Ekla chalo re ..

I was moved by the song 'Ekla Chalo re' ever since I heard it being practiced by my daughter for her school program.

While the meaning is deep, the very sound of the words has a magical power even though one doesn't know Bengali. (Now I have looked up the meaning for almost all the words and the poem sounds even more magical)

I listened to it many times, (Both Amitabh's singing and Shreya Goshal's) and reading the lyrics and meaning at http://www.bollymeaning.com/2012/03/ekla-cholo-re-lyrics-translation.html, couldn't resist writing a translation, however poor it may be ..

தனித்துச் செல் தோழா !

யாரும் உன் விளி கேட்டு உடன் பயணிக்க வராவிட்டால்

தனித்துச் செல் தோழா... தனித்துச் செல்.
தனித்துச் செல் தோழா... தனித்துச் செல்.

யாரும் உன்னிடம் பேசாவிட்டால்   , என் அதிர்ஷ்டமில்லா நண்பனே ,

யாரும் உன்னிடம் பேசாவிட்டால் ...

அனைவரும் முகம் திருப்பினால், அனைவரும் அச்சப்பட்டால்

உன் உயிர் திறவாய்...

உன் உள்ளத்தினில் உள்ளதெல்லாம்

தனித்துச் சொல் தோழா ..

கருமேகங்கள் வானில் சூழ்கையில்... ஓ நண்பா

சத்தியத்தை இருள் மறைக்கையில்

உலகெலாம் அஞ்சிகுறுகி சிரம் தாழ்கையில்...

ஒரு பிழம்பாவாய் நீ .. அந்த இடத்தினையே ...

சுயமெரிந்து ஒளியூட்டும் தீப்பிழம்பாவாய் நீ

தனித்து எரி தோழா ..

7th Pay Commission

Today the 7th pay commission is in the news..

ahem, what ????

pay, commission, report...

which is about government servants remunerations and services.



It was in all front pages and all TV channels..

So is it legal ??

:(

I mean the pay commission to government servants?












On a serious vein, on the sorry state of affairs on this colossal stuff, will blog later.

Junk

What do you expect to see in a junkyard - except mainly junk?

over the years, more junk, little gets annihilated.

like the big garbage bag carried by kalyani in our village

which i learn she carried till her last day

I fill and carry, and keep filling and keep carrying - both almost out of habit now

and even though it wears me down, it keeps happening like a tireless factory.

the result of which i produce some more junk and add to the bag

mistake not the forlorn looks and fireless eyes as a sign of age or decay

it’s just that the junk is too much and is getting bigger by the day..

Strange, but surely, I think I have some valuables hidden in it and I want them, ask me not what they are and how they will be useful, I won’t be able to say, but i know that there are some valuables. So this junk I safekeep, how much ever it wears me down.

And I forgot to tell you, this junk is somewhat special, one can only get rid of it in totality. One can’t be selective. And one can’t choose to retain it as is - without adding to it too.. If it is there it keeps becoming bigger as that’s its nature.

Let’s say much like a blackhole…

And is there anything known to science that annihilates a blackhole?

One more wrong question from the junkyard..

Why should science have all the answers?

Make haste .... Slowly..

AAP's attempt to gain a foothold throughout the country with the 2014 Loksabha elections as a platform, with the best case scenario of also winning quite a few seats and be a king maker if not the king itself appears to sow the seeds of its undoing (I mean the cacophony and the quarrels and bickering within party in many places. I see it in close quarters in Coimbatore and am certain it's happening similarly in many other places. The leadership's position is unenviable, they will be hearing many negative things from either side, when their time should be spent on building with energy and addressing the malaise in the system (not in setting right the self-created malaise within the party))

This post goes on to explore the situation as evidenced now and proposes some alternatives.

Let's face it.. Today AAP is seen by the multitude of those who seek to be active volunteers as a vehicle to catapult them into some significance, whether directly through power or by getting close to those will be in that seat. It is extremely difficult to separate the grain from the chaff. Any wrong attempt will first alienate the grain and the chaff (which literally is skin, and in this case a bit thick too) will linger on waiting for the dust to settle.

There is one acid test/opportunity though.

Imagine AAP is not contesting Lok Sabha polls except where it has already good organisational setup, volunteers experienced in mohalla sabhas, the swaraj principles etc. (Which is essentially Delhi and perhaps Maharashtra, Haryana and UP).

We will most likely see the bulk of the enthusiastic crowd vapourise in all other places. Then AAP leadership is left with the task of grain/chaff separation in only the contesting states which itself should be a very arduous task. We shouldn't forget that the prime function now of AAP leadership is governing Delhi - people have elected them for that, and if they relegate it to second priority and move on to other things (whether the other things are self-enriching or party building across the country) it is unlikely that the Delhi populace will be kind to that oversight. There will be a no-confidence vote within six months, without a doubt.

