Good Optics - starting a new series ::::: Indian epics .... Partition of India ... Contemporary politics :::: Is some kind of a design at play in north east India vis-a-vis Bangladeshis !!

(Starting a new series in these blog pages  ----

'Good Optics' -- we will try to take up issues and matters - normally we avoid in media, social media and also drawing room or coffee table discussions.

Yes; some of these issues - we may actually talk when we are drunk !!

But take a break, a pause and let's see how does 'Good Optics' run?

-- Affectionately yours; and 'still' let us keep the scorecard  - LOVE ALL !!

Good Optics - part 1 

 Secularism is India's strength and beauty.

Sickularism is a liability and an evil design. The second one is 'Hindu bashing and being anti-larger interest of India' and that's a dangerous game.  

Over the years, no one bothered about who was playing which game. Before going further in this blog -- let us talk about Indian epics and what they are linked to.

Sincere students of Indian philosophy and scholars on Hinduism (not the communists variety) may club the epics into three realms -

One - they are linked and also 'symbol' of the future.

Second, - they reflect the happenings of the Present Time. And thirdly --

Epics act as Memories of the past. 

Blogger 

Now we ought to examine -- why Pakistan and to a large extent even Bangladesh are permanently in turmoil. And in these countries there is 'less peace' than Bharat, that is India.  

We may also ask - why and how did Pakistan come into being ? We are to also include Bangladesh in that query because that 'nation' was just onetime East Pakistan.

In his infamous address in Lahore in 1940. Muhammad Ali Jinnah had said - 

"It is extremely difficult to appreciate why our Hindu friends fail to understand the real nature of Islam and Hinduism. They are not religions in the strict sense of the word, but are, in fact, different and distinct social orders....".

All these are important to focus as the challenges that bedevil India-Pakistan relations "lie rooted in that history" - as was once lucidly argued by former diplomat Vivek Katju. 

Another fact of life and history - that was well highlighted by Katju was "Over 2300 years ago, the boundaries of the Mauryan empire stretched up to and beyond the Hindu Kush". 

In fact, under Mughals - a large part of modern day Afghanistan was under their rule in the middle ages. 

Let us reflect on the epics -- essentially Mahabharat and Ramayan. 

The former consists of  one lakh verses divided into 10 Parvas. Mahabharat is also called Itihas Purana (mythical history). Ramayan consists of 24,000 verses consisting of seven Kandas (volumes). 

Years back Indranath Chaudhuri had written that the Indian epics are like the great mountain Himalayas --- and the Sunlight that falls on them and it scatters at the summit. They are golden, they glitter.  

Indranath was a researcher at St. Xavier's College, Kolkata and was once director of the Bharatiya Bhasha Parishad.

Mahabharat stresses on harmony and balance. The man who is balanced does not try to fly from the world and at the same time he does not try to be utterly absorbed. In essence, the quest is -- to know the self which is again "is lost" in this world. 

Ramayan tells how a man/woman can achieve divinity through righteous action. On the face value - Ram was a big failure. He lost kindgom, in between he lost his wife and at one point even his children go away. 

But Hinduism teaches that he is 'maryada purushottam'. 

That means individual successes or failures should not bother much. Focus has to be elsewhere. 

Those in power and even those who are crazy to retain power ought to reflect on this theme. 

Now take the examples of Pakistan and how it has failed over the decades primarily because it did not focus on either nation building or man-making.  

Pakistan's only focus was to harm kafirs and India.

The fallout is visible. India is fourth largest economy and maybe an emerging super power in next 2-3 decades. 

Pakistan in nowhere in debate -- other than the falsehood industry and somewhat fictional ones. 

A defeated general gets a prize !!

On the other hand, the decline of the west also has just begun. Donald Trump is making further light of the power that be in Washington.

When India's MEA spokesman counters him daily - our spokesperson's goes up.

Dr S Jaishankar was blunt - when he told a interviewer in the west:

-- When the ceasefire was worked out with Pakistan's defeated army -- "US was in the United States".

Pakistan is limping. And if Trump is helping it out today directly and indirectly - it maybe with evil intent. The US still needs a South Asian pawn or its much simpler crypto !!

Poor serving defence minister of Pakistan had to plea -- we did all that dirty works of the west. 

Bangladesh is hardly a big deal - Dhaka already has 'deep state's stooge' in the citadel. 

This brings us to talk about the colonial masters, who applied the merciless scissors and partitioned India.

Now our generation of Indians may be emotional about 'united India'. We may blame Muslims, blame the Muslim League and partly even the Congress party as the aging leadership -- all were in hurry. But from the partition debate - the Britishers have been actually spared.

Now, time to call spade a spade. 

The Britishers took the advantage and left India bleeding.

It also left other areas to 'bleed and burn' later -- the insurgency in Nagaland was part of a larger conspiracy of the colonial masters. And the manner they divided Nagas and other north east tribes. They were not only merciless but had some designs.

Keep rooms for future troubles in Indian sub-continent and South Asia.

There have been poetic justice. The UK is today one of weakest nation in Europe and already had to accommodate a Hindu - Rishi Sunak as the Prime Minister.

Meanwhile, in Bangladesh, we see never ending trouble, chaos and even bloodshed.

The Americans were still eyeing Martin island. Thankfully, Sheikh Hasina had objected to it.

But that's only one part of the story. The other day she said her father had opposed and he was killed.

This is something to worry about. 

You have bloods in your hands, dear uncle !! 

Tail piece:

(Few questions)

Why suddenly there is a hurry to impose Inner Line Permit in Nagaland's commercial town - Dimapur ?

* Can business flourish without real cosmopolitan character of the place?

* If 'outsiders' / plain manu leave -- will Mukesh Ambanis and Gautam Adanis send in moneybags and industries?

** Is ILP a helpful tool for Bangladeshis ?

*** Is ILP actually only a camouflage to 'avoid' real and intense debate on RIIN -- Register of Indigenous Inhabitants of Nagaland ?

___ Imagine an evening - and someone says 'where is OLP' ??

Or some 'chair lovers' want that kind of ugly situation to evolve into a mega crisis ?

Volcanoes can be dormant !!

ends