Murali's Writeups...

A Visit to Kutumsar Caves, Jagdalpur District, Chhattisgarh State Recently, I attended the convocation of Hidayatullah National Law University, Raipur. I was accompanied by my friend of 35 years and law professor, Vijay Kumar. We went there essentially to see the National Tribal Museum located at Jagdalpur. As luck would have it, the museum was closed, so we looked for alternative places of interest. Thanks to Google, we found the Kutumsar Caves. The name signifies the nearby village close to the cave. The original name is Gopansar Cave. “Gopan,” in the local language, means  “hidden.”  This is a limestone cave formed in the Kanger Limestone belt, situated on the banks of the River Kanger, a tributary of the Kolhab River. The entrance to the tunnel itself is a challenging experience.     Once you crawl for about six feet, you enter the main tunnel. The main tunnel of the cave is nearly 200 meters long, with several lateral and downward passages. Various types of spel...

  Recently, the Tamil actor-turned-Member of Parliament, Mr. Kamal Haasan, made his maiden speech in the Indian Parliament. I listened to it for some time and then compelled myself to listen to it in its entirety. Mr. Kamal Haasan has a reputation for making films that are ahead of their time, apparently driven by his desire to elevate the artistic sensibilities of his audience. Sometimes he succeeded; at other times, he failed. He is also known for articulating ideas that are not easily comprehensible to the common man. Several sections of the South Indian media were sympathetic to him. Some even went to the extent of justifying his parliamentary speech, arguing that it demanded a high degree of intellectual competence to be properly understood. I, however, found the speech insipid and incoherent. It came across as the ramblings of an accomplished individual rather than a meaningful political intervention. About nine years ago, in 2017, I wrote a blog on Kamal Haasan and Rajinik...

  Pakistan's threatened boycott of their match against India in  the forthcoming World cricket T20 Cup. India, this time, will be hosting World T20 Cricket Championship.Sri Lanka will be a co-host. Many countries, including United States of America, are expected to participate in the competition. Bangladesh has been having frosted relationships with India during the last two years, ever since Professor Muhammad Yunus took over the administration of Bangladesh. Bangladesh thought that they can punch above their weight. They asked India to move their matches also to Sri Lanka. India refused. The apparent reason for Bangladeshi non-participation of matches in India is because the Bangladeshi players will face a threat to their security. This is far from true. Many of the Bangladeshi cricket players dream playing for any one of the franchises in the Indian professional league (IPL) ,it is one of the most lucrative sporting events in the world today. Unfortunately, Pakistan, (attri...

  On 26th January 2026 , India’s Republic Day, I had the opportunity to visit Sittannavasal for the second time. This village, now part of Pudukottai District in Tamil Nadu , holds immense historical, philosophical, and cultural significance. Historically, Sittannavasal fell under the rule of the Pandya dynasty and functioned as an informal border region between the ancient Tamil kingdoms of the Cholas and the Pandyas . Located in a rain-shadow region, agriculture here traditionally depended on non-water-intensive crops. In recent years, however, improved water-supply schemes have transformed the region. Archaeological records indicate that this place has witnessed continuous human occupation for over 2,100 years . Today, it is maintained by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) , an institution established during the British era.   Historical and Religious Context Before Shaivism and Vaishnavism became dominant in Tamil Nadu, the region was home to multiple religious tr...

         1.   Recently, Mr. Donald Trump had declared his intention to acquire Greenland by means of a purchase, “ essentially as a real estate deal”.  Considering that in the past the US had aquired nearly 41% of its land territory (past purchases of Louisiana and Alaska),this is nothing unusual for USA and it's territorial expansion through purchase. The Danish Prime Minister declared that Greenland is not for sale. The Danish government recognises Greenland as a self-governing autonomous territory, subsisting politically as a constituent state of Denmark. Recently the Greenlanders have decided that they would rather exist as an independent sovereign nation than being part of the United States or Denmark.Between these two countries, the Greenlanders have declared now that they would rather be part of Denmark than becoming a strategic territory of USA. 2. The desire of the United States to assimilate Greenland stems from the following reasons: a)...

During the last week, Nicolas Maduro, when he was President of Venezuela, was abducted by U.S. DELTA Special Forces from his official residence. His arrest was authorised by the U.S. Government pursuant to an indictment issued by a New York Federal Court in a drug trafficking investigation. Subsequent to his arrest, he was briefly detained on the USS Gerald Ford flown to New York and produced before a competent judge, who remanded him to judicial custody in the Brooklyn Prison, New York. His arrest has received mixed reactions. Countries like Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, Cuba, Brazil, and Colombia have condemned the arrest. Countries like France, the United Kingdom, and Germany were very cautious in their reaction. These European countries have no sympathy for Mr. Maduro, But still, even for them, the blatant violation of international law by the U.S., in its transgression of the territorial integrity of Venezuela accompanied by the brutal use of armed violence, was too much to g...