Introspection

Will India become a superpower?

2010-05-27T01:38:00.000-07:00

I happened to watch this interesting talk a couple of weeks back, by Ramachandra Guha, given during his trip to Canada earlier this year. He discusses the ten hurdles on the path towards 'superpowerdom' and tell why he feels India will not and should not become a superpower. It gives quite an honest assessment of today's India.

I just found out that the text of the talk was published by the Outlook. Some of the comments (there are many!) are also worth reading.

PERISHABLE *

2010-05-22T05:52:00.000-07:00

I have been attending an Introduction to Advaita (non-dual) Vedanta class every week since November last year. We were a group of five or six being taught by a Scottish lady, Ganga ji. She had spent the last nine years in India and was, for a major part of the last few years, in Swami Dayananda Saraswati’s (Adi Shankaracarya’s lineage) ashram in Coimbatore. The time she spent in the US as a student of religion proved to be her calling to spend her life learning and spreading this wisdom.

The 18 classes we attended were to make us aware of ‘another’ way to think and act. Many of the things she said made so much sense and were very simple to understand. We had been too muddled up in mundane activities and thoughts, which did not leave us with time to think differently. One thing she said struck me more than the others. It was about choices. She said that all of us are in the position of a child in a huge toy shop. Imagine the child is asked to choose one toy from the large selection given to him. Think of his plight. She says that we spend each moment of our life just like this child in the toy shop – trying to make choices. This consumes all of our time and resources. Finally, after the choice is made when the child returns home, he starts wishing that he had bought something else. The excitement of the new toy fades away quickly. The whole set of classes were based on such simple stories and analogies that pointed to the ‘truth’ from many different angles. Until about the 15th or 16th class, not once had she mentioned of ‘concepts’ like God or Soul or anything difficult to assimilate for neophytes.

Sometime in April she told us that she is going back to India to attend a three year course at Swami ji’s ashram. She said that she is extremely lucky to have Swami ji himself teach, which he had not been doing for some time now.

I was telling this whole story about Ganga ji and my Vedanta classes to one of my friends here. I told him that Ganga ji is leaving, and added that ‘all good times must come to an end’. He replied saying that ‘just like good times come to an end, so must bad times’. And it really struck me very deep. He wholly replaced the pessimism with which I was seeing the whole issue into pure optimism.

Before leaving for India, Ganga ji gave us recordings of her classes of the next text she would have taught us if she had continued in Edinburgh. I was listening to one of her recordings last morning. She was speaking of Karma Phala (fruits of our Karma). She said that just like how the Indian Railways transport fruits with a large ‘PERISHABLE’ sticker on the boxes, so must these ‘fruits’ of our Karma be perishable. She said that that is exactly the reason why Karma Phala is called so. The fruits of our Karma do not last forever.

This thought resonated very deeply with what my friend had said a few days earlier. We might be surprised by the little flashes of brilliance emanating from the ones around us. Many a time, if we ‘see’ them, they can be valuable teachers.

* Any mistake in the interpretations/ meanings given here is purely my lack of understanding or my lack of ability in putting it forward well enough and can not be attributed to the 'matter' or the teacher (Ganga ji).

Road to Sangam and a better world

2010-03-24T01:00:00.000-07:00

Think you are in this situation. You are a part of a larger community and you have been entrusted a task, which only you can accomplish. It all sounds good so far. Imagine now that the task that you have been assigned is one that is unpopular within your community. And undertaking it might put you in the wrong book of all those who love you. What’s more? Your conscience says that you need to work on the job at hand. What would you do?

This is the same quandary Hashmathulla (Paresh Rawal), a Muslim mechanic in UP, is in, in the movie Road to Sangam. He is a well respected man, living in a predominantly Muslim locality in Allahabad. The story starts with the events that follow the uncovering of terror cells in UP. Many Muslim youngsters were taken captive by the police. The local leaders of Hashmathulla’s community call their people to protest against the injustice. Their leaders ask them to close all their businesses and bring the whole area to a standstill for a few days. Hashmathulla cannot do so. He has been given an old Ford engine to repair. The engine was from the lorry, which was used to carry Gandhi ji’s ash to the various rivers of the country, as per Gandhi ji’s wish. The last urn with the ash was to be dispersed in Orissa soon and there was no time to waste. The story revolves around how, through love, he brings back his people to support him in his cause.

I am not an expert in the technicalities of film making and cannot comment on such aspects. But I must say that I was shown an India which I had not seen till now. I was left wondering at how polarised the clusters of communities in some parts of India are. There are areas with Muslims in majority and the people of the other communities fear to go to this area. It works the other way too. The movie also portrays how certain events can be used by community leaders to emotionally charge people and bring them to a stage where they feel they have been victimised and that they need to take matters to their own hands. We have read and heard about the position Muslim moulanas have amongst Muslims. I was quite amazed at how the people were ready to accept anything he said. Those who think rationally are a minority when the atmosphere is so emotionally charged. This is a sad fact. And this movie shows just how one such person tries to bring about a change his peoples’ outlook. The message of the movie is something we all need to be reminded of especially in today’s times when so much is being done and said because of religion. One particular dialogue in the movie touched me more than the others. Hashmathulla says to his old time rival (Om Puri) about how much would have been saved had India not been partitioned. Just taking in to account how much the two countries have spent on defence (against the other) would prove this point. All this money could have been put to a much better use if we weren’t two separate nations today.

The cast, lead by Paresh Rawal, Om Puri and Pawan Malhotra, had drawn me to watch the movie in the first place. And they made sure that the time I spent watching it was completely worthwhile. It is only then I did a quick search for reviews of the film on the internet. Except for a review in the Hindustan Times (and a few blogs), I did not find any mention of the movie by the major media houses. This made me think about the media frenzy involved with another recent ‘big-budget’ movie, again with a Muslim protagonist - My Name is Khan. I had loved the message of that movie too – There are two kinds of people in the world. One of them was good. And the other bad. Good people do good things and bad people bad. This is the way a mother explains her religion to an autistic child. On the whole both the movies have a message that we need to carry, though they have done it differently. But I must say that Road to Sangam, largely ignored by the media, scores much above the commercial ‘entertainer’ My Name is Khan. It is a story of simple people and the simplicity of the movie carries it even further ahead.

I would like to sign off this post by this link to a beautifully sung song, with a wonderful message and with words that would make us take some time off and think.

Do we blame religion for all the trouble we attribute to it or do we blame ourselves?

Charity, in a different light

2010-03-02T23:29:00.000-08:00

Something Swami Vivekananda wrote about charity in his book Karma Yoga. Will definitely inspire.

Now you see what Karma-Yoga means; even at the point of death to help any one, without asking questions. Be cheated millions of times and never ask a question, and never think of what you are doing. Never vaunt of your gifts to the poor or expect their gratitude, but ratherbe grateful to them for giving you the occasion of practising charity to them.

Our duty to others means helping others; doing good to the world. Why should we do good to the world? Apparently to help the world, but really to help ourselves. We should always try to help the world, that should be the highest motive in us; but if we consider well, we find that the world does not require our help at all. This world was not made that you or I should come and help it. I once read a sermon in which it was said, "All this beautiful world is very good, because it gives us time and opportunity to help others." Apparently, this is a very beautiful sentiment, but is it not a blasphemy to say that the world needs our help? We cannot deny that there is much misery in it; to go out and help others is, therefore, the best thing we can do, although in the long run, we shall find that helping others is only helping ourselves.

Yet we must do good; the desire to do good is the highest motive power we have, if we know all the time that it is a privilege to help others. Do not stand on a high pedestal and take five cents in your hand and say, "Here, my poor man," but be grateful that the poor man is there, so that by making a gift to him you are able to help yourself. It is not the receiver that is blessed, but it is the giver. Be thankful that you are allowed to exercise your power of benevolence and mercy in the world, and thus become pure and perfect. All good acts tend to make us pure and perfect.

No beggar whom we have helped has ever owed a single cent to us; we owe everything to him, because he has allowed us to exercise our charity on him. It is entirely wrong to think that we have done, or can do, good to the world, or to think that we have helped such and such people. It is a foolish thought, and all foolish thoughts bring misery. We think that we have helped some man and expect him to thank us, and because he does not, unhappiness comes to us. Why should we expect anything in return for what we do? Be grateful to the man you help, think of him as God.

A masterpiece

2010-02-02T23:46:00.001-08:00

This beautiful photo forces me to write something that I had been wanting to for a long time. The National Geographic website offers the 'National Geographic Photo of the Day', which can be downloaded as wallpapers. Ever since I found out about the site, I have been religiously changing my wallpaper every day. Each day, these photographs, bring something new and beautiful to my life.

Now about today's photo of the day. I am left to wonder. The so called Creator has created something so divine and beautiful. I simply can not fathom the depths of His beauty.

(You might need to click on the image to see the whole image)

One morning in school

2009-11-22T10:26:00.001-08:00

One morning, two of my friends, Vivek and Sridhar, and I were walking to our computer lab at school. We were in the 11th standard then and coincidentally all the three of us had been in that school only for a few months. On the way, one student in the 12th whom Vivek had known earlier from his old school passed by us. Vivek smiled and said a ‘hi’. The senior did not respond and walked past us as if nothing had happened. Both Sridhar and I got into a fit of laughter. We were trying to pull Vivek’s legs by making fun of the incident that just happened. Vivek told something that moment, which has remained very close to me ever since. He said, ‘Naan chirichathu, athu ente mariyaada, aa aal chirikaathuthu aa aalude mariyaada’ (I smiled. That is how I show my moral uprightness. The other boy did not. That is how he shows his).

Essentials of Hinduism

2009-11-14T08:56:00.000-08:00

I had been interested in the teachings of Hinduism for some time but only had a scant knowledge about the religion. I was on the look out for a basic book on Hinduism, something not written to cater to the Western crowd, which I assumed would be over simplified. And also something not riddled with a lot of Sanskrit texts and their translations, which might put off a new student of Hinduism. I wanted a book written by some guru who was in one of the acknowledged schools of Vedic philosophy. After having read Swami Bhaskarananda’s Essentials of Hinduism, I believe I have found a book which touches upon almost all the major aspects of the Hindu culture. Though he is a disciple in the Ramakrishna order (believing in non-duality) he also writes in detail about the dual nature of reality.

One of the reasons I was not really interested in Hinduism was because, very unlike Christianity or Islam, we had so many scriptures and ancient texts. I did not know where to get started. I had listened to a few talks on the Bhagavat Gita and read a few chapters earlier, but I was not able to fit them into the bigger picture. I always wondered why our sages made understanding religion so difficult. Little did I know about the organisation of Vedic literature and the fact that there was something in it for every kind of person – those well versed in Sanskrit, those with little or no knowledge of the Vedas, and even to those who were uneducated (the Truths were conveyed to them through the stories of the Tantras and the two epics of Mahabharatam and Ramayanam).

In the book, Swami Bhaskarananda speaks at length about life and the Hindu society in general. Though he has quoted from ancient scriptures, most of what he has written about the stages of life, women, children, marriages, death, food and the Hindu ethics remain true even in our world today. In very simple language, he explains the various ways one can see God – right from the Nirguna Brahman (the Supreme Being without form, quality and attributes), to the more commonly revered Ishvars/ deities in Hinduism. Again we find two levels of worship which is prescribed in our scriptures. Those who can understand and relate to the ‘formless’ God can choose so, others who need some physical association with him, can choose fromm the thousands of deities we have, each of whom have qualities all of us need to emulate. The Advaita philosophy, where you see yourself as a part of the Reality itself, has a more atheist/ humanist view. In essence, there is something in Hinduism for atheists, agnostics, spiritual-ists and ritual-ists.

There are chapters in the book, explaining the Hindu thoughts on death, karma, reincarnations and predestination. These were concepts that always baffled me. I used to ask myself why we Hindus were so obsessed about death. I believe now that we have every reason to ponder about death, the common friend each one of us has, right from the time we are born. The Buddhists put it simply as ‘All beings tremble before danger; all fear death’. If there is some system that uproots this fear, why not learn about it? The explanations of these concepts, given by Swami ji in this book, can very easily be comprehended by even a novice to the field. I remember during one of the first Vedic Society meetings I attended here at Edinburgh I had asked why we study religion and put an effort to understand the scriptures and so on. I had been, like many of us, conditioned to think that we ought to get something out of what we do. Through Swami ji’s take on Realization and Moksha, I really feel that maybe there is something above all this that we see today. This will remain not-understood until we make an attempt to learn and accept.

This is what I have learnt from my very short experience in Hinduism that I have. If ever some Hindu talks about how not-so-good or complex the religion is - it is purely out of ignorance. Because he has not tried to understand it. I know this because I was one among them until a few months back. This book is a nice starting point for all of us to get a taste of what Hinduism has to offer. I was quite surprised at reading about what world thinkers had to say about Hinduism and the Indian culture, which is included in the book. For the people who still have doubts regarding Hinduism, I would suggest that you start with this section in the appendix. When such world renowned figures speak so much about Hinduism, shouldn't there be something in it that we have missed?

The media in 'emergency' mode

2009-10-03T10:11:00.001-07:00

There was a time one month back when there was not a news bulletin on the Indian TV channels which did not mention swine flu. It was at a time when the cases worldwide had plateaued. Let us put the whole issue into perspective.

