Musings Own Thoughts

 A Mumbaikar Parsi Orthopedic surgeon rarely professes to speak or understand fluent Marathi, but the title of my blog is not easily translatable. The literal translation is that your critic should be living in a house in your neighborhood. This phrase is attributed to the ancient Sant Tukaram held in high esteem. This was said many years ago and the context of this is not really known. The obvious meaning is to not be an egotistical person and be ready to not only accept but welcome criticism. Also to seek such persons and make them one’s neighbours. I have a feeling that contrary to this meaning this statement maybe a warning not to be surrounded by negative persons who are critical about everything you do.  Very often in language meaning of a phrase is lost. As a saint from the lower strata of society probably in his time he became a critic of the Hindu caste system. But as a result of power asymmetry it is often found that one does not have the courage to say the truth and...

 In the midst of a World Cup the news of the demise Bishan Singh Bedi will get him the tributes he richly deserves for his prowess on the field in the decade of sixties and seventies. The era was marked by the Indian spin quartet and as a classical left arm spinner he was the only one of his kind. They were so dominant that we had only to rough up the ball from day one. So much so that the ball used to be returned rolled on the ground when returned from the infield. Such was his individual great that the spin talent available in the country  other spinners like Padmakar Shivalkar, Rajinder Goel who took bucket fulls of wickets in domestic Ranji Trophy cricket  could not get selected to play for India   The abiding memory of his bowling especially for my generation where we depended on radio commentary and press reports was the smooth action of Bishan Singh Bedi. His colourful patka and his broad chested muscular look was a sight to behold. He was a commentators ...

  TGIFridays bill board was an acronym for the phrase Thank God It is Friday. I saw it for the first time in my life in a swanky mall in Lower Parel Mumbai. My curiosity was aroused enough to ask a question to the owner what was so special about Friday to merit a special thank you to the almighty God. So going to first principles and history I did my research and was surprised to know that TGI Fridays chain of restaurant started in 1965 and it stood for Thank Goodness its Friday. As a phrase Thank God its Friday was a movie in 1978 and depicted a story about characters who generally looked forward to weekend of leisure and literally decadence after a week of miserable work and drudgery.  The question that comes to my mind is why has majority of humanity with all the progress come to this state of wanting and literally craving for extreme indulgence come Friday evening?  The concept of 8 hours a day and 40 hours a week work was introduced by the Ford Factory in 1926 as a r...

 The world is a complex place with different nations working together and against each other, united by self interest and divided by the same. Broadly speaking they are illustrated below  The post colonial, post world war II world became a bipolar world based on the Communist or Socialism ideology and Democratic Capitalist ideology. These came to be known as the East bloc centered around erstwhile USSR along with East European countries and the Western bloc dominated by USA and Western Europe.  The broad definition of Communism is that of a centralised state with the state owning the means of production and distribution and gave each according to his needs. There is no private ownership and there are no rigid classes. The aim was to create a society where the state was the absolute authority and ensured every persons basic needs were met. There was centralized Government and the figure of authority was usually assisted by a small group of persons who were completely unacc...

 The question is something which is a part of my internal thoughts, as also a kind of vibe I get when I meet acquaintances and strangers. Do I have something worthwhile to say and share or am I simply looking to gain recognition and praise for myself? I will try and answer this. The title of my blog is Musings Own Thoughts and therefore by inference the blog needs to be experiential rather than preachy or a rehash of something known. Yet my experience is also based on a body of knowledge I imbibe from my reading and study of every subject. The importance of converting reading which gives mere knowledge into wisdom is much harder than one can imagine. Therefore there are many things we learn but only when we reflect on our learning  do we deepen our understanding of the same. Still often even this is not sufficient as one can easily do the same and convince ourselves that we have learnt everything. I began this journey way back in 2005 and was merely writing a blog every few mo...

 This is a topic which has been thought of by many and I have often reflected on the same. Religion is defined as a belief in and worship of a superpower or powers represented by a God or system of Gods. Religion also consists of actions or activities undertaken to enable one to worship God or Gods. The word Religion comes from Latin Religo  which means good faith or rituals connected with them. Besides, there are many who believe that the word may come from the original Latin word Re-Ligare which means to tie fast and resonated to us surgeons with the word ligature to tie up a bleeding vessel during surgery. The more I think of this the more I believe that the evolution of the human race and religion seem to be closely intertwined. I do not want to go into the evolution of religion and it's different forms but seek trough this blog to debate a few points and spark a debate on some points.  Choice of Religion and Conversion: Religion is dictated by birth conventionally, i...

 More than ever before, I have on this 154th birth anniversary not felt the need to defend or justify my positive feelings for the man who is still called by many the Father of the Nation. While there has never been a dearth of Gandhi critics in his lifetime and later, many worshipped him and considered him to be a great soul (Mahan Atma or Mahatma) a title bestowed on him by none other than Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore who differed from Gandhi and disagreed with him on numerous occasions.    As I write today I have started rereading a recent biography of Gandhi before India and will follow it up with the Indian part of Gandhi's story. Only after I finish these will I be able to answer this question adequately. Even as I reflect on my life I feel that it is extremely difficult to understand the true essence of a man especially in hind sight. Suffice to say that he was certainly different from any other giant leader of the Indian freedom struggle. Many critics circulate evi...