The Mystic Masseur

why is farzana always so angry with the hindus? in any case, i presume she lives in bombay and she should be careful because there is always a next time.

This board is about to die, yet I have no answer to my question to the lady. Ms. FV, you listening?

Pls go through #13 and kindly answer my question.

Thanks,
Harish

Ref FarzanaVersey #70

[I had not rushed to accuse the Shankaracharya of murder nor was it a figment of my imagination. The CM of TN did it, the courts came into the picture. Are they anti-Hindu?]

It is interesting that the state of Tamil Nadu is trying the Shankaracharya in the court of public opinion and not actually in the courts of justice.

For instance, Jaya-TV owned by Jayalalitha has been opening every single news report (scheduled daily at regular intervals) with the gory footage of the dead Sankararaman. This is while someone is reading out the teaser headlines. Then when the actual news about the murder case comes up, the same gory footage is palyed again.

Two days back, there were allegations that there is a woman named Usha in Srirangam who has been ``close`` to Sri Jayendrar. This information was submitted to the High Court in the move to deny bail to Sri Jayendrar and the state claimed that they would need to locate this Usha who has been ``absconding`` and who has received ``substantial`` sums of money from the Mutt and that Sri Jayendrar has spent as many as 900 pulses (a measure of telephone call duration; a pulse might be 6 seconds) talking to this woman in the early morning. Looking at the Shankaracharya`s schedule for morning puja, he doesn`t have the time to talk to anybody for 90 minutes.

Well, this woman showed up at the Kanchipuram district police HQ at 12:30 pm. The police who were supposedly ``anxious to locate her and question her`` made her wait till 5:30 pm and then served her with summons to appear before the SP of Kanchipuram at 10 am the next day. So, this is the ``urgency`` that the state shows in actually talking to a potential witness. However, the innuendo is that Sri Jayendrar has illicit relations with this woman. Usha said in a statement that she is a cancer patient abandoned by her husband, that she received aid from the Mutt, and that back in October she was questioned by the police who then told her that they had no use for her, and that she moved to Chennai from Srirangam and was not absconding.

That rag ``Nakkeeran`` about the confession of Sri Jayendrar, which was picked up by The Asian Age, is a typical yellow journal. The police have made claims that they have evidence of some actresses in compromising positions with Sri Jayendrar and his deputy Sri Vijayendrar. A local rag took a picture of a two-bit TV actress named Swarnamalya and printed it side by side with a picture of Sri Vijayendrar, the implication being that it was a picture of a semi-nude Swarnamalya with the #2 monk at the Mutt. They didn`t even use Photoshop to make it look realistic. It was just a cut-and-paste job. In case you didn`t know this, Nakkeeran`s editor Gopal was the go-between who ferried Rs. 25 crores to ransom the Kannada actor Rajkumar from Veerappan. It turned out that he actually delivered only Rs. 20 crores, pocketing the rest for himself.

At this point, it is a matter of survival for Jayalalitha that Sri Jayendrar be convicted at all costs. If he is found not guilty, there will be such a revulsion against her throughout the rest of India that her ambitions to hold National office will be dashed to pieces for ever. So all sorts of mud is being thrown at the Mutt in the bail hearing and stories are being leaked to the Press in the hope that the people would make up their minds that she has uncovered a criminal gang at the Mutt headed by no less than Sri Jayendrar. A lawyer friend of mine who felt that the state wouldn`t be able to prove the case now believes that Sri Jayendrar will be convicted of the most heinous crimes.

PS. A local paper reported that the Kanchipuram police is looking into the death of a person who slipped and hit his head against the stones at the temple tank in Kanchipuram some 30 years ago as a possible murder with links to the Shankaracharya!

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re. pakistani flags, well, they are absolutely everywhere in mumbai, (may be even in bhangee colony dadar). most people think that they are merely muslim flags, as they cannot tell the difference between a green flag and a green and white flag with chand-tara, its not a big deal.

recently in maharashtra election, i was in mumbai, and all the damned ganesh pandals were warned by election commission to not fly saffron flags since they look similar to shivsena flags. some shivsena leaders protested that they could not tell the difference. EC made a statement that its job is to state the ban, not to teach difference between religion and politics. surprisingly, most pandals (even near shivaji park area) did not fly saffron flags, although i did notice some on the western express highway one day, and the next day they were gone.

