REFLECTIONS: THE GOD AND THE PARTICLE

REFLECTIONS: THE GOD AND THE PARTICLE: THE GOD AND THE PARTICLE- Smashing head on streams of   Hydrogen protons at speed of light one hundred seventy five meters deep inside ea...

FAITH AND FREEDOM

The recent spate of violence across the globe in the name of blasphemy by a short film on You Tube allegedly castigating prophet Mohammad brings to fore both- the abuse of freedom in the name of creative art as well as the growing intolerance to any real or imaginary  deviation from one’s faith. It is a replay of past instances of similar outrage as in Salman rushdie’s  Satanic verses or Taslima Nasreen’s Lajja or MF Hussain’s portrayal of Hindu godess on canvas.  Only, this time the violence is more intense ,widespread and well-orchestrated by its leading protagonists. 

The primary cause for such mass outrage is the fundamental conflict between faith and freedom. Faith is an antithesis to freedom. Faith preclude an option to reject, and there by is inconsistent with the idea of freedom. Interestingly, both are human conceptual choices and  essentially remains as means to define or guide our lives.  Practioners  of religions,  cults, ideologies(like communism, socialism)and dictatorship need faith as the  medium to sustain, while those of science(rationality), creative art and literature ,capitalism and democracy need freedom as a pre requisite for any meaningful involvement. The degree of conflict, contrast and incompatibility between the two underscores the kind of the intolerant times  we live in today.

The aggrieved stature of the so called 'offended" side is often quite amusing, as it is borne out of feelings, emotions, imaginations, sentiments-in short, from that faculty of our mind on which we have least control. To that extent, most often they are bogus in nature and can be manipulated , depending on the ‘gullibility quotient’ of the persons who claims to have been offended. Nevertheless, the right to feel offended is as sacred as the right to freedom, as long as the sense of being offended are expressed in non-violent and non-coercive way. The moment they find their expression through threats and violence, the aggrieved looses his grounds for redress. And when the anger or ire is directed against a country from where the alleged blasphemy emanated, it assumes a criminal proportion and deserves to be accordingly dealt with.

The role of the state as an arbiter dispensing reliefs to the offended side is both motivated                        and  partisan . More so, if the claim is “hurt sentiments” based on their misplaced interpretation of their faiths or religious tenets. The hidden agendas behind espousing the hurt feelings and enflaming it further by coercive posturing  by leaders of the faiths are all too obvious, but  they win the day's argument due to the impotency of a divided, polluted polity. Conceptually, freedom is non-negotiable for rational existence, and most certainly that which pertains to human expression, being the most fundamental attribute of a rational society. Between pure prose and pure abuse lies few letters or words or expressions arranged in some order-Beauty or the evil lies in the eyes of the beholder. Salman Rushdie post Satanic verses earned a life-long fatwa from the fanatics of the faith even as he reached stellar heights in literary circles. Taslima  was chased out of her country and ostracised by followers of the faith for her audacious  ‘lajja’ even though she had a huge fan following .But in  the real world freedom has a self-limiting value . As they say, one man’s freedom ends where another man’s nose begins. The onus of identifying and honouring this thin boundary lies on the  practioners of freedom precisely to prevent it from being abused. The You-Tube short film  produced by some non-descriptive artists  based in USA is reflective more of the depraved aesthetics of its producers than  a creative product of expression. But in effect, the very sanctity of ‘freedom’  entrusted in those who produced this piece of garbage got abused. Freedom loses its essence when stretched beyond a point of relevance, just as blind faith erodes our very thinking faculty and sense of reality. In order to maintain the necessary social equilibrium ,it is imperative to safeguard the delicate balance that we have discovered in this continuous conflict between faith and freedom.

