tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-47195967059635463222024-03-13T00:49:45.398-07:00Excellence EverywhereThoughts spanning technology, India, hunger problem, business, people, music and spiritualitySreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-49533023387545058732023-09-17T00:50:00.002-07:002023-09-17T00:58:22.603-07:00They ask me how it feels...<p> ... Some add quickly, perhaps because they are afraid of my response, that it must feel like a huge void. A "crater in my living room", around which I must navigate all life. Some tentatively express the hope that I should be feeling better now, compared to how I did months ago on that fateful morning. They seem to be hoping that the silence in my heart is no longer so loud and deafening, that off and on a little birdie might be chirping in there. </p><p>Is this the thick darkness at 3am which fades gradually when the dawn breaks? Losing her feels like losing my right eye. That blank stare, that dark half, will stay with me forever. The world will never seem the same to me again.</p><p>Nevertheless, I feel like getting up and searching hard in my disheveled heart, to answer them. I am grateful that they asked. I am grateful that they care enough about me to ask. They too knew her, loved her, lost her suddenly, they too say they miss her terribly, but somehow they seem to think that I can voice it better. Did they ask me so they can better define how <i>they</i> are feeling? Did they ask me so I can put their hazy, uncomfortable grief into logical words? Are they hoping that my grief is hopefully deeper, more concrete? Or was their question just a casual ice breaker? Are they merely, uninterestedly, curious if/when I will ever unfreeze? In any case, I will attempt to answer them. But, are they right to conclude that my loss is deeper just because I got lucky to get the largest chunk of her time (May 18th, 1990, 2pm to October 26, 2022, 7am)? Just because she chose to embrace my home and family as hers, to intertwine her and my professions for life, to create our child in her womb? I am not sure. Are loss and grief of human beings measurable in terms that afford a comparison, a sorting? Isn't everyone's emptiness endless, once it is experienced? That question moves the problem from loss to love. Can the loves different people had for her be measured in units that afford a comparison, a sorting? Is loss proportional to how long you loved someone - I wonder.</p><p>Unequivocally, however, I feel her loss. Through the whole expanse of my existence, I feel lost. In my heart, my senses, my thoughts, my moments, my spaces, my future, my past. My very being feels sort of like Swiss cheese - full of holes. Also, moments have become elastic. Each one keeps stretching aimlessly. There is no urgency to get anything done, to reach anywhere. Each moment gifted to me by the Present, expands and draws on. Blankly, its taste and flavor get spread, diluted, for a long stretch. Joyous or grievous, all moments stretch on, leaving their lingering but faint flavor for a long time. Each moment hovers around purposelessness, detachment, neutrality. It seems mind is finding a strange comfort in lazily stretching, suspending, and diluting moments. The hard ones, the discomforts, are the transitions, between moments, moods or tasks. May be it is because transitions need some reason, some purpose. That is the main thing I seem to have lost with her, my sense of purpose. </p><p>Before she left, spiritual knowledge apart, I was pretty sure that I was doing my life. That feeling left with her. Now I merely watch my life as it rolls on. Like the quiet, drowsy guy sitting by the train window watching the word roll - at a pace that he does not control, with scenes he cannot anticipate. The guy who is merely, implicitly, grateful for the comfortable seat he is given, for the occasional food and drink offered to him, the guy who is detachedly glued to the rolling world before him. He feels no strong emotion about what he watches, no specific thing catches his attention for over a fleeting moment. When she left, I transitioned from being my life's doer to being it's weakly curious, implicitly grateful, mere bystander and watcher. </p><p>There is a fear though. That I might be asked to get off the train. To actually be part of those crowded streets, to get something done, to interact with some of those strange faces. That scares me. I hope someone lets me sit in this soft seat, at this nice window, until the final station. I hope my eyes will close off comforted by the fading lights and rolling sights. I hope I deliciously fall asleep, never having to get up or get down. </p><p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjasiDPMkd6gIL1VP9fpLfeaxGup8y5t_5ybWdutowcELUEaGrSzy70M1UQ06iKRARRPitev002ZM3PEnTe9G1xyaC9V6v0SKt_3JrJmccPe8lp3PZkf_ejXpxS6sm0hiEI0p2BHMLdd9w2ReQ9RYCkXh2p6Ic4segSSx362QoQK6XOX7KN7Svrsi_pf_A" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="534" data-original-width="800" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEjasiDPMkd6gIL1VP9fpLfeaxGup8y5t_5ybWdutowcELUEaGrSzy70M1UQ06iKRARRPitev002ZM3PEnTe9G1xyaC9V6v0SKt_3JrJmccPe8lp3PZkf_ejXpxS6sm0hiEI0p2BHMLdd9w2ReQ9RYCkXh2p6Ic4segSSx362QoQK6XOX7KN7Svrsi_pf_A=w400-h268" width="400" /></a></div><p><br /></p>Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-84972655705820404742023-07-28T07:13:00.002-07:002023-07-28T07:13:31.737-07:00Translation into Telugu of Mahakavi Subramanya Bharathi's "Kaakai Siraginile"<p> కాకి రెక్క నందైన కన్నయ్యా</p><p>నీ మేనిరంగు మురిపించె నల్లనయ్యా ॥కాకి॥</p><p><br /></p><p>వనమంత పరికింప వనమాలీ</p><p>నీ హరితఛాయ హాయినిచ్చె హరిగోవిందా ॥కాకి॥</p><p><br /></p><p>వీనులజేరు సవ్వడులన్నీ వేణువిలోలా</p><p>నీ గానమై అలరించె ఆనందరూపా</p><p><br /></p><p>మంటలోన వేలిడినా మాధవా</p><p>నీ వంటినంటు పులకింత శ్రీవెంకటేశ ॥కాకి॥</p><p><br /></p><p>తమిళ కృతి - శ్రీ సుబ్రమణ్య భారతి</p><p>స్వేఛ్చానువాదం - శ్రీరామ మూర్తి</p><p>రాగం - బృందావన సారంగ</p><p>తాళం - ఆది</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">You can find <a href="https://youtu.be/dTlFWFgLZEE" target="_blank">my rendition of the song</a> here.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p>Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-31661466008550905172022-07-17T03:01:00.004-07:002022-07-17T03:42:04.149-07:00Ignorance or Enlightenment - it is all here, in this very moment<p>Many of our great vAggEyakArAs (vAk + gEya kArAs - lyricists + music composers) were experts at packing profound meaning into simple, day-to-day words. AnnamAchArya excelled at this trait hundreds of years ago. Today, I want to discuss with you one song of his - "telisitE mOkshamu" - the profoundness and simplicity of whose words give me goosebumps every time I listen to them. </p><p>The original tunes of many of the 12,000 AnnamAchArya kIrthanAs we found are unavailable today. So, many great musicians gave new tunes to them. My favorite tune for this song is made by Shri Nedunuri Krishnamurthi in rAgA HamsAnandi. You can listen to the renditions of <a href="https://youtu.be/P9iLd0SEgKs" target="_blank">Malladi brothers</a> and <a href="https://youtu.be/yUIrRtFlyyk" target="_blank">Chaitanya brothers</a> here. There are other tunes too, for example, this one by <a href="https://youtu.be/4MpPBMVCyaQ" target="_blank">Priya sisters</a>. </p><p>A great writing can have many interpretations, based on the reader's perspective, experiences and limitations. So I cannot claim that my interpretation of this song is the only one possible. I can, however, perhaps defend that my interpretation is also not incorrect. </p><p>This song - "telisitE mOkshamu" - to me, proclaims succinctly that Ignorance and Enlightenment co-exist in any moment, that your perception of life can be on either side. This song prescribes specific attributes of the mind needed to stay on the side of Enlightenment. As this prescription is applicable to every human being, this song, like AnnamAchArya's many other songs, makes a profound contribution towards human spiritual evolution.</p><p><br /></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">telisitae mOkshamu - teliyakunna bandhamu</span><br style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">kalavanTidi brathuku - ghanunikini</span></span></p><p><span face="Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">If one is in the know, life incidents help them move towards ultimate Freedom. If one is in ignorance, the same life incidents induce further Bondage. Life is actually like a dream, because life incidents themselves are not concrete. It is the person's frame of mind which determines where life incidents take them - towards Freedom or towards Bondage. The frame of mind that AnnamAchArya prescribes so that you can know that life is a dream is "ghana" - a solid, unperturbed, non-vacillating mind.</span></span></p><p><span face="Trebuchet MS, Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif"><span style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">anayamu sukhamaeDadi -avala du:khamaeDadi</span><br style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">tanuvupai naasalaeni - tatvamatikini</span><br style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">ponigitae paapamaedi -puNyamaedi karmamandu</span><br style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">vonaraga phalamollani - yOgikini yOgikini</span></span></p><p><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">"tatvam" is a loaded Sanskrit word. It proclaims "tat-tvam" - THAT is YOU. You are no different from everything around you. All boundaries (where you end and the "other" begins) and comparisons (this is good, but that is not) are unreal. They are caused by the ignorance of a mind that is not yet grounded in tatvam. </span></p><p><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">A "tatvamati" is a person for whom the experience of "tatvam" is firmly established in his intellect. Such a person </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">experiences that everything is one beautiful, connected, existential whole. Perceiving this oneness of everything also happens to be the very purpose of the great science of yOga. Hence, a "tatvamati" can also be referred to as a "yOgi". </span></p><p><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">Tatvamatis have no special possessiveness for their body, because they experience it to be no different from anything else. For tatvamatis, life experiences cause neither "sukha" (comfort, joy) nor "du:kha (grief, suffering), because sukha and dukha are only of the physical body & mind. </span></p><p><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">A yOgi performs </span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">actions (karmas), but has no expectation of specific outcomes (fruits) from these actions. yOgis do not worry about whether their actions accumulate good outcomes (punya) or sin (pApa). They simply perceive everything as one, do what they feel is needed, and move on, with no attachment to the outcomes of their actions. </span></p><p><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">Someone that is a Tatvamati / yOgi is thus free of sukha, du:kha, punya, pApa. The prescription of</span><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;"> ghana is not separate / different from the prescription of tatvamati / yOgi. Both are connected traits - we need to have an unvacillating, solid mind that perceives everything as one and acts without attachment to outcomes. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;"><br /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">taginayamRtamaedi - talavaga vishamaedi</span><br style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">tegi niraahaariyaina - dheerunikini</span><br style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">pagavaaranaga neri - bandhulanaga neri</span><br style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">vegaTuprapaMchamella - viDichaevivaekiki</span></span></p><p><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">"dhI" denotes the mind. "dhIra" is someone with a strong mind, a mind that stays courageous in the face of any challenges or adversities. A dhIra's strength of mind does not come from their food. (Mind, according to the Upanishads, is manufactured from the food we eat. Prana, our life breath, is manufactured from the water we drink.) Whether their food is highly suitable (amRita - nector), or highly unsuitable (visha - poison), a dhIra's mind nevertheless stays strong, disconnected to and uninfluenced by food (niraahari).</span></p><p><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">"vivEka" is the ability to distinguish between the permanent (true - "sat") and the impermanent (false - "asat"). For a vivEki, there is no difference between people who hate them (pagavAru - enemies) and people whom they are tied to (bandhulu - relatives in common parlance - more accurately, those with who you have some ties). A vivEki is disillusioned with the world and hence detached from it. They know that everything in this prapancha (physical world made up of the five elements - earth, water, fire, air, space) is impermanent. Hence they are not biased towards any person. They have an equal view of everyone. </span></p><p><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">AnnamAchArya thus adds in this stanza, to his earlier prescriptions of ghana and tatvamati/yogi, two new prescriptions of dhIra and vivEka.</span></p><p><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">vaevaeluvidhulandu - verapaedi marapaedi</span><br style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">daivamunu namminaTTi - dhanyunikini</span><br style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">SreevaenkaTaeSvaruDu - chittamulO nunnavaaDu</span><br style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-family: "Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif;" /><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;">yeevalaedi aavalaedi - yeetanidaasuniki</span></span></p><p>Now we come to my favorite stanza! "dhanya" denotes one that is fortunate or lucky. The luck that AnnamAchArya refers to here is the good fortune of being a believer in God! In another song of his, he strongly proclaims: "nI valanE nI Sarananiyeda" - I become your devotee only because you choose me to become so. </p><p>Becoming a believer in God itself is good fortune (dhanya). For one who got this luck, even when they have thousands of duties (vidhulu), there will be zero fear (verapu) or forgetfulness (marapu). Work will never unsettle these fortunate persons.</p><p>"chitta" is another loaded Sanskrit word. It means Awareness or Consciousness. It is a layer far above the mind. Mind, like the body, is physical hence impermanent. But chitta is permanent, and connected to the universal chAItanya. </p><p>AnnamAchArya concludes this beautiful song stating that, for a person who has Sri VenkaTEswara firmly established in his chitta, one who is His dAsa (i.e., fully surrendered to Him), there is no this side or that side of the birth-and-death cycle. Such a dAsa can attain mOksha (ultimate Freedom) even when they are in their current, mundane life. Those with this Awareness attain mOksha even in this life (telisitE mOkshamu), and their life feels like just a dream (kala vanTidi brathuku). It does not weigh them down - hence they experience ultimate Enlightenment while being alive.</p><p>Everyone of us can attain this ultimate Freedom in our own lives, by cultivating attributes like ghana, tatvamati / yogi, dhIra, vivEka that are described above, and by establishing the Lord firmly in our Awareness.</p><p><br /></p><p>I sincerely hope that I was able to convey even a small part of my fascination for the amounts of profound meaning and vEdantic thought Shri AnnamAchArya packs into his simple every-day lyrics. This song is just one sample; there are thousands more. tALLapAka AnnamAchArya's songs are like bottomless fountains of truth, knowledge and beauty - the more one digs into them, the more life-enriching things one can find in them.</p><p><br /></p><p>sarvE janAh sukhinObhavantu. </p><p><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6;"><br /></span></p><p><span face=""Trebuchet MS", Trebuchet, Verdana, sans-serif" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; font-size: 13px;"><br /></span></p>Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-71853411801328332372017-07-04T17:27:00.004-07:002017-07-04T17:35:44.379-07:00Of Cattle, Cognitive Systems and Creation - Part 1<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<i>Sub-title: Artificial Intelligence is a hugely powerful next step in
human evolution. History teaches us how to control such power and ensure its
use for human well-being. </i><o:p></o:p></div>
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As per popular history, somewhere between 10,000 BC and
4,000 BC, transitioning from the Neolithic Age to the Bronze Age, we humans
evolved from nomadic groups of hunter-gatherers into full-fledged agrarian economies.
