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INTERESTING FACTS: THE VEBLEN EFFECT

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    Veblen effect is an abnormal market behaviour where consumers purchase the higher-priced goods, even when, similar low-priced (but not identical) substitutes are available. It is caused either by the belief that higher price means higher quality, or by the desire for conspicuous consumption, which is to be seen as buying an expensive and prestigious item. The word ‘Veblen’ is named after its discoverer, the American economist, Thorstein Bunde Veblen (1857-1929).

    Veblen goods such as luxury cars are considered as desirable consumer products for conspicuous consumption because of their high prices. Veblen goods are generally luxury goods for which the demand for good increases, as the price increases, in apparent contradiction of the law of demand, resulting in an upward-sloping demand curve. A higher price may make a product desirable as a status symbol in the practices of conspicuous consumption and conspicuous leisure. A product may be Veblen good because it is a positional good, something that few can own.

    Positional goods are goods, valued only by how they are distributed among the population, and not by how many of them there, are available in total, as would be the case with other consumer goods. The source of greater worth of positional goods is their desirability as a status symbol, which usually results in them, greatly exceeding, the value of comparable goods.

    Thorstein Veblen first identified conspicuous consumption as a mode of status-seeking in, ‘The Theory of the Leisure Class’ (1899). A corollary of the Veblen effect says that, lowering of price decreases the demand in quantity. Itis a treatise on economics, and a detailed, social critique of conspicuous consumption as a function of social class and of consumerism, derived from the social stratification of people and the division of labour, which are social institutions of the feudal period (9th–15th century) that have continued up to the modern era.

    The theory posits that social stratification represents the inherently unequal value of different works. Certain tasks in society are more valuable than others. Qualified people who fill those positions must be rewarded more than others.

    Champagne or a Rolls-Royce car are some perfect examples of Veblen goods.

    The Veblen effect is one of a family of theoretical anomalies in the general law of demand in microeconomics. Related effects include:

– The snob effect: expresses preference for goods because they are different from those commonly preferred. In other words, for consumers who want to use exclusive products, price is quality.

– The common law of business balance: Low price of a good indicates that the producer may have compromised quality, that is, “you get what you pay for.”

– The hot-hand fallacy: Stock buyers fall prey to the fallacy that previous price increases suggest future price increases. Other rationales for buying a high-priced stock are that previous buyers who bid up the price are proof of the issue’s quality, or conversely, that an issue’s low price may be evidence of viability problems. The hot hand fallacy is therefore the psychological condition that people believe an individual is “hot” or “cold” depending on past performance, when that performance has no bearing on future outcomes. For instance, rolling a die is independent of how you rolled it in the past.

The snob effect: expresses preference for goods because they are different from those commonly preferred. In other words, for consumers who want to use exclusive products, price is quality.

The common law of business balance: Low price of a good indicates that the producer may have compromised quality, that is, “you get what you pay for.”

The hot-hand fallacy: Stock buyers fall prey to the fallacy that previous price increases suggest future price increases. Other rationales for buying a high-priced stock are that previous buyers who bid up the price are proof of the issue’s quality, or conversely, that an issue’s low price may be evidence of viability problems. The hot hand fallacy is therefore the psychological condition that people believe an individual is “hot” or “cold” depending on past performance, when that performance has no bearing on future outcomes. For instance, rolling a die is independent of how you rolled it in the past.

Sometimes, the value of a good increases as the number of buyers or users increases. This is called the bandwagon effect and it depends on the psychology of buying a product because it seems popular, or the network effect when a large number of buyers or users itself increases the value of a good. For example, as the number of people with telephones or Facebook accounts increased, the value of having a telephone or Facebook account also increased, because the user could reach more people. However, neither of these effects suggests that, at a given level of saturation, raising the price would boost demand.

Some of these effects are discussed in a 1950 article by economist Harvey Leibenstein. Counter-examples have been called the counter-Veblen effect.

The effect on demand depends on the range of other goods available, their prices, and whether they serve as substitutes for the goods in question. The effects are anomalies within demand theory, because the theory normally assumes that preferences are independent of price or the number of units being sold. They are therefore collectively referred to as interaction effects.

Interaction effects are a different kind of anomaly from that posed by Giffen goods. The Giffen goods theory is the one for which, observed quantity demanded, rises as price rises, but the effect arises without any interaction between price and preference—it results from the interplay of the income effect and the substitutions of a change in price.

By Kamlesh Tripathi

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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

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Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 8 prestigious libraries of the US that includes Harvard College Library; Harvard University Library; Library of Congress; University of Washington, Seattle; University of Minnesota, Minneapolis; Yale University, New Haven; University of Chicago; University of North Carolina, at Chapel Hill University Libraries. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in libraries and archives of Canada, Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai and Jaipuria Institute of Management, Noida, India)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi; Available for reading in Indian National Bibliography, March 2016, in the literature section, in Central Reference Library, Ministry of Culture, India, Belvedere, Kolkata-700022)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be the undying characteristics of Lucknow. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014. It is included for reading in Askews and Holts Library Services, Lancashire, U.K.)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

MIRAGE

(Published in February 2020. The book is a collection of eight short stories. It is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Notion Press)

Short stories and Articles published in Bhavan’s Journal: Reality and Perception, 15.10.19; Sending the Wrong Message, 31.5.20; Eagle versus Scholars June, 15 & 20 2020; Indica, 15.8.20; The Story of King Chitraketu, August 31 2020; Breaking Through the Chakravyuh, September 30 2020. The Questioning Spouse, October 31, 2020; Happy Days, November 15, 2020; The Karma Cycle of Paddy and Wheat, December 15,2020;

