The Indian Dream...

This week will be remembered for a while in India - this was the week when a girl was gang-raped in a moving bus in Delhi, the capital of India. While this is tragically and unfortunately, a very common occurrence in India (statistically, a rape happens in India every 40 minutes), the sheer brutality and disdain with which this crime was perpetrated caused a national furor and outrage. I got a chance to observe the events that followed this crime through the lens of the print/tv media and it left me with many questions and very few answers.

After watching hours of debates on national TV and sifting through many blogs/articles online, here are some of my observations regarding the incident and the actions taken in it's aftermath.

• The sheer violence of the act was unbelievable - why would any human being do this to another? The people involved in this act were not psychopaths and they seemed to know exactly what they were doing.
• The bus involved in this incident moved around the city for over 45 minutes, went through 5 police pickets without being caught at 9 PM!!
• The news media picked up this story and the extreme brutality and audacity of the crime triggered a strong response from people all over the country. Promptly, there were speeches in the Parliament condemning the crime and asking for capital punishment for the criminals. 
• Almost spontaneously, there were protest marches all over the country from all sections of the society asking the government for better security for women and in general for societal reform to improve the plight of women in the country.
• What followed from here on was even more shameful than the crime itself - the pathetic blame-game tactics employed by the government, the opposition and the police, the ineptitude and insensitivity of the political class in addressing an angered people, the political means employed to side-track the issue and divert attention (this includes lumpen elements who made an otherwise peaceful protest violent, the extremely crude handling of the death of a police constable) and to top it off, we had the ruling party chief of Andhra Pradesh and the President's (of India, I mean) son make the following remarks just days after the incident!!
• “Do we roam in streets at midnight as we got Independence at midnight? It would have been better if the girl did not travel by a private bus at that time”
• "Those who are coming in the name of students in the rallies, sundori, sundori mahila (beautiful women), highly dented and painted, giving interviews in TV and showing off their children. I wonder whether they are students at all. What's basically happening in Delhi is something like pink revolution, which has very little connection with ground realities." 

A very sorry state of affairs indeed. And it makes me wonder - how do you fix a system which is rotten to the core? Here is a fact - among the 550 odd folks who make up the lower house of the Indian Parliament (and who basically are responsible for the proper formulation, enactment and implementation of laws), almost one-third of them have been accused of criminal offences and many of them against women. The biggest deterrent against crime of any kind is a swift and efficient investigation and conviction process followed by certain punishment. Obviously, this is not desirable to any criminal and hence (not surprisingly) several loopholes exist in law which allow criminals to get away with literally anything in India. Consequently, there is no fear of the law  and laws are broken rampantly and flagrantly. While there are many other systemic and endemic flaws in our society that result in a poor and disrespectful attitude of men towards women which need to be addressed, the key issue of the "rotten core" will remain.   

Here is the final thought - surely this was not the India that our freedom fighters fought for and dreamt about. The only differences between the British rule and our so called independence is who is exploiting India and where the exploits end up - in one case it was foreigners and in the other it is our very own people. The "loot" went to Britain in one case and it goes to Switzerland in the other. Unfortunately, I am forced to admit  today that maybe, just maybe, India would have been better off with British rule.   

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

This question has become a cliche of sorts -- it is a standard question that a manager asks his managee as a part of the performance appraisal process in the corporate world. This time when I was asked this question, it got me thinking -- really, where do I see myself in five years? Or for that matter in ten, fifteen or twenty years? And I am not thinking of this in the singular dimension of career growth in my professional life...

First and foremost, I do hope that I am alive after twenty years! If that happens, then I hope to see myself healthy and fit. I also would like to see myself having reached a more calm and tranquil inner state of mind -- where it's absolutely clear to me what is and what is not important in life. I want to see myself to be courageous enough to do what I want to do rather than what the world around me expects me to do. I really hope that I have an absolute frame of reference with respect to which I can say that I have been able to live a life worth living. I also hope that I am able to not fall for the temptation of using relative yardsticks to determine whether or not I have done well in life. I hope that I would have made a difference in the lives of at least a few underprivileged people. I hope that I would have at least five friends who I could count on for absolutely anything. I would like to see myself happy and perhaps successful in terms of the conventional measures of success. Last but not least, I hope that a few people in this world would be saddened if I suddenly ceased to exist after twenty years...

Actually, I would love it if I woke up tomorrow and all of the above were already true! But, I know it is not so (for some of the things I quoted above). So, I have a list of goals I need to work towards...I hope I can use this blog to motivate and remind myself of this journey I am taking. This is one journey where the destination is not as important as the journey itself.

I'll end with this fabulous quote I read somewhere a long time ago and which has stuck with me ever since -

Being successful is about getting what you want. Being happy is about wanting what you get.

