With a couple of lakhs and a couple of lives…

The continuation of the bi-monthly dialogue on modern times between Bhrahm and Vish – two fictitious Ahmedabadi characters, like you and me.

Vish, can you think of any gig that can get the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, almost their entire cabinet as well as the leaders of the opposition to drop everything they are doing and be present… AND get assured top billing in world prime time media for days… AND invoke reactions from world leaders (including big daddy Bush)?! Not only that, but to carry the whole thing off with just two kids (age 20 and 24?), a couple of automatic weapons (perhaps procured from a neighborhood hood) and a bag full of ammunition?

Wow, no way!

A new threshold in optimal use of available resources was set by Osama on 9/11… a lessons not lost on the rest of his ilk. But the bonus of the Akshradham plan was that the politicians completed for them what the terrorists started! Two consecutive days of bandh (loss in business - Rs. 1000 crores). Now that’s what I call efficiency, man! The guys may be evil but they are geniuses!

David v/s Goliath in reverse!

What’s incredible is that these two kids were pitched against a crack team of commandos (its just a detail that in their spare times, these blokes manage the traffic), and they still lasted out the night, took out three of the commandos and … managed not be taken alive themselves! Undoubtedly, a fait accompli, if you ask me. Their perpetrators must be feeling pretty chuffed.

But Advaniji said that the Akshardham operation was a clear and outright victory against terrorism!?

Yeah, right! Obviously he couldn’t be literal and take a donkey ride around town with his face smeared black, could he? And after all, he had to rush off to attend the funeral of his ‘crack’ commandos.

I was really wondering about how that happened, Bhrahm! A team of the best of the best, with all their sophisticated weaponry, losing three of their men to 20 something boy terrorists?! And even then, not catching them alive…. what kind of a strategy could they have been following? I wonder why they didn’t send in helicopters with big lights and flush them out instead of waiting all-night and tiring out their men?

Hey, don’t be an armchair strategist, they obviously knew better. It’s what they are trained for. But do you think this case will go on for years with no arrests, just like the Mumbai blast case?

What arrests? The guys are already dead. And when the system can’t catch Virappan after all these years…. when R.K. Sharma can allude the police at will but remain in contact with his family… where is the hope? And when it does manage, on occasion, to put the odd criminal behind bars, the blokes on the other side pull off a hijack stunt or a kidnapping and get them released!

It’s very easy for you to be so critical, Bhrahm… the guys in the government have a problem. They have to weigh public opinion, take into consideration the law of the land, and go by the book… the battle is being fought on uneven ground. There is no easy answer on how to tackle terrorism, particularly in a democracy.

I guess you are right. Maybe I am being too harsh. I should be more supportive. ‘Ask not what the government can do for you but what you can do for the government’, right? After all, what have I done so far other than grumble? Hey Vish, do you think it would be a good idea if I do my bit by joining the next leg of the ‘Gaurav Yatra’ and instigate the majority community to pull a similar stunt?

Modern Times
By Bhrahma

The shortest distance between two points

Did I tell you I went to Ranthambore the last weekend to see the tigers before they became extinct?

Did you see any?

No. Just saw some pug marks.

That’s too bad.

The funny thing is, we spent six hours every day for three days, roaming the jungle in an uncomfortable jeep, in suspended animation, with our eyes peeled to spot a movement in the grass or a flash of orange. At the end of the day, we would return with an air of disappointed hanging thick like smog.

Any one would be disappointed. You did go there to see a tiger!

Maybe so, but at the same time we were in a beautiful jungle with stunning views of lakes, wild grass, exotic trees, majestic ruins of palaces and an abundance of sambar, cheetal, monkeys, mongoose and the variety of birds. Even the weather was great. So why were we disappointed?

Bhrahm…, give me a break!

What I am trying to say is, that this is a typical attitude. It is rare that one gets off the highway to smell the roses! The shortest distance between two points doesn’t always have to be a straight line, specially for those of us who have the luxury of taking the gentle curve instead. What’s the hurry, I say?

I guess you are right; we lead a fairly blinkered existence, rushing from one task to another.

With the WTC attacks, the mounting death of civilians in Afghanistan, Madhavrao Scindia’s untimely death in a plane crash….one just gets more aware of one’s mortality. I find myself wondering about the meaning of the term ‘living life to the full’. Am I living it to the full? What more can I do to make it fuller?

And…

The only answers I have come up with so far is to remove the ‘blinkers’, take the detours, follow my heart (and not let the mind veto it every time), not get bogged down by routine and make room for spontaneity...things like that.

I could live with that.

Exactly, but how many of us really do? We spend more time thinking about how to make tomorrow better by sacrificing today, don’t we?

