Who am I?

“Nature is busy creating absolutely unique individuals, whereas culture has invented a single mold to which all must conform. It is grotesque. ”
― U. G. Krishnamurti


I have often wondered about the consciousness that a newborn human being has. You had it and I had it, but we cannot recall it. They say that we only have memories, or access to memories, that formed after we learnt a language, our respective mother tongues.

Recently I read a book titled “The Big Nine.” It is about Artificial Intelligence (AI) and certain concerns about the way it is developing.  I have done my fair share of programming, but only in the days of COBOL and xBASE, and so it should not be difficult to see how poor my understanding of Artificial Intelligence is.  What I could gather after reading the book is that AI essentially means finding patterns by sifting through humongous amounts of data, using initial instructions on how to do it, what to look for and then applying the knowledge gained to new data sets on new situations.  I would like to think that this is strikingly similar to how our our own intelligence, an important facet of consciousness, develops.

All the data and instructions that we accumulate to get our NI (Natural Intelligence) running, comes from our parents, family, teachers and the community.  This gives a final shape the idea of 'me' and then, of course, we get weaned from these sources but the foundation of my self remains.

The book I mentioned earlier, expresses serious concerns about the fact that those who are in the forefront of AI development are predominantly white males.  This means that their biases in interpreting human data are very likely to get embedded into AI itself.  This is the equivalent of a child getting exposed only to the ways of its community to the exclusion of others.  Apart from the ways, the data he gets is also limited to that originated by the members of his cultural group.  Later on when he encounters people from a different culture, he may feel overwhelmed and even threatened.

The book argues that if this pioneer team were more heterogeneous, the biases may get cancelled out.  It is the equivalent of bringing up a child in a multicultural environment.

An AI, after it gets started, may, later in its 'life', encounter data that significantly deviates from the ones that it has trained on and also finds its established methods failing in handling this data.  Depending on the kind of intelligence bred into it, it may exhibit behaviours that may be difficult to predict in advance and less than desirable.  This wouldn't be the case if it was built up using an inclusive instructions and data.

Extrapolating the argument, it is important that humans too be exposed to different cultures as well as the common culture of a super-group like a nation during the early formative years, to avoid them displaying confused and roguish behaviour later in life.

Such bringing up will make a person more rounded without rough edges and spear points.  Such a person will not have the desire to hurt or eliminate an alien behaviour on emotional grounds alone.

But yet, the fact remains that even this well rounded person and his consciousness is merely what he has learnt from his (more inclusive) society and gives no clue whatsoever about what it was like when it emerged into this world.  Just as an AI cannot be described just on the basis of its hardware and OS.  In fact it emerges only after initial instructions and exposure to the humongous data sets. 

Whose Mother Tongue is Hindi (Khadi Boli) anyway? - My Linguistic Journey

I spent my early childhood in a village not too far from Maghar, where Sant Kabir breathed his last.  And thus I picked up Awadhi as my mother tongue. Later in the childhood, I moved to the city of Faizabad where I learnt another variant of Awadhi as spoken in the city. To illustrate, what was "कहां गइल रहला?" in the village turned into "कहां गवा रहेव?" in the city.  Then I met some relatives from other parts of Eastern UP itself and was surprised to find that some of their verbs and intonations were markedly different from ours, though we could converse fluently without any problem.

All this while, I was, of course, learning the Khadi Boli (KB) variety of Hindi in the school because these spoken dialects were and remain just that, spoken dialects without much written literature.  Of course, dohas from Kabir, Rahim, Soordas do form a body of literature in some of these dialects, and Ramayan is an Epic in Awadhi, but these have been adopted in the Khadi Boli Hindi where explaining the meaning of the dohas form routine examination questions.

In the middle and high school in the city some of us conversed in the local dialect, while others used the Khadi Boli.

