BORN FREE
(A Brief History of Man)
THE VIEWS AND OPINIONS EXPRESSED IN THIS
WORK ARE ENTIRELY THOSE OF THE AUTHOR. NO
ONE ELSE IS TO BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR THEM.
THE AUTHOR ADVISES CAUTION WHILE READING
THE WORK.
A PRELUDE
“This life is what you make it. No matter what, you're going to mess up
sometimes, it's a universal truth. But the good part is you get to decide how
you're going to mess it up. Girls will be your friends - they'll act like it
anyway. But just remember, some come, some go. The ones that stay with
you through everything - they're your true best friends. Don't let go of
them. Also remember, sisters make the best friends in the world. As for
lovers, well, they'll come and go too. And baby, I hate to say it, most of
them - actually pretty much all of them are going to break your heart, but
you can't give up because if you give up, you'll never find your soulmate.
You'll never find that half who makes you whole and that goes for
everything. Just because you fail once, doesn't mean you're gonna fail at
everything. Keep trying, hold on, and always, always, always believe in
yourself, because if you don't, then who will, sweetie? So keep your head
high, keep your chin up, and most importantly, keep smiling, because life's
a beautiful thing and there's so much to smile about.”
― Marilyn Monroe
My life, indeed one woman’s relentless pursuit of peace and happiness
reads like a song…
Every unique experience in the journey called “Life” indeed that in my own
case has been the lyric of a song. I have also come to fervently believe that
LOVE is the most powerful phenomenon, and that God is the most
powerful truth on Earth!
Consider this; by the grace of the Lord, I have matured into a sincere and
conscientious young professional interested in the study of the Liberal Arts
and decoding the true meaning of Peace and Non-violence…
I have never been the usual couch potato, but of late I have been leading
mostly a sedentary life which could have been torn to shreds if it had not
been for a strange phenomenon called LOVE.
Indeed, my last 16 years have been one of tremendous emotional and
physical pain and suffering. In the year 1997, I underwent Depression
following completion of my studies from Delhi University. There were
various factors underlying the same, especially the loss of an overseas
scholarship. In 1998, I went to Orissa (India) to work with a corporate NGO,
but my condition deteriorated and I had to return home. Life by then had
taken a strange turn, with a plethora of blood tests, ECTs, doctors (including
Advanced Homeopathy which has had a very positive effect no doubt) but
nothing I repeat has truly healed me. I always dream about humanitarian
service as a call of the Lord, but have largely been a sick child. I have taken
drugs like Alprax and Lithium. I am also not recovering from my phobias
and tension especially a deep phobia of flying and distant and overseas
travel.
My psychological health has also deeply affected my physical health and
weakened the system. Indeed, I went through Bronchial Pneumonia once
and hemorrhoids. I am also slightly obese which is causing numerous
problems in the lower limbs. I am currently undergoing my menopause at
the age of 38.
I remember the time I first learnt of terms such as Counseling and therapy
versus aggression and violence (during a brief visit to a practicing physician
when in college in Delhi, India), I was a bit curious, considering the
immense importance I was attaching to them (the terms). I was wondering
whether these terms had something (in fact, anything!) to do with selfinstability, about which I had nurtured strong feelings ever since I was in
school. I was pleased to know that THEY DID INDEED, LOOKING AT THEM
MY WAY. A visiting Counselor had advised us to follow a “VOCATION OF
THE HEART”, or, in other words, choose a profession that would be based
on what one heard from one’s conscience. It would be conceptually, as it
was said, “work with feeling”….
With time, there were questions (related to contemporary issues, largely
War/Conflict in Developing Economies) that were to start haunting me,
more so as I happened to be a developing country national. Some of these
would have been like the following: How best could reduced World military
spending be channeled into social development? Why would innocent
children, such “innocent flowers” be forced into conflict? Could Law
intervene to bring about progressive social change? Would social change be
an effect or a cause???? And, why would people commit “Crimes against
Humanity”, as during War and/or Ethnic Conflict? The issues that haunted
the then “young mind” were endless. I was in a state of utter confusion.
It was following my undergraduate studies that I started looking at these
issues from the grass root level(s). The question was: How could one
alleviate them?
Despite an overwhelming and powerful physical and behavioral challenge
(indeed several such challenges), I started working for these “hapless”
people. I started moving about with them. I started breathing the very air
that they breathed. I started assimilating their problems as if these were
mine. I could feel the change in me. The person, who wore the shoe, knew
exactly where it pinched! I started feeling (emotions) for them. I started
hoping for them. I STARTED GETTING, WELL, INVOLVED WITH SMALL
HUMAN RIGHTS, PEACE AND SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ISSUES AND
INITIATIVES. However, I would still be hoping…
But hopes would not be castles in the air. These would need to be
developed on a logical foundation so that they could be transformed into
reality. They would need nurturing and caring…. SAY, FOR INSTANCE, higher
education …could open up the door(s) to the mind. They could be a
gateway for understanding the cause effect relationship… they could give
an insight for questioning our basic norms, our accepted principles, at the
same time, laying the foundation for an approach towards challenging age
old social traditions/taboos/concepts and/or idiosyncrasies …
I could then, for instance, study fresh political, philosophical, social and
scientific perspectives PRIMARILY ON THE “PARENT ISSUE”, WHICH I LATER
LEARNT, WAS CALLED “PEACE/HUMAN RIGHTS//SOCIAL JUSTICE”; indeed
control of gross violations; how to practice such work in intergovernmental
and international organizations as well as in current issues and
controversies, with a much-anticipated exposure to the global human rights
and stability situation. Another closely-related area would be CONFLICT
RESOLUTION. Its nature would make it not just an object of study, but a
matter of policy, intervention and practice as well. We would be motivated
to think about and do something about these very issues.
It was only now (much to my satisfaction), that I could gather more
specialized knowledge in the field, particularly, one that each of us hoped
to choose for our respective objectives. There would, presumably, be scope
for exposure to key international debates over a “Policy in the Indian and
global scenario”… Moreover, some of us, coming from nations of the World
(and, as in my case, India), where those like GANDHI, have walked across
the Land, would really have much to gain, from, as I noticed, a
Study/PRACTICE of the concept of ‘Non-Violence’…
In fact, I am myself preoccupied with and strongly wishing to work to
unearth the causes underlying the absence of peace, beginning on the firm
conviction that there would be hardly any, if at all, instability, if “We” were
to guarantee a better (in terms of food, drinking water, medical care,
education, and yes, much-needed love and affection!) world to our
children, our future…In other words, were “We” to concentrate on the
marginalized and poverty-stricken, I guess there wouldn’t be much need for
conflict and post-conflict reconstruction…
Because I have been “DISTURBED” by what I have seen, namely, visual
images of undernourished, thin or lean, wasted and emaciated CHILDREN in
places as diverse as Uttar Pradesh, Orissa and Jharkhand states in my
desperately impoverished nation, India OFFCOURSE, WITHIN THE
BOUNDARIES OF MY (OWN) HUMAN LIMITATIONS!
I STRONGLY BELIEVE IN “SOLIDARITY BETWEEN NATIONS”, AND I HAVE NO
DOUBT, WHATSOEVER, THAT WITH MUCH-CHERISHED SUPPORT, I COULD
BE WHAT I WANTED TO BE SOME DAY!
I would like to make certain general comments about conflict/development
and welfare/peace and non-violence, as I would see them. A study of them
would involve the world we lived in, and why it were the way it actually
were. Facts as quoted after studies would be mind-boggling: "Ten million
more people will stay poor…due to the events of September 11th". The
goal of the new Millennium should be the “Development Goal” of
'eliminating' World Hunger. When we read the papers, watched TV or
listened to the news, we would be bombarded with images of the poor, of
wealth, fame and power, and, obscene conflict. These would be issues that
needed to be looked at not only by Human rights and/or Welfare
practitioners (including Economists and Governance specialists) but us
OURSELVES as well. This would be the greatest challenge for the coming
generation…. This would be the question for which we would need an
answer for the new world that is emerging, like work with refugees, for
instance…
These would be my thoughts and comments. I do realize that there are
certain issues that merit immediate attention, and these would include
poverty, ecological damage, war and conflict, gender inequality, and that,
the fact that these issues existed, made for the immense importance of this
discipline(s) (of welfare/policy and good governance) to contemporary
society…
I GUESS WE WOULD THEN, TOGETHER, BE ABLE TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE
ATTAINMENT OF PEACE AND HARMONY AND THE COMPLETE REALIZATION
OF THE DREAMS OF THOSE WHO FORMULATED THE “UNIVERSAL
DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS”.
THEY SAY, “TINY DROPS OF WATER MAKE UP THE OCEAN”. I STRONGLY
BELIEVE IN THE “RIPPLE EFFECT”. LET EACH ONE OF US CONTRIBUTE
HIS/HER BIT! ONLY THEN CAN WE MAKE THE WORLD A MORE PEACEFUL
PLACE TO LIVE IN…!!!
BORN FOR FREEDOM, LIBERTY, EQUALITY & FRATERNITY, I FINALLY REALIZE
THAT’S WHAT WE ARE IN THE FIRST PLACE…”
LOVE…thy fellow beings, indeed every one of God’s beautiful creation.
BELIEVE in the power of love…to touch and heal minds, hearts and souls…
True LOVE knows no boundaries of religion/belief; or nations and flags and
borders. The only passport will be our heart(s)!
Hatred is an ugly word…so start LOVING!
CHAPTER 1
PLEASE FORGIVE ME
“It takes a strong person to say sorry, and an ever stronger person to
forgive.”
- Unknown
Forgiveness is an Art very few are actually capable of. Gandhi had once
famously remarked: “"The weak can never forgive. Forgiveness is the
attribute of the strong."
Explaining the truth of this statement, I must confess that I may have in the
past either consciously or sub-consciously hurt someone without being able
to relate to his/her pain and suffering. It could have been in my past life
and as an ordinary mortal (Hindus believe in re-incarnation), I have been
subjected to gruesome consequences as a result of my past “KARMA”…
As a mortal, my weak mind and spirit have indeed lacked the courage to
forgive. After all, it takes more than courage to get past any previous
offence or hurt caused either deliberately or unconsciously to someone…it
could be anyone. The meaning of reason has eluded me to such an extent
that I’ve always considered having an alibi for what possibly could have
been (if not entirely) my fault.
Often out of low self-esteem, I have been unable to forgive, instead I have
sought to be revengeful and negative (though not in a harmful manner)
instead of being positive. I have not been able to put my differences
aside…bad “Karma” I might once again safely assert.
Okay. Imagine a scene, where someone has done a lot of harm to
you...what do you do? The main feeling that comes to you is that 'one day
I'm going to get him'. You want revenge, because you were weak, you could
not stand his atrocities, and you could not stand the pain he caused you.
Revenge, anger comes from weakness. If you were a strong person, people
can do no harm, because you do not let yourself get harmed (another
Gandhi quote: Nobody can make you unhappy or weak WITHOUT YOUR
CONSENT). The things they did made no difference to you, and even if they
did, you have the 'strength' to stand up and keep walking again (if you were
a billionaire, would you mind if somebody took a dollar from your
account?).
Not wanting to harm the person who harmed you releases your soul from a
cage, a cage on whose bars are written "I got to have revenge". It's never
easy.
Revenge destroys both, the person who harmed, and the person who had
revenge. Forgiveness blesses both: the person who harmed is free, and the
person who suffered ultimately has happiness.
We are living in testing times: Everyone wants to have revenge…
The aim of this treatise is not to confuse love with forgiveness yet love,
forgiveness, a mutual tolerance and more compassion for our fellow beings
will most certainly make for a happier planet!
A word here on the intense and brutal pain and suffering inflicted on me by
MOST IN MY IMMEDIATE FAMILY EXCEPT my mother and my two kind and
loving lady doctors. I still crib no doubt, yet have discovered in forgiving a
beautiful passion, indeed it is in the mysterious equations of love that I
have found my true calling.
Thus, if I may have in this book hurt your feelings/sentiments either
consciously or unconsciously, PLEASE FORGIVE ME. For I am only an
ordinary mortal. It was never my intention in the first place, yet my
circumstances were so trying that I failed to forgive at times and some of
the scars inflicted still remain.
Only time can heal these scars. And we have recently survived an
Armageddon of sorts!
CHAPTER 2
ANOTHER BRICK IN THE WALL II
Social Armageddon in Prague, a Global Awakening
and the Great American Dream
“I know when the world is going to end – in about 4.5 billion years.”
- VLADIMIR PUTIN, current Russian president, on apocalypse
predictions.
This day is December 21st, 2012. As I write these words, I can recall the
ancient Mayan Prophecy that this day will mark the end of the world, or
“Armageddon” or the “Genesis” or the “Apocalypse” et al. It’s 3:13 p.m. EST
and I wonder what will finally happen by the end of the day. Will the world
actually come to an end or will there be an “Evolutionary Shift”? Well,
Nostradamus also added to the “Crop Circle Theory” and Einstein’s theories
corroborate this. I must add here that the year 2012 started off with a
cataclysmic event in Japan, and there have been many more. What is to
blame really, climate change and global warming; economic inequalities or
something more deep-seated?
The previous day’s events have been extremely disturbing. The shameful,
disgraceful and ghastly gang rape and brutal assault of a 23-year-old
Paramedical student on a moving bus on the 16th of December, 2012 in
New Delhi, the (Rape) Capital of India speaks of an order in which women
and girls are treated merely as “commodities” in part a larger consequence
of the Liberalization and Globalization process in India. Unfortunately,
although every such incident stirs the nation to revolt, soon it becomes a
forgotten story. The reason: more interesting stories have come to the
attention of the media. Everything in India is weighed in terms of revenue
(read the 23-year-old’s battle for life following the gruesome incident) and
a rape is no different…
Statistics reveal that there are close to half a Lac sex determination tests
being clandestinely carried out in various parts of the country to determine
the sex of the fetus and an obscene number of female infanticides. If in the
rare event (and especially in remote rural and tribal hamlets and our towns)
that the female fetus manages to see the light of Life, she is either sold into
a life of servitude in a brothel or married off to a man old enough to be her
father (read grandfather) or in worse cases, subjected to the feudal and
unscrupulous eyes of the Zamindars (Feudal Lords) especially in as much as
she happens to be a “Dalit” (lower caste/untouchable) et al.
As New India rises, so do slums of laborers. To the average Westerner, it
seems unthinkable that the work done by machines in their countries is
done by hand in India. Manual Scavenging is common in India. India has the
dubious distinction of having the largest number of school-age children out
of school and at work oft in hazardous occupations, from the fireworks
factories of Sivakasi to the carpet weaving industries of Mirzapur-Bhadohi.
And then there are the “Devadasis” (a form of female temple servitude) an
ancient Indian custom. Honor killing is common in India. Young widowhood
is a curse in India. Widow Remarriage is taboo.
Gone are the days of the eternal luminaries – Gandhi, Ambedkar, Tagore,
and Raja Ram Mohan Roy…Contemporary Indian society has seen (and
moreover with the advent of Liberalization) mindless consumerism;
insatiable greed and a craving for material possessions like cars, real estate
and cash. We are living in a perverted society – which values sex, high rises
and convertibles more than it does Life. And Life is precious, all of it
although little do we realize the fact! There is no human dignity of the
nation’s poor. As a State Chief Minister cuts a cake studded with Diamonds
on her Birthday on a chilly winter evening, several hundreds in the same
state perish in the bitter cold on the streets when the temperatures dip at
night.
Everything has its pros and cons. And so does Liberalization. While fancy fparties take place among the glitterati on New Year’s Eve, and as they
splurge on Champagne and ice, an anemic 10-year old (read minor girl) has
no other option but to have a newborn nuzzling at her breasts beneath the
flyovers…I often wonder whether the baby is indeed hers, and even if it is,
who has fathered the unwed mother’s child? For all we know, she may
have been raped by goons lustrous after female flesh.
Paying a Tribute to Nirbhaya, the dailies reported that these were some of
her last words:
"Save me... I want to live."
- Nirbhaya to her mother even as she waged a grim battle with death in
Safdarjung Hospital, New Delhi in one of her conscious spells.
At 2.15am IST on Saturday, Nirbhaya breathed her last in a Singapore
hospital.
Her father and mother were by her side at Mount Elizabeth since 6.30pm
on Friday when the doctors all but gave up hope. The cardiac arrest she
suffered last Tuesday night was beginning to unravel with life-snuffing
consequences. Fluid was accumulating in her brain, already badly damaged
by the cardiac arrest this had choked off blood supply to the brain for over
three minutes. In medical terms it is called cerebral edema. In plain
language, it spelled the end of Nirbhaya's short but heroic life. Her story,
though, is certain to live for much longer.
As news of Nirbhaya's death filtered through on a wintry morning,
thousands poured out on the streets of Delhi and the metros, and even
smaller cities/towns of India like Jaunpur, Meerut and Bulandshahr, to
express their anguish. There was a genuine sense of loss - as though people
had lost their own daughter or sister. Belying all fears of violence, the
congregations were somber, dignified and peaceful.
Some doctors are now saying that Nirbhaya was brain dead for all practical
purposes after the cardiac arrest during which her pulse or blood pressure
could not be detected for 3-4 minutes. They are questioning the wisdom of
moving her to Singapore in such an utterly fragile condition. These
questions, and several others, will now be raised. Not all of them may be
answered, but one of them must be – what exactly will the government do
now to make the country a safer and better place for all women? And what
will all of us do to tackle deeply entrenched prejudice and misogyny in our
society?
The social media buzzed with suggestions. Some suggested an eye-for-aneye kind of wild justice. Some said no, what we really need are changes in
our law and policing, and above all, a change in our outlook towards
women. Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh vowed that Nirbhaya's "death
will not go in vain." "It would be a true homage to her memory if we are
able to channelize these emotions and energies into a constructive course
of action," he said. Mrs. Sonia Gandhi made a rare televised statement to
say that as a "woman and mother I understand how protestors feel. Today
we pledge that the victim will get justice."
We sanctify Bollywood Cinema and worship our film stars. It is a shame that
Indo-Canadian Porn Stars are being encouraged into the Film industry.
Cyber and tabloid pornography are on the rise. Social Networking sites like
Face book, Twitter and Orkut are corporatizing brain cells.
The Indian social system is in a state of flux. India as a nation is faced with a
massive problem of unemployment.
Factors like shut down of the sick industries, unplanned and uncontrolled
growth of technology is causing havoc on job opportunity. Our educational
system has its own irreparable defects and its contribution to the
unemployment scenario is an open truth. Our education does not prepare
the minds of the younger generation to become self-employed on the
contrary it makes them dependent on government vacancies which are
hard to come by.
Even after more than 50 years of Independence India still has the world's
largest number of poor people in a single country. Of its nearly 1 billion
inhabitants, an estimated 260.3 million are below the poverty line, of which
193.2 million are in the rural areas and 67.1 million are in the urban areas.
More than 75% of poor people reside in the villages. It is a situation people
want to escape. According to a recent Indian government committee
constituted to estimate poverty, nearly 38% of India’s population (380
million) is poor. This report is based on new methodology and the figure is
10% higher than the present poverty estimate of 28.5%. The poverty level is
below 10% in states like Delhi, Goa, and Punjab etc whereas it is below 50%
in Bihar (43) and Orissa (47). It is between 30-40% in Northeastern states of
Assam, Tripura, and Meghalaya and in Southern states of Tamil Nadu and
Uttar Pradesh. There is thereby a need to eradicate both poverty and with
it a greater unemployment.
The Public health system in India suffers from many problems which
includes insufficient funding, shortage of facilities leading to overcrowding
and severe shortage of trained health personnel. There is also lack of
accountability in the public health delivery mechanisms. These are some of
the reasons which have placed India at the lowest rank on the Human
Development Index. According to the Planning Commission the country has
a shortfall of six lakh doctors, 10 lakh nurses and two lakh dental surgeons.
This has led to a dismal patient-doctor ratio in the country. For every
10,000 Indians, there is just one doctor.
India has banned tobacco consumption in public places but only 12 states
have started implementing the ban. More than 10 lakh people at present
die in India every year due to tobacco consumption. At present more than
57% male and 10.9% female consume tobacco while 15% children consume
tobacco.
The Indian education system does not provide the practical knowledge and
the value-based education to the student; it only provides the theoretical
knowledge. The vocational education system is not good either.
Government schools are in a dismal condition.
India is the world's second most populous country and is expected to be
the most populous by 2040.The country is undergoing the same forces of
demographic transition that have been experienced elsewhere, only
delayed by a few decades. Almost 70% of Indians still reside in rural areas
although in recent decades migration to larger cities have led to a dramatic
increase in the country's urban population. The emerging middle class will
surge tenfold; exceeding 500 million by 2025.It will command 60% of the
country's spending power. The growth in population is a bad factor in the
development of society because the available infrastructure/natural
resources are not adequate to cope with the population growth.
The latest census report (2001) reveals that at the beginning of the new
millennium literacy rate in India stands at 65.38% with male literacy level at
75.85%and female literacy level at 54.16%. There has been only marginal
increase in literacy level from the last census in 1991 (literacy level was
52.2%). The pace of progress in literacy rates, as revealed by decennial
censuses, is very slow in India. Between 1961 and 1991, a span of thirty
years, the literacy rate went up by a mere 23.9 percentage points.
Official statistics show a steady rise in dowry crimes. More than 95000
women are killed every year in India over dowry. Bihar and Uttar Pradesh
still record the maximum number of dowry crimes, but Bangalore, India's
fastest growing city also shows an alarming rise - four women reportedly
die every day because of dowry harassment. The cases of dowry torture are
the highest accounting for 32.4% of crimes against women in the country.
The dowry custom continues to rule society. In majority of Indian families
the boy has inheritance rights while the girl is given a hefty sum at the time
of her marriage in lieu of the Government regulated equal rights for girls in
parental property. The evil of the dowry system has spread its tentacles in
almost all parts of the country and sections of society. There are several
reasons for the prevalence of the dowry system, but the main one is that it
is a necessary precondition for marriage. "No dowry, no marriage," is a
widespread fear.
So is Capital Punishment the answer? Considering that rape is a barbaric act
and a serious crime against Humanity, I should say yes, but only
temporarily. Drastic measures like castration or the gallows may or may not
serve our purpose. Nevertheless, considering the extreme brutality with
which Nirbhaya was assaulted and tortured, I personally hope that the
perpetrators are condemned to death by hanging. Even rigorous
imprisonment will not suffice.
In India, rape victims live like a living corpse. Considering this, special “rape
trauma” centers ought to be set up to counsel victims. They should be
encouraged to lead a life free of shame and fear…and encouraged through
employment schemes etc. Women in general ought to be encouraged to
learn self-defense if possible.
Finally, it needs support from all quarters be it government, NGOs and
women themselves. There is also a need to improve women's economic
capacities those include access to and control of income and assets and
also share in the family's property. The government should strengthen and
expand training and sensitization programs. District Women Cells should be
established to stop violence. Corruption has to be stemmed.
Government ought to take steps towards Alcoholism Detoxification in
hospitals: Alcoholics need medical care and medical supervision.
Tranquilizers are used for treating their withdrawal symptoms like
hallucinations. Vitamins and electrolyte balance are used for physical
rehabilitation. Counseling and anti-drinking rules ought to be observed.
Changing values through education: Voluntary organizations should
undertake educational and information programmes to alert the alcoholics
to the dangers of excessive drinking. Social workers can help the drinkers in
coping with life and changing the social values and attitudes about drinking.
“Injustice” is a nine-letter word. NIRBHAYA is eight. And “Justice” seven.
But it is one alphabet/one letter which can change the world …this is I. If all
the “I” s in the world start looking in introspection, the world would
certainly be a better place to live in for all the millions “NIRBHAYAs” in the
world.
Only when true justice has been meted out to the perpetrators, can our
brave heroine’s soul rest in peace.
No one knows. No one cares. While the G-77 leaders talk big, another girl
child is circumcised in Africa.
Does this call for a “Social Armageddon”? Or, Zbigniew Brzezinski's much
feared “global political awakening” is in full swing. Revolts in Egypt, Yemen,
Tunisia and other countries represent a panic-stricken elite. Currently a
huge change in human consciousness is undeniably underway. In terms of
the number of people affected its scale is alarming.
If you want government to intervene domestically, you're a liberal. If you
want government to intervene overseas, you're a conservative. If you want
government to intervene everywhere, you're a moderate. If you don't want
government to intervene anywhere, you're an extremist.
- Joseph Sobran
Date 17 June 2011.
"A typically Czech strike", headines Lidové noviny, referring to “The Good
Soldier Schweik”, the unfinished novel by Czech writer and satirist Jaroslav
Hašek that features an honest innocent, naive and incompetent – who may
also be shrewdly cunning. On June 16, the public transport unions brought
Prague to a standstill with their demonstrations (about a thousand strong)
against the austerity measures imposed by the government, in particular
the pension reform. No train moved, the Prague metro was not running for
the first time in its history, and while some Praguers took to their bikes,
others took a long weekend and stayed home, writes the Czech daily.
Finance Minister Miroslav Kalousek, who came out into the street to
confront the demonstrators, escaped a shower of tomatoes and eggs at the
last minute, the newspaper reports. Meanwhile, President Václav Klaus was
forced to cancel a party for his seventieth birthday, reports Hospodářské
noviny, adding "The explosion of the anger of the people, the social
Armageddon and the invasion of the French spirit into Central Europe have
run up against the Czech spirit of Schweik.”
The meaning and essence of the term as defined by the Merriam-Webster
dictionary is as follows:
Definition of ARMAGEDDON as a noun:
1
A: the site or time of a final and conclusive battle between the forces of
good and evil
B: the battle taking place at Armageddon
2
: A usually vast decisive conflict or confrontation
Examples of ARMAGEDDON
1. the threat of nuclear Armageddon
Origin of ARMAGEDDON
Greek Armageddōn, Harmagedōn, scene of the battle foretold in Rev
16:14–16
First Known Use: 14th century
Armageddon
Noun (Concise Encyclopedia)
In the New Testament, the place where the kings of the earth under
demonic leadership will wage war on the forces of God at the end of
history. Armageddon is mentioned only in the Revelation to John. The
name may mean “Mountain of Megiddo,” a reference to the city of
Megiddo, which held strategic importance in Palestine. Other biblical
references suggest Jerusalem as the battle site.
Date: 10 August, 2012.
Pitchfork-wielding Virginia farmers rallied to support a woman who claims
local officials came down on her for, among other things, hosting a
children's birthday party on her spread.
Alice Stevens (name changed to protect identity), owner of Freedom Farms
in a northern village of the state of Virginia in the United States, was
threatened with nearly $5,000 in fines for selling produce and crafts and
throwing unlicensed events, including a birthday party for her best friend's
child. She told FoxNews.com she wasn't doing anything farmers haven't
done for generations, and at a recent zoning board meeting, her agrarian
friends literally showed up with pitchforks to express their support.
“It’s rather odd that I’m the only farmer in the county having these issues,”
Stevens said. “It’s customary to do these things. It’s done through on farms
throughout Virginia to help farming and agriculture.” Stevens was told that
she did not have the proper event permits for the party and other events,
including wine tastings, craft workshops, and pumpkin carving.
“Why would I need a permit for a pumpkin carving?” she said. Alice was
also threatened with fines for selling produce and products not grown or
made on the 70-acre farm in a small store she operated on the property.
But she said she already had a special license issued to her in 2011 that
allowed her to run a “retail farm shop” where at the time, she made it clear
that she intended to sell handspun yarns and craft items like birdhouses in
addition to fresh vegetables, eggs, and herbs.
I wonder how long it will be before we start seeing the torches -- and
whatever else -- come out.
Date: 27 June, 2012.
Actually, economic and social conditions are more closely in synch.
"Crime will run rampant as police departments and other government
services that help maintain public order eliminate or cut back on jobs,
overtime, and equipment, while growing numbers of formerly law-abiding
but now desperate citizens reveal their dark side."
-- Chapter 9, "Economic," Financial Armageddon
Although a number of the predictions I made in my March 2007 book have
come true, one thing we haven't seen is a dramatic rise in illegal activity,
despite evidence, as sociologist Steven Box concluded in his 1977 book,
Recession, Crime, and Punishment, that a "deterioration in material
circumstances [leads] to more crime."
Some have argued -- probably rightly so -- that the reason why things are
different this time is because an extraordinary large percentage of
Americans are currently in prison. Others maintain that the modern social
safety net has alleviated at least some of the pressure that turns lawabiding citizens into opportunistic criminals. Regardless, a report at
Business Insider, "Stockton Goes Bankrupt and Already the Murder Rate Is
Soaring," suggests we may be getting closer to the point where economic
circumstances and social conditions are more closely in synch:
Stockton, California is filing for the largest bankruptcy of any U.S. city in
history due to the decline in the once hot housing market and an intake of
debt during its boom years.
The city has cut more than $90 million in spending over the past few years,
specifically in its police department. The city has cut over one quarter of its
police jobs, which has led to a "surge in murders," and has created an
"emboldened criminal element" in the city. According to police spokesman
Joe Silva, the city has had 87 murders since the start of 2011, 29 of which
have already occurred this year. In contrast, there were 35 murders in 2009
and 48 in 2010. With six months left in the year, there have already been
more murders in the city since the start of 2011 than the two-year stretch
of 2009-2010.
- Michael Panzner on June 27, 2012 at 05:04 PM in Social Conditions.
'The American Dream For the Average Man Doesn't Exist Any More'
Although your average Wall Street "expert" thinks it's only a matter of time
before things return to normal (whatever that is), anybody with half a brain
who has been paying even the slightest bit of attention can see that the
game has changed.
In fact, all you have to do is sample a few of the conversations and
ruminations swirling around us in today's post-financial-crisis world to
know that the good old days aren't coming back anytime soon -- if ever.
In "American Dream Faces Harsh New Reality, " KUNC (Community Radio of
Northern Colorado) we get a sense of just how much perspectives have
changed -- and are changing -- in a country that has long been seen as the
land of opportunity and the leader of the free world.
The American Dream is a crucial thread in this country's tapestry, woven
through politics, music and culture.
Though the phrase has different meanings to different people, it suggests
an underlying belief that hard work pays off and that the next generation
will have a better life than the previous generation.
But three years after the worst recession in almost a century, the American
Dream now feels in jeopardy to many.
The town of Lorain, Ohio, used to embody this dream. It was a place where
you could get a good job, raise a family and comfortably retire.
"Now you can see what it is. Nothing," says John Beribak. "The shipyards
are gone, the Ford plant is gone, the steel plant is gone." His voice cracks as
he describes the town he's lived in his whole life.
"I mean, I grew up across the street from the steel plant when there was
15,000 people working there," he says. "My dad worked there. I worked
there when I got out of the Air Force. It's just sad."
Uniquely American:
The American Dream is an implicit contract that says if you play by the
rules, you'll move ahead. It's a faith that is almost unique to this country,
says Michael Dimock of the Pew Research Center.
"When Germans or French are asked the same questions about whether it's
within all of our power to get ahead, or whether our success is really
determined by forces outside our control, most German and French
respondents say, 'No, success is really beyond our control,' " Dimock says.
In the wake of the recession, that sentiment is now growing in this country.
"I think the American Dream for the average man doesn't exist any more,"
retiree Linden Strandberg says on a recent visit to the Smithsonian
American History museum in Washington, D.C.
- Michael Panzner on May 29, 2012 at 08:53 PM in Social Conditions.
Date: 27 January, 2012
Already There?
Five more reasons why America is on the road to Banana Republicville (or
are we already there?):
1. Those in charge don't feel constrained by the rules that apply to
everyone else
"36 Obama Aides Owe $833,000 in Back Taxes" (Investors Business Daily)
How embarrassing this must be for President Obama, whose major speech
theme so far this campaign season has been that every single American, no
matter how rich, should pay their "fair share" of taxes.
Because how unfair -- indeed, un-American -- it is for an office worker like,
say, Warren Buffet's secretary to dutifully pay her taxes, while some wellto-do people with better educations and higher incomes end up paying a
much smaller tax rate.
Or, worse, skipping their taxes altogether.
A new report just out from the Internal Revenue Service reveals that 36 of
President Obama's executive office staff owe the country $833,970 in back
taxes. These people working for Mr. Fair Share apparently haven't paid any
share, let alone their fair share.
Previous reports have shown how well-paid Obama's White House staff is,
with 457 aides pulling down more than $37 million last year. That's up
seven workers and nearly $4 million from the Bush administration's last
year.
Nearly one-third of Obama's aides make more than $100,000 with 21 being
paid the top White House salary of $172,200, each.
2. Those in charge increasingly censor and harass the media
"U.S Falls to 47th in Press Freedom Rankings after Occupy Crackdown"
(Daily Mail)
Sweeping protests around the world made it an extremely difficult year for
the media, and tested journalists as never before, the annual report into
press freedom reveals.
The annual report by Reporters Without Borders has been released,
showing the United States fell 27 points on the list due to the many arrests
of journalists covering Occupy Wall Street protests.
The slide in the United States places it just behind Comoros and Taiwan in a
group with Argentina and Romania.
3. Those in charge feel free to use public funds for private gain
"Parent Of Government-Backed Battery Maker Goes Bankrupt" (Associated
Press)
The parent company of an electric car battery maker that received a $118
million grant from the Obama administration filed for Chapter 11
bankruptcy protection on Thursday.
New York-based Ener1 said it has been affected by competition from China
and other countries.
Ener1 subsidiary EnerDel received a $118 million stimulus grant from the
Energy Department in 2009, and Vice President Joe Biden visited the
company's new battery plant in Indiana last year.
Ener1 is the third company to seek bankruptcy protection after receiving
assistance from the Energy Department under the economic stimulus law.
California solar panel maker Solyndra Inc. and Beacon Power, a
Massachusetts energy-storage firm, declared bankruptcy last year. Solyndra
received a $528 million federal loan, while Beacon Power got a $43 million
loan guarantee.
4. Those in charge favor policies that benefit the few at the expense of the
many
"How to Elude the Fed's Attack on Savers" (MarketWatch)
On the surface, the Fed's decision to keep rates at 300-year lows was spun
as an effort to help the U.S. stay in its slow grind higher. But from a
personal-finance standpoint, it is one of the most outrageous ripoffs of all
time -- a massive theft from the savers and retirees of this country for the
benefit of banks and big business.
You might think of Fed chief Ben Bernanke as a reverse Robin Hood -stealing the savings from the older people who built this country into the
powerhouse that it is today and giving it to enterprises that absolutely,
positively do not need interest rates near zero to make their businesses
work. And if they do, they don't deserve help anyway.
If you have money in a passbook savings account or certificate of deposit,
or in Treasurys, as so many retirees do, then the Fed's decision Wednesday
ensures that for the next two years, banks and the federal government will
pay you less than 1%, which is in turn eroded by inflation, leaving you with 1%. You are thus essentially paying the banks to take your money, which
they then pay to themselves as bonuses and lend primarily to the most
creditworthy of their cronies, not to the small businesses that actually
could use a hand.
Even worse, a lot of the savings that you are lending the banks and
government for pennies under the zero interest rate policy, or ZIRP, is being
shipped to Europe in the form of "swaps" and other arcane instruments
they don't want you to understand to help bail out holders of Greek,
Portuguese, Italian and Spanish debt.
5. Those in charge seek to keep greater tabs on what the masses are doing
"Drones: Another Tool of the Surveillance State" (The New American)
Evidence that New York City is considering using drones to keep an eye on
its citizens is growing, according to Don Dahler of New York’s CBS Channel
2. Dahler quoted an email it obtained indicating that a detective in the New
York Police Department’s counterterrorism division asked the Federal
Aviation Administration “about the use of unmanned aerial vehicles [UAVs]
as a law enforcement tool.”
Dahler noted that NYPD commissioner Joe Kelly suggested that drones
would be useful: “In an extreme situation, you would [then] have some
means to take down a plane.” A spokesman for the NYPD admitted that
“We’re always looking at technology. Drones aren’t that exotic anymore.
Brookstone sells them. We’ve looked at them but haven’t tested or
deployed any [yet].”
A retired officer from the department said that the use of drones would
help protect the police from physical danger: “Not only would it be a form
of surveillance gathering to protect the public, it also in many respects
removes the officers … from harm’s way.”
...
Drones are increasingly being used for citizen surveillance. Retired General
Michael Kostelnik heads up the office that supervises the use of drones and
said drones are routinely being used across the country. Predators are
flown “in many areas around the country, not only for federal operators,
but also for state and local law enforcement and emergency responders in
times of crisis.”
- Michael Panzner, January 27, 2012 at 05:17 PM in Social Conditions
Date: 30 December, 2011
A Widespread Loss of Faith
In "Americans’ Confidence in Its Leaders Hits New Low," Bill George details
the (largely unsurprising) results of a new poll:
The 2011 National Leadership Index indicates that Americans’ confidence in
its leaders has hit new low points: the overall index has fallen from 101.4 in
2005 to 89.4 in this month’s survey, even below the 2008 level in the midst
of the financial meltdown. (100 is the normative level of confidence.)
The index is highly reliable as it is based on interviews of 1,065 Americans
and conducted by the Center for Public Leadership, headed by Professor
David Gergen at Harvard Kennedy School. These results are very worrisome
to me, as without trust and confidence in our leaders, America cannot
recover the energy and optimism required to restore its domestic economy
and global leadership.
The survey indicates that 77% of Americans believe the U.S. has a
leadership crisis. Without better leaders, America will decline as a nation,
according to 77% of those interviewed. Seventy-six percent disagree with
the proposition that our country’s leaders are effective and do a good job.
I would take things one step further than Professor George: history -including recent developments overseas -- suggests that when you combine
a widespread loss of faith in the-powers-that-be with growing inequality,
increasing corruption, and deteriorating economic circumstances, it can
lead to something else: a revolution.
- Michael Panzner, December 30, 2011 at 04:21 PM in Social Conditions.
Date: 06 December 2011
More Trouble to Come
One key theme of my last two books, Financial Armageddon (published in
2007) and When Giants Fall (published in 2009), was that we could expect
to see a dramatic increase in social instability and political upheaval in the
years ahead.
Given what has happened over the past 12 months or so, that looks to have
been a prescient forecast.
But it really wasn't rocket science. It was simply a matter of looking back in
time and noting the strong historical relationship between economic
circumstances and social conditions, especially in regards to the downside.
As it happens, a chart included in Control Risks' just published Riskmap
2012: Tales of the Unexpected, tells a similar story -- one that is not at all
encouraging for those who believe the worst is behind us.
So what exactly is in store for us “Futurizens” – a future to look forward
to or being futureless?
CHAPTER 3
FLIGHT OF THE CONCHORDS - THE DISTANT FUTURE
“I will be controversial and give you an exact year of when I believe first
confirmation of contact will be made – and that is 2024, the year in which if
everything goes according to plan the Square Kilometre Array will be fully
operational…”
“…If there is a civilization within 100 lightyears this telescope could find it.
We are now beginning to have the technology whether it’s the SKA or
maybe other telescopes that are being developed that will allow these
possibilities. We are searching all the time for a shadow earth…”
“…When I was investigating UFOs, I investigated 2-300 reports each year.
10 per cent is an absolutely astonishing figure…”
- Former UK Ministry of Defence Project Leader NICK POPE, who has
studied UFO sightings.
Pope has further reiterated that we could make contact with alien life
within 12 years with the help of the world’s largest radio telescope (a
supersized 1.3 billion pounds), the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), The Daily
Express reported, unleashing “new and exciting possibilities”.
To be operational in 2016, Scientists leading its development have
suggested that the telescope will be 50 times more sensitive and 10,000
times faster than its contemporaries. “It will give astronomers insight into
the formation and evolution of the first stars and galaxies after the Big
Bang, the role of cosmic magnetism, the nature of gravity and possibly even
life beyond,” a spokesman added.
Meanwhile, a private space travel company in the US claims to have
successfully launched its prototype rocket, in a giant leap towards
producing a reusable space vehicle and slash the cost of journey. Other
more healthy trends include IVF methods that may affect the baby’s size, a
protein that may be useful in resetting the ‘food clock’ and an eye test to
detect multiple sclerosis. Further, early language skills may help rein in
anger later and Xmas trees have been found to absorb the greenhouse gas
methane.
This time however, scientists are also predicting that a rare supercomet
first spotted in September 2012 may outshine the moon in 2013.
Therefore, the question before us is: WHAT WILL OUR FUTURE BE LIKE?
In the future, will we live on Mars? Discover another universe? In the
future, will we Travel to the stars? Find ourselves distributed between (say)
Mars and Earth? In the future, will we meet the Extra-Terrestrial (ET)? Take
vacations in space? In the future, will we have 8.3 Billion people? And
energy, food and water shortages? In the future, will we have increased
carbon emissions? And drought, famine and hunger? In the future, will we
see our glaciers melt? And our mega-cities sink? In the future, will we
receive our first messages from civilizations in our neighboring galactic
valleys? From those not so remote in our future? In the future, will we have
men bearing children? See cloning become free? In the future, will we have
robots ordering their creators? Have a computer in every school? In the
future, will we see silicon chips being implanted inside the human body?
And technology linked to human intelligence? In the future, will we put
robots to work in developing countries? Create Androids with emotions? In
the future, will we see the mapping of the human genetic code find new
medicines and cures? See space travel deal with our growing population? In
the future, will we have cyber-commoners, cyber-vehicles, cyberparliaments and cyber shanty-towns? Settle in the distant future? In the
future, will we be crushed by an asteroid?
This represents an almost frightful proposition. Futurizens will have
nevertheless enormous to cope with.
FREEDOM from the tyranny of oil. In another eighty five years, the world's
population will have soared, we would be dealing with climate change and
its disastrous repercussions, another Katrina or a series of them, massive
thunderstorms and hurricanes, forest fires and Tsunamis, and microbes,
not microchips, will be the primary vehicles of innovation.
Babies will often be tweaked by their parents through gene therapies –
either to eliminate problems such as Down syndrome or Cerebral Palsy or
to implant desired attributes such as intelligence and athletic skill.
Toilets will measure body fat and temperature, analyze urine and feces, and
automatically confer with wellness providers to spot problems early.
In 2040 oil consumption will begin to fall in absolute terms, and by 2060 oil
will be a boutique fuel.
Other than a few nuclear plants, large-scale power projects will be rare.
Instead, micro-turbines fuelled by variable energy sources will provide on-
the-spot power. One big beneficiary will be Africa. There will be community
grids instead of non-transparent political transactions.
Climate change will bring more and worse weather disasters; and melting
polar ice caps will raise sea levels. Many of our cities indeed nation states
will sink. Micronesia will be swamped. Population centers that are
uncomfortably close to sea level, such as Venice and the Nile delta in Egypt
will struggle to cope. America’s very own lower Manhattan will struggle to
cope as well.
America has the resources and the defenses to cope, but even those may
not suffice. No one is above nature, not even America.
Around the year 2060, with falling birth rates and increased intermarriage
and immigration, Italy will become the first country in Europe to have a non
white majority. By 2075 white skin will become a minority in the United
States, Europe, Canada and Oceania leading to greater social chaos and
turbulence.
In the year 2068 India, one of the poorest countries on the face of this
planet will overtake China as the world’s largest economy.
Lord Jesus has given the rich enough to eat; a roof over their heads; a bed
to sleep on; schools to go to and clothes to wear…
“But the Lord works in mysterious ways!”
There are little children who have very little or nothing to eat and often go
to bed hungry at night; live in shelters or are homeless; often sleep on the
roadsides or inside water pipes and shacks for warmth; wear the same set
of clothes and do not go to school…
There are besides little children, called ‘orphans’ living on the streets,
abandoned by an apathetic and cold and callous society, deprived of love,
affection and warmth.
Further, the world with more refugees flocking to America and Australia
will probably be overcrowded by 2080…
The emerging discipline of neuro-economics says that economic decisions
are the product of interactions between different brain parts that evolved
at different times and for different reasons. Armed with this insight,
scholars like Harvard's David Laibson are beginning to reconstruct
economics from the prefrontal cortex up. That might take us to a far better
understanding of why consumers buy, why investors buy and sell–and how
everything from 401(k) plans to marketing strategies to tax policies should
be put together…
Older people who have low expectations for a satisfying future may be
more likely to live longer, healthier lives than those who see brighter days
ahead, according to new research published by the American Psychological
Association.
"Our findings revealed that being overly optimistic in predicting a better
future was associated with a greater risk of disability and death within the
following decade," said lead author Frieder R. Lang, PhD, of the University
of Erlangen-Nuremberg in Germany. "Pessimism about the future may
encourage people to live more carefully, taking health and safety
precautions." The study was published online in the journal Psychology and
Aging.
Lang and colleagues examined data collected from 1993 to 2003 for the
national German Socio-Economic Panel, an annual survey of private
households consisting of approximately 40,000 people 18 to 96 years old.
The researchers divided the data according to age groups: 18 to 39 years
old, 40 to 64 years old and 65 years old and above. Through mostly inperson interviews, respondents were asked to rate how satisfied they were
with their lives and how satisfied they thought they would be in five years.
Five years after the first interview, 43 percent of the oldest group had
underestimated their future life satisfaction, 25 percent had predicted
accurately and 32 percent had overestimated, according to the study.
Based on the average level of change in life satisfaction over time for this
group, each increase in overestimating future life satisfaction was related
to a 9.5 percent increase in reporting disabilities and a 10 percent increased
risk of death, the analysis revealed.
Because a darker outlook on the future is often more realistic, older adults’
predictions of their future satisfaction may be more accurate, according to
the study. In contrast, the youngest group had the sunniest outlook while
the middle-aged adults made the most accurate predictions, but became
more pessimistic over time.
"Unexpectedly, we also found that stable and good health and income
were associated with expecting a greater decline compared with those in
poor health or with low incomes," Lang said. "Moreover, we found that
higher income was related to a greater risk of disability."
The researchers measured the respondents' current and future life
satisfaction on a scale of 0 to 10 and determined accuracy in predicting life
satisfaction by measuring the difference between anticipated life
satisfaction reported in 1993 and actual life satisfaction reported in 1998.
They analyzed the data to determine age differences in estimated life
satisfaction; accuracy in predicting life satisfaction; age, gender and income
differences in the accuracy of predicting life satisfaction; and rates of
disability and death reported between 1999 and 2010. Other factors, such
as illness, medical treatment or personal losses, may have driven health
outcomes, the study said.
The findings do not contradict theories that unrealistic optimism about the
future can sometimes help people feel better when they are facing
inevitable negative outcomes, such as terminal disease, according to the
authors. "We argue, though, that the outcomes of optimistic, accurate or
pessimistic forecasts may depend on age and available resources," Lang
said. "These findings shed new light on how our perspectives can either
help or hinder us in taking actions that can help improve our chances of a
long healthy life."
________________________________________
Article: "Forecasting Life Satisfaction Across Adulthood: Benefits of Seeing a
Dark Future?" Frieder R. Lang, PhD, University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and
German Institute for Economic Research; David Weiss, PhD, University of
Zurich; Denis Gerstorf, PhD, Humboldt-University of Berlin and German
Institute for Economic Research; Gert G. Wagner, PhD, German Institute for
Economic Research and Max Planck Institute for Human Development;
Psychology and Aging, online Feb. 18, 2013
Full text of the article is available from the APA Public Affairs Office and at
http://www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/pag-ofp-lang.pdf
As we approach the year 2015, I am a bit confused more disgruntled that
things have remained the way they are and that our “Millennium
Development Goals” (MDGs) are being officially neglected, resulting in
more and widespread resentment and social chaos and a culture of
violence in a strife-torn world. I am also reminded of the French Revolution
of 1789, that the Guillotine came down and France burnt as a result of
widespread disillusionment and a general breakdown in law and order.
Are our priorities right? As we leave issues like famine, hunger, poverty,
disease and a general ignorance either uncatered to or unresolved, a social
Armageddon could very well be only a matter of time.
Only Love can rectify these…
CHAPTER 4
IT MUST HAVE BEEN…LOVE
“When you look upon another human being and feel great love toward
them, or when you contemplate beauty in nature and something within
you responds deeply to it, close your eyes for a moment and feel the
essence of that love or that beauty within you, inseparable from who you
are, your true nature. The outer form is a temporary reflection of what you
are within, in your essence. That is why love and beauty can never leave
you, although all outer forms will.”
- Eckhart Tolle, (born Germany, 1948 as Ulrich Tolle) is a contemporary
spiritual teacher and writer on spirituality. His non-fiction bestseller, The
Power of Now, describes his experience of enlightenment at the age of 29
after suffering long periods of depression, dissolving his old identity and
radically changing the course of his life…His later book, A New Earth further
explores the structure of the human ego and how this acts to distract
people from their present experience of the world. His other works include
Stillness Speaks, a book that modernizes the ancient sutra form. The aim of
Tolle's teachings is the transformation of individual and collective human
consciousness -a global spiritual awakening.
I remember what a friend of mine once asked me in all earnest: ‘Every day
we read in the newspaper or hear about the “War on Terror(ism)”. Who are
these terrorists? Wherein their origin(s)? This question really shocked me! I
was myself in search of an appropriate answer! They are our own people,
whom we sometimes create through political and economic isolation, or
they could be fanatics, sometimes sponsored by hostile nations, trying to
disrupt normal life through terrorism. In the Ramayana, the battle is
between the divine hero Rama and the demon king Ravana. It is a longdrawn battle that finally Rama wins. In the Mahabharata, the battle at
Kurukshetra is a battle between good and evil, and Dharma wins. The
battles are many but finally peace triumphs.
In our times too we see good battling evil- for instance, the Second World
War. It seems to me both good and evil will survive side by side. The
Almighty does help both to varied degrees! How to minimize the evil
through our spiritual growth is a question that has persisted throughout
human history…
I can recall that the ‘Battle of Kalinga’ had claimed the lives of at least
300,000 people with an equal number being wounded. Victory had been
obtained at heavy cost…And Emperor Asoka looked down at the horror he
had created, a horror of bloodshed and more gore…At that moment that
was to go down in the annals of history, Ahimsa Dharma was born…The
remorseful King embraced God’s command to propagate love for human
beings through this doctrine!
Asoka said, ‘Friends, there is one thing I have realized, there is no victory in
causing suffering. Triumph is a peaceful kingdom…’
The Great Albert Einstein once famously remarked, ‘You know, in the West
we have built a large, beautiful ship. It has all the comforts in it, but one
thing is missing: it has no compass and does not know where to go. Men
like Tagore and Gandhi and their spiritual forebears found the compass.
Why can this compass not be put in the human ship so that both can realize
their purpose?’
Sage Ashtavakra had once propounded that the business of life ought to be
peace and prosperity, and not exploitation and conflict…
Just like Nature! Nature gives without reservation, like the mango treepeople throw stones at it, break off its branches, but it still offers its shade
to the weary traveler, and its fruits to the hungry!
Then wherein we…?
The history of the world shows the forces of good struggling hard to make
life better for mankind while we human beings show a terrible capacity for
destruction…Thus we have Gandhi on the one hand, striving relentlessly
towards Non-Violence, while on the other hand, millions die in the Second
World War and Pearl Harbor and the atomic bombing of entire cities.
Several thousands perish in Bosnia-Herzegovina…a war rages in the Gaza
Strip between Israel & Palestine…
And on 11 September 2001, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in
New York City fall and innocent lives are lost…In India, in the Bhopal gas
tragedy, 30,000 people die as the result of the carelessness of a
multinational company, and Chernobyl and the daily Violence in the
Kashmir Valley…
Where are we going? Are we doomed to destroy ourselves?
No, we have to find an everlasting solution…
In the modern era, there are few such examples, of those who embody the
qualities that come from realizing the nature of the mind…
‘Atmabodha’…We are too much preoccupied with ostentatious displays of
wealth and personal freedom!
Actually, how humane or civilized or compassionate or tolerant are we?
There is still a long way to go…
Abundance and spirituality are not mutually exclusive nor is it wrong to
desire material things…Nature too adopts full measures; you would observe
that if you looked around you! Inside a garden, there is a profusion of
flowers. Even better still, if you looked up, you would see the vast Universe
stretching into infinitude, unbelievable really!
All that we see in the world is an embodiment of energy, as Sri Aurobindo
says. Therefore it becomes wise to appreciate that spirit and matter are
both part of existence, are in harmony with each other, after all, it is the
realization that it is wrong to feel that it is shameful or non-spiritual to
desire material things that matters…
‘How do you love when you don’t love?’
CHAPTER 5
BRIDGE OVER TROUBLED WATER
We're born alone, we live alone, we die alone. Only through our love and
friendship can we create the illusion for the moment that we're not alone.
~ Orson Welles
Friends can help each other. A true friend is someone who lets you have
total freedom to be yourself - and especially to feel. Or, not feel. Whatever
you happen to be feeling at the moment is fine with them. That's what real
love amounts to - letting a person be what he really is. ~ Jim Morrison
James Douglas "Jim" Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an
American singer-songwriter and poet, best remembered as the lead singer
of Los Angeles rock band The Doors. Following The Doors' explosive rise to
fame in 1967, Morrison developed a severe alcohol and drug dependency
that culminated in his death at the age of 27 in Paris. He is alleged to have
died of a heroin overdose, but as no autopsy was performed, the exact
cause of his death is still disputed. Morrison was well known for often
improvising spoken word poetry passages while the band played live. Due
to his wild personality and performances, he is regarded by critics and fans
as one of the most iconic, charismatic and pioneering frontmen in rock
music history…
Morrison's early life was a nomadic existence typical of military families.
Jerry Hopkins recorded Morrison's brother, Andy, explaining that his
parents had determined never to use physical corporal punishment such as
spanking on their children. They instead instilled discipline and levied
punishment by the military tradition known as dressing down. This
consisted of yelling at and berating the children until they were reduced to
tears and acknowledged their failings. Once Morrison graduated from
UCLA, he broke off most contact with his family. By the time Morrison's
music ascended to the top of the charts (in 1967) he had not been in
communication with his family for more than a year and falsely claimed
that his parents and siblings were dead (or claiming, as it has been widely
misreported, that he was an only child).
David Crosby on an album by CPR wrote and recorded a song about the
movie “The Doors” ((1991), a fiction film by director Oliver Stone, starring
Val Kilmer as Morrison with the lyric: "And I have seen that movie – and it
wasn’t like that – he was mad and lonely – and blind as a bat.".
Could the sheer absence of love and an intense loneliness have contributed
to Morrison’s untimely demise?
My own story is that of sheer absence of familial love and an intense
loneliness as well. The only exception is the love of a mother.
This is the beginning of the story of one woman’s relentless pursuit of
peace and happiness…
I, Ms Nilanjana Sanyal was born in Jamshedpur (now, Jharkhand state) on
the 24th of June, 1974 into a progressive Hindu Brahmin Indian family. That
was the year India tested her first underground nuclear weapon detonation
in Pokhran, a remote location of Thar Desert region of Rajasthan. That was
also the year the “Loch Ness Monster” was photographed for the 1st time
on January 8th. Other major historical events include the beginning of the
‘World Population Year’; a small pox epidemic in India; USSR performing
nuclear test at Eastern Kazakh; Patty Hearst, daughter of publisher
Randolph Hearst being kidnapped by SLA; Iran/Iraqi border fight breaking
out and Pakistan officially recognizing Bangladesh apart from Mount Etna in
Sicily erupting.
My parents had had an arranged marriage. My father deeply loved my
mother, but said nothing when her in-laws (including his two sisters)
treated her with humiliation and indignity.
When I was two years old, a hermit soothsayer predicted that I was a rare
species of woman and would win over the cosmos some day. Forget about
winning over the cosmos, I don’t even have gainful employment for years
altogether! Let’s face it; I’m without a job thanks to the fact that I have in
the past and continue to undergo a powerful emotional and physical
struggle and no one’s willing to take me! We Indians talk about women’s
rights, social security, gender equality and welfare systems but the story
remains the same for us. There’s no one for us, only extreme stigma and
discrimination that society has meted out to us. The story is no different for
anyone!
I see myself as a woman of courage. I have always been brave and smiling
and cheerful despite the odds that I face day-after-day and it’s been
years…When I hear Nelly Furtado’s voice, I remember the time I was
awarded a Bachelor’s in Music. I remember the time I used to sing in
school, then as member of my college team during inter-College fests… I
used to be a great dancer (I mean freestyle, creative) as well! I remember
once how my partner and I danced our way to stardom at the IIT Delhi
Socials while the rest just looked on, mesmerized! I used to be a great
Donald Bradman, a la Derek Underwood (I still have all the names by
heart!) and they were scared to bowl to me for fear that they might be hit
over the fence! I was strong and sturdy then, strong enough to control the
crowds outside the I P College gates during our annual fest ‘Shruti’. I was
also right from the beginning a thorough intellectual, my article ‘Sexual
Revolution in India: A Myth or a Reality’ was adjudged the best in an interCollege fest in Delhi, and I literally went on to capture hearts!
But things have changed from the chirpy thing I was in college… After
topping the University of Delhi in my first year, I was pressurized to put in
more effort… And indeed I did. I was now studying like hell, both in and out
of the campus arc lights! An inevitable result was reduced vision that did
not come into notice then. Around the same time, I was getting involved…
with society. With the problems and issues that our college laborers faced.
On one occasion, I remember having provoked the authorities over water. I
had then become extremely popular in college, especially among the
‘Karmcharis’ (manual laborers, the sweepers and so on). A social conscience
was born!
I lost a friend on campus (who committed suicide); I fell off a red-liner (a
bus) in Delhi and was hit by a car, I had several accidents but I was
determined and I did eventually qualify CAT (the Common Admission Test
to the Indian Institutes of Management) and B-school in Calcutta (IISWBM,
Kolkata). But that was the beginning of my tragedy!
We were in a hostel, but the hostel authorities never cared… That was
when my vision problems surfaced; I was unable to read the blackboard in
class! My attention and eventually concentration power waned; I started
losing focus…At around the same time, one of our hostellers who were
studying medicine had to be suddenly taken to the doctor. We found her in
sweat and shiver, and she was clutching on to her cerebellum! That was
perhaps my first exposure to Depression, the illness, the mental fatigue and
the symptoms! Whatever it was, it was horrible! The very next day, they
hospitalized her; put her on Electro-convulsive Therapy and some halfdozen medications! So perhaps I was all used to it when it was my turn, the
year being 1997-99… I also vividly remember how our hostel maid’s little
daughter, chirpy thing that she was, was packed off to a government
hospital along with her young mother in the middle of the night in a car
jam-packed with men following a dangerous accident! The hostel
authorities on Beadon Street (Calcutta) said not a word and did practically
nothing about the incident! That incident was to change my life, steer me
onto thinking how indifferent (or, apathetic) we really are to the needs of
the poor!
We think we have come a long way. We have a long way to go. We think we
have made Progress. We have a lot of progress to make. We think we have
learnt from the experiences of other countries. We have plenty to learn!
Consider this: India has the largest number of children of school-going age
out of school. There are millions waiting to learn to read and write, to see
the light in their lives. There are villages without roads, without electricity.
There are schools that haven’t seen what a desktop looks like. Women in
Rajasthan walk miles in parched heat to fetch drinking water. An innocent
villager was refused admittance at the hospital when in labor; she couldn’t
sign her husband’s name. These are our ‘Unwanted Indians’…
Consider also the practice of selective sex abortion. The practice of aborting
‘unwanted girls’ is widespread in India. Manual scavenging is common in
India. An Indian couple found an unwell 75-year old woman lying on a
garbage dump apparently thrown out of her home by her children. As the
New India Rises, so do slums of laborers. Lack of dignity for manual labor
and very low pay has always been a truth in India. It is part of the caste
system, part of our history. There is widespread trafficking in women and
children. My concern is also those who have undergone powerful
emotional (mental health) anguish and physical torment. Why then ought
to be a lack of dignity?
It’s fashionable to use the term “Differently abled” these days! What they
do not realize is the pain each one of us goes through… It’s extremely
painful for us. The pain in terms of lack of employability and consequent
loss of productivity, the stigma and the discrimination that come with the
condition, the medical cost to the family, the loss of respect in society and
consequent low self-esteem, and above all, the pain itself are issues one
must contend with? There is huge loss on the exchequer, but ask a
differently abled individual whether s/he would, or rather could think at all
about the exchequer?
Put yourself in the shoes of the other person: the Father of a Down’s
syndrome Child, the mother of a child with Cerebral Palsy or the
grandparent of an intellectually-challenged or learning disabled child! See
how it feels at first?
To experience what society labels “Differently abled” is to know it first
hand! Otherwise, the ‘beautiful mind’ in India shall remain an ‘Unknown
Indian’…
The year was 1997-8. I was training with a corporate NGO in Orissa (CYSD)
when I had to undergo a painful surgery on the toe nail… It was about 12:00
am and I was in the midst of a medicated slumber… I was all alone in the
hostel. Suddenly, I found a familiar face barge into the room! It was
Ramesh, one of the canteen staff. Earlier, they had tried to drug my food as
far as I could remember… These could have been the perfect ingredients of
a Stephen King spine-chiller! For truly the first time in my life, I was scared…
But I had the ability to muster courage and throw the intruder out of my
room! My lone fight was not over… The organization blamed me and there I
was, in an alien environment with practically no knowledge of the local
language (Oriya) and a group of hostile apathetic people (save a few
including my colleagues from overseas, Kate and Judith) most of whom
were not concerned about my general well-being at that point of time… I
suffered a breakdown of sorts and all the organization did was send me
back home with two complete strangers (it seems our hostel maid’s story
was repeating itself…) I must add here that I recently approached this
organization for employment but all they did was smile back enquiring
about my name and with no concrete action on the matter!
The story did not end there! In fact, it was to begin there… Tears well up in
my eyes as the tragedy unfolds… This was to be the beginning of all that
pain, the violence on the exterior and its continuing struggle with the nonviolence and serenity within; the loss of trust, self-esteem and self-respect
within the family; repeated trips to the clinic; all that traditional Western
medication; the ECTs; the loss of self-control; the aggression; the mood
fluctuations; all those ‘highs’ and ‘lows’; the pills had literally devoured me
leaving me with very little or practically no capacity to reason; the
depression and so on and so forth… My father used to spend a good part of
his day crying, never before had I seen a grown-up man cry like that and yes
in the presence of the deity!
It was the day my brother was to sit his IIT examinations… I woke up early
in the morning unable to walk upright and my palms were sweating and
completely numb, I was completely paralytic! That was the first time death
was staring me in the face and there have been many more times… That
day was to mark the first day of my trips to the clinic…It was difficult
coming to terms with the pain at first but something within me urged me to
go on… My mother used to put on the music whenever I felt depressed and
there I was on my feet…! She taught me that Life is meant to be lived to the
full! Life is beautiful…all of life! Beethoven was born hearing-impaired; can
one imagine the trauma while trying to compose music?
By now, I was involved with life! With the lives of the underprivileged, so to
say… The late Dr. D.K. Dey, Director, Social Services, Tata Steel,
Jamshedpur, INDIA called me to his office to inform me that I had been
offered a traineeship. My joy knew no bounds! The year was 1997… I have
not looked back ever since though I am still largely unemployed even now
(meaning there were a few periods of employment in between)!!! With a
brief period of recurring illness in between, I have continued being a Good
Samaritan.
I used to make frequent trips to the field to see for myself ‘how India
lives’… It’s really pathetic, I must say! The stark nakedness in the heights of
winter, the abject poverty, the extreme misery, all that inequality, it has
always upset me… While innocent poultry were being slaughtered to fill our
bellies (i.e. those of the field staff); children with pot bellies stalked our
jeeps as if we were aliens from outer space! I was upset about this dual
cruelty; at the strange powerlessness that globalization had imposed on so
many of us!
I started speaking my mind to many of these laborers, those that drove our
vehicles and finally to the management. “The Kindergarten Social Welfare
Foundation” (KIDS) was born out of the efforts of the common man, people
who never lived in palatial houses, those whose roofs were leaking, and for
whom safe water was a luxury. I am happy to have been one of the
Founder/members; in fact all we had in the beginning was a dilapidated
building with a few children. Over the years, KIDS has grown and the reins
have passed on from one individual to another, but the vision and the
mission approach remain intact…
CHAPTER 6
ANOTHER DAY IN PARADISE
The Progress of Nations
Sometimes, life brings in its wake ‘special’ people who then become a part
of you. Mukhtar Hussain or simply Mukhtar ‘Bhaiyya’ (brother) was and will
continue to be special to me. He was more than the Founder of KIDS, but
someone who gave me dignity and respect at a time when I was being
innocently victimized by our doctors and psychiatrists, members of family,
acquaintances and friends alike, indeed society. By society, I mean the city
of Jamshedpur where I was born. A city I have never loved, indeed a closed,
industrial and claustrophobic environment. Where people keep their doors
closed to you when you most need them. I have never quite recovered
from this city. Sadly, Mukhtar Bhaiyya does not live here any more. His
family, consisting of his wife and two lovely children does. Mr. Hussain
currently resides in the Middle East.
It hurts, the distance, but the memories remain…
KIDS used to be located in a small building adjacent to the “Harijan Bustee”
(‘Harijan’: Mahatma Gandhi’s ‘Children of God’ and ‘Bustee’: slum) in
Jamshedpur. They called the place ‘crèche’, and as I walked in each
morning, I could hear the lovely children play. Some of them would come
and greet me, what an honor it was to shake hands with India’s future
generations, the children of her peasants, her laborers, indeed her common
folk, who could easily be India’s future teachers, doctors, social-workers,
her Prime-ministers and Presidents! And there was this little girl, Ishita, a
lovely little girl of five, the daughter of a laborer, whom I especially loved. I
have always cared for all these children, knowing fully well that they came
from deprived and vulnerable backgrounds, with some of them being
orphans as well.
Brief moments of respite, from the heavy drudgery of a city I have never
loved…
In the beginning, all we had was a small school building that had been
leased out by the Company, where there were two classrooms, a
washroom apart from an office. There were over a hundred children,
mostly from extremely deprived backgrounds and education was free for
them. There was a desktop computer as well. The office was where Mr.
Hussain and I used to sit; indeed there were cupboards that housed the
school files.
There used to be plenty of sunshine inside the school compound, and there
was plenty of sunshine in my life then. I was never given an opportunity to
think that I was sick or ailing; indeed there was so much of encouragement
from everyone and especially from the KIDS Management. I was never
allowed to be lonely, and they all took special care of me…
KIDS was at that point of time a dream… come true. There was something I
learned from my experience, that sometimes the most progressive thinking
exists among and especially within our most deprived and vulnerable
communities, indeed the POOR. One could be highly educated, foreignbred and with a plethora of degrees (and sometimes you get fake ones in
the market) and a member of the rich, powerful and the ‘elitist’, but if one
is not willing to shed one’s inhibitions, then there is simply no point talking
about PROGRESSIVE THINKING.
After all, sometimes, our most progressive thinkers have come from the
less fortunate sections of society.
I miss that progressive outlook…
CHAPTER 7
HAPPINESS IS A WARM GUN
Our Conservative Outlook
Recently, I had the opportunity to meet with a senior Executive of the
Company, the company my father has worked with all his life until his
retirement. This gentleman (name withheld) has been suffering from a
condition called Multiple Sclerosis for a long time. He is a brilliant
individual, with many distinctions and honors from abroad, and has risen to
great eminence despite his disability. I had immense respect for this man,
until recently when I met him.
I never quote people unless I can quote them verbatim, and demeaning
someone through my writing has never been my objective, but I am
surprised that someone who has a debilitating disability himself should
discourage someone else who is also suffering immensely as if she never
deserved to get what she got in life by virtue of her own efforts: namely, a
once freelance assignment with the company. I will not say anything
beyond this except that I find that an extremely backward and conservative
outlook exists.
Indeed it is not within either the scope of this book or its objective to single
out people or organizations that have discriminated, but one must proceed
in order to be able to highlight that certain discriminatory practices do exist
in society that target, among others, the poor & the disabled, particularly,
those with a mental health disability. We cannot change society unless we
dare speak out, so as to say… because then change proceeds through a
‘ripple effect, more and more ‘victims of society’ take turns to add their
voices for a more profound change.
I remember the time I was working with Manovikas Kendro, a leading
disability rehabilitation organization (working with ‘special needs’ children)
in the Eastern region. I do not remember having let them down anytime;
indeed I was extremely diligent in my work. After two months however, the
CEO and the Founder said I should come only two-three times a week, and I
was eventually removed off the rolls. What had I done to deserve this?
They all profess to have a progressive outlook, no one says no to you or
refuse to employ you but they just don’t take you in. And then there are
innumerable questions on your condition, the type, the symptoms, blah
blah blah…
It’s been the same ordeal day-after-day, year after year.
What started off with being denied a job at the CII (Confederation of Indian
Industry) continued to the losing of a job at Manovikas Kendro and the
inevitable result, thanks to our progressive outlook, is a young woman who
has remained largely unemployed (with brief periods of respite) for the last
16 years. I will also not hesitate to mention that IICP (Indian Institute of
Cerebral Palsy), Kolkata which works with children with Cerebral Palsy also
corresponded with me only to the point when I mentioned my condition to
them. There was no correspondence after that.
Everyone in India has an extremely progressive outlook. So progressive that
an innocent nun is raped by fanatics in broad daylight and they go scotfree. So progressive that a little child is beaten up by the cops who walk
away scot-free. So progressive that an irate mob drags a young man who
has committed a petty theft. So progressive that we all sit quiet as hunger
takes away thousands of children each year…
They use fashionable names for the work being done for the poor:
poverty eradication; poverty alleviation; rural development;
international development; sustainable development; social
development and so on! The UN (United Nations) uses the term
‘Millennium Development Goals’… I respect the work being done by
NGOs, CBOs and international agencies such as the UN (United Nations).
The feeling by itself is important. But some amount of democratic
decentralization is necessary. Is it possible for the imposing centralized
United Nations headquarters in New York to be able to respond
immediately and effectively if a little girl child in India were to collapse
during her menstrual periods in the intense parched heat while walking
to fetch drinking water? That would be the daughter of a farmer. And
such people are really not important. Clamoring about our ‘Millennium
Development Goals’ simply won’t help. One has to be clear about one’s
purpose in life…
Does one exist (live) to eat or eat to exist?
EXISTENCE…?
CHAPTER 8
IF LIFE EXISTS
Astitiva: A Worthless Existence Vs A Simple Existence
(Is Life Mere Existence?)
“My body is numb
My head detached
Unable to focus
Unable to feel
I function through routine
Nothing can change
Nothing must change
A Worthless existence”
(“Tales From A Stream”, Author Unknown)
I have often wondered what living a “Worthless existence” means… What
“Existence” at all means! Is life mere existence? Is worthiness an inherited
trait, or is it acquired? What can modern civilization with its complex
systems of war-mongering, annihilator instincts (the capacity to wipe out
the human race) and obscene patterns of material consumption, sin and
greed learn from the “powers of simple existence”?
Ancient Indian Mythology tells us about our many virtuous sages and their
wonderful world. These sages were like children. Almost everything
fascinated them: the stars in the night sky, the tall mountains, the rivers
and oceans, the birds in the sky, tiny insects, even tigers…!
These pious men lived close to nature. They worshipped truth, nonviolence, self-discipline and simplicity. Foremost among the wise old men
of India was the great Sage Patanjali.
Patanjali, or more appropriately Rishi Patanjali was an extraordinary man,
renowned for his learning and wisdom, author of three brilliant works, one
on Sanskrit grammar, the second on Indian medicine Ayurveda, and the
third and the most important, the “Yoga Sutras of Patanjali”.
In Book II (Means of Attainment or Sadhana) of “The Yoga Sutras of
Patanjali” he writes:
“…Existence is that which is capable of acts fulfilling a purpose of the Self.
Non-existence is worthlessness (tucchata) as regards the purpose of the
Self. That is so-described [as having neither existence nor non-existence]
which is beyond the range of both existence and non-existence… The state
when sattva and rajas and tamas are in equipoise is never of use in fulfilling
a purpose of the Self. And so it is not existent. Neither does it have a
worthless kind of existence like the sky-lotus. Therefore it is also not nonexistent… For there is no utter annihilation of the existent, or if utterly
annihilated it cannot be made to grow again. For because one cannot make
the non-existent grow, the Great [Thinking-substance] and the other
[entities] would really exist [in the unphenomenalized state] and therefore
might function as acts fulfilling the purpose of the Self [and so the
unphenomenalized state might be said to exist]…”
So, Life is Worthless existence, is it? Then, what is Worth? And what is
Worthlessness?
What is Existence? And what is Non-existence?
This brings us to the fundamental question – what is Life? And what is Non
life?
What is “Prana”? And what is “Aprana”? ‘Aprana’ is simply put,
Lifelessness…
But why does one always have to live only a worthless existence? A brave
new world calls for more than mere existence, it calls for existence “with a
purpose”…the ability to dream…for nations and peoples… and I often feel I
have never dreamt…should one dare dream anyway?
I know not the answer. Because I have never really been happy…
CHAPTER 9
IF I WAS YOU I WOULDN'T TREAT ME THE WAY YOU
DO
A History of Abuse
“In the past 20 years, man has demonstrated his skill at enabling large
numbers of people to survive who would not have survived in the past –
but to survive in poverty, in ignorance, in sickness, often in degradation
(quality of life). Together we have survived as one human family.”
- Anonymous
“Who hit you, who did this to you?” Aunt Sita’s eyes had popped out of
their sockets! (I have often seen this curiosity in many of my fellow
Indians, this is something I genuinely detest)…Not that we achieve
anything by asking questions meant to arouse sympathy, one could
empathize in ‘n’ number of ways, but the approach itself is flawed…are
we really concerned?
“My brother!” I was reluctant to divulge the details.
“Your brother…?” “I can’t imagine!” “But why…?”
“I had just come back from a blood test and he started…”
“Anyway, how do these questions matter? My entire life so far has been
chapter-after-chapter of justice denied, a story of oppression, and a
sordid tale of being an innocent victim of the circumstances…”
I have had these blood pathology tests all these years probably to
measure the drug count in my blood. Kurt Cobain was on Lithium until
his untimely death. Many famous personalities have been on
psychotropic medication. Woody Allen has visited a Psychiatrist all his
life until he walked away with the ‘Lifetime Achievement Award’ of the
Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. I only wish to highlight
that there is life beyond the pill. But this has to be nurtured…
When we were young, our parents used to take us to Puri, the famous
Lord Jagannath pilgrimage in Orissa state of India. We used to listen to
the sounds of the tide roaring, take long walks to the beach. We were
young then. Now my brother has grown up, studied overseas and
developed his own perspective… He lives his own life… Perhaps that is
the only way of justifying the image he has developed of a physically ill
sister of whom he had certain expectations but which changed over
time… Change, after all, is the essence of life…
I have traveled all over India-to Kolkata, Bhubaneswar and Puri in the
East to New Delhi, Mussorie and Dehradun in the North to Mumbai in
the West to Bangalore in the South. I was young and athletic then!
Those were the days, when the family could Board crowded trains and
luxurious flights with equal ease, in fact, I had the tenacity of a teen and
the emotional strength of a bungee-jumper!
But all is not lost hope, although things have changed now…The worst
thing one can do is losing hope in life… I often wonder that if I lost hope
in life, what would happen to my aged parents. I am also concerned
about what would happen to me and the cause for which I exist? God
creates each one of us for a purpose and one must make every attempt
to fulfill that purpose in life… Again, when God closes all doors upon
you, he keeps one window open…FOR YOU…
I often still wonder which window he has left opened…
CHAPTER 10
DON’T WORRY, BE HAPPY
Remember the Commandment: You Are a Beautiful
Gift of God
“…Life is a beautiful struggle. You have come from God. You are a spark of
His glory. You will get peace only when you can again merge in Him…”
(Unknown)
 Life is an enigma. Be in love with your life. Every detail of it.

