Journey of Thousand miles

Imagine walking out of the class at 1:30 pm; we have had enough food for thought for the day; now it is time for us to have some tangible food for our bellies. We walk out of our classroom and reach the entrance of the academic block; we are now faced with the harsh reality of Rajasthan weather, one nasty monster.

 It has already started to drain our energy with its soothing heat. Seeing that unpleasant look on people’s faces when they walk on this nature’s oven makes us feel more defeated by this monster than we already are.

In these difficult times, I tell myself that the grass is always green on the other side. Just as I am about to step out and fight this monster, I see the other side of the tunnel. Ashoka Bakery’s ice cream shop caught my eye; seeing the greener grass now will help me survive this monster one more day.

It has been a customary habit for me to have an ice cream post lunch, and it's a highly satisfying experience to have it just after lunch alongside this nasty monster. While it is easy to think of having ice cream as a dessert every day, it bores me when I have the same ice cream every day; this is where the mighty Ashoka hasn’t disappointed me.

Unlike the usual ice cream parlor store that hosts the ice cream products of one franchisee, the mighty Ashoka guys give us the best of the best from three ice cream franchises. Be it Havmore, Cream Bell, or others. 

Having come from the far end of this country, I haven’t been lucky enough to taste the ice creams of this part, especially the cream bell ones. Their product's variety, flavor, taste, and price range have awe-struck me. It has genuinely made me their fan.

At this time, I realize that the journey that I take to taste this ice cream, which is like greener grass looking at it from the academic block, is not a journey of a few steps But a journey of a thousand miles.

ThiruKural a Wise man's teachings for Ideal life

There lived a wise man named Thiruvalluvar. We do not know the exact date and life period of this man for sure. Some say he is a Buddhist monk. Some call him a Hindu teacher, some label him a Christian preacher.

Unlike most people in history, it is not the greatness of the man himself that had made every sect of people claim him as their own, But it is the beauty of his work called ‘ThiruKural’ which made them think in such a way that, such greatness and wiseness from a text could have only been possible if the text itself is their own.

In a fight to establish the ownership for the text, evangelists failed to admire the paradox that, if the fight is for the same text then the content of the text is agreed upon by all the sects who are involved in the fight. This text has its own uniqueness as the wisdom and witness of this text are not the truth of one sect of people, but the truth of entire humankind

Through this series of ‘Thirukural’. I try to bring about this universal truth to public eyes and pave way for the ideal way of life filled with Virtue.

Akshayaram Viswanathan

KEY TAKE AWAY OF BUDGET 2O2O

Economic survey 2020 predicts India's GDP growth rate to be 6-6.5% for the year 2020 - 2021

Can I Hijack your New Year Resolution to Indian Fashion??

Hello,  As the new year approaches, I see tons of contents one the web regarding new year resolution. Some positive, others reflecting reality. Though it is true that most of us badly fail in keeping up our own resolution every time we still try something new every year. I think I would not be wrong in saying that the new year is not just a fresh start to our calendar, but a birthplace of hope in our lives. A good positive hope and energy that we commit ourself to cherish for the rest of the year.

A good sum of this positive hope can bring about enormous change within us and outside us as well, allow me to take the privilege of hijacking your positive hope this year to bring about a good change outside us in the field of clothing or fashion. Yeah, please don't assume that rest of the write up as an attempt to preach someone what to wear and what not to wear on grounds of society and morals, it is absolutely not.

When I started to contemplate on clothing and fashion it took me way back in time when the majority of trade done across the world was primarily for clothing, usage of the term silk road or silk route that we saw in our middle school history book meant route by which silk got traded from South Asia to Europe.

South Asia in past is only synonyms with India and China, I cautiously left the latter and was taken aback with economic excellence that was cherished by us in the textile industry till the post-colonial era, the textile was the major exported good from India till the 1800s

There was a time when almost the entire known world was aspiring to wear Indian cloth because we produced the best textiles. It is a fact that Indian textiles have clothed the world. we can still find evidence of that at ancient sites in Syria and Egypt, for example. Still, there is no other place on the planet that has as many weaves and as many ways of dyeing and preparing a cloth as our culture has.

Sadly, the British systematically broke the textile industry in India to sustain their cotton mills in Manchester. In sixty years, between 1800 and 1860, India’s textile export came down by 94%.

Post partition period coupled with the aftermath of  world war two bought its own set of problem to textile trade in  India, Indian weavers who were dependent on the organic fabric material like cotton, wool, linen for weaving textile are now made to compete with synthetic products like nylon, acrylic, polyester which are made entirely or partially from chemicals and plastics 

Recent studies have predicted that 98% of the world's fabric will be synthetic by 2030, rapid adaptation of this inorganic product has resulted in the fashion industry being the second largest polluter in the planet now.

Contemplating further, it is surprising that we have also cut-down the demand of Indian weavers by wearing all western cloth all day in a year. Wearing a pyjama and a Dhoti though being a symbolic part of Indian clothing is now only considered as a fancy cloth that we wear once in a year for posting it in our social media accounts along with hashtags culture and tradition.

The only option left for Indian weavers and Indian Organic textile industry survival is to increase its demand, considering all these I was left with these basic questions. why can't we replace our informal synthetic round neck t-shirt to pyjamas once a week ??  Why can't we wear Kurta on a casual day at the office? Why can't we replace our synthetic informal shorts to dhoti once a week??

