A small Riposte

I love brick bats and derogatory comments against my view points. But if these were enhanced with substantial points and reasoning of the opposite view, the whole process of airing on the Blog would be much thrilling and great. But when one wears blinkers and one is audaciously obstinate to open ones eyes, when one is fearful of the light, well then can we ask for anything better? Faith is not an inviolable or an absolute notion or subject. It better be substantiated, lest it may be classified with superstition and hearsay. And if faith is hurt and offended because of a contrary opinion, see how fragile faith itself is! Though I agree that one has the right to stick to faith

I wish that there were a dozen apostles, god men, alive and who could at the drop of the hat change the world. The miseries, the fear, sufferings, poverty, hunger, diseases, death, wars, destruction, the list wish can grow. If only the Gurus, the Bhagawans, the Saints, the Majis, the Swamis could get together around a table and eradicate and banish once for all, the list of bane I mentioned! Until then it is difficult and impossible to be convinced about the incarnate forms they are, or to be convinced about the sorcery and magic they connive.

The great ones who have passed through this world and some who are still amongst us do not stake claim for greatness, immortality or Godliness. They have not and do not play intrigue and stage tricks on us. They have lived their life in full and have not yearned or craved for physical immortality. But we and generations to come will notice the noble deeds they did without the trappings of pomp, godliness and magic. And certainly they are the Gods we have to bow to.

Now please read interesting comments on my views on the SaiBaba.

To Mr. anil,

There exists thin line between superstition and faith...having said that what is faith to me cud be superstion to some one else..but i beleive what i see..not unverified allegations from closed minded people..all said..whether aged or not, when some one close to you is not well..any one feels bad..in such it is very important to be cautious and to note that we dont disrespect others faith...u say sai baba is fooling others..in my opinion you are fooling people by by writing unverified (which never happening) events..good luck dude..keep writing nonsense..no takers here.. Ganesh

Ganesh, 

I believe that people like Anil has to voice themselves for attention sake!They don't have a view to express, they can only be loud and can only remind us of likes of Rakhi Sawant!

Very simply he could have kept his view and expression of speech to his blog or to his like minded people, but Nah! how can we expect a likes of Rakhi Sawant to not to indulge in the acts of bragging! 

We are people of mental strength, we should completely avoid even replying to such people!! 

Especially when we all here to celebrate the man, the bhagvan and his life, my guru! ( Signature)

Mr. anil..

to question is anybody's right..but to say bad things about someone who has transformed lives of millions of ppl positively is somthing really sad..check out this link to know (a glimpe) of what baba has done to society ..http://bit.ly/ezZc7d

also, can you proudly say if you have changed a 100 ppl's life atleast positively? if not, what credibility we have to talk of somoone who is respected by so many..even if you want to criticize get the facts and proof..dont keep yelling.. 

, too agree with the Swapna. Media has no work other than finding some news and making them sensational by including anything in it. So, i too, request every reader believe what she is saying and do not listen and act on media sayings' blindly.  Ganesh

Mr Anil..

pls look at the faith the person who has written the blog has on Sri Satya Sai..Millions of us feel the same way the blogger feels..i think ppl like Anilkurup need to learn to respect others faith and thats is what secularity is all about...to comment like anil in such a sensitive suituation is the height of sadistic mentality..i studied ther for 7 yrs..Sai baba is the means more to me than my parents..hope sense dwans on you Mr anil..Thxs  Ganesh

Sorcery

A few years ago, I and C made a visit to a house of a very near relative. His wife saw us at the door and in her usual pompous style took us in. She announced that we were lucky to have them there in the house because they had to make a last minute change to their programme of journey to Puttaparathi (SaiBaba’s abode).She was in her own description a devotee of the Baba.And she attributes all her money, her collection of gold jewellery to the blessings and will of the man she calls God- “SaiBaba”. But she did not discuss or comment as to why the Baba’s prowess was ineffective when it came to her chronic diabetes and acute hypertension and that she has to constantly pour out as much money she throws after gold and diamonds after her medical bill too.

She informed us that they had to postpone their travel to Puttaparathi because SaiBaba tripped and fell in his bath and was advised rest by his doctors and also had cast on one of his limbs which fractured in the fall.

We were seated in their sprawling living room, when she summoned C into the pooja room. C winked at me to follow her as both of us were getting bored by the lady’s grandiloquent oration of her wealth and of her divine unionism with this sorcerer SaiBaba ,( oh apologise- incarnation of god).She wanted to show us a miracle that the Baba brought to her pooja room that morning. Sitting in Puttaparathi or rather laying in his bed with a fractured limb, he through remote conduct brought “vibhoothi” (sacred ash) into the pooja room in Chennai. She showed us a handful of ash lying at the foot of the huge portrait of the Baba , kept in the pooja room. We, out of ennui and forced politeness nodded to all that she wanted to convince us.

Soon, we left the house after some parting pleasantries to her and her husband. Outside the gate we could not hold back our gleeful laughter at what is called faith, which people like her are obstinate about and are intoxicated with. C in passing said that we ought to have asked the lady why SaiBaba could not fix his fracture with his divine powers while he could bring in the holy ash into the pooja room, and while he has many times over picked out Rolex watches, laddus and Siva lingams from the void.

