It's not entirely true that material possessions don't matter. But beyond a point they don't really matter. It's up to an individual to decide where to draw the line and at which point of life . Also, there should be no looking back after that point .
Also over dependence on material, accumulation beyond need and craving for them is the root cause of misery. A balanced life needs to be fulfilled without being ostentatious.
It was on the cards, waiting to hapoen . I mean, how couldn't it start . Maybe you have already come across such messages or may be you haven't. On facebook and in English or in vernacular languages other than Hindi it won't be too much of an irritation. But blessed are those who primarily use Hindi and Whatsapp as their favourite ways of expression in the social media. They are sure to be bombarded with this phenomenon , I'm sure.
I am speaking of the sudden interest in the poetic facet of late A B Vajpayee by many. Of course he was a fine poet. I myself believe that all poets are fine , including me. That is another issue altogether.
But what bothers me is the abundance of sundry poems and couplets in Hindi being passed off as poems by the late PM and people forwarding them . As usual, without compunction , conscience or even the need for a cursory check. Yesterday I received such a message in a whatsapp group . And the sender was in addition to being an intelligent person and a well to do banking professional , also an IIM alumnus. Can you believe that ?
But then , there is nothing to be surprised , after all with fake messages on social media. A time has reached when the whole social media will be seen as a web of lies. And the best reaction when you point out such things are -
1. Oh, come on, don't be serious . It's just a forward . If you don't like it then delete it and forget it.
2. OK , he may not have written it but isn't it so deep ?
3. How do you know , it's not written by him ? It may not have been formally published.
4. How do you get so much time to check ?
5. Yes, it is not written by him . So what ? I believe it was written by him. Do you have any problem to that ?
24.08.2018
As I grow older, my memory has started failing , I believe . Today while preparing Chicken Biryani at home , forgot to add ginger garlic paste . But it came out very well in spite of the error.
Now I am wondering , if accidentally I have invented the first Jain Chicken Biryani . Should I apply for a patent ?
Don't laugh . This is real . Swarnangshu Shekhar will vouch for the taste . It was prepared by me as a birthday treat for him .
Realisation :
1. All mistakes are not bad.
2. Great things happen accidentally.
3. Things can't be very bad if you do it from your heart.
4. A recipe or plan of action is necessary but not more important than the outcome .
5. Recipe doesn't matter as long as it tastes good .
#Justsaying Mob lynching is now a very common phenomenon across the country. The regularity of such incidents being reported, almost on a daily basis, has made it a normal matter for most of the people. I mean, people now are not moved or outraged with such news . Neither do we feel squeamish anymore to hear or see such news on TV while having dinner.
There will soon be apologists , pacifiers and justifiers who will point out that it is nothing new and also used to happen earlier . Some will reel out statistics to prove that the situation has improved . Some will do a comparative analysis to justify the growth of such heinous crime with population growth .
"You see our population has grown four fold after independence , so it is natural that crimes , rapes, lynchings etc should also increase by four fold ." Simple logic , you have to agree.
Then there will be the apparently neutral guy ( "I don't support any party but" type) who will shake his head , blame the partition , then Congress and Nehru . Scratch him below the surface and he will tell you that had Patel or Bose been the head of the country after independence , then all would be OK . Poor chap, actually he means Savarkar but can't bring himself to say it openly.
Mob lynching and vigilante actions are the first baby step of a fascist framework for the state. A totalitarian leadership emerges from such activities , ironically, on the pretext of ensuring law and order.
But for now it is scary . I regularly advise all my friends and family members not to get into arguments with anyone on the road, bus, train or any public place. Because even honking , sporting a beard, asking for direction, speaking English ,Tamil, Bengali, eating icecream, kebab , pizza or wearing fashionable clothes , even lungi may irk some people . And there are many loafing and lurking around in droves throughout the whole country to vent out their repressed fantasies and frustrations by organising a proper mob lynching.
The beauty of mob lynching for these perverted minds is that a mob is faceless . None can be blamed and none accused. And the judicial process is long , administrative process is indifferent and the political process incentivises these lumpens.
