opinion

The Trolley Problem

January 30, 2013 · 11 comments in THE JAUNDICED EYE

There’s a famous philosophical dilemma called the ‘trolley problem.’ In this hypothetical scenario, there’s an out of control train on a track which five workers are repairing. You’re given just a second or two to decide if you want to to flip a switch and divert the train onto a second track. The dilemma is that there is a worker on that second track who will be killed if you flip the switch.

The opposing philosophies which apply here are ‘utilitarian’ – overall good of many, and ‘thou shalt not harm’ – leave it to a higher authority, and don’t consciously kill another person.

Studies have shown that 90 percent of people opted to kill one worker to save five when presented with this dilemma. The studies were then repeated with a twist. Subjects now wore virtual reality gear which projected an avatar of the worker. Surprisingly, 90 percent of people still opted to flip the switch and kill the lone worker even though they could now see their ‘victim.’ There was no change in the results.

Here comes the interesting part. When subjects were told that they had to physically push the worker and kill him instead of flipping a switch to save the other five, only 50 percent opted to kill him. And here’s the kicker. When people were told that the worker on the second track was either their spouse, sibling or parent, only one-third opted to save the five workers.

What can we infer? That evolution has selected a majority of those who will make split second decisions to kill another? That we don’t like to get our hands dirty? That we’re selfish and will sacrifice others in order to save our own? That there are powerful evolutionary forces which propel us into horrific acts when it is a matter of survival?

Are we condemned to always play out our Darwinian impulses? Will our humanity always beat out the divinity in us? That’s not a cheerful picture, if true.

What’s your take?

Tagged as: opinion, philosophy

Why I don’t watch news on television

January 22, 2013 · 10 comments in THE JAUNDICED EYE

I stopped watching news on TV more than five years ago. I’ve tuned in only on rare occasions, like during elections or recently when the India Gate protests raged. I can count the number of these occasions. By and large, I’d rather have root canal surgery than watch television news. Here’s why.

The media plays at least 3 roles in a democratic society.

1. To inform.

It’s the job of the media to keep us informed of the facts. To be perfectly honest, I don’t watch TV to find out what Rajdeep Sardesai’s or Barkha Dutt’s opinions are. I could definitely do without Arnab Goswami’s histrionics. None of these “anchors” have expert training in economics or public policy or defense or anything else for that matter. They are (I believe) trained journalists and were hired to play the role of skilled interviewers. I’d prefer if they kept their opinions to themselves. I’d like them to tell me the facts, please. Then, I’d like to hear what experts have to say on the matter. And by experts, I don’t mean mouthpieces of political parties or former editors of semi-porn magazines or activist Bollywood actors or self-styled marketing gurus. There are smart people out there who’ve invested their time and careers in analyzing social issues, running businesses and researching and implementing policy matters. Go find them. Bring them on air. Allow us to hear what they have to say, even if they conflict with your opinions.

News anchors should be good at what they are supposed to be good at. If you talk more than your panelists, it means you’re not a skilled interviewer. If your show turns into a free for all among the panelists within a few minutes into the show, it means that you are an embarrassment to your profession.

2. To investigate

Media organizations are the watchdogs of a democratic society. They are our conscience keepers. It’s their job to find where the fire is burning when they see smoke. It’s their job to separate fact from fiction and help us tell a real scam from a smear job. We live in a complex world with complex issues. We want someone to tell us what’s going on so we can make up our minds about it. We are looking for someone to trust. Not someone who makes us live in perpetual anxiety.

It’s not really important to me as to who broke the story. What’s important is that the truth does not get bent in the process. I find our media stunningly incompetent on two counts. 1. They are not the ones to break stories. Stories get handed to them on silver platters. 2. And when they are handed stories, they make no effort to uncover details. In fact, they go through great trouble to obfuscate matters.

The last time we saw high quality investigative journalism in India was in the late 1980’s when the Hindu broke the Bofors story.

3. To build consensus

The media plays a critical role in building public consensus on matters of national importance. It’s not an easy job to take on emotional issues and steer the public towards thinking objectively about them. It’s a lot of hard work to assemble facts about an issue and to paint a clear picture. Instead, we have television channels which take the lazy route by fanning flames and obscuring facts that they end up doing incalculable long term harm to the country. The cornerstone of a democracy is the ability to engage in public discourse. If we don’t get this right, our democracy will fail.

Thomas Jefferson, one of the founding fathers of the United States said, “Were it left to me to decide whether we should have a government without newspapers, or newspapers without a government, I should not hesitate a moment to prefer the latter.” Unfortunately for us in India, we seem to have neither a functioning government nor media.

I hope you now understand why I don’t watch television news any more. I’m amazed that anyone watches at all. Is a little competency and integrity too much to ask for?

Tagged as: media, opinion

Why our approach to Pakistan is messed up.

January 19, 2013 · 13 comments in THE JAUNDICED EYE

I think our approach to Pakistan is messed up. Here’s why I think so.

Pakistan is not our equal.

Not economically. Not in population size. And certainly not in the way they conduct affairs of the state. Pakistan now stands teetering at the edge of a precipice. India, on the other hand, has a much brighter future notwithstanding our many flaws. They should not be treated as an equal. If you can believe me, I don’t mean this in a dismissive, contemptuous way. I mean it as a matter of fact. A junior minister of state in external affairs should be deputed to engage with their foreign minister. Our external affairs minister should engage directly with their President, and none less. Our Prime Minister and the Leader of Opposition should not comment publicly on or engage with anyone from that country.

I support the position of our Prime Minister when he recently remarked that the recent provocations from Pakistan deserve no more than a tactical response, that we should not indulge in jingoism, and that the matter of how we deter the Pakistani army is best left to professionals in the Indian Army. In contrast, I found Ms. Sushma Swaraj’s “Get me 10 heads for one” response deeply disturbing and alarming.

Never get into a fight with a country which has nothing to lose.

At times, it may be tempting to engage in one-up-man-ship. What we have to remember is that by doing so, we’re going out of our way to keep an irrelevant nation in the public eye and thus make it out to be more important than it really is. In other words, there’s no gain for us. It’s all upside for them. Don’t stoke a dying fire.

The opposite of love is not hate. It’s indifference.

Pakistan works pretty hard to earn our anger. In return, we must offer our indifference. We must stop putting every act of theirs under the microscope and agonizing over it. We must stay focused on fixing our ownselves, and moving quickly ahead in this very competitive global economy. The best “revenge” – for those who tend to like this sort of a thing – is one that will be served someday when Pakistani people wake up and realize that we’ve left them miles behind in the race to prosperity. Those obsessed with things like “honor” and “izzat” should remember that it takes more courage to walk away from a fight than to get into one. Patriotism is not about having a misplaced sense of honor or a narrow view of the world or flag waving and chest thumping. It’s about being a committed citizen and taking the time to understand complex issues, how they intersect and doing what’s what’s best for the country and making your opinion heard in a constructive manner. In my opinion, Pakistan should cease to be a voting issue for Indians, and anyone who attempts to make it one should be discouraged.

