Teaching, Learning, Evaluation and Politics

The recent results of SSLC examination in Kerala did proud to everyone: Government, students, teachers and managements: a win-win situation in the modern jargon. Our children have performed an amazing forward leap in academic quality, thanks to the sincere effort of evaluators and policy makers who wielded the magic wand. It was the umpires who played this time to bring about such an incredible advancement by reducing the minimum requirements for a pass to ridiculously low levels. This act of charity enabled the lazy and dull to pass the exams and join the rest. It should now be possible to enhance the country’s prosperity overnight by bringing the “poverty-line” to similarly low levels. If the concerned agencies wake up to this task India will no longer be a poor country.

Education is concerned with acquisition of knowledge and skills. Evaluation is an essential and integral part of this process. More than anything else, evaluation should give valid feedback to the student as to whether he/she has scaled the requisite levels in the concerned subjects. At the end of the evaluation, if the teacher tells a lie the process simply becomes invalid. Somehow a sizeable population of teachers believe that they are empowered to award “marks” as a matter of gratis. Students and parents eagerly look forward to this largesse after every examination. Acceptance of this premise causes many factors other than academic to creep in and vitiate the system. We have witnessed several extremely degenerate cases where administrative bodies such as University Syndicates decide to award marks to chosen favorites for political reasons. We should realize that “mark” is a scale of measurement and not material wealth for distribution among the have-nots.

Education in India is hounded by two demons namely Degree Mania and Exam Phobia. Degree maniacs are typical cases of the society that crave the label and not the content. They want only the final gilt edged certificates, and are least bothered about what they learn, nor if they learn anything at all. Exam phobia is a quality inherited over generations: most students consider regular learning during the year/semester unnecessary and prepare for the short term target of passing the examinations. Thus all exams become fearfully difficult. This together with the basic distortion in the evaluation has relegated acquisition of knowledge as the last priority. Things have come to such a pass that learning and scholarship are hardly considered as of any value. To a large extent teachers are also responsible for such erosion in the fundamental objective of education.

It is time we realized that examination is a necessary evil, and that learning has to progress in spite of examinations, and not because of it. If the purpose of learning is to pass an examination, all that you learnt would evaporate immediately after. The residual knowledge (if any) is not usually good enough for higher studies or any profession. The student, on the other hand argues that there is no point in studying any Physics or Mathematics (except to pass the exams) if you are destined to end up as a clerk or bus conductor. The frightening element of truth in this argument traps the whole system in a vicious circle, because a majority of graduates in science, languages and literature have to take up jobs in stations totally alien to their subjects of study.

The policy makers who brought down the minimum requirement for pass in SSLC appear to endorse this line of argument as a short cut to popularity among the youth: Why should everyone know the congruence theorem of triangles and rules of grammar? Of course, it is true that in real life we are never asked to prove any theorem of geometry, nor do we have to recount the years of various dynasties and their wars. We teach all these, and compel the innocent student to learn everything, not because these bits of knowledge and information per se would assist them earn their daily bread. The children would in ten years “learn how to learn” through examples and stories, and face a test of understanding. Geometry and poetry are only training platforms to face a variety of intellectual challenges. The stories they learn may not be important, but certainly the culture of learning and scholarship are. It is in this context that there should be a reliable feedback system of telling the student how much he/she has learnt and how much more he has to. Telling them a lie at this stage is unfair.

Political and administrative authorities, in their blindness emanating from delusions of grandeur arrogate to themselves the right to donate marks as they please, blocking reliable feedback information and sending wrong signals to the student community that the days ahead are for the mediocre. Students will certainly take the cue and conclude that striving for excellence in learning is rather futile.

Countries, Rich and Poor

I am posting this from Stockholm, Sweden. This is one of the richest countries in the world. Coming from India it is difficult to fathom how people in such countries look at the mundane problems of ordinary folks. Having waited indefinitely for the city buses in Trivandrum (which never turn up on time, and sometimes do not turn up at all) and traveled by the mofussil buses in other cities where passengers are packed like sardines, and the great KSRTC buses that ask you to run back or forth from the stop, it was a wonderful sight to see the long and silent buses, often in two compartments connected by bellows, that arrives on the dot, halts exactly at the bus stop and moves on slowly when all are in, and the doors are closed. Through the large windows you can see mostly the empty seats occupied here and there by a lonely passenger. The buses are run on biogas, and release little or no poison to the atmosphere. I wondered how many generations it would be before our country achieves this level of perfectio

In my eagerness to enjoy a bus ride, I got into a bus and asked the driver for a ticket (Conductor is an extinct species in the West, and in all ‘western’ type countries like Singapore and Korea.) He smiled indulgently and pointed to the bus stop, muttering something in Swedish which of course I did not follow. Rather late it dawned on me that I should have bought the ticket before entering the bus. The driver was pointing his finger at something when I got out of the bus. I felt like Mahatma Gandhi famously ejected from a First Class compartment at Pietermaritzburg station in South Africa. When I was about to freeze into a statue at the Vasteras city bus stop two students came to my help. With what little English they could marshal to their command they revealed the technology of getting entry to the bus. Instructions are clearly written (in Swedish) on a board in the bus stop, where the diver’s finger pointed earlier. All that you do is to pull out your mobile phone and send an SMS to 72372; the content of message is just “VV”, meaning one adult. In a couple of seconds an SMS comes to you deducting the bus fare from your mobile account. Now open the message and hold the phone for the driver to read. Into the next bus I entered like a visiting Maharajah in full regalia, holding the mobile phone like a baton of authority.

There are many assumptions and imperatives in this model. If you do not have enough money in the mobile account, no journey is possible. Payment in cash (if permitted) is always costlier than electronic payment- prohibitively costly. So everybody carries a mobile phone, keeps sufficient money in the account and always abides by the law of the land. Otherwise a country with just nine million people (less than two districts’ population in Kerala) cannot maintain such an efficient public transport system and sustain a thriving industrial base. They devise such automated systems because manpower is either too costly or unavailable. This is where countries like ours have to be cautious installing automated systems. When we go for similar systems the collateral damage is the loss of jobs

The environmental awareness in this country is not limited to running buses on biogas, but in the conscious use of bicycle by all sections of the society. Cyclists have safe tracks and parking lots on the main road; and bicycle is popular even among old people. Unlike in the US, you don’t see many obese people here; the average Swede is handsome/beautiful with no fat around the girth. Womenfolk proudly display their beautiful legs of athletic shape and textbook perfection. At the first sight I got a feeling that bicycle is the secret of their health and beauty.

