Nature vs Man and his worldly goods

Posted on March 14, 2011 by Raghav/Raghu
The post title, inspired from one good book I am yet to read “Man and his Worldly goods”, suits best to describe the mindset of us humans, with respect to our frivolous perception of Mother Nature.

The Japanese catastrophic natural calamities, as unfortunate they are, should also be serving as warning bells and breakpoints to the rest of us. So that, we can look back, observe where we stand and imagine our future.

The City of Yagawahama in Miyagi, Japan 2007 and after the earthquake, tsunami 

Unscrupulous exhaustion of natural resources, extensive pollution and the increasing burden we are becoming to Mother Nature has been made evident with consequences such as the global warming, erratic weather patterns, untimely rains, famines and other natural repercussions.
It is not that I am scientifically correlating the current Japanese earthquakes, tsunami and volcanoes to the unscrupulousness we have exhibited for centuries now.  But, correlating only the consequences: The reason this time might have been natural, but the consequences for our misdoings could be the same, or might get even worse at a global scale. If we do not stop right now, and try contain the damage we have already unleashed there is no future to us on the Earth.

Having quoted Paulo Coelho even in a previous post of mine, I reiterate this apt statement:
Save the planet? The Planet must be saying, “Save yourself idiots, I will be fine” 
It is high time we realize this and have it forever in mind.

At least as a means of self preservation, we must halt the extreme levels of exploiting Mother Nature and her gifts to us.

All the recklessness, restlessness, remorselessness, that has become the way of life needs to be replenished with deep respect, which was so inherent to our predecessors.
When Japan, indisputably, technology-wise the most sophisticated country in the world has been shattered by the wrath and fury of Mother Nature, we must come to realize our place in the mechanics of the Universe. When such is the value of the sophistications we are ever boasting of, there are better things to concentrate upon. If we could reduce the antagonism between us humans, at the levels of communities, states, countries and what other non-sense, that would serve the best to all of us.

I do not endorse the Mayan Calendar, nor believe in the genius of Nostradamus. Nevertheless, I too can proclaim the prophecy that, if we are not ‘stopping’ these atrocious levels of unscrupulous exploitation of nature and her resources, we will see the END; Not for the Earth, but of the supposedly ‘intelligent’ creatures who lived on the Earth!

PS: Let us exhibit some basic sense of humanity, and share the grief and loss that japan is coping up to, rather than mocking at them and their circumstances by celebrating futilities such as cricket!

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The oblivion of the small and the beautiful

Posted on March 7, 2011 by Raghav/Raghu
Hasn’t it been a while since a Postman knocked at your door? Or you went down and met your tailor to get your clothing stitched? Or that you’ve seen that bright entrepreneurial glee in the eyes of a small scale industrialist?

What has happened to the roadside Provision stores, to the Vegetable vendor who used to be a character to be pranked with, or the push cart kulfi waalas ?

Have you ever wondered how their lives have changed in a mere span of a decade here in India?

These are little people and their aspirations that the Monopolistic system has trampled and tread upon to give us this supposedly glorious world of today. A world, which values nothing but vicious personal gain; A system which approves you of the sanctity to tread on others to greedily move ahead; Move ahead as in: In this race, a rat-race; Each one is being raced down to the deepest levels of their values, and reducing every evolved emotion and relationship into a commodity.

Where are all the small, simple and beautiful things!
Small goes unnoticed: Everything ought to be grand and spectacular, beyond the saturation of our senses.
Simple is silly: Things have gotten super sophisticated beyond our realms of comprehension.
Beautiful is everything that carries a heavy price tag: Today’s beauty has got our aesthetic sense go numb.

One such occupation….

When this is the framework you let people to thrive in, there is nothing but the sad, unattended funeral of heritage of occupations like weaving, carving, pottery, even farming, and various other small occupations, which form important segments of our evolution have demised, or are at least at the verge of oblivion from the known section of humanity.

