I love
doing kitchen work – all work, not just cooking. As I was doing the dishes, a
thought crossed my mind:
‘If we
keep doing what we can, it makes us fit. Not expecting a payoff or recognition
makes it spiritual.’
I shared
this with my daughter and grandson (14 years old). He remarked, ‘That is what
Mahatma Gandhi said.’
I did not
know that Gandhi said it preempting me!
ABC approach
Even in business, the law will have to be an arrow in the quiver, not the brahmastra. There would arise cases where B and C items may be a headache and need closer attention. It decides what must receive priority of attention, not how much attention a thing taken up needs. The cardinal principle is that anything taken up needs full attention.Same will go for customer service. Any customer has to be attended to with courtesy and care. That is what builds and sustains market.Of course, I am not discrediting the principle, but observing its relevance and limitations.
November 29, 2014
Adult
Scientists of both body and mind have cut a man into
pieces. Those of body have cut him into head, heart, etc., leaving many
brainless, heartless or both-less. Those of mind have cut him into Id, Ego,
Super-ego (Freud) or child, parent and adult (Eric Berne). Therefore, the odds
are we will not find a whole man. My quest to find an adult may be queer, but I
am not unknown for mad choices. Let me soldier on.
My mind took the above opening when, suddenly, I felt
curious to know who an adult would be. It has been the story of my life journey
that I normally look for anything in my wild multidimensional imagination
rather than in the cold three-dimensional world. What follows can therefore
hurt no real soul if found flagrant.
Law lays down that a man becomes an adult once he turns eighteen. It is that flip second as the midnight hour of the seventeenth year of one’s existence sways from 11.59 to 12.00 that adulthood drops from above as an angelic gift. Law has been likened to an ass, but the transformation at that precious second may not necessarily be into an ass.
Maturity is considered a qualification for being an adult, but it is a synonym. An adult and a mature person mean one and the same thing (person?). The reason it is touted as a qualification is that many legal adults are not mature (not real adults).
I read that Narendra’s (Vivekananda’s) father advised him
not to be surprised at anything while encountering the world. Isherwood says
that such is the advice a Westerner also receives. That is the first telltale
sign of one’s becoming an adult – not being surprised at anything. In
elaboration, it may be said that an adult is reasonably aware of ordinary
things of the world. Where something is not known, it is something to be picked
up if necessary, not to be wondered at.
Moderation is another attribute of an adult. It is like
applying brake while driving. Impetuosity and temerity are attractive in
adolescents, not in adults. Moderation is not adopting a middle course, but
weighing practicality, perils and impact. It is not avoidance of risk, but
management of risk. It is not a mindless mean between opposing claims, but a
workable solution without sacrificing the essence.
Enjoying productive work is an adult trait. Leisure or
pleasure as a whole time goal is a contra indication.
An adult appreciates that his knowledge is limited and
conditioned, that scope for correction is aplenty. He knows that his views
spring from his beliefs and that other views may contradict his because of
change in the standpoint. He is confident of his stance without the need to be
rambunctious, and lives in amity with others of different takes on a given
matter.
The urge to advice is in check in an adult. (My children
must be chuckling if they read, but I am safe as they are not into FB).
Individuals develop by experience, not by instruction. Developing juniors is
very much a responsibility, but the role is played as a case-in-need and not as
a director.
Economy of speech is practised by an adult. He does not
feel the need to put in his view or contradict another. He speaks if it
matters. (cf Rahul Dravid on Sachin’s claim about Chappel’s offer of captaincy:
I have not read the book, and after reading it, I will give my comment if it is
needed.) He expresses himself in his behaviour and action. His words carry the
backing of his personal experience.
Well, to be an adult in character is demanding, but it is
optional. I have decided to be a child and play around and be in the world of
passing fun as, encouragingly, innumerable others have chosen.
Advice
May 18, 2016 ·
Advice falls on deaf years. Reasons may be:
The listener did not yearn for that advice.
The adviser is not all that wise he assumes to be. Advice
is given often as a conduit. Experience does not back it. The giver himself
does not practise it.
No two situations are alike.
It is given ad nauseum.
Advice imparts derived knowledge, if at all, which is
inferior to direct knowledge. People like to learn their own way.
Teaching is incidental.
It is scriptural and impractical.
(The first statement will apply to this piece of writing
also).
Nov 19, 2006
Advice irritates; that from failure irritates more.
Wisdom is not the result of ‘any’ experience; that is wisdom which is scientific, which is the result of planned effort and is unerringly replicable. Old age is not a symptom for wisdom. There are old fools as well.
June 20, 2014
Age
From my diary (2/10/2002)
Youth has tenderness, curiosity and capacity for
experimentation, a buoyancy- all of which lend meaning for beauty. For this
beauty to sustain, one has to go through life carefully- experimenting but not
recklessly, acquiring wisdom from both observation and experience. As one
matures, it is grace and magnanimity, a near insensitivity to hurt at others'
words and actions and a sensibility not to hurt others, that bring
acceptability. Aged ones with such attitude are really beautiful. The physical
charm has sweetly metamorphosed in them to an inner beauty that is radiant and
penetrative.
Age is in mind and mind is in
body.
Ageing is natural and we age differently. There are fit
nonagenarians and handicapped middle aged persons.
There is no one who has an ageless body.
Time passes and matters, do not be fooled by Einstein! If
you do not mind time, you will miss the train, exam and important appointments.
You will age whether you mind time or not.
Read everything and lead life like any buddhu does. Be
yourself. Listen to both your body and mind.
May 17, 2016
Alms
My musings
Is it right to beg for alms and as a corollary, is it right
to give alms? It is likely to get a paradoxical no and yes answers.
Avvaiyar has given such answers. She says ‘Do not give up
giving’ (ஈகை விலக்கேல்), and in the next but three
aphorisms, ‘Taking is indignity’ (ஏற்பது இகழ்ச்சி).
Two sides are required for a transaction and so if one is
right, the other cannot be outright wrong.
Hindu Dharma required that brahmachari, vanaprastha and
sanyasi beg and grhastha feed them. It upholds giving and taking in that social
setting. As Hindu dharma has crumbled, never bother whether it was right or
not, what is the position in the modern society?
Hinduism apart, all other religions too put charity on a
high pedestal. Even those who stand away from religion will rarely frown on
charity. If charity is to be practised, takers must be there. I am not
suggesting that we should create a market the way we have gone about in
commodities and service.
Getting personal, I may not have got to where I have been
but for charity. I know of many others who had a quantum jump because of timely
help. It is a matter of interpretation whether it amounts to taking alms or
not.
I feel that every being deserves to live and if it deserves
to live, it has to eat. Giving food to the hungry is a social dharma and the
thought whether one deserves or not is antithetical to a basic need for living
which is sacred.
Why does one depend on alms? Is it due to laziness, want of
a gainful occupation, exploitation, social inequities, or state policy? How are
we to know in an individual case? Therefore, it has been laid down that feeding
the hungry is a social obligation.
Free food used to be served in many places and normally,
peope do not go there as people develop a status consciousness. In several
temples free food is on offer. Annadanam is undertaken by many. The midday meal
scheme, which was perhaps pioneered by The Hindu Theological High School (Deena
Bandhu Sangam started by Sri K.Rangaswamy Iyengar) is a right step in this
direction.
I strongly feel that the culture of providing food without
examining the worth of who is fed will be a binding one.
The idea of praising giving and talking low of taking is
intended to discourage depending on charity while being disposed towards doing
charity. That seems in order to let people work for their living. The society
and the state have a job to do in creating jobs and reducing instances where
charity is resorted to.
Charity and getting cheated
It is difficult to say when charity is deserved and who the best judge is in this regard. Any money that has gone out of us is not ours until it comes back. Losing money hurts more than in money terms. All of us lose money some time or other. Charity is parting with money for a cause that we consider worthy. We may find later that what we thought was charity was a neat swindle. It hurts again even though we did not expect the money back.
Mrs. Murthy tells of an incident in USA. A mother helps a poor lady who wants money to treat her child for some deadly disease. Her son smells a rat and dissuades her. The mother helps nevertheless. Later a newspaper report appears about the lady being a cheat, that her child never had any disease and that it was only a pretence to cheat people. The son shows it to her mother exultantly. The mother, after reading it, tells him calmly that she was happy to know that the lady's son did not really have any deadly disease. Looks incredible but edifying.
People make a living in ever so many ways, cheating is also in the list, and in great variety.
March 26, 2018 ·
All About Ass
Ass that I am, I know not to tell an ass from a donkey. Is
ass wild whereas donkey is domesticated?
A fool can either be an ass or a donkey – he has free
choice.
The male of either is jackass while female of the species
jenny. How come there is no difference? A foal for the young one is also the
same and so too asinine as adjective.
I am reminded of a love story that goes like this: A king
there was and he was so fond of his wife. The queen though was fond of the
launderer. The launderer in turn doted on his wife. The launderer’s wife loved
the ass exceedingly. The story teller left it hanging there. The preference of
the ass is a mystery.
Shakespeare the great did not treat the ass so slightingly.
He converts human beings to asses in Midsummer Night’s Dream and produces an
entertaining play.
To be called an ass may not be all that demeaning.
Otherwise, how would I assume that title without qualms?
February 08, 2017
Atithi
अतिथि (atithi)
Atithi is generally translated as guest, but my teacher
said that it refers to a stranger who does not stay longer than overnight (a
tithi is 24 hours, atithi means ‘not, or less than, 24 hours’). Friends and
relatives staying with us for days together are not atithis.
The injunction ‘atithi devo bhava’ refers to being
hospitable to the strangers. Presumably, the householders were expected to take
care of travellers (pilgrims, etc.) who would stay overnight in a place during
their journey. Those days, there were no guest-houses and each house was a
guest-house.
The modern day banquets and such affairs are more snobbish,
attempt to provide rich food to those who must be on diet, entailing enormous
waste.
Attitude
13/1/2012
Nobody owes us anything. The converse is not true. It is
not correct to assume that we do not owe anything to others. But, it is not
humanly possible to pay all others what we owe them. The best we can do is not
to demand anything from anybody, not to expect, not to feel the lack of such
help, not to feel let down. To carry a burden that we have not paid others
their dues is not good either. The mind has to be freed, not fettered.
Awards
Palghat Sri Ramprasad, while accepting an award, says that
any award is a reminder that it is due to so many factors and persons, never to
his sole ingenuity. This is the attitude that is healthy. We are corrupted by
the idea of individual excellence (which is a fact within a nurturing
environment and genetics) and extravagant reward. All truly great people have
shown humility and acknowledged the part of luck and favorable circumstances.
Next to attitude, accepting the contribution of so many in
a person’s achievement will secure social balance and cohesion.
July 24, 2016
Beauty: definition:
Beauty is more than passing physical attributes. True
beauty is that solid agreement between what one is and what one appears as. It
is that inner strength that radiates as outer charm, guileless and artless.
The beauty of definition is that it stirs your mind to
search and spread out ideas like a salesman in a sari shop and you are left
unsure whether you got what you were looking for.
A person’s behaviour in prosperity and in adversity
will differ. That is normal. We should not confuse between scripture and
reality. Scripture tries to bring unity and the record suggests that it is
still trying.
We must base our decisions and action on reality instead of
moralising.
August 1, 2016 ·
Brain
We have excess capacity of the liver, kidneys, etc. They
keep quiet without bothering to over work, and we live well. We have excess
capacity of brain. We strain it to the limit and create misery. We have
problems like religious fundamentalism, a clear product of human brain. We need
to understand that brain has function related to one life and it has to be used
on need basis, just as involuntarily as we use kidney, liver only when there is
work.
I have seen managers who create work for the subordinates
because there is some excess time.
(yes, yes.. this post is also the result).
2018
Boredom
When I met a relative and the talk commenced, the topic was
boredom.
Boredom results from inactive body and overactive mind. We
have got used to live in a virtual world, led by some pied piper’s tune. We
substitute for our authentic experience that of others.
Being active physically, being present fully in what we are
doing whether it is bathing, eating or toilet, talking to other beings, even
trees and flowers, there are many ways we can engage with life interest and no
pecuniary interest.
Just as we should exercise our body to tire it, we must
relax our mind to refresh it. Just as we should eat to replenish the lost
cells, we should starve the mind to make it open for new ideas.
Boredom is because of the body having reserve energy and
mind being crazy for more stuff to cram in. The solution is to burn the excess
energy and empty the already crammed mind.
I am no better. Writing a prescription does not cure the
disease.
Calcutta (Kolkata now)
My first two visits to Calcutta are not even in my memory.
My mother took me there when she visited her brothers gone there for earning
their livelihood.
I visited in 1974 along with a visit to Prayag and Kasi as
a religious trip.
I went a few times between 1976 and 1986 as my in-laws were
there.
I worked in UCo Bank for a year on deputation in 1992-93, a
turbulent period. I tried for and got repatriated a year short of the period of
deputation. It was a forgettable period overall.
I inspected the Stressed Assets Branch and Foreign
Department in 2002.
I visited in transit when I went to Port Blair and
Singapore.
Calcutta attracted and repelled me. The tram was an
attraction. In 2002, I went on a tram ride on a Sunday aimlessly. Calcutta zoo
was better than Madras, but looked anaemic in 2002. In 1992, I went on a boat
ride in Hooghly. I had also visited Mayapuri where ISKCON is headquartered, and
Palassy, where battles that were watershed in colonial history took place, but
the place looked barren and uninteresting. The way they maintain historic
places in the west is remarkable.
One thing that struck me was the milling crowds even at
dead of night. I thought that half the population was floating around. Another
notable feature was that many things (save rent perhaps) were cheap. Where
things are cheap, quality of life may not be great. In 24 Parganas I used to
take a riksha from the station to the mill quarters where my uncle lived and
the charge would be ridiculously low compared to other places. They lived hand
to mouth pitiably.
The place is flush with water and fertile soil and has been
supporting bare life tirelessly for years on. The idea of prosperity has been
looked down upon as sinful and poverty has been glorified. In the organised
sector money was welcome more and more for less and less of output. It was
undemocratic to oppose this undercurrent.
I told a director in UCo Bank in the presence of the GM who
was a Calcuttan too, that to revive UCo Bank, its head office must be shifted
out of Bengal. Both laughed.
There were quite a few who used to do quality work in conceptual
areas and when I was in C.O., it was a great exercise to get a response from
the circle, but it used to be worth it.
Hope the place regains its past glory, what it was more
than a century back. It produced great thinkers and reformers and we owe them a
deal for preservation of our treasure of knowledge and custom.
Canonisation
Ordinary individuals who do extraordinarily in one field or
another are elevated in public mind or ritualistically to sainthood. Some go
with the honorific of Swami.
There was a demand to canonise Diana, which to my mind
looked diabolical. But. I am going to write against the whole concept.
Individuals who do great deeds have developed that ability
by assiduous application, diligence and long haul. It may be true that they were
born with certain abilities like for instance flair for poetry, but whatever
they did cannot be explained by innate genius. M K Gandhi was a phenomenon.
Einstein said rightly that posterity might not believe that there lived a man
like him. But, he was unknown when he started and all that he did was hard work
on the back of rocky conviction. Adi Sankara mastered scriptures, logic and
honed his discernment by observation and experience and wrote the watershed
works. One frontline musician said that composing is possible through hard
learning and practice, not by some magic. Unfortunately, it is not documented,
he said. MS was not just gifted, she worked hard and intelligently to master
music. It is not just her voice that made her successful. She herself felt bad
when her success was attributed to her gift of voice.
Some out of humility or tradition ascribe their achievement
to an inscrutable force, but that does not help build the profession or train
the posterity. It is quite in the fitness of things to acknowledge good breaks
and something beyond only our effort, but not if the whole thing is explained
by it.
Thiruvalluvar, a handy source for quotations, is to the
point:
“செயற்கரிய செய்வர் பெரியோர். Those
who do the difficult tasks are great.”
That is it. They are great. The greatness is achieved, not
pulled from thin air. Where it is thrust, it is sham and does not merit
consideration.
To believe in humanness of human beings is what can give us
inspiration and conviction. If we make them gods and worship, we will lower
ourselves. We can learn if their path to greatness is carefully documented.
Circumstances and luck always play a part. That is true for
all of us.
15/10/18
Caveat Emptor or buyer beware
We studied this in economics. It is very useful for life.
We can enlarge it to Caveat User: consumers beware.
In whatever field we are dealing, the vendor or service
provider is likely to take us for a ride.
A doctor will put us to all tests, try all medicines and
charge all the fees.
A lawyer will goad us to litigate. In London, to start
with, the solicitors advised a bank that there was a strong case for the bank.
Down the line, they advised that there were chinks in the case and that a
compromise was preferable. The difference was that they earned in the process.
I had given my house construction to a contractor. Later, I
came to know that he used wall paint for wood also, and saved money in many ways
by buying inferior stuff.
