Horrendous scenes of the Volvo A/c sleeper coach bus (of Jabbar Travels, a private bus operating service) fire accident near Kothakota in Mahabubnagar District in Telangana. The ill fated bus was going from Bangalore to Hyderabad. It caught fire by hitting against a culvert while overtaking a car. This happened in pre-dawn hours of today. The fire totally engulfed the bus and almost all (45 in total, including a small girl child who clung herself to her mother till the final moment. The charred remains of both of them are still inseparable. Many of the dead were in their prime youth looking forward to meet their dear ones and enjoy the festival of lights together!) the passengers (who were in their deep sleep and were dreaming of a bright and colorful Deepavali to be celebrated at home with family and friends) barring a few (7, including the driver and his assistant, who were sitting in the front cabin and jumped out to their safety, leaving those sitting behind them to their ill fate!) charred to death beyond recognition. There was a young man, a budding engineer fresh from his college, in the deceased who got selected for a top notch multinational software company in Bangalore with a very handsome salary, and was going home to share the greatest happiness of his life with his uneducated parents who had been waiting for a new dawn in their dry and dispassionate lives. This is the heavy price we the public are paying for the systemic loopholes in our system. As per some reports, the operators have not renewed the permit for the bus since 2011. Our depraved political system, misgovernance, official apathy, corruption and bribery are the root causes of all our woes. Today it’s they, tomorrow it may be you and me! Time to put some serious thought and action!!

Related Reports

• 44 charred to death as bus catches fire in A.P. (thehindu.com)
• Over 40 passengers charred to death as bus travelling from Bangalore to Hyderabad catches fire (dnaindia.com)
• Hyderabad bus fire: Relatives scour charred bodies to recognise the dead (dnaindia.com)
• 40 killed in fire on bus travelling from Bangalore to Hyderabad (ndtv.com)
• Overcrowded bus bursts into flames in India (edition.cnn.com)
• India, 44 dead as bus catches fire between Bangalore and Hyderabad (theglobaladvisor.wordpress.com)
• 40 Killed As Bus Catches Fire In Andhra (indiatimes.com)
• Charred within wheels of change – 45 dead as bus preferred by professionals hits culvert and bursts into flames in Andhra (kurseonginfo.wordpress.com)
• 41 charred to death as Hyderabad-bound bus catches fire (rediff.com)

Your body is the school; your mind is the passage; your vast inner consciousness the classroom; your myriad thoughts your companions and your intellect your best friend; and the deep effulgent SPIRIT within, is both the teacher and you, the student!

This is another of my post on Facebook, and I would like to share it with you. The second para is my comment in a humble way, in response to the comment of one of my fb friends. This was written when I was deeply engrossed in thoughts as to what constitutes the basic purpose of our life.

Why and what are we living for on this earth- money, wealth, luxury, status, name, fame, family, children or for the sake of living? We all know perfectly well that all these are transient and one fine day we’ll have to leave them all, and still we are constantly attaching ourselves to them! We’ll clearly understand and realize this truth if we succeed in breaking through these entanglements and think beyond all the physical manifestations. But we never dare to do so! This is the MAGIC OF LIFE!! When we come to know that there is a MORE BEAUTIFUL & AWESOME LIFE beyond the present one, everything here seems to us just like a game which everyone is hell-bent on winning! But the truth is, the true WINNERS will be those who play it boldly & honestly! And all others will be pushed back into the same perpetual and eternal abyss! Knowing the purpose of life is the first step towards living a PURPOSEFUL LIFE!!

Thanks for the comment, nowhere in my post I mentioned that we should not have hope! And neither my focus is on total Nirvana. Seeing beyond all the material manifestations doesn’t necessarily mean we renounce them all at once and take recourse to Nirvana. If I take Indian vedantic tradition, it never professes to entirely renounce this world and look for the OTHER WORLD without having seen and tasted this world. Rather it exhorts us all to live every bit of our life in total enthrallment but without any attachment to it, like a lotus flower in a pond. The lotus is always in the pond and is never gets wet by water. We can always aim for money, riches, luxury, name, fame, and status, but without attaching ourselves to them. The root cause of all the miseries in the world is this attachment, attachment to some-body or our-body or something else as if our happiness lies in them all, but in reality, our real happiness lies in ourselves. The more outbound we are, the more miserable we end up with. This is true for all the human beings on the earth without any exception, though some may not accept it. And about desires, I never mean to say that we should not have desires. We all can have desires but should never be slaves to them. It’s the kind of desire that decides and differentiates a man from the other! Man (this word includes both man and woman, if I’m allowed to use in its liberal sense) basically evolves himself/herself only because of hope. We are born with hope, make this journey with hope and may be, end up with hope. Hope is something which always keeps us moving! Movement is life and stagnation is death! Expansion is life and contraction is death! Everyone has his/her own hope and desire but it is how we handle it, control it and direct it into a proper course of action is the crux of the matter!! This comment is not to win the game but to start the game in a more cordial and affable way. Pl. correct me if I’m wrong.

