Insightful Instincts

Adieu Roger!!

2022-09-16T00:35:00.000+05:30

It's not often that grownup men shamelessly let out orgasmic moans in the living room and in the midst of thousands every 5 minutes over three hours across the world from California to London to Bangalore to Sydney.

One genial, affable, extraordinarily polite and gracious gentleman did that to our generation. He would unleash delightful lob to bemuse the opponent and enthrall the audience one moment. Next moment, he would silently walk back to baseline looking at his racquet to get ready for the next point. No loud grunt or fist pumping.

He is like Vedanta desika or Kalidasa of tennis garnishing each tennis point with poetic finesse

His on court battles with his good friend Nadal are much bandied out and will form part of sports folklore for ages. Grew up watching Sampras- Agassi rivalry and used to imitate pistol pete in our local tennis matches. But the classics produced by Fedal are at "God" level. They are like proverbial yin-yang with their contrasting styles making fascinating viewing.

In cricketing terms, Fed is Brian Lara, enamoring afficionados with their supreme, effortless genius, Nadal is Steve Waugh, the evergreen fighter and Novak is Sachin Tendulkar, efficiency personified.

Fedex post match presentations revealed yet another endearing trait- being gracious as victor and vanquished showering conpliments on the opponent, not hesitating to cry and bare his soul out, creating an intimate connect to spectators.

While people have surpassed his accomplishments in quantitative terms, the aura of finesse, grace and quiet competitiveness, exemplified by you as vestige of a bygone era will remain unparalleled.

Thanks for all the delightful moments of beauty gifted to us Roger!!! A thing of beauty is a joy forever. You will forever be the John Keats and P B Shelley of tennis!!!

Dravidian model myth

2022-08-02T20:29:00.002+05:30

One popular theory propagated in Tamilnadu is that the advent of Dravidian model is the reason for rise of Tamilnadu as an economic giant and higher rankings in Human Development indices. It is true that the southern states including Tamil Nadu are ranked in the top 3 or 5 on most development and economic parameters though the attribution of the same to Dravidian model aatchi needs examination.

In his book in 1955 (before the advent of Government propagating Dravidian model), Dr B R Ambedkar hailed the southern states as socially progressive as compared to northern counterparts. For the most part of history, southern states especially Tamil Nadu remained immune to the political chaos and social tsunami that engulfed the northern parts. Northern India suffered from numerous raids, conquests, plunder and political expedition from culturally different forces. These events imprinted a permanent scar on the collective psyche, evidence of which remains to this day as a marker for the cultural humiliation suffered through ages.

In the South, the instances of such brutal events were sporadic and far between. To quote an example, when Delhi was in tumult in early part of this millennium with remorseless raiders from north west looting our treasure to enrich their community, Rajaraja Chola was spending his wealth in building a monument standing to this day. The gradual erosion of wealth in Indic kings, partly due to the raids and partly to strengthen the defence against such raids, led to virtual extinction of Indic monuments to the north of Vindhyas. The relative immunity of South against such resource robbery coupled with enhanced opportunities for maritime trade through its hundreds of ports, made them resource rich as compared to the north.

The exposure of North to alien cultures was often violent through raids and conquests (Win-Lose scenario in economic terms), while that of South is more organic and trade based (Win-Win scenario). This resulted in the cultural fabric of these regions being shaped in fundamentally different manners. The stable social milieu and exposure to benign cosmopolitanism in the form of trade, made the people in South, much more tolerant and appreciative of differences.

While interpreting weather models, a small change in the estimation of initial values between two models will over time lead to significantly different model outputs. Malcolm Gladwell in his best seller book "Outliers" quotes an example of how minor relative advantage at the beginning of a career leads to significantly different career outcomes. In school athletic competitions, a guy who is relatively older in an age group has an advantage over others in terms of physical build. Initially, the advantage gained by him seemed minor. As he/she starts winning competitions, it creates a positive feedback loop, resulting in access to better coaching facilities, better nutritional advice and diet, overall confidence in his abilities, etc. This combination of factors translates to a dramatic advantage for the guy who started with a minor relative advantage.

Similarly, the relative advantage of South as explained earlier, has resulted in compounding of the advantage over the years through multiple factors like friendlier business climate, better economic output, higher government spend on education & healthcare leading to enhanced outcomes on that front, evolution of better trained, skilled workforce, high trust quotient among commonfolk, respect towards entrepreneurship, proliferation of middle-class values, etc. It is this virtuous cycle that has led to South leapfrogging their northern peers on economic and developmental parameters. Gujarat and Maharashtra seems to be outliers in the North partly because of access to maritime trade while the vast Gangetic plains are denied of even this advantage.

To conclude, a stable, tolerant, open and inclusive society will be more accommodating towards new, path-breaking ideas and hence has a significant advantage over a society rife with internal squabbles, when it comes to promoting the economic well-being of its citizens.

Is memorising - a bug or feature of Indian education system?

2022-07-11T19:29:00.005+05:30

A popular complaint with the Indian education system is its emphasis on rote learning and memorizing, with an objective to pass/ score marks in examination as against the need to understand. Memorising is considered as a bug that needs to be done away with, more so because the information is now available at the click of a button. Why should we remember that Das Kapital is written by Karl Marx and Battle of Plassey is fought in 1757? The first order answer is “No”. But let me dig deeper.

One can try to understand with an analogy of how cattle used to eat and get nourishment. These animals, soon after seeing the food, gulp as much as possible in the shortest possible time. Evolutionarily, this could have been necessary because the window – in terms of both time and space – available to them to eat food in jungles is narrow, needing such cramming of food. Then, these animals move to a safe zone where they can be at peace, regurgitates the hastily swallowed food, leisurely masticates and chews them to aid in digestion. Is it any co-incidence that this process of cud-chewing s is called “rumination”, the term which we often to use for our contemplation process.

In the long period of human life, the window available for learning is just a sliver. Ilamayil kal (Learn when young) is a popular proverb. Memorising/ rote-learning is a technique invented by our ancestors to learn as much as possible in a short period of time. Once the facts are crammed and stored in distinct parts of memory, our cognitive process takes over. In quieter period say when sleeping or even when doing nothing, our mind begins to connect the dots and create patterns among seemingly unrelated things, like the correlation between invention of gun powder and decay of artillery-cavalry heavy Indian armies, European plague and Newton’s theories.

Such memorizing and quieter contemplation when in leisure will certainly enhance the effectiveness of learning process even when in school. The issue is we stop with memorizing and do not follow it with “rumination”. Teaching to fellow students is one way to ruminate, writing down our thoughts is another.

Joan Didion once said “I do not know what I think until I write it down”.

So teach, discuss, write it down, convert it into a diagram or flow chart, have debates, create stories or simply, keep revising over and over in the mind, multiple subjects. Our mind can create patterns, sharpen our understanding and make us more aware.

When we become older, our ability to learn and remember starts diminishing. An effective way to remember newer concepts is to relate it with existing mind maps created by what we had stuffed it with in childhood and create patterns for easy remembrance and retrieval. Rote-learning has utility far beyond high school examination and can come to your rescue when least expected.

To conclude, rote-learning per se is not a bug but a feature of Indian education system as it certainly helps one to learn more in a short period of time. It needs to be followed up by “rumination” for proper digestion, assimilation and nourishment of mind.

The audacity to hope

2022-04-22T19:22:00.003+05:30

How to Start

I could not wrap my head around as to where to begin and where to end - the violence near Delhi - the prelude and aftermath of it. I am completely dazed as to how far down we have come, especially when dealing with the poor. The Frankenstein monster has been let loose and I am not sure whether and how Dr Strange will be able to control.

In foreign policy, there is an aptly abbreviated doctrine called Mutual Assured Destruction (MAD), touted with respect to use of nuclear weapon. It is a doctrine of deterrence on the presumption that a nuclear attack by one nuclear power over another will be met with a counter strike by the other power, such that both the offender and defender are destroyed.

Hate for fellow humans on any pretext is no less than nuclear weapon and the end result is the same - mutual assured destruction. As Gandhi famously said, "An eye for an eye will make the whole world blind". Before anyone jump into what-aboutery as to who is more at wrong here, please think where this will all end. We can never conclusively arrive at a conclusion as to who instigated this first. History has never been black and white. We can always see it through the prism we prefer to place before our eyes.

What is the legacy to our children

Have we ever wondered about the legacy we are leaving for our little children - the world which they will be inhabiting after we are gone - a world with more and more festering wounds and awaiting reciprocation. This will lead common people of both sides to get more and more into ghettos, insecure about moving around in mixed territories. My best friend from childhood is from the now demonised other faith.

Whatever is past is past!! What is important is to repair the bridge with the other faiths, which in turn will be also be the bridge with the coming generations. That would come about only when the warring parties start talking about rapproachment and not reprobation. Violence on poor is wrong and doubly so when it is backed by the state.

What can be done about it?

The course of action expected in an ideal scenario is propounded below. The state should own up for the folly, create consensus among its own ilk on the need for conciliation as against confrontation. It is easier than done. It is extremely difficult for a dispensation which has thrived by kindling the fire of past horrors and presenting itself as a saviour to avenge the past sins. But that is what statesmen are supposed to do. Only the strong can forgive and the state being the stronger side should forgive

Equally, the elders of the other side, should sit down and think about the causes for perpetual violence in all the states with their professed religion. They should also learn to co-exist with the other faiths being in majority without being in your face and embrace modernity more like how the majority religion reformed. But is it really possible?