Salute the Maestros!

This week, I had the unique opportunity to see three very famous proponents of indian classical art forms in action - Pt. Birju Maharaj and Ustad Zakir Hussain, in a Kathak dance concert in San Francisco and Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, in an interview which happened in a small theatre in Palo Alto.

The first concert saw two extremely talented artists, Pt. Birju Maharaj, the Kathak dance maestro and Ustad Zakir Hussain, a tabla virtuoso face off and put together a show I will never forget. It was an amazing experience made memorable by the 75 year old dance maestro, who danced for almost 2 hours(!) and delighted the audience with his humor and very likeable demeanor. It was a sheer privilege to witness Maharaj dance, sing and play the harmonium with consummate ease. I realized for the first time that indian classical dance is the culmination of all the classical art forms in India - this is where the percussionist, the vocalist, the instrumentist and the dancer come together and convey the emotions and bhaava of the composition to the audience. Mastering each of the above four art forms is a lifelong study - Pt Birju Maharaj, probably is one of a kind whose mastery over all of these art forms is unparalleled.

The second event featured Pt. Hariprasad Chaurasia, a very well known exponent of the flute or bansuri (as it is called in India), who gave a very engaging and personal interview to the audience. Some of the stories and information that he shared with us are

• How he stole a flute on which he started learning to play it (his father was against him learning music)!
• He has no formal training in indian classical music! He has learnt to play himself and by listening to others... 
• The flute is one of the few musical instruments which cannot be "tuned" unlike other stringed instruments -- which means that flute player has to tune it with his own skill
• His association with hindi film music in the 60's and 70's and the talented artists he worked with (they would work from 8 AM to 2 AM almost everyday just because they loved creating music so much!)
• His reverence for Lata Mangeshkar and Hridaynath Mangeshkar
• His wish that he be born in Maharashtra in his next life because of the immense interest and love that the common man in Maharashtra has for indian classical music
• How, even to this date, he gets emotional sometimes when playing in concerts, when he sees a mother affectionately holding her child (he lost his mother when he was six years old)
• His final remark that the key to happiness in life is to keep yourself healthy and invest quality time in your friends and family

It was unique experience - one in which I felt I heard an autobiographical commentary on the life of a world famous artist.

I salute these great, passionate artists who have dedicated their whole lives to study the arts, often, by not taking the beaten paths and living out their dreams!

The Dalai Lama Quote

Recently, I came across this quote on the internet (thanks to my FIL for this!)...

The Dalai Lama, when asked what surprised him most about humanity, said -

“Man.

Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money.
Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health.
And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present;
the result being that he does not live in the present or the future;
he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

Need I say more? How true is that? What's striking is that all of us are guilty of doing exactly the above at some point in our lives. 

I was well on my way to working like a maniac, not exercising, and in general, ignoring my health. Luckily for me, I had a chronic health issue to deal with for a year and half in my early thirties when I was in pain/discomfort all the time. That taught me a thing or two about not taking my health for granted and so I made the necessary life style changes which enabled me to eat well and get at least 30-40 minutes of exercise everyday. I was guilty of thinking that my body needs no maintenance, but I am thankful that I was taught a good lesson early on in life.

The second point that Dalai Lama drives home, I think, is equally important. Live in the moment. I am guilty of brooding over the past, regretting the decisions I have made and sulking over the mistakes I have committed. I have realized that it's time to settle with the past and make peace with it. While it is easier said than done, I will try my best to do this consciously.

Today, I came across this very thoughtful speech given by Sudha Murthy at Berkeley in 2008. Sudha Murthy, better known as the wife of Narayan Murthy, founder of Infosys Technologies, ought to be known in her own right because of the phenomenal philanthropic work that she has done in India with the Infosys Foundation. After listening to her, I was so humbled and moved that I have decided to "make a difference" in whatever capacity I can...

This week, I also heard the wonderful "Phir le aaya dil" song from the movie Barfi. It's one of those rare soulful, ghazalish songs which conveys so much emotion with great music and memorable lyrics... 