My wife is from the Bhojpuri belt in UP that is adjacent to Bihar.  While we understand each other's dialects very well, initially we found some of the expressions and the accent in each other funny.  Then we switched to Khadi Boli.  So we started conversing in KB with each other while using Awadhi and Bhojpuri for conversing with other family members.

Because we switched over to KB, our son never got an opportunity to learn either Awadhi or Bhojpuri.  Same was the case with my cousins, and thus our next generation became the first generation which had KB as their mother tongue.  They largely understand our dialects but cannot sustain a conversation in that.

Thus I suspect that Hindi which is a synonym for KB is a mother tongue only for the city dwellers of North India, while the rural and even the semi-urban populations remain rooted in their language and reserve KB for city dwellers and people from other regions.  And while I have discussed only the languages prevalent in UP, the same applies to the entire Northern Belt including states like Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan etc.

Things have changed more drastically for our second generation, grandsons and granddaughters.  Most of them have studied in English medium schools.  While they do speak Hindi, it is more of Hinglish and what would be a normal conversation between KB speaking people with literary orientation, will not pass muster with them as normal Hindi.  Still others, those who have been raised abroad, have naturally taken to English (most NRIs prefer living in the English speaking world) as their mother tongue and can manage a conversation in Hindi only with difficulty.  Much of whatever KB the visiting grandparents are able to instill in them is partly lost by the time of the next visit.  I, personally, have given up teaching my grandsons KB and have instead started seeking their help to make my spoken English conform as much as possible to theirs.  I do feel bad when I think that they will never be able to enjoy Tulsi Ramayan sung by Mukesh and Ghalib Ghazals sung by Jagjit Singh the way I do.  Of course, they must also have similar feelings about my inability to enjoy their kind of music.  The consolation is that if they ever choose to study the Indian philosophy contained in the Upanishads and Samkhya and what have you, they will be able to do it as well as I have done, for I, too, have studied their English translations only.  Though, I am often able to figure out the meaning of a shloka in Sanskrit with some effort.

I also recall how a friend and colleague from Tamilnadu, who worked in UP for some time, was not able to pick up Hindi initially, but later, when posted in Gujarat, started speaking good enough Hindi, and, surprisingly, not Gujarati.  Then I had a Bengali friend who spoke Bengali like a native but was not able to read or write it!

Again, when I was posted in Lucknow for the first time, a Sharmaji was my next door neighbour.  He was a retired serviceman and a very fine gentleman.  We became like family to him.  Several years later, I was transferred to Gujarat and wrote a letter to him from there.  The letter was responded by his son who told me that Sharma Sr could not read or write Hindi!  He had learnt only English and Urdu as a student.  And during my years of association with him, I had not been able to make that out!

Language is, by definition, a shared attribute of a community.  The basis of the community may be geography, religion, profession and business amongst others.  Insistence on use of regional language shows that geography overshadows other bases.  And thus, if we want a true link language for our people the other bases must get precedence over geography.  That happens when people move from agriculture into professions and businesses that require mobility and necessitate interaction with diverse people and thus underscore the need for a link language.  However, the current 'son of the soil' policies followed or announced by several states decidedly go against this.  If the government truly wants to have a link language, it can help it evolve by facilitating movement of people between regions and not by discouraging it.  A fiat will certainly not do it.

While a link language may confer an advantage to native speakers, but it also places a great responsibility on it to assimilate as much as possible of the languages spoken by its diverse users.  A language that tries to remain rooted and chaste cannot take on the role of a link language.  Look to how English keeps adding words from languages all over the world each year.  It has helped it to become informally the link language of the European Union as borne out by their language policy.  Here is an extract from it:

"All content is published in at least English, because research has shown that with English we can reach around 90% of visitors to our sites in either their preferred foreign language or their native language."

And finally as I said in the beginning, KB is the mother tongue of only a miniscule population of city dwellers in the north.  This was beautifully illustrated decades ago when a niece from a village spent some time with my family.  When his father came to escort her back, she confided to him, "You know, Anupam (my son) talks to his parents in Angrezi!"  KB was Angrezi to her, a North Indian!!