I again take the liberty of hijacking your positive hope and positive energy in making a commitment to wearing Indian at least once a week.

If we misplace our hopes and energy, our parents would be the last generation of our great civilisation to wear clothing unique to their own geographical, cultural and ethnic identity. I am very sure that our new year energy will not make that happen

Let the almighty bless us all a wonderful year ahead !! Thanks a lot for reading!! Happy new year!! Jai Hind!! :)


Akshayaram Viswanathan

BALANCING ALEXANDER AND A YOGI

A story heard from a ted talk took me to my own world of contemplation and urged me to write this, before we begin I would like to establish it that am a no scholar in philosophy nor politics, but a decent observer.  Balancing is an art that gives superior result to everyone, be it an individual or a country. The success of China's economy should be given to its approach in balancing traditional communist ideology in setting up capitalist institutions to grow itself as the fastest growing economy, likewise, successful or a satisfied person is one who masters this art profoundly

The story dates back to 350BC when Alexander the conqueror met a naked yogi at padmasana posture on the banks of the river Indus, present-day Pakistan. Greek called the yogi Gymnosophists.( gumnos = naked , sophists = philosopher)

Alexander the conqueror enquired about the state of his being to the yogi, to which the yogi replied that he is experiencing the nothingness from within, Alexander could not understand the meaning behind the yogi state and felt abhorrent.

Yogi after observing Alexander along with his warrior men enquired about him, to which Alexender replied that he is the great emperor the history has ever seen and is on a mission to conquer the world,
hearing this yogi laughed and felt pity for Alexender state of being

This story left me much contemplation not only of the extreme that is highlighted but also made me realize that there is no one size to fit all.

I also realized that there is an Alexander and a yogi in every one of us. Alexander the great who wants to achieve the material gains, make a name for himself, who is solely driven by a motive to establish himself at the top above the rest. He is our great Alexander who urges to conquer everything outside to him to put himself on the top

We also have a yogi who is kind, loving, compassionate primarily driven by the motive to achieve goodness for all, he is our yogi for him there is no self - attached, he urges to conquer ourself first to understand the purpose of oneself

It will be a waste of time to debate or comment which one of in us here is correct, be it Alexander or Yogi we need a right balance of these two to make our journey of life meaningful. We can't ignore Alexander as he is the one who pumps adrenaline to grow better than yesterday, at the same time we can't ignore the yogi as he is the one who adds value to our being every day

Let the almighty bless us all with a perfect calibration of  Alexander and Yogi within us

Thanks for Reading!! :)



Akshayaram Viswanathan

Ideal Leader, Virtuous Human, A Good Society- Saint Thiruvalluvar

 "To err is human, to forgive divine". said Alexanderpope an eighteenth-century English poet. Any system of government namely democracy, autocracy, aristocracy or monarchy the system of governance is based upon an image of a leader leading the society.

Leaders are humans who have a certain quality that sets them apart from the common public. what are these qualities that make us go aww on some personalities, In this blog, I have tried to find the answers for the same by referring to great Tamil saint Tiruvalluvar

   

அழுக்காறு அவாவெகுளி இன்னாச்சொல் நான்கும்
இழுக்கா இயன்றது அறம்.

( அறம் = virtuous act, அழுக்காறு = jealousy,  அவா = desires driven through five senses, வெகுளி = Anger, இன்னாச்சொல் = unpleasant words)

Instead of listing the virtues of an Ideal leader Saint Valluvar chose to list the trait that makes one unqualified, man free of these sinful traits namely jealousy, desires, anger, unpleasant words is a man of great virtue said Valluvar. Valluvar should have thought that it is important to identify the problem to eliminate it. 

A good society is in which we see a majority of people with good virtues, at times where we see religious violence, bigotry, extremist actions getting unfolded at various part of the globe, one must free himself from the  mentioned traits to not only make him virtuous but help his society become one

Let us all act on this call of a virtuous society by trying to make oneself more virtuous in every progressive day. Let's act within and create a brighter future

Thanks for reading, May he bless us all.

Akshayaram Viswanathan

LORD KRISHNA ABOUT CASTE

I would like to begin writing this article by quoting the father of our Indian constitution. "Caste is a state of mind," said Babasaheb. Both the colonial rule and Islamic invasion has left us with few inspiring leaders and has replaced the benevolence in our thinking with parsimoniousness, it is this mindset that Babasaheb is trying to abolish and thereby annihilating the entire system of caste as such

I strongly believe that Indian society and ancestors at large were more concerned with global harmony than their personal desires or greed. It seems to be a contradictory statement if we say that we were largely kind and benevolent but still followed the caste system which is a symbol of tyranny in today's standards. When contemplating this contradiction I came to observe the quote of Lord Krishna in Bhagavad Gita

                                                     चातुर्वर्ण्यं मया सृष्टं गुणकर्मविभागशः

This sloka is commonly used to criticise Gita as a text which creates unrest in society, but the explanation to caste comes from this sloka. In the opening part of the sloka, Lord Krishna admits that the four varnas were created by him when he says "चातुर्वर्ण्यं मया सृष्टं"
                                                          

This came as a shock when I thought why should Lord Krishna himself create such a tyrant system, but the real explanation rests in the later part of the sloka "गुणकर्मविभागशः" This part of the sloka takes us to two criteria with which Lord Krishna designate the work namely, guna—quality; karma—work, no part of this explains the intention to divide the varna by birth.

