The Gripe against Greed

What started as an encampment by a bunch of disgruntled individuals on September 17 in the financial district of New York City, has spread like wildfire across several nations within a span of 30 days. The “Occupy Wall Street” protest itself was inspired by the Arab Spring and the Spanish acampadas. An idea instigated by the Candadian activist group, Adbusters, it was initially dismissed by the media as a “circus” with a lack of clear message of what the hullabaloo was all about.

Indeed, I too am quite puzzled by this spontaneous spread of “Occupy” protests all over the US and internationally. Who are these people ? What are they protesting for ? What are their demands ? What will happen next ?

Are you as intrigued as I am ? Then let’s find out what we know so far about this ongoing, non-violent, “Tahrir Square” type demonstrations.

Who’s whining ?

To put it very crudely, it all seems like a rag-tag spectacle to me. At the time of writing this, protests were held from North and South America to Asia, Africa and Europe, with over 1,500 events in 82 countries, as part of a global day of action. Occupiers of different ages, races, walks of life, and political beliefs have joined the movement. The mix has grown quickly to include students, elderly people, families with children, construction workers on their lunch breaks, unemployed executives, war veterans, moms, and many others. So, right now anyone to everyone, from desperados to anarchists to socialists to liberals – anyone who wants to moan is jumping into the bandwagon.

Perhaps the most significant message of the protests is the slogan “We are the 99%” – which alludes to the recent trend in the US of increase in the share of annual total income going to the top 1% of income earners. (Of late, the top 1% of the US population accounted for nearly 25% of the total annual income).It is therefore, at its core, the squeezed out middle-class and poor who are leading the cry against an unjust and unfair system, which fosters economic polarization and skews the distribution of wealth towards the super-rich.

What are their demands ?

The most perplexing part of these “leaderless” protests is the amorphous, unclear nature of demands. The participants are mainly protesting social and economic inequality, corporate greed, as well as the power and influence of corporations, particularly from the financial service sector, and lobbyists over government. But, believe it or not, there is NO official list of demands !

No leader, no clear demands and no particular endpoint. This is certainly a new way of launching a revolution. All one can make out from this bizarre show is that disparate people are coming together with an egalitarian vision of a more inclusive progress.

Amongst the participants at Zuccotti Park (now called ‘Liberty Square’) in lower Manhattan where it all started, there is a collective revulsion against Wall Street’s oozing corruption, unrestrained political power and crony capitalism. The outrage stems from the fact that while the pay cheques of the wizards of Wall Street are burgeoning, ordinary workers continue to suffer from high unemployment and falling real wages. This is despite the fall from grace of the hallowed financial whizkids during the crisis of 2008 starting with the collapse of Lehman Brothers.

There is a list of proposed "Demands for Congress" proposed by the website (occupywallstreet.org) which does not entirely represent the Occupy Wall Street General Assembly. People can vote on these demands and also add to the demands. The laundry list so far includes demands such as ‘Return to prudent banking Act’, prosecution of Wall Street ‘criminals’, passing of Buffet rule of taxation, revamp of Securities & Exchange Commission, and limiting influence of lobbyists.

As the montage of demands is being weaved, perhaps there will be different phases and possibly fragmentation of agendas will take place before crystal-clear demands emanate.

What next ?

Though the protests have snowballed into a global phenomena in a fairly short period of time, it is still at a very nascent stage to fathom as to what shape this new animal will take. The current wave does have some left-leanings and shades of socialism, although it is not the Ayn Rand type anti-capitalism per se.

The frustration pouring out into the streets is a direct result of too many people out of work and a very uneven distribution of wealth. It is a true internet-generation protest, very unlike a traditional campaign, where raising more questions than answers, debating internal inconsistencies and taking time to articulate their problem seems to be the new normal. And that is really confounding the defenders of Wall Street, politicians and media persons alike.

Is the “Occupy Wall Street” just a phase or the dawn of a new era ? If the movement is able to build consensus on a coherent set of demands, will we see a change in the way Corporate America conducts itself in the future ? Will there be a more appropriate fiscal operating system on which the economy is run, correcting somewhat the disconnect between the rich and the poor ? Will then the other nations of the world emulate America’s transformed policies ?

Nobody can tell as to where this strange and bewildering movement will lead to.

All I want to say is this - we should not dismiss this fledgling movement, rather we should nurture the democratic awakening which wants to shake a deeply flawed economic system. With so much at stake, we cannot afford the luxury of cynicism.

Remember, the American Revolution started with a single event of dumping 342 chests of tea at the Boston Tea Party. Closer home, the Indian Rebellion of 1857 started with the mutiny of just one foot soldier, Mangal Pandey. Small incidents, big aftermath.





Endpiece : The wisdom of man never yet contrived a system of taxation that would operate with perfect equality – Andrew Jackson

The United States of India

The conundrum called India today is a miscegenation of far-flung, diverse lands and people sprinkled across 3.2 million sq. km. of area. A federation of 28 states and 7 Union Territories stand united as a country called ‘Bharat Ganarajya’.

Or do they ?

The state of Jammu & Kashmir in the North, which is the only state to enjoy special autonomy under Article 370, has long been rumbling with secessionist calls of ‘Azadi’ in its picturesque Kashmir Valley. The state of Manipur in the far North-East is nearly forgotten, and in the simmering battle between the Kukis and Nagas, the Government is reduced to a mute spectator. The other North-Eastern states of Assam, Mizoram, Arunachal Pradesh and Nagaland, though not currently raging with trouble, have had violent movements in the past for their own ‘independent lands’. Most of Tripura is infested with Maoist rebels and is ungovernable. By and large, the entire North-East belt is alienated from the mainstream Indian polity and receives only step-motherly treatment from the Central Government.

West Bengal has had a long-lasting agitation for ‘Gorkhaland’ in its northern hill territory. The scourge of militant Naxalites spreads from parts of West Bengal to Chhatisgarh to Jharkhand and then southwards to Orissa and Andhra Pradesh. This insurgency has become progressively more lethal, claiming thousands of innocent lives and destroying hundreds of crores worth of public property. It seems that this country is perpetually at war with itself, and engulfed in internecine battles which show no signs of abating.

The newbie states of Uttarakhand, Jharkhand and Chattisgarh were formed after peaceful and not-so peaceful mass movements, all in a bid to wrest power for a better represented government. More recently, the movement for a separate state of Telangana, to be carved out of Andhra Pradesh, has reached a feverish pitch. Who knows in the future there could be cries for Harit Pradesh in UP, or Vidarbha in Maharashtra. There is no end to this ‘Balkanization’ of the Republic of India and its constituent states.

This is not a picture of a coherent, integrated and united ‘Mera Bharat Mahaan’.

But let’s step back a little in time, to the glorious day, 64 years ago, when India achieved its independence from the British Empire. Just to get a little perspective.

There were as many as 568 princely states in India in 1947, under the suzerainty of the British Imperialists, but ruled by kings with such honorary titles like Raja, Maharaja, Maharana, Nizam and Badshah. Besides these, there were 11 provinces like Bombay, Madras, Bengal and United Provinces, which were directly under the British rule. In addition, there were several colonial conclaves controlled by the French (Pondicherry, Chandernagore) and the Portuguese (Goa, Daman & Diu). So, to begin with, India was never one – on the contrary, it was quite disintegrated, strewn with hundreds of monarchs clinging to their kingdoms, guarding their own vested interests with their parochial mindsets.