Hindutva view of Islam

Any faith that derives its legitimacy from "othering" everyone who dont agree with their theory and practice of faith, will provide genesis to truckloads of violence and bloodshed. The old jungle law of "Might is Right". When there were Muslims, Christians and "Pagans" and Muslims prove to be mightier than others, everyone except Muslims are vanquished or converted on the ground that only Muslim is the true and pure religion. Once that is done violently and Muslims have achieved supremacy, perpetrators of violence i.e., the might cannot stop just like that. Within Islam itself, there are conflicting theories on which is the purer version - Shia or Sunny or Wahaby or ....

The “might” continued their violence and start vanquishing the people belonging to other versions of Islam. Once that is achieved in a particular geographic territory say Iran or Saudi Arabia, the victorious in the region started spreading their violent tentacles toward other regions where they encounter conflicting version of Islam as the dominant creed and violence continues perpetually. If you look deeper, all these are just people using Islam to get political mileage while also simultaneously reinforcing Islam. Such reinforcement will only bolster the political status.

Descent from syncretism to extremism

Not so long ago, the more rigid version of Islam was not practised in India. Use of purdah remained confined to their specific areas and was not a usual sight in common areas. People used to celebrate festivals together while religion was confined to their respective homes. Crackers will be shared with the Islamic brethren during Diwali while the biryani will be shared with Hindus during Ramzan. Syncretisation is the norm rather than the exception. Even globally, Iran, Iraq and Dubai were extremely cosmopolitan with the rulers embracing modernity.

It all changed with the Islamic revolution of Iran in 1979, embracing the Shia version of Islam. This was sought to be countered through Wahabist Saudi Arabia. This led to a race between these two major regional powers, who were actively exporting their version to other countries with sizeable Muslim population. There were other western powers, who took one side over the other, among these regional powers, to expand their political power or presence in the region. And then the shit really exploded through the roof in the region.

The power and terror games resonated across Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kashmir, Palestine (this of course is much older but the escalation was rapid), Syria and many more.

Counterweight to Islamic terrorism

If someone could watch closely, the rise of Hindu nationalism in India coincided with the developments happening elsewhere, perhaps as a pushback against such Islamic extremism. There were Hindu nationalistic noises even earlier but they were mostly in the fringe. It gained wider acceptance after the danger of Islamic extremism became known coupled with minority appeasement measures practised in the name of secularism. Now, this is a worrying development because it really raises the spectre of a civil war, with larger powers taking sides and fomenting the clashes, to stymie the development focus of the country.

With the ascent to power of Hindutva party, the fringe elements in Hindu Right ecosystem have become emboldened and started to clash openly with Islamic ecosystem, even if the people at the receiving end are mostly among the poorest sections of the society. The rise of cheap data and the resultant ubiquity of fake news circulating through unverified social media channels have contributed even further to the polarisation. Increasingly, it looks like an open civil war at least in the poorest states of the country, with one side implicitly/ explicitly backed by the state and the other side getting similar backing from the larger 'liberal' pro-Islamic ecosystem - both domestic and international.

Hope is in the goodness of the common man

So is there really no hope at all for succeeding generations? While people at the top continue their power games, it is the common people of both the sides who suffer the most. The demographic dividend is increasingly being frittered away in needless riots, mob-lynching, stone-pelting and other such violence perpetrating activities. In the blink of an eye, we will stare at a wasted generation used only to violence and counter-violence without doing anything productive. By that time, all those in power in now would have either gone forever or living a cushy, comforting life in the safe confines of an idyllic western haven.

The common man of both the sides should realise the truth, resist this polarisation being perpetrated and demand jobs from the ruling class. The chorus should grow louder and louder that it should no longer be possible to ignore. They should self-organise and start building bridges with each other at an individual level - a little smile at the neighbourhood shop-owner, sharing sweets with them on festive occasions and such little things. Let us ignore the power masters at the top and start connecting locally, be sensitive to each other's touchy issues and look not to tread on each other's feet. With time, the inherent goodness of man will start manifesting again. Let us at least hope for that.

Hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies - Andy Dufresne of Shawshank Redemption

Jesus- Buddha of the West

2022-04-17T20:23:00.004+05:30

The predominant religion of the day is getting increasingly mired in rituals with people feeling distant from the God. Faith is no longer important and people can curry favour with God through the gate keepers i.e., the priestly class.

With interaction more with gate keepers than the main deity, common man is getting disillusioned with the fleecing by the intermediaries. There is a crying need for a messiah to take the God to the masses and make them fall in love with the God as well as the fellowmen.

Buddha answered this call in the East while Jesus Christ made people feel the God again.

Aasai ullorukku yellam Narayanan yendrar Bhagavath Ramanujar translating into "God is available to all of those who desire Him and have Faith in Him".

We deify the Messiah but ignore the message. We refuse to love the fellow men and keep hurting and killing them in the name of Faith and keep looking for the next Messiah!!

On this happy occasion of Easter, let's resume loving our fellow humans for that has always been the message from the chosen ones - be it Jesus, Buddha, Shankara or Ramanuja!!

Happy Easter all!!

Dealing with the departed

2022-04-12T14:55:00.002+05:30

An eventful Saturday turned topsy-turvy when the news of sudden demise of my friend's father reached me. I was too shocked to even react and I desperately wanted to rush to my native village. The circumstances of his death were even more discomforting. He used to be a tailor in my street, stitching birthday and diwali dresses for all of us in the family. His wife is a home-maker and he has one son and two daughters, all of whom are married with kids. All of them were in different towns and cities and he lived with his wife in the village.

With old age and effect of the past catching up, he no longer was a tailor and lived a quiet retired life. On the fateful day, his wife had gone to one of her daughter's to help her on some random chores. He was all alone in the village. Of course, he had his friends in the village to hang out with. It was when he had gone to buy tiffin that a random drunkard rammed his motorbike on him, felling him to the ground. He suffered grievous injuries on the back of his head. Some passerby man took him to the Govt hospital in the nearby town where he died possibly of internal haemorrhage caused by head injury.

Despite being head of a large family with son, daughters and grand kids, he died alone like an orphan in a matter of minutes. This incident coupled with other untimely deaths in the family in the recent past, let loose a train on thought. I felt deeply affected not only because death can be random or freak but also because my father happens to be in a similar position like the deceased man. It could easily have been him.

There is a popular notion that parents always see their kids as only kids, incapable of seeing them as fully grown human beings. The reverse is also true. The children invariably see their parents as infallible beings, who would always be there for them for eternity. This belief is sort of ingrained from our birth, reinforced continuously by their series of sacrifices over the years and crystallised as faith - faith that divinity is perceived through parents.

When you find your father feeling exhausted after a couple of climb upstairs to dry out clothes under afternoon sun, you wonder why. After all, he is your father and you have never seen him stretch out tired, except when under illness. Gradually, age catches up with him and his mobility winds down like a stretched coil. It is a gradual process, preparing us for the ultimate eventuality - eventuality that he will one day reside only in memories.

Freak events like the one discussed earlier gives no such chance. He is torn apart from our life all of a sudden giving us no chance to react. Initial days will be filled with shock induced by trauma. We will have friends and relatives comforting and consoling us when the enormity of the event has not even sunk into us. The next few days will keep us busy with all sorts of rituals to bid adieu to the departing soul.

It is only when we are left to ourselves after all the rituals, that we will realise what has been cleaved away from us. It will hit us that one constant presence in our life right from the day we are born has been snatched away from us brutally. We would rue not spending that one extra hour every day, one extra day every week and one extra week every year with him. We will wonder what unfulfilled desire was in his mind, what untold words in his lips, what little prayer in his heart when the untoward happened. No one will ever know!!!

Keats said "Melodies unheard are sweeter!!". In this occasion, melodies unheard proved to be the bitterest! Let us take time to hear the melodies. We never know when they will vanish into ether.

Sure these tragedies turn us into a crumpled piece of paper. Be that as it may, we cannot remain as such forever. Life has to move on more so if we ourselves have become parents, entrusted with the responsibility of guiding lives of our children. We must imbibe the memories of the departed parent in us, content in the belief that they have now become part of us, safely ensconced in our hearts - a place from which they can never be yanked away, much like we once used to be in their minds, as a thought - a figment of imagination. We should strive to be that guiding divine light to our protege as was the departed soul to us.

As the old saying goes, humanity advances one funeral at a time. We all are standing on the shoulders of our ancestors. It is time to be that shoulder for our off-springs and let humanity advance further.

Islam should tryst with modernity

2022-04-06T19:44:00.000+05:30

Whenever, the current government or those associated with it, does something promoting discrimination against Islam, we hear the refrain that it is not possible for a country to progress by marginalising and discriminating against one-fifth of its population. It is a fair critique. What is even more tragic is for those one-fifth population to discriminate and marginalise against one-half of themselves - Muslim women. The voices which are pushing back against what they consider as attempts by ruling party/ government to marginalise the minorities are eerily silent on the active discrimination against fairer sex within the minority community.

This is not to sidestep or trivialise the outrage but to widen its ambit to include also the discrimination that has been happening for centuries without any pushback from the so-called "Civil Society". While all the other major religions has progressed or modernised and is almost unrecognisable from how it was even a century ago, one religion continues to wallow in its medieval practices.

I happen to come across an interesting phenomenon during the recent local body elections in Tamilnadu. In one of the Muslim majority town panchayats, there were a sizable number of wards reserved for women. When the winners of these awards were announced, the publication comprised also the photos of the winners. While the names of the winners were female names, the photos published were all male photos, apparently the spouses/ guardians/ parent of the successful female candidates. This injustice was meted out under the cloak of religious freedom. If this is the state of affairs in a supposedly progressive province of "Periyar Mannu", the rest could only be worse.