Re Jihad and Dharm Yuddha:
mankind and indians an unpleasant memories of jihad, but i have never heard jains remembering jihad. in todays world, if a call to armed jihad is given, it makes sense to a lot of people (faithful and others), some may join in, some may give donations, and some prepare against it. a call to dharma yuddha wont even reach the callers own ears. to claim these are same-same?

Ref nb #45

[Of course he should have been arrested if there was a case against him-the question is, was there? And was he a flight risk, or could he have got bail?(I`m not a lawyer-can you even get bail on a murder charge?)What is Jayalalitha up to??]

I was trying to post a response to these days ago when my computer froze up on me but I thought I should give you some background.

Surprisingly, murder is a bailable offence in India. Not so in the US except under exceptional circumstances. Like a 71-year-old man accused of conspiracy to murder might get bail based on his medical condition, flight risk, etc., in the US. The bail might be set at a million bucks but conceivably he could get bail in the US. Bail in India is however routine. That is why you see MPs indicted for murder wandering around freely in India and even becoming ministers in Manmohan Singh the Neutered`s cabinet.

There is an MLA from the Pattali Makkal Katchi (Laborers` Party) in Tamil Nadu who got anticipatory bail in a case of murder. Then he was indicted for some other misdeeds but he got bail on that before the police could nab him. He is wandering around Cuddalore openly whose District Superintendent of Police was the one who ``cracked`` the case against the Shankaracharya and the SP can`t do anything about him. One condition for this man`s bail was that he should appear daily in the court at Coimbatore and sign a register. Four days back, he showed up in a car with no license plates. When the police in the court compound noticed it, he jumped into a jeep and fled the scene and the police couldn`t catch him. The vehicle he travelled in had no registration papers either. No news of him since then, so one presumes that he is violating the condition of his bail by not showing up in court anymore.

Flight risk as claimed by the State is idiotic. They claimed a helicopter was ready to fly the Shankaracharya from Hyderabad to Nepal. How many times would it have to refuel to get there? And you don`t land near a gas station for fuel, you need to get to an airport. So, if he had attempted flight, he would have been nabbed rather easily.

They didn`t have a solid case against him so they needed to keep him in custody to work him over -- mentally, not physically. He is supposed to have asked his interrogators, ``What do you want me to say, that I gave a sickle to Appu and asked him to kill Sankararaman?`` If you edit the tape, it could read as ``I gave a sickle to Appu and asked him to kill Sankararaman``.

As to the story behind the story, it is well known that Jayalalitha`s sidekick Sasikala Natarajan (this woman is REALLY a Kallan [professional thief and extortionist] by caste; in an earlier generation, she would have been named Mariamma [for the Goddess of Small Pox] but in the Masanamuthu generation wanting to identify itself closely with Tamil [as if Mariamma is an Aryan goddess!], she would have been named Love Queen or Senthamizh Selvi but she seemingly skipped a generation in having a Sanskrit name) wanted to buy the bankrupt Tamil Nadu Hospital. The Kanchi Mutt bought it for Rs. 65 crores. Sasikala is supposed to have asked for a 50% share in the hospital in return for an investment of zero rupees but the Mutt refused. The Mutt wanted to run a medical college and a hospital would be needed for the medical college. Having now the hospital, the Mutt applied for permission to start the medical college but the state refused. So the Mutt sued the state and the courts ruled that the state must permit the Mutt to start a medical college. Except that the file is stuck on Jayalalitha`s desk for the last 18 months and she just can`t find the time to put her signature on the file.

In the meanwhile, it is rumored that Sasikala approached the Mutt with a 50-50 proposition. Not that she would have a 50% share in the medical college for a 50% investment. For zero rupees in investment, she wanted 50% of the medical college. But the deal gets better. She wanted control of the college for 50% of the time around admission time so that she can collect all the capitation and tuition fees and let the Mutt run the college bearing all the expenses. Talk about an offer you can`t refuse! Well, the Mutt refused!

So, there you are. A medical college is a lucrative business. One hundred seats at Rs. 50 lakhs apiece is Rs. 50 crores a year. Why would anyone run a software company and have to put up with obstreperous clients when you could collect easy money from students wanting to become doctors?

PS. The Mutt has treated 150,000 patients free of charge at its hospital so the Mutt will at least spend a goodly bit of its money on charitable purposes. Sasikala`s logic is that the Mutt wants to do charity so let them bear the expenses of the college while she wants to make money so she will collect all the fees!

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I read this from a pakistani newspaper from an article..in Jang (11/30/04)..

