Games we used to play….

Went back to a different time this time when I was in flight.

The flight entertainment menu consisted of many video and audio options - and one of those was a RK Narayanan episode based on the book ‘Swami and friends’….

Swami, some may recall, was a young student of Albert Mission School, Malgudi…a young boy who hated word problems, and didnt know whether to multiply, divide, add or substract when faced with a problem that went like, say, “Ramu went to market to buy mangoes. One mango cost 8 Rupees. Ramu wanted to buy five…” etc….He was more concerned whether the mango was ripe or not….

The movie clip was an abridged version, and showed just one episode….that of Swami, his Dada classmate Raju, and the other classmate Mani, the son of the local Deputy Superintendent of Police….Lovely picturisation…

One of the scenes I really liked was one that showed Swami pick up a half torn page of ’Malgudi Times’ newspaper from the ground…make a paper boat with it….and let it float down a little stream. He then sees a school of ants, picks up one, and ever so gently places it in the boat…and then suddenly there is a rapid in the stream, and the boat rushes into a deep, and capsizes….And Swami searches high and low for the ant, worries ever so much that it may have died, and mouths a silent prayer….Little Swami, with a vibhooti on his forehead….

Reminded me of the times when kids actually played with paper boats. I could make two types of paper boats, one a plain boat, and the other with a knifelike extension jutting out of the bottom - the better to cut ones way through the waters…..”katthi-boat” (knife boat) it was called….

Simple toys…paper airplanes, rockets….balls made from rubber strips cut out of a discarded rubber tyre-tube of a cycle….

These games still survive….The other day I noticed a gang of kids outside their little slum home, sitting and playing some game with just a pile of stones….It was a real intense game that they played….or that time in Goa, when I saw this kid, running down the road, rolling a tyre, beating it forward with a stick…Simple games….Games that need just basic stuff…Maybe a chalk to draw a board on the ground, some stones, maybe a ball, a used tyre…

I remember a game called seven-six that we used to play….Needs a ball, and a wall….and you can play for hours….

The stick-and-bail game, Gulli-danda, is mentioned in the Mahabharata….

Wonder how many kids nowadays know any of these games….What with electronics, computers and such having taken a stranglehold in the world of games….There ain’t no free games any more….

Snakes and Ladders anybody?

  

Partha Principle - 1

When you see some of the shining Sultans and Begums of Corporate-dom, one does sometimes wonder how they got  to where they have…..And heres my tentative theory….

This is a principle that Peter missed.

It is called Partha Principle, and suggests that in some contexts, Peter was off the mark…Got it upside down, in fact….

Remember Peter Principle? It says “In a heirarchy every employee tends to rise to his level of incompetence”….

For eg. X is a great salesman…and over the years, he keeps getting promoted till he reaches the level of “Head of Sales” where he is a misfit. He is simply incapable of spreadsheet calisthenics and would much rather go do cold calls than manage a bunch of hot salesmen…He has arrived at his “level of incompetence”, long live Peter Principle.

Does this happen often? 

I am not too sure. If we look around, we find that most Corporate Honchos are doing a reasonably good job. Ok, once in a while there is an Enron kind of fiasco, but otherwise they are quite competent at their levels, and that would seem counter to Peter Principle…and thats where Partha Principle comes in….

Partha Principle says “In a heirarchy, incompetent employees tend to rise faster, and rise till they find their level of competence”….

Here is how it works….

Take Kassa Nova….He starts as a programmer in an IT company…He is no good in programming…He is scatterbrained and restless….He has been assigned to a high pressure software project…In next to no time he is a millstone around his Project Leader’s neck….He keeps raising all manners of issues, says that the ‘role assigned to him is not clear’, and has four reasons why his work is not on speed…..Recognize him?

He speaks confidently and at the drop of a hat….Just because he speaks like that doesn’t mean he speaks sense….But considering that not many people can spot the difference, he is not considered a bad egg….But he manages to waste the time of most of his team members, and is a general pain …He frequently meets senior managers in the company for some reason or the other, and is willing to share ‘inside info’ on the ‘bad state’ of the project…..Finally there is no option for the Project Leader but to let him go….He is benched….

The company is doing well, and the management always has use for ‘proactive’ people….There is this new project for which they don’t have a Project Leader. They assign Kassa…..

