भारत और हम

Here I am sitting in Geneva, writing about India and us. Ironic? Not the way I see it. I ask myself why I love my country because I'm not nationalist nor a patriot. In fact, the very concept of nationality is alien to me. That's what leads me to saying I simply love everything the world has to offer. I love India no more than I love many other countries in the world. I view humans as humans... individuals in control of their own circumstances. Nationalities are political boundaries drawn as territorial demarcations... mere instruments of governance emerging from the concentration of resources, cultural affinities etc. This makes us all humans... not Indians, Pakistanis, Germans, Mexicans, Russians, Albanians, Iranians, Israelis, Kenyans or Ethiopians. Going by this fairly lucid logic, we discover that people around the world are essentially the consequence of the same elements... Choices and circumstances. Hence, their personalities are a melange of situations resulting from the same fundamental drivers like pursuit of happiness, fear, courage and so on. Embarking on a detailed discussion of the redundancy of nationality and the innate irrationality of the concept of patriotism and nationalism is unnecessary since those who haven't already understood the essence of my point will not understand anything beyond it either.

So what do I imply by हम (us)? I speak about every single Indian from every single part of the nation and every single global citizen from every single corner of the world. However, owing to the political identity of being a sovereign nation, an identity to which the world's second largest population has agreed to, the responsibility for action is not the rest of the world's. Most of us already realize this ofcourse. However, for those who still think it is justified for a nation to live on the philanthropy of other nations... think again. Do these nations really deserve to exist? Shouldn't they be merged with another so as to justify their claim of sovereignty which is a claim emerging from the assumption that the nation has what it takes to keep its citizens happy and free.

What do I mean when I say free? That's a critical question. Amartya Sen made a critical observation when he drew a clear distinction between "freedom from" and "freedom to". Though portrayed as conflicting ideologies, I don't see where the conflict arises from. Freedom is essentially being free in every sense of the word, including being free to be free from! Actions resulting from exercise of this freedom are subject to, like all other actions, are subject to consequences. Understanding and embracing these consequences along with the actions and the root drivers leading to the action and every element of circumstance that provided the groundwork for this reality is total freedom.

Now consider those who claim, "I'm free to be free from starvation." If they say this as a statement of fact, it is completely valid, however if they state this as a demand from the rest of society, of which they are a part as well, they are infiltrating on another person's freedom. If the latter man were me, I would feel absolutely nothing for this person has chosen not to strive to beat his or her circumstances but chooses, instead, to place a demand on another's freedom. I'm free to refuse.

To put the concept of freedom further into perspective, I wrestled with the rationality of communism and came to one simple conclusion. It makes perfect sense subject to it being confined to those who want to be confined within it. I wouldn't call the ideology evil. It is built for a society of parasites and slaves giving them the upper hand over the "bourgeois" value creators.

I have yet to see a successful/pure communist nation or even a pure democratic nation. I choose to speak about India at the moment for no reason other than my intimate familiarity with its people, land, languages and culture. Patriotism as a sentiment is alien to me. That said, I'd like to enumerate certain fundamental flaws in our political, social, civil and religious/cultural fabric that will require to be amended if we are to be the land of the free. These, by no means, forms an exhaustive rendition. It is only some of the issues that are critical. I do not care about the burgeoning populations as much as I care about my own freedom in any society. It would be a fallacy to assume that all humans want to be free, so I do not indulge in that misconception. Instead, I am only interested that nobody steps on my toes...

Geo-political hypocrisy - Kashmir! Give them a referendum or quit calling India a democracy. For a detailed discussion on this, refer to my article on the "Kashmir Conundrum"

Socio-cultural fabric - It doesn't matter where you are from, the fundamentals of a human are the same. Caste-based discrimination within the country has taken a whole new dimension. Now it isn't the lower caste only that is suffering. All the ordinary citizens of the nation who don't come under the SC/ST/OBC category has to fight like dogs for everything from quality education to Government jobs while those who have the privilege of belonging to oppressed class grow by leaps and bounds with relative ease. This is an argument against affirmative action as a whole. Many would argue compassion. Forget compassion! Think about reason. What do these oppressed people need? Customized education and the tools to build competencies to compete in the modern world if they so wish to. In that case, it is rural development (Education and Entrpreneural development) that should be taking the upper pedestal in government policy. If any of you have traveled into a reasonable number of the villages of India you will witness the rubbish being taught at these schools and the inappropriate and ineffective development practices rampant across most of the sub-continent. Part of the reason of this problem is that these uneducated people don't realize the importance of a rational long-term approach. They can be easily made happy with affirmative action which fills the politician's vote banks and gives them greater control over larger parts of the country

