Bahubali and ancient India

The use of modern arts and engineering to rediscover the ancient arts and engineering.

What this epic story from SS Rajamouli has done for the Indian movie industry is nothing less then a revolution. In the process however, the seeds of a silent new revolution have now been sown — rediscovering the magnificent history of ourselves.

Chanakya - The author
of Arthashastra

Often we hear stories of India from its past, in which we proudly call her ‘The Golden Bird’. The era of massive empires which reigned over vast swathes of lands, massive palaces and forts, elegant temples and gardens, baths and rest houses, libraries and universities — each grander then the other, large armies, vastly complicated tax structures just as confusing as our present ones (just try reading the Arthashastra, I dare you), it seemed every aspect good or bad — was epic about India. It had to be considering her sheer size.

Then came the period of the British colonialism and something changed. Not that foreign rulers were a new phenomenon, one of the first invaders of the West, Alexander walked the lands of India as early as 326 B.C., numerous other foreign rulers ruled over whole or part of India but most of them could only successfully reign because they adapted themselves to India. The most famed Mughal Badshah Akbar echoes this mindset who believed, to truly rule over Hindustan, one must fully accept the Hindus and treat them as equal subjects. Perhaps the rulers after him did not like that idea and forcefully tried imposing their culture on India. Most of such kings and regimes failed, there is a reason Akbar is celebrated and not Humayun.

Akbar - A prime example of a foreign
power who Indianised himself

The British empire, the latest of the long list of foreign rulers also failed as it tried to impose it’s culture forcefully on us. Seventy years on, India is still recovering from it’s wounds. The British wounds were particularly hard on us because of how efficient the administration was at draining our resources for the empire’s benefit. In addition to a massive economic drain. Macaulay’s policy of liquidating Indian culture through a consciously planned substitution of the alien culture of the British via the education system even demolished our traditions, cultures and the thousands of years of literature which directly resulted in uprooting our previous educational system altogether. 

Lord Macaulay - The man
responsible for the modern
education system which
devastated our knowledge
about our own past

The effects of this Macaulayism are still seen today. We boast on internet forums about how ancient India was so developed but how many of us can mention even five scientists or mathematicians of the pre-British era? 

We boast on Facebook that the Mahabharata as an epic, is ten time the length of Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey combined, but have we ever read it in our schools? Everyone has read about Carl Marx and Plato’s works in our history textbooks in great detail but do we even know of Chanakya and Shankaracharya’s works in philosophy?

But India is recovering now, fighting Macaulayism and rediscovering herself — faster than ever. Just in 2007, The famed Nalanda University reopened it’s gates for Indian and International students after it’s destruction by foreign invaders and 800 long years of subsequent neglect by the rulers of the lands! The Archeological Survey of India (ASI), now maintains 66 site museums dedicated to generating awareness of the historical importance of the place. Apart from Macaulayism, another major problem which pushes back this rediscovery of ancient India is the forced intrusion by some highly vocal minority groups fearing further religious marginalisation. The problems the ASI is facing in the now politicised Babri excavation is an example.

The old Nalanda

Bahubali has done a wonderful job in addressing my concerns. Steering far away from political and religious lines, It has managed to showcase the history, the architecture, the dressing, the courtrooms, the royal etiquette and manners — the Great Golden bird that India once was. If more and more movies stick to an Indian narrative rather than desperately trying to copy a western one and often laughably failing at that, us Indians will truly know our who we are — the daughters and  sons of the great Indian tradition of wisdom and wealth.

Sources:

Olivelle, Patrick (2013), King, Governance, and Law in Ancient India: Kauṭilya's Arthaśāstra

https://books.google.co.in/books?id=6MlgU0oQb4sC&redir_esc=y 

http://asi.nic.in/asi_cons_prev.asp

https://www.nalandauniv.edu.in/about-nalanda/history-and-revival/

How the Sony PlayStation story reflects the publisher outlook has changed

Remember the days when the PlayStation 2 was freshly launched? Sony advertised the system as having an internet browser & being able to play movies over and above the regular gaming capabilities. This became a heavy selling point as it was something new and innovative the industry had never seen before. The PlayStation two was the one machine that can play video games, play movies and browse the internet! Although Sega's Dreamcast (1998) has pioneered the browser in a gaming console concept, PlayStation introduces it to the masses and popularized it. The PlayStation 2 was a Pandora's box for entertainment. Undoubtedly, this was a smart feature set in the second iteration of the hugely successful PlayStation gaming console. The reviews of the new PlayStation were generous and the consumer rewarded Sony appropriately in terms of units of consoles sold. Sony quickly realized that this 'one box for all entertainment' concept is a successful marketing strategy. It is actually what a consumer wants. No one wants to bother with a separate box for playing TV, movies, games & the revolutionary new world of internet which could only be accessed from yet another messy combination of boxes, input devices and a display. The idea of paying just once, to get all of the above mentioned features is a very appealing one to the consumer. It just had to be polished.

