Unpredictable diplomacy and Raw Power

I was watching Parmanu in the first week of June and was feeling proud to know such a vital part of Indian history. A statement was made to the world during the time when the nation was developing and when others were mocking the capability of the developing nations to be ready to defend. It showed to what extent the country could go to in order to protect its people, in case of war. It just gave goosebumps to listen to such a story of greatness.

Most of the VVIPs did not attend the invite offered by AAP leader, Mr. Arvind Kejriwal, for an Iftar party on June 4th. It did not go really well and apparently, Mr. Kejriwal had to celebrate the occasion all by himself, having arranged for one arduously.

On the other side of the world, Mr. Trump gleefully accepted the invite of Kim Jong-un, the reclusive leader of North Korea, for a peace meeting at Singapore. Not really a peace meeting though, the Trump side had no options other than to heed to the whims of the leader as he had most of the upper hand in the matters of National security. A threat to the world in a case there were games played by Kim Jong- Un.

Kejriwal has got a lot to learn from Kim Jong-Un specifically as to play the game by understanding and acknowledging the fact of where to pinch and gain power in order to get everybody talking or heeding. But then, Kejriwal settled down to sleeping over the office couch of the Lieutenant Governor's office for a week. A lesson from Mahatma used for wrong reasons in wrong manner with exactly the wrong understanding. Not to blame Kejriwal both had different stands in their situation. Kim hand Nuclear weapons in hand but Kejriwal on the other hand wanted something called Delhi in his hand even when he had those in the papers.

Age of the leader still unknown to Wikipedia, Kim Jong-Un, stays young and tries to play the game in his own accord.The ultimate meeting was set to happen on June 12th, after Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore accepted to the request that Singapore's Sentosa island be the place of meet. Sentosa Island whose name was derived from the Sanskrit word, Santhosa, meaning happiness was a good spot of choice. Sentosa is an island consisting a resident population of 1690, but it attracts a minimum of 20 million tourists a year. The meeting proved to be worth the cost spent in terms of attracting business. The island symbolically mocked the meeting of the two leaders by having been a place for prisoners of war during the World War II. Japan used the island as a prisoners camp for the British and Australian prisoners of the war. Hotel Capella was chosen as the place of meeting in Sentosa island.

I thought it was a very usual chore for any commuter in India to face traffic problems during the visit of the important leaders of the country, but this meeting at Sentosa actually created a lot of problems in Singapore especially given the security reasons behind the meeting. People of Singapore had different perspectives of the meeting. Some of them used it positively. A restaurant at Singapore actually served a new dish which became popular in just a week. Its name was "Trump-Kim Chi Nasi Lemak". It is a dish made of American beef and Korean kimchi.

A local resident of Sentosa told to the journalists that the meeting is not going to happen because the Korean leader's plane is going to get shot by Americans. Though something as dramatic as that did not happen and create chaos in the international level, the airspace during the travel of the leaders to Sentosa was cautiously monitored. A change at the last minute to board AirChina Boeing 747 - 4J6 was on the cards at Kim's end. Kim used to travel on his own flight the Ilyushin IL-62 , a Soviet-era aircraft frequently. It simply showed the level of support that China was affording generously to the meeting and what the meeting meant for them. There was tension in the air at both the ends.Trump maintained the normal routines of the CIA guarded, AirForce One Boeing VC25 on air. Kim just had the airline guarded and flying just above the Chinese territory keeping it safe. Both landed safely with a thud at Changi Airport, Singapore.

A completely verifiable, irreversible nuclear disarmament (CVID) was on the agenda for the Trump  government with other add on promises like retrieving military refugees from the other side, but Kim was just reiterating the fact that he had the puppet for the decisions surrounding the areas of Nuclear weaponry in the world. Trump very well knew that Kim would not give up on his main power of Nuclear weaponry. He would definitely have mines even when he agreed to nuclear disarmament. It was difficult for the International committees of Atomic Research to even trace the sites of Plutonium extraction that Kim had back home.

The main agenda was to make Trump pull out the troops surrounding the area of South Korea since the other main agenda of nuclear disarmament from the side of Kim was just words without any deadlines for any of the statements. Overall, the whole discussion did not yield anything fruitful as there were no deadlines to any of the statements mentioned. However, the meeting cannot be neglected either as both the parties whether willing or not came together and took a step towards world peace.
The leaders are indeed styled differently in their leaderships.
People perceive that Kim had the upper hand in the meeting, which is quite the perception that it creates among most of the people in the world but the diplomacy of Trump and unpredictability inherent in his nature cannot be understated.

Trump was and is extremely unpredictable. On June last week, he announced that North Korea might be a threat for National security. Calling out the troops from the region seemed a distant dream now.
Both the leaders does want to make the move, but then both are under the watch of the UN.
War could question every bit of world peace and supremacy could sound just uncivilized and inhuman as it could be.

Attitudes of the leaders at this point of time decide the state of the world, and it is important for them to remain sane. Supremacy could only lead to insanity and chaos.Russia, China, South Korea are counting on the troops stationed by America and calling them out signals the start of giving up stature to the Kim led nation.

But the fact remains that the American leader still is an "unpredictable diplomat" who knows the moves of the game all by himself. He is unlike our Kejriwal, who is all busy with his moves of "Ahimsa". A world that is entirely unknown to both Trump and Kim.

Raw power was the weapon of Kim but it was kept in control with the unpredictable diplomacy of Trump. Meeting ended up making "Trump-Kim Chi Nasi Lemak", a dish to savor and relish. It made Singapore very happy.

-Satz.

Brindaavanasaaranga - Essence of ecstasy

The following is the link of the song composed by the great Muthuswami Dikshitar and sung by Ranjani-Gayathri sisters and accompanied by Arun Prakash on the Mridangam, Guruprasad on the Ghatam and Charumathi Raghuram on the Violin. The song is titled Rangapuravihaara, which means the one who resides at Rangapuram ie Srirangam. The song is in praise of Lord Vishnu who is known in different forms, perceived in different perspectives and worshipped in different ways. The song also hails about Lord Rama whose temple is at Srirangam. Muthuswami Dikshitar has expressed his devotion to the lord and chosen the right raga for expressing the same. The song is based on the raga Brindaavanasaaranga. Brindavanasaaranga is a rare, gem of a raga that is so pleasing to the mind. The raga has naturally got emotions tied over it which keeps the listener attached to the song. The song lyrics, the raga, the singers and the accompaniment keeps you afloat and takes to Rangapuram for 7 odd minutes.

