Santosh Kalwar's Blog, page 15

Trend of brain-drain

Nepal is in deep crisis, and everybody must be aware of the problematic situation. We are not only facing the energy crisis, but also many other problems. Among the many other crisis, an eye-catching one is migration of intellectuals to foreign land. It is not sad that we are poor, underdeveloped and less educated, but it is regrettable that many are migrating abroad for the sake of rosy jobs, higher education and opulent income.



The money that is earned comes with energy and efforts in a foreign land. When we are young, the best option is always to go abroad for the so-called higher education. However,



recent data suggest that few graduate with a degree or with quality/skill. Many divert from their real goal to do some alternative form of work either in restaurants or something similar. People should always focus on their real goal/objective.



The increasing trend of brain-drain is not only due to opportunities, political and economic stability, social and financial risk, liberty and healthy living, but also because of family and cultural impact. People tend to think if somebody has gone abroad, earned a hefty sum of money, and also built his own house, why not my son/daughter?" But, many diaspora are well aware of the bitter truth of foreign land. There are goodies to be fetched if one puts a lot of effort. People are moving quite a lot these days.



It is evident that many intellectuals who fly out will try their luck for an "American dream" or "European holidays". But, who will look after the prosperity of Nepal? If only women and children are left behind, who will provide the helping hand? The crisis deepens when these scholars come back after spending quality time in foreign land, in their old age. It might also be hard for them to adapt in their own land. I would like to request all the Nepalese intellectuals and scholars to think about their priorities, to love their motherland, to put culture and bravery as their stereotypes, to love themselves and to use their level of thinking. Please consider coming back to your land, we need you.





Published: The HImalayan Times

Letter to the Editor

2011-04-14



Santosh Kalwar, Tandi,Chitwan 

I Am Dead Man Alive reviewed by ReadersFavorite.com

Santosh Kalwar is a prolific writer. His latest offering is a book of poetry with the theme of death. I Am Dead Man Alive's verses are short. "God Save The Flag" speaks of the many patriots that sacrifice their blood for the flag. "O Dream" speaks of the release of death. "The Child" speaks of the death of a child. 



"Old Women" was one of my favorites. It made me think of someone dear to me. There comes a time when death is a welcome release. Our friends and family have gone before us, and we seem to be left behind. Another favorite was "Nobody Remembered Me." We will be remembered for only a short time after our death. 



Santosh Kalwar speaks with great wisdom. Death is inevitable. It happens to all living things. A tiny seed sprouts, pushes its head through the soil, and eventually blooms. Slowly the bloom dries out and the plant withers away to make room for the next generation. Death is a vital part of life. 



I Am Dead Man Alive is a short book at a mere 60 pages. The poetry is well-done. Santosh has penned several books. I believe this one to be his best. 





Source: Readers Favorite 

Rating: 5/5

Second International Airport

The idea of spending $600 million to build one more international airport in Nijgadh as advanced in the editorial and the news 2nd Int'l airport possible in 4 years at $600 million (April 10) is indeed a praiseworthy view if the estimated amount gets spent for the completion of the project. But if it goes into hands of top-notch politicians, bureaucrats, leaders and officers, this colossal investment will only warm up their pockets and people and the nation will gain nothing.



Santosh Kalwar

via email

Published: Republica

Your Say/Letter to Editor

Facing death

MAR 06 -

Last year, Girija babu left our bright planet. And just days ago, we lost the great legend of the Nepali Congress (NC) and former prime minister, Krishna Prasad Bhattarai.



Kishunji was an inspirational leader—he wasn't involved in any corruption scandals, was heartily followed by many and had a great sense of humour. Now that he is no more, it will be hard for his followers to cope-up with his peaceful demise. His contributions to the NC and Nepal in general will surely be extolled in golden words. As he was accepted as one of the great Nepali political legends, his death has sent shock waves across the entire nation. We have lost great charismatic leader.



However, the bitter truth of his demise has forced everyone to think about death. Sadly, no one escapes death. Death is a fact of life for everyone, and it often comes without displaying any traces, signs, symptoms, or predictability. The true beauty of death is that nobody knows much about it.



Everybody is fearful of something in their life, and many people fear death. But death is not something to be feared. Everybody is born and everybody has to die—there is no escape from this cycle of life. There are plenty of views on death. Some views and ideas emerge from religious beliefs and some from science—but no matter the theory, it is a part of life. Everybody is aware of biological causes of death—a certain disease or condition ranging from cancer to heart failure, or perhaps an accident.



