A Pilgrim

Mangish: mysticism , altruism and collectivism

 Saurav: what does that mean??

   three totally different things??

Mangish: three over-rated tenets which ought not be there in the perfect society

Gaurav: perfect society at the first place is bullshit

and they might be over rated but can’t say that they are not required

Mangish: yes it is.. the attampts can be made to get closer to that end of the spectrum ..

Saurav: perhaps…..But I am not sure…..What is at the end of spectrum…something in our fancies may exist whch is virtual

Mangish: realism individualism and perfectionism

Gaurav: now what are these??

Mangish: being practical .. serving individual needs first .. not crushing individual rights in the mask of the “common good” and progressing continually

Saurav: yes definately…agreed

true very true

Mangish: these are the other end of the spectrum ..one where the society should graduate to..

Saurav: I don’t know…perhaps two ends don’t exist…

the nature points towards circle…perhaps both these ends converge to same end…

Perhaps

I don’t know anyways

Mangish: if two ends dont exist then you can make them meet in the first place

Saurav: ???

in circle where is the end??

its cyclic

no end

nothing

Mangish: no but in order to complete the circle you need continuity

Saurav: yeah…so whats the problem…?

continuity can be assured

and, by the way, there can be moments of emptiness….where even continuity is not required

electrons jump from one shell to another…and I think there is nothing in between two shells.

Mangish: if there is a gradual change in any attribute from one end to the other then obviously two extreme ends exist. Although they may converge cyclically but that doesnt refute their existence

Saurav: ya.. perhaps…but if they are converging…so how can one be superior to another….both yielding to same result

isn’t it??

 Mangish: then i guess it boils down to what stage of the cycle you are present!!

 Saurav: as in???

please explain a bit

 Mangish: same with business cycle.. simply beacuse we know that recession and boom woud come cyclically doesnt mean that we stop making attempts to minimise the recession time and maximise boom time..

all macroeconic policies are infact directed towards that end

 Saurav: yeah….right…..but macroeconomics is subset of ilfe…so I feel we need to refine its principles before generelazing…

anyways forget it

endless and wasteful discussion it is…

Mangish: yeah !! it surely is

Note: This was actual gtalk chat between two individuals, one of them is my good friend and if I quote his words, he was “just gassing around”. Mangish and Saurav are not real names

Chachnama(Arab account of conquest of Sind)

Chach- Brahmin Ascetic

Queen of Sind(one of the province of present day Pakistan) falls in love with Chach and upon death of King of Sind, gets all relatives slaughtered and got Chach made King.
Deceased King’s brother from nearby kingdom challenges Chach for one-one combat, Chach tells him that, “I am a brahmin, Brahmin do not fight on horseback”. Hearing this, brother of deceased King’s brother dismounts and taking advantage of which, Chach jumps on the horse and cuts off his head.

After ruling for some 40 years, upon death of Chach, his brother took over but was soon succeeded by son of Chach. Son of Chach was Dahir. One interesting fact about Dahir, mentioned in the same book(Naipaul’s Beyond Belief), was the story: when he was told by some famous astrologer that husband of his sister will rule Sind, Dahir married his own sister(must have been symbolic marriage though)!!
By the end of seventh century, Hajaj became governor of “Iraq, Hind and Sind”- Hajjaj was paternal uncle of Muhhamad bin Qasim, he sent Qasim to conquer Sind. Qasim failed once but then with persistence managed to defeat and kill Dahir.

Rest of the account taken from wiki:

The account from the Chachnama narrates a tale according to which the during Muhammad bin Qasim s governorship, the daughters of Dahir were taken captive and were sent on as presents to the Khalifa for his harem. The account relates that they then tricked the Khalifa into believing that Muhammad bin Qasim had violated them before sending them on and as a result of this subterfuge, Muhammad bin Qasim was wrapped in oxen hides and returned to Syria, resulting in his death en route from suffocation. This narrative attributes the motive for this subterfuge to securing vengeance for their father’s death. Upon discovering this subterfuge, the Khalifa is recorded to have been filled with remorse and ordered the sisters buried alive in a wall.