KKR

NOSTALGIC DELUSIONS

 Nostalgia has an uncanny characteristic of tricking our mind to believe that those cherished past moments that we lived through are more desirable than the present. When we indulge in remembrance of olden days ,there is a sense of euphoria that fills us .It is more often an uncontrollable urge to relive the past in order to regain the moments already lost as the  clock ticked irrespective of our wishes not to loose them. The delusion of the past, so eloquently captured in the lyrics of Carpenter’s  song “Yesterday once more”  or Jagjit singh’s   “Woh kagaz ki kashti” is all too familiar to us. But, change is the only constant in this world and in nature. When events get frozen as memories, the pleasure that is attached to them only fades as time passes. The faster the changes associated with time, faster is the  fading of old in order to give space to the new. Therefore, when changes occur faster than  our comprehension, it brings with it a new dimension of identity with the present. We have, but no choice than to accept it and enjoy it as we live through, without being caught in  nostalgic web of the past and left yearning for it.

Newer technologies and 24x7 work time culture has added an entirely new perspective to time. Many of us work through the nights and sleep through the day, blurring the boundaries between day and night. The early morning Tanpura sounds of  All India Radio  or the weekly dose of Binaca Geet Mala of sixties and senventies have been replaced by non-stop melodies plugged into the ears in the form of micro-mini gadgets. Nine pm gym workout is more popular than early morning surya- namaskar. Live weekend get together of friends and relatives is replaced by online chats in make-believe virtual reality.. Contemplation and inner reflections are done while buzzing through bright lit streets at break-neck speed, and not necessarily during the stillness of morning twilight. Which is better, who knows. More and more of activities are filled in less and less time period, unlike  the largely relaxed long empty days of yester years.

 As we try to keep pace with our lives and meet each deadlines through breathtaking technological advancements, We have no choice but to change our psyche in line with the new challenges to maintain our equanimity. Living in present is no longer a prescription offered by life-style gurus, but a necessity of modern living. Alvin Tofler could not have been more prophetic when he predicted in his book FUTURE SHOCK this challenge that the society has to face as we wade though the time into future, riding on the wheels of technology. The growing sense of irrelevance and detachment one feels when unable to keep pace with these challenges are the early symptoms of this shock. At one level we have to be adept at skilful handling of modern gadgets that overwhelmingly interfaces with the physical world and the associated quick thinking ability befitting contemporary needs. While on another level, leisure indulgences like art music and literature is equally relevant. The Art of modern living perhaps lie in our ability to handle the shrinking  dimensions of space and time at these multiple levels. Meanwhile, in between and if one can still manage, occasional visits down the memory lane may well be a worthwhile effort to experience the vicarious pleasures frozen somewhere in our memories.

KKR

MERIT BE DAMNED-CASTE PREVAILS

A  national shame that was played out for a fortnight in the name of Monsoon session of the parliament ironically had a positive note too. Amid non-stop cacophony and din , the deeply discredited govt’s  attempt to introduce the 117th constitutional amendment bill in the upper-house to usher in caste quota in promotions turned into a damp squib. What made this divisive  piece of legislation more sinister in nature is an overwhelming  passive acceptance of its content and context across the political spectrum. Those, like SP who are trying to oppose it are primarily seeking further expansion of the quota bandwagon, rather than countering the idea itself .As if by some devil’s conspiracy, the event is marked by a  total absence of discussions and debate both by the polity and the so called intelligentsia on an issue that could have historical ramifications. The usual rabble rousers of the prime time news channels only attempted feebly, at a surface level , arguing about the timing of bill or legal challenges it may run into. None attempted to decipher the underlying contrived idea behind this legislation that has the potential to set back our nation and society to medieval ages ,in an irreparable ,irrevocable way. Rather, it appeared like a silent conspiracy where none dared to question the moral validity of a proposition could open and deepen more social fissures than it seeks to cure. In such rarefied atmosphere of thinking,  cogent ideas quickly get replaced by incoherent ones, rationality  and reason helplessly give way to absurdity and senseless rhetoric.

Superficially, the idea of caste based reservation is espoused to be “restorative justice”-setting right some historical wrong. In reality, when unleashed in its totality, it is about “retributive justice”-One generation paying for the sins of its earlier generation. In order to turn around a grossly unfair social system seeped in centuries of prejudice, we  need direct resource intervention and positive social awareness amongst all. Not unrestrictive reservation in jobs and promotions, but improving the conditions that make them disadvantageous. It is a slow and painful process, but the only long-lasting one that could empower them collectively and individually.

