The importance of being an Agnostic…

A casual skim through my often ignored twitter page has put me into a great dilemma….A tweet from one of my long lost friend with some “right wing” leanings was a link to a blog entry from Mira Bhupathi, mother of well know tennis player Mahesh Bhupathi. It was her personal memoir in public web space about the awakening of her inner spirituality and her religious calling. Apparently most of the writing was not "objectionable” to either my friend or me. But a very straight and rather blunt reference of the 30 million Hindu Gods was getting him agitated.In her blogs she prays to her god and says that her “fight” in Hindu India was not against one,but all those numerous Hindu deities whom she does not recognize as gods to begin with. As expected my friend was visibly agitated by this perceived attack on his belief and his gods.My obvious consolations to him were the usual statements like “is your/our religion so weak that it gets offended by a blog post” etc.But the telephone call and subsequent discussions left a lingering feeling in me.

Coming from a family that laid high emphasis on spiritualism than on rituals, I enjoyed a certain freedom to question most of the standard religious beliefs. This enabled us in taking a rather unconventional and pseudo-philosophical approach to most of things religious.The apparent distress of my friend put me through a dilemma over the content of this blog.To understand it better i ended up reading it thrice and to my surprise i was amused at the end. I respect her freedom of speech and freedom to propagate her religion that is guaranteed by indian constitution. But it was the fact that she was in a self declared war against the hindu gods that i found “amusing” unlike my friend who found it offensive.

The perspective that you gain when you look at things via common sense is far pretty than when you look them through the eyes of conventional wisdom.Wearing the “Custom built Religious Goggles”, a person who is bound by religion is expected to have a very skewed perspective and a “one upmanship” attitude.Its a malice that the mainstream media suffers from when they report religion and religious activism.Mira’s blog has to be looked under the same light.The amusing part in her blog is the very fact that she does not recognize the Hindu gods.I call myself a genuinely confused Hindu and thanks to this religious flirtations i tend to look at things in a way that iam sometimes afraid of being branded an agnostic.Its important at times to think like an agnostic soul to enjoy the subtle amusement that people like Mira and their thoughts provide. American Standup comedian Ricky Gervias called himself an Atheist because he didnt believe in the single God theory of the Christian faith.When challenged by a priest about this ,he asked the priest if he recognized the 30 million plus gods of the other world faiths.The priest said he does not recognize them and said there was one god and it was the god in which he believes. Ricky congratulated the priest on being a better Atheist than him and having beaten him 1 to 30 million on that and walked away ……..

The Dream...

The dream is the vision of a child for a better world for the children ...a world where none goes to bed with hunger or a with sore heart...


The Dream ...

Embracing her mother said that crying child
why are those children un-loved and fighting these earthly wild
flowing from her moisten eye was a tiny drop of tear
on her mother's arm, it left prints of that tiny hearts fear

Filled with assurance and love was that mother's smile
Those merciful looks rested on the child for a while
my child...its love that those unfortunate children need
for its only on love that peace and prosperity can breed

Sleep my child... now sleep to this dream
Of a future for children with no hunger and smiles that beam
for we shall all work for such a future
with all the love and will we nurture

Neither a stomach with hunger nor a face with fear
lets assure those children oh my dear
for all the kids living in the lands of Ganges or the Nile
none shall starve or go to bed without a smile

Diving into the dreams now slept the child
in the world of dreams her thoughts went wild
beyond the horizons of these subtle differences
she dreamt for a world without fences

There was neither sorrow nor a child left unfed
no sore hearts nor an eye that was red
they ran and played enjoying their childhood
they played all the games that i always would

Now i am wide wake in this world that is uneven
there is a lots of love and happiness to be given
in my dream my mother i had a vision
i dreamt of a world with no division



---Sai Vishnubhatla

Am I a Brahmin!

Rain drenched roads were overflowing with waters from the roof tops and the open drains.

Strong stench of overflowing open drains filled the air. Thickly populated street were desolate and an uneasy calm prevailed in the air .Scenes of helpless farmers lamenting the extent of the devastation was a common sight.

Driving on the muddy rain washed roads was treacherous. I was accompanied by Dr.Aggrawal, a local medical practitioner who joined our volunteer group to answer his calling in life.

