Posts

Hinduism and Homosexuality

Image
The recent debate on decriminalization of Section 377 has fueled “roadside” discussion on homosexuality in India. One student of “WhatsApp University” asked about my stand on decriminalization of Section 377, in order to avoid argotic arguments, I said, I acknowledge homosexuality and then I was asked to provide a rationale for supporting homosexuality. I would like to clear my stand for acknowledging homosexuality on the blog as it would be too long for WhatsApp J I acknowledge homosexuality may be because I am brought up in Hindu tradition which allows ALL kinds of sexualities and excludes none. Hindu scriptures (mostly in Sanskrit and Pali) explains LGBT and queer sexualities (eg. Kriba, Napunsaka, Kinnara, Pedi etc.) in very detailed manner.   Patanjali’s Mahabhasya (Grammer) acknowledges the third gender as Napunsaka and Charaka Samhita (Medicine) acknowledges the third gender as Tritiya Prakriti. The most interesting text to understand sexualities in Hindu tradi

DECODING THE GURU

As a student of sociology, brought up in Gujarati culture I always wondered about existence and influence of gurus, pir and babas. Some iconic personalities raised to level of divinity and worshiped as god is still an avenue of my quest. People like Ramdev Pir, Jalaram Bapa, Sai Baba, Sitaram Bapa, Bhathiji Maharaj, Swaminarayan, etc. appeared during colonial times and are today praised as god. Till date, people like Pandurang Athaval, Swami Chinmayanand, Dada Bhagwan, Shiv Baba, Stya Shree Sai Baba, Sadguru, Shree Shree Ravi Sankar, Osho, etc. are popular across country as a god’s men who are leading various sectarian cults based on Hindu doctrines. Recent outrage followed by arrest of Guru Ram Rahim Inshan and outrage followed before few years after arrest of Asharam Bapu presents an interesting grounds for sociological interpretations of process of legitimizing such bigoted institutions. Fortunately, evidences recorded by my favourite mythologist Devdutt Pattnaik served as great

Sefie, Self and Society

Image
Few weeks ago, I met an old friend of mine in canteen…with a sip of tea she said… “ After looking to your selfie…it feels to meet you daily…but looking to you in real…all such feeling vanishes off… ” we all at that breakfast table giggled at this lame comment on my early morning look but the word selfie stuck in my mind. Do a public image of yours really affects opinion of people about you?  That made me curious about “selfie”. I came across papers/articles by social scientists discussing on Selfies on various theoretical and intellectual grounds. Such debates generally term selfie as obsession to self and pseudo individuality. The basic question is, what selfie is? This actually in itself is big question, potent enough to invite big discourse from social sciences. As of now, selfie is understood as picture of self, taken by self. Surprisingly, I found blogs, messages and mailers suggesting “methods” of taking selfie, electronic market is full of accessories for extending devic

Why I praise Raam and not Ravana?

Image
The stories of Ramayana has always stirred my thoughts since childhood. Different characters of this epic, whether its Manthara, Dashratha, Viswamitra, Janak, Bharat, Guha,  Jatayu, Hanuman, Angad, Shugriva, Vibhishana, Surpanakha, Sabari or any other  are interwoven in my decision making in personal and professional life. This Dussera, I received many WhatsApp memes, Facebook and Twitter posts praising Ravana and accusing Raam for not taking care of his own wife. This forced to me share my thoughts here. First admiration of Ravana is found in argument that “Ravana respected Sita though he abducted here”. It is clear from stories that Ravana kidnapped Sita. But it’s not Ravana who respected Sita, its Mandodari (ravana’s wife) who didn’t allowed her husband to bring “other women” in house without consent of that women. Mandodari forced Ravana follow basic rules of household (were one cannot forcefully bring women in house) and told him that if fails to abide these rules, the city of

Usages of "Gandhi"

Month ago, a senior government officer visited Sabarmati Ashram and explained me that how much it is difficult to understand Gandhi and complex thoughts, approaches and methods of him. Today i came across similar thoughts in article titled  The missingness of Gandhi  by  Shiv Visvanathan.  Instead of editing/commenting his thoughts or text; I simply felt to reproduce it here, because it exactly fits into my thoughts and feelings about usages of "Gandhi" in my age...  ...as  Shiv  Visvanathan  says.... I must confess I am an old-fashioned man. I feel out of place and even out of time. I belonged to an age which honoured the self and not the selfie. Yet I feel strangely relevant as I realise my anger and my memories, my sense of classic and craft has something to say. I have stories that are still worth listening to, yet I feel sad when I look around me. I know my world has shrunk. My icons do not make sense. People have not heard of them. Some even call them my colle

I DON’T CARE !!!

Image
Since last few weeks I came across readers and friends who are facing several issues in their life. Especially in their relationships with parents, spouse or friends. After listening to them and thinking about my own life I realized several things which I feel needs to be shared among all who are facing same emotional turmoil. As humans, we are emotional beings. Beyond our biological and materialistic needs, our heart looks for emotional acceptance, understanding and care. This, at larger level contributes to our need for dignity, peace and happiness. Once fulfilled, we feel comfortable and satisfied with our life. The question here is, does it ever gets fulfilled? Do we always get acceptance, dignity, peace or happiness in the way which we have expected? The answer, I am sure is NO for any normal human being. Very few people only can reach upto level where he/she is completely happy and satisfied. This dissatisfaction and unhappiness actually keeps our life active, it