6050 people have been affected with the swine flu in India out of which 173 died (as of 13 September 2009). Most of the people who have been infected are ones who either had been abroad or had been in contact with someone who had been abroad. In simply words, it was predominantly among the more affluent. And that is exactly the reason it managed to get such a proportion of prime time coverage in the media. The media houses catering to this stratum of the society went into ‘emergency’ mode.

I would have been happy with the media’s vociferous take on swine flu if they had not been turning a blind eye to the Indians dying every minute due to TB or to the 1250 Indians dying daily because of diarrhea-related diseases, both of which are very much curable. The media do not see such ‘uninteresting’ statistics.

Navarathri

2009-09-29T00:33:00.000-07:00

Patience, flexibility, love, and the ability to soothe are some of the qualities we would very easily associate with our mothers. These are the same virtues we glorify during the nine days of Navarathri (Nava = nine, rathri = night) as nine different manifestations of the Universal Mother. The Universal Mother is commonly referred to as Durga (or Shakthi or Devi), which literally means the remover of the miseries of life. In the Hindu culture, God is looked upon as our Mother, and vice versa. ‘The first manifestation of God is the hand that rocks the cradle’, as Swami Vivekananda aptly puts it.

Navarathri is divided into sets of three days to honour three different aspects of the Mother. During the first three days, we pray to Durga (or Kali), who is the destroyer of all our impurities, our vices. Then for three days, the Mother is worshipped as Lakshmi, who bestows upon us spiritual wealth. The final three days are spent in worshipping Saraswati, the Goddess of wisdom.

According to the great Hindu scripture, the Ramayana, Lord Rama performed a Holy prayer to invoke the blessings of Durga Maa to ensure success in bringing back his wife Sita from Ravana who had abducted her. The day, in Ramayana, when Rama vanquishes Ravana is celebrated as Dusshera (also known as Vijayadashami), which is the day after the nine nights of worship. During the nine days many in India fast. Fasting is seen as one of the best methods to improve one’s self control and overcome one’s desires. The fast, which is performed in the name of Durga, is akin to the prayer by Lord Rama. On Vijayadashami, Ravana, who symbolises our vices and desires, is finally conquered.

A prayer for the Mother –

Ya devi sarva bhooteshu matru roopena samsthita
namastasyai namastasyai namastasyai namo namaha - Devi mahathmyam

Salutations to the divine mother,
Whose art manifest in every being's existence.
As mother, I worship thee, over and over and over again.

2009-09-08T00:53:00.001-07:00

Letters from Edinburgh V

2009-09-05T07:51:00.000-07:00

I have started getting used to spelling out my name whenever I call someone on the phone here. I had to do it so many times - with the British Airways, British Gas, British Telecom, Royal Bank of Scotland. A for alpha, N for number, U for up, P for Pakistan, and then NAMBIAR.

Spelling out 'Sainath Lakshminarayanan' for the Natwest bank was the best training I could get. I got so lost that evening. I could not get any word for L. L for ... for ... LOVE! Yes that is the only thing I got to say to that Natwest lady.

Letters from Edinburgh IV

2009-05-18T23:18:00.000-07:00

The most noticeable structure that can be seen from my kitchen window is a church tower. It stands out from the large number of small houses that my neighbourhood is studded with.

One evening, I was watching the sun set, sipping some tea. The church clock’s bell rang, which caught my attention. I looked in its direction, expecting to see the old church tower. I could not see it that day. I thought my senses were failing me. I knew that the Edinburgh Council, which does not allow us to even change a broken window (that is how they ‘preserve’ their heritage), would never bring down a church tower.

It is then I observed something. There was a huge tree that had come in the way. I had never seen the tree earlier. Or had I? Maybe I had seen the church tower through the skeletal structure of the very same tree. That evening, dense green foliage stood in place of the life-less autumn tree.

Someone knocked at our door that evening. It was spring.

The blank slate

2009-04-13T08:41:00.000-07:00

One of the things I had in my mind, even before leaving for Edinburgh, was to buy a cycle once I reached here. I had this Famous Five style ‘riding through the meadows’ picture in my mind which complemented my love for cycling.

When I reached here, I learnt that there is a bicycle recycling and cycling promotion charity called the Bike Station at Edinburgh. There, they take old and discarded bikes out of landfill, repair as many as they can, and put them back on the roads. Every Saturday, between 10 am and noon, they sell these refurbished cycles to people. I thought of going there to buy a second hand cycle (when a new cycle would cost greater than £150, second hand cycles can be bought for as less as £40).

I went there on three consecutive Saturdays. The first time I reached the place at 10:30 or so. There was a huge queue. I hadn’t foreseen the demand for second hand cycles, especially during the time of the year when a lot of new students like me had landed in the city. I stood in the queue for some time and then, realizing that there was no way I was going to get a bike that day, left. The next week, I went there early. That week the number of cycles they had to sell were very few and by the time my turn came, there weren’t any cycles left.

The third Saturday, I went even earlier, to make sure that I get a favourable place on the queue. For a change, I was in the first group that was allowed to enter the garage. It was a square room, with cycles kept along the walls. I kept looking at the price tag (the most important factor to be considered!) of the cycles along one side. I saw one for £55. It looked in good condition. I knew the cost was reasonable. But my mind said, ‘Check out the other bikes too. There might be something cheaper, better’. I went around the room looking at the other cycles kept. Did not find anything that suited my budget. By the time I came back for the £55 cycle, someone else had taken it. The Bike Station had taught me the first lesson I learnt in Edinburgh.

How many times in our lives have we kept things waiting for the proverbial sunnier day? We keep living with the want – the want of a better day. We seldom see the beauty of the blank slate given to us each morning.

A sad day

2009-04-13T08:06:00.001-07:00

Today I felt sad. All I could see in our news channels was the tirade which was traded between L K Advani and Dr. Manmohan Singh. Ideological differences kept aside for a moment, I do not think that two Indians, who are as old as my grandparents, must share such sharp words. I yearn to see the respect they ought to have for each other. When such mature, responsible people begin to speak thus, I start losing hope.

Your vote counts!

2009-04-12T12:09:00.000-07:00

I am writing this in urgency. We have another 4 days before our people go to poll booths around the country to vote for the first phase of the elections to the 15th Lok Sabha. Two experiences over the past few weeks have forced me to write something of this sort.
1. During a talk show in CNN IBN, which Rajdeep Sardesai hosted, one of the panellists, when talking about the middle class of West Bengal said, ‘The middle class of India is the most untrustworthy. More than half of them do not even come to vote.’(Not quoted verbatim).
2. Tarun Vijay (columnist for the Times of India and editor for an RSS weekly) spoke of the ‘English speaking and writing middle class’ as being ones who ‘discuss big issues, but do little; expecting others to make the changes’. (Again, this is the gist of an article he had written).

Now, if you are reading this message, you are a part of the ‘untrustworthy English speaking and writing middle class of India’.

I do not want the ‘middle class’ to prove these commentators wrong. But I want our people to get involved. Let’s make the choice today, which will define where we stand tomorrow. Let’s all go to the polling station on Election Day. Jai Hind!

Letters from Edinburgh III

2009-03-07T03:49:00.000-08:00

Parents taking their young children to their school in the morning is one scene I see almost everyday here. The children are normally jumping around; enthusiastic about going to school. There isn’t much to study during the first few years. Seeing them on their scooters, I am reminded of how the school going children of the same age group in India are. Back home, seen on the streets, are children walking unwillingly to school. They have a heavy bag on their shoulders (might be the reason for our lower average height when compared to people in the west!); shoulders drooping. The only time in a week we see them smile are on Fridays; that too on the condition that they do not have any test or exam scheduled for Monday. The children face the brunt of competition (for space in the school bus, to a window-seat in their class!) right from a very young age. This very efficiently kills creativity.

I am sure things are improving in India; our actions on this front might accelerate the change.

Letters from Edinburgh II

2009-02-01T05:47:00.000-08:00

One of the first things I noticed about the people at Edinburgh, was the pace at which they walk. Edinburgh is a very small city, and we can go to almost any place here walking (if we have all the time in the world that is, which I seemed to have during the first couple of weeks here). The people here (I would not call them Scots, because we have a large influx of people from the other European countries) walk as though they are always in a hurry to get to some place. I had a difficult time walking on the pavements on the first few days. There were these constant stares we used to get (for walking the Indian way!) from people who almost always used to overtake us. One night, one lady even passed a remark (which would have been deemed racist if she wasn't as drunk as she was!) 'You Indians walk slow!'.

Now things are different. I don't know whether it is because I did not want to hear anything like what the lady said again, or it was because I started cycling more than walking. But today, the people seem to be slow (relatively!).

Letters from Edinburgh I

2009-01-25T11:22:00.000-08:00

I landed in London, on my way to Edinburgh, at around 6am, some time in the end of September. It was a Jet Airways flight from Bombay. The pilot was an Englishman. In the post-flight announcement he made, he said, ' … It is a warm, sunny day in London. The outside temperature is 8 degree Celsius...'. I laughed to myself as I was trying to figure out what I was jumping into.

Today I would say, 'Yes, that indeed is warm!'.

The terrorist in us

2008-12-29T03:26:00.000-08:00

The first time I read about farmer issues and about the spiralling suicides among them was through some articles written by P Sainath in the Hindu in 2004/ 2005. Some of those articles were real eye-openers. I had a chance to live vicariously in rural agricultural India through Sainath.

In early December, a new article gave figures of the number of farmer suicides in India in 2007. It said that more than 16,500 farmers had committed suicide in 2007 alone. The figure took me unawares. I always knew that problems existed amongst the Indian agriculturists, but never thought that the problem was this big. We have been having one Mumbai terror attack almost every week; not in the Taj or the Oberoi, but in interior Maharashtra, Andhra, Kerala; those places which have largely been deemed to be ‘uninteresting’ by the print and electronic media. And these attacks are not by non-state actors from across the border, but by you, and me and all around us, who have cocooned ourselves from the rural reality and have been indifferent to such happenings.

When would we see group discussions on CNN-IBN or NDTV discussing these ‘insignificant’ issues? When would we see a candle light march in the big cities for these tillers of the soil? How much time more would it take for this news to prick our collective conscience?

Profound tought from Obama's victory speech at Chicago

2008-12-19T00:23:00.000-08:00

Obama ends the victory address with this line -

'I will listen to you, especially when we disagree.'

It is still very early to comment on him or his proposed ideas. This one line though, gives me hope. And what is life without hope?

Promising signs

2008-12-13T03:46:00.000-08:00

We have been hearing a lot of troubling news from India lately. But along with the sad news, I also had a glance of some promising signs, which could be the change we need to see in our country.

The Lok Sabha session which was held last week, mainly discussed national security, with the aim to thwart any terrorists' plans. For a change, we saw the whole house united. The leader of the opposition said that the opposition would back any measure the government would take against terrorism. Terrorism was our common enemy. It was said that Indians (irrespective of religion, caste, or political inclinations) were on a war with terror. I enjoyed watching our leaders speak about our national identity.

Our Prime Minister apologized for the attack that he accepted could have been avoided. I understand that this apology would mean nothing to the families who lost loved ones in the dastardly act. My respects to them. Nonetheless, I must admit that it takes courage to accept that one has done wrong. I hope that he and the government now speak through their actions. I hope they can walk the talk!

Women on top

2008-12-07T10:39:00.000-08:00

I was having this discussion with one of my friends last week. He was of the view that women, whom he had met in his life, which he himself agreed was a very small sample, are in general intellectually inferior to men. It seemed he had not met one girl who could intelligently question something some of his teachers taught. He gave examples of famous CEOs of companies. The male subset of the CEO set is much bigger than the female one, he said. I tried to counter him by providing names of some famous women in fields like sport, music, business, media and politics. Even this did not force him to nudge from his earlier position.

I was quiet for some time, with my mind trying its best to make the knockout argument. During the search for the argument, I happened to think of the most obvious person in our lives. I was reminded of someone whom we all take for granted so easily. I reminded him of our own CEOs at home. The CEO, who works and manages our households, who makes homes out of the places we live in. Our CEOs do not expect much more than our love for all they do. They work when no one is watching so that our lives run smoothly. They make lives so much easier for the menfolk (read: CEO of some chip manufacturing company in the Silicon Valley!) without whom, I do not think my friend's presumed male dominance might last.

Any doubts on who is on top?

Blame game

2008-12-06T12:11:00.000-08:00

A week has passed since 26/11. We have been exposed to the lackadaisical measures that were taken by the government in dealing with intelligence reports warning such mayhems There have been stories of the media taking advantage of the situation for their own ulterior motives. There were some stories that doubted the competence of the Indian defense forces. All is well and good until we are not to blamed for what happened in Mumbai.

How many of us pay taxes honestly? How many of us have used some arm twisting to get things done in India. How many of us take responsibility for trouble (be it at home, or in our colonies, or on our roads)? We know very well about the ills that exist in our society today. How can we expect some men who are form this society to lead us well? It is from the same society that you and me are a part of that politicians and journalists come. Would it not be right to blame ourselves for everything we have seen over the past week instead of finding scapegoats?

