Concise Kansaratva

After Mohandas Gandhi returned to India in 1915, he undertook a tour of India to understand the layers of complexity that lay beneath her diversity. Today, another Gandhi undertakes a tour of India grandly named Bharat Jodo Yatra, but that is where the comparison ends. The three words, Bharat, Jodo, and Yatra, are ironical in themselves, just as the words in the name of the party, Indian National Congress. 

Most movies coming out of Bollywood now are either boycotted or so bad that they are not even boycotted. While there are veritable issues such as lack of quality content, rampant nepotism, and complete disrespect for culture that has existed for millennia, Bollywood continues to ignore them. Instead, apologists of the industry cry hoarse on intolerance, bigotry, patriarchy, and the rest of the rot that we are now quite familiar with. Will the unsanatani industry change because of a string of setbacks and introspect to create better content that respects the cultural sensibilities of its audience, or will it remain arrogant and continue to extend its cultural and dynastic hegemony as long as the money flows from secret lands? 

Last week, Mahua Moitra, who belongs to TMC, a political party ruled by an absolutist, went, well, all Moitra because her flow of glib English was interrupted by the Chair of Lok Sabha in Hindi, no less. Moitra is no stranger to throwing her weight around but when it comes to using the gaumutra scorn frequently one wonders what her intent is. The distinction, then, between the position and the people in that position gets diluted, and what happens is that the identification with the nation becomes contingent upon fealty to the Constitution. Further, there is the political equivalent of psychological project, what I call as constitutional projection, that left-inclined parties use to project their vileness onto the current government. The whole argument of looking at anything political, social, and cultural, through the lens of the Constitution is the reason why I am reluctant to support anyone who considers the 70+ year-old document as some kind of a dharmaśãstra.

My visit to the Surya Mandir at Mōḍhērā makes me wonder, at first, at the awe of what has been stripped away by time, weather, and invaders, and later, at thousands of monuments which are left at the mercy of the godless constitutional state. Around the time came the controversy over Surya Namaskar with the usual weaselish argument that Yoga is not Hindu. What exactly does that argument achieve? If that were not enough, there is the other argument that Yoga is just a system of bodily exercises, a dumbing down of an ancient system of healthy living that also introduces weird English names for asanas. Down south is the celebration of Pongal, the harvest festival that has nothing to do with the God of Sun but everything to do with the Son of God.

I then talk about Godwin's law in the context of some tweet by a typical uncreative label-maker mind of a left-liberal, and then, pass on to my comments on why Netflix is frustrated with their lack of success in India. 

Night curfews are the flavor of the day with governments trying to tell us that they are doing something about the pandemic while, at the same time, politicians are busy doing what they want to do anyway. The other side of the pandemic story is the panic spread by fake news which forced the PM himself to confuse us further with "precautionary dose". Given that there is no real repercussion for spreading fake news, even top politicians are doing so with relish, such as the tweet from Mamata Bannerjee on freezing the accounts of Mother Teresa's missionary in India.

Conversions are the focus once more given Karnataka's recent anti-conversion law which has predictably triggered the global ecosystem even as the local one cries hoarse on the law being unconstitutional. Article 25, if that is the argument, is not going to come to the rescue, but it does seem that the Constitution maybe like the one-way traffic arrangements of Bengaluru.

Tejasvi Surya urged Hindu institutions to set annual targets for reconversion (gharvāpsī) and then pusillanimously backtracked, perhaps after a rap on the knuckles from his seniors. On the other hand, Naseeruddin Shah went full Rahul by calling Moghuls as refugees. Babar, perhaps, sought refuge in India to escape from the diseases that the Europeans were spreading in South America at that time.

Shashi Tharoor, the Mahua Moitra of Congress, tweeted a cartoon showing Aurangzeb surprised to find that he is not in history but in current affairs. The irony notwithstanding, the sheer hypocrisy of apologists like Tharoor simply shows a blindness they have for ground realities. 