All of us have a tendency to compare every new situation to what we are already familiar with. I dare not imagine an SMS ticket in Calicut-Wynad route or in Trivandrum city. We should be happy that mammoth systems like the Indian Railways have established a very reliable e-ticketing and reservation system for the gigantic railway network of the country. I could withdraw local currency in Sweden from my account in India with an ATM card. Compare this with 25 years ago when you had to empty your pockets of all Indian currency and buy, twenty US dollars in the airport waiting in a long queue with the boarding card for the international flight. What did our rulers and bureaucrats think Indians would do after landing in New York? Beg in the streets, steal, or pickpocket? They knew the answer, and that answer was in the channel of smuggling. Small time smugglers of those days matured as underworld Dons, mafia chiefs and many other things we all know now.

There are certain things we could change in our style and methods. Those who wait patiently for their turn in any queue abroad make a muddle at service counters in India, claiming priority over everyone else. Where does this habit come from? The cause of most of our fatal road accidents is not the condition of the road or vehicle, it is the condition of our mind. Unless we are ready to respect the rights of the “other fellow” we cannot escape from the present quagmire. This is true even if we land a man on the moon.

After seeing all the advancements in this country I do not dream of SMS bus tickets or the beautiful people in my country; but a country where everyone has easy access to safe drinking water twenty four hours a day and 365 days a year; a country where the politician-criminal-terrorist nexus does not divide us and rule, making peace and prosperity a mirage for ever.

Forget the Past and Forsake the Future

It was the philosopher Santayana who said, “Those who do not learn from the past are condemned to repeat it". What about those who never bothered about their own history? They will do much worse than repeating or reliving it; they will tread the paths tried out and abandoned by their predecessors. India and Indians are condemned to this fate because we are an ahistorical society. India’s history was not properly recorded here; and for any worthwhile facts on our own past we depended chiefly on the writings of Arab travelers, Greek diplomats and Chinese scholars. Later of course, the Westerners hijacked Indian History and retold it the way they wanted to.

India’s past beyond the sixth century B.C. has virtually no chronology. Inextricably intertwined with popular fiction, our past is hidden in stories and folklore. Even great scholars who made remarkable contribution to human knowledge and literature are projected as jokers and imbeciles who got a sudden bolt from the blue and turned overnight to statesmen and poets. Two such cases are Chanakya and Kalidasa. Their less worthy Western counterparts are better known and celebrated all over the world not only because of the meticulous care with which the West preserves its history, but due to our own shabby ways of remembering the past. The house where Shakespeare lived in Stratford-upon-Avon is preserved as a national monument in UK. On the contrary, in Ujjain where Kalidasa lived and wrote his epic poetry there is hardly any historical relic other than rivers and temples dating back to his times.

Ujjain was the city of Vikramaditya, the wise and brave emperor whose court was full of legendary luminaries including mathematicians, astronomers, men of medicine, architects, grammarians and scholars whose intellects hovered in the rarified atmosphere at the limits of human understanding. Those days the reference line of “zero longitude” (the equivalent of Greenwich line of modern times) was set through the centre of sanctum sanctorum of Maha-Kaleshwar temple under Vikramaditya’s patronage. All the wisdom and valour of the king is lost in tales of his adventures with a vampire called “Vethalam”. A matter of great surprise is that Vikramaditya (Chandragupta II of Gupta dynasty) lived in the First century AD, more than 300 years after Alexander’s campaign, and yet he is more a folklore’s mystery than a hero of history.

Alexander’s progress through the Indian subcontinent was effectively arrested by Chanakya’s defence planning . He, the mentor of Chandragupta Maurya and the virtual founder of Maurya Dynasty was a statesman par excellence whose knowledge of defence, and original contributions in Law and Economics make him the first ever political economist in the world. Instead of learning Arthasastra as part of the curriculum we try to do a character assassination of the great scholar by focusing on some of his orchestrated idiosyncrasies and stubborn personal style. Is it not a shame that every teacher of economics pays homage to Adam Smith as the first economist in the world, blissfully ignorant about Athasastra, a timeless piece of scholarship produced many centuries ago?

Treasure of Techniques washed away from this country by the currents of “Western education” includes our ability for mental arithmetic. While fairly advanced countries in the West were struggling with Roman numbers(not good for any useful purpose other than counting) during the middle Ages India had always had the decimal system from ancient times. Vedic Mathematics (now popular everywhere) tells us that Pythagoras Theorem was well known in India and had five different proofs centuries before it was known after Pythagoras (6th century B.C- Contemporary of Buddha).

Most of us do not know that one of the most popular results in Trigonometry 〖Sin〗^2 θ+〖Cos〗^2 θ=1 was enunciated by Varahamihira in 5th Century AD. He was the one who tabulated the coefficient triangle of binomial expansions (a+b)^n for positive integer values of n, known today as Pascal’s Triangle.

In fact many of us blame the British for leaving behind a bad education system in India. We do not realize their real success lied in making us believe that we had no past worth remembering and that the West was the fountainhead of all human knowledge.

Today if our students and young people in Western Universities excel in comparison with others one reason is that they have an edge over others in Mathematics. If you wish to taste the excellence of our ancestors in mental arithmetic pull out your calculator and check the values of the “Vulgar Fractions” as your friend who knows the “Sutra” writes it effortlessly on a piece of paper. You will find your calculator is dumb beyond the 8th digit while your mind can go on and on until you recognize a pattern.

1/19=0.052631578947368421 052631..
1/59=0.01694915254237288135593220338 98305084745762711864406779661 016949…
1/79=0.0126582278481 0126582…

Those who can write computer programs may try the conventional method and Vedic Method to evaluate such fractions and look at the merits of mental arithmetic.
Our schools have discarded mental arithmetic in the name of “modernization”. They teach commutativity and associativity before the child gets any clue, presumably because that is how it is done in the West. If the present is the legacy of the past the future would hold for us, what we sow today.