Newspaper ad - the polity making the most of the terror strike

2008-11-28T22:01:00.000-08:00

This is a front page ad printed in the Hindustan Times Delhi edition yesterday.

I have nothing personally against the BJP. I am sure we could probably expect something similar from the Congress if the BJP were in power. Nonetheless, this ad is troubling. Can they not have waited till the situation normalized in Bombay?

Letter to a terrorist

2008-11-27T12:04:00.000-08:00

I do not know whether you have a bigger cause you are fighting for. Maybe you do. I do not want to know about how just your cause is. All I can tell you is that, even if there was a small group of people who wanted a dialogue with you, who wanted to understand your problems and try to solve them in a sane manner, the means you have taken to attain victory has totally derided the little amount of respect that the people affected by these acts of terror may have had for your cause. I do not know whether you achieved what you intended to do with the attack; I believe instead of winning over the people, you have actually made them move even further away from you.

A new dawn

2008-11-12T09:29:00.001-08:00

‘Today I am fortunate to have woken up, I am alive, I have a precious human life, I am not going to waste it. I am going to use all my energies to develop myself, to expand my heart out to others, to achieve enlightenment for the benefit of all beings, I am going to have kind thoughts towards others, I am not going to get angry or think badly about others, I am going to benefit others as much as I can.’ - The Dalai Lama

Religious conversions in India

2008-11-10T00:23:00.000-08:00

One of the first pieces of news about India which I received on reaching Edinburgh was about the communal tensions in the Kandhamal district of Orissa. Similar cases, where churches were burnt and Christians ill-treated, in Mangalore and some other parts of Karnataka followed suit. It is only when these occurred, did I try to find out about the magnitude of the problem we are dealing with. I have enlisted here some of the observations I made through articles/ web pages I read and discussions I had on the issue.

There is no doubt that the atrocities that have been committed on the Christian converts in these places in the last month or so can not be justified. Indians have the best example of non-violence being used as a mode of struggle, which proved to be more of a success than other violent means people have adopted since then. Why forget what history has taught us?

On the contentious matter of conversions, the first question that can be raised is about ethics. Are the means adopted by Christian missionaries to coax people to convert ethical? There are two sides to this question. These missionaries live with and try to propagate the belief that it is only Christians who reach Heaven and that they have been assigned the duty of helping people at large to reach there. Through the conversion activities they are involved in, they believe they are answering their true calling and performing their duty. They believe that whatever the means they use ( like providing monetary benefits, education, jobs etc to the converts) to induce conversions, the end justifies the means. On the other hand, if their intention was to do good alone (through charitable activities), they could easily provide the destitute with these economic benefits without asking them to convert. That would be the idealist's way to make sure that the destitute, who were not taken care of by the government (and the people who are represented by the governments) are allowed on to the first rung of the ladder of economic development.

Another fact that caught my attention was that most of the converts were 'dalits' (untouchables). I thought this to be a good enough reason for a person to convert. M y argument was that these people, when were Hindus, may have had faced instances when they were discriminated against, which instigated thoughts about converting. One of my friends, who has worked with tribals in Jharkand, informed me that the term 'dalit' was being used to label almost every tribal group in India by the media. He showed me instances where tribals (even though they were classified as Hindus), followed completely different rituals (eg. they considered trees/ plants sacred). There is a distinct possibility that the tribals who have been converted in Orissa and some other parts of India, were such groups. Although I say this, I do not discredit the caste based oppression many of the 'dalits', or tribals for that matter, are still facing in many parts of India.

Next, my friend gave me his reasons as to why he was against these conversions. He said that through these conversions, these tribes were losing their culture. He added that when everywhere in the world various organizations have been trying to preserve tribes and their traditions, under the name of religious conversions we were directly causing the 'extinction' of such tribes and their traditions. I respect my friends views on the matter of protecting tribes and their values, but I fail to see the same motive in the opposition shown by some parts of the Hindu right wing groups. If the subject of protecting the culture of these tribes is important, why is it that these right wing groups bring about this matter only when the situation at hand is grave?

What can cause a person to change their inclination (be it political or religious in this case)? Isn't it dissatisfaction? If the converts before they turn to Christianity were fully content with the kind of lives they were leading, would they ever convert for material benefits? I do not think so. So what is it that is not working right? These tribes surely would be having desires. They would love to have health care, would love to have their children educated, which promises jobs for them when they grow older. Why isn't the government trying to provide these tribes with what they need, so that they remain rooted in their rich tradition. One would also need to figure out whether these tribes would keep up with their tradition once economically developed (as Christians or Hindus)?

I know I have not provided any one who has read this write up with answers. In fact there are more questions to which solutions need to be found. I hope I have helped you to see the problem at hand in a different light. I would like to thank my friends Srinivasan C J and Udit Kumar who helped me gain a different perspective on the issue.

The cure

2008-11-08T03:56:00.000-08:00

I have my eyes closed,

and I see you in tears.

You have wrinkled up your face

in sadness or fear.

I hear the room's silence interspersed

by your repressed whimper.

I move my fingers to your face,

taking them softly from your temples,

caressing your cheek,

till they reach your chin;

undoing at every instant

the wrinkles that blemish your face.

You begin to feel at ease,

resting your head on my shoulder.

I keep stroking your hair,

till you fall into a peaceful slumber.

Everybody loves a good drought – stories from India's poorest districts

2008-09-14T00:08:00.000-07:00

There has been a recent spurt in articles (in newspapers and web sites) explaining the laxities in the definition of the poverty line in India. Eminent journalists wrote about how ineffective the definition of the line is and gave shocking numbers of the extremely poor in the country (which are much more than the numbers found in government reports). After reading these articles, I understood the numbers; the statistics that measure poverty, but never realized what it meant to live in extreme poverty. The book 'Everybody loves a good drought', a compilation of reports filed for the Times of India by P. Sainath, stands as the portal through which we could peek into the lives of the extremely poor in India.

Statistics reveal that 39.9% of the Indians live below the poverty line – that is they do not take in the 2400 or 2100 calories (for rural and urban Indians respectively). Sainath realizes that there are some other issues – government intervention, health, education, forced displacement, dependence on agriculture (of a vast majority of the poor, forcing migration during the lean season), availability of resources (water, forest land, money, alternate employment etc) – which play a significant role in keeping the poor from climbing to the lowest rung of the ladder of economic development. The sections in his book target these issues individually with stories from rural India.

This book in a real eye-opener. Reading the sometimes touching and sometimes inspiring stories in it I realized the vastness of the problem of poverty and understood that it needs a concerted effort on all these fronts to make a change. The book transcends mere statistics to raise troubling concerns which need to be addressed. Sainath chides the media for failing in its duty to raise awareness on the range of issues. Most of the stories in his book are succeeded by a postscript, which tells us what government actions followed the publication of the story then. Some of the work done since the publication of these stories show what a dutiful media can accomplish.

Sainath in the last few chapters provides some hope, with stories of seemingly small successes in rural India. Reading them I am reminded of what Robert Kennedy said: ' Let no one be discouraged by the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills – against misery and ignorance, injustice and violence'.

Read another review of the book here.

Sainath-bashing

2008-08-28T00:24:00.000-07:00

Sainath: Let’s revert to the latest maternal mortality figures released by the WHO and others. Some 536,000 women died in childbirth in 2005. Of these, every fifth one of them, at least, was an Indian. That is, 117,000 of them. A total that could only be matched by Nigeria, Afghanistan and Congo together.

Sainath-bashing: Does Sainath not understand the concept of per-capita mortality rates (which makes him innumerate at best and stupid at worst), or is he intentionally not bringing them up (which makes him dishonest)?

Using averages (which the per capita calculations measure) is the best way possible to hide from reality. Averages flatten or help level the peaks and trenches. When used craftily, it could be used to protect the interests of a few.

Firstly, take the case of the spread of AIDS in India. India has more that 5.1 million (this was the figure two years ago) infected with the HIV virus. When this number was published in the papers two years back, there were talks of India being the worst AIDS affected country in the world (if we were to take the number of infected alone). A counter-story appeared soon after the first one was published which asked us to take refuge in the fact that the number of AIDS patients formed only 0.91 percent of the population (dividing the number by a much larger population of India!). The counter-story's view was to dilute the crisis on hand. African nations which had India’s HIV infection rate of less than one percent of their population a decade ago, are grappling with the AIDS/HIV epidemic of unimaginable proportions. Facts reveal that in the tiny African state of Botswana, which about a decade ago had only a small HIV problem, more than 30 per cent of its adult population is HIV positive today. Simply putting it, we can not take refuge in our large population making any average a seemingly meager number.

Next, I would like to point out one of the arguments the Indian polity has been making in global meets discussing climate change – low per capita carbon contribution from India. Again here the Indian polity seems to be making use of the large population of the country for the benefit of a few. It is a fact that the carbon contribution from certain groups of people in India equals, or some times even exceeds those in the Western countries. These sections have been literally subsidized by the presence of a very large poor community in our country. Drawing parallels with the maternal mortality rates, a large percentage of the 117,000 women who died in child birth in 2005 are from these poorer sections of the population without access to community health care. Though Sainath does not explicitly speak about the large divide in the society, he has done so in many of his previous writings. Through the article Sainth provides an insight into not just the blemish of having a large maternal mortality figure, but also a means to understand the divide which is plaguing the country. If we were to take the Maternal Mortality Rates (number of deaths of the mother in 100,000 childbirths), of smaller segments of the society (segments based on economic standards of the family, whether the family is living in rural areas etc.) we would get troubling figures.

Sainath-bashing: Sainath had written that the maternal mortality figures of India is as much as the total maternal morality figures of Nigeria, Afghanistan and Congo together. What is significant is that the population of India is five times the total population of these three countries taken together.

Compare the history (from the 1950s) of these four countries (including India). Since the late 1970s Afghanistan has suffered continuous and brutal civil war, which included foreign interventions in the form of the 1979 Soviet invasion and the recent 2001 US-led invasion that toppled the Taliban government. The civil war (though not officially called so these days) continues and the number of deaths in Afghanistan due to this fighting continues unabated. Nigeria saw thirty-three years of oppressive military rule (which ended in1999). The military rule was studded with corruption and mismanagement which saw only a few in the country make use of the oil driven money. Nigeria's government officials and police have been accused of serious Human Rights violation and abuse during the military rule. Even after democracy made way in 1999, the situation is not much better. The elections of 1999, 2003 and 2007 have been condemned by the international community of being flawed. The Democratic Republic of Congo too has been a war-torn country. Even in the recent past (form 1998-2003) Congo saw the second Congo war, which is the deadliest conflict the world has seen since World War II. This central African nation also saw war and civil strife in some of its neighbouring countries (like Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda) spill into her. The atrocities committed by some of the authoritarian rulers of the country are well documented. The war situation and civil unrest in these three countries have made life of women precarious. In many of the African countries still plagued by strife, violence against women is considered to be normal.

Leaving the population question aside for a moment, can we be happy about the comparisons of the MMRs of these three countries with India's? India has had a more or less stable existence since independence. India has had its share of misery and trouble, I agree, but not in such a large level as seen in the other three countries. We have had a democratically elected government (the emergency period being the only aberration) since 1947. Seeing India's background (and when comparing it with these three countries), does it not make sense to compare India's Maternal Mortality figures (which is equal to the MM figures of these three countries put together) without putting a big emphasis on the population of the countries?

These are some of the blogs from which I took these excerpts -

1. http://www.aadisht.net/2007/10/31/sainath-is-innumerate/

2. http://memorymaniac.sulekha.com/blog/post/2008/07/sainath-his-sycophants-enemies.htm

3. http://www.livemint.com/2008/04/30225139/Media-and-moral-outrage.html

I would take this opportunity to thank my friend Lakshmi Kishore who informed me of such views being discussed online. I would also like to thank the authors of the blog and the article without whom I would never have given a deeper thought about the issue at hand.

2008-08-23T18:21:00.000-07:00

Learn your way to excellence

2008-08-16T20:43:00.000-07:00

To the reader

I would like to say to the diligent reader of my writings and to others who are interested in them that I am not at all concerned with appearing to be consistent. In my search after Truth I have discarded many ideas and learnt many new things. Old as I am in age, I have no feeling that I have ceased to grow inwardly or that my growth will stop at the dissolution of the flesh. What I am concerned with is my readiness to obey the call of truth, my God, from moment to moment, and, therefore, when anybody finds any inconsistency between any two writings of mine, if he has still faith in my sanity, he would do well to choose the later of the two on the same subject.

M K Gandhi
Harijan, 29.4.1933

This extract is taken from the book 'India of My Dreams', written by Gandhiji. Such a profound insight on his constant endeavour to improve and learn. Something all of us would do well to learn from.

Family Matters - A review*

2008-08-16T01:43:00.000-07:00

When I picked up the book, Family Matters, written by Rohinton Mistry, I wondered what it might contain. The back cover said that the book had been shortlisted for the Booker Prize in 2006 which fueled doubts on the book; my experience with books written by Booker prize winners had not been a very comfortable one.

I have always loved reading about the culture of different peoples. Mistry in his book, gave a view of the lives of Parsis in India. Having my roots in Bombay (but not having had the 'Life' experience of living in the metropolis), I also loved reading about a typical middle class family life in Bombay in his book. I could draw parallels between instances and people in the story, with the lives my parents, grand parents and their relatives must have had in the great city.