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

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Speech of Narayana Murthy

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Exuberant speech of Narayana Murthy at New York University (Stern School of Business)
Dean Cooley, faculty, staff, distinguished guests, and, most importantly, the graduating class of 2007, it is a great privilege to speak at your commencement ceremonies.
I thank Dean Cooley and Prof Marti Subrahmanyam for their kind invitation. I am exhilarated to be part of such a joyous occasion. Congratulations to you, the class of 2007, on completing an important milestone in your life journey.
After some thought, I have decided to share with you some of my life lessons. I learned these lessons in the context of my early career struggles, a life lived under the influence of sometimes unplanned events which were the crucibles that tempered my character and reshaped my future.
I would like first to share some of these key life events with you, in the hope that these may help you understand my struggles and how chance events and unplanned encounters with influential persons shaped my life and career.
Later, I will share the deeper life lessons that I have learned. My sincere hope is that this sharing will help you see your own trials and tribulations for the hidden blessings they can be.
The first event occurred when I was a graduate student in Control Theory at IIT, Kanpur, in India. At breakfast on a bright Sunday morning in 1968, I had a chance encounter with a famous computer scientist on sabbatical from a well-known US university.
He was discussing exciting new developments in the field of computer science with a large group of students and how such developments would alter our future. He was articulate, passionate and quite convincing. I was hooked. I went straight from breakfast to the library, read four or five papers he had suggested, and left the library determined to study computer science.
Friends, when I look back today at that pivotal meeting, I marvel at how one role model can alter for the better the future of a young student. This experience taught me that valuable advice can sometimes come from an unexpected source, and chance events can sometimes open new doors.
The next event that left an indelible mark on me occurred in 1974. The location: Nis, a border town between former Yugoslavia, now Serbia, and Bulgaria. I was hitchhiking from Paris back to Mysore, India, my home town.
By the time a kind driver dropped me at Nis railway station at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night, the restaurant was closed. So was the bank the next morning, and I could not eat because I had no local money. I slept on the railway platform until 8.30 pm in the night when the Sofia Express pulled in.
The only passengers in my compartment were a girl and a boy. I struck a conversation in French with the young girl. She talked about the travails of living in an iron curtain country, until we were roughly interrupted by some policemen who, I later gathered, were summoned by the young man who thought we were criticising the communist government of Bulgaria.
The girl was led away; my backpack and sleeping bag were confiscated. I was dragged along the platform into a small 8×8 foot room with a cold stone floor and a hole in one corner by way of toilet facilities. I was held in that bitterly cold room without food or water for over 72 hours.
I had lost all hope of ever seeing the outside world again, when the door opened. I was again dragged out unceremoniously, locked up in the guard’s compartment on a departing freight train and told that I would be released 20 hours later upon reaching Istanbul. The guard’s final words still ring in my ears — “You are from a friendly country called India and that is why we are letting you go!”
The journey to Istanbul was lonely, and I was starving. This long, lonely, cold journey forced me to deeply rethink my convictions about Communism. Early on a dark Thursday morning, after being hungry for 108 hours, I was purged of any last vestiges of affinity for the Left.
I concluded that entrepreneurship, resulting in large-scale job creation, was the only viable mechanism for eradicating poverty in societies.
Deep in my heart, I always thank the Bulgarian guards for transforming me from a confused Leftist into a determined, compassionate capitalist! Inevitably, this sequence of events led to the eventual founding of Infosys in 1981.
While these first two events were rather fortuitous, the next two, both concerning the Infosys journey, were more planned and profoundly influenced my career trajectory.
On a chilly Saturday morning in winter 1990, five of the seven founders of Infosys met in our small office in a leafy Bangalore suburb. The decision at hand was the possible sale of Infosys for the enticing sum of $1 million. After nine years of toil in the then business-unfriendly India, we were quite happy at the prospect of seeing at least some money.
I let my younger colleagues talk about their future plans. Discussions about the travails of our journey thus far and our future challenges went on for about four hours. I had not yet spoken a word.
Finally, it was my turn. I spoke about our journey from a small Mumbai apartment in 1981 that had been beset with many challenges, but also of how I believed we were at the darkest hour before the dawn. I then took an audacious step. If they were all bent upon selling the company, I said, I would buy out all my colleagues, though I did not have a cent in my pocket.
There was a stunned silence in the room. My colleagues wondered aloud about my foolhardiness. But I remained silent. However, after an hour of my arguments, my colleagues changed their minds to my way of thinking. I urged them that if we wanted to create a great company, we should be optimistic and confident. They have more than lived up to their promise of that day.
In the seventeen years since that day, Infosys has grown to revenues in excess of $3.0 billion, a net income of more than $800 million and a market capitalisation of more than $28 billion, 28,000 times richer than the offer of $1 million on that day.
In the process, Infosys has created more than 70,000 well-paying jobs, 2,000-plus dollar-millionaires and 20,000-plus rupee millionaires.
A final story: On a hot summer morning in 1995, a Fortune-10 corporation had sequestered all their Indian software vendors, including Infosys, in different rooms at the Taj Residency hotel in Bangalore so that the vendors could not communicate with one another. This customer’s propensity for tough negotiations was well-known. Our team was very nervous.
First of all, with revenues of only around $5 million, we were minnows compared to the customer.
Second, this customer contributed fully 25% of our revenues. The loss of this business would potentially devastate our recently-listed company.
Third, the customer’s negotiation style was very aggressive. The customer team would go from room to room, get the best terms out of each vendor and then pit one vendor against the other. This went on for several rounds. Our various arguments why a fair price — one that allowed us to invest in good people, R&D, infrastructure, technology and training — was actually in their interest failed to cut any ice with the customer.
By 5 p.m. on the last day, we had to make a decision right on the spot whether to accept the customer’s terms or to walk out.
All eyes were on me as I mulled over the decision. I closed my eyes, and reflected upon our journey until then. Through many a tough call, we had always thought about the long-term interests of Infosys. I communicated clearly to the customer team that we could not accept their terms, since it could well lead us to letting them down later. But I promised a smooth, professional transition to a vendor of customer’s choice.
This was a turning point for Infosys.
Subsequently, we created a Risk Mitigation Council which ensured that we would never again depend too much on any one client, technology, country, application area or key employee. The crisis was a blessing in disguise. Today, Infosys has a sound de-risking strategy that has stabilised its revenues and profits.
I want to share with you, next, the life lessons these events have taught me.
1. I will begin with the importance of learning from experience. It is less important, I believe, where you start. It is more important how and what you learn. If the quality of the learning is high, the development gradient is steep, and, given time, you can find yourself in a previously unattainable place. I believe the Infosys story is living proof of this.
Learning from experience, however, can be complicated. It can be much more difficult to learn from success than from failure. If we fail, we think carefully about the precise cause. Success can indiscriminately reinforce all our prior actions.
2. A second theme concerns the power of chance events. As I think across a wide variety of settings in my life, I am struck by the incredible role played by the interplay of chance events with intentional choices. While the turning points themselves are indeed often fortuitous, how we respond to them is anything but so. It is this very quality of how we respond systematically to chance events that is crucial.
3. Of course, the mindset one works with is also quite critical. As recent work by the psychologist, Carol Dweck, has shown, it matters greatly whether one believes in ability as inherent or that it can be developed. Put simply, the former view, a fixed mindset, creates a tendency to avoid challenges, to ignore useful negative feedback and leads such people to plateau early and not achieve their full potential.
The latter view, a growth mindset, leads to a tendency to embrace challenges, to learn from criticism and such people reach ever higher levels of achievement.
4. The fourth theme is a cornerstone of the Indian spiritual tradition: self-knowledge. Indeed, the highest form of knowledge, it is said, is self-knowledge. I believe this greater awareness and knowledge of oneself is what ultimately helps develop a more grounded belief in oneself, courage, determination, and, above all, humility, all qualities which enable one to wear one’s success with dignity and grace.
Based on my life experiences, I can assert that it is this belief in learning from experience, a growth mindset, the power of chance events, and self-reflection that have helped me grow to the present.
Back in the 1960s, the odds of my being in front of you today would have been zero. Yet here I stand before you! With every successive step, the odds kept changing in my favour, and it is these life lessons that made all the difference.
My young friends, I would like to end with some words of advice. Do you believe that your future is pre-ordained, and is already set? Or, do you believe that your future is yet to be written and that it will depend upon the sometimes fortuitous events?
Do you believe that these events can provide turning points to which you will respond with your energy and enthusiasm? Do you believe that you will learn from these events and that you will reflect on your setbacks? Do you believe that you will examine your successes with even greater care?
I hope you believe that the future will be shaped by several turning points with great learning opportunities. In fact, this is the path I have walked to much advantage.
A final word: When, one day, you have made your mark on the world, remember that, in the ultimate analysis, we are all mere temporary custodians of the wealth we generate, whether it be financial, intellectual, or emotional. The best use of all your wealth is to share it with those less fortunate.
I believe that we have all at some time eaten the fruit from trees that we did not plant. In the fullness of time, when it is our turn to give, it behooves us in turn to plant gardens that we may never eat the fruit of, which will largely benefit generations to come. I believe this is our sacred responsibility, one that I hope you will shoulder in time.
Thank you for your patience. Go forth and embrace your future with open arms, and pursue enthusiastically your own life journey of discovery!