A sensible man/woman is always torn asunder by two different kinds of calls- one is from the Material Realm, always trying to pull him/her down and the other one is from the Spiritual Realm, constantly pulling up. We at times, can’t decide which call we should attend to. This is the exact point from where we are not sure where to go and which direction we should take! At this point of time, the Material contrives to have a complete sway over the Spiritual and the Spiritual constantly pricks our conscience not to succumb to it, and this is the root cause of our perpetual agony and restlessness. Is there no hope, no escape? We ourselves have to evolve our own mechanism/scheme in order to overcome this kind of a tricky situation! There always has to be a common point where these two kinds of calls are attended to and struck a perfect balance! Easy to say but hard to practice!! But not impossible!!!

The matter vs. spirit tussle in us has been seem to be going on since the very inception of the ephemeral world, and the man is made to fend for himself/herself amidst this never ending predicament of the life process. In a way, it seems to me that it’s a part of a much bigger cosmic rule which is beyond the level of comprehension of ordinary human beings, and for that matter, even in the case of those who are considered to be extraordinary in their senses and finest in perceptions! The rules are set in an intricate style that we can never be able to completely take shelter either in total Materialism or in complete Spiritualism and also we can never be able to dare to break the rules in order to see the aftermath, and this again is a part of a bigger conspiracy! Total dependence on Materialism destructs our long built and highly cherished human society and its bonding, and taking complete recourse to Spiritualism puts an end to the very evolutionary process called human civilization.

I frequently quote the words of the great scientist Albert Einstein in many of the occasions such as this – “Science without religion is lame and religion without science is blind” (Here I’m taking religion in a more liberal sense which includes spiritualism.), and I always admire two great modern thinkers and leaders from India who worked from two extremes, whose approaches strikingly differed from each other but their inner conscience and its quest remained the same. The sole purpose of their birth and life was just to uplift the Mankind! One is Babasaheb Ambedkar who worked on Materialism as the only solution for all the ills of our society, and the other is Swami Vivekananda who worked on Spiritualism as the only remedy for all the challenges thrown to mankind by the Material world. Both of them worked relentlessly on their own chosen paths and succeeded in bringing about some meaningful denouement in Indian society, and which is going to have far reaching implications in times to come.

Though it is difficult to conclude which is the precursor for what, we can say with simple logic and common sense that unless a man is fully met with all that he/she cherishes the most materially, s(he) can never aspire to taste the spirituality and the very thought of it is a sheer abhorrence for him/her. There is another side to the coin- unless man/woman has his/her moorings in spiritual realm, his/her material life will be a total shambles! This is a big puzzle of our lives!! It takes a lifetime in many a people in order to unravel this, but what’s the use in knowing the truth after we had lived our full life based on total falsehood and bigotry? Materialism and Spiritualism are two parallel lines like the railway tracks, they never converge at any point of time but definitely help in propelling us in our long march towards our perfect destiny, if both of them are equally and meaningfully compensated for by each other.

The views expressed by me are purely personal and may not be generalized, and I always bow with deference to those who give more intellectually and spiritually driven insights.

 

Life is like a traditional balance with two parallel dishes hanging on a bar. We have to keep on adjusting the contents of both the dishes in order to make them weigh the same. How much we try to put them in perfect equilibrium, they never stop oscillating. This goes on and on and on… this is the law of nature and we got to accept it and move along with it. One advantage is, we constantly improve our dexterity and forbearance! No one in this world is perfectly happy nor anyone is totally miserable. We should always be ready to accept the reality that there is always the other side to the coin!!

India was/is never one! There have always been multitude of Indias within one India. See for yourself which India you belong to, which platform you’re on and which banner you have been carrying- Race, Region, Colour, Religion, Sect, Caste, Creed, Class, Culture, Language or Gender, Theism, Atheism or Pantheism or Humanism, etc. But still, there has been some underlying cosmic influence/force that has been working on quite surreptitiously to bind us all together in our long march towards our destiny!

