#Society: Vivekananda on Caste System

This article is a chapter from the book, “Swami Vivekananda on India and Her Problems“. This book (Code: AVE061) can be purchased from Advaita Ashrama.

CASTE PROBLEM IN INDIA

“I have a message for the world, which I will deliver without fear and care for the future. To the reformers I will point out that I am a greater reformer than any one of them. They want to reform only little bits. I want root-and-branch reform.”

- Swami Vivekananda

CASTE IN SOCIETY AND NOT IN RELIGION

Though our castes and our institutions are apparently linked with our religion, they are not so. These institutions have been necessary to protect us as a nation, and when this necessity for self-preservation will no more exist, they will die a natural death. In religion there is no caste. A man from the highest caste and a man from the lowest may become a monk in India and the two castes become equal. The caste system is opposed to the religion of Vedanta.

Caste is a social custom, and all our great preachers have tried to break it down. From Buddhism downwards, every sect has preached against caste, and every time it has only riveted the chains. Beginning from Buddha to Rammohan Ray, everyone made the mistake of holding caste to be a religious institution and tried to pull down religion and caste altogether, and failed.

In spite of all the ravings of the priests, caste is simply a crystallized social institution, which after doing its service is now filling the atmosphere of India with its stench, and it can only be removed by giving back to people their lost social individuality. Caste is simply the outgrowth of the political institutions of India; it is a hereditary trade guild. Trade competition with Europe has broken caste more than any teaching.

THE UNDERLYING IDEA OF THE CASTE SYSTEM

The older I grow, the better I seem to think of caste and such other time-honored institutions of India. There was a time when I used to think that many of them were useless and worthless, but the older I grow, the more I seem to feel a difference in cursing any one of them, for each one of them is the embodiment of the experience of centuries.

A child of but yesterday, destined to die the day after tomorrow, comes to me and asks me to change all my plans and if I hear the advice of that baby and change all my surroundings according to his ideas I myself should be a fool, and no one else. Much of the advice that is coming to us from different countries is similar to this. Tell these wiseacres, “I will hear you when you have made a stable society yourselves. You cannot hold on to one idea for two days, you quarrel and fail; you are born like moths in the spring and die like them in five minutes. You come up like bubbles and burst like bubbles too. First form a stable society like ours. First make laws and institutions that remains undiminished in their power through scores of centuries. Then will be the time to talk on the subject with you, but till then, my friend, you are only a giddy child.”

Caste is a very good thing. Caste is the plan we want to follow. What caste really is, not one in a million understands. There is no country in the world without caste. Caste is based throughout on that principle. The plan in India is to make everybody Brahmana, the Brahmana being the ideal of humanity. If you read the history of India you will find that attempts have always been made to raise the lower classes. Many are the classes that have been raised. Many more will follow till the whole will become Brahmana. That is the plan.

Our ideal is the Brahmana of spiritual culture and renunciation. By the Brahmana ideal what do I mean? I mean the ideal Brahmana-ness in which worldliness is altogether absent and true wisdom is abundantly present. That is the ideal of the Hindu race. Have you not heard how it is declared he, the Brahmana, is not amenable to law, that he has no law, that he is not governed by kings, and that his body cannot be hurt? That is perfectly true. Do not understand it in the light thrown upon it by interested and ignorant fools, but understand it in the light of the true and original Vedantic conception.. If the Brahmana is he who has killed all selfishness and who lives to acquire and propagate wisdom and the power of love – if a country is altogether inhabited by such Brahmanas, by men and women who are spiritual and moral and good, is it strange to think of that country as being above and beyond all law? What police, what Military are necessary to govern them? Why should any one govern them at all? Why should they live under a government? They are good and noble, and they are the men of God; these are our ideal Brahmanas, and we read that in the SatyaYuga there was only one caste, and that was the Brahmana. We read in the Mahabharata that the whole world was in the beginning peopled with Brahmanas, and that as they began to degenerate they became divided into different castes, and that when the cycle turns round they will all go back to that Brahmanical origin.

The son of a Brahmana is not necessarily always a Brahmana; though there is every possibility of his being one, he may not become so. The Brahmana caste and the Brahmana quality are two distinct things.

As there are sattva, rajas and tamas – one or other of these gunas more or less – in every man, so the qualities which make a Brahmana, Kshatriya, Vaishya or a Shudra are inherent in every man, more or less. But at time one or other of these qualities predominates in him in varying degrees and is manifested accordingly. Take a man in his different pursuits, for example : when he is engaged in serving another for pay, he is in Shudra-hood; when he is busy transacting some some piece of business for profit, on his account, he is a Vaishya; when he fights to right wrongs then the qualities of a Kshatriya come out in him; and when he meditates on God, or passes his time in conversation about Him, then he is a Brahmana. Naturally, it is quite possible for one to be changed from one caste into another. Otherwise, how did Viswamitra become a Brahmana and Parashurama a Kshatriya?

The means of European civilization is the sword; of the Aryans, the division into different varnas. This system of division into varnas is the stepping-stone to civilization, making one rise higher and higher in proportion to one’s learning and culture. In Europe, it is everywhere victory to the strong and death to the weak. In the land of Bharata (India), every social rule is for the protection of the weak.

Such is our ideal of caste, as meant for raising all humanity slowly and gently towards the realization of the great ideal of spiritual man, who is non-resisting, calm, steady, worshipful, pure and meditative. In that ideal there is God.

We believe in Indian caste as one of the greatest social institutions that the Lord gave to man. We also believe that through the unavoidable defects, foreign persecutions, and above all, the monumental ignorance and pride of many Brahmanas who do not deserve the name, have thwarted in many ways, the legitimate fructification of this glorious Indian institution, it has already worked wonders for the land of Bharata and it destined to lead Indian humanity to its goal.

Caste should not go; but should be readjusted occasionally. Within the old structure is to be life enough for the building of two hundred thousand new ones. It is sheer nonsense to desire the abolition of caste.

INEQUALITY OF PRIVILEGE VITIATES THE SYSTEM

It is in the nature of society to form itself into groups; and what will go will be these privileges! Caste is a natural order. I can perform one duty in social life, and you another; you can govern a country, and I can mend a pair of old shoes, but that is no reason why you are greater than I, for can you mend my shoes? Can I govern the country? I am clever in mending shoes, you are clever in reading Vedas, that is no reason why you should trample on my head; why if one commits murder should he be praised and if another steals an apple why should he be hanged? This will have to go.

Caste is good. That is only natural way of solving life. Men must form themselves into groups, and you cannot get rid of that. Wherever you go there will be caste. But that does not mean that there should be these privileges. They should be knocked on the head. If you teach Vedanta to the fisherman, he will say, “I am as good a man as you, I am a fisherman, you are a philosopher, but I have the same God in me, as you have in you.” And that is what we want, no privilege for anyone, equal chances for all; let everyone be taught that the Divine is within, and everyone will work out his own salvation. The days of exclusive privileges and exclusive claims are gone, gone for ever from the soil of India.

UNTOUCHABILITY – A SUPERSTITIOUS ACCRETION

Formerly the characteristic of the noble-minded was – (tribhuvanamupakara shrenibhih priyamanah) “to please the whole universe by one’s numerous acts of service”, but now it is – I am pure and the whole world is impure. “Don’t touch me!” “Don’t touch me!” The whole world is impure, and I alone am pure! Lucid Brahmajnana! Bravo! Great God! Nowadays, Brahman is neither in the recesses of the heart, nor in the highest heaven, nor in all beings – now He is in the cooking pot!

We are orthodox Hindus, but we refuse entirely to identify ourselves with “Don’t- touchism”. That is not Hinduism; it is in none of our books; it is an orthodox superstition, which has interfered with national efficiency all along the line. Religion has entered in the cooking pot. The present religion of the Hindus is neither the path of Knowledge or Reason – it is “Don’t-touchism”. – “Don’t touch me”, “Don’t touch me” – that exhausts its description.

“Don’t touchism” is a form of mental disease. Beware! All expansion is life, all contraction is death. All love is expansion, all selfishness is contraction. Love is therefore the only law of life. See that you do not lose your lives in this dire irreligion of “Don’t- touchism”. Must the teaching (Atmavat sarvabhuteshu) – “Looking upon all beings as your own self” – be confined to books alone? How will they grant salvation who cannot feed a hungry mouth with a crumb of bread? How will those, who become impure at the mere breath of others, purify others?

