List of posts

March 16, 2023

The Gojo – A personal understanding

In the Bujinkan, we learn of the Gojo. Gojo, as I understand it, means “five treasures”. Here the word “treasure” could mean what we call, “pearls of wisdom”. So, the Gojo are five precepts of wisdom. In other words, they could be guiding principles of life. The five Gojo, in the order I have learnt…
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March 2, 2023

An Ode to the IBF (Indian Badminton Federation)

India won the bronze medal last week at the Asian Mixed Team Badminton Championship. Also, India won the Thomas Cup for the first time in 2022. Both of these are moments of hair-raising exhilaration! And as we rejoice in these fantastic achievements of the athletes and the women and men in their support ecosystems, I…
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February 16, 2023

Paapada Koda Tumba Beku

The other day my dad and I were watching news on TV. It was bombastic bordering on self-righteous like it is quite a lot of times. But as always it did trigger a conversation about politicians in our country. One thing that is true of us Indians is that almost always people living in one…
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February 2, 2023

Vyuha and Taijutsu

Chakravyuha (Moving spiral formation) carved on the Hoysaleshwara temple wall, Halebidu, Karnataka Vyuha is generally identified as a formation for battle. This is something most of us learn from our reading of Amar Chitra Katha comics as kids. We all know that the Chakravyuha was deadly from the Kurukshetra war. We have also heard the…
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January 19, 2023

Vali, Sugreeva, Rama, Dropping out, Takagi Yoshin Ryu and Kyojaku jugo Arubekarazu

Remember that part of the Ramayana where Rama has to shoot Vali from hiding, while the latter duels Sugreeva? This sequence brings so many thoughts, what an incredible archer Rama should have been, to be able to shoot one of the duelists, while the duelists did not position themselves in any predictable manner! Or was…
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January 5, 2023

The Way of the Beginner

Happy New Year everyone! Considering it is the beginning of a new year, this topic seemed natural. :-) How often do martial artists with some experience have trouble training with beginners? Fairly often, I would think. This is especially true as you cannot hurt them initially. Add to this the fact that one is probably…
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December 22, 2022

The Ashta Siddhi and Budo

The Ashta Siddhi are regarded with great reverence in Hindu culture. “Ashta” means eight, “Siddhi” is an ability or skill, but could also be termed as a power. Siddhi is something that is achieved through Saadhana, which is thorough and sustained practice. Many of the great Gods and Goddesses from Hindu scripture and the epics…
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December 8, 2022

The Purpose of a Sword

A sword is a weapon. It is often said that, of all historical weapons, the sword is the only one which is specifically designed to be used only against other humans. All other weapons also double up as tools. A knife, an axe, a spear, a staff, bow and arrows, all of these are tools,…
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November 24, 2022

“Saino Tamashii Utsuwa” and Shekhar Gupta’s Bell Curve theory of insurgent violence in India

Shekhar Gupta (currently the Editor-in-Chief at “The Print”), a very experienced and eminent (according to most) journalist of India has a theory regarding the lifecycle of violence due to insurgencies. He calls it the “Bell Curve theory”. This theory of his is a part of the inspiration behind this article. Of course, as the title…
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November 10, 2022

Ahimsa and the Martial Arts – Part 3

Indian Independence & the Revolutionary Movement – The Gift of Ukemi Artwork by Shushma N In the previous two write-ups in this series I have opined that Ahimsa is about not letting the opponent realize that he/she/they are being countered and making them retreat or just give up the fight/aggression that was initiated by the…
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