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I had not read Tagore earlier except for a few short stories. Tagore’s works have remained relatively unknown outside Bengal, including his writings in English and on subjects far removed from Bengali milieu. I had though read Saratchandra Chatterjee, a contemporary of Tagore, way back in 1960s and 70s during my school-college days, thanks to Marathi translations (by Mama Warerkar) of his novels, which, I remember, were then easily available in libraries. I can still recall reading “Parinita”, “Shrikant”, “ Charitraheen” and being deeply affected by the characterizations and empathy for the poor and the women in his works. I consider him as one of the great novelists and storytellers of the twentieth century and his appeal endures even in these modern times. But Tagore dominates Bengali cultural landscape so overwhelmingly that he overshadows others including Sharatchandra. This had disheartened me a little and possibly that was one unconscious reason for my initial lack of enthusiasm ...

  “ Generations to come will scarce believe that a man as this one ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth”- Albert Einstein on Mahatma Gandhi Talking about Mahatma Gandhi is now unfashionable. For most Indians the Mahatma is apparently no more relevant today, being reduced to a distant figure of an old bespectacled man with a walking-stick, a pious and saint like person to be annually ritualistically remembered on his birth and death anniversary. There are some who revile the man and his ideas, some going to the extent of extolling his assassin as a patriot. But then one wonders why the current regime whose ideology is far removed, even diametrically opposite to the Mahatma’s philosophy of inclusivity, truth and non violence find it necessary to publicly embrace Mahatma Gandhi. Part of the answer lies in the towering stature of the Mahatma and respect it commands globally. This was brought to the fore recently when images of the world's top 20 heads of state together walkin...

  Of late, "Vishwaguru" is a term that one hears and reads more and more frequently in speeches and in writings of the high, the mighty and the wise in India today.  The term denotes at once an aspiration and an assertion. The aspiration refers to India becoming a leading intellectual and moral beacon for the world to follow.  And underlying the assertion lie two beliefs. One is the claim that India in the distant past was a Vishwaguru , a fountainhead of knowledge and wisdom far ahead of the rest of the world. The second belief is that India is poised to become Vishwaguru again and that she is ready to reclaim that status in the not-too-distant future. For some, we already are there. In support of India’s past pre-eminent status are cited various claims of scientific achievements in subjects ranging from mathematical and astronomical sciences and some assertion about existence of airplanes, plastic surgery, genetics, nuclear weapons, television and internet to name...

  Insecure Nationalism It is hard not to notice a sense of insecurity that seems to be pervading all around us.   We Indians seem to have been creepingly overtaken by feelings of insecurities at several levels. One prime case in point is the sense of nationalism. Looking back at the time when we were young, Indian nationalism, forged on the anti- colonial struggle had by that time evolved into a forward looking ethos despite our condition of a poor state struggling with a multitude of problems - poverty, high illiteracy, industrial and agricultural backwardness, lack of educational and healthcare facilities etc . If one were to trace the graph of India's position in the world from the time of independence till date, the nation has been growing steadily - economically, militarily - and it is on a rising graph. We take pride in our growing status in the world. We are no more "violence-fearing peace-mongering," weaklings. In the words of our Leader "Once upon a time w...

  There has always existed a school of thought cutting across political parties (No rth based) which wanted Hindi to be the National language. The constitution does not name Hindi or any other language as National language although promoting Hindi as one of the official language ( the other official language being English, apart from regional languages) has been a declared policy of the government with 14th Sept declared as Hindi diwas to be celebrated every year. The celebrations are mainly confined to token functions in government and affiliated institutes ( like PSUs) and public speeches by ruling politicians exhorting people to poularise use of Hindi. The demand for making Hindi language as the National language keeps surfacing on such ocassions and each time it is raised by some statement from a politician, it leads to controversy. S uch controversies have almost invariably been initiated by politicians from the North and equally invariably engendered fierce opposition mainly ...

  Fartrepreneur A US reality show actress made news headlines sometime back for starting a "business" of selling on-line her farts in a jar. Bizzare ,weird, quirky, obnoxious, pervert - call it what you may but it became a hit with her followers in the social media. She made a small fortune selling her encapsulated smelly product at an astounding 1000 dollars  a jar. She said she got the idea ( what an idea!) after she received  numerous requests from her besotted fans to sell her used bras and undies and thought, like a smart business person, to add  in her product profile another "product"  which was more personal, easy to produce and capable of being "customised". Calling herself "fartrepreneur", she  took to gas producing diet (beans, boiled eggs, cabbage she revealed) maximizing the throughput,  although her her exact formula ( possibly a trade secret) of producing a range of customised olfactory properties is not known.  That was sometime b...