Poverty

If Einstein ever dwelled on the topic of “poverty” he would have said in a matter of fact manner, “it is relative” and had Darwin got time to think on it. He would have said, “It is evolutionary”. Both the great minds could not have been wrong because it is relative as well as evolutionary.

It is relative because it differs from person to person society to society. It is evolutionary because government of India is trying to define a new statistical figure (after 60 years of independence) to qualify someone as being “in poverty”.

In India because of its complex and myriad layers of societal structures it is difficult to define “poverty” and the even greater challenging work is to define “poor”. To understand the complexity let us examine the basic levels of poverty/richness as defined by general population.

• Upper Class (includes super rich class)

• Middle Class

a. Upper-Middle Class

b. Middle-Middle Class

c. Lower-Middle Class

• Lower Class

• Poor

• BPL (below poverty line)

Because of the economic strides India has made, the size of the Middle class (and its three subclasses) has swelled considerably. That is good news because it is an indication that more people are moving from lower levels to higher level of economy. Government is happy about it and not because people are happy but because it got a larger base to get Tax from.

The government’s this happiness is bit soured by the equally uncomfortable fact that the size of the BPL class has swelled with alarming pace. This BPL category expansion is worrying because it is indication of failure of government policies and poverty alleviation departments. The enormous BPL size is a hard factual proof that government has failed miserably.

Now, our government with its magical statistical genius is trying to reduce the BPL size not by doing something meaningful about it but they are doing something cleverer and something more “logical”. They are redefining the threshold of BPL so that a large number of people will no more be considered BPL class! How intelligent with one master stroke the government with its great wisdom has reduced poverty in India.

I am wondering in today’s India how much of being poor is poor enough to be considered BPL.

Can you think of a number? Something that will make you a BPL category (just think hypothetically!).

Our great government is actually close to doing that and the magic number is Rs. 20/-. Yes if your daily income is less than or equal to Rs. 20 you are the lucky/unlucky BPL candidate. If you earn Rs 21/- sorry you lost your access to quality(?) government services run under the “BPL Schemes”.

Just think for a moment on that number. I believe even a roadside beggar earns more than that daily. So to become BPL you have to be even worse than a beggar!

The people at planning commission and other agencies who mull on BPL aspects must be on some high while they proposed that number! How high and ignorant they have become is exemplified by this sort of silly number.

My opinion, a person whose monthly income is below Rs 6,000/- should be considered BPL because of spiraling cost of food, shelter, medicine, education etc in today’s India. And it should be responsibility of the government to build infrastructures and services where these people could have adequate educational and medical services, and easy access to interest free home loans. I know, this will make the BPL class even much bigger in size than the middle class. That will be a negative growth and since government can’t do that they have taken an easy way out, reduce the BPL class size.

If government is really worried about “aam aadmi” (the common people) then instead of coming out with silly number like Rs 20/per day they should rather do something that will address the concerns of BPL class. I would ask them to live a life not on Rs 20/per day but Rs 100/ per day for few months and then come back to their air conditioned rooms and then redefine BPL.

Once I heard a slogan something like this:

“Garibi hatane ke liye hum garibon ko hata denge” (to remove poverty we will remove poor people)

Our current government is hell bent on this principle and implementing it in word and spirit.

The ring and the chain

Once upon a time there was a man. He worked hard and accumulated some money to fulfill his longtime wish to purchase a golden ring and a golden chain for himself. He was very proud of these two possessions. Wherever he used to go unmistakably he would wear these two ornaments. Each night before going to bed he would methodically take off the ring and the chain and after having a longing look at them he would then keep them in a safe.

Time moved on with its uncanny regularity. After several months, suddenly in the middle of the night the man heard someone crying. He thought he was dreaming but then he tried and figured out that the voice was coming from the direction of the safe. Bewildered he moved closer to the safe and was almost about to faint when he heard, “Oh Lord! Why me” clearly emanating from the inside of the safe. After regaining his composure, he moved further and placed his hear along the side of the safe and tried to listen. He heard a hurt voice complaining something.