There is no such thing as Pakistan.

There are the Pakistani people. There are the politicians. There is the Pakistani army. There is ISI. There are many niche centers of power, controlling narrow domains. None of them are in control. It’s impossible to negotiate when there is no decision maker on the other side of the table. We have to recognize this and understand the difficult job that our government has, when it comes to dealing with Pakistan.

They are people like us too.

Perhaps, a way forward might be one that involves building direct bridges to the Pakistani people and creating economic opportunities for them so they, over time, have something to lose by harming our interests. Pakistan is like this evil twin of India, separated at birth and adopted and raised by a gangster. In many ways, their people have suffered more than us. I refuse to believe that an average Pakistani wakes up in the morning and looks for ways to destroy us. I think the average Pakistani is like the average Indian. He/she just wants a good job, a hot meal and a peaceful life. An “economic version of Aman ki Asha,” which promotes free trade and collaboration – as much as it sounds like a fairy tale – might not be a bad way forward if we’re willing to be patient for at least a couple of decades.

Heck, we don’t have be nice to them, if we don’t want to. But we really ought to stop obsessing about them and move on.

What’s your take?

Also read: O Pakistan, Whither Goes Thou?

Tagged as: opinion, pakistan, politics

Free Speech: Where do you stand?

January 14, 2013 · 1 comment in THE JAUNDICED EYE

Freedom of expression, at some level, symbolizes life itself. When we regulate and control, free speech is no longer free. Instead, it becomes tempered by fear of authority and ceases to be a right. This is how it is in India today. The topic of free speech raises a lot of questions, some more pertinent than others given that India is a multicultural, religious society.

How much free speech should be allowed by law?
Should there be legal bounds on free speech?
Should hate speech be made unlawful?
What constitutes offensive or hate speech? Who decides what is offensive or hurtful?
Who should have free speech? Individuals? Corporations? Religious leaders? Media?
What constitutes fair penalties for violations?
Is it possible to define laws tightly that they will not be abused?

None of these questions can be easily answered. Which is why free speech is such a hard thing to regulate.

Here’s my take. In the conflict between free speech and morality, the former always should prevail. And exceptions should be made only when a person’s freedom of expression is violated in a manner that can be proven beyond reasonable doubt. In my book, anything goes. Well, nearly everything with the following exceptions:

Sedition. This goes against the grain of an organized society.
Copying intellectual property is laziness. It’s not free speech. It violates the original author’s free speech rights.
A call to violence (which is proven to incite murder) is not free speech. It’s intent to commit homicide.
Making false claims is not free speech. You cannot lie to sell products.

Everything else is free speech. Like the following examples -

Hate speech is distasteful, but cannot be outlawed. If you don’t like what you hear, feel free to tune out.
Religious conversion and evangelism should be allowed under free speech laws. If you don’t like people being converted, that’s too bad. You’ll just have to learn to live with it.
Media should receive special protection under free speech laws. The bar should be set high on slander and libel cases.
Pornography is free speech too. Child pornography should be illegal as it violates the free speech rights of minors.
Rap songs which have explicit or misogynist lyrics are made by jackasses. So, don’t buy them. Don’t outlaw them.

And so it goes. Each new social phenomenon will make us wonder about how much freedom an individual deserves. The answer as always should be, “all of it.”

Where do you stand on free speech? Take the poll!


    			
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Tagged as: opinion, society

Why do rapes happen?

December 24, 2012 · 14 comments in THE JAUNDICED EYE

Unless we know why rapes happen, we cannot prevent them from happening. Rapes are prevalent in nearly all species of animals (especially primates). They happen in all cultures in every country in the world. And they have been happening for a very long time.

There is no country, as yet, that has managed to stop rapes from happening. Nothing has helped. Not even the death penalty has deterred rape.

Decades of research have brought us no closer to an answer that is fundamentally insightful enough to design prevention of rape. However, almost all research agrees on the following-

That rape is not a sexual act. That it is an act of power. Of entitlement.
That there may be other emotions involved, such as anger or mental depression.
That the incidence of rape in a society or culture is a function of what’s commonly perceived to be a man’s ‘entitlement’ in that society and avenues it provides for discharge of the anger when such expectations are not met.

Which kind of leads me to the fact that women are physically weaker than men. That’s the way it’s always been. Why is that so?

I presume that at the beginning of the evolutionary cycle, there must have been females who were physically equal to or even stronger than males as well as females who were weaker than males. Now why did natural selection favor females who were weaker than males in almost all species that exist today? What was the evolutionary advantage of being a female who was physically weaker than a male?

Is it because weaker females were “preferred” in some way by males for reproduction? Are we humans a result of stronger, aggressive males systematically raping weaker females over millions of years? That’s a horrifying thought. Yet, that’s how far back in time we might need to travel in order to find where the demons lie hidden.

Is there such a thing as a ‘rapist’ gene? Do all males have it or is it just some? Can it be modified to change / eradicate this aggressive, entitlement behavior? Time will tell.

As scientists explore the “ultimate” reasons for rape from an evolutionary perspective, law makers and citizens must pay attention to the proximate causes for rape. In Indian cities and our society – there are many proximate causes, all of which are fairly obvious.

Imagine this. A group of young aggressive males, filled with an entitlement of superiority, encounter a single woman who’s more educated or successful than them. They feel emasculated. Rage erupts. One person suggests rape. Group dynamics kick in. The others join in. And that may be how a gang rape results. This is not a justification. It’s an explanation. An explanation that does not provide solutions to preventing rape. But it provides some clues to women as to how they can safeguard themselves by spotting or avoiding signs of trouble.

The question is – why do men have a sense of entitlement? What do they feel entitled to? Can we medically or otherwise (mandatory therapy?) erase such notions from their minds? Research should hopefully shed some light on this.

As long as the law looks at crimes against women through the eyes of men, nothing will ever change.

Tagged as: india, opinion, science, society

An aam aadmi’s letter

December 7, 2012 · 14 comments in THE JAUNDICED EYE

To whomsoever it may concern.

They call me aam admi. For you babalog, that translates to “ordinary man.” Presumably women are included in there as well. That’s what they call me. I don’t know the first thing about supply side economics. I’ve never listened to Beethoven. I couldn’t tell an IIT from an ITI. There are many things I don’t know. But, I have a God given ability to detect bull shit. Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to get a few things off my chest.