Among other things, we had an insight that animals, which were all around us
then, have strengths and skills that can be great assets to getting our own
works done. We developed “technologies” to domesticate, tame, train, rear and
breed cattle for various purposes. Whether it is dogs in Alaska, elephants in
south India or horses in the American West, leveraging local animals to get
things done became a major factor in the survival and growth of us humans.
Animal-less productivity was nearly unthinkable then. Since then, we have undergone
two more major evolutionary steps as a race - the industrial revolution and the
IT revolution. Nevertheless, leveraging animals for human well-being (other
than as food) continues to be practiced significantly. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Cattle provide an excellent perspective to think about the
current Artificial Intelligence (AI) revolution. But before we go there, let us
first get on the same page on <i>what</i> the
AI revolution is. In case you were busy cave-dwelling in the past decade, let
me be the one to break to you that our world is being completely reshaped by
AI. Clerk-less offices, driver-less roads, teacher-less schools, soldier-less
wars and doctor-less surgeries are no longer science fiction. In the coming
decade, intelligent machines and robots will save millions of human and animal lives,
but they will also steal millions of human jobs. Companies offering AI-based
products and services will earn trillions of dollars. Cities, institutions and
homes will look completely different in our life time, thanks to AI. <o:p></o:p></div>
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AI is a technology area that aspires to build computing
systems that exhibit what humans can accept as “intelligence”. The dream of creating
intelligent programs and systems has been active for several decades now. Many connected
technology areas like Big Data, Analytics, Robotics, Machine Learning and
Cognitive Computing assist in realizing the AI Revolution. It is known that thousands
of mechanical, electronic, chemical systems outperform manual effort, in many
areas. When the ingredient of intelligence gets added to these systems through
AI, what we get (what we <i>are</i> getting)
are truly next-generation machines that do complex activities <i>far</i> more quickly, cheaply, accurately, reliably
and robustly than human beings. A sub-area of AI, Machine Learning, enables these
machines to learn from their mistakes and from human feedback, to improve over
time at what they do, just like humans. In short, AI makes it possible to create
perfect, intelligent workers in many areas.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Naturally, this is highly scary. At once, our very survival seems
to be threatened and mind gets clouded by many questions - What will happen to
the human edifices and societies that we so carefully constructed for centuries,
when AI takes over? Will humans have anything useful left to do? Or will all
work be effortlessly done by AI-enabled systems, forcing us to become couch
potatoes and eventually go extinct? Once machines become intelligent, how can
we be sure that we can continue to control them to keep serving our interests
and mandates? What if they revolt? Is it possible for quirky, emotional humans
to stand their ground and fight against perfect, ruthless machines? Can intelligent
machines build consensus among themselves, to become perfectly coordinated
nightmares for humans? Can the intelligence of machines grow so much that humans
become vulnerable disposables? There are many such questions, and they must be
asked and debated. These questions are valid enough that some of the brightest
minds of our times, like Stephen Hawking and Elon Musk, have alerted humanity
on the not-so-distant future dangers of AI systems.<o:p></o:p></div>
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However, I am a die-hard optimist. I choose to hold a
diametrically different view than the above venerable minds. My 27 years in
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning have convinced me that AI systems
are nothing but humanity’s new cattle. Like our Neolithic brethren woke up to the
possibility of leveraging the animal kingdom around them, we are waking up to leveraging
a new-found kingdom of intelligent machines. This is a kingdom we will breed. We
can, and we will, learn to leverage this kingdom in the right way, to advance
human well-being, to thrive and prosper as human race, and to strengthen the human
spirit. In the initial stages, there will be challenges and casualties, just
like there are in initial horse-raring and elephant-training times. The more
powerful the beast is, the more potentially useful it is, but the harder it is
to tame, train and use. But I believe there are solid, irrefutable reasons to prove
that we humans can tame the AI beasts. <o:p></o:p></div>
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Through this article series, I hope to convince you that we should
not shy away from pursuing or building AI-based machines; on the contrary we
should build them with a sense of passion, urgency and discretion. In parallel,
we must put in place specific mechanisms and measures, to help create a future
where the supremacy of humans over intelligent machines can be assured. <o:p></o:p></div>
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To be continued…<o:p></o:p></div>
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<span style="font-family: "calibri" , sans-serif; font-size: 11.0pt; line-height: 107%;">[This is a multi-part article series, which
contains my personal views and ramblings about natural and artificial
intelligence. Thank you for reading. Please watch this blog for updates.]</span></div>
Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-60327758917634330892015-07-28T00:05:00.003-07:002015-07-28T03:23:34.455-07:00Wow! What an Example to Set!!<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
The following is an account shared by someone who spent the last six hours with Bharat Ratna Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam. It brought tears to my eyes. Professor Kalam, as he likes to be remembered, has set such a beautiful example of the right way to live, to think, to give.<br />
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What I will be remembered for.. my memory of the last day with the great Kalam sir...</div>
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It has been eight hours since we last talked – sleep eludes me and memories keep flushing down, sometimes as tears. Our day, 27th July, began at <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_352456214" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">12 noon</span></span>, when we took our seats in the flight to Guhawati. Dr. Kalam was 1A and I was IC. He was wearing a dark colored “Kalam suit”, and I started off complimenting, “Nice color!” Little did I know this was going to be the last color I will see on him.</div>
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Long, 2.5 hours of flying in the monsoon weather. I hate turbulence, and he had mastered over them. Whenever he would see me go cold in shaking plane, he would just pull down the window pane and saw, “Now you don’t see any fear!”.</div>
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That was followed by another 2.5 hours of car drive to IIM Shillong. For these two legged trip of five hours we talked, discussed and debated. These were amongsthundreds of the long flights and longer drives we have been together over the last six years.</div>
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As each of them, this was as special too. Three incidents/discussions in particular will be “lasting memories of our last trip”.</div>
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First, Dr. Kalam was absolutely worried about the attacks in Punjab. The loss of innocent lives left him filledwith sorrow. The topic of lecture at IIM Shillong was Creating a Livable Planet Earth. He related the incident to the topic and said, “it seems the man made forces are as big a threat to the livability of earth as pollution”. We discussed on how, if this trend of violence, pollution and reckless human action continues we will forced to leave earth. “Thirty years, at this rate, maybe”, he said. “You guys must do something about it… it is going to be your future world”</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Our second discussion was more national. For the past two days, Dr. Kalam was worried that time and again Parliament, the supreme institution of democracy, was dysfunctional. He said, “I have seen two different governments in my tenure. I have seen more after that. This disruption just keeps happening. It is not right. I really need to find out a way to ensure that the parliament works on developmental politics.” He then asked me to prepare a surprise assignment question for the students at IIM Shillong, which he would give them only at the end of the lecture. He wanted to them to suggest three innovative ways to make the Parliament more productive and vibrant. Then, after a while he returned on it. “But how can ask them to give solutions if I don’t have any myself”. For the next one hour, we thwarted options after options, who come up with his recommendation over the issue. </span><span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">We wanted to include this discussion in our upcoming book, Advantage India. </span></div>
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Third, was an experience from the beauty of his humility. We were in a convoy of 6-7 cars. Dr. Kalam and I were in the second car. Ahead us was an open gypsy with three soldiers in it. Two of them were sitting on either side and one lean guy was standing atop, holding his gun. One hour into the road journey, Dr. Kalam said, “Why is he standing? He will get tired. This is like punishment. Can you ask a wireless message to given that he may sit?” I had to convince him, he has been probably instructed to keep standing for better security. He did not relent. We tried radio messaging, that did not work. For the next 1.5 hours of the journey, he reminded me thrice to see if I can hand signal him to sit down. Finally, realizing there is little we can do – he told me, “I want to meet him and thank him”. Later, when we landed in IIM Shillong, I went inquiring through security people and got hold of the standing guy. I took him inside and Dr. Kalam greeted him. He shook his hand, said thank you buddy. “Are you tired? Would you like something to eat? I am sorry you had to stand so long because of me”. The young lean guard, draped in black cloth, was surprised at the treatment. He lost words, just said, “Sir, aap ke liye to 6 ghante bhi khade rahenge”. </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. Kalam meeting the Javan who stood</td></tr>
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After this, we went to the lecture hall. He did not want to be late for the lecture. “Students should never be made to wait”, he always said. I quickly set up his mike, briefed on final lecture and took position on the computers. As I pinned his mike, he smiled and said, “Funny guy! Are you doing well?” ‘Funny guy’, when said by Kalam could mean a variety of things, depending on the tone and your own assessment. It could mean, you have done well, you have messed up something, you should listen to him or just that you have been plain naïve or he was just being jovial. Over six years I had learnt to interpret Funny Guy like the back of my palm. This time it was the last case.</div>
