Durga Prasad Dash's Blog, page 12
January 12, 2020
today flowers blossom in me
This post is in response to the prompt of Indispire Edition 307 – “Share any recent happening that has sparked joy in you”.
To avoid repetition, I am re-sharing an old post. Similar feelings came to me while travelling to a distant place in Bengaluru a couple of days back. Even though it was a working day, due to some reason (probably the strike call given by some trade unions on 08.01.2020), the traffic was far less than expected.
In Bengaluru having a traffic-hassle free day is like having a sunny day in the mid of arctic winter.
Thanks to Indiblogger member Anita Sabat ji for suggesting a topic with positive vibes, away from the usual needless controversies created these days to serve vested interests.
Usually, the commuting to and from the office is the most unpleasant experiences of a working day in a city like Bengaluru so much so that when someone asks, ‘what is the distance of your office from home’, I say, ‘it is one and a half hours to two hours depending upon the mood of the traffic of the day’. Of course, in terms of physical distance it is only 25 km one way.
But today while going to office flowers blossom in me.
In spite of the fact that it is a post holiday working day.Today is Diwali. It must be a holiday for the Indians in the north of the Vindhyas. However, for many offices including the central government ones, yesterday was the official Diwali holiday. The thin traffic indicates that in spite of it being a working day, many thought in true Indian spirit that a day…
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January 9, 2020
the fake heroes of our times
I have a feeling that if films had been invented in 15th century, in stead of Shakespeare, it is the lead actor of his plays whose anniversary we would be celebrating.
The heroes of ancient times were warriors, kings and gods. The Sanskrit word which can be thought of nearest in meaning to the word ‘hero’ is ‘shura’ which means God. It also means a human being who is mighty.
In my previous article, the gladiators of our times, I have talked about the modern day sport stars versus the gladiators of the ancient times who fought unto death for the entertainment of the members of the Roman civil society. In contrast to the lives of our modern day sport stars who lead lavish life styles, the gladiators of ancient times led the life style of slaves.
Professional games and sports, or games or sports for public entertainment may owe their origin to the gladiator events of Roman civilisaiton. Defeated, a gladiator usually lost his life. Victorious, he was allowed to leave another day, with probably an extra glass of wine or an extra piece of mutton given as a bonus. But today, the losers of sports, unless they are already established, take up other professions. On the other hand victory brings them untold wealth and social status. While today a successful cricketer may rise to the level of the country head just by encashing his popularity, in Roman days all a successful ambitious gladiator could do was to become a rebel leader to be chased and hunt down along with his fellow gladiators ultimately.
The modern days sport stars are also the heroes of modern times as are the actors who play leading characters in our movies. Because we worship them so much they are the celebrities of our times.
Along with soldiering, sports, preaching and prostitution, acting has been one of the oldest professions. But you hardly come across any actor of the ancient times making it to the history books. People say that my father was an accomplished actor. In those days when plays were hosted on open platforms without light and loudspeakers, my father played the role of Viswamitra. Sometimes when crowd was thin he would say his dialogues at the top of his voice. He had a natural high voice and when he raised his voice it reached the villages nearby where the people though some unusual incident had happened and came to check in.
What made the difference between the actors of the old days and actors of today like Amitabh Bachchan, or the difference between my father and celebrity actors like Nana Patekar is the silver screen. It is this silver screen and there after the small screen that changed the life and the lifestyle of the cockroach fearing, dumb and parroting-written-text-after-many-takes filmy actors to be called as heroes. Or, heroines for that matter. Of course today also we have stage actors. But, the actors, who face the camera, take all the money, fame, credit, and the right to be worshiped by the frenzied public.
The modern day hero is a creation of the media. What gives them the celebrity aura is the fact that the common man rarely interacts with them in flesh and blood. Being the ruler of an utopian fantasy land, he is a temporary relief for the common man. His presence is felt everywhere – through street corner bill boards, through televisions, through newspapers, and other media. Yet, being out of reach and distant in flesh and blood like the stars, he is aptly called a star.
Today apart from politicians, who are mostly maligned in the media, it is such filmi heroes and players who occupy most of the media space. The so called news items and gossip about them are usually part of clever branding and marketing strategy.
Some of the warriors and kings of ancient times have taken mythical proportions. Some of them even rose to the status of Gods . But behind the myth was a real hero somewhere. Today also we see that heroes have taken to mythical proportions. There are temples dedicated to them.
But what is worst about this branding and hero-worship culture is that these filmy heroes are projected as experts of everything. For the hardcore fan whatever comes out of his or her mouth is gospel truth. There need not be a real hero somewhere behind the myths created around such heroes. In real real life they may the worst hypocrites and duffers, but on screen he must appear to be killing 100 enemies with one punch and give the most convincing lecture on any topic on earth. It is this onscreen image that the stupid masses assume for real and dedicate temples for them. Maybe, temple building too could be is part of the clever strategy of the marketing team to build the image of the filmy actor.