There he somehow gets a few deliverables out, although much behind schedule. In the process he creates a lot of noise, and makes several powerful presentations to his ’senior management’ that the whole project was a nonstarter and was always heading South…He is so good with numbers (What does it matter if his numbers are all suspect in the first place)…..He juggles charts and shows whatever he wants to show…..He helps create a few skeletons and plants them in cupboards, and manages to get off from the project long before the first serious line of code is delivered….

He meets the CEO many times, because of the issues that he escalates….The company needs someone to head their new outpost in Asia-Pacific. The CEO thinks of him…Whether he delivers results or not, he manages to ‘buy’ a high profile slot for his CEO in a big industry event there, and gets the local Mayor to present the key of that city to his CEO…He gets him interviewed on TV, gets a local newspaper do a report and a sport a big photograph…Makes his CEO feel as if he is the statue of Liberty……

For all this buzz, there is not much business from that region, but of course the ‘pipelines are promising’….there is ‘great growth potential’….There is a lot of action….Kassa appoints some shady companies to commission local sales….

Fast a forward a few years.

Kassa Nova is moved in to Head Quarters, as Head of Operations….A role in which he gets to shuffle ten issues per second, which suits his scatterbrained approach rather nicely….

He loves the confusion….He is at ease….He does well….He has found his level of competence….

That is Partha Principle at work….

                                ………………….To be contd (hopefully)…..

Ganga Saptami…

A little fire is quickly trodden out; Which, being suffered, rivers cannot quench. -King Henry VI - William Shakespeare

April 23rd…the traditionally accepted birth date of William Shakespeare…and the date of his death too….

Rivers cannot quench little fires that are allowed to grow, says the bard…what about the fires that threaten to burn rivers dry? Who is to quench that?

April 23rd, 2007, happens to be Ganga Saptami…In the Indian calendar, this day is the traditionally accepted date of birth of River Ganga….The great Ganga that is revered by hundreds of millions across India, and indeed shines as the symbol of all rivers of India….a river that has at its banks, the story of civilizations, and towns and cities whose names evoke magic….a river so sacred that millions of people keep little sealed cans of Ganga water in their homes, hoping to have a sip of that just before they die, for they have faith that this will cleanse them of all demerits…

That Ganga, one reads off and on, is in danger of drying up…Usually a small inside page column or two in a newspaper, of some study or the other,  talks of this….

Geological Survey of India, and other agencies, are reported to have found that the Gangotri glacier is receding at an alarming rate, the volume of glacier ice is falling…and this, due to environmental causes that have happened only in the last half century or so….Gangotri, the source of Ganges, one of the largest glaciers in the Himalayas, is in danger of disintegrating, say some reports.

Global warming, rampant deforestation are some of the fires that are burning the river….That Ganges will considerably dry up in the next hundred years or so is distinctly probable, they say….They point out to other Himalayan glaciers that have gone the same way….In the Saraswati valley, the glacier Ratakona is on the verge of drying up…The Pindari and Milan glaciers are also receding….

But then the story of rivers drying up is not something new in India, is it? Every time one passes the Paalaar river in Tamil Nad, one sees massive stretches of dry river bed…and the wonder is that the river bed is so broad…which was soon explained when one came to know that Paalaar was a perennial river, and dried up only in the last hundred years….now, sewages and industrial waste effluents try to keep some flow going in the lower end….the majestic river, that once upon a time flowed into the ocean at Mamallapuram. has only its bones to show….and even that bone dry river bed, is being ravished by sand quarrying…

Should we worry that Ganga too would go that way?

Or is it that in the cause of industrial progress, all this cry is “Much ado about nothing”?

Akshaya Triteeya…the Gold call…

Got a mail from my bank that they are having special ’sale’ of Gold coins on ‘Akshaya Triteeya’ day. All ’swiss certified’ etc….

My bank is not an exception…almost all banks seem to be having Akshaya Triteeya ‘Gold’ sales….Looks like, on this day, banks take a break from day-books/vouchers/ scrolls/ledgers / cash dispensing and such other mundane activities, and become shops of Gold.

