The Elected Protector!

I feel the word 'historic' is somewhat positive, meaning a historic event normally denotes a good thing--a good beginning or a development or an achievement. Therefore, what just happened in the elections in supposedly the most advanced democracy and the most liberated society of the world cannot be described as historic; it could, at best, be the darkest development of modern times replete with ominous future prospects and possibilities. 

An impeached, convicted, arrested, corrupt, foul-mouthed and a perverted racist criminal has been elected with a landslide to the highest post. And they call him the Protector who would soon make the most advanced superpower country of the world great again! It's not that a seemingly deserving woman and her party have been rejected; it's rather wanting the country to be great again by accepting the Protector. 

So then, the Protector is all set to rebuild the country, in active collusion with a handful of unscrupulous squillionaires, billionaires, greedy business tycoons and more of the same ilk. And how would the discerning voters expect them to deliver the goods? Well, by protecting their country from the other infiltrating races of earth;  by protecting their jobs; by making the guns available aplenty so that law can be righteously taken into the right hands; by subjugating the women folks by showing them where they rightfully belong; by helping the super rich to amass more wealth; by making education rightfully retrograde; by reversing the climate change progress as if the Protector himself actually controlled the universe; and perhaps by mobilizing all the righteous leaders of planet earth together in the right way to usher in the right kind of changes so badly needed. Right? 

Social Media Visibility @ZERO!

Well! What the heck! Invisibility is infinite because our own God Himself is invisible! Some scientists say that even ZERO is a concept akin to being infinite! Therefore, both ways, it’s only great to be invisible! While God hides Himself behind whatever you don’t need to know, He has created the humans that are immensely visible; once you’re born as one you cannot hide anywhere in the universe until you drop dead in which case you’re either burnt to ashes or buried under, making you finally invisible as far as the ‘real you’ is concerned, because you continue to exist virtually in family albums and the social media, and if you happen to be a huge celebrity you continue to have an extremely dominant virtual existence till perhaps when earth itself gets obliterated. However, problems are more obnoxious when you and other ordinary mortals like us are kicking alive! Even if you wish to disappear instantly from all human views, like Sita in Ramayana did, you fail to accomplish that. In this digital world God has given us the great gift of the virtual existence like the one where He perhaps exists too, not for nothing. Here, you are empowered to do what you wish to do with your unwelcome physical appearance and other related attributes, not instantly, of course, but over a very short period of time. Yes! You can really make yourself disappear!

Now the question comes as to why you should want to disappear yourself from your very own fellow human beings! In mean virtually! Well, for that you’re quick to blame only them, because actually your fellow human beings is the primal cause. Moving on with the modern times and to keep yourself in circulation you do join the virtual world—the social media platforms you know. There you show your face, pen down your thoughts and tagging along other virtual creatures too. And most of you do quite well. But alas! Other fellas cannot tolerate your getting noticed and so, they turn themselves into fraudsters, hackers, cheats or whatever of that ilk to steal your profile from no one else than you only, steal everything possible of your enriching virtual existence and move on as perfect parasites, at times, achieving much more than the real you ever did! And then there come the dangers—looming insecurity for all your material wealth, for your pace of mind or for your possible loss of reputation, apart from the identity theft.

It is indeed hard to understand why God has gifted the Artificial Intelligence or AI tools to humankind at this vulnerable juncture, because, apparently, it immediately helps the fraudsters, cheats or whatever of that ilk to make your life worse! They can now be the real you, for all surreal and virtual purposes! Perhaps He wants to make your proposed ‘disappearance’ act fast-tracked. Obviously, the IT giants, the top CEOs or the industry tycoons would only sing hoarsely in praise of His gift! Why would they bother themselves for ordinary mortals like you? They wouldn’t stand to lose any of the customers either, because the real you will have to go on purchasing the essentials for your physical mortal cocktail existence! A bit complicated, you know!

Anyway, we can really fast-track ourselves too in the disappearance act thanks to all the gifts! Virtually, mind you! Maybe, God had sent the Pandemic to get us involved more intimately in the virtual world so that when the time comes we should be ready for the all-important act. Following your tragic example, this namesake writer has also decided to disappear himself from the virtual world—instantly from the main social media platforms and gradually from the other related terrains. Of course, he will always stick to his books or writings even if those are suffering from as much loss of visibility as his invisible self, and for that simple reason only he continues to write today here, particularly for you! The writer has still kept one platform, because there he has just a solitary follower there which fact would greatly discourage antagonistic-fellas from adopting, adapting, impersonating, taking over or whatever as well as safeguarding him from related dangers.

Let there be light, and there was light. Let them disappear, and they disappeared. God can be omniscient, omnipresent and so on, but He too has to adapt Himself to the changing times. Right? 

Populated Movies Revisited!

Many years back I wrote a piece titled 'Populated Movies' that was later included in my first book 'Laugh and Let Laugh' in 2017. In that piece I argued that since India is an overpopulated country with high unemployment rates the creative art forms do adjust to that reality by trying to generate maximum employment opportunities in their projects. For example the goons in a mainstream Hindi movie: whereas just one bullet through the head by one villain is enough to kill the hero or the protagonist, the chief antagonist or the main villain sends an army of goons armed with an assortment of weapons for the job. I argued that this is done with a view to generate more employment. But I was mistaken, and so I just want to admit this here. 

