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Dr. Simran Kaur created new article 6 Self Harms that you have to Face, if you Keep on Avoiding Self Care.
Yes, self care is as much important, as much is care of others, in your family. But, some people have a, such a habit of ignoring, self care that they does not realize that they have to pay a price, of loosing health one day because of their this habit. There are 2 kind of people among self care ignorer, who does not do self care; one is, who does not do it, out of their laziness and second are those, who does not give 1st preference, to their self care and give it a side track, in taking care of others.
So, for whatever reason, you are ignoring your self-care; whether because of being, 1st kind of self care ignorer or 2nd kind; you have to face self harms that will result out, in future because of ignoring self care. So, you must be thinking to ask that what are those 4 self harms that a person have to face, in future because of ignoring self care continuously?
Well those are-
1) Deteriorating health- Yes, as I said in above paragraphs of article that a person has to face health loss because when health maintenance, is requiring self care and you are not doing it, on that time; then it ultimately result in deterioration of, health on gradual basis.
2) Disease invitation- This 2nd harm result out of 1st harm, in consequence because when your health will deteriorate; it ultimately creates a niche in human body, for disease to get flourished. So, self care ignorance is disease invitation; which result out from, health deterioration caused by self care ignorance.
3) Immunity reduction- Yes, good immunity is a sign of good health. When health deteriorate because of self care ignorance; then human body immunity, also gets reduced.
4) Depressed mood and low confidence- Yes, depressed mood can result out, from self care ignorance. You can't imagine it, to be true fact; but is true that person with time, gradually keep on remaining, in depressed state; when new disease, result out from health deterioration because of self care ignorance. You must have realized that on special occasions of your life; when you do self care; you feel confidence boost. You are falling short on this confidence boost because of self care ignorance, you are doing.
5) Premature aging and low vitality- Yes, premature aging will result; when you will not do self care of your skin, hair, eyes; they will show nothing, but sign of premature aging. Low vitality, weakness will result out, from self care ignorance; because of disease process flourishing, started inside human body because of self care ignorance.
6) Unhygienic body- Yes, your human body will become unhygienic, when you ignore self care, on continuous basis. This unhygienic state, is also reason, for disease invitation inside body because it creates appropriate environment in body, for disease causing pathogens and other inflammatory factors to flourish.
9 years ago
Babu saroj created new article life is an adventure perilous and joy.
“Joy and woe are woven fine
A texture for the theme divine”
These lines of the great English mystic poet William Blake would serve as an appropriate beginning of the article. Life is indeed an adventure. Adventure tacitly assumes the risk of the unknown, and joy resides in surmounting it. The great freedom fighters, mountaineers or voyages and expeditions have all embarked on their adventurous journey lured by a strange and uncanny feeling of joy, what though it entailed perils and fear of death at every step.
Take the case of the legendary Jim Corbett whom the man eaters lured into traps. His books narrate the experience in a language that would make you start on your bed and jump at the drop of a lizard from the ceiling of your peaceful room. At least so it did me, once while I was browsing through the pages of ‘’the man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag’’. He suffered, or to be more correct, he exulted in his perilous calling because it was enjoyable. Thus he enriched jungle literature with his first hand experience. The great Joseph Conrad loved the perilous seas and his ‘’the mirror of the sea’’. Treat us to a feast the fearful experiences of the sea.
Life that is simply cheerful, bereft of risks, fears or adventures, is blasé and cloying. It makes a man impotent, unattractive and dull as a chair-borne politician, a spoon-fed boy or a pampered adult. These are jellyfish creature, for friction alone lends a meaning to life.
A poser in this context: did the stalwart of Bengali fiction Sarat Chandra Chatterjee dare nature’s wrath as in his famous sea-experience, or the perilous inroads into the unsafe habitats heavily infected with fatal diseases like the cholera or small-pox, only to cull up food for his great works? Or, they were labours or journeys prompted by love and compassion. He was not impelled by a sense of duty, but by a sensation to know, to fight and surmount. Subhas Chandra Bose could have purchased an unruffled, peaceful life, but at what cost? – At the cost of his faith in a life of struggle. To establish that faith he burnt his boat at home and embarked on a storm-ridden course, which we all know.
Instances! Their number is legion’, as the proverb goes. Delight that is born of adventure racks not its hazards. It is almost an axiom that danger looks dangerous only till it is dared, for the fear of the unknown can be reduced only knowing it. The great joy lies in achievement and achievement presupposes struggle.
Many a times in life I have tested the real implication of the phrase, ‘there is nothing like successes. At the earlier stage it struck me as silly and idiotic. I felt it states the obvious that everyone know. But when failures crossed my path and I was obliged to face them, I learnt the truth. I realized that real success is self-earned, not a gift of god or anybody, and it is the harbinger to a new kind of joy and sensation.
9 years ago
Jincy Aby created new article Be Careful While Using Mobile Phone.
People are social animals. They always like to make friendship with others. Keeping friendship is always good. We may have male as well as female friends. But do not allow the friendship to go beyond the limit especially when you make friendship with opposite genders. Married couples should be more vigilant regarding this matter.
Mobile phone is one of the best tools to maintain friendship. Conversation through mobile phone is always good. However, do not misuse this opportunity. The over and unnecessary conversation with your friends through mobile phone sometimes take away the peace and beauty of your family. If we have mobile phone, we are getting messages and phone calls from our friends, relatives, public groups and sometimes from unknown people. Attend important phone calls and give reply to the important messages and forget about unwanted messages and phone calls.
If couples would like to maintain healthy relationship and peaceful life within the family, you must follow the suggestions given below.
1. You always get opportunity to meet with so many attractive personalities in your life. You also would like to make friendship with some of the people those who come in your way. If you get their mobile number, you may have the tendency to contact with them through the phone. Remember that once you start a friendship with opposite gender, you cannot stop it soon. Therefore, the best policy is to avoid such circumstances when it comes in your way.
2. There is nothing wrong when you attend a phone call of your friend in front of your family members. Never try to hide the phone calls of your friends from your spouse, children and other family members. Your life partner should know who all your friends are. Do not try to go out of the home to attend the phone calls of your friends. It may arise doubt in your spouse. Whenever you try to delete the messages and call registrations of your friends from your mobile phone, remember that you are taking away the peace not only from you but from the entire family.
3. You can introduce your friends to your life partner and can give him/her the opportunity to talk with your friends. This is one of the best ways to avoid doubt and maintain peace among couples.
4. You are in digital era and so it is waste to spend your time for deleting call registrations. There are number of ways to find out your deleted phone call registrations. Your phone calls and messages are recorded in different places without any change.
5. Before making friendship, try to understand the real character of that person. Whenever you talk with some people through the phone, you may feel that they are very understanding, lovable and attractive in character-wise. Sometimes your judgment may be wrong. Some people are always trying to cheat others.
6. Whenever you try to hide your friendship with your life partner, it is a warning for you that you are going to fall in a dangerous zone.
7. You should be conscious about your talks and messages whenever you call and send messages to others through your mobile. You should ask yourself whether these phone calls and messages would help you and your family to grow positively. Again, ask yourself how it will affect the growth of the person to whom you called and sent the messages.
8. Make it a habit to switch off your mobile every day for a long time. You should be the controller of your mobile. Do not permit your mobile phone to create disturbance in your life.
9. When you call or send messages to a person by thinking that nobody is going to get know this secret, remember that you are cheating yours and all your family members. You cannot stay in peace.
10. Everybody likes to get love and recognition from others. Through mobile relationships, you can achieve these two things so easily. However, this wrong relationship will create guilty and mental disturbances within you.
Use your mobile phone carefully and avoid all unnecessary relationship. Give prime importance to your family and live for them. Never give chance to other people to enter in this sacred place and create disturbance. You should control yourself to lead a peaceful family life.
9 years ago
MG Singh created new article Does Islam Solve the Polygamous Urge of Man.
Before we discuss this topic, its worthwhile to dwell on an aspect of human relationship between sexes. Do men feel that there is a need for multiple sex partners? Do men naturally desire additional partners for sexual release in a life span ?.
Many research studies have been carried out and it can be confirmed here that man by nature thinks more of sex than a woman. Studies also point out that there is a latent desire by a man for a sexual relationship outside marriage. Men are more likely to be profligate in this matter than women. Why this should happen, cannot be quantified. Perhaps it is because of the physiological and mental make up of the male. Even in animal societies the majority are polygamous and have more than one partner.
In human society there was no marriage when prehistoric man lived, but gradually a need was felt to identify children and set up a family . This was regulated by bringing in the concept of marriage for easy identification of the family. But from history we learn, that man always had more than one partner and this continued for centuries. In Hindu society the concept of more than one sexual partner was accepted as a fact of life. Monogamy was almost unknown in Hindu society for close to 4000 years. The fact that most Hindu men did not practice polygamy was only because of economic constraints. The wealthy and the rich led by the Nawabs and Maharajas never practiced monogamy as they built up a Harem like in Islam, with tens of wives and concubines. The doyen of the Sikhs and a much respected ruler Maharajah Bhupinder Singh of Patiala had 10 official wives and over a 100 concubines( I am not sure of this figure and most likely it was much higher).
The only religion that brought in the concept of a single wife( monogamy) is Christianity. But it is a religion riddled by contradictions and though the Catholic faith does not recognise divorce or polygamy, yet in Catholic nations extramarital sex is most common. A look at society in Italy is an eye opener as almost every second man has a mistress. The novels of that famous novelist Alberto Moravia, bring out this dichotomy of married life in Italy. Moravia has pictured Italian society with all its nuances and extramarital sex with aplomb.
Most psychologists have concluded that man by his very nature tends to be polygamous. Yet man himself brought in the concept of polygamy in marriage. But polygamy has not brought about a suppression of the latent desire of man for another partner. This has resulted in secret liaisons, trysts and extramarital affairs. Another outlet given to a man and a woman is divorce. This is a recognition of the nature of man. society also accepts this desire for another partner in the form of various key clubs where wives are interchanged in a random manner by a game or a lottery. Again , as I have pointed out this is among the well to do and like polygamy being earlier practiced by the rich, such events are again a preserve of people above the economic threshold.
Despite all that I have written, man by his very nature desires variety. He may live with a suppression of this desire for decades, conditioned by religion and mores, but there is no doubt given a degree of latitude most men dream of another partner.
One Religion has recognised this physiological need for another partner and that is Islam. The reasons for polygamy in Islam and its acceptance by the clergy are different, but the net effect is that it caters for a sexual release of a man with another partner in the ambit of marriage. Islam permits upto 4 wives and divorce is much simpler. This does not mean that all Muslim men are polygamous and have more than one wife. Economic reasons will again dominate and in India despite all talk by vested interests the average Muslim has one wife. However the rich do exercise their prerogative and will have more than one wife. This privilege is only for the male and women are excluded.
One can say that in theory a man by being allowed to have 4 wives has an outlet for a relationship with another woman and this is sanctified by canonical law. In a way it is an acceptance of a basic urge of man for sex with another partner.
Polygamy is an outdated concept, but it served a purpose. With advancement in life in all spheres, one can say that polygamy has gone, but the desire of man for another sexual partner has not gone. This goes on and is a facet of everyday life all over the world.
One aspect that needs mention is the de facto presence of polygamy in the CHristian nations. In 1862 the US Congress passed a law banning polygamy. The worst affected was the Mormon Church, which believed in polygamy. Over the decades the men in the west have however got around the law passed by Congress. Men like Donald Trump and Larry king, divorce older women and marry younger woman. They thus extend the fertility period of their lives, something which polygamy would have done. It should also be noted that there is very little reverse traffic and all circumnavigation of the law of monogamy is mostly by men.
Psychologists and research scholars have opined that man is polygamous by nature and this recognition is perhaps only in Islam. But in essence even in other societies ways are available for a man to satisfy his urge for sexual partner other than the woman he has married.
One last fact worth highlighting is that right from historic ancient times men always aspired for multiple wives( albeit a small percentage), but in contrast hardly any woman aspired for polyandry. In real terms most women accepted the restrictions of society in terms of polygamy. The same continues now, except the parameters have changed with quick divorces. In contrast Islam is more forthright in this matter and having multiple partners for sex under the ambit of marriage is a recognition that man is by nature polygamous.
9 years ago
MG Singh created new article The Luftwaffe and the Battle of Stalingrad .
Hitler came to power on the back of a general election. This fact is conveniently forgotten by most western writers. However it is accepted that after the death of President Hindenburg, he seized absolute power. His one burning ambition was to restore German pride, badly damaged during World War I and the Treaty of Versailles ( 1919). The terms of this treaty were very harsh and imposed strict military controls over Germany. One of the clauses pertained to the German Air Force, also referred to as the Luftwaffe. Germany was forbidden by law to have an Air Force capable of offensive action. The situation was so bad that the engines of the Zeppelin, the airship were used in the Maybach car, as Germany was forbidden by treaty to develop the Zeppelin.
Hitler's rise was greatly appreciated by the German People and he set about restoring German military might. He announced the scrapping of the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles and had all restrictions on the Air Force removed. New aircraft were developed by Messerschmitt and Folk Wulf. These new aircraft had an edge over all Western aircraft and the Messerschmitt 109 fighter was any ay superior to the Spitfire and Hurricane of the RAF.
Hitler was joined by an ace pilot named Herman Goering. He had been a fighter pilot during World War I and had made a name for himself. Hitler entrusted the air force to Goering and conferred the title of Reich Marshall. In Hindsight the elevation of Goering as head of the air force was a blunder. Though Goering had a lot of knowledge, he was unaware of the concept of long range transport and strategic bombers. Thus in one of the cardinal blunders of aviation history in Germany, no stress was laid on building large planes capable of flying long distances. We can now see that this mistake in a way cost Germany the war and brought about the turn of the tide at the Battle of Stalingrad( 1943).
Goering forbade the development of large 4 engine planes as he could not visualize their use. Hitler also had no idea of the theories of Giulio Douhet and strategic bombing as he believed the role of the air force was only to help the army in a local tactical battle.
The German designer Dr. Kurt Tank of Focke Wulf however despite restrictions did produce one 4 engine plane. This was the FW-200 also known as the Condor. The Condor however in comparison to the Strat Fortress and the Liberator of the USAF was a puny machine and could just carry 26 troops. However it did have a range of over 3500 km. It was also a much lighter plane compared to the RAF's Lancasters.
So long as the German armies were winning the concept of Herman Goering for close support in a tactical war to the German army was a success. The Luftwaffe using dive bombers, which were closely integrated with teh German army brought success. Thus the famous tactic of " blitzkrieg" or a lightning war was a success as the German army over ran Poland, the low countries and France. The German attack on Russia on 22 Jun 1941 also heralded a close integration of the Luftwaffe with the German ground troop, resulting in great victories. Three German army groups advanced deep into Russia and by 1942 had reached Moscow, surrounded Leningrad and were on the verge of capturing Stalingrad.
Stalingrad in particular hedl special significance for Hitler. Firstly it carried the name of the man he hated Josef Stalin and secondly it was the road to Central Asia, the Caucasus and India. Hitler wanted Stalingrad captured and teh German under Von Paulos was given this task. Stalin knew the importance of the loss of Stalingrad and instructed the Russian commander Zhukov to make all out efforts not to lose the city. He also sent Nikita Khruschev to Stalingrad with a one point brief to hold Stalingrad at any cost. Khruschev coined the words " there is no land beyond the Volga for us" as the Russians prepared to fight the German Army.
In October 1943, winter set in and the temperatures touched sub-zero. Parts of the city were in German hands and there was street fighting at every nook and corner. In November Zhukov brought in reinforcements and launched a counter attack. In a massive thrust the Russian army surrounded the army of Paulos.
At that critical juncture, Paulos in a coded message informed Hitler that he was surrounded and cut off from the main German force headed by Von Manstein. He requested permission to retreat, through a breakout to join forces of Field Marshal Von Manstein. At that time Hitler called the chief of the Luftwaffe, Herman Goering for advice. He wanted to know that winter on, could the luftwaffe keep the supply lines open to the beleaguered troops of the German army now surrounded by the Russians.