Some banks used to have hidden charges.
You can add any number of professions.
To get on reasonably well in life, we must acquire
smatterings of all that concern us and be wary when we buy anything, engage any
specialist or avail of any service. “A fool and his money are soon parted.”
But, there are charms in care-free life as well, taking
things as they are. That is for the real life Richard Thaler creatures!
(Richard Thaler got Nobel for his theory based on the
assumption that people are irrational).
Read this quote in a whatsup group:
“The single biggest problem in communication is the
illusion that it has taken place.” George Bernard Shaw.
A friend forwarded a list of new slangs. One was ‘talking
to the hand’ which means talking on without caring whether the audience is
listening. We have seen it pretty much.
Another friend forwarded an anecdote in which Kanchi
Paramacharya asks a discourser whether the audience followed what he said. The
discourser was at sea. He said, ‘How to know?’ Acharya explained:
"நாம் சொல்வதை சரியாக புரிந்து
கொள்கிறார்களா, இல்லையா என்பதைக் கேட்பவர் முகபாவத்தைப் பார்த்தே
புரிந்து கொள்ளலாம். அது தெரியாமல் பேசிக்கொண்டே போவதில் பயனில்லை. கேட்பவர்
திறமையை எடை போட்டு அதற்கு ஏற்றாற் போல் பேச வேண்டும்!"
“We can make out whether the listener follows or not from
his facial expression. There is no point continuing to talk reckoning such
feedback. We must gauge the preparedness of the audience and talk accordingly.’
An astute singer also sizes up the audience and renders the
pieces to reach them without letting up classicism.
Common man
The din demanded by democracy to be its follower is so much that it is almost and already a rich man’s game. A man can withstand this din only if he is uncommon. There is no place for the common man. Uncommon ones are not necessarily rich but they necessarily have the qualities which will help them grow rich. The uncommonness can either be innate or created. Thus democracy is a farce. The common man has no place in it; but yet the system is appealing. This is because the common people are very common. They do not have even a little uncommonness to be able to distinguish between a hawk and a handsaw. The prize of their being uncommon is the loss of their right to be happy. They suffer; they are yet common to believe it is the will of the Providence that makes them suffer.
(P.S. Written in my teens or early twenties.I hope that if you read it, you did not look for meaning!)
October 03, 2014
Comparison
Thou shall not compare - Religion.
Benchmark - business wisdom
There appears to be a dichotomy between worldly pursuits
and spiritual quest.
I studied this poem in school:
தம்மின் மெலியாரை நோக்கித் தமதுடைமை
அம்மா பெரிதென் றகமகிழ்க - தம்மினும்
கற்றாரை நோக்கிக் கருத்தழிக கற்றதெல்லாம்
எற்றே யிவர்க்குநா மென்று.
(. நீதிநெறி விளக்கம் - ஸரீகுமரகுருபர சுவாமிகள்
அருளியது)
It says: Look at those worse off than you and be happy how
your possessions are huge; as regards knowledge, look at those who are more
knowledgeable and feel humble how you are so small before them.
In material possessions, contentment is advised and for
knowledge desire for more is advised. Good to follow for happiness in life.
Contentment
June 2001
यल्लभसे निजकर्मोपात्तं वित्तं तेन विनोदय चित्तं
'Let your mind be pleased with the wealth attained through
your efforts (karma).' Ill-gotten wealth also is acquired through efforts, but
karma rules it out. this seeks to instil faith in action and earning.
विधिवत् प्राप्तेन संतुष्यतां
'Be happy with that which destiny ordains for you.'
The message is destructive and cannot do credit to its
author and will lead to a self-anninhilating world. Ignore. The previous
message is apt.
April 18, 2014
Contentment is dicey advice. It cannot be universal advice.
Sankara says, 'Gratify your mind with wealth earned by your own efforts.'
Avvaiyar says, 'Earn going overseas if necessary.' Both have given sumptuous
didactic poetry. Both have led a spartan life, not attached to the snares of
the world. When I am paid to do a job, I cannot be contented without doing it.
When I marry and raise a family, I cannot be contented without providing for
them. Contentment is being resigned to what comes after reasonable, purposive
and diligent effort. It is not acquiescence at status quo.
June 06, 2014
Control
There is a grocery shop next door to our house. As I met an
ex-colleague in the bank near the shop, he observed that the business of the
retailer has gone up several times, judging by the time taken to unload the
arrival of replenishment now as compared to a year ago. A keen observation! I
mentioned it to the retailer and suggested to him to open a departmental store.
He remarked, ‘Yes. I can scale up, but maintaining will be an issue.’ What he
meant was control. That is the key to business. Business flounders not by size,
but for lack of control.
What I read in Drucker flashed in my mind. He says that it
is not the size, but span of control that determines viability. He adds that
dinosaurs became extinct not owing to size, but inability of brain to
co-ordinate. I also read how fast a body can move is determined by control
system and not by magnitude. A plane travels very fast, but mostly safely
thanks to the control system. I also remember a teacher explaining how uniform
speed resembles state of rest (a bullock cart moves slowly, but you can
scarcely read or write travelling in it, a bus is a little better, a train much
better, and a plane almost perfect save when it hits air-pockets). The heavenly
bodies hurtle at great speed, including the earth, but we hardly feel it.
In the eighties, James Raj Committee said SBI was too big
and should be split up. One counter-argument that was put up was that if small
were manageable, banks of the size of Dena Bank must have been more healthy,
but they were not. Good sense prevailed and JR report was shelved. SBI has
grown by leaps and bounds since and has survived.
(In lighter vein: As someone working in the bank, it
appeared a miracle. Well-meaning efforts to derail it have come unstuck. Those
who wonder why I believe in God should read this.)
May 17, 2016
Self control
आत्मवशं सुखं परवशं दुःखं
Being in self-control is happiness.
Being under the control of others is pain.
We should not subject ourselves to be controlled by any
outside influence, gurus and religion included. They are for guidance, not to
control us.
April 18, 2017 ·
Conventions
The ‘why’ syndrome is widespread. From an early age, we get
into it. As we grow in experience and knowledge, we discover that the answers
we got were fallacious at times. Perhaps, the questions were wrong, or we have
no means to arrive at the answers.
But, we overdo it at times when we carry the syndrome into
conventions.
It is by convention that we keep to the left, call electron
negatively charged, keep the knife to the right, decide what to lead from ace
and king in a suit in bridge, and so on. The very name right and left to the
two halves of our body is by convention. At least, I am not aware of any reason
for it.
By and large, we follow the conventions. I wonder if any
child abroad asked why knife should be to the right. In fact, I would
personally prefer the fork to the right as it is easy for me to eat with the
right hand. Luckily, I use my hand or at times a spoon only and no problem.
A convention becomes at times deep-rooted in our psyche and
dishonouring it is frowned upon. It may be as offensive to the upholders of the
convention if it is violated as for the heretic to follow something because he
is told to do so.
By some convention, I write contrarian views!
30/7/18
Decisions
A decision cannot wait for all information. If all
information is available, the decision will be timed out.
A decision is not a wish. It needs commitment and efforts
of the decision making authority in its implementation.
A decision should not be judged by the result. Results are
a feedback to make better decisions in future.
A decision which takes away the freedom to take decisions
down the line is a death warrant of the organization.
A decision is a risk. That is why a proposal to lend is
recommended as a fair banking risk.
A decision which will never be implemented (most decisions
on staff matters in PSBs) is a fraud and a trap for the innocent.
All people are not competent to take decisions. Choice of
the right people for posts that involve decision making is a top priority of
managements. It cannot be democratic or left to pressure groups.
A decision with ulterior motive for personal benefit is
corruption.
However, the overriding consideration has been not to risk
promotion and pension!
Decisions are always subjective incl. judgments. When the same criteria, vetted against theory and efficacy, are applied across the board, we call them objective. But, the criteria, and how a person apples them, will still be subjective. Thus, whatever the decision, there will be complaint. See how we have differences about team selection, conferment of awards, judgments, etc.
There is often this myth that if something is expressed in numbers, it is objective. Thus we have number in confidential reports, but no one would agree that they are objective. A number by itself is neutral, but when we assign it to an individual or anything for that matter, it becomes subjective. There are as yet no established correlations between ‘accurately measured’ (a near impossibility) performance and a number.
We see this in credit appraisal too. We have advanced techniques like DCF and NPV methods which arrive at optimum decision choice very scientifically. But, the numbers we choose for the future are judgmental. No one knows the future and there is no reliable method to capture it in credible number.
It is only the quacks called astrologers who profess to predict the future by looking at the planets and stars whose movements are calculable precisely. The trouble is that the correlation between that and the fate of a person imagined to be under their distant gaze is suspect.
In other words, there are at play numerous influences and opaque parameters that clutter perception and judgment. These will stay and decisions will be subjective and there will be those who exploit them.
The best solution is what we have – checks and balances, and review.
How can we improve this?
We have differences because of partial perception
and dogmatic conception, unverified assumptions and prejudiced presumptions,
woolly thinking and vague expression.
Digital travel
I have downloaded a number of e-books to be read over several
births. If all of them are in hard copy, it would require considerable space.
This led to a fanciful thought. If all human beings can be digitally
transformed, the accommodation problem would be solved. Hope someone works on
this wonderful idea and helps Modi in reaching the target of accommodation for
all Indians!
In 1983 or so, a teenager son of a colleague said in
allusion to the mythological travel of mystics from one place to another in a
jiffy, ‘If human beings can be converted to light waves like sound waves in
radio transmission with ease of reconversion at destination , it should be
feasible in real life.’ He must now be nearing superannuation and seems not to
have pursued the idea. If only he had, banks would not have financed high
fliers and ended in NPAs!
For those who wonder what happened to me, it is called
ageing!
Dog – a few ‘stray’ thoughts
1. “The dog was the first animal domesticated .. from about
15000 years ago. Dogs were used for hunting and fighting, and as an alarm
system against wild beasts and human intruders.” “A 15000-year bond has yielded
a much deeper understanding and affection between humans and dogs than between
human and any other animal.” Yuval Noah Harari.
2. A dog is not just a watchdog, but much more. It is an
emotional companion.
3. I read long ago that a doctor in London wrote in the
case sheet of her patient, ‘She cares more for her dog than for her husband.’
4. The dog barks alright, but stops also!
5. I see how the dog is useful for practising control and
exercise. I see people running to keep pace with the dog, or holding the leash
with all the force in the world (maybe it will beat the best engine in HP).
6. I am dead scared of dogs. Its bark even from a house
duly tethered makes my blood curl. Once bitten twice shy, literally. I was
bitten in teens by a dog only because I tried to retrieve a ball which
naughtily took cover under the tree where the dog was tied. It is a nightmare
to walk in my locality which is the capital of Bengaluru dogs.
7. Robert Browning, how cheap of him, condemns dogs and
adds apes to their company (not bad, we are siblings of apes after all). “What
is time? Leave it to apes and dogs.’
8. Devdutt Pattanaik reminds us of unsavoury things:
“In traditional Hindu society, dogs are considered inauspicious.
..
Dogs were associated with death, as well as with pollution.
The earliest mention of the dog is in the Rigveda. In the
Rigveda, we hear of a bitch called Sarama, who belongs to Indra, and helps in
seeking out the cows of Indra, stolen by the Panis. So, one can consider Sarama
as a hunting dog or a watchdog of Indra. Sarama’s children came to be called
the Sarameya, and all the dogs in the world are considered to have descended
from her. Specifically, the Rigveda mentions Shama and Shabala, the two
children of Sarama, who are four-eyed animals, constantly associated with
Yamaraj.
9. Phrases with ‘dog’:
‘Dog eat dog’ for fierce competition
Dog’s life for wretched life
‘Call a dog a bad name to hang it’ for condemning someone
unreasonably
‘Go to the dogs’ for deteriorating
‘A dog in the manger’ for someone who neither enjoys not
lets another enjoy.
10. “The average dog is a nicer person than the average
person.”
—Andy Rooney (contributor, 60 Minutes)
Friday, August 22, 2014
Duty and Right:
Indian thought concerns itself with dharma (duty). Right
(adhikara) is not talked of. Even where it is talked of, it is to action
(karma). A friend said that the term adhikari means one who has to give
service, but in practice, we do not see it so.
Right of speech must be taken as duty to speak the truth.
Right of education should be taken as duty to study. Right of property should
be taken as custodial duty (see Gandhi, Tamizh proverb 'the duty of the wealthy
is supporting the kin'), right of religion should be taken as duty to follow
one's own faith, right of use of public property should be taken as duty to
protect it and keep it sanitary. It is only such a mindset that can bring peace
and prosperity and a purposeful resolution of conflicts.
4/9/18
Earth
I want to tell you all a secret, I guarded closely for so
long (I am in competition with Gambhir). ‘We live on the earth and it supports
us.’ The reason for this sudden revelation is a post by a friend about contact
with earth.
I read this in a book:
“.. small children, when brought on to low, moist ground
from a high level, give loose to a sudden spontaneous gladness, running,
shouting, and rolling over the grass just like dogs,..”
I remember Russell writing somewhere how contact with the
earth (mud) gives a pleasant sensation.
As a boy, I used to play in the mud in the village. Several
sports are played even in cities on the bare ground.
I used to love the smell of freshly plucked groundnut. I
did not realise then that it was the smell of moist earth, not of the
groundnut. We get that smell when there is rain and the earth turns damp. The
smell has a word for it: petrichor.
These are simple delights, unexciting to modern people who
need the speed and fantasy of virtual worlds.
Eating
Eating is the most essential activity of life.
There are two problems with eating.
1. A great many do not have enough to eat. (Undernutriton).
2. Many have everything to eat and believe that they should
eat everything to heart’s content and as often as they feel like. (Health hazard).
There is a saying, ‘சுசி ருசி பாத்து
சாப்பிடணும்.’ (One must look at cleanliness and taste while
eating.) It is significant that cleanliness is first. There is a puritanical
thinking that tasty things are unhealthy. It cannot be so because nature has
provided us with taste buds for choosing food.
Being careful of what and where we eat, and being mindful
while eating, and knowing when to stop will make us healthy and we need not
bother about the low doctor ratio in the country.
Contrary to popular misconception, I am fond of eating and
do not live on hot water (literally).
A person who is too fond of eating and hogs food
rapaciously is called a glutton. A joke in a Tamizh weekly of 50 years ago
defines a glutton. A man was rolling in discomfort on the pyol (thinnai) in front
of the house. A friend who saw it asked him what the problem was. He replied
that food he ate was up to his neck. The friend suggested that he drink water.
He said, ‘If there was space for it, I would have eaten a few more vadais.’
A man who believes that enjoying good food is a principal
occupation of one’s life is an epicure (materialist). Many of us are epicurean.
There is no denying the necessity of eating and there is no point in not making
a virtue of it!
In English, different terms are used for food taken
according to time like breakfast (morning first meal), lunch (early afternoon),
high tea (usually late afternoon) and supper (last meal of the day). Some
people confuse supper with ‘Last Supper,’ and call the meal taken before going
to bed as dinner. Dinner is a formal, multi-course, special meal, irrespective
of time.
People who are underfed lose immunity and are prone to
consumptive diseases.
People may starve because of poverty (let alone affording
two square meals), but there are some who fast for religious or health reason.
In mythology, there is the hype of someone going without food for long periods,
but that could not have been in fact. Buddha was forthright and said that
fasting makes one sick and weak. In Chandogya Upanishad, the guru makes the
student realise how after about a few days of fasting, he was not able to
recollect anything that he had learnt. Such is reality.
We drink a liquid and eat a solid (munch before swallowing,
preferably), but in Tamizh, people may say ‘kapi sappidareengalaa?’ (will you
eat kapi, literally). A friend pointed out this when I said ‘kudikkirathu’
‘drinking’ which he considered infra dig. That looks strange.
Some people esp. children peck at food while gobbling up
fatty and sugary items.
One may as well say why talk of all this in an
undernourished country going through the paroxysm of chinavirus. Maybe because
of it!
Ecology: Man vs Nature
There is a vigorous campaign for saving the planet from
ecological disaster. The chemicals we let off create a hole in the sky and
leads to global warming, raising the spectre of a deluge by melting of the
glaciers, so say the greens. That however sees some red. They counter that the
nature is its own destroyer. The volcanic eruptions do more to unbalance the
ecology than the might of man can match, so they contend.
The volcanic eruptions caused the conditions for life, I
remember having read. There is as yet no similar claim for human contribution.
Human action is limited in scope up to now. We are yet to
reach a stage when nature will act at the behest of man. The argument that
nature is formidable resembles fatalism. At any time our business is with what
is in our power.
The global warming may come sooner or later, with no help
from man. But, we need a semblance of ecological balance to go through life in
relative safety. We may be entitled to clean air, potable water and healthy
food. Our actions of using fossil fuels, nicotine and chemicals are making our
life precarious. There is sense in the call to moderate our use of pollutants.
