Trip to Nandi Hills on November 18, 2007

It was a cold Sunday morning (really cold).  Still we were excited to go to Nandi Hills.  The other three  had been to Nandi Hills before but it had been quite a while, and this trip was different in a way since this was with friends and the earlier one was with family when they were kids.  The plan was that we all would meet at Madhavan Park circle by 7 am, and start from there.  We had to reach Nandi Hills before 9 am, as we wanted to feel the clouds.  The summit is around 1200 meters above sea level, so when you reach the summit, you actually are above the clouds. We all were excited about this trip.  I had recently purchased a new digital camera, and I was all excited to take pictures, which has always been a dream for me to take artistic pictures. Still pictures somehow have a feel to it than a movie, as you capture the moment.

I woke up at 6 in the morning and got ready for the trip.  By 7 am, I was at Madhavan Park. After waiting for nearly 15 minutes, I started calling others.  Shyam was to pick up Kiran on the way, and he was there at Kiran's place by 6:45 am, only to find him still in his pajamas. Shyam and I were trying to call Rizwan, but to no avail, he was not picking up the call.  This was unusual as Rizwan is a guy who would keep his word.  Well, since we could not reach him, we decided to go without him.  By the time Kiran and Shyam reach Madhavan Park, it was 7:30 am, then it was time for our breakfast (cannot go hungry, right), so it was pit-stop No. 1 at Adigas.  It was already 8 am by the time we started from Adigas.  As we started driving, Rizwan called stating that his phone was in silent mode so could not answer the calls, when he saw the phone there were 23 missed calls.  Of course, what he could not see or hear was all the names we called him (censored).  So, now we had to go to his house and pick him on the way.  By the time we reached Hebbal, it was 9 am. Since Rizwan had not had his breakfast yet, it was pit-stop No. 2 at Hebbal. It was already 9:30 am when we started from Hebbal, and Nandi Hills was still 60 Km away.  Our dreams of watching the clouds up-close early in the morning before it melts away went down the pits (two of them).

The drive to Nandi Hills was extremely good on the Express Highway.  Huge wide roads, six-lane highway primarily developed for the massive Hyderabad-Bangalore intercity traffic. So the drive was extremely pleasurable.  I gave my camera to Rizwan who was my co-pilot (my bike is my plane). He was holding a digital camera in his hand for the first time (just like me), and he was click on everything that he thought was picturesque, including a wedding hall, our shadow, my helmet,....and the list goes on.  Out of the 294 pictures taken that day, 90% was garbage.  The picture on the right is one of them, but it is my sheer brilliance that I am able to put it to good use.

After driving 40 Km on the Express Highway and 22 Km detour along villages, we finally reached the foot of Nandi Hills.  The drive upward (take off) was 7 Km long along the cliffs.  It was a beautiful drive along the mountains, the freshness of the air was so tasty, I do not have words for it. The view was just amazing.  Watching the hills up close makes you realize how beautiful our world really is - the real beauty of this world is not in man made structures but the ones created by nature.  The greenery around you gives you a sense of happiness and pleasure that is beyond words.  It can only be felt.  Soon we drove the 7 Km and reached the top.  As you enter the huge gate built centuries ago, you realize how difficult it would have been to construct those walls on this terrain.  The walls are almost hanging on the edge, yet they have been this way for centuries and still standing tall welcoming you.  Once inside, we could not drive anymore, as two wheelers are not allowed to drive any further.  The rest of the way up was by foot.

As we went up climbing the hill on foot, we saw Tipu Sultan's summer guest house, Tipu Drop, Swimming Pool, among others. As we went along, we realized that we were as high as the clouds, it not above them. If only we had reached before 8:30 am, the view would have been magnificent.  As you can see in the picture, there is a thin layer of cloud surrounding us. At the top of the hill, you have three beautiful centuries old temples. Of course, you also have alongside, ultra-modern mobile towers - nice combination.  Once you cross the temples, you have a commercialized park, and alongside a Bar & Restaurant.  After having lunch, it was time for us to get back.  We stayed at the park for some time, and started our climb down the hill. As usual, Rizwan was busy clicking pictures.

