स्व : the inner self

श्याम काकांच्या देशात-३: खरेदीचं अन् खेळाचं खूळ

2011-11-25T12:30:00.000-05:00

अमेरिकेची अनेक वैशिष्ट्ये आहेत. उपभोक्तावादी बाजारव्यवस्था हे त्यातील एक. मोठी-मोठी दुकानं, त्यांची आक्रमक मार्केटिंग पद्धती, व दैनंदिन जीवनावरही दिसणारा त्याचा प्रभाव अगदी पहिल्या दिवसापासून जाणवू लागतो. जाहिराती, कूपन्स् व डील्स् यांनी तुमच्या खरेदीच्या कल्पना - क्वचित गरजा सुद्धा - व्यापून जातात. दर आठवड्याला आमच्या (म्हणजे सर्वांच्याच) पत्रपेटीत आजूबाजूच्या डिपार्टमेंटल् स्टोर्सची पत्रकं येतात. त्याच दुकानात, त्याच वस्तूंवर दर आठवड्यात नव-नवे डील्स् कसे असू शकतात? एकतर हा घाट्याचा धंदा असला पाहिजे, किंवा मूळ किमती या आधीच अव्वाच्या-सव्वा वाढवलेल्या असल्या पाहिजेत. आणि ज्या अर्थी ही दुकानं वर्षानुवर्षं नफा कमवत आहेत, दुसराच पर्याय खरा आहे. मोठ-मोठ्या बँकापण मजेदार स्कीम्स काढतात. मी आलो तेव्हा जतिनकडे 'चेस' चं एक कूपन होतं. 'आमच्या बँकेत अकाउंट काढा, दोन महिन्यात डायरेक्ट डिपॉझिट सुरू करा, आम्ही तुम्हाला १२५ डॉलर्स (फुकट) देऊ'. बाकी क्रोगरसारख्या स्टोर्सचे '३५ डॉलरहून अधिक खरेदी करा, बिलात ५ डॉलर माफ' असे कूपन्स सततच येत असतात.

'घासघीस करणारे' असं भारतीयांचं 'स्टिरियोटायपिंग' करणारे अमेरिकन लोक या डील्सवर कसे तुटून पडतात, हे बघून हसू येतं. याचा सर्वात जोरदार आविष्कार म्हणजे 'ब्लॅक फ्रायडे'. कालच त्याचा अनुभव मिळाला. साधारण नोव्हेंबरचा शेवटचा गुरुवार हा 'थँक्सगिव्हिंग' म्हणून इथे साजरा करतात, आणि त्यानंतरचा शुक्रवार हा 'ब्लॅक फ्रायडे'. या दिवशी जवळपास सर्व दुकानांमध्ये महासेल असतो. प्रत्येक गोष्ट ५०-६०% (क्वचित अधिकही) स्वस्त असते. दुकानं पहाटे ४-५ वगैरेला उघडतात (यंदा बरीच दुकानं मध्यरात्री १२ ला उघडली). लोक दुकानं उघडण्यापूर्वीपासून या थंडीत कुडकुडत रांगा लावून उभी असतात. काही महागड्या गोष्टी - विशेषतः इलेक्ट्रॉनिक्सच्या - खूप कमी प्रमाणात उपलब्ध असतात; त्यासाठी लोकांची हमरीतुमरी झाल्याच्या कथा आहेत. अन् ती पण अमेरिकन स्टाईलनी - म्हणजे लोक पिस्तुल वगैरे काढू शकतात.

सुदैवानं आम्ही ज्या दुकानात गेलो होतो तिथे असला काही प्रकार घडला नाही. अर्थात आम्ही दुकानं उघडल्यावर गेलो होतो, रांगेत उभं राहण्याचा काही उत्साह नव्हता. मला काही थंडीचे कपडे घ्यायचे होते. 'डील्स्' जोरदारच होते; मी जेवढा खर्च केला, त्याच्या दुप्पट बचत केली (मूळ किमतीच्या तुलनेत). दुकानाबाहेरची रांग चुकवली तरी आत 'चेकआऊट'ची भलीथोरली रांग होती. हा सगळा अनुभव घेऊन परत निघालो तेव्हा रात्रीचे अडीच वाजले होते. अनेक लोक एका दुकानातील खरेदी आटोपून दुसऱ्या दुकानांत जात होते.
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खरेदीचं जसं अमेरिकनांना खूळ, तसंच खेळाचंही. बेसबॉल अन् (अमेरिकन) फूटबॉल हे इथले सर्वात आवडते खेळ. या बाबतीत मात्र मला अमेरिकनांचं मनापासून कौतुक करावसं वाटतं. एकतर हे दोन्ही खेळ मर्दानी आहेत. दुसरं, ते शुद्ध अमेरिकन आहेत. जगात कुणी ते खेळतं, नाही खेळत याची अमेरिकेला पर्वा नाही. अन्‌ तिसरं, इथे लहानपणापासून सर्वच खेळांना प्रचंड प्रोत्साहन दिलं जातं. शाळा-कॉलेजांच्या टीम्स पण खूप प्रोफेशनल असतात, आणि पालक, शाळा व स्थानिक प्रशासन सर्वच त्याबद्दल जागरूक असतात. कदाचित त्यातूनच पुढे खेळांचं खूळ (क्रेझ) निर्माण होतं, जे आपल्या लोकांना मजेदार, किंवा विचित्र सुद्धा वाटू शकतं. उदा. आमच्या युनिवर्सिटीची फूटबॉल टीम ही अमेरिकेतील पहिल्या पाच कॉलेज टीम्स पैकी एक आहे. आणि ओएसयू अन् मिशिगनचं अगदी विळ्याभोपळ्याचं सख्य आहे. जेव्हा आमची मिशिगनशी मॅच असते, त्याच्या सुमारे आठवडाभर आधीपासून कँपसमधली हवा बदलू लागते. मिशिगनवरचा कोप नक्की कसा प्रकटेल याचा भरवसा नसतो. उद्याच ही मॅच आहे. संपूर्ण कँपसमध्ये जिथे कुठे 'एम्' हे अक्षर असेल (बिल्डींगच्या नावात वगैरे), त्याला काळं फासण्यात आलं आहे. सर्वदूर 'मिशिगनची कशी मारायची' याचीच चर्चा सुरू आहे. मंगळवारी ऐतिहासिक 'मिरर लेक जंप' पण झाली. मिशिगनच्या मॅच पूर्वी कँपसवरच्या मिररलेक नावाच्या तलावात ऐन नोव्हेंबरच्या कडाक्यात रात्री ११ वाजता ओएसयूचे फॅन्स डुबकी मारायला जातात. यंदाही सुमारे हजारेक विद्यार्थी हे 'गंगास्नान' करून आले. अर्थात गारठा सहन करण्यासाठी अनेकांनी आधीच 'तीर्थप्राशन' केले होते.
हे कॉलेज टीम्स चे खेळ बघायला दूरदुरून लोक येतात. महागाची तिकिटं विकत घेतात. विद्यार्थ्यांना आधीच स्वस्त दरात तिकीट मिळतं. मग काही हुशार विद्यार्थी ब्लॅक मध्ये ती विकतात. गेल्या वर्षी एका मॅचची तिकिटं १००० डॉलरला गेल्याची कथा मी ऐकली आहे (मूळ किंमत ३५ डॉलर).
उद्याही अशीच दर्दी लोकांची गर्दी होईल. मॅच मिशिगनमध्ये असल्याने स्टेडियम तर नाही, पण जवळपासचे बार, कॅफे, शॉप्स सगळेच ओसंडून वाहत असतील. उद्या एकच काळजी घ्यायची-मिशिगनच्या रंगाचा कपडा (निळा) घालायचा नाही, अन् कोणताही घोळका दिसला की बेंबीच्या देठापासून ओरडायचं - 'गो बक्स् !' (ओहायो स्टेट चं टोपणनाव आहे बक्आईज्, संक्षेपात बक्स्).

श्याम काकांच्या देशात-२: उदरभरण

2011-10-29T06:11:00.000-04:00

वेणु व जतिन मुळे पूर्णपणे सेट झालेलं घर मला मिळालं होतं. त्यामुळे इतरांच्या तुलनेत सेटल व्हायला बऱ्यापैकी कमी वेळ लागला.

यापूर्वी स्वयंपाकाचा अनुभव असा नव्हताच. किंबहुना स्वयंपाक या शब्दात 'स्वयं' आहे, हा विचार पण कधी केला नव्हता. सुरुवातीचे बरेच दिवस आईनी दिलेल्या खाऊवर गेले. मग जतिनच्या मदतीने कुकर लावणे वगैरे प्रकार सुरु केला. आईने वरण-भात-भाजी-खिचडी इ. ची सोपी रेसिपी शिकवून व लिहून पण दिली होती. त्या भांडवलावर प्रयोग सुरु झाले. पाण्यात पडल्यावर पोहायला येणारच या उक्तीनुसार हळुहळू एक-एक गोष्ट जमू लागली. एकदा मी अन् जतिन ने हिमतीने गाजराचे पराटे केले. चांगले जमले. हिंमत वाढली. मध्यंतरी जयश्रीने इंटरनेटवर चांगल्या महाराष्ट्रीय रेसिपीज् कुठे मिळतात त्याची माहिती दिली. मग त्यानुसार प्रयोग सुरू झाले. आता तोंडलीभात, कढी, पराटे, खिचडी, कोबी, पत्ता किंवा दुध्याची भाजी असे पदार्थ स्वतंत्रपणे करण्याचा आत्मविश्वास आला आहे. अजूनही रोज सकाळी उठून सैपाक करून डबा घेऊन जातो असं नाही, पण पोट भरण्यासाठी कुणावर अवलंबून राहण्याची गरज उरली नाहीये.

