A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking

                                       A Brief History of Time has the reputation of being the most bought yet least read book. Firstly, why is it being branded the best selling science book ? I won't accept the usual reason, that book is well written and  over simplifies complex science and astronomical theories in intuitive and entertaining way which are easily explained  for the benefit of masses. The real reason behind the success of this book is Stephen Hawking himself.  He is a phenomenon, a rockstar, of his generation wrapped in gigantic achievements . In his twenties, he contracted ALS  thus lost the movement of his legs and arms and was confined to a wheel chair. Eventually, his voice faded with time as the disease progressed . Today, unable to speak, his physical condition has stabilized but he can only move his eyes and a finger. Deteriorating physical situation couldn't impede Hawking from his research and he remained productive as a scientist . His grit and determination helped him in overcoming all odds and scaling new heights .With the help of computers, he is able to communicate and give lectures. The physical condition couldn’t deter him from writing books, acting in a movie ,giving lectures etc. and is ranked among the best scientists of his generation.

                                   Now, coming back to the book, the book is very interesting and despite the complexity of the subject Hawking has tried of making it about as understandable as possible and in the words of Einstein “make everything as simple as possible but not more so.” The complex theories and explanations are definitely mind taxing and I had to read a few sections a few times also had to google at times to fully understand what i was reading. This book covers wide areas from Big bangs,time travel to black holes and from origin of Earth to intelligent life forms and question the orthodoxy religious beliefs. From Greek philosophers contribution towards science and rational thinking to modern times. Hawking beautifully summed up by telling that earlier everything was believed as God's creation, with time, science started explaining things.By 20th century God gets credit for whatever can't be understood or unexplained but now most of the erstwhile enigma has been successfully deciphered by science.

                                        This book is a treasure trove for young minds and ordinary people alike. This book is fascinating for science students however people with no interest in astronomy might find it boring . Even though some hypothesis explained in this book were beyond me, still i highly recommend this book for everyone .

'karma is a Bitch'

                                      It is dreadful and gives goosebumps to infer what might have gone through, the mind of Mrs. Sahani in her last few days while breathing her last . By hallucinating and trying to gauge her ordeal send shivers down the spine of any sane person's mind. The shear helplessness of an elderly, lonely lady confined to her home, where she had been reduced to become an unwilling security guard, is enough to understand the pitying condition of elderly personal like the deceased and many more like her in our society today. The senior citizens seems to have lost their voice and influence they once commanded in today’s transforming society . Indian society and culture we all are proud off and boast about, is decaying, the moral values are nonexistent and lethargy towards elderly is omnipresent . Look carefully and one can easily grasp the myth of happy united family . This is not something we should take lightly but is a scary scenario starring at our face.

                                As I have mentioned earlier, Mrs. Sahani's case isn't the first case or a secluded case, we should read the recent government reports, testifying to the rotten state of affairs in our society . With increasing westernization as well as economic opportunities available outside the cities of our parents , elderly are left to fend for themselves with no physical or emotional support in their our of need as youngsters leave for greener pastures . In this particular case, the elderly lady begged her son to register her in some old age home, a bare minimum, she can expect from him who was settled in USA , which was unfortunately denied or whatever maybe the truth we may never find out as the dead don’t speak. The news about decomposed body of Mrs. Sahani discovered almost three months later from the last phone call also points towards indifferent attitude of people in general .

                                 We have often come across news about elderly people abandoned in fares(Kumbh mela is notorious), these illiterate people couldn’t return to their homes knowingly or otherwise, but such malice remains hidden in the hysteria of fares. The widow homes of Mathura presents a starker reality, that should force society to look deep within and comprehend some tough uncomfortable questions to itself . We read reports regularly about scores of country’s elderly people are forced to live a life of humiliation, abuses and isolation in their homes but no murmurs of justice to victims is ever heard . Such humanitarian issues are conveniently ignored and is a nonentity till ghastly case like Mrs. Sahani jolts ones consciousness. The murderous campaign of lonely elderly citizens of Delhi, that shook the nation made everyone took notice of the deteriorating crime conditions prevalent in major cities, towards safety and wellbeing of elderly with better literacy levels , one can just imagine about the humiliation and exploitation elderly have to contend with in illiterate and inhuman poverty conditions of hinterlands .