In another group, the topic for discussion was on
‘decolonising Indian mind.’
My mind went at a tangent.
Mind is a colony of ideas. If you decolonise mind, it will
disappear; we have no idea what it means. Seriously, Yuval Noah Harari says:
“Today all humans are European in dress, thought and taste.
.. Almost everyone on the planet views politics, medicine, war and economics
through European eyes. .. Even today’s burgeoning Chinese economy is built on a
European model of production and finance. ..”
We may think and utter many things to be different from the
European mindset, but it is the way we act and live that defines us. I suspect
that Harari has got it right and that we are European in that light. A few
exceptions will not disprove it.
It must be mentioned that there are earnest attempts to
restore ‘Being Different’ (Rajiv Malhotra), but the response is limited.
February 15, 2015 ·
Emotion
In 1971, a friend of mine told me that he was trying to do away with emotion as it is a waste. He was turning to (or turned) an agnostic from orthodoxy. Then, it appeared to me that he was on a noble path. I remembered this when I saw a Buddhist teaching that 'Feeling as a banal ever recurring reactivity...' The life I lived since 1971 makes me feel (?) that feeling is an essential part of life and that awareness must accommodate feeling and feeling is not an impediment to knowledge so long as we have a clear mind. Buddha was compassion personified and Sankara was an advocate of bhakti. The two great authorities on awareness and knowledge have shown us the way.
(The following was
my response to a swamigal explaining away the inequitable dispensation to the
devas who monopoloise the nectar got out of the joint efforts with asuras. The
swamigal talks in parable of a general recovering a cache of arms with the help
of bandits whom he arrests soon after, let alone giving any arms to them which
would be put to terrorist acts. Maybe the puranic story itself may be
allegorical!)
End justifies the
means!
This is an ethical dilemma. Nobody got over it. The way
Pandavas slew the Kauravas, Rama killed Vali, and so on, are debated points. We
cannot give a satisfactory answer from the human perspective alone. Only the
seers and sages understand these. We have to be content with the knowledge that
we lack the knowledge. Upanishads do not concern themselves with ethics per se,
they probe into the depth of truth, that which is the cause and destiny of all,
not only human beings. They are sublime in that they set you on the right path
of enquiry. Gita warns us that such a path is hard and only one in a million
can tread that path bravely and successfully. We have to be guided by those who
inspire us. They inspire us by their personality, not necessarily their words.
Vivekananda was questioning much of what Ramakrishna said and Ramakrishna asked
him why he came to him if he questioned him. Vivekananda said that he came to
be in his presence, not necessarily to hear what he said. This is true of many
Godmen, be it Jesus , Sankara, Ramanuja, The Prophet, Buddha, Guru Nanak,
Mahavira, or whoever. The divine experience, the ultimate truth, sathaysya
sathyam, cannot be reduced to words that are imperfect and ambivalent.
When we grasp the
higher truth, we will understand the inconsistencies of the previous state.
Three-dimensional knowledge will dispel the doubts of two-dimensional
knowledge. If we can comprehend the space-time continuum, the snags in three-dimensional
reality will disappear. God is defined as beyond space and time and this
knowledge was intuited before Newton and Einstein. How can we grasp the beyond
of space-time when we have not even understood space-time? Sankara says how
even the most gifted even among Gods were not able to fully grasp the greatness
of Parvathi and how could he grasp it (Anandalahari). Weak as we are in the
spiritual sense, implicit surrender and obedience to a chosen Guru can deliver
us from ignorance into enlightenment. The Guru's words are not as significant
as his personality.
This is how I look
at it.
Jul 1999
Evolution is not the final word.
I feel evolution is a subset of the inter-relationship we sense and experience
in the world.
Food is not the origin of life. There is a food-life
continuum. One life becomes the food of another. Thus life is interactive and
mutually supportive. Compare with other continuums: space-time, wave-particle,
etc.
Oct 20, 2006
The old family system seems gone for good. The man was the breadwinner and the woman was home maker. Equality means the roles are not exclusive. The man would look for comfort in home for the aches, anxieties and uncertainties his jobs induced. But these principles are no longer felt by the man alone. The changed context of blurred roles demands adjustments. In the Patti Mandram (21/10/06) Solomon Pappiah made the point that man has to give in in the interest of keeping relationship. A stiff attitude can only break the bonhomie. It is well made. Still in situations where the man has to do a lot of brain work at office, conflicts at home can be harmful more than ever. Adjustment is a two way process.
October 13, 2016 ·
Fan following
We have a fixation about the public figures, be it sports,
politics, music, film or any art. We feel that we should remember their heyday
and support them even when their day is over. I feel differently. The current
form and suitability must be the only criterion to go by. If they need support,
we need to look at it with consideration, but to persist with them in the field
that calls for competence even when it is conspicuously absent is obsession or
misplaced sense of support.
Fantasy
Harry Potter books used to be around and I picked up one
and read. It did not keep me glued to it. I fast forwarded and condemned it.
But, it is a craze among people and Rowling is famous and wealthy.
Human beings have been trying to overcome physical
limitations by fantasy. We have achieved so much in so little time by science
and technology, but nothing has changed in the process or pace of organic life.
Organic life is unhurried and methodical. There is no way we can change it. It
is subject to growth, decay and death. The agricultural-pastoral life is dull
and unexciting. We have progressed and become civilised, that is we have moved
from rural setting to urban setting creating faster modes of moving around,
gaining distant vision instantly, and fighting with miraculous weapons better
than Brahmastra.
Fantasy created supernatural powers that will short circuit
natural processes, granting man life for ever against death in the only life we
know of. Our imagination produced a child straight from semen without the
labour of nine months odd or unisexual reproduction or made a dead person come
alive, and ever so many stories. We visualised one being fight heroically and
successfully against hundreds and thousands. Or, just by a sound or word of curse
the enemy may be put down grievously. It is not as though they rested as stories;
they became a matter of ardent faith and very big economic and cultural
activity revolves round it.
In modern times, virtual world has overtaken real world.
Things life video games, films like superman or spiderman and so on have
conquered the minds of people. They will dominate unless we are taken back to
days when food has to come from hunting or tilling the land laboriously and precariously
on a day-to-day basis.
We live today not in Newton’s or Einstein’s world of fixed
bodies moving in predetermined path in space-time, but in the world that our
mind can reorder and live in with a crescendo of excitement and sense of
heroism. We sit dumbly before intelligent monitors and travel all around,
racing like mad in cars and doing so many fantastic things god forgot to add to
his insipid creation. A few centuries ago, this was possible only with brewed
barley or grapes.
We are on cloud nine. We have regained the paradise. Milton
is awaited to write a modified epic.
Fear
December 10, 2017 ·
Bhayam
Often, we may not get a synonym for words across languages
because of different paradigms in which societies and hence languages have
evolved.
Bhayam or accham in Tamizh may not exactly be fear.
We talk of bhaya-bhakthi for god, not fear of god. Bhayam
is more of respect here.
There is an expression – udambile bhayam illai (no fear in
body, literally) – used when someone does something slipshod or carelessly.
Bhayam is instinctive for living beings, safety being of utmost concern in
survival. Lacking it is unnatural.
Fear as a motive for performance is inferior, but not
entirely faulty. Many act only in fear. To remove that primer is unwise.
Penalty for offences is based on fear of penalty. It is too
daft or too sinister to argue against penalties citing some empirical evidence.
We can never produce credible evidence how many people stayed away from offence
because of fear and how many by conviction.
There are things we have to be afraid of. Barking dogs, for
instance. They may not bite, but why take a chance? There is a kural which says
that not fearing what is to be feared is naivete, amidst a myriad that extol
valour, courage and bravery.
I have set down my thoughts fearlessly; maybe I should have
shrunk in fear!
‘Food’ for thought
अन्नाद्भवन्ति भूतानि Life comes out of food.
That was declared long before modern science said so. ‘Anna’ stands for matter
also in philosophy.
अन्नं हि ब्रह्म. Food is god. Seems
extreme or like an epigram of an epicure.
I heard this episode in a talk. Kamaraj was going in a car
in the south when he saw a few lads grazing cattle. He called them and asked
them why they did not go to school when education was free. They did not know
that he was CM and retorted whether he would feed them. That set him thinking
and he introduced midday meal in school.
There was a custom once that people would look for a guest
to feed before eating. Guest is not a relative or friend, but a wayfarer. Those
days, there were no restaurants. Choultries were there in a few prominent places.
Feeding another was in the tradition.
Recently TN and Karnataka have come up with restaurants run
by the govt. providing cheap food.
It may be a good idea to see that govt., well-to-do people,
temples, schools and colleges feed people and see that no one has to starve.
Freebies can be stopped and subsidies can be slashed. All donation by way of
money to beggars may be discouraged. If they want food they will get. If they
want anything more they must work in some way. It may be a feasible idea if given
serious consideration.
‘Foot’ for thought
A contentious passage in Purusha Sukta: पद्भ्यां
शूद्रो अजायत
The foot is considered lowly in general, erroneously I
would say, but considered holy if it is foot of god or saints.
It is our tradition to fall at the feet of elders.
Sycophants prostrate in public at the feet of even younger party leaders to
curry favour. (In some culture, it is kneeling and bowing.)
While I too have been following this tradition, it has long
festered in my mind whether such a practice is not adverse to one’s dignity.
Why should we think that we respect a person if we touch his feet or venerate
it? Why can’t the respect be principled and suggestive? If the same god is in
each of us as our tradition instils in us, is it not an indignity to the god in
us?
Just a thought, not a rebellion.
The slings and arrows of outrageous fortune:
Four hundred years ago Shakespeare gave crisp expression to
the woes of the common man. The syndrome must have been persisting ever since
humans formed society and laws.
“…………………….. the whips and scorns of time,
The oppressor's wrong, the proud man's contumely,
The pangs of despised love, the law's delay,
The insolence of office, and the spurns
That patient merit of the unworthy takes,
When he himself might his quietus make
With a bare bodkin? who would fardels bear,
To grunt and sweat under a weary life,”
How do we fare now after four hundred years of exponential
growth of knowledge through science, and miraculous conveniences and
outreaches? Is human experience better at the individual level? I am afraid the
problems have become more acute as the haves are more empowered to dominate.
I got driving licence in 1969 but rarely had chance to
drive. When I bought a vehicle in 1993 (I have driven in between in Kolkata
sporadically), a brave soul, who was sitting by my side, said, ‘Ignore the
traffic from behind.’
In many ways, we can draw lessons from driving. The above
advice is one such. While it is not literally correct, it is generally valid.
We have to look ahead and not behind while driving. In life also, we have to
focus on what is to come rather than pine about what is gone.
In relationships also, it is forward looking. I read
in RD a titbit, ‘Parents love their children, and the children love their
children.’ That is as it should be and we must accept it. When we shower our
affection and do all we can for the development of children, we do it from
heart. It gives happiness while doing it. Not that it is an investment that
must fetch returns. Jaya Bacchan replied when asked about sacrificing her
career for her children, ‘What sacrifice? I loved to be with my children as
they were growing.’ (We have a strong family tradition where children do care
for parents. That is a positive. My point is that it should not be an
expectation.)
February 28, 2014
FORWARDS
I receive a number of forwards every day. So would all that
are connected in net.
As I was turning in bed expecting the elusive sleep, my
mind did a taxonomy of the forwards. Taxonomy is normally done of living
things. Forwards are very much alive though fleetingly. Life as we experience
is itself fleeting, isn’t it?
There are those that forward everything by click of a
button as it were. It reminds me of my work experience. I saw a colleague of
mine with his table free of papers always and mentioned this in lunch talk. His
boss quipped, “Why will it not be? He marks everything to me either for
information or instruction.” I realized how useful talking shop at lunch could
be, but my boss was not as genial a soul.
Then, there are some who sit and sort them deleting the
original forward reference and making it appear as emanating from them. After a
few forwards, it becomes clear as the former type has preempted him and you get
a feeling of déjà vu though the exact trace-back to the earlier message may not
strike you.
Some add comments like ‘wonderful’ and so on raising your
expectation though your sense of wonder may turn out to be at variance with
theirs.
On the subject of the forwards one sees a variety. Some are
versatile covering a wide gamut from sex to spirituality (not that the two are
wide apart, but that they alliterate).
Some persist with double entendre.
Some forward tenaciously health advice, often extolling the
miracles packed in simple things like ginger and turmeric. I would imagine
initially that pharmacies would shut shop in view of such powerful remedies
available dirt cheap, with what naiveté!
Some send contents, missing which would be a serious error
and a huge missed opportunity.
Some send messages that have to be forwarded to 50 or so
people for receiving special favours, what is worse, failure to do so would
incur scourge from heaven (My heavens, if it sends scourges, why is it called
heaven?)
Well, I can go on, but I need to stop to check the
forwards.
January 25, 2015
Freedom of Speech
What does it amount to? Right to say anything?
Remember the person who was swirling his umbrella claiming
his right to do what he liked with it, and his neighbour correcting him to the
limitation to do so where his nose started?
Hurting others’ feelings may not be the decent extension of
freedom of speech, but death penalty cannot be the just desserts for it, that
too dealt by rabid and barbaric terrorists.
There need be universal acceptance of limits to freedom of
speech well administered impartially. It can have nothing to do with scriptures
or the greed of people like Mahesh Bhat who want to make money under such
freedom in transgression of social decency.
Young minds that will shape the society of tomorrow are
under the influence of media and celluloid and some restraint is necessary in
the interests of society.
Let it be looked after outside religion, commerce and
politics (government), through institutions like courts. Not that they are
impeccable, but are inevitable.
October 16, 2014
Friend
There is so much expectation as to who a friend should be.
He should be a friend in need, of course not his own need, but ours; he should
not talk of us except to say our good points (real or imagined) when we are not
there; the list goes on. A friend is someone with whom we have a free
interaction, find that our time with him is well spent, and there is no mutual
expectation. Let us expect nothing from a friend except his time when possible.
No one else makes us what we are in totality. We owe it to ourselves as adults.
Gandhi
Gandhi may be a saint, but a politician-saint, said a
lecturer in Loyola. He was in politics where compromises are inevitable. The
greatness of Gandhi should be judged from the good work he has done, not marred
by the blunders in politics. It was wrong to credit him with the achievement of
independence, which came because of the sacrifice of thousands of people whose
names even are not known, and by efflux of time. In hindsight, it would have
come anyway. But, Gandhi’s method was unique and commends itself. In a world
where violence is the reigning monarch, the message of non-violence is acutely
relevant.
Many of our leaders made it a policy that protecting the
Muslims at any cost was needed. That has not fostered religious amity, instead
it has engulfed the people. Gandhi was seen as a ‘Hindu’ in derogatory terms by
Jinnah and he has not won the affection of the community. What was needed was
that we should not see any issue on religious lines, but from the criterion of
what is fair in a given context, and support what is fair. Only fairness can
win convincingly. The policy of blind support of one group or another is flawed
ab initio and can only divide us further and further. Unfortunately, there is
no one in politics today who will see issues divorced from religion. Even the
western press, The Economist included, is severely blinkered, and sees all
issues as ‘Hindu’ or ‘Muslim’ or ‘Christian’, and encourage news that stacks
facts arbitrarily to endorse a preconceived conclusion. Sense is called for,
but it is in hiding.
Just as Gandhi was not the chief architect of India’s
independence, he is also not a chief contributor to any of our problems today.
We should let him rest in his grave which a mad fanatic prepared.
All about gay!
When I was a student and learnt that 'gaiety' is the
abstract noun for 'gay', I was pleased with the knowledge of a weird word
formation. I never imagined for a long time that 'gay' itself would become
weird in meaning. I am gay in the old sense of the word!
Is gay natural? Two men feel an attraction for each other
and it is obviously natural, so runs the argument. It may be good in no mean
way if gays and lesbians abound and the earth is unburdened of unwanted human
beings.
But, the way of nature is that it wants to perpetuate life
and the heterosexual attraction is nature’s choice. So biologically
homosexuality is not the idea of nature.
Is it a sin? We should get rid of the idea of sin. We
should look at what is socially desirable and what is not. There is no sin –
duplicate or original. The idea of sin has caused more real suffering than sin.
Will homosexuality lead to any aberrations in evolution, or
even extinction of human species? Scientists may know, but nature will decide.
I wondered why the gays must bother about marriage, but a
friend put me wise saying that it matters in succession, etc.
When a gay referred to his partner as ‘my husband’, I was
confused. How do they decide who is the husband? Then I thought that each is
the husband of the other. Some problem like about twins! But, why should it
bother me? The same way FB bothers me. As I was writing this, I heard Malladi
brothers sing, ‘Makelara vicharamu?’
