Antara Echoes

Nothing these days is spared of abuse and religion is no exception. I recently saw and read about this new " Golden Temple " of the south being built on a massive scale of 300 crore budget and by spending about 1500 kilos of gold. Dedicated to Goddess Narayani, this temple is the work of Sri Narayani Peetam headed by a 31-year-old godman who calls himself Narayani "Amma". Who is this Amma? More on him here Messages by ‘Amma’ have been laid out along the path to the temple with messages from the Gita, Bible and Quran. “In this quagmire of materialism, Sripuram rises as an inspiration to man to find the divinity within him,” adds the brochure. Pardon me! What? Not satisfied with having reduced religion & spirituality to the level of street chicanery they now want to turn it into a money spinner also. What is more laughable is that on the same page where the news of the golden temple appeared, there is another article that says, " Help us build eight new IITs...

After a heavy festive lunch of Aviyal, kaalan, olan, paayasam etc can't type anymore than simple wishes. Happy Onam one and all..

Its the annual dance festival at ISKCON from August 17 to 21st and this year it is themed to be - ‘Sri Krishna Shringar’, featuring the five classical dance forms of India that include Kathak, Odissi, Kuchipudi, Mohiniattam and Bharatnatyam. Having been a student of classical Bharatanatyam for many long years I would'nt have missed this treat for anything. The festival this year boasts of having legendary artists of the fame of Bharati Shivaji and her troupe from Centre for Mohiniattam; Pandit Birju Maharaj and his dance school Kalashram; Vempatti Chinna Satyam's Kuchipudi Art Academy; Priyadarshini Govind and Madhavi Mudgal and her troupe from Gandharva Mahavidyalaya. Among the fortunate to attend the Kathak recital by Pandit Birju Maharaj's troupe, it was an evening to cherish. While I had a secret hope that the legendary maestro himself might give us a performance, it was not to be. But nevertheless he gave such an awe-inspiring introductory speech that it more than mad...

The passing of each birthday seems to me like someone's nailing an "Adulthood" signage in front of me. Now one is unable to easily get away with errant behaviours, careless attitudes and bizzare interests. However today, with people waiting longer to marry, stay in school longer, gleefully still depend on parents, divorce early and become a "young single" again, I feel I have just entered a period of prolonged adolescence. An adolescence with more emphasis on being responsible, acheiving a new maturity level and also what signals a whole lot of self-imposed and societal expectations. :( But life's been one fantastic ride till now and when I look back, I like what I see (except, wish I could have my dad back). And its quite fascinating to think what the future might hold... (More yummier cakes in the least..) Here is a message I received from one of my friends...and needless to say I loved it! This will be your year. This will be your year... This will be the...

Dark clouds looming in the horizon.... Rainwashed roads...

Let me tell you a very interesting albeit true story. There is large family whose one son is not very happy with the life they lead and wants to earn big bucks. So he goes and finds a job with a rich family who treat him like dirt but our guy is happy making his moolah. One day the rich family accuses him of a heinous crime and almost persecute him. The guy's family back home stands by him and goes all out to get him freed. After raising a lot of dust they manage to free him and get him back home. The father and neighbours go all out to make him feel comfortable and even go ahead and promise him a job. You think the story ends on a happy note here? No. The boy goes begging back to the rich family to adopt him since he has been proved innocent. The rich snooty family looks at him like he is some loony (which I have no doubt of) and simply throws him out. You must be thinking, "Who could ever be such a moron?" Well, we are. Atleast it looks like we are being ruled by some....