The discrimination of any nature - be it on caste, gender or race, cannot be justified in this day and age. Despite the wheel of reform being set in motion in Hinduism more than a century ago, vestiges of caste-based discrimination linger to this day and are rightly being rebuked and looked down upon. While the other major religions of the world are taking at least baby steps towards modernity, Islam frowns upon and shuns modernity altogether. The discrimination against one-half of their population is boundless. Hijab, Niqaab, Burkah, Triple talaq, prohibition from entering place of worship (Mosque) etc. are some of the well-known examples.

It is high time for the leading intellectuals of Islam to denounce such regressive practices and advocate a modern, more tolerant outlook by pushing the envelope higher.

The civil society including Muslim intelligentsia is right to censure the current Indian regime for taking India back in time glorifying imagined past achievements and hounding the Muslims in the present for the sins of Muslim rulers in the past. But it is even more important for saner voices within Islam to advocate for reform of the religion in tune with the times. Such an approach would even make the Islam appealing to a larger sections of international community, reduce Islamophobia across the world and take the sting out of the criticism of the religion.

The initial attempts would definitely be futile and would trigger fatwas. But the chorus should grow louder and louder that the establishment could no longer ignore or suppress it. It may take years or even centuries but the seeds of reform should be sown at least now and nurtured so that at least future generations can enjoy the blossom and fruits of reform. Remember the Devar Magan dialogue – “Ithu yenna perumaiya? Namma kadamai!” (Is doing this an achievement to take pride in. No it is our duty)?

Allah, the most merciful, would definitely not grimace at such attempts to promote modernity among his followers. If he does grimace, it does not sit well with the "merciful" tag. Allah-u-Akbar!!!!

Thaaye parashakti

2022-04-01T18:31:00.004+05:30

The spacious room had a large broad bed at the middle. The room is filled with a smorgasbord of smells– body lotion, cream, oil, medicines, wet and soiled garments, every bit crying out the presence of a new-born. There lies the infant less than a year old, right in the middle of the bed. It has recently learned a new skill of being able to turn over and lie on its torso. The yet to be stabilised head surveys everything around like a lion. It keeps practising the new skill thousand times a day and tends to perform angapradakshina rolling right upto the edge of the bed.

After long wait, the mother moves out for a bio-break, entrusting the baby-watching duties to her foster mother – the mother-in-law (MIL). The baby instantly recognises the change in personnel and voices out his displeasure with a gentle sob. It should have been a cue for the baby watcher to inform mother to return. The mother, once out, gets down to take care of her other commitments, aware that the baby is in better hands.

The little one amplifies the tone of her sob, into a wail. The MIL takes the baby in her lap, belts out a lullaby, seeking to pacify her. No luck still!! Baby begins to rebuke the MIL and her mother in a yet to be discovered language with no words, and comprised of facial contortions and strategic troughs of slience amid sustained crests of bawling. The lullaby interspersed with the imaginative language of the infant is irresistible for the mother, who rushes to the room.

The little one’s face lights up on seeing her saviour. She takes the infant and places it in her lap and gosh pin drop silence in the room. MIL would wonder whether her lap is full of thorns to prick the infant. The baby winks at her mother and lets out a low moan as if asking her “Why did you leave me?” The mother is contrite and starts feeding the baby to assuage her guilt. The nectar of her life fills the baby with contentment and she becomes calm as the sea. Her face becomes an epitome of serenity, with a gentle smile curving the lips. Time stops still and a sense of fulfilment pervades the soul of the mother. The atman of a baby has sought eternal refuge in her paramatma of a mother and both transcends into timeless bliss.

One cannot but be reminded of an old MGR-starred Tamil song “anbu vadivamaga annai idhayamaga yenna vazhi kaata vendum endru vananguvom”. It roughly translates into a prayer to the almighty to guide us in life as personification of love and like heart of a mother.

God is feminine after all!!!

Old Parable New Paradigm

2022-03-31T19:31:00.001+05:30

There is an old parable which most of us would have listened to or heard at some point of time. A village has not had rains for several years. The land is parched and there is literally no hope for cultivation. Village folk have started abandoning agriculture and started doing other odd jobs or migrating to other regions in search of livelihood.

There is one old farmer who continued to plough his fields, which was sort of counter-intuitive and going against the grain:

a. He is old and is not going to live long

b. There is no certainty that rains will ever return and hence it is unlikely that his labour will ever bear any fruit

c. He is alone in his endeavour without any support from fellow men

These reasons are enough to dishearten any individual but it did not deter the old peasant. When enquired, he will respond that he has whole-hearted faith in his prayer to God to provide rains and his tilling the land is indicative of his certitude in power of prayer. As if on cue, rain gods will arrive vindicating his conviction and making everyone else a fool.

The moral of the story would be:

a. Prayer is powerful

b. Efforts would never go waste and when combined with strong faith in God, will always bear fruit

While this is the “SEEN” part I wondered what could be the possible other reasons – UNSEEN part. Thinking aloud leads to the following speculations:

1. The old man is too old to pivot to a new skill. Hence, he thought it fit to continue with what he has always been doing. If he does not even do it, he will forget the skill of ploughing and farming completely. Managerially, it is his core competence and philosophically, it is his dharma to farm. So that gives him the best chance to succeed.

2. While the rains have not visited the place for a while, it cannot be a permanent feature. Sooner or later, considering the climate pattern, rains are bound to return. When it does return, he can benefit from it only when the land is tilled.

As a spiritual aside, in Vaishnava/ Visishtadvaita tradition, there is a concept called prapatti/ sharanagati where the individual atman can escape from the vicious cycle of birth/re-birth and attain eternal salvation called vaikunda/ moksha praapti by complete surrender to Narayana. There is no guarantee that sharanagati can help in reaching moksham by the end of this life. However, without sharanagati it is absolutely not possible to attain moksha. While tilling does not guarantee rains, the land that is not tilled can never benefit from the rains.

In management terms, while planning cannot guarantee success, lack of planning can guarantee failure in the long run. Planning reduces the odds of failure and puts the planner in a better position to benefit from the stroke of fortune.

3. Since most people have forgotten the art and left their land fallow, the old man will be the only person who can benefit, almost like a monopoly. He can fix the price he wants for the produce and can reap windfall gains.

ANY OTHER THOUGHTS are welcome in the COMMENTS section.

How Nehru inspired Equitas

2022-03-28T19:04:00.002+05:30

There are people who continue to criticise the foreign policy of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of independent India on the ground that he assumed moralistic high ground in the foreign policy ignoring pragmatic interests. Let us examine this.

Nehru inherited a poor country impoverished by centuries of foreign oppression. Most of the population were extremely weak, living from meal to meal. The infant mortality rate, the life expectancy and every other human indicator, you can imagine were at their nadir. It had no army except that left by British.

When you are dirt-poor, you can remain as good as “non-existent” in the eyes of the rest of the world. Your primary adversary – Pakistan was favoured by the Britain, on the primary issue i.e., Kashmir. Their allies, notably United States of America also sided with Britain. Their logic is simple. All muslim-majority areas of British India had chosen to be part of Pakistan. Kashmir is a muslim-majority province and hence has to go Pakistan. Why is India making such a fuss of it?

Nehru had high ambitions of improving the lot of ordinary Indian. He was disillusioned with capitalist West, which is in turn shaped by the exploitative tendencies of Great Britain with respect of India. He was enamored by the success story of central planning approach of Russia and chose to adopt the same. But there was one biggest constraint – Resources, which essentially has to come from abroad including West.

Since the country had neither economic nor muscular power to attract the foreign attention, he played the morality card. He did that astutely by adopting the moralistic foreign policy, as a continuum of the Gandhian principles of non-violence. That became the thread to string the like-minded countries and even corporations of West, which acted independent of their countries. In short, that was the need of the hour and Nehru was successful in that. His temples of modern India, built with assistance of countries of opposing camps – USA, USSR, Germany and Japan bear testimony to that.

In hindsight, we can fault him for this or that. But he played the card he was dealt with, in a creative manner. He had his share of missteps including in foreign policy, but one cannot fault him for his intentions. The single biggest foreign policy misstep was trusting China. But again what else could we have done? China was a militant nation, battle-hardened by a savage civil war. We cannot afford to antagonise them, when we ourselves are fledgling and when our priority is the economic upliftment of a colonially plundered nation. He genuinely hoped to win the trust of neighbours by wooing them, indulging and massaging the ego.

But China betrayed his trust due to which he died a broken man – despondent and utterly shattered!! With the 20-20 vision of hindsight, we can always spot obvious ‘tell-tale’ signs of possible Chinese betrayal. But that again is only by looking at rear-view mirror!!!

Equitas, a modern-day Robinhood, accepting deposits from ultra-rich to lend it to the ultra-poor, had adopted the Nehruvian playbook in his earlier days. Back in 2007-2008, Equitas was a small MFI start-up with some seed capital brought in by its founder and his mentors and friends. But this is an industry that uses money as the raw material. Where to get the money from is the foremost question for the founder and his team? He is not a born entrepreneur, he does not have an eclectic network to tap into and there is absolutely no brand identity to leverage. It is imperative to identify and nurture one catch-phrase as the USP, the brand of Equitas.

It is brilliant on the part of Equitas founder to identify a catch-phrase that symbolises morality in the notoriously amoral world of money-lenders. The extraordinary focus on governance at every turn and the adoption of fairness and transparency as the underlying thread to connect each of its business activities proved to be extremely successful in attracting socially minded development institutions. It is one thing to merely preach and another to practise. Equitas preached what it practised and that helped scale up rapidly, boasting some of the largest marquee investors in its registers – World Bank – International Finance Corporation, German Development Bank, Dutch Development Bank, British Development Institution – CDC and so on.