Myriad are all our ways but there has to be a common melting point where there is a healthy coalescence and confluence of all the different ideas/schools of thought! Utopia far-fetched!?

A perfect blend of proper English education with global perspective and time tested Indian cultural and traditional values will go a long way in making our country the most beautiful and enchanting place on our planet earth! What present Indian youth need is western scientific education coupled with Indian vedantic tradition as Swami Vivekananda points out.

India is always incredible and it never ceases me to marvel at it for its magnificence, and tenacious resilience and coherence for ages!

Many a people see India as enigmatic but I see it as magnetic, hypnotic and charismatic!!

India is the mother of all the races and the religions in the world. India has been the sentinel of peace, and the beacon light of world civilization since the time immemorial. We must be proud of being Indians.

About East vs. West, I should rather say India vs. West, I regret to say that it has been ingrained in us Indians that everything that is Indian (or Eastern) as the best and superior in comparison with that of the West because of the contemporary phenomena of the influx of the West towards the East, especially towards India for wisdom and enlightenment. This should never be the reason for boasting about the greatness of India, especially in the aftermath of the globalization and as a result of it, the cross cultural encounters. Of course India is very rich in its traditions, cultural heritage, and strong and solid institutions such as family, marriage and social value systems, but we cannot deny the fact that it has its own loopholes accumulated in course of its long historical march! There should not be any doubt that India is like the mother for all the nations with different racial backgrounds. It’s quite common that the children automatically get attracted towards their MOTHER, and the mother never feels so great about this, and rather shows her overwhelmingly pure joy, love and affection towards her sons and daughters who were lost in the vast ocean of time!

It’s here, only here, it was proclaimed वसुधैव कुटुम्बकम्  / Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam, meaning “the whole world is a single family”, thousands of years ago with trumpet voice!!

This is my comment taken from my fb timeline, posted in response to a query of one of my fb friends who wanted know about Telangana and what its present movement is all about.

 

Here it goes with some editing,

Thanks for your interest in Telangana affairs. Let me start from here, I belong to the Telangana region (which was a part of the erstwhile Independent Hyderabad state/country from 1724 up to 1948 under the Nizam rulers) of the unified Andhra Pradesh state. I’m for the demerger of the Telangana state which had been forcefully merged with the then Andhra state (which ironically, got divided itself from the Madras state in 1953) very much against the wishes and interests of the innocent, generous and gullible people from the new state of Telangana in1956. Thus the unified state of Andhra Pradesh (including Telangana) was formed on November 1, 1956.

The new fledgling state of Telangana with its excessive revenue and with the highly developed capital city of Hyderabad (which was a well known city world over even before the 50’s) was cleverly merged with the then resource crunch Andhra state with huge budget deficit and without any capital city, through intense lobbying by the then highly influential Andhra political leaders and their clever lobbyists at the central level.

The Andhra people were under British rule and so they were highly educated in English and could manage having proper contacts with the central leadership, whereas, the poor Telangana people had been under various dictatorships since the beginning, and had to eke out their miserable lives in the brutal feudal social setup nurtured by the rulers who always carried their own vested interests. So the people of Telangana were highly backward socially, politically and economically, and they could not wield much power in resisting the onslaught of those from the Andhra region who unilaterally forced the merger of the Telangana state with the then Andhra state just on the false and dubious pretext of “one language one state theory”.

Their unification attempt was in fact smacked of imperial expansion and over exploitation, and to prove that, they started exploiting the people of Telangana from the day one of the forced merger. Thousands of acres of lands in and around Hyderabad have illegally been grabbed by the business politicians and the capitalists for their imperial business expansion plans, right under the nose of the fascist Andhra rulers. Lion’s share of water has been diverted to the Andhra region by constructing big lopsided irrigation projects favoring only the Andhra farmers, leaving the people of Telangana in total and perpetual lurch. Their jobs, revenue and all kinds of resources have been usurped by the bullying Andhra elite and influential sections.

Telangana language and its dialects have always been mocked at, a very vibrant culture has been destroyed, history is perverted and the total social consciousness has been made weak, powerless and dependent at their mercy. The people of Telangana were totally discriminated against on every front, by the Andhra imperial and fascist rulers who resorted to blatant favouritism and nepotism with apparent impunity, corrupt politicians and the bureaucrats, preposterous and obnoxious elite sections, unethically rich business classes and highly depraved big shots of Tollywood. All of these sections have formed themselves into a powerful clique with the single motto of exploiting the innocent Telangana people. The native people were driven out from their own cities and towns and they were made aliens in their own lands.

