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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
Vol. 18 No. 3, April 2013
www.pittsburghpatrika.com
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
The Quarterly Magazine for the Indian Diaspora
Vol. 18 No. 3 www.pittsburghpatrika.com April 2013
4006 Holiday Park Drive, Murrysville, PA 15668
Phone/Fax: (724) 327 0953 e-mail: ThePatrika@aol.com
“Like” us on Facebook at
www.facebook.com/pittsburgh.patrika
Highlights in this issue... ... ...
Violence against Women Endemic in India
By Arun D. Jatkar and Kollengode S Venkataraman...............2
Dr. Subra Suresh — Carnegie Mellon’s New President
By Kollengode S. Venkataraman.......................................9
Legal Education Loses Gloss
By Kollengode S. Venkataraman..................................... 10
The Source of Everything -— Poetry in Hindi
By Vikush................................................................ 12
Traveling by Train in the North East
By Premlata Venkataraman............................................ 14
Who is A Corrupt Official in India?
By Kollengode S. Venkataraman..................................... 19
Glimpses from Veerashaiva Vachanas
By Kollengode S. Venkataraman..................................... 21
Pope Benedict Leaves A Scandal-Ridden Vatican
By Kollengode S. Venkataraman..................................... 23
A Story from The Mahabharata
By Anonymous.......................................................... 27
Donald Trump, the Tasteless
From the Internet........................................................ 32
On the cover: Downtown Pittsburgh along Ft. Duquesne Blvd. seen
from the third floor of David Lawrence Convention Center in Spring. •
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
The Quarterly Magazine for the Indian Diaspora
Vol. 18 No. 3 www.pittsburghpatrika.com April 2013
Phone/Fax: (724) 327 0953 e-mail: ThePatrika@aol.com
Violence against Women Endemic in India
By Arun D. Jatkar 1 and Kollengode S. Venkataraman
In late 2012, the gang-rape of a college-going young woman returning
home from a movie in the evening with her male friend in New
Delhi drew wide coverage in the Indian and global media. That she was
gang-raped by six men right in front of her badly beaten-up male friend
and dumped on the road severely wounded only to die later, touched a raw
nerve among Indian women. After all, it could be any one of them.
Violence against women has always been an endemic problem in India.
Rape, particularly gang rape, is an extreme case. Social stigma is one
reason why rape cases are rarely reported to the police. Even in the US,
as an NPR story reported in mid-January, rapes and attempted rapes are
the least-reported crimes in Washington, D.C., the nation’s capital.
That is not the only reason. Indians have become cynical of their criminal
justice system for good reason: over 4.3 million cases are pending in
Indian High Courts alone (excluding subordinate courts). A judicial commission
reporting on the Delhi gang rape
stated the obvious: Lack of governance.
But this time, educated women in Delhi
protested against the gang rape publicly.
They feel they have silently suffered long
enough with the molestations by, and aggressive
behavior of, men in buses, trains
and other public places. After all, every
incident of rape occurs after several episodes
of aggressive behavior by men. With their economic independence,
working women came out protesting. Enough is enough.
Violence against women is a global problem. See here: http://tinyurl.
com/Delhi-Stbnvl. Rapes have multiple causes — some are generic, others
are specific to each society. The patriarchal nature of society is blamed
for it in the case of India. To varying degrees, almost all societies are
male-dominated and macho, if not “patriarchal.”
1 Arun Jatkar, a long-time Monroeville resident, edits Ekata, a Marathi
monthly published from Toronto, Canada.
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
The urban, educated and affluent Indians have a selective and skewed
perception of “modern” India, which they project in the Indian
English media, in their interactions among themselves and with their global
contacts. What is galling and embarrassing to these Indians is that violence
against women, like rapes, dowry deaths, and female foeticides, stands
in sharp contrast to the skewed image they have created for themselves
and internalized.
The protestors were asking the
government to act forcefully on rapes,
while shaming the government in the
media.
But treating serious social crimes
against women as a criminal justice
issue misses the other socioeconomic
and cultural underpinnings. It is worth recalling what Ela Gandhi, the
granddaughter of Mohandas Gandhi and a social worker in South Africa,
said during her visit to India in January 2013:
“Law[s] alone cannot solve the problems of society. The attitude of the
people need to change … … The malaise in society lies in the divisions
of caste, class and gender, the three evils that result in societal problems,
and women were generally the first victim of all conflicts… … The divisions…
… deny access to education, food, healthcare and housing for all
in an equitable manner.”
It is well-known that socioeconomic and cultural conditions such as
education, wealth, religion, and social class (castes in India), have
no bearing on sexual violence against women. So, reducing sexual violence
against women needs a two-pronged approach that covers the whole
population spectrum that should focus on
a) changing the interpersonal dynamics among all teenage and adult
men and women, and
b) inculcating good behavior patterns in all children from pre-school
onwards.
The first one seeks to reduce the incidence of sexual violence committed
against women by men. The second one attempts to inculcate behavior
patterns in children to enable interpersonal relations and interactions conducive
to reducing gender-related violence when they become adults.
