TERRORISTS, HOSTAGES AND POLITICIANS

Terrorists, Hostages and Politicians.

All over the world terrorists take innocent people as hostages but I have not heard or read of any political leader being taken as hostage, have you?

One reason could be that political leaders are under layers and layers of armed security that is impossible to penetrate. 

I was watching this Hollywood movie "The Taking of Pelham 123" . The terrorist, for want of any other name, I will call him terrorist, is holding the motorman and some 20 passengers women and children included in a coach of sub way train named Pelham that starts at 1.23 (name of the movie) in New York asking for 10 million dollars in return. During negotiations the city mayor enters the room and the terrorists mocks him for his expansive suit and proposes he will be prepared to release the hostages in exchange of the mayor as hostage till his demand of 10 million dollars is met. 

It is obliviously refused. Politicians are precious and cannot be put to such risk.

I wonder under similar situation will any of our own leader volunteer? I doubt very much. Considering past experience when dreaded terrorists were freed in exchange of kins of political leadership in Kashmir.

Again Kashmir is burning and political leaders are hiding in their safe abodes. Some are on holidays. The Deputy CM from BJP has left the town at a time when he was needed the most.

It will be interesting if some terrorist asks for a political leader as a collateral. The power that be will promptly agree to accept their demands. To hell with the interest of the nation.

A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE

A STITCH IN TIME SAVES NINE

The saying ' a stiTch in time saves nine' has traveled down from our ancestors to us and we in turn have passed in on to the next generation. The process will continue. How come having known this truth all our life we fail to act on time?

Let us first examine what it literally means. It means to mend the torn stitches well in time before the gap becomes wide open and becomes difficult if not impossible to repair. The ancient wisdom drew its lessons from day to day incidents and in this case also it drew its lessons from a torn stitch on a dress. This applies in every sphere of life.

I am reminded of a couplet from Jagjit Singh’s Album:

‘Gaanth agar lag jaye to phir riste hon ya dori 

lakh Karen koshish khulne me wakt to lagata hai. 

(Once knots creep in relationships or a thread, it takes time to un- knot it.) 

We have been witness to many relationship gone soar. We have seen lives gone astray. What should therefore be done to mend the stitch before the gap goes wide open in human relations?

I think the most important thing is to hold your horses. It is very important what we say. It is worse than not saying anything. It is even worse than what we do. The old saying still holds good. Words or arrows once directed outwards cannot be recalled. Many a times, the issues are so flimsy. If the persons involved look back, they will realize that it was not such a big deal after all. And if we realize that what we said was wrong or uncharitable, we should not hesitate to say sorry and apologize. This wonder word ‘sorry’ can save lot of unpleasant in future.

The second equally important thing is to talk. Sulking in a corner does not help. There is no point in saying I would have or should have or could have said so or done so. Most of human conflicts are the by- product of misunderstanding and the sooner this is cleared, the better. Sometimes we postpone it waiting for an appropriate time. There no such thing as appropriate time in such cases.

More often we believe in hearsay and rumor mongers. It is essential that we clear any such doubt before it is too late. Many a relationships have gone soar because the persons involved believed more in others than in themselves. 

Another issue that creeps in bad relationships is expectations. Do good and never expect something similar in return. People are what they are and accept them as they are. It is not for you to change them.

BETTER BE ALONE THAN LONELY

BETTER BE ALONE THAN LONELY.

Sometimes being alone may be bliss. It is a time for reflection. It's time for looking back-sort of Singhawalokan-(Lion looking back after covering some distance and reviewing its progress or may be figuring out if danger is lurking behind). 

Reflection is not possible in a crowded noisy environs. Our saints and sages traversed vast tracks of land in search of peace and tranquility in order to reflect on the meaning of life and came up with astonishing revelations. We ordinary guys, immersed in day to day fight for survival cannot do this. All what we can do is spare some time out of our daily routine and confine ourselves in a room and do some introspection. I will not call it meditation because in meditation we are supposed to control the mind from wavering and concentrate on something tangible. Introspection is looking inside you and reflect on what you did or did not do in life this far. It is not possible to undo the past but it is possible not to repeat the same mistake in future. It applies to all good things done too with a difference that all good deeds will be repeated with more vigor and innovation.

Loneliness is different because it is possible to feel lonely even in a crowd. There are millions of people in this stage who long for true company but never find it. They pretend to be in the crowd but are not part of it. Loneliness is killing. It can drag one to depression, alcohol or drugs. 

Better to be alone than lonely. 

