God - a victim of the the stampede

                     The Temple of Sabarimala as it looked in 1942

Allau-din- Killji, reign from 1296-1316 was in a way instrumental in the historicity of Sabarimala. His lover, the eunuch military General, Malik Kaffur was sent to South India for the furtherance of military conquest and plunder of temples that was widely the practised history of Prussian forage into India.

Fearing the imminent invasion, the Pandya kings of Madurai first thrashed away the temple wealth and booty to various Bhramanic households , and then when the fall of the kingdom was certain they fled to Venad. Meanwhile Malik Kaffur reached as south as Rameswaram and built a mosque there.

The ruler of Venad in his magnanimity and adhiti devo bhava tradition gave that branch of the Pandya dynasty that came for safe haven, around 1000 sq miles of land in Pandalam. Thence the Pandalam dynasty was born. The lore and myth of the Sabarimla temple cocooned in the Western Ghats amidst thick dense, pristine, perennial green forest began there. Myth was crafted artistically into history like with all mythical stories of various faiths.

I scoured through the Net to find the actual time the pilgrim journey into the Sabarimala began,but information was absent. The fascinating characteristic of the pilgrimage or journey to Sabarimala is the absence of touch- me – notism amongst the pilgrims.The strict continence and penance subscribed for and before the pilgrimage to the hills, is now frivolous and trivial. Though the God who supposedly abodes in Sabarimala had a Muslim, and a  Christian as companions, the inter faith and inter caste bonhomie is shed in the hills and is seldom carried down in their hearts by the millions of pilgrims who venture to the hills. But marketing of the temple presumably brought the Aryans from north down to the hills in the Western Ghats to worship the Dravidian God.

The recent tragedy where more than one hundred lives perished in chaos and stampede is only a reminder of the wayward ways we follow to desecrate nature in and around Sabarimala. Certainly the God is angry and is in wrathful mood. The very look at the photo given here would tell how we raped the temple, god and the mountains. The officialdom is steadfastly perpetuating the utter nonsense and canard of “ makara Jyoti”. And people vie for being gullible. When god is not in the heart, mind  and soul, even a thousand jyotis can never lit up the heart, mind and soul of man.

In the goodness of things, rather than market and sell the myth of Ayappan, and marketing the journey to the  hills as the panacea for the sufferings of karma and life, the government can think of devising a quota system by which only a limited number of pilgrims are allowed into Sabarimala. Certainly the hills cannot take this large numbers. The tragedy of the stampede tells that.There can be an on line booking system. The reduction in the thronging of people to the hills will help nature, nurture her mauled and raped body back. The Gods, in the hills can have some peace! The river Pampa will be able to replenish and sustain her devoid of Coliform bacteria. And such tragedy as the one recent may not re visit. Perhaps Lord Ayyappan would also consider going back to Sabarimala from his present state of incommunicado.

A child posed this question after seeing the TV reportage of the tragedy in Sabarimala, “why did not the lord ensure that his devotees did not come to harm”?

Hug Amorous?

I waited with a wildly beating heart,

 for the parting clinch that once snowed me under.

I thought, I sensed she wanted to hug,

Or did I long for it again, once?
She was stealthily waiting by,so I thought.

As she went into the bath and laid the towels for me.

Then stood out looking elsewhere feigning some chores,
or so I thought.

Heart skipping beats, and beating fast,

 I went in to the bath

And restfully, she slid in and stood close.

Told me the towels were laid, not that I could not see!

And familiarise me the tap for the warm and cold!

Did I hear her lungs breath fast or was it my breath?

She perhaps sensed my heart skip beats, and moved away, out.

And I thought I called out after her-

‘You left me in the lurch and cold’.

The other side of the Moon

The mysterious other side has always evoked curiosity. Well is there a “other side”? The mysterious other side – what after death has evoked wonder, fear and anxiety to the majority, while the minuscule have brushed it as trivial and nonchalantly. Opinions are always based on religion, faith, conditioning and tradition. It has been the nature of man to attribute divinity and providential potency to things that are incomprehensible with the present knowledge that we possess of the mystery that life and universe are.

What will happen after death? What will become of you when you are dead?

