Rise of the Right

I am not a historian. As a layman, here are my views on the worldwide rise of the right presented for comments by those who have a better perspective of history:

Humans have a need and tendency to organise themselves into larger and larger groups. These have to be hierarchical as is evident from the very fact that the word anarchy has come to mean the opposite of organisation.  Hierarchy implies graduated disparity of power which becomes immense between the top and the bottom.  Also power essentially means the capacity to do harm or good.  This is because the highest coercive powers as well as the treasury belong to the topmost level.

Thus for continued existence of the group and to alleviate suffering that such concentration of coercive powers may bring about in people at the top, a group needs checks and balances.  This may be done by a spiritual guru or a council of ministers.  These may have gradually weakened over time and ceased to be effective. Their breakdown led to revolutions that replaced monarchies with democracies in which people themselves could directly exercise a measure of control over the rulers in the top echelon.

Then came along the Indutrial Revolution. It once again disturbed the rather unstable equilibrium that had been attained.  Mass production of goods at affordable prices brought about unprecedented wealth.  But most of it was concentrated in the hands of owners of factories with only minimal amounts trickling down to the large workforce.  This unprecedented accumulated wealth in the hands of a few has given them the power to manipulate the masses and the democratic process itself.  This is done in collusion with callous politicians and / or religious heads who never before had the support of such power ever before simply because such wealth never earlier existed in the history of mankind. And it has become possible for them to abuse this power because unfortunately the collective wisdom of humans has not grown proportionately to be able to withstand the temptations and threats posed to them through this money power.

And this seems to be the reason behind the tempestuous growth of right wing politics all over the world.

Reflections On Two Recent Debates

Recently the Lallantop channel on YouTube hosted a debate between Javed Akhtar, an atheist, and a Mufti on the topic of Existence of God.  Some time back a similar debate had taken place between Zakir Naik and Dhruv Rathee.

This post is inspired by some reflections after watching the two debates.

Physics started out with what is now known as Classical Physics which dealt mostly with terrestrial objects in a, more or less, uniform gravitational field, close to each other in space and time and moving at speeds that are negligible compared to speed of light - that great constant in all frames of reference.  This is our immediate world that we experience with our senses directly and incessantly.

In this immediate world, Classical Physics came out with laws that seemed immutable and provided us with a sense of certainty, where given the initial state a later state could be figured out with compoete certainty.  This sense of certainty and absolute knowledge got shaken when Physics was required to accommodate the fact that the speed of light was an absolute constant in all frames of reference even though they may be moving relative to each other.  This gave rise to Special Theory of Relativity which was soon followed by the General Theory of Relativity where space, time and even mass all got mixed up.  

The turbulence got intensified as physics widened its ambit to subatomic particles on one hand and the immense vastness of universe on the other.  Some fairly bizarre phenomenon came to our notice for which the classical physics failed to be the correct model.  The sense of certainty vanished as probability took centre stage prompting Einstein to famously protest that God didn't play dice with us.  As Quantum and Astro Physics progressed, strange things emerged when developing models for the observable world on the very small scale on one hand, and very vast on the other.  Quantum physicists found that time disappeared altogether in their advanced equations!   Further, Quantum phenomenon, mostly probabilistic, seemed to crystallise into certainty in the presence of an "observer" - called collapse of the probabilistic wave function!  And to top it all, entanglement of particles in this strange Quantum world enables information to travel instantaneously, faster than light!

The world at the quantum level is far from mundane, it is mystical.  So mystical that many religious philosophies like Vedanta seek and claim to find a parallel for their tenets here.

While quantum physics concerned itself with very small, another branch, Astrophysics, found itself in an universe where Classical Physics faltered again.  In an attempt to model it,  Astrophysics came up with a Big Bang origin of the universe.  Again, time, which vanishes in the quantum world, is said to be non-existent before the Big Bang:  Space too.  It also had to accept existence of dark matter and dark energy to explain some of the observed phenomenon.  In a debate between the Islamic evangelist Zakir Naik and Dhru Rathee, Naik claimed that a certain aayat in Quran talks about Big Bang and this makes Islam the most scientific religion!  He probably forgot that science treats Big Bang as a theory, a model that is open to peer review and revision, or even abandonment, if alternate models can better predict the observed facts.  In fact, in science everything is open to review and being challenged if any experiments so suggest.

Even as physics was making these strides, and technologists were starting to find ways of putting to use the weird quantum phenomenon,  Information Technology too made rapid strides and achieved the most fascinating neural network and Artificial Intelligence.  The machines have finally passed the Turing Test proposed by Alan Turing in 1950, much earlier than what was thought possible!  This has added fuel to the debate around the hard question of "consciousness."  This has become a free-for-all activity where religion tries to find a turf where it hopes to have an edge over science.

Ultimately what distinguishes science from non-science is what Javed Akhtar said in the recent debate.  It was to the effect that religion asserts definitive answers to every question and those answers must be taken as final, whereas science has the humility to accept what it still doesn't comprehend fully.  And then again, because science is open to being questioned and contradicted if observed phenomenon don't agree with the model in vogue, there is only one science all over the world.  Religions are numerous and the reason is obvious.

The Threat From Within

Hinduism, Internal Reform, and the Challenge of Social Stratification

Recent discussions about the evolution of Hinduism in modern India often center on the relationship between its philosophical heritage and its social structures. A conversation with a relative—himself deeply engaged with Sanatan Dharma and the author of a related work—highlighted key aspects of this debate. My position was that contemporary Hinduism has distanced itself from its philosophical foundations in Vedanta, Sankhya, and Upanishadic inquiry, and become increasingly identified with hierarchical social structures (varna vyavastha), ritual formalism (karmkand), and devotional practices (murtipuja). By contrast, Hinduism’s historical offshoots—Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism—sought to refine or transcend these elements while preserving core ethical and metaphysical concepts.

Historical Interactions and Internal Dynamics

My interlocutor attributed Hinduism’s present challenges to external forces, particularly to the medieval Islamic invasions. However, historical and sociological evidence indicates that many of the divisions visible in pre-modern Hindu society predate that period (Thapar, 2002; Sharma, 1958). Indeed, the rigidity of caste-based stratification appears to have been a principal factor that facilitated the appeal and spread of Buddhism and, later, of Islam in the subcontinent (Ambedkar, 1936; Ghurye, 1961). This interpretation reverses the presumed causal link: rather than foreign incursions producing social decline, internal weaknesses rendered society more susceptible to external influences.