Banks, Jewelry shops….Pick up any newspaper…See the huge hoardings in the city skyline….talk to anybody….there is but one Mantra…Buy ‘Gold’…

Almost makes one feel that one would be committing a folly, if not outright sin, by not buying the yellow metal on this day…Great market making, and it works! Sales goes through the roof, one reads…

Gold apart, what is Akshaya Triteeya?

Akshay Thriteeya, the third day of the bright fortnight of the lunar month of Vaisakha,  is considered a great day for starting anything…

It marks the commencement of Satya (a.k.a Krita) and Treta Yuga…

The day is considered sacred to Lord Vishnu.

The Badrinatha temple, that is kept closed for six months of winter, is reopened today.

Today Brindavan will be super-crowded…..the feet of Banke Bihari idol is displayed only on this day (kept covered rest of the year)…in most Vishnu temples, there will be chandana alankara….

In Simhacalam (a great Narsimha temple…Vizag, AP) the Varaha-Narsimha is so ugra that the idol is kept covered with layers of Chandanam throughout the year. On Akshaya Tritheeya alone, the chandana coverings are removed…function starts at 2 am….People can see the bare vigraha from morning till evening this day…then it is covered with chandanam again for the rest of the year….there is a great rush this day…

In Udupi Sri Krishna temple, worship is offered to Akshaya Patra today…that is the vessel of inexhaustible food that Draupadi used during forest exile of Pandavas in Mahabharata…

This day also is the birthday of the sixth incarnation of Lord Vishnu - Parasurama….

So net-net: The belief is that it is a day of good-beginnings…Start a project…join a new job….do griha pravesam…do upanayanams…etc etc…Offer chandana abhisheka to Salagrama or idols of Vishnu….Do Daan(am)s….

As regards Gold….I guess the idea is that gold signifies Maha Lakshmi…and so to please Lord Vishnu, you bring Lakshmi home….

But then Srimad Bhagavata says that Gold is also the abode of Kali Purusa - the tormenting personification of Kali Yuga….So Gold cuts both ways….

But Marketing, after all, has made Trivikrama strides in Kali Yuga …So, riding on Kali, they have all the universe covered…

And so, like Mahabali, best is that you kneel, and let them step on your head and purse, and make you buy Gold!
 

Why on earth…

“Ashwin is safe” said the transcontinental ’sms’ that came in at night.

Realized the next day, that Ashwin, my cousin’s son, studies at Virginia Tech, and that he was one of those who was in the hostel that fateful day…

World is small….what happened at Virginia Tech is not a local event…it has ripples all over the world, and in real time….it could just as easily happen anywhere else - considering that the TV is spawning a ‘least common denominator’ kind of culture, worldwide….

Then again, Virginia Tech has teachers and students from many different parts of the world…kind of microcosm of the global campus…It sure would have been a real ideal sort of global village until this crazy event happened….a friend of mine who studied there some years ago, wrote in “….My alma mater……….tranquility and peace that I experienced for two and a half years, walking the drill field, passing Norris Hall and toward the dorm and across to my department, destroyed by this meaningless massacre.”

Another friend from US had this to say about the bizarre-hap:

“This event is a symptom not a cause. Statistically in every country there may be more or less the same percentage of people with the propensity to kill.   

However, in the US we have: 

1. a declining sense of family and community
2. easy access to material that glorifies violence (dehumanize killing) and porn (dehumanize women)
3. incredibly easy access to lethal killing machines

All of this possibly contributes to events like this.

What is sad is that India risks going down the path of points 1 and 2. In India we are so focused on the West and the gift of globalization that anyone questioning the God of Growth will probably be burned at the stake today.  Fortunately we don’t have guns being sold at Big Bazars in Bangalore or we could see events like this in India in a few years…”

But Bangalore is a far cry from the American ‘gun shops’ that they showed on CNN. Just couldnt believe the sight of the ‘gun boutique’….swanky shop, real classy display….of guns of all kinds….real buzz around….vibrant shop, with customers trying out various firearms…like as if they were trying out sunglasses….JHC!

CNN had an interesting discussion on the ‘gun issue’. One of their resident experts on this whole ‘gun lobby’ thing, said that no politician would dare take any steps that will curb free access to firearms….the ‘gun lobby’ is just too influencial, he said….even though the gun owners may be in minority in terms of numbers (say 25%, he said), they do pack  a real punch, because they would en-masse vote against any politician who curbs easy access to firearms, just on that one issue alone…whereas the 75% majority, who may not like Guns to be sold as easily as chewing gum, may not vote ‘for’ the politician, based on that issue alone….

