The curious case of the dog and the milk bikies

Last night while waiting at Platform #9 of Bangalore City Station, I was approached by a canine of pitiable disposition. After the a tail wag greeting a brush against my rucksack, she decided to park her belly near the bench where I was seated. I was taken in by this show off affection and decided to get her biscuits.4 years ago I had these adopted pups near (the erstwhile) Ganesha Tiffin Stall outside Infosys Bangalore DC who used to love Tiger biscuits; since tiger biscuits were not available in the platform I got my new friend Parle G (Rs 4/-) instead. She loved them, but the people sitting near me seemed to be disgusted and asked me to take her away to some other place, so like the pied piper of Hamlin, I enticed the she-dog to a sparsely crowded part of the platform. Here she gulped with gusto and we were done with the packet but there was no sign of a burp emanating from her tummy, she wanted more. The nearest tea stall had only had a Britannia Milk Bikis and some Cream biscuits. I bought the Milk Bikis (Rs 7/-), but our lady smelled it and wouldn’t eat, much to my embarrassment. I tried but she just wouldn’t have any of it. A locomotive hooted somewhere at a distance and the Mangalore express chugged into platform #9.

I left, not before I displayed my unhappiness over her stubbornness, but some questions still remain unanswered. I have never had a canine pet so I don’t understand pedigree. Why wouldn’t the pooch have Milk Bikis when she had a less expensive Parle-G? I can hazard a guess:

· She is not a supporter of the Kings XI team or doesn’t like Rahul Dravid/Ness Wadia so decided to boycott Britannia.

Other than that I am blank.

But one nice thing the animal taught me was that “price tags don’t matter; you can buy someone happiness and it needn’t be expensive”.

Its a beautiful day

Date: 35th day of Q3 FY2009-2010
Location: Infosys Nethra DC, somewhere near the Karnataka/Kerala border.
Weather: Clear/Sunny day with no haze.
Mood: Read below.


The truth is that your cubicle never welcomes you, it’s your work that drags you into it and after yet another bumpy ride to work this morning pondering about all the work stacked up on my desktop and how to get them out of my plate I didn’t expect anything different today.

I love movies, the most exciting part I liked about movies is the opening of the curtain – these days that excitement is hard to feel thanks to the 30 mins of promos and trailers before the movie begins. Well as I walked into the office campus today, there was another curtain waiting to be lifted - it was the veil of haze that had until now shielded the magnificent view of the Arabian sea from our eyes. The western coast of India is hardly 10 KMs from this office which on clear days like today, that are hard to find, offers views of the Western Ghats to the East and the Arabian Sea to the west. It's been 3 weeks since I had started working at this office at the Nethra DC, yet I had to wait until today to see the Arabian sea - a sight that made an indelible impression on me and one that shall remain etched in my mind forever.

When I was a child, we used to stay at this place called Maharajpur in Gwalior, I used to watch Mirage 2000 fighter jets take off from close to 1 kilometer from my house, the initial excitement died out after 2 months, and the sound from the afterburners and the sonic booms were more of an annoyance than fun. Imagine that we had a view of the Arabian sea everyday, it would not have been half the fun it was today - this is nature's way of maintaining exclusivity! This is nature’s way of surprising us with a gift when we least expect it.

I fondly recollected the Band of Brother's episode where the Easy company camps at a castle in Austria with a beautiful lake next to it. Though I could not go for a swim like Major Winters did in that episode, I nevertheless felt transformed. The soothing sight this morning also brought about a realization - no one comes to office for work, we all come here for the experience. Experience is what matters and experiences are what count!

I started my day looking at paradise with Bono singing "it’s a beautiful day" inside my head. :)

The Statue Politics.

Reaching across to people has never been easier as it is in today's world. Cities are fast embracing the Internet age and the IT highway has started making inroads into the Indian villages, yet it seems that many leaders these days have little faith in the power of the electronic/print or mass connect mediums. Connecting with one's subjects has been the top priority for all great rulers, the Fatehpur Sikri has the Diwan-e-aam, which was the platform for the Emperor to meet his subjects. Kautilya in his book the Arthashashtra recommended use of spies to sense the atmosphere among his subjects. Two generations after Kautilya wrote his treatise, India saw one of its greatest emperors - Asoka.

Emperor Asoka was a brilliant administrator, his empire spanned from Kalinga in the east to the Hindu Kush mountains in the north west which posed an administrative challenge of a gigantic proportion, yet he found a unique way of spreading the message of righteous living to his subjects across his empire. Asoka understood the importance of communication, he knew that he needs to be aware of his audience, the mode to get the communication across to them and the language that he needs to communicate in; he addressed the challenge by issuing edicts, these edicts were erected in places frequented by his subjects and were usually form of a text in the local language inscribed on rock. It is not surprising then that Asokan symbols can be found in India's national flag and national emblems.