अमेरिकेत चविष्ट अन् पौष्टिक खाऊन वर बँकेत शिल्लक देखील राखायची असेल तर स्वयं-पाकाशिवाय दुसरा उपाय नाही. सुदैवाने कोलंबस परिसरात अनेक भारतीय परिवार असल्याने भारतीय वस्तूंची २-३ दुकानं पण आहेत. त्यामुळे आपल्यासारख्या भाज्या, मसाले इ. पदार्थ सहज मिळतात.

सैपाकाला पर्याय म्हणजे ५ ते ८ डॉलर खर्च करून हॉटेलात जेवणे (डॉलरचं रूपयात धर्मांतर करू नका, हा भाव इथे बऱ्यापैकी परवडेबल आहे). आमच्या घरापासून व कँपसपासूनही जवळच नॉर्थ-हाय-स्ट्रीट नावाची 'खाऊ-गल्ली' आहे. या रस्त्यावर सर्व प्रकारची दुकानं आहेत. मी साधारणतः सबवे, चिपोटले (हे चितळेंचे बंधु वगैरे नाहीत, मेक्सिकन रेस्टॉरेंट आहे) किंवा नूडल्स-अँड-कंपनी मध्ये खातो. कधीमधी मित्रांसोबत पिझ्झा पण होतोच. पिझ्झाहट् किंवा डॉमिनोज् पेक्षा इथला डोनॅटोज् चा पिझ्झा मला जास्त आवडला. मांसाहार करणाऱ्यांची तर ऐशच आहे, पण शुद्ध शाकाहाऱ्यालाही इथे काही अडचण नाहीये. वजन-फिगरच्या चिंतेतून कोणत्याही पदार्थाचे शुद्ध व्हेजीकरण करणारी एक जमात इथे आहे (त्यासोबत ते कोकाकोला घेऊन कॅलरीज् चं गणित पूर्ण बिघडवतील हा भाग वेगळा). त्याशिवाय मांस तर सोडाच कोणताही प्राणीजन्य पदार्थ (दूध, दही, चीज् इ.) वर्ज्य मानणारं 'व्हेगन' नामक नवं खूळ सध्या इथे बाळसं धरू लागलंय. त्यामुळे असे (अति)शुद्ध शाकाहारी पदार्थ सर्वत्र मिळू शकतात. अनेक रेस्टॉरेंट्समध्ये काही सामान्य पदार्थांच्या बाजूला 'हा पदार्थ व्हेगन पद्धतीने देखील बनवून मिळेल' असं लिहीलेलं असतं.

याशिवाय आपली पूर्वपुण्याई, संघ- व मित्र-परिवाराचं प्रेम असे काही ग्रह अनुकूल असले की अधूनमधून शुद्ध भारतीय पद्धतीचे पंचपक्वान्नयुक्त भोजन प्राप्त होण्याचा योग पण असतो. पण त्याचं लक्ष्मीसारखं आहे. आपण तिच्या मागे धावलो नाही तर(च) ती आपल्या मागे येते.

श्याम काकांच्या देशात-१: प्रवेश

2011-09-19T13:12:00.000-04:00

अक्षरशः केवळ दैवयोग होता म्हणून मी आज अंकल सॅमच्या देशात येऊन पोचलो आहे.
साधारण वर्षभरापूर्वी सुद्धा अमेरिकेत जाऊन पीएचडी करण्याचा विचार मुळीच नव्हता.
पण 'आलं देवाजीच्या मना-तेव्हा कुनाचं चालेना' !

उन्हाळ्यात एक महीनाभर संघशिक्षावर्ग, मग गुजरात-संभाजीनगर-पुणे-चेनै-बेंगळूरु-गुडगाव असा सगळा प्रवास, आणि जवळपास २ महिने नागपुरात खास मित्रांसोबत खास नागपुरी ऐश करत करत जाण्याचा दिवस कधी उगवला ते कळलंच नाही. 'लांबचा पल्ला' असल्याने (घरच्यांना) 'कस्सं हुईल-काय हुईल' होत होतं. पण अनेक मित्र-नातेवाईकांकडून असंख्य टिप्स मिळाल्या असल्याने मी निश्चिंत होतो. ('त्यामुळेच माझी चिंता वाढते', असं आई म्हणते - त्यातच माझ्या एक आठवडा अगोदर निघालेल्या मित्रांचे न्यूयॉर्क मध्ये आयरिन वादळाने स्वागत केल्यामुळे घरचं वातावरणही जरा अस्थिर होऊ लागलं होतं, पण आयरिन पण शांत झालं, अन् आमचं घर पण).

घरचा दीड दिवसाचा गणपती पूर्ण करून २ सप्टें ला संध्याकाळच्या विमानाने मुंबईला निघालो. सोबत आई-बाबा-मधुरा असे तीन प्रवासी असल्यामुळे माझं इंटरनॅशनलचं भलं-थोरलं लगेज डोमेस्टिकमध्ये सुद्धा जमवून घेतलं गेलं. चेक-इन करून आत गेलो, आणि नाट्याच्या पहिल्या अंकाची सुरुवात झाली. नागपूर-मुंबई विमानच लेट! पुढचं विमान वेळेत गाठता येईल की नाही याची चिंता सुरू. माझं नागपूर-मुंबई विमान इंटरनॅशनल तिकीटाचा भाग नसल्याने ते चुकलं तर कुणाची गच्ची धरता येणार नव्हती! तसा पुरेसा वेळ होता दोन्हीत, पण 'कस्स हुइल' ! शेवटी एकदाचं आमचं विमान मुंबईत पोचलं. सामान वगैरे घेऊन टर्मिनलवर आलो. डोमेस्टिक वरून इंटरनॅशनलला जायला दोन पर्याय आहेत: एक, ज्यांचं इंटरनॅशनलचं तिकीट आहे, त्यांच्याकरता विमानतळाची निःशुल्क बससेवा आहे; दोन, बाहेर जाऊन स्वतंत्र टॅक्सी करून पण जाता येतं. बाहेरून गेल्यास ट्रॅफिक जॅम असल्यास आणखी उशीर होईल या कल्पनेने मी आपला अंतर्गत बससेवेच्या रांगेत उभा राहिलो, अन् या तिघांनी बाहेर जाऊन टॅक्सी केली. आणि- ती रांग काही पुढे सरकायलाच तयार नाही. माझा मित्र अभिजीत इंटरनॅशनलच्या टर्मिनलवर पोचल्याचा फोन आला. अनी अन् छायामामी माझं जेवण घेऊन पोचले. ट्रॅफिकजॅम इ. अडथळ्यांची शर्यत पार करून ती टॅक्सी पण जाऊन पोचली, अन् मी आपला रांगेत उभा ! वर पाऊस सुरू झालेला अन् 'संपूर्ण विमानतळ परिसरात काही ना काही बांधकाम सुरू आहे-त्यामुळे बसला लेट होत असेल' अशी बातमी देणारे रांगेतले 'नारू'. माझं इकडे 'ठेविले अनंते तैसेचि रहावे-चित्तीं असू द्यावे समाधान', अन् तिकडे आईचं 'कस्सं हुईल'. शेवटी अनंतें आम्हांस ससामान उचलून बशीत ठेविले अन् तीस ससमय सुस्थानी पोचविले. मी, टर्मिनल अन् चेकइनची वेळ यांची गाठ पडल्याने सर्वांचा जीव भांड्यात पडला, अन् मग मामीनी आणलेला दूधभात माझ्या पोटात पडला. गौरव पण धावत-पळत आला होता, सर्वांना भेटून आनंद झाला.

मग रांग कापत-कापत अन् प्रत्येक पावलावर मागे वळून बघत-बघत त्या दारातून आत शिरलो, अन् आतल्या दुनियेचा भाग बनलो. दोन-अडीच तास आधी चेकइन करून काय करवणार आहेत, या प्रश्नाचं उत्तर मिळू लागलं होतं. सामानाचं वजन करून बोर्डिंग पास घेणं, खांद्यावरच्या बॅगला पट्ट्या लावणं, इमिग्रेशनचे फॉर्म भरणं, सेक्युरिटीवाल्यांच्या मेटल डिटेक्टरनं स्वतःची आरती अोवाळून घेणं - अन् या सगळ्यासाठी नागमोडी रांगांमधून इंच-इंच सरकत राहणं यात वेळ असाच निघून गेला. अखेर ऍमस्टरडॅमगामी डेल्टाविमानात जाऊन स्थानापन्न झालो अन् आईला फोन केला. एयरलाइन्सनी एक उशी अन् एक चादर दिली होती - झोपणे का मस्त जुगाड हो गया. प्रत्यक्ष उड्डाण होईपर्यंत जागा राहिलो, विमान धावू लागल्यावर देवबाप्पाला नमस्कार केला, अन् मग नकळत केव्हातरी झोपी गेलो. मुंबई-ऍमस्टरडॅम-डिट्रॉइट हा प्रवास तसा काही विशेष न घडताच गेला. दोन उल्लेखनीय गोष्टी: एक, आजवर शरीराच्या ज्या भागाला केवळ पाण्याचा स्पर्श अवगत होता, त्याला प्रथमच कागदाचा स्पर्श झाला; अन् दोन, ढगांच्या वरतून पाहिलेला सूर्योदय अप्रतीम होता.

डिट्रॉइटला इमिग्रेशन तपासणी झाली. भारतीय प्रवाशांनी भात, जीरा आणला असेल तर काढून घेतात असं ऐकलं होतं, ते घडताना पण बघितलं. परांजपेकाकूंचा 'डाएट फूड'चा मंत्र असल्यामुळे आईने दिलेले लाडू अन् पुरणपोळी मी त्यांच्या तावडीतून काढू शकेन याची खात्री होती. पण माझी बॅग अडवली गेली वेगळ्याच कारणासाठी. माझ्या एका बॅगमध्ये दोन चिलटाएवढे किडे त्यांच्या स्कॅनरने पकडले (पावसाळ्यातले किडे-कोणत्या तरी कपड्यासोबत आले असतील, त्यातला एक मेलेलाच होता). मग तो गोरा पांडू बॅग उघडून चिमट्याने त्या किड्याला टेस्टट्यूबमध्ये टाकून लॅबमध्ये घेऊन गेला (मला पुलंच्या 'माशी' ची आठवण आली). थोड्यावेळाने परत येऊन 'यू आर गुड. हे किडे आमच्याकडेपण असतात' असं काहीतरी म्हणाला. माझं सामान उकरताना त्याला पोळपाट सापडला अन् त्याचा उपयोग सांगितल्यावर त्याला खूपच आनंद झाला होता. एक गोष्ट नमूद करावीशी वाटते की या सगळ्या किडे-प्रकरणातही त्याचं माझ्याशी वागणं खूपच सभ्य होतं.

