Ganapati Festival

The 10-day Ganapati Festival starts across Maharashtra from today. Though Ganapati was predominantly a Harvest deity, and also a household deity, it took the form of ‘sarvajanik utsav’ (community celebrations), due to the efforts taken by Bal Gangadhar Tilak as a part of the freedom movement.

Tilak was a Maharashtrian Brahmin and was an active member of the Freedom movement as believed in the concept of self rule. One of his contributions was to invoke religious sentiments through religious celebrations. The Ganesh Chaturthi celebrations initiated by Tilak got the sense of unity amongst the Hindus in Maharashtra and more important gave an opportunity for the freedom fighters to meet and discuss, as the British had illegalised such gatherings as they could incite violence.

Though the concept and the rationale of such celebrations have seen sea-changes from Tilak’s vision, and the celebrations today are both big in proportions and money. Over the next 10 days we will see some facets of Ganapati which is a cult and also see some popular and not-so-popular myths centred on the great god, who has numerous names.

Why as a family, we must watch the ‘Saas-Bahu’ serials on TV.

I personally am of the opinion that the prime time ‘saas-bahu’ serials must be watched by each and every member of the family and that too together. Sceptics please don’t look aghast! I can give you many benefits of watching these serials.
The following are just a few of them:

Benefits for women
1. Women can learn the art of looking younger as times progress in leaps of 20 years – (all you need is a new hairdo and a change of wardrobe)
2. The saas-brigade can learn the art of looking younger than their bahus (sometimes in spite of a dash of grey on the head)
3. Housewives can learn the art of succeeding in the corporate world, without even going to the workplace or by just attending a couple of meetings (so what if they have lasted less than a few minutes)
4. Women can get a rare insight in the new designs of jewellery (where chandeliers are passed off as ear-rings)
5. They can learn to make ‘rangolis’ on their foreheads which can be passed off as ‘bindis’ (Mr. Hussain – your canvas just got smaller!)
6. They can learn the art of working in the kitchen with the best of designer wear and perfect make-up (not to mention the matching stilettos)
7. The art of finishing small work while the husband is catching up on prime-time news (where the poor man is allowed nothing more than the headlines)

Benefits for children
1. In times of dwindling family sizes our children get to know what joint families are/were (so what if they conclude that they never want to be a part of the organised chaos)
2. Our children learn what a Chacha or a chachi is (so what if they are all wicked and scheming)
3. Our children will grow up much faster than what they should because they get to learn a lot from these serials (bad relationships, broken families, scheming relatives, extra-marital affairs, pre-marital sex, what-have-you?)
4. Our children are much better prepared for the intricacies of family life because the serials have exposed them to all such cases (however impractical and improbable many of them may be)

Benefits for the family as a whole
1. The family can learn the art of talking less, precise and to the point (during the breaks and before the next scene begins)
2. Working with a clock-like precision with house-hold chores happening robot-like (especially between 8pm and 10pm)
3. The family can learn the art of getting shocked on hearing a bad news one by one (in accordance to ones hierarchy in the family)
4. The art of wearing crisp and ready-to-go-out clothes all the time (even if you are going nowhere)

Before you think that men folk have nothing to learn from the serials, here are the benefits for men:

1. They can learn the art of getting promoted to the post of an MD of a large corporation (from a nobody a few episodes back)
2. They can learn how to age, again in leaps of 20 years, with grace, just grey hair and no paunch or wrinkles (wrinkle-free creams – Quit India)
3. The art of handling growing children who have never been to college (but suddenly leave for abroad to do their MBA)
4. The art of handling problems of the new-generation children – wayward sons with pierced body parts and tattooed to scare, daughters who are on their way to become un-wed mothers, obnoxious mannerisms picked up from the backstreets of New York or LA (though they wouldn’t have crossed the borders of Mumbai)
5. How to afford big cars for your children (irrespective of your means of livelihood)

Aren’t these good enough reasons to watch these serials all together as a family, especially during meal times? Some bright fellow has said – a family that eats together, stays together. Well we are eating – he didn’t mention anything about talking – did he????

Teacher’s Day

Teacher’s Day is akin to what we also know as Guru Purnima, a day sacred to the memory of the great sage Vyasa, though on a different day. A Guru or a teacher in India is seen as someone who is on earth in place of god.

In earlier days, all knowledge was acquired at the feet of the Guru, and no amount of dakshina (fees) could cover up the education received.

