Mahatma Gandhi !!

 Mahatma Gandhi is Mahatma to many and a despicable character to several others who blame him for our ills.

the latter have elevated Nathuram Godse to the level of a patriot.

both schools of thought have forgotten the historical currents at play then as now.

it was my good fortune to have met and conversed with a responsible person who was heading a defence establishment at the time.

we walked together for a few kilometers because his house was adjacent to my office.

it was a cool night and the topic veered round to his early days in Lahore.

he revealed to me how mindsets change, how people respond to emotions and instantly change from friends to foes.

all that it took for his neighbours was a few hours.

and he was a school going kid then.

partition was never intended to be , by both parties .

egos come into play , opportunists take centrestage and the good ones become stooges of the vile elements.

so it was in the case of Mahatma.

further down the line appeasement advocates call the shots and what we get is what we deserve.

it is good tentative steps are being taken to restore to us the glory that was.

again , at what cost?

in defeat defiance, in victory magnanimity thundered the British bull.

was it so when partition was effected ?

two things are buried in this ongoing drama.

Jinnah had not many months to live.

a fact which might have been known to the British.

Bapu , they knew , would play to set rules.

that is why Mountbatten sent him to the hottest trouble spot . still peace reigned there.

godse could be forgiven to think that Bapu was favouring the others more than our own folks.

this does not mean the riots and the mayhem that followed should be ignored.

there is a lesson hidden somewhere.

our differences serve as the meat for someone's dish.

a wag said Britain and the usa are two nations divided by a common language. so are we.

in addition , the Ppectre of reservation , reservation within reservation etc

divide us further.

as for the foreign scenario less said the better.

Tibet was a British protectorate.

our leniency towards Chinese cost us dear.

the united nations was and still is the monopoly of superpowers.

who signed the un charter on our behalf ?

a civil servant.

for we were still a slave nation.

does not matter whether the present players were active in the freedom struggle or not.

it is a thing of the past.

the more pressing question is ..... is the present dispensation living upto the preamble in the constitution .

we are what we are today because of the sacrifices made by sung and unsung patriots.

the past is ever bitter, whether it  is the Moghul past or the imperial legacy.

yes, we have glorious future ahead of us .

for that, we have to work hard.

and form a phalanx cutting across barriers .

only then jai hind will get transformed into jai jai hind.

Republic Day -A Small Note !!

 

Happy Republic Day!

It is good that some notable figures from karnataka have got fair due by way of awards.

SM Krishna's award is well  earned. he does not belong to his community alone.

he has done well by the state and would have done even better if nature 

and Raj kumar did not create hurdles.

he had vision, he had state interests at heart but perhaps lacked a perspective of long range.

so it is with most state leaders. 

Bangalore was, is their success as well as failure.

come, come all was the call and they came in droves.

a bit of Bombay was implanted here.

Kadugodi was Whitefield.

now it is a minefield of opportunists.

rarely is any thought given to the groundwater levels of the city, especially the extended city.

why extend the city at all , one wonders.

they had their setups and their local colours.

well, the name of the game is power , first, middle and last.

and all parties are equally guilty.

the other awardees, Sudha Murthy and Dr Bhyrappa are known to me by reputation.

one respects those who swim against the tide.

the lady has to be appreciated for chalking out her own course from student days.

born in a family of doctors, she deliberately chose engineering.

when the Tata firm telco put up a notice at the Indian institute of science 

inviting candidates with the codicil , women need not apply, she wrote to JRD TATA.

and the condition was waived .

still later she pledged her jewellery to raise cash for the fledgling company she founded along with her husband and a few others .

Infosys was one of a kind and still is .

as chairperson of the charities she is quite active.

she does remember that the college where she studied had no rest rooms for fair sex.

she constructed a few.

her deceptively simple attire has put off a few prima donnas who go more by show than content.