                           The case of a retired elderly judge being deprived of his home by his son, and almost, identical case of an industrialist in miserable condition after his retirement due to betrayal from his son, points towards a sick pattern of selfish, egocentric society, where parents howsoever rich and powerful in their heydays are confronting within their homes . The recent report by UN points towards the increasing elderly population in India which according to reports will treble by 2030(around 300 million) and hence the civil society should impress upon government to take immediate steps, to work for the needy and distressed senior citizens for their health , residential and other social issues plaguing them as our elderly deserve our respect and undivided attention. Laws should be formulated with senior citizens be provided with more attention, rights, psychological support with counseling if required and safeguards as they are one of the most vulnerable section of the society.

                            And finally to the unworthy son of the deceased Mrs. Sahani, what I wanted to say couldn’t be said in a civilized manner, and might actually pain the departed soul who silently endured all hardships. Some might argue my unnecessary intervention in a private family matter , unfortunately I don’t see this death as personal affair, in my opinion its murder by negligence with necessity to fix responsibility and being a part of society I find myself duty bound to speak against repression and injustice in all its kinds. The death of Mrs. Sahani should act as an eyeopener for any civilized society and lessons must be learnt to avoid such frightful instances to reoccur ever again . As for the children, the laws of Karma is non negotiable and is constant, you will repent and pay dearly for what you sow cause Karma spares no one .

Hinduism

Often difficult to understand who's a Hindu or "Sanatan" (Eternal) Dharm, today read this beautiful article and sharing with all , hope u will like it --

                                  ‘Hindu’ is a geographical term. It is not name of a religion, as is often believed. Inhabitants of lands across the Sindh – Indus river -- were called Sindhus by all who came from the West. Later on, the name Sindhu was distorted to Hindus. Hindus were known to be people who lived in sync with Nature, and were spiritual people and through their experiences emerged the Vedas. Hinduism is a way of life – a truly spiritual way to life. The sun shines and gives out heat. It has been doing so for ages, it is sanatan - eternal. Does anyone have any right on it, can a Hindu or a Muslim religious leader claim it to be theirs? That which is sanatan is not property of any one cult or religion.

Sunrays fall on all equally, they light up everything irrespective of caste creed or colour...that is Nature’s Law – sanatan – eternal. Air gives life to us, it too is eternal. Everything on this planet is composed of five elements – panchtattva. These five elements – earth, fire, air, space and water – are sanatan – eternal, for have always been around ever since.

                                         It is these which need to be revered, respected and worshiped rather than some mind created paths which you are tuned to. Humans should strive to be comfortable and in tune with the universal energies because they are a product of these energies, the five elements which are compiled and formed into the highest form of specie – humans, according to Universal Intelligence, so as to follow universal mechanism and laws of Nature.

                                      This is the basic guna of every human -- to act according to Nature -- which is whole and complete – perfect for natural evolution of all the species and expansion of the Universe.

One has to be part of this magical and divine cosmic play and this is the highest joy of being a human. Human is here to celebrate life according to laws of Nature, enhancing each other towards growth, glory and grace. Where is the space for human created religions in this most spectacular, grand and wonderful eternal divine cosmic play.

Like Kabir Das ji said:
“Kankar pathar bien ke masjid diya banaye,
 uss parr mullah baang de, kya behra bhaya khudai"
                                                         – you collect stones and build a mosque and on it stands the mullah and recites his prayers loudly; is the Khuda hard of hearing.”
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“Paahan poojey Hari milay, toh mein pujon pahar;
 tatey se chakki bhali, ja ka peesa khai sansaar
                                                          – if by worshiping stone you can find Hari, then I will worship the mountain itself; better to worship the grindstone, for it provides food to the whole world.”

Pranam
Satyamev jayate.........Love never Fails..........Karm is Dharm..............Light Liberate

Secularism And Kashmir

“Religion does three things quite effectively: Divides people, Controls people, Deludes people.”

                                                                                                     ― Carlespie Mary Alice McKinney

                             For long Indians have been fleeced by incestuous club of politicians and bootlicking media celebrities in the name of secularism , the excessively abused word in political circles that has unfortunately lost its meaning today . We have been duped in the name of secular credentials of politicians and made to believe in the hollow slogans of secularism while the facts on ground paints a completely different picture . The case in point is the sworn jingles perpetrated on Kashmiriyat , a word with secular connotation ,sung by politicians to appease increasingly aggressive Islamic forces prevalent in Kashmir and to hush up the nationalist forces . Its been a common practice of consecutive governments at center and state to stifle the painful voices of Kashmiri Hindus at the expense of buying peace from  radicals . Media has also worked relentlessly to project the perception among masses about peace loving ,noble souls of Kashmir who are being trampled by nationalists .

