Sushant Singh Rajput Suicide: Getting Young Minds Back On Track

Image courtesy: impawards.com

With the tragedy of Sushant Singh Rajput's death getting our attention in the last few days, I wanted share a few thoughts around getting our young minds back on track. This case caught my attention in particular since the actor was about my age.

At the time of writing, the circumstances around his death are still being investigated, but I am relying on the working theory that he took his life. Let us ignore the particulars of this unfortunate celebrity and his life, and instead focus on common boys and girls, men and women.

We see reports from time to time about violent reactions to failure or embarrassment - taking one's life due to an exam fail, boy throwing acid on the girl who spurned him, etc. To these, one might add related violent incidents like rape, recording a girl privately, etc which may be due to heightened libido among others. Why do some commit such actions (crimes, really)? Why is there a general increase in the incidence of such immorality and crimes? Who is at fault? How can we safeguard against them?

One of the common reactions to depression and the like is this: "let there be no stigma in getting professional help." I'm sorry, but going to a psychiatrist is always the trivial solution and doesn't help with the root causes one bit.

Here are 10 'root cause' questions that I think we need to answer and act on, not as individuals but as a society, for it is societal mores that may be far more important in shaping individuals and our collective destiny:

1. Is a perception of success more important than self-fulfillment?
2. Is a glamorous, high paying job more important than meaningful, decent paying work?
3. Is one encouraged to jump ship when there are setbacks or to stay the course - whether in a job or in personal relationships?
• Are impermanent and instant gratification more important than long-term, sustainable institution and relationship building -- whether in a job or in personal relationships?
4. Is consumption of mainstream entertainment of the libido-heightening variety really doing any good?
• Also, is it important for individuals to be truly part of our culture, rather than merely couch-potato consume what is dished out to them?
5. Are the majority of romantic relationships in teenage years anything more than looks-based?
6. Does there have to be a named bully for one to feel bullied, or can society and its norms be that bully?
7. Have greater privacy and relationship freedom been worthwhile for an individual, and are they making for greater health and happiness?
• What do we want the role of man and woman in the family to be for the benefit of us and our future generations? How have the changes in the past 50 years of both man and woman chasing money and equality worked out for society?
8. Are friendships that are beyond just having a good time important?
9. Are looking good and doing things that are glamorous more important than pursuing true fulfillment and happiness?
10. Is there value to spirituality and enlightenment when young, or is that to be reserved for retirement?

Beyond answering these questions for ourselves as individuals,  it is critical for our society to truly take charge of its destiny before it is too late.

If we don't, media companies and their 'content' will.

If we don't, dominant cultures with soft-power (especially America) will.

If we don't, multinational corporations and their products will.

If we don't, our own profit motive will.

...

...

To be sure, I am not advocating command and control or a rigid society. I am, however, advocating deliberate (re)design of society and its constituents in a manner that is sustainable and healthy on all fronts. You know, so we don't need to make a psychiatrist an essential commodity.

Peshwa Bajirao, and the 18th and 19th Centuries

Peshwa Madhav Rao, a successor of Bajirao.
Copyright Wikipedia. 

I watched the recent Bajirao Mastani movie, and started digging into history articles

The typical Indian's memory normally relates the following about the second millennium AD:

1. We had some native Hindu kings strewn across the country.
2. Muslims created successive empires headquartered in Delhi, with the Mughals being the most prominent and last of them.
3. The Mughals let British traders in, who ended up taking all of the country one kingdom after another by the 18th century
4. We got independence from the British in 1947.

The big problem with the above rendition is that this has too many glaring gaps.

Here are the glaring gaps, the way I see them. I am no expert on history, so any major aspects that I may have missed are welcome.

1. Muslim invasions into India happened almost exclusively from the Central Asian or Turkic lands. Whether it was Ghori or those that came after him.
2. By the mid 13th century, the Muslim invaders had settled down in India and started creating empire after empire based in Delhi. You are likely to have read in detail about the Delhi sultanates while in school.
3. During this time, Hindu kingdoms were not obliterated. Rather, they continued to exist, mainly under the suzerainty of an emperor, whether Mughal or other. As a subordinate ruler, you would pay quite a bit of tax to the emperor. This setup would continue right up to 1947, in fact with 100s of princes and kings 'ruling' over their kingdoms under the British Queen (via the Viceroy).
4. While the theory goes that the Mughals (at least) were all desi at heart, this is far from the truth. They still spoke the Central Asian or Turkic tongue at home, and the official language in court was Farsi. Urdu emerged due to adulteration of Farsi and the Turkic tongues (mainly of soldiers from those parts) with Hindi. 
5. Read more about how and when the Vijayanagar empire came into being, and its span; essentially all of South India.
6. By the end of the 17th century, the Mughals were in a decline, with Aurangzeb aging and Shivaji, the first Maratha Chatrapati establishing the beginnings of an empire.
7. After Shivaji, the Maratha struggle against the Mughals included Chatrapati Shahu being in Mughal prison for a good period of time. During his rule, the Peshwa (prime minister) become defactor ruler, based out of Pune.
8. Under Bajirao and his successor, the second hereditary Peshwa after Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath, Maratha expansion essentially brings some 75% of India under their control. A Peshwa would eventually align with the British and end up losing his empire.
1. In particular, Bajirao is known to have never lost a battle against any other (even larger) army, and set up his successors to expand rapidly. Too bad, they let it all go within a hundred years.
9. In effect, the Mughals were not the last empire that caved in before the British. It was a native empire.
10. It is worthwhile to mention that the Sikh empire too (in the 19th century) stood against invading rulers, including the British. Eventually they were routed, of course.