DR Bhyrappa has thrown fresh insights on Mahabharata.

they may not go down well with the orthodox but that is precisely the point.

the yardstick of originality.

the awards have also brought to wider notice the contribution of some artisans and artistes.

i am happy for another reason also.

the fourth guru in our Parampara, Sri Kamalesh Patel, has been awarded the Padma Bhushan.

for his excellent work in rejuvenating human values thru his Sahaj Marg meditation network.

we have perhaps the biggest meditation centre in the world at Kanha, near Hyderabad .

anyone interested in this training is welcome, and the training both online and offline is free.

to me personally the just concluded republic day has been one of good cheer.

may this cheerful phase benefit all of us , we, the people of india who have given ourselves this constitution.

 

Sankranti is celebrated in many states and in different ways.

In the south it is essentially a harvest festival.

In our traditional way cattle have a honoured place. so it is common to see decorated cows and bulls being taken out in processions.

We also have a native version of barbecue when families gather in their fields and have a feast. in some states it is celebrated over three days.

“Bhogi” as it is called, in Andhra Pradesh gives prime importance to fire.

Fire is always a cleansing agent .It is our way of saying that the past be buried and a fresh beginning made !

That beginning again is symbolised by sesame seeds though polished for the occasion. accompanied by jaggery or some sweet figurines they are shared with friends and relatives.

Is it another way of stregthening bonds?

Or our way of thanksgiving to the almighty who is marching forward by changing the course from south to north.

That is also the start of auspicious period, an event looked forward to by Bhisma Pitamaha resting on his bed of thorns.

So it is generally believed that the people who pass away during this period reach higher realms.

This is all about beginnings.

In yet another ritual the sesame seeds play a prominent part.

That is when we bid goodbye to our dear and near ones.

Punarapi Jananam, Punarapi Maranam as the saying goes is the underlying message , or so I understand.

It is not advisable to club the auspicious and the Inauspicious together

But the awareness of the greater truth perhaps will resore us equanimity.

The poise to treat both success and failure in life alike because in  one  sense they are imposters.

It also enables us to live aright.

As a wag once remarked , life is a passing show.

So enjoy what comes to our lot but with the feeling that it may or may not last.

Better still, ponder over the goal of life , Yours as well as others , so that proper relationships are established.

Happy Sankranti and may this season Herald a Happy new year for all of us, that is my prayer.

#bhogi #sankranti #newyear #festive #festivities

 

 

 

The statue of unity

 

Sardar patel & The statue of unity

 

 

 We were privileged to see the tallest statue in the world.

It is impressive, stands on a lofty platform and its vision encompasses the area around for several kilometers.

The holiday crowds and the short time at our disposal made our experience shortlived.

Online bookings deprived us of a chance to see the countryside and the Narmada dam from high on.

Yet it is a moment we cherish.

We found more statues of Sardar Patel than of the Father of the Nation or are we mistaken ?

Junagadh which is famous for its lion sanctuary has had a chequered history.

It was almost on the point of acceding to pakistan.

The Sardar’s contribution in mergence of states was highly commendable.

Contrast this with kashmir which remains a thorn in india’s flesh to this day.

Nehru’s trust in the united nations was misplaced.

The dithering by Hari singh , The kashmir king, cost him and us dear.

We are helpless to undo historical wrongs .

But Nehru’s remark that not a blade of grass grows there, meaning Siachin was born of shallow understanding.

Borders are meant to be safeguarded , in whatever condition and his faith in chinese friendship, counsel of wrong kind and his  fondness for krishna menon deepened the crisis.

India was meant to be a contiguous nation.

By distorting this truth thru partition the rulers then and the ones who succeeded them fared worse in the people’s eyes.

Was partition inevitable?

Yes, because the imperial power desired it so.

Or so I feel.!!

#statueofunity #sardarpatel #gujurat #Nehru

 

 

The Gujurat

 

What is special  about Gujarat?

Not just politics but everything else.

their enterprise is to be seen to be believed.

Their love for language and identity is without any parallel .

Just imagine even restaurant menus are in Guajarati.

Of course the majestic lion is more symbolic .

We did get a glimpse of its majesty and its gaiety.