The depiction of the last few years in an old, dying man's life, as seen by the innocent eyes of his young grandson, produces a beautiful effect in the narration. I had never thought about how the old felt at the end of their lives- unfulfilled wishes, dreams troubling them- until I read Mistry's work. The seemingly small things we could do for them, mean a lot to them. They mean much more than what we presume. Simple instances give them pleasure. For instance, in the story, dinner being eaten on the best dish available at home, which had been reserved only for special days, meant a lot to the old man. For him, the numbered days he had, had to be special. The utter helplessness (and sometimes shame) that he felt at having others help him do what he had been doing for so long, is beautifully portrayed in the book. The sadness (which was occasionally shown through his tears at night) at having to trouble his daughter and her family, would touch any humane reader of the book.

The story proves that every being, however strong he might have been in his youth, cedes to difficult situations when old. And the truth that every one of us would grow old some day, is good enough reason to treat the old in our families, in our neighbourhood, with simple gestures that would go a long way in making their lives more livable today. And not to forget, there are young ones watching every step we take; learning from us.

* This write-up may not be a review in conventional terms. A Google search would give ample to choose from. A review written by Shashi Tharoor may be read here.

Nuke deal – an unconditional waiver for India?

2008-07-02T23:43:00.000-07:00

Some of the features of the Indo – US nuke deal -

1.The Nuclear Suppliers' Group (NSG) has to change rules to accommodate India, and for this the Hyde's act asks for a permanent ban on nuclear tests.

2.Access to uranium would be tightly regulated (by whom, we know).

3.All civil nuclear fuel-cycle technologies would be prohibited (including spent fuel reprocessing. Reprocessed fuel may be used in weapons - as suggested by the Bush administration in the Iran imbroglio).

4.The NSG has the right to demand the return of transferred items and material (including fuel, which the deal promises India to have).

5.Forced shutdown of Cirus, one of the two research reactors in India, producing weapons grade plutonium.

6.India is to be barred from ever halting international inspection of its entire civil nuclear program, even if the US unilaterally terminated cooperation.

My hugely pessimistic views on these clauses -

1.Being opposed to having and developing nuclear arms, I would not mind India stopping the development of nuclear weapons. But that decision should be taken by India alone and not be imposed by any other nation in the world. It is easy for one to ask the other to stop smoking, when the first one himself has a cigar between his lips.

2.This looks like a way through which the countries (read the US) can pull the strings on India's foreign policy. We saw India vote against Iran in the IAEA just as the deal was being discussed. What would be the scene once the deal is operational?

3.One of the reasons environment groups like the Greenpeace opposed nuclear energy is the matter of spent fuel. No full proof method is available to dispose spent fuel. People may say they have methods, but can they say this with complete conviction? Fuel reprocessing is one way by which we could reduce the harms of the spent fuel. In the sense, the spent fuel after one cycle of energy generation may be reprocessed, and used again as fuel for energy generation. This would mean that the final spent fuel, is much less radioactive when compared to the spent fuel after the first stage of generation. By imposing a ban on fuel reprocessing we have a question to answer – what to do with the spent fuel? Can we just send the spent fuel to these developing countries who themselves are worried about the amounts of spent fuel being generated in their own lands?

* The six points of the deal have been taken from the article Emulate America's bipartisan handling, written by Brahma Chellaney, published as the leader page article in the Hindu dated 28 June 2008.

Read the article here - http://www.hindu.com/2008/06/28/stories/2008062853981000.htm

Indo-US nuke deal - hidden fact?

2008-06-22T03:47:00.000-07:00

I had always been perplexed on the contentious issue of the Indo-US nuclear deal ever since Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s visit to the US in 2005. I read editorials, articles, and interviews discussing both sides of the matter, but could not come to a reasoned conclusion myself.

India has to look into herself for the uranium required for her existing plants and also for the plants under development according to an article (read here ) by Associated Press journalist Neelesh Misra published in the Hindustan Times.

I am still no where close to finding a stance on the Indo-US nuke deal. But I have one question – why has this information been kept as a loosely guarded secret for 3-4years now?

My thanks to M J Akbar for his leader page article, in the Khaleej Times dated 22 June 2008, that brought this news out (read article here).

Is Globalization the cause of it all?

2008-06-15T06:03:00.000-07:00

Yesterday, I received the second serious response to something I had written in this blog. I loved the effort Selva took to jot down his thoughts on the lecture by Sainath. I have put the first part of his thought for discussion. It seems he doesn't want to be Nero's guest anymore. This is the change we need to see in today's world.

Selva : Ok. Coming to the point. First, the title. Globalizing inequality. As Mr. Sainath points out, globalization indeed makes rich people richer. That is, if they are able to cope up with the changing winds. But we cannot claim that globalization makes poor people poorer. Globalization was neither meant to bring up inequality nor to abolish it. Inequality existed before globalization. It exists now, when there is globalization. It'll exist in the future, whether there is globalization or not. This claim is based on the books I read and on my social, economical and mainly psychological observations.

>> I do not know whether I can confidently say that the poor are not getting any poorer due to globalization. Before I start with this, proponents of globalization - the likes of Thomas Freidman and Jeffrey Sachs - speak of globalization as being a panacea for all world problems (Sachs in his book The End of Poverty, keeps repeating the globalization mantra!) Even if globalization is not making people poorer, it is not in any way improving the conditions of the poor in societies as these people say it will. How much longer can the poor wait? There is this disparity that has crept in. Accumulation of feelings of unfairness and resentment against the rich, which the disparity brings in the poor, may break the dam any time (as it has in many parts of the world).

With the advent of Manmohanics (in the early 90s) the inequality in India has only become larger. It has made the poor poorer, symbolically at least. The policies adopted by the various governments since then have undermined the traditionally strong sectors in India (eg. the agricultural sector). The opening of the markets has done some good to the affluent, but has caused misery to the poor, scaled much more than earlier times(exemplified by the ever increasing number of farmer suicides).. The priorities of the government have changed – not for the good of all. Something that strengthens some sections of the society while undermining the poorer sections can not be a solution in any sense.

Leaving the discussion of one country, and taking the world as a bigger market, we can find evidence that the farm policies of the ‘globalized’ world is pitted against the poor farmers in the developing world, while the subsidies rich farmers in the rich countries are not affected as much. In many countries the food produced by the local farmers are being sold at prices higher than the food being imported from the rich world. Since most of the people living in these countries are farmers themselves, the decrease in food prices (due to imports) does more harm than good. Moreover, when the rich farming corporations mint money when the farmers are suffering, the poor farmers feel they are being stolen from.

The global markets are under the control of a few very powerful people (read as governments, MNCs). They would go any way to twist the arms of the poorer countries for their good. Take the case of the high price of the anti-retroviral drugs being sold in Africa. Diseases like AIDS that are in epidemic proportions in some African nations can be the reason why these countries fail to make it up the economic ladder. When the medication against this disease is not sold cheaply in the poor countries, the realization of this unfairness causes much more than merely making the poor poorer. Many of the world issues revolve around relatively new terms like terrorism, which can be attributed to such feelings of hostility against the few who wield all the power.

Taking the bigger picture, the world is becoming poorer – the poor as well as the rich.

Globalizing Inequality

2008-06-11T06:51:00.000-07:00

P Sainath is a rural journalist and has written about people and places we do not hear much about in today’s ‘flat’ world. He spends 270 days a year living in households in rural India - with villagers in Vidharba, Wayanad, Andhra, Orissa and elsewhere - who have been struck most by government non-intervention. The number of farmer suicides at these places corroborates this.

This lecture ‘Globalizing Inequality’, which he gave at the State University of Washington, Vancouver in 2005, is a real eye-opener. He gives accounts of events that took place in the developing as well as in the economically rich world, which justifies his stand against the kind of globalization plaguing us today, with a few men wielding all the power and controlling the masses.

Through these cases he takes up during the lecture, he convinced me that today’s world does not take up matters that are of no consequence to the few in the driving seat. Today, when we measure economic success of a nation based on its stock exchange value, we are moving further away from the ground reality – from the masses - which do not have an influence on the stock exchanges.

There is a historical text by Tacitus (from his annals), which speaks about Nero burning down Rome. It was during a party that he had organized which had guests that included intellects, columnists, and political figures, when the fire started. And how? He had used the poor from Rome and had put them on fire as a source of light for the guests at night. Rome’s poor then and today’s poor are no different. They are being burnt by the various policies pursued by governments in their home countries as well as by international organizations and nations. We know who today’s Nero is. We are Nero’s guests in today’s world. Sainath asks us to stop being his guest, and watching this lecture would be the most appropriate way to make a start in this direction.

Watch the lecture here.

Read the citation for Sainath read at the Ramon Magsaysay award presentation ceremony here.

Read all his editorials, op-ed articles, reports here.

Myself

2008-06-08T01:27:00.001-07:00

I am in my Sunday evening walk.
This is the time I get to be myself,
This is the time I get to sing out loud.

When with people, I have to be
what they see in me.
When alone, I am myself.
I do not have to consider people’s
plight at having to hear me sing.

Today the only ones present,
are the trees;
and the cold that pokes firmly at my sinews.
Then, there is the wide empty road
lying ahead, and the star-filled sky and me.

The greener other side

2008-06-08T01:14:00.000-07:00

I watch you crawl
across the muddy path, in large numbers.
Looking for the never
reachable ‘greener’ other side.

I have seen many before you
being trampled by men,
who have lost touch with nature.
There will be a similar stampede
in a few minutes today.
Cross quickly!!

It’s all about the man!

2008-05-17T19:08:00.000-07:00

The name Lance Armstrong always brought in my mind the image of a superhuman. I had heard about his painful meet with illness (testicular cancer) and the strength with which he came back from it. When the whole world questioned his ability to return to competitive cycling, he answered – with seven straight wins of the Tour de France, which is considered to the most grueling of all cycle races in a cycling calendar year. Such a feat surely brought him to the ranks of a superhuman, I thought.

When I picked up his book “It’s Not About the Bike – My Journey Back to Life” (read reviews at Amazon.com), I never thought I would be seeing facets of his life, which I had never seen, nor had imagined him to have. He takes us through his childhood days, from the first time he starts riding his bicycle, to the difficulties he and his single mother faced then. When I say he takes us, I literally mean it. I could feel my heart beat faster and sometimes even skip a beat, reading about his cycle races. Spending almost all the time after school, either in the pool, or on his bicycle, he was trained to be a sportsman from a very young age. He had everything what a high school kid of his age, with so much success would have – insecurity, along with the habit of seeing only in black or white – in terms of victory or defeat.

Then came the battle – the battle which he says transformed him to be a better competitor, father, son and a human being - the battle against cancer. He was 25, with money in his hand, a supportive mother, a loving fiancée and a very promising career in cycling. He was diagnosed with testicular cancer with a large metastasis to his lungs and his brain. After a brain operation to remove his lesions, removal of one of his testicles, and a cycle of extremely strong chemotherapy, with his future very hazy, he returns. He speaks at length of his fear, the medication, and its side effects – which do not make a very good reading for the faint- hearted. But he wanted to beat the disease, and he had his mother’s, fiancée’s and friends' support during that period. He met angels, in the form of doctors, nurses, family and friends who helped him get through.

Once the chemotherapy succeeded in getting his lungs cleared, he lived his next one year in fear – fear of a reoccurrence of cancer. He had lost his physical strength and never thought he would be involving himself in competitive cycling. He had some money and a good wife by then - he still is very grateful to her. This period saw his loose aim in life. Spending hours on the golf course, and not thinking of cycling anymore, he started losing interest in life. With some prodding from his wife and friend cum coach, he begins riding again. While on one of his rides, he discovers his destiny – in cycling. There has been no looking back from then. He started a cancer awareness and help organization LIVESTRONG with which he is involved in fully after his retirement from cycling in 2005.

In the book’s last chapter, he says the win over cancer stands much higher than his victories at the Tour de France. He says he stands for giving hope to others with cancer. He says that he still doesn’t know whether it were the drugs, or his family, or his doctors, or his will, that saved him from succumbing to the disease . If he knew, that would be the cure for cancer he adds.

Reading this book, I unearthed that Lance is very human. Like you, me and anyone around. He found a cause to work for, and never looked back since. Nonetheless, his story is rightfully the stuff of legends (as quoted by Independence). And we all could become legends in our own little ways.

The ride downhill

2008-05-13T23:55:00.000-07:00

I took a bicycle for the small trek to my swimming pool one evening. After my usual swim of a few laps, exhausted, I dressed and wore my running shoes. I checked my mobile phone for any calls or messages I had received during those forty minutes. Sometimes I feel the mobile is such an annoyance. It keeps you chained to your past, and to your future, when all your heart wants, is to be in the now – carefree - enjoying the surrounding - the cold touching your skin, the freshness of the air entering your lungs, the ruckus of the birds nesting for the night. There are other times I love being connected to my past and my future, along with my present, because they were created by people who made life worth living.