A piece of India in San Francisco

Last month I got an opportunity to visit the Indian Consulate in San Francisco.  I was accompanying my son who had to get some document apostilled (Read here more about apostil.)   It is a tall building in a not-so-posh area of San Francisco.  The Tricolour flying high on its rooftop made a pretty sight.  The only parking available to the visitors is alongside the road.  Fortunately, we found an empty slot.

We were ushered in by the security guard, took a token from a dispensing machine and waited in the customer area.  We could see a split AC on the other side of the counters, i.e., in the office area but none in the customer lounge.  That was not a problem given the normally chilly weather in San Francisco.

The lady at the counter for accepting documents was having a break.  She soon returned and and a little later our token number was called out.  The lady didn't sound too friendly and said that we needed to get a photocopy of the document to be apostilled.  My son's objection that this requirement was not listed on the Consulate's website was curtly brushed aside.  His enquiry whether the photocopy could be done in the office on payment of charges met with a vigorous no.  We were told that there was a shop nearby and given general directions.  It seems that this confusion was a routine one and later we discovered a notice in the customer lounge stating the requirement of photocopies.

It was close to the closing time (the window opens only from 9 am to 12 noon.)  I accompanied my son as he nearly ran to the Office Supply shop down and across the road.  Some other harassed looking visitors, some of whom we had seen in the consulate earlier, were also there hurriedly making photocopies on self-service machines.  My son made copies and we ran back to the consulate where we were asked to get a fresh token.  We were able to deposit the documents in time and moved to the payment window.

The payment window was manned by a very courteous woman.  A notice was prominently displayed saying that Cash / Debit & Credit Cards / Personal cheques were NOT allowed and that all payments had to be made only through a Bankers' Cheques.  She first pointed out that the Bankers' Cheque (more about it later) was for two USD more than what was required.  The prospect of having to get it cancelled and another BC issued made us very uncomfortable, but the lady said that if it was okay with us the extra $2 could go to Indian Community Welfare Fund.  We readily agreed with a sigh of relief.

While the requirement of having an apostilled document countersigned by the consulate itself is superfluous as pointed out in my earlier post for which a link appears in the first para, there are a few questions as follows:

1. Why are debit and credit cards not accepted?
2. In a country where even a barber who doesn't know you is willing to accept a personal cheque, why is the consulate averse to doing so?  Their insistence on a Bankers' Cheque for petty amounts is a harassment to customers who are forced to visit their Bank.
3. Why does the consulate want a photocopy of the document for its records?  They can very well scan the original and store the digital copy or ask the customer to upload scanned image  online.
4. If they must have a photocopy why can't they do it on their office machine and add the charges to the fee payable?

The questions point towards towards import of bureaucratic practices from India even though these do not fit into the milieu abroad.  The consulate needs to look into these practices.

Yellowstone National Park

I recently visited the Yellowstone National Park.  It indeed is a fascinating place and a giant of a park sprawling across three states.  It is also considered to be the first National Park in the whole world.  You will find many interesting facts about the park here: Wikipedia and Govt's site.

Each day of our visit we used to enter from the West Gate, for our hotel was to the west of the park. A shallow river runs along the road with vast meadows surrounded by hills.  The grass and vegetation looked green and healthy unaffected by the summer.  The river all along is shallow and looks black due to the stones lining the bottom.  The water is absolutely clear, though it must have a high level of dissolved salts and minerals from the thermal basins and geysers.  As you go deeper into the park, you see fumes emanating from various sites all around you.

The numerous thermal basins have geysers, ponds with the water steaming, boiling and spurting, and fumaroles.  Fumaroles are holes in the earth or small mounds that emit steam and smelly gases, mostly Hydrogen Sulphide.  The earth around these is mostly covered with white deposits which could be salts from the emissions, and the spewing water.  You see mudpots too which have mud bubbling and making sound like a very thick soup on a burner.  The mud in some mudpots is white and thick like white paint.

