He was admitted in the hospital when we (me and my wife, Reeta) went to see my father before leaving for Zambia to take up a new assignment in 1979. As we entered, he looked at us with a childlike smile on his wrinkled face. He was very happy to see Reeta for the first time since we got married. We bowed our head and touched his feet to seek his blessings and sat down on the side of the bed. He then got up and asked me when we were leaving for Africa and few other things. When I asked him about his health and the treatment he was undergoing he smiled and said “Apna Dhyan Rakhna, Meri Chinta mat karo, Main Bilkul Thik Hoon Aur Jaldi Hi Ghar Chala Jaunga” (take care of yourself and do not worry about me, I am perfectly alright. I will be going Home soon). When we were about to leave he looked at us with the same smile, but I could see tears in his eyes and voice choked with emotions. He kept looking at us until we left the room. And that was the last time I saw my father. Who knew that I will never see him again? He departed from this world soon after I left for Zambia.
A year later exactly on the same day my mother died. And again I was not there with her. I was told that my mother was so desperate to hear my voice that my younger brother has to mimic my voice to assure her that I was there with her.
I knew about her illness well in advance. I could have gone and spent some time with her but I could not make it. Reason: I was too scared to lose my year old job. Whatever might be the reason, I still blame myself and carry the burden of guilt of not being with my parents when they needed me most. It is indeed a very painful memory.
Once an elderly woman said: “I wish I would have put as much emotion in to my relationship with my mom and dad as I do now in my memories of them. We should pay more attention when we are making our memories. If we did, we wouldn’t have so many regrets when all we have is memories.”
Friday, August 7, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
"If...
If a child lives with criticism,
He learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility,
He learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule,
He learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame,
He learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance,
He learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement,
He learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise,
He learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness,
He learns justice.
If a child lives with security,
He learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval,
He learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,
He learns to find love in the world.
-Dorothy Law Nolte
He learns to condemn.
If a child lives with hostility,
He learns to fight.
If a child lives with ridicule,
He learns to be shy.
If a child lives with shame,
He learns to feel guilty.
If a child lives with tolerance,
He learns to be patient.
If a child lives with encouragement,
He learns confidence.
If a child lives with praise,
He learns to appreciate.
If a child lives with fairness,
He learns justice.
If a child lives with security,
He learns to have faith.
If a child lives with approval,
He learns to like himself.
If a child lives with acceptance and friendship,
He learns to find love in the world.
-Dorothy Law Nolte
Monday, August 3, 2009
Changing face of Hindutwa
I was reading the text of the speech delivered by Swami Vivekananda in the world parliament of religion in 1893, and suddenly I remembered the infamous speech of Mr. Varun Gandhi in March 2009 in an election rally. If you compare the two, you will find that One talks about the essence of Hindu region: tolerance and peaceful co-existence of all regardless of their faith. And the other talks just the opposite. Varun Gandhi’s out-burst in his impudent speech is a manifestation of his deep rooted hate against other religions. It has been rightly said, "hate is born out of fear; that which we fear is that which we hate. The cruelest paradox of the power of hate is religion. All religion begins by teaching universal love; all religion end up preaching and practicing hatred and intolerance of those who belong to other sects. We must figure out why we love to hate each other."
In the recent past, religion has been politicized which has added fuel to the fire. If not controlled, it will engulf and destroy the basic foundation of our social fabric in which our forefathers have invested so much and nourished so dearly.
Swami Vivekananda's Address to the World Parliament of Religions September 1893 AT CHICAGO.
Sisters and Brothers of America,
It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions, and I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.
My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honor of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: "As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."
The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: "Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me." Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.
- Swami Vivekananda
And the speech of Mr.Varun Gandhi:
In March 2009, in an election rally the youngest BJP member Mr.Varun Gandhi addressed a crowed of BJP supporters and said “If anyone raises a finger towards Hindus or if someone thinks that Hindus are weak and leaderless, if someone thinks that these leaders lick our boots for votes, if anyone raises a finger towards Hindus, then I swear on Gita that I will cut that hand.” Continuing in the same vain he said" this is not a 'Hand' (Congress symbol), it is the power of the 'Lotus' (BJP symbol). It will cut the head of ....... Jai Shri Ram."
Recently I read a book , ”THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION” by Karen Armstrong. This is one of the best books I have ever read. The book is about axial age and reveals how ancient philosophies can help us in solving our contemporary problems. In one of the paragraphs it says and I quote:
“The explosion of the first atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki laid bare the nihilistic self-destruction at heart of the brilliant achievements of our modern culture. We have found to our cost that a great university can exist in the same vicinity as a concentration camp. Auschwitz, Rwanda, Bosnia, and the destruction of the World Trade Centre were all dark epiphanies that revealed what can happen when the sense of sacred inviolability of every single human being has been lost. Religion, which is supposed to help us to cultivate this attitude, often seems to reflect the violence and desperation of our times. Almost every day we see examples of religiously motivated terrorism, hatred, and intolerance.”
THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION
By: Karen Armstrong
In the recent past, religion has been politicized which has added fuel to the fire. If not controlled, it will engulf and destroy the basic foundation of our social fabric in which our forefathers have invested so much and nourished so dearly.
Swami Vivekananda's Address to the World Parliament of Religions September 1893 AT CHICAGO.
