ERA OF POST DEMONETISATION

There has been some amount of success in the demon-isation of the demonetisation move by the Modi Government, especially after the end of 50 days. The continuous tirade by the Media and the Opposition parties din did succeed in sowing an element of doubt in the minds of people. The debate continues whether it is beneficial or has achieved the desired objective. There were divergent views by several economists including the Nobel prize winner Amartya Sen who is on his didi's side. Economics, like psychology is a subject where the outcome cannot be predicted. Economy depends on the markets which ,in turn, depends on peoples. thoughts and behavior. Opinions sway the people and short term success of any move depends on that. 

We all have witnessed many circumstances when good intentions have turned sour. In this case, the intention was made clear from the beginning. An exervise of this scale would have caused havoc  if not planned properly. Some deviations are only natural fallouts particularly in a diverse country like ours which have been addressed through periodic notifications. But people were expecting some immediate sops as a reward at the end of 50 days and when that did not come through as expected, they probably got disappointed. 

Has it helped in the fight against the corrupt, black-marketeers, hoarders and terrorists?. Apart from all the Government initiatives in this direction, it mostly dependis on the people. I am sure majority of people want a clean society though they may not express it emphatically. So the fight has to continue. If the money generated can be put to good use, such as to eradicate poverty and illiteracy and used for education and strengthening justice to the citizens it would serve the purpose. Black economy is like living in a dark room. The honest people will never get anything good and dirt will always be hidden.

Then the question arises, 'Has it done any harm?.'. There have been some cases reported that some people have found hardships, particularly in rural areas, who could not transact through digital means. and growth rate as also the GDP have slowed down. These are at best temporary phenomenon, nothing that cannot be retrived. There have been  news of some deaths. Life is precious and it must be investigated if those have any bearing on demonetisation. 

JOINT FAMILY – A FORGOTTEN TRADITION

In my younger days, as also with others my age (I am now 55), I fondly remember spending my younger days with all my cousins having  lots of fun and frolic in a huge house. We as children were unaware of any family differences between the elders. Not that there were no fights between us children, but often it passed off as passing phase. We did observe however, that our parents went about doing specific tasks by sharing the total work. We imbibed qualities of sharing, adjusting, delegation into our character. Our grandparents were darlings.who were compassion incarnate. We gleefully awaited sleeping time everyday, that used to come early, so that we could hear from one grandparent those beautiful stories of Krishna, Ram, Eklavya and so many others. These taught us values. We observed the authority of the  seniormost member of the family who was respected. At the sametime observed the opinions sought from all. We learnt good governance. The festivals and marriages had meaning. They were mini melas, the celebrations  palpable, the spirits high, the involvement true. The kitchen was a small factory whose produce were awaited and enjoyed by all of the family as well as guests. The houses were surrounded by various trees and plants and we contributed Uto tending them. We climbed, touched & hugged them as if they were part of the family. Small problems got dissolved and almost never came into the open. Family crisis were handled together and individual crisis got the support of the entire family. There were affection, bonding and  unity. There was freedom for the righteousness, but not for wrongdoings. The punishment was immediate and insulting to the offender. So there was an unwritten penal code.

In the last 40 years, this system started breaking up and today lie shattered, giving rise to a lot of social problems. Now the cases have piled up in courts due to a lack of such shock-absorbers. There is a decay in values. So called freedom, wrongly understood from western culture,  has turned individuals into self-centered behavior damaging surroundings and environment. The technology, such as mobile phones, more misused than used have contributed more to an overall degradation.

The youth of today must think about rights & wrongs. I have found a tendency in youth of today to summarily reject anything connected with tradition.They must acknowledge the inherent goodness in them and adopt its merits. They cannot have short-term perspectives in this because nature & societies are permanant and in a way guardians of our race.

WHERE DO WOMEN STAND IN OUR SOCIETY?

First of all, let me tell you that I am a male and do not want to be judgemental. I just want to throw up a few thoughts for both male and female readers.

