Gandhi the Wizard who embedded his virtues in his glasses...

Greetings to Readers!

Might be the title could make some feel provocative; to some others, more of a caption too...

But, it's not given by me... It's by the real film makers of India - our media! Hope, you've got what this blog is going to be all about. Yeah! the auction at Antiquorum of Gandhi's glasses and footwear; the being bid by an Indian industrialist more famous with his liquor brands; the kind of media and government reaction.

The kind of media hype is always understandable - they sell anything to get the common man's attention. Even now, the same has happened. But, the Government is at its worst - couldn't decide on what to do... couldn't give up... and finally, at its best, started owning something bought by someone else.

First of all, we must all remember, Gandhi did not ask us to take ownership of his glasses. He asked us to take ownership of truth, ourselves, our country, our people, belief in conversational solution to disputes, etc., - as taught by my curriculum. But, these have all been evaded out of us; greed and politics have started playing their games. So, what are we going to do with or without his personal belongings! They matter, in simple words, Nothing. Be it, owned by an Indian, or an alien - be it he is from Mars, we're still going to be the same Indian,

• who doesn't wants the traffic cop to fine him/her, and instead take a bribe;
• who doesn't wants to wait in order to get his/her government related stuffs cleared, and instead want the government servant to take a bribe.
• and this can go on for volumes.

So, how relevant are the teachings of this old man to us? Yes, an old man, as you see in the streets, as you see in the guise of professors, etc., to whom we very often show only our deaf ears, and a rock heart.

The highlight of this auction is that these quite old glasses and footwear, whose use, I could hardly understand as anything but nothing, are now worth $1.8M which is going to fill the pockets of an American individual, for he can anymore by an SUV from a winding up auto-major like Ford, and can take rest in a villa of his choice. For the only reason, he preserved it for all these years, or he plundered it from some one who preserved it till it was plundered.

What an exceptional Gandhi-ism it is...

• This is what our Bapu asked for right?
• This is for what, he lived with goats milk and peanuts all his life...
• This is for what, he got called as 'Half naked fakir' by a Brit PM.
• This is for what, he waited outside the conference he was to attend, being barred entry into it, for the kind of his attire raised suspicions to the security there.

Fantastic Gandhi-ism, which Gandhi himself should be taught of!

The highlight number 2 is even more fantastic! The highest bid in that made was by a liquor barren - Mr. Mallya. Wow, Gandhi's favorite drink should've been Kalyani... We must all remember, the $1.8M that Mr. Mallya is going to give is from the money which is out of burning so many livers with the drink he sold... being caused to so many poor countrymen who skipped away from what Gandhi asked us all to do... this is what is the real identity of Gandhi-ism. I really feel bad for the kind of education system I went through, for not teaching me these features of Gandhi-ism; too bad, they are...

You might ask, hey! let him sell liquor or tobacco; let him sell automobile or farm products, that's his business... True! I never deny that! It's his business... Let him do that... Let him also buy or sell these kind of antiques... But, what made you and me celebrate or feel lost in doing so... If these glasses aren't brought to India, that doesn't mean, we've all forgotten Gandhi; Or even after bringing them back, it needn't mean, we remember Gandhi - mind it, this is not the parameter for it. The parameter, is Truth - Satyam (don't confuse with the name today for the biggest scandal), which has been shooed away.

It is not because Mr. Mallya bought it, or Mr. Narayamurthy bought it... These doesn't matter to what the great soul has done and asked us to do with. Those bidders are antique maniacs. They know the value of something which is old, precious because of someone's usage, etc. Who know, there could be an antique collector, who could have even preserved the first ever tooth brush of Kind George, etc., But, these don't transcend any values of the user of such antique products.

What common man must be aware is, let these products be collected or sold by anyone to anyone. But, if its user has a value, and his/her preaching and practice has a value, let's take them.

No one has what was used by Lord Rama that day.

No one has what Jesus used that day.

No one has what Prophet Mohammed used that day.

Still, their ways and words have a value. These values/virtues are non-erasable. Instead, if we keep hunting for their belongings, it could result in the negative effect from what they directed us.

We already know, in a country of billion people, with at least a million users, the media has to be responsible; and we also know, it is not! So, get away, and let's start doing our job, instead of seeing who's owning who's what...

Thanks for your time in reading this! Bye...

Why are women always the target of these social disciplinarians?

Why are women always the target of these social disciplinarians?