On our way back, the drive down the hill was very pleasant, we took deep breaths of the pure air.  The return drive felt much more tiring.  By the time we reached home it was around 5 p.m. - we did not want to drive back after sunset, as we would be in real trouble if there is a flat tyre or something.  Overall, it was an enjoyable day, tiring but really enjoyed it.  My advice is that if you can spare one day out of your busy schedule, do visit the place, it is worth the day spent.

My First Visit to the Stadium

India had just had a dream run at the T20 World Cup, and all of India was still celebrating. As teams India and Australia came to Bangalore for the first of the seven match ODI series, we all in our office decided that we must witness some of the magic. Two days before the match, our Director told us that he knew someone at the Stadium and could get a couple of tickets. But a couple of tickets was too less for the number of people who wanted to watch the match. So, we all decided that we will contact as many people as we know to get as many tickets. Finally, the day before the match, we could manage only four tickets. Then on the morning of hte match, with some more PR effort, we were told that we could get two more tickets through someone, but since there was no time, we were asked to collect the tickets at the stadium near the entrance. We were asked to call on the mobile once we reached the stadium.

The match was to start at 2:30 pm but we decided to start by 11:30 am. There were two reasons for starting three hours early. The first reason was that since it is very difficult to get a parking space anywhere near the stadium, we need to park somewhere safe. We had decided to park at an office parking lot where our Director had previously worked, and since the security staff there knew us pretty well, our vehicles would be safe. But this office was a good distance away from the stadium, so we had to walk for almost 30 minutes to reach the stadium. The second reason for our early start was that for us to have a chance to get the seats of our choice, we need to be there before others arrive. So, we decided to start early. And we had made a good decision, we got seats just 10 rows from the boundary. As we sat there, we realized that we were next to the practice nets of the Indian team. For the first time in my life, I was inside the Stadium with an audience of about 50,000 watching an international ODI match, LIVE, and I had made up my mind that I will enjoy this as much as I can.

We were sitting next to a group of a dozen college girls and boys who had come with their parents, basically they were a big family. The entire stadium was making so much noise screaming, you got it, "Chak De India". As the Indian team was practicing at the nets near our stand, we were all screaming the names of players who came near the boundary. Sometimes "Sourav, Sourav,...", sometimes "Sachin, Sachin,..", and sometimes "Rahul, Rahul,..." But the best of it all was when Romesh Powar came closer and all of a sudden the crowd started shouting "Ganpati Bappa Moriya, Ganpati Bappa Moria". That was very funny but to be honest with you, all he lacked was a tusk to disprove what we all were shouting.

Watching the match at the stadium means that you do not get to hear any expert commentry, the pitch report, or even what the captains say at the time of the toss. All you get to see on the giant electronic screen is "Australia has won the toss and decided to bat". Till about 2 pm, we saw the players playing their shots and bowling at the practice nets. Finally, at about 2:30 pm, we saw the umpires and the Indian fielders walking out on to the field. As they entered the ground, the stadium just erupted with everyone screaming. And then Gilchrist and Hayden entered. The match started. I do not want to talk about the scores or the scoring shots as I am sure you would have seen the match on TV. All I want to express here is the atmosphere in the stadium, as Ravi Shastri puts it, it was electrifying. Just then Gili hit a square cut and Yuvi dived at it and caught the ball. It was really amazing to watch it, and as you expect, the entire stadium erupted with people screaming "Ya", "Ooooo" and what not, someone brought a bugle and was making more noice than music, some had whistles. All in all, it was just fun to make so much noise and no one would tell you to keep quiet. Then the match just progressed with batsmen scoring runs and wickets falling every now and then. One thing I realized is that when I watch the match on TV at home, we have a sense of what the score is, which team is in control, and stuff, but when you are at the stadium, you are celebrating every effort put in by the Indian team without realizing that the batsmen are also scoring at a run rate of 6 per over. Every now and then when we looked at the electronic score board, we would see that it was 50-60 more than the last time we saw it. At home, on TV, we would track every run scored by the team, but at the stadium, no one really cared. We just enjoyed the match screaming, shouting, and whistling.

