CONCLUSIVE PROOF!

Is it a rule of evidence as per the EVIDENCE ACT of India that when the Matriculation Mark sheet of a person shows a particular date as the date of birth , the court is bound to accept that date as the DATE OF BIRTH OF THAT INDIVIDUAL? Surely NOT. Section 4 of  The Evidence Act 1872 says thus

“Conclusive proof”—When one fact is declared by this Act to be conclusive proof of another, the Court shall, on proof of the one fact, regard the other as proved, and shall not allow evidence to be given for the purpose of disproving it.

The Evidence Act of 1872 gives 2 instances wherein a FACT would be CONCLUSIVE enough to prove another FACT, they are in Sections 112 & 113 regarding the paternity of a child and the other regarding the status of a territory ceded before a particular date to a Princely state etc., by the British Government through a Notification. Except for these 2 instances the EVIDENCE ACT 1872 does not PRESCRIBE instances of CONCLUSIVE PROOF.

The recent controversy regarding the real age of the Chief of Army Staff has generated quite a lot of heat, where the CoAS has even gone to the extent of stating that it was NOT A QUESTION OF TENURE BUT A QUESTION OF HONOUR!

Let us get to the fundamentals. the only instance that a human being cannot remember is his OWN BIRTH, therefore the record in respect of that event has to be recorded or remembered by another person, failing which it is impossible to say anything with certainty. Therefore, when the CoAS  emphasizes that his date of birth is 1951 and not 1950, he is obviously relying on a RECORD.

There are certain issues where, however credible the record might be, had it been scrutinized and if found to have been ERRONEOUS, it is nothing but grace to accept it and move on in life. Take for example the following case where, if the matriculation certificate of a girl shows that she is 16 years of age, whereas her parents had increased her age for accommodating her in that Academic Year of her joining school and if she had not attained 16 years on the date when, unfortunately she was seduced by a man into having carnal relationship, would the ACCUSED’s plea that her DoB in her Matriculation Certificate was showing her age to be above 16 years, be a sufficient reason for the court to acquit the Rapist on the grounds that the date of birth mentioned in the Matriculation Cert showed as above 16 years? NAY, NAY, NAY. If the parents of the girl were to produce a Birth Certificate and able to prove, that the victim was less than 16 years, the courts would have no option but to convict the man of Rape. PERIOD.

In the case of CoAS, he has reached the highest post in the Army and for any reason, if the Government during its due diligence on him stumbled upon something and consequently has in its possession a document to prove that the CoAS was born in1950, the Matriculation Cert would be no CONCLUSIVE PROOF of his birth in 1951, which would prevent the Government from citing that as proof to the court. No doubt, in the normal circumstances. the MATRICULATION CERT would be a good proof, but that could be upturned by a better proof and that would be for the courts to decide.

Any opinion given by a retired Chief Justice of India would and should carry a lot of weight, especially, when four retired CJIs have given similar opinion, but those OPINIONS could never match THE JUDICIAL PRONOUNCEMENTS OF A SITTING JUSTICE OF THE SUPREME COURT OF INDIA, for the simple reason, that the Constitution of India sanctifies a sitting Justice’ judicial opinion and clothes it with precedential value.

If the Supreme Court of India were to find the proof adduced by the Government to be better, the General may have to accept his new date of birth for all practical purposes, there is no question of honour in this, after all even when his DoB was furnished to the school authorities, he could not have given the details out of his MEMORY or with AN INTENTION TO ENJOY A YEAR MORE IN SERVICE. The general should be graceful enough to let the Courts decide and accept the verdict as a mere detection of a FACT or SUSTAINING OF A FACT which was called into question, for which he was not responsible except for BELIEVING THAT THAT WAS HIS DoB.

It seems to me that he is taking advantage of the Government adopted principle, in his case, OF GIVING HIM THE BENEFIT OF DOUBT on the reasoning that the General might not be involved in the matter of getting his DoB entered; and NOT interested in DISCOVERING or ARRIVING AT A CERTAINTY OF HIS DoB, but TOO WILLING TO BELIEVE that 1951 WAS HIS YEAR OF BIRTH!!!

GOD BLESS INDIA.

“NANBAN” – TAMIL REMAKE OF “THREE IDIOTS”

PONGAL release of the Tamil movie  NANBAN, meaning ‘friend’ in Tamil, is the official  Tamil re-make of THREE IDIOTS in Hindi and the basic story lifted from the book ‘FIVE POINT SOMEONE‘, by Chetan Bhaghat.

I watched the movie this evening in Prarthana open air theatre on the East Coast Road at Chennai. To put it succinctly, the movie was FLAT & has nothing Tamil about it. It was like watching the DISCOVERY TV Channel in Tamil, the content had nothing reflecting Tamil culture with dialogues in chaste translated Tamil. It was FLAT. I think the initial hype is likely to wear out real fast and i am sure, the movie is not likely to do well in small towns and villages of Tamil Nadu. The movie is an ‘engineer’ based version of the Tamil movie VASOOL RAJA (which was a remake of MUNNA BHAI M B B S). in which the lead actors were students of a Medical college.