The sloka itself does not end here, as I have revealed only the first part of the sloka, let us see  what Krishna has for us in the next part


                                                  तस्य कर्तारमपि मां विद्ध्यकर्तारमव्ययम्

This latter part of the sloka was hard to digest, hence I turned to the explanation given by prominent people, I find the great sage of Kanchi explanation to it more relatable. Lord Krishna may seem to disassociate himself from the four varna's when he says "विद्ध्यकर्तारमव्ययम्". But in reality, Lord Krishna means that the non-doer of the actions(Karma) frees oneself from the Varna's become one in God himself.

On further reading the great sage of Kanchi I found that the non-doing of actions advocated is not to remain idle and let the time pass, but do our action as much as our duty and by only acting as an agent to that actions. This eliminates the worth attached to any action as every action is done by Lord Krishna himself and we are only the agent to those actions, and hence pride that we attach for this karma also gets eliminated as we are no more the owner of this pride.

This explanation though a lot of philosophical has enlightened me with the selflessness that we should carry in our life. Let us hope that the selflessness advocated by Lord Krishna be a guiding motive to all our actions.

Thanks for reading, let us all pray to kill our "I " within to make this globe harmonious again.

"

   

TALIBAN TALKS - A GLOBAL DISASTER IN MAKING??

With Afgan presidential election around the corner mid-July this year, the united states have announced the withdrawal of more than five thousand of the fourteen thousand troops in Afghanistan, to ease the tension of the chaotic state the United state has initiated peace talks with Taliban and believe to reach a peace deal before April 2019

Though the Taliban government in Afganistan between 1996-2001 should be largely attributed to the civil war that followed the fall of the soviet union and major involvement of Pakistan's ISI and military in training, supporting and funding Taliban from its birth. When the long civil war has devasted the country and had turned the state to penury, the Taliban government did very little or nothing for the country's growth

It is indeed that these five years of Taliban rule in Afghanistan should be described as a dark age of Asia, these five years made Afganistan a safe haven for Al-Queda, witnessed the demolition of thousand five hundred-year-old Bamiyan Buddha statue,Islamic Sharia law being followed as a state law resulted in an increase in violence, misogyny against women

Taliban also funded the appointment religions policing as a state policy primarily to forcibly impress profoundly immoral sharia law against its own women, some of the punishment given by religious police has been highlighted below to highlight the autocratic atrocity committed by the Taliban regime under the pretext of observing sharia law with a motive to bring back the times of Mohamad

In October 1996, a woman had the tip of her thumb cut off for wearing nail varnish.

In December 1996, Radio Shari’a announced that 225 Kabul women had been seized and punished for violating the sharia code of dress. The sentence was handed down by a tribunal and the women were lashed on their legs and backs for their misdemeanor

When a Taliban raid discovered a woman running an informal school in her apartment, they beat the children and threw the woman down a flight of stairs (breaking her leg) and then imprisoned her. They threatened to stone her family publicly if she refused to sign a declaration of loyalty to the Taliban and their laws.

In 1999, a mother of seven children was executed in front of 30,000 spectators in Kabul's Ghazi Sports stadium for murdering her husband (see right). She was imprisoned for three years and extensively tortured prior to the execution, yet she refused to plead her innocence in a bid to protect her daughter (reportedly the actual culprit)

All the evil things happened in the Taliban regime when the UN has objected to considering them as the official government of Afganistan. Infact Pakistan, UAE, and Saudi Arabia where the only initial countries to recognize the Taliban as the official government of Afganistan

with such a history of the irrational regime, it is highly unlikely that the promise made by the Taliban will really be kept by them, in an environment wherein no trackers have been put in place either by the UN or the United States to ensure Taliban is keeping their promise. Hence any talks with the Taliban at any point of time to be considered as a mockery of peace, unless the Taliban de-associate themselves from imposing strict Sharia law and Islamic fundamentalist ideology in the state

The recent talks held at Moscow have noticed that the demands of the Taliban have not been changed much. The peace talks resulted in the Taliban demanding the outset the current president of Afganistan, complete withdrawal of Nato troops in Afganistan, establishment of Islamic Constitution in the worn-torn country. It is also to note that the current president of Afganistan Asharg Ghani has been sidelined from the peace talks

Apart from the geopolitical advantage, Afganistan carries with its connectivity to central Asia , rational government in Afganistan will also help India to leverage upon its friendship for having greater connect to central Asia and contribute towards the greater cause of global peace. The Indian government has made a significant investment in Afganistan over the past decade like Construction of Afganistan National parliament Investing in Afgan health care etc. Having a Taliban led government in Afganistan will make India in the weaker hand to that of its counterpart
terror state Pakistan

As our doctrine of the nation once said
"The day a woman can walk freely on the roads at night, that day we can say that India has achieved independence" let us with all positivity and optimism believe that our neighboring state will get truly independent one day and prosper.


