Tamilian spirit

I can make a fairly simple guess of what Tamilians are famous for outside Tamil Nadu. That is mainly for the opposition of Hindi language. People normally relate Tamilians to Hindi ignorant.

True till now, learning Hindi has not been made compulsory in Tamil Nadu and if you go to Chennai, not even a single person will be talking to you in Hindi unlike Kolkata or Mumbai or even Bangalore.

Still people in Tamil Nadu do learn Hindi, even though this population count for a very small number.

I am basically a pro-hindi learning person. I totally accept the fact that as Hindi has been made as our national language, it has to be made compulsory for every one to learn. But today, an article in the news paper totally made me mad.

That is about some DMK ministers not given the permission to answer a question in Tamil in the Parliament. True, the ministers like Azhagiri does not deserve to be members in Indian parliament. But when the prime minister of our country can address UN in hindi, why can’t a minister from Tamil Nadu can’t address the Parliament in Tamil? Keeping a translator will not be such a hard thing in the Parliament. We can’t say that a person can’t serve the nation as he does not know a language. More over Tamil is also an official language of India.

So seriously translators should be kept for all the official languages at least in the parliament. This should make the Tamilians feel that they are also given the respect which is due to them in this beautiful country.

The Brothers Karamazov

So I have finally finished reading The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoyevsky.

Now I am typing this post from a location which is less than ideal to type for a blog post. I am sitting in the upper berth of a train compartment with an unbelievably hyperactive kid showing off all his activeness just in the lower berth. I thought it is better to hold off how I felt about the novel and write it at some more appropriate time.

But the human mind hardly feels much emotion as I feel now after reading a novel. With this, I am jolting now how I feel about this novel.

By the way if any of you have not read the novel “The Brother’s Karamazov”, I sincerely recommend you to close this page and buy a copy of that novel and read it. ‘cos I cant hold myself from giving off some bits and pieces from that novel.

No I am not going to rewrite what the story is in this post. But I am going to rant about what that novel did to me!!

I can say I am a sucker for classics. The best novel I have read till now has been “Great Expectations” by Charles Dickens. Incidentally, that was my first classic which I read the unabridged version. That novel has been my most favorite novel for many long years.

After reading the novel The brother’s Karamazov, I seriously think “The Great Expectations” has got some tough competition.

The problem with these novels is that once you read these novels, you cant read stuff like Sidney Sheldon or Jefferey archer. The above said authors will explain a scenario and will say that so and so has done this and that. But you will not be able to relate with that character and you will not be able to understand why this guy did that.

Once you read the classic authors, you will understand for certain why some thing happened in first place. These authors analyze the human mind inside out. You will be so related to the characters shown that you will feel like the character, love them, hate them and even judge them.

The only downfall of the novel is that, the author has not explained the character of Smerdyakov to the fullest extent, and thus I was not able to understand why Smerdyakov committed the murder. I should say Dostoevsky has failed in the characterization of Smerdyakov. He was just like Sheldons and Archers of today.

The brothers Karamazov made me feel the importance of life. It has made me realize that everyone and everything is just a memory and that the life goes on. Most importantly, I wanted Dimitri Karamazov to be sentenced and not let free even though he is innocent. Was the novel reflecting my character? Was I able to look into my inner self through that novel? No one can tell but me. But the novel is definitely a spiritual experience. The last chapter of the novel was definitely a fitting end to a great novel. Even though the novel “Great expectations” made me cry while I was going through the last 100 pages and the brothers Karamazov didn’t make me cry, you can relate the persons in the novel to yourself. For me, I saw my character in Ivan Fyodorovich. He was the most learned of those three brothers, and the ranting which Ivan gave off could well have been mine.

So guys, in most probability, if you are reading till here, you have not read that novel, as very few have given time to read classics – as they call it “Classics is one which every one appreciate and no one reads.”. Please do get a copy of the Brothers Karamazov and read it. Definitely you will enjoy reading it.

I am feeling real bad that I am not able to get the end part of the story, as in the novel Brothers Karamazov is the first part of the two novel series which Dostoyevsky planned. Unfortunately Dostoyevsky died before he could complete the second novel. With his death, the secrets of what happened to Katya, Alyosha, Dmitri, Ivan, Kolya has remained a secret to every one. Now may be I am angry in not knowing the fate of the novel’s characters.

I loved the court scene in a novel for the first time in my life. It showed me how a same situation can be interpreted in two different ways, even though the arguments which are put forwarded by the defendant were rather weak.

One more thing is that, the novel is kinda long. I was impatient that I went through the index and got a general understanding of how the story will go. But still Dostoyevsky manages to surprise you in places. Death of Smerdyakov is one for sure. Still I feel Great Expectations is better than the brother’s Karamazov. May be because that is the first time I got introduced to the world of classics.

So guys you can definitely put your money on “The Brothers Karamazov” and enjoy the experience.

PS: A long ranting after a long time

Devil’s advocate

I have one basic question in my mind.

Why do we always think that God is all good and devil is always evil? I think it is a great prejudice against the devil. In fact, the question should be is God all good for you, as you can see in many religions, whether it is Christianity or Hinduism, we can see God taking sides and you being on the wrong side of God. The religion teaches us that God can in fact hate you.
Take the example of Ravanan in Ramayana or Egyptians in Christianity. God took the side of their enemies and helped their enemies to destroy them.

Theist put forward the theory of “Greater good”. I interpret Greater good as good for others and not for you. This can be seen through the example of Bhisma in Mahabarata. He was killed as he was in the side of Kauravas so as to uphold a greater good. But still if you consider Bhisma’s perspective, God has been against him.

One thing is true for sure. Every thing depends upon the perspective.

But consider this scenario. If the God is all good, then if something bad happens to some one, then God doesn’t like that person at that particular time, or he has fallen from the good will of the God.
So here comes the question of is good really good? What if God just wants to play with his favorite pet and is spanking him just for the fun of it? Definitely he will throw some biscuits at the end of the day for sure.

One more thing to consider is whether you really want the good as which is considered in the conventional terms. Consider the story of Jonas. A great saint once promised Jonas that if he walks around the world a thousand times, the doors of the heaven will open to him. So the very day, Jonas started his walk. But unfortunately he died before he could finish it.
Even after his death, he became a spirit and continued walking. One fine day, he completed his quota and the heaven’s doors opened. So with great joy, he went through the doors of heaven. But alas. Heaven was not what he expected heaven will be. He felt the expectation of seeing heaven was better than the heaven itself. So he asked Peter, the great angel who was guarding the gates of the heaven to open the gates again for him if he walks around the world a thousand times more and he left the heaven and is still walking. The crux of the story is, Jonas didn’t want the good as considered in conventional terms.

What could be considered as a good life could be frowned upon by another sect of people. Rock music entices some and creates headaches to some other. Classical music can bring tears to some and sleep to some other. Good food could bring ecstasy to some and agony to size zero models. Heaven could have been amazing to angels and boring to the devils.

So there is no absolute good and bad. So is absolute good God and absolute bad devil.

But if the devil is good for you, then most probably you are bad

PS: The story of Jonas is a modified version of story told by Doestovsky in his novel “The brothers Karamazov”.