The title of this poem was taken from a verse by ancient Roman poet, Horace.
Translated from Latin it means, ‘I am not as I was under the reign of the good Cynara.’

Cynara

Non sum qualis eram bonae sub regno Cynarae

Last night, ah, yesternight, betwixt her lips and mine
There fell thy shadow, Cynara! thy breath was shed
Upon my soul between the kisses and the wine;
And I was desolate and sick of an old passion,
Yea, I was desolate and bowed my head:
I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.

All night upon mine heart I felt her warm heart beat,
Night-long within mine arms in love and sleep she lay;
Surely the kisses of her bought red mouth were sweet;
But I was desolate and sick of an old passion,
When I awoke and found the dawn was gray:
I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.

I have forgot much, Cynara! gone with the wind,
Flung roses, roses riotously with the throng,
Dancing, to put thy pale, lost lilies out of mind;
But I was desolate and sick of an old passion,
Yea, all the time, because the dance was long:
I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.

I cried for madder music and for stronger wine,
But when the feast is finished and the lamps expire,
Then falls thy shadow, Cynara! the night is thine;
And I am desolate and sick of an old passion,
Yea, hungry for the lips of my desire:
I have been faithful to thee, Cynara! in my fashion.

Ernest Dowson
(1867-1900)

 Before joining IIT Kanpur in the year 2003, I happened to spend few weeks with one of my friend studying at IIT Delhi, I stayed in his room in Aravali hostel for the period. During the same period, I got to make new friends both within campus and outside of campus, one such friend was Vijayant Singh who came to stay in Aravali hostel around the same time for his mandatory internship as part of his National Law school Jodhpur curriculum(even though internship was at TERI but somehow he managed to get room at IIT Delhi Hostel). That was first time, I thought about law as career option and was in fact impressed by possibilities in this field. Vijayant took me to TERI with him, where he was doing internship and introduced me to some of his friends there, during the course of conversation with them I got to know about the kind of work they are into, like when I visited them, some study on river linking project was going on. One of his friend told me about how she went on to do previous trainings with UN agencies, NGOs, and so on. This all was so much interesting for me, something I would really love to do and I regretted then that national law school was unknown to me as an option so far.

After spending two years at IIT Kanpur, creating enough of mess with myself academically and personally, I called quit and decided to do a quick graduation in order to be eligible for management program at some good B School. Three year Maths hons at Delhi University college was decided finally as the program to be pursued, though other options like Bachelors in commerce  and bachelors in art through correspondence were also considered. It was not easy for me to make this transition from IIT to this college of Delhi University, more difficult part was to attend classes in all together different setting. Right from classrooms to teachers to students, every aspect of this new college life made me feel uncomfortable. In between I considered option of national law school but I was disappointed to know that by the time I could appear in next entrance, I would have passed 21 years of age and hence ineligible to go for that. Next three years make a separate story in itself which is not subject of this post so skipping all that in between, as thought earlier about next thing to do after graduation, I appeared in B School entrance tests and after group discussions and interviews, finally managed to get a place in MDI Gurgaon.

MDI Gurgaon made me feel alive again,  to put in better words, made me feel young again. But that fun was to last only for first 3 months, for some reasons, I came back home again. Situation at home was tense, everything seemed to be going great since last few months and again train seems to have derailed. Next dream shared with parents was that of civil services and soon enough, seeing will of God and some grand plans on the part of almighty for me in future, my mother and father made peace with me. Nothing much changed for me, I continued reading books, buying more and more every month rather than relying on library as in the past. To be on safer side along with preparation of one such exam, I thought of pursuing MA political science from IGNOU, even got the application form but then dropped the idea. Appearing for JNU entrance exam next year for MA programs was also appealing to me but then I remembered law again and decided to go for Faculty of law Delhi University, there are 1500 seats and with this many seats I was sure of making it to law faculty. As for civil services exam preparation, my interest readings in any case covers most of syllabus for general studies and that of one of my optional subject which is philosophy, but my first optional is mathematics and I have somehow lost zeal to study this subject any more.  Finally, I appeared for law entrance for Delhi University on 22nd March 2009, this time question paper was allowed to be taken back home and that made it easy for me to calculate my probable marks secured which I calculated to be comfortably above 400 out of 700 and hence admission was almost confirmed. Result was declared within next 10 days and I was pleasantly surprised to find myself at General category rank 10.