We must cease to tyrannize. To what a ludicrous state are we brought! If a bhangi comes to anybody as a bhangi, he would be shunned as the plague; but no sooner does he get a cupful of water poured upon his head with some muttering of prayers by a padri, and get a coat to his back, no matter how threadbare, and come into the room of the most orthodox Hindu, I don’t see the man who then dare refuse him a chair and a hearty shake of hands! Irony can go no farther.

Just see, for want of sympathy from the Hindus, thousands of pariahs in Madras are turning Christians. Don’t think that this is simply due to the pinch of hunger; it is because they do not get any sympathy from us. We are day and night calling out to them “Don’t touch us! Don’t touch us!” Is there any compassion or kindliness of heart in the country? Only a class of “Don’t-touchists” ; kick such customs out! I sometimes feel the urge to break the barriers of “Don’t-touchism”, go at once and call out, “Come all who are poor, miserable, wretched and downtrodden”, and to bring them all together. Unless they rise, the Mother will not awake.

Each Hindu, I say, is a brother to every other, and it is we, who have degraded them by our outcry, “Don’t touch”, “Don’t touch!” And so the whole country has been plunged to the utmost depths of meanness, cowardice and ignorance. These men have to be lifted; words of hope and faith have to be proclaimed to them. We have to tell them, “You are also men like us and you have all the rights that we have.”

SOLUTION OF THE CASTE PROBLEM

Our solution of the caste question is not degrading those who are already high up, is not running amuck through food and drink, is not jumping out of our own limits in order to have more enjoyment, but it comes by every one of us fulfilling the dictates of our Vedantic religion, by our attaining spirituality and by our becoming ideal Brahmana. There is a law laid on each one of you in this land by your ancestors, whether you are Aryans, or non-Aryans, rishis or Brahmanas or the very lowest outcaste. The command is the same to you all, that you must make progress without stopping, and that from the highest man to the lowest pariah, every one in this country has to try and become the ideal Brahmana. This Vedantic idea is applicable not only here but over the whole world.

The Brahmana-hood is the ideal of humanity in India as wonderfully put forward by Shankaracharya at the beginning of his commentary on the Gita, where he speaks about the reason for Krishna‘s coming as a preacher for the preservation of Brahmana- hood, of Brahmana-ness. That was the great end. This Brahmana, the man of God, he who has known Brahman, the ideal man, the perfect man, must remain, he must not go. And with all the defects of the caste now, we know that we must all be ready to give to the Brahmanas this credit, that from them have come more men with real Brahmana-ness in them than from all the other castes. We must be bold enough, must be brave enough to speak their defects, but at the same time we must give credit that is due to them.

Therefore, it is no use fighting among the castes. What good will it do? It will divide us all the more, weaken us all the more, degrade us all the more. The solution is not by bringing down the higher, but by raising the lower up to the level of the higher. And that is the line of work that is found in all our books, in spite of what you may hear from some people whose knowledge of their own Scriptures and whose capacity to understand the mighty plans of the ancients are only zero. What is the plan? The ideal at the one end is the Brahmana and the ideal at the other end is the chandala, and the whole work is to raise the chandala up to the Brahmana. Slowly and slowly you will find more and more privileges granted to them.

I regret that in modern times there should be so much discussion between the castes. This must stop. It is useless on both sides, especially on the side of the higher caste, the Brahmana, the day for these privileges and exclusive claims is gone. The duty of every aristocracy is to dig its own grave, and the sooner it does so, the better. The more he delays, the more it will fester and the worse death it will die. It is the duty of the Brahmana, therefore, to work for the salvation of the rest of mankind, in India. If he does that and so long as he does that, he is a Brahmana.

Any one who claims to be a Brahmana, then, should prove his pretensions, first by manifesting that spirituality, and next by raising others to the same status. We earnestly entreat the Brahmanas not to forget the ideal of India – the production of a universe of Brahmanas, pure as purity, good as God Himself : this was at the beginning, says the Mahabharata and so will it be in the end.

It seems that most of the Brahmanas are only nursing a false pride of birth; and any schemer, native or foreign, who can pander to this vanity and inherent laziness, by fulsome sophistry, appears to satisfy more.

Beware Brahmanas, this is the sign of death! Arise and show your manhood, your Brahmana-hood, by raising the non-Brahmanas around you – not in the spirit of a master – not with the rotten canker of egoism crawling with superstitions and charlatanry of East and West – but in the spirit of a servant.

To the Brahmanas I appeal, that they must work hard to raise the Indian people by teaching them what they know, by giving out the culture that they have accumulated for centuries. It is clearly the duty of the Brahmanas of India to remember what real Brahmana-hood is. As Manu says, all these privileges and honors are given to the Brahmana because, “with him is the treasury of virtue”. He must open that treasury and distribute to the world.

It is true that he was the earliest preacher to the Indian races, he was the first to renounce everything in order to attain to the higher realization of life, before others could reach to the idea. It was not his fault that he marched ahead of the other castes. Why did not the other castes so understand and do as they did? Why did they sit down and be lazy, and let the Brahmanas win the race?

But it is one thing to gain an advantage, and another thing to preserve it for evil use. Whenever power is used for evil it becomes diabolical; it must be used for good only. So this accumulated culture of ages of which the Brahmana has been the trustee, he must now give to the people, and it was because he did not open this treasury to the people, that the Muslims invasion was possible. It was because he did not open this treasury to the people from the beginning, that for a thousand years we have been trodden under the heels of everyone who chose to come to India; it was through that we have become degraded, and the first task must be to break open the cells that hide the wonderful treasures which our common ancestors accumulated; bring them out, and give them to everybody, and the Brahmana must be the first to do it. There is an old superstition in Bengal that if the cobra that bites, sucks out his own poison from the patient, the man must survive. Well then, the Brahmana must suck out his own poison.

To the non-Brahmana castes I say, wait, be not in a hurry. Do not seize every opportunity of fighting the Brahmana, because as I have shown; you are suffering from your own fault. Who told you to neglect spirituality and Sanskrit learning? What have you been doing all this time? Why have you been indifferent? Why do you now fret and fume because somebody else had more brains, more energy, more pluck and go than you? Instead of wasting your energies in vain discussions and quarrels in the newspapers, instead of fighting and quarreling in your own homes – which is sinful – use all your energies in acquiring the culture which the Brahmana has, and the thing is done. Why do you not become Sanskrit scholars? Why do you not spend millions to bring Sanskrit education to all the castes of India? That is the question. The moment you do these things, you are equal to the Brahmana! That is the secret power in India.

The only safety, I tell you men who belong to the lower castes, the only way to raise your condition is to study Sanskrit, and this fighting and writing and frothing against the higher castes is in vain, it does no good, and it creates fight and quarrel, and this race, unfortunately already divided, is going to be divided more and more. The only way to bring about the leveling of castes is to appropriate the culture, the education which is the strength of the higher castes.

Note: This article is a chapter from the book, “Swami Vivekananda on India and Her Problems“. This book (Code: AVE061) can be purchased from Advaita Ashrama.

Fool and Final

Recently I was fooled. And I want to share my experience with you. 

In January, 2007, I had gone to Pune on one factory assessment test (FAT). I had taken Rs 2000 in advance from my company. I incurred a total of Rs 9000 (round figure) in expenses. After returning back, I submitted my TA Bill for traveling allowances. I was to receive Rs 7K now. I filled up the TA bill, whose format was this: 

Advance received:                       2K

Expenses incurred:                      9K

Amount Received:                       (blank)

We have a facility that one office boy goes to the accounts, brings the money to our desk and gets our signature on the receipt; to make our life comfortable. So when the boy came to me, handed me Rs 7K, asked to check, and got my signature on this receipt, I didn't suspect anything wrong.  

Advance received:                       2K

Expenses incurred:                      9K

Amount Received:                       9K

Six months afterwards, during the audit of the finance department, they have found out one irregularity. According to their records, I was paid Rs 9K finally, and therefore they had not adjusted my advance of Rs 2K. They asked me to return Rs 2K. I checked the TA Bill:

a) Advance received with date:     2K

b) Expenses incurred with bills:     9K

c) Credit:                                   …

d) Net Pay (b-c):                         �

e) Amount Received:                   9K

f) Signature:                               (Rahul)

I had not noticed that the accounts people had not adjusted my advance. But I had received only Rs 7K! As accounts people can't do such mistakes, there was only one possibility: the office boy kept Rs 2K with him. He has been working here for long, and takes interest in such matters. In fact he is very much into the finance things. 

