The first installment of the post covered the general details of family lineage of the main characters involved in the epic battle. This post however intends to throw light on some lesser known but who had a great role in the outcome of war. Thus begins part 2.
In many stories told, many films made there are a bunch of characters and the success of the story depends upon how well each character is handled. As a center to the storyline, we are supposed to have a protagonist and antagonist, but we also need the supporting characters on both sides to make the events really happen. It is more like a catalyst in a chemical reaction which does not have any chemical impact on the end product but surely helps accelerating or slowing down the rate of reaction.
Considering all these in mind, if there is one story that records the details of its character to the minutest detail, it has to be Mahabharata. It is however limitation of human brain, that on a long run we remember the main characters, but tends to forget some of the key players, without them story would not have been possible. This post will cover some of the similar characters from Mahabharata.
1) Shikhandi
We discussed in last post that Bheeshma abducted 3 sisters Amba, Ambika and Ambalika to be married to his younger brother. The two agreed to get married but Amba didn’t as she was in love with a Prince who was defeated at Swayamvara by Bheeshma. Bheeshma realized his mistake and sent her back to his lover. The prince however rejected Amba as she was abducted by Bheeshma. Heartbroken Amba returned to Bheeshma and asked him to marry her in order to save her from disgrace. Bheeshma however tied by his vow of lifelong celibacy rejected her.
Enraged Amba cursed Bheeshma that a woman will be the reason for his downfall. Amba is reborn in King Drupada’s family as Shikhandini who later by offering prayer to Shiva is turned to a male named Shikhandi.
When Kurukshetra war broke out, being bound by his duties Bheeshma had to take Kaurava’s side. Bheeshma was an undefeatable warrior and continued to massacre Pandava Army. Seeing this Krishna asked Shikhandi to fight with Bheeshma. As a true warrior, Bheeshma could not raise arms on a woman and was shot by Arjun hiding behind Shikhandi.
2) Ashwathama
Now this one had an important role to play in the war. Ashwathama was son of Dronacharya, the teacher who taught Kauravas and Pandavas the art of war. Ashwathama also learnt with the royal princes and was an able warrior himself. Dronacharya taught Arjun the art of invoking and calling back of the most dangerous weapon, the Brahmastra, Ashwathama on the other hand was taught only to invoke it and the art of withdrawing the same was not taught to him. In this context he was similar to Abhimanyu, who knew only the way to enter a wheel shaped war formation known as Chkravyuha but didn’t know how to get out of it.
In the battle Dronacharya fought on behalf of Kauravas bound by his duties towards the state. It was impossible to defeat Dronacharya in the battle and he continued to slay the Pandava army. In order to take Dronacharya off guard, Krishna asked Bheema to kill an elephant in Kaurava army which had a same name Ashwathama and announce that real Ashwathama was killed in battle. Dronacharya came to Yudhisthira to confirm the news during battle. Krishna knew Yudhisthira will never tell a lie, so when he was saying the part which mentioned the elephant, Krishna blew his conch thus muting the conversation. Dronacharya saddened by the death of his son put down his bow and arrow and was shot by Drishtadyumna (Draupadi’s brother).
On the final day of battle Ashwathama was one of the few warriors that survived, in order to avenge the death of Kauravas and his father, he raided the Pandava camp at night when Panadava and Krishna were away and slayed all the remaining warriors with help of Kripacharya and Kritavarma. Ashwathama killed the five sons of Draupadi who were sleeping, thinking them to be Pandavas. Later due to this act of cowardice Ashwathama was cursed to live till the end of the world and suffer with diseases like leprosy. Aswathama is one of the 7 chiranjeevis, the one who lives forever.
3) Barbarika
Barbarika was son of Ghatotkacha and grandson of Bheema. He had made a promise to his mother that he will always fight for the losing side. Barbarika also had 3 infallible arrows received from Shiva which can individually mark and hit targets and finally will return to his quiver. Krishna aware of the fact asked Barbarika to choose a side, to which he replied he will always favour the weak side in the battle. In such a case he would have to keep shifting his selection of side throughout the war and none of the side will actually win. To avoid this dead lock Krishna asked for his head and Barbarika without questioning decapitated his head. Barbarika though wanted to witness the epic battle and on his request Krishna placed his head on top of a hill. Barbarika is thus one of four people who saw Krishna’s Vishwaroopa, others being Arjun, Sanjay and Hanuman.
