One more performance by the wandering flautist who came to my doorstep yesterday, Shri Ramaniah whom so many of you appreciated. I felt tears welling up when he left to play on another street with hardly anyone opening the door to him. If you want to support him, his number is 9611049957.
An Indian who had been living in Japan for more than a yr noticed something strange : his Japanese friends were polite & helpful, yet none of them ever invited him to their home, not even for a cup of tea.
Confused & hurt, he finally asked one Japanese friend why this was so.
After a long silence, the friend replied, "We are taught Indian history… not for inspiration, but as a warning."
The Indian, astonished, asked, "A warning? Indian history is taught as a warning? Please explain why."
The Japanese friend asked, "How many English ruled India?"
The Indian replied, "Maybe… about 10,000?"
The Japanese person nodded seriously & asked, "At that time, weren’t there over 300 million Indians?"
"So who committed the atrocities on your people? Who followed the orders to whip, torture, & shoot them?"
He asked emphatically, "When General Dyer ordered the firing at Jallianwala Bagh, who pulled the trigger? Was it the English soldiers? No, it was Indians."
"Why didn’t anyone point their rifle at General Dyer, not a single person?" He continued, "The slavery you talk about—this was your real slavery. Not of the body, but of the soul."*
The Indian stood motionless, silent, & ashamed.
The Japanese friend continued, "How many Mughals came from Central Asia? Maybe a few thousand? And yet they ruled you for centuries."
"The Mughals did not rule India through their numbers; it was your own people who bowed to them, obeyed them, betrayed their own, and showed loyalty to the Mughals. Either to survive or for silver coins."
"Your own people converted to their religions."
"Your own people betrayed your heroes to the English. Who betrayed Chandrashekhar Azad? Who informed the English about his hiding place in Alfred Park?"
"Bhagat Singh was not easily executed without the permission of those people (Gandhi-Nehrus) who called themselves patriots."
"You Indians do not need foreign enemies. Your own people repeatedly betray you for power, position, and personal gain. That is why we keep distance from Indians."
"When the English came to Hong Kong and Singapore, not a single local joined their army. But in India, you did not just join the enemy’s army—you served them. You worshipped them. You killed your own people to please them."
"Even today, you have not changed. You have learned no lessons from history. Even for a little free electricity, a bottle of alcohol, or a blanket—you sell your vote, your conscience, and your voice without thinking."
"You chant slogans, protest, but when the country needs your sacrifice, where are you? Your first loyalty is still to your home, family, wife, children, and wealth.
The rest—country —can go to hell."
After saying this, the Japanese left, and the Indian stood there, head bowed, frozen in shame.
New Social Science Books by NCERT (Thread)
The new Social Science books for Classes 6 to 8 are truly a delight. The Class 8 book is still not available on their site, but I have read Class 6 and 7 books and really loved them.
Here are some key takeaways
Read and enjoy!
1/18
Rohingya Ecosystem in India (Thread)
Who are the people advocating for settlement of Rohingya in India, and what are their motivations?
Yesterday, an event was organized in Delhi in support of this cause.
We will analyze this poster and expose the entire ecosystem
1/17
Superbly articulated by Priyanka Joshi.
"The world doesn’t know what to do with India.
We don’t fit their neat little boxes. We’re not white.
We’re not monotheistic.
We’re not ex-colonizers or submissive ex-colonized.
We are something they can’t decode.
We are too many things at once—ancient and modern, spiritual and scientific, emotional and logical.
We believe in gods and particles, karma and quantum.
We’re chaos that somehow moves forward.
That bothers them.
Because we aren’t supposed to succeed.
We don’t speak with one voice. We speak in thousands.
Our system isn’t clean. It’s noisy. It debates. It screams. But it works—because we’ve lived through worse and survived.
When we rise, they frown.
When we achieve, they doubt.
Because they still see us the way they chose to see us long ago—untrained, uncouth, and scattered.
But we’ve always known how to turn our mess into movement.
They don’t get that a billion people don’t need a single script.
They fear our success because it didn’t come from their textbooks, their aid, or their approval.
We remember being ruled, but we were never truly conquered.
We adapted, absorbed, transformed—but never disappeared.
And that is unsettling for those who thought we would.
India rising doesn’t fit their world order.
Because we didn’t wait for permission.
We didn’t rise from imitation—we rose from memory, from contradiction, from sheer force of will.
And that’s why they don’t celebrate our rise.
They resist it.
Because it wasn’t supposed to happen.”
No, this isn’t a car showroom.
It’s the parking lot of Supreme Court — full of luxury cars.
Meanwhile, common people die waiting for justice, stuck in cases that drag for decades.
Clearly, judiciary is the most profitable business in the country.
https://t.co/5C0N0KK3aQ
What a witty way of telling his story. His Hindi and Sanskrit are much better than his English. 🙂🙂
This saint, who came to the #KumbhMela was previously a commando in the Russian army.
He also served as a bodyguard for Russian President Putin. His life was completely changed after reading Bhagavad Gita.
Listen to his amazing story. Don’t miss the end.
#HareKrishna 🙏🏼
@ShefVaidya I have rediscovered the powerful Devi temples of Western ghats few years ago and the list is endless. Though some of them are prominent and well known, its the lesser known ones which traces its origins to 1000s of years ago that one feels the energies undiluted.