The arc of fishing

The fishing line was made of nylon wire of about 1mm diameter. Fifty meters of this white translucent line was wound crisscross over a flat piece of wood six inches in length, an inch in width and quarter inch thick. To the free end were attached five steel nuts with the sole purpose to add weight. The nuts were ensconced in a piece of cloth to prevent friction with sand. About 18 inches from the nuts-end 4 to 5 fishing hooks of varying sizes were firmly tied in at intervals, prawns were used as bait and that end was neatly laid on the ground. The line was unwound to the required length of throw and neatly placed in continuing concentric pattern ensuring that there are no obstacles when the line gets pulled by the throw. Finally the piece of wood with remaining line still wound to it was placed under the weight of a rock to hold the throw without losing the line. Yes, the throw was the artistic and scientific part of fishing with a line at sea.

The ultimate nut at the other end (self or any other line fisher) then picks up the line and holds it about a meter from the nuts end. The hand holding the line is extended outward at an angle of 45 degrees and the nuts end is circled overhead until it picks up enough speed for the release and the line to fly out into the sea in a beautiful arc. 

Years later when I was picking up golf, I was told that it is the club-head speed that propelled the ball to desired distances. The arc the golf ball followed after a good swing, I noticed, followed a similar arc as that bag of nuts followed in the thick monsoon air over a raging Arabian sea on those wonderful Sunday mornings just a hundred or so yards from my dormitory in the school.

Dreams, fate and destiny

“Actions are the seed of fate, deeds grow into destiny.”

Destiny is neither preordained nor is it a matter of chance. Destiny is one of choice to be attained by action(s).  How somebody masters his fate is of consequence rather than his fate. Destiny is something we choose for ourselves and work to achieve.  Fate is something that happens to us, and seemingly takes away our choices. If we were to insure our lives in the spiritual world, God would apply the Force majeure clause for fate in the policy. That one is born to an Indian-Italian parentage is fate. Whether that one will be the Prime Minister of India one day is neither fated nor destined and can only de determined by one’s actions.

Inaction is also action. Narasihma Rao became the Prime Minister of India due to his inaction (that he was an effective PM is another matter). So has Manmohan Singh. When Nehru J. proclaimed famously India’s ‘tryst with destiny’, it was just a voluble statement. India did not gain Independence because that was its destiny; it won its independence through a protracted non violent struggle, if we are to believe our historians. It was action (albeit non violent) that drove the British out and not destiny.

The responsibility of finding one’s destiny is of the self. Take for instance a yacht at sea. If the sails are down it will drift and be washed ashore someplace or wreck on some rocks. But if the sails are put up the yacht can be steered to a destination of choice.  Neither is destiny. One is the result of inaction while the other is a consequence of action. When one asks questions about destiny (s)he hould also listen to the answers which will help  the self to decide better. This will reveal our real desire which can be pursued with passion and complete commitment. Else we will also drift like the yacht and blame it on fate or destiny. Destiny is what we have to achieve through action or inaction.

“Dreams are like stars...you may never touch them, but if you follow them they will lead you to your destiny”.
 

Fog of war

In the issue of Sunday Times on August 21, 2011, a special report titled “War & Grief” eulogizing a Pakistan Air Force pilot, who knowingly shot down a Indian civilian aircraft well within Indian Territory, for his letter of condolence written to the daughter of the pilot of the unarmed aircraft (not part of war) is in the least hypocritical and downright sensationalism.

The act as from Shoban Saxena’s narration can not be termed as anything but murder of innocents in cold blood. The following points stand out.

“Then Hussain spotted the ‘target’. Flying extremely close to it, Husain read the plane’s markings and the number starting with VT ………”

1. The Pakistani pilot made passes close enough to see the marking of the civilian aircraft, which he would (should) have reported as such.

2.    The Indian civilian aircraft put out the white flag and sought mercy, by waggling its wings.  This was not reported before shooting. Why not?

These two points clearly indicate that there was no fog of war when the incidence took place – for the IAF for some inexplicable reason was absent from the scene. Now, after forty odd years the Indian media is going to town with a condolence message from the killer pilot – a condolence message and not even an apology. How does this message help anything anyway?

When a mistake is made by the security forces in the valley in a genuine situation akin to the fog of war, the media in a partisan way looking for public sympathy to enhance its own viewer ship / readership skins the soldier of the Nation mercilessly. What a pity for our  democracy and freedom!

