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India and Identity Crisis

The less we know, the easier it is to assume our identity.  It is much easier to perceive ourselves as Indian or Pakistani or Hindu or Muslim than to understand the complex range of crucibles and forges which gave shape to most people’s identities on the planet called the earth.  The more we know, the more ridiculous re-conversions and identity arrogations become. Who was an Indian before India became an independent republic?  How did the Indian become a Hindu, a Muslim, a Sikh, or whatever?  What about the increasing number of agnostics and atheists in the country?  What about other identities which may be more important to certain individuals such as feminists, environmentalists, or even Maoists?  If I travel back in time and see the entire history of my ancestors, what will my identity be?  Will I see myself as a person whose helpless ancestor was forced to convert (or re-convert) to some religion by an emperor or his/her given situation?  Why should any one particul

Are we going crazy?

Was Hanuman the first space traveller?  Did Ravana’s ten heads give him the intelligence and skills required to make an aeroplane?  Did Lord Ganesh receive his elephantine tusk through plastic surgery in an ancient All India Institute of Medical Science? If you answer ‘yes’ to all such questions you are eligible to present a science paper in the 102 nd Indian Science Congress being conducted by Mumbai University.  “One paper, co-authored by Captain Anand Bodas, retired head of a pilot training centre, and Ameya Jadhav, a teacher, claimed there was evidence of ancient aviation in the Rigveda,” says a Hindu report .  There were 200-foot planes that could fly forwards, backwards and sideways and even hover in mid-air during the Vedic age.  The Captain claimed that the planes, invented by a sage called Maharishi Bharadwaj over 7000 years ago, had up to 30 engines and were equipped for warfare. The Head of the Sanskrit department of the University claimed that Pythagoras Theo

Religion and political power

Babri Masjid destruction 22 years ago Religion benefitted immensely whenever political power became its handmaiden.  Christianity, for example, was a suppressed religion until Emperor Constantine (r 307-337) was converted to it after the Battle of the Milvian Bridge. As Paul K. Davis, scholar of military history, writes, "Constantine’s victory gave him total control of the Western Roman Empire paving the way for Christianity to become the dominant religion for the Roman Empire and ultimately for Europe." Buddhism spread far and wide after Emperor Ashoka became its votary.   Later some Shaiva kings ordered the destruction of Buddhist monasteries and the killing of monks in north-western India in the mid first millennium A.D.  Later still, Muslim rulers in India destroyed many Hindu temples or converted them into mosques. Christian church destroyed in Delhi on 2 Dec 2014 More recently, in our own times, the Babri Masjid was destroyed by the knights of our ow

Spice and Jet

Much before the skies turned turbulent for Spicejet, I had booked my return ticket from Kerala on one of their flights.  A week before the journey to Kerala I logged on to their website just to ensure that the flight was not caught in the turbulence only to be disappointed.  My flight was cancelled.  I tried to contact the customer care using all the numbers available and no one answered the calls.  Nor did my email elicit any response.  Finally I got my flight rescheduled from the Spicejet counter in Delhi airport.  It was a Kochi-Pune-Delhi flight. When we reached Pune my wife and I were asked by a Spicejet staff who was checking the boarding passes of the seated passengers, “Why didn’t you de-board?  Your flight ends here.”  I protested and showed my ticket to Delhi.  “But your boarding pass is only up to here,” and she pointed at the boarding pass.  True, I had failed to notice that.  The man in Kochi airport who issued us the boarding passes had made a mistake.  Our chec

Love that unites

Memories can be miracles.  They can bring about transformations within us.  My recent visit to Kerala was for a reunion of some friends who studied together from 1976 to 1978.  Meeting again 36 years later is a momentous experience.  The boys had become men.  The men are now involved in a wide variety of professions, ranging from today’s most popular profession of converting people from their religions to the least preferred job of fighting for justice.  There were jewellers and chartered accountants in between.  And a schoolteacher like me.  Quite a few priests too.  The spouses and children of those who were not priests added a unique charm to the gathering. People had cancelled or rescheduled important assignments just to make it to this gathering.  A few travelled all the way from as far away as the USA only for this occasion.  A few had spent a lot of time and money making the necessary arrangements.  I loved it.  What a meet it was!  So many people from such a wide

New Year

Neither the sun nor the earth has a calendar. Time is an eternal flow. A circular flow. We make calendars and mark days and years. The circle turns linear and we perceive progress, progressive motion.  Calendars make linear what is in fact circular. In the linear world runs history replacing monarchs with democrats and savagery with civilisation. But the earth can only make circular motions. Are we caught in a vicious circle? The calendar can straighten out the circle. That's why the new year day matters. It offers hopes. It throws challenges. All creation is a stepping out from a circle. This new year fills me with a craving: my country should step out of some worn out circles and move forward. Circular motions in history don't bring progress. I hope, I dream. Happy New Year. 

Dreams

Dreams are free. Yet I have only two dreams for 2015. 1. A world without terrorism: both religious and political. A world in which religious people realise that religion is a purely private and personal affair to be practised by oneself in order to improve one's convictions, to hone one's values and principes. A world in which politics is seen as a means of service rather than one for self-aggrandisement. May politicians realise that they are the leaders who mould people's thinking and attitudes.  That they are the people who are ultimately responsible for the direction in which the country or state moves. 2.  A world in which business people don't make any country's policies.  Let business hanker after profit. Let policies be made by statesmen. Wish you a Happy New Year. May your dreams come true.