Buddhism emerged in the 6th–5th century BCE as a reformist movement within the broader Indic spiritual milieu. It drew on existing metaphysical ideas while explicitly rejecting the authority of the Vedas and the hereditary privilege of the Brahmin class (Bronkhorst, 2007). Its success stemmed in part from ethical universalism and the rejection of birth-based hierarchy, which resonated with marginalized groups seeking spiritual and social space outside ritual orthodoxy. Hinduism’s later attempts to reassert itself—often described as the Brahminical counterreformation—entailed reaffirming ritual authority and caste boundaries (Olivelle, 1997). Over centuries, this process entrenched distinctions that favored savarna groups and contributed to enduring ideological divergences between Brahminism and Buddhism.

Caste and Equality: Persistent Contradictions

While both Hinduism and Buddhism share conceptual frameworks such as karma, dharma, and samsara, they differ significantly in their treatment of equality. Traditional Hindu social organization codified hierarchy through varna and jati, fixing individual status at birth (Bayly, 1999). In contrast, Buddhism and other heterodox schools emphasized moral conduct over lineage. The persistence of caste-based discrimination in post-independence India—manifested in atrocities against Dalits and restrictions in social mobility—illustrates the endurance of this inherited framework (Deshpande, 2010).

Contemporary examples further illuminate these tensions. Publicized incidents involving the mistreatment of individuals from marginalized communities, including senior officials and judges, reveal the latent social bias that persists despite constitutional guarantees. Sociological studies show that even in urban environments, forms of occupational segregation and social avoidance remain prevalent (Gupta, 2000).  Suicides by dalit scholars like Vemula, on account of harassment, underscore this.

A related dimension concerns the occupational legacy of caste. Certain upper-caste organizations express unease over perceived downward mobility, especially in professional domains historically held by lower castes. Yet the long-term neglect of workers in sanitation and similar sectors underscores a persistent inequity in working conditions and social esteem (Venkatesan et al., 2021). Even where policy frameworks mandate mechanization and safety protocols, incomplete implementation perpetuates risk and degradation in these professions.

Internal Versus External Threats

Given these structural patterns, it is reasonable to suggest that Hinduism’s most significant challenges originate internally rather than externally. The demographic reality—where upper-caste populations constitute a minority relative to the combined Dalit, Adivasi, and OBC groups—creates an inherent tension between historical dominance and contemporary egalitarian ideals (Jaffrelot, 2003). Legislative attempts to restrict religious conversion can be interpreted not only as efforts to curb missionary activity but also as mechanisms to preserve caste-based cohesion within Hindu society (Nussbaum, 2007).

This internal contradiction extends to the relationship between religion and the Indian Constitution. The constitutional framework emphasizes equality, liberty, and fraternity as guiding values (Ambedkar, 1948), while traditionalist interpretations of Hinduism continue to endorse a hierarchical division of social function. Consequently, the ideological foundations of Hindutva—which present unity through cultural homogeneity—can come into conflict with the plural and egalitarian ethos enshrined in Indian law (Andersen & Damle, 2019).

Prospects for Reform and Reconciliation

Some political actors have recognized the limits of competing within the terrain of religious identity. The Indian National Congress, for instance, has in recent years reoriented its discourse toward social equity and welfare rather than engaging in overt symbolic religiosity. This shift signals a broader realization across the political spectrum that enduring development requires addressing structural inequalities rather than emphasizing civilizational identity alone.

A sustainable reform within Hinduism would likely involve renewed engagement with its rational and ethical dimensions rather than adherence to social hierarchy. One potential framework for such reform lies in drawing from the egalitarian and humanistic philosophies of Buddhism. Given their shared Indic origin, the adoption of Buddhist principles need not constitute religious conversion but can instead represent an internal reformative synthesis, aligning ethical conduct with constitutional ideals. Such a transformation could help mitigate sectarian divisions and enable greater social cohesion and developmental focus.

References

• Ambedkar, B. R. (1936). Annihilation of Caste.

• Ambedkar, B. R. (1948). Constituent Assembly Debates, Vols. VII–IX.

• Andersen, W., & Damle, S. (2019). Messengers of Hindu Nationalism. Princeton University Press.

• Bayly, S. (1999). Caste, Society and Politics in India from the Eighteenth Century to the Modern Age. Cambridge University Press.

• Bronkhorst, J. (2007). Greater Magadha: Studies in the Culture of Early India. Brill.

• Deshpande, S. (2010). Contemporary India: A Sociological View. Penguin.

• Ghurye, G. S. (1961). Caste, Class and Occupation. Popular Prakashan.

• Gupta, D. (2000). Interrogating Caste: Understanding Hierarchy and Difference in Indian Society. Penguin.

• Jaffrelot, C. (2003). India’s Silent Revolution: The Rise of the Lower Castes in North India. Hurst & Co.

• Nussbaum, M. (2007). The Clash Within: Democracy, Religious Violence, and India’s Future. Harvard University Press.

• Olivelle, P. (1997). The Dharmasutras: The Law Codes of Ancient India. Oxford University Press.

• Sharma, R. S. (1958). Sudras in Ancient India: A Social History of the Lower Order Down to Circa A.D. 600. Motilal Banarsidass.

• Thapar, R. (2002). Early India: From the Origins to AD 1300. University of California Press.

• Venkatesan, S., Anand, G., & Chandra, S. (2021). “Manual Scavenging and Caste: Structural Violence in Contemporary India.” Economic and Political Weekly, 56(35).

Need To Rethink Our Administrative Services

For a nation that emerges from the trauma of colonisation, cultivating a sense of self-respect in the oppressed citizens becomes a prerequisite for overcoming the trauma that the citizens have sufffered, and moving forward on a path of rapid growth.  It is so because colonial powers trample upon the sense of self-worth and self-respect of the local population with a view to subjugate them, and these must be revived for people to emerge from that oppression.

In our case, the British did this by creating civil and police services that looked upon the general population as subjects and not brethren to be served.  They did it partly by employing people from upper castes, who already had a sense of entitlement, as officers, and perhaps, also through training.  These 'public servants' then ill treated their compatriots and kept their morale down to make things easy for the rulers.  Unfortunately this attitude continues unabated and the public has gotten so used to it that any ill and insulting treatment at the hands of public servants and police has become the subject of jokes rather than indignation.  Recall the joke about "suji" and "suji" during the COVID era.

