Story of a friend and inspiring person: Yoga teacher

Sometimes you meet some unusual people at unusual places and they mostly turn out to be very cool ones. In my life I have got very few people whom I can actually call as friends as I found them like needle in the haystack. This post is about a friend, a teacher and a person with many inspiring thoughts. In the era of stereotyping, it's often the case when a person can not be understood well because of the pre built images. When we hear the word Yoga teacher, image of a calm, silent and a person with always mature behaviour comes into mind. So when I first communicated with my yoga teacher first time, even I started to talk with such thoughts, after couple of conversations, that stereotype image has been broken (happily). The teacher is indeed very vibrant person, she has wide range of thoughts, can dance freely on any music, have great sense of bhakti and a critical thinker as well, has modern Indian outlook towards life and yet very grounded and yeah sometimes act like a teenager as well. So why the post? In recent times we have seen that voices are raised to see women beyond their physical appearances, to respect them for what they do and to be a person with whom they feel safe and can talk freely. The Yoga Teacher has inspired me on many such things. 

First thing I have learnt is to not to do stereotyping, understand the person, their outlooks and their thoughts, that's how you can see their different shades, sense of humour, discussions on wide range of topics can only happen in free, non judgemental environment only, so instead of labelling someone with typical identity, just give them the space to express themselves. 

Second thing I have learnt is something which is need of an hour as well, it's about not to see the length of clothes but to see how the person carries it, vulgarity can be seen in full clothes and in the eyes of those who have no shame so rather than judging someone based on their choice of clothes, let's understand them as individuals and keep focused on own's business. 

Third and important point, it's useless to try to understand the mood swings of a female, so just be calm, don't argue much and let them command the dialogue in such situation, that will help many, trust me. 

All my readers, females do share how much difficulty you still find in expressing yourselves, and males, what's your level of understanding that women are much more than just a point of physical attraction? What stops you to enjoy their great sense of humour and their experiences rather than just staring at their physical appearance?

25 years of Kargil war: Have we changed?

It's 25th year of Kargil Vijay, yes we celebrate it but tough questions have been put under the carpet. What was our intellegence apparatus doing? How come such big movement from enemy has not been came to notice? And many such more questions, which are never answered and no one ever been made accountable for that. Now it's matter of past so it's time to see is there any change in terms of weapons, strategy and approach of leadership?

1. Weapons: While present political leadership pushing hard for make in India weapons and that's also good but somehow there seems lack of coordination between forces and manufacturing agencies. In Drone tech we are still far behind many small nations, we still don't have our own engine for fighter jets (which is also hurting our MK 1A delivery schedule thanks to dependency on GE), strength of airforce is depleting and no visible relief on horizon. Issue is babudom and expecting everything from homegrown platforms and buying average from West mentality by leadership of forces in some case. So what's the solution? Go with private players, they have rigid setup of performance and may speed up the things compared to Babu based govt systems. Promote R&D culture from schooling, which will give technical experts. 

2. Strategy: Appointment of CDS to convert current mechanism into theater command is a good step. Wish to see that becoming reality very soon. Apart from that, random strikes by unknown gunman, constant news of various ethnic groups in enemy nation are striking their forces sounds a good way to give them back their own venom. Only concern is the way forces are dealing the OGW mechanism in valley, what Major Gogoi and Col Acharya did were best steps to create fear amongst those who want to do any mischief, sadly such officers getting punished gives a wrong messaging and increases moral of the enemy. Solution is only one, crush the enemy before it becomes threat. 