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“Funny guy! Are you doing well?” he said. I smiled back, “Yes”. Those were the last words he said. Two minutes into the speech, sitting behind him, I heard a long pause after completing one sentence. I looked at him, he fell down.</div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi72Vx3u86VT7ZPkcIEL-iMkFHDF1Vs4fS662x0ZtoLBNWy8NdU9EyhcYTWIvy9Dg1Ru_AkV17Fft52fXVTw74narGTEc1457dvzUS4am5nG_m6mkVq5UZkm4BkgRfVfbJNZhky-H9Gvzo/s1600/The-Last-Picture-of-Abdul-Kalam-as-he-collapsed-on-Stage-at-IIM-Shillong.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="251" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi72Vx3u86VT7ZPkcIEL-iMkFHDF1Vs4fS662x0ZtoLBNWy8NdU9EyhcYTWIvy9Dg1Ru_AkV17Fft52fXVTw74narGTEc1457dvzUS4am5nG_m6mkVq5UZkm4BkgRfVfbJNZhky-H9Gvzo/s320/The-Last-Picture-of-Abdul-Kalam-as-he-collapsed-on-Stage-at-IIM-Shillong.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. Kalam collapsing on the dias in Shillong</td></tr>
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We picked him up. As the doctor rushed, we tried whatever we could. I will never forget the look in his three-quarter closed eyes and I held his head with one hand and tried reviving with whatever I could. His hands clenched, curled onto my finger. There was stillness on his face and those wise eyes were motionlessly radiating wisdom. He never said a word. He did not show pain, only purpose was visible.<br />
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In five minutes we were in the nearest hospital. In another few minutes the they indicated the missile man had flown away, forever. I touched his feet, one last time. Adieu old friend! Grand mentor! See you in my thoughts and meet in the next birth.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">As turned back, a closet of thoughts opened.</span></div>
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Often he would ask me, “You are young, decide what will like to be remembered for?” I kept thinking of new impressive answers, till one day I gave up and resorted to tit-for-tat. I asked him back, “First you tell me, what will you like to be remembered for? President, Scientist, Writer, Missile man, India 2020, Target 3 billion…. What?” I thought I had made the question easier by giving options, but he sprang on me a surprise. “Teacher”, he said.</div>
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Then something he said two weeks back when we were discussing about his missile time friends. He said, “Children need to take care of their parents. It is sad that sometimes this is not happening”. He paused and said, “Two things. Elders must also do. Never leave wealth at your deathbed – that leaves a fighting family. Second, one is blessed is one can die working, standing tall without any long drawn ailing. Goodbyes should be short, really short”.</div>
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Today, I look back – he took the final journey, teaching, what he always wanted to be remembered doing. And, till his final moment he was standing, working and lecturing. He left us, as a great teacher, standing tall. He leaves the world with nothing accumulated in his account but loads of wishes and love of people. He was a successful, even in his end.</div>
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<span style="font-size: 12.8000001907349px;">Will miss all the lunches and dinners we had together, will miss all the times you surprised me with your humility and startled me with your curiosity, will miss the lessons of life you taught in action and words, will miss our struggles to race to make into flights, our trips, our long debates. You gave me dreams, you showed me dreams need to be impossible, for anything else is a compromise to my own ability. The man is gone, the mission lives on. </span></div>
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Long live Kalam.</div>
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Your indebted student,</div>
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Srijan Pal Singh</div>
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Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-18353120409098831212014-09-24T03:56:00.003-07:002014-09-24T04:09:16.970-07:00Asking Bigger Questions: Spirituality and Religion at Work<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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</w:wrap></v:imagedata></v:shape></o:wrapblock><span style="line-height: 115%;">I am not one to encourage
religion at work. I believe that religion is a very personal tool, and should
remain so. Nevertheless, after much thought, I agreed to setup a meditation
room within our office, complete with a consecrated energy form <b><i>AvighnaYantra
</i></b>(Sanskrit for <i>machine that removes
impediments</i>).<span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;">I have seen and heard many, otherwise
sensible and intelligent, people of diverse religions and cultures, share deep
personal experiences of how their financial, physical and psychological impediments
to peace just disappeared when they came into the sphere of influence of the
Avighna Yantra. I am personally convinced of the genuineness of these
experiences, and want similar positive effects for everyone in my office. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;">There are also other simple benefits of having a meditation
room at work:</span></div>
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<li><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Being
quiet and disengaged for some time</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Switch
off work issues for a while</span></li>
<li><span style="line-height: 115%; text-indent: -0.25in;">Not
carrying stress home</span></li>
</ul>
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Nevertheless, in an office with many people
(staff and visitors), one should expect to face reactions ranging from silent discomfort
to not-so-disguised disapproval of a seemingly religious symbol like the
Avighna Yantra. </span><i style="line-height: 115%;">Every</i><span style="line-height: 115%;"> staff member needs
to feel comfortable in an office, so I feel obliged to explain my rationale for
agreeing to keep an Energy Form at work.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%;">The rationale,
to me, starts with the difference between <b>spirituality</b>
and <b>religion</b>. Many great people
explained this difference - I may be allowed here the indulgence of providing
my own explanation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;">To me, spirituality
is <b>asking bigger questions</b>. Being
spiritual is deeply, <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null" name="_GoBack"></a>wholeheartedly asking questions like
"</span><span style="line-height: 115%;">why am I here on this planet?", "why is the world the way it is?",
"why do people (including me) suffer?", "what is my essential
nature?", "is it not possible to be happy all the time?", etc. </span><span style="line-height: 115%;">Such questions, I believe, are fundamental
to being human. They are in fact universal. Different people may ask them at
different points in their lives, but eventually everyone is likely to encounter
quandaries like this. The <i>context</i> of
the questions, and the <i>path</i> to the
answers, are deeply subjective. One needs to personally <i>experience</i> the answers; just knowing the answers is of little use.
In other words, <i><u>the questions are
universal, but answers can result only from deep subjective seeking</u></i>.<span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;">Religion, on the other hand, <b>provides packaged answers to bigger questions</b>. Religion has to assume
that there <i>are </i>answers applicable across
whole groups of people, that people in these groups <i>ought to</i> accept the answers given to them. Based on the specific answers
it provides, each religion distinguishes itself from the others. Packaged answers
no doubt give quicker solace at times. My problem with them is not that they
never work; my problem is that packaged answers can stop the act of asking bigger
questions, the act of seeking itself. That would be a disaster. For this
reason, I believe that packaged answers of established religions are easy,
perhaps effective, but dangerous, shortcuts. They <i>could</i> make you live under assumptions and hence ignorance.</span><br />
<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;">Furthermore, I feel that no sets of packaged answers, no existing
religions, can survive this millennium of irreverent, diversity-seeking, individualistic,
border-free generations of people. A better means to find solace in this
millennium is to cultivate genuine questioning, genuine seeking, in as many
people as possible. In fact, I believe that this is a <i>requirement</i> of this millennium.
Homes and work places alike should invest in setting up environments that
cultivate & encourage deeper questioning, subjective answer seeking & existential
clarity.</span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%;">There are multiple mechanisms
to set up such environments - through libraries, through debates &
discussions, through service to fellow humans, and through energy work. The
meditation room in our office is an example of energy work. We also respect and
practice the other mechanisms, but energy work impacts positively many people
in its sphere, even without conscious effort. <span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span><br />
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<span style="line-height: 115%;">It is not easy to draw the line between spirituality and
religion in energy work - the problem being <b>symbols</b>. If we keep spirituality fully devoid of symbols, then perhaps,
we can clearly differentiate between spirituality and religion. However groups
of people that attempted to do this historically ended up being the most
vociferous religious groups on the planet. I believe that it is not the fault
of any group, but that it is inherently very hard to remain symbol-free in
seeking. A lot of us have to evolve through symbols into a symbol-free
environment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="line-height: 115%;">Let me also dare to describe here my understanding of the
symbolism of the Avighna Yantra. Seeking or exploration can be at different
levels within a human being. One way of thinking about this is as different “<b>chakras</b>”. From a simple sense of ego,
individuality &survival (“<b>Muladhara chakra</b>”), one's exploration
progresses all the way to universal oneness (“<b>Sahasrara chakra</b>”). The progression is not a jump; it's a journey,
similar to energy rising in a conduit. Some significant milestones along the
way are desire & reproduction (“<b>Swadhistana
chakra</b>”), hunger & sustenance (“<b>Manipuraka
chakra</b>”), love & compassion ("<b>Anahatha
chakra</b>"), power & leadership ("<b>Visuddhi chakra</b>"), etc. I also personally visualize this
progression as a pyramid of evolution - many more people are at the ego &
survival stage than those at love & compassion and universal oneness stages.