A debate whether these have been displaced at the cost of modernization and development for the sake of the rest of us can be taken up, and we would eventually stand guilty.
Each of us can do a lot to avert this oblivion of our own small and the beautiful.

PS: As I am composing this post, I am contemplating of a contemporary Swadesi Movement for self sufficiency and most importantly self conservation of our society!
If you believe we can do it better together, then let’s get together!

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Cognizance of being better and above the system

Posted on March 1, 2011 by Raghav/Raghu
I did try to come up with a smaller post title, but nothing could better encapsulate the idea I am trying to propose in this post.

The severe reverence people have come to give to the systems each one is being conditioned to is a matter of grave concern. The individual is intimidated of the system which he/she is a part of. By the virtue of systematizing and monopolizing institutions,the hegemony seeking enterprise holders have accomplished their mission.

I am not talking about Commercial enterprises, although they come inclusive of this argument. I am more so worried about the other social enterprises such as Religion, Education, Governance and even the system of ethics.

I have already questioned the validity of the religious institutions and the subduing behavior of individuals coming under a religious system in numerous posts of mine. What is more appalling, is the similar response individuals show towards the Education and Ethics systems.

Due to my lack of holistic experience, I shall confine myself to the scenario of Education and Ethics in India; In the Indian context, I do think that I’m adequately capable of critiquing the system, with more than 20 years of  conscious presence in this system.

The system of education does nothing better than narrow down the mental space of individuals with all its powerful, yet so blunt interactions with the individuals. Most students, still believe that exams are the ultimate objective of their education, and often even fail to think on the lines of applying the knowledge they might have absorbed in the process.
Narrowing down to the Engineering education in India, the irony starts with the term “Engineering” itself, as this system of education is nothing about engineering at all.

The word “engine” itself is of even older origin, ultimately deriving from the Latin ingenium (c. 1250), meaning “innate quality, especially mental power, hence a clever invention (wikipedia)


Whereas the current system on the contrary, is the most efficient ploy implemented to create the crudest mediocre work force for the ever blooming (?) Information and Technology Industry, that we Indians boast of.
The incentive for majority of students and their families still, to take up Engineering Education is to get employed in an MNC and earn above average wages.

As ironic and ridiculous the system of Education might seem, it somehow is well perceived in the society. Not just well perceived, but revered for some unknown enticement.

While, I can go on cribbing about the falsehood of the system, the most unfortunate thing about all of this contradiction is that the people who initially start as being part of the system, eventually become victims of it. Even after this victimization, people are oblivious of the perils in the system. They fail to see all the harm that has been done to them, and still go on to numbly bear it’s burden without rebelling against it.

There is a deep and distressful lack of cognizance amongst the individuals; A cognizance that they themselves are far better and well above the System; A system that is created to intimidate and dominate individuals…

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From ponderous to wondrous!

Posted on February 24, 2011 by Raghav/Raghu
It has been quite a while that I laid back and did what I love the most: To let my mind wander…

Off late with all the tasks and corresponding completions timelines, there has been little opportunity at hand to just ‘while’ away some moments with no purpose at all. This isn’t me complaining about all the tasks I am committed to, but expressing my want of those wonderful moments, moments of unfettered bliss within my head…

The euphoria emanating from such purposeful ‘purposeless inquisitions’, with no tangible outputs is an exquisite feeling of self fulfillment. This gratification is necessary for me, to keep this narcissist mind at work.

Time, spent such, is an investment one would quintessentially have to make, while mining into the talents and ideas within thyself !
Such ponderous moments culminate to become wondrous creative acts.
And, that is Mission Accomplished! Being at it,regularly is an exquisite treat each of us could give ourselves…

Vista 1: (Get to see it only my blog! album)

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Hypocrisy as the Lifestyle syndrome

Posted on February 20, 2011 by Raghav/Raghu
I meet many people; people who don’t enjoy what they do. They simply go through their lives, getting on with it. They got no great pleasure from what they do; They endure it, rather than enjoy it, and wait for the weekend…
Sir Ken Robinson


Using this excerpt from Sir Ken Robinson as a take off point, allow me to present the little acknowledged, but the common societal catastrophe: The ubiquity of superficiality in people, or the Hypocrisy as the Lifestyle syndrome.