3. Approach of leadership: Present leadership has definitely went ahead and called for surgical strikes and air strike but post 2019, no terror attacks has been avenged in that manner. This trying to be Gandhi mentality across the leaderships of political parties is something which kept India as reactive nation. When we know that Pakistani army is giving training to terrorists, when we know that where their launchpads are, when we have killing machines like Apache, Brahmos and Rafale, what stops us to strike? Why we let the terrorists infiltrate and to engage with our forces and let them do the damage to us? Each soldier lost fighting against terrorists is a big loss for the nation and yet we just go with traditional measures and risking lives of our brave soldiers, this needs to change. We must remember that MKG is no one, we are descendants of Shri Ram who went all the way to Lanka to fight against Ravan, we are descendants of Shri Krishna who destroyed Shishupal after tolerating 100 abuses, we are descendants of Bappa Rawal who made Bin quasim to run away and ensured that no attacks for coming 200 years, we are descendants of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj who ignited the flame of Hindavi Swaraj during the dark times of Mughal era, we are descendants of Raj Raja Chola who expanded the empire beyond seas, we are descendants of Lachit Borphukan who never let Mughals to set their feet on lands of Ahoms, we love peace but we are worshippers of Shakti. I request leadership to stop creating false narrative of ahimsa, our Gods and our ancestors have faught for Dharma and for the truth and shall we also.

My naman to all the veer jawans of our forces who gave balidan to make enemy run for their lives and made sure that they can not get hold of our territory. Those young souls who never made it back to their homes, the families which still waits for their sons to come back, we are indebted to them forever. I wish that if any war happens now, it will be fought at the area of enemy, not ours. Jai Hind.

Space colonies, the earlier the better

   It's a part of common household talk to discuss about rains at any time of the year, summers breaking records each year of high temperatures, many cyclones, less crop productivity per square metre of land, unbreathable air in almost all major cities. I don't think that there's any need to put statistics to show that our environment is out of balance and no matter what we do now, we have crossed the point of no return. 

   The false dreams of EVs and other such means are more of marketing gimmicks than that of real impact on environment. Let's accept this thay the chain reaction started by human race in 19th century, won't be stopped no matter what efforts we put. So let's accept the fact that Earth won't be a sustainable habitable planet in near future, which presents the existential threat to humanity and all other species. While efforts to slow down the negative impacts on environment are in progress, it's time to work aggressively on increasing footprint of humanity to other parts of the Solar system and later outside of it. 

   Yes, it sounds like a part of science fiction novel but from submarine to smartphones, many things have been imagined before they have been invented. 

    To create a new colony is something which being thought as far from our capabilities currently. We first need to identify the planets/moons, then to send the resources we need powerful, economical and high capacity spacecrafts, before large colonies rhose rocks need to be made habitable. Apart from scientific challenges big problems will come from the fronts of social and political ideologies, that will be highly challenging. Psychological impact will be a big thing as well. 

    The problems are many but human race has to find the solutions soon, we need an alternate to the Earth as we have exploited this beautiful planet beyond limits. We now have two options, either we focus on space frontier or to be wiped out from existence. 

    The universe is so vast and we have not just reached to the next planet, I wish someday humans will be able to explore the galaxies, to see what universe has kept hidden from us, apart from us who are there in this galaxy and beyond. 

   I hope someday we can visit various galaxies and grand parents start the storked with the famous line of Star Wars movies, 'in the galaxy far far away' in real life. 

   This is my last post of 2023, will come back with some new perspective in 2024, till then whenever you look at the sky, just imagine that there's a lot to explore and we need to go to those places one day. 

The non independent colony

 After reading the title one may think about some distant African land or some small island that is even hard to find on the map, but no this is about a place that preaches to everyone else about inclusivity, giving rights to natives, and many good things but how they came into existence is something not known to many, call it their smart narrative building or something else but this dark truth kept under the wraps for the common people across the globe. As per many estimations before Europeans reached the shores of the American continent, there were 55-75 million natives living there so Columbus found America was nothing more than to establish the narrative that Europe was superior, and natives were not humans. This number came down to just approx. 5 million by the year 1900. So what caused this? Why the natives being hunted like that? There are many reasons:

1. Conflict of religions, as the worship methods were different and that was a time when European religion found its way to new places and its so-called leaders decided to enforce the new rules with force, resulting in civilizational conflicts.

