Ramayana - Our Hidden History - Part 1

Why this series?

It has been a deep desire for long to bring out multiple aspects of the Indian culture in the Ramayana and Mahabharata. Many of us might have just read the abridged versions by authors like Rajaji, etc. and may not know the depth of science, social dynamics, historical aspects, geography, etc. depicted in these epics. This is a humble attempt at bringing such hidden aspects to the front..

Why Ramayana?

Ramayana is referred to as the 'Adi Kavya', the very first poem. The fascination to this epic has been there both in the Southern and Northern parts of the Indian subcontinent. Famous Sangam age poets like Kamban had translated the Ramayana from Sanskrit to Tamil to help reach more people. And no, there did not seem to be a conflict between Sanskrit and Tamil. The poets seem most of the time equally well-versed in both the languages.

So, my attempt starts here, but I may also refer to the other historical references while deciphering the Ramayana. Of course, I will provide the source in each case for the view am presenting here.

Reference to Varna system

राजवंशान्शतगुणान्स्थापयिष्यति राघव: ।
चातुर्वर्ण्यं च लोकेऽस्मिन् स्वे स्वे धर्मे नियोक्ष्यति ।।1.1.96।। 

Meaning: Rama will establish hundredfold royal dynasties and employ the four varnas to do their respective duties, in this world.

Corollary: This is the very first Sarga where briefly Sage Narada tells Sage Valmiki the essence of Rama's life history. Looking at this shloka, it is clear that the Varna system pre-dates Rama and that it was in some state of decay already. Hence he is called upon to employ people of the four Varnas to their respective duties - not by birth rights but by duties - in this world.

Source: https://www.valmiki.iitk.ac.in/sloka?field_kanda_tid=1&language=dv&field_sarga_value=1


Evolved Grammar of Sanskrit and Grammar in Ramayana

उदारवृत्तार्थपदैर्मनोरमैः
तदास्य रामस्य चकारकीर्तिमान् ।
समाक्षरैश्श्लोकशतैर्यशस्विनो 
यशस्करं काव्यमुदारधीर्मुनि: ।।1.2.42।।

Meaning: The renowned and sagacious sage composed a kavya with hundreds of charming verses, each containing equal number of syllables and excellent meaningful words set in metre, conferring glory on celebrated Rama.

Corollary: The grammar of the language should have been sufficiently advanced enough for one to write it in a certain metre. 

Source: https://www.valmiki.iitk.ac.in/sloka?field_kanda_tid=1&language=dv&field_sarga_value=2


चतुर्विंशत्सहस्राणि श्लोकानामुक्तवानृषि:।
तथा सर्गशतान्पञ्च षट्काण्डानि तथोत्तरम् ।।1.4.2।। 

Meaning: Sage Valmiki composed the Ramayanam in twentyfour thousand verses in six kandas and also Uttarakanda (consisting of five hundred cantos).

Corollary: People who are extremely proficient in English still struggle to get their words in a specific metre now. Yet here is Ramayana with 24000 shlokas in the same metre! It's a phenomenal achievement by any linguistic standards. That there are 24000 shlokas is mentioned in the Ramayana itself. This is like CRC checks in modern computer systems communication!

Source: https://www.valmiki.iitk.ac.in/sloka?field_kanda_tid=1&language=dv&field_sarga_value=4


Did the Vedas exist before Ramayana was written?

स तु मेधाविनौ दृष्ट्वा वेदेषु परिनिष्ठितौ।
वेदोपबृंहणार्थाय तावग्राहयत प्रभु:।।1.4.6।।

Meaning: Valmiki, the master, having found both Kusa and Lava endowed with intellect and accomplished in the Vedas initiated them into the Ramayana composed by him for the purpose of nourishing the Vedas.

Corollary: Some may get a question looking at this passage if it is true Vyasa was the one who compiled the Vedas! A very logical question - Krishna Dwaipayana was his name and he became Veda Vyasa because he 'classified' the Vedas into four as Rig, Yajur, Sama and Atharvana. But it does not mean that Veda did not exist before Vyasa. It very much did. 

Vyasa himself talks about Valmiki and Ramayana in the Mahabharata. So, it is also clear that the Valmiki predates Vyasa and that Vedas predate even Rama's life story. Otherwise, there is no need for Valmiki to have mentioned it in this Shloka. It was also clear that even young children were taught Vedas because Lava and Kusa had already been proficient in Vedas before they took up the task of taking Ramayana to everywhere. 

