Flood to Fire & everything in between

First the credit crisis of 2008/09, then the China earth quake, the Haiti earth quake, the volcanic ash, the BP Oil Spill, the Russian forest fires and now the Pakistan flash floods.

It seems that man and nature are hell bent upon proving to each other who is best at self-destruction. What is going on? Amidst all these tragedies, pretty much every one of which has done nothing but to impose more and more suffering onto mankind, one thing stands out - our lack of empathy for our fellow citizens of this world.

Take for example the recent uproar in US about the desire of a Muslim couple to build a Mosque a short distance away from the 9/11 site. Many people in the US apparently dis-approve of this saying that this is as insult to those who died in 9/11. I respectfully dis-agree. The attacks of 9/11 were terrorist attacks. They do not belong to any religion. If you want to take the line of argument that say's the terrorists were Muslims and therefore anything Muslim is an insult to 9/11 victims, then would it be fair to extend the argument to let's say Germans? i.e. Since all Nazi's were Germans, therefore anything German is an insult to Jewish sentiments? Therefore there should be no German establishment within half a mile of a Jewish home as that would be an insult?

Silly argument? Exactly.

I am not justifying the sufferings of the 9/11 victims or for that matter the fate suffered by millions of Jews. I am merely wishing to draw the line between what is right and what is wrong. I am scared of a world or society that makes a determination of whether one is good or evil based on religion or appearance. It makes us inhuman. It stops us from doing the right thing.

And what exactly is this right thing? The right thing is to realise that we are all childrens of this planet. To realise that that Nationalistic sentiments are there to provide a positive rallying cry to fight against bad times - like the time Britain needed it during the second world war or as it needs today to get out of the rut that it's in - financially. To realise and feel that suffering of our fellow mankind across the globe whether be it they are affected by the floods or fire or dubious financiers.

We need a collective sense of humanity. We need to get back in touch with our humanity.

So what stops us from getting there?

Time. Time to think. In this fast paced world of instant gratification provided by Twitter, Facebook and Smartphones, we as humans are fast loosing the ability of assimilate and understand information and events around us through our own moral compass and framework. Our thoughts and opinions are shaped and formed by the 70 character messages we see in Facebook updates or Twitter updates or on various blogs like mine. We are spending our time building relationships with technology tools. We should spend that time building relationships with real people.

We see or hear about an event and immediately we are bombarded with zillions of analysis, thought pieces etc, the writers of most of whom have not spent time as much time writing it as you are probably going to spend on reading it. Intellectual skimming is the name of the game - and it's dumbing down the world.

There is a very real risk that we as a civil society might loose the ability to think and form opinions and judgements based on our moral values. Such opinions and judgements tend to be well thought out and stand the test of time. What we are faced with a civil society whose opinions and judgements are 'frivolous and temperamental'. We are loosing our human touch. A civil society that is fast loosing its human touch is only going to find itself with no real friends in the future….good luck in that case with a call for plea in your Twitter or Facebook post.

A tale of two disasters…..

As I write this on June 17th 2010, America is facing one of it's biggest environmental disasters in history. The collapsed BP leased rig - Deepwater Horizon, in the Gulf of Mexico has been spewing oil at an 'indeterminable' rate for more than 6 weeks now. Understandably there has been quite a bit of backlash against BP - political and non-political. BP's share price has taken a knock of nearly 49% hitting a 14 year low on 16th June 2010 amid concerns of a dividend holiday and potential liabilities arising from the escalating and as yet unquantified cost of clean up.

BP has been demonised, victimised, bullied, beaten and bruised. Does it deserve it? Yes surely it does, but so do the 'other' silent parties in this disaster epic. One does not hear the collective American conscience make the same kind of noise regarding Transocean - the firm that owned the rig or for that matter Haliburton - who were responsible for the botched 'well sealing' exercise that cause the spill in the first place. Never mind, I can probably live with that. Who the American people choose to vilify for a calamity in their own backyard is their own business.

What I am particularly peeved about is the American, and dare I say largely International, hypocrisy in terms of their response to another severe industrial disaster, perpetuated by an American corporation, that affects mankind till date. I am talking about the Bhopal Gas Tragey of 1984. A crime committed by a multinational corporation for which the people of Bhopal continue to pay price even today. A price they are paying not just by loosing their economic means or by a few miles of marginally spoilt coast line or even a few thousand tons of dead fish and shrimps. They are paying the price with their lives - day in and day out. Everytime they drink ground water, everytime a new child is born. The Bhopal calamity has caused enough damage for generations to come.

So what is the Indian Goverments response? Well the judicial courts after a quarter of a century, what seems like swift justice in terms of the glacial speed of the Indian judical systems, have ruled that the perpetrators of this crime are convicted of 'gross negligence' and sentenced them to 2 years prison time !! And moreover, no charges against the man who ran Union Carbide at that time. He is an American citizen who was duly escorted out of the country by the Indian political class and nowhere to be seen since then. Granted, there was some kind of settlement paid by Union Carbide back in the 1980's in return for dilution of charges, but did India do the right thing? Why was there no backlash and political will to 'kick ass' from India? Why did India not behave with Union Carbide the way US is now dealing with BP?