A modern day Nehru, if one might say, who built a Bank from scratch, taking inspiration from the underpinnings of Nehruvian foreign policy.

Volcano out of a molehill

2022-03-17T16:05:00.000+05:30

One of the factors that amuses and amazes me in equal measure is how we involve Courts, right upto Supreme Court for mundane administrative issues like how and where to sell liquor, what attire to wear to educational institutions, how to appoint cricket captain, whom to allow in temples, national anthem in cinema halls, etc. It boggles mind as to how equipped are the courts on deciding what are essentially executive matters.

Generic rant aside, let me attempt to organise my thoughts on the recent High Court case on hijab. An educational institution in Udipi, Karnataka has apparently asked a Muslim student not to wear head-scarves inside its premises. The reported logic is that wearing of such scarves will create distinction/ differences among students, purportedly on religious lines and offer grounds for differential treatment – favourable or unfavourable. It is supposedly a trivial matter like schools mandating wearing of shoes, ribbons and prohibiting wearing of denim, lungies, etc.

The said student has been studying in that institution for quite a while, even from before the pandemic. She admitted that she has never worn the scarf all the while. She started wearing it when the institutions started re-opening after receding of the pandemic. The student claimed that prohibition on wearing of headscarf is an infringement of her right to practice her religion and hence in violation of fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution of India.

Wow what a classic case of making a legal mountain, even a potential volcano out of a molehill!!! I am neither a constitutional law expert nor an Islamic religious expert to judge on who is right – the student or the school. But my common sense says these are the matters that have to be negotiated and sorted out at the local level, between the students and parents. Unfortunately, the matter went in hands of organisations on either side of the religious spectrum, who revel in such controversies and whose very existence depend on sensationalising such inane matters.

It is extremely sad to see these students being denied access to education on such unimportant matters. On the part of students, it begs belief if non-wearing of head-scarf is such an indispensable matter worth suffering loss of education and potentially loss of a year in life due to inability to attend classes. It is also difficult to fathom whether sky will fall down if the student is allowed to wear head-scarf. Why do these educational institutions refuse to engage directly with the students or their parents one-on-one and resolve the matter, without the presence of incendiary intermediaries, who complicate the whole matter? On top of it, how are our courts equipped to decide on this supposedly religious matter?

Let us zoom out further. Often we see liberal crusaders arguing against discriminatory nature of such religious mandate to women to wear head scarf or face covering. There are grounds to question the continuance of such regressive practices in this scientific day and age. However, mandating such reforms from above, either through Court intervention or government stipulation will not be sustainable.

Demand for such reforms should grow organically from within the religion. After all that is how the reforms sprouted and thrived in Hinduism, as a social movement. Educating women in scientific temper is an important ingredient to enhance the volume of chorus within the religion seeking reforms and freedom. If educating these women will be possible only with their head-scarves on, so be it. After all, it is not that religion is invisible in educational institutions. The educational institutions should dare to think beyond the narrow disciplinary vision to the larger objective of imparting education.

Let us get back to how involvement of courts would only serve to complicate the matter:

a. Even religious authorities cannot delineate between what is essential and what is not an essential religious practice. If the court, which is least equipped to decide on the matter rules that wearing of head scarf is not an essential religious practice, it will set a precedent for a slippery slope of such erosion of minority rights on flimsy grounds. As a republic, we cannot progress with active discrimination against one-fifth of the population.

b. If the court rules that wearing of head scarf is an essential religious practice, the same will be used by Islamic scholars to mandate such head scarfs even among those Muslims, who do not want to wear it. This amounts to an infringement of fundamental right of those Muslim women who do not want to wear head scarf and loss of their agency.

A simple rule to be followed within four walls of an educational institution, which could have been modified through negotiation and mutual understanding has been escalated to a murky legal tangle with no easy solutions in sight. This has devolved into a negative sum game for the Islamic community as a whole and the students involved in the controversy, in particular.

The participants in the sport of tug of war care only about winning and never care for the rope or its severance. And it is the weakest link in the rope that snaps. That is the ultimate tragedy in this sordid episode.

I sign off with this quote from Roman Philosopher - Seneca on the religion but which can be applied to anything that demands unquestioned belief.

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful.

The student in question would do well to step back, meditate on this quote and get back to school at the earliest. But is it really in her hands now? Has it ever been in her hands, the moment she approached the religious organisation for help? Sigh…………………………..

Rise of a North Star 🌟?

2022-03-10T18:09:00.002+05:30

Question: Whom did you vote for in 2014 elections?

Answer: I intended to take comfort in the security of 56 inch chest, to lead us to Sabka Vikas.

Q: Were you happy with the first term?

A: Demonetisation was a disaster. GST implementation was a mess even though the underlying idea is good. The process was set in motion for the erosion of institutional autonomy though it could also be interpreted as the pushback against the established order. However, no real initiatives or reforms were undertaken in the direction of lifting people out of poverty in the impoverished north. The overall economic direction was not satisfactory. Hence, I was not happy.

Q: Did you do anything about the unhappiness? Whom did you vote in 2019?

A: The first term was bad but I could not find a credible alternative. The entitled challenger sucked. The upstart was still fledgling. No one else even in the vicinity. So its 56 inch again.

Q: How do you feel about the second term?

A: Terrible. Public spaces are even more polarised. Institutional independence is a thing of the past. Economy is running out of gas; its parts are in disrepair; the engine is stuttering along with absolutely no direction. Demographic dividend is squandered and re-deployed in service of political masters. With disastrous COVID mismanagement, the pall of gloom and doom had well and truly descended in the heartland.

Q: So you must be even more despondent today?

A: It has become a lot darker today. But it is always pitch dark before the dawn. A streak of silver lining can be glimpsed in the distant northern horizon. It remains to be seen if it is just a false dawn or whether the North Star will SWEEP the entire Arya Varta with its light in near future. What happens in the land of five rivers in the next two years has implications for the country.

The experiment is well and truly on. A new order is taking shape and the entitled challenger has no place in it.

Political stripes are to be earned and not just inherited. And it is a good signal to the populace.

Predictions are very difficult, especially if they are about future!!! – Niels Bohr

Will the winter give way to a new spring?

Fingers crossed!!!!

Mourning demise of superstars!!

2022-03-09T14:52:00.002+05:30

A performing artist has retired from his trade which means that he has stopped performing. His performance till his retirement has been immortalised in digital form - audios, videos, pdf version of books, html version of articles, etc. And then the artist dies.

As fans, what do we miss by that death? What are we mourning and what loss are we brooding? After all, he has stopped performing long ago and hence his death is not going to stop the blooming of an imminent master piece. His past performances can be lived, relived and relished again and again through YouTube videos and other such digital imprint, at the click of a button.

Our life has changed so much we have preferred enjoying even live performances from the comforts of our homes rather than seeing the artist in flesh and blood. There is no difference between a live performance and recorded performance, when viewed digitally as there is no means for engaging with the artist either way.

As long as the performances of artists are available in some means for us to savour, we should think whether it is worthwhile even to care whether the artist is alive or not.

A radical thought but the recent spate of deaths of celebrities, the latest being Shane Warne, and the customary obituaries and tributes in the media, left me contemplating what is it that I, as a fan lose when a performing artist past his prime and performing days, dies.

The answer in my mind is "I lose Nothing". It only triggers a nostalgic trip to our past, reliving it, realise its withering away and bemoaning its loss. It serves as a welcome distraction from the dreary present and not so rosy future.

We are sad, by being reminded of the loss of our past, loss of a part of our life, rather than the loss of life of the superstar. Our own mortality is shown in sharp relief and we are fearful of confronting it.

So it is all personal and nothing to do with the dead superstar. His death is just a ruse, a trigger, to mourn the loss of our past.

Deewana badlega kya!!!!

2022-03-09T14:49:00.003+05:30

One thing that has always left me wondering is the need/urge to celebrate birthdays, especially if it is ours. While we can understand such celebrations when young, for it offered the opportunity to socialise with peers and obtain blessings from elders, such celebrations seem baffling beyond an age.

“As Seneca said, we don’t die all of a sudden, one day. A part of us i.e., cells in our body keep dying every day. When we are young, new cells develop in place of dying cells to support our growth, new cell generation slows down and eventually stops as we age. Science postulates that every system, including living system, leans towards entropy i.e., disorder. Human body is a living system and cannot be immune to theory of progressive entropy.

After all, every birthday is a reminder that you are one year older and you have progressed that much towards entropy of your body, otherwise called death. More often than not, in our unchanging life, it is one more year wasted. What is there to celebrate?”

You would be right to have assumed that I have lost zest for life. No, I only could not find any meaning or purpose in such celebrations. However, begetting kids changed perspective. Being with kids again brings the “life” back to our life for more than one reason. Celebrations of any kind assumed significance and little joys acquire a larger meaning simply because of the energy infused by the kids.

Because we celebrate their birthdays with all fervour, they consider it natural to celebrate ours. We partake in their celebrations and create memories to cherish. Now I see the meaning in why we should celebrate birthdays. With the presence of kids around, it triggers memories of your childhood and you become a child once again to celebrate with enthusiasm.

That’s all that is needed to infuse life into your life. Find a way to trigger the child in you, to look at the world with the same wide-eyed enthusiasm as in our childhood. I needed to have real kids to kindle that child in me. Please find the child in you and nurture it. The world will never be the same again. Deewana badal hoga!!!

Well bowled Shane!!!

2022-03-05T19:42:00.003+05:30

Shane Keith Warne!! Where do I start and how do I start?

An absolute master of his craft - no one before and no one after.

