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November 13, 2008
November 11, 2009
Monogamy, Female Foeticide, Serial Polygamy, Dowry Deaths, Girl education
At one time in Ancient India, no fertile season of a woman was supposed to go waste. (When Uddanka’s gurupatni approached him, he refused saying that the order must come from the guru and not the gurupatni. This made his guru very fond of him).
At another time, women had to be won by a show of valour (Virya Sulka). (As Sita Devi, by Sri Rama breaking Siva’s bow and Draupadi by Arjuna shooting the eye of the fish in the revolving Matysa Yantra, looking at a watery reflection.)
Very often the hero had to fight off competing armies for the girl. (As Sri Krishna for Rukmini Devi and Bhishma for the Kasi Princesses). In fact many baby girls were adopted and raised and given to great kings in marriage. eg., Sita, Sakuntala, Mandodari.
At that time both polygamy and polyandry were legal and there was no talk of killing baby girls, foetuses or brides.
Enter the post British Era of India which forced monogamy as an additional ideal and law on our Indian society.
A man who may have only one wife possibly becomes very choosy and wants the prettiest and richest one he can have. He can also accept a dowry from one girl, burn her off and marry another one for another dowry., thus leading to the serial polygamy, concept accepted by western societies.
A man who does not wish to afford the heavy dowry and marriage expenses of his daughter can kill her off before he sees her baby face.
From someone who has to be fought for, wooed and won, Indian girls have become finacial liability to their fathers.
Many educated girls now earn and save for their own dowries so as to get a better (wealthier) match. The dowry for educated, working women is also lower than for their less educated sisters. Therefore, you also see more educated, working girls in India.
October 26, 2009
The Misery of Public Transportation in India
Exploitation of the helpless and Environmentally Conscious
Autos overcharge from 1.5 to 2 to 6 times the fare, even in pre-paid auto stands. In many places in Tamil Nadu, autos do not even have a meter. And in Bangalore they do not always pay attention to the meter. In Chennai, the auto drivers demand double in the prepaid stand and sfter you get a receipt they demand extra.
Buses turn back before the final stops. Many buses turn back at Bhadrappa layout and do not come till Tatanagar.
Yesterday the C1 C2 buses stopped at Hennur and did not come till Hebbal. They covered the destination board with a cloth. Each bus kept pointing to us some other bus to board and kept telling us to get off at traffic signals.
The controller is not aware of these nefarious activities. Getting change and bus tickets is a challenge!
It is one thing to say that we should save the environment by keeping the cars of the streets.. but with such miserable public transportation and exploitation by buses and autos alike – what are people to do?
The drivers should be steeply fined to change their behaviour.
October 12, 2009
October 11, 2009
The Joy of Not Being in Love!!
After looking at young ones losing their hearts every week and the ups and downs it entails, I’m happy to report that I have not been in love for aeons.
That is the beautiful free peace and concentration on my work that I have now.
October 10, 2009
We met Sudeep! Yesterday!
Yesterday, we saw the lovely movie Wake Up Sid! at FunCinemas – Morning Show and finished an errand at Allianz Francaise.
When we came back to pick up our car, we saw an Outdoor Shooting Truck.
The security guard helpfully directed us to the basement where the crew were having lunch.
Sitting at a very simple table on a very simple chair eating a great deal of chicken was this very thin, tall and fair actor whose work in the Kannada version of swathi Muthyam I really liked. Given the way Anil Kapoor botched it up, you can tell how good an actor Sudeep must be to take on a role played by Kamal Hasaan and do it justice.
My son went up and Sudeep gave him left hand shake since he was eating with his right hand. Then this young actor stood up to greet me.. all he knew was that I was a partly gray haired middle aged woman. How courteous of him. I was very impressed. I congratulated him on SwathiMuthyam but probably not in the right words.
I hope he succeeds in his new venture. He was so nice to us.
Authorship and Copyright Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula
October 4, 2009
How Daksha named the fixed stars!
Daksha was the father of Sati and the father-in-law of Siva.
One of his main contributions to Indian Astronomy was the naming of stars. Please read the lovely story of how he did so here : Daksha : He named the fixed stars!
Authorship and Copyright Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula
October 2, 2009
Why do we read books?
Why do we read books?
- To relieve the boredom of travel or loneliness : time-pass
- To learn : knowledge to better our lives
- To entertain/enjoy ourselves : to feel better about ourselves or our lives.
Someone who writes books must know, which of these purposes they are satisfying….
Why do we write books?
- To express ourselves and gain clarity and relieve the internal pressure of our ideas or our loneliness
- To share knowledge
- To entertain
September 30, 2009
Views of Castes on Hinduism : Some sweeping generalisations.
Some sweeping generalisations.
The Dalits reject Hinduism and embrace Buddhism as per Ambedkar’s advice, or get converted to Christianity. Given the treatment they have received over the years, who can blame them?
The Sudras (the richest castes) accept Hindusim and reject the supremacy of Brahmins, Kshatriyas and Vaisyas. They specially hate the brahmins. They perform rituals at which they employ brahmin priests, even as they loathe and dominate them. I have seen them yell at a priest in the Simhachalam temple, using the singular form of address, even as they required his services to perform the seva. So they believe in the efficacy of the procedure, in the ritual, in the mantra, just not in the intention and superiority of the brahmin priests. However in secular matters they have no problems in employing brahmins in their enterprises or in befriending and helping them. They rightly recognise their own material superiority and want others to accept it.
Vaisyas are pro-Hindusim, resentful of brahmin supremacy, and look at the philosophy, history and science of Hinduism more than the ritual.
The kshatriyas are a dignified and cultured bunch and I have never found a single one of them who ever expressed any view on this matter in a personal capacity.
