AWAKENINGS

  KNOW YOUR ENGLISH BY K. SUBRAMANIAN & S. UPENDRAN COURTESY: THE HINDU NEWSPAPER OF MARCH 28, 2025 MEANING OF FOLLOWING PHRASES:   1. Seen you coming   2. Had Had   3. Enjoy to play tennis or Enjoy planning tennis   4. Talking Shop   Explanations:   1. "Seen you coming" is an idiomatic expression meaning 'cheated'.   Examples:   1. You paid ₹ 20 for those tomatoes. The vendor must have seen you coming.   2. Ganesh bought the house for ₹ 10 lakh. The real estate agent must have seen you coming.   2. Had Had   Explanations:   When Ganesh came at 9.00, I had had my dinner - It means I had my dinner before Ganesh came, before 9 O' Clock.   3. Enjoy to play tennis or Enjoy playing tennis   The word 'enjoy' is not followed by the word 'to'.   Hence ' Enjoy to play tennis' is wrong and instead, 'Enjoy playing tennis' is correct. 4. Talking Shop   Explanations: When people who work together, 'talk shop',...

  "Ban Cow Slaughter!"   Is it a slogan? Is it the agenda of Hindu fundamentalists? Is it the agenda of one political party – read BJP? Is it the agenda of RSS? NO, NO, NO – to Infinity!   It is a constitutional unfulfilled agenda. Our fathers of constitution had already incorporated the 'ban on cow slaughter‘ as a directive principle.   Article 48 of the Directive Principles of our Indian Constitution has given directions to the States to pass necessary legislations in this regard.   The Article 48 of the Directive Principles of our Constitution states:   The State shall endeavor to organize agriculture and animal husbandry on modern and scientific lines and shall, in particular, take steps for preserving and improving the breeds, and prohibiting the slaughter, of cows and calves and other milch and draught cattle.   Hence the constitution directs the States to enact suitable acts to enforce the ban on cow slaughter. It is a prin...

  Harvest of Hindus as Converts By Pavithran   Mahatma Gandhi’s Crusade Against Christian Harvest of Hindus Before Independence there were many attempts made by Christian Missionaries to convert Gandhi into Christianity. Gandhi, as a true follower of Truth and Non-violence, had faced them in his own way which had portrayed him as a crusader against their nefarious attempts to make India as Christian Nation.   Some of the Christian missionaries, recognizing his deep interest in Sermon on the Mount and resulting pacifism, were attracted to him with an ulterior motive of using him as a “tool” in mass conversion because of his extraordinary stature around the globe and particularly India. But, nothing had succeeded.   Gandhi had ridiculed the Missionaries as ‘vendors of goods’ with no spiritual attitudes in their activities.   In this context, Gandhi, in his Harijan Paper of November 5, 1937, had quoted a specific instance about the activities of a Ch...