Mandate for Palestine aka Israel: the three religions that have fought over Jerusalem over millenia – namely Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Frankly, I am indifferent to who has Jerusalem at the end, as it is NOT a holy place for me.

07/11/14--05:16: Live Humbly... There Are People Fighting Tougher Battles Than You..

Shared by friend Ajith today.. A real story... If you have been the software industry, this will appeal to you a lot more deeper.

A conversation between a passenger and Software Engineer in Shatabdi Train. If you read it till the end, you will not only thank me and the person who shared this with me, but you will see life in a whole different way!

Vivek Pradhan was not a happy man.. Even the plush comfort of the Air-conditioned compartment of the Shatabdi express could not cool his frayed nerves. He was the Project Manager and was still not entitled to Air travel. It was not the prestige he sought, he had tried to reason with the admin person, it was the savings in time. As PM, he had so many things to do!!

He opened his case and took out the laptop, determined to put the time to some good use.

'Are you from the software industry sir,'

the man beside him was staring appreciatively at the laptop. Vivek glanced briefly and mumbled in affirmation, handling the laptop now with exaggerated care and importance as if it were an expensive car.

'You people have brought so much advancement to the country, Sir. Today everything is getting computerized. '

'Thanks,'

smiled Vivek, turning around to give the man a look. He always found it difficult to resist appreciation. The man was young and stockily built like a sportsman... .. He looked simple and strangely out of place in that little lap of luxury like a small town boy in a prep school. He probably was a railway sportsman making the most of his free traveling pass.

'You people always amaze me,'

the man continued,

'You sit in an office and write something on a computer and it does so many big things outside.'

Vivek smiled deprecatingly. Naiveness demanded reasoning not anger.

'It is not as simple as that my friend. It is not just a question of writing a few lines. There is a lot of process that goes behind it.'

For a moment, he was tempted to explain the entire Software Development Life cycle but restrained himself to a single statement.

'It is complex, very complex.'

'It has to be. No wonder you people are so highly paid,'

came the reply.

This was not turning out as Vivek had thought. A hint of belligerence crept into his so far affable, persuasive tone.

'Everyone just sees the money. No one sees the amount of hard work we have to put in. Indians have such a narrow concept of hard work. Just because we sit in an air-conditioned office, does not mean our brows do not sweat. You exercise the muscle; we exercise the mind and believe me that is no less taxing.'

He could see, he had the man where he wanted, and it was time to drive home the point.

'Let me give you an example. Take this train. The entire railway reservation system is computerized. You can book a train ticket between any two stations from any of the hundreds of computerized booking centers across the country. Thousands of transactions accessing a single database, at a time concurrently; data integrity, locking, data security. Do you Understand the complexity in designing and coding such a system?'

The man was awestruck; quite like a child at a planetarium. This was something big and beyond his imagination.

'You design and code such things.'

'I used to,'

Vivek paused for effect,

'but now I am the Project Manager.'

'Oh!'

sighed the man, as if the storm had passed over,

'so your life is easy now.'

This was like the last straw for Vivek. He retorted,

'Oh come on, does life ever get easy as you go up the ladder. Responsibility only brings more work. Design and coding! That is the easier part. Now I do not do it, but I am responsible for it and believe me, that is far more stressful. My job is to get the work done in time and with the highest quality'.

He continued,

'To tell you about the pressures, there is the customer at one end, always changing his requirements, the user at the other wanting something else, and your boss, always expecting you to have finished it yesterday.'

Vivek paused in his diatribe, his belligerence fading with Self-realization. What he had said, was not merely the outburst of a wronged man, it was the truth. And one need not get angry while defending the truth.

'My friend,'

he concluded triumphantly,

'you don't know what it is to be in the Line of Fire'.

The man sat back in his chair, his eyes closed as if in realization.

When he spoke after sometime, it was with a calm certainty that surprised Vivek.

'I know sir,..... I know what it is to be in the Line of Fire......'

He was staring blankly, as if no passenger, no train existed, just a vast expanse of time.

'There were 30 of us when we were ordered to capture Point 4875 in the cover of the night. The enemy was firing from the top. There was no knowing where the next bullet was going to come from and for whom. In the morning when we finally hoisted the tri-colour at the top only 4 of us were alive.'

'You are a...?'

'I am Subedar Sushant from the 13 J&K Rifles on duty at Peak 4875 in Kargil. They tell me I have completed my term and can opt for a soft assignment. But, tell me sir, can one give up duty just because it makes life easier.On the dawn of that capture, one of my colleagues lay injured in the snow, open to enemy fire while we were hiding behind a bunker. It was my job to go and fetch that soldier to safety. But my captain sahib refused me permission and went ahead himself.

He said that the first pledge he had taken as a Gentleman Cadet was to put the safety and welfare of the nation foremost followed by the safety and welfare of the men he commanded... ....his own personal safety came last, always and every time.'

'He was killed as he shielded and brought that injured soldier into the bunker. Every morning thereafter, as we stood guard, I could see him taking all those bullets, which were actually meant for me. I know sir....I know, what it is to be in the Line of Fire.'

Vivek looked at him in disbelief not sure of how to respond. Abruptly, he switched off the laptop. It seemed trivial, even insulting to edit a Word document in the presence of a man for whom valour and duty was a daily part of life; valour and sense of duty which he had so far attributed only to epic heroes.

The train slowed down as it pulled into the station, and Subedar Sushant picked up his bags to alight.

'It was nice meeting you sir.'

Vivek fumbled with the handshake.

This hand... had climbed mountains, pressed the trigger, and hoisted the tri-colour. Suddenly, as if by impulse, he stood up at attention and his right hand went up in an impromptu salute....

It was the least he felt he could do for the country.

PS : The incident he narrated during the capture of Peak 4875 is a true-life incident during the Kargil war. Capt. Batra sacrificed his life while trying to save one of the men he commanded, as victory was within sight. For this and various other acts of bravery, he was awarded the Param Vir Chakra, the nation's highest military award.

Live humbly, there are great people around us, let us learn!

EVERYONE U MEET IS FIGHTING A HARD BATTLE !

07/16/14--10:42: Israel and Palestine Issue – What Indians Should Know

First things first:

I am not a historian. I am not a politician. I am not a peace activist or a war monger. And most importantly, I am not belonging to any of the three religions that have fought over Jerusalem over millenia – namely Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Frankly, I am indifferent to who has Jerusalem at the end, as it is NOT a holy place for me.

That makes it a lot easier and a lot less emotional. Right? Yes, I am a Hindu, a proud and practicing Hindu who is taking a look at Israel and Palestine issue from an Indian view. Don't bracket me into anything beyond this. I respect the rights of Jews to live in Israel. I respect the rights of Muslims to live in Palestine. And in real life, I have worked for long number of years with both Jews and Arab Muslims, so I kind of know the tremendous sensitivity of this topic. If the writeup does not suit your thought or understanding of the problem, then educate me, rather than bracketing me or ridiculing me. Thank you in advance!

Now that there is a lengthy preamble, let's get started. I am presenting here a series of images, taken from some well researched videos and blogs. The references to them provided at the bottom. All credits to the original researchers and documentary makers.

Where did the Israeli Jews come from?

Jews were all around the Mediterranean sea 2000 years ago, when Islam was not born. As with 20th century, they were persecuted during the first century CE too. Romans ruthlessly massacred Jews in large numbers, and if the percentage of population is computed, it may be comparable with Hitler's Nazi genocide. Jews were in today's Israel 1000s of years back. To cut the long story short, during the 20th century when Israel was created, Jews came from Germany, Poland, Russia, Africa and many other parts to their "promised homeland".

Where did the Palestinian Muslims come from?

Contrary to what many people tell us, Palestinian Muslims also came mostly from outside.

The Ottoman Turks brought many from Algeria and Circassia (former USSR) regions, as a part of their Muslim colonization agenda.

Let's cover the Palestinian (Arab) migration later when we see what Jews actually did to a desert land.

In 1875 CE for instance, there was hardly any considerable population living in the entire region of today's Israel. Only 3 lakh people lived, which was a mix of Jews, Muslims and Others.

In fact the British Consulate report from 1859 tell that Muslims did not exceed 25% of total population of Jerusalem. That clearly shows that today's Israel, including the Gaza and West Bank, were hardly Muslim populated as many propaganda tell us today.

Are Jewish feelings for Jerusalem comparable to Hindu feelings for Ayodhya?

There is similarity. For Hindus Ayodhya is a very sacred place, as the birth place of Lord Rama. But for Muslims it is just another city. Nothing is ever mentioned in any of their holy books about Ayodhya. But a conflict does go on.

The same way, for Jews, Jerusalem is a very sacred place. For Jews, it is a the place of King David and the star of David in Israel's flag is derived from him. Jerusalem is mentioned 667 times in the Bible which both Jews and Christians revere. For Muslims too it is a holy place linked to Prophet Mohammed's life history. But compared to Jews, it may not be at the same level looking at the practical aspects. For instance, Quran does not seem to have any mention of Jerusalem (al quds). Corrections welcome if this is not a fact. But the big conflict goes on.

Secondly, Jerusalem has seen its central part demolished and rebuilt many times. The most prominent one being this.

Here is the supposed before and after scenario of Jerusalem. The temple mount that existed during the time of Jesus is gone. It is now replaced by a Dome of the rock and Al Aqsa mosque. And Jews have a painful history of this place being destroyed not just by Muslims, but Christians and others too during the past 2500 years. For Hindus such destruction of their holy temples, and mosques built over them is all too painfully evident from their long history of seeing Muslim invasions. So you can understand what a Jew must be feeling about this site.

The current situation is that Jews can't pray inside the area. They are restricted to the outer wall. The laws have kept changing, so you can research the legal sites for the latest information. In fact, this is enforced by Israeli government (yes Jews) by giving the area to Muslim Wakf board. Only Muslims have the right to prayer inside. Not even Christians are allowed prayer inside. Just like in Ayodhya (Kashi, Mathura etc. etc.), the common factor is the destruction of an existing holiest of the holy temples of a different religion, and an Islamic structure built over it or nearby. So Hindus truly understand the pain of Jews when it comes to Jerusalem. Muslims want rights on Jerusalem and Ayodhya holy spots, but won't even let non Muslims inside their holy cities like Makkah. And we hear "Israel commits apartheid" for letting Islamic Wakf board manage the holiest of the religious sites of Jews!

But experts spot that in spite of all the noise, just observing the faith of devotees, one can make out who consider it more sacred.

Jews praying:

Muslims praying:

Not only that, Muslims even end up playing football and eat picnic food at this "very sacred" place.

Have you seen Muslims playing football at Makkah or Madina holy sites? For Jews, even walking over the place is painful as they consider this their holiest of the holy sites. And seeing picnic and football must be really painful.

So the documentary maker clearly sums up:

If Jerusalem's Jewish links are so obvious, why don't Arabs accept it?

Same reason as Indian Muslims in general don't want to give possession of Ayodhya's Ram Janmabhumi area to Hindus even after courts clearly showing that there was an ancient temple below the mosque.

And those who brave in the Arab world to tell the truth, are often hounded.
Here is an example. In this book, an essay was written by a prominent academician Sari Nusseibeh from Palestine.

All he said was that there Temple Mount is a Jewish holy site.

Within no time, he got threats. He had to go underground. So you can imagine why Arabs don't come out to speak the facts, even if they know it is truth.

What's common between India and Israel?

Israel was not exactly the case of India, as Hindus never left India ever involuntarily for most part. But Jews left Israel, went all around the world, and then came back in the 20th century.

But the common factor in the past 7 decades is losing land.. Losing lots of land proportional to their country's size. And losing land to Muslims, who don't want to live with the majority (2 nation theory)!

Was Hitler the first one to indulge in Jewish genocide?

No. Jews were systematically persecuted and murdered throughout their 1000s of years of history. Romans conquered Jerusalem and the areas around it and called it Judea, the Homeland of Jews.

Later, they renamed it Syria Palestina, with Jerusalem being renamed and rebuilt as Aelia Capitolina. The word Palestina (Greek originally, later Roman) may be a Biblical word, but was a sign of oppression telling Jews that they can't enter the place without facing death. Essentially Romans were the early form of Nazis for Jews. Much more ruthless in their long list of atrocities against Jews, precisely because they feared that Moses' teachings might result in rebellion by poor.

But unlike most people think today, Palestine or Filistine was never an Arab word. It was nothing to do with Islam.

Was there a Palestine “Arab” nation 100 years ago?

Historians disagree. For instance, Arab Historian Philip Hitti says, there is NO such thing as Palestine in history!

The Philistines people that Greek and Romans talked about, were NOT Arabs. They were not Muslims. Also, they lived in a very small portion of today's Israel, around Gaza. And no one knows where they disappeared during the course of history, long long before modern Israel was formed.

It all started with Ottoman Turks' Muslim colonization plan. As expert Arnold Blumberg says, Arab immigration happened during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Arnold's theory clearly is proved by the fact that there were not many people in the 19th century there. The famous Mark Twain noted in 1800s that it was a barren vast desert land, with hardly anyone living.

So how did the ancestors of today's Palestinians come to current day Israel region?

It all started in late 19th century. With persecuted Jews returning to their ancient home land in small numbers. They were very hard working and they had faced extreme oppression in European nations. So just a chance to live was great for them. They started transforming an almost vacant barren desert land into a fruitful, livable place. Look at Negev desert and other regions when they arrived to Israel.

Certainly the land does not look like a "prosperous Arab" land that they stole, as propaganda tells us today.

As Jews started working hard to turn a barren Israel into a livable and grow-able land, news quickly started spreading.

Arab Muslims started coming from all corners. It was a boom in economy and Jews needed labour help predictably. So the first part of 20th century was mostly a Jew - Muslim joint effort to rebuilt a desert region into livable country.

As you can see in Israel today, they turned a desert into relatively lush green country, with developed country standard cities! And now everyone wants that place, by "driving out Jews to the sea"!

In fact, United Nations declared that those who stayed in the Israel/Palestine area for two years before the formation of the new states, were eligible to be claimed as Palestinians! Can you believe? TWO years residency is enough. It obviously tells that there was never a centuries or millenia of residency proof from the Palestinian side, or else such a relaxed rule would never be applied.

It is very important to note again. There was hardly 3,00,000 total population in the entire country of Israel 140 years ago. The region of Israel (Gaza and West Bank included) that we know today has well over a Crore people (Israel 80 lakh, Palestine 40 lakh). This was almost all migration of people, both Jewish and Arab. Comparatively the next door Jordan, in spite of being 4 times bigger in land size than Israel + Palestine, is only 60 lakhs or so. That shows how a desert was reclaimed by hard working people in the past 100 years in Israel. And you will be astonished to learn more on how Jews from India, particularly Maharashtra and Kerala, went to Israel and transformed the country side with revolutionary new farming methods.

Do Muslims recognize the right to exist for Israel?

You might have heard “From the river to the sea... Palestine will be free”. This is Hamas' favourite line being repeated from "liberal" American college campuses to Indian street protests. Indian "seculars"and communists love singing this as you can see off late. It's called Palestinian solidarity movement. But in reality it is a soft call for genocide of Jewish people of Israel. The river here is Jordan river which separates Israel from Jordan. The sea is Mediterranean.

The song essentially means, push all Jews to the sea (drive them out) and "liberate" Palestine. And gullible Hindus in India suck up to this propaganda after seeing bloody and gory images of civilian deaths. But they rarely understand the history behind this, as well as what would happen to them, if the "freedom" happens in West Asia. Radical Islamists are 100% clear in their mind. Today they are talking of Israel. Tomorrow, they would talk of all "Muslim land", which for them does not matter if it was Hindu or Buddhist or Jain or Sikh lands for centuries. Pakistan happened the same way. Bangladesh happened. Jammu and Kashmir Hindu ethnic cleansing happened. It's just spreading. It's very dangerous to support such "solidarity" calls without understanding what the hard core Muslims actually think of Israel's right to exist. Here is a glimpse of "tolerance" towards Jews shown by radical Muslims.

Hamas - Government in Palestine today. As a coincidence, his name as "Zahar" in it!

"driving Jews into sea" is not some dream of "Zionist" propaganda. It's been repeated umpteen times by the very top decision makers for Palestinian people.

And their big financial and military supporters in Iran.

And the TV sermons Palestinians are dished out day in and day out about USA, the closest friend of Israel.

Statement of Muslim Brotherhood from Egypt, which helped shape opinion of today's Palestinian leaders.

The list is very long. From North Africa to Arabian peninsula to central Asia to South Asia to South East Asia, the list of those who just don't want Jews in Israel is endless. And the same guys scream "apartheid", "intolerance", "genocide" etc. at the drop of every topi. See the hypocrisy?

Do Jews recognize the right to exist for Palestine and Arab nations?

Yes. It's the exact opposite of how Muslims behave. Israel has 21% Muslims, mostly Arabs.

For instance, Seif el-Din el-Zubi was the Arab member of Israel's very first Knesset (parliament).

Arabs live throughout Israel. In some places, constituting over 50%. Just like in India (where 15% Muslim population), Muslims enjoy citizenship rights in Israel (some don't opt for it, but just take passport), representation in democracy, representation in parliament and all kinds of rights. Note again, this is not about Gaza or West Bank (grey in the image below). This is about Israel!

And most importantly, No Jewish leader gives parliament speeches to drive Arabs into sea in Saudi Arabia or Egypt or Jordan. They have problems with terrorism and that's the right of every nation to address when your own survival is questioned. Jews have put restrictions on Arabs as you can expect from any majority whose existence itself is questioned in violent means. But they do not say no right for Jordan or Syria or Egypt to exist.

This is a very big difference. Israel wants to live with Arabs as neighbours. Israel wants to live with Arabs as citizen! But Arabs don't even let Jews live in their countries. Arabs want to push Jews into sea and clear the "occupation", forgetting that Arabs in Palestine are also mostly migrants from other countries!

Did PLO claim Gaza and West Bank in 1964 as a part of “liberation” goal?

PLO, the Palestine Liberation Organization, was in forefront for decades to liberate Palestine from Jewish control. Very interestingly, when PLO formed its charter in 1964 (Article 24), before the 6 day war of Israel with Egypt and other Arab nations, there was NO mention of Judea and Samaria (today's West Bank), and Gaza to be "liberated"! Guess why? Because the Gaza was under Egyptian control and the West Bank was under Jordanian control. So the whole "liberation" of Palestinians from foreign control was not the priority as long as the occupier is a Muslim :)

There's a lot more in this Francisco Gil-White's book, based on which the quoted documentaries here were made.

Has anyone fought for Palestinian rights in Jordan?
(80% area of 1922 Palestine Mandate)

Absolutely not. For Indians, particularly Hindus and Sikhs, this will remind their plight in Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, and later in the Kashmir valley within Indian part of Jammu and Kashmir.The claims, the terrorism, the systematic ethnic cleansing of Hindus and Sikhs. It's all too familiar.

And whenever you hear "Azaadi" or freedom in Kashmir, it's usually the small portion of Jammu Kashmir state in Indian control. No one ever talks of the more than 50% of original Jammu and Kashmir that is under Pakistan and China's occupation!

Here is a starting point. This is the map heavily circulated by anti Israel groups across the world, showing how Israeli Jews have "oppressed" Palestinian Muslims by pushing them to a smaller region. Green in here is supposed to be Palestinian Arab areas.

But the reality is that the 1946 map to start with is completely inaccurate. It's plain propaganda without any factual basis. There was never a state of Palestine in 1946, even remotely looking like what the anti Jew gangs show.

This was the Ottoman Turk empire prior to World war 1. This collapsed after the World War 1. As you can see they had huge tracks of land, including the Muslim holy cities of Makkah and Madina. Yes, Turks controlled the Islamic holy cities, and not Arabs till about 100 years ago. There was a huge battle of Makkah in 1916 when the local Hashemite Sharif of Makkah, rebelled against the Ottoman Turk Muslims, for which he took help from European Christians like British. It was the beginning of the end of the Ottoman Empire and it was the beginning of a Hashemite kingdom whose capital was Makkah. Gradually it expanded northward. This battle left deep scars on the Middle East. Arab states came under strong European influence. Many people in India still don't know that this was a war between Arabs and Turks, both being Muslims, in which the Arabs took help from Christians of Europe.

