Present day India was 'Indian Continent' few hundred years ago. It included countries currently recognize as Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Sri-Lanka. Looking at current situation, all these countries, including India, are way down in all sort of world indies (giving an example, global transparency index, global peace index, human development index etc). But once it was the most prosperous nation of the world. And it was India's reputation which attracted many ethnic groups from across the globe to travel to India. It is still said that 'Aryans' and 'Dravidian' were a amongst first to migrate to India. 'Aryans' are believed to be from Europe, and near East.
India is a country which never invaded any other country in its thousands of years of history, but did witnessed many attacks, many empires, many cultures. But still, even today, it is most welcoming country when it comes to guests. Many researches connects cast system directly with migration of 'Aryans' and 'Dravidian' to India. It's still a debate. Right from Aryans, Dravidian to Mughals, from British to Portuguese, everyone left permanent mark on heart and soul of India. Some emperors loved India and tried to do best for the country, some rulers just looted India. Whatever the case, ancient Indian subcontinent managed to maintain it's rich heritage. It was home for Arts, education, science and technology, earliest industrialization, which is lost somewhere today. To give some facts,
• India invented number system. Aryabhatta invented Zero
• The world's first university was established in Takshila, 700BC. More than 10500 students across the world studied more than 60 subjects
• Sanskrit was one of highly developed language with the script.
• Ayurveda was first school of medicine known to humans
• The art of navigation system was born some 5000years ago. The very world navigation is derived from sanskrit world 'Navgatih'
• Budhayana first calculated value of Pi and he explain the concept which is now known as Phythagorean Theorem.
• Quadratic equations were by Sridharacharya in the 11th century
• Up until 1896, India was the only source of diamond in the world
• The earliest reservoir and dam for irrigation was build in Saurashtra
• Sushruta is the father of surgery. 2600 years ago he and health scientist of his time conducted surgeries like cesareans, cataract, fractures, and urinary stones
• Usage on Anesthesia was well known in ancient India
• The decimal system was developed in India in 100BC
• Birthplace to many religions
• Kalari Payat martial art was invented in India in 500BC. Bought to China through Indian Monk, Bodhidharma. Shaolin temple consider this as parent of Kung fu and Karate
• Yoga and Meditation was invented in India
• Kamasutra, worlds oldest treaties on Sex was written in India
There are many many achievements from Ancient India. It was country of great heritage and culture. But something terribly went wrong. We will explore it in subsequent posts.
British rule in India is one of the most talked subject amongst the youth in India. Many people in India have different views about British rule in India. Some views are positive, some views are negative. When India got Independence from Britain, country was in total mess. There were mainly social issues specifically related to cast and religion, extreme religious people, lack of education and of course poverty. After the Independence, Indian government's main focus was on social issues than the economical issues. It was need of time, else today India would have been divided into many countries. They managed to stabilized social issues to a great extent, but since because of countries extreme diversity it cannot be eliminated forever. Somewhere in 90's we realized that we are focusing too much on social issues but economical issues are completely neglected. Major reforms were implemented and the result is India became second fasted growing economy today.
I visited India recently and I was looking at impact of 7.9% of annual growth rate. It is not visible if looked from outside,but you will have to look inside. Yes, country is changing.
Link to previous post
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Monday, January 11, 2010
Travelling to India? Think Again...
Disclaimer: The following article represents views of the author. There can be very different views from different people. Reader’s discretion is advised.
“India is NOT a touristy country, but it’s an experience. The experience may be good or bad, depending upon what you look for”, this is a very routine sentence I say if someone ask me about travelling in India. Day by day I am becoming more and more interested in travelling. I am travelling whenever I am getting free time. New places, new countries, new people, entire new way of living. During my visit, I always try to look, understand the way people live their life, things which are most important to local people. I always try to understand their world. Since I am travelling on regular basis, I am meeting people from various part of globe quite frequently and therefore I thought of sharing something to traveller’s community. I decided to write posts about India. Why? Probably this is the only country I know better so I have many things to write about this crowded place on planet. For the people who don’t know me, I am an Indian, spend my 25 years living in various parts of India. Currently I am living in some different part of the world. May be because I am away from India at this moment, I guess I can write unbiased views.