This is the story of democracy that is enacted in other parts of the world too….political parties going out of the way to please ‘vote gangs’ at the cost of doing what is right….

There used to be a class of politicians, once upon a time, who were referred to as ’statesmen’…Wonder where they are…. 

 Once upon a time, ever so long ago, there was a politician whose name was Mohandas Gandhi…He worked for liberating India from British, and was imprisoned many times. In 1942 he called for “Quit India” movement against the British. His wife too joined the protest. He and his wife were jailed….His wife, died in prison….She was 75…This is a real story….

Once upon a time, there were a few politicians such as these….

Once upon a time, there was a concept called ‘Ahimsa’….

Kurt no more….

Kurt Vonnegut is no more.

Now why tag that as “World Affairs”, you may ask.

Because he was one of those who cared for the world. The whole of the world, the whole amazing morass of Karass, if you will.

“Oy! What is Karass?” you ask.

To understand Karass, is to understand Karma.

To quote from his book Cats Cradle “We Bokonists believe that humanity is organized into teams, teams that do God’s Will without ever discovering what they are doing.”…” “If you find your life tangled up with somebody else’s life for no very logical reasons, that person may be a member of your karass.”

I was part of Kurt’s Karass. But how was he to know. The Bokonist understanding of Karass was limited to synchronous, wired, space-time related existence….Karass is not limited by these. And neither are we. . Karass is plural, for one thing…like “I” is plural as well (in Karass terminology)…And Karass are many-to-many (in system modelling terminology)…The Bokonists insight into Karass was a keyhole view at best….I will try and explain to Kurt when he is reborn in India.

But then he may not like to be born a man. As he said in Hocus Pocus “I wish we had all been born birds instead.”

And why not as humans?

Because, “Human beings are chimpanzees who get crazy drunk on power. By saying that our leaders are power-drunk chimpanzees, am I in danger of wrecking the morale of our soldiers fighting and dying in the Middle East? Their morale, like so many bodies, is already shot to pieces. They are being treated, as I never was, like toys a rich kid got for Christmas”, writes he, in ‘Cold Turkey’.

He pens in ‘A Man without a country’ - “If God were alive today, he would have to be an atheist, because the excrement has hit the air-conditioning big time, big time.”

In an appearance on The Daily Show in 2005, he said “…I have wanted to give Iraq a lesson in democracy—because we’re experienced with it, you know. And, in democracy, after a hundred years, you have to let your slaves go. And, after a hundred and fifty years, you have to let your women vote. And, at the beginning of democracy, is that quite a bit of genocide and ethnic cleansing is quite okay. And that’s what’s going on now.”

And if you are still skeptical about tagging Kurt-speak under World Affairs, then do please check these two statements of Kurt….

“George W. Bush has gathered around him upper-crust C-students who know no history or geography. “ (‘A Man Without A country”)

And this one….

“There is a tragic flaw in our precious Constitution, and I don’t know what can be done to fix it. This is it: Only nut cases want to be president. “ (‘Cold Turkey’)

Now that should have sealed the case…His views on ‘World Affairs’ are pure crystal….

Kurt was a great writer…Ever so many of us have seen and felt the WW II bombing of Dresden thanks to the picture that Kurt painted….But what made Kurt greater than just a ‘great writer’ was that his were the words of an evolved person…A great humanist, if you will….And here is what the ‘humanist’ advocates to us – “Live by the harmless untruths that make you brave and kind and healthy and happy.” (In Cats cradle)”….and…..”We are what we pretend to be, so we must be careful what we pretend to be.” (In ‘Mother Night’)..

Ho..hum…

Kurt’s karass and mine met many years ago…But Kurt has slipped out of his karass now. He fell in his Manhattan home and died of brain injuries on April 11th, says one news item….

So how should we remember his end?

Here are a few quotes from different windows of his karass.

“My last words? ‘Life is no way to treat an animal, not even a mouse’ ” (In, ‘love you Madame Librarian’)

And this…

“My epitaph in any case? ‘Everything was beautiful. Nothing hurt’ I will have gotten off so light, whatever the heck it is that was going on.” (In ‘God Bless you Dr Kevorkian’)

I like this one best though….