Today's Israel is just about 20% of the Palestine Mandate of 1922, that the winners of World War 1 formulated (legal document) to be under League of Nation (UN then) control till the countries are stable enough to rule themselves. Even within that 20% marked as Palestine, nearly 20% of the overall land belongs to Muslims today. So Jews are in just around 15% of the 1922 map of greater Palestine or Palestine Mandate! But they are the only "occupiers" per all propaganda, which never talks of Hashemite Jordanian rule on the rest.

Look closely again. This is from a different source. Along with Israel becoming a new nation, Jordan became an independent sovereign state officially known as the Hashemite Kingdom of Transjordan. The key here is to note Hashemite. They are a very tiny minority Arab tribe, from Prophet Mohammed's great grand father's lineage, ruling majority Palestinians in Jordan. By any conservative estimate, more than half of Jordan is Palestinian. But rulers are not Palestinians!

No Muslim is questioning loudly.. "Is Jordan the Hashemite-occupied Palestine?". It's worth reminding again that Jordan is 80% of the Palestine Mandate from 1922, but it does not have any great population at all. It's population is just 35% more than the densely packed West Bank plus Gaza population. If the United Nations gave 80% land of Palestinians (going by Arab argument) to Jordan, why is not letting Palestinians in Gaza and West Bank live in the larger country of Jordan?

Also, why is there no movement to "liberate" Palestine under Hashemite control, which is 4 times the area of Israel? Tough to answer. Right? Now you know why this can be compared with the sparely populated Pakistan Occupied Kashmir, which no one tries to "liberate" from the predominantly Punjabi Muslim rule?

Did Arabs sell land to Jews in 1920-40 period?

This is one other aspect that no one talks about. Jews when they came to Israel from all around the world, they were allowed inside the territory, but did not have much land. They bought land from many locals living there, whoever they might be. And in fact, Arabs sold lot of land at exorbitant prices to Jews then. In the 1937 Peel Commission setup by Britain to probe into the land deals in today's Israel, Haj Amin al-Husseini, one of the founding fathers of Palestinian Arab nationalistic movement, told Laurie Hammond that large amount of land were sold, willingly, by Arabs for money to the Jews. In fact, historians say that his own family collected large amounts of land from smaller owners at throw away price, and sold them to Jews at very high prices. Familiar Land Mafia anyone?

So all those who scream "occupation" by Jews, forget the simple fact that a lot of land owned by Jews today were legally bought by them by paying exorbitant prices. As we have seen earlier they were barren desert land in most cases, so Arab land owners (and others) made lot of profit. Now that the lands have been transformed into fantastic livable pieces, their descendants scream "occupation".

And soon, the same Arabs went to war with Jews. Hypocrisy anyone? First sell the land and the "liberate" the same!

Even some Arabs know that the whole Palestinian identity is a political and tactical weapon against Zionism, and not truly for any "freedom" of Palestinian Arabs. There are so many Arab nations and they hold on to 100s of times the Gaza land if they really want to settle this matter.

As NathanWeinstock says, the hyper nationalist propaganda of Palestinians now is more of a racket.

What was India's contribution towards liberating Israel from Ottoman Turks?

We should know this really well. Haifa in Israel was liberated from Turks by Indians. Communists who formulated school books totally eliminated India's contribution in World war 1 and 2.

The bravery of soldiers from Karnataka, Telangana and Rajasthan helped liberate Haifa, the port city of Israel from Ottoman Turks' occupation of 400 years. Israel remembers this great help from India in 1918. Indian army celebrates Haifa day.

Teen Murti Bhavan in New Delhi is precisely for one soldier each from Mysore, Hyderabad and Jodhpur.

But we are not taught about this bravery in schools. In fact, this was the LAST time a horse mounted lancer brigade won against machine guns and tanks!

What to do next for Indians, particularly Hindus?

In summary, India helped create Israel. Indian soldiers (Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims - yes Muslims also) have given up their lives right from Haifa port capture in 1918. India and Israel both are democracies surrounded by hostile neighbours. India and Israel both have the same Islamic radicals as common enemy. The common enemy (in the form of ISIS, Hamas, Hizbollah, Lashkar e Taiba, Indian Mujahideen, Taliban, Al Qaeda et al) is always dreaming to destroy these nations for its well stated goal of occupying their lands. India gains nothing by supporting the radical Islam of Hamas which openly uses terrorism for its survival. Unlike India, Israel crushes terrorism via violent backlash. This is an area tough for many Indians to accept as they are used to sending dossiers to enemies who indulge in terrorism on Indians. India gains everything from technology to business to cultural survival in the long run, by partnering with Israel. Yes, the Israel where mostly Jews live and Palestine where (only) Muslims live. The borders are already drawn. The countries are in place. India must certainly work towards the welfare of Palestinian Muslim civilians who are caught now between the cross fire of Israeli army and Hamas rockets. But do not forget the long history and the RIGHT of existence of Jews in their holy land.

There is a way out of this conflict. But the way out is not by "pushing the Jews to the sea" as Hamas radicals and their sympathisers preach. Hope this long essay has given enough pointers to understand where we have come from, and how Indians should start working towards the Israel Palestine conflict resolution.

Share your thoughts please.

References:

What is Palestine? Who are the Palestinians?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W9ReF4UUa4E

Is Jerusalem a holier place for Jews or Muslims?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xU9CauJP4Pg

The Palestinian Wall of Lies - False Palestinian propaganda exposed
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc9v5gLXP4w

India's role in liberating Israel from Ottoman Turks:
http://haifa-history.blogspot.in/2010/09/haifa-day-in-indian-army-memory-for.html

08/11/14--03:18: Upakarma: A Harmless Hindu Festival

Yesterday was a day of threads for Hindus.

It's the Purnima or full moon day in the month of Shravana for most Hindus. Hindus who are keeping the tradition of wearing a sacred thread of commitment (yajnopaveetam), wear a new one on this day. Now a days mostly Brahmins and Vaishyas follow this. The overall number is quite small compared to the total population of Hindus. And Hindus who are keeping the tradition of sisters tying a thread for commitment to the wrist of their brothers (or brother like other men), tie rakhi on this day. Yes, you can call this sacred thread day for these two reasons.

But as you can expect around any Hindu festival, "secularism" creeps in.
Dainik Bhaskar, a big Hindi newspaper started "Main Rakhi nahin baandhungi" campaign. It essentially was for a girl to say "I won't tie rakhi".. unless....

Their theme was to generate "respect for women", but as always, such campaigns are only targeting Hindu festivals. Just a week back imagine if they had started a campaign that "I won't celebrate Eid.. unless...".

Hindus went in full force on the social media against this campaign. Finally Dainik Bhaskar had to suck up and remove this from their website right in time for Rakhi morning.

And then came the day of Upakarma morning. Promptly, another prominent media house's Editor started attacking this Hindu festival on Twitter.

Of course, if you follow the responses, most tried to educate her, and a few tried to dare her attack other religions similarly. Not surprisingly, this Editor of a big Indian news paper started focus on only the favourite points all communists are taught to follow.

Her point 1: Women in Hinduism (particularly Brahmin women) are discriminated and are there only to "assist" a male in Hindu rituals.

Her point 2: Please don't attack Islam or others, irrespective of how discriminatory their practices might be. "Secularism" means, as Editors of big news papers we have guts only to attack Hindus on Hindu festival days. We don't dare to do any such preaching or "conduct discussion" on Islamic or Christian festival days.

Let me focus on the Upakarma part more here as most already convinced the anti Rakhi campaign to end before the festival itself.

First of all, is Hindu Dharma (not a religion per say) anti women?

The reality is that it is not. By and far, Hindu women have been accorded the best status that any religious society offered anywhere in the world. Hindu women have been queens, goddesses, have been revealed sacred verses, have authored plenty of bhakti movement songs/bhajans, have been dancing queens, have enjoyed supreme status when it comes to respect.

Hindus (and some non-Hindu Bharatiyas) scream "Bharat Mata ki jai".. Not "Bharat pita ki jai"!
Hindus worship Devi Lakshmi for wealth.. the most important aspect for livelihood.
Hindus worship Devi Saraswati for knowledge.. the most important aspect to start any livelihood.
Hindus worship Devi Durga for strength.. the most important aspect for any survival or warfare. Female Durga is so powerful that she even steps over the dominant male Shiva's chest at her fiercest moment!
Hindus teach their kids "Maatru Devo bhava" before Pitru, Acharya or Atithi..
Hindus (yes those "evil" Brahmins in particular) chant Gayatri mantra as the most supreme mantra, dedicated to a female shakti.
Hindus often cite "Janani Janmabhumi cha, swargat api gariyasi" giving mother and mother land the greatest status, even above paradise (if it exists)!
Hindus teach at a young age, "yatra naryastu pujyate, ramante tatra devatah", drilling the point that where women are well respected, only there the gods will enjoy (meaning reside).
While almost all religions of the world are for men, by men, to men, Hindu Vedas stand out tall as an exception (yes, the same Vedas chanted by "discriminatory" Brahmins today). Ghosha, Lopamudra, Maitreyi, Gargi and others made women proud by being a part of compilation of sacred Vedas!

In fact, there are many women poojaris (priests) across India today. They are not in significant numbers, but they exist. I visit a Shani Mahatma temple in south Bengaluru, where the main poojari is a woman in her 50s. Just last year, a famous mainstream temple in Karnataka, the Kudroli Shree Gokarnanatheshwara temple, got two widows as the key poojaris! It didn't last long for other personal reasons from their side, but Hindus by and far welcomed and didn't have any demonstrations against widows becoming main priests of a very famous temple.

I have seen women funeral priests, woman marriage purohit, women conducting yajnas and much more.

So it's silly to come out in public to say that Hinduism is against women. I am focusing beyond the tweets of Malini P, as there are plenty of such women who relish the idea of bashing Hindu men and Hindu ideology itself. I am sure the same "intellectual" women would hide if we start asking to show some women Moulivis or women Bishops in India from other religions.

If you have to sum up in 2 lines, the core essence of Hindu philosophy of an "educated man", this one propagated by Swami Vivekananda, stands out.

It's not that Hindus don't have women beaters, rapists, eve teasers, murderers and much worse. But they are NOT justified by Hindus by any means, quoting some scripture. They in fact many would demand that such men should be punished the same way Rama punished Ravana, or Bhima punished Keechaka. But hey.. it's possible to convince those with an open mind and not those brainwashed by communist ideology. You can only place the facts on the table and expect them to introspect some day.. yes some day! They live only in the topics such as Sati (which have ceased to exist since centuries), Sabarimala temple (which is one temple, with a unique reason), Sita's agni pariksha and a few other pet topics that they use to beat up Hindus, particularly on their festival days.

Are Hindu women not allowed to wear any sacred thread?

Quick answer is, Hindu women are very much wearing sacred threads. There's no restriction. Keeping in mind practical limitations, they wear different types of threads. Threads over the wrists, around the neck and around the ankle are common ones.

Now the longer answer:

Brahmins, Vaishyas and Kshatriyas mostly follow the sacred thread ceremony (that is worn around the torso from neck to waist). In some cases, many other castes, traditionally considered outside of these three, also follow. In Karnataka, Devanga, Goldsmith and dozens of other castes also follow this. But mostly Brahmins keep the thread throughout the year. The basic essence is that the sacred thread gives the right to perform vedic yajnas and other rituals. (Not merely wearing thread, but also knowing what they are performing). For those who were not doing Yajnas, this was not a part of custom. There were many yesterday who openly were showing their thread on social media. It's only 3 Rupees for a pair of threads, so in no way this is "elite" who prefer not to wear.

The basic idea is that the human body is sacred and the 3 strands represent Brahma, Vishnu and Maheshwara. By wearing the thread, one would remind about the divinity inside himself, and keep the body clean (physically, spiritually and otherwise). A man is expected to change the thread if there is "impurity" such as blood on the body, death in the family and many more. And there's always a yearly ceremony where as a group that community changes thread.

Since 20th century and 21st century customs don't have the main thread for women (they have other threads), a married man also wears his wife's part of the thread over himself. The second thread (with 3 strands) that he wears is for Grihasta ashrama. Every time he prays Gayatri or performs other pooja, the reward is automatically shared with his wife. Those who teach Vedas usually wear more sets, but that's more complicated. Just like festivals where women pray for their husbands, here the man not only conducts yajna (fire sacrifice) for himself and his wife, but also for his entire family and society.

For married women, mangala sutra is the main thread (now in the form of gold thread) in 20th and 21st century. Other threads like those tied on wrists are immensely popular for girls and most wear. For instance, Bheemana Amavasya in Karnataka (south Indian equivalent of Kadva Chauth) sees lakhs of girls wearing thread on their wrists after a vrata.

They are kept and disposed off as sacredly as a man would wear and dispose off old threads. So the contemporary tradition is that mangala sutra is the main thread for a woman, and Yajnopaveetam is the main thread for men. A married man has the second set of strands and a married woman has the mangal sutra. That way, society can identify the wedded aspect easily, in places where threads are made visible.

In some communities like Lingayats in Karnataka, women wear threads across their body (like cross bar) just like men or around the neck. There would be a Shiva Linga tied to the thread.

For Hindus, every thread over the body is sacred. There's nothing like one thread is more sacred than others.

What do Hindu men do in Upakarma? Is this ritual anti women? Is it against "lower" castes?

That is termed in Sanskrit as Upa Karma (upa meaning near, and karma is duty). It's also known as Avani Attam in Tamil, Janivarada habba in Kannada, Gamha purnima in Odiya and so on. Usually a "dwija" or born again Hindu performs this.

The procedure differs from region to region, and from veda to veda. Here are some steps for the Yajurveda Upakarma.

Ganapati puja praying for obstacle removal.
Invoking Gayatri for shakti into the sacred thread.
Worshiping ancient Hindu sages who have guided us with knowledge all along.
Wearing the thread. One for wife also in case of married men.
Rishi tarpana (offering prayers to the ancient rishis or sages who guided us). Kaanda Rishi tarpana is performed with the help of head priest or Brahma seat occupier.
Deva tarpana (offering prayers to all the gods who protect and guide us).
Pitru tarpana (offering prayers to the ancestors from both father and mother's side who enabled us to be living on this planet today).
Brahmacharis or bachelors perform a special agni karya or fire ritual.
Full fledged fire ritual and fire sacrifice called Upakarma Yajna (no, no blood involved. Not that kind of sacrifice).
Among many other steps, the key is that prayashchittha (atonement) for all the mistakes and sins our families might have committed during the past year.
Lastly, there is a long set of mantras or prayers for better rain, peace in the society, guidance to walk in the path of dharma, and much more.

There is NOTHING in the Upakarma that preaches discrimination towards other castes (not present there) or gender bias. There is no cursing or preaching against "enemies" of a particular ideology. There is no sermon making people fear the "all powerful". There are a series of shanti mantras for betterment of everyone on the planet! There is in fact a particular phase where not just the current family, but also women like matamahi are paid tributes, going 3 generations up to women of the family.

The only catch here is that these fire rituals that involve vedic mantras, must be performed by only those who have beeninitiated into the rituals. The initiation called Brahma Upadesha is usually a step to make the boy or man aware of why's, what's and when's. Otherwise it won't make sense for the person participating. That's why mostly you will find Brahmin men today performing these on behalf of everyone in the society. If someone who has not been initiated wants to participate, there are 1000s of outlets in temples and mathas, where initiation can be obtained and they can join irrespective of their caste, creed or religion. The best part is, one does not even have to "convert" to Hinduism. Read this to get a glimpse of European and African origin Hindus who follow Hindu rituals. I have personally seen European origin men actively participating in Hindu fire rituals after wearing sacred threads, and even getting married in proper Vedic manner.

All they need is a vow for restrictions on food, and advice on puja and homa that a thread wearing person is expected to follow.

In fact, the most *hated* Hindutva man Veer Savarkar ("seculars" chide him as hindu supremacist), presided over a Yajnopaveetam ceremony for former Hindu untouchables (Dalits) in 1929 at Malwan. This was a historic step in correcting the course of Hinduism which had steered off due to mistakes by some Hindus.

The complete step by step of what's performed in Upakarma is listed in this PDF.

In summary:

Hinduism has probably bestowed the best status for women among any traditional religions or similar setup.
There's no restriction for women becoming priests or wearing sacred threads. In fact there are many festivals like Varamahalakshmi, which are specially for Hindu women, involving sacred thread.
There's no restriction for women to perform Hindu rituals. Many are doing it actively.
There's nothing against women being performed during the "male festival" Upakarma. Similarly there is nothng against men performed in "female fesivals" like Lakshmi pujas.
As it is practiced today, Upakarma is essentially for "upper" caste males, but that does not make it against anyone else. Everyone is free to join them during 21st century, if they feel a need to perform Vedic rituals for self and for the society. Hindus have tried their best to remove the historic barriers.
There's absolutely nothing against any caste, religion or "non believers" being said or done during a Hindu festival like Upakarma.

When will the self-styled "intellectual" Editors wake up to the reality?
And when will they develop "balance" to criticize ALL religions' festivals on the day of those festivals?

Images taken from: Facebook, Twitter, yensures.com, logbookwasilla.com, kheper.net, daijiworld.com, www.dw.de, kgbyoga.wordpress, anandsp1.wordpress and bharathgyanblog.wordpress, resurgencehinduism.blogspot, agniveerfan.wordpress. Thanks!

08/11/14--09:33: Yazidi and Hindu Similarity

Yazidis are in news for a grave situation in northern Iraq. They are being literally exterminated by the Islamic State Jihadis. Only 7,00,000 or so Yazidis remain on the planet today and most of them are in the northern provinces of Iraq near Kurdistan. 1000s have died already this year and their mass killing via siege, starvation and other means is gut wrenching.

The world is watching without doing much to save this extremely rare race. #SaveYazidis cry on the social media is not having much effect as 10s of 1000s of them are on the verge of extinction or capture into slavery by the extreme radicals of ISIS. The situation of women and children starving to death has created an uproar across the world, but not much help is coming forward.

While researching into who these Yazidi people are, I stumbled upon some unmistakable similarity with Hindus of India. Two hours back, I didn't know much, but after putting these side by side, I am almost getting convinced that these Yazidis are a lost tribe linked to ancient Hindus of India. The overlapping features are clearly not some coincidences that you will find among pre-Abrahamic religions of the world.

Yazidis kiss a peacock shaped lamp.
Hindus light a peacock shaped lamp.

Yazidis temples have pyramid shaped gopura just like Hindu temples.

Yazidis symbol is a wing spread peacock, just like Hindu god Shiva's son, Subrahmanya's mount. The most important point to note is that peacock, the national bird of India, is a native of south and south east Asia or Africa. Not found in the area of Iraq or Syria at all.

Yazidi mural on wall of their holy Lalish temple is unmistakably Hindu. You can see saree, which is an unofficial national dress of India.

Yazidi temple at Lalish has snake symbol at the entrance. You won't find this among other tribes of Arabia or Mesopotamia. For Hindus, Subrahmanya is the other avatara of snakes and worshiped very closely for all snake related pujas like Naga Panchami.

Yellow sun Yazidi symbol 21 rays.
Number 21 is sacred to Hindus (Ganesha). Offerings are in 21 count like Modaka (sweet).

Yazidi marry within their castes like Murids, Sheikhs and Pirs.
Hindus marry within castes. Yazidis could have something like Gotra system (researching).

Any Hindu with even basic understanding of aarti plate, will see Yazidis as their own.

Yazidis believe in continuous rebirth and reincarnation.
Same as Hindu Punar Janma concept.

Yazidis do not circumcise, a very rare thing in the middle east.
Hindus do not circumcise.

Yazidis pray with folded hands. Hindus pray very similarly to their Gods and Goddesses.
Yazidis pray at sun rise and sun set, just like Hindus. Both face the rising or setting sun when praying to sun.

Yazidis have a symbol similar to Bindi or Tilak during temple prayer, very similar to Hindu forehead custom.

For big celebrations, lighting lamp by females common to both Yazidis and Hindus.

Yazidis men worship Melek Taus by lighting fire in temples.
Hindus' do similar fire based worship to their Gods, with high regard for agni the fire.

As I read and browse, there are more similarities popping up. The trident (Shiva's trishula), the vessels used during worship (kalasha), the sound (something like dhol and shankha), sun worship methods and much more..

I am convinced that they ARE deeply connected to ancient Hindu civilization. Whether through Zoroastrian connection in Persia (today's Iran) or directly via migration, has to be researched. If you find credible sources, please share them in the comments.

