12-09-2008, 02:33 AM
So many aspects of Indian culture have taken root outside India over the millenia. Maya Radj's (free) online novel R's Journey - The Wounded Elephant provides many insights on India contribution to civilization.
From the novel's summary:
This is the story of a life-changing three-week period in the life of R. Sharma, a young graduate living in New Delhi in contemporary India. It is a story of ignorance and discovery, of illusion and reality.
After completing his undergraduate degree with high honours, R is still searching for a first job in the Indian capital. It is a deeply frustrated R that we discover at the start of this novel, a young man who has lost faith in his country and who begins to loathe it.
Fortunately, Mohini, his sparkling girlfriend knows how to cheer him up. Behind a mask of superficial frivolity characterised by a passion for Bollywood movies and their stars, she hides a clear agenda about her future and that of her boyfriend â they should leave India and emigrate to Americaâlike her cousins, who are now enjoying a regal life there. Encouraged by Mohini, R begins to nurture an American dream. After all, his elder brother Ashok is now a successful computer programmer in a Los Angeles company.
R asks Ashok for help. Initially very reluctant,âmuch to Râs bewildermentâAshok eventually agrees to help his younger brother. However, prior to Râs departure, Ashok demands that his younger brother visit their family guru, Pundit Yogish Doobay in Varanasi. Oddly, Ashok also asks R to hand-deliver gifts to five of his university friends. The young man, already daydreaming of Los Angelesâ attractions, grudgingly agrees to undertake what he feels will be a highly unpleasant three week trip across the poor and dirty country that he now despises. Unknown to him, this journey is part of a plan orchestrated by Ashok to open his younger brotherâs eyes on the hidden treasures of their country of birth.
Indeed, at every step, the journey provides plenty of surprising discoveries for the young would-be migrantâthrough experiences that re-shape his thinking and will likely change his outlook on life forever.
R starts his journey in the mystical city of Varanasi on the banks of the sacredâand highly pollutedâGanges river. There, Yogish Doobay reveals some of Indiaâs deepest philosophical and spiritual treasures: Yoga and Ayurveda, the stages and aims of life, Vastu, Maya and reality.
In Jaipur, the capital of majestic Rajasthan, R meets Colonel Singh, a direct descendant of Rajput kings who challenges some of the young manâs assumptions about Indian history and politics.
In Mumbai, the countryâs economic powerhouse, as R watches the flow of poverty-stricken rural migrants flocking into the city, he reflects upon the social and political challenges facing India and Ashraf offers him an emotionally charged taste of Hindu-Moslem relations. To Râs surprise, the gift that Ashraf unwraps looks exactly like the Colonelâs, an elephant-shaped sandalwood paperweight that conceals a hidden message. But, like the Colonel, Ashraf does not wish to discuss the mysterious gift nor its contents!
We follow R as he visits Jeremy Souza in Goa, a popular seaside resort in Southern India. There, Ashokâs friend and R discuss a few controversial aspects of the regionâs colonial past.
In the southern temple city of Madurai, R meets Nandan. The fourth of Ashokâs friends proudly shows off his new Ayurvedic clinic to the young man. He also explains why, unlike Ashok, he chose to return to his hometown after living and working several years in America. Nandanâs father, an expert Ayurvedic practitioner, introduces R to the fundamental concepts of this ancient science of healthy living.
On the last leg of his trip, R meets Gautam, the last of Ashokâs friends in Bodhgaya, a historic Buddhist pilgrimage site in rural Bihar. There, R learns from Radhaâs about the different styles of classical Indian music and dance, and the fifth of Ashokâs friends reveals to R the astounding secret of the elephant-shaped paperweightsâ¦and that of the journey. It is a shaken young man who then hurries to Varanasi to seek advice from his guru! Along the way he begins to realize the influence that this journey has had on him.
Back in Varanasi, Yogish Doobay listens sympathetically to his young disciple, and helps R to see the light and find balance through some chosen teachings from the Vedants and the Upanishads.
âRâs Journey â the Wounded Elephantâ is a novel of self-discovery that also outlines key aspects of the culture, philosophy, spirituality and history of Indiaâthe country hosting the worldâs oldest continuing civilisationâ, against a backdrop of contemporary socio-economic and political issues, at a time when more and more people are turning their eyes toward this âWounded Elephantâ struggling to rise.
This novel also aims to stimulate some thinking about immigration and its causes: poverty, underdevelopment, and the growing expectations of the youthful population of the âdevelopingâ world.