At the end of battle remaining warriors argued that they were responsible for winning the Great War, to sort out the confusion Krishna took everyone to Barbarika and asked for his opinion to which Barbarika replied that the place from where I was seeing the battle nobody did anything it was Krishna all the way who did everything.
There are innumerable characters that we can list here apart from the one discussed, there is however one thing that you must have noticed the word in bold. Yes the one, Krishna.
There may be number of characters but there is only one axis of rotation, the one.
Monday, March 26, 2012
Mahabharata : A superficial study -- Part 1
I was born on 6th of October 1984, and consider myself fortunate as many other people who have witnessed a series of inventions, technological developments and scientific accomplishments. I consider my generation more fortunate because it has seen the transition in Television as a medium of entertainment. As a child I was fascinated with the two Epics that were telecast during my childhood, the Ramayana by Ramanand Sagar and Mahabharata by B.R. Chopra. To be honest as a child I liked Ramayana more due to the fact it had a simple storyline, well written characters and above all superb graphic fight sequences. Mahabharata always appeared to be confusing to me, on one hand I could identify the good guys and bad guys of the lot but I was never able to keep track of so many things happening so fast.
But as I aged, Mahabharata once again became center of curiosity for me. The study of this epic in itself an epic task and hats off to historians and experts who have devoted their life for this cause. Not only the prime story, but the underlying psyche and motivation of the whole episode are worth studying. As I am not qualified enough to take this as a subject of discussion, I will restrict myself to a very superficial study of the subject. The intent of this post is to make readers aware of basic premise of Mahabharata; the greatest epic world has ever studied.
Now for the many people who know and a few who do not know, the events of Mahabharata take place between the descendants of Kuru clan. Thus anyone battling for the throne of Hastinapur, the then capital of kingdom Bharat should be of Kuru’s lineage in order to have the legal right to the throne. On this very basic premise let us start the analysis of Mahabharata.
1:
The story basically starts with King Shantanu who was the descendant of Kuru Clan and king of Hastinapur. He fell in love with Ganga (yups the River) and had a son ‘Devvrata (Bheeshm)’ from her. The father son duo never met until he became a young boy as Ganga took her away with herself. Shantanu later married Satyavati daughter of a fisherman, who took promise from the king that the son of Shantanu and Satyavati will rule the kingdom. In order to fulfill his father’s wish Devvrata aka Bheeshm vowed for lifelong celibacy.
Twist in the tale: Satyavati had bore another child before her marriage to sage Parashar. The name of Child was ‘Vyasa’
2:
Satyavati had two sons from Shantanu, Vichitravirya and Chitrangada. Chitrangada died early and Vichitravirya were later sworn in as King. Bheeshma abducted three sisters from a Swayamvara to be married to his brother as the kingdom was not invited for the ceremony. Two sisters Ambika and Ambalika married Vichitravirya.
Now the real problem occurred, Vichitravirya died before a new generation of Kuru Clan could be born. Bheeshma has sworn to lifelong celibacy, so Satyavati asked Vyasa to father the next generation of Kuru Clan. As a result Pandu and Dhritrashtra were born to ambika and Ambalika.
This is the first breakage in the Kuru family tree as Vyasa is not of Kuru lineage.
3:
Pandu married Kunti and Madri, while Dhritrashtra married Gandhari.
Pandu due to an earlier sin cannot father a child. So Kunti who had power to invoke Gods, called Indra, Vayu and Yama(Dharma) to father their child. She shared the same spell with Madri and she had twins Nakul and Sahdev from Ashwini Kumar twins.
Dhritrashtra on the other hand had 100 children including Suyodhan and Susashan. (I bet no one knows name of other 98) and a girl named Dussala.
The above 3 points present the basic Mahabharata family structure, and by the end of it you would have realized that neither the Pandavas nor the Kauravas belonged to original Kuru Clan, but more to Vyasa’s lineage. The Pandavas infact were demigods as they were born of human and god.