The movement for the “demerger” (not “separation” as most of us believe!) of Telangana with Hyderabad as its capital from the farcical, dubious and over exploitative “Imperial and fascist united Andhra Pradesh State” is a very long-standing movement (for over six decades!) for achieving self-identity, self-respect, self-rule and self-reliance is based on strong historical, socio-cultural, linguistic, political and economic reasons.

The agitation for Telangana is an anti-feudal, anti-imperial and anti-fascist movement strongly pitted against the over exploitative Andhra ruling classes and the crony capitalists.

This is about Telangana in a nutshell. I hope I made it clear in my own way as I understood, and hope you got to know something about Telangana and its movement for self-assertion!

It’s a long saga of story of exploitation, discrimination, molestation, extermination, migration, misery, hunger, suicides, and rebellion, and the list is awfully long…!

There are plenty of sites talking about Telangana issues and Telangana movement on Internet. You have to properly Google search for them, with the input of right words and phrases.

Thanks again for showing active interest in Telangana and its great long-standing movement!

For TELANGANA, Forever !

 

This is a counter by me posted on my fb timeline, to The Hindu columnist Mr. P. Sainath’s biased report appeared in two parts on The Hindu, on August 14 and 16, 2013. I would like to share it here with some slight editing, in order to spread the genuine message of Telangana, wide across.

Here is my reaction to the Part-1 of the misleading report–

It’s totally unbecoming a man of such stature and repute as Mr. P. Sainath, rural editor, an acclaimed reporter/columnist of The Hindu and an eminent social scientist resorting to such a misinformation campaign by siding with the Andhra people in total disregard to the age old dreams, hopes and aspirations of the people of Telangana whose nearly six decade long struggle for self-rule is purely based on a genuine longing for securing justice, equality and due share of water, electricity, jobs, revenue and other resources illegally being usurped by the bullying Andhra people. It’s really shocking to see the man who is highly regarded for his balanced reporting, stooping to such a low level of fanning out a feeling of insecurity and fear psychosis among the people from the Andhra region by his totally false, biased and misleading report.

The great intellectual talks about the children of Andhra, and their perceived plight in the aftermath of the separation (nay, demerger!) of Telangana state from (the dubious, farcical and over exploitative) united Andhra Pradesh state, but never cares about the starving and emaciated rural kids of Telangana in the united Andhra Pradesh state who are left to fend for themselves by their parents who migrate to the towns, cities and even countries in search of livelihood, and hundreds of youth who committed (and are still committing) suicide for the sake of a separate state of Telangana unable to see and digest the excessive exploitation in every front happening before their very eyes under the imperial and fascist Andhra rulers.

The reporting by the writer that “those who are working in Hyderabad such as painters, electricians, watchmen, security guards, canteen workers and other such workers have to return to their native places once the state of Telangana is formed” is totally a baseless and flimsy argument just to spread panic among the workers who are settled in Hyderabad, and to create a chaotic situation in the city so that the aims of certain vested interests of deriving some geo-political mileage out of the chaotic situation as falsely spread by certain rogue politicians and the crony capitalists, are fulfilled. I strongly suggest Mr. Sainath to read the 400 year old history of Hyderabad, the cosmopolitan city which had hosted and gave (and still giving) shelter to thousands of people from wide spectra of Indian sub-continent! Let the reporter come out with proper data of incidents of vandalism or arson of any kind against any Andhraite who has settled here for his livelihood, to corroborate his reportage. The agitation for a separate state of Telangana has reached its highest peak during the period from late 2009 till the end of the year 2012. Tens and scores of Telangana youth, mostly students, have so far immolated themselves for achieving their dream state of Telangana, and not a single incident of unprovoked attack on any Andhraite had occurred during the period. Then why is this sudden outburst of misconceived and miscalculated notions, and uncanny illusions and hallucinations?

It’s my moral responsibility and obligation as a sensible Telanganite to set things right and put them in perspective! Mr. Sainath must understand that the agitation for the separate Telangana state is based on proper historical facts and strong social and political reasons, and for securing justice to its people. I sincerely and humbly request him to read some history of Telangana and its historic armed struggle for liberation from the tyrannical Nizam rulers, the rural feudalists and their stooges, and how the people of Telangana were deceived, betrayed, and exploited after the fledgling state of Telangana was forced to be merged with the bullying Andhra state very much against the aspirations and interests of the people of Telangana. There is no dearth of information available on this on internet. All he has to have is some concern and genuine curiosity to know the historical facts, and how history is twisted, perverted and destroyed to further the causes of the Andhra vested interests! He should try to come out of the “make-believe” created by the vulpine Seemandhra leadership which he is finding himself in, and made a sincere attempt to know the truth about Telangana and how its people were/are always discriminated against, and perpetually kept at receiving end under the Seemandhra rule.