I do not mean to say the filmi actors do not have any merit. They are highly accomplished in the art of acting. But so is a district collector who might be very efficient in his administrative capabilities. So is a military leader who has impeccable strategy to win battles.
In the film line itself, a film is a team effort. The script plays a crucial element in every successful movie. Maybe the only exception being Salman Khan, it has been seen that where the script is weak no amount of good acting, branding, marketing or directing has saved a movie. Yet the script writer is not so widely acknowledged if a movie is successful, or condemned for that matter if the movie is controversial. Compared to the heroes we know, how many script writers do we know? I have a feeling that if films had been invented in 15th century, in stead of Shakespeare’s, it is the lead actor of his plays whose anniversary we would be celebrating.
Well, let the filmi hero take all the money. Let him take all the media space which is required to create his brand and promote his forthcoming films and make everyone concerned get a good return for their investments. Let his fans do milk abhishekam to his portrait on his film release day. But my objection is that why should the person who acts the lead character take all the credit for the success of the movie?
And why should a filmi actor (whether he /she plays the lead or the side kick) be treated as if he/she is an expert of everything?
I have attended, as an audience, a lot of functions organised to promote the language, literature and cultural heritages of particular regions. Even for such functions the first preferred chief guest is a filmi actor, even though he/she may not be speaking in that language off screen and is alien to the culture in body, mind, and spirit. If a filmy hero or side kick is not available then the organisers think of inviting a person who is active or has some expertise in the field of language, literature, or culture of that region.
You may also read : the experts of Hindustan
In fact it happened in one occasion. The actor invited was not born in the state. The actor did not speak the language properly. She tried hard to recite a few lines from a parroted script. But midway she forgot that and started to speak in English glorifying some of the politicians on the stage. I think she had even forgotten what was the purpose of the function.
The organisers might argue that it is such celebrities, whether they have minds of their own or not, that act as crowd pullers. But, would not it be better if the crowd was small but it went away with the right impression about the culture and literature of the region than the larger crowd who went away as ignorant as before (sometimes with wrong impression) about the language, literature and the culture of the state.
Come on dudes. You are celebrating your state’s language and cultural heritage. Why not invite someone who is an expert in your language, culture and history in stead of the usual filmi hero who anyway has his/her fill of publicity all the time.
Moreover, with a country that is badly in need of real life role models, why should a glittering-but-shallow- and- parroting filmy actor be the preferred guest of all seasons?
By the way, here is wishing all the readers a very happy and prosperous Gregorian New Year. Wish the new year give our youth the discrimination to distinguish between real and fake heroes.
the heroes of our times
I have a feeling that if films had been invented in 15th century, in stead of Shakespeare, it is the lead actor of his plays whose anniversary we would be celebrating.
The heroes of ancient times were warriors, kings and gods. The Sanskrit word which can be thought of nearest in meaning to the word ‘hero’ is ‘shura’ which means God. It also means a human being who is mighty.
In my previous article, the gladiators of our times, I have talked about the modern day sport stars versus the gladiators of the ancient times who fought unto death for the entertainment of the members of the Roman civil society. In contrast to the lives of our modern day sport stars who lead lavish life styles, the gladiators of ancient times led the life style of slaves.
Professional games and sports, or games or sports for public entertainment may owe their origin to the gladiator events of Roman civilisaiton. Defeated, a gladiator usually lost his life. Victorious, he was allowed to leave another day, with probably an extra glass of wine or an extra piece of mutton given as a bonus. But today, the losers of sports, unless they are already established, take up other professions. On the other hand victory brings them untold wealth and social status. While today a successful cricketer may rise to the level of the country head just by encashing his popularity, in Roman days all a successful ambitious gladiator could do was to become a rebel leader to be chased and hunt down along with his fellow gladiators ultimately.
The modern days sport stars are also the heroes of modern times as are the actors who play leading characters in our movies. Because we worship them so much they are the celebrities of our times.
Along with soldiering, sports, preaching and prostitution, acting has been one of the oldest professions. But you hardly come across any actor of the ancient times making it to the history books. People say that my father was an accomplished actor. In those days when plays were hosted on open platforms without light and loudspeakers, my father played the role of Viswamitra. Sometimes when crowd was thin he would say his dialogues at the top of his voice. He had a natural high voice and when he raised his voice it reached the villages nearby where the people though some unusual incident had happened and came to check in.
What made the difference between the actors of the old days and actors of today like Amitabh Bachchan, or the difference between my father and celebrity actors like Nana Patekar is the silver screen. It is this silver screen and there after the small screen that changed the life and the lifestyle of the cockroach fearing, dumb and parroting-written-text-after-many-takes filmy actors to be called as heroes. Or, heroines for that matter. Of course today also we have stage actors. But, the actors, who face the camera, take all the money, fame, credit, and the right to be worshiped by the frenzied public.