 I never really wanted a perfect life. I just wanted a life that is happy.
And there are so many beautiful reasons to be happy. For just one
second, look at your life and see how perfect it is. Stop looking for
the next secret door that is going to lead you to your real life. This is
it: there’s nothing else. It’s here and you’d better decide to enjoy it
or you’re going to be miserable wherever you go, for the rest of your
life, forever.

 Look at the Stars, look how they shine for you. Look at the moon, and
feel happy. Look at the sun, and how it lights up your life.

 You have to decide what’s most important to you. Keeping your pride
and getting nothing. Or taking a risk, and maybe, just maybe having
everything.

 You are good enough. Think of all the beauty still around you and be
happy.

 Don’t just pray about what seems logical and possible. Pray HARD
about the “impossible." God will show you that NOTHING, nothing,
nothing, nothing is impossible with Him. Ever. Period. End of story.

 You can choose to blame your circumstances on fate or bad luck or
bad choices. Or you can fight back. Things are always going to be fair
in the real world. That’s just the way it is. But for the most part, you
get what you give. The rest of your life is being shaped right now.
With the dreams you chase. The choices you make. And the person
you decide to be. The rest of your life is a long time. And the rest of
your life starts right now.

 Place your trust in God. He will always bring you out of the difficult
situations and to you He will restore happiness.

 People were created to be loved and things meant to be used. The
reason the world is in chaos is because things (by this, I mean
“material” things) are being loved and people are being used.

 Whatever you do, hold on to hope! The tiniest thread will twist into
an unbreakable cord. Let hope anchor you in the possibility, that this
is NOT the end of your story, that change will bring you to peaceful
shores.

 Remember: “YOU ARE FREE OF THE PAST…”
“…Never lie to people, because the people you’re able to lie to…are the
people that trust you...” (Anne Frank)
 Remember also that not everything is meant to be, but at least worth
a try.

 God’s plan is always the best. Sometimes, the process is painful and
hard, but don’t forget that when God is silent, He’s doing something
for you.

 And this strikes a chord in my heart:
“But I trust in your UNFAILING love; my heart rejoices in your salvation. I
will sing to the LORD, for He has been good to me.” (Psalm 13:5-6)