We might have acknowledged this syndrome, i.e., in others; But most of us wouldn’t dare to evaluate ourselves, to see where we personally stand on this scale of self treason.

Deriving pleasure and gratification out of the work we do is as irrelevant in today’s world, as the expectation of honest and earnest governance in today’s pseudo-democracies. The unfortunate trend, which has percolated to become a trait of the society is : We’d know it is wrong, but wouldn’t bother to better it, because supposedly everyone does it that way!

We bury our natural urges and talents deep down, piling the routine of hypocrisy, confusing mediocrity to be excellence, and pseudo recognitions as results. Few moments of exalting happiness is what keeps us going, when there’s a life full with exalting gratification that goes wasted.

A friend of mine says, “All our priorities are screwed up! They’re nonsensical”. And I so agree with it.

We emulate others, while we lose our authenticity; Worst of it all, we feel no remorse about this self betrayal. Starting from our desires, passions, culture and lifestyle everything has one common factor: Pretension!

After cribbing about this syndrome to this extent, I shall end it optimistically by remembering the few true humans I know: People who are, what they are, and others would only want to emulate them.

A depiction of the so called transition
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Bryan Adams and the Greatest Sing-along concert in Bangalore!

Posted on February 14, 2011 by Raghav/Raghu
Bryan Adams in Bangalore (image from TOI, we weren’t allowed with our cams!)

After the two hours of Bryan Adams in Bangalore, I was unable to make an audible sound, or even stand up straight; I was drenched in dust but was euphoric and was certainly still on Cloud No.9!

But, even a minute before, until there was Bryan Adams on stage, I, like the rest of the thousands, didn’t feel any fatigue, we were just ecstatic to see the Deity himself singing, jumping and cheering with us energetically, in his flesh and bones, until he got us soaked to our bare bones!
The sea of people, a sea with a common current of Bryan Adams’ music in it, was the experience of a lifetime. I’m certain that the Indian audience cannot sing-along any other artist for almost all the songs performed! It was scintillating, and not to mention intoxicating. 
While me and my friends were guessing as to what might be the opening track, he surprised us, by more aptly opening with “There will never be another tonight”, and he had the struck the right chord as he got us all jumping and hooting throughout… He introduces himself as Bryan Adams, and starts off with “Here I am”, and this track never fails to give goosebumps, and in a live show, it blows you away.
I can recollect something special about each of the tracks performed, but I’ll prevent myself from making this the longest post by me, and only mention the rest: Somebody, 18 Till I die, Everything I do – I do it for you, Please forgive me, Heaven, The only thing that looks good on me, Night to remember, How do you feel tonight, Can’t stop this thing we started, Cuts Like a knife, Here I am, Hearts on Fire, Thought I’d died and gone to heaven, Baby when you’re gone, Cloud No.9, Run to you, You’ve been a friend to me, Summer of 69 and I must have missed out a few and he closed the show with his Bare Bones performance.

Dizzy!And that’s what it was like!

There was an awesome jam between Bryan Adams and Keith Scott for one of the tracks, and later a dedication to Keith Scott in Hearts on Fire.  To perform the female lead for Baby when you’re gone, Bryan pulled out a girl from the audience and it was superb, and she did perform well!

At 90 mins the band closed the show with Cloud No.9, but the crowd asked for more and more, they did give heed to us and went back and performed Run to You and You’ve been a friend to me! Then the band members bid us adieu, while we hadn’t got enough. 
And this time Bryan Adams, stayed back and did two tracks from his Bare Bones, The way you make me feel and Straight from the Heart ( acoustic guitar, his voice and  him playing mouth organ!):The perfect curtain call!
These two hours of my life will remain evergreen and immortalized, with resonance of Bryan Adams’ performance, his energy, the music and all the words which mean so much to me!
Unintended Trance at the show…
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ಕೋಪ ಬರಲೇಬೇಕು!

