Service

No leave when sick, no travel allowance,
No provident fund, neither pays enhance,
No insurance, no retirement plan,
No semblance of security for her clan.
Weekends ? Don't be crazy!
They make her more lazy.
She comes daily with head down,
And goes back with head down,
Listening to all our complaints,
With none to tell her complaints.
In poverty she lives, in a nearby slum,
Leaking roofs extending her a welcome,
She labors again to feed the kids,
Emptiness of the vessels hidden by lids.
A smile on the face hiding the tears in her eyes,
Another night passes to see the sun rise.
A hard day follows with ten houses to serve,
A life passes thus straining every nerve.
Oh maid, a word you never say,
No appraisal, neither a hike in pay,
Suspicion for sincerity is what you get,
“God’s merciless”, you never say yet.
With folded arms before thee I bow,
You are a model I ought to follow.

Why are Indians so smart and Americans so stupid

On the 7th of Nov, 2009, I typed, "Why are Indians" on the Google search bar and on top of the list of suggestions (433,000 of them) was - "Why are Indians so smart". On the same lines Google threw up the top suggestions for "Why are Americans" as "Why are Americans so stupid" with 7,610,000 almost 15 times as many suggestions as the former. The world seems to be awestruck by the smartness of Indians and the stupidity of Americans. These search suggestions are definitely counter intuitive and do force one to think as to what makes America a world leader despite its so called stupid people and what is it that makes India a developing country despite its so called smart people. Here's an attempt to answer the question.

The direct implication of the search suggestions is that an average Indian is smarter than an average American. But then this disparity exists at the individual level alone. Collective smartness is certainly not an aggregate of individual smartness. For collective smartness to benefit society, an individual's smartness must compliment another's smartness, for which, every individual must be aware of the larger picture and the objective. In the USA, the establishment takes the onus of service to the people. The people in turn are aware of their rights and can get justice for the issues they raise. The average guy in the US does not need to wade through the system to meet his basic needs and hence an average American need not be as smart. The little smartness that he has is well respected and utilised for his own well being and that of the nation.

In India, an average individual is at the mercy of the system. To get a gas connection he has to bribe the agent; to get continuous power supply, he has to bribe the linesman; to get a ration card he has to work his way around multiple in-trays and out-tray; schools do not have teachers or classrooms; colleges are not centres of learning, but are places to fight elections with the support of political parties; a position in the civil services is not to serve the nation, but to extract hefty sums in dowry; employment in the private sector is not meant to contribute to the growth of the company by innovation, but to take home a hefty pay for listening to the lousy remarks of the employer; a driving license can cost you a fortune; crossing a road is a nightmare and the list goes on and on... Every other guy on the street is smart enough to realise that he is out there to outsmart the rest of the guys he encounters. We as a society are a dumb society with smart people. Individual smartness is not made use of to contribute to the nation's well being, but to the well being of the individuals. So an outsider would be plain astonished by the fact that Indians are smart despite the nation being not so great.

The world unfortunately does not work in the ways of Math that is taught in schools. 2+2 need not be 4 in the real world. Five intellectuals in separate compartments might be doing pioneering work at the individual level, whereas collectively they might all be opposing each other. The result is akin to a large number chefs spoiling the broth. Whereas five not so intelligent guys working together helping each other, sharing each others knowledge can accomplish more than what those five smart people can achieve. A quote from none other than Swami Vivekananda goes thus, "A few heart-whole, sincere, and energetic men and women can do more in a year than a mob in a century". Imagine what would happen if all these smart people aligned themselves to attain a goal collectively. It will result in a force unstoppable. Imagine what will become of India if every Indian who is smart thought and acted in the direction of the progress of the nation. This is the challenge for India - to learn from the West to organise and align its masses and use what is inherently ours to the betterment of the nation.