And, back to the present-since the past few days there has been information in the news papers and TV channels that SaiBaba is critically ill and his vital parameters are not showing great response to medication. Yes what else can one expect while in the late twilight of life and when one is eight seven or so? And to the ardent fans, devotees of this “holy man”, SaiBaba, I do not hesitate to ask, why is the fact of nature and natural laws of mortality slowly tightening the noose around this man? Why is it so if he were God and an incarnate? Why could he not use his miracles and mystical powers to extricate from the laws of Nature? Remember, myth and legend has it that Sree Krishna was transported to heaven in flesh and blood after being stung by the arrow of the hunter. He did not die like ordinary men and leave his physical body. But, why, is SaiBaba bedridden and at the mercy of medicines and doctors to sustain his life a little longer. Could he not use his sorcery that he is famous (infamous) for and extricate himself from the agony of illness, old age and death that will soon happen to him ,like it will to all of us one day?

This post is to throw questions and not to encourage beliefs for the sake of faith, supernatural or superstitions. The label of “apostate” has more sheen than the pseudonym of “gullible”. Hiding behind attributed mirages, calling things inviolable and matters of faith is the easiest way to enact a “Houdini”, a great escape from reality and inconvenient questions, answers and facts. The proverbial tree of apples in the Garden of Eden was a cunning ploy to ensure “man” never questions and is tethered. The ploy seems to be working in various ways, the most effective being “fear”.

The incorrigible ones will argue that the Baba is God because he has established many avenues and foundations of charity and philanthropy. They may pin point the hi-tech and super speciality hospitals where the needy can harbour. The schools and universities in his name, so on and so forth!

But is the tag of mystic, performer of miracles and magic, divine incarnate and a life in the vulgarism of opulence, a necessity to convey the message of love, peace, and caring for the needy? Certainly not  and a humble soul like the late Mother Theresa is a perfect example.

April 2,2011

In the present times in this country when it is starved of “HEROES” and accomplishments that would bring pride, the decimation of the oppositions in the ICC World Cup was savoring and delightful. Individual accomplishments in their own spheres are not many that we can boast about, at least in the times from the not so distant past. The magnificence of a Sachin Tendulkar and the team India, the tenacity of Sania Newal, the never say die spirit of Leander Paes, the rise from nothingness of a P.T.Usha are but a few that comes to mind.The country has to eventually harbour on its individuals who excelled in the arena of sports, when all seem to be lost if not going down the abyss else where, be it politics, public or social life.

                                                                                                                                         

I was cocooned in the air-conditioned comfort of the sprawling ball room of Trivandrum Club with a few friends and our families watching with varying emotions and moods the WC final last Saturday on the huge screen that was specially erected. It brought back memories of that June night in 1983, when a dozen of us got together at a friend's house here in Trivandrum to watch the David vs Goliath finals of the Prudential Cup. Those days only a few house holds had Television sets and in color. Since there were no separate Sports channels then, we had to agonisingly tune into the BBC for the match progression, while Doordarshan enamored itself with the Samachars and News in English. And robbing us off the sensations at Lords!

Tendulkar being scooped by the odd man with odd hair and odd action sent us into almost terminal shock. The gradual but tenacious recouping of the match from then on , the measured but composed frontal assault by the captain M.S.Dhoni and the eventual  dispatch of the cricket ball that saw India lift the World Cup was a befitting end if not shall I hope the beginning of a different India, a India that stutters for resurgence?

However standing along with the rest in that room that day and applauding amidst the vociferous yells of “Bharth Mahan” and “Vande Mataram” took away to some extent, the sheen of the win. It was after all a game, a game for civilised people! The hollers and cries of “Vande Mataram” reminded me of the war cries with the very same catchwords by the kar-sevaks atop the Babari Masjid and the sword wielding arsonists in Gujart.

 Verbal descriptions of cynic, faultfinder, sceptic and much more if any will not be hurting as the unwarranted and wild invocations that was made after the memorable win.

Driving back home through the revelry on the road I felt that at last we have something rightfully worthy to exult and  relish amidst the money laundering and sleaze that this country has come to be known for. And the din of that realization will take a while to settle down or be eclipsed. Until then, “Go India Go…..”!

Commonsense

I tried a few times to be inspired, ha, ha! To be motivated, for creativity and imagination to flow forth like the gushing rapids of the mighty rivers, consigning boulders fallen eons ago from exploding stars and  the land around, into awe. I tried, awaited with curiosity, but in vain! And kip engulfed me at all such instances, mastering my senses and physique pushing me gently into sanguine comfort and gay abandon. To wake up at dawn, an ordinary mortal more conscious of one’s limitation  Nature assigned. I tried for those moments of hallucination that great men of letters and art are alleged to have underwent, triggering their imagination and lay down in words, and visuals that we commoners devour, enjoy, cherish and fantasize.

Absinthe was consumed by Somerset Maugham. Did that help him in his literary exploits? Did the “Moon and six pence” evolve out of the hallucinations Absinthe might trigger? It is alleged that Lewis Carol had his moments of freakish fantasies. And “Alice in Wonderland” was the offshoot of such bouts. I could not find in my brief reading of his biography that he was assisted externally in his fantastic imaginative creations. Eric Clapton’s affairs with Vodka are too fearsome to look into. I wonder if the spirit stimulated him to be creative or if it was intimidating. Nearer home we have had the famous lyricists Vayalar Rama Varma and Kannadasan who it is said had to be enslaved by the spirit to produce creative diamonds, which they did while alive. The late John Abraham was one such who had to be influenced by external stimulants and the late poet Ayappan. Yes indeed the films and the poems that were created by them were too powerful for it to be the bizarre work of intoxicants.