<!--QuoteBegin-Bodhi+Apr 21 2008, 12:49 PM-->QUOTE(Bodhi @ Apr 21 2008, 12:49 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>[color=red]Yoga knocks judo off Kremlin</b>
Moscow: The ancient Indian yoga, once banished from the country by a Communist leader, is all set to make a home in the Kremlin next month when the new Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, who practises the art, takes over.
Prodded by his wife Svetlana, <b>President-elect Medvedev had joined the thousands of Russians eager to learn the Indian art of yoga. He now takes pride in his ability to perform âshirshasanaâ, a headstand pose.</b>
Tennis revolution
The former President Boris Yeltsinâs tennis revolution had resulted in the birth of a whole constellation of Russian superstars like Kournikova and Sharapova.
His successor, a judo black-belt holder and mountain skier Vladimir Putin gave boost to oriental martial arts and mountain skiing and if the trend continues, Russia will soon be standing on its head, Centre TV (CTV) said in its weekend analytical programme âPost Scriptumâ.
âAnd if this trend is to continue <b>under Medvedev, Russia will soon have more yoga schools than India</b>,â CTV observed.
In an interview to the Itogi magazine last year, Mr. Medvedev, the then First Deputy Prime Minister looking after major social and health reforms, said: âLittle by little, I am mastering yoga.â
Yoga, he explained, helped him relax from the stress of work. âI can even stand on my head,â Mr. Medvedev told a glossy magazine Tainy Zvyozd (Secrets of the Stars) last month.
<b>In the late 1960s under Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev the only Indian professor of yoga at the Moscow-based Institute of Physical Culture was asked to quit and the yoga department was closed due to its connection with Hindu religious practices.</b> However, after the Soviet Unionâs collapse yoga has gained popularity in Russia.Scores of private yoga centres have sprung up not only in Moscow, but also in faraway cities and towns.According to Khatuna Kobiashvili of Yoga Journal Russia, at least 100,000 people regularly practice yoga in Russia. The journal, published by the media group along with the Moscow Times and business daily Vedomosti, sells 55,000 copies a month nationwide, she said. â PTI
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/21/stories...42150591300.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
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From the novel's summary:
This is the story of a life-changing three-week period in the life of R. Sharma, a young graduate living in New Delhi in contemporary India. It is a story of ignorance and discovery, of illusion and reality.
After completing his undergraduate degree with high honours, R is still searching for a first job in the Indian capital. It is a deeply frustrated R that we discover at the start of this novel, a young man who has lost faith in his country and who begins to loathe it.
Fortunately, Mohini, his sparkling girlfriend knows how to cheer him up. Behind a mask of superficial frivolity characterised by a passion for Bollywood movies and their stars, she hides a clear agenda about her future and that of her boyfriend â they should leave India and emigrate to Americaâlike her cousins, who are now enjoying a regal life there. Encouraged by Mohini, R begins to nurture an American dream. After all, his elder brother Ashok is now a successful computer programmer in a Los Angeles company.
R asks Ashok for help. Initially very reluctant,âmuch to Râs bewildermentâAshok eventually agrees to help his younger brother. However, prior to Râs departure, Ashok demands that his younger brother visit their family guru, Pundit Yogish Doobay in Varanasi. Oddly, Ashok also asks R to hand-deliver gifts to five of his university friends. The young man, already daydreaming of Los Angelesâ attractions, grudgingly agrees to undertake what he feels will be a highly unpleasant three week trip across the poor and dirty country that he now despises. Unknown to him, this journey is part of a plan orchestrated by Ashok to open his younger brotherâs eyes on the hidden treasures of their country of birth.
Indeed, at every step, the journey provides plenty of surprising discoveries for the young would-be migrantâthrough experiences that re-shape his thinking and will likely change his outlook on life forever.
R starts his journey in the mystical city of Varanasi on the banks of the sacredâand highly pollutedâGanges river. There, Yogish Doobay reveals some of Indiaâs deepest philosophical and spiritual treasures: Yoga and Ayurveda, the stages and aims of life, Vastu, Maya and reality.
In Jaipur, the capital of majestic Rajasthan, R meets Colonel Singh, a direct descendant of Rajput kings who challenges some of the young manâs assumptions about Indian history and politics.