Economic policy - "Protectionism," a term that most would associate with post-independence India where the Indian Industry suffered greatly under the shadow of the STC and Nehru's socialist approach to development. He was, not surprisingly, a great admirer of Stalin. Signs of this remained as a stick in the wheel if economic progress until P.V. Narasimha Rao and Manmohan Singh began opening up our economy in 1991. One of the sole bastions of regressive protectionism is the Retail Sector. Again, the fear for loss of voter support leads politicians to place huge barriers for entry of larger, more efficient retailers into India. Most cry out about claims for compassion in the face of dying local retail businesses. Do they deserve to die because they are not as efficient? Should they starve in the name of progress? I'll say only one thing to them. They deserve to live using their own creative and intellectual capabilities not by inhibiting those they consider superior in intelligence. That's a long story cut short ofcourse. The rabbit hole goes deeper than this and my conclusion at the end of it is right here.

Religion - My response to religious movements in India is mixed. I, by no means admire or respect religion in any form. However, I don't have any problems as long as the religious folk keep their religion to themselves. This has been the case in India for quite a while now. Unfortunately, the practice of religion has become quite a nuisance. What will you think of when I say fundamentalism? Terrorism? Al-Qaeda? I think of Evangelists, born-again Christians and the related lot. I see the growth of these little groups mainly as a response to contemporary Hindu and Muslim fundamentalism. The Christians must have been thinking... "Hey, it's been a while since the crusades, and now other religions seem to be getting ahead of us... Time to bring in the mind control and life control into Christianity!" The dangerous bit is that anything can be now justified using one of the hundreds of interpretations of the Bible or Quran or whatever ancient piece of vague, myopic, narrow-minded, regressive rubbish that most live by. Stay out of my way and I'll let you be. Cross my path and I declare war. It's simple. In India, this is a slowly growing phenomenon. Though the emphasis on blood-lines is still deeply entrenched, conversions are yet to take front seat in religious agenda. However, I do see this changing and it isn't for a brighter and more amiable future.

Summer breeze

Warm and tender, soft and bright. Children frolic and ducks glide by. Insects scuttle around on rocks with purposeful fervor as though my arrival on their little island were a cause of excitement. For these little beings, the mass of water around them must seem like a seamless expanse of mysterious fluid and I look at this lake that seems confined to an ever decreasing phenomena we all call nature and as I look at it I wonder about the limitless possibilities that lay beyond the horizon... and within myself.

The wilderness beckons and I think of a time when man and nature co-existed. I think of a choking cry from small clusters sanity on our planet speaking with hopeful... almost desperate voices about sustainable development. I think of humanity and then I think of myself. I must choose a path... I must face an innate conundrum... Should I join this battle for the future of mankind or live my life to the fullest. While my deep respect for the best in all of us will never wear out... that respect is rooted in self realization. I found myself and feel that it is every individuals own choice to find him/herself. The choice is made instantaneously.

I look around me breathing in the summer breeze redolent with the scent of warm, naked rock. The bright blue sky glows vividly overhead splattered generously with blazing white clouds. This image is carved on the horizon with the Mt. Blanc rising tall and proud as though is burst forth unto the skies from the depths of the earth and frozen in it's journey towards the heavens. It stands there in the distance flanked by the silhouette of a soporific mound of rock and as my vision is drawn closer to my perch, I see green... Not the lush green of the wild that I have grown to love. This is a subdued green manicured by human will. It is indeed unfortunate that so many humans choose to live within the confines of facades designed to shield them from the truth. A truth that wrenches their hearts with fear... a truth that they'd rather not accept; that we humans are born wild and free.

In the search of Light

Shielded from the light
lies a dull gray sight.

Hidden amongst the gaudy shades
a masked world idly wades.

I search in vain for eyes that
hold a sign of truth, a fountain
bursting forth with
a manna that I call life.

The empty masks

The world's future leaders writhing together in hedonistic delight; empty and inane. I understand today the reason for most of the world's problems; It's power in the hands of these semi finished humans. Why! Why am I even in the vicinity of this ghastly display of nothingness!

It strikes me though that this is quite an accurate scale model of the real UN, conceptually speaking.

It is situations such as these that a phrase leaks out from my pit of unforgettable, redundant and putrid thoughts; "Work hard and party harder".

