Just A Thought

Image courtesy Google New Delhi, the capital of India, the Heart of the Nation, is under siege. The city-state is held captive by around 150 to 300 thousand farmers from various states in India. These farmers are opposing the three Farm Acts passed by the Parliament of India in September 2020. What are these Farm Acts? Why are these farmers protesting against these acts? I am not going to discuss them here. I am sure that the Government of India passed these acts with the intention of Farmers’ welfare. And I am also sure that Farmers may have some genuine concerns regarding these acts, which they are afraid of, hence the protests. However, what I would like to point out is the new trend in our country. Protesters are holding the capital to ransom and disrupt the lives of people living here. As witnessed in the Shaheen Bagh protests, where a sit-in protest led to a blockade of a six-lane highway, for 101 days, from 11 December 2019 till 24 March 2020, a new disruptive form of protest ra

Image Courtesy Google A country that gained its independence from 200 years of oppressive foreign rule paid a huge cost for it. Just as the British were leaving, they drew their sword and divided this country into two, India and Pakistan. And the basis of this division was a demand for a separate Pakistan for the Muslims living in India. The day this partition was accepted by Indian National Congress and All India Muslim League, it was etched in stone that Pakistan would be a Muslim State, and India would be a Hindu State, albeit with Hindu and Muslim minority populations. Though Pakistan went on to become an Islamic State, India never even set foot on the path of becoming a Hindu Nation, in a way depriving Hindus of their right. Since our independence, the majority of our leaders have frowned upon being associated with the Hindu religion.   Our leaders wanted India to be a symbol of harmony in the world. They wanted to show the world that leadership in India does not discriminate ba

In the last 7 years, India has witnessed a clear divide between the Left-wing and Right-wing ideologies in politics. The ascent of Narendra Modi and BJP has turned what remained a thin line between the two, into a deep void. And this divide is not restricted to politics anymore. It has made its way into the mindset of the major chunk of the population of our country. And the tool used for this incision is the News; in any form, be it Newspapers, Magazines, Television, or Social Media. However, TV news, it seems, has had the most direct and drastic impact on the political behaviour of the viewers, primarily because of the following reasons: It is a visual medium, which is scientifically proven to be more effective in arousing the interest of the people as compared to written words. It has a wider reach than any other medium, its viewership is not dependent upon the literacy of consumers One can always shift to another channel if the story being covered is not to their liking.

The battle between the Good and the Evil is one of the oldest battles in the History of this universe. Since the inception of our time, we have been hearing stories of continuous war between Good and the Evil. But how many of us have put in thought to understand what exactly is the meaning of this Good and Evil? What makes one a Hero of the Folklore and Mythology; and how does one turn out to be the Villain. The simple way of looking at this would be to define a difference between Gods and Demons, or as we know them in Hindu Mythology; Devas and Asuras. We can just define the physical and character aspects of these mythic beings and come to our conclusion about the difference between Good and Evil; because we have always known that Devas/Gods were good and Asuras/Demons were bad. But that would be an oversimplification of the facts. In reality, there is a very thin line that separates the two. Recently as I was browsing through my social media pages, I came across a very interesting

Respected Prime Minister Sir, Through this letter of mine, I would first of all like to thank you for all the efforts the government is making to combat the threat of Corona Virus in our country. Since I was not born when India went to war in 1962, 1965 and 1971 and too young to understand the complexities of it during the Kargil war, this is my first hand experience of a war like situation in the country. However, I would like to state that when you appeared on television on March 19, 2020 to address the nation, I felt assured that the government of this nation is leaving no stones unturned to ward off this threat on the lives of all the citizens of India. In fact for the first time in my life, since I’ve been able to understand the political narrative of this country, I saw politics taking a back seat and all the state governments were working with the Union government to ensure that this vicious chain can be broken. However, your reappearance on the national television to

“A set of belief concerning the cause, nature and purpose of the universe, especially when considered as a creation of superhuman agency or agencies, usually involving devotional and ritual observances, and often containing a moral code governing the conduct of human affairs.”  dictionary.com “A personal set or institutionalised system of religious attitudes, beliefs and practices.”  merriam-webster.com These are the definitions of the word ‘Religion’ given in two of the most renowned dictionaries available on Internet. And these definitions are spot on in case of most of the religions existing in the world like Islam, Christianity, Buddhism, Sikhism, Judaism , etc. Every religion would find its definition in the above mentioned words. But not Hinduism; because these definitions are too narrow in scope to define Hinduism. It is too broad a term to be defined in two simple lines. I am in no way trying to undermine any other religion or trying to portray a larger than life image of Hi