A Socio-Politically Inclined Onlooker

Occupy!….A Long Way to Go!?

2011-10-27T22:54:00.000-07:00

the jobless and the homeless have always been so,

everywhere. they occupied - simply occupied the walls

and streets of every city, every nook and corner

loitering, eating, sleeping, with no hope or purpose

tendering a vacant look on passers by,

until one fine day awakened by a call

to Occupy Wall Street,

and Occupy all streets

to Occupy, On purpose.

and then, it went beyond them,

who loiter in the streets, the less fortunate

the jobless, the homeless, the helpless, and the hapless

it’s ‘We’ - add the working class

the more fortunate, the sheltered, the helpful

the hopeful, and then ’We’ are 99 %’

a 99%, who don’t see themselves

stinking rich will possibly drive them,

the 1%, the speculators, out of their foul hubs,

out of their greed and banish them to the suburbs

of the afflicted hearts of men and women,

to show them how humanity differs

from societies and markets

to tell them, the 1%, that ‘We, the 99%’

are not at fault always for what happens

to ‘Us’-

to ask them to correct, correct themselves

their systems, for a fair ground

but Occupants- is it just a riposte

to their greed?-

is our greed under check?

true welfare, social equality, economic justice

a dream? a far-flung possibility -

revolutions on purpose can turn

impossibilities into possibilities

haps a long way to go…a long way to go!

Anna Hazare’s Anti-Corruption campaign, which Occupied the Indian streets in the past months (though the discourse is now mired in the cauldron of protest politics); the Occupy Wall Street campaign, and the Occupy Movement, which started with a call by the Adbusters and sprung up in major cities in the US and elsewhere and such other movements and popular protests against governments and big businesses across the globe – sure, point to the dormant but now rising public strife against the corrupt politico-economic systems that widen the gap between the rich and the poor, globally. About the way governments and some businesses join to dupe the public - bailing the big businesses out with tax payer money and no accountability being just one of the many ways.

The world today looks like a melting pot. A melting pot of discontent and frustrations.

To wish for a tabula rasa of sorts, to sweep clean all systems and start fresh could be Utopian, isn't a possibility. But there ought to be ways, legal and non-violent, to ensure cleaning up of the systems, and of mindsets, a much needed clean-up.

‘Hope in the midst of Chaos’ (http://devika-theunheardvoice.blogspot.com/2008/09/hope-in-midst-of-chaos.html) was in 2008.

From September 2008 when the US markets failed to Occupy Wall Street – It took three years for ‘We, the people’ to understand and to react. Much proverbial water has flowed under the bridge…..and indeed a long way to go…..to reach any juncture that may be called fruition.

I am not sure, despite being a revolutionary in my heart of hearts, these movements are failing to make the cut with me. Is it because the general notion, the modern ideology that ‘Greed is Good,’ propounded by the Capitalist West has become an accepted norm, and that most people I see today, in my country too, especially the young, are headed that way. And the acquired knowledge that greed is second nature to man; to talk of the latest, else why would a mobile phone company portray a young yogi, though a seemingly fake one at that, to endorse the product with a ‘Greed is Good’ slogan - could be a joke, but not without reason, for sure. And that greed will not cease in man, no matter what. Not very sure…possibly all that and more.

Or may be I have reached an age and stage, where I am not too thrilled about all the hullabaloo of protests, the politics of protests itself, which burns down to nothingness, eventually. Nothingness, because ideologies do not go forward without compromises, and in the name of pragmatism, ideologies are sometimes compromised and watered down to zilch.

But, what could be significant is the creation of awareness.

As I stick to my ‘Greed isn’t ever Good’ ideology (Paradoxically, such ideologues could also be a meager ‘One Percent,’ or much less, in the present times? The irony of it all?), watching and tracking these movements and the ensuing systemic and governance changes – I mean the likely changes, both in business and government – would be interesting, in no less terms. Especially, when one doesn't know the way it all would go.

Photo courtesy: as per original copyright at:

http://www.dailyfumes.com

Happy Diwali!

2011-10-22T21:30:00.000-07:00

evening songs

between the breaths

hearts of light

‘Let there be light’ ~ Happy Diwali to you all!

Photo courtesy: as per original copyright at:

http://craftsfromindia.gyanin.com/2010/07/08/clay-terracotta-craft-india/earthen-diyaslamps-lit-during-diwali/

Planning Commission, a heron & some thoughts...

2011-09-21T22:15:00.000-07:00

The Planning Commission of India has reportedly said in its affidavit to the Supreme Court that people spending more than INR32.00 a day in urban areas and INR26.00 a day in villages are no longer poor and will not be eligible to get the benefits of government schemes meant for those living below the ‘Below Poverty-line' (BPL). That would mean those who spend an average of INR32/INR26 a day have their ‘roti, kapda aur makaan’ (food, clothing and housing) in place – the government is setting new standards for the reality that India is! But, much to ponder considering what India is projecting itself to be, internationally:

while pondering uselessly after reading the online news, a scene from an April evening comes back to my mind:

twilight over wheat fields

through the space between darkness

and light,

the last cry of a grey heron

trilling the sky

Seemed, he had not got that day’s catch. Grey herons, much like me, like to have fish. They may eat amphibians, rodents, reptiles, small birds etc, but fish is their main food. The wheat field could just have been ripe for other birds, but herons and wheat? They blink and look the other way, the same way I would do with wheat rotis and vegetable dishes. Of course, for when hunger strikes, I don’t strike with it; anything would go. If one thinks about it, half of what we eat is eaten without real hunger...then we go exercising the bodies, and exorcising the ghosts!

No, just saying…it is all one’s choice, for those who can afford to have the choice…

But now, the heron makes me think of all the people,with an income of INR32 a day, or say anyone, in the cities who like me would wish to have fish in their daily diet, but cannot afford. In the villages, one just need to go fishing or one can have it for so much less than it costs in cities. Not so in cities, where every darn comes with a price….

To live on less definitely has lessons for joyful living and contentment. Lessen the clutter, on your plate or on your mind, you definitely feel light and joyous. But will the poor, or those that just pushed through the poverty line, ever know that? Amid their toil, each day past is so much better....?

On the other hand, do the super rich in their indulgence find time for realising the joy? Or always live in the tension of maintaining status-quo? Or is indulgence in itself a joyous thing...I wouldn't know, and I could be wrong when reading how others think and feel...No individual life offers itself for a transparent reading to an outsider...

But, the plight of in-betweens, the class I belong to – Nothing short of the joys of ordinary, simple living and be happy for the way it is...

Not that I have huge ambitions when it comes to material things. Practically not a thing in my list of cravings...And, perhaps much like many of us or may be not, my ambitions have always been limited, very limited, for the simple reason, I like it that way.

But Planning Commission of India must know, Indians, irrespective of class and creed, too need to have a choice when it comes to living…if not now, in the long run. If not for us, for future generations…

Photo courtesy: as per original copyright at:

http://www.printable-color-pictures.com/sunset_pictures.html

The Autumn of Authoritarianism

2011-03-05T08:52:00.000-08:00

Well, so much out of season, but the world has been witnessing an autumn in these months- a rather different kind of autumn. The kind of autumn Gabriel García Márquez speaks about in ‘The Autumn of the Patriarchs’. Dictators and authoritarian regimes have come down, or forced to come down, like leaves into the pages of history, amid popular public protests.

Not what someone expected when the year started, regardless of the news of protests and demonstrations in Tunisia. Not me. Despite being a wild dreamer of sorts, often being in my own Utopia dreaming of world political systems based on Marxist/Leninist ideologies of classless societies, run on true democratic principles by welfare oriented governments, I have not imagined these years would be marking the last of those epochs in the history of authoritarian rule. Not so fast, anyway.

On the contrary, living in a rather ripe, yet cantankerous democracy with little political principles on either side of spectrum, I had sometimes thought autocracy was better. A rather raw thought*, nevertheless a thought when one is left to watch the dance of the political puppets for power, in comparison to the kind of rulers I’ve heard of as having ruled my home state –from the mythological Mahabali to the last ruling Maharaja, Shri Chithira Thirunal of the princely state of Travancore. But that is a different story, a different time period.

And, those were stories of the just rulers. Not the likes of 82-year old Hosni Mubarak, or Ben Ali, who wouldn’t quit until hundreds die on the streets.

Perhaps our country too would have had our share of dictatorial rulers and kings in the past. But, it has been my wonder how the Arab/Muslim nations and populace have succumbed to dictators for such long tenures in the modern history, with out any major mass protests. It’s hard to imagine how an Arab nation, like Egypt, which was once the cradle of human civilisation taken to Enlightenment values, offering the most advanced form of governance and management since the time of Pharaohs, has given in for 30 years to a dictator, who was in turn dictated by the US and who dutifully responded to American geopolitical interests in the region.

But people, especially the oppressed ones, will rise in revolt. And it is reassuring that the uprisings across the Arab world have not been prompted by factionalism of any kind, political or religious, but a more secular call for a truly democratic and fair economic order.

Yet, the question remains whether the rising spirit of democracy, human rights and corruption-free governance will soon be glossed over by the pseudo democratisation of the political system with the intervention of the West, especially its biggest political and military ally, the US.

The pace with which the rebellion, helped by the modern social media, spread across the region like an explosive chain reaction has been phenomenal. Again, question remains whether the Twitter/Facebook revolutionaries influenced by the American democratic rhetoric, will remain united and go further with their socio-political agenda, or give up on them as time marches on.

Only time will tell.

Will they look beyond the dictators to see the systems that need to be set in place for free and fair democratic order? It is worth a thought that people in established democracies such as India are more than happy with our individual right to vote, with no idea as to what the collective outcome would mean, and watch the ensuing political drama over our evening meals, or ignore it altogether and go about ‘our’ business.

Yet, the recent uprising is a sign.

A sign that no global political leader can probably chose to ignore.

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*That could go in for the making of a full length post, but well, it’s only a personal observation that is not categorical in any manner, and not at all considering the merits of democracy v. autocracy. If only practical politics meant a translation of political ideologies, the thought needs a further consideration.

Photo courtesy: as per original copyright at:

http://www.relativitycorp.com/web2promotions/article6.html

Long Live The Republic!

2011-01-25T20:07:00.000-08:00

Wish all fellow Indians

a Happy Republic Day!

*******

Photo courtesy: as per original copyright at:

http://www.allaboutindia.org/

Happy New Year!

2010-12-31T20:59:00.000-08:00

Wish you a happy and prosperous 2011

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Photo courtesy: Tim Hamilton as per original copyright at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/bestrated1/341866875/
.

A Reason to Smile...

2010-11-13T23:44:00.000-08:00

A happy day for me….amongst millions of others across the world….

Myanmar’s pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi has been unconditionally released from seven years under house arrest (the latest term).

A woman and life, I started following in 1989, with her first house arrest. In the last 21 years, the 65-year old leader was under house arrest for more than 15 years. The political prisoner’s life and history has posed many questions about basic human rights under the military junta, as against the misuse of it in the so-called democracies. That is a different matter altogether, needs a different treatment, and this is not the occasion.

Here – her release – is a reason to smile-- in a world that doesn’t often give much reason to smile…

After her release, accepting the flowers tossed by a supporter, she calls her people to work towards achieving genuine democracy. And, there could be no democracy without discipline, she emphasises.

Another reason to smile….

But, when will Myanmar, and the world, grow up to that level? Will it ever?

No, I am inclined to take back the thought. Let the smile be there….and the hope.

***********

Photo courtesy: as per original copyright at:

http://www.unpo.org/article/8663

Happy Independence Day!

2010-08-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

Happy Independence Day to my Indian friends!

Sharing two poems by Ravindranath Tagore – On the freedom he envisioned for our country…

1. Freedom

Freedom from fear is the freedom
I claim for you my motherland!

Freedom from the burden of the ages, bending your head,
breaking your back, blinding your eyes to the beckoning
call of the future;

Freedom from the shackles of slumber wherewith
you fasten yourself in night's stillness,
mistrusting the star that speaks of truth's adventurous paths;

Freedom from the anarchy of destiny
whole sails are weakly yielded to the blind uncertain winds,
and the helm to a hand ever rigid and cold as death.

Freedom from the insult of dwelling in a puppet's world,
where movements are started through brainless wires,
repeated through mindless habits,
where figures wait with patience and obedience

for the master of show,
to be stirred into a mimicry of life.

2. Let My Country Awake

Where the mind is without fear and the head is held high;
Where knowledge is free;
Where the world has not been broken up into
fragments by narrow domestic walls;
Where the words come out from the depth of truth;
Where tireless striving stretches its arms towards perfection;
Where the clear stream of reason has not lost its way into the dreary desert sand of dead habit;
Where the mind is led forward by thee into ever-widening thought and action –
Into that heaven of freedom, my Father, let my country awake.