The logical thing would have been to dismantle these services, gradually if so required, soon after independence and create new cadres without a sense of entitlement and with a sense of purpose and service.  This was never done and the maai-baap mentality amongst government employees continues unabated till date.  This is also the root cause of deep seated corruption in our society because public, as subjects to these rulers, must be subservient and must appease them with gifts and presents.  The fact that wherever we have been able to bring down corruption, it has been possible only by reducing or eliminating human interfaces with the the help of technology and not because of any change in the mai-baap attitude, bears it out.

The concept of swaraj, where more and more power is brought closer to people and then people given a chance to audit and provide actionable feed back on the outcomes achieved by the exercise of that power is one way to achieve the said goal.  This is opposed to a highly centralized model where the power holders get insulated by intervening tiers.

Please leave your thoughts on the topic in comments below.  Thanks for reading this. 

Constitution vs Theocracy, and Proportional Representation

Democracy and theocracy cannot be compatible.  While democracy relies upon equality before law and equal say in political decisions, theocracy doesn't.  As we know a theocracy is a state that is governed by a government that derives its authority directly from a religion, usually invoking the authority of a religious deity and basing their laws on religious texts.  And no religion accepts a non-believer or a person with a different faith as an equal to be given the same rights as its followers.  And then again, almost all religions discriminate against women and also people with differing sexual orientation, that is, LGBTQ.  And thus a democracy by definition has to be secular.  Needless to say that this is a proposition that will be enthusiastically accepted by people of religious groups that form minorities but is likely to be resisted / resented by the religious denomination to which the majority belongs.

But then, since democracies decide things like elections or referendums by numbers, the majority gains an upper hand in these decisions.  And this is the fundamental irony of democracy which may enable a politician, who is so inclined, to use democracy to finish off democracy!

Naturally, the question arises as to how to prevent this from happening.  And one answer that immediately suggests itself is that instead of relying on a first past the post system, a democracy must necessarily have a system of proportional representation where each party gets seats in a legislative body in the same proportion as its percentage share in total votes cast and counted.  This also implies that elections have to be fought by parties and not individuals as individuals can shift their loyalty if they so choose.

In this context, I would like to draw your attention to an earlier post by me where I have advocated a reform of the current electoral process.  You will find it here - https://anil-upadhyaya.blogspot.com/2014/04/people-or-chunks-of-map.html.  Please read this post before moving on to the next para.

Once it is accepted that elections are to be fought by parties and not individuals, and then individuals are to be appointed by parties, a few more much debated issues get resolved.

The foremost is the ability of the parties to keep criminal and ill-qualified people at bay as in this system it is parties and not people that win elections.  Because of this, professionals qualified to do justice to the tasks that will be handled by them in the legislative bodies can be identified and appointed by the parties.  It may be noted that all this is not meant to preclude people with lower or little qualifications from politics itself.  They are welcome to form and run political parties if they so wish, but legislative and ministerial positions must be occupied by people who can do justice to them.  These people need not have affiliations with political parties but must possess the requisite qualifications that may be laid down by law.  This will take care of the complaint that while we prescribe requisite qualifications for even such inconsequential posts as peons, those at the very helm are not required to have any.

In fact in this system one may make it mandatory for people desirous of working in legislatures, to acquire prescribed qualifications carefully designed for such tasks.  New courses can be introduced in universities for this purpose.

This reform alone is not capable of solving the fundamental problem of political funding which is said to be the mother of all corruption.  This problem can ba partly alleviated by making rallies illegal.  These are a huge sink of funds for political parties.  Simultaneously we should create a broadcasting corporation that gives equal / equitable access to all parties to reach out to the masses.  Of course, this will be only a small beginning and this topic of political funding deserves separate and serious attention.

The Great Storytellers

Professor Yuval Noah Harari says that stories provide the foundation of human beings' capacity to cooperate in much larger numbers compared to other life forms.  This capacity to cooperate arises from use of fiat money for trade and wealth accumulation, organizations as legal persons for bringing together large number of persons in a venture, a belief system like religion / constitution that ensures uniform social conduct.  And these are all based on stories / narratives - legal, social and religious - that we collectively subscribe to. 

While mulling this over, it occurs to me that the Brahmins in Hindu society perhaps constitute one of the finest and most prolific storytellers.  I may use the term we because I belong to this group. We excel not only in creating stories but also in telling those story in a most captivating way.  This is borne out by the humungous collection of mythological stories in Hinduism, and our mastery of classical music, dance, and dramatics (sangeet, nritya and naatya shastras).  Also, the language ascribed to us, Sanskrit, itself is exquisitely suited to singing hymns, telling stories and conduct of Karmkand.

Collaboration implies cohesive groups, and groups necessarily need a leader as their face and the glue.  Since it is stories that validate the ideas cherished by a group, and by implication its leader, it is only natural that leaders need the storytellers and the storytellers need their patronage to practice and sharpen their mastery of the said crafts.  The storytellers also need to be very versatile as successive leaders may have very different traits and each prevalent trait has to be justified and even celebrated to ensure that the group remains cohesive.  And thus a society tends to accumulate stories that may have conflicting morals encapsulated in them even as they maintain a semblance of continuity.  Some stories may support a very moralistic leader while others may extoll the pragmatist even as some others may find complete justification for suppression with a firm hand.  As the repertoire grows, one can pull out a story for endorsing any action or style of leadership.

In today's society this role, that traditionally belonged to Brahmins, has moved from a social group to the elites in bureaucracy, media, academia, judiciary etc.  They are the new age Brahmins.

While a symbiotic relationship between rulers and storytellers serves a very important function as long as the going is good, it drains the capacity of the elite storyteller group to be a watchdog and to alert the society against a less than ideal leader or to be a mechanism to correct an errant leader.  And if someone in the group does set out to do so, we hear calls for a "committed" bureaucracy / media / judiciary etc.  And such self serving groups may end up accelerating the decline in a society instead of correcting it and bringing it back to the right path. 

And so a society must choose its storytellers with care and also critically examine the stories told to them.  This is one reason why democracy is indispensable despite it not being the best possible system.

EVOLUTION & DESIGN; PHYSICS AND FREE WILL

Evolution versus Design debate has been going on for quite long.  The scientists' community firmly believes that evolution it is.  Evolution, which essentially means coming into existence, through the mechanism of laws of nature, of random permutations and combinations of elements in nature that are able to persist and replicate themselves.  It denies any intervention by a conscious power that shapes things in accordance with its will.

Evolution seems to be the correct theory on two counts -  1) The long, long time taken for life forms to emerge and evolve, and 2) Consciousness seen as arising from life and not the other way round.  Thus, if  a Consciousness existed before the emergence of life forms and it was this consciousness that designed the life forms, the time taken would have been much shorter, which is not the case.