The modern day hero is a creation of the media. What gives them the celebrity aura is the fact that the common man rarely interacts with them in flesh and blood. Being the ruler of an utopian fantasy land, he is a temporary relief for the common man. His presence is felt everywhere – through street corner bill boards, through televisions, through newspapers, and other media. Yet, being out of reach and distant in flesh and blood like the stars, he is aptly called a star.
Today apart from politicians, who are mostly maligned in the media, it is such filmi heroes and players who occupy most of the media space. The so called news items and gossip about them are usually part of clever branding and marketing strategy.
Some of the warriors and kings of ancient times have taken mythical proportions. Some of them even rose to the status of Gods . But behind the myth was a real hero somewhere. Today also we see that heroes have taken to mythical proportions. There are temples dedicated to them.
But what is worst about this branding and hero-worship culture is that these filmy heroes are projected as experts of everything. For the hardcore fan whatever comes out of his or her mouth is gospel truth. There need not be a real hero somewhere behind the myths created around such heroes. In real real life they may the worst hypocrites and duffers, but on screen he must appear to be killing 100 enemies with one punch and give the most convincing lecture on any topic on earth. It is this onscreen image that the stupid masses assume for real and dedicate temples for them. Maybe, temple building too could be is part of the clever strategy of the marketing team to build the image of the filmy actor.
I do not mean to say the filmi actors do not have any merit. They are highly accomplished in the art of acting. But so is a district collector who might be very efficient in his administrative capabilities. So is a military leader who has impeccable strategy to win battles.
In the film line itself, a film is a team effort. The script plays a crucial element in every successful movie. Maybe the only exception being Salman Khan, it has been seen that where the script is weak no amount of good acting, branding, marketing or directing has saved a movie. Yet the script writer is not so widely acknowledged if a movie is successful, or condemned for that matter if the movie is controversial. Compared to the heroes we know, how many script writers do we know? I have a feeling that if films had been invented in 15th century, in stead of Shakespeare’s, it is the lead actor of his plays whose anniversary we would be celebrating.
Well, let the filmi hero take all the money. Let him take all the media space which is required to create his brand and promote his forthcoming films and make everyone concerned get a good return for their investments. Let his fans do milk abhishekam to his portrait on his film release day. But my objection is that why should the person who acts the lead character take all the credit for the success of the movie?
And why should a filmi actor (whether he /she plays the lead or the side kick) be treated as if he/she is an expert of everything?
I have attended, as an audience, a lot of functions organised to promote the language, literature and cultural heritages of particular regions. Even for such functions the first preferred chief guest is a filmi actor, even though he/she may not be speaking in that language off screen and is alien to the culture in body, mind, and spirit. If a filmy hero or side kick is not available then the organisers think of inviting a person who is active or has some expertise in the field of language, literature, or culture of that region.
You may also read : the experts of Hindustan
In fact it happened in one occasion. The actor invited was not born in the state. The actor did not speak the language properly. She tried hard to recite a few lines from a parroted script. But midway she forgot that and started to speak in English glorifying some of the politicians on the stage. I think she had even forgotten what was the purpose of the function.
The organisers might argue that it is such celebrities, whether they have minds of their own or not, that act as crowd pullers. But, would not it be better if the crowd was small but it went away with the right impression about the culture and literature of the region than the larger crowd who went away as ignorant as before (sometimes with wrong impression) about the language, literature and the culture of the state.
Come on dudes. You are celebrating your state’s language and cultural heritage. Why not invite someone who is an expert in your language, culture and history in stead of the usual filmi hero who anyway has his/her fill of publicity all the time.
Moreover, with a country that is badly in need of real life role models, why should a glittering-but-shallow- and- parroting filmy actor be the preferred guest of all seasons?
By the way, here is wishing all the readers a very happy and prosperous Gregorian New Year. Wish the new year give our youth the discrimination to distinguish between real and fake heroes.
December 21, 2019
One can travel for food to these Odisha temples
In a previous blog post I had written disapprovingly about attending a Gita Jayanti celebration and coming back without hearing a single sloka of Bhagavat Gita but with a stomach full of food. I liked the food though.
In many temples like the one I have mentioned about, elaborate dishes are prepared only on special occasions. But there are temples in Odisha where elaborate vegetarian meals are prepared on a daily basis as temple prasad. These preparations are best examples of what a satwik meal should be. Prepared sans onion and garlic, the dishes are so sumptuous, if there were any Michelin rating for satwik food, some of these temples would definitely get a three star rating. By the way, according to Michelin guide book, a three star rating means – “exceptional cuisine that is worth a special journey”.