I checked it with all possible sources, everywhere it is registered that the company paid me Rs 9K. But I had received only 7K. Now I have to pay the remaining 2K from my pocket. I can complain against that boy, but I am not going to do so because of this reason: The incident happened 6 months back, and don't remember everything for 100% sure. I may be 99% sure that the boy cheated me, but what if he was innocent? Rs 2K is not a big sum for me, but it is most of his monthly salary. I risk helping a cheater, and my decision to pay from my pocket may not be ethically correct. But I want to give him a benefit of doubt. There was my own mistake in the matter also, as I didn't check the Final TA bill and was made a Fool.

Tale of Two Training Managers

The time goes back when I joined my first job as a graduate engineer trainee (GET). We were three of us, as the first batch in our company. We underwent 5 days of induction training at our corporate office in Kolkata. We met our Training Head, holding the training function for the BU. The induction programme was good and we all were enthusiastic about what was to come next. At the end of 5 days, we were given a treat sort of dinner by the chief, HR and the Training Head. The training manager (let us call him TM1) was very nice, to come to our hotel room to take us for the dinner. There only he gave us our training structure and schedule, for the next one year. We were to undergo one year training, among the three plants of the company.

Location mattered to us at that time, and according to the vicinity with the nearest city, I shall name the three plants as: City Plant (CP), Nearby Plant (NP) and Distant Plant (DP).

That evening, when TM1 came to our hotel room to receive us and gave us the training structure a night before we were to leave for one of the plants, was amusing to us. But what surprised us more was the training structure:

We were to undergo one year's training, each one of us in a different plant. We were together for a very short period.

We were to rotate between the three plants on an average once in every month.

My training structure was very different from the other two's; I was to undergo training in the Distant Plant (DP) for 3.5 months at a stretch, while the other two guys were to rotate between the City Plant (CP) and Nearby Plant (NP). (It eventually turned out that the duo enjoyed the CP very much, with frequent trips to their homes also).

One of the brave guys couldn't stop himself from asking: "Sir, why are we sent to the plants separately. Why not we three remain together?"

What TM1 said with a smile can make you jump in bewilderment:

"Beggars are not choosers!"

What? At that time, we were too meek with the least egos, therefore we didn't mind. (Later, we came to know that TM1 had a passion for collecting and sharing "quotations" from great thinkers. But it seems he didn't perfect the art to apply the right thing at the right time. Or did he?)

The young engineer asked again:

"But Sir why Rahul is being sent to the Distant Plant (DP) for 100 days continuously; why is his plans different from us?" 

Another shocker, this time in Hindi: 

"See, Mujhe jo karna tha maine kar diya, ab tum log kuchh jugaad lagaa sakte ho to lagaa lo" (See, I have done what I had to do, if you can manage to get it changed, try). 

Now we gave up, and hurried for the dinner. The dinner was nice, people were nice, but something was not nice. 

Ultimately it happened that we had a hard time rotating between the three plants. Also, we didn't feel comfortable at any time, alone in the plants where there were very few young people around. Also, the two guys started taking me lightly as they realized that the training manager had already dumped me. I too wondered sometimes whether that was victimization, discrimination, regionalism, racism, or whatever else? (not so seriously of course). I shall cover some more memories of training period separately (this one is about Training Managers). We learnt soon that TM1 left the company to join another (next) one.

Now let me tell you my experiences with another training manager (let us call him TM2), who succeeded TM1.

Before we could officially finish our training period, the new batch of (three) GETs were to join in. The new training manager TM2, called us (we were two of us remaining by that time) to his cabin one day, and asked us to prepare draft of the training structure for the next batch. Wow! An opportunity to correct the evils?

In the beginning, I wanted each one of us to prepare our drafts of training structure separately, and later on to combine them into a final thing, taking the best parts of each. But when TM1 came to know about my plans, he called both of us and gave a long lecture on the importance of correct team work. We also witnessed his lecture on "right attitude". That was a delight at that time. I thought either he had read it somewhere, or he had the potential to become a very successful speaker / lecturer. 

Ultimately we made our draft of training structure, incorporating these major corrections: 

All three trainees to remain together throughout the training year.

No rotation; trainees were to finish each plant one by one. That meant, this time they would cover all departments of all plants.

Training period in the respective plants to be distributed in proportion of the training infrastructure available with them.

No discrimination between the trainees; structure for all three were same.

I was skeptical about implementation of our structure. But TM2 seemed to be more agreeable than anyone else. We came to find later that our structure was implemented with heart and spirits. (All the three GETs which underwent that training structure are still with the company, though I don't claim their loyalty being a function of that training structure.)

Out of my experiences with the two training managers, I have learnt the following lessons: 

The importance of “fair decisions”.

The importance of employee involvement in decisions.

1. The importance of “fair decisions”

The decision by TM1 to make different training structures for equal people may not sound a very grave error to you. But they were indeed very important, if you think from the "point of view of the three trainees". There was no explanation for that decision; instead there was a comment like "Beggars can’t be choosers”! Do we want out future managers to develop learning this line? The management decisions should be “fair decisions”.

The definition of a "fair decision" may be debatable, but a lot depends on what our employees think about the decisions. There should not be any discrimination, no favourism; decisions to be made fairly based on facts and figures, which any right minded manager would make when in a position to do so. Decisions, which when we remember afterwards, make us proud. It is very well said and understood that employees are most likely to cooperate with systems and decisions when fair process is followed. 

2. The importance of employee involvement in decisions. 

TM2 involved the trainees in making training structure for the next batch of trainees. It was a perfect example of employee involvement. It is said that employees generally accept even those decisions which they don't like, if they're involved in the process and understand the logic behind the decision. These are basic human psychology, to feel important, to be treated with respect, to be heard and cared. If you treat your employees as machines with a head, they will work exactly like that. There are instances when the employees were involved in the process of decision making, and they went an extra mile, out of their job responsibilities, to make the plan successful. Treat employees as real people; as they said: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”

History: European Prosperity over Colonial Ruins

Recently I got viewed the online Album of one of my friends who is in England at present, on behalf of his software company. I couldn’t remain without admiring the excellent infrastructure and beautiful environment there. Even the trees and grasses seemed more civilized than this part of the world. Most of us, at some point of time, must have appreciated the European countries for the progress they have made. They are developed nations in every sense. But few of us take note of the fact that European prosperity of today is built upon the countess exploitation, both mineral and human, in the Africa, Asia and America of yesterdays.

Even today, many of the Asian and African countries are debt ridden. They are deeply in debt of Europe. Doesn't it sound amazing? The European countries exploited these very Asian and African countries for such a long time, extracting incalculable wealth of natural resources and caused so much human losses. But today, the very same exploited countries, which fed the European factories and decorated wardrobes and crowns, are in debt of these very European nations! What an irony!

Here is how it unfolded. England, in the 16th century was a poor country. But the things changed once it realized the importance of overseas colonies. The rise of the European empires began with the naval explorations. Most of the expeditions initially were commercial, but gradually they grabbed political powers. During the Seven Years’ War the British defeated the French at the Plains of Abraham and captured all of New France in 1760, giving Britain the control over a great part of North America. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, the colonial wealth made Britain the richest and most powerful nation in the world. In its peak (1921), the British Empire covered a quarter of the world's population and a quarter of the earth's surface area. Also, the East India Company was the most powerful private company in history.

Did you ever wonder why Industrial revolution happened in the West? It was made possible and supported by the abundant minerals and numerous slaves, all taken from the colonies. Africa gave her palm oil, petroleum, copper, chromium, platinum, gold, sugar, coffee, cotton and tobacco while America gave her silver, tobacco, cotton, rice and fur. Above all, Africa gave continuous supply of slaves to the British, until the Britain banned the slave trade in 1807. By this time, Britain was no longer dependent on the slaves, the technology had developed and other commercial activities were more profitable. The English banking and insurance industry, ship building works, wool and textile manufacturing plants, copper and iron smelting industries, and the cities of Bristol, Liverpool and Glasgow, these all developed because of the slave 'plantations'. Joseph Inikori in his book "Africans and the Industrial Revolution in England" writes how African consumers, free and enslaved, nurtured Britain‘s infant manufacturing industry. Naturally, the power of the empire started diminishing after it lost 13 American colonies after American Revolution during 1775-81. Lost of India, the colony that British Prime Minister Disraeli had once called the "jewel in the crown of England", had also massive economic consequences for England. Dependence on India alone can be estimated from the fact that in the 1880s India bought nearly one fifth of British exports. As Winston Churchill said, India made the difference between Britain being a first and a third rate power. Today we don't count England in the world's super powers. Asian and African countries had nature's blessings but were deprived (read looted) of the prosperity that could have achieved.