When we got our independence, I was ecstatic. I was one of the millions who lined up whenever the Mahatma gave us the word. Then, I heard that Pandit-ji had his reservations about me. He wasn’t sure if I would exercise the right to vote responsibly. Well, here’s the thing. Neither did I. Who knows what’s best for the country? Who do we trust? Pandit-ji and his friends came highly recommended by the Mahatma. They had studied at firangi universities, spoke English and rubbed shoulders with world leaders. Once again, I fell in line when the Mahatma asked me to support his protege. I had a job to find, a family to take care of and mouths to feed. I didn’t have time to think it through. So, without protest, I voted for Nehru, in the hope that he was our Messiah and that he would part the Red Sea and lead us to the Promised Land.

I shed tears when Chacha died. He was our Messiah. We hadn’t yet made it across the Red Sea. In fact, there was no sea. I found myself marooned on a desert with no friendly faces. Pandit-ji, in spite of his firangi degrees and polished accent, had blown it. The lone face that I recognized of Lal Bahadur was but a brief mirage. And that’s when the nightmares started.

They say that the fruit doesn’t fall far from the tree. If that’s the case, I must fault Jawaharlal, the tree and not the fruit, Indira. But my gut tells me that that Jawaharlal was not the tree. He was just the guy who watered a tree called the Indian National Congress. This tree did not produce fruits. Rather, it sucked the life out of the ground it grew on, and gave shelter to reptiles and insects and rodents, which in turn preyed on me.

I wish I could write away the twenty years between 1970 and 1990 as a bad dream. Even now, I wake up in the middle of the night, sweating and anxious that the past may return to revive its hold on me. But trust me when I say that I have a short memory and am trying my best to move on.

The damage that Indira wrought was not to my stomach. It was to my psyche. She said, “Garibi Hatao.” I enthusiastically cheered, more in hope and despair simultaneously and not out of belief. As I said, my instincts told me that these were reptiles, rodents and insects. Hope turned to anger and slowly resignation. And then despair, when one of my own turned his back on us and assassinated our Prime Minister. I lost one more familiar face and that hurt me even though I didn’t trust Indira entirely. Her son was another fleeting mirage. I’m told that he did some good for the country, but am not entirely sure what he did for me.

They tell me that we were in a lot of trouble in 1991. And this man named Narasimha Rao bailed us out of this trouble. I didn’t know he was capable of this feat. I voted for him because he was part of this tree that I told you about. Turns out that he wasn’t entirely a reptile. Another fleeting vision as far as I’m concerned.

Things have been getting better in the last twenty years, I’ll happily admit. I’ve got a cell phone. I can see roads being laid. A lot of my friends have left for cities. I see shiny buildings when I visit them. But twenty years is a long time to wait when you have too little to show for it. There was a time I had resigned myself to my fate. Now, I am not being allowed to even do that. I’ve seen things that I now can’t put out of my mind. My aspirations are spinning out of control. My country has changed a lot. And it doesn’t stand by itself any more. The destinies of all countries are now inter linked, they say. I wouldn’t know too much about that. I have no idea what current account deficit means, and why we need foreign investment so we can have supermarkets and megastores. All I know is that there still aren’t enough jobs for my people and things need to get a lot better before we can afford to fritter time on ideological and political debates. I’ve been waiting for a long while. I wish these fellows would get on with the program so my children can have a better future.

What galls me is that, not only are they frittering away precious time but they are using that time to loot my house. There are thieves inside my house, emptying it as I speak and there are folks outside my house yelling “thief.” It’s like I’ve become invisible to both of them. Neither is helping me.

Anna Hazare, God bless him, says he wants to help me. But, I don’t have the time to make it to Jantar Mantar each time he asks. With due respect, he’s not the Mahatma. Those were different days. And they were different men back then. I trust Anna-ji. But he also wants to tie me to a tree and whip me if I try to drown my sorrows in cheap liquor. So I wonder if I should trust a guy who wants to whip me. Like I said, no one helps me anymore.

This chap, Kejriwal, seems to have his heart in the right place. But I don’t believe I’ve ever met him. I guess it’s hard to meet up when one of you feels the need to be in a city and on TV all the time. To Kejriwal, I tell you this. It’s not enough to start an Aam Aadmi party. It’s not even enough to be an Aam Aadmi yourself. You need to come out here and meet me. Don’t tell me about those reptiles. I know about them already. I’ve seen more than fifty years of reptiles. Help me. We’ve been waiting for a Messiah. We’re so jaded that we’ll give you too a chance. And we fear that you too will blow it.

You know what I don’t need? I don’t need sermonizing and moralizing. Don’t tell me things I know. Don’t tell me that I’m illiterate. I know that already. Don’t tell me that I suck because I vote for my religion and caste. I have good reasons for doing so. If anything, my religion and caste guys are the ones who’ve shown up in times of my need over thousands of years. I can’t abandon such instincts easily. Don’t tell me that we need a dictatorship because only dictators can control fools like me. I’m not the fool that I’m made out to be. In fact, quite the contrary. I’m the product of evolutionary intelligence that’s been gathering steam over millions of years. If I’ve come this far in the evolutionary game, I’m pretty sure that I can handle a few reptiles. So don’t tell me anything. Just step aside and allow me to be. And help, if you can.

I’ve always dreamed of this Messiah in shining armor, who’ll swoop down from the skies and carry us all away into this land where there is freedom and dignity in life. And you know what? I don’t think that’s ever going to happen. I’ve come around to believing that I, and only I, have my fate in my hands. For that, I need to be responsible. I need to change my habits. And I need to stop making excuses and think things through. I know all of this. But it’s going to be a while before I get there. I wonder if we have the time for me to get there. I don’t think there’s another choice. Let’s see how this one plays out.

Until then, although you may call me an Aam Aadmi, keep in mind that I’m anything but ordinary.

Best regards.

Mango (wo)man.

Tagged as: india, opinion, politics, society

On the 2G scam: Incompetence and Corruption

November 26, 2012 · 2 comments in THE JAUNDICED EYE

In recent times, there has been a spate of arguments from Congress and allies, which essentially boil down to “In 2012, the 2G license auction fetched only Rs. 9,600 Crores, with some sectors going unbid. Hence the CAG’s estimate of a loss of Rs. 1.76 Lakh Crores is inflated.” The detractors of CAG have even gone to the extent of alleging that the CAG is somehow colluding with the Opposition party, BJP, to discredit and smear the government. It is possible that Congress and allies are attempting to create an impression that no wrongdoing occurred at all in the allocation of 2G licenses.

Here’s a little note that might help you understand what this is about. If you’re not familiar with what the 2G scam is about, read this first.

What is the government being accused of?

It’s important to understand that the UPA government is under pressure on two counts: Corruption and incompetence.

Charges of corruption: Corruption is about doing things in an illegal and wrongful manner, which violates the laws of the land. Detractors allege that there was impropriety when the licenses were originally allocated in 2008. The government, in its wisdom, followed a First-Come-First-Served (FCFS) policy in allocating licenses at that time. It is alleged that the government manipulated the FCFS process to favor certain bidders. It is also alleged that these favored bidders may have provided kickbacks. Mr. A. Raja, then Telecom Minister, is under investigation. None of the allegations have been proven in court as yet.