Tarun Vijay | February 02, 2009 | 13:37 IST

If
bra burning was the slogan of feminism in the sixties, should the
neo-avatars of Simone de Beauvoir make 'I wanna pub honey,' the slogan
of 2009? That too unlicensed, illegal pubs, entertaining under age
youngsters to get a better 'high'?
The absurdity of
blowing up the Mangalore pub incident can be understood only in one
context -- it gave secularists another handle to portray the Hindu
right in a light that is so dear to them.

Every media channel
and magazine turned a Navin Chawla against ideological adversaries,
passionately discussing the Mangalore pub incident and the rights of
women, completely ignoring the significant protest rally of retired
soldiers in Delhi that demanded equal pensions.

It is the same crowd
that eulogised the martyrdom of Hemant Karkare, not because of their
respect for soldiers, but because it again gave them a chance to
pounce
upon the Hindu right.

Mangalore should have
got a stern warning by those who govern. If pubs are bad and sinful,
legislate and stop them legally. Bad things can't be stopped through
petty methods like pickpocketing. Be brave and forthright and stand
tall on whatever you think is good for all. Face the criticism with
aplomb and respond if you have to. But that needs commitment.

A clear, transparent
force that lights and shows a path that is free from a pathologically
hypocritical high moral ground. At least politicians of the
contemporary variety shouldn't venture in a place that's just not
meant
for them -- public morality.

But while everyone
would like to condemn the incident, the media's attitude must also be
analysed. The media blew the incident as if a national calamity had
occurred, instigated by the Hindu right and related its thread to
Malegaon. The columns and comments on the 'grave threats posed by
Hindu
extremism' must also be analysed and the real motives exposed.

I am strongly opposed
to those who create a meaningless fuss over Valentine's Day or create
a
nuisance like they did in Mangalore. But the selective memory loss of
the secular moral preachers is intriguing when anything of the same
variety involves Muslims.

Last month, some
zealots in a Mumbai mall beat up a Pakistani Muslim girl. A news
report
read: 'A Pakistani national, Saba Najam, 22, was roughed up at
Hypercity Mall in Malad last Monday after some people spotted a tattoo
in Urdu on her back. Some women suddenly approached her and assaulted
her over the tattoo, which read 'Shukr Alham Du Lillah' meaning 'Thank
you, God.'

'Riyaz Ahmed Talukdar,
a member of Jan Seva Sangh, a local NGO, had first spotted the tattoo
on Saba's back and informed his mother, Shabana Talukdar. Riyaz said,
"When I saw the tattoo I was furious as holy words from the Quran were
on her back." Shabana, along with a few other women, then came to the
mall in the next 15 minutes and slapped the girl several times before
the mall management intervened. The incident scared the girl so much
that she left for Pakistan on Friday.'

Did you read anything
about it in your newspaper? Or a discussion on television channels?
Were any of the Muslim clerics or the so-called liberal voices who
came
to Delhi in a trainload complaining why they were being labeled as
'terrorists', interviewed on the treatment meted out to a girl from a
neighbouring Islamic republic by Mumbai's 'moral police'?

It is this attitude that also encourages some fringe elements like
those whom we saw at Mangalore.

Surely nothing must
defend one wrong by citing another wrong as an example. But
politicians
must govern and not preach. And pray, who do they think they are? Can
they be entrusted the job of preparing a charter for citizen dharma?
Should we accept an organisation like the Ram Sene to take it upon
itself to impose its own variety of decency by beating girls?

So now, Hindu Dharma,
which was defined and elaborated once upon a time by the likes of
Swami
Vivekananda and Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan will have to be understood
through the Mangalore beatings of girls by brave young exponents of
some kind of a conduct they call 'culture'?

What are we up to and
what do we want to achieve? Why are women always the target of these
social disciplinarians? They beat them up, abuse them, tell them what
to wear or not, be a nice housewife because that's what the 'religious
ideal' is, be a mother and an obedient wife, go to places of worship
and read the holy scriptures.

There is nothing wrong
with that, but do these worthies have a right and a moral authority to
tell women all these codes of conduct while they flounder and abuse
every bit of simple, civil behaviour in their life?

But the media
certainly loves such 'shows'. It had advance information about the
pub-attack, still found it prudent to wait till the news was 'matured'
through a well-orchestrated attack. If the media had informed
authorities those hapless girls would have been saved from
humiliation.

Some time back a
protestor informed the media about his self-immolation bid in
Chandigarh and the media faithfully recorded the event without even
once trying to save the guy, who died within minutes before cameramen
and correspondents. This is an issue involving media ethics, if they
have any or believe they should have them. News or the call of human
values?