Source: https://www.valmiki.iitk.ac.in/sloka?field_kanda_tid=1&language=dv&field_sarga_value=4

Varna, Jati, Politics and Chaos

What was this caste discrimination in India called Varnas? Were Shudras really prevented from reading Vedas? 

Such questions are coming up because we do not know our own family history and our country's history well enough. Most people who gain their knowledge through social media memes suffer this disorder. This is also a common argument put forth by the ignorant ones blindly believing their Dravidian politicians in South India.

A Varna is not a Caste or Jati

First of all, one needs to understand that a Varna is not a Caste. Indian society all over the Indian subcontinent (including Tamilnadu) had  4 Varnas generally:

- Brahamana, propagators of knowledge
- Kshatriya, protectors of state & country
- Vaisya, one who indulges in commerce and agriculture
- Shudra, one who works on other tasks in society

One who is born to a Shudra father / mother need not be a Shudra. Even if you are born in a Brahmin family, if you are not a propagator of knowledge, you are not a Brahamana! Simple and straight forward ... Depending on one's daily work only, one was categorised in this manner.

One more thing - do you realize that one is not all the time a Brahmana or all the time a Kshatriya or Shudra for that matter? Let's say you are into agriculture as main business. By that virtue, you are a Vaisya. But you might also be into teaching others in your village. By that virtue, you are a Brahmana. One's Varna is known by the 'predominant' virtue of what they do and adopt.

Stephanie Jamison and Joel Brereton, a professor of Sanskrit and Religious studies, state, "there is no evidence in the Rigveda for an elaborate, much-subdivided and overarching caste system", and "the varna system seems to be embryonic in the Rigveda and, both then and later, a social ideal rather than a social reality". Source is Wikipedia page on this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varna_(Hinduism)

Historical examples

People might have exploited this whole system later by establishing rigidity around it and claiming their right by birth. That was not so earlier and I am going to give concrete examples from our history.

(1) Valmiki who wrote the Ramayana was a hunter / robber who later was reformed by Sage Narada. There is a caste of people called VALMIKIS in South India who are said to have come in the lineage of Sage Valmiki. Unfortunately, they take pride in identifying themselves as Shudras now! Anyway, Valmiki actually taught Vedas and the art of weaponry to Luv & Kush who are the sons of Rama. If he was not considered a Brahmana, who else was?

(2) Vyasa who wrote the Mahabharata and is known to have actually categorized the Vedas was born to Matsya Gandhi, a fisher woman. He was named Krishna Dwaipayana, the dark one born in an island, at birth. The very name VYASA means the 'Compiler' denoting his work on the Vedas. By birth, he should have been a Shudra. But by his deeds and dedication of life to teaching people, he was praised by everyone as a Brahmana only! There is a huge Guru Parampara that follows Vyasa muni. So, if he was a Shudra, how could he have learnt and work on the Vedas?

(3) Parashurama is known as someone who went about waging wars with Kshatriyas and killed many of them. Though he was born in a Brahmana family (to Sage Jamadagni), by his deeds he came to be a Kshatriya. Was he denied the knowledge of Vedas? No!

(4) Many of us know from Mahabhrata that Guru Dronacharya and King Drupada studied in the same Gurukul and learnt the same arts as children. Now Drona was a Brahmana and Drupada was a Kshatriya. But both of them were taught the Veda Mantras and art of weaponry by their Guru. Does this indicate a discrimination in teaching?

(5) There is a specific episode in Mahabharata where Yudhishthira and a Yaksha debate on the moral principles of that time. To the specific question by the Yaksha asking about one's Varna, Yudhisthira answers clearly and emphatically that nobody can claim their Varna by birth but it is by deeds only.

(6) A King born as Kaushika rules his kingdom for a long time as a Kshatriya but later gives it all up for severe penance. He is later recognized as Brahma-rishi and is now widely known by the name 'Vishwamitra'. Clearly Varna by birth did not decide what he would become.

(7) Krishna clearly states in Bhagavad Gita:

cāturvarṇyaṃ mayā sṛṣṭaṃ guṇakarmavibhāgaśaḥ .
tasya kartāramapi māṃ viddhyakartāramavyayam ... 4:13

"I have created this four-fold Varna order according to the quality of work."

