Are you a Hindu?

Before you answer it, let's look at the meaning of s the word, "Hindu".
The word Hindu is derived from the river Indus. The people east of the river Indus were called Hindus. The religious practices of those people were collectively called Hinduism. [1]

If you were born in India, there is 85% chance that you are a Hindu based on the above definition. Almost 100% of them were born into Hinduism. This is important because we take so much pride in things that we had nothing to do with.

So, what does it mean to be a Hindu?
India, the name again coming from river Indus, has a billion Hindus and so expectedly would get a million different answers. It would range from atheists to devout followers of Vedic tradition all in one umbrella. Yes, I said, Atheists, because of lack of a central authority that dictates what a Hindu can and cannot do or believe in. It's all up to the individual. That's the beauty of Hinduism.

Some construe the tolerance as a sign of weakness but it's absolutely not. It takes a lot of strength to embrace things which are so fundamentally different from yours. That's the reason many other religions thrive in India. Hindus when converted to Christianity just replaced their Hindu god with Christian god.

But of late there has been a concerted effort to impose the Vedic tradition on all Hindus.
For the vast majority, Hindu means praying for stuff from the god of your choice at home or at the temple. And that can sometimes even be Jesus or Prophet Mohammed. I have spent many Christmas attending midnight mass and eat animals slaughtered in the name of Allah. I ate meat though raised a Saivite which by its very definition means vegetarianism and that's pretty much the norm.  That doesn't make me less of a Hindu. I have read books on many religions and adopt those I like and reject the ones I don't like. This was all possible because we grew up where religious beliefs were not dogmas but common sense. Our parents were our spiritual gurus who told us what to do and what not to do. I did what I was told out of sheer obedience when I was young. When I became old to think for myself, I did things only when it appealed to my reason. That's how I was raised and that's the same way I intend to raise my children.

Now answer the question, Are you a Hindu?


Source:[1] http://www.shraddhananda.com/Meaning_and_Origin_Of_The_Word_Hindu.html

What are we being fed? Part 1

Lets start with us. We all have a tendency to blame others. We bitch but rarely do anything to make it better.We have come to expect value for our money. This in itself is not a bad thing. But it has extended to everything including food.

In response to our need, farmers have to come up with vegetables which are uniform in taste, color and size. If we ask our grandparents in India, they will see that its impossible. But its because they let the plant do the job of producing food only assisting it. There were no cash crops then. All crops were grown to sustain life. They were subject to the vagaries of nature. Well, humans endowed with superior intelligence and all decided to change all that.

It started with increasing the food production. Synthentic Fertilizers were used to double/triple the food production. With that came synthetic pesticide. Wait a sec. Can a farmer make synthetic fertilizer and pesticide? Here come in multinational companies, savior of farmers worldwide. To help our farmers who were burdened with additional costs, our government decided to subsidize the cost of these chemicals. Instead paying $$ to the farmers, the government paid the money to the MNCs directly. A clever trap by MNCs to short sighted governments. If farmers knew the true cost, they will look to cheaper alternatives and thats not good for the MNCs. It was easy to justify it as it was pro-farmer and vis vis pro-poor. As the entire country switched to these products, the subsidy bill ballooned to $20 billion. Government attempts to reduce it are hindered as farmers fight the battle for the MNCs. Urea has degraded the soil so much that all increase in production has been nullified as we produce only 3.4 tons of rice per hectare compared to China's 6.5.Dr.M.S.Swaminathan, father of Green Revolution was directly responsible for it. Even though it was done with the best intention, no one went further to study the consequences of such an action. He has to till this day not apologized for that. Where in the world is accountability?

The DMK government came to power solely on the promise of cheap white rice, long considered the food of the rich people. People dont realize that its just empty carbs replacing their high fiber brown rice, corn, barley. The result is diabetes is not confined to rich people anymore but can the poor afford the treatment?

What is your identity?

Its actually pretty simple. Answer this question. Who are you?
>I am Anand. This label was given by my parents. If I wish, I can go to court and change it to whatever I like
>I am a Mudaliar. This speaks about my past. It does not stand the test of modern times. Caste names were given on the basis of occupation. For e.g my forefathers were weavers. Since parents were the only teachers in old times, it was natural for the children to follow in the footsteps of their parents. Not anymore. My current occupation is IP Telephony Engineer. My dad is a physician. My children could be anything. But its my past and I accept it
>I am a Pondicherrian, one from Pondicherry. With the current level of mobility I can easily be a Chennaite or a Santa Claran.
>I am an Indian. I can easily become an American. My dad was Indian. My grandfather was a British Indian. My great grandfather was a citizen of the Maratha kingdom in Thanjavur. One of my great grandfather could be a cholan, citizen of the mighty chola empire.
>I am a Hindu. I can convert to Christianity or Buddhism or Islam.
>I am a Tamil. Its my mother tongue, some of the few things that cannot be changed in this ever changing world. No matter what we are called, what our occupations are, which places we come from, which passports we carry, which God we pray to. Tamil is the one thing that bonds a tamil in Malaysia, in Ceylon and in Tamil Nadu together, all 70 million of them.
We are unique in that we place our language above our Gods.
But remember, true brothers are the ones who think alike.

Am I a terrorist or freedom fighter?

I am a tamil in Ceylon (Sri lanka). I want a tamil nation to be established in the northen and eastern regions of Ceylon. The Sinhalese government in Colombo is against a second nation for tamils in the island. A point of note is the government in Colombo has no control over northen part of the island for decades now. I believe that nothing will given to you on a platter. You have to fight for it. I fight against the Srilankan forces who are ought to crush our struggle. My targets are mostly military and sometimes political in nature. I do not go after Sinhalese populace, even though most of them support the government to eliminate us. Sometimes ordinary Sinhalese get killed in the cross fire. I consider it collateral and try my best to avoid them. I am labelled as a terrorist

I am an ethnic albanian in Kosova, a province in Serbia. I want a muslim nation independent of Serbia. The Serbian government in Belgrade is against us breaking away to form an independent nation for muslims. I destroyed orthodox churches and bent on destroying any thing serbian. Kosovo is only for ethnic albanians. I was labelled as terrorists but of late I am not. I am living under the protection of NATO close to a decade. I have been promised independence as early as next year. I do not want the Serbs in my country.

Why is the former labelled a terrorist and the latter a freedom fighter?
I donno may be its because Kosovo is in Europe while Srilanka is in Asia. Naah, that wouldnt explain East Timor would it? But thats still part of the reason. Any conflict in Europe doesnt bode well for the business climate and therby hinder prosperity of Europeans in general.

I know why, the international community, lets pause and think about the word. It comprises of US and European Union only, funny but thats the reality. It failed miserably to protect the bosnian muslims against serb atrocities. So, the tragedy of bosnian muslims turned into a blessing for kosovo muslims.
The international community needed a poster boy to deflect criticism that the war on terror is against all muslims. The kosovo issue fits the bill with no big effort on its part unlike palestine, chechyna, kashmir, iraq, afghanistan, iran, malaysia,...

Is that all? NO, $$$. Srilanka's biggest trading partner for centuries has been Tamil Nadu, a province in India. But now its US and also supplies most of the hardware to crush the tamil struggle.

So, there is no true definition of these words. These are labels which are given by the world powers as they please and which suit their interests.