Gandhi

Albert Einstein famously said of him that “Generations to come will scarce believe that such a one as this ever in flesh and blood walked upon this earth.”  And it is to reduce the distance of disbelief that I write this article today, to remind myself of Gandhi and his way of life.  

To unify and galvanize people across geography that would eventually make 3 different countries, religions, castes, age and different economic backgrounds was a mammoth task. And Gandhi almost did it effortlessly.  In a world that was already exposed to warfare between countries, adopting, staying and keeping a whole country on a path of non-violence during its freedom struggle was a massive achievement. 

Just to put it in a perspective, think about how often you successfully influence the opinions and behavior of members of your team at work, or your friends or family members! 

A lot of things come to mind when one tries to analyze what all Gandhi did to gain such an unparalleled influence over people of India at that time. He focused on doing small things right, was honest in his dealings with others as well as with himself, he thought about those at the very bottom of society – antyodaya – his idea of rule of law was that it should benefit those at the bottom of the pyramid first. He led through examples and action, not just words, and always put himself behind the people. 

While all of this and more may be true of his leadership and political abilities – the most important aspect of Gandhi’s leadership was that he connected enlightenment to the common man’s life. 

Gandhi was a unique confluence of progressive ideology and spiritual enlightenment. Before Gandhi, India had many spiritual leaders, characters and teachers – however their message and methods were hard for a common man to even understand – let alone follow. Many things were left open to interpretation, while leaving things open to interpretation is important in its own way, a major drawback of that approach is that it suffers from being elitist and esoteric. 

Gandhi identified tools for enlightenment. These tools were inexpensive, required no special skills to use, were available to everyone and were verifiable instantly!

These tools were “Truth and Non-Violence”, to me – identifying the root of spiritual progress in these two elements is almost as great a thought as the one from Buddha in which he identified root of unhappiness in desires. 

Norwegian Wood - A Book Review

“How wonderful it is to be able to write someone a letter! To feel like conveying your thoughts to a person, to sit at your desk and pick up a pen, to put your thoughts into words like this is truly marvellous. Of course once I do put them into words, I find I can only express a fraction of what I want to say.”

Above portion from the book seems equally relevant to writing a book review for Norwegian wood, a love story from Haruki Murakami. This book is distinctly different from his other books that I have read. It involves no tear or gate in space and time to travel to the other world and remains strongly tethered to the mortal world we all know and live in. However this aspect doesn’t limit the book in anyway. 

Story of this book revolves around a boy named Toru Watambe and his journey from adolescence to adulthood. It poignantly describes the dilemmas of growing up. Toru struggles to reconcile the differences in world he sees ahead of him and the one he sees behind him. The world ahead is constantly barraging him with larger than life success, living on one’s own terms, and a quasi immortality created and fostered by popular culture. Whereas the world behind has a gripping memory of loss of his friend Kizuki to death, guilt of being in a relationship with Kizuki’s girlfriend, his other adolescence romances and the eternal urge of staying seventeen forever. 

Post Kizuki’s death, Naoko and Toru come close for a brief moment, however things fall apart as Naoko further sinks in grief and has to be transferred to a mental institute for treatment. Toru finds himself conflicted whether to wait for Naoko to return to normalcy or to move forward with other romantic interests that life may bring to him. 

Through wide range of characters the book’s story transcends from just love story to a wider narrative about current times. For example, character of Nagasawa shows to Toru difference of hard work and manual labour. Nagasawa is shown as supremely successful young man who always believes in staying one step ahead of the time to ensure he can position himself at the right time at a right place. Toru contrasts his input to the condition of a man on deathbed who has worked just as hard in maintaining a book shop and raising his daughter. If that man did not get a chance to check what was ahead of him and place himself to leverage that, is it really his fault ? 

Another interesting character is Midori, a girl Toru finds attractive. She is the one who lends Toru much needed relief from his emotional conflict between waiting for Naoko and moving forward with life. Even by the end of the book, we are not sure which road Toru finally took, but one can definitely say that Midori was the only source of comfort when Toru found it very hard especially after Naoko succumbed to suicide. 

Story of this book brings many other characters that touch readers’ lives, Reiko, Storm Trooper, Hatsumi - all of them are brief yet able to offer a glimpse into different parts of human psyche with which readers can connect easily. 

Murakami’s strong understanding of human nature reflects throughout the book, and provides soothing assurance of finding beauty even in most dark moments of life! 

Italicised part is taken from the book. 