If you want an account of the amount of wealth looted from the colonies, read this: When Lord Robert Clive returned to England in 1760, he had with him 2,30,000 in Dutch bills, 41,000 in bills on the Company, 30,000 in diamonds, 7,000 in bills on a Company director and 5,000 in bills on the Company in Bombay. Even the subalterns in his army had received 5,000 after the battle of Plassey (1757). All this was of course from the resources of India. Between 1757-65 an estimated total of Rs. 2,000,000 was paid out in the form of gifts by various Indian aspirants to the Nawabi. Apart from gifts incomes were generated by accepting bribes as well. Those in  positions like the Bengal Councilor, James Johnston, the Commander-in-Chief, Richard Smith, Sir Thomas Rumbold, Resident in Patna, retired to take home money to the tune of 3,00,000, 2,50,000 and 2,00,000 respectively. The Koh-i-Noor was confiscated at the conclusion of the Sikh war (1840). I plan to write more on the loot from India after some "search and research" in coming weeks.

What to blame for the poor state of affairs in Asian and African countries? Many of you can credit the weak governments, inefficient economies, excess population, harsh climate, etc for that. But then you undermine the fact that their present weak condition is a direct result of centuries of slaving, colonial exploitation, cultural humiliations, and the divide and rule policies of the British and European rulers. For example, even when the Britain and France left their colonies, they had Idi Amin come to power in Uganda through British covert actions. Also, Nigeria‘s generals were supported and manipulated from 1960 onwards in support of Britain‘s oil interests. There are people who believe that the tragedy of Mugabe and others is that they learned too well from the British how to govern without real popular consent, and how to make the law serve ruthless private interest. The partition of India into two, in the name of religion, not only made an ever lasting scar by partition violence, but the present situation is leading to generations of hatred between the two.

To think that the European nations have forgotten their black (or white?) past completely is not true. As a matter of fact, even today there are custodial deaths of Black people in mysterious circumstances in police or prison custody. The G-8 is still an all-white club. On the question of representation of developing nations in the Security Council, they are all one.

While visiting the age old Elephanta Caves in Mumbai, or the ruins of a Buddhist Stupa near my home town, I realize the rich tradition and the prosperous land where once my ancestors lived. And while visiting these very places, a European tourist may realize the richness of the colonies once their forefathers ruled over.

This morning

This morning, like any other working day, I was walking to reach my office. At one junction, I noticed something unusual. There was a group of twenty something young boys and girls on the footpath. One boy was beating a man with slaps and fists. The person getting beaten was unshaved, with a plastic bag in his hand, the types of men who sit on the benches for some time watching the traffic and then move towards their destinations. He was not resisting, and taking as it came. One or two girls were saying something, and it seems the man had passed comment on any of the girls, so the male companions were proving their worth. In true spirit of Mumbai, I didn't stop and kept walking. I noticed one man reaching them, from the shop dealing in metallic scraps, which is part of the Muslim community neighborhood. Two minutes down the lane and I heard something which seemed to be two gun shots! But I have no experience to identify whether the sound was of pistols or some tire burst.

I passed in front of Eternity Mall. A dangerous and frustrated looking dog was looking from one side of below a car parked on the side of the road. I tried to find out what he was looking for. There was another dog sleeping on the other side, below the car, with his back all scratched to show some pink flesh.

How are we humans different from dogs?

God, Religion and Temples

In the previous articles, I debated about the issue of individual temples not allowing non-believers to enter inside their premises. This issue was in the limelight after the Guruvayur temple carried out purification rites after a non-Hindu (union minister's son) according to the practices of the temple entered. Also, controversy was roaming after entry of a woman (again a celebrity) inside the Sabarimala temple in Kerala which doesn't allow women inside.

I sent the article to some of my friends and colleagues. One among them, Sumit wrote a long reply. I never thought that being a senior Finance man by profession; he would have such a nice and clear thinking on matters of religious and spiritual interests. I am quoting him unedited, except a spell-check:

Q1) Is it ethical on the part of a Doctor to take commission from Pathological Labs by recommending patients? If you look at the Doctor as a Businessman / Commercial person it is justified, however if you consider the nobility of his profession this is not acceptable.

Similarly if you look at a Temple as a Congress or a Club it has the liberty to frame its own rules. Religion for me is for everybody. God (I call it my inner conscience) is for all. Who are we puny human beings to decide that it is for me and not for others? Can a Muslim, Christian, Sikh or anybody following any other religion be denied the Blessing of GOD? GOD is a concept. How you attain him is left to you, the treaded paths till date are Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. However all roads lead to the same inner conscience within you.

Q2) I come from a very different school.

A. The role of the Govt is to govern to masses and facilitate infrastructure and thus well being. It has nothing to do with Religion. It should only get into this if there is any unrest / violation of law in the name of religion. Otherwise the relationship between Govt and Religion is like that of the Donkey grazing in Madhubani and the Queen of England.

B. Once again, Hinduism as I understand is very different from other religion. Islam is a set of Rules for Discipline, Christianity is somewhat similar except that it has a very faint tinge of philosophy. But Hinduism is no Rules, it is pure and probably the world’s richest philosophy. The rules were framed by medieval Priests and Brahmins. If you look at the various rules of Hinduism it is highly influenced by the socio-economic- political scene of the period.

So, a Temple should be a platform of likeminded people; influenced by the common philosophy. Human spirit cannot be bound by Rules. Why have rules while seeking the ultimate?

Q3) The disconnect remains. To me a Hindu is a person who says he is a Hindu. Again as I said above God is universal and omnipresent, why restrict him to the precincts of the temple.

Q4) I think I have spoken my mind by now.

I kept writing the above spontaneously as I kept reading. Having read the Interview I ask a very Basic question, I do not have an answer; Is God and Religion same or different? If they are same, God cannot be partial, he will bless all those who come to him, the corollary, if he is partial he is not God.

The Head Priest is within his Rights. Hence in this case Hinduism is not God.

Another Question, How many Gods do we have? As many no. of Religions? or only One. If there is only One, then all religions are same. In case there is a plethora of Gods as there are religions, the Earth should have long vanished while they fought. And if they fought why should they be God. And if there are many and they never fight why do we fight?

I sign off with a Story I heard long back:

In the most Powerful place of Universe, i.e. the Cabinet of Brahma, there took place a stormy meeting. Everybody kept saying and complaining to Brahma that ‘Devatwa’ has become very easy and it seems that all and sundry are attaining it. Also since it is easy to get the Demons are destroying it easily. Hence ‘Devatwa’ needs to be put beyond the reach of humans. Hence there were endless suggestions and debates. Some wanted to keep it beyond Seven Mountains while others wanted to keep it millions leagues under the sea and a few more had other innovations. However it was concluded that the will of manpower is enormous and some day or the other all this will be found and nobody could reach a conclusion. Brahma had all these while been listening and spoke nothing. When everybody was done with he presented his mind to which nobody could find flaw, it seemed foolproof to all the intelligent minds. He said………………" It is natural for Humans to seek ‘Devatwa’ and they keep looking for it. Implant the ‘Devatwa’ deep into their heart. They will look for it all round the world but will never look inside; thus Godness gets implanted in all of us before we are sent to earth and we measly creatures keep fighting within ourselves to find the correct path to attain it.

Bye

Sumit

In case a Riot breaks out I am a Hindu for survival since no other religion would accept me; else my Religion is Humanism. Humanity does not permit conflict among Religions………. hence I am at a loss.

Thanks, Sumit, for taking care to share your views. While I agree with you, I have tried to chalk down my points in the most simplified manner possible:

God is one.

Religion is a means to attain God (the state of purity of soul, which I call perfection or Godness).

Different religions with different set of practices are for people of different tastes and different ideologies.

Ideally world should have consensus on only one religion. But since there are numerous cultures that developed on earth at the same time, all very-very different from each other, therefore the different cultures and different civilizations tried to reach that perfection (Godness) through very different means. Therefore, some basic differences will always remain in the different religions of the world for some more time to come.