A heart of Golf

 

They say Golf is a game “fast catching up with Indians”.  Some of us know that this game had caught up with a lot of us decades back. Those familiar with this game may recall mats and engine oil that drove the game in grassless cantonments. For the uninitiated, the engine oil was not used to propel the ball. It was mixed with sand, ferried from far away river beds, and evenly spread over a flat surface usually round in shape; somewhere in this brown area was a 4 inch diameter hole dug into the ground, into which the golf ball is required to be hit / putted. These days there are many near proper golf courses in most cantonments and all class A cities in India.

Be that it may, you may wonder what has golf to do with heart. A heart of golf is the best heart ever. On reflection we find that a ‘heart of gold’ in reality will be inanimate and hence devoid of any feelings which would be very uncharacteristic for a good heart. A big heart is something which is difficult to hide and soon will become a small heart with dwindling resources. A heart of golf, on the other hand, is forever and always throbbing with varying emotions. If you know a person’s golf you know his heart or vice versa. To understand this you will have you take a walk with a keen golfer on his round of nineteen holes, no less.

I will take you though a round of golf with a keen golfer. Golf courses are very eco friendly places. In there you will find a lot of grass (manicured and wild), woods and glens, waterways, sand (like in the beaches) and a lot of undergrowth sometimes with snakes slithering about. A lucky golfer in a rare moment of brilliance will find himself on a fairly open grassy area evenly cut and stretching a fair way known as fairway. But to most golfers intend on pursuing the perpetually errant ball, a round of golf will resemble a walk through a rain forest. To some it will be like a walk on the beach (with a lot of time spend in sand traps known as bunkers). May be to the same person it will be varied experiences on different days. All this within a walk of about seven thousand meters measured tee to hole. Actually most golfers will zigzag their way from tee to hole and the total distance covered at the end of a round is more likely to be close to 10000 meters.

In that space of 10000 meters, a golfer experiences myriad emotions –joy, despair, despondency, loss, elation, ecstasy and much more.  The cardiologist will tell you that varying emotions are better for the heart than a monotonous feeling. All these emotions will come naturally to a golfer on the course during a game, without involving another person including your playing partner or opponent.

Then there is that part of the game on the nineteenth hole – which is nothing but the familiar bar, the watering hole. That is where all the fun is. Of the hundred odd strokes taken in the round the only one talked about will be the five footer putt on the sixth for the only par score for a hole, you would have had in the round. That is enough to raise your spirits (and the spirits) and pump up your heart.

So if you have a heart of golf, you got it.

Spineless Government, gutless opposition and garrulous civil society

I write this with a fervent hope that this movement by India Against Corruption can in the long run demolish corruption rampant in the system. My views, with my limited intelligence, is an attempt to see beyond passion.

The movement by Anna Hazare can snowball into anything. The stance of ‘This and That’ is likely to succeed in the long run rather than a posturing of ‘This or That’. The natural process is ‘This and That’.  Ego, which resides beyond the realm of reason, comes into reckoning in a ‘This or That’ situation. Let us consider that this ‘This or That’ situation causes the inept and spineless Government to fall or abdicate. That will be a defeat for the movement against corruption which will immediately become directionless and various political forces will apparently hijack the cause and we will have to wait for a new parliament to be elected and sworn in before we know what is in store and the movement is restarted.

At this point the Government seems to be on slippery grounds for an immediate reason other than corruption. It is portrayed as denying Anna the right to protest – a serious charge in any democracy. There are tell tale signs of the cause being hijacked with the ire now directed at the propriety of the Government. The political class just loves it and will lap it up day and night!!! (or is it for the Knight is shining armour (Rahul) to ride out of the night on a white horse and become the hero?).

Currently the ‘Lokpal bill’, in some form, is in Parliament. The other big National party the BJP can speed up the process of discussing the bill in parliament and come up trumps. But it does not have the guts to explicitly take sides one way or the other. If it criticizes Anna the apprehension is that the public sentiments will work against the party. If it goes the whole hog with Anna it will appear to be abetting the subversion of constitutional propriety.  So it will prefer the Government to fall in order to gain time and space to work out strategies. The opposition will continue to corner the Government on subverting democracy and wait for it to fall. So no Lokpal or corruption related activities until the next elections. The opposition will try to keep the cake and eat it too.

The atmosphere is pregnant with possibilities.  But in all the possibilities as of now the cause (corruption) is being pushed to the background. We are mired in a ‘my right’ vs ‘your right’ fight – much like the fellow crossing the road!!!

