The Gift of Kupup - 2 (Bunker Mandir)

The bed of God Harbhajan Singh in the Mandir dedicated to him at Kupup, 16000 feet high on the Himalayas.
Gangtok - Kupup: 60 km. But that road is closed right now. Take a 130 km stretch from Gangtok by a private tour operator and voila you're there at the Mandir which fulfils all your wishes!

This is supposed to be the room used by God Harbhajan Singh! Quite a few decades ago.

There are quite a few army trucks making their way up and down the 32 hairpin bends almost every day. Any day one of them could have transported a swivel chair.

A cell in the Bunker Mandir, also known as Baba Mandir.

The entrance to the Bunker Mandir.

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As I Turn 66

A n exercise in narcissism – that’s what this post is ultimately. But I wanted to start my 66 th birthday on a naughty note. So I asked AI [ChatGPT] to interview me. With AI’s permission, I’m reproducing extracts from the interview here. The whole interview can be read here . [ChatGPT turned out to be more voluble than I am.] Q : Sixty-six years of life — that’s a grand stretch of stories, wisdom, and wonder. How does it feel to be 66 today? Is it what you imagined it would be like? A : Thank you, first of all, for your wishes as well as your consent to my request [to interview]. I'm happy that I've hit this mark particularly because the average lifespan in my country is 67 which may mean I have another year to go. But I'm healthy and may go on more. It hasn't been exactly like what I wished. A lot of things went wrong. Q : Looking back across all these years, what’s one lesson life has taught you — something you now hold like a precious gem, something that chang...

Good Friday and Jai Sri Ram

By Gemini Today is Good Friday in the Christian calendar. Truth was nailed to the cross some 2000 years ago on this day by a governor of the Roman Empire who did want to know what truth was before he succumbed to the pressure of the Jewish priests and their right-wing mob to crucify Jesus. “What is truth?” Pilate asked. The trial of Jesus was going on with a ferocious mob of right-wing Jews shouting murderous slogans outside the praetorium. Have you ever wondered why the slogans turn murderous whenever the right-wing gives them voice? I have, many times. And my answer is: religion belongs to the emotional half of the human brain, and in the case of too many people that half is unevolved. Jesus doesn’t answer Pilate’s question. Rather, Pilate doesn’t wait for an answer. He knows the answer probably. His problem is not an epistemological definition of truth. His problem is whose truth is to be given more weightage here now. There is Jesus’ truth on the one hand, and the murderous r...

The Adventures of Toto as a comic strip

'The Adventures of Toto' is an amusing story by Ruskin Bond. It is prescribed as a lesson in CBSE's English course for class 9. Maggie asked her students to do a project on some of the lessons and Femi George's work is what I would like to present here. Femi converted the story into a beautiful comic strip. Her work will speak for itself and let me present it below. Femi George Student of Carmel Public School, Vazhakulam, Kerala Similar post: The Little Girl

Omens in the Ramayana

Illustration by Gemini AI Dasharatha is preparing for the coronation of Rama as the King of Ayodhya. It is the most joyous night of his life. His subjects celebrating outside. Garlands adorn every doorway. Drums roll through the city like thunder from the heavens. But there is something ominous that disturbs the King who is planning to retire. He steps out into the courtyard. The sky is clear, but a thunder growls in the distance. There is a howling wind that tosses the lamps and banners, and snuffs out the light. His horses whinny unnaturally as if they sensed something that their master failed to perceive. Even the palace elephants raise their trunks and trumpet into the darkness. Some birds screech in the trees. “My spirit trembles,” Dasharatha mutters to himself, “though there is no enemy at the gates.” The enemy was within. And the omens were not for nothing. Rama wouldn’t be the king. Kaikeyi had other plans. The Ramayana describes signs and portends that appeared bef...

The Quest for Sita

The story of the abduction of Sita and the subsequent search for her by Rama is more than an epic of heroism and dharma. Rama’s search for Sita can be viewed as a deeply symbolic journey, much more than a husband’s effort to recover a beloved wife. Can we not look at it as an endeavour to reconnect with the feminine principle that sustains balance, grace, and meaning? Sita is not merely a passive figure in the Ramayana. She is the feminine force that acts as the fulcrum of the epic’s action. What if Ravana chose not to abduct Sita? There would be no epic! Sita generates the epic. When she is abducted, it is not merely the stealing of a woman by a man in lust, but a disruption of the cosmic order or harmony. When Sita is lost, Rama is plunged into a whirlwind of grief. His composure crumbles – he weeps, calls out her name, wanders the forest in despair. He even blames the trees and animals for not protecting her. He becomes irrational. He is not what he has been so far; he has los...

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