Reading the ARTHASHASTRA

I read both the KAMASUTRA and ARTHASHASTRA from this site which I will mention later. I cant express the feeling that I am struck with on reading these masterpeices.
So little of human behaviour changes.

Just replace the "Kings" of Artha shastra with "Prime/Cheif Minister" or replace the words "Public Women" in Kamasutra with that of "Glam Girls" and its eerily familiar territory.

It seems nothing changes over centuries.

This is the gist of Artha shastra

• Book I, "Concerning Discipline"

• Book II,"The Duties of Government Superintendents"

• Book III, "Concerning Law"

• Book IV, "The Removal of Thorns"

• Book V, "The Conduct of Courtiers"

• Book VI, "The Source of Sovereign States"

• Book VII, "The End of the Six-Fold Policy"

• Book VIII, "Concerning Vices and Calamities"

• Book IX, "The Work of an Invader"

• Book X, "Relating to War"

• Book XI, "The Conduct of Corporations"

• Book XII, "Concerning a Powerful Enemy"

• Book XIII, "Strategic Means to Capture a Fortress"

• Book XIV, "Secret Means"

• Book XV, "The Plan of a Treatise"

And this is the link to the site

http://www.bharatadesam.com/literature/kautilya_arthashastra/arthashastra.php

The reading on KAMASUTRA is after this post...

Reading the KAMASUTRA

Oops...! I guess reading the Kamasutra should not be professed in public. But having done it I feel nice that I have ....! Unless one is too stuck up , one cant but marvel at the myth that KAMASUTRA is a book full of nude bodies engaged in tantrix pornography.

Far from it.

Kamasutra is a book that has only the second chapter dedicated to sexual congress(he he ..congress!!! Sonia must be goin crazy) . The rest are dedicated on finding out what is ones DHARMA in this life and what are the codes of living. The book is divided into following parts

Part I: Introductory

Chapter I. Preface
Chapter II. Observations on the Three Worldly Attainments of Virtue, Wealth, and Love
Chapter III. On the Study of the Sixty-Four Arts
Chapter IV. On the Arrangements of a House, and Household Furniture; and About the Daily Life of a Citizen, His Companions, Amusements, Etc.
Chapter V. About Classes of Women Fit and Unfit for Congress with the Citizen, and of Friends, and Messengers

Part II: On Sexual Union

Chapter I. Kinds of Union According to Dimensions, Force of Desire, and Time; and on the Different Kinds of Love
Chapter II. Of the Embrace
Chapter III. On Kissing
Chapter IV. On Pressing or Marking with the Nails
Chapter V. On Biting, and the Ways of Love to be Employed with Regard to Women of Different Countries
Chapter VI. On the Various Ways of Lying Down, and the Different Kinds of Congress
Chapter VII. On the Various Ways of Striking, and of The Sounds Appropriate to Them
Chapter VIII. About Females Acting the Part of Males
Chapter IX. On Holding the Lingam in the Mouth
Chapter X. How to Begin and How to End the Congress. Different Kinds of Congress, and Love Quarrels

Part III: About the Acquisition of a Wife

Chapter I. Observations on Betrothal and Marriage
Chaper II. About Creating Confidence In the Girl
Chapter III. Courtship, and the Manifestation of the Feelings by Outward Signs and Deeds
Chapter IV. On Things to be Done Only by the Man, and the Acquisition of the Girl Thereby. Also What is to be Done by a Girl to Gain Over a Man and Subject Him to Her
Chapter V. On the Different Forms of Marriage

Part IV: About a Wife

Chapter I. On the Manner of Living of a Virtuous Woman, and of Her Behaviour During the Absence of Her Husband
Chapter II. On the Conduct of the Eldest Wife Towards the Other Wives of her Husband, and of the Younger Wife Towards the Elder Ones...

Part V: About the Wives of Other People

Chapter I. On the Characteristics of Men And Women...
Chapter II. About Making Acquaintance with the Woman, and of the Efforts to Gain Her Over
Chapter III. Examination of the State of a Woman's Mind
Chapter IV. The Business of a Go-Between
Chapter V. On the Love of Persons in Authority with the Wives of Other People
Chapter VI. About the Women of the Royal Harem, and of the Keeping of One's Own Wife

Part VI: About Courtesans

Introductory Remarks
Chapter I. Of the Causes of a Courtesan Resorting to Men...
Chapter II. Of a Courtesan Living With a Man as His Wife
Chapter III. Of the Means of getting Money...
Chapter IV. About a Reunion with a Former Lover
Chapter V. Of Different Kinds of Gain
Chapter VI. Of Gains and Losses, Attendant Gains and Losses, and Doubts; and Lastly, the Different Kinds of Courtesans

Part VII: On The Means of Attracting Others to One's Self

Chapter I. On Personal Adornment, Subjugating the Hearts of Others, and of Tonic Medicines
Chapter II. Of The Means of Exciting Desire, and of the Ways of Enlarging the Lingam. Miscellaneous Experiments and Receipts
Concluding Remarks

And it does not contain the "famous illustrations" they were made later in 2nd century AD. Try going through this link:-

http://www.bharatadesam.com/literature/vatsyayana_kamasutras/vatsyayana_kamasutra_index.php

and read it without stealing glances over your shoulder . Its a great book and if you feel ashamed reading it ..I guess you need to grow up.