Goering grandly announced that it was not a problem and an air bridge would be established to supply materials to the encircled German army. He authorised use of the FW 200 ( condor ) for the airlift. This was the crunch as the Luftwaffe had no heavy planes like the US Air force and it was too late to make one. One wonders whether at that stage Goering realized his earlier mistake on not developing a long range strategic bomber. Never the less Hitler believed Goering's boast and was confident that a supply bridge would be established.
The FW -200 was however a plane with a lot of limitations. Firstly the cargo it could carry was limited and secondly the plane had severe limitations of performing in the Russian cold. In addition it had to contend with Russian fighters. The Germans had no long range bomber to hit Russian supply lines and it was no surprise that within a week the Condor totally failed to establish a aero bridge and the german troops were left high and dry. No supplies could be transported to the German army and the writing was on the wall for a German defeat.
Paulos repeatedly informed Hitler the dire situation, but Hitler replied by promoting Paulus to Field Marshal. This was alike a last straw that broke the camels back and with no supplies of food and clothing Paulos had no option but to surrender. The Battle of Stalingrad was over and 93000 German troops were taken captive. Only a handful returned at the end of the war.
In hindsight one can see that one of the reasons for the defeat of the German army was the performance of the Luftwaffe. It not only failed to supply essentials to the German army, but also failed to create what is known in air terminology a " favorable air situation". Most of the Condors were lost or destroyed and Goering was a failure. The performance of the Luftwaffe in no small measure contributed to the German defeat at Stalingrad.
9 years ago
MG Singh created new article How Good was the Imperial Army in World War II.
World War II is behind us, though its not many years back. To be precise the Second World War ended in 1945 and its just about 70 years back. This is not a long period as far as world history is concerned. The Great War had two distinct theatres, namely the European theatre where the Germans and their ally the Italians fought against the Allies and the second was the Asian theatre, where the Imperial army faced the Americans at sea and the British in South East Asia.
The Japanese entered the war in early thirties when they invaded China and occupied the mineral rich Manchuria. They propped up a puppet regime led by Pu Yi, who was crowned emperor of China. Pu Yi was a yes man, with no independence and the last straw was when his wife was impregnated by a Japanese Officer. Lot of credit is given to the Imperial army in its battles in China, where they defeated the Chinese militia decisively.
A saner analysis of the Japanese campaign of the Imperial army in China brings out the fact that the army was fighting its battles against an ill equipped force which was also untrained. The Chinese army lacked aircraft and had no heavy guns and tanks, which were available with the Japanese. Hence the Japanese had overall military superiority. The Chinese militia devoid of air cover were sitting ducks and Douhet's principle of air war as a decisive factor held true.
One should not read much into the Japanese conquest of Manchuria, which cannot be construed as a barometer for a professional conduct of war. The Japanese also used terror tactics and killed millions of Chinese by beheadings and firing squads. Raping Chinese girls was a favorite pass time of the Imperial army soldiers. Such barbaric tactics were not authorised by the Imperial General Staff led by General Hideki Tojo, yet for some inexplicable reason the Japanese army ran berserk against a weak opposition.
In 1941, the Japanese turned their attention to the Philippines and SE Asia including Burma and Malaya. Here also in a swift campaign the Japanese overran entire SE Asia. A look at the conduct of the battle in these areas is worthwhile.
The Japanese attacked Indo- China first, which was a French colony. At that time France itself was a defeated nation and was occupied by the Germans after the 40 day war in 1940. The French had no worthwhile force to counter the Imperial army which almost had a walkover.
The Japanese now struck against the Dutch colony of Indonesia. The Dutch had been defeated and occupied by Germany and had hardly any troops to defend Indonesia except some irregular forces. These were soundly trounced by the Imperial army with superior fire power. It was a most unequal conflict. The Japanese now turned on the British.
At that time England stood alone against the Germans and all resources were concentrated to halt an imminent invasion of England. Hitler had' Operation Sea Lion" ready. No troops were available for the defence of the British possessions in SE Asia. Most of the British Indian army was fighting under Wavell and later Montgomery in North Africa, where a life and death struggle was on.
The Japanese thus faced a weak opposition and attacked Singapore after subduing Siam. The British did have 2 capital ships, including the most modern battleship Prince of Wales, but the Japanese attack came from Malaya and Singapore was captured without much of a battle.
The Japanese now swept into Burma , where a weak British Indian army was pushed back. The Japanese had the greater numbers and by end 1944, the Imperial army had reached the gates of India at Kohima and Imphal.
The campaign of the Imperial army was against sub standard opposition and is not a gauge of teh professionalism of the Japanese army. As an example the Andaman islands were guarded by some 200 Sikh militia. The Japanese threw in over 2000 troops and a dozen warships including a battleship. In such a situation a Japanese victory was a foregone conclusion and the Sikh militia surrendered,
One can thus see that for 2 entire years the Japanese won against weak opposition . This was a golden time for the Japanese to consolidate their position, but they failed to capitalise and people longed for the return of the English.
The first real test for the Imperial army came in late 1944, when the British commander Field Marshal William Slim had sufficient number of Indian troops and equipment available. At that time Rommel had been hit for a six out of North Africa and the allies had landed at Normandy.
The Japanese had superior forces and had laid siege to Imphal and kohima. however they failed to strike as reinforced troops of the Indian army now free from North Africa made a determined stand. It was the first time the Imperial army faced real resistance and a counter attack. In such a scenario they were found wanting and broke ranks against the assault of the Indian army. The Indian troops consisting of Sikhs, Jats and Punjabi Musalmans, broke the back of the Japanese army. It was then one headlong retreat as the Japanese were pushed back and lost Rangoon, Mandalay and Singapore. Despite having fortified positions on islands close to Akyab, they were pushed back into the swamps to be eaten by crocodiles.
Their performance against the Americans in the Philippines and far east against the Americans was also not much to talk off as the Americans captured island after island as the Imperial Naval fleet had been annihilated in the Battle of Midway.
The Japanese were brave, but when they faced a professional army like the British Indian army they were found wanting. There earlier victories were against weak and illequipped forces and one should not read much into them.
The Indian army covered itself with glory and the push through Burma is a feather in its cap. Subhas Bose for all talk was in real terms a cipher. His INA was almost like a rag tag force of some 40,000 who surrendered . The Japanese are thus greatly overrated, as an analysis shows that when faced with a determined resistance from well armed troops high on morale, they suffered a defeat. This is history and cannot be negated. Their earlier victories were when the British were weak as they faced a rampaging Hitler in Europe, but after Stalingrad it was a different story.
9 years ago
MG Singh created new article The Cuba Missile Crisis of 1962: Who was the Winner.
Background
Cuba is a small island state in the Caribbean. It was always part of the American sphere of influence articulated by the Monroe Doctrine. This doctrine laid down that entire Latin America and Central America were vital to American interests and no other power could interfere there without the express permission of America. The Caribbeans and Cuba were thus covered by the Monroe Doctrine.
The effect of the Monroe Doctrine was negative as the entire industry and trade was a monopoly of American business. In Cuba also 90% of the economy , in particular the sugar plantations( which were the main sources of income) were all owned by American business. In fifties a man named Fulgencio Batista seized power and was a virtual dictator. He was a stooge of the Americans and had also let loose a reign of terror.
Dr. Fidel Castro in 1959 launched what is known as the Cuban revolution. It was a romantic era and a small band of revolutionaries landed in Cuba. Many love affairs immediately blossomed between the revolutionaries and local village girls. As the revolutionaries swept forward, people from villages joined then and by the time they reached Havana, it was a mammoth crowd. Batista fled the island and Fidel Castro became the ruler.
Initially Castro was treated with kid gloves by the USA, who thought he would be another puppet. But Castro introduced Marxism and nationalised industry. The American big business houses were sent packing and Castro ushered in a communist regime in Cuba. The then Soviet Union under Nikita Khrushchev, who was first secretary of the Communist party shored up the Castro regime with money, arms and planes.
The Americans were furious and the American President General Eisenhower authorised an invasion of Cuba. "Ike" as Eisenhower was popularly called left office in 1960 and the new president John Kennedy continued with this policy. In 1961, the US aided by Cuban rebels and the CIA launched what is known as the " Bay of Pigs" invasion. The invasion was defeated on the beaches and both Moscow Radio and Cuba played victory music. The battle lines were now drawn and the USA vowed to not only to overthrow the communist regime, but also along with the CIA and Cuban rebels assassinate Dr. Castro.
Something drastic was needed to deter the USA and Khruschev planned to install IRBM missiles in Cuba. The fat was now in the fire.
Beginning of the Missile Crisis
In hindsight in case the threat to topple Castro was not there, the missiles would not have been installed. But with a cold war at its height, the Russians continued installations of the IRBM missiles which could carry nuclear warheads and could target any American city.
The CIA by means of U-2 aircraft flights had detailed information of the installation of the missiles. These were examined by Kennedy and he took an important decision. He decided to blockade the Cuban island. The American fleet moved in full force, but allowed non military ships to go ahead. A Russian tanker was allowed. The aim was to leave a door open for the Russians.
The world was tense as the Soviet fleet sailed to Cuba, replete with nuclear powered submarines armed with missiles. A confrontation appeared imminent. Castro was the biggest hawk and advocated dropping of nuclear missiles on at least 5 American cities. Khruschev played his cards close to his chest and did not heed the request of Fidel Castro.
Kennedy also was getting goose bumps and he was eager to get out of the crisis as a war at that stage would have meant devastation of American cities. He was keen for a compromise, though officially he continued to make belligerent statements. Kennedy was prepared to give any guarantee to avoid a war.He however wanted the missiles to be dismantled.
Secret negotiations continued between the Russian and American leaders and Khruschev made his demands. These were initially not acceptable to the Americans, but the minutes were ticking away as the Russian fleet headed for the Caribbean Sea. The Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces advised Kennedy of success, but extreme collateral damage to American cities. At the same time the demands of Khruschev would have meant the end of the Monroe Doctrine and the Cuban communist regime would have survived.
Khruschev demanded two main assurances from the USA. They were
a) A solemn undertaking never to destabilize the Communist regime of Dr. Castro
b) Dismantling of American missiles in Turkey.
Both these demands could not be accepted by Kennedy publicly as it would have meant loss of face. Kennedy wanted a way out as the minutes were ticking away and the Soviet and American fleets were nearing each other.
The Solution
Feverish negotiations continued on the hotline and face to face meetings with diplomats in Vienna. The Russians were adamant that the Americans accept the demands. Finally Kennedy acceded to the Russian demand, but made one request. He requested that the removal of American missiles from Turkey be kept secret. He however gave a solemn promise never to destabilize the communist government of Fidel Castro.
Once America gave this public commitment, orders were given by Khruschev to dismantle the missiles. This was not liked by Castro and the hard liners in the Communist party in Russia and was one of the factors that led to his ouster in 1964. Kennedy heaved a sigh of relief. The dismantling of American missiles from Turkey was not made public and these facts emerged only later.
In hindsight, Kennedy acted bravely, but I feel Nikita Khruschev played his cards better. He was able to get a solemn promise from the USA to never make any attempt to overthrow the Castro government. This is a feather in his cap. One can now realize that it was because of this promise the Castro regime survived for 6 decades and now Fidel Castro is recognised as the longest serving head of state. It would not have happened in case Khruschev had not boxed the Americans in a bind. America had to live with Castro and all his attempts to export revolution to Latin America and Africa. He remained a thorn in the American back yard.
Times change and now the world is also changing. Obama has charted a new course and diplomatic relations are established between Cuba and USA. Obama will also visit Cuba and that would a first visit to Cuba by an American President in 80 years. The Soviet Union has also gone and Khruschev not remembered. But those were heady days when the world almost had a nuclear exchange. I think Castro and his brother Raul( now President of Cuba) must thank Khrushchev that they lived to rule for 60+ years.
9 years ago
MG Singh created new article Remembering the Star of Spaghetti Western Films of Yore: Clint Eastwood.
https://pixabay.com/en/clint-eastwood-westerns-movies-394536/
Spaghetti is a thin long solid pasta and is a staple diet of Mexican- Italians and ipso facto of cowboys of the days of the wild west. Some western movies made by Italian production houses, that depicted the wild west came to be known as spaghetti western movies. Spaghetti was a staple diet of the cowboys who lived during this era. The wild west was a period of American history, that preceded the American civil War ( 1861-65) and continued till the turn of the 19th century. This period has fascinated millions of people all over the world. Hollywood has faithfully depicted this period in many films, many of who have become classics. Earlier the star John Wayne held the crown, but later a string of stars appeared who brought a new culture and depiction of that golden era.
One star who rose into the lime light was Clint Eastwood. Over the years this actor from Hollywood has become a legend, but his initial rise to stardom was on the back of western films made by an Italian Sergio Leone. I first saw Clint Eastwood in the movie " Fistfull of Dollars".This movie broke all records and ushered in Clint Eastwood on stage as a macho star. He created the image of a gunfighter who chewed cigars and handled guns with lightning streak. Eastwood as a actor was languishing till he bagged this role . After the success of this movie there was no looking back. He was cast in two subsequent films by Leone namely " For a Few Dollars More" and " The Good Bad and Ugly". These films created a revolution in the box office and Eastwood became a marquee star.
Along with Eastwood, one other actor named Lee Van Clef, also arose and created the image of the arch villain. Eastwood essayed the role of a hard and macho gun slinger, but with a heart of gold, while in many roles Lee Van played the role of the evil and pitiless killer.
No film can succeed without music and these films also depended a lot on the background musical scores. The man who composed music for these films was Ennio Morricone. His delightful integration of horses clops and neighs with the guitar, created a new class of music. The popularity of the scores by Morricone can be gauged from the fact that the theme scores of these movies still captivate millions and that includes India. Over the decades I have seen youngsters playing these tunes on the paid Jukeboxes that dotted the coffee shops about two decades back. In particular I remember " Koshys" a coffee shop on Brigade Road in Bangalore where hundreds dropped coin tso hear these tunes.
Clint Eastwood was born in 1930 and had a stint in the army from 1951-53. These years had a great effect on him and he owed life time allegiance to the US Army. Later he used his experience in the army to turn in some excellent war films. That was much later, but before that he became a legend as a cowboy star who enthralled young and old alike.
Eastwood lived his roles and one scene in the movie " Outlaw Josey Wales" is etched in my mind. Eastwood a renegade gunfighter opposes a mormon gang carting away some blacks. As he appears, one of the men who feels he will now be rescued mutters "looks like hell has come for these chaps" or words to that effect. Eastwood wins and with his cigar in his mouth and blazing guns carries the scene with aplomb. Similarly the scene of the last gunfight in the " Good bad and Ugly" when Eastwood faces Lee Van Clef in a graveyard makes your hair stand on end. The scene is accentuated with a haunting tune by Moricone that even now is a delight to hear.
There was no stopping Eastwood now and in a string of western movies he established himself as the greatest western star after John Wayne. Among his hits was ' Hang em High", Coogans Bluff", " Two Mules for Sister Sarah" and many more. One can get a list of his movies from the internet and most of them are easily downloadable. This was the time Eastwood turned Producer Director and broke away from typecast roles of a cowboy to other action oriented roles. His series as Dirty Harry are on a par with Charles Bronson's Death Wish series.
Eastwood has now gone into the twilight, but a few years back the world got up and took not of his performance in " Million Dollar Baby". I have always appreciated Eastwood as one of the great stars of Hollywood. His role along with Richard Burton in " Where Eagles Dare' was a stand out performance. All said and done his endearing image of the cigar chewing gunfighter with a loose poncho on his shoulders will live for ever. Clint set the tone and tens copied him including the star Franco Nero. Despite Eastwood's image as a cigar smoker, the fact is he never smoked in real life. He was always health conscious.