Temples are not at all near to God or Godness. These are places which are far better than the usual places, when it comes to concentration and devotion, but are never a prerequisite for attainment of perfection. In the ideal case, a truly spiritual person doesn’t need a temple. God is everywhere.

As you said, some parts of our religions were influenced by the 'socio-economic- political scene' of the period they established or they grew. Therefore, they have some basic differences among them.

All human beings are same when it comes to humanity. The temples which restrict people don’t say that they are restricting non-believers because they are “not good” or they are “bad”. They are simply saying that it has never happened before, and the tradition of the temple doesn’t allow them. The non-believers are welcome to enter those temples where there is no restriction!

I truly agree with you when you say that government should not interfere with religion unless there is some “unrest / violation of law in the name of religion.”

I think we all agree with this set of views. In case I need correction, please let me know.

Should Guruvayur Temple have its Own Policy on Entry to Non-Hindus

You must have heard about the recent controversy at Guruvayur temple. The head priest of the temple ordered some purification ritual in the temple, after a person who was a non-Hindu according to practices of the temple entered it. The person was the son of a union minister, and this status helps in creating controversies.

The questions are:

Has the temple the rights to make its own rules?
Should the temple rules be authorized by the government?
Can children of non-Hindu mothers be Hindus?
Should non-Hindus be allowed inside all Hindu temples?

1. Has the temple the rights to make its own rules?

I understand that India and Hinduism is so diverse and non-homogeneous that the whole customs and beliefs can't be written in some quantified number of books (or database). There are innumerable temples across the country, each defined and controlled by the local custom and beliefs. All of us who have visited and lived in several parts of India know very well that each and every temple is unique. Any attempt to harmonize the customs or bring a common set of principles is not practical. Of course any religious organization in the country should respect the laws of the constitution, and should not do something to harm the society in the name of religion. But at the end it is impractical to try to forcibly make them homogeneous in customs and policies. Therefore, in my opinion, the Guruvayur temple has the rights to set its own principals and make its own rules until it harms others.

2. Should the temple rules be authorized by the government?

In case the government feels that the temple rules should be authorized by the government, then why doesn't it go ahead and sets up a department called Ministry of Hindu Temple Customs and Rules Regulation? Then some other rules for each the major religions present here? Government is just not the right institution to decide on such matters. Governments in India have always paid special attention to the Hindus and for all the wrong reasons. Therefore a Da Vinci Code will be banned, but Water will not. There will be subsidized special travel arrangements for Haj, and on the other hand the Hindu devotees should afford the teerth-yathas on their own. The reason why a sentenced terrorist Afjal is living today and Kashmiri Pandits are out of their birthplace is that they were born in their respective religions. So it is natural for the government of India to attempt teaching a lesson to the Guruvayur temple also. (Sarcastically) someone in power will say Remember how the TN screwed that Shankaracharya, we can do it better this time, come on!

3. Can children of non-Hindu mothers be Hindus?

This is in the eye of the controversy. The logic placed by the head priest of the Guruvayur temple is that children follow the religion of their mothers. He says this was formulated by Adi Shankaracharya. Personally I feel that anyone accepting the Hindu faith should be allowed in, irrespective of his / her parent's religion. This has been followed everywhere in my knowledge and what the head priest is claiming, may be a particular case. An inquiry should be carried out within the Hindus to ascertain the real guidelines wherever available and then finalize the exact policy. But in any case I would allow a particular temple to follow its own customs and rules in some matters.

4.

The question whether non-Hindus should be allowed into the temple is also debatable. I remember my visit to a famous temple in Delhi. While Hindus were performing pujas inside the temple, a group of European tourists was curiously wandering inside, with one local guide explaining to them as if they are visiting some museum. I didn't object as they were not causing anything objectionable. But there are people who will not like to see the beef-eating non-Hindus inside the garbhagriha of sacred temples. The common sense says that the presence of non-Hindus is welcome until they don't cause nuisance to the devotees. Even if there are some temples who don't allow non-Hindus inside the temple, there are several which allow them. I don't think the non-Hindus will ask for the equal rights as that of Hindus inside the temples; it is just asking for too much. Don't we respect our Muslim friends and their customs when they offer namaaz on the public roads?

Some interesting facts:

Introduction to Guruvayur: The deity here is Lord Krishna. Legend has it that at the beginning of this era (yuga), Guru Brihaspati found a floating idol of Lord Krishna. He along with Lord of Air (Vayu) installed the idol in this temple for helping mankind get through the travails of this yuga. Hence the deity is named Guru-Vayur-Appan. The temple has the practice of not admitting non Hindus.

The temple was built by Vishwakarma the divine architect.

The legend: The Pandavas handed over the kingdom to their grandson Parikshit, and left for the forest to spend their last days. Parikshit died of the curse of a saint, who cursed that Parikshit will die of snake bite by Taksaka, the king of serpents. After the death of Parikshit he was succeeded by his son Janamejaya. Janamejaya conducted a sacrifice to destroy all the snakes of the world including Takshaka, who was the cause of his father’s death. Hundreds of thousands of snakes fell into the sacrificial fire and were killed, but the sacrifice was stopped before Takshaka was killed, by a Brahmin called Astika. Since Janamejaya was responsible for the death of millions of snakes, he was afflicted with leprosy. He lost all hope of a cure. One day Sage Atreya (son of Atri) came before Janamejaya and told him to take refuge under the feet of Krishna at Guruvayoor. Atreya told that in the temple at Guruvayyoor the effulgence of Sri Hari is at its best and Vishnu showers his blessings on all devotees. Sri Narada purana mentions Guruvayurpura mahatmyan and describes how Janmejaya was cured of leprosy by taking refuge under the feet of Guruvayuruppa.

On November 30,1970, a fiery blaze broke out in the temple complex. It began from the Western Chuttambalam and raged for five hours, burning everything in its path except the sanctified Sreekovil. The Vigraha (murti), shrines of Ganapathy, Sastha, Bhagavathy and the flag staff remained miraculously untouched. The fire started at only 3 meters from the holy Sreekovil, however the fire did not even light a spark on the dry garlands at the Sreekovil.

Seven years ago, a similar purification ritual was performed when the minister's same son Ravi Krishna visited the temple after his marriage but Ravi did not then take legal action against the temple. This time though, Ravi Krishna is planning to go to court.

There is a State Minister of Temple Affairs in Kerala. The present minister is G. Sudhakaran.

Some times back, there was an issue of allowing renowned singer Yesudas, a Christian, inside the temple and after that, a debate on the temple entry was going on in the state and at the national level.

The temple website: http://www.guruvayurdevaswom.org

Here is an interview with the head priest of Guruvayur temple published by Rediff yesterday.

http://www.rediff.com//news/2007/jun/05inter1.htm

‘I don’t make the rules at Guruvayur’

Prem Panicker | June 05, 2007 | 15:20 IST

On Monday we published an interview with Union Minister Vayalar Ravi, on how he felt humiliated when the Guruvayur temple performed a purification ritual after his grandson’s first-feeding ceremony.

Today we present the first part of a two-part interview, with the Guruvayur temple head priest Chennas Raman Namboodiripad on why the temple did what it did.

Some 15 kilometres away from the Sri Krishna Temple in Guruvayur, approached through serpentine lanes barely the width of a car, that wind through homes and grooves of coconut palms, is Chennas Mana, the ancestral home of the tantris (head priests) of the Guruvayur shrine.

It is a simple home, built in the naalukettu style that characterises traditional homes in ancient Kerala. Unless his priestly duties call him to the temple early in the morning, it is in this home, on a spartan, standard-issue ‘easy chair’, that Chennas Raman Namboodiripad sits in the mornings, catching up on the newspapers.

On May 19, the tantri caught sight of a photograph in the papers that gave him pause. Attached to a small news item, the photo-caption said Union Minister for Overseas Indians Vayalar Ravi, with son Ravi Krishna, daughter-in-law Nisha and the couple’s infant son had visited the temple for the annaprasam (first-feeding) ceremony of the infant.

The octogenarian tantri asked his son, Chennas Satheesan Namboodiripad, to carry out a basic punyaham(purification) ceremony — and thus set off a firestorm that has triggered allegations of obscurantism and caste prejudice, produced threats of arrest and retribution, and polarised sections of the polity and public.

Around 1 pm on June 4, Chennas Raman Namboodiripad — who not so long ago had undergone a triple bypass surgery — is resting in his favourite chair, when I drive up to the courtyard of his home, and find a chair near his.