डिट्रॉइट-कोलंबस हा एक तासापेक्षाही कमी असा प्रवासाचा शेवटचा टप्पा, पण खरे भुवया उंचवणारे अनुभव इथेच आले. माझ्या दोन मोठ्या सूटकेसेस तर परस्पर लगेजमध्ये गेल्या होत्या, पण हँडबॅग म्हणून जी मी घेतली होती, ती सुद्धा या विमानकंपनीच्या मापापेक्षा मोठी होती. जास्तीचे पैसे द्यावे लागणार की काय, या चिंतेत मी असतानाच त्या अटेंडंट बाईने एक गुलाबी चिठ्ठी माझ्या हाती देऊन सांगितलं की 'या बॅग ला विमानाच्या लोकल लगेज मध्ये टाक'. ते करून आत गेलो अन् थक्कच झालो. आपल्या कडे स्वराज-माझ्दाची १५-२० सीटर बस असते ना, तसं २-बाय-१ विमान होतं. उंचीलाही बेताचंच - माझं डोकं छताला लागत होतं. अन् एकून प्रवास पण तासाभरात आटोपला; मला तर क्षणभर एखाद्या अम्युझमेंट-पार्क मधल्या राईड सारखंच वाटलं. पण कोलंबस ही माझी अम्युझमेंट नसून 'अरे संसार संसार' आहे.

लगेजपाशी पोचलो. वेणु घ्यायला आला होताच. त्याच्या भरवशावरच मी बराच निश्चिंतपणे आलो आहे. पट्ट्यावरून बॅगा फिरत असताना त्याने एक छान टिप दिली - बॅगच्या हँडलला रिबिनीसारखं काही बांधलं की ओळखायला सोपं जातं. सामान घेऊन आम्ही घरी आलो. इथे होता अमेरिकेतील माझा पहिला रूममेट - जतिन गुप्ता, अन् अमेरिकेतील माझा पहिला पत्ता - १३८२ हायलँड स्ट्रीट, अपार्टमेंट सी-४, कोलंबस !

Rajiv Gandhi is the President of India

2011-02-05T15:42:00.003-05:00

A 'model' comes for the audition for 'MTV Rodies'. He is exuding ignorance. He says Ayodhya is the place where the Mahabharata war took place, and Rajiv Gandhi is the President of India. (No kidding. Check for yourself: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y8BFzoR5b2w)

Probably everyone is laughing at him. But who is really responsible for this sorry state ? I wouldn't blame him alone (And he is not a lone example, mind you. He represents a small but influential set of the society).

I, for a moment, can understand if someone with little or no education is unaware of these things (I actually mean opportunity of education). But the fact that an English speaking, well-off youngster is so ignorant clearly speaks of some serious lacunae in our socio-educational system. He was provided with the right background and opportunity to learn these things, but their importance was not impressed upon him. He could get away with not knowing them while in school, and the smugness on his face showed that he hardly cares about them even today.

It is the collective responsibility of us - those who know, and know that they know, and care about what they know - to create an environment where the others would also at least care to know.

...

Just a night before I came across this video, I got to spend some quality time with a group of youngsters, who probably lie at the other end of the youth spectrum with respect to awareness and the desire for awareness.

We had an intense group discussion session, and like any discussion amongst peers, it often digressed from the main thread, touching the skies of hypothetical situations here and delving into the oceans of philosophy there, but mainly centered around this theme:

- one of the major problems of our country is mindlessly mimicking the west
- this mainly emerges out of enormous ignorance of our own culture
- no 'saviour' will come and change this situation for us: we have to do it
ourselves.

...

When I said, 'It is the collective responsibility of us to create a good environment', by 'us' I essentially meant these and countless such youth across the nation, who, well, can !

Slogans

2011-01-05T13:40:00.004-05:00

Conservation of the eco-system is turning out to be more challenging than ever. In time-management lingo, it is both important and urgent.

Many NGOs, government departments etc are using catchy slogans to emphasize the importance of saving water, electricity and other resources.

A sure way of attracting people towards any movement is to use catchy one-liners, phrases or slogans that carry the essence of the problem and appeal the audience on a very personal level.

Recently heard a couple of such slogans which are bound to bind the youth to the movement (source unknown):
1. "ped ke upar prem karo, ped ke neeche nahi"
2. "How would you feel if someone just turned you on and left? ... Save Electricity!"

I am sure you will definitely think twice before leaving a fan/light/tap on after reading this...

चहास्तोत्रम्

2010-02-18T00:09:00.007-05:00

आमचे परम मित्र श्री. निनाद साने यांनी नुकतेच मला एक महाबलशाली 'चहास्तोत्र' पाठविले. त्या स्तोत्राची महत्ता लगेचच पटल्याने त्या स्तोत्राचे रचयित्यास मनोमन नमन केले. तेव्हा श्रीवागीश्वरीने प्रसन्न होऊन अस्मादिकांकडून त्या स्तोत्राची फलश्रुती लिहून घेतली. आमच्या या कृतीचा वाचक सुहास्यवदनाने स्वीकार करतील, असा विश्वास आहे.
ते स्तोत्र व फलश्रुती येथे देत आहे. सर्वांनी लवकरात लवकर हे स्तोत्र कंठस्थ करून त्याचे विधिवत् पठण करावे व चहामृत-रूपी फलाची प्राप्ती करून घ्यावी, ही नम्र विनंती.

विद्यार्थी लभते डिप्-डिप्, धनार्थी लभते फुकट् |
आरोग्यार्थी-कृते गवती, मधुमेही शुगरफ्री मधुर् || १‌ ||
चहास्तोत्रम् महासिद्धम् प्रातर्नित्यम् पठन्ति ये |
न तद्-कृते दिनारम्भम् विना-चाहं युगे युगे || २ ||
सायं-प्रातः पठेन्यस्तु, लभेत् सदा आसाम-चहा |
त्रिसंध्यं यः पठेत् चापः, इच्छाचाही तु सः भवेत् || ३ ||
भावार्थ‌:
१. विद्यार्थ्याला डिप्-डिप् चहा, पैशाची चिन्ता करणार्याला फुकट, चांगल्या आरोग्याची कामना करणाऱ्याला गवती चहा, तर मधुमेही मनुष्याला शुगरफ्री साखरेचा पण गोड चहा, या स्तोत्राच्या पठणाने मिळतो.
२. हे महासिद्ध असे चहास्तोत्र जे रोज सकाळी म्हणतील, अनेकानेक युगांपर्यंत त्यांचा दिनारंभ चहाविना होणार नाही (रोज सकाळी उठल्यावर चहा नक्की मिळेल).
३. जो सकाळ-संध्याकाळ पठण करेल, त्याला सदैव आसाम चहा मिळेल. जो चाप (= चहा पिणारा) दिवसातून तीन वेळा हे स्तोत्र म्हणेल, तो 'इच्छाचाही' (=इच्छा करताच चहा प्राप्त करणारा) बनेल.

Khan you answer these questions ?

2010-02-14T00:31:00.004-05:00

Craze of movies and cricket in India (it's not much different in other countries, either) is at such a level that we idolize a good performer, and forget to keep his personal life and screen-/field-life separate. Both the fans and bashers end up loving/attacking their movie/game based on their opinion of the person.

The reason I am writing all this is, currently Shah Rukh Khan is under criticism for his comments about Pakistan and a political party has decided to take out their anger on his movie, My Name is Khan.
I distaste their way of protests, but I am equally apprehensive of his fans blindly ignoring the actual issue, saying "Yeh shivsena waalo ko to bahaana chahiye rada karne ko.." Although their way may be wrong, the issue can't be just ignored.

Various questions are raised about SRK's comments on Pakistan and related issues in recent times. Most of them are summarized in a long-but-a-well-written open-letter by Arindam Bandyopadhyay at http://www.blogs.ivarta.com/Open-letter-Mr-Shahrukh-Khan-SRK/blog-348.htm.

I hope Mr. Khan answers these questions soon, so that we can make a well-informed opinion about this great actor, but probably an irresponsible 'idol'.

---

PS: As shivsena started attacking theaters, Maharashtra government deployed several of its policemen to guard them. Then the blasts in Pune, killing 9 innocent people, occurred. Some gtalk/orkut/facebook/buzz comments said:
1. When 40 Police person will protect one movie theater and 13K police will protect one Rajkumar then why we are so much surprised about Pune bomb blast! It's almost expected.
2. Deputy CM:-We had intelligence report about the possible terror attacks'. (Haaaa..Ha..I guess, they must have read it as 'theatre' attacks)

खारवेल: सुनीतिमान् !

2010-02-12T12:26:00.001-05:00

देशाच्या खऱ्या शत्रूला विसरून स्वकीयांशीच लढणाऱ्या स्वार्थी, अ-दूरदर्शी राजनेत्यांना सुनीतिमान् खारवेल राजाचे स्मरण सद्बुद्धी देवो.