He had one of the easiest actions to imitate in street cricket. He belonged to a time and age when economy of effort is the norm rather than the exception. Ball gripped in his right hand, measured walk to the crease (only three steps), jump just high enough to bring up the bowling arm, release the ball high up with a twirl of wrist and stop his movement right after the release - no follow through whatsoever.

Minimal efforts mask a hard-working brain, constantly seizing up the batsman, weighing the conditions, identifying weaknesses and setting him up for the inevitable fall. He kept things simple through immaculate control over craft, making the ball do his bidding as if on a string - big leg break, just enough turning leg break, googly, flipper, slider and what not- even a bouncer. He mixes them up, playing on the minds of batsmen.

The blonde superstar made the world sit up and notice in the year 1993 with "the ball of the century", which is eulogised a million times, deservedly. For me, every time I play it on YouTube, the bemused look of Gatting on missing the ball and hearing the death rattle behind is priceless, a scene that would be repeated so many times over and over, for many years, with the best of names, who wielded the willow.

Gibbs, Cullinan, Dravid, Laxman, Lara, Chanders, Inzy, Saeed Anwar, Salim Malik, Astle and all English batsmen were all at various times left groping for the ball and befuddled with his guile. Some of them (Cullinan, Prince and Strauss come readily to mind) played with him so often that they clearly knew what was coming, but still left defenceless. He literally owned them in the mind and in the pitch.

In these days of scrambled seam, Warne scrambled minds!!!!

He is the first box-office cricket superstar of my times, putting on a show, generating so many "oohs" and "aahs" in the audience with his art. He made the world fall in love with leg spin and revived the trade along with other practioners - Abdul Qadir, Anil Kumble and Mushtaq Ahmed. He conjured art with his trade while others merely plied their craft in the most effective manner. He is the benchmark, the pinnacle, the Harry Potter of spin bowling, inspiring a whole new generation of leg spinners across countries.

A thing of beauty is a joy forever!! Thank you Shane for spreading joy and you will continue to live in our hearts and of course in YouTube videos!!

Well played Shane!!!

Modern Muchukundas - How can we sleep better?

2022-03-04T13:54:00.002+05:30

One reason I enjoy my long commute to and from office is my accomplice in the journey - PODCASTS. I have grown to love the format, where it is as if you are sitting in a room with two people talking in front of you with all the ebb and flow of the conversation.

The Knowledge Project podcast is one such treasure trove. It recently featured a conversation between the host, Shane Parrish and an American sleep scientist, Dr Matthew Walker. It was educative in many ways and this post is an attempt to summarise my understanding and takeaways from the conversation.

Muchukunda was an Ikshvaku king, belonging to Suryavanshi dynasty of yore. His father was King Mandhata and his uncle was the illustrious Ambarisha. Muchukunda was called upon by Indra, King of Devas to fight a fierce battle against Asuras. Since the Devas did not have an able commander, they requested King Muchukunda to lead Devas as their general. Muchukunda acquiesced, left his kingdom and family at earth, ascended to Devaloga and led Devas to many glorious victories against Asuras. Upon emergence of Lord Kartikeya, son of Shiva, Indra felt that it would not be fair to trouble Muchukunda any longer and advised that he can go back to Earth. But there is one problem.

Muchukunda has been in the Devaloga for a year. One day in Devaloga is equal to one year in Earth. His one year in Devaloga is a long time in earth and all his family members are long dead. To compensate for the loss, Devas agreed to grant Muchukunda anything he wanted except Moksha/ liberation. The grief-struck Muchukunda wished for the next best thing - a long, uninterrupted sleep to rest his battle-wearied body and to soothe his mind from the grief of having lost the kingdom and loved ones and the boon was granted. And then he slept forever in Muchukund Caves in present day Uttar Pradesh.

Don't we all crave such long uninterrupted sleep, night after night to escape from worries of the world?. We all need Sleep to restore physical energy and escape from mental stress. But how well do we understand it?

Every species in the world, studied by scientists, was found to exhibit sleep or some such resting activity, making it a near universal or evolutionary phenomenon. Let us dig a bit deeper into the mechanism of human sleep.

REM and non-REM Sleep

Human sleep can broadly divided into Rapid Eye Movement (REM) sleep and non-REM sleep.

REM sleep is a phase of vivid dreams and hallucinations. As the name suggests, our eyes move rapidly under the skin, the brain is cognitively active and conjures dreams and vivid experiences. It is the phase that the brain attempts to process the experiences of the day, makes the connections between disparate activities/ information and stores memories. REM sleep activates that part of the brain that promotes learning through neural connections and memory retention.

Non-REM sleep is where the brain progressively goes to rest. Again there are multiple phases of non-REM sleep, with depth of sleep increasing in each phase

Cyclical nature of REM and non-REM sleep

Human sleep does not occur on a continuous basis, progressing from one stage to others but in cycles of roughly 90 minutes, alternating between REM sleep and non-REM sleep.

Counter-intuitively, when we lie down to start sleeping, the body slips through multiple phases of non-REM sleep first and at around 90 minutes mark, the brain becomes active and triggers the REM sleep mode. Initially, REM sleep lasts for a few minutes and the body switches back to non-REM sleep.

Progressively, duration of REM sleep increases and by the end of sleep cycle - in the last hour of sleep, REM sleep mode occupies nearly 90% of the time.

Both the REM and non-REM phases of sleep are important for the overall cognitive development and mental wellbeing of the human being. Non-REM sleep is essential in rejuvenating the brain and restoring the overall physical balance. REM sleep, as discussed above, is useful for mental sharpness and developing intellectual capacity. It is in REM sleep, that the mind will be able to conjure counter-intuitive connections and discover solutions for complex problems and dilemmas.

Analogy with Indian theory of sleep

Pardon a small digression here as I am indulging myself. Our ancient Indian scriptures have attempted to study sleep cycle on experiential basis and have identified three phases or dasas - Jagrata dasa (waking stage), Swapna dasa (Dream stage) corresponding to REM sleep and Sushupti Dasa (Deep Sleep) corresponding to non-REM sleep. The connection with the material world is retained in the Jagrata and Swapna Dasas while in the Deep Sleep stage, the mind goes absolutely blank and thoughtless. Vedanta identifies Sushupti stage to be the communion of the human being with the source of all energy. The rationale is that we get drained out and drift into sleep. After a long sleep, we invariably wake up refreshed and we are not fully aware of what happens during sleep. The inference is deep sleep connects us to the source of all energy, thereby rejuvenating us physically and mentally.

In puranic stories, we can frequently encounter narrations of God appearing in dreams and directing a course of action - usually constructing a temple, deciding on whether or not to go to war, finding a life partner, etc. Those are merely brain making connections in REM sleep stage and providing solutions to real-life problems.

This is not to say that our ancestors knew everything but an attempt to relate theory (scriptures borne of thought) and practice (research-based learning)

Let us get back to the subject matter.

Sleep deprivation

Sleep deprivation can be classified into four categories- inability to fall into sleep, inability to continue sleeping, waking up early and feeling sleep deprived even after full night sleep.

When we feel that we could not sleep, we should stop worrying or thinking about it. We should consciously think of something else, perform some activity until we organically slip into sleep. When you keep worrying about anything, it activates that part of the brain that promotes consciousness, in a reflex attempt to seek remedy to the cause of worry. That very act of worrying prevents us from sleep. Involving in some other activity helps in sleep in two ways –

a. It exhausts our mind and body even more, which aids in sleep

b. It stops from the primary factor of worrying

This can be related to what our parents told us when we complained of being unable to sleep. We would be asked to perform some unrelated activity like doing Nama japa (reciting name of your favourite God) or count numbers 1 to 100 in ascending/descending order or recite multiplication tables in mind, all the while keeping your eyes closed. We would drift into sleep before completing the first cycle. One can only marvel at the effectiveness of the techniques identified on empirical basis without any scientific study.

Compensating for sleep deprivation

Because the duration and proportion of REM and non-REM stages of sleep vary in course of night as explained above, sleeping for shorter hours than usual would deprive us of a higher proportion of REM sleep. That is why we generally feel disoriented during the day in case of sleep deficit. We need to sleep for longer hours to make up for the deficit because only longer hours will help in making up deficit of REM sleep.

For example, if an individual sleeps for eight hours a day say from 10 PM to 6 AM, REM and non-REM sleep proportion would be indicatively as below:

	10 PM to 12 Mid	12 Mid to 2 AM	2 AM to 4 AM	4 AM to 6 AM	Total
REM Sleep	10%	20%	30%	40%	100%
Non-REM Sleep	40%	30%	20%	10%	100%

Hence, if for some reason, the individual sleeps only 6 hours instead of 8 hours, his sleep deficit is not 25% but 40% of REM sleep and 10% of non-REM sleep. As evident from the pattern above, 40% REM sleep deficit of the lost two hours can be recovered only by sleeping for 4 hours or more. This is the reason why no amount of day time sleep can compensate for night-time sleep deficit,

It is even more important for the kids to sleep for long and uninterrupted hours for more rounded cognitive development. It should be a rule for kids to sleep for nine hours at one stretch.

P.S: There are reports of Yogis claiming long, quality life with just four hours of sleep or less. My inference on the same is that these Yogis do meditate a lot, which is more half-asleep state where the brain remains active. They were somehow able to trigger the REM sleep mode during those meditative trances, thereby enabling them to thrive with four hours of sleep. The conclusion is “Four Hour sleep routine” is not for everyone. Seven hour sleep is essential for ensuring quality of life, for ordinary mortals like us.

Role of temperature in sleep

The next question is we have a propensity to sleep more at night compared to daytime. The answer is in the temperature and not just availability or absence of light. Even though the sun is down by 6 PM, it takes some time for the temperature, both outside and inside the body to an optimal level ideal for sleep. Similarly, we wake up not when the sun is up, but when the temperature, inside and outside body warms up to the level required to wake us up.