And it happened the inspiration arrived and dawned as realization. Sitting back one night after a few glasses of whiskey, it was vivid, “and the moral of that is—Be what you would seem to be—or, if you’d like it put more simply—never imagine yourself not to be otherwise than what it might appear to others that what you were or might have been was not otherwise than what you had been would have appeared to them to be otherwise.” (Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland)

PESTICIDES,FERTILIZERS,PLASTICS, ALCOHOL & airlines

World over governments and countries have understood the importance of sustainable development and the dangers of environmentally retrograde actions. And many countries have started to react positively to environmental depletion. But unfortunately that is not the case in India, be it the various governments that occupy positions both in the states and at the center.

If nuclear power plants  are killers that become infamous through the wide barrage of intense publicity it receives through various mediums, pesticides used in agriculture and farming are certainly silent and slow killers , but devoid of the sheen and the gruesome glamour atomic energy possess...

The foremost responsibility of any government in a democratic political system is the betterment of the populace. But in contrast we have in this country governments and political parties who are intent in destroying the life of its citizens and bequeath gloom for posterity. The greatest misfortune people of India would have is the very governments they elect through suffrage, acting against their interest by lobbying and ensuring free hand for fertlisers and pesticide conglomerates.

Vijay Mallya will find a place of prominence amongst the top five industrialist and billionaires of India. He is a member of the upper house of parliament .Indeed the majority of our parliamentarians are millionaires, felons, rapists, thugs, murderers and convicts. While Vijay Mallya adorns the elite billionaire club of industrialists in the parliament it is also a known and not much spoken matter that he is also the don of industries and commercial ventures that  defraud and rob people off their health, wealth , wellbeing and also make exorbitant margins as profit, thereby.

Vijay Mallaya is the largest manufacturer and seller of alcohol in the world. He is the largest manufacturer and distributor in India and to poor third world countries pesticides as dangerous as Endosulfan.He is also the largest manufacturer of plastics. In fact he is the largest manufacturer and distributor of unsustainable fertilizers and pesticides. And he has the clout to influence and channel government policies and decisions to suit his commercial illusions, and ventures.

The history and evolution of agriculture pesticides has an interesting aspect.

Toxic chemicals were invented and manufactured by both the Allied and Axis forces in the Second World War. They were used at will in ammunitions and shells on the general population and troops of the adversary. Subsequent to the end of the Second World War, the manufacturers of such toxic compounds saw they were to be rendered job less as the use of such poison ceased to exist. In a brainstorming meeting of the manufacturers an idea evolved to use the poisonous chemicals and its variants as agriculture herbicides and pesticides. The powerful group of such people joined forces and marketed the poison as panacea for crop rot. They literally bought various governments and entrenched themselves. And since then, every grain of soil, land and water world over is being slowly rendered infertile and toxic. (Compiled and translated from Mathurbhumi Weekly)

Agent Orange is the code name of one such herbicide and defoliant used by the USA as a part of its herbicidal defoliate progarmme in the Vietnam War. According to the Vietnamese authorities 4.8 million Vietnamese were exposed to Agent Orange, resulting in the death or maiming of 4, 00, 000, and 5, 00,000 children born with birth defects. During a phase of ten year span of the Vietnam War the US military sprayed 8, 00, 00,000 liters of chemical herbicides in Vietnam, Cambodia and the former Laos. The intent was to defoliate the natural forest cover and rural dwellings and eliminating the food cover for the guerillas. This was also aimed at depriving the rural population of life in the country side and forces them to run for cover to the urban areas occupied by the US. Thereby depriving the Vietnamese guerrillas’ chance for base and support. The genesis of the Agent Orange had agricultural research. In the course of a research on the usefulness of a chemical compound in shortening the grain bearing span of Soya, scientist stumbled upon the fact that the chemical can defoliate crops. This was adopted by the US military to concoct a horrendous herbicide.

Imagine the revenue big chemical, fertilizer and pesticide companies will harvest and are continuing to harvest through dumping of toxic pesticides on the farming community and as deadly chemicals inside weaponry. Easier for them because human conflict is unremitting like human blunders and myopia.

                                                              Coffee Maker

And to compliment these endeavors of the business class, the poor mans’, labourers and tillers party the CPI ( Marxist) have made a fascinating inexplicable turn around and  have begun lobbying for genetically modified crops.

Scripted in the USA- " Thou shall be liable"

This is something that may come up in Wikileaks a few years from now.

Scene -1

The Ministry of public health and safety Government of Japan, Tokyo.

Bureaucrats and the cabinet minister are huddled around the conference table. Officials from the Ministry of energy are also standing around with devastated looks. The camera zooms into the middle aged man seated at the head of table. He is wearing a black suit with gold crested buttons. He is the only person at the crowded table who seems to be relaxed and gay.

The camera cuts and moves to focus the huge video screen at the far corner.

Scene -2 to interlay with scene 1

And it is the General Electric HQ in Connecticut USA

GE officials are cloistered in the brain storming room of the headquarters and are in video conference via satellite with the ministry officials in Tokyo. The GE officials are all grim faced.