Two millenia ago an emperor had created an effective system of reaching out to his subjects, yet today that system seems to have been lost in the pages of history. Leaders find it easier to communicate with statues as compared to reaching out to the people in person. There was a status erection spree in Uttar Pradesh a few months ago which the country's apex judicial body had to put a stay on, then were was the proposal to install the statue of Chattrapati Shivaji maharaj in the sea off the coast of Mumbai. The more recent and rather ironical development was the announcement that 30 statues of the late CM YS Rajashekara Reddy will be installed across Andhra Pradesh.

The helicopter in which Mr YSR was travelling crashed, because he decided to brave the inclement weather and keep up with the appointment with his people as part of his mass connect program, it is ironical that instead of taking a cue out of the importance that Mr YSR set on communicating directly with his people, the government is busy planning installation of his statues. Mr YSR won two assembly elections back to back, he was very efficient in implementing NREGS which endeared him to most of the people, his legacy will live whether or not there are statues of him across his state. What is essential now is that the schemes he had initiated and worked on are continued with the same efficiency and that can be only achieved by reaching out to the people like he did. The age of communications makes it simpler to reach out and while a statue may be worth a thousand words, reaching out to your people either personally or via electromagnetic waves is priceless.
(Had sent this article for publication in a daily but it was dinged).

A war of public relations

A little over sixty years ago the American troops marching towards the Arc D Triomphe on Champs Elysees after liberating Paris were greeted by the cheers of the Parisians. The Parisians cheered, for they realized the sacrifices of the Americans who were fighting the war to bring peace not just to their own land, rather to the world entire. Compare that with the images from the year 2001, of a few hundred Pakistanis at Jacobabad in the Sindh province of Pakistan throwing stones, protesting against the United States using their airbases during the war on terror. It is ironical that while the intent of the US forces was to attain world peace, the responses of the public were quite contradictory.

Public sentiments can be swayed with a simple weapon of mass influence which President Obama has so effectively used since days much before he started his campaign. That weapon is “Good PR”. PR forms the core of any engagement; more than winning hearts it’s about winning minds and making people look at things the way you want them to. While we have to accept that the stern policy the United States has adopted in Pakistan was due to the prevailing situations in the region, the drone attacks have not helped the United States win many friends. The popular sentiment in Pakistan is not favorable towards Washington DC and many are of the opinion that the Taliban is a monster that escaped from an American research lab wreaking havoc on the people of Pakistan. Secretary Clinton’s warning to Islamabad though necessary has further confirmed the fear of many that their nation is being influenced and destabilized by external powers. With Pakistan getting back to democratic ways, it is important that US wins over the people who were instrumental in the return of democracy.

People wield power - Iran is a classic example of what might be the consequences of pleasing just the King, while disregarding the sentiments of the masses. And to ensure that the new government of Pakistan does not lose out on the support of its people, prompting another military takeover, the United States would need to adopt a “praise in public, punish in private” approach. If the drone attacks are indeed meeting their objective, effort needs to be made to publish the list of militants that the mission accomplished in eliminating. While the world sees the great lengths the US is going to achieve peace on earth, the message reaching the common folk in Pakistan maybe somewhat skewed; it is imperative therefore to reach out to the public with the right message. There is a thin line between propaganda and “good PR”; the effort to win the hearts and minds of the Pakistanis in my opinion would be well within the limits of “good PR”.

The key is to feed the Pakistani patriotism, while not appearing to be a threat to the country and that can be achieved by letting the Pakistani Army take the spotlight in fighting the belligerents, while Washington works out the plans in the war room. The US can ill-afford to look vigilante by carrying out attacks that draw condemnation from Islamabad. That day at Champs Elysees US infantry ensured that it got the most cheers it could have garnered by letting the French 2nd Armored division lead the march though both had fought shoulder to shoulder, clearly sending the message that, “it was your war and we just helped” instead of making it look like “it was our war and we dragged you into it”.

A challenge of alphabetical proportions

Literature has never been my forte. And learning the language has been an arduous task for me right from Kinder Garten. While numbers were as clear as crystal, alphabets were as esoteric as the Mayan carvings on pyramids. I however have been a fighter and for that very reason I had torn out the page that contained the word "quit" from the first dictionary I ever owned. However it is necessary for the fighter to know the problems he is up against.

