Four years is a long time,
For an unrequited love,
To disappear into oblivion,
For painful memories of yore,
To become facts for awesome laughter,
For heavenly, divine enlightenment,
To set on minds of boorish thugs,
For a naive, indifferent lass,
To learn blissful lessons of motherhood,
For wise men to become insane,
Out of tragic twists of fate,
And four years is a long time,
For their lewd relationship,
To blossom into passionate love,
And in these last four years,
When they’ve stooped from bad to worse,
I’ve risen from bad to great.
29 September 2008
16 September 2008
Re-creating Mahabali’s Kerala – Possibilities and Impossibilities
When I was told to write about Onam, the first idea that came to my mind as a subject for the piece was the magnificence of the festival that marks the homecoming of the erstwhile legendary king of Kerala, the Mahabali. A detailed account of Onasadya, Athapookalam and all other related vibrant facts associated with Onam would make a really sumptuous article capable of arousing delighted interest. But let us attempt something different.
Kerala, under the rule of Mahabali was a near Utopia, where social, economic and political justice existed in near perfection and perfect harmony was at its zenith. Any thought, in the present world, about putting efforts towards re-creating such a state might sound absurd, but having such optimism is not entirely out of question, as some civilisations, through their hard work and bravado had often made the impossible, possible. Now, what are the changes that we should envisage to re-create such a perfect society? Is it really possible to make such a revolutionary change?
According to the legendary song Maveli naadu vaaneedum kaalam, equality was one of the striking features of the Mahabali’s kingdom. Establishing a society where there is perfect equality is an impossible task as discovered by socialist regimes like in China and Cuba. Economic, social as well as political inequality would be there as long as human life would be here in this universe. So the effort should be towards reducing this degree of inequality with adequate measures in the governmental level as well as individual level.
During Mahabali’s rule, there were no theft or deceit, nor were there any cheating or lies. All these factors seem to be directly related to economic and social inequality and hence they would be hopefully removed once near economic and social equality is established. And in Mahabali’s Kerala, there was no caste system and all human beings belonged to one single caste, humanity. Hence abolition of caste system is one of the most important pre-requisites for the re-creation of a perfect society.
There is no doubt that the tasks that we have to pursue to recreate a perfect society, like the kingdom of Mahabali, are daunting. Now as we know the things that we have to change to create a perfect society, we should be able to find the method that we should adopt to establish such a society. The good news is that the solution is pretty simple; but the bad news is that it is very hard to implement.
Education and knowledge is the simple solution that is available to us in creating such a perfect society. But the fact is that rendering education and imparting knowledge to the millions of people is a very difficult task, which to our amazement, Mahabali’s kingdom was able to do. A paradigm shift in the nature of education, from creation of possessive impulses like money and power to the creation of creative impulses like art and literature in the minds of the people, is imperative. Minds that become enlightened, after getting such an education, would be instrumental in creating a society that would be similar to one that Mahabali ruled.
Though preposterous it might sound at the outset, on serious thinking we could conclude that this is a novel and sensible thought as something has to be done immediately to stop us from becoming a group of people with scant regard for humanity and human life. So this Onam, in addition to tasting Onasadya and making Athapookalam, let us think about re-creating Mahabali’s Kerala and take our small steps towards achieving the “impossible”. May be in the future, history lessons that our children and grand children would learn, would speak about us as the persons who have shown the guts to think beyond the realm of possibility and have made the impossible, possible.
(Republished from the Onam edition of Pine Mag, the official magazine of Calpine Technologies, the firm where I work )
According to the legendary song Maveli naadu vaaneedum kaalam, equality was one of the striking features of the Mahabali’s kingdom. Establishing a society where there is perfect equality is an impossible task as discovered by socialist regimes like in China and Cuba. Economic, social as well as political inequality would be there as long as human life would be here in this universe. So the effort should be towards reducing this degree of inequality with adequate measures in the governmental level as well as individual level.