Modern day's Interpretation

Going by these examples,

(1) If you have a good professor (not the leftist ones like in JNU) in your school or college, he / she would need to be recognized as a Brahmana.

(2) If you are in the IT industry in a menial job, at best you could be called a Vysya or a Shudra, even if you are born in a Brahmana family.

Is this Varna system explained only in the Hindu texts?

No! There is a Buddhist text called 'Digha Nikaya' (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digha_Nikaya) which talks about an interesting discussion between Gautama Buddha and a Brahmana called Sonadanda that throws more light on how Varnas were treated in more recent times.

Buddha: By how many qualities do Brahmins recognize another Brahmin? How would one declare truthfully and without falling into falsehood?

Sonadanda: I will list five characteristics to recognize another Brahmin. He is of pure descent on both the mother's and the father's side, he is well versed in mantras, he is of fair color handsome and pleasing, he is virtuous learned and wise, and he is the first or second to hold the sacrificial ladle.

Buddha: If we omit one of these qualities you just listed, could not one be still a true Brahmin?

Sonadanda, one by one, eliminates fair colour and looks, then eliminates Varna in which one was born, and then eliminates the ability to recite mantra and do sacrifices as a requirement of being a Brahmin. Sonadanda asserts that just two qualities are necessary to truthfully and without falling into falsehoold identify a Brahmin; these two qualities are "being virtuous and being learned and wise".

Sonadanda then states that it is impossible to reduce the requirement for being a Brahmin any further, because "for wisdom is purified by morality, and morality is purified by wisdom; where one is, the other is, the moral man has wisdom and the wise man has morality, and the combination of morality and wisdom is called the highest thing in the world".

Sonadanda: We only know this much Gotama; it would be well if Holy Gotama would explain meaning of the two [morality, wisdom] more.

Interestingly, there is a text on Jainism called 'Adi Purana' by Janasena (8th Century AD) that talks about this too! The Adi purana text states "there is only one jati called manusyajati or the human caste, but divisions arise account of their different professions".

It is clear that at least the identification of one's predominant qualities formed the basis of Varna in Gautama Buddha's time and as late as the 8th Century AD. 

What should we do now?

Unfortunately, a lot of our scriptures and text were lost and burnt during the Islamic invasions thereafter (read about burning of Nalanda if you are interested) and we miss a precious lot of social thought and dynamics after 1000 AD. 

In my personal opinion, we should bring back everyone to the profession-based identification system and restore the societal balance accordingly. It is high time the current (and silly, may I add) caste system being endorsed by Indian politicians from 20th Century AD is discarded and thrown out of the window.

Seeman, the king of faulty economic policies

I happened to come across a post by Mr Maridhas who is a writer / teacher. 

https://www.facebook.com/Maridhas11/posts/578192999232981

For those who do not understand Tamil, this post is about the faulty logic in Mr Seeman, leader of NTK party in Tamilnadu, who has made some wild promises in his political manifesto. Maridhas does a great job in ripping apart the manifesto to pieces. Pardon me for any translation mistakes that creep in...

Myth: Seeman proposes an economy that is self-dependent 

This is not true and is something that can be proposed only by someone who does not understand how economics works.

What is self-dependent economy?

A country should be able to make everything that it needs within its own geo-political boundaries. It will not be dependent on another country for any of its economic purposes. Only such a system can be called a self-dependent economy. This is a common aspiration for many nations but not something new.

What is our country's current economic state?

India is self-sufficient in terms of food grains production and also exports to other countries. We are doing well enough to be in the top three food exporting countries across the world. So, what are the things we are dependent for on other countries? Simply said, we need to look at what we import from other countries. If we can produce them within India, we can become self-dependent economy.

This seems very logical. But what Seeman is proposing as self-dependent economy is not addressing this basis at all. Instead, it is a romanticised version just inducing people's emotions, talking about things like jaggery, pickles, neem, etc. Just matching rhyme to rhythm does not yield the results!

What are we really importing as a country?

Then Mr Maridhas goes on to argue the following in his video:

(1) ISRO has been instrumental in launching over 100 satellites of Arab countries recently into the space. Why should the Arab countries come to India? Simply because they do not have the technology for it and we do. India charges a fixed amount for that service. So, as far as Satellite launching, Arab countries are dependent on India. And India in turn is dependent on those countries for Crude oil simply because we do not produce enough within our country. This is how one country is dependent on another for a certain resource. 