TRACING ROOTS

THE NEED FOR RETRACING ROOTS

In one of my whats app group friends are trying to find their roots. It may seem odd but I do not know the name of my Great Grandfather. I do not even know anything about my Grandfather and Grandmother except that both of them died in an epidemic when my father was just a kid. May be if they were alive and played with me I would have remembered them but I am sure I would have not bothered much about my lineage-the family tree. It was never discussed at home. I was satisfied to know who my parents were and since I did not belong to any kingly family or tribe, it never occurred to me that it was important. I have a vague idea, based on hearsay, of how and from where our ancestors came and settled in the village we were rooted in but rest was not neither asked nor followed.The more important thing was to know who we are and what we want to be or do in life and that too was not anyway greater than having good education, good job, marriage, children and so on. In the process we came out far away from our roots in all likely hood may never return.  

I understand in Haridwar and Varanasi the Pandas (priests) have records of many families but I am again not sure about their authenticity because there is no other way of vouching for it. Birth death records at Village level councils were either not maintained or got destroyed. 

I know it would be a great idea to know about one’s ancestors as to who they were, from where they came and why, how they settled in indifferent places and what they faced on their way to present times. 

I am now representing a generation that has passed over everything to the second and third generation. I am afraid the coming generation will be much more ignorant of their roots than my generation is. Present generation also has moved away farther than we did from their roots to the extent that they do not know if they had any root at all except to the country of their origin.

There are millions of passengers traveling in the same wagon unaware of their past beyond their parents. Some even do not know about their parentage. 

History is written by the winners and family lineage also is relevant to the winners only. For commoners like us, there are other ways of satisfying our ego-one of them being in search of that that has been lost in the whirlwind of time- a thankless, useless pursuit??????????????????   

PINK SLIPS

THE PINK SLIPS

Pink Slips are issued to employees who are no longer required for reasons of non performance or downsizing or restructuring in the new normal Private Sector. In our times there was no such system. At worst the non performing employee was transferred to a remote location forcing him to leave of his own if the organization had any or bluntly asked to talk to leave as per terms of the appointment letter. This was not possible in case of unionised employees particularly at the shop floor. 

Had you ever had the unfortunate job of sacking an employee? 

I had to deal with one such case. The employee concerned was performing much below average level. He was a nice guy. I did a lot of counsel ling with him. on hind side I was feeling responsible for his failures because I was his supervisor. It is not that he has been a bad performer but for two years consecutively he was under scanner for below average performance. His results were affecting the team performance also. Bosses at the top were hinting for a replacement. One day I finally got the message that he has to go.

It was a dilemma. How should I convey this to him. He was about 45, had wife and two kids to support. Besides he was living in a rented house. I was sure his savings will not carry him for long. One way was to transfer him to a location far away from his home and family and thus force him to tender his resignation. I had a hunch that under the circumstances he would even accept that but would not resign of his own. The only alternative was to explain to him and ask him to find an alternate job during the notice period. I explained the situation to him and promised to help him to find an alternative job. He was to submit his resignation as a termination letter could have invited court case. He listened calmly and left without a word. He did not come to office next day but sent in his resignation letter. We were told he was not well and have left for his home town. Company sent his dues to his account. 

This haunts me even today after some 30 years. In some organization one of the job of the Human Resource Department is to hand over pink slips and worst counsel the employee. It must be a soul crushing job. Some organization are handing over pink slips to elderly employees who have been with them for years. This is being done to hire young and more educated employees at lower cost. Very recently Flip cart and some other e commerce start ups have delayed to hire the recruits which they had promised jobs at campus recruitment. This is so frustrating when someone expecting to join a growing organization with high expectation is asked to to wail or look for an alternative.. 

The Seventh Pay Commission recommendations have been approved by the Government. It will take Rs 105000 crores from tax payers money to pay to Central Government employees for the services they are supposed to render to the tax payers. This will be automatically followed by State Governments and other Government organizations including schools. Without grudging this bonanza, Will the Government ever introduce this system.