One wonders what could have happened if our native kings had been able to hold together against invaders. It is interesting to note that all the three native empires that actually fought valiantly and expanded themselves during different parts of the millennia sprang from the grassroots. This is true of the Vijayanagar, the Maratha/Peshwa, and the Sikh empires. 

It surprises me when as a people we feel patriotic about the Mughals, not knowing that they were as much invader and outsider till their very last days just like the British, and not even a fraction as much patriotism about the Marathas or the Sikhs and their empires.

The Tragedy of India's First Head of State

This is a photo-based blog, so, should be an easy read.

Our history textbooks tell a story of Gandhi leading India's struggle for Independence and then Nehru building her from the ground up single-handedly in 20th century India, in a narrative that makes them Gods in our eyes and excluded other towering personalities. Despite the grossly incorrect history that generations of Indians have been taught, many still rightly give due credit to others. In fact, when one analyzes history as it should be, one can easily see the gaps in the stories our Nehruvian historians peddle, and notice the glaring flaws in these politicians of the time; why, even question what Nehru's contribution really was in comparison to several others' that made him the first Prime Minister of Free India.

Ever since a controversy broke out last month surrounding declassification of secret intelligence files on Subhas Chandra Bose, I've learned so much more about the man (and Indian and world history of those times) from books, articles, and documentaries than I have in the last 30 years, that I wanted to share them with you. I hope that in the end you will agree with me that it was Bose who gave us our freedom, and how utterly ungrateful we have been to him. May there be nothing but curses on those that took undeserved credit for 1947 and tried to erase Bose's and others' names from our history, and whose sychophants continue to do so to this day.

I find that many react to these 'revelations' in ways that are entirely predictable given what they (and I) have been taught in history class in school, so I definitely welcome a debate.

I present to you this small tribute to modern Undivided India's first and only Indian Head of State, His Excellency Subhas Chandra Bose. 

I am only touching the key aspects here, and I recommend (at end of this article) some resources to start with if you are interested in learning more.

Subhas Chandra Bose was born, 1897, in Cuttack, to a well-to-do lawyer who considered himself a loyal subject of the British Empire.
Photo courtesy: wikimedia.org 

Bose studied at Presidency College (was expelled for beating up a racist and anti-Indian British professor) and then graduated from Scottish Church College in Calcutta. After this, he headed to Cambridge to study and to appear in the Indian Civil Service (ICS) exams to satisfy his father's wishes. He was selected in the top 4 that year, but declined to serve the British government.
Image courtesy: defencelover.in

Upon return to India, Bose had a packed 1920s, growing in stature as a man of action across Bengal and within the Indian National Congress. Elected head of the Youth Congress, Bengal State Congress, and then CEO of Calcutta Municipal Corporation, he became well known not just for nationalism, but also public service as an efficient manager during floods, etc. Above is Bose in uniform as General Officer Commanding of the Congress Volunteer Corps in 1929, with Motilal Nehru taking salute. Bose's infantry training in college appears to have been a positive influence.
Image courtesy: wikimedia.org

Bose appears to have had a vision that included foreign and expat support for overthrowing the British right from his early days. Above is Bose in 1926 at the inauguration of the India Society in Prague. Not only a vision; as you will see later, he appears to have steadily gained respect from and developed diplomatic and espionage contacts in the subcontinent, its peripheries, and in the West, which would come to his aid in liberating our motherland.
Image courtesy: wikimedia.org

Going to jail for nationalist activities became a common feature for Bose in the 1920s and 1930s, including Mandalay jail in Burma. He contracted tuberculosis and other ailments. The British do not want him to become a martyr and allowed him to leave jail on condition that he leave the country for treatment. Above is Bose convalescing in Austria, 1933, where he also met his future wife, Emelia Schenkl.
Image courtesy: wikimedia.org