The offering of a cooked meal, known as annaparsad, is a standard lunch time offering to the deities at most of the traditional Odisha Temples. At some places the annaprasad, after being offered to the deities, can feed one or two devotees where as at some places like the Puri Jagannath Temple it can feed thousands. Like everything of grandeur associated with the Puri Jagannath Temple, the food made available to the devotees is known as Mahaprasad – the grand blessing. After offering or dedicating to the Lord, food becomes prasad – which means blessing or his grace.
You may also read : God's East India abode
In Upanishads it is said – annam brahmam iti byajanat. We are supposed to partake food with the same veneration that we bestow upon brahman which is the ultimate underlying reality of everything. Respect towards food fosters a culture of gratefulness towards things we have got to sustain life.
Philosophy apart, let us focus on things more mundane yet associated with the divine. The lunchtime preparations of rice-lentil-vegetable-dessert mega combo at Puri Jagannath temple goes by the name of abadha. The dishes are prepared using traditional methods and recipes that have remained unchanged for centuries. Since cameras are strictly not allowed inside the temple premises, it is very difficult to get a glimpse of what goes on inside the temple unless you practically visit the temple. Some interesting facts about the mahaprasad and abadha of Puri Jagannath Temple are as follows:
Everyday from morning to evening 56 varieties of food items are prepared and served to the lord.The kitchen is located inside the temple covering an area of one acre. Earthen pots containing the ingredients are stacked one atop another on wooden chullahs. As the legend goes, the ingredients on the topmost pots get cooked firstThe ingredients consist of vegetables ans other other items which were native to India thousands of years back. E.g. potato which is not of Indian origin is not included in any of the recipes.Usually ingredients are removed from the cooking vessels to utensils for offering to the lord. But here food is offered and later sold to the devotees along with the cooking vessel. The wood used in the kitchen comes from the chariots dismantled after the Rath yatra. In addition to being delicious, the food remains unspoiled for much longer duration than the usual cooked food.
There are free food systems at many temples in India. At some places these free meals may consist of only rice and dal or sambar and at some places along with rice or roti a few other side dishes are served. In most of the temples in India the regular paid prasad may consist of a few sweets or other snacks. But elaborate annaprasada with sumptuous side dishes are what makes these traditional temple foods unique. Of course there is no free meal system here. However, the cost is much much lower than what a Michelin rated meal could cost. At Anand Bazar, where the food is sold after offering to lord, one can have a full meal consisting of a varieties varieties of items for Rs. 60-100.
You may also read: Even for Gods one life is not enough
There is a mythical theory about why such sumptous elaborate annaprasad is unique to Puri. Rameswaram, Dwaraka, Puri and Badrinath are the primary chardhams or abode-quartets associated with Hindu Pilgrimage. It is said that Lord Vishnu takes his morning bath at Rameshwaram, Breakfsast at Dwaraka, Lunch at Puri and goes for night halt at Badrinath.
Another explanation has psychological connotations where in Lord Jagannath is considered a normal human being. It is said that when one is depressed one is likely to eat more. The cause of such divine depression – the Lord is homesick having been cut off from his native place of Brindaban. So watch out. If you are over eating and gaining weight, the underlying cause could be depression.
If you cannot make it to Puri, but find yourself in the capital city of Bhubaneswar, you can try the lunch time annaprasad at Ananta Basudeva temple which is located near the Lingaraja Temple.
Same way, in Cuttak too, one can have lunch time annaprasad at the Jagannath temple at Chandni Chowk. Non-vegetarians need not feel left out. They may head to the Cuttak Chandi Temple for a fish meal.
You may also read : The Big Lord descends among us
I still remember the day when as school boys we traveled 10 kms on foot just for the sake of tasting this unique sweet offered as prasad in the Narayana Temple at Narayana Patna near Kullada. The sweet, which somewhat looks like a rasagolla, is called medhaveda. I do not know whether the Narayana Temple still makes this sweet. By the way Narayana Patna is my mother’s birthplace and I used to spend a substantial portion of summer vacations there. My grandmother sometimes used to order the special thali of the temple. It consisted of rice and twenty five to thirty other items. Those days it used to cost twenty five rupees and one thali was big enough to feed a family of five.
Even though the temple has a glorious history, at present it is so self effacing that I had to spend considerable time searching over the net to extract the following image from a video.
[image error]Narayana Temple, Narayana Patna, Kulada (Ganjam)
I was a boarder at Upendra Bhanja High School, Bhanjanagar. Some of my fellow boarders were from the villages around Narayana Patna. Once while discussing about the temple someone mentioned about the sweet and we decided to visit the temple next weekend to taste the sweet. Even though due to my grandma’s grace I had tasted the thalli, I had never tasted the sweet. Those days the public transportation system available from Bhanjanagar to Kulada consisted of a government bus that plied only three to four times a day. Another alternate was a horse driven carriage whose charioteer babbled a lot being under the influence of bhang all the time. Luckily his horses remained sober and were mature enough to carry the passengers safely. Unluckily for us we got neither of these transports for escapade on the weekend.