Regardless of how effective the protests are, the women staging
candlelight vigils and displaying protest placards in New Delhi
and other places have made one thing clear: women want to let everyone
know how livid they are about society’s tolerance for violence against
them. This movement needs to thrive. We need brigades of women activists
supporting the victimized women, helping them muster courage to go
against the centuries-old social customs and traditions that place a higher
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
value on male perception of pride and family honor than on the physical
and psychological health and well-being of women.
To begin with, we ought to start with the recognition that women are
an integral, equal, and complementing part of humanity as men are, and
therefore are not less important than men. The dicta such as “Gods and
Goddesses rejoice where women are revered, 2 ” have long been held as the
essential teachings of Indian civilization. However no society, Indian or
other Oriental or Occidental, has truly lived by those dicta. These ethical,
moral, philosophical and intellectual underpinnings of civilization remain
locked up in scriptures. They are no more than decorations on the trees
of our collective delusion. Therefore, we need to concentrate on changing
the attitudes and actions of individuals and of groups of individuals.
Let us not kid ourselves into expecting that the initiative will come
from men. Men have made great strides in winning for themselves many
freedoms. However, they have not ensured that women have the very
same freedoms and not have to suffer the physical and/or psychological
trauma from gender-based violence.
So, refusing to accept unfair and unjust treatment from society has to
be a major part of the women’s resistance movement.
With women playing an equal role in all facets of life worldwide,
societies need to evolve towards a) tempering of male machismo, and
b) simultaneously steeling of women’s fortitude. It is a tall order given
the history of mankind over several millennia. But true education is that
which sensitizes everyone to each gender’s shortcomings in dealing with
the other gender.
In the last sixty years, the urban, English-educated and affluent India
— about 20% of the population — has become disconnected from its
languages and cultural hinterland. In the wake of globalization, with the
IT-based call centers providing 24-h technical support to global customers,
the relatively incredibly well-paid “lucky ones” have internalized Western
lifestyles. Now dating, going to bars for drinks, dancing in nightclubs and
late night soirees are the accepted and expected norms within this slice
of the youth population.
Such rapid changes affecting and benefitting a small segment of the
population leave the rest of the youth population way behind. Inevitably,
in the schools where India’s affluent and poor children are educated—and
in the homes where they grow up—widely differing behavior patterns
are instilled on the accepted and unaccepted behaviors between boys
and girls. These kids become adults with an unbridgeable cultural and
psychological gulf.
In urban India, out of necessity, affluent Indians and the working
poor live close to each other. But the working poor lag by decades, if not
2
1 य नायतु पूयते रमते त देवताः yatra nāryastu Violence pūjyante ramante ... continued on Page 15
tatra devatā(h:)
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
Dr. Subra Suresh
Carnegie Mellon’s New President
Carnegie Mellon University’s Board of Trustees unanimously selected
Dr. Subra Suresh as the university’s ninth president. Succeeding Dr. Jared
Cohon, Dr. Suresh takes office on July 1, 2013.
Before taking up this assignment, Dr. Suresh,
an alumnus of the Indian Institute of Technology,
Madras, was the director of the National Science
Foundation (NSF) since 2010. The NSF’s charter
is advancing science and engineering research and
education.
Before joining NSF, Dr. Suresh was the Dean
of the School of Engineering at MIT between 2007
and 2010, where he headed the Department of
Materials Science and Engineering between 2000
and 2006. Dr. Suresh started his teaching/research
career at Brown University in 1983 as an assistant professor. He became
full professor at Brown in 1989.
Dr. Suresh went to Iowa State University in 1979 for his master’s
degree. He earned his doctoral degree from MIT in1981. He was also a
post-doctoral fellow at the University of California, Berkeley.
In his career, Dr. Suresh has received innumerable awards from national
and international science/technology organizations. He has been elected
into ten national science and engineering academies worldwide.
In its press release on his appointment, Carnegie Mellon University
announced that “Dr. Suresh has earned a renowned reputation in education
and research, garnering numerous awards and honors during his illustrious
career as a scholar, educator and public servant.”
Dr. Suresh’s wife, Mary, is the former Director of Public Health for
Wellesley, Massachusetts. They have two daughters, Nina and Meera.
Nina, an MIT graduate, is currently a medical student at the University
of Massachusetts. Meera, a Wesleyan University graduate with a double
major in biology and French, is a post-baccalaureate fellow at the National
Institutes of Health in Bethesda, Maryland.
In one interview Suresh recalled something that most of the 45-plus year
old readers can relate to: “I could not afford long-distance calls to India as
a poor US graduate student.” He has come a very long way from there.
Dr. Suresh Subra is the first India-born professor to lead any of the
five schools at MIT, the first India-born scientist to lead NSF, and the first
India-born president at CMU. By K S Venkataraman •
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
Legal Education Loses Gloss
It does not take too much research to know we are a litigious society.