“I have not been giving interviews because they don’t understand,” he says, right up. “For them (he clearly means the television news channels), everything is a story and every story needs a hero and a villain, and in this story I am their villain — and nothing I say seems to make a difference.”

With that, he settled down to answer (in Malayalam -? follows is a verbatim translation) questions relating to the controversy:

An interview conducted by rediff.com‘s Prem Panicker.

Why did you order the punyaham ceremony?

In our religious practice there is a concept: aranhaal paavam — a sin becomes one only when you become aware of it. But when you do come to know that a wrong has been committed, you are duty bound to apply the prescribed remedies — which in this case is the basic punyaham ceremony.

The child, whose annaprasam ceremony was conducted — what was his sin?

That is precisely the issue: that child committed no sin, no fault. He is born to a Hindu mother, the daughter of M D Purushottaman, who has, in fact, sponsored the gold-leaf paneling on two doors leading to the temple. The problem was with Ravikrishna, who is the son of a Christian mother and thus presumed to be a non-Hindu.

As per the prescribed rites of the temple, we are supposed to carry out a punyaham when we know that a non-Hindu has entered the temple, and so I had no choice on seeing the photograph but to ask for the punyaham to be conducted.

As a priest, how are you aware — or expected to know — of the religious orientation of everyone who visits the temple?

That is why I mentioned the concept of aranhaal paavam. In 2000, Ravikrishna solemnised his wedding at the temple, and when he entered the temple after the ceremony, the then tantri, the late Chennas Diwakaran Namboodiripad, my father, had ordered the punyaham.

At the time, I was assisting my father as junior tantri, hence I was aware of the background and given that knowledge, I could do nothing else.

You should understand that we are not like judges — a judge has the power to rule based on his interpretation of the law. We, however, do not possess discretionary powers -?e are prescribed rules and regulations governing the conduct of the temple, and we are supposed to enforce them verbatim.

Is there some book, some code of laws, you refer to in making these rulings?

Not really. The position of tantri, the head priest of the Guruvayur temple, is hereditary. The eldest male in the Chennas tharavad (household) automatically becomes the tantri; the other qualified male members assist him as junior tantris. For instance, my son Satheesan and my younger brother Chennas Vasudevan Namboodiripad, who used to be a scientist with ISRO, currently assist me.

As hereditary priests, it is part of our heritage; when we are young, we are taught the Vedas, the shastras and then the rites and rituals and rules that govern Guruvayur — those rites and rules were handed down by Adi Sankara himself, and handed down through the generations of our family.

Just because we have the hereditary rights to be head priests at Guruvayur does not mean that as soon as we are old enough we enter the temple and start performing pujas. Even for that, there are certain rules — for instance, we have during our formative years to serve as priests, tantris, at the Sankaranarayanan temple near here. I suppose you could call it an apprenticeship.

It is only when you are deemed proficient to perform the Agnihotri Yagam that you are acknowledged as a tantri, and can enter the sanctum sanctorum of Guruvayur. All these things too were prescribed by Adi Sankara — we do not have the discretionary powers to say which of those rules we will follow and which we will not.

The argument advanced by Ravikrishna and others is that the matrilineal system, by which the child inherits from the mother, has been abolished by an act of the state assembly 30 years ago. Hence, it is being argued, Ravikrishna inherits from the father — in his case Vayalar Ravi. And since Ravi is a Hindu, Ravikrishna is by default a Hindu.

That Act refers to inheritance of property, not of religious beliefs. As per the code governing our religion, your religious beliefs are handed down to you from your mother — who, in this case is a Christian.

I am forced to keep repeating this — I did not make the rules or the code that governs Guruvayur; as head priest, I am merely charged with implementing them.

Minister Vayalar Ravi has said that your act is unfair to his family, and all its future generations, since you have deemed that those generations that follow Ravikrishna are non-Hindus — and in doing so, you have deprived all those generations of the right to worship according to Hindu beliefs, including entry to Guruvayur.

That is why, when you asked for an interview, I said I did not want to speak, because I am tired of people deliberately providing misinformation. Let me clarify: there is no question of the religious orientation of that child, Minister Ravi’s grandson. He is clearly a Hindu, he was born to be a Hindu mother, as I pointed out at the outset.

Hence, that child, and the children that come after him, are Hindus. So too are the children born to those children -?those generations the minister is speaking about.

The question was only about Ravikrishna, and Minister Ravi should know that; I do not know why he, and other interested parties, are spreading this story that an infant son and all future generations are being discriminated against.

It is my understanding that Ravikrishna has submitted a formal complaint to the Guruvayur Dewaswom Board; in it, he narrates what happened and says that as a result, he and his family have been subjected to much humiliation. What is your reaction?

I understand that such a complaint has been filed, though I am not privy to its contents. As far as I am concerned, I have already submitted a full, factual report of what happened to the Dewaswom authorities. It is all now up to them.

However, the point about the humiliation suffered seems well taken…

Simply because I asked for a punyaham to be performed? Firstly, you should understand this: A punyaham is a basic ritual, that is performed several times a week. If, for instance, a child or even an adult vomits in the temple, or is incontinent, we have to perform the punyaham. If blood is shed, even accidentally, we have in fact to perform an even more elaborate ritual.

So tell me, a little child is brought to the temple; the heat, the pushing and shoving of the enormous crowds, they all upset the child and he throws up. When we perform the punyaham, are we insulting that child, are we humiliating it? Or if someone is hurt, and we perform the more elaborate form of the punyaham, are we adding insult to that injury?

All these things are being said to make what we did sound bad, when all we did was follow the prescribed rules.

http://www.rediff.com//news/2007/jun/05inter1.htm

Travelogue: Elephanta Caves in Mumbai

Last Sunday, I visited Elephanta Caves. It was a great experience. Though I went there in summer, I was able to enjoy the nature’s beauty. It is a one hour journey on boat from Gateway of India to the island. After landing on the island, we need to scale up the hill. There is a small train for those who want to enjoy its ride. There are numerous antique shops on the path leading to the caves. One has to pay Rs 5 and 10 as fee to enter the area which is a world heritage site.

Introduction (borrowed): 

Elephanta Caves

The Elephanta Island is located 10 km away from the Gateway of India. These caves house rock cut temples dating back to a time which is not certain. These rock cut temples dedicated to Shiva Mahadeva are rich in sculptural content.

Name: The Elephanta Island was so named by the Portuguese, after the statue of an elephant near the landing area of the island. Now this statue is displayed in one museum in Mumbai.

How they were constructed: The entire temple is akin to a huge sculpture, through whose corridors and chambers one can walk. The entire complex was created through a process of rock removal. Above the temple is the mass of natural rock.

The enigmatic image of Trimurthi Sadasiva: The Sadasiva manifestation of Shiva is carved in relief at the end of the north south axis.  This colossal 20 feet high image of the three headed Shiva, Trimurthy is a magnificent one, considered to be a masterpiece of Indian art.  This colossal image represents Panchamukha Shiva, only three faces of whom are carved into the wall and it demands immediate attention upon entering the temple through the northern entrance.

Also on the southern wall are grand sculptured images of Kalyanasundara, Gangadhara, Ardhanariswara and Uma Maheswara. To the west of the northern entrance are sculptured images of Nataraja and Andhakaasuravadamoorthy, and to its east are images of Yogiswara and Ravanaanugrahamurthy.

Thus in the Elephanta caves, Shiva is portrayed in the non anthropomorphic Shivalingam form, as well as in his quintessential being emanating from the Shivalingam in the colossal image, and in 8 manifest forms.

May I take your five minutes please

It goes back to the time when I was an engineer trainee on my first job. Like most of the work places, we were not getting as much support and guidance as we needed or hoped for. Managers didn't have time to coach us. Some of them asked us to meet them at 5:30 in the evening, exactly after the working hours ended. When we went to meet some others in the first half, they used to call us in the second half. They all seemed to have kept their noses to the grindstone. We had hard time keeping our thumb up.

But when ever I went to meet our Plant Head, he had enough time for us. Often he called us in, even when we didn't have prior appointment. He looked interested in our training and used to ask us to brief him about what we learnt in the previous week. At one time when I was about to leave, he flattered me by saying: Anything else, technical, that I can explain to you? I couldn't believe my ears! Not a single manager, engineer or worker had said that to me. How was that possible? I asked some questions, which he explained with interest. Young people have lots of questions. If solutions to all their queries can't be provided, at least they should be facilitated to search on their own. When I asked him why an innovative practice was not being followed in the plant, he said: think and tell me, what may be the reasons it is not being followed here. What are the plus and minus points associated with it? I thought and found answer to my query on my own!

