The Krishna Key

Author: Ashwin Sanghi

History based thrillers in the recent past have always been about bringing out the unseen angle to disputable events in the pages of history through interesting characters. Dan Brown, who patronizes the formula with his now famous cinematic approach to writing, stands as a reference for both the readers and the writers of this genre. Half way through Krishna Key, where Ravi Mohan Saini the protagonist of the ‘anthropological thriller’, examines a crime scene oblivious to the fact that he is being framed for that crime & is awaiting imprisonment, the Robert Langdon reference which until then acted as a homage, turns full on scale into an adaptation of the latter. Like Robert Langdon, Ravi Saini too shares an interest in ancient history; which in turn their respective authors use to weave a cat & dog tale between the convoluted purists and pragmatic realists. Not just that, both professors have a sickening fetish for explaining controversial historical events, to the point where we the readers tend to feel like a spectator of a paparazzi show. Beyond the boundaries of  these clichés, while Dan Brown is appreciated for hammering us with ingenious plot twists, his replicator Ashwin Sanghi confines himself with his inspire's limitations, ergo couldn't enthral the us with captivating events.

In the plot summary of the novel, besides dealing with the tryst of Ravi Saini, the book promises to talk about a serial killer who presumes the role of Lord Kalki. As eerily intriguing as it could be, Ashwin Sanghi lays a bigger labyrinth for the mystical character in the beginning of the novel, only to lose all steam as the plot thickens with more characters. It would have been tolerable to undermine a key character if it were to be compensated by far better ones, but unfortunately the trade-off only gives us obnoxious know-it-all caricatures whose only agenda is to move the stale plot forward.

The above mentioned glaringly dull characterizations apart, Krishna Key has a promising premise by it side; and with its in-depth hypothesis on hindu way of life and Indian history in a broader sense, the book does keeps its target audience hooked till almost the end. But a book doesn't become a good read just because of its allegiance to the history of its native readers. The compelling narration & the poetic flow of language used for it should always be the main reason for cherishing it. But for the Indian readers who are immersed in the romantic age of Bollywood novels, these things don't matter.

I was introduced to Ashwin Sanghi’s scheming world through Chanakya’s Chant, a modern day adaptation of Chanakya’s political shrewdness. While it had its moments of sheer brilliance, it wasn't able to warrant my complete attention. Nevertheless, in a space filled by romantic urban novels, it sure came as a breath of fresh air to many a readers like me. Channeling my thoughts that way, Ashwin’s latest offering ‘Krishna Key’ with its straightforward narrative, turned out to be a page turner in the true sense. No wonder, for someone who completed Chanakya’s Chant in a week, it took only one sitting in a single day to complete Krishna key for me; and that matters the most here.

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Westernization of India

An old man with long grey hair once dreamt of a developed nation; a nation that would truly be called a superpower by 2020. We may have to wait 7 more years to know whether we have come close to achieving even half of the tall and ambitious dream, but we all can be certain that we are living the American dream, the epitome of westernization (at least in our perception).

If we take a tour in our streets, be it in the cities or villages, we could see the youth, driven by the glittering stars of the silver screen, are transforming themselves into dandies and divas, idolizing and yet most of the times imitating the stars. Albeit purchasing power being a hindrance, the cheaper clones in the grey market do satiate their quench. But their thirst isn’t just for the clothes, gadgets or the effusing language of the western civilization which the stars emulate; for our streets are now thronged by the world market, while our schools shell out millions of ‘qualified’ professionals for the world to ride over. In reality their unfeigned thirst is the liberty to live life the way one wants to be. That exactly is the westernization today’s youth are striving for.

Cynical people bicker that in the process of individualization (a by-product of westernization), people are losing their family values & sacred culture. Though it is true that our virtues have taken a beating due to the liberalization that ensued westernization, we should also remember that this sacred culture hasn’t been with us from the birth of time. What these detractors fail to realize is that with every transformation there lies a bleak phase. This best way to come out of the perplexed state is the way forward and not retraction.

But the real question about westernization is yet to be enquired by the jeering crowd. Westernization as one assumes, isn’t just about the luxury or freedom; nor does it ask for one to lose his firm base on the holy culture as the mocking crowd thinks. Westernization is the perseverance to strive hard for what one wants. Take our company as an example. When the plant stops due to quality problem, we turn some levers and grind some panels and somehow resume production. Of course we will find a better solution during the weekend, but what is the state of the products that were produced till then? Would that happen in any American or German company?