The real moral depravity and the evil nature of the idea of reservation lay hidden at a much deeper level. What the perpetrators and the proponents of such ideas seek is not merely some misplaced justice-their real motive is to negate the very meaning of competence and merit, of ability and achievement, by denouncing the existence of such things. If one observes their arguments closely, the focus is to remove the need of all such virtues as merit and ability from human endeavours, thereby validating their morality of earning the un-earned. Observe that they do not approve of or enthusiastic for other direct means of affirmative actions such as creation of assets and resources targeted at their community development, financial assistances to study and acquire skills and knowledge etc. Note that there is no time period attached for its continuation of reservation, no objective criteria defined to arrive at its logical closure. By seeking quota in promotions on caste basis, what they de-facto imply is that  conceptually, career progression is all about some whimsical welfarism where the ability to perform at higher level is a non-issue. Further, the modus operandi of the perpetuation of this medieval  mindset is not through  debates or discussions but by manipulations of the constitutional tenets, through parliamentary mobocracy. “Social justice” seems to be the only sufficient and necessary euphemism to get a moral sanction from all, most notably from its very victims. Ironically, our so called intellectuals in public life, media and civil society do not find sufficient merit in this burning social issue to address its underlying idea  or motive  so that it could be demolished in its foundation.    

The eventual path that a society or a nation charts as its destiny is paved by the dominant  ideas  of ethics and  the broader philosophical contours of its members.  In the Indian context, we seem to be existing virtually in a state of paralysis of rational ideas. The national ‘consensus of ideas’ that shape our domestic and international policies ,irrespective of the party in power, is inherently self destructive and divisive in nature. While it eludes us into a false sense of security and self-righteousness as a herd, it erodes systematically the creative, productive  and innovative instincts of its individuals. In many ways,it has a lot to do with our sense of identity that is invariably as a member of some,caste,community,religion or group, rather than that of an individual. Hence policies that our lawmakers legislate always address the issue at a collective level, even as at individual level they may have devastating implications. Conditioned  by  religious mysticism and political collectivism,the  instictinctive sanction to any idea, proposal or legislation by the principle of majority versus minority need not be rationally or morally correct. Not emotions, but only objective reality and reason can guide us to arrive at rational conclusions that can be filtered further through cogent discussions -the proper path to shape any legislation that  addresses the broader issue without violating individual rights.

Given the nature of the dominant and the influential ideas that have the power to translate into national policies, it is unlikely that  in near future India may realise its full potential to be counted among the front-runners of 21^st century even while successfully meeting her citizens aspirations. Reservation policy that we seek to propagate as a depraved idea of “social justice” is only symptomatic of the larger malaise that is looming large over us-the vacuum of rational ideas, the near total absence of reason in national policy framing.

