Planet NoSQL

  There’s a saying in Chicago: “We don’t want nobody that nobody sent.” This was the cold reception Swami Vivekananda faced when he arrived in the windy city in July 1893, determined to attend the World Parliament of Religions that September. He belonged to no organization, carried no letter of recommendation, his countrymen were nobody, and represented an alien religion to the Western world. As the days passed, his hope of attending the parliament dwindled. With money running out and the odds stacked against him, he left the Windy City and went to Boston, praying for a glimmer of opportunity.  Swamiji came to America to share India’s most profound gift: the wisdom of the Hindu sages, preserved through centuries of oral tradition and embodied by its monks. This was 1893, not 1993—India was under the British grip, its resources drained, and its spirit subdued. Swamiji’s mission was not just a cultural exchange; it was a bold step toward envisioning a future where India could re...