Bose returned from Europe, was elected head of the Congress in 1938, and soon started running into opposition from Gandhi and his 'Congress Working Committee' coterie who do not want to support Bose's goal of complete Swaraj. Instead, they wanted to stay a dominion of the British and continue to appeal for incremental privileges. 
Image courtesy: wikimedia.org

Bose appears to have been a very popular man as a decisive leader, and one whose stand and vision appear to have resonated with the youth, in stark comparison to the fairly docile and unsuccessful civil disobedience approach that had been in vogue for decades under Gandhi. Here, Bose being received at Lahore railway station. His popularity and pan-India appeal appear to have been second to none, except perhaps the much-senior and longer-time politician Gandhi.
Image courtesy: wikimedia.org

Bose's political stature and vision for India's independence had increased and matured to great heights by the end of the 1930s. Here, Bose arriving at the 1939 Tripuri Congress session, where he was elected president again, much to the embarrassment of Gandhi, whose candidate was defeated. This, with Bose hardly even campaigning. Nehru appears to have started viewing Bose as a political rival by this time, undermining him and the struggle for India's independence for petty political gains where possible. Read Bose's infamous 27-page letter to Nehru (at missionnetaji.org) that describes how.
Image courtesy: wikimedia.org

1939 was an interesting time in the world, with much significance for India. Bose foresaw World War II months before the war actually started. He wanted to stop Britain from forcing Indian soldiers to die in yet another big war for the Empire's benefit, and wanted to give the British an ultimatum of 6 months to leave India. Gandhi, Nehru and their coterie would oppose Bose tooth and nail in 1939, terming Bose's suggestion morally incorrect, but went on to do essentially the same with the Quit India movement in 1942, which soon fizzled out for various reasons. Bose was manoeuvred out of the Congress (read more about the infamous Tripuri Congress of 1939), and he then formed the Forward Bloc as a political alternative.
Image courtesy: rediff.com

In late 1940, Bose was under house-arrest in Calcutta, and he planned his legendary escape with the help of nephew Sisir Bose in January 1941. The car that Sisir drove his uncle in is now a national treasure. This was perhaps the last time that Bose was in India as a civilian. He made the arduous journey from Calcutta to Peshawar, and via Kabul to Moscow and eventually ended up in Berlin in James Bond like fashion. His diplomatic contacts would come in handy, and the revolutionary leader had safe passage beyond Kabul disguised as a European with an Italian passport. 'Safe' is perhaps the wrong word to use in this context, for he was almost caught by the British while getting through Peshawar to Kabul, when he was disguised as a Pathan, and likely faced similar risks all the way through.

Image courtesy: kolkataonwheels.com

Bose was received and supported by the German (Nazi) leadership, and in due course got  funds for the Free India Society in Berlin. He also established a Free India Radio station from which he broadcast frequently in different languages, which became very popular among Indians across the world. By now, Bose had become a nightmare and enemy #1 for the British, whose intelligence agencies were keeping track of him and his alliance with the Axis powers. This was early days in WWII, and the pendulum could have swung in either direction. Britain had everything to lose. To those that believe Bose should not have allied with the devil himself, note that Bose was critical of Hitler's racism and especially demeaning references to Indians in his Mein Kampf. Heinrich Himmler, the head of the SS, with knowledge of India's history and culture, appears to have been more supportive of Bose than Hitler. Bose was not supporting the Nazis' every action, as some lunatic critics would have you believe. As always in international relations, each State has its own interests to safeguard, and the only common ground here was their mutual enemy, Britain. The alternate to Bose's push for full freedom was in full swing within India, business as usual - with Gandhi and Nehru 'for' fighting alongside Britain in return for concessions from them - more autonomy, etc.

Image courtesy: wikimedia.org

I've tried to summarize Bose's alliance with Germany in short paragraphs, cutting out a lot of political detail and progress (including global propaganda) he made over the months and years. Bose got Hitler first and Mussolini next to allow Indian prisoners of war under Axis control to be trained by them as the Indian Legion, the Azad Hind Fauj and was declared their leader. It was not easy for Bose to recruit the PoWs, but he gained their respect and they began calling him Netaji. Note that from Joseph Goebbels' records, the Nazis viewed it their success that Bose agreed to declare war on Britian in the Indian subcontinent with German support. Mussolini as well as the Japanese rounded out the Axis powers to make a tripartite declaration of Indian independence, with Bose as the revolutionary government's head. The Axis powers recognized India's importance to Britain, and Britain on her part recognized the threat that Bose posed. There was no negotiation or compromise to be expected from Bose, which made him enemy #1 of the Empire, and not a mere law and order nuisance that was met with a lathi charge and jailing. Imagine Britain's reactions to communication among the Axis powers referring to Bose as His Excellency...