Post Script:
Once I bought in a US Department Store 53 dollars worth sundry things. Reluctant to carry loose change I gave a hundred dollar bill and 3 dollars asking her to return a fifty dollar bill. The teller girl didn’t understand the process and kept insisting that I had given her more than the necessary cash. Hundred dollar bill was enough. On further talking her Supervisor entered the scene, understood my demand, took all the money and entered $103 instead of 100. Balance now gets printed out as $50. There you are!!! She pulls out a 50 dollar bill and gives me, full of smile and surprise, exclaiming, “Oh, these Indians!!! Brainy, Real brainy!!!”
Would you rather, your children advance like the Americans?

Against Traditional Medicine..

(This article appeared in Malayalam Weekly dated December 10, 2004)

Our democratic government (of Kerala) has decreed that the famous “Vaidyamadom Family” which has rendered yeomen service in Ayurvedic medical treatment for the past few centuries need not, hereinafter bother to continue that. There are enough number of multinationals like those who invented thalidomide and endosulfan, and converted the poor people of third world countries into their Guinea pigs who are competent do this. Medical treatment is, after all the fundamental right of their agents and servants. They can, with impunity, treat the poor of this country with their medicines and methods banned elsewhere. Official recognition shall, hereafter be granted only to this brand of treatment. Globalization will be complete and effective only when the traditions of every country, every people, are rooted out. The fiat against Vaidyamadom and other traditional practitioners is but a small step towards this cherished goal.

Two incidents are presented here. One of them happened more than fifty years ago. My three-year-old little brother had an attack of some unknown disease. Nearby doctors and physicians treated him with no avail. After the child was almost written off, my mother sent for the tribal physician, “Malayan Panicker”. The “untouchable” Adivasi Physician (Doctors had no untouchability even fifty years ago!!!), with his single-minded attention treated him for a couple of days with his herbal medicines until the child woke up and started playing. For a month the “doctor” would regularly visit to enquire about his little patient. Our family was ready to give him half the kingdom; but he replied, “If I accept remuneration my treatment will no longer be effective”. This is traditional medicine. Traces of this tradition are still vibrant in remote villages in this country even today.

The second picture is very recent: In fifty years we all forgot “Malayan Panicker”. Those who didn’t forget ridiculed him and his tribe. Untouchability somehow shifted from his person to profession. All of us learnt Science and Technology, traveled and worked abroad, drank Coke and Pepsi and returned home to find that our mother was already in her deathbed. According to the prevailing fashion we got her admitted to a five star hospital apparently to prevent her death. A doctor each specialized in the respective organ from head to toe examined her and prescribed various kinds of treatments. One of them performed an operation, another an endoscopy while a third administered blood and plasma. We, the near and dear had no entry to the “intensive care unit”. You may watch through the keyhole if the security men permitted. When her breathing pattern changed, indicating her final moments we tried to wet her dry lips with a drop of water, which the young lady in white coat tried her best to prevent. When the heartbeat slowed down she injected medicines, brought it to 150 a minute, checked the blood pressure and smiled in satisfaction. Our mother of course breathed her last despite this drama of “treatment against death” that repeated a few times. We got the dead body released after showing them the cash receipt for the performance. This is the modern, globalized medicine- Medicine that has shunned the tradition of wetting the dying person’s dry lips- Medicine that has lost its soul.

According to a WHO report, India is a county with one of the lowest per capita expenditure on medical treatment. It is also stated (of course, in small print) that the reason for this low spending is that a good percentage of Indians depend upon inexpensive systems like homoeopathy and traditional medicines. Powerful drug manufacturers and multinationals were able to wipe out homoeopathy from the United States where it was popular a few decades ago. This effort of eradicating inexpensive treatment successfully continues in other countries with the tacit connivance of puppet regimes. In the case of countries like India, there are no short cut methods; one has to limit the definitions of freedom in infinitesimal and incomprehensible steps. As it is difficult to curtail our freedom to approach any physician, the only recourse open is to eradicate every kind of traditional medicine.

Hundreds of intellectuals, rationalists, doctors and ordinary people are knowingly and unknowingly party to this global conspiracy. The general contention that everything outside the framework of Western Science is wrong stems from a lack of understanding of Science itself. Science is only a tentative description of the laws of nature as observed and understood from time to time. The essential feature of Science is its honesty to admit its own mistakes in the light of new evidences. “Truth” and “Science” are not one and the same. The popular notion of the two being the same is a modern superstition. The inextricably intertwined relationship between the human body and mind is still outside the purview of modern medical science. Ignorance in certain domains is millions of times more than Knowledge itself. It is preposterous to insist that all traditional knowledge that falls beyond the framework of modern science should be discarded.

It is clear that those who swear by Science to stamp out traditional medicine are not motivated by any lofty understanding of science, but by some baser instinct akin to religious fanaticism. It is true that there are many cases of fraudulent activities in the name of traditional medicine; but it is equally true of biotechnology and computer science. That certainly cannot be held against the branch of knowledge!!

When different branches of medicine compete among themselves, the mighty would try to annihilate the weak and meek. In India, the organized sector of big hospitals, and drug manufacturers can capture an enormous market if the traditional and cheaper medicines and practices are banned. Everything appears to be fair in a market economy. The CEO of Coca Cola once made a statement that Coke’s real competitor in India is not Pepsi, but the drinking water. Thirsty Indians drink water instead of soft drinks. This bad habit has to change. This will certainly change if drinking water is privatized by acquiring Plachimada and Narmada Valley. There is a lot of underlying similarity between the two cases.

Medical history of the West is not very ancient compared to those of China or India. Many well developed and proven modes of treatment were prevalent in both these countries, Ayurveda and Acupuncture being two well-known systems. These branches of study needed long years of intense training through stable teacher-student relationships and devoted learning. These traditional training methods are different from the present day classes from ten-to four where the lectures fall in deaf ears of the uninitiated sons and daughters of fortune-seekers. What our governments and universities believe is that any process of learning that does not go through this ten-to-four-drama is no leaning at all. That is why the traditional medical practitioners do not get the “official” recognition. (If the carpenters trained in ITI are unable to persuade he government to banish all traditional carpentry, it is only because they do not have the money and political support to pull the necessary strings)

In the health care system prevalent in the West you cannot buy an analgesic tablet from the store without a doctor’s prescription. You cannot even meet a doctor of your choice. You are allowed to consult only the specific doctor named by your insurance company, because they pay the doctor’s fee and the cost of drugs. If there is any deficiency of service there are attorney organizations to file cases on your behalf and get you huge compensations. An ordinary citizen is just a helpless creature surrounded by multinational drug manufacturers, hospitals, doctors’ organizations, attorney groups and others. This is the American way of life.(Into that Heaven of Freedom let my country awake!!!) Bringing the whole world under this lifestyle is called globalization. Bombing of Iraq is just one step in this holy endeavour.