And most importantly, please put pressure on the Indian, Iraqi, US, EU and other governments to save them. They have just a few days between life and death, at the current barbarism level of ISIS. Let this very rare and ancient tribe of our earth survive.

Pictures used in this blog entry are from these websites. All credits to original copyright holders:
thehindu.com, www.iisd.ca, china-iraq.org, Wikipedia.com, middle-east-online.com, himavanti.org, alokmu.blogspot.com, metrography, demotix.com, indiandacoit.com, flickr.com, ibtimes.co.uk, mangalorean.com, stuartfreedman, blessingsonthenet.com and vox.com.

09/15/14--07:55: Dr. Narendra Jadhav Educates On Indian Economy

Today, got a chance to hear the very well informed Dr. Narendra Jadhav. He's an expert on Babasaheb Ambedkar's letters and policies. He's also an expert in Indian economics. He has written 30 books in multiple languages. You can browse more about his illustrious career or visit his website that has plenty of information.

I gathered some very nice points from his talk. They are as follows:

a) Dr. Ambedkar was fluent in Gujarati too, apart from Marathi, Hindi and English. Most people will recognize BR Ambedkar as the constitution formulator and a strong voice against untouchability in India. But very few know that the real forte of this multi faceted man was economics. Dr. Jadhav is a great resource on Dr. Ambedkar and his economics lectures.
b) BR Ambedkar has given a total of 537 speeches in his life in 4 languages. And Dr. Jadhav has compiled all of them in his English series of books. Now planning on releasing a Hindi version by December 6th, after the Marathi versions were done.
c) After independence, PM Nehru announced that India would double it's per capita income every 10 years to double the standard of living levels. But in reality, between 1951 and 1986, India's per capita income grew only at 1.2% (growth 3.3% and population growth 2.1%). At that rate it would have taken 59 years to double India's per capita income. In comparison, China doubled in 10, Korea in 13, Malaysia and Indonesia within 2 decades!
d) LPG stood for Liquified Petroleum Gas till 1991. But soon, PV Narasimha Rao's policies made LPG stand for Liberalization, Privatization and Globalization.
e) India in spite of 16 to 17% of the world's population, only had less than 1% of the world's trade in 1991. So the fear mongering against liberalization was silly. 99.5% of the world's trading economies would not "gang up" to harm an economy that formed just 0.5% of the world's trade.
f) When Deng Xiaoping was asked how come you are liberalizing the economy being a communist, he said, I don't care if the cat is black or white.. as long as it catches mice, I will take it!
g) Post liberalization, Indian economy grew at over 6% between 1992 for over a decade. It peaked at nearly 9% in 2007-08. Without liberalization it would not have grown anywhere near it.
h) Europe is facing severe economic crunch. The larger economies have exploited the smaller ones. PIIGS = Portugal, Italy, Ireland, Greece and Spain, are disasters. Now all packages to save them.
g) India is at once in a very long time (centuries may be) kind of Demographic dividend advantage right now. India's average age now is 24. It will be 29 by 2020. By then, China would be 37, USA 38, Western Europe 42 and Japan at a disastrous level of 49. All these regions did very well economically when their demographic dividend was suitable. That means, more hands to work and less dependents to feed. Automatically, the savings would be highest during such situations. India has that opportunity of favourable demographic dividend for the next 15 years. If India messes during these 15 years, this would become Demographic Disaster.
h) The one important factor that Narendra Modi government must focus on during this Demographic Dividend window is the Social Sector - Education, Health and Social Amity. Unless these are taken care of, high growth can not be sustained.
i) In India, the education sector needs to be streamlined in order to realize Modi's dream of better skills for all youth. Right now, the ITI (technical training) is under one department while the general education (non technical, but engineering included) is under another department. This friction between the department of Labour and Department of HRD needs to be resolved.
j) Modi has announced a new department called Ministry for Skills development. This is a great step and a first time everin India's history. However, this is having a Minister of State leading it, which might make it less efficient when cabinet level Labour and HRD ministries are at friction already.
k) There's a priority Schedule Caste and Tribe funds allocation per department as mandated by government policies. If the state has more SC/ST population than national average of around 18%, they must allocate more by department. But neither the center, nor the states have implemented this till date, in spite of demands for decades. Out of the 68 departments in the prior UPA government, only one had even a line item for SC/ST separate fund account.
j) Regarding black economy, India needs to think of the root causes and solve them. For instance the gold rate differential was 65% more in Mumbai 10 years ago. The 500 gram per head gold import reform of Manmohan Singh made it go to 15% making it unprofitable for smugglers. Similarly, we need strong laws in drugs and other areas to stop the hawala network. Just adding more police will only increase more corruption, and won't solve the problem.
h) Lastly, a very little known fact is that while Ambedkar was the man who initiated skill development in public sector, it was Tagore who initiated the skill development on the private sector via Sri Niketan after his Shanti Niketan project.

A good learning experience, from a very learned man!

09/19/14--04:22: You Speak Your Language, I Will Speak Mine - But We Shall Still Communicate!

Let me start with a negative note:
I am fed up of language barrier in India particularly, and in general globally. We humans have divided ourselves into very narrow pockets with linguistic identity. Mother tongue (matru bhasha), National language (rashtra bhasha), state languages (rajya bhasha), official languages (raj bhasha), classical languages (shastriya bhasha), link language, entertainment language, second language, third language, foreign language, invader language, heritage language... etc etc.

Here a chart that I had prepared the last time I got frustrated with language debate. Since then, 2 more classical languages may be coming up - Odia and Malayalam.

What I have learned after decades of seeing language debates and politics... Languages unite in some cases. But in more cases, languages divide us more than they unite. I don't have to give details of how languages have divided millions of Indians today.. how they have made 100s of millions of Indians see other 100s of millions of Indians as "un-Indian". The anger, the snubs, the protests, the beating, the reservations, the school politics, the ganging up, the insults.. it's just ugly in so many cases. In the height of "my language versus your language", many have stopped seeing others as a Bharatiya... or even a human deserving dignity.

The key problem is the unnecessary pride and chest beating.. If you don't learn "my language", you are not equal.. And the natural reaction is that if I abandon "my language" in government and business, it will be lost! And practically it is not possible for a regular person to learn more than 3 languages well - I mean read, write, speak and understand at high school level. With nearly 2 dozen really big languages being spoken by millions of people in each case, India is the land of language conflicts.

Frankly, I am not pro any language strongly.. I am not anti any language strongly. My take is that a language serves a purpose of communicating. Language(s) will help you get diverse information. Each have their own style and strength. They also have weaknesses. I am very proud of mine and you be proud of yours. Personally, I am all for more the merry policy! And that's pretty much it. If you start giving it too much importance and create your whole identity around a language (or opposing some other), it is not the best usage of your time. Languages evolve, borrow words, grow in vocabulary, shrink and die. It's a natural cycle. Some just undergo metamorphosis into one or more daughter languages in the course of time.

But nothing is constant. Kalaya tasmai namah. Everything that's born will die one day.
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And now the positive note:
What if.. we had a system in this 21st century, wherein
You Speak Your Language, I Will Speak Mine - But We Shall Still Communicate!

Sounds crazy? Sounds impractical? It's not. Let me put in my vision and you tell me if this is possible. If possible, you are by all means free to use this idea and make money in the long run :)

But I have some ideas.. I am sure you will have lot more. And none of these are not any genius stuff as many would already be in place in advanced pockets of our globe.

1) Let's start with a visit to a tax office, a bank or an insurance office. Take the tax office. You have to deal with a tax form as shown here. You are the "kardaata" or "tax payer" in Guwahati. What if you can't read either of the languages the form is printed in? There are 100s of millions of such Indians who can read and write, but not these two languages at an expertise level to fill in a critical piece of tax information.

No problem..
You take your mobile phone that has a handy scan app built into it, and just scan over that tax form. Or you can use a more elaborate professional handy scan machine.

Voila.. the form is fully scanned and you will see on your device an Asomiya translated version. Better, you will have the ability to key in the Cheque number, type of payment etc. right into the phone. When done, simply press a button to e-print the filled form right there. The office will have it right a the desk.
For those who can afford, it can be in their car. Almost all traffic inspectors in Bengaluru today print their traffic violation payment receipt right on the street using a blackberry phone which can print.

The job is done. Those printing the challans have no language problem. They can print in one or two languages of their government or institution's interest. Those taking the service don't have to worry about learning the languages. They can fill in any language that they are familiar with. The important thing is for the job to get done well, easily and in an affordable manner.

2) Next - emergency instructions.

You are traveling from Guntur in AP to Mysuru in Karnataka. Almost all literate passengers in this inter state train would know Telugu or Kannada or both. But the night train has emergency instructions only in Hindi and English. Lakhs of people who travel interstate between these destinations would have difficulty reading and comprehending the vital emergency instructions.

Again.. use your phone, even the basic smart phone variety. Click the picture of the instructions. The app will then recognize the language(s) and give you an instant translation in Telugu or Kannada. Problem solved!

Some might say.. what's the big deal in reading these 3 lines? Trust me.. 100s of people died in train emergencies in India each year and even if 2 extra lives are saved crossing the language barrier, that's worth it.

It's not just train. It's for all emergency instructions. Plane, Volvo bus, LPG cylinder, inflammable fluid carriers, hazardous material handling factories, school premise, movie theater.. etc. etc.
When life saving instructions are not in the language you can read, they are NOT life saving! If we can make it truly language independent using sign languages, that's different. But at least here is some way to use the existing system, instead of changing it fully.

3) Moving on - Meeting a stranger for asking directions.

It has happened to almost all of us a few times in life. We ask for directions in a city or village that we are visiting, and invariably the language barrier comes in. In most cases, there's a genuine difficulty. But in some cases involving linguistic animosity, people are rude and won't help you. All of us will know at least 2 incidents in life, where we were shunted out just because we could not speak "their" language. In my view, it's risky to be language illiterate in India, particularly for women.

So here's a simple way out. You meet someone. Put a headphone bud into one ear.

Select the on source and destination language buttons on your phone. Boom... you can have a conversation. Your phone is acting as a real time translator. The other person also does the same. Even if the other person is not equipped with this app, your device will tell you what to tell after translation. Everything happens in real time! No interpreter needed. And adding a couple of simple Namaste, Thanks, Shukriya, Vanakkam will make the other person feel happy and your job will be done really well.

If you take the technology further and use Google Glass, you can do wonderful things without needing much human help. But Indian streets, particularly the non metro downtown areas, are a long way from actually using self-help Google glasses. So you need technology that can be simply used with existing human support that's available.

4) Then - Your PM speaks in Hindi.

Now this is a big issue in some pockets of south India and east India. PM Modi speaks in only in Hindi. Language pride and language hate politics kick in. Learn Hindi... Don't impose Hindi groups start quarrel. If the PM were to speak in English too, the same things would kick in, but from some pockets in the North or West or center. The point is not language. It's the proficiency we have with it, and the like we have for it. Why not use mine is always the problem!

I can't solve the language problems when we have nearly 24 languages, each spoken by at least a few million people in India. It's next to impossible. For 60+ years people have tried. So what I would try is to let you keep your language and let me keep mine.

With just 20 seconds delay, all websites and TV or radio channels that broadcast PM's speech, can do a voice change-over into destination languages. The technology exists already in Europe which is yet another highly diverse India-like continent.

Europe and UN, with dozens and sometimes 100s of languages are involved, conduct business already without any barrier. We in India are still ages behind quibbling over mundane "you speak in my language" nonsense. In Indian parliament, if you have to ask a question in the 2000 year old INDIAN language Kannada, you will have to take prior permission. Unless you have prior permission, you have no choice but to switch to one of the 2 official languages, which at least 200 MPs from non Hindi regions of India are not proficient in! And they keep quiet and their constituencies suffer because of this language barrier. It's really silly and so non-federal in nature. And the same problem across all legislative assemblies where most Indian languages are shunted out even if there are people in the state speaking those languages.

So what can be done? Let the parliamentarians find their solution. We can focus on the general public watching TV. There are a variety of instant translation mechanism available with human help. All it takes is one person per TV station or one person per group of language channels/sites. Problem solved! No more subtitles issue. No more linguistic protests. It can even be two way in any TV debate. You ask in your language and an instant translation software or human intervention can take the debate to the destination language. You can literally participate in a Bangla debate at 5 PM, a Kannada debate at 7 PM and a Hindi debate at 9 PM, if you are a channel hopping celebrity.. just kidding :)

If you want the original speaker's language, just select original voice through a remote button. In many cases, the emotion and dialogue delivery in the original language has no substitute in the translation. Additionally, another feature of play original and play translation for each sentence, where needed. This way you will learn some basics of the leader's language too. All these are possible with DVR technology and voice translation technology already. We just need to expand and make them affordable.

5) Lastly.. you are on the road.

You are vacationing in Pune from Coimbatore but can't understand Marathi..
You are visiting Lucknow from Guwahati, but not proficient in Hindi subtitles.
You are touring Tirupati from Vadodara, and can't read temple displays in Telugu.

You can't read the local news papers.. nor can read street sign boards.. nor can make out the TV scroll. It is practically impossible in India to help all languages at all places.

So.. just point your mobile towards it.

App will get the info, understand the source language, translate it and show you the translation without changing the non-text part. Instantly!

You can use this in movies.. plays.. games.. street.. and even schools and colleges.
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In summary:

No more English panditya needed. Time to take the "elite" advantage away from those who have proficiency in English. They have a distinct advantage in Indian businesses today.
No more fights on Hindi or no Hindi.. Time to take away the "elite" advantage central governments have created for those who speak Hindi, so that they alone can transact in government offices everywhere across India.
No more Tamil pride, Marathi pride etc.. politics. Time to take away regional linguistic chauvinism (sometimes justified, sometimes not) where the anger is against one or two focused linguistic groups.
No more hidden messages in one's language insulting the others. I am sure you all have seen in elevators, taxis, buses, trains, street corners..
No more wasting or ink, paint and time in printing/announcing the same info multiple times. Isn't it irritating to hear the same announcements in 3 or 4 languages at some stations?

Make the world an equal opportunity place for all languages. I have only talked of some basic applications here. There are many advanced ways these can be taken to our education, industry, government, hospitals, temples and beyond. Imagine visiting Gaya and understanding instantly the meaning of those shraddha Sanskrit mantras when attending to the last rites of a dear one? The amount of usage is practically limitless.. all we need is proficiency in ONE Bharatiya language to live happily ever after (I consider English also as a Bharatiya language now).

The best part is that no major investment is needed. With smart phones already with more than 15% of Indians now, it is just a matter of time before 75% will have smart phones. I mean it's possible even before 2020 at the current rate!

So what are you waiting for? Go start a business or create apps to work on these ideas. Be a good Engineer. After all Engineers rule the world :) Be a good linguist to help the engineers. Be a great salesman and use the best finances to get it to all corners of India. Use the technology!

Everyone can understand, read, write and speak all languages. Wah.. now pinch me!!

Pictures used from: Wiki, bemoneyaware, blog.wisefaq, brighthub, pnrstatus.co.in, dailymail.co.uk, marketingmag.com.au, hearbudz, telecomcircle and techmaza.org. All credit to the original rights holders.

Images from: coastaldigest, mangaloremath.wordpress, corruptcongress.wikia and oppanna

10/21/14--01:30: Flush Out Pessimism.. India is changing for good!

I still see a lot of pessimism about the new projects of Government of India.
I want to write in more detail here.

Wake up Indians and NRIs.. Lots of self made leaders have come up. Nirmala Sitharaman arm twisted even the powerful American lobby at WTO meet by demanding that trade facilitation has to be simultaneous with other demands of India. Even Sonia Gandhi's trusted big name Anand Sharma had compromised last time, which this first time minister has set right. Uma Bharti is on the ground trying to clean up Ganga which is a project as tough as climbing Mount Everest on one leg. The Jan Dhan Yojna is pushed by younger team so successfully, that over 7 crore new bank accounts are opened in India in just 2 months. This speed of financial inclusiveness has never happened in India's history! C'mon.. we are talking about 7,00,00,000+ bank accounts in 8 weeks, with automatic life insurance coverage and debit card, in a country where it takes 3 visits for even KYC document for existing bank account in a city bank!

India's inflation is at 5 year low. Mumbai saw a more than 3 Rupees Diesel price cut for the first time in a long time (last time was 2 rupees cut in 2009 Jan!). Indian markets are euphoric and performing better than most world markets. Naxals are surrendering in record numbers. I read recently that there has been a 20 fold increase in maoist terrorists leaving the path of terrorism in the heart of India, and joining mainstream. I saw pictures of CRPF jawans actually carrying surrendered naxals over their shoulders, giving them a mainstream society welcome. The Nehruvian central planning commission which was the white elephant slowing Indian economy is being dismantled. IMF just issued a statement that India will be a $2 Trillion economy this year itself! And might overtake Italy, Brazil and Russian GDPs before Modi's first term ends..

Never before a 1 lakh crore fund for entrepreneurs was setup by the government. I attended a seminar on how young Indians can get into manufacturing entrepreneurship. I was shocked at the energy level.. They are talking about so many start up ideas, while 3 years back 60% was just about IT industry start ups. Smart City is another topic that every MP and MLA is trying to encash on for his or her popularity.

In 1999 when the cyclone hit Odisha, 10,000 Indians died within 48 hours. The land fall speed of that cyclone was nearly 250KM ph.
Just last week, Hudhud cyclone hit not far from there, at Visakhapatnam, AP. The preparation and coordination of both AP state govt and central govt was so good, that in spite of 175+ KM land fall of the cyclone, only 24 people died within the first 48 hours. Yes 24 is also bad, but look at the progress ISRO, meteorological scientists and overall disaster relief of India has come through in the past 15 years. From 10,000 deaths to 0.24% of that 15 years later, is no mean achievement. I don't care if NDA1, UPA1, UPA2 or NDA2 takes credit. But all I say is that, there is no need to feel pessimistic about India any more.

In 2003, when Vajpayee announced Chandrayaan and pushed the scientists, it was of tall order. Not only India has exceeded Chandrayaan expectation since then, it also created all sorts of records in Mangalyaan cost. You would have heard about the euphoria at Madison Square Garden on this.. The heart burn was so big that NY Times even resorted to a racist cartoon which it had to later pull out with apology. In European papers, jasmine flower clad Indian women in saree were prominently displayed as the new face of space scientists! This particular Modi style "dono mutthi band karke" pose was in dozens of country's news papers, bringing India a new recognition.

And regarding working hours - talk to anyone visiting government offices in Dilli. Officers are there on time. Even ministers are considering it as a punishment to work under Modi now as they have to be in office till late night. All the 4 PM booking for happy hours at trendy establishments are slowing from babus. And every project, and every detail is instantly put online so transparency is at it's best level that I have seen.

Regarding the pet project of Modi, the Swacch Bharat (Clean India), I am getting 3 to 5 Swacch Bharat pictures from youngsters across India who have taken it as a challenge to clean up India. I have seen 100s of people who come from a foreign visit to India, and they start about bad mouthing the Indian "filth". Modi is the first man I have seen, who actually came back from a foreign trip, and the very next morning, had a broom in his hand cleaning up a police station's compound!!

I was so happy to see 16 and 17 year old students from a Bengaluru PU college, cleaning up a 500 year old temple pond in straight 7 hours, with no specialized tools or help. Modi's mantra of swacch Bharat has caught the imagination of India and things are going really well.

Here's another example from Rajahmundry, AP.

India is changing from bottom up as well as top down. And it's being led in most cases by young India - those in 15 to 35 age group. Their energy is mind blowing!

I heard in a recent seminar a very cautious words: India's greatest asset between 2015 and 2050 is its demographic dividend. If this is not managed well, or if anarchists and anti-India violent guys are allowed to brain wash them, it will turn into a demographic disaster. The choice is yours. Particularly the well informed, globe-trotting, rich Indians should be in the fore front of guiding young India to realize it's potential and reclaim the 25% share of world GDP that India had for 1700 out of the past 2000 years.

Flush out pessimism, irrespective of your political ideology. We are at the beginning of a very long and steep climb into prominence!

Picture credit: Hindu, NIE and Social media

11/03/14--02:07: Kannada and Marathi: So Much In Common!

