A Mosquito In The Room

When God Solves Your Problems, You Have Faith In His Abilities,

But When He Doesn't, Then Presume He Has Faith In Your Abilities

At last I'll see a different color

2011-05-13T11:08:00.001+05:30

34 years.... I don't remember when exacly the RED color first draped the walls of Calcutta - I was just 4. At least now we can see a different color. Doesn't matter if it's again a shit. If it's always shit why not try a different shit - horse shit in place of cow dung?

I remember, in our hostel commi was a term used for the most hated person - someone who complains to the warden about ragging, someone who complains about blue films being seen in the hostel, someone who complains everytime someone gets a girl to the hostel, something like that. Though I never liked CPM, still coming from West Bengal, initially the term commi appeared a little derogatory. The extreme hatred that was associated with the term, the violent form of anger that was evoked every time the term was used, made the term one of the most dreadful ones in hostel. Being branded as a commi was like being seen as a terrorist, a rapist, an outlaw.

Eventually, I realized that our seniors were just apt. The Left front government and the CPM folks are actually commis!! It's good that they are finally shown the door. I may dislike Mamata equally (till she starts delivering) but I liked what she said once: There are enough wild animals in the jungles and seas (referring to the tigers and crocodiles in Sundarban areas), we don't need any more (referring to the Leftists). Well, I too feel the same. At least for Bengal, they have been like the worst animals.

My dad is happiest. He started his career in 65, when the left had already started their carnage in Bengal (coming to power within 10 years), and retired in 2004, when left was there in full swing. His entire career, like many others of his generation, was just ruined by something called labour problem, the first gift from the Leftists and something that's beyond the threshold of imagination of anyone outside Bengal. The 34 years of left misrule is the biggest curse that happened in Bengal. The animals can be finally put in cage.

I don't support violence and killing them now. But at the end of the day I didn't feel bad when Osama was killed. If I hear - and that's people are already fearing about - the erstwhile left front heavy weights are getting killed mysteriously, I won't feel bad!! After they all deserve to die like Osama. If the world (at least me) was okay with that I'm okay with this too!!

A bunch of Retards

2011-04-10T11:49:00.003+05:30

What's the difference between Dhirubhai Ambani's folks and Manmohan Singh's people? Well, the question is blasphemous because it's like asking to compare between the Prophet and Dawood Ibrahim. I'm not saying that Dhirubhai Ambani was a Prophet of any sort. It doesn't matter whether Dhirubhai Ambani or Jamshedji Tata or G D Birla were any incarnation of prophet or not. But I'm indeed equating Manmohan (I decline to put the venerable Dr. in front of him that I used to do way back in the nineties from within my heart) and his gang to the likes of Dawood. I didn't find any other name to equate them to. I'd like to apologize to Mr. Dawood (well, I don't mind putting the respectful Mr. in front of him now) for comparing people, more dangerous and dreadful than him, with him. Well, coming back to my original question - what's the difference between the Ambanis and the Manmohans. First let's point out the similarities:

Both are Indians (very silly)
Both are famous (is it a time for joke?)
Both control business (well, now we're coming to point - The PM does control more business than the Ambanis)
Both impact the lives of Indians (well, to some extent yes, had there not been the Ambanis there won't have been so many jobs)
Both have the responsibility to deliver (are you joking? Yes, Ambanis have to deliver to theie shareholders, to their employees, to their vendors, to their partners - and what has the team of Manmohan to do? I disagree....) I think this is the point of divergence between the two. Well, let's proceed.
Both have to tweak laws to make things happen (Yes, you make sense. You can't tun a business and be a Mahatma. You have to manipulate things at times. That's what any successful businessman would do. But what are you trying to implicate?)

The last point is the final one which really diverges the comparison between the two. Yes, it's true that the Ambanis flout laws. Dhirubhai Ambani couldn't have made Reliance without flouting laws. His floutings have become case studies for business schools and are now considered as legends in corporate world. That's what Chanakya has also said - you need to manipulate things to make things happen. But then there's a degree of flouting. People like Dawood also run their huge companies, but have you ever heard of anyone calling them legal? No. But the same people would give a clean chit to the Ambanis. The reason is very simple. There's a degree of violation that everyone accepts provided the outcome is positive to the country, to the people. A violation by Reliance will be ignored if thousand more people get jobs and four thousand more people can lead respectable lives. But then there's indeed a limit. And the main difference between Manmohan and Ambani is that the former has crossed the limits of violations beyond the most stretched threshold of tolerance and the later is still within the limits. Manmohan's case is like that of Mr Dawood's - both our outlaws, both have violated beyonds any toleration, both have done no good to the country, both are thugs and thieves and both should be prosecuted without any mercy.

I accept that to run a business you can't always hold the high moral ground of a Mahatma. It's not that I'm basically being unethical from the core of my heart. No. That's not the case. I want to be ethical always. But clinging to ethics may create some irreversible damage that will cause more harm to many other people who are connected to my business. Lies for for a greater cause is approved of in the Mahabharata too - Yudhisthira himself spoke one lie in his life to win the battle. But what Manmohan and his team has done can't be put in the same class as Yudhisthira's lie. That's the difference between violating laws by business men and ripping off our country by the government.

Sometime back I'd told that our ministers are senile. They are not even physically fit to have sex scandals like their counterparts in Europe and America. They are in fact a bunch of retards. They steal, get caught, try to defend like fools and are so senile that they can't even do something to shut the world off. Actually they can't do anything. They are the worst manipulators in the world. Had they been intelligent they would have performed so well that people would have ignored their wrongs - the same way I always give a clean shit to the Tatas and the Ambanis irrespective of whatever wrongs they do in their business because at the end of the day they do deliver!!

Salient Features of Jan Lokpal Bill

2011-04-10T11:16:00.000+05:30

Drafted by Justice Santosh Hegde, Prashant Bhushan and Arvind Kejriwal, this Bill has been refined on the basis of feedback received from public on website and after series of public consultations. It has also been vetted by and is supported by Shanti Bhushan, J M Lyngdoh, Kiran Bedi, Anna Hazare etc. It was sent to the PM and all CMs on 1st December.

An institution called LOKPAL at the centre and LOKAYUKTA in each state will be set up

Like Supreme Court and Election Commission, they will be completely independent of the governments. No minister or bureaucrat will be able to influence their investigations.
Cases against corrupt people will not linger on for years anymore: Investigations in any case will have to be completed in one year. Trial should be completed in next one year so that the corrupt politician, officer or judge is sent to jail within two years.
The loss that a corrupt person caused to the government will be recovered at the time of conviction.
How will it help a common citizen: If any work of any citizen is not done in prescribed time in any government office, Lokpal will impose financial penalty on guilty officers, which will be given as compensation to the complainant.
So, you could approach Lokpal if your ration card or passport or voter card is not being made or if police is not registering your case or any other work is not being done in prescribed time. Lokpal will have to get it done in a month’s time. You could also report any case of corruption to Lokpal like ration being siphoned off, poor quality roads been constructed or panchayat funds being siphoned off. Lokpal will have to complete its investigations in a year, trial will be over in next one year and the guilty will go to jail within two years.
But won’t the government appoint corrupt and weak people as Lokpal members? That won’t be possible because its members will be selected by judges, citizens and constitutional authorities and not by politicians, through a completely transparent and participatory process.
What if some officer in Lokpal becomes corrupt? The entire functioning of Lokpal/ Lokayukta will be completely transparent. Any complaint against any officer of Lokpal shall be investigated and the officer dismissed within two months.
What will happen to existing anti-corruption agencies? CVC, departmental vigilance and anti-corruption branch of CBI will be merged into Lokpal. Lokpal will have complete powers and machinery to independently investigate and prosecute any officer, judge or politician.

7 Scam Maaf

2011-03-11T14:25:00.002+05:30

Who ever is the creator of this - thanks!!

Light For Education

2011-03-09T09:43:00.012+05:30

Chenraa Collage

2011-01-21T10:21:00.002+05:30

“Chenraa Collage” (The Torn Collage)

On Saturday 29^th January and Sunday 30^th January 2011

Direction: Amitava Baksy

Playwright: Paromita Das

Venue: "KH Kala Soudha (KHKS)" Ramanjaneya Temple Compound,

Date/Time: Saturday 29^th January 3:30 PM and 7:00 PM

Sunday 30^th January 3:30 PM

Chenraa collage is set in the regular Indian proscenium style …. A reflection of our very own lives in the 3^rd millennium.

An engrossing tale of love, hate, joy, fun, friendship, uncertainty and anxiety…… A complete spectrum in entertainment.

This is an advanced information and please mark your calendar early to reserve your time now…..

Actual ticket selling and promotion will start from JANUARY in full swing.

Please send invitations ASAP to all your near and dear ones, so that they can reserve their time in advance to watch the play.

Thanks and regards

Amitava

PS: KHKS is a very new Auditorium, ideal for great theatre experience, comfortable individual seating, Air conditioned, Plenty of open space / Garden area around and adequate parking space/ Less than 6 km from MG road. We are also arranging a Bengali snacks corner…..]

"KH Kala Soudha" Ramanjaneya Temple Compound,

Hanumantha Nagar, Bangalore 560050

website: www.khkalasoudha.org

Money Hai to Honey Hai

2010-12-14T21:11:00.006+05:30

The fact that I'm a great fan of Govinda has nothing to do with this particular blog that I'm writing. I just plagiarized the title of his movie. Yes, it's true that for a country like India where close to 90% (that's 90 crore) of her population thrives on less than $2/day and close to 45% (45 crore) on less than $1/day, nothing else than money can be sweeter than honey.

Putting it in different words, nearly 180 million households live on an income of less than $10/day and 100 million on less than $5/day. Just for a bitter comparison, even a single Gold Class ticket at PVR is more than what 90% of Indian households don't have at their disposal on any day of the year. Well, 500 bucks is not a small amount when a wholesome vada pao costs less than 10 bucks in Bombay. But there's lot more than just the two meals in a day for an entire family to survive, specially when the head of the family has to pay for the education and healthcare of his/her family from his/her own pocket because our government spends peanuts for both of these necessities. So how do we go about it? Well, there are more intelligent people than me to come up with novel plans to solve these problems. A lesser mortal like me can see the gross things in lives and here is what I see.

It's nothing new that corruption at the highest level is so rampant in India that we've learnt to say chalta hai and ignore. But even the most complacent citizen has waken up from his slumber in the recent past with the spate of news that has snatched even the little spaces alloted to the Spice Girls and Pamela Andersons and Sarkozies. It's long since I've last heard of the latest dimensions of Pammi's breasts because my favorite Times of India doesn't have any space to write about it now-a-days - every micro inch of the paper now is filled with scams. So finally I thought enough is enough, let me find out what all these are about. And here is what I could figure out.

Let me explain it to you too - you may find it interesting in the absence of Pam's boobs!! These are perhaps the biggest scams in India. I've just put them together and presented the numbers in a standardized manner in terms of 2010 USD - this makes the figures comparable. Also I've added the GDP for each of the years of scam so that I get the perspective of how big or small a scam is. Of the top scams of all time two are private - Harsha Mehta's Stock Market scam and Satyam scam. Other than these all the other are done by the ruling governments - three are exclusively done by Congress and another three are group activities where Congress is one of the players. I'd have loved to include the names of other parties but Congress has left no stone unturned - like they have ripped me off my regular Pam-dose in Times of India. Well, along with the scams I've added two government expenditures - on health and education - which I feel are the foundations of India's growth. No doubt our politicians have improved a lot over the year. I really feel sorry for Rajiv and his company - they plundered just a paltry sum which amounts today to $75 million. Silly fellow. His successors have plundered $38 billion in just one of the scams this year. Bollywood is just awesome - they have come up with the jhatkas and matkas of Munni and Sheila when our another set of Mannu and Shiela are rocking somewhere else!!

Anyway, let's see the same figures in the form of a chart - this shows the value of the top scams as percentage of GDP in the year of the scam.

As you can see the enormity of 2G scam is same as the amount that our government has been spending on education - or rather should I rephrase that it's as small as the amount our government spends for educating our countrymen? The value of Telgi and CWG scams could have sponsored government's spending on healthcare for almost two years.

Let me put some more numbers. The 2G scam amounts to $38 billion. Now consider this. There are 180 million (18 crore) households who thrive on less than $10/day. I'm sure that they are not in a position to spend good amount of money for proper healthcare. With the dismal performance of the government health centers most of them have to go to private hospitals. Even it pinches me when I've to go to private hospitals - but I don't mind because I've medical insurance. I'm sure that with a 2K premium per year each of these families can be provided a decent medical insurance that will take care of most of their medical needs. If the government spends 2K per household for a complete term - that's five years - then also the amount (180 million * 2000 * 5 / 46) is less than $38 billion. So this means that if the 2G spectrum was alloted rightfully then the government would have had the money to provide free medical insurance to each of these 180 million households in India for five years.

Now consider this. Even if government spends Rs20L each on constructing a small school and hospital in all the 6.5L villages in India, then the total amount comes to about $56 billion - with $38 billion 70% of the villages could have been covered.

So you yourself can see how much honey our own folks are being deprived of because Munna and Shiela are just mum!!

I know that Dr. Manmohan Singh or Shiela Dikshit may not be directly involved in the 2G and CWG scams. But it's unbelievable that they didn't know a bit when their guys were plundering. No one praises Bhishma Pitamah because he was silent when Draupadi was stripped. No one cares for whether Bhishma supported it from his heart or not. We all know that he kept quiet like an impotent and we don't have the slightest sympathy for him when he lay on the bed of thorns. Here even that bed of thorns is also missing!!

Sources

http://mospi.nic.in/GDP50_08_R_curr_9.9.09.pdf GDP data
http://fx.sauder.ubc.ca/etc/USDpages.pdf - Historical USD conversion rates
http://www.usinflationcalculator.com/ - USD inflation rates over the years, used to standardize the scam values with 2010 USD

The world of FB

2010-11-25T14:34:00.002+05:30

FB has become an inseparable part of every one's life. Even next door neighbors who never meet otherwise meet in FB, siblings who don't get time to call put up messages on each other's wall. That's really nice. Just yesterday someone, who stayed in our para, locality, in Calcutta, with whom I went to the same school for two years in early eighties and whom I don't think I've met ever since 96, found me out from FB and contacted me. I hear people getting back to old crushes after twenty or twenty five years, find long lost neighbours after thirty years, find out a best friend from kindergarten. No doubt all these won't have been possible had there not been this small piece of application that has revolutionized socialization.

But thinking deeper don't you feel that people have stopped talking to near and dear ones because you see bits and pieces of everyone in their walls. Actually you talk less and scrap more. That regular calls to find out how your brother celebrated the durga puja in that isolated place in US where the nearest Indian store is some fifty miles or how much your sister missed you during the bhai phota are no longer needed. Your brother will post hundred snaps of the durga puja that he attended after driving some eighty miles along with status updates like, 'missing Calcutta', or 'I want to go back home'. That charm in asking him about his yearning to be at home is lost in a public post in the wall - after all a wall is a wall, it divides - has any one heard of a wall that unites? There's a fun in knowing something that the whole world doesn't know. There lies the exclusiveness of a relationship. If my sister feels bad during bhai phota it should be only me who should know about it - why the whole world should know that.

