The Past As Present: Forging Contemporary Identities Through History

                              This book is a collection of short essays written by Romila Thapar over a period of 40 years on topics ranging from - history, communal interpretations of Indian history and its use in political aspirations, caste and class division. Earlier too, i have written about Romila Thapar books, the peculiar way she insinuates 'Hinduism',  her idea of secularism, her favorite Aryan Dravidian divide(fiction she propagated) and subsequent persecution of communities on racial, religious basis in India. One must not be baffled by her implicit quality of unraveling fanaticism, where nothing exist. She has this distinctive ability, taste and talent to paint and transform victims, as bloodthirsty villains of history. Lopsided it is, but she forcefully and adamantly pursues her analysis while ferociously muzzles her critics by branding and belittling their work as influenced by right wing, without venturing into the merit. Doesn't scientific knowledge's first condition is to be not dogmatic and consider and evaluate every theory on its merit? But in Indian History 'some people' are beyond scrutiny and their uttering must be considered halo or biblical truth by lesser mortals.

                              In this book Romila Thapar has investigated, analyzed and interpreted the history that in her opinion is being reconstructed and distorted by the Neo-Hindu historians influenced and driven by chauvinistic politics of faith today. The central issue of understanding history and its prudent interpretation are caught up in the cross-hairs of Nationalist historians vs Marxist hagiography. Like all victors, the left-leaning historians had a field day till now, and they have shamelessly gone on rampage distorting facts, creating myths undermining Indian culture, religion and values. The unleashing of colonial mindset has done great disservice to our history.

                           After winds of change being witnessed in democratic setup of our nation, the academic honchos notorious for their views are facing unprecedented headwinds and this book is a reflection of it. There were numerous views and opinions gagged from academic circles till now, and are being heard now and that's where the trouble lies. This book is a ludicrous attempt to defend her views on many controversial topics with some repetitive and equivocal writing.

Feast Of Love(Review)

                                     Even for a die-hard optimist like me, the movie left more questions then it answered. In the end, the idea behind the story remains hazy with obscure definition of love. Though it started on a promising note, but somehow confused infidelity with love in the middle, even tried justifying it and finally the story became a little confusing. Though one can not stop from admiring the dialogues(at places) which are beautifully sewed to appropriate scenes making it a joyful experience.

                                     The theme of the movie 'that either love being a trick which is played on us, or it is everything and nothing can compare to it' resonates in mind which is creatively linked to the introductory story telling by Morgan Freeman (Grecian myth about the gods who created love because they were bored, and then created laughter "so they could stand it."). Morgan Freeman as Harry Stevenson and Greg Kinnear as Bradley Thomas did justice to their characters and are impressive.The movie is watchable but only, if one can stand strong nudity content and mediocre attempt to explain different love situations.

The Grand Seduction (Review)

                               'Welfare checks are there to sustain you, did not last more than 15 days, but you collect shame for a month' is the dialogue in the movie and summarize the theme of this wonderful movie. The movie portrays the struggle of a fishing village to get a Petrochemical company to select their village as the site for establishing their next unit. The positive windfall being the jobs and prosperity for the natives. The only impediment was the unavailability of a registered doctor, a condition put-forth by industry policy. The unfolding circumstances and the concerted efforts by villagers to seduce a doctor makes it a wonderful story to watch.

                           This movie reminds me of another movie titled 'The Englishman Who Went up a Hill but Came down a Mountain', both of these films are on different subjects but have unique undercurrents, making one's watching experience joyful. A touching, charming and funny movie with identifiable characters and breath-taking landscape makes it a joy to watch. Brendan Gleeson is convincing and has impressed with his acting skills. Overall a light-hearted comedy with a simple story, a delight to watch this movie.

Ghost of Modi- RSS

                                                 ‘Everything looks yellow to the jaundiced eye’

                          The above idiom specially holds true for the liberal elites of Delhi. This unique tribe, comprising of middleman, pseudo-seculars, deal breakers, had tumultuous rough ride for last four years . This shrinking, self obsessed and powerful tribe, has never had so bad and the outpouring of filth against govt stands testimony, to the damage inflicted on their reputation and devaluation of their grip on corridors of power. They had been haunted by an imaginary ghost of Modi-RSS and badly in need of their own renaissance. This ghost has troubled this blood sucking tribe for last four years, and they are hoping that exorcism(election 2019) will finally bear fruit and bring some relief.