The onerous task of stitching and welding together the provinces and princely states fell upon India’s first Dy. Prime Minister and Minister for Home and States, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel. He couldn’t have found a more able assistant in his mission than V.P. Menon, the astute and adept civil servant of the British Raj, who was an advisor to the last three Viceroys of India, including of course Lord Mountbatten.

Patel and Menon launched a remarkable diplomatic endeavor in negotiating with the princes and convincing them to join the new Dominion of India. They backed up their diplomatic efforts by producing treaties that were designed to be attractive to rulers of princely states. So successful was this seemingly impossible task, that between May 1947 and the transfer of power on 15 August 1947, the vast majority of states signed Instruments of Accession to India. Certainly no mean feat by any standards, given the fact that India was always a fragmented realm ruled by kings living in lavish lifestyles, their dynasties claiming the throne through ‘divine rights’.

Of course not everything went smooth. We all know Maharaja Hari Singh announced that Kashmir would remain independent, the Nawab of Junagadh chose to accede to Pakistan and the Nizam of Hyderabad also declared its independence. But when invaders from Pakistan threatened to overrun his palace in Srinagar, Hari Singh quickly signed the Instrument of Accession. Junagadh and Hyderabad were absorbed after swift police and army actions.

And, for the first time ever in history, India was truly weaved to emerge as one vast nation, shedding its monarchical past and tasting democracy in its new avatar.

The integration of India continued for quite a few years after independence. The French enclaves, including Pondicherry ceded to the Republic of India in 1956, but the Portuguese resisted giving up its fiefdoms. In December 1961, the Indian Army marched into Goa to liberate it from its colonial masters and annexed it as a Union Territory of India. Sikkim became the 22nd state of India as late as in 1975.

Back to the present.

Today, this nation, so painstakingly built brick-by-brick to count as a formidable force in the world, is in danger of being mortally weakened by smolders of secessionism. The multi-ethnic fabric of India is being torn apart by insurgents and separatists. Whatever the cause of such rebellions, the regionalism boiling over into acts of extremism and terrorism threaten to break up India once again into pieces. If these fires are allowed to rage on, its black smoke with darken the bright future of a promising nation.

What is to be done to douse these flames and forge together a stronger, fervent and more progressive India ? I will leave that discussion for another time, as this article would otherwise become too stretched.

I am just imagining a day when Kashmir will as peaceful as Punjab is today, when all the North-Eastern states will truly feel that they are a part of India, when the Naxalites will lay down their arms and join the mainstream of politics, when there will be more inclusive development penetrating deep into the rural heartlands, when economic progress will take precedence over petty power-plays and when the heartbeats of 1.2 billion citizens will reverberate as one.

It’s only then that the United States of India will truly realize its full potential and meet its ultimate destiny.




Endpiece : Patriotism is not short, frenzied outbursts of emotion, but the tranquil and steady dedication of a lifetime. - Adlai E. Stevenson

The World in Debt

I must begin with a mandatory disclosure – I am an unapologetical financial novice. I struggle to the point of exasperation in understanding the gobbledygook of financial whizkids. But I care two hoots about their much-fangled jargon, which I suspect is to keep the greenhorns perpetually out of bounds from their elitist club. I also believe that the geniuses of finance and economy are trapped in their own web of complexities and byzantine labyrinths, a predicament brought upon by their incessant desire to make simple things ever more intricate. What else would explain the global debt crisis, which so ominously threatens to wreak havoc not only on the world’s banking system, stock markets, currency markets and international trade, but also on entire nations and their helpless populace ?

I write this piece on such an inherently difficult subject as “World Debt”, though being a self-confessed babe-in-the-woods in the world of finance, to provide a layman’s perspective. Since the collapse of the Lehman Brothers in 2008, I have only felt my jaw dropping lower as most of the world’s greatest economies careen perilously close to imminent disaster. I must try and make sense of this perfect storm as much as I possibly can.

Is it all that bad ?

Apart from the need of money to run the government machinery, a nation for its own progress must first infuse capital into its economic engines, and for that it must borrow. That is good debt – money put to use instead of lying idle. If the nation is productive enough, the money will come back (in the form of more taxes and increased profits from public enterprises) and the debts can be repaid. Governments can keep borrowing as long as the economy keeps growing, so a widely used statistic to measure a country’s financial health is the debt-to-GDP ratio.

Is there a limit to which a Government can accumulate debt, before it reaches a tipping point ? Apparently not, at least not in theory, and in reality we have seen that a certain country called Iceland froze in a monetary manner as it ratcheted up its debt to a whopping 1,200% of its GDP !

But just as there is a ceiling to which an individual or a corporate can obtain credit, a sovereign state should logically have a limit beyond which it treads into a surefire quagmire. I am afraid there are no hard-and-fast rules for such upper limits, but economists point out that a debt level of 80% to 100% of GDP would be living life on an edge.

Okay, so now we have a benchmark. Bravo. Let’s look at this yardstick to assess the financial state of some of the world’s rich nations which have been in the news lately for all the wrong reasons.

In 2010, Japan had a combined household, corporate and government debt level of 456% of GDP, the highest in the developed world. Portugal came second with 363%, followed by UK at 322%, Greece at 273% and US at 268%. If the debt-to-GDP ratio was a thermometer with a maximum scale of 100%, the mercury would have burst out of the glass tube long time ago and the patients would have been buried incognito after finding no claimants for their bodies. But this has not happened. Why ? Beats me. Maybe there are lies, damned lies and statistics. All I know is the combined debt of the developed nations rose from 160% of GDP 30 years ago to 310% in 2010 - three times its acceptable level ! That’s bad debt !

If we look at just the public debt, that is the money that the Government owes its own citizens, then the numbers are less scary. Japan has a public debt of 196% of GDP (still very precarious), Portugal has 82%, UK has 74%, Greece has 127% and US has 61%.

Whatever numbers you take, depending on your personal choice or convenience, the point is there is a worldwide propensity to gobble up more and more debt as long as there is somebody lending. I have no doubt in my mind that if we exhaust ourselves of lenders on this earth, we will find aliens in outer space to part with their riches.

What went wrong ?

Or, to put the question in a more fashionable way : “Who moved my cheese ?” Life was hunky-dory for as long as we can remember, with a few hiccups here and there, and all these mountains of debt, just like Rome, weren’t built in a day. If we were all living with life on credit so peacefully, what has caused this sudden brouhaha about owing money to someone at some point in time ?

Actually, the answer to this is relatively simple, especially with the hindsight of the US-led mortgage sub-prime crisis of 2008. Allow me to explain.

The Western world had for several decades been experiencing steady growth with low levels of unemployment and inflation. With buoyant economies and increasing asset prices, the debtors could easily keep making their interest payments, and creditors were sure of their return of capital. So everyone was happy – it paid to borrow, it paid to lend. Thus began a “debt supercycle”, where optimism led to euphoria, and individuals to corporates to countries kept up the borrowing binge, using debt as the instant solution to chase faster ‘growth’. What a wonderful world.

If only the wonderful world had lasted. The problem with debt is the need to repay it. Take the US mortgage sub-prime crisis as an example, which is still fresh in our minds. As long as asset prices were rising, the creditors kept their faith. The spoilsport came in the form of falling prices, aptly called ‘deflation’, which created a downward spiral wherein assets were sold off to repay debts as creditors suddenly turned jittery, triggering further price falls and further sales. What accelerated the contagion were the supposedly ‘no-risk’, but ultimately hugely risky, new fancy-toys conjured up by the wizards of Money Street – Collateralized Debt Obligations. (To know more about this abstruse term, just google it, or search in Wikipedia). The ensuing liquidity crisis in the banking system throughout the world was so severe that the authorities feared the cash machines would stop working !