But Bhrahm, that’s also called dreaming. What’s wrong in dreaming or having aspirations? You can have them only for tomorrow.

Nothing wrong, but at what cost? I would like to make today better and not worry so much about tomorrow. I may not even be there, for crying out loud!

You can say that because you have the luxury to do so. You don’t have to worry about tomorrow, many people do.

I cannot vouch for others but certainly for those like me who have ‘roti, kapda and makan’ taken care of. If I am spending all my time in pursuit of a better ‘makan’, I doubt I could call that ‘living life to the full’. That’s just my point.

Did you hear that one about ‘yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery and today...? Today is a present’!

Modern Times

By Bhrahma

Just hire a Pandit to do the Pooja!
Vish, I have been thinking, what is the difference between our ancestors, a few hundred years ago, and us today?

Evolution of brain over brawn, I suppose. Earlier it was survival of the fittest, now its survival of the richest!

You may be right! We no longer depend on instinct for survival. By and large, rules of society provide the necessary framework. There is a quantum improvement in quality of the comforts and we know more about everything around us than we did before. But has all this ‘progress’ made us a ‘happier’ lot?

Why do you think it may not be so?

Perhaps because all the ‘progress’ so far has been directed towards improving our life withOUT and not withIN. With our ‘readymade’, ‘off-the-shelf’ lifestyle, I think we may even have regressed in this area. With the ever increasing cost of comforts, who has the time to sit back and think about such things?! Besides, one can always hire a pandit to do the pooja!

Since when did you get into this ‘spiritual’ mumbo jumbo, Bhrahm?! As it is, there are enough gurus around and they all seem to be thriving!

Maybe because more people are realizing that something is missing and they are searching for answers! Unfortunately, ‘spirituality’ has become a misunderstood concept, especially amongst the urban youth. It conjures up the stereotype of saffron clad gurus and magic mantras. But if you just think of it as a path to be one with yourself, it doesn’t sound so esoteric, does it?.

It still does! I am tired of hearing this business of ‘being one with yourself’. What the hell is it supposed to mean?

It probably means different things to different people. I wake up every morning in a society where I am under pressure to gain acceptance and admiration of my peers. This causes a conflict between my perception of myself (often grand) and the reality (often humbling) and I feel at unrest. You see, I can fool everybody but I can’t fool myself!

So you think being ‘one with yourself’ is about getting rid of this conflict?

I am pretty sure this is the problem, but it’s a moving target and I, for one, am having difficulty in pinning it down. Perhaps the answer lies in identifying and then living by ones own ten-commandments, what we also call principles.

Why can’t we just live life guided by our natural instincts instead? So much easier!

As long as they are not animal instincts but intelligent instincts! Intelligent instincts and principles are, perhaps, two sides of the same coin. I look at spirituality as the process of keeping them in focus.

Hey Bhrahm, isn’t this getting a bit heavy? Why don’t you just learn to chill instead?! Maybe that’ll do the trick?!

I am sure it will. I really think spirituality is about learning to ‘chill’! I look at people who are ‘chilled out’ as very spiritual!

Now you are talking! Maybe they should introduce a Nobel Prize for advancement in ‘chilling’ techniques!

Modern Times
By Bhrahma

Heritage Disrobed
Bhrahm, did you know this was ‘Heritage Week’?

Yes, I saw some pictures of monuments in the papers announcing that it was so.

I suppose the idea was to create some awareness about Heritage.

Do you really think a few pictures about old crumbling monuments will create such awareness? Give me a break! And to confine heritage to conservation of architectural monuments alone is in itself a big folly, if you ask me.

Why, they are the main reminders of our heritage, aren’t they!

And the only surviving ones, it would seem! Some old decrepit buildings with no purpose in the present context except to remind us that we once had a rich Heritage! In fact, I am curious to know what heritage means to you on a day-to-day basis?

On a day-to-day basis? Lets see…my religion, customs, food, language, rituals, clothing… things like that, I guess.

And how much of this do you find yourself retaining from your past generations? After all, that’s how we preserve our heritage, by passing it on, don’t we?! For instance I haven’t even read the Gita or, for that matter, I may fumble if you ask me to recite all words of our National anthem, let alone know all their meanings.

I know the tune, so I can hum along! They never put emphasis on it in School, I remember just mugging it up.

Schools are teaching ‘Ring a ring a roses’ and ‘Old Mac Donald had a farm’ in kindergarden. I bet 90% of us don’t even know how many alphabets there are in the Gujarati language. Our Heritage is getting MacDonald-ised.

But on the other hand, isn’t English as much our Heritage as Sanskrit or Gujarati? One is new and the other is old.