“Oh Lord! Why me?” the voice exclaimed. What have I done to deserve this life of ignominy? Why you have done this to me? Am I not qualified for better things in life? Look at me. You made me a chain and see what sort of life I have. I have no recognition and hardly any reputation. The master wears me around the neck. In summers I suffer with his sweat and smell. Lord! Do you have any idea how messy that place is? In winters I am covered under heavy cloths. Hardly anyone can see me. See how dirty I look. Master rarely cleans me. I just remain hanged up there and generally tucked under clothes. I hardly get any chance to breathe fresh air or enjoy sunlight. My life is so miserable oh lord. Help me, free me from this life or else I will kill myself.

While the man was trying to figure out all this he heard another voice, very calm and serene. The voice said, “O! Chain I am the Lord, what has happened to you? Why are you so desperate? What you want?”

Hearing these words the chain fumbled and inquired, “Are you the Lord? I mean the Lord as in Lord”.

Lord answered, “Yes my son I am the Lord, don’t’ you remember you just called me a while ago”.

Without losing a moment the chain with all eagerness explained to the Lord about his miserable life. After hearing all of chain’s story the Lord asked , “So what you want me to do, son?”

The chain requested that instead of chain he should be given the glamorous life of the ring. When asked by Lord why he wanted rings life the chain explained that ring’s life is full of fame. It is always in the news. Everybody seems to ask about it. It is always clean and shiny. It is a more outgoing style statement. It always gets the fresh air and sunlight.

After listening chain’s wish the lord said, “O! Chain as per your wish from tomorrow you will have a life of a ring. Are you sure you want this?”

The chain impatiently said, “Damn sure I am, just make me a ring! Will you?”

The Lord said “So be it!”

Perplexed by all this commotion the man stood beside the safe for some time. When he heard no more voice he went to bed but couldn’t sleep all night. The next morning, the man having million doubts in his mind about the night’s incident opened the safe. He was surprised to see a second ring, bigger and brighter than the first one. The man marveled at Lord’s blessing and took both the rings happily. He put bigger and brighter ring on the right hand finger and the smaller older one on the left hand finger. The man was proud of both the rings.

As per his habit the man would keep both the rings in the safe before going to bed. Few months later, suddenly in the middle of the night he heard the familiar crying voice. He couldn’t believe but the veiling voice was coming from the same safe. Surprised, the man went near the safe and tried to listen to the voice.

“Oh! Lord, you are so mean, so rude, how could you do this to me?” the voice complained. The ring that was once a chain was crying out loud. Seeing this, the Lord appeared and asked the ring the reason for its sorrow.

The ring complained about the miseries of its new life. The ring said that the master is an accountant and for long hours he uses pen to do his work. The pen’s body is rough and whole day the ring is rubbed by the pen. Because of this the ring got many rashes over his body. The ring said that the master is obsessive about cleanliness and therefore every hour washes his hands. In winters the weather is too cold and the master uses nothing to cover his hands. The ring said that because of severe cold it could die of pneumonia!

The Lord fed up of this constant rant of the ring said, “What you want from me son?”

The ring said, “Lord I don’t know what to ask for. I am not happy with this life too. How can I be happy? Make me something, anything so that I can be happy. ”

The Lord smiled and asked, “Who are you?”

The ring said, “Don’t you know Lord? I am the ring, you made me like this.”

The Lord said, “What were you earlier?”

The sing said, “I was a chain, now I feel, I was better that way, perhaps.”

“And before that?” the Lord said.

“What do you mean by before that, I am ring before that i was a chain. That’s it” said the ring wriggled with frustration.

Lord with all the calmness in his voice asked again, “Who are you?”

The ring said losing his temper, “You tell me who I am? You are the Lord.”

Lord said, “Don’t you really know who you are?”

Seeing the uneasiness growing in the ring the Lord explained, “All your life you have been gold. You are not the ring, you are not the chain but you are the precious gold. Before you became chain or ring you were gold and when you will be none of it, still you will be gold. Realize yourself not as a ring or chain but as gold and you shall find happiness and peace in any form. The problems that you explained to me are because of the form that you attained. And you will continue to find some other problems even if I bless you with another form. The miseries that you consider so troublesome are because of the form. But who are you actually the form or the gold? If you sincerely consider yourself as gold, you will find all these so called miseries vanish in a moment. Realize your true nature and that is gold; accept it and you will be happy in any form ”

Having given this truth to the ring the lord turned the ring into the chain. The chain thanked the lord for his mercy.