Posted on February 9, 2011 by Raghav/Raghu

ಇತ್ತೀಚಿಗೆ ಒಂದು ಸರಕಾರೀ ಕಛೇರಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಕೆಲಸವಿದ್ದಿತು. ಒಂದೆರಡು ಮುಖ್ಯವಾದ ದಾಖಲೆಗಳನ್ನು ಅವರಲ್ಲಿ ಕೊಟ್ಟು , ಕೆಲಸಕ್ಕೆ  ಹೊರಡಬೇಕಾದ ಸನ್ನಿವೇಷ.

ಆ ಕಛೇರಿಯ ಕಾರ್ಯಸಮಯ ಬೆಳಿಗ್ಗೆ  ೯:೦೦ ರಿಂದ ಸಾಯಂಕಾಲ ೫:೦೦ ರವರೆಗೆ ಎಂದು ಒಂದು ಫಲಕದಲ್ಲಿ ಸೂಚಿಸಲಾಗಿತ್ತು. ಈ ಕೆಲಸದ ಸಲುವಾಗಿ ಹಲವಾರು ಬರುವರೆಂದು ಅರಿತ ನಾನು, ಮತ್ತು ನನ್ನಂತಹ ಇನ್ನು ಕೆಲವರು ಸ್ವಲ್ಪ ಬೇಗನೆಯೇ ಅಲ್ಲಿ ಸೇರಿದ್ದವು.

ಸಮಯ ೯: ೦೦ ಇನ್ನೂ ಹಲವಾರು ಜನ ನಮ್ಮ ಸಾಲಿನಲ್ಲಿ ಸೇರಿದರು, ಆದರೆ ಆ ಕಛೇರಿಯ ಕಾರ್ಮಚಾರಿಗಳು ಬರುವಂತೆ ಕಂಡು ಬರಲಿಲ್ಲ. ಇಲ್ಲಿ ಸೇರಿದ್ದ ಎಲ್ಲರೂ ತಮ್ಮ ಕೆಲಸಕ್ಕೆ ಹೋಗಲು ಸಿದ್ಧರಾಗಿರುವಂತೆ ಕಂಡು ಬಂದಿತು. ಸೇರಿದ್ದ ಜನರ ಸಂಖ್ಯೆ ೧೦ ರಿಂದ ೨೦, ೧೫ ನಿಮಿಷಗಳಲ್ಲಿ ಸುಮಾರು ೪೦ ಜನ ಸೇರಿದ್ದರು.

ಸಮಯ ೯:೩೦ ಆದರೂ, ಕರ್ಮಚಾರಿಗಳು ಯಾರೂ ಬರಲಿಲ್ಲ.
ತಡವಾಗಿ ಬರುವುದು, ಬಂದ ನಂತರ ನಿರ್ಲಕ್ಷ್ಯತೆಯಿಂದ ಕೆಲಸವನ್ನು  ಮಾಡುವುದು ನಮ್ಮ ಭಾರತ ದೇಶದ ಸಂಸ್ಕ್ರುತಿಯೆಂದೇ ಹಲವರು ನಂಬಿದ್ದೇವೆ. ಹಾಗೆ ನಂಬಿದ್ದ ಕೆಲವು ಜನರು ಇದರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಗೊಣಗಲು ಪ್ರಾರಂಭಿಸಿದರು. ‘ಸರಕಾರೀ ಕಛೇರಿಗಳೇ ಹೀಗೆ’, ‘ಏನೂ ಪ್ರಯೋಜನವಿಲ್ಲ’ , ‘ಊಟದ ಸಮಯವನ್ನು ಮಾತ್ರ ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ಪಾಲಿಸುವರು ‘, ಎಂದು ಇನ್ನೂ ಬಹಳ ರೀತಿಯ ಮಾತಿನ ಕಿಡಿ ಕಾರುತಿದ್ದರು.