Since we had made up our mind we made the to and fro journey by foot. And the sweet was worth our sweat.
December 12, 2019
Should we be excessively worried about the economic slowdown?
Knowing full well that economic slow down is an inevitable part of debt driven economy, should we blame the government of the day? Should we also create a panic situation by demanding that the patient who is suffering a normal fever be put in an ICU?
If we follow Ray Dalio’s explanation of economic models, slowdown is an inevitable part of a debt driven economy. The way Ray Dalio explains this phenomenon in the following video, even a layman can understand.
Without doubt all modern economies are debt driven. Debt increases demand by creating artificial purchasing power. Increase in demand in turn drives increase in production, which in turn increases income and a cycle of economic development is set in motion. But at some point it reaches a plateau where production cannot keep up to create sufficient income to outdo the debt. There begins the descending curve.
When the slowdown is sharp and is sustained over a long period, it turns into a depression as happened in 1929. All developed economies have gone through this from time to time. It is like what happens to the human body. Certain diseases are man made. Certain diseases, like the seasonal cold and fever, are most likely to afflict even a so called healthy individual in spite of all precautions. One cannot be blamed for all the diseases one gets afflicted with during the life time. Certain diseases like cold and fever are part of normal human existence. I fact doctors say that fevers are part of human mechanism to cleanse itself.
Knowing full well that economic slow down is an inevitable part of debt driven economy, should we blame the government of the day? Should we also create a panic situation by demanding that the patient who is suffering a normal fever be put in an ICU?
If it is a normal cold and fever and in panic we put the patient in ICU, there are chances that the long term damage cause to the patient by the ICU panic treatment will be more damaging.
To me the present situation seems to be a normal slowdown caused by poor performance in certain sectors like auto and real estate. It can be noted that even though demand has decreased in these two sectors the overall demand seems to be robust as reflected in the high rate of inflation.
Auto and real estate are experiencing slackening of demand. Is this decrease of demand due to pure economic factors like lack of purchasing or factors like correction after hyped up growth coupled with change of consumer preferences?
If it is due to the later, it means these sectors have reached optimum level of supply given the current situation. Knowing that the domestic market is saturated, auto sectors should look to create international demand. Only waiting for the government to bail out will not be effective.
Our roads are already choked with vehicles. Vehicular pollution levels in cities have reached alarming levels. For the salary man now a days owning a vehicle is less of a problem than fueling, insuring, parking and driving it.
In any economy it is the salaried and the self employed who are the largest segment of consumers. Indian society has a high preference for salaried jobs than for self employment. Till now IT has been the major driver of job creation. With the advent of AI and machine learning, world wide job vacancies in IT is expected to decrease drastically and India cannot be insulated from the same.
Our Prime Minister has time and again emphasized the importance of self employment. To sustain our growth there needs to be a paradigm shift in our society from being job seeking to being entrepreneurial.
It is said that India was insulated from the global slow down of 2008 due to creation of domestic demand. India’s large underdeveloped population still is a high potential for domestic consumption base. But domestic demand cannot sustain the economy in the long run.
It is time our industries pitied themselves against global competitions. India has no dearth of talents. If only we could find out ways to retain them to develop high quality products and leadership to make us formidable in the the international markets.
Ironically, India is one of the highest consumers of not only Indian products but also non-Indian products. This must be having a positive impact of the GDP of those countries whose products are popular in India. Unless India braces itself to be a tough player in the international market, long term sustainable growth seems to be a distant dream irrespective of the fiscal measures undertaken by the government.
A slow down, which is the result of the natural periodic fluctuation of a debt driven economy should not be a cause of excessive worry to the point of creating panic. course measures need to be taken to come out of the cycle. At the same time it is a time for all major players in the economy for deep introspection so that we come out with stronger measures for the long term sustainability of economic growth.
December 8, 2019
How we celebrate Gita and Gandhi Jayanti
According to the Hindu calendar, this is the month of Margashira. It is supposed to be the most auspicious month of the year. In Bhagavat Gita Lord Krishna says- ‘māsānāṁ mārga-śhīrṣho ’ham ‘. I am margashirsha among the months.
Today is Gita Jayanti – the anniversary of Bhagavat Gita. The Gita in the title refers to Bhagavat Gita and by Gandhi, of course I mean Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi. By the way Gandhiji was an ardent practitioner of the Bhagavat Gita.
Presumably, Bhagavat Gita was born today, in the sense that today is the day when Lord Krishna gave this ultimate knowledge to his friend and disciple Arjuna who had fallen into despondency just before the start of the war when he saw that he had to fight against his own relatives. So, today is the anniversary of the first day of the eighteen day Mahabharata war fought on the battle fields of Kurukhetra to decide the future of Hastinapura.