The short ride back to my room was down a hill. Without the least of efforts from my side I went down, full throttle. Even with my mobile phone jumping about in my pocket, I felt I was living in the truest sense. I had to slow down soon when I entered a road with some traffic on and began wondering. I thought of how much I had struggled to get on top of the hill, just an hour back, on the way to the pool. I remember, I had given up some twenty meters before I had reached the pool. My thigh muscles could not carry me any further. And since I was going for a nice workout in the pool, I had to conserve some energy.

That evening, I decided to take my bicycle to the pool more often - to remind myself of the ride downhill that follows my effort to the top.

On your lap

2008-05-12T18:55:00.000-07:00

I dream of lying down on your lap
insulated from the outside world.
Wish I were a little boy still;
crying on your lap, without attracting
stares from the others.
I would not have had to explain to the world
why I am thus;
on your lap, I feel safe being myself.

Childhood

2007-12-24T18:20:00.000-08:00

You are sitting wide eye like a four year old,
trying to stay in synchronism
with the fast way of life today.
You give a smile from your heart;
a smile that does wonders on whom its grace falls;
feeling amused at how things are different today.
Your wrinkled face – a measure of your experience, living.
You are struggling to munch a few biscuits.
Your child-like desires still alive,
overriding the not highly armed jaw line.
Your beauty, devoutness and calmness,
remain as an etched memory.

Differentiating Responsibility in India

2007-12-19T22:34:00.000-08:00

“Was Bali a success? Absolutely not, unless you were one of the diplomats present who could reasonably define success as the avoidance of complete failure - and by a last-minute turnaround too.” – Alun Anderson, Former editor-in-chief of the New Scientist magazine (from Open Democracy.com)

These two lines say it all about the climate change summit at Bali. But I see some hope. A recent report published on the issue of assigning responsibility of climate change (CO2 emissions) to the countries of the world, gives me hope. This report has considered the following to decide the contribution of each country in the world to the carbon present today:

1. Harmless emissions – as calculated today, the terrestrial sink can absorb 7 billion tons of CO2. This number divided by the global population gives the harmless emissions per capita allowed.

2. Subsistence allowance – the emissions required to bring people living under $1 per day, above the poverty line.

3. A part of the warming today is due to the CO2 emitted in the past. Thus, taking 1890 as a cut-off year (from this year records of the emissions are available), the contributions of the countries to carbon emissions is calculated till date.

4. The emissions which have taken place since the knowledge of its effects on global warming (late 1980s) are taxed more than the emissions that took place before the time.

Taking these factors into consideration, the report says that the responsibility on the developed world is far more than that on countries like India and Brazil. The Indian scenario was analyzed by the report and it concluded that India was the least responsible of the present predicament. Promode Kant, Director of Institute of Global Warning and Ecological Studies, has summarized the implications of the repot in India in his recent leader page article in the Hindu. But he also suggests that India should choose the lowest carbon path for development and bring more people out of the poverty loop through such means. The publishing of such a report is not an end but surely the means towards one. It will still be difficult for the countries to come to an agreement over the acceptance of this report.

The Indian scenario shows the big divide between the rich and the poor. A recent report by Greenpeace India, suggests that the Indian poor have subsidized the Indian rich with regards to carbon emissions ( see article). This would mean that the even if the world accepts the Differentiating Responsibility report and works on its basis, the Indian government must make sure that the allowances in carbon emission must trickle to the lowest rung of the society and help its development and not augment the allowed emissions for the Indian rich.

Democracy Questioned

2007-12-16T22:48:00.000-08:00

I was amused reading about the mudslinging campaign that has marred the Gujarat elections. One particular accusation which both the parties made at their free will, initiated the thought process in me.

Both the parties completely blamed the ruling party for the terrorist strikes that have taken place in the past few years. What they tend to forget is that in our democracy, the onus of anything good or bad that happens, ought to be shared by both the party in power and the parties in opposition. Blaming the ruling party alone about the lack of security measures taken before a terrorist strike, after the harm is already inflicted on innocent citizens, shouldn’t be the way things work. Bluntly, even the opposition would have been sleeping during the pre-terrorist-strike period. If they were awake, they would have questioned the competence of the security of a particular area before the strike, which is not observed in any case.

All the finger-pointing takes place only after lives are lost. That being the time the country should be united against the common enemy and not fall prey to in-fighting. Being a democracy, every citizen is responsible for whatever happens in the country, albeit in a small way. I request the political fraternity not to forget this.

The Freedom Writers

2007-12-14T07:55:00.001-08:00

“We are all ordinary people. But, even an ordinary secretary or a house wife or a teenager can within their own small ways turn on a small light in a dark room.”

This is the message that Erin Gruwell, a school teacher in Long Beach, California, tries to ingrain in her students’ minds. Her task is not made any easy, with racial tension at its peak during the times after the race-driven riots in California in the early nineties. She leads her class, with students from varied backgrounds – blacks, Hispanics, Cambodians, whites – from animosity and distrust, to form a closely knit group of youngsters who had all found the meanings of their lives, through the stories and experiences of their classmates. She initiates this change with the introduction of an assignment that involved the students writing and maintaining a personal journal. In this they jotted down all their inhibitions, their harsh experiences, and all what they thought life was about. This journal was the healer for their hearts wounded by the experiences they had had. The journals of these students from Erin’s first batch, who named themselves as the ‘Freedom Writers’, were compiled and made into a book “THE FREEDOM WRITERS DIARY - How a Teacher and 150 Teens Used Writing to ChangeThemselves and the World Around Them”, which inspired the movie.

This movie helped me imbibe in myself, more strongly, the lines I had started with.

Related Links -

The site of the Freedom Writers Foundation

The official site of the movie

Reviews on the movie

Go here for the soundtrack - A dream - wonderful words

Not Just a Cricketer

2007-12-09T22:15:00.000-08:00

I read an article yesterday, in the Magazine supplement of the Hindu on Anil Kumble being given the additional responsibility of leading the Indian test side . The title of the work rightly went – ‘Justice delayed, not denied’. The article had a photo of Anil bowling in the Antigua test in 2002 with plaster supporting his broken jaw. Seeing this, I reflected on the reasons for him being a truly great sportsman.

The very first instance that came to my mind occurred during a test match (I was too young to remember against whom or when and where it was played). I vividly remember him taking a go at a shot from the batsman that seemed to be a caught and bowled effort. As soon as he had caught hold of the ball, he turned to the umpired and gave a shake of his head, clearly conveying to the umpire that the ball had pitched on the ground before he had caught it. This scene stuck in the young child’s mind, and even today, I respect Anil for the honesty he had shown that day. I also remembered the handful of times he was kept in the sidelines, even when playing at his peak. We did not hear anything untowardly from him. He had recently spoken about his disappointment during those days, but I feel his exclusion from the team only brought out a much stronger competitor.

Many would count the ten wickets he took in one innings in the Kotla test against Pakistan, his number of test wickets or his century against England earlier this year as things that make him a great cricketer. Without devaluing these, I would add that just the ‘person’ he is, makes him a greater sportsman.

Photo courtesy of http://www.kumble.com

The reel

2007-11-24T18:40:00.000-08:00

A reel of moments we had shared
was unwinding in the peacefulness
of my mind.
I relived the times when I
did not do what my heart told.
I lived through the times again,
when things you did justified my decision.
I saw flashes of how better it could have been.
I open my eyes, with a prayer of hope.

It's Time II

2007-11-16T22:36:00.000-08:00

The news was the harbinger of guilt.
I always felt something
Slipping down my closed palm.
What it was I did not know.
Its value, I did not realize.

The sudden fall opened my senses to the feeling,
What I had hid so well,
to the point of suppression.
And all it took was this news,
to bring out a vortex of emotions.

I cannot explain what I am feeling.
And I know there is no point trying;
No one would understand.
It is time to be more honest to myself.
And tell what needs to be told,
And show what needs to be shown.
It’s time to make amends;
It’s time to remove the mask I have worn.

The rationale II

2007-10-01T02:43:00.000-07:00

I have not been able to do what I love,
I have not felt like penning down thoughts.
Am I lacking thoughts? Have I lost feelings?

Things do not seem to catch my attention any more.
It is like having a cocooned mind and heart,
Unable to see outside the well that is I.

Some ask me whether it is inflicted hurt
that has made me thus; I say no.
The same people used to tell that what I write
showed an element of longing and pain.
The fact that I am not writing today
may be because I have overcome this longing.

I believe in self – talk and I hope
repeating the last line aids me really overcome it.

Expectation II

2007-10-01T02:38:00.000-07:00

It has been some time since
I enjoyed my walk to work,
With greenery all around,
I could not ask for more.
Today, has it gone to oblivion?

Work seemed like work.
What had been fun for so long,
turned loathsome today.

My perception has changed perhaps.
I do not know what has caused this.
Could be the work of expectation.

Prayer

2007-08-30T20:04:00.000-07:00

More than happiness,
I beseech thee, O lord,
To give every living being
The strength to bear all loss.

Only if I were

2007-08-26T05:32:00.001-07:00

I thought of taking the easier way
to your heart.
Things that make you special to me;
These I try to express in words.

My mind’s busy thinking
about everything you do.
Everything that touches my heart,
Coming right from yours.

I try to play with words,
I try to rhyme,
I try to write one poem,
But can’t manage even one line.

If only I were a poet.

The star

2007-08-26T05:28:00.000-07:00

I am watching the star studded sky,
With the wet grass beneath me.
I am taken to a different world,
Far away from the cobwebs in my life.
I look at the brightest one up there,
Selflessly illuminating the dark sky,
And sense its presence just like yours.
I reflect upon these thoughts,
And recognize that you’d be the brightest
in my sky, even if you are
one of the stars further away from home.

Memory

2007-08-26T05:13:00.000-07:00

In a dream last night, I saw you
trying to allay the fear in my mind..
What you said helped dispel some of
the pain, though I knew reality
had a harsh take.
I wouldn’t relish seeing you in this peaceful state,
draped in immaculate white.
My memory rich with the fun and life in you.
Let my memory remain thus.

Friendship day !

2007-08-04T18:28:00.000-07:00

Before I begin with anything I would like to wish all of my friends (don't know how many of them would be reading this) a happy friendship day. I never used to believe in observing such days -like this one, and some others. I used to feel that there shouldn't be just a day to celebrate friendship or any other relationship for that matter . I don't know why I am wishing you people today!!! I didn't even know it was the friendship day until I received some messages from my friends wishing me. Then I thought that this should be the day I use to wish someone / some people whom I hadn't been in touch with. It is not that I thought about them only today. I sent them a one liner wishing them - I'm sure many of them were taken by surprise - "one day from no where this guy pops up and wishes" (they might be thinking)!!! Then again I fall back into my old ways, of seemingly busy days (as people have said earlier the if the will's there anything's possible - now where's my will? - which will?).I just realized something - I shouldn't think too much !!!!

Surrender

2007-07-29T08:26:00.000-07:00

I am sitting here in my room.
The last couple of days,
I haven’t been myself.
My dependence on externally
driven happiness
is teaching me a lesson or two.

There are some things,
they say, you can’t put in words.
What I have been feeling lately
feels just like this.

I started off, trying to explain
what I am going through.
Words fail me.
I give up on this venture.

Lost

2007-07-11T03:09:00.000-07:00

I look into your eyes,
in an attempt to find
the proverbial way
to your heart.
The beauty; the intensity,
of your cherubic eyes,
making the path labyrinthine.
I find myself miserably lost.

Why the ruckus?

2007-07-09T08:17:00.000-07:00

For the last month, the issue of electing the President of the nation has been bagging front page
coverage in almost all national dalies.The presidential race was under discussion in the world of the internet too. A couple of weeks ahead of the declaration of the candidates by the UPA and the NDA (the third front did not exist then!), I was forwarded a message, asking me to log on to some web site and sign a petition in support for a second period for Dr. A P J Abdul Kalam. I did that without giving a thought (the incumbent being the 'people's president') and also forwarded the message to all my friends.

One of them replied telling that the ruckus that was being created, regarding the President's
election is totally unwarrented, since the President of India has only ceremonial powers. I felt the argument to be very true and wondered why I had not thought in those lines earlier.

It is through articles on the the President's role in India, I learnt about the real significance of the Presidential race.Firstly, in today's India, coalition governments rule the roost. Coalitions are inherently associated with instabilities, and under circumstances when no clear winners exist after elections in a state, it is through the discretionary powers of the President, the decision is made regarding who will rule the state. Secondly, it is true that bills which are sent to the President for his consent have to be mandatorily signed by him the second time. What is not understood is that when returned from the President's office, the first time, the political parties consider the suggestionsproposed by the President, and most of the time, changes in the bill are introduced to comply with the President's suggestions.
These two powers of the President imply that a diligent selection of the President is a necessity.
But the partisan struggle between the various political fronts that we have witnessed in the last
couple of weeks has made a mockery of the whole issue.

Your own

2007-05-13T03:12:00.000-07:00

I still remember the days we had together when young,
A complete lack of care and responsibility,
supplemented by the sheer will to have fun!
The tears we shed and the little tiffs we had,
The bear hugs and the kisses that followed - the panacea at hand.

Time and changed circumstances
have brought in a thousand miles between us.
But we keep holding on to the common strands
of love, of friendship, of kindness, of care,
and of the certainty that we would be there for each other
even when the world has seemingly turned bad!