Rabindranath Tagore

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PS: My break continues….I’m into some projects requiring more of my time…And I won’t be able to spare much time for blogging and commenting, until at least October. Will be posting only once in a while,

So, Happy Blogging!
As always, will be reading and enjoying your works :)

wishes,
devika

Photo: As per original copyright at:
http://www.studentorg.umd.edu/desi/independence/flyer15aug2.jpg

Getting Real…With the Economy

2010-06-26T07:19:00.000-07:00

The world is finally, albeit slowly, waking up to the reality….the economic reality after the financial crisis. So, it seems…

In his report, Accounting for Success, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon says: 'A recovery is not meaningful if people only learn about it in the newspaper.' It should be felt in lives and livelihoods of its people.

A real recovery must reach the real economy.

The report comes as the leaders of the world’s largest economies are meeting in Canada, for the MY SUMMIT 2010, the official international youth summit, to be held alongside the G8 Summit and the G20 Summit. And, as the Secretary General puts it: ‘many questions on the summit table echo concerns around kitchen tables elsewhere.’

[Now, if you ask me why I am so concerned about global economic recovery – It’s not just this kitchen table concern….of course it is there, as it is for you. We all have felt the heat….

I am concerned a little more. It’s a very personal interest. Or, may be a professional interest…I report global banking/economy and financial news as part of my freelance job. Industry bad news is good news for reporters; but not for long!

Okay, even more, world issues, socio-economic and political issues, interest me….Has always been my interest…it is for that reason, I started this blog.]

So, coming back to the issue of real recovery in real economies:

Ban-Ki Moon suggests very unassuming measures, defining the frontiers of accountability to people in practical terms, the need for increased accountability being the buzz word among national leaders. The measures include:

- focus on primary education
- focus on human development
- delivering quality jobs, particularly investments in green jobs
- be accountable to women and children, being often the hardest hit victims of the economy (may be arguable in the present day scenario….at least in the so called “developed” economies…still, notably true to a great extent)
- guaranteeing food security
- helping farmers to increase productivity and access to markets
- investing in health

All oft-repeated words to ensure sustainable development and growth that ensues such summits…some are met and some are not….but it all invariably recurs in all development summit agenda.

BUT, this time over, given the reality, as Moon himself acknowledges – that global economic recovery depends on growth in developing countries, unlike never before,

Will it all end up a lip service, having emerged from a storm?

Will the developing nations show their potential….leading to a shared economic prosperity?

A great deal seems dependent on us.

Our own accountability

As nations

&

As individuals

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News Courtsey: Accounting for Success, Ban-Ki Moon- The Hindu/26-06-2010
Photo courtesy: as per original copyright at:
http://www.globalvision.ca/programs/my-summit-2010/

World Environment Day - They've Said It All

2010-06-04T20:32:00.000-07:00

What to say more when others have said it all:

A living planet is a much more complex metaphor for deity than just a bigger father with a bigger fist. If an omniscient, all-powerful Dad ignores your prayers, it's taken personally. Hear only silence long enough, and you start wondering about his power. His fairness. His very existence. But if a world mother doesn't reply, Her excuse is simple. She never claimed conceited omnipotence. She has countless others clinging to her apron strings, including myriad species unable to speak for themselves. To Her elder offspring She says - go raid the fridge. Go play outside. Go get a job. Or, better yet, lend me a hand. I have no time for idle whining. ~David Brin

“We are of the earth earthy. If earth is not, we are not. I feel nearer God by feeling Him through the Earth. In bowing to the Earth, I at once realise my indebtedness to Him; and if I am a worthy child of that Mother, I shall at once reduce myself to dust and rejoice in establishing kinship with not only with the lowliest of human beings, but also with the lowest forms of creation whose fate-reduction to dust ~ I have to share with them.”

~ Mahatma Gandhi

Only when the last tree has died and the last river been poisoned and the last fish been caught will we realise we cannot eat money. ~ Cree Indian Proverb

We do not inherit the earth from our ancestors, we borrow it from our children. ~Native American Proverb

Yes, what to say more….

However, my own little thoughts about Nature/Environment is here: (though the origination of the thought was spurred by the Global Warming/Climate Change agenda:

http://devika-theunheardvoice.blogspot.com/2008/07/pace-down-enjoy-natures-free-lunch.html

And, I am with Lord Byron when he says:

There is a pleasure in the pathless woods,
There is a rapture on the lonely shore,
There is society, where none intrudes,
By the deep sea, and music in its roar:
I love not man the less, but Nature more.
~ Lord Byron, Childe Harold's Pilgrimage

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Photos: Renata Diem : As per Original Copyright at:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/renatadiem/40473313/

As per Original Copyright at:
http://www.medindia.net/news/healthinfocus/World-Environment-Day-37679-1.htm

Happy Easter

2010-04-02T06:34:00.000-07:00

Happy Holy Easter to You All! :)

best wishes,
devika

Picture: http://www.brothersoft.com/30-happy-easter-riddles-screensaver-84369.html

COW-ISMs-- Know Your Government

2010-03-16T23:29:00.000-07:00

Of course many might know, for those who haven't yet come across...have some fun with the ...Isms...the COW- isms.....to know your government!

I go back to it occasionally to clarify the basics.....more than Social Science text book definitions this works for me :)

FEUDALISM:

You have two cows. Your lord takes some of the milk.

PURE SOCIALISM:

You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else's cows. You have to take care of the cows. The government gives you as much milk as you need.

BUREAUCRATIC SOCIALISM:

You have two cows. The government takes them and puts them in a barn with everyone else's cows. They are cared for by ex-chicken farmers. You have to take care of the chickens the government took from the chicken farmers. The government gives you as much milk and as many eggs as the regulations say you should need.

FASCISM:

You have two cows. The government takes both, hires you to take care of them, and sells you the milk.

PURE COMMUNISM:

You have two cows. Your neighbors help you take care of them, and you all share the milk.

RUSSIAN COMMUNISM:

You have two cows. You have to take care of them, but the government takes all the milk.

DICTATORSHIP:

You have two cows. The government takes both and shoots you.

SINGAPOREAN DEMOCRACY:

You have two cows. The government fines you for keeping two unlicensed farm animals in an apartment.

MILITARISM:

You have two cows. The government takes both and drafts you.

PURE DEMOCRACY:

You have two cows. Your neighbours decide who gets the milk.

REPRESENTATIVE DEMOCRACY:

You have two cows. Your neighbours pick someone to tell you who gets the milk.

AMERICAN DEMOCRACY:

The government promises to give you two cows if you vote for it. After the election, the president is impeached for speculating in cow futures. The press dubs the affair "Cowgate".

BRITISH DEMOCRACY:

You have two cows. You feed them sheep brains and they go mad. The government doesn't do anything.

BUREAUCRACY:

You have two cows. At first the government regulates what you can feed them and when you can milk them. Then it pays you not to milk them. After that it takes both, shoots one, milks the other and pours the milk down the drain. Then it requires you to fill out forms accounting for the missing cows.

ANARCHY:

You have two cows. You keep both cows, shoot the government agent and steal another cow.

CAPITALISM:

You have two cows. You sell one and buy a bull.

HONG KONG CAPITALISM:

You have two cows. You sell three of them to your publicly-listed company, using letters of credit opened by your brother-in-law at the bank, then execute a debt/equity swap with associated general offer so that you get all four cows back, with a tax deduction for keeping five cows. The milk rights of six cows are transferred via a Panamanian intermediary to a Cayman Islands company secretly owned by the majority shareholder, who sells the rights to all seven cows' milk back to the listed company. The annual report says that the company owns eight cows, with an option on one more. Meanwhile, you kill the two cows because the fung shui is bad.

ENVIRONMENTALISM:

You have two cows. The government bans you from milking or killing them.

FEMINISM:

You have two cows. They get married and adopt a veal calf.

TOTALITARIANISM:

You have two cows. The government takes them and denies they ever existed. Milk is banned.

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS:

You are associated with (the concept of "ownership" is a symbol of the phallocentric, warmongering, intolerant past) two differently-aged (but no less valuable to society) bovines of non-specified gender.

COUNTER CULTURE:

Wow, dude, there's like... these two cows, man. You got to have some of this milk.

SURREALISM:

You have two giraffes. The government requires you to take harmonica lessons.

--Source Unknown @

http://dwslatin.com/cowisms.html

Photo: as per original copyright at:

http://www.farmpower.com/

Sociology of Love and Loyalty

2010-03-10T22:17:00.000-08:00

Well, love is something I don’t wish to talk about….its a feeling, there’s a madness to it, that only lovers understand. And marriage, an institution I am happily part of, offers me much to talk about....But I don’t normally talk about it.

So, when this much talked about topic, Infidelity in Love and Marriage, came up again the other day in our circle, I was a bit reluctant…. The background to the discussion was the rising divorces in Indian marriages, very much replicating the evening soap operas, the new young walking in and out of relationships, sort of copying the thriving celebrity lifestyle and their soap-bubble relationships…A topic in itself.

I was not sure if I had to choose fidelity for its social and moral value, because I knew that it wasn’t the nature of love… But I would be the last to choose infidelity in relationships….A real conflict of notions!

In short, it seemed a vain topic to discuss…But I had to make a point: (thought it to be of some blog-value for its social relevance :)

I am not sure I would bear infidelity, when it comes to marriage. In all possibilities, I will not! (Marriage isn’t as much about love, as it is about responsibility….and then there are legalities, and whole lot of other issues involved)

But in love, infidelity is the way, perhaps. Because love, if you begin to seek it, is so unfulfilling….and it exhausts, now and again…

And to be constant in a love- oh God!
There are times I’ve “felt” like deep-frying the ones I loved….May sound funny, but that’s it!

Well, I had this poem by my favourite poet, Kamala Das, to establish my point.

fidelity in love
is only for the immortals,
the wanton Gods who sport in their
secret heavens and feel
no fatigue. for you
and me, life is too short
for absolute bliss and much too long
alas, for constancy

Well, promising, prospective loyal lovers out there….Forgive Me.
But you will “possibly” agree with me, even as you endure the same love of your early life into marriage, and fidelity….

Fidelity and constancy in love – Impossibly possible….

Fidelity and constancy in marriage – I’ve seen it growing over the years. And then, I have seen it fail in the most unscrupulous ways, for the silliest reasons….

All said, I am not one to say, stay out of love…

Real love is a worthy experience….perhaps, the only worthy experience in life…Don’t think about sociology and loyalty…if it is to be, it will be!

*********

Photo: as per original copyright at:
http://www.sociology.ualberta.ca/publications.cfm

WAR for Water ---Not the Usual!

2010-02-14T03:21:00.000-08:00

When I saw the article, WAR for water, in the latest issue of the Frontline magazine, the immediate thought was the usual debate among the progressive thinkers of the world, including the United Nations about the possibility of a future world war over water—

‘A future war over water is a distinct possibility,’ Klaus Toepfer, then director-general of the United Nations Environment Programme had said in an interview published in Environmental Science & Technology in January, 1999.

But, NO this is about India’s new mission for solving water shortage problem…

The Winning, Augmentation and Renovation (WAR) of water resources – a plan of action by the Ministry of Science and Technology following a Supreme Court directive in a matter of public interest litigation [Writ Petition (C) No 230 of 2001]

We know the history of water wars between Indian states, with only tribunals left to resolve inter-state disputes. Even as the Centre knew tribunals cannot solve the water problem or the disputes, matters were just left as it was; water being a state issue. The root cause of disputes – the water shortage problem itself – remained unaddressed.

So WAR finally is about the some positive action from a national level. A major technology mission to:

Find out inexpensive methods of converting saline water into fresh water
Find out methods of harnessing and managing monsoon rainwater
Manage flood water
Do research in rainwater harvesting and waste water treatment so that water may be recycled
Recommend any other methods, including those for the protection and preservation of wetlands and related issues

And issuing the directive to Ministry of Science and Technology, as the report suggests, is expected to establish a systemic process by which viable technical solutions that can be deployed are identified and implemented. The mission, which is expected to be completed in July- August 2011, will conclude with a report indicating the nature of water problems in different parts of India and the suitable technologies and associated management prescriptions for solving them.

WAR for water – in this International Year of Biodiversity…it does make sense, if the government did make the connection or not.....

Now, will the commission, the report and plan of action slip into the usual red-tape and governmental and executive indolence??

For once, let’s do away with our citizenry cynicism – we ought to do that at times!

And participate productively –

After all, using water judiciously is our responsibility and is in our hands!