The dream run in which debt was being lapped up as if there was no tomorrow, ended in a cold-sweat real nightmare only when the lender, suddenly fearing the loss of his capital, demanded his dues back in full. The chasm of mistrust grew deep and fast, forcing the unprecedented largesse of the bank bail-outs. And the story is not over yet.

What’s the solution ?

The problem of world debt, just as the issue of corruption, is easy to describe, but the solution is far from simple. The whole concept of a nation at the brink of a ‘debt default’ is inconceivable to many, though it is not different in nature from an individual or a company going bankrupt.

The unpretentious solution to debt is not to allow it to spiral out of control in the first place – prevention is better than cure. Your grandmother and grandfather were right when they said “Learn to live within your means.” Whichever diet program you follow, there is only one formula for losing weight : calories out should be more than calories in. To live a healthy financial life, earnings should be greater than expenses. Period.

But we are talking about curing the excesses already committed over several decades by governments, who are now facing payback time. Rising government debt is a Ponzi scheme that requires an ever-growing population to assume the burden—unless some deus ex machina (god out of the machine), such as a technological breakthrough, can boost growth.

The choices for avoiding a debt default are as stark as they are bitter. Governments would have to launch severe austerity programs, decide how quickly to cut their deficits and simultaneously bolster growth, actions which are seemingly at cross purposes to each other. This would necessarily punish their populations, so used to a certain level of lifestyle, albeit by borrowing from the future. Clearly, a society built on consumption will have to pay more attention to saving. An attitudinal change would have to be essential to change the notion that using borrowed money to buy assets is the smart road to riches. All these are unpalatable options, and therefore governments are trying all sorts of tricks to prolong the solution – from raising debt ceilings, to restructuring loans, to bail outs and so forth.

Each government will have to take the bull by the horns find its own way to reduce its burden. There can obviously be no straight-jacketed solutions, as each country has its own peculiar set of issues. But just as sick companies can turn around, and individuals can come of their bankruptcies, nations can also find their way out of their debt traps. It’s a question of strong political will and collective resolve of its responsible citizens.

Till then, these nations can continue to live in their world of delusion.


Endpiece : Rather go to bed without dinner than to rise in debt. - Benjamin Franklin

References
1. The global debt clock – The Economist (website)
2. Repent at leisure – The Economist, June 24th, 2010
3. Equitymaster’s 5-minute wrapup – September 5, 2011

The Unreasonable Man

The waves of jubilations across the length and breadth of India on Anna’s ‘victory’ is as effusive as it is infectious. There is an overwhelming ‘sense of relief’ after the ‘sense of the House’ resolution was passed by both the Houses of the Parliament. Whether the victory is real or imagined, partial or pyrrhic, it may be too premature to tell. But I have a new warmth in my heart post the hope-igniting debate by our elected representatives on the Lokpal Bill.

The man at the centre of the anti-corruption crusade, the redoubtable, 74-year old Anna Hazare, is being heaped with praise and showered with accolades for not only correctly reading the pulse of the masses, but also for the strength of his resolve and the force of his convictions. The man on the street totally identified himself with this dhoti-clad, Gandhi-cap wielding frail man, who seemed more as an anna-chronism and a misfit in the modern society than a messiah he is being regarded as now. The ‘I am Anna’ slogans on the lips of young and old alike, on T-shirts and caps, as tattoos and badges are a testimony to that.

Nevertheless, he has also been criticized as being too intransigent and unnecessarily obdurate. He is accused of following “it’s my way or the highway” approach, not budging a wee bit from his position and not willing to take the viewpoint of others. Some people are also alarmed that he has set a ‘dangerous precedent’ of blackmail tactics with his indefinite fast and rabble-rousing style of protests. There is a grain of truth in all these allegations.

But I want to put all this in perspective. Let me start by quoting George Bernard Shaw : “The reasonable man adapts himself to the conditions that surround him... The unreasonable man adapts surrounding conditions to himself... Therefore, all progress depends on the unreasonable man."

Were it not for the unconventional dose of disagreeability of a few, the earth would still be flat, the sun would still revolve around it, we would still be collecting firewood and we would still be making our journeys on horsebacks or bullock-carts. Still.

We all encounter unreasonableness in our daily lives. Hasn’t your wife or husband or child given you a hard time with their onerous demands once in a while ? Isn’t your boss too tough on you at times ? If you’re in sales like me, haven’t you encountered customers who are very exacting ? But for the unreasonableness of the people around us, we wouldn’t know what makes our loved ones happy, we wouldn’t perform better in our jobs and we wouldn’t offer better products and services to our customers. Life would just be status quo.

And then again, reasonableness is both relative and contextual. What seems fair to me would appear to be unfair to you; what looks unacceptable today would be perfectly tolerable tomorrow.

Back to the anagram called Anna. His indefinite fast which began on August 16 had a clear-cut demand to the Government – pass my version of the Jan Lokpal Bill, presumably in toto, latest by August 30th, or else…..To many, this was a ‘maximalist’ position, akin to putting a gun on somebody’s head and threatening to pull the trigger if his orders were not complied with. Was that fair ? Remember that Anna has been fighting for this cause for several years, if not decades, and this measure was a last resort after a series of attempts to push for a strong Bill for the institution of an Ombudsman fell short of their objectives. But who was Anna doing this for, and for what gains ? He has no family, no progeny, ostensibly no political affiliations and he is in the twilight of his life. So all he is trying to do is to make things better for you and me, and for a brighter future of his beloved country. He is willing to put his own life on the line, while always emphasizing non-violence, for the selfless service to the society.

When Mahatma Gandhi started his ‘Quit India’ movement, coincidentally also launched in the month of August, I am sure our British masters, who were embroiled in World War II at the time, would have not only thought of him as being hugely pigheaded and inconsiderate, but also out of his mind. However, Gandhiji only hoped to bring the British to the negotiating table and put pressure on them for the independence of India through his struggle.

Anna had declared war on corruption. And all is fair in war and love. The ground reality was that he was negotiating with an insensitive Government, with whom he had developed a huge trust deficit after a string of empty promises and failed assurances. Anyone who has been on a negotiating table knows that it’s a good strategy to start the parleys with a higher ground than what you want to ultimately settle for, and then give in one little smidgen at a time till you arrive at a mutually agreeable solution. I do not know whether Anna deliberately deployed this strategy, but this is exactly how it panned out. From an extreme position of passing of his version of the Bill within 15 days, all what he got was a ‘resolution’ (not a commitment) to consider three of his main recommendations in the proposed Lokpal Bill, already introduced by the Government in the Parliament. This was a much diluted offer on the table than the original bid, but which Anna ultimately accepted. So Anna, who appeared to be totally unyielding at first, happened to be quite flexible after all.

In this whole unprecedented tug-of-war, I feel there are no losers. Whether there will be an effective Lokpal Bill, which will truly benefit the long-suffering people of the country, remains to be seen. But this 24x7 drama of a little over 12 days has elated me in many ways. Firstly, because I feel the citizens of the country showed a tremendous sense of awakening, maturity and unity through their peaceful, yet persistent support to the Anna Hazare movement. Secondly, the media played a catalyst role, not only through its relentless coverage of the issue, but also by launching their own anti-corruption campaigns. Thirdly, and most hearteningly, the Parliament and our elected representatives finally heard the voice of their people, rose to the occasion and did what was the right thing to do, without compromising on either the Constitution or the ‘supremacy of the Parliament’. The world’s largest Parliamentary democracy is not only alive and kicking, but also very vibrant !