Cut to the cabinet minister in Tokyo

Minister displays an exasperated look

“Gentlemen, to you guys in the USA, we have explained the terrible problem of radiation we have on hand here in Japan. All your lousy reactors have gone broke and are sending out toxic fumes. If this goes like this we will not have any edible blue finned tuna to consign you and no more sushis. No great sharks to slice the fins for soup, and no mink whales to hunt for hamburgers. We are already running out of birds that nest here in Japan and so no more 'bird- nest -soup' for us."..

Cut- to the GE HQ on the video screen

GE chairman beseeching and pleading - “Sir you must understand the stringent quality we maintain in all reactors manufactured here. Though we have dual standards that are adopted one for the reactors to be used here in USA and the other for export to the third world. Shhhh now Sir this is off the record please. But believe me the ones we sent you are better than and not as bad as the ones we are holding for shipments to India”.

Cut- to the Cabinet minister- “Ok CEO now this is getting a bit too far. Let me ask in simple English you guys stole from the English.When can we expect the accident liability compensation from you?”

-Cut to the GE CEO

 Sir, I implore you, please you must accept a reduced level of compensation. You see like the General Motors we are just about limping back from economic crisis. And a hefty compensation claim will put us out. You see my friend Anderson at the Union Carbide paid only $ 400 million to the blokes who got gassed by his company in Bhopal India. And that as well after twenty odd years!

Cut- Camera zooms into the cabinet minister in Tokyo-

“Look, you stupid, your good old George Bush had ensured that the liability in case of accidents on the reactors you send to India will only be pea nut skins. And that foolish Indian Sardar has signed the dotted line. Why do you fret then? You can add some of the liability you will not pay to India into our account. In any case we have an agreement that the USA will clean up the mess should it ever happen. You know that”.

Cut- camera zooms in to the video screen- 

The CEO displays a face of relief. And says grace to George W Bush.       

Musings

Ten meter high wave, traveling as fast as a jet plane. Each carrying tones of water. Ploughing under all and anything in its path; more than 1300 feared dead and tens of thousands unaccounted- missing! Literal decimation of a city. Ships, tugs and yachts berthed in the port twisted and thrown around like nine pins. The power of nature- its fury unleashed in proportions that is nightmarishly frightening for real and leaves one behind in awe. The collateral damage – unceasingly burning oil refineries, multitude of fires, four missing trains, and a catastrophic shutdown of a nuclear power plant! That was the Tsunami, the outcome of a massive seismological shake up down below in the tectonic plates and measuring 8.9 on the Richter. The most massive since the recording of seismic events began in the very early 1900’s.Those were the events that were unleashed in the past week in the Japanese costal town. Imagine a few such earth quakes can unleash with inconceivable abundance, forces that can literally wipe out the “Lord of all that he surveys- Man”.

A few years ago a similar cataclysm saw hundreds of thousand being swept down under by gushing sea water in the Tsunami that hit the Indian Ocean states.

Time and again, what more does Nature have to exhibit in blunt  terms and tell us, “Man you are an insignificant bit of star dust and do not matter in my scheme of things. You are not the cog in the wheel that triggers the sun to rise and set, the moon to rise and dazzle in splendour, the oceans to churn, the fishes to festally swim in aura of colors that spellbind. The mighty whales to go distance, the birds, the butterflies, the chameleons, the bees, the crickets, the gregarious little ants and the beasts of the jungle to enhance the grandeur of this world! The seasons to change , the rains to cool, the trees to bloom and fruit, the skies to stay blue, the tempests to beat, the stars to glow and wink! For your decimation can be in a whiff which you may not even notice! Therefore why this audacity, this lordliness, this avarice, this pride, this impulsiveness and false hood? Think,think you are only an aid of the things that are better and necessary for this World to turn around. And a dispensable bit of aid”.

The Tsunami was another instance of Nature imploring man to be just and kind with all that she has  and she owns..Because, for she is not powerless or dead. She can change the world and change it for ever and for good.

 Watching clear midnight skies

suddenly intense storms come alive
showing her rage
as each lightning bolt strikes
Mother Nature no longer sits
idly by

A plink and a plank is heard outside
once she tears up
and starts to cry

Windows rattle
foundations shake
as the roar of her thunder
is heard miles away

Mercy her violence does not show
causing many to scatter
while others are shattered

This mother 
has single handedly 
earned her respect
proving once and for all
a match for no man

---Sherry Lynn

"Whose Life Is It Anyway"

I remember the movie so well. I guess I saw it sometime in the early 80’s. And now the renewed interest in Euthanasia triggered by the Court ruling on a petition to assist mercy killing, begs that I get the movie DVD and see it all over again.

That was a memorable movie “Whose Life Is It Anyway”, with Richard Dreufus in the main role of a sculptor who is consigned to the hospital bed as a quadriplegic, paralyzed down below the neck, after a car crash. He eventually wins the case for his right to extinguish his life.

The life of Aruna Shanbaug is no life for the past 37 years. One has to look at assisted dying without the prejudice and emotions attached, and necessarily sans the antiquated philosophy camouflaged as ethics, incited by religious conditioning. The court made an admirably enlightened observation in the ruling on the mercy killing petition that a carte blanche acceptance of Euthanasia on the statute would be dangerous in the society we now live. It said that the ethical values are abysmal that the law will be misused by the unscrupulous society. I liked that comment. When someone introspects and tells that indeed we are mean. It is refreshingly in contrast to the hyped moral and ethical values of the society that many often trumpet.