I agree. I don’t believe that Heritage has to be ‘puritanical’ concept. It is a dynamic one when it is evolving. This can happen when succeeding generations add to what it received before passing it on. For instance, people who speak BOTH English and Gujarati are certainly better off. However, in the present context, it appears as if we are gradually abandoning one for the other. We need occasions like the Heritage Week to remind ourselves that we have a heritage of our own! And who is to blame….I recently heard of a denim company that was thinking of exchanging old dhotis for jeans to penetrate the rural market!

Come to think of it, I do feel that I am living a borrowed identity…a hotch-potch of mixed cultures. I am often confused about who I am, or where I come from.

I am sure many feel that way. There is no depth, everything is shallow and transitory. Imagine a cross between a peacock and a bald eagle – that’s what we are becoming. Lets admit it, we are a generation adrift.

But don’t you see a shift in attitudes of late? More people seem to be realizing this and making an effort to seek their roots in their heritage.

I think we are reaching the threshold where we may have no choice in the matter but to do so, thank god!

By Bhrahma

March 11, 2002

Healing the marginalized majority

Reading headlines in local papers about the ongoing madness in my home city, sitting in a foreign country as I am, gives me a perspective of an insider, looking in, from the outside!

!!

When I tell people in this country that I come from the same city where they burn people alive, they look at me in wonder! Wow!

What do you think could be the root of this madness? Who are these people any way? Can you think of anyone you know who could plot, let alone participate in such barbaric acts of violence?

No, but I wouldn’t be too surprised if one of the culprits works as a peon or is the rickshaw driver who takes my neighbor’s kids to school - normal people, living a mundane existence, like you and me.

Then why?
Bhrahm: I can’t think of them having any other reason other than a hidden anger so strong that it wells up like a volcano, given an opportunity to vent. In majority cases of mob violence in India, the vent is provided in form of assured political protection (ever heard of anyone being implicated in a mob crime?). There is a whole mass of people out there living in a constricted space, with no privacy, little money for leisure and zero job satisfaction. At the same time, they have aspirations that are growing grander by the day (what with the exposure to the good life on television and celluloid!). They are the marginalized majority with an axe to grind. Why did fate deal them such a lame hand?

So you think the inter-caste issue is a secondary phenomenon?
Absolutely - a creation of shortsighted, self-serving politicians. Tomorrow it could be Gujarati v/s non-Gujarati or upper caste v/s lower caste. The root of the anger is somewhere else and incidents like this are just channels for bringing it out. It’s just that the politicians know the hotspots to push to rally one group against another.

So what can one do?

At least we have to try and recognize the frustration, the root of the negative energies and try and heal ourselves. If everyone channelizes some of their energy in this manner, you would have a community of healing people. All you have now are people like us who say ‘What can I do!? It’s outside my area of influence!’.

What do you mean ‘heal’ one’s self?
There appear to be many different ways to do it but all of them lead to the same destination – recognizing one’s own spirituality. Show me a peaceful and harmonious people and I will show you a spiritual community. There is no two ways about it.

What do you mean by spirituality? When survival itself is a struggle, who has the time for spirituality?

You don’t have to go anywhere looking for it! It’s right there, within you! Most of us have just lost touch with it. Just visiting a temple doesn’t necessarily bring it out. I am so confident that if each of us spent even 15 minutes a day, sitting quietly, alone, without any distraction and concentrated on our breathing - looking at ourselves from the outside (insider looking in, from the outside!), crime and violence rate would fall to a fraction of what it is.

Give me a break!
Don’t believe me. Try it and see the difference! And don’t keep looking at your watch while you do!

By Bhrahma

The American Way
Did you know that the world’s tallest tree and the widest tree, both from the same family of Sequoias, grew in abundance in the United States of America? The first grows as high as 400 feet and the other has a trunk that can be over 15 feet wide and both can live for more than three thousand years!

Wow! So one is taller than a forty story building, the other has a trunk so thick that a truck can pass through it, and both have been around since before Jesus was born!?

The irony is that these trees are now found only in small pockets within the U.S. that are protected by law…the rest have been cut to make houses, rail roads and….chopsticks!

I did read somewhere they are still cutting down ancient rain forests to feed the demand from Japan, where they make chopsticks from the wood!

And did you know that approximately 20% of the world’s populations (a lot of from the North American Continent) consumes 80 % of the world’s natural resources?!

Holy cow! So the rest of the 80% population survives on just 20%?!