Biologically, in any organism, male and female exist. Apart from child bearing,a female has a role to play and so has a male in the smallest unit of society called a family.

Upto 3 years of a child, most of its needs is taken care by the mother. During this phase, the child cannot speak, and communications are not clear, so there is bound to be problems. But this problem is borne by the mother. And the problems can be a great variety, be it hunger, sickness, discomfort, likes & dislikes, wants etc. Do men have such variety of problems with your subordinates or employees.

Have the men noticed the bargaining skills of their wives when shopping. Or  with the vendor selling vegetables?. Next time these men should calculate the percentage of savings.

Have men witnessed women getting the work done from the maid-servants in the house? Just try to equate it with men getting the job done from plumber or electrician. More often they will compromise with the work done ( even sub-standard output) and pay what he asks for, but not women.

Okay. Let us assume that in a family a man is the sole earning member ( a rarity these days). He  hands over a fixed amount to his  wife every month and asks her to manage within that. Examine how she does it. This man may probably take a hint for running his  departmental budget in his company.

Most of the companies have let out housekeeping to women, because it is obvious, isn’t it?. Now HR is being increasingly allotted to women. These jobs demand patience as a virtue and men do not seem to have it nowadays. Presently women have also started to lose this virtue. 

Media projects women serving in army as breaking male bastion. Similarly women have been shown to drive planes,trains and buses. Protection & such outdoor activities have been male preserve for centuries. Instead of  breaking male bastion it is rather denying or appropriating his property, in a way. Lot of women took to jobs and the Government got burdened with providing employment to more people than it could generate. This resulted in both male and female working in many families (to augument their collective income) and none employed in some. Will it not cause a social unrest?.

The current generation of young women have become far removed from tradition. In a new marriage, both the male and female go to work defeating the very purpose of wedlocks. In such homes, food is often sourced from outside and only the night may be spent at home just as if in a hotel. So pitiable is the situation when they leave their 2 year old child in a crèche on the way to work 5 or 6 days in a week, 12 hours daily. It probably is the need of present days that both man and the women go to work. But the source for this is the greed to earn more. We should probably look at the welfare of the society rather than its greed. The solution for this has to evolve through good sense. 

HOW SHOULD ONE VOTE IN ELECTIONS IN INDIA

Most Indian do not have enough awareness about the power of his vote because of illiteracy, ignorance among even educated people as to how our Government works.

While Electral reforms are very much overdue, till such time that such reforms see the light of the day, all that people can do is to vote wisely. I am listing below a few points which should set one's mind thinking as to how to make our Government truly representative, which is the ideal envisioned by the writers of the Constitution.

Selection of candidates : Political Parties should consider nominating its candidates based on his conduct, outlook and character.  The candidate should be educated and have a philanthropic mindset. He should be having a broad mind and show tendency for public welfare. Above all, he should be a selfless worker who has only people's welfare at heart. Needless to day, Parties should nominate candidates who have impeccable honesty and sincerity of purpose. If there is no such person available with them in a particular constituency, they should not nominate anybody and let the opposition candidate who may have a good character win. The candidate should be above the consideration of religion, caste, race or creed.

People's Choice : People should realise that their vote is very important and therefore should neither waste it nor misuse it. The following points should be considered by the voter.
- He should thoroughly examine all the candidates list ( better if there are not more than 3 or 4 to choose from )
- He should get to know each candidate, his profession and work, his social standing, educational background, and his ability and intentions. This information should be shared with his friends, neighbours and relatives. He should scan the national dailies to know about the work the candidate has done for the constituency. He should urge the neighbouring dailies to carry articles about the candidate and verify them. Here he should be wary of false showing and examine whether he is genuine.
- In the National elections, do not encourage more than 3 parties. the voter should consider only national parties of repute and standing and discourage innumerable other parties. In State elections, again, not more than 4 parties should be encouraged, two from national and two from local.
- the voter should not vote for partisan consideration. i.e a muslim should not vote for a muslim, a christian for a christian, a particular community for the candidate from that community, a particular caste for a person from his caste. These considerations have no place here. The candidate should be  anyway above all these petty considerations and is truly representative of his people.
- Any criminals if in the Candidates list should be made to loose his deposit and he should fortify his chance thereafter. 