You also come across craters, deep pits containing very hot water and overflowing.  Some craters have very clear water which has hues of emerald and azure.  The sight is mesmerizing.

Almost as marvelous as the formations and phenomena in the thermal basins, is the way these have been preserved meticulously despite a footfall of over 3 million each year.  The ground in thermal basins is thin and if a person stepped on it, he may not only be damaging the delicate formations but also run the risk of sinking into boiling water or mud.  Extensive boardwalks have been built around the structures and visitors are required to walk only on these without touching the basin or pools or mudpots.  At some places you see warning that these are not only hot but acidic enough to burn the soles of your shoes!  The pungent smell from the fumes bears testimony to this.  Throwing any object in the basins is illegal and punishable and you find rangers keeping a watch at several places.

Since the ground in the thermal basins is so fragile and at many places around fumarole holes we could actually see how thin the crust is, we were astonished when we saw a bison standing near a bubbling pond.  Bisons typically weigh around 2000 pounds and we thought the bison was sure to sink into the ground.  It kept standing there for some time and then sat down.  We watched in fascination and returned the same way on our way back to ascertain its fate.  It wasn't there and there was no hole in the ground either!  We heaved a sigh of relief.

There are valleys full of herds of bisons.  We also saw bisons crossing the road at some places.  At one time we saw a bison roaming on a street bringing the traffic to a halt.  Soon enough a ranger came along in his car and nudged the bison away from the street.  We also had the good luck of seeing a grizzly bear near a stream.  A ranger there was there to brief the visitors and also to ensure that the animal was not disturbed.

A fascinating scene was a river and several small waterfalls from a vast thermal pool feeding it.  The pond was sparkling like a gem with several shades and there were several rainbow colours at the bottom of the water flowing out from it in all directions.  The plaques tell us that the colours come not from the minerals but from vast colonies of bacteria which live in the very hot water that no other organism may be able to survive in.  These bacterial are called thermophiles. A study of the mechanism which helps them thrive in such hostile environment has lead to discoveries that may find use in the medical science.

At one place we saw a stepped hill with hot water flowing from the top making a wonderful site.  It is called the Devils Lair.  Though, to an Indian like me it invoked the image of a Kailash or Ushn Kailash.  Adjoining it is an structure called Liberty Cap which looks like a huge Shivling.

The park also has a grand canyon complete with waterfalls and a river at the floor of the canyon.  The canyon has an Artist point where the hills are multihued and look like pastel colours on a huge canvas.

Of course, we also visited the famous Old Faithful Geyser, and witnessed an eruption.  This is the most predictable of the geysers with eruptions taking place every 75 minutes +/- 15 minutes.  Surprisingly, it was not as picturesque as many of the other sights that I have mentioned earlier.  And, yet, one cannot even think of skipping it when visiting Yellowstone.

Even in this abundant wilderness, the park has toilets in the parking lots.  There is no sewerage and these are just huge pits with a commode sitting at the top.  There are no wash basins but you have abundant supply of toilet rolls and huge containers of hand sanitizers.  The number of visitors was large, parking lots were all full, most toilets had a queue but we never saw anybody doing their business in the bushes.  Huge bear-proof waste bins are also kept in the parking lots and you never find any littering anywhere.  This, of course, applies to all parks and public places in this part of the world.

There also are visitor centers with gas stations and stores nearby where you can find food and beverages.

Yellowstone is surrounded by other parks and together they form a park system.  We visited the Grand Teton Park on our way back.  It is absolutely picturesque with a huge lake surrounded by the Teton range of mountains.  There still was snow on the mountains.  We wanted to boat in the lake but it was very crowded with the parking overflowing and we didn't have too much time left for our drive to the airport for catching the flight from the Salt Lake City.