Clint Eastwood had a checkered life with women and I despite being his fan is unable to recollect all his affairs and children he fathered. In this he probably followed subconsciously Vatsyayana, who advocated relationships with younger women. There also he proved a macho man. There are very few stars as potent on the screen as Clint Eastwood. He remains a favorite and one of the greats of Hollywood. Eastwood also won multiple awards as an actor, but they are not worth recounting here. Suffice to say that we are glad that a macho star like Clint Eastwood appeared on the scene and gave us days and hours of entertainment as he transported us into a dream world of gunfighters and gunmen.
9 years ago
Reena created new article Self Development: Path Of Self Progress.
We all are masters of our glorious soul. Throughout our lives we tend to win a few battles whereas lose rest. However, no other glory can stand and shine in front of our glorious soul. No one can measure this glory. It is important that we come in our real sense and then there is no looking back. To come in original form, we need to come over the delusional state we have created around us and know the real us. Once we shed all the external covers we have embedded us with, our real sense itself will get revealed. These external covers are the layers which we tend to cover ourselves in our life time. All these are pseudo layers and beneath these pseudo layers we can find our original form shining and sparkling brightly.
No other happiness or contentment can give the sense of complete fulfillment as contentment of one's soul. Once soul is satisfied and contented we need not worry about any other wishes to get fulfilled. Throughout our lives we run behind materialistic comforts and consider them to be the master key of satisfaction which in turn will become happiness. Since we seek happiness in materialistic comforts or make it dependent on other human beings, we will always be in search for it. If others survive our Everest of expectations, we become happy. If they do not meet our expectations then we will tend to keep ourselves miserable for a long time. Same goes with materialistic comforts. If we get what we have desired, we will cover ourselves with pseudo layer of contentment for sometime which we will vaguely name as happiness and if we fail to achieve our targets, we will be miserable for a while.
No other contentment is as promisingly satisfactory as contentment of one's soul. To make our soul content, we need to sharpen our thoughts and this can be done by gaining knowledge. It is said that one who understands who they are, will understand importance of their life. Knowledge can only help us to raise above everything. We are masters of our senses but due to lack of knowledge, we act as if they are our masters. Irrespective of how distracting these senses can be, knowledge will help a person to rise above all these distractions and focus on the things which we need to focus. We need to work in the direction of our development and constant progress.
If we have decided to work in the direction of helping others then we should put in our complete effort, no matter how difficult the path is. However, just feeding the poor or lending a helping hand is not enough. We need to first serve ourselves before serving others. We can only give others what we have. We cannot help others before helping ourselves. We have to serve our senses, mind and soul first. Thus, we cannot help others until and unless we bring our mind and soul in better state and help them rise above everything. As high as we raise our soul from this delusional world, our greatness will increase side by side.
Self contentment can be reached by a gradual process of self development. Knowledge helps us to reach this stage. For self development we need to work on several factors. Most important one is good health. If a body is sound and healthy, so will be soul. Unhealthy body is always a distraction in the progress of development. Bad health always seeks attention. Each and every one of us today is in need of good health but rarely we work to gain the same. Lots of patience, knowledge and a strict disciplined life which is free from stress and tension promotes a healthy life. Impatient lifestyle, irregularity in everything leads to unhealthy body.
Second important factor essential for self development is to raise oneself above all emotions and greed. One has to make himself so strong that no emotion can shake his soul. One should completely be determined to raise himself above all senses which in turn will make him their master. Once he becomes master of his senses it will not take him much time to get control over his anger, lust, greed, ego etc..... It is important that we concentrate our mind on Supreme Soul. Once we connect with Him, detachment with everything else becomes easy. Once soul gets attached with Supreme Soul, there is no looking back. This is the stage when soul receives complete contentment. It is not possible to achieve this stage in one day. It is a gradual practice and requires lots of efforts. The more one will get near Supreme Soul, less he will care about worldly pleasures. This is a stage when a person will become soul conscious instead of being body conscious. One who is more attached to worldly pleasures and is bound by his ego where he is in a state of body consciousness, will require more time to come out of it and one who is ready to bring changes in him and wants to see himself landing in a state of soul consciousness will require less time. Thus, knowledge and determination will always play an important role here. Initially one has to put a lot of efforts. After a few days, the whole practice appears natural and easy and thus effort is not required. It is essential that we become masters of ourselves. We don't have to let go everything we do. Examine our deeds carefully and let us correct them. We are too liberal in our case and too strict for others. Right thing is that we should let go others and forgive them. This will increase our greatness.
Third important factor for self development is to gain knowledge. Self development is directly proportional to development of knowledge. Just worldly knowledge is not sufficient. We are being taught everything regarding us and world right from our childhood. The course material covers knowledge regarding body. We are more than body. We are soul within the body and this soul is a very important entity that cannot be overlooked. Knowledge of self is essential which will guide us through this path or journey of life. Without proper knowledge journey seems tough, full of hurdles. With right knowledge comes wisdom and wisdom helps to lead a smooth journey. This wisdom only comes when a person is in pursuit of seeking knowledge and wants to do it with complete dedication. This kind of motivation is essential for self development. Need of self development helps a person to change himself, modify himself completely for seeking truth and knowledge regarding God and oneself. Stability is a stage one will reach when wisdom follows. This stability will help a person to remain calm during hindrances. Irrespective of whether he is facing good times or bad times, he will remain calm and patient. Later, these good and bad times will not even get noticed by him. Everything and every moment will be the same to him. Such is the importance of knowledge.
Next important factor for self development is to become firm within one self, within one's soul. He should fully become aware about himself. Instead of thinking that he is a body and working accordingly, he should come in soul consciousness stage. This is known as gaining knowledge regarding self. Soul is immortal and everything around soul present in nature is mortal. Everything that is changing and is in constant change is mortal. Immortal soul is the one who rules as well as experiences this change. The more we are addicted to mortal things, more we fall back from the path of wisdom. Greatness is to overcome our weakness and overpower them. Failure is in getting attached to them. Weakness makes us angry, greedy, tensed etc..... In absence of them, it is easy to gain self contentment. It is very difficult to get constant happiness from mortal things. This is because mortal things are associated with constant change. Thus, they cannot be with us throughout the time and give same amount of happiness. On the other hand, it is easy to gain happiness from immortal things. One who does constant efforts in gaining mortal things and does not care about immortal elements, they will never achieve complete attainment of self satisfaction, even if they have achieved success in whatever they were wishing. Complete attainment, complete self satisfaction, complete happiness only lies within immortal soul.
Soul itself is contented, happy and peaceful. It does not have to search for anything outside. For understanding this, knowledge is essential. Knowledge regarding one's own real self will lead to wisdom. This wisdom will bring with itself lots of changes and the most important will be shift from body consciousness to soul consciousness. Soul will then become fully contented and will progress in the field of development. No other development will be as glorious and full of victory when compared with the development associated with oneself. Thus, one has to work in this field of gaining victory over ones senses which will ultimately work in the progress of soul.
9 years ago
MG Singh created new article Is Donald Trump the Messiah to Save America Like Churchill in WW II.
Background
After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the pendulum of world domination shifted to the Western world and for the next 200 years the British Empire was the greatest empire in the world. After the end of World War I a new nation, young and vibrant appeared on the scene. In the next 2 decades it replaced the British Empire and became the greatest power the world has ever known. It was the United states of America.
All empires and world powers have periods of decline and rise, but great men have appeared who have arrested what sometimes looks inevitable. After World War I, the cracks had started showing in the British Empire and though at that time not appreciated, it had started creaking. One of the most formidable men who appeared on the scene was Adolf Hitler. This man rode to power on a promise of "Making Germany Great". He won the largest number of seats in the Reichstag and was invited to form the government by the the then Chancellor Von Hindenburg. If I remember it was in about 1933, this happened. Hitler came to power by a popular vote. Hitler had however realized that to dominate the world he would have to face the British Empire. But again a reading of his autobiography " Mien Kampf" brings out some weird ideas.
One of the weird ideas was his admiration of Britain. He did not consider the British as ' natural enemies', unlike the Eastern and Slav races who he considered inferior and lacking in intellect. At places he has also referred to them as sub-humans. Hitler if he had his way, would have liked to have a separate peace with the British and expand at the expanse of area in the East meaning Russia. This is his theme of " lebensraum" or living space for the German people in the East.
Hitler and Churchill
Here he ran foul of a man named Winston Churchill, who was a die hard opponent of Hitler. He was also a great pragmatist and had realized that Hitler and the British could not live together and so he opposed Nazism and Hitler with all his might. It was because of Churchill that Hitler hardened his attitude towards Britain and decided to oppose it. But his warped mind could not appreciate that Churchill was no ordinary leader and his decision to call off " operation Sea Lion" was on of the colossal blunders of his life. " Operation Sea Lion" was the code name for the German invasion of England. In-lieu he planned the invasion of Russia.
Even earlier during the British retreat at Dunkirk, during the Battle of France ( 1940), Hitler inexplicably delayed an assault by his Panzers and allowed the British Expeditionary Force ( BEF) to escape. These soldiers re-grouped and gave the English under Churchill breathing space.
Churchill galvanized the English and his speech when he talked of 1941 as being " England's Finest Hour" shows the mettle of the man. In fact during the bleak period of 1940-41, England stood alone against Hitler as America had not entered the war, the Russians had signed a nonaggression pact with Germany and France had ceased to exist. Churchill despite the odds being against the Empire stuck to his guns as he refuse all overtures of HItler, with a one point agenda to defeat Nazism. In short Churchill went against the general opinion that England would be better off in making peace with Germany. Churchill simply refused to consider any such proposal.
Churchill had also strong racial views. He is reported to have said that the principles of Islam are not compatible with Western thought.He was also against Indian independence and all along felt that Indians were not capable of governing themselves and if the English left India there would be all around chaos. Despite these opinions, the fact is Churchill inspired the English to defend their empire. In fact he was the need of the hour and in case Churchill had not been around the history of the world would have been different.
Many people opinion that Hitler would perhaps been more sympathetic to India. But a reading of his book ( Mien Kampf) shows he had an entirely convoluted opinion of India. He felt that Indians were not capable of governing themselves and the British rule was good for India.
America Now
The fact is that Churchill shored up the Empire. It's another story that after World War II, the USA became the superpower and England went into decline. The period after World War II, saw the rise of the USA, but as I have written great empires have cusps and downsides and after the 20th century, the USA began to slowly lose its status. the signs were all there and like Germany threatening the UK, America because of a weak and ineffectual president who had his own axe to grind allowed leadership of America to slacken. Maybe it is not apparent but the signs are ominous. Maybe it had something to do with the mental make up of Barack Obama, who was born a Muslim. In my visits to America, I have observed that most White Americans were not enamoured of Obama . As pointed out by the New York times,Obama won by a combination of votes and voting patterns. Obama however never controlled Congress which thwarted most of his moves, some of which would have let America down the alley of no return.
The situation in America is now akin to what England faced in 1939, with a rampaging Hitler breathing down the neck of the English. Churchill then appeared and now America needs a similar man. There is a the Islamic State hell bent on fighting the great Satan, China is showing its fangs right from the South China Sea to domination of the Pacific . For this it is constructing 12 aircraft carriers. North Korea is a nuclear power, in real terms just a proxy for China and Vladimir Putin has great power dreams of what the Soviet Union was. America is thus at a loss. It is no longer decisive as Obama has followed his own agenda. I suspect greatness of America was not a part of this.
Donald Trump?
Most countries around the globe trust America and that is a fact that cannot be wished away. Some one decisive is needed. There is one man who fills the bill and he is Donald trump. He has talked of making "America Great" again. He is a man who has ruffled many feathers by his brazen comments, yet all this is required to set the tone for the future. At a time when America is faced with a threat to its domination, there is a need for a man who has a clear insight and vision. This is required by the American allies as well an many in the Middle East who are waiting for the promised offensive against the ISI. There was also a need to realize who is friend and foe and in this at least 2 presidents gravely erred. The removal of Gaddafi and Saddam was one of them. The attacks by the ISI on Americans were not given the necessary priority and Obama literally tried to present it as a simple law and order problem. One shudders at the coverup of the killings of the US citizens and its ambassador in Benghazi. Trump has not minced his words and language regarding Muslims and that makes him stand out. His dream of making America great looks at the moment , the right direction and has struck a favorite chord with the Americans.
Donald Trump has won so far, but to get the nomination is a long way off as yet. He is on the right track and despite even ruffling the Pope, he has not backed down from his demand to erect a fence on the Mexican border to stop the flow of illegal immigrants to the USA. He has also asked for a temporary ban on Muslims into the USA. This has upset Obama who has in a statement i opined that the American people will reject Trump as president. All this is better said than done. One cannot forecast the future. Trump may or may not win , but there is definitely a need for a man with his views to come on stage. It is about time some one stood by countries threatened by the powers like China and supported the moderates against the ISI and its ilk. There is also need for accommodation with Putin and whether that man is Trump will be seen in the coming election.
If Trump becomes President, the situation is similar to what happened when Churchill became PM. At that time Neville Chamberlain had signed the infamous Munich pact ( 1938) and sold to Hitler. It will give the new President a chance to rectify the ills of the last few years and the drift in American policy. The situation as it stands is similar to when Churchill appeared on the scene. One will have to wait and see, whether this will happen. In many ways the nexy US presidential election will be a watershed that will decide how long America remains a great power.
9 years ago
Reena created new article Obstruction In Way Of Happiness.
In today's miserable life, each one of us is in search of real happiness. We make constant efforts to achieve happiness and keep it with us. None of us would deny this truth that they need happiness in their lives. In this struggle of achieving happiness, without actually knowing what it is in real sense, we are giving up a lot more important things. We are searching for something that is actually already available within us. We are all living in a myth which has taken the form of illusion.
Happiness means different to different people. It's an emotion i.e., feeling which one creates when one senses satisfaction in the form of achievements. We have made our happiness dependent on lots of things. Now the result is achievement will lead to happiness. Instead of being happy and then carry out every effort with whole heart and take the result as it comes, we have taken the whole thing upside down. If obstructions stop our way or cause any sort of hurdle in between, which leads to deviation from our path or journey, we become demotivated. Obstructions are natural and cannot be predetermined.
We have a very strong habit of predetermining or planning everything, which is actually if seen is not a wrong thing to do. It is wisely said that if you have eight hours to chop a tree, then spend six hours to plan and next two remaining hours to chop it. Such is the importance of planning. However, planning the outcome is foolishness. One can plan their journey but one cannot plan how smooth their journey can be or the fruits one will reap after completing their journey. If one is given rights to do so then one will always plan their route in a smooth, straight direction. Nobody will like to go in zigzag manner which is time consuming. However, this is not in our hands.
We believe that our journey will be smooth, free of hurdles and this belief of ours we make it so strong both in our conscious and subconscious mind that even slightest discomfort shakes our confidence. This sort of before hand planning is wrong. While trekking or hiking we are prepared that there will be tons of obstacles in our ways. We may need to climb rocks, cross rivers, come across wild animals, keep our hunger pangs and thirst at bay to reach destination. Thus, we actually do not complain. However, when we are busy in our day to day lives and all of a sudden escape a fall caused by a small pebble, we start cursing it because we didn't expect it in our way. Such is the harm expectations does to us.
We usually are scared and tremble from the hurdles planted in our way because they cause deviation from our path. We may have planned that our journey from point A to point B will be smooth in a straight line without any hurdle present in between. However, this is something we have planned. There may be a tree, a tall mountain, a river in between. All these can be crossed successfully and one can get back to their path but it is a little time consuming as one has to take a little deviation. Instead of cursing the obstacles or someone who has planted these hurdles in between and losing heart, one can remain calm and try to cross them with enough confidence.
