A reader wrote to me with an experience that he says vexed him. The relevant portion of his email is excerpted below (with his permission via email):
…during a talk with a liberal friend of mine, regarding the MF Hussain episode…friend talked on the lines of what liberals usually speak i.e kamasutra khajuraho…But…his explanation that Brahma [...]
Swapan Dasgupta, a writer I’ve admired for long writes in the Wall Street Journal about the BJP’s chance of making a fresh start under Nitin Gadkari. It’s really an OK piece compared to Swapan’s more incisive articles. No new insight or food for thought and not quite blog-worthy except for this.
Since it lost power in [...]
Stumbled upon this gem of a verse from Bhartruhari’s Nitishataka yesterday. Very compelling and relevant for all times. Rough translation is mine.
Boddharo matsaragrastaah prabhavaah smayadooshitaah|
Abodhaapahataschaanye jeernamange subhashitam||
Consumed with jealousy are the teachers and scholars, repositories of knowledge and wisdom,
Polluted by arrogance are the rulers, enforcers of justice, character, and conduct,
Beaten by their own ignorance are [...]
What do we do today when we want to counter and/or curb corruption? We pass laws and hope that somebody “clean” will enforce them. But we know how that goes. And for all our pompous breast-beating about the hoary Indian culture, it remains a fact that today we’re one of the most corrupt nations in [...]
It’s been about 10 years since I started this blog and this post is a personal stock-taking of sorts. This blog started as a space for personal rants/ruminations that made sense perhaps only to me. At a level, it still remains that way. But I’ll spare you those details. The point is it did take [...]
Today is Makara Sankranti, celebrated across India to both herald the beginning of longer days, and reap the harvest of months of backbreaking work in the fields. But the greater significance of Makara Sankranti like most Hindu festivals, is to highlight another living instance of the amazing cultural unity of India. People in Karnataka exchange [...]
Preface
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has consistently earned high rankings in the world as the 12th best public university and inside the US, as the 2nd best, and boasts of being affiliated with several Nobel lauretes. Its noble motto, “let there be light” has echoes from the Vedic Tamasoma Jyotirgamaya. A University that [...]
A few weeks ago, I made a hurried list that broadly categorized contemporary Hindus based on certain general parameters. Gurcharan Das of India Unbound fame adds to this list by slotting himself into a new category: Liberal Hindu. Much of what he says in that post is along familiar, “safe Hindu” lines but he does [...]
Gross generalizations about a country, a people, and a culture are humourous when done in the lighter vein. In most other cases, they are appalling. If you wonder why Westerners/foreigners are so ill-educated about India, articles like this is the answer. The article and its byline both are courageous because of their absolutely misplaced confidence [...]
This was published today in the Pioneer. Even the merest mention of cow, Sanskrit, and temple will cause massive seizures in secular quarters.
Comments and criticism welcome as always.
