BS Murthy

Braking Bharat’s Breakup T he other day, Narendra Modi has vowed to free India from its ghulami manasikata (colonial mindset / slavish mentality) by 2035, but given his own manasikata that could be well-nigh impossible, as essayed in my On Semitic Upswing ‘n Hindu Downturn. Whatever, his assertion that exorcizing Macaulay’s ghost would be the panacea for India’s educational and cultural ills is farfetched for its Christian community is its torchbearer. Besides, having guarded itself against Macaulay-effect in the British Raj itself, its madrasa-rooted ummah is largely unaffected by it. So, truth to tell, it is only the Macaulayzed Hindu populace that is stymied by the colonial mindset and afflicted with a slavish mentality. So, in effect, though India is culturally incongruous, it has become politically correct to ignore it and secularly incorrect to admit it. Nevertheless, if and when the Hindus could shed their ghulami manasikata, they may be able to reappraise their country’...

  On Semitic Upswing ‘n Hindu Downturn   Walter Mendez’s ad, branding Kerala as God’s Own Country, in the land of Hindu gods and goddesses, intended or otherwise, was as much an advertising gimmick as a Semitic statement, for India’s tryst with the monotheistic faiths began there – first with the Jewish traders in the 6 th century BCE, then with the Christian evangelists in 52 CE, followed by Arab Muslims around 629 CE. However, as the pre-Islamic Arab traders too were polytheists like them, and their monotheistic Jewish cousins chose to keep their religious wares to themselves, the Hindu Keralites have had no inkling of the Christian evangelic agenda or the Muslim Dar-al-Islam obsession. However, having imbibed the Hindu philosophy of ekam sadviprā bahudhā vadanti (what is right is One only, describe it wise variedly), presumably, the Keralites would have assumed that all religions affirm the same (still the refrain of the naive Hindus without hindsight) without a cl...

  Demographic Dynamics of Indian Democracy If the body of a nation is formed by its people, its democratic soul gets shaped by its voters. However, in its nascent stages, it was not the case for the lesser souls were unfranchised, robbing it of its egalitarian ethos. But has the later-day all-adult franchise helped it acquire its representative character? Not necessarily, as the elaborate democratic exercise in India (a continuing civilization of over five millennia), involving a complex mix of over 990 million electorate, of regional and ethnic diversity (28 states and 8 union territories; 705 scheduled   tribes and 2,000 ethnic groups), religious and linguistic variations (six religions in the main and scores of tribal traditions; 121 languages and 19,000 mother tongues/dialects) besides social and economic disparities not to speak of the mindboggling caste divisions (3,000 castes and 25,000 sub-castes) across the regions, indicates. Even though democracy, in any form, is...

On Pitfalls of Pre-marital Sex    When Roopa debunked the puranic tales of cock-pecked wives as perverse male stratagems to enslave women, her mother was truly alarmed. “These tales of female fidelity have a purpose of their own,” said Janaki to Roopa. “Since nature made men promiscuous, it’s the female loyalty that holds the marriage in the long run, for the benefit of the family and the society as well. These tales have a moral for men as well for they underscore the fact that it’s the wife who sticks through thick and thin with their man and not the lascivious lasses with whom they come to stray.” As Roopa remained unconvinced and minced no words about the fallacy of the proposition, Janaki realized that old wives tales were no longer a currency with the educated girls. So, she thought it fit to reason it out with her and Chandrika, her unmarried daughters, about the pitfalls of premarital sex and thus closeted with them one evening. “I think it’s time I talk to you ab...

  Ramaiah’s Matrimonial Advice to His Daughter     “Why not look for another match?” said Roopa sounding pleading. “But why reject this one,” Ramaiah seemed persuasive. “No, he’s not my man,” said Roopa wishing that they spared her. “Maybe, he’s a simpleton, but do realize that he’s young and has a long way to go,” said Ramaiah, who seemed to have read his daughter’s mind. ‘If something isn’t presentable at its ninety per cent, it wouldn’t be much different either at cent per cent,’ thought Roopa but to buy time she said, “Give me some time to think.” However, after dinner, Ramaiah went up to a brooding Roopa in the verandah. “If you’re not interested in this match, so be it, but if I don’t show you, life as I’ve seen it, I might be failing you,” he said in all earnestness. “Matrimony is a vague hope nursed by the young minds. If marriages are made in heaven, I’m sure the gods would take the realities of life into account. In marriage, it’s only after consum...

  How Good is the Indian Muse? Where to look for the soul of India in print, or now in digital mode? Is it in the writings of those for whom the muse is their mother tongue or those who happen to muse in the alien English? Where to savour the flavour of Indian life in fictional form? Is it in that ‘stronger and more important body of work of Indian writers working in English’ as trumpeted by Salman Rushdie or in the supposedly ‘true to life’ depictions (not the same thing as the examination of the human condition) on the variegate canvas of regional languages penned by the vernacular writers?   And certainly it is an over kill on the part of the bhasha writers to suggest, as was done, that ‘any Tamil writer would have put more life into his novels than Narayan did’. An Achilles-like abuse of Hector’s body and literally it’s like saying; “I would have written your novel better had you given me the plot and all, soul included.”    Well, what it takes to be a writer an...

  Benign Flame: Saga of Love BS Murthy ISBN 81-901911-3-6 Enriched edition © 2020 BS Murthy Originally published by Writers Workshop, Kolkata, Second, third and fourth editions by Self Imprint in 1997, 2004, and improved E-book edition is of 2013. Based on the oil on canvas by E. Rohini Kumar, cover designed for 2004 edition by KB Bhaskar, GDC creative advertising (p) ltd., Hyderabad - 500 080.   Self Imprint   F-9, Nandini Mansion, 1-10-234, Ashok Nagar, Hyderabad – 500 020   Other books by BS Murthy – Jewel-less Crown: Saga of Life Crossing the Mirage – Passing through youth Glaring Shadow - A stream of consciousness novel Prey on the Prowl – A Crime Novel Of No Avail – Web of Wedlock Stories Varied – A Book of Short Stories Onto the Stage - Slighted Souls and other stage and plays Puppets of Faith: Theory of Communal Strife (A critical appraisal of the Islamic faith)        Inane Inter...