Finally, the Australian innings was over and just before that we had managed to get some nice lunch at the stadium Snack Bar. Then came the Indian innings, and as Sachin and Gambhir walked in, you got it, the stadium erupted again. We all were on our feet, screaming "Sachin, Sachin,.." Sometimes I wonder, how can they concentrate on batting with all the noise around, but I guess you just get used to it. Well, as fast as he walked on to the pitch, Sachin departed, declared LBW, it was plumb in front of the wickets. Even now, the stadium was not as quiet as you would expect, maybe less noisy but still noisy. Just then it started raining and players walking back into their dressing rooms. During the time it was raining, someone decided that it was too boring to watch the rain and threw a huge balloon in to the air. As it came down on to the crowd, it would be punched back up. It kept going up and down. But then, there was a police guy who did not like all this, and he just grabbed it and blew it. Well, they were given the job of protecting against bombs and stuff. But seriously, what threat is a balloon? And definitely, the way it was flying in the air, it could not have had any bomb inside. Now, the real fun started. As the police guy was relaxed that the balloon was out of his radar, someone threw another balloon, and this time there was such a roar in our stands punching the balloon that the everyone wanted to join the party. As people punched the balloon, the police guy returned wanting to get hold of it, but everyone in the crowd ensured that the balloon is away from this guy. Even some of the other police constables were punching it away from him, it was so funny. We were just screaming and screaming all the time.

Luckily, the rain stopped and drying machines came on to do their job. It was a great effort on the part of the groundsmen who did a great job of drying up the ground, but sadly the captains decided not to play and the match was abandoned. The elecronic screen said "The match has been abandoned due to wet outfield." After this, we all started moving out. By the end of the day, after all the screaming that we did during the afternoon, we were exhausted and totally dehydrated, with severe headache. And the worst part was that our vehicles were a long 30 minutes away and we had to walk till there. In the afternoon, it did not look like much of a distance to walk, but now it felt like a very long distance away.

All in all, my first experience at the stadium was amazing. Given a chance again, I would be there screaming and shouting the same way I did on September 29, 2007.

If reservation does not stop....

Sun is rising as usual in the east; I'm standing here outside the school, waiting for my 10 yr kid. He studies in class 2. Only this year he could get admission into the school. For the last 5 yrs, admissions were closed for the general category students. School bell rings. I can see a lot of happy children coming out of the gate, I waited for half an hour and my kid came at last after other children. General students are not allowed to cross the gate unless other OBC/SC/ST students have crossed the gates. OBC/SC/ST fathers drive away their children in classy cars. But I have to walk back home with my kid a 5km stretch. I lost my car some years back when Govt. came with a rule that general people have to deposit a tax equal to cost of their cars. Failing which I had to sell the car. As far as buses are concerned, the seats in buses are reserved for OBC/SC/ST. So no place there also.

After walking some 5km in scorching heat I finally reached home. It was Wednesday ... shit no electricity. Every Mon, Wed, Thus and Sat is power cut in the houses of General category population. So that SC/ST/OBC can be uplifted by providing them with every opportunity and in that consideration electricity is an important factor.

Its 10:00 pm in night no electricity at home. It’s very hot inside the four walls of home, so I dare to step out in park with my wife and kid. I get seated myself with my family on a secluded bench in garden. It was hardly 5 Min ... a guard came to us strolling in the park. He asked me what caste you belong to. I said with some hesitation... G..General. He asked me to pay a fine of Rs.200 and get out of the park. My Fault... The bench I was sitting on was meant for again the SC/ST/OBC. For their upliftment, peace of mind is an essential thing. So Govt. came with this decision to reserve benches for them. Kudos to them...