ಸಮಯ ೯:೪೫, ಕಛೇರಿಯ ಕಾರ್ಮಿಕರು ಯಾವುದೇ ಆತಂಕವಿಲ್ಲದೆ, ಹಾಯಾಗಿ ಬಂದರು. ಬಂದು, ತಮ್ಮ ವಯಕ್ತಿಕ ಮಾತು ಕಥೆಗಳನ್ನು ಮುಗಿಸಿ ತಮ್ಮ ಕುರ್ಚಿಯಲ್ಲಿ ಬಂದು ಕುಳಿತು ತಮ್ಮ ಕೆಲಸವನ್ನು ನಿಧಾನವಾಗಿ ಪ್ರಾರಂಭಿಸಿದರು. ಅಲ್ಲಿಯವರೆಗೆ  ಗೊಣಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಜನ, ತೆಪ್ಪಗಾಗಿ ತಮ್ಮ ದಾಖಲೆಗನ್ನು ಕೊಟ್ಟು  ಹೋಗ ತೊಡಗಿದರು. ಆತನಕ ಅವರು ಕಿಡಿಕಾರುತಿದುದನ್ನು ಆ ಕಾರ್ಮಿಕರು ನೋಡಲಿಲ್ಲ; ಹಾಗೆ ನೋಡಿದ್ದರೆ, ಸ್ವಲ್ಪವಾದರೂ ಯೋಚಿಸಿ ತಮ್ಮ ಕೆಲಸವನ್ನು ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ಮಾಡಬೇಕೆಂದು ನಿರ್ಧರಿಸುತ್ತಿದರೋ ಏನೋ . ಆದರೆ ನಮ್ಮ ಜನ ಈಗ ತಮ್ಮ ಬಾಯನ್ನೂ ತೆಗೆಯಲೇ ಇಲ್ಲ .

ಸಮಯ ೧೦:೦೦, ನನ್ನ ಸರದಿ ಬಂದಿತು. ನಾನೂ ನನ್ನ ದಾಖಲೆಗಳನ್ನು ಕೊಟ್ಟು, ಸಹಿ ಮಾಡಿದೆ. ಅದಾದ ನಂತರ ಆ ಕಾರ್ಮಿಕರನ್ನು ತರಾಟೆಗೆ ತೆಗೆದುಕೊಂಡೆ. ಸರಿಯಾದ ಸಮಯಕ್ಕೆ ಅವರು ಬಾರದ ಕಾರಣ, ೫೦ ಜನರು ತಮ್ಮ ಕೆಲಸಗಳಿಗೆ ತಡವಾಗಿ ಹೋಗ ಬೇಕಾದ ಪರಿಸ್ಥಿತಿ ಉಂಟಾಗಿದೆ, ಮತ್ತು ಅವರಲ್ಲಿ ಸ್ವಲ್ಪವೂ ಜವಾಬ್ದಾರಿಯಿಲ್ಲವೆಂದು ಹೇಳಿದೆ. ಅಷ್ಟರಲ್ಲಿ, ಆ ಕಾರ್ಮಿಕರು ಬರುವ ಮುನ್ನ ಗೊಣಗುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ಜನರು ನನನ್ನು ಸಮಾಧಾನ ಮಾಡಿಕೊಳ್ಳಲು  ಹೇಳತೊಡಗಿದರು. ಆ ಕಾರ್ಮಿಕರ ಮೇಲೆ ಇದ್ದ ಕೊಪಕ್ಕಿಂತ ಈ ಸತ್ತ-ಪ್ರಜೆಗಳ ಮೇಲೆ ಕೋಪ ಅಧಿಕವಾಯಿತು. ಕಛೇರಿಯ ಕಾರ್ಮಿಕರು ಬರುವ ಮುನ್ನ ಅವರ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಹರಟೆ ಹೊಡೆದು, ಅವರ ಮುಂದೆ ಏನೂ ಹೇಳದೆ, ಹೇಳುತಿದ್ದ ನನನ್ನು ತಡೆಯುತಿದ್ದ ಆ ಮೂರ್ಖರಂತೆ ವರ್ತಿಸುದ್ದ ಜನರ ಮೇಲೆ ಇನ್ನಷ್ಟು ಕೋಪ ಹೆಚ್ಚಾಯಿತು.
“ಅವರ ಬೆನ್ನ ಹಿಂದೆ ಅವರನ್ನು ನೀವು ಟೀಕಿಸಿದರೆ ಏನು ಪ್ರಾಯೋಜನೆ? ಅವರ ಮುಂದೆ, ಅವರನ್ನು ತರಾಟೆಗೆ ತೆಗೆದರೆ ತಾನೇ ಅವರಲ್ಲಿ ನಮ್ಮ ಬಗ್ಗೆ ಜವಾಬ್ದಾರಿ ಬಂದು, ಕೆಲಸವನ್ನು ಸರಿಯಾಗಿ ಮಾಡುವರು!” ಎಂದು ಅಲ್ಲಿದ ಜನರನ್ನು ಕೇಳಿ, ಅಲ್ಲಿಂದ ಹೊರಡಲು ಆರಂಭಿಸಿದೆ.

