Checked my blog......

...... after a looooooooooooong time today. I know it’s been ages since I posted something here.. life’s been quite hectic and busy… I have been just so busy living my life that it doesn’t look like the posts here are ever gonna catch up with it.. especially with Me being the sooper lazy Me that I am… :-) But then who’s complaining… it’s not like I have ppl waiting with baited breaths for updates to my blog.. :-D

Anyways realized I should put atleast something up.. so this post is just to break the ‘No-Posts’ monotony……. Don’t have anything to write about or come to think of it.. I have too many things I want to write about but just don’t know where to start from. I guess I will need some more time to figure it out.. till then I will go back to just…. living… and loving… and pampering… and being pampered.. :-)

PS: Btw have slowly realized M does remember and keep all the small silly declarations that he makes.. I should stop laughing at him when he makes them.. :-) Can’t wait to see him in his new Avataar.

Mrityunjay - Review

Finally I have finished reading ‘Mrityunjay’ – a novel by Shivaji Savant. It’s based on the life of Karna – a great warrior and the ultimate hero or shall I say tragic hero from Mahabharata. (Ashwani had gifted me this book on my birthday.. he actually took the effort of mailing me this all the way from Delhi.. he knew I wanted to read this one after hearing so much about it. Thanks dear.. :-) ) In literal terms, Mrityunjay means a person who has conquered death.

Prior to reading this, my interpretation of Karna, like many of us, was based on the DD serial, Mahabharata. He along with Krishna has always been my favourite character in Mahabharata. Out of the Pandavas, I only like Arjun as he was very focused and had single minded dedication. Though unlike Karna, he was always guided by great teachers/mentors.

After reading this book, my love for the character of Karna has been reaffirmed. I learned about many little known incidents in his life and how each incident guided and shaped his future actions. Although he was a Kshatriya and son of Kunti & Sun God, he was unaware of it and always lived under the shadow of being a Charioteer’s son. All through his life, he strives and yearns to be recognized as a great warrior based on his capability and not be called just a charioteer’s son coz he was born into it. The book has captured Karna’s feelings, his pain & sufferings, his courage & character really well. The book is divided into sections with each section dedicated to an imp character in Karna’s life. Each character is telling things as first person.

Karna was born with a divine set of earrings and shield in his body. Though unaware of being the son of Sun God, he had a strange attraction towards him since his childhood. He was a great devotee of the Sun God and made him his Guru. He found himself different from other members in his community and hence always struggled to adjust in it. He loved his family a lot – his father, his loving mother, Radhamata, or his dedicated younger brother, Shona or his dutiful wife, Vrushali and their kids. Their love and dedication for Karna was also complete. All of them loved and dotted over Karna and were loved unconditionally in return. The love story of Karna and Vrushali is so delicate and endearing. I didn’t even know Karna was married that too a love marriage.. :-). Vrushali was just the perfect partner for a loving and generous person like Karna. She gave with ultimate abandon and love. Then there’s the love that Karna has for his younger brother Shona and the faith with which Shona reveres Karna which are quite touching. It was wonderful reading about many such little known facets of his personality. Made him all the more humane. :-)

When he went to Hastinapur with his father to get training under Guru Drona , he was shunned by everyone except Duryodhana. This acceptance from Duryodhana and recognition of his capability, led to a strong bond and friendship between them even though they had very different temperament. Even though Karna was a better warrior and archer, everyone appreciated Arjun more as he was of royal lineage. Drona and many others were biased towards Arjun and this was a source of great rivalry between the two.

Karna was humiliated time and again by many people like Drona, Draupadi, Pandavas, even once by Bhishma Pitamah – for being a charioteer’s son. These were source of much disquiet and hurt in Karna’s life. Despite all this, Karna was compassionate. He had great character, was a benevolent individual and king, committed to his words, an ideal son, husband, brother and friend. Despite being a great warrior, he was peace loving in nature. He is famous for his benevolent nature. Here’s one incident to attest to it - even though he knew before hand that Lord Indra was coming in disguise to take away his protective shield and earrings from him to save Arjun, he happily gives it to Indra as alms. While on his deathbed, he removed his gold teeth and gave it to a dead solder’s poor father so that it could be used to make funeral arrangements for his son. No wonder he is called ‘Daanveer Karna’.

Karna also had great love and devotion for Lord Krishna. Just before the war of Mahabharata, Krishna told him the reality of his birth. Both Krishna and Kunti requested him to join Pandavas and rule over being the eldest and best of Pandavas. He however rejected this offer as he could not abandon his friend, Duryodhana who supported him throughout his life. When Kunti asks him to spare life of her 5 sons, he promises to spare all his sons except Arjun . So that at the end of it, Kunti will be left with 5 sons including either Arjun or Karna.

Karna was the ultimate tragic hero of the Mahabharata, and the man who, after Bhishma Pitamah, should have been the real claimant to the throne of Hastinapur. His yearnings and dilemmas have been captured really well by the author. All in all, it is an awesome book which has been very beautifully written. A must read for sure

Rating: I would give it 5 out of 5.

Political Rants..

Mood: Frustrated. A Ranting post ahead... no solutions, (maybe) biased reasoning... just rants..