Ayurveda, Naturopathy, Yoga, Kalarippayattu, Marmachikitsa and a host of other systems form part of our tradition. They are our intellectual properties. The health, mutual trust and stability of our society are delicately related to these traditions and traditional knowledge. Our attempt to transplant “American Way of Life” as a panacea to all our ills, without appreciating the localized and ephemeral nature of many western findings is, in mildest terms, retrograde and ridiculous. The Organized sector and government should resist this temptation and withdraw from this perilous path.

* * *

Tail end: It looks very appropriate that the Excise Department is vested with powers to judge whether Vaidyamadom is competent to treat patients, and to pull out traditional medicine by its roots. After all, they are the guardian angels of new traditions of Hyrunneesa and Manichan.


=========================00000000=========================

Bishops, Communists and Sacraments

It is really painful to watch and listen to the controversy between the Clergy and Marxist Party surrounding the truth or otherwise of the “last sacrament” claimed to have been administered to late Sri. Mathai Chacko, MLA. I am particularly annoyed because Mathai Chacko was my personal friend whose rise in Kerala Politics was of great interest to me. Religion and politics apart, he was a fine individual who practiced what he preached. The attempt on the part of the clergy to depict him otherwise was what irked most people.

Mathai Chacko did not believe in Heaven and Hell, nor did he recognize the need for prayers. I had met him in his hospital room a couple of months before he went unconscious. We did not talk much, but his firm resolve to fight the disease with available medical tools and weapons had not diminished in the least. It is unimaginable that such a person buries his convictions and calls the priest for getting anointed. Now it is fairly clear from the written statement of the Bishop that no such sacrament was administered to Chacko in his consciousness. We all know that it is the practice of Religion to make such claims; and even Einstein was not spared from such propaganda. The present confusion does not stem from facts or sequence of events, but from the rivalry between two great religions of the world, Christianity and Communism.

People are usually “born-into” a religion, not of their own accord. Every child, immediately after birth is counted in, as a Hindu, Muslim, Christian or any other permitted sect. Such head-count is useful in designating electoral constituencies as “belonging” to a specific religion or community. Thus, in a geographical sense (see Bertrand Russell) Mathai Chacko could be counted as a Catholic, although it may not entitle him to heavenly bliss available to real practicing Catholics. It is in the interest of the Church and its constituents that everyone is given all sacraments, including the last one. This interest of the Church is logical and praiseworthy because someone who dies without the last sacrament might end up in Hell. It is this lofty ideal of securing for everyone a seat in the Heaven that prompts priests to go out of the way to administer this piece of ritual even on unconscious patients in deathbeds. Those who remember history would recall that Spaniards used to baptize every South American (pagan) child before squashing its head and throwing in the disposal pit. The Spanish clergymen sincerely believed this was an admirable thing to do, as the innocent pagan children would otherwise languish in Hell.

Pinarayi Vijayan, as the High Priest of Communism obviously does not admit of sacraments. Of course they too have rituals like throwing up the fist (vertically or horizontally as the occasion demands) and saying Lal Salaam (Lal is Hindi, meaning Red and Salaam Arabic, meaning submission; but that is beside the point) which have no objective like securing a heavenly abode for its practitioners. It is only natural that he doesn’t tolerate one of his men being designated as a Lamb of the Bishop. He fails to recognize the Church’s lofty ideal behind appropriating a Soul after the man’s death. Pinarayi is worried about the loss of reputation of a party member exposed to such tricks by the scheming clergymen. His point is that the Bishop initially said that the deceased himself had requested anointing, and later reversed it in a second statement. These statements read with other circumstantial evidence, point to the Bishop’s violation of ninth commandment (Thou Shalt Not Lie) at least on one occasion, either the first or second. Does it justify Pinarayi’s insinuation that a Bishop who spreads such a blatant lie is a “detestable creature”? Certainly not. It is part of the Faith that Bishops make holy statements and the question of lie does not arise at all. This blasphemy by a communist who has scant regard for the infallibility of the Church (and Bishops) deserves condemnation that he be consigned to Hellfire.

This is an ideal point at which the entire issue gets viewed topsy-turvy. Now the Church is no more worried about Mathai Chacko’s religious beliefs, the right and wrong of sacraments on the unwilling, and whether anointing was done at all. Now the only point discussed is that Pinarayi called the High Priest of a minority religion (it was pardonable had it been a majority religion) a detestable creature, which, in reality, he is not. He now reiterates that he uttered words to that effect, and justifies having said so. All the Bishop’s men including Oommen Chandy and K M Mani are now up in arms, chanting in chorus that Pinarayi committed blasphemy and should retract. I don’t think he is in a mood to retract, because these Communists have no fear of divine retribution against blasphemy.

Pinarayi Vijayan, although a great leader and political luminary, doesn’t seem to be well up in Scripture knowledge. Instead of using a phrase like “detestable creature” he should have reminded the diocese that His Holiness violated two Commandments, not just one as we all thought. By trying to poach a Soul (albeit unsuccessfully) from Pinarayi’s camp the Bishop violated the Tenth Commandment also (Thou Shalt not Covet). Violation of two Commandments may not put him to any great inconvenience in this world, but what about the next, I mean the Purgatory?

Science and Superstition

In my childhood I lived in a village without electricity and transport. We went to school walking up the slope of a hill and a couple of miles along a flat treeless plateau. On the near-slope of the hill we had our cremation ground, identified by a lone peepal tree in its centre. On the southeast edge of the plateau there were remnants of an old fort, abandoned a few hundred years ago by an earlier dynasty that preceded the recent one overthrown by the British in nineteenth century. Our elementary school was where the plateau joined the main road.

Children never ventured along this route except in large groups in broad daylight, due to a lingering fear associated with this route. Just before the monsoon rains, an occasional leopard would descend from the hills and kill a few cows and calves. I distinctly remember to have seen once, the crimson carcass of a cow on our way to school. When the leopard announces its arrival by an initial kill, the village elders would fetch a well-known marksman from the nearby town and get the animal shot in a week’s time if it stayed that long. The gunman returned empty handed if the leopard smelt the danger, and decided to quit. At least in certain seasons we were genuinely terrified by the possible presence of the leopard. Later, when I went to High School in the town, nobody would buy our story and we were, en masse, branded superstitious. Those days newspapers were rare and readers few. People in the town firmly believed that leopards never stirred out of the forest to take away cows and calves. Even the teachers smiled away our leopard as hallucinations of a bunch of superstitious villagers.