Image courtesy: wikimedia.org

Bose's plan was to wait for Germany's assault on the Soviet Union (which he opposed, but couldn't prevent of course) to succeed, to allow his Indian Legion along with the German army to overthrow the British in India, and for the Indian Legion to expand in India as Free India's national army along with other Indian soldiers. When Germany suffered reverses against the Soviet Union, Bose decided to move to East Asia and continue his war with Japan's help, especially since Japan was eager to have Bose revive the defunct INA. With Germany and Japan's help, he undertook a submarine journey from Germany to Southeast Asia. This discreet journey that took months has got to be one of the bravest voyages that a man has ever undertaken, switching over from one submarine to another in shark-infested ocean waters. Above is Bose with Japanese submarine officers.
Image courtesy: wikimedia.org

Bose appears to have made a greater impact on the Japanese government than he was able to with Nazi Germany, dealing directly with their #1. Japan saw Bose as much more an equal and a close ally in the war. Bose appears to have made his interests clear to Japan's premier Tojo - like he did with Nazi Germany, which is the overthrow of British rule in India and not support for their other goals, and they respected him for his honesty and keen strategic mind. East Asia had millions of ethnic Indians and Bose received a rousing reception from them, seen above in Singapore soon after his submarine voyage. They joined the rejuvenated INA in hordes, with loyalty that was comparable to that Alexander commanded from his soldiers. Once in Asia, with the INA in striking distance of British India, Bose was the recognized commander-in-chief and led from the front.
Image courtesy: Netaji Subhas Videos 

Bose formed the Provisional Government of Free India (in exile), which was recognized by 9 Axis countries including Japan, Germany and Italy. The government had an army of its own, a constitution, a flag, stamps, its own bank and currency, and would soon establish the capital in Port Blair with operational bases in Rangoon and Singapore. It was even levying taxes on expat Indians in Singapore and other countries to fund the government. People donated in hordes to Bose to create the 'INA Treasure', which has gone missing since 1945. While these may seem like tokenisms, German records indicate that Bose's vision and plans were so advanced that he was ready to take control of India's governance when Britain fell, without letting it fall into chaos. As far as half the world was concerned, Bose was a real head of state from 1943-1945 with at least some sovereign territory under his control. What Mussolini had urged Bose to do for the sake of legitimacy of his war on Britain for India had been achieved, though it was dissolved with his disappearance. Bose is seen above with other East Asia heads of state in the Greater East Asia Conference.
Image courtesy: wikimedia.org

The INA was not re-built in a day in East Asia, nor were Bose's relationships with Japan and the Axis powers as head of India's war of independence. The legend of Bose had travelled far and wide by the middle of WWII, including within India despite Britain's attempts to put a lid on them. At some point, Britain appear to have put out an MI6 assassination order for Bose, something they had never needed to consider for any other Indian at the time. Bose wanted civil disobedience to boil over into an armed struggle - by Indians outside and from within - to overthrow its captors.
Image courtesy: hindujagruti,org

When WWII started swinging undoubtedly in favor of the Allied Powers in 1944, Bose had already started making overtures to the Soviet Union to continue his war against Britain. By the time the INA was defeated in Imphal, the Indian tricolor had been planted by the INA on Indian soil. However, with their defeat and Japan's surrender, Bose had to escape the clutches of the Allied powers who had begun executing the INA 'traitors'. All evidence points to Bose having faked his death 3 days after the end of WWII in a plane crash in present-day Taiwan. While this was eventually peddled as the official version, the Indian Intelligence Bureau, MI6 and the CIA knew better and kept up their surveillance for years. After 18th August 1945, we enter the realm of conjecture. 
Image courtesy: topyaps.com (via LIFE Magazine?)

Note that if the Quit India Movement and other Congress-led efforts had brought India close to Independence, or if Britain had weakened so much that Independence was a foregone conclusion, Bose didn't have to go to the Soviet Union to continue his war. He merely needed to wait it out in some safe haven in East Asia, and return to India when it was safe.

What happened to Bose after he entered the Soviet sphere of influence? Did the Congress and Britain leave him out in the cold and have him finished off by Joseph Stalin (as some evidence points) while publicly touting the Japanese/Bose version of a flight crash? We won't know until we have access to the thousands of classified files, including KGB era files in Russia.

As predicted by Bose, and aided by Britain's naive blunder, the Red Fort trials of 3 INA generals (intended to serve as a lesson for treason by those in the armed forces) ironically ended up raising nationalist fervor in the people of India after hearing of the INA's exploits, and the British Indian armed forces mutinied in several parts, leading to Britain deciding (and rightly so) that without the loyalty of the armed forces, their control of India had weakened enough for them to beat an honorable retreat (by 'giving freedom' rather than by 'losing control') while they still could. Despite thousands of INA soldiers perishing on the battlefield, and hundreds executed in our war of independence, we somehow believe as a gullible nation that we drove out the British through peaceful means, which is now the official version.