Brahmins are pro-Hinduism. They are interested in the meaning behind the rituals. They are interested in the philosophy, science and history of the scriptures. They are more westernised and less ritualistic than the sudras. They are very uncomfortable about caste history. They cannot quite understand why anyone needs to hate someone who has no money or power or status. I think it is easy to hate someone who has no power or money or status, they can’t hit back can they? And yet deep in their persecuted, maligned and suffering hearts, they “know” they are special, as are their rituals, mantras and philosophy. They “know” that the others don’t have it and that the present hardships are to be endured in Krishna’s name. They “know” they have a special relationship with God and “this too shall pass”. If this doesn’t sound Jewish, then what does? It is this “knowledge” that makes them hated even though they have no power or money or status or even love and livelihood. What is that unshakable knowledge? It is “Tat Tvam Asi”.
I know I have made some sweeping generalisations.
September 29, 2009
The White Cobra’s evening visit!
Authorship and Copyright Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula
“Kanna and you stay upstairs! I am locking all the doors, there is a Cobra inside the house”., said Kanna’s Thatha.
“Kanna, thatha is alone downstairs with a cobra, he has locked us out!” Amma told her son.
“Really! Let’s go down!”. Kanna raced down the stairs and found the door locked.
“Even at 70. thatha thinks he is a hero! I am a young man of 20. In every other house they would call their young men first when there is danger. I will have to hang my head in shame in front of my friends.” said Kanna, as he and Amma sat fretfully on the staircase outside the door.
“I have localised the Cobra now. It is behind the dining hall closet. I have lighted a tortoise mosquito coil. It hates the smell and is staying behind the closet. I called the society people.. some one should be here soon” said Thatha.
“Wear your shoes Kanna, I will change into some day clothes and wear my shoes too. Your Ammammma will be back by 8.30 pm and thatha will have to open the door, we can sneak in”, said Amma.
Ammamma came as predicted, pooh poohed Thatha’s injunctions and went straight to her downstairs bedroom. She locked herself in there with the television and a cell phone. No trivial Cobra was going to keep her away from her tv serial. Anyway, her husband and grandson would know what to do.
Thatha showed Kanna the cobra. Kanna was very excited. “I’ll call my friend Vel, he will have the phone number of a snake catcher!” Amma was surprised, ”Why would Vel know?” she asked. “Oh he knows everything”.
Kanna called Vel, got the number of the snake catcher, Mukunda and called him. He told Thatha that Mukunda would charge 1000 rupees whether there was a snake or not. Thatha’s society friends came, bu they had no idea who to call or what to do. They were scared of snakes and waited outside.
Kanna called Mukunda and Mukunda promised to get there in 45 min. Then he got himself a stick to guard himself, a book to read, a chair to sit on and sat reading with a happy smile on his face. Amma sat next to him on the steps, watching the closet.
Thatha ran back and forth checking alternately on the society friends outside and the snake status inside. He was very impressed with Kanna and his cheerful bravery. Ammamma kept calling kanna from inside her bedroom for updates. Kanna’s friends were excited too, and there were was much SMS traffic. Vel worried about the Cobra. “I hope the poor guy isn’t too uncomfortable”, he said.
Mukunda arrived with a stick, gloves and a blue bag. The cobra was too slippery for the gloves and stick. So Mukunda threw them off and caught the snake by the tail. It is a cobra, he confirmed. Thatha told him about all the cobras he had encountered since childhood.
Mukunda took the cobra out and made it bite the bag a few times. That way its venom was used up. Amma saw for the first time in her life, the beautiful mark under its hood. “What a beautiful Cobra, not like the horrid ones I have seen in my nightmares”, she thought.
Then Mukunda lifted it up and put it in the bag. He put the bag in his motorbike side case, receive his payment and distributed his visiting cards. “I will come anytime of the day or night, you may feel free to call” , he said.
Amma was concerned about the snake. “What will you do to it? Will you extract its venom for antidotes?” she asked this fair, tall and professional looking snake catcher, who looked like he stepped out of an MNC or out of discovery channel. “It is illegal to extract snake poison. I will keep it at home till I collect 8 such snakes. Then I will release them in Bannerghatta National Park, where they can live freely. I don’t know why humans fuss so much about snakes. All they want to do is to eat frogs and sleep. Check my web-site to learn more”, he said.
“I have seen him on TV”, Kanna said. “That is how I knew about him and called Vel for his phone number”. Amma was impressed by Kanna’s knowledge, action and smile. “This is exactly how Krishna faced all danger, with a smile”, she said.
Kanna listened to all Thatha’s snake stories that night, including the one where a snake held its hood up over his head. “That is why you became a great man,” Amma told her father. Ammamma laughed. “No, that is why he got to marry me”, she said.
That night, it was Kanna, who put his mother to bed and tucked her in. “Thank you for saving my daddy”, she said, “And thank you for saving the cobra. Some ordinary construction workers may have just killed it.”
“It was nothing mommy, anyone could have done it!” Kanna said.
“Anyone could have, maybe. But none of us had the knowledge. You knew and you acted. You are the hero today evening” Amma said.
“And Vel, and Thatha and actually Mukunda”, Kanna said as he went to his room to sleep.
Authorship and Copyright Notice : All Rights Reserved : Satya Sarada Kandula
September 26, 2009
Rahul Gandhi like Nehru?
I saw the video clips of Rahul’s visit to UP.
Just like Nehru, he went out into the people and was not “cordoned off”.
I saw Priyanka, walk confidently and smartly next to him.
Is there reason to be hopeful? Will we have a Nehru like leader again?
He has at least one good/progressive friend in Krishna Byre Gowda.
Will this young group lead us out of the present mess?
Yesterday, I felt very hopeful on seeing Rahul Gandhi..
Hope is good. Better than hopelessness.
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