In upcoming weeks/months you will find various posts about various things happening in daily life of an Indian. It is said that rather than reading, watching is more quick and effective way. And that's why before I start talking anything about India, have a look at following three videos.
Incredible India! Director’s cut:
Unarguably this is the best advertise I saw about India tourism, because it captured the essence of India. Of course focused only on the good aspects.
Indians in 90 seconds:
One of the classic description about Indians. I really cannot talk about India without talking about Indians.
A day in the life of India:
A real life picture of what happens in daily life of India. It’s not the only thing but definitely somewhere, sometime it is happening for sure.
India, country with more than 1 billion people, about 27 states who speaks different languages with different scripts, entirely different culture, home for probably all the religions found in the world. It's a world in itself. So if you are travelling to India, remember you are travelling to entirely different world. With 1 billion population, you will find all kind of people from society. People who dont get food to eat and people who are driving the most expensive cars of the world. People who are highly educated and with high moral values to people who are ready to do anything for their survival. Every person is a different, but tied with each other with some invisible bond. Indians creeping about their country all the time but some foreigner visit then, they proudly say 'My India'.
to be continued..
“India is NOT a touristy country, but it’s an experience. The experience may be good or bad, depending upon what you look for”, this is a very routine sentence I say if someone ask me about travelling in India. Day by day I am becoming more and more interested in travelling. I am travelling whenever I am getting free time. New places, new countries, new people, entire new way of living. During my visit, I always try to look, understand the way people live their life, things which are most important to local people. I always try to understand their world. Since I am travelling on regular basis, I am meeting people from various part of globe quite frequently and therefore I thought of sharing something to traveller’s community. I decided to write posts about India. Why? Probably this is the only country I know better so I have many things to write about this crowded place on planet. For the people who don’t know me, I am an Indian, spend my 25 years living in various parts of India. Currently I am living in some different part of the world. May be because I am away from India at this moment, I guess I can write unbiased views.
In upcoming weeks/months you will find various posts about various things happening in daily life of an Indian. It is said that rather than reading, watching is more quick and effective way. And that's why before I start talking anything about India, have a look at following three videos.
Incredible India! Director’s cut:
Unarguably this is the best advertise I saw about India tourism, because it captured the essence of India. Of course focused only on the good aspects.
Indians in 90 seconds:
One of the classic description about Indians. I really cannot talk about India without talking about Indians.
A day in the life of India:
A real life picture of what happens in daily life of India. It’s not the only thing but definitely somewhere, sometime it is happening for sure.
India, country with more than 1 billion people, about 27 states who speaks different languages with different scripts, entirely different culture, home for probably all the religions found in the world. It's a world in itself. So if you are travelling to India, remember you are travelling to entirely different world. With 1 billion population, you will find all kind of people from society. People who dont get food to eat and people who are driving the most expensive cars of the world. People who are highly educated and with high moral values to people who are ready to do anything for their survival. Every person is a different, but tied with each other with some invisible bond. Indians creeping about their country all the time but some foreigner visit then, they proudly say 'My India'.
to be continued..
What's in a name?
"What's in a name?". Probably this is one of the most famous quote of all time by Shakespeare. I took the meaning literally and searched for meaning of my name. Obviously I knew what my name means, but to my surprised I found various links talking about personality based on the name. In India, there are many different things for every state/language/culture. ‘Hemant’ is name of a season according to ‘Marathi’ calendar. Hemant is start of winter season (Spring?) according to Marathi calendar. Here are few interesting personality characteristics of people named ‘Hemant’
‘People with this name tend to be very spiritually involved. They are often found lost in thought, philosophizing and can be quite eccentric. They can be quite successful in an analytical field, or as a business owner’
‘Person with this name have so many different natural beauties as the season 'winter' have. Qualities you find in them are deepness, royalty, freshness, purity, naturalists, peacefulness. They have different personality at every moment of life....like nature have!’