ನಾನು ಕೊಪಗೊಂಡುದನ್ನು  ನೋಡಿದ ಒಬ್ಬ ಮಧ್ಯ ವಯಸ್ಕನು ನನಗೆ  ” easy  ..easy  ” ಎಂದು ಉಪವಾದ ಮಾಡಿದರು.
ನಡೆಯುತ್ತಿದ್ದ ನಾನು, ಅವರ ಬಳಿ ನಿಂತು : “ನೀವು  easy  ..easy … ಅಂತ ಹೇಳಿಯೇ ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಶವನ್ನು ಈ ಸ್ಥಿತಿಗೆ ತಂದಿದ್ದೆರೆ …ಕೋಪ ಪಡಬೇಕು ರೀ!”, ಎಂದು ಗರ್ಜಿಸಿ ಅಲ್ಲಿಂದ ಹೊರಟೆ !

ಹಿನ್ನುಡಿ :
ನನ್ನ ಅನಿಸಿಕೆಯ     ಪ್ರಕಾರ ನಮ್ಮ ದೇಶದ ಜನತೆ ಗಾಂಧಿಯವರ ಅಹಿಂಸಾ ತತ್ವವನ್ನು ತಪ್ಪಾಗಿ ಅರಿತು ಅನುಸರಿಸುತಿದ್ದಾರೆ .
ಗಾಂಧೀ ನಮಗೆ ಕೋಪವೇ ಬರಬಾರದು, ಎಲ್ಲವನ್ನು  ಸಹಿಸಿಕೊಂಡು ಹೋಗಬೇಕೆಂದು ಹೇಳಿಕೊಡಲಿಲ್ಲ!

ಅನ್ಯಾಯವನ್ನು ಕಂಡಾಗ ಕೋಪ ಪಡಬೇಕು,
ಆಗ ನಮಗೆ ಬರುವ ಕೋಪವನ್ನು  ಅಹಿಂಸಾತ್ಮಕವಾಗಿ ವ್ಯಕ್ತ ಪಡಿಸಬೇಕು!
ಎಂದು ಗಾಂಧೀ ಹೇಳಿ, ಅವರ ಬದುಕಿನ ಮುಖಾಂತರ ತೋರಿಸಿಕೊಟ್ಟಿದ್ದಾರೆ…

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The Motorcycle Diaries

Posted on February 6, 2011 by Raghav/Raghu
I knew not who this young man was, or what he had become later on when I watched The Motorcycle Diaries, intermittently in Zee Studio before a couple of years. I tried to read the book now, pretending to have not known this young man, or what he has come to be to me.
It was an experience reading The Motorcycle Diaries.