Also, classical physics maintains that given an initial configuration, all future states will evolve strictly according to the inviolable laws of physics and no miracles or interventions by something non-material like consciousness can take place.  This absolutely rules out anything like a free will.  

Of course, given the vastness of our universe and unimaginably large number of entities (fundamental particles), it is not possible to exactly specify an initial configuration and apply the laws to each participating particle to compute future states.  This is why even classical physics leans on statistical methods and probabilities.  The second law of thermodynamics is an outstanding example of this.  But this reliance on statistics and probabilities is not because of any non-determinism in the laws of physics but merely because of the extremely large numbers involved.  It may not be out of place to mention here that Quantum Physics poses challenge to this determinism and asserts that probability is a fundamental thing that applies to each individual particle in existence and not merely to large aggregates.

Setting quantum physics aside for the moment,  the play of probability in the classical sense because of extremely large numbers involved, lends credence to the long time taken for complex molecules to develop and life to arise.  If some kind of consciousness or intelligence was involved, probably the time will be much shorter.  This argument is supported by remarkably short time taken in discovering not naturally occurring new drug molecules first with human intelligence and now with help from more powerful AI.  Please note the emphasis on 'not naturally occurring.'

And thus arises the logical dilemma.  The extremely low probability of certain things happening merely through natural laws somehow gets powerfully boosted once consciousness and intelligence arrive at the scene.  Thus while the probability of a structure like the Bhakhra Nangal dam arising on its own within a time frame of a couple of decades will be very close to zero, though technically non-zero, presence of intelligent human consciousness makes it almost certain within the same time frame.

And thus the intriguing question arises - Does presence of conscious human intelligence and the associated free will, somehow affect the operation of natural laws, thought to be inviolable in the classical realm?  And if so, are consciousness and the quantum realm somehow related.  And the bigger question is this - has consciousness arisen only now after evolution of advanced life forms?  And if it was there all along why has evolution taken so long?

What I can say with certainty is that I look forward to your thoughts in the matter.

Cooperation or Competition?

Professor Yuval Noah Harari propounds that we, the Homo Sapiens, have dominated this world because of our capability to cooperate in large numbers running into millions and billions.  While this is undeniably true, it makes one wonder whether it is this cooperation alone that has brought us all that we have today, or is there more to it.  When we look around us, we cannot miss noticing that but for competition, our achievements will be nowhere close to what these are today.  This is the reason that capitalist societies have laws against monopoly and restrictive practices.  This is also the reason that in communist or socialist societies you have products of poor quality, scarcities, and lack of innovation too.

Viewed from another angle, it is often noted that most of our breakthrough innovations have taken place during wartime.  The reason is obvious.  The competition is at its height during wartime.  Also so is the cooperation, because nothing unites people like war.

It is this fabric woven from the warp and woof of cooperation and competition that has given rise to the portmanteau "coopetition."

Interestingly the very same stories, namely religion, organisations, fiat money etc, that provide the basis for coperation are also the cause of competition, at times destructive like wars, at times productive leading to better ideas and products.  Globalisation also has a bearing on coopetition.  Globalisation has amplified the scope of human cooperation by bringing together societies that were insulated form each other.  At the same time it has brought about conflict between competing stories from different regions of the world.

Why did diverse societies need similar stories in the first place?  I would like to think that the multifarious needs of human beings are difficult to satisfy by an individual himself and even by a small group or tribe.  Hence the need for organizations, money etc and underlying stories.  Each society had a container organization for which the basis was provided by religion and the concomitant culture.  Within this container came up organizations specialising in meeting a specific need of the individual members of the society.  Again for each need there will be multiple organizations competing with each other leading to continued improvement.

I will be very happy if Prof Harari or some other scholar could throw more light on this fascinating tapestry of coopetition.

Operation Sindoor - Our Army and Our Political Leadership

Like all my fellow countrymen I salute and express my gratitude to the Armed Forces for the well conceived, planned and executed Operation Sindoor.  This time Pakistan went one cut too far in its pursuit of its foolish thousand cuts policy, and this measured, mature and responsible response from our forces had become unavoidable.  This has avenged the great tragedy suffered by innocent Indians at the hands of mad terrorists.  Jai Hind, Jai Hind ki Sena.

However this valorous action by the forces must not bring a false sense of closure.  This is only half the battle won.  There are enemies within too.  Without such traitors such daring terror acts would be well nigh impossible in an area as highly militarized as J&K and elsewhere too.  It will be recalled that even after the dastardly 26/11 terror attack on Mumbai, there was a talk about a mole, popularly termed Pakistani Honey Bee, in New Delhi.  The mole was never found. (https://rajeev.in/?questionasked=indian-mole-who-helped-terrorists-in-2611-mumbai-terror-attacks)

After Pulwama attack too no culprits have been brought to book thus far.  A police man, Davinder Singh, was caught but we don't know whether he was found guilty or not.  He has simply vanished from the news space.

Catching these moles and traitors amongst us is squarely the job of the political leadership in the government.  The continuing failure to apprehend and punish them imposes a heavy cost on the country and our brave forces.  The forces have done their job in an excellent manner, and now it is for us, the public, to prevail upon our government to show similar deftness in catching and punishing the guilty within.  Remember that those who do not actively oppose the evil around them, effectively become part of them and just as culpable.

Let the drums of euphoria not drown the desperate cry for apprehending and punishing the guilty within.

Secularism In A Self-Help Organization

As elsewhere we too have a HOA (House Owners Association) that we call Jan Kalyan Samiti. People pay annual subscriptions that go to maintenance of common services, mostly security. Office bearers are all honorary position holders that do liaison with municipal authorities, police etc. The Association also organises an annual get together over cultural programmes and dinner.  This get together is synchronised with the popular Holi festival.

Last year saw addition of several religious celebrations to Samiti's activities, like Ganesh Puja, Durga Puja, Bhagwat Katha.  It may not be totally irrelevant to mention that a spate of such activities was observed all around us, in the city and also the state.  I was amongst very few members of our society who made bold to suggest that these activities be undertaken on individual basis or group basis but NOT under the aegis of the association which must confine itself to secular activities.  Though, it was not accepted.

Accounts presented in the general body meeting show that the amount collected and spent in religious activities matched the total expenditure towards the secular activities.  This shows a strong possibility of change in the very nature of the association and hence, when given an opportunity to speak, I reiterated my suggestion that the association should confine itself to secular activities and resist the wave of majoritarianism pervading the country.  I believe that these also go against the stated objectives of the Samiti in its bylaws.