Then there are those old friends or relatives whom you used to call to UK or US or Middle east from time to time to get the latest updates of their kids. But now do you really feel like calling someone when you know even this piece of information that the cake she cut in her younger kid's second birthday was a big two kilo one with nuts and chocolates stuffed into it and that thirty kids from the neighborhood blew off hundred balloons and ate home made cookies? What's there left for me to know. I'll surely miss that call when she would have told me over the phone about how much the thirty kids enjoyed running around in her new house and how much pain she'd taken preparing all the cookies. I'll miss the excitement in her voice - the detailed updates in her walls are no doubt informative but the sentiments are buried somewhere deep under.

Funnier are posts like, 'I've prepared a yummy cake today' by a girl or woman and then updates that three people have liked it and ten people, mainly guys, posting on her wall almost similar things like, 'Wow, so when are we getting a slice of it?' The same girl may then acknowledge all the wows by writing, '@ Sumit, Puneet, Navneet, Vineet, Manjeet, Kamaljeet, Premjit: thanks!' Well, I wonder what was that thanks for - for the wow for her yummy cake that she ate alone at her home or for the fact that there are ten guys who still show interest in her! At any point of time these yummy cakes with three pictures taken from three sides posted on the wall may constitute close to a quarter of the posts you get every day!

In Calcutta we have these ever inquisitive parar boudi, the house wives of the young guys of the locality, who, given a chance, won't mind peeping into every one's house to get the harir khabor - well I can't translate the term harir khabor which literally means the news of the pitcher but actually means the inside information. I somehow have a feeling that these Bong parar boudi syndrome is not a localized affair - in general everyone around the world is interested in others' harir khabor and FB has somehow exploited this human behavior in a very sophisticated way. When I post the picture of a cake I actually want to know what my neighbor or friend is doing his or her kid's birthday!

Anyway, I'm sure I'll be a very hated person in the FB brotherhood for this blog.

Our Politics Their Politics

2010-11-16T20:12:00.002+05:30

POLISH POLITICIAN USES SEXY BIKINI SNAPS IN ELECTION CAMPAIGN AD
NEW YORK A Polish woman has decided to leave no stone unturned in grabbing a Warsaw council seat. Sara May, aka Katarzyna Szczolek, has used sexy photos of her in a bikini for the ad that she hopes will earn her a district council seat in her hometown of Warsaw. "I am honest, consistent, ambitious, hardworking and independent," The New York Daily News quoted May as saying on her Polish-language website, www .saramay .pl. "I want to change the world and help people solve problems," she added. ANI

Anti-atom activist offers sex-for-nuke veto

Berlin: A star German television presenter and anti-atom activist has offered to spend the night with President Christian Wulff if he blocks a controversial legislation to extend the life span of Germany's 17 nuclear reactors.
Thirty-two-year-old Charlotte Roche, who has won some of Germany's top journalism awards, said she is prepared to have sex with President Christian Wulff if he blocks the controversial legislation of the centre-right government.

These are the two news that attracted my attention today. It's long since I've written something on my blog - I've been busy with some personal stuff for quite some time and I haven't even got any time to read books. Anyway, coming to the news - the first thing that came to my mind is whether such news would have appeared in India.

Indian politics is flooded with corruptions. At present three of the biggest corruptions of all time, expectedly all in Congress governments - the CWG scam, the 2G spectrum scam and the Bombay Adarsh scam - are hogging the limelight in media and elsewhere. There have been major corruptions always with almost all parties. But strangely there hasn't been a single scandal like that of Bill Clinton's famous Monica-job or Sarkozy-Bruni's backyard sexed relations or Berlusconi's never ending sexcapades. Does that mean the Indian politics with an overdose of Gandhi's celibacy is actually more celibate, or Indian politicians are actually impotent?

Just imagine Barkha Dutt offering to go to bed with Manmohan Singh if he sacks all the corrupt ministers or some hot young girl (that's like an impossible idea in Indian politics) publishing her snaps in bikini as election propaganda. I don't want to debate whether these are right or wrong, but one point that came to my mind is that people who have the guts to go to bed with so many girls or get a blowjob from an office intern, no doubt, have something in them that can move things. Bill Clinton has been one of the best US presidents in the recent past and I don't know much about how good or bad the French and Italian hunks are, but at least I'd prefer them than our senile old Kalmadis. If not anything else, at least I get some spicy news everyday - my premier sleeping with every other girl in Delhi is much better than someone managing to put up a CWG under his noose. When Gandhi talks about celibacy no one questions because he is not corrupt - and he means what he says. But celibacy of Indian politicians? C'mon, as I've told, I'd prefer them having sex - then at least I know that they can do something constructive or something that needs vitality. If someone has sex scandals I know for sure that he has some energy which he/she can spend in something else - but seeing our scandal ridden senile politicians I have doubt if they are even capable of having sex.

Autograph

2010-10-20T00:13:00.002+05:30

I've just seen the Bengali movie Autograph. Before I say anything further I should accept that many of the people involved with the making of the movie are very well known to me - they include Srijit, the director, Priyam, the assistant music director, Anupam, lyricist and composer of a few songs and also the singer of perhaps the most popular track from the movie and Saptarshi, who has sung one of the songs. So I may be a little prejudiced while writing the review of the movie. But let me say that even if hadn't known anyone of these people still I would have written the same things that I'm going to write now.

Some information about the movie.

Some info about the songs

Listen to the songs

As Srijit has declared at the beginning, the movie is a fitting tribute to Satyajit Ray and Uttam Kumar, perhaps the two most prominent figures of all times in Bengali movies. The movie is about a director who wants to remake Nayak that Satyajit Ray had made in the sixties with Uttam Kumar in the lead. Nayak was a movie about a very successful movie star, about his stardom, about his past, about his continuous struggle to be in the top and about his constant inner fights that he fights alone. In Autograph an aspiring, confident and also extremely talented young director wants to remake Nayak with Arun Kumar Chatterjee in the lead role. Arun Kumar's role is played by Prasenjit. The name Arun Kumar itself has some significance - it's the real name of Uttam Kumar. A great part of the movie is about the making of the remake of Nayak - people who have seen Nayak will just love the way Srijit has shown the shooting of some of the very important scenes of the remake. As the shooting progresses the relation between Arun Kumar (Prasenjit), the director and his girlfriend Srin (Nandana Sen) moves in an unpredictable but quite logical way - that's the main essence of the movie. The director wants success at any cost and Arun Kumar himself has invested enough in his own movie - all these are very common things which you might have seen many times in many movies. But what makes the movie special is the climax and the ending - like the relations in the movie, the climax is also unpredictable but quite logical.

Nothing happens in the movie that shouldn't have happened. At the end you come out of the hall with only positive things - each turn of event, each nuance in the multi layered relations, each development either in the movie within in the movie or in the movie itself leaves you satisfied at the end - you don't feel excessively bad for anyone, neither do you feel extremely sorry for anyone. Neither you feel dejected nor you feel, ish eta ki holo, shit, why did it happen! I feel the ish eta ki holo feeling is very easy to evoke and most film makers titillate the viewers with it. But to make a movie without evoking any of the titillation, either in sentiments or testosterones, is indeed a great thing.

Go and watch the movie for a really positive feeling and off course some good music!

Riju, all the best to you!! I hope you make many more movies like this.

IMG_2854.jpg

2010-10-08T18:57:00.001+05:30

Ram Janmabhoomi Babr Masjid Verdict

2010-09-30T19:41:00.000+05:30

This is really an interesting judgment and I think for the first time such a sensitive thing is being dealt with data and facts rather than politics. I know it may sound a little weird that the verdict talks about Babur and dates like 1546. But if I compare it with other religions I still feel Hindus have been much more restrained compared to Christians and the Muslims.

Just imagine if someone had constructed a temple at the birth place of Muhammad or Jesus. Like the case of Ram's birth place there's no solid historical proof of where exactly Muhammad or Jesus were born - but still people have considered some sites as their birth place and revered those places as their most sacred pilgrimages. Then why such a big fuss about a Hindu prophet - just because he is older than the other prophets by a few thousands of years and there are even more scant historical data about him?

Even if I accept Karunanidhi's argument that Ram is not a historical figure, which may be correct, still millions of people have believed his existence with all their reverence and love for so many years. So irrespective of the authenticity of the Ram's historical existence we should respect what so many people have believed for so long.

Also the Hindus haven't claimed any such temple that had been destroyed by the Muslim rulers for five centuries - this one is the only one that they have claimed and that also because there's a much larger sentiment associated with it.

I really sad that it took so long to sort this issue. And I feel very happy also that Indian judiciary finally didn't bow to the pressures of populist political parties.

Taj Mahal vs. Tejo Mahalay - My Views

2010-08-24T10:32:00.002+05:30

I've heard this quite a few times. But the article that I've posted in my previous blog is by far the most informative and rationally written. In most cases people who try to refute some well accepted theory tends to become little irrational and prejudiced because they often don't have enough facts to back them. They even tend to be vindictive and write as if they are victimized. Yes, I do accept that writing against some well known misconception is like fighting for a cause, fighting for a truth that was wrongly suppressed. But that's doesn't mean that the crusaders fighting for a cause should themselves feel victimized. Crusaders are like emancipators. But such seldom happens. A very good example is the case of the Indian origin of Aryans. Most writers and researchers in this area lack the true spirit of a research - they spend more energy in finding faults in other writers who don't accept the Indian homeland theory instead of putting their own facts and figures correctly.

But contrary to all these, this particular article is quite well written with proper references, which I assume are correct. There are cases where historians fraudulently concoct references to their benefit - this again happens for people who tend to bring out some suppressed truth.

My take of this particular issue is that - it's very likely that the original structure for Taj Mahal might have existed as a Hindu Temple long before the time of Shahjahan and Mumtaj but that doesn't mean that the structure that draws the most visitors in India should be suddenly thrashed. Irrespective of its origin there's no doubt that it stands as a wonderful piece of art that has caught the fancy of so many visitors in India.

At the same time it's indeed important to find the real facts. If it's claimed that some rooms in Taj Mahal have been always locked since the time of Shahjahan then they should be opened - not to disregard the present Taj Mahal, but to find the facts correctly. If there are indeed broken idols of Shiva they should be restored with all respect to new temples. Going back to Bankim Chandra's simple words - if you're worse why can't I be better? There's no doubt that the Mughals broke many temples and reused them as palaces or tombs, but that doesn't man that we again do the same mistakes that they'd committed centuries back.

Also something keeps me wondering. After the Mughals the Marathas setup the biggest Hindu Empire after the Guptas. It was not from the Mughals, but the Marathas, that the British took bulk of India. The Mughals were just titular heads at least for fifty years till the beginning of nineteenth century and this map shows the extent of Maratha Empire in 1760. There's no doubt that the Marathas were one of the most fiercest Hindu people who created one of the greatest Hindu Empires in India. If the Shiva Temple was so important then why didn't the Maratha's restore it at the site of Taj Mahal? I won't have been happy at all if they had done that - because then the Marathas would have been equally criminal like the Mughals. Devastating or breaking something and then establishing something new on top of it is not a good culture.

So my take is that - yes, I'd like to know what it was in the past, but I don't want to politicize this. Taj looks great and earns revenue for us and we should be happy to have the structure in India. Irrespective of the past, it still remains a piece of art.

Taj Mahal vs. Tejo Mahalay - A historical analysis

2010-08-24T10:23:00.002+05:30

From: http://veda.wikidot.com/taj-mahal

Taj Mahal (From Sanskrit: Tejo Mahalay, "The Great Abode of Tej"), Teja (Jats'¹ name of Shiva is Tejaji) + Mahalay (mansion) is a Temple Palace of Lord Shiva located in Agra, India. The Taj Mahal is the finest example of Hindu architecture.

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Table of Contents

Historical Account

The seizure from the Maharaja of Jaipur

Disfiguring and Tampering by Shah Jahan

Hindu Architecture

The Tejo Mahalaya inscription

European Visitor's and pre-Shahjahan's Accounts

Fabrication of History

Hidden, locked and sealed chambers

Inconsistencies as outlined by P.N.Oak

The name Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal is not a Tomb

Hindu Significance

Patches

Taj Mahal: The True Story

Pictures

The True Architectural Origin of Taj Mahal

Taj builders used Harappan measurement units

^{The Taj Mahal (Tejo Mahalay)}

Known as one of the Seven Wonders of the world, this magnificent seven storied temple mansion comprises of majestic garden, interior water well, 400 to 500 rooms, 22 apartments,archaded verendahs, terraces, multi stored towers, guest rooms, stables, music house,drum chamber, cowsheds, and guard rooms — that necessarily form part of a palace. On the pinnacle of the dome is the Trishul (the trident), red lotus at apex of the entrance, typical Vedic style corridors and the sacred, esoteric letter "AUM" carved on the exterior of the wall of the sanctum sanctorum now occupied by the cenotaphs were of Hindu architecture, built by Hindu craftsmen, with Hindu design. Its marblework is similar to the Amber palace at Jaipur built some six hundred years earlier by Raja Man Singh I in 1592 and completed by Sawai Jai Singh I.

During the Mongul rule, this Shiva temple palace had been usurped by Shah Jahan from then Maharaja of Jaipur, Jai Singh. Shah Jahan then remodeled the palace into his wife's memorial. In his own court chronicle, Badshahnama (on page 403, Vol. 1), Shah Jahan states that a grand mansion of unique splendor, capped with a dome, (imaarat-e-alishan wagumbaze) in Agra was taken from the Jaipur Maharaja Jaisingh for Mumtaz's burial. The ex-Maharaja of Jaipur is said to retain in his secret collection two orders from Shah Jahan for the surrender of the Taj building.

Historical Account

The Agra city, in which the Taj Mahal is located, is an ancient center of Shiva worship. Its orthodox residents have through ages continued the tradition of worshiping at five Shiva shrines before taking the last meal every night especially during the month of Shravan.

During the last few centuries the residents of Agra had to be content with worshiping at only four prominent Shiva temples viz., Balkeshwar, Prithvinath,Manakameshwar and Rajarajeshwar. They had lost track of the fifth Shiva deity which their forefathers worshiped. Apparently the fifth was Agreshwar Mahadev Nagnatheshwar i.e., The Lord Great God of Agra, The Deity of the King of Cobras, consecrated in the Tejo Mahalay (Taj Mahal).

The famous Hindu treatise on architecture titled Vishwakarma Vastushastra mentions the 'Tej-Linga' amongst the Shivalingas i.e., the stone emblems of Lord Shiva, the Hindu deity. Such a Tej Linga was consecrated in the Taj Mahal, hence the term Taj Mahal alias Tejo Mahalay. The other name of the emblem was Agreswar Mahadev and it is important to note that from the word Agreswar, the name of the city of Agra has been derived.

A locality in, nearly 4 km away from Taj Mahal, is called Bateswar and in 1900 A.D., General Cuningham, the then Director of the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI), conducted an excavation at Bateswar and discovered an edict, now known as the Munj Bateswar Edict and kept at the Lucknow Museum. The epigraph contains 34 verses written in Sanskrit, out of which 25th, 26th and 34th verses are important in the present context. An English translation of the above verses reads:

“He built a marble temple which is the abode of Lord Vishnu and the King bows down to touch His feet” (25).
“The King has built another marble temple which has been dedicated to the Lord Who has the moon as His ornament on His forehead” (26).
“Today, the 5th day of the bright half in the month of Ashwin, the Sunday, in the year 1212 of the Vikram Samvat, the edict is being laid” (34).

