Uttarayan (apparent northward movement of the Sun) started on Dec 23rd 2006. Due to an error in the Hindu calendar, Uttarayan still is assumed to happen on Jan 14/15th odd - which was the date a thousand or more years ago...Time Hindus grew up and opened their eyes and actually looked in the skies for some truths - not just the old texts...
Unfortunately ever since Rajeev wrote the article about the Tsunami, I have stopped holding him in high regard as a sensible person...he is just one of the other south indians who keep beating their drums that they are the best, they are the best. seen many many such south indians...
What happened to hinduisms vasudaiv kutumbakam. why do you want the chinese to suffer bad effects of industrialisation...are they not humans? or they are not south indians so you dont like them. if you look at anthropology texts, the ancestors of people from indonesia traveled and moved into eastern and southern india and china...but of course that was long before hinduism began...so i guess that would not apply to Rajeev...
The more I see the world the more I start understanding Mark Twain's quote "Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness."
Time for hindus, muslims, christians from india to travel. not just travel - but open their eyes, travel and understand how similar we all are... its a beautiful and amazing world...if we only want to see...
RE:uttarayan, china, humanity
by Tigger_and_Pooh on Jan 31, 2007 01:11 AM Permalink
1. who are the authors of the so calle d"anthropologt texts that you read"?
2. what is your basis to assert the date of start of hinduism?
RE:uttarayan, china, humanity
by Sudheer Tumuluru on Jan 31, 2007 01:38 AM Permalink
Where the hell did Rajeev mention anything about north or south? He didn't talk about north or south at all, rather Bengal and Madras: both being on the east coast. So you got your directions messed up dude!
And, could you please substantiate your conjecture that some Indians migrated from Indonesia (that's a new one): in fact it is quite the opposite. Indian influences, specifically Maurya (through Ashoka and his children), Kalinga and Chola dynasties are present in ancient IndoChina: Angkor Wat being the prime example.
Rajeev never said that Chinese should suffer because of industrialization: that is already happening. Since China is already the world's workshop, we in India can look at our inner strengths and harness those instead of just aping others.
I fail to understand why you would develop an inferiority complex just looking at the author's name and quickly blurt out random s*#t that south indian this, north indian that. Let's try to be mature and think as one nation instead of trying to blame so ethnicity for thinking differently from you! It is better to keep your mouth shut instead of speaking out and let the world know you are an idiot.
RE:RE:uttarayan, china, humanity
by me on Jan 31, 2007 03:08 AM Permalink
lets wind our clocks back - more than what vedas, upanishads, hindus could tell us...say around 10000 years ago? that would be what archaeology could tell us. and what do you see? humans migrate out from africa. from arabia they enter "india" of that time. settle down. in a few years a giant volcano erupts in the indian ocean near present day indonesia. a 6 year nuclear winter sets in in india and pakistan because of the volcanic cloud. populations in this subcontinent get wiped out. after the nuclear winter people from indonesia slowly start moving back along the coast toward the subcontinent. one branch moves into india and another branch moves to china from our north east. it is still a long long time before hinduism will begin. angkor wat is a very very recent example in archaeological terms.
when you talk of inner strengths and not aping others, i think u need to introspect. what do hindu rituals do? are hindus not aping the past without even knowing what mumbo jumbo they utter? are any of the hindu rituals relevant in any bit of way to ur current lives? how many of u actually planned ur own weddings? how many actually have plain unadulterated fun at ur weddings - days which r supposedly desginated to be your own when u should be happiest to bond with your lifemates. i have woman hindu friends who dont even talk of their marriage because all they did were some rituals which they didnt like...they are ashamed of the rituals that they did...(or were forced on them)
live in the present and love the people around u rather than ur rituals and your pasts...
love begins when religion ends. u will learn to love human beings of all colors, sexual orientations, countries, disabilities only if u stop thinking that my religion is better than ur religion, my country better that urs, my state better than urs, my language better that urs...
read material that is actually scientific..gives unbiased views. its time a scientific uprising starts in india which frees it from all its mangal doshas and kuja doshas and shani rahus ketus, sea water near some dargah turning sweet, ganpati drinking milk.... people should learn to live brave happy simple lives with a scientific attitude of learning new things everyday and dusting off old cobwebs.
RE:RE:RE:uttarayan, china, humanity
by Sudheer on Jan 31, 2007 05:31 AM Permalink
I am not sure which volcanic eruption you are referring to. If it is the Krakatoa eruption, the earliest recorded eruption was in 416AD. It is also a known fact that Ashoka ruled from 273-232BC. BTW, in 416AD, people in Indonesia followed the "Hindu" religion and had Hindu kings. So please give us more specific references (URLS??).