Sisters and Brothers of America,
It fills my heart with joy unspeakable to rise in response to the warm and cordial welcome which you have given us. I thank you in the name of the most ancient order of monks in the world; I thank you in the name of the mother of religions, and I thank you in the name of millions and millions of Hindu people of all classes and sects.
My thanks, also, to some of the speakers on this platform who, referring to the delegates from the Orient, have told you that these men from far-off nations may well claim the honor of bearing to different lands the idea of toleration. I am proud to belong to a religion which has taught the world both tolerance and universal acceptance. We believe not only in universal toleration, but we accept all religions as true. I am proud to belong to a nation which has sheltered the persecuted and the refugees of all religions and all nations of the earth. I am proud to tell you that we have gathered in our bosom the purest remnant of the Israelites, who came to Southern India and took refuge with us in the very year in which their holy temple was shattered to pieces by Roman tyranny. I am proud to belong to the religion which has sheltered and is still fostering the remnant of the grand Zoroastrian nation. I will quote to you, brethren, a few lines from a hymn which I remember to have repeated from my earliest boyhood, which is every day repeated by millions of human beings: "As the different streams having their sources in different paths which men take through different tendencies, various though they appear, crooked or straight, all lead to Thee."
The present convention, which is one of the most august assemblies ever held, is in itself a vindication, a declaration to the world of the wonderful doctrine preached in the Gita: "Whosoever comes to Me, through whatsoever form, I reach him; all men are struggling through paths which in the end lead to me." Sectarianism, bigotry, and its horrible descendant, fanaticism, have long possessed this beautiful earth. They have filled the earth with violence, drenched it often and often with human blood, destroyed civilization and sent whole nations to despair. Had it not been for these horrible demons, human society would be far more advanced than it is now. But their time is come; and I fervently hope that the bell that tolled this morning in honor of this convention may be the death-knell of all fanaticism, of all persecutions with the sword or with the pen, and of all uncharitable feelings between persons wending their way to the same goal.
- Swami Vivekananda
And the speech of Mr.Varun Gandhi:
In March 2009, in an election rally the youngest BJP member Mr.Varun Gandhi addressed a crowed of BJP supporters and said “If anyone raises a finger towards Hindus or if someone thinks that Hindus are weak and leaderless, if someone thinks that these leaders lick our boots for votes, if anyone raises a finger towards Hindus, then I swear on Gita that I will cut that hand.” Continuing in the same vain he said" this is not a 'Hand' (Congress symbol), it is the power of the 'Lotus' (BJP symbol). It will cut the head of ....... Jai Shri Ram."
Recently I read a book , ”THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION” by Karen Armstrong. This is one of the best books I have ever read. The book is about axial age and reveals how ancient philosophies can help us in solving our contemporary problems. In one of the paragraphs it says and I quote:
“The explosion of the first atomic bombs over Hiroshima and Nagasaki laid bare the nihilistic self-destruction at heart of the brilliant achievements of our modern culture. We have found to our cost that a great university can exist in the same vicinity as a concentration camp. Auschwitz, Rwanda, Bosnia, and the destruction of the World Trade Centre were all dark epiphanies that revealed what can happen when the sense of sacred inviolability of every single human being has been lost. Religion, which is supposed to help us to cultivate this attitude, often seems to reflect the violence and desperation of our times. Almost every day we see examples of religiously motivated terrorism, hatred, and intolerance.”
THE GREAT TRANSFORMATION
By: Karen Armstrong
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
The Hindu way of life: Science of salvation
Numerous definitions of Hindu religion and hindutwa have been put forward by so called custodians of this faith to suite their own personal gains, but I personally feel that following article gives the clear picture of what Hindu religion stands for.
The Hindu civilisation was born on the banks of the river Sindhu, known as the Indus today. When the Persians came, they introduced the term 'Hindu', derived from the Sanskrit word Sindhu, to denote the people who live beyond the river Sindhu. It was a geographical and cultural identity. It had never been a religious identity. Basically, the culture was oriented towards realising one's full potential. It is only recently that attempts have been made to transform a geographical and cultural identity into a religious identity. Hindu was never an 'ism', and the attempt to organise it as a religion cannot succeed because the Hindu way of life, Sanatana Dharma or universal law, is inclusive by nature. It is not an organised belief system; it is a science of salvation. The conflicts in the world have always been projected as good versus bad, but really, the conflict is always one man's belief versus another man's belief. In the past, religion was far more important to people than it is now, but still there were no theocratic states in this culture; the ruler had his religion and the subjects had the freedom to follow theirs. There was no conflict. There is no belief system to the Hindu way of life. You can believe in God or not. Individuals can work out their own way to salvation. If there are five people in your family, each one can worship a god of their choice, or not worship and still be a good Hindu. The Hindu culture is rooted in the spiritual ethos of each individual working towards ultimate liberation as the fundamental goal in life. In the East, spirituality and religion were never an organised process. Organisation was only to the extent of making spirituality available to everybody - not for conquest. A farmer worshipped his plough, a fisherman worshipped his boat; people worshipped whatever aspect of life they related to most, and that was perfectly fine. Essentially, in the East, religion is about you, it is not about God. Religion is about your liberation. God is just one more stepping stone that you can use or skip towards your ultimate liberation. The essential purpose of the God-belief is to create reverence in a person. What you worship is not important. It is not about liking something or disliking it. The object of reverence is irrelevant. If you make reverence the quality of your life, then you become far more receptive to life. Life will happen to you in bigger ways. Hindu culture recognises human welfare and freedom as being of paramount importance as against the prominence of God. People understood that God is of our making and not the other way around. Hence the whole god-making technology evolved into the science of consecrating various types of forms, energy forms and spaces. Hindu gods and goddesses are numerous, from the subtlest to the weirdest. Everything has been explored. The best compliment for this culture came from Mark Twain who had heard so much about Indian mysticism that he decided to travel to India and spend some time here. He said: "Anything that can ever be done either by man or by God has been done in this land." If you explore mysticism in India, it is incredible because it does not come from an organised belief system. It happens as a scientific means to explore dimensions beyond the physical.