People should demand that the channel of communication with the candidate is open even after his election. This way, any issue taken up by the representative of the people is truly that.

Every constituency should send a true representative to the parliament so that it is really becomes the rule of the people. The real issues of the people are taken up in the Parliament of the Country and critical issues which can ensure the welfare of the people are taken up for Act making. This way, the Indian Constitution is well protected and all the wings of the Government such as the judiciary, the Taxing and Finance, the Railways, Justice, and Watchdog agencies are able to discharge genuine service to the people of the Country without interference.

General Elections are due in this Country in 2014. Whoever is reading this should resolve as well spread the message so that it is a landmark election where the right candidate wins and
Country's future is in safe hands.

A DREAM

Last night I had a dream. In the dream, I am a dignitary of the Government of India attending a world summit. The following is the interview I gave to an alien journalist who met me. 

Q : Please describe the geography of your country?. 

A : Our country extends from Kashmir ( which we are struggling to hold ) in the North to Kanyakumari in South touching Indian Ocean. From East, they call as North-Eastern States (about which we do not know much) to Kandla port in the West. 

Q : What is the kind of people living in your country?. 

A : We are said to be decendants of the oldest religion in the world called Hinduism. But most of we Indians do not practise that. We are more attracted to Western culture where there is money. 

Q : What is your official language?. 

A : I, frankly, do not know. There are so many. 

Q : What, no common language?!. What unifies your country then?. 

A : Nothing except for the fact that all the sufferers of the world are packed into this country by God. 

Q : Do you have any caste system?. 

A : Yes, Only two castes. The politicians are the upper castes and the rest of the people are lower castes. 

Q : Tell me something about the class system that exists in your country. 

A : There again we have only two classes. One, those who stand in queue outside of the ration shops for hours and two, those who don’t. 

Q : Yours is a Democratic Country?. 

A : Yes, very much. We adhere to the principle : The rule of the Government, by the Government, for the Government. 

Q : Is not your country plagued with corruption?. 

A : That is our way of life learned over the past 60 years since Independence. Not only monetary corruption but also corruption in thinking; corruption in actions………… 

Q : What is the economic situation of your Country?. 

A : Well, we had great wealth, natural that is.. For centuries the invaders plundered and looted us. Now our politicians are given sole rights for that. 

Q : What is the best investment option in your country?. 

A : For an Organisation who want to invest in our country, the best option is to open schools and colleges. Those are the best as far as the returns on investment are concerned. But in Individual capacity, one can become a Doctor of Medicine. Then you can even go to moon within a short time. 

Q : I heard that your country is fast becoming an automobile haven of the world. 

A : Yes, that is true. We are having a plan by which we will have automobile factories here and roads in some other countries. 

Q : Some of the richest men in Forbes list are from your country?! 

A : Oh, that is our sport, like Olympics. Some of our people compete in such games and won a few medals for the country. 

Q : China is seen as a competition to your country. Is there any plan to overtake them? 

A : Yes, we sure want to overtake their population by 2020 if not earlier. 

Q : Your country was hailed as Asian Tiger!!! 

A : That is due to the success of our Project Tiger. You see, we have been able to increase our tiger population in Asia. 

Q : Some say that your country is set to become the economic power of the world. 

A : Yes, we will rewrite Economics. 

The alien journalist then thanked me for my valuable time and departed.

HOW LIFE IN OUR BHARAT SHOULD HAVE BEEN

The ancient scriptures of our land that had been written by great learned sages and Rishis had documented different aspects of life to guide a man born here. These truths are possibly the result of divine revelations rather than an extensive research in anthropology. A comparison of what had been laid out in the scriptures may throw some light on how much we have deviated from nature.