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Photo courtesy: as per original copyright at:

http://issuesinindia.today.com/

‘State of the World 2010’ – from Consumerism to Sustainability?

2010-01-16T06:49:00.000-08:00

‘How do you manage without a car?!!’ -- an old colleague was pretty straight with the question recently, and in her tone was the exclamation of the (unlikely) possibility of life without oxygen.

‘For short distances we walk, for a bit longer we take a cycle rickshaw/auto rickshaw…for those longer, it’s the metro rail or bus or the taxi,’ my reply was as straight, a bit curt too.

‘Wonder why the two of you are saving so much,’ she mumbled. I ignored.
This city and its people have seldom understood my thoughts…if it did, I could have answered, “For your kids and theirs….!”

Anyhow, it has always been a concern of mine, watching the commercials and the lives of those who adopt the soap opera life style –

Do we need all this to be happy in life?
Do these so called conveniences simplify/complicate our lives?
Over indulgence in the self and material – where will that take humanity?
How will earth and nature respond to man’s overindulgence?

In that context, it was heartening to see a report ‘State of the World 2010’ by Worldwatch Institute, a Washington-based organisation, address the issues, outlining a blueprint calling for a comprehensive transformation of our present way of life.

‘Preventing the collapse of human civilisation requires nothing less than a wholesale transformation of dominant cultural patterns. This transformation would reject consumerism... and establish in its place a new cultural framework centred on sustainability,’ the report states.

It vehemently relegates the culture of consumerism that has emerged over the past 50 years, with people increasingly finding meaning and contentment in what they consume.

‘The consumer culture that has taken hold probably first in the U.S. and now in country after country over the past century, so that we can now talk about a global consumerist culture that has become a powerful force around the world,’ Worldwatch president Christopher Flavin says. Consumption has risen sixfold since 1960, the report notes, citing World Bank statistics.

‘Habits that are firmly set – from where people live to what they eat – will all need to be altered and in many cases simplified or minimised... From Earth's perspective, the American or even the European way of life is simply not viable.’

Read that with Flavin’s observation -- ‘In India and China, for instance, the consumer culture of the U.S. and Western Europe is not only being replicated but being replicated on a much vaster scale,’—an almost even spread of onus!

‘We're not stupid, we're not ignorant, we don’t even have bad values,’ report co-author Michael Maniates says. Rather, we are acting under the heavy influence of cultural conventions that influence our behaviour by making things like fast food, air conditioning and suburban living feel increasingly ‘natural’ and more difficult to imagine living without, he adds.

It is to Change these Habits, and the current cultural convention that the report calls for. Individuals need to get back to a basic way of life, it says recommending things like borrowing books and toys from libraries instead of buying them, choosing public transport over the car, and growing food in community gardens and the like.

The report is positive about the possibility, even as we may doubt.

‘This shift is not only possible, it is already beginning to happen,’ says project director Erik Assadourian. ‘With deliberate effort we can replace consumerism with sustainability just as quickly as we traded home-cooked meals for Happy Meals and neighbourhood parks for shopping malls,’ he says, touching upon the tenuousness of what appear to be deep and solid cultural roots.

‘Now I know that cultural assumptions, even well-established ones, can be overturned,’ Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Muhammad Yunus affirms in his foreword, pointing to his experience in microcredit and overturning the cultural conception that poor people were not creditworthy as evidence that such deep-rooted conceptions can, in fact, be changed.

‘Culture, after all, is for making it easy for people to unleash their potential, not for standing there as a wall to stop them from moving forward. Culture that does not let people grow is a dead culture,’ Yunus concludes.

That’s definitely aimed at transforming conventional ways of thinking…Will the reality of a sustainable society be far?

*******************

Image:
http://blogs.worldwatch.org/transformingcultures/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Sow2010_Cover.jpg

My socio-political dreams & my left, right and best halves

2010-01-03T00:35:00.000-08:00

Occasionally, no, more often than not, when I read the morning daily, the socio politically inclined selves in me overtakes all other selves; and then I want to join politics, start an NGO or start practicing as a lawyer….

Dreams of a just society…the urge to do some thing about the unrest around…

After a while, as always, my left and right brains start the argument….there’s a strong connoisseur of arts and literature in me who vies with the socio-political selves; so they start their debate. I often find it difficult to settle….and I haven't been able to take any of these seriously...the writer, the artist, the political all lies dormant in me, after a tussle... And since I know quite well that no one knows me better than myself, I seldom seek another’s opinion….but then, sometimes things just go beyond me….

This New Year day reading the happenings of the past year, the thought started again, along with the debate–

Right – guess it’s about time to join politics

Left – but why, why now

Right – I always wanted to…and then, I have my father’s genes in me i guess

Left – But you wanted to be a writer

Right – it bores me after a while; I can’t be a writer, full time

Left – but politics may be too stressful

Right – I guess its okay....

Left – But you may not be at peace with the games they play

(Now I remember, my father’s advice (he has been a communist all his life, after leaving his law profession) that women are often “used” by political parties, even without them realising….and that it may not be a good place to be. He had told me, when I about to join Students Federation of India (SFI) during my second year in Engineering college, how girl students who have the potential to outshine are often misled by groups working within political organisations…first into some romance, then harassed and dumped to the second order….I already knew that..seen it happening to many girls, but I joined none the less...was seldom active, though…. Just another of my learning experience!

– anyway , the debate within me continues…

Right – well, I think I can take things by their horn now…

Left – But you think Indian political scene offers a platform to do something positive

Right – space is something we create…guess, it’s possible

Left – But experience says it could end up as a waste of time

By this time my best half enters…

He – Whats up?

Me – thinking about joining politics…high time I did something for my country

He – Will you have time enough?

Me – I need to find time; may be work part-time

He – And me??

Me – You? meaning??

He – I have told you…I married you wanting you to work as a full time, good wife

(well, we have argued before marriage and agreed upon the 'works ' that may qualify us as wife and husband to each other....so, no arguments there)

Me – You mean to say all those women in politics aren’t good wives...or can’t be?

He-- No I didn’t, I don’t know about others. I just have to think about you and me

Me – So??

He – Get me a hot cup of coffee now…well brewed

Me – Yes, your honour!

There ends my socio-political dreams for 2010. Now, don’t anyone dare to think that my husband is overpowering….We quite know how women can be, if they aren’t controlled....I am happy for the order he brought into my life, and so, I happily submit to his rulings!

Whatever, my socio-political aspirations again boils down to watching, thinking and possibly writing/blogging…Hope to work on this blog this year! :)

*********

Photo courtesy: as per original copyright at:
http://www.worldofweb.gr/web/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=44&Itemid=71&lang=en

Greetings

2009-12-23T06:35:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to all!

May Peace and Joy be

Yours in Days to Come….

I am off from blogging for a while…

World Peace –A Rejoinder to Obama’s Peace Prize

2009-12-13T04:22:00.000-08:00

While the world’s socio-political leaders and the so inclined individuals debate about his credentials, US President Barrack Obama has graciously accepted the 2009 Nobel Prize for Peace on December 10. The debates focus on whether Obama, who has been leading two wars after assuming presidency, was eligible for the world’s most respected Peace award. Especially, since it’s been only days after he had escalated the war in Afghanistan agreeing that many will die based on his decisions.

Whatever side one may take in the debate, Obama himself has acknowledged the controversy in his acceptance speech saying his ‘accomplishments (were) slight’ and that there were men and women who were ‘far more deserving’ of the honor than him.

That should end the controversy, though the question turns to ‘Did the Nobel committee get it right in the first place? Well, we quite know how the award committees work…the prize is overtly political, many think so…

Whatsoever, his speech after receiving the award about the possibility of world peace is quite intriguing and points to the reality of things to come--

First, he has most courteously defended the wars, claiming that there is such a thing as a ‘just war', and that ‘instruments of war do have a role to play in preserving the peace.’

Reasonable as it is quite apparent!

But his statement, ‘We must begin by acknowledging the hard truth that we will not eradicate violent conflict in our lifetimes. There will be times when nations — acting individually or in concert — will find the use of force not only necessary but morally justified,’ quite realistically sets aside the chance of world peace and suggests the possibility of continuing war.

As any of us, Obama does acknowledge the moral force of nonviolence propounded by Martin Luther King and Mahatma Gandhi as a means to achieve world peace. He quotes Luther King who said in the same ceremony years ago: ‘Violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem: It merely creates new and more complicated ones,’ and added: ‘I know there is nothing weak, nothing passive, nothing naïve, in the creed and lives of Gandhi and King.’

But he soon changed the tone of his speech, saying that he had to ‘face the world as it is’, and asserting the presence of evil in the world, he said: ‘But as a head of state sworn to protect and defend my nation, I cannot be guided by their (Gandhi and Dr King) examples alone. I face the world as it is, and cannot stand idle in the face of threats to the American people.’

So he is committed to protecting his people than what the award calls for. Is that fully justified? May be, may be not…

But that raises a doubt- didn’t King and Gandhiji see the world as it was? Okay, perhaps they weren’t so successful and the world today needs strategies and strategists, not philosophies and philosophers.

So it’s almost settling when he sates as strategic leader: ‘Let us focus on a more practical, more attainable peace, based not on a sudden revolution in human nature but on a gradual evolution in human institutions.’

Yes, sounds workable in the long run. While he goes on to explore the likely concerted actions for achieving world peace and implications thereof, one clearly gets the intent- a knowledge that has been around since the time of the first man on earth:

That the way to world peace is just not known…
And, force and war may be here to say at the national and international level….
Perhaps they may war more peacefully in the coming times!

But Obama continues to interest with his idea on the nature of the peace that the world seeks, turning the focus from nations to individuals. ‘Only a just peace based upon the inherent rights and dignity of every individual can truly be lasting,’ he asserts. And one can’t agree more.

But his view also points to Nobel Laureate Albert Einstein’s observation on war, human spirit, and perhaps the impossibility of peace, than its possibility -- ‘The real problem is in the hearts and minds of men. It is not a problem of physics but of ethics. It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil from the spirit of man.’

So in a way, the problem of war, and hence peace, lies on the individual level.

Then, most significantly, the solution too lies on the individual level!

May Peace Be With You, All!

************

Photo: source:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/10/12/2711565.htm

International Women’s Day – A thought

2009-03-07T23:24:00.000-08:00

It is only a year less to mark the centenary of the observance of the Day after the Copenhagen Conference of 1910 decided March 8, 1910 as International Women’s Day.

Issues like unfair work and wage considerations, women's oppression and inequality, and democratic representation had spurred women to become more vocal and active in campaigning for change in the period between 1908 and 1911. At the Copenhagen Conference, Clara Zetkin, leader of the 'Women's Office' for the Social Democratic Party in Germany, tabled the idea of an International Women's Day. She proposed that every year in every country there should be a celebration on the same day - a Women's Day - to press for their demands.

Over the years women around the world have seen their lives improving on economic, social and political fronts. However, today, as global nations slide into an unprecedented economic crisis, women, especially those in India who found a new fortune in export-linked industries like textiles, leather, the financial sector, real-estate and others, which were booming over the past decade -- face the same problems that moved women about a century ago!

Many reports say that as companies struggle to hold themselves in some form or other, employees, particularly women are being increasingly asked to accept retrenchment, lay offs, pay cuts which will no doubt worsen the quality of their already difficult lives. And, on this Women’s Day, the voices of women who are much more organised as a workforce will be heard in many rallies across the world.

Yet as one ponders for solution – could the present day issues be isolated as a woman’s issue? Don’t they present and call for deeper socio-political implications and economic ramifications…Thinking of it do women take an active role in democratic process or raise their voice in peace versus war process?

Today, if matters stand thus, and if the world leaders are sincerely trying to find solutions for more troubling problems, do women really need a separate voice?

Or, is it turning out to be a yearly ritual?

Now, the afternoon news says that housewives could also form legally-bound organisation – They sure will claim it as an achievement, but I fear its going to be a nuisance!

******************

Photo courtesy: as per original copyright at: http://www.theage.com.au/news/sushi-das/raising-the-volume-on-what-men-think-about-feminism/2005/12/21/1135032082534.html

"CLIMATE OF CHANGE"

2009-02-28T00:40:00.000-08:00

"CLIMATE OF CHANGE"

The title is that of Paul Krugman’s column in ‘The Hindu’ today; courtesy The New York Times Service.

It’s Krugman’s – the New York Times columnist and Princeton economics professor who was reluctant to accept the Nobel Prize for his inability to predict the depth of the ongoing financial crisis; yet one of the firsts to use the “D” word, D standing for depression—analysis of the President Barack Obama’s first budget.