My argument got almost fatally shot after I watched all the three movies of the 'John Wick Franchise' (2014 onward). I failed to keep count, but hundreds of hapless goons got killed in each of the movies at the hands of the 'legendary' assassin cum killing machine John Wick (played by Keanu Reeves). The goons keep on appearing out of what the moviemakers imply as the underworld of citizen assassins and which in fact threatens to take over the whole world. Of course there are some other movies too: 'Red' (2010) in particular where a secret agency launches veritable armies to kill a few retired agents. But John Wick Franchise should still qualify for the world record in this, barring the war movies, of course. With the upcoming John Wick-Chapter 4 in early 2023 this should not be a problem at all.

Now, America or for that matter the whole of the developed West doesn't have population issues, although does have unemployment niggles from time to time, particularly in the aftermath of the pandemic. Therefore, my argument of 'employment generation optimization' falls flat here. And so, we'll have to focus our attention on the other usual factors like wholesome booming entertainment that applies worldwide, and with special reference to America, factors like spreading the gun ideology and its consequent aspirations. Just another argument only, mind you! 

Digital Violence, News Channels and Hypocrisy!

It’s a case of wholesome insensitivity, amounting to zombie-like behavior on which subject we dwelt over much earlier, of nearly all of the so-called digitally conscious citizens of the country, but also nearly all the stakeholders including the national media irrespective of how you’d like to describe them. Apart from this looming post-modern characteristic, the other equally portentous factor of hypocrisy has also been rampant across, primarily, the television news channels and other stakeholders. For the last few years at least the insensitivity factor has been colossal: any kind of tragic incident happening in public places is always ravenously video-graphed along with the selfies of the ‘proud’ beholders and circulated instantly in their digital spaces, instead of trying to help the poor victims many of whom stay alive during such digital orgy. The news channels then get hold of those clips, in direct or indirect ways, and start building ‘stories’ around those while putting the clips continuously on their screens. Therefore, the insensitive and the often sadistic citizens including us have been getting used to ‘treats’ of such endless clips relating to the most horrendous cases of lynching, murders and assassinations, police torture, accidents, shootings and even crimes against women in the last few years.

 

The hypocrisy of the news channels becomes bluntly obvious when they choose to debate on a particular tragedy that they never ever fail to do actually: while the ‘conscientious’ anchor and the panelists keep on emphasizing the need to keep such dastardly clips out of social media and any other public digital platforms the channel producers keep on running the clip in an endless loop, in a prominent window created on the screen.  Till even the most sadistic viewer gets tired and switches to a different channel! Doesn’t at all matter even if you happen to watch the same on many other channels too! Some still less-scrupulous channels even watermark the inhuman visuals as ‘exclusive’ or ‘first on this channel only’ and like that. Why such mind-boggling hypocrisy? Well, very simple. They know the dominant facets of the psychology of their viewers and so would definitely like to pander to them, just to generate more ad revenues.

 

I was shocked beyond words, sad as I was to hear the news of the assassination of Japan’s former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, when I found the video clip showing the cruel shooting in broad daylight and in public getting much more importance across the screens of the Indian news channels than the tragic incident itself. Some anchors even wanted to draw our attention particularly to the violent clip being shown endlessly as if to make us understand the sheer audacity of the murder. Their justification was that this involved a huge breach of security. Well, from the Indian point of view this was indeed a breach; but you have to consider Japan where such acts almost never happened and the only news that we keep on hearing about the country is that relating to earthquakes. Had it happened in the trigger-happy and abortion-unhappy US such an approach could’ve been alright; but Japan’s been always trigger-wary and guns in public hands in the country are almost a rarity.

 

However, the glorification of the violent clip just cannot be justified on any ground. Shinzo Abe is one of the most prominent visionary statesmen-politicians of the world and has been a very good friend of India since 2006-07. He’s been a friend of the former Indian PM Manmohan Singh and a closer buddy to PM Narendra Modi. The Government of India had also declared a one-day national mourning in his memory. For some personal reasons this writer, Abe being an almost household name for him as he was actively engaged in the role of a news editor in a national channel during those years,  could not give a fitting tribute to Abe in time, and so is airing his thoughts through this related piece.

The Pandemic-Driven Desperation Is Worrying!

The two-year long COVID-19 pandemic (no signal that it’s ended) has jolted the Indian economy almost out of its roots, heightened by the fact that the economy had been under a lot of strain for at least two years prior the outbreak. The normal demand-supply equation has gone bizarre—the supply chain not yet being able to resume its normal course, with some of the key sectors suffering maximum damage, in light of insufficient demand as the common people now want to hold on to their savings fearing an uncertain future. Normally, with less demand and normal supply the prices should fall and this has led many experts to expect a recession soon or already in the process. However, prices only kept on rising, crossing a whopping level of 7% in the recent quarter that’s made the Reserve Bank of India increase the Repo rate twice in two weeks. With some knowledge of economics I feel that while the customers are not spending their money enough the suppliers not still getting the normal booming times want to break even or recompense by raising the prices, covering all the essentials as well the consumer durables. This brings us to the desperation displayed by almost all stakeholders to stay viable and to survive.