In these other states the AAP can do the work which it did in Delhi over the last year, getting members, educating about swaraj, raising awareness to the citizens about the funds that are allocated to their areas, and what projects are supposed to be implemented (we can educate about using RTI as a tool), explain and educate the instruments available for grievance redressal today, and lead from the front in local issues etc.

In other words, boring, laborious, hard civil service over the next few years. Target the local body/municipal elections first on the plank of development and get elected there and establish/demonstrate swaraj.

In the process the real doers, those who really care for the aam aadmi, those who believe in swaraj, those who have a service motive deep in them, these will be identified. The natural leaders of the respective places.

And build a better party for a better country on this foundation.. That will benefit Aam aadmi really.

Now the question arises, so what do we do as a political party now in the 2014 elections? Allow the two corrupt Alliances to fight among themselves and let the country suffer in the hands of members from these?

Imagine the following..

Like the concept of constituency wise manifesto, AAP announces that we will declare constituency wide support based on the candidate and their constituency manifesto. Candidate from a winnable party, an independent with impeccable credentials and great manifesto but known just to his street doesn't qualify now (he is AAP candidate for a future date - he has to prove himself first through lot of service before that).

AAP should announce why they are supporting a certain candidate transparently - based on his track record, and what promises have been extracted for the constituency (a simple mandatory one for support to anybody can be the MP development fund should be placed before people for referendum and spending should be based on people preferences). AAP can be people's voice, sit across, negotiate, extract promises and get him/her to incorporate in their constituency manifesto.

This statement (that this is what AAP will do), released in time, will force parties to select cleaner candidates, and force the candidates to be little more loyal to the people rather than parties, as their ticket was owing to the aam aadmi also not just High command's mercy.

Then let AAP follow the MP's tenure, get as much benefit for constituency as possible in the tenure, be his conscience keeper, and keep people updated about the pitfalls as they happen.

Surely the MP will be closer to the people compared to all the MPs/MLAs we have seen in the past, and if not badly exposed.


This is a thought seed, and I look forward to the comments.

The _real_ big picture..

Picture this..

A species that has figured out how to reach moon and walk on its soil,
built machines that defy gravity and fly
built machines that enable people to see and hear things very far away

and done hundred other such wonders,

hasn't still figured out how to live without the gnawing fear and suspicion about ones own neighbour (whether a person, community or country)

hasn't figured out how people can live without insecurity

hasn't figured out how to ensure basic needs are attainable by all.

-----------

It just shows that cleverness, scientific wizardy and mastery are just too inadequate to live. Most of it not be even necessary, while some of them can be quite helpful.

-----------

What has been our 'social learning' over these centuries, and over trillions of whatever currency worth of economic progress?

I think we can count some..

1. We are not cannibals anymore. We don't kill anybody and eat. Perhaps figuratively yes, but at least not literally

2. The kind of orphanages seen in Dickens' novels are a thing of past in western world. They still thrive, and there are ghettos and slums worse than that in many other parts of the world

3. We don't stone people to death and the judicial process is lot more civil. (Yes there are some areas where these things still happen, but they are few.. sigh.)

Well, unable to come up with a longer list. I have tried..

We have seen Moore's law in action. We have seen agricultural and industrial revolutions multiplying economic capabilities of people, though also widening the inequalities. We have seen reports of global warming and impending disaster due to neglect of environment. We are seeing school children going to school and shooting their teachers and fellow students.

It appears as if the human race is incapable or consciously choosing not to learn to live right. The singularity in learning to live life has not happened over the millennia. We have had technological singularities . There is no such intelligence explosion in human living whereby sorrow, fear and suspicion are a thing of past and people know to live.

The more I think the more it appears an act of omission and commission by the society at large and carefully and very crafty way executed in our education system and the ladder and path the world shows in front of all.

It's a big matrix, a treacherous one. Where even the schemer isn't aware that he is also part of the scheme and is schemed in as well, and is merely role-playing and fulfilling the 'scheme'.

It is at once very revealing and huge insight.

Now the next obvious question is, should it continue like this? Rather can it continue like this for long?

Going by extrapolation and experience of human kind, are there any ways out? Hasn't this been the case since time immemorial, only getting more capable in hatred and in its expression, and greed and in it's expression ? Haven't people tried to break loose and also to break loose all? If it hasn't worked then why would it now? What's different now?

It's five months since my last blog, which was written as the recession was peaking (or should one say recession was hitting the bottom?)..

Last week starting with Japan, now Germany, France and Finland are giving positive numbers for their GDP , and it appears that the world is coming out of recession. It's a remarkable lie and mirage and its a game all of us play, never realising its a game and mirage.

Let's look at things in perspective.. The real big picture. As if sitting in another planet in milky way and looking at our little globe pre and post recession. Or as a better simili as if a child observing whatever happened.