                       Since 2014, in India , the ghost of Modi is detected everywhere, a soar spot for liberals an outlandish person who doesn’t bow to the diktats of lutyen club. In the eyes of our ‘professional seculars’ the exorcising of the evil spirit from their lives is now, just a few months away. Likewise, the bad, communal people who don’t share the prescribed “idea of India” will be cut to size and put at their respective places. Through innuendos, they have started the intimidation propaganda, all the ‘fanatics’(read Bhakts) who were out there, butchering innocent minorities, media celebrities, urban naxals on social media won’t be spared either.

George Orwell, speaking of liberal journalists, wrote in the Preface to his Animal Farm:“One cannot expect intelligent criticism or even, in many cases, plain honesty from liberal writers and journalists who are under no direct pressure to falsify their own opinions.”

                           Sections of the privileged elites have been engulfed by fear psychosis once Modi took the reins in his hand and not wrongly, they were stripped of their privileges that they so shrewdly held for decades by sucking to the corridors of power. Like the good ‘old days’ when imaginary ‘foreign hand’ takes the blame for governance failure, today the narrative is spun and the extremely helpful ‘foreign hand’ of the bygone era has been replaced by ‘Modi-RSS combine for anything that goes wrong in our country.

                           Ranging from Chinese incursions to terrorist attack not to forget Kashmir conundrum, the party of clown along with bootlickers lutyen club, waste no time in sighting the ghost of Modi-RSS and pinning the blame. Meanwhile, the professional seculars take the lead and bifurcate any travesity to search for communal footprint.

                         Lies, stupidity and deception are the hallmarks of politics today. It’s an ever growing enterprise that has catapulted many to the seats of power. People have lied through their teeth to further their political carrier and unfortunately, it pays handsomely. It is no surprise thus, this time tested formula (award wapsi, intolerance, Church attacks, minorities under attack are some of the many campaigns endorsed and supported by this incestuous club) is again being employed to see the Modi-RSS ghost in Rafale aircraft deal.

                           Just before every state election in the last few years, new controversies are stage managed and are swiftly brushed aside after it serves its purpose. In the similar fashion, Rafale aircraft and winking eye in Parliament are intertwined. It was a precursor to the nasty campaign that is to follow. No amount of clarification will satisfy Congress, who wants people to see the same ghost behind the deal as the elections are on the horizon. How much success will Congress attain in convincing the electorate, only time will tell, but the Congress along with corrupt Lutyens club are confident.

Image courtesy - Google
can write to me - garv560@gmail.com

A Walk Among the Tombstones (Review)

                                 An intense and gripping story about two deranged sadistic serial killers who also extort money from victim families. The brutality of killers and depiction of severed body parts though in graphic and obscure make one feel uncomfortable. The story revolves around an alcoholic retired police, 'Liam Neeson' , now unlicensed detective (had past history of a cop), who reluctantly decided to pursue the case of abduction and murder of a wife of drug dealer 'Dan Stevens'. As the story unfolds, many intriguing and frightening details about serial killers start emerging who were unfazed by their ghastly murder hogging media attention.

                               Liam Neeson has continuously impressed me for long with his acting skills and is impressive in this movie as well. The story keeps one captivated, although some unnecessary additions can be very well avoided, but unperturbed by such distractions, the story flows swiftly. It is a good movie to watch. 

River Ganges

The majority of this text is taken from another article on this topic. I have added some commentary and notes in some places, but the content has remained broadly the same. 

             The river Ganges with its source in the mighty Himalayan mountains is considered to be the most sacred river by Hindus. The waters of Ganga is believed to be self cleansing in nature and it is said that a single dip in the waters of this holy river can wash away one’s sins. However, people tend to attribute this to religious / theistic reasons and an objective scientific analysis of this has rarely been done, and in cases where it has been done, its results are not known to most people. The objective of this article is to share some scientific insight for the alleged purity and “cleansing property” of the water of river Ganges.