I don't know any fighter who became a hero overnight, another key to the success of a fighter is years of tempering from numerous battles. In my effort to learn the language I had to go through many such struggles. The first one being a broken arm when I was two, which led me to the radiology department of the hospital. The monstrous equipments in the lab like spacecrafts from outer space triggered the lachrymal glands near my eyes initiating a quick consolation from my doctor- "That's just a harmless X-Ray machine!". What was to the world "X-Ray", to me was just "Ra". That should have made it obvious that I was different and needed help and an early diagnosis would have made my life easier, however I do not blame anyone - many two year olds are known to invent their own vocabulary and creativity has always been a much sought after virtue.

I continued to work on my vocabulary and was a constant source of entertainment for people around me, which may have been the reason why no one made a serious effort to correct me. No one really paid attention to the fact that while "Teleision" and "Ashing mashing" were names I had invented, I could say "Refrigerator" with relative ease.

It was only in Kinder Garten that everyone started getting worried A - was for Apple, and B was for Ball, C was for Cat and D was for Dog, even E was for Elephant, but F was either Fat or Fo. As the "X" was getting silenced my teacher was being blamed for leaving the French grammar books within the reach of kids. My teacher was however absolved of the charges when it was found that Q was for Keen and not Queen.

Soon everyone started to hate me, for I could hear people muttering "dislike" in hushed tones, whenever I passed by - It was only in the later years that I realized that they were saying "dyslexic". Many paediatricians tried and failed to help me learn. An old lady who was a neighbor blamed it on the effect of the drum-stick tree we had in our home. "Vetaals (evil spirits) were known to reside on drum-stick trees" she said. And as this seemed to be a more acceptable idea to my family as compared to the idea of burning a cube of camphor on my tongue (as suggested by a distant relative who took pity on my condition -and decided to make it worse. Sigh!) the tree was at once brought down. It was a Sunday morning and we decided to celebrate the vanquish of the Vetaal by visiting the zoo. It was a hot day and there seemed to be no end to the number of animals in the zoo, though the canine family was in quarantine because of an epidemic of some sort. It was decided to check the results of operation Vetaal. I was asked to identify the animals to see how well I recognized them I said "Lion", "Tigrrrrrr hehe!", "Eagle", "Parakeet", "Crocodile", "Ant-elope", "Sloth Bear", "Bintorong", "Gorilla", "Crane", "Bison". The mercury kept rising and we came to an enclosure whose board had been defaced with a graffiti I shouted "Otter!", "Otter!" my family looked at the enclosure which had water but saw no otter. My screams of "otter!" went on unabated when a small head bobbed out of the water, soon many heads followed - we were looking at a whole colony of Otters.

There was excitement all around me, I bombarded with pecks on my cheek, while the Vetaal, was being cursed for having hindered the progress of a prodigy who seemed to have an uncanny ability to sense the unseen. I went on saying "Otter!" and was showered with more pecks. We moved on from the enclosure that housed the otters and we saw Macaques, Rhinos, Hippopotamus, Opossums, Porcupines and everywhere I said "Otter" and broke into a chant! Luckily the pecks ceased, which was a relief. At the Kangaroo enclosure I fainted. For what happened next I have heard many versions my first cousin said he made me smell his shoes, while my neighbors son said he spat on my face, I will go by my granny's version that we were helped by some medical students who happened to be around. The doctor had said I had suffered dehydration due to the heat and humidity and the family spoke out in unison "Water!".

Everyone now seemed concur on the threory about the problem I had, however it had to be scientifically verified. An uncle studying psychology who happened to be visiting us that time devised a series of tests for me and patterns began to emerge. "Quick" was "Qick" (pronounced Kick), "Van" was "An", "Wolf" was "Ofl", "Fox" was "Fo", "Yellow" was "Ello" and "Zebra" was "Ebra". The problem had been found - "In my journey from A to Z, I would always get stuck on T !".

Andy

Vote to Boot

The general elections in India are fast approaching and they will decide which MPs get booted out of the parliament, in fact the process may have already begun with two of our MPs already getting "the boot" last week. While this form of protest seems to be fast gaining popularity since the attack on President Bush during his Iraq visit, the origin of "shoeing" away one's opponents may be traced back to 18th century France.

It is believed that during the Industrial Revolution in France workers employed at power looms used to express their dissatisfaction with work by throwing their wooden shoes called sabots at their machinery - this used to lead to a temporary disruption of work or in the worst case, to the failure of the machinery. This act of using sabots to cause a deliberate disruption in a system came to be known as sabotage. So in a way Mr. Jarnail Singh and Mr. Rajmal Singh Saharan have to some extent sabotaged the efforts of Mr. P Chidambaram and Mr. Naveen Jindal in the run up to the elections. While Mr. Chidambaram handled the entire incident rather gracefully, the flying footwear did lead to a brief unrest in Mr. Jindal's meeting. It is interesting to note that both Mr. Jindal and Mr. Chidambaram are MPs from Congress which dates back to as far as 1885 and saw its first split in the 1907 Surat session. During the Surat session, the Congress split into moderates and the extremists and one of the first victims of the extremists was Sir Pherozshah Mehta who found himself sitting in the trajectory of an airborne footwear. Sir Mehta however was not the sole target of the projectile as it had apparently brushed Mr Surendranath Banerjee as well.