Will you remain in the subterranean vault and decay ,or will your burnt out ashes get blown by the wind and be carried into lands that you wanted to go, or you never known of? And or still be immortal in the afterlife like the Pharaohs thought they would be? Here are some thought provoking, jest full, anxious, and on the whole funny answers. The kiss of Angelique – the angel of death!

1-      Your spirit returns to God, who gave it.

2-      The Judgment!

3-      I guess when you are gone, you are gone, and probably that makes sense.

4-      I try to think it in many ways, but can’t get around it.

5-      It is not what would happen after you die , it is what people want to think will happen after you are dead.

6-      Dude there is no opinion as to what would happen when we die; it is the hard biological fact. We rot and maggots eat us inside out. Isn’t it clear enough?

7-      Your neurons stop firing and your body starts to decay.Evryone mourns for a while and then move on, and then they also die and there will be again mourning for a while and their children and friends move on in life.

8-      The cycle continues until you are free of your karma.

9-      Life is too short to keep thinking about what after death.

10-  Let us keep the best of life ticking, the positive, and fuck death and life after.

11-  No one knows what will happen . We can only guess, hope and have faith. And there has been no come back except Jesus, so they say, and the only ones who saw him were connected to him.

12-  I told you guys, I can’t explain decomposition after having eaten recently.

13-  Decay and become part of the food chain.

14-  I’m not religious so I don’t care if people have different beliefs. And I will not get offended. But I do believe in God. Just an idea that popped up. We reincarnate and continue to do God’s will, and then go to heaven. Just a thought.

15- Send my stomach to Milwaukee if they run out of beer there.

Put my socks in a cedar box; just get them out of here.

Throw my brain into a hurricane.

Since it is sin to tell lies, send my mouth down south,

And kiss my arse good bye,

But please, please don’t bury me in the cold, cold ground..

The Tyger

Tiger Tiger. burning bright,
In the forests of the night;
What immortal hand or eye.
Could frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skies.
Burnt the fire of thine eyes?
On what wings dare he aspire?
What the hand, dare seize the fire?

And what shoulder, & what art,
Could twist the sinews of thy heart?
And when thy heart began to beat.
What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? what the chain,
In what furnace was thy brain?
What the anvil? what dread grasp.
Dare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spears
And watered heaven with their tears:
Did he smile His work to see?
Did he who made the lamb make thee?

Tiger Tiger burning bright,
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry?

William Blake

William Blake the English poet and painter penned this highly analysed poem in the late 1700’s. He misspelled the word and noted as TYGER, it is told, perhaps to emphasise the different and exotic nature of the animal.

I remember this poem from standard IV, when we had a shortened few lines in our English Reader. It was sometime later in high school the complete poem was given in the curriculum. The poem haunts me even now for the vibrancy and strength of words, perhaps a parallel I noticed in the poem Balachandran posted.

I take the liberty of posting Blake’s poem ‘Tiger’ per se, as I cannot coin verses like he or Balachandarn, verses that carry the power and the feel . Anything otherwise would be an injustice to this wonderful creature and the fate that is fast overtaking it.

And it was during the same time when in high school, during my regular visits to the British Council Library in Thiruvananthapuram, I happened to read a book on a hunting expedition of King George V. There was photograph in black and white with the King and his Maharajah splendiferous in front of the carcass of some fifty odd tigers they hunted in one single day.

That slaughter was for perverted fun and the present slaughter is in aid of perverted carnal orgy.

And the magnificent creature is at the nadir end in both cases. 

" What hands made thee" ,the same god that made the lamb made the tiger. And  he the very same blacksmith made man... what a cosmic catastrophe!!!!

 "the stars throw down their spears ,

And water the heaven with their tears”

'De mortuis nil nisi bonum'.

De mortuis nil nisi bonum. ... , will this hold good with the many that passed away?

A few sample personalities who while they walked this world were either considered or were  evil, bad, corrupt, false, nepotic, greedy,malevolent, and rode rough shod over many lives, sending them to misery and into a life of agony . They destroyed systems and conventions, all aimed at self aggrandisement and deeply  set in avarice. Some where driven by misplaced logic of their concept of social justice. The result was havoc and devastation!