Simply watch TV commercials by law firms offering help to get money
for victims of accidents, medical malpractice, malfunctioning of medical
devices, and complications of medicines… …
But still, you may not know how litigious we are. A 2011 Harvard
Law School study gives us that info. Here are the numbers:
Per 100,000 Australia Canada France Japan UK USA
Population
Suits filed 1540 1450 2410 1768 3680 5810
Number of judges 4.0 3.3 12.5 2.8 2.22 10.80
Number of lawyers 360 26 72 23 251 391
Now there are indications that the legal profession is losing its gloss
among youngsters. As reported in the New York Times, the number of
applicants seeking legal education has been shrinking over the years. In
January of this year, there were 30,000 applicants to law schools for the
fall, a 20 percent decrease compared to January 2012 and a 38 percent
decline from 2010. See here: http://nyti.ms/11iXUZX
Among the many reasons cited: The job/career prospects and earning
potential for freshly minted lawyers are not what they have been even in
the recent past; the availability of forms on-line; and the growth of Internet
on-line self-service legal help (as in www.legalzoom.com) for many
routine needs. With a reasonably good grasp of the English language and
knowing what you want, you can create contracts without the need for
even paralegals for many routine needs.
Besides, legal research is now done on-line, and is faster, easier, and
comprehensive, requiring fewer lawyers, or even paralegals. Also, legal
work is increasingly outsourced to less expensive West Virginia, or to
countries like India and Pakistan (West Virginians may not like that they
are compared to India or Pakistan).
A compounding factor is the huge cost of the 3-year legal education
for youngsters after their 4-year bachelor degrees. In 2001 the average
tuition for private law school was $23,000; in 2012 it was $40,500. For
public law schools the figures were $8,500 and $23,600. This is the case
for all undergraduate education as well.
But many law students finance their education through loans. And among
private law school graduates, the average debt in 2001 was $70,000; in
2011 it was $125,000. The American education system, like the medical
system, has been raising the cost for their service at twice or even three
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
times the rate of inflation.
It has reached a point where youngsters from homes with limited
resources see that unless they land in top-of-the-line law firms (which
gravitate towards applicants with law degrees from top schools), it would
be difficult to pay off the debt, and they are opting out.
Unlike business schools, where any drop in enrollment from applicants
within the nation can be offset by increases in applicants from overseas,
foreign students have no interest in American law schools.
In the years ahead, several not-so-top-of–the-line law schools will
be closed down, and others may see downward restructuring. The legal
education itself will be forced to look into structural reforms to adjust to
this changed reality.
But given our deeply-held penchant for litigation, do not bet that this
will make us any less litigious as a society. There will be always lawyers
who will come to you saying, “You will not pay us unless we get money
for YOU!” — By Kollengode S. Venkataraman •
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The annual opening gala of Silk Screen Film Festival this year is on
Friday on May 10 at the Rivers Club, Oxford Center, with the festival’s
first screenings of films from Asia
scheduled between May 10 and 19.
The evening is filled with multicultural
events, samplings from Asian
cuisines, lots of music, and meeting
old friends and making new ones.
For the most up-to-date information
on the festival, and to contact the
organizers for your participation, visit
www.silkscreenfestival.org. •
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
The Source of Everything
By Vikush
This is a new and occasional feature for readers to compose verses in their native languages
– maatru bhasha. The writer, a long-time resident of our area, has used a pen name for
these Hindi verses. If you want to contribute, get back to us at ThePatrika@aol.com
Note: In the following verses, Ram not the puranic Ram of the Ramayana, but the Infinite
One, the very Prana or Life Force in all living beings.
Ask from where everything comes, why look up to clay puppet?
The Seed Word -- the One that runs the universe -- is imbedded in you!
Ask from where everything comes… …
Some are known for their wealth, some for bodily strength;
The attractive body is just a cadaver, once Ram has departed.
Ram is wealth, Ram is strength! Ram is wealth, Ram is strength!
Ram will carry you across to destination
Ask from where everything comes
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
Life is a draft of wind — here today, won’t be there tomorrow,
“This is mine, that is mine.” All these will stay, but you will not.
Ram was, and will be here forever! Ram was, and will be here forever!
As eons and eons pass us by
Ask from where everything comes… …
Air, ocean, fire, earth — Creations of Ram’s grace.
By mixing these are made all the puppets.
But Ram is the heartbeat, Ram is the heartbeat in all puppets!
And Ram moves their breaths
Ask from where everything comes from… …
Ask from where everything comes, why look up to clay puppet?
The Seed Word -- the One that runs the universe — is imbedded in you!
Ask from where everything comes... ... •
Violence in India... continued from Page 8
centuries, behind the affluent ones in the mores on male-female relationships.
The youngsters lagging behind, already backward and stymied by
the difficult-to-cross Vindhya-like social boundaries, realize they can never
catch up. They end up as onlookers on the periphery enviously and resentfully
gawking at the social scene they see among the affluent youth.