VASOOL RAJA at least had Tamil flavour, with Kamal Haasan and Sneha rendering their respective roles with much elan, even though it was also a remake of the Hindi movie MUNNA BHAI M B B S. The quintessence of MUNNA BHAI was recaptured in true Tamil sense, especially with Kamal Haasan playing a sterling role of  the MEDICAL student, who is not doing Medicine on merit, but just to spite the  Dean/ Principal of the Medical College and also bring in his home-grown beliefs into Allopathy.

NANBAN is the same story happening in an Engineering college. The three actors seem to have striven hard to match up to their Hindi counterparts, but fall FLAT. Shankar’s touch is lacking in this movie, i wonder why he couldn’t absorb the essence of the Hindi movie and transmute it into a Tamil movie of some calibre. He appears to have lost himself in having got into the details with a view towards being faithful to the original, in the process Tamil flavour is wanting.

I hope Shankar sheds doing such movies and truly brings out the linguistic punch and the cultural flavours of Tamil. Good luck to him for his next movie.

NATIONAL PERMIT FOR PASSENGER CARS!

In Chennai, on the East Coast Road running from Chennai to Mahabalipuram and thereafter, the Motor Vehicles officials of Tamil Nadu have been on a drive to harass passenger car owners who ply premium cars  which have Pondycherry registration. The grounds for such harassment is the presumption that permanent residents of Tamil Nadu are getting their cars registered in Pndycherry, with a view towards taking advantage of  the lower rate of ROAD TAX payable!

Under the Motor Vehicles Act, the jurisdiction for collection of ROAD TAX has been vested with the respective states where the vehicles are registered. Consequently, if the vehicles are registered in Tamil Nadu, for allotment of TN number, ROAD TAX would be payable as per the rates fixed by the Tamil Nadu government and notified under the Tamil Nadu Motor Vehicle Rules. The rates of ROAD TAX varies from state to state and is the highest in the state of Karnataka, where depending on the cost of the car, the rate of Road Tax is fixed. In Tamil Nadu the rate is 10% of the invoice value of the car, whereas in Pondicherry the Road Tax is around 1% of the Invoice value of the car. The interesting part is that almost uniformly, all the states of India collect LIFE TIME TAX, which is for 15 years, assumed to be the life of the vehicle. ROAD TAX is appropriated as an ADVANCE TAX and used up by the state in that year’s budget itself, leaving no scope for refund, if any vehicle were to  meet its end before its “life” determined under the ROAD TAX.

Why do the Motor Vehicle officials target the ECR? Because, the Information Technology employees who commute using the  OMR or ECR are easy target to the threats of “seizure” of the car by the officials.  Further, no “local” backlash would not be felt if   transferable IT engineers are caught and made to pay the ROAD TAX as per Tamil Nadu rates. Further, the IT officials/ engineers are likely to pay the tax without demur. The PROBLEM WITH SUCH PAYMENT IS THAT IF THAT PERSON WERE TO GET TRANSFERRED TO ANOTHER STATE, THEN FOR NOT USING THE TAMIL NADU ROADS FOR THE REMAINDER YEARS OF THE 15 YEARS, TAX WOULD NOT BE REFUNDABLE! ABSOLUTELY ILLOGICAL. The Motor Vehicle officials while registering cases on such persons for plying other state registered cars in Tamil Nadu, insert a line saying that the OWNER OF THE CAR, CAME FORWARD ON HIS OWN VOLITION AND PAID TAMIL NADU ROAD TAX! Further, NO REBATE IS GIVEN for the Road Tax already paid in another state of INDIA.

Our CONSTITUTION, which GUARANTEES free movement of persons in India is comatosed by these RULES made by each State to garner revenue. This garnering of REVENUE becomes worse at the beginning of every year, as the budget estimates of the current year is drawing to a close, much below the projection!

ROAD TAX, thus if paid to each state, a person will end up paying for all the 28 states and 7 Union Territories. That is the only time when he will ACQUIRE A RIGHT TO PLY ON ALL THE ROADS OF OUR COUNTRY WITHOUT BEING HARASSED BY THE MOTOR VEHICLE OFFICIALS! No doubt, that no re-registration is required if the vehicle is in the same state for less than a month, but if a person is likely to commute between 2 or 3 states often, should he pay the ROAD TAX for each of the states?

It is time the PARLIAMENT makes a law and allows NATIONAL PERMITS for Passenger cars too, so that persons in transferable jobs and also persons who suffer from wanderlust could apply for it and escape from the nuisance of the state Motor Vehicle authorities. But who cares? Everyone is busy CHAMPIONING THE CAUSE OF THE “POOR”, LEAVING THE SYSTEM TO THE VAGARIES OF OUR IRRATIONAL TAX COLLECTION SYSTEMS.

PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE & MULLAIPERIYAR!

The GREATEST PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE ever discovered by the human mind, finds a place in the BIBLE at PROVERBS Chapter 26 Verse 13, which is as folllows:-

                The slothful man saith, There is a lion in the way; a lion is in the streets. 