The Simple Pleasures

Usually, we get so caught up with trying to get the most out of life, that we sometimes miss the simple pleasures of day to day life. So, I decided to list some of the happenings that have made this week so much fun. Here it is -

• Visiting the Sunnyvale Farmer's market - This is a weekly must do for me. We always get seasonal fruits and vegetables from there. Nothing quite beats the atmosphere and the feeling of picking the best food available in our neighborhood.
• Cooking Okra - Okra is, by far, my most favorite vegetable. (Monday night is my cooking turn and my chance to cook something for S and hopefully impress her with my cooking skills!) This week I made fried Okra (which we got from the farmer's market) and it came out great.
• Watching "Barfi" - Usually, Bollywood movies disappoint me and are a waste of time. But, I was surprised by the refreshing and bitter-sweet love story in "Barfi". It's a cinematic ode to love (and all shades of it)...it struck a chord somewhere inside me. A. L. Tennyson got it right when he said "It is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all."
• Bicycling to work everyday - Finally, I said good bye to laziness and decided to start biking to work again. In addition to good exercise, my contribution to CO2 pollution will reduce by half a ton(!) per year and I can think of doing better things with the $250 or so that I will save per year...which makes me wonder why I wasn't doing this in the first place. Anyway, better late than never...
• Enjoying awesome Bisibellebhath - I love south indian food. Sometimes, I think I must be of south indian origin because I like that stuff as much as my native Maharashtrian fare! I had the most amazing Bisibellebhath on Friday in Anand Bhavan...everything about it felt so perfect, it's hard to describe in words.  
• Reading Jimmy Carter's book on his mother Lillian Carter - I was intrigued when I found out that Jimmy Carter's mother lived in India for a while as a Peace Corps volunteer...haven't yet got to that part of the book by Jimmy Carter. But, I am already fascinated by the Carter family and their story which began in Plains, Georgia.
• Reading the theory of interpolation - I did not know about the mathematical and intuitive elegance of interpolation theory. Glad to have come across it in recent endeavors at the workplace. 
• Listening to Raag Jog - This rendition by Madhup Mudgal reminds me of why we say music is like playing with notes...nothing can soothe my mind as well as classical music pieces that I enjoy.  

I have realized (a little late) that it is far more important to pause, reflect and appreciate the simple, good things in life rather than sulk over the few bad things that happen in life. So, now everyday, I spend a few minutes recollecting all the events of that day that made me happy...

Time to Reduce, Recycle and Re-use...

I came across a video by Annie Leonard titled "The story of stuff" on facebook and I was completely taken over by it. It is a very sharp critique on consumerism and the mass production of "stuff". I found myself to be a part of this colossal system of mass production of goods and I was ashamed of how unaware I was of how mass consumerism is hurting lives of people and the environment and how unsustainable this system is. At a high level, the key steps which make up this production system are

• Extraction of raw materials - This step results in the exploitation of the earth and it's resources such as trees, wild-life etc. 
• Production of stuff - Raw materials get used in factories for creating goods for mass consumption. These factories pollute the environment by green house gas emissions, toxic waste generation etc. 
• Consumption of stuff - This step is where consumers (like you and me) come in and drive the entire system by buying and consuming these goods
• Disposal of stuff - The last step (which we think of as throwing stuff into the trash bin) 

One could argue that this system has been in place for a while now, so what is different about it now? The point is that in the last few decades things have fundamentally changed in this demand supply chain. One of them is that big corporations and the governments have systematically created an artificial "want" for stuff through advertising and other means cleverly referred to as planned obsolescence and perceived obsolescence of stuff. This is key because consumer demand is the driver of the "system". The second one is that the price of the stuff is "rigged" and does not reflect the true cost of extraction, production and disposal of the stuff at an environmental level. The last thing is that the scale on which mass production of stuff happens has grown tremendously. I am quite sure that a few decades ago, by and large consumers bought what they needed (not wanted), the price of stuff accurately reflected the true cost of manufacturing it and the production economies were local rather than global (where consumers had to be aware of where stuff came from and how it had to be disposed). And, I think that this latter system, was far more sustainable and environment friendly.

In order to fix this system, what needs to happen is that consumers (who create the demand which drives this system) need to take the reign in their hands. We, as consumers, should reduce, recycle and reuse our stuff as much as we can...we live on a planet with finite resources and it's time to acknowledge that.

Final thought of the day --  We, as a society, give considerable thought to the next generation's well-being and future by planning for it today. Isn't it incredibly short-sighted of us to not view sustaining the earth and it's environment as something that needs to be invested in today? 

Food Matters...

It's impossible to not notice the current obsession with food, diet and nutrition that exists around us. No matter where we get our news feeds from, there is a constant bombardment of information regarding what we should and should not eat to achieve a certain health goal or in general to be fit. I used to wonder how to make sense of all this information which sometimes used to contradict itself! And then one day I came across a talk by Michael Pollan on TED...I started reading a little more about his work and ended up reading two of his books titled "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and "In Defense of Food".

