THE POLGARS

Judit Polgar, the highest-rated woman chess player of all time who never participated in a woman's chess tournament but battled it out against all odds against the formidable male players of her times, the likes of Kasparov, Anand, Kramnik and Karpov and so often emerged successful from the contest. A Jewish-Hungarian by birth, Judit, along with her sisters Susan and Sofia, remains an inspiration to all aspiring women chess players and, why, so many male chess players as well.

Judit followed Sofia, an International Master in chess, and Susan, the eldest of the three Polgar sisters, who was the first woman to qualify as a classical chess Grandmaster, the fruition of a unique experiment in training genius, conducted by their father Laszlo Polgar, a trained psychologist, who had theorised that genuis could be the product of efficient diligence and it was not necessarily a feature attained by birth.

THE GIRL WHO IS THE GLORY OF INDIA

Saina Nehwal has proved that the Chinese are not invincible as their poker face seems to suggest. They are as vulnerable as the rest of the world, only they follow an agenda which is purely political in nature and ought to be debunked as anything intrinsically substantial in them. Saina reigns supreme as India's badminton hope along with the rising stars, P.V. Sindhu and Srikanth Kidambi. The whole nation ought to back them in their superlative sporting endeavours. Only then will we be exhibiting patriotism proper to inspire a new generation of badminton stars who will rock the citadels of the badminton barons of China, Japan, Indonesia, Malaysia, Denmark, USA, Spain, Sweden and the like. May Saina recover fast from her surgical ordeal and take to her position in the court! God bless you Saina, you have made our tricolour fly high!

RUMINATE

Instead of wasting time on fruitless festivities round P. V. Sindhu and, so, upsetting the rhythm of her regimen that will catapult her to higher levels of performance in the future, the politicians should let her be herself now and focus on her game, while providing the best facilities for her future development. The same should be done for other athletes as well if we are to emerge as a sporting nation of some consequence. Else, it will be another opportunity wasted, another high tide gone by and we shall be laid low once more in 'shallows and miseries' in Tokyo 2020.

Whither Bharat Ratna for Dhyan Chand, Balbir Singh, Vishwanathan Anand, Tenzing Norgay, Sunil Gavaskar, Kapil Dev, Milkha Singh, P.T. Usha, Prakash Padukone and Abhinav Bindra? Are these sporting greats of our nation not deserving of the country's highest civilian award, now that the Pandora's Box has been opened by Sachin Tendulkar?

Politicians are opportunists and have nothing in common with men of God for whom the wide world is the uniform field of love. Equally true is the fact that conquerors and war-lords cannot be termed spiritual by any stretch of imagination.

A scheming person cannot be spiritual. The essential qualities to be spiritually alive are simplicity, innocence, purity and straight-forwardness.

BRIGHTENING BADMINTON

India has shown that the days of world-dominance in badminton by China are on the wane and it is only a matter of time before India takes a greater share of the medals and prizes at the top badminton events in the world. With Saina Nehwal, Srikanth Kidambi and P.V. Sindhu coming along to produce scintillating badminton at the highest level, India's future in the sport brightens by the day.

OLYMPIAN HEIGHTS ... SILVER SHINES ON SINDHU

Today is Saina Nehwal's surgery. We pray for her speedy recovery. Her commitment to the nation's sporting cause has induced her, nay, inspired her to participate in the Rio Olympic Games and that has aggravated her injury enormously. Hope to see her go safely through the ordeal and come out in fine fettle soon. The Saina-Sindhu combine will rock the badminton world and usher in a new generation of brilliant badminton players in the country. For that, however, euphoria must be succeeded by infra-structural development and a corruption-free administration that will cater to the development of the sport in the country in real earnest with a long-view in place so that future Olympics see the present resurgence as the seed of the badminton renaissance that will then be in spate. Prakash Padukone must today be feeling proud that his achievements on the world-stage have not gone in vain. It never does. Gopichand followed in Padukone's footsteps and now Saina, Sindhu and Srikanth (Kidambi) are lighting up the badminton world. Kudos to coach Gopichand who has brought his own excellence as a player to bear upon his considerable coaching skills and literally ushered in a new age of badminton in the country.

We salute you Sindhu, Olympic silver-medallist that you are and such an inspiration at that to the young girls and boys who by the millions will now take to the sport in our country. God bless you, your coach and your parents and all those who genuinely supported you in your sporting odyssey thus far! And, Saina, get well soon. We all look up to you to lead our nation unto higher heights of sporting glory.

