Posted in History-Culture

Ram returns to Ayodhya.

After a 500 year long waiting and with tens of thousands of sadhus and yogis and general Ram bhakts sacrificing their lives for saving the Ram Janam Bhoomi from being razed by the islamist Babur, Ram finally came home today.

Kudos to our PM Modi who made this possible in our lifetime, something our parents and grandparents and those before them missed.

And who is better qualified to perform the holiest ritual Praana Pradhishta, breathing life into the deity, than our beloved prime minister, with his devotion and sincerity. If not for him, India would not be seeing this moment. The full credit for this historic event goes to Shri Narendra Damodhar Modi. Modi is half hermit himself. In his younger years, he was wandering in the Himalayas in quest of finding ‘the truth.’ This is the reason he left his marriage. His aspirations were different. May be his first name Narendar is the reason (after Swami Vivekanand). He led a life of a brahmachari (male equivalent of spinster) abstaining from meat (being a lifelong vegetarian), alcohol and women. Fasting is not new to him. He has been observing vraths for Navratris for years. When in US attending UN assembly, he was only on the same lime juice diet for 10 days as it was Sharadha Navratri then. And then he is a yogi as well – his Yogic practices are well known. That gives him not only the physical strength but also the mental balance and confidence. And ofcourse he is a devout, pious Hindu. Why should he not be? The way he observed the ‘anushtaan’ for 11 days and the way he hopped from temple to temple around India from Puri Jagannath to Tirumala Tirupathi to Guruvayur to Sri Rangam on way to Rameshwaram to bring the holy water from 22 kunds and the Indian ocean there for Shri Rama in Ayodhya was not just a terrific feat but also extremely humbling to all of us. What stopped the previous prime ministers of India from delivering Ram to us all these years. They had their chance. What they lacked was the intention and the courage and willpower.

Shri Narendra Modi is an avatar purush to us Hindus around the world. He is a tool. He became the willing tool in the hands of Lord Ram who decided to return to Ayodhya precisely today. I am a believer and I don’t think this is in your hands or my hands. This is Ram’s choosing. The way he became emotional moved us, those glued to our tv sets, to tears.

Ayodhya happened naturally. But from even before, ever since he became our prime minister, Modi has been visiting every single ancient temple throughout the length and breadth of India including Vaishno Devi, Kedarnath and Badrinath, high in the Himalayas. Ram Janam Bhoomi is mere culmination of this nonstop teertha yatra, like the crowning glory. The court case was won. Winning the legal battle paved the way for Ram mandir construction.

When Pakistanis have the audacity to claim even the Kohinoor which originally adorned Mother Goddess Badrakali of Warangal, before passing through many hands of thieves to land finally with the British royalty, what more can you expect from them.

In contrast, the Congress anti-nationals visited Babur’s tomb – from Nehru to Indira Ghandy and Rajiv Ghandy and even Rahul Ghandy. Perfectly understandable that they were muslim by birth which is why they could not bring themselves to visit Ram Janam Bhoomi. Sonia the catholic, no wonder filed in court questioning the birth of Ram. Don’t watch Kareena Saif films – they named their son Timur. It is like giving Hitler’s name to your kid.

Well why is not Guardian mentioning the reclamation of mosques by Spain? Or why is there no mention of the Hagia Sofia takeover by islamists in Turkey who so easily turned the cathedral into mosque very recently.

Ayodhya to India/Hindus is like Vatican to Catholics and Mecca to Muslims. The islamic barbarians who invaded India razed and desecrated over 48,000 ancient Hindu temples which are all documented and whose details are preserved for generations meticulously by Hindus. The reclamation just started! There are Christian nations in the world, islamic nations in the world, even Buddhist so why not a single Hindu nation. India/Bharat is the origin of Sanatan Dharm (Hindu faith). Hindu Dharma is the only NATIVE, continuous and unbroken civilization surviving today in the world for over a 10000 years to the least. No founders for Hinduism. No Bible or Quran. No Vatican or Mecca. Even Ayodhya is one of the holy places out of many. It acquires significance being the birth place of Lord Ram. The islamic marauder Babur desecrated our lord’s birth place and the vigraha and built mosque exactly on the spot most revered to Hindus. 500 years later, justice is served. Now see the condition of the islamic nations. Except the oil rich Arab that are not more than a dozen in number, rest is JUNK. Even nations and cultures have Karma. YOu have to wait for the oil to dry up. Real music will start then.