Everyone is travelling to the top of the pyramid, at their own subjective pace,
with their own halts and impediments. <span style="font-size: medium;"><o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
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In the Yogic tradition, which is older than all religions on this planet, for thousands of years,“<b>chakras</b>” have been shown as different types of lotuses, and energy progression upwards
as a snake raising itself from a coiled state. In addition, it is argued
that the best shape to hold large amounts of energy is the “<b>Linga</b>” (oblong spherical shape). See the Korean nuclear reactor in
this picture.<o:p></o:p><br />
<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz8n-J-r_vCa9nnjkp6pohQTnS8OSAVXGFVLJ0YJ3gTD9_HYGKMmNmydg5uZMW93Vy1ZrdeUnSnfx__tADIxeQ_-2bLYv8Fvr8-A-ERJtPPQMqaBMrInckiWBzgONMfj3f4_mqbZRXWzo/s1600/img03.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgz8n-J-r_vCa9nnjkp6pohQTnS8OSAVXGFVLJ0YJ3gTD9_HYGKMmNmydg5uZMW93Vy1ZrdeUnSnfx__tADIxeQ_-2bLYv8Fvr8-A-ERJtPPQMqaBMrInckiWBzgONMfj3f4_mqbZRXWzo/s1600/img03.jpg" height="214" width="320" /></a></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;">Avighna Yantra includes all these elements - lotuses, snakes,
geometrical shapes, and an energy powerhouse in the form of a solidified,
consecrated mercury Linga, the Linga Bhairavi Devi. So, to one who sees it as an energy form, the Avighna Yantra is far beyond any religion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;">Before concluding, I should also express that I believe it is
important that symbols survive. Symbols are like ladder steps. After a person
climbs to a certain level, they won’t need the lower ladder steps, the earlier
symbols. But while climbing, those steps are essential. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="line-height: 115%;"><br /></span></div>
<span style="line-height: 115%; text-align: justify;">Seeking, questioning and subjective evolution into blissful,
intense human beings needs to be fostered at work places. Installing a meditation
room at our office is our humble effort to seed this transformation in each and
every one that we work with. </span><br />
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Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-16558592280684105582013-12-07T03:51:00.002-08:002015-02-19T19:53:33.590-08:00An ocean in a tea spoon<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
Anyone that has any familiarity with Carnatic classical music of India would know about <a href="http://www.thyagaraja.org/">Saint Tygaraja</a>'s work. He is said to have written 24,000 songs, one for every one of Sage Valmiki's 24,000 original slokas (couplets) in the epic Ramayana. Plus some more.<br />
<br />
Numbers are unimportant. What is important for me is that <u>every</u> Tyagaraja krithi that I know of is <u>packed </u>with layers of beautiful, deep meaning in simple, day-to-day words that also rhyme and chime beautifully.<br />
<br />
Tyagaraja's krithis are typically short - just a few short lines of simple Telugu words. (There are some long and complex songs, like the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pancharatna_Kriti">Pancharatna Keertanas</a>. Majority of songs however are simple and short.) Tyagaraja is a master at fitting an ocean of meaning into a spoonful of words. The meaning of many of his krithis has deep relevance to both the mundane and spiritual worlds. I have often felt that many musicians, even very accomplished ones, Telugu-speaking or otherwise, do not explore enough, do not derive or distribute enough joy from this dimension of Tyagaraja's music.<br />
<br />
Recently I came across a rendering of the Tyagaraja kriti "Pakkala Nilabadi" by Sweta Mohan, a film singer.<br />
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In technical prowess, Sweta is nowhere near many other stalwarts. Her exploration of this song, technically, is shallow (as compared to, say, the MS Subbalakshmi version).<br />
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Nevertheless, I liked Sweta's rendering not only because it was refreshing Fusion but also because she seems to take the diction and meaning seriously. I felt that her involvement in the song came not just from the tune or music, but also from enjoying the words. I have no basis or proof for this feeling, and may be totally off here! But then, since when did feelings need a basis? :-)<br />
<br />
Listening to Swetha prompted me to attempt to write down the meaning of this great song, as I understand it. I looked up available meanings on the web (e.g., <a href="http://sahityam.net/wiki/Pakkala_Nilabadi">here</a> and <a href="http://music2eternity.blogspot.in/2009/05/pakkala-nilabadi.html">here</a>) but got thoroughly disappointed. I had to write down my own understanding and interpretation, in brief, whether it is scholastically accurate or not.<br />
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<span style="font-family: Georgia, Times New Roman, serif;"><b><u>Pakkala Nilabadi </u></b></span><br />
<br />
This song is said to have been written by Tyagaraja on a specific occasion. He was travelling between two villages in a closed cart.<br />
<img src="http://image.artfact.com/housePhotos/stair/31/312531/H0043-L26211548.jpg" height="265" width="320" /><br />
The route was a deserted one, notorious for bandit attacks along the way. Tyagaraja was worried. He prayed to Lord Rama before starting the journey to protect them. Then, as he sat in the cart, he lost himself in the harmonic movement. By the time he got up and looked out, they had passed the notorious stretch. Happy that there were no untoward incidents, Tyagaraja asked the cart man how they managed the safe passage. That man, innocent and rustic, said with surprise, "Why sir? two handsome young men, one dark-skinned and one fair, walked on either side of the cart for the whole dangerous stretch, protecting us with their bows and arrows. We were saved by these young men, who called themselves your servants."<br />
<br />
Tyagaraja was lost in ecstacy upon hearing this, realizing that the young men were none other than Lord Rama and his borther Lakshmana. In Their limitless love and grace, they took the trouble of protecting Tyagaraja, standing on both his sides of the cart as his servants. At this time, this beautiful song is said to have escaped his lips.<br />
<br />
<i>pakkala nilabadi koliche muchchata baaga thelpaga raada</i><br />
<br />
Let me know in detail the admirable occasion when they stood on both sides and served...<br />
<br />
<i>chukkalaraayani keru momu gala</i><br />
<i>sudati seethamma soumitri sreeramunikiru -pakkala-</i><br />
<br />
Like how the beautiful, moon-faced mother Sita and Lakshmana stood on both sides of Sree Rama...<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
[Sudati is a woman with beautiful teeth. Sita's teeth were like sparkling stars, the king of which is the moon. The beauty of Sita's smiling face challenges the moon himself. Sita is not just a beauty queen however - she is the Mother. Sita and Lakshmana accompanied Rama throughout his travails, voluntarily, wholeheartedly, lovingly. This is how serving should be. It is also the case that when you serve the Lord like this, he does anything to save you. As we know, a good part of Ramayana deals with Rama serving Sita's cause, not the other way.]</blockquote>
<i>thanuvuche vandana monarinchu chunnaaraa</i><br />
<i>chanavuna naama keerthana cheyuchunnaara</i><br />
<i>manasuna thalachi maimarachi yunnaaraa</i><br />
<br />
With body, I am bowing down and saluting<br />
With word, I am lovingly singing the Lord's names<br />
In mind, recollecting about the Lord, I am lost in ecstasy<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
[While in the cart, I was occupied in body, word and mind in Rama. Hence I missed seeing the divine young men who came to protect us.] </blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
[This is the way to serve the Lord - being completely occupied in mind, word and body and being oblivious to anything else. This is in fact the way to involve with anything worthwhile - tri-karana-shuddhi. This is the correct way to use the body, word and the mind. These are the paths of hata yoga, bhajan and meditation.]</blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 17.77777862548828px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><i>nenarunchi tyaagaraajunitho hari hari meeriru - pakkala-</i></span></span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 17.77777862548828px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 17.77777862548828px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">Kindly, to Tyagaraja, You on both [sides]</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 17.77777862548828px; text-align: justify;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">["hari hari" is a well-known Telugu expression for being apologetic. Tyagaraja is apologetically asking his Lords (Rama and Lakshmana) here to kindly relate to him the admirable /cute occasion (muchchata) when They both stood on his two sides and served.]</span></span></blockquote>
It is possible to dig more and get much more "juice" out of this song (or any other song of Sri Tyagaraja).<br />
<br />
And then there is the lovely nector of the Khara-Hara-priya raga that this song is composed in (by Tyagaraja himself?). The raaga is named to be the favorite (priya) of Rama, the slayer (hara) of the demon Khara.<br />
<br />
Overall, this song, like many songs of Tyagaraja, can transport & transform us. Tyagaraja's songs are indeed mantras- the more we dwell on the words, meanings and tune, the more they will enlighten and transform us.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; line-height: 16px;">[Mananat</span><span style="background-color: white; font-style: italic; line-height: 16px;">-</span><span style="background-color: white; line-height: 16px;"><i>trayate iti Mantrah.</i> Sanskrit definition of the word Mantra <span style="font-family: inherit;">- </span></span><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="background-color: #fff3db;">That, through the repetition </span><span style="background-color: #fff3db;">of which, you get protected (</span><span style="background-color: #fff3db;">from bondage/ ignorance/ troubles) is </span><span style="background-color: #fff3db;">called a </span><span class="nfakPe" style="background-color: #fff3db;">Mantra.]</span></span></span></blockquote>
<span style="background-color: white; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 16px;"><br /></span>
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Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-74606745672224754352010-12-29T10:43:00.000-08:002010-12-29T10:43:56.283-08:00My Facebook phase beginsTime magazine <a href="http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2036683_2037183_2037185,00.html">Person of the Year</a> for 2010 was Mark Zuckerberg, the most popular co-founder of Facebook.<br />
<br />
Getting on Facebook has been a memorable part of my year also. While I have been on LinkedIn for longer, I feel that Facebook, which I started using on August 15, 2010 (Indian Independence Day), is the true beginning of my social e-networking journey. What a simple and significant phenomenon this Harvard drop-out and his friends have created! In my own field of work, I hope to create something as significant in my life time.<br />
<br />
A compendium of all my FB status posts in 2010 is <a href="http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=249297&id=695332013&l=80491ab198">here</a>, for what it's worth.<br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtMpX4-SwXlc3MA8Nk5Fxl1_N4aomRg9XVNqu97RbjPNwDtOIerCHJoD61X1y_CLjMuz8Z8EndPUubxF8fjOmqi8Qfs4yIIv9PqaFyitMI4h9pwDhGhj6DPmD8f5-dipJv3jg2iECuaJU/s1600/fb.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhtMpX4-SwXlc3MA8Nk5Fxl1_N4aomRg9XVNqu97RbjPNwDtOIerCHJoD61X1y_CLjMuz8Z8EndPUubxF8fjOmqi8Qfs4yIIv9PqaFyitMI4h9pwDhGhj6DPmD8f5-dipJv3jg2iECuaJU/s200/fb.jpg" width="200" /></a>Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-90331449791964999822010-11-20T22:49:00.000-08:002010-11-20T22:49:43.193-08:00Inclusion a better option than choice?Often in life, when we are sailing comfortably along one path, we bump into a starkly different yet attractive option. An alternative that in itself is attractive and makes sense, but just does not fit comfortably into your existing scheme of things. Examples?<br />
<br />
<ul><li>You are a youngster with supportive, loving, sensible family, who is helplessly charmed by someone whose background and views just don't gel with your family's. </li>
<li>You are comfortably handling a successful business, and you encounter an opportunity that irrationally but strongly appeals to your gut, but all your supporters advise against it</li>
</ul>What is the right thing to do when you encounter two paths in front of you, one of continuing what you have been doing comfortably, and one of switching to a wild and attractive new option?<br />
<br />
There is a whole area of Decision Sciences that deals with making the right choice. Choices can be quantitatively weighted, scored, prioritized, optimized and selected in scientific ways. However, I recently began to wonder if this whole business of <i>choice</i> makes sense at all.<br />
<br />
I encountered many forks in my own life. Looking back, the best decisions I took involved embracing <i>both</i> sides of the fork rather than choosing any one side. Including the new option into my existing life, so as not to destroy/lose what is already there, but expand horizons to embrace the new, has always resulted in growth for all concerned, enriched perception, and made new opportunities available.<br />
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Making and sticking to a choice is far easier than inclusion. Hence it is the short-cut that people tend to prefer - just come to some conclusion quickly and simplify life. Hindu versus Muslim, urban versus rural, moral principles versus convenience, profit versus social service, parents versus friends, etc. However it seems to me that each choice we make is like a little wall we build between ourselves and the real, beautiful world out there. Choice breeds exclusion.<br />
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Inclusion is not easy to practice. Including some new thing as part of your current life is like becoming pregnant. Many existing parts of you will be forced to yield, many preferences get compromised, many allowances get made, many acclimatizations happen. But once the painful gestation is over, the end result is well-worth it. Your world definitely becomes richer.<br />
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In my personal & business life, I was fortunate to have encountered many situations where I was forced to choose between strong options. I feel grateful and gratified that something in me selected both options instead of only one. As an easy-to-understand example, my choice of a life partner was strongly objected to by my wonderful parents. I often felt cornered and forced to make a choice, but something within me adamantly stuck to "no I want both my parents AND my fiancée; all should be happy". It took time for a solution to naturally evolve, but when it did, the conclusion was more beautiful than any single choice could have been. There were many similar situations and learnings in the context of my business.<br />
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It will be wonderful if some Decision Sciences researcher takes up a scientific study of inclusion as a decision-making strategy, and evaluate its merits compared to choice.<br />