In the November 1st Rajyotsava special massive issue of Kannada Prabha (over 150 pages!), I spotted a fabulous essay by Dr. Karjoo Katkar. The title read: "The literary Ganga, that came crossing the border". Started reading, though I was in a hurry as I had only 5 minutes. But it was so interesting, that I ended up reading fully.

Then decided, I must blog the highlights from Dr. Katkar's research. His email ID is in the picture attached. So here I go.. The main purpose is to inform the people of today's Karnataka and Maharashtra, how overlapping their history has been over the past 1500+ years! This is possibly one of the closest sister language cultural evolution in India.

Origin of Kannada and Karnataka:
The word Kannada was also used as "Desha suchaka" or geographical historically, in addition to a linguistic denotation. In 850 CE, Kaviraja Marga literary work had this in Halegannda (old Kannada):

Kaveriyinda maa Godavarivaramirda
Naadada KannadadoL
Bhavisida janapadam vasudhavalaya
vileena vishada vishesham.

Basically the Rashtrakuta Emperor Nripatunga Amoghavarsha is telling here that "Kannada Nadu" extended from Kaveri till Godavari in the 9th century CE.

First occurrence "Karnataka":
Dr. Ketkar shows that in Mahabharata, in the Sabha Parva and Bhishma Parva, the word Karnataka is found. Among Hindu Puranas from 1000s of years ago, Skanda Purana, Vishnu Purana and Padma Purana have the mentions of "Karnataka". In the Sanskrit mega drama Mriccha katika of Shudraka from around 400 CE, there is a sentence "Karnataka kalaha prayogam karomi". In the Tamil epic Silappatikaram, which is believed to be from 600 CE, "Karunaadar" is used to refer to the people of Karnataka.

Origin of Marathi and Maharashtra:
In Vararuchi's (most likely Katyayana from 3rd century BC) vyakarana (grammar) texts, the word "Maharashtra" is found. Even though the rashtra or nation/state that we know today didn't exist then, it is said that the term was with respect. Per scholars, "Shesham Maharashreevat" and "Maharashtree" were found in some ancient kavyas (prose), denoting the current location of Maharashtra. Some say the same became "Marahatta" and later "Marahti". Per Saroji Babar, the 6th century Pali literary work "Mahavamshi" (most likely this link from Sri Lanka) refers to Maharashtra as "Maha ratta".

The 13th century Mahanubhava book has "Maharashtra" word. Per Dr. Bhandarkar, "Varhada" or "Varhata" people later became Marathi people. Per Dr. Ketkar's "Marashtra Sanskriticha Itihas", Varhata was the original Maharashtra. The Varhata people migrated from their original place (which I don't know from where), to Krishna Godavari area, culminating in Maharashtra. In the 1190 CE's "LeeLa Charitra", there is a mention of "saari laksha Maharashtra tehi vasavile Ganga teero Triambako vheri". In the 10th century's Dhanapala's "Bhavisya yatta kaha" work, "Verada" word is there which the author suspects as the original word of "Marhada".

In the 779 CE Udyotana Soori's "Kuvayala Malaa Kahaa" work, "Marahatti" word is found. A poet from Kolhapur, Karnapaya wrote "Neminath Purana", which refers to Maharashtra. He's believed to be from 1160 CE per researchers.

The oldest Marathi inscription is actually found in south Karnataka:

The oldest Marathi shila shasana (stone or other inscriptions) was incidentally found in Karnataka's Shravana beLagoLa, very famous for the world's largest monolithic stone statue of Jain Gomateshwara or Bahunbali. Shravana beLagoLa is having more than 2000 years of Jain dharma's history and is one of the world's most holy places for Jains.

At the feet of Bahubali's statue there's an inscription "Shri Chavundaraje karaveeyale" and"Gangaraje suttale karaveeyale". These are believed to be the earliest Marathi inscriptions ever found. Chavundaraya's age is somewhere in the 9th century CE. So Marathi might have existed by then.

Marathi in ancient and medieval Kannada literature:
In the first major poet of Kannada, Adi Kavi Pampa's"Adi Purana" from 941 CE, there is a mention of Maharashtra. In his other work "Bharata", he uses "are hoi" from Drona's mouth praising Arjuna. In another Kannada writer Mahakavi Janna's"Anantantha Purana", there is "Uthi Uthi maagaa baisa jaa tu haLoo" (get up, get up, slowly go and sit in the back) Marathi sentence!

Then Vachana sahitya (literary work) period of the 12th century in Kannada, which flourished into the Lingayat or Veerashaiva movement resulting in the largest single group of people in Karnataka today, also has plenty of Marathi words. For instance, the famous vachana composer Allama Prabhu's one vachana has this.

"Hendatiyillada ganDange
aaru maanisa makkaLu
akhanDita guheshwara haa niraaLu re"

Similarly Sonnalagi Siddarama's or Sonnalagi Siddheshwar's vachanas have Marathi words. Even though he's a Kannadiga, he is worshiped as the "Grama devata" or village deity of Solapur in today's Maharashtra by Marathi people too. There's even a beautiful Siddheshwargad for this saint and poet.

Even Basavanna the founder of Lingayat philosophy and Channa Basavanna's vachanas have a few Marathi words.

Poet Chandratmaja Rudra has written both in Marathi and Kannada. Per Pandit Avalikar, he was a great bridge between Marathi and Kannada literature. His Bhamini's Kannada poems are now found. Similarly Kakhandaki's Mahipati dasa (1640-1705 CE) wrote in both Kannada and Marathi. So far 754 keertanas of Mahipati dasa have been found. Out of them, 45 are in Marathi and rest in Kannada.

Sindhagi in Vijayapura (Bijapur) district of Karnataka had a great Kannada writer called Jakkappaiah.

His "Khanda kavya" is found both Kannada and Marathi.

"Ganesha Amba Vishnu Samba Sura Kadamba vanduni!
Dinesha sadguru paresha pada padma chituni!!
aaga baLikallinda kapivrindamam kuDi!
Raghavendra tenkaDala teerake baralu
pogi kaambuvenendu banda Vibheeshanage Lankadhipatya koTTa"

The above is a story about Vibheeshana in Ramayana by Jakkappaiah, in the same verse of the same chapter, in both Marathi and Kannada! Such examples are very rare to find today. And it keeps happening the same way throughout his Khanda Kavya work.

Kannada in ancient and medieval Marathi literature:
Maharashtra's Varakari panth and Karnataka's Dasa panthas were of the same era. Both thrive in Krishna or Vitthala bhakti (devotion). Marathi saints have openly announced that the Pandharapur's Vitthala or Vitthoba is of Kannada origin.

The great Marathi sant, Jnaneshwar or Dnyaneshwar sang this:

"KaanaDa ho Vitthala Karnataku
yeNi maja laavile vedhim"

Meaning, Vitthala came to Pandharapur from Karnataka. Per Dr.Katkar, scholars have identified many Kannada words in Jnaneshwar's famous commentary on Bhagavad Gita,Dnyaneshwari. The famous researcher Sham Ba Joshi even went to the extent of saying"If one has to fully understand Dnyaneshwari, he or she must know Kannada well". The father of South Indian Carnatic classical music, Purandara Dasa, has translated some songs of Dnyaneshwar from Marathi into Kannada.

Dnyaneshwar must have known Kannada very well.

One of Dnyaneshwar's abhanga is fully in Kannada.

"Akka nee keLe chikkana maatu
karaledasige maruLaadane |
cheluvaane cheluvaane Pandharirayaa
cheluvaane elli korakuvanee ||
Pundaleekana bhaktige bandaa
rukhumaadevi varavithalane"

The great Vachana writers in Kannada used words like Shunya, Linga, Lingabheda, Gurulinga, Shunyalinga, Aradhyalinga kind of words. Dnyanehwar has used those repeatedly in his works in Marathi.

Vithaabai was another Marathi saint. Her Abhangs too have mention of Karnataka. Sant Eknath respected Kannada with this sentence "Navo KaanaDi bhashaa". His works have many Kannada words. Marathi bhakti poet/saint Eknath and Kannada bhakti poet/saint Kanakadasa were of the same era. Eknath's bhaaruDas and Kanakadasa's manDiges have lot of overlapping inspirations.

Marathi literature has a special place for Mukteshwar. He was the grandson of Sant Eknath. Mukteshwar's father Balakrishna used to live in today's Karnataka's Gadag district's Dhambala. There's a temple on the banks of Tungabhadra's Chowdadanapura for this Mukteshwar. Per SB Joshi, Mukteshwar who translated Mahabharata into Marathi, was greatly influenced by the famous Kannada author Kumara Vyasa or Narayanappa from Gadag, who lived a few decades before Mukteshwar.

Here is what Mukteshwar accepts the inspiration from Kumara Vyasa's Gadugina Bharata:

"Majhu Sankrit naahi abhyasa
Karnataka kavi Kumaravyasa
tyacheni aadhar granth vilasa
prarambhila haa hetu"

And as we all know, Sant Ramdas has a special place in Marathi history. He exclaimed like this:
"Chitrakala naana naTaka maNani naam Karnataka" meaning Karnataka is named as that because of plenty for drawing and dramas (nataka).

Gurla Hosur's avadhuta Chidambara Dikshit's biography is there in Marathi. His shishya Rajarama wrote his Abhangas in Marathi. But his samadhi is in Belagavi district's Govaves area.

Chhatrapati Shivaji's family connection with Karnataka:
Shivaji maharaj is an iconic figure in Indian history and particularly Maharashtra. Dr. Katkar digs in many of Shivaji's family ties with today's Karnataka. He even goes to the extent of tracing some ancestry connection of Shivaji's family name Bhonsale with the Kannada dynasty Hoysala, and to Soratur village in Karnataka. He uses Dr. RC Dhere's Marathi research to back his claims. I know that the ancestry part will get controversial, so let's leave it at that mention.

Shivaji's father Shahaji Maharaj was the Governor of Bengaluru area under Adil Shahi patronage. He was in charge of Doddaballapur, Tumakur, Kunigal, Chikkanayanaka Halli and Ramagiridurga areas. B Muddachari has detailed the life of Shahaji in Bengaluru area in his book "Mysore-Maratha Bandhavya".

Shahaji died in Karnataka. His samadhi is at a village called Hodigere in Davanagere district.

Shivaji's elder brother Sambhaji Bosale had fought wars in Karnataka. He too died in Karnataka and has a samadhi in a village called Kanakapura in Koppala district.

So the two close relatives of Shivaji, his father and brother, have samadhis in central Karnataka.

When the Moghals chased Shivaji's son Rajaram Chhatrapati, he was sheltered by Rani Keladi Chennamma in Karnataka (different from Kittur Chennamma). When Belawadi Mallamma fought a war against Marathas using an all woman army, he saw his mother Jija Bai's image in her. He respected her and sent her back.

Overall, Shivaji's family and their ties to Karnataka are intense.

Finally..

We have seen the extensive influence of Marathi in ancient/medieval Kannada literature. We have seen the indisputable influence of Kannada on ancient/medieval Marathi literature. We have seen the historical relations involving temples and kings. And there's more during modern times.

Lavani, is a type of folk music and story telling that is popular both in Marathi and Kannada.
Many sacred temples frequented by Marathi and Kannada people are common.
Dress, marriage, festivals and other cultural aspects are quite close in the border districts.
Food is highly influenced both sides in border districts.
Researcher Vitthal Ramji Shinde (1873-1944) documented the closeness of Kannada and Marathi, using Bala Gangadhar Tilak's article in 1923's Kesari.
Marathi literature's famous Pula Deshpande's mother is from Karnataka.
Famous Kannada writers Da Ra Bendre (Jnanapeetha winner), Sham Ba Joshi, A R Toro all were having Marathi mother tongue.
Maharashtra hugged famous Karnataka musicians like Bhimsen Joshi and Kumar Gandharva.

The list is endless...

Let me attach the full page article in Kannada from Dr. Katkar, in two parts here, for those who want to download/zoom and read.

My thanks to Dr. Sarjoo Katkar for giving us lots of information to know how close the Marathi and Kannada cultures and civilizations have been :)

Picture credits: Wiki and Kannada Prabha

12/04/14--03:54: How Modi is Changing Global Perspective of India

Before Narendra Modi became the PM of India in May 2014, a huge campaign was launched by the media and politicians against him. Without going into the lengthy details, it is sufficient to note that he was snubbed as a man unable to get US Visa since 2005, a “regional leader”, a man who will do harm to India's image internationally and so on. The hatred towards Modi was so deep among the so-called secular society people of India that 65 MPs went to the extent of begging the President of United States of America to disallow Modi from coming to US, on a signed letter on an Indian parliamentarian's letter-head. Height of it!

Also, the confidence level on India among the key global investors was low.

One of the world's biggest consulting firm, McKinsey's CEO DominicBarton came on record recently summing up how the investors felt about India before Modi came on board:

"I was not (advising clients to come to India) two years ago because it was complicated... and companies and clients were deeply frustrated with the bureaucracy, no decisions getting made. Companies were saying... let us go to Africa, let us go to Nigeria, let us go to Indonesia, let us just go to the US, but that has changed. I think because if you look at the trends that are going on in the world, India is right in the centre"

And things changed.. changed swiftly since India got its first full majority government in 30 years, and the first independent Prime Minister in a decade.

By the time this article is written, Modi has already met 45 world leaders in just 6 months. These leaders are covering every inhabited continent of this planet! He is generating tremendous euphoria and positive vibration among global leaders and investors about India, which was considered as a sleeping giant till now.

So how did he do it?

For starters, Modi began his foreign diplomacy right from the word go. For his swearing in ceremony on May 16, 2014, he invited all the SAARC leaders. Needless to emphasize, even the Pakistani PM came and Modi started off with a very positive note in the immediate neighbourhood. Bhutan's leader said that Modi's swearing in was almost a mini SAARC summit! Now that's a very smart start to his international diplomacy.

Then he started his first international visit in June 2014 to Bhutan. People expect a PM to first look at big and powerful countries, but BJP's ways are very different. They started with a tiny neighbour that is having just 1/13th the population of Bengaluru city, but is strategically important between India and Tibet (China).

Next stop? 14,500 KM away in Brazil. When the whole world was gripped with Worldcup football fever, Modi was quietly working with his team on important positioning of India at the BRICS summit. India gave well thought out presents to the players for good will and came up with good initiatives. South Africa, Brazil, China and Russia were handled diligently. By the time BRICS summit was over, India was positioned to head the brand new BRICS' $100 billion new Development bank. This was an unprecedented move as the strategic vision is to give an alternative to IMF and World Bank in the long run. A completely new pole for international bank assistance that is outside North America and Europe! Big victory scored and eye brows already up in Washington, Berlin and London.

With a huge win up his sleeve just in 6 weeks of becoming PM, Modi now focused back on the immediate neighbourhood. Kathmandu in Nepal, just 100 minutes flight from India's capital, was snubbed by previous Indian PMs for 17 long years. This obviously has reasons originating from Rajiv Gandhi's disastrous Nepal policy when India imposed economic blockade on Nepal in 1989. Narendra Modi's was the first bilateral visit by an Indian PM in 17 years and the repair start process is swift and clean. A key Himalayan state that is a buffer between India and Tibet (China) was let to turn anti India over the past decades due to bad policies. Now things are quickly healing. Another strategic win for India.

Then Modi played his cards very smartly. He had visited Japan as a CM of Gujarat and had good rapport. He knows how to pit Japan against China, and China against US and so on. His diplomatic chess game is paying off big time. Japan agreed within hours to invest $35 billion in India over the next few years. That's a lot of money, almost double of what Japan was saying before! More importantly, this investment is strategically invited in Bullet Trains, smart cities and other badly needed infrastructure for 1.23 billion Indians.

Not just the robust political and diplomatic discussions, Modi also won the hearts in Japan by being a sportive foreign visitor. He sat for Japanese style tea, played with kids, and even played drums. But he didn't forget to link India's heritage city Varanasi with Kyoto to make a point on cultural side too.

As expected, Modi now expected a different perspective from China, Japan's enemy. China's head of state, Xi Jinping visited India in September. This was a Chinese head of state's third visit in 2000 years to the neighbouring India. That shows how strained the relationships have been and how cut off-ed the neighbours have been. Not to mention, China's dual strategy of pinching India at the border with aggression, and then doing smooth talk at trade meets. Modi clearly and openly raised the border issue with China, without trying to be politically correct during a head-of-state visit. Of course, this is something China did not expect after seeing weak governments in India before. Beyond border and other discussions, Modi was able to extract a pledge from China to invest $20 billion over the next 5 years. Note that China has hardly invested anything in India till date. Some figures I have seen show that only $1 billion or so from China into India over the past 2 decades! So this 20 billion $ number is quite a huge number showing the importance of India with China now.

Then Modi focused where the whole world was expecting him to focus. The Uncle Sam!
Here is a man who was in the Visa news for 9 years, suddenly setting up a very high profile itinerary in New York and Washington. Many people were expecting him to keep grudge against US, but like a mature statesman, he opened up his arms and hugged USA in style. He gave UN a lecture on how to run the world, at UN itself! It is stunning that a PM from a developing country can go to UN and give it a lecture on how to run the world affairs better. Then came his most magical moment. The Madison Square Garden. The event was such an extravaganza, paid for by Indians living in America, it caught international attention. #ModiInAmerica was the world's topmost trend on Twitter that day. Nearly 30 US Congressmen, Senators and top leaders came and stood on the stage on a Sunday afternoon. That by itself was something unheard of for any foreign head of state in US. His talks about Mangalyaan and others truly turned the table on the image of India and it's potential.

And PM Modi's speech was classy with crowd going into applause every other minute. He brought in many key issues like keeping India clean, Making in India and investing in India.

Then his visit to Central park, then to other areas, and finally a meeting with Barack Obama. Obama showed extreme interest by taking Modi himself to Marin Luther King memorial!

Not just the image make over for India as "India has arrived", Modi also used his trip very efficiently to sell India's opportunities to 11 Fortune 500 CEOs over a breakfast meeting. Whatever he does, he always has India's job creation in mind. That's a great asset for India. Modi's super success at USA, in spite of his strict fasting schedule during Navaratri, must have been a true heartburn for those 65 MPs who had begged Obama to not let Modi in. These #65Traitors as they were called on social media would have had a hard time to sleep after seeing a rock star reception for Modi, in spite of one trouble making Indian journo trying to spoil the show.

To ice the cake, Modi met with the Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu. This was the first Indian PM meeting with Israeli PM in over a decade. That shows how keenly Modi is playing his cards. While at it India was also balancing the foreign relationship with those who despise Israel in the region. Modi govt had carefully worked to secure the safe release of over 40 nurses from Kerala from ISIS terrorists. Modi govt also voted in UN and gave pledge to Palestine, but without affecting Israeli relationship. Nice balancing act of a statesman.

Now that Modi had captured the attention of the world at BRICS, Japan and USA, his next focus was looking east. Before heading east, India was already working on opening up a 4 lane highway to drive all the way from North East India to Vietnam, via Thailand and Cambodia. Just 3 more years :)

And he hosted the Vietnam's head of state Nguyen Tan Dung in India. This was strategically important as Vietnam is in a tough conflict with China over South China sea. And being a strategic thinker, Modi tried to check mate China here with apromise to supply naval vessels to Vietnam, in spite of China's protests. This is the first time India ever stood up with guts to China's bullying, while keeping up the dialogue with China!

After sufficiently taking care of SAARC and other immediate regions, Modi headed east now to Myanmar. The tough cookie of the neighbourhood, this secretive country has for long been a China's ally. Modi did a variety of things for smoother Indo-Myanmar relationships. The strategic ASEAN meetings, bilateral issues with Myanmar and more importantly a tough stand on South China sea to keep China guessing. And, just after 6 weeks, Modi again met with President Obama who in turn called Modi a man of action!

Now to Australia. Modi charmed the guests at the G20 summit in Australia. Modi mania was gripping Australia. For the first time ever, a special Modi train was arranged to get people to Sydney for this AllPhones arena extravaganza. And when he mentioned there that it takes just one overnight flight to come to Australia, but it took the Indian PM 28 yearsto get there, people just fell in love with him. His speech was as magical as his Madison Square Garden gala, if not better.

