On the way to Bhairava temple in Gumkhal near Lansdowne

Hollowness of White Man’s Burden ...A book review

With the arrival of Vasco da Gama at the port of Kozikhode way back in 1498 began the process of colonization of India, which unfortunately has been celebrated as the ‘discovery of India’ in our history books. It is this ‘discovery of India’ that has been problematized by George Thundiparambil in his novel ‘Maya.’

To read the edited version log on to

http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=486

Musings

Existence
Unsolved mystery
This unbreakable code
Mocking
All our senses

Yet

Yearning
This hopeless yearning
Yearning to know
Neither feels insulted
Nor dies a silent death

Ponderings

I long for the sea
sheer mystery of it
The silent waves………carrying a story
Clashing
Breaking
Receding back……..to carry another one

Stories of incomplete lives
Broken hearts
And love unconsummated

Not only that
In some secret corner
From time immemorial
Carry tales of slaughter
Deceit
Lust
And caprice too

Their deadly silence
Holding so much violence
Dumbfounded by the utter noise of hatred
Possessing power to benumb the senses
Ironically
Bestow a strange sense of peace

Perhaps
Human optimism
In its extreme
Waiting to find in debris
Beginning of a new life.

महाम्हौपाध्याय डॉक्टर गोपीनाथ कविराज और काश्मीर्य शैव दर्शन

My first write-up in hindi

Sunday on the island of Elephanta: by Octavio Paz

I had been introduced to Paz way back in year 2000 but somehow never got to delve too much into his writings...probably because they have not been written in english...I remember finding him extremely profound and simple. The directness of his approach instantly appealed to me...
and when last night me and my husband got to read his poems i couldn't help but marvel at his style...
Moreover Elepanta holds a very special place in my heart...its the first arthistorical site that i visited with my department...i recall being completely floored by the over life size sculptures of siva in various lilamurtis...



Here is Sunday on the island of Elephanta by Paz trans by Eliot Weinberger.....hope every one enjoys it as much as i did

IMPRECATION:
At the feet of the sublime sculptures,
disfigured by the Muslims and the Portuguese,
the crowds have left a picnic of garbage
for the crows and dogs
I condemn them to be reborn a hundred times
on a dungheap,
and as for the others,
for eons they must carve living flesh
in the hell for the mutilators of statues

INVOCATION:
Shiva and Parvati:
we worship you
not as gods
but as images
of the divinity of man
You are what man makes and is not,
what man will be
when he has served the sentence of hard labor
Shiva:
your four arms are four rivers,
four jets of water.
Your whole being is a fountain
where the lovely Parvati bathes,
where she rocks like a graceful boat.
The sea beats beneath the sun:
it is the great lips of Shiva laughing;
the sea is ablaze:
it is the steps of parvati on the waters
Shiva and Parvati:
the woman who is my wife
and I
ask you for nothing, nothing
that comes from the other world:
only
the light on the sea,
the barefoot light on the sleeping land and sea.

Enquiry into the sectarian affiliation of Harwan

This paper seeks to address questions of representation and interpretation of the monuments unearthed at Harwan, Kashmir. These days, strenuous efforts are being made to project Harwan as an unproblematic Buddhist site and promote it as a destination for cultural tourism by linking it with the great Central Asian tradition. In this effort, scholars have deliberately underplayed facts and attributed all monuments found in the area to Buddhists, ignoring any other cultic possibility.

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Toying with my computer

Jesus in Kashmir: A book review

Jesus in Kashmir The lost tomb by Suzanne Olsson is an eclectic mix of science fiction , hypothetical racial claims and a good number of fantastic speculations and possibilities. The entire work is focused at justifying the legitimate claim of Jesus on the throne of Kashmir and his having been buried in a tomb named ‘Roza Bal’ in Kashmir.What seems to have instigated the author in writing the book is the so called deliberate proclamation of the site as an Islamic one and the misuse of the money donated to the shrine by Islamic fundamentalists.

(to read the edited version log on to http://www.vijayvaani.com/FrmPublicDisplayArticle.aspx?id=215

My brush with sublime

While making last minute notes for my class on Kant and his insights on sublime and beautiful I lingered much longer than required on the former concept.It brought alive some pleasant memories of bygone days. To be precise I was reminded of our study tour to western Indian rock caves and particularly the journey to Nane Ghat situated in Western ghats. It was raining cats and dogs that day with hardly any visibility .Road was extremely narrow and I thought the scene was right for shooting a thriller movie.


I remember leaving my seat to sit on one of those red satin mattresses put on the front of bus where seats had been removed.As I looked out of the window the road was nowhere in sight..it almost seemed as if the bus was gliding on the valley.For a moment my heart stopped beating ..it was scary but probably it was more than that…because after a short time the fear was replaced by the sense of awe and respect for nature. The breathtakingly beautiful lush green mountains and gurgling sounds made by the river down in the valley had a wonderful impact on me.

While I was undergoing these unexplainable emotions which I am trying to weave in words I saw another bus coming from the opposite side. Suddenly I was curious to see how our driver would negotiate the problem.After what seemed like an eternity our bus driver reversed the vehicle and adjusted it so that one of its rear wheels was no longer on the road but was hanging in the air. Getting enough space the other bus moved ahead but I will never be able to forget the experience of hanging in mid air…It was fear mixed with extreme devotion…it made me feel so small…I was almost in a trance but I do clearly remember my thoughts which ran as……………

god I would have no regrets if I were to fall and die in this valley

Not that I have any suicidal tendencies but nature in its wildest form does have a maddening impact on people…it can make you cry, laugh, feel extremely insignificant or as I experienced ,happy to die it its lap….probably this is what Kant meant by a sublime experience………..