Mr. D. J. Kale, a well known archaeologist, has mentioned the said Munj Bateswar Edict in his celebrated work Epigraphica India. On page 124 of the said book, Mr. Kale writes,

“The sais Munj Bateswar Edict was laid by King Paramardidev of the Chandratreya dynasty on Sukla Panchami in the month of Ashwin, in the year 1212 Vikram Samvat (or A.D. 1156). … King Paramardidev built two magnificent temples with white marble, one for Lords Vishnu and the other for Lord Shiva and they were desecrated later on by the Muslim invaders. Perhaps a farsighted man took the edict to a safer place at Bateswar abd buries it beneath the ground”.

Perhaps, after the said desecration, the temples were no longer used as religious places and due to this reason Abdul Hamid Lahori mentioned them as palaces, not as temples.

According to the renowned historian Mr. R. C. Majumdar, the other name of the Chandratreya or Chandel King Paramardidev was Paramal and their kingdsom was known as Bundelkhand, a.k.a. Jejakabhukti (History & Culture of Indian People, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Vol-5, p-122).

Today, there are two marble palaces in Agra, one is the Mausoleum of Idmat-ud-Daula, the father of Noorjahan and the other is Taj Mahal, and it is evident from the Munj Bateswar edict that, once upon a time, one of them was the temple of Lord Vishnu and the other was a temple of Lord Shiva. Experts believe that it is the temple of Vishnu that has been made the mausoleum of Idmat-ud-Daula, and the temple of Shiva has been converted into the mausoleum of the queen Arjumand Banu. A few evidences in favour of this conclusion are given below.

The seizure from the Maharaja of Jaipur

The Muslims started their rule over India in 712 A.D. with the invasion of Mohammed Qasem. During their rule they looted and destroyed hundreds of thousands of Hindu temples. Aurangzeb himself destroyed 10,000 Hindu temples during his reign! Some of the larger temples were converted into mosques or other Islamic structures. Ram Janmbhoomi (at Ayodhya) and Krishna Temple (at Mathura) are just two examples. The most evident of such structures is Taj Mahal.

The Badshahnama — Documentary evidence from Mogul records showing clearly how the Taj was acquired from Raja Mansingh

Aurangzeb's Letter: Aurangzeb writing to his father Shahjahan within years of completion as to extensive repairs required to the Taj.

An English translation of the contents from line 21 of page 402 to line 41 on page 403 ofBadshahnama is given below.

“Friday, 15th Jamadiulawal, the sacred dead body of the traveller to the kingdom of holiness Hazrat Mumtazul Zamani, who was temporarily buried, was brought, accompanied by Prince Mohammad Shah, Suja bahadur, Wazir Khan and Satiunnesa Khanam, who knew the pemperament of the deceased intimately and was well versed in view of that Queen of the Queens used to hold, was brought to the capital Akbarabad (Agra) and an order was issued that very day coins be distributed among the beggers and fakirs. The site covered with a majestic garden, to ther south of the great city (of Agra) and amidst which the building known as the palace of Raja Man Singh, at present owned by Raja Jai asingh, grandson of Man Singh, was selected for the burial of the Queen, whose abode is in heaven. Although Raja Jai Singh valued it greatly as his ancestral heritage and property, yet he agreed to part with it gratis for Emperor Shahjahan, still out of sheer scrupulousness and religious sanctity, he (Jai Singh) was granted Sharifabad in exchange of that grand palace (Ali Manzil). After the arrival of the deadbody in that great city (of Agra), next year that illustrious body of the Queen was laid to rest and the officials of the capital, according to royal order, hid the body of that pious lady from the eyes of the world and the palace so majestic (imarat-e-alishan) and capped with a dome (wa gumbaje) was turned into a sky-high lofty mausoleum”.

Aurangzeb's letter to his father, emperor Shah Jahan, is recorded in at least three chronicles titled Aadaab-e-Alamgiri, Yadgarnama, and the Muruqqa-i-Akbarabadi (edited by Said Ahmed, Agra, 1931, page 43, footnote 2). In that letter Aurangzeb records in 1652 A.D itself that the several buildings in the fancied burial place of Mumtaz were seven storeyed and were so old that they were all leaking, while the dome had developed a crack on the northern side. Aurangzeb, therefore, ordered immediate repairs to the buildings at his own expense while recommending to the emperor that more elaborate repairs be carried out later. This is the proof that during Shah Jahan's reign itself that the Taj complex was so old as to need immediate repairs.

Shah Jahan then remodeled the palace into his wife's memorial. The use of captured temples and mansions as a burial place for dead courtiers and royalty was a common practice among Muslim rulers. For example, Hamayun, Akbar, Etmud-ud-Daula and Safdarjung are all buried in such mansions. Many rooms in the Taj Mahal have remained sealed since Shah Jahan's time, and are still inaccessible to the public.

The Rajasthan State archives at Bikaner preserve three other firmans addressed by Shah Jahan to the Jaipur's ruler Jaising ordering the latter to supply marble (for Mumtaz's grave and koranic grafts) from his Makranna quarris, and stone cutters. Jaisingh was apparently so enraged at the blatant seizure of the Tajmahal that he refused to oblige Shah Jahan by providing marble for grafting koranic engravings and fake centotaphs for further desecration of the Tajmahal. Jaising looked at Shah Jahan's demand for marble and stone cutters, as an insult added to injury. Therefore, he refused to send any marble and instead detained the stone cutters in his protective custody.

The ex-Maharaja of Jaipur retains in his secret personal ‘KapadDwara’ collection two orders from Shahjahan dated Dec 18, 1633 (bearing modern nos. R.176 and 177) requestioning the Taj building complex. That was so blatant a usurpation that the then ruler of Jaipur was ashamed to make the document public.

Bernier, a contemporary French visitor has noted that non-muslim's were barred entry into the basement (at the time when Shah Jahan requisitioned Mansingh's palace) which contained a dazzling light. Obviously, he reffered to the silver doors, gold railing, the gem studded lattice and strings of pearl hanging over Shiva's idol. Shah Jahan comandeered the building to grab all the wealth, making Mumtaz's death a convineant pretext.

Disfiguring and Tampering by Shah Jahan

Far from the building of the Taj, Shah Jahan disfigured it with black koranic lettering and heavily robbed it of its Sanskrit inscription, several idols and two huge stone elephants extending their trunks in a welcome arch over the gateway where visitors these days buy entry tickets.

Tavernier, a French jeweller has recorded in his travel memoirs that Shah Jahan purposely buried Mumtaz near the Taz-i-Makan (i.e.,"The Taj building") where foreigners used to come as they do even today so that the world may admire. He also adds that the cost of the scaffold-ing was more than that of the entire work. The work that Shah Jahan commissioned in the Tejomahalaya Shiva temple was plundering at the costly fixtures inside it, uprooting the Shiva idols, planting the centotaphs in their place on two stories, inscribing the koran along the arches and walling up six of the seven stories of the Taj. It was this plunder, desecrating and plunderring of the rooms which took 22 years.

A clue to the tampering by Shahjahan is found on pages 216-217, vol. 4, of Archealogiical Survey of India Reports (published 1874) stating that a "great square black balistic pillar which, with the base and capital of another pillar….now in the grounds of Agra,…it is well known, once stood in the garden of Taj Mahal".

An Englishman, Thomas Twinning, records (pg. 191 of his book "Travels in India - A Hundred Years ago") that in November 1794

"I arrived at the high walls which enclose the Taje-Mahal and its circumjacent buildings. I here got out of the palanquine and … mounted a short flight of steps leading to a beautiful portal which formed the centre of this side of the "Court of the Elephants" as the great area was called."

The Taj Mahal is scrawled over with 14 chapters of the Koran but nowhere is there even the slightest or the remotest allusion in that Islamic overwriting to Shah Jahan's authorship of the Taj. Had Shah Jahan been the builder he would have said so in so many words before beginning to quote Koran.

That Shah Jahan, far from building the marble Taj, only disfigured it with black lettering is mentioned by the inscriber Amanat Khan Shirazi himself in an inscription on the building. A close scrutiny of the Koranic lettering reveals that they are grafts patched up with bits of variegated stone on an ancient Shiva temple.

Hindu Architecture

The arrangement of the domes, the lotus canopy, the trident pinnacle, the numerous rooms in the building, the direction of the mansion and its triple domes, the "Gow-shala", the "Nagar-khanas," and the surviving Hindu symbolism indicate that it was originally built as a temple complex.

Well known Western authorities on architecture like E. B. Havell, Mrs. Kenoyer and Sir W. W. Hunterhave gone on record to say that the Taj Mahal is built in the Hindu temple style. Havell points out the ground plan of the ancient Hindu Chandi Seva Temple in Java is identical with that of the Taj.

These arches along the eastern side of the plinth are an indication of the row upon row of rooms total 1089 that lie hidden inside the marble plinth.

Dome: A central dome with cupolas at its four corners is a universal feature of Hindu temples.

Pillars: The four marble pillars at the plinth corners are of the Hindu style. They are used as lamp towers during night and watch towers during the day. Such towers serve to demarcate the holy precincts. Hindu wedding altars and the altar set up for God Satyanarayan worship have pillars raised at the four corners. The Taj Mahal has towers, but no minarets. Hindu towers always start from the floor level, but moghul minarets rise from the shoulder of buildings.

Octagonal shape: The octagonal shape of the Taj Mahal has a special Hindu significance because Hindus alone have special names for the eight directions, and celestial guards assigned to them. The ground plan consists of an octagonal central domed chamber with an inverted lotus crown, surrounded by four small domed chambers. This is the traditional form of Hindu architecture found in the Shilpa shastra (science of architecture). The pinnacle points to the heaven while the foundation signifies to the nether world. Hindu forts, cities, palaces and temples generally have an octagonal layout or some octagonal features so that together with the pinnacle and the foundation they cover all the ten directions in which the king or God holds sway, according to Hindu belief.

Trident pinncle: The Tajmahal has a trident pinncle over the dome. A full scale of the trident pinnacle is inlaid in the red stone courtyard to the east of the Taj. The central shaft of the trident depicts a "Kalash" (sacred pot) holding two bent mango leaves and a coconut. This is a sacred Hindu motif. Identical pinnacles have been seen over Hindu and Buddhist temples in the Himalayan region. Tridents are also depicted against a red lotus background at the apex of the stately marble arched entrances on all four sides of the Taj. People fondly but mistakenly believed all these centuries that the Taj pinnacle depicts a Islamic crescent and star was a lighting conductor installed by the British rulers in India. Contrarily, the pinnacle is a marvel of Hindu metallurgy since the pinnacle made of non-rusting alloy, is also perhaps a lightning deflector. That the pinnacle of the replica is drawn in the eastern courtyard is significant because the east is of special importance to the Hindus, as the direction in which the sun rises. The pinnacle on the dome has the word ‘Allah’ on it after capture. The pinnacle figure on the ground does not have the word Allah.

Gardens: Description of the gardens around the Taj of Shah Jahan's time mention Ketaki, Jai, Jui, Champa, Maulashree, Harshringar and Bel. All these are plants whose flowers or leaves are used in the worship of Hindu deities. Bel leaves are exclusively used in Lord Shiva's worship. A graveyard is planted only with shady trees because the idea of using fruit and flower from plants in a cemetary is abhorrent to human conscience. The presence of Bel and other flower plants in the Taj garden is proof of its having been a Shiva temple before seizure by Shah Jahan.

Yamuna river: Hindu temples are often built on river banks and sea beaches. The Taj is one such built on the bank of the Yamuna river — an ideal location for a Shiva temple. When the Taj Mahal was built, it is claimed that the river Yamuna was half a mile away from the structure, but that the river was diverted to flow alongside the Taj Mahal. The truth of the matter is that the moghul regime lacked any civil engineering skill. Hindu palaces, however, always used to be built alongside the river. Behind the Taj Mahal is a well built and paved river bank (known as a Ghat), used by Hindu royalty for the purpose of bathing. The gateways opening to the rear were later closed.

Resemblance of a Palace: There is an underground passage leading from the Taj Mahal to the Agra Fort, indicating its origin as a palace. And there are defensive hillocks (to prevent catapults being launched) as well as a moat to the rear.

Ganesa Torana: On the main gateway, the entire border at waist-height is decorated with what is called the "Ganesa Torana" (the elephant trunk and the crown can be clearly identified). In the southern entrance to the outer precincts of the Taj Complex (i.e., the Taj Gunj gate facing the main gateway), above the door arch, there is a small arched recess. It is customary in Hindu Forts (for example, the Nagardhan Fort, Nagpur) to place an idol of Lord Ganesa in a similar recess above the main entrance. Could it be that the recess above the Taj entrance also contained a similar idol, which was subsequently removed by the iconoclastic invaders?

The Tejo Mahalaya inscription

Sanskrit inscription (known as the Bateshwar inscription) it is currently preserved in the Lucknow museum. It refers to the raising of a "Crystal white Shiva temple so alluring that Lord Shiva once enshrined in it decided never to return to Mount Kailas—his usual abode". This inscription was found within a radius of about 36 miles from the Taj Mahal. The inscription is dated 1155 A.D. and was removed from the Taj Mahal garden at Shah Jahan's orders. Historians and Archaeologists have blundered in terming the inscription the "Bateshwar inscription" when the record doesn't say that it was found by Bateshwar. It ought, in fact, to be called "The Tejo Mahalaya inscription" because it was originally installed in the Taj garden before it was uprooted and cast away at Shah Jahan's command. From this it is clear that the Taj Mahal was built at least 500 years before Shah Jahan.

European Visitor's and pre-Shahjahan's Accounts

Vincent Smith records in his book titled "Akbar the Great Moghul" that "Babur's turbulent life came to an end in his garden palace in Agra in 1630". That palace was none other than the Taj Mahal. Babur's daughter Gulbadan Begum in her chronicle titled ‘Humayun Nama’ refers to the Taj as the Mystic House. Babur himself refers to the Taj in his memoirs as the palace captured by Ibrahim Lodi containing a central octagonal chamber and having pillars on the four sides. All these historical references allude to the Taj 100 years before Shahjahan.

Peter Mundy, an English visitor to Agra recorded in 1632 (within only a year of Mumtaz's death) that ‘the places of note in and around Agra, included Taj-e-Mahal’s tomb, gardens and bazaars'.He, therefore, confirms that that the Tajmahal had been a noteworthy building even before Shahjahan.

De Laet, a Dutch official has listed Mansingh's palace about a mile from Agra fort, as an outstanding building of pre-shahjahan's time. Shahjahan's court chronicle, the Badshahnama records, Mumtaz's burial in the same Mansingh's palace.

Bernier, a contemporary French visitor has noted that non muslim's were barred entry into the basement (at the time when Shahjahan requisitioned Mansingh's palace) which contained a dazzling light. Obviously, he reffered to the silver doors, gold railing, the gem studded lattice and strings of pearl hanging over Shiva's idol. Shahjahan comandeered the building to grab all the wealth, making Mumtaz's death a convineant pretext.

Johan Albert Mandelslo, who describes life in agra in 1638 (only 7 years after mumtaz's death) in detail (in his ‘Voyages and Travels to West-Indies’, published by John Starkey and John Basset, London), makes no mention of the Tajmahal being under constuction though it is commonly erringly asserted or assumed that the Taj was being built from 1631 to 1653.

Fabrication of History

Probably there is none who has not been duped at least once in a life time. But can the whole world be duped? This may seem impossible. But in the matter of Indian history the world has been duped in many respects for hundreds of years and still continues to be duped.

The world famous Taj Mahal in Agra is a glaring instance. For all the time, money and energy that people the world over spend in visiting the Taj Mahal they are dished out a concoction. Contrary to what visitors are made to believe the Taj Mahal is not an Islamic mausoleum but an ancient Shiva temple known as Tejo Mahalaya which the 5th generation Mogul emperor Shah Jahan commandeered from the then Maharaja of Jaipur. Therefore the Taj Mahal must be viewed as a temple-palace complex and not as a tomb.