A slothful man’s interpretation of the PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE is motivated by his own PROCLIVITY. The slothful man wants to be idle. He is IDLE not because he doesn’t have work, but he doesn’t see IMMEDIATE PROFIT in his labour. The slothful man by looking for IMMEDIATE PROFIT, has lost his WORK CULTURE. Work by itself is not paying, if WORK is to be profitable one needs a man with CAPITAL. Because, a part of the capital would turn into the WAGES for the workman’s LABOUR. It is that wages when wisely invested and utilized by the WORKMAN, over a period of time turns to CAPITAL in his own hands. But, who can wait with HOPE for so long and burn up 25 years of one’s LIFE? cries the SLUGGARD. So what does the sluggard do? CREATE FEAR PSYCHOSIS and indulge in  scare mongering that a LION IS IN THE STREETS. No need for any proof, just spread canards and unfounded theories. Can one  dignify this as  the PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE? No, NOT AT ALL.

In the MULLAIPERIAR ISSUE (mullaperiyar for my brethren from Kerala, who have a penchant for slurring over  vowels and connecting consonants – eg. MULLAI + PERIYAR becomes MULLAPERIAR the ‘ai’ is slurred and in INCOME, the N+K  becomes NG), the principle pleaded by the Lawyers representing Kerala is that as a matter of abundant cautela, since the scientific community is not in unison on the invulnerability of the Mullaiperiar dam, and as this involves the life of the Keralites, the Mullaiperiar dam is to be decommissioned and a new dam is to be constructed!

Just a few weeks back, the news papers had reported that out of the 183 countries assessed by the World Bank, India is said to rank 182 in ENFORCEMENT OF CONTRACTS. Not surprising at all, as the reasons adduced are not only specious, but the solutions offered are too BIASED in favour of Kerala.

Look at the AGREEMENT entered into between the Presidency of Madras and the Maharaja of Travancore in the late 19th century. The avowed reason for building the dam was not merely to supply water to the districts of Madurai, Ramnad etc., but also to fish in the dam and use the waters of the dam for such other purposes as desired by the Madras state. The spin-off was that the then Tampuran was able to control the inundation of a few areas of the then Travancore state. So the spin off was not mentioned as an EXPLICIT BENEFIT to Travancore state, yet the benefit aspired, and utilized by the Madras state was to be paid for as  the Lease money. Then HYDRO POWER generation also started and the spin-offs for the ENDURANCE of Tamil Nadu had started accruing. In concession to the idle Keralites, payments was made as license fee for such generation and also the fishing rights were surrendered- all after DEMOCRACY HAD SET IN, IN KERALA after Independence. Now the benefits for Tamil Nadu is much more than the benefits which is accruing to Kerala. The land rates have sky rocketed and the tourism industry could do well with space around the periphery of Mullaiperiar. So KERALA WANTS TO RESILE FROM THE CONTRACT. AND IN KEEPING WITH THEIR NATURE are making a new offer of a new dam, when the matter for determination before the Supreme Court is whether the structure would be safe at 152 feet after reinforcement of the existing structure. SIMPLE. But the boys are boys and WANT to be boys, that is disheartening.

According to an Ex PWD Minister of Tamil Nadu, Mr. Durai Murugan, the Government of Kerala DID NOT GIVE ELECTRICITY CONNECTION TO THE PWD SITE OFFICE at MULLAIPERIAR! Would an Ex- Minister lie on the face of records? Nay. Bot the present CM of Kerala says, “If the political leadership of both the states meet, the issue would be sorted out in 5 minutes!” What a JOKE? Here is a CM who instead of honouring the Supreme Court verdict gets a contrary bill passed in the Assembly calls for a meeting!

It is time the political honchos of Kerala sit together and FIND A WAY OF HONOURING A CONTRACT ENTERED BETWEEN THEIR TAMPURAN AND THE FORMER MADRAS STATE, instead of making these SLUGGISH REMARKS, which are devoid of any sensible content or intent.

It is time Mr. Oommen Chandy issues orders to the briefing officials not to resort to PRECAUTIONARY PRINCIPLE, which is used PRIOR TO EXECUTIVE DECISION MAKING and NOT FOR RENEGING FROM CONTRACT,,WHICH HAVE BEEN IN FORCE FOR MORE THAN A CENTURY.

Truly speaking, the only solution to this problem is that we from Tamil Nadu return Agastheeswaram, Kalkulam, Vilavancode and Thovalai taluks to Kerala and get back Devikulam and Peermedu taluks from Kerala…………..MY DEAD UNCLES WOULD RISE UP FROM THEIR GRAVES AND KILL ME, if i make this suggestion seriously!

But boys stop preening to attract girls and GROW UP, some day you have to become MEN and OWN UP TO THE CONTRACTS MADE BY OUR FATHERS and FOREFATHERS too!

 

Mullaiperiyar issue!

The Chief Minister of Tamil Nadu, a few weeks back, had got published an APPEAL in the major English Dailies on the Mullaiperiyar issue. The closing remarks in the said APPEAL, like the  scorpion, had the sting.

The sting of the APPEAL says that RESORT OWNERS have, in the periphery of the catchment areas, built up resorts and ENCROACHED upon the land leased to the erstwhile MADRAS STATE. It is insinuated therein that these encroachers are putting pressure on the Government in the name of Tourism Industry to ensure that the level of water in the Mullaiperiyar dam is not increased, so that their resorts don’t get inundated.