One has to understand what he has in his hands and what he doesn't has it. We often try to correct or rectify things that is not in our hands and hardly concentrate on something that we can. In our journey of life, we have control on ourselves, on our senses and the things that we cannot control is others. Since we are our masters, we can inherit all good qualities in ourselves. We can instill lots of confidence, patience, compassion, understanding etc..... These qualities will keep us at peace so that we can remain calm and keep a positive attitude towards everything. Our faith will not be shaken and not at any point during journey we will even think of giving up. With such a positive attitude, no hurdle can cause a harm to us. The elements which we cannot control are others and those hurdles or circumstances that prevail around us every second. Our positive attitude will thus lend us a feeling of compassion towards others. It will help us to understand their point of view and show kindness to them irrespective of whether their deeds are causing harm to us or helping us in some manner.
Obstruction since deviates our path, we require extra time to reach our desired destination. Thus, patience is a key factor which will motivate during time of crisis. A patient person will understand the situation and work accordingly instead of blaming others. An immature, impatient person will waste his time standing there and end up giving up and put the blame of his failure on others.
Obstruction may be in the form of some material or person himself. It may be present since a long time or may have arrived from nowhere all of a sudden. Most important thing one has to remember is that no matter how difficult it is, it still can be crossed, it can be passed successfully. There is no hurdle that cannot be crossed. If your nerves deny it, go beyond your nerves. Instill a lot of confidence in you and aim at destination. Happiness is within us. We do not have to make it dependent on something. Instead of programming our mind to become happy after reaching destination, we have to understand that we are happy souls. Happiness is inherent quality of our souls and no obstruction can shake this feeling of happiness.
9 years ago
MG Singh created new article Caste Wars in India : Ominous Signs Ahead.
Background
India is known as a sub continent, where the dominant religion is Hinduism. The Hindu faith that has evolved over 5000 years has a trait, that distinguishes it from other religions. It is the only religion that accepts division of society on the basis of caste. It also follows a system that allows no interchange of caste and a person born in one caste must die in the same caste. Caste is something water tight and the overriding factor in Hinduism. The history of caste is well known and need not be recounted here, suffice to say that this is a artificial division and imposed by the Hindu religion. The caste system is as old as Hindu history. One fact that does stand out is that caste has led to deep divisions in Hindu society. The reason is that Manu the Law giver classified certain castes as high castes and certain as lower castes. In the social ladder the opportunities for lower castes were severely limited and discrimination was rampant. It will not be wrong to say that some lower castes also referred to as untouchables had little or no say in Hindu society. They were not expected to be seen or heard and were to live their lives like silent ghosts and die unsung and unheralded.
The division of society was so unjust that the lower castes were also forbidden to carry arms or be soldiers. This had catastrophic results and is one of the significant factors that led to defeat of Hindus by Moslem armies. Despite these defeats the concept of a universal army to fight an invader remained non existent. This is a separate subject and needs a separate study. There was a back lash to this compartmentalised society and many lower caste Hindus converted to Islam. Later, with the advent of Missionaries, many converted to Christianity. Almost 30-40% of Hindus converted away from their religion. This did not open the eyes of any Hindu reformer and sadly almost all of them continued to extoll the virtues of caste. Most of the Hindu saints and so called reformers like Vivekananda, Namdev, Swami Dayananda and Swaminarayan all supported caste in varying degrees. Thus if Hindu reformers and saints themselves support caste or varna system, there can be no reformation. A small fact brings out the role of these so called reformers. Swaminarayan a much revered figure in North India set up separate temples for worship for lower caste and untouchables. He also had separate kitchens for lower caste. One can realize how silly all this is. But the fact is that such acts deepened the divisions in Hindu society.
Gandhi, Congress, Ambedkar and Caste
At the turn of the 20th century, India was still living in an age that was far away from reality. The caste system had become the bed rock of Hindu society. Hindu leaders made no attempt to do away with caste system, despite mass scale conversion to Islam by Muslim Sufi saints, who propagated a classless society and one god. In 1885 the Congress party was launched by an Englishman named Hume. This was the need of the hour as India needed a vehicle to unify the nation and bring in fresh ideas. The Congress despite a sprinkling of Muslims remained throughout the days of the British Raj a Hindu dominated party.
One would have thought that a new breed of Hindu leaders would emerge who would strike at the roots of the caste system. Such a thing did not happen and the tallest Hindu leader mahatma Gandhi, supported the caste system. His writings are all available till date where he states without ambiguity that he believes in the Varna system. Probably Gandhi despite his mighty following did not want to take on the Hindu scriptures like the Gita, which supported the caste system. Gandhi's actions perturbed another great and educated Hindu Dr Ambedkar. This man left the fold of Hinduism and became a Buddhist along with thousands of his followers.
To my mind this was a disaster as Dr Ambedkar was tasked with the framing of the Constitution of India. Ambedkar did something that has bedeviled Indian society for centuries to come. He introduced caste as a factor in the Indian constitution. Perhaps the fact that he was earlier slighted by higher caste Hindus had an effect on his mind. This was like opening a can of worms. He was able to incorporate a system of reservation for lower castes in government jobs. Tough he initially recommended it only for 15 years, yet he so cleverly worded the constitution, that these reservations could be expanded as well continued for posterity. This was in my view a parting kick to the higher caste, who he felt had discriminated and tortured the lower caste and untouchables.
The Congress party sadly had leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, who had no reformist zeal and they continued the reservations in jobs and education. One cannot really fault Nehru, when one thinks that social reformers like swami Vivekananda and Dayananda also supported the caste system. The Congress party to build up vote banks when Indira Gandhi was in power, set up the Mandal commission. One fails to see the need for such a commission, whose main job was to advocate measures for an expansion of the lower caste base by addition of " other Backward Castes". Yet Indira Gandhi ordered this commission and kept it in her drawer as an election ploy to be used later on . It is history that VP Singh an ex Congress man, to remain in power, brought in further reservation to 49% for Other Backward Cast ( OBC). He was defeated, but he had done his part in fragmenting the nation further. One talks of Gorbachev, who broke up the USSR. VP Singh is in the same category and in my view along with Ambedkar the main artitechs of Balkanization of India on basis of caste.
Caste Wars
The saying the birds come home to roost is so very correct. These actions had to have an effect and the country is now facing the ills of reservation. One fact that stands out is that India is a poor country, where poverty is rampant. As per UN figures India has close to 200 million people who live in abject poverty and earn less than $ 1.25 a day. Another 200 million barely subsist and for them finding food and work is a nightmare. These poor people belong to all castes. The reservation in jobs is thus looked upon as the magic wand to food and prosperity. Unfortunately the way the reservations are effected in India, almost all OBC and BC get reservation, irrespective of their income. Some income limits are fixed by the Supreme Court, but are nothing short of ridiculous.
With mounting paucity of job openings and education, an explosion was expected. It came with the agitations by the Patel community, which held the BJP government to ransom for weeks. The Patels were justified as they saw their poor languishing and unable to get seats in professional colleges, while lesser qualified individuals from lower castes made it forward. Hardik Patel the leader of the movement was arrested, but this is like trying to brush the problem under the carpet. There has been an encore and the Jat community in Haryana has blockaded all roads leading to Delhi. Curfew has been enforced in all major towns of Haryana as the Jats upped the ante for reservation for them in jobs and educational institutes.
The BJP government has been found wanting in facing the agitators and reports indicate that the BJP may accede to their demand. The situation is likely to spiral further and there is a good chance that other higher caste communities among Marathas and Sikhs may similarly demand reservation. A stage may come when there may be 95% reservation and perhaps only 5 % may be on merit. This is a real case scenario as the OBC and BC will not tolerate any reduction in their quota for reservation. India is thus sitting over a keg of volatile material, that can explode anytime.
The only way forward is to do away with caste reservation., The RSS has realised the folly of reservation and its propensity to divide the nation. Their leaders have many a time hinted on this account, but electoral politics still dominate and the BJP scared to lose power will not rock the apple cart. The Congress of course has already failed to solve the problem, even when Gandhi was around. This man talked of Varna as something good. In this he lacked vision and has proved that he was just a crafty politician.
The situation could get aggravated further and the castes may themselves start a war with each other over the reservation issue. The next decade is significant and one hopes the assessment of the Chinese Institute of Strategic studies that India may fragment because of its caste contradictions does not come true. That will be a sad day indeed, but is anyone bothered ?
9 years ago
MG Singh created new article The Butterfly Park at Dubai.
As usual Dubai conjures up something special and the latest addition to the tourist landscape is the Butterfly park. The park has just opened a few weeks back and is an absolute delight. As my American girl is here, I thought it a good idea to show her the park. She confessed that there is nothing like this park in America and I can vouchsafe that there is not a single similar park in India. Frankly, such a park should have opened in India, particularly in Shillong, which is home to some of the loveliest species of butterflies.
The Dubai park is close to the Miracle Garden, another must see spot in Dubai. I have already written about the miracle garden. We left Abu Dhabi, in my car and covered the distance in just over an hour. As the weather was cool, I had the bonnet of my Mustang down and the cool breeze refreshed us. We drove straight to the park, which is the newest attraction along with the Garden of Lights.
The Butterfly park is a feather in the cap of the tourist industry in Dubai. I do not know how much it cost, but I am sure it would have cost a pile. The park creates a magical world of fairies, goblins and pixies. My girl loved it, as we entered an ethereal world. The Park is spread over 4000 sq meters and is housed in 3 large domes, which have climate control.
The park opens from 0930 and closes at 6 in the evening. The entrance fee is AED 50, which is equivalent to about Rs 950. It does look steep to an Indian, but for the pleasure it gives, the price is just about fine. Once you enter the park, you are ushered into the world of butterflies. The park has nearly 2600 species of Butterflies from all over the world. The decor inside simulates the world of butterflies, which are from all over the globe. But I feel there needs to be greater information about the butterflies and their species displayed. As you traverse the park and sit on the many benches inside, the butterflies will come and sit on you, on your hand or anything and this is itself an absolute delight. An array of trained personnel look after the butterflies and lovers and children find it delightful.
The butterflies hover over you and one can easily spend a couple of hours observing the butterflies. I was reminded of Shillong which had so many butterflies floating around, because the climate suited them. Here the climate inside the domes is controlled and natural flowers and a garden add to the ecology of the park. Obviously a lot of study has been done before this park came up and the result is something that is not ordinarily seen.
Dubai is now a mega metropolis rivaling London and New York and last year its airport handle 61 million passengers. Such exotic parks add to the lustre of the city and my american friend confessed that she that the park was unique.
Attached to the park is a small museum and souvenir shop. The souvenir shop sells butterflies framed in glass cases, that can be hung on the wall or just kept on a table. I recollect that in Shillong this was a thriving business, but it was stopped by the government. I do not favor selling framed butterflies as it is a form of cruelty. One can also pick other souvenirs like photos and trinkets. My friend bought a few of them, but not the framed butterflies.
Attached to the park is an excellent cafeteria, that serves snacks as well as cold and hot tea or coffee. No alcohol of course and that is a good thing. As I held my friends hand with the butterflies hovering around us, I could sense the creation of a magical moment. I don't think any visitor to park can come away and not be affected by the glorious ambience and lovely world of butterflies. Its unique and I will recommend a visit to anybody who comes here. I wonder why we in India cannot create such exotic places.
The Dubai Butterfly park is a thing of joy and it shows a pragmatic and progressive min set. It is also a place to rekindle a long lost love affair. Such places reinforce, the status of Dubai as a world tourist centre.
I have added one photo of the park taken by me, Hope it will create for the readers the magical world that is revealed.
9 years ago
Shampa Sadhya replied to the topic We also have a duty in every social change.
anil wrote:
Shampa Sadhya wrote:
Even parents use unfair means for enrolling their child in Montessori only to get a seat in a reputed school. This is how we instil immoral values in our children.
You are right but parents are not only responsible for it, our system is also responsible. Good schools are not enough here. What parents do?
Yes, I agree that parents have their own reasons but by doing so we are encouraging corruption and not trying to curb it. Thus, we have no right to accuse others for corruption when we too practice it whenever time demands ill practice.
9 years ago
Shampa Sadhya replied to the topic Press Like with or without reason....
One who likes an article without reading it then I feel you can do nothing about such member unless the admin takes a strong step against him/her. Even corruption is here too.
9 years ago
vijay replied to the topic Arun Jaitley - freedom if expression and Nationalism can coexist.
These are the days of pseudo nationalists and pseudo secularists who want to create a mirror image of Pakistan
9 years ago
vijay replied to the topic Does the youth of India need campus politics?.
The ABVP has a big role in the projection of Kanhaiya.
9 years ago
Kalyani Nandurkar said thank you to usha manohar for his/her reply to the topic Bharat Mata- history of the concept.
MG Singh wrote:
Gulshan Kumar Ajmani wrote:
MG Singh wrote:
Recently a Muslim seminary has issued a Fatwa against reciting " Bharat Mata ki Jai". This incidentally is a slogan used by the Army and Air force on Parade. There are Muslims in the armed frces( Though few in number) who are also supposed to chant this slogan. What should they do? failure to chant it during a parade is a offence and the soldier will face a court martial. Unfortunately the Congress has betrayed India.
Each army regiment has its own slogan based on the composition. To elucidate, Punjab Regiment/ Sikh regiment have slogan appropriate to Sikh religion. The Gurkha have their own slogan. Army has its own discipline. The army persons have to go by regiment tradition and rules and not according to fatwa.
What you are talking off is the Battle cry which is distinct for each Regiment. Battle cry is not used in parade. Here there is a slogan like bharat mata ki jai. It is universal to all regiments. Hope i have clarified.? The Muslim leadership is acting as a divisive force he'll bent on another partition
So, this what it comes to after a systematic division of the country by one stupid party and its piwer hungry leaders that put itself above everything including the safety of the nation,..
9 years ago
Kalyani Nandurkar replied to the topic New: Community Engagement Benefits.
anil wrote:
Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:
suni51 wrote:
Babu saroj wrote:
suni51 wrote:
I was talking in general interest and telling members that there is nothing wrong in any activity that allows them points and helps site.
sir does liking 30 to 40 comments in a day and getting points for that does that make the member a spammer.
Not at all the site is free for all, do anything within the rules and you are good to earn points :)
Be careful as he may not understand the sarcasm you mean in your reply and he might take liking all posts seriously! LOL
person who is earning 30 40 points with liking post devoting enough time for it and he is also doing other job of site.
Not sure whether you are for liking posts indiscriminately or against it.
9 years ago
Kalyani Nandurkar said thank you to usha manohar for his/her reply to the topic Arun Jaitley - freedom if expression and Nationalism can coexist.
Gulshan Kumar Ajmani wrote:
anil wrote:
Gulshan Kumar Ajmani wrote:
No doubt, BJP has no business to assume that others are anti nationalist by their own narrow angle. I also don't feel that BJP brand nationalism is real nationalism. They from time to time indulge in minority bashing and asking those who differ to go to Pakistan. It is every one's knowledge that the Sangh Pariwar has a unique and perverted understanding of nationalism that does not fit in the concept of university in diversity. By their communal and fascist approach, the saffron party acts against the concept of diversity of religion, thoughts and culture. Thus in true sense, BJP goes against the true Indian nationalism.
Gulshan ji you may agree that members of all political parties are equal, no difference among them. If BJP brand nationalism is not real nationalism than please tell which is real nationalism. which party is ambassador of real nationalism. Member of all parties speaking nonsense. shashi throor compare Bhagat Singh with Kanhya.
RSS/BJP most shamelessly and emphatically stand for Hindu Rashtra and raise provocative issues targeting minority as well as lower castes. No other organization does this. Talking of Shashi Tharoor or some one else making wrong statement is not comparable to brazen fascist communal politics of RSS/BJP. Such comparison is like lamenting for loss of hair of one while another has been beheaded.
India is a nation of Hindus and any organization cannot be called shameless for wishing to have a Hindu Rashtra , exz cept people who are communal and have a double agenda. RSS thankfully does not pretend but is open abt it's agenda which is why it had garnered such a huge support base and I hope it grows ...what we need now is a disciplined governance not a sychopant one family based dictatorship.
9 years ago
Dr. Simran Kaur created new article 6 Self Harms that you have to Face, if you Keep on Avoiding Self Care.