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Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-15229475918383857492010-10-28T11:32:00.000-07:002010-10-28T11:32:05.781-07:00Obesity & Undernutrition - two sides of the same economic coin?To address India's dual health burden, Stanford researcher <a href="http://healthpolicy.stanford.edu/people/jeremygoldhaberfiebert/">Jeremy Goldhaber-Fiebert</a>, PhD, has joined forces with colleagues across disciplines to better understand the seemingly opposing issues of undernutrition and obesity and to develop nutrition policies aimed at reducing the public health concerns. According to a <a href="http://woods.stanford.edu/cgi-bin/focal.php?name=obesity-and-hunger&focal_area=climate_and_energy">release</a>: <br />
<blockquote><i>Bringing his own expertise in mathematical modeling, Goldhaber-Fiebert is working with the group to consider the patterns of future illness and death due to undernutrition and obesity. The researchers would like to know how economic and demographic changes will impact these trends. Ultimately, broadly delivered nutrition policies will have to address undernutrition and obesity issues without exacerbating either one... Although currently focused on India, the research will have broad implications for many other countries that face the undernutrition/obesity dual burden.</i></blockquote>The research is funded by a Woods Institute Environmental Venture Projects grant.Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-6453868894001509302010-10-24T03:32:00.000-07:002010-10-28T05:46:21.607-07:00Why worship feet?The focus on worshiping the Guru's feet is unmistakable in Hinduism - the following are a few examples:<br />
<div><div><div><div style="font-size: medium; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><ul style="font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><li>Saint Tulsidas starts his popular Hanuman Chalisa with "sri guru charana saroja raja nija mana mukura sudhar" (Having cleaned the mirror of my mind with the dust from the lotus feet of my Guru..)</li>
<li>Adi Shankaracharya wrote an entire Guru Paduka Stotram, a collection of eight slokas describing the greatness of the holy sandals of the Guru.</li>
<li>Seemingly unsatiated with this, Adi Shankara went on to write the <a href="http://kathavarta.com/2009/02/21/guru-ashtakam-with-meaning/">Guru Ashtakam</a>, another eight powerful slokas that ask "Of <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">what consequence are any earthly possessions or achievements, if your mind is not riveted in devotion to the lotus feet of Guru". </span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The Ramayana story of Bharata installing Sri Rama's sandals on the throne of Ayodhya for 14 years</span></span></li>
</ul><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">I always wondered - why worship sandals, of all things, the dustiest, lowest part of the Guru? B</span>y looking at sandals or feet, it's hard to even tell who they belong to - how can they inspire devotion? Is sandal worship a conspiracy by Gurus to establish their unquestionable supremacy over the disciples? Why not worship the face of the Guru, the whole form, something the Guru created like a book, or an abstract symbol like Om? Of all things that can be worshiped, why feet / sandals? Why should educated people stoop so low just because they respect someone?<br />
<br />
I wondered in this manner for several years.<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> <br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Recently a series of events took place in my life, which made me experience the sensibility, the beauty in this mode of worship. I understood that just thinking of Someone's feet can move you to tears and untold joy. That you find it impossible to think of Them as a mere human form. The only way you experience Them is as an all-encompassing, all-powerful presence, truly one with the Universe, as Truth itself, and you feel blessed to be able to behold their footprints in this insignificant, transient lifespan of yours.</span></div></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.8;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div></div>Every time you touch those Footprints, you feel your existence being cleaned up. You experience Them as truly formless - as the air that courses through your body, as the divine sound permeating creation, as Grace itself. Their current form is incidental and of little significance; They walked the earth much before you came and will walk it forever after you leave. So the most tangible thing about them that you can physically hang on to are their footprints.<br />
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</div></div>Further, you realize that your Guru is a continuity, not separate from the series of enlightened beings before them. It is as though a magnificent form, a coalescence of all Gurus since the beginning of time, the embodiment of all knowledge, love and compassion in creation, formless, limitless, and resplendent beyond imagination, stands on top of the two footprints that you worship. How can you dare to look up? It is not even the universe that stands on these footprints. The universe is a mere child's play for the Being, the Cosmic Energy that offered these footprints, with infinite compassion, to help an insignificant being like you dissolve. What pride can you have in front of that Being? Is your education, money, beauty, fame, intelligence, strength, or anything else pertinent in anyway before that Being? If your goal is to dissolve, and an invaluable opportunity to do so is being offered to you, is there anything more sensible to do than to shed all pretenses, all prejudices and offer yourself 100% at those feet?</div><div><br />
<div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Fortunate are those who naturally bow down at the Guru's feet with the necessary love, humbleness and awareness. But even for doubters like me, there is hope. Guru's grace can transcend doubt and bestow a beautiful experience on you. The following verse was born of Guru's grace and burst forth as a song.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.8;"> </span></span></div></div><blockquote style="font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 25px;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Guru paadam, ahamkaara naashakam</span></span></span></i></span></div></blockquote><blockquote style="font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">samsaara saagara tharaNOpaayam, </span></span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">sarva rOgaanthakam</span></span></span></i></div></blockquote><blockquote style="font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">manO-vaak-kaaya-karma puneetham, </span></span></span></i><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">paramoushadham</span></span></span></i></div></blockquote><blockquote style="font-size: medium; line-height: normal;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: center;"><i><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Guru paadam, ahamkaara naashakam</span></span></span></i></div></blockquote></div><div style="font-size: 14px; line-height: 1.8;"><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</div></div></div>Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-28348248366700451952010-10-19T01:26:00.000-07:002010-10-19T01:26:26.731-07:00Rotting an extremely serious matter - Supreme Court<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">Content from<a href="http://news.outlookindia.com/item.aspx?697736"> OUTLOOK India magazine</a></span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">October 18, 2010</span></span></span></span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial; font-size: 14px;">Ticking off the Centre for the rotting of huge quantities of foodgrains when people are dying of hunger, the Supreme Court today asked what action has been taken against officials responsible for it.</span><br />
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Terming the matter as "extremely serious", the apex asked the Centre to ensure no further wastage and gear up to meet the storage required for the ensuing kharif crops.<br />
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Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Mohan Parasaran drew flak for his argument that only 7000 tonnes of grains had got rotten in Food Corporation of India (FCI) godowns and that 67,539 tonnes were wasted in the godowns owned by States of Haryana and Punjab.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQoYkA5vfEWxGwm4dbbgmJLPuvuIznEaOoJvtROvedF5i7o4BPwtYb_G9CczKnvVtzUrN5V0pJCt0VYmqbDI0N7_6MUlvtdK3K6Nn2Z5WTTXs3-NtglQ94hhGVNgYd7NepymQFxO_MpJ8/s1600/rotting+grains.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="346" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgQoYkA5vfEWxGwm4dbbgmJLPuvuIznEaOoJvtROvedF5i7o4BPwtYb_G9CczKnvVtzUrN5V0pJCt0VYmqbDI0N7_6MUlvtdK3K6Nn2Z5WTTXs3-NtglQ94hhGVNgYd7NepymQFxO_MpJ8/s400/rotting+grains.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial;"><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 13px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: 14px;">"Even if it is 7,000 tonnes how can it happen? Then there is the wastage in two States. It is an extremely serious matter. You compare the wastage world over. The damage done in two States is very high. What action you have taken against the officials?<br />
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You are admitting 7000 tonnes have been damaged. People are dying of hunger. You are not providing them grain. This litigation has been going on for the past 10 years. Some evaluation should have been done by you by this time to prevent wastage and ensure proper distribution," a Bench of Justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma told the ASG.<br />
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The apex court made the observation while dealing with the public interest litigation moved by Peoples Union for Civil Liberties's (PUCL) complaining about large scale corruption in the country's public distribution system (PDS) and rotting of food grains in government godowns.<br />
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The Bench had earlier ordered the Government to distribute food grains free of cost to the hungry poor, but the Centre had not given any commitment on the issue though Union Agriculture Minister Sharad Paward had orally assured that Government would implement the direction.<br />
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However, subsequently the Prime Minister joined the issue saying courts should not interfere in policy matters.<br />
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During today's arguments, the apex court asked the Government counsel as to what action was taken against the officials responsible for the rotten grains.<br />
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"From the first of October you will be getting more foodgrains from the kharif corps. Ensure it is properly distributed. Let it not go waste, "the Bench said.<br />
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Referring to the rotten foodgrains it said, "if it is not fit for human consumption we do not suggest that it should be given to them. It should not be given even to animals. Because you spend more on breeding them (animals)."<br />
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The apex court also wondered what was the difficulty for the Centre to allocate sufficient grains for the BPL/AAY families in States if they are seeking higher allocation.<br />
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"What is the difficulty? When they find it(allocation of foodgrains) is very short, what can they(States) do?" the Bench asked the counsel.<br />
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The PUCL had alleged that many States were not getting adequate stocks for distribution through PDS as the Centre was allocating only a limited stock for the distribution.<br />
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According to the organisation, presently apart from 22 million tonnes of buffer stock, the Centre has an additional 33 million tonnes of foodgrains in its godowns, but was allocating only a meagre 2.5 million tonnes for the PDS.<br />
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The ASG, however, said the distribution was being made on the basis of the BPL/AAY statistics relied upon by the Centre, though the States might have their own parameters in determining the number of such beneficiaries. The arguments will continue tomorrow.</span></span></span></span></span>Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-49371235673124252592010-10-18T23:31:00.000-07:002010-10-18T23:31:07.037-07:00Women needed to fix food security<blockquote><br />
"Women were, really, in my view, the ones who domesticated plants, created agriculture. And as long as women were controlling agriculture, agriculture produced real food. Agriculture was based on [women's learned and passed on] knowledge. A Women’s centered agriculture never created scarcity. As long as women controlled the food system you did not have a billion people going without food and you didn’t have 2 billion going obese and w/diabetes. This is the magic of patriarchy having taken over the food system. Earlier, patriarchy left food to women, modern patriarchy wants to control food . . . women’s knowledge has been removed from agriculture . . we can only have a secure food culture if women come back into agriculture.” <b>Vandana Shiva</b></blockquote><div><br />
<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, '\'Times New Roman\'', Times, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;">I recently came across the wonderful work that Dr. Vandana Shiva, physicist, </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, '\'Times New Roman\'', Times, serif; line-height: 20px;">winner of the</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, '\'Times New Roman\'', Times, serif; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, '\'Times New Roman\'', Times, serif; line-height: 20px;"><a href="http://www.rightlivelihood.org/" style="color: #006699;" target="_blank">Right Livelihood Award</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, '\'Times New Roman\'', Times, serif; line-height: 20px;"> </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, '\'Times New Roman\'', Times, serif; line-height: 20px;">(the alternative Nobel Peace Prize)</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, '\'Times New Roman\'', Times, serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 20px;"> is doing for strengthening our society </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, '\'Times New Roman\'', Times, serif; line-height: 20px;">against industrial agriculture and</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, '\'Times New Roman\'', Times, serif; line-height: 20px;"> in favor of women.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, '\'Times New Roman\'', Times, serif; line-height: 20px;"><br />