The 'victors' of India's war of Independence may have declared themselves the liberators of India, but the truth is clearly different as reportedly confirmed by Britain's post-War Prime Minister Clement Attlee to Justice PB Chakraborty, Governor of Bengal in Calcutta, in 1956.

Until we learn about his fate after 1945, what we do know is that His Excellency Bose will forever be our one and only Head of State of Undivided India, and the last popularly elected man the nation stood behind. Others who succeeded him in the Congress  and who were handed Free India's leadership on a platter were men of much lower stature and selfish nature. Had Bose been able to return to his homeland after 1945, we know that Nehru didn't stand a chance, and perhaps Partition didn't either. CIA documents of the late 1940s (which indicate that he may still have been alive in a Soviet prison at that time) held that if Bose were to return (and many fondly awaited his return for years), his nationwide popularity would make him India's Head of State, if not immediately by the time the first elections were held in 1952. It is a pity that this never happened, and an ungrateful nation got what it deserved.

For more, see these wondeful references:

1. A documentary on Bose.
2. Articles including copies of publicly available records.
3. Anuj Dhar's book, "India's Biggest Cover-up".
4. A Book by Sugata Bose, "His Majesty's Opponent".
5. A book by Leonard Gordon, "Brothers Against the Raj".

Society Must Decide for Itself the Future It wants to Bequeath

Image Courtesy: Wikipedia.org

Society is a complex organism. One with many faces, many rules, many seeking to enforce those rules, many cultures and subcultures, many institutions. Whatever the many facets, the one near constant is change in all of them.

The many faces change. You see a beggar on your street one day, and the next day he is gone.

The rules change. At the busy canteen down the road, you pre-pay for a fixed amount of food, but at the temple not far away, you get food - as much as you want, for free.

The many cultures and subcultures coexist - some happily part of the whole, some with latent tension. The urban rich throw money at meaningless pleasure, while the urban poor who breathe the same air watch in hunger and jealousy, with no mutual empathy.

Change is, but, inevitable. Still, in the last 70 years, change has been more rapid than ever before with society choosing to hunger for material wealth and pleasure above all else. It is not that the rich, the letch or the ungrateful did not exist in the 19th century and centuries past, but in the late 20th century these qualities were increasingly seen by those with loose morals as the only goals in life; and of course the others had to compete, for to be jealous and to covet is human.

No longer did one need to work hard even when not watched. The protestant work ethic in the West is long gone, it being replaced by a take-all-you-can non-ethic that is appreciated and rewarded. No longer must the thief hide his booty; he can place it on his fireplace for all to see. For, the wretch that he stole from had in turn stolen from another, weaving a tangled web around the whole town that could no longer be untangled.

The adolescent boy need no longer prove his honest intentions to society and the girl's parents when asking for her hand. His comrades had resolved to free themselves from the tyrannical society they lived in that asked too much of them, and it was a worthy enterprise. In the institution that they had just created, contentment was not spoken of, and their ranks kept swelling. And what if the girl's parents themselves were in the ranks? 

Each nation or clan has sought, at some point in their existence, to lay down new ground rules for their society. Most Eastern civilizations have long held intellectual development, philosophical inquiry, oneness with nature, the arts, and the containment of sensory pleasures as their lofty goals. Not only was this on a personal level, but society cooperated in this common goal by maintaining the right environment for the journey towards its achievement. With a mutually held set of values and society acting as a mirror, children were safe, men and women were content with one another, the village well was kept pristine for its precious water, and the teachers imparted education for the purpose of creating brave, intelligent, and kind men and women who they could call their students and the future of the world around them.

The common thread for this seemingly-utopian society can only be the common good, not the individual's pleasure. 

Our society of today has ground rules that transform themselves faster than a chameleon. One day, the accountant's duty was to be honest, and the next day he is expected to obfuscate as much of the truth as possible. And, without conformance, his family would go hungry. With conformance would come not just the erosion of what remains of his ethical values, but the birth of a new generation with a fraction of the values that were left in him. Change may only be visible when comparing subsequent generations now, but given the thousands of years that man has existed,  significant change for the worse with every passing generation does not augur well for the future.

Every now and then some in society take it upon themselves to (re)establish a set of values that will carry into several future generations and benefit the nation immensely. The establishment of the Sikh community, with a singular focus on hard work, bravery and selfless service to their like and brethren, is one such beacon for others to admire and adopt, even in these degenerate days. Without them, the bloodbath around our newly erected borders would have created not puddles but lakes.

Rituals, symbols, and values all come together to define the ground rules for a society's present and more importantly its future. Without these, society will only be a large mass hurtling towards certain oblivion.   