It would seem that people's ability to guide the shoes towards their intended victims has grossly deteriorated since 1907, which I feel is a blessing. For, though this form of protest is rampant in most parts of India and the recent attacks on our political leader has only popularized it further; this sort of vigilantism is unacceptable and laws should be made to deter individuals from using this form of protest as a popular means of venting out their frustration. At the same time having laws to prevent a common citizen from throwing objects at other citizens and politicians will smell of hypocrisy if we continue to see scenes of flying mikes and chairs and bleeding ministers in our parliament and state assemblies. Though as a democracy we enjoy the freedom of expression, one also needs to realize that flinging a shoe at someone will not solve our problems and that is the reason there are elections every five years - to give us the opportunity to express our unhappiness with the incumbent and elect someone who will deliver. In the end the ballot is mightier than the sneaker.

Crime and Penitence: The mind of a murderer

Humans have recognized the need for protection from as long as they have recognized the need for survival, which is to say forever. However as the human brain evolved, people realized that to be protected, they need not constrain their own movements, they can rather restrain the movements of those from whom they seek protection. So in the process of evolution, man discovered that caves provided good shelters; invented traps that kill and traps that facilitated taking prisoners. With prisoners, came the need for cages and prisons.

Prisons were effective in restricting the movements of the ones who posed a threat, however the prisoners behind the bars had a brain of the same size as we do and hence orchestrated prison breaks which exposed the lacunae in the system. Higher walls were built, however prisoners also found innovative ways of scaling them. This game of constant one upmanship led to the present form of prisons - a sort of high security detention camps. Halliburton built one such camp at Gitmo and if they felt that putting it together was a challenge, they should wait and see what a challenge it would be to take it apart. President Obama, however seems resolute in his decision to close Gitmo, in fact during his recent visit to France he has also received support from President Sarkozy, who has offered to take in one of the prisoners connected with France.

Science has progressed a long way since the caveman invented the rudimentary traps. Tranquilizers, truth serums, pepper sprays have been used as effective agents to momentarily subdue our opponents, thus providing us the window of opportunity to rein them in. The field of medicine has seen great strides being made towards the cure of several ailments and afflictions - can we for the sake of convenience consider the drive of an individual to commit a crime, as an affliction and see if the solution to having smaller prisons might come from of all the places, the field of medicine. Be it a serial killer, a rapist or a hard core terrorist, there has to be a common cause for their actions against the society. Interestingly the reason some people kill may be the same the reason some others save lives - because it makes them happy.

Every action of ours is driven by the same intent, the quest to find maximum happiness or least sadness. Like the laws of chemistry say that every system will try to attain the minimum energy, it is human tendency to perform actions that they feel will provide maximum happiness, therefore peace. This explanation however, may not apply for individuals with psychological or physiological abnormalities.

A psychological abnormality may be as simple as irrational thoughts - Slobodan Milosevic, Pol Pot, Augusto Pinochet are examples of people who's irrational thought have led to war crimes and genocides; leadership combined with irrational thoughts led to the sheer numbers of deaths these individuals are responsible for. And while these leaders may not have personally carried out murders, there are others with similar psychological conditions who kill on their own. The Boston strangler, Jack the ripper, Charles Sobhraj have all been personified in movies in their respective countries; this shows the extent of terror the citizens experienced while these serial killers were on the prowl. I am hoping that medical science unveils a solution for identifying and curing these abnormal psychological conditions in individuals, so that we see fewer megalomaniacs and serial killers and thus spend fewer tax payers' dollars in building high security prisons.

While a psychological abnormality is what drives people to plot mass murders, a physiological abnormality may be the reason people are driven to kill. Killing "In a fit of rage" is caused by elevated hormone levels and while some people are prone to occasional increase in the level of hormones, thus committing one-off offences, there are others who are prone to more frequent violent behavior due to a constantly high level of hormones. A common psychological vulnerability in individuals with physiological disorders can be successfully exploited to turn them into the perfect killing machines - that weakness is the susceptibility to being influenced. Like glass can be used to focus the rays of the sun to burn a hole in paper, effective influence can be used to turn aggressive individuals towards committing mass murders. A majority of individuals, involved in executing war crimes or militant activities would belong to this category, since display of aggression is controlled by physiological factors.