I guess, it all boils down to 'who is the big boy in town' and 'who needs who much more'. The rich and the powerful can get away with murder as long as it is perpetrated in the backyards of the poor and the weak. However when crimes of much smaller scale and intensity are perpertated at the backyards of the rich and the famous, all hell breaks loose. Yes, I call the Gulf oil spill a minor inconvinience. I care two hoots if some coastline is damaged and some fishes and shrimps are affected. More people lost their economic livelyhood due to the sub prime crisis than by the Gulf Oil Spill. So where is the escrow account from Goldman Sachs, JPMorgan etc? It's better for the marine life if humans leave them alone to fight a natural battle than to have humans fish them out of existence. Come to think about it, a scenario of a oil spill occuring under the ocean floor is probably a natural phenomenon. Just that in this case, it has been accelerated by man. Similar to what we are doing to climate change. So when a rise in sea levels threaten to wipe out an entire island nation, where is the escrow account for that?

Should we as a society tolerate such hypocrisy? If we are part of such hyprocrisy, then we should not forget that what goes around comes around. There is a natural order of 'setting things right' in this world. For me personally, while I hate the gutless behaviour of the Indian society and political class in standing up for itself, in a way, I don’t feel sorry for the Gulf oil spill either. I just think of it as natures way of 'payback'.

Nobel Peace Prize for President Obama - A Response

Someone very dear to me recently posted a blog on the recent award of Nobel Peace Prize to President Obama . I was invited to post my comments and what best to respond to a blog by publishing another one !!! So here I go.

I think the Nobel Committee have taken an unprecedented step here and have chosen to reward an 'intention' as opposed to an 'outcome' of the intention. Perhaps they have realised that in a complex, cynical, inward looking world, it's no longer possible to achieve peace as an outcome. It's like the race to quality - a race you keep running without ever reaching the finish line.

Does President Obama deserve the prize?
I think so - I think he has brought about a sense of sincerity and empathy to the role. He has shown the right intentions in reaching out to the those sections of the world populace who felt threatened by the previous US administrations.

Does that mean, he will be obliged to maintain 'peace'?
Not necessarily - I think maintaining peace is not the responsibility of one person alone. I think President Obama has the right and the moral obligation to uphold his countries interest and if that calls for an action that might not be in the spirit of the Nobel Peace Prize, then so be it. I would rather have an Indian or a British PM who is more concerned about the welfare of their people as opposed to someone who is constantly worrying what would it's impact be on his 'Nobel Peace Prize' image.

The Great Class X Board Exam Debate

In my opinion, there are two components to this debate

1 - Does the X std board evaluation (in its current form) serve a meaning ful purpose?

2 - What are the alternates, if this evaluation is deemed to be unnecessary in it's current form?

I think a lot of the responses to point 1 has been driven by the fear of unknown with respect to point 2.

In response to question 1 - almost everyone will have a different view.

Schools that have a great brand name and make money through donations etc will hate to see board exams go - as it is their 'excellent' results that drive their brand name and revenue.

Parents who derive their social status by the academic achievements of their kids will resist this as well and are likely to force their kids to do the board exams anyways - even if it were made optional.

Students - those who have no other identity for themselves other than their academics are likely to oppose this as well - how on earth will they know how they fare vis a vis their peers if there is no way to benchmark themselves based on the only thing they know?

And last but not the least - employers - they would hate to see this exceedingly simple metric of filtering go away.

I think kids are poor pawns in this game of 'expectations' and 'one upmanship' being played by Schools, Parents and Employers.

As long as there is a social hierarchy based on marks / degree, the system will never be stress free. It needs a change of attitude - not a change of laws or evaluation process.

The day when a BSc or a BCom or a BEd or a MA History person has the same employability opportunity like any other BE / BTech etc, only then will the stress and pressure go away.

Many people make the argument that - look at what Indian's have achieved today on the global stage - and credit the indian education system for this. I think we are looking at it the wrong way. For every individual who has become successful abroad, there are many many more who are still slogging out in India - maybe because they did not score in that one year that matters and because of that 'some software company' did not give them a job and hence an opportunity to go abroad?

I am not the sort fo person who is even remotely creative in the literary sense, however reading all articles and watching TV channel debates on this topic made me write this small poem about my views and vision for a simple and straightforward life for all kids. Read on...