                                    India is a deeply spiritual and religious society with people from all religions coexisting for centuries . Since partition India confronted numerous religious flare ups but overall its a tolerant society,despite most religious traditions producing extremist movement whose members believe that their faith and value system is superior still the authority of state remained intact . This we are made to believe is because of the seeds of secularism that we as a people have successfully neutralized challenges . I have problem with this narrative , its true that the secularism like democracy is very well entrenched here and generally people have faith in democracy but there is a twist in this tale. Truth of the matter is, state authority is under consistent threat at places with sizeable minority which is in a hyphenated state of violence towards administration i.e the peace and stability is directly proportional to demography of place . In plain words, state authority hinges on the religious mix of the population , the greater the majority the more the stability . In places with more minorities has faced major administrative challenges and Kashmir is a striking example of it.

                                The virtual endless violence perpetrated by Muslim mobs or terrorists in Kashmir has been handled with kid glove by successive governments . Terrorist apologists in and out of government have started to display the mob violence by Muslims as genuine grievance against the country. Conspiracy theories interwoven with smear campaigns are propagated to justify the violence of lynching mob as aspirations of all in Kashmir . Out of work journalists ,politicians and dubious characters have also furthered this propaganda to destabilize and undermine the sovereignty of India for their vested interests. Not withstanding the historical accession of Kashmir, new dimensions are added to a simple problem of law and order by politicians and vested interests with ulterior objectives.

 .                              At the heart of the Kashmir problem is the Muslim radicalism. The majority of population in Kashmir valley is Muslim that refuses to identity with the pluralist , democratic society of India . Their diatribe against other religious minorities of Kashmir by Muslim population is conveniently forgotten by the apologists , while brushing the security forces and nationalists as villains . The repeated attacks on religious minorities that culminated in the mass exodus of Hindus from valley in 1990 and repeated humiliations meted out to this miserable minority is testimony of nefarious ideology of Muslim radicals . The venomous propaganda and subsequent attacks on minorities points towards their thinking “to preserve Kashmir for Muslims only ” with no space for other religions . Due to the ethnic cleansing overnight religious minority population were evicted from valley and forced to become refugees in India .

                                People with dubious credentials have successfully created a smokescreen where radical Islamic terrorism is painted as political problem . To make matters worse , even terrorists are donning the attire of politicians and preaching in Kashmir . The songs on Kashmiriyat are hogwash to maim nationalists while hoodwink the gullible by identifying secularism and Kashmiriyat as two sides of the same coin. The enemies of India are fully aware of the psychological aspect of fighting a proxy war by which one controls the thinking process of enemy thus making him redundant to stand for his cause no matter how justifiable he is. This is a psychological war which is fought relentlessly by the self obsessed secular intelligentsia of all shades against India.

                                Firstly, the state of J&K has acceded to India with Muslims in Kashmir valley , Hindus ,Sikhs in Jammu and Buddhist in Leh-Ladakh population and negotiating it or carving a particular area out of India on any pretext is blasphemous. Secondly , its a myth that whole Muslim population of valley has affinity towards Pakistan and wants to merge with them .There’s an open defiance by Shias, Bakherwals, Gujjars etc among Muslims against aligning with Sunni vociferous community on merging with Pakistan as these communities are considered heretics and persecuted blatantly in Pakistan . The regular supply of money and abatement from Pakistan with men and material on ideological ground has fueled violence . With over 20,000 madrasas, mostly unregulated by the government, Pakistan already has a mass base of terrorists who after graduating from these madrasas have filled the ranks of terrorist groups .

                               The ethnic cleansing of Hindus and demand for imposition of Sharia isn’t a political problem that can be resolved through dialogue and appeasement . The recent audio clip of terrorist Moosa where he openly instigate to wage jihad against infidels testifies the true intentions of Muslim majority Kashmiris. The smokescreen created by Hurriyat and other political establishment operating in Kashmir and intellectual morons around India have created a bluff , a ploy to hoodwink naive Indians to seducing in a trap of Secularism aka Kashmiriyat while consolidating the hold of Islamists over general population of Kashmir . The incestuous intelligentsia of India who have been caught trapped by Pakistani spooks like Fai ( https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2011/10/the-man-behind-pakistani-spy-agencys-plot-to-influence-washington/246000/ ) have yet to be pragmatic and learn lessons while adjust to the newer ground realities before next time opening their mouth and sermonizing India on the perils of peace and secularism .