Kannadasan

The irony and contradictions of life  as noted many times over in  his powerful verses,
The late Tamil lyricist and poet Kannadasan
 Here is one which is quite thought provoking,

( I note this in the traditional Roman letters as this computer dose not help in typing it in Tamil)


"Buddhi ulla manitharellam vetri kanpethille,
Vettri petta manitharellam budhishali allai".

Unique India

So eventually it turned out to be a damp squib, the security beefing and the judgement of the Allahabad High court itself. The anticipated, violence, acrimony, and all the fun and anarchy only India can provide and enact to perfection did not take off. The Gods were unkind it just did not materialise.

But we have few other fascinating facets over the week that can be relished. The Allahabad High court has pronounced a judgement that takes back society to the medieval times, when it was believed that the earth was flat and the sun and stars went round our planet.Our learned legal minds have ensured that a matter of pure legal dispute over the title to a piece of land can been decided by the predominance of faith, theology , belief and myth. Not reason or historical evidence. Archaic in every sense! History has been given a burial. Historical evidence has been superseded by matter of faith. The dispute has been settled like a family court award.

Now our children can rewrite their history lessons. A Hindu mythical god Ram (Raman or Rama) now has been provided a stature and historical sanctity like that has been rightfully given to historical figures like Christ, The Prophet Muhammad, Buddha, or Confuscious.The court has decreed that Ram was born under the dome of the demolished mosque in Ayodhya. They have not specified the year, whether it is in the pre-Christian era or later. The Christian church at least endorses the view that the World was created in BC 4657, they only have to specify which month, week and date.

Such kind of travesty can happen only in India. Where pure belief, faith and obsession with myth can write or rewrite history. Only time can tell, if many of us will have to go back to school and re learn and read the contemporary version of history. Where a Napoleon or a Karl Marx may be myth and the pantheon of Gods would be historical reality.We Indians will have a unique distinction, and it is that, after the Zionists it is we who have deftly used  myth and legend to create legal title and right over a piece of land.

Now that the fascinating judgement has been given out, we can only hope and wish that the archaic Common wealth games will provide further thmasha and fun and can be the icing on the Indian cake.

Mirage

I had a dream and, I saw it was a mirage!

I woke up and saw the sunlight and wondered if that was a mirage too.

I walked out and saw the mirage and wondered if that was real.

So I came back in and slid into slumber,

And thence I saw, all that I saw was mirage,
 but yet I refused to accept they were so.

Oh what a fool am I ?

Literary Friends

The late Professor M. Krishnan Nair was perhaps one of those few people whose erudition had no bounds. And of the living, Justice Krishna Iyer is one such.

The profound knowledge and dexterity over language that was/is special to these two cannot be confined into some words.

Professor Krishnan Nair was familiar to all those who would zealously devour his literary reviews and critiques that used to come out every week. I was amazed by the intensity with which he used to read and dissect literary creations, no holds barred. Can a man read with such profligacy? I wondered. So did many. And Professor Krishnan Nair did! A very familiar demure figure on MG Road Thiruvannathapuram, and at the D.C and Current Books , until he became confined to bed and faded away.

There were rude, unkind, tongue in cheek, vulgar comments and opinion that the professor based his reviews on synopsis of the books he critiqued. He did not read as he claimed. And he was a false,haughty literary reviewer and so on. Professor Krishnan Nair ignored these comments,sometimes rubbish has to be dealt as such and left in the confines of the bin.

It is furore and false pride that make these people claim to be scholars in reading a J. Krishnamurthy, a James Joyce, an Osho,  an Albert Camus, a Khalil Gibran and so on.The first name basis with which they refer to these literary giants seems to be funny,impolite and shocking. “Well have you read JK”, will be the intone. And honestly with the very cursory reading I have had of Krishnamurthy it would be embarrassing and unease to comment. As I move on, the glance of derision will follow me. Also I found Krishnamurthy’s video and audio lectures discernible than his books.So, though I have a few books in collection haven't read much.

