Re-incarnation

Another article that tickled me!! 

BEIJING:  Chinese Communist Party leaders are deathly afraid that the Dalai Lama will not have an afterlife. Worried enough that this week, officials repeatedly warned that he must reincarnate, and on their terms.

Tensions over what will happen when the 14th Dalai Lama, who is 79, dies, and particularly over who decides who will succeed him as the most prominent leader in Tibetan Buddhism, have ignited at the annual gathering of China's legislators in Beijing."

Officials have amplified their argument that the Communist government is the proper guardian of the Dalai Lama's succession through an intricate process of reincarnation that has involved lamas, or senior monks, visiting a sacred lake and divining dreams.
Party functionaries were incensed by the exiled Dalai Lama's recent speculation that he might end his spiritual lineage and not reincarnate. That would confound the Chinese government's plans to engineer a succession that would produce a putative 15th Dalai Lama who accepts China's presence and policies in Tibet. Their anger welled up on Wednesday, as it had a day earlier.

Zhu Weiqun, a Communist Party official who has long dealt with Tibetan issues, told reporters in Beijing on Wednesday that the Dalai Lama had, essentially, no say over whether he was reincarnated. That was ultimately for the Chinese government to decide, he said, according to a transcript of his comments on the website of People's Daily, the party's main newspaper.

"Decision-making power over the reincarnation of the Dalai Lama, and over the end or survival of this lineage, resides in the central government of China," said Zhu, formerly a deputy head of the United Front Department of the Communist Party, which oversees dealings with religious and other nonparty groups. He now leads the ethnic and religious affairs committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, an advisory body that meets at the same time as the Legislature, or National People's Congress.
Zhu accused the Dalai Lama of trampling on sacred traditions.

"In religious terms, this is a betrayal of the succession of Dalai Lamas in Tibetan Buddhism," he said.

"The 14th Dalai Lama has taken an extremely frivolous and disrespectful attitude toward this issue," Zhu continued. "Where in the world is there anyone else who takes such a frivolous attitude toward his own succession?"
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'India's Daughter'

The reaction to the documentary has left me aghast...

I am still trying to understand the need felt for banning the documentary

• Is it the subject or the method? 
• A documentary has been made without 'proper' permission/ consent inside high-security prison
• Interviews were conducted with the rapists

• Is it because the documentary would 'malign' India's image abroad
• Highlight the generally prevalent misogyny in the Country
• Highlight the underlying violence of a people in India

• Or is it because the documentary was made by a non-Indian, white representing foreign media

• Or is it because of the lack of remorse by the rapist.

Actually this last point is most annoying where I am concerned... why are we worried about the rapists remorse... the documentary is not about the rapist's soul, I suggest we leave it to the religious. 

The documentary I presume is about prevalent attitude towards in the Indian society, the amazing awakening of conscience the country witnessed after the quoted incident (and seen across the world), the need felt for change in laws and the yet to addressed change in mindset. 

The ban of the documentary is like breaking a mirror because you don't like what you see in it!

A post and a trend

This was an opinion on the just announced Railway Budget 2015

" Swacch Bharat is NOWHERE to be seen in Railways stns. Pigs and Rabid and leprosy Dogs are roaming free in Main cities like Chennai Central stn etc.

In shatabdi express, the attenders and vendors are openly asking for tips at the end of the journey for passengers and they offer extra food or ice cream after getting tips..
After Suresh Prabhu took over, it has gone from bad to worse..Such intellectual beings who are white collared policy makers shd never be there in railways,..We need earthy rough n tough Laoo yadavs actually..BTW I am a BJP voter, so its a neutral view point" by opposing_voice • 8 minutes ago

I was taken by the qualification at the end of the post "BTW I am a BJP voter, so its a neutral view point."

I suppose if he didn't post the the qualifier of being a BJP voter he would be hounded as an anti-national!!! Hmm.... the times we live in!

Found a para on Caravan Magazine...

Hindutva allows Modi to speak of inclusiveness without spelling out that Muslims and Christians are less than equal by definition. Exclusion is built into the term, and his record in Gujarat bears this out, as do his party’s first few months in power in Delhi. Only those commentators who have tried to project their own longings for an Indian inclusivity onto him have missed noting this consistency. 

Hmm.... 

Offensive Language - FIR

Today some guy on the road called me a b****. I am offended by the language.
I am going to file and FIR to get that b****** arrested!

I am Scared

Where are we going with our stupidity?

Forced to withdraw novel, Tamil author announces his ‘death’...

PERUMAL MURUGAN is a well-known contemporary Tamil writer and poet. He has written six novels, four collections of short stories and four anthologies of poetry. Two of his novels have been translated into English to wide acclaim: Seasons of the Palm, which was shortlisted for the prestigious Kiriyama Award in 2005, and Current Show. He has received awards from the Tamil Nadu government as well as from Katha Books.

He has decided not to write anymore, and has withdrawn all his books. His decision comes on the back of raging protests against his latest book. 

In 2010, he published the book Madhorubagan... which was subsequently translated into 'One Part Woman,' This is the book that has been deemed offensive by Hindu and caste-based outfits.

This tiny, vocal, rabid fringe that thinks nothing about hounding people who go against their view of what is right has such a small 'Taliban' like view of the country and are busy driving people to their narrow view. They have said that no writer who dares to touch the Hindu sentiment will be able to live in Tamil Nadu. 


It scares me that this State that has given rise to the best social reforms movements in the country is emerging as a laboratory of casteist and religious fundamentalists in South India. These are people who are in their very mental makeup are an antithesis to the idea of a plural, and diverse nation and want this country to embody their narrow view of religion, culture and nationhood.

It scares me that the Government Machinery has facilitated the hounding of a much felicitated writer by people whose protests should have been put down in the first place.

It scares me that the changes I see are likely to get worse and the state defined by its pride in its cultural heritage, its history and its advancement in various spheres including - Literature and education, Inclusiveness and industrial development is slowly going down the Gujarat Model of development.

Second Class Citizen

I am debating - is it better to be a second class citizen in a foreign country?

We seem to be progressively moving towards a conformist, anti - other society. The dividing lines based on religion and region have become more vivid - and people more intolerant to differences.

Earlier this attitude was hidden beneath niceties and coloured as secularism. Now with the new government at the helm there is a perceptible change in dispositions/ attitudes.

So the question - to be a second class citizen in a foreign land, derided/ looked down upon for brown skin any better than being treated as second class citizens in your own country for a religion one is born or cleaves into.... hmmmm?