Apl 2. 2005
As I was walking in the dark, I sensed a figure behind, but it was the curtain that swayed. My mind debated the question of ghost. I do not believe in ghosts, but I cannot decide on the reality of ghosts. I have not seen one, but whatever I have not seen cannot be unreal. Commonality of experience can be taken as indicative of reality. Scientifically, this also will not stand scrutiny. Several scientific postulates and conclusions are not based on commonality of experience. To a person who reports an apparition, it is real when he reports it. Maybe it is a hallucination. RKN describes his experience of necromancy and it is difficult to dismiss him as predisposed to believe in it. Even as I admit that I may be wrong, I hold to the belief of ‘no ghosts’. Maybe ghosts cannot see themselves!
May 17, 2016
Good and bad
We know, thanks to science, that our blood vessels carry
pure and impure blood. Mercifully, there is no attempt to make the body of only
pure blood. We do not call the pure blood carriers (arteries except pulmonary)
good and the impure blood carriers (veins except pulmonary) bad. The two are
vitally necessary for life.
Is life in its totality also similar? Is our conception of
good and bad an aberration? Is there perhaps a natural system that generates
and treats the ‘bad’ and human intervention is only muddying the water?
Grievances
January 4, 2016 ·
Kurai onrum illai.
In a discourse, I heard (50years ago), "If we asked anyone, even a farmer, about their welfare, they used to reply positively. Today, even a boy has a litany of complaints. Our culture has been turned on its head."
I do not know whether 100 years ago, things were really
hunky dory, but the consciousness of rights and what is due to us seems to have
grown gigantically and a sense of unfulfilled wishes appears to be pervasive.
Group Dynamics
We are often impatient and frustrated at the direction and pace of events. This happens in organisations where we are working and about happenings in the country.
In chemistry, I read that the speed of a chain reaction is determined by the slowest link in the chain. In a like manner, though not exactly, a group performance does not proceed at the pace of the most efficient. A group is hard and slow to move. (A leader is part and parcel of a team. I have seen leaders who behave as though they are from heaven ruling over mortals. Surely, they would fail unless they are dictators).
The concern for the prodigal son who returned is symbolic. We have to show extra care for the laggards and errant ones. The sops for the poor and reservation address this concern in the larger context.
A leader must show patience and ability to increase the efficiency of a unit under him. It does not happen by itself or by decree. It calls for understanding the system, the role clarity, coordination, attitude, and so on. The leader has to spot the weak link and see how it can be addressed. Often a well-meaning manager or a political leader may fail because he goes about setting goals without attending to the parts of it that are malfunctioning.
If we apply this yardstick, we can understand why things do not happen as we wish. It is doubtful that anyone of us would make too great a difference if we do not address the weak links in the group, and show realism as to what to expect.
Groupism
August 27, 2017
Group and groupism
I felt for a long time that group culture is not bad and
read recently in a scientific book how forming groups is an evolved feature.
It is in our make-up to want to ally with like-minded
people and promote common interests through pooled efforts and resources.
Family is the first small and often cohesive and viable group that we belong to
voluntarily. A community, a geographic affinity, etc. are larger units, that
have varying degrees of loyalty and stability.
There seems nothing wrong in this innate gregarious
tendency, or even feeling pride as a member of a group say as a Tamizhan. The
call that we should not feel such affinity and pretend that we are just Indian
is unreasonable. If feeling as member of a smaller group is detrimental, it
does not stand to reason that allegiance to a bigger group is beneficial. One
must think like Russell and opt for world government – vasudhaiva kutumbakam. I
feel that it will never happen as it is basically not possible.
What is wrong is not group affinity, but fostering a
conflict mindset. Just as I may have affinity for Tamizh group, there are
others with affinity for other groups. Their interests are as just.
We also belong to several groups based on the interests we
wish to pursue. All that is the natural and legitimate human pursuit and giving
up on any of it will weaken, not strengthen, the polity of a state.
Quote from The Meaning of Human Existence by Edward O.
Wilson:
"The origin of the human condition is best explained
by the natural selections for social interactions- the inherited propensities
to communicate, recognise, evaluate, bond, cooperate, compete, and from all
these the deep warm pleasure of belonging to your own special group.
The creation of the group from the personal and intimate
mutual knowledge was the unique achievement of the humanity."
January 18, 2014
Haste is waste
Doing things fast may be a source of boredom. Unoccupied
time is boredom. If work is done spread over time, it reduces unoccupied time.
Parkinson’s Law is nothing more than statement of human tendency to avoid idle
time. Except when time has to be solidified into useful work either for human
welfare or economic gain, it does not pay to hurry. Efficiency also is not in
speed, but in delivery of the right products/services in good time. Speed often
lends itself open to waste or redoing thus curtailing efficiency/productivity.
May 19, 2015
Two useful adverbs: How and Now
Asking questions is a useful habit, but we must know how to
deal with the answers. Some questions are academic or metaphysical, just
satisfying idle curiosity with speculative answers. Many ‘why’s fall in that
category. The question ‘how’ can be useful. How to live is more practical than
why to live, which can have no definite answer. Life is a process and living it
in a satisfying way is to the point. Even in eating, how to eat is important as
most problems arise from bad eating habits. While watching an action (even a
game), it is useful to know how it is done, but we are infatuated by the actor,
player, miracles, etc. We know the value of knowhow, but stop short of building
it in us.
Another endless debate is about time. Is time real or not?
What is time? They are significant scientific (could produce some change in our
life if mastered) and philosophic (its usefulness may be intellectual)
enquiries, but ordinary mortals have no immediate advantage from indulgence in
it. The only part of time that is real and significant is ‘now’. Being alive
(as a whole being) in the ‘now’ is to the point.
HRD policy
31/8/2001
The dharma of an individual and of an organization may not
be congruent. The HRD policy of an organization may not be congruent. The HRD
policy of an organization cannot be based on the dharma of an individual. An
individual has to contend with life and make its passage smooth and enjoyable.
He has to take in his stride success and failure. An organization will collapse
if its HR policy is based on this dharma an individual. An organization has to
spot talent, promise and potential and reward performance. It has to create
fits and be satisfied with what happens.
We shun decisions thinking an unpleasant consequence may
arise if our decision is found to be wrong by hindsight. It is not often that
such unpleasant consequence results. Even if we are put to suffering, it is an
immature mind which fears suffering. We suffer more in our mind than because of
the outside world. While we need not espouse suffering, we should not court the
cosiness inaction or indecision may apparently afford. It is poor leadership.
What do we owe the ills of the present day to?
To my mind, it is technology and accelerated pace.
Technology makes use of natural resources faster than they can be replaced.
Technology increases manifold human capacity to manifest its raw passions to
deadly consequences. Technology fouls up the environment and unbalances the
ecology. Technology makes human effort look silly and stupid. Technology is the
real Frankenstein’s master or Bhasmasura.
What technology does externally, the quickened pace does
internally. We are thrown out of rhythm with nature. Our heart beat, duration
of digestion, sleep cycle, etc. cannot cope with the habit of hurry, the
impatience to speed up the clock as it were.
Incomes
As a pensioner I draw a sum more than what the fruit vendor
out the door there or the sales girls a block away in the superstore earn by
toil of many hours. A person who has invested in shares sees his wealth soar as
he sits surfing the computer or one who has bought a piece of land reaps
fabulous returns by appreciation of the property for no other input of his. I
am too primitive and do not really understand how such capital appreciation is
earning. I am left wondering what equality and justice we can find in raw
nature or organized society. I do not believe in another world or another birth
to feel that justice awaits us in future. I am simply thankful that I am on the
pleasant side of injustice.
“No race can prosper till it learns that there is as much dignity in tilling."
It may, however, be futile to fight inequality. What
matters is not whether we are equal with others, but whether we have freedom
and opportunity to actualise our potential, whether we have relative ease of
life and a reasonably secure living. Common man must be assured of comfort and
dignity of life and a chance to rise up the social scale rather than the power
to raze it all to the ground.
Intelligence
25/4/1978
Some people think that intelligence will solve problems. Intelligence is of no value when interpersonal effectiveness is required. Love is what cements people together. Only through love we can bring togetherness, unity of purpose and co-operation. Mere intelligence breeds arrogance and strained human relations either on the surface or deep beneath.
Intelligence by itself is not an
asset except to learn. A senior executive said, ‘Intelligent people only
argue.’ There is an opinion that intelligent people are unhappy.
One must use intelligence to build knowledge, apply and
make the knowledge workable. ‘When knowledge matures and lodges securely in the
mind, it becomes wisdom,’ said Rajaji.
Wisdom shows in pregnant silence, apt intervention and
crisp speech or direction when a situation demands.
Rural imagery
Intelligence is seed, knowledge is plant and wisdom is
fruit.
Pastoral imagery
Intelligence is fodder, knowledge is masticated cud and
wisdom is milk.
Industrial imagery
Intelligence is raw material, knowledge is work-in-progress
and wisdom is finished product.
Biological imagery
Intelligence is sperm and ovum, knowledge is conception and
wisdom is baby.
September 15, 2014
Episode from an interview
When I was on the panel to interview candidates for PO of associate banks, a girl came from SC/ST from a marginal farmer's family. Her English will put the city-bred to shame; she answered questions splendidly and her participation in group discussion was balanced. At the end of the interview, I told her, 'Convey our compliments to your father.' A panel member said after she left, 'You have given her a message that she will be selected.' The Chairman of the panel said, 'What is wrong?' It was a touching experience. How many of them may be languishing!
November 07, 2015
Jadatvam (Inertia)
Jadam is something insentient. It is gross as opposed to
the sentient. A stone or lump of wood is jadam. When it is applied to human
beings, it shows stubbornness, impermeability, non-receptivity to fresh
evidence and revision of one’s understanding.
All of us have a trace of jadatvam, but it is not evident
to us. We see clearly the jadatvam in others readily as we can see a speck of
dirt in another’s face, but even a lump in our face will not be visible to us.
Jadatvam manifests in various forms.
One form is when we judge another person. A wrong done by
him once is remembered by us for all time as it looms large in our mind. His
subsequent deeds and conduct are held to be of no merit. We stereotype people
based on such incident(s).
In a way, learning is made possible by categorization. A
definition is often defective because of this jadatvam in its formulation. We
assign decisive weightage to a particular behaviour and make it the fulcrum of a
definition, but it fails comprehensiveness test. That is in the nature of what
we study and ourselves.
There is so much jadatvam in all religions. The followers
believe implicitly everything said at a distant past and are unable to
distinguish between mere symbolism and the spirit because the scriptures
disallow any change in what they say. Little do people think how there can be
so many varying commands and assurances with finality emanating from the same
source. Should it not lead one to suspect that all scriptures are as humanly
received and not in the language of God? How can god give his message in a
language which is not universally understood if he wanted to communicate? We
say a particular language is devabhasha and perhaps it is understood by devas
today. The same goes even for other languages where there are people who speak
it. God speaks in the uniform language of nature and the scriptures are human
interpretation of nature. How can god be partial and make himself understood to
only a chosen few and at a time of his choice and expect all who have not been
so favoured to be sheep? Enquiry is the only way to understand anything.
Jadatvam is a serious handicap to understanding and improvement. Belief is helpful,
but not enough.
We apply principles of justice selectively.
When we support someone, he is presumed innocent until
proved guilty. When we do not, we now the truth, because media said so and
hearsay reports affirm it. They are guilty before trial and even after being
acquitted up to the highest court, because we know and because the system of
justice is faulty and not dependable.
Kerala·
My first visit to Kerala was in 1970 when I visited
Thrissur and Guruvayur from Erode. Soon I was posted to Kozhikkod in July 1970
and it was monsoon season. ·
The places I have visited in Kerala include Kochi,
Thiruvananthapuram and Talasseri. ·
Kerala temples are special. Any shrine looks divine in
appearance and observance of temple rituals. Gents have to go to the shrines
with bare chest and in dhoti. Once I went to Guruvayur temple wearing a dhoti
over the pant. The colleague who was with me warned me of being caught, but I
tried to carry on. But, I was caught and the friend chuckled. ·
Kerala has a large number of people buffed to Carnatic
music and there are many talented musicians also, but they are like frogs in
the well unless they migrate to Chennai. Many prominent musicians hail from
Palghat. Swathi Tirunal was a composer and the royal family has been preserving
the tradition and fostering Carnatic music and honouring the musicians.·
People who worked in Kerala (bank) branches had a tough
time, but many would come out with accounts of their contrary experience. The
beauty of life is that we accept and adapt – Darwin made a discovery of that!
Bharathiyar had a keen eye and a poetic gift and makes a
laudatory comment about Kerala women.
சிந்து நதியின் மிசை நிலவினிலே,
சேரநன்னாட்டிளம் பெண்களுடனே,
சுந்தரத் தெலுங்கினில் பாட்டிசைத்து,
தோணிகளோட்டி விளையாடி வருவோம்.
(In the moonlight In Sidhu River, we will enjoy boating with
the damsels of Kerala singing in sweet Telugu).
The whole poem is on national integration.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y-vBoYX9d6k
Keralites are everywhere. A tea shop is typical Kerala
symbol.
Once, someone remarked that if you go the moon, there too,
you would see a Kerala tea shop.
Kerala is for the moment the last bastion of Marxism.
Could light be the source of the universe? Light
means all electromagnetic energy.
OT says: And God said, "Let there be light," and
there was light.
Upanishads also describe Brahman (God/soul) as
self-luminous.
Religion tries to concretise abstract principles for mass
consumption and such stories as are found in scripture could be allegorical.
I am not clear what science says there was before Big Bang.
Maybe there was just energy, no matter.
Is it likely that the universe will disappear after eons
into energy again?
August 18, 2015
Making a mark outside one’s habitat
We see that a number of people of Indian origin make a mark
outside India or in multinationals of non-Indian origin and control. Some have
won Nobel, etc. It is glibly assumed that these men could make it big in India
also. The achievement of these people has come on top of the work of decades of
many in a system that is relentlessly merit and result-oriented and in
conditions of affluence. It is a long haul for India to provide that quality of
a habitat.
The same goes for SBI men outside SBI.
Macro and micro laws
27/7/18
Macro and micro level laws may be different. To apply one
to the other may be inappropriate.
Fate refers in the main to macro level or long duration
things, like say evolution or planetary movements. They are not amenable to
manipulation or our will, at least not yet. It is perhaps wrong to apply it to
action by individuals in a limited sphere and under known environment. Things
that are not knowable are like macro level things. Our action at any time
concerns the known things.
Manners
Dec 25, 2006
A friend of mine mentioned that a senior officer did not have the courtesy to meet him when he called on him. I remarked ‘He is an average Indian who lacks manners’. In a concert, my mind regressed to this topic.
We have a national sense of pride in being without manners. Manners such as the English, who ruled us, observed were perhaps considered a cultural invasion, and following them to be unpatriotic and a vestige of the colonial servility to which our psyche was long inured. Kalidasa wrote in days of yore about the need not to reject outright, but to examine, anything new with an open and sensible mind. That he was speaking for reason against the vice-like grip of tradition is to be inferred since he wrote in the context where his new play was to break into the hold of established plays that were being performed then. Kalidasa has obviously failed because our national tradition has swept aside Kalidasa, even if it made an exception for the genius, and has continued its imperious reign over centuries to this day.
Well-set customs that oil human social intercourse are an asset but when they collect dead wood and dandruff, there arises the need to cleanse it. The leading lights of society, the elite, the powers that be, have to play an apt corrective role to haul up the derailed train and place it securely on properly aligned rails. Pleasantness among individuals is a desideratum and needs no religious sanction. Any religion, if it stands up against it, offends against humanity and divinity alike.
Mistakes
14/12/1996
We pass through several stages in life.
We do not criticize mistakes in children. In fact, we enjoy
their mistakes. ‘Naughty,’ a mother tells proudly of her child. But, when one
grows up, we do not appreciate such mistakes.
Two aberrations take place. One is, parents tend to
tolerate or encourage continuation of childhood mistakes in their children even
as they grow up. Second, there are some who are less appreciative of the
mistakes in others’ children.
Monkey tricks
The assembly session has ended.
A few monkeys have been active in my neighbourhood.
I found that water was coming from the terrace. I was
puzzled whether the overhead tank was overflowing, but the motor was off. I
went to the terrace and was surprised to find the tap in the terrace open and
water draining off. As there are no children who would have meddled with the
tap, I could not make out who would have opened it. As I came down, I saw a
monkey on the parapet wall. That solved the mystery. It had happened before
also. I brought some chord and tied the tap valve and found that the valve
could not be turned. But, I did not allow for the monkey wrench! A day later
the same thing recurred. I made it tighter, but am keeping fingers crossed.
The next day as I emerged into the bed room I saw a monkey
sitting near the balcony door. It did not stir. I took a stick and waved it at
the monkey. It left reluctantly. As I stepped into the balcony, I saw another monkey
with the Vaseline dubba. I tried flailing my hands and making noise, but the
monkey jumped into the next building with the Vaseline firmly in its grip. It
sat on the sill of the next building window and stared eating the Vaseline.