According to the Upanishads – a guru is god, since he knew the Vedas and thus to acquire the knowledge, one had to submit oneself to the guru. Overtime, the guru’s syllabus increased from the Vedas to the vidyas and shastras (dhanurvidya, arthashastra, natyashastra, kaamshastra, and even chaurya shastra – the science of thievery as mentioned in Shudraka's celebrated play Mricchakatikam).

In earlier days, Guru’s used to teach in Gurukuls, which soon took the shape of universities and education moved into a larger domain in the well known universities of yesteryears – Nalanda, Takshashila and Vikramashila, to name a few.

In mythology, we come across some well known teachers; Parshuram and Dronacharya are two well known guru’s in Mahabharata. Prior to that there is mention of Shukracharya who was the guru of the asuras. His contribution was that he helped the asura’s avoid destruction in the hands of the deva’s.

To quote a verse from Brahmanda Purana -
"Guru is Shiva sans his three eyes,
Vishnu sans his four arms
Brahma sans his four heads.
He is parama Shiva himself in human form"

However, in the modern times, it has become a tall order to maintain standards of the erstwhile guru’s. When education has moved from the jurisdiction of goddess Saraswati to goddess Lakshmi, it is not surprising that we do not come across gurus of yester-ages! But on this day, let us thank all teachers who deserve to be thanked, if not worshipped like the way Karna, Arjuna or Eklavya did.

Krishna

On the day of Lord Krishna’s birth (Janamashtami), one can tell numerous stories which have already been told and retold, each time more fascinating than the previous one. So on this day, I thought of raising a very pertinent question.

Who is Lord Krishna?

Lord Krishna is different to different people in our country. For children he is the lovable prankster who revels in stealing butter from every other household and teasing one and all. For the one with romance in his/her heart he is the one who can romance many together and reach heights of both sublime and erotic romance as immortalised in Jayadev’s Geeta-Govinda. For the religious, he is the ultimate God, Vishnu’s avatar who was on a mission to rid the world of evil and show mankind the path – the marg-darshak. To the not-knowing-where-s/he -belongs, he is both to be revered and ridiculed depending on the course of conversation; he is an opportunist who has his way and justifies all thru with his gift-of-the-gab.

The epic Mahabharata is incomplete without Krishna. He is an important character in the epic and his absence is felt in many a scene and the mind does tend to feel at times – this would not have happened had Krishna been there.

But herein lies the dichotomy that is Krishna. Some say, he is an enigma, and some say he is the answer. When tales of his heroic acts along with him being the fountainhead of knowledge exists, then why do we still see only aspects of his guile and deception?

Depending on which group one belongs, Krishna can be anything from a prankster, to a romantic hero to a politician to a philosopher to a modern day corporate leader. As someone would say – he is all and all is he.

So who do you think is he?

A Fat Pay-cheque!

Lately, a lot is being written about fat pay-cheques of CXO’s. Some corners have been suggesting ‘moderation’ in salaries, while some have been suggesting ‘austerity in conduct’, while some have even called such figures as astronomically obscene!

Let me ask, why? What’s wrong with such so called fat-cheques?

But as they say, let’s begin at the very beginning…

Let’s start with the word ‘Profit’. What are profits? Marx claimed that profits were surplus value that should be removed from the economic system. I disagree. Instead, shouldn’t we view profits in the same light as we see prices, just like wages, rents and interest? Profits are actually the ‘price’ we pay to the entrepreneurs for taking risks and developing products and services for us. Isn’t it unfair to expect the entrepreneurs to provide this service for free, since these costs are necessary in any viable economic arrangement? If it’s fair, then shouldn’t they be paid a price for it?

Let me tell you a story here -

A man decided to have his portrait sketched by a sidewalk artist.
He received a very fine sketch, for which he was charged Rs. 10,000/-.
"That's expensive," the man said to the artist, "but I'll pay it,
because it is a great sketch. But, really, it took you only ten
minutes."

"Twenty years and ten minutes," the artist said.

But, as the story of the artist above illustrates - sometimes it's not obvious what we are paying for. Does one pay for the act or does one pay for the experience? If the experience is his (i.e. the artist’s), but the act was for you, then shouldn’t one pay only for the act? But again, wasn’t the act so accomplished, thanks to the experience? This is not a case of Catch 22; it is very clearly a justification of the price the artist has asked for.

The case is no different for CXO’s. On behalf of the people who have set up such large corporations (i.e. the entrepreneurs), it is these CXO’s who risk their experience and reputations and so earn huge remunerations. So what’s the harm in their earning fat salaries? The risks they take are equally big and fat!

In a capitalist society, this is absolutely justified and people suggesting austerities need to look at their own backyards.