Enlightened ... There are no special effects.

A person wondered why there is so much hatred against Brahmins.  But the hatred is not just against Brahmins; sometimes it is against Hindus as a whole.  The mutual hatred between Muslims and the Western world is beyond the scope of this article.   Brahmins in particular and Hindus in general do not exhibit so much hatred against any other groups but are still hated if we look at social media posts.  Indian cinema has been portraying Brahmins as the bad guys - not the typical strong man villain, but the cunning one.   For a few centuries earlier, it was the Jews.  During that period, in popular western literature Jews were the cunning villains.  We may get the reason for that if we understand the motive of universalizing religions.  I see this as an influence of so-called universal religions like Christianity and the effect of a connected world where written communication became prominent.  Universalizing ideologies rely on standard...

கடந்த சில நாட்களாக சுற்றங்களுடனும் நண்பர்களுடன் நடந்த உரையாடல்களில் நம்முடைய வட்டம் எவ்வளவு சிறியது என்று உணர முடிந்தது.  ஒரு அரசியல் கட்சியின் கூட்டத்தை அருகில் இருந்து பார்க்கும் வாய்ப்பு கிடைத்தது.  அங்கு வந்திருந்த பெரும்பான்மையான கட்சிக்காரர்களுடன் எங்களால் பத்து நிமிடங்கள் கூட உரையாட முடியாது.  நம் உலகம் வேறு; அவர்கள் உலகம் வேறு என்பதை அதுவரை மேலோட்டமாக அறிந்திருந்தாலும் அன்று அந்த உண்மை உரைத்தது. ஓரளவுக்கு அந்த கட்சிக்காரர்கள் வாக்களிக்கும் மக்களுடன் தொடர்பில் இருப்பவர்கள். பிற கட்சிக்காரர்களுக்கு சற்றே அதிக தொடர்பு இருக்கலாம்.   ஆனால் சமூக வலைத்தளங்களிலும் வழக்கமான ஊடங்களிலும் அரசியல் பேசுபவர்களை விட கட்சிக்காரர்களுக்கு மக்களைப் பற்றிய அதிக பரிச்சயம் இருக்கும்.   நாம் எந்த அளவுக்கு வாக்களிக்கும் மக்களை அறிந்திருக்கிறோம் என்பதை பின் வரும் ட்வீட் விளக்குகிறது.  I think we need some quick education for the terminally online in just how unusual they are. If you have a college diploma, you are already unlike most voters. If you spend a lot of ...

Sad events aren't rare. At the national level, we get to see at least one every week.  This is about how we respond to them. 1. A stampede happened at a religious congregation and many died.  The person responsible for the congregation got the blame - rightly so or otherwise. 2. A young army officer was killed in action.  The government tried to compensate his family monetarily; some were unhappy about the compensation and blamed the officer's widow.  People took sides based on their convenience.  Very articulate personalities like Madhu Kishwar took a side and hurled abuses at people on the other side. All such chatter in the social media and elsewhere have a lifetime of a week or until the next sad event occurs, whichever is earlier.  It is our way of coping with sad news.  We need to pin the blame on somebody before we move on to the next event.  That gives us a nice closure that we have identified the source of the mishap. But the world isn't ...

Residents Welfare Associations (RWA) have become the de facto local governments in our cities. At the lowest level, the responsibility is for the upkeep of the common area.  As the properties get bigger, more responsibilities like Security, Lifts, Water Management, Genset get added.  That is, on a smaller scale RWA begins sharing the local government's responsibilities of safety, water and power supply.  Bigger RWAs have to deal with waste water treatment (Sewage), maintenance of streets, gardens and other facilities like a mini PWD. It's the need of the hour.  In fact, leaving it to the RWA may ensure better service than what the government has to offer.  But how well equipped are the RWAs to deal with its level of governance?  Reluctance to Take Responsibilities Whether the residents are young or old, more so if they are young, do not want to take any responsibility towards common causes.  RWA responsibilities do consume one's time, is an unpaid and ...

Social media, especially Twitter has people taking extreme sides on castes, there are hardly any conversations but a lot of noise. Here's my attempt to give a perspective on where we are and the way forward.  Context I'm a Brahmin by the standard definition of a Brahmin - born in a Brahmin family, brought up a Brahmin and I continue to try to be a Brahmin. I rever the Vedas and all the traditions - some of which aren't  Brahminical.  I can be stamped a 'trad' and my views can be brushed aside. If you are curious to understand the history, context, and everything in between, please continue reading further.  Some History Historically we Hindus have been a segregated society.  Everyone minded his own business and there were limited touchpoints between communities. A farmer and a merchant, a merchant and a warrior, and everyone with the other had limited interactions.  There was no public transportation for people to interact with each other regularly.  T...