When it could scoop no more, it dropped it in the next compound as the software
youth living in groves in BTM throw things around. That Vaseline could be food
for monkey was new. I thought paraffin wax was a laxative and the famished
monkey might have had further exhaustion. Poor thing!
September 24 ·
Morning is a precious time. Already
we have ruined it by the habit of reading newspaper first thing in the morning.
Looking for coffee/tea and newspaper as we wake up is part of our routine.
Some of us go for a walk. Walk is for relaxation of both
the body and the mind. That is not the time for us to share what we lack (may
look paradoxical). Most of us lack nothing but an appreciative mind. In the
morning, we must do things that charge the mind with being and well-being. Look
at nature, a bough gently swaying in the niggardly breeze, a bird chirping and
cooing, a child smiling, a calf frolicking, and if we should break the silence,
talk of pleasant things over which no further action lies. Keep off phone and
earphones. Be with what is around.
Everything else can wait. They will certainly not go away.
We owe it to others to brighten their day.
A tough call in crowded cities with only hoots and shouts
all around, and people lost in the rat race.
Myths
We will do well not to believe the following:
(1) Samskrtam is the mother of all languages. It is used in
computers or NASA.
(2) Vedas contain all knowledge. All religions started in
India.
(3) Vedic mathematics is supreme.
(4) Ancient India knew the upshots of modern theoretical
physics.
(5) Any religion is better than the other religions.
(6) There is a good opinion in the west about India now.
(7) Aryan invasion theory has been disproved.
(8) ‘Om’ is a primordial sound and reverberates in the
cosmic space.
What’s in a name?
The founders of PNB spelt ‘Punjab’ rather than ‘Panjab’
presumably because ‘u’ in the word ‘pun’ corresponds to the अ
sound
in ‘Punjab’. But the perverse English would pronounce it as ‘पुन्जाब्’
for
some reason. Even though they would have heard all Indians pronounce it the
right way, it is beneath their dignity to learn from pagans. Boycott took sweet
revenge on them by saying insistently रून for
‘run’.
The English distorted all our proper names just as they did
to our culture. For instance, Kanchipuram became ‘Conjeevaram’. Probably they
heard this apocryphal story: A devotee while approaching Varadaraja temple said
aloud ‘Kanji Varadappa’. A starving beggar at the entrance asked eagerly,
‘Where?’
When the names were being restored, the
pseudo-intellectuals were upset that we were defacing history. The vandalizing
history of the recent past is to them more important than the longer history
which created magnificent art and culture which the recent history defaced, if
not destroyed. Even now many consider it inferior to say ‘Bengaluru’, ‘Mysuru’,
etc.
Ennamo ponga sir vellaikkaaran namba mele vellai adicchi
moonjiyile kari poosittu poyittaan.
(The white people have whitewashed us and blackened our
face).
Names and pronunciation
In the bank, a colleague was not happy that I said Hindi.
He asked me how I pronounce H-I-N-D-U. I said Hindu. His face fell. Most Tamizh
people say Hindu, not Hindhu. We also say Modi, not Modhi. Possibly, we do not
want it to rhyme with another word that may suit his much advertised
initiative!
Should not proper names be preserved true to the original
to the extent possible? That does not seem to be the case. Tamizh purists
changed the proper names taken from other languages like Ilakkuvan for
Lakshmana, Susaiappar for St. Joseph, etc. There is some scheme for such change
with rules in phonetics.
The British carried on the tradition changing the names as
suited their tongue at its first wagging.
At least with names of people now living, we must stick to
the way they write and pronounce their names. Most people are sensitive to the
way they are addressed. Gavaskar was annoyed that Tamizh people do not
pronounce it as Gaavaskar. I saw a tweet about a news reader pronouncing
‘Chidaambaram’.
Do what you like, but keep me as Chellappa so long as it
has currency.
Natural urges:
1. To be the
first.
2. To have the
last word.
3. To look for
spicy (prurient) gossip.
4. ‘I knew’, ‘I
told you so’.
5. To suggest a
doctor or treatment when someone mentions an illness.
6. To laugh when
someone slips.
7. To look for
company in trouble. (No, not Kingfisher!)
Nature is effective in creating and
perpetuating life, but may not be efficient on a human reckoning. Nature has
taken eons for evolving, whereas humans have created many things in much
shorter time, but humans cannot compete with nature on nature's scale as nature
has infinite time compared to our about 50 years of productive life.
Neutrality
January 20, 2017
Neutrality is a misused yardstick. If we know definitely
that some X has done harm to some Y, not to speak against X for Y is not
neutrality, but cravenness. It comes in different shades at different times.
We live in a relative world (this was known practically
before Einstein said it with proof in science) and neutrality on the basis of
absolute standards is utopian and useless. We have to take a view based on what
is known and choose optimally.
I like nonsense.
Meaningless things keep us engaged and give us a sense of
fulfilment, like sweet nothings in love, endless chat with friends with no
message, and blind faith in an unknown power.
Nothing
From my diary (21/12/2010) We live in a world of
make-believe. We have covered by many layers what is essentially nothing. Onion
when peeled successively leaves nothing behind. There is nothing inside to
discover. The Shunyata of Buddhism, the Chidaambara rahasyam, etc. point to
this.
30/12/2002
I stare into emptiness. There was emptiness in
the beginning and there will be emptiness in the end. Emptiness is
all-pervasive. The emptiness becomes creative with waves that are caused for no
known reason. The disturbance of emptiness divides human minds into matter and
spirit. The so-called posthumous glory in the presence of God is an expression
of inveterate human vanity. To disappear into emptiness is frightening.
NOW
It is a great insight that what matters is ‘now’. To be
fully with ‘now’ is the best we can do.
But, look at those who deliver this message with aplomb,
making a fortune in the process. They draw on the past and prepare us (at least
themselves) for the future.
Practically, efflux of time is felt by us, until and unless
we overcome it and become Brahman. The past is with us through evolution and
memory, with impressions stored in the gene and the brain.
We seem to slide on a time scale (though officially it is
the prerogative of the babus – IAS).
What a tame ending after a grand opening! But, does not
such an abrupt end occur to life which began with much fanfare?
January 17, 2017 ·
Opinions
What matters – opinions or facts?
Facts are objective and opinions are subjective. Is it not
what we are trained to think?
Objective is a dubious word. There is a myth that if
something can be quantified, it is objective. Giving numbers instead of
adjectives is considered an improvement. But, how are the numbers arrived at?
Discounted cash flow is a fine technique to assess the soundness of an
investment, but the technique is as good as the assumptions underlying the
figures. Everything we consider objective has a strong subjective bias to it.
Now, on opinions. Which matters? Opinions or facts?
Consider the extreme case – judgment of a court. We
consider it sacrosanct or are asked to. It is after all an opinion. It prevails
unless it is on disputed water or cricket board.
How are confidential reports written? Purely based on
opinions. How do the electorate vote? Based on opinions.
In anything that matters, it is opinion that matters.
Yes, facts may back opinions. Often facts are adjusted to
fit opinions! I have seen this happen in credit decisions.
We have to spend our time while in school, college and calm
moods to gather facts and fine tune opinions, but in the end we act in the nick
of the moment on opinion or judgment.
Change of opinion
April 10, 2017 ·
What i write tomorrow may differ from what i write today.
But, it will be as honest and sincere as today. A fresh fact, a fresh
understanding or a fresh fancy that has seized hold of me will be the reason
why i write differently.
Whatever i write is an opinion. An opinion is neither right
nor wrong.
A vote is also an opinion. When so many votes are cast in
favour of a candidate, so many people have a favourable opinion of him. But,
that does not tell us what exactly influenced the opinion. Media and others
speculate and while doing so, they are guided by their opinion. It is opinion
of an opinion, a shadow of a shadow, to use a very pregnant phrase of
Shakespeare.
Much of what we fight about are opinions. To believe that
we are right and others wrong is a basic fixation with most of us. That is the
root of intolerance. Many people who cried foul on the issue of intolerance did
not consider for a moment that they were guilty of that which they complained
about.
Truth in the affairs of the world is variable depending on
the development of our mind in understanding. When understanding rather than
reason or dogma rules our opinions, peace will be assured. It is the duty of
responsible people to promote understanding, more than in shaping opinions. It
will not only be an uninteresting world, but an impossible one, where everyone
will have the same opinion. Religion, politics, etc. come into conflict of a
disastrous kind because of an attempt to force uniformity which nature rules
out.
Hopefully i will not change this opinion of mine drastically.
Our general suggestions based on our experience will be
valid but wasted on an audience which is not the target we have in mind. But,
it is joy to keep throwing them in. There are others willing to pick and keep
the ball rolling.
From my mail to a friend:
“When I read English novels, I get a feeling that societies
have been more or less alike without really any contact. We read that India
also was a great civilisation once. I think that the blind admiration of
western society and replicating their model of success goes against nature.
There is perhaps a lesson in the body rejecting a transplant. Organic
development is what can sustain.
May 06, 2015
Originality
Sankara gives us a well argued and compact philosophy of
Advaita, communicated in beautiful language. Sankara acknowledges that he is
only an exponent of what he has received from a long line of teachers. While
his own stamp must be there in his exposition and it could stand on its own, he
relates it to Vedas as the source (pramana). In so doing, he honours tradition
and also provides testimonial authority as in matters so abstruse as the soul, evidence from perception is impossible. His submission that it was not his
original (we do not have any earlier treatise on Advaita as elaborate and as
cogently argued as by Sankara's) is not merely in humility. No matter how great a
person, he represents a link in a chain, even if a golden link. All that he
understands and narrates do not proceed straight from his brain.
Einstein acknowledges as much. His epoch making theories
did not come as a bolt from the blue, but as an advance from the then current
state of knowledge, but he did provide a leap.
Sanjay Subrahmanyan says about his music that whatever he
presents is drawn from what he has heard. He quotes GNB who has said that what
appears novel in his recital is a combination of the styles he has observed in
the best singers of his time.
When a CGM was promoted and junior colleagues congratulated
him, he said, ‘You have done the work and I am rewarded.’ It is not modesty
pure, but has a grain of truth.
The point is that there is no real originality. Things
proceed in an invisible chain and some are smart to mark a new streak
unobserved by others. No achievement can be the making of a single individual.
Even Ramanujan must have had the benefit of the development of mathematics at a
stage from where he leapfrogged it ahead of his time. It is not to deny genius
and individual contribution, but to see it as a continuing process rather than
as a discrete event.
In a word, humility may never be misplaced.
Overtime
Sharing some experiences over time
As we were behind the syllabus in school, I asked the
teacher whether he could take special classes. The teacher said, ‘We have to
take permission for special class. When I approached the previous headmaster
(Sri K Rangaswamy Iyengar), he asked me what happened in the regular classes.’
Usually, the speakers in public functions, discourses, etc.
have no sense of time. They hurry towards the end when mercifully they keep to
the time. I have not heard Sri K V Jagannathan, but I was told that he would be
precise and keep to the timing. V K Krishna Menon, I believe, gave a marathon
talk in UN. Hope someone listened. The Chinese used the time to prepare for an
attack on India.
In work situation, some bosses used to do extra-curricular
activities during the office hours like networking on the phone and personal
mails, chats, etc. and would start looking at the papers when it is time to
wind up.
I read that working beyond a limit reduces efficiency.
A leader must show patience and ability to increase
the efficiency of a unit under him. It does not happen by itself or by decree.
It calls for understanding the system, the role clarity, coordination,
attitude, and so on. The leader has to spot the weak link and see how it can be
addressed. Often a well-meaning manager or a political leader may fail because
he goes about setting goals without attending to the parts of it that are
malfunctioning.
If we apply this yardstick, we can understand why things do
not happen as we wish. It is doubtful that anyone of us would make too great a
difference if we do not address the weak links in the group, and show realism
as to what to expect.
Is Mathematics reliable for understanding 'reality'?
I have a curious basic question that is stuck in mind for long. How far is Mathematics representative of reality, the physical world? It seems silly and not worth the time of someone who is far advanced in scientific knowledge. But as I read a bit, I seem to get stronger on the grounds for my doubt, but I am not there from where I can posit the question in a ‘mathematical’ fashion. But, I feel that if the question is capable of producing uncertainty, all theories that work backwards or forwards on mathematical equations could come under cloud. The lofty heights of knowledge of a distant past and a remote corner may be just fantasizing.
I am aware I look stupid. The vast progress in science has been on the back of Maths, with mind-boggling achievements like exploring outer space and sending satellites that are remote controlled with precision based on Maths.
My mind seeks conviction that Maths is a true measure of reality out there. My mind does not seek similar confirmation about the reality itself.
Some quotations
David Hume:
“Mathematical propositions must pay a price for yielding absolute truth about anything which exists, about any matters of fact. Mathematics is only empty, abstract, formal truth, which tells you nothing about existence. No proposition which states a relation between ideas (the propositions of arithmetic, geometry, algebra or logic) can establish any truth about existence. Thus there is a trade off. Statements about formal relations of ideas, like 2+2=4, give us knowledge which has certainty, but on the other hand it is merely formal truth, empty, abstract, it gives no information about existence. Statements about matters of fact, on the other hand, give us information about facts, about existence, but they provide no certainty, not even a basis for probability.”
“As far as the laws of mathematics refer to reality, they are not certain, and as far as they are certain, they do not refer to reality.” Albert Einstein
Russell: "Not only is mathematics independent of us and our thoughts, but in another sense we and the whole universe of existing things are independent of mathematics."
" .. pure mathematics can never pronounce upon questions of actual existence: the world of reason, in a sense, controls the world of fact, but it is not at any point creative of fact, and in the application of its results to the world in time and space, its certainty and precision are lost among approximations and working hypotheses."
“.. mathematics may be defined as the subject in which we never know what we are talking about, nor whether what we are saying is true.”
“A book should have either intelligibility or correctness; to combine the two is impossible, but to lack both is to be unworthy of such a place as Euclid has occupied in education.”
Proof of induction is basic to Maths. That is assumptive.
For long we believed in Euclid and even today, we work with it in school and even in engineering, etc. But, it is not realistic (vide Russell above).
Have patience.
There is no wizard and no wiseacre.
There is no genius and no idiot.
Each acts to its potential, an ant to a mammoth.
Each has its place, cosy and shifting.
Each sees to the limit of its faculty.
Each is endowed in limit to a purpose.
Each is an integral part of the whole and will stick in its
place for its duration.
Have patience to let others have it for us.
March 25 at 10:37 AM ·
Pattaam Pasali (Old
Timer)
In the village and a co-tenancy rat-hole accommodation in
overcrowded part of Madras, I was told to:
- to mind cleanliness (suchi) before deliciousness (ruchi)
- to clean the house and bathe before preparing food and
eating
- to avoid physical contact (madi)
- to wash hands and feet when coming back from outside or
toilet
- to bathe immediately on return from the barber’s shop.
- to avoid carried over food (fridge was not known then,
but even with fridge, is it not better to use it sparingly?)
After graduation and getting a job, and entering affluent
times, these superstations were discarded.
Way to peace in the world
Impossible conditions
1. Stop all false
promises. False promises emanate from politics, religion and commerce. People
try to dominate and rule over others’ minds and promise things that are
chimera. Such promises raise expectations and heightened consciousness which is
impossible to control.
2. Stop all
conversions. Religion is the major source of conflicts. It is a ridiculous
claim that any religion can get us a utopia. There is absolutely no evidence or
indication of a better place to occupy by some incantation or prayer. Since
science has debunked the myths of religions, some religions shut out science
even today. Such obscurantism must stop.
3. Destroy all
weapons.
4. Make use of
bio-power as far as possible.
5. Avoid
synthetics.
Just as this is a mad list, the hope of a world without
conflicts and with abiding peace is also a mad one. So long as religion,
politics and commerce rule, there will be strife, tension and disquiet. All we
can do is desist from creating breach of peace as individuals. We should also
work for peace no matter that the odds are against.
உலகிலே சாந்தி நிலவ வேண்டும் (peace
must prevail in the world)
Perseverance
1.4.2002
An actor on stage plays out a part a thousand times. He has
to do nearly the same thing over and over again. It is in doing such repetition
ceaselessly that he pleases the audience and fulfils his role.
A devout man similarly does puja everyday, the same rote
but with undiminished, nay, ever increasing fervour.
A man seeking success in life has to adopt a similar attitude.
Fools give up half way in despair.
Success in life depends on engaging the faculties fully,
detaching the mind to the extent possible. Such success is graceful and brings
bliss.
Spiritual attainment is the reverse. It calls for
engagement of the mind fully keeping to the minimum the use of physical
faculties.
In godhood there is either total cessation of the two or
total engagement in full awareness and control.
Positive thinking
I saw with Sri P V Maiya the book, ‘The Power of Positive Thinking.’ I borrowed and read. As I was taking time, he said, ‘Have you finished reading? I keep it at my bedside.’