The singers in this particular song (Ranjani and Gayathri) take full liberty to play around the raga as the raga wanders in the listeners mind. It creates a sort of happiness in the mind when this particular song is heard in this particular raga. The raga offers the freedom to show the devotion to the Lord without any kind of inhibitions. Not just the composition but the lyrics penned by Muthuswami Dikshitar tells much about the devotion to the Lord. He has cleverly used the word Brindavanasaaranga as an acrostic which shows how creative he has been. The lyrics goes as follows:

Lyrics:

pallavi:

rahngapura vihara jaya kodandaramavatara raghuvIra shrI

anupallavi:

ahngaja janaka deva brndAvana sarahngendra varada ramantarahnga shyamalahnga vihahnga turahnga sadayApahnga satsahnga

caranam

pahnkajaptakula jalanidhi sOma vara pahnkaja mukha pattabhirama padapahmkaja jitakama raghurama vamahnka gata sItavara vesa shesahnka shayana bhakta Santos a enahnkaravi nayana mrdutarabhasa akakahnka darpana kapola vishesa munisankaTa harana govinda venkata ramana mukunda sahnkarSana mula kanda shahnkara guruguhananda

Meaning:

O resident of the town called Ranga! Victory to you who incarnated as Rama, the famed owner of the bow Kodanda! Brave scion of the Raghu clan! anupallavi: Father of Cupid! One who is as swift as the King of Deers in running to the aid of the devotees to remove their sufferings! Giver of boons! Resident in the heart of Lakshmi! Scarlet hued one! One with Garuda as his mount! Unsurpassed in compassion! Ever present in good company! caraNam: O Moon to the Ocean like Sun clan! Venerated lotus faced Rama, who was crowned as King! One whose feet are like lotus! Vanquisher of Cupid in beauty! Rama, of the clan of Raghu! Bridegroom of Sita who is on the left! Recliner on Sesha the great serpent! Delight of devotees! One with the Sun and Moon as two eyes! Soft spoken one! One with a forehead akin to an unblemished mirror! Destroyer of the sufferings of Sages! Govinda! Venkataramana! Mukunda! Sankarshana! Primordial root! Joy to Subrahmanya, the preceptor of Siva!

Arun Prakash does well with the Mridhangam taking dominance only in places required. He plays a vital role in augmenting the voices of the singers. The violin also does help in highlighting the singers' voice quality. Ghatam does a fair bit by just having subtle beats throughout the song without hampering the emotions of the song. Singers Ranjani and Gayathri, nevertheless, have been gifted with voices which has got the power to bring happiness to the mind. The alapanas in the middle apparently brings out the expertise of the singers. Brevity with which the notes are presented in the alapana make it sound mellifluous. The notable places are the ending notes. Those are handled softly. Raga is designed in such a way that the high and low notes are adjacent to each other giving very low space for the listener to get out of the song. The places of  deva brndAvana sarahngendra, rahnga shyamalahnga, satsahnga rahngapura vihara makes the song a masterpiece. Other places in the caranam that are notable are sOma wherein there is a subtle variation in the note with dip to the lower note in middle and pattabhirama where there is a raise in the notes till padapahmkaja jitakama. The kama in the line would bring the Cupid down to the Earth. It just fits in very well with the next line starting with raghurama and vamahnka bringing out the lyrical expertise of the writer. The rest of the Caranam keeps you devoted to the song. The charanam ends with  guruguhananda which marks the fact that the song was written by Muthuswami Dikshitar. Every song written by Muthuswami Dikshitar is marked by this word.

Overall. Brindavanasaaranga takes the listener to a whole new world. A world that is filled with positivity, With the Lord in the heart, the raga in the mind and the meaning of the lyrics in your head the level that you attain is the "Essence of Ecstacy".

The other version of the same song in the same raga in a different form( Carnatic Rock Fusion form) is the one presented by Agam the band (Rangapuravihaara). Unplugged version just gives the raga in a pure form. The Carnatic notes tried in the Electric Guitar by Praveen just grips you with the song. The link follows for listening.

The other forms in which you can find Brindavarasaaranga is in the film songs. Some of the songs which are based on the raga are

1. Punnondru kandaen Pennanguillai…sung by Shivaji Ganeshan with Balaji in the movie Padithaal Mattum Podhuma.
2.Konjum Mainakkale – Kandukonden Kandukonden wonderful piece of music by A.R Rahman.
3. Ninjakootil Neeye Nirkiraai – Dishyum a classic by Vijay Anthony.

and one of my all time favourites and did not know that it is based on this raga. 

Indian rain by Colonial Cousins. Wonderful masterpiece. Now I know the real reason behind why the song attracts the listener.

- Satz

Four words - Vision, Growth, Competition, Run.

DISCLAIMER: The content of this article is not related to any of the real life characters. This article has been strictly written for reading purpose. It cannot be related to any part of my life in real sense. Absolutely fictitious and ridiculously imaginative. I am NOT responsible for wrong interpretations of this content or any other unwanted perceptions. Read, have fun (if possible), think (if possible) and forget.

September, 28th, 2016

Satz

It is hard to imagine how packed a day has become in life. It is becoming very hard to realize how fast a day goes by and how engrossed my job keeps me in it. Working in a ramp up plant, seldom gives you that personal time that you yearn for. Mentally keeps me occupied almost every second.(Might be a personal problem as well. You never know.) It doesn't offer much of personal space. Nothing much to complain about.

The company has got its own goal of getting to the top of the world. Obviously at an outrageous pace that no damn fellow can ever imagine. That too with minimum resources. It is like the Bangladesh Cricket team. Tigers made out of low investment.

The CEO and other top guys of the company make sure they visit the plant every month. They take reviews about the progress of the plant (Ramp up plant). Even when it is progressing they remind us that we need to progress even more. It is like telling Usain Bolt to run faster (Easier said than done.). They first listen( to presentations, of course). I don't know how, but the CEO and team digests scrap figures, production figures, capacities, budget figures, ramp up plans, machine capabilities, product additions, process data, all given in about 4-5 hours. Genius indeed. They comprehend, take in, process and then give the plant management the taste of their own data.

Then there is the start of the motivation speech (this part is easy to identify. Bosses know when it starts). Sandwich techniques of motivation come out of nowhere. They do a wonderful job of reminding our bosses that we are not working. They team themselves up with our bosses and teach the latter how to extract work from us. They also remind them how we were working and the need for screwing us a bit to reach back to a level more than that. Certain bosses get so reactive that they actually start working. (Note: Life is under jeopardy, when bosses start working.) More "Whys" start popping out. They start to snoop their heads into your work. Those are days that you don't want to live. With a series of "Whys" down the line, the subordinates start believing the fact that they were not working at all. For injecting fresh targets, mind has to be set atone. It has to be made ready and the first stage is creating a havoc in the mind that we are not working. Once this is done growth will come automatically. Good subordinates take it positively push themselves harder towards targets. Put aside their personal life.(Idiots, of course.) Work. Sleep. Run. Repeat. Mental illusion's first stage, a success. 

The day when the CEO (Head coach of Usain Bolts) comes is the day on which work happens. Especially, most of the civil work gets done in a greenfield  project (Height of Extreme running). No time for even the cement to get dry and get its compression strength. (Obviously, it can be fixed the next day. It has got all the time to dry once the fellas are gone. Even the CEO knows it.) Washrooms get fixed. Major breakthroughs("Jugaads") happen in a whisk of time. The plant management arranges for some sort of opening ceremony for the CEO of some random civil work like the canteen, or the gym at the office for that matter. Something for the CEO to be proud of the plant. 