The whole battle was fought to establish Pandavas as worthy ruler of Hastinapur with Krishna taking the side of righteous Pandavas.
The battle resulted in a mass destruction and bloodshed finally establishing the Pandava’s as rulers and the most interesting fact the whole episode was drafted by Vyasa.
But as I aged, Mahabharata once again became center of curiosity for me. The study of this epic in itself an epic task and hats off to historians and experts who have devoted their life for this cause. Not only the prime story, but the underlying psyche and motivation of the whole episode are worth studying. As I am not qualified enough to take this as a subject of discussion, I will restrict myself to a very superficial study of the subject. The intent of this post is to make readers aware of basic premise of Mahabharata; the greatest epic world has ever studied.
Now for the many people who know and a few who do not know, the events of Mahabharata take place between the descendants of Kuru clan. Thus anyone battling for the throne of Hastinapur, the then capital of kingdom Bharat should be of Kuru’s lineage in order to have the legal right to the throne. On this very basic premise let us start the analysis of Mahabharata.
1:
The story basically starts with King Shantanu who was the descendant of Kuru Clan and king of Hastinapur. He fell in love with Ganga (yups the River) and had a son ‘Devvrata (Bheeshm)’ from her. The father son duo never met until he became a young boy as Ganga took her away with herself. Shantanu later married Satyavati daughter of a fisherman, who took promise from the king that the son of Shantanu and Satyavati will rule the kingdom. In order to fulfill his father’s wish Devvrata aka Bheeshm vowed for lifelong celibacy.
Twist in the tale: Satyavati had bore another child before her marriage to sage Parashar. The name of Child was ‘Vyasa’
2:
Satyavati had two sons from Shantanu, Vichitravirya and Chitrangada. Chitrangada died early and Vichitravirya were later sworn in as King. Bheeshma abducted three sisters from a Swayamvara to be married to his brother as the kingdom was not invited for the ceremony. Two sisters Ambika and Ambalika married Vichitravirya.
Now the real problem occurred, Vichitravirya died before a new generation of Kuru Clan could be born. Bheeshma has sworn to lifelong celibacy, so Satyavati asked Vyasa to father the next generation of Kuru Clan. As a result Pandu and Dhritrashtra were born to ambika and Ambalika.
This is the first breakage in the Kuru family tree as Vyasa is not of Kuru lineage.
3:
Pandu married Kunti and Madri, while Dhritrashtra married Gandhari.
Pandu due to an earlier sin cannot father a child. So Kunti who had power to invoke Gods, called Indra, Vayu and Yama(Dharma) to father their child. She shared the same spell with Madri and she had twins Nakul and Sahdev from Ashwini Kumar twins.
Dhritrashtra on the other hand had 100 children including Suyodhan and Susashan. (I bet no one knows name of other 98) and a girl named Dussala.
The above 3 points present the basic Mahabharata family structure, and by the end of it you would have realized that neither the Pandavas nor the Kauravas belonged to original Kuru Clan, but more to Vyasa’s lineage. The Pandavas infact were demigods as they were born of human and god.
The whole battle was fought to establish Pandavas as worthy ruler of Hastinapur with Krishna taking the side of righteous Pandavas.
The battle resulted in a mass destruction and bloodshed finally establishing the Pandava’s as rulers and the most interesting fact the whole episode was drafted by Vyasa.
Are we really Independent?
India and the Indians are 4 nights away from celebrating their 65th Anniversary of Independence. It has been a success story written over a period of 65 years which saw India as a nation rising from nothing to something. During this period nation fought wars, lost some won some, went through a phase or two of crisis, but finally emerged as a nation which the remaining world recognize to an extent. The wars fought during these 65 years have been both, with external forces as well as with the internal ones. To an extent, we have been able to come out looking graceful in the external conflicts but what puts India as a nation on back foot are the internal issues.
There have been many instances in fact, be it National Emergency during Indira Gandhi’s tenure, issues like reservation, communalism, regionalism, terrorism, corruption and the list is endless.
For a nation with such a diverse demographics and culture, some of the above issues are bound to exist, but what is really questionable is the stance of the ruling community towards these issues and the public opinion on the same.