It’s early in the mrning .the newspapr wala just knockd the door. I took the newspaper and started reading, its independence day. I never used to forget these days some 20 yrs back. My kid hardly knows what 15th August is, because I never told him any stories of greatness of our country or anything related to country. I don't feel like telling him the failures after freedom. On front page of newspaper, in a corner their is a news about a OBC member getting 6 months imprisonment in "BAL SUDHAR GRAHA" from a juvenile Court for murdering and raping a six year old girl. Yes the rules have been amended, since the last 5 years. The Culprit was a 25 year old OBC so age relaxation was provided for trial of crime. So he was taken to juvenile court, since there is an age relaxation for OBC/SC/ST. About 11 am some one gave me the BAD news about demise of one of my neighbor and friend Mr. Mehta. I went to his house for condolence next day; his body was lying there still rotting in the heat. I asked his son about the Cremation .His son told me “Many reserved category have died yesterday so we are not getting entry to cremation ground ". This rule is the latest from Govt. Where the seats in cremation ground will be reserved for SC/ST/OBC for their upliftment. Finally next day Mehtaji was creamted. I could see the sun setting through the Flames burning a libarated Body, liberated from caste n creed. I was surprised sun still sets in the west?

It was about 9 pm, I was about to sleep in my bed my son came to me with innocence in his eyes, inquisitively he asked me the question: "what is reservation?" I asked me where u listened that. He suddenly burst in tears... I asked him to keep.. Quiet. But I could listen through his sobs "mujhe bhi reservation chahiye". How can I convince him it’s no other toy in the market I can get for him? He kept crying that night, claiming many of his classmates have got reservation". To make him quiet I said ok, I'll buy u reservation at your next B' day. HOPE he understands the bloody concept.

TV News shows:
Today, Parliament passed laws for the following for upliftment of OBC/SCs/STs.

1. No punishment for up to three murders and three rapes.
2. Fraud up to Rs. 1 lakh will not be treated as fraud at all.

Medium of Education

We recently had a big mess by our honorouble Education Minister derecognizing 2000 odd schools for teaching in English medium when they were licenced for Kannada medium. While legally this is right, what was apalling was that the govt was reluctant to convert the licence to English medium by probably imposing a penalty. The govt insisted that they have to function as Kannada medium only. The parents of each and every student wanted the school to function in English medium, but the Education Minister was quoted as saying that the students will not lose anything by studying in Kannada. I bet they will. How many times has it not happened that during an interview a person with better English communication gets through while the one who does not fails. We have Kannada poets stating that this move by govt was important to preserve Kannada language. Agreed, but at what cost, the entire career of thousands of students? Students coming out of non-English medium school and college struggle to fit into the corporate world. What we need to remember is that not every student plans to become a poet or a teacher. Most want to get into the corporate world and earn high salaries. When you want to go global, you have to have the competitive edge. Today the reality is that there are more jobs than the number of skilled people, but ironically there is still unemployment. Those who do not fit in, thanks to our politicians and beurocrats, stay unemployed.

But there is a solution. Even I feel that our mother tongue needs to be preserved. The solution I would suggest is that let the medium of education be English, but let there be a compulsory local language being taught in school.

Hate Communities on Orkut

The other day I received a mail in my inbox stating that I report abuse about a particular community on Orkut (I do not want to name it). This was a hate community against a country.

Just like any other community, there are people who are in favor of and people who are against it. Obviously the mail I received was from a user against it. Before I report an abuse, I just wanted to take a look as to what the whole community was all about. As I was going through the views expressed by members, I realized that the name of the community was misguiding people, and the views expressed by most of the members of the community was against the name of the community. It was a hate community but surprisingly a majority of the views expressed was of peace and love, and in fact, some of the members was questioning the hatred.

