A student belonging to the student wing of the Communist Party did not have the required attendance. So the principal of the college did not let him write the exam. The student filed a case against the college. He also asked for a large amount of money for the “emotional damage”.
In a bold move, the High Court of Kerala said this on the case
* The principal has the right to ban college politics and no one can question his authority
* This does not violate any constitutional rights of the student
You have to have studied in Kerala to understand the importance of this statetemt. Politics runs in the blood of everyone here. In every college, elections are more important than studies. This results in violent fights, resulting the deaths of students. The colleges then get shutdown, and classes are lost. Many colleges are held hostages by Goonda gangs which are usually outsiders.
This is why I love the Kerala High Court.
A previous acheievement of Kerala High Court is banning of smoking in public places. It is now a crime for which you can be arrested without a warrant.
Author: जयकृष्णः | ജയകൃഷ്ണൻ
From Kerala
While boarding the British Airways flight to Chennai from LAX, I tried to tell the woman at the check-in counter, that my surname was Nair. I said that a few times. I told her I knew Elizabeth (Hurley). I have seen Austin Powers a dozen times. Still they did not upgrade me to First class.
The tamil actor Vijaykanth was in First Class. I am sure he got that by telling his surname was Nair.
The monsoon has not yet arrived here in Kerala. There were some pre-monsoon showers. Still June 1 is the expected date.
Book Review: Pakistan
First I have to tell what this book, “Pakistan:In the Shadow of Jihad and Afghanistan”:http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0374228949/jksobservat-20 is not about. It is not a history of Pakistan, nor does it attempt to tell it anywhere. It does not talk about the partition or the origin of Pakistan. These are all very casually mentioned.
In the introduction the author says “This book grew out of my own personal journey through Pakistan and my curiosity about the paradocical forces that shape the Pakistani life”. This book is a part travelogue, part biography, part I-was-there-when-it-happened, kind of book. This is a collection of seven articles written by the author based on her travel in Pakistan and the angle of the book mentioned in the subtitle “In the Shadow of Jihad and Afghanistan”.
Continue reading “Book Review: Pakistan”
Buddhist troves
The cash strapped Archeological Survey of India is still doing excavations, this time in Chattisgarh state. The items discovered include
* a Buddha statue dating back to the 6th century
* various scriptures
* monasteries and nunneries
* a six foot statue of a lady with a missing hand and Greek like features
* the only depiction of bison fights
* a unique hollowed out cylinder with ?jali? work carved out of a single stone
“Antique trove unearthed at Sirpur”:http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/html/uncomp/articleshow?msid=46997117
bq. The discoveries have been mentioned in the writings of Huen Tsang, who had visited Sirpur in the 7th century. The writings also reveal that there is a Bodh Stupa made by King Ashoka, 100 Bodh Vihars and 150 temples in Sirpur. These when excavated could reveal a city that could be four times biggert han Nalanda.
Huen Tsang, is a person we all have learned in our history books. He was the person running the Lonely Planet channel in the 7th century AD.
(Source “Indian Archeology Mailing List”:http://groups.yahoo.com/group/IndiaArchaeology/ on Yahoo)
Ancient Indian Mathematics
The Jains recognized five kinds of infinities. They had various rules regarding combinations and permutations. They concieved of large amounts of time. The founder of Jainism is said to have been a mathematician (the first time I am hearing this). Another prominent person is Bhadrabahu.
“Ancient Jaina Mathematics: an Introduction”:http://www.infinityfoundation.com/mandala/t_es/t_es_agraw_jaina_frameset.htm
bq. As mentioned before, the Jainas recognized five different kinds of infinity: infinity in one direction; infinity in two directions; infinity in area; infinity everywhere; and infinity perpetually. This is quite a revolutionary concept, as the Jainas were the first to discard the idea that all infinities were same or equal, an idea prevalent in Europe till the late 19th Century.
Pakistan's Peace Processs
” 4 women, 2 children beheaded in Rajouri”:http://www.sulekha.com/redirectnh.asp?cid=309614
bq. In a gruesome act of reprisal against the family of a security services personnel, militants belonging to the Jaish-e-Mohammad beheaded six members, four women and two infants, in Chowikan Kotedara village of Rajouri district last night. The militants stormed the house around 11 p.m. on Sunday and beheaded the six persons, including two infants, Arshad Mohammad (4) and Maroof Ahmad (2).