The preparation that everybody does in the factory the day before the CEO's visit is indeed one hell of a scene to witness. Japanese techniques(5S, ah read somewhere in Engineering) come in handy. Everybody start to realize what those actually mean. A feeling that comes with it is "how it will be if we do this everyday." Plant becomes absolutely clean. Cleanliness suddenly become Godliness. Everybody works with such energy. They work like they would get a double promotion the next day if they pull off the visit.

Visit days are good in one way. We get parties to attend. (A Party is defined as a reminder from the Head Coach of Usain Bolts that he is going to set new freaky targets for Usain Bolts.) First before the party there is an address by the CEO. Praveen Kumar, a stand up comedian puts it this way. " If you take out four words off the dictionary, no CEO can ever speak. Vision, Growth, Competitive and Strategy. They put 'is, was, and and' in the middle of these four words and call it the vision statement." CEO and team present what was achieved and what was not. Fill our minds with targets, for the next three months, then enjoy the dance and cultural events, present awards and leave for urgent flights. Then the party starts with good exotic dinner, some unnecessary drinks and some DJ on the floor. Loyalty quotient increases to highest levels. You start feeling like you will do anything to achieve the targets so told. Mental illusion's second stage, a success.

With so much of fun on the day of the visit, the next day becomes hell. That's the day when the actual Running starts. The training ground for Usain Bolts. Work. Sleep. Run. Repeat. The whole of the management staff look like they are the rice that gets steamed in the pressure cookers. They fight (almost fight), get horribly reactive towards targets, get absolutely obsessed with the same. They start fighting for micro level things that make them forget the whole context in which they are working. Everybody starts releasing pressure through emotions not seen by themselves before. Meetings get high on stupidity and low on sensibility. Quarrels, difference of opinion all these words pop up. Though people work towards targets and achieve, there is always this unnecessary fighting (well, almost fighting). Blaming and judging the efforts of peers design each other's day. That calls for some leadership and team building training. That happens for some two days in the middle. Investment for cost cutting.

Ultimately, we run like anything towards targets and somehow achieve it. The moment when we achieve is the moment the Head Coach team arrives. Obviously, to make Usain Bolts run faster. They talk about Vision, Competition, Strategy and Run. The vicious cycle continues. Bosses get know how to handle us effectively. We keep on experimenting in finding out how to handle them. They call it experience. We call it skill development.

We follow their footsteps as we move up the ladder. What do we do? We create Usain Bolts who can run for us. We become the Coach of the Usain Bolts. And the saga continues with Four words - Vision, Growth, Competition and Run.

Further for subsiding unwanted and unnecessary emotions after reading this post, please read the DISCLAIMER at the top. Again.

-SATZ

The Forgotten Einstein

“Don’t worry about your marks. Just make sure you keep up with your work and that you don’t have to repeat a year. But it’s not necessary to have good marks in everything. You learn the most from things that you enjoy doing so much that you don’t even notice time is passing. Often I’m so engrossed in my work that I forget to eat lunch.” These words were written by the great physicist, Albert Einstein in a letter to his son, Hans Albert. Einstein was not exceptional in all the prescribed subjects during his school days. He was rather excellent in physics and mathematics right from a very young age. We cannot even imagine the thought process that Einstein had undergone at a young age to churn out such a contribution to the history of physics. Einstein was a genius of his own without a doubt. At the age of 9, he was shown a compass by his father and he understood that there are forces that can’t be seen (magnetic forces). He had extreme curiosity in physics, philosophy and mathematics. Max Talway, a friend of his father and Jacob Einstein, his elder father helped him get all the latest scientific and philosophical books that further kindled the boy’s passion towards the field. Talent of Einstein was perfectly nurtured.

Coming to our era now, we have school students breaking their brains to push in all the matter from their textbooks and vomit them in examinations to score full marks in their 10^th and 12^th standards. The alluring State ranks drive most parents to put all the pressure on their wards. Students are pathetically driven mad in order to fetch more marks and get into a better college (Medicine and Engineering were always chocolate cakes.). Competition has its nose at front always. Comparison of their wards with other students makes parents’ day busy. Race is on for State ranks. Interest and thinking are all secondary. Everybody forgets the question of “Why these students are sent to school?” It is like a dog being trained to fetch a thrown ball. Schools end up producing mark-obtaining mug-heads rather than innovative jackpots. Some parents shuttle their wards for schools and tuitions right from morning 5am to 8pm. Does it not sound brutal? Money-making is priority for tuition centers. The concept of tuition was started to support slow-learners in the classes. But today main teaching happens only in tuition centers. School is only a formality and a necessity for students as they pay fees. Parents and teachers need to understand that students are humans at the end of the day. Each individual has got a specific concentration time span in a day. Students get tired because of previous day exhaustion and they fail to listen in schools. They always have the option of listening in tuitions as lessons are taken twice. The purpose of schools and tuitions is extremely misunderstood.

For postulating, the General theory of relativity, he had to take the views of so many physicists across the globe. Einstein was against competition. The students bring in the culture of competition and spoon-feeding from their schools. It becomes very difficult for the college lecturers and professors to mould these students from mark-oriented racers to concept-oriented thinkers. The stress takes a toll on the student, for the change demanded is drastic. By this time, the student loses interest in whatever he/she is doing. Brain is only trained to take in concepts with abstraction. Workplace expectations are different altogether. Companies are happy to take in Einsteins straightaway. At this stage, external world makes the individual succumb to economic pressure as well. What is lost throughout this process is a “Thinking Individual” with the potential of contributing to the larger world.

Education is intuitive. It must flow in, stimulate a thought-process and push out innovation or new thinking. Einstein said in one of his interviews that “Education should train the mind to think beyond the things inside the book.” Education is not hammered in. It is let in. The teachers are driven by the time frame and the syllabus they need to hammer into the brain of the student. The student, on the other hand, is stressed out with the abstraction of material. Finally, both decide to work for the marks.

We need to focus our education towards inculcating cognitive flexibility and towards arousing the curiosity of the student. Passion was a by-product of Einstein’s curiosity. That passion changed the fate of this world. The aim of every school should be to create passion for the subjects. Though we cannot churn out Einstein out of every student we can at the least stop churning out mechanical mark-making machines.

-Satz 

Greasing the palm, All the way.

February 10, 2015

This is a scene at an Electicity Board Office in one of the cities in Tamil Nadu.

A person aged 63, enters into the office. This person is somewhat influential in the political circle. If not the most influential. He will be Our witness. He notices that there are almost close to 150 Single phase Electricity meter boxes lying at one corner end of the office. He sees a man sitting in a chair wearing a modern dress in front of the EB officer. A formally dressed middle class man with shoes, he seems to have come in the middle of going to the office. He seems to be a professional of some sort. The man witnessing this wants to meet the officer. He is supposed to give permission from Single phase to Three phase connections to those who want to apply. He will then give a Application form to fill which costs around Rs.100. The service availed is a small sophistication in the houses of the middle class people of India who are ready to afford as they move on in their phase of development in India. It is nothing when compared to where the world is moving but still in India getting a three phase connection certainly means that you are well off. The connection actually costs Rs.7000 and whatever deposit you have paid during your application of Single phase connection will be deducted and the rest only have to be paid to the EB office.