              It is almost bizarre that even though the last rites of the thousands of Hindus are performed at the numerous ghats along the shores of Ganga at the holy sites like Kashi, Varanasi etc, even though thousands of human bodies are consigned to this river and even though Millions of Hindus take bath in the waters of this river everyday – there is no sign of contagious diseases spreading from person to person due to contact through this river water. Nor is there any reported and statistically significant sign of skin disorders etc after bathing in the Ganges. So what is the secret behind its water?

                In 1896, E. Hanbury Hankin (a British physician) after testing the water of Ganga wrote in a paper published in the French journal Annales de IInstitut Pasteur. The bacterium Vibrio Cholerae which causes the deadly Cholera disease, when put into the waters of Ganga died within three hours. However, the same bacteria continued to thrive in distilled water even after 48 hours. He went on to suggest that the water of this river and its tributary Yamuna were responsible for containing the spread of this deadly disease cholera in the region in those days. C.E. Nelson, another British physician noticed that, the waters of Ganga when taken even from one of its dirtiest mouths at Hooghly in Kolkata, by the ships returning to England, remained fresh throughout the long journey. Normally river water begins to become stale over a period of time due to lack of oxygen which promotes the growth of anaerobic bacteria, which in turn gives rise to the smell of stale water.

                 In 1927, Flix dHerelle , a French microbiologist, was amazed when he saw that only a few feet below the bodies of persons floating in the Ganga who had died of dysentery and cholera, where one would expect millions of germs, there were no germs at all. In other words, people had for thousands of years rightly believed that Ganga purifies the dead bodies, which is why probably the bodies of even those who died of infectious diseases were offered to this river for purification!

Recent Research.

Recent Research

                             D.S. Bhargava, an Indian environmental engineer/professor of hydrology has spent a life time studying the amazing properties of Ganges. He measured the remarkable self cleansing ability of Ganges in an exhaustive three year study which showed that Ganges is able to reduce its biochemical oxygen demand levels much faster than other rivers. Bhargava says that the self-purifying quality of this river leads to oxygen levels that are 25 times higher than any other river in the world.The Ganges cleans up suspended wastes 15 to 20 times faster when compared to other rivers! In a study conducted by the Malaria Research Center in New Delhi it was observes that the water from the upper reaches of Ganga did not host mosquito breeding, and also prevented mosquito breeding in any water it was added to. On the other hand, water from other rivers were shown to allow mosquito breeding!

                         There are two major factors which give Ganges its unique abilities
1. The presence of Bacteriophages which gives it the anti-bacterial nature.
2. An unknown factor which gives this river an unusual ability to retain dissolved oxygen from the atmosphere. This might be due to its high concentration of bacteriophage, but this link has not yet been established

What is Bacteriophage ?

                                       Bacteriophage are those viruses which kill bacteria. What a cat is to a mouse, the bacteriophage is to a bacterium. In fact what Hankin reported in 1896 about the antibacterial nature of Ganges was the first modern observation/documentation of a Bacteriophage It was Herelle, (who again observed the anti-bacterial nature of Ganges) who coined the term Bacteriophage (meaning bacteria eater ) for these viruses. The high levels of oxygen in the waters of Ganga gives it the unique ability to remain fresh over a prolonged period of time. The waters of Ganga when added to other water resources in adequate amount, causes the bacteriophage in it to quickly multiply cleaning the new water resource of any bacteria present in it. Which is why the ancient Indians used to take Ganga jal back home to clean their local water resources. People practice it even today, except that most of them dont know the actual reason.

                               In other words, the water of river Ganga can be an alternative for using antibiotics to treat bacterial diseases. In fact it was in the former Soviet Union that the most active research about using bacteriophages to treat bacterial diseases was done at the George Eliava Institute ! This research institute was co-founded by George Eliava and Felix DHerelle after D’Herelle introduced Eliava to the wonderful world of Bacteriophages following his experiments with the water of the Ganges.

The death of anti-biotics?

                                 Today more and more bacteria are becoming resistant to antibiotics. The world is running out of antibiotics! We need an alternative, & a potential alternative is Bacteriophage therapy.