While the budget allocations and measures including that for Health reform is definitely beneficial to the American community, what interested me was his statement on America’s policy towards the Climate Change – 'After years of denial and delay by its predecessor, the Obama administration is signalling that it's ready to take on climate change,' he writes, noting that the budget projects USD645bn in revenues from the sale of emission allowances.

The Bush administration definitely was playing double standards in climate change issues, and it is heartening to note that finally the US administration is becoming responsive and responsible in addressing the issue. (However, it remains a fact that the issue of climate change could not be addressed effectively by a monetary allocation alone, and has been well discussed and debated by many researchers).

On the economic front, Krugman’s hope is only conditional-'.. if Obama gets us out of Iraq (without bogging us down in an equally expensive Afghan quagmire) and manages to engineer a solid economic recovery - two big ifs, to be sure - getting the deficit down to around $500 billion by 2013 shouldn't be at all difficult.'

While the economic consequences seem complex to me, and the policy ambiguities surrounding Obama's proposals for troop withdrawal from Iraq and his plans for Afghanistan, and Pakistan, seem inherently problematic, Krugman’s ending note is definitely positive:

‘But I don't blame Obama for leaving some big questions unanswered in this budget. There's only so much long-run thinking the political system can handle in the midst of a severe crisis; he has probably taken on all he can, for now. And this budget looks very, very good.’

There are a few analysts whose words could be taken for granted for their candidness, and conscientiousness. They are definitely more, but Amartya Sen and Paul Krugman top my list.

And, lastly, if there is a ‘Climate of Change’ in the US, its waves would definitely reach the rest of the nations…

************

Here's a link to Krugman's Column published online: http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/02/27/opinion/edkrugman.php

Photo courtesy: as per original copyright at:

http://www.cemacolorado.com/news.shtml

On a Break

2009-02-07T00:42:00.000-08:00

Hi!

I am not well and on a break from blogging.

I am disabling comments for such time, and I may not be able to visit others. Hope to be back in a few days.

Happy Blogging…

Wishes,
devika

GREEN REVOLUTION

2009-02-01T07:13:00.000-08:00

Indira Gandhi started
Green Revolution

and

made India a proud nation
Self-sufficient in food

A step
Even time Salutes

An advertisement in the The Hindu said today. India’s Green Revolution refers to the farming improvement measures during the period from 1967 to 1978, which helped in achieving food sufficiency.

I have always been a Communist by ideology; but discussions with my father have given me good insight into the good deeds of the Indian National Congress. And, Indira Gandhi – the Prime Minister of India of my teenage years -- remains a powerful influence in me for her untiring commitment to the Nation.

I do not yet know why the advertisement was released by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting today. But it gives me a very positive push to move on. Hope it gives the same to you too. :)

More about Indian Green Revolution can be read at: http://www.indiaonestop.com/Greenrevolution.htm

Photo Source: http://www.genocidebangladesh.org/?page_id=4

Socio-politics of Blog-world from the Archives

2008-12-30T21:54:00.000-08:00

The Potential of Archives

It’s been quite a while that I read newspapers, or listened to news in detail. Just a rush through the head lines, an occasional flipping through the television channels. The socio-political world almost ceased to exist to me for quite a good while. Yet, the world moved on, myself included…

Even as my work, my pass-times and blogs keep me busy all through the day, I sense the silence within me becoming loud. So loud in certain afternoons and midnights that I lose myself among the ghosts – ghosts from an unsure past, those from a certainly plain future.

Poetry helps me in gaining myself back. But, nothing seems to push me on, drive me into the world I came from. And the new world of my dreams almost seems an impossibility.

It all seems so changed—No news seems worthy of reading, none the less worthy of recording. A kind of complacency fills me…Yet I know, the masters remain to be learned…Masters in arts, poetics, sociology, history, politics, geography, and anthropology remain to be explored….The thought has been in me for quite a while.

A fellow traveller from Trivandrum to Delhi in 1999– Mr. Bhaskaran Nair who introduced himself as the Dean of Department of Sanskrit, Punjabi University, Patiala – had told me during the journey: ‘Devika, if you want to learn about the development of human culture and civilization, begin from the oldest data in the archives, never go in the reverse…the perspective will be lost.’

Sometime in September/October, the thought occurred to me again. Having launched myself in a new world – with its own socio-political and cultural systems at work – I had to learn the systems there…when the potential of the archives caught me unawares.

I began looking at Blogville culture and its socio-politics from the archives of some of the most interesting bloggers. My thoughts on them take some form of poetry, may be I am reading poetry more these days, …am I still in the process of gaining myself back!?

Learning from Archives

Looking to learn the
Social sciences,

The history and culture

of mankind

And to predict what

Future has in store?

Let’s search the archives
It teaches not just about
Man, but about the land,
The beasts and birds as well
Extinct and extant...

Archives form the
Basis of learning
The ways of the world…
A year of archived figures
Is as good to learn as
From a life spent in full

Archives --
It shows not just
The ages and places
That passed us past in
History and geography
But is resourceful in
Economics and
Politics, administration
And its ruthless systems,
Civics and
Civilisations at par…

And then the endless ways
That humanity shifted base
To survive the deeds
And misdeeds of nature
And of man’s own folly

Archives --
They hold lessons
That may scare you
If the mind’s eye lost its
Vision, if emotions
Lost its simplicity
If words lost its power
And the freshness

And, with the layers
And boundaries
So clear and distinctly
Carved as in a web
Life, and the future
Of mankind seems
Absolutely predictable
From the archives

Yet, Not So
For Nature and
For a Man,
Whose life past
Is archived -
But for the
Unpredictability of
Time and tide
That would wait for
No Man….

*****************

Photos: As per original copyrights at:
http://ials.sas.ac.uk/library/archives/archive.htm
http://blogs.uoguelph.ca/ClosureofService.html

I GET BACK

2008-12-20T01:29:00.000-08:00

I GET BACK

I had come to speak for you
Yet, in some trite respite
I turned my eyes inward
Missing sight of the
Lightning streaks that cut
Through your grey eyes;
Your ruffled hair, and your
Parched lips that sought a
Paltry meal --Absolve my
Insatiable senses of its
Ominous indulgence…

In some feisty mission
Into the deep woods, I went
Searching my bemused soul
Singing a dismal song in
Some strange gushy voice
I lost myself in the forest-
Misty, and enchanted
My weary voice muted
In some icy ratty chatter

A seasonal release – when at

Last the rains washed me off
Of my innate yearnings
I come back worn out
You, betrayed and hopeless

Went off with those men,
To kill their enemies, blowing
Up your angst and paucity
On the spot – on the road
Me, a discreet onlooker
Seeking your raison d'être

Now, as they talk of you
Me, a quiet listener…

Yet again, I seek you
In your comrades
On the roads, in those
Deprived homes,
On their camps
I see you, your dismay
In them who hold
Your fire, the remnants of
Your raging angst,
In their wistful eyes

I now seek the rage
That burnt in your eyes
To fill my words as I seek
To draw them to a new world,
A world of equal share in
Pain and joy…

*************

Written in response to a post at: Bomber at 13! @ http://acharyadeepak-humanobserver.blogspot.com/

Photo: Copyright as per original at:http://patdollard.com/

AIDING THE WORLD IN FIGHTING AIDS...

2008-11-30T23:08:00.000-08:00

World AIDS Day

The 1st of December, World AIDS Day, is the day when individuals and organisations from around the world come together to bring attention to the global AIDS epidemic. 2008 marks the 20th anniversary of World AIDS Day. Though much has been done since 1988, there is still much more to be done.

"Only through effective global partnerships can we beat back endemic and epidemic diseases.And only by bringing everyone together can we mount an effective response to the newest of these, which not only has become the world's biggest public health challenge, but in some countries the biggest single obstacle to development: HIV/AIDS."
Kofi Annan; former U.N. Secretary-General

Download World AIDS Day materials for 2008. Visit: http://www.worldaidscampaign.org/ to:

Read more about leadership and why 2008 is the time to LEAD-EMPOWER-DELIVER
Learn more about events and SMS pledge campaign happening for World AIDS Day in India
Find out more about events happening in countries such as Kenya, Nigeria and Zambia
Read about what happened on World AIDS Day in 2007
Find out about more information about themes and resources for World AIDS Day 2007, 2006 and 2005
View the campaigners tools available for 2008, 2007 and 2006
Enter your World AIDS Day event on our INTERNATIONAL WORLD AIDS DAY CALENDAR

.......... I long so much to add something there ...
What was I doing!!??
Nothing…So tied to this virtual world!!!
………SHAME ON ME!!!!

**********************************

Source: http://www.worldaidscampaign.org/

Picture: As per original copyright at http://www.un.org/av/special/aids/

THE NEW WORLD ORDER

2008-11-28T17:51:00.000-08:00

THE NEW WORLD ORDER

I DOUBT IF YOU ARE A TERRORIST…
YOU SEE A TERRORIST IN ME...

WHOM DO WE BLAME!!?

HOW DO WE OVERCOME
THE FEAR PSYCHOSIS?

FACE EACH OTHER
AND ACT OUT LOVE!??

COULD REAL LOVE BLOOM

FROM ACTING OUT…

To me it has worked…
many, many times….
And to me that seems
the only way out…

I wish I could know
your thoughts...

*****************************

Photo: Afghan Woman with Green Eyes. As per original copyright at:

http://hubpages.com/hub/Beautiful_Women

The Afghan girl -- Sharbat Gula -- was photographed by National Geographic Photographer Steve McCurry in 1984. McCurry could find his famous subject again in 2002...

A mystery resolved..an interesting read at: http://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2002/mar/girl/index.html

SEEMS A GOOD DAY TO BREAK THE SILENCE HERE...

2008-11-24T21:59:00.000-08:00

By resolution 54/134 of December 17, 1999, the General Assembly designated November 25 as the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, and invited governments, international organisations and NGOs to organize activities designated to raise public awareness of the problem on that day.

Women's activists have marked November 25 as a day against violence since 1981.

The date is in remembrance of the brutal assassination in 1960, of the three Mirabal sisters, political activists in the Dominican Republic, on orders of Dominican ruler Rafael Trujillo (1930-1961).

To me it seemed a good day to break my silence here…

Any one would want to join!!??

IF, YES…
Do Leave a Mark...AS A COMMENT, of course!

IF NO,

I would wish to say “Never Come Back Again!!”

**************************

Post Dedicated to : Webradio of http://lesdedalesdewebradio.blogspot.com/
For reminding me early in the morning, as I ‘warmed up’ at my desk :)

Source: http://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/violence/

Picture copyright: As per original at: http://www.liberal-international.org/contentFiles/images/women-violence_26.jpg

REAL IS SO WORTHY

2008-11-02T07:15:00.000-08:00

REAL IS SO WORTHY

Looking at the ways of the real world and the virtual world and my role in the two, I feel REAL as far more WORTHY than the VIRTUAL. As always it is my personal opinion and except others to let me have my choice in my personal matters. NO! No, Awkward questions, please…unlike anytime before YOU will have NO reply from me…

At least for the Time-Being, I need a Break…

I, if I say based on my experience of knowing me, could be back anytime even as early as tomorrow morning…but may be as late as never. I do not know anything of anybody at anytime….I just wrote of what I felt…was just trying to empty my INSANE mind. But now it’s heavier than I can hold…

Let me TAKE a BREAK!

Visitors and Comments as always ARE welcome.

IF any thing remains VALID in ME, or the COMMENTS, when would I come back if at all I do, it shall be replied duly.

For all those who have already reached me in a period of extreme distress – I ‘AM’ ALWAYS THANKFUL…

& I shall be taking my round in My Corridor, with no song to sing, feeding my INSANE mind with what it needs…for each second of the hour….

Rest….some rest is all I need ;-)

This is being posted at all three simultaneous I have chosen to be THE REAL ME….

-------------------------------------------------------------

Photo CC: As per original copyright at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/matthieu-aubry/237736135/

Yet Another – But, MY REAL TRIBUTE

2008-11-01T04:54:00.000-07:00

My Newspaper boy had gone on Diwali holidays since last Monday . The guy who replaced him, by mistake, kept throwing some other dailies to our third floor flat. I couldn’t catch hold of him because I’m mostly busy in those hours of the day in the kitchen, or may be was still sleeping.

&

I don’t read ‘Times of India’ or The Hindustan Times! – The North Indian Trash I prefer to call them…They portray India as some Mighty Super Power… I am an adherent of The Hindu, the daily based in Chennai, which I think sees the world more-or-less equally, like me …

So the week has no News & Views or News Stack.

Now!