This seems like a good omen and I have finally decided to take plunge into legal field.  First legal stalwart who impressed me was Nani A Palkhivala, he was introduced to me by Granville Austin and then I followed that up with books authored by Palkhivala titled “we the people” and “we the nation”. Further, I read biography of Nani Palkhivala by M V Kamanth last year only. There is one good article on Nani Palkhivala by Soli Sorabjee which can be easily searched on Internet. Recently I purchased H M Seervai’s three volumes on constitutional law, I intend to study them religiously along with constitutional assembly debates(five volumes). Last read book was by M C Setalvad, first attorney General of India, titled “My life: law and other things”. “My own Boswell” by M Hidayatullah, “the court and the constitution of India” by O. Chinnappa Reddy and “Democracy and constitutionalism in India” by Sudhir Krishnaswamy are being read currently. Before the actual commencement of program at Campus law centre, I hope to get over with at least this much.

God bless me

Not all who seem to fail have failed indeed;
Not all who fail have therefore worked in vain;
For all our acts to many issues lead;
And out of earnest purpose, pure and plain,
Enforced by honest toil of hand or brain,
The Lord will fashion in his own good time
(Be this the laborer’s proudly humble creed),
Such ends as in his wisdom, fitliest chime
With his vast love’s eternal harmonies.
There is no failure for the good and wise;
What though thy seed should fall by the wayside,
And the birds snatch it?–Yet the birds are fed;
Or they may bear it far across the tide,
To give rich harvests after thou art dead.”

 
By J R Miller

The Young officer does not know when he will be able to go back home. He does not know when his day will be over. As soon as he reports to the police station for the posting, he gets a huge number of case files of predecessors who got transferred elsewhere. So he begins with the arrears from his day one. He does not know what has been recorded in case files so far, but he becomes responsible for all the errors of omission and commission. Alongside, he get new cases for investigation every day. He has no assistant. He does not even get enough time to investigate, as there is no separation of investigation duties from law and order work. His whole day is spent in courts(which insist on his presence), with the prosecution branch(which repeatedly calls him), visits to Doctors(who also expect repeat visits), and the forensic science laboratories(which exercise great discretion). He has to conduct inquiries on a number of complaints received daily at the police station, attend law and order duties(demonstrations/possessions/VIP routes), be on emergency duties, and even do night or day patrolling. He has no official transport. He does it all on his own scooter. On his return to the police station, his SHO(Station House Officer) questions him about what he has done the whole day. He is asked about the cases pending with him, because the SHO has to answer to his own seniors. He, therefore, rushes to complete his case files, at times contrary to rules, in order to meet the deadlines. Alongside, he spends money out of his own pocket for meeting investigation costs, some legitimate some not. He gets no advance money even when sent on outstation duties. To recoup his own money, he has to prepare still more papers and answer many queries. Often, he just gives up. The experienced young officers do not even ask for reimbursements. They make the complainant or someone else pay. For any wrong detected, the young officer can give no excuse. He gets punished.

Taken from ‘Indian Police… As I See’ by Kiran Bedi

Nasrudin is walking past a cave when he sees a yogi, deep in
meditation, and he asks the yogi what he is searching for. The yogi
says:

‘I study the animals and have learned many lessons from them that can
transform a man’s life.’

‘A fish once saved my life,’ Nasrudin replies. ‘If you teach me
everything you know, I will tell you how it happened.’

The Yogi is astonished; only a holy man could be saved by a fish. And
he decides to teach Nasrudin everything he knows.