We, the people of Telangana are not for emotional division, we want just political division, and I don’t understand why there is so much fuss about it! This is just a false propaganda spread by the Andhra media which is tightly under the control of the crony capitalists who work hand in glove with the Seemandhra imperial rulers and the neo-colonialists. All the baseless debates about the status of Hyderabad are unleashed by the corrupt politicians with their own vested interests who have a bigger stake in the city’s vast pool of lands with their unethical and immoral practices. For the rest of the population it never makes an iota of difference if the city of Hyderabad is made the only capital of the future Telangana state. By the way, Hyderabad should always be the capital of Telangana and it is genuine and based on strong historical facts and geographical and demographical considerations. Every true historian, sociologist or economist strongly supports this!

I just request everyone not to fall prey to such a false propaganda unleashed by some vested interests, i.e. the corrupt politicians and the crony capitalists who have always been hell bent on playing with the sentiments of the innocent people by their foxy politicking and emotional blackmailing in order to achieve their selfish ends. The “Samaikyandhra” (i.e. United Andhra Pradesh including Telangana) movement in the state of Andhra Pradesh excluding the Telangana region, is an artificial movement unleashed by the corrupt politicians, and the “yellow media mafia” is playing second fiddle to those rogue elements! This is nothing but their preposterous arrogance smacked of ulterior motives, and sheer imperial expansion and further exploitation!

My humble request to all from both the regions, especially from the Andhra side, and most importantly to those who have settled in Hyderabad is, “please read the history and historical facts before commenting on any burning social or political issue. Please don’t venture into baseless arguments without proper perspective. It’ll backfire!” We are always inclined to take thousands of Hyderabadis wherever they might have come from and settled here, along with us in our long march towards more peace, prosperity and glory provided they will wholeheartedly be with us, and let’s make things clear once and for all that our ire and war is only against the fascist and imperial Seemandhra ruling classes and the neo-colonialists, neo-feudalists, capitalists, the oppressors & exploiters, and the traitors of Telangana, both inside and outside, and certainly not against the pro-Telangana Seemandhra people who are our esteemed brethren, and they will continue to have the same love and affection, and there is always a special, warm and secure place for them in our bosom. We want only political division, and not emotional! The Telangana intellectuals are ever ready to dispel and clear all the false notions and uncanny illusions harboured by the innocent Seemandhra people. Please know the truth and fight for it, come what may! God’s always with those who fight for the truth.

Talking about wealth, the entire Andhra region owes a lot to the people of Telangana and any true economist unequivocally agrees with this. How could a genius like Mr. Sainath turn a blind eye to the exploitation of a colossal scale, of Telangana people by their bullying Andhra counterparts in the form of vast stretches of lands, water, electricity, jobs, revenue and other resources for over six decades? And still there is no letup to this over exploitation! I don’t understand what has prompted Mr. Sainath who is representing one of the most reputed national dailies of India, known for its high ethical standards in journalism, to side with the Andhra people and write against the innocent and generous people of Telangana! Sixty years of coexistence with the Andhra people is a strong testimony to our amicable nature and the generosity of the highest order! I personally request Mr. Sainath not to venture into such false reporting again, thereby bring disrespect and disrepute to the mighty “The Hindu” and tarnish its zenithal image and credibility!

About water issues, the reporter is advised to carefully study the statistics of river water (from the Krishna and the Godavari) sharing between Telangana and Andhra, and how Telangana people have been systematically neglected, deceived, betrayed, and made totally powerless and dependent in course of nearly sixty years of coexistence under the imperial and fascist Seemandhra rule! The writer shows the 2011 census to corroborate his points about agrarian crisis and the high rate of farmers who are on the verge of committing suicide in the united state of Andhra Pradesh. I request him to divide this data between Andhra and Telangana and present the true picture before the nation. Then, this will be an unbiased and balanced reporting. The nation has every right to know the truth! Let him spill the beans and come out with individual data- both from Andhra, and Telangana. Can he dare do that?

Some of the Andhra people can’t send their children to America, but we, the majority of Telangana people, can’t afford to send our children to good schools and colleges in our villages and towns, and not even to govt. institutions, as the so called democratic government is totally indifferent and apathetic to our genuine hopes and aspirations, and to even basic human rights!