Having an eye-infection after Diwali holidays, focusing on work also became difficult during the week. In a very bad mood, thinking of the ways of the world, and having lost all hope in Christ, Krishna and her Guru’s Allah the Great -- I, the onlooker, turned to her Guru himself – The Sai Baba of Shirdi for some solace, or seeking his mercy to pour death over her…(Death is her true friend, she feels. He comes so fast, even before calling…May be He was her play-mate long back)

And then, all she knows is that in some trance she went to her book shelf, reaching out for Kahlil Gibran, her guide for worldly matters…

There –as Christians open The Bible in Midnight prayers or Hindus open the Srimad Bhagavad Gita in moments of indecision (so flimsy a reason for a great task!!) or, I do not know if, the Mohammedans open The Koran in moments of deep crisis and pain – I found myself opening Complete Works of Kahlil Gibran, the onlooker’s Bible, Gita and Koran, to page 563:

It had the verse: My Countrymen --- a pretty long one, but simple, so to say. A onlooker was left to wonder if she was Kahlil Gibran …'Born Again' …at least in some stanzas…The onlooker, who is just born again and again every second, shall not disclose. Perhaps you may like to read it in full to find out…

So the Kahlil Gibran Verse shall be this week’s post.

&

Perhaps the news analysis has to go into my offline journal as earlier…Finding it too hard to find time for all self-chosen masks and roles to play in this eternal drama called Life …Either I’m dyslexic (just doubt, I may be) or my computer keyboard is numb (always, thought so) these days I often miss words, letters, sometimes interchanging them in positions and I’m even losing sense while typing . And these spell-checks, editing are things I hate to do. Writing in my journal was so easy and satisfying- that was just a thought shared….

Now, on the verse; there I -- that is to say Devika Jyothi R as my father named me as a small child -- got something to say. I follow strict political borders when it comes to SOC-POL blog, as I call this one; but in Certain Kind of Woman (CKW blog), where I talk of life as a woman in this world…I find no borders except those of ethics and truthful living…There I am just a woman- a wife primarily and a lover of all poets and artists of the world, not the Man/Woman behind the Poet/Artist …

But here, perhaps for the first and last time – the Socio Politically Inclined Onlooker breaks all barriers …

The Country shall be the World…and Countrymen shall be Men and Women across the World, a *possibly* harmonious world….

My Countrymen

What do you seek, My Countrymen?
Do you desire that I build for
You Gorgeous palaces, decorated
With words of empty meaning, or
Temples roofed with dreams? Or
Do you command me to destroy what
The liars and tyrants have built?
Shall I uproot with my fingers
What the hypocrites and the wicked
Have implanted? Speak your insane
Wish!

What is it you would have me do,
My Countrymen? Shall I purr like
The kitten to satisfy you, or roar
Like the lion to please myself? I
Have sung for you, but you did not
Dance; I have wept before you, but
You did not cry. Shall I sing and
Weep at the same time?

Your souls are suffering the pangs
Of hunger, and yet the fruit of
Knowledge is more plentiful than
The stones of the valleys.

Your hearts are withering from
Thirst, and yet the springs of
Life are streaming about your
Homes—why do you not drink?
The sea has its ebb and flow,
The moon has its fullness and
Crescents, and the Ages have
Their winter and summer, and all
Things vary like the shadow of
An unborn God moving between
Earth and sun, but Truth cannot
Be changed, nor will it pass away;
Why, then do you endeavor to
Disfigure its countenance?

I have called you in the silence
Of the night to point out the
Glory of the moon and the dignity
Of the stars, but you startled
From your slumber and clutched
Your swords in fear, crying,
“Where is the enemy? We must kill
Him first!” At morning tide, when
The enemy came, I called to you
Again, but now you did not wake
From your slumber, for you were
Locked in fear, wresting with
The procession of specters in
Your dreams.

And I said unto you, “ Let us climb
To the mountain top and view the
Beauty of the world.” And you
Answered me, saying, “In the depths
Of this valley our fathers lived,
And in its shadows they died, and in
Its caves they were buried. How can
We depart this place for one which
They failed to honor?”
And I said unto you, “Let us go to
The plain that gives bounty to
The sea.” And you spoke timidly to
Me, saying, “The uproar of the abyss
Will frighten our spirits, and the
Terror of the depths will deaden
Our bodies.”

I have loved you, My Countrymen, but
My love for you is painful to me
Today I hate you, and hatred is a flood
That sweeps away the dry branches
And quavering houses.
I have pitied your weakness, My
Countrymen, but my pity has but
Increases your feebleness, exalting
And nourishing slothfulness which
Is vain to Life. And today I see
your infirmity which my soul loathes
And fears.

I have cried over your humiliation
And submission; and my tears streamed
Like crystalline, but could not sear
Away your stagnant weakness; yet they
Removed the veil from my eyes.

My tears have never reached your
Petrified hearts, but they cleansed
The darkness from my inner self.
Today I am mocking at your suffering,
For laughter is a raging thunder that
Precedes the tempest and never comes
After

What do you desire, My Countrymen?
Do you wish for me to show you
The ghost of your countenance on
The face of still water? Come,
Now, and see how ugly you are!

Look and meditate! Fear has
Turned your hair gray as the
Ashes, and dissipation has grown
Over your eyes and made them into
Obscured hollows, and cowardice
Has touched your cheeks that now
Appear as dismal pits in the
Valley, and Death has kissed
Your lips and left them yellow
As the Autumn leaves.

What is it that you seek, My
Countrymen? What ask you from
Life, who does not any longer
Count you among her children?

Your souls are freezing in the
Clutches of the priests and
Sorcerers, and your bodies
Tremble between the paws of the
Despots and the shedders of
Blood, and your country quakes
Under the marching feet of the
Conquering enemy; what may you
Expect even though you stand
Proudly before the face of the
Sun? Your swords are sheathed
With rust, and your spears are
Broken, and your shields are
Laden with gaps; why, then, do
You stand in the field of battle?

Hypocrisy is your religion, and
Falsehood is your life, and
Nothingness is your ending; why,
Then, are you living? Is not
Death the sole comfort of the
Miserables?

Life is a resolution that
Accompanies youth, and a diligence
That follows maturity, and a
Wisdom that pursues senility; but
You, My Countrymen, were born old
And weak. And your skins withered
And your heads shrank, whereupon
You became as children, running
Into the mire and casting stones
Upon each other.

Knowledge is a light, enriching
The warmth of life, and all may
Partake who seek it out; but you,
My Countrymen, seek out darkness
And flee the light, awaiting the
Coming of water from the rock,
And your nation's misery is your
Crime...I do not forgive you
Your sins, for you know what you
Are doing.

Humanity is a brilliant river
Singing its way and carrying with
Its mountains' secrets into
The heart of the sea; but you,
My Countrymen, are stagnant
Marshes infested with insects
And Vipers.

The Spirit is a sacred blue
Torch, burning and devouring
The dry plants, and growing
With the storm and illuminating
The faces of the goddesses; but
You, My Countrymen...your souls
Are like ashes which the winds
Scatter upon the snow, and which
The tempests disperse forever in
The valleys.

Fear not the phantom of Death,
My Countrymen, for his greatness
And mercy will refuse to approach
Your smallness; and dread not the
Dagger, for it will decline to be
Lodged in your shallow hearts.

I hate you, My Countrymen, because
You hate glory and greatness. I
Despise you because you despise
Yourselves. I am your enemy, for
You refuse to realize that you are
The enemies of the goddesses.

- --oOo--

News Stack: Tuesday to Friday

2008-10-25T10:37:00.000-07:00

News from The Hindu Daily

Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Our banks are safe – asserts Manmohan

…Okay, but who said they aren’t?

Crackdown on MNS activists
Police executes non-bailable warrant against Raj Thackeray, for attacking north Indian job aspirants in Mumbai. Raj says rulers don’t understand language of non-violence

… I thought crackdown meant a cleaning-up; but doubt who really needs it—Raj or the government forces? But, Raj really believed all Mumbaites are employed in Mumbai?

Shadow of global financial crisis over China

…after all, China is part of the globe!

Sale of tobacco products on the rise
Following the ban of smoking in public place, while sale of cigarettes and beedis has fallen by 25 percent, according to Assocham Social Development Foundation, sale of other tobacco products like gutka, pan masala has shot up by nearly 150 percent in metros and large townships in India.

…government badly needs a class on intoxication & addictiveness, if it is serious about its health plans.

Islamic terrorism workshop angers rights group
Workshop for the police, held in BJP-ruled Rajasthan

…Terrorism is still Islamic?? I thought it recently had a conversion, in Orissa and Karnataka

NASA probe to study the outer reaches of the solar system
To study the distant edge of the solar system where hot winds crash into outer space.

… done with hot winds on earth’s surface?

oh, NASA - they should only be studying outer space!

Wednesday, October 22, 2008

Violence erupts as Raj Thackeray is arrested

…his feat is done!!

Spanish ambassador takes tips on solid waste management from Delhi Mayor

…tip 1: collect solid waste from roads, if the waste bins are empty.

BJP will make higher education easier
Access to good education at all levels was a fundamental right

…thought ‘higher’ education has to be a bit tough!
And, what about primary education??

Virgin Mary statues damaged in Kodaikanal

… after nuns, now its statues?! Targeting virginity?!

Apples, Honey cross (Indo –Pak) LoC
J&K governor flag off a caravan of 13 trucks on Srinagar-Muzaffarabad road.

… of course, good start!

RSS demands law against religious conversion

… need no law for political conversion??

20 million more will be rendered jobless UN
Focus on individuals and not institutions, says ILO

… any body listening?!

(Karl) Marx is back
Das Kapital set to become a best-seller in Europe

… who owns the royalty?

Thursday, October 23, 2008

Chandrayaan-I bound for moon

…a reason for Cheers amid slump?

Interim bail for Raj Thackeray

…what does this ‘interim bail’ mean?

Millions stand up against poverty
With 116 million people from 110 countries joining UN ‘Stand Up Take Action Against Poverty’ the campaign setting a new Guinness world record for mass mobilisation

… the UN Million Development Programme is a HIT!
But, will it take a HIT in the current scene??

Right to ask questions is integral to democracy

…and not to seek answers too?!

India, Japan say new security ties not directed against China

… who was saying so??

Indian economist Prabhat Patnaik in UN task force
To recommend reforms of the global financial system

… the anti-liberalist finally has his say!

Pakistan seeks IMF help to stave off crisis

… where’s IMF heading to??

Friday, October 24, 2008

Obama says India will be top priority

…India seems top priority for all, except for Indians!!

Worst period in my life, India’s Lok Sabha speaker
Refer to frequent disruptions by MPs in the House

… always in the opposition, he never knew protesting, disruptions were such a nuisance

Delhi government bags e-governance award
Delh named ‘Best e-Governance State of India by Chief Information Commissioner

…yeah, the Centre should be doing something, after all elections are round the corner!

Financial crisis to dominate Asia-Europe summit
Consensus on need for discussion, but solutions remain elusive

…call it summit, but finally it’s a meeting, no?
Bernard Shaw had said it, already.

Resolving border issue with China taking time, Pranab

…why does he worry??

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Photo: As per original copyright at:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/drb62/2054107736/

News & Views: Saturday to Monday

2008-10-20T11:18:00.000-07:00

Saturday, October 18, 2008

US recession fears hit (Indian) bourses – Sensex dips to new low 9975.

...is highs and lows a new (or news!) for sensex??
and is it still a fear? I believe in the US, recession fears has given way to depression fears, already

Concern over rising food prices across the world
UNFAO attributes the main reason to reduction in grain due to poor growing conditions.
...careful! NATURE will definitely have its say one day!

India summons Sri Lankan envoy, stresses need for political solution
…when did politics last ‘solve’ our regional/race issues?

Differences may complicate Iraq pact (with US)
...after the differences with Saddam Hussein’s Sunni-led regime, now Shias differ between themselves for power in the oil rich southern regions …they ought to revise the moral of ‘Fox and the Sheep’ pancha tantra tale…

Sangh Parivar leaders not allowed to enter Kandhamal

...oh! atleast district administration has sense!

Anti-money laundering Bill introduced
...so now, it wouldn’t be for the lack of law!

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Sunday, October 19, 2008

Ready to pay any price: Karunanidhi On stopping the annihilation of Tamil race in Sri Lanka

...sounds high in spirits, but what price is he talking about.

Women stoic to the lifting of curfew in Kandhamal, Orissa

...no comments!

Declining sex ratio forces import of brides by Punjabi farmers
Girls usually between 12 and 17years of age bought from Bihar, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa and Uttar Pradesh. Women reduced to son-producing machines
Most of the female foeticide reported among educated women
...what to say!!??