``Recently the Supreme Court of Pakistan is said to have held (I have not seen any authenticated copy of the order), according to a newspaper report that the marriage customs in this country of ``barat`` or ``mehndi`` are Hindu customs and must be discarded..``

So funny.. LOL.. Farzana Versey seems well qualified to become a judge in the pakistani supreme court..

:-)

Farzana#70:

I believe that hindus too have a concept similar to jihad-al-akbar though I cant seem to remember the name (aatma-something?).
What we are talking about here is jihad-al-asghar which, as you imply, is the only one that matters in practice.

Farzana,

Ctrl-C + Ctrl-V is not what we are looking for. We can read the reports coming out by ourselves. Watch as India does not go up in riots this time, even if he were sentenced. Watch as the majority sets another example. Watch all these happen, for a change. And then, who knows, you might shed your deeply ingrained biases. Till then, you owe proper responses to the interactors here, and to yourself

Re. jihad and dharma yuddh, technically there is a meeting ground. Let me quote Asgharally Engineer, who is recognised as a moderate Islamic scholar: ``Jehad is misused by fundamentalists. The Quranic meaning is not meant for war at all, in the sense of killing. Jehad is nothing but making efforts to realise goodness in life, jehad in Arabic means to strive. The Sufi saints have maintained there are too types…jehad-e-asghar, a small jehad, to fight with sword and jehad-e-akbar, to fight against one’s own desires and selfishness, for when I become selfish I want to achieve at the cost of others.``

This is at the level of concepts; what happens at the ground level is another matter.

- - -
Now that this piece will move…
I had not rushed to accuse the Shankaracharya of murder nor was it a figment of my imagination. The CM of TN did it, the courts came into the picture. Are they anti-Hindu?
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#56 by jamshednazar:

Thank you. In the melee of somewhat fruitless attempts at attributing things to me, it is easy to forget (and may I say also the possibility of getting defensive?) and not appreciating appreciation. I would have let your post go unacknowledged had there not been a sudden slew of responses to it.

I have discovered that ``civil society`` means that not only is one permitted not to dissent but anyone agreeing to or accepting that to that dissent is sought to be brainwashed into believing otherwise.

``Civil society`` means reaching conclusions about ``all`` my articles, about how I rubbish ``all`` Hindus.

“Civil society`` also means contradictory signals: a person who is supposed to be trying hard to play the ``victim`` is expecting ``That Hindus have to keep bending over and over and over to win her appreciation``…strange…

``Civil society`` means that words like writer, journalist, article should be put in single quotes.

``Civil society`` means a bunch of men jumping into the fray to say ``Bravo``, ``Yeah right``, ``You said it!`` when one person decides to abuse the writer without disagreeing with what she has written!

``Civil society`` means baiting and expecting justifications for unconnected issues.

``Civil society`` cannot understand simple words like `prolific` (productive, creative, abundant) and `artful` (crafty, devious). ....btw, the latter was the wrong usage for what you were trying to convey, but it should have warmed the hearts of many others, yet because they are supposed to disagree with everything I say, they weaken their own case!

``Civil society`` means being in denial: ``Surprisingly, if you have noticed all the interactions on Chowk to this ``article`` have been civil.``

I have no bridge to sell you, but I hope there is always some water in the river you cross when you read me.

Civil society to me means a fervent hope that may my blood never turn cold in the false belief that such a thing brings maturity.

I would like to state that:-

a) The easiest way to make life comfortable while in custody is to ``break down and admit`` whatever it is that ``they`` want you to admit.

b) The media has to sell space and time.

c) The sheer volume of Pakistani flags on the drive between Byculla and Reay Road station left me stunned. And that was after Dharavi, Saki Naka, Airoli, Mankhurd . . .

So, where`s the Hindutva Nationalism in India, Farzana? I didn`t see any last weekend, anywhere between Pune and Mumbai.

IMHO, if there is anything visible lately, it is that India`s probably more visibly Islamic than the chanda box proliferated and cleavage rampant Pakistan.

A further update...

State tells court of seer’s confession (Nov 30 issue)
- By R. Bhagwan Singh

Chennai, Nov. 29: The Tamil Nadu government on Monday told the Madras high court that the Shankaracharya of Kanchi, Jayendra Saraswati, ``broke down`` during recent police interrogation and ``confessed to his involvement`` in the September 2004 murder of temple official Sankararaman. The prosecution also disclosed that the pontiff was close to a woman named Usha and that she had run away after the crime with a huge amount of money that she received from him.

The Asian Age had reported in Sunday’s edition that police sources had confirmed that the seer had broken during interrogation and had admitted his role in the murder.

