Universal Blessing for 2022

O Adorable Lord of Mercy and Love!Salutations and prostrations unto Thee.Thou art Omnipresent, Omnipotent and Omniscient.Thou art Satchidananda (Existence-Consciousness-Bliss Absolute).Thou art the Indweller of all beings. Grant us an understanding heart,Equal vision, balanced mind,Faith, devotion and wisdom.Grant us inner spiritual strengthTo resist temptations and to control the mind.Free us from egoism, lust, greed, hatred, anger and jealousy.Fill our hearts with divine virtues. Let us behold … Continue reading Universal Blessing for 2022

Christmas – The Kolkata Way

BY DR KAUSTAV BHATTACHARYYA The onset of the second week of December makes one reflect and ponder about Christmas festivities. Having spent a few Christmases in cooler climes of Western Europe one feels nostalgic about the ‘snowy’ Christmas termed as the ‘white’ Christmas though more often it was the chilly cold one. The entire ambiance gets imbued with a festive spirit with the streets lit … Continue reading Christmas – The Kolkata Way

King of Bollywood

BY ANDREW MOODY “Shah Rukh Khan is the face of a glittering new India. He is a modern-day god. On streets in India, his posters are sold alongside those of religious deities. Shrines have been erected in his name. For Indians and the varied non-Indian lover of popular Hindi cinema, Shah Rukh is bigger than Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt combined. Over fifteen years and … Continue reading King of Bollywood

Better the Devil You Know

BY DOMINIC WIGHTMAN Brit-bashing in India is on the rise. Well, let’s say we deserve it. For years us Brits hammered you Indians. As Jawaharlal Nehru wrote in The Discovery of India, the ransacking of India the British would come to call trade was in fact “plunder”. Nehru describes how the “Pagoda Tree”—or the tree of money—”was shaken again and again until the most terrible famines … Continue reading Better the Devil You Know