Call Anna an obstinate old man, and it will not be far from the truth, yet it is due to his unremitting ways that today we have a real hope of tackling the menace of corruption in our everyday lives. Don’t get me wrong, I am neither advocating unreasonable behavior at all times, nor subscribing to recourses such as indefinite fasts as a means of protest. I am all for logical, rational and commonsensical dialogues and debates as the preferred way of resolving any thorny issue. But when you feel very strongly about something, you must be uncompromising and unbending in your values and beliefs. The ‘chalta hai’ attitude has to change to ‘nahi chalega’ mindset. This is what the key lesson is, amongst several others, from Anna Hazare’s Jan Lokpal Bill movement.

Thank you Anna for being unreasonable. We need a hazaar Hazares like you.

Endpiece : Honest disagreement is often a good sign of progress. - Mohandas Gandhi

The Song of the Corrupt

The din of anti-corruption protests have reached a crescendo across India. The ‘Anna-archy’ prevailing in the country since August 16 has taken such a centrestage that, going by the media channels, nothing else seems to be happening in the country. Everybody is in a frenzy- Team Anna, all their supporters, the Government, the opposition, the detractors of Anna and of course the news channels. But nobody is clear yet as to where this will end eventually.

Imagine for a moment that sometime in the rosy future, the last evil remnants of corruption have been rooted out from the nation. You’re in Utopia, where everyone is a squeaky- clean, law abiding citizen. By some magic mechanism, every bribe-taker and bribe-giver can be immediately caught and sent behind bars for their heinous offense. So nobody is taking any chances. What will life be like then ?

Imagine.

You’ve just been pulled over for overspeeding, but your story about your mother being taken to the hospital cuts no ice with the traffic constable. And that 50- or 100-rupee note no longer wields any power on him either. Oh, joy ! Several days have passed since your electricity has been disconnected for failure to pay an astronomical bill, which was due to a faulty meter. But you have no option other than to wait your turn till the inspector from the company arrives and checks the damn device. Till then, its darkness for you and your family. Jeez !

You dread the day when you will have to stand in the long queue in sweltering heat for your driving license renewal, due next year. The loathsome touts who had saved you a lot of time and trouble for a small fee are nowhere to be found. Bother ! You’ve already made six trips to the Sub-Registrar’s office to get your property registered, only to be turned back for some lacuna or the other in the papers. You clench your teeth as you wish there was someone to guide you through this inscrutable maze. Help !

A lot has changed since bribery and corruption breathed its last. Many businesses have shut shop, as they simply do not know how to go on in this new world where nobody influences anybody. The piles of files in the Govt. offices are growing larger by the day, as the babus are awfully fearful of clearing them ‘too quickly’. The elite private schools and colleges have seen a sharp drop in their standards, and some are even on the verge of closure. The steady dose of ‘capitation fees’ have dried up, and with it all their vital signs have been dwindling.

Gold prices have dipped sharply, and so have property values. The parallel economy which was driving their demand has sputtered to a stop. Eating out is a big problem for folks now, as thousands of roadside eateries and restaurants had to down shutters for failing to meet hygiene standards. Airlines, luxury car makers and five-star hotels are hard hit as the flow of black money has ebbed and nearly vanished from their catchment areas.

Several construction contracts are still to see the light of the day because of strict procedures and lengthy tendering processes, seriously hampering infrastructure development. But most worryingly, a large number of defence purchase programs, vital for the country’s security, have been gathering dust since the middlemen turned their backs and are avoiding the country like the plague.

That was just a dream. Or a nightmare. But this scenario is surely from the eyes of a treacherous, slimy, corrupt person about to lose his livelihood.

Back to reality. The corrupt still rule the roost. In fact, they’ve composed a song for themselves, with a kind of pied-piper melody, which they are seriously thinking of making it their national anthem. It is simply called “Just bribe me, baby”, and here are its lyrics :

Just bribe me, baby

At times when you wan’t it done
Just come to me, I’m the only one
Don’t run around and drive yourself crazy
All you’ve to do is just bribe me, baby

You’ve a problem, and I’ve the key
I’ve the glasses that’ll make you see
When everything seems so hazy
All you’ve to do is just bribe me baby

Show me the color of money
It’s so sweet as nectar and honey
It sure gives a boost, it gives speed
Money makes the world go round indeed

Don’t be shy, and grease my palms
For your pain I’ve all the balms
So shake yourself and don’t be lazy
All you’ve to do is just bribe me baby

Leave it to me, and gimme some graft
Cause I got the guile and I got the craft
Go it alone, and you’ve no chance
I’ll make you sing, and I’ll make you dance

Life is short, you’ve a lot to do
Why bother when you don’t have to ?
Do me a favor, just pass on the gravy
All you’ve to do is just bribe me baby !

Endpiece : The accomplice to the crime of corruption is frequently our own indifference.
- Bess Myerson

Life Lessons from Scuba Diving

I am permanently enrolled in a full-time school called ‘Life’. There is no other institution that gives you never-ending lessons, and the choice is entirely yours whether to learn from them or not.

But what can you learn about life from an esoteric recreational activity like scuba-diving ? An immense measure, as I am still discovering to my utter amazement since the time I took the plunge (literally !)

Let’s begin.

Under water, everything happens slowly. Part of the reason is because of the limits put by the liquid medium, and part is because it is in your own interest to be slow. Your breathing has to be slow, your movements leisurely and your thinking unhurried. Lesson : Above the water also, in life, your pace should be measured and deliberate, savoring the varied flavors that come your way and lingering on to the essence of our existence. Feeling alive is more important than just being alive. But it’s amazing how we are getting increasingly breathless everyday of our fast-paced lives.

Scuba-divers always go diving with a ‘buddy’. (You can go solo, but it is not recommended). After donning the ‘second-skin’ and other gear, divers do a pre-dive ‘buddy check’ to ensure that the all the equipment is functioning properly. In the depths of water, your buddy is always beside you, not only relishing the colorful sights while gliding along, but also ever ready to assist you in case you get into some trouble, small or big. Message : It’s good to have someone to rely on and put your complete trust on in the journey of life, be it your spouse, a bosom friend, a parent, a guru. The buddy is there to help you every time you stumble or take a misstep. And the relationship is two-ways, making it quite enriching, emotionally satisfying and pleasurable.

Scuba-diving is a new frontier for adventure and exploration, but it has to be done with a lot of preparation. First of course is the equipment itself – there’s the high-pressure cylinder with air delivery system, the mask and snorkel, fins for your feet, a suitable wet or dry suit, weight belt and a dive computer to give you information on depth, time, direction etc. However, there’s a whole lot of new skills that you need to learn to survive down below. Equalizing your ears as you descend, clearing your mask of water, taking out the air regulator from your mouth and putting it back, maintaining buoyancy at different depths, becoming acquainted with sign language – these are all necessary competences to be learnt in confined waters before heading out into the open sea. Key Point : Being ready isn’t enough, you’ve to be prepared for any significant change. And adventure is not about taking risks, rather it is about elimination of risks.