 A few rules: 1.) Never stop thinking. This is important. If someone
ever says to you “you need to stop thinking so much," call them
ignorant in your head and keep thinking deeper. It is this mentality
that breeds stupid people. Your mind is the most important thing you
have, if you stop using it, it will atrophy. Stare into space blankly and
don’t mentally punish yourself for doing it, even if it is for that split
second. 2.) Don’t be afraid to talk about anything. You shouldn’t be
afraid of reality. 3.) Everyone is a hypocrite. 4.) You are all original.
Every life experience is case sensitive and unique. Every time you
wake up or quote someone else, you are becoming more you than
anyone has ever been. 5.) Do pointless things. Don’t actively restrain
or hide yourself from the redundant. 6.) Stop rushing. Shut up and
embrace the sound of silence. 7.) Religion shouldn’t be taught, it
should be found. No one should tell you what to believe except for
you. 8.) Talking to yourself is healthy. Is there anyone you have more
in common with? 9.) There is no such thing as time. The sun never
sets or rises. Days and years don’t exist. There is only your life. 10.)
We will always be in a transitional phase. Look outside and know that
everything will be replaced at some point. This existence is
temporary. 11.) It’s not half empty or half full. It’s half a glass. 12.)
Every now and then, you take something that you see every day and
try to see it in a different light. Renew its resistance. 13.) Be happy,
but don’t force it. 14.) You will always succeed in trying. 15.) We are
all crazy. 16.) We are all about as similar as we are different. 17.)
Ideas are about as valuable as people. Numbers don’t have to go in
order. 18.) Words will always be just words. Love is just another four
letter word, only the feeling is real. 19.) Ask a child for advice. They
may not know much, but they know what’s important. 20.) Prove
you’re alive. Do anything from dancing in the supermarket to taking
an impulse trip to another country. Remind the world you are still
here. 21.) Don’t take anything seriously.
After all, you ought to be global in thought even when local in action!
CHAPTER 11
MADE IN INDIA
Rich like Us
I am not Sameer Khanna or Rohan Sen or Bobby Khetri or Ashita Khurana.
They come from affluent families. They live in Bandra and Cuffe Parade of
Mumbai city or Greater Kailash and Vasant Kunj of New Delhi or Alipore
and Middleton Street of Calcutta. They are often the children of rich and
famous parents.
I have heard of affluent Indian families. The father who would be an
eminent academician would be later made a member of the Planning
Commission in New Delhi, the capital city of India. The mother would be
either very highly educated herself or a writer or painter or photographer
and inevitably a socialite. The brother (the only brother) would come out of
the Wharton Business School and be made Chief Economist with the World
Bank. The sister would graduate from the University of Peace in Costa Rica
part of an international cohort of students selected to document the causes
and short/long-term consequences of climate change and global warming.
Chances are she would already have studied deforestation in the Amazon
Rainforests and would now be ready to move to Venezuela…And then her
parents would suddenly recall her to tell her that they had found a
potential suitor for her. The boy would be inevitably a product of the
London Business School with his own business, from a rich family and
settled in Los Angeles.
They would then hold a fairytale-like wedding for their daughter of the kind
I could only read about in books. The guest list would read like a ‘Who’s
Who’.
They would inevitably book the banquet hall of the Taj and the Oberoi. An
Executive Chef would be flown in from either Liberia or Sri Lanka and there
would be a starter to begin with and dessert to wind up with. There would
be all genres and species of food from crabs cooked in white sauce to
scorpions cooked in black sauce!
There would be wine for everyone! Oh, how much the rich and the famous
drink!
The taxes don’t bother them, they don’t pay taxes. Some of them are rich
taxpayers though. The labels are not something they think about. Their
chauffeurs fetch the bottles from the shops and are supposed to check all
details.
They have all the money! Not that their children know what they are
supposed to do with their lives…The fathers send them to a lesser-known
Fashion school in America, and all they think they are supposed to do is to
study Fashion. Yves-Saint Laurent, Dolce Gabbana, Nina Ricci and Giorgio
Armani are names they naturally connect to! They have grown up on these
names! They dream of meeting Michel Adam, they dream of being at the
Fashion-bar Party, they dream of taking a cruise on the Diamond Yacht… All
they ever do is dream!
These are part of that generation of young ‘Youngs’ that lives on Sex, drugs
and Psychedelic Hip-hop and rock-n-roll. On Queen (Freddie Mercury) and
the Sex Pistols. And Oasis…And Tom Cruise and John Travolta and Cameron
Diaz and Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie and Enrique Iglesias and Shakira!
And Kentucky Fried Chicken and McDonald’s. And Spaghetti, Broccoli and
Dark Fantasy!
And Ham burgers and potato fingers and Chicken Pizza. The children of the
rich and the famous live on them.
They have a strong distrust of the labor classes. They’re happy being born
into the elite classes. They strongly believe in a ‘class divide’. They’re happy
being born into the class that can afford…to send their children to Kellogg,
to Harvard, to MIT and to Costa Rica. They’re happy they can make
something of their lives so that they can make wealth, earn a name and
respectability for themselves, be rich and famous so as to say!
God has given the rich and the famous everything they could possibly wish
for! They have big houses in the heart of Delhi, and there are cooks and
servants and chauffeurs all over the place…These are people the elite have
a marked distrust of, they often ran away with your valuables or raped or
murdered your family members…These were dirty beings, and never
innocent or simple. It was best we kept a distance from them…
This entire clamor over poverty eradication is something the rich, the
famous and the influential in India don’t approve of.
Why ought we to liberate the poor? What have they done for us? How do
they contribute to the economy? We are the economy-the doctors;
software engineers; architects; bureaucrats and the fashion-designers.
Those rickshaw-pullers and domestic servants, what good are they anyway?
The hip-hop generation is often seen at the usual rave parties; gay joints;
strip joints; and in the local pubs. Addicted to Cocaine and LSD and to
Cannabis and Marijuana. This is often the subject of much discussion in the
media, the academic fraternity and civil society organizations yet no one
says or does anything. Because their parents are running for office, and as
in the case of the Diaspora, Gubernatorial positions in the United States of
America and are rich and powerful men and women (like one’s family
originating from the Royal Family of Gwalior, for instance).
And as the Prime Minister of India spends his time in a banquet hall dining
with the President of the United States apparently to fulfill his official
commitments…
And as children in our desperately impoverished nation die the way do
ticks, fools dance!
SHUCKS!!! India stinks at times.
No morals, no ethics, and we have lost our ability to think and reason…
This is what happens when we Indians go gaga over Adam Smith’s “Wealth
of Nations” and when all that we (or, rather our multinational corporations)
think of is PROFIT, PROFIT & MORE PROFIT!
CHAPTER 12
MONEY FOR NOTHING
The Morality of Profit
"What is a man if he is not a thief who openly charges as much as he can for
the goods he sells?" - Mahatma Gandhi
Until recently, I was wondering whether torturing someone is wrong, but
can it be morally permissible to torture a man who can tell you where a
landmine has been planted? What if by torturing him, we are able to save
‘another’ innocent man’s life?
I am not a big fan of Capitalism. Also, as a young author, I do not even know
whether I’ll be able to do complete justice to the debate. But I shall try
nevertheless. After all, I belong to the Land of Gandhi who once remarked
“Earth provides enough to satisfy every man's need, but not every man's
greed”. But we greedy earthly (human) beings have forsaken our morals.
There cannot be a greater tragedy in the history of human civilization.
From the publication of Adam Smith’s “Wealth of Nations” in 1776 to our
contemporary profit-driven “Casino Economy”, we have witnessed an
unflinching, somewhat disturbing trend towards the globalization of
Western capitalism. The intellectual source is mainstream economics which
has capitalized almost every facet of our lives, from technology to labor to
the ecology to even productive resources, including the human brain and
its capacity to think and reason.
There is a war in the minds of men, and I also often believe that this
downturn (recession) is a major outcome of that inner conflict, between
what he considers wrong (his own motives) Vs what be believes in (his soul
or in other words, his own inner conscience or ethics.
But we are not going into the realm of Philosophy. No, not at all. Who’s
concerned about some silly ethics anyway? Who’s concerned about
conscience, about the soul? I’d much rather fill my own coffers provided I
don’t otherwise deprive others in the process…
I come from a developing nation. Although I have not seen hunger in my
own life, I know what it means to be hungry. I know what it feels like to
have to bury (or, cremate as in Hindu custom) your own child and with your
own hands. Big terms like ‘Sustainable Development’ and ‘Welfare
Economics’ do not go down well with me. As for ‘Market Economics’ and
some utterly dry ‘Fiscal Policy’ (well, I’m not much into Bulls and Bears
myself), these extravagant terms look good at conferences and conventions
(that however do not touch human lives) but consider ‘getting truly
involved’ in the lives of the poor, the food on their tables; the primary
health centers and the schools for their children. But that would be the son
or the daughter of a farmer. And such people are really not important, are
they?
In practice, most resources (social, economic, environmental for instance)
have been harnessed by aggressive capitalists [originally called adventurers,
forerunners of today’s powerful multinational corporations (MNCs)] in a
global search for profits. This trend has made the West richer while the vast
majority of humanity remains deprived.
It is inconceivable that any lasting peace in our world can be achieved when
millions of people die yearly from starvation, disease, poverty and hunger.
As such it would be unthinkable to treat peace as a condition characterized
simply by worldwide absence of conflict/war. For instance, some of the
questions which need an answer are: Is Peace only the absence of war; why
is it that even affluent nations live in so much of insecurity; why
mindless/limitless material consumption/consumerism is a scourge in
societies of the world; why should nations continue losing their children to
hunger and malnutrition and the importance of human development to
achieve dignity.
A new world is emerging. A world that is moving towards compassion. A
world that is moving towards greater tolerance. Towards Peace. There is
now more demand for Equality than ever before. Under these
circumstances, it becomes necessary that we the ‘Peace-loving Nations’ of
the world should facilitate the achievement of a more Egalitarian Global
Order.
This is only a utopian dream. As someone deeply concerned with
alternative issues and the meaning of peace, it is my sincere hope that my
dream will one day become a reality.
CHAPTER 13
HOLY LOVE (THE CHRISTMAS SONG)
A Call from the Lord
“My dear brothers and sisters, words are so inadequate to express how
humble and overwhelmed I feel at receiving this special calling. Throughout
my life as I have heard the General Authorities speak and felt the power of
their messages, I have gained a great reverence for the sacred role they
perform in the Church. Now, to be invited to sit with them and to assist
them in building the kingdom of God is a privilege I feel faint in accepting. I
pray for your support, for your faith and prayers that I might measure up. I
ask for your patience and for the patience of my Brethren who will be my
tutors. More than anything, I pray for the help of our Heavenly Father and
his Son, for without their help and direction I will surely fail.
I am grateful for my wonderful companion, Kathy. She makes goodness
look easy, and the purity of her spirit keeps our family focused on the
simple yet saving truths of the gospel. I’m so thankful for the valiant and
precious children that have been entrusted to us. I love them dearly and
appreciate so much their willingness to support me in this new calling. I
have been blessed with goodly parents. My parents are now serving as
proselyting missionaries in the Georgia Macon Mission. Even before I knew,
I knew that they knew the Church was true. I am so appreciative of Kathy’s
parents and their example of unselfish giving, and for our brothers and
sisters who live the gospel in quiet yet dedicated ways.
Our family returned nine months ago from a mission in southern France. I
want to express my great love for the members in France. It was in France
twenty years ago that I began to glimpse what seeking first the kingdom of
God really meant. And living among these French Saints during the last
three years has motivated our family to a much greater consecration. I am
so grateful for the tremendous missionaries who served there with us and
taught us that uncompromising faith will always prevail in a doubting and
cynical world.
Finally, I am thankful for the good Saints and members in our home state of
Florida, who have strengthened us through our many years there together.
I have heard President Monson say, “Whom the Lord calls, the Lord
qualifies.” I know this is true, and it gives me hope looking beyond my own
inadequacies. I know that when we are on the Lord’s errand, He will be
with us, He will strengthen us, He will build our capacities. I have
experienced it. I have felt His lifting Spirit. In the months and years ahead, I
will need Him so very much.
I pledge all that I am to this sacred calling. I promise to be teachable, and I
pray that I can be sufficiently meek that the Lord can mold and strengthen
my spirit to accomplish His purposes. I commit to you and to the Lord that I
will consecrate myself to advancing the cause of the Restoration and to
loyally following His chosen leaders.
I know that our Heavenly Father lives and that He loves each one of us. I
know that Jesus is the Christ and that He lovingly offers the way to our
forgiveness. I know that through the Prophet Joseph Smith the church of
Jesus Christ was restored to the earth and that the true priesthood
authority of God is in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I pray
that I may always be valiant in that testimony and to these eternal truths,
in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.”
- “Whom the Lord Calls, the Lord Qualifies” (April 1993, Neil L.Anderson)
When God calls you into relationship with His Son, there are distinct stages
He will take you through in your journey with Christ. These seven distinct
stages can be seen in most every believer throughout their lifetime.
Understanding these stages can help us prepare for the future events God
may bring into our lives. God's destiny for your life will involve stages that
may question God's activity in your life. Nevertheless, they are needful to
bring you into full maturity in your relationship with God. What are these
seven stages? Let me introduce each of these stages before we begin.
Stage 1 - Salvation
Stage 2 - Preparation
Stage 3 - Crisis
Stage 4 - Testing
Stage 5 - Confirmation of Your Call
Stage 6 - Fruitful Stage
Stage 7 - Elevation by God
(Os Hillman Discover Your Purpose
7 Stages of a Call from God
Os Hillman
)
I am also touched by what OSWALD CHAMBERS has written, and I QUOTE
verbatim:
“If our testimony is weak, it is because we have gone through no crisis with
God; there is no heartbroken emotion behind it. It is essential to go through
a crisis with God which costs you something; otherwise, your devotional life
is not worth anything. You cannot be profoundly moved by doctrine; you
can only be profoundly moved by devotion."
UNQUOTE
I strongly believe there's a calling for all of us. I know that every human
being has value and purpose. The real work of our lives is to become aware.
And awakened. And sensitized to answer God’s call.
I also often wonder what the meaning and essence of God is.
I found an interesting answer to this question in Sai Literature.
G=Generation
O=Organisation
D=Destruction
The world has the origin in God, the world is sustained by him and the
world ultimately merges in Him. Sairam.
Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva (Mahesh). The Trinity. The Creator, the Organiser
and the Destroyer. This is as the Hindus believe.
God is a word that means different things to different people. To many
Taoist or Buddhist the word is not part of their religion's glossary. To Hindus
that word has a different meaning than it does to a Christian. In Taoism,
Tao, the subtle reality of the universe cannot be described, That which can
be described in words is mearly a conception of the mind. Although names
and descriptions have been applied to it, the subtle reality is beyond the
description.
Tao Teh Ching - beginning of chapter 1
The subtle essence of the universe is elusive and evasive.
...
In Buddhism, "There is, O monks, an unborn, unoriginated, uncreated,
unformed. Were there not, O monks, this unborn, unoriginated, uncreated,
unformed, there would be no escape from the world of the born,
originated, created, formed.
"Since, O monks, there is an unborn, unoriginated, uncreated, and
unformed, therefore is there an escape from the born, originated, created,
formed."
The Gospel of Buddha - Sermon at the bamboo grove at Rajagaha.
Buddhism (The Lotus Sutra) also talks about the “Human Revolution” as
practiced by the Soka Gakkai, the living legend Dr.Daisaku Ikeda has
extensively toured the world, delivering lectures and talks on the Lotus
Sutra.
In Hinduism, “Neither the multitude of gods nor great sages know of my
origin, for I am the source of all the gods and great sages.
A mortal who knows me as the unborn, beginningless great lord of the
worlds is freed from all delusion and all evils.”
The Bhagavad-Gita - The tenth teaching, verses 2 & 3
Sikhism says “There is One, only One Supreme Being, Truth Eternal, Creator
of all seen & unseen, Fearless, Without hatred, Timeless Being, NonIncarnated, Self created, Realized by the Grace of Guru (Perfect Master
Only.)
Guru Granth Sahib Page 1
Christianity says: “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with
God, and the Word was God Himself. He was present originally with God.
All things were made and came into existence through Him; and without
him was not one thing made that has come into being.
Gospel of John 1:1-3
In Sufism, God is the Absolute Existence which causes (our) transient
(existences) to appear.
Masnavi - Book 1 - Creator and Creation
Can we then define God even though He means different entities to
different people?
God is the indescribable, uncreated, self existent, eternal all knowing
source of all reality and being.
Human beings are however in a constant state of confusion. There are
dilemmas-social, political, economic as well as spiritual. There is so much
turmoil in a chaotic world.
CHAPTER 14
YOU'VE LOST THAT LOVIN' FEELIN'
A Happiness Index
“Even if you be honoured at home and famed in foreign lands,
Given to pious deeds, and ever averse to wickedness, Yet
if the mind be not absorbed in the guru’s lotus feet,
What will it all avail you? What, indeed, will it all avail?”
“Even if every nation resound with your beneficence,
Yet if the mind be not absorbed in the lotus feet of him,
By grace of whom, alone, everything in this world is won,
What will it all avail you? What, indeed, will it all avail?”
From EIGHT STANZAS IN PRAISE OF THE GURU
“Atma-Bodha” (Self-knowledge) of Sri Sankaracarya, by Swami
Nikhilananda
The year was 2005, and the month February. I was waiting for my turn at
the clinic when a young lady, presumably a consultant (with the white garb
over green and yellow and in bell-bottomed trousers) walked up to me and
said, ‘Nilanjana, can we have you inside the chamber once again?’
I was lost in my own thoughts, of Poverty in the developing world,
inequality, caste, class, race and gender… I was probably dreaming about
the Welfare Economics of Amartya Sen and the Nobel Prize for Economics,
Literature and Peace…
Great deeds come out of good words… As I entered the chamber, I saw the
two young lady Consultants staring at me, as if I were something short of a
criminal! I was asked to pull a chair and sit down. All I remember of those
wonderful introductory moments was that one of the two, Dr. Supra Paul
fell off her chair (literally!) because she could not make any sense of
whatever I said while the other, Dr. Piyali Saha decided to take up my
case…
‘The significant other’ as I would call her, was to later have the most
profound influence one could ever have on one’s life, and by one, I mean
myself… Perhaps the person who has best understood and in a way related
to the excruciating pain and the tremendous agony and the immense
suffering I have gone through and continue to go through in life… But
through the power of Indian alternative Medicine, I have eventually come
to realize that life is beautiful, all of life… My doctors (Dr. Piyali Saha and
Dr. Supra Paul as well as their colleagues at Dr. Batras, Kolkata) have helped
or rather enabled me imbibe the great positivity that is so much a part of
life itself…
Back to the basics! I was that chirpy little thing in college, at university,
singing, dancing and the usual college-going teen! I was very talented, a
storehouse of energy but I was always outward-bound, and so in my
thoughts! By this I mean, that I wanted to travel the world, but I never
thought about the ills those plague my own country. Music to me meant
Heavy Metal! Dancing to me meant Ballroom and Salsa! Indian formal attire
never interested me! I was obsessed with the West and its culture! My
mind never dreamt of the luminaries like Gandhi and Vivekananda. I was
not interested in Indian Classical Music or in Classical Dance nor did the
scriptures interest me…
My dreams in life NEVER focused on the state of the nation… I never
thought about the problems of the poor and the downtrodden. My mind
never traveled to issues such as: how does the average man survive in
these harsh winters; how does the average girl child cope with her
menstrual periods under circumstances in which she may have to walk
several kilometers in parched heat just to be able to have access to safe
water for drinking and washing; how do millions of our innocent childbrides cope with pregnancy and labor at a time when primary health
centers are virtually non-existent; how does the average disabled senior
citizen or the child with Down’s syndrome cope with the dual stigmaborn disabled and born poor, meted out by an indifferent society; how
does the average child on the street survive, rendered cold and
homeless by a callous administration and an apathetic society? I was
simply not bothered…
India was virtually non-existent for me! That she lived in her villages
was something of the least of my concern. It was party-time! Festivals
and festoons were on the agenda, Free and Fair Trade was not… India
was simply out of my field of vision, all I saw, all I ever dreamt of, all I
ever imagined were ‘Starry Starry Nights’ and London and Berlin and
Warsaw and Vienna and Paris and Stockholm and off course on the
other side of the Atlantic, DC, LA and New York… I could see the Louvre,
Le Tour de Eiffel and St Peter’s Basilica, could hear the Big Ben; I could
talk to Vincent as he painted and Beethoven as he composed his music…
The Baul Singers of Bengal were trying to bring traditional folk-music to
my doorstep; the artisans of Kumartuli were trying to engraft Goddess
Durga for me… I simply did not care…
I was born part of the psychedelic, hip-hop generation! From drugs to
narcotics, sex to rave, I was part of this entire generation that lived on
punk and acid rock, Heavy Metal, ‘The Sex Pistols’, ‘Dirty Dancing’ and
‘Lambada’; Hash, Cocaine, Marijuana and Brown Sugar; ‘Sex, Lies and
Videotape’; ‘Sex and the City’, all kinds of Idols- ‘American Idol’, ‘Indian
Idol’; if you asked me to spell Krishna, I simply wouldn’t know…
Globalization came with its set of positive as well as adverse
consequences… I was indeed part of a larger Global Order that spent its
time on Coke and Pepsi, and Pizza and Cheese Burgers, Potato Fingers
and Ketchup and Coffee! What would be left of our grey matter if we
continued like this-corporatizing our brain cells? Surely a New Global
Order was the need of the hour!
It wasn’t my fault at all, that I had lost focus! I was undergoing a
tremendous struggle, a battle between my lack of self-esteem on the
one hand and my own emerging ideas (or rather ideals) on the other…
Then, there were the worldly temptations of globalization… the fast
food, the fast cars, a lucrative job, the money, the glamour, the fame et
al… Of course, none of these have come to me even now despite my
wide-open arms and the pain continues…
The pain in terms of being an innocent victim of a flawed system…
The pain in terms of being denied justice by the system… (In terms of
loss of employability)…
The pain in terms of undergoing oppression and torture at the hands of
society and loved ones…
The pain in terms of being institutionalized (a term I would use for being
confined at home) for a greater part of your life…
The pain in terms of losing the affection and protection of your loved
ones…
The pain in terms of being ‘branded’, being treated as a social
outcaste/ostracized…
The pain in terms of falling in the eyes of society…
The pain of being treated as ‘different and yet not able’ (the corporate
sector uses a funny term, differently abled) rather being ‘able’ to be of
consequence to society…
“You are not disabled”, Mr. Mishra, the person across the table said,
following a careful look at me… “You have impressive credentials”, he
added. I still remember his words. I had been called for an interview
following an open application to the Social Development Division. I was
qualified and had impeccable communication skills, all I (probably)
lacked was reason.
Those on drugs are not supposed to possess reason! I never heard from
the CII (Confederation of Indian Industry) following that interview. They
had put me on the ‘Ability Forum’ only God knew existed for which
purpose… And that was the end of my CII dreams!
The disability sector in India is making very slow progress…This is
because disability activism is yet not able to relate to the “individual
needs” of each category of disabled. It is true that we need Braille, but it
is also true that we need to understand that certain sections of people,
those with behavioral problems for instance, need flexible work-times
and a degree of empathy in the work-place… I wouldn’t call the disability
movement a failure, but there is no open acceptance of certain
categories of disabled… the stigma attached in this case is immense!
“Hurry up, we have go to the doctor, the clinic closes at eight!” My
mother has an Arthritis problem, and she walks in a lot of pain,
sometimes with a limp. My father, though aging, is the more fit of the
two. Unfortunately, I have slowed down; years of medication are telling
upon me added to a recent wellness issue, indeed a bronchialpneumonia attack that almost took my life… I had to be put on Oxygen
and the daily intravenous doses were extremely painful… Yet the nurses
and attendants took extreme good care of me, perhaps one of the few
times I have received respect from society, to enable me recover
miraculously well…
“Miracles do happen…” The miracle in my life consists of a gradual
though difficult recovery from depression and other behavioral
problems, aided largely by the fact that I am learning “defense
mechanisms” one at a time each day to combat my condition. The
‘battle within’ consists of a constant struggle between all the pain, the
aggression and the instability outside versus the “NON-VIOLENCE”, the
powerful change-agent and the serenity within.
CHAPTER 15
SILENT NIGHT
An Unknown Indian: The Path to Self-Realization and
The Serenity Within
I have always tried to understand the self, acknowledge the power of its
existence and capture its essence. I have also gradually believed that the
suffering God has given me is for a purpose; to some it may mean a love for
the self. In a gist, I believe in myself.
The self is an incredible pursuit. Those of us who are able to realize this are
able to “recover”- be able to relentlessly pursue peace and happiness in the
face of adversity.
Those who continue with this pursuit tend to win, because they persist and
survive, while others give up and quit. The former are the ones that believe
in the power of the self. This though may not be the same as believing in
one’s selflessness.
One has to be resilient, one has to be persistent, two qualities that are
highly essential in overcoming adversity. And knowledge of the self can
help you overcome adversity.
I know better than anyone else what adversity means. In the year 1997, I
was diagnosed with an illness. From then up to now, I have been so
preoccupied with feeling sorry for myself that I have become my own worst
enemy. Fortunately, I have always taken my physical condition as a
challenge for everyone in the family to overcome. I have relentlessly
pursued peace and happiness as the alternative to my condition. I realize as
I write that if good things were going to happen again, I would have to
make them happen myself. I realize that my parents are not going to be
there with me throughout my life. I am trying to overcome my pain, my
suffering with “self-knowledge” (Atma-Bodha)…and “self-realization”…
and “self-control”…
“Defenceless am I – ill, again, and helpless,
Enfeebled, exhausted, and dumbly despairing,
Afflicted with sorrow, and utterly ruined:
In thee is my only haven of refuge,
In thee, my help and my strength, O Bhavani!”
Rise! A new generation has arisen… ‘Know thyself’ (ran the famous
inscription at the Greek Temple of Delphi). When the true Self is known the
jig-saw puzzle of the world gets solved, doubts are at an end, and all misery
vanishes…
I have always taken pride in my modern, progressive outlook, but at heart, I
am (a global) Indian. This is the nation of Rishis and Munis, of the great
Sage Patanjali, Rishi Valmiki, Sant Tulsidas, Sant Kabir, Guru Nanak Dev, Adi
Sankaracharya, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Vivekananda and Gurudev
Rabindranath Tagore. I still cannot understand why Lord Krishna put me in
this country, when I could have easily overcome my illness in the developed
world (with its entire infrastructure). But infrastructure is not enough by
itself; one has to acknowledge that India with its ancient systems of
thought and its alternative medicine (including Ayurveda & Homeopathy) is
powerful.
This is also the land of the Buddha, one of the greatest teachers of nonviolence who could influence men and even wild beasts to become
harmless and peaceful. India is also the land of Gandhi, whose “Ahimsa”
was powerful enough to bring an entire British Empire down on its knees…
I am proud I have tried to decode the meaning of peace…but for that I was
born to suffer …as an Unknown Indian…
CHAPTER 16
I FALL TO PIECES
An Unknown Indian
The truth is they never realized my worth.
So when the nominees were informed, my parents were stunned. I,
Nilanjana Sanyal had been nominated for the prestigious Manthan Award
South Asia 2008.
We were informed over the phone from New Delhi. I had formally been
declared a nominee…!
And all this after a lengthy personal struggle that spanned almost 1/4th of
my existence so far…
They had called me up several times. To attend the conference (for the
nominees) in Ranchi, Jharkhand. But I had just recovered from an attack of
Bronchial-Pneumonia which had almost taken my life, temporarily crippling
me in the process. So I was unable to make it.
The temporarily-crippling attack was an ordeal. But I had gone through this
ordeal before.
I could recount the first time I was at the therapist. It was the year 1997.
And the following 16 years had been years of intense pain and suffering.
You know how it feels! When they don’t quite respect you for what you
are. When your very appearance or otherwise gait becomes the subject of
attention. When society decides to brand you without considering your
worth. When people on the road speak in whispers every time you pass by.
When even your parents don’t realize your worth.
That is when you say that the Biwako Millennium Framework has been a
disaster!
You only wish then that you were free…
These were the horrors and the vicissitudes that existence or LIFE had
thrown upon an innocent individual…
CHAPTER 17
ABOUT A GIRL
The Volcano Always Erupted
Whenever mother’s voice resounded through the corridor, I revolted…
“I don’t feel like it today!” Period.
When Luna (or, little Nilanjana) decided to speak, there was no superseding
her.
“Wake up, Luna!” “How long would you continue like this?”
And that was it. The volcano erupted immediately.
It was all about a little girl who just wanted to be left alone. Because she
thought she had simply no privacy.
The little girl grew up, now developing her own perspective on life and also
wishing to travel a bit. She was sure that despite her life difficulties, she
could pull it off!
This was despite the fact that her parents often told her that she would be
better off in her hometown. That she ought to undertake a voyage of self –
discovery instead…
To little Luna, this restriction was a major problem. Besides, she thought
that despite these fetters, she was old enough to pull it off…
That was it. Whenever there was a conversation on the subject, things like
Luna was unwell for a long time, the girl would inevitably assert that she
had had enough of their (meaning her parents’) love and compassion.
And that she wasn’t willing to wait any longer…
And that she wasn’t willing to wait any longer…
In the final instance, Luna would also inevitably disconnect the wire hurling
the phone set to the ground. The machine would crash into pieces.
CHAPTER 18
BABY GIRL (BLACKBIRD ON A LONELY WIRE)
My Parents & Early Life
I was born (in the “Steel City” of Jamshedpur, former Bihar, and now
Jharkhand, Eastern INDIA) on the 24th of June, 1974. We were two children,
my brother Anirban (nickname, Roon, born on the 17th of November, 1978)
and I, Nilanjana (nickname, Luna). I was the elder of the two.
My grandparents (posthumous) were originally from Bangladesh, then East
Bengal. They migrated to India following the Partition in 1947. For most
people on either side of the border, the Partition offered powerful
confrontations, intense nostalgia and yes, a kind of bloodbath hitherto
unknown in the history of man save the great wars.
Gandhi, the ‘Father of The Nation’ went on a fast to prevent the riots and
the bloodbath, but by then several thousands (or even more) had lost their
lives, and this included women and children desperately crossing the
border. Ultimately, the nation state got fragmented into two, “Bharat”
(Hindusthan) with a predominant Hindu population and Pakistan,
predominantly Muslim. To those that underwent the same, Partition was
an experience the intense pain and associated bloodbath of which could
not have been forgotten.
It was in the aftermath of the Partition that Gandhi was assassinated by
Nathuram Godse on the 30th of January, 1948 as he stepped out for a
prayer meeting on the front lawns.
The Academy Award winning motion picture “Gandhi” starring Ben Kingsley
as Gandhi, actress Rohini Hattangadi as Kasturba Gandhi as also Roshan
Seth as Nehru will forever remain etched in my young mind as the most
unforgettable cinema I have ever watched. This apart from “The Sound of
Music” starring Julie Andrews as Maria and Christopher Plummer as Capt.
Von Trapp; and “A Beautiful Mind” with Russell Crowe (Prof. John Nash)
and Jennifer Connelly as Alicia Nash.
They say ‘I’m A Dreamer’ and I love to dream during the day as well. As an
aimless wanderer in search of the truth, I have chased my dreams from
being a practicing young Gandhian to being a musician playing amidst the
beauty of the Alps to the Nobel Prize in the aftermath of a powerful
emotional storm and physical problems.
Now I am trying to reason out some of the causative factors behind all my
anguish and physical pain, disease and discomfiture.
My “Thakuma” Mrs. Maya Sanyal (paternal grandmother) was a freedomfighter and had had been jailed several times during India’s freedom
struggle. Some of these brave women assisted their men fighters by either
hiding ammunition or giving refuge to their fugitive male counterparts
inside their own houses. My grandma had narrowly escaped being captured
(several times) by escaping either in disguise or digging (underground)
tunnels beneath the home latrines (mostly, Indian design then). Jesus! I
sometimes think (given my own self-perceptions) that I do have at least
some of her blood running through my veins!
My “Didima” Mrs. Bivarani Bhattacharya (maternal grandmother) on the
other hand belonged to a rich “Zamindar” (Feudal Lord) family of East
Bengal. It is quite natural then that she used to do much charity during my
own premature life (I have actually seen or heard about her giving away to
whoever arrived at her doorstep at her post-partition (then married with
children and grandchildren) home in Santragachi (Ramrajatola, Howrah,
near Calcutta, West Bengal, INDIA). This cost her dearly towards the end of
her long life by which time she had been reduced to anything but a pauper.
This is also something I have genetically inherited from my late
grandmother, perhaps hence my young philanthropic habits!
My Didima were more than a dozen children in all, and her immediate
family had migrated to Shantiniketan (of Tagore fame) until each got
betrothed, respectively, with her marrying my maternal grandfather and
settling in Santragachi, near Calcutta (now Kolkata), West Bengal, India.
My “Dadu” (maternal grandfather) Shri Barodanath Bhattacharya was a
brave man who had once challenged his colonial superiors (referring to his
British bosses) at Phillips and later on at GE where he worked. He had also
covered Howrah to Darjeeling on foot once. It was rather unfortunate that
neither my brother nor I were to see much of him, indeed he left for his
heavenly abode when we were both very young. I believe I am today a
brave young woman thanks to his blood running in my veins as well.
My “Thakurdada” (paternal grandfather) Shri Bimal Chandra Sanyal worked
in a bank; in fact my father (Shri Milon Kumar Sanyal) was born into an
ordinary lower middle class family of two elder sisters, Shyamali and
Chaitali, both of whom were much older to my dad. My grandpa was a
stern disciplinarian and of a rather nervous and highly tense temperament.
I remember how he used to keep us (meaning my parents and the two
children) awake throughout the night prior to the departure of the 6:00
a.m. (early morning) train from Howrah Station (Calcutta) back to
Tatanagar Junction (Jamshedpur).
He was stern with everyone in the family, the maids, and members of
family and especially as a father in-law to my mother (Mrs. Sarbani Sanyal).
I have seen my mother being humiliated by her in-laws until recently when
my brother and I grew up.
My mother often (painfully) remarked (in our native tongue Bangla) that “if
it were either not for her children or the fact that she didn’t have the
power to change things given her ordinary background, she would have
protested against what she might have considered severe humiliation at
the hands of her in-laws…”
But by no means whatsoever, was my mother ordinary. Although I cannot
deny the fact that my maternal uncle (immediate) was far more educated
compared to my mother, one could also not deny that despite the
retrogressive circumstances surrounding women in those days, my mother
too had equipped herself with a B.A. (Pass) Economics and a Post Graduate
Diploma in Fine Arts from Calcutta and Jamshedpur, respectively.
One can imagine the deep impact this mix of circumstances might have had
on my mind from a very young age, indeed having witnessed my mother’s
humiliation all the way at her in-laws, there could have been a profound
impact resulting in severe mental anguish at a later stage in my life. My
brother however remained unaffected because to a large extent and for a
greater part of my life, the entire family (on both sides) had discriminated
against me, and particularly in the wake of my illness.
Notwithstanding, my grandpa’s favorite word to the tongue was “Luna…”
He loved me immensely, and was thrilled to hear when the nurse emerged
from the labor room (in the Tata Main Hospital) to which my mother was
admitted that she had given birth to a sweet, chubby girl! My mother had
been in labor with me throughout the day until 11:50 at night when I was
born. I was a very naughty newborn indeed my grandma kept cursing the
stars because I just refused to go to sleep and kept her awake throughout
the night gazing at the bulb above.
It had been a difficult birth. Added to the pangs of birth, was the fact that a
would-be mother in the adjoining labor room (we had only wards then, not
the luxury of separate cabins) had delivered a stillborn. This added to my
mother’s woes.
In those days, the labor room at the Tata Main Hospital was surrounded by
trees, and one could hear the wailings of stray dogs in the vicinity. Besides,
men were not allowed to enter the labor room; hence my paternal
grandmother took over the task of taking care of the newborn and her
mother. My mother off course was too exhausted to be able to participate
in the celebrations that followed the birth!
As for daddy, he decided to stay guard outside the ward throughout the
night. There were evident threats from stray dogs that could have carried
me away (or any of the other babies) for in those days the hospital was
located in deep jungle.
Mama had bled in the third week of her pregnancy but I don’t think given
my more than a limited comprehension of Medical Science that that could
have been a plausible reason behind my behavioral issues. After all, there
was more to come.
My grandfather’s dying words were “Luna…” He had often wished I could
have joined the Civil Services (as an IAS officer) but he wasn’t destined to
live to see me clear the highly competitive services. Instead, here I was
chasing and wandering aimlessly in search of the truth…
My grandfather left us for ever in 1998, the year I had a severe emotional
breakdown of sorts.
CHAPTER 19
THE STREETS HAVE NO NAME
A Vision towards a More Unified Consciousness
“Those whose consciousness is unified abandon all attachment to the
results of action and attain supreme peace. But those whose desires are
fragmented, who are selfishly attached to the results of their work, are
bound in everything they do.” Bhagavad Gita
It was at the World's Parliament of Religions in Chicago in 1893 that Swami
Vivekananda gave his famous address, which started with the words, "dear
brothers and sisters of America".
“Brothers and Sisters of the world, I dedicate this work to our seers and
saints indeed our eternal luminaries like Gandhi (the greatest apostle of
non-violence the world has ever seen), Swami Vivekananda and
Paramahansa Yogananda (January 5, 1893 – March 7, 1952), born Mukunda
Lal Ghosh (an Indian yogi and guru who introduced many westerners to the
teachings of meditation and Kriya Yoga through his book, Autobiography of
a Yogi.). The world is one big family (“Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam”) and its
inhabitants are but brothers and sisters of this unified entity. To those that
have suffered we owe our apologies and for those that have devoted
themselves to end such suffering, we owe our gratitude….”
They all gave me a standing ovation.
This was my voice, the voice of a new generation speaking. A generation in
search of the truth. This was the voice of a novice visionary, but no one
knew who I was or where I came from. My eyes spoke of a childlike
innocence so very unlike other people of my generation.
After a formal plenary session, the delegates (which included students from
as far as Bucharest, Romania) were requested to introduce themselves
followed by a reading of the works of Tagore.
That was when I met my first date, Miguel who happened to belong to
Portugal. He was an RMIC resident scholar and pursuing Sanskrit as well.
Miguel was a thorough gentleman. He often walked me home in the
evenings.
On one such occasion, he reprimanded me for being a “delicate darling”
and that was because I was chumming and refused to walk home and
decided to take a cab instead. This way, I learnt that the menses were very
natural to being a woman and that there was more to life beyond
shortcuts!
We were a group of scholars gathering outside the institute premises over a
cup of tea and pakodas each evening. This was a mostly octogenarian
group, with my best friends Miguel and a girl called Nandini and me truly
and sincerely being the only exceptions!
Many graduate students in my class were highly keen to pursue subjects
like Evolutionary Genetics, Quantum Physics, Biology, Geology, Psychology
and Philosophy and their interface with Spirituality and Religion,
Comparative Religions, something that each one of us referred to as
“Consciousness Studies”.
I was doing a program (which I eventually could not complete) at the
Ramakrishna Mission Institute of Culture, Golpark, Kolkata, INDIA.
Amazing, wasn’t it?
Well, let me apprise you that it’s rather complicated…an interface between
Quantum Physics, Biology, Geology, Psychology, and Philosophy and off
course comparative religions on the subject….something they would call
‘Consciousness Studies’…
But why this strange anomaly in focus, one might wonder?
You may have heard of the ‘Origin of Species’ and ‘Survival of the Fittest’?
But what does Charles Darwin’s Theories have to do with…?
There is very little time. Darwin’s Theories were flawed in certain ways, if
not entirely.
The Lord has entrusted the job of creating awareness and sensitization in as
wide and as prolific a manner as possible but at the same time exercising
caution…travel around the world and see for yourself what is happening.
The world may be wiped out entirely in the year 2012 as predicted by the
Mayas, an ancient civilization; in the Bible et al…
But at times we fail to understand the connection.
Most young scientists fail to realize that there is simply no time…before
these so-called scientific theories play a role in bringing upon the
Armageddon, or the Genesis, or the Apocalypse…
This is the Lord’s classified information, and even though the Genesis has
passed and we are into the year 2013, we must work to save the race from
complete annihilation, if you will and also encourage our children and
grandchildren (indeed our future generations) to carry forward that good
work…
There is enough reason to believe that the earth’s crust is getting
destabilized by man’s greed leading to exploitation of natural resources
beyond comprehension by an ever-increasing population…
Both Science and Religion can be strong deterrents in progress, though not
necessarily, but the whims and fancies of one particular civilization (in this
case, the elite race/haves) can be used to weed out races considered
inferior as a history of time has shown. I call this the ‘Selfish Gene’…
If Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Coretta Scott-King and Rosa Parks could say
‘no’ to racism and hatred (Montgomery, Alabama) and if Louis Braille and
Valentine Hauy could invent a system wherein the blind could relate to the
world and if Vincent could paint and a hearing impaired Beethoven could
compose music, anyone can surely be a true Messiah of the race…calling it
‘answering a call from God…
Unless off course, we let the color of money overwhelm our selves.
Around the same time, a massive earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter
scale hit Japan, Indonesia and Thailand followed by a tsunami. As the death
toll rose to several thousands, massive forest fires were being reported
from Arizona and there were reports coming in from many parts of SubSaharan Africa of a huge famine and floods in the Philippines and other
parts of South-East Asia.
Meanwhile, Fashion TV baron Michel Adam was organizing a beach party
on the exotic islands of Macao where wine, vodka and champagne flowed
in plenty, and where nude or semi-nude f-peoples were retiring into
anterior rooms, men with men, women with men and women with women
et al. This was indeed such a show of extravagance and luxury that the
party “could be seen from space”…
As the death toll rose in hungry Africa and as the f-peoples partied harder,
Lord Meghnad Desai and his colleagues contemplated their next move with
a series of hot “debates” in British Parliament. They were talking about
‘laissez faire’, ‘famine’ and ‘hunger’ all the time but winded up with
Champagne and Wine. As CNN and BBC both reported…
Karl Marx hung himself in the skies. He was apparently too ashamed to look
down on the peoples of the earth.
It rained like never before.
Before long, Western assistance or development ‘aid’ arrived with little
children and their parents chasing these trucks of goodies and many got
lynched in the stampedes that followed. Before long, the UN Goodwill
Ambassadors had arrived on the spot but “The Streets had no name” so
they delivered a few sermons to these innocent peoples before being
whisked away in exotic limousines not to refugee camps but to palatial
mansions within Africa. These were the cartels and the syndicates and the
mergers and the acquisitions or foundations and charities but instead of
leaving for the “Cape of Good hope” they were flying back to their
respective ‘peace loving nations’ in expensive private jets leaving behind
trails of locusts, mosquitoes and the ‘mad cow disease’…
There were exceptions though. ‘Brangelina’ decided to chant “Nam-myoho-renge-kyo” and Pretty Woman Julia Roberts decided to ‘eat, pray, love’
in India. Madonna was reciting Sanskrit in Varanasi.
Since then, Indo-Pakistan relations were to improve up to 26/11…
CHAPTER 20
BEAUTIFUL BOY
Green Is the Color of Envy
I hated them for doing this to me. The venue was the prestigious D.B.M.S.
English School, and the year was 1978, the year in which my brother was
born.
They were trying their utmost to make me speak.
I was apparently too disgusted with the fact that my mother had just given
birth to a baby boy to speak up at the interview.
I refused to divulge even my precious name. The lady with the round
eyeballs set the ball rolling with what I considered at that moment extreme
offense on their part.
I kept silent. I was too overwhelmed by the birth of a sibling and
presumably extremely angry with both myself and the current situation at
the same time.
The lady repeated.
But nothing would work on me and I failed to clear the interview.
To an older child, there can be nothing more intimidating than the arrival of
a sibling. This would mean having to share all the love and attention,
indeed the resources not to forget all the goodies that Papa would bring
home.
Whenever my mother breastfed the newborn or changed the nappies (in
those days, we didn’t have ‘Mammy Poko Pants’), I would take utmost care
to ignore all suggestions, comments, guidance and advice. After all,
jealousy was at work.
It was only much later when we were studying Shakespeare that I realized
that something called the “green-eyed monster” exists and which is much
responsible for the nuisances and troubles that plague our world of
relationships.
My parents then decided to get me admitted into a Montessori by the
name of “Jhingan School” (we didn’t have KIDZEE then) where I grew up
whacking tiffins and refusing to ‘open up’ much to the dismay of my
teachers and my equally concerned parents.
Indeed, that’s all I remember of a wonderful past as an innocent child!
CHAPTER 21
NOTHING TO LOSE
A Gifted Persona
It was November2011 and we (my mother, my much reformed brother and
I) had just arrived at the India International Centre, New Delhi.
The occasion was the prestigious “Bharat Excellence Awards 2011” of which
I happened to be a recipient.
We had arrived pretty much early, but as oft happen in this country, the
proceedings were yet to start on time.
Finally, the sessions commenced with the arrival of the media and
delegates (awardees) and an introductory speech by the Chairperson of the
Committee making the awards.
“Why is he making such a lengthy speech?” My brother seemed to be a bit
infuriated, rather amused by the Nagaland delegate’s speech.
“Doesn’t he look like a weirdo, look at his strange hat?” My brother asked
me.
I was a bit embarrassed by the way my mother and brother were making
fun of each delegate as s/he came to the podium, so I took up a seat a few
seats ahead of them.
It was finally my turn.
I was perhaps the youngest awardee that morning and as I traced my steps
towards the podium, there was a huge standing ovation.
As photographers clicked, I could feel my pulse racing!
And then there was a big announcement from the sponsors/organizers:
“The Bharat Excellence Award 2011 for work and writing goes to Ms
Nilanjana Sanyal!”
My joy knew no bounds, and I could see a feeling of extreme excitement
indeed exhilaration on my mother’s face!
Well, after all these years, there was something to rejoice about…
After all these years…
I have since then also been a recipient of the “Karma veer Chakra for 2012”
and a “Best Personalities of India Award…”
CHAPTER 22
ALL LOVE CAN BE
A Beautiful Mind
It was the year 1998. I had undergone a surgical removal of my toe-nail and
the surgical dressings were extremely painful.
At least I was more fortunate than those that had no limbs to support
them.
Kate (Catherine Alex Fairfax) and Judith, from New Zealand and the
Netherlands, respectively, were my best friends and closest buddies and we
discussed everything from work to sex and tampons. Kate and I shared a
cubicle at work while Judith occupied the adjoining one. They were also
residing in the same six-storey hostel for staff and visitors.
Incidentally, both Kate and Judith were to be out of the residence the
following day. Kate’s mother, Mrs. Beverly Fairfax and Judith’s boyfriend,
Edwin was to be in town. They were especially concerned about my being
all alone in the hostel in their absence and cautioned me against Ramesh
and Baldeo, the residence cook and helper, respectively.
There was a flurry of statements underlying concern from Kate in
particular.
That night, Baldeo drugged my food and Ramesh broke into my room. I
threatened both with dire consequences and Lord Jagannath intervened on
the occasion.
What was to follow could have been any girl’s nightmare.
Most of the local staff failed to relate to my sorry situation, the result…
Judith’s frank opinion was that I deserved a degree of empathy, if not of
pity.
Kate opinionated that she personally couldn’t in the least imagine what she
would have done had someone broken into her room in the middle of the
night!”
Danish Choudhary, our colleague from Bangladesh nodded to support our
contention.
The Management however held a different opinion altogether.
Mr. Jagadananda, CEO of CYSD suggested that they take me to a
psychiatrist and/or get me sent home.
Mr. Shubro Roy, second in command, tried desperately to please his boss.
Finally, with another similar suggestion from Mr. Sunder Narayan Mishra,
my guide on the project, it was officially decided that I should be sent
home.
For one ultimate time, my best buddies (who had shared both a cubicle and
goodies with me) Catherine and Judith each gave me a warm hug. And the
vehicle started for home.
My parents had been informed over the phone. My mother was crying
desperately as the car drew into the garage while my father was fuming.
(In fact, my mother has always been an inspiration while my father only
understands the language of money and a steady job).
As the car left home for Bhubaneswar, my father stormed out of the house,
fuming (as he usually does).
I have slowed down now. The aging process, added to years of medication,
has taken away my youthful charm.
But what was it that caused this destruction of my life?
CHAPTER 23
THE STREETS OF PHILADELPHIA
The Survival of The Fittest
“I have AIDS”. When Andrew Beckett (played by Tom Hanks) said this to
personal injury lawyer Joe Miller (played by Denzel Washington), with
whom he had been involved in a previous case, Miller, who was admittedly
homophobic and knew little about Beckett's AIDS, initially declined to take
the case and immediately visited his doctor to find out if he could have
contracted the AIDS through shaking Beckett's hand. The doctor explained
the methods of HIV infection. Beckett was working with the largest
corporate law firm in Philadelphia when he lost his job.
Although he lived with his partner Miguel Álvarez (played by Antonio
Banderas), Beckett was not open about his homosexuality at the law firm,
nor the fact that he had HIV. On the day he was assigned the firm's newest
and most important case, one of the firm's partners noticed a small lesion
on Beckett's forehead. Shortly thereafter, Beckett stayed home from work
for several days to try to find a way to hide his lesions.
The case went to court with severe embarrassment for Andrew Beckett
who eventually collapsed during his employer Charles Wheeler’s testimony.
During his hospitalization, the jury voted in his favor, awarding him back
pay, damages for pain and suffering, and punitive damages totaling nearly
$4.5M. Miller visited Beckett in the hospital after the verdict and overcame
his fear enough to touch Beckett's face. After Beckett's family left the room,
he told Miguel that he was ready to die. Beckett died in the end. The movie
ended with a reception at Beckett's home following the funeral, where
many mourners, including the Millers, viewed home movies of Beckett as a
healthy child to the tune of Neil Young’s “Philadelphia”…
Philadelphia happened to be a 1993 American drama film that was one of
the first mainstream Hollywood films to acknowledge HIV/AIDS,
homosexuality and homophobia. It was written by Ron Nyswaner and
directed by Jonathan Demme. The film starred Tom Hanks and Denzel
Washington. It was inspired in part by the story of Geoffrey Bowers, an
attorney who in 1987 sued the law firm Baker & McKenzie for wrongful
dismissal in one of the first AIDS discrimination cases.
Tom Hanks won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the film,
while the song “Streets of Philadelphia” (Bruce Springsteen) won the
Academy Award for Best Original Song. Ron Nyswaner was also nominated
for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, but lost to Jane
Campion for The Piano.
It is despicable that the year the song “Streets of Philadelphia” was played
by Bruce Springsteen at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
(with an introduction by Antonio Banderas) the poverty-stricken country of
Rwanda happened to be in serious conflict between the Hutus and the
Tutsis one of the greatest bloodbaths in the history of mankind (the year
1994).
The West has never been concerned, have they?
Needless to say, our family too lost someone to the HIV virus, our maid’s
rickshaw puller husband and by and large the chief breadwinner of the
family. Santosh Pyke had knocked at every door but met with an untimely
demise, a sad reflection of the times which are more often marked by
official apathy on the part of doctors at government hospitals. He had run
from pillar to post but was officially denied awareness of his serious
condition. The inevitable result: leaving behind a family of three including
his young widow, Bharati. What a fallacy????
Like any other anxious parent, my mother too wanted me to get settled in
life. They sent me a list of potential suitors, all of which I rejected. The
reason: I was married to my mission in life…
“There you go again, Mama!” “Boys don’t interest me at all!!!” “Now just
leave me alone for a while, would you, Mama?”
Actually, I found so much of a resemblance between the discrimination
Andrew Beckett faced as a victim of HIV and the social stigma I have faced –
in school, in the community, among family members and now in the
workplace.
I would inevitably deny that I had ever met my match.
Circumstances were different if you were fortunate enough to be born in
the USA (anywhere in the West, I mean) but things were terrible here in
India so far so as those with differential abilities were concerned.
Being a woman and being differentially abled was being twice disabled, it
was terrible here, all that medication, the psychotropic drugs, the ECTs, the
blood tests, no social security and previously, Lithium…!”
I looked up to god to put an end to my ordeal. Yet, the situation looked
bleak, desperate and disturbed.
“There are times in life, my child…when one is forced to go through
difficulties, but that is just a phase, and yet you will in all probability have to
continue with medication for the rest of your life…These will keep you
stable and prevent your moods from fluctuating.”
If only there was a way?
There is no answer in traditional western medicine, one could only have a
positive bent of mind…this was meant to be my ultimate destiny!”
“Philadelphia” dealt with an incurable condition, AIDS…to which modern
medical science is trying to find an answer. That was only a film, and
histrionics are not meant to destabilize a person further…My mother
looked visibly upset.
Mother Teresa once famously remarked that “in today’s world, there are
cures for virtually every disease, every condition….but for loneliness, there is
no cure…”
Mother Teresa, Sister Agnes…Mission…that’s all my mother heard from me
all the time! She was devastated “Don’t tell me you’re planning to be
celibate and renounce the world?”
But I had something like that in mind…
I had other plans…
“I was born for greatness and to work to serve humanity!” “Is that
something wrong, mother?”
“No, by itself it is not, but you see you are not in the best of health…”
I knew that Lord Krishna took care of everything…I was quick to complete
my mother’s incomplete sentence.
This time, my parents were seriously concerned about their daughter’s
leanings…
And my parents (Mrs. And Mr. Sarbani and Milon Kumar Sanyal fondly
referred to as Khuku and Khokon respectively), spent the entire evening by
the hearth, strongly contemplating their next move to change my mind…for
what they both considered was good for me…
CHAPTER 24
VAISHNAVA JANATO
Non-Violence
The international community calls India a non-violent nation. Yet dayafter-day, incidents of crime and violence are reported. Ask the nun who
was raped in Kandhamal, is it not her nation? Ask the mother who has
recently lost her child to malnutrition, is it not her nation? If New Delhi
is on your trip agenda, make it a point to visit the ‘Desperation Capital of
the World’, Kalahandi (in Orissa), as well! The ones that we call ‘Maoists’
and Terrorists, is India not their nation as well?
Then we have the stray incidents in which for instance, a little girl who
had committed a petty theft was beaten up by policemen. Or, the young
man who was mercilessly dragged by an irate mob for stealing some
valuables. Or, the young girl who was gang-raped by a group of police
constables inside the police station when she went to lodge a complaint
of rape.
Actually, how humane or tolerant or compassionate are we? How
tolerant we were when we murdered Australian Missionary Graham
Staines and his sons in cold blood? How tolerant we were in Ayodhya
(1992) during Babri Masjid? How tolerant we were during the Gujarat
carnage (2002) during Godhra? Can we as a free nation call ourselves
sufficiently tolerant or even compassionate?
India is the nation of Ramakrishna. Of Vivekananda. Of Raja Ram Mohan
Roy. India is also Ambedkar’s nation. And Gandhi’s nation. Has she lived up
to the visions, the dreams of her erstwhile Founders? These eternal
luminaries had laid down certain visions for a better and a more prosperous
India. But we, the pizza-consuming IT generations, have chosen to write our
own prescriptions, with a few of us being victimized in the process…
Born into a progressive family, I always had the option to practice
secularism in all its forms. I decided in favor of Gandhism. In case you didn’t
know what it meant, I was a University of Delhi topper in Psychology who
had adopted by virtue of my progressive parentage a strong commitment
to the Gandhian approach…This meant among other things, that I believed
in Gandhi’s famous dictum: “Be The Change You Want To See in the
World…”
I was highly patriotic (dismissing the misperception that children of free
thinking families do not love their nation), preferring to live simply, in other
words, I was quite out of context and irrelevant in the contemporary
cosmopolitan scenario. Yes, I, or little Luna was part of this generation for
whom these teachings held virtually no significance but I was different right
from day one, yes I WAS different from my peers from a very young age
and completely out of place.
Gandhi was the icon of non-violence. He considered non-violence as the
basis of struggle and according to him every battle could be won with it. By
non-violence he meant doing good continually without the slightest
expectation of return. It meant wishing no ill for anyone, not even those
who may have wronged you. “Hate the Sin but love the sinner” was his
motto. He opposed all kinds of violence. He devoted his entire life to the
service of poor and the distressed. At the time when Gandhi was alive,
people followed him blindly. They had full faith in him and regarded him as
the one who could free their country from British Rule. People relied on
non-violence to fight their struggle for freedom and most definitely they
won.
Earlier Gandhism was practiced by people on a large scale with great
enthusiasm with the aim of liberating their country from the British rule. It
was unthinkable that his tenets were long forgotten and discarded in favor
of Western materialism, something I strongly disapproved of despite my
liberal and progressive upbringing. I was traditional but not conservative
and progressive and liberal who believed in the dignity of the last man but
strongly opposed to the prevailing inequality, both social and linguistic
though not opposed to Western culture and trends as such.
It pained me to see that in the modern era (the era in which I lived);
Gandhism had been reduced to mere theory. Its knowledge and relevance
had been restricted to books only which today’s youth dreaded reading.
They took history as just another subject and mugged up answers only
because they had to do so, and then they forgot. They never tried to
understand the importance of why Gandhi did what he did. Everybody
wanted to be ultra modern.
After more than 60 years of Indian independence, India might have
achieved a lot in terms of modernization, advancement, urbanization and
industrialization but we had left behind our culture and teachings of unity
and non-violence. I was dismayed, pained and desperate to see my
deplorably poor nation come forward and lead the world to the path of
unity of all nations on the basis of humanity and equality.
Despite my oft limited exposure, I was quite clear about the basic tenets
and essence of Gandhism. In quite simple and clear words, it was an
amalgam of Mahatma Gandhi’s views and practices. In other words, it
consisted of the ideas which Mahatma Gandhi put before the world, and
side by side, to the maximum possible extent, treated his individual life
in accordance with these ideas.
Gandhism revolved around Ahimsa-non-violence:-1) the most ancient,
perpetual, individual as well as social, all timely and welfaristic value; 2)
Along with this, non-violence was permanently present in human nature,
and it was an essential condition for existence, the basis for
development and the achievement of the goal.
Now, what was the goal? From both, the spiritual and social, point of
view, it was peace. Peace was a purpose behind the creation for all most
all, whether atheists or theists. And it was because of this, emphasis had
been laid on the continuing awakening and adoption of non-violence,
individually and collectively in our day-to-day practices.
Other apostles of peace, philosophers and thinkers of the East and the
West made efforts for the construction of a culture accepting nonviolence to be the fundamental point so that the existence of mankind
was assured, the path of development was smoothened and the ultimate
goal was well within sight and approach.
The history of mankind running into millions of years and divided in
different ages, proved the fact, time and again, that among all other
beings only man had the quality of intellect and creativity. And it was
due this that he has been able to pass through the process of learning by
doing.
To the whole world, in the 20th century, Mahatma Gandhi made a
momentous contribution showing a wonderful, simple and justifiable
way for awaking and practicing of non-violence in the routine chores of
life. If I said Mahatma Gandhi was wonderful, simple and justifiable, it
was because he, by establishing co-ordination and synthesis between all
concepts of the East and the West, old and new, made non-violence well
worthy to be grasped by all. Everyone could, more or less, find nonviolence of his imagination in Gandhi’s principle pertaining to it.
Mahatma Gandhi even went to the extent in one of the issues of Young
India:
“A curriculum of religious instructions should include a study of the
tenets of faiths other than one’s own. For this purpose the students
should be trained to cultivate the habit of understanding and
appreciating the doctrine of various great religions of the world in a spirit
of reverence and broad minded tolerance.”
The other aspect of Gandhian approach relating to value education is
also important for construction of a sustainable culture of peace. This
Mahatma Gandhi did so that every human being living on this planet,
without fear, and equally marching towards development process, was
assured of safe and secure life having peace, and strengthening the
culture of peace.
It was, undoubtedly, ever relevant for achieving the goal-peace-or for
construction of a real and sustainable culture of peace, especially under
the democratic system of government. In this context its relevance and
importance of its role could never be underrated. It should be applied in
wider perspective. The need of the day was to take up, adopt and
understand Gandhian approach according to time and space and to put it
into practice in the process of education the world over. Indeed it was
the demand of time.
Young India, 6 December 1923.
CHAPTER 25
BIG A LITTLE A (NAGASAKI NIGHTMARE)
The Threat of Nuclear Weapons & the Path to
Disarmament
I am quoting verbatim from a recent address by Foreign Secretary Smt.
Nirupama Rao at Harvard University on ‘India’s Global Role’:
“…Of late, India’s global role has been mentioned frequently against the
backdrop of what we would call a shift of economic power to Asia.
…Sixty years into India’s life as a vibrant democracy, what is the
transformation we see in India’s global role? …Any visualization of
India’s global role must begin in our immediate neighbourhood because
situational factors in that environment affect our internal security and
therefore merit our greatest attention…A peaceful neighbourhood is
mandatory for the realization of our own vision of economic growth…”
“…Global efforts to tackle the problem also need to be intensified. It is
time that the international community works towards early adoption of
a Comprehensive Convention on International Terrorism that was tabled
at the UN over a decade ago in 1996. We must act jointly and with
determination to meet the challenges posed by terrorism and to defend
the values of pluralism, freedom, peaceful co-existence and the rule of
law…”
“…We are working together with our partners to help reduce the risk of
nuclear proliferation. We believe that the challenges of nuclear
terrorism and nuclear security have to be addressed. We have,
therefore, taken the lead at the UN General Assembly on an effective
law-based international response including on WMD terrorism. India has
joined the Russia-U.S. led Global Initiative to Combat Nuclear Terrorism.
The first Nuclear Security Summit hosted by President Obama in April
2010
was
an
important
milestone
in
our
efforts.
You are well aware of India’s long-standing commitment to global, nondiscriminatory and verifiable nuclear disarmament. We have identified
some initiatives that I believe could be explored further as building
blocks of a new global, verifiable nuclear disarmament framework.
These include: a global agreement on ‘no-first-use’ of nuclear-weapons
and non-use against non-nuclear weapon states; measures to reduce
nuclear danger through de-alerting, reducing salience of nuclear
weapons in security doctrines and preventing unintentional or
accidental use; a Nuclear Weapons Convention prohibiting
development, production, stockpiling and use of nuclear weapons and
on
their
destruction…
”
There are two major external threats to India’s stability, and both of
them are seriously endangering our internal law and order situation. I
am still not so certain, but apparently there is serious relationship of
hate between China and India on our East and between Pakistan and
India on our West. The threat further multiplies and becomes
complicated with Pakistan and China both apparently drawing
inspiration from being common enemies of India.
Why I have chosen to use the term ‘apparently’ is because the hatred that
exists is in my opinion only outright superficial, and there is plenty of scope
for guessing that it is the image we have of each other that is distorted if
not faulty and that the nationals of these three countries (particularly
students) would be very keen on decoding the mysterious equations of
love. A Passage to India has been written in the annals of time, now can we
please have a passage to Pakistan and a passage to China (I don’t mean it in
the negative sense)…?
We can only hope that no violence and hatred will happen again in the
history of civilization…No prizes for guessing, …but don’t you think we can
do something POSITIVE AND CONSTRUCTIVE about not only the tension in
the Middle East in as much as it relates to India, but also the relentless
standoff between India and Pakistan, the War against Terror, and every
other bitterness that exists in the world today?
Look at the Middle East first. A serious crisis looms large over the global
horizon with Israel and Palestine locked in Violent Hatred. There is more to
this crisis than simply violence. There are lacunae in the political set-up as
well. People in this troubled region have lost all hope. Having to endure the
circumstances has been accepted as pre-ordained. An American Lady tells
us that she was engaged to an Israeli, whose brother-in-law was murdered
by Palestinians. Yet, she believes that “we need more than a token
Palestinian state…” She is perhaps not the only one who dreams of peace in
the Middle-East region. An Israeli, Yossi Alpher, former Director of the
Jaffee Center for Strategic Studies at the University of Tel Aviv and once
advisor to Prime Minister Barak (2000), and Palestinian Ghassan Khatib
together run “Bitterlemons”, a website for a more comprehensive
understanding of the Middle East situation. Although they have somewhat
different views, by and large they advocate PEACE…While Alpher feels
“escalation of the search for a solution to the international level must be
seen as a welcome development”, Khatib, a Palestinian analyst, sees
evidence of genuine Arab and Palestinian interest in achieving PEACE, as
well as an end to the occupation. Further, he reiterates the role played by
the “Saudi Peace initiative” in the past, which offered Israel “not only
Palestinian, but Arab willingness to bring about a comprehensive final
peace and normalization in return for an Israeli withdrawal to UNsanctioned borders in Resolution 242, as well as a solution to the refugee
problem, according to UN Security Council Resolution 194…” Unfortunately,
not only did Israel maintain that this was an unacceptable proposition, but
also, “timed its reoccupation of Palestinian territories for the very same day
of the Arab summit’s approval of its peace initiative…”
SAD, VERY SAD, BUT THIS IS HAPPENING THE WORLD OVER…Take the case
of the two “belligerent” South Asian neighbors, India and Pakistan…Their
perpetual conflict lies deep-rooted in the circumstances under which they
(Pakistan and India) were created. It started with the “Two-nation Theory”
justifying Partition, but even after Partition is long-dead, factors such as
raunchy Nationalism, Pseudo-politics and Falsified history remain…in fact,
CHILDREN IN THE TWO NATIONS ARE GROWING UP ON A DIET OF
“OBSCENE” HATRED…THEY REALLY HAVE NO CHOICE…BOTH OF THESE
SOUTH ASIAN SOCIETIES HAVE PROVIDED ABSOLUTELY NO SCOPE TO THEIR
CITIZENS TO THINK INDEPENDENTLY…In fact, we have, in the midst of our
constant bickering, forgotten about issues such as the Plight of Child
Laborers in the Carpet and Fireworks Factories in India, and those in the
Football-stitching industry in Pakistan…Future South Asian leaders,
especially those in the two countries, should actually start working on
collaborative programs towards Socio-economic Development (as some
sort of an “Indo-Pak Consortium”)…particularly, in as much as they relate to
KASHMIR…The time has come in the history of India and Pakistan, to GIVE
UP HATRED AND START LOVING…
The crisis in Afghanistan has also led to a situation in the region which has
exacerbated threats to India's stability. High time we adopted a more
tolerant but pragmatic approach towards our neighbors.
India also participates in the “Non-Alignment” Movement. By the late
1940s, Non-Alignment was a consistent feature of Indian foreign policy and
enjoyed strong, almost unquestioning support among the Indian elite.
The term "Non-Alignment" itself was coined by Indian Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru during his speech in 1954 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
India has also been a founder member of the United Nations, and as such
firmly supported the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations, and has
made significant contributions to the furtherance and implementation of
these noble aims, and to the evolution and functioning of its various
specialized programmes. It has stood at the forefront during the UN's
tumultuous years of struggle against colonialism and apartheid, its struggle
towards global disarmament and the ending of the arms race, and towards
the creation of a more equitable global order. At the very first session of