One might ask how was it that India with a similar social fabric was the richest nation in the world a few centuries ago? Well, the answer is pretty simple. Society then was divided on caste lines. Castes were mainly based on occupation. A member of every caste religiously practised his occupation to the best of his ability contributing to the society and benefiting from the services he provided. The outsiders who came to India were smart enough to use these classes of society to raise feuds amongst castes for their own sake. One negative that the caste system had(has) is that a member from one caste could in no way move to another caste. A Brahmin who wanted to become a blacksmith was not allowed to become a blacksmith. He had to be engaged in learning. Similarly a blacksmith's son was born a blacksmith and had to die a blacksmith despite possessing all the abilities to become a Brahmin. There was no way in society then to deal with such square pegs in round holes. This led to a large number of people who were dissatisfied and these people fell prey to the designs of the colonisers. The British rule left the Indian society in complete disarray. However, it did a good in that the oppressed classes got a voice of their own. Thousands of years of oppression and suppression began to be questioned and foundations for a new social order were laid. A Dalit need not seek the permission of the Brahmin to learn today, nor does a Brahmin have to go through hell to choose a profession of his choice. Times have changed and the Indian society seems to be realigning itself into a new social order. Lets wait for the time when this process of change undergoes completion and individual smartness of the average Indian begins to add up into collective smartness. I am very optimistic about a bright future!!

The middle path for society

"Democracy's bad", say the Leftist comrades,

"Communists - Oh autocrats", says the Democrat's tirade.

Here's the communist on society's health:

Champions of free markets, usurp the poor man's wealth,

Cancer of consumption shall destroy society in stealth.

Equal treatment, equal rights, equal possessions,

Are the only mantras for a smooth progression

Says the Free marketer, poles apart in thought

That equality is an illusion the Communists sought

Freedom to act and to be what you want to be

Is the only way to be happy.

Amidst this fight for a better world

Springs an idea that is rather old

Democracy or communism, doesn't matter,

The people who make it are the ones who matter.

Think not of a system so deeply, but think

Of making people who can rightly think

Good men think good and build a society good

But arguments quite good set a different stage,

"The idea of good", they say, "has not not yet come of age."

No good exists and nothing bad too say the Leftists

And good's subjective say the Democratic pacifists

But what good is it if none knows what's good?

I say he's good who thinks of other's good.

And we want men who think of people's good

Neither freedom absolute nor full control

But a balance that makes man value both,

Is what will align all keeping freedom intact

A free controlled society, a thought of the East so old

Is so complex, so simple an idea of gold.

Desire

As life moved on, I paused for a moment,

To think, to search and to find the end,

The reason, the mission, the goal of life.

Buddha says, "Desire not- it leads to pain".

But then said I, what's life without an aim?

Present dissatisfaction leads to a future goal,

Struggle, though painful seems worth the toll.

With future hidden, I set off from this side,

Bearing all pain for the embellished other side.

The pain was a pleasure, for the end seemed bright,

But the end very soon seemed a blight.

The place though new, better though the state,

The mind said,"Not so great".

No place to go and in darkness I groped,

In the abyss of life, I searched for a rope.

Buddha smiled and reminded me again,

"In desire my son, there is no much gain"

I paused again, to think again,

Water in a stream - I can drink,

Stagnant water!! doesn't it stink?

No goal, no action and no movement

Death's better than life without an event

Buddha smiled again and said,

"Never did I say have no goal"

And the dark abyss lit up in effulgence!

Buddha had shown me the path of indifference.

Set a goal and work really hard

But desire not for a chosen reward

Success or failure, take it into your stride

This is life, enjoy your ride !!

Action, Inaction, Speech and Silence

It was a cool afternoon in Belgaum, my hometown when five of us friends had been discussing on weird things and landed up into a heated argument. We all held different points of view about what the world ought to be and what not. Is India heading in the right direction? Is society doing the right thing by putting restrictions? Is the elected government responsible enough to pursue its developmental goals and if not how to get it going? Are we sensitive enough to the needs of the society and doing enough? And then there were also perspectives on space, time, and relativity. Einstein, Heisenberg, Schrödinger and Hawking all gushing out into the stream of arguments on concepts that could be quite abstruse. One of us argued it out with all the might. So involved was he in the debate that a remark that ridiculed him ended up in shrugged faces with another one who vehemently said that he didn’t bother about what happens of the system and the nation or the world or the universe as long as he kept doing well. And then there were two others who chipped in now and then and tried to keep the tempo down. The discussion that started as just a couple of opinions ended up in a heated argument that went on and on for a good 6 hours. At that time, in my 12^th standard, I was quite a novice and pretty immature too. My arguments invariably were for argument’s sake. But this discussion was a different one and it had a lasting impact. At a much later date, upon reflection, I realized some things about people rather than what we argued about.