By Kamlesh Tripathi

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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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Share it if you like it

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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

*

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

*****

 

 

 

The Statesman

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    Last week, a false report of a death came as a sad shock to many, including myself. It was like hearing that an elderly and ailing relative, whom one had close touch with for a while but had nostalgic memories of, had finally passed away.

    The wrongly reported death was not that of a person but of a newspaper. The Statesman. For many, like my father, ‘The Statesman’ was more than a newspaper; it was a living legend.

    My father would make my sisters read it every day, not so much for the news it carried but for the purity and precision of its language. He would not know that his son who was yet to be born would one day work and write for his beloved Statesman.

    By chance, I became one of the four-member team which in 1967 launched ‘The Junior Statesman weekly,’ The Statesman’s youth magazine. Relations between the paper and the young magazine were like those between a conservative parent and a brash teenager, paradoxically linked by a generation gap. When the Junior Statesman, JS, was shut down in 1977 by the diktat of the then managing director of The Statesman, I was inducted as an assistant editor in the paper.

    The sanctum sanctorum of The Statesman was its editorial page, and its high priests were its editorial writers. I had never met them, but my hero was Niranjan Mazumdar, editorial writer par excellence.

    The story went that when the editor asked Niranjan what the editorial he was about to write was about, Niranjan replied ‘I don’t know—but my typewriter does.’

    I never aspired to be a Niranjan. For one thing I could never type but when my first editorial was published, by Niranjan’s boon companion, Lindsay Emerson, I felt as though I’d been awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature.

    By the time I left The Statesman in 1987 to join The Times of India in Delhi, titans like Niranjan and Lindsay belonged to the mythic past. The Statesman had become a shadow of its former self.

    But those who remember its past glory hold it in enduring affection.

Moral of the story: The life of an organisation no matter how big depends on its people and performance. Performance creates the name, name doesn’t create the performance.

By Kamlesh Tripathi

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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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Share it if you like it

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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

*

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

*****

 

 

 

THE TWELVE JYOTIRLINGAS

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    Just in case you have not read Shivpurana let me tell you it is all about Lord Shiva. It contains 24,000 verses divided into twelve Samhitas. Out of these one of them Roudra-samhita narrates the following story.

    Once, Brahma tried to claim superiority over the trinity of Shiva, Mahavishnu and Brahma himself. He vented this thought of his to Mahavishnu. When, suddenly, a huge column of fire, burst out of the earth, between the two and rose into the sky. Brahma flew upwards on his swan to see the tip of the fire while Vishnu as a boar dug deep into the earth to see the lower end of the pillar of fire. Both failed in their mission and returned. It was then that Shiva appeared at the centre of the fire column. This was the first Jyotirlinga.

    Jyotirlingas, represent the beginningless and the endless Stambha or Pillar, indicating the infinite nature of Shiva. In India, there are twelve Jyotirlinga shrines as follows:

  1. SOMNATH

    The Somnath Temple of Gujarat, is near Veraval in the Kathiawad district of Saurashtra. This is a Jyotirlinga shrine. This region is also known as Prabhasa Thirtha. According to the Shivpurana, the Moon God married all the 27 daughters of Daksha Prajapati. However, he liked Rohini more than others. Rohini’s sisters complained to Prajapati, who cursed the moon. As a result, the moon lost his radiance. So, he went to Veraval and prayed to Lord Shiva in a temple. And by the Lord’s grace, he regained his lost shine. Since then, the temple came to be known as Somnath Mandir. It was ransacked and destroyed as many as seventeen times by Muslim invaders, and each time, it was resurrected.

  1. MALLIKARJUNA

    This Jyotirlinga can be seen in Shrishailam Mountain, on the banks of the Krishna River in Andhra Pradesh. According to Shiva Purana, Lord Ganesha got married before Kartikeya. So, an angry Kartikeya left the place and went to Shri-shailam. Seeing their son offended, Shiva and Parvati followed him there. Shiva assumed the form of a Jyotirlinga and resided there as Mallikarjuna. Where, Mallika means Parvati, while Arjuna is another name for Shiva.