Sadhguru .
The Times Of India
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
Ni nada wayini. " We don't need war."
(Click on the picture to enlarge)
"सूर्य को सदा उगने दो
आकाश सदा बना रहे
मेरी मां अमर रहे
तब मैं भी अमर हो जाऊँगा"
Tuesday, January 22, 2008
विरह वेदना
विरह की आग में जलना बुरा है
सजाए सेज फूलों की लगाए आस बैठी थी
बदन था दूर पर तेरे ह्रदय के पास बैठी थी
गगन में चाँद हंसते थे चकोरी खिलखिलाती थी
पिया के पास में बैठी पपीहा मुस्कुराती थी
घटाएं झूमकर आकाश में कुछ कह रहीं थीं
लगा संदेश लाया जब हवाएं गूँजती थीं
वियोग -विदग्ध होकर भी यही है आरजू मेरी
भुलाना मत उसे जो दूर रहकर भी बनी है बंदनी तेरी
तमन्ना थी तुम्हारे साथ रहकर पल बिताने की
बताओ क्या करूं मैं आज इस विरानगी की
बिताऊं जिन्दगी कैसे जिसे तुमने दिया है
विरह की आग मैं जलना बुरा है
सजाए सेज फूलों की लगाए आस बैठी थी
बदन था दूर पर तेरे ह्रदय के पास बैठी थी
गगन में चाँद हंसते थे चकोरी खिलखिलाती थी
पिया के पास में बैठी पपीहा मुस्कुराती थी
घटाएं झूमकर आकाश में कुछ कह रहीं थीं
लगा संदेश लाया जब हवाएं गूँजती थीं
वियोग -विदग्ध होकर भी यही है आरजू मेरी
भुलाना मत उसे जो दूर रहकर भी बनी है बंदनी तेरी
तमन्ना थी तुम्हारे साथ रहकर पल बिताने की
बताओ क्या करूं मैं आज इस विरानगी की
बिताऊं जिन्दगी कैसे जिसे तुमने दिया है
विरह की आग मैं जलना बुरा है
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Friday, January 11, 2008
Preamble
“Sunahari yaaden” is my first poem in Hindi after a gap of nearly 35 years. I used to write poems and short stories during my school days, way back in sixties. I got completely cut-off from Hindi literature when I went to Moscow for higher studies. I don’t even know how it has come up, but I have tried my best to recapture my old memories. I was not in a mood to publish it on my blog but my daughter insisted for it and I have published my tiny little poem today. Sorry, if I have wasted your time.
सुनहरी यादें
वतन से दूर रहकर भी नहीं ऐसा लगा कि दूर हूँ मैं ,
उस मान को सम्मान को कैसे भूलाऊं।
जो यादें बन गईं हैं डोर जीवन की ,
जिसे मैं जी रहा हूँ हर घड़ी कैसे भूलाऊं ।
जो रिश्ते बन गए परदेश में इंसानियत की ,
उसे मिलना यहाँ मुश्किल इसे कैसे बताऊँ ।
जिन मुश्किलों से जूझ कर मैं थक गया था ,
उन मुश्किलों की याद मैं कैसे भूलाऊं ।
ख्वाब देखे थे बहुत पर लक्ष्य कोसों दूर था पर ,
थी तमन्ना एक मन मैं आज मैं कैसे भूलाऊं ।
ज़ंग जीवन है, परिश्रम आ गया था अस्त्र बनकर,
प्रेरणा थी, भाग्य था, भगवान् थे, कैसे भूलाऊं ।
उस मान को सम्मान को कैसे भूलाऊं।
जो यादें बन गईं हैं डोर जीवन की ,
जिसे मैं जी रहा हूँ हर घड़ी कैसे भूलाऊं ।
जो रिश्ते बन गए परदेश में इंसानियत की ,
उसे मिलना यहाँ मुश्किल इसे कैसे बताऊँ ।
जिन मुश्किलों से जूझ कर मैं थक गया था ,
उन मुश्किलों की याद मैं कैसे भूलाऊं ।
ख्वाब देखे थे बहुत पर लक्ष्य कोसों दूर था पर ,
थी तमन्ना एक मन मैं आज मैं कैसे भूलाऊं ।
ज़ंग जीवन है, परिश्रम आ गया था अस्त्र बनकर,
प्रेरणा थी, भाग्य था, भगवान् थे, कैसे भूलाऊं ।
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Many faces of Benazir Bhutto
Benazir Bhutto, Who was she? A martyr or an opportunist. A democrat or an autocrat. A peace lover or a war monger? Many have described her as a product of what Pakistan wanted in a leader; one who could lead them to humble India and get them Kashmir free of pesky Hindus. And she tried to deliver to the best of her ability by applying terror tactics against India. She was the willing mother of jihad and Taliban, the medieval monster in Afghanistan.
