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Saints and other Absurdities

The Saint is a short story written by Nobel laureate Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  In that story, a man named Margarito Duarte always carries around with him a small coffin with a dead body that never decomposes.  It is the body of his daughter who died at the age of seven because of a fever.  He had to disinter the body because a dam that was going to be constructed required the acquisition of the parish cemetery.  All the parishioners disinterred the tombs of their beloved so that the bones could be buried in a new cemetery.  Margarito found the bones of his wife who had died giving birth to their daughter.  But when he opened the tomb of his daughter he was in for a shock.  his daughter’s body had remained intact eleven years after the burial.  His daughter looked alive with her eyes open and sparkling.  Margarito, who had not studied beyond the primary school, believed what the villagers said: “the incorruptibility of the body was an unequivocal sign of sainthood.”  Even the loca

Seventh Pay Commission

Keep paying taxes The Seventh Pay Commission has been set up.  How many Indians will benefit?  About 50 lakh central government employees and 30 lakh pensioners.  That is, 80 lakh or 0.80 crore people of a country whose population is 123 crore.  Not even one percent of Indians will benefit by the Pay Commission for which all Indians who buy soaps and tooth pastes will pay the taxes.  Who wants the Pay Commission?  Except those who will vote for the government that will set up the Commission and pay it an enormous amount which is paid from the money got from you and me in the form of taxes of various types? Except  those who will use the Pay Commission as the Archimedean lever to raise their own salaries and thus get rid of those who have no voice? What does the Pay Commission mean to the 123 crore Indians (minus the 0.8 crore)? Inflation and price rise. And more work! Let us get ready to pee according to orders J                            

Prophet of Love

Book Review Book                : Prophet of Love Author             : Farrukh Dhondy Publisher         : Harper Collins India, 2013 Pages               : 314 Price                : Rs 299 Religion is an interesting subject of study and it can be studied from many different perspectives such as psychology, sociology, spirituality and literature.   For the vast majority of people none of these perspectives matters apparently.  For the vast majority, religion is an illusion or a placebo that provides the much needed solace during times of turbulence and anguish.  There is a minority who seek and discover genuine spiritual meaning with the help of religion.  There is another group of people who make religion the source of their livelihood. Farrukh Dhondy’s novel is about the last group primarily.  Mr Bhavnani and Ms Shanti are the typical commercial agents of religion.  They know how to sell religion.  They make wealth out of it, and nothing less than fabu