Bunch of Thoughts

Over the last 9 months, regional leaders had worked very hard to build an anti-Modi front. They did not contest seats, swallowed pride and also shared a platform with the very parties against whom they had contested all their lives. These regional parties did all this with only one hope - survival. They believed that if they all came together, they could put up a credible fight against Modi in 2019. It would be painful for each one of them to concede seats but at least survival was possible. The Mahaghatbandhan strategy was put to test during the bypolls. Vote banks were combined; lifelong enemies (BSP-SP) came together and the BJP was defeated in the bypolls. Mahaghatbahndhan despite its inherent contradictions seemed to work. Desperation was the binding glue. NDA, on the other hand, seemed to lose friends. The Shiv Sena remains miffed as it is relegated to a supporting role, TDP walked out as it was unable to take on YSR at the local level. On top of this, media build a ...

The speeches of RSS Mohan Bhagwat and Pranab Mukherjee at the #RSSTritiyaVarsh valedictory ceremony at Nagpur was nothing short of a surgical strike on the fibrals, Congress and the opposition of India. Both of them said the same thing, one in Hindi and the other in English. Both laid to rest the debate on 3 key issues 1) Saving Democracy - One plank on which all anti Modi political parties are coming to together is the plank of saving democracy. Fibrals ( i.e. fake liberals) have been taught that nationalism equals fascism and fascism means the end of democracy. It is to fight nationalism and save democracy that anti-Modi forces are uniting to defeat him in 2019. Pranab da said that "Nationalism flows from our constitution". Nationalism thus becomes the reason for enduring democracy. By crediting nationalism for our democracy, Pranab da has defanged the entire anti-Modi front which had come together to fight nationalism. 2) Intolerance - Not one member of the RSS...

Steve Woz recently recently made a comment on Indians and their lack of creativity " The culture here is one of success based upon academic excellence, studying, learning, practicing and having a good job and a great life. For upper India, not the lower. I see two Indias. That’s a lot like Singapore study, study, work hard and you get an MBA, you will have a Mercedes but where is the creativity? The creativity gets left out when your behavior is too predictable and structured, everyone is similar. Look at a small country like New Zealand, the writers, singers, athletes, it’s a whole different world." According to Woz, if you chase excellence by studying, learning, practicing in a predictable and structured manner, you are unlikely to be creative. More than anything, the statement reveals that Woz knows little about creativity or India. Let's take music .. 1) Structure - Music is very well structured. There are notes and the patterns in which you use the notes w...

First of all, the movie Padmaavat is not a love story. It a story about a battle between Dharma and Adharma. The fight for dharma is led by the Rajputs - Raja Ratan Singh and Rani Padmavati. Raja Ratan Singh comes across as a maryada purshotam kshtriya - a king who lives and prefers to die by following his dharma rather than violating it. Rani Padmavati's character begins as a warrior princes which then transforms into a devi or a shakti by the end of the movie. The movie portrays both of them in shades of Ram and Sita from Valmiki's Ramayan.  Allahudin Khilji is depicted as a lunatic pyscho. Khilji is portrayed as a bisexual predator who kills for fun, captures and molests Hindu princesses and even shares a bathtub with his male slave Mallik Kafur. There are scenes which showcase Khilji indulging in domestic violence and even marital rape. The movie is all about the transformation of a Rani to Devi. The first test of Padmavati is when a princess bec...