People in this world can be clssified using two parameters – speech and action. There are those who do not speak and do not act, those who speak and do not act, those who do not speak and act and those who speak and act. The first class of people – those who neither speak nor act could be of two types. They can be either totally ignorant, completely overwhelmed by the happenings around them rendering them indifferent or they can be men of complete realization. They might have realized every bit of the universe and might be silent enjoying every single event they watch as though it’s part of a great play. On the other extreme are the people who speak and act. These are people who display the highest levels of energies in making things happen the way they want them to happen. These are the ones who emerge as great leaders of the world. They articulate their thoughts; have a vast extent of influence on their surroundings and drive people to act as directed. But then, a little extreme can land them up in trouble because such people could end up being indifferent to the feelings of others. They might end up being task oriented at the cost of hurting others. They might in extreme cases fail to realize that task orientation and sensitivity to others’ feelings are not mutually exclusive. There is then the third class of people who do not speak but believe in action alone. Such people too can end up being great leaders. However, their influence is slow, but sure. Such people believe that actions speak louder than words. Such people can also become great teachers because they not only influence but also inspire. They radiate sincerity and they transform people into becoming good. And then there are the speakers who do not act. Well, such people, because of their lack of action despite an action required, end up being pessimistic and end up complaining. The only thing they can do is give sermons and end up in endless arguments with no outcome at all. But then, in the bargain they too contribute in passing on some influence, which, if positively picked up might end up being beneficial.

Action, inaction, speech and silence in various combinations and degrees produce different kinds of people. And then these are just two aspects of nature. There could be so many different influencers that make people what they are. Just as how it takes flowers of different hues to make a garden beautiful, people of all kinds are required to make this world beautiful. During the course of our lives, we come across several people who might fall into one these categories in different stages of their lives and each one of them might have something to teach us. It’s for us to keep our eyes and ears wide open to see, hear, think, learn, speak if necessary and definitely do something to reach a stage of complete knowledge wherein we might not feel the need to speak or do anything. It’s learning all the way – work in progress J

Rishikesh and Haridwar

The summer of 2009 was pretty hot in the otherwise cool Bangalore and it was certainly hotter in North India when I received an invitation from IMI, Delhi for my convocation. The temperatures soared really high and dried up all my spirits. I didn’t want to travel all the way to Delhi and land up in a furnace of sorts. But the large number of phone calls from my friends and a carrot shown in the form of an outing to Hrishikesh compelled me to travel to Delhi. It felt nostalgic being in the ambience of the school that taught me so many things despite the scorching heat. The convocation went well and meeting all friends was a great treat. But the real thing was still to happen. The trip to Haridwar and Hrishikesh taught me some important lessons.

We set out to Haridwar on the evening after the convocation. The AC was constantly on in our taxi and I was fast asleep as usual. Sleep never eludes me wherever I go and the night we were traveling was not different. Despite the rough roads that my friends complained about, I was as indifferent as grass is to a stormy wind. The next morning, we reached Haridwar and got into a ‘dharamshala’. My itinerary was not decided by me, but by my friends. Neither did I bother to ask them. I knew it would be enjoyable for sure. Within a few minutes we occupied our rooms and lied down to rest for a while. What we found on waking up after an hour was that the rain gods had smiled on Haridwar and water was pouring down with great intensity. I thought that our outing would be spent in the rooms and there wouldn’t be much left to do. But then in an hour or so the rain gods smiled at us and listened to our prayers. In a cloudy mood, we all were off in our cab to Hrishikesh. A white water rafting deal had already been struck even before we left Delhi and the rafter had been waiting for us for quite a while. Numerous phone calls from the rafting vendor and our delayed start finally took us to the starting point of the sport. My elder brother, cautious as he is, had dissuaded me from being part of the rafting sport. The words of caution ringing in my ears, the downpour intensifying a feeling that the waters would be turbulent and the very sight of the gigantic river caused fear in me. My friends were with me trying to allay my fears, but I would not listen. After a lot of back and forth, I set my foot ahead to attempt to enjoy the rafting experience.