The man who listened to all this conversation started thinking about his own life. How he has been complaining about his life, of not having job satisfaction, of not earning enough to have a big house, a big car and all sorts of things. The man realized the fallacy of all these complains, he realized that like the gold he is pure soul and the Lord blessed the soul to have a body and a life. Before the birth of the body the soul existed and after the demise of the body the soul will continue to exist.

On that night before going to bed the man thanked Lord for helping him realize the eternal nature of soul and perishable nature of the body.

“through seeking Him we realize our true nature”

Three Cheers!

(in chronological order)

Cheer 1 : Team India lifting the Cricket World Cup. It was a picture perfect portrayal of a gutsy team that demolished demons of its past and knocked down the best of opponents to rightfully claim the world cup.

Cheer 2 : Dada (Saurav Ganguly) showing his mettle and proving everybody wrong. The man, who rebuilt team India from ashes, surprisingly was meted out some harsh treatment by political backbiting and was dumped to dishonor. But the destiny’s child proved his worth when everybody wrote him off. The man does like to comeback after each setback.

Cheer 3 : Didi (Mamata Bannerjee) for her indomitable spirit, perseverance and 13 long years of struggle to free the people of Bengal.

13^th May 2011, will be remembered as the day when people of Bengal got their second independence from the tyranny of an “outdated ideology”.

“When the EVMs will be opened tomorrow, it will be found that the Left Front has won by a very good margin” – Biman Bose, CPM State Secretary, on the eve of counting

The poor man had no idea, not even a fraction of it when he uttered those (un)prophetic words. But to be fair to the man, one has to admit that he was not the only one hallucinating, it was his whole party and its mechanism that was in self-induced state of denial. The pity is that after the EVMs have been opened and counted the man not only lost his seat but will not be able to close his eyes for a good night sleep for some time to come . Once in a while, fact is stranger than fiction and 13^th May 2011 was a testimony to it.

This inability to read peoples mind led the Left Front to coin the slogan “ashtam bam front sorkar” (8^th Left Front government) as a last resort to create a dream world where they could relive their organized glory days. It didn’t matter to them what the whole world was telling them because like an ostrich they had buried their heads a long time ago. Therefore it was just a matter of time before they were dumped.

The proof that people have unambiguously rejected Left Fronts (LF) from the canvas of Bengal can be found in following facts:-

In 2008 (Panchayat polls) – left front rejected.

In 2009 (Loksabha polls) - left front rejected.

In 2011 (civic polls) - left front rejected.

In 2011 (Assembly polls) - left front rejected.

The defeat could not have been more shameful. 28 of LF bigwigs (all of them holding ministerial position in the government and considered infallible by many) were grounded by the winds of change and the fatalities included the Chief Minister (Budhadeb Bhattacharya) and considered-next-in-waiting-chief-minister (Gautam Deb). The man who popularized the term “pratyabartan” (turnaround), in all its irony couldn’t save himself from the public trashing.

The verdict of 13^th May is significant not only because of the demise of Left Front but also because it is rejection of an ideology that lived beyond its expiry date. India is a democratic country but the Left never believed in that, they always hallucinated in some alien ideology. Their success was based on two principles – Propaganda and Censorship. The Propaganda machinery to mislead and control the masses. The Censorship machinery to avoid and crush any dissent.

The “only one good genuine thing” that the Left Front did in its early days was to do land reforms that gave it an unquestioning loyal voter base. It was a long range tactical move that was done by some well intentioned leaders for the genuine good of the people. But sadly it was also the last good thing that they ever did to Bengal.

Left’s rule is full of wrong moves, policies and aimless arrogance that pushed Bengal to the brink. Systematically one after another they destroyed the education system, industry through militant trade unions, healthcare, civil administration, police control, cultural freedom. This was the only government in whole of India that in its great wisdom stopped English education in schools, opposed Information technology, Investments, and created an environment where industries couldn’t survive. Honestly that was the picture from 1977 to 2000 under the Left Front’s “regime”. Post 2000 when they opened their eyes to the realities it was too late. The party was in self-conflict since 2001. They could not figure out what to do exactly to clear the mess they had created.