We have in us the belief, that the closeness
we’ve shared and felt with each other,
would not spiral to the physical distance that has us apart.
This belief and hope keep us going.

Hope

2007-05-11T18:51:00.000-07:00

I remember knocking on this door once
waiting outside for an acknowledgement
which was not to be received.

That day I had left with some hope.
Was wondering ‘when would this
dogs day be?’ ;
That day I believed that there would
surely be – as they say – a Sunday.

Today I am standing in front of the same wooden door.
Facing the closed door,
gives me the shivers I had then.
Acknowledgement or not, I am knocking.

The latter scenario
would not leave me with any hope.

Childhood

2007-05-08T07:41:00.000-07:00

I was travelling back from work one evening.
A couple with their little child happened
to sit beside me.
The girl was crying over some petty issue.
Her parents kept trying hard to console her.

How much I wished I could tell her
to make the most of these years,
when she is with her parents.

I may be older then her, but not old enough.

It is true when people say that we value
things more when we do not have them
in our vicinity; this as exactly what I felt.

In a few more years, even this little girl,
then grown up, may travel in a bus,
and feel the same, seeing some child cry.

It would be late by them to make changes.
She can try to change the present,
If only I could tell her.

She may be too young to comprehend all this.

Motherly love

2007-05-06T05:27:00.000-07:00

I was young, somewhere in the fourth or
fifth year in school
I returned from school one day
not feeling very well.
I kept sitting on the sofa,
then on the bed;
this continued for some time.
Seeing me sit on the sofa,
my mother came to me.
She touched my forehead with her palm
to check for running temperature.
Her guess proved to be right,
I was having fever.
I hadn’t mentioned about the ill-feeling
to her, but she could read it.
Some days after I had recuperated,
I asked her how she had found it out.
She replied that since I wasn’t
the chirpy me that day,
she knew something was wrong.
Is there any reason for
love to be sought by a being?

I will miss you

2007-04-26T22:31:00.000-07:00

There were times when we cried together.
Sometimes courtesy of you, sometimes me.
And there were these little secrets that we shared,
They still remain, many of them not to be cared for now.
There was a time when we spent most of our time together,
The little games we played, the small fights we had.
The way we made up so fast, realizing both were at fault.
There were instances we corrected the flaws in each other,
Sometimes taking long to accept ‘yes I am wrong’.
I still remember us plotting against the ‘not-so-friendly’,
Soon realizing how unintelligent this venture had been.

How you came into my life, meaning so much to me,
Taking a place in my heart, in my family,
Like no one else’s has.

The fun we had, the jokes we cracked,
The songs we wrote and sang,
The questions of life we answered,
The problems in math we solved,
The trips we made,
The hours on the phone we spent,
The crisis at home we made,
The deepest feelings we shared,
I will miss all these.

I will miss you.

Criminalization of politics

2007-04-24T23:25:00.000-07:00

This was the topic given for an inter-school extempore competition held when I was in the final year at school. Though I wasn’t taking part in that event, I had mentally made certain arguments regarding the same. If I were a participant I thought, I would start my talk, asking the crowd a question – ‘How many of you students sitting before me would like to enter active politics? Those who would, please raise your hand”. The sparse response I assumed I would get, would be the starting point of my attack on the Indian polity, I thought.

I carried with me this tendentious belief, all through these five years that have passed since. I inferred that politics was turning sour because of under-participation from the ‘better’ and the ‘more educated’ strata of the society. I concluded that it is only with active participation from today’s youth, politics in particular, and the country in general could develop and reach the heights, that many have prophesied it would.

My stance on this issue took a new turn after I watched an hour long program on NDTV, where a panel of well known members and political analysts from the media and the polity, were discussing who the next Indian president should be. There was an opinion poll taking place simultaneously, where mainly urban Indians (with access to mobile phones and internet) were making their voices heard (though of not much significance in this particular case of nominating the next president). The poll result clearly showed that the urban Indian had lost faith in the polity and preferred non-politicians like the Infosys’ stalwart Mr. Narayan Murthy and Nobel Laureate Dr. Amartya Sen to take the seat of the highest honour in our country.

It is at this juncture in the program, when the panel and the participating crowd in the discussion were happily playing the blame-game, accusing the politicians of their wrong doings, the editor of the Pioneer newsgroup (who was one of the panelists), made a very valid statement. He asked the public for the number of straightforward and hounourable men in any profession - among journalists, among technocrats, among sportsmen. Since there was not one profession in which all the persons involved could be given a clean chit, he said that that was the case with politics too. He reminded that it was the same society that threw politicians. So unless the mindset of the people changes and the society becomes a morally improved one, not one of the professions, including politics, could get a totally ‘clean’ group of workers.

Though I still believe in my past inferences and the plausible solution I had mentioned about, I had no other option than to wholeheartedly support his point of view.

Near, but still far

2007-04-24T18:39:00.001-07:00

Every time I take one step
forward in understanding you,
I sit with a sense of satisfaction.
It is then I scuttle;
for every step I take,
the destination seems to
go a few more steps away
from where it was.

Would I ever reach my destination?
You could make the task easier
by complementing this effort.

Unnatural

2007-04-24T06:34:00.001-07:00

The sky was glowing red,
unnatural for that time of the day,
giving the dry leaves
an unnatural crimson radiance.

There was smoke seen
at the horizon,
from some bush fire;
Unnatural, because it had been raining.

The moist environs
totally unlike the summer heat
that had troubled many
in the past month - unnatural too.

Forgetting you – unnatural.

Nature’s unnatural nature.

Question

2007-04-23T00:33:00.000-07:00

They say, “Once bitten – twice shy.”

Now, if twice bitten -
would it be forever shy?

Goodbye time

2007-04-22T18:47:00.000-07:00

The feeling had finally sunk
in the people around.
We were parting,
after four years of fun and frolic.

We had the downs which
played low to the umpteen highs.
Who would remember the
one black sheep,
when we had ninety nine white ones?

The people around weren’t their
normal selves for a few days now.
They were happy at getting across
a wide autobahn in life,
but then the idea of parting from
friends, wasn’t very appetizing.

Some asked me how I felt about the same,
I replied that I had experienced
many such days in life.
I gave instances – when I had to leave
my parents, when I left school – two different ones.
I didn’t know when I answered that I was
only feigning mental strength.

We all said to each other,
that our lives would cross each
others some time, somewhere.
I knew we had our apprehensions about
this question – we hid it well.

When it was the actual goodbye time,
I still felt I was the ‘experienced’ one.
Little did I know what I was feeling
deep within.
When on the bus taking me away
from them, a sudden sense of loneliness,
gloom dawned in.

A phone call from one of them
was the last straw on the camel’s back.
It broke my defenses.
I had tears wet my eyes after a really long time.
I lost my normally present poise.
I had my glance fixed out of the window,
lest the co-travelers would see me in that state.

With my eyes moist I felt ‘normal’.

Life - the journey

2007-04-05T19:01:00.000-07:00

You are sitting beside me,
on this journey,
twitching and turning.
The frequent glances at your watch
showing your impatience to reach home.
The afternoon sun and heat
playing their parts in
adding to your annoyance.

There is this part of me,
making a secret wish.
Could this journey last
for some more time -
a few more moments with you?

One question lingers in my mind -
can we traverse the paths in the
journey called life
beside each other?

Forgetting yesteryear

2007-03-25T03:20:00.000-07:00

The defeat of the Indian cricket team at the hands of the minnows, Bangladesh, and against the more formidable Sri Lanka, has drawn the ire of its supporters. They have gone overboard in expressing their displeasure at the team’s defeat, by organizing mock funerals for the players, burning effigies of the players, raising slogans against the player etc. I ask all of us to take a turn back, and observe our own lives. How many times have we failed at attempts in the past? So many of these failures have come when people - our friends and our family- have expected something from us. Did these people go around burning our effigies or shouting torrents of abuse against us when we had failed? In fact, these were the times when they supported and encouraged us the most. Why the difference when it comes to the team’s loss? The team has accepted defeat gracefully. Now it is time for its supporters to accept gracefully that the players are also humans.

The journey continues

2007-03-24T18:46:00.000-07:00

In your years in this world,
you touched so many hearts.
You brought smiles to many a face.
Your convictions lessened
others misery.

You climbed to heights,
you would never be satisfied with –
your desire to continually improve.
You’ve left your mark in our lives.

You are remembered today.
In a years time, people would
accept this loss.
This void you’ve left, would
show its face in our lives
if not theirs.

I still remember the lessons you
taught me during this course.
I never told you how grateful I am
for these.
Today I may be late in this attempt
I have your words ringing in my mind.
You said ‘It is better late than never’.

I am not shedding a tear for you today.
you would never had enjoyed
seeing me thus.
Thanks for giving me this strength.

You are at the gate of another world today.
A higher force has felt that it’s time
you graced some other lives
in some other world.

Closed

2007-03-19T05:12:00.000-07:00

You are watching the person facing you;
Looking in to his eyes.
He’s opening himself bit by bit,
letting you into places he has
let no one before.

But you still don’t yield.
You remain rock solid –
closed.

The rationalist in me

2007-02-24T19:46:00.000-08:00

I had never believed that I was a quintessential rationalist. But I always had a thirst for knowledge, especially knowledge of the unexplained. I remember questioning every religious ritual (from something small like visiting temples to more challenging ones like avoiding non vegetarian food during months of fasting) I was put through. Some other features of our religion (and largely a part of the Indian culture) like the disregard shown to our feet (the prayer one says before one puts his feet on the ground, asking mother earth for forgiveness, for touching her with our feet exemplifying this) have not got an advocate in me. It was this rationalist in me that pondered on this issue – the issue of life after death – or can we say life before birth!

I believe a very simple principle – of good begetting good. I believe that life throws at you what you have thrown at it – both the bad and the good done For a staunch believer of these statements, the question of whether there is life after death (or more precisely life before birth) would give an indubitable answer – YES! I have only one argument as a vindication. Take a newspaper and read the accounts of little children dying or being inflicted with injuries, or of them being exploited, due to various causes and for different reason like war, disease, or simply ill-luck. Had these tiny tots done such grave mistakes in the few years they graced the lives of the people around, that they have been reprimanded thus?

One thought lingers in my mind – in what sense am I a rationalist?

The Breeze

2007-02-23T17:33:00.000-08:00

I took up a seat near the window,
hoping to catch some light,
to do some reading.

The open window,
allowed a light breeze in,
which brought something along.

It carried with it,
the fragrance of the wild flowers
on the trees outside.

Distance made the
flowers look modest.
Their beauty and scent
augmenting their smallness.

It wasn’t a very strong scent.
But it succeeded in initiating
a desire in me.

A desire to refashion the whiff to
a continuous feeling.
That was not to be.

It is said that all good things in life
come in tiny packets.
It was true in this case.
If I had my longing satisfied,
maybe I would never have taken
pleasure in the scent
as much as I do today.

A small dose of the good,
with a discontentment -
a want for more,
is the most beautiful feeling,
second to none.

The Yellow Trees

2007-02-16T18:41:00.000-08:00

The yellow trees along the street;
charming they were,
forming a delicate arch over the path –
Attracting birds;
Squirrels playing hide and seek
on their branches.
How many had noticed these?

A few birds – elegant, sweet,
but tiny,
perch on the stalk holding the flowers.
A subtle movement of their neck,
and they sip the nectar
from the yellow flowers.
How many had noticed these?

Open up your senses, look around;
in people, in animals, in birds,
and in these yellow trees.
When beauty is all around,
How can people complain of seeing none?
The ‘beholder’ is different,
and so are the people.

The other me

2007-02-15T17:01:00.000-08:00

You stand at the shore,
trying to get a glimpse
of what lies on the other side.
It’s all water that you see.

You seem to give up so easily.
Or maybe you never really tried
to sail across the waters
to the real person I call me.

Once on the other side,
you would never feel the impulse
to return to where you stand now.
That’s a guarantee.

Love III

2007-02-02T17:36:00.000-08:00

There are people for whom
we are much more than what
we actually are.
These are the people to whom
you normally turn a blind eye.

Life takes us through paths
where we keep yearning for
love from people –
not noticing the ones ready to love,
but lamenting on the ones lost.

Those who have loved us
have never expected anything in return.
But we’ve given them a piece of
our mind very often.
We’ve taken them for granted.

If life takes a bad turn today,
we mustn’t be left with guilt -
guilt of not recognizing true love;
guilt of being after love
when actually love was all around.

The inner you

2007-02-02T00:09:00.001-08:00

I have seen you in deep thoughts.
I have wondered to where you travel.
It is the only time I see you without that smile,
reinvigorating the others on whom its grace falls.

You’ve built a fence around these thoughts;
kept them under lock and key.
A very few privileged or maybe none have taken a peek,
at this world so unlike the outer being.

I would like this privilege extended to me.
I do not know how many have asked for this.
I would like to delve into this world of yours.
Whether my guesses have been right, I could then see.

If it is a flowering garden,
let us both be captivated by it.
If there are somber, dark clouds,
maybe I could point out to their silver lining.

This is one thing I ask from you.
Let this world of yours be shared.
Let me love the inner you.

Gamble

2007-02-02T00:08:00.002-08:00

I would have preferred the toss of a coin
as a deciding factor of my destiny.
At least here the probabilities equally divided.