It is Government's Responsibility to Address Macro Issues

There may be other formal definitions of Government, but mine boils down to this: "...to address macro issues affecting the country".

Below is an example of a macro issue relating to industry and employment.  

Governments normally consider it their responsibility to spur industrial growth and employment. The higher the per capita income and the lower the rate of unemployment, the better a government's performance is considered to be. However, issues such as unethical employment practices - recruitment policies, work conditions, impact on educational institutions, balanced societal development, etc., usually never get addressed. 

Can a model be evolved for addressing issues such as these?

The IT services industry in India is by most standards a flourishing industry, having created prosperity and a huge middle class of software professionals over the last 15-20 years. While this may be a good thing when viewed in isolation, it may have brought more harm than benefit. Many harms can be listed. However, here are a few important ones:

• Neglect of other industries, educational tracks and professions
• When one industry dominates handsomely, other industries and related educational tracks are neglected. What the IT services industry has done is tilt the preferences of students towards feeder degree programs such as 4-year engineering.
• Study of the social sciences, including psychology, history and other disciplines is very important for the growth of any society and culture. While government cannot change student preferences, the least it can do is mandate more balanced curricula to include a combination of majors and minors, foreign languages, and some mandatory social science subjects such as philosophy, politics and economics. What a balanced curriculum will do is create well-rounded educated citizens and not slave-trained professionals.
• Wide disparity in exposure to the modern world and between regions
• Colleges in urban regions that have a concentration of the IT industry naturally have an edge over colleges in other regions. The disparity in exposures and opportunities become even more pronounced between the urban and rural. 
• The government can mandate (or subsidize) exchange programs between rural and urban colleges, as well as higher subsidies and infrastructure support for colleges setting shop in rural areas. The concentrated corridors chock-full of colleges that we see in many Indian cities today is a highly wasteful exercise that that government should have checked years ago. 
• When there are world-class (or whatever class we can manage) colleges in rural areas (with a quota for local students), the benefits will trickle down much better from urban to rural areas. Also, urban students living and studying in rural will develop a better appreciation for the rural world and our natural resources, rather than be armchair-professionals and managers making ecologically disastrous or negligent decisions. Rural-dwellers, when good infrastructure and educational opportunities become available, will be less likely to migrate to our overcrowded cities. 
• "Don't ask, Don't tell"
• Our governments adopt a "don't ask, don't tell" policy, whether knowingly or unknowingly, towards work conditions, unethical practices by companies, etc. Several of these actually impact people in more ways than one might imagine. When working ungodly hours becomes the order of the day, the safety of women is at jeopardy as we already see from our national news. Also, while executives and ambitious employees may  work 14-18 hour days (since they choose to, or because they get compensated highly), there is no reason the entire workforce needs to be in that situation without choice. The results include less time for families to spend time together, and inadequate mental and cultural development of employees' children. Legislations that can help include - employee wellbeing audits and surveys, a ceiling on the percentage of employees that can be in such perpetual-stress roles, etc. 
• As long as the IT industry relies on the sheer number of employees, and cheap compliant labour to make unethical dollar profits via outsourcing contracts, these societal issues will continue to fester. It is in India's best interests to nudge the industry towards other value-based models where slave-trained labour is not the key commodity. 

I see MPs and ministers making speeches, saying things like "please respect our natural resources" or "please study social science subjects, not just computer science" (usually at colleges or at public functions). These speeches are useless, unless as legislators they can back it up by making the right macro-economic/societal decisions that make things happen. Mere urging of citizens without taking an inch towards setting the right incentives is nothing less than criminal behaviour.

Surviving and Keeping Sanity in the Modern World..

Image courtesy:
http://jagadishnarhem.blogspot.com/2010/10/pollution_13.html

Modern man (yes me, and you - if you were born in the 20th century) has got to be the most self-centered human yet in the earth's millions of years of existence.

With the industrial revolution, mass production and a capitalistic profit-driven have introduced and legitimized many criminally abusive practices that have been destroying the earth and human existence for over a century now.

