Demonetization or Revolution...?

For those who follow cricket (including all Indian men [in blue] as India has only 3 passions Bollywood, Cricket and Devotion and one hobby – Politics over every aspect of life including these 3!) it would be a familiar fact that there are three departments, apart from sledging I mean, in cricket – Bowling, Batting and Fielding.

Then there are Umpires – 2 Field Umpires, a Third (DVR) umpire and a Fourth Umpire that you find only on Indian National Television wherein all the Cricket veterans (presumably) discuss how it could have been different and better than what they enjoyed and their envy of how cricket is glamorous nowadays than their good old times seemingly overshadows their expertise most of the time, but that’s not the point here! And above all there is the spectator ‘Audience’ of course!

Principally every element of this game has a specific anticipated job something like -

Bowler is out in the field to ‘Get the Wickets’.

Batsman is out there in the field to ‘Make as much runs as possible in the stipulated time’.

Fielders are out there in the field to ‘Restrict possibly every run and grab those catches that win matches’.

Umpires, both out in the field and on DVR are there to 'Keep it a Gentleman’s Game with fair decisions'.

Fourth Umpire is an element that, no matter what, would act as the Governor of the entire show.

And ‘Audience’ or ‘Spectators’ are supposedly the element for which everything is being put up.

Started as a ‘Gentleman’s Game’ by the British in their Colonies for self-indulgence and entertainment through ego-satisfaction, it soon became so popular and acquired such a fan-following all over the world that it has become a huge industry today with various brands and flagship products, IPL Twenty-20 being the latest block-buster.

There is something called a ‘Toss’ to start the game and the Toss winning captain chooses what his team would do first, batting or bowling. With a reducing time of Cricket matches owing to the short attention spans and lust for maximum entertainment of the audience, it is jokingly being said that the next format of Cricket game after 20-20 would be ‘T-T’ that is Toss-Toss, the captain winning the toss would be declared winner of the match without playing a single ball, but again, that’s not the point here!

Most of the time this winning captain chooses to bat first for taking advantage of the freshness of the players, pitch, atmosphere and many other factors that assumingly would support to put a huge total on the score-board that would be difficult, if not impossible, for the other team to chase.

Once the game starts, the tempo keeps building with every single ball bowled, every run scored, every catch grabbed and every boundary, over-boundary hit. If nothing of this sort happens and match gets in the sluggish mode with a ritual of a baller throwing the ball without excitement and batsman defending it to save the wicket without scoring runs, the audience starts getting bored, impatient and stops responding, some even decide to leave the unfinished game. If their team is doing well and putting up a paisa-vassol show, crowd supports it in full zeal and the energy in the stadium is something that one can literally feel.

In an otherwise situation, the audience who waited in queues to buy tickets, survived all the traffic and all the hassle to reach their seats, put up with all weather – Sun, Rain, shivering Cold and was looted by every agency they had to interact with right from parking to snacks and beverages; they start reacting vocally to the loathsome performance of their team. Few optimistic souls try to maintain calm and keep their fingers crossed for their team / player bettering the performance in short while.

With every passing (the batsman?) ball these optimists also start losing their philosophical posture and slowly turn vocal about their frustration. Sometimes the crowd gets uncontrollable and physical when it starts interfering the game by throwing plastic bottles and similar things on the field and hurting the fielders standing on the boundary. This definitely brings down everything – the spirit of the game, the moral of the players, the dignity and legacy of the Gentleman’s game. But, thankfully, this is temporary.

All the anguish, all the commotion, all the penance disappears the moment their favorite players puts a Century on the board in less than 70 balls in the next game. The name of the centurion could be heard miles from the stadium echoed in an almost melodious tone… Sachin… Sachin! Sachin himself, apart from all the records he sets or breaks and all the titles he wins for himself or his country, always longs to hear this shouting of his name as some mantra in every single match that he plays!

Now, what is right and who is wrong is not the question here, the thing is to understand the nature of this game and its integral aspect of overwhelming and expressive crowd in this part of the world. This is a culture here and people never complain their suffering unless they are pushed to their limits (of boredom?) and these are the same people who provide the loads of energy to the player by continuous loud cheering.

So what is the point I am trying to make here? Cricket is a game that has transformed into an industry alright, Sachin has retired long back we know and there is no dearth of Cricket experts in our country, in fact there would never be any short supply of experts (particularly channel experts) on any topic that you can think of in this Incredible India, so why I am taking pain to reiterate something that even a kid in India knows for sure. Well, if you remember some of my recent posts… it’s the analogy!

Now I am listing few thing below and let’s play 'Match the Pair'! Replace the original with the new matching element in the game and let’s see if we can find some insight(?), okay at least some sense, in anything above.

Assuming ‘Cricket’ as Gentleman’s game as it was considered in its glorious days, consider ‘Politics’ as ‘Social Work’ as it was in its evolving phase. ‘Toss’ is the Election in the Democracy and elected Government is the Toss-wining Captain who has the privilege to make some decisions that presumably would give him some advantage. If the Captain chooses to ‘Bat’, the other team automatically becomes the ‘Opposition’ who would do anything to get the wickets, restrict the runs and keep the score down.