Whether you are a VIP in the society or any other person, you have to wait in a government office, which is an unwritten rule in the constitution of India. It is inevitable and a grave necessity. When you go to a government office, you should definitely get the feeling that the officers working there are Gods and you are there to get boons from them. If you don't get this feeling then it means that your job is not yet over. Whether they will give boons or not depends upon how badly you lose your self-esteem and how good you are at making them the most important entity in the job you expect from them.

Our witness is listening to their conversation waiting for his turn to come.

Our formally dressed person has got a soft voice. It seems that he is almost pleading the officer "Sir, oru Rs.3000 kurachikonga sir. Already material cost vera adigama irukku."

The officer said " Athellam mudiyadu sir, pathaayiram (Rs.10000) vechaa ungalukku connection immediata varum. Illana edatha kaali panunga sir. Summa en tiyatha (time) waste pannatheenga. Naraiya vela irukku sir."

The professional tries one more time. "Sir, ezhaayirame romba kastam. Eppadiyavadu ezhaayiram koduthiraen. Konjam consider pannunga sir."

Officer gets even more annoyed. "Yov, nee edatha kaali pannu yaa. Rs. 10000 illana onnum panna mudiyadu." 

He points out to the person witnessing the scene. "Sir, vaanga. Sollunga. Enna vishayam."

Having lost in the battle of words our professional moves on and tells "Seri sir. Evening vandu koduthuren. Connection koduka sollunga. Konjam sekirom seidu kodunga, sir."

Officer reacts as though he did not hear one word. "Seri, seri evening vaanga. Naalu manikkulla vandudunga. Paakalaam"  The professional is watched by our witness as he picks up his bag and moves out of the office. Our professional is unable to cover the shame of having lost the negotiation with the officer.

The influential person starts "Sir, Good morning. Nalla irukkeengala?"

Officer speaks out."Paravalla. Edo pogudu. Madam nalla irukaangala?" There is not even one sign in the face of the officer of having created an incident in the recent time. Switches over to the normal mood immediately.

Our witness clarifies "Hmm. Nalla irukaanga, sir. Councillor kitta nethu pesittu thaan vandaen. Konjam namma three phase connection paathu panunga sir."

Officer says " Sir, ungalukku illaadatha. Naalaike vandu connection koduka soleedren. Oru rendayiram(Rs.2000) mathirom nammakku kavaneenga sir."

Our witness doesn't mind much, "Seri sir. Romba nandri." He is infact satisfied  after having witnessed the worst case.

Officer re-affirms "Sir,ungalukku illaadatha, vanthurum sir. Kavala padaama ponga. Councilora ketta da sollunga."

Our witness shows the courtesy "Kandippa solren sir. Apparom materialum, coolium eppadi sir." 

Officer says " Athellaam namma lineman kitta pesikkonga. Avara kelunga soluvaaru. Intha application la mathirom madam kitta sign vaangitu vandu koduthirunga. Rs. 5900 katteerunga. Ippo Rs.2000 mathirom enkitta koduthirunga."

Lineman is standing outside. Our witness moves on to the line man. "Thambi, material, coolie ellam evlo paa agum."

Lineman says "Anna, namma veetukku material serthu Rs.32000 agum naa. Line kambathil irundu izhuthitu varanum. Selavagum naa. Coolie vandu, moonu per (3 persons)  varuvaanga connection kodukaradukku. Rs. 2000/head varudu naa."

Our witness gets astonished "Enna paa. Ivlo solra. Konjam paathu sollu pa."

Lineman reacts " Naa, ungalukkaaga kammiyaadaan soleerukken." 

Our witness says "Seri paa. Edo paathu sei. Namakku velaiya konjam sekaram senju kodu paa." 

Lineman takes a dig "Naa, namala konjam kavaninga naa. Oru nooru rooba (Rs.100) tea selavukku kodunga naa."

Our witness is not much surprised. It is as though he expected this to pop up. "Inda. Eppo velaiya arambipeenga? Rendu naal apparom orukku poga vendiya velai irukku."

Lineman says " Naa, thappa nenaikaadeenga, kambam eranum oru ayiram rooba selavagum naa."

Our witness somewhat gets annoyed " Enna paa. Nenaichu nenaichu ketkara. Seri inda. Enakku aana velai immediata nadakanum."

Lineman with a somewhat happy face reacts " Naa, naalaikku material vandudum, adukku adutha naal connection evening kulla vandudum naa. Pasanga vandaa tea mathirom vaangi koduthirunga naa"

Our witness having got convinced says "Adu paathikaren."

 Our witness was an influential person. He actually got his three phase connection in less than Rs.40000 and connection in 3 days. The bribe is only for this quick delivery of work. Imagine the formally dressed person. He told that he would give Rs. 10000 just to grease the palm of the officer. Here is what the actual bill would look like for our formally dressed person.

Officer bribe - Rs.10000, Connection fees - Rs.5900 (Assuming he had his single phase deposit reduced from fees), Material cost - Rs. 32000 ( assuming he has got a two floor house), Labour cost - Rs. 6000(3 persons), Tea selavu (Expense) - Rs. 250 (4 persons including lineman), Application cost - Rs.100, Lineman bribe - Rs. 1000. So totally this comes to about Rs.54000. Add the logistics cost as well from house to the EB office for I don't know how many times he would have been called for.

That is not just Rs. 54000, but a whooping Rs. 54000. Almost more than half a lakh for a three phase connection assuming our fella had a two floored house. This three phase connection is not such a latest technology sophistication.

The material cost would come down if our person had a independent single house, So it would take him Rs. 38000. Close to what our influential person got the connection for his two floored house.

We are living in the 21st century. Do we seem like living in one? We still have not developed integrity. Gee, I don't know how many of them really know the meaning of that word. What is the way out of this? You can't straight away blame the person greasing the palm. He is forced to do it. If he doesn't do it then he has to come to the office atleast 4 times, spend money for that. Then if he, let's say doesn't like greasing the palm and takes the officer to the court, there are two things which will happen. The court will keep analysing the case for years together and secondly, the person won't get the three phase connection until that. Imagine the court fees, advocate fees, logistics between house and court. To avoid all this, the professional not only bends to give away the bribe but also loses his self-esteem. What he gets out of this is the three phase connection at the expense of everything that he has earned till that time. If you don't give the Rs.6000/- on that day, you will probably have to spend one night without power. The officers are at the discretion of give power. Seeing all this our professional bends to the ways of the officer. All these are taken for granted.