In Mumbai, the countryâs economic powerhouse, as R watches the flow of poverty-stricken rural migrants flocking into the city, he reflects upon the social and political challenges facing India and Ashraf offers him an emotionally charged taste of Hindu-Moslem relations. To Râs surprise, the gift that Ashraf unwraps looks exactly like the Colonelâs, an elephant-shaped sandalwood paperweight that conceals a hidden message. But, like the Colonel, Ashraf does not wish to discuss the mysterious gift nor its contents!
We follow R as he visits Jeremy Souza in Goa, a popular seaside resort in Southern India. There, Ashokâs friend and R discuss a few controversial aspects of the regionâs colonial past.
In the southern temple city of Madurai, R meets Nandan. The fourth of Ashokâs friends proudly shows off his new Ayurvedic clinic to the young man. He also explains why, unlike Ashok, he chose to return to his hometown after living and working several years in America. Nandanâs father, an expert Ayurvedic practitioner, introduces R to the fundamental concepts of this ancient science of healthy living.
On the last leg of his trip, R meets Gautam, the last of Ashokâs friends in Bodhgaya, a historic Buddhist pilgrimage site in rural Bihar. There, R learns from Radhaâs about the different styles of classical Indian music and dance, and the fifth of Ashokâs friends reveals to R the astounding secret of the elephant-shaped paperweightsâ¦and that of the journey. It is a shaken young man who then hurries to Varanasi to seek advice from his guru! Along the way he begins to realize the influence that this journey has had on him.
Back in Varanasi, Yogish Doobay listens sympathetically to his young disciple, and helps R to see the light and find balance through some chosen teachings from the Vedants and the Upanishads.
âRâs Journey â the Wounded Elephantâ is a novel of self-discovery that also outlines key aspects of the culture, philosophy, spirituality and history of Indiaâthe country hosting the worldâs oldest continuing civilisationâ, against a backdrop of contemporary socio-economic and political issues, at a time when more and more people are turning their eyes toward this âWounded Elephantâ struggling to rise.
This novel also aims to stimulate some thinking about immigration and its causes: poverty, underdevelopment, and the growing expectations of the youthful population of the âdevelopingâ world.
<!--QuoteBegin-Bodhi+Apr 21 2008, 12:49 PM-->QUOTE(Bodhi @ Apr 21 2008, 12:49 PM)<!--QuoteEBegin--><!--QuoteBegin--><div class='quotetop'>QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin--><b>[color=red]Yoga knocks judo off Kremlin</b>
Moscow: The ancient Indian yoga, once banished from the country by a Communist leader, is all set to make a home in the Kremlin next month when the new Russian President, Dmitry Medvedev, who practises the art, takes over.
Prodded by his wife Svetlana, <b>President-elect Medvedev had joined the thousands of Russians eager to learn the Indian art of yoga. He now takes pride in his ability to perform âshirshasanaâ, a headstand pose.</b>
Tennis revolution
The former President Boris Yeltsinâs tennis revolution had resulted in the birth of a whole constellation of Russian superstars like Kournikova and Sharapova.
His successor, a judo black-belt holder and mountain skier Vladimir Putin gave boost to oriental martial arts and mountain skiing and if the trend continues, Russia will soon be standing on its head, Centre TV (CTV) said in its weekend analytical programme âPost Scriptumâ.
âAnd if this trend is to continue <b>under Medvedev, Russia will soon have more yoga schools than India</b>,â CTV observed.
In an interview to the Itogi magazine last year, Mr. Medvedev, the then First Deputy Prime Minister looking after major social and health reforms, said: âLittle by little, I am mastering yoga.â
Yoga, he explained, helped him relax from the stress of work. âI can even stand on my head,â Mr. Medvedev told a glossy magazine Tainy Zvyozd (Secrets of the Stars) last month.
<b>In the late 1960s under Soviet leader Leonid Brezhnev the only Indian professor of yoga at the Moscow-based Institute of Physical Culture was asked to quit and the yoga department was closed due to its connection with Hindu religious practices.</b> However, after the Soviet Unionâs collapse yoga has gained popularity in Russia.Scores of private yoga centres have sprung up not only in Moscow, but also in faraway cities and towns.According to Khatuna Kobiashvili of Yoga Journal Russia, at least 100,000 people regularly practice yoga in Russia. The journal, published by the media group along with the Moscow Times and business daily Vedomosti, sells 55,000 copies a month nationwide, she said. â PTI
http://www.thehindu.com/2008/04/21/stories...42150591300.htm<!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->
[right][snapback]80789[/snapback][/right]
<!--QuoteEnd--></div><!--QuoteEEnd-->