Is constitutional morality just a veil, a cooked up label, to endure minoritarian violence in the name of desecration and insult, such as what happened last week in the Sikh-dominated Punjab? The answer is, of course, yes, because constitutional morality applies only to Hindus, as amply evidenced by the recent verdict by the Supreme Court on allowing non-Hindus to participating in the process of shops to be leased around a Hindu temple. What, by the way, constitutes the bounds of a constitutional Hindu temple? The outer walls? The sanctum? The idol?

Amidst all these is the government mandate on linking Aadhaar with the voter card, an exercise fraught with untold miseries. Incidentally, this is being opposed in the name of political profiling, a most dunderheaded reason, which only proves that the opposition still has a long way to go.

When Narendra Modi inaugurated the Kashi Vishwanath Corridor recently, there was an expected bout of indigestion within the taliberal clique, so much that Aurangzeb's personal historian had to come out of her reverie and concoct more caste-based idiocy. 

The Chinese have been beating their little drums about democracy, and back home, the so-called farmer unions have gone back home leaving us with uncomfortable questions. The government, in repealing the farm laws, has set a precedent that street power trumps everything else. If this was from the Center, the Haryana government did the unthinkable by first allocating "designated spaces" for offering daily prayers and then revoking the order. Good luck with that.

Last week, also, was the incident of the Haryana Pollution Control Board ordering the shutdown of Hindustan Syringes & Medical Devices (HMD). Of course, HMD was magnanimously allowed to resume its operations but only after its MD had to plead with everyone in power. 

In the first of a series on the Wuhan scourge, I reminisce the first wave which now seems to belong to a surreal age of lockdowns, clarifications, designer masks, online apps, doomsday models, and a not-so-long beard. By the end of last year, there was a positivity in the air, and the new year was supposed to herald new hopes. In the first three months, just when everyone thought that we would get back to normalcy, the second wave hit us hard.

As the cases skyrocketed and governments seemed helpless and incompetent, the time was ripe for whacky narratives. It all started with the Kumbh, by which I mean the narrative, not the second wave. If the Kumbh had started the second wave we would have to do some nifty time loops through Delhi where the farmers are protesting peacefully even now. After that came the lucrative photos of funeral pyres, shorn of any journalistic ethics and disrespectful of the dead. The photos served no actual journalistic purpose anyway, but just continued the age-old trope of an anti-Hindu narrative.

The Left and the Right emerged from the French Revolution, and since then, have defined the political spectrum. While the Left has solidified to represent anything from revolutions and rebellions to strikes and bearded men, the Right has been a mass of diverse opinions. In today's times when monopolies of publishing houses, news media groups, and even academic coteries define the establishment, the question is not about labels, the Left or the Right, but about power structures. The Left, by presiding over such a monopoly, simply becomes what it was once fighting against. 

What is the relevance of the Left and the Right, as labels, in India with its political, social, and cultural diversity? What do the fence-sitting Center labels achieve? Does differentiating by Indian Right Wing or Hindu Right Wing even make any difference? I argue that it does not, because the labels, Left and Right, come with a burden of their own history and religion, and worse, lead to false equivalences and denial of our history.

The recent decision of making Math and Physics as optional subjects to apply for an engineering course has created a controversy over the NEP recommendations. I delve deeper into this outrage and offer my opinion, perhaps unpopular, on the episode. 

Also, as a continuation of the series on the NEP, I cover the recommendations on higher educational institutions, the state of research and innovation in India, the objectives of the National Research Fund, and the restructuring of regulatory bodies which would potentially clip their wings.

Before the 2014 elections Rahul Gandhi was the reluctant dynast, missing the spark to navigate the beehive of politics despite having experienced sycophants by his side. Over the years, however, whether due to his frequent secret trips or his Idea of India advisors, he has become more confident, more goofy, and also, more sinister. In this episode, I look at the anatomy of political iniquity that today Rahul Gandhi represents, while supporting divisive forces in the name of dissent, questioning the government's stance and actions, and speaking a vicious language of  instigation. 