Later, I mentioned about the book to a colleague who was an avid reader of diverse subjects and had a huge library at home. He replied, ‘I have read its sequel also.’ I borrowed the sequel, ‘How to cure yourself of Positive Thinking.’ I was not impressed. Positive thinking is not building castles in the air or believing that the impossible will actualize by some miracle. In a game, positive thinking is not that it will win the game for you for sure, but that you can summon all your reserve power to put in a decent effort. Of course, everyone cannot win. But, it is not about games and competition, it is about going along with humdrum life with hope and cheerfulness.
The book opens with ‘Believe in yourself.’ The only reality we can be sure of is our existence. It is an experiential reality. (I am not impressed with Rene Descartes. We exist, and thinking is a development, in my limited understanding). Believing in oneself is the key to living this life as a human being. Whatever helps in gaining that self-belief and self-control strengthens our life.
Pound
May 12, 2017 ·
I saw the news that a buffalo was arrested in UP. That does
not come to me as unusual. Before I say why, my flippant side wants to comment
that many who are arrested are far inferior to buffaloes.
In my village, there used to be a pound (system from
British times if not earlier) used to keep cattle that trespass into others’
lands grazing the crop, etc. (The expression ‘impound’ might have originated
from this use of ‘pound’). It was generally not used because of the hassles.
The person who brings the animal to the pound must provide fodder during the
period of confinement. (Lalu was not there those days!). The owner will pay the
fine to the govt. for keeping the animal and the cost of the fodder.
February 11, 2015 ·
POVERTY
A myth is around that poverty is virtuous. Many rich people may live by and in sin, but that does not make poverty virtuous. Religions try to attract people by this myth that God is for the poor and waiting to reward them in the next world in return for their faith and suffering in this world. No one believes seriously in this call.
Poverty is the bait not only of religion but of communism as well. That is not surprising as communism is a quasi-religion. Poverty can only breed crime and violence. The widespread naxalism in India is perhaps encouraged by poverty.
Simple living and contentedness with the just fruits of one’s labour are virtues. That does not imply poverty or that one should espouse poverty. It only implies that one should make just endeavours and that a system must be in place to check unjust endeavours. It implies that one should secure the means to fulfill his wants and insulate his mind against greed and multiplication of wants. It does not make accumulation of wealth by itself a sin, but hoarding unproductive wealth is a social crime.
Wealth is like reservoir of water. Water reservoirs help in irrigation, ecology, supply of water for consumption, etc. If all water drains into the sea, perhaps life will be threatened. In much the same way, if everyone is equally poor, there will be no capital formation and no economic activity.
The socialists believed that if wealth is in the hands of the state, it will serve egalitarianism. Though it was flawed at root, it has been followed in many places and has been proved to be a mirage. The state is not an efficient user of wealth. It breeds only other ills and evils.
In India, we have reason to despise the rich as many have accumulated wealth by dubious means, live in vulgar ostentation, and do not contribute to general welfare as in many capitalist countries. The state has failed in governance. Still, it is far wrong to infer that wealth is evil by itself.
A harmonious society is possible only by making all live in satisfaction of their basic wants by earning for it. It is necessary as a first step to lay aside glorification of poverty and make earning possible.
Saturday, December 02, 2017
Praise
To be able to praise is a gift – that we have the heart to
praise and that there is someone or something to praise.
I had once done a project and got the report bound
classily. The DMD who saw it praised it – not the content but the sleek
binding.
I once drafted a letter to RBI (opposing drawee bill
system). The C.O. who took it to the chairman gave it back to me signed and
said that the chairman praised it. Only to add with a mischievous smile, “After
signing, he asked me what was written in it.”
Never mind that some praise is tongue-in-cheek. We must not
miss the euphoric moments. Everything fades sooner than later. We must not
waste life not enjoying when it lasts. Sometimes it may produce long term
results!
Privacy:
Privacy is needed for decency- a civilisational constraint,
and when we want to hide something, usually a wrong- a mental fixation, or a
social imposition. Of course, in money matters we need to protect PW, etc.
Often we wish for contradictory things. We want to be
noticed, but complain if we are noticed in a way we don't like. How is it ever
possible to dictate how others would view?
I see this in me-too also. It is a matter of choice how I
dress, but others must see me only if I wish and allow. This is a manufacturing
defect and the manufacturer is absconding. I do not think law and technology
are going to fix it.
Same with city and publicity. We have no control once we
get in. We cannot have a smart city at least in a populated country, and we
cannot have publicity of the right type and magnitude.
October 28, 2004
Problem
A lot of people are busy offering us solutions to our problems.
It is worth examining whether we have a problem and if it requires outside
help. A number of problems are situational or caused by our mind set. They
either pass on their own or abate when we relax. Think well before engaging
with a healer.
June 05, 2015
Problems and solutions
I read in a management book, never take your problem to
your senior unless you have yourself thought of a solution. The idea is that
the best answer is what you can find. Over time, you improve. If you take the
answer of another, you look for answers all the time from others. You end up
with questions, as if you are a quiz master. An A.O. told me that his officer
put up everything to him for information or instructions.
If you ask a question sensibly, you must know the possible answers
and you are just looking for others’ experience. That is rare.
Punctuality
September 11 ·
I heard this mentioned 50 years ago pointing out how the
student gave no valid explanation, but still the teacher appeared satisfied:
Teacher: en late? (Why late?)
Student: late aayidutthu, sir. (I happened to be late).
Teacher: sari, poyi utkaaru. (OK, go and sit).
Some 30 years ago in Central Office:
A CGM was absent when his turn came for review of circle
performance. He came late and waited in the lounge awaiting his rescheduled
turn. He remarked, “I slept off, but will of course blame it on the traffic.”
The boy comes off in good light. He did not invent a lie or
a scapegoat.
Quarantine
In the village when a family had incidence of small
pox/measles, they would put up a twig of neem tree in front of the house,
and spread neem leaves on the bed of the patient, who would not circulate. The
family would not visit others and others, noticing the neem twig, would not
visit the family.
In India gods multiplied and keep multiplying, it seems
anything invisible and powerful (someone said that power means capacity to do
harm), was deified. So was this virus and the deity was called Mari Amman and a
temple erected for the deity. Annually in summer there would be a festival.
Karakam (a pot with ornamental floral covering) would be got up. Anyone present
when this ritual commences should not leave the village until the Karakam is
ritually dismantled, a sort of quarantine.
There has been a belief (only among Brahmins?) that women
in period were contaminated and they were too quarantined, but it is gone bur
for some stray instances.
May 03, 2015
Are we asking the right question?
If certain questions eluded sensible answers to the best of
minds over the ages, it is possibly that we have been asking the wrong
questions. Many questions presume a simple back sequence. For example, chicken
and egg question. Possibly, it evolved in a different way, rather than as egg
or chicken first. Similarly, how the world came about may be wrong. It may not
be that there was a time when there was nothing. The same thing exists for ever
and appears to be changing including evolution and involution. The advantage of
directing the gaze to another paradigm is to see if the available clues fit in
better. Maybe a still different imagination may be required.
Questioning
We must stop asking questions at some stage. At what stage?
Reason would tell us that we must stop until we are satisfied. Satisfaction is
not dependent on the question or answer, but us. We do not easily realise this.
We think that there is an objective answer and everyone is going to reach it
with effort. That works with mathematics and logic, but not in anything
connected with life. We are at various stages and all are not going to reach
the same stage. While our progress to relativity is commendable, it is not
life-defining. I have no belief that we will one day solve everything and after
that we can relax. Maybe that will be the doomsday!
The stage at which we stop depends on our ability to
understand, not reason.
It foxed me in ‘limit’, precursor to calculus, why we do
not apply ‘x = 0’ to start with and only at a later stage. So, too with god.
At some stage we give up as inexplicable. Why not at the start? Why assume god
who seems scared of us and is hiding?
The same problem with me. Why do I insanely work on such
irrelevant issues?
Rains
11/6/1982
Mr. M and I were playing shuttle cock or rather were trying
to as I connected not even my services. Thick drizzles drove us inside the
house. Mr. M was agog with praise that the monsoon pundits are right after all;
they predicted 10th as the most probable date for monsoon to arrive. I told him
it was perhaps a statistical guesswork. Even with the worst-placed no-luck
persons, once in a way it happens. I was neither serious nor light.
Later in the day, Mr. C was emphatic that the light shower
of the morning was at best a remote precursor to the monsoon, not the initial
phase of the monsoon proper as the ignorant assumed. I remained tight-lipped,
believe me for once, for I knew not to distinguish between a monsoon rain and
the other type.
On 11/6 also there were downpours, more frequent than 10/6.
I wondered: What is monsoon rain? What is a weak current and what is a monsoon
rain?
December 02, 2013
Talk with Mr. Ramaswamy
Mr.Ramaswamy* did much talking. He was involved in one
institute called Institute of Hindu Studies. I took a brochure from him with
the commitment to work for it. He claimed that Indian sages had discovered
several phenomena attributed to western scientists long back by the process of
meditation. 82 such phenomena are listed in the brochure. I wondered whether we
had developed science but not technology and also whether we should start from
the present level of knowledge or from where the sages have left. He remarked
that we need to acknowledge the contribution by India, which is not publicised
enough. I opined that in India we have two issues, one is number and the other
culture. R gave a contrarian view regarding population. Suppose our population
today is 100 million and not 1000 million, it would have been, say, 20 million
in 1800 and the Europeans would have run over India like they have done in
other places and we may be living as tribals. The Europeans have colonised
Americas, Australia and part of Africa, destroying the aboriginal culture and
reducing the natives to second class citizens. If they had stayed put in
Europe, their number would have been oppressive. He said, prompted by a
sardarji close at hand, that the Punjabis were the gatekeepers for our culture.
We would have lost everything but for their brave resistance. They have seen 69
invasions. No temple of the stature of the South Indian ones could be
maintained there because of the invasions. He acknowledged that unlike the
other invaders the British did not destroy our culture. But for the British, we
would have become a Muslim nation. He presided over a seminar on conversion.
The dalits said that they would convert if a mass conversion could be
organised. The Muslims said that it would have been easy if partition had not
taken place because the number of Muslims would have been large enough to
steamroller conversions. Partition is a blessing in disguise. He advised that
we should have a few aims in life, as many and as diverse as possible and that
all our actions (whatever we do) should be focused on those aims. That will
give a sense of purpose. Mr. Ramaswamy (no more) was founder of IIM, Bengaluru
and a recipient of several awards.
Rambling
10/4/18
It is rare to find people stick to a point. We have an urge
to tell what we know.
In an exam on Maths, a student was writing some essay on
Hamlet. The invigilator asked him about it and he replied seriously that he was
preparing for the English exam. What he wrote was right in itself, but not in answer
to the question. It is not enough that what we write is right, but it must be
relevant.
We have had long training on such discursive talk in
meetings and committees and it stands us in good stead in social media.
Reading
22/3/81
In interpreting a text, some go astray by clinging to the
first impression, without reading the whole and understanding it in context.
Imagine a judge pronouncing judgement on each piece of evidence, trivial or
otherwise. We often fall into this error in our comments. We fly off the handle
just by reading the caption or an opening sentence. It is excusable when in
jest, but when serious conclusions are reached on that basis, it is immature.
December 05, 2014
Stray thoughts: Reading
I went to a concert and saw that a function was just
commenced with invocation, for conferring a title on the singers.. I had taken
kindle and started reading A Tale of Two
Cities. Speeches followed in Kannada. I wondered whether I would have looked up
at the speaker if it was in Tamizh (listening is involuntary). I thought the
better of it and thanked that it was in Kannada because it did not quite
interfere with my reading and I got the gist of what was being said (often you
may get it even without being there as it is stereotyped). It is part of the
package as without it music may not be on offer.
In the book, an expression, ‘he worried his breakfast
rather than ate it,’ attracted me and reminded me the way it was with me from
school days to retirement, and now as it has become a habit.
I wondered whether the present generation of net and jet
age would ever be interested in reading such books that proceed at a leisurely
pace with long-winding prose.
If reason and belief are pitted against each other,
reason must be examined critically as it is not possible to examine belief. If
reason is unyielding, belief must be junked.
Reforms
21/1/18
I would think that the rains would clean Mumbai. I realized
that it only redistributed the filth.
Avvaiyar has observed how the mounds and pits in a river
change after a flood and said that wealth also behaved likewise (ஆறிடும்
மேடும் மடுவும் போலாம் செல்வம்).
Social reformation also only seems to change the
beneficiaries, not reform but switch.
It is interesting that there was a FB post about Americans
who were attracted to socialism increasingly.
Society is in a constant flux.
Respect
August 30, 2017 ·
Mariyathai (Respect)
Tamizh (like other native languages) introduces (a
problematic?) distinction between singular and plural in addressing another
person (second person), unlike the simple and convenient common 'you' in
English.
We address elders in plural and youngsters or peers in
singular. What about parents and grandparents? I used to address my parents and
grandmas in singular. That was considered by some uncivilised. In some
families, mother was addressed in singular while father was addressed in
plural. While these are only conventions, some attribute values to these and
social stigmas are assigned.
Among colleagues, use of singular signifies informality if
not intimacy. ‘Da’ in Tamih signifies superintimacy among peers!
Normally, we address younger ones, esp. children, in
singular. It was a little amusing to watch in TV shows a grown-up person
addressing a kid in plural.
Many Tamizh husbands add a loving (or commanding?) ‘di’
while addressing their wives. Generally, I have not found wives returning that
warmth! I found that in the north husbands add ‘ji’ to their wives also. That
seems to be good diplomacy worth emulating!
Rules, Ethics, and Epics
Is there a distinction between rule and ethics? If a rule
allows a thing, is there any other consideration that is imperative?
There is public opinion. Public opinion follows unwritten
rules. It may be divided.
In Ramayana, Ravana stands forlorn in battle with Rama.
Rama could have killed him and there would be no stigma, but Rama let Ravana
off. He would rather that Ravana was reformed than killed. In today’s world,
that may misfire.
In contrast, Karna was stuck with his chariot wheel not
moving and Krishna tells Arjuna not to spare him as it would be difficult to find
another chance to kill Karna, and Karna was appealing for consideration which
he overlooked in several instances.
July 09, 2014
Sex, morals and vegetarianism
Y.Soni: Mahatma Gandhi practised brahmcharya after a
certain age. The premise, though just a conjecture, was that not letting go may
be helping in longevity and general well being.
Kv Chellappa Rajaji also practised Brahmacharya as he was
widowed early in life. These may be exceptions. A normal life is one where one
uses his faculties and energy without excess and in harmony with nature.
Two things: First, sex is good with morality. Morality is
not just normative, it is based on physical and psychological health. Second,
anything is good to the extent you can afford and enjoy it. Even exercise that
strains may be harmful. The message in anything that comes to us has to be
taken as is appropriate to us. Luckily, we pass on all messages and pass it
over.
Meat eating seems to have been common in Vedic times.
Agastya was served goat's meat in a sraddha. The goat was a rakshasa
metamorphosed. Agastya does not allow him to get out of his stomach, as was the
rakshasa's wont. There are many instances. Rama ate meat. Lakshmana would hunt
and bring the game which was cooked and eaten. A Pouranika said that meat-eating
was prohibited for Brahmins in Kali Yuga only. That still meant meat-eating was
not prohibited for others. Historians tell us that vegetarianism is a change
introduced by Buddhists and Jains. Asceticism and taboo on sex also have come
from these religions, it would appear. Hinduism kept changing assimilating many
things. I heard that we have taken many things from the invaders also. Is
meat-eating a sin? Since it involves killing, it is a sin. We commit many sins
like that for our living. We can reason that our suffering is because of such
sins.
Verily, we are characterised by our choices. In fact, we
should appreciate people by their choices and not results. Results depend on
many factors, most of which are even beyond our grasp. To digress, I would look
at Modi for what he chooses to do; he may fail, but not fall in my esteem.
Despite the imponderables, our choices (choice has no meaning if efforts are
not directed in its train, just as a paper decision is a statement of wish -
that is Drucker) have consequences. That is Karma. Well, it is a vast subject.
Vegetarianism is good or bad on factors other than the percentage that adopt
it. The correct position may be amoral, it is not to be subjected to moral
judgement at all.
SEX
Freud gave us the notion that most of our actions have a sex bias. It is a moot point. But, all of us are interested in it and most of us have created tangible proof of it. Perhaps old age is when one has a vicarious pleasure. There was a Tamizh writer who was pretty old and would give spicy descriptions in erotic contexts.
A small discussion on the words related to sex follows. No illustrations!
Sex refers primarily to gender viz. male and female. Male and female are to be used only to denote gender. In other contexts use of these words has an undertone of contempt e.g. when we say ‘that female’.
It is sadly a male dominated world. In words also it manifests. A lady colleague was struggling for a male equivalent of bitch to describe a man. I suggested that there might be none.