That explains why we tend to sleep longer in cold days, wake up early in summers, why we experience discomfort in sleeping on warmer nights and why the advent of Air Conditioners improved the sleep quality.

Studies indicate that the body needs to warm up first, progressively cool down to drift to sleep and then need to stay cool to continue sleeping. As the body warms up, the body slowly emerges into wakefulness. We can relate why we have the habit of drinking hot milk before we sleep, rub our hands to warm our body when we rise from bed not fully awake and need a cup of hot coffee first thing in the morning.

How do Coffee and Caffeine relate to sleep?

Talking of coffee, we tend to overestimate the importance of coffee in making us fully awake and alert in the morning. It is the hotness that awakens and not the coffee. Any hot liquid – be it water or tea or milk can wake us up fully. We tend to have the habit of rubbing the hands to warm up soon after waking up. That will again warm the body up and wake us.

Caffeine is a stimulant i.e., it promotes mental alertness and has the same adverse effect on the sleep initiation as the anxiety or worry. The average half-life of caffeine in bloodstream of healthy individuals is about 5 hours. Which means that 50% of caffeine intake will remain in the blood stream even after five hours. If we take a cup of coffee at 6 PM, 50% of caffeine will remain in our body by 11 PM, inhibiting our sleep. This makes it advisable to have coffee only in the morning hours for staying alert through the day and desist from it after 4 PM or so, for a good night’s sleep.

Measuring sleep

Sleep efficiency is the measure used to ascertain the quality of sleep. It is computed as the ratio of time spent sleeping to the time spent in the bed. A higher ratio would mean better quality of sleep and anything in excess of 85% is generally considered good.

Circadian rhythm and sleep routine

Every human being has evolved his own circadian rhythm which includes a time in the day where he normally tends to sleep. It is important to understand as to what is that time for us. The definition of morning person and evening person have all arisen from that sleep routine. One good way to understand is to try going to bed the same time every day and measure how long it takes for us to sleep. Sometimes, inability to fall into sleep could also be because the time we get to bed is not in tune with our sleep routine, inherited genetically and/or evolved from childhood.

Such instances of going into bed early will have another side-effect. We can start introspecting about the day gone by, what went wrong, etc. which could trigger a fresh round of anxiety and stress, thereby delaying the sleep even further.

When we were young children, we followed a wind-down routine, which typically included hearing stories from our parents/ grandparents. It starts with drinking a glass of hot milk, laying down the bed, ensuring that all doors and windows are closed/ locked, switching off lights, getting to bed and hearing stories and slowly dozing off. The onset of routine signals to our brain about impending sleep and prepares it to wind down. As we grow old and develop other habits, the routine gets disturbed and absence of this routine is often a factor in us not being able to sleep.

Setting of alarms and Role of Snooze button

Let me sign off with one important indicator of gauging sufficiency of sleep. An example of how far we have come from evolving and following our inner circadian rhythm is how much we have latched on the use of alarms. If we regularly do not wake up before alarms and invariably hit the snooze button every time it goes off, it is a sure shot sign of sleep deprivation. It is alright to set an alarm on one-off occasions like catching a flight or attending an unusual early morning call. However, using it on a daily basis is not an indicator of vibrant health.

To conclude:

a. Evolve a sleep routine and stick to it, as much as possible

b. Don’t worry or fuss too much about missing the routine, for a day or two

c. Introspecting about the day at bed, causes anxiety, thereby delaying the sleep. So don’t do it at bed. You can however evolve a wind-down routine which could commence soon after the introspection mode.

d. No coffee in the evening

e. Six to eight hours of sleep a day is non-negotiable and children should sleep longer to ensure that there is no deficit of both REM and non-REM sleep.

Never let a crisis to go to waste

2022-03-02T18:25:00.002+05:30

West at crossroads

Ukraine crisis presents a difficult paradox. The steps that have already been taken and are being contemplated by the Western Liberal Democratic Cohort (“West”) to coerce Russia into ceasefire are aimed at isolating Russia from the international order. But the world is so inter connected now that such a complete isolation is extremely difficult.

Even the move to cut off Russia from SWIFT implemented after so much dithering and negotiation exempted energy companies. This highlights the vitality of Russia's energy to the World in general and Europe in particular.

With the closeness of Russia to China and general antipathy towards America, this will lead to increasing polarisation, similar to cold war era. The advent of cryptocurrencies and digital currencies might lead to a viable alternative to dollar for trading within the bloc polarised against the West. After some jostling between Digital Yuan and Russia-sponsored crypto-currency, a credible alternative to US Dollar might emerge as the basis for transactions among the non-West countries.

This bipolarity of global financial system could lead to a lot of disruption and could potentially upend the global economic order if Russia and China insists on transacting in non-dollar terms for essential imports of West from non-West.

Further, any sanctions targeted at ordinary Russians could be twisted by Putin to spread conspiracies on diabolical West out to destroy Russia and hence would serve to bolster his image. The West would do well to target sanctions, directly at Putin and his close allies, something like a surgical strike. That would hurt where it matters

The Swiss move to freeze Swiss assets of people and firms, close to Putin is a good start and more such targeted measures are needed. One could even dare suggest elimination of Putin as an extreme measure.

Second-order effects of the crisis

While the result of war is not certain, it is almost certain that the world will never be the same again. A few speculations on the same are listed below:

a. The extent of time required for US and Europe to come to the rescue of a fellow European country against foreign aggression would force many smaller countries across the world to rethink on the effectiveness of global alliances on security. Of particular significance is countries like South Korea and Taiwan, who rely on US security cover to defend themselves against North Korea and China.

b. South Korea and Japan could even decide to develop its own defence arsenal including nuclear weapons as a deterrent against North Korea. This would lead to more proliferation of destructive nuclear weapons and an arms race in the Pacific

c. Taiwan might not be as endowed with resources like its fellow democracies and could be a prime target for invasion by China. The likelihood for Chinese takeover would increase if Russia emerges victorious in its Ukraine war and a secondary financial system emerges as envisaged above.

d. Such takeover could also be a big blow in the global endeavour to diversify technology trade away from China.

e. India’s position is especially precarious because a Russian victory could embolden China to carry out similar mischief across the border. A Russian defeat would bleed Russia and its not-so-strong allies like India, who trade also with West.

What can India do?

India has so far adopted an apparently neutral stance in emphasising on both the sides to the dispute to engage in negotiations and resolve the dispute amicably, without taking sides. The death of an Indian student in Russian shelling offers an opportunity to be more open in criticising the violence and calling on Russia and Ukraine to stop the fighting at least when the negotiations are underway.

There are objections to adopt a more critical approach towards violence on the premise that Russia has been an all-weather friend while Ukraine is not. The neutral approach is fine as long as it is not hurting the interests of India. The neutrality cannot be at the cost of interests of Indian citizen. India should value the life of every Indian citizen abroad and such escalation in criticism would serve the message that India would not tolerate the loss of life of any Indian. Such a stance cannot be termed as anti-Russian or pro-West.

By adopting a more critical stance without openly siding with the West, India can engage with the West and demand as quid pro quo, more strategic defence cooperation and commitments to reduce the reliance on Russia in defence imports. It could seek concessions and commitments from the West on Civil Nuclear Cooperation, which exist only in paper and it can be used for energy diversification.

Such engagement would help in mitigating the possible second-order effects on India as discussed above, while also keeping the relationship with Russia intact. It is going to be an extremely difficult balancing act like a trapeze artist but NO CRISIS SHOULD GO TO WASTE.

War is fear in the guise of bravery

2022-02-28T14:51:00.000+05:30

There is never a good war; a just war. War is inherently bad and unjust. Period. Don't believe if anyone says otherwise. It holds true right from Mahabharata war to the Russian war on Ukraine.

A war at the heart of Europe attracts all the attention. But countless wars are being fought in nations on the margins of the world and generations have been shattered with no hope about future. Whoever cares for them?

For those who may care to ask, there is ongoing fighting in Syria, Yemen, Sudan, Ethiopia, Tigray and Sierra Leone, to name a few. For those who are raising bogey of war involving Nuclear powers, there were wars in the last 20 years involving USA, Britain, India, China, all of which are nuclear powers.

Leaving that politics and racism aside, let us get to the heart of why War is bad and unjust. War is declared by leaders at the top but it is fought at the grassroots by common folk like you and me. Decades of mental and social programming of soldiers and months of narrative building precede war. It creates illusions of righteousness on one side and inherent evilness of the other.

Once the narrative is set and the mind is tuned to think of the other as evil, the soldiers then develop a visceral hatred towards the soldiers of other. Slowly, as the hatred gets institutionalised in the psyche of the soldiers, the violence does not get limited to the armed forces but also spills into the civilian realm.

To an extent, it is fair to inflict violence on trained forces with arms because that is what they have signed up for when they chose the career in armed forces. But how do you justify brutality on unarmed civilians who look like you in every aspect and are defenceless against one with superior training and arms?

Which species except the most intelligent of all species kills its fellow beings, casually, without provocation at an individual level and on a mass scale?

One might wonder that this is not how history books narrate war. They invariably glorify war as good triumphing over evil finally. At least the history books in my childhood glorified all conquering kings with "Great" epithets. Their coverage on violence unleashed by victors on conquered populations is next to nothing.

History books are based on contents written by chroniclers of yore. More often than not, the only content that is preserved steadfastly and survives time is the one written on behalf of the victors.