Deep down, we all are living examples of the motto ‘chaltha hai bhai’. Whenever there is an issue we say ‘let’s adjust’ or ‘let’s forgive’. If someone comes forwards to solve an issue we tell him ‘let’s not strain much’. In reality we only want to live a pampered and cushioned life, but not want to work hard to attain it. In short our sense of priorities is haywire. Until we start aligning our thoughts in the way our friends in the west do, we would never become a developed nation.

A little push is all they need: boys & girls

The other day I got a message from a guy, a nice fellow who I got to know through a common friend. The message was about his doubt in one software tool. The moment I read the message I could predict the contents of the next 20 message exchange that is going to happen between us. It would start with me giving an 'I donno much in that area' reply, followed by his message asking doubt on some other function of the same software. When I would dismiss that as well, though dejected, he would crank his brain some more to come up with an intelligent question at least by then. At one point he would eventually succeed in asking something I really know. When I tell him that ‘you just have to click download to get a file from internet’, he would start praising me sky-high for the timely help. By then all my patience would have gone & I would give some lame excuse to escape further boredom. My callousness would surely have deterred him, yet without letting his chin down, he would give some cheesy goodbye line and depart.

Having known this guy for some time now, I would suggest you all not to think on the lines of gender preference here (Being gay isn't wrong btw). With the growing liberalization in the minds of our people, I feel we should accredit the fact that adulation over people is not confined only to the opposite gender. When you like a person, you will want to speed time with them, some way or the other. While I rarely get to experience such situations, almost all girls would have had to meet at least one person with a fake agenda every day. Their pitchers are so poor that the girls either dismiss them completely or enjoy the moment of glorious attention. They basically would be making a fool out of those guys.

When that common friend wanted to seek my attention towards him, I could have easily dismissed him right away as I said above. Having been in the other side of the turf all my life, I know how desperate people could get. It only means whether I like it or not, they would ultimately waste some of my time. I am not going to say that girls should be receptive of the flirtatious people who throng their feet. But, wouldn't it be useful and kind if we could bring meaning to the time we spend with them, rather than be remorseful? Once I realized neither was he going to stop boring me with irrelevant questions nor was he going to leave me, I pondered over his area of expertise that could be of useful to me. When we struck on similar cord, the path thereon was really exciting.

I always believe everyone in this world has something to offer to us. If girls (and guys as well) are hell bent on limiting their interactions only with attractive people who could entertain them, their frigid attitude will let them miss out on the countless chances they get to be with some of the best minds of the world. No one is that lucky that all the intellectual wealth comes directly into their hands. Most of the time one has to seek what he wants. Sometimes it could be concealed beneath a pile of rock. A little push is all that is needed to bring out the gem. 

Into the Lion's den

When my company guys had a security breach in their hearts.

From the den of brethren, came the roar of the Kings.

If one had the mane, Other had the brawn;

Yet none yearned to be the King of Kings.

Along came a herd of Queens, into the path of the Kings.

Was it the scent of heat? They may never know,

Was it the infectious eyes? They realized later,

That drew them towards the pride of Queens.

While one flashed his mane, the other flaunted his brawn;

One by one, everyone fell at the feet of the alluring Queens.

In the den of brethren, came the roar of the Kings.

If one tore the mane, the other trounced with his brawn;

Thus everyone fought to be the King of Kings.

Birth of a man

Every story should have a beginning & so this story begins with a 15 year old boy sitting in a hesitating posture.  Neither was he in love, nor was he about to commit crime. He was sitting in a barber shop, contemplating how to garner courage. He needed that, because he knew the barber was about to use unsterilized blade on him; yet again. As the barber moved toward him flashing the bio-weapon, the boy’s eyes were transfixed: not due to fear, for he had forcefully overcome it 6 years earlier by jumping from his two-storey building (into a sand-pit btw) repeatedly till it became fun. His only concern was not to hurt the barber by pointing out his lack of general awareness. You see, as a younger boy whilst adulating the patience & bravado of Karnan (a character from Mahabharata), his imaginative relative infused in him a lie that his bloodline is that of a Kshatriya’s. It didn’t take him long enough (till he woke up that morning) to realise the truth about his lineage, but that didn’t erase the pride he had for embracing pain.  The joy of overkilling fear & the impish whim to welcome pain seemed cool to start with. But it hurt. It hurt when he was brought back to reality by the pain the barber had inflicted by ‘mistakenly’ cutting the skin of a child seated next to him.

