Small things do matter

by Bhartendu SOOD

LTTE air strikes and India

ASSESSMENT: The news of Sunday air raids by the LTTE on two oil depots in Kolonnawa and Muthurajwela areas in Colombo were the front page news in almost all newspapers in India and special editorials were there in subsequent editions.

The Tribune, a Chandigarh based reputed English daily, was very forthcoming in its assessment of the situation.

In its editorial it had stated that the newly acquired ability by the LTTE to make aerial attacks could not be ignored by the World community and especially India.

A terrorist outfit acquiring capability to make aerial attacks needed to be viewed seriously not only by Colombo but by India also, in the interest of peace and stability in South Asia.

Sri Lankan Air Force is pushed to the situation where it has to make counter attack on LTTE and destroy the newly acquired facilities of LTTE though it will mean escalation of tension and loss to economy and development of the country.

All newspapers were unanimous in their opinion that 2002 Ceasefire Agreement signed by LTTE was merely eyewash. The intentions of LTTE were ulterior and it wanted to use this time to regroup itself and acquire additional capabilities for a bigger battle.

Media said that LTTE Chief Prabhakaran had lost its credibility with Colombo regime and could not be trusted upon for any peaceful dialogue even if Colombo might like to take a chance simply because a man who was wedded to violent means could not be trusted upon for peaceful negotiations.

It is also a fact that emboldened LTTE, world’s most deadly guerrilla force, is a threat not only to Colombo but to India also hence New Delhi also needs to support Sri Lanka in this hour of crises.

Buddha Purnima and Buddhism in India

Buddha Purnima, the birthday of the Buddha is a very important day in India and is a national holiday. Large number of Buddhists and Hindus visit Buddha temples and Viharas.

There is a mood of celebration in all important Buddhist places of worship. Tremendous religious fervour is seen in all the places connected with the life of the Buddha and the Monasteries, most of which are located in the Himalayan range, present a festival like scene.

For a vast majority of Hindu population in India, Buddha is one of their gods. He is revered as we revere any other Hindu god. Right in the primary school, children are taught about Buddha.

For a layman, non violence and not inflicting pain on any living creature are perceived to be synonymous with Buddha and Buddhism. Infact they can’t reconcile to the fact that most of the Buddhist population across the globe are meat eaters.

Eighty percent of the Hindu population perhaps is not aware that Buddhism is a separate religion. To them the Buddha is one of the Hindu gods as we have Ram Krishan, Vishnu and Brahma.

In India, more and more persons from the enlightened and intellectual class are studying Buddhism with an objective to improve the quality of their lives.

At the same time they don’t feel it necessary to indulge in the rituals of worshipping by going to Buddhist temples.

The Buddha was born in India, he obtained Nirvana (Enlightenment) here and after creating awakening in the masses he left his mortal body on this very soil.

Therefore I have every reason to believe that there must be a desire in every Buddhist to visit Bodhgaya, Lumbini, Sanchi and Kapila Vastu and so many other beautiful places connected with the life of Buddha, as every Muslim has a desire to visit Mecca.

My this opinion gets vindicated by the following statement of the Nobel Laureate and the Buddhist spiritual leader of Tibetans H.H. Dalai Lama -

“When I was young and studying in Tibet I regarded India as the Arya Bhumi, the Holy Land, the source of our Buddhists religion and culture.

Like every devout Buddhist I associated Bodhgaya with the highest achievements of the spiritual path, the Buddha’s attainment of perfect enlightenment. It was the place I longed to visit and fortunately the opportunity arose in 1956 with an invitation from the Mahabodh Society to attend the Buddha Jayanti.”

Thus I can feel that visit to India on Buddha Purnima must be the desire of every Buddhist in Sri Lanka.

Therefore, I suggest that both Colombo and New Delhi work with full seriousness to see that the proposal of a rail corridor between Colombo and Chennai is implemented at its earliest so that even a man with very modest means can fulfil his desire of visiting these places.

National Politics-Congress to piggyback BSP

Congress, the oldest national party, having played a major role in the freedom struggle of the country, is the main partner of the ruling coalition UPA in the Centre by virtue of having won 146 seats in the House of 560 in the elections which were held in 2004.

But, since then, instead of consolidating its position in the various states, it has been losing even where it was in power earlier.

As the situation stands today Andhra Pradesh is the only big state being ruled by Congress though it is ruling Maharatra in coalition with NCP. On the other hand BJP the main opposition party is in power in big states like Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Chhatisgarh and it is also ruling Bihar, Karnatka as the main coalition partner.

Under the situation, it was natural that Congress pulls up all its resources to have a control of India’s biggest and politically most important state UP.

In the last three years Ms. Sonia Gandhi, the President of Congress party and her son Rahul Gandhi who is being projected as the future PM by the Congress party, left no stone unturned to revive the fortune of the party in the state.

But, the caste politics has made things so complex that no single or national party can get majority on its own in UP.

Now when six phases of the polling in the state are already over and Congress has come to realize that it is far behind the other main contenders for power, it is toying the idea of joining hands with BSP, a political outfit founded to give voice to the dalits (low castes) and now being headed by Mayawati.

According to the Exit poll surveys BSP is the front runner. Well, even to make such a scenario succeed, BSP must get minimum 150 seats since Congress is not expected get even 50, to have a simple majority in house of 400, which looks quite unlikely.