Ram Janam Bhoomi is not new. It has been a flashpoint between Hindus and Muslims for 500 years now with Hindus franctically wanting to reclaim the janma bhoomi of our Lord Ram. We needed someone fair and just and strong=willed and patriotic like Shri Modi to finally clinch what is ours legally, ethically, morally back from the usurpers. The much beneficial legal arsenal was contributed by ordinary Hindus from all walks of life that bolstered the case for the Mandir reclamation. It would have brought the Indian muslims enormous goodwill had they given up Ram Janam Bhoomi on their own accord. After all, we Hindus were footing their Haj pilgrimage subsidy until very recently, by way of our taxes. Who pays taxes honestly except again for the Hindus. We all are aware who are the hawala guys.

Posted in Environment

Under Threat: Bitra: Floating Marine Reserve, India.

Ref: How the Bitra Floating Marine Reserve was born – by Rohan Arthur and T R Shankar Raman , from ‘At the feet of living things’ -edited by Aparajitta Datta

Always amazed by fish spawning frenzy spotlighted by underwater videos that we come across in Animal Planet etc. Never knew it had a scientific name: FSA (Fish Spawning aggregation). What is more surprising is learning that India has a Floating Marine Reserve (among a handful) at Bitra, Lakshadweep group of Islands falling under the Union Territory, off Kerala coast, in the Arabian sea.

Some of the books I have read on the wildlife in India were authored by wildlife research aspirants who were gathering material and evidence for their doctorate. The Bitra Reserve apparently was born thanks to the efforts of two such ambitious and enthusiastic PhD candidates of Fisheries who had chosen Bitra for their studies. I am blogging this from a series of essays on Indian wildlife conservation efforts in about a quarter century until the 1990s. Some articles lie outside the purview of the scope of the book obviously, because the Bitra scene is from very recent. One of the group of islands of the Lakshadweep archipelago, Bitra is an impoverished fishing island where naturally fishing continues to be the way of life. The two researchers Rohan Arthur and T S Shankar Raman venture into this sleepy fishing center and stumble upon the FSA off the reefs of Bitra sea. They discover in the year close to 2012 that there is the FSA (fish spawning aggregation) ritual happening under sea near the reef where the square tails aggregated in tens of thousands to spawn their litter. A rare event in Indian territory, the Fisheries guys congregate with the locals and take steps to preserve the FSA from damages of fishing.

Seriously I wish they hadn’t tabled their findings! In a bid to submit their papers for their diplomas, they have given away the precious info to the locals that they seem to exploit for commercial gains. The earliest boost for their venture was the kudos that came from the Fisheries department itself that went against their grain. The department seconding to save fish is anathema to their founding principles and motto. No wonder, the plans fell flat in their face as the local fishermen refused to comply with the restrictions and started fishing vigorously in the delicately balanced marine eco system with the mother boats that made a killing catch every season of spawning (around new moon day a particular time of the year). Thus in matter of ten years the FSA fish count has dropped by over 90% . Human greed knows no bounds. Educating the local fishermen, bringing the awareness is a slow process but can work in the long run. Hopefully by the time realization dawns, there are still square tails left out in the Arabian sea/Indian ocean to make it to the Bitra reef for their annual appointed FSA.

Will the center look in and do something decisive about the protection of the Bitra reef and FSA therein? #narendramodi

I am banking on our Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi ji on saving the floating marine reserve at Bitra and the annual FSA, saving the square tail and other fish species from extinction in near future. FSA is way of nature. We shall be making or breaking the natural cycle in Bitra shortly as frenzied fishing activity near the reef can drive the fish away from the FSA pool which for some evolutionary/geographic/scientific reason has been natural selection for the fish species since ages.

Posted in Political

Dear PM Modi, Please dispatch Corona Vaccines to Nepal

Nepal, once the only constitutionally Hindu country in the world now sadly neutralized into secular, is seeing catastrophe with covid surge. India, the behemoth, can survive any onslaught, but Nepal cannot. None can deny the cultural connect we Hindus have with the Himalayan kingdom. Ever since Nepal started batting for China, India-Nepal ties are strained. India should be the good samaritan, the big brother it is to the subcontinent, and come forward to help Nepal in this distress. India has the capacity and capability to accommodate Nepal in the scheme of things. Is our PM Modi listening. An earnest plea dear prime minister, let not our Nepali brothers and sisters suffer. Please fly a contingent right this moment to the landlocked nation that is helpless. Nepal direly is in need of corona vaccines. I am well aware, India needs to take care of 1.3 billion. Still, let us not give up on each other. Vaccinating a few more crores of Nepalis won’t hurt India.

Prime MInister Shri Narendra Modi ji. My earnest appeal to you. Please help our brethren in Nepal on warfooting basis putting aside our political and policy differences. Please send a batch of our India made corona vaccines (Covaxin if not Covishield) at your earliest to Nepal, on humanitarian grounds. Please lend Nepal a helping lifesaving hand in this crisis. I am thanking you in advance on behalf of my Nepali friends.

Nepal is family. Whatever the differences, when India can do this for Bangladesh, why not for Nepal.