This divide, caused by the benign neglect of social development of
children from India’s poor families by its professional class is an important
factor — there are many other compounding factors, no doubt — for the
boorish behavior of virile men towards women in India for what goes by
the term “eve-teasing.” See http://tinyurl.com/Story-in-TheHindu
If we fail to imprint proper attitudes and world views on young minds,
it is difficult to change the behavior of adults. They are swayed by hormones
and male hubris constantly nourished by the “anything-for-a-buck”
brand of media circus. The less we say about the way Indian cinema and
Western entertainment industry demean women, the better.
So, reducing gender-related violence in India needs a national commitment
a) to change the interactions between all adult men and
women now, and b) to educate the pre- and early-school children such that
boys and girls of all backgrounds are trained the same way on how to interact
with each other with civility and respect. This is a big challenge.
If India starts today to improve early education for all children, twenty
years down the road, we may see improvements in the interactions between
young men and women in both urban and rural India. Otherwise,
India will be only jumping from one candlelight vigil to the next for rape
victims. •
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
Traveling by Train in the North East
As I walked into Union Station in Washington DC I was filled
with the excitement usual at the start of the train travel. Long
train journeys are embedded into the psyche of people from India of a
certain age. I have travelled from Bombay when I was a child on steamengine-powered
trains to visit my grandmother in Kerala, an adventurous
2-day trip in those days. And at the end of it was the loving embrace of a
grandmother. And since you never slept in the train in the excitement of
travel, at least for a couple of days the movement of the train stays with
you long after you had gotten off.
But this train trip was a short one slightly under four hours. We were
going to meet friends in New Jersey/New York, people I haven’t seen in
decades. Getting on the Northeast Regional was a drama in itself. Standing
in a long line with the pre-Christmas hordes eager to reach families
was frantic enough to bring to mind the VT station during the evening
commute.
But once we got into the train cars — remember we used to call them
bogies in India — we settled into comfortable seats with plenty of legroom.
Hoping for amenities like the European transcontinental hi-speed trains,
I was disappointed at the old-world atmospherics inside. The Northeast
Regional did not have the large picturesque windows and the décor inside
was utilitarian. Though it did have free Wi-Fi, the train we were in did
not have the scrolling displays on the on-coming stations or arrival times,
or maps for passengers to verify their itinerary. This makes for a nervous
traveler constantly checking the schedule.
But the train did keep good speed as it sped through the cities of
Baltimore, Wilmington, and Philadelphia. Though I have travelled by
automobile to all these cities, the train journey as it ploughed through the
burrows of the cities portrayed a totally different view of the cities.
If you pay attention along the way, you will recognize that along the
tracks on either side you will see the remnants of old manufacturing
facilities, many of them dilapidated and some of them still buzzing
with activity, that were there in the first place because of easy access for
transporting of their raw materials and finished goods before the Interstates
became the preferred way to move goods.
Soon we arrived at our Metropark station, a small and compact station
in New Jersey, past Trenton. All the trains that traverse this route stop
here for the NJ suburbanites.
From New Jersey, during our 4-day stay there, we made several
trips to New York on the New Jersey rail transit (NJIT). We were
armed with plentiful information from our friends, who were so worried
Train Travel... ... Continued on page 22
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
Who is A Corrupt Official in India?
By Kollengode S Venkataraman
Daily bribes, known as “mamool”:
Fruit vendor: Rs. 50
Vegetable vendor: Rs. 30
Street vendor: Rs. 30
For sleeping on pavement: Rs. 5
Sex worker: Rs. 100
Brothel owners: Rs. 2,500
Pub owner: Rs. 1,000
21
They are not the officials who take the bribes offered. They are the officials
who ask for bribe as a precondition. If you’re confused and wonder
what the difference is, you do not know how India works.
A recent news story in The Hindu on Bangalore, India’s high-tech city,
throws light onto the murky business of bribery. In Bangalore’s bazaars,
when police constables come for their daily evening patrols (beats), the
street vendors, on their own, without the constable even making eye
contact, stuff the police with cash. A policeman was candid: “I get Rs.
30,000 a month without asking anybody for bribe.”
A friend asked a police officer in Bangalore, “Who is an honest policeman?”
The officer replied: “One
who doesn’t go out of his way to
extort money.” In Bangalore, the
normal bribe rate is even formalized
so there is no misunderstanding.
See the box.
If this is the situation in Bangalore,
you can imagine how it will
be in Chennai, Hyderabad, Delhi,
Mumbai, Kolkata and other cities. This system is the same in commercial
tax departments, customs clearing houses, public works departments, motor
vehicles departments, and even government hospitals.
Business people big and small factor these mamools as the cost of
doing business, similar to franchise and licensing fees and royalty,
and transfer the cost of the bribes to their customers. India is a shining
example of a nation whose ordinary consumers subsidize the lifestyles of
the corrupt officials and businesses.