The famous historian Shri P.N. Oak has proven that Taj Mahal is actually Tejo Mahalaya — a shiv temple-palace. His work was published in 1965 in the book, Taj Mahal - The True Story. However, we have not heard much about it because it was banned by the corrupt and power crazed Congress government of Bharat who did not want to alienate their precious vote bank—the Muslims.

Stories of Shah Jahan's exclusive infatuation for Mumtaz's are concoctions. They have no basis in history nor has any book ever written on their fancied love affairs. Those stories have been invented as an afterthought to make Shah Jahan's authorship of the Taj look plausible. Historical evidence indicates that the Taj Mahal was already ancient at the time of Shah Jahan. And the discussion upon the architecture leads to the conclusion that the general layout of the Taj Complex resembles a Shiva temple.

Presently an attempt is being made to celebrate the 350th anniversary of Taj Mahal as the present distorted Indian history bestows the credit of building the edifice to Emperor Shah Jahan and claims that he completed the task of building Taj Mahal in 16**. But according to the Munj Bateswar Edict, the age of the building is 848 years and hence the said effort of celebrating 350th anniversary of the 848 year old Taj Mahal would be totally nonsensical and extremely ridiculous. At the same time, the Muslims of this country are demanding to declare the same as a Wakf Property and hand the building over to them. So, before taking any decision regarding the building, it is highly necessary for the Central Government in Delhi to undertake elaborate archaeological and scientific tests to ascertain the true antiquity of Taj Mahal.

Hidden, locked and sealed chambers

The Taj is a seven storied building. Prince Aurangzeb also mentions this in his letter to Shahjahan. The marble edifice comprises four stories including the lone, tall circular hall inside the top, and the lone chamber in the basement. In between are two floors each containing 12 to 15 palatial rooms. Below the marble plinth reaching down to the river at the rear are two more stories in red stone. They may be seen from the river bank. The seventh storey must be below the ground (river) level since every ancient Hindu building had a subterranian storey.

Immediately bellow the marble plinth on the river flank are 22 rooms in red stone with their ventilators all walled up by Shahjahan. Those rooms, made uninhibitably by Shahjahan, are kept locked by Archealogy Department of India. The lay visitor is kept in the dark about them. Those 22 rooms still bear ancient Hindu paint on their walls and ceilings. On their side is a nearly 33 feet long corridor. There are two door frames one at either end ofthe corridor. But those doors are intriguingly sealed with brick and lime.

Apparently those doorways originally sealed by Shahjahan have been since unsealed and again walled up several times. In 1934 a resident of Delhi took a peep inside from an opening in the upper part of the doorway. To his dismay he saw huge hall inside. It contained many statues huddled around a central beheaded image of Lord Shiva. It could be that, in there, are Sanskrit inscriptions too. All the seven stories of the Tajmahal need to be unsealed and scoured to ascertain what evidence they may be hiding in the form of Hindu images, Sanskrit inscriptions, scriptures, coins and utensils.

Apart from Hindu images hidden in the sealed stories it is also learnt that Hindu images are also stored in the massive walls of the Taj. Between 1959 and 1962 when Mr. S.R. Rao was the Archealogical Superintendent in Agra, he happened to notice a deep and wide crack in the wall of the central octagonal chamber of the Taj. When a part of the wall was dismantled to study the crack out popped two or three marble images. The matter was hushed up and the images were reburied where they had been embedded at Shahjahan's behest. Confirmation of this has been obtained from several sources. Its walls and sealed chambers still hide in Hindu idols that were consecrated in it before Shahjahan's seizure of the Taj.

Inconsistencies as outlined by P.N.Oak

The name Taj Mahal

The term Tajmahal itself never occurs in any mogul court paper or chronicle even in Aurangzeb's time. The attempt to explain it away as Taj-i-mahal is therefore, ridiculous. The ending "Mahal"is never muslim because in none of the muslim countries around the world from Afghanistan to Algeria is there a building known as "Mahal". The unusual explanation of the term Tajmahal derives from Mumtaz Mahal, who is buried in it, is illogical in at least two respects viz., firstly her name was never Mumtaj Mahal but Mumtaz-ul-Zamani and secondly one cannot omit the first three letters "Mum" from a woman's name to derive the remainder as the name of the building. Since the lady's name was Mumtaz (ending with 'Z') the name of the building derived from her should have been Taz Mahal, if at all, and not Taj (spelled with a 'J').

Since the term Taj Mahal does not occur in mogul courts it is absurd to search for any mogul explanation for it. Both its components namely, 'Taj' and' Mahal' are of Sanskrit origin. Moreover, if the Taj is believed to be a burial place, how can the term Mahal, i.e., mansion apply to it?

Several European visitors of Shahjahan's time allude to the building as Taj-e-Mahal is almost the correct tradition, age old Sanskrit name Tej-o-Mahalaya, signifying a Shiva temple. Contrarily Shahjahan and Aurangzeb scrupulously avoid using the Sanskrit term and call it just a holy grave.

Taj Mahal is not a Tomb

The tomb should be understood to signify NOT A BUILDING but only the grave or centotaph inside it. This would help people to realize that all dead muslim courtiers and royalty including Humayun, Akbar, Mumtaz, Etmad-ud-Daula and Safdarjang have been buried in capture Hindu mansions and temples.

No Muslim mausoleum has the facility for circumvolution, but Taj Mahal privides this facility. It indicates that in the pre-Muslim era, devotees used to avail this facility to move round the emblem of Lord Shiva. Tavernier, a French traveller of that time, wrote in his annals that a bazaar used to be held within the Taj complex and it is solely a Hindu tradition to hold bazaars and fairs within a temple complex, which is totally unusual for a Muslim mausoleum.

The two buildings which face the marble Taj from the east and west are identical in design, size and shape and yet the eastern building is explained away by Islamic tradition, as a community hall while the western building is claimed to be a mosque. How could buildings meant for radically different purposes be identical? This proves that the western building was put to use as a mosque after seizure of the Taj property by Shahjahan. Curiously enough the building being explained away as a mosque has no minaret. They form a pair af reception pavilions of the Tejomahalaya temple palace.

A few yards away from the same flank is the Nakkar Khana alias DrumHouse which is a intolerable incongruity for Islam. The proximity of the Drum House indicates that the western annex was not originally a mosque. Contrarily a drum house is a neccesity in a Hindu temple or palace because Hindu chores,in the morning and evening, begin to the sweet strains of music.

The embossed patterns on the marble exterior of the centotaph chamber wall are foilage of the conch shell design and the Hindu letter "OM". The octagonally laid marble lattices inside the centotaph chamber depict pink lotuses on their top railing. The Lotus, the conch and the OM are the sacred motifs associated with the Hindu deities and temples.

Between the so-called mosque and the drum house is a multistoried octagonal well with a flight of stairs reaching down to the water level. This is a traditional treasury well in Hindu temple palaces. Treasure chests used to be kept in the lower apartments while treasury personnel had their offices in the upper chambers. The circular stairs made it difficult for intruders to reach down to the treasury or to escape with it undetected or unpursued. In case the premises had to be surrendered to a besieging enemy the treasure could be pushed into the well to remain hidden from the conquerer and remain safe for salvaging if the place was reconquered. Such an elaborate multistoried well is superflous for a mere mausoleum. Such a grand, gigantic well is unneccesary for a tomb.

Hindu Significance

The spot occupied by Mumtaz's centotaph was formerly occupied by the Hindu Teja Linga a lithic representation of Lord Shiva. Around it are five perambulatory passages. Perambulation could be done around the marble lattice or through the spacious marble chambers surrounding the centotaph chamber, and in the open over the marble platform. It is also customary for the Hindus to have apertures along the perambulatory passage, overlooking the deity. Such apertures exist in the perambulatories in the Tajmahal.

The sanctom sanctorum in the Taj has silver doors and gold railings as Hindu temples have. It also had nets of pearl and gems stuffed in the marble lattices. It was the lure of this wealth which made Shahjahan commandeer the Taj from a helpless vassal Jaisingh, the then ruler of Jaipur.

Peter Mundy, a Englishman records (in 1632, within a year of Mumtaz's death) having seen a gem studded gold railing around her tomb. Had the Taj been under construction for 22 years, a costly gold railing would not have been noticed by Peter mundy within a year of Mumtaz's death. Such costl fixtures are installed in a building only after it is ready for use. This indicates that Mumtaz's centotaph was grafted in place of the Shivalinga in the centre of the gold railings. Subsequently the gold railings, silver doors, nets of pearls, gem fillings etc. were all carried away to Shahjahan's treasury. The seizure of the Taj thus constituted an act of highhanded Moghul robery causing a big row between Shahjahan and Jaisingh.

Above Mumtaz's centotaph hangs a chain by which now hangs a lamp. Before capture by Shahjahan the chain used to hold a water pitcher from which water used to drip on the Shivalinga.

Patches

In the marble flooring around Mumtaz's centotaph may be seen tiny mosaic patches. Those patches indicate the spots where the support for the gold railings were embedded in the floor. They indicate a rectangular fencing.

Taj Mahal: The True Story

In his book Taj Mahal: The True Story, P.N.Oak says the Taj Mahal is not Queen Mumtaz Mahal's tomb but an ancient Hindu temple palace of Lord Shiva (then known as Tejo Mahalaya). In the course of his research, Oak discovered that Shiva temple palace was usurped by Shah Jahan from then Maharaja of Jaipur, Jai Singh.

Oak's inquiries begin with the name Taj Mahal…. He says this term does not occur in any Moghul court papers or chronicles, even after Shah Jahan's time. The term "Mahal" has never been used for a building in any of the Muslim countries, from Afghanistan to Algeria. "The unusual explanation that the term Taj Mahal derives from Mumtaz Mahal is illogical in at least two respects.

Firstly, her name was never Mumtaz Mahal but Mumtaz-ul-Zamani, he writes. "Secondly, one cannot omit the first three letters 'Mum' from a woman's name to derive the remainder as the name for the building." Taj Mahal, he claims, is a corrupt version of Tejo-Mahalaya, or the Shiva's Palace. ..Oak also says the love story of Mumtaz and Shah Jahan is a fairy tale created by court sycophants, blundering historians and sloppy archaeologists. Not a single royal chronicle of Shah Jahan's time corroborates the love story.

Furthermore, Oak cites several documents suggesting the Taj Mahal predates Shah Jahan's era, and was a temple palace dedicated to Shiva worshipped by the Rajputs of Agra city. For example, Professor Marvin Miller of New York took a few samples from the riverside doorway of the Taj. Carbon dating tests revealed that the door was 300 years older than Shah Jahan. European traveler Johan Al! Bert Man delslo, who visited
Agra in 1638 (only seven years after Mumtaz's death), describes the life of the city in his memoirs. But he makes no reference to the Taj Mahal being built. The writings of Peter Mundy, an English visitor to Agra within a year of Mumtaz's death, also suggest the Taj was a noteworthy building long well before Shah Jahan's time.

Oak points out a number of design and architectural inconsistencies that support the belief of the Taj Mahal being a typical Hindu temple rather than a mausoleum…. Many rooms in the Taj Mahal have remained sealed since Shah Jahan's time, and are still not accessible to the public. Oak asserts they contain a headless statue of Shiva and other objects commonly used for worship rituals in Hindu temples. Fearing political backlash, Indira Gandhi's government tried to have Oak's book withdrawn from the bookstores, and threatened the Indian publisher of the first edition with dire consequences.

Pictures

Rear view of the Taj & 22 apartments

The interior water well

A marble apartment on ground floor

The Music House

Typical Vedic style corridors

The True Architectural Origin of Taj Mahal

What is the true architectural origin of this famous site? Marvin Mills is a professional architect who has taught the history and theory of architecture at a number of American universities.

Taj builders used Harappan measurement units

Designers of the 17th century Taj Mahal, employed the same unit of measurement used by the Harappan civilization of 2000 BC, according to a new study reported in the latest issue of Current Science.

The study by R. Balasubramaniam of the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, has for the first time shown that the unit of length called angulam — mentioned in Kautilya’s treatise Arthasastra dated 300 BC — was used without a break by Indian builders for over 3,900 years until the British imposed their units in the 18th century.

An ancient unit of length called angulam, mentioned in Kautilya’s treatise Arthasastra dated 300 BC, has been used as the unit of measurement right from the Harappan times till the pre-modern era when the Taj Mahal was built (Photo: Renu Manish Sinha)

The ancient angulam has been found to be equal to 1.763 modern centimetres, according to Balasubramaniam, a professor of materials and metallurgical engineering. He has carried out dimensional analysis of some of India ’s historical structures, built during different times, to identify the measuring units used in their engineering plans.He says he was surprised that angulam and its multiples vitasti (12 angulams) and dhanus (108 angulams) have been used as the unit of measurement right from the Harappan times till the pre-modern era when the Taj was built.

Balasubramaniam, who last year studied the dimensions of the 1,600-year-old Delhi Iron Pillar at the Qutub Minar complex, found that angulam and its multiple dhanus were used as the basic units of length in its design. For example, the total height of the pillar is exactly 4 dhanus, adds Balasubramaniam. And now in a paper published in Current Science, Balasubramaniam has shown that the modular plan of the Taj Mahal complex is based on use of grids of sides measuring 60 and 90 vitasti.

He says the study has established that the design and architecture of the Taj is based on traditional Indian units codified in Arthasastra and that "there is nothing foreign" in its design.

"The fact that the unit of angulam of 1.763 cm could match very well the dimensions of historical monuments establishes the continuity of India’s engineering tradition through the ages for as long as 3,900 years," says Balasubramaniam in his paper. "With the new knowledge we can analyse all the important ancient structures in India ," he says, and hopes the findings "will open a new chapter in the study of metrology (science of measurements)". But how did the angulam tradition remain unbroken for so long? As quoted in the website of Nature India , Balasubramaniam believes the workers from the Harappan days were perhaps using some kind of scale "that was handed over through generations".

source: by K. S. Jayaraman, Taj builders used Harappan measurement units, [tribuneindia.com The Sunday Tribune] — Spectrum, Sunday, September 6, 2009

References

Bibliography

1. The True Story of the Taj Mahal, by P. N. Oak

2. Taj Mahal: Was it a Vedic Temple?, The Photographic Evidence, A Presentation Assembled by Stephen Knapp, Available at www.stephen-knapp.com.

3. Taj Mahal - A hindu temple vandalised by Moguls

4. TAJ MAHAL -- A Temple Converted Into A Mausoleum, by Dr Radhasyam Brahmachari, M. Tech, Ph.D.

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The World according to India

2010-08-12T10:40:00.001+05:30

Courtesy Uday

Welcome to the new Talibanistan - the erstwhile Hindustan!!

2010-05-11T16:42:00.005+05:30

Welcome to our rechristened country - Talibanistan. We're carrying the baggage of the oldest religion and culture and hence we better abide by all the norms and regulations laid by our ancestors. Looks like our predecessors even decided whom to have sex with and whom to marry. So oldest form of pleasure known to mankind may not be a free stuff in India. At least there's some consolation that if you're not a Hindu then you have lesser restrictions and can choose from a bigger set of people to have sex with. Hindus have to find out if the girl (or guy - depending on your sex and orientation) is from the same Gotra or village!! Many more things may come up. Couples with many other commonalities (may be same state, or same district) may also be gradually disallowed to have sex legally!! And we've a US returned business grad, a scion of a big business house in India and a young politician justifying the need of a law for disallowing Hindus marrying someone you love even if he/she happens to be a 100th generation descendant of a common ancestor.