Charges of incompetence: Incompetence is not about illegality or wrongdoing, but about inefficiency. By following FCFS policy, it is alleged that the government may have cost the exchequer a big pile of money. If the licenses had been auctioned instead of FCFS, they would have fetched higher prices, goes the argument. There is no easy way to estimate such losses. However, the CAG has gone on record estimating the losses at 1.76 Lakh Crores. An auditor, RP Singh, who was part of the CAG’s office, has recently claimed that his estimate of Rs 2,645 Crores was not accepted and that he was coerced by the CAG into going with the higher estimate. Whatever be the case, it appears that the losses are somewhere between Rs. 2645 Cr and Rs. 1.76 Lakh Crores according to these gentlemen.

Here’s how to look at this situation

Any losses, in this case, are notional. Which is to say that the government did not lose money out of pocket. However, notional losses are still losses for the reason that this money, if it had been realized, could have come into government coffers and could have been deployed to other national projects. Loss of revenue is, at the end of the day, a loss suffered by the government. Consider this: If you or I avoided paying income taxes to the government, the government would suffer a loss in tax revenue. If hauled to court, it is unlikely that we would get away by arguing that the government’s loss was notional. So, all losses have real impact, whether you call them notional or otherwise.
It is simply not possible to estimate these losses accurately since there is guesswork and a judgmental aspect to the exercise. There are many ways to evaluate this, and they will yield wildly different results. Hence, it is surprising that the CAG wasted valuable tax payer money on this wild goose chase. If anything, they should have provided a range for their estimates in the interest of maintaining fairness and demonstrating lack of prejudice. It is equally ridiculous for Mr. Kapil Sibal to insist that there were *zero* losses. The fact is we simply don’t and won’t ever know.
Even if it is somehow proved that the government suffered losses, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they have done the wrong thing. One could argue that by deliberately lowering prices of 2G licenses (and thus accepting losses), the government actually ensured that these services were sold at affordable rates to the common man and ensured mass adoption. These are philosophical differences in policy making, and do not imply incompetence or wrongdoing.
On the charges of incompetence: We must give the benefit of doubt to the government. It is, at worst, not clear if the government’s policy of FCFS in 2008 has cost the country dearly. At best, it has worked very well given that 2G adoption in India has been spectacular over the last five years. One could argue that if we had followed the auction route in 2008, we might have obtained the same results. We will never know. Since we got a good result, perhaps we should not quibble with the past and let it go. However, the government’s decision to auction 2G licenses a month back can be questioned. One almost gets the feeling that the Telecom Minister, Mr. Sibal, went out of his way to ensure low prices to prove his earlier “zero loss” theory and may have caused losses to the government in the process. 2G as a technology is now obsolete. In 2012, it may have been the right decision to go with the FCFS method of procurement, instead of going the auction route, which surprised many industry observers.
On the charges of corruption: The Supreme Court has ruled that there seems to be preliminary evidence of wrongdoing. A Cabinet minister was remanded to custody for over a year. The ball is in the government’s court to prove that there was no corruption of the process followed to hand out licenses under the tenure of Mr. A. Raja. The lack of urgency on the government’s part to settle this matter only serves to fuel suspicion and misgiving.

Report Card

Congress: Fail. For failing to investigate allegations with seriousness and urgency, and for attempting to confuse the public by openly targeting a constitutional authority CAG on a largely irrelevant topic.

BJP – Fail. For failing to argue the case against the government and thus adding to confusion and incoherence in debate.

Tagged as: governance, india, opinion, politics, society

The Other Side of the Coin

October 6, 2012 · 5 comments in THE JAUNDICED EYE

I wrote this in 2001 after 9/11. At that time, I lived in the US. This post represents thoughts from that period of my life, and is a culmination of a number of conflicts that arose in my mind at that time, which in turn led to a provocation of deeper interest in understanding the chronological sequence of events in Palestine, Kashmir and Afghanistan, and following up to read more on these subjects. It was also propelled forward by disagreement with ignorant and biased ramblings of so-called experts on American television and radio, who pandered to the nationalistic mood which prevailed in the US at that time.

It has its fundamental origins in my deep rooted disavowal of patriotism and nationalism as divisive notions. There is only one thing common and binding to all of us – that is the inherent goodness of our selves that we are born with. The goodness that somehow along the way is either misplaced or pushed aside. We all share the same hopes, joys, aspirations and fears as human beings. We are all fundamentally the same, no matter which country we swear our allegiances to.

So, examine we must, the causes of a fellow human being’s misery and pain. What is it that causes so much hatred? Surely there must be some history here. This is an attempt to try and understand it. That must be our first step towards healing wounds that fester.

NOTE: I have gathered my thoughts as well as facts gleaned from readings and ruminations on these subjects over the last couple of years into this essay. Obviously, I have borrowed heavily from various sources, specifically with respect to dates, names, etc. However, I have attempted to put it in my own words, and provide as balanced a perspective as possible. It is impossible to find unbiased authors and information on this subject matter, and it is also near impossible to avoid one’s own bias while writing or reading about this topic. I have as much admiration for the state of Israel as I have sympathy for the Palestinian peoples. However, there seems to be some unfairness and lots of misunderstanding in the way we have treated the Palestinians. Calling it out does not imply an Arab bias or a justification of the horrific violence that this conflict has seen. Hope this is as interesting as it is informative. Let me know what you think.

The other side of the coin

The attack on WTC has caused an emotional earthquake of massive proportions. Whoever did this succeeded in bringing out the best and worst in each one of us, whichever part of the world we may live in. A lot is being said. Yet, a lot seems to be unsaid. There is a great new reality out there that is not being even mentioned. And it is time to unwrap ourselves from our flags and understand it.

The making of the Middle East imbroglio

A lot of today’s crisis in the Middle East has its roots in the perceived manipulation of Arab – and hence by association, Islamic – interests by Western powers, the UK and the US in particular.

Our tale starts in the early 20th century, when Western hemisphere found itself embroiled in a war that arose by the act of a single sniper’s bullet. World War One broke out and divided Europe into Britain and allies against a unified Germany. Not surprisingly, Britain found itself being beaten badly as the war progressed. Historical archives suggest that Britain found itself “staring in the abyss of submission.” The United States had chosen to remain aloof and away from the war, in spite of the threats facing its long time friend.

