All of India awaits, nervously, the HC verdict today on Ayodhya and the rights of the land that came into conflict 19 years ago. Having said that, it's also important to remember it probably came into conflict earlier when Moghul marauders invaded and conquered most of the land (via force not intellect). The Indian media has characterized this as the verdict on Ayodhya, not of the disputed land ownership within a district of UP, what was once part of Ayodhya the kingdom. This slightest stretch of the vernacular is an important one not to lose sight of. Like the verdict of the Ram Setu, it has characterized this as a verdict on the source of the story itself, the god, the legend and therefore the faith. Gullible as the people are, we've bought into this characterization completely.

We also follow keenly the list of Bollywood filmstars pleading for peace, for harmony and for unity. Of course they would. Who'd go watch expensive movies if people fear for their security and the police impose curfews? No doubt a few like Amitabh Bachchan, who is from UP, have more genuine intentions, but I'm sorry, Indian moviestars who've cheated on and left spouses, driven over sleeping beggars, been arrested or caught with possession of controlled substances, caught speaking with underworld dons, whose world tours are financed by shady racketeers, and in possession of Ak-47s aren't counted amongst those I get my dose of daily morality from.

The point is, I cannot imagine all this tamasha (drama) happening elsewhere. I do not see at any point during our lifetimes, a high court verdict being entertained, let alone passed on 'Jerusalem', 'Mecca', 'Sri Lanka', 'Malaysia', 'Indonesia' or any other land that houses ancient marvels of religious and spiritual importance, that may have been superimposed with a more recent structure, of the same or another millenium, of equal religious importance to someone else. It just won't happen. The 'Ground zero mosque' controversy is the most recent example of a similar argument, this time in the West.

That India's even this far along, is proof enough to me that we're secular. Secularism isn't the forced, judicial, or social subjugation of any one group's faith/religion at the cost of another's and I reject Mahesh Bhatt, the far-right amongst the RSS and others for suggesting it. It isn't even a religious tolerance. Tolerance, while lovely sounding, is pathetic, and below what we are capable of as humans, when you dissect the word's meaning. To paraphrase Sri Sri Ravi Shankar, tolerance is a hesitant and/or unwilling acceptance of ideas, thoughts and cultures, usually different from my own, often underlining the hesitant and unwilling part, while subscripting the acceptance part. Ask yourself, why would you have to tolerate that which you readily accept? You only tolerate that which you cannot stand. Mutual 'respect' and not tolerance is what we should be striving for instead. Respect for those of other religions, cultures, ages, tongues, nations of origin and sexual orientations. 

I respect every Hindu's, Muslim's, Parsi's, Christian's, Sikh's, Jew's, Baha'i's, Buddhist's, Atheist's (and others I've inadvertently left out) right to practise (or not) their religion for themselves and their families. I equally respect and adore India for being different than every other country in supporting an individuals right to do so for the last 1000 years. That should be our pledge of religious allegiance.

Everyone knows Ayodhya for what it is, the way we know what Nazareth, Jerusalem, Mecca, Gaya or Amritsar are. Will I, as an Indian, be respected, tolerated, or neither, for thinking so? I'm afraid to find out.

An amulet I always love to see on someone's desk is the laughing Buddha. 

While meant to be powerful, this particular form is usually presented as small, rotund, drunk-happy and jolly in appearance. These are some of the most highly sought after souvenirs in China and Nepal and are available in all sorts of materials such as wood, teak, rosewood, sandalwood etc. Some believe a vigorous 'rub' of the Buddha's tummy bestows luck on the individual doing so.

Having attended Bal-Vikas and other theological classes during childhood and having read and attended discourses on the world's religions, something about this presentation of the Buddha is very ironic to me.

Briefly, prince Siddhartha (Buddha's original name), was taken aback by the wealth of suffering and pain that existed just beyond his palace walls. He decided that he needed to understand the source of such suffering. In order to do so, he proceeded to subject himself to varying levels of physical and mental deprivation. These included fasting without food or water, sleep and other rigorous disciplines. He then learned that it wasn't necessary to subject oneself to such pain in order to experience some truths. These were then expressed in the four noble truths, and the solutions to these, in the noble eightfold path.

Basically, someone who fasted, tortured himself and abstained from any worldly pleasures, could in no way have ever been short, rotund and the way he is portrayed in these symbols. 

So, the next time you see a Laughing Buddha, go ahead and rub the tummy. But think about some of the wisdom in the four truths and eightfold paths, and then remember it isn't meant to be as jolly as it appears. 

At the least, the 'right concentration', 'right mindfulness' and 'right livelihood' portions of the eightfold path would probably have an issue with 'luck', i.e. money or other material requests, bestowed by simply rubbing the Buddha's tummy. He probably wouldn't have gone for that.

You just might be a social networking addict if..

1. You ask hosts at a dinner party what their foursquare privacy policy is
2. You go ahead and check in anyway
3. You check in on any of the following google latitude, fring, facebook, booyah, citysense, brightkite, gypsii, mobiluck, loopt, plazes, whrrl and IPling
4. You actually know what any of the sites in bullet 3 are and/or actually use them *Bonus points* if you know and track which of these have received recent VC funding
5. You get upset when a work colleague unfollows/unfriends/blocks you. You can no longer DM them. They happen to sit two cubes down from you
6. You engage in riveting debates on the pros and cons of using twitter vs. yammer for work. *Corollary* You frequently engage in social networking proselytizing at work
7. You ask at a work meeting if there are hashtags for any of the action items
8. You are deeply vexed on whether to make a particular link public or private on your delicious site
9. You are a mayor on foursquare and make it a point to tweet about it
10. When doing something remotely fun - You must check in, see who else is around, view their profile, friend them, tweet/yam/fb about it - other than enjoying the bloody thing you're doing

Even if none of the above are true, you are a social networking addict anyway - that's the only way you would have gotten notified about this post :)

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Karthikai deepam.

Prasadam (offerings). Lamps lit with ghee. Tamil Hindu women pray for their brothers to commemorate the bond between them, as well as the brother's wellbeing, health and prosperity. Earliest references to this are found in the Ahananuru, from the sangam age - 200BC. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karthikai_Deepam 

A simpler time. Prayers for and by siblings. Brothers everywhere should be so lucky to have sisters like this.