When he has finished, he says to Nasrudin:

‘Now that I have taught you everything, I would be proud to know how a
fish saved your life.’

‘Very simple,’ says Nasrudin, ‘I was almost dying of hunger when I
caught it and, thanks to that fish, I had enough food for three days.’

Taken from Paulo Coelho’s blog,

http://paulocoelhoblog.com/2007/07/26/the-fish-who-saved-my-life/–

“We should never make the mistake of assuming that the rightness of cause can even eventually ensure its success. We live in a world of power. Power exercised without regard to morality is a crime against humanity; but morality cannot prevail without the backing of power”

G.S. Bajpai in a lecture on the balance of power.

” The defence expenditure of United states of America, in 2003, exceeded the combined total of the next 15 biggest defence spenders, also, in the same year, it spent more on military R&D than the combined total of the next 6 major spenders.”

“Japan is re-inventing itself as a major military and political power. Its post-world war 2 Constitution debars Japan from maintaining ‘Land, sea and air forces, as well as other war potential’. This constitutional provision was interpreted imaginatively on several occasions, commencing from 1954, when it was re-interpreted as permitting the maintenance of ground, maritime and air self-defence forces in order to ‘preserve peace and independence of the nation and maintain internal security.’ In 1992, it was decided to employ them abroad specifically for UN peacekeeping operations. In 2001, self-defense force was authorised to support the US and other countries in combating ‘newly discovered post 9/11′ terrorism. In 2003, the requirement of UN mandate was dropped and Japanese units were sent to Iraq for ‘humanitarian assistance and reconstruction’. Defence expenditure was kept down to 1 percent of GDP till 1987 but due to spectacular growth of Japanese economy, in absolute terms defence expenditure kept on growing rapidly. Japan now has a defence budget of around US$ 50 billion, enabling it to maintain a 240,000 strong self-defence force armed with the latest conventional weapons.” ( India has a defence budget of mere US$ 22 billion supporting far more larger force than that of Japan)

“During the last 8 or 10 years, it has been a convenient policy for successful politicians in the United states and some other countries to blame for everything Islamic fundamentalism. These is no doubt that there is connection between the two but there have been non-Islamic or extra-Islamic, or intra-Islamic terrorist activities in recent world history, in Oklahoma in the United States, in the LTTE movement in Sri Lanka, in the Sunni-Shia violence in Iraq, in case of provisional IRA in Ireland and in the terrible holocaust of cambodia. What is common to all this is not Islam but the multiplier effect of modern communications and advertisement in exaggerating differences.”

“There was no consensus on the definition of terrorism at the world Summit in New York in 2005. Some countries insist that ‘freedom fighters’ should be exempted from this definition.”

“India has always sought to reassure its neighbours that it respects their independence and sovereignty. What it regards as unhelpful is the display of narrow nationalism based on hostility towards India that often becomes a cover for failure to deliver on promises  made to their own peoples.”

Karl Deutsc called a pluralistic security community as one where “there is real assurance that the members of that community will not fight each other physically but will settle their disputes in some other way.”

“The Arab nation has a common language and culture and largely a common religion; none of this has helped cooperation or even prevent intra-Arab war. Europe has a common religion and a common Graeco-Roman culture; in May 1910 the sovereigns of Europe gathered in London for the funeral of King Edward VII. Among them was the German Kaiser, who was a  member of the British royal family, which in turn was related to all the other rulers who were there, including Russia, Austria, Belgium, Italy; there could hardly be more to common culture than belong to same geographic space, the same history and culture, even the same family; but a year alter all of them were at war. It is true that cultural commonality is not a hindrance to cooperation; history does not show that it is necessarily a help.

Indian Foreign policy: Challenges and Opportunities ed. Atish Sinha and Madhup Mohta

A tribute…

“Is there any rule that both the Karnataka chief minister and Kerala chief minister should go together to his home? If not for Sandeep’s house, not even a dog would have gone there.“ 

V.S. Achuthanandan
Kerala Chief Minister

Rahul in party mood soon after Mumbai crisis

By