My reaction to the Part-2 of the report–

The Hindu should not lose its credibility by its misleading and biased reports!

Mr. P. Sainath is once again resorting to a sheer misinformation campaign by his totally misleading and biased reporting. This time the columnist is driving home what he has to say in a very clever and in his own ingenious way, by siding with the common men from both the regions and pitting them against the corrupt politicians. It’s once again advised to the columnist to acquaint himself with the history and historical facts of Telangana before writing on such a contentious issue of the division, nay, DEMERGER of the state of Telangana from the tyrannical, fascist, imperialistic and over exploitative united Andhra Pradesh state!

The people of Telangana want their Telangana with Hyderabad as its capital at this juncture, and they will definitely fight for the cleansing and correction of their political system after they get their own state. The people of Telangana carry the rich knowledge experience of various social, political and economic issues gained through a very long period of peaceful democratic struggle for securing justice to their land, and this insightful experience will definitely come in handy for them in future for working on for more social justice and inclusive growth.

The maverick writer has miserably failed here in taking a clear cut stand on the burning division issue. He should have taken a perfect, balanced stand on the most contentious issue which has been raging on for decades, instead of beating around the bush! The disease of “selective amnesia” is further taking its toll on the reporter and he should get himself cured of that disease with utmost urgency.

Here are two of the comments posted online to the misleading article series (with some minor corrections in grammar and punctuation)-

1. This is fully misleading and biased article favouring Costal Andhra region!! It decreases the credibility of the great news paper called The Hindu!! Please don’t encourage any biased one sided articles or arguments!! So far Telangana Jobs and water resources have been exploited against the Constitution and G.O.s. Costal Andhra region is now thinking about how they can still grab them if Telangana state is formed. It’s very obvious that in the new state we can use our allocated water resources and can get the jobs meant only for us. There will not be any opportunity for Andhra region people to take away Telangana jobs!! Unnecessarily some politicians and some section of people are creating fears in people.
from: Srikanth
Posted on: Aug 14, 2013 at 14:40 IST

2. I have huge respect for P Sainath, but it is sad to see him take sides on the Telangana issue. Why was he silent when Telangana was in turmoil for almost 3 years till now? And what does he have to say about the huge difference in the Seemandhra-dominated administration’s response to the protests in these two regions. Telangana protesters faced unprecedented police suppression. Osmania University has turned into a police fortress ruining the future of scores of students. Striking Telangana employees were forced to lose pay for striking work. Agitators were put in jails and still face various criminal cases. In contrast, agitators from Seemandhra are facing no such issues; the government has not taken any administrative action to bring the striking government employees back to work. University students are participating in protest movements, indulging in arson and destruction, yet no police action is seen. Is it because the ruling elite is from Seemandhra? Care to answer, Mr Sainath?
from: Ashutosh Panchbhai
Posted on: Aug 16, 2013 at 13:05 IST

A humble request and suggestion to the publishers of the mighty The Hindu-

The Andhra Pradesh edition of The Hindu is nothing but “The Imperial Andhra” edition covering only Seemandhra news and spreading its false and farcical message. I feel, there is a strong need to have another special edition catering to the pressing needs of the Telangana people, and to voice their genuine concerns, hopes and aspirations. We, the people of Telangana hope The Hindu will continue to live up to its highest standards of ethical and responsible journalism, especially in the future fledgling state of Telangana in its march towards glory, and win the confidence of its people. I had been an avid reader of The Hindu for more than 15 years and I hope I’ll continue to be so in years to come. All depends on the reputed newspaper’s commitment to responsible reportage.

Please see to it that such a faux pas, as committed by Mr. P. Sainath, by his totally biased reporting never recurred! The future history will never forgive such blunders of “selective amnesia”!!

The last word-

Telangana with Hyderabad as its capital will be a reality soon. Hail the people of Telangana for their almost 6 decade long peaceful and democratic movement for the demerger of their state from the bullying united Andhra Pradesh state.

Hats off to the spirit of pure democratic values, tolerance and forbearance, love and affection of the people of Telangana!

JAI TELANGANA ! 

JAI HIND !!

Related Articles

• Telangana decision (thehindu.com)
• About Telangana and Its Current Movement in a Nutshell (sunthoshhaudakar.wordpress.com)
• November 1 is the DARKEST DAY in the history of Telangna (sunthoshhaudakar.wordpress.com)
• Why Telangana? What was Tyranny of Majority? (gandhipv.wordpress.com)

Many of the media houses in India are run by big business sections such as liquor barons, realtors, film producers and businessmen politicians/politician businessmen. This is too high especially in the regional media circles.