Crazy, isn’t it? The same, educated, ‘environmentally aware’ and self-righteous minority, majority of whom live in one country, the U.S., guzzle more electricity, more gasoline, more paper, wood, coal, wood, fish and foul, than the rest of the world combined. And they continue to do so more wastefully than any third world illiterate has ever done! To give you a simple example, just for a cup of tea in the U.S.… you would use a paper cup with a plastic lid, an aluminum sachet containing the tea bag, a couple of paper sachets for pre-packed sugar, a sachet for the creamer, a wooden or plastic stirrer and a paper napkin… all of which you throw away later!

Instead of the chai in a ceramic cup, that we get here?!

And that’s just one example! The amount of garbage that an average American household produces in a year is approximately twenty times of what an Indian one! I was told that almost 50% of the land-fills in the U.S. today are made being made up of disposable baby diapers!

But to be fair, the developed countries do recycle a lot of their waste, don’t they?!

Vish, is it easier to consume twenty times more and then recycle it or is it easier to curtail wasteful consumption? Do you have recycling as your first concern or prudent consumption? But no one lays emphasis on this while passing any legislation because if we didn’t consume more and more, how would industries grow? How would the GDP targets be met?

Do you mean to say that it is a choice we have to make between economic development and conservation of our resources?

No. It is more a question of having economic development that is sustainable v/s one that is not…after all, what economic development can there be once there is no raw material left to feed the factories?

But in India, we are pretty good about this, aren’t we? We reuse almost everything!

I am just worried that the American mayajaal will catch up with us.

Dead Sure!

By Abhay Mangaldas

Hey Vish, when you are ‘absolutely certain’ about something, why do you use the phrase ‘Dead Sure’?

Because nothing in life can be more certain than death? Yikes, that sounds macabre!

Isn’t that paradoxical? On one hand, we find certainty to be comforting - we seek certainty and stability in everything. But when it comes to the thought of death, suddenly we don’t want to think about it! Why is death such a scary thought? One would imagine that the uncertainty of life would be scarier than the certainty of death?!

I think it is the fear of the unknown, of what comes after death that is we find scary not death itself.

By that count, thank god babies don’t remember their time in the womb - can you imagine the anxiety they would feel just before birth?! The anxiety of being born could not be very different from the anxiety of dying!

I am told that the process of birth is, in fact, the most traumatic experience we ever go through!

Why, even for the mother it is! I believe no other pain in life is comparable to delivery pain – the pain of creating a life!

Maybe that’s why its called ‘labour’?

And what about what she goes through for nine months before that! No terminal illness, if it is allowed to take its course, would last longer than nine months, would it?

You mean the process of dying was meant to indeed be like the process of giving birth, but in reverse... a transition from an animate to inanimate state?!

Yes, isn’t that the circle of life?! I think the efforts made by us to interfere with this natural cycle, by trying to prevent natural death, makes it ugly and scary.

That is also because death is associated with sickness, pain and disease. Do you think science should intervene only to prevent unnatural deaths but not to prolong life?

That has to be an individual choice. But there is indeed a fine line between fighting disease and fighting death. In most emergency rooms, people are fighting death. I don’t think this makes any sense. What if the same resource were used to fight disease?!

We’d have more healthier people and less older people. The average age of the population is rising in all advanced countries. I wonder if this is a good thing. It would be different if it was an older AND a happier population.

Religion come in the way of believing that life is just an accident of nature and nothing more. I think our arrogance makes us want to see more to life than meets the eye.

Would our attitude to life change if we thought of birth as the beginning and death as the end?

At least some of us wouldn’t live life as if they are paying their dues for a better after life! "Oh, merciful god, please, please take care of my soul, I gave up my life to serve you… I have earned my place in heaven, please don’t put it in the body of a sewage rat…!"

But even the agnostic and rational beings, when they become old, begin to think of their body as separate from their spirit, don’t they?

All I can say is that I have spent half my life with one eye focused on my future only to come to the conclusion that the only other thing that I can ever be ‘dead sure’ about is that I am alive NOW. I would like to live this moment like nothing else matters!

By Abhay Mangaldas

What they don’t teach you in school

Vish, what is your ambition in life?

Why, I don’t think it’s any different from most people…I want to be rich and famous!

And what do you think will happen if you do?

…I will live happily every after!

Really! Do you think Amitabh Bachchan is happier than you because he is a mega-star, so revered that his fans enshrine him? Do you think Sachin Tendulkar is happier than you because he is the idol of every cricket crazy kid on this planet and earns millions in endorsements?

I don’t know pal…I’ll ask the next time I bump into them! But hey, you are not about to start off on your Karma Yoga shpeel about going through life seeking wealth and fame only to realise later that it all means nothing, are you?! Because if you are, I have already heard it many times before and I still want to be rich and famous!