Isn't it a a chronic dearth in a passion for life and a reason for existence that drives humans into pursuit of such forms of escapism... I already know the answers but it was never reinforced so violently that draws from me only one declaration - never again.

Around me I sense the cause for the degraded fabric of our concept of humanity and suddenly i'm surrounded by a dark void... The only whole truth remaining is my own.

Another Bhutto dead

I really can't come up with anything when I ask myself what the halcyon days of Pakistani politics have been. It's pathetic watching the television relaying images of people crying their hearts out, destroying public property, automobiles, human lives and of course... Musharaff's support groups.

What were these people crying for? what were they angry with? with the extinguished flame of the "last" hope for democracy in Pakistan? I'm sure there are people who are devastated by this. But, would it drive them to mindless vandalism?

Around 30 people were killed by the suicide bomber. Another 30 were killed by rampaging mobs after the incident. I am tempted to ask myself... which is the greater evil?

Imran Khan seems to have his nuts and bolts in the right place when he says that though this is a devastating loss, there are steps that must be taken from here to continue the movement towards democracy. It starts with Musharraf relinquishing power and an independent judiciary conducting a detailed inquiry into this matter followed by elections as scheduled.

Compare this to Nawaz Sharif who appears sullen and (almost) weeping on the television declaring that this is the worst day in the history of Pakistani Politics (I wouldn't attest to that!) and that he will boycott the elections.

I ask people such as him... Is that in the spirit of a struggle towards democracy? Is that what is called for to transform Pakistan from a dictatorial regime of an inefficient General to a robust democracy?

However, the mobs don't really care much about a dictatorship or a democracy or anything productive for that matter. They seem to be driven by a single minded desire to destroy anything holding a promise to progress simply because it is beautiful... simply because it stands for all that is great in this world.

Democracy, in my opinion, is not the most efficient political framework for a nation. I prefer a dictatorial regime with regard to power over the protection and sustenance of civil society and a purely capitalistic and democratic model to the operation of the economy.

However, I have a stipulation that negates the efficacy of this model in most real-world scenarios. The dictator must be a woman or man of intelligence, courage and integrity. To be honest, Putin gets the closest (though not anywhere near being close enough) to these requirements amongst most dictators that exist today.

"Benazir Bhutto, the Martyr!" people will cry...
and the few that truly understand
will only crack their knuckles and sigh.

The sounds of music

"Nothing could teach you something" he heard as he swerved with the rhythms of the car that blazes along a road set against the dark sky, lights twinkling in the distance. He emerged from the endless sounds of music and conversation. He saw their lips part forming new words, he saw their eyes speaking more than their lips ever could. He saw their intentions and their masks. He saw through them.

Beautiful masks they were. He enjoyed the sight of them. He enjoyed the texture of their mood. But, he knew the texture of their being and decides to remain at the surface.

What does a man do when he refuses to play along with the currents of the river beating against him? Not because he doesn't like being carried by the river because he knows where it goes. He basks instead in the sensation of having the waves caress his chest and the breeze cooling his brow.

He dives instead into the texture of the words rather than the meaning they evoke. Because the meanings will disappoint him. He has been down that current before.

The moments spent by the river bank were soothing indeed. He decides to emerge from that feeling and walk back into the wilderness.

"One could learn a lot from such superficial conversation". Of course, I thought... I learned how to enjoy them. I learned what I enjoy most. I learned that people tend to be strongest when they move in packs. I learned that I tend to be strongest simply knowing that I am who I am.

Why MAKE conversation? Why do people see it as an asset? Why do people gather knowledge only to be able to continue MAKING conversation? Why do they want to be accepted by others? Why don't they accept themselves? Why do they not say and do whatever they want to say or do? Why do they bother about the response from another? Why are they worried about losing companionship? Why are they afraid of being alone? Why don't they love themselves enough?

I find the pretentious interactions amusing! Almost like they are trying desperately to entertain others and themselves. I must agree... observing this certainly entertains me!

Some people have souls that protest vigorously amidst all the clamor. But alas, their lips helplessly add to it.

How fortunate for me to have a home for myself in my own being from where I can sit peacefully observing these undercurrents.

The omnipotent capitalist?

So... money drives the world. Firstly, there are three primary reasons to make money; survival, material comforts and power. The first two factors are quite straight forward and free of controversy unless we consider the means to these ends. The third factor is more thought provoking. Money for power... power over people.