the UN, India had raised its voice against colonialism and apartheid, two
issues which have been among the most significant of the UN's successes in
the last half century. India has been a participant in all its peace-keeping
operations including those in Korea, Egypt and the Congo in earlier years
and in Somalia, Angola and Rwanda in recent years. India has also played an
active role in the deliberations of the United Nations on the creation of a
more equitable international economic order. It has been an active
member of the Group of 77, and later the core group of the G-15 nations.
Other issues, such as environmentally sustainable development and the
promotion and protection of human rights, have also been an important
focus of India's foreign policy in international forums.
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) consists of
eight (8) members which are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Established in 1985, SAARC
encourages cooperation in agriculture, rural development, science and
technology, culture, health, population control, narcotics control and antiterrorism.
India's territorial disputes with neighboring Pakistan and People's Republic
of China have played a crucial role in its foreign policy. India is also involved
in minor territorial disputes with neighboring Bangladesh, Nepal and
Maldives. India currently maintains two manned stations in Antarctica but
has made some unofficial territorial claims, this is yet to be clarified.
India's interaction with ASEAN in the cold war era was very limited. India
declined to get associated with ASEAN in the 1960s when full membership
was offered even before the grouping was formed.
It is only with the formulation of the Look-East policy in the last decade
(1992), India had started giving this region due importance in the foreign
policy. India became a sectoral dialogue partner with ASEAN in 1992, a full
dialogue partner in 1995, a member of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in
1996, and a summit level partner (on par with China, Japan and Korea) in
2002.
The first India-ASEAN Business Summit was held at New Delhi in October
2002. The then Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee addressed this meet and since
then this business summit has become an annual feature before the IndiaASEAN Summits, as a forum for networking and exchange of business
experiences between policy makers and business leaders from ASEAN and
India.
Four India-ASEAN Summits, first in 2002 at Phnom Penh (Cambodia),
second in 2003 at Bali (Indonesia), third in 2004 at Vientiane (Laos) and the
fourth in 2005 at Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), have taken place till date.
The ASEAN region has an abundance of natural resources and significant
technological skills. These provide a natural base for the integration
between ASEAN and India in both trade and investment. The present level
of bilateral trade with ASEAN of nearly US $ 18 billion is reportedly
increasing by about 25 % per year. India hopes to reach the level of US $ 30
billion by 2007. India is also improving its relations with the help of other
policy decisions like offers of lines of credit, better connectivity through air
(open skies policy), and rail and road links.
CHAPTER 26
FROM A DISTANCE
This is How India: A Nation in Transition, Looks
“Saare Jahan Se Achcha” (better than the whole world)
(Then Squadron Leader Rakesh Sharma in a famous conversation to Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi, the subject being ‘how India looked from space’?)
One of the most influential doctrines in Western Europe since the late
eighteenth century is that all humans are divided into groups called
‘nations’. India is a nation where multifarious ethnic groups converge into a
unified psychological consciousness. A nation is both a cultural and political
phenomenon. Moreover, we now realize that the ‘nation’ is not a
primordial category, fixed and unchanging, rather it is the product of a
specific historical moment. In the words of Tagore, “a nation, in the sense
of the political and economic union of a people, is that aspect which a
whole population assumes when organized for a mechanical purpose.”
Therefore, the coinage of the term ‘nation’ is both inclusive and exclusive
as those opposed to this aspect of commonality becomes ‘the other’ or the
threat.
For many years the British Empire was perceived as this ‘threat’ by common
knowledge. It was the tyrannical colonizer who oppressed the natives and
occupied the central position thereby marginalizing the natives. It was in
and around this time that our countrymen rose up in arms to challenge the
centre thereby finally destabilizing the entire power structure.
Gandhi is a case in point. Although his theory was based on ‘Non-violence’
(Ahimsa), one man who silently worked in the fields could fight an entity as
powerful as the British, and liberate our country from slavery. Surprisingly,
somewhat shockingly, even after sixty years of Independence, absolute
freedom or ‘purna-swaraj’ has turned into a distant dream. Though free
from the clutches of the colonizer, India today is a cluster of nations within
a nation. It is a nation which is threatened by extreme forms of
communalism, corruption in politics, and stark naked impoverishment and
hopeless destitution.
Perhaps, most importantly, is the fact that India as a nation-state is not a
primordial category (fixed and static) but rather extremely dynamic, with
each event (and the nation herself) being the product of a specific historical
moment…
India as a nation lives in her villages. The average Indian is forced to eke out
on about $1 a day. Farmers’ suicides and child malnourishment and
undernourishment are extremely common. Pot bellied child corpses stalk
many of our villages. India has the unique distinction of having the largest
number of children of school-going age out of school. Child labor is
rampant. For most Westerners, it might be still shocking to know that most
work, which is normally done by machines in the West, is done by hand!
Manual scavenging is common. As the New India rises, so do slums of
laborers.
All in all, we are an extremely socially backward nation with no human
dignity in the lives of the poor, sometimes even general apathy, official
negligence and very low on the HDI.
Women Empowerment:
In India, women have been identified as key agents of sustainable
development and women’s equality and empowerment are seen as
central to a more holistic approach towards establishing new patterns
and processes of development that are sustainable. For this women are
to be empowered in the personal, familial, economic and political
realms. But the existing scenario suggests otherwise. Women should be
aware of political issues and participation in the political/decision
making process.
It is predicted that in the coming years, India as an emerging economy will
overtake China as the single largest economy in the world. With its rich
mineral and capital resources, an enviable storehouse of manpower, India
should have been poised to make it to the developed world by now. (This is
a personal opinion only and meant to serve as an outline). However, India
still remains a desperately poor nation. Agriculture here is dependent on
the monsoons which are extremely unpredictable. Gone are the times of
our great social reformers (seers and saints, if I may) like Raja Ram Mohan
Roy, Swami Vivekananda, Tagore and Gandhi. We need another social
‘renaissance’ of sorts…
With all her drawbacks, India is an incredible nation. She is the destination
people from all over the world flock to for spiritual solace…She is still for
many the land of their dreams.
However, despite the fact that the international community calls India a
non-violent nation, violence (especially in some regions) is rampant. Ask
the nun who was raped in Kandhamal (Orissa), is it not her nation? Ask the
mother who has recently lost her child to malnutrition, is it not her nation?
If New Delhi is on your trip agenda, make it a point to visit the ‘Desperation
Capital of the World’, Kalahandi, as well! The people that we call ‘Maoists’
and ‘Terrorists’ is India not their nation as well? Ask the people of Kashmir
how it all feels…
Then we have the stray incidents in which for instance, a little girl who had
committed a petty theft was beaten up by policemen. Or, the young man
who was mercilessly dragged by an irate mob for stealing some valuables.
Or, the young girl who was gang-raped by a group of police constables
inside the police station when she went to lodge a complaint of rape.
Actually, how humane or tolerant or compassionate are we? How tolerant
we were when we murdered Australian Missionary Graham Staines and his
sons in cold blood? How tolerant we were in Ayodhya (1992) during Babri
Masjid? How tolerant we were during the Gujarat carnage (2002) during
Godhra? Can we as a free nation call ourselves sufficiently tolerant or even
compassionate?
The educated class in India steers clear of Politics. This has always upset
me. The double standards, the hypocrisy that still exists, upset me. Is it not
unfair that the nation that gave birth to Gandhi, should force a majority of
her inhabitants to eke out on a meal of rice and live red ants? Is it not
unfair that many people are forced to eat rats to survive or that thousands
of tonnes of food grains kept in the government godowns lie either wasted
or rotten and then eventually thrown away?
I REMEMBER THE WORDS OF MARK TWAIN, AMERICAN AUTHOR (18351920)
“This is India!
The land of dreams and romance,
of fabulous wealth and fabulous poverty,
of splendour and rags, of palaces and hovels,
of famine and pestilence,
of genii and giants and Aladdin lamps,
of tigers and elephants, the cobra and the jungle,
the country of a hundred nations and a hundred tongues,
of a thousand religions and two million gods…”
THERE ARE TWO INDIAS, ONE FOR THE RICH AND ONE FOR THE POOR…
THE SLUM DOG AND THE MILLIONAIRE…
(THE MILLIONAIRES DON’T ALLOW THE DOGS AND THE ‘OTHER’ INDIANS)
THE ELITE HIP-HOPS Vs DHARAVI…
THE LAKME FASHION WEEK Vs BAWANA…
THE SOCIALITE SYNDROME Vs BAGALUR…
According to a survey by the World Institute of Development Economics
Research (WIDER) there isn’t that great an economic difference between
poor Indians and rich Indians. At least not by global standards. The top 10
per cent of the richest Indians are 7.3 times richer than the poorest 10 per
cent, and it seems we are better off than other nations.
Consider the rich compared to the poor in Brazil- 57.8 times richer, the UK
13.8 times, the United States almost 15.9 times, China 18.4 times, more
horrifying, Lesotho-129 times and Bolivia 168 times.
SO THE GAP BETWEEN THE RICH AND THE POOR IN INDIA IS NOT THAT
WIDE…
OR IS IT?
India is the nation of Ramakrishna. Of Vivekananda. Of Raja Ram Mohan
Roy. India is also Ambedkar’s nation. And Gandhi’s nation. Has she lived up
to the visions, the dreams of her erstwhile Founders? These eternal
luminaries have laid down certain visions for a better and a more
prosperous India. But we, the pizza-consuming IT generations, have chosen
to write our own prescriptions, with a few of us being victimized in the
process…
I have also written this book for anyone and everyone who is in the process
of trying to understand the self, acknowledge the power of its existence
and capture its essence. It is for every person who believes that the
suffering God has given him is for a purpose; to some it may mean a love
for the self. So, in a gist, this book is for everyone who believes in himself.
The self is an incredible pursuit. Those of us who are able to realize this are
able to “recover” - be able to relentlessly pursue peace and happiness in
the face of adversity.
Those who continue with this pursuit tend to win, because they persist and
survive, while others give up and quit. The former are the ones that believe
in the power of the self. This though may not be the same as believing in
one’s selfless ness.
One has to be resilient, one has to be persistent, two qualities that are
highly essential in overcoming adversity. And a knowledge of the self can
help you overcome adversity.
I know better than anyone else what adversity means. In the year 1997, I
was diagnosed with an adverse physical illness. From then up to now, I have
been so preoccupied with feeling sorry for myself that I have become my
own worst enemy. Fortunately, I have always taken my physical condition
as a challenge for everyone in the family to overcome. I have relentlessly
pursued peace and happiness as the alternative to my condition. I realize as
I write these words that if good things were going to happen again, I would
have to make them happen myself. I realize that my parents are not going
to be there with me throughout my life. I am trying to overcome my pain,
my suffering with “self-knowledge” (Atma-Bodha)…and “self-realization”…
and “self-control”…
“Defenceless am I – ill, again, and helpless,
Enfeebled, exhausted, and dumbly despairing,
Afflicted with sorrow, and utterly ruined:
In thee is my only haven of refuge,
In thee, my help and my strength, O Bhavani!”
Rise! A new generation has arisen… ‘Know thyself’ (ran the famous
inscription at the Greek Temple of Delphi). When the true Self is known the
jig-saw puzzle of the world gets solved, doubts are at an end, and all misery
vanishes…
I have always taken pride in my modern, progressive outlook, but at heart, I
am (a global) Indian. This is the nation of Rishis and Munis, of the great
Sage Patanjali, Rishi Valmiki, Sant Tulsidas, Sant Kabir, Guru Nanak Dev, Adi
Sankaracharya, Ramakrishna Paramhansa, Vivekananda and Gurudev
Rabindranath Tagore. I still cannot understand why Lord Krishna put me in
this country, when I could have easily overcome my illness in the developed
world (with its entire infrastructure). But infrastructure is not enough by
itself; one has to acknowledge that India with its ancient systems of
thought and its alternative medicine (including Ayurveda & Homeopathy) is
powerful.
I sincerely and firmly also believe that my nation (and especially with
liberalization and globalization inundating our living rooms and also our
senses!) is very much at the crossroads. On the one hand, there is stark
naked poverty and on the other, unrestricted and rampant consumerism
and luxury and extravagance.
This is also the land of the Buddha, one of the greatest teachers of nonviolence who could influence men and even wild beasts to become
harmless and peaceful. India is also the land of Gandhi, whose “Ahimsa”
was powerful enough to bring an entire British Empire down on its knees…
The time has finally arrived that we build up a more tolerant generation in
our beloved nation India. After all, there is a strange confluence of peoples,
cultures, corruption in politics, the extremes of communalism as well as the
extremes of society reflecting a strange diversity which is unique to her!
All this calls for a fresh re-ordering of policies and a fresh development
agenda…
I will be examining most of these issues here.
Simply the fact that I feel strongly on these issues compelled me to
contemplate that a book on this subject ought to be written as a matter of
high priority. This book is in a way also meant for an audience which is
seriously concerned about the progress and development of the nation as a
global superpower.
Gandhi had once famously remarked: “Be the change you wish to see in the
world…” It is time we realized the enormous truth of this statement and
started putting the same into action!
As I write this, I am reminded of Helen Keller.
“True happiness is not attained through self-gratification, but through
fidelity to a worthy purpose.”
(Helen Keller)
“Happiness” is really NOT about expectations- of money, of power, or
influence or of success. True happiness lies within you. Waste no time and
effort searching for peace and contentment externally, when it is very
much inside you. Remember that there is plenty of happiness in giving.
Reach out. Share. Smile. Hug. Happiness is a perfume you cannot pour on
others without getting a few drops on yourself.
Finding happiness is like finding yourself. You don't find happiness, you
make happiness. You choose happiness. Self-actualization is a process of
discovering who you are, who you want to be and paving the way to
happiness by doing what brings YOU the most meaning and contentment to
your life over the long run. This definition of happiness was given by David
Leonhardt in ‘The Happy Guy’…
The concept of gross national happiness (GNH) was developed to define an
indicator that measured quality of life or social progress in more holistic
and psychological terms than gross domestic product (GDP).
The term was coined in 1972 by Bhutan's former King Jigme Singye
Wangchuck, who had opened Bhutan to the age of modernization, soon
after the demise of his father, King Jigme Dorji Wangchuk. He used the
phrase to signal his commitment to building an economy that would serve
Bhutan's unique culture based on Buddhist spiritual values. At first offered
as a casual, offhand remark, the concept was taken seriously, as the Centre
for Bhutan Studies, under the leadership of Karma Uru, developed a
sophisticated survey instrument to measure the population's general level
of well-being. The Canadian health epidemiologist Michael Pennock had a
major role in the design of the instrument, and used (what he called) a "deBhutanized" version of the survey in his work in Victoria, British Columbia.
Ura and Pennock also collaborated on the development of policy screening
tools which could be used to examine the potential impacts of projects or
programs on GNH.
The concept of ‘Gross National Happiness’ arose out of the weaknesses of
GDP as a chief economic indicator. Compared to GDP, GNH deducted the
costs of security, police, pollution clean up, etc.) as positive contributions to
commerce. As economic development on the planet put pressure on the
limits of ecosystems to provide resources and absorb human effluents,
calling into question the ability of the planet to continue to support
civilization (per the arguments of Jared Diamond, among others), many
people called for getting "Beyond GDP" (the title of a recent EU conference)
in order to measure progress not as the mere increase in commercial
transactions, nor as an increase in specifically economic well-being, but as
an increase in general well-being as people themselves subjectively
reported it. GNH happened to be a strong contributor to this movement to
discard measurements of commercial transactions as a key indicator and to
instead directly assess changes in the social and psychological well-being of
populations.
GNH, like the Genuine Progress Indicator, referred to the concept of a
quantitative measurement of well-being and happiness. The two measures
were both motivated by the notion that subjective measures like well-being
were more relevant and important than more objective measures like
consumption. It was not being measured directly, but only the factors
which were believed to lead to it.
GNH value was also proposed to be an index function of the total average
per capita of the following measures:
1. Economic Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical
measurement of economic metrics
2. Environmental Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical
measurement of environmental metrics such as pollution, noise and
traffic
3. Physical Wellness: Indicated via statistical measurement of physical
health metrics such as severe illnesses
4. Mental Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical
measurement of mental health metrics such as usage of
antidepressants and rise or decline of psychotherapy patients
5. Workplace Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical
measurement of labor metrics such as jobless claims, job change,
workplace complaints and lawsuits
6. Social Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical
measurement of social metrics such as discrimination, safety, divorce
rates, complaints of domestic conflicts and family lawsuits, public
lawsuits, crime rates
7. Political Wellness: Indicated via direct survey and statistical
measurement of political metrics such as the quality of local
democracy, individual freedom, and foreign conflicts.
The above 7 metrics were incorporated into the first Global GNH Survey.
In 2009, the 5th International Conference was held at Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil,
with more than 800 participants. Speakers included Karma Ura from Bhutan
and Michael Pennock from Canada. The 4th International Conference on
Gross National Happiness was held in Bhutan with a focus on Practice and
Measurement. The 3rd International Conference on Gross National
Happiness Towards Global Transformation: WORLD VIEWS MAKE A
DIFFERENCE took place in Nong Khai and Bangkok, Thailand between 22
and 28 November 2007. "Rethinking Development: Local Pathways to
Global Wellbeing", the Second International Conference on Gross National
Happiness was held in Antigonish, Nova Scotia June 20–24, 2005. The
second regional Conference took place November 8–11, 2006 at Meiji
Gakuin University in Yokohama. The conference examined Haida successes
to apply non western economic and social modalities.
In a widely cited study, "A Global Projection of Subjective Well-being: A
Challenge to Positive Psychology?" by Adrian G. White of the University of
Leicester in 2007, Bhutan ranked 8th out of 178 countries in Subjective
Well-Being, a metric that has been used by many psychologists since 1997.
In fact, it is the only country in the top 20 "happiest" countries that has a
very low GDP.
Lifestyle Statistics > Happiness net (most recent) by country
India, a nation in transition far behind as far as development went, was
found to be far happier than most in the planet. Certainly, more than the
richer lot in G-8.
What was a little disappointing was that compared with her neighbors in
the sub-continent, Indians were happier than only the Burmese and the
Pakistanis. In fact, Bhutan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and even Bangladesh fared
better than India in the happy country scale. If you disagreed, you could
perhaps find these statistics in a new report by the New Economic
Foundation a UK-based think-tank that compiled the happy planet index
(HPI).
I woke up as if in a trance…
Gone are the days when women were treated with respect. As in truly
respected…
A nun gets gang raped, an American student gets raped, a Swiss national
gets raped (October 2003) and a farmer’s wife (or so many farmers get
their wives raped) is sold off and raped…Rape, rape and more rape, this
happens only in India!
A 21-year old American student was allegedly gang raped in Mumbai. Three
persons were arrested while three more were absconding. Another
foreigner was gang-raped in Manali.
This shows just how vulnerable women are in India.
It’s worse in the villages.
In village Hariharpur, Saran district, Rajasthan, a farmer allegedly staked his
wife in gambling after he lost his money and possessions to his friends. The
26-year-old woman told the police she was repeatedly raped by her
husband’s friends who kept her hostage for a week.
When he fell short of Rs. 40,000 in a game of cards with his friends, Manku
Ojha gave away his young wife, thereafter filing a missing person report
with the Bapcha police. The woman, a mother of two, turned up later and
approached the police saying her husband had “lost” her to his friends who
then kidnapped her, tied her hands and raped her.
The police have registered a case against the husband’s friends for
kidnapping and rape.
(Based on a report in the SUNDAY TIMES OF INDIA Apr 5, 2009, Names
changed to protect identity)
SUCH THINGS DO HAPPEN …ONE WOULD SAY!
THE TRUTH IS…AND A STARK ONE THAT TOO, is that such things do happen
in a country called INDIA, considered by most as…….
I remember how the rape of a Swiss Embassy employee who was on her
way back home after watching a movie at the International Film Festival at
the Siri Fort in South Delhi had created ripples in India. On that same
evening, about an hour later, two miscreants had attacked a documentary
film-maker while she was about to start her car in the same parking lot.
This was October 2003…
THINGS HAVE CHANGED…ONE WOULD SAY!
THE TRUTH IS…AND A STARK ONE THAT TOO, is that things are not
changing…After all, women (and men and children) in the villages are not
human beings.
OR ARE THEY?
Not if you are “An Unknown Indian…”
The ‘am admi’ (common man) leads a very difficult life…
There are official claims that India has become a true super power and the
Indian economy is growing very fast (7 to 8 percent annual growth in GDP).
It seems India and China are the two ‘emerging global tigers’. If India is
really an ‘economic power’ then why the need for child labor? If it is indeed
a ‘great power’ as claimed by the political parties, then why this spate in
farmers’ suicides? In some states, debt-ridden farmers are advertising to
sell their kidneys to maintain their families as they don’t have any asset left
for sale to sustain a living.
The role of China since 1990s is of strategic interest to the imperialist
countries. China is a member of the Security Council having veto power and
it has also nuclear and other destructive arsenals which can threaten the
existence of imperialist powers. It has the largest population in the world
and its literacy rate is very high. Economically it is the fourth richest country
in the world and in many cases the cheapest exporter of goods and services
in the world market.
Our military spending a part of which can be easily diverted to the social
sector (primarily health and education) is officially is in the order of Rupees
70000 to Rupees 80000 crores though we don’t have money to provide
mid-day meals to school children, for that we beg in the international
market.
Deprivation, thy name is India…The material needs of food and water and
shelter still remain dreams on pieces of paper for this non human world
called the “poor”.
“The National Sample Survey data says around 40 percent of villagers
including rich and indebted farmers are so much fed up with farming that
they want to leave their villages as it is difficult to earn any meaningful
living.” With the arrival of globalization, Indian farmers are now competing
globally and they are forced to accept lesser and lesser prices for survival. I
do not know what to ask the Food Corporation of India. FCI over the years
has become a haven of corruption to help a mafia of traders of agricultural
products; these traders either extract payments without delivery or deliver
sub-standard products and siphon off huge profits in collaboration with
corrupt officials of FCI.
In late seventies only in West Bengal out of so many states half-hearted
measures were taken to implement land reform. This is the experience
where ever in the world these multinational corporations have gone, they
have only maximized their own profits within the shortest possible period
of time and left that area like locusts attacking fields full of matured crops.
The developed capitalist countries give millions of dollars as subsidy to their
farmers…But whenever subsidy to the cultivators and poorest of the poor is
discussed, the World Bank and IMF say there cannot be any ‘free lunch’.
What is more shocking is that the MNCs are allowed to experiment with
their genetically modified seeds on Indian soil, the bureaucracy knows all
this but the Indian people are made to eat such crops, vegetables and fruits
without telling them that these may cause serious health problems
The WTO as an instrument in the hands of the MNCs also looks the other
way, so do corrupt and inefficient politicians and bureaucrats. The farmers
are the worst sufferers in agricultural trade.
Malnutrition and starvation deaths among the poorest of the poor, who
can’t afford to pay even Rupees 4/5 per kg for rice which is the main cereal
for the majority of poor people in India is hardly a matter of concern for
these global multi nationals. They are more interested in filling their own
coffers. People below the poverty line may not have ration cards or if they
have their ration shops may not have ration for weeks together. Quite
often stocks released from FCI for export to countries like Bangladesh were
actually sold within the country by the traders to profit from the high local
prices.
Do we have a shortage of bank finance? I guess not.
This discussion cannot be complete without a reference to the plight of the
tribal population. There are no statistics as to how many tribals in India
were made homeless and destitute because modern development needed
their homes, fields and their forest land. They are being deprived of their
lands so that capital may have access to the bio-diversity resources, the
precious forests, river water and minerals lying buried. There is this huge
problem of forest rights, dams and displacement.
Thus ‘economic reform’ process in 21st Century in India means clear and
simple ultra modern cars rolling out of ‘liberalized’ corporations, beautiful
roads and flyovers for their quick movement, five star malls and hotels in
the metros for the affluent few. In the villages and in tribal heartland shops
are selling human kidneys and human beings are forced to live days
together eating weeds and drinking polluted river or pond water, even live
red ants with rice. It is high time Indians visiting places like the ‘World
Economic Forum’ in Davos must understand that the time of endurance of
the vast majority of Indians is running out very fast. Imitation of the West
may be very costly unless proper corrective steps are taken in time.
Numerically in a democracy majority always decides and the poor in India is
in the majority, how long can we deny their natural right to decide the fate
of the country!
The famed environmental writer Bill McKibben asked a question:
"The really interesting question… is: what if you're an Indian kid looking for
a light to read by-and also living near the rising ocean, or vulnerable to the
range expansion of dengue-bearing mosquitoes, or dependent on
suddenly-in-question monsoonal rains." (Siddhartha)
I think the answer for that village kid would probably be the same. Take the
electricity and the light to read by and worry about malaria and monsoonal
rains later. To get some idea of the problems facing people in rural India,
just consider the following:
1. In India, the literacy rate is only 64%. The female literacy rate is even
lower. In half the households in rural India, there is not a single female
member above the age of 15 who can read or write.
2. Out of a population of one billion, more than 300 million Indians live on
less than a dollar a day.
3. In India, some 400,000 children under the age of five die each year from
diarrhea caused by easily preventable factors such as poor hygiene and
unsafe drinking water.
4. Indian society continues to be plagued by extreme forms of
discrimination and exploitation based on the traditional caste system.
There are many millions (estimates range from 40 million to 100 million) of
bonded laborers (slaves) in India today, mainly belonging to the lowest
castes, the Dalits.
5. There still exists widespread discrimination against women in India.
Economist Amartya Sen estimates that in the developing world, due to the
preference for sons over daughters, and due to the sheer neglect of women
and girls, some 100 million women are simply missing.
In this scenario, how can one seriously suggest that the village kid in India
should give up her hopes of prosperity, education, and health care today, in
order to prevent rising ocean levels many years down the road? What
would Americans do in the same situation? Or Europeans? Or human
beings anywhere?
There are some very good reasons why people in rural India should first
worry about their basic human necessities today, rather than about the
long term effects of global warming.
First, if you and your family don't have access to such things as clean water
and basic health care, neither you, nor your children, nor your
grandchildren may even be around long enough to witness tomorrow,
making the future rise or fall of the world's oceans a moot point.
Second, the life of an educated, healthy and modestly prosperous person
living in tomorrow's globally-warmed world of higher ocean levels may well
be better than the poverty stricken life of an Indian villager in the preglobal-warming world. In other words, even if the most dire predictions
about global warming come true, some of the poorest people in the world
may still be better off tomorrow if they are able to enjoy some of the fruits
of development, such as education, health care, electricity, etc.
Third, foremost, human beings need to achieve a certain minimum level of
material well-being and sense of security. And once this is achieved, who
knows what wonders can happen. If the billions of impoverished people in
the developing world can get widespread access to education, health care,
and job opportunities, who knows what the unleashing of their talent and
energy can achieve. Having met their basic needs, maybe they will start
thinking about the environment. Maybe new ideas will burst forth. Maybe
new and better energy technologies will be adopted, which will not only
address global warming, but also ensure a minimum standard of living for
all people everywhere. Maybe horses will fly.
Ted Nordhaus and Michael Shellenberger put it in the book Breakthrough,
"the satisfaction of the material needs of food and water and shelter is not
an obstacle to but rather the precondition for the modern appreciation of
the nonhuman world".
Talking about the ‘Progress of Nations’…
In the developing world, billions still lack clean water and sanitation.
Despite the fact that every year nearly 2 million children die from diarrhea
and other water-related diseases, the world remains unable to get clean
water and adequate sanitation to those who most desperately need them.
Some slight improvements have been made over the past decade: Globally,
water supply coverage is up from 78% in 1990 to 82% in 1999. More than
800 million people gained access to clean water. And sanitation coverage is
up from 54% in 1990 to 59% in 1999.
However, in absolute terms, the increases have not kept pace with the
need: More than 1 billion people lack access to clean drinking water and
approximately 2.5 billion people – more than one third of the world’s
population – have no sanitary means of excreta disposal.
Of the nearly 2 million children who die from diarrhea and other waterborne diseases, almost all are under the age of five.
Millions also suffer from parasitic worm infections that stem from the
presence of human excreta and solid wastes in the environment and cause
anemia, malnutrition and sometimes death.
Along with disease and fatalities, there are other, more subtle hardships,
including the squalor of life in communities that lack clean water and
adequate sanitation facilities and the time burden, which falls
disproportionately on girls at the expense of their schooling and on women
at the expense of their own health and child-care tasks.
In some countries, such as Bangladesh, arsenic contamination is rendering
the available water presumed to be clean and safe dangerously unsafe.
Reaching people in rural areas is still the greatest challenge. More than a
quarter (29%) of the world’s rural population lacks access to clean water
and nearly two thirds (64%) lacks access to sanitation facilities.
And in urban areas, high population growth rates are outpacing increases in
both water and sanitation coverage.
The world will not meet the 1990 World Summit goal of universal access to
safe water and sanitation by the year 2000, but that task, vastly
compounded by burgeoning urban populations, remains as urgent today as
it was a decade ago.
The recently released UN Human Development Report, “The Real Wealth of
Nations: Pathways to Human Development”, is compelling evidence of the
fact that economic growth cannot guarantee nor does it signify “all-round
development”. For a strong economy we need political will, strong
leadership capabilities and a continuing commitment of the global
community.
Global interests in India and investments have definitely improved.
However, between the years 2005 and 2010, our beloved nation has moved
up by only one step on the HDI, standing now at 119 out of 169 countries.
In 2010, three new indices were introduced: the inequality-adjusted HDI;
the Gender Inequality Index (GII) and the multidimensional poverty index
(MPI). India’s HDI is 0.519 above the South Asian average of 0.516. On the
GII, it is much behind even Bangladesh and Pakistan, reflecting women’s
disadvantages in reproductive health, empowerment and socio-economic
status. The sex ratio is terribly skewed. It is not surprising, therefore, that
we should lag behind on all other indicators as well. Our MPI of 55%
reflects multiple deprivations with the South Asian figure being 54%.
We clearly need to focus on pulling our people out of the poverty trap;
employ safety nets and other anti-poverty defense mechanisms and make
sincere efforts to reach the fruits of growth across the full spectrum of the
nation. There is need for greater accountability and transparency in our
elections.
Again, all this global adulation coming our way is only misleading us. “Crude
numbers”/statistics are important but given our ‘current progressive
outlook’, we cannot hope for true human progress…
After all, sometimes, our most progressive thinkers have come from the
less fortunate sections of society.
Recently, I also had the rare opportunity of going through the conclusions
of a 2-day seminar as voiced by Dr. Prem P. Verma titled “Alternative
Development for Jharkhand” and dated Thursday, Aug 7th, 2008.
“It was quite a coincidence that in the recently concluded 2-day Seminar on
“Growth and Human Development in Jharkhand” under the aegis of
Institute for Human Development, Eastern Regional Centre, such wellknown personalities both from Delhi and Jharkhand voiced the same
analysis for the ills plaguing the State –
Sri Babulal Marandi, ex-Chief Minister and M.P. – In development we
should concentrate first on basic needs like roads, electricity, water, health
and education and not big plans…….Only industries cannot give
development to people.
Sri Bhuvaneshwar Mehta, M.P. from Jharkhand – There is plundering of
mineral resources……Character of tribal state is in danger. 16% population
has been displaced…….We need to concentrate on villages.
Sri Saryu Roy, M.L.A. – Agriculture should be given priority. We should not
depend on large irrigation projects.
Dr. Ram Dayal Munda, Educationist and Social Worker – We have to take
development to the jungles and mountains…….Villages have to be
developed.
Dr. Abhijit Sen, Planning Commission Member – Instead of big investments,
more welfare schemes are required. Basic needs like health, education,
employment must be addressed…”
“It was wonderful to hear so much truth for the first time being spoken,
perhaps unknowingly, from so many quarters at the same time. I was left
wondering that how come the State does not opt for the right course when
there is total agreement on the problem causing the malady. From the
respected Planning Commission members like Abhijit Sen and B. N.
Yugandhar to intellectuals like Dr. Ram Dayal Munda and Dr. Dev Nathan –
all of them emphasized that agriculture and rural development were the
keys to realizing the dream of Jharkhand that the people have and desire…”
“If this is so, why do we keep clamouring constantly for rapid exploitation
of Jharkhand’s limited mineral resources and heavy industrialization as if
this was the path of Jharkhand’s happiness? Is it because industrialization
sounds modern and attractive in this age of technology while agriculture
and talk of villages take us back to the past era? It almost seems and one
gets led to the conclusion that the moment we feel educated in the
anglicized mould, we must move away from any contact with and
contamination from our rural brethren (who constitute incidentally more
than 65% of the total Indian population). It is more fashionable in the
corridors of power in Ranchi and Delhi to talk of cars, computers, mobiles,
call centres, high technology gadgets than the simple nitty-gritty of
adequate food production, housing, medical care, schools and basic
sanitary needs. People at the bottom of the pile have waited for 60 years
for their basic requirements to be met and all we have given them is the
glitter of speeding autos, luxury ads in television and false promises of
future happiness to be brought about by the trickle down effect of
globalization. In the meantime, we keep asking them to be patient and give
up their rich agriculture land (more often than not their only ancestral
property) in return for future comfort and happiness which never comes.
No wonder the credibility of the educated civil class including its leaders
and bureaucrats is at the lowest ebb and the bottom frustrated population
has taken the path of violence after patiently waiting for 60 long years…”
“To conclude, all our attention in Jharkhand henceforth has to be on
agriculture and rural development than being obsessed with New Ranchi or
flyovers or malls or cavalcade of VIP cars with flashing red lights. The socalled Naxalites are only asking for this from the leadership at the helm of
affairs…”
“Is anyone listening?”
I will strongly agree with these statements as voiced by Dr. Verma. I will not
say anything beyond this except that I find that an extremely backward and
conservative outlook exists.
Indeed it is not within either the scope of this book or its objective to single
out people or organizations that have discriminated, but one must proceed
in order to be able to highlight that certain discriminatory practices do exist
in society that target, among others, the poor & the vulnerable sections of
the population. We cannot change society unless we dare speak out, so as
to say… because then change proceeds through a ‘ripple effect, more and
more ‘victims of society’ take turns to add their voices for a more profound
change.
Everyone in India has an extremely progressive outlook. So progressive that
an innocent nun is raped by fanatics in broad daylight and they go scotfree. So progressive that a little child is beaten up by the cops who walk
away scot-free. So progressive that an irate mob drags a young man who
has committed a petty theft. So progressive that we all sit quiet as hunger
takes away thousands of children each year…
They use fashionable names for the work being done for the poor: poverty
eradication; poverty alleviation; rural development; international
development; sustainable development; social development and so on! The
UN (United Nations) uses the term ‘millennium development goals’… I
respect the work being done by NGOs, CBOs and international agencies
such as the UN (United Nations). The feeling by itself is important. But
some amount of democratic decentralization is necessary. Is it possible for
the imposing centralized United Nations headquarters in New York to be
able to respond immediately and effectively if a little girl child in India were
to collapse during her menstrual periods in the intense parched heat while
walking to fetch drinking water? That would be the daughter of a farmer.
And such people are really not important. Clamouring about our
‘millennium development goals’ simply won’t help. One has to be clear
about one’s purpose in life…
We think we have come a long way. We have a long way to go. We think we
have made Progress. We have a lot of progress to make. We think we have
learnt from the experiences of other countries. We have plenty to learn!
Consider this: India has the largest number of children of school-going age
out of school. There are millions waiting to learn to read and write, to see
the light in their lives. There are villages without roads, without electricity.
There are schools that haven’t seen what a desktop looks like. Women in
Rajasthan walk miles in parched heat to fetch drinking water. An innocent
villager was refused admittance at the hospital when in labor; she couldn’t
sign her husband’s name. These are our ‘Unwanted Indians’…
Consider also the practice of selective sex abortion. The practice of aborting
‘unwanted girls’ is widespread in India. Manual scavenging is common in
India. An Indian couple found an unwell 75-year old woman lying on a
garbage dump apparently thrown out of her home by her children. As the
New India Rises, so do slums of laborers. Lack of dignity for manual labor
and very low pay has always been a truth in India. It is part of the caste
system, part of our history. There is widespread trafficking in women and
children. Disability means lack of dignity.
This is India, a developing nation in transition after 60 years of freedom.
This is India for which martys like Gandhi had laid down their lives. This is
India where thousands of children die every day because of malnutrition,
this is India where hundreds of farmers have committed suicide because of
mounting debts, this is India where hundreds of Bollywood films are made
every year amassing hundreds of crores of profit to a few stakeholders, this
is India where Commonwealth Games(CWG) are organized with thousands
of crores of rupees from taxpayers money, this is India where thousands of
crores are spent on building a single house to cater to the materialistic
needs of a couple and two siblings, this is India where Kargil martyrs are
deprived of a small house and a thirty one storey building is built in its place
in a posh area for “so called “ elite people, this is India where thousands of
crores are spent on the electoral process.
This is also an India where the educated class steers clear of politics…
I have often asked myself the same question: why is it that the educated
class in India steers clear of Politics?
Is it because Politics is still “considered” a dirty game unlike most of the
other ‘professions’ like engineering, medicine and teaching? The question
is: is Politics really as dirty as we might make it out to be?
I guess not. I guess it was because Jessica Lal was killed for no fault of her
own. I also guess that our Bollywood films are to blame for most of it.
Consider the typical ingredients: A highly influential and corrupt man with
links to the underworld runs for office; his son is the usual debauch and
spends his time raping the heroine while off course both father and son fill
their coffers draining the state exchequer. Or, a highly disengaged politician
running for the office of Chief Minister and his lecherous son, a principled
cop, some local goons and an innocent heroine who is either raped or
commits suicide?
But off course there could be other reasons as well. Like a general
disillusionment and disenchantment caused by the fact that we see either
the ‘Yadavs’ or the ‘Mundas’ or the elitist Scindias or the Gandhis running
for office. In a manner both ‘Reservation’ as well as elitist politics can cause
intense pain to the psyche of the average Indian who sees no way out for
himself/herself in this big game of money, influence and off course power.
I remember an article “India: A billion aspirations, Perspectives on South
Asian politics: Professionals in politics?” dated MAR 25, 2009 02:22 EDT)
REUTERS
QUOTE:
“What’s common to a banker, a dancer and a former U.N. under-secretary
general?
Answer: they are all contesting the general election in India.
The main battle in the polls from April 16 to May 13 in a previous year, as in
years past, is between the centre-left ruling Congress and the Hindunationalist Bharatiya Janata Party. A loose alliance of smaller regional
parties has formed a Third Front, as well.
But Meera Sanyal, the country head of ABN Amro Bank, is not aligning with
any of them. She will contest from South Mumbai, an upmarket locality and
the main business district, as an independent candidate.
On a month’s leave of absence as she dabbles in politics, Sanyal will go toeto-toe with Congress incumbent Milind Deora, the son of the oil minister,
with Facebook groups and her husband spearheading her campaign. She
said she found it difficult to align herself with the ideologies of the big
parties.
Sanyal said she was against criminalisation of politics and wanted to bring
the common man back into focus.
She also has support groups on Facebook, and a website, and while she is
not expected to win, she has promised to fight.
But should that disqualify well-intentioned, middle-class professionals?
“The middle-class considers politics dirty, and steers clear, but there are so
many talented and smart people among us who should take responsibility
and take the plunge,” said R.V. Krishnan, president of the fledgling
Professionals Party of India, which is fielding a surgeon in South Mumbai.
Politics in India once drew the best and the brightest. Perhaps it is time to
reclaim politics from our politicians and hand it to the bankers, writers and
artistes?”
UNQUOTE
We ought to make Politics a professional career option for the educated
classes which ordinarily steers clear of this so-called ‘dirty game’…
Today we need Politicians who would do their job professionally like
business managers do in the corporate world or doctors do in Medicine.
Maybe the University Grants Commission could plan to start a Professional
Post Graduate Course in Political Management (an MBA in Political
management); or an MA/MSc in Politics and Society; etc. There could be ‘n’
number of options.
This would create good educated disciplined and trained Politicians who
wouldn’t carry goons behind them, rather carry people with them
spontaneously and give our country a clean political leadership to steer the
development and eradicate the socio-political ills that exist today.
Why not we give it a thought and make politics a professional career and be
actively involved in the affairs of our motherland?
Politics is a very good path for bringing a change but.........it should be led by
good hands.
In universities overseas, majors in Politics or International Studies or Peace
and Conflict Studies etc are offered in abundance. We need such courses in
Indian universities, if we want more people like Dr. Abdul Kalam or Dr.
Manmohan Singh, to enter Politics...
The question lies in proposing the idea.
Alternatively, we could have a formal and rigorous selection procedure to train
potential politicians in the same way that we have an IAS or an IFS or an IPS…
These selfish, illiterate people don’t usually feel it as a responsibility towards
their country..... And make cash out of it. Even the foolish people offer support
by electing them, I have experienced such situations where people are ready
to give their vote for Note (money).
So much as far as seeing India as a "Developed Country"....were concerned?
INDIA: DEVELOPING OR DEVELOPED?
The term “Developing country” is generally used to describe a nation with a
low level of material well-being (not to be confused with third world
countries). Since no single definition of the term developed country is
recognized internationally, the levels of development may vary widely
within so-called developing countries, with some developing countries
having high average standards of living.
Countries with more advanced economies than other developing nations,
but which have not yet fully demonstrated the signs of a developed
country, are categorized under the term newly industrialized countries.
Kofi Annan, former Secretary General of the United Nations, defined a
developed country as follows. "A developed country is one that allows all
its citizens to enjoy a free and healthy life in a safe environment." But
according to the United Nations Statistics Division,
There is no established convention for the designation of
"developed" and "developing" countries or areas in the United
Nations system.
And it notes that
The designations "developed" and "developing" are intended for
statistical convenience and do not necessarily express a judgment
about the stage reached by a particular country or area in the
development process.
The UN also notes
In common practice, Japan in Asia, Canada and the United States in
Northern America, Australia and New Zealand in Oceania, and
Europe are considered "developed" regions or areas. In international
trade statistics, the Southern African Customs Union is also treated
as a developed region and Israel as a developed country; countries
emerging from the former Yugoslavia, except for Slovenia, are
treated as developing countries; and countries of eastern Europe and
the Commonwealth of Independent States (code 172) in Europe are
not included under either developed or developing regions.
In the 21st century, the original Four “Asian Tigers” Hong Kong, Singapore,
South Korea and Taiwan along with Cyprus, Malta, and Slovenia are
considered "developed countries".
On the other hand, according to the classification from IMF before April
2004, all the countries of Eastern Europe (including Central European
countries which still belongs to "Eastern Europe Group" in the UN
institutions) as well as the former Soviet Union (U.S.S.R.) countries in
Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan and
Turkmenistan) and Mongolia, were not included under either developed or
developing regions, but rather were referred to as "countries in transition";
however they are now widely regarded (in the international reports) as
"developing countries".
There is widespread criticism of the use of the term ‘developing country’.
The term implies inferiority of a 'developing country' compared to a
'developed country', which many countries dislike. It assumes a desire to
‘develop’ along the traditional 'Western' model of economic development
which a few countries, such as Cuba, have chosen not to follow. Thus Cuba
remains classed as ‘developing’ due to its low gross national income but
have a lower infant mortality rate than the USA.
The term 'developing' implies mobility and does not acknowledge that
development may be in decline or static in some countries, particularly in
southern African states worst affected by HIV/AIDS.
In general, development entails a modern infrastructure (both physical and
institutional), and a move away from low value added sectors such as
agriculture and natural resource extraction. Developed countries, in
comparison, usually have economic systems based on continuous, selfsustaining economic growth in the tertiary sector of the economy and
quaternary sector of the economy and high material standards of living.
However, there are notable exceptions, as some countries considered
developed have a significant component of primary industries in their
national economies, e.g. Norway, Canada, and Australia. The USA and
Western Europe have a very important agricultural sector; both are major
players in international agricultural markets. Also, natural resource
extraction can be a very profitable industry (high value added) e.g. oil
extraction.
Nations like India may be considered emerging and developing economies
according to the International Monetary Fund's World Economic Outlook
Report, April 2010.
The terms “emerging” and “developing” economy as applied to India are
not meant to confuse; rather we must acknowledge that India is an
‘emerging economy’ which still lacks in development.
There is no point comparing India to the United States, nor is it mandatory
to ape the “Western Model of Development”. One has to acknowledge that
the two terms “Western Model of Development” and “Western Culture”
are entirely different and not to be confused. A mall or a freeway or an
expressway or a flyover or the semi-nudity that is so characteristic of our
cinema is simply NO index of progress.
India as a nation lives in her villages and agriculture is the mainstay of our
economy and dependent on the monsoons which are often erratic and
unpredictable. Our country has extremely low literacy rates and a skewed
sex ratio as well.
Many Indians are so poor that they cannot even afford two square meals a
day. Hunger, starvation, malnourishment and under nutrition added to
hopeless poverty and destitution paints a dark picture of our economy. A
large section of our population is still unemployed. Many children still work
in hazardous industries to support their families. Shelter is a faraway cry.
The population bomb ticks away. The roads are bad. Manual scavenging is
common in India. Social evils like female infanticide and “Dahej” (dowry)
are still prevalent in certain parts of India. There are both internal and
external security threats. The “BIMARU” states are extremely low on the
HDI.
We may also assert that India is developing because India has still not been
able to provide all the necessities of life. Whereas countries like U.S have
been able to do so to a large extent and hence are called developed.
But things are changing. Over the last few years, there has been a ‘telecom
revolution’ in India; many call centres have sprung up making India the
world’s choice of back-office destination; infrastructure has improved; the
middle class is consuming more and with the visit of President Obama and
with India attending the G-20 as well as the “World Economic Forum” in
Davos, India is all set to be a superpower…
However, therein lays the strange anomaly. In the month of May, people
die because of a sweltering heat wave. Hundreds of thousands of poor
villagers traverse miles to get drinking water.
In the year 2004, the monsoon first played truant in June and July and
many farmers committed suicide in Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra.
When it began, it made up for the delay with a vengeance and wreaked
havoc in Bihar (now, people drowned in the flood waters as ministers took
aerial surveys).
Electricity plays hide-and-seek as usual in Bangalore, Pune and Hyderabad
(touted as India's Silicon Valleys) and in many other places all over India.
Pollution, which has reached record-breaking heights, is causing serious
health problems.
Instead, I would like to pose a question: what's changed?
Instead of Ambassadors, Fiats and Maruti Suzukis, Santros, Qualises,
Accords, Ikons, Corollas and Mercedes are jostling for space on the same
potholed roads (even as they emit tons and tons of pollutants)!
Almost everyone sports a snazzy mobile phone.
Malls are very much a part of the metro culture.
There is a mad rush for designer flats and row houses.
Television and print media are vying to out-do each other in 'yellow
journalism.'
'Flashy’ bars and pubs are no longer restricted to the metros.
The number of divorces is on the rise.
Is this growth?
A few lucky individuals benefit from IT. That does not mean the whole of
India is progressing.
With due respect to the burgeoning IT and BPO industry, its benefits have
not percolated to the masses. It is restricted to a few urban centres and the
English speaking middle-class.
What about the hundreds of thousands of Indians living in interior India?
What about Raghuveer from Bagru? What are the employment
opportunities available to him? Will he have to head for either Jaipur or
Mumbai and be part of that living hell -- its slums? No wonder crimes like
looting and cheating and rape are on the rise.
This may sound clichéd but the gap between the 'haves' and 'have-nots' has
widened even more.
The new breed of communication-savvy politicians is, like the corporate
honchos, talking about making India a superpower by 2040. What are they
doing to realize that vision?
Where is the long-term strategic plan to create millions of jobs every year?
What measures are we taking to tackle the omnipresent demon of
corruption? What are our chances of getting MPs/ministers with no
criminal record? What is our plan to achieve decentralized, uniform
industrial development spread across the country? When will any political
party fulfill the promises made in their manifesto?
If we still haven't fulfilled the basic needs of “Roti”; “Kapda” and “Makaan”
(and are ranked so low on the HDI), how can we ever become a developed
nation? If we haven't achieved this in the past 63 years, on what basis can
we say we will do it in the next 35 years?
The realistic answer to 'Can India ever be a developed country?' still evades
me.
My heart doesn't want to accept that. Somewhere, deep down, I still have a
faint hope that India will become a developed nation – only time will give
us an answer…
But for the moment…India is definitely NOT shining.
The first thing that would strike your mind as you alighted at one of our
international airports to take a cab to the main commercial hub of the city
is that India is SHINING…
Consider the scenario in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal and a
metropolitan city by itself. As you would alight from the Netaji Subhas
Chandra International terminal and board a cab to take you to Park Street,
the commercial hub of the city…you would have noticed imposing realestate structures come up in Rajarhat: a mini-city by itself. You would be
going via a freeway and exotic malls and flyovers…with a difference that
most of these would have been built over the ruins of little shacks and
chawls with bulldozers actually causing major destruction to slum areas
(while trying to appease the so called ‘elites’) and rendering hundreds of
the city’s urban poor homeless in the process. This entire process of “carrot
and stick” (which has also led to major rifts between the poor rural and the
rich urban populations) would be referred to (in common Indian parlance)
as “urban development”…
Who cares anyway? You and I don’t care. Because we are not affected. The
strongest truth is that the poor (both India’s urban and rural) are forced to
live with the consequences. While the rural poor have an answer to its
problem in migration, the urban poor has simply no answer. A University of
London report (cannot recall year) stated that urban poverty is a major
issue in the developing world, with larger and larger numbers of rural labor
seeking to migrate to the cities in search of work.
To most Westerners, it is unthinkable that much of the work that is done by
machines in their countries is done manually in India. The term ‘Dalit’
meaning ‘Untouchable’ is used to describe such people as manual
scavengers, night-soil pickers and those that do all the ‘dirty work’.
Mahatma Gandhi first coined the term “Harijans” (meaning ‘Children of
God) to represent a certain section of society to whom (human) dignity is
yet to be accorded.
India as a nation in transition spends its time on costly Gizmos; Apps; realestate and property in addition to more and more fancy cars. This is
‘Today’s India’ (or, ‘Tomorrow’s India’) or Ranbir Kapoor’s Pepsi
‘Youngistan’. Off course, the main idea here is to sell a commodity or a
product of ‘Globalization’ in this case, the product being Pepsi.
Globalization has actually corporatized our ‘grey cells’ and now all we,
meaning most urban Indians can ever dream or think of is consuming more
and more and more, a term often referred to as “mindless consumerism”from bikes to cars to chocolates to perfumes to fairness creams to potato
wafers, cheese burgers, coffee and alcohol.
India is also now not one, not two but ‘n’ number of nights at the call
center. It is true that BPOs and KPOs and all kinds of POs (nee ‘Patent and
Copyright Offices’) have mushroomed, and we have people trying to get
copyrights of their voices…but has this revolution reached the masses? I
guess not!
Again, many IT companies have sprung up and there is an enormous scope
of good governance through ICT (Information and Communication
Technology) in India, but the average Indian in the rural areas still remains
deprived of these opportunities…
Judith, my former colleague from the Netherlands had once put a question
to me: “Neil…we have windmills for our energy purposes.” “How do you
plan to solve the energy crisis in your country?” To answer her, I simply said
‘Solar power’ or ‘Bio-gas’…” But in a country which runs low on power (and
I am told some villages have power only between 2:00 am and 6:00
am)…installing solar power energy would cost us a fortune.
So, is India shining? I guess not. But there is hope if…
We can bring about the same kind of ‘social renaissance’ that Mahatma
Gandhi; Rabindranath Tagore; Swami Vivekananda; Swami Dayanand
Saraswati; Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Dr. B.R. Ambedkar had brought about
in the 19th Century. Combining the wisdom of our ancient seers and saints
with Western Technology can actually bring about huge benefits for India
as an emerging developing nation…
FORGOTTEN THE ETERNAL LUMINARIES: WE NEED A SOCIAL
RENAISSANCE
Many contemporary Indians would die to settle in the United States and
earn in $. After all, many of our people are already working in the Silicon
Valley. Off course, there is nothing wrong with this, but we Indians seem to
have had our senses inundated by the pleasures of Globalization-fancy cars
rolling out of ‘liberalized corporations’; flashy mobile sets; electronic
gadgets; apps; gizmos and off course real estate.
Compare this to the fact that India still remains a deplorably poor and
destitute nation. We Indians simply do not care to follow the prescriptions
as laid down by our eternal luminaries. It is lamentable how polite and
cultured our grandfather's generation were compared to today's youth. It’s
a huge loss to our indigenous culture that we now live in an age of Latin
Salsa and American slang.
We need a social renaissance of the sort Sanderson Beck has described in
his book. Our society must begin to respect values otherwise I’m afraid we
would all have settled elsewhere (perhaps on the streets near Capitol Hill)
to earn dollars in the process of trying to be a ‘Global Indian’…
This is the flip side of the coin. It is true that millions of dollars are pouring
in from these expatriates every month by virtue of which their parents and
children are able to live a life with dignity, marriageable sisters are getting
married into decent families and others are also making a livelihood.
THE GLOBAL INDIAN Vs THE OVERSEAS INDIAN
A non-resident Indian (NRI) (प्रवासी भारतीय Pravāsī Bhāratīya) is an Indian
citizen who has migrated to another country, a person of Indian origin who
is born outside India, or a person of Indian origin who resides outside India.
...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overseas_Indian
The Indian Diaspora today constitutes an important, and in certain respects
a special force in world culture. The origins of the modern Indian Diaspora
lie mainly in the subjugation of India by the British and its incorporation
into the British Empire. Indians were taken over as indentured labor to farflung parts of the empire in the nineteenth-century, a circumstance to
which the modern Indian populations of Fiji, Mauritius, Guyana, Trinidad,
Surinam, Malaysia, South Africa, Sri Lanka, and other places attest in their
own peculiar ways. Over two million Indian men fought on behalf of the
British in numerous wars, including the Boer War and the two World Wars,
and some remained behind to claim the land on which they had fought as
their own. Following the II World War, the dispersal of Indian labor and
professionals has been a nearly world-wide phenomenon. Indians, and
other South Asians, provided the labor that helped in the reconstruction of
war-torn Europe, particularly the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, and
in more recent years unskilled labor from South Asia has been the main
force in the transformation of the physical landscape of much of the Middle
East. Meanwhile, in countries such as the United States, Canada, and
Australia, Indians have made their presence visibly felt in the professions.
The Indian Diaspora is made up of complex elements. How we are to
characterize the Indian diasporic community as 'Indian' given that it is
constituted of such diverse elements as South Asian Hong Kong Muslims,
Canadian Sikhs (or shall we say Sikh Canadians?), Punjabi Mexican
Californians, Gujarati East Africans now settled in the U.S. by way of
England, South African Hindus, and so forth? In the United States, at least,
the Indian community has occupied a place of considerable privilege, and
many Indians could deflect the moment of recognition that 'Indianness' and
being 'American' do not always happily coincide. In recent years, with a
declining economy on the one hand, and the congregation of Indians in
clusters that visibly put them apart on the other hand, Indians have for the
first time become the targets of racial attacks. The Indian woman in her
'native dress', with the vermillion dot on her forehead, is easily seen as an
embodiment of sheer otherness, and so she has been perceived by the socalled "dot-busters", a gang of white teenagers operating in New Jersey
who have already been responsible for several violent crimes against
Indians. There are several other such entities operating such as the “Ku Klux
Klan” (KKK). In the U.K., the native Indian costume has come up for public
scrutiny and discussion in an altogether different respect: Sikhs have
insisted that they be exempt from the law that compels bicyclists and
motorcyclists to wear helmets, for such helmets cannot be worn over
turbans, and their religious faith requires Sikhs to wear turbans. The kirpan
has been an issue of contention in California schools.
The Hindi feature film or Bollywood has provided for much bonding. Often
found in grocery and video stores across the U.S. carrying subtitles in
Arabic, one language which is not spoken by any Indian community in the
U.S, it has led to ‘friendships across borders’ in an alien land. The Middle
East is now one of the largest consumers of Bollywood films worldwide.
The Indian 'arranged marriage' might furnish another such facet of a
'common culture'. Newspapers published by Indian communities flourish
everywhere, and they invariably carry a section with matrimonial ads.
Though these very ads help Indians to 'locate' one another, they pose
difficult questions about groups or communities of different categories of
Indians to one another.
Many Hindus in the United States seem to know the meaning of Hinduism
better than do Hindus in the 'motherland'. Why do overseas Hindus,
particularly in the North American Diaspora, appear always to out-Hindu
the Hindu? In thinking of the Indian Diaspora, other questions that come to
the fore include: relations between parents and children; race relations
between Indians, Afro-Americans and white Americans; the place of Indian
food and music in the preservation of Indian communities; the
responsibility, if any, of the Indian Government to overseas Indians; and the
future prospects of the Indian community in the U.S.
We all know about the “Brain Drain”. But how many of us actually know
that the overseas Indian Diaspora takes pride in calling itself ‘PIO” (Persons
of Indian Origin). These people, especially the Indian-American community
has also to play a big role in India’s development.
It’s called the “brain drain gain”…
Earlier, it was considered a liability that a section of people should have left
their countries (in our case, India) in search of greener pastures. About 20
million people comprise this eclectic group growing at about 10 percent per
year, representing, after China and the UK, the largest Diaspora in the
world. There are about 10,000 or more overseas Indians in 48 countries
around the world. In spite of residing in different countries and speaking
different languages, the Indian Diaspora share a common identity with their
country of origin, a consciousness of their cultural heritage and their deep
attachment to India.
In the last two decades, the Indian Diaspora worldwide has seen the
transformation of its members from being migrants in a foreign country to
holding high posts in politics, universities, and industries as elected leaders,
politicians, eminent professors, and other professionals. One of the best
examples is Bharrat Jagdeo (born 1964) who is the socialist president of
Guyana. His Excellency, Mr. Bharrat Jagdeo is of Indian origin that shares
great linkages between the country of origin and his country of settlement.
In the United States recently, has been the nomination of Bobby Jindal, an
Indo-American, for the post of Governor in the state of Louisiana, USA
during elections in November 2003. If elected he would become the
youngest Governor in the nation, the youngest ever to hold the office of
Governor in Louisiana, and the first Indo-American to occupy the
Governor's mansion. Kalpana Chawla was another example.
I believe that the overseas Indian Diaspora can contribute to the Indian
economy in ways that the Indian government cannot. Parag Khanna, a
'second generation' specialist in U.S. - India relations believes that using the
Diaspora would be a useful contribution for development in India; in fact he
compares the contribution to that of foreign companies in India. Besides
contribution towards the home country, members of the Indian Diaspora
can also play important roles in mobilizing political support for issues of
vital concern to India in their new countries.
The NRI or non-resident Indian community, popularly referred to as Envoys
of Enterprise, account for an economic output of about $400 billion
(Rupees 19, 20,000 Crores). Countries like China, India, Pakistan and many
other third world countries have a very strong relationship with their
Diaspora community. Hence, the contribution of these communities to the
development process of their respective countries cannot be undermined.
In support of the Hypothesis, 'In the case of the Indian Diaspora, migration
of people has not resulted in 'Brain-Drain' but 'Gain', this chapter looks at
the hypotheses statements: (a) Members of the Indian Diaspora (NRIs and
PIOs) have significantly contributed towards the growth and development
in India. (b)The Indian Diaspora is an influential and valuable community
contributing towards improved Indo-American relations, thus overall
contributing towards 'gain' to the country. By proving the Diaspora’s
contribution towards economic growth and development in India dominant
theories of 'brain-drain' and 'migration of talent' do take a backseat.
Decades old concerns over migration of skilled people from the less
developed countries (LDCs) to the advanced countries takes on new and
interesting forms. Possibly, comparisons with 'Bamboo Network' of
overseas Chinese comprising 55 million people contributing about US $ 700
billion per year, might come to the forefront.
If the overseas Indian community can do so much, surely our own people,
in other words, Indian Nationals residing in India are expected to
participate more forcefully in India’s progress as compared to their
compatriots residing abroad. The question is…in this era of Globalization,
can the Indian Government; other representatives of the people as well as
our very own elite comprising our politicians; heads of corporations and/ or
our young professionals match the might of the Indian Diaspora?
The answer is a flat: YES…and NO…
Please note how bravely and timely the people of India responded to the
Mumbai terror attacks. In fact, the Canada-India Foundation Annual Gala
(May 15, Vancouver) decided to honor Tata Group Chairman Mr. Rata Tata
saying that "One of the key targets of the attack was the landmark Taj
Mahal Hotel [owned by the Tata Group]. Tata's leadership in the aftermath
of the terror attacks, particularly his commitment to the victims of the
attack, has inspired people around the world," said CIF's National Convener
Aditya Jha.
Normally this award carries a check for Cdn $50,000 that's donated to the
charity of the winner's choice. This year the award has a special meaning
and so the amount has been raised to Cdn $225,000. CIF created the CIF
Chanchlani Global Indian Award to recognize the individual who has
demonstrated global leadership, vision and professional excellence, which
has made people of Indian origin around the globe proud of their heritage.
"Mr. Tata exemplifies those qualities of the CIF Chanchlani Global Indian
Award through his international business ventures, professional appeal,
and philanthropic endeavours," said Ramesh Chotai, Chair, Canada India
Foundation, in a media statement.
I remember a hilarious reference to the “Global India” posted by Naomi
Canton on Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 5:53 pm
(Expat on the edge · )
“One may think that the ‘Global Indian’ has actually arrived. Is there such a
thing as a “global” Indian man?
This has been worrying me for some time.
I want to know whether a truly global Indian man exists.
By that I mean a man who eats western food as much as he eats Indian
food; in fact he would be happy to have a wife who cooks dishes likes
Spaghetti Bolognaise or Thai green curry, but who does not necessarily
make chapatis, Dal, Paneer Makhani, or any Indian dishes.
Plus he knows that if wants me to cook and to possess the so-called
feminine traits such as cooking, sewing and cleaning, then he knows he
should possess masculine traits such as DIY skills, putting up shelves,
repairing cars, replacing tyres, building and painting.
Even if I can cook, he would not expect me to cook and clean all the time,
and would be happy to help in the house, with housework. He would not be
incompetent at housework.
Some nights I would cook, some nights he would.
This man would not force me or expect me to live with, above or next to his
parents. In fact, he would be happy to live in a detached house with me in
another city, or even another country to his parents.
Ideally this man would be prepared to move to my country, if I wished.
It would not be that I have to settle in India.
(Why is it that women have to ‘follow’ Indian men and not vice versa and all
the western girls I know who have married Indian men, have settled in
India?)
If I did settle in India (out of choice), we would not have to live next or near
his parents.
We would visit his parents regularly though, as one should, but no more or
less regularly than we visited my parents. Likewise if he moved to the UK,
he would visit his parents regularly. But he would not arrange for his
parents to emigrate to the UK and live with us there.
This Indian man would prioritise me as highly in his life as his mother. I
would hold equal standing to her.
This man would not mind if I drank alcohol. He would ideally drink too. He
would be happy for me to have male friends, including ex boyfriends in my
life, and he would have female friends, including ex girlfriends, in his.
For indeed both of us would have had previous relationships and be more
emotionally mature, as a result.
This man would not lead a separate social life to me. By that I mean he
would not attend parties without me, pretending to be single at them. Of
course, we would occasionally socialise separately but would strive to
socialise as a couple. We would prefer attending parties as a couple. He
would not be secretly fantasising about dating other women. If he went to
a party alone he would not chat women up and he would wish I was with
him.
He would not flirt with other women in front of me either.
The wedding would be a white wedding in a church in the UK; and also a
Hindu wedding, assuming he was Hindu, in India. The white wedding would
happen in Somerset, where my parents live and, not in India. His family
would fly to attend it.