This allegation appears to be the only verifiable FACT which has come out of all the barrage that have been flung forth and back from both the states of Tamil Nadu and Kerala. For the life of me i do not understand why the Kerala government cannot verify this and rebut it, as this is a verifiable FACT. My opinion on this is that the people of Kerala live not on FACTS, but on IDEAS perceived as FACTS, whereas Tamil Nadu, the land of 3 Nobel Laureates in sciences and a mathematical wizard in Ramanujam,  has a very scientific approach to FACTS, .

For example, when the question arose as to whether MAGARADEEPAM was man made or a divine happening, most took the side that it was a DIVINE HAPPENING. Even a trustee’s statement saying that camphor was transported in huge quantities to make the MAGARADEEPAM happen on a particular day, place and time, was disregarded and his voice of REASON was silenced on the grounds that REASON should not be allowed to destroy a BELIEF which could be deleterious to the devotees of Lord Ayyappa. The realists stated that allowing a belief to dwindle agaist “reason” may kill the Religious Tourism industry of the state of Kerala.

Kerala believes that FACTS do not make up the TRUTH but that BELIEF should be sustained even at the cost of FACTS !

Another issue is that how could a person call another person’s OPINION as IMMATURE, without laying it open to the public the PROOF OF IMMATURITY? If i claim that an underaged boy was driving a car in a public road before he was 18, i have to prove it- isn’t it? I cannot bring in allegations of IMMATURITY without showing some semblance of proof , yet one malayali politician calls another Tamil politician as IMMATURE and the Tamil politician concedes and begs pardon!

LIFE doesn’t mean ‘existing comfort’ and therefore allow things to remain the way they are found. One should rise to the occasion and deal with issues like a MAN. No doubt, if the dam were to break much life and property would be at stake, but on the other side if water is not raised to a certain level the farmers in Ramnad district of Tamil Nadu may lose even the single crop that they cultivate per year. So a balanced approach is required. In this after all the years, the cultivable land in Tamil Nadu also must have increased, thereby requirement of water going up. This, the then TAMPURAN must have quantified in terms of tmc ft per year instead of giving the whole area to the then Madras State. I personally think that this issue is nothing but the FEMININE RESENTMENT of the matrilineal minds of the Tampuran worshippers who are unable to digest that there is a residual 870 odd years before the CONTRACT expires! So, they are busy inventing DOOMS DAY predictions and creating a FEAR PSYCHOSIS, to avoid facing facts squarely.

I personally believe that the only good thing that happened to Kerala was C P Ramasami Iyer, who not only brought industrialization but also a social change to partially dismantle the “caste based lunatic asylum” (courtesy: Swami Vivekananda) that Kerala was. Now the matrilineal boys are even taking credit for having offered Vice Chancellorship to Einstein ( which was again another CP’s effort).

The difference between a MAN and a boy is that a MAN is NOT AFRAID OF FACING FACTS OWNING UP AND DOING SOMETHING POSITIVE FROM A SCRATCH, whereas BOYS love to deflect, sublimate and look for reasons which are not fact based. The BOYS want a new dam- why? Simple, they LOVE STRATEGIES and not SUSTAINED HARD WORK! The boys want to spend their money on the new DAM and then enter into FRESH AGREEMENT with the Tamil Nadu government and make the MULLAIPERIAR (MULLAPERIYAR for the Boys!) a source of income! When the Mullaiperiyar dam was built, the then Tampuran, Visakham Tirunal (the boys were so enamoured of astrology that they named their Tampurans after the names of the stars under which the eldest nephew of the previous king was born!) begged the British to build a MULLAIPERIYAR dam so that the  flood waters in the catchment areas do not destroy their land and took the lease money for the submerged land. Now that the benefits are obvious, the boys want a LION’S SHARE and do not want the hard working Tamilians, who have maintained the structure for over a century to enjoy the fruits of it. The boys love their GOOD LIFE – they want to fleece tourists in the name of providing CURATIVE MASSAGES (in fact this is nothing but giving rest to the body, which the patient badly needs and the boys practise day in and day out – DOING NOTHING!), SPIRITUAL SOLUTIONS (mantras, tantras and all other supernatural esoteric bullshitting!) and finally PILLOW STORIES (these are “strategies’ shared between spouses, as if others do not figure out what is possible in a given set of circumstances through STRUCTURAL THINKING). GROW UP BOYS, GROW UP! GET REAL.

Let us get to VERIFIABLE FACTS. The only VERIFIABLE FACT is whether the leased lands are  UN-ENCROACHED. If not, let us clear all the encroachments and then start looking from where the VOICES of DOOMS DAYERS emanate from!

INDIANS SLIME OUT OF CONTRACTS!

In the latest study from World Bank “Ease of Doing Business in India 2011” India is ranked as 134 out of 183 countries. Table 3 summarizes India’s ranking in “Doing Business” for key indicators. Though India has been ranked fairly for two indicators namely “ Getting Credit” and “ Protecting Investors”, it has secured embarrassingly in “Enforcing Contracts” in which it has been ranked 182 out of 183 countries and “Dealing with Construction Permits” as 177 out of 183 countries. According to the details in “Enforcing Contracts” India takes almost 1420 days and involves 40% cost of claim which is way above the OECD countries that takes just 518 days and 19% cost of claim.