“If I should ever die, God forbid, let this be my epitaph:

THE ONLY PROOF HE NEEDED
FOR THE EXISTENCE OF GOD
WAS MUSIC”……(Vonnegut’s Blues For America, January, 2006 Sunday Herald)

**

Let the music play on. For those are not just books that Kurt has given the world. He has given symphonies….

(Note: More Vonnegut symphony notes can be enjoyed at http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Kurt_Vonnegut )

Land of milk and music - 3…

From one peacock land to another. From Brindavan to Tiruvannamalai. From Krishna to Arunachala. From Surdas to Arunagirinatha.

Came today to Tiruvannamalai, Tamil Nadu…to Ramanashramam, and was greeted by the cry of peacocks. Lovely.

Blogging back to Brindavan.

What makes Brindavan special? I guess it’s the spirit …and that spirit is best seen in the people of the place.Take the Rickshawman for instance, the person who took us around Brindavan. His name was Moti Ram. Looked every inch a native of Brindavan, tuft and all. The first evening after he had taken us to Banke Bihari temple, we took a liking to him, and asked him whether he could come around next morning as well. The consequent conversations gave us a glimpse of his life….he gets up every morning by 4 am or so, and is at the River Yamuna for a bath by 4:30 am. He goes back home and his daily schedule of worship takes him an hour and a half. He then cooks for the day, and is thereafter ready to ply the Rickshaw by about 8 am.

Now, we wanted him to come up at 5:30 am, so that we could go to the river for a bath. He said that that would be very difficult, considering his morning commitments. After some talking, he finally agreed and said that he would come around…He said that he would take us to the river and drop us back by 6:30 am, and then he would want at least a couple of hours for himself.

One was up early next morning, and on the road, waiting for Moti Ram, worried that he may not turn up, or that he may come and then leave, not finding us….But, 5:30 am, Moti Ram cycled in from the morning mist. He was sure glad to see me.

“Swamiji, I couldn’t sleep last night….Now, I had to respect your Bhavana and Shraddha – to have a bath in Jamunaji. And so I agreed to come. Now, I had given my word. Had I not committed, it was a different thing. But considering that I had ‘spoken’ that I would come, I had to come. And so, I didn’t get much sleep last night, as I was worried that I might miss this commitment”…

That was Moti Ram.

He cycled like a master. Driving a cycle Rickshaw in Brindavan is not easy. The lanes are all very narrow. And there are people, two wheelers, and other rickshaws….One didn’t tring the bell for asking way…One and all in Brindavan, call out “Raaaadhey”…”Raaadhay”….to ask for way….”Radhay Krishna” is the standard greeting as well.

Moti Ram told us that he didn’t ply his Rickshaw on Ekadashi days. He fasts on Ekadashi, and doesn’t work…so there…and he told us that no food would be available in most Ashrams. Fruits could be had….

This is the simple, unlettered Moti Ram.

And he is typical of the land. This is a timeless place of pilgrimage, and there are pilgrims from all over India, and from other parts as well….Even Western devotees wear local attire. One saw ever so many whitemen, clad in Dhoti, Tulasi Maala, Chanda on the forehead, tuft on crown….Oh yes, there are some toughies around as well…For eg, the ones who collect toll tax from all vehicles coming into the town…But they too sported a tilak on the forehead, and generally seemed quite well fed…

The town itself is a great Vaishnava town…Fragrance of good food greets in every street….Puris, Parathas, Jilebees….etc…Cows own right of every way. Right near the RK Mission was a Goshala, where there are five thousand cows….

The sight of large (really large) chunks of butter in Brindavan was really mouth watering….The milk sweets were very special. Moti Ram told us that the Brindavan Peda was the real thing, much better than the branded ‘Mathura Peda’….

 A temple within earshot everywhere….Sounds of Krishna chants and songs, was like a gentle background breeze in most places. Early morning found us listening to MS Subbalakshmi’s Vishnu Sahasranama, played in some temple….

Peacocks, cows, monkeys….

In the distance, someone was playing the flute….

Hare Krishna!