She was the one who asked Musharraf, the then Lieutenant General to install and rehabilitate Osama Bin laden in Khandahar, Afghanistan when Osama was thrown out from Sudan under American pressure. When she first visited Muzzafarabad in POK on13th March 1990, in her speech she declared the struggle in Kashmir a “Holy Jihad."
Then why for god sake, our press and electronic media is busy portraying her as “A daughter of the East”, “San Suu Kyi of Myanmar”, and ‘The pioneer of democracy?”
Her speech in ‘India conclave 2007’ in New Delhi is the recent example of her political opportunism to gain sympathy and change people’s mind set in her favor.
Here are a few excerpts from her speech at the conclave:
“ The attack on Samjhauta express demonstrated to us the fragility of a peace process that can be disrupted by those dedicated to violence. The challenge for us is to dismantle the militant cells, so that they can not hold the foreign policy of two independent nation’s hostage to their acts of terror.”
“ When I look at the situation of the tribal areas of Pakistan where the Taliban have regrouped, I see it as an example of the non-cooperation of people in a process. For despite 80,000 Pakistani troops being sent to the tribal areas of Pakistan, our regime was forced in to signing a peace treaty with the militants. Without political participation it is difficult to make lasting advances.”
“ The more I see the devastation of war, of how the vultures descend to feed on the bodies of dead children, the more I am convinced that we must keep our region secure and peaceful for we can not fall our children.”
“ I would like to remind you about the small peace park that is across the UN head quarters in New York. And in that small peace park there is an inscription that reads: they shall beat their swords in to ploughshares, and their spears in to pruning hooks: a nation shall not lift up sword against another nation; neither shall learn war any more."
She might have won a few hearts here in India with emotional speeches, but she can not wash her hands off from the mess she created for the sub-continent in general and India in particular. We might forget but we will never forgive her for the reign of terror that she unleashed against India during her tenure as Prime Minister of Pakistan.
William Dalrymple’s article “Benazir’s deadly legacy” in The Times of India describes it all. And here is what he wrote:
Benazir’s deadly legacy
WHEN, in May 1991, former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi of India was killed by a suicide bomber, there was an international outpouring of grief. Recent days have seen the same with the death of Benazir Bhutto: another glamorous, Western-educated scion of a great South Asian political dynasty tragically assassinated at an election rally.
There is, however, an important difference between the two deaths: while Mr. Gandhi was assassinated by Sri Lankan Hindu extremists because of his policy of confronting them, Ms. Bhutto was apparently the victim of Islamist militant groups that she allowed to flourish under her administrations in the 1980s and 1990s.
It was under Ms. Bhutto’s watch that the Pakistani intelligence agency, Inter-Services Intelligence, first installed the Taliban in Afghanistan. It was also at that time that hundreds of young Islamic militants were recruited from the madrassas to do the agency’s dirty work in Indian Kashmir. It seems that, like some terrorist equivalent of Frankenstein’s monster, the extremists turned on both the person and the state that had helped bring them into being.
While it is true that the recruitment of jihadists had started before she took office and that Ms. Bhutto was insufficiently strong — or competent — to have had full control over either the intelligence services or the Pakistani Army when she was in office, it is equally naïve to believe she had no influence over her country’s foreign policy toward its two most important neighbors, India and Afghanistan.
Everyone now knows how disastrous the rule of the Taliban turned out to be in Afghanistan, how brutally it subjected women and how it allowed Al Qaeda to train in camps within its territory. But another, and in the long term perhaps equally perilous, legacy of Ms. Bhutto’s tenure is often forgotten: the turning of Kashmir into a jihadist playground.
In 1989, when the insurgency in the Indian portion of the disputed region first began, it was largely an amateur affair of young, secular-minded Kashmiri Muslims rising village by village and wielding homemade weapons — firearms fashioned from the steering shafts of rickshaws and so on. By the early ’90s, however, Pakistan was sending over the border thousands of well-trained, heavily armed and ideologically hardened jihadis. Some were the same sorts of exiled Arab radicals who were at the same time forming Al Qaeda in Peshawar, in northwestern Pakistan.
By 1993, during Ms. Bhutto’s second term, the Arab and Afghan jihadis (and their Inter-Services Intelligence masters) had really begun to take over the uprising from the locals. It was at this stage that the secular leadership of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front began losing ground to hard-line Islamist outfits like Hizbul Mujahedeen.
I asked Benazir Bhutto about her Kashmir policy and the potential dangers of the growing role of religious extremists in the conflict during an interview in 1994. “India tries to gloss over its policy of repression in Kashmir,” she replied. “India does have might, but has been unable to crush the people of Kashmir. We are not prepared to keep silent, and collude with repression.”
Hamid Gul, who was the head of the intelligence agency during her first administration, was more forthcoming still. “The Kashmiri people have risen up,” he told me, “and it is the national purpose of Pakistan to help liberate them.” He continued, “If the jihadis go out and contain India, tying down their army on their own soil, for a legitimate cause, why should we not support them?”
Benazir Bhutto’s death is, of course, a calamity, particularly as she embodied the hopes of so many liberal Pakistanis. But, contrary to the commentary we’ve seen in the last week, she was not comparable to Myanmar’s Daw Aung San Suu Kyi. Ms. Bhutto’s governments were widely criticized by Amnesty International and other groups for their use of death squads and terrible record on deaths in police custody, abductions and torture. As for her democratic bona fides, she had no qualms about banning rallies by opposing political parties while in power.