I am unable to ease the ruffling of my mind,
trying to foretell my chance in this tale
which I began writing lately.

If the sun decides to shine on me,
it would be the graceful hand that leads me
out of my world that had turned grey.

If the forces decide against me,
I would end up loosing more than what
I would have gained otherwise.
It is a gamble – a risk maybe worth taking.
Would this turn out to be brighter days in the making?

Unsaid

2007-02-02T00:08:00.001-08:00

Things still remain unsaid.
Be ready for the unexpected, the unseen.
Unsaid if it remains for good,
would be for my bad.
Look within me, maybe you’ll discover.
But let it remain unsaid.

People

2007-01-22T17:21:00.000-08:00

I loved one person
without placing on it any limits.
And this is what I got in return.
Now, what can I expect from the
others around, whom I haven’t loved as much?

Identity and the Clash of Civilizations

2007-01-15T22:18:00.000-08:00

The use of this phrase -‘clash of civilization’ - has come into being ever since the US and its allies started this full scale war against the perpetrators of the terrorist strikes against them. This phrase, which has become a cliché since then, emanated from the title of a book written by Samuel E Huntington, in which he describes the present crisis as being a clash between two civilizations – the Muslim world and the West. The author’s Harvard colleague, Nobel laureate Amartya Sen, has debunked Huntington’s views on the conflict, and has given reasons as to why he thinks Huntington’s views are flawed. Both the economists have thrown each others’ theories overboard in the books that they have authored.

To have religion as the only singular means to identify a people calls for some serious deliberation, especially when imprudent world leaders have identified people thus. Shashi Tharoor in his book ‘India’ has indicated that the only thing singular about a country like India is its inherent pluralism. This was written in the context of India alone, but can be extended to include the diversities in the world as such. Both Tharoor and Sen have voiced their concerns regarding inciting communal intolerance in India (while Sen witnessed the riots at the time of Indian independence, Tharoor had been witness to the more recent riots in December 1992). Following Huntington’s theory, these cases of communal riots will have to be seen as a clash of the Hindu world and the Muslim world in India.

The diverse identities that the people of a community may hold remain unnoticed. Most of the time these other identities override the religious identity a person holds. For example, farmers belonging to different countries, different religions; have been united against the oppressive nature of the free trade policies that their governments have chosen. Similarly, social activists, breaking all the chains of religion, class etc., voiced their pleasure at Pakistan’s breakaway from the dehumanizing Hudood ordinance. The killing of a journalist in Indonesia or Sri Lanka, or the restrictions imposed on free journalism by certain authoritarian rulers, bring all journalists together, and thus their ‘journalistic’ voice is heard. Many instances like these may be listed, further exemplifying and justifying this claim of pluralism and diversity.

Rather than inciting hostility based on divisions created on religious lines, it would bear fruit, if attempts are made to use these other identities as a means to unite people. Above these common traits that the people of various lands, religions, class etc. may hold, there lies something that brings the whole world together; and that is the yearning for a happy and decent life. And you don’t get this at another’s expense.

Anup Nambiar

* This article has been influenced by ideas presented in the books ‘Identity and Violence” and “The Argumentative Indian” by Amartya Sen, “India – From Midnight to the Millennium” by Shashi Tharoor, an interview of Samuel Huntington published in a Gulf News supplement and various other news paper and magazine articles.

Brighter days

2007-01-13T18:16:00.000-08:00

I planned to write on
the prospect of having
brighter days ahead –
something optimistic,
positive.
Very unlike the state
in which I found myself.

I had this want, from
when things had gone
slightly awry.

I wanted to get my mind
cleared of the thoughts
that had me fixed thus.

I had to invent this feeling
of happiness and optimism.
My mind did not
yield to this want.

I think I’ll leave this
want, for the moment.

I’ll give time for the
present feeling to sink in.

The walk

2007-01-13T18:05:00.001-08:00

I was on the road
I had walked on so many times
during those days.
The walk brought back memories.

I was with darkness
and the stars above.
This time again with you
in my mind.

I wondered how nice
the previous walks on the
same route had been.

I always had something
nice to think of then,
when times had been better.

I wished I could change these
things which I myself had
deemed uncontrollable.

Promise II

2007-01-13T18:03:00.000-08:00

I remember the exact words I had used,
when I promised you this.

This promise, turned tenet,
Guided me through time.

I recollect you telling me that
it would be me who forgets this promise.

Now see who has.

2007-01-11T17:37:00.001-08:00

I was ready to give up some of my other dreams
As a last gasp impetus to this one dying.
Taught by some wrong decisions from the past
I realize that now there is no point trying.

Your Dream

2007-01-06T17:12:00.000-08:00

I woke up at two thirty this morning.
My mind filled with a thousand thoughts of you.
I tossed and turned on the bed,
trying to catch some more sleep –
in vain.

I held onto the pillow beside me.
The pillow had been a being in my life;
That being you had never tried to be.

I reminisced about how you had entered
my world as just ‘someone’,
and had proceeded to become my life,
changing me for good,
without even realizing this.
These changes you brought about,
by your presence alone.

I can still feel your touch,
and smell your raiment,
and remember the feel of your deeply oiled hair.
I knew you would never see
the tears that has my eyes filled today
when I think of all this.

Our story is a joke for the others around.
Something on which people can laugh about.
I don’t see this as something bad;
at least I am being the cause
of some others’ happiness.

How conveniently you have forgotten;
maybe not me, but what we had on our way.
It might be my fault that I never saw
this thing that we shared
with callousness or insincerity.

I had put my thoughts into words
and had written about my feelings.
Somehow all of them managed to
miss the person they were intended for – you.

I imagined speaking to you for a long time; this morning;
something I hadn’t done for so many years.
I spoke about everything I had written now,
just wishing you would see
me telling you these things in a dream.

And maybe then realize.

Vegetarianism and the Environment

2006-12-25T07:36:00.000-08:00

During the last few decades, food production has had a faster growth than the population. Nevertheless, nearly 840 million people (status in 2004) [6] face starvation today, and more than half of the 10.4 million deaths among children can be attributed to malnutrition. Feeding these people and the growing population has been a burden on earth’s resources. What’s more? The people from the more affluent background are in no way helping their cause. Their present eating habits only help to increase this burden on the resources. Some of the effects of eating a diet rich in meat and diary products are that it is a strain on the fossil fuel resources, it causes rain forest depletion, it aids soil erosion, water pollution, and reduces the availability of food grains for human consumption.

The animals that are grown for food production require to be fed with grains, soy and other corps. The production of these crops, their harvesting and transportation require energy. The transportation of these animals from the feedlots to the slaughterhouse, and of the carcasses, often in refrigerated trucks, to the processing plants and then to the groceries use fossil fuels. More than one third of all fossil fuels produced in the US go towards animal husbandry. The efficiency of fossil fuel use may be a factor of 2.5 – 50 times better for vegetable proteins when compared with animal proteins [11]. This factor has a direct consequence to the carbon dioxide level increase in the world. A report estimated that driving a hybrid car rather that an average vehicle would conserve a little over one ton of carbon dioxide per year. A vegetarian diet however consumes one and half tons less than an average American diet. Thus going vegetarian is in some ways better than driving a hybrid car!

The very requirement for animal feed on a commercial scale, has changed the land use pattern in many countries. For the 200 million beef export to the US, the Latin and Central American rainforests have been cleared with complete disregard (a land having the size of seven football fields is destroyed every minute, every day) [4]. In the US alone, 260 million acres of forests have been cleared for raising animals. The same effect is seen in China too. In the mid 1960s, 34% of the total maize (of the 25 million tons) produced was used to feed animals, while in the mid 1990s, 80% of the 113 million tons of maize was used to feed animals [12]. The next time you are having a hamburger remember that you have just been responsible for destroying 55 square feet of forests!

Besides grains, animals need water to survive and grow until they are slaughtered. One pound of beef requires an input of approximately 2500 gallons of water, whereas a pound of soy requires 250 gallons of water and a pound of wheat only 25 gallons [1]. Agriculture is a source of water pollution through the use of fertilizers. Thus, raising animals (and their food) also adds to problem on water resources. The manure created from the billions of animals killed for food often ends up in rivers and streams, killing millions of fish [1]. Livestock are directly or indirectly responsible for much of the soil erosion in the United States too. On lands where feed grain is produced, soil loss averages 13 tons per hectare per year. Pasture lands are eroding at a slower pace, at an average of 6 tons per hectare per year. But erosion may exceed 100 tons on severely overgrazed pastures, and 54 percent of U.S. pasture land is being overgrazed [5].

The earth has sustained so far, because meat products as a daily portion of ones meals, is still a western phenomenon (considering the number of non-vegetarians there). Meat products still remain a luxury to people in the poor countries. The advent of globalization has seen processed meat products, being sold in other parts of the world, including in some of these poor countries. When the people of these countries change their food habits, trying to emulate the west, it becomes a burden which the earth can not shoulder. Again here, the affluent in these countries will not have problems – they can buy their way out of trouble importing the necessities. It would be the poor who face the brunt of it all.

Anup J Nambiar

* I have generously used ideas and facts available at the web sites of the BBC, IIASA, FAO, Cornell University, EPA, American Journal of Clinical Nutrition and the World Rainforest Movement.

References

[1] http://vegetarian.about.com/od/vegetarianvegan101/f/waterpollution.htm
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_vegetarianism
[3] http://vegetarian.about.com/od/vegetarianvegan101/f/fossilfuels.htm
[4] http://vegetarian.about.com/od/vegetarianvegan101/f/forestclearcut.htm
[5] http://www.news.cornell.edu/releases/Aug97/livestock.hrs.html
[6] http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3559542.stm
[7] http://www.epa.gov/rlep/faq.html#1
[8] http://www.newfarm.org/news/2004/0504/052404/air_quality.shtml
[9] http://www.fao.org/newsroom/en/news/2005/102924/
[10] http://www.wrm.org.uy/deforestation/indirect.html
[11] http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/full/78/3/664S
[12] http://www.iiasa.ac.at/Research/LUC/ChinaFood/argu/impact/imp_21.htm
[13] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Economic_vegetarianism
[14] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veganism

Facade

2006-12-24T07:34:00.000-08:00

It is very difficult to feign a smile
when it is hurting inside.
This is what I have been doing,
since that star filled night.

I stayed locked up in my room
reminiscing about the moment
we had spent together.
Maybe loving each other,
without knowing or accepting it.

Her words kept ringing in my mind –
‘he had tried and waited for so long’ - yes true.
He did and he spoke overtly about it.
I kept mum, hiding the feeling within
for even longer; in the cauldron - my heart.
I just spoke the odd word about love.

Men don’t cry, I have heard people say.
I did not.
It is on paper I vent my innermost feelings.
This is where I find solace.

Someone knocks the door.
I fold the paper, and place it in
one of the books on the shelf.

I open the door.
I give the same warm smile.

Constellation II

2006-12-23T07:40:00.000-08:00

Something I had feared for long,
but had myself prepared for,
happened on a star filled night.
The way things had been for
some time, helped me
through it, without any change
in expressions.
I did not flinch at this news I had heard.

I looked at the sky asking the Creator
why I had to go though this rough patch.
Hadn’t I cleared all the tests
I had been put through?
He seemed justified in doing so.

It is then I noticed something.
The constellation that was
a personified being in my life
was not there.

I remembered seeing it the night before.
Today it seemed all elusive.
The skies seemed to have
heard the news too.

After a couple of hours, during the
regular loss of electric power,
I looked up at the skies again.
Had the constellation really let me down?

I could see it as bright as ever.
The personification no longer remained now.

Dream II

2006-12-23T07:39:00.000-08:00

I was woken up from the siesta,
into the realm of reality.
The dream I had seen,
found place in real life.
It was the last piece of the jigsaw.

Words II

2006-12-23T07:30:00.000-08:00

All I had were spent opportunities
and words.

I did not place the correct words
in sentences I spoke – my regret.
And what I used did not suffice.
The words I spoke did not mean much.
Time had taken its toll
on what was mutually shared.

Now I do not expect much.
Circumstances have killed the passion.
The last thread I had held on to
gave in at last.
It’s just me and the free fall now.

The hurdles are the hills in the distance,
which I may have traversed
if I had used the right words
when it mattered.

The Irqi Quagmire

2006-12-15T00:00:00.001-08:00

The Iraq Study Group (Baker - Hamliton) report on what course of action the US administration should follow in order to prevent Iraq from succumbing to sectarian forces consists of 79 steps to be followed to achieve the target. Though many of them are vague and very general statements, one thing is clearly mentioned in it. The vociferous demand of the anti-war groups in the US and elsewhere is the same – a pull out of the US forces from Iraq.