The Zionist Movement

It is pertinent to digress here to describe the development of the Zionist movement in the late 19th century, started by extremely wealthy Jews in the US and Europe. The Zionist movement was founded by a Viennese businessman – Theodore Herzl whose primary goal was to unite European and American Jews into a powerful, political entity to work towards the ultimate goal of a sovereign Jewish state “Israel”. The “Jewish problem”, as it was described at that time (by Zionists), was “the perceived unwillingness of Western countries to accept Jews in their midst,” and by others as “the apparent inability of Jews to live among others.“

Although the Zionist movement was viewed by some (including Jews) with fear and revulsion at that time, it succeeded in capturing the imagination of a majority of Jews. By 1900, the Zionist movement was an organized effort and was perceived widely to wield significant political and financial influence, especially in the United States. It is even claimed that generous contributions from this movement helped Britain’s war efforts, something that the Germans never extinguished from their memories, although there were an equal number of less wealthy Jews who contributed to Germany’s war efforts in World War One, and early in World War Two.

The Zionist movement, spearheaded by Herzl, shopped around the major powers at that time for the possibility of the creation of Israel in what was then called Palestine. No one listened. Except for Sultan Abdul Hamid of Turkey, who was neck deep in debt and at the end of a long rope his people had given him. Herzl offered to pay off the Sultan’s debts, and in turn the Sultan offered modern day Uganda as a site for Israel. Herzl had his mind set on Palestine. But the Zionist movement voted to take Uganda because of an increasing pessimism about their capabilities to influence the major powers at that time to give them Palestine. Herzl died in 1904, under the mistaken belief that his dream of Israel in Palestine was destroyed.

The Balfour Declaration

Winston Churchill wrote later that the world had not realized how close Britain was to defeat, and that any straw had to be grasped. Such a straw was the claim that Jewish influence in the United States could help bring the United States into World War I on the side of the Allies. Dr. Chad Weizman, who later became the first President of Israel, used his legendary powers of persuasion on the British to impress upon them his ability to convince the United States to enter the war. In the words of The Encyclopedia Britannica, Britain “hoped” that Jewish influence in America would tip the balance. One reason for this hope was what came to be called “the myth of Jewish power.”

In any case, Britain succumbed to the reality of their circumstances and this gave rise to the now famous, and disputed by others as mythical, Balfour Declaration of 1917, an assurance given by the British government to the Zionist movement.

“His Majesty’s Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine or the rights and political status of Jews in any other country.”

The Balfour Declaration (Nov. 2, 1917)

British leaders may well have believed the assurances of Dr. Weizmann that Jews in America could help rally opinion to the side of the Allies. Weizmann himself may have believed it at the time. The United States did enter the war on the side of Britain, France and the Allies, thus assuring the defeat of the Central Powers led by Germany. But America’s entry into the war may have had little or nothing to do with any Jewish influence. By the time, the Zionists and British drafted the Balfour Declaration, the Americans were already seven months into the war. But, perception was created about America, and this perception, in the minds of most Arab Muslims, was reality.

The creation of Israel

Modern day Palestine came under British control in the mid 19^th century. With tacit British approval, Jewish immigration to the area occurred increasingly starting in 1880, and accelerated through the 1940s as a fallout of Nazi atrocities in Germany. Meanwhile, the local Arab population protested what they suspected to be an attempt to displace them from their homeland. By the 1940s, the Jewish population has grown to sizable numbers in the region and was already in daily conflict with its Arab neighbors.

In 1947, Britain made preparations to withdraw from the Middle East. Under overt British guidance, the UN offered two states : Israel and Palestine. A portion bordering Jordan, known as West Bank and a narrow area along the southern coastline bordering Egypt called Gaza Strip were offered to Palestine. Israel accepted. But, the Palestinians refused.

This did not stop the British from proceeding to execute on the proposal. Incensed at what they considered to be an outrageous violation of their interests by the Jewish-British alliance, the Arabs attacked. In 1948, Egypt from the south, Syria from the North East, and Jordan from the east attacked Israel simultaneously. Before commencement of war, the Arab countries advised the Palestinians within Israel to leave their country for Jordan with the assurance that they could return when the war was won. Over 90 percent of the Palestinian population left with hopes of returning to their homes and property.

Unfortunately for the Palestinians who vacated their homes and left much of their wealth and possessions behind, the Arabs were beaten easily by Israel. All in all, it was an utter defeat for Arab forces especially the Palestinians, who have been ‘lost’ ever since, with fading hopes of reclaiming what was once their home.

A Faustian Deal

In the medieval German legend, Dr. Faustus, or Faust, “sells” his soul to the devil. In the Balfour Declaration, Britain bargained its reputation for integrity and good sense by selling out the Palestinians, against whom it had no complaint, as well as well meaning Jews who worried that increased anti-semitism would result from the deal. Faust made a bad bargain, but he hurt only himself. The Balfour bargain brought misery on four parties mentioned in the declaration, and on a fifth unmentioned party, the United States, whose entry into World War I Britain had hoped to achieve from the deal. The four mentioned parties were Britain itself, “the Jewish people” who were promised a state of their own in Palestine, “Jews in any other country”, and “the existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine,” meaning the Palestinians.

The Palestinians thus became a whole nation of Biblical Jobs who had done nothing to merit continuing agony. Three-quarters of a million of them lost homes and property in 1948 and 1949 as a result of Israeli aggression. Another 250,000 were forced out of Palestine at gunpoint in 1967 when Israeli forces seized the West Bank and Gaza, along with Egypt’s Sinai Peninsula and Syria’s Golan Heights. More than half of the current total of 6.5 million Palestinians now live outside their ancient homeland.

Britain seems to have suffered the least. However, its departure from the Middle East, and from its Empire as a whole, was hastened as it eventually dawned on residents of other British colonies that, rather than shepherding the Palestinians along to self-government, as required by the terms of Britain’s League of Nations “mandate” for Palestine after World War I, London had heartlessly sacrificed the Palestinians to advance its own interests.

If the Palestinians are the big losers, the Jewish citizens of the State of Israel, “the Jewish people” of the Balfour Declaration, appear to be the big winners 84 years (as of 2001) after the declaration was issued. But it’s perhaps still too early to be certain. Instead, one might bear in mind the words of the late Chinese Communist leader Mao Zedong. When asked in the 1970s what he thought of the French Revolution which happened than a century and a half earlier, he replied, “Let’s wait and see how it turns out.”

Tagged as: history, opinion

Life in the middle age of Brahma

September 30, 2012 · 9 comments in THE JAUNDICED EYE

Time is possibly the most fascinating construct devised by humans. You may say that all organic entities have a ‘biological clock’ and act accordingly. And you might ask, what’s so special about time. It’s true that animals and plants seem to operate to built-in clocks. But humans are unique in the way that we have consciously embraced the notion of time and in the way we let our perception of time dictate how we lead our lives. A while back, I had written about ‘The Secret Powers of Time and Regret.’ You might want to check this out either before or after reading further.

What is time?

Time, at its core, is an artificial and abstract concept. In practice, it’s about keeping track of change and the patterns by which change manifests itself. Time is about keeping track of changes in ourselves and in the world around us. And this has become deeply embedded into our psyches, and into our religions and philosophies. The early human, for instance, must have noticed the regularity with which dawn broke and the sun set, and subliminally internalized the notion of time while deriving benefits of recognizing such patterns. One thing must have led to another, and eventually resulted in Egyptian and Greek sun dials, Indian hour glasses, Swiss clocks , Julian calendars and other inventions which helped in accurate measurement of and tracking time.