</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, '\'Times New Roman\'', Times, serif; line-height: 20px;">Here is a great, recent <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: blue;"><a href="http://cchronicle.com/2010/10/focus-on-hunger-interview-with-vandana-shiva/">interview</a> </span>with her.</span></div></div>Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-25290471953153521602010-09-22T02:09:00.000-07:002010-09-22T02:21:33.822-07:00The Ultimate DisconnectMy niece passed her tenth grade exams a few months ago. A couple of weeks before her exams, we got the <a href="http://www.deccanchronicle.com/hyderabad/teen-jumps-death-banjara-hills-443">shocking news</a> that one of her friends, a girl whom we knew since childhood, jumped off a 6-story building on the artery leading to my house, and ended her life.<br />
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Sneha Sree, this unfortunate 15-year old, was externally bubbly, fun loving, well liked, and academically near the top of her class. She went to the same school that my son goes for years. We love the school for the individual attention and love that the teachers bestow on the kids. The hurt and grief of the teachers at what happened was as deep as that of the parents.<br />
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She apparently planned this closure for months, confiding in only one friend, who was also supposed to end his life along with her. On the eventful day, the two teenagers rode an auto at dusk to an under-construction building, comfortably climbed up to the terrace without being stopped by any watchman, and she took the leap first. The boy thankfully backed out at the last moment.<br />
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The reason for Sneha Sree's end is not falling in or out of love, monetary or other family difficulties, lack of well-wishers, lack of recognition, illness, failure, etc. It seems to be something deeper.<br />
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For the 10-19 year old segment, South India <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/3590847.stm">has been described</a> as the suicide capital of the world. <a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2802372/">Kerala</a> is the state with the highest suicide rate in India and Pondichery tops the list of union territories. The other south Indian states, Tamilnadu, AP, Karnaka are not far behind. (AP now ranks second in India.) All states are above Indian average, and significantly above the world average. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">The</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 19px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> rate of suicide among young women is about three times as it is in young men, in south India. Worldwide, the reverse is true; many more men commit suicide than women.</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> </span><br />
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Interestingly, south India also happens <a href="http://www.business-standard.com/india/news/north-india-lags-southern-western-regions-in-literacy-cii-kpmg-study/389978/">to be ahead</a> of much of India in terms of literacy, knowledge industries, law and order, international exposure, gender equality, availability of quality education and healthcare. None of this "development" has a positive impact on suicide rates; my worry is if the correlation is actually negative.<br />
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To me, the origin of suicides among youth from otherwise fortunate families seems to be a growing disconnect with people around them - with the family, with the community, with the society at large. A dissatisfaction, disinterest, boredom, a sense of pointlessness of the whole thing. The primary focus of upwardly mobile families, more often than not, seems to lie away from the children. Indirectly, most things we do are for our children, but my concern is about <i>directly</i>. Grown-ups and teenage children spend much less time together today than when I grew up - families are smaller, shared interests are fewer, distractions are many, and egos are so much more developed (on both sides). One sees a substantially wider disconnect between groups of youngsters and groups of 35-pluses in functions and gatherings today than we saw 20-30 years ago. There is much more loneliness today for teenagers (albeit under the anesthesia of cell phones, head phones, Internet , TV). Most teens that I know cannot relate to 75% of even the most youth-oriented newspaper - the politics, the strikes, the apparent priorities of elders just seem so <i>unreal</i>. The world is much more complex for a teenager to wade through today than it was a generation ago.<br />
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It will be a truism but a banality to say that the youth is our future, so I will instead say that, <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/6911544.stm">demographic dividend</a> is India's primary passport to achieving great success. <b>Nothing</b> can be achieved if we, as families and as communities, do not learn to make our youngsters feel connected with us.Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-16730367044741928802010-09-21T00:49:00.000-07:002010-09-21T00:49:24.587-07:00Gross National Happiness<div id="hn-headline" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 24px; line-height: 24px; margin-bottom: 0.3em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.1em; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">It is nice to see Bhutan's initiative to advise the world, at the United Nations (see article below). No one at UN was likely expecting any inputs </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">from this tiny mountain kingdom</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">. To propose a seemingly radical new goal to the hugely more powerful colleague nations, and to scoff at their current pursuits, takes courage, a certain depth of compassion and conviction. I appreciate this initiative.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">In India, philosophically the goal has always been "<i>sarve janah sukhino bhavanthu</i>" (let everyone be happy and comfortable). I would think it is similar in other cultures and countries as well. The world's gap with Bhutan is not at a philosophical level; it is at intellectual and implementation levels.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">If Bhutan really wants the world to take its advise seriously and benefit from it, they should invest time and money to do some homework. They should put their advice in a language that the world can take seriously. They should form an international expert panel, and delegate to it the tasks of scientifically defining Gross National Happiness and connecting it to macro-economic indicators that the world-at-large can understand. If Bhutan can do this, the world can ever be grateful to this tiny nation. </span><br />
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Bhutan proposes a new global goal</div><div class="hn-byline" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; color: #676767; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0.4em; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0.2em; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">By Tim Witcher (AFP) – <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: black;">20th September 2010</span></div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">UNITED NATIONS — The introvert Himalayan kingdom of Bhutan on Monday urged the world to adopt a new Millennium Development Goal -- happiness -- if it really wants to end the scourge of poverty, hunger and disease.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Bhutan's Prime Minister, Jigmi Thinley, condemned the "dangerous and stupid" pursuit of wealth, even by some of his big and brash neighbours India and China, in a speech to the UN summit on reaching the MDGs.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The land of the Gross National Happiness index again sought to export its optimistic ideology, which the prime minister said encompassed all of the eight major goals set by the United Nations in 2000.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Aims which Thinley said Bhutan is on target to reach, while the rest of the world struggles.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Thinley said that as the eight existing goals are likely to remain after the target date of 2015 "my delegation would like to propose to this highest forum in the world that we include happiness as the ninth MDG."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"It is a goal that stands as a separate value while representing as well, the sum total outcome of the other eight. Its relevance goes beyond the poor and developing member states to bind all of humanity, rich and poor, to a timeless common vision."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: normal;"></span></div><table cellspacing="0" id="ss" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-collapse: separate; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; direction: ltr; empty-cells: show; font-size: 1em; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px; table-layout: fixed;"><tbody style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/slideshow/ALeqM5hHm0RGO8Vb2cIpRSd4CsNSZW3rCQ?index=0" id="ss-image-anchor" style="color: #0000cc; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img alt="" height="200" id="ss-image" src="http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/media/ALeqM5hO_zVcOpRdHHW_WUmwHFQvXPtcuA?size=s2" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;" width="147" /></a></td></tr>
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Bhutan's Prime Minister Jigmi Thinley addresses the Millennium Development Goals Summit</td></tr>
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<tr style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><td colspan="3" id="ss-caption" style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-size: 13px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Gross National Happiness was conceived by the father of Buddhist Bhutan's young monarch -- Jigme Khesar Namgyel Wangchuck -- and is firmly established as official government policy. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Seeking a more holistic indicator of development that transcends the "materialism" of Gross Domestic Product, Gross National Happiness measures four criteria -- sustainable development, preservation and promotion of cultural values, conservation of the environment, and good governance. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">It does not ignore economic growth, however. Bhutan, which has been slowly emerging from hundreds of years of isolation -- only allowing television in 1999 -- has clocked an annual average of about eight percent growth for the past few years.<br />
</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Bhutan says it concentrates on the type of growth that is important. It has policies that provide free education and health care, a clean mountain environment and making sure the country's religious and cultural traditions remain intact.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"It does not demand much imagination intelligence," the prime minster told the summit, "to understand that endless pursuit of material growth in a world with limited natural resources within a delicately balanced ecology is just not sustainable -- that it is dangerous and stupid.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">"One cannot imagine, even as China and India aspire to compete in consumption with the USA, what would become of Earth if every global citizen acquired the same voracious capacity."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">According to the prime minister, "the evidence of the limited ability of nature to tolerate abuse is there for us to suffer in the rising frequency and fury of multiple calamities." He mentioned the Pakistan flood disaster as well as the huge oil slick which has hit the Gulf of Mexico this year.</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">Thinley said the global financial crisis was a reminder that much of the world's wealth is "illusory" and can quickly "disappear without a trace."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">He said the current economic crisis could get worse and predicted "more, we can be certain, will strike to persuade us of the need to change our way of life."</div><div style="border-bottom-width: 0px; border-color: initial; border-left-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-top-width: 0px; font-family: Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; padding-left: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-top: 0px;">The prime minister left the podium with a smile and to a strong if bemused ovation from world leaders.</div>Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-60610610575648473882010-09-18T01:12:00.000-07:002010-09-18T01:12:45.577-07:00The real SwadesisWhile at Johns Hopkins University (1991-'95), I used to often see this young, pretty Indian girl on campus. With a strong accent typical of Indian American "kids", she used to talk about India with passion. While it was obvious that she was more intense than other youngsters, I honestly did not think much of her passion at that time. I had seen other kids of Indian origin go through a similar "phase" of love for India, which did not translate into much real benefit for India.<br />
<br />
I got introduced to Aravinda Pillalamarri subsequently, through a common friend. I found out that she was interested in library sciences - a subject that did not mean much to me. We spent some nice times together, I found her thoughts intense always and her accented Telugu sort of funny.<br />
<br />
Change of scene to Princeton. I graduated from Hopkins, got married and took up a job in New Jersey. We got an unexpected call from Aravinda. She said that she was in Boston, and that the "thiruppavai" puja at the Bridgewater temple was done very traditionally (at 5am on shivering, icy winter mornings). The puja happened throughout a particular month (dhanur-masam). Aravinda wanted to stay at Princeton and attend the puja on multiple days, so called to see if we wanted to join her. My wife and I like this kind of things, so we jumped at the opportunity.<br />
<br />
Through the 45-minute early morning rides for thiruppavai, subsequent interactions, and eventually a wonderful Maha-Sivaratri celebration in 1996 for which she did not eat or sleep for 24 hours, I discovered that Aravinda was made of a very different fiber than most other youngsters. Her intensity was on, throughout the day, whether it is in reading the Vishnu Sahasranamam, in enjoying music, in enjoying the beauty of winter, or in discussing library sciences. I felt very proud and protective about her.<br />
<br />
When Aravinda told me some time later that she was getting married to a certain Ravi Kuchimanchi, I was very happy. I requested that the bride's party should use my house for the marriage. I did not know much about Ravi except that he did a PhD in Nuclear Physics at UMD and that he started a service organization named AID India. Throughout Aravinda and Ravi's marriage, I did not know a single person from both sides, but felt like it was my own younger sister's marriage. I was very happy to meet Ravi and see his intensity.<br />
<br />
Since that time (1996 summer), I have had zero contact with Aravinda. I knew that AID was very active and that Aravinda and Ravi had moved back to India in 1998 for full-time village service. I fondly thought of them often, but never had a chance to get in touch.<br />
<br />
