kasmenon

  SAILING ON THE NILE AND EGYPTIAN GOULASH OF ITS HISTORY  After endless screening of bags, boots, belts and what not, we managed to board the Egypt air flight from Cairo to Luxor. The airline provides a no-frills service on this an hour plus flight. Hassan Ali, son of Mohammed Ali, or so he boasted in jest, who was   our local coordinator, met us at the arrival lounge. After briefing us, he handed us over to our local guide, Ahmed.  A serious looking character, well past his fifties, Ahmed's  wrinkled face showed the results of time and strain of walking across the sand and rubbles of the valley and caves and attempts to do justice to 8000 years of history. A certain resignation was reflected in the way he viewed his job. It was past 3 pm by the time we checked into our hotel. Our hotel, an impressively laid out place, German owned with all the usual trapping and located on the banks of the river Nile. The German fetish for near faultless offeri...

  WHO ARE  MODI'S  BHAKTS From my experience and interaction and thus  assessment,  the following  categories  of Indians form Modis bhakts : 1. Bharmin and upper caste Hindus ( a vast majority of them) 2. Mumbai based Gujaratis ( almost all  of them) 3. Gujarat based Gujaratis( about 50 % of them) 4. Non brahma  and non uppercase indians ( who are highly religious but  generally apolitical who were made to beleive  that their religion is under threat.. About 50%  of them 5. Others, not excluding above but generally  apolitical, who was taken in by Modis self positioning as a anti corruption and pro development leader ( about 20 to 30% of generally population... a large section ) 6. Old RSS members , all contained in the above 1 to 4  ( most of them) One may note  that these categories are not mutually exclusive  but is a kind of profile of bhakts. It will also give you an idea of how strongly Relig...

 Impact of Covid : Yes it has!   But there is a more fundamental reason for the Change the world is grabbling with.  Covid may not have  a lasting impact on the economy,  employment and business in the medium and long term. Exception maybe in the health care industry and Insurance. Its an exaggeration to factor  covid as the paradigm  shifting phase. Nowhere is it as impactfull  as the 2nd world war did!! The change , however, that we see around us and  across the globe is real. The is mainly due to the way technology, information age and globalisation( In this, factors like huge migration of working population , educated and semi skilled, to cities in the country as well as across the world and across culture, is a major factor) is eveloving at much faster pace, impacting all the areas of life,  significantly.  Changing every which way we function and respond ..Jobs  that managed the old receding technology and ways of li...

  ENCOUNTER WITH YAM RAJ The cacophony, the lights, the pain, the trauma, endless tubes and drips, scrambling of medical personnel. In there, a MICU, I was confined for few days. All it did was   to push me further and deep into the transition state of the living into the one of not living. It was on one of those days, amidst which my vitals had a crazy time, a mind of its own, Doctors perplexed and poor me watching all this in a state of suspended animation.  That it happened.  I, or whatever represented me slipped through that line of life into the other world. I found myself surrounded by bright starry flashes of multicolour lights, a cloud of white smoke.   A feeling of bliss, all trauma gone. I was floating. Looking around I saw me, my physical form lying in the ICU. Before I could fathom that, I was whisked away, speeding through a tunnel with all those lights and smoke. Then, all of a sudden, I slow down, made to take a vertical landing position, ...

  The contrasts and similarity between two sons of Gujarat. One a Mahatma and another a megalomaniac. Both leaders. Making a comparison between them may invite harsh criticism. This is needed for everyone on whom the nation’s future rests. 1. Gandhi was from the merchant class who became a barrister at law and set up a practice in South Africa where the noble class from India migrated to. Modi, aka Feku, probably never went to a college and also was from a merchant class, who sold tea. 2. Gandhi was shy. Not a very good speaker. Modi loves to have the public applaud him and is a good speaker. 3. Gandhi used simple messages and symbols to communicate. However, he imbibed in himself the essential principles he espoused. Like wearing a loin cloth similar to that worn by the poor, cleaned his own home, practiced ahimsa and truth, principles he tried not to dilute, ever.  Modi was comfortable with the rich, wore clothes that the rich wore and spend lots of time finetuning his ...

  TWO WOMEN: THE CONTRAST AND THE GLARING SIMILARATIES This is a tribute to one and a hug to the other , both women, one who passed away few days ago and another waiting, by her own admission, to accompany her. Two women from different parts of the world, of vastly different status and different cultures. One a queen for over 70 years another my mother. Both of almost the same age. The departed Queen 96 and my mom just a year older. The queen ruled Britain and the commonwealth as a monarch, shouldered huge responsibilities of guiding a nation and carving a moral pathway for it. She had to, all by herself, face tumulus times and challenges. This was all enacted in the public domain.  A deeper look at the life of both and the similarities are visible. Mom, played the role of a mother to her kids, a bread earner and a care taker, all alone. Her responsibilities and challenges far outweighed her training and background. Her world, hardly a score and twenty near and dear ones an...

  CRY MY BELLOWED COUNTRY! Why does this land consisting of modern India, Pakistan, Bangladesh or even south east Asia, have always ended up being a weak region on the basis of economic, scientific and military power. For over 3000 yrs. this land mass had political dispensations that consisted of several fiefdoms. The people identified themselves on caste or religion and allegiance to the rulers was more a result of sub judication and necessity.   The communities were always divided and sub-divided into identities that constantly were in conflict with each other, lending it to become a fertile land   for conquest by powers from outside the region. It was easy to ignite passions through religious, caste or greed of power and wealth. The latter two factors, however, was universal and drove many rulers of the nations of the world to the path of conquest. The south east Asia regions lacked this attribute and remained tied down by their internal divisions. This trait is sti...