The Republic Day this year started with the usual muted enthusiasm about the tableaus from different states, with Uttar Pradesh unabashedly showcasing the Ram Mandir, instead of pandering to some acceptable norm which, we are told, is defined by the Constitution. We are conditioned to be CoCo, Constitutionally Correct, while the FaCo, Fake Fans of the Constitution, get away with anything and still become the "decent folk". How does this impact our approach to our religion? Do we follow religion as per our convenience, or do we allow convenience as per our religion?

The other unprecedented event, of course, was the mayhem unleashed by riotous mobs in the capital. Was strategic inaction the right approach, or should the government have gone for impulsive action? Who, ultimately, pays the price for political decisions?

Listen to this episode which, although based on a single day, deals with a lot more than just that.

In the last few weeks, the courts have given us some interesting arguments, from recommending the use of virtual baths for Hindus to defining what does not make a Christian, and from speculating on what an ideal protest place should be to why no one has filed a PIL on something that is evidently great. The virtual bath, or e-Snaan, promises to be an interesting start to what could become a rollercoaster ride for virtualizing Hindu traditions through an e-Mandir app complete with an e-Bazaar that sells e-Pushp, e-Shriphal, e-Dhoop, e-Agarbattis, and through which you can perform e-Pradakshina and even partake of e-Prasad (certified by FSSAI). We also saw a glimpse of the standards that journalists set for themselves when Nidhi, who could question the Supreme Court, forgot to question the letter she had received. At least she must be happy now because she, and others of her ilk, has got a new President who took his oath on the Bible unlike the President of some other country who contributed to the Ram Mandir. While they are on cloud nine of cringe, I am hoping that they would leave the government alone for some days. 

In the second episode of the series on the National Education Policy (NEP), I talk about the monetary argument for education, an argument that is much avoided because for whatever reasons it is deemed less ethical and moral. Such arguments usually lead to philistinism, which I do not profess to follow, except that what I consider art is probably very different from your choices. The NEP, however, has a recurrent theme on arts, or liberal arts, to be more precise. What happens when the ACHE (Arts, Culture, Humanities, Engineering) Committee changes the syllabus? What happens when a liberal arts professor teaches "Art Appreciation & Theory" to engineers? While aspects of sociocultural, economic, and personal elements should be included in professional education, the NEP's fetish with liberal arts sounds just...goofy. 

The disconnect between what we learn in schools and colleges, and what happens in the real world, is horribly wide. Does the National Education Policy (NEP), which has been long due, fix this? Before we go into this, we need to understand what the goal of education is, and why outcomes are more important than inputs. While the NEP is a rambling and repetitive document, tedious in extreme, it must be appreciated for covering the entire spectrum of education in India, and also, must be commended for being vocal against pestilential issues like mediocrity and corruption. In this first part of a series on the NEP, I cover two broad aspects: the Indian heritage and the RTE Act. 

A cyclone leaves waves of devastation even in a metropolitan city like Chennai.. We talk about "low-lying areas" and "lakes" as convenient reasons for flooding instead of questioning the grotesque mushrooming of the city coupled with the thorough neglect by the authorities and the utter greed of the politicians. Playing the supporting roles are roads that are elevated so much that they become flyovers, toll booths which function dutifully come storm or cyclone, and expressways that have become symbols of all that is wrong. A swim through the Old Mahabalipuram River takes me to the days when the Pallava emperors would have constructed the beautiful temples, and makes me wonder how we went from there to the angular ugliness of modern buildings. We surely have a long way to go.

