Sunder Kaand

Dominique Lapierre and Larry Collins’ book about events in the Indian Independence movement in 1947-48 beginning with the appointment of Lord Mountbatten of Burma as the last viceroy of British India, and ending with the death and funeral of Mahatma Gandhi has many shades to reflect the last moment that gave this region, then divided into some princely states and territories, customarily now known as the British-India; coldly reflecting British hegemony and well-planned subconscious invasion since the Company Rule(1757-1858) and then as rulers(1858-1947), a birth name – India from Akhand Bharat or Hindustan as the Mughals knew. At 62, it is difficult to gauge how much India has grown if the yardstick is Western World, but I feel India as in Indians have refused to grow up on many aspects though on the surface many changes(if we refuse to call it as development). In school I had been a regular attendant of 15th August & 26th January Celebrations, especially due to my upbring...

Was this expected or not, I couldn't tell, but I have a motor bike and had to park it in the compound of the apartment me & my family live in which is a rented place, so we do not have hegemony on many aspects from painting the house to rewiring electrical points or re-plumbing (sic) water resource. Well, this is expected in a rented apartment, but owners too do not take many initiatives in India, but our owner is mellow and attentive for our pains of course after we have no dues. Amidst this was this sorry saga of me parking my motor bike in the compound which is owned by owners! The saga was triggered by a pugnacious but living-for-the-sake of integrity man who apparently manages the Housing Society's accounts. Ceremoniously or religiously our house owner was fetched for the addition of a Rs. 25/- more on his monthly maintenance payment to the Housing Society due to the dastardly act of his tenant parking his 'vehicle' within the compound wall. Well, my words do ...

In physics, we come across an interesting analogy of the spiritual path in the form of one reversible path. In thermodynamics, work can be accomplished by two different ways, reversible & irreversible. All natural processes are said to be irreversible since they are either spontaneous or abrupt. Like irreversible processes such as, water or heat or a gas flows from a higher level to a lower level and cause changes in the surroundings. In case of reversible process the science tells us that it is a slow process, so much so that the change does not affect the ambiance at all, or in the language of thermodynamics it is always in equilibrium with the surroundings. Because of the slowness of the process as also the fact that it does not inflict any changes to the surroundings, it takes a pretty long time, to go from on state to another state. Way to spiritualism is also a reversible process in my context. Since irreversible processes such as growth(in terms of age and physique), lust or...

Life comes one full circle always. We throw tantrums and are immature in understanding while we were kids and we reach the same state in more or less same manner in old age . We spend a fortune of time in gathering assets before which we are penniless and then in difficult times we write off whatever possible, sell the assets and make sure we are debt free or file for bankruptcy or penniless and reach back where we started. We begin as single , find some one, procreate and when the kids leave us for better or worse and if one of the is no more the other one comes back being single again . We begin with people pushing us up towards an aspiration of a qualification or career, we do pretty well amidst the corporate jungle and jerks, reach to the top, find ourselves alone or find many trying to pull us down eventually our qualification or experience is so saturated that we end up being an individual who wanted to be part of team but now a consultant with his skills that are in le...

Martial Art for me has indeed been a path to life in many aspects. There was a phase where I observed the art of self defense in awe and learned with no breaks in practicing it diligently day in and day out. Then came the phase where I started learning it (as put forward by my teacher Sensei Sriram Rangan )in a way "l earn what you know already ", that was when we achieved our Black Belts. Many small aspects such as kicks and punches were taught in a very emphatic elegance like a "kick should be felt like a snake bite" meaning the faster you are, the better you are. The phase was not about kicks and punches but achieving perfection in what you know already, "learn what you know already"! Then came a phase where in we started projecting Martial Art into our daily life. The speed, the concentration, the memory and the diligence was in real sense to be put into practice outside the fighting ring. "A way to life" as teacher always taught us! Those we...

Diamond Ring of Solar Eclipse at Varanasi 22nd July, 2009 did create History in India or rather India has become an Iconic Figure(pardon for grammar) in History of Astronomy. It was the moment where Astronomers and others(basically those who do not chase the sky like us) were filled with joy to see the Longest Solar Eclipse of this Century. The last one, which was the longest, in the 20th Century was on 30 June 1973, a whopping 7 minutes and 04 seconds. Eclipse of 22nd July was for 6 minutes & 39 seconds visible in a belt from India to China. There are plenty of details over the net about the same. Eclipse Path in India Eclipse path in China The Eclipse called "Khagraas" meaning Total in Sanskrit , brought the North Eastern & Central cities of India like Varanasi, Patna, Itarsi, Gaya in the domain of Astro-Tourism. I would like to provide some technical details to this spectacular event about which Media had done the same thing which it does easily concealing the tru...

Oliver Sack's book, "An Anthropologist on Mars" is an awakening for mortals who are involved in soul stirring. Though I have yet to finish all the essays, but the fourth essay, To See and Not to See has a profound effect for those who understand what is food for thought. Mentioning the whole story is like stealing the essence of the book, for those who are interested can mail me, but moral of the essay is essentially in the human tryst with understanding the world within and without(sic). My teacher always says, "there is an outer world and there is an inner world and you are searching for answers of the outer world with the help of Science, but understanding and searching for answers for the inner world is My Life Time Goal!" I often wondered about it, but perhaps due to lack of experience and also understanding in his terms is not my capacity yet, but some where along the line of his thought I could relate due to Oliver Sack's this Master Piece. To cut a l...