Therefore dependence on independents looks inevitable. In the present coalition culture of India, independents are best placed and even before swearing ceremony takes place, they have their investments multiplied many fold.

But, then another very interesting situation can emerge. To keep BSP and Congress out, SP (Samajwadi Party of Mulayam Singh who is currently the Chief Minister) can join hands with its one time archrival BJP.

The coalition culture of the country in the last ten years has proved the dictum that in politics there are no permanent friends and enemies.

The things have boiled down to a level where candidate’s win ability is the sole criterion for his selection by the Political parties and in the process his shady past is totally ignored.

It may look incredulous but there are many such instances when the dacoits carrying reward on their heads have successfully made to the parliament of the country. Phoolan Devi a dacoit queen had two terms in parliament.

Similarly when it comes to forming a Govt., the required number is the sole criterion; ideological differences are put in the back burner.

Reliance Industries continuing with impressive numbers

Reliance Industries, India’s most valuable company with market capitalization of Rs. 222,509 crore, showed a sales turnover of Rs. 110,856 crore for the year ending 31st March, 2007. The profit for the year is Rs. 18,403 crore.

The company is owned by Mukesh Ambani, whose father Late Dhiru Bhai Ambani, a son of a school teacher and a small time sales man, had started this enterprise in seventies.

The company is eying a turnover of Rs. 200,000 crore within next three years consequent to its foray in to retail marketing, another emerging business in India. Incidentally, Mukesh Ambani is at 14th place in the list of the Forbes’ list of rich persons.

Mukesh’s younger brother Anil Ambani, who got control of other group companies Reliance Energy, Reliance Communication and Reliance capital after the family split, is neck to neck with his elder brother and the combined market capitalization of the companies owned by the family is more than 400,000 crore.

There are countless such stories in the last fifteen years of post liberalization period, where the persons from Middle Class have made a name for themselves and for the country on the world Business map.

Anil Agarwal, only a matriculate and who was a scrap dealer in eighties, is today a metal king, dabbles in metals-Aluminum, Zinc & Copper and had his turnover jumping from Rs. 15 crore in 1985 to Rs. 20,000 in March 2007.

Bharti Airtel is owned by Sunil Mittal, who started in late seventies as a manufacturer of cycle parts in a small city Ludhiana in Panjab and with his acumen revolutionized the telecom industry to be a leading player.

Unfazed by the murk created by politicians, India’s middle class is reaching new horizons in the business world. Reason, they have developed global vision and think only globally.

Gere creates furor by kissing Shilpa Shetty

Hollywood actor Richard Gere who is a Buddhist, landed himself in to a great controversy by kissing Bollywood actress in full view of the public.

He has been issued arrest warrants by a local (Jaipur) court. But the action of court has come under severe criticism by the legal experts who feel that a censual kiss between two adults can never be an offence.

However, a section of people feel that since Shilpa and Gere were addressing the gathering on AIDS awareness, they needed to exercise restrain on them.

The Buddhist fraternity at Dharmshala where His Holiness Dalai Lama, the spiritual leader of Tibetan lives was not very forthcoming. May be such an action has nothing to do with Buddhism.

In the meanwhile Shilpa, who reinvented herself with Reality Show Big Brother in UK, has surpassed international celebrities to be reckoned as the uncrowned queen of the cyber World. She is leading on the web search the World Over.

Not only this, she is transforming herself into a businesswoman of sorts and is planning to launch a chain of restaurants in Britain where she has become a household name.

He earned freedom for the country

Mahatma Gandhi is revered and called Father of the Nation, (Bapu) not only because he, by using his principles of non-violence (Ahimsa) made the British quit India and earned freedom for the country , but because his life epitomizes what is the ultimate when it comes to human values.

There is an incident of his life - Mahatma would always move in third class while travelling by train simply because he believed that he had no right to avail higher class when majority population of his country could afford only third class.

He also felt that travelling in lowest class also gave him the opportunity to know about the poorest of the poor of his country.

Not only this, he would decline offer of security by saying that to him security of his people was more important than his own security.

Once when he was travelling by train and was standing near the door of a speeding train, immersed in thoughts, one of his slippers slipped from his foot and fell on the receding ground below.

The moment he realized he dropped the other one also. When someone asked him why, he replied, “One slipper is of no use to me and it would be of no use to him also who finds the dropped one. So I have dropped the second one so that at least he would have a full pair.”

A man who was fighting with the world’s mightiest empire and had entire nation looking to him for direction and guidance would not forget to do small things or would not leave these to others.

He would make time to meet the unshod man. He would take leave from deliberations of national importance to feed and bath the goat he had reared. He has left a billion dollar advice for the rulers of the states and countries-”I will give you a talisman, when in doubt, shut your eyes and think how poorest of poor will be affected by your decision and action” I am confident, most of the problems afflicting the developed as well as developing countries would be over if they follow Mahatma Gandhi but pity is that in his own country, it is reduced to garlanding him on his birthday.

Hymn from Yazur Veda

“Devotion to whatever promotes the good of the world as well as abstinence from all harmful acts is the chief duty of a man. Let a man never associate with those who are atheist and liars, or with those who are indolent, guilty of breach of faith, hypocritical, selfish and deceitful. Let him always move in the society of men who are learned, truthful, pious and have public good at heart. This constitutes good conduct.”