The name Ajit Wadekar always conjures up the image of a transistor radio and the whole family gathered around it . It brings remembrances of those days when cricket was a seasonal game . Those were the days when cricketers and for that matter players had normal jobs and though celebrities , could have normal lives like us , their fans .
His name will always be associated with the turnaround of cricketing fortunes of the country. He was a part of my childhood . Not because of his personal achievements but being a catalyst (perhaps accidental) of changes , in outlook, in fortunes, in the way of life, we led.
He was also a senior officer of my ex employer SBI where he joined as a regular Probationary Officer , had all regular assignments , got regular promotions , retired in a regular manner and was a regular pensioner of the Bank till his demise yesterday. I saw him twice in person on the cricket field and twice as a senior bank officer.
Learning about his death, saddened me, early this morning. He led a full life , with ups , downs, power, pride, failures, successes, controversies but above all a lot of respect. My silent homage to him . Wishing him peace .
#Rupee@70 Meanwhile , the damage control brigade is out on the field. Various analysts are bringing out charts, resorting to various economic theories ,pointing to global events, making serious faces and other assorted punditry to explain that this is nothing abnormal and the INR deserved to weaken against USD. It's only that they didn't want to break your hearts before it happened.
But the confusing thing is that these are the same set of people who were gleefully nodding their heads in approval when the great Bhagat, Yogiraj and Double Shri predicted that INR will strengthen against USD , four years back . That is of course an entirely different matter.
Believe me , I know a bit about all this charade that takes place in the name of market prognosis and views. None of these experts you hear on TV or read on newspapers have a bloody clue on where the market is headed beyond six months down the line.
Earlier , say 20 years back, I used to be in awe of them and literally gulped every word they said. Nowadays , I take all these bullshit of views and predictions with a load of salt. Sometimes I even laugh out loud to see these pompous fellows preening with their cut and paste knowledge and evasive answers with a lot of clichés.
If you are not in the foreign exchange business, then take my unwanted and free advice. Beyond all these whatsapp jokes and outrage on forwarded messages, don't worry too much about INR going up , down or anywhere else. You can't do anything about it. Your government can do very little about it if the things go very bad . The RBI can defend levels up to a certain point only. All these things run on the whims of very big global operators and their local cohorts who move the markets to make money out of it. Moreover , most of the action that you see taking place happens only as a reaction to events, mostly planned in advance by them for such things to happen. The whole administration , civil, military, media or academia serve the interests of these global syndicates . Sounds like to be from a thriller movie but is so true. So don't lose your sleep .
Materialistically speaking, our fathers, at least for most of us, had much less than what we do now, when USD was equal to 10 Rupees. And they never planned or perhaps even dreamt about foreign vacations like you do now. Chew on that. #Randomthoughts
Sir Vidiadhar Surajprasad Naipaul was one of the the most celebrated example of diaspora under colonial rule. The inherent contradictions of his roots, his upbringing , his education, his intellect and above all his talent and fame perhaps remained unreconciled in his personality. Maybe that was good to be in a sense that it only accentuated his literary genius.
Naipaul remained fascinated with his roots . Yet he was quite ruthless in his examination of the Indian society. Not exactly a bitter pill like Neerad C Choudhury but in a more patronising way.
He was from Trinidad and begun his literary career with a distinct Caribbean flavour . But soon he found out that the West Indies could not give him the wide canvas to explore by going back into history. In his own words - "The history of the islands can never be told satisfactorily. Brutality is not the only difficulty. History is built around achievement and creation; and nothing was created in the West Indies."
His visit to India in the early sixties made him more in sync to the realities of poverty, religion, myths and all other socio cultural aspects related to India. His book - An area of darkness stands out for the observations made by him . Then again in India - a wounded civilisation , he brought forth the problems and complexities that were legacy issues. I have read both these books and they are quite riveting. Both of them were non fiction books but his writing style has the flavour of literature never bores the reader .
Of his fictions, I have read The mystic masseur, A house for Mr Biswas and A bend in the river. His writing style evolved over the years but it was so engaging to readers. A distinct colonial touch, wonderful prose , flowing words , descriptive imagery and above all a dignified grace marked his literature. In my personal opinion , he richly deserved the Nobel Prize.
Let me end with the farewell message to him tweeted by none other than Salman Rushdie , which brought the news of his death to me.