If both you and I have the intelligence to acknowledge the wisdom of this theory, than why do we continue to run like rats on a Ferris wheel? Are we stupid or what?!

Doesn’t it also say that unless you actually run the race, you cannot discover the futility of it? How can I be convinced till I experience it for myself? If you call that stupid, than all Karma Yogis are stupid.

But how will we ever evolve if we keep going through this cycle, generation after generation...? Don’t you think our schools can be more proactive in pushing the next generation to also have a non-material aim, right from childhood? Why do they put so much emphasis on preparing kids to face the ‘challenges of the world outside’ and not the challenges of the world within? Perhaps, if they instill this conviction in kids right from childhood, they will fare better than we have!

What about math and science… or the arts… are you trying to say that these are not important? Aren’t we better off as a result of learning these subjects?

Where has it taken mankind after all these years? Why do we feel we are in the Kalyug? Does science that teaches us about the world around and the intricacies of our bodies tell us anything about how to achieve peace of mind? Is the earth becoming a friendlier planet with advance in technology or economic empowerment?

So what’s your point?

Why, for instance, are pranayam and meditation not part of the mainstream curriculum? Don’t you think that while we have gone way ahead in understanding our body, we still lag far behind in understanding our mind? This may sound abstract but imagine if kids were taught how to slow down instead of hurrying up! If a class was devoted to teaching kids how to enjoy doing nothing without getting bored! Don’t you think they would gain tremendously?

But Bhrahm, this is very difficult even for adults…especially when we are so caught up in the rat race!

That’s exactly why, Vish! Now that I realise that awareness of the breath, what they call prana, and the ability to be still are the two skills I most need to evolve, I wish I were taught them in school! Maybe then, I would have been more dispassionate about the rat race right from start!

So, Bhrahm, what is your ambition in life?

To enjoy every minute of the process… because then I don’t have to wait to be rich and famous.

Modern Times, By Abhay Mangaldas

The continuation of the bi-monthly dialogue on modern times between Bhrahm and Vish – two fictitious Ahmedabadi characters, like you and me.

Vish, what is the big ‘C’ word in every aspect of life?

Commitment?

No, compromise! Isn’t that what your well-wishers always tell you, ‘beta, you must learn to compromise.’ Though it is now ingrained in me, I hate the word. Why should I compromise? Why not stick to what I believe in?

Because you don’t always get what you want.

But Vish, that is the biggest misconception that I think most of us have. Do we even know what we want? Reminds me of what Donald Rumsfeld, the Security advisor to President Bush likes to say about the ‘enemy’. "There are things that we know, there are things that we don'’ know and then there are things that we don’t know that we don'’ know!".

You mean unknown unknowns?

I think most of the time we operate at such a superficial level that we are not even aware of what we stand for and therefore we think ‘compromise and move on’. Till one fine day you realise that your life itself has become one. The world gets shrouded in such a gray mist when decisions are taken on the basis of what’s most convenient …, what will avoid conflict…,what will involve least expenditure… and not what you think is correct. The ‘me and mera wala gray’ life.

But it’s natural to want things to be smooth, to flow with the current. What’s wrong with that? Why be a rock and block when you can be a stream and flow!

I have no answer except to know from experience that life without convictions seems superficial, bland… gray…faceless… like when the stream merges into the sea, one big salty mass without an identity. Matters have reached such a level that anyone with strong convictions is labeled as an extremist! If Gandhi were alive today, he would be termed as one! Who but an ‘extremist’ would go on a fast unto death for what he believed in or instigate the masses to burn their foreign possessions in support of Swadeshi!

Or go to meet the Queen of England wearing a Khadi ‘loin cloth’…!

In today’s world, the few who try to stand up in the crowd of fence-sitters, who have strong beliefs and live by them, are either a radicals or an extremists, frowned at by society. The rest of us, who have opinions on everything ranging from cricket to the Kamasutra but neither the guts to stand up to them or the gumption to put ourselves on the line, form the mainstream of a rudderless society.

So what would you call the LTTE and the Palestinian suicide squads…. youths who are willing to give their life for a cause?

Depends on which side you are sitting on!

Bhrahm, they kill innocent women and children!

And the bombs that rain on Iraq and Afghanistan don’t? It’s not so simple and we know it so lets not get swayed by the media and numb our ability to evaluate for ourselves.

Do you mean to say that you favour conviction versus compromise even if it means saving lives and suffering? What about the Dalai Lama who has chosen the path of peaceful protest to confrontation? You would probably call him a spineless moderate who has allowed the Chinese to walk all over his people.

