CBG San

@OnlyNakedTruth

Sep 28, 2022 • 6 tweets • 3 min read • Read on X

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Since rain was playing the spoilsport today, we could not visit thein attractions in Ninh Binh, #Vietnam. This turned out to be a blessing in disguise as we ended up visiting the sprawling Bai Dinh pagoda complex. It is interesting on many counts.

Buddhists in Vietnam belong to Mahayana sect. Therefore, depiction of buddha's face is closer to that from Mathura school unlike that from Theravada sect, followed by Tibbetans, Laddakhis etc

The tall pagoda in the complex was built by Indians and has descriptions of Buddha, his life story in Sanskrit (I can already see political Neo Buddhists frothing over). The guide (a Buddhist herself) was in awe that we could read it and expressed her high regard for devbhasha

It had a replica of Mahabodhi temple at Gaya, Bihar in the main shrine. We could see references to India all over the place

What I found most amazing was the fact that a large part of this complex was constructed after 2003. Remember, this is in a communist country where people are "atheists". It is so large that the 1st shrine is 4 km from entrance and the rest of complex too takes up another 4 km.

And I have found so many pagan/ folk/ancestor worship shrines in Vietnam too. It kind of tells me that people don't become "secular" or "atheists" or "communal" depending on the type of current government. Countries retain their belief systems, sometimes hidden , sometimes not so

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More from @OnlyNakedTruth

CBG San

@OnlyNakedTruth

Jun 25

As expected a science ignorant Journalist talking about matters that he hardly understands. Let’s educate him.

Sir, our astronaut didn’t order an Uber from an app. He is going to ISS to conduct experiments, build partnerships with fellow astronauts and provide useful data to ISRO for our own crewed Gaganyan mission

Unlike useless humanities waale jhola chhap journos, Shubhanshu Shukla is a trained IAF pilot with years of jet flying experience. Why does it matter? Dude you will not survive the G force changes during take off and landing. Shubhanshu was selected from among 200 top notch IAF jet pilots beating them in rigorous physical , intellectual and psychological tests. Yes you need both physical and mental resilience to survive in space.

And if that was not a bar set high enough, Shuklaji went ahead and completed MTech in Aeropace engineering from IISc during his prep. His thesis supervised by @aalokelab focussed on using bacteria for developing extraterrestrial soil.

CBG San

@OnlyNakedTruth

May 5

Anyone who has ever been to China knows that there are two Chinas. One that is madeup of glittering Shanghai type cities, and a second (much larger) underclass China. Which is kept away from the gaze of western media.

The same is true for its railways too. (1/n)

https://twitter.com/introvert_hu_ji/status/1918986999953862660

While China's high speed railway has been much talked about. It represents only a part of China's railway map. The underclass, poor peasants and farmers use conventional slow moving "green" trains. Look at the map below to understand how wide is the "green" train network (2/n)

So how do these Green Trains in China look like? They look like general compartment trains in hinterland of India from 1990s.

They are not even fully electrified, and they don't have closed compartments either on most wagons. (3/n)

CBG San

@OnlyNakedTruth

Feb 27

Guess what is taught in schools as part of Hindi syllabus.

Tulsidas ke dohe in Awadhi
Surdas ke dohe in Braj
Kabir 's dohe had Khari Boli

Bharatendu the father figure of Hindi literature was a writer of Khari Boli. But apparently Hindi has killed these languages 😁

Hindi is not a puritanical language. It evolved from a mixture of multiple languages and dialects Khari Boli being the most prominent one after Sanskrit. And it has constantly evolved borrowing from (and finishing off) dialects such as Braj, Awadhi, Khari Boli and yes Farsi (other than Sanskrit of course).

And the reason it became popular in "cowbelt" was because everyone who knew any of these dialects found it easy to latch on. That is the reason why in Hindi you have a large number of synonyms for ordinary everyday words each indicating its origin. E.g. Aakaash (sanskrit), Aasman (Farsi ). Plus there are words from foreign languages like Portuguese : kameez, paadri, baalti. Hindi is not just Sanskrit. Hindi doesn't have the rigid grammar of Sanskrit either. It is the amalgamation of people and their need to communicate with each other

CBG San

@OnlyNakedTruth

Feb 18

You will soon see a new hitjob against Kumbh. The results of a questionable survey that claims that the waters of Ganga at Kumbh are contaminated badly with coliform bacteria and hence bathing is best avoided.
1/n

What this article and similar such clones at NDTV, NEWS18 etc don't mention is the unique scientific property of Ganga. coming from ancient Himalayan glaciers, Ganga is teeming with a specific family of beneficial viruses called bacteriophages - viruses that destroy bacteria

This is the reason why Ganga water doesn't putrify. You can keep it bottled in a cheap plastic bottle for years and still it doesn't smell or taste bad.

CBG San

@OnlyNakedTruth

Sep 12, 2024

Sitaram Yechury was more Pro China than the ordinary oppressed Chinese citizens that I know.

Let's look at the shameful history of Sitaram Yechury (1/n)

PS: No I don't believe that all dead people deserve respect.

https://twitter.com/cpimspeak/status/1834188368319508604

While you and I lost some of our loved ones thanks to Chinese origin COVID virus, Sitaram Yechury wrote flowery tributes about how well Communist China handled the pandemic.
(2/n)

In 2006, when Chinese Ambassador claimed that Arunachal Pradesh was part of China, all political parties came together to condemn it. Except one.

Yechury as expected decided to stand by its Chinese masters. (3/n)

CBG San

@OnlyNakedTruth

Apr 20, 2024

Have seen enough such nonsense. Let's debunk it.

Aviator sir, unlike the mental image in your mind. Nobody was standing on the upper floors to direct sunbeam below.

Let's understand a little bit. 1/n

https://twitter.com/RajBhads90/status/1781377295984316881

Most Indian festivals follow Luni solar calendar. Hence Ramnavami date will keep on varying year to year. So how do you design a non PC based autonomous solution to orient mirrors itself on Ram Navami every year to direct sunrays? 2/n

Now do you understand the challenge?

12 lunar months are smaller than one solar year but 13 lunar months are too long.

A Metonic cycle is a 19 year interval that helps align solar and lunar years . So after 19 years Ramanavami date will repeat on same day

3/n

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