Within her own party, she declared herself the president for life and controlled all decisions. She rejected her brother Murtaza’s bid to challenge her for its leadership and when he persisted, he was shot dead in highly suspicious circumstances during a police ambush outside the Bhutto family home.
Benazir Bhutto was certainly a brave and secular-minded woman. But the obituaries painting her as dying to save democracy distort history. Instead, she was a natural autocrat who did little for human rights, a calculating politician who was complicit in Pakistan’s becoming the region’s principal jihadi paymaster while she also ramped up an insurgency in Kashmir that has brought two nuclear powers to the brink of war.
William Dalrymple.
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Street Kid
I worked like a slave in your farm that you owned
You promised me the things, as a child I deserved
I begged for a shelter, I begged for food
I begged for my childhood, you threw me on the street
And here I am, a street kid, that you made
I live on the alms, that you hardly spare
I have no home, no food, no clothes to wear
I pick what you throw as garbage in the rear.
You promised me the things, as a child I deserved
I begged for a shelter, I begged for food
I begged for my childhood, you threw me on the street
And here I am, a street kid, that you made
I live on the alms, that you hardly spare
I have no home, no food, no clothes to wear
I pick what you throw as garbage in the rear.
-Baldeo Saha
photographer- Jon Warren
© Jon Warren/The Photo Project
Sunday, December 16, 2007
Silent Spectator
Our ‘Chalata Hai Attitude’ has made us a silent spectator of every thing wrong that happens around us. We silently watch all kinds of human right violations, destruction of democratic norms, communal violence incited by political parties, caste related killings of innocent people, criminalization of our political system, police brutalities on civilian population and so on and so on. The list is much bigger than we can imagine.
What have we learnt from 1984 Sikh riot? Scores of Sikhs were killed in retaliatory progroms. It did not stop there. We watched the horrifying images of Gujarat riot in 2004, where all norms of human dignity were violated. Thousands men, women and children were massacred. Women were raped before they were killed. Where were the law-enforcement agencies then, when these atrocities were being carried out on innocent people?
What happened in Nandi Gram is a burning example of political conspiracy to enforce certain political ideology on the unwilling and under-privileged, village population. The entire village was run over by the thugs hired by politicians to suppress the popular voice of the villagers. In the process many innocent villagers were brutalized and killed.
Recently it was on TV, that young kids, over 10 years of age were employed to plough and level soggy farm land in a village of vaishali district (Bihar) owned by a Union Minister for rural development. What an irony? A union Minister of central government, who is legally bound to give poor children their childhood back by enforcing the Child labor act, was found himself in violation of the act.
How long are we going to be the silent spectator of these horrifying incidents and keep on sending inefficient representatives to the parliament with criminal backgrounds who lack accountability? Holding election on regular intervals is not the only ingredient of a vibrant democracy, it is one of them. But we have failed to understand this and God only knows when ours will be a true democratic society.
Many years ago the expert statesman, Chanakya wrote:
“The sacred task of a King is to strive for the welfare of his people incessantly. The administration of the kingdom is his religious duty. His greatest gift would be to treat all as equals.”
“The happiness of the commoners is the happiness of the king. Their welfare is his welfare. A King should never think of his personal interest of welfare, but should try to find his joy in the joy of his subjects.”
This was written 2300 years ago but none of our contemporary leaders (kings) have learnt anything from this great statesman. Then, when do you think they will learn?
What have we learnt from 1984 Sikh riot? Scores of Sikhs were killed in retaliatory progroms. It did not stop there. We watched the horrifying images of Gujarat riot in 2004, where all norms of human dignity were violated. Thousands men, women and children were massacred. Women were raped before they were killed. Where were the law-enforcement agencies then, when these atrocities were being carried out on innocent people?
What happened in Nandi Gram is a burning example of political conspiracy to enforce certain political ideology on the unwilling and under-privileged, village population. The entire village was run over by the thugs hired by politicians to suppress the popular voice of the villagers. In the process many innocent villagers were brutalized and killed.
Recently it was on TV, that young kids, over 10 years of age were employed to plough and level soggy farm land in a village of vaishali district (Bihar) owned by a Union Minister for rural development. What an irony? A union Minister of central government, who is legally bound to give poor children their childhood back by enforcing the Child labor act, was found himself in violation of the act.
How long are we going to be the silent spectator of these horrifying incidents and keep on sending inefficient representatives to the parliament with criminal backgrounds who lack accountability? Holding election on regular intervals is not the only ingredient of a vibrant democracy, it is one of them. But we have failed to understand this and God only knows when ours will be a true democratic society.
Many years ago the expert statesman, Chanakya wrote:
“The sacred task of a King is to strive for the welfare of his people incessantly. The administration of the kingdom is his religious duty. His greatest gift would be to treat all as equals.”
“The happiness of the commoners is the happiness of the king. Their welfare is his welfare. A King should never think of his personal interest of welfare, but should try to find his joy in the joy of his subjects.”
This was written 2300 years ago but none of our contemporary leaders (kings) have learnt anything from this great statesman. Then, when do you think they will learn?
Friday, December 7, 2007
I am a socialist
“I am a socialist, not because I think it is a perfect system,
but half a loaf of bread is better than no bread.”
I do not remember where did I read this, but it is so very relevant to our society, we are living in.
but half a loaf of bread is better than no bread.”