Life as prescribed in the scriptures :

Castes : The society was divided into four major castes, viz., Brahmins, Vaishyas, Kshatriyas and Shudhras. The caste system was a reflection of the type of society rather than an instrument of persecution or imposition. Moreover the castes were not based on one's birth into a particular caste family; far from it, it was determined by the ‘Gunas’ exhibited by an individual. ie., a person born to a kshatriya could acquire brahminical traits and recognition and vice-versa. Eg. Prahalad, born to a kshatriya king exhibited traits of a Brahmin; Emperor Ashoka is another example. No caste was considered to be a degrade compared to the other and each had a role, responsibility and duty to perform.

Gunas : The behavior of an individual was classified into 3 main categories. Viz, Saatvik, Rajas and Tamas. Saatvik guna represented detachment, calmness of mind, mind devoid of desire, contentment, serene and compassionate. Rajasic guna represented people with leadership qualitites, ambition to achieve, and authority. Kings were expected to possess such qualities. Tamassic qualities meant a meek, servile nature. Every individual is said to possess all the three gunas in certain proportions with one of them predominant. Thus Saatvik guna was attributed to Brahmins, Rajassic to Kshatriyas and Vaishyas and Tamassic to Shudhras.

Stages of Life: The lifespan of an individual was divided into three main stages based on ones duties and the expectation of the society. They are Brahmacharaya, Gruhastha and Vanaprastha.At about 8-9 years of age a boy was inducted into the stage of Brahmacharaya, which is basically a student life. All the boys from all the castes were inducted into this stage. The students learnt various arts and skills apart from knowledge of the scriptures. The learning centres were the Gurukul which were run by learned sages and savants. The skills taught to the students depended on the assessment of the gurus of the gurukul, who did it without any prejudice. The education involved both therotical and practical. The student was left in complete charge of the master of the Gurukul and parents could not interfere into its activities, which remained largely unblemished. This was applicable even to the kings. The kings son was treated the same way as other boys in the Gurukul carrying out the same activities.

Once this stage got completed, the boys marriage was performed and his role changed to providing for his family through the pursuit of an honourable profession. At this stage, the duties of the individual was stressed. That included duty towards his family, the society, devotion to his profession, duty towards his parents, his forefathers alive and dead, duty towards all the sages, rishis who gave so much of the knowledge and the duty towards rearing up of his children and provide them resources to be useful to society later. The last stage of Vanaprastham was adopted when the individual had finished all his duties towards his family and children. He was expected to retire to the forests where he would live on fruits and vegetables and spend his time meditating on God.

Composition of the body and nature: The sacred truth one learns here is that the human body is made up of the same materials that make up the nature around him. ie.. The Panchboothams. They are air, water, fire, ether and earth. These five elements are present in perfect proportions in the unspoilt nature. The same five elements in different proportions make up the human body. The individual must always keep these five elements in his body in balanced proportions for leading a healthy life. Even if one of these elements goes out of proportion, it will lead to damaging results. For eg.when an individual becomes angry, the fire in him increases out of proportion which may lead to certain harmful effects in his body. If one is fat, he is basically increasing the earth proportion in him which must be avoided.

But life in actuality at present times:

Caste :In the present days the castes are divided purely based on ones birth. Eg. a Brahmin born in a Brahmin family becomes one throughout his life. The caste system came to be imposed on the individual leading to a lot of acrimony in the society. It became a tool for persecution and exploitation.

Gunas : These gunas are not well recognized in our present society. Todays society does not appreciate Saatvik guna though the scriptures proclaim it to be ultimate to happiness. Rajassic is promoted to be the most desired behavior nowadays. But can everybody be a king, can everybody wield authority?. Similarly Tamassic guna is suppressed and exploited for selfish gains.