The use of the word
'culture' for the habit of frequenting pubs is also intriguing. But
the
whole issue boils down to one point, if one dislikes a certain social
behaviour, how should a protest for it be registered? The vegetarians
protested when fried chicken ads were aired on television channels and
even when the 'eat eggs daily' campaign was launched. If some like
non-vegetarian food, those who find it disgusting and against their
ethics, do have a right to show their displeasure, but the matter must
take a civil course.

Surely going to pubs
is a different matter altogether and a large number of people find it
nauseatingly unacceptable as some opinion polls by leading newspapers
have shown. So what is the solution? The state wants revenue by
selling
alcohol and licensing for pubs, but at the same time it frowns upon
them to get space in newspapers. This duality won't work.

The best that can be
done is to propagate alternative ideas of healthy drink. Encourage
milk
consumption and dairy products and establish more and more dairies
like
Gujarat has shown. There is complete prohibition in Gujarat and though
there may be some breaches, it has certainly helped to bring down the
consumption of alcohol to a great extent.

Those who claim they
are the followers of Mahtama Gandhi or Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, must
respect the law and Constitution of the nation. They have an
obligation
to lead by example.

I must quote an
inspiring story from the life of Pandit Deen Dayal Upadhyaya, who once
refused to turn on a transistor to listen to the news while travelling
in a train -- and he travelled third class most of the time -- because
the license fee for using it was yet to be deposited. It was
obligatory
in those days to have a license for using a radio.

Yes, times have changed; yet, religious bigotry must not be accepted
in any circumstances.

How many of these
moral preachers understand the reality that the place of a woman can't
be different than that of a man? Please give us clean drinking water,
good primary schools, functional and caring public hospitals, a
corruption free administration and enforce the law to save genuine
cultural moors. That will be more than what a citizen would need under
any party's pronouncedly benign and heavenly noble governance.

 

 URL for this article:http://www.rediff.com///news/2009/feb/02-why-are-
women-always-the-tar...

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Regards,
MUKUNTHAN L.

India moustaches 'face the chop'

Many young urban people see facial hairs as "so last century" The famous beards and moustaches of India - seen as representing a huge tradition to the outside world - are under threat, a new book says. It says that the country's famous facial hairs are disappearing as India enters the clean-shaven digital age. The book says that the traditional belief that facial hair is a sign of virility appears to be facing the chop. It says that young people in particular do not want an itchy moustache or beard which they think makes them look old. Designer stubble "Hair India - A Guide to the Bizarre Beards and Magnificent Moustaches of Hindustan" says that India's extravagant beards and moustaches - proudly sported by generations of Indian men - are being trimmed as the country becomes more clean-shaven and urban. Author Richard McCallum says that clean chins are becoming more commonplace among younger people who no longer have role models sporting beards or moustaches. He points out that most well-known Indian cricket players no longer have facial hair, while many in Bollywood have opted instead for token designer stubble. The handlebar moustache has been part of Indian culture Mr McCallum spent several months travelling the length and breadth of the country to find the bushiest beards and most magisterial moustaches before they disappeared forever. "It was an idea that started out as a bit of fun but turned into a labour of love," Mr McCallum, a British travel business operator, told the AFP news agency. "Beards and moustaches tell the story of modern India - how it is becoming a more Westernised, homogenised place, but also how the great traditions and the love of display still exist. "Male grooming is important to Indians, and facial hair proved a topic that took us to places and into conversations with people we would never have met otherwise." The book categorises beards according to bristle-design. There is the "the chin strap", "the soup strainer", "the wing commander" and "the walrus". 'Out of favour' What is claimed to be the world's longest beard, measuring 1.6 metres (five ft) and the world's longest moustache also feature in the book. But the emphasis is on ordinary stall-owners and rickshaw drivers displaying moustaches and beards that are cut, dyed, waxed and preened in various shapes and sizes. "Some people were confused when we first told them why we wanted to take their picture, but they soon became very keen," said photographer Chris Stowers. While facial hair will always be proudly displayed by Sikhs, for whom "kesh" (uncut hair) is a religious principle, it seems that among sectors of society it is inexorably falling out of favour. One of the few professions where it remains a mandatory requirement is among doormen of five-star hotels. "Young people don't want an itchy moustache or beard which they think makes them look old," Lalan Singh, 40, a restaurant doorman in Delhi's Connaught Place told AFP. He is the proud owner of a handlebar moustache that took three years to grow. He could be one of the last of his kind.

--
Regards,
MUKUNTHAN L.