"We disagreed all our lives, about politics, about literature, and I feel as sad as if I just lost a beloved older brother. RIP Vidia. #VSNaipaul"
#Cricket Lord's Test, Day 2 . I desisted from writing anything on the match last night . As I watched the Indian batting lineup crumbling , once again , a sense of furious rage took over me. Had I written anything , it would be a litany of abusive words in frustration.
But then , this morning I thought to myself - well , this is just a game and the England team too deserves to be credited .
Words can't really describe the bowling of James Anderson , the lord of the Lord's. He is perhaps the most underrated bowler of modern cricket . Like Courtney Walsh or Glenn McGrath , he too deserves his place in the hall of fame. For a fast bowler , to play 140 tests and take about 550 wickets is something anybody would be proud of . And his partnership with Stuart Broad is really amazing . The way they bowled in helpful conditions on a track that was providing low bounce was something of a lesson for all pace bowlers.
The misery of the Indian team is totally due to their inability in coping with the English weather. Under a wet , cloudy sky , the Indian batting lineup resembled a pack of sacrificial goats, nothing more. None of them had the idea where the stumps were and what the ball was doing in the air . And the silly run-out of Pujara was only symptomatic of their total clueless state of mind.
One thing is clear now. Unless there are lot of rains , there will be a result in this match. Even with one and half day's play washed out. And, the result is likely to be against India . They are staring at a 0-2 deficit for the series by the end of this test match. It will be a very steep uphill for them to climb .
So, Dalai Lama is a human being. It is natural that he will bite the hand that nourished him. That's expected human behaviour . I laud him wholeheartedly for preserving the vestiges of humanity in him .
After all it was Nehru who sheltered this refugee from Tibet and let him practice his religion and cult unhindered. Even at the cost of enmity , war and defeat with China . If anyone is to be blamed it's only Nehru.
#Justsaying
Cremation or burial as a method of disposal of a dead body is a ritual entirely dependant on personal beliefs. Mostly it is carried out according to the wishes of the deceased or religious affiliations. In some emergency cases dead bodies are consigned to the sea and for Parsees , it is left on the 'Tower of Silence' for vultures to feast upon.
Whenever controversies and intrigues about the last rites of political leaders erupt , one must remember the Late Jyoti Basu . He donated his body for medical research and accordingly his body was handed over as a cadaver to the medical college . Love him or hate him , he deserves respect for this decision . #RandomThoughts
#Karunanidhi was a person whose name and face , I was aware of, from my boyhood . Firstly because of his dark glasses , secondly because the name of his party which sounded somewhat different to read out from the newspaper to my grandpa , who ironically also wore dark glasses after his cataract operation.
My father , an iconoclast and a very severe critic of caste system was very fond of Karunanidhi . And his insistence on speaking only his mother tongue Tamil made him a hero to my mother . So basically even though I lived far away, Karunanidhi made an impact on me , as a boy.
Later , with time , I found Karunanidhi to be a permanent fixture of Indian politics. His party lost sometimes , then coming back , losing again , regaining strength and so on . But he went on with the grind as a politician for the Tamils and as a patriarch for his family.
With his death a curtain falls over the Dravida Kazagham movement of seven decades. With numerous offshoots it is more of a confusion now to decide who really holds the mantle. But the impact of Karunanidhi on Indian and Tamil politics for the last 50 years was great and can't be just wished away.
All human beings have their bright sides and dark corners . And all leaders have their weak points. We may not be always in sync with all their actions and ideologies. Death renders everything null and void and we focus on the good things of their persona . So has it been , so be it. Let us remember him as a long-standing old banyan tree of Indian politics that has been uprooted today in nature's own cycle.
But apart from being a political collosus , he was also a poet , novelist and a celebrated script writer. As a person who loves art and culture , my homage to the great Kalaignar . His memory be always borne in the heart of his numerous followers.
On a train journey . Got up early in the morning. Others are still asleep and enjoying their dreams , whatever that be . Good time to wash up before the toilets get crowded .
The best part of a side lower berth in a 3 tier coach is that the middle berth is not above you. That allows you to sit properly without your head touching the berth above. One can enjoy the cool breeze and watch the sun rising on the plains . What a wonderful feeling it is . Life moves on as the new day starts .