While I totally agree with you that we should reform our old Hindu calendar and not get immersed in our own dogma and ritualistic practices, Rajeev's point was not regarding the accuracy of this date, but just the significance of it. Almost all cultures have celebrated the Winter Solistice in one way or another: the date December 25th for Christmas is not actually the day of Jesus's birth, but was chosen by the Romans because it was convenient to celebrate it with the pagan festival of the Winter Solistice: the day the worshipped the sun for his triumph over darkness (Sol Invictus).
Also, just to be clear, while I do not agree with Rajeev's views of blaming everything that's bad in India on communist past and its current vestiges; I like the general tone in his articles which give an optmistic look at the future. Nothing wrong with uplifting articles, with a touch of self-aggrandizement ;-)
RE:RE:RE:RE:uttarayan, china, humanity
by me on Feb 01, 2007 12:07 AM Permalink
wind your clock much much more behind 416AD. 416ad is less than 2000 years ago. i was referring to something that happened more than 10000 years ago.. the volcanic eruption i was referring to was long long long long before hinduism existed. here you go. http://www.bradshawfoundation.com/journey/
the more we learn about humankinds journey or even life's journey through evolution, the more certain we become of one repeating truth that - we are all one. be it one with humans, one with animals, one with all life in general. the future will only be optimistic if we learn to look at people of all countries as citizens of earth who want a better life a more fulfilling life. look at tensions growing due to japanese military increases, or north korea's nuclear ambitions. or islam's fundamentalist, radical missionaries. if we continue looking at other countries, other religions as enemies, we are only hastening our end. if we look for our successes in defeating others, we may win but a short sighted war.
the urge to compete for survival is innate in humans, and all living beings alike. But to make a systematic organized machinery of hate, lies and mistrust on the basis of artificial borders like countries and religions is only a human 'inhumane' tendency. i think it is time to find happiness in a more positive way. something that will benefit earth and life on earth. not benefit just one nation or one religion. it is time to find the correct meaning of vasudaiv kutumbakam (it should not mean colonizing the earth by one powerful country or one religion. but just living peacefully/innocently (not ignorantly) with all living things)
RE:RE:RE:uttarayan, china, humanity
by vijay kumar on Feb 07, 2007 12:41 AM Permalink
If a massive volcano occur in Indonesia and people in Indian subcontinent get wiped out. How did people in Indonesia survive? Can you please explain that.
Hi, When we develop industrialized area in adjacent states to WB, and grow the adjacent states in very well level, then only those people will realize their mistakes & their ignorance and adopt a change to come out of the redness. We don't have any political setup in china like what china has marxist in india. We might devise one if the situation demands that serious.
RE:RE:Big B seems pretentious
by Ranvir Kumar on Jan 30, 2007 10:59 PM Permalink
YES ABEER...ABSOLUTELY ! TOTALLY ! JUST LOOK AT SRK's AWESOME RECORD: Devdas, Chalte-Chalte, Kal Ho Na Ho, Main Hoon Na, Veer-Zaara, KANK and Don ...ALL HITS AND SUPERHITS (and these are only a few of the massive line-up of our hero's hits...) Contrast that with his priniciple rival or so-called principle rival AB: Babul, Sarkar, Virudh, Darna Zaroori Hai, Dil Jo bhi Kahe, Ek Ajnabee, Waqt etc etc...ALL FLOPS AND SUPERFLOPS...Phir MEGASTAR KAUN? Freeze karne laik sirf 1 hi sahee jawaab..KING KHAN !!! Aur Ab BIG B or so-called BIG B ko retire kiyaa jaaye aur Amar Singh ke saath permanently uttar pradesh bhej diya jaaye...!
RE:A nostalgic Video
by sharib khan on Jan 30, 2007 10:41 PM Permalink
i too checked out this video - sitting in my high rise office in manhattan and then stumbling upon this video, made me just feel like catching the next flight back to my hometown in bihar. whoever thsi guy, is thanks a ton for reminding me of makarsankranti - the link is www.ifood.tv/node/1255
RE:RE:A nostalgic Video
by on Jan 31, 2007 05:08 AM Permalink
Man you said it all. Being from Delhi, it reminds me of all places chandi chowk, karol bagh, punjabi bagh... I could not have imagined so many videos coming from Delhi and that too on republic day. I am impressed with ifood.tv
RE:good one
by Tigger_and_Pooh on Jan 31, 2007 01:16 AM Permalink
about IP - it would be unfathomable to you even if i were to explain. but i do agree there has been "ppg" as you said some where down the line.