‘People with this name are the best observer’
‘Hemant means In Sanskrit actually it refer to hemanthaha = Hemam + Anthaha. Hemam means gold and Anthaha means Heart. Totally, meaning is that his heart is pure’
This make me feel like “The Most Awesomest” guy… ;)
‘People with this name tend to be very spiritually involved. They are often found lost in thought, philosophizing and can be quite eccentric. They can be quite successful in an analytical field, or as a business owner’
‘Person with this name have so many different natural beauties as the season 'winter' have. Qualities you find in them are deepness, royalty, freshness, purity, naturalists, peacefulness. They have different personality at every moment of life....like nature have!’
‘People with this name are the best observer’
‘Hemant means In Sanskrit actually it refer to hemanthaha = Hemam + Anthaha. Hemam means gold and Anthaha means Heart. Totally, meaning is that his heart is pure’
This make me feel like “The Most Awesomest” guy… ;)
Saturday, January 2, 2010
|| मोक्ष ||
Moksha (Sanskrit: मोक्ष mokṣa)is a Sanskrit word meaning to release or to set free or Moksha is the truly ultimate end, for the other three are ever haunted by the fear of Death the Ender. It's the ultimate freedom one can have.
It is very rare that I have a serious conversation with Sarita, especially about my favorite topic which is 'Life'. But once I had a such a kind of conversation with her. At that time I was traveling in Thailand. She asked me the toughest question ever asked by anyone. "Hemant, what is permanent in your Life?", she asked. As usual, quest began to search for the answers. Few things in wallet, some memories, friends & families, that's what I could come up with. But usually I am never with anyone for long time. I started my journey from some corner of the world and I don't know where it is gonna end.
Anyway, few days before I got something so called 'permanent'. Some letters carved in Sanskrit, the black ink embedded underneath my skin reads ||मोक्ष||. In Hindu culture Moksha is something most of the people look for. Its ultimate freedom. It is said in Hindu religion that you are not free even if you are dead. You are not free. Your spirit will remain in this world. But once your spirit is free from everything, you get the ultimate freedom, and its मोक्ष.
I carved मोक्ष in between four vertical lines || ||. Its a punctuation mark in Sanskrit. Single line means phrase is incomplete and double line (||) means phrase is complete. The reason why I carved मोक्ष in between four vertical lines is simple.
There is nothing befiore it and there will not be anything after this.
A so called ||मोक्ष||
It is very rare that I have a serious conversation with Sarita, especially about my favorite topic which is 'Life'. But once I had a such a kind of conversation with her. At that time I was traveling in Thailand. She asked me the toughest question ever asked by anyone. "Hemant, what is permanent in your Life?", she asked. As usual, quest began to search for the answers. Few things in wallet, some memories, friends & families, that's what I could come up with. But usually I am never with anyone for long time. I started my journey from some corner of the world and I don't know where it is gonna end.
Anyway, few days before I got something so called 'permanent'. Some letters carved in Sanskrit, the black ink embedded underneath my skin reads ||मोक्ष||. In Hindu culture Moksha is something most of the people look for. Its ultimate freedom. It is said in Hindu religion that you are not free even if you are dead. You are not free. Your spirit will remain in this world. But once your spirit is free from everything, you get the ultimate freedom, and its मोक्ष.
I carved मोक्ष in between four vertical lines || ||. Its a punctuation mark in Sanskrit. Single line means phrase is incomplete and double line (||) means phrase is complete. The reason why I carved मोक्ष in between four vertical lines is simple.
There is nothing befiore it and there will not be anything after this.
A so called ||मोक्ष||
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