In response one person mentioned that secularism merely means Sarvdharm Sambhaav, and another suggested that our Vice President of the association, who happens to be a Muslim, host an Eid party to be attended by the committee members.  Eid party hosted by an individual is perfectly okay, and in tune with my argument that religious observances should be individual affair and I do hope that this is not merely a feeble balancing act and will be applied to all other religious celebrations, annual get together being the only exception.

I would like to add that secularism doesn't and shouldn't mean equal respect for all religions.  That definition has already caused a lot of ambiguity.  Also, even with that definition, secularism is taking a beating today.  What secularism should actually mean is equal disregard for all religion in matters related to governance and services.

Generating Ayushman Card for Senior Citizens

 Though the extension of Ayushman coverage to Senior Citizens (70 years and above, not above 60) was announced long ago, the actual registration only started a couple of days ago after inauguration by the PM.  My efforts to enroll myself had started earlier than the inauguration and all that I could achieve was registration on the ABHA (Ayushman Bharat Health Account) leading to issuance of an ABHA card and id linked to my Aadhaar, as I was not shown as eligible on the ayushman portal.  This was done on abha.abdm.gov.in.  ABDM stands for Ayushman Bharat Digital Mission.  ABHA is merely a centralised health record for you that can be viewed by healthcare professionals authorised by you.

Later when registering for Ayushman after its inauguration, I found that the registration process asked for two OTPs, one generated by UIDAI for your Aadhaar authentication and the other generated by ABDM for validating your ABHA number.  This would seem to suggest that ABHA registration is a prerequisite for Ayushman.  However, a search on Google shows that it is not so and ABHA is not a prerequisite for Ayushman.  So I suggest that you proceed for Ayushman card directly.  If it goes through, you don't have to go through the hassle of creating ABHA account.  If it doesn't you can go and complete ABHA registratrion and revert to Ayushman.  

In fact in the final step, it gives a checkbox for creating your ABHA account and linking it to your Aadhaar.  So you need not go to ABHA creation first.

For Ayushman the process is simple.  Go to https://beneficiary.nha.gov.in/ and log in using your mobile number.  Alternatively you can download the Ayushman app and use it for this process.  The page that opens after login has a button for registration by seniors.  Do not input anything in the displayed boxes and directly click that button and complete the form that opens next.  In our case who do not belong to the Below Poverty Line group, the family ID has to be left blank.After successful registration you will get a message saying that your card will be ready after some time.  You can return the next day and download your card.

Things Eternal

 The Guru’s face glowed with sweat from the hard work that he always engaged in.  He cast a fierce glance of indignation on the gathered disciples, clenched his fists and hissed, “Yes, I am acutely aware of the ridicule you face from some mischief mongers when you, the faithful, assert that certain things happening today were happening before 2014 too and that there is nothing wrong with them.”

He made a strong deprecating gesture with his hands adorned with expensive accessories, and continued, “These dimwitted and misguided people simply don’t understand that we are here to ensure the continuity of things eternal, Sanatan, and we won’t stop them simply because those in power in the BS (Before Sevak, not BullShit) era inherited those things through our glorious tradition and had the good sense to adhere to them.  Rising prices, strengthening Dollar and controlling machines erroneously proclaimed to be uncontrollable, taxing the middle class are all things eternal and we never had any plans to do away with them. On the contrary, we are working ever hard to preserve and strengthen these traditions and revive many others that the powers in the BS era had deliberately killed because of their deluded western mindset.”

The disciples felt a load being taken off their minds, heaved a sigh of relief and started chanting, “Sevak, sevak!”  The Guru signalled to them to be silent and continued his spirited speech.

The Idea or The Individual

 The Idea Or The Individual

It was probably a couple of years ago that there arose a debate over a remark by BJP leader Mr Raj Nath Singh.  The remark was to the effect that it was not Akbar, often called Akbar the great, who was great but Maharana Pratap Singh instead.

Recently in a Gandhi Jayanti celebration, a speaker said that the debate as to who was great, Gandhi or Subhash or Savarkar, was futile.  Each one of them was great in his own way and the public opinion got swung towards Gandhi through films and cultural events that firmly established him as the Sabarmati ka Sant, while the others were, more or less, ignored.

I am inclined to agree with the speaker, though in a slightly different sense.  Yes, it is futile to consider any individual as 'the great.'  All men are born more or less alike and they go through life being pragmatic, adapting to circumstances and maximising their chances of survival and well being.  Also we hardly know details of the life on an individual who is not part of our immediate family / social circle except through hearsay. Such transmitted knowledge almost always tries to conceal the fact that no man is a hero to his valet (or those closest to him.)  Yet there are individuals who strongly identify with an idea and and on occasions, if not always, ignore their survival and well being to defend those ideas.  Later on the canvas of history such individuals emerge as icons for the ideas and ideals that they so defended.

When we choose to call such an icon great, we are essentially conveying our approval and appreciation of the idea for which that person is an icon.  Those who do not subscribe to that idea but find it inconvenient to admit the fact, often attack the icon and not the idea.  This is the logical fallacy known as "ad hominem."

We always need to remember that the persona of a man is history which gets written and rewritten as regimes change.  But unlike a persona, an idea is something absolute and can only be accepted or rejected.  So the question to be asked is not who is great and who is not, but instead which idea appeals to you and which doesn't.

Do you agree?

A Trip To SRJBTK*

 * Sri Ram Janm Bhoomi Teerth Kshetra

This week our son is visiting us.  Back in USA he had heard a lot about the Ram Temple and expressed a desire to visit it.  We cautioned him about the mammoth crowds visiting the shrine each day.  But his curiosity got the better of him.

We started looking for information that could help us during our visit.  We visited the website SRJBTKshetra.org.  The site is quite rudimentary and doesn't provide much help.  I found a recent post by a neighbor on FB telling us of her visit to the temple.  I called her up.  She gave practical tips and a good deal of information.  She also told us about the huge crowds but kept assuaging our anxiety by telling us that the arrangements were good enough and that though it is going to take time, it will be worthwhile.  One strange thing was that the rest break for the Lord was mentioned incorrectly on the website as 11:30 am to 2 pm, while it had been changed to 12:30 to 13:00.  The trust can do a good job by keeping its site up to date.

Another issue is that of Aarati passes mentioned on the website.  Though the site suggests that these passes are available online, the link doesn't work.  My neighbour told us that it has to be done at a camp in Ayodhya where the crowds are just as huge, if not more, as at the temple for regular darshan.  So there is little point in wasting time for a pass.

