All Hindu festivals are multi-layered. The most popular Deepavali at a superficial level, comes at the start of a season when there is extended darkness in the mornings and early ones in the evening. The array of lights and burst of crackers are meant to usher in an early dawn and spread brightness and bonhomie during those dim climes. Suffice to say that solar and lunar influences have been adequately factored in, lending the symbolisms scientific and astronomic credence too.
Author: T R Jawahar
A survey claims that around 75% of young Indians want to run their own business. This figure is the highest among the emerging economies and way ahead of China. A big bulk of these dreaming dare-devils are first timers with fresh ideas or gen-next adventurists just wanting to be different. It is this raging entrepreneurial spirit that is expected to propel India to the top of the global ladder.
What happens when you have to stop doing, either voluntarily or owing to circumstances, what you very passionately love doing? And what if that thing is not just a hobby or a pastime but a lifetime or rather, a lifeline, profession or a higher calling? Of course, not everyone gets this unique gift of combining profit and passion and in most cases, work or vocation is a drudgery that fetches the daily bread while the soul seeks out other sources of self-fulfilment. Still, one tends to take this prize of providence for granted and plunges headlong, only to feel a profound personal pang when the time comes for parting.
Lalu always loved cattle. He enjoyed playing the rustic villager, the humble simpleton who rose against the mighty feudal lords of his land, and in all this he invoked bovine intervention very liberally. His animal farm was the launching pad for his foray into the political stage. But then he stretched his addiction to livestock a bit too far. He stabbed those very backs that helped him ride to power. Lalu looted in their name and what was due to them.
A recent study, according to a news agency report, has found that ‘anger is viral; anger is the most influential emotion on-line, inciting more responses than other sentiments such as joy or sadness … anger spreads faster and more broadly than joy …’. The study was about social media trends and not a poll of people physically. Millions of tweets and their responses were analysed and the result was an overwhelming vote for anger.
I was impatiently awaiting news on Modi’s anointment as BJP’s PM candidate for an entirely different reason. All the hocus pocus in the lotus camp were upsetting my Friday deadline and when it became apparent that any decision could see light only by twilight at best, I decided to commence my karmic duty, come what may.
Lofty jargons like fiscal deficit, current account deficit etc make little sense to a populace caught in a chaotic economic scenario. But crystal clear to all is the credibility deficit, the refusal of our netas and babus to walk their talk. Clearly, the Government and politicians are unwilling to do what they want us to do.
I had resolved to steer clear of him this week, whatever the provocation. But then, the best laid plans of men, mice and me stand no chance against the malignant, albeit magnetic misdeeds, of MSingh’s rule. More so when the PM himself has made bold to address the nation over an economy, a powerhouse like Caesar that now lay in a pool of blood.
That files relating to a serious multi-crores scam can go missing from that ministry’s archives is itself sinister. But the lost files point to a larger loss: Missing character of the rulers, as a consequence of which people’s trust in public individuals and institutions have also gone missing. The nation indeed has lost something more valuable than money. The depletion in values and confidence levels beats the depreciating rupee hands down!