लोकसत्ता १० फेब्रुवारी
"कथासार"
खरा शत्रू कोण ?
http://www.loksatta.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=46477:2010-02-09-15-05-46&catid=61:2009-07-20-04-02-48&Itemid=74#JOSC_TOP

मगध देशाचा राजा सम्राट अशोकने कलिंग देशावर स्वारी करून कलिंगवासीयांचा पराभव केला. या युद्धात कलिंग देशाचे अतोनात नुकसान झाले. त्यामुळे कलिंगवासीयांमध्ये मगध साम्राज्याविषयी विलक्षण चीड निर्माण झाली. कालांतराने कलिंग देशावर खारवेल नावाचा राजा सत्तेवर आला. तो अतिशय पराक्रमी होता. मगध साम्राज्याला धडा शिकविण्यासाठी तो अतिशय उत्सुक होता. त्याप्रमाणे त्याने संपूर्ण तयारी करून मगध देशावर आक्रमण करायचे ठरविले. मात्र त्याचवेळी त्याला कळले की, ग्रीकचा राजा डेमेट्रीअस हादेखील प्रचंड सेना घेऊन मगध देशावर स्वारी करणार आहे. एका दृष्टीने खारवेलाला अनुकूल ठरणारी अशीच ही गोष्ट होती. परंतु खारवेलने अधिक विचार केला असता त्याच्या असे निदर्शनास आले की, शेवटी ग्रीकचा राजा डेमेट्रीअस हा परकीय आहे आणि मगधचा राजा आपलाच देशबांधव आहे आणि आपला देशबांधव हा शत्रू असला तरी त्याच्या पराभवासाठी परकीय शत्रूला मदत करणे उचित ठरणार नाही.
इकडे राजा डेमेट्रीअसलाही खारवेल मगध देशावर स्वारी करणार असल्याचे वृत्त समजले होते. एका बाजूने खारवेल व दुसऱ्या बाजूने आपण चाल करून गेलो तर मगध देशाचा लगेचच पाडाव होईल, अशी स्वप्ने डेमेट्रीअस पाहत होता.
परंतु खारवेलने आपला निर्णय ऐनवेळी बदलला व मगध देशावर स्वारी करण्याऐवजी तो डेमेट्रीअस राजावरच चालून गेला. डेमेट्रीअसला हे जेव्हा कळले की, खारवेल आपला आधीचा निर्णय बदलून आपल्यावरच चाल करून येत आहे तेव्हा तो घाबरला. कारण त्याला खारवेलचा पराक्रम माहीत होता आणि तो अक्षरश: भारतातून पळून गेला. त्यानंतर कोणत्याही ग्रीक राजाने भारताकडे वाकडी नजर केली नाही. त्याला कारणीभूत ठरले खारवेलचे देशप्रेम. ‘खरा शत्रू’ कोण हे खारवेलने वेळीच ओळखल्यामुळे परकीय शत्रूपासून मगध राज्याचे संरक्षण झाले.

Islam Khatare Me !!

2009-11-05T01:08:00.005-05:00

On Nov. 3, 2009, Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind issued a fatwa against the singing of Vande Mataram. Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram was reportedly present at the convention.
My reactions:
1. We (a country which boasts itself to be a 21st century superpower) must decide once and for all - which rulebook is the largest democracy in the world going to follow: the 20th century constitution or the 7th century quran. Vande Mataram is recognised as the National Song and is given a status equivalent to that of the National Anthem Jana-gana-mana. (http://india.gov.in/knowindia/national_song.php). This means that the fatwa in question is indirectly defaming the nation itself. It is unconstitutional.
2. We (the only place in the world where all the 23 sects of Islam coexist, the only place where jews and parsis have not been tortured) must decide the limits of our tolerance regarding the growing intolerance of Jehadis. We have already truncated the National Song to suit them. We have compromised on the national flag and the national language. Where/when will it stop ?
3. The moderate amongst the muslims (who keep on insisting after every terrorist attack that the real Islam is not like this) must come out and do whatever it takes to correct this image of Islam being anti-India. (Thankfully a little bit is already happening: http://news.oneindia.in/2009/11/05/fatwa-issued-by-ignorants-muslim-groups.html)
4. Shri. Chidambaram has explained that he was not present while the fatwa was being issued. It's hard to believe the politicians in general, but even if we accept this, the question is what would he do if he were present - would he dare to walk out of the convention? And what action is he going to take - in the capacity of the home minister - on those deshadrohis after knowing about the fatwa?
5. Interestingly, the same convention has asked the UPA to stop appeasing the minorities.
6. So called secular parties like SP and Congress have once again attacked the so called Hindu parties like BJP for speaking up on behalf of the majority on this issue. This has a major side-effect: Politicization of Vande Mataram. All such issues of national importance have been gradually politicized and associated with parties like BJP. This gives an image that only one party is concerned about these issues and when it fails to deliver when in power, the cause is put on the back-burner forever, because the other parties won't do it, and the junta won't trust BJP anymore.

I would like to re-emphasize that the moderate muslims must decide how long are they going to be in their shells. The fundamentalists keep on issuing such fatwas by shouting इस्लाम खतरे में. The moderates maintain that their islam is not the real islam. In that case, I think the real islam (of the moderate muslims) is really खतरे में. and the onus is on them to save it. All over the world, islam has acquired an image of an intolerant, cruel, illogical religion. If the moderates want to change this image, now is the time.

विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम्

2009-09-04T08:32:00.007-04:00

Narakasura became evil, in association with another asura named baaNa. Drunk with power, as he knew himself to be unrivalled in prowess, he brought all the kingdoms on earth under his control .. All the devas, led by Indra went to Vishnu, to ask him to deliver them from Narakasura. Vishnu them that he will attend to this matter, when he will be incarnated as Krishna .. Narakasura launched his great weapon, sataghini (a thunderbolt) on Krishna. However, it made no impact whatsoever on Krishna. At last, when Narakasura tried to kill the Lord with a trident, Krishna beheaded him with his Sudarshana Chakra (discus) .. This day is celebrated as 'Naraka Chaturdashi' - the first day of Diwali. (Source:Wiki)

This year Diwali came about one-and-a-half-month earlier.
Y. Samuel Rajshekhara Reddy became evil, in association with other evangelists. Drunk with power, and unconditional support from Sonia-amma, he tried to bring all the kingdom of the seven-sacred-hills under his control. He even dared to take the religious conversions to the holiest of the holy hindu shrines - Tirupati. All the Hindus of Andhra, led by Pejawara-Shri and other saints, went to Vishnu. Vishnu promised them that he will attend to this matter. YSR had tried to attack the Vishnu on the hills, the great lord ended his story by smashing his helicopter against another hill.

When I honestly expressed my feelings on the ysr news, one of my friends commented that it is not our tradition to talk ill of the dead. I just wanted to state that this is definitely true with respect to political enemies and all, but on killing a demon, we have always celebrated festivals - be it Diwali (narakasura-krishna) or Dasara (ravana-rama or mahishasura-durga). Our Gods are merely fulfilling their promise they made in Geeta - "my job is threefold" : (1) परित्राणाय साधूनाम् - to save the good people (2) विनाशाय च दुष्कृताम् - to eliminate the bad people (3) धर्मंसंस्थापनार्थाय- to establish the dharma !!

अखंड भारत संकल्प दिवस !

2009-08-14T07:32:00.001-04:00

गत कुछ शताब्दियो से हो रहे सतत आक्रमणों में हमने गांधार (अफगानिस्थान), ब्रह्मदेश (म्यानमार), सिंध-प. पंजाब (पाकिस्तान), पू. बंगाल (बांग्लादेश), त्रिविष्टप (तिब्बत) ये अपने मातृभू के अंग खोकर उसे अपंग बना दिया है ।

अपने देश का क्षेत्रफल ५५,६२,८२८ वर्ग-किमी से घट कर ३२,८७,२४० वर्ग-किमी हो गया है । अर्थात अपना ४०% प्रतिशत भूभाग हमने गँवाया है ।

जहाँ-जहाँ हिन्दू घटा, वहाँ-वहाँ देश कटा है ।

जो-जो भूभाग हमने खोया है, वह राष्ट्र विघातक गतिविधियों में सक्रीय हुआ है ।

क्या इसी क्षत-विक्षत भारत के लिये ही हमारे पूर्वजो ने अपने प्राण गँवाये थे ?

अपने राष्ट्रगान में हम गाते है – ’पंजाब सिंध गुजरात मराठा द्राविड उत्कल वंग’ । कहाँ है यह सिंध? कहाँ है आधा पंजाब और आधा बंगाल ? क्या वहाँ भी यही राष्ट्रगान गाते है ?

१९४७ में अधिकांश जनता अखण्ड भारत चाहती थी, फिर भी क्यो हुआ विभाजन ? - तुष्टिकरण की नीति के कारण !! यह कारण तो आज भी विद्यमान है !! तो क्या फिर से विभाजन होगा ?

भारत अखंड करना है । अपने वीर क्रान्तिकारियों का बलिदान व्यर्थ नहीं गँवाना है ।

भारत फिर से अखण्ड होता है, तो अनेक समस्याए अपने आप हल हो जाएँगी
अपना सुरक्षा पर वार्षिक खर्च रु. ९०,००० करोड़ है । इसम बडी बचत होगी ।
काश्मीर, पूर्वांचल आदि उग्रवाद-ग्रस्त स्थान पर पयर्टन व्यवसाय की वृद्धि होगी |

हम सभी अपने सच्ची सांस्कृतिक विरासत का अंग बनकर सही अर्थ में भारत को वैभवशाली बना पायेंगे ।

तो आईये ! इस स्वतन्त्रता दिवस की पूवर्संध्या में सकल्प ले –

हम उस समर्थ, सशक्त, संगठित, अखण्ड भारत का पुनः निर्माण करेंगे !!

॥ भारतमाता की जय ॥

अनादि मी अनंत मी ..

2009-05-28T01:53:00.011-04:00

Today is the 126th birth anniversary of one of the greatest of Mother India's sons - Swatantryaveer Vinayak Damodar Savarkar.