Nowhere is India ranked this low by the WORLD BANK report except for ENFORCING CONTRACTS. Why is this so? The reason is neither hard to find nor is it complicated. The reason is EACH INDIAN’S UNDERSTANDING OF SOCIALISM AND THE EFFECTS OF SUCH UNDERSTANDING. What does SOCIALISM mean? It had been inserted in the Preamble to the Constitution of India along with “Secularism”. Secularism could be given a clear definition- that the state shall not discriminate nor appropriate any taxes and allot the same for any particular religion. But “SOCIALISM” is undefinable and carries a meaning dependent on the facts of each case, therefore no cogent PRINCIPLE can emerge. It is this AMORPHOUS philosophy which had been included in our constitution without defining the parameters of its operation.

This idea of SOCIALISM is enshrined in Article 39 (c) of the Constitution of India under the DIRECTIVE PRINCIPLES of STATE POLICY:-

39. The State shall, in particular, direct its policy
towards securing—

(c) that the operation of the economic system does
not result in the concentration of wealth and means
of production to the common detriment;

So in effect, the State shall ensure that even legitimate gains under a Contract shall not go to the beneficiary of the Contract. Secondly, the party who wants to resile from the contract files a suit in a civil court and by the time the Decree is passed, even if the verdict were to favour the defendant, the monies due would be received by the Defendant’s great grandson! By the time, INFLATION at the rate of 6% per annum would have eaten up the monies due, leaving merely the chaff for the great grandson. Incase the defendant is the state, there is every likelihood that retrospective laws could be enacted to ensure that the state appropriates the amount.

Here is an excerpt from an article which appeared in THE OUTLOOK dated 21/02/2005 by one paromita shastri (http://www.outlookindia.com/printarticle.aspx?226537)

For some, it was as if the Ides of March had arrived a month early. On January 25, the government passed an ordinance amending the Central Excise Act to wipe out the Rs 803 crore excise relief awarded to ITC by the Supreme Court last September. Instead of recovering Rs 350 crore from the government which lost a 17-year-long dispute, ITC will now have to fork out an extra Rs 450 crore by end-February.

As expected, ITC went into a shiver and a huddle.

Why pay Rs 720 crore more for only 4 crore EPF subscribers? What about 93% of the labour?

Industry was outraged and shocked. Overseas investors dropped their jaws. Then, on February 3, the government announced a revert to the old Employees’ Provident Fund payout rate of 9.5 per cent, upping the reduced 8.5 per cent interim rate declared last August. Both the labour ministry and the EPF organisation are now in a state of shock, wondering how to say yes to a decision that will cause a deficit of Rs 927 crore and how to bridge that gap without any government support!

So, here we have a clear case of the State not submitting itself to a judgement and using its powers to evade repayment! So this is the inherent SOCIALISM which is prevalent in out country. But we do not care. We as a nation keep our word only as long as it is “convenient” for us. So The Indian Contract Act 1872 has all the provisions in LETTERS but the SPIRIT takes the colour of the parties involved. After 17 years and look at the plight of a giant like ITC, where do ordinary mortals stand?

This morning in the TIMES of India there was a piece of unsolicited advice given by the pompous and ineffectual Mikhail Gorbachev to PUTIN: QUIT LIKE ME! That is SOCIALISM from the motherland of SOCIALISM which became the flavour of India and contaminated the seventies. The reasoning given by Mikhail Gorbachev is that Putin should feel happy that he had served 2 terms as president and once as the Prime Minister. What reasoning is that? Putin did not, like Gorbachev, PRESIDE OVER THE FALL AND DISINTEGRATION OF A GREAT COUNTRY LIKE USSR with his PERESTROIKA and GLASNOST! So, Gorbachev says, YOU HAVE HAD ENOUGH rather MORE THAN ME! SO STOP.

I hope Putin, the JUDO MASTER doesn’t quit sheepishly like Gorbachev and hope Putin carries his fight to the hustings, in a true democratic fashion.

SOCIALISM is striving for PROCRUSTEAN EQUALITY,  which kills competition and the free enterprising spirit of man. The state should strive to collect taxes and use them properly for the upliftment of the poor and not stymie the spirit of the enterprising and positively oriented individuals.

Psalm 15:4 says, He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.

It means that a person should not resile from a contract merely because the contract has turned out to be disadvantageous. That OUGHT TO BE the principle. In India we have become champions of the poor and have succeeded in keeping a majority of the population that way, so that we could REMAIN CHAMPIONS. The POOR are our CAUSE, and we shall in no way let them become RICH and lose our CAUSE!!

LET US KEEP OUR WORD and when the Judiciary settles a dispute favouring the rich let us not change the rules in the name of supporting the poor or the state. In effect, the epicentre of we as a people not keeping our contracts or not enforcing our contracts is the malady of SOCIALISM which has become the bedrock of our consciousness.

Hope India would improve its position in the next review by the WORLD BANK.

Christopher Hitchens & Gandhi.