The emergence of pathogenic bacteria resistant to most, if not all, currently available antimicrobial agents has become a critical problem in modern medicine, particularly because of the concomitant increase in immuno-suppressed patients. The concern that humankind is reentering the preantibiotics era has become very real, and the development of alternative anti-infection modalities has become one of the highest priorities of modern medicine and biotechnology. - Source Phage International

Phage Therapy Research in India

GangaGen Biotechnologies , a bio-medical research company based out of Bangalore, is now leading the alternative therapy of Bacteriophage based treatment for antibiotic resistant bacteria. It is the first firm to have developed bacteriophage based commercial products. Their first bacteriophage based product was to treat the problem of E.Coli in Cattle.

The content of this article is almost similar to its original article.
Source - Google
Image source - Google
You can write to me at- garv560@gmail.com

The Taking of Pelham 123(1974)

                                           The Taking of Pelham 123, is a 1974 action thriller movie with an outstanding performances by Walter Matthau and Robert Shaw. Four armed men, hijack a New York City subway train in the middle of the day holding 17 passengers hostage. They demanded $1 million dollars ransom, which must be delivered in 1 hour, failing which, they would start executing the passengers that were held hostage. The characters didn't shied away from the consequences with very clear-cut thought process which is at times ruthless.

                                        The story is simple, gritty, fast paced and the performance outstanding which makes the movie unique and watchable. The brilliant flow of the movie and skillful narration doesn't make it feel old and is refreshing to watch.

Perception Vs Reality

                                    Politics is all about perception, manipulating peoples thought process, create smokescreen to deceive. Similarly, it is very difficult to fight perception which once created by concerted and continuous efforts of decades. I would love to put you in the ditch through concocted stories and wouldn't let you come out of it, as my crown depends on blemishing your image.

                                It is no coincidence, that the Western governments and countries respectively, focus too much attention on improving their image and jealously guard their reputation. On one hand they are the biggest human rights violators, warmongers, arms suppliers etc. while on the other sermonize world on peaceful co-existence . They have vested interest in creating war hysteria, as manufacturing arms is the major component of their economy. Selling arms and ammunition to the third world countries while preaching ‘Human Rights’ isn’t just diabolical, but a classic case of running with the hare and hunting with hounds. Isn’t it ironic, that Obama got a Nobel Prize for peace while during his reign in 2016, US dropped 26171 bombs in 2016 alone on sovereign nations, that's 72 bombs a day,1 bomb every 20 mins. By the western standards itself, he was the biggest perpetrator of War crimes and should have been prosecuted in International Court of Justice like Slobodan Milosevic, but USA has a reputation of harbinger of democracy, justice and big fat purse to splurge, so all crimes are overlooked.

                          Funny as it may sound, on illegal Rohingya settlers, our own ‘social activists’ are running to Western countries, who readily oblige, by issuing sermons to India against deporting Rohingyas. The same West that invaded “America” and annihilated natives, while narrative of “Discovery of America” is created, preach us. The issue of illegal settlement of Bangladeshis and Rohingyas is spun into persecution of Muslims. The same people who didn’t shed a tear for Kashmiri Pandits (during ethnic cleansing in Kashmir) throng Apex Court to shelter illegal settlers even though, they are changing demography and are a security threat to the nation.

                        Pamphlets asking Hindus to convert to Christianity during Ganesh Visarjan

                     It is all about the perception, when evangelist freely enter Ganesh procession and distribute conversion material (espousing Hindus worshiping wrong god), anyone objecting to this religious terrorism is branded as communal, while evangelicals play victim. The perception of mistreatment of religious minority by majority meticulously created comes in handy here.

                     Isn’t it strange that, hordes of pseudo intellectuals, celebrities rushed to cash in and defame Holy place of Hindus (Jammu) due to horrible rape of an innocent girl(as victim was Muslim & accused Hindus) but maintain conspicuous silence when scores of orphans were sexually exploited in an illegal Christian orphanage at the same city. The recent case of multiple rape cases of “Nuns” by “Bishops” also didn’t draw any ire from same group of social warriors. Such is the travesty of money power and controlling media through which fake propaganda is spread.