Well, it is quite possible that this might not be the case with all the hate communities, but it was certainly refreshing to know that there still are people in this world who can see the bigger picture of life.

The bigger picture is that the common man does not have time to hate someone, as he has his own responsibilities and duties to fulfil. It is only the politicians and religious leaders, who for their own personal gain, manipulate the minds of people and instigate hatred in them.

In my opinion, all the terrorist groups are nothing but organizations led by brilliant psychiatrists who are misguiding volatile minds into doing something that they otherwise would not do. Imagine if these brilliant psychiatrists were to work for world peace or for the good of the world. It is wishful thinking. The fact is that these brilliant psychiatrists are the real misguided mentalities. They feel that others blood can wash away their sins, the fact is that they are committing sin by killing others.

The People's President

The Presidential Elections 2007 once again proved that the elected representatives of the people DO NOT care about what people really want. It once again proves that Indian Democracy is not OF THE PEOPLE but of the so-called representatives who go by their party leaders' whims and fancies.

The Presidential Elections 2007 was far from being democratic, definitely not OF THE PEOPLE. If there had been a General Election for this, Mr. APJ Abdul Kalam would have won it with a whopping majority. Unfortunately for the Indians, this did not happen, simply because their "so called" representatives did not care about what their people really want. All they care about is the whims and fancies of their party leaders. The President who really was an inspiration, loved by every Indian (I am not considering the corrupt politicians' views), who dared to speak the right things, who was not simplyl a puppet of the ruling party, was not elected by the "people's representatives".

This is another proof that politicians are not people's representatives but party representatives. They do not truly represent us.

President Kalam, we Indians love you. Forget what our politicians have to say, but given a chance we would want you to be our President once again.

President Abdul Kalam's Speech in Hyderabad...

Why is the media here so negative?
Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why? We are the first in milk production. We are number one in Remote sensing satellites. We are the second largest producer of wheat. We are the second largest producer of rice. Look at Dr. Sudarshan , he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters. I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news. In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE? Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign T. Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology.


Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India. For her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is a highly developed nation. Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance. Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours. YOU say that our government is inefficient. YOU say that our laws are too old. YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage. YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke, the airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination. YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.


YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it? Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give him a name - YOURS. Give him a face - YOURS. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity... In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai . YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds ( Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88 km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son. Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand. Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston??? We are still talking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India? Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay, Mr. Tinaikar , had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said. 'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels? In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job. Same in Japan. Will the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility. We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms. We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity. This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service to the public. When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system? What does a system consist of ? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbors, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr. Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away. Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money. Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too.... I am echoing J. F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians.....


'ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'



Let us do what India needs from us.

...and we talk about mercy

Ever wonder how many times in our life all talk about the word Mercy? We use this word a lot of times but we hardly know what it means because we are so narrow minded. We assume that this word is meant only for human beings and not for innocent animals.

Pigs are roasted alive in many parts of the world. Does it not feel pain?

In Norway, baby seals are killed by smashing its head with an iron rod. This is a 'Winter Sport' and there are some heartless tourists who visit Norway only to "Murder innocent Baby Seals". Shame on them.

Animals are murdered in the name of religion (by the way this is prevalent in all religions).

Lobsters are boiled alive in a cooker. Imagine yourself in a Sauna for more than 15 minutes, which is 1/1000 the intensity of the cooker. Does it not deserve MERCY?
In Goa, there is a popular sport, where a piglet (baby pig) is skinned alive. They first tie all four legs of the piglet, and then they rip open its skin by their mouth (piglet is still alive). Imagine when you were trying to cut vegetables and the knife cuts the edge of your finger, how much you cried in pain. Now imagine the amount of paing the piglet (a child) endures when people are biting it and skinning it alive.