2. Greed for grabbing resources from others is why many parts of the world have been colonized. They wanted to loot others to become rich themselves, causing deaths and slavery for many innocents.

3. Feeling superior to others, racism and non-acceptance of others is also one of the reasons for colonization. Europe has thought of others as inferiors and savages even though most civilizations were far ahead of them regarding knowledge and wisdom. Just a small example is personal hygiene, while brushing the teeth, and having a bath were not known to Europe, people in India had such systems in place.

There are many other reasons yet they just call it a hunger to find new lands, which is again a doubtful narrative as those places already have civilizations so those parts were known to humans. So what did they do after finding an already civilized land? When they felt that in the direct conflicts, they had started very inhuman means to wipe out those people. Natives have been given blankets infected with some deadly viruses which caused mass deaths, Colonizers used to burn the villages of natives at night, they caused so many deaths that the world has observed a small ice age due to a reduction in CO2 emissions and reduced farming. Such atrocities are not being discussed in the open now, no one speaks about the rights of American native tribes on global forums or in articles in their media. So next time anyone from the West starts preaching about how one should care for native people, ask them what they are doing for the rights of natives of the American continent as their land is still occupied and there's no visible sign of their freedom.

Indian history: Time to learn who we are

Who are we? Descendants of Gandhi who just know non-violence and never think about attacking enemies? or descendants of the like of King Bappa Rawal who defeated Qasim and expanded his kingdom to Persia? We have seen many taking pride being labelled as followers of Mughals and other such invaders, in reality they are the ones whose ancestors have faced much of cruelty which led for their change in faith so instead of celebrating they should be someone who should be fighting them. So why this has happened, for a simple reason that we have been told that no Indian king was successful against invaders and we have just accepted the defeats, while the history is different. Samrat Kalbhoj who is also known as Bappa Rawal has not just defeated Bin Qasim who is highly celebrated by a section of people in the subcontinent. Time for us to learn that Gandhian values are as useless as pager in current times. The offensive of Bappa Rawal not just defended country for one time but for coming centuries. Instead of waiting for enemy to attack and then just to react won't help us for long, we have missed opportunities in 1947, 1965, 1971 and 1999 as well, everytime after the war we have shown desperation to extend the friendship, what it has given to us, well answer we all know, more blood and more deaths of our soldiers and citizens. Just imagine if we have followed footsteps of Bappa Rawal and pushed the enemy to the point of extinction, how developed and peaceful our nation would have been! Also to note that Rawalpindi was named after him, so ask Pakistani friends that their famous Pindi is named after a warrior King who kicked out those invaders whom they consider their heroes. Root cause of such apologetic approach lies in our educational system which is filled with Gandhian and Nehruvian narratives and smartly ignoring the real history of India, forget government, time for us to take matters in our hands, let's take pledge that first we will read and learn our history and will spread it to atleast 10 young students. Just imagine the impact it will create in our society, our new generation instead of feeling sad will feel proud of such a glorious history which will lead to strong and proud next generation. Time for us to bring the change instead of waiting for someone else to do this, I have started doing it and I am sure you all will do this too. 

The colonial strand still alive in Indian society

 

It has been many years since our independence from European colonialism, but have we been liberated from colonial thinking? Think about the answer to this question, here are a few examples to help you get the answer.

 1. In a reputed restaurant in Rajkot, we often go to dine with friends and family, according to their rules, the staff there pays proper attention. Surprisingly, when I took a European dignitary with me, half of the hotel staff and manager gathered around the table and started asking for food and the ambiance of the restaurant, offered some free complimentary dishes, and acted like someone VVIP is paying a visit. I don't understand that for them all people are customers, so isn't it a slavish mentality to entertain someone differently in this way?

 2. No one can answer a question today if you want to go to a meeting, why is it mandatory to wear a blazer? Even in the scorching heat of summer here, people don't understand what they want to show by wearing a blazer! Maybe I didn't get the freedom to think of pleasing the British Babu. Today the wearer of ordinary clothes is considered rude. For no reason are the people trying to show themselves as members of the British Empire?