Today morning, as I was leisurely browsing the Web, I saw this on <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swades">Wikipedia</a>: "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><i>Swades</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> (t</span>he Shahrukh Khan starer) <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">is inspired by the story of Aravinda Pillalamarri and Ravi Kuchimanchi, the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-resident_Indian_and_Person_of_Indian_Origin" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Non-resident Indian and Person of Indian Origin">NRI</a></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"> couple who returned to India and developed the pedal power generator to light remote, off-the-grid village schools.</span>" With a pleasant shock, a filled heart, I searched and found many more <a href="http://nripulse.com/profile_RaviAravinda.htm">accolades</a> for the great work this couple has rendered in the past 12 years.<br />
<br />
I am honored to have had this personal perspective of Aravinda's development, from a passionate youngster to someone benefiting hundreds of thousands of lives in India. Aravinda and Ravi are indeed flaming examples of the love and dedication that each of us must shower on our motherland. Hats off to them!<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJr4jQN3b__hifqNc-ur0-vVps7AFe87jbB6xmSJLVBSXJmCnGDWmpqoep8KnaW8Iqi9XBa0wOGYFdUS7Kn2hafH3vdWTM48Ov5oh_ZYgb7SJatFHqYLYKkkVKINTfK6BXJkqxER0qDIk/s1600/aravinda+ravi.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhJr4jQN3b__hifqNc-ur0-vVps7AFe87jbB6xmSJLVBSXJmCnGDWmpqoep8KnaW8Iqi9XBa0wOGYFdUS7Kn2hafH3vdWTM48Ov5oh_ZYgb7SJatFHqYLYKkkVKINTfK6BXJkqxER0qDIk/s640/aravinda+ravi.jpg" width="555" /></a></div>Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-62139967716717550172010-09-15T22:29:00.000-07:002010-09-15T22:29:19.327-07:00Should knowledge be free?To the best of my knowledge, MIT was the forerunner in making a bold statement that formal knowledge (i.e., university courses) should be free in the Internet age. MIT's <a href="http://ocw.mit.edu/">Open Course ware</a> project, announced in 2001, was instrumental in catalyzing the collective global academic consciousness in this direction, and was followed by many great Universities following suit with sharing their own courses. A notable example in India is the <a href="http://nptel.iitm.ac.in/">NPTEL</a> project, a joint initiative of the IITs and the IISc. There are many others.<br />
<br />
Now, after a decade, the grand dad of open course ware seems to be reconsidering the prudence of their decision. University World News <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20100915135409476">reported yesterday</a> that MIT is "<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">considering putting lecture notes and other academic content behind a paywall to raise revenue and make up for funding shortfalls stemming from the global recession".</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"></span>I believe this is an important, globally pertinent, decision point. In the age of Web 2.0, YouTube, social networks, etc it is simply impossible to keep knowledge locked up, especially after people have tasted it for free. Business model innovations are the need of the hour, to keep content available for free while making the initiatives sustainable. But the solution is not to lock up. In fact, it seems to me that the natural movement should be in the opposite direction - formal knowledge organizations other than Universities, such as noteworthy schools, colleges, training bodies, government and corporate research labs, consultancy companies, etc need to open up their courses, publications and knowledge to the world. This is where both the good of the world and the long-term good of their brands lie.Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-31337558044390622732010-09-14T00:21:00.000-07:002010-09-14T00:25:40.597-07:00The Scores Are In.<a href="http://www.actionaid.org/">Action Aid</a> today released their <a href="http://reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/retrieveattachments?openagent&shortid=MUMA-89A2ED&file=Full_Report.pdf">research report</a> titled "Who is Really Fighting Hunger?", analyzing how different countries are faring in terms of achieving the <a href="http://sreerama-murthy.blogspot.com/2010/09/in-year-2000-representatives-from-189.html">Millennium Development Goal</a> of halving hunger. Here are a few highlights, from an India perspective:<br />
<br />
<ul><li>Out of 28 poor countries, India is ranked 21st (best to worst ranking). Our overall score is 30/100, and grade is D (best A - worst E).</li>
<li>The bottom 12 countries are going <i>backwards </i>on hunger fighting.<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;"> i.e., M</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">ore people are going hungry now than when the goals were conceived.</span></span></li>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">
<li>With the number of hungry people having increased between 1990 and 2005 by about 53 million, <span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: red;">it is predicted that India will not have halved hunger <b>until 2083</b></span> - nearly 70 years after the MDG target date.</li>
</span></ul><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Not everyone is like India, though. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: inherit;">Malawi has reduced the number of people living on food handouts from 4.5 million to 150,000 in just five years. Brazil has halved the number of underweight children in less than 10 years. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; line-height: 16px;">Our perceived-to-be-direct-competitor China will meet its hunger goal </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; line-height: 16px;"><i>five years early.</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; line-height: 16px;"> </span><br />
<br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #111111; line-height: 16px;"></span>Agricultural reforms, support to the small farmer, better public distribution system, women empowerment in agriculture are some remedies that Action Aid suggests for India.<br />
<br />
While these are certainly necessary, I believe that another absolutely critical component in succeeding in the fight against hunger is for the shining half of India to <i>truly wake up</i> to this mammoth problem and do whatever they can to lift off from hunger their not-so-shining, starving brethren.Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-33327460796241051872010-09-12T22:05:00.000-07:002010-09-12T22:05:18.231-07:00Where do the cereals go?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh70f1ek-0NNmftBY3CCZZyHMjKROBA66UdQEYpJ8_ZX5cmp1sa49XIezWX2T6lHb085e_-WXmbW59Zzru1tq5cmLEeqqXvwdd2S6AEx1zK1EbpAupnrplrFecf0Co88ntuN_Zw-MrmTOI/s1600/th13_edit_cereal_co_179644f.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh70f1ek-0NNmftBY3CCZZyHMjKROBA66UdQEYpJ8_ZX5cmp1sa49XIezWX2T6lHb085e_-WXmbW59Zzru1tq5cmLEeqqXvwdd2S6AEx1zK1EbpAupnrplrFecf0Co88ntuN_Zw-MrmTOI/s640/th13_edit_cereal_co_179644f.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reproduced from <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article627637.ece?homepage=true">The Hindu</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-39866842623150982342010-09-10T02:08:00.000-07:002010-09-10T02:24:13.445-07:00First start caringIn year 2000, representatives from 189 countries welcomed the new millennium at the United Nations by endorsing a set of eight goals, known as <b>Millennium Development Goals (MDG)</b>. They agreed on time-bound targets to address the developmental needs of the world at large. I am listing only the first of the eight MDGs below. The other MDGs focus on universal primary education, gender equality, infant mortality, maternal health, combating diseases, environmental sustainability and global partnership.<br />
<blockquote>i. Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger<br />
<ul><li>Target 1.A: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people whose income is less than one dollar a day</li>
<li>Target 1.B: Achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all, including women and young people</li>
<li style="background-color: yellow;">Target 1.C: Halve, between 1990 and 2015, the proportion of people who suffer from hunger</li>
</ul></blockquote>A couple of days ago, India <a href="http://sify.com/finance/india-needs-to-speed-up-to-achieve-mdgs-by-2015-report-news-default-kjiwacbhfjb.html">released</a> its 2000-2009 progress report with regard to MDGs. The report itself seems grossly behind schedule. While our status report is still for 2009, the 2010 <a href="http://unstats.un.org/unsd/mdg/News.aspx?ArticleId=50">report for the rest of the world</a> came out three months ago.<br />
<br />
We are <b>alarmingly</b> behind on the progress needed on the poverty and hunger indicators.<br />
<ul><li>The current Planning Commission's estimates of poverty fix the poverty line at a per capita expenditure level of Rs.12 per day for rural areas and Rs.17 per day for urban areas. At this level, the percentage of poor in India is 27.5%. </li>
<li>The Tendulkar Committee in 2009 came up with a slightly altered methodology, defining the poverty line as a“starvation line”. At a per capita per day level of Rs.15 for rural areas and Rs.19 for urban areas, the poverty percentage is set at 37%. </li>
<li>Government of India's National Commission for Enterprises in the Unorganised Sector (NCEUS), by using 2004-05 National Sample Survey Organization (NSSO) data, pegged the percentage of population living on a per capita per day expenditure of less than Rs.20 at an astounding <b>77%</b>.</li>
</ul><br />
My point? There is no doubt an urgent need to substantially accelerate the efforts for hunger and poverty eradication in India. I believe this CANNOT be done unless a LARGE number of sensible, educated and "fortunate" people PERSONALLY and emotionally <i>relate</i> to this crisis. What exactly you can<i> do</i> at this time is less important. When you truly have sensitivity, concern and a knowledge of the ground realities, suitable action will automatically ensue. So, don' worry about what you can do. First start caring.Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-7781233396855048342010-09-03T00:48:00.000-07:002010-09-03T00:48:09.980-07:00Happy Birthday Sadhguru<div style="text-align: left;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgQurpE-AoSF1Ow3x-j8jv6SGTjdLl8zEbCdwOuMvUU6JHZNFspz11l7NcKJzlykMssKxGSkx3d09smEBWWSOGS-n1Mp5Pkas-mi7G23DvJxSGYeKy1HDLcSUKqfNwdFCOQHyEHucwDXU/s1600/sadhguru.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; display: inline !important; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgQurpE-AoSF1Ow3x-j8jv6SGTjdLl8zEbCdwOuMvUU6JHZNFspz11l7NcKJzlykMssKxGSkx3d09smEBWWSOGS-n1Mp5Pkas-mi7G23DvJxSGYeKy1HDLcSUKqfNwdFCOQHyEHucwDXU/s400/sadhguru.JPG" width="265" /></a></div><br />
<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Today (September 3rd, 1957) is <a href="http://jaggi-vasudev.blogspot.com/">Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev</a>'s birthday.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">I met Sadhguru five years ago, full of skepticism, alert with my reasoning, determined to see beyond his charisma and carefully crafted programs, completely conscious not to be drawn into a particular belief system.</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Today all I am left with is gratitude, for Sadhguru. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Gratitude for showing so many of us the Path - the wonderful self-development practices and programs that he has designed / taught. For exceeding <i>every one</i> of my expectations in the past five years, not 'just' in spiritual matters, but as a human being, in integrity, values, acumen, balance, humility, hard work, sense of humor, love for people, society and the nature. For his rare, all-round clarity. For his deep, compassionate answers to <i>so many </i>questions. For his untiring efforts to cultivate intense, compassionate human beings worldwide. For his wonderful social initiatives. For his love and patience for us, in spite of being <i>so far</i> <i>ahead</i> in life experience. </div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Happy Birthday Sadhguru! Aapko hamari umer lag jaaye.</div>Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-921307864784969352010-08-28T01:33:00.000-07:002010-08-28T01:33:27.352-07:00Some great quotations from Mother Teresa<em>It is impossible to walk rapidly and be unhappy.</em><br />
<em> </em><br />
<em></em><em>Peace begins with a smile. </em><em> </em><br />
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<em>Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat.</em><br />
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<em>Do not think that love, in order to be genuine, has to be extraordinary. What we need is to love without getting tired.</em><br />
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<em>Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.</em><br />
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<em>Every time you smile at someone, it is an action of love, a gift to that person, a beautiful thing.</em><br />
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<em>God doesn't require us to succeed; he only requires that you try.</em><br />
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<em>Good works are links that form a chain of love.</em><br />
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<em>I have found the paradox, that if you love until it hurts, there can be no more hurt, only more love.</em><br />