During Mahabali’s rule, there were no theft or deceit, nor were there any cheating or lies. All these factors seem to be directly related to economic and social inequality and hence they would be hopefully removed once near economic and social equality is established. And in Mahabali’s Kerala, there was no caste system and all human beings belonged to one single caste, humanity. Hence abolition of caste system is one of the most important pre-requisites for the re-creation of a perfect society.
There is no doubt that the tasks that we have to pursue to recreate a perfect society, like the kingdom of Mahabali, are daunting. Now as we know the things that we have to change to create a perfect society, we should be able to find the method that we should adopt to establish such a society. The good news is that the solution is pretty simple; but the bad news is that it is very hard to implement.
Education and knowledge is the simple solution that is available to us in creating such a perfect society. But the fact is that rendering education and imparting knowledge to the millions of people is a very difficult task, which to our amazement, Mahabali’s kingdom was able to do. A paradigm shift in the nature of education, from creation of possessive impulses like money and power to the creation of creative impulses like art and literature in the minds of the people, is imperative. Minds that become enlightened, after getting such an education, would be instrumental in creating a society that would be similar to one that Mahabali ruled.
Though preposterous it might sound at the outset, on serious thinking we could conclude that this is a novel and sensible thought as something has to be done immediately to stop us from becoming a group of people with scant regard for humanity and human life. So this Onam, in addition to tasting Onasadya and making Athapookalam, let us think about re-creating Mahabali’s Kerala and take our small steps towards achieving the “impossible”. May be in the future, history lessons that our children and grand children would learn, would speak about us as the persons who have shown the guts to think beyond the realm of possibility and have made the impossible, possible.
(Republished from the Onam edition of Pine Mag, the official magazine of Calpine Technologies, the firm where I work )
07 September 2008
Presidential Nomination Acceptance Speech – Obama’s Telling Blow to McCain
The final phase of the American Presidential election has been reached with both the Democrats and Republicans announcing their Presidential candidate as well as the Vice Presidential candidate. While Barack Obama accepted the nomination at the Democratic convention at Denver with Senator Joe Biden of Delaware as his running mate, John McCain accepted the GOP nomination at the convention at Minneapolis choosing the Alaska Governor, Sarah Palin as his running mate. The nomination acceptance speech by both Obama and McCain threw some light on the character of these two men as well as the policies that they would pursue if elected the President of the United States.
Anyone who has followed this blog closely will understand that I am a strong supporter of Barack Obama. The reason for the support is based more on the personality and qualities of Obama as a leader and an orator than on the policies he vow he will follow. As Bill Clinton said in the convention, Obama has a remarkable ability to inspire people. And there is no doubt that he is one of the most prolific orators of our time, capable of arousing awe, respect and conspicuous motivation.
Obama used his acceptance speech to explain his policies and to counter the criticisms that McCain campaign has been pouring on him. He spoke about his Kenyan father and Kansas mother and their aspirations, spoke about his grandmother who sacrificed her pleasure and time to make sure that Obama got a good education and also spoke about how his mother argued with insurance companies for getting insurance while she was suffering from cancer. Thus by explaining in detail the struggles he and his family endured, he counter attacked McCain’s campaign, which often ridiculed Obama as a celebrity rather than a politician, by saying that “I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine.”
Barack Obama, who had often been criticised for his lack of offensive capabilities towards the McCain campaign, chose the occasion to show that he too has the gladiatorial daring which the Americans want in their President. He said that if John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next Commander-in-Chief, that's a debate he is ready to have. While praising McCain for his record as a brave soldier in the American army during the Vietnamese war, Obama derided him by saying that he voted for President George Bush’s flawed policies ninety percentage of times and therefore by choosing McCain as the next President he don’t want to take a ten percent chance on change.
The major policy initiatives that Obama want to pursue include a cut in taxes, investment in affordable energy, investment in childhood education, providing accessible healthcare to all, close corporate loop holes on taxes, end the Iraq war responsibly, direct diplomacy to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and to curb Russian “aggression” and fix the economy which is inching towards a recession.