[This was in my draft for months. Recently, I began translating Dharampal's Rediscovering India into Tamil.  It triggered me to take up this draft, complete and publish it.] A few years ago, we had a school reunion. When in school, we had students from primarily middle-class families.  But there were a few rich kids and a few poor kids.  There was a student from a leading doctor's family, one from a wealthy landlord's family, and so on.  And there were also students from families that earned their daily bread from watch repairs, small-time trading, teaching, etc.  It was a good mix of many communities with a simple pure friendship that continues for decades. It helped in at least knowing about the other communities and classes.  In later years, this friendship helped in helping each other.  Decades ago, when private vehicles didn't dominate our roads, most of us used to travel by public transportation.  That is another opportunity to know about th...

In my earlier  blog , I equated the Ramayana with the Bible and the Quran. But there is a big difference that I need to elaborate on. Unlike the Bible or Quran, Ramayana's core is not an ideology but a narration of the life of Rama. The immediate response from the deracinated would be - "How can you believe it really happened? There are unbelievable events narrated in it." There is no point in explaining to them that it is an Itihasa - 'It happened thus.' So, my answer is - the core of Ramayana could have happened. What is this core? There was this Prince Rama, son of Dasaratha. His step-brothers were Bharata, Lakshmana, and Shatrugna. He was exiled because his father had to honor the promise he made to one of the queens - Kaikeyi. Rama, with his wife Seetha and step-brother Lakshmana, left for the forest. They lived a life of a wanderer with no comforts. Seetha was kidnapped by Ravana, a powerful king of Lanka. Rama earned the trust and friendship of Sugreeva by ...

 Absence of sacredness is a precursor to self-destruction.   Applies to individuals, families and communities. First, how does an object or a process acquire sacredness?    At an individual level, one treats something as sacred because of an inner experience.  At a higher state of consciousness, when it transcends time, one discovers that an object or a process means much more than its physical state.  Since this discovery happened when time was not a factor, he believes the physical entity or process would continue to give that experience.  So, he begins treating it sacred.  It doesn't do anything special other than its intended purpose, but by treating it as holy, man can experience uplifting emotions.  It does, by coming to his aid by comforting him through the ups and downs of his life.   Good habits, value systems, and rituals with their sacredness passed on across generations help keep families together.  Physical ob...

 Yes. You read it right. RSS might think that the UCC is a brilliant idea to unite Hindus.  The BJP might think it appears like a good stick to beat the Muslims and get Hindu votes.  I think both are shortsighted if not totally wrong. First, let's look at the political angle.  If UCC becomes a law, Muslims would continue to ignore it like an average Indian ignores traffic laws.  The interesting part is, even for a traffic law violation, our Police would hesitate to act if the violator wears a skullcap and sports a beard.  So, as in traffic law violation, it would be the Hindus who would be punished if they violate UCC.  In other words, UCC could be the new tool of an aggressor to target only Hindus. Coming to the social issue, we are so diverse that each community has evolved its customs and traditions over hundreds of years.  Some are social, and some could even be biological.  I qualify it as 'could be' as there is no documented scientific ...

I was approached by a parent with two children of marriageable age who needed my help. The children had asked why they shouldn't marry outside of their community, and the parent didn't know how to respond. I provided the following answer: Every community has its own customs, behaviors, and lifestyles, including food habits and tastes. Some of these customs differ greatly between communities. For example, in North India, it is customary for a woman to cover her head as a sign of respect to elders in the family. However, in many South Indian communities, covering the head is not required and is even considered inauspicious. In traditional societies, marriage is not just a relationship between two individuals, but between two families. When a person from a different community is brought into a community, these customs can cause problems. While these differences can be overlooked or compromised during the excitement of getting married, they can become serious issues in daily life. ...

Photo by  John Salvino  on  Unsplash During the morning walk, a neighbor narrated his experience visiting a mutual friend in Chennai.  That friend lived in a modern apartment complex.  The visitor (note - the term visitor, which is more universal comprising various visitors like guests, vendors, and business associates) has to seek permission to visit by giving the day and time of the visit.  The resident (the term could have been host) must register that in a system with the visitor's mobile number.  An OTP will be generated before the scheduled visit and sent to the visitor.  The visitor must share the OTP at the gate with the security person.  The security person would also take a picture of the visitor before he can proceed to meet the resident. Such a painful system with possible errors and failures every step of the way. It cries out "We do not trust you bleddy Indians." This isn't just about the high-profile apartment complexes but is ...

"Reservation helps upper caste people" is a counter-intuitive statement.  But this could be true.  Here is an explanation. First an anecdote: The last two organizations I worked in had an identical problem regarding lateral hires for senior roles - like Architects, Program Managers, etc.  The roles demanded domain/technology-specific skills, communication/writing skills, interpersonal skills, a good understanding of customers' business, etc.  Too many people came and none survived for more than a few months.   After years of frustrating search, it dawned upon me that those who survived the grind in the organization had something in common - they all had competed in some all-India level exams - like JEE, CAT, or equivalent.  They didn't necessarily go to an IIT or IIM.  It is the effort put in to compete in an all-India level exam in open-category that made the difference.  And those who failed did not face such exams earlier in their lives b...