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<em>If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.</em>Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-84600950654562242392010-08-26T22:16:00.000-07:002010-08-27T01:44:07.987-07:00Hunger and Social ChangePurnima Menon, a Research Fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute, has written <b><a href="http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/08/26/a_food_program_thats_not_about_food?page=0,1">a nice article</a></b> today in Foreign Policy, highlighting the role of empowering women and other excluded sections of the society in solving the hunger problem.<div><br /></div><div>The article starts by saying "What India's starving children don't need is more blind handouts. What they do need is real social change", and it shows a photograph of school-going girls eating a government-sponsored midday meal.</div><div><br /></div><div>I am a big supporter of the school midday meal programs in India. They have had a large positive impact. Nevertheless, I totally agree with Menon's sentiment that even school going children require more than "blind handouts" of food. A lasting solution for a hunger-free India won't come in the absence of basic social change.</div><div><br /></div><div>This is precisely the reason <b><a href="http://www.srishtiannam.org">Srishti Annam</a></b> believes that community holds the key to hunger alleviation. Feeding the totally helpless is critical for their immediate survival, but real, sustainable change comes from sensitizing, inspiring and <b><a href="http://sreerama-murthy.blogspot.com/2010/08/srishti-annam-together-we-can.html">involving the community</a></b> to solve its own hunger & nutrition problems. </div><div><br /></div><div>Community involvement in Srishti Annam is much deeper than just volunteering to make or serve food. It involves repeatedly reinforcing messages that hunger is the root cause of many current and potential problems in their community; inspiring children from well-provided families to be compassionate; setting up a persistent example of the right way of treating the absolutely weak and helpless; supporting all able-bodied individuals to stand on their own feet; reaffirming that our universality as human beings goes well beyond the seemingly wide gap between the Hungry and the Satiated; and demonstrating a sustainable way in which the community can comfortably take care of all its hungry. </div><div><br /></div>Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-4416481876283227612010-08-25T21:54:00.001-07:002010-08-27T01:44:07.988-07:00Mother Teresa<div>Today is the birth centenary of Mother Teresa. Her phenomenal work has been extolled from many perspectives.</div><div><br /></div><div>From my current perspective, the Mother's work is a great reassurance that <a href="http://sreerama-murthy.blogspot.com/2010/08/feeding-is-not-csr-worthy.html">non-developmental social service</a>, especially <a href="http://sreerama-murthy.blogspot.com/2010/08/srishti-annam-together-we-can.html">feeding the destitute</a>, is meaningful and necessary in the world that we live in.</div><div><br /></div><a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb_TK78Db_qtDJ6PuXxkG9tj8dt4WLC2YR5etAIeRF0gao0y4j-O1HJgCPRneiWUn_oHeDNGkslL8YBgBIXn_Q-NCHpdvZ38n55sGpbSE2cK65z_fbwcW5eeN0MKeVQoD-lP08t5l1g9Q/s1600/mother-teresa-feeding.jpg"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 320px; height: 226px;" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhb_TK78Db_qtDJ6PuXxkG9tj8dt4WLC2YR5etAIeRF0gao0y4j-O1HJgCPRneiWUn_oHeDNGkslL8YBgBIXn_Q-NCHpdvZ38n55sGpbSE2cK65z_fbwcW5eeN0MKeVQoD-lP08t5l1g9Q/s320/mother-teresa-feeding.jpg" border="0" alt="" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5509577554357076098" /></a>Given below is a succinct article about the Mother's life and work, written by Navin Chawla, the former Chief Election Commissioner of India and a biographer of Mother Teresa. It appeared in The Hindu <a href="http://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/article594123.ece?homepage=true">today</a>.<div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; font-size: 14px; color: rgb(59, 58, 57); line-height: 18px; "><blockquote><div class="articleLead" style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; padding-top: 0px; padding-right: 0px; padding-bottom: 0px; padding-left: 0px; border-top-width: 0px; border-right-width: 0px; border-bottom-width: 0px; border-left-width: 0px; border-style: initial; border-color: initial; font: normal normal normal 16px/normal Georgia, 'Times New Roman', Times, serif; color: rgb(153, 153, 153); font-style: italic; position: relative; "><p style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; padding-bottom: 1em; margin-bottom: 20px; "><br />This day marks the birth centenary of a simple nun who, through her work among the poorest of the poor, became the conscience-keeper of her century.</p></div><p class="body" style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; ">Today, August 26, 2010, the birth centenary of Mother Teresa will be marked with celebration and thanksgiving in many parts of the world. This simple nun with her unique brand of faith and compassion was able to alleviate loneliness, hunger and destitution by reaching out through a worldwide mission to millions of abandoned, homeless and dying destitutes, irrespective of their religion, caste, faith or denomination. In the process she became, indisputably, the conscience-keeper of her century.</p><p class="body" style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; ">As one who was associated with her for 23 years and became one of her biographers, it is not easy to encapsulate her remarkable journey. Born in Skopje, a city in the folds of the Balkans, then as now a crucible of many religions and races, she was the youngest of three children of deeply Catholic Albanian parents. Her father died when she was seven; her mother struggled to feed her family and turned increasingly to the local church for spiritual sustenance. Young Agnes (as she was then known) encountered uncertainty and adversity early in life. The lessons of diligence, discipline, frugality and kindness were imbibed in these early years.</p><p class="body" style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; ">Today, when teenagers often have difficulty making up their minds as to which course to study and where, Agnes had decided, at the age of 14, to serve as a missionary, not in her local church, but in faraway India, then a world apart, of which decision the only certainty was that she would never return home.</p><p class="body" style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; ">A new life opened in Calcutta in 1929. She had joined the Loreto Order as a novice aged 19. Here she would take her religious vows and teach for almost 20 years. In 1948, in an even more cataclysmic turn of events, again entirely of her own making, she left the convent doors behind her for a vision of the street. She had realised that this was where her true vocation lay, and she pursued this goal with diligence, even obstinacy. This she did till the Vatican made her its first exception in several hundred years, permitting her to step out of the Loreto Order, but with her vows intact. She would remain a nun but without belonging to an established Order of the Church. These were early signs of spirit and will power, together with prayerfulness and faith, laced with not inconsiderable charm, which would provide the propulsion for the quite incredible journey that lay ahead.</p><p class="body" style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; ">The early milestones lay in recognition within her adopted country – first by the legendary Chief Minister of West Bengal Dr. B.C. Roy, to be followed by national recognition when Jawaharlal Nehru was instrumental in India awarding her the Padma Shri in 1962. Later, another redoubtable Chief Minister of West Bengal, Jyoti Basu, was to provide her his unstinted support.</p><p class="body" style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; ">By 1965, she had set up a vast network of service across India. The time had come for her to move her mission overseas. She saw need everywhere; there were plenty of the poor and hungry in divisive societies in each continent, in desperately poor and prosperous societies alike. And so she set up feeding centres and leprosy stations in Africa, AIDS hospices in North America, community programmers in the Australian outback, and a host of services that helped lift the most marginalised, hungry and lonely from a desolate life in streets and slums of Africa, Asia and the West.</p><p class="body" style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; ">“God loves a cheerful giver” was a refrain I would often hear as I walked with the smiling Sisters of her Order among sullen faces under London's Waterloo Bridge, serving them their only hot meal on a wintry night; in the process I saw where they spent their nights: coffin-sized cardboard boxes, their only homes. In San Francisco and Los Angeles, I talked to young AIDS sufferers in her hospices, knowing that I would never see them again. In Madrid, I met the aged and the destitute, wracked by a disease called loneliness, which Mother Teresa called the “leprosy of the West”. And then the final triumph, a centre carved in the heart of Catholicism itself, in the shadow of St. Peter's in the Vatican, handed over by a Polish Pope to an obedient but persistent nun. She appeared a frail figure against the rigid hierarchy of the Church, some of whose members frowned in private that the Vatican had hardly any space let alone for a soup kitchen. Yet, in my eyes, Mother Teresa and John Paul II had, at one stroke, demystified a thousand years of sometimes rigid Papal tradition, in an understanding of the deepest Christian ethic that they shared.</p><p class="body" style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; ">Although she herself remained fiercely Catholic, her brand of faith was not exclusive. Convinced that each person she ministered to was Christ in suffering, she reached out to people of all religions. The very faith that sustained her infuriated her detractors, who saw her as a symbol of a right-wing conspiracy and, worse, the principal mouthpiece of the Vatican's well-known views against abortion. Interestingly, such criticism went largely unnoticed in India, where she was widely revered.</p><p class="body" style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; ">She was criticised for conversion. Yet in all the 23 years I knew her she never once whispered a suggestion regarding conversion. However, I asked her if she did convert. Without a moment's hesitation, she said, “I convert. I convert you to be a better Hindu, a better Muslim, a better Protestant, and a better Sikh. Once you have found God, it is up to you to do with him as you wish.” While she never deviated an inch from her path and was a religious, not a social worker, she was quick to realise that in India, Catholicism was practised by a small segment, and the 19th century proselytising approach could not be sustained.</p><p class="body" style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; ">From her humblest beginning in the slums and streets, she reached out to alleviate the problem she encountered by the simplest and most straightforward means available to her. Her thinking was both simple and complex: when asked how she could touch a leprosy sufferer and clean his sores, she said she could do it because for her that man was the suffering Jesus. “I would not clean him for all the money in the world,” said an observer. “Nor would I,” Mother Teresa replied, “but I would do it for love of Him.”</p><p class="body" style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; ">She could multi-task. She had to be a administrator par excellence to set up a multinational organisation that spread to 123 countries by the time she died, with the help of about 5,000 members of her Order, and countless millions volunteers. Her hands were always full, but comforting one individual at a time was more important than “getting lost in numbers”; it had to be that way, because each individual was a divine manifestation, each to be comforted, held, rescued, fed and not allowed to die alone.</p><p class="body" style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; ">I once called her the most powerful woman in the world. Mother Teresa replied: “Where? If I was, I would bring peace in the world.” I asked her why she did not use her undeniable influence to lessen war. She replied: “War is the fruit of politics. If I get stuck in politics, I will stop loving because I will have to stand by one, not by all.”</p><p class="body" style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; ">She had her critics. There was criticism about her taking money from dubious sources. I once asked her about it. She said without a moment's hesitation. “I accept no salary, no government grant, no Church assistance, nothing. But how can I refuse anyone who chooses to give money in an act of charity. How is this different from the thousands of people who each day feed the poor? My task is to give peace to people. I would never refuse.” Yet she never asked for funds or even permitted fund-raising. Mother Teresa depended on providence. She believed if the work was intended, the money would come. If money did not come, the reverse held true.</p><p class="body" style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; ">What would happen to her mission when she passed on, I once asked her. She did not answer but instead only pointed her finger towards heaven. But I persisted. She laughed and said: “Let me go first.”</p><p class="body" style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; ">I asked her the third time and this time she replied: “You have been to so many of our missions in India and abroad. Everywhere our Sisters wear the same saris, eat the same kind of food, do the same kind of work. But Mother Teresa is not everywhere. Yet the work goes on.” Then she added: “As long as we remain committed to the poorest of the poor and do not end up serving the rich, the work will prosper.”</p></blockquote><p class="body" style="outline-style: none; outline-width: initial; outline-color: initial; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 20px; "></p></span><div><br /></div></div>Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4719596705963546322.post-33532543192758913222010-08-25T19:09:00.000-07:002010-08-25T19:15:44.134-07:00Guest Consciousness<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 10px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Read the following lines this morning. They made sense to me. F<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, serif; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; font-size: 16px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 10px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium; ">or the mix to be complete however, I think the ingredients of</span></span></span></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri; font-size: medium; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 10px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 10px; "> responsibility and purpose should be added in:</span><div><div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 10px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></div><blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 10px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Have you ever noticed (that) one of the delights of going on holiday is the temporariness of everything?</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Wherever you go you are a guest, you are just passing through and therefore your relationship with everyone and everything is more relaxed and easy.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Nothing is precious.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Nothing needs to be guarded.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Nothing around us is used as a measure of our self worth.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Everyone you meet is just passing through your life so that while you thoroughly enjoy their company you don’t try to hang on to them, even in your head, when its time to go. You move smoothly from one scene to another, releasing the last scene quickly and easily, thus remaining free and light.</span><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"> </span></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 10px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 10px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 10px; "><span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Such is the consciousness of being a guest. </span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 10px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;">Could it be possible to bring that same consciousness, that same lightness and freedom to our life as a whole?</span></span></div></blockquote><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Calibri; -webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 10px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 10px; "><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: medium;"></span></span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family:Calibri;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 10px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 10px; font-size: medium;"><i><br /></i></span></span></div></div></div>Sreeramhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11691378250639424374noreply@blogger.com1