I joined Parler last week, after opening accounts in Gab, Gutrgoo, Inditoot, Mastodon, Koo, Elyments,  Squeaks, Opined, and others. All these platforms have tried to provide an alternative to Twitter’s hegemony and highhandedness, but without much success. We also have to consider the fact that there is really no compelling reason for anyone to move away from Twitter, despite its blatant bias and political interference. The greatest advantage that Twitter provided was flattening the social media, and there is no point in doing this again. I believe that the future of social media is likely to be more local, more personalized, and more sensory.

Twitter also showed the power of network, when the Prime Minister endorsed a book, A New Idea of India, which created quite a flutter. Should the PM endorse a book? Should the PM endorse this book? Now that he has endorsed the book, for that arrow has left the bow, I have some expectations from the authors too.

While real crackers during Dīpāvali have been banned, the metaphorical ones light up with clockwork precision: Dīpāvali is a festival of lights not sound, crackers are not Hindu because they are a modern invention, and there is no mention of crackers in scriptures. We follow the Constitution but neither is it found in any scripture, and I found out that comparing the articles in the Constitution to different types of crackers makes one a Sanghi. The whole drama was played out on Twitter with a very predictable sequence of events, which got me thinking about the equation of power and politics in social media and the real world. We talk about creating an ecosystem and end up antagonizing people who wield power on the ground because they have a different opinion from ours. While I do not have answers in this episode, I raise questions on our identity, on our community, and on who we identify as a part of the community. Also, for those from Gujarat, Sāl Mubārak.

The world's strongest democracy has ensured that the election process is no less entertaining than the best that Hollywood could offer. In all the drama that is still unfolding, the media has consistently proven their knack of predicting results that are off by a radian. On the other hand, there are those who are reluctant to accept that the election process in India, with EVMs, is more reliable, and want to go back to the good old days of paper ballots so that their favorite parties can win by capturing booths and rigging polls. EVMs, meanwhile, are not happy with this, and we get to meet E V Meena and E V Manikandan, and how they met each other. We have Deepavali next week, a time of festivities that governments, from states to the center, have decided to trample upon, proving that when it comes to Hindu traditions, every political party is the same. What do you think about bursting crackers symbolically, or splashing colors symbolically, or dancing in circles symbolically? I would rather leave the symbolism to those who cannot think beyond biriyani and paneer tikka.

When we think of the history of politics in India, we think of Chanakya. In the western world, he is often referred to as the Machiavelli of India, which is ludicrous considering that Machiavelli lived some 1800 years after Chanakya. Such odious comparisons exist everywhere and we take them for granted like the air quality when Diwali is not around. I also talk about the miracle medium in the Indian air, constitutium, which plays a sanguine role in keeping the atmosphere salubrious and salutary by ameliorating the deleterious effects of Diwali crackers between 8 to 10 PM. Constitutium molarity, not to be confused with constitutional morality, is sensitive to Hindu festivals, but otherwise seems to have no correlation with anything else. Thankfully, the Environment Ministry has introduced "green crackers", which are better than Diwali bonus for the bureaucracy. Imagine all the red-tape for green crackers, and they do not even need to contend with Nitin Gadkari. 

The ancient R̥gvēda has a lovely line which goes "आ नो भद्रा: क्रतवो यन्तु विश्वत:", loosely translated as, "May noble thoughts come to us from all directions." The list of "noble" thoughts this week includes the unfunny Navratri meme of Meena Harris, the inaccurate Sanskrit translations of names of US election candidates, the incredible moral grandstanding of Surat Police while wishing Navratri (and they are not alone in this, not by a light year), and of course, the unacceptable degeneracy of Eros linking Navratri to some sexual playtime. Also, a detour on what you would do if you are in a ristorante and you are served a pizza with a slice eaten by someone else? With such thoughts around us, does the lovely line from R̥gvēda remain relevant? While exploring that, we venture into the not-so-idealistic world of our ancestors during the Vedic times, and ensure that the there is a fire that is steadily burning within us, and not just during festival times.