Yes, self care is as much important, as much is care of others, in your family. But, some people have a, such a habit of ignoring, self care that they does not realize that they have to pay a price, of loosing health one day because of their this habit. There are 2 kind of people among self care ignorer, who does not do self care; one is, who does not do it, out of their laziness and second are those, who does not give 1st preference, to their self care and give it a side track, in taking care of others.
So, for whatever reason, you are ignoring your self-care; whether because of being, 1st kind of self care ignorer or 2nd kind; you have to face self harms that will result out, in future because of ignoring self care. So, you must be thinking to ask that what are those 4 self harms that a person have to face, in future because of ignoring self care continuously?
Well those are-
1) Deteriorating health- Yes, as I said in above paragraphs of article that a person has to face health loss because when health maintenance, is requiring self care and you are not doing it, on that time; then it ultimately result in deterioration of, health on gradual basis.
2) Disease invitation- This 2nd harm result out of 1st harm, in consequence because when your health will deteriorate; it ultimately creates a niche in human body, for disease to get flourished. So, self care ignorance is disease invitation; which result out from, health deterioration caused by self care ignorance.
3) Immunity reduction- Yes, good immunity is a sign of good health. When health deteriorate because of self care ignorance; then human body immunity, also gets reduced.
4) Depressed mood and low confidence- Yes, depressed mood can result out, from self care ignorance. You can't imagine it, to be true fact; but is true that person with time, gradually keep on remaining, in depressed state; when new disease, result out from health deterioration because of self care ignorance. You must have realized that on special occasions of your life; when you do self care; you feel confidence boost. You are falling short on this confidence boost because of self care ignorance, you are doing.
5) Premature aging and low vitality- Yes, premature aging will result; when you will not do self care of your skin, hair, eyes; they will show nothing, but sign of premature aging. Low vitality, weakness will result out, from self care ignorance; because of disease process flourishing, started inside human body because of self care ignorance.
6) Unhygienic body- Yes, your human body will become unhygienic, when you ignore self care, on continuous basis. This unhygienic state, is also reason, for disease invitation inside body because it creates appropriate environment in body, for disease causing pathogens and other inflammatory factors to flourish.
9 years ago
Babu saroj created new article life is an adventure perilous and joy.
“Joy and woe are woven fine
A texture for the theme divine”
These lines of the great English mystic poet William Blake would serve as an appropriate beginning of the article. Life is indeed an adventure. Adventure tacitly assumes the risk of the unknown, and joy resides in surmounting it. The great freedom fighters, mountaineers or voyages and expeditions have all embarked on their adventurous journey lured by a strange and uncanny feeling of joy, what though it entailed perils and fear of death at every step.
Take the case of the legendary Jim Corbett whom the man eaters lured into traps. His books narrate the experience in a language that would make you start on your bed and jump at the drop of a lizard from the ceiling of your peaceful room. At least so it did me, once while I was browsing through the pages of ‘’the man-eating Leopard of Rudraprayag’’. He suffered, or to be more correct, he exulted in his perilous calling because it was enjoyable. Thus he enriched jungle literature with his first hand experience. The great Joseph Conrad loved the perilous seas and his ‘’the mirror of the sea’’. Treat us to a feast the fearful experiences of the sea.
Life that is simply cheerful, bereft of risks, fears or adventures, is blasé and cloying. It makes a man impotent, unattractive and dull as a chair-borne politician, a spoon-fed boy or a pampered adult. These are jellyfish creature, for friction alone lends a meaning to life.
A poser in this context: did the stalwart of Bengali fiction Sarat Chandra Chatterjee dare nature’s wrath as in his famous sea-experience, or the perilous inroads into the unsafe habitats heavily infected with fatal diseases like the cholera or small-pox, only to cull up food for his great works? Or, they were labours or journeys prompted by love and compassion. He was not impelled by a sense of duty, but by a sensation to know, to fight and surmount. Subhas Chandra Bose could have purchased an unruffled, peaceful life, but at what cost? – At the cost of his faith in a life of struggle. To establish that faith he burnt his boat at home and embarked on a storm-ridden course, which we all know.
Instances! Their number is legion’, as the proverb goes. Delight that is born of adventure racks not its hazards. It is almost an axiom that danger looks dangerous only till it is dared, for the fear of the unknown can be reduced only knowing it. The great joy lies in achievement and achievement presupposes struggle.
Many a times in life I have tested the real implication of the phrase, ‘there is nothing like successes. At the earlier stage it struck me as silly and idiotic. I felt it states the obvious that everyone know. But when failures crossed my path and I was obliged to face them, I learnt the truth. I realized that real success is self-earned, not a gift of god or anybody, and it is the harbinger to a new kind of joy and sensation.
9 years ago
Jincy Aby created new article Be Careful While Using Mobile Phone.
People are social animals. They always like to make friendship with others. Keeping friendship is always good. We may have male as well as female friends. But do not allow the friendship to go beyond the limit especially when you make friendship with opposite genders. Married couples should be more vigilant regarding this matter.
Mobile phone is one of the best tools to maintain friendship. Conversation through mobile phone is always good. However, do not misuse this opportunity. The over and unnecessary conversation with your friends through mobile phone sometimes take away the peace and beauty of your family. If we have mobile phone, we are getting messages and phone calls from our friends, relatives, public groups and sometimes from unknown people. Attend important phone calls and give reply to the important messages and forget about unwanted messages and phone calls.
If couples would like to maintain healthy relationship and peaceful life within the family, you must follow the suggestions given below.
1. You always get opportunity to meet with so many attractive personalities in your life. You also would like to make friendship with some of the people those who come in your way. If you get their mobile number, you may have the tendency to contact with them through the phone. Remember that once you start a friendship with opposite gender, you cannot stop it soon. Therefore, the best policy is to avoid such circumstances when it comes in your way.
2. There is nothing wrong when you attend a phone call of your friend in front of your family members. Never try to hide the phone calls of your friends from your spouse, children and other family members. Your life partner should know who all your friends are. Do not try to go out of the home to attend the phone calls of your friends. It may arise doubt in your spouse. Whenever you try to delete the messages and call registrations of your friends from your mobile phone, remember that you are taking away the peace not only from you but from the entire family.
3. You can introduce your friends to your life partner and can give him/her the opportunity to talk with your friends. This is one of the best ways to avoid doubt and maintain peace among couples.
4. You are in digital era and so it is waste to spend your time for deleting call registrations. There are number of ways to find out your deleted phone call registrations. Your phone calls and messages are recorded in different places without any change.
5. Before making friendship, try to understand the real character of that person. Whenever you talk with some people through the phone, you may feel that they are very understanding, lovable and attractive in character-wise. Sometimes your judgment may be wrong. Some people are always trying to cheat others.
6. Whenever you try to hide your friendship with your life partner, it is a warning for you that you are going to fall in a dangerous zone.
7. You should be conscious about your talks and messages whenever you call and send messages to others through your mobile. You should ask yourself whether these phone calls and messages would help you and your family to grow positively. Again, ask yourself how it will affect the growth of the person to whom you called and sent the messages.
8. Make it a habit to switch off your mobile every day for a long time. You should be the controller of your mobile. Do not permit your mobile phone to create disturbance in your life.
9. When you call or send messages to a person by thinking that nobody is going to get know this secret, remember that you are cheating yours and all your family members. You cannot stay in peace.
10. Everybody likes to get love and recognition from others. Through mobile relationships, you can achieve these two things so easily. However, this wrong relationship will create guilty and mental disturbances within you.
Use your mobile phone carefully and avoid all unnecessary relationship. Give prime importance to your family and live for them. Never give chance to other people to enter in this sacred place and create disturbance. You should control yourself to lead a peaceful family life.
9 years ago
MG Singh created new article Does Islam Solve the Polygamous Urge of Man.
Before we discuss this topic, its worthwhile to dwell on an aspect of human relationship between sexes. Do men feel that there is a need for multiple sex partners? Do men naturally desire additional partners for sexual release in a life span ?.
Many research studies have been carried out and it can be confirmed here that man by nature thinks more of sex than a woman. Studies also point out that there is a latent desire by a man for a sexual relationship outside marriage. Men are more likely to be profligate in this matter than women. Why this should happen, cannot be quantified. Perhaps it is because of the physiological and mental make up of the male. Even in animal societies the majority are polygamous and have more than one partner.
In human society there was no marriage when prehistoric man lived, but gradually a need was felt to identify children and set up a family . This was regulated by bringing in the concept of marriage for easy identification of the family. But from history we learn, that man always had more than one partner and this continued for centuries. In Hindu society the concept of more than one sexual partner was accepted as a fact of life. Monogamy was almost unknown in Hindu society for close to 4000 years. The fact that most Hindu men did not practice polygamy was only because of economic constraints. The wealthy and the rich led by the Nawabs and Maharajas never practiced monogamy as they built up a Harem like in Islam, with tens of wives and concubines. The doyen of the Sikhs and a much respected ruler Maharajah Bhupinder Singh of Patiala had 10 official wives and over a 100 concubines( I am not sure of this figure and most likely it was much higher).
The only religion that brought in the concept of a single wife( monogamy) is Christianity. But it is a religion riddled by contradictions and though the Catholic faith does not recognise divorce or polygamy, yet in Catholic nations extramarital sex is most common. A look at society in Italy is an eye opener as almost every second man has a mistress. The novels of that famous novelist Alberto Moravia, bring out this dichotomy of married life in Italy. Moravia has pictured Italian society with all its nuances and extramarital sex with aplomb.
Most psychologists have concluded that man by his very nature tends to be polygamous. Yet man himself brought in the concept of polygamy in marriage. But polygamy has not brought about a suppression of the latent desire of man for another partner. This has resulted in secret liaisons, trysts and extramarital affairs. Another outlet given to a man and a woman is divorce. This is a recognition of the nature of man. society also accepts this desire for another partner in the form of various key clubs where wives are interchanged in a random manner by a game or a lottery. Again , as I have pointed out this is among the well to do and like polygamy being earlier practiced by the rich, such events are again a preserve of people above the economic threshold.
Despite all that I have written, man by his very nature desires variety. He may live with a suppression of this desire for decades, conditioned by religion and mores, but there is no doubt given a degree of latitude most men dream of another partner.
One Religion has recognised this physiological need for another partner and that is Islam. The reasons for polygamy in Islam and its acceptance by the clergy are different, but the net effect is that it caters for a sexual release of a man with another partner in the ambit of marriage. Islam permits upto 4 wives and divorce is much simpler. This does not mean that all Muslim men are polygamous and have more than one wife. Economic reasons will again dominate and in India despite all talk by vested interests the average Muslim has one wife. However the rich do exercise their prerogative and will have more than one wife. This privilege is only for the male and women are excluded.
One can say that in theory a man by being allowed to have 4 wives has an outlet for a relationship with another woman and this is sanctified by canonical law. In a way it is an acceptance of a basic urge of man for sex with another partner.
Polygamy is an outdated concept, but it served a purpose. With advancement in life in all spheres, one can say that polygamy has gone, but the desire of man for another sexual partner has not gone. This goes on and is a facet of everyday life all over the world.
One aspect that needs mention is the de facto presence of polygamy in the CHristian nations. In 1862 the US Congress passed a law banning polygamy. The worst affected was the Mormon Church, which believed in polygamy. Over the decades the men in the west have however got around the law passed by Congress. Men like Donald Trump and Larry king, divorce older women and marry younger woman. They thus extend the fertility period of their lives, something which polygamy would have done. It should also be noted that there is very little reverse traffic and all circumnavigation of the law of monogamy is mostly by men.
Psychologists and research scholars have opined that man is polygamous by nature and this recognition is perhaps only in Islam. But in essence even in other societies ways are available for a man to satisfy his urge for sexual partner other than the woman he has married.
One last fact worth highlighting is that right from historic ancient times men always aspired for multiple wives( albeit a small percentage), but in contrast hardly any woman aspired for polyandry. In real terms most women accepted the restrictions of society in terms of polygamy. The same continues now, except the parameters have changed with quick divorces. In contrast Islam is more forthright in this matter and having multiple partners for sex under the ambit of marriage is a recognition that man is by nature polygamous.
9 years ago
MG Singh created new article The Luftwaffe and the Battle of Stalingrad .
Hitler came to power on the back of a general election. This fact is conveniently forgotten by most western writers. However it is accepted that after the death of President Hindenburg, he seized absolute power. His one burning ambition was to restore German pride, badly damaged during World War I and the Treaty of Versailles ( 1919). The terms of this treaty were very harsh and imposed strict military controls over Germany. One of the clauses pertained to the German Air Force, also referred to as the Luftwaffe. Germany was forbidden by law to have an Air Force capable of offensive action. The situation was so bad that the engines of the Zeppelin, the airship were used in the Maybach car, as Germany was forbidden by treaty to develop the Zeppelin.
Hitler's rise was greatly appreciated by the German People and he set about restoring German military might. He announced the scrapping of the provisions of the Treaty of Versailles and had all restrictions on the Air Force removed. New aircraft were developed by Messerschmitt and Folk Wulf. These new aircraft had an edge over all Western aircraft and the Messerschmitt 109 fighter was any ay superior to the Spitfire and Hurricane of the RAF.
Hitler was joined by an ace pilot named Herman Goering. He had been a fighter pilot during World War I and had made a name for himself. Hitler entrusted the air force to Goering and conferred the title of Reich Marshall. In Hindsight the elevation of Goering as head of the air force was a blunder. Though Goering had a lot of knowledge, he was unaware of the concept of long range transport and strategic bombers. Thus in one of the cardinal blunders of aviation history in Germany, no stress was laid on building large planes capable of flying long distances. We can now see that this mistake in a way cost Germany the war and brought about the turn of the tide at the Battle of Stalingrad( 1943).
Goering forbade the development of large 4 engine planes as he could not visualize their use. Hitler also had no idea of the theories of Giulio Douhet and strategic bombing as he believed the role of the air force was only to help the army in a local tactical battle.
The German designer Dr. Kurt Tank of Focke Wulf however despite restrictions did produce one 4 engine plane. This was the FW-200 also known as the Condor. The Condor however in comparison to the Strat Fortress and the Liberator of the USAF was a puny machine and could just carry 26 troops. However it did have a range of over 3500 km. It was also a much lighter plane compared to the RAF's Lancasters.
So long as the German armies were winning the concept of Herman Goering for close support in a tactical war to the German army was a success. The Luftwaffe using dive bombers, which were closely integrated with teh German army brought success. Thus the famous tactic of " blitzkrieg" or a lightning war was a success as the German army over ran Poland, the low countries and France. The German attack on Russia on 22 Jun 1941 also heralded a close integration of the Luftwaffe with the German ground troop, resulting in great victories. Three German army groups advanced deep into Russia and by 1942 had reached Moscow, surrounded Leningrad and were on the verge of capturing Stalingrad.
Stalingrad in particular hedl special significance for Hitler. Firstly it carried the name of the man he hated Josef Stalin and secondly it was the road to Central Asia, the Caucasus and India. Hitler wanted Stalingrad captured and teh German under Von Paulos was given this task. Stalin knew the importance of the loss of Stalingrad and instructed the Russian commander Zhukov to make all out efforts not to lose the city. He also sent Nikita Khruschev to Stalingrad with a one point brief to hold Stalingrad at any cost. Khruschev coined the words " there is no land beyond the Volga for us" as the Russians prepared to fight the German Army.
In October 1943, winter set in and the temperatures touched sub-zero. Parts of the city were in German hands and there was street fighting at every nook and corner. In November Zhukov brought in reinforcements and launched a counter attack. In a massive thrust the Russian army surrounded the army of Paulos.
At that critical juncture, Paulos in a coded message informed Hitler that he was surrounded and cut off from the main German force headed by Von Manstein. He requested permission to retreat, through a breakout to join forces of Field Marshal Von Manstein. At that time Hitler called the chief of the Luftwaffe, Herman Goering for advice. He wanted to know that winter on, could the luftwaffe keep the supply lines open to the beleaguered troops of the German army now surrounded by the Russians.