I knew that a lot of demolition, road widening and construction work was going on and so chose not to go through the city of Faizabad, now renamed Ayodhya and so merged with it.  Prior to this renaming Faizabad and Ayodhya were twin cities, separate from each other.  Since I spent my childhood in Faizabad, this causes much confusion to me.  So when the highway from Lucknow shows a signage saying distance to Ayodhya is in single digit, I often get misled into thinking that I have gone past Faizabad.  And it takes some processing to guess where exactly could I be.

So I reposed my trust in Google Maps and it led me to the multilevel parking in Ayodhya with just one human correction.  Google asked to take a turn, we checked with a group of people standing there and they advised us to go straight.  We followed their advice and found the parking a short distance away.  On our way back when we asked for directions to the parking, people kept asking us whether we want to go to the parking close to the river Saryu or the other one.  So, probably, Google Maps was trying to take us to the other one.  Though, I still don't know whether we were in one close to the river or the other.

There are, in fact, two multilevel parkings opposite to each other.  The guard let us in after confirming that a vacant slot was available.  We were told that AC buses were regularly plying between the parking building and the temple and we did see quite a few of them on the other side of the road.  However the buses seemed very crowded and we decided to take an autorickshaw.  The rickshaw wallah told us that he will take us to a point very close to the temple through the narrow lanes, and that we are not allowed to go up to that point through the main road.  He asked for ₹500 and we bargained it down to ₹300, though my younger sister had availed the service a few days earlier for ₹250.  True to his word he took us through a labyrinth of narrow lanes and to a point where we were supposed to enter the temple premises.

It doesn't take much time to realise that the construction is not complete yet, not even half-way through.  The walkways are not yet constructed and carpets have been laid on bare and uneven earth for moving from point to point.  There is a locker facility for depositing your phones and bags.  Phones are not allowed and there is an announcement repeatedly that phones will be confiscated.  Though we found people using phones for selfies and photos beyond that point and around the temple block and no one seemed to be eager to confiscate the phone.

Next is facility for depositing your footwear.  It may be noted that socks need not be removed.  Then the march towards the temple begins.  We came to a tree with a platform around it on which a huge agarbatti (incense stick) was burning.  At this point the female and male visitors are segregated with woman on the right and men moving to the left of the tree.  This is done for frisking purposes.  Booths for ladies are on the right and those for the men on the left.

At the booth entrance on the top are two signs - a hand and a circle.  I saw people hitting the hand sign and thought that probably it was meant to keep count.  However later I heard an announcement asking people not to touch it.  I hope I heard the announcement correctly and am trying to figure out the reason for the display.  The screening is very perfunctory.

The problem arises after crossing the frisking booths as families try to reunite.  It seems that the queue at the frsiking booths moves faster in the female lanes than the other ones.  We were separated ourselves and spent a long anxious time looking for my wife and sister.  Then it occurred to us that while we had left all our phones etc in the car, one phone had stayed with us in the sling bag worn by my wife.  We thought that they might have been sent back because of that.  We approached a security person in military fatigues who was kind enough to lend his phone to us.  We called the number with the ladies several times but kept getting a busy tone.  We later found out that they had gone ahead of us and were sitting on the stairs of the temple at the exit.  We suspect that a jammer may be installed to cover the main temple and a small periphery.  We thanked the guard, who expressed concern about the ladies and said, "You see, I live close by.  Yet, because of this maddening crowd, I am yet to bring my own family for Darshan!'

The crowd had been huge and there was too much pushing and jostling right up to the booths.  Not finding the ladies we became very anxious and worried if they had suffered a fall, not a remote possibiliity at all.  We next approached a lady in fatigues and enquired if there was an announcement booth.  She took us next to the booths where a microphone was being used by a person with another person waiting, it finally came to us.  We made announcement several times but to no avail.  One reason being that it is not possible for the other person to respond and coming to an indicated point not easy either.  We wondered why each visitor had to make his own announcement but then realised that this was the only option because of the nature of the crowd;  there were people from every corner of the country and the number of languages and dialects spoken was too large to be handled by one or two announcers.  This was an issue in crowd management too.

In the light of this experience, and we were not the only ones undergoing this, I would suggest the following to the authorities there -

• Please allow visitors to carry their phones to avoid such incidents.  Quite a few people are flouting this meaningless requirement and only the rule sticklers suffer.
• Advise visitors through displays and announcements for gents and ladies to wait for each other immediately beyond the booths and to proceed only after they are together.
• Display signages showing directions and what is coming up next.  There is a total lack of these.  This makes the visitor feel lost.  It will be good if each visitor is given a map of the premises. 

Having failed to contact the ladies, we decided to have a Darshan and then resume our search hoping for best all that time.  Beyond the booths six queues are formed for going to the temple without the gender segregation.  It is a rather long walk, 100 meters or more.  The barricades separating the lanes are metal ones lined up one after the other and there is a risk of your finger getting caught in the gaps between two.  There are constrictions in between.  These are very dangerous with the operation of the Bernoulli Principle that subjects those in the constricted area to lot of push and sway and poses a danger of barricades and people toppling over.  It did happen immediately before the steps going up to the main temple.  The barricade fell down and I was saved from a similar fate by my son.  As people sense coming close to the temple building, the shouting of Jai Sri Ram gets louder.  One young chap chanted the phrase so loud and so close to my right ear that it kept ringing for quite some time after that.  We were all tightly packed in each lane almost like a simgle mass that had a life of its own and kept swaying and moving.  I felt an apprehension several times that there might be a stampede or the jostling may lead to a domino effect.  Thankfully it didn't happen.

As you climb up to the floor of the temple,  you notice the intricate carvings on the pillars and the ceiling.  The stone used is neither red nor yellow but cream or off-white in colour.  At present it looks rather monotonous.  It also struck me that the temple is not as huge as I had imagined it to be.  The idol looks small, more so because you are not allowed to go close to it.  Also because of the heavy crowd you hardly get a few seconds to focus on the idol.  Just a few seconds after hours of jostling.

We were so exhausted that I forgot to look for a portion of the floor that looks very realistically like water, as told by my neighbour. As you climb downstairs and head towards the exit, you reach the locker counters on the opposite side, i.e., opposite to where items were accepted.  Same is the case with footwear.  Then you walk down and reach the main street where you see the buses and huge crowds.  As the buses were too crowded we enquired with a policeman where we could get an auto for going to the parking.  It seems most of the police people were from outside Ayodhya and not too familiar with the geography.  Same was the case with various security guards deployed along the path on the exit.

