Let the children play

If I can win you over with love
Why would I wage wars?

If my pen can make you shake my hand Why would I shoot bullets? But yes! If your hand moves to draw the sword Its your head that will roll first! I believe we both have this strength And that's only fair.

So come now, let's let the peace prevail!

So come now, let's let the children play!

Physical Attractiveness: Not An "Essential Qualification"!

When I take a flight, I look for the following qualities in flight attendants:

1. Efficiency.
2. Courtesy.
3. The confidence that they are trained and fit to handle emergency situations.

That's it.

Neither gender nor how "physically attractive" they are plays any role whatsoever in my mind.

It's your level of skill and competence that needs to count, not how "good looking" you are.

Is this how flight attendants are hired today?

(And stretching Point 3 further: Aren't track suits and sneakers the best possible uniform for flight attendants, police personnel and every profession where athleticism is of paramount importance and not fashion and "looks"?)

Note: My use of " " for the phrases "physically attractive", "good looking" and "looks" is to firmly emphasize that beautiful cannot be stereotyped. Glow with goodness from within and keep yourself fit - that's it - you're then quite beautiful!

Apportioning Blame for Hindutva Nationalism

If you see my blog posts and tweets, you will see my unquestionable commitment to secularism. So I make the following remark without any underlying hypocrisy:

Those journalists and politicians who remained quiet when the Kashmiri Pandit Exodus happened, when Malda happened, when NLFT killed:

A large part of the blame for BJP getting elected and the "Hindutva Nationalism" of today rests squarely on *your* shoulders. *You* allowed the balance to tilt so heavily on one side that masses pushed back.

We'll course correct still. But never repeat this mistake again.

Strength!

I want nothing from you.

I cannot be bought.

I will not bend.

I will not sell out for anything.

What is right is right

And I'm standing my ground.

Established in the contentment of my Self. This! Come on!

This!

Strength!

Atheism Vs Inhumane Believers

Someone praying or going to religious places is no guarantee in itself that they are good and trustworthy.

Even Ravan was a devotee of Shiva!

Observe people. Observe how they treat others. Observe if they are helpful, kind, compassionate.

Observe if they are sincere.

Prayer is useful only if conducted with the intention of purifying oneself and with a commitment to live a sincere, helpful, kind and compassionate life.

Else, no :).

Better an atheist than believers with dodgy characters. Any day!

Worshipping Lord Vishnu

One of the most spiritually elevated statements I have ever heard is simply this:

"Vaishnav jan to tene kahiye jo peed paraayi jaane re"

Translation: "Call them the true devotees of Vishnu who are sensitive to the suffering of others."

If this sensitivity is not blossoming in you, whichever religion or spiritual path you might belong to and no matter how much you pray or what offerings you make, it's worth this much: Zero. You will not progress an inch - at least not in the right direction.

What else but love?

Maybe this is all a part of the awakening.

You kind of feel hurt
No one's said anything and the evening was quite alright
Ached into silence look around
Only the flowers and the leaves and the trees make sense

Everything else a din and meaningless cackle
Even laughter shrieks
as if cruel and mocking by nature

Just how it is.

Except when love elicits the laughter

Head falling back, Eyes closing
Silence and completeness

And you smile.

Power!

Power in itself isn't much to talk about.

Even pimps have a sense of power. They hold sway over others' lives, they oppress, they exploit, they hurt.

If that's all you do with your power, you're just a pimp.

But to use your power to uplift, to liberate, to support, to shield, to protect. That's something.

If that's the kind of power you possess, it's worth a mention.

Else, no.

From Untruth To Truth

Here's one of my favorite prayers. Here the Universal Divine Consciousness is addressed as Om. You can address the same as Ishwar, Bhagwaan, God or Allah. There's only one Universal Divine Consciousness and it is beyond all names, forms and classifications.

First in Sanskrit:

ॐ

असतो मा सद्गमय

तमसो मा ज्योतिर्गमय

मृत्योर्मा अमृतं गमय

ॐ शांतिः शांतिः शांतिः।

In English:

O Universal Divine Consciousness

Take me

From Untruth to Truth

From Darkness of Ignorance to Enlightenment

From Identification with the Mortal Body to Immortal Spirit

Let there be Peace Peace Peace

Beautiful, isn't it 😊? So simple, dignified, to the point 😊.

And what glorious ends to pray for 😊!

Economic Models: Time & Tide

Anyone talking about "ending socialism" in India is plain cuckoo.

Public healthcare, education and transport cannot go from this country till poverty ends. The government must also maintain a significant stake in food, energy, defense and space.

