The 'Indian' thing

                        I have found few interesting things among the South Indians (not sure about Kerala) who belong to the category of 'converted - Christians'. Thought of sharing them now.

                        Before I make these points, I would like to make it clear that criticism is not meant here and the whole post must be read in a positive way. It is just an attempt to understand the Indian Hindu influence on the Indian Christian families.

Beliefs:

                         Hindus generally get wild hallucinations where they start seeing god, talking to god and do funny things like walking on fire, dancing etc. Similarly, Indian Christians are also affected by such things. A Christian woman tried to crucify herself in Guntur. She had been telling people (her followers) that Jesus Christ had appeared in her dream and asked her to crucify herself. Her followers had brought a wooden cross too. The woman is currently in the police custody.

Customs:

                         Marriages are performed in Church via the holy knot (Thali, mangalyam). Telugu Christian thali / mangalyams have a cross inscribed on them. Nalugu, is process of applying a paste of turmeric to the bride and bridegroom in their respective homes which is performed by singing of traditional Christian wedding hymns. People start important work by offering a coconut to Jesus. 'Mary matha utsavams' are common these days. Many women go to church on the  'Varalakshmi Vratham' day for the betterment of their husbands.

Castes:

                       Caste - The main and most important factor in Indian Culture has its impact even on Christianity. 60% of AP Catholics are Kamma / Kapu or Reddy who form the forward caste in Indian society. These days, caste discrimination is growing among Christians in South India. There are separate community halls, burial grounds, and churches for members of the lower castes.  All over India, about 70% of Catholics are lower caste ones (Dalits), but the higher caste priests and nuns control 90% of the Catholic churches' administrative jobs. Moreover, out of the 156 catholic bishops, only 6 are from lower castes. Pope John Paul II also criticized the caste discrimination in the Roman Catholic Church in India. He said "It is the Church's obligation to work unceasingly to change hearts, helping all people to see every human being as a child of God, a brother or sister of Christ, and therefore a member of our own family"

Other interesting things I have noticed these days:

'Gothram' :

                        When anyone visits a temple in south, one should mention his gothram. Gothra is the identification of lineage from the sages. All Hindus have a gothra and incase of not having one, surname becomes their gothra. It  is customary to say that ' so and so gothra abhivrudhyarhdam (for the benefit of so and so gothra) , the following things are performed'. Gothra becomes an important factor while performing any rituals.

                         Yesterday, I have seen an interesting Calvary poster. Calvary Chapel is known as 'Calvary Mandiramu / Temple'.It says, 'Yudhu Gothra Abhivrudhi' - It means for the development / prosperity of descendants of 'Yudhu' - 'Judaism'.  We can clearly see the Indian impact here.

'Name' :

                         For any event, the priest is very important. In India, priest is known as 'Ayya varu', 'Sastry', 'Sharma' etc. A pooja is to performed by such priests and is believed that the rituals are complete only by the pooja done by proper poojari. Now, in the same Calvary poster, the name of the Father was mentioned as - 'Father Joseph Sastry'. Obviously, masses will be attracted by this. I have seen this one at a slum (where many converted ones are present). A small church has a board which says - 'Ayya varu undu velalu (Priest Availability) 6AM to 9AM'.

Innovation in advertising:

                       I have seen one channel in which the presenter was a 'Sanyasi type Swamy'. He wore a Saffron shawl which had some letters written in red. He was preaching something. In general, Hindu priests have such shawls with 'Sri ram' 'Om' written all over in red. It looked exactly like that. The program was, to my surprise, on Bible. So, I have seen the shawl keenly wondering how such conflict would have happened. I have found that the red ones were simple lines on the saffron cloth and the program was designed to attract people. Any preacher or priest will get attention only by wearing a saffron cloth in India (especially among the masses.).

                         Many flyovers, compound walls etc in Hyderabad these have a quote - 'Gita as it is - God will come 7:4'. I used to wonder, where in Bhagavad Gita such a mentioning is there. But, have later realized that the reference in this context is made to 7th Chapter, 4th page of a local book called 'Devuni Gita'.

                         May be in future, we may hear ashtotharam, sahasranama sthothram, god's kada / kankanams etc. One thing that is clear is - the 'Indian' thing can never be taken away from Indians.

Second Capital

                         I sometimes wonder, what happens if locals in Delhi revolt and ask non-locals, migrants, settlers to go out of the NCR. This is similar to the way that is on-going in Mumbai, the financial capital of the nation. To avoid such a situation, government made it clear that Delhi belongs to no one and just as a backup option, the government has setup administrative offices in Shimla and Hyderabad. Every year, the President of India stays in his second official residence called 'Rashtrapati Nilayam' in Hyderabad for some 10-15 days during winter. If we can closely see this phenomenon, it can be interpreted that, Hyderabad is 'The Winter capital' of India (for 10-15 days every year). Shimla is 'The Summer Capital' and New Delhi is 'The all-time Capital'.

                       Just similar to this, the government should now identify alternatives for every capital city of the states at-least now. I Have been to Jammu city last week. Jammu is the winter capital of the state Jammu and Kashmir. While, Srinagar is the Summer Capital and also the first capital. Srinagar is more closer to the disputed territory. While, Jammu, which is almost at the southernmost tip of the state and is less volatile. So, my understanding is that, if there are any problems in Srinagar and the local government is unable to function, the entire administration can work from Jammu. Even though, Jammu region and Kashmir region are two separate entities with many cultural and regional differences, the state is united due to this dual capital system.