‘How dare you say it’s a mistake?’ - shouted a voice. Tons of blurring sentences later, the boy took that child to his home, with a sense of pride seeping from his eyes. It wasn’t about righteousness or rationalism, for he knew he wasn’t versed enough to differentiate right over wrong. Instead, in the age of individualism he banked on his intuition. That was why he stood up against the thugs who thought seniority can get them anything. It didn’t hurt when they hit him; as it only took a little push against gravity to make them all choke. But what hurt the most was that he was waging a lonely battle for his haplessly incognizant fellowmen.

That day he could have walked past those people; but couldn’t bring himself to leave the society however unbecoming it was turning itself to be. Hence he stayed an outlaw, yet not as an outsider, ready to be summoned during the times of troubles. Neither did he do it for honour, nor for glory. He did it only because his intuitive mind told that it had to be done.  Yet his intuitions never were able to find the missing puzzle that would complete him. It wasn’t merely a mathematical puzzle that could dwell deep into the three dimensions of space. It was way beyond the four dimensions known to man that which would make him the learnt & the learner, the empowered as well as the overpowered.

People say good things happen when its least expected. True to that, on a sunny day, the eternal light cast its ray on the scrupulous boy. Before he could comprehend the meaning of it all, the plane took off using the surge of momentum. There was the thunder, the wind and the rain. But above them all was the ray of hope. It became his strength but as it so happens it was his greatest weakness as well. For things that land in your hands can either be crushed or be protected, as he flaunted & espoused his pride, he ended up crushing it before realization struck. They weren’t the torn pieces of paper which could be stuck together; they were the shattered pieces of a mirror which would only reflect the ruined image thereafter. Hence, stranded, lost and only the hapless people to turn back to, the boy for the first time got tired of being with people who make him feel like an alpha male.

Every story should have a beginning & so this story begins with the boy wanting to turn himself to a man.

Construal of the existing

We may be fighting the war alone, but we have to remember that we are not the only one fighting the war.

In the world we live in, we cajole us into believing that everyone is unique in their actions. Actions result from circumstances that occur only to us & it can never really happen to someone else at the same time, in same combination & sequence. As a consequence, we tell ourselves that the outcome of our efforts cannot be compared with others who tried the same thing albeit in a different manner. On the contrary, we fail to realise that in the world we live in, as a result of globalization and uniformity, every social activity has already been done by someone else. So even if you tell that his life is different from yours, you can’t escape the fact that comparison is inevitable.

Take any example: preparation for exams, making a movie, Office work, relationship issues. In almost every one of these situations, due to the variation in absorbing the knowledge from the world, the approach can vary slightly; but only slightly, because, we all have been conditioned in the same environment and taught the same lessons; alas in different manners.  So even though there is bound to be some deviation in the way we approach our life, due to the standardization of life lessons we are all basically different manifestation of the same entity. Therefore, if someone who had grown up in the same milieu, tells that the preparation for an entry exam can be completed in 3-4 months, you can also do it within the same time period, give or take few days. The deviation in time happens only to fill the gap in knowledge and alacrity that the benchmarked person had over you. But one has to remember that, that person maybe weak in something in which you have a better grasp.

With the illustrations mentioned above, it would seem I am taking only the generalised activities in the social milieu which warrants minimal creativity. But the comparison isn't merely among oranges and apples. It is among numerous variants of oranges and apples. Though separated by mutation & evolution, if we strip down the complexities that circumvent these genera & look at them in a holistic manner, they primarily are oranges. And so is tomato a fruit. The point I am trying to raise here is that no matter how unorthodox & out of the box one’s thinking & execution maybe, as long as we base our analysis on preexisting materials we can never proclaim to have done something new. It is not like we created a new world to see something new. Even if such a surreal event is to happen, as long as we reckon it with our existing knowledge we can’t claim it to be ours. Suppose humans were to see world through the brains of a lion things might look different.

