How many Ramayanas? I am for many Ramayanas

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The late A K Ramanujan is arguably one of the best internationally known Indian writers. The Mysore born and educated Ramanujan taught at the University of Chicago for decades. He introduced India's oral folktales to the West through his scholarly writings and translations. His writings are so fascinating and you will be hooked to them. Ramanujan died more than a decade ago in the United States. He is now making news in the national capital Delhi. Thanks to our ill informed and self proclaimed custodians of Hinduism and Hindu mythology : Outfits of the RSS like ABVP and VHP. His writing ' Three Hundred Ramayanas ' is embroiled in an ugly controversy created by the members of the saffron brigade. Sadly the lathi weilding gang doesn't even know the basic difference between Hinduism and other religions. Hinduism, which is described as a way of life and not....

Why India loves the Laxman rekha

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Who is the greatest Mysorean of our times? Difficult question, given that Mysore has produced some of the best minds in India, and the world. Two names that come to everybody's mind are R K Narayan and his younger brother R K Laxman. Rashipuram Krishnaswamy Iyer Narayanaswamy, better known as R K Narayan, introduced early 20th century India to the West through his fiction. It wouldn't be wrong to say that Narayan immortalised Mysore by creating an imaginary town called Malgudi. The day he died, The New York Times said, "Mr Narayan was a Tamil Brahmin, a member of arguably India's most intellectually gifted caste and of a community intensely devoted to education and the arts that has produced, in addition to writers, a number of renowned scientists ". Sadly, the NYT gives more credit to his caste than to his genius! People perhaps say....