Fielders are the elected representatives in opposition that support the baller and the wicket keeper to get wickets and trouble the batsman. Umpires are the President, Speaker of houses, Governors of States and all such ‘Governing’ elements who can pass the judgment but have little control over the situation. ‘Audience’ is the Spectator Common Man for whom the entire show is put up, definition of democracy says! And what we are left with are the experts in the Fourth Umpire played by the Fourth Pillar of Democracy – Media! Needless to say that it includes all the channel experts and pseudo-intellectuals.

Now, visualize a One-day match between India and Pakistan with a house full Eden Garden stadium. India has won the toss and elected to bat. Indian Captain Saurav Ganguly brings VVS Laxman with him for opening while Sachin Tendulkar and Virendra Sehwag wait their turn in the pavilion. The batting line-up says that Rahul Dravid will be batting next followed by Sachin Tendulkar and Virendra Sehwag will bat at no. 5. Suddenly everybody in the crowd turns a Cricket Expert who knows every aspect of cricket right from pitch condition to wind speed to slog overs and what not and starts criticizing Ganguly like anything.

Now, Ganguli knows for sure what he is doing and only time will tell what made him take such a decision and how it turns out. But meanwhile the spectators are expected to believe in their captain and support his decision no matter how impatiently they wait to shout… ‘Sachin… Sachin!’

Finally, do I need to tell you to replace ‘Ganguly’s decision to change the batting order’ with the move of ‘Exchange of old currency notes with new ones’ that is generally and wrongly referred to as Demonetization...?

If you get it… Go Cashless as far as you can and if that seems impossibly difficult, try Less Cash! I am not the person to assure you that you will get the opportunity to cheer 'Sachin... Sachin!' but who else could…?

Be an Optimist, Have Faith and Believe wholeheartedly that ‘Best is yet to come’!

Way to go…

CAD...?

CAD seems to have become my destiny. I explored my-‘self’ through my practice as CAD professional for more than 10 years. It was 'Computer Aided Design' that time. When I learned about my mother’s medical condition, it was 'Coronary Artery Disease' and when I deliberate any matter of national policy or any strong decisions by the PMO regarding the economy it turns out to be the 'Current Account Deficit', one more CAD - a very familiar and close to my heart term from self-experience. Now I am waiting for one last CAD in my life when it will be Comprehensive Awareness Drive…!

My mother has undergone one bypass surgery and one angioplasty for about 80 to 90% blockages in her coronary arteries. Whenever I find an unexplored area of life, it has become a ritual for me to get into the deepest possible detail to learn more about it. This time it being a seriously grave concern for everybody involved and with respect to those two procedures I witnessed as an ‘insider’, I tried to collect, analyse and contemplate on all the material I can find for a deeper understanding of this CAD as well, obviously for its implications that might be imminent.

For being an outsider to the medical and health sector, I didn’t understand all those medical terms that have inscrutably long spellings and tongue-twister pronunciations which only those learned doctors can say; I am keeping my observations to a layman’s perspective and their relevance to what is prevalent subject of concern and consideration for past couple of days on a national level. I would follow my standard pattern of listing out things to present this subject to make it as simple as possible. What I learnt from the entire synthesis of my mother’s condition, which I am also prone to under the-always-dreadful-trait-of ‘History’, I have compiled in following lessons –

1. Although Blood is same in all humans, it has different tendencies depending upon a variety of attributes of an individual including his/her genes, addictions – physiological as well as psychological, long-term diet pattern, overall psyche and functioning of mind. Phew…! I know, my reaction was not different either…!

2. No matter how thick, thin, dark or light the blood is, it must Flow to keep your metabolism active and, more importantly, keep you alive. Whenever this blood (either pure or impure) thickens because of any reason, it hampers the smooth flow and disrupts the process of purification as well taking a toll on every monitory aspect of health like blood pressure, heart beat, pulse and respiration.

3. The next stage is forming of plaques those results in clot of bloods blocking its smooth flow to and from the heart, the main mechanism responsible for the purification and controlling the flow of blood to keep functioning of all the body parts unhampered.

4. The only treatment in such a condition is to remove those clots of blood and facilitate the smooth flow of blood in its normal condition. This can be done either by cutting the damaged part of the artery and replacing it by an equivalent and compatible tube from any other healthy part of human body like thigh (Bypass surgery) or by flushing the blockage and draining the clots to clear the path of artery and put some stents in place to avoid its contraction in future (Angioplasty).

5. Both these procedures are ‘Temporary’ operations that help keep the patient alive for few more days and it could NEVER EVER BE THE ULTIMATE SOLUTION FOR THE TENDENCY OF BLOOD TO CLOT. It needs to be done every time there is a clot / obstruction / plaque of blood in its natural flow. So what could be a permanent remedy to counter this condition…?

As stated earlier, I am not even remotely related to the medical field except for completing the course of medication advised by my Doctor friends and hence I might have put it in a very crude, unprofessional and nontechnical manner, but that’s how I perceived it. I will wait my Doctor friend's comments and correction in the above narration, if any.