Akshayaram Viswanathan

LORD SIVA THE DESTROYER- A PARADOX

Trimurti is a concept well known in Hindu religion where the deity namely, Lord Brahma, Lord Vishnu and Lord Siva are worshiped as creator, protector and destroyer of all life forms respectively. The Trimurti sculpture in Elephanta caves is an example of belief ancient India had in the Trimuthi concept.

Elephanta caves, Maharashtra 

The Trimurthi is an unique concept which can be viewed as a doctrine in the post vedic period. When there were different religious views that created a divide on basis of deity of their worship namely Shaktism, Shaivism, Vaishnavism, Sauram. Trimurthi concept unified people of different views together.

Commendable question that arises is what does Lord Shiva as a destroyer of life forms have to do with unification of these various views?.

The search for the answer to this question made me write this article, Lord Shiva who has been branded a destroyer of life form has been a proven unifier rather than a destroyer in ancient India.

Notice Shiva Jotirlinga in various part of India.

An interesting fact to note here is that ancient India had so many rulers and so many across many dynasties who were constantly fighting among themselves for land and power.

Ancient Indian dynastic

Lord Shiva became the unifying factor among these different dynasties and acted as a common factor of identity for various people who lived in ancient India. It was believed that Lord Shiva was the ruler of the land and its people. The King who was considered the representative of Lord Shiva. It is in this one common factor that many came together and Identified themselves as a member of one nation, though ruled by different rulers. It is also for this same reason the foreign invaders identified India as one single nation though ruled by different rulers.

Another question that shook me off is- When having temple of one deity is not common only to Shiva, then why should Lord Shiva be a unifier?. But it is only Lord Shiva our ancestors accepted as a common ruler and a destroyer of bad karma. Be it Adi Shankara or Sri Appaya Dikshita who were the most adored scholars of their times who preached that no deity is supreme and every deity is unique, went to Kedarnath and Chidambaram respectively for attaining moksha. 

Saint Manika Vasakar penned this down in Tiru Vasagam by saying "Thenaadu udaya Sivane Pootri, En naattavarkum iraivaa potri."      

Meaning of these famous lines is that "I praise the lord who is the eternal truth and I praise the lord who is ruler of every land."

It is true that immortal country like India will astonish us in every possible way, be it her culture, her religion or her people, it is only when we try to learn her we can fall in love with her. 

Thanks for reading. Jai Hind. 

Akshayaram Viswanathan

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity

Liberty, Equality, Fraternity are the three golden words that sparked and crafted the history of the world for the past four hundred years. It is highly unjust if the three golden words are viewed just as any other word printed in a book which brings inconsequential results. Lets see the bloodshed and Holocaust crafted by these  ideas by looking back at historical facts.

Ideas of Liberty, Equality and Fraternity most commonly attributed to a liberal ideals by a vast majority of the common public and media, but the ideas have a deep rooted birth in the imperialism, nepotism. The argument though hard to digest a few historical facts quoted can help. 

Two major revolution that no middle school history books leaves uncovered are American and French revolution. French revolution followed the American uprising to the ideals of  Liberty, Equality and Fraternity. There are various attributes and motives to consider in both the revolutions.

American revolution which lasted for almost two decades  is mostly studied as a series of events from imposing of stamp taxes which imposed a special stamp for every news paper, postal cards circulated in America, passing of numerous intolerable acts by the British parliament which restricted town meetings and allowed royal governors to host British soldiers in common citizen home , Boston tea party to declaration of independence and signing Treaty of Paris. The American revolution though resulted as a revolution majorly aimed at the ending of colonial rule for their oppressive regime, the ideals of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity was not actually established after crafting the Declaration of Independence(DOI). The Civil war which rose after a century, majority of the slaves supporting the British empire in the American revolution and the famous line DOI which says "We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal."  Declaration of Independence by itself  a clear example that gender, race discrimination and Slavery remained undefeated by American revolution and Liberty, Equality, Fraternity was not the end result of revolution. Wealthy nobles and Clergy who owned huge property ended up paying no taxes for their wealth and a powerful position in newly formed federal government and bicameral Congress that represented the senate became the ultimate beneficiary of American revolution.

 

Ironically, throughout the revolution France was under Monarch rule and a major ally of  American forces against colonial British empire which itself was a monarch in the first place. Funding the American revolution to counter global hegemony of British colonial empire by Louis XVI  lead to his own assassination.

The consequence of French revolution lies only in the aftermath of it, after the failed attempt of Louis XVI family to Netherlands and his assassination. Tennis court oath for the formation of new constitution by the third estate, formation of new national assembly to over throw the regime, Storming of Baseline in search of weapon lead to fear and tension among peasants on one side and an angry mob using gherao technique to take revenge on their land lords and fulfilling their personal desires.

 

Decade long revolution resulted in creating the Declaration of Rights of Man and Citizen propagated by its famous line  "Men are born and remain free and equal in rights.", but the very same line even allowed that social discrimination can be founded for general good. Revolution also resulted in creating political vacuum which only resulted in much bigger blood shed and dictatorship.

Rise of Maximilien Robespierre to the committee of public safety started a reign of terror, any enemy to the revolution was guillotined off their head leading to the rough estimated victim count of forty thousand of which more than eighty percent of them belonging to Third Estate . Noble classes joined  National assembly which sold its land and announced church officials as state officials, this further offended poor peasants who were supposed to be reason for revolution in the first place.