Not true at all. The very fact that he has been consistent in his non-violent preaching all his life, in spite of every provocation, leads me to hold him in the highest regard. He has complete conviction in his method and has kept his flock together all these years … ever heard of a Budhist extremist? But to climb down from these lofty matters to more mundane day to day ones, that involve you and me, the point I was trying to make was that sometimes, the grayness of my existence gets to me.

So why don’t you do something about it?

Because, Vish, first I have to find out what I believe in!

By Abhay Mangaldas

A democracy in the dark

The continuation of a dialogue on modern times between Bhrahm and Vish – two fictitious Ahmedabadi characters, like you and me.

Have you decided whom you’ll vote for this coming election, Bhrahm?

Normally, I’d place my vote based on ideology, leadership or performance. In the present scenario, The choice is so indistinct, that it is rather confusing. How do you distinguish between Waghela and Modi? They are both cut from the same RSS cloth. Clearly, it’s difficult to buy Waghela’s secular stand. Especially when the gentleman used to spew vitriol against the same party that he now leads! And if religion is the only ideology for this election, it doesn’t do anything for me!

Ok, so you think there’s no great distinction in ideology on which this election is being fought, between the two. What about leadership?

Let’s see, which was the most decisive action taken by either one? The only incident that comes to mind about Waghela is how he convinced a plane load of his MLA’s to hole up in some hotel in Aurangabad (was it?) so they wouldn’t defect! And about Modi, he had an opportunity to prove himself post Godhra and we all know what happened.

What do you mean?

Isn’t safety and security the most fundamental expectation from the government that you elect to power? I don’t feel secure under this government anymore and I belong to the majority community… so imagine!

What about their performance then?

What has the BJP government achieved for the people of Gujarat that is apparent to the common man?

Why, it brought water to the state?

Certainly amongst their most visible achievement, it will certainly get them some votes! Even their post earthquake performance was not too bad! They allowed the NGO’s to function, by and large, without interfering! Financially, however, it has been a disastrous term. Keshubhai never quite figured out what dotcom meant and Modi has still to find time for it! Overall I cannot rate them higher than three on ten.

And the previous government?

I believe that on the financial front, Shri Chimanbhai Patel was the only star performer for the Congress.

If stories one hears are true, he performed rather well for himself too, may god rest his soul!

Madhavsingh Solanki tried to emulate him but didn’t quite match up. And the gentleman after him was the reason the opposition came to power! But still, I would rate them a five on ten.

So where does it leave your vote?

I wish there were a regional party in Gujarat that was fighting the election on local issues like prohibition, heritage conservation, tax-free haven for NRG deposits and higher incentives in tourism sector. In absence of one, I guess I will have to vote for the individual rather than the party. Unfortunately, I don’t even know who it is yet! Which means that as in the past, my vote will be pretty much a shot in the dark!

Gee, that sounds kind of glum coming from a well-educated, well-read and socially aware person like you, Bhrahm!

Why are there no debates, why doesn’t the media grill each candidate on what they stand? Why is there no ‘know your candidate’ awareness program? Why is the voter asked take such an important decision without adequate information?

If this is how you feel, barely three weeks before a landmark election that will decide the fate of the country in terms of setting an unsavory nexus between religion and politics, what must be the criteria for the uneducated masses that really determine who will come to power?

One thing’s for sure, the kind of leader that I would want never seems to be even in the reckoning! Makes me wonder whether it is because I don’t have my ear to the ground or there is a flaw in the system!

By Abhay Mangaldas

The case of beer

The continuation of a dialogue on modern times between Bhrahm and Vish – two fictitious Ahmedabadi characters, like you and me.

Vish, you must have often heard that Gujarat is dry because it is Gandhiji’s home state! Have you ever tried to question it or dig deeper?

What’s there to dig? The law enforcing authorities make a huge amount of money from bootleggers…. that’s how deep it gets. Because, I am told that there is more Johny Walker Black Label consumed in this state than what is made in their brewery in Scotland!

That’s just one side of the story. Gujarat is also amongst the safest states in the country.

Maybe so if you discount the riots. But as far as protecting Gandhiji’s ideals are concerned, he was against smoking and eating meat as well, so why clamp down only on alcohol?

He was against alcohol for a different reason. Men mistreated their women and families due to alcohol. There is no denying that alcohol not being available openly has curbed this social injustice to some extent. Don’t forget that women constitute 50% of the vote!

Do you mean to say that Gandhiji’s ideals apply only to people and politics of Gujarat and nowhere else in the country?! Don’t women in other states face the same issues? Do you think that there is higher injustice to women in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh or Rajasthan, our immediate neighbors? And if so, why are these states not imposing prohibition? It makes no sense to me that what I do in another state quite freely and legally, is considered illegal in my home state.