Watch from 1:55:00 onwards: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ju3wC_6klfg&feature=player_detailpage#t=6940

His calls in Australia for investment and partnership was well received. Just like in US, here also he talked of OCI and PIO improvements, and in fact what the government had done since US visit. Skill development and cleaning up India were his calls for help needed from Australia. Modi not only charmed the business and political leaders, he also charmed a 3 year old Indian origin girl in Australia by showing special interest!

Then Modi showed his magic in the south Pacific. For those not familiar, south Pacific islands, over a dozen of them, are independent voting countries in the UN. Whenever India has a need for large number of votes, likely in cases of mischief from Pakistan, these could come handy. They vote en-bloc in most cases.

So Modi did something no Indian PM ever thought of till date. He called for a summit of SouthPacific nations in Fiji. Not only that he is the first Indian PM to visit Fiji in over 3 decades, he also managed to keep all the south Pacific islands aligned with India. Incredible diplomacy and statesman skills of a supposedly "regional leader"! Even when dealing with Fiji, which has over 4 lakh Indian origin people, Modi balanced the economic assistance with diplomatic support.

Now back to the immediate neighbourhood. After an unofficial SAARC summit during his swearing in itself, Modi headed to represent India in the SAARC summit in Nepal. Here lots of meetings, proposals and of course, a carefully planned snub to Pakistani PM Nawaz Sharif for the misadventure of Pakistan at the border during the prior weeks. In fact, Pakistani journalists reported that India's shelling response to Pakistan's shelling in 2014 was worse than 1971 war! So a strong leader had shown what Indian army could and should do for any misadventure of Pakistan.

Just like in Australia, he stopped the convoy to meet the people standing for his sight. And he was a super hit among Nepali people. India has again captured the minds of Nepalese, after the disastrous economic sanctions of Congress government in 1980s, that pushed Nepalese towards Chinese. Similarly he is repairing the relationship with other immediate neighbours. Sri Lankan President Rajapaksa went to the extent of openly praising Narendra Modi's foreign policy for the release of five Indian fishermen who were facing death row in Sri Lanka!

Similarly Pakistan released Indian fishermen from Karachi. Modi launched the bus service to Kathmandu in Nepal. He is talking to Bangladesh about the resolution of the decades old complicated enclave problem in the border areas.

So Modi addressed the parliaments of many countries. He met 45 world leaders in just 6 months. He has traveled more in the first 6 months as PM than any other PM in India's history. This immediately after he traveled the most miles by any politician in human history for 2014 election campaign! He has dazzled the Indian origin people abroad. He has signed significant treaties. He has charmed G20, SAARC, BRICS, ASEAN and South Pacific summits. He has given a lecture toUN itself in UN. Here's a man who has shown strong will to portray India's military might, young labour potential, entrepreneurial spirit and a definite aim to dominate the 21st century.

How did the world business community watch and react to this monumental vote for change in India during 2014?

In addition to all these foreign trips and diplomacy, Modi had initiated a long list of good governance tasks in India over the past six months. We can talk about them in another article, but it is sufficient to say that he is putting India's governance on the right track. So the initial results are already here.

The world's biggest whiteshoe consulting firm's CEO, Dominc Barton says Modi has turned India into a magnet! This coming within 6 months of BJP govt speaks volumes as these CEOs advice big fund managers on billions of dollars worth of investment.

India's factory growth in November 2014 is the highest in 2 years. Investors are watching Indian factories closely. Eight core industries of India were stagnating at nearly 0% growth in Oct 2013. In Oct 2014, growing at 6.3%! Foreign investors are waiting to invest now. Global oil prices are helping BJP govt as petrol, diesel and gas prices have come down, helping inflation cut back to five year lows. More than 1 lakh crore Rupees poured into Indian markets this year.. The MOST into any developing country! S&P BSE Sensex has soared 35%.

On the Corruption Perception index from Transparency International that all international investors watch closely, India is now ranked 85th best in the world out of 175. That's nine spots better than 2013's ranking which is sending positive signals that a government in India is ready to tackle corruption.

In fact, India is now ranked less corrupt than China for the first time in 18 Years! The influential Wall Street Journal highlighted this to the whole world. Business Insider went a step further and said, India is the Last BRIC standing. India needs access to foreign capital, advanced technology, resources, lots of energy, newer markets and skill set. For that, India should have a secure environment, a peaceful neighbourhood and a stable world as parliament was told, and most importantly, an open and stable global trading system.

Here's a man who has shown in just six months that he is very much capable of making India stand up to the challenges. He is not remote controlled like the prior one, nor tied down by coalition dharma. He's independent, excellent statesman and a brilliant strategist. Plus, has a very good team supporting him.

Next big show for NRIs? England's Wembley stadium in January with nearly a lakh people! Modi's 2015 schedule is already on the public domain, unlike the secretive foreign trips of prior government's power corners. For the first time in India's history, the President of USA will be at the Republic day march as chief guest. This in spite of India taking on US at WTO aggressively. Modi might have Chinese, Russian and US heads of states visit India within 8 months duration, which is a solid statement of engagement from the world.

India.. Your acche din are visible on the global trade and foreign relationship side. Here's a very hard working, smart gentleman in charge. Rejoice and expect more!

Images from: indianexpress, indiafacts and southpacificislandsforests.blogspot. Thank you!

02/03/15--04:08: Kumara Parvata - A dream trekking experience!!

I got a message from friend Bharath in early January that he is planning for a trekking trip to Kumara Parvata, near Kukke Subrahmanya in the Western Ghats of Karnataka. After initial shock hearing 10 hours of travel overnight, and then trekking 20 to 30 KM, then returning another 10 hours overnight, I said.. sorry boss.. I don't think my body can take that now.

Then he insisted after a couple of days. Change in plans.. Only 7 hours of trip. He ended up making me sign up for this. And I should really thank him for this wonderful attempt. Because, this was one of the best treks of my life!!

See the pics and watch the videos.. you will know what I mean!

In a nut shell, we had to travel from Bengaluru to Somwarpete in Kodagu district, and then to Beeda Halli where the forest office's gate is there for trekking the Pushpagiri mountain range. Kumara Parvata is the highest peak in the Pushpagiri forest range. There are two ways to climb to Kumara Parvata (Kumara, is the name of Lord Shiva's second son Subrahmanya or Murugan or Kartikeya - Parvata means Mountain or peak). One from the popular temple destination of Kukke Subrahmanya which is in the Dakshina Kannada district. The other, the easier option is what we took, from Kodagu district. Most importantly, don't try all by yourself. Take someone who has done this before. This is NOT for beginners or even mid level trekkers. Take my suggestion very seriously, as we had 3 in our team who had climbed among themselves, a total of 25 times!

Indicative route map - image courtesy coorg.xyz

Once we reached the area near Beeda Halli by 4.30 AM, we had nice Uppittu at a home stay. After freshening up and eating plenty of carbohydrates, we prayed at the age old Shiva temple near the forest office gate. Our enthusiasm and energy levels at a peak level just before the start.

Thanks to Lokesh Raju for this excellent pic

Then carefully analyzing the path of our trek. Playing with nice puppies at the gate. Sending our TT driver away by road to get to Subrahmanya while we reach there either in the night, or next day.

The highest peak Kumara Parvata is about 5617 feet above sea level. Shesha Parvata is at 5086 feet. With two massive peaks above 5000 feet to conquer, the biggest advantage of climbing up from Kodagu district (Beedara Halli) is that we only have to climb 712 meters or about 2336 feet. The distance is approximately 7 KM. If you try the climb from Kukke Subrahmanya, which is in Dakshina Kannada district, your climb would be at least 15 KM in distance and 1600 Meters (5250 feet) of climb. So you are talking about half the elevation to climb if you go from east to west, instead of the other way, as the steep descent of the mighty western ghats is visible on the western side. Send your vehicle with driver to the other side (3 hours by road). Either way, without fail carry a sleeping bag, at least 5 liters of water per person, good carbohydrate food and a tent to stay overnight in chilly windy peaks. Do NOT try a single day trekathon (2 of our guys did it) from sun rise to sun set, unless you are a very experienced climber with very little weight to carry on your back. Stay overnight at one of the marked peaks or areas.

Image courtesy: vishwanaths.wordpress.com

The first hour was lots of fun. Singing, photographing and loving the early morning stay in some of the thickest rain forest ranges of the planet. Bliss.

After another hour, it started getting tiring. Here is some video commentary from that position.

After 3 hours, we were really cursing, why did we take such heavy tents.. But the scenery was amazing.. rest and watch after every few minutes.

The climb from the east is essentially 3 hours through thick forests, then 2 big boulders to climb (you have to crawl, if you are not experienced), and then just 10 minutes from the peak, you will see this saffron flag welcoming you to the holy peak!

Here is how you climb one of the two big boulders. It's not for beginners, I repeat! And also, no children allowed on this trekking trail. So only adults in good health, who can climb for hours, in good mountain climbing shoes should get here. There is absolutely no help anywhere in sight, if you need it during emergencies. Try to avoid rainy seasons as it rains very heavily here. These are some of the tallest and wettest peaks in India outside the Himalayan range.

After 4.5 hours, 2100+ feet of climb across 7 KM, we finally made it before noon to the great Kumara Parvata peak. Lots of joy there.. Jai Shri Ram slogans, pooja at the small Shiva temples, photographs, discussions and fun time. In short, YES WE DID IT moments :) We ended up showing the small forest office 7 KM away, from where we made it to this majestic point.

With all euphoria of conquering the sacred Kumara Parvata's peak, we headed west now. Next stop Shesha Parvata, just 45 minutes away. On the peak of Shesha Parvata, with Kumara Parvata (KP) and Siddhara Betta (un-conquerable) backdrop, we had our lunch.

Isn't this a dream spot for the packed chapati and dry subzi lunch?

And my heart close to my mouth when some of our guys are trying things too risky with over 4000 feet of steep fall at the edges!

Along with height, this was also the peak of our energy levels.. From now on-wards, the real difficulty starts. Climbing down over 15 KM, finding a place to camp and rest for the night, and managing the steep climb down amidst some of the harshest conditions.. It is REALLY tough!

From a distance, things look easy.

But as you climb down, every step is challenging. It is slippery sand.. odd shaped pebbles and tightly packed odd shaped stones. Every step has to be careful or else you can fall or twist your ankle. Heavy on your knees and this is where you need lots of fluid consumption to keep up your energy and focus.

This was our original camping destination. The Kallu Mantapa (stone structure). But we moved on as water source was not good considering the nearing summer season.

At every few 100 feet, we see a person climbing up from the Kukke side. We ask them.. how far is Bhattara Mane (Bhatta's house, which is the ONLY place where we can get food, water, sleeping place and toilets during the entire trekking stretch). We were told, see that green area after the dry spots.. That's where it is. We were less than "one hour" away each time..

But it took a grueling 4 hours of climb down from the Shesha parvata to get near Bhattara Mane.

With all energy out.. stomach crying for a decent meal.. we set up the camps that we carried with so much difficulty all along. But it was WORTH it! I wouldn't describe much.. but we got at least 10 other tents as company near Bhattara Mane in the night. Talks, games, watching the bright stars from the camp during midnight, enjoying the gossip in a rain forest area.. it was heavenly!!

While waiting for dinner at Bhatta's home, we enjoyed the magnificent sun set.

Then the 90 minutes of wait for dinner was the longest in my life.. it felt like that. But the hot rice, saaru, butter milk and pickle seemed like heaven!!! After a whole day of climb and descent, after conquering nearly 20 KM of a tough stretch across the western ghats, this dinner along with 100 other folks was so tasty and so fulfilling.

Then the night at the camp till 5.30 AM wake up calls. Oh.. did I tell you that we slept not far from the elephant corridor in Karnataka, the state with the largest number of wild elephants in India? :)

All we had to do was trek down another 2 to 3 hours to reach Kukke Subrahmanya temple. Two of our friends already did the trekathon and reached in the evening itself. And the pleasant January chilly morning was ideal for us to trek down. We were well fed in the evening. Our knee pains had vanished with some good sleep.

But climbing down from Bhattara Mane is really scenic. It's tough. It's slippery and steep small rocks with each step, but really enjoyable. (Or maybe we had rest, so it was enjoyable).

After nearly 2 hours, reached the "Bheemana Bande" (Bhima's boulder). It's so awesome that I slept there for a few minutes. Took selfies from all sides. Even if someone charges me a few 1000 Rupees to sleep on it for 20 minutes, I would do that :)

And after a grueling 27 hours and over 25 KM of walking.. and most importantly after climbing up 2500 feet and climbing down nearly 5000 feet, we had done it! We reached the Kukke Subrahmanya side of the trekking path. The end!

Then some nice refreshing time.. Swimming and bathing in Kumara Dhara river.. It's considered a sacred river where your skin gets purified of all diseases.

Then a nice darshan of Subrahmanya Bhagawan at the temple. Tasty food and...

heading back fully refreshed, relaxed in spite of a grueling trek, and thoroughly excited :)

Go do this trek. You have 4 ways to capture Kumara Parvata.
Start from near Somwarpete like we did and end trekking down to Kukke (for this you need someone to take your vehicle on road while you trek).
Start from Kukke and do the trek till Somwarpete area. Again someone needs to drive your vehicle.
Start from Somwarapete and get back the same way. The easiest way!
Start from Kukke and get back to Kukke. This would be the most difficult way. You might need 2 full days, unless you are really a pro in trekking.

No matter which way you pick, carry lots of water, very light luggage, preferably individual tents and not heavy ones like we did, someone experienced with you, some pain killers/ muscle sprays, a small first aid kit, fully charged mobile phones (some areas you get signal) and a refreshed & well hydrated body! Have lots of fun.

160+ Pictures here if you want to browse through. Most have comments detailing the situation:
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/110981894709471519856/albums/6107115113582064705

Some videos if you have time or planning to conquer this really tough mountain range!

After 2 hours of climb, this is where we were:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=slvHJqHq-4E

You can hear me huffing and puffing after a big boulder climb. But I can assure you, if you reach this spot, your adrenaline kick would be so high, you would immediately decide to go back again!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWrrkFUg8CI

Do you plan on carrying a big camp? Watch this and then decide for yourself :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZs3NR4MSsk

And how can our friends miss the opportunity to loudly chant "Jai Shriram" after conquering one of the most difficult peaks in India?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti6pXhRYPlo

Two small Shiva temples exists on the top of Kumara Parvata.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WUBwYNaHZo

Commentary from the top of Kumara Parvata.. while enjoying breath taking greenery and peaks.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xNChvO2Mwbk

And, me video taping our ace photographer clicking from top of Kumara Parvata.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1SdXAFZKkI

And a view of Kumara Parvata and Siddhara betta (impossible to climb), from the top of Shesha Parvata where we had lunch. This Shesha Parvata is visible from the Kukke Subrahmanya temple!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fy04N1Bvi5M

Go for it.. Climb up the Kumara Parvata.. Jai Subrahmanya!!

02/12/15--03:40: How to win election with Lies, Fraud and BrainWash: The AAP Style.

Yes, you read it right.. this article is about how to win election with Lies, Fraud and BrainWash, following the immensely successful model of AAP in Dilli-2015.

At the same time, I understand democracy, respecting the verdict of people, work done on the ground by AAP volunteers etc. I have nothing to speak negatively about those. Those who supported AAP can certainly celebrate and rejoice.

This is only to highlight how shady methods were employed and how they succeeded. Throughout this writeup, a series of social media posts would be used. All credits to the original posters. The reason they are cited here is only to prove some points. Also, I hope all the pointers posted by them are accurate and done with due diligence. If anything is inaccurate, please point out in the comments for the benefit of myself and other readers.

1: Pre-emptive strike on your opponent with rumour-mongering:
Of course a blatant rumour. AAP started putting Jagdish Mukhi as BJP's CM candidate long before the election. One this was a clear rumour as BJP never declared him as the BJP CM candidate. Second, this was unethical as you don't put your opponent party people's pictures on your posters, without their permission. Maybe illegal too.

Image: India Today

This was followed by a series of such speculations about a dozen possible "CM Candidates" of BJP. Finally they settled down with Kiran Bedi when she was announced officially by BJP. That too, using her picture without her permission, calling her "opportunist", when Kejriwal himself had betrayed Anna Hazare with opportunism.

Image: Dailmail.uk

The idea was to create massive confusion in the minds of voters about your opponent. A guerilla tactic.. Highly unethical, but who can tell that to AAP? They did succeed in creating confusion within BJP camp that showed up in results later.

2: Fooling Modi supporters about Modi for PM, Arvind for CM:
Let's face it. Everyone knows what a massive wave was there in 2014 for Narendra Modi. Dilli gave 7 out of 7 MP seats to BJP. So AAP had to reinvent. They started a fraud campaign on their website and Youtube/Facebook/WhatsApp videos about Modi for PM and Arvind for CM.

They were exposed on Twitter, and had to roll this back. But the subtle impression was built on Modi supporters who were undecided on the Dilli government part. Hey, this does not sound like a bad idea, coming straight from AAP website.. that's how a first time voter might think.

Again, an unethical and blatant fraud. You don't put such things without taking permission from BJP to use Modi's pictures.

3: Blatant misinformation about the sensitive Black Money topic:
Not just AAP, but their partners in crime, Congress too used this extensively.

Lies were planted in an organized way in social media, mainstream media, political circles, and even all the way to the parliament sessions. What were those lies?
> Modi has promised to deposit Rs.15 lakhs per person after retrieving black money.
> Modi has promised that within 100 days of coming to power, this would be done.

Watch this video and decide for yourself. It clearly exposes the lies propagated by highly iresponsible leadership of Congress and AAP against Modi. I have watched a few more of Modi's 2014 campaign videos and from what I know, nowhere he made the 100 days kind of promises.

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOa04NN1M_Q

This particular topic made a huge impact in the minds of the middle class that had voted for BJP or sympathetic to BJP. It confused them to come extent about BJP govt's intentions and lured them towards AAP which promised a very "clean" government. BJP did not do a good job in telling people that Modi government had done its work before June 2014, submitting to Supreme Court monitored SIT, all the necessary documents. It is a court matter now which the government is actively pursuing.

4: Fooling people about "clean" politics and candidates being really "aam aadmi".
After confusing people about BJP (NDA) government at the center, AAP kept on repeating that they are very clean. Unfortunately, educated voters did not do fact checks.

Here are some that they should have checked.

They should have asked AAP - How clean are your candidates?
The reality was that, when the "bad" Sheila was CM, Dilli assembly had 43% MLAs with criminal cases. When "good" Kejriwal becomes CM now, it would be just 34%. Nothing to be proud of. AAP fooled Dilli on this front.

They should have asked Arvind Kejriwal.. how clean is your criminal record sir?
This "very clean" Yug purush has 4 serious IPC cases and 43 other IPC cases against him as per Delhi Election Watch website. Is that a very "clean" politician profile?

If you don't trust me that's OK. At least find out what Prashant Bhushan did internally at AAP side about the dubious money and muscle power that was being given ticket in the name of "aam aadmi". Read why Bhushan was furious about 12 candidates in particular -> http://www.dnaindia.com/india/report-prashant-bhushan-questions-arvind-kejriwal-on-candidate-selection-2055256

They should have asked how "aam" are your aam aadmi candidates?
They didn't. So now Dilli has some extremely rich people as MLAs, while the drama was all along about being "aam aadmi" or common people.

Parmila Tokas declared assets of just Rs. 88 crores!
Naresh Balyan - 58 crores.
Kailash Gahlot - 38 crores.
Naresh Yadav - 27 crores.
....... and so on.

In comparison, India's per capita income is still well below Rs.1 lakh per year. How many years does it take for an "aam aadmi" to earn 1 crore at that rate?

BTW, the same Naresh Balyan was quizzed by police for the large scale illegal liquor distribution allegations.

They should have asked how qualified your candidate are?
Remember when Om Puri was launching scathing attack on the educational qualification of MPs when Arvind Kejriwal was with Anna Hazare movement? Now, we have an assembly in Dilli, wherein 34% of the MLAs have not gone to college!!

So 1 in 3 MLAs is an "anpadh" and "ganwar" as Om Puri screamed with same gang! How hypocritical.

See how easy it is to fool the gullible, even in the capital of India! In contrast to these super rich "aam aadmi" MLAs, the "pro-rich" Narendra Modi is 52 times poorer than AAP MLA Parmila Tokas.

