India’s Daughter – English View

Circa 2013. Date January 20. Place Singapore. I had just finished my meeting and was having a cup of coffee in the lounge of the Hotel. I observed an old Singaporean gentleman staring at me. As I acknowledged his presence he came a little closer and asked ‘Sir, are you from India’? As I said yes he put another poser. ‘Sir, can I ask you a question?’ As I nodded, he in a very hush hush tone asked, ‘Sir, how do you explain that rape incident of Delhi on December 16’. The initial reaction on my part was shock followed by disturbed silence for a few moments. But than an answer had to be given. I asked him a counter question – ‘what is the population of Singapore?’ Around 5 Million was his reply. I put another question – And that of India? It is some 120 Million. I replied my own question. I than added, ‘it was a stray incident that took place quite late in the evening in a remote area in a moving bus which only had the victim, her companion and the culprits. And in some five days every culprit was arrested. What more do you want?’ Though doubts seemed to persist in his eyes yet, he perhaps could read my disapproval as I closed the conversation by stating that in Singapore too, such incidents could be happening.

But the Nirbhaya story fails to die down. If the horrendous incident of 16/12 left an ugly scar on the face of humanity the recent attempt ‘to provide a revealing insight into the horrific crime’ through a harrowing documentary brings out an equally undesirable side of human face. To capitalise on misery of others, a hidden sadistic disposition of mankind, which many are not able to restrain. It may sound old fashioned or even harsh for many a liberal elite but the good reason given by the film maker for making the documentary may not be real. It is proclaimed that it was to throw light on attitudes toward women. Do we really need it? Can’t say. But it does tries to sensationalize the incident that can happen in both the East and the West. And whose attitude are they talking about? Of a handful of perverts and criminals who do not represent the society. Film makers must realize that they are narrating ‘A Story’ and not ‘The Story’. ‘India’s Daughter’ is trying to make ‘The Story’ out of ‘A Story’. And this is in bad taste. The way the content has been exhibited reeks of the intent. The so called ‘Social Purpose’ behind ‘India’s Daughter’ needs to be defined. The debate over constitutionality or contemptuousness is a different matter. The issue is mens rea. There could have been better ways of enlightening the society about misogynists or misanthropes.
Male mindset, if there is such a thing, is the same everywhere. Moreover, as a student of psychology for some four decades, I have learnt that there are individual mindsets. Human beings, though similar are not the same. And, then, of all those things that happen from streets to closets, some are undesirable and people know they are happening. So, do we need to publicize all those? Societies today are informed. They need to be educated. All information is not education. What are the filmmakers trying to prove – holier than thou? Whatever is legally or socially tenable may not always be ethically tenable. Even documentaries.