It doesn’t matter whether his parents can speak English or not but ideally
they would be able to, just to facilitate communication. Ideally his mother
would be emancipated and modern.
He would show as much interest in my family as he expected me to show in
his. I could happily wear strappy tops in his parent’s house.
He would be willing to introduce me to his parents at an early stage, even
when we were only casually dating, and the relationship was not even
serious.
The reason for this would be so that I could meet his parents and get to
know them, months or years before the word engagement even touched
our lips.
If the relationship ended months or weeks later, it would not matter.
(Why does an Indian man have to hide his girlfriend from his family for
months, if not years? Or is that only when the girl is white…?)
This man would introduce me to his friends at an early stage of the
relationship, when we were casually dating, not at a late stage when we
were announcing our engagement.
He would not just meet on one-to-one dates in coffee shops, but we would
also go out in groups of friends. If the relationship ended weeks later, it
would not matter. He would not be scared of being ‘labelled’ in a
relationship with me because he would want to be in one. He would not
want to go out on his own so he could flirt with or pull other women. I
would be the only woman in his life.
(Why do some Indian men block their girlfriend meeting his friends, citing
all kinds of strange cultural reasons…What is really going on? )
I would not be forced to attend lunches with girls and ‘kitty parties’ to
make up for a void in my life, created by the fact he was always out. (Our
relationship would be based on fidelity and neither of us would be tempted
to have an affair owing to emptiness and loneliness.)
This man’s mother would not phone me up on the occasion of a Karwa
Chauth (a fasting festival observed by married women in India to worship
their husbands) and ask me if I have worshipped the moon.
He would not expect me to follow Hindu rituals. I would speak to his
mother occasionally and we would go shopping sometimes, but she would
not boss me around, control me or overly worship her son. She would not
phone me or her son every day.
He would allow me to continue following my religion and me encourage
him in his.
He would not be dating me while simultaneously meeting Indian girls that
his parents want him to marry. He would inform his parents he was dating
me from Day One.
If we had children, neither his parents nor mine, would exert control over
their upbringing. He and I would bring them up as global citizens.
This man has not necessarily lived in the US for 20 years or done a year long
MBA in London, because that does not necessarily make him global, nor is
that any indication of a global mindset. Nevertheless ideally he would have
travelled a bit. Does this man exist?
You will not find one man in India who would not want you to cook and
dress like his mom and sometimes his sister as well. You will of course be
expected to give a lot more importance to his parents rather than yours.
Your parents when it will come to functions and big occasions will be
expected to play second fiddle to his parents. And not to forget his parents
have the right to comment upon what you eat, wear or how you speak but
your parents will have to treat their son in law with utmost respect and no
interference on their part will be tolerated.
(I think you will have a tough time like a lot of Indian women do :)))))”
And you thought the ‘Global Indian’ was yet to arrive?
Consider the following headlines:
Punjabi projected to become fourth most widely-spoken language in
Canada
October 9th, 2009
Monday, 28 September 2009
Venkatraman Ramakrishnan’s career choice gets him the Nobel
October 9th, 2009
Nobel prizes remind us why immigration matters
Opportunity fuels skilled immigrants’ exodus
September 23rd, 2009
Ask the US Consul in Hyderabad
September 14th, 2009
Have you got any queries on issue of visas by US Consulate in Hyderabad or
about Consulate services? The Consulate officials will reply to them in these
columns on every Monday. Email your questions to queries2consul
@gmail.com
Cross-border Dreams still alive and kicking
September 14th, 2009
H-1B Visa Companies Getting Unannounced Visits by Feds
August 19th, 2009
NgPay: India’a Largest Mall on the Mobile
Bill Gates: US curbs on talent a mistake
(Source: The Global Indian
The pulse of the restless Indian…by Xavier Augustin)
Well, we have had so many of our own people winning either the Nobel or
the Ramon Magsasay considered the ‘Nobel of Asia’; we have also had
plenty of skilled Indian talent migrate to the United States; the United
Kingdom; Canada and Australia and other countries to further studies in
subjects such as IT; Poverty Studies; War Studies and International
Development Studies and many others coming back from Leadership
Forums; elitist conferences and conclaves or winning the Bookers or the
Pulitzers but how has that really added to the change process, I question?
No, we have had our entire grey cells corrupted by the process of
Globalization. All we know now, all we seek now is Profit, more profit and
still more profit…
There is a war in the minds of men, and I also often believe that this
downturn (recession) is a major outcome of that inner conflict, between
what he considers wrong (his own motives) Vs what he believes in (his soul
or in other words, his own inner conscience or ethics.
But we are not going into the realm of Philosophy. No, not at all. Who’s
concerned about some silly ethics anyway? Who’s concerned about
conscience, about the soul? I’d much rather fill my own coffers provided
I don’t otherwise deprive others in the process…
I come from a developing nation. Although I have not seen hunger in my
own life, I know what it means to be hungry. I know what it feels like to
have to bury (or, cremate as in Hindu custom) your own child and with your
own hands. Big terms like ‘Sustainable Development’ and ‘Welfare
Economics’ do not go down well with me. As for ‘Market Economics’ and
some utterly dry ‘Fiscal Policy’ (well, I’m not much into Bulls and Bears
myself), these extravagant terms look good at conferences and conventions
(that however do not touch human lives) but consider ‘getting truly
involved’ in the lives of the poor, the food on their tables; the primary
health centers and the schools for their children. But that would be the son
or the daughter of a farmer. And such people are really not important, are
they?
In practice, most resources (social, economic, environmental for instance)
have been harnessed by aggressive capitalists [originally called adventurers,
forerunners of today’s powerful multinational corporations (MNCs)] in a
global search for profits. This trend has made the West richer while the vast
majority of humanity remains deprived.
THE MEANING OF PEACE TO OUR INTELLECTUALS
I can recall an Open Letter to Arundhati Roy by a serving IPS Officer (name
with held to protect identity):
“Dear Ms Roy,
For many years now you have enriched the public life of our nation. First, as
a Booker winning novelist with a meteoric debut on the literary firmament,
and then as an essayist, persistently pricking the conscience of a sometimes
indifferent and ignorant nation, highlighting wide ranging issues of urgent
concern. Over the years your provocative essays in the pages of Outlook
magazine amount to a substantial intellectual achievement in their own
right. One has not always agreed with you, but from big dams to the
nuclear bomb, from the vagaries of capitalism to the dangers of American
Imperialism, your writings on these important issues have left no one in any
doubt about where you stand. Disagree with them as one might, your views
occupied an intellectually coherent and morally compelling space in our
public life. Until recently, when one read your two pieces on Kashmir and
Mumbai with a growing sense of shock, anger, pity and dismay…
As someone who for the past 12 years has worn the Khaki uniform, as a
servant of your favourite object of hate, the Indian state, I confess to a
persistent sense of ambivalence and despair about the manner in which I
am expected to serve. At the same time I cannot deny an equally abiding
sense of pride in the importance of what we are supposed to do and of the
importance of institutions in general in giving meaning and protection to
what would otherwise be a society ruthless and brutal, beyond even your
considerable powers of comprehension and description. Therefore, I am
offended and disgusted by your incomplete, incoherent and therefore
immoral portrayal of the recent upheavals of Indian history. I used to think
that you articulate the pain of the silent, marginalized, oppressed masses of
our country. I had no idea that you held a brief for all those who never felt
anything at all not just for India in particular, but who also actively profess
violent rage at the shared values of the entire human race.
According to you, everything that the police and security forces do or say
whether in Kashmir, or in the war on terror, or against Naxalism, is a
falsehood, where as everything that is said by 'Kashmiri Freedom Fighters',
or by the peace loving disciples of Marx and Mao living a bucolic existence
in the jungles of central India, constitutes sufficient grounds to indict the
Indian state and civil society in perpetuity. The people of India have always
had a tradition to look up to men and woman of the arts and culture to
serve as their moral compass. One really wonders what lines of logic and
ethics shape your sense of moral direction…
If the Kashmiris are justified in picking up the gun to safeguard their
exclusive identity, then every part of India is justified in doing so. I do hope
you have taken the trouble to examine the fundamental assumptions
underlying all such movements based on an assertion of a cultural
identity…
In your world view, the wrongs of Indian security forces of the last twenty
years, and the failures of Indian state craft before it, are sufficient
justifications for Kashmiri grievances, just as the wrongs of Babri Masjid,
the Mumbai riots of 1993, the Gujarat riots of 2002, will justify Islamist
terror against India, and the wrongs of corrupt governance and poor
administration will justify Naxalite violence, in all perpetuity. Why should
only these events be accepted as justification for settling scores by
shedding the blood of innocents? By this logic, the Crucifixion of Christ
amply justifies the Holocaust. We non white societies must all be allowed
eternal rights to slaughter the Europeans for the sins of colonialism and
slavery…The only thing is that after this bloody book-keeping, there may
not be anyone left to enjoy the fruits of such a 'just' society.
The Indian state, whose sworn servant I am, is by no means a perfect entity.
It is certainly corrupt, it is sometimes brutal and it is often indifferent to the
sufferings of the weak and the powerless. But it does have a vision and aim
based on certain civilizational values that are uniquely Indian…To call the
foreign funded insurgency in Kashmir and the terror attacks across the
country as justified blowback for the failures of the Indian state and civil
society is both false and callous. It implies a failure of the imagination and
the intellect and the complete abdication of moral responsibility by you.
In any case, the liberties that you have recently taken with the sensibilities
of proud Indians too exist in a cultural, political and constitutional context,
a context that is ultimately safeguarded by men such as Hemant Karkare
and Major Unnikrishnan with disregard for their own life. Remember that
the next time you use your poisoned pen to vent your twisted logic on a
polity that deserves better from its intellectuals…”
It is extremely unfortunate that three sentences uttered at a seminar
relating to the status of Kashmir within India should have evoked such
zealous hyper-patriotic anger and resulted in demands for invoking harsh
sedition laws. Writer and social activist Arundhati Roy has strong views on
the strife-torn and troubled Valley, which many may disagree with, or
regard as extremely contentious.
In his classic defense of free speech, On Liberty, John Stuart Mill laid down
what is known as the ‘harm principle.' It postulates that the only
justification for silencing a person against his will is to prevent him from
causing harm to others. It is to this powerful libertarian mid-19th century
principle that we owe the idea that free speech cannot be proscribed
merely because we find it disagreeable, and that curbs may be imposed
only if such expression constitutes a direct, explicit, and unequivocal
incitement to violence. There is no such nexus in Ms Roy's statements on
Kashmir, which are shaped around the theme of gross human rights
violations and (as she points out in a statement: "Pity the Nation that has to
silence its writers”) “fundamentally a call for justice.” The controversy over
Ms Roy's remarks is essentially much ado about nothing.
Consider the following statements and then use your judgment to decide
which side exactly fits the description of “patriotic” and which side
“intellectual”.
It is time Ms Roy’s three sentence statement at the seminar be held in all its
sincerity for she speaks the truth: the truth about the poor, the oppressed
and the powerless. Truly, in Kashmir, security forces have committed
several atrocities on innocents. Police atrocities on innocent tribals are in
my opinion one of the major causes behind the rise of Naxalism in India.
And if we agree that these statements are correct, then Arundhati has
every right to speak what she has spoken.
This is not just about Kashmir being a free state or police atrocities on
innocent tribals, it is about ‘Freedom of Speech’ as laid down as a
fundamental freedom by the Constitution.
India will do well to promote freedom of speech even if what is being said is
something majority disagrees with. Galileo was jailed for saying the sun is
the center of the universe. Who knows how many ideas are being
suppressed in India today?
Someone agreed with the view that free speech must be respected in a
democracy. But as an Indian, he was deeply hurt. Not for Arundhati Roy's
outrageous remark demanding Azadi (?) for Kashmir but more so for her
denigrating his nation. When she said that India was a nation of Bhukhenange, it was highly derogatory.
But would the same person ever care to work to be of consequence to his
nation? Would he care to work to bring either health or education to his
community? Would he for that matter try and work to raise awareness of
contemporary issues to communities in need?
The answer is a flat NO…
Ms Roy ought to be respected for her strong concern for the nation,
although what I am saying is a contentious issue. She is known for her
activism and we must not forget that she has more of the nation at heart
than most of these people who constantly clamour for instant fame by
criticizing other people.
Arundhati is a brave woman and although I don’t agree with her entirely, I
firmly believe she has the fundamental right to voice her opinions in what
we all know is the largest democracy in the world. She is the true ‘patriotic
Indian’…
India is a country of much hypocrisy. Most people are constantly criticizing
each other at the slightest provocation. We are a country where nudity in
cinema is not criticized but much hyped about in tabloids, etc. This is a
country where a wealthy industrialist builds a thirty-one storey building but
people keep silent. This is also a country which gets rattled by the Mumbai
terror attacks all because some precious elitist lives have been lost but
which refuses to pay any attention when farmers in Maharashtra commit
suicides or when floods sweep away hundreds of people each year (while
aerial views of flood-ridden situations are taken as a matter of social
responsibility) or even when several thousands of children die of hunger
and malnutrition each year.
Who is the protagonist and who is the antagonist here, one may ask?
Arundhati has personally traveled to Kashmir and spoken to the people
who are under the scourge of brutal injustice. I have also learnt that she
has traveled to Sophian, the apple-town in South Kashmir where a brutal
rape and murder of Asiya and Nilofer had occurred. Unfortunately, the
murderers have still not been brought to justice.
We as a nation are in such pathetic state, which our so very patriotic IPS
Officer uses for scaremongering, is due to advices given to politicians on
internal and external affairs by these 'A' and 'F' demi-gods. I don’t want to
engage
you
in
debate.
It has been reported in the media that some senior leader has commented
that “…75 percent of terrorism in Britain is due to Pakistanis.” Someone has
also called Pakistan an epicenter of terrorism worldwide.
Well, I have nothing to say!
The guiding principles of India's Foreign Policy have been founded on
Panchsheel, pragmatism and pursuit of national interest. In a period of
rapid and continuing change, foreign policy must be capable of responding
optimally to new challenges and opportunities. It has to be an integral part
of the larger effort of building the nation's capabilities through economic
development, strengthening social fabric and well-being of the people and
protecting India's sovereignty and territorial integrity. India's foreign policy
is a forward-looking engagement with the rest of the world, based on a
rigorous, realistic and contemporary assessment of the bilateral, regional
and global geo-political and economic milieu.
India participates in the following international organizations:
 ADB – Asian Development Bank
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AfDB – African Development Bank (nonregional members)
ASEAN Regional Forum
ASEAN (dialogue partner)
BIMSTEC – Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multisectoral Technical and
Economic Cooperation
BIS – Bank for International Settlements
Commonwealth of Nations
CERN – European Organization for Nuclear Research (observer)
CP – Colombo Plan
EAS
FAO – Food and Agriculture Organization
G-15
G-24
G-77
IAEA – International Atomic Energy Agency
IBRD – International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
(World Bank)
ICAO – International Civil Aviation Organization
ICC – International Chamber of Commerce
ICRM – International Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement
IDA – International Development Association
IFAD – International Fund for Agricultural Development
IFC – International Finance Corporation
IFRCS – International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies
IHO – International Hydrographic Organization
ILO – International Labor Organization
IMF – International Monetary Fund
IMO – International Maritime Organization
IMSO – International Mobile Satellite Organization
Interpol – International Criminal Police Organization
IOC – International Olympic Committee
IOM – International Organization for Migration (observer)
IPU – Inter-parliamentary Union
ISO – International Organization for Standardization
ITSO – International Telecommunications Satellite Organization
ITU – International Telecommunication Union
ITUC – International Trade Union Confederation (the successor to
ICFTU (International Confederation of Free Trade Unions) and the
WCL (World Confederation of Labor))
LAS – League of Arab States (observer)
MIGA – Multilateral Investment Geographic Agency
MONUC – United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic
Republic of the Congo
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NAM – Nonaligned Movement
OAS – Organization of American States (observer)
OPCW – Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons
PCA – Permanent Court of Arbitration
PIF – Pacific Islands Forum (partner)
SAARC – South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation
SACEP – South Asia Co-operative Environment Programme
SCO – Shanghai Cooperation Organization (observer)
UN – United Nations
UNCTAD – United Nations Conference on Trade and Development
UNDOF – United Nations Disengagement Observer Force
UNESCO – United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural
Organization
UNHCR – United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
UNIDO – United Nations Industrial Development Organization
UNIFIL – United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon
UNMEE – United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea
UNMIS
UNOCI – United Nations Operation in Cote d'Ivoire
UNWTO – World Tourism Organization
UPU – Universal Postal Union
WCL – World Confederation of Labor
WCO – World Customs Organization
WFTU – World Federation of Trade Unions
WHO – World Health Organization
WIPO – World Intellectual Property Organization
WMO – World Meteorological Organization
WTO – World Trade Organization
India also participates in the “Non-Alignment” Movement. By the late
1940s, Non-Alignment was a consistent feature of Indian foreign policy and
enjoyed strong, almost unquestioning support among the Indian elite.
The term "Non-Alignment" itself was coined by Indian Prime Minister
Jawaharlal Nehru during his speech in 1954 in Colombo, Sri Lanka.
India has also been a founder member of the United Nations, and as such
firmly supported the Purposes and Principles of the United Nations, and has
made significant contributions to the furtherance and implementation of
these aims, and to the evolution and functioning of its various specialized
programmes. It has stood at the forefront during the UN's tumultuous
years of struggle against colonialism and apartheid, its struggle towards
global disarmament and the ending of the arms race, and towards the
creation of a more equitable global order. At the very first session of the
UN, India had raised its voice against colonialism and apartheid, two issues
which have been among the most significant of the UN's successes in the
last half century. India has been a participant in all its peace-keeping
operations including those in Korea, Egypt and Congo in earlier years and in
Somalia, Angola and Rwanda in recent years. India has also played an active
role in the deliberations of the United Nations on the creation of a more
equitable international economic order. It has been an active member of
the Group of 77, and later the core group of the G-15 nations. Other issues,
such as environmentally sustainable development and the promotion and
protection of human rights, have also been an important focus of India's
foreign policy in international forums.
The South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) consists of
eight (8) members which are Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India,
Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Established in 1985, SAARC
encourages cooperation in agriculture, rural development, science and
technology, culture, health, population control, narcotics control and antiterrorism.
India's territorial disputes with neighboring Pakistan and People's Republic
of China have played a crucial role in its foreign policy. India is also involved
in minor territorial disputes with neighboring Bangladesh, Nepal and
Maldives. India currently maintains two manned stations in Antarctica but
has made some unofficial territorial claims, this is yet to be clarified.
India's interaction with ASEAN in the cold war era was very limited. India
declined to get associated with ASEAN in the 1960s when full membership
was offered even before the grouping was formed.
It is only with the formulation of the Look-East policy in the last decade
(1992), India had started giving this region due importance in the foreign
policy. India became a sectoral dialogue partner with ASEAN in 1992, a full
dialogue partner in 1995, a member of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF) in
1996, and a summit level partner (on par with China, Japan and Korea) in
2002.
The first India-ASEAN Business Summit was held at New Delhi in October
2002. The then Prime Minister A.B. Vajpayee addressed this meet and since
then this business summit has become an annual feature before the IndiaASEAN Summits, as a forum for networking and exchange of business
experiences between policy makers and business leaders from ASEAN and
India.
Four India-ASEAN Summits, first in 2002 at Phnom Penh (Cambodia),
second in 2003 at Bali (Indonesia), third in 2004 at Vientiane (Laos) and the
fourth in 2005 at Kuala Lumpur (Malaysia), have taken place till date.
The ASEAN region has an abundance of natural resources and significant
technological skills. These provide a natural base for the integration
between ASEAN and India in both trade and investment. The present level
of bilateral trade with ASEAN of nearly US $ 18 billion is reportedly
increasing by about 25 % per year. India hopes to reach the level of US $ 30
billion by 2007. India is also improving its relations with the help of other
policy decisions like offers of lines of credit, better connectivity through air
(open skies policy), and rail and road links.
WE LIVE FOR OUR NATIONS
(HAVE FAITH IN THE NATION STATE)
सत्यमेव जयते (Satyameva Jayate) (Sanskrit, Truth alone triumphs)
I recently read an article published in “INDIA TODAY” on September 16,
2011 | UPDATED 21:29 IST.
“It was called “Anger and Hope” and it went on to say that although Young
India has not lost faith in their nation, they have however in the people
who run it…”
The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. had once famously remarked: ‘I have a
Dream’…Young India has dreams too, for a deplorably poor nation. But it
happens to be disillusioned with the nation’s ruling (read political) classes.
The Anna Hazare Movement represented that anger. Yet, even Team Anna
is faced with growing differences within its ranks. Another important issue
is that neither Team Anna nor anyone else openly calls its agenda ‘political’
So are people scared to call themselves ‘politically inclined’?
In a recent ‘India Today’ exclusive opinion poll of 2500 Indian youth
conducted by global market research agency Synovate, it seemed from the
results that these young Indians (a term the CII uses), were thoroughly
disillusioned by our political classes.
That said India's young still have faith in the country's democracy and
electoral system. Eighty-six per cent of all respondents said they would vote
in the next general election.
QUOTE: “India's youth matter, politically and economically. India is one of
the youngest nations in the world, where 65 per cent of the population is
under the age of 35. The political majority lies with them as does the
advantage of contributing most productively to the workforce. The views of
the youth provide a glimpse into India's future. Often these views are in
apparent contradiction. Like in the India Today-Synovate Opinion Poll, there
is a unique combination of a deep pessimism about Government and
politics as well as a sunny optimism about their own lives and prosperity.
Rather than a drawback, that is the greatest asset of youth: an uncluttered
mind open to divergent views.” UNQUOTE
Excerpts from India Today Cover Story dated 26 September 2011.
New Delhi | September 20, 2011 (A reader has aptly written):
“Undoubtedly there has been lot of anger and frustration among India's
youth against the existing political scenario. Their resolve to vote in the
next general election is welcome but they are further expected to enlighten
the masses especially the rural ones by forming mini groups, road shows
and nukkad nataks etc. In fact the political parties fetch the power through
their committed rural voters. And hence they need to be awakened.”
India | September 17, 2011 (Another reader)
“Why doesn't Young India Show this Anger in the Upcoming Polls of 2014?
By the way what per cent of Young India is Gandhian?”
Now, that is a very important and relevant question today. It relates to the
relevance and indeed significance of a single man who held no high office
or had no official powers but who silently worked in the fields managing to
be the key force behind the oust of the British from India.
THE RELEVANCE OF GANDHI TODAY
Gandhi. Who would not have heard of that name?
QUOTE
The Relevance of Gandhi Today
By Arun Gandhi
Sixty years after his death a portion of Gandhiji’s ashes, stashed away by
Madalsa and Shriman Narayan, the daughter and son-in-law of Jamnalal
Bajaj, will be immersed at Chowpati Beach in Mumbai. Although I will be
thousands of miles away in the United States the memories of sixty years
ago will be refreshed and the day will be as poignant as January 30, 1948.
In 1969 when the world celebrated Gandhiji’s 100th birth anniversary many
of us who had lived in Sewagram Ashram, Wardha, with Gandhiji were
invited for a reunion. The person who organized this event was Shriman
Narayanji who was then the Governor of Gujarat. He shared with us a story
of his experience with Gandhiji which emphasizes an aspect of Gandhiji’s
philosophy that is all but forgotten today.
Sometime in the early 1930’s when Shrimanji received his doctorate from
the London School of Economics he returned to India full of enthusiasm to
change and rebuild the economy of India according to western standards.
When he told his parents how impatient he was to begin work his father
said: “You cannot begin to do anything until you receive Gandhiji’s
blessings. So, if you are in a hurry to begin working you had better go as
quickly as possible to Sewagram Ashram and get Bapu’s blessings.”
This will be a piece of cake, Shrimanji thought, and still bubbling with
enthusiasm Shrimanji arrived in Sewagram and relentlessly poured his
enthusiasm into Bapu’s lap and said: Now give me your blessings so I can
get to work.”
“Not so fast,” Gandhiji said. “If you want my blessings you will have to earn
them. Tomorrow morning you will join the group and clean the ashram
toilets.”
These were not the modern water closets. The ashram toilets were
primitive with buckets to collect urine and feces. The buckets had to be
carried into the fields and emptied into holes, washed and replaced for use.
It was the meanest kind of work that is responsible for untouchability in
India. Gandhiji wanted to teach us the dignity of labour. Shrimanji was
aghast but did not argue. He had no enthusiasm for this kind of work but to
satisfy Gandhiji’s whim he had to do it. After the morning ordeal and a
refreshing bath he rushed back to Gandhiji and said: “I’ve done what you
asked me to do. Now give me your blessings.”
“Not yet,” said Gandhiji. “You will get my blessings only when you satisfy
me that you are capable of cleaning toilets with the same enthusiasm as
changing the economy of the country.”
The moral of the story was that we must be willing to do any kind of work
that is necessary and break the stranglehold of the master-servant
relationship that persists in India even to this day. It is the feeling that
those of us who are rich and educated are superior and those who are poor
and uneducated are inferior that breeds arrogance in us, instead of the
humility that Gandhiji sought to instill.
I am often asked in India and in the United States if Gandhiji’s philosophy
can be relevant today. My answer is that a philosophy that is based on
Respect, Understanding, Appreciation and Compassion has to be relevant
at all times. If we conclude that nonviolence is not relevant today we are
saying in effect that the positive attitudes of Respect, Understanding,
Appreciation and Compassion are not relevant. If that be so then we
cannot claim to be a civilized society.
Over the years many have concluded that nonviolence is a “negative”
philosophy because we insert a hyphen in the word and make it the
opposite of violence. In reality it is the other way around. What we forget
is that to practice violence we have to be arrogant, hateful, angry and
capable of dehumanizing people so that we can hurt and even kill them.
These and more are negative emotions and attitudes that dominate our
psyche to such an extent that we have now become victims of a Culture of
Violence that controls every aspect of human life.
On the other hand, to practice nonviolence one has to be dominated by
positive emotions and attitudes like love, understanding, respect,
compassion and so on. It is only when we learn to respect people as
human beings that we will be able to truly practice nonviolence. We
cannot and should not be selective in whom we respect, it has to be
unconditional and all pervasive.
For centuries human beings have been working to create peace and we fail
more often than we succeed. The reason is that peace is not the absence
of physical violence. No country can claim that they are at peace because
they are not at war with anyone. Human nature has learned to practice
violence in many ways – both physical and passive, or non-physical. It is the
non-physical violence that is more insidious because we commit it
knowingly and unknowingly and it leads to anger in the victim and the
anger results in physical violence. Gandhiji’s Talisman was: “Ask yourself if
the action you contemplate will hurt or harm someone.”
The Culture of Violence has resulted in the erosion of relationships across
the board. Everyone has become selfish and self-centered. If we have no
relationships based on mutual respect, understanding and appreciation
there will be no harmony. And, if there is no harmony in a home, office,
neighborhood, society or a nation there cannot be peace. When Gandhiji
said: Peace begins with you he did not mean the selfish peace that we seek
through sadhana or meditation but the peace that we need to bring about
through love and respect for all living creatures whatever their economic,
social or political standing in life.
Can we become the change we wish to see? Of course, have we ever found
anything to be impossible when we have the determination to get it?”
UNQUOTE
By R Shankar, India Syndicate, 11/07/2011
Social Activist Anna Hazare’s recent fast against corruption has once again
aroused public interest in Gandhism and Gandhian idealogy. There is off
course a raging debate as to whether fasting as a tool can be sufficiently
effective against a democratically elected government? Mahatma Gandhi
believed in fighting social injustice no matter who the perpetrator was. It
could be for the Dalits in one part of India or against untouchability in
another part.
Today, the path and means used by Mahatma Gandhi have become more
relevant not just in India, but elsewhere too where people have been
suppressed or injustice has been institutionalized. The Jasmine Revolution
is an example. The Jasmine revolution that started in December-January in
Tunisia was a peoples' movement that helped end the autocratic rule of
president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali on January 15. The revolution was ignited
by the self-immolation of vegetable vendor Mohamed Bouazizi, when he
was humiliated by a woman constable on December 17. Though, selfimmolation is not within the tenets of Gandhian principles, the outrage
against social injustice got a new spark.
What were the people of Tunisia fighting for? Unemployment, food
inflation, corruption, lack of freedom of speech and poor living conditions.
All issues concerning common people for whom Gandhi raised his voice.
The movement soon spread to Egypt and other Middle East nations.
US President Barack Obama recalled how the revolution in Egypt that threw
out a defiant Hosni Mubarak had the seeds of Mahatma Gandhi's tryst with
truth and non-violence. When Mubarak was forced to step down, Obama
recalled the non-violent methods of Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther
King Jr. as he praised the people of Egypt for their peaceful protests.
"While the sights and sounds that we heard were entirely Egyptian, we
can't help but hear the echoes of history: echoes from Germans tearing
down a wall, Indonesian students taking to the streets, Gandhi leading his
people down the path of justice," Obama said in his speech hours after
Mubarak resigned as President of Egypt.
The irony is that Gandhian thought is regarded as of high market value and
relevant today. However, a few people feel that those who think Gandhi is
relevant rarely follow it.
Those who follow it unknowingly are mostly deserted and unknown to all.
Baba Ram Dev and Anna Hazare are supposedly living in Gandhi's India.
But is every one else?
MINDLESS CONSUMERISM, CRICKET-THE NATION’S PASTIME AND
BOLLYWOOD HYSTERIA
With Independence Day approaching (as I write this book), people in India
are getting more and more patriotic! No offence meant, but the Indiacolored bandanas are coming out, the faces are being painted in the
tricolour, and as Zinda dil Pepsi inundates our senses, we are getting ready
to listen to the Prime Minister’s soul-stirring call to the nation not to get
down on its knees for terrorists, cheer for the “Men In Blue” against Sri
Lanka ,SMS “Go India” to Bharat TV for a chance to win a year’s supply of
Pizza Hut pizza, watch the DVD of “Gadar” if the cricket match gets washed
out and then, no matter what happens, go and watch “KANK” in the
evening (since it’s a crime to waste a holiday without Karan Johar).
I am first of all an Indian. A real Indian. A truly patriotic one. I support the
Indian cricket team regardless of whether Dhoni or Dravid is the captain.
Whenever I hear “Aye mere watan ke logon” I stand up and try to hold the
hand of the person next to me. Sometimes, I get overly emotional too, after
all I LOVE MY INDIA and MY DESH IS MAHAN… (Note that I could be
sporting invariably either a Raymond’s “complete man” sensitive moment
as tears flow down my cheeks to the tune of the song, my mind awash with
the memories of all those jawans and kisans who have laid down their lives
for their country; or the ‘United Colors of Benetton’ should the
circumstances (winter, for instance) demand them!) I also make it a point
to talk about the original (read Classic) Rolls Royce and/or my Indian
‘Ambassador’ although I am keenly eyeing either the Chevrolet or Toyota
Etios or the Ford Ikon on sale… And for Independence Day, I play only
patriotic songs on my IPod—-only not Anu Malik’s “We love you Oh India,
tujhe na chorenge” but maybe that famous song from the Anil
Kapoor/Madhuri Dixit/Danny starrer “Pukar”…
However even on such a nice day, some people just don’t “get it”. You
know the type—those that try to find logic in Hindi movies, who think
Manoj Kumar hams, who write “ rescue” instead of “resQ”, those that wear
an underwear a size too short (restricts the flow of blood you see). These
people, while acknowledging the economic progress India has made in 59
years, deny that 600 farmers committed suicide in the Vidarbha region a
few years ago (a fact that the media and Indians in general doesn’t really
seem to care about) and idiotically ask if this is the caring India our
freedom-fighters (even the word “freedom fighter” gets me teary-eyed)
fought for. Farmers dying–who cares—I prefer to see a boy being resQued
from a well, thank you.
Now, Kisans/Jawans—they’re a different species altogether—I can lay
down my life for them. Smiling like Aamir Khan’s character in “Rang De
Basanti”.
The question is: do we Indians live in a truly independent country— a
country where the government can ban media they feel target their
ideology and where the government can seize the equipment of
broadcasters they feel are not transmitting in the “public interest” (i.e. their
interest).
Of course there is much not to like about India. Don’t get me wrong—there
are still injustices. —-see how Bipasha Basu was “physically and mentally”
harassed by two organizers of the India Day parade at Edison (link courtesy:
Rajeev). A keen student of history, I am reminded of the time one
Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi was physically and mentally harassed by a
racist ticket collector in South Africa. And how he reacted! By stripping
down to a langoti, quitting his profession as a lawyer and arousing the
nation into revolutionary action. I sincerely hope that this experience
triggers something similar in Bipasha i.e. she stops wearing clothes (except
a tri-coloured thong) and renounces acting. The nation will be aroused
automatically.
Whenever I say this, my “friends” tell me that it is precisely because of this
attitude (i.e. of banning and muffling any voice that we don’t like to hear),
that we as a country have not been able to become as “independent” as we
should have been.
But as I said before, these people just do not understand the “passion”
behind being Indian.
Anyways forgive my display of emotion. After all it’s my country. And
Independence Day is approaching…As Bollywood cinema becomes more
and more expensive, I often wonder why the leaders of our deplorably poor
nation are not noticing all this obscene wastage of money on histrionics
and why cannot we for that matter divert a part of these funds to the
overwhelming task of nation building…
This will not happen soon…our builders are busier building either biceps or
buildings that collapse…
Jai Emraan Haashmi, Naseeruddin Shah and Vidya Balan! Jai to Veeru and
Jay; ‘The Dirty Picture’ and Bollywood… (Read Ooo! La La!)
FARMERS’ SUICIDES. FOOD, FAMINE AND HUNGER: NO ECONOMICS WILL
WORK!
Jai Jawan. Jai Kisan. Jai Hind.
CHAPTER 27
IMAGINE
An Experiment In Compassionate Living
“…What difference does it make to the dead, the orphans, and the
homeless, whether the mad destruction is wrought under the name of
totalitarianism or the holy name of liberty and democracy…?”
- GANDHI
Writes Pierre Zanre, an 18 year old girl student from Burkina Faso, Africa“When people no longer buy weapons,
When people no longer sell weapons,
When society parties are no longer held,
When hospitals are less full,
When school attendance rises,
When children know the joy of living,
When parents can procreate without worrying,
When people give to receive,
When people receive to give,
When people work for other people…
Then I can say that I am in a humane society.”
Gandhi’s words, ideas, actions and vision have always meant a lot to people
around the world, and so to me. I always use them for guidance in my daily
life.
Gandhi espoused an economic theory of self-sufficiency and simplicity. He
envisioned an India that would focus on meeting the needs of a democratic
citizenry prior to generating wealth & industrializing.
To practice Gandhi today: one must set upon the same personal journey to
seek the truth and build one’s life around it. It is not necessary to be
austere. But undergoing personal challenges, travails (and I have gone
through some life difficulties myself) and the testing of one’s spirit, resolve
and fundamental values is a definitive element.
I think that in an era of digital living, in which we are constantly talking
about “Human Dignity”: Gandhian ideals are most certainly relevant.
Gandhi is Relevant!
The Great Man had perspicacious understanding of the Indian countryside,
and strongly felt that the key to the country’s progress lay in the
strengthening of the decentralized self-sufficient village economies.
It now becomes important that we, as the world’s largest democracy, must
realize as peoples that this self-sufficiency can only be attained through a
blend of ancient Gandhian wisdom with the rapidly-growing Science &
Technology of our contemporary era…
AND I BELIEVE THAT THIS ERA, OF WHAT I WOULD CALL “COMPASSIONATE
DIGITAL LIVING” HAS FINALLY ARRIVED…
I BEGIN WITH WHAT A LITTLE DEPRIVED UNKNOWN OF “FREE INDIA” HAD
TO SAY
“…We have only temporary school buildings made out of bricks and red
earth mortar, which can house at the most twenty-five children, and have
no electricity and no water. Give us hope…”
- a child school attendee, state unknown
- India.
Again!
“When you are inspired by a great purpose for an extraordinary project, all
your thoughts break the bonds, your mind transcends limitations, your
consciousness expands and you find yourself in a great and wonderful
world. You discover yourself to be a greater person.” (Former President of
India, A.P.J. Abdul Kalam, Bangalore, Feb 2006)
We need to look back and learn from our mistakes; and realize that
progress has to reach every corner of the world. Even if one tiny part of this
universe remains ignorant and neglected, the world will not be a safe
place…!
MY MIND TRAVELS TO THE DARKEST CORNERS OF INDIA, WE EDUCATE OUR
POOR CHILDREN: WHY NOT…?
It’s all about…
- Re-branding Education as a career choice- Repairing languages education-
- Getting our children about Science- Catering to child curiosity- Languages at school- IT’S ABOUT BUILDING A KNOWLEDGE ECONOMYI must add here that I have come across many Westerners; to whom
‘discovering’ India seems difficult. Coming to terms with the poverty, the
homelessness, the street children who should have been in school and the
unacceptable living conditions of so many! Some jobs, example on building
sites, dealing with garbage and sewerage that would be done by machines
in western countries are done by hand. Who are these people?
How would they find these children as they taught in a school? Would the
Dalit Education Centre be different? How does all this information fit with
the current economic view of India as an emerging superpower?
In providing schools, many children who would never have the opportunity
to go to school are getting it. An education in English and a job can change
the economic circumstances of a whole family! This is the SOCIAL CONTEXT
OF EDUCATION IN INDIA.
E-GOVERNANCE THROUGH CHILDREN’S INITIATIVES
There are, in my opinion, two sides of change here. One is ‘e-governance’ in
India. Another is ‘Education’. I hope to drive change in society through
Children.
- Providing Computer-aided Education for school children as a Model egovernance initiative for local governments- Familiarization to computers to all children in Primary schools through
simple demos- Imparting Proficiency in usage of Microsoft based programs including
Google Search- Efficient e-administration: In a developing country like India, a number of
e-governance initiatives like medical help, legal help, Science Corner &
Children’s Corner are already underway- Smart Cards for children!- Community-owned kiosks!- These school children can also interact with other schools(Talking of creating another “Hansdehar”, India’s 1st Smart Village!)
SO, WHAT WE NEED IS A VIRTUAL MASS REFORM PROGRAM IN INDIA
(A) I GO BACK TO THE BACKGROUND OF e-GOVERNANCE IN INDIA:
“The last couple of years have seen e-governance drop roots in India. IT
enables the delivery of services as it caters to a large base of people across
different segments and geographical locations. IT can greatly enhance
existing efficiencies, drive down communication costs, and increase
transparency!
It also gives citizens easy access to tangible benefits, be it through simple
applications such as online form filling, bill sourcing and payments, or
complex applications like distance education and tele-medicine!
(B) NOW LET US PUT MATTERS IN PERSPECTIVE: INDIA IS A BIT OF AN
ANOMALY REALLY:
India’s economy encompasses traditional village farming, modern
agriculture, handicrafts, a wide range of modern industries, and a multitude
of support services. More than 1/3rd of the population is too poor to be
able to afford an adequate diet, and market surveys indicate that fewer
than 5% of all households had an annual income equivalent to $2300 or
more in 1995-96! On the other hand, India’s international payments
position remains sturdy, with adequate foreign exchange reserves,
reasonably stable exchange rates, and booming exports of software
services.
This calls for greater positive social experimentation!
IT CALLS FOR A “VIRTUAL” EXPERIMENT
We as a nation ought to intend making sincere efforts to personally add to
already-existing e-initiatives that are likely to create a sense of belonging,
teach human values, impart (both) spiritual and world education, and
create a spirit of service among people of all backgrounds, traditions, and
cultures!
We must formulate some important new measures through a strong
program of Reform, and a focus on key priorities, giving primarily though
not exclusively sustained priority to Elementary Education & Primary Health
Care; if resources permit, also thinking about sanitary toilets & green
houses for eco-friendly living to solve the housing crises among our target
populations!
In most of these, we could appoint “FACILITATORS” rather than being
directly involved. This unique web-based initiative would offer farmers for
instance the information, products & services like the latest local and global
information on weather, scientific farming practices, as well as market
prices at the village level itself through a web portal-all in Hindi (other
vernacular). Given the literacy and infrastructure constraints at the village
level, this e-initiative could provide support through an interface- between
the system and the farmers.
According to Rajiv Kaul: “…Perhaps the single-largest benefit of egovernance is its potential to give birth to an entire web-based economy…”
Our Key Priorities in the long run ought to be:a) Growing as a community,
b) Working for a healthier people, including additional packages for senior
citizens and children,
c) Investing in Education and skills, what I would call
“INFORMATION”/KNOWLEDGE! Also, A VIRTUAL ACADEMY!
d) An UNDERPRIVILEGED TALENT PROMOTION PROGRAM in Schools, and
the provision of important work to improve literacy and numeracy levels,
e) Developing good international relations through Voluntary Programs!
f) SUPPLEMENTAL INITIATIVES:
(1) Ecology and Energy e-initiatives;
(2) Farmer kiosks, exclusively for (ideal) farming, the mainstay of the
economy;
(3) “ERM” (jobs and extended/lifelong learning);
(4) “KPO” (KNOWLEDGE PROCESS OUTSOURCING TO THE RURAL AREAS)!
The Expected Priority Outcomes of these e-initiatives are likely to be:
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Equality (social); Prosperity (Economic) and Freedom (Democratic)!
Work on Nobel Laureate Prof. Amartya Sen’s “Happiness Index”
Improved Community relations among our target populace
Reduced Poverty & disadvantage among our target populace
Research into the causes, symptoms & treatment of hunger
Child Sponsorship (CASP) – Community assisted Child Adoption in
our target areas
Safeguarded rights and interests of children in our target populace
Reduction in preventable deaths & diseases in our target populace
More responsive hospital services including inpatient & outpatient
care in our target rural areas
ACCESS: an accessible & effective primary care service in our target
areas
Drinking Water in schools in our target areas
Education allowing children in our target areas to reach their full
potential (6-14 years)
 A better qualified & skilled workforce in our target areas!
And we must always keep our doors open to other innovation!
We must also engage ourselves with non-profit, educational, charitable and
humanitarian work. We must seek to inculcate universal human values in
the individual and ultimately a broader society inspiring both to take
responsibility in service.
(A) SO, WHAT WOULD A MODEL VILLAGE BE LIKE?
OUR FUTURE IS OF KNOWLEDGE ECONOMY!
Only a fraction of children in the 6-18 years age group are enrolled in
school/college and employability is at stake. Unless access, equity and
quality of education are ensured, it would be very difficult to fully leverage
the demographic advantage of an ever-expanding young workforce!
THERE ARE SHORTCOMINGS IN THE SYSTEM AS WELL:
 Abundant un-nurtured or under-nurtured talent Lack of timely and easy availability of learning resources/guidance to
everyone Consequent loss of opportunity Questionable quality of teaching in rural areas The growing digital divide A complete lack of personalized monitoring & long term evaluation
of growth and enhancement in learning, skill and performance A very low % of digital literacy Complete lack of encouragement to excel Time mismatch between school hours and employment hours for
those learners (children) who have to simultaneously earn the
livelihood for their families Lack of motivation among teachers Low Salaries Inefficient functioning of the knowledge delivery mechanismThe first step is strengthening the individual by providing holistic selfdevelopment programs that will allow the full human potential to blossom!
We must try and devise innovative tools to enable our children & young
adults to be effective in their day-to-day lives, like the simple task of being
able to read a letter or write one’s name. We must also try and devise
online/extension/lifelong learning programs that we intend making
available to people of all ages, and from all walks of life.
Under this scheme, we could set up e-schools, e-colleges, an e-media
school, and all distance learning options! Focus will be laid upon –
innovative learning processes, teachers who are eternal learners
themselves, curriculum for all round development of children, and access
to Global Learning through special e-initiatives!
A well-balanced curriculum will combine practical education of languages
and arithmetic with moral discourse, yoga, games & Vipassana, hygiene,
cultural discourse, non-violence and respect for the environment.
Through an e-approach, the “CYBER-SCHOOLBUS”, we ought to take free
uniforms, warm clothing, free textbooks & midday meals to the child’s
doorstep!
Health & Medicine:
A Healthy populace is a happy populace! What we ought to intend is a
Mobile Medical Dispensary! On each visit, the accompanying physician(s)
could attend to at least about 50-60 patients. Free medicines could be
provided. We must also intend promoting alternative medicine for its
power to benefit the masses! And all the above in our target areas.
One experiment we could try applying e-governance to is tropical medicine.
The hospital we intend tying up with (if possible!) would ideally employ
tele-medicine to assist doctors in rural areas as they analyze and treat
Panchayat residents. This method would inevitably do away with patients
having to travel all the way to the hospital location for treatment. Patients
would naturally feel better being examined in their own village. Using the
power of tele-medicine, the hospital/clinic is able to dispense its expertise
to far-flung districts! The patient goes for an examination to the local
doctor in the panchayat. This doctor is in contact via a voice & data
connection with a doctor at the hospital for tropical medicine. Thus, the
panchayat resident gets the benefit of being treated by both a local doctor
and a hospital specialist!
If this sounds too ambitious to you, then what we could surely do is
facilitate this connection through a databank…An office could be
established to act as a one-stop provider of Website Information to
citizens! They can simply log on and get access to the concerned
government department (in this case, health & family welfare)/services
(hospitals/dispensaries/clinics) or even on land, water and taxes!
Another important crisis that confronts rural India is Energy (Urja!): Here
again, the government could try and implement E-initiatives/E-Training in
HEALTHY RENEWABLE ENERGY OPTIONS LIKE SOLAR ENERGY, WIND &
BIOMASS. WE COULD TRY THE SAME IN ORGANIC FARMING (VIRTUAL
TRAINING)
(B) Selfless Service:
The second step is building a cadre of volunteers who we should inspire to
take more responsibility, and serve the society with love, compassion &
care. We must intend enabling them be available where the needs are the
greatest! In this sense, we must all play the role of Volunteers!
As we are a secular nation, we must intend our programs to benefit people
from every religion, culture & socio-economic background.
(C) The e-Research Center:
I was thinking that we must try and encourage research into the causes &
symptoms of hunger, and its eventual treatment. This would involve
looking into the factors that drive the onset and progression of diseases in
the developing world, with specific reference to India. These include,
though not exclusive to cancer, HIV/AIDS, to the killer diseases-polio,
malaria, TB, diarrhea and cardiovascular diseases that either kill/maim
several thousands.
Such a Center could work closely together with faculties of various
agricultural universities and colleges and the Government, with the
objective of providing best “e-solutions” to farmers and to access
government subsidies!
Any venture that is in the formative stages should warmly welcome
research collaborators & research workers and suggestions from all parties
in the process of establishment.
DARIDRANARAYAN SEVA (SERVICE TO THE POOR IS SERVICE TO GOD!)
We must aim to achieve the economic upliftment of individuals, families
and communities towards a self-reliant society. Our long-term goal ought
to be far-reaching social transformation, with at least some relief from
poverty & disease and eventual elimination in our target areas.
Let us aim to encourage the ‘Adoption’ of a few villages, train their youth to
be our future leaders, set up e-growth & e-transformational approaches,
probably plant trees, conduct medical camps, facilitate the building of costeffective homes, sanitary latrines & bore wells, set up a Micro-finance
Program & Self Help Groups & teach energy optimization.
WE MUST REMEMBER THAT WE MUST INTEND EACH AS SEPARATE eINITIATIVES, HARNESSING THE POWER OF INFORMATION TO REACH THE
MASSES!!!
Our common aim, through our programs ought to be to raise the standards
of living in our impoverished target areas; create a grassroots model for
progressive social change; educate both socially & spiritually, give every
human being a chance for a disease free body and free from hunger.
APART FROM THIS, WE COULD PERHAPS TRY AND IMPLEMENT SOME OF
THE FOLLOWING AS WELL:
RESPECT FOR HUMAN VALUES
There are certain basic values that unite us as a human community. I
believe that incorporating human values into every aspect of life will lead to
the development of a more peaceful and just world. We must seek to work
to foster a deeper understanding of these very values among our target
children at the same time imparting them scientific discourse in
Mathematics (numbers & symbols) & physics & astronomy & chemistry &
the living world. We must aim to inculcate basic respect for all of God’s
Living Creatures in the minds of our target children.
At these ‘heritage schools’, the modern e-Gurukul’, modern science as well
as ancient wisdom could be imparted!
We could also try and develop “VIRTUAL” programs of personal
development and value-based education in our target population (rural
schools), besides programs of community education and ‘hands on’ social
and educational projects that we could probably entrust to our volunteers.
Our distant Vision ought to be: “vasudhaiva kutumbakam”- realizing a “One
World Family”…
“E-SEVAK” (THE SERVICE PROJECT MODEL):
I believe that you serve when you love and care! I have a Model in mind
that we could hope to enlist role models for. Service programs are intended
to range from health camps, poverty reduction to educating rural children
in our target areas.
IN THE END, LETS FACE IT
INDIA IS POOR: BUT WE OUGHT TO TRY AND HELP THE POOR
HELP THEMSELVES
1. While India’s growth makes it an economic and political
player to watch in the next decades, the country remains
desperately poor. Almost a quarter of India’s 1.1 Billion
people live on less than $1 a day; 700 Million more live on
less than $2 a day.
2. Can India ever overcome its huge poverty problem? It all
depends on strategy.
3. a) 1st Strategy: to abolish the poor, rather than poverty as
happened in Mumbai some years ago
b) 2nd Strategy: trickle-down model, “ignore the poor”.
Arguing that in the next 2-3 decades, poverty will disappear
as market forces go to work
c) 3rd Approach: Developmental approach that aims to
improve the social & physical conditions of the rural &
urban poor. This means more and better roads,
improvements in water supplies and rural electrification. It
also means big steps forward in education & health,
together with efforts at microfinance.
d) 4th Approach: ambitiously seeks to exploit the unused
entrepreneurial abilities of the poor.
e) 5th Approach: ‘VIRTUAL’
 Step 1: identify needs: from literacy and training to
housing, health care and jobs – and to put them in
charge of their own lives;
 Step 2: SHGs, microfinance & loans, microenterprises, the government helps them identify
opportunities and gives them training in areas like IT
& marketing;
 Step 3: IT: the ‘VIRTUAL’ Approach;
 Aimed to attract service providers for providing free
or cheap services to the poor like doctors, cultural
institutes & schools We succeed in our “INFORMATION FOR ALL”
initiative Consequent building up of a “DIGNITY SOCIETY”SO, HAS THE ERA OF COMPASSIONATE DIGITAL LIVING
ARRIVED?
THAT’S A QUESTION I LEAVE TO YOU!
CHAPTER 28
KARMA CHAMELEON
Moods, Melancholia and Music
There are good and bad times, but our mood changes more often than our
fortune.
- Thomas Carlyle
Avril Lavigne has aptly remarked and I quote:
QUOTE
“To understand me, you have to meet me and be around me. And then only
if I'm in a good mood - don't meet me in a bad mood.”
UNQUOTE
Sometimes I found it difficult. Extremely difficult to control my mood
swings. A mood swing is an extreme or rapid change in mood.
I guess women are born to be grumpy! This sounds like the sexist moan of a
disgruntled husband, who has been unable to control his moody betterhalf…
Except that science now seems to back the idea that women’s brains may
be wired for increased anxiety, depression and mood swings. And the
problem could be exacerbated by those high-proteins, low-calorie weightloss programmes (such as the Dukan Diet).
It’s long been known that women suffer more from depression, or at least
reported depression. Around one in four women will be treated for
depression at some point, compared with one in ten men.
This had been explained partly by social causes — women are more likely to
seek help for their symptoms compared with men. However, a recent study
from Sweden has discovered two key differences in the way men and
women’s brains process serotonin, the so-called ‘happy hormone’.
Good levels of serotonin induce feelings of contentment, reduce appetite
and improve sleep. Low levels are associated with depression. It’s this
understanding of serotonin that led to the development of antidepressants
known as SSRIs (selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors).
These drugs include “Prozac” which works by increasing the amount of
serotonin available in the brain. Prozac IS reportedly dangerous (and so the
thinking goes). I’m glad I have never taken it.
Now scientists from the Karolinksa Institute in Sweden have been using
brain scans to investigate serotonin levels. And the news is not so cheering
for women.
The researchers looked at serotonin uptake — that is, how much serotonin
is actually used by the brain — in men and women. Their scans showed
women have more serotonin receptors than men.
Every cell in the body has receptor sites on its surface. These are the
cellular equivalent of motorway service stations, where you can refuel your
cells. Cell receptor sites allow substances such as nutrients and hormones
in and out.
In the case of serotonin, how happy you feel is dependent not just on how
much serotonin you make, but on there being sufficient receptor sites in
the brain to make it work.
The fact that the women in the Swedish study had more serotonin receptor
sites sounds like good news. So, too, does the other finding, which was that
women had lower levels of a protein that ‘mops up’ used serotonin.
This means your old serotonin will continue to circulate, bumping up the
general level, making you feel happier.
So not only do women have more places in the brain that can be activated
by serotonin, but they seem to be able to hold on to it longer. Or so it
seems.
In fact, the Swedish research suggests something else. When cells are short
of a chemical, such as serotonin, they open up as many receptor sites as
possible to ‘catch’ every morsel.
The cells that need it increase their number of receptors to try to make the
most of the little that is available. It’s a bit like tipping your bowl to catch
every last drop of an especially delicious soup.
For women to have more serotonin receptor sites and be holding on to
available serotonin longer seems to indicate they had too little available in
the first place.
Other research backs up this idea that women make less serotonin than
men. Scientists at the University of Montreal found that men’s brains, on
average, make 52 per cent more than women. The reason may be tied to
differences in male and female sex hormones.
While the findings about women producing less serotonin are controversial,
‘oestrogen and testosterone, the main sex steroid hormones, have long
been known to affect behaviour’, according to the British Society for
Neuroendocrinology.
However, oestrogen can have a bigger effect on women due to their everfluctuating hormone levels, says Dr Andrei Novac, clinical professor of
psychiatry at the University Of California Irvine School Of Medicine.
Oestrogen specifically ‘stimulates serotonin receptors in the brain’, he
explains.
When hormone levels fluctuate, the brain’s sensitivity to serotonin
changes, so the amount you needed before may no longer be enough — in
effect, the hormones have tinkered with the wiring.
This could explain why women’s serotonin levels ‘drop off’ when their
oestrogen levels are low — specifically in the days running up to their
period (a major factor in PMS ‘blues’), after childbirth and at the
menopause.
And the problem is that this effect is cumulative. As well as fluctuating
hormones, women may experience more stress and trauma during a
lifetime (due to a variety of events in everyday life).
Research also attests to the positive effect certain foods (especially,
breakfast cereals, chocolates and ice cream) is associated with lower stress
levels and better mental health.
A study from Cardiff University showed that eating breakfast cereal is
linked with reduced amounts of cortisol in saliva — an objective measure of
the stress that the body is experiencing.
It’s possible that the carbohydrate in cereal boosts levels of the calming
brain chemical serotonin.
In addition, fortified breakfast cereals are a rich source of B-vitamins,
essential for cells to release energy (they are particularly in demand during
times of stress).
In conclusion, having less of the ‘happy hormone’ serotonin chips away at
the ability of the brain and adrenal glands to regulate mood and sexuality,
making women more prone to depression.
‘Insufficient levels of oestrogen can create depression — we know that’s
why so many women going through the menopause suffer from it,’ says Dr
Novac.
So what should women, especially those who suffer from PMS, have just
had a baby or are approaching the menopause, do to feel less grumpy and
low?
First, you should talk to your GP, as mild antidepressants may help. If they
are considered inappropriate, lifestyle changes can help, as stress, poor diet
and a lack of exercise (and even a lack of sunlight) are all thought to deplete
serotonin.
Eating protein, such as pulses or cottage cheese, which are high in
tryptophan, an amino acid that the body uses to manufacture serotonin,
could also be helpful. But don’t go overboard on protein — and don’t cut
the calories.
Researchers from Oxford University found that three weeks of calorie
restriction depleted tryptophan levels in both sexes, but especially in
women. Diets really do make women grumpier.
But high-protein diets may be especially problematic because although
tryptophan is made from protein, for it to ‘work’ it has to get to the brain
via the blood and compete for its place against other amino acids.
The most effective way to boost tryptophan in the brain is to eat
carbohydrate foods, which stimulate the release of insulin. This clears the
competing amino acids from the blood, allowing more tryptophan to enter
the brain.
This may explain why women tend to be greater chocoholics than men,
especially before a period when oestrogen is low, or during
perimenopause. They are self-medicating with carbohydrates to raise their
serotonin to stave off the grumps.
And if you are on a high-protein diet, such as the Dukan Diet, have one or
two ‘free’ high-carb meals a week to lift your mood.
In her book, Potatoes Not Prozac, nutritionist Kathleen Des Maisons
recommends another way to boost serotonin levels — eating a plain baked
potato before bedtime.
I’m writing all this ‘boring’ stuff because I feel like it. Because my moods are
making me write.
As I write these words, I realize that there are two things I love doing,
writing and music, both of which have proved cathartic (some sort of a
release to me). Both began as catharses, went on eventually to become
compulsions and have now become passions with me. I love to write and
whenever I’m either depressed or off-mood, I sort of put on the music
(especially, foot-tapping numbers, from George Michael: ‘Wake Me Up…’ to
Flashdance: ‘What A Feeling’ to Justin Bieber: ‘Baby’ featuring whoever…)
and just allow myself to dance my way through.
This activity has in the past, and continues in the present, to sort of take me
away from every pain and untold suffering…
I am a creative person and place high value on my creativity. I must confess
here that I’m also into some very high intellectual pursuit, from activism
(peace/social/whatever!) to citizen journalism to egalitarian thought.
I binge on chocolates, spaghetti, fried foods (junk) and am also a veggie,
although I would not mind either some scrambled eggs with toast/an
omelet or fish (especially, prawns!)
These days, I’m writing a lot more, listening and dancing a lot more but
binging less. I guess I’ve realized that by cutting down on junk food, I can
improve my health.
Please try and understand I’ve seen the worst (although, sometimes the
worst is yet to come!) from Alprax to Lithium and from ECTs to pathological
tests…
I sometimes get irritable now that I am way past the time I stopped
bleeding. My menopause arrived@36!
CHAPTER 29
WHAT’S THE CAUSE…..MENOPAUSE
A Premature Menopause@36
“A woman must wait for her ovaries to die before she can get her rightful
personality back. Post-menstrual is the same as pre-menstrual; I am once
again what I was before the age of twelve: a female human being who
knows that a month has thirty day, not twenty-five, and who can spend
every one of them free of the shackles of that defect of body and mind
known as femininity.”
― Florence King
I can recall having read somewhere sometime, and I quote verbatim:
QUOTE
“On a planet where for thousands of years, even today, a woman's worth
has been judged exclusively by the productivity of her womb, what the hell
is the point of a barren woman?”
― Elissa Stein and Susan Kim
UNQUOTE
In India (and, for that matter, everywhere), a woman’s worth is judged
exclusively by the productivity of her womb, and there are millions and
billions and trillions of fertility clinics to offer free advice on how to get
someone pregnant! For every one person I personally know, there will be
ten people to offer free advice on issues such as feminine sexuality (and
how to curb it!), sex itself, pregnancy and lactation (in rural India, they
lactate women for beyond the ideal period often resulting in sickly frames,
anemia and even under nutrition), biological children vs. adoption,
parturition and childbirth and so on and so forth…
I only wish women in the developing world had more of a choice in
decisions affecting their lives. But this simply isn’t the case in most Third
World nations. The problem is more acute in regions such as South Asia,
Sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.
Sex and reproduction is and ought to be a dual commitment, wherein a
man and a woman would ideally jointly participate in decisions while raising
a family. Sometimes, a couple may find it difficult to conceive for reasons
such as a blocked Fallopian Tube (as in the woman) or low sperm count (as
in the man), then why ought we to blame the woman?
The times they are a changing, and with it trends such as surrogacy,
adoption, IVF etc are coming into force. I can also foresee that the
institution of marriage is no longer held in high regard, and many couples
are either living in, or deciding not to have children or adopting. Adoption
can be a beautiful process; you are ‘giving life’ to a child who would
ordinarily not have been able to get good parents.
The point I am driving at is that for the last 17 years, owing to the utter
inability to have a life partner, I have been a most unhappy person.
Sometimes, you can feel really lonely in the absence of a partner, perhaps,
my lack of happiness added to already existing hormonal and behavioral
issues may have caused me to stop menstruating@36.
“Premature Menopause” or “Premature Ovarian Failure” refers to the fact
that you have reached your menopause before age 40, therefore it is
considered early. Early menopause can be caused by certain medical
treatments, or it can just happen on its own.
Sometimes menopause happens early on its own. Some possible causes
include:
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
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Chromosome defects. Problems in the chromosomes can cause
premature menopause. For example, women with Turner's syndrome
are born without all or part of one X chromosome. The ovaries don't
form normally, and early menopause results.
Genetics. Women with a family history of early menopause are more
likely to have early menopause themselves.
Autoimmune diseases. The body's immune system, which normally
fights off diseases, may mistakenly attack the ovaries and prevent
them from making hormones. Thyroid disease and rheumatoid
arthritis are two diseases that can cause this to happen.
When menopause comes early on its own, it sometimes has been called
“premature menopause” or “premature ovarian failure.” But a better term
is “primary ovarian insufficiency,” which describes the decreased activity in
the ovaries. In some cases, women have ovaries that still make hormones
from time to time, and their menstrual periods return. Some women can
even become pregnant after the diagnosis.
Usually, menopause is confirmed when a woman hasn't had her period for
12 months in a row. To help determine if you may be reaching menopause,
your doctor will ask if you've had signs like hot flashes, irregular periods,
sleep problems, and vaginal dryness. But these signs are not enough to
determine that you are reaching menopause.
Blood tests that can measure estrogen and related hormones, like folliclestimulating hormone (FSH), can help determine if you have reached early
menopause. You may choose to get tested if you want to know whether
you can still get pregnant. Your hormone levels change daily, though, so
you may need to have a test more than once to know for sure.
Women who enter menopause early can have symptoms similar to those of
regular menopause. These can include hot flashes, mood changes, vaginal
dryness, and decreased sex drive. For some women with early menopause,
these symptoms are quite severe. In addition, women who go through
menopause early may have a higher risk of certain health problems, such as
heart disease and osteoporosis. Talk to your doctor about treatments like
menopausal hormone therapy that can help with symptoms. Discuss ways
to protect your health.
My menopause arrived pretty much early. If I can recall, I was working with
the India office (Kolkata) of the ‘Harlem Children Society’, a brainchild of a
New York- based philanthropist, Dr. Sat Bhattacharya. Now that’s another
true life story.
It was around six months of work with the “Association of Science And
Society”, the India office of Harlem, following my being taken on board by
Dr. Sat when I was compelled to resign. The precise cause of the forced
resignation was not clear to me, although some of the reasons apparently
were.
In fact, I have come to believe that Dr. Sat, a noble person otherwise, was a
‘perfectionist’ who not only sacked me (from his office in New York, you
might guess what kind of a decision it was!) but was to follow the same up
with sacking the entire team of individuals he had recruited in the first
place, one by one, one at a time…each one of his fresh recruits was taken
off the rolls…
Six months preceding August 2010, when I stopped chumming, I was the
only woman among a team of individuals recruited by Dr. Sat, what I
considered a rather patriarchal thing to do in an office atmosphere. Dr. Sat
was an extremely courteous, unassuming man of nobility, a thorough
gentleman. The problem with him was he used to visit India once in a blue
moon, while taking all major decisions on his India office all the way from
New York. This was a major issue, and we corresponded with him, mostly
through telephone or Skype.
Everything was going on fine, yet there was some politics at work in the
workplace. Let me tell you that the men in my office were pretty much
sexist, one of them (name withheld to protect identity) even proposed
much to my horror that I could spend the night with him at his flat in
Howrah. Incidentally, this boy (or man) was sacked with immediate effect,
yet he created such a stir before leaving that life with my colleagues (who
were all male) became hellish for me…
My stress levels would often shoot up, in addition to which my fears had
returned and I had stopped bleeding. It was the year 2010, and the month
was August. I could take it no more. I cried and cried like I had never
before. One fine evening, I called up my usually supportive mother for
permission to come home. My father was fuming. The worst was yet to
come…
I can still remember the pain, both physical and emotional I went through
when I stopped menstruating. I was only 36 then.
At the far end of August, the 14th to be precise, Dr. Sat and his (rather
Octogenarian) parents (only god knows why they were on the Board of
Directors) forced me to resign. I could not and did not wish to offer any
explanations of my circumstances. I took the evening train and returned
home.
My father was fuming. He has always done so…
CHAPTER 30
WHEN LOVE AND HATE COLLIDE
I opened the door. It was late at night and I was just about to retire. I had
just read Gandhi and was feeling a sense of serenity within myself.
Just then, my father barged into the room, giving me neither much reaction
time nor dignity.
“You have made my life miserable. You have killed me!” “I don’t desire to
live longer!!” “Why don’t you commit suicide?” There was a flurry of
statements from my father.
In case you didn’t know, my father and I have always had a Love-hate
relationship. He’s extremely possessive at times, and extremely neglecting
and emotionally abusive at others.
That night, I broke down, tremendously shattered.
An emotionally abusive father can be a monster at times. When we think of
abuse, we think about physical (indeed my father has raised his hand on me
twice) and sexual abuse. Fortunately for me, I have been largely a victim of
emotional neglect at the hands of my father and physical abuse at the
hands of my brother. Mental health issues can be quite demeaning at
times, alienating you from your loved ones, making you the subject of
tremendous social stigma and humiliation in school, the workplace et al…
You know your father is emotionally abusive when he exhibits any or all of
the following symptoms:
He's trying to control you and make you dependent on him if:

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



He has to know where you are and who you are with all the time.
He tries to control your contact with your friends.
He puts down what you wear, do and say.
He tries to control you by being very bossy, giving orders, making all
the decisions, and does not take your opinion or your feelings
seriously.
He is scary. You worry about how they will react to things you say or
do.
He smokes or drinks.





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
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


He puts you down so you will lose self-esteem, confidence and
control.
He says it's your fault when things go wrong.
He blames you when he mistreats you. He says you deserved it, or
you provoked him.
He threatens you.
He physically controls you, for example, physically stopping you from
going out of the house.
He says he will kick you out of the house if you don't obey him.
He threatens to stop giving you money, or to not pay for your
education if you don't obey him.
He threatens to kill himself and blames it on you.
He gets very angry about small, unimportant things.
He will not tell you his feelings when you ask and then he blows up.
He pressures you to do things you don't want to do.
I wish to add now that I am still suffering from the effects of being
emotionally abused when I was rendered a sick child. Much of my personal
writing reflects what happened to me. I don't really like to say that I was
abused. I hesitate to use that word. It is easy to use it when I see what has
happened, but harder for me to use it when I talk about myself. I only write
to release my pain, and I have often used it as a catharsis…
“An emotionally neglectful parent will not seek professional help for one's
daughter even though he or she knows one's daughter has been starving
herself, is not feeling up to the mark, or is depressed.” I agree, I strongly do.
Also, some parents actually intentionally stop their son or daughter from
receiving professional or any other kind of help. They may say things like,
"You don't have any real problems", "and these things should be handled in
the family, not by outsiders." I stayed up through the night contemplating…
When people hear the word "neglect", they usually think of parents not
providing their children with the food, clothes, or a safe environment to live
in. However, there are other ways in which parents (either or both) can
neglect their children. Emotional neglect is as dangerous to a child's wellbeing as physical neglect is to a child's health and safety.
Parents can emotionally neglect their children in a number of ways.
Inadequate attention to a child's emotional needs: need for affection and
lack of emotional support constitute emotional neglect. Refusing or
delaying needed psychological treatment for a child's behavioral or
emotional issue is another way parents emotionally neglect children. For
instance, an emotionally neglectful parent will not seek professional help
for one's daughter even though he or she knows one's daughter has been
starving herself, feeling a change in mood, or is depressed.
Exposing a child to domestic violence of any kind is also considered to be
emotionally neglectful. Finally, emotionally neglectful parents may allow or
even encourage their children to use maladaptive coping skills or to engage
in over-use/abuse of over the counter (prescription) drugs.
There are several signs to watch for in someone you think might be
suffering from emotional neglect. It is important to watch a parent's
interaction with a child when making observations about the situation.
Parents who might be emotionally neglecting their child:
- May not spend much time with the child
- Do not offer a lot of affection through compliments, hugs, and kisses
- Constantly put down, criticizes, or berates the child
- And/or do not praise, respect, encourage, and support the child regularly.
CHAPTER 31
SACRIFICE
“You just had an alibi to quit your job!” My father retorted angrily.
“But Daddy…try and understand!”
“Understand what?” “That you were using your company’s infrastructure to
work for your organization?” My father was in no mood to respond to his
daughter’s queries.
“Please daddy, these allegations were completely false. That was just a
recommendation letter with my name as the Director of the ‘Indian Peace
Foundation’ which they used in their favor to force me to resign…”
“Please dad, I am innocent of any charges.” “That was just a conspiracy to
throw me out of the organization, which my colleagues Rajat and Soumen
had hatched.”
“Please try and recall all the sacrifices I have made in the past including
being by Mama’s side throughout the night when she was seriously
hospitalized.”
“You think you have done something great, you’re still not standing on your
own feet and your Mama and I are worried about you.”
“Daddy please, God helps them who help themselves!”
“So let God help you now…why don’t you look for another job?”
“Because…because I need to improve my health first…my knee joints ache
and I am in pain, daddy!” “I need a doctor and Yoga therapy in that order
rather than a job because then that would be a bit premature.”
My father who worries more about his money than about his only
daughter’s well-being stormed out of the room.
That night, I spent with reminiscences of the past.
How much happiness I had brought to the family when I had topped the
university? When I was nominated for the Manthan Award South Asia?
Who would recall them?
CHAPTER 32
DELERIUM-FALLEN
My ordeal started in the year 1997. I had just graduated from college at
Delhi University topping the university in my 1st year and as a high achiever,
there was intense pressure on me to perform well. It was around that time
that I qualified the Common Admission Test to the IIMs, and secured
admission to the University of Calcutta MBA but could not find suitable
accommodation. By that time, I was losing my concentration in class and
eventually got poor eyesight (myopic) and had to leave the MBA program. I
was also applying to universities abroad and secured a place in eight
universities in the UK including the prestigious London School of
Economics. I failed to win a scholarship however which led to depression
and behavioral problems for which I was put on medication which I
continue up to the present day (three medicines as of now). My parents
were suffering immensely, and so was I, in fact, my father used to spend a
greater part of his day crying which pained me further. My mother has also
suffered emotionally over the years to this day, so much so that she herself
is also on medication. I would truly wish we were the same happy family as
before my ordeal!
Nevertheless, with time, I became more and more positive and off course, a
higher achiever. My moods still fluctuate because of gynecological
problems, primarily irregular menses, a distinct pre-menstrual syndrome
and leucorrhea. As of now, my periods have stopped at my tender age (of
36) and I feel intense joint (knee & body) pains. I am obese, short height
with a heavy weight. I am not able to squat on the floor and cannot bend,
because of the above problems.
Following depression, I decided with support from my parents to undertake
voluntary work which has continued up to the present day. I have interned
with the Tata Steel Social Services Division following which I was in
Bhubaneshwar for a limited time period for work purpose. Unfortunately,
my thumb nails had to be removed (they are restored now) and I was in
intense pain especially during the dressing sessions. Certain other
circumstances led to FEAR which I have NOT been able to combat up to the
present day. This includes the fear of travel, particularly airline travel,
water/otherwise.
Anxiety, nervousness and tension are part of my family heredity, my late
grandfather and father in particular. With time, these toxins would have
piled up leading to further problems Following the shooting of a
documentary film in the New Delhi winters, I went on to have a bronchialpneumonia attack (FEAR OF THE COLD WEATHER AS WELL). Along with
allopathic medicine for last 17 years, I am on homoeopathy for the last 10
years. My parents have given me support for all including organizing
counseling sessions, Reiki training, part yoga training along with putting on
stones on my fingers/neck/arms band as suggested by astrologers but
nothing has cured me to the full extent so that I can take charge of my life
completely and independently when my parents shall be no more. This is
one of the major concerns for my parents, both of whom are well over 60
years of age.
Recently, I took an ECG and the report was normal, but the physician
advised me that because of my bulky weight, I may have problems in midage or after 40 if I do not cut down on my weight and exercise regularly.
To be honest with you, as you have seen my strong educational and
humanitarian profile, I BELIEVE more in YOGA AND ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE
(NATUROPATHY/HOMEOPATHY/AYURVEDA) and less in traditional Western
exercise regimens which may be difficult for a person like me!
I am committed to my VALUE SYSTEMS; PRINCIPLES AND BELIEFS
“Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” (The World is One Family) is my guiding motto.
I am married to my social and spiritual cause (SERVICE LEARNING TO
HUMANITY) and have written and published six books, including one
opposing Materialistic culture and another which speaks of peace, nonviolence and social harmony. I have myself been in both violent and
peaceful situations, and am relentlessly searching for peace and happiness
in my life.
Finally, a word on my personal attitude. I am someone truly dedicated and
committed to serving humanity, the poor, the suffering, women and
children in particular. I wish to work towards the attainment of a disease
and poverty free world. I am open at heart as also a very progressive
individual who dreams of a self-reliant India…
To those that have lost hope because of disease and poverty, all I can say is
“LIFE IS BEAUTIFUL”….ALL OF LIFE. PRESERVE, CONSERVE AND PROTECT IS
MY MOTTO.
CHAPTER 33
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
“It’s a baby girl.” My mother often told me how happy my father was when
he had heard that Mama had delivered a sweet and chubby little baby girl!
Labor can be painful, and my mother often told me how much pain she was
in when I was born. Twelve hours to be precise to the point when I was
born at 11:55 p.m. I have often felt guilty about causing my mother pain.
The labor of love brought you into the world she said. I loved your father
and you were born.
Exhausted as she was following the delivery, my mother had fallen asleep
after feeding me. My paternal grandmother, the late Mrs. Maya Sanyal
(who had been a freedom fighter in the days of the yoke) had absolutely no
choice but to curse her destiny when I kept her awake throughout the night
in the hospital cabin. My father meanwhile kept a lookout for wild dogs
sitting beneath a tree outside the cabin.
It was 3 a.m. the previous day when my mother went into labor. She was
hospitalized at 7 a.m. the very next day. She often tells me how she had a
Chinese dinner a few nights before I formally came into this world. I am
therefore not surprised that I love Chinese and American Chopsuey and to
some extent, Western culture.
“Doctor, I am in intense pain!” It was 3:00 a.m. the previous day. They
wheeled my mother into the labor room.
By 11 a.m., she was transferred to a cabin when the pain subsided.
She was fine in the evening. Around 10 p.m. my mother was forced to race
to the labor room following a severe bout of pain. By then, the nurses and
the “Ayahs” (female room attendants) as well as the doctors all of whom
were busy with coffee and gossip, were also there by my mother’s side.
“Doctor, I’m scared for the night!” An Adivasi woman in the adjoining bed
had delivered a still born. Nevertheless, my mother delivered a sweet,
healthy baby girl. Outside the labor room, there was much rejoicing. My
father’s eyes had lit up!
I was slapped by the nurse as is usually the procedure and I started crying.
Finally, I was washed and cleaned before being released home.
“Oh baby, what a beautiful baby!” By this time, visitors were thronging
Quarter No. 37, Road No.5, Kadma, Jamshedpur – my first home…
“Pisses me off, being passed from one person to another!” I was thinking
to myself. I was after all a baby with an incredible Intelligence Quotient!
At the age of one and a half, I had a mild attack of Diphtheria during which
time I was admitted to the Tata Main Hospital. Dr. Master was a master of
his trade.
“Open your mouth, baby?”
I refused.
“Okay, you want some toffees?”
Dr. Master’s seduction worked on me, and he focused the torch. Within a
few days, I was cured and could return home.
“Green diarrhea!” I was wetting the bed sheets, leaving my parents in utter
shock.
I was two; we were in Hotel Rajhans in the ‘Pink City’ of Jaipur (Rajasthan).
“Saab, there’s a doctor who sits here at this time of the night.” “Where will
you go scouring for a doctor at this time of the night?” The hotel manager
was very helpful.
“She’ll be fine.” “I’ve given her medicine to last you for the entire
conducted trip.” Dr. Shekhar had ensured complete recovery for me during
our stay in Jaipur.
CHAPTER 34
LOVE BITES
An Unusually Romantic Life
“Luna, my child wake up!” “It’s time for school!” I could hear my mother’s
voice emanating from across the corridor.
“God! I don’t believe it! I don’t believe what I’m seeing! Mother’s voice
resonated. She was now inside my room.
“Don’t believe whattttttt…mother?”
“This day, in the thirteenth year of your life marks the beginning of a new
chapter in your life; you are now a woman…” “Look!”
There it was, the very first time that I was bleeding; mother called it my
‘first menses’…
“For God’s sake can’t you forget that you are a girl or a boy and try to
become a human being?” My best friend, Ronita Ghosh darted into the
classroom.
“I started chumming when I was about ten. I was scared at first, but mama
had already prepared me for it. Don’t you worry, honey! Everything will be
alright…”
I knew I needed those sweet balms of compassion. Ronita was not just a
close friend; she was much more to me. Well, off course I also knew Ronita
loved me with all her heart. Therefore, I trusted her.
Little Luna nevertheless had her questions.
“Mama, what attitudes should a girl take towards her monthly periods?”
“Luna, my child! It should be an attitude you take towards something quite
natural and avoidable. Give it as little importance as possible and go on
with your usual life, without changing anything because of it…”
“It is a simple natural phenomenon…It is not a disease and cannot be the
cause of any weakness or real discomfort…” My mother knew what she had
to tell her daughter.
“And can a girl participate in her normal life during her periods?”
“Most certainly, my child! For instance if she is accustomed to physical
exercise, she must not stop because of her menses. If one keeps the habit
of leading one’s normal life always, very soon does not even notice the
presence of the menses…”
“What roles should man and woman play in our new way of life? What
ought to be the relationship between them?”
“I know you have a lot of questions, my child.” “In response to this one,
why at all ought we to make a distinction between man and woman. They
are all equally human beings, trying to become fit instruments for the work
of the creator, above sex, caste, creed and nationality, all children of the
same infinite Mother and aspirants to one eternal God…”
“Mama, I don’t feel like it.”
“What do you feel like anyway, Nilu?” It was Ronita with the usual popup.
“Sex…?”
“No, Ronita!” “I’d much rather stay at home.” “I’d much rather watch a
decent film…” Let’s see! “Pretty Woman, no! Basic Instinct, no! Or, Eyes
Wide Shut, no again! How about ‘And God Created Woman’?”
“Maybe! Is that what you meant by a decent film, Nilu?” Ronita was clearly
clear-cut and sarcastic.
“Would you know the meaning of sarcasm, Ms Nilanjana Sanyal, no I’m
asking you?”
“Off course, I do!”
“No, my friend you don’t!” “I’ll tell you…”
“Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia defines ‘Sarcasm’ as the use of sharp,
cutting remarks or language intended to mock, wound, or subject to
contempt or ridicule. It was first recorded in English in The Shepheardes
Calender in 1579…”
“It comes from the ancient Greek sarkazo meaning 'to tear flesh' but the
ancient Greek word for the rhetorical concept of taunting was instead
chleyasmόs. Sarcasm appears several times in the Old Testament, for
example:
Lo, you see the man is mad; why then have you brought him to me? Do I
lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my
presence?
—Achish, king of Gath, I Sam 21:10-15
Understanding sarcasm is a very complicated process to grasp. It is
considered to be one of the last and most advanced concepts for children
to comprehend. It is usually not fully understood till the age of twelve and
sometimes much later.”
“Am I well understood, Nilu?”
I was horrified. Was this the Ronita I knew? And why was she doing this to
me?
“For Christ’s sake, can we stop warring?” “I’m sorry I ever said anything in
the first place…”
Finally, I knew what Ronita, an NRI (we were studying in the same school,
she had just arrived from the United States) had meant by all this.
‘And God Created Woman’ was bad. Bad enough to induce shock in
anyone.
In case you didn’t know…
And God Created Woman (Et Dieu… créa la femme) (1956) is a French
drama directed by Roger Vadim and starring Brigitte Bardot. Though it was
by no means her first film, it is widely recognized as the film that launched
Bardot into the public spotlight and immediately created her "sex kitten"
persona.
When the film was released in the United States in 1957, it went on to push
the boundaries of the representation of sexuality in American cinema,
making Bardot an overnight sensation. It was condemned by the Catholic
League of Decency.
Why would the experiences of an 18-year old orphan (Juliette) with a high
amount of sexual energy create so much of a stir? I was not able to come to
terms with the fact.
“I’m sorry, Nilu!” “Actually, my boyfriend and I are not doing well.” “We’re
on the verge…of a split…”
I pulled my friend into a warm hug. I knew she was in need of love.
“Well, I’m yours Ron…in case you should need me, anytime!” I really
wouldn’t know what I had meant by my sudden statement, but off course I
thought I had not been unobtrusive.
Ronita abruptly left the classroom.
During that period of time, I was also exploring the range of issues-dignity,
humiliation, sex and sexual violence, the Gay and Lesbian movement and
alternative sexuality, where do we get our sense of right and wrong from?
Are we born with a sense of moral reasoning? Is it inborn? Or is it imbibed
from our environment?
I realized that existing quotients-intelligence; emotional, sex and social
cannot simply serve our purpose, what we need now more than ever
before is a ‘moral quotient’. Morals, or the lack of them, appear to
currently pervade even those societies that have apparently lost their sense
of reason in the face of current global opinion!
I trust different cultures have their own sense of morality, hence
morality is an ethical question, but even in the so called civilized world,
excesses do routinely occur.”
“It had been the end of an eventful day. My first bleeding, my mother’s
positive indoctrination and then the short tiff with my best pal Ronita. I
knew she had first bled much earlier; she was also the older of the two and
perhaps far more mature.
But why had she abruptly left the classroom? This was quite unlike her.
Perhaps there were other reasons…though I was really not fully conversant
with them…”
I CLEARLY RESIDED IN MY SUB-CONSCIOUS. WHY ELSE WOULD I EXPECT SO
MUCH FROM RONITA (WHO WAS ONLY A FRIEND AFTER ALL)?
Love usually bites when you are on a one-way track. Loving someone dearly
is really not the same as being in love with someone. The former would
often mean the great times and the bad times you would share together.
Conversely, when you would ordinarily be in love with someone (expected
to be of the opposite sex) a lot could be expected out of the relationship.
Any bad could perhaps destroy the relationship. I guess that’s where the
difference lies.
Being in Love is based on dependability, compassion, respect, compromise
and effective communication; if you don't share those important qualities
with each other then it’s just infatuation and not LOVE.
I switched on the television set. There it was again, Def Leppard with their
LOVE BITES.
If you've got love in your sights
Watch out, love bites
When you make love, do you look in the mirror?
Who do you think of, does he look like me?
Do you tell lies and say that it's forever?
Do you think twice, or just touch 'n' see?
Ooh babe ooh yeah
When you're alone, do you let go?
Are you wild 'n' willin' or is it just for show?
Ooh c'mon
I don't wanna touch you too much baby
'Cos making love to you might drive me crazy
I know you think that love is the way you make it
So I don't wanna be there when you decide to break it
No!
Love bites, love bleeds
It's bringin' me to my knees
Love lives, love dies
It's no surprise
Love begs, love pleads
It's what I need
When I'm with you are you somewhere else?
Am I gettin' thru or do you please yourself?
When you wake up will you walk out?
It can't be love if you throw it about
Ooh babe
I don't wanna touch you too much baby
'Cos making love to you might drive me crazy
If you've got love in your sights
Watch out, love bites
Yes it does
It will be hell
“JESUS! What’s that…?” There was something coming on. Perhaps I had
‘turned on’ the wrong channel.
And these were those words in bold
You put something up your vagina my girlfriends use a vibrator and
sometimes an electric toothbrush or just hump a pillow. PERIOD.
I just stuck my finger up my vagina and moved them in and out super fast
and hard while rubbing my clitoris. Ronita, who had been born and bred in
America, had once told me about the G-Spot, and I tried to figure out my
own. It was amazing, how it all felt.
I personally wouldn’t want to stick something 'in' my vagina, so what I did,
is I got the back side of an electric toothbrush, (and a powerful one, that
too) then took my clothes off until I was fully naked, then started to touch
my vagina and open up the flaps, I turned on the toothbrush and put it
against my clitoris, (if you sit in front of a mirror you would find a small
sticky out lump just before the opening of your vagina) and I moved it
around in small circles, while watching a ‘blue’ scene-I could just imagine a
large penis…OH! I’m horny now...
I wished for once he (the whoever) were inside me. But there was no
Arthur in my life now. Just plain vacuum. And boy, was I trying to shove (if I
didn’t get a boy) a girl into it?
HAD I THEN LOST MY RESPECT FOR MY FRIEND…?
Little Luna could often recall her mother telling her
“You were a very sexual child. When you were 32 weeks in gestation, you
were observed as touching the vulva with fingers of your right hand. The
caressing movement was centered primarily on the region of the clitoris.
Every 30 or 40 seconds the movements would stop and then start again
after a few moments. Further, not only did the light touches repeated
themselves but were also associated with short, rigid movements of the
pelvis and legs. After another break, in addition to this behavior, YOU, the
fetus contracted the muscles of the trunk and limbs, and the climax,
clonicotonic movements [rapid muscle contractions] of the body, followed.
Finally YOU relaxed and rested. We [several doctors and the mother]
observed this behavior for about 20 minutes."
THAT YOU WOULD BE SUCH A SEXUAL FETUS, WHO COULD HAVE
IMAGINED?
Nilanjana Sanyal, Nilu to her friends was once again lost in her dreams. And
she believed she was a dreamer and the best one at it that too.
She could imagine that there were fundamental problems but that there
were (Bucky Fuller) solutions as well. She knew there couldn’t have been a
better time to convince her parents that she was chasing the truth.
“Don’t we have a cure for breast cancer, for ovarian cancer, for uterine
cancer and so on, Mama?”
“Yes, we do…Luna!”
“But cancer can be painful, right Mama?”
“Yes Luna, cancer can be painful. The Chemotherapies, all that radiation
can be horrendous!”
“Is it true that Julie Andrews had cancer when she did the ‘Sound of
Music’?”
“I’m not too sure, baby maybe yes, maybe no…but why are you asking?”
“That’s because…because cancer scares the hell out of me!”
“Why would you be so scared?” “Come to Mama, Luna!”
And little Luna (who was presumably born to be great!) rolled into an
embryonic posture and pulled herself close into her mother’s hug.
My love life likewise started with a call from the UK. An Australian
businessman based out of the UK, Arthur Smith was the first to come into
my life. He used to call me up regularly. But the long-distance relationship
didn’t quite work out because of Arthur’s otherwise obsession with
spirituality, faith and (real estate) Vaastu…
Arthur, who has aged now, is an ardent ISKCON devotee and currently
resides in Mayapur, the Headquarters of the ISKCON movement, a staunch
veggie concentrating on real estate and Vaastu issues, among other things.
We are no longer in touch.
My unusually romantic life has seen many potential suitors, without much
avail.
Following Arthur, a Kolkata based service holder, Tapas Nag came to see
me in Jamshedpur. We were at the United Club when Tapas announced his
decision: that he wouldn’t marry me citing my ill health as a major reason.
Like any other Indian girl, I didn’t have much of a choice anyway.
Some others rejected me because of an inbuilt fear that I could pass on
some of my disease to my offspring. I must add here that I hate this
misogynic attitude on the part of Indian men. They leave you with very little
choice.
If you didn’t know, India very much happens to be a nation of womenbaiters and women-haters. Men here are simply unpredictable, with most
of them following one common trend: everyone wants a smart girlfriend,
but a homely wife. Everyone wants biological children, no one wishes to
adopt.
Likewise, the first thing you would face with an Indian man is his
preoccupation with the physical bit. Well, I guess we women look more for
emotional companionship in our partners, while men just love sex…
The relationship that never was, lasted for a couple of months only: Sunil
Poolani (Mumbai-based) came into my life at a time I desperately needed
emotional closeness, unfortunately he left us forever, the reason being
sudden cardiac arrest.
I must truly confess here that I have always chased my mission in life and
men have never really been my preoccupation…
CHAPTER 35
NIGHT FLIGHT TO VENUS
A More Polarized Global Order
“I don't mind having to fight large, well armed adversaries with nothing but
a slingshot. In fact, a slingshot is all I have ever had to fight them with.”
(Unknown)
My own last seventeen years have been years of horrendous pain and
suffering. My most youthful years have been spent in relentless pursuit of
happiness. Out of this pursuit has grown a tremendous zest for progress
and reform, for understanding why men of age often resort to
unreasonable acts or breach of acts of faith. The meaning of reason eludes
me, as does the fact that even after so many years of the achievement of
freedom by mankind, freedom in the true sense of the word has not been
achieved.
On the other hand, there have been doomsday predictions for a humanity
divided ‘as never before’…
Until the existing profit-driven system is replaced by a more cooperative,
equitable framework, more doomsday reports, more fearful warnings of
Armageddon, and further predictions of a polarized ‘new world order’ can
be expected in the newspapers.
Bleak forecasts of the future have become so common in the media that
most of us casually anticipate the next report on environmental
catastrophe, increasing inequality, mass hunger or even Armageddon. The
recent release of the fourth assessment report on global warming by the
United Nations was no exception; a “near-apocalyptic vision of Earth’s
future” according to most reviews, we are warned of landscapes ravaged by
floods, of sea level rises and extreme weather events, of increased
droughts and crop failures, of more diseases and species extinctions, and of
a “great climate change divide” that devastates even further the world’s
poorest countries.
Despite the harrowing, unequivocal assessment given with “90 percent
confidence” that global warming is caused by humans, the most
controversy surrounding the report concerned not the questions of public
complacency, corporate inertia and disinterest from the US government,
but the even gloomier and oft recurring question of climate change
censorship. On one camp, right-wing commentators filled the weekend
newspapers with claims that environmentalists are trying to shut down
debate and censor those who contend that man-made global warming is
nothing more than a misnomer or a myth. The other camp, perhaps
exemplified by George Monbiot’s latest column in the Guardian UK, claim
that far from gagging the climate change deniers, even this latest U.N.
report is significantly watered down in its assessment.
As the second of four reports being released by the Intergovernmental
Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) this year, the findings cannot be easily
dismissed; led by the world’s top scientists with more than 2,500 experts
from more than 130 countries over the last six years, its conclusions are the
starkest warning yet that the world is heading into a nightmare future
unless a drastic and global turn-around plan is put into immediate effect.
Africa, as always, will be the hardest hit if the world continues along the
currently projected course; by 2080, says the report, 1.8 billion Africans
might not have enough water to survive, and crop revenues could fall by as
much as 90 percent by the end of the century, and sea level rises could
decimate the entire East African coast.
Even though the general theme of the report depicts a world in which
humanity will be divided “as never before”, with the divisions between rich
and poor countries becoming sharply exacerbated by an escalating pattern
of environmental disasters, the richest nations of the world will not escape
unscathed; according to a leaked draft of the report posted online by the
activist group Climate Science Watch, if temperatures rise by four degrees
Celsius, and if the Greenland or Antarctic ice sheets consequently melt,
then the sudden rise in sea levels will lead to cataclysmic floods of Biblical
proportions as outlined in Al Gore’s award-winning documentary, An
Inconvenient Truth. This warning, which scientists gave a five-in-ten chance
(or in other words, 50-50 odds) of actually happening, was controversially
deleted after some of the developed nations lobbied for last-minute
changes to the dire predictions.
The IPCC findings coupled well with a separate and less publicized 90-page
report issued by the British Ministry of Defense a few days later. In just a
few short decades, it predicts, the disempowered middle classes of an
increasingly unequal world are likely to become “revolutionary”. Massive
population growth, 98 percent of which will occur in less developed
nations, says the report, will lead to “new instability risks” inside
burgeoning and volatile slums, whilst brain chips will become standard for
all citizens in developed nations by 2037, endemic unemployment will
threaten the world social order, and political and religious fundamentalist
groups are forecasted to form an “alliance of belief systems” that directly
oppose the state.
It’s possible to be more dubious of such end-times prognostications from
government white papers and strategy documents – as the Daily Telegraph
UK scathingly pointed out, CIA predictions in 1981 that the Soviet Union
would be approaching “hegemony over most of the world” by 1993 were
far from hitting the mark – but other less futuristic predictions circulating
the alternative media are even more disturbing. General Leonid Ivashov,
Vice-President of the Academy on Geopolitical Affairs and ex-Joint Chief of
Staff of the Russian Armies, has written an alarming insight into the standoff between Iran and the US. If the US and its allies go ahead with a
‘tactical’ nuclear strike in Iran, an event long planned by the Pentagon, he
argues, to prevent an inevitable crash of the global financial system based
on the US dollar, then “it will become totally impossible to prevent the use
of all of the available means of mass destruction” – meaning the imminent
possibility of a nuclear global conflict.
The most vital questions raised by these chilling projections are not only
evidenced in the stymied responses of activists and NGOs, but in the telling
reactions or silences coming from the most powerful governments and
multinational corporations. The Bush administration, when forced to make
a statement on the U.N. report on climate change, quickly made it clear
that it would not be stampeded by the report into taking part in the U.N.’s
Kyoto Protocol, the agreement made in 2001 that seeks to limit emissions
of carbon dioxide in over 160 countries.
A similarly non-committal response can be expected from all multinational
corporations, even if they repackage themselves through massive PR
campaigns to seem more environmentally friendly – the oil giant BP, as the
obvious example, may have long reinvented itself with the new green,
flower-like logo, but it remains one of the world’s foremost polluters of the
environment and is often cited in the pejorative top 10 list of global
corporate criminals. In a political economy based upon the cut-throat,
competitive drive for short-term economic gains at the expense of the longterm needs of humanity and the planet, the lead for change cannot be
expected from the corporate world or any First World government. Until
the existing profit-driven system is replaced by a more cooperative,
equitable framework, and until a net transfer of essential resources is
effected from the richest five percent of the population to the 40 percent
of the majority world left suffering in poverty, then more doomsday
reports, more fearful warnings of Armageddon, and further predictions of a
polarized ‘new world order’ can be expected in the newspapers.
New York - As the United Nations was awash with climate change studies
and gatherings throughout 2007, a recurring question was whether it is too
late to cut greenhouse gas emissions enough to save the world's poor from
global warming. An end-of-the-year report by the UN prominently quoted
Martin Luther King's sermon on social justice in the 1960s, saying that time
ineluctably rushes on, deaf to man's plea for it to stop so humans can
correct their errors.
"Over the bleached bones and jumbled residues of numerous civilizations
are written the pathetic words: Too late," King said.
Since the UN-backed Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC)
began rolling out a series of damning reports in February, the UN has made
climate issues its top priority. The 192-nation General Assembly held an
unprecedented one-day climate change conference in September, attended
by more than 80 world leaders.
Three IPCC reports, compiled by more than 2,000 scientists, said global
warming was "unequivocal" and largely the result of human activity. They
warned that the world had eight years left to begin reducing greenhousegas emissions or face the disastrous consequences that come with a planet
heated by more than 2 degrees Celsius.
The World Meteorological Organization said the concentration of carbon
dioxide - the chief pollutant - in the atmosphere reached the highest level
ever recorded in 2006.
Water vapor, carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide - the three major
greenhouse gases in the atmosphere blamed for global warming - can
remain there for 100 years, the UN Development Programme and UN
Environment Programme said in a November report.
"What we do today about climate change has consequences that will last a
century or more," according to the study, titled Human Development
Report. "The part of that change that is due to greenhouse gas emissions is
not reversible in the foreseeable future."
But while scientists and government leaders focus on ways to fight climate
change, the UN worries that the danger could derail its ambitious plans to
reduce poverty on Earth.
It warned that conditions among the world's 2.6 billion poorest people those living on less than 2 dollars a day - and the poorest countries will
spiral downward as the earth heats up, sea levels rise and agricultural lands
are flooded or wilted by droughts.
Another 600 million people will face malnutrition. The sub-Saharan region,
with its large concentration of poverty would suffer potential productivity
losses of 26 per cent by 2060.
By 2080, 1.8 billion people will face water shortage and large areas in South
Asia and northern China will be hit by ecological problems as glaciers
retreat and rainfall patterns change.
Flooding and tropical storms could displace up to 332 million people in
coastal and low-lying areas, among them more than 70 million
Bangladeshis, 32 million Vietnamese and 6 million Egyptians.
Diseases will spread amid global warming, putting an additional 400 million
people worldwide at risk of malaria.
"For millions of people, these are events that offer a one-way ticket to
poverty and long-run cycles of disadvantage," the report said.
The UN said the potential human costs of climate change have been
underestimated. The shocks caused by droughts, floods, storms and other
natural disasters have already driven up the number of poor, and global
warming will only intensify those impacts.
The UN in 2000 set a goal of halving the number of poor by 2015, but the
report said the results will be unequal: some countries are on track to reach
the target while others have fallen far behind.
Vietnam has already halved the number of poor and provided universal
primary education ahead of the 2015 goals. Mozambique has also
significantly reduced poverty, improved education enrollment and cut
down on child and maternal mortality rates.
But the report wondered whether climate change might derail those
achievements.
"In today's world, it is the poor who are bearing the brunt of climate
change," the report said. "Tomorrow, it will be humanity as a whole that
will face the risks that come with global warming."
The report warned that the world was edging closer to "tipping points,"
which are events beyond human control that could lead to ecological
catastrophes, including the melting of the Earth's ice sheets that could
transform human settlement patterns.
The consequences of those ecological disasters may not be seen now, but
future generations will have to live with them, the UN said.
The UN development report was published ahead of a major UN climate
conference on the Indonesian island resort of Bali in December, where
governments hoped to map out a strategy to complete talks by 2009 on a
replacement for the Kyoto Protocol, which expires in 2012. The UN General
Assembly plans to meet in February to review outcomes of the December
Bali conference.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, who took up the climate change mantle
since taking office in January, travelled to Antarctica for a first-hand look at
the melting ice shelves and to Brazil's Amazon rainforest, where he
reported that the so-called "lungs of the earth" are being "suffocated."
The UN itself plans to move towards "carbon neutrality" in its worldwide
operations, starting with its headquarters in New York, which is scheduled
to undergo a large scale renovation by the end of 2008.
That was a long way back.
The times they are a changing…
CHAPTER 36
WIND OF CHANGE
The Meaning of Freedom
“Men make history, and not the other way around. In periods where there
is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous,
skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better.”
Harry S Truman
33rd president of US (1884 - 1972)
President Franklin Roosevelt died suddenly on April 12, 1945, and Harry
Truman became president. Many Americans believed he was unqualified
for the job. One person said, “If Harry Truman can be president, my
neighbor can be president.” This “common man” would make the most
important decision of the twentieth century.
America had the upper hand in the war against Japan, but the Japanese
were fighting courageously. The Japanese refused to be subjugated unless
the American army invaded Japan. Experts concluded more than one
million Americans would die in the assault on the Japanese home islands.
Some people urged the president not to use the atomic bomb on Japan.
General Dwight Eisenhower who was the commander of the Allied forces in
Europe, and would eventually succeed Truman as president, was opposed
to the bomb for two reasons. “First, the Japanese were ready to surrender
and it wasn’t necessary to hit them with that awful thing. Second, I hated to
see our country be the first to use such a weapon.”
President Truman gave the order to drop an atomic bomb on the Japanese
city of Hiroshima in August 1945. Even after testing, the American scientists
were unsure of what would happen. The Americans thought about giving a
warning to the Japanese first, but the enemy might have moved Allied
prisoners to the site. The Americans rejected dropping the bomb in the
ocean. They decided the war would not end unless the Japanese
government understood the damage America would inflict.
The world entered the frightening atomic age at 8:14 a.m. local time in the
Japanese city of Hiroshima. One minute later, an atomic bomb destroyed
the city. The first flash of the explosion was as bright as a thousand suns. It
is estimated that 80,000 people were instantly vaporized. The blast created
violent winds that caused firestorms. Co-pilot Robert Lewis said he could
taste the atomic fusion. He later wrote in his journal, “My God, what have
we done!” Another member of the crew said, “Thank God the war is over…I
can go home.”
Truman later said he did not agonize over using the bomb. He wanted to
make Japan surrender without an invasion. “The atom bomb was no ‘great
decision,’” he later said. “That was not any decision you had to worry
about.” A second bomb destroyed the city of Nagasaki. Japan agreed to
surrender a week later.
The Japanese feared brutal treatment after their defeat, but General
Douglas MacArthur, the Supreme Commander of the Occupied Forces, was
determined to treat his former enemy with dignity and respect. The
Japanese were courteous and respectful toward the Americans. Japan was
to however rise out of the ashes.
(Source: Dowling, Mike, "Hiroshima and Nagasaki," available from
http://www.mrdowling.com/706-hiroshima.html; Internet; updated
Sunday, January 22, 2006. ©2009, Mike Dowling)
History is strong testimony to the fact that human brutality is not a new
phenomenon. The word “brutal” itself can be defined as
1. savage; cruel; inhuman: a brutal attack on the village.
2. crude; coarse: brutal language.
3. harsh; ferocious: brutal criticism; brutal weather.
4. taxing, demanding, or exhausting: They're having a brutal time making
ends meet.
5. irrational; unreasoning.
And has been derived from the 1425–75; late Middle English (< Middle
French) < Medieval Latin brūtālis.
In the light of these definitions, it becomes practically impossible to unravel
the psychological mystery of why so many atrocities occurred--the
Holocaust, off course Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the Gulag, Khmer Rouge in
Cambodia, Yugoslavia, the Rwandan Genocide, and in more recent times,
Darfur in the Sudan--and how we can prevent their recurrence. And yet
there is always renewed hope that the development of a political and
personal moral imagination can empower us to resist all acts of cruelty.
It is in the equations of love, the power of compassion and the art of
forgiveness that we mortal species can find the answers…
We are now in a process of transition, often referred to as the
“Evolutionary Shift”…
"In 2013 we will still be expected to pay our bills."
(Author unknown)
“…Do you have a message to humanity that you would like to share?”
“To all my brothers and sisters who listen to this message,
First of all, these words are not mine; they are the words of my ancestors.
It isn’t a Mayan prophecy…it is the return of the men of wisdom.
Let the morning come…let the dawn come for the people to be happy and
find peace and be happy
So I am here with you giving you this message now that not to be afraid
And take this message and spread it throughout the world
Not to be afraid to this change of time because when that day comes just
assume that it’s the end of the year and you have like a New Year’s Eve or a
New Year’s Day
It’s just a change
It’s not the first time that this will happen who knows how many times this
has happened before
When our ancestors were preparing the calendars they waited…
They have proved that every 5200 years this was occurring and that’s when
they started counting the 1st cycle of the sun after the 4th cycle of the sun
which is the one that we are finalizing now…
This is the time when we are in the 4th period of the sun
So this has been going on for 1000s and 1000s of years before
Don’t be afraid my brothers and sisters
And don’t believe all the things that you hear from all these people that are
threatening the world
Gracias!”
(Everything U Need to KNOW 'DO NOT PANIC’!!!
The Mayan New Dawn Dr. Carl Johan Calleman
Interviews Don Alejandro a Mayan Shaman
Excerpts)
Get Ready for the 2012 Evolutionary Paradigm Shift
Humanity, Earth and all of Creation are in the Midst of an Unprecedented
Healing and Transformation Process…
In preparation for a Universal Evolutionary Paradigm Shift which will take
place in the Year 2012.
Earth is Ascending to the Fifth Dimension and Humanity will Experience a
Transformative Rebirth in Consciousness.
HEAL YOURSELF – HEAL THE WORLD
AND PREPARE FOR A NEW WORLD CONSCIOUSNESS!
Everything around us is changing. The Mayan Calendar, the prophecies of
Nostradamus, the predictions of Edgar Cayce, the Book of Revelation, the
Vedas and many other accounts of possible futures are not mere
superstition or otherwise such as of little consequence. They represent
views of a possible or probable future as seen by certain observers from the
context of their own experiences. They all say that there are many possible
futures. They all say that most probably future can change based on choices
made and actions taken by the humans involved. That's us.
Indeed, there are indications that these timelines have changed. Some of
the predictions made by Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce and others have not
happened yet or not happened in the time predicted. We are at a pivotal
point in history. For a very long time, the world has been built and run on
slavery - either the old fashioned human brutality version or the modern
social and economic version. For a very long time, power has been held by
the most greedy, corrupt, abusive and narcissistic humans. This has led to
an overpopulated, polluted, economically unstable world with a damaged
and unsustainable ecosystem and an insurmountable chasm between the
super rich and poor.
The breaking of this imbalance is seen in the "Arab spring" revolutions in
the Middle East. The revolt is not about ideology or philosophy - it is about
rejecting injustice, abuse and corruption and dissatisfaction with the
poverty and lack of freedom that the exploitation of the masses by the
greedy and corrupt has caused. All of the tyrannical governments that try to
keep control by murdering their own citizens in mass will fall. Then the test
begins. With the removal of the shackles, prejudicial thinking and
suppressed tyrants reach out for new expression. Will the people who
hunger for freedom reject prejudice and radicalism or be victimized or
seduced by it? The game is on.
The long view is not about short term survival. It is about evolution positive evolution - the triumph of light over darkness. The long view is
everyone working on a new paradigm of consciousness - one where
everyone works collaboratively in a win-win manner rather than a win-lose
manner. The long view is the replacement of control by greed and
corruption with consensus of a fully enlightened, fully aware and fully
empowered people. This is everyone's right but it has to be earned and
manifested into reality by choices made and actions taken.
The path ahead will be challenging. The forces are in place for economic
hardship and possibly complete economic collapse because of the
unrestrained greed and corruption at high levels. The forces are in place for
political instability from overpopulation and shrinking resources. The forces
are in place for challenges to personal freedoms from a control system that
will be challenged by the dissatisfaction of the masses. The forces are in
place for climate change and instability and the resulting economic losses
and food shortages. The forces are in place for earth changes and
unprecedented natural disasters.
How these forces play out is still being determined. All of the future
predictions by noteworthy clairvoyants foresee a future where humanity
has survived and brought forth a new order in which enlightenment
replaces greed and corruption.
Dolores Cannon, through information obtained through regressions,
describes a splitting of the world into a new world that is enlightened and
an old world where greed, war, terror and chaos continue. Those
transitioning to the new world eventually transition to a state of pure
energy. Those attached to the old world of negativity and conflict,
eventually also catch up.
Edgar Cayce foresaw a new era of enlightenment and peace for humanity in
the future.
"A new order of conditions is to arise; there must be a purging in
high places as well as low; and that there must be the greater
consideration of the individual, so that each soul being his
brother's keeper. Then certain circumstances will arise in the
political, the economic, and whole relationships to which a
leveling will occur or a greater comprehension of the need for
it."
"This America of ours, hardly a new Atlantis, will have another
thousand years of peace, another Millennium. All this done in
the same manner that the prayers of ten just men once saved a
city. And then the deeds, the prayers of the faithful will glorify
the Father as peace and love will reign for those who love the
Lord." -- Edgar Cayce
Cayce predicted that the so-called "Battle of Armageddon" described
symbolically in the Bible would begin in 1999. Cayce foresaw that this
"battle" will not be a war fought on Earth. Rather, it will be a spiritual
struggle between the "higher forces of light" and "lower forces of darkness"
for 1000 years of Earth time. The reason for this struggle is to prevent souls
from lower afterlife realms from reincarnating to Earth. By preventing souls
from the lower afterlife realms from reincarnating to Earth, only
enlightened souls will be permitted to reincarnate. The result will be 1000
years of building a world of peace and enlightenment. After 1000 years,
souls from lower afterlife realms will be permitted once again to
reincarnate to Earth. By this time, the so-called "kingdom of heaven" will
have been established on Earth.
(2012 Prophesy and Editorial
© copyright 2011 Clear Springs Press, LLC)
I can recall that Stuart Wilde spoke of the Matrix of Control Upon Our
World, Demonic Ghouls and 2012 Spiritual Survival.
Again, is there any DEFINITIVE PROOF that UFOs Are Here to Defend the
Earth Against Nibiru And Solar Flares Of 2012?
Are the 2012 DNA Change Mayan Calendar New Cycle Evolution Crop Circle
Hope Love mere contentions?
And does every one need to know that NASA ADMITS to Blue Star Kachina!
“And this is the Ninth and Last Sign: You will hear of a dwelling-place in the
heavens, above the earth, that shall fall with a great crash. It will appear as
a blue star.
Very soon after this, the ceremonies of my people will cease.”…
And just recently! NASA admits to discovering the Hopi Blue Star Kachina!
In the context of ALIEN INTELLIGENCE:
"When the Blue Star Kachina makes its appearance in the heavens, the Fifth
World will emerge". This will be the Day of Purification.”
(An ancient Hopi Indian prophecy)
The Hopi Indians are a peace loving community of northeast Arizona and
are believed to be descendants from the north, east and south. The Anasazi
directly related to the Aztecs and other Hopis believe quite unlike most
other civilizations (who believed they emerged from the skies) that they
came up from the ground.
The Ant people who inhabit the heart of the earth are often depicted as in
modern day “Alien” sighting reports. The Hopi believe that the “Blue
Kachina” or the Star People will return from the heart of the Earth where
they had taken protection during the destruction of the last cycle of time.
Hopi belief also coincides with those of the Mayan Calendar and has given
birth to the Planet X Theory.
It is believed there existed 5 stone tablets. One was kept by the creator,
two given to the Hopi themselves, and the remaining two given to brothers
in history to be brought back together when the world reunited in peace.
Hopi Elders have often passed warnings and prophecies from generation to
generation through oral traditions and reference to ancient rock
pictographs and tablets. They warned, for instance, that nothing should be
brought back from the Moon. If this were done, the Hopi warned, the
balance of natural and universal laws and forces would be disturbed,
resulting in earthquakes, severe changes in weather patterns, and social
unrest. All these things are happening today, though of course not
necessarily because of Moon rocks.
On August 7, 1970, a spectacular UFO sighting was witnessed by dozens of
people and photographed by Chuck Roberts of the Prescott Courier. This
occurred after a "UFO calling" by several Hopi Indians and was interpreted
by some Hopis as being a partial fulfillment of a certain inscribed on Second
Mesa, warning of the coming of Purification Day, when the true Hopi will be
flown to other planets in "ships without wings."
One might wonder whether such bizarre phenomena as ghosts, UFOs, Crop
Circles, the Kachina actually existed.
As Arthur C Clarke aptly put it, back in 1961, any sufficiently advanced
technology will appear indistinguishable from magicĂ‚Â. Historically; this
work also extends backwards in time, and is to be found in the 1899 Nikola
Tesla case. Tesla believed that he was receiving Morse code messages from
Mars. He naturally assumed this, because no transmitters existed on earth
at that precise moment.
What was obviously ironical was that back then in 1899, no one had
transmitted Radio Morse Code. How could then one expect a Martian to
transmit Morse code?
Scientologists and futurologists had often utilized the gizmo as an
electronic link between crop circles, ghosts, UFOs, and other bizarre
phenomena. The early gizmos could not have worked, as they were based
upon the concept of radio interference from crop circles. Yet, at 00:30 Hrs
BST, on the 31st of May 1992, a detector that could not have worked was
made to work by an unseen intelligence. By default, whoever was
transmitting the signals had to have known exactly why that gizmo detector
would not have worked. The author’s assertion was that whoever it was
that had transmitted the signals had to have been monitoring him. This was
a certainty, as it was necessary in order to artificially generate a signal that
would affect that early gizmo.
One might wonder that if life existed on other planets, and there was even
a remote possibility of aliens invading the Earth, what would they possibly
first get to see.
Ideally, STORMS RAGING AND THE OCEANS ROARING…
So, has the wind of change arrived?
CHAPTER 37
HEAL THE WORLD
Humanity
“Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam” (The World Is One
Family)
“One day there will be no borders, no boundaries, no flags and no countries
and the only passport will be the heart.”
- Carlos Santana
Nation, what’s that I often wonder? Patriotism is a fundamentalist
conviction that particular country is the best in the world because you were
born in it…as Bernard Shaw has written. Personally speaking, in the
universe, there is no east and no west; these distinctions are created in the
mind and then believed to be true. As Thomas Paine has written, ‘the world
is my country, all mankind are my brethren, and to do good is my religion.’
After all, it ought to be that way.
Each of us must learn to make the whole world our own. No one is a
stranger…
We live in a world marked by violence, conflict, social chaos and strife.
There is only one remedy for the world’s population: to live together in
unity. It is true that we are diverse in every way, from language spoken to
culture, religious affiliation (belief)/ faith, but that ought not to deter us
from living in unity. This is the only way we can find solutions to the
pressing issues of our era.
Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam is a philosophy that inculcates an understanding
that the whole world is one family. It is a philosophy that tries to foster an
understanding that the whole of humanity is one family. It is a social
philosophy emanating from a spiritual understanding that the whole of
humanity is made of one life energy. If the Parmatma is one how then an
Atma can be different? If Atma is different how then can it ultimately be
dissolved in the Parmatma? If the whole ocean is one how then a drop of
the ocean be different from the ocean? If the drop is different from the
ocean how then can it ultimately be dissolved in the ocean? It is a Sanskrit
phrase meaning that the whole earth is one family. The first word is made
up of three Sanskrit words - Vasudha, Eva and Kutumbakam. Vasudha
means the earth, Eva means emphasizing and Kutumbakam means family.
It means that the whole earth is just one family. The concept of Vasudhaiva
Kutumbakam originates from Hitopadesha. Hitopadesha is a collection of
Sanskrit fables in prose and verse. According to the author of Hitopadesha,
Narayana, the main purpose of creating the Hitopadesha is to instruct
young minds the philosophy of life in an easy way so that they are able to