Opposing the seer’s bail application, the second in the murder case, senior prosecution counsel K.T.S. Tulsi told the court, ``The Shankaracharya has broken down and confessed to his involvement. We have video evidence of this, which will be presented to the court. The pontiff seems to be now realising that he had made a mistake,`` Mr Tulsi told Justice R. Balasubrama-niam. The prosecution also alleged that the 71-year-old seer had close contacts with a woman, gave her a lot of money and held lengthy phone conversations with her. The woman is abscond-ing and her possible role in the murder conspiracy is also being probed, the police said.

The police affidavit countering the bail plea also said, ``The custodial interrogation of A-1 (Jayendra) has revealed his complicity in the offence in very clear terms.`` Public prosecutor K. Duraiswamy added that the main killers had been spotted in an identification parade.

Mr Tulsi informed the court of the additional material gathered during the investigation while Mr Duraiswamy read out portions of the confessional statement given by the seer during his custodial interrogation last weekend.

``I called Ravi Subramaniam, Krishnasamy (also known as Appu) and Kathiravan on September 1 to the Mutt for a discussion in my room. I told them that Sankararaman (the murder victim) was giving me a lot of torture and he had given a final warning to me (threatening to expose his activities). Get rid of him. It is all right even if it involves a great deal of expenditure,`` Mr Duraiswamy quoted the seer as saying in his videographed testimony.

Earlier, senior counsel I. Subramaniam, appearing for the Shankaracharya, pleaded for bail on the grounds that the circumstances had changed after Kathiravan, one of the alleged assailants, had retracted his judicial confession and alleged that he had been tortured by the police into giving such a statement before a magistrate. ``Besides, the interrogation of the seer was over and identification parades had been completed,`` he said, adding, ``In view of the acharya’s age and health, he should be released on bail.``

Countering this, Mr Tulsi said only the trial court could decide whether to accept Kathiravan’s confession or go by his retraction. In any case, even if his confession is excluded, there is additional material to prove the Shankaracharya’s involvement in the murder, Mr Tulsi said, adding that several advocates had met Kathiravan in prison prior to his retraction. ``It is the pressure and influence of these lawyers that made him retract his confession and allege police torture,`` he said and charged those lawyers with giving the accused illegal advice.

The investigating officer in his affidavit gave details of the lawyers and the dates of their prison visits and said most of them were juniors of an advocate who had appeared for Appu, another accused in this case who has been absconding after organising the attack on Sankararaman. It was their advice on two consecutive days that led to Kathiravan going back on his testimony. Also, the retraction was timed to coincide with the Supreme Court hearing a PIL seeking the transfer of the case to the CBI.

The additional materials that Mr Tulsi cited included phone records from a public phone booth near the scene of the murder immediately after the incident, portions of the Shankaracharya’s confession and developments that indicated a strong personal motive for him to seek to eliminate Sankararaman. Also, witnesses at identification parades had pointed out the main assailants and two witnesses had even spoken about the meeting of minds between the acharya and the other key accused (Meeting of minds is the main ingredient that establishes a conspiracy in law).

Mr Tulsi said assailant Kathiravan had called the pontiff’s mobile phone immediately after the murder from a phone booth. The seer had accepted that the mobile phone in question was meant for his own exclusive use and that he had spoken to Kathiravan. The confession may not be admissible as evidence, but it is corroborated by other records, Mr Tulsi said.

Establishing a strong motive based on fresh matters that came to light during the investigation, Mr Tulsi said the seer had been in touch with a woman named Usha (described in the police affidavit as a deserted woman from Srirangam). Sankararaman had threatened to expose not only activities concerning the Mutt’s management, but also some personal matters, particularly questioning why women were staying in the Mutt beyond 10 pm and why some relatives of the two pontiffs were leading extravagant lives.

``Usha is absconding. We are also probing her link in the conspiracy as the petitioner (the acharya) was speaking to her before and after the incident,`` Mr Tulsi said.

The police affidavit claimed the seer’s early morning phone calls to Usha used to last a long time, sometimes logging 900 pulse units. ``She was given a house to stay and substantial sums of money were periodically transferred to her through a bank. She has withdrawn the entire money from her account and is absconding. The petitioner had every reason to believe that Sankararaman would expose his misconduct,`` said chief investigating officer S.P. Sakthivelu in the affidavit.

Another charge raised by Sankararaman concerned the import of 100 kgs of gold to make a golden chariot for the Kanchi Kamakshi deity. Only 35 kgs were used and the remainder went missing.