Land of milk and music - 2…

The date with Yamuna at Brindavan seemed quite different from what one has experienced with Ganga at places like Haridwar, Gharmukteshwar, Shivpuri….For one, Ganga is sheer “energy” - more volumes of water, swift flowing, quite formidable….And again, Ganga evokes deep veneration…it is not uncommon to see pilgrims standing, waist deep in the waters of Ganges, hands folded, meditating, or in prayer…

Yamuna at Brindavana seemed much more homely. One boated across, sported around in the waters, saw the sun rise…and there was the childlike joy that brooks no ritual or ceremony.

After the morning dip, one went back to RK Mission…7 am breakfast….moori (puffed rice) and channa curry…simple, filling, healthy.

We set off at 8:30 am, once again, in the cycle rickshaw. First stop was Katyayani temple. One of the Shakti peethas spread across the subcontinent, this is said to be the place where tresses of Sati fell. Nice, airy temple. Two stone lions guarded the top of the temple entrance. Half a dozen devotees were sitting in the courtyard, reading Durga Saptashati….The idol of Goddess Katyayani was exuding power…Someone chanted Durga Suktam from the Vedas….some ladies were chanting Hindi verses of worship…some went around the sanctum sanctorum, ringing all the bells that hung there…Dong! Dong! Dong!

After Katyayani temple, one went to Ranga Mandir. A temple built completely in Dravidian architecture. Massive. Beautiful. Tall Gopurams, so distinctively South Indian. For 5 Rs fee, a young man offered to guide us….took us to each sub-shrine….there were several shrines…one of Sri Ranganatha, lying on the serpent Adi Sesha…one of Lord Rama and family…many more….the main sanctum was of Lord Vishnu, standing. A young man was singing Hindi songs of prayer…Very melodious…. Someone chanted Purusha Sukta. The priest sang the Tamil verses from Divya Prabanda, which had been sung by Azhwaars (Vaishnava Saints) at Brindavana. The priests in this temple were from Tamil Nadu. The temple itself was said to have been built by a North Indian merchant…

Thereafter, we went to Gopeshwar temple. Lord Siva is said to have taken the form of a Gopi to enjoy the company of Lord Krishna in Brindavana…. Gopeshwara Linga was in a set at ground level…an elderly priest, and perhaps his son, officiated, guiding pilgrims to perform abhisheka…

From here, we went to Anand Vrindavana, the Ashrama of Swami Akhandananda Saraswathi….A colossus of Sanatana Dharma, he has spoken and written extensively on ever so many aspects of religion and philosophy…

And then we went to the temple, which the Rickshaw man referred to as “Angrej Mandir” - or, “The Englishman’s temple”….

This was ISKCON temple…One of the most famous landmarks of this temple town…Right on the main road….Abuzz with devotees and actvities…Many white folks there…all in traditional Vaishnava attire and adornments…Tuft adorned heads, vaishnava marks on the forehead, dressed in simple Indian dresses…. Chants of Hare Krishna flowed constantly, like the currents of yamuna. Many devotees were crushing sandalwood paste….bhajans were in progress….Mahaprasad was being given to one and all….this was a vibrant hive of Bhakti….

Bowing to local wisdom, one had taken off one’s spectacles when on the road. The spectacles grabbing monkeys were not known to listen to reason, and it is better to be safe than sorry….

Time was past noon.

One had managed to have a glimpse of a few of the several thousand temples of Brindavana….If one really wanted to visit the related places of pilgrimage - Govardhan, Nandgaon, Barsana and Mathura - one would need at least a few days more…..We shall come back some other time for those…

For now, Radhe Krishna! 

Law of the land…

“PM tells judiciary to stay within limits” screams the headline of “The New Indian Express” newspaper of today, April 9, 2007. The honorable SMS (Shri Manmohan Singh) gave this ‘in your face’ SMS sort of message in the conference of Chief Ministers and Chief Justices of High Courts, held in New Delhi on April 8th. Rather a hard message from a soft speaking PM.

Doesn’t take a genius to figure out that there is growing tension between legislature and judiciary in India. States don’t hesitate to criticise judgements of the highest court, and statewide ‘bandh’ is not uncommon,  bringing all economic activities to a halt, if judgements aren’t to the liking of the local powers that be.