Condition further worsened  when ruling convention feared against Robesphierre uprising and executed him, this further lead to another political vacuum filled by Napoleon Bonaparte who was originally an army general and whose main goal was to conquer and win Britain and Russia leading to more dictatorial rule. Napoleon is known for nepotism and favoritism by crowning his own family members in his conquered lands.

 

Ideals of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity has a long history drenched in blood shed and a bad holocaust. Though the patriarchal, dynastic and dictatorial condition still existed in both the places even after the revolution, it kept its mark on many posterity which paved way and fueled momentum in the society for evolving into a global consortium cherishing the true ideals of Liberty, Equality, Fraternity.    

   

Akshayaram Viswanathan

MUST READ TALE OF MAHISMATI EMPIRE

We are living in a land filled with mystical, mythological and historical  stories, Vikramaditya and Vedhal, Tenaliraman, Akbar and Birbal the list is endless, setting these stories aside we also have astonishing ithi-hasas (which translates to thus happen in Sanskrit) like Ramayana, Mahabharata originally written by Sage Valmiki and Sage Vyasa respectively, some may argue here that Mahabarat was technically written by Lord Vinayak.

Our land is an Immortal land for a reason, the ancient cultures of the Central, South and North Americans, Celts, Nordics, Mesopotamian s and many others are largely extinct.But ancient Indian culture stubbornly refuses to die despite of repetitive violent and intellectual attacks though there may be many reasons attributed by many eminent scholars, the sole lies in engineering our culture, ithi-hasa and puranas to mend with evolution.

Tales of Lord Rama or Lord Krishna are being told not by one, but many. which is a unique feature to the majority population of our land, for instance there is not one author for Ramayana, the original Ramayana written by Sage Valmiki, was again written by Tulasidas ji in 16th century, penned by Poet Kambar in Tamil language by 12th century, the personification of  Sita is different in all three texts. Keeping in mind the time difference of these authors the characteristic feature differs.

The craze for Bahubali film can be attributed to the craze of the 1980s Ramyana television series that changed the communal and political mind set of the country. India built by left liberal mindset changed communally, politically into center right. Demolition of disputed structure made the pink lotus to blossom ,reason for the political party founded by Syama Prasad ji rolling into power can be majorly attributed to the 1980s Ramayana serial which had a dynamic impact on Indian viewers.

The Bahubali tale too had an impact of Indian viewers which is evident by the numbers generated by the film. The tale of Mahismati penned by Annand Nelakandan is a prequel to the Bahubali series has a same ingredients compared to Ramayana of 1980s.

Annand Nelakandan understood the the essence of ithi hasa of our land and have further mended it to the present day generation. Various characters and ideas are engineered to  leave the readers contemplated, characters like Skandasa is very much relatable to present prime minister Modi.

Characters and dialogues are powerful that it may leave an impact until the next book in the trio series arrives, the personification of the protagonist character Sivagami in an invincible trait sets the entire tale interesting and involving. Kattapa's loyalty to Mahismati empire reasoned in the book, gives an added honor badge to the author.

Some strong dialogues spoken by characters that left me perplexed.

"Enemy is not the one to hate, but enmity and cause of it" 

"Eyes should either have fire or fear, but the sight to see all that God holds dear"

"it is easy to find fault, protest and rebel, but it is difficult to change things inch by inch by being part of system"

Overall the tale of Sivagami and Mahismati is a very good read, a modern day mythology and a future ithi hasa.

Many thanks to SS. Rajamouli ji for making modern day Valmiki penning down a future ithi hasa for many many  posterity. 

Akshayaram Viswanathan

Knowing India's Sakthi

-Akshayaram Viswanathan

September 30, 1983, Swami Vivekananda in an interview to Boston Evening Transcript quoted that "the day India started neglecting their women, the downfall of the nation started". It fills my heart with a mixed feeling of extreme emotions in writing this topic, Proud to belong to a nation and religion which thought the world gender equality and power of women, Sad seeing history taking it course in an unpleasant manner and witnessing the plight of 48.14% of my nation biggest power.  

Bharat is a holy homeland for the religion which has three million forms of gods in which more than half of them are portrayed as matha(Mother) or Sakthi(Power). Portraying women as a symbol of power or mother found in numerous instances in the sacred land of ours. "Bharat Matha Ki Jai" is a holy mantra which gives extreme courage and hopes in fighting evil to our jawans and a sense of pride to our fellow citizens.

Let's look at one instance which each one of us needs to know to understand the power of a woman in this sacred land of ours.

The 20th century marked the golden era for the freedom movement not just in Bharat, but around the globe. India is the largest country that was set independent in the previous century with the birth of a new country named Pakistan. This may seem irrelevant in this context, but it is not. The very thought of freedom was from a Sakthi(Women).

Velu Nachiyar was the first person to fight the British in a battle and win them, Nachiyar a queen of Ramanathapuram who lost her husband, father, and her crown in a battle against British spent almost eight years in exile forming an alliance and sketching her attack against the British at the right time. Nachiyar's army was the woman's army, the army of Nachiyar's also had a separate suicide squad for carrying out a suicidal attack against the British.