Most of us know him for his participation in the freedom struggle: his work as a student in Pune, with "Abhinav-Bharat" and as a member of India House in England; inspiring Madan Lal Dhingra to assassinate Curzon Wyllie; heroic escape from the boat near Marseilles, France; his famous court case and the double life-imprisonment; life in Andaman; and all.
Many know him for working to remove social evils of untouchability by opening Patita-Pavana temples, and cafes for the Hindus of all castes.
And of course there are his eternal poems.

Let's look at one of his poems: "अनादि मी अनंत मी .."
It reminds us that the basic rasa in Savarkar's poetry was the veer-rasa.

The background of this poem is thus: Savarkar was kept in the solitary confinement at the infamous Cellular jail in Andamans. The treatment given to the prisoners was inhuman. To further torture him mentally, the jailor had given him a special cell. It was all dark and cold, with a small window. And the only scene visible from that window was of the gallows. The jailor was trying to tell Savarkar that only way out of here is through death. Notwithstanding any of these, his veer soul sang out :

अनादि मी अनंत मी अवध्य मी भला |
मारिल रिपु जगति असा कवण जन्मला ||ध्रु||

I have no beginning, no end. I cannot be killed. That enemy who would kill me is not yet born

अट्टहास करित जाई धर्मधारणी
मृत्युसीच गाठ घालू मी घुसे रणी

I shall enter the war field with a mighty laughter.
I shall enter the war field to fight the death itself.

अग्नि जाळी मजसी ना खड्ग छेदितो
भिउनी मला भ्याड मृत्यु पळत सुटतो

The fire cannot burn me, the sword cannot cut me.
The coward death runs away at my sight.

खुळा रिपु तया स्वये
मृत्युच्याच भीतीने भिववु मजसी ये ||१||

And this foolish enemy is trying to scare me by the fear of death !!

लोटी हिंस्र सिंहाच्या पंजरी मला
नम्र दाससम चाटिल तो पदांगुला

If you push me into the cage of a fierce lion, he will start licking my feat, like a slave.

कल्लोळी ज्वालांच्या फेकशी जरी
हटुनी भवति रचिल शीत सुप्रभावती

If you throw me in the flames of fire, they themselves will move away and a cool radiance will encircle me.

आण तुझ्या तोफाना क्रूर सैन्य ते
यंत्र तंत्र शस्त्र अस्त्र आग ओकते

Bring on your cannons, your fierce army, machinary, technology, or fire-throwing weapons -

हलाहला त्रिनेत्र तो
मी तुम्हासी तैसाची गिळुनी जिरवितो ||२||

Just like the trinetra (Lord Shiva) swallowed the deadly poison halaahala, I shall swallow you up and crush your arrogance.

...

On the birth anniversary of the veer, I pray to the God to give me the strength to be a veer like him in all the situations, to be as dedicated to the cause as he always was.

...

There have been so many politically motivated attempts to malign the name of this veer, even after independence. But he and his sacrifice has swallowed up the enemy and crushed their arrogance again and again.
His work, his fame is definitely अनंत.
And मारिल रिपु जगति असा कवण जन्मला ?
Where is the enemy who can kill the Savarkar-Spirit ?

...

स्वातंत्र्यवीर विनायक दामोदर सावरकर की जय !!
भारतमाता की जय !!

PS: The translation provided is based on my tiny knowledge. Kindly give liberal comments wherever a modification is required.

What is Dharma ?

2009-01-07T12:19:00.008-05:00

I was posed this question in response to my recent posting 'Gita Jayanti'.
Actually, I don't consider myself to possess even the slightest authority to answer this question.
But since the question came from a good friend, Aditya Joshi (who is the author of a very creative blog himself), I thought I should share what little I have learned/heard/read about dharma here.
Since this page is open to the entire world, let's hope some learned person shall read this some day and throw more light on it, so that both Aditya and I are benefited.

In the posti on gItA, I had written at one place: "... dharma (not to be confused with religion) ..."
And this is what prompted Aditya to ask :

What is 'Dharma' in Gita if not religion?
Is it 'Duty'?
How is it different from 'Karma'?
Or is it that 'Dharma' is the ideally expected 'Karma'?

We can actually remove the clause 'in Gita' from the first question.
Because, nowhere in the traditional wisdom has the word dharma been used to mean religion (at least until the Muslim invasions in the medieval era).

Dharma does not mean religion
1.
The 18-day war between Kauravas and Pandavas is also referred to as dharma-yuddha.
If dharma meant religion, was the religion of Kauravas different from that of Pandavas ?

2.
धर्म-शाला, धर्मार्थ दवाखाना, राज-धर्म, पुत्र-धर्म, शेजार-धर्म (मराठी), धर्मसंकट
(dharma-shaalaa, dharmaartha-davaakhaanaa, raaja-dharma, putra-dharma, shejaara-dharma, dharma-samkata)
These words are used so commonly in day-to-day life, that one probably overlooks the use of the word dharma in them. But does dharma-shaalaa mean a religious school ? Or does raaja-dharma mean the religion of the king ?

3.
अग्नि का धर्म है उष्णता । - the dharma of fire is heat.
Is 'heat' a religion ? Definitely not !

Thus it is clear that dharma does not mean religion.
In fact, English (and many western languages) does not have a word that can completely and entirely convey the meaning of dharma.
This is because the concept of dharma itself is not known in the west.
Dharma is not a single special case, though.
There is no पुण्यम् (punyam) in English, either (although there is पापम् (paapam). This may be due to the concept that all humans are a result of the 'original sin' commited by Adam and Eve - as against the Indian concept 'अमृतस्य पुत्राः वयम्' - अथर्ववेद, meaning we are the sons of immortality).

The concept of dharma is a speciality of the Hindu philosophy (you may call it Indian, or Oriental philosophy, it's one and the same) .
It is common to Jainism, Budhism, Sikhism, Taoism and all the lesser-/better-known philosophical schools of the east.

Anyway.

So dharma does not have a parallel in English.
But does religion have a parallel in samskrut ?
Yes. It is called पन्थः (panthah) or मतम् (matam).
One can see words like जैनमत (jain-mata), बौद्धमत (bauddha-mata), मतान्तरण (mataantarana = religious conversion) being commonly used in many Indian languages.
Unfortunately, in Marathi, it's almost always जैनधर्म, बौद्धधर्म, धर्मांतरण.

So religion is pantha or mata. Fine.

But what is dharma ?

The two definitions of dharma

1.
The first one says -

धारणात् धर्मः इत्याहुः (Krishna in Mahabharata - 12.110.11)
[ dhAraNAt dharmaH ityAhuH ]

dharma is that concept, by virtue of which all the elements are held together.

This is a very clear and simple definition indeed.
In fact, if we look at the etymology of the word dharma, it emerges from the samskrut root धृ (dhru) meaning 'to hold'.

For example, raaja-dharma. That is what is holding the raajaa and the prajaa.
The moment the king deviates from his raaja-dharma, he ceases to be a raajaa.
(In fact, the traditional pledge a king had to take at his coronation was "This bhoomi is my wife from now on, and the people living on it, my children. I shall take care of them as a father would of his children. And if I ever fail in doing so, my raaja-purohita shall punish me with his dharma-danda")

2.
The other definition is -
यतोऽभ्युदयनिःश्रेयससिद्धिः स धर्मः ।
[yatobhyudayanihshreyasasiddhih sa dharmah]

dharma is the one through which both अभ्युदय (abhyudaya) and निःश्रेयस (nihshreyasa) are achieved.

What is this abhyudaya and nihshreyasa ?
In the simplest terms, it means this-worldly and other-worldly goals, respectively.

Other(?) interpretations
One can also find explanations of the word dharma given as:

righteous duty : putra-dharma = a son's duty towards his parents
nature (स्वभाव) : अग्नि का धर्म है उष्णता ।
natural laws : even contemporary literature sometimes refers to 'nature-call' as निसर्गधर्म
etc.

Conclusion
This is all I know about dharma.
I am afraid I have added to Aditya's confusion, instead of reducing it.
The reason is I am myself a bit confused about the exact meaning of dharma.

That's why I put a question mark in the last subsection's title.
I am not sure if these are other interpretations or they simply follow from the two definitions we discussed.
If a son does not fulfill his righteous duty, he is no longer a son for his parents, and also, his other-worldly record is bound to go down.
Heat is the thing by virtue of which fire holds to be fire, and without it, it ceases to be fire.
And if one does not attend to nature calls, this-worldly goals are definitely not going to be achieved due to ill-health.

Sometimes I feel dharma is all of these things and also something more.

PS: We shall discuss karma very soon

Resuming the blog ...

2009-01-01T15:01:00.003-05:00

Due to the exams and the month-long-vacations I was away from the net. Many thoughts that should have been posted during this period are piled up by now. Am posting those by editing 'date' field to the date on which I should have posted each of those. This is just to maintain relevance in case I refer to these posts in future.
..
The biggest event of this duration was obviously the 26-nov terror attack on Bharat in Mumbai.
A lot has been said/written/discussed by many experts already.
Hence I thought it better to summarize my thoughts on it in this post itself instead of posting a separate one.
As we all agree that the problem this incident highlighted is a deeper one. But going to its root makes it clear that the real crisis is the same as is being faced in many other cases - from corruption to cultural degradation (quoting from a speech by Dr Mohan ji Bhagwat, RSS Sara-Karyavah, in Nagpur in 2005-06) :

Crisis of Identity
Crisis of Credibility
Crisis of Character

Identifying these crises and overcoming them is sufficient to solve all the problems.
More clarification might be needed on this, but let's leave it for the reader's own chintan for the time being.

As far as accusing the political leaders is concerned (which is the general tone these days), I think we just need to take a look at our history.
We need leaders like Srikrishna, Chanakya and Shivaji - three of the greatest statesmen the nation has ever produced.
They always held a national outlook, were selfless souls, delivered what they promised, and were beyond the three crises mentioned.
But one should also notice that they didn't fall from sky - they were produced by this soil, this society. Period.

