Dheeraj Kalgutkar

Legend has it that goddess Gadhimai appeared to a prisoner in dreams and asked him to establish a temple to her. When he awoke, his shackles had fallen open and he was able to leave the prison and build the temple, where he sacrifices animals to give thanks to goddess. What is unknown is why in the world he sacrificed animals to present his thanks! Did goddess Gadhimai suggested him anything as such will never be known. What began as one man’s thanksgiving offer has turned into world’s largest abattoir today with tens of thousands of people flocking to Gadhimai temple in Bariyapur village of Nepal, 60 miles from Kathmandu. Thanksgiving which is celebrated across United States and other western countries is inescapably visible and thoroughly documented orgy of turkey slaughter with its origin in 1621 – more than a century before the most often claimed date for the origin of the Gadhimai sacrifice. Moreover Thanksgiving has been celebrated annually since 1841, when Dr. Al

Book launch of Rajdeep Sardesai's 2014: The Election that Changed India at Karnataka Chitrakala Parishat, Bangalore by Dheeraj Kalgutkar on Flickr. Just follow this link to see and comment on this album: https://www.flickr.com/gp/meetdheeraj/aC0b0H

Of late I have received lot of flak for 'blindly' following Senior Journalist Rajdeep Sardesai from that fracas at Madison Square Garden to recent 'item girl' remarks at literary fest where Sardesai was in talks with Shobhaa De. I still stand with my decision of tweeting all those #IStandWithRajdeep tweets but what has suddenly surprised and worried me is his last night's tweet, which read: "Big day for my Goa. Two GSBs, both talented politicians become full cabinet ministers. Saraswat Pride!! @manoharparrikar and Suresh Prabhu." What's wrong in it? Exactly. There wasn't any wrong until you and I tweet anything as such. I too was born in Goa and am proud of the state. Further I was little pained over Parrikar's resignation as he was leaving Goa but was happy that we were having first cabinet minister from the state! But I didn't tweeted anything. There's no fault in tweeting; you have your right to expression, freedom of speec

The Day I Stopped Drinking Milk! How is that name and what would be your reaction when you first see this book on your shelf or bookstore or at Google's play store ( that's where I found it! ) for a price which is no price at all? Hold on! And what if I tell you it's written by an author you admire? Nevertheless to say, you would pick one copy, not to finish completely but to just turn few pages. I was no alien to such behavior either. Although I hindered at first but purchased it after reading few starting sample pages which Google offered. Did I started reading the moment I purchased? Nope. With new office and something a new discipline called work, I had to curtail myself of the luxury that is book reading.  A week in office without fun nor work, the serious work, I was getting bored but then I knew or perhaps heard from Sardesai, "Don't feel bored. It's a terrible thing to get bored." So after few unsuccessful attempts at different horizons I f

When you look at a child, what's the most striking feature that strikes your mind? Are they concerned of how they look, how others see them  or who they are our how good their families are? I believe not. They give a damn about all this societal frames and blocks which in fact rule our life. On the other hand they are care free. They have a world of their own where worries and tensions have very little or no job to do to. You are the master of your own destiny said some philosopher. We create our own failure and our own success. This line may surprise some but that's the truth. Success and failures are but notions created by our own brain. If they were facts like sun rises in the east then why does it happen at times that what is success to you becomes failure to others? It's a long story, let's deal some other day! Enjoy and make merry till then. And let that child inside you come out and conquer better off you to make you more merrier with his or her innoc

Peace prize for two nations in unison who are at war with each other at borders is no less than a brutal irony on face of both... Just when I was posting tweets and updates on my social networking portals, a friend who had switched on his TV after getting the news of India-Pakistan sharing together the Nobel peace called me to ask who this Kailash Satyarthi is! Add to it, he was furious. Furious because in his views, 'International Community' was trying to 'shame' India by over-exposing its problems; they were trying to shift the focus from strong and powerful government, development, PM's successful American visit to this old embarrassing problems! I was surprised for sure but more so because he didn’t for single second asked me about who Malala is! Okay. Let's face it. We, including me, know very less or nothing about the Satyarthi's who work in dark without the wish and hopes of spotlights. We know about Malala Yousufzay, after all the ne

One's SandStone back: Unseen before material in a unseen before phone! Of late many have been asking me repeatedly for INVITES of OnePlus One and repeatedly am answering them with lame answer, “I will, once I get my INVITES TO SHARE.” But how many? I will get only three and there are many who are requesting for One! All are my friends, family members, acquaintances, with whom I have spent moments at some point of my life. Who should I listen to and who should I ignore? Dear OnePlus, can you help me out? Till then, I thought of writing my story so that my friends will know how to get their hands on One. Before I begin let me tell you why I'm devoting my time, energy and this blog just to reveal a story of a smartphone. To put it straight and simple, this isn't any ordinary cellphone that you can get your hands on in some local shop or that e-commerce site, this is the OnePlus One. A phone that packs 3GB of RAM (yes, you heard it right, 3GB of RAM), 64GB of inte

Dusty Business: Who is more devil - Israel or Hamas? A tweet of writer and author, Chetan Bhagat has garnered sharp response on social media or should one say uncanny abuses for which the medium is quite infamous now a days. “11,000 rockets have been fired on Israel in last decade ~ 3/day. Israeli (yes civilians) have to hide in 60 seconds,” “It is Hamas strategy to keep provoking Israel, get retaliation, play victim, win local politics and world support. Guess it works every time,” wrote Bhagat in a series of tweets. Bhagat belongs to that small group of people who find their baggage of emotions turned towards Israel. Those are the miniscule numbers given the proportion of Israel haters. But then, is that all? Is it all about just another trivial case where people have different opinions about the same story? Is it that simple? Looks like not. Like two sides of a coin, every story too has its own other side which most of the times remains wrapped under the covers . Fow

Namaaz : Muslim boy praying. Call it a science or religious obligation, fasting is part of many religions as a thanksgiving or penance for the gift almighty has bestowed upon them and Islam is no different. Muslims worldwide await the glimpse of new moon to mark the  beginning of holy month of Ramadan when they begin their fast from dusk till dawn. If I remember well the words of Imam, a  Muslim  priest I met during my early days in Goa when I used to visit a nearby mosque with mum regularly,  Muslims believe that the Koran was first revealed to the Prophet Muhammad during Ramadan. To mark this sacred occasion, they go without food and liquids, smoking and having sex during daylight hours for a month. It all  made little sense then for I was a kid who believed life was for fun and games, and they required you to feed your tummy well! But with time I do have understood the importance of fasting in our life. From detoxification to its deeper religious meanings to laws of coexi

It's small but not ignorable! “If Google doesn't find it, probably it don't exist at all!”, “May be you should google it” - We all have heard this at one time or another from people we know to the people we don't. One may call the former line as height of Google worship but nor can I nor could you deny the effect this one phenomenal search engine is having on our lives. From that new shopping place to that up-to-this-time unknown person you met in office to sweet purring cats to porns, it offers all that you could think of in an instant, literally. Now a days, it even feeds you with its search queries over your voice commands, yes just the command! Times have taken such a leap now that we check if our Internet connection is at place or not by entering Google.com in address bar. Don't we? Only the other day, I called my office technician over slow Internet connectivity and what do I tell him? “Check what is it with my machine, even Google is