There was a temple at the far end of the plateau with an adjoining “lake on the rock” in which water was plenty even in dry seasons. Although the presiding Goddess was in an angry mood (presumably after killing a demon) and desired to be propitiated preferably with chicken and a dash of alcoholic drink, everyone heaved a sigh of relief at the shelter offered by the temple. After all, the leopard could do little if the Goddess decided to protect you. There were also supporting legends, stories, and anecdotes of elders to reinforce our trust in the Goddess. The village, the plateau, the cremation ground, fort, Kali temple and occasional visits of leopards made it an ideal fertile ground to breed a credulous generation of superstitious people. The setting was ideal to instill fear of God in children at an early age. Surprisingly it never happened. On the contrary, most of the children in this village became rationalists, atheists and even communists after they went to high school and grew up further. As no one had demanded any kind of faith in any deity, we could freely discuss religion, god(s) and beliefs and engage in verbal fights even in the temple premises. In the freedom of mind we enjoyed, the leopard and goddess did not matter any further. The country was passing through a period of enlightenment, immediately after freedom, with Nehru at the top and Science education gaining a new impetus. All those who went to college studied science instead of history, language or law preferred by the earlier generation. I think, science education had, in those days had an over-compensating effect on traditional beliefs, and it became fashionable to dub everything beyond our ken as a superstition.

Some old men (not women) in our village often described an animal they named “Kooli”, usually seen on cremation grounds in the night. Most of them were invariably people who used to deal with ghosts and other spirits, and professed courage out of immunity derived from their knowledge and techniques to tackle supernatural forces and beings. Kooli was supposed to represent evil spirits, obviously because it preferred to hang about cremation grounds. The described animal had no skin or hair, only scales all around its body. The moment you disturb it with a stick or stone the creature would fold itself into a ball, roll down the slope and disappear in the bush. A friend told me once that the great grand uncle of a friend of his friend had actually tied one to a tree, but the animal escaped before he could call anyone. There was no way to check the existence or otherwise of Kooli because none of the science educated modern youngsters had the courage to look for Kooli in the cremation ground at midnight. The educated younger generation rejected the very existence of this peculiar animal because they had no method (or courage?) to locate its whereabouts and verify. Of course it took some nerve to wait for the weird creature in a cremation ground at the dead of night. They decided not to believe any of the stories related to this animal. All the rest of us joined this bandwagon of rationalists and strongly believed that there was no such thing called Kooli.

Fifty years later, I was glancing through the exhibits of Natural History Museum in London where I found the embalmed body of a small animal exactly fitting the description of Kooli. (See Photo). The animal’s name is “Three-banded Armadillo” with a zoological name Tolypeutes Tricinctus belonging to Dasypodidae family and found in northeast and central Brazil. Voila!!!! My childhood riddle stands solved right in front of me.

Tolypeutes Tricinctus:Natural History Museum,London.Photo: MPC

I felt great jubilation and shame at the same time. Kooli is after all a poor little creature that did not relish human interference with its life and habitat. Choice of lonely places like cremation grounds and the defensive folding of itself into a ball are perfectly natural and acceptable behavior that did not deserve the insinuation of evil spirit-association. Our science education ought to have enabled us to reject the evil spirit theory, instead of denying the very existence of the poor creature.

Post-colonial science education in India acquired the character of a rebellion against age-old beliefs and traditions. This had, in the early decades of independence brought about a desirable social transformation that affected even the elders in the family who never went to college. Mothers and grand mothers were proud of their English-speaking, college-going children who could tell them a lot of sensible things they were ignorant or unaware of. In this euphoria they were often ready to condone their children’s diminished reverence to traditional godheads and deities. Christian Missionaries who ran a considerable number of colleges were able to influence many Hindu students and wean them away from traditional Hindu gods, as “superstitious” beliefs. A natural consequence was that one had to take it for granted that Monotheistic beliefs were true and polytheistic ones false. Christianity could gain a great deal of respectability among the educated, although conversions took place mainly among the poor and downtrodden, mostly by offers of material benefits such as powder milk and American butter. Hindu religion and traditions were ridiculed as superstitious, while monotheistic traditions were left out of criticism. In this background rationalists and atheists in India even now train their guns usually on Hindu gods, beliefs and traditions while granting a great deal of respectability to superstitious beliefs of other (organized) religions. No one in India questions or ridicules creationism, baptism, circumcision, heaven, hell, Satan or even the nonsense of Purgatory. This behaviour of rationalists is understandable, because it affords them the satisfaction of intellectual courage (though not honesty) without dangers of physical violence.

Science education in India had other characteristics too. It was widely believed that printed material (particularly those from the West) contained irrefutable truths. Cartesian-Newtonian Science that made a late entry to Indian curricula was often mistaken as the final word of truth, even after Nuclear Physics had gone a long way beyond reductionism. One area that suffered most from Cartesian reductionism was Medical Science. Today, you have a specialist doctor for every one of your organs from head to toe, but none for yourself. This degradation has led to three widespread superstitions: (1) Reductionist medicine cures all diseases (2) All other schools of medicine like Ayurveda, Homoeopathy, Acupuncture, etc. are placebos and hence unscientific. (3) All theories and practices not corroborated and justified by the currently accepted tools and methods are spurious and ineffective. As a result, signals and numbers churned out by “electrical squiggles” (this term was used by Dr. Christian Bernard to describe the much revered ECG) soon gained primacy over doctors’ intelligence and intuition. Holistic systems of medicine that listen to the patient’s description of the problem rather than computer outputs were marginalized even by laws relating to medical treatment.

