Durga Prasad Dash's Blog, page 7

near or far the threat is real

Why should I be holding this paper in this digital age?

If I am old fashioned, paper means a lot. In spite of all the legislation for granting legal authority to digital documents, the old fashioned would believe in a printed and ink signed document than a document originating from a verified ISP that is digitally signed.

And my friendly neighborhood paper boy including the publishers tell me there is nothing like reading a printed newspaper. By the way, the printed newspapers are the worst destroyers of environment. You print something that has value only for one day. As self appointed guardians of the society you do not feel ashamed to glamourize something that is harmful for the environment.

It is high time all printing of newspapers sopped. There is no need for this in this digital age. Newspaper agencies must tie up with aggregators and try to find out a revenue model.

The paper is after all a symbol that as we get educated we destroy the environment in the process. The unfortunate thing is that even though science has now provided an alternate and corona has now provided a window to go digital we fail to capitalise on it citing economic compulsions.

In reality there are no economic compulsions in the long run. All the limitations are in our mind. The newspaper boy who used to deliver the printed newspaper to our home had a more digitally advanced mobile than me. Vending newspaper was not his prime profession. It was just an complementary profession for him. There may be some for whom printing could be the primary profession. But such people could be provided with alternate livelihood commensurate with the digital age. Where there is a will there is a way.

Contrary to what people believed, introduction of computers in India and other countries actually created more jobs and more highly paid jobs. Yes, any new technology may make a certain segment of workers redundant. But, it has been observed time and again that there have been overall increases in number of jobs due to introductions of new technologies.

The problem is not that we are now not aware of the implications to our environment because of our activities. No doubt the damage to the environment has been due to the use of scientific innovations to increase efficiency and economise production cost. At the same time it is by using the scientific methods that we are able to measure the extent of damage to the environment and find remedy.

The problem is – even though we know the remedy, we don’t act. Here ‘we’ includes all the stake holders even though the bulk of the responsibility falls on the policy makers.

There are various reasons for our reluctance. As is clear form the newspaper story, we are afraid of immediate economic loss to the commercial organizations accompanied by job loss. In any country there are influential groups who would go to any extent to stop new policy that are good for environment but bad for their own pockets. Thus we continue using resources and methods that are not environment friendly.

Then there are those who think the threat is remote. We are already experiencing the effect of our excess commercial exploration of environment in the form of expanding deserts and unproductive soil, erratic weather, global warming, ozone hole and so on. We forget that whether near or remote the threat is real. Sooner or later karma catches up.

This post is part of Blogchatter’s CauseAChatter’

environment in the age of market economy

image credit : unsplash

Competitive economy and protection of environment have been at loggerheads since perhaps the agricultural age. The first disturbances to earth’s natural ecosystem must have started when men cleared a part of the forest to plant crops.

Still there are many societies that live in deep forests without doing any agriculture. They depend upon whatever the natural surroundings provide. These communities and their ecosystem in deep Amazon forest regions have been specially protected after it was found that they held the key to the protection of this region that held the largest chunk of green earth. It was done after environmentalists raised alarm over heavy economic activity accompanied in those areas that threatened not only the ecology but also its inhabitants.

Human beings being human beings they could not remain cavemen forever. They could not also confine themselves only to particular pockets of the huge earth. However, every giant step of man’s evolution and expansion has come at heavy price and sacrifice. As Yuval Noah Harare writes in his book A Brief History of Human Kind, extinction of many verities of animals from a particular region coincide with the entry of human beings in that area.

If the initial damage to earth’s natural ecosystems was done by agriculture, the industrial revolution dealt a body blow that spread its harmful effects to not only earth’s green cover but also to water and air. Again human beings being human beings, it was bound to happen. Man is a rational animal. Man is a curious animal. Man is an adventurous animal. After all men had to apply brain to search for solutions to the pressing problems of the time.

The damages done are usually realized later. But the unfortunate thing is, even though now we realize why there is global warming or change in pattern of seasons we find ourselves helpless in face of pressing reality of economic growth.

These days there are lots of talks about sustainable development. There are frequent international conferences where world leaders gather to highlight the dangers of economic exploitations of environment and the way forward. But the stark reality of economic development in a competitive word always takes precedence over sustainable development.

Local and International economic competitions make things worse. The case in point are Chinese cities that have become unlivable because of cost cutting measures to be competitive. The cost cutting included not spending on reducing hazardous by products due to industrial activity. The industrial cities in our country are no better.

Even other cities are no better as a free market economy gives free reign to companies to produce polluting vehicles that depend upon people to buy them without restraint. With every contemplated step to improve the environment there are always fears of job loss or making things uncompetitive. Thus this vicious cycle continues.