In the so-called developed world, where even murdering animals is automated. In the "modern" slaughter houses, the cows are suspended by their hind legs and a machine slits the throat. Even before the cow is dead, another part of the machine starts to remove the skin off. We call ourselves civilized, but we are still as barbaric as our ancestors were.

Crabs are killed by frying them alive on a hot frying pan with oil in it. Imagine when a drop of oil fell on your forearm while you were cooking. You cried in pain and applied the cream to heal it. Now imagine the pain the crabs suffer while their whole body is being burnt with burning hot oil.

It is a shame that we do all these inhuman acts and still expect God to forgive us. Talking about Mercy is not what matters, but what matters most is to practice it. The word Mercy does not apply only to humans but even to the innocent animals around us.

Some Truths

READ THIS WHOLE THING. IT'S SO DAM TRUE*
1. At least 2 people in this world love you so much they would die for you.
2. At least 15 people in this world love you in some way.
3. The only reason anyone would ever hate you is because they want to be just like you.
4. A smile from you can bring happiness to anyone, even if they don't like you.
5. Every night, SOMEONE thinks about you before they go to sleep.
6. You mean the world to someone.
7. If not for you, someone may not be living.
8. You are special and unique.
9. Someone that you don't even know exists loves you.
10. When you make the biggest mistake ever, something good comes from it.
11. When you think the world has turned its back on you, take a look: you most likely turned your back on the world.
-- Found on the Internet

Artistic Freedom or Religious Disrespect

This is in reference to the recent incident in Vadodara where an art student was arrested for painting obscene pictures of Hindu godesses. Just to brief you about the incident, there was an art "exhibition" (kindly refer to the dictionary for meaning) going on in MS University in Vadodara. Some of the exhibits painted by a young artist were extremely objectionable to some people, who later ransacked the college premises. The police arrested the young artist, who was later released on bail. The Vice Chancellor suspended the HOD for supporting the art student. A lot of "intellectuals in the field of art" condemned the artist's arrest stating that this was an example of artistic freedom and the young artist's arrest was a politically motivated act.

WHAT ON EARTH ARE WE TALKING ABOUT HERE?

Everyone would agree that an artist should have the freedom to express his view points through art, but is there not a limit to this freedom. It is no artistic freedom when it hurts the religious freedom of millions of people. I feel this is artistic perversion, misuse of freedom. If this is artistic freedom, then why do we need censor board to remove explicit visuals from movies, why cant we treat this as artistic freedom of the Director of the movie. Some people argue that the sculptures of some of the ancient temples in Khajuraho and some other temples are sexually explicit, and so we should also bring them down for being sexually explicit. This is the most absurd argument to justify their point. If ancient scriptures say that the practice of 'Sati' is correct, should we follow suit?

RELIGIOUS BIAS: There is one serious flaw in the way the so-called "intellectuals in the field of art" look at things in general. The same is the case with many of the political parties, which follow gross religious bias in matters like these.

1) I am not sure how many of you would remember the incident where a Danish painter had painted some objectionable paintings about Prophet Mohammed. There was a strong reaction from the entire Islamic community across the world protesting against these paintings. The Indian Government had gone on record condemning this as an act that hurts the religious sentiments of Muslims.

2) Now the most recent incident where a photo of the head of the Dera Sacha Sauda being dressed like His Holiness Guru Govind Singh. The entire Sikh community was united in the reaction condemning the act. If you really look close, one might argue that there was no insult to anyone, but the entire community felt offended that another sect Guru was dressed up like their Guru. Again there was strong political reaction to this.

3) Now coming to the Dan Brown movie Da Vinci Code. Again there was strong reaction across the country and the movie was banned in some of the states because religious sentiments were hurt.

Why is it that the religious sentiments of Hindus are always taken for granted? Everybody expects the Hindus to practice tolerance and UNDERSTAND THE ARTISTIC FREEDOM of the people practicing sexual perversion in the name of art. Why can't artists draw something that could be enjoyed by everyone who sees them. There are so many beautiful things in nature, yet people can see only a naked women, often godesses stripped of their clothes. This shows what is actually going on in the minds of these desperate artists.