“Scientific Approach”, by science’s own standards demands that any hypothesis should be approached by understanding all variables, parameters and claims through unbiased verification using appropriate tools. Those (scientists, allopathic doctors, pharmaceutical companies, mercenary lawyers and other vested interests) who dub homoeopathy as unscientific never care to read the abundant literature available on the subject. Some of them subject the medicine to chemical tests, draw a blank and declare that it contains nothing and hence useless. It is like looking at Saturn with naked eye and declaring that Saturn has no rings. The only thing one can say is that Science has not cared to delve deep enough into these therapeutics to understand how they work. It is obviously not scientific to deny that it works on the face of so much evidence on its efficacy. Such a religious denial is no better than our denial of Kooli’s existence. One should consider “how homoeopathic medicine works” as a gap in scientific knowledge and try to figure it out. Testing methods used to disprove homoeopathy are often those specified by its detractors. This system of medicine does not try to “name” diseases and establish a one-to-one correspondence between the medicine and disease of a particular “name” (There are notable exceptions). It needs much more information like modalities, generalities, and concomitants of a “condition” of the body that will not be printed out by electronic gadgets. Employing the “scientific” method of double blind placebo tests apparently fails because it is not the right kind of testing tool. It is just like tying to find the room temperature with a weighing machine. Such beliefs certainly fall in the category of superstitions of the third kind listed above.

This leads me to what I generally call “Scientific Superstition” which is a kind of religiosity found among adherents of Cartesian Science. Sometimes their dogmatic stance is similar to that of religious people. Origins of this malady can be traced to our education systems and styles. Absence of rigour in discussing scientific principles and mathematical theorems is one of the common roots of the problem.

Once I asked an undergraduate student during a viva voce examination why the internal combustion engines were cooled. He said that the Second Law of Thermodynamics would be violated unless we cool the engine. Even if you grant a margin for linguistic inability the flaw in his understanding was quite appalling. It appeared that the whole idea of cooling the engine was to “obey” Second Law of Thermodynamics!! Later I found that use of the word “Law” was the real culprit. People often do not realize that there is no similarity between a man-made Law and a Law of Nature. While man-made laws are prescriptions of how we should conduct ourselves, Natural Laws are only descriptions of how nature behaves. (Bertrand Russell had made these points immensely clear in his writings). Unfortunately, use of the word “Law” to indicate these descriptions gives the impression of a law-maker lurking somewhere behind, probably up in the sky. It was possibly intended so, because philosophy, religion and science were inextricably intertwined in the Middle Ages.

Influence of religion on educational systems even today causes a drag on science teaching all over the world. Faith and belief systems demanded by various religions from early years enter the psyche of the individual and stay there even after he/she “switches over” to science. If you treat Laws of thermodynamics like the Ten Commandments it is only fair that you should “abide by” them. Religious people may not realize this fallacy at all. For them there is no difference between the two types of Law, except that natural laws came into force by divine fiat and the other kind by legislative act. For instance if God decides to annul Second Law of Thermodynamics we could do away with cooling systems in engines because all heat can then be converted to work.

It should be possible if you pray hard.

====================00000===================

Nation Forgets a Patriot

The Hindu weekly magazine of Sunday 29th April 2007 carried an article on V K Krishna Menon, “An Unusual Life”. With his unusual writing craft the author, Shashi Tharoor sketches a subjective picture of the legendary statesman of yesteryears. The article, obviously meant for the Sunday reader, does not discuss the intricacies of politics of those days, but shows a profile of Menon from the view point of a twelve year old boy watching his father’s illustrious friend. I felt happy to read the article for one reason: Shashi is at last making amends for his calculated obliteration of the legendary Son of India. This towering mountain was missing in the landscape he had painted in his “From Midnight to Millennium”. Now that Shashi is not in the fray for UN Secretary General’s post, the selective amnesia in history is not of use to him any more. He can now feel at ease and have a fresh look at recent Indian history and think of rewriting his book without the fear of annoying the West.

Krishna Menon’s abrasive character is well known. In fact it is immaterial to us, the general public. The awe and wonder of watching the Himalayas do not diminish because it is bitterly cold out there. Bitter cold is no reason to deny its existence either. See what R.Venkitaraman, former President of India says about Menon’s abrasiveness: “Menon was arrogant, but only to those who tried to denigrate his country. His words were acid and bitter but only when he tore the mask of hypocrisy and laid bare the truth. He was harsh because he could not suffer mediocrity. Intellectually he was a giant and had the best in an argument, and it is the habit of the world to compensate for the loss with abuse”.

In the Indian subcontinent patriotism has been a subject of laudatory songs and not a quality widely practiced. Many patriots suffered from their own countrymen; Gandhiji was shot not by the British, but after India gained freedom. Sheik Mujibur Rahman of Bengala Desh, Liaqat Ali Khan and Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of Pakistan had laid down their lives for their patriotism. The process of gaining freedom of the country and the sacrifices made for freedom are quickly forgotten when the former oppressors begin placating the newborn government with crumbs of bread. Basic principles are swept under the carpet in the name of expediency and patriots are looked upon with suspicion. Patriots and their ideals become a nuisance and hindrance to those who wish to reap the monetary benefits of freedom.

When Krishna Menon insisted that defense production should be indigenous and started an array of massive public sector units like Ordnance factories, HAL, BEL, DRDO, Avadi Tank factory and laid the entire foundation of indigenous defense production he was faced with opposition from the top brass of the Forces who wanted expensive foreign equipment. Opposition from his own cabinet colleagues like Morarji and S K Patil was impelled by the private business lobby. Morarji as Finance Minister could withhold defence money despite parliamentary decisions, to a point of suffocating the indigenous production units at crucial times. Yet, Menon took the entire blame of non-performance of the armed forces. It was easy for this lobby to malign Menon because they controlled the print media. R.K Karanjia, editor of Blitz used to call it the Jute (Jhoot) press for two reasons: one, the money came from jute market; two, the lies (Jhoot) they were capable of spreading were horrendous. They used the age-old Nazi technique of repeating a lie until it became Truth. Menon’s ill health, medicines, tea drinking and frugal living were held against him as unpardonable vices by the Press, while chain smoking of “India Kings” and urine drinking of others were benevolently condoned. Those who raised hue and cry on his “corruption” but could not explain what he would do with the money meekly said he used it for his India-League activities. Is it not ridiculous to collect one rupee per month as salary and resort to corruption to find money for philanthropy? The MI5 papers released by UK on March 2, 2007 bear adequate testimony to what went on behind the curtain.

The lies manufactured and spread by the Jhoot Press in those days of tension and war with China, were swallowed by many innocent citizens of the country. Menon was too proud a man to defend himself personally. He did not create a faction of Congress Party to follow him to bargain for cabinet positions. He had always maintained that he wanted a principle in power rather than a clique in office. He couldn’t care even about himself being in power. It is hard in the modern times to discern such a state of mind. No wonder most people fail to understand him.