Lust denotes desire for sex and lustful is adjective in this sense. Lusty is different and means robust or healthy. Randy and horny (both informal) is ‘sexually excited’.
Some words refer to the physical side like carnal pleasure. In Samskritham, शरीरधर्मं or ग्राम्यधर्मं is the word used. It is part of life and is set as dharma.
Sensual refers to senses (physical) and is applied to sexual also. Sensuous is more in the aesthetic sense.
Dissolute is being overindulgent in sexual pleasure. Vichitravirya was dissolute and died of a consuming disease. Debauched and dissipated are other words for it.
Relationship outside marriage is held reprehensible in all societies. Polygamy (Islam appears to sanction taking up to 4 wives) and polyandry (Draupadi is a classic but solitary example) are approved practices in some societies.
Words associated with extramarital affair:
1. Adultery: sex between two partners who are married. One has to take care not to confuse it with adulteration, which is perhaps a greater sin.
2. Fornication: relationship between unmarried ones.
Words associated with casual sex:
1. One-night stand: relationship for a night.
2. Flirt: have playful sexual interaction
3. Have a fling: have a short sexual relationship.
4. Licentious: promiscuous and unprincipled in sexual matters.
5. Promiscuous: having many transient sexual relationships. Wanton also is in this category.
6. Unchaste: having extramarital relationship.
Incest: relationship among close relatives - this may be through marriage also- Hamlet calls the marriage between his mother and uncle as incestuous.
Prurience is showing interest in splashing details of sex life of others. Yellow papers do that.
Lascivious: showing desire for sex. Lecherous is another word for being excessively desirous of sex. A lecher is always looking for sex. Libidinous and concupiscent also mean the same. Dirty (infml) is having offensive interest in sex. Lubricious (fml derog) is having a strong interest in sexual matters.
Some words denote indecency in speech or writing.
1. Lewd: treating sex in a crude or offensive way.
2. Vulgar: It meant ‘common’ in Shakespeare’s time. It means ‘lacking in taste’ now and ‘obscene’ i.e. offensive to accepted moral standards esp. in sexual matters. Indecent, coarse, filthy, gross also suggest ‘obscene’. Blue is also ‘obscene’, like in ‘blue film’. Raunchy (infml): sexually explicit. Smutty (infml): dealing with sex in offensive way. Rude has the same meaning. Salacious, scabrous: treating sexual matters in a frank and obscene way.
3. Ribald: referring to sexual matters in rude but humorous way. Bawdy also means ‘dealing with sexual matters in an amusing way’
4. Risque: indecent, being sexually suggestive.
5. Earthy: uninhibited about sexual matters.
6. Off-colour (infml): slightly indecent
7. Naughty (infml): connected with sex in rude or funny way.
8. Racy: lively and shocking the way it deals with sex.
9. Suggestive: making somebody think of sex.
10.Pornographic: showing sex openly.
It is just a time-filling exercise I fancied doing.
புணர்ச்சி
23/10/2007
புணர்ச்சி இகழ்ச்சிக்குரியதல்ல. புராணங்கள் புணர்ச்சியைப் புகழ்ந்தே கூறுகின்றன. ஞானத்தில் திளைப்பவர்கள் புராண லீலைகளை பரம்பொருள் - ஜீவன் இவற்றின் ஐக்யமாகக் காண்கிறார்கள். நம் மன நிலைக்கேற்ப அவை படும்.
Sincerity
We must infuse life into what we say and do. We do not know
who put life into us but we must do it when we create anything in word or deed.
Those that do, add meaning to life. We like them and feel happy to be around
them. It is more difficult to put life into words and so we must be sparing in
their use. (FB is exempted).
Smoking
I went to a shop to buy a nail-cutter. As I was seeing various items shown by the shopkeeper, I got the smoke of cigarette. I noticed a person smoking and left the place without buying.
Long back, in K N Agraharam, Kutti uncle came. He asked KVS uncle whether he could smoke. KVS told him, ‘There are one or two people who smoke here.’ Kutti smoked. The tenants who smoked did so in the toilet. They claim that they cannot go without it. Nobody smoked in the living area. KVS saw a way to accommodate Kutti. Affluence overrides etiquette.
In Bangalore Commercial Branch, Mr. Yogesh Agarwal (then GM) asked me whether he could smoke. I told him that the entire Bank was a no smoking zone, anyway he could smoke. Here, power/position overrode a regulation. Nobody smokes in the bank premises in the south.
Spend or bequeathe?
‘Spend it. Don’t leave it.’
This is another advice that one gets periodically.
To have sufficient money itself gives comfort for the bad
day when we may have to enrich doctors and hospitals, or even basic necessities
in a majority of cases. If we know how long we would live and what
contingencies may arise, we may spend more liberally. What happens to the money
we leave behind is of no value to a dead man. If we so wish we can leave a will
allocating it for noble causes.
My maxim is that I should spend as much as I feel like
regardless of how much I have, but within what I have.
September 17, 2018 ·
Spiritual Trip!
I travelled to the bank from home.
I saw a poster: “Muharram is not a festival. It is a month
of mourning.”
I met a colleague in the bank. He said, “I retired in May.
I am now learning Vedas, spending time on pranayama, yoga and puja. That keeps
me busy.”
On the way back, I saw an auto display, “Jesus is coming.”
Starvation is not the wish of nature. Nature loves to feed. No animal starves, nor does it overeat. Fasting sets the mind go haywire, produces halitosis and the resultant acidity causes bitterness of taste. But there is also a lightness that seems welcome.
Status Symbols
July 24, 2016 ·
In India, status symbols are:
Not wishing back;
Turning up late;
Breaking the queue, law, etc.
Letting juniors pick up the bills.
Tamizh is Tamizh; Hindi is Hindi.
The two do not see eye to eye.
1.
First, unlike many other Indian languages Tamizh and Hindi do not have a one-to-one correspondence of alphabet.
While in college, a friend who used to tease me about Samskrtam, which was my second language, said, ‘Normally, refinement comes later. Tamizh has no aspirated consonants while Samskrtam has, which is a refinement. That lends credence to the belief that Samskrtam must have been of later origin.’ I did not know how to counter this, though that is not a clinching argument as to the question which came in vogue first. The fact remains that it is difficult to transliterate Samskrtam words in Tamizh.
Tamizh has the peculiar letter ‘zha’ which is there only in Malayalam, undeniably a derivative from Tamizh. People outside these two states often slur over the letter to ‘la’, and the English transliteration has sanctified this usage, so to say. Being an irritable man (thanks to IBS!), I am annoyed when people mispronounce the letter. Even some Tamizhars slur.
This presents difficulty in learning Hindi for Tamizhars and vice versa.
2.
Tamizh is to a large extent independent of Samskrtam (S) in vocabulary, unlike Hindi and many other Indian languages that owe a heavy debt to it.
To illustrate: ‘Saappidu’ is to eat (T). In Hindi we have ‘khavo’ which is from ‘Khadati’ (S). ‘Kudi’ is ‘to drink’ (T) unlike piyo from pibati (S). There are innumerable words that do not have any resemblance to Samskrtam. Thus learning Hindi for a Tamizhar is more difficult than for people of other Indian languages as mother tongue.
It must be admitted that strenuous efforts have been made by Tamizhars from the period of Azhwars and Naynamars to exclude Samskrtam words or to morph them in line with Tamzih phonetics, and later during the Dravidian churning.
In school, my Tamizh teacher got a marriage invitation which had the heading ‘Vivaaha Subha murtha aahvaana pathrikaa’. He exclaimed, ‘Not a single Tamizh word is there.’ People from other languages may not feel that as striking. I asked him how it should read. He said, ‘Thirumana azhaippidazh’ or ‘manral azhaippidah.’ I resolved that I would do so for my marriage, but it met with the usual fate of resolutions.
The fact remains that Tamizh has a distict identity that makes it distant from Hindi.
3.
Tamizhars have a pride, not wholly justified or utterly vain, about the antiquity of the language that flows down to this day unlike any other classical language (barring perhaps Arabic). Its literature ranks in style and content and antiquity with Samskrtam.
They are not willing to sacrifice the pride of place of Tamizh by letting Hindi become the language replacing Tamizh. My son and daughter-in-law speak in Hindi between themselves. It may look far-fetched now, but gradually, it will become the rule. It cannot happen with English.
4.
We hear a few voices from TN here supporting Hindi. They are voices of a few that hail from urban milieu and have had some acquaintance with Samskrtam culturally or traditionally. Their voice is not a sample of Tamizhar sentiment in general. The general sentiment is heavily stacked against Hindi being imposed. It is not wise to ride roughshod over it.
Teacher
The most useful and sacred profession after, say, cooking.
Acharya Kripalani said in the sixties in an article, ‘We
had teachers who knew and who were kind. That is missing now.’
But, my post here is about the word in Samskrtam, the
language I love after Tamizh and before English.
There are many words, but what is the difference? I give my
half-baked idea. The idea is that others can bake it fully!
Amarakosam:
उपाध्यायोsध्यापकोsथ
स्यान्निषेकादिकृद्गुरुः I
मन्रव्याख्याकृदाचार्य आदेष्टा त्वध्वरे व्रती I
Upadhayaya:
Etymologically, it means one who studies together. That is
pregnant. Teaching is often the best way to learn.
In Tamizh, it has become vadyar. And in the chaste Madras
Tamizh (I am sparing Chennai hoping it is different), it may mean many things.
It may be a celebrity, an intimate friend, or a persona non grata. You may sing
merrily ‘va vadyare oottande ni varangatti nan udamatten.’ To be sure, it is a
decent word to refer to a teacher. (In a talk, a male speaker said that when he
mentioned that he was a teacher the listener laughed it off as a joke because
in the exalted notion of many, teacher can only be a lady teacher.)
A friend advised me that it is used for a paid teacher.
Adhyapaka
Adhyayanam is study and adhyapanam is making another study.
This is the term used to describe the dharma of a Brahmana. An adhyapaka
assists in upanayanam, initiation of a dvija to brahmacharya.
Acharya
Though used for adhyapaka also, it has a special import in
usage. An Acharya is an initiator or upholder of a tradition. One with the
right conduct only can be an Acharya going by the meaning of Achara. Thus we
have Acharyas of different schools of philosophy.
Guru
Guru is used in the generic sense, but in usage it may
imply one-to-one relationship with the disciple and also spiritual connotation.
In music they talk of Guru. Brahmavidya is imparted by a Guru. Guru’s teaching
may not be verbal or formal, but subtle and exemplary for transfer of gnana.
Tamizh has colloquial uses for Guru like for vadyar.
Siskhaka
It is an ambiguous word meaning both learner and teacher as
I look up the dictionary. Perhaps, it may be used for coaching or training.
(I am only a siskhaka, not a sikshaka!)
The officiators at sacrifices have special names.
Rig Veda: Hotru
Yajur Veda: Adhvaryu
Sama Veda: Udgatru
Atharva Veda: Brahman
THREE
The number 3 seems to have been special.
In Samskrtam, the declension and conjugation are in one,
two, many (three or more). This appears to be unique to Samskriam. I wonder why
the grammarians, who must have been very familiar with numbers, thought two as
special. Of course, it would have been impossible to have a case for each
number. We have first person, second person and third person. In English, we
have three degrees of comparison.
In classifying according to quality, we have उत्तम, मध्यम
and
अधम
(top,
middle and bottom).
Men are grouped as देव, मनुष्य
or
राक्षस.
Qualities
are सत्व, रजस and तमस.
(It is not as though the above two are watertight
compartments. All have a mixture of all the three, with the dominant one being
used as the criterion).
We think of creation, maintenance and collapse. In
Christianity also they talk of a holy trinity.
In philosophy, we have the classic categories of self,
world and god.
Subatomic world appeared elegant with three particles, but
later scientists complicated the issue.
In the current craze (cricket), the stumps are three.
In music, we talk of mandara sthayi, madhayama sthayi and
tara sthayi.
The primary colours are three.
Time is thought of as past, present and future.
One can go on. We will end on a high and then a sobering
note.
Happiness and happy hour go with three cheers.
Spirituality goes with three invocations for peace:
ॐ शान्तिः शान्तिः शान्तिः
Stoicism
A comment by a friend made me look for ‘what is stoicism’ more intimately. Googling got me a good link – appended. I also give a gist.
After reading it, I find that I am not a stoic either in principle (I do not believe that human beings are rational – I am a fine example), or in practice (I get perturbed easily as my FB posts betray). But, I am a stoic in a way because I believe that knowledge is supreme, not faith. Knowledge in my sense of reckoning, does not accrue just by reasoning and analysis, often that clouds thinking by trying to be logical against the inner urge and experience, but more by tuning ourselves to nature and its subtle messages received intuitively. Knowledge must lead to assurance in self and reticence, as each person has a valid experience and we cannot summate them under a formula. Just as my experience is my guide, so is it for anyone else. We must accept each other.
Time
4/10/18
I read ‘killing time’, a popular expression for finding
time hanging heavy.
In our mythology, it is time (kalan in Tamizh) that kills
all. Kalo hi jagadbhakshakah. Bharathiyar sang heroically of killing Kalan, but
was taken away prematurely, but he is immortal by his trend-setting poetry.
Einstein killed time in a sense, by removing the separate existence of time
from space. The tussle is on, we have to see whether man will overpower time.
As they say, time alone can tell.
Tradition
March 27, 2016
Change is the order of life, while tradition is clinging to
the past. Tradition is not the opposite of change, but it opposes sacrifice of
aesthetics, and whimsical changes. Tradition is perpetuation of a culmination.
While welcoming the new, we retain a past attainment. It may die if enough
people do not support it.
Truth and candour
Truth has to be seen in the context in which it arises. If
it has no significance for the decision or conclusion, there is no point in
dwelling on it. I have often seen people being vexatious about minor things.
The cardinal principle of materiality in accountancy applies in all business
situations. To harp on such a point is being importunate, not being candid.
Now, let us take advances to weaker sections which comes
down to us as instruction. I for one consider it as well conceived. If I feel
that it is wrong, there is no point in raising my objection. But, if someone
nominates people and dictates to me to lend to them, I must object if I am not
satisfied about the creditworthiness of the persons.
Where we want to be candid, we must be somewhat submissive.
Even juniors do not like if the message is received in an imperious tone.
Seniors resenting anything that is challenging is not strange.
If we are mindful of materiality and politeness, candour is
a virtue and will be respected more often than not.
May 04, 2015
Usury
Reading Nicholas Nickleby, I came upon the usurer, Ralph
Nickleby. Dickens describes the practice of usury in his characteristic
long-winding way humorously. That set my mind on what happened in my village.
There was a landowner, Munuswamy Iyer, who had just a daughter. He used to lend
to the distressed at exorbitant rates against land and over a period, not long,
the land would be his as the borrower would have no means to meet the dues that
multiplied fast. Some of the ancestral lands my father inherited became his
property in this manner. I am not complaining, but recollecting. It also
reminds me of what someone said about the aborigines whom the missionaries
converted: when the missionaries came, they had the bible and we had the land;
now, we have the bible and they have the land.
It is just a way to spend time, remembering and commenting.
The word will carry on with similar happenings as greed and gullibility are
good partners. Molecular behaviour exhibits similar tendencies, just to remind
that being human is not all that great.
Village dinner plates
I go back some 60 years. The stainless steel plates had come in vogue, the poorer ones using aluminium ones. But, the orthodox shunned these as short of aachaaram (ecchil – salivated).
The plant products used to be the dinner plates. Banana leaves were the pick, but were costly even then. There used to be an almond tree and its leaves were broad. Three or four will be stitched together with wooden splints. But, more common was banyan leaves, smaller, but more abundant. The trouble with these is that the splints may come off and get stuck in the throat. One must be careful. Another trouble was with flowy stuff like rasam which may run off to the neighbour’s plate.
Lotus leaves were also used with the green side being the bottom. Children used to have some fun as hot rasam poured on it would bubble.
Manadara leaves were commonly in use. They have a good aroma. In restaurants, they used to spread a mandara leaf in the plate and also use it in parcel. With the smell of the leaf, the idli, vada, dosa used to be extra delicious.
Apart from aachaaram, it was also eco-friendly. The used leaves will be dropped in the manure pit.
3/6/18
Quoting a westerner
We have two irreconcilable views on every subject almost. I
like grey. I feel that nothing is so clear-cut in life. There are shades of
truth. A truth holds in certain given conditions and these conditions are
numerous. There is need to balance our ideas. Of course, there are certainly
times we have to make up our mind and do it fast.
What about seeking or seeing support from a westerner?
Our minds opened to the west beyond Turkey after East India
Company came to trade and traded away our liberty and culture irretrievably.