The people, in favor of passing a law against Hindus marrying within the same Gotra - the mythical lineage of people supposedly descending from the same ancient Aryan sage - point out vociferously to the genetic disorders resulting from inbreeding and marrying a cousin. My friend Vikas pointed me to the linked documents about inbreeding. That's correct. Inbreeding may lead to several disorders, but the probability of inbreeding reduces exponentially when the relation becomes distant. Even for 2nd cousin it's only 0.7%. So if separated by a few generations, the chance of inbreeding is almost zero. So the scientifically disallowing marriage within the same Gotra and same village stuff don't hold good.

And hey, we're talking about people descending from Kashyap, Bhrigu, Angiras, Kanva, Vashishtha etc, who themselves may not be historical characters or even if they are then they might have been alive at least 4000 years ago - going by the most latest dating of Rig Veda, putting it to 1500BC. People sometimes date Rig Veda to 3000BC or even more - so that makes these people alive some 5000 years back. C'mon, statistically the chance of inbreeding is ZERO among their descendants after so many years!!

Just some 100 years ago my and Trinita's great grand parents used to stay in the same village named Goila in what is now Bangladesh. My marriage would be now in rocks, not because I'm sleeping with some other girl, but because I have been sleeping with my 'sister' !! Shit - I'm incestuous.

Mukesh makes a few great points here:

The point is should people be allowed take law into their hands to punish what they perceive as incorrect ?

You can pass laws to administer it, e.g. in Karnataka cow slaughter is being banned. So now administration can legally enforce it (whether this is good or bad is a different issue. One man's meat is being made all men's poison !)

To prevent genetic defects we now have genetic coding/typing (Hope I got it right ! supposed to become big business in future !). Or will people be against it because it may bring out unpalatable truths ! (discovery that you have genes of some forefather, whose genes you should not be having !) In my community [Mukesh hails from Coorg], when some folks went for this, it created quite a furore. The reason being apprehension that the 'Islamic' part of genes in the community might pop up (Chengis Khan has the highest gene foot print in the world). After all our traditional dress does resemble the Omani traditional dress and Muthanna (My Kodava/Coorgi name) is a very popular name in Iraq ! Though my biggest concern is that the radicals in both the communities (Hindu and Muslim) may get together, arrive at a compromise and ban both beef and pork ! What no pandhi curry ? (The point is but than we eat pork !).

The sad part is that we lose the logic of the ritual and continue with the ritual even though it is no longer valid. E.g., some opinions I had heard was that Islam banned pork because pork is the meat which spoils quickest in desert conditions (The theory about pigs being un clean went out of the window with the mad cow disease and farmers using sewage water to grow "kothamari soppu"). Green is Islam's colour because in the desert there are hardly any plants/trees. So green is to be revered and preserved.

So while first cousin marriages (you can marry father's sisters' kids or mother's brothers' kids) and uncle niece (guys marrying their sister's daughter) are 'kosher' in certain communities in South India (any research here ?), you can get killed for being in the same village and getting married, up North!.

There is a big debate within my community about inter caste marriages (folks are married into all communities). While one opinion is that our population is dwindling because of this the contrary opinion is that the gene pool is getting stronger (unlike the Parsis, apparently). While folks are going ahead and doing what they want to do some of the fiercest opponents of inter caste marriages had to bite the dust and have turned around to become over night supporters of inter caste marriages when their kids married out of the community (including my uncle whose son married a Gujju behn !).

Yes. It is about politics, power and wealth and nothing else.

Actually why blame only the Jat Khaps who want to ban same-Gotra marriage among Hindus? Why not blame the TamBram guys? How many cases have you heard where an Aiyer is marrying an Ayenger? For that matter, have you checked the entries in the Indian matrimony sites? There are more fields for castes, Gotras, clan, lineage etc than education, hobbies etc. How many parents marry without checking horoscope?

I think the problem is there in all places in some form. Unless we put a check, we're no better than the Talibans.

Happy Rabindra Jayanti

2010-05-09T11:12:00.005+05:30

I don't know if Rabindra Jayanti, the birth day of Tagore, can be classified into one of those 'Happy' days - like New Year, Diwali, Christmas etc. - when people wish happiness and good luck to each other. In fact not many birthdays are considered 'Happy' days. Jesus is very lucky. His might be the only birthday that gets the maximum 'happy' and 'merry' wishes. Our Lord Krishna comes to a distant second, at least in India, because few people do wish each other on Janmashtami, if not in the same way they do on Christmas. Nevertheless the online greeting cards portals have brought back some heritage and cultural feelings among us and they remind us from time to time to wish each other on many of these 'happy' days. In India most of the 'happy' days are religious or social - Happy Diwali, Happy Dussera, Happy Holi et al. Lately the various relations day, like Happy Mothers' Day, Happy Fathers' Day, Happy Husband Day, Happy Lovers Day etc have become quite popular and I'm sure the portals and the florists make quite a good amount of money in these occasions.

Somehow I find it a bit ironical why the birth days of real people in flesh and blood never attain the status of one of those Happy Days. Have you ever heard of wishing each other a Happy Gandhi Jayanti or for that matter a Happy Rabindra Jayanti? Gandhi and Tagore are perhaps among the most important personalities who have shaped the modern India. Above all both of them taught us to love each other. Without a Gandhi India would have been a Pakistan by now and without a Tagore Bangladesh would have been the same. Pakistan is doubly unlucky that they lack both Tagore and Gandhi and Bangladesh at least has Tagore to keep them away from becoming a Pakistan too soon. It's India alone who has survived in the subcontinent amidst all her folly and feigns, trouble and pains, terror and reigns. We still love to stay together, we still love not to pounce upon others at the first possible opportunity, we still take pride in our culture but welcome people and cultures from round the world. We uphold the tradition of thousands of years but still have a very modern spiritual and cultural outlook. Our post colonial indigenous education system, much of which is inspired by Tagore's ideas and the political backbone, much of which is still based on Gandhi's thoughts are perhaps the two major factors that have kept us distinguished from our neighbors. Religious intolerance and fanaticism is still not that alarming that it can fill venom in the blood of every Indian.

So can't the birth day of Tagore and Gandhi be one of those 'happy' days.

Tagore is one of the persons whom I love and learn to love in a new way each time at all phases of my life - the time I first fell in love, the time when I feel dejected and rejected, the time I see success and also the time I fail miserably - there's something always that soothes me and this grand old bearded man seems to be always with me. I'm never alone even if I'm stuck in the loneliest corner of the world, I'm never extravagant even if I'm wrapped with all the wealth of the world, I'm never sad even if the whole world leaves me, I'm never hopeless even if nothing happens as expected. Rabindranath is there always at my disposal. His songs keep me enriched, his words keep me awake and his thoughts drive me always. For me his 150th birthday today surely one of the 'happiest' days where I'd like to wish happiness to everyone I love.

After a very long time I was watching the movie Kabuliwala in one of the Bengali channels. I'd forgotten many of the scenes and sequences. That's why I enjoyed again watching it so much. No doubt that's one of the finest movies made in any Indian language. At the end of the movie one thought just dawned in me - whatever may the rest of the world think about Afghanistan, but the Bengalis will always have a totally different picture of the fierceful by still not dreaded, very rough and tough but still so loving Afghans - all thanks to Tagore's depiction of a country and its people in such a poignant way. It's irony that in the course of just 100 years have become the most dreaded nation in the world.

Rabindranath's elder brother Satyendranath Tagore was perhaps the first Indian to pass the ICS exam. He was posted in what's now Dakshin Kannada district or Karnataka, the area around Karwar which includes the beautiful Kali river. It was during his official tenure that his youngest brother Rabindranath used to visit him during the 1870s. Rabindranath was in his teens then. Looks like he was awed by the serene and virgin beauty of the Western Ghats and specially the shores of the rivulet Kali. People who have visited those areas would understand how serene those places might have been some 150 years ago. There's no doubt that a poet and a nature lover would fall in love with this place. KSTDC still acknowledges Tagore's love for these places and they have a resort run by Jungle Lodges on Kali river at a place called Dandeli. In fact I came to know of these trivia only from a KSTDC pamphlet where they very proudly advertised how much Tagore loved these places. They also claimed that Tagore wrote his first drama (perhaps Rajarshi) on the banks of Kali/Dandeli rivers. Next if you go to Karwar, you can see that there are multiple places named after Tagore. That's also because Tagore used to frequent Karwar a lot and considered the beaches on Karwar best in India. No wonder, Jungle Lodges have one of their best resorts on an island on Kali river near the mouth in Karwar. Also if you've seen the Karwar beach, just south of Goa, it's indeed one of the finest beaches in India.

Perhaps the most interesting connection with Bangalore is that Tagore started one of his best, and my favorite, novels Shesher Kabita, here. The story goes like this - he was visiting Bangalore along with P C Mahalanabis and the later's wife Rani Mahalanabis, both very close to Tagore. PC Mahalanabis founded ISI in Calcutta much later. Rani and few of her friends were quite young in 1930s, perhaps in their twenties, and all of them requested the old septuagenarian Tagore to write something interesting for the youngsters like them. Tagore took the challenge and started telling them a story about two very romantic people Amit and Labanya, who met literally accidentally on the hills of Shillong. After a short while the story became quite interesting and that's when they requested Tagore to make a novel out of it!!

Well, I think Bangalore still keeps up to the reputation of being a city of youngsters!!

Nuclear Liability Bill: What should it be

2010-03-11T21:27:00.003+05:30

The Nuclear Liability Bill would be presented in the Parliament soon. Though such bills don't occupy front pages in papers, still they are very important to our country, specially when we're aggressively looking forward to nuclear energy as one of the main alternative energy sources in future.

The entry of many foreign companies in nuclear business is expected soon. So it's very essential to have a liability bill in case any unprecedented event or accident happens. Rediff had a detailed report on this. It's worth reading this report as it points out that our government seems to be in a haste to pass a very lenient bill. But at the same time looks like similar international laws (for example 1997 Vienna Convention) the are also in favor of the companies rather than the victims.

Perhaps that's what is the practice in a capitalistic market. But India being a motley of socialism, capitalism, communism such a bill is ought to evoke mixed reaction!!

How much do you care for your child

2010-03-10T22:04:00.005+05:30

Recently, during an informal chat session among a few of my friends, we're discussing about the greatest assets that India has. One of my friends pointed out that the family value system is perhaps one of the greatest assets of our country. By family value system he meant a simple thing like the sacrifice that we, as parents, still make for our children. Somehow I felt that he indeed spoke something very fundamental. When I came back home and thought over it I really found out, yes, that's indeed one of the rarest and biggest assets, which we ourselves tend to overlook. It's this care and affection that we show to our children, it's this responsibility that we take for our children, it's the sacrifice that we make throughout our lives for our children, that make our children grow with the thousands-years-old cultural heritage of India. Perhaps this upbringing is something that's passing the Indian culture through the generations.

I remembered a small incident that happened some 25 years back. My parents wanted me to study at the Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapith in Purulia, a very backward district in West Bengal, adjoining Jharkhand. Purulia used to be a torturous one night journey from Calcutta by train and then on cycle rickshaw pushed by rickety people along hilly tracks of narrow roads. Coming from Calcutta the abundance of poverty everywhere struck me shockingly. I don't remember if I'd seen such scenes before in my life. Every where the people seemed to be so poor. I was barely 11-12 years old. But still I was filled with melancholy at the first site.

My father took me to the school so that I could like or dislike the place before getting admitted there. It was a residential school and hence it was important that I liked the place.

We stayed in the guest house. After lunch to returned to the guest house for a nap. That's when we noticed an old man, sitting alone at a corner of the room where we're supposed to stay. The guest house was like dormitory with 5-6 beds placed haphazardly in each room. We'd occupied two beds in one of the rooms. The old person was sitting in another bed, at the corner of the room. At the first sight I thought him to be a servant or a worker at the Mission and hence felt irritated about his presence. The person would have sensed what was going on inside my mind and hence he also seemed to feel a little uneasy. My father came from a very humble background and hence he was better off in not being so judgmental like me. He went ahead and sat on the same bed as the person. That's when I gave a close glance on him. He didn't appear to be that old as I'd thought initially. But it didn't need much brain or vision to understand that he was indeed poor, rather very poor. He was wearing a torn and very dirty dhoti, which was not much more than an ugly loin cloth. His pair of shoes didn't have any further space to put the next patch for repair, if needed ever in future. The color of the shoes could have been black in some remote past, but the layers of dust and dirt made it a tough proposition to decipher that. His dhoti ended little above his knees making portions of his long underwear visible. His shirt didn't have any button anywhere - just a few safety pins at the erstwhile holes meant for the buttons. The over bulging small pocket was packed with a world of stuff like a small note book, some small papers - might be some old bills or bus or tickets, a leaking fountain pen that had made its presence felt in the multiple blue stains on the pocket, some lose currencies of one rupee notes and many other things. The person was sitting like an arch, with a curved back - I figured out later that he couldn't even stand erect. His face had unshaven beards. His eyes had a pair of typical black specs with high power.

When my father went and sat besides him, he stood up, as if he was not entitled to sit alongside my father. My father requested him to sit down. He sat with a bewildered look mixed with respect and gratitude, as if allowing him to sit itself was a great favor shown. My father asked him whether he had come to meet someone at the school. That's when he told that his elder son was appearing for the Madhyamik (secondary) exams the next year (1985) and he had come to see him. So it was clear that he was not a servant. I could see regards in my fathers eyes. He started talking to him. My father, himself a victim of the partition of India, having lived a life like refugees on aids and public and private benevolence and finally being able to get a foot after completing his engineering, has very high regards for people who struggle and put everything at stake just for the sake of acquiring a good education. Unlike me or my brother, the only asset that my father had was his education without which he would have been a non entity in this world. I could understand very well that he was seeing in that person a shade of my uncle, with whom my father stayed after fleeing from Bangladesh and who had struggled so much just to give a basic education to him. My father asked the person about his job. He told that he was a primary school teacher. He also told my father that he wanted his son to study medicine in Calcutta. That's when my father couldn't resist to ask if he could bear all the expenses of his son's studies. He stared at my father for some time and then spoke gently, "Won't the 500 rupees a month I get as salary be sufficient?". My father kept silent for sometime and then asked hesitantly if he gave his entire salary for his son's education then what they would eat at home. The person replied very casually that they would somehow manage with the little vegetables that grow in their small plot of land.

I could see tears in my father's eyes. He rose, held the person's hands and told, "I'm saying you today, I don't know what's there for my son in future, but there's no doubt that your son would become an established doctor for sure. That's my conviction. We all try to give our children the best possible education, but I can't ever think of spending my entire salary for it".

That was the time my father didn't have a job. He had a sun stroke sometime in 1982 and lost his job. After recovering, he couldn't take the strain of working in factories and hence had to sit at home for a few years. Our household used to run on my mother's job. Though I was quite young still I knew that my parents did face financial problems during those few years, specially with the loan on our newly build house. I somehow still recall how much calculations my parents would do to make sure that I and my brother never felt any pinch. When my father was speaking those words to the person I could feel the pain in his voice. I knew that he was going out of his way to make sure that I got into a good school and had all the luxuries in life at home. But all his sacrifices seemed so silly in front of this person who was ready to sacrifice everything for this son's education. It's his vision and faith that education and education alone would change their fortune is something has stayed in my mind for ever.