On Rishi Sunak becoming the PM, the liberals and Congressmen in India began talking about the inability of a minority - read Muslim - to become a PM or a President forgetting their own history of opposing Muslim and Christian President candidates.   I see Sunak becoming the PM as an extraordinary event as no one else came forward to run a country that is a mess.  Even in Britain, it is almost impossible for a Muslim to be the head of state.   Let me generalize the statement.  "It is almost impossible for a Muslim to be a head of state in democracy in a multi-cultural country."  Why? In all democracies, whether Parliament or Presidential, the representative has to be elected twice before leading the nation.    In a Presidential system like the US, party delegates vote for the Presidential candidate before the candidate seeks votes from the general public.  In a Parliamentary system the order changes - he gets elected from his constituency...

  கஷ்மீர் ஃபைல்ஸ் படம் பார்த்துவிட்டு வந்து சில நாட்களாகின்றன.  மனம் இன்னும் அமைதியடையவில்லை.  அதற்குக் காரணம் - படத்தில் கண்ட வன்முறை மட்டுமல்ல;  படத்தில் காட்டிய வன்முறையை விட பல மடங்கு கொடுமைகளை பண்டிட்டுகள் சந்தித்துள்ளனர் என்பதை நாம் வெறும் தகவல்களாக அறிவோம்.  இத்தனை வருடங்கள் நாம் பண்டிட்டுகளின் பாதிப்பை உணராமல் இருக்கின்றோமே என்பது பெரும் சோகம்.  இந்த ‘நாம்’ என்னையும் சேர்த்துத்தான். உணர்வுத் தீவுகள் வாயில் மைக்கைத் திணித்து கருத்து வாங்கும் தொலைக்காட்சி கலாச்சாரம் வந்தபின்னும், நதிமார்க் படுகொலையை மக்கள் முன் வைத்து பாதிக்கப்பட்டவர்களுக்கு ஆதரவு தேட எந்தத் தொலைக்காட்சியும் பத்திரிகையாளரும் முன்வரவில்லை.  அவர்கள் பிழைப்புக்காக அடுத்த செய்திகளுக்குத் தாவி விடுவர் என்பது இயல்பு.  1990களில் பிட்டா கராத்தேயுடனான அந்த நேர்காணலைப் பார்த்த நினைவிருக்கிறது.  அதில் அவன் முதலில் கொன்றது சதீஷ் என்ற பண்டிட் இளைஞனை என்பது நினைவில் இருக்கிறது.  கிட்டத்தட்ட அந்தக் காட்சி ‘ரோஜா’ திரைப்படத்தில் வந்தது.  அந்தப் பண்டிட்டின் குடும்பத்தின் கதி என...

"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.  ...

What can be more disturbing than the sight of a graphic violence?  How can the picture of a 14-year old chubby kid munching chocolate disturb me?  Believe me, it disturbed me and it would disturb you.   The kid was killed a few minutes later, shot point blank.  The information that the boy was killed and picture of him nonchalantly eating a piece of chocolate troubled me like anything. I can't name the feeling, for naming it would be to run away from facing it.  The feeling stays there, like a bad food troubling your stomach.  Let it linger for a few minutes; this is real.  This feeling is real.  The information is just information, it is not my experience.  I can make believe that it my experience, I can feel like a boy facing guns.  I'd be as helpless as I'm right now. Like the boy facing the gun, like the girl teased by a bunch of goons in a Delhi bus, I'm helpless.  You are helpless.  Let us not run away from this feeli...

My recent interaction with colleagues and relations of my age pointed at a popular view of their worlds.  My personal experience and a recent interview by writer Jayamohan pointed to another less popular view of the world.  This article is a summary of my observations.  It may not be humanly possible to switch from one view to another.  The view is probably hard-wired in everyone's brain.  I hope that just being aware of the other view might help in relationships. Three of my recent long conversations were with people in corporate world.  They viewed their role as a fighter in a war.  They strategised, analyzed their own strengths and weaknesses, analyzed their opponents strength and weaknesses.  A victory is well defined for them - "If I have my way, I win; otherwise I lose.". This view is applied in every relationship - between vendor and customer, employer-employee, boss-subordinate, interviewer-interviewee etc.  I don't know e...

Disclaimer:  This write-up is supposed to introduce you to the procedures and is not a legal advice.  Always consult a lawyer worth his salt before signing any documents.  Feel free to contact me to suggest corrections or need more clarity. We were busy during the first half of this year in two real estate transactions - the sale of our apartment and then the purchase of an independent house.  After that, we got a number of queries from our friends on the procedures; so, I thought of documenting the experience. I'll skip all the steps involved until the buyers and sellers have met and agreed on the transaction.  Let's focus on the procedures alone. The seller will have to give the buyer copies of the following documents. The sale deed that is the proof of your purchase Encumbrance Certificate for at least about 30 years.   Parent Documents - Documents that trace the ownership of the property / its parts for the past 30 years.  In ad...