There are only two rules. Either be influential, so that you can get away with some of the bribe or have hell a lot of money. Importantly don't hesitate to lose it, to live in India. When are we going to get out of this shit? This is why people get out of this damn country and settle down in other countries where such non-sense does not exist (I don't know, but definitely not like this for sure). 

Remember, our witness saw almost 150 numbers of Electricity measuring meters lying in one corner. Imagine how much bribe our officer, lineman and the other persons would have got through this. We can only imagine, be happy with our single phase connection and content with whatever power we get. That itself is heaven.

Our country is what we are. Our country is what we want it to be.

-SATZ

Arjuna's Penance - Absolute Significance

I went to Mahabalipuram with one of my friends in Chennai one day. Before that I did some research on what is so special about Mahabalipuram and to know what I should expect from the visit. When I was browsing through the websites and blogs, I found that the most fascinating carving in Mahabalipuram to visit is the Arjuna's penance rock. It will be right at the entrance of Mahabalipuram and it is a very unique one to spot. I was searching for its significance but no explanation seemed to be satisfying. I was wondering why Arjuna's penance is so important that they carved all that they wanted to convey to the world in just a single stone. Especially, the various animals that are there make it confusing altogether for people to understand what it is. Today I learnt the meaning and significance of it and wanted to share it with others.

As you all know, the Pandavas exiled to the forest for 13 long years as they were defeated in the game of dice with the Kauravas. They went to the forest, but they did not keep themselves idle. They nurtured their skills. They made sure that they were no less than any kshathriya warrior. Arjuna wanted the Pashupathi bow from Shiva, to excel in archery. Nothing in this world comes as easy as what you expect. It has to be earned and the Pashupathi astra that Arjuna got from Shiva is an ample example of how it is done.

Indra, is not a name. It is the name of the position. During Mahabaratha, the Indra was a different person. During Ramayana, the Indra was a different person and for each avatar the Indra was a different person. By performing extreme penance or by performing 1000 yagnas one attains the position of Indra. Penance is one form of reaching God as per the Vedas. Parvathi did 7 years of penance to marry Shiva. Likewise to attain God and get the Pasupathi astra Arjuna went to the Himalayas to do penance for 11 long years. He had to stand in one leg and should forget hunger, both of which demands high level of physical and mental stability. To do this, he got two mantras from a rishi, with which he was able to do both. He went to a forest near the Himalayas, had a bare body in those cold conditions and started his penance to invoke Lord Shiva. Today's cliche like 'standing on one leg to achieve it' (ஒத்த காலுல நின்னு சாதிகறான்), came from Arjuna's penance only.

Elephants normally when it itches in some places of its body, scratches by rubbing against a stone. Animals are more intellectual. A dog won't pee in a temple even if it is open half the time. A elephant won't scratch near houses. But man will pee anywhere without any shame. That a different subject altogether. So elephants normally scratch its itch by rubbing against stones. Arjuna, who is undergoing penance, is as still as a stone. Elephant is scratching on him and he is as still as a hard rock. Snakes slither on him thinking that he is a snake hole. He still stands on one leg firm on the ground. The then Indra, takes a look at Arjuna's penance from the heaven and fears that his position is at stake. Knowing that Arjuna is weak when it comes to women, Indra sends Urvasi, Ramba and other celestial angels to distract Arjuna through Kama. Arjuna never budges from his position. A man is a real winner when he is able to defeat his weakness. After almost 11 years, Shiva gets impressed by the penance of Arjuna. But the Pashupathi astra cannot be given to a man who does not deserve it. So, in order to test the real skill of Arjuna, Shiva comes in the form of a tribal.

He comes to Arjuna and disturbs him. Arjuna gets angry that a tribal disturbed him off his penance. The 11 years of hard work, he thinks is of waste just because some tribal man disturbed him. Angry at what happened, Arjuna starts to fight with the tribal with his bow. The tribal man cuts off the string of the bow of Arjuna. Arrogance can make man go to any extreme. Arjuna, at the heat of the moment, stuck a blow with the bow.

This is not the first time that Shiva is getting a blow from his own devotee. In the case of Kannapanayanaar, he got kicked on his own eye yet he gave him everything, a Muslim being an ardent devotee of Shiva threw stones at him like flowers for the sake of the society, but got the blessings of the lord. Here Arjuna is striking a blow with his back end of the bow but the Lord is just smiling. This instance of Shiva taking a blow is described to be just like how a father gets kicked by a little child on his chest during childhood. Here Shiva considers Arjuna to be his own son. So he accepts everything that Arjuna does. Now Shiva knows that a warrior to handle the Pashupathi Astra needs to have great strength in his hands and shoulders. It is not that easy to handle the Pashupathi Astra.

In order to test it the tribal man, Shiva asks Arjuna for a wrestling fight. In Ramayana, Dasaratha at the time of Rama's pattabhisekam for the first time before leaving the forest, comes to greet Rama and tells him that he is going to be the King of Ayodhya. Normally, in our houses we won't be hugging our loved ones very often. In those times also, the hugging will happen only when there is a long gap between two relations. Now, Dasaratha and Rama are meeting each other daily. But still Dasaratha comes to Rama and hugs him. Do you know why? It is because Dasaratha has been ruling the kingdom for more than 60 years. He is transferring a huge responsibility to Rama. While doing this he has to know whether Rama is physically capable of taking up such a huge responsibility. To know whether the physique of Rama is same as that of his father, Dasaratha hugs Rama and measures the shoulders of Rama. Likewise, Shiva here wants to know whether the shoulders of Arjuna can withstand the Pashupathi astra. This very instance teaches us the fact that everything in life has to be earned. Our great epics give us this knowledge. Arjuna kicks Shiva several times during the fight and Shiva smiles. Finally, the Pashupathi astra is given to Arjuna after a long battle and testing time to ensure that the weapon reaches the right person.

Arjuna's penance included the control of the mind and body. It shows how dedicated, people should be, while achieving their goals. The rock at Mahabalipuram, is a symbolic representation for mankind to know what level of concentration is required in order to achieve any task in this world. Everything has to be earned and everyone has to make themselves deserving for success.

-SATZ   

Great People have Different Perspectives

You can add the following stories to sutta(stolen)stories as I came to know about these after listening to speakers of various backgrounds. I understood one thing after I heard the stories. Good life is all about unconditional love, trust and being positive even in dire circumstances. I wish to tell these stories in Tamil rather than English. But I do not write well in Tamil than I speak Tamil so I stick on to the English that I know.

Yudhistra's Magic in Mahabaratha

Veda Vyasa, the great sage who compiled us the Mahabaratha had a very strange power of knowing everything about the past, present and the future(முக்காலமும் அறிந்த முனிவர்). Even if he knew, the sad thing was that he did not have the power to stop wrong things or neither the right things. But he can warn people for them to be aware of what is going to happen in their lives. Veda Vyasa told Yudhishtra, the eldest of the Pandavas, known for his Dharma, that he is going to be the reason for the war to start.  All the responsibility of the huge catastrophe that was about to happen was now on Yudhishtra. Duryodhana, the eldest of the Kauravas, comes to Yudhistra and asks "Do you want to play a war of dice or war of blood?(பகடை போர் அல்லது சண்டை போர்)" When encountered with this question, Yudhistra settles down for a war of dice. He very well knows that playing a war of dice is against Dharma. But still he has got the sole responsibility of safe guarding so many families. That is how the game of dice begins in Hastinapura.

