Category: Religion

  • Faith….Have Some?

    Theres a nice article on rediff by rajeev srinivasan, well, nice is a subjective view, and i think, very debatable….have you noticed how lots of pro-hindutva articles are popping up on rediff..hmmmmmit seems a lot of ‘historians’ are claiming now that since ‘ram’ is more of myth than reality, (we have no archaeological proof) why should his birthplace have any significance? But most of religion is based on faith, right?If anyone is in a charity mood, read this article. The concept is simple but effective.Cant bring myself to write more, so will share a good fwd with you guys…
    THE GEOGRAPHY OF A WOMAN
    Between 18 and 20 a woman is like Africa, half discovered, half wild, naturally beautiful with fertile deltas.Between 21 and 30 a woman is like America, well developed and open to trade especially for someone with cash.Between 31 and 35 she is like India, very hot, relaxed and convinced of her own beauty.Between 36 and 40 a woman is like France. Gently aging but still a warm and a desirable place to visit.Between 41 and 50 she is like Yugoslavia, lost the war haunted by past mistakes. Massive reconstruction is now necessary.Between 51 and 60, she is like Russia, very wide and borders ! are unpatrolled. The frigid climate keeps people away.Between 61 and 70, a woman is like Mongolia, with a glorious and all conquering past but alas, no future.After 70, they become Afghanistan. Most everyone knows where it is, but no one wants to go there.
    THE GEOGRAPHY OF A MAN
    Between 15 and 70 a man is like Iraq – ruled by a dick!!!
    and now a lil manuscrypts trivia
    The wealthy had slate floors that would get slippery in the winter when wet, so they spread thresh (straw) on the floor to help keep their footing. As the winter wore on, they kept adding more thresh until when you opened the door it would all start slipping outside. A piece of wood was placed in the entranceway. Hence the saying a “thresh hold.”

  • Beware of the Hind-OozeI

    I completely forgot about poor Schumi yesterday, the elder one, that jackass montoya, i hope he fails to complete even a single race the rest of this season. he actually ran poor schumi out of the track, now objective analysers would say that part of it was schumi’s fault,but i am a fanatical fan, so i have rights…hehe
    now to where i left off yesterday…..the fanatical tunnel vision..any community, if it builds up tension for long periods is going to experience frustration and hence spawn militancy among its ranks. thats exactly what has happened here, right from the invasion of alexander, indians have always been the defenders, and mostly unsuccessful in their attempts, which explains why even when we have been aggressors, the exploits have been limited to what we now call the Indian subcontinent, because we never encouraged offense, and were therefore never good aggressors. yes, there are exceptions, but too few, chief among whom is Ashoka, and he got the tag of being an inhuman barbarian. I guess he knew that if he stayed a hindu, at some point of time, there would be a rekindling of his aggressive side again, maybe thats why he moved to buddhism.there were also exploits by samudragupta, but these are all exceptions to the rule.we never had the sheer grit that the romans or the mughals possessed, to invade,conquer and hold.At a later stage, maybe this is the reason why the non violent doctrines of gandhi had more supporters than bhagat singh or the subhash chandra bose, although the latter certainly had the charisma.(hell, i am most definitely a bhagat singh fan, at an age where me and most of my generation are preoccupied with a career and lovelife, the poor guy sacrificed himself for the country, and it was not the death of a guy obsessed with ideals, but a very calculated and bold death).and so therefore, i cannot blame the fanatical tunnel vision , it is only the backlash of a civilisation that, inspite of triggering the best of the science and arts we have, has been pummelled into submission by various forces.We still stand helpless when pakistan chooses to attack our parliament, hell, if the plo ever tried that, israel would wipe it out in a day, but we condemn the act and run crying to the international watchdogs who have a history of asking us to sort it by discussions and bilateral talks!!
    When the US chooses to reciprocate the taliban’s greetings, it bloody ctrl+alt+del afghanistan, and then goes on a prememptive strike on Iraq for wmd that were never there, (no, i dont support saddam), i can safely say that the total headcount, as far as attacks by pak on india goes, would have easily exceeded the figures of 9/11. kashmir easily gets around 20 people killed in a day by terrorists sponosored by the isi(pak’s agency) and trained in their camps, whose evidence is there for all to see, but NOT acknowledge. BUT if india launches an attack on its neighbour, it is going to have strong repurcussions from all around theglobe.I think it is this sheer helplessness that is gradually increasing the revebrations of hindu militancy in all its forms, from burning ofmissionaries to pulling down mosques. Thats part of what i call the Hind Ooze – the eruption of the dark side of a so far subdued community!!
    to be continued………….

  • 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 day
    if god brings you to it, he will take u thru it.

  • 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” !!