CHRISTOPHER HITCHENS, who recently passed away due to Cancer being the IMMEDIATE CAUSE and the resentment of many, he had accumulated over a long period, being the latent cause, dwelt on the motives of the most revered and the pious and excoriated them by laying open a point of view quite alien to Indian minds. In an essay title THE REAL MAHATMA GANDHI, he brings to focus the Mahatma’s views on how to handle Hitler with SATYAGRAHA and the letter the Mahatma wrote to Hitler:

And it is not disputable that Gandhi himself regarded his own versions of ahimsa and satyagraha as universally applicable. By 1939, he was announcing that, if adopted by “a single Jew standing up and refusing to bow to Hitler’s decrees,” such methods might suffice to “melt Hitler’s heart.” This may read like mere foolishness, but a personal letter to the Führer in the same year began with the words My friend and went on, ingratiatingly, to ask: “Will you listen to the appeal of one who has deliberately shunned the method of war not without considerable success?” Apart from its conceit, this would appear to be suggesting that Hitler, too, might hope to get more of what he wanted by adopting a more herbivorous approach.

PASSIVE RESISTANCE is a tool which was employed by Jesus against the Roman Empire and the Jewish Spiritual Authorities like Annas and Caiaphas.

By the way, the name ANNA seems to be associated with movements which were challenged or overthrown, for example ANNAS, the Chief Priest of the Jewish religion was responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus and thereby brought the belief of Resurrection of Jesus into the spiritual plate of the religious minded and thus brought CHRISTIANITY to fruition. There was this C.N ANNADURAI, endearingly called ANNA, from the state of MADRAS, who challenged the Congress party in the then Madras state, and till date the Congress party has been piggy backing on the Dravidian parties in Tamil Nadu (part of erstwhile Madras State) for electoral gains in Tamil Nadu. Finally we have our ANNA HAZARE, who is creating quite a furore in the political firmament strutting and issuing diktats to the PARLIAMENT and setting the agenda for the MPs in India. So we should shed all the Shakespearen query of WHAT IS IN A NAME? and realize that there are certain names which crop up from time to time and disturb the quiet of the community.

Beside the choice of words used by Christopher Hitchens, it is the skepticism he entertained in the UNIVERSAL BELIEF SYSTEMS of  LEADERS which he poignantly presented,which  won him his following. For example, the Mahatma fought against a NATION OF SHOPKEEPERS, whereas the Jews were pitted against a MILITARY IDEALOGUE. The weapons used by each was different. HITLER, besides showing that the Treaty of Versailles was preposterously biased against Germany was able to present the Jews of Germany to be the rats he pulled out and presented as the root cause of all evil in Germany. So when the Mahatma’s prescription did not tally with his epistle to Hitler, Hitchens portrays the Mahatma as an inconsistent groveling appeaser.

But to my mind Hitchens missed the point. The greatness of the INDIAN MIND is that HOLD ON TO YOUR PHILOSOPHY, BUT WHEN YOU MEET A MAD MAN SLOW HIM DOWN FIRST AND THEN INDOCTRINATE HIM. The attempt by the Mahatma was merely to start an INTROSPECTION in the MILITARY IDEALOGUE. It worked with the British, primarily because the British were in India for the CREAM and the Mahatma gradually reduced the cream by telling the Indians, what they like to do most- BE IDLE. It worked, it became UNVIABLE for the British to sustain their shop activities in India. The Mahatma upset their apple cart and prescribed PASSIVE RESISTANCE as a PANACEA for all oppression.

But the icing on the cake is the expression HERBIVOROUS APPROACH for PASSIVE RESISTANCE! I am reminded of a quotation from Dr. Samuel Johnson:

If a madman were to come into this room with a stick in his hand, no doubt we should pity the state of his mind; but our primary consideration would be to take care of ourselves. We should knock him down first, and pity him afterwards.

Like the prescription of Johnson, the Mahatma was merely applying the principle of self protection first, as he couldn’t have been sure if the INA with Netaji would have been on the winning side. It could have been a subtle hint to Hitler that in the event of Hitler winning, the Mahatma would not use ANY OTHER FORCE!!

A herbivorous approach? May be…………we gotta arrive at our own conclusions.

 

 

OATH OF OFFICE IN THE NAME OF ALLAH.

The Supreme Court of India is reported to have dismissed the petition wherein the petitioner had prayed for a declaration that the oath of office taken by the Governor in the name of ALLAH, was to be declared as void. This was an appeal taken by the petitioner from the High Court of Jharkhand. The Supreme Court of India had instead declared the appeal to be MISCHIEVOUS and DIVISIVE.

When the newspapers report such news items- especially the ones relating to sensitive issues like religion- the media should clearly state the JUDICIAL REASONING forwarded by the petitioner and the JUDICIAL REASONING given by the Justices so that such issues are  settled forever. Instead the news item in today’s TIMES OF INDIA (13/12/2011) merely states that the petition was dismissed as MISCHIEVOUS & DIVISIVE. No doubt, if one goes for the intention of the petitioner, such a MOTIVE is ascribable. But since the Supreme Court of India is the last resort for our declarations, the media should give the kernel of the judgement and not merely carry the interconnected opinion expressed by the Justices in the case.