Amartya Sen puts his faith on Obama
...what else can anyone do?

Animal tissue to patch up human hearts
Kerala develops decellularised bovine tissue for paediatric heart surgery.

Human hearts and animal tissue! :-)

Greece honours Lord Byron

Greece to celebrate Byron’s day on the anniversary of the British poet’s –Lord Byron aka George Gordon -- death on April 19. Byron died in 1824 at Messolonghi in Western Greece

Honour can come any time!

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Monday, October 20, 2008

Metro corridor collapses killing 2, probe ordered

...it all happens! only in India?

Colin Powell backs Obama

...Bush’s secretary becomes Obama fan!?
Need to see him later…

Fraudsters hack Sarkozy’s bank account
But Sarkozy was funding banks…

Inflation, terrorism to be BJP’s poll issues
Good issues to go on poll!

IMF chief under scanner
Which financial chief is not under?

Russell Crowe to donate hair to children’s charity
Aussie actor’s hair to be made into wigs for sick children

Oh, these celebs!!

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Photo: As per original copyright at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/blackcustard/81680010/

Pace Down & Enjoy Nature’s Free Lunch

2008-10-15T23:14:00.000-07:00

Hi!

This blog is to take a new mode. An update on the mode and new post will be posted on Monday, October 20. Meantime I repeat a previous post, written on July 13, 2008 -- my second post here since I started blogging. It could be seen a substitute for a new post this week. The issue discussed there – Climate Change – is a bit relegated now, with global Credit Crunch (both interestingly meltdown to a CC!! -- *Child Care* cautions for mankind??) taking the news headlines.

For that reason, I feel the article has relevance today and resubmit it to my readers.

Those who already read this, please excuse me this week.
faithfully,
Devika

Pace Down & Enjoy Nature’s Free Lunch

Climate change is top on the agenda in many a forum. It seemingly would remain there for years to come!

As governments continue to fight the climate change agenda over emission-control and industrialists and politicians come up with techno-economical solutions like hybrid cars, carbon trading, I begin to doubt the credibility of singling out climate change as the most dangerous environmental issue of our times.

It all could well be a politico-economic ploy, as Russian scientists claim-- Kyoto Protocol could well be a scheme by European nations against the US and emerging economies, as the US pushed through the Montreal Protocol of 1987. And if so, it is to burst soon as any other hype by the west!

If nature is behaving in extraordinary ways, rising temperature is only a part of the problem. And irresponsible human action could be a more potent environmental hazard than the generally harmless greenhouse gases.

Climate perhaps is the most perceivable of Mother Earth’s response to reckless human action driven by over consumption.

Won’t SHE be affected by the tonnes of concrete dumped on her in the name of development? Will not excessive mining of ecologically sensitive areas distress her? Won’t she react in her own painful ways to submerging hectares of her land by huge dams? Not to raise the myriad questions of the effect of depleting her forest reserves and destroying the natural habitats she holds close to her heart…

If natural calamities are a serious threat to life on earth, it’s high time we, humans, rethink our place on the planet. We may need to pace down both as individuals, and society. Cut down on consumption judging our actions with a deep sense of moral responsibility. Why do we need so much, after all?

William Ruckelshaus has said ‘Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites.’

Let’s control our appetites and enjoy Nature’s free lunch, in these times when corporations mumble, ‘There’s nothing called a free lunch.’

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Photo: As per original copyright at: www.flickr.com/photos/cmgramse/2301230228/

The Onlooker turns to….

2008-10-06T20:16:00.000-07:00

(First, Formatting seems a tough job to me...so please excuse me!!)

An article in Real Truth Magazine read alongside recent news reports has left me amazed and baffled, all at once.

I was amazed by the ways of man, the genius of human mind, in the recent times –building on artificial intelligence, researching on the enormous potentials of nanotechnology, exploring possibilities of colonising Mars -- scientific and technological advancements that could bring incredible results. Man simply seemed capable of achieving whatever he sets his mind on, given the necessary resources…

Yet things seemed failing to fall in place…

The flip sides of humanity stump me, the kind of self that I claim to be. I think it better to submit a comparative picture to put things in perspective….

The Large Hadron Collider, one of the most complex physics experiment conducted in Franco-Swede border, expects to uncover some of the most vexing mysteries of the universe. The research is expected to offer insights on the origins of mass, the properties of dark matter, find unseen symmetries in the universe, and perhaps even extra dimensions in space.

More than three million people in over 1,000 village in three districts of the northern Indian state of Bihar, were rendered homeless and over one million cattle were affected by the floods in August. Flooding in the state was caused due to a breach in the Kosi embankment in Kusaha in Nepal that changed the course of the river.

-------------------------------------------------------------

Construction crews work endlessly in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on the Al Burj skyscraper -- already the tallest manmade structure on earth and is slated for completion in 2009. According to the magazine, on completion, the tip of the building’s spire will be seen up to 65 miles away. While the final height of the building remains a secret, the article says that companies involved with the project have said it will be over one kilometer tall!

A massive bomb blast hit the Marriott Hotel in Islamabad, Pakistan on September 20 killing at least 40 people. A lorry, which was being checked by security staff and sniffer dogs blew up at the hotel's entrance creating a 20ft deep crater, and destroyed the entire front section of the hotel.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Stanford University researchers continue to develop a breathable polymer-based artificial cornea, which, if successful, will remove the need for cornea transplants and help millions to see again.

A child sits alone, in the Mehrauli Sarai Market in Delhi a day after the bomb blast that killed at least six including a child,
looking bleakly…

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The first unmanned, tethered flight of a prototype spacecraft is being developed in Utah, which is aiming to bring space travel for the first time to the public.

About 25,000 people die every day of hunger or hunger-related causes, according to the United Nations. This is one person every three and a half seconds, and it is children who die most often.

Two out of three deaths among children and young adults in Africa and Southeast Asia are due to just six diseases, the 'diseases of poverty' as WHO calls it. These six diseases — tuberculosis, malaria, HIV/AIDS, measles, pneumonia and diarrheal disease — combined with complications of childbirth, kill 14 million people a year.

Is there an end to human potential at all,
Then why this endless suffering….???

The author of the article in Real Truth suggested that the flip sides needed spiritual solutions since they were spiritual problems, and recommended The Holy Bible as the source of spiritual knowledge to the pressing problems of humanity…

But when I open the Book, to my utter dismay I came across:

"...The end of all flesh has come before Me; for the earth is filled with violence because of them; and behold, I am about to destroy them with the earth. (Genesis 6:13)

Horrified, and faintly reminded of a verse in Srimad Bhagawad Gita, I turn to the text that my Mother reads regularly. I get to this verse by Krishna:

yada yada hi dharmasya
glanir bhavati bharata
abhyutthanam adharmasya
tadatmanam srjamy aham
(BG: 4-7)

tranlated as:
Whenever and wherever it is sure that
one weakens in righteousness and a
predominance of injustice does manifest,
O descendant of Bharata,
at that time I do manifest Myself.

My ‘self’ can’t help calling out……

Krishnaaa! O’ Krishnaaaaaa………!!!

PS: Its sheer chance –may be Providence – that I opened The Bible to see that verse of Genesis and be horrified, and then be reminded of the verse in Srimad Bhagavad Gita that I heard as a young Hindu girl years back.

The Bible could -- no, it does-- have verses that direct man towards virtuous life. If someone says The Koran also does, I wouldn’t disagree. Just that I have had no chance to read it yet…It remains my deep interest to read the Bible, The Bhagavad Gita and The Koran in full….

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Photo CC: Respective owners in that order at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/nol/shared/spl/hi/pop_ups/05/sci_nat_the_large_hadron_collider/img/1.jpg http://www.biharfoundation.co.uk/images/water_merged_villages_bihar_flood.jpg
http://www.fahad.com/pics/al_burj.jpg
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/multimedia/archive/00402/pakistan_08_402500a.jpg
http://www.primidi.com/images/cornea_hydrogel_prototype.jpg
http://www.hindu.com/2008/09/29/images/2008092958120101.jpg
http://space.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/cms/dn12109/dn12109-1_350.jpg
http://www.stolenchildhood.net/images/congo_kids_congolese_children_children_of_congo.jpg

Quick Takes Over the Weekend

2008-09-28T22:23:00.000-07:00

From The Hindu daily, from Saturday until Monday:

‘People of India love you’ – Manmohan Singh, Indian PM tells George Bush
‘People of India will judge you’-- Prakash Karat, CPM state secretary, who for all ‘practical purposes’ ditched the government recently on the Indo-US deal

How do they, who never faced the people of India, the general elections, say with such blatant confidence on our choices?

‘Fight terror resolutely’ –Manmohan Singh

Haven’t we had enough with ‘fighting’ terror. Making more and more ‘love’ it!! Is not time to try some ‘inclusive’ means?

Bangladeshi infiltrators a threat to security –says Advani

Who is not? By the way, who is saying??

‘Manmohan weakest PM,’ Advani

Old man’s so active these days!
Too impatient to try his strength himself!!

‘Condoleezza Rice bats for India’ – Berman changed mind after she made a ‘personal commitment’ on US policy for NSG

Has she mastered the ‘Art and Sport’ of Cricket, also?

India’s MKSS seeks ‘jawab’ (explanation) and hisaab (account) from UN Chief

Poor Guy! So is MKSS!! They have been tired of doing it with their leaders here!!!

Investor confidence at lowest ebb

Don’t worry. It will go down again!
Wait till the next cycle, you know it, after all!

German woman abducted, molested in Chandigarh

Why did she come after all, she should be aware of the India that is!!
Shame on us!!!

Enough!!
That’s enough, Methink.

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Picture: as per original copyright at: http://www.hindinewspaper.net/images/The_Hindu_Newspaper.jpg

Hope in the midst of Chaos

2008-09-23T07:34:00.000-07:00

As I get back from my holidays gathering some cheer for my days to come, I see it being wiped off more and more from faces of many across the planet. Terrorism, calamities has struck us bad again, hopelessly wiping off smiles from many a faces. But here, I refer to the thousands of faces in the US, UK and elsewhere-- employees who are left jobless or who fear job loss, investors who had lost or set to lose millions and even the leaders themselves with their systems failing to help– as the world’s once-strongest economies seem set on a reverse course.

And back here, in my country too, the flashy cheer that adorned many faces a few months earlier has gone. Many fingers remain crossed, while some fold in hope. Are we really robust, to remain independent and insulated from the world financial giants? Let’s not speculate; but, let’s know that our ‘globalisation’ has not grown much beyond the US and UK ...So let ‘crossed’ fingers unfold; let more hands fold in prayers….

The American and British market capitalist model which dictated deregulation of industry and privatisation of state enterprises in the 1970s, and globalisation of international markets in the 1990s, has come to an all but grinding halt with banks and financial giants collapsing at double click speed of a mouse. Bear Stearns, Indymac, Lehman, Merrill Lynch, HBOS -- Do I name them all? But the list is long and growing day by day…Even the Wall Street is reeling, they say…

As chaos prevails, Washington and Britain are seeking ways to prop up their financial stalwarts from crumbling down. With the nearly USD1tn bailout plan, the US government is set to become the biggest player in its financial sector. And it has shamelessly sought G7 nations to follow suit…taxpayers, shed your tears!

‘Socialized Capitalism’ is what they call for the state intervention in financial markets. Sounds as though their Capitalism lacked ‘socializing’ (?) so far!

Well, one could have a last laugh on the US, the apostle of neo-liberal capitalism, as it once had on Socialist/Communist systems. But history teaches time and again that the last laugh is never ever the last. So, let’s not – after all, don’t we know, systems are only as good as its users and administrators. Or an ‘ism’ is as flawed as its practitioners; be it any ism.

Then, does one be prudently cool to shrug off, saying: ‘Reap what you sow’. I shall not.

Because, as the United Nations meets this week to discuss on enhanced global financial regulation, I see a ray of hope – a slightly diffused ray, though – in the thick of things. Diffused because, I doubt if they, the global system builders, see that in the same light as I do. Yet, hope borders the chaos, a new dawn across a dark horizon…

Aren’t we getting a lost (last?) chance to build better systems? A chance to forge a new global economic system based on social equitability and humanitarian principles, than sheer selfishness and greed for wealth. A new economic culture based on rules of sustainability and restraint than that of unbridled consumerism and depletion of resources. Finally, individually, doesn’t the chaos offer a chance for a relook at ourselves -- to better ourselves as human beings?

Meanwhile, I read that The World Innovation Foundation – a consortium of world’s leading minds operating out of England—is set to meet in October to chart a new economic framework based on sustainability and continuation of human experience…

Is the ray of hope gaining intensity, becoming brighter?