AGE IS MORE THAN A NUMBER

AGE IS MORE THAN A NUMBER
The realization came too late. All this time I was smarting under the impression that age is only a number and the fear of aging is ion mind only. I was stupid enough to go by these softy words with lofty between the lines.
Well around 6th of this month I was suffering from cough and cold and a little fever which was nothing new and all these years I was treating it with OTC drugs with good effect. I never visited my physician for common cold. Rather would make a joke and say common cold goes in a week if you take medicines and  seven days if you don't.
This time however it refused to subside  even after two days,  Crocine, notwithstanding. On the third day morning, I felt dizzy and fell down early in the morning . Got up dusted myself and hummed ' bin piye Mai to gira , (fell down without having a drink) . Head was still heavy and as I was trying to sip my morning cuppa, I felt like throwing up and I did.
It was enough for my wife to take me to the doctor on 7th. The diagnosis revealed high fever 102, low BP 90/65. Was prescribed some medicines and if no improvement in a day, hospitalization . While my doctor wanted to watch a day more, my daughters and wife insisted that I get to the hospital immediately.Next day on 8th,  I was in the hospital under treatment for which in medical jargon is as under:
"Acute febrile illness due to viral pyrexia with postural hypotension with vertigo and Dyselectrolytemia "
In simple words dehyderation that caused drying up of body fluids and thickening of blood resulting into low BP, loss of socium and pottassium in the blood. They put me on saline and other fluids administered IV for three days, took my complete blood count and bio-chemistry every three hours and BP every two hours.
I was  back home after three days on 11th,  fully recovered and 50000/- short of my bank balance not forgetting the physical discomfort. My daughter flew in from Mumbai and other kept on line from the USA. One stupid misadventure at this age troubled every body. Added to this was the collatral damage of cancellation of our 15 days tour to London and Europe starting 19th of May 2016 with heavy cancellaion charges. The biggest consolation however is that I am fine now. In the process I have leart a lesson for rest of my life.
I am posting this to all oldies with a request not to be as stupid I proved to be. There is no truth in what I made a title of this post. Age is a merciless number when we grow as far as our body is concerned. It is both in our mind and body. Next time you feel like this sort of or any sort of discomfort visit your doctor. At this age our resistance power takes a beating and cannot hold longer as it used to. The doctor is the best judge.

SEDATION, NATIONALISM AND FREEDOM

SEDATION, NATIONALISM AND FREEDOM

Those were Gandhi years and British rule. Down south in a small hamlet in Mysore someone asked the villager ‘do you know who rules us?. The simple and poor farmer replied –‘I do not know but someone must be. As the God runs the universe, so someone must be running this country. I do not know either. All I know that it is the local money lender who rules us’.

That was some 75 years back. A lot has changed since then. Thanks to Democratic system of Government we have since Independence in 1947. Once in five or less years this villager is pampered with promises in exchange of his vote. Having cast his vote many times by now and not seeing any of the promises fulfilled, he has decided to go by the old saying-‘one in hand is better than two in the bush’. So he accepts anything in cash or kind in exchange for his vote. Simple and honest as he is, he keeps his promise.

JNU stir has thrown open some very interesting subjects of sedation, nationalism  and freedom. I thought of talking to the villagers of the day and went on a truth seeking privilege on these subjects and in the process was able to talk to some of them. To my surprise they proved to be very knowledgeable. I think radio and TV has done it.  I translated these words into his language as far and as accurate as I could.

First I talked of sedation. Sedation, I said is saying or doing something against the nation and that is crime punishable under the law as it stands today. He could not understand. He said where is the time to say or do anything against the nation in the midst of our daily fight for survival. As it is we are so unlucky that we were born in this country. Even Modi, said so when in the foreign lands talking to the Indian Diaspora. No one took notice and charged us or any body of sedation charges then. We talk of many things unpleasant about the country but in essence we talk about the rulers. Well if the rulers think they are the country, we cannot help it. He however promised that once he takes over the reigns of the country, all will be proud of having born there and would praying for taking birth in India again and again.

Then I talked of Nationalism. Nationalism, I said is loving your country and doing anything for it if demanded. He was confused. He said why anyone would ask that? It is but natural to love and protect what is yours like my family.  Our ancestors who migrated to other countries, love and fight for the country of their domicile. Millions of Indians left the country and live in other countries and their Nationalism is for that country. As long as we are here we have to love and fight for it. It is like as long as we have a family, we have to love and fight for it. Here we first love and fight for ourselves, then the family, the community, the village, the State and the country in that order. Our nationalism also is in that order.    

Finally I talked about freedom. Freedom I said is saying doing anything that does not harm others. He understood it a bit. Yes we practice it. We do not meddle into others business nor expect them to meddle in ours. That way we maintain our freedom. We have however one common enemy,  poverty, We are fighting it jointly and severely. Anything that helps us annihilate this enemy is always welcome. Our experience so far has bellied any hope.

I could not decide who was ignorant, them or me.