But, if we keep on turning blind eyed over the fact that we are all the same people working on the same agenda, we will eventually become complacent over the outcome of our efforts. People like Selvaraghavan are the epitome of the case I am trying to put forth here. Overridden by the self-pride that they are doing something unique, they skip over the fact that they need to do it well. Granted, they might be pushing the frontiers in many aspects, but without the imbibition of existing achievements, the leap forward will end up only being a limping one. 

Give me more, for that is all I want

Along came a note from eternal sunshine,

Along with it came the joy of life;

Or so I thought.

Happiness weakened me,

Success softened me,

Confidence overrode me,

Laurels cajoled me,

Hope subjugated me,

Liberty entrapped me;

And I had nowhere to belong.

Give me back the pain, my Lord, for I want to feel alive,

Give me more pain, for I want to be primed,

Give me more pain, for I want to find a way,

Give me more pain, for I want the blood to rush to my head again,

Give me more pain, for I want to fight for my right,

Give me more pain, for I want to be reminded who I am and who I was.

Give me more pain, my Lord, because I can endure it all;

Give me more pain, because that is where I belong. 

It isn't a deadlock when you can come out of it

The other day I was travelling in bike towards Mount road. Due to the construction of Metro rail system there was a lot of traffic congestions & diversions. As a result we got delayed by 10 odd minutes. While I wasn’t complaining, my friend was angry for the delay allegedly caused by the inefficiency of the traffic police. It is not only my friend who feels that way, I see countless people complaining about the deadlock in roads. It is one thing to complain on the traffic jam when it is caused by Party meetings and accidents, but another to complain on something that which is bound to happen. In our busy lives we certainly don’t want to be bogged down by someone else, especially by unknown sources. But it is all the more wrong to distance oneself from the society and naming it as unknown source.

As our finances and personal requirements grow we make a lot of changes to the place we live in. It starts with relocating the furniture, to renovating the house, till adding a new floor to the building. We certainly aren’t bogged down by these changes because we know that they are for our betterment and hence take responsibility for that. Some may argue that these changes are done as per their requirements and at their convenience. To all of them, just think of your family members. There will certainly be someone who isn’t comfortable with the changes you are making in the house that they too live in. Yet they adjust and co-exist. To all of them who think these projects are improperly planned, sometimes your carefully planned schedule goes haywire due to some mistake on the constructor’s fault. So on the day you ought to attend an important meeting, you need to be at home monitoring the roof laying activity. You don’t cancel your meeting, at the same time you don’t postpone the roof laying activity as well. Somehow you meet ends and try to squeeze in both into your day.  Standing in the hot sun after rushing home from the meeting, as you look at the construction site, you get an unadulterated glee of seeing your dream come alive in front of you. The shouts of your boss, the unreasonable taxi guy who milked you understanding your emergency, nothing matters anymore. This amount of dedication and perseverance comes in, because you are so enamoured by the outcome of the project, that even at your wits’ end, you don’t give up.

When I see the earth movers digging the rubbish whilst the big cranes erecting ginormous beams, I don’t see disturbance in the form of road blockage. I see the city growing in front of me. Like a father who cherishes every moment of his daughter’s growth, I stand there to see the mammoth machines changing the face of the earth, the sky and in turn our lives. But are they for the betterment of the city? Like how a father gives a chance for the school that his daughter studies in to improve her, we would have to give a chance for the elected to make some changes to the city hoping for some betterment. For it is only by change, be it good or bad, can we get a chance for betterment.

To those who can’t see through my eyes, all I can ask is to try to be part of the system rather than complaining about it. When we got confused by the diversions that were placed, I noticed a policeman standing near the sign board ready to guide whoever was lost in the fuzzy layout. Not just there, there were policemen deployed at various locations to ease our troubles. Instead of complaining we should try to appreciate their efforts.

But for how long should we tolerate it, people ask to me. First there was the guindy flyover, and then came the Koyambedu junction, now the Metro rail system. Amidst these, there are the road repair and relaying activities as well. When will we get to bear the fruit? If the fruit is a city that will change into a dreamland in a jiffy like in Shankar movies, then you are better off in the dreamland. During the Guindy project, the whole of Tambaram and every other route connected to the major junction was caught in a deadlock for hours daily. So I needed to take the train instead. During the Koyambedu project, the traffic jam wasn’t that severe & yet I had the option to use the then finished guindy flyover or the Arcot road. Now with the Metro rail, I see even better strategic planning & organized approach to the whole project which has let me not to search for an alternative. This, my dear people is the fruit of patience.