Now, when he is playing the game, he is losing every time. All people are thinking that he is losing everything that he has but on the other hand he is just winning fate. He is keeping his jewellery, money, palace, brothers, people and finally he is keeping his own wife, Draupadi and loses everything. The point is that when Yudhistra is keeping every possession of his in the game of dice, nobody questions him. There is everybody in the coutyard. Vidura, Dronacharya, Bhisma, Kunti, Dhrithrashtra. Nobody questions his act. Bhima, who was not able to tolerate the act of his brother tells Arjuna to burn the hands of Yudhistra. But Arjuna advises Bhima that when Yudhistra does something, there would be an inner meaning in it. Nobody knows what Yudhistra is up against but all that they believe in is that when Yudhistra does something there will certainly be Dharma in it.

யுதிஸ்திரர் மகாபாரத போரை சூது ஆடி 13 ஆண்டுகழுக்கு நிறுத்தி வைத்தார்

When Yudhistra loses everything Pandavas are ordered to exile the forest for 13 long years. Everybody can curse Yudhistra, but what Yudhistra did was he changed the fate of Hastinapur. When he was losing the game of dice with Sakuni and Duryodhana, Yudhistra was on the other hand winning the war with fate. He very well knew that he did not have any power to stop what is going to happen. But all he knew was he had the power to postpone what was about to happen. He gave all the people of Hastinapur 13 more years to live, extra, than what he could have given if he had chosen the war of blood. He sacrificed everything for the sake of the people of Hastinapur, even his own wife. Even during the negotiation to start the war, Sri Krishna is instructed by Yudhistra that Krishna should first ask for 5 villages. If Duryodhana does not grant that then Yudhistra says that Krishna can think about the war. Yudhistra is the last person to accept the war and that too only because Duryodhana told that he won't even give a land equivalent to the tip of a needle to the Pandavas.  This is the mark of a true leader. He sacrifices small things and saves on the big ones. One thing that I understood from Yudhistra is that a leader cannot afford to lose sight of the bigger picture. As a ruler of the country, he should always focus his decisions towards the welfare of the people rather than anything else.

People of the country had the faith in Yudhistra which made them enjoy their living for 13 more years.

Brutus killed Ceasar, saved the country.

Just like how Yudhistra was given the options of war of dice or war of blood, Brutus was given the options of whether it is his country that he cares about or his friend, Ceasar. Ceasar during the stabbing tries to fight the 9 people who are stabbing him. Finally as the 10th man, Brutus stabs Ceasar. Ceasar doesn't stop him. Ceasar can see Brutus crying. Everybody knows the famous "You too, Brutus?". The perspective that everyone sees is entirely different from how Ceasar saw it. Ceasar had a deep faith in Brutus. He believed that for every act of Brutus there will be an obvious meaning in the act. That is what is called friendship. It is not only helping in the bad times but also understanding of the relationship.

Confucious and the Tongue

During the last days of his life, Confucious was asked by many people to tell his most important saying in his life. He was surrounded by people during the last day of his life. When he was asked the question, he opened his mouth and showed. People out of curiosity came and had a look at his mouth. He asked them what you can see. They told him that they were only able to see his tongue as his teeth had all fallen. He said "Don't be hard like the teeth. One day or the other it will fall. Be flexible like the tongue, you will live forever." He told the great message to humans through a simple illustration. A man should be flexible to last long. Again, it is in the perspective in which we view it which makes all the difference.

Mahatma Gandhi and the Snake near him.

Mahatma Gandhi was interviewed by the press during a time close to independence. Press people posed him with the question of "What are the main principles that he does follow?" Gandhiji told that there are two of them. One is Truth and the other is Ahimsa. Press people did not stop there. They gave him a situation and asked Gandhiji what he will do. They asked him that if there was a snake near Gandhiji and a stone near him, will he kill the snake with the stone or will he settle down to dying. What do you think Gandhiji would have replied? He said that he will kill the snake with the stone. When asked that how will you do it when it is against your principle of Ahimsa. Gandhiji explained them that, in every circumstance, he will try to maximize his efforts to carry out his principles but if the circumstances do not cater the use of his principles then only he will try to use something which is more practical. The people applauded for his Truth. Even in such a circumstance he is able to stick to his principle of telling the Truth. 

Mahakavi Bharathi and Yama

This is the most interesting story of them all. Mahakavi Bharathi, as you all know, was a tough man. He one day went to the temple where he had an elephant he was taming, giving food daily and worshiping everyday. On that particular day, the elephant was mad and ran over Bharathi. Bharathi died because of the elephant that he had nurtured. Bharathi, during his last days, told a sentence which I would like to tell in Tamil. Bharathi is telling Yama, the God of Death. 

"எப்போதும் எருமையில் வருபவன் யமன், இன்று என்னை அஞ்சி யானை சவாரி செய்து கொண்டு வந்தான், என்னை வதைபதர்க்கு. யமனும் கோழை ஆனான் இன்று. " 

"Today Yama became a coward by coming on an elephant to kill me, when he always comes in a buffalo to take lives."

How positive he is even at the time of death? I believe that this is what we need to learn from this great man. He had been quite different altogether right from a tender age. He read extensively all throughout his life. He lives with us through his writings today and his writings suggest that he will live for a very long time in the minds of people. Here again it is the perspective with which he viewed which makes him great.

Abraham Lincoln, The Pig and The Donkey.

Abraham Lincoln was a President of a kind. He was a humorist and also a great man. He was walking down a road one day when he found a pig was stuck in a ditch. He was the President of the country at that time. He went to the ditch and helped the pig out. His dress was smeared with ditch. He went to the White house with the same attire. The next day the press people made sure that the news was there in their papers. "The President helped a Pig out of a ditch without caring about getting dirty." Abraham Lincoln called the press people and told them to make a correction. He said that he did not help the Pig but himself. Press people asked how and he explained " If I did not help the pig then I would have been guilty all day for not helping it out when I can. So I helped myself rather than the pig." This is what makes these people great. The perspective with which they are able to view a situation. He becomes a great leader just because of this perspective. Though it is a pig, he is able to translate the pig's problem as his. This sense of responsibility only makes him great. He is making himself accountable for every problem in the society. Don't you think that this is the mark of a true leader?

On another occasion, while having dinner, Abraham Lincoln finished his dinner. He had a person sitting next to him and having dinner. This fellow wanted to somehow insult Abraham Lincoln. So he was waiting for an opportunity. Lincoln, once his dinner was over, stood up to wash his hands. He forgot to take with him the handkerchief that was one the table. The fellow next to him found this as an opportunity and drew an image of a donkey in the handkerchief. Abraham Lincoln came back after washing and headed straight for the handkerchief when he found that a donkey image was there on the handkerchief. Now he knew that the guy, sitting next to him had done it. He did not want to hurt the person and at the same time wanted to teach him a lesson. So what he did was ask only one question. "Sir, did you clean your face with my handkerchief?" The fellow was embarrassed and did not utter a word. Again, the perspective with which he handles a problem is a lesson for us.