Budgets and Spirituality

All modern countries carry out this exercise of balancing their revenue and expenditure. Where will the money come from and where will it go? In popular jargon this is presentation of the national budget. With time, of course, it proves to be more notional than national but that cannot be controlled given the vagaries of the markets countries are subject to in the globalised economic order. This is the reason why many call economics a dismal science. Of course it also is a decimal science also given those small percentages that are raised or reduced in taxes and surcharges. Perhaps, economics approximates medicine when it comes to cause and effect relationship between the prescription and the outcome. One reason why the doctors are wont to write illegibly. Economists, however , don’t exercise that option. They therefore take the help of statistics which invariably has that leverage of levels of confidence which in reality leaves room for uncertainty . Nevertheless the success of practitioners of both the sciences depends on compliance. That, however, is for the academic debate. Coming to practical aspects the one differentiator between budgets of India and other countries is the kind of public gaze and media attention that the budgetary exercise attracts. Perhaps in no other country so much of media splash accompanies this annual exercise which is largely ritualistic. To borrow from a popular Bollywood number, It happens only in India. From anxiety to anticipation, apprehensions to advisories, all precede the budgetary exercise. And finally on the day of the reckoning the Finance Minister has to present the country’s income and expenditure account. With all eyes staring, all ears listening, laced in poetry, camouflaged in prose, the budget is unravelled. As Urdu couplets are recited to ornament the budget speech, discussions start simultaneously. Myriad of experts mushroomed in the may be past two weeks start throwing their ideas on the shape of the economy to unfold in the aftermath of the budget. As the people masquerading as economists air their views the share markets begin undulating. And there is this typical ‘did I not tell you so’ type of pseudo savant making all kinds of prophesies. From scare crows to cry babies to even agony aunts all emerge during the budget season that probably lasts week to ten days , after which it is the business usual .Though the budgets have been a practice for a decade of late the enthusiasm that bruise seems to be turning into a frenzy. To test one may just compare the TRP of budget with the cricket world cup match of the day. It may be difficult to find out the reason for this but probably we seem to have rediscovered the curiosity of our immediate ancestors in the evolutionary lineage. But too much curiosity may not be useful always. In the Central Bihar there is a saying in the colloquial which means that a monkey’s wound becomes a festering sore out of excessive curiosity. Conventional wisdom says little knowledge is dangerous. Little knowledge with more information is even more dangerous. Generalists and journalists not withstanding. Budgets are not good or bad. What matters is the compliance. The best course is to accept budgets as fait accompli. The golden lesson is what ever belongs to you, no one can take. And what ever is not yours, no one can give. So the hullaballoo over budgets is much ado about nothing. Accept budgets spiritually.

Listening to the Heart

The tell-tale heart was a classic story written by Edgar Allan Poe. It may be a forgotten account today but the lessons of that story may well be remembered, the major one being that the heart also talks, only someone must have the ears to listen to it. Blaise Pascal, famous Philosopher has put it rather poetically when he says “heart has its reasons of which reason knows nothing.” What the French philosopher wants to say is that rationality of the heart is superior to the rationality of the mind when it comes to an either or situation. But that is more a subject of an academic debate. The fact is that the heart also has it language and if heard it makes a lot of sense. People tend to ignore this out of sheer callousness, perhaps due to the false notion of supremacy of the ego. But that apart, the question of why listening to the heart has become important assumes significance because the medical science is now trying to pay more attention to the language of the heart. The growing concern about the rise in the incidence of Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) has made the medical fraternity look at the heart from a different angle. And it is now realised why it is important for people to listen to the heart. The practice up to now was that the doctors were listening to the patients’ hearts and coming to conclusions. But recent advances in cardiology suggest that if people develop the ability to listen to the heart they may well nigh avoid becoming a patients and going to the doctor. In some of the recent issues of internationally reputed research journals of cardiology, the emphasis is now more on life style rather the pathology In most cases it is the life style that leads to pathology and in many of such cases changes in the life style may even reverse the pathology.
For a country like India increasing awareness about dangers of faulty lifestyle is even more important given the increased vulnerability of the people to CHDs and the rising cost of cardio-care, which in a large number of cases is out of bounds of the ordinary mortals. Whether Indian hearts have basic structural weakness or not may be open to debate, but the cost part of cardio-care is certainly prohibitive. And the fact remains that healthy heart is a precondition to healthy and long life. If that be so then more than the doctor’s stethoscope, it is your own ears that may provide vital information regarding your heart. The only trick lies in paying attention to it, that is listening to the murmurs closely, attentively. let your heart determine the life style rather than the mind. Life styles are more driven by thoughts than acts.
However, in order to listen to the heart we need to understand the heart first. What does it want? Well, contrary to what is popularly assumed, the heart doesn’t want much. It simply wants to remain happy and peaceful. But how to attain this state is the big question. The simplest prescription is don’t burden it with to many desires. Nor bruise it with guilt or flog it with shame. A very interesting yet useful formula was given by a popular 1994 bollywood number from Prabhu Deva starrer Humse Hai Muqabala. The song was Urvashi, Urvashi, Take It Easy, Urvashi. Ungali Jaisi Dubli Ko,Nahin Chahiye Pharmacy. Jeet Ka Mantra Hai, Take It Easy Policy.