I do not remember where did I read this, but it is so very relevant to our society, we are living in.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
The tainted Society and making of a Hero
Whatever might have been the intention behind creating the caste system by our ‘Noble men’, it has tarnished the fragile image of our society in the eyes of civilized world. We have always been teaching others against apartheid and racial discrimination but we have ourselves been ruthlessly practicing the worst kind of discrimination under the rap of our past glory. Not only the political leaders and religious preachers, but our most popular and sacred books like Maha Bharata (Dronacharya rejected Eklavya, a son of Sudra, as a potential student to his ashrama ), and Ramayana (Sudra, named Sambuka, was killed by Rama for reading the Veda.), have been teaching discrimination based on caste system.
God only knows how many souls have been tortured and massacred in the caste related violence. Our memories are still fresh with the massacre of Khairlanji dalits. On September 29, 2006, a mob of upper-caste men beat to death the whole family of a Dalit, Bhotmange. Before the women were beaten to death, they were raped. These incidents are well documented by human right activists and other non-governmental organizations, but very little or nothing has been done to break the vicious circle of casteism and stop this kind of human carnage.
I will leave you to read a little known secret about 1857 sepoy uprising by “ Raja Sekhar Vundru” which he wrote for TOI and decide whether Mangal Pandey was a hero or a protector of his upper-caste glory.
1857: The untouchable story.
Any historic event properly dramatized would make a good film, be it Robert Clive (1935, USA) or Mangal Pandey – The Rising (2005, India). The transformation of the military history of the sepoy mutiny in to the social history of the first war of independence has already taken a good deal of historian’s time. Still, the underlying facts need re-examination.
On February 11, 1857, Major General J. B Hearsey, commanding the Bengal Presidency Army reported an incident from Berrakpore to Colonel R. J. H Birch, military secretary to the East India Company : A high – cast Brahmin sepoy was stopped by an untouchable khalasi employed at the ammunition depot. The thirsty untouchable sought some water from the Brahmin’s lota. The Brahmin sepoy refused, as the untouchable’s touch would defile the vessel. The Khalasi taunted the sepoy, “You think of your cast, but wait a little, the sahib-log will make you bite cartridges soaked in cow and pork fat, and then where will your cast be?”
Soon the rumour about the cartridges for the new Enfield rifle spread in the Bengal Army. The high-cast Brahmin sepoy who dominated the army refused to use the new cartridges. The Muslim sepoys were equally enraged.
Unlike the Bombay Army, which has a predominance of untouchable Mahars ( with a pre-colonial military history) or the Madras Army with its Pariah and Mala untouchables, the Bengal Army had a high presence of Brahmins. Lord William Bentick in 1826 was highly critical of the Bengal Army, which had only a few low- cast sepoy, and was inefficient and expensive army.
Sir Charles Napier, the commanding officer of the Bengal Army in 1850, noted that if high cast Hindus were to opt between their cast and military discipline, they would sacrifice the latter. Fear of loss of cast prompted the Bengal Army’s high cast sepoys to refuse to travel overseas, bury their brethren in the war field and eat food cooked by low-cast untouchables (who were traditionally the company’s cook with no qualms in handling beef and pork).
B. R Ambedkar, from a Mahar military lineage, argued in the 1930s that the British established its rule in India with the help of valorous untouchable soldiers. The Bengal Army, which fought the battle of plassey, was largely composed of Dushads. The Anglo- Maratha wars, which let the British in to western India were won by Mahars of the Bombay Army. The Madras army which defeated Tipu Sultan in the south, was of untouchable pariah and Malas.
But the social composition of the company’s army changed after the British raised 74 regiment’s native Bengal infantry, between 1757 and 1825. High-caste Hindus chiefly Brahmins, drawn from the military labour markets of Awadh and Bihar, dominated all these new regiments. Soon the British realized the role of caste vis-vis loyalty, valour and discipline. Hence they recruited 24 regiments of Panjabi Infantry between 1846 and 1857, mostly from untouchable, Mzabhi Sikhs to balance the caste composition of the army.
For sepoys like Mangal Pandey and other high-caste men, cast came before their military carrier. Biting cartridges coated with cow fat was a dreadful prospect that led to loss of caste. Such fear ignited the mutiny of the first war of independence. Caste and religious loyalty once again took precedence over military discipline 127 years later, when a few sikh soldiers deserted Indian Army after the 1984 Operation Bluestar.
But the savage massacre of British women and children on July 15, 1857 by sepoys
at Bibi-ghar, Cawnpore, which Karl Marx compares to the practice of the Christian Byzantine Empire, was a pointer to the ritualistic killings done by high caste men when confronted with a threat to their caste. A modern day analogy would be the butchering of low caste women and children by Ranvir Sena.
Finally, it was the untouchable Mzabhi Sikh soldiers who broke the sepoy’s siege of Delhi on September 15, 1857. The Mahars and Pariahs from Bombay and Madras armies were pressed into service. A re-reading of history could even bring out poetic justice in the great historic moment – events that began with the refusal of water to an untouchable by a high-caste Brahmin sepoy, were put to an end by untouchable soldiers. So much for the ‘rising’ of Mangal Pandey.
“ Raja Sekhar Vundru” TOI
God only knows how many souls have been tortured and massacred in the caste related violence. Our memories are still fresh with the massacre of Khairlanji dalits. On September 29, 2006, a mob of upper-caste men beat to death the whole family of a Dalit, Bhotmange. Before the women were beaten to death, they were raped. These incidents are well documented by human right activists and other non-governmental organizations, but very little or nothing has been done to break the vicious circle of casteism and stop this kind of human carnage.