Since you’re putting your body in an environment which is out of its element, you need to exercise some extra caution. Dive too deep or too long, and you’ll suffer from what is called ‘Nitrogen Narcosis’, a feeling of euphoria, paranoia, well being, nervousness and a slowing down of the normal functions of the brain and body. Ascend too fast, and you will risk decompression sickness which can lead to dizziness, paralysis, temporary blindness, convulsions and unconsciousness. Holding your breath under water can lead to overexpansion injuries in the lungs. All this may sound scary at first, as it sure did to me, but this doesn’t come in your way to enjoy the beautiful sights during your dive as long as you follow the principles. Lesson : We have limitations, we have to work within those boundaries. Nevertheless, to quote Albert Einstein “Once we accept out limits, we go beyond them.”

Now, despite all the training, preparations and experience that you may have undergone in scuba-diving, there could be an odd occasion when you panic. It may be that you’re out of air, have lost sight of your buddy, encounter low visibility, or suddenly start rising or sinking, or in a rare instance come face-to-face with an intimidating creature like the shark. Panic. A natural human reaction to danger, real or imagined, but very instinctive. The simple solution to counter panic during a dive is to take deep breaths and always think calmly. I know it’s easier said than done, but you’ve got to train you mind to do that. Lesson : When in panic, calm down and breathe deeply. Fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind. And the other side of every fear is freedom.

Divers go to extreme lengths in taking care of the world under water. We humans are mere visitors, indeed veritable guests in the marine world, and have to behave responsibly so. Divers are deeply respectful of the aquatic wildlife. Whether it is a tiny fish, a gentle turtle, a magnificent Manta ray or a formidable shark – all are treated with due reverence. Any dose of aggression is left behind above the water. Even the beautiful and inviting corals are only to be appreciated with the eyes rather than the hands, as simply touching the corals may remove some of the protective mucous coating, making them susceptible to injury or infections. Moral : Live and let live. Do unto others what you would have them do unto you. We’ve come to this wonderful world to nurture it, not harm or destroy it. And we need to make this world a better place for you and me, and for our future generations to live in harmony with nature.

There. I never knew I could learn so much about life above water from going under water ! But I was humbled by a statement made by my diving instructor, Martin, after he surfaced from a dive, when he said, almost to himself, “I learnt something new during this dive”. I was too dumbfounded to ask him what could he have possibly learnt which he already did not know. Because this came from a man who is a veteran of maybe more than 2,000 dives (you’ll take about five and a half years of diving every single day of the year to achieve this feat !)

Ladies and gentlemen, take a bow. And never stop learning in life.

Endpiece : It is utterly false and cruelly arbitrary to put all the play and learning into childhood, all the work into middle age, and all the regrets into old age. - Margaret Mead

A Life Taken for Granted

Life is good. Life is rotten. Life’s fun. Life’s a b****. We all go through a roller-coaster of emotions about life in our limited time on this third rock from the sun.

“Life is difficult” – is the first sentence of the book ‘The Road Less Traveled’, by M. Scott Peck, a timeless classic on personal growth. Just three words, but a profound statement.

I stumbled upon another perspective of life rather abruptly.

I realized recently, from indulging in an activity hitherto never undertaken in my short existence, how we generally take our lives for granted. It was my first descent into deep waters with a hose in my mouth attached to a cylinder of compressed air. Yes – it was my first scuba dive.

The numero uno rule in scuba diving is :
“NEVER FORGET TO BREATHE”

Breathing is something we do not even think of while on terra firma. But when you are in an unfamiliar environment under water, your body and mind are suddenly shocked by the alien territory, and you become acutely aware of breathing. That you have to breathe through your mouth, as your nose is blocked shut by the mask, only adds to the feeling of mortal peril.

As you are descending down to the depths, the ears start to hurt, and you have to keep pressing your nose and breathe out in order to ‘pop’ your ears. All of us have experienced this, whether while swimming or climbing mountains, and we have rid ourselves of the feeling merely by gulping our saliva. But while scuba diving, this ‘equalization’ of air pressure inside your Eustachian canals becomes vital for survival under a mountain of water.

Then, suspended in the liquid world, your body goes wobbly and your arms and legs start going in all directions in a rather comical way. Balancing your head, torso and other parts of your skeleton is a whole new skill to be learnt inside the blue planet.

There are many other facets of scuba-diving experiences which I will talk about in my later article, but now I just want to say that I started appreciating the very mundane things of life the moment I pulled myself back to the safety of solid earth above. Let me hasten to add here that scuba diving was my dream come true, and I found it really exciting, even though I might have been a little fearful. But, boy, was I glad to breathe ‘normally’ and walk ‘straight’ after the deep dive into the salty water ! My ears still ached a little, as if reminding me of the unannounced ordeal that I had just put them through.

Sufficiently jolted by the happening, I began to have a growing sense of awareness that I had been taking a lot of things in life for granted. I was immediately thankful to the scuba dive which brought about this rupture with the world that I had known till that time.

To begin with, we all take our mother’s love for granted (or for that matter father’s love). The affections and caring of our spouse in the small little things that they do for us go mostly unnoticed. The silent adoration and unquestioned trust that our children bestow upon us slip under the radar. In other words, our families are the first victims of our short shrift.

We take our liberty for granted, which was earned with the ultimate sacrifice of our brave freedom-fighters and is sustained by the sweat and blood of our armed forces. The small comforts of modern life like electricity, clean water, a warm bed to sleep in, the humble refrigerator, the ubiquitous kitchen stove or the plain pop-up toaster – all go barely noticed, let alone appreciated. A child’s laugh, the gentle fluttering of a flower, a raindrop winding down a window pane, the beauty of a sunrise, the warmth of a hug - are at once dismissed as too ordinary and inane.

It is only when the ordinary things in life are taken away from us, if only very briefly, that we comprehend its importance. Try closing your eyes for a couple of minutes and go about your routine. You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.

It is only when we have a brush with danger that we feel lucky to be alive. It is only when the skies are dark for days that we are thankful for the sun coming out. Its only when we are famished that we enjoy our meal with relish. Water tastes like sweet nectar only when our throats are parched. Our hearts leap with unbridled joy on the mere sight of land after long hours or days on the high seas. A mere injury to our thumb makes it difficult to as much as hold a pencil in our hand, and suddenly makes us realize its importance.

There are those who think that life is just drudgery. And there are some who feel that life is a celebration. Which side are you on ?

Its your life. Go on, live it the way you want it. Zindagi na milegi dobara (with due credit to the latest Bollywood flick).


Endpiece : When you're in danger of losing a thing it becomes precious and when it's around us, it's in tedious abundance and we take it for granted as if we're going to live forever, which we're not. - John McGahern

The Mightiest Migration

In my earlier article, ‘The Mitochondrial Eve’, I had talked about the origin of modern man as being in Africa. I left the question about how our ancestors sprawled across the globe from the original cradle to be answered for another day. Today, I will attempt to outline this greatest movement as briefly as reasonably permissible on a ‘coffee (oops-tea) table’ blog.

I had deliberately put a gap between the two articles for the very real fear that you might think that I’ve turned into some sort of an amateur anthropologist. Those of you who feel that this topic of peeping into the distant past is irrelevant, boring and a waste of time may stop reading now, and I will fully understand. The others who have sufficient curiosity on the subject of our roots (and routes), and don’t mind spending a few precious minutes in filling their minds about what we know so far in the fascinating journey of mankind, please read on.