The book is not only the account of ‘making of a revolutionary icon’ in the 20th Century. It is an elegantly written, profoundly influential travelogue. It is one of the finest and smooth books to read. The simplicity of the people and their lives, with all their struggles amidst the vivid descriptions of the sublime nature is the consistent undercurrent throughout this Diary.

The entire book is as if a prologue to the last chapter (When you read it, might agree),
Recollecting a few lines in the last chapter:

I knew… I now knew that when the great guiding spirit cleaves humanity into two antagonistic halves, I would be with the people.

This young man chronicling his adventures and revelations in the countryside of the Latin American continent could have been anyone amongst us. Each of us at some point of time are brought to such revelatory experiences in one form or another. The point is how much of influence these experiences have on us. We seldom give heed to what these experiences reveal to us; We conveniently shut ourselves off.

Whereas this young adventurer, who set off to know his continent’s people, was transformed to become one of the greatest revolutionaries of the human history, who goes on to inspire millions of youngsters even today.
Che!

We might concur, or differ with Che’s politics and his warfare, but the urge to recognize and stand against oppression, backed with relentless dedication and efforts is what Che is all about.
He is as relevant today, as he was during his times.

We need to open up ourselves; Then observe and act. If it takes a little of Che in each of us to do it – So be it.

Never a step backward,
Never a moment of weakness.
– Ernesto ‘Che’ Guevara

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Working Class Hero

Posted on February 1, 2011 by Raghav/Raghu
In the year 1984, in Shimshapura, a village not far away from the Silicon capital of India, Bangalore, there lived a rational man who was ahead of times, in relation to the circumstances he was brought up in. The story is about this man rising above all his peers and contemporaries.

As a background to this story, Untouchability and Casteism in India are perils which are still haunting various regions of India, and are far from being things of the past. I find it unneccasry to elucidate what these superstitous inhuman acts are capable of unleashing, as we have had chronicles narrated to us in our schools and most of us might have witnessed it in person.

While our protagonist is in his early twenties, living in the orthodox, caste-conscious village ( like the many then, and a little less now), has an entourage of seven other youngsters in the village. Interestingly, his entourage comprises of a person from the ‘lower’ caste and this by itself has outraged the rest of the village, as it is still presumed to be ‘unholy’ and ‘degrading’ to interact closely with these people who are called as the ‘dalits’ otherwise in India.
Reiterating the fact that he was ‘rational’, he would profess to his peers that caste-based discrimination to be a foolish superstition,and people shouldn’t endorse such inhuman discriminations. His entourage was convinced better than the rest of the village.

Until now, the protagonist and his entourage had only interacted with the lower caste friend of theirs, whereas they hadn’t visited his home or eaten there.
During one festival, this friend invites the rest of the entourage to his home for the special supper. These young men, who had until then professed rationality, didn’t think otherwise; acted by their words and happily joined their friend from the ‘lower’ caste for a relishing dinner, a hitherto event in the village…

Post dinner, each one of them, because of the prejudices they were brought up in, questioned themselves, if it was any different or ‘unholy’,or if they felt ‘guilty’ to have suppered with their friend. Convinced that they had done the right thing, they slept that night peacefully.

For the next couple of days, the news about this young group of villagers having suppered at the ‘dalit’s’ home spread all across the village, into some 1000 houses, like wild fire. Every road-side conglomeration of people would discuss exhaustingly about this ‘atrocity’ committed by these youngsters. With the news reaching the village heads, and the Panchayat, they decide to summon these young men for the ‘shameful’ disdain exhibited by them.

No logic presented by these men was given heed to, and all the ‘accused’ were ‘convicted’, for the crime of having brought disgrace to the entire village, and the ‘upper caste’. As a punishment they were fined Rs.50/- each (substantial amount in the 1980’s) and were to undergo the re-purification process: It would comprise of shaving off their heads, taking a public bath with turmeric and soap-nut powder, and drinking a trickle of the ‘holy cattle water’ or the cow’s urine! As the entire village was against these men, including their own family members they had to succumb to this ridiculous process.