And across the border, in Pakistan, the drama is more sordid. In a recent interview in the journal ‘Newsweek’, Asma Jahangir, human rights activist / lawyer of renown, terms the PM (Pervez Musharraf) rule there as “a leadership beyond repair”. Imagine putting the Chief Justice of Supreme Court under house arrest… In the Newsweek interview Ms Jahangir says “You even see the Chief Justice on television being dragged by the hair…”.. She says more, but one gets the picture…

The good thing in the Indian context is that the SMS statement was not a crack of the whip. It was made in the presence of Honorable Chief Justice of Supreme Court of India, KG Balakrishnan, who, speaking earlier to the PM, had perhaps anticipated the precipitation of  tension, and said ”…the judiciary can be subjected to fair criticism if and when the occasion demands, but if the criticism is not legitimate and is irresponsible, it may lead to incalculable damage to the institution of judiciary…”

And so it goes…

In a quite unrelated news, in the front page of the same Express newspaper, there was this follow-up story on the wedding of the season…That of Liz Hurley and Arun Nayar….who stepped into holy matrimony, thus giving their vote to the responsible institution of a formal ‘marriage’….Well, the news-item did mention that the couple had sold exclusive rights of coverage to Hello! magazine, “for a cool 2 million pounds”…

That is not the crux of the news item….The title of the piece is “Liz-Arun disowned by Nayar Sr”…Nayar Sr referred to here is 66 year old Vinod Nayar, father of the bridegroom…

To quote from the news-item - “Now it had emerged that an unseemly wrestling match broke out in the middle of the sacred Hindu ceremony, to the astonishment of the 200 guests, and Vinod Nayar was ejected from his own son Arun’s wedding…” 

One can see some parallels, in the fracas…

Humpty-Dumpty sat on the wall….

The land of milk and music - 1

Friday - Good Friday - saw one motor down to Brindavan.

Generally referred to in plural as Mathura-Brindavan, one usually covers it as a part of Agra-Mathura-Brindavan trip, and more as a feel-good, been-there, seen-that kind of life-bookmark….

But Brindavana, in reality, is all by itself…It is some place else….

A land quite unspoilt by commerce of time…

Evening of Good Friday saw one in Ramakrishna Mission at Brindavan, in time for evening Aarathi….The same wholesome sounds that ring in all Mission shrines, filled up the prayer hall here….

At 7:30 pm, one took a cycle rickshaw to Banke Bihari temple…What an ambience….It is as if one is entering the Durbar of the Emperor of immortality….There he stands, Banke Bihari, Krishna, right in the middle of open pedestal, and every one in the large temple can view him…The devotees are raising Jai-Jai-kara resonance, like as if there is a rain of sixes in a cricket match…

Dinner, Prasada, at the RK Mission was simple and special. Rotis, Dal and mixed Veg curry. And Brindavan milk…

RK Mission has been in Brindavan for a hundred years now. They had their centenary celebrations last week.  (Indeed Brindavana was very special to Sri Ramakrishna…He used to say that the very dust of Brindavana was Divine, indeed Brahman itself….He took a sapling from here to plant in Dakshineshwar….)

At Brindavan, RK Mission has a nice hospital. With a hundred fifty beds or more….Thirty doctors residing in campus…Serves one and all in Brindavana…This is the concretization of Swami Vivekananda’s ideals….

Lovely campus…Lots of peacocks…And monkeys….

“Beware of monkeys”, we were told….”They are trained by unscrupulous elements to snatch your spectacles….You  just cannot be too careful…Best is for you to not wear your specs unless you are inside a building…”

With the throaty cries of peacocks bringing music in the night, one slipped into the land of nod.

Saturday, morning 5:30 am, saw us in the same Rickshaw, going down to the ghats of Yamuna river….Hints of sunrise in the pre-dawn sky. Little shrines, by the ghatside were open….As we tried to figure out a good place to have a dip, a boatman came and offered to take us to the other side….and so we went….

The other side was ideal…It wasnt very deep, and the incline was gradual. The flow of the river was gentle but firm (like a mother pushing a child in a swing)…

It was sheer joy bathing in the river…Soon the Sun came up…..

Here is a picture of sunrise, above the Yamuna, by the ghats of Brindavana…Blue river, blue sky, Krishna land…