The political scenario in our country today is depressing to say the least. The Congress prides in calling itself ‘The party of the Poor’. This is one statement that even Rahul Gandhi keeps on making in each and all of his political rallies’. Some 63 years back, it was understandable but now it sounds pathetic. After ruling India for more than 50 years or so, Congress should actually feel ashamed of this rather than being Proud. They have still not been able to help the poor or make their situation better. Take for example Amethi, I don’t think anyone else apart from Congress has ever won from that seat. Its supposed to be the stronghold of Congress with Priyanka, Rahul and Sonia going on tours frequently. Irony is - it’s still one of the underdeveloped regions in our country. An area which has given us such strong nationwide politicians (but no leader) and PMs, is still an underdeveloped area. It speaks volumes about the real motive of the Gandhi clan. If they really wanted to develop it, I am not sure it would have been that Herculean an effort for them. But then maybe it is.. guess we will never know. (It’s another thing that they still are voted back to power term after term :-( )

I recently read an article in DNA newspaper. It had some interesting view points on how dynastic politics is mainly about protecting ill-gotten wealth. I could not have agreed more. With information about how many Indians are having money in Swiss bank accounts, this UPA govt is displaying an amazing apathy in trying to get the facts and reveal the details. We are not even trying to get the money back. The callousness visible at the highest level of governance is disturbing. Well with the amount of years congress has ruled India and the scams that have unearthed, its pretty easy to guess that 90% of those would be somehow connected with Congress. I won’t be surprised if each of the Gandhis has an account there.

This is the first time (at least to my knowledge) when there have been so many HUGE SCAMs that have come to public notice and the PM of our country has not even bothered to say a word on it. Forget an address to the nation, he has not made even a reassuring statement. This is highly BELITTLING to the nation & people he represents. The Don’t-Care attitude by our nation’s top leadership is Shameful. (Again since we vote them back again and again, guess we are the real culprits)

The way we are treated by our leadership is totally not done. Look at the most recent case involving Indian students in US. Few Indian students at TVU have been tagged like criminals. Even if we agree that from a US law perspective what they did was ok, but its not the US govt. who should worry about Indians. It’s the Indian govt. who should think about us. Our govt. should have made a noise, got the tags removed and got the students back to India. I really don’t know what we are waiting for? Whatever maybe the case; it’s really praiseworthy how US defends and supports its citizens. Look at the way they are pushing Pak to release Raymond Davis even though he committed a crime. (I am not defending US here as the person is actually guilty, I am only commending the fact that US protects its citizens and is accountable to them) Contrast this with the kind of statements our Foreign Minister makes in any situation involving Indians. First time, he says its ‘unacceptable’. Next time u hear him, he bows down and says we need to abide by the law of the host country. Be it Australia or US.

There are N number of cases like this. One thing is for sure Congress has been a lousy opposition party and is even worse when it is in power. At least other parties were better while in power. Maybe coz they were novice and didn't know how to play politics like our oldest and most experienced party does.. Anyways let's hope we will get rid of such politicians sooner than later..

New Year @ Home

It’s said “well begun is half done”!! This year has started with all the right notes. We had bought a flat last year and on the 1st day of this very new year.. we moved into it. Our own brand new home.. :-)

There were a few minor hiccups at the beginning .. with our families saying just 10 days before the ‘Griha Pravesh' to wait for 15 more days and go after ‘Maker Sakranti’.. but we had given notice to our owner that we would be vacating our rented house on 1st.. he had even finalized the new renter.. this made it really impossible to delay it further.. And then both our dads came to our rescue.. Being the sweethearts that they are both my father and father in law said to go ahead on 1st itself; this being the 1st day of the new year and a Saturday on that.. nothing could be better.. Since we had already done a puja last year, even M and I felt good to move in and had no reservations about the date. M believes that if something good is happening on a day, it must surely be a good day. If it wasn't, that good thing would not be happening in the first place!! I totally agree with him!! (this is a rare case.. as in me agreeing with M.. :D)

So finally we shifted on 1st.. it was a nice sunny day (it is very very cold this time around in Pune and even a small glimpse of sun is most welcome). When the movers & packers guy came and started packing, I realized we have hell lot of stuff at our home. Removing all the non-essentials out of this was my first To-Do task in the new home. By the time we shifted all our stuff to the new place, it was 7pm. While this was going on, the electrician had also come and had set up fans, tubelights, etc. With all the basic things done, we were Set!! (for the time being.. ;-))

As luck would have it, there was a person with the Movers & Packers guys who turned out to be well qualified Brahmin shashtri; he even has a degree in it. He told that this 1st was a really auspicious occasion to shift in and he has already performed few ‘Griha pravesh pujas’ in the morning. He agreed to do a havan at our home too.. So M went with him and got all the Puja samagrees.. by the time we did the Puja, bhoomi pujan, havan and sat for dinner, it was already well past midnight.. :-) We had to wake up early the next day as we were going on a trip; so we dragged our tired bodies to bed and dozed off. Thus ended our first day at home.

Even with all the running around we did, we were pretty much set on the first day itself. It was an amazing feeling.. being at our own home. :-) I still can’t believe we bought a flat here. It’s been 1.5 years since we moved to Pune.. With no plans whatsoever of settling here; we now have a home here.. Go figure!! :-D Life really has very different plans for you!! They may not be same as yours.. but many times they are even better than yours. :-)

Wish you all a wonderful year ahead!! Have fun!!