An immediate sample few who came to mind from not so recent to recent history.

Powered and driven by perverted vision of Aryan supremacy, the legacy of which the world still see in many parts and the middle- east. He accounted for more deaths only surpassed by the crusades.

Megalomania and utter disregard for life, all driven by a fanatic belief in the indispensability and omniscience of Communism, marked his reign. Researchers found he may have eliminated an estimated 60 million people during his reign of terror. The architect of the infamous “gulag” which killed an estimated 1.8 million plus.

The perverted military dictator of the impoverished Uganda, His rule was characterised by abuses, political repression, cold blooded murders, brutality and gross economic mismanagement. The number of people killed as a result of his regime is estimated by international observers and human rights groups to be more than 500,000.

The ‘lord of the killing fields’, leader of the Cambodian communist movement. He was the prime minister of Cambodia from 1978-79. He in his time as the dictator of Kampuchea attempted to ‘cleanse ’the country , and resulted in the deaths of an estimated 1.7 million to 2.5 million people .During his time in power, he imposed a version of agrarian socialism , a form of communist idiosyncrasy, forcing urban dwellers to relocate to the countryside to work in collective farms and forced labour projects, toward a goal of "restarting civilization" in a "Year Zero". The combined effects of forced labour, malnutrition, poor medical care and executions resulted in the deaths of approximately 21% of the Cambodian population.

The most dreaded terrorist,who came into lime light as a freedom fighter for a separate Tamil state in Ceylon.He was wanted by the Interpol for crimes ranging from ethnic cleansing, terror , murder, smuggling ,trading in narcotics, political assassinations  and terrorism conspiracy.A brutal killer who condoned no dissent. He brought mayhem on his own folks. 

The feminine face of the Hindu goddess “Durga”, considered by many as the harbinger and giver of prosperity for the teeming impoverished millions in India!. She was adept in decimating, systems, institutions and values that are corner stones and pinions of democracy. Driven by her lust and longing to stay in power ,she usurped the constitution and all democratic norms, perpetuated her family rule for almost two years- ruled by decree she, her son and his cronies. She tolerated no dissent, but still claimed to be a democrat. During her autocratic regime of the Emergency days thousands were imprisoned and some never saw daylight after. Basic human rights and civil liberties those are the vital cogs of democracy were trampled and destroyed. Manipulated politics to abysmal depths that states like Punjab and Assam almost broke away from the Union. And even to this day Jammu& Kashmir is a festering sore.

But she is still an icon, a goddess for the many millions in India.

And in very recent history, the man who probably would have, if he were given a chance carried the chair he most coveted to the nether world. A man whose lust for trappings of power, and blind affection for his kith and kin knew no bounds and reared its ugly face in public. Was a ruthless practitioner of Machiavelli’s theories of state craft. Perpetuated corruption, and sleaze.Became infamous for lying under oath of his knowledge and acquiescence of extra judicial murders during the emergency. Hunger for power stayed with him till his last. However encomiums and eulogy that were showered after his demise will put to shame the very same man who loved flattery and narcissism.

The Great Hijackings.

The first recorded aircraft hijack took place on February 21, 1931, in Peru. People do not speak about hijacking at sea as it is perhaps less glamorous.

Usurpation has had happened in various forms in societies ,as early as from the dawn of social living. And the most cunning are the hijacking of great masters who threw light into our mangled messy living.

It is Xmas time and my mobile phone and Gmail have been often notified with good wishes for a merry Xmas and the wishes of good tidings for the ensuing New Year.

Good to know people care!

The fascination with Blogging sends me every morning, first routine, after bed to the computer and the Blog. There were a few blogs from blogging associates reminding of Xmas and conveying their wishes. But unfortunately and disturbingly there was a post which sort of hijacked Xmas and Jesus Christ. And as a consolation, threw a Buddha at us, Indians .In any case Siddhartha was from Nepal and less Indian, in terms of political and social definitions.

Hijacking has always happened in matters of great thinkers and masters, whether they be, mythical or historical characters. Christ, Rama, Buddha, Mahaveera, Shankara, Socrates, and even recently the venerable Narayana Guru have been hijacked and sequestered by vested institutionalized interests.