  1. MAHAKALESHWAR

    This Jyotirlinga is located on the banks of river Kshipra in the dense Mahakal forest in Ujjain, Madhya Pradesh. It was known as Avantika in ancient times. Legend has it that a five-year-old boy by the name Shrikar was amazed at the devotion of King Chandrasena of Ujjain towards Lord Shiva. Shrikar took a stone and started worshipping it as Shiva. Many people tried to discourage him in different ways, but his devotion only grew. Pleased by his devotion, Lord Shiva assumed the form of a Jyotirlinga and decided to stay in the Mahakal forest.

  1. OMKARESHWAR

    This Jyotirlinga is also in Madhya Pradesh. It is situated on an island called Mandhata or Shivapuri in the Narmada River. The island is shaped like an ‘Om,’ as written in Sanskrit. Omkareshwar means ‘Lord of Omkara,’ the sacred syllable Om. Once, when the Asuras defeated the Devas, the latter prayed to Lord Shiva. Pleased with their prayer, the Lord emerged in the form of Omkareshwar and defeated the Asuras.

  1. VAIDYANATH

    Also known as Vaijnath or Baidyanath, this Jyotirlinga is located at Deogarh in Jharkhand. This place is also called Chitaa-bhoomi. According to a well-known legend, Ravana once requested Lord Shiva to reside in Sri Lanka permanently. Shiva gave him a Jyotirlinga and told him that he should not place it on the ground before reaching Lanka. On the way, however, Ravana felt an urgent need to relieve himself. When a young boy who appeared there offered to hold the lingam in the meantime. The boy, was no one else but Vishnu in disguise, placed the lingam on the ground and disappeared, for he knew that Shiva’s presence would make wicked Ravana’s Lanka invincible. The lingam got fixed to the spot. On his return, Ravana saw what had happened. To propitiate Shiva, he cut off nine of his ten heads. But Shiva joined the severed heads of Ravana’s body, like a Vaidya. Hence the name of the Jyotirlinga became Vaidynath.

  1. BHIMA SHANKAR

    This Jyotirlinga is located on the banks of Bhima River in the Sahyadri region of Pune, Maharashtra. Legend has it that Kumbhakarna’s son, Bhima, vowed to take revenge on Lord Vishnu who, in His incarnation as Rama had killed his father. He began a severe penance and Lord Brahma was pleased and granted him immense power. Soon, Bhima the demon started creating havoc in the world. In the end, Lord Shiva reduced him to ashes. The Gods were overjoyed. On their request, Shiva made the place one of his abodes and manifested himself in the form of Bhima-shankar Jyotirlinga.

  1. RAMESWARAM

    This Jyotirlinga is located on the island of Rameswaram in Tamil Nadu. On his way to Sri Lanka, Sri Rama had stopped at Rameswaram, and worshipped a linga that he had made out of sand. Lord Shiva blessed Rama and then remained at Rameswaram in the form of Jyotirlinga.

  1. NAGESH

    The Nageshwar or Nagnath Jyotirlinga is situated on an island near Dwarka in Gujarat. The place is also known as Daaru-kavan. This Jyotirlinga is known far and wide for protecting devotees from poisons of all kinds. As per the legend in the Shivapurana, a demon by the name of Daruka imprisoned Supriya, a devotee of Shiva. On Supriya’s advice, the other prisoners began chanting, ‘Aum Namah Shivaya.’ Daaruka was enraged on hearing this chant. He sprang forward to kill Supriya. Suddenly, Lord Shiva appeared and put an end to the demon. He then remained on the island as a Jyotirlinga.

  1. VISHVANATH

    The Jyotirlinga at Vishvanath temple is located in Varanasi or Kashi, one of the most ancient cities of the world. It is believed that it was here that the pillar of fire representing Lord Shiva’s endless power broke through the earth’s crust and splayed towards heaven. The faithful are certain that those who die here attain salvation. The original Visvanath temple was destroyed and rebuilt many times. Emperor Aurangzeb destroyed the temple for the last time and built the Gyanvapi Mosque in its place. Later Ahilabai Holkar constructed the present temple adjacent to the mosque.

  1. TRIMBAK

     The Trimbakeshwar temple is located about 30 km from Nashik in Maharashtra, near the Brahmagiri Mountain. It is from this mountain that the river Godavari, also called the Gautami Ganga flows. Long ago, Maharishi Gautam, through his penance, had obtained an everlasting supply of grains. Some Gods became envious of the Maharishi and sent a cow to the granary. The cow was accidentally killed by the sage. On realising this, Maharishi requested Lord Shiva to get the premises purified. Shiva asked Ganga to flow through Nashik and He himself remained there as Trimbakeshwar Jyotirlinga.

  1. KEDARNATH

    At a height of 3,583 metres (12,000 feet) in Uttarakhand, the Kedarnath temple is located on the Rudra Himalaya range. It opens for only six months in a year, from May to November. During the other months, all the mountains here get fully snow clad. It is believed that in ancient times, Lord Shiva, pleased by the penance of Rishis Nara and Narayana, who were incarnations of Lord Vishnu, made a permanent abode in Kedarnath in the form of a Jyotirlinga. Many believe that the Pandavas had come here after the Mahabharta war to pray to Lord Shiva.

  1. GHRISHMESHVAR

    The Ghrish-meshvar or Ghush-meshvar Jyotirlinga is located in a village named Verul, near Aurangabad in Maharashtra. The place is not far from the famous Ajanta and Ellora caves. According to Shivapurana, there was a man named Sudharm, who had two wives, Sudeha and Ghush-ma. They were sisters. When Ghushma bore a son to Sudharm, Sudeha became jealous and threw the baby into a lake. Ghushma, a devotee of Shiva, prayed to the Lord and got her son back. On Sudharm’s request, Shiva manifested himself in the form of Jyotirlinga at that spot and assumed the name Ghush-meshvar.

By Kamlesh Tripathi

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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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Share it if you like it

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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

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Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

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INTERESTING FACTS & QUOTES-19

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Boiling the ocean: Means to go overboard or to delve deep into such small details that a project becomes impossible. The phrase, boil the ocean, appears in business as well as other group settings. In the literal sense, boiling the ocean is  impossible because there’s too much water for it to be possible.

