R. Radhakrishnan's Blog, page 18

Madhavi : The power to forgive.

There are many stories in our ancient texts that confuse and confound us. They give rise to distress and anger. They repel us when we look at them with current sensibilities.

They are also used by those who dislike Hindus to distort the faith.

But these stories are there for a reason, we need to look at them closely and find the lessons we can learn.

There are many stories and beliefs in the various religions around the world which are at odds with current sensibilities.

We should ...

Hate

A spark was lit, by someone, somewhere for something that happened sometime long ago.

Someone cocooned in comfort and safety.

The spark spread and grew fanned by flames of rumours and half-truths fed on fear.

Soon the city burned with fire and hatred.

In the beginning, it was a diversion for me from the daily grind, an excuse for not meeting deadlines and targets.

I was in the small shop in the bazaar in Baroda, the city that claimed to be the cultural capital of Gujarat.

It wa...

Diwali, the lighting of Lamps, Naraka Chaturdashi : The Story of Naraka.

During Diwali, one of the days is celebrated as Naraka Chaturdashi.

Lamps are lit, coloured lights put up and people celebrate the death of Narakasura.

But who was this Narakasura and why is his death a cause for celebration?

Bhumi Devi, the Earth goddess was being harassed by Hiranyaksha who kidnapped her.

Vishnu in his Varaha avatar killed Hiranyaksha and rescued the Earth.

The Earth and Vishnu as Varaha had a son who was called Naraka. The Mother sought a long life for...

Friends

“I feel like a child today,” said, my friend Oman. We last met 46 years back when passing out of school. But the years fell away and there was no disconnect between us.

That set the tone for an informal reunion of our class of 1975. We were children again laughing away our cares and our age.

We felt not the touch of time or the aches of age. We hugged, pulled legs and forgot the world outside for a time.

The pandemic had meant restrictions in travel and meets and so this was a rar...

A wish for myself.

A wish for myself.

The art of enjoying our reading.

Most of us read regularly, many read for enjoyment and some as a drudgery.

Reading itself is an art, one which should and is enjoyable. But sadly many have lost the habit of reading, or read without enjoying the process.

The first thing you need to enjoy reading is a bit of patience.

Sometimes a writer will need to warm up to the idea and so takes time. He may go round and round and the idea may be hidden.

When you read and share, you enhance your pleasure.

The discus...

Snapshots from History: The British Empire and Indian Education.

Painting of a pathshala by Dutch painter Francois Solvyn who was in India in the Eighteenth Century.

The NCERT History ( Social Science) textbook for standard viii has a chapter titled Civilising the “Native”, Educating the Nation.

The chapter heading in the textbook.

The title itself is intriguing as that’s what the British set out to do, educate the ” Natives” to civilise India. Native was a somewhat derogatory term the British used.  Vernacular was another term that had patronising...

Snapshots from History: The fort of Vellore, Tamil Nadu. The first Sepoy Rebellion.

India posts 2006

When I was in school in the 1970s in Bombay, we had a poem by Sir Henry Bolt titled ” Gillespie”.

Colonel Rollo Gillespie

It was a rousing poem of a brave British soldier riding to ” False Vellore where the devil was abroad at night stabbing women and children”.

That’s the imagery the poem conveyed to young impressionable minds. I was rooting for the brave British soldier riding alone through the night to fight the devils at Vellore.

Images like these are still a...

Snapshots of History: The Indian Naval Mutiny / Revolt, a Personal History.

History, I believe, is perceptions, fiction, facts and sometimes plain old storytelling.

We get a set of facts, we choose the ones that support our view and built a story out of them. That is why you call it His Story .

The British ruled their vast empire with the strength of Indian arms. Whether in Asia or the battlefields of Europe and Africa you found the Indian soldier fighting for the Empire that had subjugated the Indian kingdoms. The reasons for this we will consider some other...

Navratri and the Bommai Kolu

This is a lovely handcrafted wooden elephant from Mysore in my collection.

Navaratri is a nine-day celebration all over India of the victory of the Goddess over Mahishasur.

The Gujarat Navaratri celebration is world-famous, full of colour, rhythms and swirling skirts, flashing eyes.

It is nine nights of fun and frolic in Gujarat, and it is great fun. I was lucky to be part of such celebrations for many years.

The Gujarat celebrations are well known.

The celebrations in the Sou...