English language, which is seen by a majority as the symbol of slavishness and
paradesi, did in fact throw before our minds new vistas of knowledge away from
the spiritual and metaphysical, into mundane things with which ancient India
seems to have been intimate, but the links seem to have snapped. Our knowledge
bias today is western in the template. I see no way or salvation in turning to
days before the British ‘corrupted’ us. In fact, India has been a reactor where
different ingredients were mixed and new and newer identities kept evolving.
Invasions took place not just after the middle eastern marauders, but long
before.
When we are discussing everything in the western paradigm,
it comes naturally to quote a westerner. Not that it is a decider, but that it
adds a clarification or confirmation. Also, if what I am saying finds resonance
in another who is not subject to the same bias as I am, I feel vindicated in an
objective way.
More to the point, it is not any westerner we quote, but a
knowledgeable one. It is the knowledge that is given the premium, not the colour
of the skin.
Quoting anyone is unobjectionable. We must join issue on
the content, not on the carrier.
Mind is a colony of ideas. If you decolonise mind, it will disappear; we have no idea what it means.
Seriously, Yuval Noah Harari says:
“Today all humans are European in dress, thought and taste. .. Almost everyone on the planet views politics, medicine, war and economics through European eyes. .. Even today’s burgeoning Chinese economy is built on a European model of production and finance. ..”
We may think and utter many things to be different from the European mindset, but it is the way we act and live that defines us. I suspect that Harari has got it right and that we are European in that light. A few exceptions will not disprove it.
It must be mentioned that there are earnest attempts to restore ‘Being Different’ (Rajiv Malhotra), but the response is limited.
Who or what is wrong
An early lesson in management is, ‘Look at what is wrong,
not who is wrong.’ Often, we are reminded that we should look at what is said,
not who said it. The truth in this counsel is unexceptionable.
But, normally we do not follow this. The reason is not
always prejudice, but practicability. When we get a message, we must decide
whether to take it seriously. We cannot always examine it thoroughly and then
decide. We form an opinion as to how reliable a person is. We can be fair in
this opinion. It need not be partisan.
The necessity for taking an opinion on the strength of the
person becomes crucial when the only source is testimonial knowledge.
In life, we follow trial and error method. If we are
honest, we learn and refine our ability to decide what or whom to trust.
A fruit appears on a mature, healthy plant, not on a seed. Wisdom
arises from application of intelligence in an active life in the field of
current action, not on basic intelligence. Many of our views may be worthless
as they are theoretical, based on our experience that has become history. Even
when we were in service, we saw that what worked in one situation did not work
in another, and what was possible for one person was not replicable for others.
How do we think that our current ideas would work for those who do not get
those ideas in their work situation?
There was an absorbing speech by one Mr.Singh in a
programme that I attended some 30 years ago. (I think he was the one who passed
away recently). He narrated the familiar story of the cap seller and the
monkeys, how the father taught the son how to retrieve the caps which monkeys
snatched and put on their heads. But, Mr.Singh added a twist. He said that
later when the son tried to teach the same trick to his son (putting on a cap
on the head and throwing it away), the monkeys did not follow suit. They had
become wiser. That was to illustrate how competition is getting smarter by the
day and constant learning on the feet is necessary.
Women
All societies treated women as lesser. Even now in some
traditions, women are treated as property and toy. It was pathetic to hear a
discourser say, ‘The restrictions on women are not for male domination but for
their spiritual salvation.’
There were women who fought against the system subtly or
stridently and made a name.
Bangalore Nagaratnamma, a devadasi, given up by her
mother’s patron, grew up learning music, dance and languages, and unabashedly
proclaiming her being a devadasi. She was devoted to Thyagaraja and built a
temple over his Samadhi all from her earnings. She was a philanthropist.
M S Subbulakshmi broke away from the system of devadasis
and honed her musical skill in a Brahmin household and was hailed as the queen
of music and contributed her earnings for pubic causes.
Rukmini Arundale, fascinated by dance, swam against the
current and nurtured her passion for dance and established Kalakshetra.
Bharatanatyam was widely learned after the breakthrough.
Saraswathi Bai took to Harikatha, forbidden for Brahmins
then, and became famous.
D K Pattammal was perhaps the first Brahmin woman to give
stage performances in music.
Today we have several women prominent in various fields,
some excelling men. However, this is still confined to forward communities and
affluent sections. Much more ground is left to be covered.
Women at work
Orthodoxy confined women to home, for minding the kitchen
and household, and bearing and rearing children. In fact, scripture and
literature define a woman in these terms. This has been effectively challenged
and changed in an irreversible way; but, nature cannot change. It is the rule
of nature that a woman makes a home, a man is woefully inadequate for the task.
Man can never equal woman. Nature will not any time soon wrest childbearing
from woman and trust it with man. Managing the home, and motherhood are
necessary and noble, not lowly. Woman guides man to right action and a steady
life.
Women have done the traditional jobs with full passion.
I remember an old lady, aunt of my grandmother, who visited
us in the village when my father was ill, and the house was teeming with
people, and voluntarily positioned herself in the congested kitchen and
struggled with the firewood that would not burn easily, in the heat of the arid
village which knew no cooling device. My mother said that wherever she went she
would do it. Hats off to her.
I am awed by the reputation of some women of Tamizh history
like Mangayarkkarasi, Sembiam Madevi and Kundavai.
But, the women I have in mind are modern women that work in
offices like men.
There were some who had a rock solid impression that women
would not work. One became a chairman of a public sector bank. The ground
reality does not support him, not all the way in any case.
A senior colleague recalled how she told her boss about her
having to go earlier than others, ‘I do not have a wife at home.’ The women
working like men have still to manage the home also. The sharing of work at
home has not been the norm. They have to think of the children and other home
responsibilities. That does make a difference. One may argue that they get paid
as much as men.
In my experience, the attitude to work has no gender bias.
If anything, more women work conscientiously, some excel men, I mean at work,
not just in speech. I have seen women take up work of another desk when they
have finished their work, in some exceptional cases. When I was just confirmed
officer in Madurai, two lady staff who sat next to me were diligent and
flawless workers. There was never any arrears of work in their area. I have had
pleasant experience in many places. Of course, I have a gender bias!
A few women in the public glare attract me.
Dr. Sudha Seshayyan
I came to know her as a competent Tamizh orator, well
versed in scripture and literature and fluent and convincing in her discourse.
It was amazing to know that she is a doctor in medicine holding high position,
now as VC of TN Madras Medical University. She is also an ace compere and officiates
in govt. functions. She has a pleasing countenance and graceful appearance.
Mrs. Bharathi Bhaskar
She came to prominence via Patti Manram, a Tamizh talk show
(Tamizhars are indefatigable speakers), but her credentials are far better. She
holds a B Tech Engg degree and MBA from Anna University, and is VP in CitiBank.
She has decent memory ready wit and free flow in choice Tamizh diction. She
holds the audience spell-bound.
It is amazing how these two women manage work, such
pursuits and home. I just cited two examples.
June 16, 2016 ·
Nothing that man has done has changed the universe a wee
bit. Nor has it changed man’s basic needs or nature. Yes, the story is
unfolding, but most of us will be gone if it is going to bring an upheaval one
day.
Changing world
June 14, 2016 ·
A thing is not the same when known as when unknown. It is
not simply that my mind has moved, but the thing also has moved.
Changing world
July 14, 2015
We operate from some fixed positions. We brand people or
organisations as good or bad and all our comments are dovetailed to it.
Disagreement and disharmony stem from this fixation. It is neither secular nor
‘objective’. We change in a changing world and we act as much from our
character as according to circumstances. Dialogue and open mind can lubricate
the points of friction, but in the heat of things we do not do the analysis
that cooler moments afford.
Not just political parties do it, we group ourselves
ideologically and behave no differently. Many comments betray lack of
understanding and any study.
We are never going to arrive at a world where it will
follow the dictates of our fixed position. We will live in a world of opposites
or in no world at all. Human purpose can only consist in organizing ourselves
in such a way that the opposites co-exist and we define our space and leave
others to their space.
World
What is world?
No, I am not sharing my advaita thoughts.
Normally, we think of the world as all that is on earth.
Sometimes it is also used to refer to universe or cosmos.
But, in several expressions it is not characteristic or
representative of the entire world.
World wars were not fought in the whole of the world, not
even in most parts. Both the world wars started in Europe and was fought
principally by Europeans. Still, as Europe is all that matters in the world,
both were called world wars.
Out of some concession for the lesser mortals, they are
content to be called the first world, the communists are the second world and
the insignificant ones are dubbed the third world.
Will Durant finishes Asia, the most populous and the seat
of several ancient civilisations, in one of eleven volumes of The Story of
Civilisation and is dismissively apologetic, ‘We have passed in unwilling haste
through four thousand years of history, and over the richest civilisations of
the largest continent.’ It is understandable since his market was not the third
world.
Look at the world cup. Some ten nations participate, but
four are European sort of and so it must be world cup! Yes, it is open to all,
but is confined narrowly.
Just as we have those that claim Vedas as the origin of
everything, the western thinkers invariably find a link to the Greeks. Greece
is the start of the world and even Big Bang started in Greece!
Many discoveries happened earlier than the European
discovery of them, but history stands in the name of Europeans.
The Europeans think a world of themselves and so do we of
them.
(This is a light piece. Europeans have distinguished
themselves in science, technology, organisation and order, which we lack as a
people.
Sriram V’s twitter: Oh the joy some Indians experience in
extolling the virtues of the British in particular and Europeans in general.
They roll the names around their tongues as though it were nectar.)
October 19, 2014
Is the world mechanistic?
My response: We need to understand what we mean by 'world'
and 'mechanistic'. World seems to be divided against itself in micro and macro
aspects. Mechanistic can mean mindless or according to a set order. I am
talking of how I grasp it. If we are talking of the world in its 'objectivity'
or 'totality', we are perhaps yet to understand it. Speculatively we have a
wide range of views of the world from that it does not exist to that nothing
else exists. 'Reflexivity' gets into play. The observed and observer cannot be
isolated and when we do so, we get erratic views. This phenomenon has been
expressed in different ways in different contexts. The uncertainty principle in
QM, the waywardness of economic variables under observation, stock market
behaviour vs an individual investor etc. The correct answer could be yes and
no, depending on the ground from which you observe.
The world exists. How it came about and why are a mystery. Yes, science has unravelled many of the secrets about how it came from a zero point, as it were. The question 'Why' is beyond science. It can never be solved without assumptions.I do not know any philosophy. The two philosophies that may be called secular are Buddhist philosophy (much of it came after Buddha) and Advaita of Sankara, which is neo-Buddhism, sort of, but expounded on Vedanta. The essential difference between the two maybe that for Buddha shunyata or void is the base whereas for Sankara, it is Brahman - not exactly god. I do not know anything beyond this skeletal stuff which is oversimplification. Most of Indian philosophy is about ontology, nature of existence, its source, course and destiny. S Radhakrishnan's book Indian Philosophy summarises it in delectable language.
It matters little. We have a transient life and I believe that we are the fortunate ones while millions suffer physically or under duress from priests, making a hell of earth, fearing a non-existent hell, or pining for a non-existent heaven. How silly that for some insignificant acts we do here, and that too of praising this god or that, we will get a jackpot of an eternal life of immense bliss.
The one belief that keeps reinforcing itself in me is that universe is a composite life form with human beings being a small and insignificant part of it. There is no plan, no ground for any assurance, for preserving the sapiens. You may believe in god and redemption and a heaven or redemption by succession of births, universe does not care. If we are humble enough to accept the minor role in the universe, we may be better off.
There is a book Being Different by Rajiv Malhotra as to the dividing line between Indic thinking and the western paradigm.
I read a school lesson by Tagore where he talks of interpenetration with nature rather than overcoming nature as characteristic of oriental template.
I read an article on consciousness (how cerebellum plays no part in it) where the writer says that consciousness is the conundrum today as was life a century ago. I am not sure that we have underwood life enough scientifically and the discovery of DNA as a basic unit of life may not be the final word.
What satisfies us intellectually may not be the whole truth. Several philosophers talk of our inadequacy to comprehend the whole. Until and unless we scale up and are in a position to see the whole or as the whole, our doubts and contradictions will weigh in.
In the meantime we must make progress while preserving nature and be patient and humble.
Writing
Writing is an art. It is not just putting together words
with the right syntax. Sentences must be balanced and their meaning must be
lucid. There must be flow. Each part must kindle interest to know what next and
the writer must feed on the curiosity judiciously. Without flow it becomes
scattered iron filings, which group under the magnet of a mature and fertile
mind.
Smt. Aruna Sairam used to relate how she was singing the
entire range of swaras in swaraprasthara, but a senior advised her to focus on
smaller groups and elaborate. She demonstrated the difference by singing. It is
a useful idea for writing also. Instead of saying a lot in one go, one may
break them into manageable ideas and dwell on them in some detail before
passing on to the next idea.
We get inspiration for good writing by reading good texts
rather than by grinding at grammar and improving vocabulary from dictionary. In
Tamizh, one forceful writer who pioneered a new style was Kalki. In music,
Thyagaraja Kritis breathed new life into the classical music. Nehru was a great
writer of English. His speech of tryst with destiny at midnight as India woke
to freedom is a classic that was extempore. It is a different matter that
action does not vindicate rhetoric.
Concrete holds attention more than the abstract. Relating
what we have to say to real life sustains interest. In ‘abstract’ we may become
abstruse and confused.
Using apt words, preferring simpler ones to rare ones,
gives compactness to the narration. The passage must bring to the reader’s mind
something from real life.
Some achieve style, but ordinary writing can be interesting
without pretention to style. Great authors bring ornamentation to writing, but
too much of it may mar the writing. Kalidasa was known for apt similes, Dandin
for elegance of diction and Bharavi for depth of meaning, but Magha combined
all these, says a hagiographer of Magha. That is by way of allusion to what
style may imply, but we are concerned with normal writing by us.
There are actually no rules for good writing as for good
music. In answer to a question whether one can sing abhang in a carnatic music
concert since purists object to it, Sanjay said, ‘Forget about them. They are
not your paymasters. You can sing even a French song. But, you must hold the
attention of the audience.” That goes for writing. We must find good readers
for what we write.
Then why did I write this? Hoping for some readers!
Modern Yaksha Prasna
Which is the largest laboratory?
Nature.
Which is the largest industry?
Production of news.
What is FB?
A gossip club.
Why are human beings a superior species?
Who said so? That is their vanity.
What is the feminine gender for Ravichandran?
Bhanumathi.
Oct 16, 2005
Advices irritate, firstly because the adviser is not all that wise he assumes to be. Secondly, no two situations are alike. Thirdly, the listener did not yearn for that advice. Fourthly, advice imparts derived knowledge, if at all, which is inferior to direct knowledge. Teaching is incidental. Advisers beware.
Mar 12, 2006
A seed
is a tree in waiting. When given proper conditions of soil, water, sunlight and
air, the seed realises its potential. It cannot grow into a different tree no
matter what the externals are.
Is it
true for a human being? Is its potential set at conception?
May not
be. Just as a seed can develop into a tree of different sizes and health
depending on the nutrition, a human embryo’s development will be decided by its
environment in the womb and after delivery.
*************
An embryo is formed of a sperm and an ovum. A woman is an
equal partner in its formation, not just a carrier. All religions have got this
wrong. The male domination has started from this misconception. Male
inheritance, surnames and gothras after male side, and so on are products of
this wrong notion.
Ignorance is not bliss. To seek knowledge and learn to handle
it is bliss. Ignorance of knowledge that brings pain is mistaken for bliss.
Knowledge of what is and being one with it is wisdom and bliss.
Poetry is spontaneous flow of emotion, expression of a
sublime idea distilled from authentic experience. It is not clever use of
words, rhyme or alliteration or prosody. Poetry of life is perhaps tautology.
Life like poetry is about emotion and idea.
Each moment has to be enjoyed. We cannot enjoy it in
hindsight or in advance. We may recollect a moment that is gone in delight or
distress, but is no substitute for the moment during its reality. We simply
dote when we recollect. We should experience this moment in itself without the hangover
of the preceding moments or apprehensions or expectations of succeeding
moments. When we do that persistently, wisdom is synthesised in our person. We
develop uncanny abilities and the power to help others. Age has meaning only
for persons who have practised this, as a surrogate for wisdom.
Yoga
Is yoga a copyright of ‘Hinduism’?
Hinduism does not believe in copyright. There was no attempt to protect the intellectual property, much less spirituality. We do not even know the name of many an author. It has been the practice to tag things to a well-known name. Vyasa is one such name.
The mantra is not a protected thing, but it has to be kept secret (unpronounced). Why? Look at its meaning. मननात् त्रायते इति मन्त्रः. It is called mantra because it protects by being meditated on, not by being chanted. What is meditated is in silence. Also, there is the effect of mental reverence to it, which will be lost by trivialising it.
If yoga is universalised, but the Hindu origin of it is obfuscated, it is no big deal. If it brings peace and happiness to one and all, we realise
लोका: समस्ता: सुखिनो भवन्तु "