I will leave you to read a little known secret about 1857 sepoy uprising by “ Raja Sekhar Vundru” which he wrote for TOI and decide whether Mangal Pandey was a hero or a protector of his upper-caste glory.
1857: The untouchable story.
Any historic event properly dramatized would make a good film, be it Robert Clive (1935, USA) or Mangal Pandey – The Rising (2005, India). The transformation of the military history of the sepoy mutiny in to the social history of the first war of independence has already taken a good deal of historian’s time. Still, the underlying facts need re-examination.
On February 11, 1857, Major General J. B Hearsey, commanding the Bengal Presidency Army reported an incident from Berrakpore to Colonel R. J. H Birch, military secretary to the East India Company : A high – cast Brahmin sepoy was stopped by an untouchable khalasi employed at the ammunition depot. The thirsty untouchable sought some water from the Brahmin’s lota. The Brahmin sepoy refused, as the untouchable’s touch would defile the vessel. The Khalasi taunted the sepoy, “You think of your cast, but wait a little, the sahib-log will make you bite cartridges soaked in cow and pork fat, and then where will your cast be?”
Soon the rumour about the cartridges for the new Enfield rifle spread in the Bengal Army. The high-cast Brahmin sepoy who dominated the army refused to use the new cartridges. The Muslim sepoys were equally enraged.
Unlike the Bombay Army, which has a predominance of untouchable Mahars ( with a pre-colonial military history) or the Madras Army with its Pariah and Mala untouchables, the Bengal Army had a high presence of Brahmins. Lord William Bentick in 1826 was highly critical of the Bengal Army, which had only a few low- cast sepoy, and was inefficient and expensive army.
Sir Charles Napier, the commanding officer of the Bengal Army in 1850, noted that if high cast Hindus were to opt between their cast and military discipline, they would sacrifice the latter. Fear of loss of cast prompted the Bengal Army’s high cast sepoys to refuse to travel overseas, bury their brethren in the war field and eat food cooked by low-cast untouchables (who were traditionally the company’s cook with no qualms in handling beef and pork).
B. R Ambedkar, from a Mahar military lineage, argued in the 1930s that the British established its rule in India with the help of valorous untouchable soldiers. The Bengal Army, which fought the battle of plassey, was largely composed of Dushads. The Anglo- Maratha wars, which let the British in to western India were won by Mahars of the Bombay Army. The Madras army which defeated Tipu Sultan in the south, was of untouchable pariah and Malas.
But the social composition of the company’s army changed after the British raised 74 regiment’s native Bengal infantry, between 1757 and 1825. High-caste Hindus chiefly Brahmins, drawn from the military labour markets of Awadh and Bihar, dominated all these new regiments. Soon the British realized the role of caste vis-vis loyalty, valour and discipline. Hence they recruited 24 regiments of Panjabi Infantry between 1846 and 1857, mostly from untouchable, Mzabhi Sikhs to balance the caste composition of the army.
For sepoys like Mangal Pandey and other high-caste men, cast came before their military carrier. Biting cartridges coated with cow fat was a dreadful prospect that led to loss of caste. Such fear ignited the mutiny of the first war of independence. Caste and religious loyalty once again took precedence over military discipline 127 years later, when a few sikh soldiers deserted Indian Army after the 1984 Operation Bluestar.
But the savage massacre of British women and children on July 15, 1857 by sepoys
at Bibi-ghar, Cawnpore, which Karl Marx compares to the practice of the Christian Byzantine Empire, was a pointer to the ritualistic killings done by high caste men when confronted with a threat to their caste. A modern day analogy would be the butchering of low caste women and children by Ranvir Sena.
Finally, it was the untouchable Mzabhi Sikh soldiers who broke the sepoy’s siege of Delhi on September 15, 1857. The Mahars and Pariahs from Bombay and Madras armies were pressed into service. A re-reading of history could even bring out poetic justice in the great historic moment – events that began with the refusal of water to an untouchable by a high-caste Brahmin sepoy, were put to an end by untouchable soldiers. So much for the ‘rising’ of Mangal Pandey.
“ Raja Sekhar Vundru” TOI
Saturday, November 24, 2007
The things that get rewarded, get done.
A weekend fisherman looked over the side of his boat and saw a
snake with a frog in its mouth. Feeling sorry for the frog, he
reached down, gently removed it from the snake’s mouth and let
it goes free. But now he felt sorry for the hungry snake. Having
no food, he took out a flask of bourbon and poured a few drops
into the sneak’s mouth. The snake swam away happy,
the frog was happy, and the fisher man was happy for having
performed such good deeds. He thought all was well until a few
minutes passed and he heard something knock against the side
of his boat. The fisherman looked down and with stunned
disbelief, he saw the snake was back – this time with two frogs!
This fable carries two important messages:
(1) You get what you reward.
(2) We often reward inappropriate behaviors, while ignoring – or
even punishing – correct ones.
Michael LeBoeuf.
“The greatest Management Principle in the world”
snake with a frog in its mouth. Feeling sorry for the frog, he
reached down, gently removed it from the snake’s mouth and let
it goes free. But now he felt sorry for the hungry snake. Having
no food, he took out a flask of bourbon and poured a few drops
into the sneak’s mouth. The snake swam away happy,
the frog was happy, and the fisher man was happy for having
performed such good deeds. He thought all was well until a few
minutes passed and he heard something knock against the side
of his boat. The fisherman looked down and with stunned
disbelief, he saw the snake was back – this time with two frogs!