Finally we figured things out and walked a little distance towards traffic signal where we saw autos on a side road.  We also figured out that the tempo ride in the morning had saved us a walk of probably 1/2 a kilometers, the distance from the auto stand to where I think the entry point was.  The exit was another arm of the rectangle.

I feel that till the crowds have thinned out a bit or better facilities like golf carts become available, it is not safe for very elderly people to visit the temple.  I was told by my neighbour that wheel chairs were available.  But we didn't see any during our trip.  All we saw were two office chairs with wheels which were being carried by two people and I don't think it could serve that purpose.

The Ayodhya that I saw (from the parking to the temple) is very different from the congested areas and narrow lanes that I remember from my childhood.  That area has a very nice look now.

Persistent Nausea

What causes nausea?  I am aware of two reasons.  You may have eaten something that had its inedibility masked by strong flavours or there is a mismatch between sensory input from two of more organs - as happens in seasickness.

I feel quite nauseous these days, do you too?  What may be the reason?

For sure there is a terrible mismatch between the gloomy signals that we get from managing our own budgets and affairs, and the incessant chatter of relentless progress, investment pouring in, the globe fawning to us and a certain face staring at you from all the directions seeking your acquiescence, and whose intent gaze you cannot avoid at any place or time.  There is absolutely nothing that confirms your feeling of gloom except what you feel in your guts.  Any voices that once provided a confirmation have gradually been muffled into total silence.  Is it this terrible and stark mismatch that make you and me nauseous?

Or is it something that we have eaten? A forbidden fruit, lured by painstakingly applied colour and fragrance to mask its real ones that could have warned us?  And having ingested it we are not unable to get it out of our system, and hence the persistent nausea.

Think hard and find a cure lest this permanent nausea should kill you by making it impossible for you to ingest anything healthy that is good for you.

Organ Donation

 Being advanced in age, I often think of organ donation as an act of compassion. However what deters me is the thought that it might go to a corrupt and powerful person who can easily pull strings in a system that isn't exactly known for its uprightness, instead of to a more deserving recipient. This will be an unethical act and I wouldn't want to be a party to it.

In my opinion, a person who wants to pledge organ donation in his lifetime should be allowed to specify eligibility criteria for the ultimate recipient. Such an instrument should be legally binding on the deceased's legal heirs too. That will rule out any chance of influence or money entering the picture.

As the time available for selecting a recipient is short in case of cadaver donation, a prospective donor should be encouraged to give multiple criterion and also a negative list if he wishes to. For example, if I were to opt for donation, I wouldn't want my organs to go to a politician wielding power unless I have explicitly named him in my criteria list.

In case a person dies intestate in this matter, the right to choose a recipient must remain with his legal heirs.  It cannot be given to a system known for its callousness. If money or influence has to enter the picture, let the benefit go to the heirs rather than a corrupt official.

A Piece Of Good News Amongst A Storm Of The Bad.

My sister-in-law's son-in-law, we call him Ashu, has made a full recovery from the dreaded Covid.  A CT scan had shown him with a count of 20, a cause for immense worry.  Ashu lives in N Delhi and works in the Medical Equipments industry.  He is an energetic young man with an entrepreneurial bent of mind.  He had set up his own business from a scratch and had received an award for entrepreneurship from the Times of India.  The business, unfortunately, died down in the aftermath of demonetisation and GST, and he was forced to take up a job once again.  Currently he is the sole breadwinner in the family and supporting his mother-in-law and father-in-law too.  And so there was a palpable gloom in the family that deepened as his scan revealed less than hopeful prognosis.

Ashu has shared with me his treatment regimen, which I feel compelled to share with everyone.  Of course I have no medical qualification to recommend it to others but am still sharing it in the hope that this may form a starting point when a Covid patient or a caregiver discusses a line of treatment with a qualified doctor.

His successful treatment is based on a regimen recommended by some doctors and shared on Facebook.  I am providing a link to one of these videos at the end of this post.

These doctors ask to mark the day of start of symptoms including fever as day one.  In most cases, the fever should go away on day 6th necessitating no further treatment.  However if the fever persists or worsens, they recommend a heavy dose of methylprednisolone - 40  mg twice a day for five days, an anticoagulant, such as Apixaban 5mg, to be taken once a day, and nebulisation with Formoterol Fumarate and Budesonide mixture TDS and SOS.

Initially Ashu was given steriod but in a very low dose of 4 and 2 mg.  When he went to another doctor who subscribed to the regimen mentioned above, he increased the dose to the level recommended in the videos.  It is now three days after Ashu went off the medication and he is feeling absolutely fit and fine.  He maintains that with all his problems in breathing, had he gone to a hospital to be put on oxygen, the result would not have been a happy one.  He also practised proning and steam inhalation to relieve the symptoms.

It is important to add that Ashu doesn't have any history of diabetes and hence this line of treatment did not present any complications for him.  However, as steroids are known to raise sugar levels, diabetics must mention the fact to their doctor and must abide by their advice.

Ashu also tells me that doctors normally use the tradename Medrol for the steroid and because of this the drug has disappeared and is available in the black market at 100 times the printed price!  Though the same drug from different companies and with different tradenames is available at the normal rate but doctors and pharmacists are failing to suitably advise the patients in the matter.  In case the drug is not available in the required strength, multiple tablets with lower strength can be taken to make up the dose.

I must emphasize that I have no medical qualifications and have narrated this case merely for information of my readers.  They must not follow this line of treatment without consulting a qualified doctor after disclosing all their existing ailments to him.  It can be fatal for diabetics to go for it without the recommendation and supervision of a doctor.

Here is the link to one of the videos that I had mentioned.

Yet Another Obituary!

 Yesterday, the day started out well and the pal of monotony was broken by messages from some old and dear friends. Two of them called too and we had longish voice chats that cheered me up and, hopefully, the other side too.  However as my wife and I were going to call it a day after dinner, the bolt from the blue came.  My cousin called and enquired if I had received the bad news.  When I replied in the negative, he broke the news of the death of a nephew, my elder sister's eldest son, at the hands of the dreaded virus.

It is the kind of news that makes one go numb both in the limbs and the mind. Everything is frozen to a standstill in that moment.  Then, gradually, a door opens in the mind letting in a swarm of memories, like furious bees, and the mind flails around, stung by them, till it drops down in sheer exhaustion.  The cycle repeats itself, mercifully in diminishing intensity and finally it all dies down and sheer stupor prevais.