Our guide, a lean tough guy was named Gabbar Singh. He gave us a bunch of instructions, which I heard with rapt attention but forgot all that he said in the very next moment because of the fear. And then I realized there was not point in fearing as I was already on the raft. Moreover, I had all the safety gadgets on. Yet, you know, fear has no medicine. And then we set sailing. Our guide was instructing us and we were following him and the sailing was smooth. A few minutes into the river and what we saw was a reduction in the river’s width rendering the water turbulent; and Gabbar began to shout and asked us to row with all our energies. I could look at the waves gushing at us and the raft literally vertical. I was sitting somewhere close to the center and naturally the amplitude in the center is much less than at the ends. My fundamentals in Physics helped me from swaying a lot. And then as we sailed ahead, what I could see was that the position of the raft relative to the water surface did not change much. The moment I looked all around, I could see that we were literally at the mercy of the turbulent waters, but the next moment when I looked at the water beneath, all I could see is the water moving past us as we moved forward. As we moved ahead, I was looking at the water beneath and looking elsewhere and I realized that I was in safe hands and the ride began to become enjoyable.
Then came the next stage in which our guide asked us to jump into the deep water. We all were forced into the water and asked to set our hands off. I too jumped and as soon as I jumped I found myself surrounded on all sides by water. That was damn scary and I began to struggle to float. The funny part was that I was not drowning at all because of the safety jacket! That was fun. Gabbar looked at me and said ‘Shut up, you’re not gonna drown. We won’t look at you if you howl’. And then I realized it was fine to be floating. But then, by then, I was fully tired. I just asked the guide to get me back on to the boat and I was back in. I then saw my friends floating merrily in the Ganga teasing me for my cowardice. With a smile on my face I took them on. We then headed to a location on our journey where people were climbing on to a rock and then plunging into the deep water. The rock was a good 25 feet in height and the very sight of people jumping was a treat. I knew I too could make it. But by the time we reached there, I was drained fully and could not get on the rock at all. I gave up for lack of strength. But then, I could not avoid being called a coward. “How does it matter?” I felt. There I was in the pristine waters of the holiest river in the world. We had sailed into the river hailing Mother Ganga. How could anything untoward happen at all? So what if I drowned in the water? Isn’t drowning in the holiest river a fortune? These were some thoughts that were running in my mind. We then set sail from the jumping rock and the water, then on was pretty calm. On both the sides of the river, we could see ‘ghats’ that were replete with mutts, ashrams, temples, saints, and a multitude of devotees. The very atmosphere seemed so charged up and yet it was so calm. It was indeed a different feeling. At every moment, we could see the breathtaking beauty of the Ganga. We eventually wound up our rafting session and had a wash.

We then moved across the river to witness the Ganga Aarti. Amidst the huge crowd, that seemed unruly, a sudden order arose as soon as the chants in praise of the Ganga began. With eyes closed, I sat quietly for about an hour till the well trained kids sang in praise of the Ganga. What I went through is hard to explain in words, but it was a feeling that was all positive. I used to be amused and ridicule people when I would hear them say that they were washed of all sins by taking a dip in the Ganga. I somehow began to appreciate it and believe in it after all this. A sumptuous dinner awaited us badly after the long haul with the rafting and the sleep that followed was really peaceful – and as I said earlier, sleep usually doesn’t elude me!!
The next morning, we went to Haridwar for an authentic dip in the Ganga at Hari ki paudi. I was convinced that there is something called faith that defies rationality. I do not know if I am washed of all my sins, but I do feel that such a belief is not foolish to have. I have no words to describe the feelings, but I feel blessed to have had the fortune to be there. Sometimes, I feel analysis can even vitiate a good feeling. One should stop analysing and feel things and they appear so beautiful! Swami Vivekananda rightly said, “Religion begins where philosophy ends.” At times, we need to stop thinking and listen to the voice within. If we hear it loudly, it feels great. I keep thinking of these words by Javed Akhtar.
“Mann apne ko kuch aise halka paaye
Jaise kandho pe rakha boj hat jaaye
Jaise bhola sa bachpan phirse aaye
Jaise barson mein koyi ganga nahaaye
Khul sa gaya hai ye mann
Khul sa gaya har bandhan
Jeevan ab lagta hai paawan mujhko”

