Anecdotal Evidence

The second time they meet, Clara says she was thinking about how to react if Jayachandran brings up the question of marriage. She says that in 'passive voice'. i.e. 'had the question been raised' (not: had Jayachandran raised the qn). He counters it with: what if the question had been raised (i.e. what would have been your speculation). And her response is : the question has not been raised. Has it? I found that fantastic. There is just no simulating life. No predicting, expecting how people would react, deciding accordingly. Things just happen like rain and you have to bloody go with it. It's not like you have a choice. You can think as much as you like about how you would react to situations when they crop up. But will you indeed react that way? Can you be sure about that? If values, beliefs are all supposed to be based on 'how one reacts to situations', then how can one think 'I am like this only' in such a fundamentally uncertain world....

Nehru's letter to his chief ministers on 14th May 1949 The law and order problem was....discussed at length at [a recent Governor's] conference. It was clear the primary duty of the government was to maintain the law and order and to meet any challenge made to it. As the Communist Party of India has made that challenge, it had to be effectively met. Two points were, however, stressed. One was that we should try and keep apart the violence and sabotage of the Communist Party's program in India from their normal ideological approach. That is to say our action against Communist Party members is because they indulge in violence and sabotage and openly say so in their circulars etc., and not because they hold certain opinions. It is important this difference be made, as otherwise, some people might be misled into thinking that we are attacking a way of thinking and not violent activities against the State. The second point that was mentioned was that while police and the lik...

பஞ்சகிருஷ்ணஸ்தலங்களில் ஒன்றான திருக்கண்ணபுரத்தைப் பற்றி பெருமாள் திருமொழியில் குலசேகராழ்வார் பாடிய பாடல்கள் ( மன்னுபுகழ் கௌசலைதன் ) மிகப் பிரசித்தமானவை. பொதுவாக ஆழ்வார்கள் எத்தலத்தைப் பாடுகிறார்களோ, அங்கு பெருமாள் கொண்ட ரூபத்தைப் பாடுவர்.  எ.டு:  நின்றதது எந்தை ஊரகத்து, இருந்தது எந்தை பாடகத்து..  என்று நின்றகோலத்தில் திரூஊரகத்திலும், இருந்தகோலத்தில் திருப்பாடகத்திலும், கிடந்தகோலத்தில் திருவெஃகாவிலும் பாடுகிறார் திருமழிசையார். அவ்வாறு இல்லாமல் பொதுவாக பிற கோலங்களை, அவதார ரூபங்களையும், லீலைகளையும் பாடுவதும் உண்டு. ஆனால் ஒரு கிருஷ்ணத்தலத்தை எடுத்துக்கொண்டு  பத்து பாடல்கள் ராமனைப் பற்றி மட்டுமே பாடியது வினோதமானது. தீவிர ராம பக்தரான துளசிதாசர் கிருஷ்ணர் கோவிலில் சென்று இவ்வாறு பாடினாராம்  kaahai varanau chavi aap ki bhalE virAjat nAth Tulsi mastak tab naval dhanush baaN lEvu hAth Dear Lord, I have no words to describe your beauty, but though you have assumed the form of Sri Krishna (Nath), Tulsidas will only pray to you when you have a bo...