KKR

MERIT BE DAMNED-CASTE PREVAILS

TRANSPERANCY Vs BUREAUCRACY

Transparency is the opposite of opacity, a condition characterised by clarity, free of dust and distortions. It is as much  true in the conceptual context as it is in physical world. In order to appreciate transparency in physical things, clarity has to exist where it is perceived-that is in our minds. Human actions are eventually the product of human thought process-and to that extent, when transparency is envisaged in the realm of human actions, the same holds true. Clarity of mind remains the primary condition to appreciate clarity in actions. The paradox, so to say, of transparency in actions of a public servant, the dilemma “to err” or ‘to forgo” in taking a firm decision exists as long as the guiding terms, the rules, the framework-under which the he operates remain opaque. It is when subjectivity remains the essence of the “rules” or “laws” that the bureaucrat refers to as guidance for his actions, he uses his discretion-referred as “decision making”. This gives rise to the discussion of consequences of his actions, right or wrong, beneficial or otherwise. Try and remove as much subjectivity in the rules, laws, legislations etc and therefore as much “discretions” from the table of the public official and then observe the outcome. He no longer will have to carry  the burden of  “error”for his decisions and actions and no longer has any valid reason to remain inert. With reduced options to play his whims around, a quick and a discrete decision would be the most likely choice .Objectivity in legislation, rules and law is a very viable answer to the whimsical application of its interpretations while dealing with issues of the citizens by the the obstructionist babu. Therefore, any attempt to bring transparency in public dealings by officials can be effective only when  we start from  origin –“ The Thought “ applied at the time of framing the law or drafting a rules. My guess is that the seasoned Indian bureaucrats understands this too well, and, for whatever motives, sows the seeds of subjectivity when they draft the rules or laws. Perhaps, the opacity that is created gives them the vital “oxygen” in the bureaucratic biosphere  so as to operate seamlessly and sustain the dynamics of “heads I win, Tail you loose” vis-à-vis the public. Further, Honesty will and should always remain the central virtue around which we weave all our values that  guide us  for all our actions in case it is a just, fair and rational system that we desire for our existence. There is no way that we can have honesty half way or partially compromised in our public dealings. Degradation in terms of efficiency as a possible outcome of a non-compromising  honesty centric virtue system is an inaccurate assessment and an easy alibi to maintain the staus-quo for our sub-standard bureaucracy. A “good” decision is good only as long as it passes the test of probity, whatever be the consequences of remaining non-compromising to the integrity of truth. It is perfectly true that in an honesty-compromised atmosphere  of our society, installing a system to oversee all actions by an overbearing “honesty” centric yardstick will definitely cause  undesired result of inactions by officials who would prefer it  to risking prosecution. The dominant values of the society have to be tilted in favour of concepts such as truth, honesty and probity, if we want the ultimate desired result. But till then, the objectivity of legislation or law can effectively come to the rescue of an otherwise honest but timid official. When the interpretation of legislation is not left to the sweet will  or discretion of the bureaucrat, it is unlikely that he runs  the risk of being charged for dubious intent. Besides ,we have the modern technologies at our disposal to wipe out a whole lot of discretionary decisions draped in the possibility of ill-gotten considerations. The digital world has opened revolutionary possibilities to make most, if not all, aspects of public dealings one hundred percent transparent. An online display of database with unrestrictive access is a one stroke solution for discarding dubiously shaded file systems holding literally the fates of the citizens wrapped in secrecy. Similarly, instant access to public utility information, status of applications and disposal of cases by various departments of the government etc is another example to enhance transparency. The dilemma, or the paradox of transparency is therefore only as much in our minds as it appears around us.