Disconcerting and ridiculous is the reaction of the medical staff of the KEM hospital where the unfortunate woman has been confined as a piece of vegetable. Though the medical staff have providentially taken care of the quadriplegic and orphaned woman, their sloganeering in praise of a long life for the crippled woman and death to the petitioner who sake the court ruling to accept euthanasia was conceited and bizarre. The very same folk who braved and demand their right to take care of Aruna Shanbaug until her natural demise was crying for the blood of the petitioner. Is this hypocrisy, illogical passion?

Euthanasia must be legalized and with sufficient riders that will ensure the law is not and never misused and arrogated.. The anachronism in our criminal law is the section 309 which punishes attempted suicide. Perhaps the gentry who demand capital punishment as retributive justice may even think of sending to the gallows a person who killed himself. The British did that on the corpses of the Diwan of Travancore, Velu Thampi  and Kunjali Maraikar, the Admiral of the Zamorin of Kozhikode. They killed themselves before they could be captured and in fury the British hung their dead body on lamp posts. Can we term those suicides as cowardly acts and indulgence of sick minds? Apart from the psychological factors that may push a person into the extreme ground for suicide, I  see it as violation of  fundamental right if one is  prosecuted for deciding enough is enough in this world. If one does not have the right over one’s life, is that not against the very foundation that ensures fundamental rights? Similarly if a person who is absolutely perfect in his bearings decides that he has had enough of agony and suffering from the terminal disease he is afflicted decides to seek assisted euthanasia, why not?

What right do we have to say that one has to suffer and wait till a natural factor consumes life? It is cruelty and unethical. As for Aruna Shanbaug who has spent the last 37 years as brain dead, it is travesty of justice for her. “We will not let go her until natural death intervenes”, says the staff of KEM hospital. A group of hospital staff who love life so much in the same breath shout death for the petitioner.

The bottom line is if we cannot play God and alleviate the hardship why secure that the sufferer suffers till the day natural cause intervenes? All the more in cases as special as this?

It is crocodile tears of a society, moral outrage of a society that is awash with false and archaic notions, that deny mercy killing. Euthanasia must be legal. It is for the courts and the legislature to think and devise riders that will ensure the act is out of ethical considerations only.

A society driven by edicts of faith, still consign the dead to the funeral pyre or dump in pits in back yards of churches and temples instead of donating the cadaver to medical dissection, and thereby enhance the value of learning and opening new realms in human physiology for posterity; a society that still desist from donating harvestable organs after death, should not cry against the idea of Euthanasia. Legalising Euthanasia will be a right step forward.Help people live with dignity if  that is impossible let them die with dignity.

"The Copulating Lions"

It is not quite usual to write a post on a post. Generally comments are posted in lieu. However since no such written rules or precedents are in place I thought, I rather write something I felt on the post of Balachandran "So that you know how much I loved you",and his follow up observations with the bewitching verses of Richard Ebehart.

Those were powerful and glorious ode to the act of taboo. The word “taboo” is not of my volition. It is something I felt like interposing after noticing that only a few responses came by.The act of copulation is still

considered  abhorring to speak about. The poem “The lions copulating” on the great African plain brought out like in a three dimension picture the greatness of the vast continent and the majesty and dignity of those beasts.

One of the most fascinating account of Victorian social life and the intertwined hypocrisy was unleashed with subtleness and vehemence by D.H.Lawrence in “The Lady Chatterley’s Lover”. The novel depicted the amorous physical liaison between a aristocratic woman and a commoner. The book could not be openly published in the U.K. And ipso facto was banned in many countries and includes the ban in puritanical British India and followed up by independent India as well. In the late seventies and early eighties,when I was frequenting the British Council library in Thiruvananthapuram, I had frantically searched for the book but in futility. In 1982, I finally got a good print edition from a road side vendor in Connaught place, New Delhi. Reading it was different experience. The notoriety and the explicit passages were subservient to the more contrasting mind and body of human beings. It is in one's noticing and comprehension that obscenity and beauty is born.

The ruling of the court in the U.K when the publishers of the book were hauled up in the 1960’s is an enlightened example. The publishers could defend the “obscenity trial” and prove the literary merit of the novel. It was convincingly argued that the word “fuck” was certainly not lewd, and the act of physical union was only a primitive biological factor,detached from the human mind and body..

The Lions on that vast plains in the African savanna are unique examples. If bringing in  physical relationship of opposite sexes, man or beast as subjects into literature is filthy, repugnant, obscene and abhorring then it is obvious that the vast majority of men and women are indulging in the very nefarious conduct in real time. And beasts too!Quite a few of the mythical and religious classics must be banned or restricted The Gods may also be hauled up for salacious conduct.

That reminds me a contrast- a post I uploaded borrowing from a source. It was on the ubiquitous 'Lungie', and I still often see comments flowing in about the post and raving it.

Not seeing, feigning to have not noticed ,ignoring the literary value, aesthetics of imagination, and magical words in a creation as in the poems in question ,is blatant hypocrisy. I wonder if the signs of absence of comments constructive or otherwise suggests only the general conservatism of the society. The silence and closed eyes may be wicked extensions of denying what is there on the surface and beneath. The openness is found wanting.