If we have to discuss on the individual issues, the post will not have an end, thus to limit the content of the post we will be restricting ourselves on few basic points. These are so basic that in constitution of world’s largest democracy these are termed as ‘FUNDAMENTAL’. Article 19 of Indian constitution speaks about something which we commonly refer to freedom of speech and action. There might be restrictions on the various actions we perform in social environment, but the very basic or better suited Fundamental right is the freedom to express oneself in a free environment.
Ask yourself a question, are we really Independent to do so. It is really shameful that in an Independent state a citizen has to think many times before actually saying anything he believes. A free citizen of the country today fears about saying anything as it might anger the minority, under privileged, or protected section of society. He cannot say anything in favor or against any issue or he would be targeted as anti national. No independent views can be shared as it might bring in the rage of a section that thinks it is inappropriate.
It is not really difficult to cite examples for this, but will surely be a tedious process. Just think a little that how many times in life we share our true feelings in everyday life. Speak what we actually believe, not thinking what will be its implications, without any fear that what other people will think or act on your statements. These questions need an answer not from others, but from the conscience, our own conscience.
We all know the answers to these questions and it is not our fault because we have been raised this way.
Next time when you express yourself honestly without any fear, wish yourself a
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY. :)
There have been many instances in fact, be it National Emergency during Indira Gandhi’s tenure, issues like reservation, communalism, regionalism, terrorism, corruption and the list is endless.
For a nation with such a diverse demographics and culture, some of the above issues are bound to exist, but what is really questionable is the stance of the ruling community towards these issues and the public opinion on the same.
If we have to discuss on the individual issues, the post will not have an end, thus to limit the content of the post we will be restricting ourselves on few basic points. These are so basic that in constitution of world’s largest democracy these are termed as ‘FUNDAMENTAL’. Article 19 of Indian constitution speaks about something which we commonly refer to freedom of speech and action. There might be restrictions on the various actions we perform in social environment, but the very basic or better suited Fundamental right is the freedom to express oneself in a free environment.
Ask yourself a question, are we really Independent to do so. It is really shameful that in an Independent state a citizen has to think many times before actually saying anything he believes. A free citizen of the country today fears about saying anything as it might anger the minority, under privileged, or protected section of society. He cannot say anything in favor or against any issue or he would be targeted as anti national. No independent views can be shared as it might bring in the rage of a section that thinks it is inappropriate.
It is not really difficult to cite examples for this, but will surely be a tedious process. Just think a little that how many times in life we share our true feelings in everyday life. Speak what we actually believe, not thinking what will be its implications, without any fear that what other people will think or act on your statements. These questions need an answer not from others, but from the conscience, our own conscience.
We all know the answers to these questions and it is not our fault because we have been raised this way.
Next time when you express yourself honestly without any fear, wish yourself a
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY. :)
Are we really Independent?
India and the Indians are 4 nights away from celebrating their 65th Anniversary of Independence. It has been a success story written over a period of 65 years which saw India as a nation rising from nothing to something. During this period nation fought wars, lost some won some, went through a phase or two of crisis, but finally emerged as a nation which the remaining world recognize to an extent. The wars fought during these 65 years have been both, with external forces as well as with the internal ones. To an extent, we have been able to come out looking graceful in the external conflicts but what puts India as a nation on back foot are the internal issues.
There have been many instances in fact, be it National Emergency during Indira Gandhi’s tenure, issues like reservation, communalism, regionalism, terrorism, corruption and the list is endless.
For a nation with such a diverse demographics and culture, some of the above issues are bound to exist, but what is really questionable is the stance of the ruling community towards these issues and the public opinion on the same.
If we have to discuss on the individual issues, the post will not have an end, thus to limit the content of the post we will be restricting ourselves on few basic points. These are so basic that in constitution of world’s largest democracy these are termed as ‘FUNDAMENTAL’. Article 19 of Indian constitution speaks about something which we commonly refer to freedom of speech and action. There might be restrictions on the various actions we perform in social environment, but the very basic or better suited Fundamental right is the freedom to express oneself in a free environment.