The relationship of economic growth and environmental degradation was clearly seen, in a reverse way, during the Covid Pandemic when the economic activities of world came to a standstill. While the world was in panic, many positive developments in earth’s environment and atmosphere were reported. So, as the responsible living beings of the earth if we the human beings are not able to stop the damage to the environment nature itself steps in. But let us not forget that nature does not discriminate between human and non-human beings.

Can there be ways to stop environmental damage without hurting our economic interests? I will discuss this in my next blogpost in this series on environment. Meanwhile I would love to hear your views.

This post is part of Blogchatter’s CauseAChatter’

how will you know what you are not?

If you were not you, who would you like to be?

This is the topic for Indispire Edition #362. I don’t know on what premise the proposer poses this interesting topic for bloggers to express their views. But, from the wordings it is assumed that the author already assumes you are you. So, supposing you are not you what would you like to be?

First of all I would like to ask what makes you assume you are you? Let us go a bit deeper. Is there really something called you? Or, for that matter I. Even if it is there, have you found it out? Or, at least have you made any attempt to find it out? Because if you do not know what you are, how will you know what you are not?

The Russian spiritual master Gurdjieff used to say that inside you there are many Is. At a given point of time only one I dominates. The I that dominated in the morning is not there in the evening. That is how you promise something in the morning with all the earnestness but in the evening you discard it like a tree discarding its dead leaves. Your consciousness is like a house with many masters. Thus, as long as you are alive you do not know who you are. Hence you do not know who you are not.

Socrates used to say ‘Know thyself’. It was not a trivial statement. The whole concept of Yoga Vashishtha is based on how to get to the sate of ‘who am I’? Yoga Vashishtha is the ultimate book of adwaita vedanta. Just reading the book slowly from start to finish gives one the feeling of the state of non-dual consciousness. Shri Ramana Maharshi is said to have got enlightened contemplating repeatedly on ‘Who am I?’

Now coming to the mundane aspect of the indispire topic I think the proposer assumes that you are not satisfied with what station of life you have achieved or how your life has been till now. Because if you are satisfied with yourself or proud of yourself why would you even think of becoming someone else. The author also assumes that even though you tried to become the idealized person that you set out to be, now you are not capable of becoming one. Hence the craze to become someone else. If only wishes were horses.

East or west, philosophers say that the whole problem of humanity is because we want to BECOME. This craze for ‘becoming’ is the ultimate disease of humanity. Enlightened masters say, “That which you are supposed to become, perhaps, thou are already that”.

So, in order to find out if I am not I, what would I like to be, I am just making the knotty issue knottier. Hence, let me stop here without confusing the reader further.

image coursty : isha.org

Let noble thoughts come to us from all sides

Are we living in a world fragmented not only by physical boundaries but also by ideological boundaries?

In India at least until a few years ago we never heard words like ‘right wing’, ‘left wing’, ‘centre left’, ‘right of centre’, ‘liberal’ etc. in our popular discourses. Now even people take pride in branding and labeling themselves as belonging to particular ideologies. People identifying with a particular ideology are often seen attacking others with derogatory terms. In this melee, those who do not stand for any ideology often find themselves isolated. Nevertheless, we have been familiar with social and political systems and ideologies like capitalism, socialism, communism etc.

With the advent of democratic forms of governments different political parties came up and each party began to subscribe to or espouse a single or a combination of ideologies. Individuals also began to openly express their ideological affiliations, thereby supporting parties and issues that was in line with their ideologies.

What is a social ideology after all? It is an attempt to create a system for the society. It is an attempt to bring in uniformity in society. It is an attempt to organize the chaos of group behavior and give it a direction. Every ideology is based on some premises, or beliefs or stories that need not be based on facts. Unfortunately, nature has its own system that refuses to obey any man made model or system.

I find it ridiculous that people subscribing to one ideology or ‘ism’ attack others of being rigid. The fact is that once you subscribe to an ideology and declare yourself as a hardcore follower you are already predictable and you too are as rigid as the other one. When facts that contradict your ideological beliefs come up, you rationalize and you are closed to any alternate interpretation. How is any progress possible in such a case? How can you start on a path of finding the truth in such a case?

Ideology or developing an ism is an attempt to organise truth into a system. Fact is that any attempt at organizing truth would only present a distorted version of reality. In this context the following story is often told:

The devil and a friend of his were walking down the street, when they saw ahead of them a man stoop down and pick up something from the ground, look at it, and put it away in his pocket. The friend said to the devil, “What did that man pick up?” “He picked up a piece of Truth,” said the devil. “That is a very bad business for you, then,” said his friend. “Oh, not at all,” the devil replied, “I am going to let him organize it.