I have nothing to say.
Democracy — Whore, Judiciary — Meaningless
I have always wondered why Arundhati Roy is against democracy and prefers dictators like Musharraf, Saddam Hussein etc. I got my answer in her speech at Centre for Economic and Social Rights in New York on May 13th
“Democracy is the Free World’s whore, says Arundhati Roy”:http://www.sulekha.com/redirectnh.asp?cid=309501
bq. “Democracy, the modern world’s holy cow, is in crisis … every kind of outrage is being committed in the name of democracy. It has become little more than a hollow word, a pretty shell, emptied of all content or meaning,” she said. “Democracy is the Free World’s whore, willing to dress up, dress down, willing to satisfy a whole range of tastes, available to be used and abused at will.”
See that is the problem with democracy. Sometimes you have to accept the fact that there are people who do not agree with your point of view. In Saddam’s land, you never had that problem. You could have a different point of view, so long as you were willing to spent rest of your life as “a dead body”:http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/news/articles/0515graves15.html.
She did not spare the judicary as well.
bq. Free elections, a free press and an independent judiciary mean little when the free market means they are on sale to the highest bidder, she said.
Call the Judiciary stupid if you want, but they do not “like it a bit”:http://www.ashoo.org/blog/archives/cat_moron_watch.html#000114 when you violate the rules of the land and “build houses in protected land”:https://varnam.org/archives/000084.html.
Again, don’t you see the irony here. You are able to come to United States and criticize it in public. Now go to Cuba, China, Iran or North Korea and say the same thing about their administration.
Communist Double Standards
Few years back when the Communists were in power in Kerala, they sanctioned a Pepsi bottling plant. Now the Communist controlled panchayat has decided to cancel the licence. The official party policy is to boycott multinational goods in protest against the Iraq war. But all Pepsi bottling plants in West Bengal are running fine. No one is shutting them down.
“Kerala govt to provide legal protection to Pepsi”:http://www.keralanext.com/news/index.asp?id=10766
bq. In West Bengal, there were three Pepsi units and two Coca-Cola units. CPI-M was boycotting the products of these companies in the state while allowing the companies in West Bengal, he said, adding CPI-M’s “attitude was against the development of the state.”
The comrades in Bengal are currently “busy killing people”:https://varnam.org/archives/000097.html. So time cannot be wasted on implementing stupid official policies.
Book Review: Gem in the Lotus
“This book by Abraham Eraly”:http://penguinbooksindia.com/Books/BookDetail.asp?ID=2951 starts from pre-historic times (when India was attached to Africa) to the end of the Mauryan Empire till the reign of the Asoka (made famous by a really bad movie by Santosh Sivan). In the process Eraly covers the Indus Valley Civilization, the Vedic Culture, the rise of philosophical thought in the Upanishads, and then the rise of Jainism, Buddhism, finally resulting in Appendix A.
Eraly has taken lot of effort to give us a real feeling of life of normal people during various periods of time. So you have an idea of the food and housing of people during Vedic Times to how things were for a Buddhist Monk living in the Sangha.
This book is an easy reading. Each chapter is divided into small sections each covering a concept. For example, one of the sections talks about about various practices in the society. It seems in the Vedic period people slept with whomever they liked. Even women had this freedom. During the marriage ceremony, the priest would ask the woman to name her lovers or atleast indicate the number. Once she confessed it was no longer a sin.
Continue reading “Book Review: Gem in the Lotus”
Buddha's Bones
“Buddha’s bones on display to public”:http://www.sulekha.com/redirectnh.asp?cid=309383
bq. The bones were found during the 1958-1962 excavation by noted archaeologist AS Altekar of a Buddhist monastery at Vaishaligarh, 35 kilometres from Patna, capital of the Bihar state. “The bones of Lord Buddha were found in a casket made of a stone along with a gold plate, zinc coin and glass beads,” Ms Aggrawal said. The bones have been authenticated by archaeologists.
Did not know that they had discovered Buddha’s bones.