My Understanding of India's democracy

It has been since late 80's and early 90's that I have been taking interest in the democratic process of elections in India. Looking at the mammoth task that the country goes through, I can say, 'hats off to India', the world’s largest democracy. To begin with, the sensational element that the elections carried held my attention. With a natural inclination towards the study of history, I used to like to read about statesmen like Nehru, Radhakrishnan, Vajpayee etc. whose image transcended party lines and compare them with ridicule and disgust, the current ministers tainted with criminal charges involved in scandals and scams. A variety of MPs adorned the Parliament and we the drawing room experts found it rather interesting and entertaining to see the tamasha on TV every now and then, as hardly had any Government completed its term during the second half of the 90s. With the very little awareness that I had then, an election announced meant a season of flux- pamphlets, loud speakers, posters and above all, holidays, and entertinment. As I grew up, the next few years helped me get a grasp of what was happening. Ideology driven policies, the Opposition, the Left, the Right, the Center, state control, privatization, liberalization, globalization, education, social sector, rural development, infrastructure, reservations and many other words constituted the verbiage I used while passionately debating during my college days. My friends always found it hard to debate with me and it was a matter of pride for me. Years rolled on and in the past 8 years, two more elections were held and the election results definitely were a watershed and they told me how little I knew about how India thinks and how India responds. Sensation apart, I now feel all the more responsible to know what’s happening because I now realise that I ought to be a citizen who knows that a vote can decide the direction the nation is going to take. While, the elections this time around certainly taught me a lot, a keen observation of myself vis-à-vis the climate that engulfed the nation made me realize that I have a point of view that is quite different from the points of view held by the major political parties.

The so called centrist party, the Congress, calls itself secular, but to me, it appears to be doing something else. Its policies on reservations for example, seem to be more of minority appeasement for short term gains as against an effort towards creating an egalitarian society in the long run. Its policy on poverty alleviation too, in the form of employment guarantee for rural households seem a short run phenomenon. The effort neither involves building skills by which individuals can work for their livelihoods, nor does it involve spending on infrastructure where existing skills of individuals can be harnessed for them to earn their bread. There is somehow no tangible improvement in the situation where an individual can say with confidence that he or she can lead a life by the employment opportunity in its present form. However, short run spikes in consumption levels are definitely a site to see. Only time will tell the efficacy of this policy. Such considerations apart, the policy indeed did wonders for the Congress in these elections. However, there have been well intentioned people who have done some good work. The Knowledge commission, though a good initiative ended up being at the mercy of the whims and fancies of the Ministry. The positive efforts like the constitution of the Knowledge commission and its subsequent half baked contribution do speak of one thing. That all said and done, despite there being capable and well intentioned people in this party, the dominant direction of this party seems to be one of minority appeasement in the name of minority upliftment. There was a problem with the Home Ministry and the Finance Minister came to the rescue. There was problem with the PM and the Foreign Minister came to the rescue. Rather, they were there to do theri little bit when things had been going awry. Firefighting was what was evident. Moreover, good efforts by the previous Govt. were completely ignored. For example, the Golden Quadrilateral and the North-South –East-West corridor came to a literal standstill, so much so that even the posters of Atal Bihari Vajpayee were removed from the highways. That was a classic example of utter disrespect for the good work done by a member of the key opponent party. No sane individual would appreciate such actions in a democracy.