Coming to the ‘Solution’ part of it, Doctors say that CAD majorly is a condition prevalent in specific patients and it cannot be termed as a ‘Disease’ itself. If the conditions are altered there remains no reason for this tendency to reappear. And to remove those conditions what you are supposed to do is to change your lifestyle… on all three levels – Physical, Psychological and Spiritual!

OK, enough of the Gyan about the most dreadful CAD of all, what is the point of wasting a Sunday on it? I know you might be feeling little clueless and more irritated by trying to figure it out and find some sense, if not moral, in the word-pour above. Let us play a game once again as we played at the end of one previous post, ‘Dream’.

Replace the Blood Flow with the Cash Flow, Black Money with the Blood Clot, Heart with the RBI, Surgeon with the Government… you are getting the picture, aren’t you?

‘Demonetisation’ is the Bypass Surgery (not even the Angioplasty that puts some stents to avoid contraction in near future) to drain out the clots and regulate the smooth flow. It might offer some relief and extra period to the ailing patient; it cannot cure the condition permanently. Now for the last thing, replace the ‘life Style’ with the mindset of generating black money at all three stages – transaction, accounting, audit – and bingo… you will hit the bull’s eye!

Earn Honestly and Spend Generously but Book Religiously...!

Way to go…

A Trump Card…!

What happened in US elections and how it ended the way it did would remain a major topic of debate, discussions and deliberations for many more days (if not months) to come. In spite many of the World Citizens expressing their disappointment and concern about the US People’s Verdict, openly or not so publicly, it remains the historical fact that the Trump card has worked in whatever way it did and the tortoise has not only reached the top of the (White House) post but it has also made a base there to settle for a while, at least.

US being the presumed superpower in many walks of life, money and might dominating the list, and the fact that World is strategically conditioned to US policing for issues of anybody’s concern; the crucial question at this point of time for the entire humanity on this planet should not be ‘what’ or ‘how’ it happened but ‘WHY’ this happened? Being the vanguard of the ‘Advancement’ and ‘Development’ as it is perceived in the new set of values, ethics and principles; US automatically assumes the role of being the ‘Role Model’ for the developing as well as underdeveloped countries. US Lifestyle and Diplomacy provides for all new aspirations, not only to Asia or Africa but also to some parts of Europe and Middle-east, if not all, which makes this US choice peculiar in the circumstances.

The newly emerging trends in the collective wisdom of the species and in entire human cognizance are clearly indicative of a dogmatism that is imminent, certainly not a good sign for integrated harmonious living for a sustainable and inclusive development as envisaged by our forefathers in the early civilizations and settlement years. Right from the hunters-gatherers stage, we humans were striving for holistic development and common good, the history of evolution points out. Just before the rise of the ‘Class’ system based on number of factors, religion being the paramount, no human craved to rule another but the process was of purely and genuinely ‘Leading’ the way. Even the selection of leader was a natural process that had a logical reasoning of experience, ability, resilience and vision!

This makes it imperative to consider the outcome of this US election from the perspective of ‘Our Common Future’, title of a report of the World Commission on Environment and Development, in which it states, ‘This Commission believes that people can build a future that is more prosperous, more just, and more secure…’ and further adds, ‘But the Commission's hope for the future is conditional on decisive political action now to begin managing environmental resources to ensure both sustainable human progress and human survival…’ Given to the background and reputation of the newly elected President of America and people’s expectations from him, it poses a serious threat to this vision of the WCED, we fear!

Finally, the most alarming and dreadful fact which is evident from this result would be the logical and philosophical conclusion of this write-up – emergence and development of such behavioral traits imbibed through pseudo schools of thoughts all around is the light at the end of the tunnel… the only thing is it is mounted on the engine of the fast approaching Bullet Train that will run over everything in its way and there is no stopping of this train in sight as the travelers boarding this train themselves want it to go faster and faster and in the direction they want. A wise insight here might come handy – Looking inwards doesn’t mean being more and more self-centered and levelling the scores should not necessarily mean ‘Eye for an eye!’

Rosalynn Carter, wife of the 39th President of the United States, Jimmy Carter, was a leading advocate for numerous causes, perhaps most prominently for mental health research. She was politically active during her White House years, sitting in on Cabinet and policy meetings as well as serving as her husband's closest adviser. To make justice to all above narration, it would be apt to quote Rosalynn Carter here –

“A leader takes people where they want to go.
A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be…!”

Way to go...

Festival of Lights...!

Let There Be Light...!

It's the Festival of LIGHTS, not noise and pollution!
It's high time we learn the real intent of our Festivals
And get a closer look into the Spirit of Celebration... isn't it?

Let there be light all around and in our Minds as well... Way to go!

Non-violence...!

My National Prayer...!

The grand Scene of birth of Independent India: 

In that mid-night, the flag of the ruler of two centuries lowered; 
The tri-color Indian flag flaps in the Red Fort in the midst of National Anthem.

The first vision of Independent India was dawned.

The rejoice everywhere, happiness all around,

There was a tender cry: where is the father of the nation? 

The white clothed soul walking in the midst of sorrows and pain,

Injected by hatred and ego, the result of communal violence.