A few weeks back my Muslim friend said that his God’s name was ALLAH. I said that ALLAH meant GOD in Arabic and it was also proven from internet resources that the Christians inhabiting the Gulf (predominantly Islamic population) call their God also as ALLAH. Please refer to WIKIPEDIA:-

Allah (English pronunciation: /ˈælə/ or /ˈɑːlə/; Arabic: الله‎ Allāh, IPA: [ʔɑlˈlɑː] ( listen), [ʔalˤˈlˤɑː]) is a word for God used in the context of Islam.^[1] In Arabic, the word means simply “God”.^[2][3][4] It is used primarily by Muslims and Bahá’ís, and often, albeit not exclusively, used by Arabic-speaking Eastern Catholic Christians, Maltese Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox Christians, Mizrahi Jews and Sikhs.^[5][6][7] It is related to ʼĔlāhā in Aramaic.

So ALLAH means GOD in Arabic. So some Christians in the Arabic speaking areas have not allowed the name ALLAH to be appropriated by Muslims alone to refer to their idea of God.

Coming back to the Constitution of India, the Schedule prescribes the forms for Oath taking by Constitutional functionaries and the oath is taken in the name of God or through solemn affirmation. So when the Governor of Jharkhand takes the oth in the name of ALLAH, he has merely used the Arabic word for God. In fact one should be appreciative of the Governor having taken the oath in the name of ALLAH, in whom he believes, than in the generic English term GOD or the Hindi term PARAMESHWAR.  If the media had reported the kernel of the judgement and given the JUDICIAL REASONING behind the dismissal of the Appeal, the readers would have stood edified.

The news item further states that the names of INCARNATIONS could be used- i do not understand that. For example if a person were to use the name Jesus or Krishna or Rama would that be okay? I suppose NOT. The Constitution of India envisages the generic name of GOD (of course in any language) than a specific incarnation. Maybe a Thamizhan might take the oath in the name of KADAVUL or AANDAVAN, which are the generic names of God in Thamizh. Why make a fuss if GOD IS ONE? But as readers of NEWS PAPERS we should prefer the Judicial reasoning that went into that DECISION MAKING.

ALLAH HU AKBAR. GOD IS TRULY GREAT.

Pope Joan!

Not merely thru habit, but by conviction i am a Protestant. Yet this morning, the Female pastoress in my church brought to reference the incidence of a FEMALE POPE. She said that during the middle ages there was a female Pope; that she fell down from her horse while giving birth; that she was killed by the fanatics who discovered that she was a female disguised as a male and that her name was JOAN.

Nice, very nice. Extremely edifying on a Sunday morning. For the life of me i can’t understand why these female priests want positions of power and pelf to be allocated to them- merely because they belong to that gender! This doesn’t seem to me as GENDER EQUALITY, but GENDER SOCIALISM!

I don’t think i have to  be apologetic merely because i am spewing venom on these half-baked agendas! I am not persuaded by Paul’s exhortations thru his epistles wherein he says that HE GIVES NO WOMAN THE AUTHORITY TO TALK IN THE CHURCH. For me Paul was a pharisee first and then he became a Christian Pharisee, and got included “ritualism” into Christianity, to advance his own prospects with the Jews. Further, who is he to give or not to give the AUTHORITY for women to talk? Merely because he was born ahead of us all, and proximate in time with Jesus and claimed direct conversion by Jesus, still he and his preachings cannot be the repository of all Christian “rules”. If women contribute  and build systems, then they have all the right to head, preach, teach, heal and do everything that a male is allowed to do.

Now the female Pastoress in my Church says: WOMEN FACE A LOT OF TROUBLES AND DO NOT GET RECOGNIZED. True, but this is not only true to women, but also to men and anything for that matter, as Thomas Gray had said

Full many a gem of purest ray serene
The dark unfathom’d caves of ocean bear:
Full many a flower is born to blush unseen,
And waste its sweetness on the desert air.

We can complain about the gems which have not been laid open for human appreciation or about the flower which has been lost in the desert, but EVERYTHING has its own time. Some deeds get recognized some don’t, this doesn’t mean one should promote one gender over the other.

Duty of man and all systems is to create systems which will recognize  effort, contribution, initiative, courage shown by humans irrespective of the gender to which the person belongs. Bringing in a Female Pope named Joan, who sustained her Papacy through a lie (stating that she was a male), having sex when CELIBACY was the rule of the Roman Catholic Church seems an uneven agenda merely to promote a world ruled by females. 

Poor pastoress, she wants to make a beehive out of this society. Why don’t they simply read the Bible and understand that there have been Deborahs, Jezebels, Ruths, Esthers, Bathshebas, Rahabs and a whole host of prominent women and that Jesus himself was born in the line of Rahab, Ruth, whose forebear was Judah who  was the father to the children born to his daughter-in-law TAMAR? and that ALL  these women, including Tamar, came to the limelight only through effort? The society is NOT GOING TO EVER GIVE WOMEN ALL THE ROYAL JELLY & HONEY and keep the drones at bay! Life is a struggle, at best we could avoid negative discrimination but to  recommend positive discrimination on the basis of gender seems preposterous for me. Otherwise our society would turn itself into an effeminate culture unable to withstand the underlying Bacchanalian forces. I’d like to end this rant with a wise saying by Andre Gide:

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.”

It fits for WOMEN TOO!

 

 

DAVID, A SHEPHERD?