At the same time, I don't see why private enterprise should be limited. If someone's willing to invest, create, manufacture, employ, expand : great!

We simply adopt the best from every economic model out there as we move forward.

Let the focus be on solving problems. Why constrain ourselves one way or another?

Globalize But Reject Your Neighbors?

We talk about the value of exposing ourselves to cultures all over the world, exchanging views, enriching ourselves by absorbing whatever is good.

Yet, what's right next door to us discomforts us: North - South, Bengali - Punjabi, Religion 1 - Religion 2, Left - Right, ...

Do you see the dichotomy? Drop it. Rise above this stupidity. There's much joy being lost and time doesn't come back.

Make Religion A Conscious Choice

A whole lot of religious strife in the world would just disappear if parents and teachers told their children this when growing up:

"Son/Daughter, It will be your choice as a free human being as to which religion(s) you subscribe to, if any. Understand that everyone else has the same right to choice. If any Guru, Preacher or Scripture asks you to insult or injure people of faiths different from yours, simply know that to be a mediocre intelligence at work. Stay sincere, righteous and open minded. Be kind and compassionate, but when needed do not be afraid of fighting to protect the oppressed."

This is the seed we need to sow in young fertile minds, see that?

Humility: Not A Choice

A wise man once remarked:

"Either we bow with grace and humility that arise from within or knocks that drive out all arrogance come from outside to humble us and make us bend. In reality nature doesn't give us a choice but to be humble. Just that the first way is so much more beautiful!"

That's really quite true, isn't it :)? I'm yet to see arrogance last endlessly anywhere :)!

Be humble. Confidence is fine, arrogance not. Stay humble.

Formalize हम दो हमारे दो

One thing that would be great to see not just in India, but the world over, is incentives to have no more than two children in a marriage - and disincentives for more than two children - regardless of race, religion, caste, ethnicity, etc.

Contraception as well as sterilization (male as well as female) can be encouraged to achieve the above goal.

Population control will help increase the quality of life as well as reduce the load we are putting on our economic and environmental resources.

Elections: Get A Grip!

Maybe Vidhan Sabha polls for all states can be held at the 2.5 year mark of the central government. Then Lok Sabha polls would come at the 2.5 year mark of state governments. That would streamline and increase efficiency while still giving people a chance to respond midterm.

Today we are a country perpetually voting somewhere or the other - and our "leaders and sevaks" are perpetually campaigning somewhere or the other. This incurs a massive wastage of time and resources and slows our progress.

(I also invite you to read: Strike a Pause: Education Before Politics (strike-a-pause.blogspot.com)).

New IITs: A Case Study In Debacles

After 1961, 8 new IITs were suddenly announced in 2008/9. These took about 7 years to get their infrastructure set up - while severely inconveniencing their mentor IITs & host institutions. Exceptions aside, the faculty they attracted hasn't been as good as the older IITs.

It would have made far more sense to open an IIT every 5 years with due planning and consolidate systematically. We would've still set up 10 new IITs between 1961 - 2011. And each would have come about thoughtfully and carved out an impactful identity of its own.

The same mistake was repeated in 2015/16 when seven more IITs were again suddenly set up. These are still struggling and will almost certainly end up as "lesser IITs".

Why is this happening? 👇

Because politicians & bureaucrats who haven't taught a single class, set up a single lab, guided a single thesis, executed a single research grant, are making academic decisions.

Our public higher education system is a case study in public money ill spent.

PhD Students: Not Paper Churning Machines!

Note to fellow academics:

PhD students are *not* our *paper churning machines*. They don't exist to help us build our CVs :).

Our commitment *must* stay to make them grow and guide them to a point where they become as capable as us of thinking deeply and thoroughly, identifying central problems, proceeding on the path of knowledge discovery independently, and have the breadth of knowledge required to teach the next generation effectively.

Papers students publish during their PhD must be aligned with the above objectives & be for *their* sake, not for ours & our awards :).

[There can course be occasions when students forget who the boss is :). At such times they can be "gently" reminded & balance restored :).]

But our commitment as PhD advisors and the responsibility it carries can never be allowed to fade into the background in deference to other considerations.

Indian Academia: No Foreign Defense Research!

There are Indian academic institutions that allow their faculty members to take up research grants sponsored by Air Force research establishments of other countries. Imagine that!

A faculty member getting tempted out of sheer immaturity is perhaps conceivable.

But the thing is, this shouldn't be allowed at the policy level itself.

We don't need to be doing research for other countries' defense establishments. We need to carry out research relevant to our own defense requirements and take our country forward.

Why are we starting to fall short on even stuff that ought to be obvious?