5: Character assassination of India's Prime Minister over a suit.
There were many different ways PM Modi was targeted throughout the campaign. I would not get into the subtle social media attacks on his child marriage's wife which was construed as "disrespecting women". There were very derogatory images circulated which are better left out here. But one thing I must speak about is the controversy created over Modi's "10 lakh or 15 lakh Rupees suit" during US President Obama's visit to India.

It all started with the discredited Times of India running a story in late January about the so called "Nine Lakh Rupees" suit that Modi wore while Obama was here, which had his name embroidered. AAP and Congress picked up on this, along with some discredited media houses. They ran a full fledged campaign everywhere, including social media trends about this suit. 9 lakh suit.. 10 lakh suit.. 15 lakh suit.. Some irresponsible speeches were also given like that of Rahul Gandhi where these lies were repeated in a Goebbels method.

When all was done and dusted, the same Times of India brought in a small paragraph of "clarification" and "regretted" for the false news.

So in reality, the suit material was a gift given to Modi by a fan. He did not pay any lakhs from his pocket or using government money. He had it stitched in Gujarat. I doubt if he even knew that it had his name as embroidery, but that's a separate topic. It is NOT a crime for a world respected head of state to wear good cloths, that too when gifted by a fan. But this AAP campaign threw so much muck into the campaign painting him as an "agent of rich", completely obscuring the track record of a man from very poor background who rose one step at a time in his life. Highly negative and immoral campaign was launched against Modi, that fooled lakhs of voters.

The same Modi had donated most of his savings and gifts in Gujarat as CM, for the education of daughters of poor people of India. Read more on that here -> http://www.narendramodi.in/narendra-modi-donates-the-gifts-he-has-received-in-2012-towards-girl-child-education/

There was a brilliant and emotional post on the social media today, that exposes the blatant character assasination method of AAP in Hindi. My apologies for not translating it, but if anyone wants, you can do it in comments.

In summary, a poor man who sold tea as a child, who spent 3 decades with nothing more than 2 or 3 sets of cloths traveling across India, who slept wherever nature offered space for him, who ate at places wherever food was available, a very humble and down-to-earth man, was projected via negative campaign as an arrogant rich man who wears 10 lakh rupees suit using a phony news paper article of Times of India. And, this is not the first time Times of India did hit jobs on Modi. They had done it with "Rambo act" during Uttarakhand floods too. To his credit, Modi has never sued these hit jobs of media.

6: Negative campaign against a very successful NDA government's first 9 months:

An extensive campaign was launched that Modi government has not done anything in the first 8 to 9 months. And many lakh voters believed it due to the poor countering mechanism of BJP. There was a systematic misinformation launched at slums about land acquisition bill, about the government spending a lot, whereas it was actually saving expenditure. False information was spread on inflation and GDP, when they were actually being corrected well. Last but not the least, the Jan Dhan Yojna which has brought financial inclusion to over 11.5 crore poor Indians in 4 months (a record in human history in terms of numbers for 4 months), was painted as negative!

So, Modi did not do anything substantial in 9 months as claimed by AAP and Congress? Read this impressive list shared by @rajji3351 user on Twitter. (the last 2 words are not in good taste, but I am just using what was shared)

If you have more time, read through how Modi changed the global perspective of India in a very short time. Here is my blog written a few months ago -> http://kiranasis.blogspot.in/2014/12/how-modi-is-changing-global-perspective.html

7: Allegedly receiving dubious funds while screaming that other parties have shady funds:
Social media was abuzz with #AAPFundingScam a few days before the election. Of course, this was brushed aside by the self-professed "honest" AAP with a bravado to "arrest me". When you screamed for years that BJP and Congress gets shady funding, how come you ran a campaign with shady funds too? Social media was abuzz for months with very dubious transactions shown on AAP website. Just search around and you can find 100s of such examples.

But this one about 2 crore of dubious fund was important. Not surprisingly now AAP has received an IT notice.

And @nayanchandra who shared this, claims that not only that they had this notice before the results, but also deliberately leaked it after results, to cry foul about "vendetta politic".

Very concerning matter as a whole which Dilli voters completely missed.

8: Scaring people with rumours about EVM tampering:

This was again a well thought out dirty trick of AAP. Throughout the campaign, even during prior elections, they kept on saying BJP and Congress are giving money and liquor. This time, Kejriwal got chided by the election commission. But rumour mongering did not stop. Kejriwal himself lead the rumour mongering about electronic voting machines (EVM) being tampered by BJP!

So all those who screamed about EVM tampering, would accept that they were tampered in favour of AAP, after the massive 67 seats result?

Dirty politics at its lowest level by AAP.

9: #KejriMaths - The dubious mathematics that fooled voters:

2015 Dilli election was primarily won with a barrage of promises of free things and subsidies. Water, Electricity, Wi-Fi, homes, VAT.. you name it and AAP claimed it would give either free or at a high subsidy. Unfortunately, the voters of Dilli did not scrutinize the claims.

They did not ask.. Boss, where would you get money?

For starters, the most latest annual budget of Dilli is only Rs. 36,766 crores. This is a semi-state that lives up for most part on the money of Indian union, contributed by all states, including some of the poorest states like Odisha and Bihar. Being the capital region, the roads, trains, airports and pretty much every form of infrastructure is built mostly using the Union of India's money, unlike Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chennai etc. who have to build mostly using their local tax money. No one in Dilli loudly asked.. even at basic Rs.10,000 per CCTV, Kejriwal has to find Rs.15,000 cr just for his CCTV promise. Mumbai spent over 900 crores just for 6000 odd CCTVs. Where would you get that money?

Here is a well analyzed article from Business Standard that exposes the highly dubious freebie plan of Kejriwal and company. You can see, late of course after the damage is done, that most promises in the manifesto of AAP were camouflaged or with poor mathematics.

Now many news outlets are doing post-mortem. Here is one such post mortem. Five crazy promises of Kejriwal that are next to impossible to implement -> http://www.indiatimes.com/news/india/5-points-from-the-aap-manifesto-that-bjp-fans-might-find-hard-to-believe-230125.html

Nothing explains the impractical nature of these over ambitious promises, as this small writeup that made rounds extensively on Facebook, WhatsApp and Twitter.

Good luck Dilli, trying to find money for this #KejriMaths!

Reading the @ramaraoKP shared news paper link, it is amply clear that the Santa Claus Kejriwal has promised the sky, but didn't tell that his account has no money!

Expecting lots of Dharmacracy now about how "Modi is not giving money"? Light.. sound.. action!

And, a lot of young folks voted AAP for the "free WiFi". But the fine print is emerging now after the election. This is shared by @vickymackdown.

Only 30 minutes free.. Not for any house, office, mall etc. Even when available, Facebook, WhatsApp, Email, Twitter would be restricted. I am sure these fine prints were not in the manifesto or public ads before the election.

After reading all these.. I am reminded me of that famous ad.. No Ullu banaoing :)

But too late for Dilli public.

10: Unholy partnership with a single minded greed for power:

To get into power in Dilli, AAP pretty much used every possible corner available.Who cares if Mamata Banerjee herself is in a serious mess with Saradha scam running into 1000s of crores? We will take her support! Interestingly, her party MP was in forefront talking against Church attacks, that were mysteriously hapening right before the election. Who cares is communist ideology is opposite to Mamata, for power in Dilli we will take CPM support too. Who cares if Owaisi family is highly controversial with anti Hindu communal speeches? We are all same here fighting "communal BJP". Who cares if Nitish Kumar has a dubious record of backstab politics and caste politics in Bihar, we want their support.

Importantly.. who cares if we said we have nothing to do with religion. Our people will visit Church priests and openly tweet their support. We also got support from the controversial Imam Bukhari, but for publicity, we want to stay away.

What was that again? Secularism means separation of church and state (politics). But for power, we will go with anyone as long as they are against BJP :)

And AAP even gave tickets to highly controvesial people like Amanatullah Khan, who did not hesitate to insult Ashok Chakra awardee, Martyr Inspector Mohan Chand Sharma within hours of getting elected!

As long we are keeping BJP out, everything else is fine! Who cares about ideology, religion-mix and other factors. "We" would even play caste politics twisting an ad of BJP that talked about a gotra.

In summary:

AAP tried every trick available - whether it was unethical, immoral, illegal, outright impractical.. doesn't matter. As long as BJP is defeated. And they succeeded.

But it was not as bad as media projected for BJP. As @durgaramdas computed:

BJP in 2013 assembly elections of Dilli got 26,75,857 votes which resulted in 32 seats.
BJP in 2015 Dilli assembly elections got 29,36,390 votes, but only 3 seats.

That's because BJP retained it's assembly vote share. What really happened was the ganging up of everyone else against BJP, particularly the Congress voters who deserted Rahul Gandhi fully.

That's only a consolation for BJP. But the real failure of BJP was in not being able to counter the long list of lies, frauds and outright misinformation braiwash campaign that was launched in 2015 Dilli elections. Hope they learn. Goebbles method has been used extensively against BJP here and the same can be replicated in the upcoming state elections if BJP is not careful.

I also hope AAP learns from the mistakes and compromises they did during this election. The trust of youth power of Dilli on them is quite huge. They should deliver now. How they deliver is up to them, without blaming Modi or BJP!

02/19/15--06:57: Barack Obama - Jews, Muslims, Christians and Atheists can claim him!

I was reading about Barack Obama's family today. What really confused me was the sheer number of religious combinations in his immediate family.

Buraq. Source: Wiki

First of all Barack sounds very much like the Arabic Buraq, the al-Buraq horse which carried Prophet Mohammed. It is an unmistakably Muslim name.

Barack could also be derived from Barak, the son of Abinoam, a military commander in the Book of Judges of the Bible. So very easily this can be termed as a Jewish or Christianname.

Barack Obama's paternal grandfather Onyango had converted from African tribal religion to Catholic Christianity first. Then he converted to Islam. He had at least three wives. Barack senior was the son of his second wife Akumu.

Barack Obama Senior. Pic: History

Barack Obama's paternal grandmother Akumu had to convert to Islam, and took the name Habiba upon her conversion. She was Onyango's second wife. Later she left him and remarried in Tanzania.

Barack's father, Barack Obama senior, was raised a Muslim. His name was Baraka. He rejected Islam soon and converted Anglican Christianity. Had 3 wives in his life.

Barack Obama's mother, step father and step sister. Pic: Barackobama.net

Kezia Aoko was his first wife. Kezia had many children. One of them, Bernard, which she claims was from Barack senior, converted to Islam as an adult. So Bernard, Barack's alleged half brother, raised a Christian, but later became Muslim. Later in life Barack Senior rejected Christianityand became an atheist. Sarah Onyango Obama, Barack senior's sister, is still a practicingMuslim and terms herself as a strong believer in Islam.

Grandpa Stanley, Barack's mother and step sister. Pic: Wiki

Obama's mother Ann Dunham was from a family of Baptist and Methodist Christian combination. She was supposedly anatheist or at least a skeptic non-practicing Christian. Later in life, Ann married Lolo Soetoro, a Muslim from Indonesia. They had a daughter named Maya, a Hindu name going to Advaita school of philosophy of Vedic Hinduism!

Barack Obama's maternal side was Jewish? Pic: henrymakow

Obama's step mother (his dad's third wife) was a Jewishwoman Ruth Beatrice Baker. She's not the only Jew in Obama's close family circles. Barack's wife Michelle's first cousin Capers Funnye, Jr also converted to Judaism after feeling that Christianity was imposed on his ancestors who were slaves from Africa.

There's a lot written on the internet about Barack's maternal grandfather Stanley Dunham. Even though by most accounts his family is described as Unitarian Christian (they kind of don't believe that God is three different entities, which Christians usually believe in), there are many which suspect that his family was secretly Jewish.

There are many who secretly brag that Barack Obama is in fact America's first Jewish President, as Jews trace religion from mother's side.

Mark Ndesandjo, Barack's half brother - Jewish. Pic: Blogspot

Barack's step brothers Mark and David were born to thisJewish woman Ruth Beatrice Baker. She is from a LithuanianJewish descent. After Barack Obama senior, she married a Tanzanian Christian. Mark Ndesandjo, Barack's half brother married a Chinese woman later. You can guess what would be her religion addition into this family from China -Buddhism, Taoism, Confucianism etc.

Coming to the big man now.. Obama - Lists himself as aChristian. He says that he was not raised in a religious environment as a child. He claims his father at the time of his birth was a confirmed atheist and his mother was a non-practicing Methodist+Baptist Christian.He also says that his step father, though from Indonesian Muslim family, was a man who did not find religion that useful. But as an adult Obama picked up Christianity. By the time he became the President of the most powerful country of the world, he was claiming - "I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life."

The latest is that Barack Obama prays at the African Methodist Episcopal Church. Methodists are historically linked the Protestant form of Christianity.

Now here is the real confusion and conflict:

Obama has links to Islam, Christianity and Judaism in his immediate family. All three Abrahamic religions kind of claim him in some way or another. He also has links to those who reject religion like Atheists directly from his father.
In strict Islamic terminology, Barack's father is an apostate. Born Muslim family, but rejected Islam and converted toChristianity. Forget medieval times, this warrants death penalty in many countries even today!
In strict Christian terminology, Barack's father rejected Christianity too to become an atheist, which would anger fundamentalistChristians. Barack's mother too was a non practicing Christian when Barack was born. Also, Barack's paternal grandfather had converted to Catholic Christianity first, but later rejected it in favor of Islam. Catholics would not be happy at all. During medieval times, this warranted death penalty! More so, Christians would be unhappy that Barack's mother Ann married an Indonesian Muslim later. Barack's half brother Bernard converted to Islam from Christianity.
To make both fundamentalist Muslims and fundamentalist Christians, Barack Obama's father married a Jewish woman as his third wife! Now her son is married to a Chinese woman of unknown religion. Also, Barack's wife's cousin is a convert to Judaismnow. Muslims would be more unhappy knowing that Barack's step father did not really practice Islam when Barack was young.
And to make strict Jews unhappy, Barack's step mother married a man who had rejected Islam and Christianity both, but did not accept Judaism. They would also feel unhappy, Barack's maternal grand father is rumored to have Jewish connections, which was never publicly announced (Maybe world war time?).
So we have many forms of Christianity, Islam and Judaism in the mix. We also have Chinese unknown ideology and atheism involved. And the name Barack itself can be claimed by Muslims, Christians and Jews.. all together for different reasons.
To make it even more spicy, I mean really spicy as in the historic land of spices, Barack Obama's grandfather Onyango had traveled to India during British rule. Who knows, what Hindu, Jain, Buddhist or Sikh connection he might have picked up there! Barack's step sister Maya already has a Hindu name :)

Barack family's religion topic is surely a controversial issue. Isn't it?

04/14/15--06:33: Ten Things about BR Ambedkar That You Probably Didn't Know

Dr. Bhimrao Ramji Ambedkar is a tall figure of 20th century Indian history. Popularly known as Babasaheb, the details about his careers as a lawyer, politician, constitution framer, social reformer and an economist are well known. He's an inspiration to crores of young Indians today of various classes and ideologies.

But there are ten snippets about this famous man, that are not quite highlighted. Time to take a look at them. I will provide references for each as to where I learned about them, and if any of them need correction or contention, please post comments with authentic references.

1: Dr. Ambedkar stood for Sanskrit as the official language of India.

This is not a well known fact, but it is a fact. In 2005, this was revealed by Chamu Krishna Shastry, a well known Sanskrit proponent in India.

"Dr Ambedkar himself wanted to sponsor Sanskrit as the official language of the Indian union along with his supporters Dr BV Keskar, deputy minister for external affairs, and Naziruddin Ahmed. He moved an amendment draft on September 10, 1949. The resolution had to be withdrawn due to political pressure."

Reference: Ambedkar wanted Sanskrit as official language

It is anyone's guess as to who might have exerted " political pressure" on Ambedkar in 1949 to withdraw that historic resolution, which could have changed India in an different direction. Ambedkar's strong support to Sanskrit is something to ponder upon, for those who consider Sanskrit as an "Aryan" language of upper castes, that should not be supported.

2: Ambedkar is actually a Hindu Brahmin surname.

Image from Wiki

Bhimrao's original surname was Ambavadekar. It comes from his family's native village name in Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra, even though he was born in today's Madhya Pradesh region. In Marathi, it is a common practice to add "kar" to the village name as the surname.

In this writeup in the Outlook, Smruti Koppikar describes how his favourite Hindu Brahmin teacher, Mahadev Ambedkar, changed his surname from 'Ambavadekar' to his own surname 'Ambedkar' in the school records. The respect Bhimrao had for his teacher Mahadev, ensured that his borrowed surname continued for rest of his life! It tells us that Bhimrao respected all castes - his fight was against caste discrimination, and not Hinduism or any particular caste.

Reference: Bhimrao Sakpal Ambavadekar became Bhimrao Ambedkar

3. Ambedkar's father was a Vegetarian.

This one really surprised me. In the recent days, whenever there's a protest against ban on cow slaughter, you will invariably see an Ambedkar picture and beef eating "ceremonies".

But after reading Vikram Doctor's blog on the Economic Times, I stumbled upon two surprising details.

"Nor is it correct to equate all upper-castes with vegetarianism and all Dalits with eating meat – Dr.Ambedkar’s father, for example, was vegetarian."

"I’m not sure if Dr.Ambedkar became vegetarian when he converted to Buddhism – Keer’s book doesn’t seem to make this clear and there is a surprising lack of other biographical material."

It looks like being a Kabir Panthi, Ambedkar's father Ramji was certainly a vegetarian and teetotaler. It also kind of implies that Babasaheb might have become a vegetarian coming from that family and also a vegetarian during the later part of his life. Something that needs a bit more research. And those who follow Ambedkar's path, this is something critical to ask - why was his father and (likely) himself vegetarian?

Reference: The Dalit Meanings of Food

4. Nehru prevented Ambedkar from entering Lok Sabha. Jan Sangh got him to Rajya Sabha.

Ambedkar contested Lok Sabha election twice. Both times Nehru's Congress made sure that he was defeated. Babasaheb Ambedkar contested from Bombay North in the first Indian General Election in 1952 but lost to the Congress candidates Narayan Kajrolkar, who had been his assistant once. He tried to enter Lok Sabha again in 1954 when he contested the by-election from Bhandara but he was placed third in the ballot won by Congress.

"In 1952, the Congress defeated Ambedkar in the parliamentary seat of Dadar in Bombay. It is strange thatJawaharlal Nehru did the sin of campaigning against Ambedkar during the elections.”

"The reason behind this was the Congress mentality of devaluing him. Later, the role played by Jan Sangh in getting him elected for Rajya Sabha from West Bengal is not hidden from anybody,” - Arvind Menon, BJP.

So much for "love" of Ambedkar by Congress party.

Reference: Babasaheb was close to Jan Sangh, says BJP

5. Bhimrao's second wife was a Hindu Brahmin.

Ambedkar met Dr. Sharada Kabir, a Saraswat Brahmin, when he needed medical treatment in the late 1940s. He married her on 15 April 1948, at his home in New Delhi. His first wife had passed away a decade ago. Doctors recommended that he needed a companion who was both a good cook and a possessor of medical knowledge and could thus take care of him. She adopted the name Savita Ambedkar and took care of him for the rest of his life.

Pic: photobucket

It is unfortunate that any political or NGO conversations regarding Ambedkar quickly turn into anti-Brahmin mode, when his borrowed surname is that of a Brahmin and his wife who served him during most needy years, was a Brahmin woman.

6. Ambedkar was not against Hindutva or RSS.

Ambedkar actually claimed Hindutva for the Dalits (untouchables or depressed classes) in 1927.

"Hindutva belongs as much to untouchable Hindus as to the touchable Hindus. The temples must be open for all. Efforts were made for the growth of Hindutva by Brahmins like Vasishta, Kshatriyas like Krishna, Vaishyas like Harsha and Shudras like Tukaram. The same amount of efforts for Hindutva were pitched in by untouchables (Dalits) like Valmiki (of Ramayana), Drishthara of Vyadha Gita, Chhokamela and Rohidasa. We have brave Sidnak Mahar kind of untouchable who fought for protection of Hindutva. Both touchable and untouchable Hindus have served the Hindu temples built in the names of Hindutva. So everyone has the right to enter them."

He also also praised Hindutva ideologue Veer Savarkar's efforts to eradicate caste discrimination in his Janata paper in 1933.