Goering grandly announced that it was not a problem and an air bridge would be established to supply materials to the encircled German army. He authorised use of the FW 200 ( condor ) for the airlift. This was the crunch as the Luftwaffe had no heavy planes like the US Air force and it was too late to make one. One wonders whether at that stage Goering realized his earlier mistake on not developing a long range strategic bomber. Never the less Hitler believed Goering's boast and was confident that a supply bridge would be established.
The FW -200 was however a plane with a lot of limitations. Firstly the cargo it could carry was limited and secondly the plane had severe limitations of performing in the Russian cold. In addition it had to contend with Russian fighters. The Germans had no long range bomber to hit Russian supply lines and it was no surprise that within a week the Condor totally failed to establish a aero bridge and the german troops were left high and dry. No supplies could be transported to the German army and the writing was on the wall for a German defeat.
Paulos repeatedly informed Hitler the dire situation, but Hitler replied by promoting Paulus to Field Marshal. This was alike a last straw that broke the camels back and with no supplies of food and clothing Paulos had no option but to surrender. The Battle of Stalingrad was over and 93000 German troops were taken captive. Only a handful returned at the end of the war.
In hindsight one can see that one of the reasons for the defeat of the German army was the performance of the Luftwaffe. It not only failed to supply essentials to the German army, but also failed to create what is known in air terminology a " favorable air situation". Most of the Condors were lost or destroyed and Goering was a failure. The performance of the Luftwaffe in no small measure contributed to the German defeat at Stalingrad.
9 years ago
MG Singh created new article How Good was the Imperial Army in World War II.
World War II is behind us, though its not many years back. To be precise the Second World War ended in 1945 and its just about 70 years back. This is not a long period as far as world history is concerned. The Great War had two distinct theatres, namely the European theatre where the Germans and their ally the Italians fought against the Allies and the second was the Asian theatre, where the Imperial army faced the Americans at sea and the British in South East Asia.
The Japanese entered the war in early thirties when they invaded China and occupied the mineral rich Manchuria. They propped up a puppet regime led by Pu Yi, who was crowned emperor of China. Pu Yi was a yes man, with no independence and the last straw was when his wife was impregnated by a Japanese Officer. Lot of credit is given to the Imperial army in its battles in China, where they defeated the Chinese militia decisively.
A saner analysis of the Japanese campaign of the Imperial army in China brings out the fact that the army was fighting its battles against an ill equipped force which was also untrained. The Chinese army lacked aircraft and had no heavy guns and tanks, which were available with the Japanese. Hence the Japanese had overall military superiority. The Chinese militia devoid of air cover were sitting ducks and Douhet's principle of air war as a decisive factor held true.
One should not read much into the Japanese conquest of Manchuria, which cannot be construed as a barometer for a professional conduct of war. The Japanese also used terror tactics and killed millions of Chinese by beheadings and firing squads. Raping Chinese girls was a favorite pass time of the Imperial army soldiers. Such barbaric tactics were not authorised by the Imperial General Staff led by General Hideki Tojo, yet for some inexplicable reason the Japanese army ran berserk against a weak opposition.
In 1941, the Japanese turned their attention to the Philippines and SE Asia including Burma and Malaya. Here also in a swift campaign the Japanese overran entire SE Asia. A look at the conduct of the battle in these areas is worthwhile.
The Japanese attacked Indo- China first, which was a French colony. At that time France itself was a defeated nation and was occupied by the Germans after the 40 day war in 1940. The French had no worthwhile force to counter the Imperial army which almost had a walkover.
The Japanese now struck against the Dutch colony of Indonesia. The Dutch had been defeated and occupied by Germany and had hardly any troops to defend Indonesia except some irregular forces. These were soundly trounced by the Imperial army with superior fire power. It was a most unequal conflict. The Japanese now turned on the British.
At that time England stood alone against the Germans and all resources were concentrated to halt an imminent invasion of England. Hitler had' Operation Sea Lion" ready. No troops were available for the defence of the British possessions in SE Asia. Most of the British Indian army was fighting under Wavell and later Montgomery in North Africa, where a life and death struggle was on.
The Japanese thus faced a weak opposition and attacked Singapore after subduing Siam. The British did have 2 capital ships, including the most modern battleship Prince of Wales, but the Japanese attack came from Malaya and Singapore was captured without much of a battle.
The Japanese now swept into Burma , where a weak British Indian army was pushed back. The Japanese had the greater numbers and by end 1944, the Imperial army had reached the gates of India at Kohima and Imphal.
The campaign of the Imperial army was against sub standard opposition and is not a gauge of teh professionalism of the Japanese army. As an example the Andaman islands were guarded by some 200 Sikh militia. The Japanese threw in over 2000 troops and a dozen warships including a battleship. In such a situation a Japanese victory was a foregone conclusion and the Sikh militia surrendered,
One can thus see that for 2 entire years the Japanese won against weak opposition . This was a golden time for the Japanese to consolidate their position, but they failed to capitalise and people longed for the return of the English.
The first real test for the Imperial army came in late 1944, when the British commander Field Marshal William Slim had sufficient number of Indian troops and equipment available. At that time Rommel had been hit for a six out of North Africa and the allies had landed at Normandy.
The Japanese had superior forces and had laid siege to Imphal and kohima. however they failed to strike as reinforced troops of the Indian army now free from North Africa made a determined stand. It was the first time the Imperial army faced real resistance and a counter attack. In such a scenario they were found wanting and broke ranks against the assault of the Indian army. The Indian troops consisting of Sikhs, Jats and Punjabi Musalmans, broke the back of the Japanese army. It was then one headlong retreat as the Japanese were pushed back and lost Rangoon, Mandalay and Singapore. Despite having fortified positions on islands close to Akyab, they were pushed back into the swamps to be eaten by crocodiles.
Their performance against the Americans in the Philippines and far east against the Americans was also not much to talk off as the Americans captured island after island as the Imperial Naval fleet had been annihilated in the Battle of Midway.
The Japanese were brave, but when they faced a professional army like the British Indian army they were found wanting. There earlier victories were against weak and illequipped forces and one should not read much into them.
The Indian army covered itself with glory and the push through Burma is a feather in its cap. Subhas Bose for all talk was in real terms a cipher. His INA was almost like a rag tag force of some 40,000 who surrendered . The Japanese are thus greatly overrated, as an analysis shows that when faced with a determined resistance from well armed troops high on morale, they suffered a defeat. This is history and cannot be negated. Their earlier victories were when the British were weak as they faced a rampaging Hitler in Europe, but after Stalingrad it was a different story.
9 years ago
MG Singh created new article The Cuba Missile Crisis of 1962: Who was the Winner.
Background
Cuba is a small island state in the Caribbean. It was always part of the American sphere of influence articulated by the Monroe Doctrine. This doctrine laid down that entire Latin America and Central America were vital to American interests and no other power could interfere there without the express permission of America. The Caribbeans and Cuba were thus covered by the Monroe Doctrine.
The effect of the Monroe Doctrine was negative as the entire industry and trade was a monopoly of American business. In Cuba also 90% of the economy , in particular the sugar plantations( which were the main sources of income) were all owned by American business. In fifties a man named Fulgencio Batista seized power and was a virtual dictator. He was a stooge of the Americans and had also let loose a reign of terror.
Dr. Fidel Castro in 1959 launched what is known as the Cuban revolution. It was a romantic era and a small band of revolutionaries landed in Cuba. Many love affairs immediately blossomed between the revolutionaries and local village girls. As the revolutionaries swept forward, people from villages joined then and by the time they reached Havana, it was a mammoth crowd. Batista fled the island and Fidel Castro became the ruler.
Initially Castro was treated with kid gloves by the USA, who thought he would be another puppet. But Castro introduced Marxism and nationalised industry. The American big business houses were sent packing and Castro ushered in a communist regime in Cuba. The then Soviet Union under Nikita Khrushchev, who was first secretary of the Communist party shored up the Castro regime with money, arms and planes.
The Americans were furious and the American President General Eisenhower authorised an invasion of Cuba. "Ike" as Eisenhower was popularly called left office in 1960 and the new president John Kennedy continued with this policy. In 1961, the US aided by Cuban rebels and the CIA launched what is known as the " Bay of Pigs" invasion. The invasion was defeated on the beaches and both Moscow Radio and Cuba played victory music. The battle lines were now drawn and the USA vowed to not only to overthrow the communist regime, but also along with the CIA and Cuban rebels assassinate Dr. Castro.
Something drastic was needed to deter the USA and Khruschev planned to install IRBM missiles in Cuba. The fat was now in the fire.
Beginning of the Missile Crisis
In hindsight in case the threat to topple Castro was not there, the missiles would not have been installed. But with a cold war at its height, the Russians continued installations of the IRBM missiles which could carry nuclear warheads and could target any American city.
The CIA by means of U-2 aircraft flights had detailed information of the installation of the missiles. These were examined by Kennedy and he took an important decision. He decided to blockade the Cuban island. The American fleet moved in full force, but allowed non military ships to go ahead. A Russian tanker was allowed. The aim was to leave a door open for the Russians.
The world was tense as the Soviet fleet sailed to Cuba, replete with nuclear powered submarines armed with missiles. A confrontation appeared imminent. Castro was the biggest hawk and advocated dropping of nuclear missiles on at least 5 American cities. Khruschev played his cards close to his chest and did not heed the request of Fidel Castro.
Kennedy also was getting goose bumps and he was eager to get out of the crisis as a war at that stage would have meant devastation of American cities. He was keen for a compromise, though officially he continued to make belligerent statements. Kennedy was prepared to give any guarantee to avoid a war.He however wanted the missiles to be dismantled.
Secret negotiations continued between the Russian and American leaders and Khruschev made his demands. These were initially not acceptable to the Americans, but the minutes were ticking away as the Russian fleet headed for the Caribbean Sea. The Chiefs of Staff of the US Armed Forces advised Kennedy of success, but extreme collateral damage to American cities. At the same time the demands of Khruschev would have meant the end of the Monroe Doctrine and the Cuban communist regime would have survived.
Khruschev demanded two main assurances from the USA. They were
a) A solemn undertaking never to destabilize the Communist regime of Dr. Castro
b) Dismantling of American missiles in Turkey.
Both these demands could not be accepted by Kennedy publicly as it would have meant loss of face. Kennedy wanted a way out as the minutes were ticking away and the Soviet and American fleets were nearing each other.
The Solution
Feverish negotiations continued on the hotline and face to face meetings with diplomats in Vienna. The Russians were adamant that the Americans accept the demands. Finally Kennedy acceded to the Russian demand, but made one request. He requested that the removal of American missiles from Turkey be kept secret. He however gave a solemn promise never to destabilize the communist government of Fidel Castro.
Once America gave this public commitment, orders were given by Khruschev to dismantle the missiles. This was not liked by Castro and the hard liners in the Communist party in Russia and was one of the factors that led to his ouster in 1964. Kennedy heaved a sigh of relief. The dismantling of American missiles from Turkey was not made public and these facts emerged only later.
In hindsight, Kennedy acted bravely, but I feel Nikita Khruschev played his cards better. He was able to get a solemn promise from the USA to never make any attempt to overthrow the Castro government. This is a feather in his cap. One can now realize that it was because of this promise the Castro regime survived for 6 decades and now Fidel Castro is recognised as the longest serving head of state. It would not have happened in case Khruschev had not boxed the Americans in a bind. America had to live with Castro and all his attempts to export revolution to Latin America and Africa. He remained a thorn in the American back yard.
Times change and now the world is also changing. Obama has charted a new course and diplomatic relations are established between Cuba and USA. Obama will also visit Cuba and that would a first visit to Cuba by an American President in 80 years. The Soviet Union has also gone and Khruschev not remembered. But those were heady days when the world almost had a nuclear exchange. I think Castro and his brother Raul( now President of Cuba) must thank Khrushchev that they lived to rule for 60+ years.
9 years ago
MG Singh created new article Remembering the Star of Spaghetti Western Films of Yore: Clint Eastwood.
https://pixabay.com/en/clint-eastwood-westerns-movies-394536/
Spaghetti is a thin long solid pasta and is a staple diet of Mexican- Italians and ipso facto of cowboys of the days of the wild west. Some western movies made by Italian production houses, that depicted the wild west came to be known as spaghetti western movies. Spaghetti was a staple diet of the cowboys who lived during this era. The wild west was a period of American history, that preceded the American civil War ( 1861-65) and continued till the turn of the 19th century. This period has fascinated millions of people all over the world. Hollywood has faithfully depicted this period in many films, many of who have become classics. Earlier the star John Wayne held the crown, but later a string of stars appeared who brought a new culture and depiction of that golden era.
One star who rose into the lime light was Clint Eastwood. Over the years this actor from Hollywood has become a legend, but his initial rise to stardom was on the back of western films made by an Italian Sergio Leone. I first saw Clint Eastwood in the movie " Fistfull of Dollars".This movie broke all records and ushered in Clint Eastwood on stage as a macho star. He created the image of a gunfighter who chewed cigars and handled guns with lightning streak. Eastwood as a actor was languishing till he bagged this role . After the success of this movie there was no looking back. He was cast in two subsequent films by Leone namely " For a Few Dollars More" and " The Good Bad and Ugly". These films created a revolution in the box office and Eastwood became a marquee star.
Along with Eastwood, one other actor named Lee Van Clef, also arose and created the image of the arch villain. Eastwood essayed the role of a hard and macho gun slinger, but with a heart of gold, while in many roles Lee Van played the role of the evil and pitiless killer.
No film can succeed without music and these films also depended a lot on the background musical scores. The man who composed music for these films was Ennio Morricone. His delightful integration of horses clops and neighs with the guitar, created a new class of music. The popularity of the scores by Morricone can be gauged from the fact that the theme scores of these movies still captivate millions and that includes India. Over the decades I have seen youngsters playing these tunes on the paid Jukeboxes that dotted the coffee shops about two decades back. In particular I remember " Koshys" a coffee shop on Brigade Road in Bangalore where hundreds dropped coin tso hear these tunes.
Clint Eastwood was born in 1930 and had a stint in the army from 1951-53. These years had a great effect on him and he owed life time allegiance to the US Army. Later he used his experience in the army to turn in some excellent war films. That was much later, but before that he became a legend as a cowboy star who enthralled young and old alike.
Eastwood lived his roles and one scene in the movie " Outlaw Josey Wales" is etched in my mind. Eastwood a renegade gunfighter opposes a mormon gang carting away some blacks. As he appears, one of the men who feels he will now be rescued mutters "looks like hell has come for these chaps" or words to that effect. Eastwood wins and with his cigar in his mouth and blazing guns carries the scene with aplomb. Similarly the scene of the last gunfight in the " Good bad and Ugly" when Eastwood faces Lee Van Clef in a graveyard makes your hair stand on end. The scene is accentuated with a haunting tune by Moricone that even now is a delight to hear.
There was no stopping Eastwood now and in a string of western movies he established himself as the greatest western star after John Wayne. Among his hits was ' Hang em High", Coogans Bluff", " Two Mules for Sister Sarah" and many more. One can get a list of his movies from the internet and most of them are easily downloadable. This was the time Eastwood turned Producer Director and broke away from typecast roles of a cowboy to other action oriented roles. His series as Dirty Harry are on a par with Charles Bronson's Death Wish series.
Eastwood has now gone into the twilight, but a few years back the world got up and took not of his performance in " Million Dollar Baby". I have always appreciated Eastwood as one of the great stars of Hollywood. His role along with Richard Burton in " Where Eagles Dare' was a stand out performance. All said and done his endearing image of the cigar chewing gunfighter with a loose poncho on his shoulders will live for ever. Clint set the tone and tens copied him including the star Franco Nero. Despite Eastwood's image as a cigar smoker, the fact is he never smoked in real life. He was always health conscious.