Asia's greatest MEGAPLAY

2008-12-25T12:30:00.006-05:00

Today we watched Asia's greatest, world's second largest, megaplay - जाणता राजा.
It is based on the life of the greatest Hindu warrior, leader, statesman and icon Shivaji Maharaj.
"Jaanata Raja" is being performed in Nagpur from 18th to 28th December this year.
It has a cast of about 300 artists. Only the key roles are fixed and artists for other roles are chosen from the local talent pool. The show is full of colours and the acts with horses and elephants receive an obvious thunder of applause.
But the most happening event is the coronation of Shivaji Maharaj.
The presentation, the sound effects, the fireworks - the entire ambiance takes you three centuries back and you tell yourself that this is how the real rAjyAbhiSheka must have taken place - this is how the world must have looked when the first Hindu simhAsana came to existence after centuries of Islamic invasion.

The play - as the title goes - is more about Shivaji the ruler, than Shivaji the warrior. Hence there is more emphasis on events like -

a patil being punished for misbehaving with a widow
hundis full of jewels found while constructing a fort, being deposited to the treasury by the workers - and their refusal to take prizes for this act
Shivaji's letter to his officers on how an ideal administrator should behave with citizens
Shivaji punishing his own maternal uncle for corruption
Aurangzeb's speech before his courtsman why it is difficult to defeat Shivaji (because of his good administration and people's faith on him) ... etc

The well known battle-events of Pratapgadh (Afzalkhan defeated), Paawan Khind (Bajiprabhu Deshpande's martyrdom), Lal Killa (attack on Shaistekhan), Kondhana (Tanhaji's martyrdom) etc find relatively lesser share.

The day we went to watch the megaplay witnessed a turn-out of 19200 spectators. People from neighboring districts of Vidarbha and Madhya Pradesh had come to Nagpur to watch the show.
Many schools had organised free or discounted passes for their students.
One could find people who have watched the megaplay every time it visited Nagpur.
"Jaanata Raja" is more than a play for lakhs and lakhs of people here.

The megaplay is written by "Shivashahir" Babasaheb Purandare, who is a phenomenon in himself. If there is a single man who deserves the credit for taking Shivaji to every home in Maharashtra, it's him. He has been doing this one job tirelessly throughout his life (of 86 years now). That's what is called one man - one life - one mission.
Incidently yesterday (Dec 24) was his 86th birth annivarsary.
राजमान्य राजश्री शिवशाहिर श्रीयुत बळवंत मोरेश्वर तथा बाबासाहेब पुरंदरे यांना मानाचा मुजरा ...

Could the timing be more apt for recollecting the life and times of Shivaji Maharaj ?
The nation is yet to emerge from the shadows of nov-26 terror attacks..
If Shivaji cannot inspire us at such a moment, then who can ?

Note: The picture in this post is taken from "Flickr" (http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2240/2219271152_3cc6265b7d.jpg?v=0)

Gita Jayanti

2008-12-09T00:30:00.002-05:00

मार्गशीर्ष शुद्ध एकादशी (mArgaSIrSha Suddha ekAdaSI) was the day on which Lord Krishna told the bhagavad-gItA to Arjuna on the battlefields of Kurukshetra. The day is celebrated as गीता जयंती (gItA-jayantI) all over the world.
This year it falls on Dec-9.
I have been fortunate enough to have heard/read a little bit about gItA in last few years.
A good orator with some depth of understanding in gItA can possibly go on unfolding the beauty of this devine song for hours together, but some one of my stature should only quote some of the observations etc made by them.

1.
gItA holds the entire dharma (not to be confused with religion).
Its first sholka starts with ध dha:
धर्मक्षेत्रे कुरुक्षेत्रे समवेता युयुत्सवः । (1.1)

And the last one ends with म ma:
यत्र योगेश्वरः कृष्णो यत्र पर्थो धनुर्धरः ।
तत्र श्रीर्विजयो भूतिर्ध्रुवा नीतिर्मतिर्मम ॥ (18.78)

2.
It is a relatively very small text (only 700 shlokas-18 chapters), but has attracted many philosophers for many a thousand years, who keep on interpreting the text as it suits themselves - right from Adi Shankara to Mahatma Gandhi and beyond. Lokamanya Tilak interpreted it as the karmayoga, Gandhiji as the anAsakti-yoga. But the gItA herself is both and beyond the both.

3.
Today's engineers and enterprenuers are looking for the seeds of management in it.
While in Bengaluru, my friend's roommate was asking about it - she was told that gItA can teach her management. When I was asked, I said that I see the best way to manage your activities being told in a single shloka :
यत्करोषि यदश्नासि यज्जुहोसि ददासि यत् ।
यत्तपस्यसि कौन्तेय तत्कुरुष्व मदर्पणम् ॥ (9.27)
Meaning - Whatever you do, whatever you eat, whatever you offer, and whatever austerities you perform - do that, O Son of Kunti, as offerings to me !

What better motivation for doing each of your tasks in the best possible manner, than that of offering it to the Almighty ?

4.
Is gItA the best book on psychology/psychotherapy ?
Of course yes.
These two shlokas summarize the very chain of how one loses his/her own mental health:
ध्यायतो विषयान्पुंसः सङ्गस्तेषूपजायते ।
सन्ङ्गात्संजायते काम: कामात्क्रोधोऽभिजायते ॥
क्रोधाद्भवति संमोह: संमोहात्स्मृतिविभ्रम: ।
स्मृतिभ्रंशाद्बुद्धिनाशो बुद्धिनाशात्प्रणश्यति ॥ 2.62-63
Meaning - While concentrating on the objects of the senses, a person develops attachment for them, and from such attachment desire develops, and from that (due to non-fulfilment) anger arises. From anger arises complete delusion, and from that, bewilderement of memory. When memory is bewildered, intelligence is lost. And losing intelligence, one perishes.

5.
And psychotherapy?
Again, yes.
gItA starts with Arjuna in a state of a shock - limbs quivering and mouth drying up. (सीदन्ति मम गात्राणि मुखं च परिशुष्यति । - 1.28)
And ends with him stating that "I am now firm and free from doubt and am prepared to act according to Your instructions" (स्थितोऽस्मि गतसन्देह: करिष्ये वचनं तव ॥ - 18.73)

But this change is not easy to bring. At times Krishna shows him the carrot - you shall reach heaven if you die or else rule the earth if you win (हतो वा प्राप्स्यसि स्वर्गं जित्वा वा भोक्ष्यसे महीम् । - 2.37). And at other times the stick - by showing the Vishwaroopa, looking at which Arjuna says he is disturbed with fear (भयेन च प्रव्यथितं मनो मे । - 11.45)
At times Krishna discusses the eternity of the AtmA to dissuade Arjuna from the concept of killing and sin of killing (नैनं छिन्दन्ति शस्त्राणि नैनं दहति पावकः - 2.23).
At other times he simply tells him as a friend to 'be a man and fight' (क्लैब्यं मा स्म गमः - 2.3)

Most interesting is his reaction after Arjuna is convinced and is ready for the war.
After telling entire gItA, Krishna says - deliberate on this fully, and then do what you wish to do (विमृश्यैतदशेषेण यथेच्छसि तथा कुरु ॥ - 18.63)
Is this not the best way of motivating someone ?
Instead of simply ordering him to do what he should, Krishna increased Arjuna's level of understanding, removed any doubts he had, and then asked him to behave according to his conscience.

...
Thus, gItA is like the holy river of Ganga. How much of its water one carries back home depends on the capacity of the container s/he carries ...

Paying homages to Dr. Ambedkar

2008-12-06T12:30:00.002-05:00

December 6 is the death anniversary of Bharata Ratna Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar, the main architect of our constitution.
He had to face a very hard childhood due to one of the most sinful practice of those days - untouchability. Still, he worked hard to acquire best possible education (he was awarded PhD by Columbia University in 1927), and more importantly, used it for the upliftment of the deprived and the poor.
Looking at the hurdles he overcame to complete his education makes me feel ashamed if I crib about not getting some small facilities which I think I "deserve".
He was a true nationalist leader, and led the masses through peaceful agitations like Mahad satyagraha.
He was the finance minister of the first cabinet of Independent India.
He lived in a palace-like bunglow during his last years.
But his own stay used to be in a small room towards the end of the palace. Explaining this, he used to say, the glamour of the palace is to emphasise on my brothers that even an untouchable like them can achieve all this wealth by acquiring education; but my heart has no peace in this wealth. It is satisfied in the Baba's kuti. [Ref. Deepastambha (Marathi), Prof. Shivajirao Bhosale]

Let's pay homage to this great soul who showed a path of education and equality to the nation.

Amarnath Andolan : An Inspiring movement

2008-10-10T13:00:00.016-04:00

Shri Amarnath Yatra is one of the most sacred pilgrimages of the Hindus.
The yatra to the cave temple, situated at an altitude of 3,888 m in the Himalayas, housing a mysterious ice-linga, has a history of many a centuries[1].
The route is open only four moths in a year and the peak time is June to August. Prior registration is required with the authorities, keeping in view the hardships the route demands [2]. Still, about 400,000 pilgrims go on the 45-day yatra for the darshan of Bholenath, paying entirely for the pilgrimage from their own pockets [3], unlike the government subsidized Haj yatra [4].

Background:
The climatic conditions are quite hostile and there was a growing demand that the J&K state government should take more initiative to provide facilities to the pilgrims. In 2002, J&K assembly okayed the constitution of Shri Amarnath Shrine Board (SASB).
The governor of J&K is the de-facto chairman of the Board.