Stages of life : Students are admitted to the school at a very young age of 3 years and are expected to undergo 20 years or more of education that are largely irrelevant to his later life or to the society he lives in. The career of the individual is decided on the basis of his parents' choice, their social status and the financial prowess with little regard to the child’s aptitude. The school life consists more of mechanical activities that teach more of evil ways of the world rather than virtues. With the result evil, nowadays, occupies more of space in the human mind, leading to a life more and more chaotic day by day. The stress is laid on earning more money, wielding more power and authority. After school education , family is added. Children are brought into this world but duties are all forgotten.

Composition of the body and nature: The significance of these five elements is still not understood by this world in the real sense. Without realizing this fact, medicines are administered by the doctors to bring the elements of the body to balance. Since there is no realization that this body and nature are made up of the same matter, there is large scale misuse of the nature that has resulted in deforestation, climatic changes, natural disasters, global warming, extinction of the plant and animal species, unhealthy farming and plundering of natural resources.

While it is true that there will be a general decline in the values of the society where evil will slowly and surely occupy more and more space, the rate at which this is happening is alarming. Though there is no escape from this phenomenon, I wonder whether the rate of degradation, at least, is in the control of the people. But we also must know the final solution that is again mentioned in our scriptures. That there will be an ‘avatar’ to rid this world of the evil and to re-establish the ‘dharma’, which is the righteousness. Till such time however, mankind will suffer. Can our children endure such sufferings?.

Hinduism and its Rituals

Hinduism is based on Vedas. Vedas are a philosophy, in so much as it is a tretise on how to lead an ideal life rather than a religious do’s and don’t’s. Vedas do not bind any individual on its practise. They are but a guiding force, a torch for the man to equip himself in order to live a respectable life and achieve his Universal Goal.

This is where Hinduism differs from other religions. The holy books of other religions prescribe an individual his do’s and don’ts. There is, however, one part of Vedas that deals with the subject of rituals, which is mentioned as one’s duty which must be done in order to achieve the Universal Goal. In so much as the teachings in the Vedas are immortal and is valid for all times, its rituals prescribed may not be and can differ with the change. Over the years these rituals were modified by societies probably in line with the environment prevailing at that time. Such modifications if not done subsequently by changing societies, lead to superstitions. Strangely, the Organisations or individuals behind these modifications are largely unknown.

There are so many rituals that an individual is required to perform in his life which need to be considered in the present times. One of them is the rituals to be performed on the death of his relative. I am sure not many understand the significance behind these rituals. They blindly pay the money to the purohit to perform these rituals. Rituals done without a dedications and devotion are worse than not performing them. Some of the individuals are not able to perform such rituals. For eg. a son based abroad cannot be expected to perform these rituals in the true spirit. There are instances when purohits are not sincere and fleece the hapless man. In certain cities in our own country it is becoming increasingly difficult to find purohits to perform them. Also rituals vary depending on the communities and regions. There is something in such rituals called as ‘Dharma’ or charity, which the bereaved person is supposed to compulsorily give. But the quality and quantity varies with the interpretation of the priest. Sometimes it so happens that the sons and daughters of the priest are well settled abroad and the priest being well-to-do now feels below his dignity to received such charities. In the olden days when there were joint familes with many members in a family, the concept of family doctor or family priest existed. Both these have broken up in today’s world.

In other religions the procedure to be followed in the funeral service is done by the Institution, such as the Church or the Dargah. But in Hinduism this is left to the priest. There are some Hindu Organisations involved in such activities but they are confined to that small area.

Certain rituals are based on caste. The caste system itself has become irrelevant today and therefore the rituals based on these also stand redundant in today’s times.

The Hindu religious organisations must unify and research into these rituals. They must retain relevant and valid rituals and discard irrelevant and unwanted. They must also entrust the performance of such rituals to certain bodies employing priests who can guide the common men towards a satisfying performance of such rituals both in terms of quality and cost. The charges for various services can be prescribed. The quantum of charity can be left to the individual depending on his financial capability. In the absence of a laid out procedure an individual born in a Hindu family is always left with a dubious mind whether he has done his duty or not. He is forced to come to a compromise rather than a satisfaction that he has been able to perform his duty towards his relatives, neighbours and society at large.