Most of these media groups have formed themselves into a powerful clique and always work together and manufacture the news items in such ingenious ways that their own agenda fraught with political and business expansionism is spread. They do this in active connivance with the corrupt politicians just to further their own vested interests.

Majority of our politicians have failed in winning the confidence of the common man/woman. In their perceived view, the common men/women are the rich business classes, sons and daughters of politicians, the crony capitalists and the contractors and their clever lobbyists. All the public policies and welfare programs are engineered and framed just keeping the long term interests/objectives of only these influential and bullying sections in view. Many of our present politicians and the ruling classes are never perturbed about the welfare of the masses, and the media which is supposed to be the fourth pillar holding the roof of our democratic polity and secular society, along with three other pillars, namely, Legislature, Executive and Judiciary, has totally got depraved and degenerated wit and has been conspiring with the first pillar to wreck the roof under which we are taking shelter, by constantly trying to debilitate the other two pillars and make them toe their crooked lines.

The first and the fourth pillars are putting our polity at total risk and jeopardy, and holding the whole nation to ransom, and the two middle pillars are no longer be able to hold our roof from crumbling because of the cracks developed in their bases fomented by the misappropriation and misuse of our political structure by those who are controlling the deciding positions for a very long period of time, and are never allowing healthy and meaningful discussions and debates and questioning from the conscious citizens of our society.

And about the student community, they are being imparted with that kind of education which can never make them stand on their own feet and be free thinkers. They are being made into high production machines that can only serve the business expansions and the long term objectives of the multinational companies and big corporate houses which in turn make huge political investments and funding to further loot our nation of its resources with the clever utilization of the tailor-made scientific and technological intellectual prowess and the business expansionist brains which are made available in abundance just to build the big corporate empires devoid of any ethical and moral values and social responsibility. Corporatization of our education system is a part of all this hidden conspiracy.

‘Indian political setup’, ‘big business houses’ and the ‘media mafia’ have actively combined themselves into a strong coterie and always act hand in glove with one another. The State implements what the corporate world dictates to it and the media spreads it through the ‘honey sweet tongues’ and ‘striking fonts’ wide across the innocent and unassuming masses sprinkling it with some zing and gusto. The mainstream Indian media (there are a few exceptions of course!) is/are working 24 X 7 only to spread the gospel of the political setup which is desperately being made to look like the messiahs of development and growth, and of equal justice in the public eye and perception.

The only option left with us to correct this highly corrupt system is to enlighten the masses with value based education and a massive awareness campaign to make our people understand the basic tenets of our political structure, polity and the governance, and about the various law enforcement and redressal mechanisms featured in our criminal justice system, and about the fundamental rights and privileges guaranteed by our mighty Constitution and in/through various statutory provisions. The intelligentsia of the society and the student community have a very big role to play in this regard, otherwise there will be no hope for us and the future generations will never forgive us for our follies of today of being nerdy and insipid to the most pressing issues at hand.

The politicians who have occupied the high chairs and ruling us from above, never bother, rather willfully, about our education and enlightenment and political and legal awareness because that will be detrimental to their dynastic politics which will eventually curtail the passing on of their high positions and status to their kith and kin. They only want the masses to be the mute spectators always glued to their idiot boxes, following the filibustering harangues interspersed with fake and farcical promises. The politicians have turned the masses into busy bees always struggling to catch the freebies announced from time to time, oblivious of what is going on in the closed circuits where the big decisions are made and the G.O.s are issued for implementing the so called public welfare programs involving hundreds and thousands of crores of rupees. The general public have almost been made into veritable beggars by clenching the decision making power which is never decentralized and delegated properly in the true spirit of the participatory democracy, the democracy which we boast with trumpet voice world over, but in reality, we are still ruled by the same plutocratic, feudal and fascist elements which have taken new and refined forms with ultra social, political, economic and legal awareness.

It’s high time we come out of our comfort zones and from the ‘make-believe’ which we have been finding ourselves in and thinking ‘All’z well’.

Think of making any one of the subjects or more, like, Politics, Administration, Economics, and Law etc., which matter us most in our day to day lives, as subjects of serious study, and for gaining knowledge (because knowledge is power!), in addition to studying Engineering, Technology, Physical and Natural Sciences, Aesthetics, Psychology, Morality, Religion, Philosophy and Spirituality. You can make a lot of difference with your insight and strategic analysis which will be immensely beneficial for the balanced and healthy growth of our nation, and in its long march towards more prosperity and glory, and only that way we are going to have a strong feeling of ONE NATION and ONE PEOPLE!