From Sachin Tendulkar to Steve Smith and David Warner

Ball tampering incidents from Cape Town test between South Africa and Australia brought back long forgotten and discomforting memories of 2001. Though consequences in both the incidents were vastly different - there are underlying commonalities that tie these two events. 

These common threads are important to understand how we succumb to human frailties and cross a boundary of propriety to suit our own prejudices. How we are swift to transfer a truckload of dormant guilt of our own many little misdeeds to those who are a little more vulnerable than us to such accusations. 

When Sachin was accused of tampering with a cricket ball during a test match in South Africa, I was a teenager and like many other teenagers there was nothing that could have made me believe that there may be some merit to those allegations against him. Far from a possibility of any debate, I was closed to any information which may oppose my long held adulation and love for the living legend.  I was not the only one to be closed to hearing the other side of the argument - it turns out entire country was in the same position. Such an unparalleled love and respect we have for our icons. There is absolutely nothing wrong in this kind of love and respect to our heroes. However this makes our heroes victims of our love. We start looking at them more as gods and forget that they are humans too. Sentiments of a teenager who used to bunk classes by lying about stomach ache were used to determine whether or not a particular sportsman erred in his conduct during a cricket match or not. This seemed perfectly fine back in 2001 to me as it suited my prejudice however looking back at it now, it seems ludicrous!

Steve Smith and David Warner found themselves on the wrong side of such sentiments last week.  Though their acknowledgement of error was valorous and worthy of praise, it did not go down well with the public opinion in Australia, a country which idolises its Cricketers. People from Australia and around the world were quick to latch onto the confession as a tool to offload their own guilt to him. Australian culture idolises their cricketers and place them even higher than the national leaders in the hierarchy of public figures. It is said that Australia had a cricket captain before it had a prime minister! It is no surprise therefore that people feel betrayed when their heroes fall. However justified the public anger may be, it cannot be and should not be used as a tool to pass judgement on persons accused.

Ball tampering (planned or accidental) in cricket is no different from exaggerating one’s qualities on a resume to land a coveted job. It is no different from flattering a boss or someone in position of power to gain an advantage or curry favours. It is no different from lying about stomach ache in order to avoid school. 

One has to agree that sports heroes have some responsibilities to their fans and followers and need to be held accountable for their actions when they overstep a boundary set by rules however to use the intensity of public emotions to determine the degree of their misconduct is grossly unjust towards the sportspersons involved. 

We must support cricketers to receive a trial that is free of public emotions and perceptions in order to determine the severity and sentence of their misconduct. This is not only important from their point of view but also for ours - as we would not have any place if the same standards were employed to judge our own daily actions! 

Photo taken from google search

https://www.google.com/search?q=justice&safe=active&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjKptCcpZnaAhWBVN8KHYFkAi4Q_AUIDCgD&biw=1275&bih=635#imgrc=nd47eRwkEvCpcM:

1Q84 - A book review

There are times when you suddenly wake up in middle of a night with a feeling of being gripped in a sort of dream that you find almost impossible to recall with any exactness. There is a rush of lot of thoughts, feelings, images and emotions but anything hardly concrete enough to survive complete consciousness.

Reading 1Q84, Haruki Murakami’s 1157-page book, is like experiencing such a dream. There are multiple strands of story in the book involving its lead characters – Aomame and Tengo. Aomame is a professional killer of men who abuse women while Tengo is a math teacher and an aspiring author who unwillingly becomes a part of literary scam by ghost writing a book called “Air-Chrysalis”.

Tengo and Aomame have a romantic connection and the undercurrent of their desire to meet each other fuels the story forward for large part of the book. However, it will be unfairly simple to see this book as only a story of long lost lovers finding each other in midst of a chaotic and complex world.

Book delves very deep into each of its characters and runs through their routine with meticulous, at times boring, details. Through this thorough examination and detailing of each of the characters it successfully brings out many marvellously multi-layered themes. A few of these themes are noted below with its brief description of how they pan out in the book.

Mysterious cult life : Known as Sakigake in the book - the cult represents classic characteristics of all cults like secrecy, power play and engaging in activities that are shady if not totally illegal. Sakigake is also shown as the cause a character known as FukaEri  lost contact with her parents. Its leader is also accused by another character of a heinous crime like child molestation. Aomame is tasked to kill the leader of Sakigake for this very reason.

Little People : A fantasy like beings who come out into the world from a dead goat’s mouth and are powerful enough to slightly shift the yarns of the world in order to cause much havoc in the life of book’s characters. They are probably a rival to “Big Brother” in the classic 1984 novel, or may be just a reflection of our collective consciousness. Author leaves the final interpretation to readers. 