                     In our country, the onus to prove innocence lies at the doorsteps of Hindus, and this technique got accentuated ever since BJP usurped power at the center. Even though BJP shrewdly remained indifferent to plight of Hindus like Congress, (however, it provided lip service on certain issues at opportunistic timings )but a mass hysteria is created prophesying, that supposed RW party will undermine secular ethos of India. Suddenly, India(read Hindus) became intolerant, casteist, anti-woman etc. Even Indian Army wasn’t spared. It is smudged or castigated for human rights violation of terrorists.

                   In the end,wise to say that it is all about creating narratives, fabricating stories, controlling minds, its all about creating perception and unfortunately one side has faired poorly despite being at the receiving end of this malicious propaganda for centuries. 

Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom(Review)

                        'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' is the fourth film in the series of Jurassic film franchise. Unfortunately, the sequel film 'Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom' is a pale shadow of its earlier series. My take is, when you have money to splurge, a brand name to exploit, you behave irrationally and consider yourself invincible, you take audience for granted, alas the audience isn't foolish and the end result being you destroy your brand, that took years of hard-work to built. Wonder, how would genius Steven Spielberg have reacted after watching this movie ? 

                                                      Audience after watching movie

Story in nutshell - Since the writer can't envisage anything unique, so i am trying to present it in my way (notwithstanding,the lesser we talk about screen play, the better). Now, we were told, dinos have evolved as intelligent species that can display and understand emotions, they cuddle you, protect you from 'anti-human' dinos, show affection etc. Humans as we all 'dirty minded' are, have genetically modified dinos to use them in warfare. In a known stereotypical fashion, a businessman (USA capitalist) auctioned them and bought by Russian mafia(ugly communist) while bunch of animal rights idiots try to protect or fight or do something(supposedly to protect dinos), however their exact reason is obscure. In this commotion, dinos freed themselves from captivity and is commanded by 'Blue', the most intelligent of all( Did someone say Apes resurrection ?). 

                                                            Me after watching movie 

                       So, now we have three possible scenarios(silly & hilarious) for next Jurassic movie. Dinos imitate Apes kingdom, Dino 'Blue' would join 'Avengers' to save the world, or Dinos under 'Blue' leadership would fight alongside humans to fight terrorists who are emboldened by entry of dinos who have joined their ranks (where Russians have supplied more lethal dino to terrorists) don't worry we have America who work overtime to protect us😄

                                                            More audience reaction

                     This movie is avoidable not just coz of 'overacting' of Daniella Pineda and Justice Smith while wasting talent of Chris Pratt and Bryce Dallas, besides screenplay or rather lack of it.

Advice - When you have money to splurge, a brand name to exploit, you should behave responsibly by applying your mind not make silly movies.

Breaking India: Western Interventions in Dravidian & Dalit Faultlines by Rajiv Malhotra and Aravindan Neelakandan

                                This book is an important piece of the puzzle that author Rajiv Malhotra is trying to decipher. As we progress, a deep rooted conspiracy, an ugly plot to undermine unity of India is revealed, layer by layer. It is a conspiracy hatched and propagated from 17th century onwards by Christian missionaries masquerading as academicians, civil servants during colonial rule . By twisting facts, propagating half truths, fictional stories laced with lies, are some of the tricks employed to strangle and defame Hinduism which is considered as bedrock of Indian societal existence, with ulterior objective of breakup of India into fragments. It is not just the landmass, but division of minds, separation of hearts that is at the core of this ploy. This book is a treasure trove for patriots, exposing a host of rabid groups, individuals and organisations having anthropologists, scholars, historians, theologians, missionaries, extremists and politicians supported by journalists, writers and activists almost all affiliated to Christian evangelical Churches.

                         The story started when author inadvertently bumped into an academician who boasted about his work related to Afro-Dalit organization (where Dalits being projected as different race). On further investigation, he stumbled upon a large network of academics, journalists, writers who masquerade as human rights activists, women or minority well wishers, civil rights activists etc. to cover up their ulterior objective of evangelism, abetted by radical Churches and Christian groups operating outside India (mostly). These groups having powerful influence on policy makers in USA, Europe and elsewhere and selectively use it to further their mischievous agenda. They are working in tandem to demonize native social structure, customs, ethnicity etc. and have successfully tried to defame and tarnish image of India in general and Hinduism in particular on International forums.