If there was no change or observable patterns either in ourselves or in the world around us, we would have simply ignored the passage of time. In other words, our mortal existences are so absurdly short that we have come to believe that there is a necessity to keep track of and measure time. There is no other entity (that we know of) in the universe which consciously does this and allows the concept of time to dictate its behavior.

Thought experiment

Imagine if each of us were to live for a few million years before dying. During the course of our lives, we would observe hills being formed, rivers changing courses and weather patterns changing so gradually that it’s possible that we might not value the notion of time or the practice of measuring it at all. I wonder how the absence of the notion of time would influence the way we live our lives. Let’s take this to one logical extreme: Suppose we were all to be immortal, wouldn’t we simply discard time since it would cease to have any value? So, could the converse be true? If we ceased to value time, would that be our ticket to immortality? Interestingly enough, that’s what eastern wisdom tells us – to stay in the now and discard all perceptions of time such as the past and the future. I told you that this was fascinating stuff.

Measuring time

There’s a lot to write on this. I’ll stick to what enthralls me about the way we and our religions have looked at time.

Abra’amaic religions – Judaism, Christianity and Islam – take a linear view of time. They agree that the world started with the creation of the universe by God, who also created the first man and woman roughly five thousand years back. They have neatly compartmentalized time into the beginning - when God created man and woman, now - while we are alive, and the everafter, the future that comes after death when we shall receive Judgment and live in eternal bliss or torment depending on the way we led our lives. The simplicity of this compartmentalization is attractive. It provides a sense of purpose, which is to conduct our affairs now in a manner that we shall be one of God’s chosen ones in the future. It provides a basis in the past – which is that God created man five thousand years back.

Time is accorded a great deal of importance in these religious schools, which borrowed the Greek notion of time being finite and running out . This life that we have now is our only chance of getting it right. Once we die, our time ends, and so do our chances of correcting the errors of our ways. Seize the day and the life you have been given, they say. This simplicity is so powerfully compelling and so easy to grasp that it has taken roots in the way we’ve divided our history timeline – in terms of what happened before the birth of Jesus Christ (Before Christ – B.C.) and that which is happening in the year of our Lord (Anno Domini – A.D.).

Eastern schools are, in contrast, vexingly vague about time. They insist that time is illusory and hence without value, and all that matters is this mysterious thing called “now.” They candidly confess that they don’t know when and where it all began, and who started this whole thing called the universe. They tell us that we’re trapped in a web of illusion called maya, and that time is merely one of the illusory constructs which perpetuates maya. They ask – if nothing exists and everything is an illusion, then how can the concept of time be relevant? They tell us that if we can manage to find and stay in the moment, then time itself will cease to exist, and the past, present and future will merge into one and we will be able to see them simultaneously. Indeed, the Sakyamuni was believed to possess the powers of rising above time and view all his past lives, the stories of which came to be known as the Hitopadesha.

This is all confusing and perplexing, and intoxicating and exhilarating at the same time. We listen in fascination each time, and then go away, shaking our heads, back into our worlds in which time only moves forward linearly. We don’t know what to make of such theories, or what to do about them. The eastern concept of timelessness applies temporary balm on our wounded souls and scarred pysches, and provides us with some indescribable comfort. It soothes us to hear that time does not run out and that we will have more chances to get things right, and that God and this universe may not be as harsh and unforgiving as they are made out to be.

A close-up look at Hindu cosmology, calendars and time scales

Carl Sagan describes the Big Bang and the creation of the universe in his television series “Cosmos,” which first aired when I was in school. In this, he talks about how it all began according to science, and how the universe formed within the first new nano seconds of the Big Bang. In the world of science, creation is synonymous with the formation of matter and the creation of space and time.

In “Cosmos,” Sagan makes an interesting observation about how Hinduism has looked at time. He says, ” <snip> a wonderful aspect of Hindu cosmology is that it is consonant with that of modern scientific cosmology. We know that the Earth is about 4.6 billion years old, and the cosmos, or at least its present incarnation, is something like 10 or 20 billion years old. The Hindu tradition has a day and night of Brahma in this range, somewhere in the region of 8.4 billion years. As far as I know. It is the only ancient religious tradition on the Earth which talks about the right time-scale.“

Precisely for its uncanny resemblance to modern scientific cosmological time scales, I figured it would be interesting to share my understanding of the Hindu view of the age of the universe. These details are partly from my notes from reading Srimad Bhaagavatam and heavily borrowed from more erudite persons (my sisters), all of which can, I am sure, be found on Wikipedia.

Note: I’m not writing this to prove the superiority of the Hindu view vis-a-vis other religious views. I have no interest in such matters. Each religion brings forth its own compelling insight. That is the raison d’etre of each religion. To bring forth new insights and comfort. In the matter of cosmology and universal time scales, the Hindus have put forth a grand idea, and whether true or not, it does make the pulse quicken. My belief is that it would benefit all to take notice of this.

How old is the universe according to Hindu cosmology?

The Hindu cosmic cycle is divided into Yugas, Chatur or Maha Yugas and Kalpas.

A ‘basic’ cycle is called a ‘Yuga‘ or an ‘age’. There are four such Yugas, each for a different tenure. These Yugas are Krita or Satya Yuga, Treta Yuga, Dwapara Yuga and Kali Yuga. Their durations are (in human years):

Krita Yuga: 1,728,000 years. Treta Yuga: 1,296,000 years. Dwapara Yuga: 864,000 years. Kali Yuga: 432,000 years.

Note: At the end of each Yuga, the earth is overwhelmed by elements and humans are wiped out. Each Yuga is followed by an interlude of still and nothingness and life begins anew in the next Yuga.

Each quartet, a set of 4 Yugas, is called a Maha Yuga or a Chatur Yuga.

1 Maha Yuga = One quartet of 4 Yugas = sum of (Krita + Treta + Dwapara + Kali + all interludes between them) = 4,320,000 years = 4.32 million years.

1 Kalpa = 1,000 Maha Yugas = One half of a day of Brahma, the creator = 4.32 billion years.

Side notes

1. Each Kalpa is successively ruled by 14 Manus. Each reigning period of a Manu, the giver of Dharma, is 71.42 Maha Yugas. So, Manus come and go during the tenure of a Brahma.

2. Brahma is the creator of the universe, filled with its stars, planets and moons and Manus who reign periodically over it. Brahma is considered to be a manifestation of the (Para) Brahman, the or spirit underlying the universe which binds all things and is the fundamental energy that makes the cosmic dance possible. Even Brahma, the creator, cedes his place and “dies,” at the end of his tenure of a 100 years. And a new Brahma is manifested by the Para Brahman, and the cycle goes on. Such is the nature of the universe, according to the Hindus, one in which permanence is assured to none.