(2) Though being self-dependent economy is an idealistic goal for each country, we should constantly need to look at improving our manufacturing / producing power. If we do not have certain resources at all in our country, we have to look at others. But whatever we can make here, we should look at doing it effectively than importing. That is what will lead us towards being self-dependent in economy. 

This is what EVERY country in the world, big or small, does it. India also does the same already!

    (a) More than 70% of crude oil for India is being imported. Because we are not allowed to take more than 30% of our needs from our own natural resources. Can we move away from it? Yes, if we start going with electrical vehicles. Till then, it is impossible to not rely on crude oil imports.

    (b) Around 33% of our imports is transport equipments - land, water and air transport machinery requirements! Our own ship manufacturing. Road transport is primarily dependent on imports from Germany and other European countries. Can we get out of this? Sure, we have to have the technology and resources to manufacture in India itself first.

    (c) Coal is about 20% of our imports.

    (d) Electronics is about 10% of our total imports. Our internal electronics needs of about 58% is from these imports! Can we make these within our 

    (e) Industrial equipments and machinery is mainly from imports, including the power looms & stitching machines in major cotton dress manufacturers from Tirupur and Erode. Same is the case of paper industries in Sivakasi and Leather machines in Ambur. Most of our industrial machinery is only being imported.

(3) Almost 90% of medical equipments are being imported from USA, Europe and Japan. This is simply because we do not make them here.

(4) From small toys to mobiles to most other plastic items, we are importing from China.

(5) Copper and Aluminium resources are not being dug up much in our country as we are simply importing them. If we dig them up, these same people will cry hoarse about environment issues!

Are we dependent much on other countries for food? 

Obviously, No!! So, anybody who wishes to address the self-dependency of economy should address the imports first! Can we make these within our country itself? We can definitely work towards that. But not with the policies Seeman puts forth. 

One has to focus on the Engineering sector, especially since we have about 8 in 10 Engineers who can be employed in the sector. Our education sector also has to be reformed first. Majority of our country's imports are in this sector, but Seeman is proposing something ridiculous in agricultural sector. Totally irrelevant!

Instead of talking about ridiculous stuff like selling neem sticks, juices and soup to boost economy, Seeman should really look at what the country is first dependent on if he wants to make the country self-dependent. Does he even know what the demand-supply ratio for these items is?

What should we really do as voters?

Maridhas urges viewers to vote for any political party of their idealogical choice, but depending on how sound their economic policies are. Because, however idealogically strong or appealing a political party may be, if they mess up on economy, it will be disastrous for the state and country as a whole. 

Maridhas says he is willing to challenge Seeman on these items in any debate anywhere and any time. 

The gauntlet is thrown - will NTK party have the guts to pick it up for a fight? I doubt that ..

Best Thanksgiving Ever!

I clearly remember the day I met the boy - 18th October, 2014. He was explaining his thoughts about inventing a motor bike that will reduce the environmental pollution using electrical batteries. His dad does repairs of electrical equipment and that he would garner more knowledge about them as he grows up.

I was stunned at his clarity of thought, given that he is only in his 7th standard and might not even fully understand about environmental pollution or the engineering complexities involved. Yet his vision is crystal clear!

But what surprised us was his next answer and it just completely moved us. Abi casually asked him how he feels about studying in that school. The boy replied jubilantly that he loves the school, his teachers and above all would like to contribute the high marks in his school subjects to ... the donors of his scholarship. Yes, he studies on scholarship because his parents cannot afford even the minimal fee the school charges and he is 'thankful' to the donor. You can see one of the videos on YouTube like this one...

How many of us have cared to thank our parents for helping us with the most precious gifts of our life, our exposure to the world, our education,  college graduation, career, etc.? And here is a 12 year old boy who innocently (and with absolute sincerity and clarity) contributing his marks to his donors for sponsoring!

Tears well up in my eyes just thinking about it. This is not just my experience. Dozens of people who have visited the Isha Vidhya school in Sandhegoundampalayam at Coimbatore have a similar thing to share.

This Isha Vidhya school houses hundreds of students who come from such poor families that cannot afford couple of meals properly for a day, forget about quality english education. Yet the school provides no less to these students in terms of either quality educational aids, English classes, math labs (seriously!), computer labs or library books. More than 60% of the school's children are studying under scholarship provided by generous donors like you and me.