Fighting the receding flood waters we made our way into a dilapidated hut. Rain water was trickling through the make shift roof and had spared nothing inside. Subbamma was lying down in a partly dry corner of the room. Her children were sitting next to her praying the gods. The very gods who seem to have forgotten this corner of the world.

It was perhaps her gods or her sheer will to survive; Subbamma’s resolve to fight and survive her illness was commendable. She was a frail old woman probably in her late seventies. Matted grey hair and wrinkled forehead showcased her years of hard toil in the semi fertile lands of telangana.

"Namaste Saaru"...I heard a faint squeal and saw subbamma trying to get up with her hands folded.

"Please ask her to lie down...she needs urgent medical attension.This could be a serious case of Malaria" said Dr.Aggrawal.I sat down next to Subbamma and spoke in Telugu. “Amma “you should rest.

You can get well only if you take the medicines "doctor ayya" gives you now.

She was clinging herself together due to the shivering cold. Her worn out cotton sari was no answer to the rainy winds. The only source of warmth and light was a small kerosene lamp in the window. A flash of thought took me to a conversation of my bragging neighbor .He was complaining about the lethargy of the electric company in restoring the power at his home. Apparently his Centralized ultramodern air conditioning system was not functioning properly during the summers. A rude shock of realizing the great Indian Socio-economic divides.

I held Subbamma’s hands and said “Amma you should relax” and gave her a blanket that we had received from one of our grateful donors. Holding her thin, weak and frail legs I gently touched and caressed the feet to help her relax.

Meanwhile Dr.Aggrawal prepared an injection but was hesitating as she was too weak due lack of food.Food was scarce and the only source was the food packets dropped via helicopters by the government. We were lucky to have some liquid medinces that we carried in a small backpack.

During this whole ordeal there was a sense surprise and awe.Subbamma tried to sit upright and started bending down to reach my feet.I was both embarrassment and shocked. Holding her hands i questioned "Amma what are you doing?”She replied ...

"you touched my feet” her throat choking “and you are a Brahmin"...

.

The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination | Harvard Magazine

The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination | Harvard Magazine

The IPL Tamasha

Cricketers were bought and sold like cattle in a Fair...Pro-Pakistani Movie Stars and Pseudo Secular politicians trash the proceeding of this "player purchase" as wrong ...
well it was buy and sell thing and the buyers had the right to buy any kinda of commodity as long as they could pay the right price .It isnt right to relate this super commercialized cricketing sale with politics ....

Dil toh Baccha hai ji ......

Dil toh baccha hai ji ...A soul stirring song ......talks about the state of the heart when you fall in love ...not a new theme for the romantic poets but the easy with which gulzaar gave the lyrics and vishal bharadwaj's simple yet superb music has made this song one of my all time favorites ....probably its 2010 early gifts to all the music lovers ....when ever i listen to this song ...its reminiscent of the old raj kapoor's legendary song ..'pyaar hua ikraar hua'....
its takes me to a state of sadness which is still so enjoyable an state of nostalgia which is still something that gives pleasure ....it reminds me of all the crushes i had growing up .....funny and yet so soothing and something that touches you ......

The Power 'fools'

In india its possible for you to molest a minor and get away with your crime and even get promoted during the course of time the charges are investigated against you....well it happens only in India...Because you are powerful...
Lets take the case of the Ruchika...She was an emerging tennis player but had to end her life unable to face the false cases and humiliations she and her family had to go through.Her crime... she filed a case against powerful cop who molested her...yes its her crime to report a henious crime commited by a powerful person and she paid the ulitimate price ... for more than a decade the powerful person and the power'fools' protected the crime and even rewarding the acussed criminal years ...finally a CBI enquiry reveals the truth and courts award him a nominal 6 month sentence ...huh...there is a strong feeling that courts act easy on the sex offenders..because there is very little to prove anything especially you are powerful enough to wipe out the evidence,silence the witnesses and bride the prosecution ...
We have seen enough of these things especially in the last couple of months ..the Russian girls case in Goa is just an example of how tourists are treated in the india.Some Red necks hit an india student then the prime asks for an apology ..then why dicotomy when his own party men molest an foreigner..
Power'fools'..you an much better than this ....