Yesterday evening, I spent several hours in an truly educative and wonderful discussion with Dr Koenraad Elst.
Dr Elst is a savant – in the truest sense of the word..We discussed a huge range of topics – from Ayodhya and Hindutva  to martial traditions in Buddhism, caste, scriptures, “Vedic Hinduism”, Islam, Infiltration from Bangladesh and thoughts on a Hindu identity…

Several hours into the evening, even as we approached midnight, it still felt as if we had just begun…Amitabh did a video recording of some parts of the discussion which I hope …

Dear All: Some of you may remember two posts I published earlier this year on possible links between the ancient culture in India and the civilisations in Latin America and Egypt. Several weeks ago, I stumbled on this remarkable post by Jayasree on links between the Saraswati-Sindhu civlisation and the cultures of South West Americas. Jayasree has drawn on a vast amount of (admittedly circumstantial) evidence to suggest the case for linkages and contacts between these 2 ancient cultures…Below are some excerpts that you will find fascinating..Read on.
*** Excerpts from …

Dear All: Following up from the series of “live chats” and calls last year, I would like to start 2012 with a live text chat on:

“The continuing illegal infiltration from Bangladesh and its implication for the demographics of Assam and Paschim Banga”
Time: 8pm IST
Date: 6th Jan ’12 (Friday)
Please do leave a note below (via comments) if you have a specific question or wish me to address a specific point.

 
Illegal Infiltration & Impact on Demographics
The text-based chat will be a relatively free-flowing discussion focused on illegal infiltration from Bangladesh and …

..and below the surface to understand the real causes of what you see around you.
As an example, see this recent news-report about pending RTI applications…
Staff shortage results in a pile of 19,000 pending RTI appeals in Maharashtra
Does this surprise you? Probably not.
Which is why I keep making the point that the real solution must be to focus on “Open Government” rather than another law or more babus…That is how things should be..We don’t need a law (RTI) and then additional bureaucracy (staff to deal with RTI applications). Far better to insist on openness, …

Many of you may remember this shloka that used to preface each episode of the seminal series “Chanakya”. I continue to find it profoundly inspiring…Here’s wishing you and your loved ones the very best of health, happiness and prosperity in 2012…
|| Om Shanti, Shanti, Shanti… ||

***
I would be grateful if any of you can help me with the translation of the entire shloka. Thanks.

Late one evening last week, I was asked by a well-meaning friend why did I hate the idea of “Food Security Bill” so much? Surely no one can reasonably object to making sure every Indian is well-fed and healthy? He was right. No one can reasonably argue with the aim of ensuring that our population is well-fed, literate, healthy etc etc. What I was railing against was the “means” – and the misplaced belief that subsidies are the way to solve these problems; the misplaced belief that all we need …