The father of the nation, Mahatma, walking bare footed

In the streets of Bengal for peace and harmony

With the strength of blessed soul of Mahatma 

I pray the Almighty: When will be the dawn of second vision?

Create thoughts in the minds of my people,

And transform those thoughts into action. 

Embed the thought of Nation being bigger than 

The individual, in the minds of leaders and people.

Help all the leaders of my country to give strength

And bless the nation with peace and prosperity.

Give strength to all my religious leaders to bring 

'Unity of Minds' among all our billion people 

Oh Almighty, bless all my people to work and transform

Our country from a developing into a developed nation. 

Let this second vision be born out of sweat of my people,

And bless our youth to live in Developed India. 

A.P.J. Abdul Kalam

Dream...!

Recently I came across a ‘case’ of a getting-conveniently-married-age-passed lady and her parents concerned about her future as she had a considerable threat of remaining single for rest of her life. As it was obvious and apparent that the main reason behind their plenty of unsuccessful attempts of getting her married was her superfluous obesity coupled with overrated expectations and ‘so what?’ attitude. The family had all the accusations about the entire league of the insensitive could-be-husband-bachelors who turned down their proposal, right from deteriorated value system to global warming to social disparity to terrorism to market volatility, but they never seemed to have even slightest of reflection about their case’s blemish. All the time they made it sound like everything with the world is wrong and it’s nothing they could have done about it earlier or even starting from NOW. I was not only devastated but spellbound to see the insensitivity of all those would-be-grooms who couldn’t see the sincerity of the family in bringing up a girl child so adoringly that she turned out to be a ‘so what?’ type and wished to remain like that forever!

The solution to this situation starts with accepting that the lady is over-aged and over-weight that is number one and, despite the fact that it is already too late, have an action plan in place with a strong belief of ‘There is no wrong time to do a right thing!’ Her age is not that big issue in today’s era of enhanced self-efficacy, but her weight is, as it shatters the ‘first impression’. So if the remedial steps are started in good time, she could reduce to a comfortably acceptable stature, if not very adorable.

In another instance it was a teenage boy caught in a dilemma about his future as his mother wanted him to be either Sachin Tendulkar or Hrithik Roshan and his father was looking forward to send him to NASA to become a distinguished aeronautics expert. There was a small problem though; the boy never had held the cricket bat with a proper stance, had below average looks with total weight of 21 KG including everything he has worn – jeans, tee-shirt, sport shoes, glasses and cap. This was nothing compared to the dream he himself had for his 'career' – studying social sciences and becoming an honest politician!

In this case it was not the problem that everybody was speculating too early for the distant future but it was everybody’s lack of awareness of the facts and figures. ‘Nothing is impossible for those who have a dream…’ is true only with its later part ‘…and a strategic long-term plan to fulfill that dream!’ It takes years and years of dedicated training, toil and incredible passion to achieve big goals, ask PeeCee! Nothing is a piece of cake even if it looks like sitting in the plate waiting for you to have it.

Now to make some sense of everything I have poured out of my brain on this page, let’s play a game. Replace that waiting-to-get-married puffy lady with Corporate Sector, this feeble honest-politician-in-making teenager with NGOs and their Parents with the Government. Everything should start to make sense immediately when you would replace ‘liposuction’ or ‘body-building protein-supplements’ with CSR…! :)

Way to go…

Yoga Day

To be content and complete (not happy or successful) in life and have a purpose to commit to (not a career of mundane routine), a human being needs Character more than the Caliber. This could be achieved only when 3 elements forming the being are perfectly in tune with each other creating a harmonious melody of life. Body or physique essentially is the first element as it is absolutely visible, touchable and could be felt with all of the five senses. Moreover, it is the abode for the other two, at least for the life time till that particular body has life in material world.

Second element is the Brain or Mind. Although it’s debatable and always been so since Human discovered its unique power of thinking, reasoning and analyzing the matter, whether Brain and Mind is one and the same thing or entirely two different territories; for this context of post we will consider it one and the same to avoid further deliberations on the vast subject that is not the premises of this article. And the third and actually most important but unfortunately least understood, is the Soul or Spirit. Same rule will apply for this concept as Brain or Mind and we would presume the Soul and Spirit as equal and interchangeable concepts.

Body needs nutrition to sustain, exercise to develop and rest to retain. Mind needs learning to understand, intellect to analyze and emotions to feel. Soul needs knowledge to expand, experience to empathize and realization to liberate. Although conventional education system provides most, if not all, of it, there is an evident gap in the Skills learner could acquire through any school curriculum.

The Education Report 2015 by World Economic Forum in collaboration with The Boston Consulting Group, talks about 10 Life Essential ‘Competencies’ and ‘Character Qualities’ that the current education system worldwide lacks in. The competencies include – Creativity, Communication, Collaboration and the Character Qualities include – Curiosity, Initiative, Persistence, Adaptability, Leadership and Social and Cultural Awareness.

