Art Doesn’t Change Anything

Overdoing anything often results in several consequences. Among other things, the grand dignity of Brutus will suddenly resemble the character of the idiot full of sound and fury signifying nothing. The latest exhibit: Mallika Sarabhai’s on-stage antics in the recently-concluded TED India event hosted at Mysore.
I admire the work TED is doing. It has [...]

Sunday Special: Excerpts from an Autobiography: 4

1971 or ‘72. I had newly returned to Mysore. The Kannada translation of the Telugu Digambara poetry collection had just been published. The release function was held in Mysore at the public taxi stand. A hotel waiter was the chief guest to inaugurate the occasion. I was present there. The organizer, in his speech, announced [...]

Love Jihad Gets International Op-Ed Space

I know I’ve been neglecting this blog for extended intervals. I’ve been insanely busy.
About two months ago, I had posted about the dangerous, long-term outcome of what I called Love Jihad. This phenomenon ever since, is steadily receiving the attention it deserves. And no thanks to the Slimes for making it front page headlines for [...]

My Oped in the Pioneer: Mockery of austerity

This was published in the Pioneer today. Comments welcome as always.

Mockery of austerity Sandeep B
It’s an attempt to cover up Government’s failures
Our dharmashastras prohibit hoarding of food, or acquiring material possessions, beyond the bare minimum as one of the qualities of an ideal Brahmin. The reason: The more you possess, the farther [...]

Gurcharan Das and the Liberal Hindu

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 [...]

Sunday Special: Excerpts from an Autobiography: 3

My friends felt sorry for me when they heard that the Principal had rejected my scholarship. “Had you told us this earlier, we’d have stopped you from meeting him. The Principal gives any number of scholarships and freeships if you get a letter from Swamiji of his caste’s Mutt. Nothing else works with him,” they [...]

Love Jihad & the Clash of Monotheisms

Assuming there are still visible traces of a vibrant civic society and media left in the US, what’d be the reaction to an incident like this? (link courtesy: JK)
The Kerala High Court on Friday released two girls, who were allegedly detained for religious conversion, to their parents…In the petition, Jacob Thomas of Pallikkal, Kottarakkara, and [...]

My Op-ed in Pioneer: Surpassing Goebbels

This was published in the Pioneer today about the USCIRF India chapter report released last week. Comments and criticism welcome as always.

Surpassing Goebbels
Sandeep B
US uses fiction to slam freedom in India
The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom’s India Chapter report on the extent of religious freedom in India released last week was an unwelcome [...]

Sunday Special: Excerpts from an Autobiography : 2

Soon after, I wrote Jalapaata (Waterfall) and Tabbaliyu Neenaade Magane (You have been orphaned, my Son). A singular experience inspired both these works. A revolution of sorts was brewing in the cooperative sector in the Kaira district, which not just bettered the lives of the farmers there but supplied plentiful milk to far-off places like [...]

The Sublime and the Mundane

A good way to take a break from sickening news, never ending political crap and even mundane life, and recover sanity is to turn the mind towards the more refined appeals. The kinds that we’ve lost the time and solitude to enjoy at will: music, painting, sculpture, plays, and literature. More specifically, the classical variety [...]