What are brown, grey and white goods? Brown goods are consumer electronics, grey goods are computers etc., and white goods are domestic appliances. These are collective names for different types of electric and electronic equipment. These goods also include equipment powered by batteries such as computers, monitors, industrial dishwashers, ventilation units, etc.

 Difference between advertising and publicity: Advertising is what a company says about its own product, but Publicity is what others says about a product. Conversely, publicity is done by a third party which is not related to any company. Whereas, advertising is under the control of the company which is just opposite to publicity.

Mumbai discharges 750 metric tonnes of plastic every day, which is a sixth of its total garbage.

Mckinsey & Company an American worldwide management consulting firm estimates that tech giants worldwide spent anywhere between $20-30 billion on artificial intelligence in 2016.

Till 1985 marijuana and cannabis, that is, ganja and bhang derivatives, were legally sold in the country through authorised retail shops in India. It is believed moderate consumption of marijuana is far less harmful than tobacco and alcohol.

An old Rabbi once asked his pupils how they could tell when the night had ended and the day had begun. “Could it be”, asked one of the students, “when you can see an animal at a distance and tell for sure, whether it’s a sheep or a dog?” “No”, answered the Rabbi. “Is it, when you can look at a tree at a distance and tell whether it’s a fig tree or a peach tree?” wondered another. Again, the Rabbi answered “No”. The impatient pupils demanded: “Then what is it?” “Well … it is, when you can look at the face of any man or a woman and see that it is your sister or brother: Till then it is still midnight.”

Although we are second to China in population, our country is adding almost an entire Australia each year.

Recently published data shows that a quarter of white extremist’s attacks, in Europe since 2015 targeted Muslims and mosques. And now you have the retaliatory Sri-Lanka terror attack.

It’s always been the nature of government that it underpays at the top and overpays at the bottom.

The latest report of the UN’s Inter-governmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), released recently, states that Indian agriculture may be significantly impacted even by a 1.5 degree centigrade increase in average global temperature.

According to the Indian healthcare market research report 2016, our healthcare sector is one of the largest in terms of employment and revenue generation. Growing at a CAGR (compound annual growth rate) of 16.5%, it will possibly be worth $280 billion by 2020. The 2017 national health policy seeks to increase government spending from the abysmally low 1.4% to 2.5% of India’s GDP.

Russia has lost more than it has won through its policy of confronting the west.

Rivers have been the lifeline of all civilizations. No wonder they are considered sacred across cultures. In India, the Ganga symbolises knowledge, Yamuna was known for love stories, Narmada stood for bhakti, knowledge and logic, Saraswati for brilliance and architecture, and India got its name from the Sindhu also known as Indus.

The name Punjab has been derived from five rivers, which are Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej that collectively signify “five waters” or “the land of five waters.” Starting off in the Tibetan highland of western China near Lake Mansarovar in Tibet Autonomous Region, the Indus river flows through the Ladakh district of Jammu and Kashmir.

One of the longest rivers in the world, the Sindhu also known as Indus has a total length of over 2,000 miles and runs south from the Kailash Mountain in Tibet all the way to the Arabian Sea in Karachi, Pakistan. Where, Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej—eventually flow into the Indus.

Russia has no companies in the top 100 global brands. The three most valuable companies in Russia today were also the three most valuable 10 years ago.

The brain contains 10 billion nerve cells, making thousands of billions of connections with each other. It is the most powerful data processor we know, but at the same time it is incredibly delicate. As soft as a ripe avocado, the brain has to be encased in the tough bones of the skull, and floats in its own waterbed of fluid. An adult brain weighs over 3 lb and fills the skull. It receives one-fifth of the blood pumped out by the heart at each beat.

82% of the wealth generated last year went to the richest 1% of the global population, while the 3.7 billion people who make up the poorest half of the world saw no increase in their wealth. Adding Indian dimension to the horror story of global inequity, the report, added India’s richest 1% garnered as much as 73% of the total wealth generated in the country in 2017.

India is a water stressed country with a per-capita water availability reducing from 1820 to 1545 cubic metres between 2001 to 2011.

Online retail in India is estimated to grow to $200 billion by 2026, up from just $15 billion in 2016.

Car penetration—India is around 20 per 1000 people, China is at 90 per 1000 people, and the US is at 750 1000 people.

Greenpeace International, an NGO estimated that the beverage giant Coca Cola produced 110 billion throwaway plastic bottles in 2015. Most of these go for landfills or to the ocean. Owing up to its responsibility the company recently announced that it would make all its packaging recyclable by 2030.

Tripura has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country and suffers from lack of infrastructure. Manik Sarkar of the Communist Party of India (Marxist) served as the Chief Minister of Tripura from 1998 to 2018. His reign was the longest in the state’s history.

Prices are the only thing that defy the law of gravity.

Interesting quotes and lines.

‘In depth of the winter I finally learned that there was in me an invincible summer’—ALBERT CAMUS, French philosopher, author,  and journalist.

‘God’s in His Heaven, All’s right with the world’–Robert Browning.

Don Marquis once joked, ‘an idea is not responsible for the people who believe in it.’

‘Everyone dies. But not everyone lives’—Shobha De.

‘Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance, you must keep moving’—ALBERT EINSTEIN

By Kamlesh Tripathi

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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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Share it if you like it

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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

*

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

*****

 

 

 

SHORT STORY: LESSON FROM THE OAK TREE

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    Chinese sage Chaung Tsu narrates the story of a huge old oak tree that was declared worthless by a carpenter because its timber was of bad quality and anything made from it would break, rot or wither away. Subsequently, in the story, the tree told the carpenter that it had turned useless on purpose because it wished to live a natural and happy life. Had its timber been useful it would have been cut into pieces, made into something else and would have been dead long ago. The sage enlightens us further by saying that in trying to be valued, desirable and significant in the eyes of the world, we usually end up relinquishing our deeper essence and we start living artificially. Despite assuming a grandiose form, our life is then fraught with meaninglessness and misery.

    Moral of the story: Think of yourself before you think of becoming useful for the world.

By Kamlesh Tripathi

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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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Share it if you like it

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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

*

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

*****

 

 

 

LITERARY CORNER: “Jallianwala Bagh: An Empire of Fear and the Making of the Amritsar Massacre,” by Kim A Wagner.