Clint Eastwood had a checkered life with women and I despite being his fan is unable to recollect all his affairs and children he fathered. In this he probably followed subconsciously Vatsyayana, who advocated relationships with younger women. There also he proved a macho man. There are very few stars as potent on the screen as Clint Eastwood. He remains a favorite and one of the greats of Hollywood. Eastwood also won multiple awards as an actor, but they are not worth recounting here. Suffice to say that we are glad that a macho star like Clint Eastwood appeared on the scene and gave us days and hours of entertainment as he transported us into a dream world of gunfighters and gunmen.
9 years ago
Reena created new article Self Development: Path Of Self Progress.
We all are masters of our glorious soul. Throughout our lives we tend to win a few battles whereas lose rest. However, no other glory can stand and shine in front of our glorious soul. No one can measure this glory. It is important that we come in our real sense and then there is no looking back. To come in original form, we need to come over the delusional state we have created around us and know the real us. Once we shed all the external covers we have embedded us with, our real sense itself will get revealed. These external covers are the layers which we tend to cover ourselves in our life time. All these are pseudo layers and beneath these pseudo layers we can find our original form shining and sparkling brightly.
No other happiness or contentment can give the sense of complete fulfillment as contentment of one's soul. Once soul is satisfied and contented we need not worry about any other wishes to get fulfilled. Throughout our lives we run behind materialistic comforts and consider them to be the master key of satisfaction which in turn will become happiness. Since we seek happiness in materialistic comforts or make it dependent on other human beings, we will always be in search for it. If others survive our Everest of expectations, we become happy. If they do not meet our expectations then we will tend to keep ourselves miserable for a long time. Same goes with materialistic comforts. If we get what we have desired, we will cover ourselves with pseudo layer of contentment for sometime which we will vaguely name as happiness and if we fail to achieve our targets, we will be miserable for a while.
No other contentment is as promisingly satisfactory as contentment of one's soul. To make our soul content, we need to sharpen our thoughts and this can be done by gaining knowledge. It is said that one who understands who they are, will understand importance of their life. Knowledge can only help us to raise above everything. We are masters of our senses but due to lack of knowledge, we act as if they are our masters. Irrespective of how distracting these senses can be, knowledge will help a person to rise above all these distractions and focus on the things which we need to focus. We need to work in the direction of our development and constant progress.
If we have decided to work in the direction of helping others then we should put in our complete effort, no matter how difficult the path is. However, just feeding the poor or lending a helping hand is not enough. We need to first serve ourselves before serving others. We can only give others what we have. We cannot help others before helping ourselves. We have to serve our senses, mind and soul first. Thus, we cannot help others until and unless we bring our mind and soul in better state and help them rise above everything. As high as we raise our soul from this delusional world, our greatness will increase side by side.
Self contentment can be reached by a gradual process of self development. Knowledge helps us to reach this stage. For self development we need to work on several factors. Most important one is good health. If a body is sound and healthy, so will be soul. Unhealthy body is always a distraction in the progress of development. Bad health always seeks attention. Each and every one of us today is in need of good health but rarely we work to gain the same. Lots of patience, knowledge and a strict disciplined life which is free from stress and tension promotes a healthy life. Impatient lifestyle, irregularity in everything leads to unhealthy body.
Second important factor essential for self development is to raise oneself above all emotions and greed. One has to make himself so strong that no emotion can shake his soul. One should completely be determined to raise himself above all senses which in turn will make him their master. Once he becomes master of his senses it will not take him much time to get control over his anger, lust, greed, ego etc..... It is important that we concentrate our mind on Supreme Soul. Once we connect with Him, detachment with everything else becomes easy. Once soul gets attached with Supreme Soul, there is no looking back. This is the stage when soul receives complete contentment. It is not possible to achieve this stage in one day. It is a gradual practice and requires lots of efforts. The more one will get near Supreme Soul, less he will care about worldly pleasures. This is a stage when a person will become soul conscious instead of being body conscious. One who is more attached to worldly pleasures and is bound by his ego where he is in a state of body consciousness, will require more time to come out of it and one who is ready to bring changes in him and wants to see himself landing in a state of soul consciousness will require less time. Thus, knowledge and determination will always play an important role here. Initially one has to put a lot of efforts. After a few days, the whole practice appears natural and easy and thus effort is not required. It is essential that we become masters of ourselves. We don't have to let go everything we do. Examine our deeds carefully and let us correct them. We are too liberal in our case and too strict for others. Right thing is that we should let go others and forgive them. This will increase our greatness.
Third important factor for self development is to gain knowledge. Self development is directly proportional to development of knowledge. Just worldly knowledge is not sufficient. We are being taught everything regarding us and world right from our childhood. The course material covers knowledge regarding body. We are more than body. We are soul within the body and this soul is a very important entity that cannot be overlooked. Knowledge of self is essential which will guide us through this path or journey of life. Without proper knowledge journey seems tough, full of hurdles. With right knowledge comes wisdom and wisdom helps to lead a smooth journey. This wisdom only comes when a person is in pursuit of seeking knowledge and wants to do it with complete dedication. This kind of motivation is essential for self development. Need of self development helps a person to change himself, modify himself completely for seeking truth and knowledge regarding God and oneself. Stability is a stage one will reach when wisdom follows. This stability will help a person to remain calm during hindrances. Irrespective of whether he is facing good times or bad times, he will remain calm and patient. Later, these good and bad times will not even get noticed by him. Everything and every moment will be the same to him. Such is the importance of knowledge.
Next important factor for self development is to become firm within one self, within one's soul. He should fully become aware about himself. Instead of thinking that he is a body and working accordingly, he should come in soul consciousness stage. This is known as gaining knowledge regarding self. Soul is immortal and everything around soul present in nature is mortal. Everything that is changing and is in constant change is mortal. Immortal soul is the one who rules as well as experiences this change. The more we are addicted to mortal things, more we fall back from the path of wisdom. Greatness is to overcome our weakness and overpower them. Failure is in getting attached to them. Weakness makes us angry, greedy, tensed etc..... In absence of them, it is easy to gain self contentment. It is very difficult to get constant happiness from mortal things. This is because mortal things are associated with constant change. Thus, they cannot be with us throughout the time and give same amount of happiness. On the other hand, it is easy to gain happiness from immortal things. One who does constant efforts in gaining mortal things and does not care about immortal elements, they will never achieve complete attainment of self satisfaction, even if they have achieved success in whatever they were wishing. Complete attainment, complete self satisfaction, complete happiness only lies within immortal soul.
Soul itself is contented, happy and peaceful. It does not have to search for anything outside. For understanding this, knowledge is essential. Knowledge regarding one's own real self will lead to wisdom. This wisdom will bring with itself lots of changes and the most important will be shift from body consciousness to soul consciousness. Soul will then become fully contented and will progress in the field of development. No other development will be as glorious and full of victory when compared with the development associated with oneself. Thus, one has to work in this field of gaining victory over ones senses which will ultimately work in the progress of soul.
9 years ago
MG Singh created new article Is Donald Trump the Messiah to Save America Like Churchill in WW II.
Background
After the collapse of the Ottoman Empire, the pendulum of world domination shifted to the Western world and for the next 200 years the British Empire was the greatest empire in the world. After the end of World War I a new nation, young and vibrant appeared on the scene. In the next 2 decades it replaced the British Empire and became the greatest power the world has ever known. It was the United states of America.
All empires and world powers have periods of decline and rise, but great men have appeared who have arrested what sometimes looks inevitable. After World War I, the cracks had started showing in the British Empire and though at that time not appreciated, it had started creaking. One of the most formidable men who appeared on the scene was Adolf Hitler. This man rode to power on a promise of "Making Germany Great". He won the largest number of seats in the Reichstag and was invited to form the government by the the then Chancellor Von Hindenburg. If I remember it was in about 1933, this happened. Hitler came to power by a popular vote. Hitler had however realized that to dominate the world he would have to face the British Empire. But again a reading of his autobiography " Mien Kampf" brings out some weird ideas.
One of the weird ideas was his admiration of Britain. He did not consider the British as ' natural enemies', unlike the Eastern and Slav races who he considered inferior and lacking in intellect. At places he has also referred to them as sub-humans. Hitler if he had his way, would have liked to have a separate peace with the British and expand at the expanse of area in the East meaning Russia. This is his theme of " lebensraum" or living space for the German people in the East.
Hitler and Churchill
Here he ran foul of a man named Winston Churchill, who was a die hard opponent of Hitler. He was also a great pragmatist and had realized that Hitler and the British could not live together and so he opposed Nazism and Hitler with all his might. It was because of Churchill that Hitler hardened his attitude towards Britain and decided to oppose it. But his warped mind could not appreciate that Churchill was no ordinary leader and his decision to call off " operation Sea Lion" was on of the colossal blunders of his life. " Operation Sea Lion" was the code name for the German invasion of England. In-lieu he planned the invasion of Russia.
Even earlier during the British retreat at Dunkirk, during the Battle of France ( 1940), Hitler inexplicably delayed an assault by his Panzers and allowed the British Expeditionary Force ( BEF) to escape. These soldiers re-grouped and gave the English under Churchill breathing space.
Churchill galvanized the English and his speech when he talked of 1941 as being " England's Finest Hour" shows the mettle of the man. In fact during the bleak period of 1940-41, England stood alone against Hitler as America had not entered the war, the Russians had signed a nonaggression pact with Germany and France had ceased to exist. Churchill despite the odds being against the Empire stuck to his guns as he refuse all overtures of HItler, with a one point agenda to defeat Nazism. In short Churchill went against the general opinion that England would be better off in making peace with Germany. Churchill simply refused to consider any such proposal.
Churchill had also strong racial views. He is reported to have said that the principles of Islam are not compatible with Western thought.He was also against Indian independence and all along felt that Indians were not capable of governing themselves and if the English left India there would be all around chaos. Despite these opinions, the fact is Churchill inspired the English to defend their empire. In fact he was the need of the hour and in case Churchill had not been around the history of the world would have been different.
Many people opinion that Hitler would perhaps been more sympathetic to India. But a reading of his book ( Mien Kampf) shows he had an entirely convoluted opinion of India. He felt that Indians were not capable of governing themselves and the British rule was good for India.
America Now
The fact is that Churchill shored up the Empire. It's another story that after World War II, the USA became the superpower and England went into decline. The period after World War II, saw the rise of the USA, but as I have written great empires have cusps and downsides and after the 20th century, the USA began to slowly lose its status. the signs were all there and like Germany threatening the UK, America because of a weak and ineffectual president who had his own axe to grind allowed leadership of America to slacken. Maybe it is not apparent but the signs are ominous. Maybe it had something to do with the mental make up of Barack Obama, who was born a Muslim. In my visits to America, I have observed that most White Americans were not enamoured of Obama . As pointed out by the New York times,Obama won by a combination of votes and voting patterns. Obama however never controlled Congress which thwarted most of his moves, some of which would have let America down the alley of no return.
The situation in America is now akin to what England faced in 1939, with a rampaging Hitler breathing down the neck of the English. Churchill then appeared and now America needs a similar man. There is a the Islamic State hell bent on fighting the great Satan, China is showing its fangs right from the South China Sea to domination of the Pacific . For this it is constructing 12 aircraft carriers. North Korea is a nuclear power, in real terms just a proxy for China and Vladimir Putin has great power dreams of what the Soviet Union was. America is thus at a loss. It is no longer decisive as Obama has followed his own agenda. I suspect greatness of America was not a part of this.
Donald Trump?
Most countries around the globe trust America and that is a fact that cannot be wished away. Some one decisive is needed. There is one man who fills the bill and he is Donald trump. He has talked of making "America Great" again. He is a man who has ruffled many feathers by his brazen comments, yet all this is required to set the tone for the future. At a time when America is faced with a threat to its domination, there is a need for a man who has a clear insight and vision. This is required by the American allies as well an many in the Middle East who are waiting for the promised offensive against the ISI. There was also a need to realize who is friend and foe and in this at least 2 presidents gravely erred. The removal of Gaddafi and Saddam was one of them. The attacks by the ISI on Americans were not given the necessary priority and Obama literally tried to present it as a simple law and order problem. One shudders at the coverup of the killings of the US citizens and its ambassador in Benghazi. Trump has not minced his words and language regarding Muslims and that makes him stand out. His dream of making America great looks at the moment , the right direction and has struck a favorite chord with the Americans.
Donald Trump has won so far, but to get the nomination is a long way off as yet. He is on the right track and despite even ruffling the Pope, he has not backed down from his demand to erect a fence on the Mexican border to stop the flow of illegal immigrants to the USA. He has also asked for a temporary ban on Muslims into the USA. This has upset Obama who has in a statement i opined that the American people will reject Trump as president. All this is better said than done. One cannot forecast the future. Trump may or may not win , but there is definitely a need for a man with his views to come on stage. It is about time some one stood by countries threatened by the powers like China and supported the moderates against the ISI and its ilk. There is also need for accommodation with Putin and whether that man is Trump will be seen in the coming election.
If Trump becomes President, the situation is similar to what happened when Churchill became PM. At that time Neville Chamberlain had signed the infamous Munich pact ( 1938) and sold to Hitler. It will give the new President a chance to rectify the ills of the last few years and the drift in American policy. The situation as it stands is similar to when Churchill appeared on the scene. One will have to wait and see, whether this will happen. In many ways the nexy US presidential election will be a watershed that will decide how long America remains a great power.
9 years ago
Reena created new article Obstruction In Way Of Happiness.
In today's miserable life, each one of us is in search of real happiness. We make constant efforts to achieve happiness and keep it with us. None of us would deny this truth that they need happiness in their lives. In this struggle of achieving happiness, without actually knowing what it is in real sense, we are giving up a lot more important things. We are searching for something that is actually already available within us. We are all living in a myth which has taken the form of illusion.
Happiness means different to different people. It's an emotion i.e., feeling which one creates when one senses satisfaction in the form of achievements. We have made our happiness dependent on lots of things. Now the result is achievement will lead to happiness. Instead of being happy and then carry out every effort with whole heart and take the result as it comes, we have taken the whole thing upside down. If obstructions stop our way or cause any sort of hurdle in between, which leads to deviation from our path or journey, we become demotivated. Obstructions are natural and cannot be predetermined.
We have a very strong habit of predetermining or planning everything, which is actually if seen is not a wrong thing to do. It is wisely said that if you have eight hours to chop a tree, then spend six hours to plan and next two remaining hours to chop it. Such is the importance of planning. However, planning the outcome is foolishness. One can plan their journey but one cannot plan how smooth their journey can be or the fruits one will reap after completing their journey. If one is given rights to do so then one will always plan their route in a smooth, straight direction. Nobody will like to go in zigzag manner which is time consuming. However, this is not in our hands.
We believe that our journey will be smooth, free of hurdles and this belief of ours we make it so strong both in our conscious and subconscious mind that even slightest discomfort shakes our confidence. This sort of before hand planning is wrong. While trekking or hiking we are prepared that there will be tons of obstacles in our ways. We may need to climb rocks, cross rivers, come across wild animals, keep our hunger pangs and thirst at bay to reach destination. Thus, we actually do not complain. However, when we are busy in our day to day lives and all of a sudden escape a fall caused by a small pebble, we start cursing it because we didn't expect it in our way. Such is the harm expectations does to us.
We usually are scared and tremble from the hurdles planted in our way because they cause deviation from our path. We may have planned that our journey from point A to point B will be smooth in a straight line without any hurdle present in between. However, this is something we have planned. There may be a tree, a tall mountain, a river in between. All these can be crossed successfully and one can get back to their path but it is a little time consuming as one has to take a little deviation. Instead of cursing the obstacles or someone who has planted these hurdles in between and losing heart, one can remain calm and try to cross them with enough confidence.