It is not possible to summarize in a few sentences what Michael Pollan wants to tell us -- but let me try nonetheless. The first book is a detailed overview of the inner workings of the American food industry, it's somewhat scary and heavy dependence on corn for creation of all food products, the collusion of the government, news media, agribusiness and pharma companies which has created a plethora of corn based (at a fundamental level) "food like substances" and the enormous cost that we pay for these food like substances in environmental and health terms. The second book is an eater's manifesto, meant to be a guide to practice good eating habits. Michael provides some simple (and funny sounding) rules for this -- "Don't eat anything that your great grandmother won't recognize as food", "Avoid eating products containing ingredients that are unfamiliar, unpronounceable or are more than five in number", "Avoid food products that make health claims", "Shop at farmer's markets instead of grocery stores" etc. His advice can be summarized in own words as "Eat food (not food like substances). Not too much. Mostly plants". If you have some time to spare, you can listen to Michael's talk in the authors@Google series or read this article in the NY times or watch the eye opening, Oscar nominated, documentary "Food Inc.".

The bigger issue -- that sometimes we don't even realize -- is that we are unaware of how our eating choices as a society impacts our usage of environmental resources (land, water, air) in the production of food. As a society, we have been led to have a very myopic view of food -- where at an individual level we think that the cost of everything we buy as food accurately reflects it's "true" cost to us. We should view our choices with respect to what we eat everyday at breakfast, lunch and dinner as three votes that we cast each day. If we are callous and cast our votes injudiciously, we make choices that hurt us as well as future generations who will also rely on the same environment for food.

Lessons for Living

A few weeks ago, S (my wife, who shall be called "S" throughout this blog ;) ) decided to lead a reader's group discussion on a book titled "30 Lessons for Living"...I ended up reading it and am I glad I did! It changed my perspective of life upside down...I was beginning to get frustrated with the way things were going in all aspects of life. But, after reading this book, I realized what is and more importantly what is NOT important in life. I wish I had read this book earlier but it's better late than never... 

A little bit about the book -- the author, Karl Pillemer, a professor of gerontology at Cornell, undertook a project that involved interviewing fifteen hundred American people beyond their seventies to find out what advice they would like to pass on to younger folks based on their own life experiences. Their advice ranged on topics such as how to be happy on a day-to-day basis, the secrets to a successful marriage, tips on raising children, ways to have a fulfilling career, strategies for dealing with illness and loss, and how to grow old fearlessly and well. I have not read a book that has made me introspect as much in a while...I wish more people read this book and more importantly reflect and ponder on what our elders have to say to us!

Came across a TED talk by Pavan Sukhdev titled "Put a value on Nature". The talk makes the following point -- there is no "real" financial accounting of what we give and take from earth in our society at both the individual and corporate level. So, what if we started putting a monetary value to every resource we use from nature? Wouldn't we start being more judicious and wise with how we use natural resources? Food for thought...

Switching to lighter notes, have you heard Maroon5's "Payphone"? Nothing like that song to get your energy levels up and running in the morning...however, only after carefully hearing the song did I realize that the song was actually about a breakup! I find this a lot with pop/rock music...somehow the emotions conveyed by the music and lyrics are exactly opposite. Anyway, I just enjoy listening to this song...profanity alert though!

Hats off to Satyamev Jayate!

It's been a sad and difficult week...some close friends have moved on to places new and far. Visiting parents, my brother, SIL and nephew also left for their homes...but I convince myself that this is temporary and I can always reach them if I call them. But is it the same as having them around physically? I wish...

Finished watching the last couple of episodes of Satyamev Jayate. It was both inspiring and intensely (should I say?) spiritual...listening to the stories of "ordinary" people doing extra-ordinary things was mind boggling. Dashrath Manjhi, a villager, who chiseled away at a mountain for 22 years alone to fulfill his dream of making access to a nearby city easier, Subhasini Mistry, a poor uneducated woman, who founded Humanity Hospital to provide medical services to the poor, free of charge, Sunitha Krishnan, the co-founder of Prajwala, an institution that assists in rescuing and rehabilitating trafficked women and girls...and many many more whom we probably will never hear about. The message is clear -- anything is possible if we dare to dream, believe in ourselves and work single mindedly towards accomplishing our goal.

Came across an interesting article on the role of the microbiome in humans. It is well known that some bacteria are actually beneficial for us -- what was surprising was the sheer volume of the microbiome that inhabits our bodies and that they are essential for proper functioning of our bodies! They help in ways that we are just beginning to find out...simply fascinating.

Speaking of bacteria, came across another article which provided me with the following astonishing piece of information -- bacteria are allegedly essential for cloud formation and even more important for snow and rain fall. Whether a cloud will eventually cause rain or not is determined by it's bio-chemical content...how little do we know about life? Really??

Musical wanderings this week have revolved around the wonderful song "Darmiyaan" (1:00 to 1:06 being my personal favorite) and a beautiful tarana, "Tanom Tanom" in Raag Hamsadhwani by one of my favorite artists, Veena Sahastrabuddhe.