While I fully endorse and espouse the authors contempt for the left, I do not see the need or the relevance of references to hindu mythology in the article. The left is perhaps the biggest curse India has ever known (after the congress). It has guaranteed that employment and development take a backseat wherever the left has been in power (read kerela and Bengal). The leftist ideology is one based on suppression of freedom of speech, freedom of earning and enjoying wealth and has resulted in little but acute poverty. It really is high time someone took the axe to these Marxists (or self proclaimed intellectuals) and wiped them clean out of the face of indian politics.
Cut the crap buddy. This whole blog is nonsense. I do not understand why rediff published it. I am not against freedom of speech but this article is not even worth of reading. What I get out of it is nothing but right wing hindu propaganda.
And sir if you are talking about "cow and Brahmin" I guess you do not know what hinduism was couple of centuries ago.
Harward has published their video on vedic rituals. Check that out and you will find how cows were killed during yagnyas. so cut the crap.
RE:Crap..
by Sharath Shivashankar on Jan 30, 2007 11:35 PM Permalink
Prashant, Why are you denigrating Hindu culture? What is your point? And where do you live? Do you not see the reality in India. Our Hindu dharma is threatened thanks to our politicians and semi-literate population. Every ancient culture be it christian, Greek, Hindu, or islamic had a few weird practises. Why can't we absorb the best and ignore the rest? I have been reading Rajeev's columns regularly and it is my observation that he cares deeply about India, its history, its potential and the problems it is facing today. Read, understand, think, and then speak Prashant. It is we who need to protect our country and take pride in our culture. Finally, I would not be so naive as to accept and defend the western media's portrayal of our culture.
RE:RE:Crap..
by Southie on Jan 31, 2007 03:57 AM Permalink
i dont think prashant is denigrating the Hindu culture. he is pointing out some truth. there is no place where he says hinduism is a bad monster.
RE:RE:Crap..
by Prashant on Jan 31, 2007 01:46 AM Permalink
Sharath,
I am also proud of my country and care about it as much as any indian does.
But I hate to read hipocritism. Yes I do Read, understand and think, That is why when I see some manipulated articles I try to put my views.
Dont try to glorify hinduism without understanding it and do not say "we had this" and "we did this" without actually undeerstandign what actually you did.
The only point is "stop being hipocritic". Lets accept what we were and try to build a society which believs in equality, equal apportunity and humans intelligns rather than some hiccup/cooked up stories and some outdated scripts/ideology.
As long as marxists , communists are there in India, they will never let India compete against their original motherland (china). They are so shameless, its hard to imagine. Sadly they only occupy two states (pretty much on the way to their doom, Kerala and Bengal),yet try to control whole of India. English Media is partly to blame too, as they give too much coverage to communists parties.
Sir, you have got to take a break from wontonly criticising the usual suspects aka the 'Nehruvians', the Marxists and the Congress. Blaming them alone for all our ills is old hat and is seriously cliched. Have you ever wondered what the effect of pure bred capitalism would have been in the India of 1947? The economic and social circumstances dictated that we follow atleast some kind of strain of socialism which by the way almost all nations (barring japan to an extent) in Asia were doing at that time. To say that we should have followed the Western Model of capitalism right after our independance betrays a lack of knowledge of our economic and social circumstances of that time.
Lastly Mr. Srinivasan, lets amicably agree that all columnists are politicaly biased. In that agreement, why dont you confess which political party of the far right you always write for and support? The readers of rediff.com will be better informed as a result.
RE:Reply to Mr. Srinivasan
by Shadow on Jan 30, 2007 10:06 PM Permalink
Capitalism is not western model!. capitalism encourages businesses which inturn encourages economic activity by job creation and competition!. Capitalism is pure individualism. If you must, that's where everything should start. The governmetn equality distributing everything equally to everyone and everyone is happy happens only in fairytale world of commuism and socialism. In real life, disparty will exist whether capitalistic and communist and we should accept that reality and weave our life in it.
RE:Reply to Mr. Srinivasan
by Tigger_and_Pooh on Jan 31, 2007 01:00 AM Permalink
Dear Alex Joy - I thought your rationale quotient was quite hign until you suddenly jumped to questioning effect of capitalism on india around 1947. And questioning Rajeev's political affinity.
Nehru so short sighted as to over fund only a very few projects - and that too in Punjab (read bhakra-nangal)...so on and so forth...I don't have time, space or patience...
Secondly - why did he commit suicide with shame when he failed India miserably. Be it china or bangladesh or what ever....he failed to deliver. Next thing - With your limited info - I request you to be careful not to delve into analyses like what you did... or rather conclusions.