All this sightseeing called for driving around 100 miles each day.  All the driving was done by my son, Anupam.  He is a great driver indeed.  I look back to the time when I taught him driving with great satisfaction and pride.  I may add that he has repaid that debt by teaching me driving in USA. Also, he managed the whole trip, meticulously planned each day to optimize our experience.  Thanks to his planning we could also see a few very quiet and scenic places that were not so crowded as the main points.

We were also assisted by a GPS based app called Gypsy Guide that keeps telling you about the location that you are passing through.

It was a memorable visit indeed, and worth sharing.  Hence this blog.

Why Must We Have Different Income Tax Rules for Seniors.

That old people in the final phase of limited human life span need a different treatment is recognized by the Medical Science too which has a separate branch for them called geriatrics.  Financial advisers too advise old and retired people differently as their risk appetite and needs are different and the time span under consideration is shorter.  Thus it is surprising that the government doesn't discriminate between retired and working people when it comes to taxing their income.  Some minor concessions given to them earlier are being gradually wiped out.

The first point of contention is the rebate given on long term investments.  These are often used by government to show that the actual income on which you need not pay any taxes is far more than the exemption limit.  It is indeed prudent and advisable for a young working man to set aside a sizeable part of his / her income for a reasonable retirement corpus in old age.  But to ask an old person who may not have much more than 5 years of life span left is illogical.  For a senior citizen it is time to draw down his savings to supplement his reduced income and she can hardly afford to set aside a large chunk of her income just to get tax rebates.  Thus it will be reasonable to raise the exemption limit for seniors over that for working people by the amount of total deductions for investments and savings that are permitted.

Again, contrary to what is believed by working people, expenses tend to go up after retirement.  There are several reasons for it.  When young you are able to do most of daily chores yourself.  However an old person with much lower energy levels one has to depend on domestic help.  One may also need a driver or have to depend on expensive private transport.  Visits to doctors become more frequent and the expenses go up not only on consultation but also on medicines and supplements which more than make up for any reduction in your grocery and food bills.

While working most of us were unable to attend many social engagements like marriage, birth of a child and many of the numerous celebrations that keep taking place in the immediate and extended family.  Once retired the calls on you to participate and give your blessings grow frequent and louder.  Now, we all know that social commitments also call for a substantial financial commitment.  In fact, expenses on social and family events form a huge part of expenditure in your budget.

Thus it can not be gainsaid that seniors also require a much larger standard deduction compared to young working people.

My submission is that it will be reasonable to give seniors a standard deduction of 2 lakhs along with an exemption limit of 8 lakhs. Also these limits should be linked to inflation and get automatically revised.

The Caste System (Varna Vyavastha)

I come from a Brahmin family that hovered on the boundary between lower and lower middle classes when I was a kid. My early schooling was in my native village and I came to the city of Faizabad for the middle and high schooling. In the city, I used to feel perplexed by the social conversation between classmates from a proper middle class urban background and they sometimes did frown upon my ignorance in certain matters and also the dress sense or lack thereof in kids like me who happened to be studying in the same government schools as them.  As an aside I may add that private schools in those days were few and looked down upon.

While I did find our economic status a little embarassinng, I have vivid memories of certain people who worked as domestic help, cleaner and washerman who seemed to be doing worse than us. I still clearly remember one Manohar who used to do the dishes.  A male domestic help was called Maharaa and female ones were called Mahari.  Manohar Mahara was a giant of a man.  As a kid I found him scary.  Apart from a meager salary, Manohar also used to get our left over food.  He had a large tin box and used to keep the fresh food in it.  Before keeping the fresh food, he used to take out the stale food from it and consume it.  I seldom saw him eating the fresh food.

Though alcohol was a strict no-no, a bottle was kept in the house for the washerman who used to visit the house for washing our clothes and then taking them for ironing.  He will arrive in the morning, will be given a cup or more of the intoxicant and get down to work.

Then there was the lady who used to service the dry latrine that was used by our large joint family. My father and uncle were first generation immigrants to a city. This lady used to speak Urdu laden Hindi in an accent that gave us a complex.  Must have converted a genration ago.