NHK fee collector : Through this character we learn a lot about a life of common man in Japan, his frustrations, fears, challenges and reactions. His troubled relationship with his son, Tengo , is poignant reminder of how people of one considers closest drift so far apart in the usual turns of life. His conversations with Tengo towards the end of his life reveal the core vulnerability of all humans, inability to understand one’s own complex and often conflicting self. 

1Q84 Parallel universe : Title of the book is a wordplay on title of another very solid novel 1984 by George Orwell. It would be unfair to see this book in shadow of 1984. Title 1Q84 merely suggests questioning (Q) the sense of  characters for their reality. Story is set up in the year 1984 but the characters slip through a passage which basically turns their worldview upside down. Readers get an indication of parallel world by existence of two moons! It serves as a spooky yet very vivid and concrete indication of something totally fictitious. The fact that it is in “Other world” is the ultimate and overarching explanation to all things non real in the book. 

Justice or Revenge : Through character of an old lady who runs a safe-house for women who are abused by men book highlights themes of justice and revenge. We learn that dowager had lost her daughter in domestic violence and then taken up the cause to champion for other women in similar situation. Aomame is also driven to collaborate with her by similar experiences of one of her good friends. Their work invoke crucial questions whether ends justify means in today’s world? What are differences between revenge and justice?

The weird thing about half remembered and half forgotten dreams is that though you think you remember them well enough to be able to recount them over a cup of tea in morning, it is only after a blank stare from your family members that you realise that it wasn’t probably a great idea to try explaining it in first place. The best you could do is to merely suggest them reading 1Q84 when time allows. :) 

PS - In times like right now, it is an amazing feat to write a book so long, and only for so successfully achieving that feat, I am a fan of Murakami!

1984

In a world swarmed with fake news, claims of advertising used to mislead huge mass of people, leaders leaning towards pugnacious use of political power, omniscience of machines and increasing unrest of the common man – George Orwell’s classic novel serves as an effective mirror – even after 6 decades of its first publication.

Book is centered around story of Winston Smith who is a member in a government’s department called “Ministry of Truth” – their work is to carefully twist facts and purge anything that contradicts government’s current propaganda. Winston is a hard-working member of his team; however, he does have a small defect; he is prone to have secret thoughts – and is even courageous enough to record them in a small diary! This defect of his is considered a serious crime in his nation and is frowned upon with utmost disgust. Term for this defect is – thought crime.

In Oceania, Government controls every aspect of life of all its citizens. Where even thoughts are scanned and assessed for their loyalty to the ruling party, any kind of deviation is strictly dealt with. Perpetual presence of Big Brother – and his watch over its people - make it very difficult for Winston to continue his journey of thoughts. In a world where none of his friends see or even feel the oppression that Winston is fighting, makes his battle for freedom rather poignant.

Julia – Winston’s love is also a partner in crime with him against Big Brother’s tyranny. She initially sends him a note expressing her love and it is indeed her candid expressions that validate Winston’s own desires against the indoctrination of the party.

Their love affair is a passionate one, and indicates how even the strongest means of propaganda fail to reach most intimate areas of human minds. They continue to breach the Big Brother’s regulations and meet each other stealthily. As their love for each other grows, they try to increase the reach of their rebellion and explore if there are other people in Oceania feeling the kind of discontent they have felt.

In this attempt they run into O’Brien, a member who calls himself to be aligned to brotherhood – an alternative ideology to that of Big Brother. O’Brien’s character is marvelously multi-layered, and it is only in the end that readers come to know him as an ally of Big brother who had been spying on Winston and Julia since long time.

When   they get caught – Winston and Julia are taken to the Ministry of Love – what ensues thereafter is a gut-wrenching torture and indoctrination of both the lovers. They are tortured with their worst fears, and that too continuously – it reaches to such an extreme where Winston – with his face covered with hungry rats - confesses to torture Julia instead of himself.  “Under the spreading chestnut tree, I sold you and you sold me.”

After the torture – Winston and Julia are back to being loyal members of the party, they have forgotten about their emotions and ideas – even ones that they thought were outside the reach of the government. Their love and freedom, shine only briefly during the book and overall backdrop remains despotic, dark and dubious.

As a romantic supporter of democracy, I fancy a different end to this story. I imagine, somewhere even after the atrocities of Big Brother, there would be always more Winstons and Julias rooting to taste the freedom from ever expanding propaganda – and more and more of those would find ways to successfully come out of Big brother’s shackles. 

Dear Denver

Dear Denver,

It has been long time since we parted ways, but it took time for that feeling to sink in, and hence the delay in writing this. 