Coming back to where I started, I think there's no doubt that such instances of extreme sacrifices that Indian parents do for their children is really one of our greatest assets.

By the way, the person's son did become a doctor finally. His name is most probably Aurobindo Hembram!! He studied in Calcutta Medical College, off course with scholarships. My father's conviction did come true!!

3 Qs about India

2010-03-10T21:49:00.007+05:30

Recently some of us had met informally at a place in Bangalore to just chit chat and share ideas on what we think about our own country and what we can do to make things better for India in our own capacity. During the course we'd asked ourselves three basic questions. Here are the questions and the answers that came up.

Q1 and Q2: what would you wish to change and why?

· Education

o Make children strong

o Education empowers people; access to knowledge; ability to question

o Makes people informed citizens

o Larger percentage of educated class tends to vote correctly

o Education is indication of future

Healthcare (incl. maternal health, child mortality)

Corruption / Legal system / Justice Delivery

o Book 20 people for corruption in NREGA and Mid-day meal scheme and send them to jail; will get 5X improvement in execution of these schemes

o Legal system is the foundation for everything

Infrastructure

o Create Public Works projects

o Make people remember the Golden Quadrilateral and its impact

Remove taxes on petrol and diesel

o 60% of price is tax which goes to government and the people in govt

o Removal of these taxes will make goods cheaper

Make India strong – economically and from a security point of view

o Make people fear and respect the constitution; today, there isn’t respect for police even

Other Ideas

o Universal Conscription / Military Training / Social Service

o Sustainable Development and environment focus

o Women Empowerment

o Remove Articles 25-30 from India’s Constitution (dealing with Secularism)

o Electoral Reform (who can vote, and who can contest elections)

Q3: What is India’s greatest asset?

Young People / demographics

o New generation of people

o Young / Middle India; 30-45 age group

o Hope in Middle Class

o Parents sacrificing for Children’s future (hardly seen anywhere else in the world)

o Middle Class value system

o Population Numbers

o Family system

o Middle Class (we) – who have responsibility to our Children to create a better future for them; our generation is the first that has seen no shortages; we owe it to the next generation to build a better tomorrow

Pluralism (open to ideas / lifestyle)

Indians can work with limited resources

o Survival Strength

o Innovation – just need opportunities to create own unique solutions; Resourcefulness

Cultural Inheritance (one phrase which captures everything); Dharma

o Confident, Unshackled Mind, combined with our Culture

Who is your competitor?

2010-03-10T21:39:00.000+05:30

This is written by Dr. Y. L. R. Moorthi who is a professor at the Indian Institute of Management Bangalore. He is an M.Tech from Indian Institute of Technology, Madras and a post graduate in management from IIM, Bangalore

Who sells the largest number of cameras in India? Your guess is likely to be Sony, Canon or Nikon. Answer is none of the above. The winner is Nokia whose main line of business in India is not cameras but cell phones. Reason being cameras bundled with cellphones are outselling stand alone cameras. Now, what prevents the cellphone from replacing the camera outright? Nothing at all. One can only hope the Sonys and Canons are taking note.

Try this. Who is the biggest in music business in India? You think it is HMV Sa-Re-Ga-Ma? Sorry. The answer is Airtel. By selling caller tunes (that play for 30 seconds) Airtel makes more than what music companies make by selling music albums (that run for hours).

Incidentally Airtel is not in music business. It is the mobile service provider with the largest subscriber base in India. That sort of competitor is difficult to detect, even more difficult to beat (by the time you have identified him he has already gone past you). But if you imagine that Nokia and Bharti (Airtel's parent) are breathing easy you can't be farther From truth.

Nokia confessed that they all but missed the smartphone bus. They admit that Apple's Iphone and Google's Android can make life difficult in future.

But you never thought Google was a mobile company, did you? If these illustrations mean anything, there is a bigger game unfolding. It is not so much about mobile or music or camera or emails?

The war is about "what is tomorrow's personal digital device"? Will it be a souped up mobile or a palmtop with a telephone? All these are little wars that add up to that big battle. Hiding behind all these wars is a gem of a question - "who is my competitor?"

Once in a while, to intrigue my students I toss a question at them. It Says "What Apple did to Sony, Sony did to Kodak, explain?" The smart ones get the answer almost immediately. Sony defined its market as audio (music from the walkman). They never expected an IT company like Apple to encroach into their audio domain. Come to think of it, is it really surprising? Apple as a computer maker has both audio and video capabilities. So what made Sony think he won't compete on pure audio? "Elementary Watson". So also Kodak defined its business as film cameras, Sony defines its businesses as "digital."

In digital camera the two markets perfectly meshed. Kodak was torn between going digital and sacrificing money on camera film or staying with films and getting left behind in digital technology. Left undecided it lost in both. It had to. It did not ask the question "who is my competitor for tomorrow?" The same was true for IBM whose mainframe revenue prevented it from seeing the PC. The same was true of Bill Gates who declared "internet is a fad!" and then turned around to bundle the browser with windows to bury Netscape. The point is not who is today's competitor. Today's competitor is obvious. Tomorrow's is not.

In 2008, who was the toughest competitor to British Airways in India? Singapore airlines? Better still, Indian airlines? Maybe, but there are better answers. There are competitors that can hurt all these airlines and others not mentioned.

The answer is videoconferencing and telepresence services of HP and Cisco. Travel dropped due to recession. Senior IT executives in India and abroad were compelled by their head quarters to use videoconferencing to shrink travel budget. So much so, that the mad scramble for American visas from Indian techies was nowhere in sight in 2008. (India has a quota of something like 65,000 visas to the U.S. They were going a-begging. Blame it on recession!). So far so good. But to think that the airlines will be back in business post recession is something I would not bet on. In short term yes. In long term a resounding no.

Remember, if there is one place where Newton's law of gravity is applicable besides physics it is in electronic hardware. Between 1977 and 1991 the prices of the now dead VCR (parent of Blue-Ray disc player) crashed to one-third of its original level in India. PC's price dropped from hundreds of thousands of rupees to tens of thousands. If this trend repeats then telepresence prices will also crash. Imagine the fate of airlines then. As it is not many are making money. Then it will surely be RIP!

India

has two passions. Films and cricket. The two markets were distinctly different. So were the icons. The cricket gods were Sachin and Sehwag. The filmi gods were the Khans (Aamir Khan, Shah Rukh Khan and the other Khans who followed suit). That was, when cricket was fundamentally test cricket or at best 50 over cricket. Then came IPL and the two markets collapsed into one. IPL brought cricket down to 20 overs. Suddenly an IPL match was reduced to the length of a 3 hour movie. Cricket became film's competitor.

On the eve of IPL matches movie halls ran empty. Desperate multiplex owners requisitioned the rights for screening IPL matches at movie halls to hang on to the audience. If IPL were to become the mainstay of cricket, as it is likely to be, films have to sequence their releases so as not clash with IPL matches. As far as the audience is concerned both are what in India Are called 3 hour "tamasha"(entertain ment). Cricket season might push films out of the market.

Look at the products that vanished from India in the last 20 years. When did you last see a black and white movie? When did you last use a fountain pen? When did you last type on a typewriter? The answer for all the above is "I don't remember!" For some time there was a mild substitute for the typewriter called electronic typewriter that had limited memory. Then came the computer and mowed them all. Today most technologically challenged guys like me use the computer as an upgraded typewriter. Typewriters per se are nowhere to be seen.

One last illustration. 20 years back what were Indians using to wake them up in the morning? The answer is "alarm clock." The alarm clock was a monster made of mechanical springs. It had to be physically keyed every day to keep it running. It made so much noise by way of alarm, that it woke you up and the rest of the colony. Then came quartz clocks which were sleeker.

They were much more gentle though still quaintly called "alarms." What do we use today for waking up in the morning? Cellphone! An entire industry of clocks disappeared without warning thanks to cell phones. Big watch companies like Titan were the losers. You never know in which bush your competitor is hiding!

On a lighter vein, who are the competitors for authors? Joke spewing machines? (Steve Wozniak, the co-founder of Apple, himself a Pole, tagged a Polish joke telling machine to a telephone much to the mirth of Silicon Valley). Or will the competition be story telling robots? Future is scary!

The boss of an IT company once said something interesting about the animal called competition.

He said "Have breakfast ...or.... be breakfast"! That sums it up rather neatly.

Before civilized society it was "Survival of fittest", then came civilized sense of the "right to survive for everyone". Now it's like "what would not survive and who could be fittest" remains the question.

MF Hussain and Artistic Freedom

2010-03-10T21:36:00.002+05:30

This is a Letter to the Editor of The Hindu, from a practising Christian lady who was Professor in Stella Maris College, Chennai till recently; now settled at Baroda, regarding an Edit in The Hindu in favour of bringing back MF Hussain to India.

Dear Ram,

I have taken time to write this to you Ram-for the simple reason that we have known you for so many years- you and The Hindu bring back happy memories Please take what I am putting down as those that come from an agonized soul. You know that I do not mince words and what I have to say I will-I call a spade a spade-now it is too late for me to learn the tricks of being called a ‘secularist’ if that means a bias for, one, and a bias against, another.

Hussain is now a citizen of Qatar-this has generated enough of heat and less of light. Qatar you know better than me is not a country which respects democracy or freedom of expression. Hussain says he has complete freedom-I challenge him to paint a picture of Mohammed fully clad.

There is no second opinion that artists have the Right of Freedom of expression. Is such a right restricted only to Hussain? Will that right not flow to Dan Brown-why was his film-Da Vinci Code not screened? Why was Satanic Verses banned-does Salman Rushdie not have that freedom of expression? Similarly why is Taslima hunted and hounded and why fatwas have been issued on both these writers? Why has Qatar not offered citizenship to Taslima? In the present rioting in Shimoga in Karnataka against the article Taslima wrote against the tradition of burqua which appeared in the Out Look in Jan 2007.No body protested then either in Delhi or in any other part of the country; now when it reappears in a Karnataka paper there is rioting. Is there a political agenda to create a problem in Karnataka by the intolerant goons? Why has the media not condemned this insensitivity and intolerance of the Muslims against Taslima’s views? When it comes to the Sangh Parivar it is quick to call them goons and intolerant etc. Now who are the goons and where is this tolerance and sensitivity?

Regarding Hussain’s artistic freedom it seems to run unfettered in an expression of sexual perversion only when he envisages the Hindu Gods and Goddesses. There is no quarrel had he painted a nude woman sitting on the tail of a monkey. The point is he captioned it as Sita. Nobody would have protested against the sexual perversion and his orientatation to sexual signs and symbols. But would he dare to caption it as ‘Fatima enjoying in Jannat with animals’?

Next example-is the painting of Saraswati copulating with a lion. Here again his perversion is evident and so is his intent. Even that lets concede cannot be faulted-each one’s sexual orientation is each one’s business I suppose. But he captioned it as Saraswati. This is the problem. It is Hussain’s business to enjoy in painting his sexual perversion. But why use Saraswati and Sita for his perverted expressions? Use Fatima and watch the consequence. Let the media people come to his rescue then. Now that he is in a country that gives him complete freedom let him go ahead and paint Fatima copulating with a lion or any other animal of his choice. And then turn around and prove to India-the Freedom of expression he enjoys in Qatar.

Talking about Freedom of Expression-this is the Hussain who supported Emergency-painted Indira Gandhi as Durga slaying Jayaprakas Narayan. He supported the jailing of artists and writers. Where did this Freedom of Expression go? And you call him secularist? Would you support the jailing of artists and writers Ram –would you support the abeyance of the Constitution and all that we held sacred in democracy and the excessiveness of Indira Gandhi to gag the media-writers- political opponents? Tell me honesty why does Hussain expect this Freedom when he himself did not support others with the same freedom he wants? And the media has rushed to his rescue. Had it been a Ram who painted such obnoxious, .degrading painting-the reactions of the media and the elite ‘secularists’ would have been different; because there is a different perception/and index of secularism when it comes to Ram-and a different perception/and index of secularism when it comes to Rahim/Hussain.

It brings back to my mind an episode that happened to The Hindu some years ago.[1991]. You had a separate weekly page for children with cartoons, quizzes, and with poems and articles of school children. In one such weekly page The Hindu printed a venerable bearded man-fully robed with head dress, mouthing some passages of the Koran-trying to teach children .It was done not only in good faith but as a part of inculcating values to children from the Koran. All hell broke loose. Your office witnessed goons who rushed in-demanded an apology-held out threats. In Ambur, Vaniambadi and Vellore the papers stands were burned-the copies of The Hindu were consigned to the fire. A threat to raise the issue in Parliament through a Private Members Bill was held out-Hectic activities went on-I am not sure of the nature and the machinations behind the scene. But The Hindu next day brought out a public apology in its front page. Where were you Ram? How secular and tolerant were the Muslims?

Well this is of the past-today it is worse because the communal temperature in this country is at a all high-even a small friction can ignite and demolition the country’s peace and harmony. It is against this background that one should view Hussain who is bent on abusing and insulting the Hindu Gods and Goddesses. Respect for religious sentiments, need to maintain peace and harmony should also be part of the agenda of an artist-if he is great. If it is absent then he cannot say that he respects India and express his longing for India.

Let’s face it-he is a fugitive of law. Age and religion are immaterial. What does the media want-that he be absolved by the courts? Even for that he has to appear in the courts-he cannot run away-After all this is the country where he lived and gave expression to his pervert sadist, erotic artistic mind under Freedom of Expression. I simply cannot jump into the bandwagon of the elite ‘secularist’ and uphold what he had done. With his brush he had committed jihad-bloodletting.

The issue is just not nudity-Yes the temples-the frescos in Konarak and Kajhuraho have nude figures-But does it say that they are Sita, Sarswati or any goddesses? We have the Yoni and the Phallus as sacred signs of Life-of Siva and Shakthi-take these icons to the streets, paint them -give it a caption it become vulgar. Times have changed. Even granted that our ancients sculptured and painted naked forms and figures, with a pervert mind to demean religion is no license to repeat that in today’s changed political and social scenario and is not a sign of secularism and tolerance. I repeat there is no quarrel with nudity-painters has time and again found in it the perfection of God’s hand craft.

Let me wish Hussain peace in Qatar-the totalitarian regime with zero tolerance May be he will convince the regime there to permit freedom of expression in word, writing and painting. For this he could start experimenting painting forms and figure of Mohamed the Prophet-and his family And may I fervently wish that the media-especially The Hindu does not discriminate goons-let it not substitute tolerance for intolerance when it comes to Rahim and Antony and another index for Ram.

I hope you will read this in the same spirit that I have written. All the best to you Ram.

Dr Mrs Hilda Raja, Vadodara

Thanks Maa

2010-03-05T11:52:00.000+05:30

I don't know if you've noticed in today's TOI that a movie called "Thanks Maa" has been given a 4 Star rating. The movie is special to me because the writer of the movie, Vishal, has already become a good friend of mine. I have seen the movie a year back when it was screened at the Lankesh Film award (in the name of P Lankesh, the father of Kavita & Indrajit Lankesh, two successful, mainstream, new age, young Kannada directors). After seeing the movie I knew very well that this movie would surely make waves

and it did!! The main character got the National Award this year in the best child actor category!!

Today is the theatrical release of the movie. If you get a chance please go ahead and watch the movies. Creativity always needs sponsors. That's why most of the greatest painters and singers in history flourished in Royal courts. Now that we don't have the kings, and the common man is the king, it's our responsibility to make sure that creativity doesn't die down!! We all love creativity and I'm sure we'd love to see more and more creative things.