The train slows down as it enters the outskirts of a town . Will stop at a station perhaps . Yes, it is indeed a station . I get down to loosen up my limbs a bit. Steaming sweet Chai in small kulhads. I am more into green tea. But this tastes so refreshing . The small earthen pot doesn't satiate me fully. I have another round of tea.
Another stall is selling hot paranthaa with subzi . I look at it longingly as the aroma of the paranthaa being fried in oil enters my nostrils. Should I taste it, i wonder. But my ticket includes meals . It will be a wastage of food . A vendor pushes along a cart filled with books , magazines and newspapers. I browse indifferently . Reading habits have changed . In my youth these carts peddled a lot of Harold Robbins . Now it's all Chetan Bhagat and some Paulo Coelho . I buy a newspaper . As I glance the headlines , the signal turns green .
The other passengers are in various states of arousal by now . Some are still supine , celebrating the nothing-to-do block of time . The train moves with a slight jolt as the activity on the station dies down abruptly. I stretch my legs and try to read the newspaper. Sundry vendors are now in the compartment. They call out the name of the different items they are selling. One of them is selling boiled eggs.
Suddenly I feel a bit famished. I order for boiled eggs. How deftly he removes the shell , cuts the egg sprinkle salt and pepper and then hands me the pieces in a small piece of paper. The egg is still warm and I savour the taste by rolling it all over my tongue. It makes me feel good .
Let me narrate an incident which happened today itself. Please note that I am not making it up . This is a real incident with a witness who is also on Facebook.
As I finished buying the fish and some vegetables in the morning, I was about to enter my car parked by the kerb . Suddenly I saw an old colleague of mine coming towards me. As we met after quite a few months, both of us stopped and proceeded to have an animated discussion on the pavement , exchanging notes.
While we were speaking about this and that , a poultry van laden with birds came and parked on the opposite side of the road . The driver and the helper came out of the van and started picking out the chicks for delivery to a nearby shop. Now, the van was parked just at the point where the road turned and was causing a slight obstruction to the free movement of traffic due to its position.
Even as we watched , one of the chicks fell from the van on the road. It's legs were tied . Immediately, there was a car which turned the corner and braked. I saw a young lady driving the car . A child of about seven eight years was sitting beside her. She was obviously in some hurry and was annoyed at the obstruction on the street due to the parked van . She clearly saw the chicken lying on the road and honked impatiently . But the helper wasn't there and the driver was on the opposite side of the van and not aware of the chicken falling on the road.
I clearly saw the lady shouting which was inaudible due to the glass on the car windows rolled up . Then she changed gears and moved ahead , crushing the poor chicken under the wheels of her car. There was another car behind her which also did the same thing. Everything happened in a flow and maybe in 10 to 15 seconds.
Both me and my friend shouted out at the driver of the van and pointed to the chicken lying crushed on the street. He looked up at us with a disinterested gaze and gave a sardonic smile. The perished chicken was just a collateral loss for him . I told him to at least remove the dead chicken from the street. Shrugging his shoulders, he looked at me with quizzical eyes. Then he picked it up and threw it away .
Why I am narrating this is because I just saw a post which showed cut chicken stained in blood to elicit revulsion about non vegetarian food. I generally don't mind such posts and ignore them with an amused feeling. But today's incident made me think about it .
Now don't get me wrong. I am a hardcore non vegetarian and consider chicken to be a lowly staple as food. I have myself butchered, skinned and cut chicken and feel neither squeamish or ashamed about it. But I don't think I would ever be able to nonchalantly drive a car over a chicken lying on the road just because I am in a hurry and irritated with the traffic. Why a chicken, I can't do it even for a snake .
Killing an animal for food or saving own life is something else . But wanton destruction of life without any reason , I can't support that .
Maybe a growing intolerance all around us makes us irritable and oblivious about the problem of others. Sometimes this results in total disregard for everything , even lives.
I am not sure , but who knows if the lady driving the car might be a strict vegetarian . She may consider chicken to be impure and offensive too. Don't think I am hyper ventilating . Even Hitler was a vegetarian and thought Jews were impure.