Cemetary in a hospital

It may sound blasphemous but in a predominantly hindu country whre cremation is the preferred mode of disposal of a dead body, what could be more hygienic and convenient than having an electric crematorium in the hospital it self. It would not only stop un necessary expenditure but also lead to a scientific way of disposal without going into the travails of carryin the body all the way to the external crematorium ....

When I suggested this to a few of my freinds they appeared shocked. To them it was un emotional and rude. And may erode morale in the hospital. Well ..I think we can shift the crematorioum to the basement if it offends people..but the "rude" part is not clear to me.
I mean whats so polite about death. Its something that comes un invited. ...causes a lot of pain and suffering in its aftermath and doesnt make any difference to the person it has occured to. And whats so impolite about burning a body next door to the ward where it was treated?

Think over it.

The gateway of Mumba Devi Temple

For all those who do not know Mumba Devi, She is the presiding deity of Mumbai(or shivsena would have us so believe)...and lives behind the Mangaldas Cloth Market at Crawford Market. Now there is a temple dedicated to her , a small one , but in the busiest if not the poshest areas of mumbai. This temple is what I had the misfortune to visit today.
Misfortune ..Well Every visit to the temple reminds me of the narrowness of human thought process of confining a GOD to their standards and of course the filth spewn around that goes around with the name of "Holy Shit:...anyway I am digressing.
The Main topic here is the gateway to the temple at which I stood for half an hour while mom took a leisurely walk inside the premesis.
Now the best part of the gate was that there were infact two gates. One for the entrance and one for the exit. By some holy logic the EXIT gate was the bigger of the two ,and entrance was a peephole by comparison. So every other family ended up at the EXIT gate thinking of it as the entrance. Instead of easily putting up a board labeled "EXIT" again some holy logic dictated that a guard sits at the gate shooing away people who try to enter through the Exit Gate...
This poor chap and I became impromptu freinds with a sympathetic nod which I bequethed him as I stood by watchin the tamasha unfold at the gate...as he tried to stop guys from entering .
The spectacle of people tryin to come in thru the wrong gate even after knowing it was wrong made me lose hope every passing minute for this country.
Few guys pretended not to hear the guard..a typical indian reaction. OOPS ..soory I didnt hear the horn so I banged into ur car ...Very typical , very convenient.
Few families pushed their women folk to enter non-nonchalantly (assuming that the guard wudnt stop women) ..a classic example of reverse feminism by which we let our sisters and cousins do the movie ticket booking for us...
Few showed faint signs of anger , "Cmon, there is a gate and who the hell are u to dictate weather we can enter it?". Well something like demanding a SC/ST quota..
Few(not surprisingly women tried to bribe the guy with a wily and half seductive smile..) . Casting Couch anyone?
And few didn t even hesitate to send children first to get a foot hold...
And a few got in because they belonged to the trust..and not surprisingly a few behind them got in tellin the guard that if he could not prevent the trust guys..why shud he be righteous with them..he let them in...


All this drama when the entrance was 3 metres walk a way.

Is is any wonder we got pot holed roads , clogged drains, and a corrupt democracy ..creamed by reservations and regional chauvinisms?
Why blame some one else when we got the most intelligent people trying out "tricks of trade" and foolin the country...?
I am not taken aback by the fact that this country has not made progress..I am astounded by the fact that It has not slipped back into slavery. Maybe its just three metres away from it...

मेरा पहला हिन्दी ब्लॉग पोस्टिंग

ये हिन्दी में मेरा पहला प्रयास है। क्या ज़माना आ गया ....अब अंग्रेज़ी में टाइप करो और हिन्दी में लिखो। आक्च्ची बात है..बहुत अच्छी....बाद में कुछ लिखने की कोशिश करता हूँ....

Who is right? Who decides..Khuda?

Yesterday I had a small talk with my freind on the film "Khuda ke Liye"...Of course both of us found the film one of the good films of late...Infact that it took on issues directly without any bias was something that we both appreciated..
But we hit a roadblock when we came to discussing characters. Off the cuff I told him that the most spineless and dishonest character was that of the London based muslim father who has four concubines but wants his daughter to carry the burden of protecting his "Deen"(Religion).

