The times and thoughts of C Subramaniam: Book Review

HAND OF DESTINY By C Subramaniam
Among the few post-1947 political memoirs was Congress stalwart Dwarka Prasad Mishra's Post-Nehru Era , which was not widely known despite its spicy anecdotes .Among the recent contributions to this class of literature ,Lal Krishna Advani's My Country, My Life and former Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterji's Keeping the Faith :Memoirs of a Parliamentarian " caused a ripple, but no more.For the diligent researcher, however , all these works can yield details , enough to piece together chapters of political  history.
                                       The author begins by recalling his takeover as the President of the Tamilnadu Congress Committee after the party's electoral rout at the hands of the emerging Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in1957 . One of his first tasks was to prepare for the election to civic bodies . Kamaraj , according to him came in the way." Iappointed an election committee for identifying the candidates...As Kamraj was continuing as Congress President at that time, I thought it would not be proper to include him in the committee, over which I would naturally be presiding --but he made his exclusion a point of grievance"               

Chant of the Flaming Lips

A 5000-year-old tradition that involves reciting from the Vedas around a fireplace will be conducted over 12 days to preserve the environment and usher in global peace

venue: village PANJAL in Thrissur DIST. IN KERALA .
Yajaman:Puthillathu Ramanajan Somayaji
   The athirrathram,which will cost an estimated Rs.1 crore ,is likely to draw more than 15000 people from all over the world incuding not just devotees and believers but also scientists, scholars and critics.The star attendee of the event will be Indologist and heritage crusader John Frederik "Frits" Stall , a driving force behind the preservation of the world's oldest surving Vedic ritual athirathram. Stall, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy and south and south-east Asian Studies at the University of Berkeley in California, announced the existence of this ritual to the world by documenting it in his seminal treatise Agni:the Vedic ritual of the fire altar .

Truth be told..new book on GANDHI

The furore over Gandhi is misplaced . Not because it may be false, but because we can't handle the truth
                                                                             
       Former New York Times editor Joseph Lelyweld has written a book in which among other lines, he quotes Tridip Suhrud , a cultural  historian ; "They were a couple". Mr Lelyveld goes on to write in the next line . That's a succinct way of summing up the obvious Kallenbach later remarked that they'd lived together almost in the same bed-- but what kind of couple were they ?The Kallenbach mentioned in Hermann Kallenbach, a Jewish East Prussian architect in early 20th century  Johannesburg and the "they" is Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi and Kallenbach .That's right, Mohandas "Bapu"Gandhi, the Father of our nation and that secular name uttered to make everything sacred.
      Mr.Lelyveld ,a journalist, quotes another Gandhi scholar characterising the Gandhi-Kallenbach relationship as "clearly homoerotic" rather than homosexual , "then adding intending through that choice of words to describe a strong mutual attraction, nothing more". The author goes on to write: "the conclusions passed on by word of mouth in South Africa's small Indian community were sometimes less nuanced.
      It was no secret then, or later, that Gandhi, leaving his wife behind, had gone to live with a man"
         Going by that most relevatory and "truthful" of texts , "My Experiments with Truth" it certainly would't have bothered Gandhi.