India’s capital New Delhi has seen it all. Kings born, killed and thriving, traitors selling away the nation, poets of incredible eminence write and share their best works, pacifists and the most violent call it their home. Over the last many centuries the city has expanded beyond what was the core of Delhi – the Old Delhi area. The New Delhi with expanse on the West and South, where the refugees from partition came and trans-Yamuna area on the East... Read more
When belief is paramount in your sense of being, then imposing it on others and resisting others’ is a natural consequence. Short of a dishonest act of resisting violence of an uneasy truce, the only way of living in the societies powered by beliefs and ideologies is constant death and violence. To no real end and no real purpose though. As long as I am and therefore, necessarily, have a belief, you have another that by definition of my... Read more
Diwali celebrations in India start with Dhanteras, followed by Naraka Chaturdasi and then Deepavali on the third day. Diwali is followed by Diwali Padva and then Bhai dooj which celebrates the love between sister and brother. Diwali is celebrated for two main events. Narakasura was killed by Krishna and Ram came home to Ayodhya after the exile of 14 years. Diwali has its importance in all the Indian religions. While Jains celebrate the enlightenment of Mahavir (the 24th Tirthankar), Sikhs... Read more
Whenever anyone has broken the boundaries that come with the limitations of mind and body, what s/he does is in the realm of miracles for the normal people who are defined by those limitations. When Roger Bannister ran the under 4 minute mile for the first time, defying his mind and body, it was a miracle. A miracle soon to be emulated by many. When Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay scaled the Everest, that was a miracle. [bctt tweet=”Why #KarwaChauth?... Read more
Henry VIII’s love for Catholicism during his early years was undeniable but when in May of 1533, his love life collided with the religious dictum of his time that flowed from the Church in Rome, his opposition to the Pope and the Roman Church was fierce. For a simple belief in Papal authority, hundreds and thousands were burnt alive, tortured in the most unbelievable ways. If belief is predicated on faith, then how could it take a u-turn so terribly inhuman? Because... Read more
Most of the World’s leaders have some extremely complex issues to tackle with. How to fight poverty, get the economy on track, hackers starting a national security crisis. But there is one Presidential hopeful in the US – and if he can do what he has done, may be the most powerful man in the world – has a unique problem at hand. Rather on his head. His hair! Everyone thinks Donald Trump wears such an outrageous head of hair... Read more
The recent NSA talks have – as the author had predicted – been called off by Pakistan. Numerous analysts and commentators in India and the its opposition parties – including the various intriguing folks in Pakistan – have been coming up with their own versions of the situation. The author finds discussion of central and most critical facts completely missing in the larger discourse. It is time we look into them. 1. Accession of Kashmir to India was Final: The Cabinet Mission memorandum, drawn... Read more
If belief in one and only ideal and ideology is the sine qua non of one’s identity, then how does one evaluate one’s progress or worth versus others? If you have heard or read anything, you will understand that whatever you “gather” of what you have heard or read is not what was actually said or written – but your interpretation of that. You interact with the world through the prisms and windows of your own prejudices and paradigms. Now... Read more
Everyone has got India’s Caste System completely wrong. Castes – the four: Brahman (teacher/intellectual), Kshatriya (fighter/Law Enforcement), Vaishya (Businessman/Trader) and Shudra (Blue-collar worker) – have been prevalent in every society in all times. Never has a society existed without these four predominant roles and people who fall in these categories broadly. Some straddle, but mostly these are the four inherent vocational tendencies that people perform. The scourge of Caste System was NOT because there were castes, but because there was... Read more
Well being has nothing to do with your belief system. If your cholesterol is in the right limit, it is so because your body is working fine. Not because you believe if Climate Change is real or not, or if god is a woman or man. Chemicals in your brain, the electrical circuitry of your nervous system and the hormonal cocktail of your organs works best when in harmony and does so irrespective whether you are Rightist, Leftist, Right-of-Center, Left-of-Center,... Read more
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