The pretensions and nature of people who claim to the legacy of thinkers like J. Krishnamurthy was glaringly revealed when I went to a school run by the Krishnamurthy foundation. Just to put forth my point- spirituality if exists in us need not be ostentatiously exhibited or reminded to the world, If true spiritual nature exists in us it tells in the glow of the mind. A well read person has an aura, a halo that can be seen when you are near him. It tells in his gaze, his words. And that is vivid to all. What happened in that school, be it teachers or parents was kind of contrived dazed speech and elevated walking around. They seemed to have the air of zombies. Was Krishnamurthy one such? I felt rubbished.

Then there are people who quote extensively from the classical writers.They may not have read the work, but they capture the catchy parts to flaunt their erudition . It is amazing how they manage to retain awesome memory. And quotes are brought forth during appropriate and inappropriate occasions. They are desperate to convey the message that they are scholars who alone can comment on the literary giants, and great thinkers, men of philosophy and political sciences from whom they think they have bequeathed their philosophy.

 I met this guy who was from Kerala, who also claimed to be an MBA graduate. His English had a deliberate accent - but was pure mallu- english and he seemed to be in desperate mood to convey that he was erudite and a walking encyclopaedia. He claimed to have read poetry. I forced myself and  listened to his monologue. The only poetry he seemed to recite verbatim was “Kunnjunni kavithakal”. What he did not realise was that camouflage is an art that has also to be supplemented by an act as well. To act you need substance, dressing up and attire alone may not help. He began talking about the books he read. He said he was a voracious reader. And he has devoured most of the English writers .I enquired if he liked the books of Graham Green and P.G.Woodehouse. He brushed my question aside and said that he has read world classics; I asked him if he would suggest a few. He said he has read “Hunchback of Notterdam”. I felt like someone slap me in the face. I hurriedly bade him and moved on.

The shallowness of their self can be easily discerned if we care to be in conversation with them for a while. James Joyce, JK ,and the lot would run away in embarrassment.It is apparent that a person has not read a sentence of Hemingway if he is a person who dislikes the wild, and is an armchair explorer.

But why do people fake? What gratuitous pleasure will one achieve if one falsely claim to have read a book of repute? The lie will be seen as soon as the person begins the conversation. Because even if it is rubbish that we have read the dust that catches our persona is there to stay through the life. That is, what I see as the power of literary creation -the power of words, the power of the pen.It is the same with a Enid Blyton,a James Hadley Chase, a Kant, a Neruda,a T. Padmanabhan , a SKP or a Marquez.
Any dispute?

"Justitia"

A month or so ago bloggers flooded the sites with mutual  and reciprocal wishes and accolades on the Independence Day. Back patting, self congratulatory words, jingoistic slogans and so on  flooded the sites. "Mere Bhartah mahan” , so claimed many blogs. Suddenly many of us woke up to believe that we are a proud ,civilised nation and a free democracy.

Today when one switch on any news channel on TV the world’s largest democracy seems to be at war, Preparations are on for a possible war. Security is being beefed up all over the country. Secular credentials of the masses and the country seem to be threatened and security personnel have been deployed at places of worship, and many public monuments.The reason, the free democracy that we are may be grotesquely awakened or jolted by a judgement that a court of law will pronounce in a day. That is the extent and depth of our respect for the judicial process and law of the land. And we still claim to democratic and secular values. Bull shit! Can we be more hypocritical than this?

When we cannot accept the due process of law to which we turned to conclude a dispute what right do we have to claim that we are free? That we are democratic? We are secular? We are civilised nation that respects the law?

Perhaps Winston Churchill though brutal in his observations ,about our credentials was right , that we Indians cannot manage our affairs in a civilised conduct but are meant to be ruled over.

If...

If life followed us, stead of us follow life
and ebb with the tide?

Cease longing and craving for things that are afar.

If we can be happy when dispossessed cause we never owned them to begin with?

Would then ,life be happier than now?

The Word ?

