chaotic order

The moral damages of war can seldom be altered by peace. In the long history of Man’s carnage in the name of territory, ambition and unbridled foolishness, the victim has always been the hapless “soldier” on either side, who wields his lanc e, or sword or the gun for a cause that he does not understand or sympathize; but yet, gives himself to the task of plunging headlong into battlefield with impunity and increasing relish. The psychological consequences of such an internal hardening is bound to unleash within, when the heat of war and flow of blood have ebbed; and he needs to integrate back with society that awaits him as the person that he was. How many stable families have been left emotionally, physically, morally and in million other ways uprooted from their cloistered lives; thrown into this maddening milieu of an ideological war; drawn to it by a strange taste of nationalism; passions running high, blood boiling with a fever characteristic of youthful folly heading into a mora

Dr Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan - A teacher, philosopher and a Statesman  ( A homage to a teacher from an aspiring student in me) The year - 1952. A touching moment in history, when Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, walked into Joseph Stalin’s spaci ous and ornately furnished office in Moscow for the last time to bid him farewell, after his tenure as the first ambassador of India to the Soviet Union. After brief pleasantries, he held Stalin’s hands and said “You know, there was a great emperor in India, who renounced his kingship after a bloody purge and became a monk. His name was Ashoka “, and with an enigmatic smile continued – “God knows, what will become of you…” Not many men have ever had the audacity to look at Stalin in his eye, let alone talk to him on the morality of his actions, or in a condescending tone. However, the aging dictator, understood the deep import of the sage’s words and his intention; and with a trembling voice replied “Yes sir, Miracles do happen!!! After all I have

Few in the annals of Indian classical music have achieved greater virtuosity, global fame and unfading aura of mystic lure than Pandit Ravi Shankar - the renowned sitarist, who died in San Diego a couple of years ago.. His transcendental co ncentration, absorption and austere stage presence has thrilled audiences all over the world. Since his migration to the United States in the early sixties, to join his brother- the versatile dancer Uday Shankar; they helped forge the deep traditions of the Hindustani music and classical dance forms within the ambit of other popular genres; and gave their successors and fellow artists a platform to explore and experiment. It would be fair to say that they were the first to step out of conservative restraints that tightly bound the schools of Indian art, and give it a voice that was truly universal. However, this short essay is not about him. But about Ravi Shankar’s ex-wife Annapurna Devi, daughter and protégé of the legendary Ustad Allauaddin Khan

The voice of religion is essentially simple. An expansion of consciousness, an all embracing empathy, a deep sense of justice and equality that transcends boundaries of color and culture; and a vision of God that is closely tied to earth, h owever transcendent its metaphysics may be. The thousand fragments of established religions try to bury this honest truth under rubbles of theology, customs and inane morality: the Catholic versus protestant; the Shia versus Sunni, the Hindu versus Buddhist - these are but variations of a single universal theme of oneness emphasized and practiced in different denominations. A J Cronin’s novel “the Keys of the kingdom” written in 1941 captured the essence of this doctrine in the life of a Christian missionary, sent to far eastern China to establish the word of God among “natives”. It proves to be an uphill struggle for the young handsome priest Francis to enter the realms of faith and trust in the hearts of practical Chinese, whose philosophy of Con

Sir Richard Attenborough - A tribute Scarcely would you find in the world of Visual arts and drama, an artist singularly dedicated to a project over three decades, channeling his entire life force to the consummation of a world vision and  philosophy that needed an audacious and honest interpretation in modern times; surmounting obstacles - financially, bureaucratically and physically, in bringing to screen the biography of a man whose life was nothing short of a miracle in an age and time that he “walked” on earth, a life widely acknowledged by the global community as befitting a saint amongst statesmen in an otherwise incarnadined history of independence struggles. Richard Attenborough, who created the celluloid consecration of Mahatma Gandhi quietly left us a couple of days ago, without a whimper, in the fullness of ninety one years. His wife Sim, with whom he had lived his entire married life of seventy odd years lay lost and unperturbed in her delusionary dream world caused by ag

“Can reason overcome addiction?” this young lady asked me with a quizzical look on her face, as we were sitting in Delta’s lounge in the airport. It is was seven in the morning, and my flight was due in a couple of hours. I was sipping a cup of coffee, reading Will Durant’s “Interpretations of Life”, when she stumbled on to a bar stool nearby, and hastily requested for a shot of Makers mark. I cou ld see her fingers trembling a bit, and she seemed rather restless. The moment the generous bartender (as they always are in airline lounge’s...) slid the glass to her with a warm greeting, she grabbed it with both her hands and gulped it down her throat. As the liquid wound its serpentine way to her stomach, her face and body palpably began relaxing; a flush of satisfaction coursed through her face coloring her cheeks with a faint flush of redness – a sign of an overwhelming ache, satiated. It was then that she noticed me watching her, and gently nodded her head. I put down the book I was r

Cont. : An examined life - A brief study of two lives Unlike Spinoza, whose life was spurred by an excommunication decree by Temple elders; Jiddu Krishnamurti was embraced by a sect as its next World Messiah. His entire childhood was a preparation for him to ascend a spiritual throne that would have given him unlimited power, authority and sway. But unlike Spinoza again, JK (as he is popularly  known) voluntarily cut asunder the ties that bound him, abdicated his position as a leader and declared himself unconditionally free. His story needs to be told in slightly more detail… The term Theosophy, etymologically derives from its root “God’s wisdom”. It is a kind of syncretistic philosophy, which included esoteric elements from various streams of religious thought: Islamist Sufi doctrines, the mystery of kabbalah, the tantric rumblings of ancient India - all found a place in this system. Its origins can be traced to very beginnings of the Christian era, and has remained in vogue though