Rishikesh

My Twitter account has been hacked. Pl ignore all messages. I will quarantine it for a week now. Your account may be under attack too. Change your password.

My Twitter account was hacked. Yours may be under attack too Pl ignore all messages. Change your password

I wrote an article for the Kannada lit website wwww.Kendasampige.com http://www.kendasampige.com/article.php?id=3094 -ಗದಗ್ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ ಸಮ್ಮೇಳನ ಗಂಡಸರ ಮೂತ್ರವೇನು ಗೊಮೂತ್ರವೇ? ಗದಗಿನಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆದ ೭೬ನೇ ಸಾಹಿತ್ಯ ಸಮ್ಮೇಳನದ ಬಗೆಗಿನ ಯಾವುದೇ ಲೇಖನಕ್ಕೆ ಕೊಡಬಹುದಾದ ಅತಿ ಉತ್ತಮ ಟೈಟಲ್ ಅಂದರೆ ಇದು. ಈ ಮಾತನ್ನು ಹೇಳಿದವರು ಗುಲ್ಬರ್ಗಾದ ಸಾಹಿತಿ ಹಾಗು ಮಹಿಳಾ ಹೋರಾಟಗಾರ್ತಿ ಮಲ್ಲಿಕಾ ಘಂಟಿ ಅವರು. ಗಂಡಸರು ಗೋವುಗಳಂತೆ ಸಾಧೂ ಪ್ರಾಣಿಗಳೆಂದೂ, ಅವರಿಗೆ ಸಂಬಂಧ ಪಟ್ಟ ಎಲ್ಲ ವಸ್ತುಗಳೂ ಪವಿತ್ರವೆಂದೂ ಇದರ ಅರ್ಥ ಖಂಡಿತ ಅಲ್ಲ. ಮಹಿಳೆ ಮತ್ತು ಬದುಕು ಎಂಬ ಗೋಷ್ಠಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಮಾತನಾಡಿದ ಅವರು, ಹೆಂಗಸರು ಹಾಗೂ ಗಂಡಸರು ಬಳಸುವ ಶೌಚಾಲಯ ಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ನಡೆಯುವ ತಾರತಮ್ಯದ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ತಿಳಿಸುವಾಗ ಈ ಕಣ್ಣಿಗೆ ಕಟ್ಟುವಂಥಹ ಉದಾಹರಣೆ ನೀಡಿದರು. '' ಗಂಡಸರ ಶೌಚಾಲಯಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಮೂತ್ರಕ್ಕೆ ಶುಲ್ಕ ಇಲ್ಲ. ಸಂಡಾಸಕ್ಕೆ ಮಾತ್ರ ಇದೆ. ಆದರೆ ಹೆಂಗಸರ ಶೌಚಾಲಯಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಮೂತ್ರಕ್ಕೂ ದುಡ್ಡು ಕೊಡಬೇಕು. ಬಡ ಹಳ್ಳಿಯ ಹೆಣ್ಣು ಮಕ್ಕಳ ಹತ್ತಿರ ಊಟಕ್ಕೇ ಕಾಸಿರುವುದಿಲ್ಲ. ಅಂಥದ್ದರಲ್ಲಿ ಮೂತ್ರಕ್ಕೆ ಹಣ ಕೊಡಿ ಎಂದರೆ ಹೆಂಗೆ ? ಅಷ್ಟಕ್ಕೂ ಈ ಬೇಧಭಾವ ಏಕೆ? ಗಂಡಸರ ಮೂತ್ರವೇನು ಗೊಮೂತ್ರವೇ?'' ಎಂದು ಅವರು ಕೇಳಿದ್ದು. ನಲ್ಲಿ ನೀರು ಇನ್ನು ಸಮ್ಮೇಳನ ಅಧ್ಯಕ್ಷರೊಡನೆ ಸಂವಾದದಲ್ಲಿ ನೆನಪಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಉಳಿವಂಥಹ ಮಾತು ಗಳನ್ನು ಆಡಿದವರು ಸಾಹಿತಿ ಮೀ...

What is with celebrity endorsement? Ever wondered why celebrities endorse products? Better still, ever wondered what happens to things and events that are endorsed by celebrities? Sometimes at least, I think celebrity endorsement does more harm than good to genuinely good products. Here is the latest example. Hollywood heartthrob and neo -Buddhist Richard Gere has said that the area around Bodh Gaya should be declared a vegetarian zone. This happened in Mahabodhi Mahavihara at Bodh Gaya in Bihar, India on January 7, 2010. Or at least that is what the media tell us. It has been reported that he said this while he was attending a conference in Bodh Gaya. Buddhists consider Bodh Gaya a holy place as Lord Buddha is believed to have attained enlightenment here. If it is true, Richard Gere is wrong. Buddhism, sometimes called the fastest growing religion in the world, does not advocate vegetarianism. I don’t know about its growth rate, but I know one thing for sure. It is one of the most unc...