Truly, great people have had different perspectives and that is what has made them great. With their way of thinking and the attitude with which they view their problems, they have made a positive difference in this world. Pardon me if there were any problems in my Tamil.

-SATZ

Yeah E-Q-U-A-L-I-T-Y

I have been involved in working for a NGO called NIN Society. It was started by some of the youngsters of my age in the year 2009. I have already posted about our philosophy (http://freshlypenned.blogspot.in/2013/07/helping-being-contagious.html). I quite liked the idea with which they work. Make helping contagious. Making people realise that helping is their duty. It struck a chord with what I already had in mind. A sole reason for me to associate with their activities.

I have been involving myself in many of NIN Society's projects now and it has always been a fascinating experience altogether. I cherish the opportunity for sure. I have been able to know more about the attitude of people towards the society and the impact of their individualistic nature on the growth of the society. The magnitude of the task that we have in hand is humongous when we see it at a micro level. Make helping contagious. Given the status quo at one end, it is like taking the world towards the ideal end. From my experience, it is hard to crack the shell. Egos. Some people do not want to help others. It is like they do not have it in their genes. When they do not have enough time to think about their own life how is it virtually possible to think about others? Tough and good question. The hardest nut shell to crack. Some people in spite of their life commitments have the intention for sure but nothing would materialize into actual help. I appreciate the intention though. Some people help a little but not fully. I appreciate the little help but it would seem like they should have been quiet in the first place rather than take the decision of helping others. Only a few really want to make it big. They really influence the society. They make a huge difference in the community and take it to another level. When we are able to dissolve these differences in the helping nature of people and make people realize that helping is their duty, then even our profession becomes a help and thereby our duty. If this is the perspective with which a teacher and student operate then we will have every student successful with highest quality. Salary and money are then mere words.

I have been a part of a program that involves the uplifting of educational status of students of a village. The thought of helping those students came out when we identified that education can be the only tool to make the economic status and cultural status of the locality better. We are currently providing education for the students by using Skype sessions through a passionate teacher and also guiding them to get fluent with their English. Basically the interaction with them is almost every weekend. We help them with their English language. It is mutual learning. I learn a lot of Tamil words that I normally don't use when I speak to people by teaching them English through Tamil. 3 or 4 sessions have passed by and it is getting interesting. They have started asking doubts. They are involving themselves and showing the interest to learn. They come regularly to the classes. Given their conditions, I would have not studied till what I have studied for sure. You might ask me what difference we have made. The difference is not much. But for a 3-4 session period we have made them realize that language is around them like everything else. I consider it as a great achievement. They see language with a different sense now. Our success is making them ask questions to us and improving their inquisitiveness.

A few days back, a friend of mine called me. We had a chat after a very long time. He told me about how scary it is to see the generations after us. He told that it is very scary to see the smartness of 10th standard students and their exposure to technology. He added that we need to expose ourselves and update ourselves much more than what we are doing. In a sense, he is right. I was travelling in a bus the other day when I saw a final year student having a Samsung smart phone in his hand and interacting with his friend on the other side. After the interaction, he was typing in the small screen. It would have most probably been a WhatsApp or a Facebook. Thanks to Zucker.

I was actually travelling towards the village. It was the start of the English class for the students. We wanted to know where to start their English from. So to test their vocabulary we told them to write 10 words in English with their meaning in Tamil. We expected inhibitions but they in fact were ready to write more than 10. After making them write, we checked what they had written. It was scary. For many basic words like "She", they did not know the correct meaning. They are 11th standard students.
When compared to what my friend told the other day, what I was seeing was exactly another world. There was a world of difference between the smart kids of the city that my friend told and the ones that I was seeing. Why is there such a difference? After moving with the teachers in those schools and the students at village school, we clearly understood one gap. All that the students needed was someone to spend the time with them. They have the same capacity as that of the students of the city. They in fact have more interest in the subjects given their economic circumstances and family background.

The real scenario at schools in villages is that the desired quality that city students come out with is not to be seen in some students in the villages. On inquiry, one problem that we found out with the village school is that teachers come to the locality with the aim of having a work experience of 1 year. Because as per the government norms they are in need of the rural background experience of 1 year for getting transferred to the city and to have a good life for another 3 years, after which they get confirmed. They slog for 1 year in the locality tolerating the elephant-human conflicts that prevail and other transport problems and get transferred. They are able to follow their students for 1 year and then the new teacher comes in. He/She starts afresh. The attention on the students are very minimal in this case. Again the teachers cannot be blamed. They have their own lives to look at. Probably there should be a better system devised to handle the problem. Parents also play a very important role in the quality of the students. Parents should do their part of imparting the right atmosphere to the students as the time spent at home is more than at school.

When I came back down from the village on that day, I was thinking all along the way about why they need us. In fact the country should be able to work without the help of NGOs. Or in the other way, working of NGOs have to have a positive effect on the growth of the country. Tangibly or Intangibly. Have we got a measure of how much NGOs should contribute and how much the government and other agencies should contribute to the growth of such villages? We can't change the parents or teachers but maybe we can have a better system of handling the problem.Why can't every student at villages get the standard education that city students are able to get easily? In what way is there a difference in potential of the students? When you take ourselves as one entity, then we will have the differences made clear to everybody. There is difference in standards and it is hard and tough reality. As far as I have read about brain studies, skill development is common for all. If it is so, why is skill GIVING not made common for all? When a cricket match can be played with the same pitch conditions for both the teams, why can't education be the same for every village and city student? Aim should be to make the system like a parade wherein everybody moves to the same drum beat.

Yeah, we are talking about EQUALITY. Yeah E-Q-U-A-L-I-T-Y.

-SATZ

Order from Chaos

I recently read a book called "The Goal" by Eliyahu M Goldratt. A well known personality, he is known for his way of handling problems in industries, through what people call as the "common sense". He is a genius. From the book, I learnt one thing. That Goldratt can think easily. He is well known for his concept of "Theory of Constraints". He has built the concepts with pure common sense and with some down-to-earth thinking. Nevertheless, he has shown a lot of intuitiveness and dedicated thinking to arrive at the concepts. There was a small story in the book that got my attention very much and made me realize a greater picture. The experience might be the key for many problems.

Mendeleev was a chemist and a scientist. We all know him through the ever confusing "Periodic Table". I don't know how it is for others but for me Chemistry has always been a mystery. I have tried to study it in many different ways but I have not been able to drill any of those mind-boggling chemical equations into my head. I remember that I used to write every equation 15 -20 times especially those of Organic Chemistry. Bloody hell with it. It doesn't just get into the mind. Anyway, let me come to the real story.  Mendeleev did this astonishing work of finding the Periodic Table. So how did he really do it when others didn't? What really happened? Let us see.