Workers Unite, CPM’s Divided

2008-08-29T19:58:00.000-07:00

Born to a father, who in his own right left his legal profession to be a full time communist and a trade union leader, I was introduced to political slogans such as ‘Inquilab Zindabad’, which translates as ‘Long Live Revolution,’ and ‘Workers of the World, Unite!’ at a very young age –when children of my age at the time were perhaps vying to get introduced to Sinbad, the Sailor.

Those were the times when words had meaning and actions had purpose. And I loved those slogans for both – the meaning and the purpose they held.

But in time, as I grew up ‘Inquilab Zindabad’ gradually lost meaning – perhaps due to the overuse of it and in places where it had no meaning and purpose. I could never see a revolution at work anywhere. And, after all those strikes and slogan mongering, issues were settled finally by a compromise talk, often compromising the issue itself, or the very purpose, of the so called revolt.

But ‘Workers of the World, Unite!’ was one that remained in tact in me– with all its meaning and purpose. Workers were to stand united, because communism was beginning to wane since the late eighties and the imperialist west was fast invading the world with their profit-oriented capitalist claws and insatiable greed. The rights of workers were to be preserved – it had taken years for the humanists of the world, who once termed themselves communists, to get them the basic rights to live a decent human life. Not to mention the plight of workers before, a researchable story.

Joining an Indian private company in my home state of Kerala, a stronghold or a vice-grip for Communist ideals, I revelled in awe at the way communism and trade union changed the lives of workers – All Pay and Little (No?) Work!

I joined as an engineer trainee in 1993, and got to know engineers and managers who borrowed money from fourth-grade workers on interest to pay their house rents or vehicle loans. The workers were rich doing overtime for double pay; the managers lost time and money doing overtime. I saw the utter remorse of managers, as I awed the dignified complacence in workers.

Managers were not workers, they were part of the management; I was told. They could not join or participate in worker unions under the employment contract. They could face termination if they ‘revolted’ at work.

I began to like the slogan ‘Workers of the World, Unite!’ more…If that could extend to managers as well, how it would have helped their lives too. Most of the managers worked 12 hours a day, as against the 8 hour shift for workers –if they got their rightful due, it were so good.

But fearing job loss they chose to be divided, happily paying their salaries in interest to workers.

To digress a bit, though not unconnectedly -- While I started climbing the management ladder, I was granted a feeling I was part of the management. You know, people who could control the course of the organisation – a feeling of pride.

But no sooner I was told in a meeting – ‘See Devika, ‘the management’ has decided….’ I realised I belonged to nowhere -- Not the management, not the working class; when I decided to dump the job. By the time I was in Delhi.

Here, I got introduced to a different class of workers, though the capitalist management remained the same.

Workers – un-united they were -- who try all means to please the management for getting their dues. Toiling their evenings in extended work-hours with no or meagre extra benefits, running on domestic errands for the managers, and, and, and ….I could see no dignity in their face, when they stood before a manager, with beseech in their eyes…

I liked the slogan more, even urging them at times --‘Workers of the World, Unite!’

The recruitment letters to managers, including me –ununited, not to say – resembled those issued to warriors, shielding the nation. “You shall be on call, any time 24X7”, with the unsaid clause the pay packets shall be for the 8hours/day agreed in the recruitment contract… I saw many being pushed down or out of the management ladder as they grew in age…and those who stayed invariably made it a point to subscribe to group health/life insurance policies. Life was surely risky...

I liked the slogan more --‘Workers of the World, Unite!’ even extending it to ‘Managers of the World also, Unite!’

And the day, I saw the chairman of my company sitting in his cabin gazing the floor, shrewdly counting the manager-legs that crossed the door at 6pm towards their home; I knew I was a target. I decided to dump that job too…

And began to like the slogan more and more, as I ventured the world of freelance work - life of a worker, aiming for a decent life, is hard! Rightful pay for lawful work is a dream; some realise it, some just keep seeing the dream…

But now I read: the CPM – the Communist Party of India (Marxist)– the guardian of Indian working class stands divided on the right of workers to protest. Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee, the new age ‘Budha’ (enlightened soul) of CPM and the Chief Minister of West Bengal who is trying hard to get the Singur deadlock out, has said that he does not support bandhs. The WB state secretary Biman Bose said that Buddhadeb was not talking on behalf of the party, which continues to hold ‘right to protest as a fundamental right of workers'.

True, bandhs and hartals have grown to disproportionate levels in India’s two communist states—Kerala and West Bengal – levels uncondonable. The CPM is paying a price for taking their ideals to uncanny heights. What does a worker rightfully claim if there is no industry/workplace to work??

Today, The Hindu reports that two senior leaders (though not Buddhadeb himself) of the party – Bimal Bose and Shyamal Chakravarty – said that Buddhadeb has ‘accepted’ the view of the leadership of the CPM and that ‘chapter (was) closed.’

Well, to me, the onlooker that I claim to be, the chapter isn’t closed. Its just beginning to open…Perhaps, Buddhaded succumbed to the Polit Bureau knowing the fate of Lok Sabha Speaker Somnath Chatterjee. Or, perhaps the CPM won him over somehow for the fear of losing its top-class leaders in a row!

The division within the party is evident and showing elsewhere too -a creepy urge for money and power is gripping the party. It stands divided on many issues that were once the basis of its formation. While their petty in-party schisms raise no interest, the stake this time is high. The Indian working class may eventually lose a right that was gained after much revolt, through one of the ‘real’ revolutions in world history.

On this note, I, a victim of the system in my own right, and a humble onlooker urge:

‘Workers of India, Unite!’ – CPM, your guardian, is set on course to divide, and guarding you is becoming less of a priority to them. A right to claim a rightful life – fair pay for fair work -- is just ‘your’ responsibility!

&

‘Managers of the World, Realise!’ – You are just an other worker, though a ‘glorified’ one at that. The choice to assert your right, is your right alone, though!

PS: I have not said about the vices of present day trade unionism and labour union, not because I’m the daughter of a trade union leader, but because it’s a long topic and needs to be dealt with separately….some other time, perhaps!

I am only proud to be known as the daughter of my father – a trade unionist and communist, who stood for the rightful rights of the worker, even as he realised the need and role of industries in a developing society. As I gain in age, I hold his views close to my heart, as the fine memories of him.

..............

And, lastly: The profuse use of 'I' in this post is to stress the subjective view point. You can always have yours...

(De/Re)-Constructing Taboos

2008-08-19T05:43:00.000-07:00

(This post could well be a taboo for some of us; but I prefer to publish it.)

The last weekend, coinciding with Independence Day, has been a busy time for the national channels, specially for some of the private ones, conducting debates and reviews of our progress as an independent and progressive nation.

The usual stuff for a national day …. A fiery show of patriotic sentiments resounding with great ideas and weighty words – tackling terrorist/religious fundamentalism, continuing social marginalisation, need for inclusive development, eliminating corruption in politics/public systems et all—even as the channels ‘break’ in bouts to offer a mix of commercials.

If all that is just a ‘show’—time fillers for the channel – why waste my time? After all we have been discussing these at all lengths and depths all these years.

As I took a fast flip through the channels, I chanced upon a maverick looking, bearded face straight out from Page 3 making a final remark on some debate on parents discussing sex with children. Well, that was Prahlad Kakkar, Corporate India’s favourite ad guru; but I am not sure, if the talk focussed seriously on sex education for children or if it were the usual trivia on whether the topic of sex is still a taboo in Indian homes.

Whatever that may be, his conclusion sounded something like this: If a child (did he say three or five years old?) asks a parent how he was born – never, ever slate him; explain him, he may not understand that it fully, but explain the whole process.

He made his point; well, he may have a point also. God! But, how does one do that to a child?

And as the anchoress closed the show, I was taken to an incident that occurred in my city sometime last year. It was narrated to me by one of my friends, who wanted to maintain anonymity for herself, as well as others involved. I respect that.

A child of eight, a boy in her neighbourhood, came back from school one day, asking his mother: ‘Mama, what’s a condom?’ The mother was shaken by all nerves, to say the least. What could she say! ‘What are the advertisements doing to young minds?’ she was fast to curse the evil commercial media as one is normally inclined to.

But the young one was in to shock her further: ‘A bhaiyya (brother) of class XI asked me to get that from the medical shop near our school.’

‘And you got it? She shuddered, while the young one’s cool triumphed, ‘Haaa…..’

‘But, what was that for?’ She was perhaps trying to find a way out for herself. ‘Did you ask him?

‘Bhaiyya said he wanted it for some practical classes,’ he maintained his cool. (Ehhh! An irrepressible snort slipped off me as I listened to the narrative)

‘I don’t know; I haven’t heard or learned about it any time. Wait till you reach the XI class and you will come to know,’ the mother said evasively. Was she wrong in quelling his eagerness to know?

The incident, of course raises many social issues and concerns -- need for sex education in schools, the morality of school students taking covert ‘practicals’ on that, the commercial instinct of a medical-shop keeper selling condom to school children, as young as eight year olds-- and the diverse implications of it all. Well, think of it…It’s happening in our schools!

But, let me go back to the idea that children, irrespective of their age levels, should be told everything on sex and progeny, as part of the growing up process.

What does one tell a child of eight, when he asks ‘What’s a condom for?’

‘To avoid progeny during sex?’ And, what if he asks, ‘Then, what’s the whole act of sex for?’

Do we tell him of our feral sexual impulses, our joyful (or sinful?) pleasures as adults? Driving him to test the waters as soon as he could! And even subtly suggesting him the idea that he was just a ‘by-product’ of that enjoyment!

Even on the idea of discussing the process of progeny with a young child, I have my reservations. I like children to take lessons in stages as they grow…

And, I am reminded of yet another incident years ago, when a small one, a girl of six, in the family asked her mother, who’s herself a doctor by profession:

‘Mama, how did you get me?'

‘God has given me,’ the mother said.

‘But how, I came from your stomach,’ the girl already had her basics right.

‘God placed it there one night,’ the mother was skilled.

‘How did He do that?’ the child is none to leave.

‘Baby, can we see God? Can we see Him doing things? ‘‘He can do many great things. You will understand that as you grow up.’

Even today despite all my education, I like the poetic philosophy in that doc-mother’s discreet reply, rather than explaining the child the whole physical process that goes into her making. The little girl too seemed convinced at the time.

And sure, she will learn to appreciate her life more, and later to see the beauty and magnificence of her mother’s reason.

PS: Perhaps this fits the other blog of mine-- A Certain Kind of Woman @ http://devika-jyothi.blogspot.com/—more, for the kind of views I present. But decided to post it here for its social connotations; as I said, perhaps there’s more to think!

The 2008 Olympics -- Communist China’s Showcase

2008-08-12T00:14:00.000-07:00

Olympic Games have always been a pleasure to watch – a sporting extravaganza to revel. It’s just sheer thrill to watch items bordering sport, spilling over to realms of art and action like gymnastics, pole vault, high jump et all.

But the 2008 Olympic Games evoked a deeper interest, a political interest –it’s nothing less than Communist China’s showcase to the world. And the display assumed even greater significance, given the backdrop of waning capitalist economies of the West.

You may disagree with the Communist nation’s stance on Tibet, its wilful disregard for international human rights standards, its hard-hitting approach to global socio-economic issues et all, but the beauty and dignity of 21-century China unveiled at the opening ceremony of the Games in Beijing last Friday was strikingly impressive. It revealed China’s resolve and character– especially for a nation rocked by a 7.9-magnitude earthquake just three months ago.

The People’s Republic of China perhaps had a definite reason to choose Beijing – not the wealthier and presumably cosmopolitan Shanghai or Hong Kong – as the venue for the Games. The Olympics offered a podium for a careful branding, or re-branding, of a city that is still closely associated with the Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests in June 1989 -- a stain on China’s socio-political landscape.

And to me, the feat is more than done. The inspiring image of China's new generation exuding confidence, self discipline and a modest pride is prominently positive – a radical shift from the faint images of despair, fury and wrath that characterised the young protesters little less than two decades ago.

As curtains rise, China reveals to the world how prudent strategic governance combining Communist political ideals with free-market economic policies could build a nation, a contented society.

No, it’s not just a personal perception – A recent poll by the Pew Research Centre, a nonpartisan ‘fact tank’, based in Washington DC (no, not any Chinese official agency!) said that 86% of respondents had expressed satisfaction with the direction of the country, a third world developing nation.

And, for a relevant comparison from across the sphere --pollsters at Gallup recently determined that 94% of Americans – bearers of the ‘First World’ power and prosperity, with a politico-economic system acclaimed as world’s most liberal – are dissatisfied with ‘the way things are going’ in their country.