 

Millions of Indians have lost their jobs or regular sources of income, fully or partly, in the two-year slump and are now desperate to generate some sure income for sheer survival. Apart from causing more shortfalls on the demand side, these people are mostly trying to take up any casual jobs and try doing their best. Therefore, it’s no surprise that people like us, in some level of safety in terms of survival, are getting marketing calls from such desperate casuals, accounting for more than 90% of the daily phone calls. Invariably, these calls are designed to make you part with your income/savings or to give you income in the way of personal loans.

 

The casuals working for the telecom companies, the banks, the insurance companies and the like daily sit with their phone database and call up one and all at a daily basis. They want to convince you cutting a deal like get a new connection or to port the existing connection, purchase a policy, go for a new credit card or confirm for a personal loan so that they can earn their commissions to justify their temporary occupation and to generate some income. I’m appalled that they don’t even spare the retired people, offering loans or cards or policies without bothering to find out if they were eligible at all. On getting a call like that I ask them what I am going to do with a personal loan now, because a retired person normally doesn’t have too many plans for new purchases and that it’d be like just paying back the loan every month, losing a sizeable amount of money in the process. But they insist that all are eligible based on their credit score or something like that. Add to this the food or the cab or other aggregators who shower you with repeated messages/promos/discounts to go for it. With obstructed and declining economic growth such kind of desperation is not going to end soon.

 

The desperation is visible in other fields too. That day, being almost roasted alive inside the house by the grueling humid heat, I decided to go out for a relief in the evening. As I entered a restaurant cum bar the somewhat emaciated valet assigned to open the doors for every customer, leaned toward me while opening the glass door, and to my great surprise asked me in a low tone, “You’ll eat something inside?” I stared at him, not facing such a situation ever in my life and asked him, “What?” he repeated his question. Angry now, I told him that I was going to decide after browsing the menu only, and went past him, not courteously.

 

Taking a seat I complained to a waiter about this peculiar behavior. He didn’t look surprised, but assured me he’d talk to him which he did later. I ordered a beer and as I started relishing the cool relief going down my throat I couldn’t help wondering about that valet. I felt sorry for him, standing out there in the heat, God knows for how many hours a day. ‘Maybe, most of the customers enter here just to cool off a little without ordering pricey dishes and thus depriving him of a tip’, I thought. This, in fact, got somewhat confirmed when, paying the bill, I left a tip the waiter told me to give it to the valet outside and that from there the money would be distributed to all of them. I took the note back and went outside. Unfortunately, he was not there, perhaps taking a break for himself. I waited a couple of minutes looking around, and then left sadly.

 

While taking a flight at times, out of absolute necessity, I’ve been observing the airports too, and was always surprised to see a lot of un-uniformed people loitering around, offering help to one and all like the railway porters. And recently, I got a shocker.

 

An elderly lady in perfect health and posture had just got down from a cab at an airport, offloading her baggage. She was traveling alone, apparently. A sickly elderly person approached her immediately, offering help till the boarding is completed for a little over a thousand bucks. The surprised lady was not yet able to decide what to do when the man while arranging a trolley for the baggage unfolded a wheelchair and asked her to occupy it. The lady got very offended and angry now. She stoutly refused and taking hold of her trolley set off for the airport entrance.

 

Desperation and the resultant frustration cum anger is hardly good news for a society. If continued for an indefinite period of time this may lead to violence and crimes. In India, we’ve been helplessly watching violent rivalries, riots in various places on silly excuses, general crimes and crimes against women. Hope the desperation gets a solution fast and the looming uncertainty ends soon. Unfortunately, the epidemiologists are at the moment are debating if the COVID-19 Fourth Wave has hit India or not. 

The Essence Of Hanuman Chalisa And Azaan!

Hanuman Chalisa is a collection of forty verses (chalis in Hindi means the number 40) except for two Doha or couplets in the beginning and one Doha at the end, in praise of Lord Hanuman who apart from being the exemplary devotee or Bhakta of Lord Ram is also regarded as an incarnation of Shiva and so, is recognized as a God. The scripture of Hanuman Chalisa is authored by Tulsidas (1497/1532—1623), the famous Bhakti poet-saint of the 16^th century India, renowned for composing the Ramcharitmanas (Lake of the deeds of Rama), retelling of the epic Ramayana. Ramcharitmanas is a monumental poetic creation because of the fact that Tulsidas composed it in the Awadhi or Oudhi language that is taken as a dialect of Hindi and thus taking the epic to the huge arena of the common Indians; Sanskrit scriptures are understood mostly by the scholars of that language. Hanuman Chalisa is also composed in Awadhi.

