Enlightened ... There are no special effects.

Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash  "If they go to High Court, I'll go all the way up to Supreme Court.  I have financial strength.  Even if I die, my son would fight the case." said the angry old man.   He said that when I tried to work out a compromise between two warring parties in a civil dispute.  I'm no lawyer, but believe that older people can live a lot happier if they don't have to deal with the courts or the governments.  The parties involved were highly educated, held high offices in the government or private sectors. This gives one of the many reasons for the cases piling up in our courts.  Unlike a village Panchyat that has a responsibility and an interest towards resolving local issues, our courts are the creations of coloniality.  They are often disconnected from the ground realities.  The farther the courts are from the locations of dispute, the more disconnected they are.  To be fair to the system, in this...

Stock Photo Courtesy:  Deepak kumar on Unsplash Till my uncle from Mumbai visited us, no one at home probably thought of enrolling me in a school. Maybe they thought I was too bright or too dumb to gain anything by going to school at that age.  Anyhow, my uncle had made up his mind and decided to take me to a school.  He may have got me admitted.  But I had the last laugh.  I refused to go to school walking and indicated that I’d consider it if a rickshaw was arranged.  Since the family didn’t want to commit to a higher expense just to keep me occupied, the plan was shelved. I don’t remember how or when, but remember that I was taken to the Principal who ran a tutorial college attached to a preschool.  The radio in his office was playing ‘Allah Allah’ song, sung by M S Viswanathan in his metallic voice.  I have heard that song and liked it.  So, I didn’t throw tantrums at his office.  Little did I realize that the event was just to enro...

Photo by Bibek Raj Shrestha on Unsplash I have been reading the book Sanskrit Non-Translatables: The Importance of Sanskritizing English by Rajiv Malhotra and Satyanarayana Dasa Babaji. The book explains the limitations of English in representing Indic thoughts. As we adopt more English, we run the risk of losing some of the elaborate meanings attached to the Sanskrit terms. From the book: Manas is not Mind  Manas occupies a pivotal and central position in the Indian psychological tradition. It performs the role of connecting consciousness (atma) with the physical body. Perception involves 1) the contact of jnanendriya-s with the external objects; 2) jnanendriya-s with manas; and 3) manas with the atma. Thus, manas is the interface between the internal and external worlds of a human being. There are associated components called Buddhi, Chitta, and Ahankara. Needless to say, as per the authors, their English equivalents are equally incorrect. In Indian languages too, we hav...

முதலில் கொஞ்சம் அனுபவம், அறிமுகங்கள்.  அனுபவங்களிலிருந்து கற்கும் பாடத்திற்கே நான் அதிகம் முக்கியத்துவம் தருகிறேன். நான் ஐந்தாம் வகுப்பு வரை தமிழ் வழிக்கல்வி; பின்னர் ஆங்கில வழி.  ஆங்கிலம் புரிந்தாலும்,  அறிவியல், புவியியல், வரலாற்றைப் புரிந்து கொள்ளத் தேவையான அளவு ஞானம், கல்லூரிப் படிப்பை முடித்தபின் தான் எனக்குக் கிடைத்தது.  காரணம் சூழல் அப்படி.  படிப்பைத் தாண்டி ஆங்கிலத்தில் பரிச்சயம் பெற வாய்ப்பு இல்லை.  கடனே என்று பள்ளி, கல்லூரிப் படிப்பை முடித்தேன்.  ஓரளவுக்கு ஞாபக சக்தி இருந்ததால், 50-60 மதிப்பெண்கள் வாங்கித் தேருவது கஷ்டமாக இல்லை.  (கல்லூரியில் எழுத்துத் தேர்வுகளில், தமிழில் மட்டும் தான் 60க்கு மேல் வாங்கியிருக்கிறேன்.) பல கோடி மாணவர்களின் பிரச்சினைக்கு என் அனுபவம் ஒரு உதாரணம்.  நேர்முகத்தேர்வுக்கு வரும் பலர் ஆங்கிலத்தில் பதில் சொல்லத் திணறும்போது, இந்திய மொழிகளில் பதில் சொல்ல ஊக்குவித்திருக்கிறேன். முடிவு 1: பள்ளிக்கல்வி தாய்மொழி வழியில் இருப்பது சிறப்பு பள்ளியில் படிக்கும் போது ஹிந்தியிலும், தெலுங்கிலும் பரிச்சயம் ஏற்பட்டது.  ப...

"Xyz has bought a car!"  That was my brother wondering, just around the time India's economy opened up.  The economy had nothing to do with Xyx, but owning a car was a big deal in those days.  My brother, after having slogged for a few years to get to a respectable qualification couldn't come to terms with a cinema comedian buying a car. Photo by Felix Mooneeram on Unsplash A century ago, performing artists have to perform regularly to earn a living.  Two technological inventions made a huge difference in the lives of performing artists - Faster transportation and more importantly the invention called cinema and its offsprings like Television.  Before cinema became pervasive, actors, dancers, and singers moved around in trains and cars, could earn a better living than their ancestors.  With the invention of cinema, a movie is produced once, distributed many times, and earns revenue even long after the death of those creative people who created it.  ...

The lunchtime conversation centered around the new age Guru like Jaggi and Sri Sri.  I explained why society needs them and the masters are naturally wiser than the four discussing them.  Not satisfied with hurting the ego of a few, my ego turned to the silent man.  I know he was a traditional person and prefers a traditional Guru.  I just told him that his faith in his traditional master is on thin ice.  I didn't explain it then but would do so here. When I about four years old, our family moved to a house in a street half-way up the hill in the Rockfort area in Trichy.   Our house was right next to a temple of Vanni Adi Karuppu - roughly the dark guy under the Shami or Khejri Tree.  (It is interesting to note the naming a person wasn't too different across communities in the ancient days.)   Calling it a temple would be an overstatement.  It was a small 8'X6' room in which a piece of the tree and a huge sword was kept.  It ...

Animal Instincts The Sales Manager ended the presentation with a small clipping of an animal video for a message of being strong,  focused and all good things. It works.  Telling them that they are the lions and tigers definitely motivates them to be aggressive.  We have a lot to learn from animal kingdom but this is definitely not one of them.  Tribal communities have been using these animal instincts.  Native American cultures used wolves.  Egyptian and Indian cultures use references to lions for bravery.  Lions, tigers, and wolves do trigger an effective emotion required to win, protect, unify etc. But human race progressed not because of these emotions.  Humans could empathize, cooperate better than animals.  Humans' ability to accept differences is the biggest skill that drove the civilizations ahead.  Humans could also organize themselves better.  Sure, lions fight ferociously, but have you ever heard of peasant elephant o...