According to Hindu doctrines, there are three fundamental stages of human life: birth, marriage and death. Undoubtedly, every human being must born, marry and die. Nevertheless, most of us find excitement in the first two stages but somehow remain terrified with the idea of death. We should appreciate each of these vital stages equally, no matter what.



The reasons based in religion and science are not satisfactory. The primary reason for this is that, despite their contributions, they don't actually help us better understand death. The fundamental question of life—where do we come from, why are we here, and where will we go—is an unsolved mystery and will remain unsolved. But perhaps rather than trying to espouse the mysteries of death, it is better that we just accept its reality and live each moment to its limit.



Kishunji has inspired many generations of leaders in Nepali politics. I hope those inspired leaders will display their true talent and pass on his ideologies, philosophies and aspiration towards younger generation. Kishunji, we salute you for your outstanding contribution to Nepali politics. Rest in peace.



Posted on: 2011-03-07 07:58

Published: The Kathmandu Post

The continuous affair

Two things drive human motion: evolution and revolution. I am not so much worried about human evolution, but I am worried about human revolution. It seems to unfold slowly but steadily. Signs and symptoms of people acting revolutionaries in pre-historic times and post-historical times, against dictators, kings and rulers, can be identified. It all has come to change the status quo, with hopes of a better future, hopefully.



As Darwin had pointed out, we are all evolving creatures. And, to my mind we all are revolutionary creatures as well. No, it is not ridiculous to think so. If you were an addictive newsreader (like me), you would know of global events like the Egyptian revolution, and Mubarak quitting. Of course, Tunisian event preceded that. Now, Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, Oman and Iran are facing the same crisis. Dictatorship is NOT going to work in tech-savvy, social media bound twittering world. I personally believe that people have more power than politicians or leaders in today's digital workspace. It had always been the people power, not the political power, running any great nation or territory. A mandate for common rule or protocols is only possible if the majority of the people vote for it democratically, peacefully.



Today, if all Nepalese citizens gather to fight for their basic rights such as food, electricity, clothes, jobs, social security, and privacy, nobody can stop them. The people have proved themselves many times in the past, so the political bosses must act sincerely taking them into consideration.



With the world population hitting the seven billion milestone, problems are bound to multiply the world over. I envision a world where there would be less value for art, words and self-respect. There would be more value for oil, food, technology, safety, security, and balance. As a young scientist, 'balance' is not to be worried about as Nature wouldl balance herself in some ways (climate change, earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, meteor strikes etc).



If the people's needs are unfulfilled, a revolution will simply begin at any point in time. Nothing remains forever, as everything is finite.



As the wise man said, "Every beginning has an end and every end has a new beginning." This is what makes the human beings look forward to something better.





Source: The Himalyan Times

Published: 02-March-2011

Benazir Bhutto Speech

Benazir Bhutto Speech - Male Domination Of Women Benazir Bhutto, Prime Minister of Pakistan

Beijing, 4 September 1995 As the first woman ever elected to head an Islamic nation, I feel a special responsibility about issues that relate to women. In addressing the new exigencies of the new century, we must translate dynamic religion into a living reality. We must live by the true spirit of Islam, not only by its rituals. And for those of you who may be ignorant of Islam, cast aside your preconceptions about the role of women in our religion.



Contrary to what many of you may have come to believe, Islam embraces a rich variety of political, social and cultural traditions. The fundamental ethos of Islam is tolerance, dialogue, and democracy.



Just as in Christianity and Judaism, we must always be on guard for those who will exploit and manipulate the Holy Book for their own narrow political ends, who will distort the essence of pluralism and tolerance for their own extremist agendas.



To those who claim to speak for Islam but who would deny to women our place in society, I say:



The ethos of Islam is equality, equality between the sexes. There is no religion on earth that, in its writing and teachings, is more respectful of the role of women in society than Islam.



My presence here, as the elected woman prime minister of a great Muslim country, is testament to the commitment of Islam to the role of women in society.



It is this tradition of Islam that has empowered me, has strengthened me, has emboldened me.



It was this heritage that sustained me during the most difficult points in my life, for Islam forbids injustice; injustice against people, against nations, against women.



It denounces inequality as the gravest form of injustice.



It enjoins its followers to combat oppression and tyranny.



It enshrines piety as the sole criteria for judging humankind.



It shuns race, colour, and gender as a basis of distinction amongst fellowmen.



