Dilemmas of today

   The anticipation of the million eyes ceases today as the Ganesh Utsav completes its glorious 125 years amidst controversy about its inception. The 'Ganpati Bappa Morya ' chants, the aartis are heard all around. The markets are overcrowded and galore with Ganesh idols, the fragrance of the flowers, modaks and decorative items.   This festival finds its roots way back in history when Shivaji Maharaj established the Maratha Empire in the 16th century. Later the Peshwas kept up with the tradition and observed Ganesha as their family deity but the celebrations were only confined to their individual homes. It was in the year 1893 that the idea of public gala was initiated by Lokmanya Tilak. He installed his first Ganpati idol in Vinchurkar Wada at Sadashiv Peth in Pune. In the view to bring people of various stratas of society- educated, non educated, young and old together, to participate in the National Movement against the British. Tilak encouraged the Melas and also...

   "At the stroke of midnight, when the whole world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom." These words of the first Prime Minister of India - Jawaharlal Nehru have been engraved in our history. It's been 70 long years when the then PM hoisted the Indian tricolour at the Red Fort and declared India to be free, liberal, independent. But a question arises to me that are we really living in a free and independent India?   India is the biggest democracy in the world. According to our constitution several rights have been bestowed upon us. One such right is Right to Speech. We have the right to freely express our opinions whether good or bad and it can be in any form - films, books, paintings etc. The recent examples that come to light are the controversies caused by the movie 'Indu Sarkar' and the documentry 'The Argumentative Indian' based on the life of the Nobel laurette Amartya Sen. The CBFC ordered words like 'cow', 'Gujarat', ...

  Almost the entire, cricket crazy nation must have glue eyed their television sets not to watch Virat Kohli and his men play but to watch Mithali Raj and her women kick some butts in this so called gentleman's game. The question arises to me is how often have we actually backed, supported or cheered the women and  that too in a game like cricket? Have any of us even watched their complete game before? The answer is a big No! I might have seen the highlights of Harmanpreet Kaur's 171 in the semi finals against Australia but not a full fledged match. We watch men's games even if India isn't playing in it but not a women's game even if India is winning. I was stunned to understand that women's world cup started in 1973 whereas the men's world cup 2 years later in 1975. Then why such hipocrysy???     If you have watched today's game keenly there were very few advertisements in between the overs whereas there are dozens of sponsors in the men's games. A...

   Last Sunday we all witnessed India's excruciating loss to arch rivals Pakistan in the Champions trophy held in England - the very country that ruled the two warring nations for almost 150 years. Post Pakistan's victory some people in India celebrated and were soon arrested. An immediate and reflex question occurred to me was what was their crime? Is celebrating a victory of another country their crime? I beg to differ. Then people should also get arrested for supporting and cheering and celebrating victories of European countries in football where India haven't even qualified. A popular commentator made a comment that India is the father and Pakistan is it's son then immediately one person commented to check their birthdays. I rofl'd because it's true Pakistan got it's independence on the 14th of August​ 1947 while India's Independence is a day later.         I don't get this bitterness towards them. I can only compare this bitterness t...

    'Intolerance' is such an overused term these days. Anyone out of the blue rises and starts giving opinions and takes jibes at the current situation that we as 'Indians' are in. Hell yeah! I believe, intolerance was always there in which ever era you lived but today it's on a rise that too to an extreme level.   India is a diverse country with a 1.2 billion people of various religions, castes and stratas of society. The Hindus form the majority of the population whereas the others form the minority. I am neither writing against any religion nor in support of any. I'm just giving my opinion as we supposedly live in a free country and have a right to speak.    Sonu Nigam recently took to Twitter to speak about the Azaan that troubled him. Well its true what h e was trying to say that one shouldn't use loud speakers but isn't it true while Ganesh Utsav or Navratri.    The ban over beef in the country is also one of the most controversial issu...

  Before reading this blog you must read the last one, "Loopholes in the Indian education system." Also one question that arises in my mind is the education system that the Britishers left for us, for creating more robots and lesser of humans appropriate for today's time? The unanimous answer is a big NO! Redesigning, revamping, restructuring of our education system is the utmost need and must be done on a priority basis.    I'll give you an example of Finland. Finland is considered as one of the top most countries in the field of education according to a recent survey and it is seen that they have changed the system altogether. There in Finland compulsory education starts at the age of 7. They say children learn better when they are ready, why stress then out at such a small age. Elementary students in Finland often have the same teacher for up to six years. The same teacher cares for, nurtures and tends to the education of the same group of students. Teachers spen...