Ask yourself a question, are we really Independent to do so. It is really shameful that in an Independent state a citizen has to think many times before actually saying anything he believes. A free citizen of the country today fears about saying anything as it might anger the minority, under privileged, or protected section of society. He cannot say anything in favor or against any issue or he would be targeted as anti national. No independent views can be shared as it might bring in the rage of a section that thinks it is inappropriate.
It is not really difficult to cite examples for this, but will surely be a tedious process. Just think a little that how many times in life we share our true feelings in everyday life. Speak what we actually believe, not thinking what will be its implications, without any fear that what other people will think or act on your statements. These questions need an answer not from others, but from the conscience, our own conscience.
We all know the answers to these questions and it is not our fault because we have been raised this way.
Next time when you express yourself honestly without any fear, wish yourself a
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY. :)
There have been many instances in fact, be it National Emergency during Indira Gandhi’s tenure, issues like reservation, communalism, regionalism, terrorism, corruption and the list is endless.
For a nation with such a diverse demographics and culture, some of the above issues are bound to exist, but what is really questionable is the stance of the ruling community towards these issues and the public opinion on the same.
If we have to discuss on the individual issues, the post will not have an end, thus to limit the content of the post we will be restricting ourselves on few basic points. These are so basic that in constitution of world’s largest democracy these are termed as ‘FUNDAMENTAL’. Article 19 of Indian constitution speaks about something which we commonly refer to freedom of speech and action. There might be restrictions on the various actions we perform in social environment, but the very basic or better suited Fundamental right is the freedom to express oneself in a free environment.
Ask yourself a question, are we really Independent to do so. It is really shameful that in an Independent state a citizen has to think many times before actually saying anything he believes. A free citizen of the country today fears about saying anything as it might anger the minority, under privileged, or protected section of society. He cannot say anything in favor or against any issue or he would be targeted as anti national. No independent views can be shared as it might bring in the rage of a section that thinks it is inappropriate.
It is not really difficult to cite examples for this, but will surely be a tedious process. Just think a little that how many times in life we share our true feelings in everyday life. Speak what we actually believe, not thinking what will be its implications, without any fear that what other people will think or act on your statements. These questions need an answer not from others, but from the conscience, our own conscience.
We all know the answers to these questions and it is not our fault because we have been raised this way.
Next time when you express yourself honestly without any fear, wish yourself a
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY. :)
Monday, July 18, 2011
A Nation with confused Leadership
On 13th of July 2011, India saw yet another terror strike in Mumbai and once again the whole nation was left with a bunch of unanswered questions. The times are really tough for the citizen of India, not only because they are in constant danger of terror strikes, but also because the ruling government is clueless about majority of the events taking place.
It is not the case that this is the first government under which the security of the nation is harassed most or the scams are coming out at a rapid pace. It has happened with the prior regimes as well but what is most astonishing fact is the reaction and response some of the officials give to media and nation when such incidences do crop up. It is fairly unfortunate on the part of Prime Minister that he is unaware of everything happening around his seat. He was caught by surprise when he came to know Mr. Raja was committing a forgery that led to net loss of 176379 Crores of rupees. He was also not aware that Kalmadhi is robbing the national funds in the name of Common Wealth Games. He also drew a face of shock when Supreme Court and Income Tax Department disclosed the black money trail, come on Mr. Prime Minister, even toddlers in India know that all the black money from India goes to Swiss Accounts.
It is absolutely justified that as the head of the government, Prime Minister of the country cannot know everything, but that does not gives him a license to know absolutely nothing. Even if he is unable to answer every question, the constitutional structure provides him aids in forms of ministers to help him when he has nothing to say. The ministers however have been steps ahead in making disgusting and irrational comments and have retracted from their statements when media and social networks attacked them.
The current Minister of Communication and IT, once stated that total loss in 2G spectrum case was zero, demeaning every authority working on the case including Supreme Court of India. One of the prime spokesperson stated that Anna Hazare and the fellow activists were nothing but ‘unelected dictators’. It is not that I am in full support of Lokpal bill but ‘unelected dictators’, what kind of statement is that. Home Minister of India on the bomb blast stated that lack of Intelligence should be considered as failure of Intelligence (If anyone reading this blog understand this statement from Home Ministry, please help me understand as well). The prince to be sworn as PM soon, too has his shares of absurd statements like he saw debris of burnt bones of farmers in Bhatta Parsaul village. He also stated that farmers were beaten, village girls were raped and molested by police officials, and these are some grave accusations which can have serious consequences. Such statements should not be made unless supported with sufficient proof. The best from the prince came when he said that we cannot stop 100% terror strikes, come on man, when nation is struck with shock of bomb blast, they need a little less verbal shocks than these.