And then there is the so called rightist party, the BJP which actually seems centrist. This party which formed the government, a few years back did make a difference to the nation by building highways, roads in villages, disinvesting loss making government undertakings, defence expenditure etc. There had hardly been a trace of minority bashing or preferential treatment for the majority when this party was in power. And yes, there has been no appeasement of any section of the society too. But God knows why this party is involved in issues relating temples and mosques. History is testimony to the fact that despite almost beating Aurangzeb, the great Shivaji, who is credited by many a historian as the epitome of the revival of the Hindu kingdom in India, did not focus attention on rebuilding demolished temples by demolishing mosques. Neither did any of the successive Hindu rulers do it. While Swami Vivekananda happens to be an inspiration for the BJP, I find it hard to understand, why this party is engaged in committing itself to issues related to rebuilding demolished temples when the sum and substance of what Swami Vivekananda said is contained in this single phrase, “Serving man is serving God.” In no way do I mean that the sentiments of the Hindus have not been hurt in the past. But then, to make a new beginning, Hindus can construct larger temples, carve larger images of Gods and Goddesses and show the world that they can’t be bogged down by history and prove that no invader has the ability to destroy their faith by destroying their temples. Unfortunately, the emphasis has been on going back to history, pulling out a poignant episode and fighting today to undo the past. Revival of the glorious past of the Hindus need not necessarily be by such acts of committing to undoing the past, but by positive efforts to execute a plan for a glorious future, which will be better than the glory of the past. Should there be a Huen Tsang traveling to this nation again, he must once again be awestruck by the grandeur of our nation, the heights of material wealth and the opulence of spirituality. I am afraid; this party really needs to get focussed. In the recent elections, what I saw was the worst possible public insults of the Prime Minister and going personal in election campaigns is like stooping down to low levels. In a democracy, I for one would not appreciate such an act.

In effect, the so called Center in India seems to be leaning towards the Left and the Right, though its actions seem Centrist is committing itself to some extreme right concerns. The Leftists, who seemed to be opposed to probably everything, in my opinion have been rightly brought down to an insignificant number and are better if they are left alone. While the Congress boasts of some young faces, the BJP too seems to be gearing up with new faces making it to the top. But the Leftists do not seem to be having any trace of succession planning. They do not seem to therefore have a future.
In conclusion, what we see is that there is no party in the country which is truly centrist in its approach. But don’t each one of us think that there should be such a party that commits itself to laying foundations for an egalitarian society where there are equal opportunities for people from all religions, castes, tribes and economic and other classes? What I desire is a party which is non-partisan and whose intentions and actions are aligned to the immediate needs and long term needs and wants of the nation rather than to the immediate needs of the party. My desire is for a party that believes in a development agenda as against populism. The big question is how do we bring development in politics and get rid of politics in development.

Mother Nature

The rains in monsoon, in the Ghats of the West,
Picturesque green, to the eyes, a feast.
The mountains hiding in the clouds so thick,
Like milk all around in a world mystic.
Gushing water from the cliff so high,
Like an angel clad in serene white.
The whistling breeze and the pattering rain,
Music perennial but never mundane.
Tiny rain drops falling on Earth,
Like a saint sprinkling celestial mirth.
Flowers and butterflies in hues so bright,
Nature’s canvas, oh what a delight!
A canopy green over a road below,
Protecting the traveler setting his face aglow.
Unseen beauty, inexplicable joy,
The grass seemed green on every side.
I now know God, another name for Nature,
What else Oh Father, could it be but Mother?

In Search of New Horizons...

This one is my first poem shared with the world..

High up in the blue sky,
Man once saw a bird fly.
Said he to himself, "Birds, Oh wonderful things,
I do not have the wings."
But that was not all,
Unfathomed horizons made a call.
Prudence and confidence gave him the courage,
To free himself from gravity's cage.
High up in the skies blue,
Like a free bird he flew.
Man's journey is full of actions,
Some right and some wrong.
Bur every right and every wrong,
Made Adam a new Armstrong.
The Moon was vanquished and Mars came near,
But man's thirst is still not over.
The search for the beginning, the search for the end,
Unfathomed horizons still remain,
Unfathomed horizons still make a call....