"Savarkar's efforts to uplift Dalits are as noble and effective as Gautama Buddha's"

Ambedkar even visited RSS camp and praised them.

"Ever conscious of Hindu movements supporting Sanghatan – social solidarity, Dr.Ambedkar visited RSS camp in Pune in May 1939. He expressed his satisfaction: “I am surprised to find Swayamsevaks here moving about in absolute equality and brotherhood without even caring to know the castes of others."

References:

Essays on Dalits book by Raj Kumar, page 72.
Kannada Prabha 14-Apr-2015 page 7, by Tejasvi Surya. Need to save Ambedkar from pseudos
Bodhi Sattva’s Hindutva: Part 4 by Aravindan Neelakandan.

7. Ambedkar's strong views on Muslim society's evils, Christianity and Partition of India.

When some Dalit youth were supporting the anti-India Razakars of Hyderabad after independence, Ambedkar told them not to take that path:

"Hyderabad state's scheduled castes must not support the Nizam or Ittehad-ul-Muslimeen under any circumstance. No scheduled caste member should join hands with anti India forces, bringing disrepute to their castes"

If you read Ambedkar's book, chapter 10, you would start seeing his absolutely rational arguments condemning the evils of Muslim society in pre-partitioned India.

Read chapter 10 for instance which has a sub title ;- Muslim Society is even more full of social evils than Hindu Society is.

"the Muslim woman is the most helpless person in the world."

"No words can adequately express the great and many evils of polygamy and concubinage, and especially as a source of misery to a Muslim woman. It is true that because polygamy and concubinage are sanctioned, one must not suppose they are indulged in by the generality of Muslims; still the fact remains that they are privileges which are easy for a Muslim to abuse to the misery and unhappiness of his wife."

"Take the caste system. Islam speaks of brotherhood. Everybody infers that Islam must be free from slavery and caste. Regarding slavery nothing needs to be said. It stands abolished now by law. But while it existed, much of its support was derived from Islam and Islamic countries.While the prescriptions by the Prophet regarding the just and humane treatment of slaves contained in the Koran are praiseworthy, there is nothing whatever in Islam that lends support to the abolition of this curse..... But if slavery has gone, caste among Musalmans has remained. As an illustration one may take the conditions prevalent among the Bengal Muslims."

"There can thus be no manner of doubt that the Muslim Society in India is afflicted by the same social evils as afflict the Hindu Society. Indeed, the Muslims have all the social evils of the Hindus and something more. That something more is the compulsory system of purdah for Muslim women."

Regarding Pakistan, if you read the Chapter 14 of the same book, you can clearly see that he wanted transfer of Muslims to Pakistan (east and West) with non Muslims back to India from there.

What about its workability? The scheme is not new. It has been tried and found workable. It was put into effect after the last European War, to bring about a transferof population between Greece and Bulgaria and Turkey and Greece. Nobody can deny that it has worked, has been tried and found workable. The scheme I have outlined is a copy of the same scheme. It had the effect of bringing about a transfer of population between Greece and Bulgaria and Turkey and Greece. Nobody can deny that it was [=has] worked with signal success.What succeeded elsewhere may well be expected to succeed in India.

The most recent Organiser special edition on Ambedkar notes his view about Christianity and Islam, and conversion in general:

Ambedkar was against Dalits converting to Christianity or Islam because he believed that “if the numbers of Muslims and Christians rise and it will cause danger to India.”

References:

Kannada Prabha 14-Apr-2015 page 7, by Tejasvi Surya. Need to save Ambedkar from pseudos
Book: Pakistan or the Partition of India by BR Ambedkar - Chapter 10 and Chapter 14.
Ambedkar a pioneer like Savarkar, Malviya: RSS.

8. Ambedkar's openly opposed Article 370 of Nehru's Congress, for Jammu and Kashmir.

Ambedkar opposed Article 370 in the Constitution, which gives a special status to the State of Jammu and Kashmir, and it was put against his wishes. Balraj Madhok reportedly said, Ambedkar had clearly told Sheikh Abdullah:-

"You wish India should protect your borders, she should build roads in your area, she should supply you food grains, and Kashmir should get equal status as India. But Government of India should have only limited powers and Indian people should have no rights in Kashmir. To give consent to this proposal, would be a treacherous thing against the interests of India and I, as the Law Minister of India, will never do it."

Reference: Kashmir problem from Ambedkarite Perspective, by K Jamanadas.

9. Ambedkar was a confirmed enemy of Communists, in his own words!

Read this excerpt from a book on India.

In another context, presiding over a District conference of the Depressed Classes at Masur in September 1937, Ambedkar declared that he was a confirmed enemy of the Communists who exploited the labourers for their political ends, and there was no possibility of joining them.

Reference: Book Perfidies of Power: India in the New Millennium, by P Radhakrishnan, page 54.

10. Ambedkar warned India against China's aggression on Tibet and beyond.

The Time issue dated October 22, 1951, noted:

“Ambedkar is the first important Indian official who has openly attacked Nehru for being too friendly to China and not friendly enough to the US”.

On China he disagreed with the Tibet policy and the enunciation of Panchsheel. He said:-

“If Mao had any faith in the Panchsheel, he certainly would treat the Buddhist in his own country in a very different way. There is no room for Panchsheel in politics”.

Reference: Ambedkar’s views on foreign policy, by Harish Parvathaneni

Hope you gained some insight after reading these today. Anything else you want to share in comments?

05/01/15--09:44: The Physical India - Amazing Place!

Recently, I spent some time understanding the physical India and the tectonic plates movement. This was right after the devastating earthquake in the Himalayan region killing over 6000 already in Nepal and close to 100 in India.

My key question was - Why is the Himalayan region so susceptible to earthquakes? But while understanding that, I had a good revision of the entire physical features of Indian subcontinent. Right from 12 crores years back to today, and the projection 10 crore years into the future!

Sharing some highlights for those interested in our Bharata Varsha, Bharata Khanda and Jambu Dweepa :)

12 crore years back, India was fairly close to today's Antarctica's location. Trace our Indian subcontinent's movement right from Antarctica region to northern hemisphere pushing the Eurasian tectonic plate up here. India moved from Antarctica region close to African east cost to middle of the Indian ocean to colliding with the Europe-Asia plate and to pushing Himalayas up and reaching the place today.

Where would Indian subcontinent be 10 crores years from today? Pretty much the same place as it can't push any considerable distance. But the western half might expand, while the eastern part might get submerged per the scientific projections.

Watch this video for a graphical representation of what I am trying to say.

Here's another video giving a closeup look at the most recent 5 crore years.

Isn't it amazing to see how India changed the Asian continent, and most importantly gave the planet earth, the most amazing Himalayas (Hima = Snow, Alaya = Mountain, in Sanskrit)? Out of the top 15 peaks in the world, ALL are in the Himalayas. If India had not traveled from the tip of southern pole to northern hemisphere, planet Earth would have been a much boring place without giants like Mount Everest, Kanchanjunga, K2, Kailash mountain etc..

If your interest in tectonic geology has gone up, don't miss this awesome video on how Earth was formed, how earth's land surface came up, how continents formed - split - rejoined - split again.. Amazing journey over 10s of crore years!

Asteroid impact

Now that your thirst for tectonic plates, earthquakes, Tsunamis, island formation, Himalayas etc. is quenched, let's move on to more India specific things. I was reading this morning more connection between a very historic event that wiped out Dinosaurs 6.5 crores years ago, and the rise of Deccan plateau over which I am sitting and typing this today. Why did Deccan plateau rise? Also, note that India was not exactly where it is today, as 6.5 crore years ago. It was still somewhere near Equator, making the massive asteroid impact point on the western hemisphere, directly antipodal (exactly opposite place of the sphere in the other side) to the Deccan plateau today.

Yucatan peninsula (impact point) and Deccan plateau. Pic: enchantedlearning

Pic: Wiki

Here is a simple depiction of what is antipodal point when you take a sphere.

Here is the interesting article that describes how the largest Deccan eruptions, referred to as the Wai subgroup flows, which produced about 70% of the lavas that now stretch across the Indian subcontinent from Mumbai to Kolkata. These researchers argue that the impact likely triggered most of the immense eruptions of lava in India known as the Deccan Traps, explaining the“uncomfortably close” coincidence between the Deccan Traps eruptions and the impact, which has always cast doubt on the theory that the asteroid was the sole cause of the end-Cretaceous mass extinction.

For those not familiar with the Deccan traps, here is a beautiful sight.

Deccan Traps - Pic. Wiki

So we learned quickly about the tectonic plates, the great movement of Indian subcontinent from the southern hemisphere to the northern hemisphere, and the amazing connection between the Dinosaur extinction asteroid impact, and the Deccan plateau. Keep in mind, we are talking of extremely high amount of volcanic eruption into the atmosphere right from India, between today's Mumbai to Puri, and Nagpur to Bengaluru region!

Now comes the most important question. Why is India termed a "subcontinent"? Was it just a fancy name due to the amazing diversity of languages, cultures and other diversity? Or was it something beyond that?

Well, I found my answer today. India is called a "subcontinent" because it is the only country on the planet that has ALL the six types of physical features described on planet earth. Wow.. exciting isn't it? Let's find out what are those six physical features and their subcategories.

Feature 1: Mountains.
India is home to all types of mountains described in physical geology. India is home to one of the world's oldest fold mountain called Aravalli range spreading across Gujarat, Rajasthan, Haryana and Dilli. India is also the home to theworld's newest mountain ranges, the mighty Himalayas. India has the Western Ghats, one of UNESCO's eight biological *hot spots* of the planet, among other mountain regions.

Watch this educational video to learn about the mountains of India. Right from the coldest mountain region to the tropical mountain regions are there in India. This video shows a very interesting sub section of the four cross sections of the might Himalayas, taking you right from the plains of north India to the Mount Everest, to the Manas sarovar holy place, to Tibetan plateau.

Tip: Do you know about a place just north of Jammu and Kashmir (not in India), that is called a *knot*, because four of the world's great mountain ranges start from there, including Himalayas? See the videos here.

Feature 2: Plains.
India is home to some of the most fertile plains on this planet. The Indus planes, the Gangetic planes and the Brahmaputra planes of North and North-East India are amazingly diverse.

Watch this video to learn everything you want, about the plains of India, how they were formed and the difference between each section of plains.

Tip: Did you know that India converted most of Tarai or marshy plains of North India into agricultural fields since 1947, to settle and feed the large group of refugees who came in during partition?

Feature 3: Plateaus.
India is home to some of the oldest plateaus on mother Earth. We already talked of Deccan plateau earlier. Did you know about the economic importance of the Chhota Nagpur plateau and its incredible deposits of iron and other valuable ores?

Watch this video to know all you want about plateaus.

Tip: Did you know that Deccan plateau and Chhota Nagpur plateau of India are the two, that NEVER were submerged under sea over 100s of millions of years? Not even during the four major ice ages or after ice melting! Extremely rare examples of always being above sea level places, yet never below the ice sheet places.

Feature 4: Deserts.
India is home to both hot and cold deserts. The coldest deserts are in the Leh/Ladakh region of Jammu and Kashmir, while the hottest deserts are in the Thar region of Rajasthan.

Watch this video about deserts.

Tip: You can comfortably drive from one of the coldest deserts on the planet, Ladakh, to the one of the hottest deserts on the planet in Bikaner area, in just 24 hours by road. Where else can you find such diversity?

Feature 5: Coasts.
India is home to over 7000 KM of coastline. This is the seventh longest coastline for a country in the world. Also, the coasts are very historic and very diverse connecting 3 seas and one ocean.

Watch this video about coasts.

Tip: Some coastal areas of India like Dwaraka in Gujarat, trace their history back to 10000+ years of continuous human settlement.

Feature 5: Islands.
India is home to both Volcanic and Coral islands.

Watch this video about islands.

Tip: Traditionally we say Kashmir to Kanyakumari as describing India. But the physical southernmost tip of India is Nicobar islands - a point called Indira Point that is more than 1 degree latitude south of Kanyakumari!

Isn't India one of the most amazing countries of India?

The world's largest democracy..
the country with the world's largest number of tigers.
Has the world's biggest gathering of humans called Kumbha Mela (over 10,00,00,000 participated last time) repeating every few years.
A historic and traditional calendar that has all six seasons.
Home to the world's oldest continuing civilization. Vedas chanted the same way they were chanted 5000+ years ago!
The source of 70% of the world's spices, making the world a truly *spicy* place :)
The world's most diverse linguistic country with 15 languages being spoken by at least 1,00,00,000 people.
A country where marriages have been sacred, instead of being contracts for 1000s of years.
The only country on the planet where Jews were not persecuted, ever!
The first country on the planet that sent a mission successfully to Mars in its first attempt.
The world's largest postal service network.
Among the four religions with 1 billion+ adherents on the planet, two originated in India.
The list continues endlessly..

But most importantly.. India is the ONLY country that is also a subcontinent! You leaned why :)

05/14/15--09:29: Late HV Sheshadri Explains What Is True Dharma

RSS leader Dr. Mohan Bhagawat was mentioning about the late HV Sheshadri. An interesting narration. Let me see if I can type it keeping the same interest that he generated in the talk.

Once HV Sheshadri of RSS was traveling in a bus in Karnataka. He was the Karnataka pranth pracharak. A well dressed and educated man boarded the bus, and sat next to HVS. They got into hello-hello chats. The man talked about his MCom education, employment at a bank, his family etc.

Dr. Mohan Bhagawat with the Late HV Sheshadri in the background. Pic - Samvada

Then he asked HVS. "What do you?"
HVS: "Nothing. Go from home to home, tell good things. Serve the society. Pretty much that's it".
Passenger: "Then how do you take care of your family?"
HVS: "I am not married. I don't have a family to take care of".
Passenger: "So you don't have a family. You don't earn anything. You have no duty of raising a family.. what's the use of your life? You are not an asset to the society".

Both kept quiet for some time....

HVS: "That's the way I am.. BTW, can you tell the names of your 8th generation from father's side?"
Passenger: " I don't know"
HVS: "Mother's side?"
Passenger: "Not sure. We know only 3 generations for shraddha (Vedic ritual for the dead) purposes. Never thought of it.".

Both kept quiet for some time....

HVS: "Do you know about Swami Vivekananda? The monk who...."
Passenger: "Of course.. Who doesn't know the Swami? I have studied many times about him. Here are some details....."
HVS: "Was he your relative?".
Passenger: "How can that be? He's from Bongo and I am from Karnataka".
HVS: "Oh.. maybe you met him?"
Passenger: "Are you joking? I was born 50 years after his death!"
HVS: "Maybe he visited your village sometime back?"
Passenger: "No. Never".

Both kept quiet for some time....

Swami. Pic - Wiki

HVS: "Strange... Swami Vivekananda was not your relative. You have never met him. He never even came near your village. And he was from generations before you. But still you know a lot about him. You also should know that he never earned any money. He didn't support his family the way you do. He never got married. He didn't raise kids. But everything he did in his life was for the society.. for the people.. for the country.. for the humanity. He lived his life per Dharma, to the perfection.

On the other hand, your family's 8th generation before you did everything you are saying as valuable to the society. They got married. They raised kids. They educated them. They earned. They passed on things so that you are prospering today. Still you don't even know their names!!"

Both kept quiet for some time....for a very long time...

The passenger seriously felt something in his heart. He apologized to HV Sheshadri and asked why this kind of thing happened.

HVS: "See.. it happens with all of us. We focus only on the material benefit for the immediate family. But that's not everything about Dharma. In the real sense, Dharma is all about Dharana or carrying. Dharayati iti dharma. We alone getting educated, enjoying or prospering in life is not enough. We should take the society with us. Some of us can take smaller load and some like the Swami can take massive load. But our efforts must be to take everyone with us on the path of prosperity. That is the true Sewa. And, Sewa or selfless service is the best Dharma. Hence our lives must be dedicated as a daana or gift, for the humanity. Try to think more on why some of us make Sangha and its Sewa as the topmost priority in life and dedicate ourselves towards the society".

Needless to say.. the passenger had nothing else but total respect to HV Sheshadri!

07/06/15--07:44: The Amazing Tamil Nadu Temples

If you have a desire to see the glory of Hindu Dharma, via medieval or ancient temples, Tamil Nadu is the place to go. There's no second thought about it. Luckily, most massive temples have been retained in the original shape and splendor, when unfortunately many other states in India couldn't during foreign invasions. I made five trips in the past five years and an opportunity came for a sixth trip - a trip with lots of temples to see in TN and PY. I immediately grabbed the invitation of friend Bharath and got into the vehicle.

Let me narrate some interesting things about each place we visited last weekend.

First of all, our interest is in covering all the five Pancha Bhoota Sthala Linga or Pancha Tatva Linga. There is one major and historic temple dedicated for each of the five basic elements of nature as shown in an image from Wiki here. Three months ago, we had seen the Agni Linga temple in Thiruvannamalai. This time we aimed at three, but ended up doing two.

So we got started, in an anticlockwise road trip, heading straight to Tiruchirapalli or Trichy, the place of our first Shiva Linga temple - Jambukeshwarar.

Once we finished eating chapati at the local restaurant, we started asking common people in Trichy. Where is Jambukeshwara temple? Five queries and no one answered properly. Then I found that we were asking in the wrong way. Made some calls and found that we should be asking for Thiruvanaikaval Kovil (Kovil in Tamil = Temple). Got the answers immediately. I must say that common people in Tamil Nadu have always been very helpful and friendly. We just have to figure out some basic Tamil speaking skills.. that's it. Kovil = Temple, Perumal = Vishnu, Siva = Shiva, Periya = Big etc...

To our surprise, we booked a hotel within half a KM from the great Srirangam Vishnu temple, which is not far from the Jambukeshwara temple. We set out to see Shiva temples. But our first visit next morning had to start with Vishnu Bhagawan! That's called divine planning.

So we were there to see sleeping Lord Vishnu (Ranga natha) in our proper uniforms :)

You will be amazed at the vast nature of this Srirangam temple complex. This is one of the Tri-Ranga (3 Rangas) along the Kaveri river. The first one being Sriranga Patnam near Mysuru, the second one at Shivana Samudra near Gaganachukki falls and the third one being this Srirangam near Trichy. There were nine massive gopuras/traditional doors from the street. There is a 1000 mantapa (pillar) auditorium. There's the (jiva) samadhi of the famous Vaishnava Guru Ramanujacharya. There must be at least 50 smaller temples within the complex itself.

It will take a full day just to pay proper visit to each deity within this massive and ancient temple complex. Our friend Nagesh chanted Purusha Sukta in one of the Rama temple and we were elated along with the local Purohit. Great darshan, great food (paid, not free) and a wonderful place to visit.

Next stop, the mighty Jambukeshwara temple for water tatva of Shiva. And to our total surprise, we entered right when the abhisheka was happening in the main temple. It was fabulous to sit outside the small garbha gudi (sanctum sanctoram) of the temple, besides small holes in the wall, and watch the pouring of liquids over this very ancient Linga, and then decorating it with various pastes and cloths.

This temple has interesting history involving an elephant and a spider worshiping the Linga.

They do very nice Gow-puja (Cow Worship) in this temple after the main abhisheka.

And of course, the thing which caught my eye was this.. We can discuss that some time later.

So our first major Shiva temple was done. Vishnu had called us even without our planning at Srirangam. Time to head east to the glorious UNESCO heritage city of Tanjavur. No surprises here. The massive ~13 feet tall Shiva Linga (Brihadeswarar) in one of the greatest buildings ever built by ancient and medieval world - the BIG temple. You have to visit this place to understand the immense technology Indians had 1000 years ago. In this Kaveri river delta area devoid of any big granite mountainous, Chola empire got a massive 81,600+ KG stone, and hoisted it above 200 feet. The total height of the gopura or vimana on the temple is 216 ft (66 m) high. Just imagine the technology to do this 1005 years to be precise? No where in the world you can find such a massive feat, which is living even today surviving tsunamis, earthquakes and of course, human invaders!

And of course, Bharat makes it look small.. really small :)

I felt like... I am witnessing 1000 years of Bharatiya history in just a few minutes.. Awesome and proud experience. Felt so good about our ancient shilpis, rajas and everyone who left us such great legacy.

If you have time, please browse through lots of pictures in here to know how happy we were during this entire trip, particularly the Tanjavur Periya Kovil (Big Temple) visit.

