Thursday, December 22, 2011

North Korea & India: Drawing parallels between the two worlds

Happened to revisit a old you tube video on North Korea. Very long documentary but worth watching




I feel sorry for the poor souls who are starving because of a regime that wants tight control on its people. Now that their 2nd great leader, Kim Jong Il is summoned by Gods to help them in their heavenly abode(well propaganda machina can create and destroy any thing out of blue) , I pray that those tormented souls in North Korea get some food to eat, place to live and basic medical facilities in the new regime.

Assuming you watched this video and understood the propaganda work, let us consider a more Indian scenario. Our very own great leader , first prime minister of India loves children very much and hence we celebrate 14th Nov every year as 'Children's day'. Out of the 7 years of my schooling, I have never read a instance of our beloved leader being interested in Children's business. These are the very textbooks our government prepared to educate the future of India carefully editing out the unwanted and uncomfortable history. Then why isn't even a single instance of how our beloved leader loved kids elucidated in those books. The way this propaganda machinery deviced this beautiful tale makes me wonder : Are we any different from those people living their lives cut off from the world , believing the words from the books on their face value?.

May be I know too little ! Any comments and references to this are most welcome.


Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Beauty of Brotherhood: Lessons from Ramayana

Bhadrachalam is a small temple town on the banks of river Godavari. The town is known for 'Kondanda Ramalayam', a temple dedicated to Sri Rama. One striking feature of this temple is that Lakshmana is on the left side of Rama. A small background story for this elucidates how much Rama cared for his brother Lakshmana.

Once sage Bhadra performed deep penance for Lord Rama. Pleased with his penance Vishnu in his full form came before him and asked to wish for anything he wants. Bhadra solemnly refused Lord Vishnu's form and said politely that he wasn't expecting Vishnu in Vishnu's form and that he is seeking Rama even though it is quite evident that Rama is an avatar of Lord Vishnu. Rama hurriedly appeared before him along with Sita and Lakshmana. Even when he is rushing to a demanding bhakta,  Rama never forgot taking his brother with him. One could clearly note that Lakshmana is standing on the left side unlike the traditional right side of Rama, a place where Lakshmana is always seen. Even though Bhadra din't specifically ask for Lakshmana, Rama and Lakshmana are one package. They cannot be separated. Wherever Rama goes Lakshmana will be there.

A picture of the place and its history can be seen  here