1. We plunder and pillage the earth daily for its treasures. Resources like oil and gas can power our lives for but a few hundred years. Not only will future generations not have that luxury, but we will have polluted the earth to a point of no return.
2. Clear water, virgin soil and fresh air are the most basic elements of life on earth. 
• We let none of these be, for our own selfish comfort is more important. Even when we feel guilty about abusing any of these most fundamental of resources, we feel the guilt for but a second before we go ahead with our abuse anyway. For, our acts are only indirectly related to the heinous crimes. That well-packaged bag of homogeneous-looking fruits clearly used fertilizers and genetic seeds that will render the soil useless within a few generations. Do we stop to think about our role in the value chain of abuse of natural resources?
3. We abuse our own bodies with alcohol, drugs, medicine, and chemicals for no more than cheap thrills, quick solutions or superficial good looks. 
• Some of us who cannot get by a day without drink refrain from it when pregnant lest our new born have defects or mental illnesses, but that is much too rigid a constraint on our freedom, isn't it? Why must an as-yet unborn child control us so? Why must we not take a quick pill to rid ourselves of that pesky afternoon migraine or self-inflicted insomnia? Isn't it an easier solution than healthier living with good food, exercise and sleep? Why must we worry about the addictions and genetic impacts that we will be passing on to the coming generations? And, of course we can't step out the door without a face full of make-up. We must, at the cost of our future generations, inhale and expose our skin to chemicals that the honest pharmaceutical companies sell in shiny little environmental friendly bottles. 
4. Our cellphones and microwave ovens, for two easy examples, are technologies with which we subject ourselves to a daily dose of harmful radiations. 
• How can we let a minute pass without checking our phone for that elusive intelligent Facebook post from a friend of a friend of a friend? Oh, what if we miss a call on the second ring, and are excommunicated from our species? We must not let a a few thousand new cancerous cells get the better of us. We can always fight the disease, blame it on something or somebody else, cry with the well-meaning not-for-profit Oprah, and pretend to be heroic for some reality TV glory. A few minutes of entertainment and being connected (for we are new-age professionals) are of course more valuable than avoiding autistic children and grandchildren, why do you even ask?
5. Nature has provided for abundant food and nourishment. What do we do with it all?
• Abundant food and nourishment you say? No! We are forced to grow chickens and cows, and wait for them to die (oh no, why would we kill them ourselves?). Without that wonderful protein that nature has no way of providing to us (beans and lentils? I'll pretend I didn't hear you) we wouldn't have the strength to sit up and read that news article on the UN's peace and non-violence efforts.

Hypocrisy, a high premium on individual freedom at all costs, a material focus on comfort, and an utter lack of vision past our noses define our current age. I'm afraid our future generations are going to be worse and worse. The principles we teach them, the environment we leave them, and the institutions we pass on to them will be no match for the problems they will be faced.

Those of us who have some conscience and selflessness will have little impact on the world around us, and should be content with the small contributions we can make to the world, compete just enough to keep afloat in the mayhem, and remain as nature-friendly as we can while we focus on intellectual advancement.

Each new generation will come up with temporary solutions and 'kick the can' down the road. Answers to the problem of the spread of diseases and ailments will be new gadgets and drugs. Answers to the problem of impure water will be newer methods of purifying water, not the control of water pollution.  We will continue to hypothesize and measure our impacts, set thresholds for pollution levels, disagree endlessly, and convince ourselves that a better world awaits us. 

The earth will give up on us when there is no one left that can acknowledge what we've done to her.

Rape, Controversial Comments, and a Lack of Reason

Image courtesy: globalpost.com

Rape is a common occurence in India. And from reports over the last few years, New Delhi is ahead of all other regions in the number of rapes. The recent rape, and subsequent death of a 23-year old girl in Delhi was perhaps the last straw for the general public who took the streets last month. This is currently a simmering issue, and I hope something comes of all the attention to this heinous crime.

When a crime such as rape is reported, different thoughts (relating to the cause) run in the minds of different people. Most of these possible causes have merit in them, with none in particular being the smoking gun.

Someone who has a more conservative mindset and is generally against liberalization of the country is going to express a general concern about the fast changing family and social dynamics. This is a valid concern, but when expressed in the aftermath of a reported rape, the media (and the frenzied people, as a result) start interpreting these opinions as a commentary on the rape victim. Sure, many actually make comment that lay blame on the victim in an outright manner or say things that do not make much sense (Asaram Bapu's comments, as has been reported).

• People who want to express their opinions, and draw attention to the fact that we need to address the social issues with rapidly changing family setups, a general cultural decay, etc., must be extra careful especially in the aftermath of such crimes. 

Of this group, some tend to comment about womens' clothes, which usually becomes a hotly debated topic. I've seen arguments by people about rapists committing the crime even when the victim is dressed in more conservative clothes. 

• For one, in a free country a woman can wear whatever clothes she pleases. No arguments there. What irks some is that the conservative person deemed the (usually) Western attire for the rape.
• Whether that was the reason or not (it certainly cannot be the sole reason), in some cases it must be one of the reasons. People who indulge in eve teasing do end up picking girls who wear less conservatively more easily as their targets, and there's no denying that. 
• Films and TV programming end up pushing provocative dressing in women, which no doubt corrupts the minds of the young and old alike. There's no denying that either. So, sweeping these under the carpet or vehemently denying these when trying to determine the general increase of mens' libidos is foolish. Of course, looking at the victim's clothes and then ascribing provocative dressing as the reason she was raped is not the right thing to do.
• Remember that what is considered normal dressing by an urban crowd may be considered provocative by someone who does not have exposure to the modern urban world.
• Men who are not gainfully employed or have been raised in violent circumstances or poor neighbourhoods are also generally more likely to indulge in such crimes.    