 

We caught lions copulating on the plains
Of Africa. ….,
I pressed so hard on my 8mm. color film
I almost lost this gigantic naturalism, 

…………,
But saw the King of Beasts with his head high, 
His mane imperial, no expression on his face, 
Prodding in and out of the great female 

…………………………………….. ,
For his great face had no expression at all
While his lower being worked mechanical, 

Then he fell away, and stood off, and lay 
His full length on the ancient earth
While the lioness with a sumptuous gesture 
Rolled over as I have seen other females do

.......................................,

Stood in their historical posture of superiority 
And ambled across the limitless plains in silence
Without a thought of the lucubration of man, 
Trying to signify their big natures in empathy. 

The 'detachment' in discussion is worth some deep pondering! :-)

I can only see the majesty of the beasts and the incomparable vastness and feel of the great African savanna. The act of copulation is secondary to the imperiousness of nature.And also with the subtle depiction of the  act and the vastness of time around one should be in sublime mood..

And as in the poem  "So that you know how much I loved you"

“Yet I wonder, what is it that I loved in you?

Was it the person or the persona, the mind or the body,

That I had desired more; maybe both, maybe it is that

I wanted it all, with such a hunger, such an appetite…”

“…………………………………….,

So that I bled you, my sweat stank of you

My lips and yours one

My spittle and yours one......

.

Unfortunately candid expressions are frowned or shooed underneath. Surreptitious or false notions stand out as moral values. They are like the cloak that suppresses forthright feelings.

However there were a few comments that sensed the depth of the words. Whether the detachment which is instilled in the male species as mentioned by Bindu, or the words of discernment of the Doc and other couple of bloggers, it can be seen that there are people who have the right senses to appreciate the magical words and thereby ideas and imaginations laced in works of literature and consign hypocrisy to places it richly deserves.

“Like the feline with eyes closed

Lapping up milk in stealth

I fornicated day and night

All the while I comforted in the belief,

When my eyes were closed the world seldom saw

My act of promiscuity ”.

Musings

What difference can you tell?

In my offering the lord above

Money and in kind, thence supplicate in askance,

for his munificence in abundance.

And the man in the corporate hive

Decked in attire ,princes of the past shall envy.

Coddle and bespeak the khadhi clad varlets

For their largesse in abundance.

Free , Democratic India

This is just a story that happens many times over in the free, democratic, India that upholds justice and civil liberties to all its citizens.


The link below will certainly consume quite some time if you decide to read through. But read you must. And especially the gentry that savor Arundati bashing and cry vociferously "Ms Roy keep your hands off Kashmir".
The only similarity is she is just another woman, a citizen of this country like us. But the commonality ends there and this emotional write up tells that in ample words.
So please click the link "Article" and read on about democratic India . Because our children too as well as we can be the ones seeking  justice and in the dungeon waiting for the hangman's call and ......

The Very Strange Story of the Attack on the Indian Parliament

-- By Arundhati Roy,
"To invoke the 'collective conscience of society' to validate ritual murder,
which is what the death penalty is, skates precariously close to valorising
lynch law.It's chilling to think that this has been laid upon us not by
predatory politicians or sensation-seeking journalists (though they too have
done that), but as an edict from the highest court in the land."

Article 

The Origin

Sweating out in the sweltering sun

the mud pot taking the toll.

With porridge boiled and overflowing

Libations and offerings to the powers above!

Prompting of their munificence unlimited

And pleading for the elixir of longevity.

Jostling in the church to partake the sacrament

offering gifts galore.

Reminding the powers above

of the quid pro quo in deals of us mortals.

 I pray to thee oh Lord

Give me the abundance of life,

for I shared my prise with you..

Though, thence the origins of ‘bribe’,

but forsake me not.

"Confession"

I feel the recent events in North African countries are only the result of and a reflection of what  dysfunction and morbid human psyche that remained so for four odd decades,could do to society.It is so ,be it in India, in Egypt,in Libya, in the West, in a little village or even in our homes. The absence of the will to stand up and face insolence .Even the intelligentsia was putrefying in intelligence while countries were being thieved, plundered and people asphyxiated. In the late 1920’s when Adolf Hitler came into power in Germany, he was given a rousing reception. Later when the evil in him manifested the German populace infamous for its abiding the law to the letter stayed dumb and silent. The result was there to see very soon !

There is a very strange anecdote on German blind penchant for adherence to the rule. In a remote intersection in the German Black Forest an automated traffic signal was placed. The motorists who went through the intersection were photographed by a remote camera. Ten out of ten motorists who passed by at various time stayed put when the light was red, even for as long as fifteen minutes, though it was apparent to them that vehicular movement in that part of the forest area was scanty. Opinions may vary. But the literal adherence to the rule has been in the German psyche.

Signs of ghoulish human mind have ample examples. The society we live in is in itself a perfect example. Even our homes, and people related or friends, and includes us as well. The fact is, besides the blind adherence, there is also a great element of disinclination or numbness and apathy.

But then I love armchair exploration, armchair philanthropy and armchair discourses. That serves me well! And I see my reflections in  all that around. Or am I the alter ego of the society? Certainly I have company!

Musings

When  love is seldom found

Considered petty, possibly,to the one that is faked.
And feel bruised, like the mongrel with its tail tuck 'tween.

"Look , fool you are"!

But life must move on….!

To be denied over again.

What fool you are, to be trodden over and again!

"It has to be another"

The question was cast

Whom do you want to kill?