Every year millions of dollars are spend worldwide to hold persons with a history of violent behavior. The reason for holding them may be - to punish them for the crime and thus make them repent their actions, to give them time to rehabilitate, to prevent them from causing further harm to the society. However if medical science can convincingly prove that physiological disorders are akin to afflictions and can find a way to suppress the factors causing these disorders in individuals, will we see a day when hardcore criminals are merely treated for their crimes and given a chance to get back to society? In utopia, yes; in the real world, no; but looking at the pain these individuals have caused to their victims, it is unreasonable to expect that the popular sentiment in the society will be one of forgiveness. While Gitmo will slowly fade into history, we will see more walls, more bars, more shackles and more guards.

When terror comes knocking

The audacious attack on the Manawan Police Academy shows the ease with which terrorists can attack a target of their choice in our neighboring nation. The March 30 attack presents a worrying scenario to New Delhi as Lahore is less than 50 miles from the India's western border and to add to it the general elections are just around the corner. While India needs to think in terms of "What if" and plan to combat a possible spill-over of the crises into India, Pakistan has to think in terms of "What now" and show urgency towards reining in the Frankenstein it has created.

Terrorism is a homegrown problem for Pakistan, however the repeated statements from Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik indicates that the recent spate of attacks in Pakistan are the handiwork of forces trying to destabilize the country. While Mr Malik's statements might seem like excuses for his inability to deliver as the interior minister, he might not be entirely wrong. Until now any reference to "external forces trying to destabilize Pakistan" has been unanimously translated to India and its intelligence agencies, however in the present scenario this reference could very well point to Taliban.

It is easier for Pakistan to blame an external group like Taliban as compared to Lashkar e Toiba, since Pakistan has claimed to the world that it has taken positive steps to close down terror centers since the Mumbai blasts. Soon after the Mumbai blasts Pakistan tried to pin the blame on India for the December Lahore attack, however it had to retract its statements after a little known local outfit claimed responsibility. Then came the attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team for which Mr Malik was quick to blame India and later retracted his statements and since then the approach Pakistan has taken has been surprising, there was no reference to an Indian involvement after the March 27 bombing of a mosque in Jamrud, FATA; and the more recent attack at the Lahore Police Academy has seen more measured statements from Pakistan.

So why would Pakistan, which has been so vocal in blaming India as a tit for tat response, choose to blame the Taliban - a group it was instrumental in creating and supporting? The answer may lie in evaluating what Pakistan has to gain from maligning India as compared to what Pakistan has to gain from playing a victim of being a part of the war on terror. While political strife, coups and assassinations have dotted Pakistan's history since within a decade after its independence, terrorist attacks have sky rocketed since President Musharraf decided to join the war on terror and thus placing Taliban on the cross wires.

The Pashtuns have never enjoyed a favorable treatment in Pakistan and have been further alienated in the recent years, one would assume that the betrayal from Pakistan would give them reason enough to turn their guns on Pakistan. This assumption is substantiated by Baithulla Mahsud's claim that the attacks had the blessings of the Taliban. This development complicates an already messy scenario - Pakistan's experiment with the good and bad Taliban seems to have failed miserably as the attacks have only increased since the SWAT compromise was reached.

President Zardari with his dropping popularity rating is faced with the option of going after the Taliban - this will give him tremendous bargaining power with the US, however for this he needs General Kayani's nod and the General, being a former DG ISI may not be too keen on taking on the Taliban, which the ISI had trained to fight against a different enemy . He can also play victim of the war on terror and get further aid from the US, however that will only enrage the Taliban further and prompt more attacks. The other option is that he can quit the war on terror and try to placate the Taliban, however with the country's economy in shambles such an action will only accelerate the country towards self-destruction.

The Army may not be too keen on taking over control as they would be faced with a similar predicament. Even President Musharraf did not have a choice when it came to joining the War on Terror. The best option for Pakistan is to make sincere efforts in resolving the terror issue, while using this as a bargaining point to get the country out of its current economic glut. Pakistan needs to understand that right now it needs to focus on providing security, employment, health care and education for its citizens and it can use this opportunity to do so and also rid the world of belligerents and prevent its nukes from falling into the wrong hands, thus preventing a nuclear cataclysm.

With the world's largest electoral exercise a month away Pakistan finds a friend in the neighbor it had constantly poked and needled. Its time the Pakistani Govt got back to the drawing board to evaluate their decisions so far and if they need a lesson in how to successfully run a democracy, they just need to look to the immediate east.

An enemy that unites

One of the challenges faced by David Ben Gurion upon the formation was the State of Israel was to find a way to bring together the Jews speaking different languages to one common platform. He overcame the challenge by forming the IDF (Israeli Defense Forces). By making military training mandatory for the citizens of Israel, Ben Gurion was able to bring together Jews speaking different languages (Russian, Polish, German, Austrian) to speak one common language - Hebrew and was able to bring about in them a feeling of belonging to the newly formed State of Israel. Another infant nation that faced with similar challenges that time was Pakistan.