To all those who want the world around them not to change, they should remember that the world doesn’t stop rotating, and the earth doesn’t stop changing. It is we who have to get along with the change.

A Quarter for Free: Who is to pay?

Education, even though morally & legally ought to be treated as non-profitable venture, akin to social service, is unfortunately seen as a money bearing tree. Even the reputed schools, known for quality education, are increasingly favouring the riches to meet the acclimating expenditures and to pocket some profit for the imaginative lean period. On the occasion of tamizh New Year, came delightful news from the Supreme Court of the nation that 25% of school seats should be allotted for financially backward students aged till 14 years. When this act comes into practice next academic year, classrooms that once were filled with students from the affluent society, who were all cushioned from the trivial perils of day to day life, will hence be filled with representatives from a plethora of communities bringing with them their own baggage for the new community to observe, analyse and learn.

Going back in time, when this act was announced, a lot of angry voices raised against it from the private institutions’ side, which felt the act with eat away all its revenue. Like in any act, when such voices raises we are accustomed to hearing news that some amendment has been made to appease the concern parties: meaning the law makers were pleased by the offer the parties had made. But it was rather surprising that the highest court thwarted their effort. But sneaking in the clause that residential & non-aided minority institutions don’t come under this purview does raise eyebrows.

While people keep debating on the grey side of the deal, there are some gaping holes that aren’t touched upon by the all praising media. In a country where literacy rate is at an abysmal level due to financial constraints, 25% seats of the current schools will be handed over to the underprivileged, thereby hopefully reducing the illiteracy rate among the hapless. But without increasing the infrastructure or at least the strength of the school, what will happen of the very people the poor will replace? Will the institutions be generous enough to pump in more money to provide facilities for the increased head count? Or will the standards deteriorate due to increased strength in a class? Suppose we assume that the institution has come forward to provide the facilities for the increased strength, who will be donor? The onus will now rely on common man, who is already paying taxes for the underprivileged to get all the benefits that the government is offering only to them. I am all for sponsoring a child’s education, but I at least want to be respected for that, rather than be treated as some capitalist who drinks red wine by sucking the blood out of the labourers.

But these aren't the real problems that the system will face. The most imperative issue is the means by which poverty is classified. Certainly we won’t be taking the Ahluwaila route, but we can’t take the income tax as cogent evidence as well. During my school days, the richest man in Vadapalani was quoting his annual income as a quarter of what my father, a proper bourgeois, was earning.  Now why should we pay for people like them?  Will we then use the tired & continuously ridiculed formula of terming people poor since their forefathers belonged to SC,OBC & BC and thereby bring the caste system into schools as well?

Maybe the government plans to use the yet to be completed/released data of the 2011 census which promises to bring about a mammoth change in how we see our population. Till then let hope spring in the Brest. 

To those liberators with Kolaveri

Not so long ago came a song that marched into the lives of every citizen of this virtual world, the minute it went online. Before people could fathom what the fuzz was all about, what the lyrics meant, what language it was based on, it jelled into our lives like the dress we wear every day. Be it sarcasm, anger or disappointment, the catch phrase of the song became the cue for all and sundry.  

When something out of the blue gets a standing ovation there is bound to be a group for stripping everything off from it. Little did it realise that the whole world was wearing the dress of rage.  Soon enough, the active world which fights over inconsequential issues, got neck deep in a debate to decide on the sanctity of everything it couldn’t preserve in reality. The saviours of tamil, music, culture and most importantly woman freedom couldn’t get enough of the controversy.  While I loved the quirky style of the song (yes I believe it is a song – after all we did accept even a tribal grumbling as a song) it was amusing to see how hatred was spreading around it. Was it because a lean chalk piece of a man with no great looks, but with all the luck by chance, got catapulted to superstardom by just rambling about for 3 ½ minutes? Or was it out of anger at the deteriorating taste of the masses which accepted the daft lyrics and the sloppy tune? I did stick with the latter reason because those who were behind the propaganda were the intelligent fools I respect. I even tried to reason out with them that it is not worth spending time debating on it, that the lyrics doesn’t have a meaning and is just there to produce a rhyming sound & it should only be valued as an immensely entertaining song. But the moment I termed it as an entertaining song, nothing else mattered & the debate continued as to how I can term it as entertaining when it was devaluing everything we should be known for.