The Government of India has announced that per capita income of Indians has reached an average of $2 per day. However, the poverty line is not far behind. It stays at $1 per day. This set me thinking about so many things. Hmmm. What would Steven Levitt say about this?

Rishikesh Bahadur Desai Create Your Badge

I wrote this to initiate a discussion in the media appreciation group Column9, on the Digital Rights Management bill scheduled to come up in the winter session. My friend and digital evangelist NAM Ismail of Prajavani was supposed to speak to the group about it. This piece was to break ice. Whenever I think of my friend Ismail, I am reminded of an old joke. There was this nerdy university professor who was always looking for new things. He began work on a new dictionary of English, in which each word had the exact opposite meaning. Thus, in his dictionary, `go’ became `come’, and `fast’ became `slow’. He got so involved in creating the dictionary that he began speaking the new found language. This led to a situation where people laughed at him whenever he spoke, and he laughed at them whenever they spoke. I don’t mean to say this is what explains Ismail’s enigmatic, omnipresent smile. Now, Ismail wants to talk about DRM. As he has tried to explain it, it has become Dead Rights Managem...

-The problem with religion is that most people end up discussing conversion. It is like a discussion on agriculture stopping at the monsoons. Conversion is a phenomenon that can be endlessly debated. But the truth is that conversion has been inevitable throughout history. Conversion of individuals or at the levels of the masses, have always brought change in this world. Most reformers have either converted to a new faith or created waves of proselytism. Buddha was a Hindu Kshatriya, who influenced half the world, from Afghanistan to Japan. He was born a Hindu, but famously changed his mind. Similar are the stories of Mahaveera and Guru Nanak. Can we time travel and annul all such attempts? Will the world be any better then? Anyone who has visited a church cant miss the letters INRI inscribed on The Cross. The Latin inscription expands as IESVS·NAZARENVS·REX·IVDÆORVM, and translates as ``Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews’’. So why are Christians talking about Jesus? If the Fable of A...

I tried to find out what is Love Jihad. First I thought it referred to the fights at home, with your college sweetheart whom you married after a long courtship. If such people were to be hanged, as someone in Mangalore has suggested, I would be among the first to leave this world. Later, I read an article and found out that it was something to do with marrying girl from a different community. Even then I would be hanged, as I am a follower of Shankara and my wife’s ancestors were from Udupi, the land of Madhwacharya! Ismail says he does not know who coined the term. I know. Well, almost. ``Love Jehad’’, is a catchy blurb. I strongly suspect this was born in a news room. Newsrooms are places where people argue on what is creative and what is destructive. And as you know, all arguments don’t lead to the truth. There seems to be a sudden surge in the number of people who believe something like Love Jihad exists. I don’t know whether Manoj Night Shyamalan, who makes films about the `fear o...

Here is an interesting story about Bodhisatva and Charvaka. Buddha was reborn a monk. One day, he was wandering in the jungles surrounding the Anantha Pindaka Buddha Vihara. He saw that an ugly looking man was sitting under a tree, eating something. The man looked at Bodhisatva and asked him who he was. Bodhisatva introduced himself. Charvaka replied: ``Oh you are the famous monk who sits for hours in the Vihara doing nothing and begs for food!’’ I am Charvaka the famous agnostic. I am eating a chicken I stole from a farmer’s backyard. Here is the pot of ghee I stole from a shop’’. Charvaka invites Bodhisatva for lunch. And then, the two enjoy a lunch, chatting and joking. This is Bodhisatva legend and not all of them are true. But then, I was reminded of this story when US President Barak Obama wished he would dine with Mahatma Gandhi. I am sure Gandhiji would have accepted the invite if he were to be alive. He would have carried his favourite dishes; peanuts, goat milk and ground whe...

“In this land of Gandhi, it appears that nobody follows Gandhi… Follow the Gandhian principle of ’see no evil’. Why do you not simply switch off the TV? “We have very good advice for you. You have got two judges sitting here who do not watch TV at all. It will certainly help. Individual ideas of morality are not the business of the court. We are not sitting here for moral policing… You approach the Parliament and get the remedy. “The courts cannot be expected to deal with issues that involve different individual perceptions.” “Our culture is no so fragile that it will be affected by one TV show. Moreover, nobody in his individual capacity can be allowed to take upon the social order and ask for directions. “You are asking us to entertain an area which deals with perceptions and opinions. Further, morality yardsticks are to be decided by the government. We cannot decide the issue. We are not sure whether the show has brought out the truth of many people but it is certain that it has bro...

Hindustani music maestro Gangubai Hangal is dead. There was only one Gangubai. No one can take her place. This is what I can manage to say today.

Social Media in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo .

Twitter in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo .

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