Navrātri, the nine-day festival, defines passion, energy, and devotion, and heralds the season of brisk business. Everyone looks forward to profitable months, unless, of course, you are Tanishq, in which case you would be busy with corporate social activism with your ad for Ekatvam, your new line of jewelry. While I outline four reasons why the ad is fictitious, I also delve into the fictitious board meetings, with a hard-stop in 15 minutes, that must have happened to come up with a new product line, and then, release the final ad as if it were Kraken. The outrage that followed, as we know, was unprecedented, and Tanishq did not help their cause by a letter which contained no synonyms for the word "apology". Just to worsen the situation, NDTV came up with an attack in Gujarat, something they have been doing since 2002. From that side of the story, we move on to political social activism, this time with Dr. Harsh Vardhan, the minister best known for banning firecrackers during Diwali because they pollute more than stubble that burns for weeks and fires that rage for months. Dr. Vardhan has the dubious distinction of the only BJP minister to have spoken to God and share with us Her thoughts. While politicians pose a potent danger to Hinduism, which I will simply take as a simple rule, the situation on the ground is quite different. Ekatva(m) is emerging, but not the one that the likes of Tanishq envision - that is just a condition of being deluded, mithyātva.

October 2 is celebrated as the International Day of Nonviolence, to honor Mahatma Gandhi. What does Gandhi mean in today's world, or for that matter, what does the symbolism of charkha, on which he used to spin yarns all day long, mean in today's world? Did the utopian idea of nonviolence become a stick for the global powers to beat India with? The emergence of angry Gods, such as the sticker of an angry Hanuman, is seen as some form of belligerent Hindutva in the post-Modi era, which assumes that the Gods were not angry earlier, and were going about their divine lies nonviolently. The whole idea of Gandhi and nonviolence disappears, however, when convenient, and then reappears in the form of that beautiful bhajan, Vaishnava Jana To, which has as much to do with Gandhi as chai latte with coconut milk has to do with tea. In this podcast, I question the idea of nonviolence, and also, ponder over Navratri, Durga Puja, and outrage that extends to regional heroes but not to universal Gods.

The parliament session saw Derek O'Brien, along with others, turn to what can only be called as constitutional vandalism. On the other hand, Mahua Moitra from his party gave a fiery speech that Rajdeep Sardesai considered "stirring". The topic of concern was why PMCARES and why not PMNRF which, by the time Nirmala Sitharaman had given a reply, was forgotten by Rajdeep and he had moved on to question the timing of the NCB in summoning Deepika Padukone. TIME also announced Narendra Modi as one of the 100 most influential people in the world, along with 99 others, and also reminded us why democracy is not what it used to be in the good old days, like freedom of speech. What would have TIME done had they known about the recent FCRA Amendment? What, for that matter, would Peter Subramani do? If you would like to know more about him, and the other events of the week as above, tune into this podcast.

Astronomers have, potentially, found life on Venus, which is ironical because we were not looking for it there. Irony becomes the theme of this podcast with Jaya Bachchan claiming that there is an attempt to defame Bollywood, the Supreme Court asking if controversial programs can be allowed in a free society, Global Times, a low-quality mouthpiece of the Chinese government talking about the views of the Chinese people, and some people questioning why the Home Minister did not go to AIIMS for a check-up. Oh, and there are Moghuls too, in the form of a song with a catchy tune.

The week has been busier than usual, with red roses, smashed patriarchies, rusted moon, bulldozers driven by invisible strings, and if that were not enough, there was this ship with rearview mirrors. Also, I talk about a very interesting, and promising idea, of a strategy game, for which I expect my royalty, of course.

Politics around language has been around since decades, leading to enforcement and opposition in interesting, and interestingly annoying, ways. The National Education Policy, NEP, recently restarted the debate around language, with responses ranging from this being the best move because we could finally become like Japan and Germany to this being the worst move because there is no global domination without English. In the middle of this is programming, livelihood, culture, and also, a reason why we are calling someone a "harvest king".