But like they say, a butcher will not kill if there is no one to buy meat. The same applies here too, no artist would bother to draw these perversive paintings, if he knows it would not sell. As long as there are perversive buyers, there would be scope for these perversive artists who will cater to their perversive wants.

Dreams

Everyone in this world has a dream of becoming something or someone special in this world. Some want to become rich, some want fame, and other are attracted towards the glitter and the limelight of film world. Most of us, if not all, do try to chase these dreams, but not all have the strength and the resilience to chase these dreams for long enough to achieve it. Most people give up after giving it a chase for a while, sometimes it is the circumstances, either financial or social, that stop them and sometimes it is just lack of determination on the individual’s part. Only some have the ability and courage to face all the obstacles and still chase and finally emerge as a winner. These are the people who stand out to be legends and are remembered and honored by the generations to come. These people had a dream that was visualized by their conscious mind and they worked hard to achieve them. Of course there is some amount of luck that guarantees that their hard work does not go in vain and they eventually succeed. Nevertheless success does not come easy to anyone. Someone might get lucky initially but sooner or later you will end up in a situation where your luck runs out and your true character stands bare. This is when your hard work comes to your rescue and you somehow find a way to get out of the tough situation.

There is also another kind of dream, a dream that your subconscious mind sees when you are not awake or fully conscious. These dreams sometimes seem to relate to your daily life, like seeing yourself in the surroundings that you are normally in, say your office or college or home, etc. Sometimes, your would be really amazed to see yourself in surroundings that are foreign to you, like seeing yourself in a house where you have never lived or been to, or some street where you have never been to, and find yourself among people who are not very familiar. The next day morning you awaken with a feeling how did these things come into my mind. Dreams are electrical impulses and chemical reactions in the brain that the subconscious brain releases and these take the form of visuals, which you see when you are not fully awake. Sometimes you see yourself in a social or financial position that you are yearning to see yourself in, like a big bungalow, a nice car, etc., but sometimes you see just what you dread the most, like in a financial soup with creditors all around you, etc. But not all the time do you see reality in your dreams, sometimes you just see yourself being attacked by an animal, like a monkey or a snake, etc. Ever wonder why your subconscious mind visualizes such things? Ever wonder whether your subconscious mind is trying to tell you something? Sometimes you see a strange dream, and stranger than this, it really happens. Is there any strange power that we all possess in ourselves that we are not aware of how to harness?

A lot of people have studied these dreams and the patterns that correlate to reality. Some people brush it aside as mere chemical and electrical imbalance in the brain, but others believe it is more than that. If you ask your grandparents about the dreams, they would tell you what each dream means, like what it means if you see a monkey in your dream, etc. Whether your believe them or not, it is left up to you. One thing I strongly believe is that nothing happens in this world without a reason. God does not give us anything, happiness or pain, without a reason. Whether good or bad that happens to us, we have earned it with our deeds in the past or even in the past life. The same goes for our dreams too. You would not dream about anything without a reason. If it were to be mere chemical and electrical imbalances, why do we see clear visuals of people, animals, and places, why don’t we just see some colors like some modern art? This shows that it not just imbalances and disturbances but some clear message being sent across. Who is sending these messages? We do not know.

Why am I blogging?

I am Karthik. This is my page and I will be posting my views and opinions on this page. Sometimes I feel like expressing my views but I do not find people around to do that, either because people around me are not interested in those topics are they just do not understand the seriousness of what I am talking about. I guess everyone has their own limitations of understanding things and instead of complaining about it, we should just move on. This is the reason why I thought the best way is to go ahead and start blogging. I can express my views more freely and I am sure there will be people who will be able to understand my point of view about this world and things that are happening around us. I do not call myself an expert on things but everyone has a right to express themselves in their own way.

I hope you find my views interesting.