With these observations and conclusions in mind, Sony conceived its newest baby - the PlayStation 3, the ultimate gaming console. Actually, more of a complete entertainment center rather than a gaming console. Apart from the excelled gaming capabilities the PS3 got a proper well polished browser complimented by keyboard and mouse like accessories. It had the capability to play movies in the new and now immensely popular Blu - ray format. Eventually with the release of the PlayStation Network, it integrated Netflix, YouTube & other video on demand services, it also added online radios and a huge library of songs and podcast to choose from. All this coupled with a simple UI of PSN and XMB, The PlayStation 3 was now truly an entertainment behemoth. No one piece of electronic device could match the entertainment capabilities of the PS3 for a big time after its release.

As critical gamer myself (blame the internet for this!) I felt this was one thing that Sony did completely perfect! Sony identified what people wanted and simply gave it to them. It improved upon and perfected the features which were experimental but popular. This should have continued down the next gen right? After all, a considerable player base of the consoles is the casual to pro-casual gamer who doesn't just plays games, he watches movies, watches serials and browses the internet. It only made sense to further centralize the idea of an ' all in one entertainment center', to incorporate more and more mediums of entertainment in one. That is how people like be are attracted into console gaming. Part of the reason I has purchased the PS3 was that it could play Blu-ray and I continued to use it because it could also stream netflix. The PS3 had essentially replaced my home PC, my DVD player, my DTH box and a lot of wiring as a direct result of this.

 "The idea of wholeness or completeness has now been destroyed by the gaming industry, now everyone wants to divide and sell their product piece by piece. The rise of DLCs is a clear example of this. "

The PlayStation 4 on the other hand, backtracks on this idea of one entertainment center. Is Sony to be blamed for this? Not really as the gaming industry itself has moved on from this idea. The idea of wholeness or completeness has now been destroyed by the gaming industry, now everyone wants to divide and sell their product piece by piece. The rise of DLCs is a clear example of this. The PS4 by design, is suited to this deconstructed product business model rather than the integrated product  business model.. Sony has not taken any major step in terms of integration except for the social media integration with games. Being able to play 4K videos for example was a logical progression which many people wanted the PS4 to do, but it is only now after pestering from Netflix and a sizable consumer demand that reports of a new redesigned 4K compatible PS4 are doing rounds. This simply shows that the idea of oneness is not one of the central elements in the next gens. 

With what is happening, I can see a future where software and hardware alike will be divided and modulated more and more and each 'feature' sold separately. Is that a good thing? Well DLCs have had there share of controvercy and opinions have varied across the industry. A Hardware version of the same DLC - like concept will also receive mix opinions if the DLC history is an indicator. Personally, I feel the consoles should not modulize themselves and have multiple paywalls to access all its features. A console is only supposed to be a medium through which you 'receive entertainment' and any complications in a console are not really welcome

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Have a look at the source article which inspired this story

The Evolution of the Sony PlayStation

The Trains of Mumbai

The Trains of Mumbai

Its Spinal Chord

What comes to your mind if you come across the words Mumbai Local Train.

Well, the images below will help you stimulate your imagination.

A major railway station at its peak capacity.

People inside, outside, over, sideways and thankfully, not under!

Helping themselves board a running train which is not even at a platform.

Another view of the maddening crowd.

So let us see how the chaotic system works and what causes the millions of people to use it in spite of the crowd.

I have been using this 'mass human moving machine' which we Mumbaikars have gleefully called 'Trains', for two years now. I have also travelled the length and breadth of Mumbai in any and all forms of transport possible. 

How many people travel in our Trains?

According to a report by Dr. Aditi Abhyankar, 88% of the population of the city travels in the trains at least 10 times a week. Although the daily number of people using these trains is highly variable, we can safely assume that the trains carry over 100,000 people daily over a stretch of about 60 kilometres. 

Why do the people travel like cattle?

The images of the crowd might be baffling to an international audience, but we Mumbaikars love to travel in a train. It does have a lot of benefits if you can manage to hide away your wallet and cell phone. Since you are surrounded by people all over, you get a cushioning effect from all over. You can NEVER trip or fall once you are inside the crammed space. You just don't have the space to fall. Go more than a few inches on any side and you will find a person standing and frowning angrily on you because you fell on him, but in that case, because of him, you will, at least not fall. 

Who travels?

Well I have a personal experience of having seen successful businessmen travel along shoulder to shoulder with a sweeper. The demographic of the people using this boon of a service is rather astonishing. Majority of the people travelling in the trains can afford a much safer and comfortable option. So why do they still chose train over an AC car? 

TIME! 

In Mumbai, Time is money and a train saves time. So a multimillionaire will also preferably use train if he wants to get somewhere fast. 

This ends my very first blog. The Trains of Mumbai. Please comment on how I did.