Reflections of Passions

That's me at the entrance of the museum   On a not so busy tarred road, three kilometres from Ollur railway station in Thrissur district, lies a tiny village: Thaikattussery. As the unrelenting April sun seems determined to drain you, coconut groves and paddy fields which grow nearby rush to your rescue by offering to neutralise the heat. A well-planned wooden gate, opposite the Vaidyaratnam Corporate office, allows one to spot a statue of Jagadguru Sri. Adi Sankaracharya seated on a granite slab with a Sanskrit shloka inscribed below it. The Vaidyaratnam Ayurveda Museum, established by the Ashtavaidyan Thaikattu Mooss’ Vaidyaratnam Group of Institutions is the first museum in India dedicated to promoting health tourism. Regarded as an upaveda (subsidiary), the knowledge of Ayurveda is firmly rooted in the millennia old Vedic knowledge systems. Hence, Ayurveda is the oldest form of healthcare in the world. Simply put, Ayurveda means the science of life which by itself is...

Among other important issues facing the country, an interesting debate on the beef ban in Maharashtra gained traction on the news wheels and social media. Understandably, the outrage industry was back in business with reactions varying from in support to the other extreme of condemning the ban. A similar ban was imposed in Haryana, which gives the police powers to arrest anyone possessing beef to be charged under Section 302 that deals with murder. Sentiments govern a particular set of beliefs that make it necessary to be adhered to. Killing a cow in Hinduism is believed to be a sin since India’s culture advocates for peaceful coexistence. In the early chapters of the Mahabharata, Ganga narrates an interesting story to Shantanu when the eight Vasus beheld Vasishta’s cow Nandini. When Dyu forcefully carried away Nandini, Vasishta cursed them to be born on earth to suffer the fate of mortals. It is interesting to note that this story, though rich in symbolism, justifies the reveren...

In a short span of time, the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has once again revealed its penchant for theatrics and drama. The alleged 'rift' within the party ranks, owing mainly to lack of internal democracy and depleting spaces for dissent has brought the party back into the news wheels and has dominated the agenda on social media for nearly three weeks. For the uninitiated, the rift began with a letter: 'Note on the Way Forward' penned by Prashant Bhushan and Yogendra Yadav which was written to the National Executive of the comparatively new political party. In these two weeks, various leaders from the party articulated their views on the rift across different media platforms.  It is indeed surprising that the party's principle face: Arvind Kejriwal conveniently chose to distance himself from the controversy citing his naturopathy treatment in Bangalore. While he  did tweet twice expressing pain over the infighting, Arvind Kejriwal refused to communicate to the media an...