“All the guiding principles of military operations grow out of the one basic principle: to strive to the utmost to preserve one's own strength and destroy that of the enemy....” so spoke Mao Tse Tung of war. This is not a war. Here destruction of one of the forces will not mean victory.
Right or wrong, the two mistakes committed by the Civil Society (which includes all of us) are:-

-          Lokpal bill should not have been the issue. It should have been corruption and non governance. You can not seriailise agitations saying today it is Lokpal; tomorrow it will be electoral reforms and so on….
-          

-          Fasting should not have been the method, it should have been Dharna. The momentum should have been build up slowly – anything that is build up slowly will sustain longer. Fasting may appeal to the very minority of the urban population (even here there are people like me, however insignificant, who do not approve of it) – it will never appeal to the majority of rural population for whom missing meals is routine.

The other aspect is for our civil society to desist from being garrulous with phrases such as this being a ‘second freedom struggle’ and dialogues like ‘Watan aapke hawale hain sathion’ while being taken away by the police.

I too want a corruption free India.

God's own messengers!

I was in Kerala yesterday. They call it God’s own country.   It was raining when I landed there in the morning. It continued to rain while I was with the Gods in their country – isn't it actually my country? It was the same rain as in my pre-preteen and preteen years. I remember the very same smell I can smell even in my dreams.  A sudden desire to do nothing – nothing productive that is – engulfed me.  That is how Gods want Kerala to be. Those who want to work have to get out of that ‘country’. Those Gods there just do not like anybody working. Well aware of these feelings I do not carry my lap top to Kerala. That would be an affront to my Gods there. Statistics are rolled out to prove that Kerala consumes more alcohol than any other state in India. Well, I suppose tippling falls in the category of doing nothing.

Even during my sojourn amidst coconut groves, soaking in the monsoon and savouring ‘karimeen varuthate’ (A special fish fry) and kallu (toddy), further south in the Capital of the state,on the premises of the Padmanabhaswamy temple (famous for the new found treasure) priests and astrologers were closeted with the Gods as only they can to get Gods' mind on the treasure (the process is known a devaprasnam wherein these interlocutors of the sacred and heavenly bodies can converse directly with the Gods!). In the ‘press conference’ that followed it was revealed by these self style 'spokespersons'  that the Gods do not want the ‘treasure’ to leave the temple and the sixth vault (gold, silver et al worth over 1 lakh crore rupees were found in vaults 1 to 5 a few weeks earlier) was not to be opened! They claim that the treasures discovered at the temple must not be moved, or the wrath of the gods will be unleashed.

It is sad that some of us still live in the past (dark ages) and wait for a modern day Timur, Ghazni, Ghori or Clive to come and take it all away and watch history repeat itself.

"The wealth should not be displaced. The lord is not pleased with intrusion into the chambers that has already taken place. And none of the valuables should be exhibited within the temple or outside. If you do so you will go against the lord's will," said Padmnabha Sharma, Temple Astrologer.

I swear that was not what the Gods told me when we were sharing karimeen and kallu in the rain! Alas! nobody listens to me!

Is India adrift?

Tis is not about politics. I am talking economics.  Instability in economy is rocking the West and causing more than a ripple in the East.

On 4 September 1888, Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi traveled to London, England, to study law at University College London to train as a barrister. Gandhi was called to the bar on 10 June 1891. Anna says, “Foreign education” of the PM and Kapil Sibal is hindering their understanding of the Nation. As an Indian who wants to eradicate corruption in public and private life (as in a percentage in black for your new house), how am I supposed to interpret this statement? What is good for Ram need not be good for Lakhan as well. As a corollary Ram was a good king but he was a bad husband. Lakhan was a good brother but he would have failed as an independent leader as he was prone to look over his shoulders now and then. An excellent foreman is not automatically an efficient manager.

This is equally true for Anna and Manmohan Singh. It is obvious that Anna is confused without advise which I suspect comes to him in incoherent spurts. It is also true that for whatever reasons (certainly not lack of education) MMS has been an ineffective PM. If the congress party had left economy to MMS and taken care of the non existent governance, Indian economy would now have been in a position to dictate.

Is India adrift?

Activism

What is good for Ram need not be good for Lakhan as well. As a corollary Ram was a good king but he was a bad husband. Lakhan was a good brother but he would have failed as an independent leader. An excellent foreman  is not automatically an efficient manager.

In any case, Anna as an individual is not the issue here. The issue is one of corruption in Governance. When there is a failure at one level how wise is it to build a hierarchy of supervisors above each level of failure (I recall a story of an ant, suggestive of the futility of supervisors, posted – by Kamal - in this forum a few weeks back). The supervisors come from the same flock as the ones in the rungs below. It is time the society owned up collective responsibility and redeems our self. We will never make progress as long as it is us and them because if we let that be it will always be them and us. ‘We’ will be absent in our Nation. You may argue that the divide already exists. Ok, if there is a divide the efforts should be to close the chasm rather than broaden it.