 

As we mentioned Hanuman Chalisa is a collection of forty chaupais (four-line-stanza verses) or devotional hymns or stotra in praise of Lord Hanuman. The verses describe the half-monkey God Hanuman as a staunch Bhakta of Lord Ram, a man of strength, courage and wisdom and a man without desire. As most citizens of the world know that Hanuman is one of the central characters of Ramayana, he is always in the service of Rama and doing everything possible for him to eradicate evil without expecting rewards. He is also regarded in India as a deity of Sankat Mochan, that is recuing humans from all crises and obstacles. Reciting Hanuman Chalisa is believed to help humans to overcome all such obstacles, realize one’s wishes and progressing in the path to liberation from all adversities or afflictions, finally achieving Moksha.

 

The Hanuman Chalisa booklet, apart from being readable to all knowing the Devanagari script are available in various Indian languages plus the numerous music albums. One CD sung by the reputed Indian singer Hariharan has reportedly achieved more than 2 billion views. Millions of Indians recite the Chalisa daily, anytime or any number of times they desire, at homes and even while on the move. The easily recognizable booklet in Awadhi is there in our home too. My wife reads it whenever she feels the need, almost daily at least once. And she sits in seclusion to read it, and reads it silently so that it does not disturb me or others present, irrespective of we being believers or non-believers. At times she reads it silently, sitting in the car as I drive on peacefully.  

 

The basic mantra about hymns or stotra or mantra is that the recitation of these means a prayer and a prayer done in the mind is said to be the best as it helps the praying person concentrate and visualize his/her favorite deity. In fact, it amounts to meditation which is very much recommended in our stress-filled times and it opens the road to spiritualism. Of course, all people may not or are not spiritually inclined and they want the reverberations of the hymns influence and inspire them. No issues here too. They can very easily recite it aloud at homes or even while in public transport, and they can also listen to loud recorded recitations or singing in their music systems within their four walls or even inside any temple that holds such prayers. The fact of the matter is that reciting Hanuman Chalisa is absolutely a personal choice, open to all willing ones, and therefore, it doesn’t at all need public amplification.

 

The Islamic custom of the Adhan (in Arabic) or Azaan (in many other languages) is slightly different. The Azaan is in fact means an announcement to call the devotees to the prayers to be held in the minarets or in the mosques. Not deterred by the Sunni and Shia differences over the practice, the muezzin or the person who makes the announcement recites the Islamic call to prayers. The ritual of Adhan has been in practice since the times of Prophet Muhammad (570 AD—632 AD) who approximately at the age of forty got his first revelation from God and that led to him to finally found the Islamic religion based on one God or monotheism, combining all the teachings of Adam, Abraham, Moses, Jesus and other prophets. Prophet Muhammad, believed to be the last prophet sent by God, transformed the whole of Arabia religiously, socially and even economically through his preaching. The verses of his revelations received from God led to the compilation and creation of Quran, the finest scripture in Arabic.

 

Prayers, thus, were central to the Prophet’s preaching and teachings in order to attract more and more followers. Azaan started as a response; it is not clear if he himself started this or appointed his main follower to start making the calls. Anyway, to catch the attention of the followers and inspire them to come to the prayers Prophet Muhammad needed public announcements. The loudspeakers came only in the first part of the 20^th century. Of course, other mechanical devices like the bells, the drums and the horns were available; but Muhammad preferred only to use his own strong voice or the voice of the muezzin for that purpose.

 

However, when the loudspeakers were invented in the 1930s the Muslim countries started using those and fitted the devices in the minarets and the mosques, mostly as a show of strength of their faith rather than devotion. It is believed that Azaan or prayers need to be done five times a day for devout Muslim, and thus in many countries including the Muslim-majority ones the loudspeakers slowly started becoming a nuisance in terms of noise pollution. Over the decades we’ve seen restrictions imposed on the use of loudspeakers and the imposition of decibel limits becoming a common practice in may countries including Saudi Arabia.

 

 In India the loudspeakers for Azaan began to be used only from the 1970s and as the country’s Constitution had declared India as a socialist secular democratic republic all religious practices, festivals and rituals have been allowed in all their ritualistic grandeur. But in the past decade we’ve seen selective protests fueled obviously by the growth of aggressive majority nationalism and fundamentalism of various forms. The present controversy raging, unfortunately, throughout the country is nothing but practices of religion-based politics and growing intolerance—one making the other more and more intolerant in a vicious circle.

 

We had earlier argued that chanting Hanuman Chalisa silently or loudly is a personal choice with nothing to do with public announcements. We can express similar feelings about Azaan too. In modern digital times, it’s just not possible for the educated and working Muslims to offer prayers five times a day, that too at a public place of worship. In whole of my service career, I’ve seen my Muslim colleagues and friends offering Namaz only on the Friday afternoons, at the mosque nearby or in office itself, silently. I’ve also seen numerous passengers in train journeys doing Namaz quietly, putting a piece of cloth on the floor in-between the berths, without disturbing anyone. Therefore, I’d say Azaan or Namaz or any kind of Islamic prayers are getting increasingly influenced by personal choices. To call it anti-Islamic would be another form of fundamentalist intolerance.