In a report on condition of senior citizens, Mathew Cherian, CEO of HelpAge NGO India, says – “The degeneration of our value system has heightened this problem. Children are turning abusers. There is a dire need to sensitize them, starting young. HelpAge has started a unique HUG campaign which stands for Help Unite Generations, aiming to do just that”

Both the reports above indicate a single thing – lack of Holistic Development of a Being as he or she grows to become an Adult and a responsible as well as responsive element of the society with a good balance of Sturdy Physique, Superior Intelligence, Sensitive Mind and Spiritual Resilience. Although there could be number of methods and manners these could be achieved independently, the most important aspect of the personality is the integration of all these as a single being. This integration of all the aspects in a being is not only crucial for the individual but rather far more vital to the societal scenario as society is formed by the individuals and they must function individually but resonate collectively towards desirable as well as inclusive development of it.

The only tool that has been proven to be not just effective but empowering to achieve this alignment of individual and society to universe through meditation is practicing the 6000 year old Indian Yoga! Yoga is neutral therapy of overall wellbeing of the being without any constraint of Age, Gender or Ethnicity. That way it could be termed as the only universal thing apart from Love, Compassion and Humanity. The maddening speed of today’s rampant and destructive materialistic development has its roots in a person’s approach to and expectation from the mortal life he or she has. Apart from instant gratification, insecurity and impulsiveness there is a quality of human character that catalyzes the linear growth of GDP – the ever insatiable want of finding pleasure in things… in simple words – Greed!

Although it’s been established and even accepted by the human race that it has already caused irrecoverable damage to the environment and spread the disparity to the appalling extent; it also remains a fact, however poignant it may seem that this giant wheel of development cannot be reversed.

In all its totality and with a 3600 overview of the situation, all that could be done is to make the human little composed and in tune with its ecosystem and the universe. A child finds pleasure in playing with a toy only till the moment it can get hold of a bigger, better and more engaging and exciting plaything. Once it finds the new thing more interesting, it forgets about its previous toy in no time. Such is the structure of human mind and its involvement with pleasure.

Similarly the adult human needs to evolve to a point where it can find pleasure in an enlightening and liberating means rather than entrapping and slavering things. Only YOGA has this power to take a Human Being on that joyride where the joy could be seamless and ride could be smooth.

In response to the call for the adoption of 21 June as International Day of Yoga by Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi during his address to UN General Assembly on September 27, 2014 wherein he stated:

"Yoga is an invaluable gift of India's ancient tradition. It embodies unity of mind and body; thought and action; restraint and fulfillment; harmony between man and nature; a holistic approach to health and well-being. It is not about exercise but to discover the sense of oneness within yourself, the world and the nature. By changing our lifestyle and creating consciousness, it can help us deal with climate change. Let us work towards adopting an International Yoga Day."

June 21 was declared as the International Day of Yoga by the United Nations General Assembly on December 11, 2014. India must feel absolutely proud and privileged to be the host of Yoga for 6 Millenniums and must lead this incredible movement right from the front. Way to go…!

[Previously published on 21 June 2015, the First International Yoga Day]

Void...!

The Indispensable Man

Saxon White Kessinger

________________________________

Sometime when you're feeling important;

Sometime when your ego 's in bloom;

Sometime when you take it for granted,

You're the best qualified in the room:

Sometime when you feel that your going,

Would leave an unfillable hole,

Just follow these simple instructions,

And see how they humble your soul. 

Take a bucket and fill it with water,

Put your hand in it up to the wrist,

Pull it out and the hole that's remaining,

Is a measure of how much you'll be missed.

You can splash all you wish when you enter,

You may stir up the water galore,

But stop, and you'll find that in no time,

It looks quite the same as before. 

The moral of this quaint example,

Is to do just the best that you can,

Be proud of yourself but remember,

There's no indispensable man.

________________________________

Panacea...!

When you feel unwell, you seek advice of a Medical practitioner i.e. a Doctor who runs some primary checks and examines the fundamental indicators of health like heart-bits, blood pressure, etc. If your condition needs some serious attention and in-depth analysis supported by the results of some pathological tests, you are recommended to get those tests done from a pathology lab that the Doctor trusts. Once the results are available, Doctor prescribes medication to recover the status of your physiology that is under concern. The Chemist running a shop for those medicines and drugs reads the instruction on the prescription and hands you recommended medicine in appropriate quantity commensurate with the suggested dosage.

What is this so-called process of physical recovery is doing on a ‘Philosophical’ or psychological, to say the least, blog with a blogger who apparently detests the Medical field in general? Well, it’s an analogy! Consider the patient (which actually should be ‘impatient’, as a person in this condition is restless and longs the relaxed and ‘in the pink’ condition!) as our society that has caught some infection and needs care to recover from the disease the infection is causing. In a self-governing democratic civilization, society will look up to its Government as it tend to (or made to) believe that whatever happens with the society, the ultimate responsibility of that condition lies with the ruling body that is the Government.

Government machinery, no matter how enormous it is with almost the invincible kind of power and authority with the entire bureaucracy, always seems inadequate to address the requests of its ever-growing population and as a wise man once said, ‘Whenever Government cannot act, it enacts!’ and seeks the help of some agencies to lighten the burden of societal needs and ways to fulfill them. Such voluntary organizations qualifying as the implementing agencies to organize the programmes of social development need the fuel to run the vehicle. This ‘resource mobilization’ is sought from the wealthier section of the society that manages to maintain the status of wealthy by ‘optimum utilization of available resources’. Most of the time, this management funda itself is found to be the root cause of majority of the social issues that need the attention and solution.