Corruption in India is so endemic that nobody complains to the authorities
even though they may whine about it in private. Besides, India
has perfected corruption to such that everybody is simultaneously both a
victim and a beneficiary of corruption. When you benefit in one situation,
how can you complain when you are the victim in another?
Another reason why nobody goes through the criminal justice system is
simply because the criminal justice system — local policemen and judges
in lower courts — itself is corrupt. That brings to mind a Ramayana story
I’ve read decades ago in a Tamil magazine.
Rama was standing on a riverbank holding Kodandam, his bow, on
his side with one end of the bow sticking into the sand. Rama,
hearing a feeble moan from the ground below, looked down. The tip of
The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
his bow was resting on the back of a frog, pinning the wretched creature
to the ground. Rama, known for his compassion, was horrified. He asked
the frog, “Why didn’t you call me for help?”
The frog replied, “Rama, if others hurt me, I can call you for help.
When you yourself are the cause for my pain, who shall I call?”
Indians feel like the frog in the Ramayana story. Besides, they know
only too well the criminal justice system is not anything like the
compassionate Rama. So, they rarely use their court system seeking
justice, whether it is for petty theft, violence against women, or even bigtime
land-grab cases. According to a recent report of the Indian Supreme
Court, 28 million cases are pending in India’s lower courts, or 28 cases
for every 1000 people. They don’t want to be harassed also by the police
and the lawyers. Enough already!
They wisely try to settle their disputes using bribes or highly effective
extra-judicial resources. These extra-judicial sources become the criminal
underworld. Working closely with the political class, they move up the
social chain, sometimes even becoming legitimate elected officials.
But then, every society, including the US, has its own version of this
model of social upward mobility. •
Train Travel... ... Continued from page 16
about letting loose a couple from the Burgh onto the maze of rail system
in their region where four independent rail systems — Amrak, NJIT, Long
Island Rail Road, and the New York Subway — intersect. We became
quite adept at changing over from NJIT, Amtrak, LIRR and the New York
subways so that we never had to take a cab to go anywhere.
It was a lot of fun, and the experience made me wish that Pittsburgh
had a half-decent railroad system interconnecting some of our neighborhoods.
It would be easy to have one with the downtown as the “hub,”
with four or five “spokes,” say up to Cranberry in the north, South Park
on the South, Greensburg to the east, and airport to the west. There is a
charm and style to taking mass transit traveling with people from diverse
backgrounds. It helps us see our immediate world with a better clarity
than through the flashing roads seen through your car windshield while
listening to your own echo chamber of radio talk-shows. But given the
state of the finance of our city, regional and state governments, sadly, it
is not going to happen anytime soon.
Note: Not used to traveling in trains, we lost our pocket-size digital
camera. So, be aware of having to take care of your personal belongings
when you frequently get in or get out of trains. •
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
Glimpses from Veerashaiva Vachanas
Veerashaivaas, also known as Lingaayats, are the followers
of a strong reform movement of the 12th century, and are in large numbers
in the Indian states of Karnataka, Maharashtra and parts of Andhra
Pradesh and Tamil Nadu. The movement’s founders defied the Hindu
orthodoxy of that era by rejecting the ossified birth-based varna system
of society then in existence. In the monotheistic Veerashaiva tradition, as
with other Hindu traditions, everyone is a repository of Divinity, which
one needs to experience through individual effort and bhakti without the
need for an intermediary, like a priest. It also rejected the propitiatory
and compensatory rituals.
Being egalitarian at its core, the Veerashaiva Movement did not differentiate
people based on birth (caste), creed, gender, or language. That
the Lingaayats eventually became a caste by themselves is an ironic twist
on how reform movements work in India.
The Lingaayat teachings are in vachanas, meaning “sayings,” rendered
in Kannada. The vachanas of Veerashaiva thinkers — Basava
Anna (Basava, the elder brother), Mahadevi Akka (Mahadevi, the elder
sister), Allama Prabhu, among others — are well-known. Like the writings
of the Tamil Bhakti poets who preceded them between the 5th and
10th centuries, Veerashaiva thinkers, wrote in the native language Kannada
for the understanding of their message by everyone.
The vachana composers addressed their sayings to the presiding deity
in the Shiva temple of their choice. The vachanas are pithy and sometimes
cryptic, needing commentaries. The vachana literature continues to influence
life in Karnataka and other places.
Starting in the late 19th and 20 centuries, the Lingaayats’ contribution
to school and college education throughout Karnataka is significant.
Here are two examples of vachanas. The first one by Basava (1134-
1196) is simple, yet profound in its meaning.
The translation is on the next page.
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
The Rich will build temples for Shiva. What can I, a poor man, do?
[But then] My legs are the pillars; my body, the temple.
And my head is the golden kalasha, the shining crown.
Listen, O, Koodala Sangama Deva (the Lord of the Meeting Rivers)!
The standing ones decay. The moving ones, never.
In his travels Basava would have seen dilapidated temples. So he declares,
“While the ‘immobile’ ones built with stones and mortar ultimately
perish, Shiva lives forever in the hearts of the initiated in each succeeding
generation.” Basava calls God’s devotees “walking” temples.