TOI review by Nikhat Kazmi:

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/moviereview/5641226.cms

My review:

http://sudiptounplugged.blogspot.com/2009/03/lesser-known-tale-of-better-known.html

A Very Shameful Day in India: M F Hussain surrenders Indian citizenship

2010-02-27T14:25:00.006+05:30

It never made to headlines and today the news was also hidden among the euphoria in the aftermath of one of those rare budgets after which the Sensex didn't dip. Amidst the 'India Shining' rave party it seemed so insignificant that one of India greatest artistes and painters had to surrender his citizenship at an age of 95 because he never felt secured in his motherland.

Yes, I'm speaking about M F Hussain, undoubtedly the most illustrious of the modern day painters who have retained India's position in the international art scene. What is his crime? He has painted Saraswati in nude and hence has a number of cases slapped against him by a bunch of idiots. And not only that, our system has accepted all such baseless cases and wants to try a 95 year old person for being creative. It's well accepted that Indians are an argumentative lot, but that doesn't mean that Indian judiciary will entertain each and every such frivolous case when there's already a huge backlog of rape and murder cases. As long as any act doesn't cause any security threat to the nation or any loss of material and/or respect to the nation or any particular individual, how can such cases be entertained? (By the way the cyber law on pornography and obscenity has been recently changed and Savita Bhabhi is back. So I believe Indian judiciary is going in the right track). More to it, Husaain also has threat on his life, properties and creations and our government doesn't find enough reason to ensure the security of one of her most prodigal sons.

Wow, what a hypocrisy when I've been chanting "Kucha yuga shobhita muktaa haare" towards the end of the Anjali (prayer offerings) on the day of Saraswati Puja since ever. My seven year kid has been also chanting the words, may be, for the past two three years, off course without knowing the meaning. I never felt it necessary for him to know each and every word of the Saraswati Vandana (Sorry guys, the link is in Bengali).

Neither has anyone in Bengal (or elsewhere where this particular Saraswati Vandana is chanted on a Saraswati Puja day) thought it necessary for kids to know the exact meaning. For the matter of fact no one ever bothers what mantras are being read out by the priest during the marriage or the naming ceremony or any where else. Sanskrit has ceased to be the spoken language of people in India more than 2000 years back and very few people have known Sanskrit since very long. But when these mantras were first composed much more people knew Sanskrit and I'm sure they would have objected to any obscene or perverse or derogatory word used for any Indian or Hindu deity. But I'm not aware of any such objection to "Kucha yuga shobhita muktaa haare" which precisely means "boobs adorned with a garland of pearl". When worn in the neck such a garland is known as necklace - I don't know if this would be called a booblace!! Whatever be it, some one in the antiquity did find it very aesthetic and perfectly normal to worship not only the divinity, but also the extra ordinary physical beauty of the Deity of art and culture and education. I'm not sure, but I don't think the physical beauty of any other Hindu deity is adored or worshipped in this way. Perhaps the composer of the hymn or the Mantra felt it necessary to refer to the naked beauty of a woman body because we're here worshipping the Goddess of art. One of the most wonderful creations of the nature is no doubt the body of a woman with all her artistic curves cleavages. All along the ages people were always fascinated with this wonderful creation. Hence why shouldn't we worship the supreme from of art that the nature has created for us? So when we can worship the naked beauty of Saraswati then why can't it be depicted by an artiste? Where is the freedom of speech and expression? It's a matter of great pride that an Indian, Muslim by birth, has taken so much interest in a Goddess of a different religion and has depicted Her exactly in the way she used to be in the ancient times when India had made perhaps the greatest advancements in art and literature and other areas of creative sciences.

I find it so ridiculous that many people claim to dictate the guidelines of Indian culture. It's shocking that people belittle our culture which is by far the most pragmatic and the most liberal one to be found anywhere in the world. We not only worship the breasts and put pictures of woman anatomy on the walls of temples, but we also worship the very moment of joy and ecstasy when a new life is created, the moment when a man and woman has orgasm - that's exactly what the Shiva Linga symbolizes. So when women rub the linga with milk (symbolizing the semen that overflows after orgasm) there's no problem, but if anyone paints a picture of Shiva having sex with Parvati that becomes a big issue? That's really ridiculous!!

I hope these silly people better read more about India and about Indian culture before commenting on it.

Autos on call

2010-02-26T21:55:00.001+05:30

Courtesy Priyank Shukla

Now the residents of Bangalore can have some respite from 'hunting' for auto rickshaws, thanks to Easy Auto, a scheme endorsed by the city police and RTOs.

http://www.easyauto.in/?page=home

Just call 9844112233 any time you want an auto to commute and we will send it to your doorstep. Our auto rickshaws have GPS devices installed in them, and we track our vehicles using highly sophisticated servers that track the satellite data from the GPS devices that is updated every 3 minutes. Our autos are safe, our drivers are always polite and at your service

In Easy Auto the meter charges are as approved by Government, which is a minimum of Rs.14.00 and Rs.7.00 for every additional kilometer. Though Government has approved a service fee of Rs.3.00 for availing this service, it is not being charged right now

Please note that our autos will start the metering to you only at the point of boarding if the vehicle is within 0.5 km running of your point of boarding. But if the auto is beyond this, [our fencing for GPS is 5 km radius], then the agent will ask your consent before connecting this vehicle to you, and metering will start from the current location of the driver and not the point of boarding.

Budget 2010: Highlights

2010-02-26T21:52:00.001+05:30

Excise on locally refined gold at Rs 280/gram

Basic customs duty on gold ore reduced

5% duty, project import status for MSOs

Not to levy import tax on some equipment in road proj

Uniform, concessional 5% duty on all medical appliances

Customs duty rationalized on music, gaming, software

Businesses with Rs 60 lakh turnover have to audit a/c

Excise duty on CFL halved to 4%

Central excise on LED lights cut to 4%

Rs 50/t cess on Indian coal

To raise central excise on non-petro products to 10%

Increased excise duty on all non-smoking tobacco

Excise on cigars, cigarettes to go up

CET on petro products hiked by Re 1

Partial rollback of excise duty on large cars

Partial rollback of excise duty on cement, cement products

Excise duty hiked to 10% vs 8%

Professionals with Rs 15 lakh income need account audit

Weightage deduction on R&D increased to 200%: Ernst & Young

Weighted deduction from 150% to 200% for in-house R&D

Surcharge for companies reduced to 7.5% from 10%

MAT increased to 18%

10% tax for income between Rs 1.6-5 lakh

Nil tax for Rs 1.6 lakh income

Borrowing plan to be decided in consultation with RBI

FY11 net market borrowing pegged at Rs 3.45 lakh crore

To continue with practice of oil, fert subsidy in cash

FY10 fiscal deficit revised to 6.9% of GDP

FY13 fiscal deficit pegged at 4.1%

FY12 fiscal deficit pegged at 4.8% of GDP

FY11 fiscal deficit pegged at 5.5% of GDP

Total expenditure this fiscal at Rs 11.87 lakh crore

Revised estimate for tax collection at Rs 7.47 lakh cr

Defence allocation at Rs 1.47 lakh cr

To soon finalise symbol for Indian Rupee

Allocated Rs 1,900 cr for UID project

UID authority to issue 1st set of ID's in FY11

To set up financial sector legislative reforms panel

Allocated Rs 2,600 cr for Minority Affairs ministry

Allocated Rs 5,000 cr to Social Justice ministry

Launched women farmer fund scheme with Rs 100 cr

Propose to launch skill development programme for textile sector

Village & child development outlay up 50%

Allocation for renewable energy at Rs 1,000 cr

Unorganised sector social security fund at Rs 1,000 crore

Health insurance extended to NREGA beneficiaries

National Security Fund allocated Rs 1,000 cr

Micro finance & equity fund doubled to Rs 400 cr

Allocated Rs 2,400 cr for micro, SME's

Allocation for slum redevelopment increased to Rs 1,270 crore

To extend 1% interest subsidy scheme for affordable housing to Mar 2011

Allocation for urban development at Rs 3,500 crore

Indira Aawas Yojana allocation at Rs 10,000 cr

Bharat Nirman FY11 plan outlay at Rs 48,000 crore

Rs 40,100 cr for NREGA

Rs 61,000 cr for rural infra development

Banking for all villages with population of 2,000

Allocation to Health Ministry at Rs 22,300 cr

FY11 education plan outlay at Rs 31,030 crore

Spending on social sector upped to Rs 1.37 lakh cr

Ready with draft Food Security Bill

One time grant of Rs 200 cr to Tamil Nadu for textile

Clean Ganga Mission allocated Rs 500 crore

Allocated Rs 200 cr to Goa to restore beaches

To set up 20,000 mw of solar power by 2022

Allocated Rs 500 cr to set up solar, small hydro power units

Micro power project in Ladakh at Rs 500 cr

To launch competitive bidding for captive coal mining

To set up coal regulatory authority

To loan Rs 16,752 cr to rail development projects

IIFCL to double re-finance to banks for infra

Road development allocation hiked to Rs 19,894 cr

To construct 20 km of national highway each day

Allocation for road transport raised by 13%

ECB's now available for food processing sector

My Name is Khan & I'm Not a Terrorist

2010-02-24T22:29:00.002+05:30

Finally Karan Johar has also grown up. That's the first reaction I'd after watching MNIK - My Name Is Khan. It was very tough to accept the fact that the movie was made by the same Karan Johar, who specializes in creating the most unrealistic of scenarios with the most weird settings around. Remember the story where Rahul could marry both the girls, he loved, in series, one after another when the first one died? Wow, what a great idea. No question of divorce or alimony. The first wife dies and enters the other love!! And what about the story of 'loving your parents' where the same Rahul, a little grown up now, has to leave his step father (with a baritone voice and a Himalaya of ego) because his love interest is not accepted at home - but then again sheds a Ganga of tears on Himalaya's shoulder at the end? And not to forget the songs where 1000 girls would be dancing around frantically practically to each and every occasion!! Compared to that MNIK is just such an awesome experience. It's no doubt one of the best films made in Hindi ever.

Many films were made on the topic of division of the world in the aftermath of 9/11 and the plights of the Muslims. But very few movies touched such a sensitive chord in such a simple way. Despite some of the little absurd turn of events, still the main theme was portrayed so well just through one sentence - My Name is Khan and I'm not a terrorist. Very few films can stand on just one line. You speak that line and you tell a story. That's like telling an epic in just a moment's silence, that's like that silent stare that sparks a zillion love and that quiet romantic evening where you talk a life's talk. And so endearing was San Francisco, a city that I love so much. SFO may not be one of the MUST SEE destinations for international tourists - people go more to New York or Las Vegas or Los Angeles - but still SFO has its own charm. It's truly a city that you fall in love with when only you see it from a close distance. MNIK caresses SFO so nicely!!

I hope Karan doesn't go back to Rahul and stays with his Khan!!

First when I felt sad

2010-02-24T21:56:00.003+05:30

Do you remember when you first felt sad? For that matter of fact do you know what's the earliest thing in your life that you still remember? How old were you then? Well, these are really debatable things and I'm sure psychologists would have done enough researches on this.

Theoretically I don't know what a human being has the earliest memories of. It never came to my mind what that memory could be. But I often have this weird thought of finding out when I first felt sad, or when I first missed something or someone in life. I still faintly remember the initial days at the primary school, called 'Children's Home' in Calcutta - I used to cry a lot everyday. I can retrieve some really grainy snaps from my memory about one or more such days. Yes, I was surely feeling bad or even sad, but that's not the sadness I'm talking about. I remember so well the last day in the boarding school after the secondary exams. We all stayed for 5-6 years together in hostel and that was the time when we're leaving each other. We knew it well that, that day could be the last time some of us saw each other in our lives. And it did happen like that. I never saw many of my friends with whom I stayed for so many days, with whom I shared such a big part of my formative years. That's the feeling which I'd say 'feeling sad'. A similar day came again when we're leaving IIT. Some six years had already passed by then. Somehow I knew that the prospect of being in touch was much better now. It's true that I was not that sad as I was when I left my school. Might be this time duration of the say in hostel was little lesser, or perhaps I knew that I'd be anyway in touch with most of the people I'd like to be in touch with. But back in school even if I wanted to be in touch I knew it won't be that easy. That feeling of sadness in the last day at school perhaps never came back in my life. That's what I'm talking about. Do you remember when you first felt that type of sadness?

I've been thinking about this for quite sometime. Finally I came to the conclusion that perhaps I felt a similar sadness for the first time in my life when we're leaving Kashmir after a trip in 1980. I was just seven years old then. Had my mother not taken the pains of taking those valuable twelve snaps in her Agfa camera, I might not have remembered anything of that trip later. The photos have also faded a lot. I can't recall much about that trip other than the fact that our Jammu Tawai Express was late by some 10-12 hours due to some accident in the train line ahead of us and we missed our connecting flight to Srinagar from Jammu. But I don't remember the hotel that we stayed, I don't remember any of the places that we visited. But I somehow still remember that when I was leaving Srinagar I was feeling sad that I won't be seeing a particular waiter in the hotel, with whom I'd become so close. Perhaps that was the first time I got attached to someone outside my family. Perhaps that was the beginning of the life long saga of getting close to someone and then leaving him/her. Perhaps that was the beginning of getting old, getting to know the realities of life, getting to know the sweet-sad, 'meetha dard' part of life. Perhaps I started growing up since then!!

My Seven Best Places in India

2010-02-24T21:49:00.001+05:30

Red Hills, near Ooty in the only Lake district of India, is perhaps one of the best places I've ever seen. It's easily accessible from Bangalore, has wonderful natural beauty and above all has one of the best places to stay - Mr. Vijay's century old cottage overlooking the Emerald Lake. I've written extensively about this place in my blog. It's a MUST SEE for any one in Bangalore and also elsewhere.

Khajjiar in Himachal Pradesh is one of the best kept secrets for Indian tourists who run to Europe for the Yash Chopratic green meadows along gentle slopes of green hills. It's barely a few hours from Dalhousie on the way to Chamba, another beautiful hamlet perched across a wonderful scenic valley. Khajjiar can be well mistaken for any place in Switzerland. The only problem is that I don't think there's any decent hotel near by. At least that was the scenario in 2001 when we visited the place. People can stay in Dalhousie and make a day trip to Khajjiar.

Wayanad, in Kerala is an awesome green experience. Very few places elsewhere can your eyes get to see more green. It's again easily accessible from Bangalore, barely few hours from Mysore. It's one of the best options for a fun filled and adventurous break from the daily grill of your life. Great food, wonderful sceneries, multiple trekking options - what else do you need? I've covered this place in multiple blogs.

Allepy, in the backwaters of Kerala is one of the exotic places to go in India. It's a grand experience to stay in an ethnic house boat with a crew of boatmen and chefs at your disposal throughout the stay and the continuous servings of mouth watering food cooked fresh in front of you. The only problem is that it's quite hot throughout the year. We went during Christmas, but still we're sweating in the middle of the night when hundreds of houseboats are anchored deep inside the backwaters. Take a houseboat with generators so that you don't sweat!! Nothing better than this to relax and spend an extremely leisurely vacation.

Goa - do I need to say anything about this place? Despite all the recent spate of criminal activities at many places in Goa it still remains one of the most cosmopolitan, fun filled and enjoying destinations of India. It has wonderful sea food and international cuisines at very reasonable rates suiting all budgets. River cruises with live carnival are very popular. You may try out the sea cruises to nearby islands in the sea. It's worth making the "Dil Chahta Hai" type of resolution that friends should come to Goa at least once a year. Go to North Goa for the fun and South Goa for the serenity!!