 

You are right when you object to the noise of the loudspeakers, particularly keeping in mind the differently abled and the patients in general. But you cannot be selective about your protests or you cannot try to right a wrong with another wrong. If you ask, righteously so, for a ban on the loudspeakers in public places to prevent noise pollution which is indeed a growing menace it has to be a blanket ban, covering all kinds of religious-cultural events/festivals/rituals taking place twelve month a year in our country. And, you hardly hear religious chanting of hymns or stotra on the mikes, you only hear film songs and even disco songs so that the devoteescan dance too.

 

This kind of hypocrisy and the growing politicization cum commercialization of religions must stop. High time to adopt a new modern religion of making the religion a matter of personal choice; preferably in the innermost corners of your excellent and powerful mind or within the four-walls of your homes or within the four-walls of any place of worship. The Pandemic nearly accomplished this; but unfortunately, humankind hates to learn from even disasters.

Top Comments As A Writer’s Dilemma Gets Resolved!

My recent posts reflected a dilemma building up in my innards as to should I go on writing and posting those on apparently a dead wall. I’ve never been a pursuer of ‘success’ in the modern context where it’s a relative term, meaning (in my point of view, similar to Swagata Dey) that ‘success’ does not necessarily match the most integral term ‘merit’, except for some glorious examples in world history. In modern times ‘success’ just happens, maybe due to elements of luck, coincidence, rabid self-promotion, vital links in the network and accidentally appealing stories or videos or whatever, and that success can come overnight or may not come in one’s full lifetime. As far as my work during my service career and my writings since my childhood days are concerned, I do consider myself a success, in my way.

 

Neutrality has been the defining feature all my life, both in my service career and writings, which gives me the freedom to air my views freely. Therefore, I tend to expect neutral or objective views about my work, primarily because English is not my mother tongue and guided by some praise and eulogies early in my life I made it a professional job, even daring to author two English books. However, except for a few positive feedback from my known readers I’ve not been getting feedback from the unknown ‘reading’ readers. As an add-on my neutrality earned me many powerful enemies in my service career! And, even after requesting quite a few writers/journalists/friends to write reviews of my book entirely objectively in their way I have got nothing, good or bad. This site presents my main writing platform, and an utter lack of responses or comments from the readers (if any, was my thought) since years created this dilemma.

 

Very satisfactorily indeed, after presenting my ‘writer’s dilemma’ here and the links in social media I’ve got blessed with a few extremely helpful and kind comments. Very few, but the knowing readers matter a lot still. I consider it my duty to do justice to their thoughts, and so I present their views for you all below:

Sanjit Narwekar Says

“I think you are judging yourself too harshly. I don't think you have failed as a writer just because much of your work has been journalistic in nature. You did a good job of editing the MIFF catalogues. That apart from your other work at Films Division. We can't all write great books but the work we do as writers and editors also provides the grease to make the system work ... And that is no mean contribution.”

Jagdish Jawaswal Says

“श्रीमान सरजी.... अपने कर्तव्य ऒर बॊद्धिक स्तरपर आप आजभी सतर्क ऒर चिरतरुण हो.... यहं हमारा अनुभव रहां हैं... हमने आप के मार्गदर्शन में जो काम कियां है....”

Manas Ranjan SenapatiSays

“Sir, please start your Autobiography.”

Swagata Dey Says  

“I only read a few blogs on the internet, and yours is one of them. It is very difficult to find someone with whom you find yourself in tune with. Your writing makes me feel that way. I respect your decision, but please don't hold it against yourself, sir. Success is frequently viewed as external validation and there are a few things over which we have no real control. Please continue to do what you enjoy and direct all your energy on to it.

PS - I used to read biographies of successful individuals. But I realized that luck plays a big role in every story of success; even a minor change in the story can turn a remarkable achievement into a mediocre outcome. Daniel Kahneman discussed the same in his book ‘Thinking, Fast and Slow’. Later I discovered a video on YouTube that forever changed my mind and I've stopped reading success stories since then.

If you feel like watching the video, please look up these keywords on YouTube – ‘We Are All Made by Accidents Pursuit of Wonder’. It has something that will give some more meaning to your story.

Thank you very much for sharing your story with us, sir.”

 

Simanta Adhyapak Says  

“I guess like me there could be lot of followers who enjoy your writing. Feeling sad reading this and on the decision you've taken. I Shall still follow your posts/updates.”

There have been many other positive responses as well in the social media. Well, for a humble writer this is enough encouragement to move on. This is, of course, apart from the surge of renewable energy I got from the ‘telephone calls’ that was mentioned in my earlier story! Thanks a trillion, to all you!

(Note: The photo is only symbolic as a salute to whom all it may concern.)

Age Is Just A Number: High Fives To My Young Fellow Seniors!

As the saying goes ‘age is just a number’, and in some cases it is high and in other cases low. The number doesn’t necessarily have something significant to do with the mind associated inevitably with it. If we go further from year to days the numbers become even more like simple numbers. Like when we say 10 years it seems to be a very long time—a decade as you’d normally like to refer to; but if we break it in number of days it’s just 3650 days or less. However, high numbers do signify body ageing which is biological and cannot be avoided, and unfortunately, ageing is taken by others with ‘low numbers’ in a negative way. The moment people cross the number 60 they are called ‘old guys’, and when someone dies in the range between 75 and above the others say that ‘the old guy has lived enough’. Lifestyle immoderation and inherited or accidentally acquired diseases do make the process of ageing faster and painful in some. But in any case, the mind can still play a vital role.