Here is a vachana by Allama Prabhu (born 1115 AD) a contemporary
of Basavanna. Allama Prabhu’s vachanas are addressed to
Guheshawara, which literally means “Ishwara (Divine Being) dwelling
in the heart-cave (guha, or guhe in Kannada).
Translation:
The fire in the stone, can it burn?
The tree in the seed, can it make the rustling noise?
Being Unseen, he does not appear in flashes to people.
The jeeva, in-dwelling one, knows the Guheshwara.
Here Allama uses imagery from nature to tell that only with contemplative
sensitivity, can one realize the Universal Self within.
When two hard stones rub against each other, the friction leads to
sparks that can ignite fire in dry leaves. Caught up in our daily pursuits,
we never recognize this potential for fire in simple rocks lying around.
Similarly, we do not see that a seed has within itself the potential for a
fully grown tree. We plant a seed. It sprouts, becomes a small plant, eventually
growing into a big tree with thick foliage. On a hot summer evening
in the gentle cool breeze, the leaves rustle, making gentle whispers.
Using these imageries, Allama declares that only the in-dwelling jeeva
can recognize the Infinite One within, the same One which pervades everything
around us. But to recognize this, we need to first see the divinity
within ourselves even in the midst of our daily grind.
— By Kollengode S Venkataraman. The author acknowledges Nayantara
Swamy from Florida and Lata Mallikarjuna from Monroeville for
their help with his rusty Kannada. •
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
Pope Benedict Leaves A Scandal-Ridden Vatican
By Kollengode S. Venkataraman
Life-time tenure is the privilege of a very few—Supreme Court
judges in the US, the Pope, and despots. All of them have something
in common: None can question their decisions. At least, US Supreme
Court judges can only decide on cases brought before them. Besides, we
have nine of them, all equal among themselves. Even tyrants and despots
are can be overthrown or killed, often with help from other powers.
But popes in the last 600 years have held on to their office till their death
despite the intrigues in the Vatican’s labyrinthine bureaucracy. Frank Bruni
has described the abject condition in which Pope John Paul II was kept
in office in his final days by the Vatican officials, who are the real power
wielders there. The Pope is also infallible. His power is absolute.
The Vatican is powerful — it is the only religious institution to have
diplomatic relations with nations in the rest of the world. It has over a
billion followers worldwide, which it manages with an obedient bureaucracy
that dwarfs even that of the Chinese in its hierarchical details and
obedience. Its assets, reach and influence are disproportional to its size.
So, tenure-till-death for popes, who typically ascend their throne in their
sixties, is no way to run the gargantuan multinational corporation of Roman
Catholicism in the 21st century confronting complex issues.
So, when Pope Benedict XVI resigned citing old age and ill health
to handle the stresses of the office, encomiums poured from all
over on his humility and candor for giving up the job. The stressful job
requires energy to attend to the serious policy matters of the church, daily
routines, and state visits. The last pope to
resign, Gregory XII, resigned nearly 600
years ago under schism when three others
were declared as popes by rival groups.
Pope Benedict XVI faced serious problems
during his tenure — shrinking influence
and declining church attendance in Europe
and North America, difficulty in recruiting
priests and nuns in Caucasian countries,
and finally, crimes of pedophilia committed
by clergy in North America, Europe, Australia, even Latin America. If
the shame of pedophilia was not enough, the world was stunned to know
that the archdioceses — including the archbishops — covered up the misbehavior
of their deviant priests. In the US many archdioceses filed for
bankruptcy to shield themselves from the financial obligation of judgments
against the errant priests in lawsuits.
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
Before becoming Pope Benedict XVI, as Cardinal Ratzinger, he
headed the Holy Office of the Congregation of the Doctrine of the
Faith, earlier known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Roman
Inquisition, or simply the infamous Inquisition. In this office, he had exclusive
access to all internal documents on wayward priests world-wide.
Ratzinger as a young man studied philosophy and theology, and was
ordained in 1951. He earned a doctorate in theology in 1953. For years
he was a professor of theology at various universities in Germany. He
was known for the depth and breadth of his intellect. He published many
essays, sermons and reflections, reinforcing his scholarly reputation.
As an ardent student of philosophy and theology, Ratzinger would
have studied other systems of approaches in mankind’s eternal quest for
spiritual growth. Further, as a priest he would have grasped the diverse
temperamental profiles of people even within an archdiocese. But Cardinal
Ratzinger, even before becoming Pope, was quite dogmatic on temporal
matters and on liturgies as he entered the 21st century, even as he saw
diversity of opinions on various issues confronting his church.
Ratzinger’s dogmatism extended to his interactions with
Cardinal leaders from other faiths. As we entered the new millennia, in the
late 1990s Anno Domini, the UN commissioned leaders of different faiths
to come up with a resolution on religious amity. A draft resolution was
circulated among the leaders from diverse faiths — Judaism, Christianity,
Islam, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Jainism, Hinduism, Sikhism and others.