Now picture this – You are the society and your health or wellbeing is Society’s health and wellbeing. Government is that Medical Professional who is eligible to offer you the panacea with the help of Pathologist’s (played by the Non-Government Organizations or NGOs) report about your metabolism. Ultimately it would be the pharmacist who would provide the actual remedy in physical form to bring the panacea to effect. This makes two things inevitable for the Pharmacy to sustain and develop – You, that is the Society keeps showing symptoms of disease perpetually and in great volumes, which otherwise means that a healthy and fit society is an alarming indicator for the pharmacist! And secondly the Medical Officer or Doctor should be maintained well so as to ensure that he, with the help of pathologist (NGOs) keeps on prescribing all those drugs and medicines to keep the sale of it on a rise forever which will contribute to the GDP in turn… what a patriotic gesture with a noble intention!

The catch (and the justification offered without being asked of) is; it’s the Patient that feels sick, approaches the Doctor and seeks the treatment and not the other way round. The entire medical nexus just responds to the situation sincerely reciprocating the needs of the diseased. It’s the patient that needs the doctor; the doctor doesn’t need a patient… bingo! People need Government, the Government doesn’t need people unless for collecting tax and voting! Agreed, despite this being a prejudiced half-truth, let us agree to it that it is the ill-(fated) person seeking recovery and comfort walks to the Doctor himself and the Doctor or the medical field never ‘invites’ a patient to fall in its lap… it just anticipates, projects and manages it!

So, what’s the solution if the Government, with the help of NGOs, making the Corporate to pay for the Social Development Projects that are not showing any reassuring progress and Corporate is well posed to recover the said ‘expenses’ from further ‘optimizing the available resources’? Who is going to break this vicious circle and how…?

Complete Self-preservation by doing more with less and better understanding the law of unintentional consequences could just be the key… to self-health as well as environmental sustainability! Example of Manik Sarkar, the only "Cleanest and Honest Chief Minister in the country” might just provide the insight and inspiration in this context.

Way to go…!

WED 2016

In the recent local news, I came across an extremely disturbing and hideous piece of offense in which some crooks killed a Spotted Deer (Chital) and cut off its Antlers from its head for making few quick bucks in exchange of them. This incidence is not only symbolic of what life has reduced the human species to but also underlines the sheer ruthlessness and indifference humans have grown towards other species of their ecology as well as the Environment they are part of.

Environment is of three types as far as my knowledge, belief and understanding is concerned. Natural one, that is the Earth and every element of its ecosystem that upholds the existence of it as the only Livable and Sustainable Planet (at least till this moment and within the boundaries of human comprehension, forget the Aliens they are the copyright of Hollywood!) of its Galaxy. This is termed as the ‘Natural Environment’, irrespective of the human evolution as it was there for billions of years before human existence and would be there for trillions of years after the extinction of human species. In fact, this environment doesn’t even bother to take into account existence of a species called ‘human’ unless human tries to imbalance its ecology by crossing the limits (which it seems to have done already), when the Natural Environment will bring on the ‘correction’ to restore its equilibrium and stabilize the food chain, remember the Dinosaurs…?

Come to the Human World and we have two more types of Environments in it, both manmade. The first here is physical but ‘Conditioned’, as in ‘Air-conditioned’. Human, assuming it a birthright, decided to create compartments of different types, size, shapes and categories for varied purposes right from a Garbage Field or Dumping Ground / Scrap-yard to Fish and Meat Market to Motor Garage to Tall Buildings with soundproof air-conditioned cabins on their top floor with a glazed façade on exterior. All these ‘well-planned’ and ‘aesthetically designed’ spaces formed the Modern Urban Culture of living in the silos by turning the back to the ‘outer world’ and, in addition to contributing to the GDP, had their major share of polluting the air, water, climate and Environment as a whole.

The list of harms that the sophisticated living tools do to the Environment is bigger than the volume of contamination it causes, but it would suffice as an example to get the idea that centralized air conditioning draws the hot air in a closed space and releases it in the outer atmosphere through exhaust channels so does the vehicle mufflers. It’s a different story that the harmful effects conditioned air causes to the bone structure either could not be grasped by the human intellect or that same intellect considers treatment for it as another tool to raise the GDP by mobilizing the pharmaceutical and medical industry, I don’t know! And there is no need to even talk about water pollution, just a glance at our rivers – once lifelines of civilization that we have turned into waste-lines of modern living – and the picture is clear, the water stream is not though!

