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Wah! Taj
Chacha, did you hear what I said? What did you say Sangeet Som beta? I said that Shah Jahan was a traitor and an enemy of Hindus who wanted to wipe them out and that the Taj Mahal is a blot on Indian culture. Shabaash! Kya baat hai! Teri tho jai ho! But tell me,…
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Where are we headed?
You may have seen the famous documentary, Four Horsemen. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5fbvquHSPJU In this film is this quote: When plunder becomes a way of life for a group of people living together in society, they create for themselves in the course of time, a legal system that authorizes it and a moral code that glorifies it. ~…
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Why did Hyderabad die?
The Hyderabad Public School where I studied. A symbol of the Nizam of Hyderabad This is not a history but an attempt to understand what probably happened in those last years that led to the demise of Hyderabad as an independent country and its annexation by the newly independent India. It is speculation; perhaps informed…
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Simple pleasures – Lifelong memories
Uncle Rama at his desk – River Kadam in full flow Time, late 60’s to middle 70’s. I used to spend all my school vacations and later, whatever time I had free from college with Uncle Rama in Sethpalli. Sethpalli is a small village about two kilometers from the bank of the Kadam River, with…
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My Thoughts
My deepest fear is that I will simply die one day Crying for what might have been The earth will be free of carrying my burden And there will be no trace of my passing What use such a life? That one lives and one dies Yet there is nothing to show that either happened!…
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Which way to go?
There is a beautiful teaching story from Korea of a Zen master and his disciple. The master took him to the bank of a stream that flowed between rocks. There he made a small paper boat and floated it on the water. He told his disciple to follow the boat and report back to him…
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Give a dog a bad name…
I want to begin with a brief thumbnail view of global geopolitics since the collapse of the Soviet Union under President Gorbachev. This was an event that was widely applauded and rejoiced, including by Muslims worldwide. Little did they realize what it would lead to. For a military state, an economy based on war, an…
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Become a villager
I submit to you that we need to see the term, ‘Global village’, not as a statement of what we are but of what we need to become. We must become a ‘Global village’, not because of technology but because of caring and compassion and mutual appreciation and respect. Being a villager is not about…
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Arsonist or Fire Fighter
This world is a coin. It has two faces. Both joined together but both different; often the opposite of one another. I am speaking about social media, the coin which on one side has convenience, communication and companionship and on the other, lies, ignorance and hatred. Both made possible by technology which like all technology…
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We are living beings, not binary code
The big challenge we have today is to teach our children these lessons and help them to connect to the earth, to its inhabitants and to each other. We are living beings, not binary code. The earth is not at our mercy but waits and watches to see what we do. Then it will do…