These days every newspaper and magazine has a Feng Shui coloumnist who, among other things, helps us ignorant folks, to pick the right colour of the shit-pot and install it in the correct corner of the toilet in the correct corner of the flat in the correct corner of the building so that,
you-know-what, can be passed without the aid of isabgul!
The following question was sent by one Harshit to the Fengshui 'master' of a popular paper.
I have recently had my office renovated with windows dressed with Venetian blinds. Someone told me these blinds are not Fengshui friendly. What is wrong with them and what could be the substitute?
In reply the master writes- "Venetian blinds are normally not considered to be Fengshui friendly because they are like a series of blades when flat, cutting not only anyone sitting nearby but also weakning the surrounding cosmic chi. Either always keep them closed or replace them with plain pull-down blinds."
Did Marco Polo ( he was from Venice remember?) carry a bunch of Venetian blinds to China to be vetted by the ancient masters to determine their Fengshui friendlines? The blades of venetian blinds are mostly made of plastic and the possibility of hurting oneself on them is extremely remote. Look at the second part of her reply -
always keep them closed. What fool would hang Venetian blinds to keep them closed at all times? Someone is laughing all the way to a bank, Fengshui and Vaastu advisers charge hefty sums for their services, while some poor jerk is pulling down all the Venetian blinds he had just put up for a princely sum. Such are the wonders of cosmic chi! And common sense tells me keeping the blinds closed will completely block this chi thing anyway.
Fengshui is perceived by Westeners and gullible people in our metros, who devote their waking hours to imitating the West, as a system of designing interiors, arranging furniture and filling up every available nook with junk 'Budhhist' totems, figurines and amulets.
Fengshui, like Vaastu, is plain common sense packaged with a liberal dose of mysticism, because without a metaphysical, paranormal, mystic twist we don't pay heed. We love to worship the unexplained. And
chalu people use it to great effect.
I had once asked a guy selling fengshui stuff how he managed to keep so many 'powerful' items in his shop without upsetting the cosmic chi? How did the cross-energies running amok in the small confines of the shop affect his life? How did he keep his sanity intact. Or is it possible that these things start working only after you have paid for them? He had nothing to say in response. Fengshui had given him the inner strength to maintain silence in the face of embarassing questions!
Uday
The airlines tycoons threatning to go on strike shows when push comes to shove the capitalist( with a capital C, if I may add) and the proletariet behave in uncannily similar ways. Isn't 'strike' a dirty word in your world Mr. Mallya and Mr. Goyal? Strikes are not always the last resort of the beaten and bruised, it seems. Sometimes it is the first resort of the polished and the pampered too, as is evident here. It is good that for once the Govt. acted sensibly, at least for the time being, and refused to give in to their bail-out demands. They are in a high stakes business, raking in millions when the going was good. It is only fair that they feel the pinch now that it has got tough. They have had too many things doled out to them on a platter for too long. In the open-skies policy, which they had been milking dry by every means possible, it is only right that they suffer when others have hit the dust. No safety nets with public funds should be provided to them. They don't deserve any. You are fighters and winners. You are the role model of millions (especially the hiccup brigade!). So fight it out! Make us proud of you. No one loves a cry baby!