Ironically, without some kind of ism or ideology there is nothing to bind people for a cause or bring them together or give them hope or a dream. And there are many things that need voluntary cooperation of a large number of people. Seen this way, though imperfect, ideologies and isms have their use. 

And wisdom lies in accepting that no such system is perfect however loud the proponents may shout that they are the only ones who have the copyright over the truth and the utopia. Internally, the less an individual remains categorized and labelled, the better even though one cannot prevent others from branding, labeling and categorizing. (Those who have read Astavakra Gita would have no problem in understanding this)

The individual should never stop searching for truth beyond all facades. An individual should not close himself to paths and ideas just because these seem alien to what he has known till now. Gurudev Sri Sri Ravi Shankar often says that we do not have any problem in accepting food from different cultures. Then why do we close ourselves when it comes to ideas (not ideologies) for self-development or for the development of the society?

In Rig Veda there is a beautiful prayer which means, “Let noble thoughts come to use from all sides” (Aano bhadra krtavo yantu vishwatah). If seers could have such a noble idea thousands of years back, what is preventing us now from adopting such an idea now when the world is so fragmented, when no ideology or ism has demonstrated to be perfect, yet each has some nuggets of truth in it.

one hundred years of boredom

image credit : unsplash

Life has become a wee bit boring. Corona is declining in an expected manner. People are protesting on expected lines. People are protesting the protests on expected lines. Barring a few – a very few exceptions, all have started behaving on expected lines. It is understandable when a loyal member of an opposition party or a disgruntled member of a ruling party blames every government policy without realizing that even an out of order clock is right at least once in twenty four hours.

But what has happened to the common men? Why have they embarked on a life long marriage with an ism so much so that every slender thread they get to hang on their tirade they do so throwing all rationality to the wind. These are not common common men. Some of them could be your friendly neighborhood blogger, poet or perennial philosopher. Or your favourite singer or actor who usually does not take money to tweet.

They just need to smell the smoke. No need to verify the fire. Just a slender rumour is enough for them to embark on their solid case book of thousand pages to hang the person who dare not adhere to their ideology. Their moral superiority is so infallible they do not need to verify anything. It is as if after knowing them for one hour you could write what they will speak, write and profess for the rest of their lives.

There is no point also in taking a bit fun by engaging with them with some kind of debate with the hope that some sort of common sense will come to them. Their conclusions about every issue and every person are already drawn for the next one hundred years.

What is not surprising at all is that they have their band of cheerleaders who have inherited the same brainwashed view for the world since they were four months old in the womb. So there is something more to be bored about than meets the eye. Their ideas about the supposed culprit does not change even though they come across a million contradicting facts. They may claim to be atheists. They may claim to be liberals. As if being a self styled atheist or liberal exonerates them from all sorts of irrational behaviors they indulge in. Their cult like devotion will beat the fanaticism of any religious zealot. Occasionally you may get surprised by their stubbornness and lifelong slavery to an ideology that could be as outdated as the dinosaurs. Barring that consolation they would never give you any chance to be surprised. Such is their stubbornness and determination.

Such are the boring times. Worse than ghor kalyug. In kalyug lots of supposedly adharma takes place. But at least things are supposed to be somewhat interesting.

These are no mythical men bound by others to the old chestnut tree. So, is there any rationality behind their irrational stubbornness against visible facts?

the destruction of seasons

image source : wikipedia

The great poet Kalidasa’s Ritusamhara is a poetic tribute to the bouquet of Indian seasons. Ritusamhar in this context means the collection of seasons.

India is one of the countries where the contrasting elements of the six seasons are so pronounced -especially in the central part of India where the great poet Kalidasa is said to have spent most part of his life. In coastal India the summer and winter may not be severe. In higher Himalayas summer may not be harsh. Many geographical regions of the globe may experience just four seasons, some three, some two, and some even one. During early education in India it is customary to remember the names of seven days of a week and twelve months and six seasons of a year. I wonder how many seasons do the children in other countries are made to learn as part of their basic education.

My present chosen place of residence Bengaluru never subjects me to the extremes of any season as they do in my native place in Odisha. That is the reason I find it easy to associate my native place with Ritusamhara even though Karnataka is full of natural beauty.

Ritu Samhara was written when electricity and other modern amenities were not even imagined. In those days even cities were like rural areas in the sense that one could have unhindered access to the sun and the moon and other elements of nature. Perhaps man made flower gardens too were a rarity in those days. So nature expressed itself unhindered through its various seasons. Other than perhaps the rice plant, all the plants mentioned in Ritusasmahra are wild ones.