Post Script: Krishna Menon never got the recognition he deserved. There was a “Krishna Menon Square” in his home town (Calicut) where his statue adorned a vantage point in the city center. This statue was covered by a wall and surrounded by trees in the name of beautification. No one can see him unless one goes deliberately into the remote corner of the park. There he stands, turning the other way!! This appeared symbolically similar to what Shashi Tharoor did in his book. Instead of admiring or hating Krishna Menon just ignore him, with the hope that he would gradually go into oblivion.

===========0000000000===========

Selective Amnesia in History

An enigma unraveled

Fifty years ago, on 23^rd January 1957, V.K. Krishna Menon, the most forceful and fearless leader that any nation had sent to the United Nations delivered his 8hour speech on Kashmir, a fitting reply to Pakistan, “It must be planted effectively in your minds that the issue in Kashmir is aggression, that the issue is invasion…” Krishna Menon’s time was one in which India loomed large in international affairs not only in championing the cause of oppressed nations, but in rendering positive assistance in solving knotty issues like the Korean problem. His role in freedom fight is well documented as an unofficial ambassador of the Indian people in London, instilling confidence even in Prime Minister Clement Attlee. Through his mentor and guru Harold Lasky he worked out the plan to appoint Lord Mountbatten, an admirer and friend of Nehru as the last Viceroy to enable a smooth transfer of power from Britain to India ( Ref: Lappier and Collins: Freedom at midnight)

History never forgets such great milestones, but alas, historians do. Such selective amnesia proves handy for some of them who write history with a long term personal goal. This is perhaps what happened to Shashi Tharoor while writing his meticulous volume on independent India “From Midnight to Millennium”. His book decries Nehru’s ‘Socialist Pattern of Society’ as the root cause of all evils in independent India, but plays to the audience by romanticizing the uplift of the downtrodden to positions of power. The story of a village boy who could not enter his (Tharoor’s) house being an untouchable returning to the village as the District Collector and behaving benevolently to his tormentors has the beauty of a fairy tale, be it fact or fiction.

Tharoor’s book discusses a great array of significant persons in the country from statesmen to petty politicians, the feud between India and Pakistan over Kashmir in a cool-headed style, but carefully avoids mentioning the towering personality and patriot who dealt with the problem with an indomitable will and persistence. It is interesting to note that Shashi Tharoor had all UN records at his disposal to write an honest account of the battle fought in the UN and yet he was blind to this illustrious personality who virtually decided India’s foreign policy from ’47 to ’62.

Although every patriot admired Krishna Menon, there were others who understandably hated him. But ignoring him was impossible. The Westerners, US in particular hated him, but took notice of every word he uttered on international issues. He was also feared because of his sharp and witty quips. When the superpowers were piling up “nuclear warheads for world peace” his sarcastic remark was, “I have never heard of a vegetarian tiger”. He was virtually the voice of India.

One admires Shashi Tharoor’s style and remarkable ability to write beautifully no matter what the topic is, and no matter if there is a topic at all. This rare gift has given him many readers and admirers in India who wish well for him. After reading his “From Midnight to Millennium” more than a year ago his determined amnesia on Krishna Menon and his contributions haunted me as an enigma.

Everything fell in place, and the riddle was instantly solved as soon as Shashi Tharoor announced his candidature for UN Secretary General’s position. This august body, buckling under pressure from the US and its allies has deteriorated to a worse condition than the erstwhile League of Nations when Italy invaded Abyssinia (present Ethiopia). All recent UN Secretary Generals looked like scarecrows when Bush and Blair invaded Iraq with impunity, bombed schools and hospitals, and killed women and children in their war of greed for oil. He, as a career diplomat knew better than anyone that one’s political opinions should resonate with that of US even to get across the first round of the competition. In hindsight it is not difficult to fathom his intentions in obliterating a great patriot like Krishna Menon in order to curry favour with his masters who might get jittery at the very mention of that name, whom they had dubbed as a crypto-communist.

Carry on Shashi, no hard feelings. After all, collective memory of the masses is extremely poor.

Post Script: When AK Antony joined the Union Cabinet as Defence Minister most of the Malayalam channels, and newspapers did not remember that he was the second Malayalee occupying that position, Krishna Menon being the first. This collective amnesia can be pardoned because most of the young journalists and reporters have limited their domain of knowledge to irrelevant details on movie stars and cricket players. The slip was due to ignorance and not due to amnesia.

Sorry, Your Lordships !!!

Admission to professional colleges in Kerala and all the protection of social justice will be back to square one in 2007, thanks to the most recent order of the Hon. High Court of Kerala striking down all important clauses of Act 19 of 2006, leaving behind a skeleton of the original Act. This act was intended not only to bring about some amount of social justice in an environment of commercialization and exploitation but to make everyone accountable by following a transparent procedure. One is baffled by the Hon. Court’s dictum that the much lauded single window system is an infringement on the rights of managements. In ruling that the managements could conduct their own entrance tests the Hon. High Court has turned a blind eye to realities.

Private professional colleges collect Capitation Fee (banned by many earlier orders of the Court) from every student. Managements usually do not call for applications through public notice, never specify a last date for application, do not maintain application registers, never prepare any rank list before admission because they simply do not need it. A person desirous of admission approaches the management (Principals are usually kept as scarecrows in the whole affair), bargains wherever possible, pays the capitation fee or donation or whatever else you may call it and secures an application form. Entrance test or no test, the candidate is assured of a seat in the specified branch. In Medical Colleges this amount runs to many lakhs while in Engineering the amount is lower, and depends on the branch, Electronics and Communication quoting the highest. Thus there will be exactly as many applicants as there are seats. They might even conduct an entrance test, but how does it matter if everyone passes? Unless he/she pays the capitation fee a meritorious candidate has no way of collecting an application form and getting enlisted as an applicant. There will be no evidence to show that his merit has been by-passed by money. In fact it was this "unfettered right” that the Act had curtailed and the Hon. Court order has now handed back to managements by dismantling the single window system. Who doesn’t know that their “management entrance test” is the biggest joke played on the public?