Next stop.. Kumbakonam. A city of temples where there are 188 temples within the municipal limits of a small town of 1,40,000 people. And if you include smaller temples, they say over 1500 temples are there in and around this city of temples!! Of course we wanted to visit a lot, but had time for only one. The big Adi Kumbeswarar temple. We had a wonderful time here watching many unique things. The pujari showed us the place within the temple where the great Raghavendra Swamy had sat and meditated. They also showed the Devi (Durga) with nandi in front of her, not lion/tiger. They showed us a slight tilt of the main Linga and told that it's because of this kona (angle) of the kumbha (one above linga), it is named Kumbha Konam. You also have 9 temples around Kumbakonam, for each Nava graha (nine planets in Hinduism). We surely needed a week, just for this temple town!

We had to then drive into Puducherry enclave within TN, near Karaikal beach in the night. Our next stop was Tirunallar Saniswaran Temple at Tirunallar in Puducherry Union Territory. The specialty here is that 1000s of people come to take a dip in the pond, and leave their wet cloths on the banks of the pond, to get away from Lord Shani's wrath.

Image: Wiki

We followed what 1000s do. A proper bath in that pond, giving arghya to Surya deva early morning from within water, leaving our cloths, and then heading to the ancient temple in the town.

Just like the 100s of other big temples in Tamil Nadu, we had walk past many arches (gopuras) and finally get a beautiful darshan of Shani Deva. And to get a bonus, we were allowed to do a full Rudra abhisheka at a Shiva temple behind the Shani temple. Our Nagesh, the knowledgeable purohit, made us do abhisheka on the spatika Linga that he had carried from Bengaluru. It was a divine experience chanting the Vedic Rudra and Chamakam at this ancient temple. We loved every moment of it. Best part, I could do this on Ekadashi day, which is now my fasting day :)

Now overwhelmed with temples after temples, we took some beach breaks. It was emotional visiting the Karaikal Tsunami memorial, remembering the 1000s who perished during the 2004 mega Indian ocean Tsunami.

Now time to head north. Next stop Chidambaram mega dancing Shiva temple. But since it opens only in the evening, we had time for some fun trip through the mangrove filled backwaters of Pichavaram. Our "vocal" skills and funny hand movements came handy when going inside the shallow mangrove backwaters :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0_Lirk7o8m4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SOR-afBLF3I
Even our boatman started off -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1sKRynDomgE

Playing in the backwaters, climbing up some mangroves and paddling the boat was really fun. I am told that this is theworld's second largestmangrove wetland!

And our boatman told us that this is the same mangrove area where the famous Kamal Hasan song from the movie Dasavataram was shot.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PM-r6CP_uY4

Next stop, the great Chidambaram temple. This great Hindu temple of South India that has held its prominence for over 2000 years is a must visit place for any temple enthusiast. The Shiva in here is associated with the Akasha (or sky/ether) tatva (essence) among the pancha bhootas (five basic elements sustaining life). This holy temple has been built and repaired by Pallava, Chola, Pandya, Vijayanagara and Chera kingdoms over the past 2000 years.

And, I insist that you learn more about the significance of Chidambaram temple's design. Focus on why the roof has been laid by 21,600 golden tiles with the word Shiva nama inscribed on them representing 21600 breaths!!

Around the 9th minute of this famous video of Carl Sagan - Cosmos of India, you can see the description of Nataraja (Dancing Shiva), for whom this Chidambaram temple is dedicated to.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ugyrzr5Ds8o

All I can say is... Srirangam, Jambukeshwara, Tanjavur, Kumbha Konam, Tirunallar Shani and now Chidambaram Nataraja. Overwhelming architecture, significance and puja tradition for millenium.
Incredible trip!! How can I forget the awesome tender coconut water in Kadalur, to break the Ekadashi fast? :)

Lastly, how can we end up such a fabulous trip without some fun in water? That too when we are close to the Goa of the east coast, Puducherry? We stayed at a nice resort right on the beach, danced in the beach at midnight, saw sun rise at the beach, offered arghya to Lord Surya after a swim, and then had super fun in the resort pool.

Lastly, visited the pious Aurobindo Ashram at Puducherry.. A small and silent zone in the French legacy town.

While returning via Tiruvannamalai, another great Shiva temple (Agni link) which we had seen 3 months back, we had some nice fun on the road trip too.. like watching this crazy scooter driver -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxubUk-Xrl4

Overall.. great fun. If you want historic temples, amazing Dharmic puja traditions in Sanskrit and Tamil, and fun beaches, head to these places I have listed. You will have a great time.. guaranteed!

Now that 3 of the 5 Shiva Tatva temples covered this year, hoping to do the other two - Kanchi (in TN) and Kalahasti (in AP) soon. Om Namah Shivaya!

07/17/15--04:56: The Kannada History of Maharashtra

Dr. M Chidananda Murthy is a researcher, historian and scholar par excellence. Even at age 84, he has great grip of his research and presents his papers with amazing clarity. He has published a long list of papers and books throughout his life, and lots of debates happen on his findings. His strong support to Hindutva in particular makes his opponents very uncomfortable. His research on Tipu Sultan in particular, exposed the other side of Tipu which self-proclaimed seculars had a very hard time digesting.

I have met this extremely gentle human many times. I am thoroughly impressed with his ability to research into Indian history in a precise manner.

Today, I came across his column. "Earlier Karnataka was three times the size of today's Karnataka". If you can't read the font properly in the image below, use this link to read the Vijayavani epaper.

The focus of this article, with lots of historical proofs is to inform that during ancient and medieval periods, Kannada speaking areas were from Kaveri delta in today's central Tamil Nadu till Godavari in Nashik area of Maharashtra. As with everything in history, there would be for's and against's to such claims. But I thought it would be useful to give a quick translation so that those interested further in research, can pursue the topic.

Some snippets from his article, which extensively focuses on today's Maharashtra, and its Kannada past in many areas. Here are some districts of Maharashtra for which the Kannada influence has been researched and presented by Dr. Murthy in this article.

Districts of Maharashtra covered in this article. Pic: NIC

Sri Vijaya's Kavirajamarga from 850 CE, has given 8th and 9th century CE description that Karnataka, or the land of Kannada speaking people, extended from Kaveri to Godavari.

Sham. Bha. Joshi, Raja Purohit, and Alur Venkata Rao have done extensive research supporting the geographic claims of Sri Vijaya.

Chidananda Murthy has written "Bhashika Brihat Karnataka - From Nilagiri to Nashik".

Deshabhakta Veer Savarkar is from Nashik district. His father's place is Bhagur. His mother's place is Kothur. Notice "Ur" or "Uru" in both places, that are distinct Kannada names. Savarkar's family dog was named "Kariya" (Darkie or Blackie in Kannada). Savarkar's father used to call Vinayak as "Balam Bhatta" during younger days. That name is very popular in Karnataka.

Maharashtra's Mahanubhava pantha (sect) was started during 13th century by Shri Chakradhar swami. Chakradhara's guru was Gundama Bhatta. Gundama is a medieval Kannada name.

Nashik district has a distinct tribe called "Hatkar Kaanadi" people. Maybe they are named that way because they lived in Huts and spoke Kannada (Kaanadi). Per Chidananda Murthy, they are the native people of Nashik from ancient times. Even today that tribe speaks sentences like:

Ninge magadir yaanayudu? (How many children do you have?)
Nange ain magadir, eddu magardir aaidu (I have 5 sons and 2 daughters).
Nange maneg hogadu usiraat (it is time for me to go home).

Here, magadir, magaLdir, usiraat (avasara) are all old Kannada words. Similarly Hatkar Kaanadi people use kundal (hair), ba (mother) and many other words showing that North Maharashtra's Nashik area had Kannada population 1000 years ago.

Next, Murthy tells about Mumbai. A famous place today in Mumbai, Malabar hills is per him named after "male" people. In Kannada Male (maley) means hill. British would have used this for the hilly people (ghaati) who lived there. In 1818 (or 1819), when a new British person Mount Stuart Elphinstone was appointed as the Governor of Mumbai, Malabar hills people submitted a letter in Kannada welcoming him. British used the word "Canarese" or "Kanarese" to describe Kannada speakers. That's why they named Uttara Kannada and Dakshina Kannada districts as North Canara and South Canara districts.

Some evidences suggest that Mumbai's original inhabitants, the KoLi people, spoke Kannada centuries ago. BA Salettur has opined that long ago, today's Mumbai area was inhabited by Kannada speaking people.

Talking further about Mumbai, the marriage treaty of Charles II of England and Catherine of Braganza, daughter of King John IV of Portugal, placed Bombay in possession of the British Empire in the 1660s, as part of dowry of Catherine to Charles. Dr. Murthy says that in 1670, when the British brought in new law in English, they translated it into Portuguese and Canarese (Kananda) to help the inhabitants or Bombay. Goa during those times also had many Kannada speakers. In 1737, a British writer has described Kannada as a language of "lower class" people of Mumbai.

Dr. Murthy presents two maps - One from 1909 (English and Kannada) and one from 1940 (Marathi text book), that indicate the contemporary Karnataka of those times. The 1940 text book map published by British government, named "Arvachin Karnataka" (Modern Karnataka) has Belagavi/Belagav in it. The 1909 clearly is much larger than what Karnataka is today. It includes today'sGoa, Belagavi, Kolhapur and even Solapur in Karnataka.

Post 1956 Karnataka - Map: Wiki

Of course, the districts were merged into administration of various neighbouring kings or provinces during British era. You can compare that side by side with Karnataka since 1956 States Reorganization done by Jawaharlal Nehru's government to get an idea of districts within today's Karnataka and the ones which are with other states today.

Dr. Murthy continues district-wise in Maharashtra. He says that betel leaf growers of Nashik are "Tigula" people, the same ones found in Karnataka speaking Kannada or Tamil. South Maharashtra's districts like Solapur, Kolhapur, Nanded, Sangli etc. have most of their ancient shila shasana (inscriptions) in Kannada.

Shri Siddheshwar Temple, Solapur. Pic - Wiki

Solapur's village deity (grama devata) is Shri Siddheshwar. His name was Siddha Rama, and he was a vachana writer 800 years ago. His father was Muddu Gowda. They are from Moradi village of Solarpur. Moradi or Mordi in Kannada means small hill. Vachanas are Kannada literature of Lingayat or Veerashaiva community. So the Kannada origin of Solapur goes back centuries or even millenium.

In Nanded, common people call laying foundation for a new house as "Kesaru Kalliku". (In Kannada, Kesaru = wet mud, Kallikku = put stone).

Solapur district has a very famous temple for Vithoba or Vitthala in Pandharpur. Marathi scholar RB Shere clearly attributes Kannada origin to Vithoba. Sant Dnyaneshwar in one of his Marathi abhangaha screams - "O Vithala.. You are Kaanadi (Kannadiga).. Hence you are not hearing my pleas". You can read more on Sant Dnyaneshwar, Marathi and Kannada in my earlier blog here. In the famous Pandharpur temple, the last song sung for Lord Vithoba after all puja is in Kannada - to put him to sleep.

Khandoba or Mailara. Pic - Wiki

Jejuri near Pune has the famous Khandoba temple. Khandoba is a Marathi name for Mailara, a very famous name for Shiva in Kannada. If you travel in North Karnataka, especially Hoovina Hadagali area, millions of people worship Shiva in the form of Mailara or Mailara Linga, with almost exactly same description as Khandoba. In Khandoba's major festivities, people near Pune even today shout "El Koti Ughe" or "Khande rayaca Elkot". Here "Elu" and "Kote" are Kannada words meaning Seven forts.

Coming to literature, at the feet of Bahubali's statue in Shravana Belagola in south Karnataka, there's an inscription "Shri Chavundaraje karaveeyale". This from 983 CE, is believed to be the earliest Marathi inscription ever found. But Kannada was existing for centuries before that. Per Dr. Murthy, Marathi existed in the northern regions of Godavari by then. So this inscription was for those people, along with Kannada and Tamil inscriptions for other people visiting this place. Till 12th or 13th century, most of today's Maharashtra below Godavari river were Kannada speaking areas. Badami Chalukyas, Kalyana Chalukyas, Rashtrakutas and many more were ruling over these areas. It was only since the Yadavas of Devagiri about 800 years ago, that Marathi spread widely into today's southern Maharashtra area, replacing Kannada (and some Telugu).

Source: Wiki

The famous Elephanta caves near Mumbai, were built and temples carved by Kannada kings -Chalukyas and Rashtrakutas. Before that, Pulikeshi II had fought Harshavardhana at Narmada banks itself, going far north of Godavari river. And the only battle Harsha lost in his life was this one!

World famous Kailasa natha temple, Ellora. Pic: Wiki

Chalukya emperor Pulikeshi's inscriptions are found in the world famous Ajanta caves today in north Maharashtra. It was during Chalukya and Rashtrakuta empires Ajanta and Ellorabecame great centers of arts and temples. The world famous Kailasa natha temple in Ellora was built by Kannada king Krishna I before 774 CE using a unique top to bottom rock chiseling technique. It is estimated that about 400,000 tons of rocks were scooped out over hundreds of years to construct this monolithic structure!! The contribution to Ajanta, Ellora, Elephanta, Solapur, Pandharpur, Kolhapur and many other areas of Maharashtra by Kannada kings and people is immense.

Then Dr. Murthy goes into the vocabulary of Marathi language. There are lot of Kannada origin words there. Olage or Oule (inside), Kolu (stick), Tupa (ghee), Mudila (before, first), Oli (letter), Konth (weapon), Balanti (mom or newborn), Aḍakitta (nutcracker), Akka (sister), Anna (brother), Veergal (stone inscription for a martyr), Mechu (small sword like device), Hon (gold)... If you go into depth, you will find that Marathi has a Kannada or Dravidian foundation from ancient and medieval times, but the upper structure is that of Aryan language. Even today's Devanagari script being used as a standard to write Marathi, is an adaptation of recent centuries. For almost a millennium Modi alphabets were used to write Marathi (and occasionally Kannada in Maharashtra).

Per Dr. S Srikanta Shastry, Shatavahana empire that ruled over Maharashtra 1700 years ago, had lot of Kannada (and Telugu) impact.

Then Dr. Murthy finally mentions about Ananthpur and Chittoor in Andhra Pradesh, and Dharmapuri, Salem andNilgiri areas of Tamil Nadu, to cover the ancient Kannada links.

The purpose of me translating this is not for any political reason. I have good friends from every language. I just found it historically interesting to see the linguistic overlaps. In some cases, I have added a few words of my own, giving additional Wiki or other links to establish better connection. Just like any case involving neighbours in India, you can also find the other side of overlap, if a research is presented properly.

06/05/14--11:27: Do You Know About Ancient India's Scientific Heritage?

Today, a friend on Facebook shared this video of Khurshed Batliwala, Director of World Alliance for Youth Empowerment. He was speaking at Ruia College, Mumbai.

I knew a bit about him, nicknamed "Bawa". But this video blew me off.. It had amazing amount of examples from ancient Bharat (India) that was hard core scientific. And Bawa being a faculty member of the Art of Living, under Sri Sri Ravi Shankar's guidance, his smiling way fo communicating was more captivating.

Technology of Spirituality

Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I9aR_xfm-gE

Earth is round/spherical: Ancient Hindus knew that the earth was round, long before Europeans theorized the same. If you look at Varaha avatara (Vishnu's 3rd avatara among the 10 major ones), the varaha or boar is lifting a round or spherical earth.. Not a flat earth!

Varaha Avarata: Pic from allhindugodgoddess.blogspot

No wonder the Sanskrit name for Geography is Bhu-Gola (Bhu = Earch, Gola = round/spherical) from time immemorial! Outside India, even today some religions and cults are believing that earth is flat, due to their books. Now contrast that with the scientific temper of Hindus.

Also, the Sanskrit word for our world is called Jagat (the one which moves) knowing fully well that the earth is moving all the time!

Indians knew about Antares twin star system: Nearly 5,000 to 7,000 years ago ancient Indians could recognize the 15th brightest object in the sky, the Antares twin star system.

Antares or Arundhati-Vasishta twin stars - pic from azurewebsites.net

This system was called Jeshta (in Sanskrit meaning the biggest, oldest or eldest). Now science shows us that it is the biggest start. 40,000 times or more bigger than earth. In fact, this Antares was wedded into Indian tradition deeply. This 2 stars system was named Arundhati and Vasishta stars. After marriage in south India, husband and wife should go out and look at these 2 stars after wedding's night!

And this particular Twin star system is unique. Both stars circle around each other, instead of hte usual one star revolving the other. So symbolically how a perfect marriage should be, was demonstrated by ancient Hindus 5000+ years ago, using a star system, that too a perfect one in twin rotation form, without any modern telescope!

Amazing Metallurgy of India: Many of us would have seen the iron pillar in front of the Qutub Minar in Dilli. That's over 1000 years old and still not rusted in spite of empires changing, weather changing and severe pollution of the capital city.

Kollur Mookambika temple's iron pillar. Pic: Flickr

Similarly, the Kollur Mookambika temple's iron pillar in coastal Karnataka, where it rains 6 to 8 months in a year, at a very high 750 cm level per year, has not rusted in over 2000 years! And this was built by tribals of the region, and not some well known architects of the 1st millennium BCE.

Production of Zinc in ancient India: India had the sole knowledge of Zinc production for nearly 4000 years during our human history. This is because Zinc is very tricky. When you heat the ore, at
997 degree C it melts, but at 1000'C it vaporizes. So you have only 3 degree window to pull the Zinc out, after heating up the ore. This must have been very difficult for pre-modern humans. But ancient Indians found a technique. They heated it from the top, with an ice bath below to collect that molten liquid. China stole this technique from India after 4000 years. Then British (William Champion) stole this from the Chinese in 1543 CE.

Value of Pi: Then Bawa shows a shloka in Sanskrit on Lord Krishna. It looks like a simple one starting with Gopibhagya ...

Then he explains the Katapayadi Samkhya (number system), using which, this simple 2 liner gives us the value of Pi into 30 decimal places!! 3.1415....

A Gujarati guided Vasco da Gama to India: We all have learnt that Europeans found naval route to India through Vasco da Gama. There's even a place in Goa today named after him. But Bawa explains the actual "finder". Portuguese wanted to to India. But it was not Vasco who discovered India. The story is in Vasco's own journal in Lisbon. Columbus and Vasco were the first to search India. Christopher went in the opposite direction and found Americas. Called the natives there Indians.

Vasco went in the right direction. He had the biggest ship available at that time in Europe. He reached Cape of Good Hope the tip of Africa, without venturing too far from the coast all along. But then he had to sail over a massive Indian ocean. There he met a Gujarati. Kanha was a trader from Gujarat. Kanha's ships were 12 times the size of Vasco's ships!! His ships escorted Vasco's ships to Goa in India. We never heard of this in our text books. In fact, ancient India's naval technology needs lot of research.

In summary: The amount of knowledge India had was phenomenal. 5 to 10,000 years ago itself when Europe was in pre-civilization mode. But how did they acquire so much knowledge?

Because ALL our scientists were saints! Our scientists did Yoga, Pranayama and did meditation.
They could focus mind into smallest of the things and farthest of the things. Basis of science is spirituality. This wealth of India was systematically destroyed by foreigners. They rewrote our history. Made Indians of the 20th century ashamed of their own culture. They broke the education system and traditions.

So what is this Technology of Spirituality?
A human has 3 Gunas: Tamas (brings sleep), Rajas (ability to act), Sattwa (Rajas and Tamas are balanced). Learn to meditate to keep Sattwa in place throughout the year. Balance Rajas and tamas, and increase sattwa. Spirituality is not about renouncing. For example, Narayana is the God of knowledge. Lakshmi is the Goddess of wealth. And they are married to each other!

To succeed in this world, soft skills are far more important than the core domain expertise. But more than 90% of the money, time and effort is going into acquiring domain expertise. Exactly opposite of what's needed! That's the main reason India has become a country of crores of unemployable educated people.

Get back to roots. Learn to meditate. Learn to increase Sattwa guna. You will start understanding how our ancient scientists excelled so well in so many amazing technologies!

Thanks Bawa for this lecture :)

Mandate for Palestine aka Israel

Monday, September 7, 2015

the three religions that have fought over Jerusalem over millenia – namely Islam, Judaism and Christianity. Frankly, I am indifferent to who has Jerusalem at the end, as it is NOT a holy place for me.

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