 3. I don't have any problem with the English language; I also use it a lot. But in general, I do not hesitate to use Gujarati and Hindi as a medium of communication. But laughter comes when some of our so-called superstars who have proven poverty in a common-sense show an inability to speak a language other than English. After all, do people find it difficult to speak in their language? The protest here is not about language, it is about mentality. Knowing only English is opposed to hollow behavior.

 4. Wearing a tie is shown as a sign of proper attire but if you go with Tilak on the forehead, the Indians of British mentality will start making fun of you and start calling believers of outdated thinking, non-modern people, and many more such tags. Living inside India, a Hindu majority country and yet we call going to temple and putting Tilak on the forehead outdated thinking shows how much strong the roots of colonialism are.

5. In the so-called Indian film industry, all functions, and shows happen in English, they speak English only, and being asked in Hindi or the local language, they pretend like they don't understand the language. Such a state of mind that elitism comes with looking like a westner and speaking their language is the biggest issue with them and with the people who get influenced by them.

 It is important to mention a few of these examples that I have experienced, but it is also important to note that there are very few writers in the Gujarati language today whom we can read. At the same time, there are fewer and fewer thinkers who teach innovative work using native languages

As long as we are not proud of the fact that we are Indians, we will remain as part of the British colony in our minds. Today we need to connect with our roots and strengthen the future. Whether it is art or science, we move in a new direction, blind imitation of someone will not take the offering anywhere. To walk with the world, one needs to have knowledge of many languages ​​and many cultures, but to be like someone is a sign of stupidity.

We must feel proud of our country and its colorful culture. Let’s try to make the country move forward and people around the world copy us. Need to say what you think about this.

American Superheroes, Hypocrisy and Lesson to Indian cinema

 Names like Captain America, Wonder woman, Batman, Superman, Ironman, etc. are very famous indeed in Indian households now. Cinematic universes are being created which has released many successful movies and series', even many more are in pipeline. The whole American culture being spread through such comic books earlier then it was all converted into animation series' and now multi million franchise' of live action movies, series and animation and much more. Even just for sake of entertainment I also watch these movies and series' and as it's work of fiction, at first it has nothing to do with anything around us. So why this question of hypocrisy? Have you watched Captain America or Wonder woman? Let's go in little detail: They have shown that Captain America is savior of world and started his journey as superhero by fighting against tyranny of Nazis and imaginary group called Hydra. It is shown that Steve Rogers is epitome of humanity, questioned some big weapons developed by SHIELD but same fellow wearing stars and stripes have nowhere utters a word against use of nuclear weapons against Japan by his home country! Wonder woman finds a British spy, falls in love with him and fight against axis forces and supporting Britain, yes the same Britain which captured many nations and treated people of these nations as slaves and yet no word against it? This is how subtle white washing works. American comics and their new avatars are being glorified as protectors of humanity while many of fictional characters being shown as fighting Nazis or Russians kept mum about British slavery, Vietnam war atrocities and Nuclear attack on Japan. This is how from childhood children becomes sure of whom to call hero and whom to call evil. This is one of the reason for American influence over the life of many youngsters as for them Nazi means evil while war being fought in dirty way by both side and no one was hero indeed. Hitler who killed many innocents in gas chambers rightly labelled as evil but Churchill and Elizabeth who caused famine in India as they took everything to fight war and let millions of Indians die been given clean chit by history and by such fictional writers too. These so called heroes created by their writers works on the agenda to build an image and they have done it successfully, on the other hand Indian cinema never miss a chance to malign the nation. While in West they never miss a chance to show Hitler as evil, Indian cinema always try to paint Pakistani war criminals as not so bad. If we continue like this in India, there will be a day when these people in India may call Jinnah as real Hero and Netaji Bose in bad light! Time for Indians to come out of guilt trap and learn that we too faced tyranny of West and we fought against evil leaders of Pakistan.