How that was possible that the top most person had enough time for others, but the lower rank personnel were busy up to the brink most of the time. It became clear to me when I read it in a book: More successful you are, more time you have for your people. If you are successful, you learn to manage time. You know how to take efficient decisions within a timeframe. You know what to delegate and to whom. You know what right thing should be done at what right time and in which right way. You know how to reply in a single sentence, in a situation when others will need a hundred words. In short, your success gets reflected in the plenty of time you have for your subordinates.

God of Smaller Things

He is a road side cobbler; of around 40. He may be 50, but it doesn't matter. He occupies part of the pavement besides Mumbai's busy traffic. He sets up his stall every morning and winds up in evenings. After working throughout the day, he returns back to his home, somewhere on the outskirts of the city. He lives in a slum. His life is full of adventures, if you call it so. It has to be. The roads of Mumbai are not that boring after all. His life is dangerous too. It has to be. Be it the policemen, or the speeding cars, many can get in to endanger his peace of  working life. But perhaps it is less dangerous than the life he led in some remote village, the one which he left forever and came here to be a drop in the ocean of Mumbai. There he was like a less privileged, the fact proved itself everyday in his life. People of his own community were never considered equal to the rich and powerful in his village. But he has some attachment for his birthplace. He should have some. After all, each and every tree in his village and each and every goat in his village knew him. Why he left is another long story. Perhaps he could tell his story to you when Holi comes. The memories of celebrating Holi in his village linger in his inside. Every Holi, he feels nostalgic; some film maker should meet him at time and his story may turn into a film like Vastav. But he is happy most of the times. In this city, he is equal to all. Many Brahmins live in his slum, and they don't look down on him. His kholi is bigger than the Brahmins, who spread their stuff on the same footpath where he runs his own enterprise: papers on astrology, stones etc. He believes he is better than those Brahmins. He has reasons to think so. After all, he earns bread by working with his own hands. And they earn their bread and butter by making fool of others, by reading palms. Can a single mark in his palm change the destiny he made by his two hands? One astrologer had told him in his village that he would become a man of dignity one day worthy of sitting on a chair parallel to the upper castes. Some times he thinks he has achieved this by this time. He has reasons to think like so. When he gets a seat in the Mumbai locals, he sits along with many other people. And some among them must be from upper castes. He has achieved something in his life. When bomb blasts happened, he was on one such train. Thank God, the enemies of humankind where not on his train. He hates all who kill others. He should hate them. Why should they kill innocent people? Despite many provocations from some goons in his slum, he has never done anything like fighting. He cares for his wife and his children. Who will take care of them if he harms that Munna. There should not be any violence.

Today is a beautiful day. One old friend from his very own village met him last evening by chance. How could he meet him in this big city? He believes in fate. Last night, both of them shared the same plate, which was filled again and again by his dear wife. He was not sure if she would have something to eat after they eat much more than what was expected. But a day before, she had got some rice separated from spoiled corn from the shop next to their slum; she would prepare something. He and his friend had a chat late into the night. Not regarding his village, but about their future. His friend too is a cobbler. This morning, he has brought him to his stall, to teach him the tricks of his trade. This city is dangerous. Especially dangerous for people like his friend. So innocent and so soft hearted. He would teach him everything. But he will ask him to work from the opposite side of the same road. He has reasons for this decision. This part of the footpath is his domain. He should not make grants in friendship when it comes to profession. After all, he has made a good reputation for being a thorough professional. People come for his advice in his slum. He thinks professionalism is necessary. He should think so. After all, that chap named Dhirubhai has become richest man on his own, not like the rich in his village who inherit land and suppress others. He had watched the movie Guru with a friend who took him to a theatre. He always thinks how many people could be accommodated inside the cinema hall, if they were allowed to live in. Such a big building! It reminds him of the cold storage in the nearest town to his village, from outside at least. No house for him and such a big building here for fun! He could understand the story of the film. But he doesn't hope of becoming like a Dhirubhai one day. He should not be that hopeful after all. All he wants is a peaceful life for him and his family, and his son to get some permanent job with some government office. He likes government jobs. He has reason to like them. After all, he knows that government is richest of all. Government has all the money in this world and it can do whatever it wants. And imagine someday, the government becomes happy with the job of his son, and then it could give some rewards to his son. That would be so great! His daughter is his big responsibility also. He wants to marry her off with a person who doesn't drink. And it is very difficult to find one in the present times. Though she is still 11, he always keeps an eye on boys. It is a difficult task, he must start early.

He respects Ambedkar. He learnt about him when that Masterjee in his slum called a meeting last year. He told them how Ambedkar, despite being an outcaste became a Saheb. And he started liking Ambedkar from that day. See, he wears such a nice coat and a hat. He looks like a Sahab. And imagine, he was born in a caste lower than his own! He sighs every time he daydreams his son to become like Ambedkar. His son once brought a picture of Ambedkar from some newspaper. He asked his son to keep the picture in their shanty. Some times when he leaves his home for work, he salutes the statue of Ambedkar; several of them are installed in his slum.

He has installed two pictures in his stall. One is of Sai Baba. He respects him very much. When he was seriously ill in his childhood, his mother made a wish in front of Sai Baba's picture in their hut. And he became well in some days! He is God, He can do whatever He wants. His father too respected Sai Baba. The presence of His picture near him makes him feel safe. He should feel safe; after all a lot many things are running smoothly just because of God. He has sworn in the name of Sai Baba and people have believed him. Many times, when he had become completely broke, his wife has brought something to eat from Sai Baba's temple. He has installed another picture also. It is of Guru Ravidas Ji. He is like God to their community. All cobblers worship Him. Despite being from a cobbler's community, he reached divinity. All people, even Brahmins worshiped Him. Such a great feat He is a God.

Guru Ravidass ji the cobbler offereth prayer;

By singing such a prayer to God, for a single moment

He has turned from a lowly caste into an exalted one,

And all the four castes come to bow down at his feet.

His friend has come to have a chat with him. He just got off from his seat and both friends are talking now. A taxi passes on the road. A camera clicks. And you can see what it captured.

Saina Nehwal: A Shining Star

Badminton is my favorite game. Though I tried to be good in all sports and games during school times, I could do well in only two: Kabaddi and Badminton. I did well in Kabaddi because I surpassed my opponents in physical strength, except one or two bullies. I was fairly good in Badminton. (But one of my unforgotten memories is one when in a tournament; they knowingly gave me a racquet with a slipping plastic handle. Being shy then, I didn't object and lost the match trying hard to hold the racquet properly).

I read about Saina in some newspaper. I stopped because the name was similar to Sania. The article discussed how despite holding a better world ranking than Sania Mirza, our Saina didn't attract the same fan following and sponsorships as Sania has enjoyed. Then after some time, I got to watch her game on TV. Superb! She played like a champion! Her body was so flexible and her style so inimitable, that I gave my verdict then and there we have a world champion material in her!

She had it in her family. Her parents Harvir Singh, a scientist at the Directorate of Oilseeds Research, and Usha Rani were former State Badminton champions in Haryana. She won the 2006 Philippines Open, to become the first Indian woman to win a four-star badminton event. She holds the Under-19 women’s single title. She has won twice the Asian Satellite Badminton Tournament (India Chapter). She is currently coached by Pullela Gopichand’s Academy in Hyderabad. Previously she was coached by S. M. Arif, a Dronacharya Award winner. Her play is dominated by power. Her career best world ranking is 21. Currently she is ranked 22nd.

She has got a champion's attitude. In the 2006 World Junior badminton tournament, when Saina lost to top seed Chinese Wang Yihan (13-21, 9-21) she said, “She is a better player than I am. She recently beat seniors world number one Xie Xing Fang. But she is beatable. I can beat her.”

I begun to like Laxmi Mittal more when I came to know that in October 2005, he had set up a USD 40m fund in Mumbai, christened Mittal Champions Trust, to spot, support and enhance the performance of talented young sportsmen to improve India’s showing at the Olympics and Asian Games. Saina Nehwal is one of the beneficiaries of this trust.