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Khidki (Window)

–Read India Initiative—

This is only an attempt to create interest in reading. We may not get the time to read all the books in our lifetime. But such reviews, talk and synopsis will at least convey what the book is all about.

    Time doesn’t dilute the scars of hateful crimes. I’m pointing at the “Jallianwala Bagh” massacre, a crime perpetrated by Brigadier General Reginald Dyer. People who died in that slaughter, I’m sure, must be turning in their graves on each anniversary of the crime that was unleashed on April 13, 1919 by this devil. With that logic the victims by now must have turned at least a hundred times in their proverbial grave. But the apology from the British is yet to come. This monster, Brigadier Dyer later died on 23 July 1927. Winston Churchill called him a rotten apple simply to disavow his own responsibility.

    But then the rotten apple grew in his own backyard colony called India. General Dyer is also called, “the Butcher of Amritsar,” because of his order to fire repeatedly on a crowd of peaceful protesters. This resulted in the murder of at least 500-600 people and injuries to over a thousand more. Subsequently, Dyer was removed from duty and widely condemned both in Britain and in India. But he became a celebrated hero among some with connections to the British Raj. Some historians argue the episode was a decisive event towards the end of the British rule in India.

    Many books have been written on this particular massacre. Latest being “Jallianwala Bagh: An Empire of Fear and the Making of the Amritsar Massacre,” by historian Kim A Wagner. Wagner teaches, the history of colonial India and the British Empire at Queen Mary, University of London. He has written extensively on the subject of ‘Thuggee,’ the Indian Uprising of 1857, and resistance and colonial violence more generally in 19th and 20th century global history. The book has been published by Penguin, and the price is below Rs 500 in Amazon. Even though it has been a century since Brigadier General Reginald Dyer ordered Indian Army troops to open fire upon an unarmed crowd at Jallianwala Bagh on April 13, 1919, the memory of it is still painful for Indians. British historian Kim Wagner has taken a fresh look at the incident in this book. There are some advance praises about the book, a couple of them are as follows:

  1. “In the cautionary tale provided in Jallianwala Bagh, it is enduring racist fear that lies at the heart of precipitate violence. Analytically sharp but gripping to read, the book is a page turner.”—says Barbara D. Metcalf, Co-Author of “A Concise History of India.”
  1. In the compelling yet exacting study Kim Wagner combines the intimacy of the storyteller and the distance of the historian to evoke the “micro story” of the massacre while understanding it as the “final stage of the much longer process”, stretching back to Sepoy Uprising. Mining a variety of sources—diaries, memoirs and court testimonies—he uncovers fresh perspectives and examines the relation between colonial panic and state brutality with sophistication, sincerity and style rare in published accounts of this much-trodden ground.”–says Santanu Das, Author of, “India, Empire and First War Culture.”

    The book gives a good overview of the massacre from all corners and all stakeholders. Was Jallianwala Bagh massacre a one-off incident, as portrayed back then and even today by many? The book tries to answer that. The author feels rather than being an unprecedented event, the Amritsar massacre revealed the racialized logic of a colonial violence, and we find the exact sentiments expressed by British officers involved in the suppression of the Indian Uprising of 1857, for instance.

    An apology that describes General Dyer as a rotten apple, which is, essentially what Winston Churchill said in 1920, is not an apology at all but rather an attempt to disavow any form of responsibility in terms of the Raj and the British Empire in general.

    There is often a debate about the troops who open fired. Some say they were Gorkhas and Pathan troops. The author with his research tries to clear the air when he says. There probably were a few Sikh troops also present but we have to remember that the British at the same time did not think of the local population in communal terms. Dyer refers to the protesters simply as ‘rebels.’ The composition of the force he took with him to ‘Jallianwala Bagh’ was largely accidental.

    To a question about Indian Army veterans who had served in World War-I, being among the unfortunate crowd that got killed and injured the eyewitnesses describe how veterans called out for people to lie down to avoid being shot, so there were clearly demobilised soldiers in the crowd.

    British Empire apologists often dismiss the Indian National Congress’s findings about the tragedy and settle for government estimates to save their skin. The Indian National Congress actually estimated that 500 had been killed but that 1,000 might not be an exaggerated estimate—based on the door-to-door inquiry made by local agencies, some 540 names were found, and the author feels that somewhere between 500 to 600 were killed and, perhaps, three times that many wounded.

    As per the book it was not a pre-meditated plan. Dyer believed he was entering a war zone and was fully prepared to shoot at anyone who defied his ban on public meetings. He did not know what the layout of the city or Jallianwala Bagh was. Once he arrived at the Bagh, he did not care much about who was actually present but simply open fired without using his brains.

   There is no evidence about the 120 bodies that were recovered from the well. Eye-witnesses describe one or two people falling in it, and Motilal Nehru and Madan Mohan Malviya thought they saw one or two bodies floating in the well, later that summer—which was nothing more than a clay-pot and some old clothes floating in the well. There was a merging of the canal feeding with the holy tank, which runs under Jallianwala Bagh, since we know that some people climbed into that to flee the bullets and that several bodies were later recovered.

    Lastly, Churchill denounced Dyer in 1920 but it was not because he found indiscriminate violence in the Empire unacceptable, but rather because Dyer’s actions made it so difficult to defend British rule in India. That is also why he was eager to depict Dyer and the massacre as ‘un-British.’

    The massacre has been portrayed in several movies, starting with Attenborough’s Gandhi. But author Kim Wagner thinks none of them make more impact than re-enact the set of visual tropes first deployed by Attenborough. There is almost a checklist of recurrent motifs, including Dyer ordering his troops to fire, and people throwing themselves into the well or getting crushed against a locked gate, crying kids sitting next to their dead parents. To break new ground in this respect would require a break from these filmic conventions.

    Jallianwalla Bagh is often the least talked about episode in the British circles but yes to an extent or rather to quite an extent during the trial it helped in understanding the British colonial policy. The Hunter Commission was set up partly to assuage moderate Indian nationalists and Montagu, the Secretary of State for India, never expected it to reveal the things it did. The fact that this was such a large inquiry, which elicited so much evidence, not least Dyer’s own testimony, means that this was probably the best-recorded colonial atrocity within the British Empire up till that point.