Recalling that 10 days ago the court had concluded, while hearing the earlier bail plea, that there were materials that, prima facie, indicated the petitioner’s involvement, Mr Tulsi told the judge that there were now additional materials supporting it.

Also, Kathiravan’s retraction showed the extent of the pontiff’s influence, even from prison. He was most likely to tamper with evidence if enlarged on bail, Mr Tulsi argued.

As the arguments remained inconclusive, Justice Balasubramaniam said the hearing would continue on Tuesday. The seer’s counsel made a fervent plea that the press should not be allowed to report the details of the prosecution’s affidavit. He complained that the purported confessions had already appeared in some sections of the media two days ago. ``We see that the press has got copies of the counter-affidavit even before we are given copies,`` Mr I. Subramaniam said.

However, the prosecution had complaints of its own against the defence. ``Every day the media is carrying charges against the police and Kathiravan’s retraction was given great prominence. It was flashed on TV channels and newspapers on the morning of the Supreme Court hearing,`` said Mr Duraiswamy.

Mr Tulsi said if the defence so wanted, it could file a petition seeking an in-camera hearing and he would not object. However, the press should not be stopped from performing its constitutional duties, he said.

The judge said a way would have to be found to protect the interests of both sides. He wondered at one point whether a notice should be sent to the news magazine asking it to reveal its source in carrying the pontiff’s alleged confession. However, the judge did not pursue that.

Ref Asli Masanamuthu #64

[Sri Harimau Iyer:]

What? Not `Invader through the Khyber Pass-Aryan Oppressor of the Dravidian Race-Inhuman Torturer of the Lower Castes-Enemy of the Tamil Language` Harimau? The Great Intellectual would be spinning in his grave that one of his most ardent followers actually addressed ``the enemy`` without the usual adjectives found in the newspaper ``Murasoli`` (Drumbeat). I am crushed!

[I am not up on tamil pornography as you apparently are.]

The Collected Works of The Great Intellectual, the movie scripts of the Elder Son of Mother Tamil, Doctor Artist Leader the Fund of Compassion or his nephew ``Murasoli`` Maran, the movie songs written by the Masanamuthus (remember ``Ottakatthai Kattikko`` which you have been unwilling to translate and publish on Chowk?) is all you need, not even the Tamil translation of ``Kamasutra``. I am sure you have read them all and have CDs full of Tamil film music.

[However, i did read your piece about rushing off to kumbakonam to share a bath with her Virgin Self.]

How about the water? Was it gutter water? Come on, tell us. What about the water from the Zam-zam Spring? Would you care to characterize it on Chowk?

I know you have been agitating for replacing Sanskrit with Tamil in the temples of Tamil Nadu. When are you going to demand that they replace Arabic with Tamil in the mosques of Tamil Nadu? Do you have a Tamil translation ready for ``Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim...``?

As to your claims of being an atheist, does Allah exist or not? Is Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) a deceiver of the gullible public?

The Pakistani Muslims who have been admiring you want to know answers to these questions. Unlike me, they are not willing to wait until Hell freezes over.

[I found that touching. Really.]

You know what you should find shocking? Your rating as an interactor has gone down from five stars to two. You need to interact more (translation: kiss more Butts) on Chowk.

#65 jang
Pandya kings have put to death jains & buddhists.
I am pointing out that there are concepts that cut across religions. Jihad has acquired a bad name currently but THAT is out of intellectual laziness.
I have read & reread the Gita but the compulsion for a god to aid in the waging of a war between two clans has eluded me. That of course was the height of dharma yddham.

#63 by soysauce

i have heard of allegation of ``hindu`` kings waging wars against jains and buddhist. i know of many wars among ``hindu`` kings, but none in defence of ``hindu`` religion against jains or buddhist or for that matter even muslims. so can you please point out some specimens? even mr. shivaji, the icon for hindutva natinalism who called himself preserver of brahmins and cows, did not give a battle-cry against islam or muslims.

its ok to not have same concepts in different religions, get it? as far as i can tell, traditional hindu religion delegates the responsibility of war-mongering to the king. there is no built-in war-cry in defence of religion, which can rally the faithful. traditionally, in india, if a king were to say `support me in war`, the brahmin would tell him that its his responsibility and he would be happy to conduct a puja if he wished, bania would figure out the interest rate based on acturial tables and so on. the only reason you are trying to equate dharma-yuddha to jihad is intellectual lazyness or dishonesty. i mean, there are many other things you can bash about hindu stuff, but you probably dont know enough (like most indoos).