IN RESPONSE TO ARNAB KUMAR DE'S COMMENT ON 'PLIGHT OF THE PUNDITS ... 4'

Brilliant Arnab Kumar De! This is the type of reporting that keeps up awareness among our countrymen about the terrible trends afflicting our society today. Your citing of instances of this social malaise makes for compelling reading and is portentous indeed of dangerous days ahead. Time for responsible citizens to wake up and awaken others to the exigencies of the times. Kashmir is the extreme instance of this religious radicalisation in India whose more general manifestations are evident elsewhere as well and threatens the harmony of the social fabric. The only hope seems to be education of the children of India in the principles of the Vedanta as expounded in the modern age by Swami Vivekananda so that in a generation or two a new wave of spiritual thinking rooted in the national tradition may sweep away these despicable dastardly ways of political appeasement masquerading as democracy, and their divisive degeneracy thereof. Till then, my friend, it is patriots like you who must keep upholding the national cause for the security and solidarity of the nation. Another duty of ours is to propagate the ideas and ideals of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose in whom our benighted nation has historically found political unity and social cohesion. Moreover, he is the one political leader the masses still adore in a country that has been preyed upon by perfidious political predators for decades since its truncated independence. This is another area conscientious citizens like you must look in to and do the needful so that our self-oblivious countrymen awake from their age-old stupor and take a vigorous stance towards nation-building. Minority mischief is an engineered entity engendered by vote-banking politicians who have reduced the noble ideals of democracy to the debilitated level of decadent feudalism. Now it is demagoguery indeed that dresses itself as democracy. Shame on this debased version of humanity that pervades the corridors of power today in a land that has cradled world civilisation! Shame on those who are mute and abject spectators to this horrendous abuse of our nation by elements whose only habitat ought to be the confines of homes for rectification, to put it euphemistically. And the worst shame on those who turn the other way and settle for a selfish mode of sensory living to avoid the unseemly happenings all around for, after all, such unsavoury perpetration is not their handiwork nor does it directly intersect with their immediate living. It is this apathy of millions to the plight of the nation at large that is killing the nation and it is here, my friend Arnab, that I wish to thank you for at least highlighting the issue of malefic play by murderous elements in our society in collusion with the powers that be. In so far as the Kashmiri Pundits are concerned, our countrymen have well-nigh forgotten that they exist any more like beasts in cages which we call refugee camps, free men in bondage, deprived of home and hearth, while we savour the delicacies of life which as fellow countrymen they are denied. Sufficient unto the day is the evil thereof and time indeed to act now. Wake up citizens and take affirmative action to redress this unpardonable injustice which no civil society ought to forbear. If we love our motherland, which surely we do, for our sacrifices in times of national crises are as considerable as our apathy towards the well-being of our nation thereafter, then it is of absolute moment that we recognise the rigours of the times and stand united in the resurrection of the freedom we won from the British, then lost to the politicians who betrayed us. Awake, my countrymen, no hour to sleep! Freedom has to re-won in the 70th year of independence. Let this year be dedicated to the cause of the resettlement of the Kashmiri Pundits in their homeland in the Kashmir Valley from where they were traitorously evicted by fanatical Muslims in 1990. And let us not stop at that. Let the clarion call sounded by Swami Vivekananda from Colombo to Almora on his triumphant return from the West in 1897 inspire us ever to live and die for our beloved motherland, a veneration that has erstwhile been the domain solely of the martyrs to the motherland, they who died to free us from the bondage of the British and they who keep dying thereafter so that the sunshine of freedom may forever shine on our motherland, our soldiers in Siachen, our jawans in Kargil, our forces at the frontiers. We must all keep vigil so that the freedom we take for granted today is not lost again to foreign aggressors or to traitorous elements within. And for this, we have to free our countrymen everywhere from the bondage of injustice, iniquity and intrigue. The national narrative must be of strength and not passive piety, concern for fellowmen and not apathy, a rational culture steeped in Vedantic values and not self-debasement to archaic absolutism, and above all, an abiding love for our motherland and her spiritual civilisation for which she must render account to the rest of humanity. May Sri Ramakrishna bless all of you my sisters and brothers as I send forth a personal appeal to you to take cognisance of the dangers through which we are passing as a race and urge you further to sink in your ploughshare of your labour of love for the sake of national regeneration! Jai Hind!

WHEN MEN REFUSE TO THINK

1. The force of love is stronger than the force of hate. Yet, people, submitting to archaic scriptural prescriptions, still resort to hate. The age-old superstitions will not go. They cling to the conservative mind with venomous hold and disperse the toxin all around.

2. Why must medieval values which are reprehensible in the modern context be allowed to proliferate and poison human society and create havoc? Why can civil society not build up a movement to rid humanity of such tribal inheritance?

3. In this world there are pretenders to piety but most are cowards that dare not face up to evil. Holy is the man who is brave. Now draw your conclusions, my friends.

4. Is it a wonder that crime proliferates in society when 'good' men choose the path of expediency to avoid trouble and camouflaged cowardice is termed piety?

5. Why must the soldiers alone take up the defence of the land? Is it not binding on all to do so? Or are we harbouring the notion that the integrity and sovereignty of the nation are the playthings of left liberals and right radicals and ours is but to witness the decadent spectacle? Time for course correction!

6. Where are the devotees of Swami Vivekananda amongst the professed adherents of his message? Where are the brave ones that dare to 'face the brute' as the Swami was wont to saying? Cowardice and selfishness cannot be the attributes of anyone who is loyal to the Swami. Beware!