    Well if you’re interested in history and the sad chapters of Indian history this book is for you. Well written and great in detailing and largely unbiased barring certain chapters where you get some eerie feeling it sails through in the Indian Ocean without turbulence. A historians prime job is to lay down history in proper perspective where the author I think has not failed. I would give the book seven out of ten.

Posted by Kamlesh Tripathi

*

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

*

Share it if you like it

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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

*

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

*****

 

 

 

MEDITATE: Things Will Take Their Own Course … Osho

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    Do not plan anything. Things will take their own course. Planning always presupposes frustration. When you plan, you create the seeds of frustration. Do not plan, just go on working. Let it come. It is always beautiful when it comes by itself. It is always fulfilling, never frustrating, because there has been no expectation. And when there is no expectation, you are never disappointed. The less you are disheartened, the more you can do. The more you are disheartened, the less you can do.

    So I say again: do not plan. Just go on. Let it come by itself. When we plan, we hinder the way of its coming, because of the plans we make, life cannot work. Our plans get in the way.

    No failure is failure, no success is success. Only our conceptions and predetermined plans make them so. If you fail in your plan, you feel disappointed; the ego is hurt. If you succeed, the ego is strengthened and it will plan more, ceaselessly, causing perpetual strain and burden on the mind. The ego is always afraid of life. In life we never know what is going to happen so we make plans for our security. But life continually disturbs our plan because we are not the whole and soul of life; we are only a negligibly small part of the infinite existence.

    The moment you start planning, you begin to compare and contrast. Doubts and fears catch hold of you. The moment you plan, the seeds of frustration take root. Now anxiety will follow. We make plans in order to be free from anxiety, but the plan itself creates anxiety. We become anxious because of our plans, our expectations.

     So do not plan, just go on. You do not plan your breathing, you just go on breathing! Let it come to you easily. All that comes easily becomes divine and nothing that comes with effort can be divine. The divine comes effortlessly. It is, in fact, coming all the time. Let it come. Just let go of yourself and see. Things will begin to move. You will find yourself in the midst of movement, but there will be no anxiety, then there will not be any trouble created for the mind. If something happens, it is all right. If nothing happens, then too it is all right. Everything is all right with a mind that does not plan, that accepts life as it is. Only then can meditation happen, otherwise not.

    If meditation has come to you, if something has flowered in you, the perfume will spread. It will work in its own way. Something has happened to you. You are calm and it ease, tranquillity has been achieved. That will do the work; you will not have to work. What has happened to you will draw people to you. They will come by themselves, they will ask about what has happened to you.

    Let others plan. You just go and meditate. Things will begin to happen, they must happen. Business is always tiring. It has no beauty, no joy. Meditation is not business; do not take meditation in this way. You have experienced meditation, you have come to the door; you have seen something, you have felt something. Let it go on—let existence work.

(Abridged from The Eternal Quest, Osho Times International. Courtesy Osho International Foundation (Speaking Tree 27.3.19)

Synopsis by Kamlesh Tripathi

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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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Share it if you like it

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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

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Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

RHYTHM … in poems

(Published in January 2019. The book contains 50 poems. The poems describe our day to day life. The book is available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha)

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

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LONELINESS–I’M IN ELECTRONIC COMPANY

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    My home is like a neat diagram of wilderness now. Things are only quiet here. Life’s hullabaloo is over. There aren’t any vital unanswered questions left in my life to be unraveled any more … barring the ultimate one—death. But surprisingly, I have been handed out, some stiff situations in life that I never asked for in the first place, and that of course includes, certain wayward realities … the most striking one being, loneliness. After deep introspection, it appears to me like those divine semaphores. There is a world of emptiness around me.  It’s taken me more than sixty years to reach this stage. But I didn’t have to struggle for it, the way I struggled for my career and the upbringing of my family. It came on its own, uninvited. I stay in a megapolis—infested largely by a swarm of people occupying those tall blaring buildings all around me. Yet I’m all alone. And what an irony. For in a jungle, I would have been with, unknown but ferocious animals. But in the megapolis I’m with familiar yet unpredictable human beings. Nonetheless, I really can’t decipher which is more dangerous.

    I have a time deprived family. They keep extremely busy. Mostly fire-fighting. So one day I approached God. Thinking he’ll give me company. But then he too has to run the universe, and so, he is very busy in his own world and doesn’t have time for me. Finally, I’ve learnt to live life king size, alone. So I keep busy one way or another. They say life has become easy, yet mind is never at rest. There is always something spooky about life that keeps hovering around me.

    No one comes to my house, and when I attempt to visit someone I’m told they are going out. The timidity to interface … thus continues. I’m told this happens with most of us but we rarely speak about it.

    But, ever since, flesh and blood averted me. My electronic friends have come to my rescue. I have them in droves, steadying my life. I start my day with them. In the night they take that extra pain to put me off to sleep. The smart phones and TV sets bring, so many of my electronic friends to my home each day.

    I now have electronic friends in the likes of Mr Bachchan visiting me all day long showing little gimmicks loaded with huge parables. Where, Arnab Goswami tells me all about the world. Even, Prime Minister Narendra Modi walks into my house in his own electronic attire to tell me how he is serving India and even Rahul Gandhi and Donald Trump are not far away. To top it all, entire Youtube, Bollywood and even Hollywood is at my command.

    Loneliness is the biggest scourge of the present day world. Yet life finds solutions for each catastrophe. Just as you can’t think of a life without flesh and blood, you can’t think of a life without your own electronic friends anymore. Can you?

    This is to cajole all those who suffer because of loneliness. Rise up … get up … do something to kill it.

***

  By Kamlesh Tripathi

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https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

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Share it if you like it

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Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

*

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

*****

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BOOK CORNER: THIS LOVE THAT FEELS RIGHT … by Ravinder Singh

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Khidki (Window)

–Read India Initiative—

This is only an attempt to create interest in reading. We may not get the time to read all the books in our lifetime. But such reviews, talk and synopsis will at least convey what the book is all about.

THE LOVE THAT FEELS RIGHT

By Ravinder Singh

Publisher: Penguin Metro Reads

Year of publication: 2016

    At times one wonders what life is all about. If love is the bulls-eye in the game of life then one needs to define love. Love, often reminds you of marriage, duty, emotions, attention, aspirations, bindings and possessiveness on one hand. And independence, liberation and ambitions on the other. So then, where does the buck stop? And mind you the tussle between love and life is primordial.