Frankly, while there is consensus amongst both archaeologists and geneticists about the start point of modern humans in Africa, there is less agreement about the paths they took to spread out around the planet. But then, I am going by the Keynesian dictum, “I would rather be vaguely right than precisely wrong.”

Out of Africa
What seems almost certain that probably 125,000 years ago a group of early humans traveled up the Nile and the Sahara desert (which wasn’t a desert at all at the time), across the Sinai and into the Levant*. Tragically, this was a bad time to leave Africa as it coincided with the onset of the glaciations. The advancing glaciers across northern Europe turned North Africa and the Levant into a dry desert, and the early bunch of humanity to leave Africa perished.

Then, at a remarkably recent date – about 85,000 years ago – one small wavelet from the region around Ethiopia lapped up onto the shores of the Arabian peninsula , into the south-western tip of what is now Yemen. This was by crossing the Red Sea, possibly using using primitive watercraft, between the Horn of Africa and Arabia, which would have been only a few miles wide. All non-Africans are the descendants of these travelers, who may have numbered just a thousand people.(Unbelievable, but true).

Second time unlucky
Over the next 10,000 years, the flow of this humanity rapidly spread along the coast of southern and southeast Asia all the way to China, passing through Yemen, Oman (from where I write this), Iran, India, Myanmar and Indonesia.

As this proliferation of mankind was taking shape, a catastrophic event – eruption of Mount Toba in the island of Sumatra – pretty much wiped out humanity about 74,000 years ago. The massive volcanic eruption produced a winter that may have lasted for 6 years, and completely wiped out the population west of Toba – through Cambodia, Thailand, Burma, all of India and Pakistan, upto southern Iran. It is estimated that India was covered 5 meters deep in ash from the eruption. Outside Africa, only a thin band of humans remained, across southern Arabia, and those who had already moved east of Toba – that is eastern Indonesian islands and the southern coast of China.

The jump to Australia
In the next 10,000 years – from about 75,000 to 65,000 years ago – the human population re-established itself and started radiating again, primarily from its centre in East Asia. Sea levels were unusually low because of the glacial conditions, and this enabled humans to reach Australia and New Guinea for the first time, probably through a land bridge. A few indigenous groups on the Andaman Islands, in Malaysia and in Papua New Guinea – as well as almost all Australian Aborigines – carry signs of an ancient mitochondrial lineage, a trail of genetic bread crumbs dropped by the early migrants.

India re-occupied
The survivors of the Toba eruption then spread northwards, populating the coast of China almost to the Yellow Sea, and also started to spread back westwards towards India. By about 65,000 years ago, humans had re-occupied much of the southeast Asia upto Thailand, Myanmar and the eastern part of India. Apart from this eastern branch, India also got repopulated from the west. All this happened in 13,000 years from 65,000 to 52,000 years ago.

India is the father of Europe !
Genetic data show that the DNA of today’s western Eurasians resembles that of people of India (this is a booster for those Indians who still suffer from an inferiority complex over the goras). As population from India and Persia moved westwards, across Iraq, it reached Turkey and the gates of Europe for the first time. Between 52,000 years and 45,000 years ago, humans crossed the Bosphorus# to populate Europe, through Bulgaria, along the Danube to Hungary, Austria and eventually France.

The human torrent
Over the next 5,000 years from 45,000 – 40,000 years ago, there were several waves of migrations.

• People from coastal China moved northward finding their way into Japan from southern Russia and Sakhalin island.
• From Eastern India and Burma, people moved northwards across the eastern edge of Himalayas, into the Tibetan plateau.
• From Western India, Pakistan and Iran, people moved north-eastwards, seeding Afghanistan, former Soviet republics such as Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and the steppes of Central Asia.
• Also, from the Middle-East, people moved westwards across northern Arabia, the Levant and Sinai, back into Africa, where they populated the Mediterranean coastline of Africa.
• From France and Austria, people moved south-west into Spain and Portugal, reaching the Atlantic coast.

So far so good. Now, over the next 15,000 years (from about 40,000 – 25,000 years ago), Central Asia became the epicenter of migrations. People from this region spread in three directions – towards eastern Europe, the Arctic Circle and eastern Siberia.

Ah, America !
The first time that hominids of any sort had ever reached America was just about 25,000 to 22,000 years ago. This was when a group of humans crossed the land bridge between Berengia (eastern Siberia) and Alaska. Perhaps, some took the coastal route southwards, across the western coast of Alaska and Canada.

Between 19,000 and 15,000 years ago, humans spread from centers in the northeast US southwards along the coast to Mexico, Central America and into the South American continent, reaching coastal areas in the northern part of Brazil. Over the next 2,500 years, these people continued to spread along the eastern coast of South America, reaching its very southern tip. Another wave of people followed the western coastal route across Canada, the US, Central America and South America.

The march into Northern Europe
Between 10,000 and 8,000 years ago, when the ice age finally ended, people spread to northern Europe, which had been covered with ice sheets. People from France spread northwards into Scandinavia, and also crossed the channel to populate the British Isles. People from the areas north of the Caspian and Aral seas moved further north, to populate northern European Russia. Finally, people from Egypt and the Levant spread across the Sahara (which was grassland at the time) to populate areas in the northern Sahara.

With the settling of the Americas and northern Europe, modern humans had conquered most of the planet.

This is, dear reader, in a nutshell, the greatest story of migration spread over 125,000 years. I hope that with this slice of knowledge and the telescopic view of our past, you will learn to admire and appreciate the spirit of mankind in all its diversity. And that whenever you meet a stranger from a strangeland, wearing a garb very different from yours, speaking in a language you don’t understand, you will know that you are actually having a reunion with a long-lost member of a close-knit family.

Endpiece : Man – a being in search of meaning - Plato

* Levant – general name for the coastal lands and islands of the far eastern part of the Mediterranean, from north-eastern part of Sinai peninsula northwards through Israel, Lebanon & Syria, and westwards along the Turkish coast
# Bosphorus – Turkish strait that forms the boundary between Europe & Asia

References :
1. ‘The Greatest Journey’ by James Shreeve, published in National Geographic, March 2006
2. ‘Human Prehistory’ from essayweb.net

Hello ? Govt. of India ? Is anybody in there ?

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has done the jugglery act once again, for the second time in this year . Some cards in the ministerial pack reshuffled, no big ticket changes, no bold moves, another opportunity lost. The only by-product of this circus-act is that one minister has quit and at least two are sulking, ostensibly unable to digest their new portfolios. To what end, pray, this sleight of hand purports to serve?

I can’t help but intensely feel that this gigantic ship called India has no captain to steer it in the high seas. I mean who’s in charge really ? The gentle Dr. Singh, or the quietly assertive Smt. Sonia Gandhi ? Or is it the coalition politics determining the course of the voyage, in a classic case of tail wagging the dog ?

That Dr. Singh lacks political authority has long been suspected by many, but some recent handling of situations by the Congress-led UPA Govt. has cast a long shadow on its abilities to govern a difficult nation. Struck by the tsunamis of mega-scams like 2G and CWG, the leadership seems to be deeply weakened, so as to respond rather feebly to unfolding snags. Take the case of its pussyfooting with Anna Hazare and his ‘Civil Society’ members. Or how they pulled a fast one on Baba Ramdev’s fast. The much-delayed resignation of Dayanidhi Maran, tainted by allegations of corruption, and the controversy surrounding the quitting of the Solicitor General are also cases in point.

