Skip to main content

Celebrities and me


If I am asked to invite some “celebrities” to a dinner at my dining table, who would those “celebrities” be?

At the outset, let me clarify that this is a purely hypothetical and fictitious approach to the latest theme proposed by Indispire.  

The first three names that come to my mind are Arnab Goswami, Narendra Modi and Gurinder Singh Dhillon.  The last may need an introduction.  Mr Dhillon is the godman who controls quite a few empires led by a cult named Radha Soami Satsang Beas.  He is arguably the richest Indian if the wealth possessed by his cult in India alone (let alone those abroad) is reckoned.  He is worshipped as a god by a few million people in the country though he shies away from publicity of the sort I am giving him free of charge.  He is a celebrity though the Indian media has not discovered him yet except in a rare report like this.

Mr Modi with his political acumen and Mr Dhillon with his godman skills can work out some divine miracles or at least some human strategies for solving India’s myriad problems including Pakistan and China. We have come a long way from Swatch Bharat and Black Money Back.  Now the focus is on the potential Third World War being concocted at the Indo-Pak borders.  I would love to know what the godman who owns the largest area of land in the country has to say about this war for territory.  And I would love to see Mr Goswami bending his ego like the reed in a storm and trying to shout “The nation wants to know...” 

Indispire wants me to invite five celebrities, the sixth one on the table being me supposedly.  So let me invite Dr Manmohan Singh.  He will give me company, I hope, to be a silent observer even when Mr Goswami will declare him the culprit of the latest Indo-Pak showdown.  I will be delighted to learn the value of silence from Dr Singh.

What about the fifth chair?  Well, let god occupy that.  God is the silent listener always.  Let him/her/it learn, if he/she/it has not learnt it already, the games his creatures play in his/her/its name.

PS. This post is written for Indispire Edition 136 #Celebritydinner 


Indian Bloggers

Comments

  1. Considering that the post is to be categorised under humour at Indispire, your article foots the bill perfectly. Now the question remains as to who will foot the dinner bill, will it be the richest among them or, following the tradition of the godmen, he will demand a hefty sum from you for honoring you with his presence?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. You have understood godmen perfectly. They never give anything to others; they know only to receive, grab and grab and grab. Thank my stars, this is only an imaginary dinner.

      Delete
  2. A Tripuri friend of mine had a picture of him as his wallpaper on his mobile. He said with a wink that this guy do not preach hinduism but spirituality. I let him wink at his own line for there is more than what the eye sees. But yes, I would like to have Arnab Goswami as my guest.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I knew a lot of his devotees. I had quite a few arguments with some of them at the gate of my school after the godman took over the school (and eventually killed it much as they assured us that they would run the school "for a hundred years".
      http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/New-management-trying-to-close-school-alleges-staff/articleshow/20402538.cms)

      One of the devotees met me outside the gate one day just to tell me that he had left the cult having realised that it was fraudulent to the hilt.

      Delete
  3. Very good post Sir. Very good indeed. The question put forth at the end is the icing on the cake.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Life compels us to reach such climaxes (or anticlimaxes).

      Delete
  4. Praise The Lord sir, yes if they give than they won't be of that importance to have the worldly things,respect,claim of being false god so,they would still find a way to grab land in some there place planet.
    Let's not wait for war it is already on

    ReplyDelete
  5. Will Arnab Goswami manage to coax Mr. Manmohan Singh ot of silence....?....I wonder.....:)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Death as a Sculptor

Book Discussion An Introductory Note : This is not a book review but a reflection on one of the many themes in The Infatuations , novel by Javier Marias. If you have any intention of reading the novel, please be forewarned that this post contains spoilers. For my review of the book, without spoilers, read an earlier post: The Infatuations (2013). D eath can reshape the reality for the survivors of the departed. For example, a man’s death can entirely alter the lives of his surviving family members: his wife and children, particularly. That sounds like a cliché. Javier Marias’ novel, The Infatuations , shows us that death can alter a lot more; it can reshape meanings, relationships, and even morality of the people affected by the death. Miguel Deverne is killed by an abnormal man right in the beginning of the novel. It seems like an accidental killing. But it isn’t. There are more people than the apparently insane killer involved in the crime and there are motives which are di...

When Cricket Becomes War

Illustration by Copilot Designer Why did India agree to play Pakistan at all if the animosity runs so deep that Indian players could not even extend the customary handshake: a simple ritual that embodies the very essence of sportsmanship? Cricket is not war, in the first place. When a nation turns a game into a war, it does not defeat its rival; it only wages war on its own culture, poisoning its acclaimed greatness. India which claims to be Viswaguru , the world’s Guru, is degenerating itself day after day with mounting hatred against everyone who is not Hindu. How can we forget what India did to a young cricket player named Mohammed Siraj , especially in this context? In the recent test series against England, India achieved an unexpected draw because of Siraj. 1113 balls and 23 wickets. He was instrumental in India’s series-levelling victory in the final Test at the Oval and was declared the Player of the Match. But India did not celebrate him. Instead, it mocked him for his o...

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

In this Wonderland

I didn’t write anything in the last few days. Nor did I feel any urge to write. I don’t know if this lack of interest to write is what’s called writer’s block. Or is it simple disenchantment with whatever is happening around me? We’re living in a time that offers much, too much, to writers. The whole world looks like a complex plot for a gigantic epic. The line between truth and fiction has disappeared. Mass murders have become no-news. Animals get more compassion than fellow human beings. Even their excreta are venerated! Folk tales are presented as scientific truths while scientific truths are sacrificed on the altar of political expediency. When the young generation in Nepal set fire to their Parliament and Supreme Court buildings, they were making an unmistakable statement: that they are sick of their political leaders and their systems. Is there any country whose leaders don’t sicken their citizens? I’m just wondering. Maybe, there are good leaders still left in a few coun...

Whose Rama?

Book Review Title: Whose Rama? [Malayalam] Author: T S Syamkumar Publisher: D C Books, Kerala Pages: 352 Rama may be an incarnation of God Vishnu, but is he as noble a man [ Maryada Purushottam ] as he is projected to be by certain sections of Hindus? This is the theme of Dr Syamkumar’s book, written in Malayalam. There is no English translation available yet. Rama is a creation of the Brahmins, asserts the author of this book. The Ramayana upholds the unjust caste system created by Brahmins for their own wellbeing. Everyone else exists for the sake of the Brahmin wellbeing. If the Kshatriyas are given the role of rulers, it is only because the Brahmins need such men to fight and die for them. Valmiki’s Rama too upheld that unjust system merely because that was his Kshatriya-dharma, allotted by the Brahmins. One of the many evils that Valmiki’s Rama perpetrates heartlessly is the killing of Shambuka, a boy who belonged to a low caste but chose to become an ascetic. The...