If I add the statements by Mr. Digvijay Singh (the only name I am explicitly mentioning in the post, he deserves special mention) the list will be endless.
The very question that stands in front of us as a nation is that do we deserve better governance, do we deserve better answers, more responsible leaders. Think a little because what our leaders represent is the elected voice of the nation. In other words, the elected government represents the ideology of the masses. So if our elected leaders are flawed, that somewhere means that we as a nation are flawed, we as individuals are flawed.
It is not the case that this is the first government under which the security of the nation is harassed most or the scams are coming out at a rapid pace. It has happened with the prior regimes as well but what is most astonishing fact is the reaction and response some of the officials give to media and nation when such incidences do crop up. It is fairly unfortunate on the part of Prime Minister that he is unaware of everything happening around his seat. He was caught by surprise when he came to know Mr. Raja was committing a forgery that led to net loss of 176379 Crores of rupees. He was also not aware that Kalmadhi is robbing the national funds in the name of Common Wealth Games. He also drew a face of shock when Supreme Court and Income Tax Department disclosed the black money trail, come on Mr. Prime Minister, even toddlers in India know that all the black money from India goes to Swiss Accounts.
It is absolutely justified that as the head of the government, Prime Minister of the country cannot know everything, but that does not gives him a license to know absolutely nothing. Even if he is unable to answer every question, the constitutional structure provides him aids in forms of ministers to help him when he has nothing to say. The ministers however have been steps ahead in making disgusting and irrational comments and have retracted from their statements when media and social networks attacked them.
The current Minister of Communication and IT, once stated that total loss in 2G spectrum case was zero, demeaning every authority working on the case including Supreme Court of India. One of the prime spokesperson stated that Anna Hazare and the fellow activists were nothing but ‘unelected dictators’. It is not that I am in full support of Lokpal bill but ‘unelected dictators’, what kind of statement is that. Home Minister of India on the bomb blast stated that lack of Intelligence should be considered as failure of Intelligence (If anyone reading this blog understand this statement from Home Ministry, please help me understand as well). The prince to be sworn as PM soon, too has his shares of absurd statements like he saw debris of burnt bones of farmers in Bhatta Parsaul village. He also stated that farmers were beaten, village girls were raped and molested by police officials, and these are some grave accusations which can have serious consequences. Such statements should not be made unless supported with sufficient proof. The best from the prince came when he said that we cannot stop 100% terror strikes, come on man, when nation is struck with shock of bomb blast, they need a little less verbal shocks than these.
If I add the statements by Mr. Digvijay Singh (the only name I am explicitly mentioning in the post, he deserves special mention) the list will be endless.
The very question that stands in front of us as a nation is that do we deserve better governance, do we deserve better answers, more responsible leaders. Think a little because what our leaders represent is the elected voice of the nation. In other words, the elected government represents the ideology of the masses. So if our elected leaders are flawed, that somewhere means that we as a nation are flawed, we as individuals are flawed.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Few Questions to think over……
On 31st may 2011, I completed the first anniversary with blogging. It has been a superb experience, not because I like to write but because it actually made me know that writing continuously is not an easy task. There has been a considerable gap between the blogs and have been writing in bits and pieces on the current happening. This was because the whole nation went into hibernation for last 2 3 months starting from the much awaited World Cup followed by the epic IPL, it was an epic not because of its success, but the fact that it ran endlessly for too long. The entire nation was eating, sleeping, drinking cricket. Too much of everything is bad.
But a lot happened as well in the mean time Cricket was happening around, there were legislative changes in the major states of India, there was 2G scam going on, UPA 2 was busy punishing the corrupts (or were they really), OSAMA GOT KILLED and there was Anna Hazare and his cry for Lokpal.
