'Sanghi' Intolerance

To deride Culture, and its icons, and alienate the average daily-breadwinner Do-ers, from progressive Thinkers, is a ploy that Fascism has used throughout History. One of the easiest means to achieve that end, is to play the 'Thinkers are Elitist' card! You don't have to look too deep to see that Fascists are resorting to such propaganda, as they realize (or have always realized) that the only thing, standing between them and their goals, is the liberal free-thinking Leftist ideology.

Most Indians feel infidelity not a sin: Survey [TOI]

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Most-Indians-feel-infidelity-not-a-sin-survey-shows/articleshow/44353938.cms

Is sexual fidelity all that important, really?
Sexual infidelity, I guess, it's like hard drugs, something you think might do a bit of good, but sensibly(?) unwilling to figure out, at what cost.

Leaving aside the 'morality', we've been taught, as part of our 'bringing-up' in our respective religions, I don't think sexual fidelity is The Key to a relationship. I guess the last part of the article sums it up, for me! Then again, it also has everything to do with the male and female approach to sex.

Also, as far as I know, Christianity & Islam make a big deal out of it, but Hinduism is not intolerant on sexual infidelity - as with so many other things.

OFF-TOPIC : Sometimes, I think Hinduism, which has naturally evolved / is evolving over time, absorbing and amalgamating ideas from diverse faiths, races, regions etc, across ages , allows for a more 'personal' experience with God, helping you to define your God, with what you learn as you go along the road to your grave. But there is a place for you in Hinduism, however you define your personal God. This probably has to do with the 'unorganized' nature of the Hindu Faith.

Christianity and Islam, on the other hand, have had a more 'controlled' development (as against a natural evolution), from the time of their founding, and are still based heavily on the socio-economic, political and religious conditions prevalent at specific points in our History. As such, they offer limited scope for you to 'define' a Power that you are most comfortable sharing your news, with! :)

Disclaimer : I consider myself to be a believer in God, but am not a big fan of organized religion. However, I do belong to a faction of the Christian Church, and these are my personal views that were formed, probably some time in my 20s (in my 30s now!). I was brought up in the Christian faith, and have made a mish-mash of things in my head, to try and reconcile what I am taught to believe, what I understand, and what I believe - a delicate balance, indeed! :) Though I am pretty interested, I've not really had a chance to read / learn / know further - and like organized religion, I have been stagnant at this PoV for some time, now!

Aug 15

We are a great nation. Pretty much all other nations are great, too. 

On this Independence Day, let us be grateful for all that has made us what we are. Jai Hind!

http://koenraadelst.bharatvani.org/articles/hinduism/macaulay.html

Traitor

We ridicule them about their 70 virgins. To die for your God - or for anything at all - takes great strength of character. We forget that. No one wins unless we understand them. And when we begin to understand them, we realize, they are not all that different from us. - Thoughts from watching 'Traitor' one more time. :(

'കേരള ജനതയെ ധന്യമാക്കുവോ?!'**

Mr. Advani's apology to Mrs. Gandhi, over his accusation on her (family's) alleged Swiss-bank accounts, is perhaps the only political news-item in the recent past, that seems to suggest that everything might not be wrong everywhere, after all.

However, that most media soundbytes and columns on the apology portray Mr. Advani as less-than-clever, or even downright clueless; and that the BJP itself, instead of taking pride that it has a gentleman of impeccable integrity at the helm, has gone on the defensive; bear testimony to the degeneration of modern-day political and social life, where common decency, politeness and good-manners are looked upon as shortcomings.

We deserve the kind of leaders we get!

**Header courtesy : "കേരള ജനതയെ ധന്യമാക്കുവോ?!" - Jagathy Sreekumar, as a slick manipulator in an otherwise-forgettable & cliched Malayalam movie on Keralam's Central-Travancore Christian politics.

2011!

Are we programmed to deny the utter meaninglessness of how we live out our lives? 

Or is it that we over-glorify human life, to realize that we really are no different from worker ants or cabbage plants?

Legacy

I heard about a death, today. Someone I knew, in my childhood. Though he was a regular in my parents’ set of friends at the time, I seem to have only one memory of him, now: a bright, sunny day, a lively party of a few families in a charming green cove, and his voice and his laugh booming over everyone else’s, as he regaled the ‘grown-ups’ with his stories, and songs.

Though his name did bob up in our conversation, infrequently, over the years, I can’t remember when I last saw him.

His friends cannot remember him as anything but a cheerful, witty man. I heard that, towards the end, he even made up some joke about his having a few months left. In fact, he cared enough to catch up with all his friends, and say goodbye, when he learned that he only had a couple of months left. To stare death in the face, and laugh with those that think they aren't, takes a brave man.

To have lived, and left your loved ones with memories that can’t but make them smile, is a genuine blessing. “He lived a happy life, and he made us happy”, is not something that all of us can look forward to, on our graves.

May his soul, rest in peace. May his spirit live on, with his family and friends.