One has to understand what he has in his hands and what he doesn't has it. We often try to correct or rectify things that is not in our hands and hardly concentrate on something that we can. In our journey of life, we have control on ourselves, on our senses and the things that we cannot control is others. Since we are our masters, we can inherit all good qualities in ourselves. We can instill lots of confidence, patience, compassion, understanding etc..... These qualities will keep us at peace so that we can remain calm and keep a positive attitude towards everything. Our faith will not be shaken and not at any point during journey we will even think of giving up. With such a positive attitude, no hurdle can cause a harm to us. The elements which we cannot control are others and those hurdles or circumstances that prevail around us every second. Our positive attitude will thus lend us a feeling of compassion towards others. It will help us to understand their point of view and show kindness to them irrespective of whether their deeds are causing harm to us or helping us in some manner.
Obstruction since deviates our path, we require extra time to reach our desired destination. Thus, patience is a key factor which will motivate during time of crisis. A patient person will understand the situation and work accordingly instead of blaming others. An immature, impatient person will waste his time standing there and end up giving up and put the blame of his failure on others.
Obstruction may be in the form of some material or person himself. It may be present since a long time or may have arrived from nowhere all of a sudden. Most important thing one has to remember is that no matter how difficult it is, it still can be crossed, it can be passed successfully. There is no hurdle that cannot be crossed. If your nerves deny it, go beyond your nerves. Instill a lot of confidence in you and aim at destination. Happiness is within us. We do not have to make it dependent on something. Instead of programming our mind to become happy after reaching destination, we have to understand that we are happy souls. Happiness is inherent quality of our souls and no obstruction can shake this feeling of happiness.
9 years ago
MG Singh created new article Caste Wars in India : Ominous Signs Ahead.
Background
India is known as a sub continent, where the dominant religion is Hinduism. The Hindu faith that has evolved over 5000 years has a trait, that distinguishes it from other religions. It is the only religion that accepts division of society on the basis of caste. It also follows a system that allows no interchange of caste and a person born in one caste must die in the same caste. Caste is something water tight and the overriding factor in Hinduism. The history of caste is well known and need not be recounted here, suffice to say that this is a artificial division and imposed by the Hindu religion. The caste system is as old as Hindu history. One fact that does stand out is that caste has led to deep divisions in Hindu society. The reason is that Manu the Law giver classified certain castes as high castes and certain as lower castes. In the social ladder the opportunities for lower castes were severely limited and discrimination was rampant. It will not be wrong to say that some lower castes also referred to as untouchables had little or no say in Hindu society. They were not expected to be seen or heard and were to live their lives like silent ghosts and die unsung and unheralded.
The division of society was so unjust that the lower castes were also forbidden to carry arms or be soldiers. This had catastrophic results and is one of the significant factors that led to defeat of Hindus by Moslem armies. Despite these defeats the concept of a universal army to fight an invader remained non existent. This is a separate subject and needs a separate study. There was a back lash to this compartmentalised society and many lower caste Hindus converted to Islam. Later, with the advent of Missionaries, many converted to Christianity. Almost 30-40% of Hindus converted away from their religion. This did not open the eyes of any Hindu reformer and sadly almost all of them continued to extoll the virtues of caste. Most of the Hindu saints and so called reformers like Vivekananda, Namdev, Swami Dayananda and Swaminarayan all supported caste in varying degrees. Thus if Hindu reformers and saints themselves support caste or varna system, there can be no reformation. A small fact brings out the role of these so called reformers. Swaminarayan a much revered figure in North India set up separate temples for worship for lower caste and untouchables. He also had separate kitchens for lower caste. One can realize how silly all this is. But the fact is that such acts deepened the divisions in Hindu society.
Gandhi, Congress, Ambedkar and Caste
At the turn of the 20th century, India was still living in an age that was far away from reality. The caste system had become the bed rock of Hindu society. Hindu leaders made no attempt to do away with caste system, despite mass scale conversion to Islam by Muslim Sufi saints, who propagated a classless society and one god. In 1885 the Congress party was launched by an Englishman named Hume. This was the need of the hour as India needed a vehicle to unify the nation and bring in fresh ideas. The Congress despite a sprinkling of Muslims remained throughout the days of the British Raj a Hindu dominated party.
One would have thought that a new breed of Hindu leaders would emerge who would strike at the roots of the caste system. Such a thing did not happen and the tallest Hindu leader mahatma Gandhi, supported the caste system. His writings are all available till date where he states without ambiguity that he believes in the Varna system. Probably Gandhi despite his mighty following did not want to take on the Hindu scriptures like the Gita, which supported the caste system. Gandhi's actions perturbed another great and educated Hindu Dr Ambedkar. This man left the fold of Hinduism and became a Buddhist along with thousands of his followers.
To my mind this was a disaster as Dr Ambedkar was tasked with the framing of the Constitution of India. Ambedkar did something that has bedeviled Indian society for centuries to come. He introduced caste as a factor in the Indian constitution. Perhaps the fact that he was earlier slighted by higher caste Hindus had an effect on his mind. This was like opening a can of worms. He was able to incorporate a system of reservation for lower castes in government jobs. Tough he initially recommended it only for 15 years, yet he so cleverly worded the constitution, that these reservations could be expanded as well continued for posterity. This was in my view a parting kick to the higher caste, who he felt had discriminated and tortured the lower caste and untouchables.
The Congress party sadly had leaders like Jawaharlal Nehru, who had no reformist zeal and they continued the reservations in jobs and education. One cannot really fault Nehru, when one thinks that social reformers like swami Vivekananda and Dayananda also supported the caste system. The Congress party to build up vote banks when Indira Gandhi was in power, set up the Mandal commission. One fails to see the need for such a commission, whose main job was to advocate measures for an expansion of the lower caste base by addition of " other Backward Castes". Yet Indira Gandhi ordered this commission and kept it in her drawer as an election ploy to be used later on . It is history that VP Singh an ex Congress man, to remain in power, brought in further reservation to 49% for Other Backward Cast ( OBC). He was defeated, but he had done his part in fragmenting the nation further. One talks of Gorbachev, who broke up the USSR. VP Singh is in the same category and in my view along with Ambedkar the main artitechs of Balkanization of India on basis of caste.
Caste Wars
The saying the birds come home to roost is so very correct. These actions had to have an effect and the country is now facing the ills of reservation. One fact that stands out is that India is a poor country, where poverty is rampant. As per UN figures India has close to 200 million people who live in abject poverty and earn less than $ 1.25 a day. Another 200 million barely subsist and for them finding food and work is a nightmare. These poor people belong to all castes. The reservation in jobs is thus looked upon as the magic wand to food and prosperity. Unfortunately the way the reservations are effected in India, almost all OBC and BC get reservation, irrespective of their income. Some income limits are fixed by the Supreme Court, but are nothing short of ridiculous.
With mounting paucity of job openings and education, an explosion was expected. It came with the agitations by the Patel community, which held the BJP government to ransom for weeks. The Patels were justified as they saw their poor languishing and unable to get seats in professional colleges, while lesser qualified individuals from lower castes made it forward. Hardik Patel the leader of the movement was arrested, but this is like trying to brush the problem under the carpet. There has been an encore and the Jat community in Haryana has blockaded all roads leading to Delhi. Curfew has been enforced in all major towns of Haryana as the Jats upped the ante for reservation for them in jobs and educational institutes.
The BJP government has been found wanting in facing the agitators and reports indicate that the BJP may accede to their demand. The situation is likely to spiral further and there is a good chance that other higher caste communities among Marathas and Sikhs may similarly demand reservation. A stage may come when there may be 95% reservation and perhaps only 5 % may be on merit. This is a real case scenario as the OBC and BC will not tolerate any reduction in their quota for reservation. India is thus sitting over a keg of volatile material, that can explode anytime.
The only way forward is to do away with caste reservation., The RSS has realised the folly of reservation and its propensity to divide the nation. Their leaders have many a time hinted on this account, but electoral politics still dominate and the BJP scared to lose power will not rock the apple cart. The Congress of course has already failed to solve the problem, even when Gandhi was around. This man talked of Varna as something good. In this he lacked vision and has proved that he was just a crafty politician.
The situation could get aggravated further and the castes may themselves start a war with each other over the reservation issue. The next decade is significant and one hopes the assessment of the Chinese Institute of Strategic studies that India may fragment because of its caste contradictions does not come true. That will be a sad day indeed, but is anyone bothered ?
9 years ago
MG Singh created new article The Butterfly Park at Dubai.
As usual Dubai conjures up something special and the latest addition to the tourist landscape is the Butterfly park. The park has just opened a few weeks back and is an absolute delight. As my American girl is here, I thought it a good idea to show her the park. She confessed that there is nothing like this park in America and I can vouchsafe that there is not a single similar park in India. Frankly, such a park should have opened in India, particularly in Shillong, which is home to some of the loveliest species of butterflies.
The Dubai park is close to the Miracle Garden, another must see spot in Dubai. I have already written about the miracle garden. We left Abu Dhabi, in my car and covered the distance in just over an hour. As the weather was cool, I had the bonnet of my Mustang down and the cool breeze refreshed us. We drove straight to the park, which is the newest attraction along with the Garden of Lights.
The Butterfly park is a feather in the cap of the tourist industry in Dubai. I do not know how much it cost, but I am sure it would have cost a pile. The park creates a magical world of fairies, goblins and pixies. My girl loved it, as we entered an ethereal world. The Park is spread over 4000 sq meters and is housed in 3 large domes, which have climate control.
The park opens from 0930 and closes at 6 in the evening. The entrance fee is AED 50, which is equivalent to about Rs 950. It does look steep to an Indian, but for the pleasure it gives, the price is just about fine. Once you enter the park, you are ushered into the world of butterflies. The park has nearly 2600 species of Butterflies from all over the world. The decor inside simulates the world of butterflies, which are from all over the globe. But I feel there needs to be greater information about the butterflies and their species displayed. As you traverse the park and sit on the many benches inside, the butterflies will come and sit on you, on your hand or anything and this is itself an absolute delight. An array of trained personnel look after the butterflies and lovers and children find it delightful.
The butterflies hover over you and one can easily spend a couple of hours observing the butterflies. I was reminded of Shillong which had so many butterflies floating around, because the climate suited them. Here the climate inside the domes is controlled and natural flowers and a garden add to the ecology of the park. Obviously a lot of study has been done before this park came up and the result is something that is not ordinarily seen.
Dubai is now a mega metropolis rivaling London and New York and last year its airport handle 61 million passengers. Such exotic parks add to the lustre of the city and my american friend confessed that she that the park was unique.
Attached to the park is a small museum and souvenir shop. The souvenir shop sells butterflies framed in glass cases, that can be hung on the wall or just kept on a table. I recollect that in Shillong this was a thriving business, but it was stopped by the government. I do not favor selling framed butterflies as it is a form of cruelty. One can also pick other souvenirs like photos and trinkets. My friend bought a few of them, but not the framed butterflies.
Attached to the park is an excellent cafeteria, that serves snacks as well as cold and hot tea or coffee. No alcohol of course and that is a good thing. As I held my friends hand with the butterflies hovering around us, I could sense the creation of a magical moment. I don't think any visitor to park can come away and not be affected by the glorious ambience and lovely world of butterflies. Its unique and I will recommend a visit to anybody who comes here. I wonder why we in India cannot create such exotic places.
The Dubai Butterfly park is a thing of joy and it shows a pragmatic and progressive min set. It is also a place to rekindle a long lost love affair. Such places reinforce, the status of Dubai as a world tourist centre.
I have added one photo of the park taken by me, Hope it will create for the readers the magical world that is revealed.
9 years ago
Shampa Sadhya replied to the topic We also have a duty in every social change.
anil wrote:
Shampa Sadhya wrote:
Even parents use unfair means for enrolling their child in Montessori only to get a seat in a reputed school. This is how we instil immoral values in our children.
You are right but parents are not only responsible for it, our system is also responsible. Good schools are not enough here. What parents do?
Yes, I agree that parents have their own reasons but by doing so we are encouraging corruption and not trying to curb it. Thus, we have no right to accuse others for corruption when we too practice it whenever time demands ill practice.
9 years ago
Shampa Sadhya replied to the topic Press Like with or without reason....
One who likes an article without reading it then I feel you can do nothing about such member unless the admin takes a strong step against him/her. Even corruption is here too.
9 years ago
vijay replied to the topic Arun Jaitley - freedom if expression and Nationalism can coexist.
These are the days of pseudo nationalists and pseudo secularists who want to create a mirror image of Pakistan
9 years ago
vijay replied to the topic Does the youth of India need campus politics?.
The ABVP has a big role in the projection of Kanhaiya.
9 years ago
Kalyani Nandurkar said thank you to usha manohar for his/her reply to the topic Bharat Mata- history of the concept.
MG Singh wrote:
Gulshan Kumar Ajmani wrote:
MG Singh wrote:
Recently a Muslim seminary has issued a Fatwa against reciting " Bharat Mata ki Jai". This incidentally is a slogan used by the Army and Air force on Parade. There are Muslims in the armed frces( Though few in number) who are also supposed to chant this slogan. What should they do? failure to chant it during a parade is a offence and the soldier will face a court martial. Unfortunately the Congress has betrayed India.
Each army regiment has its own slogan based on the composition. To elucidate, Punjab Regiment/ Sikh regiment have slogan appropriate to Sikh religion. The Gurkha have their own slogan. Army has its own discipline. The army persons have to go by regiment tradition and rules and not according to fatwa.
What you are talking off is the Battle cry which is distinct for each Regiment. Battle cry is not used in parade. Here there is a slogan like bharat mata ki jai. It is universal to all regiments. Hope i have clarified.? The Muslim leadership is acting as a divisive force he'll bent on another partition
So, this what it comes to after a systematic division of the country by one stupid party and its piwer hungry leaders that put itself above everything including the safety of the nation,..
9 years ago
Kalyani Nandurkar replied to the topic New: Community Engagement Benefits.
anil wrote:
Kalyani Nandurkar wrote:
suni51 wrote:
Babu saroj wrote:
suni51 wrote:
I was talking in general interest and telling members that there is nothing wrong in any activity that allows them points and helps site.
sir does liking 30 to 40 comments in a day and getting points for that does that make the member a spammer.
Not at all the site is free for all, do anything within the rules and you are good to earn points :)
Be careful as he may not understand the sarcasm you mean in your reply and he might take liking all posts seriously! LOL
person who is earning 30 40 points with liking post devoting enough time for it and he is also doing other job of site.
Not sure whether you are for liking posts indiscriminately or against it.
9 years ago
Kalyani Nandurkar said thank you to usha manohar for his/her reply to the topic Arun Jaitley - freedom if expression and Nationalism can coexist.
Gulshan Kumar Ajmani wrote:
anil wrote:
Gulshan Kumar Ajmani wrote:
No doubt, BJP has no business to assume that others are anti nationalist by their own narrow angle. I also don't feel that BJP brand nationalism is real nationalism. They from time to time indulge in minority bashing and asking those who differ to go to Pakistan. It is every one's knowledge that the Sangh Pariwar has a unique and perverted understanding of nationalism that does not fit in the concept of university in diversity. By their communal and fascist approach, the saffron party acts against the concept of diversity of religion, thoughts and culture. Thus in true sense, BJP goes against the true Indian nationalism.
Gulshan ji you may agree that members of all political parties are equal, no difference among them. If BJP brand nationalism is not real nationalism than please tell which is real nationalism. which party is ambassador of real nationalism. Member of all parties speaking nonsense. shashi throor compare Bhagat Singh with Kanhya.
RSS/BJP most shamelessly and emphatically stand for Hindu Rashtra and raise provocative issues targeting minority as well as lower castes. No other organization does this. Talking of Shashi Tharoor or some one else making wrong statement is not comparable to brazen fascist communal politics of RSS/BJP. Such comparison is like lamenting for loss of hair of one while another has been beheaded.
India is a nation of Hindus and any organization cannot be called shameless for wishing to have a Hindu Rashtra , exz cept people who are communal and have a double agenda. RSS thankfully does not pretend but is open abt it's agenda which is why it had garnered such a huge support base and I hope it grows ...what we need now is a disciplined governance not a sychopant one family based dictatorship.
9 years ago