Pakistan was carved out of the British India and included the provinces of Punjab, Sindh, Balochistan, North-West Frontier Provinces and East Bengal. Interestingly, religion was the only common factor among the people of the Pakistan - a country which was was formed with the intent of creating a state for the Muslims of the British India, for the population of Pakistan could still identify themselves as Punjabis, Sindhis, Pashtuns, Balochs, Bengalis and the Urdu speaking Muslims who had migrated from India. The people of India however did not have this problem as they continued to associate themselves with India as they had done earlier. A Punjabi or Sindhi who had migrated eastward during the partition was still Indian after the partition as he was before the partition.

In the newly formed state of Pakistan, the Punjabis were the most influential and therefore the most dominant - the recent events in Pakistan are testament to the influence that the Punjabis still hold in Pakistani politics. And this sort of dominance was to be a reason for discord among the regional groups in Pakistan. First the Balochs resisted the idea of joining Pakistan but were eventually forced to join the state after military action from Pakistan. The Balochs again tried to break away in the sixties and seventies and are even to this day a cause of heartburn for Pakistan. Then in 1971 the Bengalis revolted and broke away to form their own nation as the Bengalis realized that despite being numerically superior in population it was their western compatriots who called the shots. It becomes critical therefore for Pakistan to come up with a formula which would bring its population together by temporarily shifting their focus from their daily issues towards a larger cause.

The successive governments in Israel were able to retain the support of its people by constantly reminding them of the threat from outside. The fear of an external enemy justified elevated taxations and the hardships of the mandatory military tenure. However after the Six Day War the Israelis saw that idea of Israel's enemies as a means of their government to justify its militaristic ambitions. One of the reasons Israel was late in mobilizing the IDF reserves during the Yom Kippur War, despite receiving several inputs on an impending war, was the reluctance of Golda Meir administration to play the external enemy card again, lest it should anger the Israelis had these inputs turned out to be a false alarm. Many in Pakistan are however more than eager to buy the idea of "Anti-Pakistan forces" that are trying to destabilize their country and THAT is the bonding factor among the people of the country that has not yet seen a democratically elected government complete a full term.

As Ben Gurion so successfully illustrated, wars have always been a reason people come together - to fight a common enemy; but they are also the reason nations break up - when people realize that this enemy is a myth created to distract them from fighting against the real problems. The concept of the "Enemy in the East" is a must for Pakistan during this phase of political turmoil, sucessive goverments - Democratic or Dictatorial will continue to thrive by propagating this idea. For an enemy can make people forget their internal difference and will get them to come together against the foreign force, therefore any peace efforts in this region can only be temporary since Pakistan can keep itself from disintegrating only by seeing India as an enemy, rather than as a friend.

Great souls, Nobel intentions

"Aah! Muhammad Yunus!" I exclaimed as I looked at a picture in the half open magazine lying at one of the tables in the reception area of my doctor's clinic. The elderly lady next to me gave a questioning glance. "Micro-financing" I clarified. She attempted a smile that translated to sarcastic "Ah! That helped" and dug into the health magazine she was reading. It was November in 2006 and a month earlier a Bangladeshi gentleman named Mohammad Yunus shot to fame. It was decided by the Norwegian Nobel Committee that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2006 was to be jointly shared by Muhammad Yunus and his Grameen Bank for their effort towards peace as "Lasting peace can not be achieved unless large population groups find ways in which to break out of poverty. " By providing micro-credit through his Grameen Bank, Muhammad Yunus had provided a way for people to break out of poverty. It is surprising indeed that not many people I know seem to recognize him despite such a great recognition being bestowed on him.

The Nobel Prizes (The Nobel Prize for Peace being one among them) was first given away 1901 as per the will of Alfred Nobel who died in 1896 leaving behind a large legacy accrued from the huge sales of his invention - dynamite. The Nobel Prize's popularity can be compared to that of dynamite since it is endorsed worldwide as the greatest achievement in the fields for which it is awarded. Being easily associated with the best of the best, it is therefore questioned by many as to why a certain gentleman named Mohandas Gandhi - whose name had become eponymous with peace - was never awarded a Nobel Peace Prize. Many have tried to speculate about the causes and the easiest (and also the most absurd) guess is "because he was an Indian" and "there was racism". I am amazed at how racism has become the easiest reason that can be attributed to any conflict. A peek into history shows that Rabindranath Tagore was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913 and Sir C V Raman, the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1930.