Let us delve further into why war is justified in the minds of rulers. For that we need take a few steps back and trace the evolution of nation-states from being small forest tribes. Basic contract between the ruler and ruled is that the ruler will protect the ruled from external forces and in return, the subjects will have to sacrifice some material possessions and personal liberty in favour of the ruler. Who are these external forces - the other against whom the ruler guarantees protection?

Initially, it was wild animals. Once all the wild animals are vanquished, the other human species became the other. Once Homo sapiens gained supremacy, the ruler started to guarantee protection against the other tribes. Gradually, it led to evolution of nations where the ruler of a nation guaranteed protection to its residents against the other nations.

One can conclude that the legitimacy of the ruler is derived from the existence of the ‘other’ against whom he/ she can guarantee protection. Once there are no "others", there is then no need for the ruler. Hence, to preserve the legitimacy, the new "others" keep getting invented in the name of religion, caste, race, ethnicity, multiple 'ism's and so on.

It is not that leaders invent these "others" in vacuum. The history of humankind is replete with violence between people of different religions, caste, race, etc. Hence, it is always easier to invoke the grudge and kindle the flames of resultant victimisation and loathing.

Why and when the political leaders invoke war bogey?

Despite all the claims made above on politicians nurturing hatred, political leaders do not like war, more so in these days of economic and political integration. They invoke it only when the inherent legitimacy on the position is threatened due to years of under-performance/ non-performance on issues that matter - food, clothing, shelter, economic well-being and prospects. To side-step questions and to quell the disgruntled, the politicians raise the pitch and circulate narratives on how the very existence of the nation are threatened by 'others' and why is it necessary for the populace to accept some sacrifice on issues that matter and cede control to the leader.

All such elements are very much present in the ongoing saga in Europe. Just that not many expected this escalation to full scale War.

Russia is evidently the evil here just because it initiated the conflict. But why did they do it?

While no one can predict how this will end, we can all try to get to the root of why is this evil happening. Buddha once said "Desire is the root of all evil". Yours truly dare to postulate that "Fear is the root of all ill". Chanced upon a fascinating write-up by the recently passed Buddhist philosopher-monk - Thich Nhat Hanh, who had attempted to explore the emotion of Fear. He identifies Fear as the primordial emotion of every human being that is present right at the birth, when he/she is pulled out of secure comforts of the womb into this world. From living without a care in the world where even basic biological activities viz., eating, breathing and excreting are taken care of by the mother, he/she is out all alone. He cries struggling for breath; cries again fearing of starvation in empty stomach and this continues. This sudden development out of the womb, imprints the emotion of fear and insecurity.

The entire lifetime of a man is spent towards eschewing fear; but the more he tries to eliminate fear, more the forms in which it chose to manifest itself in a never-ending cycle. It is a useful emotion, which has served the humanity well for most part of the history spent among wild animals and other tribes out to extinguish him. When fear of survival becomes the pre-dominant emotion, man would not hesitate to go to any extreme and will be ready to perpetrate the vilest evil.

Putin fears for his survival as a president. So he is attempting to dial up the fears of ordinary Russians in the evil that would befall Russia if Ukraine chooses to apply for obtains NATO membership. Why is Ukraine even considering NATO membership? Because, its pro-West president feels secure in his position only when he has NATO alliance to back him, against possible machinations of Russia to replace him with a pro-Russian head. Why is West stoking the fears of ordinary Ukrainians about Russia? West fears that improved economic clout of Russia and possible alliance with China, is threatening the supremacy of liberal democratic order in general and US in particular. Despite the initial differences among Western nations, why are they now closing ranks against Putin and arming Ukraine to indulge in more violence against Russia? Because, unilateral declaration of war by Russia has raised fears of similar such manoeuvres by Russia in other European countries.

FEAR is the root of all evil. Overcome fear to overcome evil!!!!

The common man i.e., aam aadmi of both sides – Russia and Ukraine are the only people who are blameless in this sordid episode. But they are the ones to face maximum damage inflicted upon by the others. Let us repeat “THERE IS NO GOOD WAR AND WAR IS ALWAYS UNJUST AND UNFAIR”

நோய் நாடி நோய் முதல் நாடி

2022-02-26T07:28:00.002+05:30

There was a news item of many state governments, including that of Tamil Nadu, declaring that they would bear the expenses of all the students of their states, to return from Ukraine to India.

First and popular reaction would be to hail the thoughtful, considerate and welfarist gesture. An ancient Tamil poet said "நோய் நாடி நோய் முதல் நாடி அது தணிக்கும் வாய் நாடி வாய்ப்ப செயல்". It translates as below: To cure an ill, it's necessary to get to the root of the ill and address the root cause.

I went into a rabbit hole of trying to understand who are these students studying in Ukraine. I never thought of Ukraine as a popular destination for students. Turns out that most of them have gone there for medical courses and that includes many Tamils. I wondered why when Tamilnadu is the medical hub of India, a Dravidian flagship achievement.

Dig deeper!!! Most have gone there because medical education is much cheaper than in Tamilnadu. Wow!!! How come a first world country education is cheaper than in India? Average annual fee for medical education is around 5 lakhs and 25 lakhs over the course. Official fee for medical education is much much lesser in India and the standard of education is definitely competitive. I repeat "Official" fee is much much lesser. I would just emphasise on the "Official Fee" here and leave it to your judgment as to why students find medical education in Ukraine much more affordable than in TN.

Hope the current government, which claims legitimacy from that ancient poet, whose couplet is quoted above, addresses the root cause rather than fixing the band-aid solutions like bearing the return expenses of those students.

நோய் நாடி நோய் முதல் நாடி!!!

Brave New World

2022-02-25T14:36:00.007+05:30

Happened to read an interesting article contrasting 1984 of George Orwell and Brave New World of Aldous Huxley. Having devoured 1984, the article led me into a rabbithole of more and more content on the Brave New World. Unanimous view from all the articles is that the plot is placed in a utopian dystopia or dystopian utopia, whichever way you want to call.

It talks of a world where people are freed of all the pain and unpleasant experiences and fed only pleasure. This is achieved through social conditioning commencing right at conception. There are no more natural births. Everyone is an industrial baby, categorised at birth based on the job he is destined to take up as an adult. The decision on future career of the embryo is based on a pre-defined algorithm. Once the decision is made, the glories and virtues of the said career are implanted into the sub-conscious young minds so much that they dont think of any other job other than that for which they are programmed. REM sleep time, i.e when the child half-awake/ asleep is when these ideas are implanted. We would have experienced that we vividly remember what we read when in such half asleep state as the same is embedded in the sub-conscious.

The categorisation of people is primarily into dominant and servile classes. The underlying goal is preservation of existing order. Based on elaborate research, it is concluded that all that is required to keep the individual at his existing state and prevent opposing ideas is to provide his periodic dose of pleasure through provision of basic needs. It is achieved through multiple ways:

a. Provision of a drug called Soma, in generous quantities to servile classes. They are free to demand how much ever they want

b. Everyone is for everyone meaning anyone can have sexual intercourse with anyone. There is complete freedom. Of course, it will not result in childbirth

c. Basic food and shelter is taken care of for everyone

d. Because of social conditioning from birth, they grow to love the job they are assigned to and don't care about a thing in the world.

Of course, when trouble arises, they are encouraged to get Soma to quell. What more does a human want?

In political science, people talk about something called Overton window. In order to prevent people from revolting against stifling of freedom of expression, free debate is permitted within the narrow spectrum called Overton window. While everything outside this band is taboo, freedom to express contrarian views within the bad gives the illusion of free speech and keep the subjects happy.

It is this concept that seem to have been adopted and adapted in the Brave New World.

But is it good or bad? As everything in life, there are no easy answers. There are multiple grounds to support or oppose this interesting world. However, eerie parallel with the world as we know is striking. Replace "Soma" with dopamine rush through social media and the illusion to choose a career of your choice, when in reality, you are conditioned by society, family, peers and school.

The Politicians, in India and elsewhere perhaps unknowingly and intuitively, have grasped the essence of the matter and have found ways to keep subjects (yes all of us are subjects; not citizens) happy, occupied and silent so that they do not revolt against the government. Social Media, news debates, tv sitcoms, Premier League sports (cricket, football, wrestling, etc), stoking fervour of cultural/ religious superiority, 'meme' and 'troll' culture against perceived internal and external enemies, etc are all dopamine tools, either employed/ exploited by ruling establishment to keep common folk from questioning them on their actual performance.

Aren't all of us happy and contented with them all? Aren't we taught from childhood to look at academics as the only important factor to the exclusion of other facets of life so much so that all of us are essentially clerks/ servants for the real masters? Aren't we happy with being foot soldiers, slaving away our time and energy, either hoping for an imaginary, mirage of a status in the society for us or being part of a grand (or should it be grandiose?) project of a pompous, far-away master, who seem to have arrived to restore a glorious, utopian past?

WELCOME TO THE BRAVE NEW WORLD!!!!

On CSK IPL triumph

2022-02-25T11:43:00.003+05:30

The write up below might appear dated today but was written in October after IPL 2021:

Am I right in professing love and belongingness to a franchise that has the name of my city but is loath to include players from my city and state in the playing 11? If thought that way, Kolkata Knight Riders is more Tamil (with three Tamilians in playing 11) than "Chennai" Super Kings. But I keep drawn towards supporting CSK for just one man, its captain - MSD. For a city and state starved of cricketing super-heroes, he seemed a "Messiah" back then in 2008 and he continues to be so despite more celebrated cricketers emerging from the state - Ravi Ashwin and the trio mentioned just above.