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Study hard, educate posh
Read, Read, Read - nothing to learn;

To be the best, better than the the rest
To have it all, not knowing what is lost;

To make life better, while living no better
To earn more money and always falling short;

Priorities, morals, ethics and values
Everything right, applied wrong;

To live life in its simplicty, do things for happiness
leave worries aside and sleep in mother nature's arms;

May the dream be for every child in their mother's arms;
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Kumbhakarna Wakes Up

In the Hindu eipc of Ramayan, there is a character named 'Kumbhakarna'. Kumbhakarna was the brother of Ravana. The highlight of this character was the fact that he used to sleep for six months at a stretch, then wake up for a day and then go back to sleep for another six months. This 'unfortunate' skill of Kumbhakarna was a cunning tactic by the gods - who knowingly cursed him with this behaviour when infact he went to the gods to ask for a boon. The interesting thing about this behaviour was when Kumbhakarna woke up - he would eat anything and everything in his sight, including humans.

Are you wondering where I am going with this?? Well, I am reminded of Kumbhakarna on seeing the reaction of the Indian Citizen at the recent carnage that took place in Mumbai on 26th Nov 2008. I fully condemn any atrocious acts of violence against fellow human beings. May the soul of people who lost thier lives rest in peace.

However - what took me by surprise was the 'sudden anger' of the Indian Citizen directed towards the politicians.

The 'sudden' surge of patriotism.

The 'sudden' realisation that we are no longer safe.

The 'sudden' realisation that 'enough is enough'.

Who are we kidding? I cannot but help be 'cynical' about this.

Let me ask a couple of questions here:

1) There have been innumerable attacks for quite some time across different cities, by various groups. Some of then have been more violent than this one. Why is it that suddenly the Indian Citizen has woken up to this? Where was the Indian Citizen during previous incidents? Where was the 'patriotism'? Where was the 'zero tolerance approach'? Where was the 'anger'?

2) How many times has the Indian Citizen been vigilant enough to spot, report and deter anti social activities? I know instances where this 'Mumbai Spirit' used to watch in muted silence at people being molested and thrown out of trains, the 'Assam Spirit' watching in silence at innocents being burnt alive etc etc.


Some may argue that this time it's different - this attack was the proverbial straw that broke the camel's back. They say may be it has reached a point when people thought "enough is enough" and realised that if they don't protest strong, nothing is going to happen.

So what was so special about the Nov 26th attack that made this sleeping Indian Janta wake up? Lets look at the facts here - It took an attack on a couple of 5 star hotels, in posh localities, foreign lives at risk - before the 'janta' decided enough is enough?

Lives of ordinary people - fishmongers, dabbahwallahs, college going students - lost in the train balsts in 2006 - were not high profile enough for the Indian Citizen to get vocal?

Poor people shot to death in Jammu and Kashmir - were not high profile enough for the Indian Citizen to get vocal?

Kids molested and killed by a couple of demented monsters in Noida were not high profile enough for the Indian Citizen to get vocal - Care to run a story on this now, Brakha Dutt??

Farmers committing suicide - no act of terrorism. Does the Indian Citizen care?

A school burns in Kumbakonam, kids are burnt to death - no act of terrorism. Does the Indian Citizen care?

It hurts if it attacks your prosperity, but don't care if it does not?? Hell, up till this time there was not even a whimper, leave alone a protest from the Janta. And many more innocent lives have been lost.

According to a recent article by Mr. Arun Shourie in the Indian Express - 67,000 people have lost their lives to terrorist activity in India. 'Sixty Seven Thousand innocent lives'. Think about that for a moment. Reflect on that number. It took this 'aam janta' sixty seven thousand innocent lives before it woke up. 6 months for Kumbakarna, sixty seven thousand lives for the Indian Citizen to wake up?? You know what that tells me - it tells me that we are cursed beyond redemption - no trickery of the gods here. We are paying the price of our own lethargy. It took 67,000 innocent people to loose thier lives before the Indian Citizen decided 'enough is enough'?? We should have said 'enough is enough' when the first innocent life was lost.

The Indian Citizen wakes up after deep slumber now and blames the govt for everything? They want a quick fix? You sleep for 61 years, wake up one fine day and expect the whole world to feed you? Expect everything to be perfect on the day you wake up, without having done anything so long to make your world better?

I think the problem is not with our politicians or our neighbours. The problem is within us. We have no respect for human life - unless its our own life. Citizens, who have been historically lethargic, cannot expect to turn up one day as 'utmost concerned' and expect the whole world around them to change overnight. Society that does not value human life in general with eventually find itself in a situation where no one else will value their life. This is what is happening in India. Unless we change our attitude towards human life, start treating it with respect - we will not change a thing. We can change our leaders as much as we want, we can go to war, we can increase diplomatic pressure, we can do anything and everything outside of us, but unless we change the attitude inside us - we will go back to sleep only to wake up 61 years later and god knows how many more innocent lives will be lost by then. Larger evils like terrorism cannot be solved by Government alone. It needs participation and help of the people. It needs people to give up a few liberties, follow some rules - and not try to break them by bribing their way through it. It needs people to value life - their own and others as well, irrespective of age, cast, creed, demography etc. If we take a pledge to stay alert, follow rules, do not act corrupt and learn to respect our fellow citizens, value life, then we will achieve far more in the fight against terror than any government sponsored action.

Jai Hind.