Cardinal Ratzinger led the Vatican delegation.
While finalizing the draft, Swami Dayananda Saraswati made his case
that the resolution should replace “tolerance” among the religions with
the phrase “mutual respect.” The Swamy’s point
was noteworthy. Tolerance may signify “no more
than forbearance and the permission given by the
adherents of a dominant religion for other religions
to exist, even though the latter are looked on with
disapproval as inferior, mistaken or harmful.” An
example given was, when we are invited as guests,
simply to be “tolerated” by our host is an insult. We
want to be treated with respect as equals. See here
for details: http://tinyurl.com/Tlrnc-Mtl-Rspct.
Swami
Dayananda Saraswati
It was revealing that Cardinal Ratzinger objected
to replacing “tolerance” with “mutual respect.” As
Rajiv Malhotra of Infinity Foundation notes, “If
religions deemed ‘heathen’ were to be officially respected, there would
be no justification for converting their adherents to Christianity” — or to
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
other religions.
Swami Dayananda Saraswati was under pressure to relent. But the
Swami persisted that it was time for the non-Abrahamic religions to be
respected as equals and not just tolerated by the three “religions of the
book.” At the last minute the Vatican conceded, and the resolution declared
that all religions would agree to respect one another. This was big news
and was broadcast widely among the non-Abrahamic religions.
However, within a month, the Vatican issued a new policy stating that
while “followers of other religions can receive divine grace, it is also
certain that objectively speaking they are in a gravely deficient situation
in comparison with those who, in the Church, have the fullness of the
means of salvation.” Even though many liberal Christians disagreed with
this policy, this still remains the Vatican’s official position.
Pope Benedict XVI’s resignation is worthy of recognition in the
background of many scandals that were decades in the making
exploding on his watch. Giving up absolute power is not easy for anyone.
However, the cerebral Pope’s and the Vatican’s intolerance in this day
and age to accept multiple approaches in mankind’s spiritual quest — with
or without the need for divine intervention — leaves in many, including
many Christians, an uneasy feeling. •
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
A Story from The Mahabharata
Panchatantra and Hitopadesha stories are teach us how to get out of
sticky situations, and how we can use our apparent weakness to our advantage
to in precarious situations, using deceit and even treachery.
You can interpret the following fable from Mahabharata any which way
you want: as a simple bed-time story to children, or to understand
• fights among siblings, parents, and in-laws over property; or
• work situations with competing interests, alliances, constraints; or
• cold-blooded coalition building in temple politics to settle old scores
of perceived humiliations; or
• national politics on how to take advantage of your enemy’s weaknesses
and neutralize his/her strength; or
• what happens in the UN when nations with widely diverse constraints
on resources, internal problems, and global political objectives try to
negotiate to get the best deal for themselves; or
• long wars involving multinational forces where nations have conflicting
national, regional and global agenda, different constraints in weaponry,
money, manpower, and time lines. Conflicting interests vitiate wars with
no clear winners. Or military victory can lead to economic disasters.
Britannia won World War II, but the empire imploded.
We learn from these fables that ideologies are only smokescreens behind
which human interactions are motivated by unadulterated, unenlightened
self-interest to exploit the situations of the moment to one’s advantage.
In a forest lived Poonai, a fat cat, living off rats and small birds that
tried not to be in the cat’s way. One day, a hunter came to the forest
and spread his net to catch wild animals. He had sprinkled pieces of
meat inside the net as bait. The hungry Poonai went for the bait, and was
caught in the net. The sun was setting, and it was getting dark.
There came Eli, the mouse. On seeing his archenemy Poonai trapped
in the hunter’s net, he was gleefully happy.
But Eli also saw above an owl in a tree and a mongoose on the ground,
both eyeing Eli as their evening meal. Eli, seeing that his end was near
from the mongoose and the owl, quickly devised a plan.
It got inside the net. He told Poonai, “Dear Poonai, I feel bad for your
situation. I can release you by cutting the nets provided you give me shelter
for some time from the owl and the mongoose inside the nest.
Poonai thought, “Normally, Eli is my snack. But this time is not normal.
I need to use Eli to get my freedom.” Thinking thus, Poonai told
Eli, “You make a good point. Both of us are now in danger. Yes. I will
protect you from the owl and mongoose. You can stay inside. But if you
don’t keep your promise of releasing me to freedom before the hunter
comes, I will kill you before the hunter catches me.”
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
Fairy Tale ... ... Continued from page 29
So, here was the most unusual sight of a cat protecting a mouse inside
the net, with an owl above in the tree and a mongoose on the ground each
looking for the chance to catch the mouse.
Eli thought: “If I am going to release Poonai before daybreak, the owl
or the mongoose are sure to kill me. I should not be in a hurry to release
him anytime soon. Let me wait for daybreak.”
But Poonai was impatient and became apprehensive that he would
never be released. But Eli asked
Poonai to be patient.