So, what do we get?

When we put the time lines together, we get -

A “full day” ie “day” + “night” of a Brahma works out to ( 2 x half-day of Brahma or 2 x Kalpa) = 2 x 4.32 billion = 8.64 billion years.

This number is interesting because cosmologists now believe that the Big Bang happened roughly 13 billion years back (revised significantly since Sagan did Cosmos twenty five years back). This number of 13 billion years is of the same magnitude (proportionally) to what the Hindus postulated many moons ago. This aspect of Rig Veda is nothing short of spellbinding. How could have they come up with such a grand scale – in billions of years – for the cosmological age of the universe? What kind of minds and awareness did they possess to get into the same ballpark timeline wise, when it has taken us billions of dollars worth of equipment and painstaking scientific research to get into the same ball park? Was it a lucky guess or is there more to this than meets the eye? Incredible.

What’s even more incredible is that the Hindus didn’t restrict themselves to the current universe. The Rig Veda tells us that the life of the cosmos stretches endlessly before the Big Bang and will stretch endlessly well after the current version of the universe ends. The life of a Brahma, we’re told, is 100 years of 360 days each, where each day = 8.64 billion years. Simple math (100 x 360 x 8.64 billion) gives us the life time of Brahma, which is the life of the cosmos. This number is a staggering 311 trillion years. And after 311 trillion years, the ‘old’ Brahma ‘dies’, and a ‘new’ Brahma is ‘born’. And the cycle of 311 trillion years repeats itself with a new Brahma, endlessly into time. Mind boggling!

The Sankalpa mantra: Where in the world are we? And what time is it now?

If you’re Hindu or if you’ve observed Hindu rituals, you may have heard a set of mantras called the Sankalpa mantra which precedes Hindu rituals. The Sankalpa mantra is meant to keep track of where we are, and the time it is now in this version of the cosmos that we exist, at the time of performing the said ritual.

A brief context first to the Sankalpa mantra

It is said that we are presently in the Sveta-Varaha kalpa in the reigning period of Vaivaswatha – the 7th Manu. In this Manvantara we are in the 28th Maha Yuga. As per Hindu cosmology, Brahma is supposed to have completed 50 Brahma years and is now in his 51st year. For this reason, he is called “Parardha-dvaya-jivin” ie he now lives in the second half of his life. The word ‘parardha’ means half. So Brahma is called this as he has completed one half of his life. This might help you make better sense when you hear or read about the Sankalpa. On a lighter note, we live in a time when our Brahma has reached middle age, and one can only hope that he doesn’t go through a mid-life crisis

As for the Sankalpa mantra, it goes roughly as follows-

…. dvi-teeya parardhe: In the second half of Brahma’s life

Sveta-varaha kalpe: in the kalpa of Sveta-Varaha

Vaivaswatha manvantare – in the reigning period of the Vaivaswatha Manu

Ashta Vimsati tame: In the 28th Maha Yuga of the current Manvantara

Kaliyuge: in this Kali Yuga

Prathame Padhe: In the first quarter of this Kali Yuga. Note: Kali Yuga is said to have started in 3102 BC according to Aryabhatta.

Jamboodveepe: This denotes the place where the ritual is being performed. Note: India was once believed to have been an island called Jambudveepa.

Bhaarata Varshe, Bharata Kande: in this land called Bhaarata.

Sakhabde Mero, Dakshine Parsve: to the South of the Meru mountain. Note: Mount Meru is repeatedly referenced in Hindu purana, and is believed to have existed when India was once an island.

Asmin Varthamane Vyavaharike: in the current period now reigning

Prabhavadi Shasti Samvatsaranam Madya: which is in the middle of a cycle of 60 years starting from the year Prabhava. Note: Hindu calendar was divided into sixty calendar years, each with a name to itself, the first of which is called Prabhava.

< insert name of year > Nama Samvatsare: the name of the present year in the 60 year Hindu calendar. Note: The present year is called Nandana.

<fill in> ayane: Dakshin-ayane (when the sun travels south) or Uttar-ayane (when the sun travels north). Note: Uttarayana is the period between the winter and the summer solstices (roughly Dec 22 to June 21) and Dakshinayana is the other half of the year.

<fill in> ritou: Ritou denotes the six seasons or Ritus, who are Vasantha, Greeshma, Varsha, Sharadh, Hemantha and Shishira

<fill in> Maase: One of the 12 Tamil months when performed in Tamil tradition.

<fill in> Pakshe: Either Shukla Paksham (day after Amavasya to and including Pournami) or Krishna Paksham (day after Pournami to and including Amavasya)

<fill in> Subha Thithou: Name of the day of the month, which is one of the 15 days between Pournami and Amavasya. These are Prathama, Dvithiya, Trithiya, Chaturthi, Panchami, Shasti, Saptami, Ashtami, Navami, Dasami, Ekadasi, Dwadashi, Trayodasi, Chaturdasi, Pournami and Amavasya.

<fill in>Vaasara Yuktaa-yaam: Name of the day of the week, one of Bhanu, Soma, Bhowma, Soumya, Guru, Brugu and Sthira

<fill in> Nakshatra Yuktaa-yaam: Name of the Nakshatra or star prevalent on the day.

Upon reciting all of the above, the name of the ritual is said. According to HH Sri Paramacharya of Kanchi Kamakoti, the Sankalpam is a record of the ritual one performs with exact details going down to the day and location of the ritual. Presumably, this was an effective technique of keeping records and track of time in a tradition that relied more on word of mouth than writing things down.

There is another unusual feature of the Hindu calendar. Each year is labeled by the number of years elapsed since the epoch. As of 2012, 5114 years have elapsed in the Hindu calendar. The present epoch (Kali Yuga) is believed to have started on February 18, 3102 BC (though there are debates around this).

What boggles my mind is the ‘how did these guys keep track of everything?’ question. If the earth and the universe are being destroyed and rebuilt every so often, how do the Hindus confidently state that we are in the 51st year of Brahma? How did the information about the previous epochs get transferred across the epochs? The Hindu calendar is so precisely documented that they have every Manu in every epoch documented going all the way back to the beginning of the life of Brahma himself. How is this even possible? Should we dismiss this as carefully planned deception and bunkum? If it is deception, why would anyone go to such trouble to plan such elaborate deception when easier routes are available?

There is something inspiring about the way we humans have looked at time, especially those in the Vedic tradition. The next time you observe or perform a ritual, hopefully I have made it a more interesting exercise for us. Hopefully, it will make you wonder about the grand scale of this amazing universe and its life time, our own insignificance in the scheme of things that are destined till the end of time and the transcendent beauty of the nature of enquiry itself.