Someone who leans towards a breakdown of law and order as the problem is going to propose that there be more stringent punishment, better security to prevent such crimes, better lighting in public transport, etc. All of these are valid suggestions. There is no denying that the country desperately needs law and order.

• My good friend whose grandparents hail from West Punjab (now in Pakistan) told me recently that his grandmother kept saying that when she was young, it was always safe for girls to move around in Lyallpur (now Faisalabad). Unfortunately we are not able to maintain the security that existed pre-1947 (barring the Partition-related riots, of course).
• If you focus on law and order, remember though, that law and order can only work to a certain degree. In many Western countries, there is generally high levels of law and order. A lot of this has to do with people being very compliant, having trust in the system, and general contentment. 
• As an unrelated example, there is not much that law enforcement can do to prevent video piracy (beyond a certain degree), even in advanced economies. Still, that there is low levels of piracy is largely due to the vast majority of people not indulging in piracy. People are willing to pay for content/services, and there is a general respect for art and the work of people.
• As governments are more and more resource-constrained, there can only be better electronic systems in place, not more law enforcement manpower patrolling the streets. 

The bottom line is that law enforcement is but one thing we can improve to deter or prevent such crimes. Even with good law enforcement, political correctness and an extra dose of minority sensitivity, for example in the UK, have become phenomena that make people look the other way when crimes such as rape occur. See this blog post for reference. I know that's a blog post and so can have an extra dose of bias, but I have read an article on a UK news site before (on how policemen ignore such crimes due to a fear of being labeled racists), and can't seem to locate it now.

Some recent comments by Mohan Bhagwat, the head of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh, have caused an uproar. This is largely due to blatant misreporting by the media, mainly CNN IBN, I believe. 

Watch this Youtube video of one of his speeches from which IBN misquotes.

• There is nothing wrong with his 5-6 minute speech (answer to a public question). He describes the respect that women have been traditionally accorded in our country, and the view towards the role of women. In this context, he uses "India" to refer the country where that world view and respect is eroded, and "Bharat" to refer to the country where they are upheld. Nowhere does he refer to Western influence or say anything about oppressing women, or blaming them for anything. His answer, in fact, is mostly about explaining how men end up doing such crimes when they are valueless. 
• What I liked most in his answer, though, is the point I made earlier about law and order not being the only answer. Understanding how our tradition of respect to women (among others) is being eroded is very important, and we must arrest it, to set things right. 
• Sure, there is a Western influence component to this, where our children are lavished on, not raised in a disciplined way, etc., and this includes exposing them to movies that are completely against what impressions you want to leave in children. 

I am yet to locate a full video of Bhagwat's speech where IBN claims (or would have you believe, via a soundbyte) he advises men to caste off women who no longer fulfill the marriage contract of taking care of their husband. The snippet that IBN keeps playing only indicated to me that the context in which he must have made this comments was in reference to how women and the institution of marriage are treated in Western countries. A bit of a generalization of course, but largely true. The Indian institution of marriage is much more respectful of society, children, and the couple themselves.  IBN, though, has been playing this video and sensationalizing it as if Bhagwat recommends that men use-and-throw women. Completely untrue as far as I can tell (and per the RSS spokesperson) and very blatant misreporting. I hear Sagarika Ghosh did a bit of an apology, but there should be more stringent punishment for media houses in such cases!

I see a general unwillingness in people to consider other opinions, and to acknowledge that there are several factors contributing to crimes such as rape - including law and order, cultural decay, lack of importance for family and other social institutions, a blind eye to film and TV programming that leaves negative impressions in young and old minds alike, a glamourization of sex (especially the variety outside of marriage and pre-marriage), a violent or poor upbringing where one might start coveting or envying the more affluent etc. One or more factors contributes to each particular case, and mentioning something that another is sensitive about hijacks all discussions and reasoning..

People are waiting to smear others, especially when any reference is made to culture, tradition, the institution of marriage, etc. Waiting, in fact, to say things like "people of this generation have moved on", and the likes of IBN take advantage of this flippant nature for its TRP gains with sensational soundbytes. Even worse are comments such as "RSS = Taliban", from people who have no idea about the organizations in the first place (beyond sensational headlines) or degrees of comparison. One is a cultural nationalist organization that has committed no crime and the other is a violent terrorist organization. 

I've written this post as a "think out loud" exercise. There might be a second part to this, but comments are welcome!