grow into responsible adults. It is almost similar to the Panchatantra. The
whole philosophy of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam is an integral part of the
Hindu Philosophy.
All our needs are basically three-fold: Business, Social and Spiritual. We all
want to basically fulfill our Survival, Social and Spiritual needs. We all act
and interact with one another in some way and try to make this world a
better and beautiful place to live. We are all a World Wide Web of so many
relationships. Can this whole world be just one cosmic family? This could
only be an imagination and hope at this point in time. This seems and
appears to be a distant possibility and a greatest challenge. To some Vedic
and Upanishadic sages, Buddhas and Mystics this has been a great dream.
Computer scientists and information technologists have been successful in
tying all the computers and all the information of the whole world in one
common thread of a network. This is where Scott McNealy of the Sun
Microsystems has once said that the Network is the Computer. The
computer network of the whole world has become one big computer. It has
become a digital nervous system of the whole world. This has been made
possible at the level of a machine but the same is not becoming made
possible at the level of all the human beings of the whole world. Can this be
possible? Can the whole world be just one cosmic family and how? Perhaps
there are no straight answers to this.
The existence functions at four different levels: Mechanical, Biological,
Psychological and Spiritual. The mechanical level means at the level of
matter, its laws and its forces. The biological level means at the level of
biological life and its laws and forces of behavior. The psychological level
means at the level of the psyche of the human beings. Human beings are at
the highest level of evolution. There is no other evolution after the human
beings. If there is any higher evolution or consciousness possible it has to
be within the human beings only. This higher awareness can be our
revolution. And the fourth level is the spiritual level. Spiritual level means at
the level of a Buddha-hood. That is the world of the Buddhas. Scientists
have practically proved Quantum Entanglement. In a simple sense quantum
entanglement means bringing two photons at the same level of behavior.
The behavior of one automatically changes the behavior of the other and in
the process both come to attain the same state. Now this is possible
scientifically. Why not then the other possibility exists at the spiritual level?
Why not then is Buddha-hood possible scientifically? That is, coming of two
and many human beings at the same level of consciousness. Why one
Buddha can’t change the behavior of the other? This is what I call Quantum
Consciousness. Why can't this be scientific? To me, anybody who thinks
that this is not possible is an unscientific person. This is exactly where the
Upanishads and Vedas come into the picture. In ancient India the sages of
the Vedas and Upanishads, the mystics and the Buddhas have seen this
dream of tying the people of the whole world in a common thread of
mutual love, trust and friendship. They have attained this to a great extent
in ancient India. This was possible only through Yoga and Meditation. This
was the only common platform. They have called this dream Vasudhaiva
Kutumbakam. It is in Sanskrit and when translated means that the whole
world is just one single family. Are we all different and dependent? No, we
are not. Are we all then independent? No, we are all in fact
interdependent. It is now after a scientific progress of 400 years that even
the scientists of the whole world are of this view that the whole cosmos is
an inter-connected oneness. The whole existence is inter-woven and intertwined. This is the result of quantum physics. This is also the emphasis of
the string theory that the whole cosmos is a web of inter-connected
vibrating energy strings. The whole existence is a web of potential photons,
vibrating strings and super-strings. The insight of the quantum physics is
that the whole existence is an unbroken wholeness. The greatest discovery
of the quantum physics is that the Universe can neither be continuous, that
is infinitely divisible, nor discrete or discontinuous, that is made up of finite
and indivisible parts. The Universe is neither discrete nor continuous. It is
now called a participative Universe. It is an inter-dependent, inter-twined,
inter-woven, inter-related and inter-connected Universe. This is the
discovery of the outer world and outer science. The Vedic and Upanishadic
sages, the Buddhas, the mystics and the Zen Masters have discovered this
truth long back in the ancient past in their inner world. This was the result
of their inner search and an inner revelation. This was the result of their
Yoga and Meditation. On the basis of this realization they have called the
whole existence a Parasparam Abhyantaha. This is in Sanskrit and when
translated means that inter-dependent and inter-connected we all live in
some way or the other and we can never live anymore as separate islands.
This is the dream of Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. Enlightened Leadership is a
small experiment in that direction. This is where I am saying in a modern
adage of the 21st century that the whole Network of the people of the
world can become their Net-Worth. Let us take a quantum leap towards
that Quantum Consciousness. You and Me together means 'We'. We means
the whole world. We means Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. We are all interconnected with that common thread called Consciousness.
CHAPTER 38
HELPLESS
I Know I Survive on Medication
This is my story. Best described perhaps as the moving & poignant, though
highly inspirational story of an ultra-talented (ultra-blessed!) individual
struggling with her inner voice!
I am a great lover of Music, a great Musician myself; I write, understand,
appreciate, live, dream, sleep & breathe Music! And I simply love the
‘Sound of Music’ (and Julie Andrews), the 5th Symphony and ‘My Fair Lady’!
I do however have a great passion for dancing as well, particularly creative
freestyle, but I take care to take Doctor’s Advice when flexing my limbs! I
am not a very poor dancer either; unfortunately, terminal illness has
eroded the power of my limbs…
I simply love the “Symphony on Ice” but more often than not, my Femur
betrays me when I need it the most…
I know I survive on medication, though the World’s Doctors have been
unkind to the extent of refusing to disclose the name of my disease! This is
insane, all the world’s doctors are surely out of their heads, I think!
All I know is that there is a disease called Depression, what with all those
bitter drugs, those painful intravenous injections and worst of all, those
terrible electric shocks!
I often wonder what has happened to me when doctors tell me my dreaded
disease has weakened my immunity to the extent of driving me to
Behavioral issues!
I understand complications have occurred! Though I am determined to
survive!
I also understand LIFE is a beautiful Word! And so is COURAGE!
I know of HELEN KELLER! I know of MOZART & BEETHOVEN!
If BEETHOVEN who was Hearing Impaired could compose Music, so can I, I
think!
If LOUIS BRAILLE who was visually handicapped could invent Braille, what is
to stop me from dreaming of doing some good work?
If NAPOLEON BONAPARTE could proclaim with confidence that IMPOSSIBLE
IS A WORD FOUND IN THE DICTIONARY OF FOOLS, then wherein a Life to be
wasted without a Purpose!
(I AM STILL STRUGGLING WITH MY INNER VOICE!)
I contemplate:
“GOD (in humble faith)
O Krishna, Thou Loving Shepherd
Of the people,
Buddha, Lord of infinite compassion,
Jesus, Thou lover and Saviour of the soul,
Ramakrishna, Thou face of the Divine
Mother, and
Vivekananda of the mighty heart,
May Ye and all the nameless Masters
Of the spirit,
Receive and save this soul!”
…Within the Limited Confines of this my Lifeless, Emaciated Limbs and a
lowered capacity to breathe, I believe that life is given to us so that we may
grow in love, and I believe that God is in me as the sun is in the color and
fragrance of a flower- the light in my darkness, the voice in my silence..(I
was just dreaming of Helen Keller!)
…but then my ‘Med-Studs’ (the whole, new world’s most brilliant doctors)
have always made me BELIEVE- that I HAVE ‘A BEAUTIFUL MIND’…(PROF.
JOHN NASH may have just fallen off his Princeton Chair! I never did, despite
all those Medical Cultures & Pathological Tests & Ventilatory Therapies!
(What therapeutic Cultures!)…
My Mind takes me to Cambridge, MA, Princeton, to Albert Einsteins (&
Dreamy Ones!) &MATHEMATICIANS & Decipher(ing) Codes & “Intelligence
Quotients”, the PENTAGON & finally OSLO…a prolific rioting of ideas, a
story of immense courage in the face of adversity & ultimate triumph
following a life of harrowing struggle, a triumph not through war, conflict &
gore (& talk of pre-conflict & post-traumatic disorders & resolution &
reconstruction and/or transformation!), but through the POWER OF THE
HUMAN SPIRIT TO EVER make POSSIBLE the near – I’M POSSIBLE
CONVERSION of lives & pasts of DARKNESS into PATHWAYS OF LIGHT - )nee
BEACON LIGHT)…
“THE WOODS ARE LOVELY, DARK AND DEEP,
BUT I HAVE PROMISES TO KEEP,
AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP
AND MILES TO GO BEFORE I SLEEP…”
MY TRIBULATIONS (STRUGGLING & SUFFERING) – THE PAIN of undergoing a
powerful behavioral and physical struggle are unique in every aspect the
extent of which cannot be ascertained.
I have continued in the same spirit however.
“You asked me Where to Begin…
Am I so lost in myself…?
BUT IF MY SPIRIT IS LOST…
Somehow I’ll find My Way Home…”
I believe day-to-day life is a bit like Easter! We experience disappointments,
sorrow, and pain, but through our Savior we can find sweet relief and
‘resurrection.’ Our troubles won’t last forever. In those moments when we
feel like we are dying, when we feel burdened and full of sorrow, we need
to remember that the ‘best is yet to come.’ Just as Jesus’ death was not the
end, only the beginning, so the problems of life that threaten to undo us
can signal a new beginning, the turning of a new page. That’s Easter-the joy
of starting again.
CHAPTER 39
WHY CAN’T WE BE FRIENDS?
Neuroscience, Philosophy, Psychology, Biology,
Quantum Physics, Meditation and Altered States,
Culture and Healing
Alzheimer’s disease (AD) steals memory and ruins lives. Despite near-daily
reports of promising new therapies, AD remains unchecked. Now a new
study reveals the mechanism by which AD may cause memory loss,
suggesting new therapies.
AD brains have two types of lesions: beta-amyloid plaques outside neurons,
and neurofibrillary tangles within them. The known AD genes implicate
plaques, but AD symptoms correlate more closely with tangles, comprised
of "tau" protein, normally adhered to microtubules. Excess beta-amyloid
plaques induce tangles, disrupt microtubules, and cause memory loss, even
with normal synaptic function. But how?
In the March 23 issue of the journal PLoS One, scientists from Harvard,
Boston University, The University of Alberta, The University of Arizona and
The Chopra Foundation ascribe AD memory loss to disruption of
microtubules by zinc imbalance.
Previously, Harvard’s Dr. Rudolph Tanzi, senior author on the present study,
showed with colleagues that plaques outside neurons sequester zinc,
lowering levels inside neurons. Zinc stabilizes many protein complexes,
including microtubules (MTs), polymers of tubulin. MTs regulate synapses,
and play recently-revealed key roles in memory encoding in neurons.
In the present study, Craddock et al 1) identify specific zinc-tubulin binding
sites promoting side-to-side tubulin interactions, critical to MT polymer
structure, 2) show via kinetic analysis how extra-neuronal zinc
sequestration reduces intra-neuronal zinc available to tubulin, destabilizing
MTs and leading to tangles. And, 3) they present metallomic imaging mass
spectrometry (MIMS) of AD model mice revealing abnormal zinc
distribution in critical brain regions.
This view of AD suggests therapies based on stabilizing MTs by 1)
normalizing intra-neuronal zinc levels by zinc ionophore drugs such as PBT2
(Prana Biotechnology), and 2) promoting MT self-assembly and stability by
other drugs, as well as transcranial therapies, e.g. ultrasound at MT
resonant frequencies in megahertz.
Tanzi, senior author and Harvard’s leading Alzheimer’s expert said: “It looks
like beta-amyloid plaques themselves aren’t destructive directly, but lead
to lower zinc levels within neurons. This in turn disrupts microtubules and
tau, causing tangles and memory loss. Protecting microtubules and their
association with tau may be the best treatment approach in Alzheimers
disease.”
Citation: Craddock TJA, Tuszynski JA, Chopra D, Casey N, Goldstein LE,
Hameroff SR, Tanzi RE (2012) The Zinc Dyshomeostasis Hypothesis of
Alzheimer's Disease. PLoS ONE 7(3): e33552.
doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0033552
http://www.plosone.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0
033552
Disclosure: Rudolph Tanzi is a consultant and shareholder in Prana
Biotechnology, which is developing a zinc ionophore (PBT2) for the
treatment of Alzheimer's disease.
But why am I concerned?
Not that it directly concerns me, but my medication seems to have erased
my memories of the past!
CHAPTER 40
EVERYBODY HURTS
A Vision for A Happier Planet & A More Egalitarian
Global Order
All the world is full of suffering. It is also full of overcoming.
- Helen Keller
Martin Luther King, Jr. had famously remarked and I quote verbatim:
QUOTE
Human progress is neither automatic nor inevitable... Every step toward
the goal of justice requires sacrifice, suffering, and struggle; the tireless
exertions and passionate concern of dedicated individuals.
UNQUOTE
“I am writing to enthusiastically urge you to promote the Youth PROMISE
Act today – a solid foundation for infrastructures of peace!
H.R. 1318 the Youth PROMISE Act, introduced last week into Congress, will
provide a groundswell of education and inspiration on the value of
domestic peacebuilding. Both the U.S. Government and the American
public will see a powerful demonstration of proven technologies that create
a more peaceful culture, opening doors toward a brighter future for our
youth and indeed for us all.
YPA will empower effective solutions to youth incarceration, potentially
including such innovative practices as peer mediation in schools, restorative
justice practices, and communication skills-building. Passage would provide
an unprecedented opportunity to prove the efficacy of peacebuilding work.
Our public budgets, numerous communities plagued by violence and
incarceration, and many families and young lives will all benefit from the
passage of H.R. 1318.
And YOU can help usher in this historic step forward for peacebuilding, by
expressing your support to your Members of Congress >>
With the current minimum cost of imprisonment at roughly $50,000 per
inmate per year, the peacebuilding tools of prevention, intervention,
education, and restorative practices will have an economic impact nearly
impossible to ignore.
From this solid foundational legislation, which has a significant likelihood of
passing during this Congressional Session with our support, The Peace
Alliance, our partners, and the USA will be primed to co-create the next
levels of peacebuilding structures in both domestic and international
contexts.
Please show your support today!”
In peace,
Dan Kahn
National Field Director, The Peace Alliance, DC, USA.
Incidentally, this is a letter I received today from “The Peace Alliance.” I
guess with most of the developing world being essentially patriarchal
setups, we must FOCUS on the boy child as well without off course
neglecting the girl child. This is where we all have gone wrong.
The last couple of years has seen growing disappointment over the results
of past development efforts in many countries. Nobody diverted more
attention to the subject than Robert McNamara in several of his speeches,
culminating in the well-known statement that, in the 40 developing
countries for which data are available, the upper 20 per cent of the
population receives 55 per cent of the national income, while the lowest 20
percent receives 5 per cent only.
This gap between rich and poor has only widened over the years, and, in
many cases, has led to worse conditions for the poorer segments of the
population. The traditional socio-economic habitat of the rural population
has often been destroyed without being replaced by a better alternative.
The breakdown in the quality of life of the rural poor has led to a massive
exodus to the cities, resulting in many cases, in a virtual breakdown of
urban societies.
It is noteworthy that the increasing have/ have-not chasm generated by
past development are not restricted to the widening gap between rich and
poor. The same growing dualism can be observed between regions within
countries, and, on a world-wide scale, between industrial and developing
countries.
I seek to quote Elie Wiesel:
“I swore never to be silent whenever and wherever human beings endure
suffering and humiliation. We must always take sides. Neutrality helps the
oppressor, never the victim. Silence encourages the tormentor, never the
tormented.”
I swear too, that I shall never remain silent in the face of oppression and
humiliation, off course to the extent possible of me and within the
boundaries of my own human limitations.
My intense life at my young age remains my ultimate inspiration!
CHAPTER 41
DAYDREAM BELIEVER
The Perfect Emissary who believed but remained
deprived of love
“Only once in your life, I truly believe, you find someone who can
completely turn your world around. You tell them things that you’ve never
shared with another soul and they absorb everything you say and actually
want to hear more. You share hopes for the future, dreams that will never
come true, goals that were never achieved and the many disappointments
life has thrown at you. When something wonderful happens, you can’t wait
to tell them about it, knowing they will share in your excitement. They are
not embarrassed to cry with you when you are hurting or laugh with you
when you make a fool of yourself. Never do they hurt your feelings or make
you feel like you are not good enough, but rather they build you up and
show you the things about yourself that make you special and even
beautiful. There is never any pressure, jealousy or competition but only a
quiet calmness when they are around. You can be yourself and not worry
about what they will think of you because they love you for who you are.
The things that seem insignificant to most people such as a note, song or
walk become invaluable treasures kept safe in your heart to cherish
forever. Memories of your childhood come back and are so clear and vivid
it’s like being young again. Colours seem brighter and more brilliant.
Laughter seems part of daily life where before it was infrequent or didn’t
exist at all. A phone call or two during the day helps to get you through a
long day’s work and always brings a smile to your face. In their presence,
there’s no need for continuous conversation, but you find you’re quite
content in just having them nearby. Things that never interested you before
become fascinating because you know they are important to this person
who is so special to you. You think of this person on every occasion and in
everything you do. Simple things bring them to mind like a pale blue sky,
gentle wind or even a storm cloud on the horizon. You open your heart
knowing that there’s a chance it may be broken one day and in opening
your heart, you experience a love and joy that you never dreamed possible.
You find that being vulnerable is the only way to allow your heart to feel
true pleasure that’s so real it scares you. You find strength in knowing you
have a true friend and possibly a soul mate who will remain loyal to the
end. Life seems completely different, exciting and worthwhile. Your only
hope and security is in knowing that they are a part of your life.”
― Bob Marley
Sometimes, you would have never the person, and yet would know them.
In sharp contrast, you might also wonder how you would have met the
person, and yet wouldn’t know them…
I was wishing (“You may say I’m a dreamer…”) to be the one woman risking
her life trying to save the world…
“I wanted to be the change I wished to see in the world, and so I decided to
travel, despite the fact that I was at the time battling a powerful and oft
debilitating emotional and physical struggle of sorts. At first, my parents
were not happy with this decision of mine, because they knew that
although travel can be exciting and sometimes even overly intoxicating, it
can be quite daunting at first…” “But they eventually agreed, knowing fully
well that it would speed up my catharsis, if not inundate my senses…”
“My own young life had begun with an indomitable life struggle of sorts
and I knew that the only way to come out of that miserable depression and
bipolar disorder was to meet new people and come out of that shell or
cocoon or whatever it might have been and that would entail some travel
to new destinations.”
“My dreams touched the skies…”
“I started off in North America (more specifically Canada and Alaska) as
they happened to be somewhat in proximity to my home country that is
the United States. Wow! Both Canada and Alaska were beautiful…”
“Country Roads, take me home…to the place, I belong.” “I was on a Rocky
Mountain High and Jesse was whispering “Annie’s Song” in my ear when I
was filled with nostalgia and I decided to return home…”
“Then I decided I wanted to briefly interact with HIV+ patients on the
Streets of Philadelphia (and Tom Hanks wouldn’t care a damn!) And I went
visiting street children who were into drugs and alcohol (even hash, cocaine
and Marijuana) on the streets of the ‘Big Apple’.” “Yeah!” “I was at heart an
American and the rest of the world didn’t exist for me (‘New York! New
York!’) until my father suggested (and my mind responded) and I went
visiting Anchorage in Alaska (and I went on a cannibal-like spree with the
Lapps and the Eskimos and then it was all over that I was not doing justice
to my image as a ‘vegan’) winding it all up with Vancouver, Saskatchewan
and the Appalachians and across the border to Mexico.”
“Then came Latin America and I had to take Salsa classes back home from a
trained instructor who spoke no English except for ‘Let’s dance to the tune
of Lambada’ and who knew nothing beyond Shakira and Enrique, perhaps
the only way we could communicate was by shaking and twisting and
turning and sunbathing (both of us) to the tune of ‘Brazil’…He reminded me
of Peter Andre (and I was just a ‘mysterious girl’) and I would often get
turned on by the size of his ‘manliness’ He had long curly hair which I guess
was dyed partially blonde) to attract the so-called ‘Veronicas’ and the
‘Betties’ which often arrived sunbathing on the beaches…”
“Latin America was my first major exposure to stark naked poverty…the
slums of Rio and Sao Paulo being a case in point. I could see for myself the
inequality and the luxury, the poverty and the extravagance, the squalor,
dirt and filth and the mansions, the nudity and Fashion TV, the lack of
guidance and direction and often immense hardship that would compel the
youth into vice and often corrupt activities and off course the supremacy of
the Mafia in countries such as Brazil, Peru and Columbia. That was also my
first exposure to the relative apathy and indifference of the government, in
other words the elected representatives of the people…I had been advised
not to cycle down the somewhat narrow alleys and by lanes of the ‘Favelas’
for fear of being mugged or in worse cases, sexually assaulted…”
“I was soon to come back home to America but I knew not that I was
destined for greater things which would entail my traveling further across
mainland Europe, South (including the Indian sub-continent) and Southeast Asia as also Africa. This would entail a few near-death experiences,
lustful romances as well as unique insights into the countries I was destined
to travel through!”
“This was to be for me an experience of countries, cultures, languages and
off course fascinating (and often reversible) impressions of people in these
destinations…”
“I could never have imagined the far out strange and often wild imagery
that would fill my grey cells as a child as I heard of places as exotic as
Canton, China. I had never thought I would ever be in somewhere as
remote as Canton, and now I was sitting at ‘Little Canton’ savoring the
delights of some exotic Chinese cuisine with off course, ‘Chopsticks’…I
could have recalled (though strangely) the lovely ‘American Chopsuey’ but
now I was actually getting a taste of the original ‘Chinese Chopsuey’ with
helpings of some crab, prawn, eggs, chicken and pork…There I was letting
down my ‘Vegan’ (Broccoli and greens) image again! How atrocious of
me!!!” “How atrocious even that I should give up beautiful San Francisco
Bay and run after Guangzhou (modern day Canton)!”
“They say destiny is powerful, and many people fail to accomplish their
dreams. For me, it was something exotic that I should not only have been
able to come out of my cocoon so as to say but also to fulfill my dreams of
traveling around the world…something that no “Sacred Heart Convent” kid
could ever have dreamt of in her wildest dreams…”
“I have now also started maintaining a travel blog to enable others to
imbibe the spirit and the grit that took me to come out of my shell
following my intensely painful struggle and be of real consequence to an
extremely ‘LONELY PLANET’…”
Cheers! Here’s lauding the extraordinary efforts of the perfect emissary!!!
A true advocate of justice, equality, liberty, fraternity and freedom!
“Wake up!” My mother’s voice resounded through the hall.
But I continued day dreaming…
CHAPTER 42
BORN FREE
A Brief History of Man
‘…We have all known individuals in very difficult circumstances perhaps
with a terminal illness or a severe physical handicap who maintain
magnificent emotional strength. How inspired we are by their integrity!
Nothing has a greater, longer lasting impression upon another person than
the awareness that some one has transcended suffering, has transcended
circumstance, and is embodying and expressing a value that inspires and
ennobles and lifts life…’
(Covey et al, Simon & Schuster, 1992)
It’s all about…tremendous intrinsic worth… (Lives of) character,
contribution, service, love, concern and appreciation…dedicating us to…!
It’s about…magnificent attitude and communicated love and compassion
and courage…yes, it takes courage!
We’re coming to the real issues…humility and humiliation and human
dignity…
Look at GANDHI. During the time that his accusers were in the legislative
chambers criticizing him for having refused to join them in their
condemnation of the British Empire, Gandhi was out in the paddy fields
slowly and steadily expanding his base among the laborers…thus being able
to build up a swell of support in the countryside…Gandhi had no office or
position to fall back upon, but he had ensured that that extra support was
to go a long way in bringing England to its knees, most certainly an
exemplary in compassion, courage, fasting and moral integrity…
A BUNDLE OF CHEER
I was not born with depression. I was rather a bundle of cheer in college.
The best fresher (and subsequently best sophomore). Always singing (I had
a degree in music), dancing (I was best dancer) and proficient in the arts.
One could always see me smiling.
And yes, I loved the rhythm and blues, hip-hop, fusion and world music.
Though I never listened to trance, I would often go into one just listening to
music! My favorites, regardless of genre were Enya, Sir Richard
Clayderman, Celine Dion, Sir Elton John, Pink Floyd and Madonna.
I would often be found sitting alone inside the school cathedral, and
praying to Jesus to give me strength in times of difficulty. I had truly
mastered the art of prayer, and when the time came, I found that the only
one by my side was Jesus.
(Truly, the only one always by your side is Jesus)
They were always there by my side. My parents. They gave me so much
love that one could never dream of. They brought me presents every time
they went on a holiday. I was the ‘darling’ of the family.
But things have changed ever since…
Things have changed.
By the time I was 18, I had been put in a hostel. And hostel life was fun. I
was not aware that something more challenging was coming up.
At the age of 21, I graduated with a major in Psychology and a minor in
Philosophy. Life in undergrad had been fun, but I was supposed to give it all
up for an internship with CYSD, a corporate NGO in Bhubaneswar, the
capital of Orissa state of India.
From the moment I arrived, I sensed there was something spooky. Ramesh,
one of the canteen staff seemed to be a big lech. He was always staring at
the girls, and this made them slightly uneasy.
By then, I had found two very good friends in Kate, who was from New
Zealand and Judith, from the Netherlands.
SHARING A CABIN, AND GOODIES!
Kate and Judith were my best pals. We were always together. I shared my
cabin with Kate.
We would massage each other for hours. We would frolic for hours. The
local Indian staff members were also very good. Although I was Indian
(actually from Jharkhand state), I could not speak the local language, Oriya.
This was often the subject of discussion amongst colleagues, but no one
chided me or said anything. They were all very nice people!
Between ourselves, Kate, Judith and I had a colleague from Dacca,
Bangladesh. His name was Mohammad Kashif.
Kashif was a travel-writer who was traveling through the Indian subcontinent at that point of time. His main objective was to study patterns of
behavior in primitive South Asian peoples, beginning with some of the
tribes of Orissa.
His research was expected to result in a report.
Under Kashif’s guidance, I could learn the A-B-C of writing. Soon I was
traveling to the local slums and recording my experiences. I would often
keep a diary.
This was something out of the ordinary. Like I had never experienced
before. The extraordinary experiences of ordinary people. The rickshaw
puller, the ‘paanwallah’ (betel nut vendor), the washer man (dhobi) and the
domestic servant all lived under the same roof. There were also perhaps
child laborers, and construction workers.
The people we would call the poor. People for whom there was no place in
the malls of new India, emerging India.
One thing I was sure of, that the people of Orissa lived in abject poverty.
With Kashif’s help, I was also able to discover a ‘different’ India, the likes of
Kalahandi, Bolangir and Koraput, where children died of hunger the way
they kill ticks.
Very soon, I canceled my party-appointment to take a trip to Koraput. Kate
was with me. On the way, however, as the overnight bus touched deep
jungle, Kate was molested by a middle-aged village man who had boarded
the bus seeing the girls. No one said or did anything.
The ordeal was now to begin…
A CRIME THRILLER
I was now all by myself. Kate Catherine Fairfax was visiting her mother
Beverly Fairfax who happened to be in town from London. She was a
Reader at the Department of South Asian Studies at the University of
Reading. Judith Tennyson was in Gopalpur-on-sea holidaying with her
boyfriend, Edwin who had come down from Utrecht in the Netherlands.
I had meanwhile been teaching Ramesh and his canteen co-staff Baldeo. I
was teaching them English and numericals. Every evening, I used to sit
down with them at the end of canteen hours, then take my dinner and then
retire.
Tonight, it was different…
Usually, I took her food in the canteen. But this evening there was
something fishy. Both Ramesh and Baldeo insisted that Nilanjana Madam
should take her food upstairs. Innocent as I was, I, Ms Nilanjana Sanyal did
not realize that something serious was coming up.
WHEN JESUS TOOK OVER
It was a dark night and raining heavily. I got up and closed the windows.
By now, I was alone in my room, not asleep and yet unaware of the
impending danger.
There was a knock on the door. It was Baldeo, and there was a plate of food
in his hands. Much as he insisted on me taking the food, I refused
wondering if they were trying to drug me. Finally, turned down Baldeo
went away.
But what was to come could have been the subject of any Stephen King
crime thriller.
It was 12:00 a.m. I was fast asleep. Suddenly, I woke up to see a shadow in
the verandah surrounding the intern residence. Soon, there was a man
inside the room. He was only in his underpants. It did not take her long to
make out that it was Ramesh! What was he doing there?
I (realized then that) I was not alone. Jesus was with me. I folded my hands
in prayer for a moment, and then raising my voice and threatening dire
consequences for this employee (telling him that I would inform the
management) I just about managed to throw him out of the room!
(Contemplating doing this to the lady who had been taking the pains to
teach them grammar and numericals, it was a shame, wasn’t it?)
HOSPITALIZED
The Centre’s CEO, Mr. Jagadananda Mohanty, had arranged for a vehicle to
take me back to my hometown. I was indirectly blamed for the incident. No
one said or did anything. Kate, my friend gave me a hug for perhaps the last
time.
Then the car sped away…
We arrived in my hometown around dusk. I was in a delirium. The events of
the past few days had affected my thinking.
My parents were visibly upset. And this was quite natural. I had been such a
darling, and now they had to cope with this. It seemed their entire life had
turned upside down.
Next morning, they drove me to the hospital.
The doctors were unanimous. It was something to do with a serotonin
imbalance in my brain. They gave me a sedative. I was now a patient.
A patient forever. Perhaps that was what was written on my forehead.
HISTORY & GEOGRAPHY
I, Nilanjana Sanyal, alias Luna was born in the Steel City of Jamshedpur on
the 24th June, 1974. My father worked with the steel enterprise, TATA
STEEL and my mother was a homemaker.
When a little girl of two, I (or rather my grandmother) had been told by a
soothsayer that the girl would grow up into something extraordinary.
All this, whatever was happening, was extraordinary, wasn’t it?
At the age of five, little Luna’s parents sent her to a Convent, where she
grew up whacking tiffins and praying at the chapel. She was to later join the
school choir.
Completing high school from a Convent, the girl then went to a Jesuit
institution to pursue secondary education.
Finally, she was sent to a boarding under grad institution in Delhi, where
she majored in Psychology.
LIFE IS AN EXPERIENCE
Life is sometimes an experience. Always an experience. Sometimes good
and sometimes bad. The truth is the good hardly ever happens. The bad
always does.
A THOROUGH MAVERICK
“Time for dinner, honey!”
“I don’t feel like dinner, Mama!”
“But why, sweetie?”
“Because I just don’t feel like it!”
“Sweetie, Mr. and Mrs. Chatterjee are expected too, and I want you to
meet Arnab.” “He’s a nice, decent boy!” There was a flurry of statements
from my mother.
“There you go again, Mama!” “Boys don’t interest me at all!!!” “Now just
leave me alone for a while, would you, Mama?”
“Mama, I find so much of a resemblance between the discrimination
Andrew Beckett faced as a victim of HIV and the social stigma I have faced –
in school, in the community, among family members and now in the
workplace!”
I retorted angrily.
“Circumstances are different if you are fortunate enough to be born in the
US (anywhere in the West, I mean) but things are terrible here in India so
far so as the disabled are concerned.” I continued, in the same tone.
“Being a woman and being mental health disabled is being twice disabled, it
is terrible here, all that medication, the psychotropic drugs, the ECTs, the
blood tests, no social security and previously, Lithium…!”
“O Jesus, when will my ordeal end?” To my parents, I looked desperate and
disturbed.
“There are times in life, my child…when one is forced to go through
difficulties, but that was just a phase, and yet you will in all probability have
to continue with medication for the rest of your life…These will keep you
stable and prevent your moods from fluctuating.”
“Mama, if only there was a way?”
“There is no answer in traditional western medicine, just have a positive
bent of mind, my dear child…this was meant to be your ultimate destiny!”
“Philadelphia dealt with an incurable condition, AIDS…to which modern
medical science is trying to find an answer.” “That was only a film, and
histrionics are not meant to destabilize a person further…” My mother
looked visibly upset.
“Mama, Mother Teresa once famously remarked that “in today’s world,
there are cures for virtually every disease, every condition….but for
loneliness, there is no cure…”
“Mother Teresa, Sister Agnes…Mission…that’s all I hear from you all the
time!” “Don’t tell me you’re planning to be celibate and renounce the
world?”
“Something like that, mother.”
“Luna, I had thought Arnab and you would have made a perfect couple, but
I see that you have other plans…am I right, my child?”
“I was born for greatness and to work to serve humanity!” “Is that
something wrong, mother?”
“No, by itself it is not, but you see you are not in the best of health…”
“Jesus takes care of everything, mother…” I was quick to complete my
mother’s incomplete sentence.
“Would you please come downstairs…I have something I MUST say to you
about our daughter’s leanings…” (Traditionally, Indian women do not refer
to their spouses by name)
And my parents Sarbani and Milon Kumar Sanyal (I was born of Bengali
parentage into an Indian family – both my parents were devout Hindus)
spent the entire evening by the hearth, strongly contemplating their next
move to change my mind…for what they both considered was good for
me…
But I was determined to lead life on my own terms…
I could recall the words of Joseph Addison:
“When I look upon the tombs of the great, every emotion of envy dies in
me; when I read the epitaphs of the beautiful, every inordinate desire goes
out; when I meet with the grief of parents upon a tombstone, my heart
melts with compassion…when I see kings lying by those who deposed
them…or the holy men that divided the world with their contests and
disputes, I reflect with sorrow and astonishment on the little competitions,
factions, and debates of mankind…I consider that great Day when we shall
all of us be Contemporaries, and make our appearance together…”
‘But how do you love when you don’t love?’
In the great literature of all progressive societies, love is a verb…trust
Hollywood! Love is something you do: the sacrifices you make, the giving of
self, like a mother bringing a newborn into the world. If you want to study
love, study those who sacrifice for others, even for PEOPLE WHO OFFEND
OR DO NOT LOVE IN RETURN…
We Must LOVE & DEDICATE & RE-DEDICATE OURSELVES…to…well, I
understand I am writing for elite, enlightened readership!
“We are dedicated to ending humiliating practices and breaking cycles of
humiliation throughout the world.
We believe that through this, space is opened for mutual respect and
esteem to take root and grow. We believe that a mindset of connection and
a spirit of shared humility is necessary and not a mindset of humiliation.
Great deposits in the ‘Emotional Bank Account’ come in these sincere
words:
“I was wrong…
That was unkind of me…
I showed you no respect…
I gave you no dignity, and I’m deeply sorry…”
Previously intractable conflicts may thus become amenable to dignified
resolution.
After all:
“WE ARE ALL GOD’S CHILDREN…
(ARE WE NOT)?”
It was only today that I was thinking about this, and I deemed it fit, at the
very outset, that I should, share a Statement made by the ‘Greatest Man to
have Ever Walked the Length of This Planet’: Gandhi:
“If we are to reach real peace in this world, and if we are to carry on a real
war against war, we shall have to begin with children. And if they will grow
up in their natural innocence, we won’t have to struggle, we won’t have to
pass fruitless, idle resolutions, but we shall go from love to love and peace
to peace, until at last all the corners of the world are covered with that
peace and love for which, consciously or unconsciously, the whole world is
hungering.”
Actually, how humane are we? Glaring inequalities in society exist. Those
wallowing in luxury and privileges beware. Unrestrained open displays of
wealth and privileges and indifference to the poor might one day arouse
such rage as to cause a bloody revolution as happened in France.
We still have a long way to go to call ourselves civilized or humane or
compassionate or sufficiently tolerant.
It’s a world of stark injustices. Righteous indignation often focuses on
violence, sin and pornography, rather than on macro-ethical issues like
poverty, inequality, race, war and injustice. By the same token, the
FAVELAS IN RIO, those festering piles of people separated by bits of
cardboard and corrugated iron are not very important. At any rate, the
poor are lazy and stupid, aren’t they?
The middle classes have a choice-to identify with the rich and influential, or
with the poor, who have very few choices (Paulo Freire). The income-gap is
meanwhile not ‘trickling down’ to the poor, whose numbers are going up.
THE EARTH WAS GIVEN TO ALL, NOT JUST TO THE RICH. (There is enough
food to go around-for every man’s need, but not every man’s greed. It is
not God’s will that a quarter us lives in luxury while the rest struggle to
survive).
NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL SYSTEMS REVOLVE AROUND GREED AND
POWER: “the international imperialism of money” (Pope Paul VI). It’s all
about a flawed distribution system.
Former US President Richard Nixon once said in a moment of candor: “The
main purpose of American aid is not to help other nations, but to help
ourselves.”
SELLING POWDERED MILK TO THE POOR (WHO OFTEN CANNOT READ THE
DIRECTIONS) makes money, so why not, never mind the babies dying?
GROWING COFFEE IN THE THIRD WORLD, WHERE PEOPLE ARE DESPERATE
FOR FOOD, is often a political gimmick. The rich can definitely afford coffee,
while the poor in the Favelas of Sao Paulo cannot afford food. So why
wouldn’t I as a plantation owner grow coffee for the rich, let’s just leave
alone black beans to fill the poor man’s belly?
Multinational corporations exist to make money for their stockholders, a
job they are doing very well. Dom Helder Camara has been saying for years
that IF RICH NATIONS PAID FAIR PRICES TO DEVELOPING COUNTRIES for
their natural resources there would no longer be any need for aid and relief
projects.
POVERTY CREATES JOBS-like development professionals, line & staff
ministries, social welfare workers, the police and corrective services, so
keep them where they are.
The poor have their own particular cultural, ethnic and political distinctives
that ought to be respected. First World Models may often not suit
developing countries.
ALBERT EINSTEIN once famously remarked: “The problems of the world
cannot be solved with mechanisms, but only by changing the hearts and
minds of man and speaking courageously.”
But one must remember that THERE’S NO POINT IN BEARING A CROSS IF
YOU DON’T BELIEVE IN RESURRECTION…
And that is precisely what our white Western European free-thinking
nations are doing…
Yes, the US of A, my Right-Honorable!
The World’s Richest Nation,
A Nation of Limousines & Ghettos,
(Of “LIBERTY, EQUALITY & FRATERNITY”)…
Of Rhythm & ‘Blues’ (and Prozac to drive them away for an estimated
several million of them!), SOME SOUL-SEARCHING (over NUCLEAR
REACTORS, ENRICHED URANIUM & THE WORLD’S OIL RESERVES!), ‘SOUL
MUSIC’…
Of U’S OF THE POOR and 50-Cents,
Of Taylors & Fortenskys & Jackson (villas) & Pedophilic slaps!
(Of Spielberg & Lucas & AIR FORCE ONE! & Jesus 2000 & Chicago & ErinEffluent-Sewage Treatment-Million Dollar Lawsuit Brocovich!)
Of Hot Dogs, Pizza, Pepsi Coke! Broccoli & Spaghetti,
Of (Las) Vegas Casino CultureAND DONALD TRUMP PLAZAS
Of Hugh Hefners
SEX AND THE CITY
SLEAZE AND CYBER-PORNOGRAPHY
AND
PARIS HILTONS – THE OBSESSION WITH CELEBRITY LIVES
(What about the Miltons!)
IN ALL THEIR ‘ANEROXIC’ FINERY (IES)! AND, MEDICAL INVESTIGATIONS &
FALSE ALLEGATIONS & ER!)
Of Mt. SINAI, JOHN HOPKINS & (What They Don’t Teach You At) HARVARD
MEDICAL SCHOOL, CAMBRIDGE, MA!
Of ‘Video-Camera Societies’; national ID cards, global positioning satellites
(GPS); The ‘VeriChip’ (unveiled by Florida-based Applied Digital SolutionsADS in Dec 2001): microchips implanted under the skin…the latest sci-fi
(and lifesavers for Alzheimer’s patients & godsends for emergency room
medical personnel & peace of mind through enhanced personal security)
…and civil liberties advocates who worry that the device will someday come
under the control of Big Brother…
Of Bureaucrats, high-handed (WHITE HOUSE) Administrations & THIRD
WORLD (as if one never existed!) HIV+, DEBT, POVERTY, (& Sheer
Desperation) & EMPTY WAR RHETORIC…Straight out of WASHINGTON’s
suave ‘Closets’!Of Columbia’s EARTH INSTITUTE & Presidential Advisors & Prof. Jeffery
SACHS,
Of MARK MALLOCH BROWNS & MAURICE STRONGS!
(Of GLOBAL CLIMATE CHANGE! & OKLAHOMA/NEVADA FOREST FIRES!)
Of SMITHSONIANS & BROOKINGS & ROCKEFELLERS METING OUT
STRATEGIC LOCATIONS! (Laugh!)
Of (“Salivating Canines”!), ‘Unconditioned’ NORTH-SOUTH DIALOGUE(S) &
‘Conditioned’ North-South/ North-North-South/ South-South
BILATERAL/MULTILATERAL (Or, Whatever!) DEVELOPMENT CO-OPERATION
((Oh! Such Beautiful, Deft Co-operation (Facilitation))!!
Of Food on the Tables & CHILD MALNUTRITION & HUNGER in
DARFUR…
Of RICH, EXOTIC SEDAN(S) & POOR, ENDURING SUDAN(S)Of Utter Disrespect of other People’s FAITHS & BELIEFSOf 9/11’s & the ‘GLOBAL WAR ON TERROR’ (Or, ‘Whatever’, that ‘Implies’
to “Most” Westerners); It seems they have no other work to do…
((O! I forget, that the WEST is An Enlightened People(s))A Chase of WMD’s: WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION, O! These people
are worse than BIOLOGICAL WEAPONS (WARFARE)! I think we ought to
send Elaborate, Confidential Letters to them! (Laugh!) (& the NOBEL PEACE
PRIZE goes to the IAEA, VIENNA, AUSTRIA, and MY HEART! Where the “Hills
Are Alive with the Sound of Music”, said who, the Lovely & Elegant Julie
Andrews)...
Of Oil Reserves (Actually, Why do I, WE ALL, keep harping on that one?)A Nation, Pardon Me for Saying this,
But with Policies & Designs on Every Other Nation on EarthAll this, all another storyThat I might wish to reserve for laterFORGET IT! I was not born on the 4th of JULYSo, America…is certainly NOT worth my Attention now…
[So, What is All This Current Global (or, Lack of it) Disagreement About?]
THE WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM (DAVOS)
ACTUALLY, NOT EVEN THE “WORLD ECONOMIC FORUM”, DAVOS IN
REFRIGERATED! SWITZERLAND CAN PROVIDE PERMANENT ‘SOLUTIONS’ TO
SUCH HOT! CONTEMPORARY DEBATES!!
(ESPECIALLY, WITH CORPORATE ISSUES BEING BROUGHT ‘CENTRESTAGE’, &
OUR GLOBALIZATION ‘GURUS’ RELEGATING OTHER ‘APPARENTLY LESS
CONSEQUENTIAL’ FARMER’S AND THE “DEVELOPING WORLD’S POOR’S
ISSUES TO THE BACKGROUND?)
And, they All have THEIR ISSUES! From PENSACOLA to WASHINGTON D.C.
to NY, from TORONTO to VANCOUVER, from BELFAST and DUBLIN to
LIVERPOOL and LONDON, from PRAGUE and BUCHAREST and MADRID to
BERLIN and MILAN and from CAIRNS and CANTERBURY to SYDNEY,
MELBOURNE & CANBERRA!
Calling Ourselves AFRO-AMERICANS & HISPANIC-CARIBBEANS & AUSSIEBRITS!
“AND THOUGH WE MIGHT BE DIFFERENTIALLY (nee WHITE; BLACK &
BROWN) SKINNED…MATTERS NOT THE DIVERSITY: OF RACE; COLOR OF
SKIN; NATURE OF DISADVANTAGE OR GENDER…”
It’s about giving NAMES TO “OUR”ISSUES AND FIGHTING FOR THEM
(whether these very issues make sense or not!) – We’re all doing it!
And, how much compassion there is in one’s gaze (I mean, the Developed
World) OR ought be that INNOCENT FARMERS BE DRIVEN TO SUICIDE
(Everything INXS, I’m talking of INDIA, my Beloved, my Bread, my Corn, if
not my Norm) and that INNOCENT CHILDREN should be sent to GOD (LORD
JESUS, OUR SAVIOUR) by the kind grace of MALNUTRITION…?
“FOR BY GRACE ARE YE SAVED THROUGH FAITH; & THAT NOT OF
YOURSELVES: IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD! – Not of works, lest any man should
boast!” (Eph.2:8, 9)
Copyright Aug.1984 by Family Services, Zurich, Switzerland.
There are many paradoxes to the present crisis:
–
Firstly, the world economic situation was never considered a crisis as
long as phenomena such as high rate of unemployment, poor
resources, high incidence of POVERTY, etc. were confined to the
developing countries even though they accounted for 2/3 rd of the
world population. The situation became a crisis as soon as the same
phenomena started engulfing the developed countries those have near
total command over the reins of the world economic system;
–
Secondly, surprisingly, the problems which the South presents to the
North – such as POVERTY, resource constraints etc. are being
experienced by the North itself. It is to be noted that developed
countries are not so much concerned about the South which are
restructuring the world trading system, as they are for themselves;
–
Again, paradoxically, at a time when the South was trying to realize
better and fairer returns to the producers of primary products, it was
being punished by significant falls in commodity prices;
–
Fourthly, countries claiming to be intellectually rigorous are
“disastrously” adopting restrictionist policies to meet their internal
crisis. Further, those countries professing liberalism and a free
environment for production and trade have themselves adopted highly
protectionist policies…
Even as way back as 1977, many thoughtful men had pleaded before the
Joint Economic Committee of the U.S. Congress, that the government need
not take drastic measures in response to the trade deficits of 1976, 1977.
Professor Cohen argued: ‘… I do not view the present U.S. trade deficit with
alarm, nor do I feel that radical revision of current U.S. economic policies is
warranted… The present trade deficit signifies neither a serious
deterioration of our competitiveness in international markets nor a
significant loss of a capacity of world economic leadership, although the
fact of a deficit remains… ‘
It is clear that the main question is, how should the South pursue its
objectives, particularly, the combating of POVERTY and fusion of internal
PEACE and security with development? The “Poor” South has long lived
under the illusion that the North is extremely generous in its attitude…
Partial delinking with the North and more effective “South – South”
cooperation is necessary. More attention should be diverted towards
bodies such as OPEC, ASEAN, SAARC, NAM and the Colombo Plan. A
separate Third World secretariat located at a Third World country
(particularly, one ranked low on the Human Development Index), holding of
independent Third World summit meetings and encouragement of
preferential arrangement for intra-south flows of goods, manpower
resources, etc, are the needs of the hour. A center for science and
technology for developing countries, a “Bank” (particularly, Micro-Credit)
for developing countries, a “Research and Information System”, a
“Solidarity fund” for economic and social development, are now just for
remaining on “Official machinery papers”. Concrete action programs should
back them. We can also have a “Consortium” or “Group” of debtors…
There is need for a new strategy for development. It is high time developing
countries built up more efficiency in agriculture, agro-based industries and
optimum land utilization. W.W. Rostow in his suave analyses of the world
economy has also argued for a shift in “thinking” from “lame”
industrialization to agriculture.
Finally, the world economic crisis should be viewed in its wider perspectives
through less of debates and more of concerted action following “dialogues”
between the North and the South.
The critical role for official development assistance: (Developing countries)
(Source: BIS Review):
Developing countries have to be managed well to achieve internal stability
and implement development policies. Aid is a very critical resource in that it
helps countries improve their policies by providing technology, training
people and strengthening institution building.
The question is, how much has actually been accomplished in terms of aid?
Much of the world has changed. We can now communicate across the
globe instantaneously. Countries are now more interdependent. Firms are
producing globally and bankers moving money quickly from one part of the
world to another. The capacity to develop has been improved by advances
in science and technology. Yet, POVERTY is far from being solved, and gaps
between the world’s rich and the world’s poor have widened. And, there
are now serious problems not earlier perceived, like the depletion of the
ozone layer and Earth warming, or the “Greenhouse effect”.
The aid community now knows that problems are more complex and more
diverse, and human and institutional factors are now more important to
change, as never before. Extraordinary progress has now been made, life
expectancy at birth has gone up, and now there are medicines and cures
for virtually every ailment…
Aid is only one influence in a complicated process, which involves factors
such as open trade policies, trends in commodity prices, the weather and
accumulated debt…
Yet, aid is still not unimportant apart from the uses outlined above; it also
communicates ideas and encourages initiative. It helps build much needed
infrastructure and finances goods needed for production. Aid is important
in disaster management, and has a humanitarian role to play.
It is important as to how funds will be used and what will be achieved. It is
heartening to note that countries are moving forward through bold policy
reforms and more commitment.
In a number of low-income countries, especially in Asia, additional aid could
translate into accelerated growth, creation of jobs, rural infrastructure, and
investment in human resources. A former World Bank Vice-President for
Asia described two Asias: First, the high growth, industrializing economies,
and second, an Asia with massive problems of development and containing
more than half of the world’s poor, but which have been able to avoid
payments crisis through prudent management.
What are some of the key areas where aid can play an important role in the
years ahead?
Our ozone layer is depleting, we now (as never before) need to find
solutions to Earth warming, air and water pollution, loss of soil,
deforestation, and desertification. Some environmental issues can be
mitigated by direct investment, while others require a change in values and
life styles or simply development.
Every year, large numbers of people enter developing country job markets,
where there is a need for power, water, communications, transport, and
ports, and improved financial institutions. Aid can help in these, as well as
in facilitating foreign private investment.
In only a few decades, a majority of people in the developing world will live
in cities; therefore, more aid agencies are focusing on urban issues these
days.
POVERTY forces millions of CHILDREN under five to die every year. Aid can
complement political commitment and management of developing
countries in providing low cost inoculations and oral rehydration and
education for CHILDREN (in developing countries).
World population is increasing rapidly every year. If, country by country,
societies could speed up the “Demographic transition” i.e. reach the years
of lower population growth sooner, this would reduce death rates, make
higher quality and universal primary education and training more feasible
and make sustainable development more manageable. Aid has a critical
role to play.
At least another five billion people are expected to be added to the total
world population over the 21st century; leading in turn to greater demand
for food. For most developing countries, overall economic growth will be
led by high – technology agriculture. There is now an increasing need to
give priority to agriculture.
Aid has to assume a new role. No development program can be successfully
implemented without political commitment, good policies, and improved
management in developing countries. In addition to sound macroeconomic
policies, sector and sub-sector plans need to be thought through. There
arises a need for much better aid management. Donors need to respond to
areas of need. Common vision of needs and high-quality national planning
and management have to be combined. Global problems need to be solved
locally, country by country.
In this complex world, there is no right level for official development
assistance. Yet, there is no doubt that faster growth could be made in the
world if donors could increase their aid levels significantly.
And aid (which provides important resources) has to assume a new role,
the role of a “Catalyst” in development…
–
As new demands of human security arise, a new and more positive
relationship between North and South – a new era of “Development
co-operation” becomes the need of the hour. Developing countries
argue that most of their economic problems arise from an inequitable
international order. But, now they have come to recognize that “no
amount of external assistance can ever substitute for the fundamental
reforms needed in their domestic economies.
‘… A Sequel to what lies ahead….’
“Let us be clear as to what is our ultimate aim. It is not just the negation of
war, but the creation of a world of security and freedom, of a world which
is governed by justice and the moral law. We desire to assert the preeminence of right over might and the general good against selfish and
sectional aims.”
- Clement Attlee, British PM, in 1946
… There are the prosperous nations such as those of Western Europe and
North America, and the poorer developing countries that cannot afford to
provide adequate food, water, health care, and education for their people…
- Vastly improved communications and the growth of international trade
have made the world “a smaller place” with nations increasingly dependent
upon each other.
And yet, today, we are becoming increasingly envious of one another, and
prepared to take up arms. Conflict within countries is now more rampant
than ever before…
There is much human suffering and people are on the brink of starvation in