If given a chance to kill.

I didn’t pause, and cried out, it’s me, and it’s me!

Coz and only because, a life half and more done

can be relived and anew, so I reckoned.

So I could, “do not the

things that went wrong and the things that I did wrong

knowing, and in ignorance blissful,

love and love more the ones who loved,

thank more the ones who lend hand,

and smile a fiddling- smile at the ones who kicked,

go places that I always wanted to go

and be away from the chaos”.

But alas!

Came the reply, “thou shall not kill thyself”.

And it has to be another.

Ice cream parlours, Airplanes and Mallus

A female tourist or female visitor to Kerala must be given a travel dossier of dos and don’t before she is permitted to venture adventurously into Gods own country. This outdoor manual must also be provided to young girls and women who live in Mallu land.The dos may be relegated to the later part of the dossier. The don't must be prominently displayed so that its importance is seldom unseen by the visitor.

The foremost of the don’ts is to watchfully ensure to keep away from “ice cream parlours”. The Mallus predilection for ice cream has been quite perverted. More so because of the politically official blessings assigned to ice cream parlours and ice creams. Certainly multinational ice cream franchisees are exceptions. The communist minded Mallu , be it the khadhi clad apostates or the genetically disposed  red brigands, consider the multinational ice creams an anathema.

Ice cream parlours are to Kerala what Glass houses are to Amsterdam, what district of Soho is to London, what Kamathipura is   to Mumbai, or GB road to Delhi. The major difference is that they are places where the politically mighty and people who really matter in Mallu land sneak for carnal pleasures. Those are also the places where the unwitting teenager is usually initiated, and often forced into commercial sex.

The second of the don’ts is to avoid if possible, travel by air, if in the passenger manifest there happens to be a Mallu cabinet minister. And it should also be forewarned that certain ministers are like bulls when they see red. But unlike the bull, they are irresistibly aroused sexually and might in all probability want to fornicate with the co passenger if she happens to be a charming lady. Which means the traveller must avoid airlines that have prominence of red inside the air craft, be it the tight fit, clinging red skirts and blouses of the stewardess or the face towels. Mallu politicians in particular are adept at groping. That is a lesser danger but may lead to more serious violations.

Travel by buses on the roads of Mallu land is generally perilous for women travellers. The ubiquitous dhoti clad mallu cannot resist travel in crowded busses that have a sizable women contingent .And enjoys groping and prodding. So the woman traveller must consider this as a risk of journeying.

That leaves us travel into mallu land by the rail road. And unfortunately the tragedy that happened the previous week does not any more advice rail travel as a means of mobility in the travel advisory. It is astonishing how a handicapped man without a palm could brutally violate a young woman and consign her to a painful and tortuous death. The only difference here is that the man arrested for the alleged crime is not Mallu by birth. Thankfully after reading the medical reports of the autopsy of the unfortunate woman one can sigh a bit, that, sexual perversion bordering necrophilia have not yet engulfed the Mallu psyche. The man who allegedly committed the crime even beasts will not, is from a neighbouring State.

There are now clamour form Woman rights groups to post police men in the “only woman” compartments of trains that ply in Kerala after 6 in the evening. Knowing the wonderful history of the Mallu police,( and Mallu male police are Mallu men after all), in matters relating to treatment of women, that is a very insane demand, a reckless one!

On the whole Mallu land is now considered unsafe for women who venture alone. If the alleged perpetrators of crime against women are a vagabond like the one who did the unthinkable on that hapless, helpless girl in Shornur, he is sure to be booked by law. But when the crime is committed by the ones in greasy high positions and in places like ice cream parlours and aircrafts, in Government guest houses or in any other public places, well then they vanish like putrefied whiff. The law is sterile in matters they do!

A few years ago in Mallu country a former minister was booked by law for offending the modesty of a woman secretary, an IAS officer. The public outcry and the uncompromising attitude of the lady officer forced him to resign his ministerial berth. But fortunately for him, he was from a scheduled caste community and he could rally mass support from the community. Though he was a known offender with the moral weakness and history of misbehaviour, shamefully for women in general, female brigades from his community turned the tables on his rivals and opponents who took up the issue of his moral turpitude and he was re-elected to the assembly.

Are Mallu men, a race apart and sexually famished? The male- female ratio is in fact adverse to men, but that has no deterrent effect. Molestation and rape happen every moment on Mallu roads, transport systems and other public places, but in virtual reality. (In fact Mallus are fascinated these days with virtual reality shows on television).

Honestly this craving and ravenous appetite for carnal pleasures are not alien to male folks from other lands. Certainly in these matters Mallus have slews of “brothers in arms”. Though debatably they may excel the rest in real acts of promiscuity and certainly virtually.

Criminal laws have already been framed to deter crime against women. The courts have not hesitated handing down death sentences to rapists. But when capital punishment ipso facto does not deter crime in general, how will it dampen the will of a conniving rapist with a mindset that is irreversible? What assistance will a mere law on the statute provide to women against such criminals with perverted and lost mind? And particularly when the alleged perpetrator has god fathers up in the parlours of power, or when he is the man behind the parlours of power?

The answer is “none”.

