Category: Flawsophy
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Hin Dos and Donts
today’s post has been inspired by simple simon’s blogpost about hinduism, which in turn has been inspired by someone else, so its almost becoming a chain.But first the routine work. Spare a prayer for Katherine Hepburn , who died at the age of 96.Also,check out this article for a 360 degree view on Beckham’s Real experience. Have included a new link, its a music band from my lil town, they are called motherjane, doubt if the website will impress , and no free music, but get hold of a cd if u can, the music is definitely worth it!!There are lots of statements i would like to debate on, but will start with the ‘definability’ of hinduism, it is , i agree, a way of life,now, but i dont think it was always like that.there was a time when hinduism could define itself, in terms of philosophy, practices in life, forms of worship etc. But, now, even i, as a practising hindu, (practising because i am not a passive hindu in terms of worshipping my 33 crore odd gods, i have my favourites, of course 🙂 ) cannot explain to another person what i, as a hindu, stand for. subjective idiosyncrasies not withstanding, i think every other religion has a thread, that creates a bond among its followers, which allows them to firmly define their religion. can we do it, i dont think so.so where did we hindus lose it?i guess, a long time ago, the time when hinduism became a religion that started assimilating tidbits from every other religion, there could have been political (read survival) reasons, but i cant justify that as an excuse. Now, the way i see it, the very aspect that has earned hinduism bouquets from everyone everywhere, its absorbing and forgiving feature, is going to kill it. Unlike Linux development, not everyone who modifies the source, has an interest in its survival.And that brings us to the next source of debate “is the fanatical tunnel vision” that is brewing in hindus worldwide justified??to be continued…………..manuscrypt for the dayif god brings you to it, he will take u thru it. -
Live Dead
I dont know if it is done abroad, but it sure is a first in India. A crematorium in Gujarat is now using web cam and yahoo to transmit cremations live!! Its meant for Gujarati diaspora spread across the globe. Everyone everywhere is trying to get people to stay as glued to the monitor as possible.
Read an interesting article on how the evolution of consumer durables in india directly affected the construction of homes and the arrangement of particular rooms.Once upon a time, long before Tv came in, the fridge occupied a prime place in the sitting room.People used to sit in their verandah, have a chat , show off their fridge and come inside for quick snacks. Then, when tv first arrived, there were only a few families who had them, so those which had got frequent visitors and conversations were held in the sitting room, while watching TV. Then tv became a household phenomenon and social visits got further reduced, and in the ones that did happen,tv came to be an unwanted distraction.so they made a family room upstairs where the tv could be kept, and then home theatres happened, and thats being shown off now. Its a cycle but why is it that most of these innovations have been instrumental in reducing direct human contact.i can honestly say, without attributing it to hindu fatalism (as westerners love to say) that what i knew to be humanity earlier is counting its last days. No, it is not about old values or practices, the very thing that spawned “for the sake of humanity” now makes it seem a misnomer.And i believe technology had a big hand in it. Yes, i have to have my system, mp3 player , my cellphone etc, but cant i live without them? my grandad could, to an extent so can my dad, and they all seem to manage and be happy without them.To borrow from the buffy musical that was shown yesterday, we seem to be going through the motions of life. Isnt that an irony when the only thing that we came down here for is to live?So when we cant enjoy while we live, when r we gonna do it? which brings us to everyone’s eternal question – is there life after death? will choose to answer the question in my later blogs ;-), maybe i can pick up a clue if i can get to see one of those live funerals!!manuscrypts triviaGot it from an employee evaluation “This employee is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot”Thats it for the week, enjoy your weekend, folks! -
Mondayne Thoughts
Oh, ok, that was a bad example of wordtwisting, but full marks for trying, :-)…. canada was once again ferrari territory yesterday, and schumi kept his word of topping raikkonen, and i still believe raikkonen is only a flash in the pan….but i liked alonso yesterday, poor sod was driving a renault but again, full marks for trying!!saw two mahesh manjrekar movies over the weekend, astitva and hathyar, the former is to be remade in English and is titled “it rained that night”..and the last i heard of it , he is also playing a part in it, i think the one played by Sachin Khedkar, come to think of it, sush is playing tabu’s role…
Another blast featured on rediff today by Varsha Bhosle, my, those are what you really call controversial, i think she would be a top contender for hate mails, but, but but, more often than not , i subscribe to her views (she mostly writes columns on secularism and related issues), she asks very pertinent questions on the stand of Muslims, in our dealings with Pakistan. In my opinion , what is wrong in us having a Hindu country , when there are so many Islamic nations around?Why do we insist on secularism, in spite of all the happenings around us? i think the tolerance that India’s majority population is showing, is seen as cowardice, and to be very honest, if you take away the political motivations in the backlash of several happenings (most recently , Godhra), i cant blame the guys who go around torching muslims, for the simple reason that except for useless political statements, no Muslim guy says he is sorry for what his comrades have been doing!! Meanwhile, our PM keeps extending hands, and ol Pervez keeps showing him the finger, albeit covertly!!Thats enough pro hinduism for now, check out the couple of new links i have added , parikrama and enya, two different genres of music, but definitely good…..check out the track ‘but it rained’ on the parikrama site, its got a stunning guitar piece at the end…after the song was released on the channels, i went around for a month asking all the cassette outlets for the album, and they hadnt heard of it…finally i checked the website (which parikrama had mentioned, but i thought was the album title) and found that the songs could be downloaded free!! To end today’s ravings and rantings , a forward i received, “a mom asks her newly wed daughter how her married life is, the daughter replies that its like British Airways, the mother is puzzled until she sees an ad of BA that says ‘7 days a week, twice a day, both ways” !!
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And then…
is there any meaning to this existence
is anything that i do of any consequence
i am born, i am living and one day, i will die
i think of this, sometimes i laugh, sometimes i cry