An analogy arises in the mind.  I am at the head of a queue for check-out and someone far behind me loses his patience at my slowness in proceeding and jumps the queue.  It leaves me with the feeling that I used to get in my younger days when I had a recurrent nightmare which will leave me paralyzed and unable to breathe and just as I got to the verge of desperation, I would wake up perspiring with a jolt and a sharp breath. I despair at the curse of having to watch someone to go, when it should have been the other way round.

There was a long age gap between my elder sister and me.  My nephew, his pet name was Guddu, was born in my parents' home when I was in the tenth standard and about 13 years of age.  I vividly recall my brother-in-law visiting us and beaming with pleasure as he held Guddu.  Guddu had inherited the firmness and some of the strictness of his father and in him I saw an image of my brother-in-law.  Both my elder sister and the brother-in-law had passed away a few years ago.

Guddu was being attended upon in the hospital by his wonderful son, an MBBS, who insisted upon remaining in the hospital clad with an PPE all the time!  And though the exhaustion and utter lack of sleep were getting to him, he sounded happy at his dad's improvement only a couple of days ago.  And then everything fell apart.

Guddu is survived by his son, wife and two daughters.  My heart bleeds as I pray for them to be given the strength to bear this terrible loss.  Dear Guddu, may you find peace and love as you are united with your parents. Hari Om Tatsat.

Two Obituaries

Six is a small number, and thus the rule of six degrees of separation  suggests that no one is too far removed from another person in this world. Yet, when Covid struck last year we knew few victims that were separated from us by two or three degrees or less.

This year it has menacingly closed in on us.  It has struck some near and dear ones, and some fatally too.

On 16th I lost my Bhabhi, elder cousin's wife, to this terrible contagion.  Both Bhaiya and Bhabhi had taken their first dose of Covishield and were staying confined to home.  They had fever a few days later but tested -ve for Covid.  Even as the fever was subsiding a little, their oxygen level dipped a little and then some more.  It took major efforts by her daughter and son-in-law, both doctors, to find them beds with oxygen in a Covid facility.  Despite all these valiant efforts and the best medical care, Bhabhi succumbed to the disease.

Bhabhi's son, my nephew, working with Intel in Bangalore, had flown down to Lucknow soon after getting the news of their affliction.  He is deeply attached to his mother and it is difficult to fathom the shock that he experienced.

Added to this loss was the inability to conduct a normal dignified funeral because of the regulations and crowded cremation facilities.  No family member could be in attendance at the funeral except her son and son-in-law.  The subsequent rituals were also shortened to a Shanti Path at an Arya Samaj facility.

Bhabhi was a simple woman of my generation, always smiling and caring.  She loved light reading and afternoon siestas.  She was rooted in tradition, always dressed in a saree, and never took to the salwar suit that other ladies in the family had adopted.  She was very fond of Dahi and sometimes we joked that it was because she hailed from the village Chakdahi.  It is so difficult to believe that this dreaded disease snatched her away from us in one fell swoop!

She will be fondly remembered and missed, always.

_______________________________________________________________________

Two weeks have passed since we lost Bhabhi, while Bhaiya remained hospitalised.  Extreme care was taken not to break the news to him and fend off his queries about her with concocted responses.

His condition kept fluctuating and he had to be shifted to the Ram Manohar Lohia hospital four days ago as the facilities at Vivekanand Hospital came under pressure because of large addition of Covid patients.  He succumbed today.

Even as the memories of our shared childhood in the joint family of my father and his brother keep flooding my mind, the cruel fact of his death at the hands of this dreaded disease keeps jolting me into this dreadful present.

We studied at the same Government school in Faizabad.  He was a bit of a star there as he was a good cricketer and had played at the district level.  However our middle class compulsions to focus on studies to the exclusion of everything else, weaned him away from cricket.  He had an athletic build and was the tallest person in the family and stopped just shy of six feet.  I am sure that had he followed his interest, he would have gone a long way.

We were all science students, and I vividly remember an incident when he happened to bring a small chunk of sodium and put it in water as I watched from the side.  It erupted and some debris reached his eyes.  Fortunately it didn't cause any damage.

He started his career in the Intelligence Bureau and later, like many others in government jobs, moved to Central Bank of India as a Vigilance Officer.  He was an absolutely upright and straightforward person.  After retirement sometimes he used to share with us his encounters with top management and union leaders.  He never yielded to pressures and was both respected and feared.

Like my father and chacha, Bhaiya too lived in a joint family with his elder brother.  The eldest one, Bade Bhaiya, had passed away four years ago after fighting a resurgent metastasised cancer.  He had been a bit lonely since then.  He also developed a severe problem in his knees which kept worsening as he kept delaying the knee replacement.  This made him sedentary and his fitness level had dropped too.

He had planned and managed a tour for the whole family in March 2020 to Dudhwa National Park.  The entire family had a good time and enjoyed the trip.  No more than a month ago, we were planning a trip to some place in MP.   As we struggle to come to terms with his death, I recall this memory and it fills me with a sense of disbelief.

It is a deep shock for me, and I can only imagine the pain that my nephew and niece must be experiencing having lost both parents in a fortnight!  We are dumbfounded at two from our immediate family being cruelly snatched away by a disease that we had been mocking only a month ago and believed that it had gone away!  My niece and her husband, both doctors, did their absolute best to get him all medical facilities that he needed.  But doctors can only fight illness, not death.  We owe a deep debt of gratitude to Dr Virendra Sharma, my niece's husband.

Do say a prayer for the departed souls and also a prayer for us whom this bereavement has left heartbroken.

Born As A Diaper

At times I feel that we are all born as diapers.  I do not use that word in any derogatory sense but because of the properties that make a diaper useful, properties that a sponge or plain cotton wool obviously don't have.

A lot comes our way after we are born, in the form of language, culture, traditions et al.  If we were like a sponge or cotton wool, we could easily wring out whatever we didn't want after we grew up.  But being like a diaper, we internalise and solidify it; it becomes an inalienable part of us.

Not only this, we human diapers have an additional property.  Those with the same absorbed contents tend to stick together while showing no such affinity to other diapers with different absorbed contents.  This is a feature that the inanimate diapers don't have.

There are those, both amongst scientists and artists, who feel a sense of deep alienation because they somehow have been able to rid themselves, in varying degrees, of the absorbed contents and hence the ability to stick to others too.  This could be viewed as a defect or an evolution depending on one's inclinations.

Do you think it would be better if we were born like cotton wool, with an ability to wring out the bulk and hopefully the spots too?  Only then we could come somewhat close to saying with Kabir, "Daas Kabir jatan se odhi, jyon ki tyon dhar deeni chadariya."