As ministers run amuck, flouting all rules, crossing the limits of protocol and breaching established procedures without an iota of shame or guilt, the Prime Minister gives a sorry impression of being utterly helpless. This is akin to an anarchy at its worst and an impotent leadership at its best. How did a government, voted to power by the world’s largest electorate for a second term just a couple of years back come to such a sordid pass ?

Stung by scams, hounded by the opposition and media alike and derided by the public at large, the entire Govt. machinery, including the babus, seems to have come to a grinding halt. Deepak Parekh, Chairman of HDFC, had recently stated that big names of Indian industry are looking overseas rather than at home for their future investments, as at least ‘investing abroad is headache-free’. This is juxtaposed against the steep decline in foreign direct investment. Ominous signs, these.

As a scared and virtually paralyzed Govt. cringes at taking decisions, larger issues are allowed to rot at the desks of powers-that-be. Runaway inflation and rising interest rates have already taken a toll on the masses and threatens to stunt business growth. Infrastructure development is crawling at a woefully slow pace, which is ironical in the world’s second fastest economy, clipping at over 8% per annum. A whopping 400 million Indians still have no access to electricity, not to mention the power blackouts wherever there is electric supply. Health and education sectors are in dire need of an overhaul. While rapid urbanization is making the cities burst at their seams, rural development leaves much to be desired. Fiscal deficit continues to burgeon as the Govt. struggles to reign in its wasteful expenditures. Shall I go on ?

You get the picture, but bear with me a little more. What about the all-pervading corruption issue ? Granted no one can completely eradicate this problem, but can an honest tax-payer at least expect some steps to stem the rot ? And is anyone even bothered to look into the delays and accumulation of huge backlog of legal cases in the lower-courts, High courts and the Supreme Court of India ? Then, there have been feeble voices to get back black money stashed abroad, only to be summarily brushed aside by the Govt. or conveniently slithered away to a ‘committee’. Ok, forget about all this. Where an ordinary citizen is afraid of knocking at the doors of the police or the judiciary in times of peril, the primary function of the Govt. to secure the rights and freedom of individuals is itself defeated. No wonder cognizable crimes like murder, burglary, kidnapping, rape, illegal arms and drugs continue to rise unabated, as the law-breakers get emboldened by the premise that their acts of sin may not even get reported. Terrorism and insurgency are problems of an entirely different dimension (as I write this, serial bomb blasts have once again killed and maimed several innocents in Mumbai).

So, hello ? Will those in charge of administering the world’s largest democracy please come out of their hiding places ? We are in desperate need of some decisive action here. There’s still three years to go before we voters again set off to elect our next Govt. All that we ask for is a dose of astute leadership, a clear vision to steer India into a brighter future and ministers who go about quietly dispensing their public duties. The twelfth five-year plan is due for rolling out, key policy decisions and draft bills like the Lokpal are pending for debate and conclusion, and there’s a lot to do on social, economic and environmental development. So will you, the ruling elite, show some strength of will, a sign of firmness, a hint of determination ?

The aspirations of over a billion people are at stake. Just get on with the real act, and for heaven’s sake don’t pull down the shade on the window of opportunity.

Hello ? Govt. of India ? Is anyone listening ?

Endpiece : The genius of our ruling class is that it has kept a majority of the people from ever questioning the inequity of a system where most people drudge along, paying heavy taxes for which they get nothing in return - Gore Vidal

The Facebook Boy

This is a purely fictional account of a conversation between a mother and her 12-year old son. Any resemblance to any person, living or dead, is purely coincidental.

Mother (as she put a glass of milk on the study table) : Rohan, you’ve been on the computer for hours now. Shut it off, will you ?

Son (without looking up, fingers punching on the keyboard): Aww mom, just a li’l more time…..puh leeeease….

Mom : Aankhen kharab ho jayengi beta. Anyways, what are you doing on that dumb screen for so long ?

Son : Chatting ….on FB…er, Facebook, Mom

Mom : Facebook again ? Its 6 o’clock in the evening, Rohan. Time for you to go and play downstairs with your friends. Finish your milk and scurry along

Son : Mom, you know I don’t like the guys in the building….they’re not my types…and they tease me no end, I don’t know why

Mom glances at the chat box from the corner of her eyes. Rohan has typed ‘brb…mos’. She struggles to make sense of this.

Mom : Look Rohan, you must go out of the house, get some fresh air, play some games. Get a taste of real things, this is not real…

Son (cutting short) : These are real people Ma, I swear, real flesh and blood….see ? (points to a text message just received, then types in a response, ending with ‘lol’)

Mom (sarcastically): Oh yeah ? How d’you know this is not some stupid machine at the other end of the line ? The words just seem gibberish to me…what is all this ‘ttul’ ? ‘ppl’ ? ‘omg’ ?

Son : Aww, c’mon mom. This is our lingo. Kind of short and sweet, na ?

Mom (visibly aghast) : Sonny, you are ruining your language. This is murder of English. Besides, your class teacher was telling me you haven’t been very attentive in class lately. And you’re kind of aloof. What’s happening ?

Son (sheepish) : Nothing ma. Sometimes a guy just wants to be left alone. I’m ok.

Mom (runs her hand through Rohan’s hair) : Look, you must open up more to people, socialize, make new friends. When I was your age….

Son (interrupting) : But I have lots of friends….in fact 246 of them. Right here, see ?

Mom (looking into Rohan’s eyes, trying not to appear disturbed) : Beta, you can’t have meaningful relationships with such a lot of people. I mean it’s nice to know you’re kind of popular, but true friendships take a lot of time to cultivate. Come to think of it, I had only one or two really good friends at any stage of my life

Son (looking away) : I do have my favorite friends…..

Mom : Then you should be with them more often in person, not through a computer screen. You know, like, face-to-face…not Facebook

Son : I don’t feel the need to be physically present for being friends. Besides, some of them stay so far away. So only way to be in touch with them is through the net

Mom : Beta, but you can only know them truly if you, well, play with them….talk to them. There is a lot of sharing and caring to be done for being friends

Son : That’s what I do Mom….just the way I do it is different from yours

Mom : But you can’t show your emotions in this way of communication, you can’t feel , you can’t express yourself fully, can you ?

Son : Oh yes, I can. See all those smileys here ?

Mom : Hmmm…I just hope you grow out of this fad, beta. Now, just finish your milk, change to some better clothes, and I’ll ask dad to take out the car. We’re going out for a nice li’l drive

Son (sighing) : Ok mom. Just gimme a sec.

Rohan’s fingers fire away on the keyboard, and Mom catches a glimpse of some of the text : ‘gtg…cul’. She shakes her head in resignation.

Post script : The next day, Rohan comes back from school, his hair disheveled, shirt torn and a nasty bruise on his left cheek. He fights back his tears as his startled mom opens her mouth to ask him what happened. Then, instinctively, she throws her arms around her son, and envelops him in her bosom. Rohan weeps silently and clutches his mom tightly into a bear hug. Not a word is uttered.

A minute passes before a reassuring thought crosses the mother’s mind : ‘There is still hope that my boy will grow up to be a fine, sensitive human being’.

Endpiece : Silences make the real conversations between friends. Not the saying but the never needing to say is what counts - Margaret Lee Runbeck

The Mitochondrial Eve

‘All of us living humans, over 6.9 billion of them, are related to a single woman who lived nearly 150,000 years ago in Africa’

I was incredulous when my friend mentioned this to me, on that fateful evening when we had discussed about the Aryans of Ladakh. I must have been numbed by a state of utter disbelief which struck to the core of my existence, for my whole being froze as the bolt of the proclamation ran through every living cell of mine.