MAJOR GENERAL GAGANDEEP BAKSHI --- A PATRIOT'S RESPONSE TO THE PERFIDY OF THE TIMES

Forthright as always, Maj Gen Gagandeep Bakshi. What patriotic fervour drives you on at such an advanced age is the wonder of wonders of countless countrymen and is a pointer to the fact that idealism and love know no bounds of space and time as is evident in your crushing comments against the perfidious Pakistanis! Let the youth of India, left liberal or right radical, learn from you what it is to be a true patriot, what the motherland means beyond the pale of passing slogans, parading profanely in public parodying cancerous couplets and holding the high moral ground on behalf of seditious separatists against our valorous soldiers who daily bleed to uphold the sovereignty of our nation. One may unequivocally say that the youth need to learn lessons of patriotism from our armed forces first before they venture along the dangerous terrain of subversive activity, misguided by mischievous mentors. And woe unto those that in maturer years lead astray these fairest flowers of humanity, these carriers of civilisation, these blossoming buds of the garden of life, and send them to their doom for the sake of foul reward from a festering foe! Maj Gen Gagandeep Bakshi, you are laying before all such an ideal of life and living in the true tradition of the Indian kshatriya that never turned its back on the foe but died game on the battlefield in defence of the motherland. Your transparent honesty, seething passion, erudition in defence studies and your overriding love for India make you a model for the multitude that compose the symphony of the soul that is India. May God grant you health and happiness that you may serve the national cause with verve and vigour and lead our country through the corridor of corruption and chaos unto the sunshine of freedom and light! God bless you Maj Gen Gagandeep Bakshi, you are a leading light in the darkening firmament enveloping us, a flash of lightning setting the night ablaze! Few, alas! few realise the nation within themselves as you do and instil a like fervour in kindred souls. Glory unto you and glory unto the Indian Army that sleeps not when we sleep and keeps vigil over our heads that we may rest in peace and dream our life's dreams! And prostrations to the mothers of these valorous children for bearing in their hallowed wombs the defenders of the motherland and suffering in silence the terrible loss of the fruit of their womb in the very sunshine of their youth. Glorious though the sacrifice and legendary their deeds, the mothers and wives of these martyrs shed their tears in the solitude of their souls, undefiled by the profane gaze of the world. These are our goddesses and our love and care are for these. When we realise the renunciation of these warrior wives who smilingly give up the love of their lives for the sake of our nation's security, their softest sorrow melting before the sunshine of freedom their sacrifice ensures for the vast multitude that inhabit this great country, we ought to reflect awhile on what our own roles ought to be to further the cause of freedom and to honour the memory of these great ones but for whom we would have in chains once again. If eternal vigilance is the price of freedom, then each and every citizen of the land has the responsibility of defending the sovereignty of our nation and not just the jawans who bleed on the border.

P.S. Maj Gen Gagandeep Bakshi has in his service career in the armed forces distinguished himself in valiant defence of our motherland and now, in retirement from active service and despite advancing years, continues to valiantly serve the cause of our country through his publications, media interactions and inspired speeches at many a national forum which provide a bulwark in the intellectual sphere against the toxicity of left liberalism sowing the seeds of dissension on one side and cross-border propaganda emanating from Pakistan on the other --- not to speak of actual acts of terrorism --- which through persistent lying ever deepens in the gullible youthful mind myths about Kashmir being a state under siege by India and so deserving of political freedom. Against this tirade of political propaganda of the left, which includes sections of the Indian media, and the dastardly ISI whose sole aim is India's destruction, this septuagenarian war veteran is leading the defence of the motherland in the realm of ideas of critical value to our national thinking. Let us learn lessons of patriotism from this elderly national hero of many a battlefront of yesteryears and imprint indelibly in our minds that India is to be loved more than life itself, that her honour and integrity are to be defended and never maligned as is the wont of half-baked westernised intellectuals these days, and that the sacrifices of the martyrs before and after independence are never to be forgotten as we unite in solidarity with their undying spirit to script the destiny of our nation. Jai Hind!

IN THE WEE HOURS

#Ramakrishna represents the only hope of #harmony in a world torn by ideological clashes, cultural conflicts and political perfidies.

Does the #Hindu hold a clue to #peace? Oh, he does, for his is a religion that accepts all as valid ways to godhead and rejects none. #Om!

#Love comes from perception of #oneness and never from #exclusive #beliefs, however holy. When you see yourself in all, you truly love.
#Spirituality is transcendence. Purity is the means, detachment the mode and liberation the goal. It is the quest for #freedom all the way.
Love of death in the spiritual path is not synonymous with suicide. It is the recognition of phenomenal impermanence and the adjustment thereof.
Who #cares for the #misery of the #masses save the one that has touched the depth of his being and perceived himself in the midst of all?
Is there a way out of the present mess the world is in? Yes, for sure. It is the #Hindu way of living. Look within for light and spread the #love.
The world is in the throes of a terrible reaction of the past indignities heaped on humanity by the powers that be. Douse the fire by #love.
None can escape the law of #karma. It binds all who are fooled by relativity. The only way to elude its grasp is to stand apart from matter.
Humanity will finally #unite when faced with environmental annihilation. The world will be one when destruction faces all. Wake up to act now.