Vasant Vyakhanmala (Spring time Lecture series) is a most remarkable undertaking. It’s an annual event that was first held in 1875 in Pune by social reformer Justice Ranade and is being held every year since. Many of India’s top leaders & visionaries have spoken at the event and I am told that it was especially popular in the pre-independence era, with 1000s attending the lectures. Read the rest of this entry »
Yesterday I attended the book release of ‘Timiratuni Tejakadey’ by Dr Narendra Dabholkar, founder of Anti Superstition movement in Maharashtra, Andhashraddha Nirmulan Samiti. My notes & recordings from the event. I appreciate that the tweets / notes are currently in fairly raw form, hope to edit into more readable paras when I have some more time on hand. Do check out the recordings of the speeches by Narendra Dabholkar & Mohan Agashe. Read the rest of this entry »
I was resisting writing on the austerity talk that has sprung up in India. But the media has now taken the discussion in such a nonsensical direction that I feel forced to air my views. Not that my views matter, but just feel better that way. Read the rest of this entry »
At just 40%, Pune saw it’s worst ever voter turnout for the Loksabha elections. Mumbai was slightly better at 44%. The dismal voter turnout numbers have shocked most of educated India. Political leaders are smirking on TV saying things like “You blame us politicians for not caring about the country, but even the ordinary citizen does not care.” I have no insider info on the matter, but am just trying to apply some common sense to figure out what could have gone wrong. Read the rest of this entry »
Over the past couple of years, the left bank canal of the River Mutha between the Prabhat, Bhandarkar and Agarkar Road has morphed from pretty much being a dump to now a beautiful garden. The area of about six acres now has lush green lawns, a jogging track and many trees. It’s like an oasis right in the heart of Pune city.
The Pune Municipal Corporation and an NGO, Hirwaee have been jointly running the project as yet. However maintaining the garden, caring for the trees, keeping it clean and free from encroachments is an ongoing challenge that requires the support of residents in the area.
It’s good to know that the Health Minister has challenged the name of the Bangalore Indian Premier League (IPL) cricket team, “Royal Challengers”. It’s however sad that it takes the Health Minister of the country to speak up before the authorities looked at such an obvious and blatant form of surrogate advertising for liquor brand “Royal Challenge“.
“The Key Selling Point Of The GodMen Is Their Talk About Things That Make No Sense”
Right from childhood, stories that had their foundation in magic and ‘chamatkars’ always appealed to me. I must have watched 10s of combinations of stories like – Ramu’s son is ill and no doctor is able to cure him; Ramu goes to a godman who whips up a magical powder; Ramu applies the powder on his son’s forehead and the kid is magically cured. As a child, I remember being in awe of the godman and thinking, “Wow! This man is amazing!”. Friends readily contributed their own stories of how the godman was indeed magical.
A new Pepsi ad has coined the phrase ‘Youngistan’ by combining Young & Hindustan. The actor in the ad claims to be an alien from the planet Youngistan. However is Youngistan really a planet in outer space or is India and Youngistan one and the same? I say this as I can’t help but note that India is being totally customized for the young, rich and the healthy. I certainly don’t have anything against the Youngistanization of society. The young definitely should enjoy the prosperity and the growing disposable incomes of new India, but not by steadily ignoring other segments of society.
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