kkr

THE GOD AND THE PARTICLE

THE GOD AND THE PARTICLE- Smashing head on streams of  Hydrogen protons at speed of light one hundred seventy five meters deep inside earth in a twenty-seven kilometre long tunnel, Physicists have yet again moved the frontiers of science far much ahead, so much that mankind is now almost standing at the threshold of unravelling the ultimate of all the mysteries-the mystery of the origin of the universe. The large Hadron collider experiment by CERN at Geneva is believed to be the culmination of the relentless hard work of ten thousand scientists from across the globe for more than four decades. What Prof Peter Higgs theorised almost fourty eight years back now seems to have been realised through this ten Billion dollar collider experiment. The elusive sub atomic  Higgs boson particle or the “God Particle” that is supposed to confer mass to all matters  has been reported to be observed. The so called “standard model” to explain the universe stands vindicated. While scientists now can have a a deeper look into the the origin of the universe and decipher the aftermaths of the BIG-BANG in a more comprehensive perspective, the particle discovery  also seems to have thrown up another challenge, but on a different front –that of the very fundamental belief system into the origin of creation-The GOD, the creator .At one level, the ability of precise prediction, measurement and quantification of an otherwise cosmic event has empowered science to strike at the roots of a centuries old belief system that held a godly hand for our creation out of blue. For once, science seems to answer with conviction the questions that Abraham,Allah and Bramha settled with mere pronouncements seeking beliefs as a medium to reconcile with ,rather than proofs or reasonings. But at a closer look, this conflict is only the product of our effort to pitch the scientific imperatives against the religious ones with no worthwhile objective. True scientific perspectives do not seek to negate religion as an objective, as it has a different course to charter-that of unravelling the truth. Meanwhile God as an idea,a concept  will continue to remain central to man’s consciousness .He is,to be precise, a man’s psychological requirement, a need that provides him a comfort zone to retreat into, in order to recoup and re-energise his consciousness. Every man ,including the scientists have a psycho- emotional dimension carved into their being that functions at a different plane than their rational faculties .In many ways,  our Gods remain in this psycho-emotional domain providing the necessary coolant effect to the by-products of our emotions and moods, an essential pre-requisite to keep our sanity intact. This deep belief in that supreme force called God probably empowers our rational faculty to cut deeper into the mysteries of the universe using pure observation, experimentation and reasoning. Thus God and Science is not exclusive to each other, but perhaps complimentary to each other. The more we know about our universe, its origin through science, the more we get intrigued about God and our reverence for him. Interestingly, it is when we isolate God from the religion , that we are able to  identify this convergence of god and the science. Which implies science will always be in conflict with religion as we know it today, through its dogmas and rituals.The dogmas and the rituals that symbolises religions of modern times have limited range and agendas for application. In contrast, scientific  breakthroughs such as Higgs boson have implications for ever. They are, figuratively speaking, hand in hand with God in this beautiful experience called Creation. The exuberance ,the joy and excitements that we saw on the faces of some of the most brilliant minds during the historic announcement at CERN is the reaffirmation of this realisation that we have moved a step closer to our creation ,our God.  It is true that ‘Particle’ and  ‘God’ can indeed Co-exist.

LOOSING THE WAY

Perhaps the worst of the fears of Anna,his team and his supporters has come true.The proverbial wily politicians had their way by scuttling a crucial piece of legislation. In what could have been a historical turning point in the the way the citizenry of this country interfaced with the state, we are now left,once again with a hollow sensation of yet another betrayal by the political class,actively aided and abetted by an equally discredited bureaucracy.Anna's agenda of coercing the political class in general and the government in particular remains where it began-a wishful thinking. A nation wide awareness and an agitationist mood by a significant section of the masses for a workable mechanism against the scourge of corruption eventually became a zero sum game.

The genesis of such an outcome,somehow, could be traced to the initial phase of this movement where the terms of reference of this confrontation with the state were taking shape.To begin with, and perhaps the most crucial one, is the lack of objectivity in defining the very word CORRUPTION.Being loosely termed in generic words, the essence of the argument was left open to the scutllers and the obfuscationists to corrupt the mind of the general public whose support mattered. Corruption, in the current context should have been clearly defined as an overt or covert act of seeking or granting a favour in return of a consideration(material or non-material) ,by a public servant and therefore involving the public money, including acts of embezzlement of public funds using one's official position in the state. Clearly, the underlying protagonist of this word corruption should have been the public servant, who are on the pay-rolls of the public money. Not that such a phenomenon,called corruption is non-existent in other stakeholders of the society like corporates,professionals, entertainers etc.But there are ways and means to deal with them(see case of Ramalingam raju of satyam) and if need-be,necessary tweaking of existing legislation can be effected to improve the overall environment.Here, we are dealing on a specific issue. The scope of this legislation should remain focused and limited in order to thwart any attempts by the scuttlers to take the arguments to unfathomable planes,eventually to kill it.Observe the course that this movement has paved since it became significant in the public domain and it will be amply clear how its opponents, politicians particulary attacked it from all fronts.Crooks like Lalu's,yechury's, sibals and kurshids are past masters in these games of obfuscation. The loosely worded definition and the scope of applicability aided them to dilute the core issue by widening the scope to other players like corporates and NGO,s etc and creating smoke screens,effectively rendering it non-operable.