 

The mind cannot age unless you acquire diseases like the Alzheimer’s or dementia which fortunately can be prevented by the sheer energy of your mind, spirit and brain activity. The forces of the mind and enthusiastic attitudes can help you even while having terminal diseases. God forbid, if you keep on giving in to the negative thoughts and actions these send open invitations to all kinds of diseases. They should never think that once they have retired from their regular job, they have become old. Therefore, it is the strong mind with an equally strong willpower that converts age into just numbers. We keep on sleeping every day and wake up the next day with the same kind of thoughts or resolves or plans. Just how could your mind change or age overnight? Yes, it’s only the days or years that gets added to your ‘number’. If you want, you can keep your mind always numberless or ever young, and that’s what matters to all senior citizens, so called because they have higher ‘numbers’.

 

I have been privileged to be a member of a local club of senior citizens where most of them have numbers the range 65 to 70 with some of them approaching 75 or even 80. And I’ve been pleasantly surprised to find that for them age is exactly a number. They have young minds and an indomitable spirit. Most of them go for morning and evening walks, eventually joining each other at the club premises, unfailingly every single day. They chat cheerfully for about an hour in the evening, at times enjoying steaming cups of tea or coffee, and then go back to their families—some with sons, daughters-in-law and grandchildren while others live with their spouses. They are digitally literate and always engage themselves in the social media and groups with gusto. They are very kind-hearted and organize charity too as needed. We cannot avoid the unfortunate fact that many of the people with higher numbers have to maintain large families with meagre pension and a nagging financial insecurity.  

 

Occasionally, they organize get-togethers on someone’s birthday or anniversary or state/national events or at times without any reason, just for the fun of it. And, I’ve seen the tremendous enthusiasm and hyperactivity in going about organizing such events, moving around on scooters or cars or bicycles or auto-rickshaws; this reminds me of the innocent fun we had as children when organizing similar events or unions, and also in various stages of our varying ‘numbers’. There is always absolute celebration at the events or parties where everyone is forced to present a song or something through the loud speaker. One of two of them are actually good professional singers. Yes, mind is necessarily young; you only need to keep it so. In effect, we are always children—the children of God! High fives to us! And cheers!

 

Naturally then, when we’re referred to as ‘old folks’ we righteously get angry as happened recently with me. A very good friend of many years took my consent one day for an assignment in a forthcoming international event and asked for my updated bio. As I never say no to either tea or work, I went ahead with the proceedings. Around 10 days elapsed with no information from him and I thought perhaps he could not get it approved from the highest authority. Then, suddenly a call came from his organization offering me a job that forms only a miniscule part of the assignment offered earlier. Sensing the inevitable I said an assertive no.

 

Late evening that day the old friend called me, and then I came to know of the ‘reasons’ for not approving my assignment. Maybe the assignment was pre-decided in favor of someone with low ‘numbers’ or the younger smarter generation, and the discussion about my candidature a mere formality. Two of my earlier friends/associates of the organization convinced their supreme boss that since I am in ‘old age’ and I live far off from that office it might not be advisable to give me the job. The reference of the ‘old age’ infuriated me while I dismissed the second reason as a decoy, totally irrelevant as regards the assignment, and showed my anger in public, but deciding to move on.

 

That ‘telephone syndrome’ in fact energized me. For some time in the past few weeks, I’ve been in a dilemma about continuing with my writing work as I thought perhaps I had no ‘reading’ readers. A few days back I took a painful decision to stop my writing. But those telephone calls, and of course, a few very kind comments in social media from experienced author-friends/associates, made me reverse my decision instantly. True to myself I have decided to go on working till the last days of life, not allowing the ever-present external factors to be deterrents. Yes, I’m sticking to my basic nature irrespective of the increasing numbers getting added to me. My mind is ever-young like my senior citizen friends and by the grace of God I still have a reliably mobile body. Cheers for that too!

Ukraine Crisis: World Rulers Are Still Driven By Primitive Instincts!

According to Sigmund Freud’s theory of ‘Id, Ego and Superego’ the Id trait of a personality was present in the first primitive humans, but not as a part of the brain; in fact, the Freudian tripartite components had nothing to do with the grey cells. The Id trait includes the basic survival, sexual and aggressive instincts/impulses, and it acts unconsciously. Over the centuries the primitive humans started living in communities and societies, and at that time the Ego trait became important as a conscious part of a personality able to distinguish between ‘right’ and ‘wrong’ acts in terms of good or harm such acts could cause to the others. With more maturity the Superego trait had emerged as the ethical ‘conscience’ of human beings, always sending correcting messages to Ego whenever the Id trait overpowered it. Freud indicated that any imbalances in these three traits are bound to lead to personality disorders, like if the Id impulses totally dominate the personality that human being turns overtly aggressive, greedy and even into a criminal. The ideal condition, according him, is when Ego effectively mediates between Id and Superego.