My cousins and I now agree that our generation managed to creep up from lower class to middle class.  I do not know what happened to the descendants of the persons I have described above.  I am convinced that the difference between them and us was not so much of class as that of caste.  It may have firmly pinned them down where they were.  Yes, some of them did manage to escape this tyranny just as some in our clan remained stuck where we were a generation ago.  Yet, now at this old age, I can see the disadvantage that the ones from lower castes suffered from.

I do sincerely hope that Hindu society will soon realize that caste is an anachronism today and must be firmly and decisively done away with if Hindu society is to survive, progress and thrive.

SFO to LKO on Air India: Customs at DEL

Normally a person travelling to USA from Lucknow has to first travel to N Delhi and then board an international flight from there.  This adds to the arduousness of the long journey.  Though Lucknow has an international terminal and there are flights for destinations in the Middle East and Singapore, getting a direct ticket from LKO to an USA destination is a problem.  The same applies to the return travel.

This time my son could arrange a direct ticket (single PNR) from LKO to SFO (via DEL) on Air India.  On the outward journey the luggage was checked through to SFO and I merely had to clear the immigration at DEL without having to bother about the checked-in bags.

On the way back, when I checked in at SFO, I was given a through luggage ticket to LKO.  I was expecting the luggage tickets to be only up to DEL as customs had to be cleared there before boarding the connecting domestic flight.  When I enquired with the lady at the counter, she told me that though the luggage has been booked through to LKO, my bags will be put on the carousel at DEL and I will have to collect them, clear the customs and then hand them over again to Air India at a separate desk.

I made an enquiry with a cabin crew too in the flight to DEL.  She admitted ignorance in the matter but said that the ground staff will be able to help me.

As we approached DEL, we were told that our registered bags will be available on belt number 2.  We cleared immigration and then when we reached belt number 2, we were informed that it is on belt number 10.  We reached belt number 10 and were looking for our bags when the crew from our flight happened to pass by.  I hailed the lady with whom I had a conversation in the flight and enquired about the ground staff that she had mentioned. She told me to look for people in red T-shirt with shiny jackets.  I found a few staff members that answered the description and were idly standing in a corner of the carousel.  I approached one and told him about my two flights and asked whether my bags will be placed on the belt for retrieval and custom clearance.  He replied that yes, I had to clear the customs and then hand the bags back to AI.  When asked if he could help, he nodded and came with me to the belt. His jacket bore legends saying "Air India," and "No Tips Please."  Yet I checked with him whether the service was free or a paid one.  He said, "Oh, you can pay whatever you wish.  I wouldn't insist on something like Rs. 500!"

Finally the bags arrived and we walked through the Green Channel.  No one bothered us and we exited and then entered from a separate gate marked Domestic Departures.  The bags were handed to the person at the counter who again enquired if there were any prohibited items in our bags and finally accepted them. The person who helped us with the luggage told us sotto voce not to pay him there.  Then he took us to a lift which was to take us to the domestic departures area and managed to wrangle Rs. 200/= from us as the prohibited fruit.

This reminds me of an earlier travel to USA where USA immigration and custom had to be cleared at Abu Dhabi.  You can read the details here.  Here we were not required to retrieve our bags and then hand them back to the airlines.  Instead they scanned the bags on their own and at the immigration counter we were shown pictures of bags checked in by us and asked to confirm that these were our bags.  I wonder why can the same not be done at New Delhi.  Passengers can be asked if they have any items on which duty is payable at the time of check-in at the starting point and accordingly be formed into two queues corresponding to Green and Red channels at the immigration point.  This would avoid the hassle of retrieving the luggage, putting them through the scanner if so required and then handing them back to airlines staff.

In case this can not be done, a suggestion for Air India is that their ground staff be provided a list of transit passengers who would need their help and each one assigned to one or more passengers proactively.  Also the passengers should be given in advance the name of the ground staff to whom they have been assigned.  This will greatly facilitate the passengers.