Mendeleev wanted to arrange all chemical elements. Normally, when you have data, especially a large amount of data you will have the problem of finding an arrangement that would possibly be of any use to the world. It is difficult because there can be a lot of combinations and permutations possible and you don't know which would serve the best of your purpose. So why Mendeleev and his Periodic Table are popular?

When Mendeleev decided to arrange all elements, he did not know which arrangement to choose. He had a lot of parameters. Atomic weight, specific gravity, electrical conductivity, chemical behaviour etc. Now you can get an idea of the magnitude of the problem he faced. With a little patience, he decided to try out one by one. He chose to use a quantitative measurement that was known for each element and which did not change as a function of temperature or the state of the substance. He took atomic weight as a unique numerical identifier and he started arranging elements like the soldiers of an army in a line. So what is the big deal? All he found was this. Any little intelligent fellow would do this.

Mendeleev would have been ordinary if he had stopped there. But what he did was astonishing. He did not arrange the elements in one line. He identified that each seventh element represents basically the same chemical behaviour, though with increased intensity. For example, in the first column, Lithium which is the lightest of all metals and which when put into water becomes warm. Below it is Sodium, which when put into water, flames. The next one is Potassium which reacts even more violently with water. The last one is Cesium which flames even in regular air. He did not find all the elements. He had a lot of holes in the Periodic table. But this classification gave him the ability to predict the weight and other properties. 

After this was presented, Mendeleev became the laughing stock of the entire community of scientists. Now, the table was not arranged as I told you before. Hydrogen was floating above the table, not actually in any column, and some rows didn't have one element in their seventh column. Several elements were crowded in one spot. It looked a lot more messy that what we have now. This table that Mendeleev presented was the predictive model for the discovery of other elements. It worked with such surprising accuracy. It took some years, but while he was still alive all the elements that Mendeleev predicted were found. The last of the elements that he 'invented' was found sixteen years later. He predicted that it would be a dark gray metal. It was. He predicted its atomic weight would be about 72; in reality it was 72.32. Its specific gravity he thought would be about 5.5 and it was 5.47.

Ten years after the table was accepted, the noble gases were discovered. It so happened that the table had to have eight columns rather than seven. Mendeleev's table became an admiration.

Point here is that we are all trying to do this in our professions. It is not only for a chemist or a scientist. Even in our day to day life what we are trying to do is create order from chaos. All professions work towards the same goal. We try to find the intrinsic order. By intrinsic order, I mean we are trying to find the order that is already there, only seen in a chaotic manner. We just have to find it. What we need is a very simple tool to achieve this. Thinking processes. When you have a thinking process, you can create order from chaos, irrespective of your profession. Only thing is that you need to know how to apply. How to apply the thinking process to different professions? It stems from the fact of what you want to achieve. 

If Chemistry was taught like this I would have probably known all those chemical equations, without strain. Who really cares what you know nowadays? What speaks are the marks that you get? Students are made to cram and jam stuff into their heads, vomit in their exam paper, get marks, get a seat in college, cram and jam again and wonder what happened to the process. Here as well we are in need of a thinking process to help us find the order in what chaos we created. 

Find the Intrinsic order. Order from chaos will result from passion. A journey towards excellence is nothing but creating Order form Chaos. The journey involves thinking, a thinking deeply associated with the spirit of excellence. Let's find the order. In ourselves.

-SATZ

India: Accomodate the Automysophobics and Amathophobics

Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu. 

I wanted to call him and slap him around. But then he is not to be blamed. The whole nation has done it so far and doing it. Although, after what has been announced, it could have been avoided. I was walking towards a bus stand and the two minute walk made me think about "Clean India movement" very seriously. A man in front of me, who was walking, stopped for a moment, spitted in the middle of the pedestrian area and resumed his walking. My attention turned to the ground so as not to step on the crap that he has created. I was taken aback, when I noticed that the 200m of distance, which I had to walk till I reached the bus stand, was covered with a lot more of those spitting. It is not that we have not experienced this before. So far we have been doing this, but we need to realize our mistakes at least after somebody has started pointing at it. Is it not a shame, that the government has to tell us to keep our cities clean? Keeping every place clean is the duty of every citizen of this country. Even if we cannot clean it, at least we should have the basic courtesy of not making it dirty. What if somebody is getting a disease because of this? How do we know that it is not happening? 

India would become more than half clean, if we can make people stop spitting around like this.

I was thinking about this for a while when I wondered, maybe there is a lot of mistake on my part too. I should have questioned the act in the first place. I thought, probably, I am the problem. I just did not commit myself to keeping my city clean. If I had questioned the act, at least the next time he does something like that, he would think twice before doing it.

While I was deeply cursing myself about this, I was reminded of the ad campaign of Clean India. In the ad, for every act of dirtying, embarrassment will be gifted to the person by the people around in the form of sarcasm. It would make them realize his/her mistake then and there. I thought we can also create a campaign of this sort, in our city. A group of 10-12 friends can spread around in a place. Once an act of dirtying has been spotted, everybody can start clapping hands and come closer towards the person responsible for the act. This would be a decent way of telling that it is bad to do such an act. The next time he will think about this and refrain from doing. 

Recently, we all would have read about Ebola. The spread of the disease has affected many people already. There has been a stringent protocol set by doctors to curb the spreading. We can also avoid the spreading once we follow this standard protocol. However, the real complexity of the situation lies in finding out who has got the disease. Our health ministry has taken the efforts to seal the disease at the entrance itself by having special security checks for people coming from the epicenter countries. But let's say, in spite of the checks, we give a green card to an ebola patient in the country. The question is can India stop it from spreading, with still 600 million people defecating in the open? Are we not going to breed the disease ourselves by having a situation like this? We are not going to be surviving now without having proper sanitation. There is a tremendous urgency that we need to show to improve our sanitation. It just would be out of our hands, even before we realize that the disease is spreading. It is high time we act towards this by having proper infrastructure. 

The point here is sanitation, personal hygiene and a clean city are the basic requirements of any society. If we work together as a team, we can make it happen. After all, the government has given an opportunity for the people to change. We have this Metathesiophobia (Fear of changes) that we need to come out of. Once we accept to change, the change will start becoming evident. 

I recently read in a website, that Asia's cleanest village is in India. It is Mawlynnong village, Meghalaya. It is known as "God's own Garden." See we are already there. We can take this village up as our benchmark and change our cities. We can adopt their practices with open mind.

God's own Garden. Learn from the God village. 

A photo of an area of the village

I got out from the bus still thinking about these and in the process of thinking, I forgot to get the change back from the bus conductor. Lost Rs.12 in envisioning a Clean India. I wish India becomes Clean just for my loss. :P

By the way, Automysophobia is the Fear of being dirty and Amathophobia is the Fear of dust.

Let's make the whole country clean for the Automysophobics and the Amathophobics. Let's make it dust free.

-SATZ