So what do you think is a pragmatic solution to this issue, which I believe has not taken center stage only because of the vested interest of the party that comes to power?

I think that no progressive leadership in Gujarat can afford to talk about making the state a forerunner in the country without addressing this issue. There has to be a level playing field for Gujaratis to compete. I think beer, that has less than 10% alcohol content, should be legalised immediately and think about the rest in a phased manner. I don’t think you can even begin to imagine the economic and social impact of such a shift in policy for the people of Gujarat!

Well, for a start, it would probably wipe out the entire fiscal deficit of the state… not such a bad thing considering that it’s coffers are running dry!

Did you know that though Gujaratis constitute the biggest chunk of the tourism happening in this country, they prefer out of state holiday destinations… the big culprit being prohibition?

I think the social scene as a whole would undergo a metamorphosis. People would start going out more…. besides tourism, there would be resurgence in the arts and theatre.. in fact, I can’t think of a negative impact at all! Can you? Don’t forget, drinking mild alcohol like wine was an ancient social custom, deeply rooted in our culture and mythology.

Don’t say! You mean we are being deprived of following an ancient custom?! How can this be allowed when the social and economic (and therefore, political) fall-out of making beer legal appears everything but negative?

Irony is that it won’t even kill the policy maker’s golden goose, because beer is not part of the mainstream bootlegging business… they make their money on harder stuff.

So we are actually talking ‘I don’t lose and you gain’ scenario, are we? ‘Cheers’ to that! But what about Gandhiji’s ideals?

Think about it, if for instance, a portion of the tax collected from sale of beer went towards providing education for every child in the state, do you think Gandhiji would disapprove?

By Bhrahma

Life is a comma
Wow! The last two weeks went by really fast. So many things happening every day!

Vish, if I asked you the difference between what you did in the last two weeks from what you did the previous two weeks or the two weeks before that, what would you say?

Hmm. Lets see! Well…. I guess it’s a continuation of a process that goes on day to day. I can’t really say that anything I am doing is drastically different from how I spent my time before! Maybe 10% of it changes, but the other 90% remains more or less the same.

Exactly. Think of each day as a comma, each week as a sentence, each month as a page and each year as a chapter… in the book of our life. We spend each day, doggedly making our way through the metaphoric punctuations, albeit with an acute sense of self-importance.

Bhrahm, your analogy reminds me about the story of the pigmy cutting his way through thick jungle grass with a machete – he thinks he is in a large field and the only way he can get through is to cut through it. He is too short to see over the top to look for a clearer path that could be just a short way away and too much in a hurry stop and climb a tree to check the terrain for a better route.

That’s pretty much the story of my life, Vish! Just when I think I have made fair progress and pause to glance back, I realize that in the larger context, it’s not just my day that’s a comma, but my entire existence is! If we look at history, only the characters and context seem to change, the story remains the same and it keeps repeating. Today’s War against Terror in Afghanistan was yesterday’s War against Communism in Vietnam. Tomorrow, it will just take another name.

Thanks for making me feel like the pigmy guy, pal!

Think of it as a humbling reality that frees you of the burden of rushing through the chapters. Unfortunately, most of us don’t pause, either often enough or long enough, and end up wasting more chapters ‘chopping through grass’, like the pigmy.

Dude, you are beginning to depress me! Do you mean to tell me you are wasting your time everyday!

Not all of it! I know that if I stepped back more often for an overview of the larger picture, I would waste less time and life would seem more meaningful.

So what stops you?

Oh! just lack of applcation. Like many of us, I too tend lead a robotic existance.

Gosh, how long do you think before man evolves to the next level?

I cannot forsecast a Darwinian answer but if I were to take a guess, the next big step will be when human’s get cloned. That has to be the final chapter - when man can challenge the supreme power and fight the Mother of all Wars!

Who wins if India loses…a conspiracy theory!

Hey Bhrahm, good to see you again, it's been a while! What's up?

Hi Vish, I am still a bit shell-shocked! What with the riots, the scams, the terrorist attacks, the nuke scare…life has been dodgy, you have to admit! It makes one think, what next?! I am beginning to look at things from a different perspective.

Like how?

Who do you think has the highest vested interest to keep India on its knees?

Why Pakistan, of course!

What can Pakistan gain, except Kashmir? Both countries need to focus on Economic development and education, which they can do if they divert less money towards defense.

Then who?

China.

Give me a break! Why would China want to waste time bothering about India, we are a mosquito in comparison.