These days when forests are destroyed with impunity for the sake of roti and makan we are likely to miss the wild kandali plant that becomes resplendent with dew in pre-winter and the red-velvet mite (Indragopaka / patapoka) in rainy days. Also, a kind of colonialisation is slowly creeping in replacing the native plants with the imported ones. During my childhood kadmba, shikakai, bakula and shfali plants used to be so common. Now a days in my visit to my native place I rarely find one.

As it is, global warming has become a reality in my native place so much so that so that winter is for name’ s sake. Coupled with that, the flowering plants you see do not remind you of the current season as they used to do earlier. Even the vegetable and fruits you get do not remind you of the current season. The seasonal nature of vegetables and fruits have completely been destroyed.

Spring and autumn were the two most enjoyable seasons. Their enjoyability was enhanced by the contrasting seasons that preceded and succeeded them. Now we have devised all artificial ways not to feel the severity of any season.

Suppose you are living in a city. It does not matter which part of India it is. You live in a high rise that has room heaters and air conditioners. You travel to office in an air conditioned car. Your office too has temperature controlled interiors and all other gadgets to prevent you from coming in contact with the sun moon and other elements of nature. What will changes of season mean to you in such a situation.

Added to that what we are losing is ‘the stand and stare’ time. Our minds are either too much preoccupied with the targets and reports or with the artificial stimulations provided by modern gadgets. While global warming has created disruptions in the cyclic flow of nature and reduced the distinctive features of many seasons, the use of gadgets and our style of living has made us insensitive to the seasonal changes happening around us.

So when I read books like Ritusamhara these days things seem more like nostalgia than something that is happening in our present age. There was a time in our earth’s history when there was only winter for a very long time. It was the ice age. The way things are going may be before long we may have a very scorching summer for a very long time. After the revival of life on earth in the distant future thy may refer to it as the great fire age.

By the way another literal meaning of Ritusamhara is – destruction of seasons.

P.S.: Dear Reader, in case you are planning any planation for your own garden or anywhere else please consider including a few plants that are native to your region.

This post is part of Blogchatter’s CauseAChatter’

some loss, some gain, lots of nostalgia

First of all I wish my reader a very happy, safe and prosperous 2021 albeit the fact that a similar wish from your near and dear ones last year somehow did not have the intended consequences.

When I think of summarising the tumultuous year gone by I am reminded of the section titles of Panchatantra – Mitrabheda (break up of friendships), Mitralabha (gaining friends / gains due to friendships), Kakullukiyam (of crows and owls), Labdhapranasam (loss of gains), Aparikshitakarakam (hasty action). Like the stories of Panchatantra, the events have been great learning experience with friends turning into foes unexpectedly, hasty actions resulting in unpleasant circumstances that could have been avoided, and so on.

This is the first post of the year. I am posting after a long time. Life during the last couple of months have been so full of care that what was intended to be the last post of 2020, has become the first post of 2021. That is one of the perils of being a part time writer. When you have no time to stand and stare, you cannot do justice to your art as an author. When you are preoccupied with the unexpected extra burdens concerned with your roji roti many other concerns are also kept at bay untill at some time you feel like a Rip Van Winkle who woke up and wondered why the world had not frozen during his sleep.

Of course it was not a period of sleepwalking. A couple of weeks back the horror of the world tried to break into our house. The newspaper boy had dropped the Times of India at the doorstep. Since it was a matter of roji roti for the hawkers as well we were too polite to ask why he had re-started without our consent. Nothing much has changed in the format or quality of content. On weekends you have to search for nuggets of news among the labyrinths of advertisements. Of course there was news. Among the predictions of gloom and doom there are silver linings when an expert on planet Bollywood reports about the struggle of a star son to purchase a Rs. 50 crore house in Mumbai or how a star daughter did super social service by carrying her own luggage through the airport terminal. Then of course you realise how unthreatening the real world is compared to the world of TV or print news.

Thus, it was a busy and hectic end to a year that started out normal and slowed things down unbelievably in the middle. The narrow and winding by lanes of the year from April to August was full of horror and tragic stories. Lost a couple of relatives and close friends. Some losses would not have been noticed had I not been united with my high school mates after thirty seven years. Labdhapranasam. Got virtually united with a close friend and High School mate – Harikrushna Sahu only to lose him to Covid-19 before a physical meet could materialise.

Now virtual meets with high school mates have become a regular affair. It was one thing that could not be sidelined even in the busy schedules of the last couple of months. Old associations bring back old memories and it makes you feel like your old boyish self, though short lived. It has also brought back the old comraderies and bonhomie.