It is perhaps the old-school brand of cricket with strategies and tactics emerging on the go, in the field that attracted me. Far removed from the franchises that were constantly anaylsing videos, mining data on strengths and weaknesses, identifying and implementing match-ups to counter the opposition, CSK continued to strategise on the field. I am not concluding one way or other as to whether the data centric, objective approach was right or wrong. But the spontaneous approach appealed to me more because that is what you do in street cricket. Whatever the calculations you do in gully cricket were never predetermined. You understand the human fallibilities and the fact that no man can bowl or bat in the same way forever, like a robot. So, you assess the conditions on the pitch, intuitively understand which bowler to target and whom to respect.

That conclusion did not come from the data minded approach. By its very nature, data was of the past. While it can give an indicator, it can never be fool proof. People change, they constantly evolve and adapt the play to the conditions, opponents and the occasion.

So how do you intuitively know about seizing the opposition and adapting the play? Ah the epiphany!!! The Experience is the answer. The more you are exposed to the multiple scenarios, the more you understand how to react. That is how you can go one-up on the "fresh minds".

Now you can rationalise the emphasis on experience in CSK, while at the same interspersing them with the youthful exuberance of one Ruturaj and Curran.

Getting more experienced players in the squad has another beneficial side-effect - multiplicity of leaders. A Faf Du Plessis or Dwayne Bravo or Ravindra Jadeja are leaders in their own trade and hence can take up the mantle of guiding up and coming batsmen and bowlers/ all rounders in the side, reducing the burden on the captain. Feeling empowered, these experienced cricketers take ownership and give their best for the side in an environment of old-world security.

Yes, the abundance of players aged on the wrong-side of thirty has its own disadvantages viz., tired legs, weary bodies, paucity of raw courage arising from the unfettered mind, closed mindedness to new ideas, lack of endurance and injury concerns to last a long tournament, body not obeying the mind, etc.

These ill-effects did manifest in 2020 accentuated by the absolute lack of match practice in COVID environment since most of the players are retired from international cricket and T20 leagues across the world were also suspended.

Last year, MSD promised to come back stronger this year and they did.

Being middle-aged myself helps in relating better to the struggles underwent by the ageing side

A self centred rant

2022-02-04T19:21:00.003+05:30

One of my longstanding fantasies is to be a writer, encouraged more by the friends and well meaning relatives rather than my inherent belief. I am not sure what made them think so perhaps my off handed use of uncommon words. Such use of uncommon words do not necessarily signify writing ability. Writing is much more than that. One need to sit down with immense discipline, organise thoughts in the mind, choose the most appropriate phrase and write (type in these times) page after page after page. Often, we write whatever comes to my mind. It needs to be redrafted, reordered, culled, expanded many many times. And these need to be repeated day after day. It looks and feels immense work and you need to find joy in doing it.

But my fantasy remains a fantasy as I still dont have the habit of jotting down my thoughts even if in a random manner. It all boils down to the question of how much do I really want it, how much I yearn to write? Perhaps I am scared that I may actually turn out to be a bad bad writer. If one recall the 2019 World Cup semifinal which sort of ended with Dhoni getting run out, I wonder if that it is the best outcome for a Dhoni fan. The other alternative of Dhoni staying till the end and ending up on the losing side (which is a real possibility) would have been tragic. Now, we can live with a fantasy that if only Dhoni was not run out to that wonderful direct hit from the deep, he would have single handedly taken India to the final and perhaps to Cup glory as well. His dismissal looks apparently tragic but it is the most poetic ending to a storied career. By not actually sitting down to write, I am perhaps telling myself the story of an alternate reality of me being a great author, if only I am blessed with the discipline.

What is life without these "What If"s? Dwelling on occasional what ifs, gives the opportunity to live multiple lives at least in the head, much the same way as reading books lead us to live multiple lives and careers.

Writing is my day job. Not the kind of writing people fantasise about but summarising of discussions and decisions at highest level Meetings in the institution, officially called as "Minutes of Meetings. For at least five continuous years, I was drafting, redrafting Minutes, constantly endeavouring to improve the flow, presentation, while at the time staying away from trouble, by finding an effective, nuanced way to articulate uncomfortable discussions at the Meetings. Independent Directors would sometimes raise uncomfortable questions and expect the same to be recorded to protect their interests, while the Executive Management would not be comfortable getting into that much detail. One need to find an optimal balance to satisfy interests of all stakeholders, while also staying true to your conscience.

It does not come easy and needs practice in achieving the golden mean. Did I achieve that mean? Certainly not. But did i find joy in what looks like a drab, routine chore? Yes for the most part. It gave me the high of exercising my writing muscle al beit at a different level. There are people who use to say that writing is a way of thinking. Writing Minutes helped to ascertain how well I understood the discussions at the Meeting and reminisce about how well the Management would construct an argument and take it to its logical conclusion, how to look at an issue from multiple perspectives, how to ask the right questions, etc.

I still try to find space for creative expression only to be shot down and revert to pragmatism. So what if I am not writing books and articles? As the saying goes, one who killed 1,000 patients is half a doctor. By writing Minutes of 1,000 Meetings with live discussions, perhaps i can claim to be quasi-author.

Lesson from a green leaf

2017-06-17T18:08:00.002+05:30

This post is written just because I felt so guilty about keeping this page idle for nearly two years!!! So kindly bear if this sounds like meaningless rambling.!!

A green leaf is green not because it possesses that color but because it absorbs all the colors other than green and reflects green to the world. So is a flaming red rose, that reflects red to the world. (high school Physics)

Your name and fame is earned/ known not by what you possess/ absorb but by what you give back to the world. White is considered pristine only because it gives back all it ever received. Be a person of white heart, giving all you receive back to the society.

Whatever you are, whichever you possess, by whatsoever you are made of - say food, water, clothing, shelter, education, job, life, etc is taken from this world. Find ways and means to give back to the society/ ecosystem - feed an underprivileged kid or plant and nurture a tree, donate your old clothes and sometimes even new ones, help in educating a kid or even an older man - by money/ physical effort and other such initiatives. Countries and corporations are exploring ways to be carbon positive.

As individuals, we need to be at least resource neutral, give back as much resources as we take, be it tangible ones like food, water, clothing, shelter or intangible ones like kindness, compassion, education, livelihood, confidence and what not. I am not listing out all you can do; your imagination is a lot more vivid than mine. But keep this thought always in mind in your daily life and convert into action, in a small way, everyday. You will be surprised by the results of such consistent small efforts, repeated day in and day out.

Only when all of us as individuals act resource neutral, life in general and mankind in particular can survive and sustain, else humans and life on earth, as we know it, will just be another footnote in the history much like dinosaurs, mammoths and marsupial lions.

Have we actually developed as a species or regressed??

2015-08-11T13:04:00.001+05:30

Ability to use and access a machine to perform supposedly complex/menial physical and mental tasks could be termed as development in popular parlance. Going by that definition, if we could access a calculator/ computer to perform a multiplication or addition or if we have access to a car/ scooter to reach the neighbourhood grocery shop could qualify as development. Can we really call it a development?

I used to marvel at my dad who used to recount stories of his daily walk of 6 to 8 kms coupled with swimming as a routine activity. Don’t think he is a superman to be able to do such complex activities. Such exploits are par for the course for the kids of that age. Guess our kids would similarly be in awe when we tell them that we use to walk to get groceries and milk from our neighbourhood as they might be using machines even to get to the next room in your house.

Kids of today scurry for their calculator even to multiply 17 with 9 or to compute three fourths of 8. Come to think of it, I was just an above average kid in my school days but we never resorted to using calculator to perform such arithmetics. It would be blasphemous to use calculator as it would render you a moron in the eyes of your friends.. Now we pride ourselves on our ability to access technology for even seemingly mundane computations..

Haven’t we as a race lost a bit of our physical and mental faculties? Can it legitimately be called development or progress? As the saying goes, too much of anything is good for nothing. Have we reached that stage with respect to technology??

When you are able to use something to your advantage, you can call yourself a master of that something.. But when we use technology too much, are we masters or slaves?

Too many questions and not enough implementable solutions in sight!!!!!!!!

The solution stares you right in the face.. But do we have the will to implement it??? Have we come too far down the bridge to really go back??

Hail Barbarism!!!!!!

2011-09-01T16:19:00.000+05:30

I find it funny when someone like tirumavalavan, nedumaran, "doctor" ramadoss and karunanidhi suddenly start espousing the cause of abolition of death sentence on grounds of civility. It would have been particularly amusing to imagine Mr. Tirumalvalavan and Mr. Ramadoss, men who are civilised enough to cut trees to block traffic when someone of their ilk is arrested, to shout vehemently at top of their voices that we are not medieval civilisation to promote state martyrdom. That Hindu devoted two full op-ed pages to decry abolition of death sentence made me wonder what all the fuss is about. What is the point in abolishing death sentence when it is already administered only in rarest of rare cases.

If plotting and executing the murder of a senior political leader who was the country's PM till two years ago, does not qualify for capital punishment, then I wonder whether we as a nation have lost the spine and is willing to accept any scathe inflicted on us without murmur in the name of civility. Damn that Civility!!! We dither for years whether or not to execute people who literally waged war on the country and when the system finally gets around to execute the punishment, we see such a hue and cry that we are a civilised country and we ought not to act barbaric by killing a fellow man. Spare a thought for the hundreds of policemen and civilians who lost their lives and limbs when the dastardly cowards struck terror.

When we hesitate to kill even such barbaric cowards, what is the signal we are sending out to the world. We are such gracious hosts. Guys and gals from around the world, our country welcomes you with all your arms and ammunition; have fun with our lives and kill however and whoever; we won't touch even a hair of you; we would arrest you, feed you well till end of your life with the taxes of very people who you have killed. God damn these hypocrites. If sparing these b****rds qualifies me for civilisation, I am honoured to be called 'Barbarian'.