                          Today the biggest challenge to integrity of India emanates from Christian organisations that are playing a prominent part in raking up cultural, religious and social divides to propagate their own ideologies. Mythical story about St.Thomas and his death, arrival of Sanskrit in 2nd Century A.D, Origin of Dravidistan from Lemurian continent, Dravidian's as original inhabitants of the “Indus Valley Civilization”, Aryan invasion theory, Aryan- Dravid conflict and resulting subjugation of Dravidian's by Aryans in collaboration with Brahmins, Outsider-Dalit divide, are some of the fault lines invented by Christian groups and now adopted and propounded by converted Christian intellectuals. Although these theories are rebuffed by scores of independent archaeologists, religious heads, independent intellectuals and experts but by applying the Goebbels principal, the fictitious divisive propaganda continues relentlessly making India’s civilization the longest surviving victim of this religious terrorism.

                             Drawing parallels from situation prevalent in Rwanda and Sri Lanka the author cautions the readers about similar game-plan employed by evangelical forces in India. He elaborates how Christian organizations successfully invented fissures in society through malicious propaganda. They created Brahmin- Dalit- Dravidian like divide in Rwanda among the Hutus and the Tutsis and in Sri lanka among Sinhalese and Tamilians. While converting one ethnic group, they sow the seeds of hatred towards other resulting in ethnic genocide wiping out millions, a fertile ground for evangelical organizations to actively spread tentacles and convert survivors to Christianity, while dividing the civilization forever shamelessly without remorse .

                           Excerpt from an editorial in Washington post justifying Mumbai terror 

                        Simple tactics employed by thugs and explained with proof by author is as follows. There is a big boisterous lobby whose job is to overlook nefarious deeds of their foot-soldiers and convert gullible people through alms(money, ration, force,pressure etc) in different remote areas of India. In this process they don’t shy away from lampooning Hindu religion and customs while objection by natives towards acts of vandalism by christian missionary is projected as atrocities on minorities (Orissa Graham Staine episode ). Muslim fanatics influenced, encouraged and abetted by petro dollars and supported by Pakistanis are the new entrants to join the divisive bandwagon. Indian civilization has so far survived this salacious propaganda, but how long struggle will continue, and how this systematic campaign will be routed, depends upon the Indians .

                       The author has done a commendable job to explore and lift the veil of several human rights groups and intellectuals in India and abroad who are mere puppets in the hands of radical Evangelical groups to destabilize and break India. A must read for all Indians. 

Cacophony

Life stressed on trusting...
Trust you?
I did trust you, but, you betrayed me, stabbed me in my back,
I saw you everyday in her eyes and i heard you every-time she laughed,
Felt you every moment when she called me papa,
And you, betrayed me, you,, without remorse broke my heart for no fault of mine,
Was trusting you my culpability ?
Life looked deep into me and replied...
Sense of reasoning,abandoned you, made you lopsided, in grief,
It's true, i am in all of it,
I am the darkness n the light,
I am the sunshine n the storm ,
True i was there in her smile, but i m here too in your pain,
I didn't forsake you, you closed yourself,
I am an outcast at dawn and orphan in pain,
I am the reason for everything,yet i don't owe the responsibility, so,
Don't try to live without me....
Gather yourself, n don't think of living without me...
Clueless i am, as i earlier was.

Indra's Net: Defending Hinduism's Philosophical Unity by Rajiv Malhotra

                          This book is a praiseworthy attempt by author Rajiv Malhotra about 'defending Hinduism's philosophical unity'. One may question the need to write on this subject, but after reading this book, you can answer the question yourself. For long we are foolishly made to believe the inherent strength of our religion to withstand adversaries even though Hindus are wiped out from territory it once thrived on through brute force, however  in today's environment, the eminent danger emerges from squatters(mercenaries) in our religion, masquerading as academicians, which is overlooked. This book Reminds me of movie matrix where everyone was living a pretty comfortable life till the protagonist 'Neo' was approached by an organisation. Soon Neo met 'Morpheus' who offered him to choose between two pills a blue pill at a red pill. Red pill was supposed to wake him up from the slumber and apprise reality and a sinister plot while the blue one would take him back to his normal life. This book is the red pill, if chosen, it decimates the web of lies woven by groups around Hindus, with the single ulterior motive to de-legitimize Hinduism as a genuine and coherent religion.

