आर्यभूमि

Democracy is an illusion. We all, in democracy, perceive that we, the people, rule. But no, if people will rule, it will become a chaos. The more people having say in day to day governance will halt the progress. And that is why, even in democracy, a small group is elected to rule. The only difference between a democracy and monarchy or dynasty is, that in democracy, you don't know who will rule you next, but you are part of process to select next rulers.  During first few years of independence, a lot of strong decisions were taken, because the then ruling governments had strong presence, and strong mandate. Hindu Code bill, demolition of privi purse (later), nationalization of banks, all were tough government decisions, the results of those decisions may be discussed, only once taken and verdict is out. Then, people were easy to rule, people trusted governments, more importantly, they supported governments, there were little to spend, enjoy, invest. Time has changed, In

Intellectuals have a soft corner for the data. In fact everyone on the top of anything, tends to refer data more often. In politics, the data looks funny, because the same data set can be used to satisfy all sides of narrative. One such narrative came post 2014 elections. The vote Percentage narrative. The opposition leaned media houses, pages, YouTube channels along with some apolitical, braced this narrative of 31% with open arms. The percentage narrative has been created on weak hypothesis and half knowledge stolen from Wikipedia pages. Data never lie, but data also never give you full truth. In this article, we will analyse that is the narrative strong enough to hold its fort, with the logic. The only issue with democracy is, that it is no different than a good monarchy, and gives us false sense of being rulers of the country. The only issue with the type of voting we have in India is, that the vote of an illiterate and a doctorate are equal. Apart from this everythi

I never thought, we have to celebrate or rather observe "Sparrow Day" to make people aware about this harmless little passerine bird, being on verge of extinction. I grew up seeing sparrows everyday, during my childhood. It was a sight, so familiar. In my native,  sparrows were co-owners of certain part of our houses, that too with authority. They use to litter a lot, around their nests. But no one thought of dismantling their nests. It was their abode, same as ours. It was their safe haven, because we were supposed to be their protectors. Unfortunately they considered us untouchables. The moment one of their young ones falls out of their nests, they use to banish them and leave them to die. If someone put them back to their nest, they used to throw them out, abandon them. It was easier for those sparrows to build their castles in the southern section of our large clustered house, because that part was made up of clay bricks, Bamboos, wood and straws (or rice/wh

The aroma of the evening tea has often lured me since my childhood. The necessity of it has developed off late, but the love for the evening tea has been there inside the depth of my heart since childhood. It’s quite a misfortune that I’ve did not get the privilege to enjoy it often. I was not a tea aficionado till my hostel life. Tea is supposed to be an insignia for grownups in suburban families of India and hence those not having it are often considered as kids. During summer vacations we used to visit our native place. Apart from our Mango orchards, farms and love from my Grand Parents, the afternoon or rather evening tea was one of the most lucrative offerings that my village had for me those days. We (Bro, our cousins and I) lovingly call our grandfather BABA. Baba was very particular about his morning and evening tea and for that matter with his all daily routines. But the point of focus here is the Tea. To me the evening tea was more interesting, the reason was the visito

Bihar was in dark age during 1990s and early 2000s. You have to depend on lantern, because even to charge your inverters, you need few hours of electricity. And those days, even inverters were not in reach of common people. The one leader responsible for forcing the usage of Lantern to the fullest, made it the symbol of his party, when he formed RJD. The people of Bihar, voted the same RJD to power in 2015, when RJD emerged as the largest party. Again, they used the same lantern as their symbol. This does not show, how shrewd Lalu and his heirs were, it shows, how pathetically idiots, we the people of Bihar are. Lalu and his heirs, till today mock the very people of Bihar, whom they ruled for 15+ years. They mock it through their symbol, Lantern.

Sports need fans and so does sportsmen. But India has extreme fanaticism about one sport, cricket. A large number of fans are actually fanatics. They can go overboard over a win and sometimes becomes dangerous in defeat. This behaviour, little less physical thou, are evident on, comparatively educated crowd, on social media too. I believe, that every sportsman try to win. And if they are representing the country, the pressure is even more. Also, the mere selection in the playing group, for sports like cricket, in a country like India, proves the mettle of the player, irrespective of the statistics of their international career, forget about ruling the game for 10, 15 or 24 years. But then, we mere fan, not even capable to sustain one single ball as a batsmen or cover up one mere over as bowler, or stop one single catch as a fielder, start criticism of one or two failures of even the greats of the game. Few years back, the powerful hitter, Yuvraj was struggling in the

Mahabharat is one of the best written epics of India, some consider it as history. You can consider it as a story, real or fiction, based on your ideological suitability. Although, commoners derive, the story is about a war between good and evil, but if you read the book, nowhere it mentions, Pandavas as good and Kauravas as evil. Wherever required, it has given the due credit and positive portrayal to the characters of the Kaurava's stalwarts. Like Karna, Vikarna, Bheesm and many others, have been glorified. On the other hand some act of the other side, like of Dhristdhumn, Sikhandi and Dhrupad have been written under negative shades. Anyway..... When the final war was inevitable and both Pandavas and Kauravas were getting alliances done. There were cheaters, unfair players on both the sides. As were the good men, righteous, brave and law abiding ones. However, going by the sheer numbers, the ratio was 11:7 in favour of Kauravas, who made more powerful alliances,

I am neither a peacenik nor a war-monger, as the labelling of each individual is popular these days in India, it is necessary to clarify at the start. I am also not a political person, thou I form my own opinions about things, have my own perspective, and changing them need substantial effort and proof. I do have certain political inclinations thou, which I do not shy away to boast. This piece talks about the perspective of peace in current scenario and in the wake of released IAF officer. The captured Wing Commander has returned to India. For the first time, the rogue neighbor has acted sensibly. But has the extreme voices at Indian end acted sane? Are we prone to build opinions quickly to an extent, which is extreme on either side of the spectrum? Just to remind ourselves, the wing commander returned, due to Pakistan honoring the Geneva convention, and they honored it because of the warlike situation. The operations were formally announced by both the sides. Whereas, we have th