Some land near Baltal in the valley was being used for temparory arrangements of the pilgrims every year. It would take a few weeks, prior to the commencement of the yatra, to set up the facilities (shelter, arrangements for food, water and toilets etc) and equal duration to dessemble the temparoty structures after the yatra. Thus, in effect, the land was being occupied for about 4 months every year, and the cost of assembling-dessembling the "temparory" structures was being incurred.
The SASB then asked the government why not to have some permanant arrangements for the pilgrims? And after a series of dialogs and discussions (usual sarkari way of doing things), the state government of the Congress-PDP alliance, decided on May 26, 2008 that the to transfer 100 acres (0.40 km²) of forest land to the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB) out of the total land area of 15,520.3 km² (5,992.4 sq mi) in the main Kashmir valley to set up temporary shelters and facilities for the Hindu pilgrims.

Let me remind you here that the PDP led by Mufti Mohammad Syed, which later withdrew from the government, leading to its fall, had several cabinet ministers who were part of the decision making process.

Mufti Dances to Jihadis' tunes:
But they switched sides at the first hints of the jihadi separatists from the valley protesting the land transfer.
The protest was based on illogical arguments of "changing the demography of the valley" (this coming from a community which is responsible for throwing 350,000 Kashmiri Pandits out of their homes!!) and
"ecological imbalance" (allegedly arising from occupying 0.01% of the total land mass!!) [5].

These protests were not peaceful at all, and pelting stones at our Army and burning our national flag and chantings of "Pakistan Zindabad" soon became common on Kashmir streets.

PDP, fearing loss of votes, withdrew from the government.
The Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad, who has been a Union minster more than once and AICC general secretary 9 times [6] - a national level leader, I mean - chose to bow to the separatists' pressure rather than stick to the nationalist decision his cabinet had taken, and revoked the order of transferring the land to the SASB (July 1, 2008). Interestingly, SASB members, the custodians of the Yatra and all the arrangements, were not even consulted, which actually was a legal requirement.

Hindus react:
This understandably resulted in dissatisfaction among the Hindu pilgrims and peaceful protests started all over India.
The Amarnath Yatra Sangharsh Samiti (AYSS), Jammu led the protests.

On one hand, one is ashamed at the fact that Hindus have to resort to a 61-day protest to get 0.40 sq.km of land for arrangements at a pilgrimage, but on the other, there is a feeling of self-confidence that Hindus won't take it lying down any more. This is the greatest message of this Andolan.

Initially, the agitation started with usual things like marching to and registering protests at the collector-offices, conducting awareness rallies, getting people involved, etc.
But there was no sign of any consideration from the government, and the need was felt that the pitch needs to be raised so that the Hindu voice falls on the deaf government's ears. A call for Bharat-Bandh on July 3 was given, and the whole nation came to a stand-still.
The movement on the Jammu-Srinagar highway was also affected and separatists and the media suddenly started declaring that Jammu has resorted to "economic blockade" of the Kashmir valley. Media went on showing the long queues of trucks laden with goods along the highway, which was a result of a few hours of rasta-roko and eventually got cleared up within hours.

Muslims support the Hindu cause:
Meanwhile, various Muslim organisations like the Muslim Front, Jammu Kashmir Muslim Federation and Gujjar and Bakkarwal Muslim groups, extended full support to the AYSS, as their bread and butter depends on tourism, and the yatra being one of the biggest source of income for them [7].

The first Balidaan:
The movement was in its ninth day. Seeing that there was no positive outcome, one Shri Kuldeep Dogra came to the venue, recited a poem there, and in his three minutes address said –"This movement now needs sacrifice and I shall sacrifice my life."
Saying this he sat down and immediately fell down with a bang.
Seeing froth coming out of his mouth, it was revealed that he had taken 'sulfaz' and before he could be admitted in the hospital, he had already become a martyr on the way [8].

The situation became tense. Army was deployed in Jammu.
Still, the agitation continued.
People would come out in thousands, carrying the tricolor and shouting "Bam-Bam Bhole", "Bharat Mata Ki Jay".
Army men would say, "how can we fire at those carrying the tricolor?"

The government called an all-party meeting to resolve the issue - some signs of hopes.
But the PDP chose to stay away, and the agitation continued.

The terrorists tried their usual ways to deter the movement [9], but to no success. Hindus were determined to fight for Bholenath's land.

Meanwhile, in the valley:
Separatists continued the "Jammu forcing economic blockade of Kashmir" rumor, even though the government clarified that the supply to the valley is normal [10].
A group of fruit-growers, led by the separatists, declared that they will cross the LoC to trade their goods in Muzaffarabad, PoK.
They were shouting 'Kashmir ki mandi - Rawalpindi', 'Seb toh sirf bahana hain, Rawalpindi jaana hain' .
They marched towards the LoC on August 11, and the police had to open fire, in which Sheikh Abdul Aziz, a leader of All Party Hurriyat Conference (APHC) was killed [11].
This angered the mob, which was apparently not expecting the Indian law enforcement agencies to stop them from crossing the LoC leading to an international problem, and more violence started in the valley. Police and army were attacked and India and its symbols abused, and Pakistan and its symbols hailed [12].
Our secular government wanted the Pakistanis breeding on our soil to be a part of the peace process, and their leaders were openly and shamelessly asking 'Why object to Islamic rule in Kashmir?' [13].

A curfew was imposed all over the J&K [14].
But the brave people of Jammu found out ways to register their protests in spite of the curfew.
They would spend the day in their homes, "guarded" by the army, and come out at the evenings. It would appear that everyone is taking an evening stroll. But everyone would walk to a pre-decided spot, usually the nearest chauraha, shout slogans, set an effigy on fire, and before any army/police-man is able to reach the spot, everyone would be back in home, the protest registered !

The independece day:
The pictures speak for themselves [15]:

In Kashmir

In Jammu

The Jail-Bharo Andolan:
A massive Jail-Bharo andolan was carried out throughout the nation, from 12th to 21st of August. A liberty was given to all the provinces to decide upon their convenient dates during this period and register protests by courting arrests.
If we take a look at the figures of Jammu itself, we can gauge the uniqueness of this movement.
Jammu has a population of 56 lakhs of which 16 lakhs are Muslims. From the rest of the Hindu society 2 lakh 21 thousand men came on foot and voluntarily courted arrest.
On the 19th, 1 lakh 74 thousand women came out of their homes and got arrested.
When asked for their names, every one of them replied 'Parvati', husband's name? – 'Shiva', address? – Baltal, Kashmir.
Perhaps this was the biggest turn up of our 'matri-shakti' in the history of world.
The third day was for the children.
1 lakh 12 thousand children between the age of 5 to 15 years courted arrest.
No mother or grand-mother expressed any concern about what will happen to the children in case of any stampede.
None of the children thought what would happen to their future career.
In the jail when asked for the name, the reply was 'Ganapati', mother's name? –'Parvati', father's name? –'Shiva', residence? – Baltal, Kashmir.
(Apart from Jammu, some 5.25 lakh people offered themselves to get arrested at 6120 places.The highlight was men of high status who generally do not come out of their homes also participated in support of this movement.) [16]

The governments of India and J&K state should actually have taken this opportunity to push a nationalist movement in the troubled state and utilize it to demolish all the separatist voices in the valley.
But the leaders, not able to rise above the appeasement politics and vote-bank strategies, failed the nation once again.

The Victory:
After witnessing this roudra-roop of Hindu-samaj, the government understood the gravity of the situation, and the depth at which the Hindu-sentiment is associated with the issue.
It took up the dialogue with the AYSS, and the two parties came to an agreement [17].
The government agreed that "certain decisions of the state government relating to the Yatra created misunderstandings which led to controversy and agitation and loss of many precious live".
The government also agreed that "The Board shall use the aforesaid land for the duration of the Yatra (including the period of making the required arrangements and winding up of the same) for the purpose of user by various service providers according to its needs and priorities.The aforesaid land shall be used according to the Board's requirements, from time to time", meeting the Samiti's original and only demand.

With this, the Samiti withdrew the agitation, and the 61-day struggle ended with the victory.

Thus, the Hindus steered one of the most important movements in the history of independent India through the troubled waters of separatist-pressure, minority-favoring leaders, international-pressures and even terrorist attacks.

The story of this movement will be written with golden letters in the history.

This youtube video is a nice summary of the sangharsh by the samiti:
Shri Amarnath Movement 4 - Tandava.

Time has come for the awakened Hindu Society to take inspiration from this movement, and to shed its image of being docile, always prone to be bullied and attacked by others.
We never go to attack anybody but if anybody attacks, in self-defense we should never hesitate to resist.

Bam-Bam-Bhole !!
Bharat Mata Ki Jay !!

References:
1. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarnath_temple
2. http://www.amarnathyatra.org
3. http://www.liveindia.com/amarnath/form.html
4. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniform_civil_code#Subsidies
5. http://www.blogs.ivarta.com/india-usa-blog-column149.htm
6. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ghulam_Nabi_Azad
7. http://specials.rediff.com/news/2008/aug/27sld3.htm
8. http://kashmirblogs.wordpress.com/2008/07/24/suicide-by-a-patrioticand-his-last-peomamarnath-issue/
9. http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/jul/02jk.htm?zcc=rl
10. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amarnath_land_transfer_controversy#Government_position
11. http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/aug/11jk.htm
12. http://specials.rediff.com/news/2008/aug/19slid1.htm
13. http://specials.rediff.com/news/2008/aug/25sd1.htm
14. http://www.rediff.com/news/2008/aug/11jk3.htm
15. http://jammuburning.wordpress.com/tag/15th-august-in-kashmir/
16. RSS Sarsanghachalak K S Sudarshan's address (Vijayadashami, Nagpur 5-oct-08)
17. http://rediff.co.in/news/2008/aug/31amar2.htm

The simple Mahatma

2008-10-02T13:43:00.004-04:00

"Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth". [Ref1]

That's what the last century's most celebrated scientist said about the century's simplest person, who gave a simple solution to all the problems - Mahatma Gandhi.

The world is celebrating his 139th birth anniversary today.

I think Gandhiji was a modern-day ऋषी.
ऋषीs aren't the bearded old hermits, they were the ones who created the Vedas.
They wrote the ऋचा. So they are called ऋषी.
ऋचा is the smallest unit of ऋग्वेद. [Wiki]
They gave us all the knowledge (Veda means knowledge).

