Everyone comes with an expiry date. But unlike man-made packaged stuff, the Ultimate-Maker-made human body does not bear any warning of its exit time. This glorious uncertainty encourages a delusion of immortality, an assumed assurance of seeing as many daylights as is ‘humanly’ possible and is at the root of all material motivations as well as spiritual quests.
Author: T R Jawahar
Nothing brings out the duplicity and diligence of Tamilnadu politicos as lingo loyalty does. Suddenly there is a race to the battlefront to protect Tamil that ‘predates sand and stone’. The provocation for the war cry from here is an advisory of the Ministry of Home Affairs directing that all official announcements on social media be made in Hindi, the familiar foe.
The odd feeling of change and status quo co-existing is not wholly misplaced. The more things appear to have altered the more they seem to remain the same after some period or even in instant incisive scrutiny.
What does ‘being sensitive’ mean? The term in common parlance refers to a positive trait. The scale of sensitivity applies to both individuals and society.
Narendra Modi’s icon is (Narendra-turned) Swami Vivekananda and not without reason. It was Swamiji who invoked this ancient land’s glories and spoke about the power of an individual and what he or she can achieve if only the person strengthens the will and remains steadfast in action. He aroused and awakened a nation steeped in political and mental slavery, thus laying the foundations of the freedom movement.
Tiring. A simple but apt term that describes the over sixty-day grind, that leaves an entire nation panting for breath. All the thrills of a throbbing democratic exercise that involved a billion people were present in great abundance throughout, but at the end of it all, the overwhelming thought is: Thank God, it’s over!
The week started with the tragic news of the death of a Chennai Major, Mukund Varadarajan, up in distant Kashmir fighting Hizbul Mujahideen militants. The weekend is abuzz with the twin bomb blasts deep down in Chennai at Central station that took the life of 24-year-old Swati, an unsuspecting passenger en route to meet her parents in AP. In between, on Tuesday there was the providential arrest in the city of, Sakir Hussein, an ISI agent from Sri Lanka, by Central agencies, and interrogations appear to have opened up/confirmed many threats about Jihadi activity. If reports are to be believed, and they should be, TN and Chennai, are very much inside the jihadi terror arc.
The lukewarm to poor voter turnout in the key metros of India is perhaps the unkindest cut on democracy. You can have our voice but not necessarily our vote, seems to be the urbanites’ answer to the national call of duty. The most noisy crowd on national issues feels nary a compulsion to follow up indignation and ideas with action.
There is probably a good reason why the Election Commission chose Thursday 24 April instead of Friday the 25th for polling in TN. As a tradition barring occasional deviations new movies get released on Fridays nationally, but the EC probably wanted to be extra cautious in this Tinsel Nadu.