Nachiyar's own daughter, Udaiyaal who lead the army from the front lost her life to British in Nachiyar's second big encounter against British, the second encounter cost heavily for Nachiyar's leaving her daughter and trustworthy fighters to god's hands.

With help of Gopala Nayakar and HyderAli Nachiyar did her third successful third encounter against British in 1780 which resulted in Nachiyar being a first ever person to fight British back in the colonial era and have her power re-installed to herself.

Nachiyar proved and defined woman to the British and western world who considered and called the woman as "weaker sex".

  

Nachiyar's courage in the 18th century travelled all the way to north India and made Mangal Pandey and Jhansi rani to fight British in the revolt of 1857. If it is not for the courage and determination of this great lady of Tamil Nadu, there would have been no story of Marudu brothers, Verra Pandiyan, Kapalotiya Chidambaram Pillai in Tamil Nadu.

Velu Nachiyar is a stunning example of a woman who explained the ideal womanhood of India is motherhood— marvellous, unselfish, all suffering, ever-forgiving mother. It is sad that this story of the great lady which should be the inspirational story of every woman is largely forgotten in our holy land.  

India is considered sacred only because of her holiness, it is the duty of every citizen of this holy land to respect and maintain the holiness, woman in this generation needs to understand her glorious past and have pride in her ancestors of this land. It is from woman holiness is born and woman needs to know the power of her holiness.


Akshayaram Viswanathan
  

Pakistan a child of extreme communalism

-Akshayaram Viswanathan

August 14, 1947 Day when All Indian Muslim League succeeded in achieving what was considered to be an absurd dream. The day when an Independent Muslim state of south-Asia was made possible, India witnessed two million people die in chaos and all those who compromised their national identity for religious identity were called Pakistanis.

Tehrik-e-Pakistan was a political movement in 1940 aimed for creation of Pakistan from the Muslim majority area of British India, which was backed by Muslim League and Muhammad Ali Jinnah. Let us keep an open mind and try to understand the birth of Pakistan. 

While it was argued by Muslim League that their demand for Pakistan was because Muslims were treated second class citizen among Hindus and lived constantly in fear, Jinnah himself said that(we quote him)"I have gone through the length and breadth of India and i know how vulnerable Muslims are feeling today" in a cabinet mission headed by Stafford Cripps.

Muslim League projected themselves as a sole representative of Muslims and labelled Congress a Hindu party when the president of the Congress party Abul Kalam Azad was himself a Muslim, while Jinnah wanted Mahatma Gandhi to announce Congress as a Hindu party Mahatma made it clear that Congress will have equal representatives of all the religious and ethnic groups.

Extreme communalism was always the basic ideology in which Muslim League built themselves up, at times when liberal communalist and nationalist leaders like Abdul Gaffar Khan, Asaf Ali were in full support of Mahatma and his views of building a nation with Hindu and Muslim unity, Muslim League wanted to have its own Country.

Muslim League and Jinnah clearly operated on demand and supply policy, When liberal communalist demands were met by Mahatma, there was no work left for the party to do other than joining hands with congress and Mahatma Gandhi whom they hated for having sizable control over the Muslims of the land, hence only way that is possible is to demand things knowing that would be unacceptable and absurd .

Jinnah himself followed the path of nationalist becoming extreme communalist, Jinnah came back to India after becoming Barrister in 1906 as a follower of Dadabhai Naoroji. He immediately joined Congress as Dadabhai's secretary. Aga Khan first president of Muslim League wrote a letter in 1906 stating Jinnah as the toughest opponent. Sarojini Naidu too called Jinnah as ' Ambassador of Hindu-Muslim Unity'.

As late as 1925, Jinnah told a young Muslim, who said that he was a Muslim first "My boy, no, you are Indian first and then a Muslim", as the time passed Jinnah was forced to let go of his nationalist identity as it would cost him leaving all his political influence, British too indirectly favored Jinnah and Muslim League as they were feared by the growth of Congress and its popularity and acceptance in the masses.

Another important aspect of the issue is that Muslim League had failed in appealing to Muslims for accepting the new education system which was introduced by British, rather feared sizable Hindu population adapting it and getting a lucrative position at the Indian Civil Service(ICS). Not adapting to any other form of education system other than Madrasas(i.e Islamic education) made Muslim more unemployed and made them insufficient in so many fields.

If only Muslim League changed their political approach and had their agenda primarily based on the collective development of Muslim at large then they would not have needed "Pakistan" to get political attention and influence. If only Jinnah could have channelized his ability in inclusive growth of the state with the help of Muslims then he would not have faced changing of his core ideology for personal benefits.

 If only had these things happened we would have a neighbouring country in the west that is sharing a great friendship with us, would have no problem in Kashmir, nor the world will worry about a south-Asian country that would export terror globally.

This tragic story of partition surely teaches that the solutions all the major problems that we face should not be derived out of personal interest or benefit bur rather on a collective term. 

Jai hind

Akshayaram Viswanathan
 

Lord Rama in Ravana Leela

-Akshayaram Viswanathan

October 12, 2016  In a land of one billion Hindus took place an event which sent a sign of hatefulness, disgust and sadness to all who worship and practice Sanatana dharma.