To all those self-appointed liberators who are crying foul at how irresponsible the song is, I have only this to say - In a world filled with gold, diamond, Ferrari, people who can afford them still buy fake ornaments & nanos because of the simple fact that it’s convenient & hassle free. In the real world that my dear liberators live in, when their chips are down, the first word that comes out of their mouth (be it a guy or a girl) is ‘fuck’ & not ‘oh dear holy God’. Maybe they can’t understand what I mean, because they are busy ‘lamo’ over the indecent proposals & sexist remarks that are being passed on as jokes in BBT & HIMYM.

So why this Kolaveri on those people when the euphoria surrounding the song is dying down? It is because after a long time I switched on FM only to hear this song.

This song represents everything that was talked against Kolaveri & everything beyond that. So why haven’t the so called liberators come forward to protest against this uncomely song which vehemently proclaims to be the male chauvinist that Kolaveri didn’t plan to be?

Sanity of willpower

I am no philosopher or a psychology specialist, but having observed some of the unique minds the world has to offer, has given me some wonderful answers and even more puzzling questions.  One topic on which I keep on pondering lately is the willpower to remain sane. As an interjection, it is perfectly fine to question the very function of sanity here. People would define sanity as the ability to arrive at a sound judgment on right over the wrong. But here again arises the question of what is right & wrong and what code it bases itself on, which would lead to who set the rules & what right does he have to do so and so on & so forth. But cutting the long story short, I feel, sanity is the ability to foresee the impact of one’s action, in order to avoid it when it could lead to disturbance of one’s own peace or and that of others’. In lame words, it is all about being honest about your intentions & while fulfilling it, taking care not to hurt the sensibilities of others. These intentions may be right or wrong, rational or whimsical, but as long as one feels one can deal with any and every impact of the action on self and till one feels it won’t disturb the path of others involved in that action, one can do anything he wants.

While the theory on sanity sounds very convincing, it isn’t easy to apply it in every step of one’s life. When someone hits you, your impulse tells you to beat the shit out of that person without carrying for the aftermath. And when that person gets back the blows, his impulse will only tell him to prolong the fight but not to act maturely & cease the conquest. In these kinds of situations when attacked emotionally, people become educated illiterates. Which is why we see scholars perplex over real time problems while a street smart, well, behaves smart. But these conflict of interests aren’t confined to the external world. Willpower to do the right thing is basically an internal process wherein the battle is for the negative impact of the animal instincts, which doesn’t care for the future, to be subdued as much as possible.

Essentially, for a person to avoid deeper pitfalls it would be better to watch his life from a third person’s point of view & analyze the events. That was how I was able to stand up to bullies & death threats (yes I did face them from real criminals, whether you believe it or not) without running away from the scene or over enthusiastically charging back at them. When you feel your stand is reasonable, a sense of pride enters your heart, pumping ounces of courage to face any kind of danger to the inner peace. At the end of the day you know deep down, by resisting from giving-in, you are clearly in control of your life. Isn’t that what inner peace is all about in a skewed way: you steering your life smoothly in a path you want to be in than be blown away by the torrid wind.

But life doesn’t give it that easy does it? The path one set to sail will surely have alluring detours which would alter the course of our life, if one were to take it. A man at this juncture depends only on his practice of righteousness to choose over the right path for him. What happens if he were to slip away from his alertness & take a wrong turn? What happens if he were to inadvertently do something that he was up against all his life? What will happen is that, his willpower, the sole embodiment of his being, gets shattered into pieces. It would take eons to find those pieces so that he could mend them & rise back to his normal being. A clear mind devoid of internal conflict can only save a person from making such catastrophic mistakes.

To sum up, life is like a roller coaster which will rattle you out of your senses only when you start to believe that things are going smooth. I am not saying being cautious in every step we take will be an answer to every problem in life. But it will surely reduce the size of the problem from a tormenting nightmare which will haunt you for the rest of your life, to one that could be solved before you go to sleep, so that the next day starts afresh.