Sports spirit of Indians and the IPL controversy..

This days Indians have shown a great sports spirit. They just forgot everything in the name of sports or more specifically Cricket. IPL fever is on the peak. I suspect that this high temperature is because of cricket fever or something else. You might know what I mean. Well there is no doubt that it is a huge tournament in India and Cricket is in the heart of many Indians. I too used to play cricket for the whole day. I may be wrong but, is sport all about entertainment ?

            Well as far as I understand Sports is also about integrity and Nationalism but I dont find any of this in IPL. And in the recent past we all got lost in the hangover of IPL. Maharashtra state's some part suffered from severe drought and million cusecs of water was wasted over the grounds for IPL. Does this people's hunger and their food security concerns anyone.And now the match fixing controversy arise abruptly. Recently two men,  by loosing 10 lakhs over IPL betting, abducted and killed a child for ransom money. Are we Indians enjoying this sport or crimes taking place behind the scenes. 

        Besides, every one knows what happens over the ground. I cant understand what is the need of half naked Cheer leaders over the ground. And now our players are also served by this cheer leaders inside their room. Inspite of high income of this players going in millions, why do they need to destroy their game and their fan's aspirations. Obviously the Organizers must have their role in this fixing. And now they are showing women ( with no knowledge of cricket ) over the screen as showcase to attract female viewers. This IPL is all about money and this money goes in the pockets of its Organizers and Players. This needs to be completely boycotted if we respect our culture and tradition at all. It is an international tournament and it create a wrong image of India in front of the world. It is a wake up call for those who are showing false sports spirit in the name of Cricket..

Santosh Param Sukham

Santosh Param Sukham.... Which means Satisfaction, the greatest form of happiness. One of my very close, bestesto friend, once tell me that she wants to live a very simple life. A girl grown in metro, pursuing law from one of the best Universities, if talk about such things, this led me to think about my today's topic that is Santosh Param Sukham.

              This is one of the most fundamental thoughts of our Indian Philosophy. We inherit this legacy from very early times, the time when our country was one of richest in the world. We were blessed with so much of wealth then why Indian Philosophy incorporate the concept of Satisfaction as greatest happiness, when we were able to quench all our thirst of luxury.

                In a transition society like India, where many people are heading towards westernize form of Materialism, this philosophy of Santosh Param Sukham will be alien for many. Then strike me my friend's words and I came to realize how deep she was in her very simple words. An Indian seek happiness in very small things since the worldly attractions are very menial to her. The secret of Happiness lies in not having too much but having that much which can satisfy one's bare needs. And it is also about not limiting yourself in the physical world but to understand and explore nature and its creation. This philosophy is about spirituality which is the only way to satisfy our Soul and not just body. 

        The real pleasure lies in not extending our needs but in controlling our senses. This concept teaches us that happiness lies within us. She helped me to appreciate our own culture and made me realize the concept of Spirituality in our own Indian way. Such kind of people are the hope for the so called Soft Power of India. This needs to be inculcated in our education and modern tradition so as to make coming generations aware and respect our Indian Tradition and Culture.

(Dedicated to my bestesto Friend)...

Do we know our National Anthem ?

If someone ask about our National Anthem we will instantly utter out Jana-gana-mana. Obviously it is imbibed in our mind from early childhood. And every literate person might remember this Anthem. We all used to sing in our school days and occasionally after that. It was there in some of my school textbooks but only Hindi version which I never understood. I never took pain to get its meaning also. When I  was in college I never gone through it when I actually have the ability to understand it. And in school days it was so useless to sing in chorus if you don't know the actual meaning of our National Anthem. I don't remember if I have ever been taught about it in my school days , yes we learnt to complete it in 52 seconds and our band helped us in our job. Let us understand more clearly about our Indian and our one of the most prestigious literature ever....

The song Jana-gana-mana, composed originally in Bengali by Rabindranath Tagore, was adopted in its Hindi version by the Constituent Assembly as the National Anthem of India on 24 January 1950. It was first sung on 27 December 1911 at the Kolkata Session of the Indian National Congress. The complete song consists of five stanzas. A short version consisting of the first and last lines of the stanz of playing time approx 20 seconds, is also played on certain occasions. The first stanza contains the full version of the National Anthem :

                                 Jana-gana-mana-adhinayak, jaya he

                                          Bharat-bhagya-vidhata.

                                 Punjab-Sindh-Gujrat-Maratha

                                          Dravida-Utkala-Banga

                                 Vindhya-Himachal-Yamuna-Ganga

                                       Uchchala-Jaladhi-taranga.

                                        Tava shubha name jage,

                                       Tava shubha asisa mange,

                                          Gahe tava jaya gatha,

                                 Jana-gana-mangal-dayaka jaya he

                                         Bharat-bhagya-vidhata.

                                         Jaya he, jaya he, jaya he,

                                         Jaya jaya jaya, jaya he !    

The following is Tagore's English rendering of the Anthem, dedicated to the ALMIGHTY  :

             Thou art the ruler of the minds of all people,

             Dispenser of India's destiny.

             Thy name rouses the hearts of Punjab, Sind, 

             Gujarat and Maratha,

             Of the Dravida and Orissa and Bengal;

             It echoes in the hills of the Vindhyas and the Himalayas,

             mingles inthe music of Jamuna and Ganges an is

             chanted by the waves of the Indian Sea.

             They pray for thy blessings and sing thy praise.

             The saving of all people waits in thy hand,

             Thou dispenser of India's destiny.

             Victory, victory, victory to thee.

Autobiography of a Sex Worker

Read autobiography of a sex worker. Before reading this book I was also a bit nervous to talk about such issue then I thought if a sex worker can dare to write about her life and experiences then why not us. Yes she is  a women. I know every one of us might imagine a sex worker like Kareena as shown in her movie Chameli. I don't know whether we are right or wrong. Among many questions that pop up in my mind is why image of a women only come to our mind when we talk about a sex worker ? When I gone through that book , surprisingly and ironically , sometimes it felt like reading a narration of Premchand about pathetic condition of poor people , and sometimes it was like a beautiful romantic novel. 
 
 Yes her romance with her customers. And the poverty which drag her into this dirty job and then how she interact with her customers is shown in the narration. It looked like her life divided into hundreds of pieces longing from  just one night to few years. But definitely it was not just about one night stand. The relations which she talked about were not just physical. There were many other angles too in her relations , emotional , social and professional. I am reserved to say but I sometimes feels that this autobiography was not of a sex worker but a social worker who lost herself completely in service of some dark sick elements of our society..