 

It’s the ‘imbalances’ part that we are interested in. The inherent greed and aggression components contained in the Id drove human beings progressing from local lordship to regional lords/fiefdoms or small kings or bigger kings and to the emperors. This progression had been based essentially on human’s craze or greed for power manifested in plain greed for land, forests, water sources, livestock and even women of the conquered lands. There is no dearth of expansionist invaders from the times of Alexander the Great to the murderous invaders of the Turks, Muslims, Persians and others. Along this trail of history planet earth has seen thousands of bloody skirmishes, battles and wars, all of which were naturally driven by the overpowering Id component.

 

From Ego there developed monsters like egoist or egotists and super egoists who had demonstrated no ‘guilt’ complexes as explained by Freud in any immoral or inhuman eventuality. Feelings of supremacy also grew in some communities or races who considered theirs as the best, and therefore, wanted to dominate the lesser humans. The planet earth had witnessed devastating ‘supremacy nationalism’ of the Ottoman, the Austro-Hungarians, the Italians and the Germans which led to World War-1 and World War-2 during which millions of soldiers and civilians perished and which in a way led to the murderous Spanish Flu during the first world war that also took a toll in millions.

 

It was hoped that with the tremendous growth and progress of human civilization in terms of technology, scientific exploration, socio-economic, the intelligentsia and benevolent leaders in mostly the emerging of democracies, the world had learned enough lessons from the horrific world wars. But no, the ‘greed for power’ factor as basic imbalances in the personality theory continued unabated. The wars between the two clear superpowers only became secret or undercover that is to say, cold. One of the superpowers, USSR, dissolved itself in 1991 and the other superpower, the US with its western allies, became all powerful which was not at all welcome for the other ‘powers’ like Russian, China and others. Cold war ended, but ‘operations’ continued. Aggressive nationalism again grew for strategic alliances and presence, military bases or deployment of forces and military operations as was thought to be very necessary.  

 

The strength of having nuclear weapons seemed to increase the craze for power more. It was like some diseased persons looking greedily at the stocks of mouth-watering food or piles of money, but not able to devour or use them. The temptations remained permanently. The super imbalances in the Superego kept up the threats of a nuclear war anytime anywhere. The hapless but peace-loving global citizens continued to live in morbid fear, not knowing when and what their monstrously ‘imbalanced’ rulers would do next. Trade and business flourished in manufacturing a wide range of weaponry and the consequent export or import of those to like-minded allied countries or ‘friends’.

 

Apparently, the age-defining spread of higher education and digital literacy had no positive impact on the rulers who continued to suffer from the imbalances, totally neutralizing the Freudian Superego personality trait from generating some ‘conscience’ in them. They still greed for more and more power; want more arsenals of weaponry, preferably nuclear and want to damage that of others; they try to activate a fear psychosis among their subjects saying that their national security is threatened; they want to destroy any indication of a possible growth of patriotism or nationalism in some countries they don’t prefer; they eagerly wait for a demonstration of their supremacy, even not caring if it could involve use of nuclear weapons; and the supposedly benevolent rulers of the democracies or milder dictatorships land up with no choices depending on who happen to be their ‘friends’ or ‘allies’.

 

The COVID-19 Pandemic did indeed make the world a much more closely-knit entity with a common objective of its eradication. However, even before the pandemic officially ended the same old habits started anew. No hope then for humankind? Well, we don’t know. We, the global citizens, have changed ourselves for friendship and everlasting peace; but still, it’s the toughest ask to try change the mindset of our rulers. Hope, in some miraculous way, the Ukraine invasion gets stopped and all kinds of wars/battles/rivalries in future get stopped too, to save our little world.

(Images Source: simplypsychology.org )

And Then I Say Quits…!

I’m convinced finally that it’s time to put my pen down or rather stop clattering my fingers over the computer keys. Yes, I’ve decided to stop writing here or anywhere with immediate effect. Therefore, effectively, this is my last piece here and wherever it figures. I had already indicated my doubts earlier on this platform. Now, all the doubts are in the final process of getting doubly confirmed. The reasons are both personal and professional. The personal reasons I’ll avoid, because it might be interpreted as passing on the blame; I take the blame squarely on my shoulders and this is my very own decision. The professional reasons are more important and definitive in the emerging scenario of a ‘failed writer’ which is not at all uncommon across the world.

 

The basic professional reason is that nobody reads my writings, most of them just surfing or watching briefly or passing over accidentally. I have been trying very hard indeed to write across a range of subjects to make these interesting for my readers for many years, and since I always used to laugh a lot, I thought of writing more and more humorous and fun pieces. But as a professional writer (at least I thought like that) I failed miserably to grab the readers’ attention or interest; even for the funny stories I think I am the only person to find those funny. Of course, I have to make a few concessions to a few friends who may have given their good comments/reviews out of love and goodwill. 

Ditto for my two books on humorous stories that I consider now as my foolish, egoistic and wastefully expensive indulgences. Besides, although I was successful in monetizing this site perhaps due to the low-quality traffic or no ‘reading’ readers I could not cross the main stumbling block for months. So, I decided to remove the ads also from the site.