Let me wind up for now, with another quote from Carl Sagan on Hindu cosmology:

“The Hindu religion is the only one of the world’s great faiths dedicated to the idea that the Cosmos itself undergoes an immense, indeed an infinite, number of deaths and rebirths. It is the only religion in which the time scales correspond, to those of modern scientific cosmology. Its cycles run from our ordinary day and night to a day and night of Brahma, 8.64 billion years long. Longer than the age of the Earth or the Sun and about half the time since the Big Bang. And there are much longer time scales still.”

Happy journeys!

PS: For a topic as complex as this, I’d be surprised if there were no errors in the way I’ve understood things. I stand by, ready to correct errors and mis-statements. Do write and let me know if you see anything amiss. Thanks.

Tagged as: opinion, religion, science, spirituality

On Creativity: The Dance with the Divine

September 16, 2012 · 2 comments in THE JAUNDICED EYE

Earlier this week, I happened to read an outstanding interview of Doug Casey, an investment guru of some sorts, in which he is scathingly critical of the school system that we have today. This prompted me to go back and re-watch the famous video of Sir Ken Robinson talking about “how education is killing creativity.” This made me wonder as to the nature of creativity, and how it happens. So, I found another video by Steven Johnson, in which he talks about how creativity happens. All of this in turn led to thoughts such as, “If creativity is such an amazing thing, why aren’t more of us creating things? Why is there a notion that creativity and pain are inseparable? Why do artists lead tortured existences and can creativity arise only out of pain?”

Here’s a synopsis of what I learnt, and my accompanying thoughts.

On why our schools are killing creativity (by Sir Ken Robinson)

What is creativity? There are many ways to describe it. I rather like the one which describes creativity as divergence in thought – an ability to consider infinite possibilities in the place of one or few. We are all born with it. Tragically, it dies within most of us by the time we cross the age of ten. Studies have demonstrated this. Conformity is the enemy of creativity, which likes to run unfettered and unshackled. The way we are schooled is much like the factory model, regimented and structured, and meant to enforce standards and conformity. This was borne out of the elitist notion during the Age of Enlightenment in Europe that most humans needed “schooling,” and out of the necessity created by the Industrial Revolution for a trained workforce. For a couple of centuries, the concept of “education through schooling” gained momentum on the back of the premise that “if you worked hard and went to college, you would find a job and become prosperous.” This worked for a minority of students who performed well on “standardized tests” and went on to obtain fine jobs and fat paychecks. For a large majority, it meant being relegated to the ranks of the “average” or “poor,” unfairly so because the schooling system did not value creativity that each of them possessed to begin with. The system continues till date, and hasn’t changed significantly over the last 100 years.

How does creativity happen? Where do good ideas come from? (by Steven Johnson)

Steven Johnson argues that creative breakthroughs don’t come through accidental moments of epiphany. Rather, they are the slow buildup of several related hunches (some which are ours, and some from others) which collide in our sub-conscious to produce what appear to be spontaneous bursts of inspiration. Great ideas require time to incubate before they hatch. He also makes the point that we live in an increasingly connected world of Facebook and mobile phones, which, although distracting, help connect us with others who may provide the missing hunches so we can assemble the whole picture for ourselves.

Why aren’t more of us creating things? Why is there a notion that great art comes only out of pain?

All of us love to create. We like to do things that we can get better at. Yet, we suppress these instincts for most of, if not all our lives. And, when leisure visits in our retirement years, we are at a loss as to how to fill our time. Why do we suppress our creative instincts and not let them flower? There are a couple of obvious reasons and one that is not so obvious.

First is the fear of punishment. In spite of all that is said, most workplaces do not reward creativity. So, we try to excel in our vocations through conformance rather than disruption. In most professions, except in a handful, predictability and stability are more valued than the inherently unstable process of creativity. Thus, we become slaves to standards and processes, and creativity dies a slow, painful death over time.

The second reason for loss in creativity is not so obvious. This is the ‘expert complex’ that we develop over time. Interestingly, research shows that the higher the intelligence, the lesser the creativity. Those with scores of 120 and higher on IQ tests have tended to perform poorly on creative fronts. These are ‘smart’ people, ‘who get it’ instantaneously and impatiently turn their minds away from considering other possibilities. As we get better at doing things, we become experts. Once we become experts, we spend our time defending the mountains we’ve built, rather than exploring new terrain. And thus, we turn ourselves away from creative pursuits.

The third reason is the fear of failure. As much as we enjoy creative pursuits, we carry with us a deep-seated fear of “not being good enough” at it. Since rewards from creativity are given only to those who scale its summits, we prefer to play it safe and pursue the mundane where even mediocrity is tolerated and compensated.

Even great, successful artists carry a fear of failure. Barbra Streisand, the singer who’s sold millions of records, once confessed to stage fright and shies away from live performances. In fact, success seems to bring with it an even greater fear of failure. The fear that somehow the artist does not possess what it takes to top the previous astounding accomplishment. This weirdly inexplicable fear drives a successful artist into drinking gin at ten in the morning, and drags him through a tortured existence to an early grave. Why is it so?

Is it the individual or the genius which creates?

Ancient notions of creativity described the individual as too insignificant, even incapable of creation by himself. Creativity was the divine spirit that ‘passed’ through him when it chose to visit him. They maintained a “distance” between the individual and his creation by attributing credit to the ‘genius’ who came to visit the artist and transported her to the realms of the divine.

In the Hindu tradition, to create is to dance with the Lord. An indelible image of Lord Shiva is that of Lord Nataraja, “the Lord of the Dance,” of the great temple of Chidambaram in Tamil Nadu. The Ananda Thaandava of Lord Shiva represents his five activities – shrishti (creation), sthiti (preservation), samhara (destruction), tirobhava (illusion), and anugraha (emancipation), through which he maintains the harmony of the universe. To witness the dance of the divine spirit is to see the world truly as it is – an endless moment of cosmic creativity in which birth, life and death come and go to every entity in this universe.

The ancient Greeks and Romans viewed the creative process similarly. The Greeks had a word for the spirits whose possess our bodies during inspirational moments of creativity. They called these spirits ‘daemons.’ The Romans called this divine helper a ‘genius.’

It was only during the period of Renaissance that the notion of the individual himself being considered a genius and not separate from it, came about, and has stuck on since. One can speculate that this dissociation of the individual from the creative spirit may have led to extreme egotism and narcissism among artists and resulted in their tortured existences over the last five centuries.

When we regard ourselves as not responsible for creation, and merely as instruments of the divine spirit – there can be no room for pain.

We were born to create.

Great art may come out of great pain. But, the greatest of art comes from the greatest of bliss. To create is to let go of the few, and to embrace the infinite. It is to surrender to and dissolve oneself into the genius when it comes to possess, and draw it forth into expressions of exquisite beauty. To create is to dance with the divine spirit, with Nataraja himself.

This is the work we were born to do. Happy journeys.