My freind who happens to be a muslim sympathized with this guy. His argument was like this. The father has committed a sin ...now he is screwed(in figurative and well ..literal sense) so he is justified upon trying to "save" his daughter. And that way he can redeem himself in eyes of allah.

Well I do not know about Allah but this seemed a real real surreal and out-of - logic argument to me .

My logic is this.
If one has commited a "sin" the only person who has the liability to "redeem" himself is he alone,but he cant choose the punishment , more so decide on what others should do. I cant be patriotic by sending my countrymen to die on border while i sip a cola. Neither can I redeem a rape I have committed by marrying the girl. In short I cant choose the punishment I want,the punishment by defination is not a punishment if I give it to myself...Its sado/Masochistc pleasure. Punishment is what is given by the law of the land in which I live. Its not a choice.
Secondly, Who the hell gives me the right to "judge" a fellow human being on weather he/she is right or wrong? Who am I to decide and take upon myself to "correct" him? If I had been so righteous I wudnt have committed a "sin" in the first place? Its all very convinient to screw around with four british concubines but get "righteous" when it comes to passing a moral judgement on others. Its like a prostitute trying to preach the virtues of virginity....

Thirdly, I get surprised as to how many "Gods" agents are there on this earth? I mean if they are wat they claim to be..wat qualifies them to be one when I am not one? Plus the fact that isnt it confusing to have people with radically different ideas all preaching to be servants of GOD. Maaann..God must be one confused soul. Not to mention a petty one..I mean he will strike u down if u do not pray in a particular way..If u have this that..wat not.
I think there is one simple reason that there are so many so called "religious men"..Its damn easy to be one. Just mouth a few lines from any holy book...use a bit of popular psychology ..Be a convincing speaker and get some funds.
There is so much of insecurity in minds of common men that they will accept anyone with a beard as christ the saviour......
Coming back to the Khuda ke liye Character..I suggest he refers to Mr Jesus Christ who said..
"Let him cast the first stone..he who is without sin". And I also suggest they change the name of the film to "khuda ko baksho" (spare god)...

The arguments the society never has.../you cant stop an idea whose time has come

When people decry the loss of moral fabric, society going to dogs, etc..it makes me notice one thing very clearly....Memory is short. We remember the ethical arguments we are having now ..but we forget that we "Dont" have so many arguments ... Let me start with a simple example..

How many of us participate in the ethical argument of requirement of money in todays society..? Or look upon some one who is making a lot of money as an agent of satan?

I wud say very very few. Infact the most likely answer wud be that as long as he is making money the right way..who cares?

Linking the fact of caste , religion and character to riches or allowing it to bias our support is sumthing that is considered real real stupid.

But it was not always so. There was a time when these questions were big questions and engaged the media in a debate that seems so passe now.

I will give some such arguments which ..if u discuss now..u would be considered a man from stone age..
1. Any industrialist owes it to poor to feed and clothe them.
2. As a hindu nation we cant have shahrukh khan as our king of bollywood
3. Women should not be allowed to wear revealing outfits like jeans..
4. Sex education corrupts the youth..(btw this is not so stone age....)
5. Ban internet

The point is that there are some countries that still are debating these questions.

I feel that there is a concept of a one way Valve and critical flow limit in society.
What it means is that there are always two sides to any argument..and although each side is logically correct, Practically there is only one side that works.
In the initial stages of a Polotici-Social environment , these two sides of arguments hit against each other. The society is locked into a stalemate. This stalemate or blockage breeds the non-Practical side of arguments because that argument rests on dreams and rhetoric. Desperation fuels hopes and desires..

However as long as there are substantial people in either side , neither wins.
But..there is sumthing that pushes the flow in one direction. In case of India there were many pushes..English, the Liberal Hindu view, introduction of Computers. These act as one way valves in which the society moves towards one direction...Once this critical flow and breakdown is achieved the momentum generates new one way valves ....making it more difficult for the flow to be reversed...
We can always argue about the direction of flow but once it has reached that mass we cant stop it.Put it simply
"you cant stop an idea whose time has come"

In Praise of a song...

I love the song .."awarapan banjarapan" in Jism. Love means reallly really really love. I mean the kind of love that makes u drink countless cup of stupid coffee at cafe cofee day just because they have a wonderfull bose system which does justice to this song.
The thing that strikes me hardest in the song is that its a bike song..I mean that its a song i wud love to hear when i am cruising on a long stretch of desolate highway. And hear it over and over again..coaxing the last drop of acoustic nirvana from this sonorous classic.
The soundscape it creates is that of vast expanse of mountains and clear skies with a smattering of dull sunlight ...with clear water flowing through and you reading the words as they float thru the empty sky.
Its a song thats a remorse and a beautiful remorse at that....I stand by the fact that there is nothing more beautifull than pain and nothing more touching than remorse. And wat can be more touching than simple and heartfelt remorse which is personal and does not cry for an audience. Sadness is a theatre whose tragedy is enhanced by lack of audience. And the sadness of a violin orchestra..crying out in symphony..ah ...who can resist it..Who wants to resist it.

