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Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Vijaya Dashami Greetings & Shami Puja

We wish all our readers, a Happy Dasara!

Today is Vijaya Dasami, the day of victory. On this day, goddess Durga completed the elimination of demons. This day marks the victory of Ram over the demon king Ravan. This is the day when the Pandava's came out of the 13 year exile/hiding (Aranya + Agnata vasa). On this day, Arjuna conquered the Kaurava (Kuru) army when they tried to invade virata kingdom (Uttara Gograhana)

This history of victories made this day very significant to Indians. Hindus believe that, vixtory is ensured for any task that is started on VijayaDashami.

On Vijaya Dasami evening, devotees first worship goddess Kali/Durga. Then they worship the "Shami" tree (Botanical name: Prosopis Spicigera) with the following prayer:

shami shamayate paapam, shami shathruvinaashini!
arjunasya dhanurdhaari, raamsya priyadasrshini!

Free translation: Shami tree is a symbol of victory. It removes all our sins. It eliminates all our enemies. This is the tree which bestowed victory to Arjuna. This is the tree which joined Lord Ram with his wife.

With this prayer, the devotees adorn the leaves of the Shami tree and embark on their new tasks.

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Navratri – Saraswati Puja



During Navratri, on the day when Moon is in Moola constellation, Goddess Durga is worshiped in the form of Saraswati, the goddess of all knowledge and wisdom.

Today, the 6th of Oct 2008, is with Moola star and thus Saraswati Puja is done.

Let the smiles of the Muse, Shower on thou!

Friday, October 3, 2008

Nano says - Tata, Bye Bye - to Singur & Mamata

It was sad to see Tata decided to move out of Singur. When I wrote about their rhetoric, last month, I thought that the bad politics will stop for the sake of development of state. Like an average Indian, I expected that good sense prevails and Mamta and her Trinamool brigade will agree to the compromise formula. In the end, it was a loss inflicted by pea brained politicians on this investor unfriendly state of India.

The Chairman of Tata Group, Ratan Tata today announced their exit from Singur. Tata’s said, that the decision was taken with lot of pain. I don’t doubt them, when they said that the well being of their workers is of paramount interest for them. They definitely can not run a plant with police protection.

The West Bengal government washed its hands by blaming Mamata Banerjee and Trinamool Congress as the spoil sports. The government was right in its assessment that the people of Singur are worst effected and will be the real losers. Future Generations of Singur will suffer from the bad politics that created the nuisance over the past few months.

While what is right and what is wrong in the Nano & Singur episode is debatable, I do not completely agree with the argument that Tata’s were given too many sops and too much attention in setting up the Nano project at Singur. Couple of articles on the net listed down the huge monetary gains that Tata’s would get from Singur deal. All these articles ignored the basic premise that Tata’s are in business and business decisions are made with a profit motive. The utopian articles and their writers are definitely waiting for some philanthropists and donors who would come down to Singur to uplift the lives of the locales there. Good luck to them.

Apparently, Singur has few takers. But Tata’s have many takers. Narendra Modi is ready to take them at Mundra in Gujarat. Mundra has a port nearby and is best suited for Nano. Maharashtra and Karnataka are ready with competing offers. Dharwad was another likely choice.

While Tata’s sit down to make a decision on their new location, our leader Mamta Banerjee laments that, “Our agitation was peaceful, then why Tata’s pulling out? Definitely, the pull-out was conspiracy between Tata and Govt”. As Tata’s pack and move out of Singur, Mamta is watching the trucks leaving Singur. Hope, she reads the message written on the back of the trucks:

Buri Nazar Wale Tera Muh Kaala!

(for the un-initiated, that was the famous caption written on the back of most of the Indian trucks. It’s a warning that the truck smoke will blacken the faces of the non vigilant... it also means that, if you wish evil for others, the same happens for you!)