Thandai Periyar Dravidar Kazagam(TPDK) a splinter group of Periyar Dravidar Kazagam(DK) conducted Ravan Leela opposing the 470-year-old tradition of Ram Leela at Chennai, TPDK cadres burnt the images of Ram, Seetha and Lakshman, well  If you are shocked on reading this then there is something you have to know, this is not the first time for the Periyar group as they have already done it under the leadership of Maniammai in Periyar's thidal at Chennai during Indira Gandhi’s period.   

Event was headed by Kumaran, Chennai district secretary, TPDK .on contacting Kumaran before the event, Kumaran told press that (we quote his words)

"it does not matter if ‘Ram Leela’ is celebrated in Tamil Nadu or not. In Delhi, effigies of Ravan and his two brothers are burnt, we believe that they are Dravidians and burning their effigies is mocking us. So to stop that, we have decided to celebrate ‘Ravan Leela’ in which we will be burning the effigies of Ram, Sita and Lakshman”.

Still this concept of Ravana being portrayed as Dravidian is still not accepted by majority of the public, former Chief Justice of Tamil Nadu Markendeya katju recently referred Ravana as a Brahmin in his facebook post.

With numerous theories and conspiracy supporting both the sides, it is very difficult for us to come to a conclusion for deciding on Ravana caste, but  Valmiki’s epic was not based on caste rather typical good vs  evil fight. Let’s see what really happened on the day of the Ravan Leela, how police acted based on our experience

The original event was actually planned at 5:05 PM near Sanskrit college, Mylapore according to posters circulated by TPDK, Several private individuals and many organizations on seeing the posters reacted initially by giving a written complaint to Deputy commissioner office at Mylapore.

On the day of the event police was tightened heavily near Sanskrit college, on contacting the police personnel at 3:30 PM they said that “security has been tightened up since 9 in the morning and necessary measures have been taken to stop the act, and we are sure that there will be a change in the venue ”(quoting police message).

Our team then visited Royapettah to check  the situation there, since TPDK office is headquartered at VM street, Royapettah. TPDK cadres were seen roaming and having chat in small groups of 4 and 5 publically wearing their trademark plain black shirt, we also noticed TPDK flags kept at sides of shops and event posters painted on the walls, police were there in large numbers in and around VM street, by this time it was  4:00 PM.

At the same time few more people back in Sanskrit college came from Hindu Munani(HM) and enquired police on arrangement made on police side for stopping the act, police responded to them in a most unexpected way by arresting them. Remaining men from HM split into two half, while one half remained at Mylapore the other half went to Royapettah to view the situation and take necessary action.

At 5:00PM and there was no sign of event at both the places, the initial move by TPDM cadres took place around 5:30PM when a small group of four started to attack lord Ram image painted on the wall with their slippers at Royepettah VM street, the police rushed to the place to stop and arrest them, this paved way for another small group to take out lord Ram image and burn it in front of Anna statue in the middle of Royepettah junction this made another group of police run behind for this small gang. Keeping police busy at both the ends another small group acted silently by taking out the hidden  Sita Devi image from an auto parked in front of AIADMK office and burn it without any hurdle.

With all these acts happening simultaneously another group of TPDM cadres along with their leader Kumaran meet the press in front of Anna statue, police arrested all of them who were meeting the press and managed to get a handful who were caught red-handed during the act, rest were left wandering and preparing for further action. This continued till 6:30PM until when police managed to get everything under control                                                                                                                                                          

India being the single largest secular country with the biggest democracy in the world, it is very upsetting to see the democratic rights of this great nation being misused as a tool for spreading hatred and arrogance. We hope in future every strong ideology or protest does not affect the base in which our secularism is built on UNITY IN DIVERSITY.

Jai hind

Akshayaram Viswanathan

JAYA-MGR-APOLLO HOSPITAL

-Akshayaram Viswanathan September 22, 2016-  Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalitha was admitted into Apollo hospital. Let us look at a similar situation that took place almost 32 years ago in more detail.

October 5,1984- The then Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu M.G.Ramachandran(MGR) was admitted to very same Apollo hospital due to a respiratory problem. MGR was accompanied by his wife Janaki and his personal physician Dr.Subramani. At Apollo, MGR was given a super deluxe room in the III floor  and treatment was immediately started by a team of specialised doctors which included the chief doctor of Apollo, P.C.Reddy himself.


Though MGR wanted to keep his health issue a secret, the news became viral due to the sighting of the Chief Minister’s famous car parked in front of the hospital. This led to his fans and supporters gathering in front of the hospital gates demanding to know the health condition of their beloved leader.

Under pressure, Apollo hospitals made a formal press release about the CM’s health, saying  that MGR was admitted for his asthma problem and that he has been responding positively to the treatment. However, shortly after the press release, Tamil Nadu Ministers Nedunjezian and R.M Veerappan visited the hospital to enquire about the CM’s health condition. The tension was at its peak in Tamil Nadu as the Legislative Assembly election was scheduled just two months away in December.

October 6,1984- Answering the questions raised by Congress MLA Sithan at the Tamil Nadu assembly, Minister Nedunjezian explained about MGR's health condition and assured that the Chief Minister was recovering well. Around the same time, Dr P.C Reddy and his medical team issued a press release stating that an unknown substance in MGR’s lungs was removed by dialysis and that the Chief Minister is out of danger, but is required to rest for at least another week.