This song rejects an audience. When I listen ,I listen it in the solitude of myself. The song is like a shadow...beautiful in its outline..fleeting but scared of light...
There is a kind of foolishness in that song which makes it a typical bachelor song ..its a song for those people who never allowed themselves to grow up ...never lost a reason to drink from cup of life. ... never felt afraid to admit that although they fought the hardest..they lost..
And its the loss that this song celebrates...mourns and wails ....
And also the fight that is lost..and the sheer desperation of the fight ... this is what gives it that heady taste....
...
" Ye dunia hi jannat thi..ye dunia hi jannat hai...
Sab kuch kho kar..aaj ye hum par bhed khula hai seene main..."

"Khanjar pe haathon pe lakeere..koi bhala kya likh paaya..
Humne magar ek pagalpan mein ..khud ko chala hai seene mein.."
...





"

Write as if no one is readin...

---Content deleted on suggestion of a freind----

I want to be a film director ...

I want to be able to see and choose an interesting story. Real gross and bloody. ...With lots of slashing and hackings and that theme would be death. Not just any death..real gruesome and planned death. Death...not murder. Death as in the finality of the life ..not just end of a cycle but begining of one.

I know the film will start with credits which will have the actors name written in wall graffitti with blood being splattered over them ..Blood and slime will trickle down an old dilapidated wooden pole and end up on a road. Then the atmosphere will change from dark and stormy one to that of a sunny and open sky.
The first scene will be that of a small house with a nice rose garden in front. Quaint and old.

Ideal kind of scene with peppy music in the back ground..

The camera will roll along the path way and reach the door, the door will open slowly and an old man's hand will tumble out...along with that a trickle of thick blood will flow out into the portico...
A crow will sit on the verandah and slowly walk into the house lookin for sum flesh...

Maaannn..u still reading it?

Are u a psycho or wat? People like u make people like us behave like psychos. Go home and see a romantic movie.Dont put undue pressure on ppl like us to make movies which makes our mothers hate us...

Ab jao..Mujhe sochne do...

Lots of scenes left..

Films to me

I can count myself as one of the "begaana abdullah deewana " who is fanatic about films. But I have often asked myself as to what is that attracts me to a film. Why do i pay that much to watch a two dimensional screen for three hours and then cry for joy that i have been through one of the happiest moments of my life..?
What makes me look at those images and see a life beyond them ..? Why do i find magic on those images that fleet across the screen? Why does it make me see a world that lies beyond my reality? Why do I see a mind and method to this madness?
Why do I feel happy staring mindlessly into the screen..happily giving myself with abandon to the director and trusting him to not betray me ..? Why do I feel happy when he/she does me justice..why do i feel sad when i feel that he has not done justice...
Why do i bore my freinds with how profound the film was? Why do I blab on and on as to how heady was the ride?
Am I an escapist like millions of Indians? Or do I still posess an ability to be happy without any condition? Or do i see no dichotomy in being rational and irrational? Or do I see no reason as to why there shud be a reason to hapiness? Or maybe I have stopped justifying the fact that I can be happy for no freakin cause?
Or maybe I just love watchin a good movie...Maybe?

Sesha Srabana- Never heard of it?

There is an oriya film called "sesha Srabana"(the last monsoon). I had seen that film when i was in school ..the film was made even when i was not born.
The film was so tacky technically that i am sure that given a lumix cam myself I cud have done a better job. Shoddy print , jerky cam movements, lack of continuity and horrendous make up.
But that was the film that got me hooked to the fact that films are more than the physical aspects of filmmaking.
The film made me feel that the most important aspect of the film is honesty. Honesty to the story that one is trying to tell. The sheer rawness of this honesty is enough to affect the guy sitting infront of the screen. This honesty is which tears thru tackiness of the technical details ..and manages to sear a guy born 7 years after the film was made.
The film tells a very very old story of a girl who gets rescued by two low caste guys from a flood and stays with them . She loses her memory but these two guys know that she is from a rich/high caste family so they go out of their way to make her live "properly". They even try and find a high caste groom for her..meanwhile she falls in love with one of the guys...
After sometime one of the guys from nearby village recognises her as an upper caste girl. The girl is forced by village elders to return to her family..but they refuse to take her.
In the end she commits suicide by jumping into the same river she was rescued from.

The music is improvised from folk songs , the story is a folk story and the actors are either amatuers or juniors. But the greatness of the film stays with you once u leave the theatre...

I have seen a few world class films but no one manages to move me so much as this stupid oriya film does. Even as i write this I am hearing a song from this film.

Just proves that films are immortal..some are more immortal than others...