It chooses its own pace and just does not tolerate any prodding .

Utter self-confidence , if such an expression may be used for the royal animal.

Baroda or vadodara as it is called now reminds one of Mysore and The wadiyars.

Somewhere something went wrong and the period of transition in the case of mysore saw the decline of the ruling family.

Though sri Jayachamaraja wadiyar was extremely friendly with both Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel.

There is no Ahmedabad without Sabarmati and there is the ashram which was the cradle of the independence movement or almost.

Gandhiji’s wish to return there as free man was perhaps not fulfilled.

But here was his launching pad for the salt Satyagraha.

Still later he spent some years at wardha and experimented with naturopathy and the like.

The work was entrusted to Vinobha Bhave when he moved over to Delhi.

His love for khadi may be traced to the textile centre that was Ahmedabad .

They do talk of Gujarat model of development but I feel they are right if one considers National Expressways and Expressways as the acme of development.

Dwarka retains its ancient character with modern touch.

Somnath , restored, oozes ancient values.

Everywhere we go we see the imprint of Swami Narayan.

The Guajarati’s were entrepreneurs of high order then as now and  the

Remittances have certainly helped the state’s growth.

There was not much evidence of Swatch Bharath in the state though my judgment may be hasty.

The chinese supremo had visited the city when Modiji was Chief Minister.

As destiny would have it, both of them might have been power centres but not the centre.

In recent days when they meet on the sidelines of International conferences or on other occasions they speak for the country.

As for the  border dispute , the question on everyone’s lips is …..

Who blinks first .

#gujurat #modi #swatchbharath #Nationak xpressway #sabhramathiashram #vallabhaipatel

 

 

Happy New Year!!

 New year !!

Life is an opportunity bestowed on us to make good. To make for happiness , of others as well ourselves.

The biggest stakeholders in this business are ourselves, none others.

it follows that a measure of responsibility be displayed by us while living it and while forfeiting the right to it.

i am not intending to be cruel when i say far too people are giving up easily,too easily the sacred gift earned over several centuries of living in various forms.

Saint or sinner it matters not, we are here and we have to make most of it.

As the saying goes , a saint has a past and a sinner has a future.

meaning , at any point of time there may occur a turnaround.

that is why patience is so much commended .

we live in the world of dualities.

health, disease, prosperity, poverty, success, failure, friendship, betrayal, love, neglect , hatred are all facets of this phenomenal world.

it is as real as we think, as unreal as we may make it.

the first line is adopted by people who think this world is everything, the second line by people who think beyond this apparent world.

unfortunately there is  no school which teaches us these basic truths.

comparisons ruin us.

comparisons with others as well as juxtaposing our present with the glorious past we may have gone thru.

or stupidly thinking that the night of despair we are going thru will last and last for ever.

What after death is a question not for theologians alone. It is for all of us.

Our past was the base for our present and our present will shape the future.

Commonsense suggests the action is in the present, the results in the future.

Again, if we were to focus on  results  our work style alters and we put a brake on nature’s flow.

Stripped of rhetoric this is what Nishkamakarma , propounded by lord krishna , means.

Ours to work, HIS to reward.

A simple truth twisted out of shape.

It pains me to see so many lives lost thru suicides, and worse.

Life is a continuum , so is death.

Many mistakenly think that by ending their present lives their suffering would end.

The wise say the effects would be carried forward into whatever future form we may have.

There is evidence to support this. Theists or atheists or agnostics, we have to face this truth, that we are in large part responsible for our present condition.

It follows that we do have the time and the opportunity to reshape it and rebuild it.

This is optimism at its basest. This is positivity in action.

This is the path of happiness, of ourselves as well as others.

What we have not created , in the physical sense, we have no right to terminate.

It pertains to our families  also.

What right have the adults who are parents to destroy the offspring ?

And who gave  them the right .

It is time the civil society wakes up to this threat as a threat to extinction .

#newyear #life #philosophy #responsibility #karma #2023

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Ramamurthy