Success doesn't come easy. I am now reproducing one article titled Saina: The untold story by Amanpreet Singh, published at The Tribune. Link: http://saina1.notlong.com

What does it take to make a badminton star like Saina Nehwal? Ask her father Harvir Singh.

If Saina battles it out on the badminton court against the world's best players, it has been no less a battle for her father to let her do the same.

Rarely a middle-class family can think of spending half of the monthly income on an eight-year-old child's training without knowing if the gamble would pay off.

But Harvir Singh, a Scientist with the Directorate of Oilseeds Research Hyderabad, opted to go by the advice of PSS Nani Prasad Rao, the then badminton coach of the Sports Authority of Andhra Pradesh (SAAP), who saw immense potential in the girl.

I met Nani Prasad Rao in December, 1998, at Lal Bahadur Stadium in Hyderabad. Saina was standing with a badminton racket on the court and he asked her to play. After watching her game, he said,She has the potential and if you want to train her, bring her to me as a summer trainee, Harvir said.

The tough journey had started. Saina had to be taken to the stadium every day early in the morning and the distance from the house was 20 km.

It was a challenge for both of us because I had to wake up early so that we could reach the stadium by 6 am. The training session used to last for about two hours.

After attending the training session, Saina had to attend school. This way I had to drive my scooter around 50 km daily as Saina, apart from attending rigorous practice sessions, had to concentrate on studies, her father explained.

The impact of this tough routine began to show in the first week as Saina would often fall asleep on the back seat.

Sensing the danger, Saina's mother started accompanying them on the two-wheeler. This continued for three months.

Ultimately, the family had to arrange a house near the stadium in 1999. This time the distance was about 7 km from the stadium.

But the travelling ordeal did not end here as Saina was asked to attend evening training sessions as well.

With an extra training session, the travelling expenditure rose to Rs 150 per day. Added to this was the cost of training. Shuttles, racket, shoes, guttings and what not had to be purchased regularly. I spent around Rs 12,000 every month to keep her going those days, Harvir said.

But how did the family manage such high-cost training? Saina's father revealed that he had to sacrifice his savings.

I started withdrawing money from my provident fund. Sometimes it was Rs 30,000 and other times it was nearly Rs 1 lakh. It happened more than five times when I had to shell out money from my PF savings due to Saina's various requirements, said Harvir.

He stated that the tight-rope walk continued till 2002 until Yonex Sunrise sports offered to sponsor Saina's kit.

It came as a big relief. Fortunately, she got BPCL support late in 2004. Ultimately, she was spotted by Mittal Sports Trust in December, 2005.

But I had never disclosed to Saina my financial difficulties fearing that she might get disturbed knowing that her father was left with no savings for the future, he said.

When asked if they got any help from the sports authorities, the answer said it all.

Till 2003, she was getting Rs 600 per month from the Sports Authority of India (SAI). It was raised to Rs 2,500 in June, 2003. You can understand how I could have managed, Harvir said.

Apart from the training cost, hefty telephone bills put extra financial burden on the family when Saina started touring foreign countries for events.

The byte-crazy media played a part too. Wherever she went, be it the Philippines or South Korea, her phone kept ringing.

A major part of the prize money that Saina got from big competitions like the Philippines Open and World Junior Championship was utilised in paying her mobile bills, which were between Rs 40,000 and Rs 50,000 in the touring months, he said.

But was the prize money enough when she began her career? Saina was given just Rs 300 as prize money after winning the under-10 state level competition, held in Tirupati in 1999. The period between 1999-2004 was very trying for the family as we did not get any sponsor for her, Harvir said.

It was not only the financial burden but the risk of lagging behind on the educational front which added to the pressure.

Saina had to skip examinations twice. She did not take her first year intermediate exams because of the Melbourne Commonwealth Games and later in May, she could not write supplementary exams as she was in the Philippines.

At present she is studying in the second year at Saint Ann's College, Mehdipatnam Hyderabad. Ironically, the family, despite her big success at the international level, has not been able to celebrate much.

She has never been to any party, any restaurant or cinema in the past seven years. When the electronic media personnel visited my home in May last year for shooting of a programme, I could not even offer them sweets. Do I need to explain why, he asked. - PTI

Girl Donates Eyes before Killing Herself

Many times, news which could make us get out of our beds are buried in the inside pages of the newspapers. On 11th of April, 2007 there was a news report on the 8th page of Hindustan Times, Mumbai edition. Title made me shaken: "Girl donates eyes before killing herself."

In Lucknow, a girl named Divya Pandey (real name), committed suicide. She was a 12th standard student, and was to appear for her biotechnology exam. Divya's mother says: She was a very bright student, but was not satisfied with her performance. A day before she took this drastic step, she said to me that she doesn't remember anything that she had learnt and would not be able to score above 90 percent in class 12th. In her suicide note, she wrote that she wanted to donate her eyes. Her parents, though distressed at her death, decided to honor her last wish and ensured all procedure were followed immediately. Her body, which was discovered in the morning, was taken to KGMU, doctors harvested her cornea and within days, two people were able to see the world, thanks to Divya.

Donating eyes

This is the first such case in my memory. I have never heard if someone else in the past planned to benefit the society in this manner, the society in fact is the reason for their distressed conditions. It shows that Divya was in her sane state at the time of suicide. She knew what she was going to do. Still, if she chose to hang herself, it was not her failure only. It is the failure of the society in which she lived.

Worth thinking over

Should we stop after declaring it as a shocking incident, an unfortunate event and expressing solidarity with the family? Two things come to my mind immediately:

The state of cruel competition.
The expectations from the family members.

State of cruel competition

All of us know how brutal is the competition to get admission in the engineering and medical colleges like IITs, NITs and AIIMS. In IIT JEE, the success rate is 1 in 60. More than 3,00,000 students appeared for JEE-2006, for total 5500 seats. Around 5,25,000 candidates wrote the AIEEE – 2006 of which around 45,000 people in the open category have been called for counseling. And the matter of fact is that we have very few such institutes of excellence in India, and almost everyone wants to get in there only. In this cut throat competition, the students are so much tense and winding under pressure that if they sense a possibility of failure, they find their world falling over and in a state of depression, they take this decision as an escape from the hell.

Expectations from family

Parents these days are sending their children to schools at a very early age. They feel proud that their kids are already there when at the same age, they used to play at home all the day. Next, we have already heard and faced the problems in getting admissions in good schools. Schools charge huge sum of money for admissions, in the name of anything. Parents of Kangaroo Kids, Mumbai fumed in protests when the school hiked the fee for KG students in Mumbai is Rs 36000 [Ref 1]. If parents have to pay such exorbitant amounts, naturally their expectations will be proportional.

Also, the practice of comparing our children with those of others in our neighbor is an old one. There was a scene in the movie Ta ra rum pum, a young couple with two children was moving into a new flat, when an already residing couple met them on the stairs. When the gentleman says How lovely kids, her wife says Apnaa bhi koi kam nahi hai. If the neighbor's son has won a prize in recitation, your son will have to pay for it.

Analysis of suicide cases in South Delhi

In a paper titled “Suicide among children and adolescents in South Delhi (1991-2000)” [Ref 2], the investigators Lalwani Sanjeev, Sharma GA SK, Kabra SK, Girdhar Shalini and Dogra TD from Departments of Forensic Medicine, AIIMS, New Delhi, report the following key observations:

Out of 222 cases of children and adolescent who died by suicide, majority 55.4% of the victims were girls. This shows that the girl students have a greater pressure to perform and are more susceptible to be depressed.

Commonest age group involved was 15-18 years in both the sexes. This is the time when students appear for their board exams (10/12).

Maximum (56.4%) cases were reported in the months of March-July. The psychological problems due to studies, performance in examination and declaration of results are higher during these months.

The vast majority of suicide cases had applied hard methods with hanging which reflects a higher degree of auto aggressive behavior and determination towards self destruction.

What to do? Can we leave the things as they are?

In my opinion, nothing can be more useful in curbing the suicidal tendencies among children is parental support. If Divya knew that her world did not end with her less than 90% marks, she would have accepted her bad performance as part of life. Its time to think and correct ourselves before it is too late.

References:

1. http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/498230.cms

2. http://www.ijppediatricsindia.org/article.asp?issn=0019-5456;year=2004;volume=71;issue=8;spage=701;epage=703;aulast=Lalwani

3. http://in.rediff.com/news/2003/aug/14sc.htm

4. http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=121483