Sure, the US has lessons to learn from China!

A nation needs strong, visionary leadership to take it forward. Democracy doesn’t always ensure that.

Don’t we, the world’s largest democracy, realise that?

I Pay Tribute

2008-08-04T18:49:00.000-07:00

'Russians pay tribute to Solzhenitsyn,' so said The Guardian in a report.

The report was about the death and the orthodox funeral for Alexander Solzhenitsyn, the Nobel prize-winning Russian author, who held his Fatherland tight to his chest even as the Russian political system abandoned him, banished him to take refuge in the enemy’s abode.

Incarcerated in the gulags under Stalin, Solzhenitsyn was stripped of his Soviet citizenship and expelled from the USSR in 1974 for writing about his experiences under the brutal Stalinist Soviet system. He lived in the US until his return to Russia in 1994 after the collapse of the Soviet Union.

While my interest and awe remains on Solzhenitsyn, the author of A Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and The Gulag Archipelago, for his courage and will to expose the crimes of the Stalinist era and to continue criticising Russia's post-Communist leaders even after his return, it is his unswerving patriotism that captivates me, the socio-politically inclined self.

Throughout his exile in America, Solzhenitsyn had reportedly rejected the west (the US) and continued to set his watch to Moscow time!

As I digest the American political interests that accommodated Solzhenitsyn's adamancy, the refugee’s resolve, his unbridled love for his native land continues to haunt me, intrigue me –-living in a land where the young ones faithfully submit themselves to the clocks that are set to the US times in their call centre gulags!

I join the thousands of Russians who pay tribute to Alexander Solzhenitsyn, described by fellow Nobel laureate and South Arican writer JM Coetzee as ‘a colossus of our times’ and ‘a great Russian patriot’.

And, I submit myself to the memories of my father, a communist of the old genre, who had directed me to his book shelf that had The Gulag Archipelago and The Mother among them, as I blindly took to communism at a young age.

WTO – Commercial Prosperity vs. Livelihood Security

2008-07-31T04:56:00.000-07:00

It’s heartening to see politicians do the job they are entrusted with –- representing the public, the common man who seldom gets a platform to voice his concerns on issues that affect his life.

Indian Commerce Minister Kamal Nath left me with a sigh of relief on reports that he battled uncompromisingly at the recent World Trade Organisation meeting over the proposed trade deal to open global farm and industrial markets, though in the process collapsed the deal itself.

He had fought for the right to protect millions of our subsistence farmers, marginalised and vulnerable as we know, over efforts by rich countries to promote new trade openings aimed at mere ‘commercial prosperity.’

‘It's unfortunate in a development round we couldn't run the last mile because of an issue concerning livelihood security,’ Kamal Nath said later.

Well yes, Commercial Prosperity vs. Livelihood Security -- that ought to be the touchstone of all human actions, especially trade and development programme. But the ways of the world isn’t so fair, always!

‘This is a very painful failure and a real setback for the global economy when we really needed some good news,’ said Peter Mandelson, the European Union's trade commissioner.

What good news, sir? That your big businesses will be up and running, even as thousands of our farmers flounder, destined to seek eternal relief in suicide knots?

The rich nations, perhaps Corporate India including, were looking at a potential deal this week as a means to alleviate their recent problems -- global unrest from rising food prices, rising energy prices, shaky financial markets, the impending threat of a global economic downturn …and all those menace of the globalised economy...

The much-awaited WTO meeting in Geneva aimed to reach a broad compromise that would have allowed poor countries sell more produce to rich countries, while giving the US, 27-nation EU and Japan new opportunities for their manufacturers and service providers in the emerging markets of Brazil, China and India.

Bigger markets to Agrarian countries, bigger markets to Industrialised nations – The best form of barter…Sounds all good!

Once touted as a recipe for lifting millions out of poverty, the deal hit a snag when Kamal Nath fought blatantly over a ‘safeguard’ for protecting the vulnerable agricultural producers in the developing world from a sudden surge in imports or drop in commodity prices…

Was it wrong for India and China to ensure a loophole for developing countries allowing them to increase farm tariffs as part of an agreement? Is protecting the life and interests of a farmer, even if at the cost of big business, a bad thing to do?

If Indian trade minister’s intransigence seemed ‘blatant protectionism’ to US Trade Representative Susan Schwab, ma’am, it’s exactly what we entrust our politicians with.
Because our poor farmers, unlike your wily rich businesses, know no means to protect themselves!

Rationalising Stockholm Syndrome

2008-07-22T07:13:00.000-07:00

Stockholm Syndrome in the Indian Polity– Who’s the Victim?

The Indian political scene had gone rife with allegations, claims and counterclaims as the Congress steers its way clear to get through with its Nuclear Deal with the US.

The mayhem of the divisive polemics over the Indo-US deal baffles me -- Despite personally favouring the deal for the good intentions of a progressive government led by an ingenuous prime minister, the scepticism whether the deal would jeopardise Sovereign India’s constitutional vision seems just to me. Because, its George Bush who is at the other end; because America has not been plain and proper in its international relations, at least in the recent times; because the US has no history of striking deals without private hidden interests….the reasons could go on and on, and worthy of a serious national debate.

Yet, it is a queer allegation that caught my fancy, deemed worthy of a dissection -- the Congress’ alleging the left parties led by the CPM of suffering from the so called Stockholm syndrome, briefly explaining the disorder as the situation ‘when one starts to enjoy the suffering.’ And that with the syndrome, the Left have often played a destructive role.

On the face of it, it seemed true – the Indian Left seems to have such a problem – the problem at the crux of all their petty problems. One couldn’t call them sadists or masochists-- but they seem to like misery and suffering around. Only then they could play a ‘constructive role.’ Suffering seems indeed vital to their subsistence as a political entity.

But the irony of the allegation revealed as the journalist explained the term in the course of the report – ‘Stockholm Syndrome is a psychological response sometimes seen in an abducted hostage in which the hostage shows signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker regardless of the danger.’

Hey, isn’t there a bizarre tilt of rationale? Who’s the hostage and the hostage-taker, or the likely ones, in the Indo-US deal? Who’s being obliviously loyal, regardless of the danger of US imperialist schemes??

Is it the Left or the Congress that’s suffering from the Stockholm Syndrome?

And, seeing the members flashing bundles of currency notes alleging bribery ahead of the crucial trust vote on the issue, I doubt -- Is it the Indian public who have begun to show signs of the syndrome?? Haven’t we started to show signs of enjoying the suffering under these wretched schemers -- Hostage-takers of the Indian Democracy?

Gasp! Where’s the exit??

Doomed to Happiness!

2008-07-17T09:20:00.000-07:00

The world is a happier place, says a study in Perspectives of Psychological Science.

Data from national surveys conducted between 1981 and 2007, collated by researchers at the Michigan Institute of Social Research, showed that happiness was on the rise in 40 out of 52 countries.

The study seemed relevant, interesting. Thought it would give some academic insight as to measuring the generally evasive happiness, which in the usual course varies from person to person, and moment to moment.

But, the survey hinged on two simple objective type questions with four straight options to choose from: ‘Taking all things together, would you say you are very happy, rather happy, not very happy, not at all happy?" ‘All things considered, how satisfied are you with your life as a whole these days?"

Set aside the rationale and scientific basis of the survey -- Is the world really a happier place, not the least a happy place?

With all the terrorist strikes and war killings thrashing individuals and families more than the state; tsunamis and floods washing out communities, or the quakes burying them all in one go; tropical diseases spreading across the globe; food and clean water getting scarcer and such other macro-social issues, could a thinking being say the world a happier place?

At the micro level, as far as you got the banking system running, happiness seems at an arms length...But, is the plastic card one’s ticket to cloud nine of happiness? Is living a life on credit, with the interest-rate meter running a very joyous ride?

But, in these times when the media does all the thinking, who really cares to ‘think’ ---why should one bother, after all?

If real life bores, you could get the channels flipping to stimulate happiness – all those muscle flexing and seductive smiles; the curls, the curves and all the magic of make-believe reel life…

Or, the panacea sport of cricket, running at the least a day long—Oh yeah, now its packaged in 20-20 slices for those time-crunched aficionados of the game, giving the right mix of work and play --- a real mix of happiness….

Yet, if that still doesn't rouse you to happiness, the endless realty shows on laughter, dance, music and action –and, if seeing a judge stripping a teenage dancer to the brink of insanity troubles you, they got the WWFs thrashing and howling to help you take the frustration out!!

SO, Yes, if happiness is about oblivion, then the world is definitely a happy place…a happier place….kind of doomed to happiness!!

Pace Down & Enjoy Nature’s Free Lunch

2008-07-13T03:23:00.000-07:00

Pace Down & Enjoy Nature’s Free Lunch

Climate change is top on the agenda in many a forum. It seemingly would remain there for years to come!

As governments continue to fight the climate change agenda over emission-control and industrialists and politicians come up with techno-economical solutions like hybrid cars, carbon trading, I begin to doubt the credibility of singling out climate change as the most dangerous environmental issue of our times.

It all could well be a politico-economic ploy, as Russian scientists claim-- Kyoto Protocol could well be a scheme by European nations against the US and emerging economies, as the US pushed through the Montreal Protocol of 1987. And if so, it is to burst soon as any other hype by the west!

If nature is behaving in extraordinary ways, rising temperature is only a part of the problem. And irresponsible human action could be a more potent environmental hazard than the generally harmless greenhouse gases.

Climate perhaps is the most perceivable of Mother Earth’s response to reckless human action driven by over consumption.

Won’t SHE be affected by the tonnes of concrete dumped on her in the name of development? Will not excessive mining of ecologically sensitive areas distress her? Won’t she react in her own painful ways to submerging hectares of her land by huge dams? Not to raise the myriad questions of the effect of depleting her forest reserves and destroying the natural habitats she holds close to her heart…

If natural calamities are a serious threat to life on earth, it’s high time we, humans, rethink our place on the planet. We may need to pace down both as individuals, and society. Cut down on consumption judging our actions with a deep sense of moral responsibility. Why do we need so much, after all?

William Ruckelshaus has said ‘Nature provides a free lunch, but only if we control our appetites.’

Let’s control our appetites and enjoy Nature’s free lunch, in these times when corporations mumble, ‘There’s nothing called a free lunch.’

Brand Obama -- Diminishing?

2008-07-09T23:16:00.000-07:00

As Barack Obama brands himself, is he becoming ‘someone whom one loves to hate?’ Is the bright media light extinguishing his appeal well ahead of time? But he seems to have a role to play in his diminishing charm.

I too revered him before -- in those first days of his campaign, he seemed genuine, noble, neat. His biographical sketches on the Internet and elsewhere seemed irresistible, untenably adorable.

Yet, now going back in time from a point when America desperately looks for a miraculous change in about all perceivable socio-political and economic aspects, he seemed to have been delivering well crafted, befittingly modulated and perilously influential election speeches – politically motivated comments and commands powered by a distinct ‘evangelical’ script – a zealous advocacy not of any cause, but of the self.

Commanding CHANGE & HOPE for the FUTURE, he seemed a redeemer himself, of a society on the verge of destruction for all vices. Yet, his speech in New Hampshire seemed unscrupulously persuasive, not the least democratic : ‘My job is to be so persuasive that if there's anybody left out there who is still not sure whether they will vote, or is still not clear who they will vote for, that a light will shine through that window, a beam of light will come down upon you, you will experience an epiphany," said Obama, "and you will suddenly realize that you must go to the polls and vote for Obama."

Is he really God-send as he sounds? Is he a Mesiah, as they say? I can in no way judge. As all things subject to speculation, only time will tell! But, to me, his appeal is definitely not noble, in no way neat!

And, on his candidacy as President of the USA – Even as he politicises ‘Change,’ I remain unclear as to his policy for change. As the author of ‘The Audacity of Hope’ he is definitely inspirational, dangerously so. But, is his Vision for America workable?

Does he have a ‘Plan of Action’ or a Master Plan to set the American society on a more virtuous track? Is he excessively, unreasonably optimistic of his ability to steer ‘Change’? Or, worse still, is he materialising a ‘secret plot’ as the Republicans and so-inclined media claim of the ‘fist bump handshake’ with his wife as he clinched the Democratic Presidential nomination?

Will BRAND OBAMA work for Americans? Will he even sell in the election market?

Time may say. Nevertheless, with the US financial landscape sliding, to me he seems well positioned to fall, if not falter – be him the President or otherwise.

Perhaps -- no, by all means-- all these and more have been dissected and debated at full length by the political analysts and the apolitical commentators of the country – Yet, these remain the views and concerns of a socio-politically inclined onlooker from half way across the globe.