Snow and Ice Heralds Winter in DFW

The weather in Dallas is quite similar to Delhi, searing hot summers and freezing cold winters. It rarely snows and usually towards the end of winter sometime in January/ February. This year was an aberration, it snowed this morning. I woke up to see the roofs and lawns of our apartment swathed in white powdery snow. The cold and white brought memories of my stint in the Himalayas rushing back to my mind. I smiled as I thought of those footloose days when I would just quit the job and head off to enjoy the unending mystic of the snow capped Mountains. It was so easy to land a job those days. Today the picture is quite different... almost a decade older, with lot more responsibilities... my life has certainly changed....

Is India entering the era of "Free Love"?

The 1960s aka Hippie era saw the spawning of a subculture in the American continent. The era was characterised by youth rebelling against their original conservative cultures and seeked freedom to enjoy music, dancing, drugs, sex, creative expression and even politics. At that time India was still a very young nation and with an economy crawling like an insect dignified survival was the main priority of the majority.

But now 4-5 decades later India is booming... or should I say "Shining"... Never in the recent history of the nation did youth ever have so much money, freedom and access to technology. Colleges are full of young, enthusiastic and vibrant students. Modern offices of technology companies are brimming with energy of the same youth who have passed out of colleges and are striving to achieve wealth and fame.

The youth of India are rich, reckless, and rebellious. Hence they are trying to do and almost succeeding at things which their parents would not even have dreamt about.

I read this news report titled Kissing in public by married couple not obscene: HC in the Times of India. It is interesting to see the number of youth resorting to public displays of affection unabashedly. This displays courage, freedom, rebellion and of course making a statement that we are no less than anybody anywhere in the world.

Few years ago Moscow banned kissing in metro stations and the ban extended even to married couples. Today the Delhi high court gave a free rein to married couples in the matters of public display of affection. Married couples are allowed to kiss, caress and show their affection in public places without the fear of breaking the law. It is only a matter of time before this will be extended to un-married couples too. I am pretty sure some smart lawyer will make it happen soon.

And then what happens... India will enter the era of "Free Love". I would like to know what everyone feels about this topic. Should India allow this free display of affection or not???

Heritage Monuments biting dust in India

Though I live far away from India, I can't give up keeping in touch with what's happening in my mother country. And most of the time I get extremely frustrated and agitated when I read the news. Either it is terrorist attacks or it is stupid politicians or some such thing. But this newreport about illegal demolition of a 13th century monument in the national capital both surprised and anguished me.

According to the newsreport the monument, Lal Mahal or Kushaki Lal, located in Nizamuddin was built in 1245 AD during the reign of Sultan Nasiruddin Mahmud Shah, a slave dynasty ruler. The fact that the monument was declared a heritage structure by the government and civic agencies, didn't deter the anti-national and selfish builders, who ruthlessly demolished significant parts of the structure to make way for a commercial complex.

In my opinion there is no greater disgrace for a country than the destruction of its heritage monuments. The government is run by politicians who are concerned about filling up their Swiss Bank accounts with $$$s. I am sure Lord Macaulay is laughing his stomach down in his grave because his mission to shred the cultural and ethical fabric of Indian society has succeeded beyond expectation.

I wonder why even Muslims are keeping quiet. Couple of years ago, when someone in Denmark published a cartoon ridiculing their prophet, they took up arms and started burning down everything they see, across the country. Now when a monument built by one of their rulers is being destroyed, they are keeping quiet. Or perhaps they have been bought off??? or are they too busy praying five times a day and throwing stones at Hindu religious processions in other parts of India to bother about this? Whatever it is this demilition is a great national loss which can't be redeemed easily.

I sure hope that the people responsible for this dastardly act will be punished severely. I know that this is only a hope and has very little chance of coming true... but like it is said optimism is the best policy in times of crisis.

Sad News Days!

The past few days have been filling me with extreme anguish and frustration. Why? I have been reading only bad news from India. I feel sad that our country is under attack from all sides, including from within. People outside can be enemies, I wonder why people within want to destroy what belongs to them.

I have been reading about the blasts in Bangalore, Ahmedabad, Delhi etc and was always wondering who is performing these cowardly acts and why? I still don't have answers for these questions, only those who are involved can probably answer them. I couldn't help but vent out my frustration online after I read about the twin blasts today and the Delhi (Mehrauli) blast of the day before. The twin blasts which happened in Maharashtra and Gujarat have taken several lives and damaged numerous others. I am pretty positive that most of these people injured and killed would be common people who were easy targets.

But what further saddened me was the news about the Stampede in the Chamunda Devi temple in Rajasthan. I wonder why the stampede happened? The newspaper reports say that the reason is not known. I have experienced similar scrambling in famous temples such as Tirumala, Dharmasthala etc. Why do people rush to pay obeisance to the deity? God will not run away anywhere, he is there for us, we can go at our leisure and pray. He is omnicient, omni potent and omni present, he will listen to our prayers, when we offer them with all our hearts. I wish people would be a little more patient and considerate about others who are there to worship the Lord.

Anyway here is my prayer to God to protect India and our teeming millions, give the people intelligence to think out of the box, above the narrow political considerations and work towards making our nation the best place to live in this world.

Guinness World Records finally gives recognition to Hindu Temples

Akshardham temple, Delhi gets Guinness record
It is good news, to know that the western world which hitherto were mainly focussed on the negatives of India is slowly beginning to look at the positives of our country. The Guinness Book of World Records which had thus far not included any Hindu temple in its list of world's large religious structures has now added the Akshardham temple, Delhi. The whole world is aware, of the plethora of large and sprawling temples which dot the Indian hinterland. But surprisingly the presence of large religious structures in India had escaped the notice of Guinness executives till date.

The Akshardham temple in Delhi has made it to the Guinness Book of World Records for being the world's largest Hindu temple complex.

A senior official of the Guinness World Records Ltd travelled to India last week to present two world record certificates to the head of Swaminarayan Sansthan, Pramukh Swami Maharaj. Michael Witty, a senior member of the Guinness World Record Main Management Committee, presented the awards to Bochasanvasi Akshar Purushottam Swaminarayan Sansthan (BAPS) under two categories: Most Hindu temples consecrated by a single person and secondly, the world's largest comprehensive Hindu temple.

This is the first time that the Guinness Book has recognised a Hindu temple in its list of large religious structures.

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