A revolution is never an option in a real democracy because it is like fighting the insurgents – in both cases one is fighting the self except that a militant being armed has to be handled differently initially. In both cases the solution is much beyond confrontation. The folly of invoking Gandhi in any andolan in a democratic Nation is a compounded mistake.  The Mahatma was fighting a war against an occupier. Anything is fair in war they say. So fasting was fine. In a free and independent Nation fasting as a means of protest is akin to blackmail. 

What you see is not what you get. The Government is fooling around and pulling the wool over the eyes of the public. Once again we are playing into the hands of powers that be by stretching this matter of Lokpal Bill a bit too far and giving the Government an opportunity to once again hide their incompetence behind an issue which will be non in the long run.

Yes, actions speak louder than words…actions are required in our everyday life…the society has to change…each individual has to discharge his / her duty towards Nation building. I was there in Freedom Park, Bangalore joining the Anna brigade last April and thought I had made my point.  I do not feel it is right and meaningful for me to do that again and again.

Do you really think that if Anna fasts unto death, India will be rid of corruption.? On the face of it this may seem like a defeatist question. But really do you think it will matter? Can you tell me which event in history has visibly galvanized the Nation for a cause? 

  Will Anna’s sacrifice then be greater than of Captain Vikram Batra’s or scores of other soldiers who laid down their lives and are now forgotten along with their cause? Else why should the media repeatedly highlight only the minor excesses of the Defense Forces and not sincerely and proudly recall its sacrifices now and then? Let us not fool ourselves. Let us find ways other than fasting to tackle our problems…and those ways have to start from the bottom and not from the top.

My friend Mahesh and many others have time and again harped on this matter of e governance. There have been no real takers for it from this forum…A strong call for e governance and early implementation of the same will serve the country better than a ‘Jokepal bill’ or for that matter even a Lokpal bill.

What is in a name?

How did Lokpal bill get its name? Is it because it is supposed to be people friendly – pal of the Lok! Nay! It can’t be a Hinglish word for sure though actually it is possibly meant to be what it conveys in Hinglish. The word has been actually derived from Sanskrit words "loka" (people) and "pala" (caretaker). So the word Lokpal means 'care taker of people'. The government and the elected representatives are also caretakers of the people. So in effect the Lokpal is an additional caretaker. Two people to do the same job! Some call the bill now introduced in parliament by the name ‘Jokepal’. This is a combination of pure English words – as in joke and pal. It could also be Sanglish as in ‘Joke’ and ‘pala’, meaning caretaker of jokes. Come to think of it…an official court jester is missing in parliament unless of course by definition we call all temporary occupants of the august house jokers. That would be rude and taking generalization a bit too far. 

The name should be ‘palpal bill’ – because it proposes to take care of the uncaring caretakers and not the loka. What is in a name or a remark? A casual remark like ‘tuje dekhlenge’ has more than one meaning. Which one to apply is at the discretion of the professor. 

At the moment it is neither lokpal nor palpal or even jokepal. It is loka Vs pala. Who will bridge this divide?

A case for lesser laws and more self discipline – No more fasts please.

India is a  democracy with a constitution and a bicameral legislature.  The judiciary and civil rights activists can do only so much in respect of governance. Here I am not righting the cause. My views are not a direct confrontation between corruption and Lokpal bill. That corruption is a major scourge to Nation building is an established fact. It has to be eradicated is a given. My point is how far we should go with judicial activism and civil movements for any cause before they uncannily and dangerously become the tools for governance.  Judiciary and Civil society should be deterrents to misconduct by law makers and should not attempt to become law makers themselves. If they become the focal point of Governance anarchy is bound to follow. There is a line which neither can afford to cross. The elected legislators have to legislate and somebody else can’t do that job in their stead. Moreover, the constitution does not allow that. Anna has done enough. A point has been made. Another fast or a mass movement now will be counter productive and possibly play into the hands of those divisive forces which will tend to destabilize the political system. If that be the intention or the unintended result we do not have ready alternative for governance (like say the Army) and anarchy may result.  We have to reform the electoral system to ensure the elected representative really represents the majority of the eligible electorate.

Gandhi, the Mahatma, is from another era. Though his principles and ideals are relevant today, I am afraid his methods are obsolete. I know many will term this view as blasphemous. But I always maintain we need to see all aspects before sitting in judgment. There are few voices today raised against a Lokpal bill and the methods adopted by a section of the civil society to make a point. In an entrenched parliamentary democracy of our dear Nation, we will be naïve to turn a deaf ear to these voices. Instead of creating a plethora of monoliths functioning in silos to oversee governance, we will be better off if we concentrate on Governance itself.