Let us now see the case of Maharastra and Vidarbha. 

                         Nagpur was the capital of Central Provinces (the current Madhya Pradesh) and Berar. It became the important constituent of Madhya Pradesh, after it was formed in 1950. In 1956, Berar, the current Vidarbha region got separated from Madhya Pradesh, and was merged with the Bombay State. Nagpur thus lost the status of a capital city. In 1960, under the Nagpur pact, when Vidarbha region is merged with the Bombay State, Nagpur was made the second capital of Maharastra. Under the Nagpur pact, one of the preconditions for Vidarbha joining the state of Maharastra was that, at least one of the legislative sessions every year should be held in Nagpur. Moreover, these sessions are supposed to specially deal with Vidarbha's problems. As of now, even if few problems are there in the region, both the regions can function independently if any problem arises.

Case of Karnataka:

                        It is believed that North Karnataka is less developed when compared to South Karnataka. The current Karnataka is a merger of three regions - Mysore State + Parts of Hyderabad state + Parts of Bombay State. There are many problems as a result of this merger. So, Belgaum, where 60% of population speak marathi is (proposed) the second capital of karnataka. So, even in future, if the state is made into two, it will not be a problem.

What should have been done with Andhra Pradesh?

                        Hyderabad is located in the heart of Telangana region. Due to Telangana issue, the current AP government is unable to run assembly sessions properly for the last 1.5 years. Andhra Pradesh state is formed by merging two states and for the last 60 years no second capital is developed. When Andhra state is merged with Telangana, Kurnool lost the capital city status and it is not even a A-class city now. There is not even a High court bench set up in any other city of AP. As a result of this, for the last one and half year, entire administration is on halt. If we had a second capital city in Vijayawada or Vizag, we would have run the government from there and the current situation would not have been this serious. Moreover, since Hyderabad is the only capital of AP, people were left with no other option other than settling in Hyderabad. If a High Court bench is present in Andhra, 70% of lawyers would have moved out of Hyderabad. The same thing would have happened with other ministries.

As a result of this, the Telangana issue would not have been this critical.

Have identified few cities which are needed to be made a second capital to curb political issues.

• Andhra and Telangana - Vijayawada and Hyderabad respectively.For Telanagana, Mahabubnagar and Warangal to be developed (Agitations between North and South Telangana arise in future, since North is more backward than south)

• Saurastra - Rajkot (The Southern part of Gujarat)

• Kerala - Kochi (Kochi is more better than Trivandrum and it is the financial capital of Kerala)

• Karnataka - Belgaum and Mangalore (These two are the most problematic ones in the state.. one for Marathi population, other for Tulu population)

• Tamil Nadu - Madurai (keeping in mind, the unrest among South Tamil Nadu people that they are dominated by people from Chennai and Coimbatore)

                       I feel that the word 'Business Continuity Plan' that is used in corporate world, (esp in my company) should be applied everywhere in the country. We use this word to ensure that all the business functions will be available to customers irrespective of accidents, disasters, emergencies, and threats without any stoppage in its key operations.

Where in India are we safe?

                         If we are willing to setup an industry or expand a company, the selection of a suitable area is very important. Last year we had a discussion comparing Pune and Hyderabad. There was a question.. In-spite of having many advantages like it being close to the Financial Capital of India - Mumbai, it being a city which has got full support from the state government, it being the 'Detroit' of India (Automobile capital) etc.. why Pune has always been the third choice for IT companies after Bangalore and Hyderabad. Why are many companies concerned about setting up very big branches in Pune, Vizag and many cities of North India?
 
                         The reason is Pune, Vizag, Chennai and various parts of North India are not 100% safe as per the India Meteorological Department.

                         This department has divided India into various zones based on the probability of getting earthquakes. It is believed that, India is driving into The Asian Continent by a distance of 47 milli meter every year. This is the main reason behind such high frequency and intensity of earthquakes India will be susceptible to in the coming years . Almost 54% of the Indian mainland is vulnerable to earthquakes. India is divided India into various seismic zones (Zone 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5). According to this, Zone 5 expects the highest level of seismicity whereas Zone 2 is associated with the lowest level of seismicity.

Zone 5:

             All the North-Eastern States, Himalayas, Northern Gujarat, Rann of Katch, Srinagar come under this Zone. This is highly prone to earthquakes. This zone is called the Highest Damage Risk Zone

Zone 4:

             Delhi, Patna, Bihar, Jammu, Parts of Saurashtra in Gujarat, Mumbai (few parts) fall under this Zone. This zone is called the High Damage Risk Zone.

Zone 3:

             This zone is classified as Moderate Damage Risk Zone. Pune and surrounding areas, Vizag, Western Ghats, Eastern Ghats, Bhopal, Lucknow, Andaman and Nicbar Islands, etc come under this zone.

Zone 2:

            This zone is classified as the Low Damage Risk Zone. Parts of Orissa, Tamil Nadu, many parts of central India come under this category.

Zone 1:

           This zone has very less risk.. in fact negligible risk. Hyderabad, Bangalore, Raipur, Jaipur come under this zone. However, the new classification has removed the concept of Zone 1 since these are not earthquake prone regions.

                         This zoning information is very important for any organization and individual since it enables a better form of disaster preparedness. However, we cannot predict the political issues that may arise and get prepared to face the disasters that will be caused by them even if we choose the best place.