Rumi Nations

            There are people who believe that a river is a god. Or a goddess. It’s called the Ganga. The believers are the Hindus. They think it originates out of the head of a god called Shiva. BTW, that god also has a snake wrapped around his neck. There are other gods in Hinduism one of whom has four hands and holds specific stuff in them. A god with four heads is there. And a goddess with 10 hands. You won’t think with these sort of imaginative creations (or creators) being part of its collection, Hinduism might put up a fight with the major monotheistic religions of the world to claim the title of being the most rational religion or the one that makes the most sense. But I think these folks notwithstanding, the overall religion makes more sense than other religions. If you look at the other religions (I have Islam and Christianity in mind specifically), they propose that specific humans were representatives of an unseen god. In the case of Chris...

            Movies are fiction. A good movie is merely a good story. But stories and logic are not mutually exclusive. It’s interesting to look at Bollywood’s way of telling a story and whether that includes or excludes logic. Munnabhai MBBS was a hit sequel to a hit movie. It’s a comedy movie just as its predecessor was. But it tries to send out a message as well. So we get to see the principal of the medical college lecturing medical college students on the first day that they shouldn’t get emotionally involved with patients. Doctors should merely treat the patient and not get too attached to him or her. Clearly this is standard practice. But the way it’s projected in the movie makes it apparent that doctors are villains for not dealing with patients as if the patients were their nearest and dearest loved ones.

India are the World Champions in One Day International cricket. Anyone remember that? I wonder what Chetan Bhagat would say ...  India had a tough time in England followed by a clean score of 4-0 in Australia. And now India has come out on the bottom with Australia and Sri Lanka. How fantastic. And now conspiracy theories abound about the composition of the team for the next cricket tournament ... the Voldemorts Hogwarts World Championship or the Asia Cup or some such thing. Cricket rivalries, whether between Dhoni and Sehwag or between Azhar and Sidhu or Dad and everyone or Gavaskar and Kapil seem to be commonplace stuff.

In 20 years, all of us will be old. And I wonder if I'll remember the news item where Saif Ali Khan hits a guy or so it's alleged by a gentleman. In 20 years, Saif will be old too. Kareena will be old as well. I'll be old. I won't have grandchildren to bore to death with tales. Perhaps, I'll just relieve the memories by myself. Recall the days of my youth when Tiger Pataudi was old and I used to watch him on TV. The inexorable passing of time and the flow of time and generations is a mysterious thing. I don't know anyone who has escaped these things. The Eventual decay and ending of all things would have been quite unbearably sad. Luckily, we live life day-to-day. The human body is an ancient and ungainly, clumsy machine that has its inescapable idiosyncrasies. We need food once every few hours ... munch, munch, munch. We need to drink water at intervals. We BREATHE. Blink too. Then there's the business of ... what goes in must come out. If only, some...

The banning of burqas by the French government has lead to debates. Can we make an absolute statement that women who wear burqas are oppressed. What if women willingly wear them? Has anyone done a survey among the women of France asking them whether they would like to wear burqas or not? What would the results of such a survey be if conducted among the Muslim women across the world? I think a majority of women will say that they do not mind the veil. But what does that say? Dresses are so inextricably linked to the culture of a nation. I can attest only to the fine differences of what is appropriate and what is not that is prevalent in our own culture in India. We can take the majority of Indians who happen to be Hindus. Do all Hindu women have an agreed viewpoint about what is appropriate to reveal in public and what must be hidden?

It was bedtime for Krista and Tatiana Hogan, and the 4-year-old twin girls were doing what 4-year-olds everywhere do at bedtime. They were stalling, angling for more time awake. Their grandmother, Louise McKay, who lives with the girls and their parents in Vernon, a small city in British Columbia, was speaking to them in soothing tones, but the girls resorted to sleep-deferring classics of the toddler repertory. “I want one more hug!” Krista said to their grandmother, and then a few minutes later, they both called out to her, in unison, “I miss you!” But in the dim light of their room, a night light casting faint, glowing stars and a moon on the ceiling, the girls also showed bedtime behavior that seemed distinctly theirs. The twins, who sleep in one specially built, oversize crib, lay on their stomachs, their bottoms in the air, looking at an open picture book on the mattress. Slowly and silently, in one synchronized movement, they pushed it under a blanket, then pulled it out aga...

I think 90 percent of males will side with Dawkins in this. And 90 percent females will agree with Rebecca. That seems to be just the nature of this particular debate. This incident has sort of exposed some sort of a seismic fault-line in ho w males and females look at certain events. To summarize the events as far as I know: 1) Rebecca had an awkward experience in an elevator and shared it with the world. She advised men that this is not how one should go about this. I am wondering if Rebecca is a relationship expert or does she proffer relationship advice on her blog? But since it's her blog, she is free to share her personal experiences. 2) Now Dawkins picks up Rebbeca's anecdote and belittles it. Clearly, he burnt his finger in doing so. Dawkins' take on Rebecca's experience is interpreted by males and females. This is where all sorts of complexities enter into the picture. When females talk about Rebecca's experience, they are also speaking fro...