Ours was the last batch of 11+2+2 system of education in Odisha. (Thus it was a land mark batch, you see). For our last three years in High School, we were clubbed with our junior batch. Our junior batch had twelve formal years of study to get into the same Engineering college that our batch had to study for 13 years to get into. On the other hand, we took four years to become an Arts or Science graduate after high school where as the junior batch took five years.

The point I am trying to make is that taking out or adding one or two years to the school or college education does not make any substantial difference. Maybe the governments all over the world should consider reducing one year from the total number of years it takes to get a graduation degree so that the millennials could go for further higher sturdies earlier to keep up with the specialization needs of the future. The pandemic has anyway taken out one year of proper school/college education from every student.

I have made brief references to my High School in some of my earlier blog posts. It is named after Upendra Bhanja – the emperor among Odia poets. Of course a full post about my time in this illustrious school is in pipeline. Meanwhile I will leave the reader with some visual peeps into the school which is so old that the grandfather of current Chief Minister of Odisha is an alumnus of this school. Established in 1884, it continues to be a prominent government high school of the district. In spite of being so old the school has not seen many changes except for the staff and students. Of course it was a pleasant surprise to learn that it has now opened its doors to girl students.

the summer of separation

I am not the only one
to feel the pangs of separation.
The village pond waits for
the return of lilies
and the river bed
for the black clouds.
 
Is the short night the only solace?
Even for the leaves of the gulmohour?
It expands beyond the stars
as I toss and turn
and think of you.
 
In the morning the sunrise
is a glimmer of hope. Once again
short lived. The address is missing
I have only a vague idea
of where you are.
 
When the parched throat fumbles for words
I devise ways to forget you
by chasing away ants in mango trees
or inside the cool shrine of Lord Shiva
I hide myself
till the sweltering afternoon
kills my memory of everything.
 
With the sun defeated
it comes back in the evening
as the birds return home
after a tiring day
and lying on the cool river sand
I wait for the moon.

(Poem – 1 of the series on #IndianSeasons)

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TABEBUIA

I have a special fascination for tabebuias. A poetic tribute from my side was long due.

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Once in a year it is in the mood
to sing with Sinatra
‘Half a love never appealed to me'.
At other times it sits behind
and hears others sing



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Look, there are no leaves
It is only flowers and flowers.
For the sake of art
Van Gogh for days
ditches mind and food.



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Do not call it a narcissist
Let its presence blow its own trumpet.
Let it cry with every ounce of breath
or, laugh with every inch of skin.
Like a child gone crazy.



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When the days of glory are over
it would be childish
not to go into oblivion,
not to be the back bencher
and exist as if not existing.

(Tabebuia or the Trumpet tree is flowerless for most part of the year. However when it flowers for one or two months in a year, what a spectacle it is.)

three poems on rain from three different times

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1. The rain of intimacy

The clouds waited
till the last leaf
with its last wish
had floated home safe.

Dry earth cracked under heat
and begged for mercy.
The sky was all in tears
and it poured and poured.

To come out of your hiding
you were waiting
for an invitation. Now it has come
with the first rain like a reprieve.

Tip tip tap tap tip tip tap tap
it keeps on knocking come out, come out.
To celebrate our intimacy
the white ants have taken to wings.

Snakes and red insects
are no more in their hidings.
Even the tiny grass has come out
with all its kith and kin.

After a brief respite once again
the rain is calling
come out, come out.
What are you waiting for?


2. Traffic jam, Rumi and rain


While the Bengaluru traffic jam
gets worse
with each falling rain drop,
home bound multitudes
get weary and fretful.

But to me the rain outside
has provided the perfect gestalt
and background music
as I rummage through pages of Rumi.
 
“Cloud of gentle rain, pour down
come, let us friends get truly drunk
and you, the king of tricksters
befuddled with drink we all greet you".

The great mystic!
Even in an impatient evening like this
the clouds bring messages of hope
and the key I lost has been found.



3. Of rain and other times

It is raining.
At other times I would have thought of Rumi.
I would have remembered his lines.
But now I have to push away Rumi
and bother -
is rain good or bad for Corona?
 
It is raining.
At other times I would have fondly remembered
how my whole village smelled
when rain drops hit the dry soil,
how each inch of earth thrived with life.
But now all I am reminded of
is the smell of incense sticks
and burning woods
on the Ghats of Varanasi.

 It is raining .
At other times I would have felt so proud
of the mastery of the human race,
when Elon Musk sounds so confident
to take us beyond the moon
in case the earth had no more rain.
But now I see the helplessness
of a thousand Elon Musks
to contain a virus.