Do my colleagues know me well enough to wish me good always? I doubt it :)

Will my neighbours wish me good always? Probably no.

Would my very best friends wish me good always? May be, May be not.

But I can be absolutely certain that the kid I am sponsoring for school, will wish me good always in his / her life. What I am doing by a few thousand rupees is actually transforming a life! 

When I see the children greeting us with a loud & clear 'Namaskaram', folded hands, wide smile, following perfect orders without monitoring of any teachers, absolutely confident, jubilant and conversant fluently in English, I am assured of the dream that 'yes, India can be a super power'. It might just be that these kids will be driving us towards that dream even if nobody else does.

They come from poor families but their spirits are so high, it will be a crime not to encourage them further in their lives!

Please donate whatever amount you can for these kids. No amount is less for lighting the lamp of education in a child's life.

I have created a page "http://www.giveisha.org/rajasekharv" for the cause. This might just be the best use of money you have ever put to in your life!

(Re)Defining Law

Abi was petrified when she learnt on the day of her audit that the actions taken against some key risks in her IT project team had not been documented so far. Of course, her project auditor would quickly figure that out and grill her, leading to escalations and her senior managers jumping up & down! This is not an uncommon scenario for most of us who have been in IT for a long time. The designations could vary and scenarios could slightly vary, but you get the picture mostly.

When someone asks what would you do on encountering a problem (a risk), 99% of sane people would respond that they will fix the problem on hand now (also called contingency action) and also put a fix so the probability of the problem occuring in future is minimized greatly (called mitigation action). All of this is common sense, well ... mostly.

Why then is this common sense / knowledge not being applied to law? Let me draw a parallel from the above IT management scenario and show the link.

As a common citizen, I want law in my place (city, state, country) to be enforced in such a way that:

- First, a problem (lawlessness) can be identified and reported smoothly
- Secondly, a quick solution, even if temporary, be put in place to resolve the situation for now
- Thirdly, a long-term solution be put in place that acts as deterrent for anyone who tries to create such problems

At the risk of getting hit with some negative comments from readers, let me take the latest legal sensation - Ms J Jayalalitha, ex-CM of Tamilnadu (acting CM at that time) being jailed in a corruption case. Her bail pleas were also rejected. This led to some potential unrest situations in several cities and definitely impacted public life, even if the media claims it as minimal.

First, the reporting mechanism is not smooth under current law. As a common citizen, is it even possible for me to think of reporting against someone in that position? Definitely no. It need not be the CM, I cannot even go and lodge a legal complaint against the next door person who creates lot of nuisance to everyone in the street, at least not easily under the current system.

Secondly, the temporary solution that was put in place in this case was to arrest her and make her pay 100 crores as a fine.

Thirdly, what is the long-term solution that the legal system is putting in place for such crimes? Am ok with taking the money back part of it. In fact, take 200 crores and keep them under house arrest. At least, if THAT money goes to the country (properly used), it will be of some use. Strip a person convicted in a crime from their position and rank. All is well so far!

But why would you want to jail them? The legal / judiciary system would have to pay somebody to monitor that person, pay for their food, take care of their medical expenses, etc. Who would bear the brunt if something happens on medical grounds to that person in jail? Why should someone who has taken lot of money enjoy all such comforts with my tax-money!?

It has already become a joke (many a movie can confirm it) that if you do not have any money, do some petty crime and get into jail. You will enjoy food and comforts that you cannot find outside. I have begun to suspect that probably many crimes happen because of this!

We need to redefine the legal system in this country. The law has to be made simple enough for everyone to understand. We should not complicate things too much by putting many restrictions. Just give the guidelines that X, Y, Z has to be adhered to. If somebody violates it, accordingly the punishment has to be delivered & quickly.

I fully understand that any system when put in place, will look nice but will have to changed slightly over time. I understand that punishments will have to vary for a similar crime don't keep customizing the punishments every now and then, definitely not so many times within 70 years of the formation of such a system itself!

Will put in more thoughts about it soon ...

A novel worth our time ...

I honestly did not think I would break my blog silence finally, for writing about a book, rather a sequel. Yes, I had been intrigued initially by it but when I laid my hands on the sequel, I just could not put them down and read them through over 3 nights and some parts of the days as well.