In other states Governments are referred as “Government”, but in Bengal the state government was referred as Left’s Regime and there, in that very name lies the sparks of downfall that burned them. The Regime was very scientific in its approach by creating some extra-constitutional bodies that would ensure their hold on power. They created a parallel government of sorts that superseded the actual elected government. They created a special cadre force that superseded the police force. They created a system where party supporters would get paid in cash or kind. They successfully created a “Façade of the Party” that common man could not escape. A common man was compelled go to the “Party office” instead of Police because people were aware of the real “boss”. It is not surprising that Bengal has 80 police personal per 100000 citizens while Punjab has 255, more surprising Bengal’s population is much higher than Punjab! It’s no wonder who policed the state.

It’s a matter of shame and concern that because of 34 years long wrong governance through misguided and whimsical policies that state of Bengal is in utter misery. The state has 2 Lakh crore of debt. I wonder what the so called Left’s supporters have been supporting for. The state of Bengal after independence was the state with highest per capita income, had one of the largest concentration of industries, had best of the premier educational institutes, the people of Bengal were envied by other states because of its opulence. And what has happened to it in 34 years of Left’s regime?

Now Bengal has become synonymous with graveyard, wasteland, and hollow intellectual skeleton. The “sonar bangla” (golden bengal) seems to be the epithet of yore. It has become “kangal bangla” (bankrupt bengal).

It is my belief that people have voted for “Change” but it is more important to realize what kind of change. The people want a change in the attitude of governance; they want change in the policy of education, healthcare, industry and land reforms. They want the change that will have meaningful effects on the lives of common man. They want the change in the “ora-amra” (they and us) divisive rule.

It is hoped and expected that the Left Front, at least after getting a loud and clear message will pack its bag and go back to the meeting room and start the process of “shuddhikaran” (purification) in an earnest and sincere manner. It is advisable if they want to form their 8^th Left Front government they should wait till 2021 and allow the new government to work properly for the whole of Bengal. People had given them chance and surely people will give them another chance but for that they must wait and earn it themselves.

People want “paribartan” (change) and they have opted for it, should the desired change doesn’t come, people will bring another change no doubt about it, but never underestimate people’s power, never undermine their aspirations, and never ignore the winds of change. Bengal should and must become the best by regaining its lost glory. Amen!

Finally, three cheers for the people of Bengal.

Godown of Sugar

[warning : long post]

The Vedas say – “Through him everything shines. Everything exists because of his existence.”

He is the magician the real one, the magic is his work and it is the illusion. But for us because of our ignorance and also because his magic is so true, so strong and so perfect that we start to believe more in the magic than the magician. Because of our body, our innate affinity towards the magic is more inclined than to the magician. We easily get deviated by the creations of the creator and as the illusion grows, the creator cease to exist.

The eager mind asks why so? Why He will hide himself from his own creations?

Short answer – he is not at all hiding himself, his presence is everywhere, but yes we have failed to see him, or worst we have consciously wanted not to see him anymore. He comes to us in many forms but we don’t recognize him anymore.

And the long answer goes like this... It is for the same reason a magician values his magic more than himself. The magician wants the audience to appreciate his magic, his expertise in magic and to do that the magician must become invisible to raise his magic. The magician willingly wants his magic to be bigger than himself. God created this world not to please anybody but the “magic” is just a part of him. He is witness to everything; he is the cause of everything and yet interferes with nothing.

He is the sole witness to our existence. He is the observer of our three states – awake, dreaming and deep sleep.

Awake – when we are awake, our senses make us aware of this world and we accept it through these senses. In this state we realize that there are two worlds – the inside world, that is “I” and outside world, that is everything that is not “I”.

Dreaming – in this state the outside world is non-existent. In dream we dwell on the inside world. The inside world is not constrained by the limitations of outside world. Surprisingly, we don’t need regular senses to feel the inside world and that is reason that even blind people can dream.

Deep sleep – in deep sleep both the inner and outer world cease to exist. It is this state when we lose sense of time, space or for that matter any dimension.