What is power over people? The capacity to control them? It is important to understand the kind of people you would control (their motives) and also whether you control them in the truest sense of the word. The kind of people you control would be just like you... wanting to make money for mere survival, material comforts or power. I attach no moral connotation to making money for power over others. I only stipulate that it is not possible. Why? In one of my previous posts, I wrote about freedom. I wrote that we were all born free and are always free and most of us just don't realize it. You can only control a free man to a certain extent and that extent is purely physical. Even that isn't guaranteed. You can control a man's actions with the power of your money. But, can you control his thoughts and feelings?

"As you think, so you are" - Gautama Buddha

I feel this thought is very relevant here, though not complete. I'd rather say; as you think, feel and act, so you are. The crux of the matter is the same though. To control mankind, you will have to control not only the actions but also the thoughts and emotions entrenched in the human psyche.

So, does money move the world? Of course it does. It is beyond doubt that the world is primarily composed of those who lack self respect in some form and who seek approval from outside for a 'self' they do not believe in themselves. Such people will be only too glad to be drawn by the money power you wield. That is a world where money gains you approval. But, does it? You will definitely get nods of approval from most (not all) but, will you get thoughts of approval? Is it really approval if the nod and the thought don't complement each other? We already know the answers to these questions. But, most prefer to turn a blind eye to them, live in denial. It is from such people that the phrase "ignorance is bliss" was born.

So, you can safely assume that you have reasonable (not complete) control over my actions through your capital power. But, this is only until I value your capital power more than my freedom of action.

Money is the means to an end and power over others is not an end. It is a myth.

Stereotypes

Why waste time with stereotypes? At least, not at this stage of my life. I lived enough to identify a stereotype and it’s now time to separate the wheat from the chaff.

We live in a world overflowing with clichés. Most human beings find it safer to conform to these clichés than use their own judgment and logic. It’s tiring to see the plethora of people walking by speaking the same language of banal conformism. It’s refreshing to bump into INDIVIDUALS these days!

Differentiation amongst plebeians and individuals comes easy to me. All I have to ask myself through a conversation is… “Am I speaking to a unique individual having his or her own views or to the society at large that is apparently voicing its opinion through this docile being?” The answer is mostly immediate and largely accurate.

This is not about being a conformist or an iconoclast. It is about being oneself; a person free of pressures, an individual confident about expressing what he or she feels and not what the world feels. It’s then that communication becomes vibrant and productive!

Freedom

Apart from the political implications of this word, it has a very critical personal connotation as well. What do I mean by a personal connotation? I mean the implications of this word on an individual and his being.

What is an individual apart from being a complex mass of flesh, fluids and bones? In addition to this biological perspective, what makes a human unique is his thoughts, values and actions.

Gregory David Roberts put it beautifully through the first few pages of Shantaram. Man always has the freedom...the freedom of choices. Even when he was chained and beaten by the cops, he had the freedom... to hate them for it or to forgive them.

The lives and our being are a product of the choices we make. We can enslave a man's body, but enslaving his mind is not in our hands. That's a decision made by him alone. He could choose to be aware of his enslavement and hate it or adjust himself to it and play indifferent. His entire being might choose the former, but he will convince himself with the latter. Why? Because he thinks he will suffer less cheating himself of his own feelings.

Everyone has freedom. With that freedom, comes the necessity of being aware of one's actions and taking full responsibility of the consequences.

What I have observed amongst people is the tendency to prefer losing their freedom. Why? Because they prefer avoiding the responsibility of being themselves. Why? Because being oneself involves standing up for and living by your own convictions. That is not going to be taken well by some faction or another. Perhaps, they don't have the courage to stand up against the current. Perhaps, thats a compromise they are willing to make for that evasive concept called comfort.

These same people try then to impose the general, all encompassing ideologies onto anyone with the tendencies to individuality. Why? Because, they are a threat to their comfort.

Freedom realised is freedom lived. The very awareness of freedom is freedom even if one does not exercise it. This holds true as long as one is aware and true to himself.

Society?

What is society? I feel that is an essential question especially when one is asked to conform with it.

I've tried this one with several people and have come to one conclusion. Society for Ms 'A' consists of everyone around her. For Mr 'B', it consists of everyone around him. Here comes the complication... According to Ms 'A', society does not include her and ditto for Mr 'B'. So, expand this logic to the whole of mankind and we're still stuck at nothing!

Society consists of every single human element in existence. That includes the 'anti-social' elements as well. So, what exactly are we expected to be conforming to?

Also, it isn't possible to have a representative unit of this society. We represent ourselves. Anyone doing it on our behalf is bound to be flawed. The only possible method of representation is handing this responsibility to someone who understands the dynamics of individuality.