many countries of the Third World… and then there are war casualties and
severe shortages of food and other essentials like fuel, housing, work,
clothing and education… disease is rife… and then, there are the world’s
“Refugees” (remember Sarajevo?).
CHILDREN are suffering from hunger, disease and illiteracy. Clean water has
to be provided, schools have to be repaired and CHILDREN have to be taken
care of. Relief has to be brought to CHILDREN caught up in civil strife,
epidemics of disease or natural disasters.
We have witnessed a gross violation of human rights across the globe… The
fact that the nearest antenatal care clinic for pregnant mothers in rural
areas is often miles away… is so disheartening… And that development
projects often displace thousands of people…
POVERTY is the worst disease known to mankind. “POVERTY” does not
mean merely not having enough money to buy everything the developing
countries want. It means not having enough to provide people with
essentials such as sufficient food, shelter, health care, work and education.
In the cities, people have to “fight for survival” in any way they can. Survival
was beyond the victims of the drought in the Sahel region of Africa hit by
decades of crop failure. Millions suffer from extreme malnutrition.
One of the ways of measuring POVERTY is to look at “Life” in different
countries (for example, life expectancy). We can also count the number of
babies who die in the first year of life (in Afghanistan, one out of five babies
does not survive until its first birthday). As for food, an intake of about 2300
calories a day is regarded by nutrition experts as the average daily
nutritional requirement for most people (in Bangladesh, the average calorie
intake is less than two-thirds of what is needed for good health). Another
indicator of POVERTY is the availability of clean water. Germs carried in
impure water spread many fatal diseases (e.g. cholera and dysentery).
According to estimates, over a quarter of the world’s population cannot
obtain safe water for their everyday needs. In health care, also, there is a
huge difference between developed and developing countries.
In many poor countries, shortage of energy supplies holds back economic
progress. There is a need to explore new energy technologies, for example,
power using geothermal heat from deep inside the Earth’s crust.
“Development” goes beyond providing seeds and equipment. It also
involves developing a country’s farming skills and much-needed knowledge
and expertise (on training) which will finally guide a developing country to
food-sufficiency.
For some developing countries, it will be difficult for farming to bring
prosperity. Nepal, which is one of the world’s poorest countries, is
dependent almost entirely on farming. However, only about one-fifth of its
land is suitable for farming. Most of Nepal’s population lives in the hills,
where the terrain is sloping, and the soil is of poor quality and the climate
unpredictable and often violent.
Countries like Nepal are the most challenging to development planners.
Very often, floods and landslides can ruin work by carrying away irrigation
channels, together with the growing crops. Also, forests get depleted,
loosening soil for agriculture. Yet, “Hill farmers” have no other source of
fuel for cooking and heating.
The size of the “Gap” between rich and poor countries is mammoth. This
calls for enormous investment.
“…. It is not true that there is insufficient food to go round...”, so said John
Ferguson, in “Not Them But Us”, … “The grain produced, if properly
distributed, would give every human being ample protein and more than
3000 calories a day. But a third of the grain produced is fed to animals.
There are terrifying anomalies. In 1971 during acute drought the countries
of the Sahel actually exported 15 million kilos of vegetables, mainly to
Europe. In 1974, after the floods in Bangladesh, people could not afford the
rice which was actually available.”
And, then, there is the darker side of development. A great deal of aid is in
the form of loans that the countries must pay back with interest. This
burden of “Debt” adds to the problems of the poorest countries.
“If the governments cannot agree to feed the world, they cannot agree
about anything”, said Boyd Orr.
The Sahel is a strip of land along the southern edge of the Sahara desert in
Africa. Drought and overgrazing of the sparse vegetation in the past led to
expansion of the desert, resulting in starvation and death for herdsmen,
their families and their animals. Ethiopia and Somalia were the worst
sufferers. The crisis worsened with civil war and a rapidly growing
population… resulting in one of the greatest human disasters in history. In
1985 and 1986, humanitarian aid poured in from all directions, but over
one million people perished of starvation. This vicious attack stunned
audiences all over the world. As for Uganda, even in normal times,
Ugandans eat, on an average, much less food than they need, which leaves
them disease-prone, and in cases of crop failure, to famine.
I feel sorry for the poor. We go on…
The “Green Revolution” aimed at improving the productivity of farmers in
the developing countries and enabling them feed themselves. Between
1950 and 1985 the total land area of the world made fertile by irrigation
doubled. New strains of cereal seeds were introduced; along with the use
of artificial fertilizers and pesticides. World cereal production went up.
Countries like China and India greatly benefited. And yet, poor (small)
farmers using hand tools, failed to afford the new seeds or the fertilizers,
and the small size of their farms made it difficult to employ agricultural
machinery. The revolution definitely led to better crops and less hunger.
But it produced adverse social and economic effects. In recent years, more
emphasis is being placed on agricultural development projects targeted at
small farmers.
“Development aid” is a very complex issue. The money is not always well
spent. Some of it goes on government palaces and such luxuries as artificial
sport(s) turfs and conference halls. The money does not always reach the
target groups, but percolates down into the pockets of politicians and
officials, or is used to pay the defense forces. The “Gap” remains…
World War III? By the mid-50s, many renowned world figures – like the
British philosopher and mathematician Bertrand Russell and the American
scientist Linus Pauling – doubted whether the world would survive to the
year 2000 without blowing itself to pieces.
There has been no world war during the life of the United Nations. Since
1945, no nation has dropped a nuclear bomb on another nation. There has
been no nuclear war. Space, which could have been a kind of storehouse
for nuclear weapons, has been kept free of arms. (How long will this
continue???)
The message is love; we all live in the same world and must learn to share
it-or perish.
We have survived, and yet there are many more miles to go…
“BORN FREE…”FROM HUMAN BEINGS (US ORDINARY MORTALS) TO A
LOVELY LITTLE TIGER CUB…TO A BIRD (THAT FLIES FROM THE LAKE TO THE
TREE!)…TO A SHY ORCHID…TO A MAMMOTH REDWOOD GIANT…RICH AND
POOR/AS ALSO EVERY OTHER ANOMALY IN LIFE’S EQUATION…
WE ARE ALL GOD’S CHILDREN…RIGHT?
WE ARE SIMPLY ALL ‘BORN FREE’… (THAT’S WHAT WE ARE)...
(IT IS JUST THAT LIFE HAS BEEN HARSH ON SOME OF US, AND LESS HARSH
ON THE REST…)
(AND, THE REAL ANTAGONISM, MY DEAR FRIENDS, ALL THESE
WARS/ETHNIC CONFLICT/GORE/MALNOURISHMENT/ABUSE ARISES WHEN
WE ACTUALLY STOP BEING ABLE TO RELATE TO THE VERY ETHOS OF THE
WORD ‘FREEDOM’, STOP RESPECTING WHAT THE CREATOR HAD IN MIND
FOR US, AND START PRACTISING OUR VERY OWN ‘WHIMS’ AND ‘FANCIES’,
WHEN ‘MATERIAL’ TAKES OVER THE ‘SPIRITUAL’/ETHEREAL , CAUSING
UNTOLD HARM AND MISERY NOT JUST TO OURSELVES, BUT OUR COMMON
‘FELLOWSHIP’ AS WELL…)
FORGET IT, WHO CARES, THIS IS, AFTER ALL, ANOTHER ONE OF THOSE
STORIES…UNHEARD…UNLISTENED…UNAPPRECIATED...
MAYBE ITS ALL ABOUT A ‘MAVERICK’, A COMPLETE ‘NON-CONFORMIST’,
UNFETTERED, UNLEASHED…SORRY! UNAPPRECIATED…
MAYBE, WITHOUT BLAMING MY FRIENDS…I SHOULD JUST TALK ABOUT
‘FREEDOM’…AS I HAVE PERCEIVED IT… WITHIN THIS TINY TOT AGE OF
30+…GOSH! I ONLY WISH YOU WOULD APPRECIATE MY SELFTESTIMONIAL…
“SHOOT…THEY SAID….THIS COULD BE YOUR ONLY
OPPORTUNITY…WHAT…DOES ‘FREEDOM’ MEAN TO YOU, LITTLE GIRL…NOT
YET A WOMAN… (VERY BRITNEY SPEARS! ALL I NEED IS TIME…A MOMENT
THAT IS MINE…!) AND, I ADD…TO EXPLAIN MYSELF…!
HERE I COME, TAKE ME…OR, LEAVE ME…I HAVE VERY RESTRICTED ‘CHOICE’
ANYWAY…
OKAY, PLEASE ENABLE ME CONCENTRATE…THIS IS TAKING ME OCEANS OF
COURAGE…COZ’ CONFESSING THE TRUTH CAN BE ACTUALLY HARDER THAN
YOU MIGHT EVER THINK…SO! HOW…AND FROM WHERE…DO I
BEGIN…PERIOD…WELL! IT IS ALL ABOUT AN ABNORMALLY HIGH LEVEL OF
PROLACTIN IN THE BLOOD…ACTUALLY…
ACTUALLY…
“People (nee Society) have almost always asked me what my Real
Perspective on LIFE is…WHAT ‘FREEDOM’ MEANS TO ME, AND I BELIEVE
THAT AS A STRONGLY PRINCIPLED PERSON (PLEASE, MAY I, AND I AM
ASKING YOU, DEAREST SOCIETY, MY RESPECTED ELDERS AND BELOVED
FRIENDS, CAN WE USE THAT WORD FOR ME?), I SHOULD BE HONEST WITH
YOU TO THE POINT OF ACTUALLY LEARNING TO RELATE TO THIS BEAUTIFUL
WORD CALLED ‘FREEDOM’/ OR, JUST ‘LIFE’…
BECAUSE WE ARE ALL GOD’S CHILDREN…WE ARE ALL ‘BORN FREE’… (THERE
WAS THIS VERY BEAUTIFUL MOVIE ABOUT A HUMAN BEING AND A TIGER
CUB!)
Who Are We to Decide? The Constitution, Law, the Police? The Courts? It’s
like saying that : because you’re Rich, you would escape the Law even if you
were, say, All Foreign Liquor, Women (nee Men) and Vice, but not Viceversa, say, something like you’re Poor, so, you would be inevitably
Punished if you were caught indulging, in say, Illicit Liquor, Hooch/Haria
(WELL, WHEN YOU REALLY CANNOT PUT SUFFICIENT ON THE TABLE, WHAT
WOULD YOU, OR, FOR THAT MATTER, ANYBODY ELSE IN YOUR
POSITION…DO, FOR CHRIST’S SAKE…AND I’D MUCH RATHER STAY AWAY
FROM RELIGION…THE PAPACY, THE ABORTION, THE CONTRACEPTION, THE
GENDER-GAP, ALL THOSE SCANDALS…BEING THROWN OUT OF HOSPITAL IN
LABOR WHEN SHE COULDN’T WRITE HER HUSBAND’S LAST NAME…)…
I ONLY WISH THAT AS A NATION WITH A NAME TO RECKON WITH, WE
WERE MORE TOLERANT…AND DEMOCRATIC…OR, UNDERSTANDING
(GLOBAL/NATIONAL (WITH A ‘RATIONALE’…REGIONAL, AND YES,
LOCAL!)…AND, OFFCOURSE, TRULY EDUCATED (NOT, DEGREES, WE GET
SOME FAKE ONES IN THE MARKET, TOO!), BUT, LIKE, ENLIGHTENED…
MAYBE, THE WEST, MAYBE, PROGRESS, MAYBE, JUST SOME CAREFUL, INDEPTH…INDEPENDENT THINKING...JUST ‘FREE (DOM) THINKING’…
WE’RE COMING TO MY CONSCIENCE, MY HEART, JUST ISSUES!
In fact, “FREEDOM”, “PROGRESS” AND “LIBERATION” are just terms We
often Confuse…thanks to some very Restricted Outlook…FREEDOM is really
not about short dresses, OR beauty pageants OR the make of car and the
Proud Ownership of either/each/all, it is about “SPACE” (nee Privacy),
about “CHOICE”, it is about “MUTUALLY RESPECT(ING)” THOSE IN YOUR
IMMEDIATE ENVIRONMENT AS ALSO DISTANT, as they say, “TO EACH
HIS/HER OWN”…ONE SHOULD ALWAYS BE “FREE” TO “CHOOSE”…FROM
PROFESSION/CAREER…TO PARTNER…
“FREEDOM”…should also be…the “POWER” of “DECISION-MAKING”.
But “FREEDOM”/POWER/PELF should never be misused…not for all the
Wealth in the World (including King Midas!) would/ought I do something
like that…we all make mistakes, but mistakes should be forgiven (if not
forgotten!) and I may have gone wrong somewhere, somehow…Well, in
Buddhism, We call them our ‘KARMA’…
“…I remember the time I first learnt of these terms (during a brief visit to a
Government Department when in college in Delhi, India), I was a bit
curious, considering the immense importance I was attaching to them (the
terms). I was wondering whether these terms had something (in fact,
anything!) to do with Global Instability, about which I had nurtured strong
feelings ever since I was in school. I was pleased to know that THEY DID
INDEED, LOOKING AT THEM MY WAY. A visiting Counselor had advised us
to follow a “VOCATION OF THE HEART”, or, in other words, choose a
Profession that would be based on what one heard from one’s conscience.
It would be conceptually, as it was said, “work with feeling”….
With time, there were questions (related to Contemporary issues, largely
War/Conflict in Developing Economies) that were to start haunting me,
more so as I happened to be a Developing country National. Some of these
would have been like the following: How best could reduced World military
spending be channeled into Social Development? Why would innocent
children, such “innocent flowers” be forced into Conflict? Could Law
intervene to bring about Progressive Social Change? Would Social Change
be an effect or a cause???? And, why would people commit “Crimes against
Humanity”, as during War and/or Ethnic Conflict? The issues that haunted
the then “young mind” were endless. I was in a state of utter confusion.
It was following my undergraduate studies that I started looking at these
issues from the grass root level(s). The Question was: How could one
alleviate them?
I started working for these “hapless” people. I started moving about with
them. I started breathing the very air that they breathed. I started
assimilating their problems as if these were mine. I could feel the change in
me. The person, who wore the shoe, knew exactly where it pinched! I
started feeling (emotions) for them. I started hoping for them. I STARTED
GETTING, WELL, INVOLVED WITH SMALL HUMAN RIGHTS, PEACE AND
SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT ISSUES AND INITIATIVES. However, I would still be
hoping…
But hopes would not be castles in the air. These would need to be
developed on a logical foundation so that they could be transformed into
reality. They would need nurturing and caring…. SAY, FOR INSTANCE, higher
education …could open up the door(s) to the mind. They could be a
gateway for understanding the cause effect relationship… they could give
an insight for questioning our basic norms, our accepted principles, at the
same time, laying the foundation for an approach towards challenging age
old social traditions/taboos/concepts and/or idiosyncrasies …
I could then, for instance, study fresh Political, Philosophical, Social and
Scientific Perspectives PRIMARILY ON THE “PARENT ISSUE”, WHICH I LATER
LEARNT, WAS CALLED “PEACE AND CONFLICT/HUMAN RIGHTS/JUSTICE”;
their causes, as indeed control of gross violations; how to practice such
work in intergovernmental and International organizations as well as in
current issues and controversies, with a much-anticipated Exposure to the
Global Human Rights and Stability Situation. Another Closely-related area
would be CONFLICT RESOLUTION. Its nature would make it not just an
object of study, but a matter of policy, intervention and practice as well.
We would be motivated to think about and do something about these very
issues.
It was only now (much to my satisfaction), that I could gather more
specialized knowledge in the Field, particularly, one that each of us hoped
to choose for our respective objectives. There would, presumably, be Scope
for Exposure to key International Debates over a “Culture of
Peace”(something I could associate, only now, given my somewhat
increased ‘Peace Vocabulary’, with an Agency like UNESCO) and “Peaceful
Transformation”(with scope for analyses of concepts such as Gender, race
and Class in a larger perspective of ‘Peace’). Moreover, some of us, coming
from nations of the World (and, as in my case, India), where those like
GANDHI, have walked across the Land, would really have much to gain,
from, as I noticed, a Study/PRACTICE of the Concept of ‘Non-Violence’…
In fact, I am myself preoccupied with and strongly wishing to work to
unearth the Causes underlying the Absence of Peace, beginning on the firm
Conviction that there would be hardly any, if at all, Instability, if “We” were
to Guarantee a Better (in terms of Food, Drinking Water, Medical Care,
Education, and yes, much-needed Love and Affection!) World to our
Children, our Future…In other words, were “We” to Concentrate on the
Marginalized and Poverty-stricken, I guess there wouldn’t be much Need
for Conflict and Post-conflict Reconstruction…
Because I have been “DISTURBED” by what I have seen, namely, images of
undernourished, thin or lean, wasted and emaciated CHILDREN in places as
diverse as sub-Saharan Africa, and, of course, South Asia, including my
home country, India, OFFCOURSE, WITHIN THE BOUNDARIES OF MY (OWN)
HUMAN LIMITATIONS!
I STRONGLY BELIEVE IN “SOLIDARITY BETWEEN NATIONS”, AND I HAVE NO
DOUBT, WHATSOEVER, THAT WITH MUCH-CHERISHED SUPPORT, I COULD
BE WHAT I WANTED TO BE SOME DAY!
I would like to make certain general comments about Conflict(s)/Human
Rights, as I would see them. A study of them would involve the world we
lived in, and why it were the way it actually were. Facts as quoted after
studies would be mind-boggling: "Ten million more people will stay
poor…due to the events of September 11th". The goal of the new
Millennium should be the “Development Goal” of 'eliminating' World
Conflict. When we read the papers, watched TV or listened to the news, we
would be bombarded with images of the poor, of wealth, fame and power,
and, obscene Conflict. These would be issues that needed to be looked at
not only by Human rights and/or Peace/Conflict practitioners but US
OURSELVES as well. This would be the greatest challenge for the coming
generation…. This would be the question for which we would need an
answer for the new world that is emerging, like Work with refugees, for
instance…
These would be my thoughts and comments. I do realize that there are
certain issues that merit immediate attention, and these would include
Poverty, ecological damage, War and Conflict, Gender inequality, and that,
the fact that these issues existed, made for the immense importance of this
discipline(s) (of “Conflict”/Human Rights) to contemporary society…
I GUESS WE WOULD THEN, TOGETHER, BE ABLE TO CONTRIBUTE TO THE
ATTAINMENT OF PEACE AND HARMONY AND THE COMPLETE REALIZATION
OF THE DREAMS OF THOSE WHO FORMULATED THE “UNIVERSAL
DECLARATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS”.
THEY SAY, “TINY DROPS OF WATER MAKE UP THE OCEAN”. I STRONGLY
BELIEVE IN THE “RIPPLE EFFECT”. LET EACH ONE OF US CONTRIBUTE
HIS/HER BIT! ONLY THEN CAN WE MAKE THE WORLD A MORE PEACEFUL
PLACE TO LIVE IN…!!!
BORN FOR FREEDOM, LIBERTY, EQUALITY & FRATERNITY, I FINALLY REALIZE
THAT’S WHAT WE ARE IN THE FIRST PLACE… (Dreaming!)
“Those who are equal before God shall now be equal in the polling booths,
in the classrooms, in the factories, and in hotels, restaurants, movie
theaters, and other places that provide services to the public…” (President
Johnson, after signing the Civil Rights Act, July 2, 1964)
“…FREE AT LAST, FREE AT LAST, THANK GOD ALMIGHTY I’M FREE AT LAST…”
(From R.J. OWEN: “Free At Last” & Flip Schulke: Martin Luther King, Jr)
In Dec 1955, an African-American woman named Rosa Parks was arrested
in Montgomery [the capital of the southern state of Alabama] an incident
that led to the famous Montgomery bus boycott…The leader of this
movement was Martin Luther King Jr., who was to wage a tenacious
struggle against discrimination through an unwavering commitment to
NON-VIOLENCE…The Civil Rights Movement had spread to every nook &
corner of the United States…Shortly thereafter, the US government passed
the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which promised to facilitate equal voting rights
for Afro-Americans…
“…Attitudes changed as they saw Negroes being watered down with fire
hoses…innocent children being bombed in Churches, there was a reaction
to this type of thing…” (William Nix, Morehouse College)
“…One of Eleanor’s (Roosevelt) closest friends was the great Education and
Civil Rights leader, Mary McLeod Bethune…White Racists called her
(Eleanor) a “Nigger-Lover”…In May 1936, she organized a garden party in
the grounds of the White House for the mainly Black inmates of a training
school for delinquent girls where disease was rife and conditions
miserable…She was said to have entertained “a Bunch of Nigger whores at
the White House”…When she uncovered similarly dreadful conditions at an
old people’s home for Black people…she said: “We should be ashamed. I
was sickened. If that is the way we care for people who are not able to care
for themselves, we are at pretty low ebb of civilization…” (David Winner)
Fifteen years had passed since the end of World War II, yet humanity’s
hopes for peace still remained in vain. The East and West had become
mired in a Cold War with no end in sight. At the same time, there was a
dramatic escalation in the nuclear arms race among the major nations of
the two Blocs, led, respectively, by the Soviet Union and the United
States…Conflict in Africa involved struggles for independence against
colonial rule erupting in each area, while racial and ethnic strife flared in
various parts of the globe…
Everywhere people were quailing under the threat of nuclear holocaust,
continuing to live in fear amid civil strife or suffering from discrimination,
cruelty, poverty and disease. Yet, all surely cherished the hope of
witnessing a dawn of peace and happiness!
Happiness is life’s goal. Peace is what people of the world desire. The
course of human history must move towards peace and happiness. The
race should search for a firm guiding principle that will lead in this
direction…
Great symbols of kindness lived at different times…
Alexander the Great born in 356 B.C. in Macedonia, pupil to Aristotle,
acceded to the throne in 336 B.C. at the age of 20, and two years later went
to war with Persia in the east…After defeating the Persians in a preliminary
engagement; Alexander liberated Egypt, which had been under Persian
rule…In the final phase of his long expedition, Alexander crossed the River
Indus, entering the unknown land of India. At this point, he turned back
why? Because he never gave in to petty ambitions or the lust for power,
but rode on at the head of his great expedition. All because he wanted to
realize a dream – the dream of linking East and West and uniting all
humanity…! While in Egypt, he had a revelation that all humankind was
one. Henceforth, he was to make that ideal his life’s goal! Though he used
military force to make his conquests, he never looked down on the Eastern
peoples, treated them well, and although none of Alexander’s soldiers
could understand his grand ideal of uniting the world, he made positive
efforts leading to the emergence of a cross-pollinated culture in Gandhara
in northern India in later centuries!
Beethoven was differently-abled, and impaired of the senses, and yet “each
musical composition has a unique rhythm. Beethoven’s works reflect his
inner rhythm, which transcends the barriers of nationality, language,
culture and religion and affects all who hear it. ..”
“…Josei Toda often said a common understanding would be quickly
achieved if the original teachers of the major religions – Nichiren Daishonin,
Shakyamuni and Jesus Christ – could all get together in one room and hold
a conference…” These leaders of the world religions lived at different times
and in different historical circumstances, but all fought for the happiness of
mankind amid persecution and fierce opposition…these revolutionaries
have been there with us for as long as mankind has existed or will continue
to exist…for as long as deep-rooted tensions exist between nations…
Following the deep-rooted tensions of the Cold War, the year 1960 opened
with hopes of a thaw in East-West relations. The leaders of both nations
had begun to understand the dangers inherent in a cold war where both
sides were engaged in heated competition to develop and stockpile nuclear
weapons. At the UN General Assembly, Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev
outlined a plan towards peaceful coexistence wherein each nation of the
world would do away with its armaments in four years, and President
Dwight Eisenhower also pledged that henceforth not military force but
peaceful dialogue would be employed to settle international problems…a
tremendous landmark in the history of man!
Or, Woman!
She (Helen Keller) will live on…the woman who showed the world there are
no boundaries to courage and faith…Her eyes were taken away, but she
remembered Milton’s Paradise; her ears but Beethoven came and wiped
away her tears; her tongue but she had talked with God when she was
young who would not let them take away her soul possessing which she
still possessed the whole…
Kemal Mustafa Ataturk (1881-1938), ‘Father of the Turks’ and the first
president of the republic, was born in what is today the Greek city of
Salonika…When the Ottoman Empire allied itself with the other Central
Powers in World War I, defeat seemed almost certain. The people were
fatigued from the long succession of wars that had confronted them. But
Ataturk would not give up! Executing brilliant diplomacy, he negotiated the
Allies’ territorial demands and thereby achieved PEACE! After becoming
president, Kemal Ataturk set himself to giving women the right to vote and
initiated numerous other progressive measures…To implement a new
Romanized Turkish alphabet, he traveled around the country, personally
teaching it to people. He would set up a blackboard in the village square
and demonstrate the new alphabet! (‘I can write my name…’!) This
excitement spread throughout the land, until all of Turkey was transformed
for a time into a giant classroom, leading the British historian Arnold J.
Toynbee to comment thus (‘The World and the West’): “In the 1920s
[Kemal] put through in Turkey what was perhaps as revolutionary a
programme as has ever been carried out in any country deliberately and
systematically in so short a span of time. It was as if, in our Western world,
the Renaissance, the Reformation, the secularist scientific mental
revolution at the end of the 17th century, the French Revolution, and the
Industrial Revolution had all been telescoped into a single lifetime and had
been made compulsory by law…”
It was time for Louis Braille’s genius to be recognized…He built a large, firm
stairway for millions of sense-crippled human beings to climb…On the
highways it was common to find groups of sightless people…These people
were regarded as incomplete beings, ignorant and simple…Homeless blind
people of all ages roamed the streets of most large towns, and even welleducated men and women seemed to find it amusing to watch them
groping their way and bumping into buildings. They would throw things at
them or trip them up, and then burst into laughter…At the Fair at St. Ovid,
in 1771, Valentine Hauy saw blind people clowning to the shouts and jeers
of the audience. The sight of human beings so degraded and so helpless
before the cruel laughter of others shocked him profoundly. It set his feet
on the path which led to the foundation of the world’s first school for the
blind (visually handicapped) where Francois Lesueur was Hauy’s first pupil…
Socrates’ disciple Plato was 28 at the time of Socrates’ trial. The pupil spent
a greater part of his youth alongside his teacher. His beloved teacher’s
execution was a tremendous shock to Plato, but he wiped away his tears of
rage and powerfully resolved to devote his life to letting the world know
that his teacher had been right, and to making his nation just and
principled, as had been his mentor’s dearest wish…For about 50 years, until
his death at 80, Plato composed enormously…He also founded the
Academy, devoting himself to educating youth and nurturing talent. The
theme to which Plato dedicated his life was the basic problem of HOW TO
ACHIEVE A JUST WORLD…!
…And a Just World would consist of Nations… With sincere effort, nations
of the world could accomplish all it could ever want: alternatives to
Violence; Peaceful Conflict Resolution and post-Conflict Reconstruction;
and alternatives to war; build up pre-disaster warning systems; renewable
energy; and achieve the application of a positive Scientific Temper to the
common problems of Man – poverty, hunger, disease, bloodshed & civil
strife that take away so many people each year…!
…and Life is Precious; all of Life…!
Ask a heart patient who carries KR coronary stent in his artery and a
physically challenged child who has just been fitted with the lightweight
Floor Reaction Orthosis (FRO) calipers and who find their life difficulties
eased somewhat!
Both of these surely come as spin-offs from missile technologies!
Nations of the World will not be nations of cities! But networks of peaceful,
prosperous communities empowered by telemedicine, tele-education and
e-commerce! By biotechnology, biosciences and agricultural and industrial
sciences and renewable energy! We will try and minimize the rural-urban
divide and once and for all, the problems of urbanization, so prevalent in
the modern era!
But every change comes at a price!
“…A man is said to pass through different stages in his lifetime…Dr Wayne
W. Dyer, in his book ‘Manifest Your Destiny’, makes an interesting
categorization of them as athlete stage, warrior stage, statesperson stage
and spirit stage…
Nations too make a similar transition although the stages do not follow in
sequence necessarily; they can be coexistent, with one aspect dominant…
A Rocket man works with stages. Each stage is jettisoned after taking the
rocket further along its intended trajectory…As space research intensifies
and we orbit, we learn control, guidance, propulsion and aerodynamics,
besides the ability to design various rocket systems…but technology can
and ought be denied through the instruments of The MCTR (THE MISSILE
TECHNOLOGY CONTROL REGIME) and the “NPT” (THE NUCLEAR NONPROLIFERATION TREATY)…
At this moment, an “ICBM” (Intercontinental Ballistic Missile) has been
fired!
As Nations of the world become Underdeveloped, Developing &
Developed respectively, each one will probably experience a Period &
Process of Transition…Sometimes, these transitions can be painful, History
is Witness to several such painful Transitions, in which an entire Species of
peoples had to undergo the ‘Horrors’ of War- killing, loot, plunder, mayhem
and being forced into Refugee Camps…The French Revolution of 1789 is a
case in point!
Every nation has struggled to achieve the goals of Humanity! Generations
have given their best to make life better for their offspring! There is
absolutely nothing mysterious or hidden about this, no alternative to
effort…And yet we fail to follow the Right Path! More than the problems
outside-globalization, recession, inflation, insurgency, and instability and so
on- we ought to be concerned about the inertia that has gripped an entire
species of peoples, the human race, and the mindset of defeat!
But War is Never! The Answer!
What are in fact the forces which lead to the rise or fall of nations? For a
people and nations in general to rise to the highest, they must have a
common memory of great heroes and exploits, of great adventures and
triumphs in the past. Britain rose to great heights for men like Lord Nelson,
the Duke of Wellington and Churchill. Japan rose out of the ashes of
Hiroshima and Nagasaki to become a major economic superpower!
All nations which have risen to greatness have been characterized by a
sense of mission. In the course of three decades, Germany was twice all but
destroyed. And yet, its people changed its destiny. From the trenches and
incinerators of the Great War, it has emerged as an economically powerful
and politically assertive nation!
War is suffering! Immense Pain! Ask the Victims of War Crimes, Genocide
(the mass graves) & Crimes against Humanity!
…Ask the Victims of Vietnam…all those trenches & Sirens, all the gore…the
Survivors of Hiroshima & Nagasaki as Akio Morita built a new Japan out of
the Ashes, ask them how the intense Radiation must have felt on their
charred bodies, some are yet to recover from the aftereffects of the
trauma; ask the survivors-of the Rwandan Massacre; ask the Jews about
those loathsome concentration camps; ask Anne Frank how she
survived…ask the survivors of Slobodan Milosevic’s exploits; Idi Amin’s
Uganda; ask how a contingent of innocent athletes were gunned down in
1972 in Munich…
Ask the prisoners of war in Afghanistan, the ghosts of Abu Ghraib; the
detainees at Guantanamo; ask the survivors of landmine attacks in
Cambodia…
And listen to the voices of the victims of that one most suffering region of
the 21st Century – DARFUR…!
Ask also the child soldiers of Angola as they get CONSCRIPTED!
Without peace, there can be no progress!
I often wonder why the human race, the best of all of God’s creations, has
been so deeply divided by violence! I see myself in a desert with miles of
sand all around! The moon is only partially visible but the stars shine bright!
I can recall the ‘Battle of Kalinga’ which claimed the lives of at least 300,000
people with an equal number being wounded. Victory had been obtained at
heavy cost…And Emperor Asoka looked down at the horror he had created,
a horror of bloodshed and more gore…At that moment that was to go
down in the annals of history, Ahimsa Dharma was born…The remorseful
King embraced God’s command to propagate love for human beings
through this doctrine!
The Mahatma thus spoke: ‘Friends, the divine message we are hearing is
the message of creation. Since we all belong to Planet Earth, we may give a
message to mankind, how people of different races, religions and languages
can live peacefully and prosperously together…”
Asoka said, ‘Friends, there is one thing I have realized, there is no victory in
causing suffering. Triumph is a peaceful kingdom…’
The great Albert Einstein once famously remarked, ‘You know, in the West
we have built a large, beautiful ship. It has all the comforts in it, but one
thing is missing: it has no compass and does not know where to go. Men
like Tagore and Gandhi and their spiritual forebears found the compass.
Why can this compass not be put in the human ship so that both can realize
their purpose?’
Abe Lincoln once remarked: ‘…Perhaps there is so much conflict between
peoples and nations because in our pursuit of prosperity and power we
have lost sight of ethical values. We must ask ourselves, what is the role of
human consciousness? Does it have a part in political thinking, scientific
thinking and theological thinking? Is spirituality acceptable in the business
of life?
Sage Ashtavakra had once propounded that the business of life ought to be
peace and prosperity, and not exploitation and conflict…
The history of the world shows the forces of good struggling hard to make
life better for mankind while we human beings show a terrible capacity for
destruction…Thus we have Gandhi on the one hand, striving relentlessly
towards Non-Violence, while on the other hand, millions die in the Second
World War and Pearl Harbor and the atomic bombing of entire cities.
Several thousand perish in Bosnia-Herzegovina…a war rages in the Gaza
Strip between Israel & Palestine…
And on 11 September 2001, the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in
New York City fall and innocent lives are lost…In India, in the Bhopal gas
tragedy, 30,000 people die as the result of the carelessness of a
multinational company, and Chernobyl and the daily Violence in the
Kashmir Valley…
Where are we going? Are we doomed to destroy ourselves?
No, we have to find an everlasting solution…
In the modern era, there are few such examples, of those who embody the
qualities that come from realizing the nature of the
mind…’Atmabodha’…We are too much preoccupied with ostentatious
displays of wealth and personal freedom!
Why War is Not the Answer to Despots
"The ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral,
begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy. Instead of diminishing evil, it
multiplies it. Through violence you may murder the liar, but you cannot
murder the lie, nor establish the truth. Through violence you murder the
hater, but you do not murder hate. In fact, violence merely increases
hate.... Returning violence for violence multiples violence, adding deeper
darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out
darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can
do that. “
Make no mistake: every regime that tortures does so in the name of
salvation, some superior goal, some promise of paradise. Call it
communism, call it the free market, call it the free world, call it the national
interest, call it fascism, call it the leader, call it civilisation, call it the service
of God, call it the need for information; call it what you will, the cost of
paradise, the promise of some sort of paradise… will always be hell for at
least one person somewhere, sometime.
Ariel Dorfman, Chilean writer, May 2004(73)
I CAN RECALL HUBERT HUMPHREY
"There is no such thing as an acceptable level of unemployment, because
hunger is not acceptable, poverty is not acceptable, poor health is not
acceptable, and a ruined life is not acceptable…In the minds and hearts of
the American people, there is a great hunger for peace based on a universal
recognition of the values of freedom and human dignity."
WE ARE OFTEN FORCED TO ASK OURSELVES: WHAT HAPPENS WHEN
RIGHTS AND DIGNITY ARE VIOLATED? What are the long-term effects?
What is, for example, the long-term effect on people who are born, live and
die as refugees, in refugee camps? What are the inter-generational effects?
How are second and third generation refugees affected? This is surely living
a degraded existence!
((Source: Research conducted in conjunction with United Nations
University, HumiliationStudies.org))
The “World Conference on Bioethics” (Gijón, Spain, 2002) also explored
some of these issues…
A JUST, PROSPEROUS AND DEMILITARIZED GLOBAL ORDER
FANTASY WORLD: POOR PARENTS DON’T NOTICE ELITIST CARS. BUT
POOR CHILDREN DO.
INNOCENT FRUSTRATIONS, SOCIAL FERMENT & THE PEACE DIVIDEND:
REPARATIONS FOR A NEW ORDER
Can we build a global order based on justice? Perhaps we can one that
will be less hegemonic than the international relations of the Cold War
We don’t have a choice, if we wish to minimize large-scale violence and
maximize social and economic well-being.
The Cold War was concentrated on concepts of geopolitics, military
strategy and ethnocentric ideology, causing much pollution,
overpopulation, poverty, and proliferation. Now with the demise of the
Soviet Union (the loss of some ideology) and the end of the Cold War,
mankind hoped that things would change for the better.
9/11 changed the scenario completely. Washington overreacted to this
terrorist attack in the name of the war on terror and in the guise of
preemption, proving once again that the world is still in a process of
transition, characterized by instability, fluidity and uncertainty without
adhering to a morally accepted international code of conduct.
Human beings have forsaken their morals. The results of man’s obscene
patterns of material consumption have been disastrous, reading out like
an inventory-from poverty, underdevelopment, and insecurity, ethnic
conflict, forced occupation, wars and threats of war, terrorism, the list is
endless.
Power has been exercised and power has been abused, with two major
contemporary manifestations: one economic with a generic trend called
‘economic globalization’, the other political and coercive, more
pronounced post 9/11, something I would call ‘coercive globalization’.
By placing unnecessary value on mega trends such as power, success,
glamour, superiority and fame, by worshipping power, whether
economic or military and as both as an end and a means, man has
sinned. That wealth is the only road to happiness, that extravagance
ensures success, that comfort ensures security, that opulence will
guarantee dignity, and that greed is ultimate fulfillment for oneself, the
nation and will eventually lead to global order and security are all false
preemptive notions that man carries in his mind. The truth is that only
Jesus forgives opulence. And man is paying the price.
(The attacks in Kuta, Bali in October 2002 exemplify how man has
already started paying the price)
It is to be noted that in exercising power, both economic and political
especially as by the dominant powers and particularly by the US, man
has forsaken the chief element that is responsibility with the inevitable
result that while human conditions in certain parts of the world have
been improved by economic globalization, in certain others, there is
now a mammoth gap between the ‘haves’ and the ‘have-nots’, forced
dislocation, cultural alienation, political instability, and the emergence
of a selfish and irresponsible economic and political elite, who remain
disconnected from local and national needs, and their common
humanity.
Only a sense of JUSTICE is what binds power and responsibility together.
What we need is a fundamental shift from the Cold War international
relations to global ethical knowledge. By this, hopefully, we may be able
to minimize large-scale violence, maximize social and economic wellbeing, realize our fundamental human rights and conditions of economic
and political justice, and achieve ecological stability.
The poor parent would very often not notice the elitist Jaguar parked
outside the slum, but the poor child who lives in a fantasy world of stars
would. The rich beware, ostentatious displays of wealth will only add to
the frustrations of the innocent child and indeed more social ferment
and discontent.
The world goes on for these children (and the children of poor parents
will often continue to grow up into cooks, farmers and chauffeurs)
And globalization goes on…there is no sense of right and wrong.
Directly and indirectly, it is affecting the sovereignty of states by
transcending conventional political boundaries-- changing and even
reducing the roles of governments. Even more importantly, it is affecting
human beings and the relations among us. The global market place treats
human beings as objects and, most often, as obstacles and will result, if
unchecked, in more poverty, more hunger, more civil strife and armed
conflicts and the denial of the right to food for millions (Spitz, 1996,
emphasis added).
These risks are real. They can and must be checked.
A NEW GLOBAL ORDER
A BRAVE NEW WORLD
Lets listen to what just a few of the World’s many non-religious experts
have to say, some of the HIGHEST-RANKING members of this planet’s
managerial class, who have the weight of scientific data & statistics to back
them up:
DR. GEORGE WALD, NOBEL PRIZE-WINNING SCIENTIST, HARVARD
UNIVERSITY, SAID, “I THINK HUMAN LIFE IS NOW THREATENED AS NEVER
BEFORE IN THE HISTORY OF THIS PLANET! Not just by one peril, but by
many perils that are all working together & coming to a head at the same
time. And that time lies very close to the year 2,000. I am one of those
scientists who find it hard to see how the human race is to bring itself much
past the year 2,000.”
(Well, we’ve survived past 2000! Now, this should be a time for us to
introspect!)
“WE ARE ABROAD A TRAIN WHICH IS GATHERING SPEED, RACING DOWN A
TRACK in which there is an unknown number of switches leading to
unknown destinations…Most of society is in the caboose—looking
backward!”—Scientist member of the prestigious “Club Of Rome” socioeconomic group.
KURT WALDHEIM, while Secretary General of the U.N., said, “I do not wish
to seem overdramatic, but I can only conclude from the information that is
available to me as Secretary General that the members of the United
Nations have perhaps 10 years left in which to subordinate their ancient
quarrels & launch a global partnership
to curb the arms race,
to improve the human environment, &
to supply the required momentum to World development efforts.
The alternative is a situation beyond our capacity to control!”
BUT MOST PEOPLE NEVER SEEM TO SENSE IMPENDING DOOM OR THINGS
THAT ARE ABOUT TO HAPPEN UNTIL IT’S TOO LATE.—Most people just go
on business as usual, no matter what is happening!...& KNEW NOT UNTIL
THE FLOOD CAME & SWEPT THEM ALL AWAY, -- Most people today are just
going on with business as usual!
(Just thinking of Malthus & Hitler & Marx)
Who are these people anyway?
No wonder they FLY BUSINESS CLASS (NOT AT ALL CONCERNED ABOUT THE
ECONOMY!)
Welcome ON BOARD (THOSE HIGH-RANKED, RESOURCEFUL DIGNITARIES!
FLYING!!) To Human Dignity and Humiliation Studies
PLEASE FASTEN YOUR SEAT (OF POWER) BELTS!
WE ARE READY TO TAKE OFF (TO STOCKHOLM)!! (TO COPENHAGEN)!! (TO
TROMSO)!!
WE WILL FINALLY TOUCH DOWN AT (NOBEL)
MEDICINE/LITERATURE/ECONOMICS/WHATEVER! “PEACE”! OSLO!!!
Dream…
…Continue Dreaming, CHILDREN of the World, YOUTH of the World…
It’s Your Moment…
It’s Your Day…
It’s Your Life…
Of which YOU are the Chief Executive Officer…
These are your Seconds & Minutes & Hours…
These are your Days & Months & Years…
It’s YOUR LIFE, Lead it the Way YOU Wanna do (Oh! I love America!)…You
are BORN FREE, so, Breathe Free & Live Free & Stay free…AS FREE AS THE
WIND BLOWS, AS FREE AS THE GRASS GROWS…
If YOU HAVE A DREAM, WORK TOWARDS IT & LIVE IT EACH DAY OF YOUR
LIFE…and you will find yourself moving steadfastly towards your goal…
That’s Me, the ANGRY YOUNG WOMAN for YOU!
BUT I HAVE A HEART…
AND I CAN FEEL… (UNLIKE A FEW OF OUR LEADERS & THINKERS)…
AND SOMETIMES SOME LITTLE THINGS…ACTUALLY TOUCH MY HEART…
(like out-of-place Community Health systems; Schools & Drinking Water)
Think about all those that were affected by 9/11, the BALI & the LONDON
BOMBINGS, & the TSUNAMI…Gosh! It takes all of the above to ever…
STRIKE A CHORD OF COMPASSION IN THE MINDS & HEARTS OF MEN…
To STIR THEM OUT OF COMPLACENCY, one would say…
How deplorable, how pathetic…!
HUMANITY IS NOW A CONCEPT OF THE PAST…it would seem!)
(Dreaming: Gunter Grass was a Man of Great Humanity; he always spoke
for the masses…)
Well, the fact that he was German…takes my mind to Germany… And I can
feel…
The Hanover & the Frankfurt & the Hamburg & the Cologne & the Karlsruhe
& the Mittenwald & the Munich (from 1972 ethnic gunning down to the
Oktober Fest!) & (the Nuremberg! Those trials, those Concentration Camps
& the Gestapo) & the Düsseldorf & the Leipzig & the Stuttgart & the Berlin
in ME
YES, I LOVE GERMANY & GERMAN…
(Dreaming!) I make it a point to travel by the Deutsche Bahn (German
Railways) rather than by Air as and when I’m visiting the Bundestag…
(Dr. ANGELA MERKEL would surely invite me over!)
(Dreaming…And then Dr. Merkel would be called upon to co-man, sorry!
Co-woman (pilot) the United Nations perhaps along with a Southern Third
World ‘New Kid on the Block’!)
-Who professes?
‘I Was Born Free…I Breathe Free…
So let me Live Free…I feel Free…’
I do not have any, not much for WORLD SOCIETY, at least I do not profess
to, and it’s my LIFESTYLE & THINKING that has always landed me in
troubled Waters!
It seems I shall have to “Sacrifice My Essence, My Ideals, My Very being” at
the Altar of World Society, Whatever that means to most People!
So, this is what WORLD SOCIETY is all about?
It’s about PROFESSED IDEAL LIVING, with fairness, integrity, honesty and
human dignity- principles that give us the security to adapt to change, and
the wisdom and power to take advantage of the opportunities that change
creates…(Anonymous)
The ‘Anonymous possibilist’ is talking about enhancing the human
resource…
I guess that despite contemporary responsibilities and demands of time,
travel, work and families, one can try and square inner thought (‘One
Thinking Man is worth more than a 1,000 none’) and outward behavior,
resulting in private as well as public integrity…and consequentially,
managing to break cycles of humiliation.
As William George Jordan says: “Into the hands of every individual is given a
marvelous power for good or evil- the silent, unconscious, unseen influence
of his life. This is simply the constant radiation of what man really is, not
what he pretends to be.”
“Humanity is indeed a family… I hope that people all over the world…. will
realize they share similar experiences. Then they might think, THIS IS OUR
WORLD, WE BETTER TAKE CARE OF IT.”
- Ken Heyman
“We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if mankind is to
survive.”
Albert Einstein
“The development of a kind heart (a feeling of closeness for all human
beings)... is for anyone who considers himself or herself, above all, a
member of the human family and who sees things from this larger and
longer perspective”.
The Dalai Lama, from “A Human Approach to World PEACE”
‘The rights of disabled people need to be better incorporated into our
poverty reduction work and the achievement of the Millennium
Development Goals’
Gareth Thomas, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, DFID (DFID
Spotlight 29 September 2004)
Disability is recognised by DFID as one of several factors, such as gender,
age and caste, which interact to impoverish people and keep them poor.
“EVERYONE EXPECTS TO GO FURTHER
THAN HIS FATHER WENT;
EVERYONE EXPECTS TO BE BETTER
THAN HE WAS BORN
AND EVERY GENERATION
HAS ONE BIG IMPULSE IN ITS HEARTTO EXCEED ALL THE OTHER GENERATIONS OF THE PAST
IN ALL THE THINGS THAT MAKE LIFE WORTH LIVING…”
On the Concept of “HUMAN DIGNITY”
CLIMATE CHANGE & GLOBAL WARMING – OUR CHILDREN ARE PAYING
THE ECOLOGICAL PRICE OF WORLD TRADE
ECOLOGICAL DEBT
(A CONVENIENT TRUTH FOR THE RICH)
The explosion in world freight has had an adverse impact on the global
environment. Nearly all global freight is powered by fossil fuels. A study in
1997 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and
the International Energy Agency found that the transport sector accounted
for between 20 and 25 per cent of the world’s total carbon emissions.
The steep rises in global fossil fuel use since World War II have meant that
annual global carbon emissions are now nearly four times what they were
in 1950, leading to a 16 per cent increase in world carbon dioxide
concentrations over the same period. These increased greenhouse gas
emissions may eventually see world temperatures rising up to 4 degrees
centigrade by about 2070. ‘Global Warming’ may cause our polar ice caps
to melt, leading to rising sea levels flooding many coastal areas. Other
regions may see disease and famine and/or extinction. In no small measure,
the world’s environment is paying the price of the spread of economic
globalization.
Aircraft and shipping also have alarming specific pollution effects. Aero
planes produce large quantities of carbon dioxide as also significant
quantities of nitrogen oxides, both of which are significant greenhouse
gases, while nitrogen dioxide causes acid rain. Aircraft emissions of
nitrogen oxides are predicted to double between 1996 and 2010. In
shipping they use a low-grade type of fuel that produces nitric oxide and
nitrogen dioxide that can cause acid rain and photochemical smog. Global
shipping’s pollutant emissions equals about half of the land-based
emissions of the same generated by the United States. Shipping also
produces nitrous oxide, a potent greenhouse gas, as well as sulphur oxides
that cause acid rain. It is to be deeply regretted, however, that pollution
from world freight is exempt from the Kyoto greenhouse gas protocol.
THE GLOBAL LOSS OF DEMOCRACY
GLOBALIZATION, ECONOMIC
GLOBALIZATION, OPULENCE, EXTRAVAGANCE & LUXURY
(DIAMOND YACHTS, ORNATE JEWELLERY, SLEEK CONVERTIBLES AND
FASHION-TV)
(DISTURBING TRENDS IN GLOBAL MATERIAL CONSUMPTION)
AND ONE WOULD SAY
(Talk of ‘The cream you choose to apply on the face for glowing, resilient
skin’…talk of all those worthless, destructive Beauty Pageants…talk of
Armani & Peter ‘England’: O! The British and their Councils and a
comprehensive increase in programme (d) funding for INDIA; a consequent
larger number of programme (d) directors, officers & assistants and
malnourished South Asian societies!) And their DFID’S!(Decide First for
International Development, Laugh!) and Allen Solly & Oxford and Harvard &
DAKS LONDON & Forbes Magazines & Brand Ambassadors & the EU (and
their ‘Cultural Weeks’ in impoverished South Asia or whatever) & the
‘OSCE’(how much Cooperation there is in Europe that they should be
divided on IRAQ…create “MORGUES OF ORPHANED RESIDUE…”who gives
them the Right Anyway?...(& OPEC) & Santa Barbara & the Bold and The
Beautiful…and Moschino & Regen Hair Vitalizers…talk of our ‘Vital’ issues &
Elizabeth Arden & Chanel PARIS & L’Oreal & Estee Lauder & Wrap-a-rounds
and camisoles & Jackets & Dinner Jackets & a pair of Levis Jeans and
Innerwear & Footwear!... and Audi & Porsche… & Camcorders & Cookies!...
and Spaghetti & Macaroni & Broccoli & some Mustard!...and Charlie’s
Angels & La Femme Nikita…and Pornography & Perverted (Piracy) Labels
and Records…winding it all up with either a Bacardi or a Cappuccino…!)
O! THE WESTERN WORLD…!
(The IELTS goes Online & payment by Credit Cards & the Cash-rich, the
Pound-sterling Moneyed ones get to go to the London & the Wharton
Business Schools without batting an eyelid! while the “Heavily-indebted
Poor Country Initiatives” are forced into remote with Low-paid
Professionals’ Cataract Camps!)
(Dreaming…!)
THE WESTERN WORLD, DO THEY REALLY CARE ABOUT US…TREATING US
LIKE ‘BEGGARS’ & ‘FOOLS’, DO WE ACTUALLY NEED THEM…I Wish for once
that they could APPOINT ME SOME SORT OF A ‘GOODWILL AMBASSADOR
TO THE WESTERN WORLD’, maybe I could fix their Minds, Hearts & Heads
and Come back! (BIG LAUGH!)
(Dreaming… ‘Lessons in International Understanding…’
AND, WHO MIGHT GIVE ME THE RIGHT TO BLAME THEM ANYWAY? AN
ENTIRE SPECIES OF PEOPLES! They’re such Lovely Peoples, giving away so
much to us, sacrificing so much of their time and energy for us... with such
lovely littles in shorts Johns & Jacks & Toms & Michaels & lovely littles in
skirts Natalies & Carols & Peggys & Janets…they’re draining so much on
their state exchequers & acoustics & percussions (never mind the
repercussions!) in the process of giving away!... They’re trying to ‘Imagine’
how to ‘Heal The World’…not an amazing feat!... and spending so much of
their time working as ‘Volunteers’ & ‘Interns’ with the Peace Corps in
Guatemala & OXFAM in Mogadishu & SOS-KINDERDORF INTERNATIONAL in
‘Very-low-on-the-HDI’ Bangladesh…IT WOULD BE VERY UNFAIR ON OUR
PART TO CALL THEM (ACTUALLY, EACH OTHER) “FOREIGNERS”…THEY’RE
(WE’RE) CERTAINLY NOT ‘ALIENS’ FROM OUTER SPACE!...We’re (All) the
World, We’re the Children…and ‘It’s a Small World After All’…LOVE…WE’RE
ALL FRIENDS…
TOGETHER (Yes, all the Oxfams & the Plans & the Villages of Hope & SAARC
& the ADB’S (BOTH ASIAN & AFRICAN) and the EU’S and the UNICEFS & the
UNDPS & the WHOS and the Habitats for HUMANITY!), WE CAN DO IT!
Dreaming…! With a bit of fun thrown in!
((Why on Earth are these Coveted UN/NON-UN Positions (nee Missions)
reserved only for “Stars”- Hollywood, Bollywood, Tollywood & Lahore’s
Lollywood, are they really the best for these Missions? Mega/Giga Success
is surely no index of Missionary Potential;
And, some of us ordinary folk are really so much better at it than most of
these Commercial Bigwigs! Work ought to count! Mass Appeal is and ought
not to be enough! They actually don’t do anything beyond CELEBRITY
CAUSE ENDORSEMENT… has the world in any way changed because of
them… please tell me…I would appreciate that! Thanks very much indeed,
‘DECIDERS OF THE WORLD…I KNOW YOUR VOICE COUNTS’! (Laugh!)…
Not everyone can be a Meg Ryan or an Angelina Jolie or a Bob Geldof or
Bono …And why would anyone be excluded from or in any way denied an
opportunity to do some Good Work for Mankind? Most of us ought to be
enabled instead!
Actually, why can’t we have ‘DREAM’ MISSIONS TO OUR NEIGHBOURS as a
Regular Fixture, if Cricket, Soccer, Baseball & NBA’s & MBA’s & Cinema can
always happen (and with All that Exotic Expenditure!), so can those that the
WORLD IS TRULY IN NEED OF?); & Grammys & Faith Hill & Norah Jones
(Celebrity Daughters!) & Emmys & ‘Desperate Housewives’ (Well, if I were a
Nobel Laureate, I would include them in the GDP & GNP of Nations!) &
Immys & American & Indian ‘Idol-Worship’ & Michael Johnson & Michael
Schumacher (& AIDS & Cancer Research) & Sarah Jessica Parker (as Carrie
Bradshaw- God alone knows where she parks her Car, where they all do- O!
THESE CELEBRITIES AND THEIR PRIVATE LIVES!))
I can recall “PEARL'S A SINGER”
(Dino / Sembello / Leiber / Stoller / Vescoli)
Elkie Brooks - 1977
Bernadette Peters - 1980
“Pearl's a singer, she stands up,
When she plays the piano in a night club
Pearl's a singer, she sings songs
For the lost and the lonely
Her job is entertaining folks,
Singing songs and telling jokes
In a nightclub
Pearl's a singer, and they say,
That she once was a winner in a contest
Pearl's a singer, and they say,
That she once cut a record
They played it for a week or so,
On the local radio
It never made it
She wanted to be Betty Grable
But now she sits there at that beer-stained table
Dreaming of the things she never got to do
All those dreams that never came true
Pearl's a singer, she stands up,
When she plays the piano in a night club
Pearl's a singer, she sings songs
For the lost and the lonely
Her job is entertaining folks,
Singing songs and telling jokes
In a nightclub
Pearl's a singer, she stands up
When she plays the piano in a night club
Pearl's a singer, she sings songs
For the lost and the lonely
Her job's entertaining folks
Singing songs, telling jokes
In a nightclub…”
I wish to wind up with a few memorable quotes ON A WOMAN’S RIGHT TO
CHOOSE by some amazing WOMEN CELEBRITIES:
According to Susan B. Anthony: “The day will come when men will
recognize woman as his peer, not only at the fireside, but in councils of the
nation. Then, and not until then, will there be the perfect comradeship, the
ideal union between the sexes that shall result in the highest development
of the race.”
Geraldine Ferraro writes: “We’ve chosen the path to equality, don’t let
them turn us around.”
“Something which we think is impossible now is not impossible in another
decade,” so says Constance Baker Motley, First Black WOMAN in the U.S. to
become a Federal Judge.
Former ace Tennis Player Martina Navratilova thinks that WOMEN should
not set any Limits…
Gloria Steinem feels that “the first problem for all of us, men and WOMEN,
is not to learn, but to unlearn.”
Barbra Streisand has this to say: “I am also very proud to be a liberal. Why
is that so terrible these days? The liberals were liberators-they fought
slavery, fought for women to have the right to vote, fought against Hitler,
Stalin, fought to end segregation, fought to end apartheid. Liberals put an
end to child labor and they gave us the five day work week! What’s to be
ashamed of?”
Finally, this is what Virginia Woolf had to say: “As a WOMAN, I have no
country. As a WOMAN my country is the whole world.”
As for Patty Duke, a classic example; is anyone listening?