Your mention has a power to light up the beginnings of any conversation however I have been observing that the account I have to offer is weak and lacks the strength to live up to the image that you have created for yourself.

Soon after your mention people expect stories of great adventures, heavenly natural beauty of Boulder and victorious accounts of climbing the fourteeners that you are so famous for. Unfortunately I have few of the above experiences to offer - hence my account of Denver seems at best - boring  to people I encounter. 

While one cannot do much to correct fleeting impressions one creates during formal exchanges over a cup of coffee or at cafeteria , I could certainly set the record straight for both of us at least, just so you know that without experiencing any of your widely celebrated and popular aspects too - you are still the best place to live in the open wide world for me. 

I haven't been on top of the mountain - but I have been fortunate to witness the closeness you have shared with people around you, have seen a mountain from a porch of a friend’s home and have heard stories where people mark a specific spot on your wide bare back to tag it to one of their own personal memories!

I haven't seen the most beautiful of your gardens, flowerbeds or places - but I have seen the beauty created by two individuals who come together to start a new life under your ever generous, serene and caring sky. Evening walks under your sky are memories that will be forever fresh in my mind. Conversations that took place on your roadside benches or at a neighbourhood park are so close to heart - and I have no doubt that after long enough time elapses, those conversations will still be vivid in my memory. 

I haven't tried my hand at any adventure sport but I have been fortunate to witness courage to grind out routine life as well as the courage to take tough calls when time demands. I have witnessed, during my stay there, friends and colleagues who stand by your side even when going is especially difficult and challenging.

Through friends and colleagues, I have witnessed big events such as childbirth, purchase of house, marriage and relocation. I have also seen routine things like change of seasons, pleasure of discovering a new flavour of ice-cream that one falls in love with, colour of the evening sky and beauty of a full moon. And both types of experiences have been amazing in different ways!

You may say that all of them would have still happened, and yes that’s true - but believe me it would have never been the same without you! 

May be you would say that, by not doing certain things, I have not made the most of my time with you - but then that was never the point in first place!

If it’s not too much inconvenience, I would continue to recount you through these things rather than more popular ones - as these are closer to heart and hopefully more enduring! :)

As Ever,

-Dhruv

Who was at fault? Part-1

The humiliation of defeat had really been hurting the rabbit, why it fell asleep at crunch time in the race? Why did it let the tortoise move ahead of itself when it was clearly the more efficient of the two competitors?  Why did it not realize that the race was only for half a day and once won, it could have easily slept as much as one likes? Was it plain hubris or there was something more to it?

Forgotten to all of us at large, to rabbit – these questions were still fresh. It was a wound that is kept close to heart. Though passage of time could not completely heal it, it certainly gave a little distance, in memory –to allow a new perspective to seep in.

In telling and re-telling of the story through ages, the focus of narrative kept tightening around laziness, hubris and recklessness of rabbit. Occasionally some story-tellers also tried to build a fabled re-match which the rabbit won triumphantly! However, that fabled version could not erase the marks of an actual defeat.

A rabbit entered a competition once again after centuries – and the night before the match it sat down taking stock of its thoughts! Then came a eureka moment for that rabbit and all of a sudden it realized how every time a story of that match was told, it conveniently ignored all that had happened before the match!

It went to sleep – as the next day it had some competition. Days passed, however, the complete absence of any details prior to the match day kept bothering this rabbit! It questioned elders, read all various accounts but nowhere found anything that would satisfy its curiosity.

Having exhausted all available resources with rabbits – it started asking other animals and birds and soon the word had started spreading about this rabbit’s incessant inquiries into a long gone historical event!

All the hoo-ha eventually faded – rabbit was getting frustrated. It started thinking that this whole quest to check what had happened a day before that much talked about match was an exercise in futility! May be, it was just the recklessness and laziness of rabbits that resulted in a shameful defeat! 

There seemed no sense to spend any more energy in unearthing evidence to counter the long-held opinion. Just when it was about to draw a curtain, it got a phone call from a sparrow!

Sparrow, in a very hushed voice told rabbit, “There is something that I need to tell you. I think it may offer some relief and a sense of closure to your ongoing quest of more information into what had really happened during the run up to that match.”

Rabbit told that it would be better if they could speak in person, it took sparrow’s address and went there to talk.

Sparrow drew a long breath and started,

“The rabbit playing that match had a sparrow friend, since they did not speak the same language – there was a little bit of miscommunication between the two friends on the night before the game. I have a doubt that this miscommunication may have something to do with the way rabbit slept during the match!!”

To be continued.... :)