When the human spirit was immersed in the darkness of the Middle Ages, Islam proclaimed equality between men and women. When women were viewed as inferior members of the human family, Islam gave them respect and dignity.



When women were treated as chattels, the Prophet of Islam (Peace Be Upon Him) accepted them as equal partners.



Islam codified the rights of women. The Koran elected their status to that of men. It guaranteed their civic, economic, and political rights. It recognised their participative role in nation building.



Sadly, the Islamic tenets regarding women were soon discarded. In Islamic society, as in other parts of the world, their rights were denied. Women were maltreated, discriminated against, and subjected to violence and oppression, their dignity injured and their role denied.



Women became the victims of a culture of exclusion and male dominance. Today more women than men suffer from poverty, deprivation, and discrimination. Half a billion women are illiterate. Seventy percent of the children who are denied elementary education are girls.



The plight of women in the developing countries is unspeakable. Hunger, disease, and unremitting toil is their fate. Weak economic growth and inadequate social support systems affect them most seriously and directly.



They are the primary victims of structural adjustment processes which necessitate reduced state funding for health, education, medical care, and nutrition. Curtailed resource flows to these vital areas impact most severely on the vulnerable groups, particularly women and children.



This, Madam Chairperson, is not acceptable. It offends my religion. It offends my sense of justice and equity. Above all, it offends common sense.



That is why Pakistan, the women of Pakistan, and I personally have been fully engaged in recent international efforts to uphold women's rights. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights enjoins the elimination of discrimination against women.



The Nairobi Forward Looking Strategies provide a solid framework for advancing women's rights around the world. But the goal of equality, development, and peace still eludes us.



Sporadic efforts in this direction have failed. We are satisfied that the Beijing Platform of Action encompasses a comprehensive approach toward the empowerment of women. This is the right approach and should be fully supported.



Women cannot be expected to struggle alone against the forces of discrimination and exploitation. I recall the words of Dante, who reminded us that "The hottest place in Hell is reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral crisis."



Today in this world, in the fight for the liberation of women, there can be no neutrality.



My spirit carries many a scar of a long and lonely battle against dictatorship and tyranny. I witnessed, at a young age, the overthrow of democracy, the assassination of an elected prime minister, and a systematic assault against the very foundations of a free society.



But our faith in democracy was not broken. The great Pakistani poet and philosopher Dr. Allama Iqbal says, "Tyranny cannot endure forever." It did not. The will of our people prevailed against the forces of dictatorship



But, my dear sisters, we have learned that democracy alone is not enough.



Freedom of choice alone does not guarantee justice.



Equal rights are not defined only by political values.



Social justice is a triad of freedom, an equation of liberty:



Justice is political liberty.



Justice is economic independence.



Justice is social equality.



Delegated, sisters, the child who is starving has no human rights.



The girl who is illiterate has no future.



The woman who cannot plan her life, plan her family, plan a career, is fundamentally not free….



I am determined to change the plight of women in my country. More than sixty million of our women are largely sidelined.



It is a personal tragedy for them. It is a national catastrophe for my nation. I am determined to harness their potential to the gigantic task of nation building….



I dream of a Pakistan in which women contribute to their full potential. I am conscious of the struggle that lies ahead. But, with your help, we shall persevere. Allah willing, we shall succeed.

Quote Me Everyday --a quote

Here is one video created by friend of mine who has great video company Sesam Production Oy in Lappeenranta, Finalnd... you may visit his webpage at http://www.sesamproduction.fi/



This video is simple presentation of a quote from book, Quote Me Everyday, see Jaunary 6th in the book...







The book is available at Amazon

Featured poem on Mad Swirl

One poem accepted and published by 'Mad Swirl Poetry' Journal entitled, "Tell". You may read a poem here:http://www.madswirl.com/content/poetryforum.html ...

Now, I am also one of the Contributing Poets here on Mad Swirl. Check out my new page at: http://www.madswirl.com/content/poetry/Santosh_Kalwar.htmlThank you and happy reading... :)

Aldous Huxley: The Ultimate Revolution, March 20, 1962

Berkeley Language Center | November 6, 2006









"There will be, in the next generation or so, a pharmacological method of making people love their

servitude, and producing dictatorship without tears, so to speak, producing a kind of painless

concentration camp for entire societies, so that people will in fact have their liberties taken away

from them, but will rather enjoy it, because they will be distracted from any desire to rebel by

propaganda or brainwashing, or brainwashing enhanced by pharmacological methods. And this

seems to be the final revolution."