Some years back I had gone to a temple to take part in the celebrations of Gita Jayanti. It started with a lot of fanfare. The gathering was huge. The organisers had left no stones unturned to make the event a grad success. The celebrations were to culminate with a sumptuous meal or grand Prasad Sevana which was like a seven to eight course ‘no- garlic no- onion but nevertheless sumptuous’ lunch.
The celebrations started with Krishna Bhajans where singer after singer showered praises for the grand acts of Lord Krishna not only during his own avatar but also during his other avataars. It is worth noting that the hardcore devotees of lord Krishna consider the so called dasavataars or the ten incarnations to be that of Lord Krishna and not of Lord Vishnu.
After the bhajan program, a huge volume of Gita, which was wrapped in a golden clothe, was taken in a grand procession around the temple complex. People jostled to touch the divine book and take its blessings.
After the book was brought back to the dais, there was customary arati. Like the Jai Jagadish hare arati dedicated to Lord Krishna , there is an elaborate arati dedicated to Bhagavat Gita which has been composed perhaps for such an occasion where praises are sung profusely glorifying the Gita.
During the arati my friendly neighbor pulled me and said, “Come fast. We have to rush to the dining space to secure the spot. Or else, you will have to wait for a long time to take lunch.”
I said, “But, what about listening to the message of Gita? Isn’t some body going to read or chant a few passages of the Bhagavat Gita explain the meaning?”
“Gita message ? What Gita message? Arati means it is the end of the spiritual proceedings. It is time to taste the sumptuous meal and go home.”
“But, today is Gita Jayanti. Should not we learn or remind ourselves about the essence of the Gita or a few of its core messages?”
“Dear friend, I am attending this function for the third year. Once you start discourses on Gita, many will leave without even waiting to take lunch. A lot of food will be wasted.”
We do the same with Gandhi. We worship him, put his statues everywhere particularly in the most lavish localities of the city, garland his statues, name the busiest commercial streets after him, and organize elaborate functions with sumptuous meals to celebrate his Jayanti.
We do all these so that we can get rid of his message. Instead of criticizing him and portraying his killer as an hero, an elaborate method of worship is a better way to sideline him and forget his messages.
[image error]image soucre : kurdistan24.net
Worshiping Gita and Gandhi
According to the Hindu calendar, this is the month of Margashira. It is supposed to be the most auspicious month of the year. In Bhagavat Gita Lord Krishna says- ‘māsānāṁ mārga-śhīrṣho ’ham ‘. I am margashirsha among the months.
Today is Gita Jayanti – the anniversary of Bhagavat Gita. The Gita in the title refers to Bhagavat Gita and by Gandhi, of course I mean Mohan Das Karam Chand Gandhi. By the way Gandhiji was an ardent practitioner of the Bhagavat Gita.
Presumably, Bhagavat Gita was born today, in the sense that today is the day when Lord Krishna gave this ultimate knowledge to his friend and disciple Arjuna who had fallen into despondency just before the start of the war when he saw that he had to fight against his own relatives. So, today is the anniversary of the first day of the eighteen day Mahabharata war fought on the battle fields of Kurukhetra to decide the future of Hastinapura.
Some years back I had gone to a temple to take part in the celebrations of Gita Jayanti. It started with a lot of fanfare. The gathering was huge. The organisers had left no stones unturned to make the event a grad success. The celebrations were to culminate with a sumptuous meal or grand Prasad Sevana which was like a seven to eight course ‘no- garlic no- onion but nevertheless sumptuous’ lunch.
The celebrations started with Krishna Bhajans where singer after singer showered praises for the grand acts of Lord Krishna not only during his own avatar but also during his other avataars. It is worth noting that the hardcore devotees of lord Krishna consider the so called dasavataars or the ten incarnations to be that of Lord Krishna and not of Lord Vishnu.
After the bhajan program, a huge volume of Gita, which was wrapped in a golden clothe, was taken in a grand procession around the temple complex. People jostled to touch the divine book and take its blessings.
After the book was brought back to the dais, there was customary arati. Like the Jai Jagadish hare arati dedicated to Lord Krishna , there is an elaborate arati dedicated to Bhagavat Gita which has been composed perhaps for such an occasion where praises are sung profusely glorifying the Gita.
During the arati my friendly neighbor pulled me and said, “Come fast. We have to rush to the dining space to secure the spot. Or else, you will have to wait for a long time to take lunch.”
I said, “But, what about listening to the message of Gita? Isn’t some body going to read or chant a few passages of the Bhagavat Gita explain the meaning?”
“Gita message ? What Gita message? Arati means it is the end of the spiritual proceedings. It is time to taste the sumptuous meal and go home.”
“But, today is Gita Jayanti. Should not we learn or remind ourselves about the essence of the Gita or a few of its core messages?”