Secondly, I feel they(the team anna in particular) failed to carry out a correct stock-taking and mid-course corrections,post Ramlila ground face-off. The magic of numbers in this case, of the crowd made visible thanks to an omnipresent media was mistrued as necessary and sufficient wherewithal to corner the wily law makers into legislating what they prescribed.Indeed it was a potent weapon--the politician can only be scared into submission by the very tool he consider as its strength-the crowd power.However, there is a problem here.In this case, the crowd, however motivated and voluntary in nature, was a nebulous one. Spontaneous and therefore unpredictable in a subsequent time frame.The cause,fighting corruption in public life and dealings remains largely an esoteric issue, whatever be its relevance in our daily lives. Once confronted with more worrying matters, individual comprising this crowd forgets the preceding issue and disperse in thin air, rarely to re-group again. It is in stark contrast with the type of crowd that our politicians use to emphasise his relevance in public domain.They enjoy a dedicated crowd whose sole aim is to show their physical presence in numerical strength,,even if shouting slogans, no matter if individually they care two-hoots for anyone least of all for the one for whom they assembled.This, our wily politician knew too-well.Therefore, they waited for the Ramlila ground to disperse, let the dust settle down a bit and then attacked yet again anyone and everyone associated with the movement,by whatever means at their disposal. When you are deficient of reason, logic and rationality in your argument, use smearing as your weapon to discredit your opponents-this was the undeclared but obvious tactic of the cornered politician to rob the winds out of the activists sails and retain their ground.The kinds of Digvijays and lalus used and abused every kind of mechanisation to vilify the activists. The aim was singular-to deny them the very moral platform of probity that they used in the campaign, even if it amounted to outrageous accusations.As the public memory and attention waned away from core issue of effective legislation, the obscurationists usurped into the vacant plot of public discourses in the form of debates,discussions interviews and what not. Anna and his mates, unfortunately were too naive to appreciate this and therefor unprepared in their response. Unwittingly,they played into the hands of the wily politician by reacting to all the provocations.Every rebuttal meant loss of precious thought process and time, away from core issue to non-issues.Silence,could not have been more golden for team anna at this juncture. Secondly,Hissar was a failed experiment as it denuded the movement of its professed apolitical texture leaving its flanks open for yet another kind of smearing-that of indulging in partisan politics. Despite being armed with written assurances of the sense of the house as well as that of the PM, equivalent of nukes in this battle,the actvists could not use this tactical pause post Ramlila ground face off to their advantage. Instead, they got embroiled in one controversy over other,primarily engineered by the politico-bureaucratic nexus.On the hindsight,they could have remained focused on the core issue maintaining silence and waiting for the JPC's as well as the subsequent winter session outcome.Those who supported the movement during ramlila ground face-off too were closely watching the move of the lawmakers.Interestingly, every episode of high decibel dramatics of the parliamentarians betrayed their ulterior motive of deceit. A legitimate cause for a full blooded agitation was brewing. Anna and his team in all probability knew all this, but unfortunately took a pre-emptive decision to hold the fast and rally,even as the final acts of the parliamentary drama was unfolding.This mistiming as well as the choice of location was to prove a great error of judgement and the detractors wrested the initiative out of them. Accused of blackmailing the lawmakers and facing almost empty stands at the sprawling MMRDA ground, team A started losing the way and unmistakably felt their momentum slowly weaning away. A little patience, a little silence at this crucial phase-and the outcome could have been dramatically different,for now,they had the perfect pedestal of being "betrayed and deceived", to launch another blitzkrig against an insensitive establishment for diluting or scutlling the passage of billSS.They had the full wintery months ahead to warm up and ignite the multitudes who had dispersed post ramlila maidan.Instead, the wily politician once again walked away gleefully,successfully scuttling the final verdict and leaving team A to carry the burden of the failure. It was, in every sense of the word, an anti-climax. But for those who are too eager to write the epitaph of this historical movement led by anna and his gallant team, the full story is yet to unfold as a re-grouping and re-strategising is in progress by those who strongly believe in the eventual birth of a just,efficient and effective ombudsman who can take on the scourge called corruption from public office.