I am talking about the Shiva Trilogy by Amish Tripathi. I am writing this right after closing the final book, The oath of the Vayuputras. Till about mid-way through the last book of this series, I was actually happy that I have finally stumbled upon a brilliant classic from an Indian author. Am I retaining that feeling after the completion, am not so sure. One thing is sure though, it was a heart wrenching tale of how Sati sacrificed herself and the events which happened post that. May be I am being so sentimental and melodramatic here, but having been immersed in it straight through, the pain of Sati's death still lies heavy in my heart.

Puritans of Indian History and Mythology may balk. But as far as I am concerned, the good things about this series are:

1) It introduces a lot of characters from Indian mythology, even if in different contexts than what you would know of them traditionally
2) It puts up the perspective of how the caste system originated (and everyone now knows how it degenerated)
3) Indian Rishis, now worshipped as Gods, have been clearly treated more as scientists who had a spectacular understanding of this universe, but human at the same time
4) The length and breadth of Indian Geography is discussed in such wonderful detail
5) The way the author portrays scientific advances made by ancient Indians is truly commendable. Today, a substantial portion of that has been proven true although the timelines
6) Even the description of weaponry used in ancient times in such detail has been brilliant

The Legend of Shiva, starting from the moment he is shown as a man fighting for his tribe, till his death, showing him at various inflection points in his life rising above rest of humanity around him, is simply superb. It shows what every human is capable of, if only we have the conviction to find out the truth for ourselves.

Overall, it is a brilliant conception, a smart introduction to ancient Indian sciences, a humane story of struggle for power vs truth and has been told that way. It tends to drag a bit through the dialogues, the philosophy and the war sections, but those have been critical sections as I see to introduce the readers to ancient Indian way of living.

A word of caution to the readers though - you have to read it as if you are reading a novel, which is what I presume the author tried to present. Do not read it from historical accuracy perspective and find faults with it.

Em'power'ing!

A facebook post by a very good friend sparked a controversy and of course a conversation that triggered my thoughts today on what really is empowerment of women.

I believe, like most of the 'concepts', empowerment would mean so many different things to people at different times. This blog entry is just a rambling of what I feel about it in the Indian context.

If it was as in the early afghan invasion era, where women had to be protected carefully, even a woman freely walking around on her own might have been considered empowerment. Probably in the independence war era, it would have meant the same and more, women getting more or less equal opportunities to fight against the foreign oppression. This was also the time when the seeds of liberation were sprouting in more human pots than in several prior centuries.

What does it really mean now!? I feel it is about freeing women from the centuries of stranglehold on various fronts - cultural, educational, social and spiritual - more than ever.

My vision is simple:

- A child should not be discriminated against pursuing any sort of education she likes
- A woman should be able to freely go on the streets at midnight, as the Mahatma also wished for
- No woman should be ill-treated or physically abused, irrespective of the place being a house or a school or a bus or a train
- Every person, man or woman, should have the basic freedom of choice without any external pressure

It is said that in the vedic period, a woman could wear the sacred thread just like a man - not based on being born in a caste, but out of her own capability. A woman would dissolve her family at will and pursue a spiritual path because that was considered the ultimate thing everyone aspired.

It is shameful that such a free culture is more or less lost now. But if we can create back or restore a culture even closer to that state, that should be the minimum contribution from our generation to the next.

Flight mode

The funny thing about flight mode is you never get to use it in flight :)) at least not yet in India.

The wiki link for 'flight mode' (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flight_mode) says clearly that flight mode allows a cellphone to be left on while the phone's owner is in an airborne plane. It is useful when you want to listen to music or play games while in an airplane.

I have traveled in most domestic airlines in India and invariably, despite my repeated pointing out that keeping a phone in flight mode does not interfere with the air traffic control signals, the in-flight attendants are stubborn that the phone be switched off rather. I have seen the same predicament faced by my co-passengers a few times though by that time I had wisened up to rather keep my phone off than draw the attraction of the air-hostess unnecessarily.

If they are concerned that the phone can be put quickly into the 'phone mode' from 'flight mode', I think it is really stupid because it probably takes one a little more than 10 to 15 seconds to switch on a phone from off mode! And it amounts to the same thing, isn't it?

However, I have also seen cases where some BlackBerries are made an exception to. Some of my flight co-passengers have been able to keep their BBs on in flight. It is clear RIM has a special tie-up with the airlines or I am missing something. ;-)