List of posts

May 9, 2024

Post No. 43 – Ninja, Mummy, Lawyer, Hiker

This is my 43rd post. I was going to call this “Post No. 42” but changed it to 43. The post is inspired by the focus on a “42-year cycle” in the Bujinkan in 2014-15. I am a practitioner of the Bujinkan system of martial arts, which is Japanese in origin. The number 42 is…
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April 25, 2024

“Real” Issues

Let me start by sharing 3 anecdotes. The first is something I heard from a colleague of mine. This colleague is also someone I consider a good friend and I respect his opinions and observations. The anecdote goes thus. My friend is a Manager and leads a team 60 to 70 strong. Many of his…
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April 11, 2024

The Book vs The Library

Budo encourages not falling in love with techniques, in other words, to not to rely on “A Book”. Could this concept extend to political thinking among citizens?
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March 25, 2024

Holika and the idea of the Kunoichi

Today is the festival of Holi. International Women’s Day was three weeks ago. The two together, along with martial arts and pop culture are the inspiration for this article. The night before the festival of Holi is considered Holika Dahan. This is the only other “dahan” that I am aware of apart from the Ravan…
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March 14, 2024

Effort, luck, effectiveness, morality – some thoughts. Also, why do you train?

The renowned author Salman Rushdie won the Peace Price of the German Book Trade for 2023. He started his award acceptance speech, in Oct ’23, with a reference to a story from the Panchatantra. The Panchatantra is a work of literature from ancient India which was used for the education of princes and contains several…
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February 29, 2024

Brain over Brawn – Deception laced with Luck

Deep Gratitude before I begin – I am extremely grateful to my parents and two of my maternal cousins for being instrumental in my acquiring the comics and book that are references for this article. These were acquired over many years when I was younger, at a time when books and comics were not readily…
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February 18, 2024

Deception, Debates, Martial Arts & Courtly challenges – Tilakāshta Mahisha Bandhana

Exactly a month ago, we celebrated the festival of Makara Sankranti. This is when the Sun transits into Capricorn. This is celebrated every year in January and doubles up as a harvest festival in India. This festival is known by different names in different parts of the country, Pongal, Magh Bihu, Lohri and Sankranti being…
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February 1, 2024

Constant Adaptation, Dynamic Equilibrium – Martial Arts & Modern Democratic Information Flows

In the Bujinkan system, the differences that exist in points of view, perceptions, paths of learning, methods of teaching and every other conceivable difference is to be accepted. Differences that occur over time are also be expected. Consistency is not something one assumes. Every situation is dealt with as a fresh one with no expectations…
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January 18, 2024

Maryāda Purushotham Rama and the Martial Arts – Control is the key

Above is a representational of the Ram temple at Ayodhya. Art created by Adarsh Jadhav. The Prāna Pratishta (consecration) of the new Rama Mandir at Ayodhya will happen on 22nd January, 2023. This is 4 days from now, on the coming Monday. As everyone in India and anybody who is interested in India knows, this…
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January 4, 2024

A myriad of methods

What is waza or technique or a form? We shall try to understand what that means with the following musings. We have now trained with many teachers. We can, if we are regular students, over time, generally see a pattern that any teacher uses. This reveals to varying degrees the different types of practitioners of…
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