END OF BRITISH TROOP PRESENCE IN IRAQ

Britain's troop withdrawal from Iraq has received very little media attention. In all about 179 soldiers were killed there. Britain however has received little appreciation for its role in this war. At the end of the day are the Iraqis happy that old Saddam was ousted from power and later executed? I think they are but in Iraq the Americans and British get little thanks for the hardships they went through and the lives they lost to restore peace and normalcy in Iraq. Muslims look upon westerners with suspicion and distrust. In this world some muslim nations may be aligned with the US and UK but it is only a marriage of convenience and among the people of these countries there is only hatred for them. The muslims cannot trust non muslims because their religion sows seeds of distrust and brands any one who is not muslim as being evil. So was Blair right in allowing himself to be dragged into this war ? I think he wasn't but in the end it all turned out for the best. Pakistan is a steadfast ally of the US and Britain but if you stopped on the street and took a sample of the people who liked westerners you would be shocked because not one would regard them as a friend.

MEDITATION THE RAMANA WAY

Ramana died 58 years ago and has many devotees in the west but few people realize his greatness in India. In India people don't have time for the likes of Ramana because they are too steeped in tradition and are engaged in ritual worship and observing superstitious claptrap. So why is Ramana relevant to us today even after 58 years ? Because his teaching is simplicity itself. No beliefs, no superstitions,no deities,no gods,no poojas,no hatred for people of other religious persuasions. No hatred for Muslims,Christians and so forth. No judging other people for not being like us. So what is his path which is is so simple ? According to Ramana there is no doer at all. We think we are the doers but all things happen because they are preordained. It does not mean however that he advocated a form of fatalism. In a dream so many things happen but can we direct the course of our dream ? So life too is just a dream and things happen as in a dream. So we need to wake up from this dream because it is unreal. We need to know who we really are and so everything we imagine ourselves to be is untrue. You imagine yourself to be a Hindu or a Muslim and in order to defend your beliefs you are prepared to even kill others and this is why we have mass genocide being perpetrated in the name of religion. The Ramana way is very simple. He says you need to investigate your true nature. Once you realize who you really are you cease to be a Brahman, Harijan, Hindu, Muslim and so on. You realize you are the indescribable presence which thought cannot touch. This presence is common to all. So discard all your foolish notions of religion and just try to be aware of the awareness within you. Thoughts will arise. What is a thought ? A thought is the words you use in the language or languages you know. So ignore these words and just watch your awareness which is very simple. You are conscious aren't you ? Just be aware of this consciousness. There will be thoughts but that is OK let them come and go but just stay focused only on your consciousness or awareness. You have nothing else to do just do this when ever and where ever you can and life will take care of the rest. The things you need for your happiness will come to you of their own accord. Stay always with your awareness and life will be good to you in ever way. When worries arise ignore your worries and stay with your awareness, when fears arise ignore your fears and stay with your awareness, when troubles arise ignore your troubles and stay with your awareness. Don't get caught up in the idea that you are your body,thoughts,feelings etc, a separate individual with a personality of your own. You are not what or who you think you are, you are the only reality there is in this world and all else is your false imagination.

THE PAINTED VEIL

I saw the film on DVD yesterday evening. I thought it was so much better than The Iron Man which I'd seen the previous day. It is a touching story about two people who get trapped in a loveless marriage. Edward Norton is Dr Walter Fane, a guy who studies infectious diseases. Kitty the woman who marries him is a vivacious frivolous upper class woman interested only in the good life. She cheats on her husband in Shanghai where he is posted as she finds him dull and staid when compared to the dashing and debonair Townsend. Dr.Fane's services are required in a remote village in China ravaged by a cholera epidemic. So the couple end up in this beautiful place and that's where the rest of the tale unfolds. The movie is a heartwarming love story set in the 1920s. The movie is definitely worth seeing. It is based on Somerset Maugham's novel of the same name.

BOLLYWOOD MOVIES

Actually I am the least qualified guy to be writing about Bollywood films. When I was a kid I had a friend who simply went gaga about Bollywood movies and as we were buddies it was obligatory for me to accompany him to the latest Hindi movie hit that was showing in the city. Actually I always found someway to wriggle out of ending up seeing one of these dreadful movies by resorting to delaying tactics and when we eventually reached the cinema it was often thankfully sold out. Then I would slowly talk him into going with me to a good English language movie and he would reluctantly come along. That guy for some reason always preferred the mushy Bollywood movies to the great Hollywood movies. He would rather see Aradhana than go to watch a great movie like The Great Escape. This friend saw through what I was doing and I think he never forgave me for my meanness. Anyway I think today they have come a long way from the romantic and sentimental melodrama of the old days but I would still rather see a good English language movie on HBO than an Indian movie.

The problem with Indian movies is that the locations they choose are usually foreign and the Heroines are fair skinned babes who don't look one bit like the regular babes we run into on the streets. I prefer the regular Indian babes to these dolled up and made up babes with their affected mannerisms and poor acting skills. Bollywood is crap but it sells and people love the crap and eat it up.

Shaw Kraale