The Third Environment (Second of the Human world) is Virtual, Intangible and Make-believe yet most fatal. It is the set of conditions imagined, envisaged and developed by the human brain / mind for its ‘wellbeing’, ‘contentment’ or ‘satisfaction’. It starts as thoughts conceived by the mind and the problem starts with the attachment of mind with the thought. The moment mind learns to detach itself from the thoughts of brain and observe them in total neutrality, if not equanimity, it starts its journey on the philosophical path that leads to spirituality. But alas, this is quite an idealistic view of human mind-work and instead it prefers to attach to each and every thought, object and element of material nature. The process of craving, experiencing, being fed up and longing becomes a cyclic trap that is difficult, if not impossible, for an average human mind to escape and it provides an illusory space for mind’s imagination where it nurtures the thoughts in form of desires and creates an environment of its own in process. This conspiring Mental Environment is the most dangerous and governs the other two to the point of forcing its followers to indulge in transgressions like the one this post is started with.

Today is World Environment Day and this write-up is intended to shed some light on the concept of Environment and spread awareness about its protection. Environment is everybody’s responsibility and nobody can get away by saying, ‘It’s not my Job…!’ or ‘What can I do…?’ The least anybody can do is reducing the Environmental (Popularly referred to as ‘Carbon’) footprint by R3 formula of Reduce, Reuse and Recycle and at least start considering commitment to ‘Enoughism'!

Mother Earth has given us everything including the life itself and has suffered severely in process. It’s our turn to take better care of her; celebrating the WED is just a pointer and reminder!

For more ideas about Environment Day Activities you can download WED Toolkit here. Way to go…

Smart(err)...!

Original Story

There was once a washer man who had a donkey and a dog. One night when the whole world was sleeping, a thief broke into the house, the washer man was fast asleep too but the donkey and the dog were awake. The dog decided not to bark since the master did not take good care of him and wanted to teach him a lesson.

The donkey got worried and said to the dog that if he doesn't bark, the donkey will have to do something himself. The dog did not change his mind and the donkey started braying loudly.

Hearing the donkey bray, the thief ran away, the master woke up and started beating the donkey for braying in the middle of the night for no reason.

Original Moral

“One must not engage in duties other than his own"

Management Version

The washer man was a well educated man from a premier management institute. He had the fundas of looking at the bigger picture and thinking out of the box. He was convinced that there must be some reason for the donkey to bray in the night.. He walked outside a little and did some fact finding, applied a bottom up approach, figured out from the ground realities that there was a thief who broke in and the donkey only wanted to alert him about it. Looking at the donkey's extra initiative and going beyond the call of the duty, he rewarded him with lot of hay and other perks and became his favourite pet.

The dog's life didn't change much, except that now the donkey was more motivated in doing the dog's duties as well. In the annual appraisal the dog managed "ME" (Met Expectations).

Soon the dog realized that the donkey is taking care of his duties and he can enjoy his life sleeping and lazing around. The donkey was rated as “star performer". The donkey had to live up to his already high performance standards.

Soon he was over burdened with work and always under pressure and now is looking for a NEW JOB...

Management Moral

When you hire people who are smarter than you, you ought to prove you are smarter than them...!

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What...? Okay, I am the Donkey and its not 'ME' but 'EE' for me... always! Do you have a vacancy for the Dog...?

Culture...!

No doubt seeds, fertilizers, sunlight, water and equitable market are critical aspects of farming, however can we discount the importance of the farm land and soil preparation – the fundamental prerequisites that will facilitate and empower the germination of seed and uphold its deep rooting to outgrow the surface? Even an experienced and sensible gardener, let alone the seasoned farmer, understands the significance of making a fertile and productive soil before bowing any seed for the production of flowers, fruits, grains or vegetable. With this, it goes without saying that the major focus of any kind of cultivation activity should be the surface preparation (creating the condition for development) in every initiation phase of each process cycle, hence the name culture!

What is true in the area of first and foremost ‘natural’ industry human mind conceived and propagated (literally), Agriculture and farming, is truer for the social development sector for not only the stark similarities like extensive impact and vary linkage to existence between the two but even for the paradox of exploitation of prior providing the purpose of being and expansion for the later. Barring the vis-à-vis comparison of these two, one thing that holds true for both, right from the day the first seed germinated from the earth till the last ray of Sun that will meet the surface of soil, is ‘Culture’ that is going to play the role of not just Friend-Philosopher-Guide but even the Mainstay-Structure-Facilitator in development of both.

Voluntary Organizations, popularly known as NGOs, and all their siblings with various names and constitutions but a single objective of ‘common good’ could be the instruments of social development and there is no denying of their passion and commitment towards their cause; however a blunt saw cannot cut as deep as a sharpened one, remains the fact. In his book ‘7 Habits of Highly Effective People’, Stephen Covey puts the 7th i.e. last but not the least habit as ‘Sharpen the saw!’ A wood-cutters story who was toiling and sweating for cutting the tree as he ignored the advice of taking a break and sharpening his saw on the grounds that he was too busy and couldn’t waste time… in sharpening the saw, might seem to be a cliché but it is not. It’s not a secret anymore that the defense strategists invest major part of their time to ‘plan’ the battle so that their troops have to spend little time in ‘action’. That’s why the war rooms have more brainstorming than movements in the field.