Aldous Huxley, Tavistock Group, California Medical School, 1961

Program

Questions / Answers

Transcript - The Ultimate Revolution

March 20, 1962 Berkeley Language Center - Speech Archive SA 0269

Moderator:

{garbled}Aldous Huxley, a renowned Essayist and Novelist who during the spring semester is

residing at the university in his capacity of a Ford research professor. Mr Huxley has recently

returned from a conference at the Institute for the study of Democratic Institutions in Santa Barbara

where the discussion focused on the development of new techniques by which to control and direct

human behavior. Traditionally it has been possible to suppress individual freedom through the

application of physical coercion through the appeal of ideologies through the manipulation of

man's physical and social environment and more recently through the techniques, the cruder

techniques of psychological conditioning. The Ultimate Revolution, about which Mr. Huxley will

speak today, concerns itself with the development of new behavioral controls, which operate

directly on the psycho-physiological organisms of man. That is the capacity to replace external

constraint by internal compulsions. As those of us who are familiar with Mr. Huxley's works will

know, this is a subject of which he has been concerned for quite a period of time. Mr. Huxley

will make a presentation of approximately half an hour followed by some brief discussions and

questions by the two panelists sitting to my left, Mrs. Lillian {garbled} and Mr. John Post. Now Mr.

Huxley

Huxley:

Thank You.

{Applause}

Uh, First of all, the, I'd like to say, that the conference at Santa Barbara was not directly concerned

with the control of the mind. That was a conference, there have been two of them now, at the

University of California Medical center in San Francisco, one this year which I didn't attend, and

one two years ago where there was a considerable discussion on this subject. At Santa Barbara we

were talking about technology in general and the effects it's likely to have on society and the

 

problems related to technological transplanting of technology into underdeveloped countries.

Well now in regard to this problem of the ultimate revolution, this has been very well summed up

by the moderator. In the past we can say that all revolutions have essentially aimed at changing the

environment in order to change the individual. I mean there's been the political revolution, the

economic revolution, in the time of the reformation, the religious revolution. All these aimed, not

directly at the human being, but at his surroundings. So that by modifying the surroundings you did

achieve, did one remove the effect of the human being.

Today we are faced, I think, with the approach of what may be called the ultimate revolution, thefinal revolution, where man can act directly on the mind-body of his fellows. Well needless to saysome kind of direct action on human mind-bodies has been going on since the beginning of time.But this has generally been of a violent nature. The Techniques of terrorism have been known fromtime immemorial and people have employed them with more or less ingenuity sometimes with theutmost cruelty, sometimes with a good deal of skill acquired by a process of trial and error findingout what the best ways of using torture, imprisonment, constraints of various kinds.

But, as, I think it was (sounds like Mettenicht) said many years ago, you can do everything with

{garbled} except sit on them. If you are going to control any population for any length of time, you

must have some measure of consent, it's exceedingly difficult to see how pure terrorism can

function indefinitely. It can function for a fairly long time, but I think sooner or later you have to

bring in an element of persuasion an element of getting people to consent to what is happening to

them.

It seems to me that the nature of the ultimate revolution with which we are now faced is precisely

this: That we are in process of developing a whole series of techniques which will enable the

controlling oligarchy who have always existed and presumably will always exist to get people to

love their servitude. This is the, it seems to me, the ultimate in malevolent revolutions shall we say,

and this is a problem which has interested me many years and about which I wrote thirty years ago,

a fable, Brave New World, which is an account of society making use of all the devices available

and some of the devices which I imagined to be possible making use of them in order to, first of all,

to standardize the population, to iron out inconvenient human differences, to create, to say, mass

produced models of human beings arranged in some sort of scientific caste system. Since then, I

have continued to be extremely interested in this problem and I have noticed with increasing dismay

a number of the predictions which were purely fantastic when I made them thirty years ago have

come true or seem in process of coming true.

A number of techniques about which I talked seem to be here already. And there seems to be a

general movement in the direction of this kind of ultimate revolution, a method of control by which

a people can be made to enjoy a state of affairs by which any decent standard they ought not to

enjoy. This, the enjoyment of servitude, Well this process is, as I say, has gone on for over the years,

and I have become more and more interested in what is happening.