Eventually, there were signs
of daybreak, with light on the
eastern horizon. Seeing light,
the owl and the mongoose ran
for their safety.
Eli felt safe from his external
threats, but still thought this:
“Poonai has not had anything to
eat all night. He is hungry. If I
release him now, surely I will
be his meal. But since his life is in my hands, he will not harm me even
when he is hungry. I will wait till I see the hunter far away. Then I will
quickly rip open the net. Poonai will have to run away from the hunter.
That will ensure my safety.”
Poonai, though frustrated, was forced to bide his time.
Soon the hunter appeared faraway. He was happy to see a cat trapped
in his net. But Eli quickly cut the nets giving enough space for Poonai to
escape, but not enough time for the cat to make a feast of himself, Eli.
Both Eli and Poonai ran for their safety and freedom. •
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
Attention, Graduating High-School Seniors!
In the July issue of the Pittsburgh Patrika we have been publishing
the list of our graduating high school seniors going to colleges in their
onward journey in education.
The main purpose of publishing this list is to motivate and inspire our
children in the 9th, 10th and 11th grades so that they too can do well if they
stay focused in their high school years. So, help us to make this list.
We encourage parents and students to share with us the following
details as soon as you make your decisions: Your full name, b) the high
school from which you are graduating, and c) the university/college you
are going to attend in Fall.
Send your details by e-mail to ThePatrika@aol.com •
New Kuchipudi Dance Classes Offered
Bindu Madhavi Gutti, a Senior disciple
of the late legend Guru Vempati Chinna
Satyam and Smt. A.B.Bala Kondala Rao,
is teaching Kuchipudi dance for students of
all ages and every level of training.
The classes are held in two venues: 1) Sri
Venkateswara Temple, Penn Hills on Saturdays
2-6 PM, and 2) Chinmaya Mission in
Monroeville, on Sundays 3-7 PM.
New semester starts in January, 2013.
Contact: Bindu.Madhavi.Gutti@gmail.com •
Important Notes to Readers
• The Pittsburgh Patrika publishes articles from readers (after a review, of course) on
a wide range of topics. Please get in touch with us before you start working on your story
to save you time. Call 724 327 0953, or e-mail to ThePatrika@aol.com
• We also publish announcements (including photographs where appropriate) such as
for arangetrams, weddings, deaths, awards, and other transitions.
• If you move, give us your new address. If you do not want to receive the magazine,
please let us know. We will stop mailing the magazine to you.
• We provide a link between advertisers and our readers. Without subscription, advertisements
are the only reason we exist. These advertisements do not imply that we endorse
these goods and services. You, the consumer, are the decision maker.
— Editor •
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
Donald Trump, the Tasteless
While many of you drive to work, I travel to work. I have a long
commute. Besides, I need to go through a tunnel and a bridge. How long
is my commute? Well, if there are no traffic jams en route, it takes over
an hour each way. But these days are rare. Days of 90-min commute each
way are common. Sometimes, it even takes 150 minutes. Once the Parkway
freezes due to bad weather or accidents, automobiles only crawl, not only
on the freeway, but also on all the alternate routes.
I’ve tried several things to keep myself busy during my long commute
— like trying to memorize Sanskrit shlokas and Tamil verses — some of
the ribald and scatological; listening to NPR; rock or country music; or the
fire-and-brimstone or syrupy Christian preachers. But nothing like radio
talk shows. For a variety of reasons, most of the radio talk shows have
a strong right-wing tilt. Having listened to them for long, I have a high
threshold for their predictable rhetoric. So, I listen to Sean Hannity on
104.7 and his adoring fans on FM every day on my way home. Sometimes
Quinn and Rose on my way to work.
threshold could be high for right-wing rhetoric, but my tol-
My erance is rather low for tastelessness, as I found out recently
listening to Sean.
It was on January 24, and in the 3rd hour on Hannity’s afternoon
radio talk show, somewhere between the 20th and 40th minute. He was
interviewing Donald Trump. Hannity patronizingly admires Trump for
his business acumen, wealth, bravado, ambition, his expensive lifestyle,
and also for his charming wife and lovely children.
That Donald Trump is vainglorious and pompous is well known. But
vanity and pomposity can make one quickly slip into tastelessness, as it
happened that day.
Trump was responding to Hannity adoringly telling Trump how lovely
his daughter was.
I was astounded by Trump’s response. I did not get the exact words.
But this is the gist of what he said: “Sean, my daughter is so gorgeous
that if I were young today, I will date her.”
Trump is known for his garish tastes. But still, could he not have
found some other way of telling how gorgeous his daughter is? It ruined
the reminder of my long commute back home, as if getting stuck on the
Parkway staring at the tailpipes of the vehicles in front of me was not
bad enough.
My colleague at work once told me, “Venkat, you cannot buy taste with
wealth.” How true! Besides, as a Tamil saying goes, “For every crow,
its fledglings are the most beautiful.” — K S Venkataraman •
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The Pittsburgh Patrika, Vol. 18, No. 3, April 2013
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