 

As I look over my life at this fading point, I think I have been a failure too in regard to doing justice to all my relationships—as a husband, as a son, as a brother, as a colleague/friend, as an in-law and so on—as far as taking the responsibility is concerned. Perhaps, God has spared me of more failed responsibilities by not giving us children. This makes me feel very sorry and guilty, particularly for my wife, and for all others some of whom have been an integral part of my existence. 

There is hardly any time to make amends now; but I’ll definitely give it a try in the days remaining. Also, I'll spend my remaining days devoting myself fully to domestic work, book-reading and watching movies. Rest assured, this is a decision, a painful one too, but not a depression of any kind. In the meantime, I’ll allow this blog to go on, because my wife has a lot to write about, and that it may perhaps still have some archival values. And it’s not going to cost me much either. Goodbye then! And thanks for everything!

(I apologize! The ads are still coming! It seems I have no control over them as anything else!) 

Why Should Death Be A Good News?

Media-persons, including this writer, have the habit of prioritizing news stories/reports on the basis of how many people have died or are adversely affected, which is actually necessary to structure a news bulletin, always a tough job doing justice to the stories, selecting them and giving the prominence a story deserves. When a reporter comes in to the newsroom stating that an accident or any kind of such tragic happenings has occurred in which 2-4 people have died the news editor would just grimace it away and most often would ask it to be included in the scroll. If the fatalities are around 10 it normally gets into the bulletin as an important story, and when the toll is more than 15/20 then it becomes a headline news story. Well, this is unfortunate indeed; but in a hyperactive newsroom it becomes unavoidable. However, such stories are never taken as a good news story.

 

Deaths are always unfortunate whatever be the number, because for the person who succumbs in an accident or is killed it signals the end of the world for him/her. Yes, death is a very normal and inevitable part of human existence as we live with deaths all around us till our turns which always seem to be unreal and elusive. But dying unnecessary or avoidable deaths always hurt the most. If there is an outbreak of a disease or an endemic or a pandemic people die in varying numbers; but the question remains as to why at all should they die. Why such deaths are not preventable in the age of the most advanced modern medical science and amenities?

 

What has suddenly prompted me to write these words? Well, in a very well-known private news channel in India I had the misfortune to watch and hear the anchor reporting a few deaths as a ‘good news’! The anchor was narrating the Omicron-led COVID-19 pandemic spread story in Mumbai that more than 20,000 new cases were reported in the city in the last 24 hours which is the highest ever of all the three waves, and then said ‘but the good news is that there are only 4 deaths in the same period’. Sure, the anchor said this while making a comparison with the disastrous second wave. But, terming the fewer deaths as a ‘good news’ is extremely unfortunate. Recently, in the same channel, one sensitive doctor echoed my thoughts by saying that if the country is fully prepared to face the third wave why at all people should die, whatever be the number.  

 

Death can never be a cause for celebration even if one of your deadliest enemies dies suddenly. Some perverted and sadistic souls may rejoice within themselves, but it just can never be made official before the general public. During the pandemic years it has, most unfortunately, become a habit with the governments or authorities boasting of reducing the fatality figures and thus bringing the virus under control. I must emphasize again that even though only one person dies unnecessarily it is the end of the world for him/her and for his/her family.

 

Of course, it is also true that most ignorant or careless people do rush to their deaths by throwing all precautions and norms out of the window. Governments or authorities can only issue the rules and regulations, they cannot force all citizens to follow them. Finally, it is the duty of the citizens to take care of themselves and their kin, particularly the elderly people in their families. In India people of all religious faiths believe that their heavenly protectors would always protect them and, in that spirit, they throng to the temples or any places of worship in large numbers to offer their prayers and get the blessings, even if it amounts to blatant violations of the norms. All the true saints and preachers have said since times immemorial that Gods or your protectors live within you and all around you, and you can seek the blessings from the confines of your heart, it is not at all necessary to rush to the places of worship, stumbling, stampeding over each other. 

Happy New Year 2022 To Our Dear Readers And Friends!

We wish you all a very Happy and Prosperous New Year 2022! Let the New Year bring all the happiness, success and prosperity in your life, home, work and relationships. Most importantly, we wish you all very good and sustained health, and of course, a never-ending immunity against any intruding virus! We’ve decided to post our wishes well in advance, because the New Year is going to dawn in at different hours in different countries across the globe. And also, to avoid the last-minute hassles! Enjoy at home with your dearest members of your family!  Stay blessed!

 

You must be wondering that we’ve not touched the two-year-old roaring COVID-19 pandemic in a direct way at all! Well, because we want to end with a piece of good news! The Hindu Almanac calculations for the New Year (panchang 2022) say that sometime during the coming year we’ll all be ‘ferried across’ (as per an interpretation by a friend of mine) which clearly means that we’ll surely overcome the curse of the pandemic in the coming year! Hope this comes out to be true! Omicron, consisting of many existing mutants, could very well be the last to haunt us. Even otherwise, optimism and a positive frame of mind always help us conquer all obstacles. Let’s hope for the best! Thank you all for your continued interest in these humble pages!