“Dear friend, I am attending this function for the third year. Once you start discourses on Gita, many will leave without even waiting to take lunch. A lot of food will be wasted.”
We do the same with Gandhi. We worship him, put his statues everywhere particularly in the most lavish localities of the city, garland his statues, name the busiest commercial streets after him, and organize elaborate functions with sumptuous meals to celebrate his Jayanti.
We do all these so that we can get rid of his message. Instead of criticizing him and portraying his killer as an hero, an elaborate method of worship is a better way to sideline him and forget his messages.
December 3, 2019
How I met my books
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Some of the interesting books I have read are associated with their own interesting stories about how I came across the books or, in what circumstances I read the books.
While helping my father-in-law arranging his home library a couple of years back I came across an Odia version of the Mritchhakatika – a sanskrit drama written by Shudraka. Does the word sound a little complicated? This is a Sanskrit compound word which is a combination (sandhi) of two words – mrit (soil/mud) and sakatika (cart).
Do you remember the movie Utsav starring Sekhar Suman and Rekha? The movie was based on this ancient Sanskrit drama. – The Cart of Clay. Some English translator use the title – The Cart of Clay and some others use – The Little Clay Cart.
Sri Surendra Das- used to teach us both Odiya and Sanskrit in our High School. He was very much popular for his style of making classes interesting through story telling. We used to wait eagerly for his classes. Spread over a month he told us the entire story of Mritchchakatika in episodic manner during his classes. Those were the days when TV soap opera had not colonialised our country.
During college days I got a chance to read the book and utlised it without delay. Subsequently I watched the movie Utsav during the year of its release in 1984. But reading it again a couple of years back was like relieving those moments of my school days in the 1980s.
Even if you have not seen the movie Utsav, hope you have heard this beautiful song from the movie. If not listen again :
Reading bullshit stuff knowing it to be so
I go into periodic lunacy of binge reading. Those are also the periods when I end up reading a lot of bullshit stuff. During such a period of lunacy this year I read Paulo Coelho and Eckhart Tolle. I came across Coelho for the first time from a newspaper column and was under the impression that he was a self-help Guru of some sort. But he and his bio in a number of internet sites claim he is a novelist!
I was also amazed at the way these two guys (worldwide acclaimed bestselling authors ) clothe ancient wisdom in new words and metaphors and never give any credit to their source, thus giving the impression that they are the inventors of such life changing wisdom. I think they owe their popularity to the fact that generations have grown up all over the world without bothering to study the classics or the spiritual literature or the mythologies of their own country. If they had done, they would have found out how common place are the wisdom peddled by the ilks of Paulo Coelho or Eckhart Tolle.
Reading an all-time great.
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Another book worth mentioning is Ulysses by James Joyce. It took me three months of frequently interrupted reading to finish it. In between I had to read a lot of reviews and notes about the book to understand all the layers of the theme. But it was worth it.
Ulysses is one of the all-time great novels in the history of fiction, consistently being voted as one of the top ten novels in polls after polls. However, our dear bestselling novelist Paulo Coehlo could hardly find anything remarkable in this masterpiece. Coelho faced a lot of flak for his criticism of Ulysses. Of course, we can hardly blame Paulo for all this. Loved by the masses from Iran to India, after all his novels sell like hot cakes in December.
Of traffic jam, rain, and Rumi
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cloud of gentle rain, pour down
come, let us friends get truly drunk
and you, the king of tricksters
befuddled with drink we all greet you (Rumi)
Now I remember of the time when I was rescued by Rumi when I was on my way to the airport and was stuck in a traffic jam. Thankfully, I was not going to catch a flight but to receive someone. Thankfully again, I had borrowed a book of Rumi’s poetry from a library in the morning and it was with me. As it rained outside, sitting in the car backseat, perhaps at that time I was one of those few commuters who did not curse the rain or the traffic Jam. Of course, by the time I finished the book, I was yet to reach the airport. Thankfully yet again, I was able to compose a poem — of traffic jam, rain and Rumi, which has been included in my anthology of poems: teach me to dream. There are a couple of poems — one dedicated to rain and another to typical everyday traffic jam of a city like Bengaluru— that find place in the anthology.
The maverick of those orthodox days
This month sometime falls the birthday of Mirza Ghalib. From his popular couplets I imagine him to be the old mischievous gentleman of the next street who you bump into every now and then during your random walks. During one of such random browsings through Kindle store I read a book that outlined his life and wisdom. He was not a religious zealot and fully knew the fictions created in the name of religion. Many of his couplets have stuck to the mind and refuse to go out of memory.
Haathon ki lakeeron pay mat ja ae ghalib,
Naseeb unke bhi hote hain jinkey haath nahi hote
Hum ko mallum hai jannat ki haqiqat lekin
Dil khush rakhne ko ghalib ye khayal achha hai
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November 27, 2019
watchings of idle hours 11 : the art of eating mindfully
Cultures can be widely different in their values and practices. But human emotions and individual human values have the elements of universality that transcend cultural differences.