    Well … Ravinder Singh tries to unravel these answers, in this book of his through the triad of Naina, Aarav and Manvika.

    But first the storyline which isn’t very meaty. One can say. It’s like some old Bollywood flick. Naina Singhania is the wife of (Sid) Siddharth Singhania. Her marriage to Sid is an outcome of their parents being family friends. Sid is a builder attempting to expand his father’s business. They stay in a posh apartment in Gurgaon.

    Naina, though smart, educated and even well-read is married into this family that somewhat has a traditional mindset. She leads the life of a traditional bahu and housewife along with her super busy husband—who is even a golfer.

    Sid is highly ambitious and in this pursuit, he knowingly or unknowingly tramples on the aspirations of his wife Naina. Naina after her marriage has become somewhat plum. So she joins a gym where she comes in contact with Manvika. Manvika is from the media world—a TV anchor who conducts TV debates.

    Then, there is Aarav who is young and handsome. He happens to be the gym instructor, as well as the personal trainer of both Manvika and Naina. When Naina comes in contact with Manvika and Aarav, the hitherto dormant storm of aspirations in her stirs up. She begins to feel more vehemently about it. And somewhere she starts blaming Sid for it. Her loneliness accentuates, when Manvika who is very forthright and individualistic and a hardcore women’s lib activist stokes the fire in her.

    The trio of Naina, Manvika and Aarav meet in the gym, almost daily. As a result Naina falls in love with Aarav. Where, Manvika prompts Naina to live life, on her own terms, for there is only one life. Then there is a long conversation and discussion between Naina and Manvika on adultery which doesn’t result into anything tangible in the novel.

    The novel climaxes when all of a sudden Sid is forced to cancel his anniversary trip to Maldives, just as, he had to postpone his honeymoon trip, because he has to fly out to a different destination abroad to meet his investors.

    This breaks Naina emotionally. When her love for Aarav finally unleashes to its zenith. In these difficult times Manvika guides Naina and pulls her out of deep depression. Finally, Naina gathers her guts to voice for a divorce, citing reasons that anyway her marriage remains an unrealised dream.

    It is not very clear in the novel, whether, Naina has decided to join Aarav who has moved to Canada for a course on physical education. Aarav is matured enough to understand the intricacies of attempting to marry a lady who is already married.

    The book finally winds up with a lot of ifs and buts. Where, the author finally puts forth a question for the readers on the definition of adultery.

    Finally, while reading the book my mind was filled with the following thoughts.

    The book is some 232 pages but is extremely slow and not at all moving.

  • It gives you a vivid description of how a gym operates with all its technical nomenclature. In fact the story commences from the gym.
  • Since the book doesn’t have an interesting storyline. It often tunnels through a boring prose and at times even zooms into the ambits of soft porn—and that could be the prime reason for its sale.
  • The book caters more to the younger crowd in the range of college students.
  • It dwells on women’s emancipation.
  • Author has played well with the words in this book.
  • It is deluge of gym-gym and gym and … also emotions—emotions and emotions.
  • It has long monotonous conversations of the stale kind that the society has been dealing with from time immemorial. Nothing is new.
  • In fact up to page 90 the story hardly moves.
  • Even the build-up of love affair between Naina and Aarav consumes about 84 pages.
  • Conversations are well described but then they are over detailed that exceeds the attention and interest span of the present day reader—something like unwanted detailing when Aarav goes to a salon.
  • As a male author he has describes female emotions quite well.
  • Lot of research has gone into fitness. The author also uses certain posh terms when it comes to garments and ladies dresses to build up that snob value.
  • The book is a romantic song without melody.
  • There are also some psycho battles in it.
  • Deals with a lot of day-to-day aspirations such as how to keep looking good, always.
  • There is a tussle between work and wife that Sid faces and which is quite common.
  • The surrounds and ambience becomes a bore as the book is merely confined to the gym and the mall

     Finally it’s a novel that tries to convey a social and emotional message for a tussle that is age old.

    I would give this book 5 out of 10.

Synopsis by Kamlesh Tripathi

*

https://kamleshsujata.wordpress.com

*

Share it if you like it

*

Shravan Charity Mission is an NGO that works for poor children suffering from life threatening diseases especially cancer. Our posts are meant for our readers that includes both children and adults and it has a huge variety in terms of content. We also accept donations for our mission. Should you wish to donate for the cause. The bank details are given below:

NAME OF ACCOUNT: SHRAVAN CHARITY MISSION

Account no: 680510110004635 (BANK OF INDIA)

IFSC code: BKID0006805

*

Our publications

GLOOM BEHIND THE SMILE

(The book is about a young cancer patient. Now archived in 7 prestigious libraries of the US, including, Harvard University and Library of Congress. It can also be accessed in MIT through Worldcat.org. Besides, it is also available for reading in Libraries and archives of Canada and Cancer Aid and Research Foundation Mumbai)  

ONE TO TANGO … RIA’S ODYSSEY

(Is a book on ‘singlehood’ about a Delhi girl now archived in Connemara Library, Chennai and Delhi Public Library, GOI, Ministry of Culture, Delhi)

AADAB LUCKNOW … FOND MEMORIES

(Is a fiction written around the great city of Nawabs—Lucknow. It describes Lucknow in great detail and also talks about its Hindu-Muslim amity. That happens to be its undying characteristic. The book was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival of 2014)

REFRACTIONS … FROM THE PRISM OF GOD

(Co-published by Cankids–Kidscan, a pan India NGO and Shravan Charity Mission, that works for Child cancer in India. The book is endorsed by Ms Preetha Reddy, MD Apollo Hospitals Group. It was launched in Lucknow International Literary Festival 2016)

TYPICAL TALE OF AN INDIAN SALESMAN

(Is a story of an Indian salesman who is, humbly qualified. Yet he fights his ways through unceasing uncertainties to reach the top. A good read not only for salesmen. The book was launched on 10th February, 2018 in Gorakhpur Lit-Fest. Now available in Amazon, Flipkart and Onlinegatha

(ALL THE ABOVE TITLES ARE AVAILABLE FOR SALE IN AMAZON, FLIPKART AND OTHER ONLINE STORES OR YOU COULD EVEN WRITE TO US FOR A COPY)

*****