As publicized by the News channels, India is changing, there is an air of modernization, youth is taking interest towards the social causes, tolerance of citizen towards corruption has gone down etc. But is this all really happening? World has surely become a smaller place, thanks to the social media, but has that changed us a bit as an individual?
When Anna Hazare went for his strike for the demand of Lokpal, the whole nation was taken by a wave of rebellion. The majority of the rebellion was however not driven by the thought or motive which Hazare presented; it was rather due to the dissatisfaction of the nation towards the corruption. At that time Hazare’s demand proved to be the only medium to release the emotional pressure that the country was suffering. This could be easily gauged from a simple test on a sample of 10 people around you. Just ask a few questions
1. How many of them actually know Anna Hazare and his movement?
2. How many of them know what actually Hazare demanded?
3. How many of them can explain the concept of Lokpal?
The results will surprise you for sure.
There is not a feather of doubt that Mr. Hazare’s intentions were for the betterment of the country, but it is a single man’s vision and it can be flawed or at least the implementation part of it. In a democratic set up we have Judiciary, Executive, Legislative and Media as the four pillars. Rather than strengthening the existing pillars we are trying to find a solution by introducing a new constitutional pillar to support the falling democracy, the strength of which is uncertain in itself. Tomorrow if Lokpal concept falters we will take refuge by creating another pillar. Like stated in the Chaos Theory post, the more the number of parameters, more is the chances of a possible leakage.
It is true that nation needs a revolution to change the things as they are, but the biggest change required is the change within. We tends to get impressed easily, sometimes by appearance, sometimes because mass follows a particular thing, sometimes because we are afraid that if we do not follow people will criticize.
It sometimes makes me think what is the difference between the two sections and which one is more dangerous?
1) A mob which goes on a complete wreckage even when 90% of it does not know why they are breaking things
2) A Nation that goes into blind rebellion when a majority of it does not know why they are doing it.
But a lot happened as well in the mean time Cricket was happening around, there were legislative changes in the major states of India, there was 2G scam going on, UPA 2 was busy punishing the corrupts (or were they really), OSAMA GOT KILLED and there was Anna Hazare and his cry for Lokpal.
As publicized by the News channels, India is changing, there is an air of modernization, youth is taking interest towards the social causes, tolerance of citizen towards corruption has gone down etc. But is this all really happening? World has surely become a smaller place, thanks to the social media, but has that changed us a bit as an individual?
When Anna Hazare went for his strike for the demand of Lokpal, the whole nation was taken by a wave of rebellion. The majority of the rebellion was however not driven by the thought or motive which Hazare presented; it was rather due to the dissatisfaction of the nation towards the corruption. At that time Hazare’s demand proved to be the only medium to release the emotional pressure that the country was suffering. This could be easily gauged from a simple test on a sample of 10 people around you. Just ask a few questions
1. How many of them actually know Anna Hazare and his movement?
2. How many of them know what actually Hazare demanded?
3. How many of them can explain the concept of Lokpal?
The results will surprise you for sure.
There is not a feather of doubt that Mr. Hazare’s intentions were for the betterment of the country, but it is a single man’s vision and it can be flawed or at least the implementation part of it. In a democratic set up we have Judiciary, Executive, Legislative and Media as the four pillars. Rather than strengthening the existing pillars we are trying to find a solution by introducing a new constitutional pillar to support the falling democracy, the strength of which is uncertain in itself. Tomorrow if Lokpal concept falters we will take refuge by creating another pillar. Like stated in the Chaos Theory post, the more the number of parameters, more is the chances of a possible leakage.
It is true that nation needs a revolution to change the things as they are, but the biggest change required is the change within. We tends to get impressed easily, sometimes by appearance, sometimes because mass follows a particular thing, sometimes because we are afraid that if we do not follow people will criticize.
It sometimes makes me think what is the difference between the two sections and which one is more dangerous?
1) A mob which goes on a complete wreckage even when 90% of it does not know why they are breaking things
2) A Nation that goes into blind rebellion when a majority of it does not know why they are doing it.
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Money Trap.....