This fable carries two important messages:
(1) You get what you reward.
(2) We often reward inappropriate behaviors, while ignoring – or
even punishing – correct ones.
Michael LeBoeuf.
“The greatest Management Principle in the world”
Monday, November 19, 2007
India shining
Incredible India, the fastest growing economy in the world after China, I .T giant, assembly line producer of engineers and managers that feeds the entire corporate world all over. India wants modernity, super fast computers, information technology, video on demand but there is no guarantee of constant supply of electricity in any part of the country. It is convinced that it can jump over the basics.
It wants to develop super fast computers, promote medical tourism and provide advance cardiac surgery and ultra modern diagnostic facilities while easily avoidable child hood diseases are spreading rampantly amongst the underprivileged, sell washing machines that depends on non-existent water supply, drive scores of fast accelerating sophisticated new cars without any roads, go to the moon ignoring the basic transport requirements to it’s citizen.
India has the third largest pool of skilled labor in the world but nearly a third of them are illiterates, can’t read or write.
It wants to develop super fast computers, promote medical tourism and provide advance cardiac surgery and ultra modern diagnostic facilities while easily avoidable child hood diseases are spreading rampantly amongst the underprivileged, sell washing machines that depends on non-existent water supply, drive scores of fast accelerating sophisticated new cars without any roads, go to the moon ignoring the basic transport requirements to it’s citizen.
India has the third largest pool of skilled labor in the world but nearly a third of them are illiterates, can’t read or write.
Friday, November 16, 2007
Prophecies
1947 marks only the first of many partitions of India.
Sooner rather than later India will split into several
States or countries as it was before the British intervention.
“Last commander-in-chief of the British army in India, Field Marshal Claude Auchinlek"
Hinduism would wither away as western learning
spreads across the country. To accelerate this process,
all teaching must be done in English and based on
English texts. Exposure to British ideas and patterns
of thinking would in time create an Indian elite, which
would demand self- government.
“Thomas Macaulay, chairman of a 1833 committee
on educational policy”.
Sooner rather than later India will split into several
States or countries as it was before the British intervention.
“Last commander-in-chief of the British army in India, Field Marshal Claude Auchinlek"
Hinduism would wither away as western learning
spreads across the country. To accelerate this process,
all teaching must be done in English and based on
English texts. Exposure to British ideas and patterns
of thinking would in time create an Indian elite, which
would demand self- government.
“Thomas Macaulay, chairman of a 1833 committee
on educational policy”.
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Greatest Glory
The greatest glory of living lies not in never
falling but in rising every time you fall.
“Nelson Mandela”
They said it then
Power will go to the hands of rascals, rogues, and freebooters.
All Indian leaders will be of low caliber and men of straw. They
will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight among
themselves for power and I India will be lost in political squabbles.
"Winston Churchill, on the eve of India’s independence"
All Indian leaders will be of low caliber and men of straw. They
will have sweet tongues and silly hearts. They will fight among
themselves for power and I India will be lost in political squabbles.
"Winston Churchill, on the eve of India’s independence"
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
The festival of lights in the land of abundance
It was Diwali, the festival of lights. The whole atmosphere was polluted
with the smoke emitted by the fire crackers, sparklers (phool jhari), flower pots ( Anar) and what not. Though the entire township was decorated with all shapes and sizes
of fancy lights, it was looking like a war zone. The entire street was littered with burnt fire work Materials. Children were screaming at the top of their voices. Parents were encouraging their pampered children to fire as many crackers as they wish. Who cares!
As we were approaching to light a candle at the gate, we saw a tiny little girl, bare footed, dressed in rags hiding behind a tree near our house. She was watching the whole tamasha with excitement and she was enjoying every bit of it. At that moment she apparently forgot that she does not belong to this affluent crowd.
When we tried to go nearer, she got scared and moved away in panic. We comforted her
and called her to join us in what ever we were doing. She first hesitated but later
agreed. We gave her some candle and sparklers (phool jhari) to light and join us in the celebration. We could see happiness and smile on her face. She played for a while
ate some sweets and looked at us with a great sense of satisfaction and gratitude. She then left in the darkness, I do not know where to.
We call it a national festival. What does it mean to the underprivileged in the land of abundance?
with the smoke emitted by the fire crackers, sparklers (phool jhari), flower pots ( Anar) and what not. Though the entire township was decorated with all shapes and sizes
of fancy lights, it was looking like a war zone. The entire street was littered with burnt fire work Materials. Children were screaming at the top of their voices. Parents were encouraging their pampered children to fire as many crackers as they wish. Who cares!
As we were approaching to light a candle at the gate, we saw a tiny little girl, bare footed, dressed in rags hiding behind a tree near our house. She was watching the whole tamasha with excitement and she was enjoying every bit of it. At that moment she apparently forgot that she does not belong to this affluent crowd.
When we tried to go nearer, she got scared and moved away in panic. We comforted her
and called her to join us in what ever we were doing. She first hesitated but later
agreed. We gave her some candle and sparklers (phool jhari) to light and join us in the celebration. We could see happiness and smile on her face. She played for a while
ate some sweets and looked at us with a great sense of satisfaction and gratitude. She then left in the darkness, I do not know where to.
We call it a national festival. What does it mean to the underprivileged in the land of abundance?
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