Iraq was ruled by the despotic Saddam Hussein, a Sunni Muslim, for more than three decades, until the invasion by the US led troop. His tenure had seen atrocities committed against the Iraqi people, often adding to the debilitating effect of the sanctions imposed by the west on the country and the oil embargo after the First Gulf war (this invasion being the second). The Shiites often found themselves in his wrong books. Though the Shiites constitutes around 60 percent of the Iraqi population, they were largely outnumbered by the Ba’athist Party members among the policy makers. The Shiites were supported by foreign powers like Iran and Syria (Iran having a majority Shia population and Syria having a Hezbollah stronghold) while the Sunni Muslims received financial and other help from countries like Saudi Arabia and the other Sunni countries (though this support was often covert in nature and not to the Saddam regime directly, because of the differences that had arisen after Saddam’s excursion in Kuwait). Under his rule these differences between the two sects did not find footing, since the Iraqis had an even bigger worry – how to feed themselves. These days the differences between these two sects (especially, and sometimes involving the Kurds) are more visible, and this situation has been worsened by the presence of foreign terrorist groups (many of them owing allegiance to the Al Qaeda).

This scenario has been altered drastically since the Iraqi invasion. As the Baker – Hamilton report suggests, solving the Israel – Palestinian conflict would provide the impetus to solve this crisis in Iraq. Most of hatred in Iraq (and the violence) has been aimed at the US led forces there. One of the main reasons the US forces are seen with so much animosity is that the US has been silent at the Israeli aggression against the Palestinians. There are thousands of Palestinians living in the neighbouring Arab countries, and these people as well as the host nations feel cheated by the Israelis. The unflinching support provided by the US to the Israelis adds fuel to the fire (this can be attributed to the very strong Israeli lobby in the US). We can not thus expect any stern action to be taken by the US against the Israeli aggression (for example what happened in Lebanon earlier this year). Putting it directly, finding a solution to the Isreali – Palestinian issue and using it as a pre-requisite for solving the Iraq crisis, is not a very good idea. One can only think of reducing the hostility of the Arabs in general (and the Iraqis in particular) towards the US (and the US led forces in Iraq).

It is this very antagonism against the US led forces, that has erupted into a full scale sectarian battle. The Shiites and Sunni Muslims wanted a means by which to try and impede the US progress. They found the answer – through the use of sectarian violence. Though this was initially to quell the US advancements, it has really turned out to be a very serious affair now. If the US led troops leave Iraq today, it will lead to a full scale civil war there. The leadership provided by the Iraqi Prime minister has not been able to consolidate every part of Iraq. Differences would rise (between the Sunni, Shiites and the Kurds), and these differences would possibly lead to the partition of the country (just like foreign invasions have done in many countries). In terms of the success rate (as spoken by the Bush-Blair duo), the Iraqi mission would be a failure, if such a division happens. There have been talks of partitioning Iraq on sectarian lines into three parts (one each for the Sunnis and the Shiites). Such a solution would not suffice because there would be a discrepancy regarding the equitable distribution of oil revenue.

The time, a peace process takes to come into effect in Palestine and the problems associated with partitioning Iraq, rules the previously mentioned schemes out of contention. So now what? One feasible initiative would be to gradually reduce American led troops in Iraq, with these troops being replaced by troops from the neighbouring countries like Syria, Iran, and the rest of the Gulf Corporation Council countries. This serves two purposes. One, the Arabs constituting this force would be in a position to relate better with the Iraqis. Moreover the Iraqi citizens would not see the Arab forces in the same light as the American led forces. ‘The Arabs can be trusted’, the Iraqis would say. The second, such a multi-national force, having an Iranian or Syrian majority, would also help ease the tension between Iran – Syria and the US. These countries could negotiate with the US for a reduction in the penalty that could be imposed on them by the US (sanctions in Iran regarding the nuclear weapons issue and the removal of the ruling family in Syria for the support it has provided to the Hezbollah). This way, we have a win-win situation for both the parties involved.

This scheme sounds good on paper. There are predicaments that could crop up in this schme of things too. Two things have to be understood, to prevent such problems from occurring - under no circumstances must these forces act as a puppet (controlled by the US), and neighouring countries (whose people form the multi-national force) should not play dirty games for their own political or religious leverage. Having a neutral force, with involvement from the UN and countries like India , which have had good relations in the past with the Iraqi people, would also be a good option (language and Indian politics may cause problems in this case). It is by doing such deeds; the Indian polity can speak of India truly being a world power to be reckoned. Just showing a GDP growth rate of more than eight percent is not good enough without such supplements.

For such a solution to be discussed, the US must first shed the gains it had planned to attain through this invasion. More importantly, the Bush – Blair duo must accept the mistakes committed and make amends too. If they fail to do so, any of their future rhetoric, would further loose credibility.

GLOBALIZATION AS I SEE IT

2006-12-14T02:19:00.000-08:00

This is a time when many world leaders (with the exception of President Bush and his ‘axis-of-righteous’ entourage) have prophesied three civil wars in the Middle East – in Lebanon, Palestine and in Iraq, if events occurring in these nations maintain status quo. With the global extent of such strife and global problems present in almost every corner of the world, the use of the term ‘globalization’ on this pretext can be justified.

When thinking about globalization, what comes in our minds first is the opposition it faces in the world today, which is exemplified by the protests (sometimes turning violent) during the WTO meets. The opposition globalization faces itself is a global phenomenon. These adversaries of globalization have come from many countries, and most of their ideas have been generated and spread through means like TVs, telephones and the internet (showing the freedom of information), which forms the back bone of globalization too.

The first phase of globalization occurred a long time back, much before the First World War. There was spread of ideas in mathematics, medicine, philosophy, religion, astronomy and science from India and China, to the European countries, through the Arab world. Since the industrial revolution in Europe, most of the innovations in technology have come from these European countries, and have affected life in countries like India, China and the Arab world. The first phase of globalization thus proves that this term ‘globalization’, though coined recently, is a very old system that had influenced lives in many ways.

You ask an Indian why he is proud of being one; he would surely mention that, the unity in India despite the cultural diversity of the Indians, is one of the reasons. One has to understand that many of the distinct features of various Indian communities have been brought about by the influence of other ‘civilizations’. Many of the spices, for which the Indians are famous, were introduced in the country by the Portuguese. Some of the cuisines, like the tandoori, which has become a ‘multicultural’ trait of Britain, came from India (which was from south central Russia in the first place). Sufi music has influenced music played in parts of India. Buddhism’s spread, started in India, and spread outwards to China and many south east Asian countries. These examples clearly show that the term globalization does not only include economics and politics alone, it is literally a ‘global’ phenomenon, encapsulating many subtle art forms, religious ideas, food habits etc. that can be enlisted as the cultural heritage of a nation.

The crumbling of the Berlin Wall and the disintegration of the Soviet Union came as the harbinger of globalization’s second phase. The alternative to free market capitalism, which was socialism or communism, had faltered. It is said by economists that socialism had prescribed means to distribute wealth efficiently in a state but had not described means by which to win this wealth. These days we find leftist parties, like the Communist Party in China, and in the Indian states of West Bengal and Kerala, opening the doors to foreign investment and moving towards privatization. The fact that these communist parties have appreciated the importance of having a free market speaks for itself.

Some of the not-so-free nations like Cuba, Russia, and North Korea have faced the brunt of having governments not elected democratically. Some of the other authoritarian governments are surviving because of a lot of clout they have due to abundance in some natural resource like oil. Many political and economic commentators find this very feature of democracy and freedom good enough to place countries like India, which began opening its markets in the early 1990s, above the Asian powerhouse China. They say that India, a few years down the lane, would be a better place for foreign investment, because ‘the Chinese did not know what freedom was’. This clearly proves the importance of a democratically elected government and the working of the economy in the lines of free market capitalism. Not to forget, democratization of information (synonymous with freedom of information) is one of the pillars on which the ‘global’ world exists – and it is found in abundance in democratic countries (though this freedom has not had a very smooth travel).

Most of the opposition globalization faces today, in the poor countries, come from a belief that it has its root in the Western ‘civilization’. The first phase of globalization clearly proves that there is no way to prove that one particular place initiated this phenomenon. It may be true that these western countries have propelled the phenomenon forward, as never seen before. These countries may not have made this rapid progress without the inward movement of the ideas in sciences (as mentioned above). What ought to be done, is to accept globalization as it is, and to make efforts to reduce its effects on one’s culture. In this way, one gains the benefits of living in a global world, without having to loose his identity. The following paragraphs describe the fear lurking in the minds of the people about the effects; globalization could have on their culture – their identity.

This discussion began with a description of the opposition globalization faces from the common man from many countries. This resistance comes when a proper balance between one land’s cultural heritage and the development through the global means is not achieved. When governments hug the ‘global’ way without giving a thought about their peoples’ concern regarding the effects of the same on their culture, this endeavour may backfire, as has happened in many cases. Issues that crop up when one foreign company tries to open a manufacturing unit in some place in India prove the point.

The uprisings we have seen, organized by the BJP and their coalition parties, against people observing the Valentine’s Day in India also exemplifies this. In this case, the affected BJP and its partners have been trying to invoke among the Indians a need to protect the Indian culture from the outside ‘global’ effects. The very fact that not many observed this day, a few years back, clearly shows that globalization has been in the driving seat for only the last decade or so. It would be worthy to mention that even when the BJP was at the helm of affairs in India they supported the opening of the Indian markets, which had been initiated in the early 1990s (‘yielding to globalization’, some of its adversaries say).

Another major effect of this ‘global’ phenomenon is in food habits of the people living in a place. It is during this second phase that the Indian market saw fast food giants like McDonalds, Pizza Hut etc. making their presence felt in India. This has again seen opposition in many fronts. Again, the opposition comes from the fact that these joints have tried to undo the traditional food habits of Indians (which are naturally healthier than these replacements).

One another problem often spoken about is how globalization has not done much to improve the condition of the poorer classes in the society. In fact, the effects of globalization are being seen even among the poorest of the people, but these effects are taking time to percolate through to the lower strata of the society. The reasons why these people have remained poor over the years have other causes (fingers can not be pointed at globalization). Maybe the ‘globalization chauvinists’ could learn a lesson or two from Marx and Lenin, so that an even distribution of the fruits of globalization is made.

The instances put forward indicate that there is no alternative to globalization for a country trying its hand at development. Globalization has in effect become the new world order, after the Cold War. The effects of globalization on the culture of a people should be learnt and necessary steps may be taken to reduce them. In this way, globalization may be nurtured with limited opposition, for the benefit of all.

*I have generously used ideas put forth in the following books – Identity and Violence (Amartya Sen), The Lexus and the Olive Tree (Thomas L Friedman), The Argumentative Indian (Amartya Sen)

*My ideas on this subject have been influenced by a large number of newspaper articles, which are too many to be individually mentioned.

Lost

2006-12-12T20:25:00.000-08:00

She had a few more minutes
before the train left;
The train she had to board,
for the travel ahead.

The forecasted rains,
dampening her hopes;
And the traffic on the street,
that had all the roads choked

She was caught on the road
with quite a lot of luggage,
There was no way on foot
she could circumvent the blockade.

She crossed her fingers,
praying for the best.
She could not for long
hide her growing unrest.

This had been one moment
she had waited for so long a time
Diffidence replaced her youthful confidence
which had been so sublime.

She arrived at the station,
wishing for a delayed train,
She remunerated the rickshaw driver,
not waiting for the returned change.

She heard the dreadful sound
of the train blowing its horn.
She tried to push through the crowd
frequently inviting people’s scorn.

Her legs failed to carry her forward;
She heard the deafening noise.
Left stranded, she lost her
normally present poise.

Aimless

2006-12-12T20:20:00.000-08:00

I remember the time when I was wild and free.
Sauntering on the grass, in the shade of trees.

You came as someone to pull on the reins,
and controlled me, like I had never been.

My heart yearns for your gentle pull today,
As I am aimless on this path, without your care.

Call for support

2006-11-28T05:17:00.000-08:00

How many promises made by politicians of yore still remain mere promises? These same people, though not the ones who were incumbent when such promises were made, have begun their tirade of criticism at the Indian cricket team’s dismal performance in the series opener against South Africa. When such people, who have themselves failed at keeping many of their assurances, begin their thrashing of the Indian cricket team, its coach and its captain, their criticism lacks credibility.

Every time the team makes a visit abroad, especially to places known for their quick and bouncy pitches, their return is marked by requests by the captain for the preparation of similar wickets at home. The youngsters playing domestic cricket, if given opportunities to play on such wickets, are better prepared for foreign tours, they say. This furore after the team’s arrival from a foreign tour vanishes with a home win that normally succeeds such a disastrous series. The bickering pops up again after a series away from the subcontinent.

By how much have these requests made by various captains been met? These lawmakers, who have these decisions at their discretion, haven’t done much on these lines. Even if they have, it will take some time before these initiatives bear fruit. Till then they do not have the right to criticize the team. They should remember that just like how team India shoulders the responsibility of satisfying the wishes of cricket fans, these elected representatives shoulder the responsibility of meeting the requests made by the people who elect them. So much is expected from the Indian team every time they play. Similarly, so much is expected from the elected representatives every time they come into power. It should be realized that even these politicians haven’t reached up to the peoples’ expectations many a time and they have constantly failed in some endeavours.

Being an ardent cricket fan myself, I felt disheartened at the team’s poor show in the game. But then, the scene created by a large number of parliamentarians, some coming on live TV shows trying to display their sadness and displeasure can in no way be justified. As the team captain has said ‘I don't think its criticism which motivates cricketers into doing well’, this is the time the team needs our support. They need Indians to urge them on to do better in the remaining games and not pull them down further.