Pre-recession world was a place of huge populations without essentials or struggling for essentials (say 70%), with the next lot with their leg on the ladder and head looking high (say 25%), and the last 5%, near the very top of ladder (but never getting to the tantalisingly close real top) gone bonkers with the height and terrified about the world below, but dictating everything in that, but depending on that even for their basic things.

Post recession where are we? With a bit of shuffing of these people, negligible shuffling in fact, the situation is much the same. In fact we have squandered an opportunity to look at how we live and what we should be doing.

There is a frightening pie chart of today's human activity..

If we make a pie chart of human activity today, and try to fit the various jobs/sectors/services done by humans, how many of them will be falling under the category, essential or contributory to life in this planet? How many of them will be frivolous and wasteful? and how many of them will be downright destructive?

So the bulk of the industries that closed and those who lost job, should take it as an opportunity to run away from the mindless mill of life with the bulk of non-essential activity and find real essential activity that sustains and nurtures life in this earth, and also uplifts human spirit.

It's a pruning that has happened, and if we desparately seek to get back to the mad chase of mindless development, the fellow looking at our globe be amused at our stupidity.

Economic Crisis.. An Opportunity..

One is hearing a lot and reading a lot (and seeing a lot on TV), reg. the economic crisis and the figures are staggering. Everyday incredible numbers, whether it's unemployment percentage, job cuts or quantum of wealth erosion keep coming from the media. The media and the analysts also based on their inclinations and biases (and perhaps based on their data and guts) give their predictions on how things will turn out to be..

It's all indeed very bewildering and sometimes defies sense.

I read in my primary school book that the basic needs of human beings are food, clothing and shelter.

I don't believe that since the start of this 'global melt-down', there has been a sudden reduction in production of any of these three. In other words the world continues to produce the same quantity of food and clothing and the housing levels continue to be more or less what they were before all this madness began.

Then who is the actual sufferer? The ones losing jobs. They are the ones who are really hit and deprived/facing the possibility of deprivation of these basic needs. For the rest, it's just some numbers in some statements will be smaller now. They have food to eat, clothing to wear and a roof above their heads. So the crisis is for those who lost their jobs, and for those it looks imminent.

Now if we look at it, that's a sizeable number, but is it sizeable in proportion to the real bulk of people in poor countries in unorganised sector who never had firm employment, the vast rural population living in poverty who depend on agriculture and allied works etc. ?

I wish I had numbers with me, but my gut feeling is that for every new job loss that's happening now, there's already 10 or 15 people who are already living in precarious conditions due to lack of a steady job or reasonable income. They have always been there, in the sense we just didn't see them before all this meltdown happened (not that we see them now), and they never had any serious voice.

So all that's happening now is more of urban people have lost a security net made of steady income, and more are about to lose - and it hurts/impacts directly those people who consume today's media, whether it's TV, print or web. Hence the huge commotion on economic meltdown now.

What's happening effectively is a breakdown of an essentially flawed system which was based on greed, insecurity and division. Strictly speaking we should all be rejoicing and grabbing this opportunity to build a world where there will be joy and peace. Before getting on to what we should/could be possibly doing, let me substantiate my atrocious/ludicrous allegation.

Today's system is based on greed.

Today's corporates are profit motivated, and growth driven. In the process ulmost universally, they bring unplanned, uncaring urbanisation, ruthlessly make jobs so specialised effectively styming all creative abilities in their workforce and unemployable elsewhere (at the same time without hesitation throwing them out when their jobs come in the way of maintaining their insane profits). Profits and growth are many a times a zero sum game, unless very very well planned, and unless they are not artificially thrust in a place. The side of the equation taking a hit is many a times are the vulnerable areas such as envioronment, the workforce, the natural resources of a place etc. These negatives do not figure in any reckoning while the glistening growth stories are recorded and recited in corporate and countries' reports.

Today's system is based on insecurity.

Today's system sustains and ensures a society where there are vulnerable, insecure, needy people are there and uses this as a tool to engender insecurity in the minds of the people with money and makes them work very hard and save (which is essentially a way of taking money off the people and giving it to corporates, and when given for artificial growth, facilitates the maladies visited in previous para) instead of giving to the needy, vulnerable sections and ensuring a healthy, happy life for all today. In other words worried about being left without money for my later years, I do not give to those who go to bed with hunger today. Today's society makes this idiocy perfectly logical and reasonable and any alternate action so difficult to execute and even mind-boggling to figure out.

Today's system is based on division

Today's system divides people on various labels, the two most dangerous ones being nationalism and religion. Volumes have been written about the danger and fallacy of these divisions but the policy makers, and those who take decisions that impact people are many a times driven by these ideas. We have inherited a sickening baggage of these two from the yesteryears and that's just weighing the whole world down. We need to just shrug this baggage off if we need to get anywhere.

Let's think over the possibilities and options 'today's crisis' presents to shake up this crazy system into a sensible one in subsequent posts.