Are you as startled and curious to know the veracity of this contention ? Have you ever wondered where do we all come from ? How did we get to where we are today ? If yes, then read on.

Firstly, if you were not already aware, it is now established that that the human genetic code, or genome, is 99.9% identical throughout the world. That’s the first irrefutable proof that all of us homo sapiens on this planet are actually one big family. But who started it all ?

For decades, paleontologists and archaeologists have tried to decipher the story of human origins and migrations through clues of sparsely scattered bones and artifacts left behind by our ancestors. In the last 20 years, however, scientists have found a record of ancient human migrations in the DNA of living people.

Let me spare you the gory technical details, and just state that geneticists can trace ancestral connections by studying mutations in the DNA of mitochondria (called mtDNA), which is passed on from mother to child. The mtDNA is kind of a ‘marker’ pointing to the antecedents of humans.

With this fantastic technique, scientists now calculate that all living humans descended from a single woman, who lived roughly 150,000 years ago in East Africa, a “mitochondrial Eve”. Was she the only woman alive at the time ? No, but the current crop of human beings is linked to this Eve through an unbroken chain of mothers.

And what about the grand-est daddy of us all ? Well, naturally mitochondrial Eve was soon joined by a “Y chromosome Adam”, an analogous father of us all, also from Africa (though he did not live at the same time as the mitochondrial Eve). So there – all the variously shaped and shaded people of Earth trace their ancestry to African hunter-gatherers !

Ah, the skeptic in you is now asking – how the hell did these forefathers pan out across the globe, into such diverse and far-flung lands ?

That my friend, is the greatest epic still unfolding, a sprawling saga of survival, improvement, isolation and conquest, most of it in the silence of prehistory. When this story is finished, this will be the greatest one ever told.

I will live another day to tell you about that part of the story.

I just want to pause here for a moment in our ultra-busy lives, and ponder over this monumental hypothesis.

Ok, science is just about beginning to unravel the mysteries of this vast world, and as new techniques are discovered, new realities may emerge. Maybe we are children of a higher God, a master Creator, a Supreme Being. But, let us assume that this is true – that Africa is really the original cradle of us humans. What new perspectives does it bring in our understanding of the diversity and differences of people across the globe ? Does it shake the very foundations of our furiously-held beliefs, just like it did when it was revealed that the Earth was really a sphere, not a flat surface, and that it revolved around the sun, not the other way round ?

Does is make us wonder why do we harbor so much hatred amongst our own kith and kin ? Since time immemorial, we have shed blood, massacred innocents, annihilated entire cultures, killed mindlessly, slaughtered with vengeance – all for the parochial purpose of perpetuating one’s own supposed clan or clique. Why is there such animosity, abhorrence, jealousy, distrust and such detestation on the basis of color, caste, creed or religion? Why do such abominable feelings dominate over equally human emotions as love, compassion, kindness and empathy towards fellow human beings ?

Throughout this bleeding march of strife and discord, the wise men, the saints and sages of yore, have preached only one thing – look within yourself. By focusing inwardly, you will know who you truly are, and will free yourself from the shackles of narrow-thinking. .Those who are at war with others are not at peace with themselves. If we do not show even basic respect to others who have descended from the same one single mother, doesn’t is starkly betray our insular minds ?

Sadly, the lofty words of those with higher intellect are mostly dismissed and quickly forgotten, and we let the secretions of adrenal glands take possession of our mind. We cannot even imagine a world where everyone lives in peace and harmony – it’s an ideal for a hopeless dreamer, a mere fantasy of a societal misfit.

If the mitochondrial Eve – our one and original Mother - was looking down upon us, and seeing all the misery, inequalities and friction amongst our brethren, what would she think ? And what would she say to us ?

Endpiece : If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other – Mother Teresa

In search of the Aryan seed

As I sat on the plush sofa sipping fine scotch in my friend’s swanky villa, the evening blended into the dark arms of the night. The three of us, all forced bachelors by a quirk of fate, and perhaps tingled by the pining of our faraway homeland, were talking about some interesting places of India. Places less frequented by the masses and relatively unexplored, making them all the more alluring and esoteric.

The flow of the conversation meandered to Ladakh, one of the most astounding lands that I have set my foot on. From some cog of memory, I mentioned that a pure Aryan race is supposed to dwell in certain part of the region, and German women go there to conceive children from the males of the tribe. As one of my friend nodded to confirm my statement, the other looked at me in bewilderment, his eyebrows rising and his forehead breaking into crooked lines.

“Really ?” he asked in a hushed tone, possibly not wanting to make obvious his disbelief. “Oh, I didn’t know about this”, he quickly added.

Bereft of any further information on the topic, I let it die out, but silently resolved to find out more on the intriguing subject.

I have done some research since then, and here is what I stumbled upon :

Perched on the rugged cliffs of Batalik sector of Ladakh is a cluster of four villages that have captured the world’s imagination with claims of their “pure Aryan” descent. The people of this Buddhist tribe, called Drok-pa (or Brogpa), are said to be descendants of the Dards, of Indo-Aryan stock, who came down the Indus centuries ago. The Drok-pa community claim to be progeny of the Macedonian soldiers who came with Alexander the Great for his attempted invasion of India in 327 BC.

Whether these claims are accurate or not, one thing is distinctly striking – their physical features. Unlike the other tribes of the area who have Mongoloid features, they have western looks like exceptionally fair skin, tall height (going upto 6’6”), high cheek bones, sharp features and almond shaped eyes.

This cluster of “pure blooded Aryans” are fiercely protective about their lineage, and don’t marry outside their tribe to protect their claimed purity.

Drawn by this mystique, and a yearning for a pure Aryan offspring, German women have been visiting Ladakh to get impregnated by the male members of the hallowed tribe. Incredible as it may sound, this fable has been chronicled by the famous mountaineer, Major H.P.S. Ahluwalia, in his book ‘Hermit Kingdom – Ladakh’ way back in 1965. “These young, sophisticated ladies came all the way to Ladakh hoping to carry back with them the seed of what is believed to be the purest survivors of the Aryan race”’ he wrote.

More recently, a documentary called ‘Achtung Baby – In Search of Purity’ made by Sanjeev Sivan (brother of Santosh Sivan, the famous cinematographer), lays bare this arguably pernicious practice straight from the lips of a German lady and a Drok-pa male. (Watch a trailer of this on YouTube by punching in ‘The Aryan Saga’ in the search field).

So what does one make of this bizarre behavior ? Racist bigotry or preservation of pure identity ? Outdated clannish chauvinism or acceptable eugenics ?

We know from the Holocaust that the dangerous notion of perpetuating a racial hygiene has wreaked untold havoc on the human populace. But this is a matter between two consenting adults, and an issue of personal choice. After all, if one is free to choose a pair of jeans, what’s wrong with opting for one’s own preferred genes ? People go to great lengths to raise thoroughbred horses and spawn pedigreed dogs. But when the same principles are applied to humans, it raises shrieks of moral, ethical and social issues. Why ?

I see nothing macabre about the German ladies wanting to mate with the pure-bred Aryans to seed their child as long as they know what they are doing and can live with the consequences. It’s their life, its their problem.

As for me ?..... I manifestly prefer pure love to pure race. Crystal clear.

Endpiece : Love is a gross exaggeration of the difference between one person and everybody else. – George Bernard Shaw