All said and done, let me take you to the point… Capacity Building, my favorite subject as far as my interest and passion is considered. I have written earlier about the 5% cap on Administrative and Capacity Building expenses, generally (or sarcastically?) known as ‘overheads’, of the CSR Budget and there was some positive amendment in this limit, it is learnt. Nevertheless, whatever limit of the CSR budget is allocated for Capacity Building, it still remains a challenge to ‘invest’ it in proper tools and instruments for desirable ROI and not just ‘spend’ it for the sake of spending, just like many companies are reported to do with their CSR budget. Such type of spending for the sake of compliance is not going to help any element of the society, neither the target group nor the sponsor, let alone the society.

Many small, medium and even some of the big companies that became eligible for the CSR Compliance having a CSR budget in the range of few Lakhs to a Crore could not afford (and also are not advised) to develop their own ‘Training and Development’ wing internally for their Capacity Building with an inadequate budget. It is a different challenge altogether to arrange for the Professionally Acclaimed Trainers and proficient Subject Matter Experts from time to time.

Considering engaging the centers and institutions developed and maintained for the sole purpose of Capacity Building, equipped with state-of-the-art facilities and international standard faculties, all in one place, could be a win-win situation for joining the forces towards synergy for Integrated Social Development. This will not only ensure the proper capacity building in a professional manner but would also imbibe a culture of development in the organization by way of interaction with able people including but not limited to Resource Person, Peers and others from around the globe.

Way to go…

Fatherhood 3

On Wednesday, 18 June 2014, i.e. 2 years ago, I have written about my daughter Maitrayee’s SSC result and its dynamics under the title ‘Fatherhood 2’. I am glad that I am in a position to write ‘Fatherhood 3’ today about her HSC results and neither the tone nor the circumstances or the depth of ‘anything’ has changed even by a fraction, in fact it has deepened, I believe!

Lot has been discussed and is still being discussed about the HSC result and Maitrayee’s score in Philosophy (97), of late. It certainly is a great experience of being celebrated as a proud father and quite overwhelming as well to be at the receiving end of such enormous amount of compliments. Since Wednesday all the 5 Phones (4 mobiles, 1 landline) and all the 5 people in the house were busy for couple of days. I never thought that I had so many contacts and they not only do remember me but also care for me! I mean, how could you explain a schoolmate whom you have met for the last time about 20 years ago, calling you on phone for first ever time in life and talking for about 20 minutes? I am neither jumping to any conclusions here nor being that melancholy philosopher that has been said to be the ‘culprit’ of Maitrayee’s score of 97, or discarding outright all the suggestions from the well-wishers of making her prepare for IAS and alike, I am just trying to ponder on the fact that how human mind functions. Ah… as if it’s some new-found interest of mine!

But today I want to share something different, about my daughter her endeavour and her 'attitude'… but of course! Today she is out for fort drive on Tikona and that reinforced my wish to write about it. With the sharp intellect and analytical skills she has, it would have been ‘natural’ and ‘sensible’ for her to go for Science as she stood the great chance of completing her graduation in Engineering / Medicine / Management or any that kind of convenient career option, fly abroad for her Masters and fetch home a fat package in Dollars. She (yes, it was wholly HER OWN uninfluenced, unprejudiced and independent decision!) chose ‘life’ instead and we were more than happy, why, even proud to support her decision wholeheartedly… with whatever we could offer her to get a life! Just like in her year of SSC, she did everything she wanted to in the year of HSC as well. She was involved in so many activities and initiatives throughout 2 years of Junior College that I fail to remember all of them. She experienced and experimented with so many things that she started to develop her own ‘philosophy’ of life and, already the fastidious soul that she was, now she has her own way in everything she does including climbing college compound wall, time management and fashion! Now this is called Experiential Learning!

She has managed to secure 87% marks overall in the HSC exam and 97% in Philosophy which supposedly is a record, at least for her college in recent years, and she was felicitated for the same by her college Principal. Apart from the Academics and Extra-curricular activities in abundance at College she managed to complete her Advance Diploma in German Language that is of Undergraduate level and she is the youngest in the batch who not only cleared it but secured 75% score that is regarded as an extremely commendable score in these types of exams. She is already volunteering for 3 NGOs and many Causes and adding value to the initiatives with her critical thinking and unique leadership style, I believe! She is attending discourses on Indian Cultural, Spiritual and Philosophical practices by her Grandfather at home for which she almost persuaded him and I am not sure whether I am more fortunate as a Father or a Son…

The moral of the story is, yes, I am happy and we are proud and also fortunate to bridge such generations of immaculate astute aspirations and capabilities, but moreover what I found quite ‘interesting’ (refer to my post ‘Interesting…!’ for the ‘quotes’!) with all this happenings is the somewhat changed mindset of society to look at their Children and their Future (Read: Career... with an adjective of ‘Lucrative’ is recommended!) Many of the calls that we received not only congratulated Maitrayee with an ‘awe’ factor in their tone but also seemed to be (re)thinking of ‘their’ choices and the hassles they already have, and would continue to, put themselves and their children through. Although my wife would not agree (as she mostly does not) to it, I sensed even the apologetic tone of voice in some parents while admitting that their children (not they themselves, mind you!) are looking forward to Engineering, Medicine, Management, etc. etc. Now, no Social Reform can come overnight. Society is such a conditioned entity that it will take years together to de-condition and recondition… I will wait; I have all the time in the world.

Way to go…