The roof is gradually crumbling and the pillars are going helter-skelter, it’s time we rose up!!

 

Here are some great lines from our scriptures worth considering-

uttiṣṭha jāgrata prāpya varānnibodhata / उत्तिष्ठ जाग्रत प्राप्य वरान्निबोधत / uttiShTha jAgrata prApya varAnnibodhata (Arise, awake, obtaining worthy (teachers), know (the truth).)

tejasvi nāvadhītamastu / तेजस्वि नावधीतमस्तु / tejasvi naavadhiitamastu (May our knowledge become brilliant.)

vidyaiva sarvadhanam / विद्यैव सर्वधनम् / vidyaiva sarvadhanam (Knowledge is the greatest wealth.)

vidyaiva balam / विद्यैव बलम् / vidyaiva balam (Knowledge is Power)

sā vidyā yā vimuktaye / सा विद्या या विमुक्तये / sA vidyA yA vimuktaye (That is knowledge which liberates.)

jñānaṃ paramaṃ balam / ज्ञानं परमं बलम् / GYaanaM paramaM balam (Knowledge is the supreme power.)

ā no bhadrāḥ kratavo yantu viśvataḥ (1.89.1 rigveda) / आ नो भद्राः क्रतवो यन्तु विश्वतः / A no bhadraaH kratavo yantu vishvataH (Let good (thoughts) come from everywhere, from all the world.)

vidyā viniyogāt vikāsaḥ / विद्या विनियोगात् विकासः / vidyA viniyogAt vikAsaH (Progress comes from proper application of knowledge.)

śramam vinā na kimapi sādhyam / श्रमम् विना न किमपि साध्यम् / shramam vinA na kimapi sAdhyam (Without effort nothing is possible.)

siddhirbhavati karmajā / सिद्धिर्भवति कर्मजा / siddhirbhavati karmajA (Success is born of action.)

suprabandhe rashtra samriddhi/सुप्रबन्धे राष्ट्र समृद्धि/ (Better Management for a Better Nation.)

and finally,

Dharmo Rakshati Rakshitah!!

 

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Many a people confuse lust with love and also there are some who confuse love with lust.

Both of them are spoiling their beautiful lives with these two kinds of confused state.

Love is the only word/idea in the world that is totally misunderstood and misinterpreted by many of us.

Love is getting lost from us and the lust is taking its place and having its sway over our emotions.

Lust is ruling the roost everywhere!

We all have conditioned our minds to ‘love the lust’ and forgot to ‘love the love’ due to the overarching influence of the western culture and civilization.

It’s only love which can put the lust in its proper place and channelize it into a more powerful and meaningful life force.

It’s lust which is spoiling the love in us thereby turning us into lifeless beasts groping in the dark always seeking sensual gratifications.

Love is expansion and lust is contraction; love is life and lust is death; love is strength and lust is weakness; love is courage and lust is fear; love is human and lust is beastly; love is caring and lust is craving; love is immortal and lust is mortal; love is divine and lust demoniac.

Love elevates and lust degrades!

P.S.   Here is a wonderful TECHNIQUE for controlling the unbridled lust in us and converting it into the life force which can eventually be merged with the universal cosmic energy. Read the description by Nayaswami Devarshi quite attentively so that you don’t miss out the most fundamental aspects of this very effective technique which works at the subtlest levels of our total being. Let me be forthright and make things clear once again that controlling the lust in us and diverting it to form itself into the most potent, the most heightened and the subtlest life force can never be construed as the total loss of the enjoyment of the conjugal relationship or the basic sexual urge! Rather, it’s for infusing more pleasure and more enlightenment into the love life and sexual relationship inspired by a very heightened spiritual awareness. The greater the vibrations of the mind, the higher would be its level of perception and the subtler and finer will be the experience. Sexual relationship can be taken to a new higher level of vibration wherein lust is completely controlled and reshaped into pure love with utmost devotion. This is beyond the ordinary human perception which is shaped by the mental vibrations of a lower level triggered by the physical senses and some internal chemical reactions of the body with external stimuli.

Attaining the highest feeling of conjugal enjoyment can only be possible when the lovemaking and sexual relationship is strictly within the confines of the Sanatan (Eternal) Dharma as laid down by the most ancient sages and saints!

Right attitude, devotion, and attunement to the Guru are more important than technique alone, insists Nayaswami Devarshi  in his blog post.