Indians were already in the radar of the Nobel Committee way before Mahatma Gandhi was first nominated in 1937, so the idea of the committee being averse to awarding non-Europeans or Americans can be safely laid to rest**. It can be gathered from a clarification posted on the website of the Nobel Peace Prize that Mahatma Gandhi's nomination in 1937 did not convert to an award as some of the committee's advisers' questions Mahatma Gandhi's style of leadership which a committee adviser felt, was driven by "sharp turns in his policies". An incident that occurred more than a decade and a half earlier (the Chauri Chaura Massacre*) was also highlighted to illustrate that Gandhiji did not have control over his followers who have in the past adopted violent methods against the British. Gandhiji had galvanized the agony of millions oppressed by the British dominance into a blunt instrument of non-violence that would peacefully yet firmly edge out the oppressors from the Indian soil. Few hundred among those millions were compelled to break loose from that resolve and the war cries of those few hundred, ironically were more audible to the committee as compared to the suppressed grunts of the millions who were facing bullets and batons elsewhere in India. Viscount Cecil of Chelwood won the most coveted recognition that year for his efforts towards the International Peace Campaign.

Mahatma Gandhi was nominated in 1938, 1939 and 1947 but did not win. He eventually nominated again for 1948 a few days before his assassination. The coming together of two universal symbols of peace was forever stalled by a lone gunman on that cold winter morning at Birla House, New Delhi for as per the statutes of Nobel Prize a posthumous award was out of question. No award was awarded in 1948 which makes us believe that the Peace Prize for 1948 should have gone to Gandhiji. Mahatma Gandhi never won a Nobel Peace Prize, yet the name Gandhi is well known the world over, better known than many recipients of the coveted Nobel Peace Prize.

Recognitions are important. There is an old lady living near Bangalore, India, who with assistance from her husband had planted close to 300 Banyan trees along a 4 kilometer stretch of a highway in Southern India. She received the National Citizens' Award for 1995 and soon became well known in the field of environmental conservation. It was important to honor this lady, for with that award her efforts could be made an example for others to follow. The frail old man with an iron will was different, he was a legend way before he was first nominated for the Nobel Prize. And though its unfortunate that death snatched from him that award that had to be his in 1948, his work and fame had spread far and wide despite the absence of an internationally recognized laurel.

* * *

Back at the clinic, I struck a conversation with the lady and when I mentioned that I had travelled from India on a work assignment, she said in an excited tone - "My daughter is writing about Gandhi for her history project in school!!".

Notes:

* In 1922 a group of Indian protesters went out of control in the town of Chauri Chaura, India and set a police station on fire, killing 23 policeman.
**Mother Teresa was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize one year before she received the Bharath Ratna, India's equivalent of the Medal of Freedom.

References:
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/articles/gandhi/index.html
http://nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/peace/laureates/2006/press.html

A Squint of Brilliance

In your eyes - of optical squint,

I see a subtle hint,

like a spark produced by striking flint,

of hope I see a glint.

Andy

Two birds, many stones

Two kinds of numbers are mainly doing the rounds in the media these days, one being the stimulus packages offered to pep up the economy and the other pertaining to the number of US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. While both have potential impact on billions of people worldwide, we have a comforting knowledge from history that a scenario similar to the former has been resolved in the past by President Franklin D Roosevelt. Though the "New Deal" is something for which President Roosevelt will be eternally remembered, I find it worth mentioning that his effort towards defeating the axis powers during World War II is also a reason why his name is one of the most easily recognizable names among US Presidents.

While it was very easy for me to draw a parallel between the scenarios faced by the two Presidents, an assessment at ground level will evince that though both the Presidents encountered stormy seas, President Roosevelt had the wind behind him thus getting him ashore faster. Yes, the timing of World War II was such that it helped President Roosevelt kill two birds with one stone, joining the war further helped the economy of the United States when it was just emerging out of the depression. So, while he was making an effort to save millions from falling prey to the axis powers, the economy was limping back to normal and so significant was this change that we had the baby boomers arriving immediately after the end of the war.

For President Obama however the war effort is more complex, not only does he have to untangle the United States from the complex web in Iraq and Afghanistan, he needs to be careful about not repeating the same mistakes that Britain made after World War II. Statistics are piled up heavily against Britain when it comes to pulling out of a region after ensuring order. While it could be purely coincidental it is important to note that several countries where the British political influence ended in the late 1940 are right now in the news for internal strife and turmoil - the British Mandate in Palestine ended in 1948, Pakistan (and Bangladesh) got their independence in 1947 and so did Sri Lanka. While the Palestine-Israel conflict and the strife in Sri Lanka can be attributed to apathy, since Britain really did not take a stance towards the majority or minority and moved out leaving the states in flux, the issue in Pakistan originates from certain aggressive moves by Britain, such as the imposition of the two-nation theory. Sudan is another country that gained independence in mid fifties that is currently occupying the front page for its political instability. India seems to be the only country that has not slipped into a similar turmoil, thanks to the successful efforts of Lord Mountbatten and others like Nehru and Patel overseeing the transfer of power and consolidation of states.

