Author Archive: Varadaraja V. Raman
The Wheel
The wheel is one of the most ancient of human inventions. The name of its inventor is lost for ever. That person could never have suspected that the transcendental number pi is implicit its shape. Since the nineteenth century, after the advent of the Industrial Revolution, the wheel has come to pay an ubiquitous role …
Thoughts for the First of April
April Fool Day It is amazing how ancient and universal some customs can be. Archaeologists have unearthed cuneiform tablets which show laughing figures with full moon beside them which have been interpreted as an ancient mode of observing the equivalent of a day when people made fun of one another. In one of his Monologues …
The Tragedy in Allahabad
Oh, the Power of Faith and Frenzy More than thirty pilgrims who had come to wash away their sins at the confluence of two actual and one no-longer existent river, died in a stampede at the Allahabad railway station a couple of days ago on their way back to wherever they came from. This was …
On Two Short Stories
Finished re-reading Herman Melville’s Bartleby the Scrivener in which the taciturn hero is hard-working and focused in his job of copying documents, but is adamant about not doing anything else he is asked to do by his boss at the Wall Street Law Firm where he was working. The story was at times tedious, because …
Reflections on the Gita: Cross-cultural and Non-traditional
2. atra śūrā maheṣvāsā bhīmārjunasamā yudhi. There are heroes, mighty bowmen, The likes of Bhima and Arjuna are in contest. 1.4 These are the opening lines for a full description of the battle scene in which able fighters on both sides, armed with a variety of weapons are confronting one another, ready for …
On Reactions to Ashis Nandy’s Statement
Many have now read news reports to the effect that Ashis Nandy, an eminent academic and scholar, unwittingly blurted out at a “Literary Festival” in Jaipur that “Most corrupt people come from …” and mentioned certain caste-based sub-groups in India. Though I am inclined to think that Nandy did not quite mean what the statement …
Reflections on the Gita: Cross-Cultural & Non-Tradiional
1. dharmakṣetre kurukṣetre samavetā yuyutsavaḥ māmakāḥ pāṇḍavāś caiva kim akurvata sañjaya 1.1 In the field of dharma, in the field of Kurus, gathered and eager to fight, My own men and the Pandavas, what are they doing, Oh Sañjaya? The Gita appears in the epic Mahabharata which recounts many events and episodes from Indic sacred …
Salute to Vienna
We went to the Orchestra Hall Symphony Center in Chicago on December 30, 2012 to enjoy some joyous Viennese music that often lights up the season in many parts of the world. Situated right across the Arts Institute, the Symphony Center is a beautiful hall with lovely chandeliers. It was good to see the hall …
Best Wishes!
The world in which we live is constrained by Reality. But there is far greater freedom and possibility in the world of wish and fantasy. Placing myself in that world I pray for health, happiness, and interesting experiences for all those who read this, and their families. And I pray for Peace around the World …
Chance, Luck, and Causality
Chance is a causally intractable, or as yet a not causally reduced, event in the natural world. If and when a chance event has an impact on human life (whether expected or unexpected) the event is regarded as a stroke of luck or ill-luck, depending on whether the impact is positive or negative. Scientifically inclined …