Can anyone tell without bating an eyelid that Jesus Christ as we know him is an exclusive private merchandise of the institutionalized Church? When someone claims so, it is gross irreverence to the person called Jesus Christ and his philosophy. The great thinkers were and are never any ones private possession. They cannot be possessed by a sect, religion, region or country. The teachings of Buddha and the thoughts of Socrates transcend eons and generations. The dharma and purpose of the life of a King that Sree Rama extolled even at the dire expense of his dear wife cannot be glorified to be the culture of one sect or religion. His life, mythical though conveyed a message to the whole world at large. To claim the gift of such thoughts and  messages meant for the whole of  humanity as exclusively patented or of copyright to a section is ridiculous, outrageous and outlandish. Such thoughts tell one’s pettiness and myopia.

"Father they know not what they say”!

The birth of Christ and its commemoration is a universal celebration, because his exhortation and teachings were meant for the whole of humanity, and not for the stretch of land in Palestine , or self proclaimed Christians. The philosophy of “ahimsa” or non violence, the moral creed of Satyagraha conveyed by Mahatma Gandhi are not to be confined to a few Indians, it has universal relevance.

If a patron of another faith, let him be a Hindu a Muslim, a Jew a Buddhist a commie or an anarchist feels and states that the teachings and philosophy of Jesus is alien and hence wrong and harmful, or is an exclusive merchandise to be pedaled by a particular group, he or she is widely proclaiming his/her impetuosity and retarded development of their brain.It is unfortunately our shortcoming and limitation that we cannot see teachings of great masters as all encompassing and universal, touching each and every facets of life, transcending continents.

There are also claims on this Xmas day that the lands in Africa, America and Asia were resurrected and civilized from barbarism by the advent of Christianity. A grossly mediocre statement lacking in knowledge of history! To claim that the native Indians were more barbaric than the church going Europeans is the unkindest cut of all. The inquisition, the purge into the Americas , the expeditions of Christian missionaries into the unchartered lands of Africa by the connivance of the official Roman and Spanish Church only decimated and eliminated the ethnic cultures , traditions , pagan life styles and systems of the natives. The most brutal of conversions took place in the Americas by the Spanish and that was in total variance with what Christ stood for.Remember, those  few  fisher folks became his apostles, his disciples out of their volition and not enticement, lure or brutal force.

And it is a shame to dedicate in the memory of Christ ,the mayhem unleashed on the native populace to purportedly civilize them, and to remind us of those horrendous acts on this Xmas day, is injustice and unchristian.

Xmas is not for the Church alone!

"Sweet Caroline"

 Sweet Caroline" is a song of beauty written , composed and sung by the effervescent Neil Diamond.It was I see , released in  the late 60’s. The song reached the 4^th in the Billboard and went on to win the platinum for highest solo.

Neil Diamond  was inspired by the little daughter of JFK, Caroline ,, who was hardly into her teens when he wrote the song..He sang the song again on her 50 th day celebration in 2007.

Plagiarism , though, I rededicate this song to the Caroline ( Christy) , who I know  and has been with me for the past 23- Xmas days, who is more sweet, more beautiful, aint that tall, aint that skinny, but I , Ara and Radhu are blessed to have with us. Because she has a heart that cannot hate, and not love! And happy birthday to her and Jesus Christ- December 25 , Xmas day.

Where it began 
I can't begin to knowin 
But then I know it's growin strong 

Was in the spring 
And spring became the summer 
Who’d have believed you'd come along 

Hands, touchin hands 
Reachin out 
Touchin me 
Touchin you 

Sweet caroline 
Good times never seemed so good 
I've been inclined 
To believe they never would 

But now I 
Look at the night 
And it don't seem so lonely 
We fill it up with only two 
And when I hurt 
Hurtin runs off my shoulders 
How can I hurt when I'm with you 

Warm, touchin warm 
Reachin out 
Touchin me 
Touchin you 

Sweet caroline 
Good times never seemed so good 
I've been inclined 
To believe they never would 
Oh, no, no 

Sweet caroline 
Good times never seemed so good 
I've been inclined 
I believed they never could 
Sweet caroline

With you around!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"