October 14,1984- After observing MGR’s health for one week, doctors revealed another shocking news that a blood clot in MGR's brain was causing less blood to be delivered to his kidney, creating complications. Shortly after the press release, famous neuro specialist Dr.Jagannadan was called and he clarified that MGR’s blood clot was not causing any neural problem,but was causing severe damage to both his kidneys. Following this, Apollo hospital saw visitors ranging from cinema celebrities and Ministers of State to the poorest of the poor who desperately wanted their leader to recover and rule them with good health.

October 16,1984- Prime minister Indira Gandhi flew down in her private jet and visited MGR at Apollo hospital, following which she held a press meet at Rajaji Bhavan, where she announced that the central government would extend maximum support for MGR’s recovery.

October 17,1984- Doctors from New York landed at Chennai in a private jet to treat MGR, following which Dr Breedman stated in a press meet said that the Chief Minister immediately needed a kidney transplant as both his kidneys were heavily damaged.

November 5,1984- MGR was flown to Brooklyn Hospital in New York for kidney transplantation which was successful. A video was released on all television channels in Tamil Nadu as a part of the election campaign to establish that the Chief Minister was recovering well after his operation.

December 24,1984-  Election results in Tamilnadu completely favoured ADMK, MGR won the election without addressing rallies or holding protests. ADMK and its alliance won a remarkable 195 seats and MGR won in Andipatti constituency with no one contesting in opposition party against him.

The credits to the story of the greatest comeback in the political history of Tamil Nadu goes to this exceptional man M.G.Ramachandran, we hope history repeats itself in favour of the lady too.

Jai hind

      

 Akshayaram Viswanathan               

Rafale- What?? How?? When??

"India & France signed the deal for 36 Rafale jets. Rafale will significantly improve India's strike & defence capabilities" thus posted defence minister Manohar Parrikar on 23/09/16(Friday) in Facebook

What makes this single largest deal in Indian defence important to  world's fourth largest airforce with a strength of more than 1,500 aircraft are many.

Dassault Rafale namely Rafel aircraft is built by Dassault a french aviation firm which has a very great history since first world war, and has delivered more than 8000 aircraft since 1945 in which 71% of them are business jets

India's bid to buy Rafel aircraft started long back when India decided to allocate 55,000 crores for 126 MMRCA( Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft) back in 2010, based on which more than 2 years of evaluation by IAF happened . On 31st January 2012, it was announced that Dassault Rafale won the tender. Major things that made Dassault get this deal in spite of 6  strong contenders are.The IAF had around 600 technical specifications out of which around 590 were met by the Rafale . Fighters from the USA, the F16 Super Viper and F18 Super Hornet are outdated. Sweden's Gripen is single engined jet so it is at a disadvantage too. Getting MiG 35 means putting too much dependence on only one country Russia.

Snecma M88is afterburner turbofan engine specially built for Rafel aircraft which made the aircraft have good maintainability,upgrade potential (73 kN to 105 kN using the same core(kN:kilonewton) ),high thrust to weight ratio, low fuel consumption in all flight regimes, and a long engine life.

   

Qatar air force and Egyptian airforce are some of the users of Rafael aircraft. 

The major thing that strikes our mind is when the deal was to get 126 aircraft for 55,000 crores why did Indian Mod has restricted to signing a deal for 36 aircraft and a subclause to buy 18 more in future  with a price tag of Rs 1,600 crore per aircraft which is more than double of the decided cost.

If not for Rafel India's choice is to buy more su-30 aircraft which is double the time cheap than Rafel,but keeps breaking and cost a lot in maintenance and spare parts too and being readily available,or to buy indigenous aircraft which has a short range and cannot compete with high range aircraft like Rafel. India's Indigenous aircraft Tejas is IAF primary layer of defence is light combat aircraft and not medium combat aircraft.  

Highly expensive 1,600 aircraft contract include elements that were not there in the 126 fighter MMRCA tender -- including a superior weapons package with Meteor missiles; and performance-based logistics, which bind Dassault to ensure that a stipulated percentage of the Rafale fleet remains combat-ready at all times. The percentage is guessed to be about 75 to 80%, an unchallenging target for Western fighter types

When we started to look in another side of the deal France’s desperation is understandable. Absent the India deal, the Rafale production line will close down, the future of its aerospace sector will dim, and the entire edifice of French industrial R&D sector based on small and medium-sized firms—a version of the enormously successful German “Mittelstand” model—engaged in producing cutting-edge technologies could unravel, and grease France’s slide to second-rate technology power-status 

Indian parliamentary panel last December reported that India's fighter strength is down to 25 squadrons with the requirement of 45 squadrons,India also has few of its early Mig aircraft retiring at early months of 2017, and out of the 25 squadrons 14 are equipped with Russian-made mig-21 and mig-27

Considering all these things Rafel being delivered to IAF in 36 months from now in on-ready condition with entire support and logistics will help boost IAF power but is 36 high-cost aircraft and 18 other aircraft that may be bought by India's MOD in future will be enough for rising India's IAF power is still questionable,one thing is sure that we will have a better hand when compared to our neighbours in presence of Rafel.

Akshayaram Viswanathan
Jai hind