And here I would like briefly to compare the parable of Brave New World with another parable

which was put forth more recently in George Orwell's book, Nineteen Eighty- Four. Orwell wrote

his book between, I think between 45 and 48 at the time when the Stalinist terror regime was still in

Full swing and just after the collapse of the Hitlerian terror regime. And his book which I admire

greatly, it's a book of very great talent and extraordinary ingenuity, shows, so to say, a projection

into the future of the immediate past, of what for him was the immediate past, and the immediate

present, it was a projection into the future of a society where control was exercised wholly by

terrorism and violent attacks upon the mind-body of individuals.

Whereas my own book which was written in 1932 when there was only a mild dictatorship in the

form of Mussolini in existence, was not overshadowed by the idea of terrorism, and I was therefore



free in a way in which Orwell was not free, to think about these other methods of control, these

non-violent methods and my, I'm inclined to think that the scientific dictatorships of the future,

and I think there are going to be scientific dictatorships in many parts of the world, will be probably

a good deal nearer to the brave new world pattern than to the 1984 pattern, they will a good deal

nearer not because of any humanitarian qualms of the scientific dictators but simply because the

BNW pattern is probably a good deal more efficient than the other.

That if you can get people to consent to the state of affairs in which they're living. The state of

servitude, the state of being, having their differences ironed out, and being made amenable to mass

production methods on the social level, if you can do this, then you have, you are likely, to have a

much more stable and lasting society. Much more easily controllable society than you would if

you were relying wholly on clubs and firing squads and concentration camps. So that my own

feeling is that the 1984 picture was tinged of course by the immediate past and present in which

Orwell was living, but the past and present of those years does not reflect, I feel, the likely trend of

what is going to happen, needless to say we shall never get rid of terrorism, it will always find its

way to the surface.

But I think that insofar as dictators become more and more scientific, more and more concerned

with the technically perfect, perfectly running society, they will be more and more interested in the

kind of techniques which I imagined and described from existing realities in BNW. So that, it seems

to me then, that this ultimate revolution is not really very far away, that we, already a number of

techniques for bringing about this kind of control are here, and it remains to be seen when and

where and by whom they will first be applied in any large scale.

And first let me talk about the, a little bit about the, improvement in the techniques of

terrorism. I think there have been improvements. Pavlov after all made some extremely profound

observations both on animals and on human beings. And he found among other things that

conditioning techniques applied to animals or humans in a state either of psychological or physical

stress sank in so to say, very deeply into the mind-body of the creature, and were extremely difficult

to get rid of. That they seemed to be embedded more deeply than other forms of conditioning.

And this of course, this fact was discovered empirically in the past. People did make use of many of

these techniques, but the difference between the old empirical intuitive methods and our own

methods is the difference between the, a sort of, hit and miss craftsman's point of view and the

genuinely scientific point of view. I think there is a real difference between ourselves and say the

inquisitors of the 16th century. We know much more precisely what we are doing, than they knew

and we can extend because of our theoretical knowledge, we can extend what we are doing over a

wider area with a greater assurance of being producing something that really works.

In this context I would like to mention the extremely interesting chapters in Dr. William (sounds

like Seargent's) Battle for the Mind where he points out how intuitively some of the great religious

teachers/leaders of the past hit on the Pavlovian method, he speaks specifically of Wesley's method

of producing conversions which were essentially based on the technique of heightening

psychological stress to the limit by talking about hellfire and so making people extremely

vulnerable to suggestion and then suddenly releasing this stress by offering hopes of heaven

and this is a very interesting chapter of showing how completely on purely intuitive and empirical

grounds a skilled natural psychologist, as Wesley was, could discover these Pavlovian methods.

Well, as I say, we now know the reason why these techniques worked and there's no doubt at all that

we can if we wanted to, carry them much further than was possible in the past. And of course in the

history of, recent history of brainwashing, both as applied to prisoners of war and to the lower

personnel within the communist party in China, we see that the pavlovian methods have been

applied systematically and with evidently with extraordinary efficacy. I think there can be no doubt

that by the application of these methods a very large army of totally devoted people has been …

Simple Gifts - Yo-Yo Ma and Alison Krauss

'Tis the gift to be simple, 'tis the gift to be free,

'Tis the gift to come down where we ought to be,

And when we find ourselves in the place just right,

'Twill be in the valley of love and delight.

When true simplicity is gain'd,

To bow and to bend we shan't be asham'd,

To turn, turn will be our delight,

Till by turning, turning we come round right."Simple Gifts" by Shaker, Elder Joseph, 1848