We are all part of a society with police forces to enforce coded laws. Statistics showane ever increasing crime scene in our country in spite of strict laws and purportedly professionally competent enforcing agencies. I am not even talking of conviction rates which are more pathetic than these statistics.

It is but natural to question the effectiveness of another law and another enforcing agency to curb special crimes committed by another stratum of the society.  I have a feeling, what we should do is improve the quality of the elected representatives. The only way we can do that is by improving the quality of the society at large. We are not shaping the society except to profess anti establishment sentiments. Inadvertently the citizen feels he has no responsibility towards the society or the Nation and everything has to be delivered by the establishment. Here again let me clear any misconception by reiterating that I am not handing out a clean chit to the establishment. I am only asking for a look in the mirror.

Let me illustrate this point with an unseemly insignificant act as an example. I am on a city road driving my car at 40 KMPH. At that speed the thinking distance is about 30 feet, breaking distance is about 45 feet and stopping distance is about 75 feet. Suddenly you catch the eye of a pedestrian crossing the road at about 50 feet from you. As soon as he realizes he has caught your eye he slows down his pace as if taking a few quicker steps will hurt his ego / he will be considered a second rate citizen / infringe on liberty and freedom as he has the same right on the road as you have et al. He does not realise that by taking two quick steps he will avoid a possible accident that will inconvenience a lot of people besides himself. It is intriguing to think that such a simple fact is beyond his comprehension.

Friends, this is the state of our Nation and this incident is not trivial. It exhibits a dangerous, irresponsible and ill informed mindset. Yet more misconceptions can be drawn from this example. But having made a point let me say that we should aim to correct the mind set of crossing roads by making him alive to the environment.  The day we can achieve this will be the day of deliverance. I am afraid introduction of new laws and new law enforcement agencies will not help the society in its progression. New laws will only spawn more law breakers, better advocates, more efficient chartered accountants, cunning bankers and an even overstrtched judiciary. Scams and high scale corruption is not possible without the connivance of all these professionals and more who are part of our society. We are failing miserably in shaping our society.

Let us give way to reason and not passion.

Saraswati or Lakshmi

There is plenty of Lakshmi but too little of Saraswati!

 

 The perception of money over matter is caused by the liberalization of the economy in the 90s. When the flood gates are open large amounts of water will gush forth. In the wake of the transition in economic policies it was realised by many that Laksmi was better approachable through Saraswati who was not immediately recogisable. That was when Sakunis, who were deplored until then were approached by those who could not access Saraswati. Harshad Mehtas, Ketan Parikhs and the lot of scamsters circumvented Saraswati to reach Lakshmi. What followed was unprecedented. It is just that economic reforms brought in more money into the system and interchanged the roles of Laksmi and Saraswati so much so that now Saraswati is approachable only through Laksmi.

 

 That is when we stopped respecting Saraswati. During the economic uplift the wealthy became wealthier ad so on…my point is there ensued unequal distribution of wealth…a lot of us grudged paying the plumber his dues.. we refused to pay him for the knowledge he possessed..…here is an illustrative example.

One of the machines in the factory was rendered non-functional. The in-house engineers failed to bring it back to life. Production suffered…there was panic all around. An expert from outside had to be requisitioned. He came and inspected the machine for five minutes, took out a wooden mallet from his tool box and knocked a part of the machine and pronto it started purring again. Putting back the mallet into the bag he announced his fees as Rs. 5000/-. An astounded manager hesitantly queried whether it was not too much for what he did; all he did was to give the machine a knock with the mallet. The expert’s reply was “my charges are not for tapping the machine with a mallet. They are for knowing where to tap and with what intensity”. 

The problem is that those who have money (Laksmi) are seldom ready to share that with those who may be more deserving of it.

Everything in this world is relative. The disparity of wealth within the three segments of rich, middle class and poor in India is itself vast. The varied demography and diverse distribution of resources in our beautiful country renders generalization irrelevant. Say a person earning  ` 100 a month in a particular region of the country will spend ` 130 a month whereas in a different region a person with similar earning will spend ` 60 a month. Who is better for the country – a million rupee question. There is a contradiction here. This diversity in our country is its weakness as well as its strength. We will have to be patient for this contradiction to reach a balance. Until then the turmoil resulting in mismanagement will continue...

There are many ways to speed up the process. Bringing education (Saraswati) to the masses is one of them.