Network Marketing or technically known as MLM or Multi level marketing is not a new concept in India. It came into prominence after the advent of US direct selling company Amway. The company’s plan ensured huge return on investment to all the individuals enrolling in the scheme. The plan worked simply on a tree structure, the more the tree grows better would have been the returns. In addition to the commission (and this is a significant statement which will become important later), company also provided a huge set of products which the investor can procure and sell to earn profit. Thus the company benefitted two ways as it was getting the enrollment fee as well as instant market and advertisements for their product lines. This happened by eliminating the whole retail chain in between and the finished product came from warehouse to a number of selling agents on field. If cynicism taken out of context, this is an excellent business model to generate revenue. In the model, the company can have a foothold in market with absolutely no initial investment and will save on advertising front, supply chain management, commissions to retailer etc.
But the model itself generated opportunities for a lot of people to use it for their own interest. A lot of companies emerged, peaked and then disappeared leaving the investors in dismay. It is not that people have not earned from these companies, they have and they have earned considerably well. But not everyone had a piece of pie, a potential number of investors have also lost a fare amount of money. These companies usually operated on the philosophy of luring the investor by promising them quick money and easy money is always the best trap.
A similar company which came to existence a few years back was Gold Quest, it swept the whole nation with its tide. The company did not had any line of product, other than a minted gold coin which was provided after initial investment of around 30K INR and that’s it, the remaining model was completely MLM. A major chunk of the investor actually belonged to IT industry. The best question to gauge the credibility of the organization is what they were marketing for. As expected, one day the company went out of existence and many people lost their money. Still this is a very small aspect of a bigger picture.
Money is a very interesting concept, it is dangerous to keep money still at one place as it will lose its value, it is also dangerous to have uncontrolled flow of money. We seldom give a thought that money transfer from one place to another is not an easy thing, which is why we have ‘hawala scams’. When an investor is providing the initial investment, he is making a legal transaction of that amount from one account to other. Imagine the same scenario with half million investor. The money is now with the company at its disposal to be used in any place, might be financing terrorism, might be….
No firm other than Amway has been proven legitimate as of date. Recently another company by name Speak Asia came into existence. Still I am not sure of it being legitimate as questions have been asked about its credibility and company is in self defense mode. Though undoubtedly, this company has gone in media more than its preceding firms, still there’s always a thought until the verdict is passed.
Money is a biggest trap that exists, it is always preferred to have easy money, but whenever provided with the opportunities, we should surely think and assess it once.
As there is nothing like "Easy Money" that exists and is devoid of any sin.
But the model itself generated opportunities for a lot of people to use it for their own interest. A lot of companies emerged, peaked and then disappeared leaving the investors in dismay. It is not that people have not earned from these companies, they have and they have earned considerably well. But not everyone had a piece of pie, a potential number of investors have also lost a fare amount of money. These companies usually operated on the philosophy of luring the investor by promising them quick money and easy money is always the best trap.
A similar company which came to existence a few years back was Gold Quest, it swept the whole nation with its tide. The company did not had any line of product, other than a minted gold coin which was provided after initial investment of around 30K INR and that’s it, the remaining model was completely MLM. A major chunk of the investor actually belonged to IT industry. The best question to gauge the credibility of the organization is what they were marketing for. As expected, one day the company went out of existence and many people lost their money. Still this is a very small aspect of a bigger picture.
Money is a very interesting concept, it is dangerous to keep money still at one place as it will lose its value, it is also dangerous to have uncontrolled flow of money. We seldom give a thought that money transfer from one place to another is not an easy thing, which is why we have ‘hawala scams’. When an investor is providing the initial investment, he is making a legal transaction of that amount from one account to other. Imagine the same scenario with half million investor. The money is now with the company at its disposal to be used in any place, might be financing terrorism, might be….
No firm other than Amway has been proven legitimate as of date. Recently another company by name Speak Asia came into existence. Still I am not sure of it being legitimate as questions have been asked about its credibility and company is in self defense mode. Though undoubtedly, this company has gone in media more than its preceding firms, still there’s always a thought until the verdict is passed.
Money is a biggest trap that exists, it is always preferred to have easy money, but whenever provided with the opportunities, we should surely think and assess it once.
As there is nothing like "Easy Money" that exists and is devoid of any sin.
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