                            Due to concerted efforts, by set of Western scholar syndicate, spearheaded by Paul Hacker followed by Agehananda Bharati, Wilhelm Halbfass, Ursula King, Anantanand Rambachan etc. a group of Indian intellectuals also colluded to defame and eventually destroy Hinduism. This syndicate is supported and funded by Catholic Christian organizations. This syndicate refuses to believe in the geographical, cultural, religious unity and affinity among Indians. It boisterously propagates the non existence of Hinduism in ancient times, rather considers Hinduism as an invention of Swami Vivekanand to instill confidence and promote unity among Indian masses,with sole objective to politically unite against British colonialists. The Westerners debunked reforms in Hinduism as farce while calling them inspired from Western society to seek legitimacy among Abrahmanic religions. These scholars twisted facts to create wedge or foment contradictions among teachings of two Hindu spiritual stalwarts Swami Vivekanand and Guru Adi Shankara . A false narrative is thus spun by syndicate, to delegitimize Hinduism on one hand while peddling Hinduism as inherently corrupt and oppressive towards minorities, Dalits, and women on the other hand.

                       The author has painstakingly and after thorough research successfully confronted the narrative of bigotes. He counters the myths by facts and proves that the cultural unity of India is much older than the British invasion or the syndicate can envisage. A well researched, thought provoking book and i completely endorse and identify with the blurb on the book by Arun Shourie - 'A book that every Indian must read'. 

Dear Kaanwariyas

                           

                                  Dear Kaanwariyas, I am writing this letter as a Shiva Bhakt as i often get inspired seeing the harsh, spiritual journey that countless bhakts undertook every year during the holy month of 'Saravan'.  It is an inspiration to see scores of devotees forming a long human chain, some even bare foot, consumed in religious fervor walking silently on the edge of roads to fetch holy water from Haridwar, Gaumukh and Gangotri. The hardships encountered during this pilgrimage can't be envisaged by common people like myself who never participated in this yatra.

                             In today's time and age, where everything is adulterated, this pilgrimage isn't left untouched as well. There are instances where unscrupulous elements penetrated it and maligned the yatra . The ear splitting music, choked roads due to street dancing, commotion, lawlessness have been witnessed in several places which hardly goes with the image of a pilgrimage. There is no denying the fact that only handful of bad elements perpetrate such acts of vandalism, but it ends up smudging peaceful devotees.  The rowdy behavior of selected few gets highlighted, giving the opportunity to sickular vultures to blemish the entire community.

                              The unlawful behavior can't be condoned by a civilized society and the culprits should be rightfully booked. On the part of kanwariyas, if they believe they can commit crimes and can evade law, then, they are living in a fools paradise. Such privilege in our country is only reserved for particular community. The crimes committed by them comes under special category which is over often overlooked lest, they will affect vote-bank. If you believe that you have the same privilege then have a look-  A stray incident of road rage and resulting violence by rowdies impersonating as kanwariya brings large number of eminent journalists to debate and condemn whole yatra. A small incident of road rage is termed as terrorism with wide prime time national coverage continuing for days. Attempts to malign the tradition of KanwarYatra is going full throttle, even bizarre stories are interwoven with regionalism to create a wedge.

                              In our country, there is no dearth of issues requiring immediate attention, but the energy spent to cover and condemn isolated incidents during this year annual Kaanwar yatra is perplexing. There is no doubt vandalism by a few is disturbing and culprits shouldn't be spared and Kaanwariyas too should be prepared for minute scrutiny in these testing times. As for Hindus, be prepared for a PIL in Apex court before next Saravan , after water-less Holi, cracker-less Diwali, patriarchy on Raksha Bandhan and karvachauth, nooze around you is only going to tighten.