Auli, in Uttaranchal is one of the best ski destinations in India. Apart from that it's also one of the best places to go. Very few places will take you so close to some of the highest peaks of the world. Auli overlooks Nanda Devi and many other peaks. It provides some of the best views of the snow capped peaks. It's not easy to reach though. It's a long ride either from Hardwar or Ranikhet - the nearest places where you have good hotels. It's on the way to Badrinath. All the pain in reaching Auli is worth taking considering the views you get. It's also a good start point for multiple treks across the Himalayas. I've written extensively about Auli in my blogs.

Delhi, though a big city, has all the elements of an ideal tourist destination. It has a long and colorful history, a great deal of romanticism (Mirza Ghalib and Bahadur Shah Zafar et al), three World Heritage Sites (Red Fort, Humayun's Tomb & Qutb Minar), innumerable historical sites and monuments all sewn together with the political and financial hustle and bustle. It has the sprawling Pragati Maidan overlooking the Purana Qila. It has the Habitat Center just opposite to the Lodi Gardens. It has the IIT opposite the Hauz Khas complex. It's full of contrasts. The present and the past reside side by side in such a wonderful harmony. It has huge malls and also the huge Bahai Temple and the serene Raj Ghat. Delhi always attracts me just for the sheer diversities it has to offer. I've used it as the backdrop of one of myshort stories.

All for 'Dhan'

2010-02-24T21:34:00.002+05:30

Finally the cat is out. Well, it's not that we never knew it. We knew it so well for ever but still we never accepted it in public. This is surely one of the heights of hypocrisy, not only in India but also in the Western countries. Indians should have been the last people to not accept this. After all we're among the first ones to appreciate it. Not only we appreciated it, but also considered it so divine that we put it up so nicely even in our temples. You take it out of the Classical Indian literature, mainly Sanskrit, and you one of the best 'alankars' or ornamentations off it. It's one of the best assets or 'dhan' that any man can think of. No doubt in a recent Hindi movie a character referred it to as 'dhan'!!

Enough of suspense. Let' come to the point. This is what came in Times of India last week:

It may appear vulgar, but a new survey has revealed that a man looks at a woman’s assets in his first glance, rather than her face.

In the survey, half of the male respondents confessed that they look at a woman’s assets even before they look at her face. And, four in 10 men have admitted they look at women’s assets at least 10 times a day.
Men from Newcastle are the most likely to sneak a peek at a girl’s cleavage before looking them in the eye, the poll of 1,000 adults has revealed.
What’s more interesting is that the survey has found that many women have even admitted to checking out other girls’ assets up to seven times a day, the Daily Express newspaper reported. Nine in 10 women look at their rivals’ assets, with almost half admitting to having “breast envy” towards friends or work colleagues, the survey has found.
More than half of British women are also unhappy with their breasts with 63% wanting bigger breasts, while almost half of men think their partner’s assets are beautiful and wouldn’t want them to change them in any way, according to the survey for cosmetic surgery firm ‘Transform’. PTI

Music of all Moods

2010-02-07T23:12:00.004+05:30

Technology is a great catalyst in art and culture. It's not that I realized this only now. I knew it and have been a great proponent of this since long. I enter into long debates with people of the previous generation that science and technology indeed have helped to propagate and enhance music. I rediscovered the same just yesterday.

I never knew that MS Windows Media Player meticulously kept a track of the all the songs that I download and play in it. Accidentally I bumped on the history of the songs that I have heard in the past one year. I generally download or make a copy of only those songs which I like very much and want to play a number of times in my laptop. So the history of all such songs should simple mean a collection of all songs that I loved and listened innumerable times in the last one year. When I browsed through the list I was stunned to find the diversity of the styles, genres, age and languages of the songs or the music. I couldn't recall when and where I'd heard many of the English songs. But when I again heard all those today I did find out that they are indeed very unique songs and I'd like them anyway wherever I'd hear. Another important thing that showed up through this collection is the various moods that I'd have had while I listened them. I rarely listen to rock or hip-hop but still the list contains quite a few good rock numbers. Off course I've my diet of Hindi classics, Western Classical pieces, Hemanta, Salil Chowdhury, Lata, Gulzar, R D Burman, Khaiyyam, Shreya Ghoshal & Sunidhi Chauhan. I thought it's worth listing some of the songs from the collection (Most of the international albums are available in youtube and you can find about the artistes and the albums in wiki):

Jazz Piano number "OAM Blues" by Aaron Goldber from the 2006 album "Worlds"
Jazz numbers Despertar & Amanda from the album "Quiet Songs" by the Aisha Duo - some awesome percussions & cello
The winner of Grammy in Contemporary World Music category, the 2001 album "Djin Djin" (refers to the sound of a bell in Africa that greets each new day) by Angélique Kidjo, a Grammy Award-winning Beninoise singer-songwriter, noted for her diverse musical influences and creative music videos
The number "Connections are more dangerous than lies" from the 2007 album "Welcome the Night" by the pop punk band "The Ataris"
"Get your head straight" from the 2007 album "Boys not Out" by the rock band of the same name
"Lemonade" from the 2007 album "What a Heart is beating for" by the contemporary Christian and folk musician Chris Rice
Beethoven's Symphony No 7, all 4 movements
Beethoven's Symphony no 3, all 4 movements
Bach's Masses in B minor
Mozart's Symphony No 9, all 4 movements
Mozart's 1st composition (K1) at the age of 4
Dvorak's Symphony No 9, all 4 movements
Few Western Classical instrumental in guitar and piano
"Sam's Song" from 2006 album "Talk is Cheap" by the 22 year old Dave Melillo - a mellow blend of acoustic guitar driven acoustic rock and piano accented power pop
Tagore's poem "Pran", adapted from the poem "Stream of Life" from Gitanjali, set to tune by American composer Garry Schyman for Matt Harding's Dancing 2008 video
2 songs from the 1995 album "Muso Ko" by West African singer and musician Habib Koite & Bamada
"Don't Give up on me" from the 2006 chartbuster album Zombies! Aliens! Vampires! Dinosaurs! by the power pop band Hellogoodbye
"Ava Adele" from 2007 album "This is it" by country singer Jack Ingram
"We Are One" from 22 year old Kelly Sweet's debut album of the same name in 2007 - classical and jazz music style
2005 album "Duos II" by Brazilian jazz singer and composer Luciana Souza
2007 album "Nu Monda" by the Capeverdan singer Tcheka
August from "Water's Edge" by the contemporary American composer Tim Janis
"I'm gonna change everything that holds memory of you" by Jim Reeves - my favourite English singer
Harry Belafonte's Jamaica Farewell - any introduction needed for this song?
Rehman's "Sun Ri Sakhi", "Dil Hai Chotasa" (Roja, original and my performance on violin), "Aye Hairat-eAshiqie" (Guru), "Tu Hi Re" (Bombay), "Barso Re" (Guru)
Hemanta's "Ferano Jabe Aar", "Poth Harabo Bolei Ebar", "Jhorer Kache Rekhe Gelam", "Shono Kono Ek Din", "Dhitang Dhitang Bole"
Few of Khaiyyam's all time memorable ghazals from Umrao Jaan, Baazar, Akhri Khat, Kabhi Kabhi and others
Few of Gulzar-RD Burman's compositions like "Aanewala Pal", "O Majhi Re", "Is Mod Se Jatein Hain", "Musafir Hoon Yaroon" and others
Few of Geeta Dutt's last songs ("Mera Dil Jo Mera Hota", "Mujhe Jaan Na Kaho Meri Jaan", "Koi Chupke Se Aake) - all written by Gulzar way back in early seventies, some of Gulzar's earliest lyrics - wonderful pathos in the voice that ceased to emanate music soon after the songs were made
Some of Shreya Ghoshal's best: Antaheen (2010 National Award winning "Pherari Mon"), Piu Bole (Parinita), Bairi Piya (Devdas), Urzu Dur Kut (Yahaan), Pal Pal (Lage Raho Munnabhai) etc
Some of Sunidhi Chauhan's unusual songs like "Mere Zindagi Mein Aaye Ho", "Mere Sang", "Yeh Aaj Kya Ho Gaya", "Ye Lamha" etc
Ajeeb Dastan: Lata's original & my performance in 2009
Few of my other performances like "Na Jaane Kyun", a few Rabindra Sangeet like "Fule Fule", "Sokhi Bhabona Kahare Kohe", "Amar Nishitho Rater Badol Dhara" and others
Few of Lopamudra and Antara Chowdhury's live recordings from their last year's performances at the Durga Puja organized by Sarathi in Bangalore
Few of Suman's new age Bengali songs like "Tomake Chai" & "Sohosa Ele KI", both from our (Kohal) last year's (2009) performance in Koramangala, Bangalore during Durga Puja

There were a total of around 200 songs out of which I could fit around 150 into one CD. When I was listening to the CD I was really amazed to find that though the songs were chosen at random across a year still they do reflect my choice, my moods, my emotions and many things about me. The thread that might be connecting each of these discreet pieces of music is a theme of underlying love - love for human, love for the nature, love for culture and tradition, love for everything. Most of the Hindi songs are actually some of the best love songs ever made in recent times in India. The Tagore songs are also songs of love or life - anyway both are same, isn't it? The Western Classical pieces can't evoke anything other than love and peace and tranquility and serenity. The other contemporary western music are from various parts of the world - from the Africas to Brazil to Native Americans (Dvorak's symphony is said to be inspired by the music of the native Americans). I don't see anything else than love in all these various forms of world music. If I've to present anything to anyone on the Valentine's Day I can choose most of these songs. Perhaps that's the essence of the songs that I've randomly listened to over the last one year and would listen to years to come.

Heaven in Pakistan: Himalayas & Hindukush (Kashmir)

2010-02-04T22:18:00.001+05:30

View all

Get your own

My only younger cousin Arpita getting married to Sujan!!!!

2010-01-22T17:08:00.004+05:30

Recently I went to Calcutta to attend the last wedding of our generation - my cousin sister Arpita's wedding. The Big Fat Indian Wedding is indeed a very interesting event. Starting from the motley of rituals and customs, most of which will surely go extinct from the next generation, to the non-stop pet-puja (a Bengali slang for hogging which roughly translates to stomach-worship) and the gorgeous ethnic dresses the gala event stretched across three days is just a sensual treat in all aspects. Jhumpa Lahiri & Mira Nair have made the Bengali wedding an international affair in Namesake - something similar to what the Bollywood blockbusters Hum Aapke Nain Koun, DDLJ & Hum Dil De Chuke Sanam have done to Rajasthani, Punjabi & Gujrati marriages. So many people would now know bits and pieces of the Bengali marriage.

It's a big financial burden on the parties involved in the marriage. That's good indeed for the country. Marriages are big revenue generators in any place. More than the economic aspect a marriage is perhaps one of the few occasions where the gen-next get to see some of the cultural and religious heritage of India. Just the ingredients required in the marriage rituals can drive any small kid crazy - just consider this partial list of Durba grass leaves, vermilion, turmeric, khoi (a type of puffed rice typical of Bengal), Ghee, see-through red cotton cloth known as gamchha in Bengali (used as towels after taking bath), bamboo sticks, all needful stuff for a fire alter (fire ritual or yajna is perhaps one of the oldest rituals in India in practice continuously for more than 3000 years), a huge fish (typical of Bengal) and many more. It's interesting to note that each of these items has some significance which mixes local cultures, religious beliefs and sentiments together. I don't think anyone knows precisely the origin of all the rituals, but there's no doubt that people did put enough emotions, philosophies and thoughts in creating these.

Sometimes I wonder how a non Indian would perceive this entire event which can be broken down into the following phases:

Aiburo Bhat: a very stepped down version of a no-naughty bachelor's party given by the parents to both the girl and the boy at their respective houses the night before the marriage. This event also typically marks the arrival of all the relatives at both the girl's and the guy's place.
Biye or the actual marriage ceremony at the girl's place. It's something which is enjoyed by everyone except the girl and the guy getting married - They are on a fast and the guy has to wear a see-through cloth for the most part of the function.
Basor or the night-out immediately after the marriage where the girl and the boy are literally ragged throughout the night by family members and friends and relatives. This also turns out to be elaborate cultural programs participated by the people present. People even practice before the Basor.
Kone Biday or seeing off the bride - generally in the evening on the day after the marriage. The guy has to stay in the girl's place till this time. It's quite a harassment for the guy throughout the day. The sisters-in-law keep no stones unturned to ensure that their jamai-babu (brother-in-law) thinks million times before contemplating another marriage in life. The most interesting part is the moment when the girl finally leaves her house. The entire population starts crying frantically as if their daughter is being taken to a concentration camp. But within seconds of the departure the same people are again back to the party mode. It's interesting to see people transition from the party-mode to crying mode back to part mode. The transition happens really so fast and drastic that anyone not familiar with the stuff would get seriously shocked.
Boubhat or the reception at the guy's place on the 3rd day!!
And finally the Ful Sojja (which translates to Bed of Flowers) - the most awaited Suhag Raat or the first night where the girl and the boy are allowed to have sex!!

Now add to it the months of preparation, planning, and the zillion talks!! For me marriages are the only occasions where I can meet most of my relatives. I think going ahead with more and more people staying away from their home towns marriages would be the only family reunion.

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Unplugged - Anything Anywhere!!

Now We Should Fight For Accountability

Jana Gana Mana Adhinayaka Jaye He

Arundhati is back again with what she does best: WRITE SHIT

From Freedom Park

Thank You Congress!!

Thought of the Days

At last I'll see a different color

A bunch of Retards

Salient Features of Jan Lokpal Bill

7 Scam Maaf

Light For Education

Chenraa Collage

Money Hai to Honey Hai

The world of FB

Our Politics Their Politics

Anti-atom activist offers sex-for-nuke veto

Autograph

IMG_2854.jpg

Ram Janmabhoomi Babr Masjid Verdict

Taj Mahal vs. Tejo Mahalay - My Views

Taj Mahal vs. Tejo Mahalay - A historical analysis

Historical Account

The seizure from the Maharaja of Jaipur

Disfiguring and Tampering by Shah Jahan

Hindu Architecture

The Tejo Mahalaya inscription

European Visitor's and pre-Shahjahan's Accounts

Fabrication of History

Hidden, locked and sealed chambers

Inconsistencies as outlined by P.N.Oak

The name Taj Mahal

Taj Mahal is not a Tomb

Hindu Significance

Patches

Taj Mahal: The True Story

Pictures

The True Architectural Origin of Taj Mahal

Taj builders used Harappan measurement units

References

Links

Backlinks

Page Map

The World according to India

Welcome to the new Talibanistan - the erstwhile Hindustan!!

Happy Rabindra Jayanti

Nuclear Liability Bill: What should it be

How much do you care for your child

3 Qs about India

Who is your competitor?

MF Hussain and Artistic Freedom

Thanks Maa

A Very Shameful Day in India: M F Hussain surrenders Indian citizenship

Autos on call

Budget 2010: Highlights

My Name is Khan & I'm Not a Terrorist

First when I felt sad

My Seven Best Places in India

All for 'Dhan'

It may appear vulgar, but a new survey has revealed that a man looks at a woman’s assets in his first glance, rather than her face.

Music of all Moods

Heaven in Pakistan: Himalayas & Hindukush (Kashmir)

My only younger cousin Arpita getting married to Sujan!!!!