Don't be dazzled by the gleam of their superficial success. While privatised companies in China may be thriving, they have a growing problem of unemployment and unrest in the public sector, their socialist legacy. You can't expect a socialist country with 1.4 billion people, who for years have had all their basic necessities provided for by the state, take on the avatar of capitalism without going through the labour pains of transition? Look at the latest Time magazine cover story and you'll know what I mean. Millions of unemployed, growing disillusionment amongst the masses, threat of a civil uprising…all potent stuff!

But how would keeping India unstable solve their problem?

Direct Foreign Investment. China gets over $40 Billion of it a year, against India's $3 Billion. The only way that China can keep its loss making public sector chugging along during the transition is by subsidizing it with a bigger share of foreign investment. If the rate of inflow goes down, the bubble would burst! It has must, therefore, project itself as the ONLY safe destination for foreign investments in this region till the transition is complete, which may take five to ten more years.

How will they do this?

Do you think Pakistan has the guts to provoke and challenge India without the tacit support of China, who also happens to be its main supplier of military and nuclear technology? Forget foreign investment, even the foreign diplomatic missions in India have closed down under the latest threat of Nuclear War! The Chinese must be laughing all the way to the bank!

What else?

They have launched an economic offensive...influx of cheap Chinese products that are threatening the survival of local manufacturing units. Then they will use their influence to destabilize our border - aside from the Kashmir, where they are using Pakistan, they have occupied Indian territory, which is a thorn they can use to hurt us.

I have heard talk of them diverting the waters of the Ganges by claiming their right over it as they have Tibet.

Imagine what would happen if the river was diverted from flowing through India! And in Nepal, Maoists rebels have already taken control of over one-third the territory!
No prizes for guessing who could be funding them and where they could start trouble next! Does it take a genius to figure out what keeps the Burmese Military Junta in power in spite of its isolation from the rest of the world for decades? China has many options available and they will use them. Everything will be covert of course, and it will be 'Indi-Chini bhai-bhai' on the surface!

What can we do?

Only a strong and visionary leader can galvanize India and steer it on course. With none in sight and the existing lot seemingly afflicted with myopia, I guess we don't have much choice but to make an independent call on how to deal with the instability that lies ahead!

A Precarious Balance

'Hey Vish, do you find that, consciously or subconciously, you are always seeking a balance in everything that you do in life!

I guess that's how most of us perceive things! Who doesn't want live life on an even keel?

You end up dividing life into different compartments, don't you? There is work, relationships…with spouse (when there is one!), family…then there is health…. emotional, intellectual and spiritual growth… and your present state of mind is based on how you are faring in all of the above, right? But you invariably find something missing in one or the other.

…. and your focus is always on that missing aspect, isn't that what you are trying to say? Like an exam where you even though you may get a distinction in all the subjects, if you fail in one you still repeat the year!

Well, that may not be an appropriate analogy as it is probably important to recognise your weaknesses and make a conscious effort in improving on them, however good you may be in other areas! Would you not be fooling yourself if you try and hide you failings under the carpet of your achievements? What I meant was that you rarely savor the gift of life… this in spite knowing that in reality, if you only focussed on evolution of the self, the rest would automatically fall in place!

Well, as they say, all you need to change the world is to change your attitude, right?

Easier said than done. Try and remember the last time you felt that 'if I died at this moment, I'd be a happy person'!

Let me think….

Not to say that you never do, but most of the time, you are either brooding about something in the past or in anxiety of the future…and seldom in the present moment! Unfortunately, even after you realise this, the moments keep passing by…. !

Ah! The pleasure of life is in the journey and not the destination…. it's the means and not the end that really matters…?! Is that your drift?

Pretty much! That's why I like the saying 'take life by its horns'…it's nice to compare life to a raging bull of pulsating energy…with the reigns in our hands. Imagine! We have the power to channel this awesome energy in to whatever we chose to… without ever losing the excitement of the ride!

And all we end up doing is to keep looking back or looking in front and forget that the bull is right under you! No wonder we get thrown off along the wayside!

Reminds me of the three categories of people who make up this world. Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who wonder what happened!

Bhrahm! Now how is that relevant to the subject of maintaining balance?

That we worry more about how other people think of us…a major reason why we look ahead or behind and not under. We shape our reality based on a perception of how others see it. Heck! How many times have you stopped yourself from doing something that you'd really love to, only because it would be perceived to be inappropriate… or, on the other hand, doing something that you really didn't want to, but did it only because you were expected to? We rarely take out time to get to know ourselves, so busy are we in flowing with the tide! No wonder our identity, for most part, remains a blur…like a moving reflection in a funny mirror!

So, till we don't recognise and accept who we really are, we can't enjoy the proverbial bull ride?!

… and our life remains in a suspended animation… a perpetual state of trying to stop from tilling over…a precarious balance in search of an equilibrium.