Christians in their eagerness to believe in MIRACLES make even RESULTS of  EFFORTS, which have fructified thru HOPE, to be classified as MIRACLES.

A good example is the story of KING DAVID, who was the second King of Israel and finds mention in the books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles of THE BIBLE.

For those not familiar with the story of David, let me recount a brief life story of one of the greatest symbols of Jewish History. His father’s name was Jesse and he had 7 brothers, who were all elder to him. Being the last and and ignored by his father Jesse, DAVID was rather consigned to tending to the few sheep which Jesse had. He was from the tribe of Judah.

David’s sculpture by Michelangelo leaning on one leg with a curled up fingers in the nude oozes with manliness. But his left hand is bent at the elbow with a sling slapped on his left shoulder. For me that sling is the SYMBOL of his skill, which eventually led him to strike GOLIATH and save the Israelites from the Philistines. Has it ever occurred to anyone why DAVID should keep the sling on his LEFT HAND  and SHOULDER? I have a good reason why Michelangelo  made David hold his sling on his left hand – IT SHOWS THAT SKILL OF THE HIGHEST ORDER, SHOULD BE MADE TO SERVE LIFE AND BEAUTY.

Getting back to our theme- David was not a mere shepherd as thought of by some Christians. It was the job assigned by his father and his elder brothers while he was still young. But what did he do while he was ASSIGNED THE ROLE OF A SHEPHERD? He did not fritter away his time chasing shepherdesses and whiling away his time. He developed 2 skills. One was his ability to sling accurately with force and the other was to play the harp. He built up skills during his free time. That was what made God choose him. God can give talents but He sure is not going to multiply it for you. God gave David the talent to be a lyricist (psalmist), a warrior and a musician, but it was left to him to identify what he had received and hone those skills. David sure did that.

DAVID did not have the mentality of a shepherd, he was filled with imagination. His brothers Eliab, Shamma and others scold him saying that he had left the few sheep their father had in the wilderness and had come to watch the war games initiated by GOLIATH. THEY WERE WRONG- DAVID DID NOT COME  TO WATCH THE WAR GAMES, DAVID HAD COME TO GO STRAIGHT INTO THE PALACE AND SHARE THE MATRIMONIAL BLISS AND BED WITH MEHRAB, THE DAUGHTER OF KING SAUL. David’s brothers were curry favouring ABNER, the Chief of the army of King Saul, but our David went straight for the jugular- DAVID wanted MEHRAB and become the son-in-law of the King. David did not go to Abmer to display his skills, he found a way to Saul.

Do you think King Saul would have let David take on Goliath without testing his skills as a slinger? NO WAY. King Saul would have given him 20 stones and put a condition that David had to strike the target set by him all the 20 times without fail. Saul was no idiot to let an untested man up in a battle, where King Saul and his people’s liberty were at stake. I am sure, rather dead sure, that Saul would have tested him thoroughly before sending DAVID up as the challenger to the declarer GOLIATH.The stakes were too hig to have been otherwise.

The rest is history. DAVID was no shepherd, he was a super skilled slinger, an accomplished musician and a great charmer of women- more than anything else, he was an ACCOMPLISHER. A FINISHER OF THE TASK UNDERTAKEN.

After him killing GOLIATH, King Saul does not give Mehrab, he doesn’t sulk, but carries on his mission to get to the palace. Gets foreskins and becomes the husband to Michal and makes it to the palace. That is where the action is. His brothers were still polishing the shoes of Abner, but our David had risen to the level of being perceived as a threat to the kingship of Saul. David befriends Jonathan and gets info on the palace intrigues even when he is forced out. David escapes with the help of Michal. So DAVID was no shepherd, he was relentlessly on his path to KINGSHIP. Saul calls his son Jonathan, ” THOU SON OF A PERVERSE WOMAN, DON’T YOU KNOW THAT YOU ARE HELPING DAVID AT THE COST OF YOUR THRONE?” Was David a shepherd? NAY.

Archibald Primrose Rosebery is reputed to have said that he had three aims in life: to win the Derby, to marry an heiress, and to become Prime Minister. He managed all three. There are certain things which cannot be “GOT”, one has to be “PLACED”  to enjoy the benefits there. Like Archibald Rosebery, DAVID knew that early. HE worked hard to become a KING and even harder to stay that way. That is no shepherd trait.

Read Psalm 144:1

Blessed be the LORD my strength which teacheth my hands to war, and my fingers to fight:

Se the word “TEACHETH”, God can but MAN has to LEARN, that is man’s duty. David learnt the skills and that is what helped him to get there.

Dear Christians, do not believe that God is going to work on the talents given to you, work on it. Prayer is a defence, prayer is a petition but the “will” is God’s- in the meanwhile work on your SKILLS. Miracles do happen in stages also. Get that straight.

There were instances when Jesus told the ones who wanted to be healed “I will, be healed”, but there is also an  instance when he made clay out of his spittle and told the man to go and wash in the pool of Siloam. We do not know what is HIS will, in the meanwhile LET US HONE OUR SKILLS. May be we are lucky like Bartimaeus or otherwise, but we cannot keep waiting for MIRACLES to happen suddenly. MIRACLES could be EVOLUTIONARY too in some cases!

DAVID WAS AN EVOLUTIONARY MIRACLE!