Obama or McCain, the American foreign policy is not going to see a paradigm shift from the policy the country has been following for a very long time. But as we continue to despise the malevolent foreign policy that the Americans follow, we can hardly help ourselves from admiring the democracy prevailing there and the academic intelligence, acumen and quality of the politicians of various parties. The mutual respect with which Obama and McCain competes with each other is worthy of emulating in the Indian system of democracy as well.
If we Indians get jealous on the quality of politicians that the Americans have, one cannot find fault with us, especially when we are having a lot of politicians who are neither educated nor well behaved. As if this is not enough, we also have a lot of rogue politicians amidst us, who are not at all averse to making ghoulish comments even on the tears of a mother who had lost her son in a tragic event, as depicted recently by a boorish politician in Kerala.
Going back to Obama and his American promise, one can only hope that his aspiration to bring change to Washington will happen sooner rather than later. We can also hope that there will be some change in the warmongering nature of the United States under the Presidency of Barack Obama and peace and tranquillity will prevail in Iraq, Afghanistan and in the world in general. But for all these things to happen he has to win the Presidential election due on 4th November to be the first African-American to become the President of the United States.
Anyone who has followed this blog closely will understand that I am a strong supporter of Barack Obama. The reason for the support is based more on the personality and qualities of Obama as a leader and an orator than on the policies he vow he will follow. As Bill Clinton said in the convention, Obama has a remarkable ability to inspire people. And there is no doubt that he is one of the most prolific orators of our time, capable of arousing awe, respect and conspicuous motivation.
Obama used his acceptance speech to explain his policies and to counter the criticisms that McCain campaign has been pouring on him. He spoke about his Kenyan father and Kansas mother and their aspirations, spoke about his grandmother who sacrificed her pleasure and time to make sure that Obama got a good education and also spoke about how his mother argued with insurance companies for getting insurance while she was suffering from cancer. Thus by explaining in detail the struggles he and his family endured, he counter attacked McCain’s campaign, which often ridiculed Obama as a celebrity rather than a politician, by saying that “I don't know what kind of lives John McCain thinks that celebrities lead, but this has been mine.”
Barack Obama, who had often been criticised for his lack of offensive capabilities towards the McCain campaign, chose the occasion to show that he too has the gladiatorial daring which the Americans want in their President. He said that if John McCain wants to have a debate about who has the temperament, and judgment, to serve as the next Commander-in-Chief, that's a debate he is ready to have. While praising McCain for his record as a brave soldier in the American army during the Vietnamese war, Obama derided him by saying that he voted for President George Bush’s flawed policies ninety percentage of times and therefore by choosing McCain as the next President he don’t want to take a ten percent chance on change.
The major policy initiatives that Obama want to pursue include a cut in taxes, investment in affordable energy, investment in childhood education, providing accessible healthcare to all, close corporate loop holes on taxes, end the Iraq war responsibly, direct diplomacy to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons and to curb Russian “aggression” and fix the economy which is inching towards a recession.
Obama or McCain, the American foreign policy is not going to see a paradigm shift from the policy the country has been following for a very long time. But as we continue to despise the malevolent foreign policy that the Americans follow, we can hardly help ourselves from admiring the democracy prevailing there and the academic intelligence, acumen and quality of the politicians of various parties. The mutual respect with which Obama and McCain competes with each other is worthy of emulating in the Indian system of democracy as well.
If we Indians get jealous on the quality of politicians that the Americans have, one cannot find fault with us, especially when we are having a lot of politicians who are neither educated nor well behaved. As if this is not enough, we also have a lot of rogue politicians amidst us, who are not at all averse to making ghoulish comments even on the tears of a mother who had lost her son in a tragic event, as depicted recently by a boorish politician in Kerala.
Going back to Obama and his American promise, one can only hope that his aspiration to bring change to Washington will happen sooner rather than later. We can also hope that there will be some change in the warmongering nature of the United States under the Presidency of Barack Obama and peace and tranquillity will prevail in Iraq, Afghanistan and in the world in general. But for all these things to happen he has to win the Presidential election due on 4th November to be the first African-American to become the President of the United States.
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