It is in human nature to ignore and wish away what that we feel is not convenient to us, our beliefs and perceived well being. We are well adept in closing our eyes to the many possibilities that life throws up. Our conditioning has much to do with this. Since we are taught to be subservient and comply with the system. Not to ask inconvenient questions. What attracted me to Hollger Kersten’s book “Jesus Lived in India” ,published by Penguin was the audacity of inquisitiveness, a profane trait as seen by many. C has now begun reading the book. The good thing about her, she is not shackled by icons and fear of malediction. I bought the book after seeing it with a woman who claims to be a devout catholic. I was certain that when she told me that she read the book it was a monolithic lie. Because people of her genre are a frightened lot, they cannot but wear blinkers.

Many European travellers to Kashmir have recorded the possibility- of Jesus living in India.
Suppression of truth, search for knowledge and light has always been practised down history. And the author of this book quotes ample conjectures that points to culpability of not only the Church but also of the apostles some of whom may have allegedly misrepresented facts in narrating the life crucifiction and resurrection of Jesus. 

According to the Old Testament Moses led the Jews from Egypt to the Promised Land, (which they usurped from the Palestinians to become later the modern day Israel). But according to the evidence bared by  Hollger Kersten this Promised Land was not Palestine but the valley of Kashmir.The first set of evidence is that several locales mentioned in the Old Testament carry strong similarities in name and description to places in and near the Kashmir valley. Secondly the native Kashmiri people bear strong resemblances to Jews in physical characteristics. Thirdly the customs of Kashmir is having fascinating similarities to those of the Jews. The book has to be read to understand how a group settled in Kashmir.

Then come the galvanizing parts of Kersten’s disclosures- Jesus spent much of his teen and youth in a Monastery in India, studying Buddhism. He then went back to the Middle East where he preached all the knowledge and wisdom he gathered in the orient. The conjecture cannot be shooed away, because after being born and reared in a faith (Judaism) which literally embraces the dictum, “an eye of an eye, and tooth for a tooth”, Jesus was known to have preached compassion, forgiveness and repentance, traits clearly alien to his people but ascribed to the oriental religion of Buddhism. If not for the influence of alien faith and religion, from where and how did he imbibe these laudable principles and wisdom? Another vital point that the self proclaimed biblical historians could not explain was the whereabouts of Christ from his adolescence to the very late twenties. It is known from the bible and other historical documents that Christ was seen back in Palestine in his thirtieth year.

 Last but not the least, Jesus survived the Crucifixion, not just in Spirit but also in body and then returned to India and continued to spread his message. He finally died in Kashmir in ripe old age.  His tomb exists in Kashmir still. "In the middle of Srinagar's old town stands the building known as 'Roza Bal',which is constructed over the burial place of 'Yuz Azaf',who  the evidence strongly suggest is none other than Jesus". The harrowing period of the crucifiction ,the fascinating rescue and medical care ,escape to safety of the east along with his Essene  disciples are all  well explained with proof and evidence.

While Kersten acknowledges that many Christians may accuse him of fleecing Christianity of its core message that Christ died on the cross to salvage humanity by bearing on him our sins, the author argues that this was not the factual message that came from Christ but from the apostles who gave us their interpretations of Christ’s life and preaching. Jesus on the other hand, preached love, tolerance and harmony! His life in itself conveys that central message. It was Paul who made out Jesus died on the cross to bring salvation to mankind.

Kersten opines that if a DNA test could be conducted on the shroud of Turin that is believed to have been used to drape the body of Christ (later scientifically proved to be hoax) and on the remains in the tomb a conclusive proof for his claims can be found, but that may seldom happen in our times.Kersten argues that the scientific testing on the authenticity of the shroud was questionable.

Through out the book, the  author based his theory on facts, legends, the scriptures including Koran and lot of historical postulations and evidence. When one carefully note the volume of evidence and historical materials that are described and laid bare in the book, these theories cannot be rubbished as that of an apostate.

This book  may be blasphemous for many but for the inquiring  the book is a treat and of much history and why not’s..

This also reminds of a work of fiction by Irving Wallace ’The Word’, where the officialdom moves mountains to stop the revelation of a Bible long lost and found.


The faithful might brand the book iconoclastic perversion, but only that they speaketh with eyes closed.