A pullout from Iraq is on the horizon and during his recent visit to Australia Prime Minister Maliki seemed confident of a smooth transition, however Iraq is a lot different from Afghanistan.While the demographics and dynamics of the Middle East makes it rather infeasible for the situation to spill over into neighboring countries, we see the crisis in Afghanistan creating ripples in neighboring Pakistan, and if unchecked, it may be only a matter of time before the surge destabilizes the already volatile region. The demise of the Soviets from Afghanistan was hastened due to the support the US received from Pakistan. This key player is now a loose cannon and that makes the issue in Afghanistan more complex than Iraq. With Pakistan placating the Taliban at Swat United States has to further worry about the funding to Pakistan ending up as the bullets that are felling its soldiers. While the economy takes the higher priority now, Afghanistan will give the strategists at the White House a lot to think about in the days to come.

There is no doubt that restoring the economy and bringing the US troops back home is going to be a lot different that killing two birds with one stone. Both however are critical to lasting peace on earth.

The crucifixion of a Mahatma

A great soul stands nailed to a crucifix in this case it was done by his own so called supporters. How ironical that people who have been recipients of the Mahatma's rich ideals and principles -something invaluable are fighting over something as inexpensive and irrelevant as his eye glasses, watch and sandals. I feel the Mahatma would have foreseen this and hence decided to limit his material possessions, yet India seems to be bent on trying arm twisting tactics to prevent the auction of the Mahatma's belongings by a US based arts collector.

60 years ago the Mahatma handed down another legacy to us - freedom - I leave it to the judgment of the reader to ascertain how well we have valued and maintained that legacy. The Mahatma handed down to us values, he taught us non-violence, he taught us to stand up against injustice, fight for the poor and above all he taught us and the whole world the power of peaceful resistance. These legacies are undoubtedly far more valuable than his Sterling Watch or wire framed eye glasses. Yet there are people who feel having these possessions will make India much different than what it really is and suddenly everyone seems so avaricious to grab the possessions of a man who chose to give everything and keep very little. And presuming that the representatives of the country do outbid others in the auction and are successful in bringing back the Mahatma's possessions I wonder what would be the fate of these articles. History is our witness to how well we maintain articles of heritage - General Niazi's pistol (which he surrendered at the end of the 1971 war), was stolen some years back from the National Museum in New Delhi and never found, Rabindranath Tagore's Nobel Medal was stolen from Shantiniketan and there is very little known about the inquiry the Buddha had ordered about the incident. It is a colossal waste of our diplomats' effort, given that we have such a great track record of conserving our heritage.

I can appreciate Mr. Tushar Gandhi's efforts to secure these articles as they have more of a personal value for him, which is why he initiated a fund for collecting the necessary amount to buy back Gandhiji's personal belongings, yet the fact that he has collected hardly a fraction of the amount needed to qualify as a bidder indicates how the folks in general feel about this. Of course we are known to be fickle and I wouldn't be surprised if the fund suddenly swells up to $500,000 by tomorrow morning and Mr Tushar Gandhi does succeed in getting back these articles. But my question then would be? Was it really worth the money spent, the image of Gandhiji I have, from all the documentaries I have seen and the books I have read says NO! I feel Gandhiji would have been happier to see this money spent on the educating the poor and providing better living conditions for them.

Gandhiji stood for fairness and had he been alive today I wonder if he would have appreciated the tactics India is using to stall the auction of items which I am sure he would not have attributed much value to. Mr. James Otis the gentleman who is auctioning the items seems to have very noble intentions - he has indicated that he would donate the proceeds from the auction to charity, he has also mentioned that he could readily cancel the auction if India agreed to a fivefold increase in domestic healthcare funding or sponsoring a worldwide tour of memorabilia associated with the nonviolence movement. I am surprised that despite all this we are not willing to make a compromise. In my opinion whoever buys these articles would treasure them as much as we do (The greatest movie about Gandhiji was made by a Briton names Sir Richard Attenborough), I just don't see any justification in spending a tonne of money on articles of national pride or should I say ego, which according to me will do little to alleviate the miseries of the millions that starve in India every day.

Studies indicate that the prevalence of Myopia is very low among Indians though this entire drama makes me doubt that claim. In the fight for getting back the Mahatma's meager possessions; we have just ended up reducing the teachings of this great soul to a great farce.