Over the period of time, we started forgetting it.
Then the modern ऋषीs came and re-established the values in the society.

Gandhiji, aptly called महात्मा (the great soul), re-established the two most sacred and most forgotten values in the Kaliyug - सत्य and अहिंसा (truth and non-violence).

One initially thinks that the Mahatma and his ways are cowardly.
But if you really try to follow what he told, you will see that it needs the topmost level of inner strength to follow सत्य and अहिंसा the way the Mahatma did.

Of course like every other mortal, the Mahatma had some faults.
And I also believe that the nation at large is today suffering because of some of the decisions he took decades ago.
But, I nevertheless maintain that had everyone of us followed the Mahatma's words in our daily and personal lives, things would have been much better.
Even now I think that if we make it a point to save ourselves (individually) from the Seven Social Sins, we shall have very less to complain about.

Some of my old friends reading this will be surprised today.
I have not been a Gandhian until recently.
I used to think the same way most of the Indian youth does.
Reading the Seven Social Sins changed it.
Amongst them, the second one : Wealth Without Work
The nation was historically known for श्रम - hardwork.
The majority of the populace was dependent on agriculture and related vocations.
Some other classes of the society were responsible for education and governance.
No one would sit and eat.
Everyone was working hard to earn his bread and butter, and still the country as a whole, was prosperous.
Britishers changed it all.
Their way of education has created a mentality that doing physical work is subordinate to clerical type of jobs.
There is such a massive flow of population from villages to cities - just for "easy money".
Gandhiji's Bharat is the Bharat of villages. [Look : Gram Swaraj]
If we want that Bharat, we need to understand and stay clear of this social sin.

The third social sin: Pleasure without Conscience, is leading the entire world towards the path of self-destruction today.
Some older ऋषी said in the ईशावास्योपनिषद :

ईशावास्यमिदं सर्वं यत्किं च जगत्यां जगत् ।
तेन त्यक्तेन भुञ्जीथा मा गृध कस्य स्विद् धनम् ॥

Meaning: All these is God's abode whatever place is there in this universe; Enjoy it with detached mind and do not be greedy.

And this ऋषी said : "The earth provides for everyone's need not everyone's greed "

Just like the old ऋषी s the Mahatma has given so many things to us.
We are now left with decoding it, trying to put them in today's perspective and enjoying the happiness from following them.

May we get the strength he had to stand up at every occasion in his life for सत्य and अहिंसा.

Marathi Manus in Danger - A propaganda

2008-09-18T02:49:00.009-04:00

I recently got a Power-Point Presentation describing how there are virtually no Marathi people in the top bodies of central as well as state governments.

I have converted it to pdf and am uploading it here.

There is some Marathi text in the document, and for the benefit of those who don't understand Marathi, all of that is roughly translated to : "Maharashtrians are systematically kept away from Important Positions... There is no Maharashtrian in any decision making positions…etc. etc"

I don't object to the data given in the document : it is true that there aren't many IAS/IPS officers from Maharashtra.
But I cannot and will not accept that this is because there is some League of North-Indians who are conspiring to keep Marathi Manus out of the top-jobs.

Page-18 of the document throws up a series of comments/questions like this one:
Why Indian governers have to be Reddy and Raanganathan?
I think almost all the states have been getting non-resident governors (at least) since last few years.
Here is a complete list of CMs and governors of Indian states.
Just a random look at it tells us that

In the north:

Chandigarh has a South-Indian Governor : Shri E.S.L. Narasimhan (South)
Bihar - Shri R S Gavai (Marathi)
Himachal Pradesh - Shri Justice Vishnu Sadashiv Kokje (Retd.) (Marathi)
Rajasthan had a Maharashtrian Governor : Smt. Pratibhatai Patil, who is now the President

In the south:

Karnataka - Shri Rameshwar Thakur (north)
Andhra Pradesh had a Maharashtrian Governor : Shri. Sushil Kumar Shinde, who is now a Union Minister

In the east:

Nagaland - Shri K. Sankaranarayan (South-Indian)
Orissa - Shri Murlidhar Chandrakant Bhandare (Marathi)

In the west:

Maharashtra & Goa - Shri S.C. Jamir (North-East) - note he is not reddy or ranganathan
Gujarat - Shri Naval Kishore Sharma

Then there is this thing about Not having any Maharashtrian in decision making posts.
I think the answer lies in the fact that an average educated Marathi youth is not so enthusiastic about preparing for IAS as much as he is about preparing for GRE/Toefel.
Bihar is producing maximum number of IAS officers in the country. So they will have people in key-posts.

Maharashtrians have had a good representation in other few departments, though.
Please have a look at this list.
Of course there are many more names to be added to it - Vikram Pandit (CEO citibank group) is immediately coming to my mind.
...

Well, what really bothers me is the statement : Maarthi people must unite and fight against this injustice!!!
Maharashtra is considered as one of the progressive states.
Marathi Manus is considered honest, faithful, well-cultured, and in general well-off.
If such people decide to fight then what will those states who really have a life-and-death situation at their hands do?
Prosperous states like Maharashtra must stand up and help the other weaker states.
Is anyone aware of the ground realities in J&K or the north-east?
The total no. of engineering colleges in J&K is 8, whereas the list of engineering colleges in MH runs for 8 pages.
Thousands of students from these states come to the other parts of our country for better education, better infrastructure, better life.
What will they do if we start "fighting against the injustice"?

And what is bothering me even further is Page-19: photos of Chhatrapati Shivaji, Lokmanya Tilak, Mahatma Phule, Dr. Ambedkar and Rajguru, and lines underneath asking whether the sacrifice they made was for Delhi? (ie. for the benefit of North Indians?)
It really pains when propagandists use revered figures like these to try prove their point.
They are actually diminishing the stature of these truly national figures.
They are restricting these great people to Maharashtra,
Let me remind those who are creating such documents that Shivaji did not fight for a piece of land in Western Maharashtra, he fought for the principles of freedom.
Lokmanya Tilak was not a leader of Maharashtra, he was the Father of Indian Unrest.
Phule and Ambedkar fought against the discrimination in the name of humanity, not regionalism.
And Rajguru kissed the noose in Lahore, miles away from Maharashtra, but a part of India, his motherland.
...

In the end, I just want to mention that, there will be a few who might have had not-so-good experience at the hands of some riksha/sabji-walla-"bhaiyya" in Mumbai/Pune and may not totally agree with me.
But please have a look at Page-21 of the document, saying नाहीतर स्वतंत्र महाराष्ट्र देश तयार करावा लागेल !!!
(otherwise a separate country "Maharashtra" will have to be created)
This clearly is the height of madness and any amount of support to this propaganda will mean a support to such a horrible idea.
So I request all of you not to support this in any form.

...
Finally, it is not a Raj (as in secret - pun intended) who is behind this propaganda, and I sincerely hope that this madness will fade away soon. Those notorious politicians behind this don't really have any constructive agenda, and hence are behind this propaganda.
BTW, I am a Marathi Manus myself, and wouldn't mind supporting the demand for signboards in Marathi, but I have a doubt: If I paint my shop's signboard "Delhi Durbar" in Hindi: "दिल्ली दरबार", can it be distinguished from the Marathi "दिल्ली दरबार" , given that the script is same ?

I also believe that

Maharashtrians from other parts of the state are equally responsible for crowding of Mumbai as is any North/South Indian.
Identifying and deporting illegal migrants from Bangladesh/Pakistan should take a much higher priority. And young, energetic politicians should utilize their time and energy in issues like these than regional-rhetoric.

गणेशोत्सव : The Festival of Lord Ganesha

2008-09-03T05:47:00.005-04:00

Ganeshotsava is the biggest festival celebrated in Maharashtra today.
It is a 10-day long festival in which the entire Hindu society is swept by the wave of bhakti towards their beloved god - Ganesha, the god of wisdom, the god who rescues you from troubles (विघ्नहर्ता- vighnaharta), the god who bestows happiness on you (सुखकर्ता - sukhakarta)

The festival starting today, the fourth day of new moon of the sixth month of Hindu lunar calendar (भाद्रपद शुद्ध चतुर्थी - bhadrapada shuddha chaturthi) assumed this form since 1893, when Lokamanya Tilak made a revolution by transforming this private Hindu festival into a public national festival.

The religion part of Hindu Dharma has always been a personal affair - restricted to the devotee and the divine. But the need of the hour was that the whole populace come together to fight the Britishers. How was this to be achieved in a country like India, where people are so religious ? "Sarvajanik Ganeshotsav" and "Shivajayanti" was Tilakji's answer. This was probably the first attempt to organize the Hindus in the modern history.

Today, Ganeshotsava is known as the festival of Maharashtra, but is celebrated all over the world. May be the fact that Ganesha has been worshiped beyond India since long, has helped this festival become global.

The Ganeshotsava is a huge economic system in itself.
Thousands of craftsmen, electricians, carpenters, sound-system-wallas, and many other daily-wage workers consider this festival as their harvesting time of the year. In the short span of 15-20 days, they earn equivalent of what they would during 3-4 months of regular work.
Ganesha comes as the god of prosperity for them.
This also tells us how religion is related to a common man's life - not only in a spiritual manner, but also in a materialistic one.

Well, there's actually a lot one can say about Ganeshotsava, but this much, I guess, is enough for now.
So may the god of wisdom bless you.
Let's take a look at the symbolism in the idol of Ganesha before we depart:

श्रीगणेशा

2008-09-03T05:14:00.000-04:00

कलियुगाब्द ५११०
भाद्रपद शुद्ध चतुर्थी
बुधवार दि. ३ सप्टेम्बर २००८

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स्वरूप रवींद्र जोशी
५३, हॉस्टल - ६,
आय आय टी मुंबई
पवई - ४०० ०७६
मुंबई, महाराष्ट्र