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Krishna, Dharma, and the Mahabharata I Thought I Knew

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Krishna and Arjuna at Kurukshetra When I was growing up, I used to listen to so many stories from our epics and mythology—whether it was reading Amar Chitra Katha books or listening to my paati narrate tales of bravery and valor, the purpose of the divine, and the importance of adhering to dharma. Stories of Shiva and Vishnu found their way into my life through various forms. As a child, it was fascinating to see the power wielded by the Gods. And the message I took away was very simple: if you are devoted to the Gods, no harm can befall you. The Mahabharata, Ramayana, Nala-Damayanti, tales of Muruga and Ganesha, Draupadi, the Pandavas, the Kauravas—the army of characters was endless. To say they fascinated me would be a big understatement. I have read the Mahabharata many times, through various authors, and listened to many narrations of it. Every single time, I walk away with a new meaning. Kri...
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Mumbai

I try to keep away from current affairs on my blog, simply because, there is so much media coverage that you feel who cares about what is written here. But then, I also realize, that this statement holds good for other posts as well. Whatever said and done, my mind just refuses to forget what happened last night at Mumbai, the financial hub of India and one of the important centers of the world, where a small ripple here can cause major waves in the global market. I try to switch my mind to other things, but, invariably, and rather, involuntarily, my fingers make an impression on the keys that correspond to the different news sites across the web. I want to find out more and at the same time, get away from what's happened last night. I am not sure whether I am getting callous. Yesterday afternoon, when I was at work, there was an update in the web space that Mumbai was caught in the midst of yet another series of blasts. Oh, God! Yet another one. I hope nobody is injured, an...
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Not "fair" enough...

A scene from the movie Sivaji . The hero is trying to woo the heroine and is trying to gain access into her house. Her neighbour comes to the hero with his daughters. The hero sees these two seemingly dark girls and vanishes from the spot. The theater erupts to applaud the so called comedy in the scene. I was dumbstruck for a second. The whole scene was shown in bad light. I had no words to describe my disappointment on the way the scene was filmed. Amidst pranks in schools and colleges, the dark character has to give in time and again to the endless stream of jokes played on him by the jumbo boys. He is made to look like a morally starved creature devoid of everything in life. The incessant chatter would end up hounding the hapless guy and he would have no choice but to stare silently at the comments made on his physical traits. This doesn't happen in the American or European countries, but in our very own land, and within our very own community. I have always wondered how anybody...
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Why vernacular?

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The latest court verdict in Karnataka concerns the 2000 odd schools in the state to switch to Kannada as the medium of instruction bypassing English. English is the global medium of communication and it is imperative that we get a good grasp of the language that would aid us in the development process. Here, it is not the question of promoting your local language, but you are effectively terminating the ability of the children to come up in a competitive environment. In India, every state has a language of its own along with the national language, Hindi. Being born and brought up in India, there is no doubt that it is important to learn your local language as well as the national language. But that doesn't mean that you should shun English. India is emerging as a major global power and we are dependent on our western allies to work in close co-ordination and improve the economy. As long as a person has the basic knowledge to speak, read and write in the local language, it should mo...
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Mahabharat - Not anymore obvious

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Once upon a time, Indian mythological stories used to take centre stage amidst the growing kids. As generations and generations of children grew up, it was not anything out of the way to have the characters of Ramayana and Mahabharata etched in the young minds. Tales of valour and honesty were retold by grandmothers and it was one of the key factors of the growing up process for Indian kids. I had the good fortune and privilege to be associated with several such narrations at various stages of my childhood. My mother retold several hundreds of mythological stories, and my grandmother supplemented with more during the summer vacations. Summer vacations were fantastic, in the sense that all the cousins used to sit together to get the briefing dating back to good old times. Grandmothers are the best companions for young kids, and we were awed and surprised by the turn of events in Indian Mythology. Apart from this, we also had Amar Chitra Katha to look forward to. The Amar Chitra ...
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A Generation Gap

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I just had this feeling sinking in when in my final year of my Bachelor's programme, and that was way back in 2003. The incoming batch really had me in a complex, what with heavy put on accent and jazzy gadgets accompanying them always. They had a perpetual tilt with their head resting on one of their shoulders. Obviously, it is no easy task to talk all the time on mobile phones, what with terrific mobile plans in the offing. If Airtel and Hutch was trying to popularize something, SPICE used to be one notch above. Having a mobile was no longer a status quo - and we were really thrown into the oblivion. All of us were a bunch of jokers, carrying ourselves with utmost ease without a care in the world. Virtually, all of them had migrated from the good old bike days. There was a constraint of space due to the increasing number of four wheelers. By the way, Maruti was out of vogue. People had jumped to WagonR, Santro and the other new sleazy vehicles. Of course, cars had back...
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