When the tiny country of Japan became a world economic power post world war II, it came with its side effects.
Post retirement, salary man Takeshi Kasumi finds out that he had never stopped to appreciate the beauty of the park that he daily crossed on his way to office. What more, he had never imagined that the regular restaurants in his neighborhood would provide him with the richest experiences of his life and give him a new mission to defy his age.
Takeshi Kasumi is the protagonist of Netflix webseries ‘Samurai Gourmet’. The official introduction to the web series says, ” Recent retiree Takeshi rediscovers his passion for food and life by getting in touch with his inner warrior and eating what he truly desires. ”
But the web series is much more than exploring the cuisines of the locality. The series reveals that in the right context ordinary experiences can become extraordinary events of life. One of the episodes reminded me how a plate of half cooked rice and dal remains to this day my most relished meal of my life. I have shared about this experience in my blog post – a meal to remember and the journey.
If we are keen observers like the author of the series, human behaviour in the day to day ordinary events of life can provide deeper glances into the underlying patterns in human psychology and these patterns are universal in nature. Cultures can be widely different in their values and practices. But human emotions and individual human values have the element of universality that transcends cultural differences.
When Takeshi hesitates to ask for clarification about the the menu in the hotel for the fear of being considered a fool, or purchases more (even though he does not need) for fear of being considered stingy, it could immediately strike a chord in many of us, from whichever culture we may be.
In embarrassing situations, Takeshi finds inspiration from an idealized samurai warrior. Ironically and like any ordinary human being, he hesitates when it is time to act on his inspirations. Of course the issue gets resolved somehow.
Takeshi makes eating meditative, which of course enhances the experience. Even though the title is Samurai Gourmet – it is not a mere cookery or cuisine show. It is about exploring human experiences and interactions at the back drop of an old man’s food adventures in his locality.
This reminds me of another Japanese series titled ‘Midnight Diner – Tokyo Series.’ I have mentioned about the series in watchings of idle hours #5. This series too is not a cuisine show. Each episode is based on an independent short story exploring the lives of the ordinary Japanese.
October 15, 2019
Nobel Intentions 2
From the social media trends it appears that Indians are divided as to whether to welcome the fact of a persons of Indian origin winning the Nobel prize in economics. Many Indians, as usual, felt proud – particularly those from Bengal and JNU, while some smelt a conspiracy.
I will remain sceptical. Nobel for economics, peace & literature has often compromised merit for politics. Let’s not forget that this guy is a JNU alumnus and hold our horses before erupting in pride & joy. Amartya Sen has badly hurt those sentiments.
— Ramta Jogi (@Rahul_Partagas) October 14, 2019
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“Not again”, said those who thought it was a conspiracy. “Another international award for portrayal of poverty in the subcontinent.” Some see it as an attempt by the international anti India conspirators to give fillip to a person who is an apparent heir to Amartya Sen to carry out his anti India rants.
Even though in Part -1 of this series, I brought out the dark side of the Nobel selections, it is too early for me to comment on the merit of Abhjit Banerji and others getting the Economics Nobel prize 2019 for their research work on poverty alleviation.
I feel some people went too far in portraying his getting Nobel in poor light. Some expressed dismay that these people themselves leading capitalistic lives in developed western countries while championing socialist policies. I think there is nothing wrong for people living in rich countries talking about poverty alleviation. In fact if you are already poor what can you do to lift others from poverty. If you yourself are drowning for not knowing swimming and for being in water how can you save another. It is the people who know swimming and who are not yet in water who can save those who are drowning.
It is another story that, questions have been raised with regard to the role of economists post World War -II in contributing anything substantially to public policy. Post World War II, there seems to have been hardly any breathtaking innovation in economic theory. High research activities in economics have been just matters of academic interest without the findings being implementable for the benefit of the society.
Cutting across party lines, JNU students and people of West Bengal felt elated because one of their own won the Nobel. But one thing we are forgetting is that his academic development of Nobel standard happened in US. Had he continued to live in Bengal or had he taken up a job in JNU, it is doubtful he would have flourished so much academically. He is one of those millions of persons of Indian origin who choose to leave India for better prospects in developed countries. In fact this is the case with all Nobel winners of Indian origin in the fields of economics and science. Their development as Nobel winners happened in the academic environs of the West.
Maybe, such occasions should make us retrospect not only about our poverty, but also about our inability to retain talent and highly skilled manpower in our country and give them the environment to flourish.
This problem afflicts not only India, but also all the poor countries. People who could contribute their talents to uplift the conditions of their fellow countrymen become part of the progress story of already developed countries. Thus continues the vicious cycle of underdeveloped/developing countries until the happening of some miracle.