One may also wish away such ghastly acts as aberrations, exceptions and superficial, because the victim is not 

his/her kin and for the very reason doesn't affect one personally.In face of this reality and man's (male gender) insatiable urge for sex, it is time that commercial sex is made legal and lawful. There are countries that have applied this, and have risked the sky caving in on top. But not yet, nothing untoward happened. And their morality and culture was not trampled. It is sheer hypocrisy that commercial sex is considered immoral, unlawful and bad. If sex outside wedlock is to be avoided then we will have to get back someone like a Sanjay Gandhi who perhaps would order the forced castration of men over a certain age. That is the lone way man's urge can be controlled , if other means of channelling and controlling sex in a disciplined and cultured way does not or cannot happen. Religion also has failed to dampen the over enthusiasm of men. The sordid stories and escapades of prelates and swamis are pertinent examples.

Like in Israel ,where  there is  mandatory military service , here in this land young girls must be given basic training in martial arts, judo and self defence. This is not a tongue in cheek suggestion or in jest.  Women have to be their own vigilantes, because the male dominated psyche will only invite more of such heinous crimes as the one that happened on that train to Shoranur. 

Multiculturalism

I was mulling over the topic of cultural intergration and coexistence when, bingo David Cameroon the British Prime minister strode in on the subject. The BBC in its morning news today gave out the speech Mr Cameroon gave in Munich. He criticised the “State multiculturalism” as he termed it. This was directed at radical elements and the causes of terror. 

"Frankly, we need a lot less of the passive tolerance of recent years and much more active, muscular liberalism," the prime minister said.

 Ministers should refuse to share platforms or engage with such groups, which should be denied access to public funds and barred from spreading their message in universities and prisons, he argued."Let's properly judge these organisations: Do they believe in universal human rights - including for women and people of other faiths? Do they believe in equality of all before the law? Do they believe in democracy and the right of people to elect their own government? Do they encourage integration or separatism? In the speech, Mr Cameron drew a clear distinction between Islam the religion and what he described as "Islamist extremism" - a political ideology he said attracted people who feel "rootless" within their own countries."We need to be clear: Islamist extremism and Islam are not the same thing," he said.

 Mr Cameroon said, it's important to stress that terrorism is not linked exclusively to any one religion or ethnic group." To its defenders, it is the principle that people of different faiths and traditions should be able to live side by side, without surrendering their identities. To its detractors, it is the notion that the state should sponsor cultural division, exempting minority groups from certain obligations of citizenship. Viewed this way, multiculturalism is seen as excusing behaviour that should never be tolerated in a civilised democracy.( Quote- David Cameroon The Guardian ).

Mr Cameroon has a point there and also he was treading into territory that is deftly avoided by politicians. The subject he dwelled is equally important to us, here in India. Look, what messy conventions and government sponsored nonsense the widely publicised Indian joke of cultural integration and coexistence – secularism in Indian parlance, has done to the fabric of the nation. It is the religious minorities holding the nation to ransom that has come about and at the same time providing fuel for the bigotry of the majority.

Where the government must not tread – in the realm of religion, successive governments have peppered. Public money is being provided for religious pilgrimages; Religious schools have been given a free run and everybody knows radicalisation is taught there; Literary works are banned on purported blasphemy and perceived offence (Salman Rushdie’s “SATANIC VERSES “and Nicholas Kanzanstika’s “LAST TEMPTATION”). Even civil laws are amended to suit religious and communal elements,( Shah Banao vs. Union of India, where the alimony, and maintenance,  rightfully eligible to the divorced wife was denied by invoking the anachronistic religious codes).And for turning back the clock in both the instances, we had a young Prime minister ( Rajeev Gandhi) in the fore front. What else are these if it is not the muscle flexing of the minority, aided by the government? The consequence, radical elements on the other side- the majority community engages in levelling the odds  Now in the final matter of things what has become of the multiculturalism?

What is ignored or forgotten is that vested interests among the minority do not want any improvement in the economic or social condition of the community, as development of the community will be detrimental to their interests. If penury and illiteracy got to be the necessary evil for subjugating and maintaining the level of deprivation economically and socially, let it be, so says the community leaders.

The recent High Court ruling dismissing a private petition seeking quashing of the Kerala State Finance Corporation (a government undertaking) engaging in the operation of an Islamic Bank is unfortunately a judgement in reversal. Let a private ownerships decide on engaging in opening Islamic Banking and seek the Reserve Bank's approval. What has a democratically elected 'government got to do with Islamic Banking? In any case in an open democracy why must we accept a religious practise in the public domain? This is not promoting multiculturalism but shamelessly wooing the minority vote bank and simultaneously succumbing to extreme pressures from religious outfits.

It is display of audacity that flexes the kind of violent demonstrations agisnst a caricature or invites fanatic diktats like fatwa for airing voice against gender discrimination , human rights,  criticism of literally interpreting and following religious texts, and the worst – the blasphemy laws. What certain minorities ensure not to see is that in a country like India, the UK, the USA or any other Western democracies religious and cultural minorities have a decent and respectable means of living. This is in contrast to the many other states in the Middle East and nearer home, where they, even though in the majority do not enjoy the decent, respectable life that any human being will cherish. It is indeed a sad irony!

When one lives in a country, hold citizenship of the country and enjoys the largesse of public funds, there are certain obligations that are to be met, and honoured. It is the duty of any right thinking system of government to ensure that the kid glove policy does not generate radical elements. It is a kind of state subsidised extremism that is growing  and we saw, glaringly for instance in the criminal act of chopping the limbs of the college professor.