God is beyond these states, he is the observer of the states and therefore irrespective of our knowledge of our existence (life and death), he exists. Hence, regardless how much we know him or don’t know him, he exists on his own accord.

He is aloof from his creations. He is detached from his creations. He is neutral. He is not affected by anything and yet everything is his effect only.

Shri Ramkrishna gave a great example to comprehend the paradox. He equates God with a lamp. The lamp gives light. In that light a person can read a good book or commit a crime. There is no virtue or sin that the lamp incurs by the goodness or evilness of actions carried in its light. It cannot choose to light up when someone reads a good book and similarly cannot choose to go off when someone is committing a crime. The lamp is isolated observer, indifferent and without prejudice. He is neutral and impartial because good, evil, darkness, and light are his only. These are there because he is and yet he is immune to all this. He is everything and yet he himself is unaffected that’s the nature of him.

The curious mind asks another question. If he is so invisible because of illusions, if he is so difficult to define then how simple mortals can realize him?

The answer is already known to us since our beginning. Whole mankind have been idol worshiper in one form or other. Some looked towards the sky and prayed “thinking/believing” his existence to be there. Some took some stones and believed his existence to be there. Some took plants, some took animals, and some took humans to be his existence and embodiment. He is there in the cross, he is there in the arc, he is there in the om and yet people who know anything of him, know that he is none of it, these are just symbols of him. All untrained minds need a symbol to get a basic hold of him. As mind progresses, it becomes less dependent on symbols to realize him.

Shri Ramkrishna explained beautifully, he said that it is irrelevant what form or formlessness to choose to symbolize him because he is there in both. The most important aspect is whether one can see Him in form or formlessness. If one doesn’t than both are useless; and if one sees Him than both are equally useful and effective.

The inquiring mind asks again, but how can one know which form to concentrate on?

It is always easy to seek him through a “form” because it is so natural to us. One just cannot opt to seek him in formless state. Even if it is formless, it still will have some form. Man will only be able to seek him through “form” till he is aware of his ‘I’ consciousness. As long as one has this ‘I’ awareness he will continue to seek him in “form” only irrespective of nature of form. Only when man has lost the ‘I’ awareness only then he can truly seek Him in attribute less and formless nature (nirguna, nirakara).

And because seeking him in true attribute less and formless nature is so difficult and almost impossible for most of us, he comes to us not only in form but in live form as human. To make us aware of his existence he came to us in the form of Ram, Krishna, Jesus, Muhammad, Mahavir, Buddha and Nanak. He visited earth and came to us in “flesh-and-blood” so that we all can see him, hear him, touch him, feel him and then follow him.

Vedas say that “no one can limit him” he is form and formless and then neither of it too. It doesn’t matter which form of worship it is, what matters is that the worship must be with ‘bhakti’(devotion) and that is the easiest and surest way to seek him.

The eager mind pops up another question, how much of him can we know?

Answer is, as much as one can, but certainly, no one can truly fathom him completely. Once an ant foraging for food found a heap of sugar, the sugar leaked out from a sack kept over a bench. The ant ate just one grain and then could not eat anymore. He picked up another grain and went towards its nest. While walking back home he thought next time I will take the whole heap. We know that how foolish this ant is. The ant will not be able to consume the heap in its whole life (or even multiple lives). This heap was just a small part of sugar that fell from the sack and that sack was outside the godown that had thousands of sugar sacks. The bottom line is this that in billion, trillion, zillion lives the ant will not be able to consume it. It may eat few sacks of sugar and still it will not have any effect on the amount of sugar the godown has. In a sense we are just like that ant trying to truly understand Him in this miniscule life of ours. Even if we have millions of lives, still He will remain unknown and unexplored.

Once a wise man said stop comprehending him, it’s beyond our comprehension, it’s a waste of time, we got this life to worship him, therefore if we can just get a grain of God from God’s godown our lives will be full. We all need just little bit of Him and he is merciful enough to give us that.

***

And if one can understand the language then this is the one of the greatest songs to praise and understand HIM. Naaz Khiyaalvi wrote everything he could feel and Nusrat saab gave it the soul through his hypnotic voice. Enjoy it!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jo0EqAWHGdg&feature=related