This is the beginning of a dialogue between Avtarjeet Dhanjal with Matti Pitkanen

Avtarjeet Dhanjal is an artist/writer, who lives in Ironbridge, UK, Matti Pitkanen, a Theoretical Physicist, who lives in Hanko, Finland.

Avtarjeet has been researching on the subject of 'TIME', which he feels is deeply related to our ideas about God. He believes that these two subjects are inherently dependent upon vocabulary of concepts and language, that is what limits our imagination.

Time is seen in the West having one directional arrow of time, whereas Eastern thinkers from Vedic times believed in cyclic time.

Hopefully during these discussions Avtarjeet will be able to put his thoughts together to put forward an alternative view on the subject; whereas Matti Pitkanen is a scientist trained in the West, so he carries his usual views on the subject.

These dialogues will be updated as the conversation through emails continues.

Editor
August 20, 2011
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Nadaan has touched an important issue in his poem, how our value being trampled over by effects of globalisation. It's serious issue, we all need a serious collective thinking on the subject. The West has always wished that whole world should think and breath like them, it is has some good points but overall it destroys everything was the core of any society. Young people need to start these dialogues at all levels of schools, universities and on more local levels.
Nadaan there is so much Indian young people need to deal with is one of the core issues. I call these Abrahmic values, the God-father of Judaism, Christianity and Islam. Abraham himself set up the example, he led his nomadic tribe to Egypt, his wife Sarai (Sarah) was a beautiful woman, he was worried that Egyptians might kill him to grab his wife; so he introduced her as his sister.

When an Egyptian king heard about the beauty of Sarai, he invited Abraham and asked to marry his sister to him. Abraham accepted some gifts in return and married Sarai to the king. He himself happily lived in a big house provided by the king along with some cattle and slaves.

That is different story that few years later King found out the truth and was very angry and threw Abraham and his tribe out of the country. Abraham took Sarai back as his wife.

This is story of the founder of Western culture and a value, those values has been promoted to India through Western media over the last decades since the advent to TV in our home. It's not media that is to blame but it values those are promoted through the media.

When I am India and in the US, these two countries those speak the language that I understand, but I can't watch the TV in both countries. There is not a single channel in India, that I could call it serious. I can switch on BBC Radio 4, and listen to the weekly programme Moral Maize, that debates moral values and dilemmas.

It the young people those are taking control of their lives and even the governments. Indian youth should learn from Arabic Spring movement, those already thrown away old dictators in Tunisia and Egypt, and now process has moved to other Arabic countries including Spain. Time and conditions are ripe in India. Nadaan and others it is your time to carry the flag of change forward.

I wonder the Indian youth is waiting for? The courage you need is within you, gifted to you by the soil of your homeland.

Delhi (pronounced as Dilli) is chaotic like hell. I believe no one has seen this imaginary place ‘hell’, or I don’t know anyone who has come back to tell us about it. Hell may be only a concept of an imaginary place, a terrible place or a state of being, but it worked as a good threat to goad unbelievers into believing. But if you seen Delhi during rush hours, irrespective of whether you a believer or not, the scenes are not far from the description given in religious books. Delhi is also a place, you can find most beautiful art, craft, music, theatre and meet creative people who still dare to conceive beauty while living in such a city.

TIME and money are most precious to the modern man, but have no intrinsic worth in itself; these are merely abstract devices for modern man’s book keeping. Devices are very useful while living on this small planet ‘Earth’; once you leave this planet alive or dead, both time and money lose their value.

Have more than 3 children if you wish, but NOT at the cost of the State.

Considering the ballooning population of the world and scarcity of resources, I would propose another iconoclast proposal.

Every adult in this country should have the right to decide about his/her life, it also means to live and end it in a dignified way. This should be treated as human right for each adult individual.

This morning in Today programme on Radio 4, John Humphrys in his usual aggressive mode asked Brendan Barber General Secretary of the TUC, ‘who governs Britain’?

The Cow is Sacred – Full stop

Cow is sacred. If you are an ardent Hindu, you worship her; even use its picture as your political symbol. If you are an artist paint her, everyone shall clap for you hale you as a successful artist. This is how it is done in India.

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Last Friday evening, Bhai Baldeep Singh, is a rare combination of musician with rich inheritance, a searching mind within and beyond the Sikh tradition. He is the 13th generation of musicians since his forefathers sang and played music for the Sikh Gurus in 16th century as he also plays with many contemporary European musicians.

Saturday, 23 January 2010

Avtarjeet was invited to give a talk by The Press Club of India, New Delhi

Most people when they get the chance to address the press, they talk about their achievements, it is more so the case when one returns to his/her home country after having spent few decades abroad. It is only natural, since most of us when we leave our countries, we go to achieve something.

I have come here to you, NOT to tell you about my achievements, , I have come here only to share my realisations. As all achievements have a short lifespan, where realisations are life long, sometime they remain in the public space beyond one’s life.