Love, Life & Happiness

Greatest works of art always stand at the intersection of the key social events. What makes them stand apart from an ordinary reportage, unmindful of human angle, or a personal account, a blindly ignorant of social context of huge consequences- it the careful and crafty way of story-telling which maintains a delicate balance between the characters and the world they live in. This takes huge amount of effort on the part of the writer, to hold the story on that extreme edge of the abyss. It is almost like holding a bull gone berserk, by the horns, and keeping the beast on the track. Stories are like that, and once written to a point, they begin demanding an autonomy. Stories struggle to break free, they want to hold the pen of the writer and try to push their ways.   As the scope and expanse of the story increases this unruly behavior reaches to a stage where it threatens to destroy a good novel. It is the sign of an exceptional masterful writer when he keeps the control of the stori

                         सनातन- The Continuum      सतत सूर्य सनातन का, न होगा अस्त, विश्वास रख।     सकल निरंतर सत्य है,यह धर्म शाश्वत, विश्वास रख।       शब्दों का भीषण कोलाहल,        कुतर्क का कुटिल न्याय है।       इतिहास का गौरव भी जैसे       विस्मृत सा इक अध्याय है।       राष्ट्र-भाषा, राष्ट्र-भूषा      कारण बने उपहास के।     राम राज्य में राम के    अब भी हैं दिन वनवास के।      वर्ण का और वर्ग का     यह भेद एक षड्यंत्र है।     इक धरोहर, एक राष्ट्र     धर्म का यह मंत्र है।     है निरंतर धर्म यह    आरंभ है ना अन्त है।    सत्य-शोधक धर्म है यह    अनवरत जीवन्त है ।   भोले की मस्ती ओढ़ ले   तेरा गगन, तेरी धरा,   तू सत्य का संवाद है,   संशय ना कर मन में ज़रा।    केशव का गीता-ज्ञान तुम   गाँडीव की टँकार तुम।     तुम मौन हो संकल्प का,    तो युद्ध का हुँकार तुम।    राष्ट्र समझो, धर्म जानो,    मूक लज्जित मत रहो।    हो सनातन, हैं सनातन   मित्र सब मिल कर कहो।    सतत सूर्य सनातन का, न होगा अस्त, विश्वास रख।    सकल निरंतर सत्य है,यह धर्म शाश्वत, विश्वास

The Bell Jar Author: Sylvia Plath ( Under the Pseudonym "Victoria Lucas) Published: 1963 Pages: 234 Amazon Link: Click Here " Doctor Gordon's waiting room was hushed and beige.  The walls were beige, and the carpets were beige, and the upholstered chairs and sofas were beige. There were no mirrors or pictures, only certificates from different medical schools, with Doctor Gordon;s name in Latin, hung about the walls. Pale green loopy ferns and spiked leaves of a much darker green filled the ceramic pots on the end-table and the coffee-table and the magazine-table." "But when I took up my pen, my hand made big, jerky letters like those of a child, and the lines sloped down the page from left to right almost diagonally, as if they were loops of string lying on the paper, and someone had come along and blown them askew." I had been meaning to read this book for long time. I was restrained by two things- One, the book did not seem to be availa

Two events have occupied the minds of thinking Indian citizens in the last week. The two would seem way far apart in the terms of the people directly impacted but are connected with one common theme which is the biggest emblem of the times we live in.  The  raid on a famous Media channel, NDTV, which was the first one to tread into the Television News space once it opened up beyond the state broadcaster and the other event being a hugely violent farmers' stir in the state of Madhya Pradesh, which has been showing spectacular growth, ironically, in agricultural sector.  The outrage around the latter has started to die down as the shock at the farmers agitating so violently in the relatively prosperous area of India gave way to the emerging details of Congress, a dynastic party which has ruled India for the largest part of our liberated existence and thus is responsible for not only the slow growth, rather also for the inglorious episode of Emergency, now out of power, bein

"It is true that the intellect by itself is no virtue....An intellectual person can be a good man but he may easily be a rogue. Similarly an intellectual class may be a band of high-souled persons, ready to help, ready to emancipate erring humanity or it may easily be a gang of crooks.."                             - Dr. B. R. Ambedkar The problem of too much of intellectualism is that it runs a serious danger of turning narcissistic and base. A strong intellect without a sense of morality will make worse of human beings for they can explain, define and defend basest of their actions and thoughts. Dr. Partha Chatterjee, Professor at Columbia University, has suddenly become a known face all across India by scathing criticism he has heaped on the Chief of Indian Army General Bipin Rawat. He has compared the Army Chief with British General Dyer. It is difficult to understand how the context of Major Gogoi using a Stone-pelter (who also made Shawls) to avoid nee

"From Untrue to the True From Darkness to Light From Death to Immortality" The Right-wing is defined by Oxford Dictionary as a Conservative or reactionary section of a Political Party or System. Merriam-Webster calls it a group of people who support conservative ideas and policies.  The term came into being during the French revolution of 1789, wherein steep divides in position on various fundamental matters raised such situation that those with opposing views were advised to stick to one side to avoid physical violence. Those who were loyal to the king and religion took to the right side of the chair. This physical division continued till 1793 even after French legislative assembly came into being.  From seating arrangement, this term became political and by the beginning of 20th century, spread across the globe. The term on both sides was used as some kind of derogatory way of defining the opposition. The Left technically stood for communism, gro