After undergoing this atrocity, our protagonist is outraged and furious.

During an immediate visit to the town, away from his village, he meets his brother. The brother on questioning about his new hairdo, and the subsequent narration of the entire saga, is infuriated and escorts his victimized brother to the press and everything is reported there.

As caste-based discrimination and untouchability in India are constitutional offenses, the newspaper report which appeared next day triggered the police to reach the village and hand out serious warnings to the village heads. The village heads went absconding.

Unaware of the ramifications of  his newspaper interview, our protagonist reaches the village to be welcomed with stares of admiration from a few, while the rest were dreadfully scared! Once he spoke to his friends, he realized the implications of his newspaper interview and was glad that the elders were being taught a lesson for their stupidity…

After returning from their tenure of absconding, the undaunted village heads regrouped the Panchayat and decided to boycott the protagonist along with his family (seclusion from the rest of the village).
With pressure from within the house, with his brothers asking him to leave the house, the protagonist had decided to stay away from his house. But, his mother urged him to face the villagers and stay put at his home.

With moral support from his mother, he started to visit the village as he would normally. To counter the ignorance of the rest of the villagers, he began to analyze the history of the village, and noticed that there were many other upper caste people who had and were interacting with the ‘lower caste’ people for their benefits (for the sake of free labor, illegitimate relationships, exploitation and so on). He jotted down the names and instances such as those, and started questioning the village heads, who could not confront him. They started dodging him, and during this process he had mobilized a good number of other rationales from the village who would join him for this essential cause and fight against such caste-based discrimination in their village and nearby ones.

Over a period of time, the villagers’ ignorance and audacity had molded our protagonist into a leader, and he was the first member from his district to have won a Panchayat seat in the elections, standing for the party he endorses.
Even now, he is a leader who resonates to the ground level problems of his villagers and goes to great extents to see that he can help them with the best of his efforts.

PS: The name of the protagonist is G Ramakrishna, from the Malavalli taluk of Mandya district. People in his taluk are more open and welcoming to people from other castes, although the peril by itself is not fully abolished. GR even now is active in mobilizing people to stand up for their cause, bringing them out of the shackles of inhibitions and ignorance. He is one common man, who turned to be a Hero, a working class hero…

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Yearning to go rural….

Posted on January 31, 2011 by Raghav/Raghu

The question of whether or not all the complexities we have drawn onto our daily lives, is worth or not has kept my mind boggled for quite sometime now.

On the one hand, there is the incessant urge of us humans to explore the unknown realms of unconquered nature. This urge is what has lead us into the cognizance of the vastness and grandeur of nature. While this is making our lives complex with every passing second with all the ramifications in the form of technology and innovations, it has also given us immense gratification, to further instigate our thought process to ponder more and better.

But, on the other hand, this quench to understand nature, by unleashing the humongous information and ramifications in the form of technology has misaligned us from our fundamental sensual pleasures we would otherwise incessantly derive from nature. The solace nature gives us has been replaced with artificial and temporary indulgences. Once a while, when we are back at the bosoms of mother nature, the immeasurable bliss it renders is irreplaceable.

Pursuing our inquisition is a pleasure of its own, pursuing it without letting go our natural indulgences in all the grandeur of nature is most important.

PS: The state of my mind while composing this post has been perfectly conducive to churn up contrasts such as the ones presented in the post.
During an eventful trip recently, I found myself walking for miles early in the morning, chewing Neem stalks to cleanse my mouth ( I still wonder why people transcended to tooth pastes and tooth brushes!); Eating simple, unsophisticated, yet delicious food cooked on firewood; Singing and dancing around campfire; Laying on my back in open fields, staring at the stars(majority of which are not visible in the city!).
I am not sure as to what we have gained by endorsing the urban sophistications, but I can clearly see all that we are missing!

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