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Today, I found out that Times Of India uses URL tagging in their news stories. In plain-speak, it means they add keywords in the news URLs to bait readers. Consider this URL:
This is Chetan Bhagat’s article explaining his comments praising Narendra Modi. The words after 29468641_1_ in the URL are keywords to bait readers: Modi, Sanjiv Bhatt. Anything typed after 29468641_1_ points to the same article. Try pasting this URL in your browser:
Going forward, when you share links to ToI news stories, use this feature well. Another example: This link
can be shared as:
and so on. Have fun!
This, I hope, is the last post dedicated to the late godman.
Take some time out (an hour, to be precise) and watch this BBC documentary Secret Swami. If the godman doesn’t interest you, watch it for a good selection of music and a bit where Murli Manohar Joshi loses his cool:
You know the meaning of interviewing a minister in my capacity; a minister of my stature?
It is worth watching the documentary for this bit alone.
Someone needs to remind him that he is a servant (quite like a hired driver) and not a ruler of the people.
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A similar well-written and researched piece appeared in Caravan Magazine.
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Key leaders of both political parties (Advani, Vajpayee, MM Joshi, Manmohan Singh, Shivraj Patil) were followers. For over a decade — it doesn’t matter which party you voted for — both parties have refused to look into allegations (which you can be assured are true). Yet another example where voting is mostly an illusion of choice.
This ought to make you smile:
.. much, much better.
The scoop is that an Indian version of Coke Studio is in the works. I don’t have a good feeling about it. I’ll be happy to be proven wrong.
Link via Bandra Girl.
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My fingers at itching to do a Dear MTV India, Here’s How You Can Get It Right post. But that’s arrogant, I’m lazy and no one from MTV India is reading this blog.
P.S.: Still, contact Rohail Hyatt. He is a nice, courteous person.
An infographic on how the internet is killing the planet.
Be sure to forward it around.
[Source]
After the news of his death came in, the devotees started chanting Maha Mrityunjaya Mantra (invocation to conquer death) at the Sathya Sai temple in Kharavelanagar. The mantra will be chanted for 72 hours and after that Baba will come alive, the devotees said.
“Sai Baba will talk to us again. He can’t die,” said Paresh Mishra, a devotee from Dhenkanal, who had come to the city temple after hearing the news of his death. “Doctors are nobody to pronounce the death of God. We are nobody to comment on death of God. It is his wish. He knows the best and does the best,” he added.
Even an average devotee will say this is silly.
(Or perhaps that’s just what I want to believe.)
Aditya writes in:
I admire Sachin because he is a good cricketer not because I perceive him to be a super human perfect being. I don’t look to him for philosophical analysis but for good batting. If a belief in an invisible friend in the sky or divinity of a dude with an afro helps him to do his job better who am I to complain?
I don’t think there is anything wrong in admiring some qualities or opinions of a person while disagreeing with others.
My problem with religious people starts when they try to dictate my and everyone else’s lives around what some arbitrary dude hundreds or thousands of years ago might have said. As long people do whatever they want with their own money and in their own life I say let them.
I agree, in part.
Sachin is one the greatest cricketers and his admirers are having to reconcile with the fact that he is a devotee. Some fans admit that he has a moronic side while others feel that they need to separate the cricketer from the devotee. After all, they admire Sachin for what he does on the field.
But it is complex and here’s why you cannot just separate the two: Such high-profile people are largely responsible for no legal action against misdeeds — to put it mildly — of gurus. Imagine a politician saw Sachin or a similar high-profile person visiting a spiritual guru, turned curious, paid a visit himself and became a devotee. Years later, a case is filed about serious crimes. This minister, now perhaps a central minister or worse, the Prime Minister, writes a public letter saying they stand by their guru. (That’s pretty much what happened.)
I have no issues with my family or friends being deeply religious — it is a personal choice which affects no one (unless we’re talking about a Butterfly Effect). But religious people who wield a certain influence often conflate their beliefs with their duties. And that is a problem.
If I am intellectually honest, I’ll say that he is the greatest cricketer but he has a side that, while personal and not rational, can have harmful side-effects. And whenever I applaud him, I will remember that I am adding to his influence which I know has certain harmful side-effects.
This need not be your view.
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Just for completeness’ sake, let me add that I have no issues with even fraudulent spiritual gurus. They are entrepreneurs. But we ought to draw the line when they commit crimes — just like we would do for anyone else.
A beautiful picture of Pakistani Hindu pilgrims walking up a mud volcano:
It reminds me of the final scenes of Lord Of The Rings. There is also a Gollum following them.
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I have been obsessed with Lord Of The Rings of late. I was a huge fan a few years ago but with time, I forgot details. Over the last two weekends, I once again saw extended versions of the three movies totaling 11 hours and now I’m watching them again. There is so much more to discover about Middle Earth than what the book or the movies convey. Wikipedia or the LOTR Wikia makes for a good companion. Oh, and I also discovered the origin of the words Fly, You Fools! (Those are the last words of Gandalf, The Grey to the fellowship.)
The background score is wonderful too. Leitmotifs of Rohan and the Shire are my favourites.
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If Lord Of The Rings were written in the Indian subcontinent a few thousand years ago, today we’d be praying to Frodo and celebrating Dussehra the day the ring was destroyed in the fires of Mount Doom. Sam would be revered like Lakshmana and Merry and Pippin would be Bharat and Shatrughan. Frodo would also be the eternal bachelor eliminating the need for a Lord Ganesh (NA to North Indians). The Shire would be a village in North India (now commercialized) and the location where Peregrin Took dropped his elven brooch (so Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas could track them) would be a pilgrimage center. Orcs would be rakshasas; Valinor would be swarga; Valar would be gods who chose to take life in human form; Ainur would be the Trimurti.
Two years after the War Of The Ring, all divine forms on Middle Earth would take samadhi and return to Indralok. Not before Frodo orders Sam to take an agnipariksha to prove he wasn’t the one who ate the lembas at Cirith Ungol.
Millenia later, evil would have again raised its ugly head in Middle Earth and the next incarnation of Frodo would be Luke Skywalker.
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Oh, and really hardcore fans of LOTR would be part of quite a few bloody riots.
Swapan Dasgupta — who I’m told makes good, sound arguments otherwise — writes A Free State Has The Right To Self-Defence.
Some libertarian supporters of Sen have argued that passive extremism, including calls for the violent overthrow of the state and secession, should be tolerated as long as there is no actual involvement with the real world. This implies that jihadi propaganda can be tolerated as long as those advocating violence aren’t involved in any terror cell. They can legitimately remain detached motivators.
Straw man 1.
Finally, there is a much larger issue. Must democracy be a constant punching bag? Should the state have no right of self-defence?
Rhetorical straw man 2.