Hon. High Court has made an observation that private colleges give quality education that government colleges fail to do. Sorry Your Lordships, the facts tell a different story. Students and parents think that the government, Aided and Govt. Self financing colleges give them a better deal as testified by the rush of high rank holders to these colleges

Table below: 2005 Admission: Highest preferred colleges and the last rank of students admitted to Electronics and Communications Branch (First Round)

College, (Last rank in ECE Branch), Type

1. College of Engineering Trivandrum, (160) Govt.

2. Model Engg. College, Thrikkakkara (518) Govt. SF

3. TKM College Kollam (595) Aided

4. Govt.College of Engg. Trissur (697) Govt

5. M A College, Kothamangalam (787) Aided

6. RIT Kottayam (1505) Govt

7. Sree Chithra Trivandrum (1602) Govt. SF

8. Govt. Engineering College, Barton Hill, TVM (1613) Govt

9. NSS Engg College Palakkad (1766) Aided

10. College of Engg Chengannur (1958) Govt. SF

11. Rajagiri School of Engg & Tech., Ekm (2001) Private SF

12. Govt. Engg. College, Sreekrishnapuram, Palakkad (2357) Govt.

13 Govt. College of Engg. Kannur (2500) Govt.

14. University College of Engg, TVM (3154) Govt. SF

15. Institute of Technology for Women TVM (3191) Govt. SF

16. College of Engineering, Adoor (3474) Govt. SF

17. LBS College of Engineering, Kasaragod (4151) Govt. SF

18. Adi Sankara Inst. of Engg., EKM (4625) Private SF

19. College of Engineering, Munnar (4653) Govt. SF

In this list of 19 Engineering colleges which obviously were considered as top preference institutions, there are only Two Private Self-financing colleges. Somehow our lawyers failed to convince the court that Private self financing colleges do not enjoy the same credibility as the Government sector.

Any amount of data is available to prove that the entry of self financing colleges has caused a drop in the overall standards mainly due to the admission of undeserving candidates through money power. Although the total number of seats has increased many times the output of engineers in the state has increased only marginally, thanks to the enormous number of dropouts (35%) who would never complete their education. This wastage is mainly from the self financing sector.

Luckily Hon. High Court has not struck down the right of Government to maintain academic standards. The previous government, for reasons unknown to academics had reduced the minimum marks for entry (2006) from 50% to a mere pass in Plus Two. This, together with the “unfettered rights” of managements has brought in all kinds of young people to professional colleges. One need not wait until 2010 to know its consequences. Results of first year exams in various Universities will speak out eloquently.

Government is apparently contemplating an appeal in the Supreme Court. From the earlier verdicts it is clear that this would be a losing battle. Instead, a comprehensive law to be implemented in 2008 should be thought of. Meanwhile looking at the left over clauses of the Act the Government should immediately tighten up the academic requirements and ensure some amount of justice to aspiring candidates by doing the following:

1. Ensure that all aspiring students are able to buy the application form and get enlisted as a candidate without paying capitation fee or any part thereof.
2. All eligible applicants should be permitted to appear for the “Management Entrance Exam” and obtain a rank
3. Valuation of papers should be done without the influence of managements
4. A list of successful candidates should be published in the order of ranking.

Managements should be asked to publish the fee structure; any other underhand collection should be treated as a criminal offence. Whatever remains of the Act itself enables the Government to ensure this much.

Brute Majority of Minorities in Kerala

(An abridged version of this blog appeared in the New Indian Express, Kochi, on August 12, 2006. The portions deleted by the editors are shown in red colour)

Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore was ranked nineteenth among world’s universities in scientific research last year, ahead of IITs and all Asian universities. When we exploded the atomic device in Pokhran this institution won the distinction of being blacklisted by the US. This great institution known as the academic birthplace of space research in this country was started by Jamshedji Tata, a distinguished citizen belonging to a miniscule minority community in India, namely the Parsis. Even today, decades after the institute was dedicated to the Nation and handed over to the Government, this is “Tata Institute” to the local populace, a towering monument of minority communities’ contribution to higher education in India.

It was neither an accident of history nor any political compulsion that prompted the founding fathers of our Constitution to make (made) adequate provision to safeguard the rights of minorities. They did it consciously and deliberately to protect the unity and integrity of this secular nation. It is possible that they were guided by two historical reasons: Firstly they were under the illusion that the nation of their dreams with equality and social justice would be born on the day of independence. Secondly, it was a conscious effort to avoid in independent India, the kind of inequities and indignities meted out to the non-Muslim minorities in Pakistan. The thoughtful safeguards in the constitution were to enable minorities to protect their cultural identity and rights to worship. Our leaders went ahead one more step to provide special rights to establish and maintain their own educational institutions- a right unavailable to others.

In the course of defining “minorities” a hypothetical “majority” came into being by default, like an arithmetic residue. This fictitious majority consists of a multitude of disjoint communities holding infinite number of religious beliefs and practices, speaking languages and dialects unknown to one another and distributed over the entire subcontinent from the Himalayas to Kanyakumari. “Hindu” was a convenient name to call these people for another reason in history: This Persian word “Hindu” (not seen in any Indian scripture) was used from time immemorial by Persians to indicate the inhabitants of the Indus valley and the land east of it. There was no such thing called “Hindu Religion” because the concept of structured religions with a prophet, clerical hierarchy and a well defined line of authority was absent here unlike in Semitic religions. Yet, the rest of India was dubbed to follow a nonexistent “majority” religion. Even if Hinduism is considered to be a religion, it is, at best, an agglomerate of a multitude of beliefs, practices and philosophies without cohesion or commonality. (It is interesting to note that most of the village deities of Tamil Nadu and Kerala are unknown in the adjacent district and never heard of in the northern states.). Thus it is by default that the burden of majority was bestowed upon the arithmetic residue which itself is a collection of minorities consisting of disorganized castes and tribes. These castes and tribes were thus positioned at the giving end of all concessions.

If a few Dalit citizens decide to uplift their community by starting an engineering or medical college they are thoroughly mistaken. That is the fate of Nambuthiris, Nairs and Ezhavas also. None of them are minorities; they all belong to what is known as the “majority community”. Muslims and Christians are the two powerful minority communities of Kerala. Only their colleges and establishments enjoy the constitutional right and special privileges. Constitution dictates they need more protection than Dalits.

In Kerala the so called Christian minorities have, traditionally been more advanced than any Hindu community in education, economic power and social stature. Muslims, despite their backwardness in education are far ahead in trade, industry and consequent financial power. The unity, diligence, wealth and clout of these minorities are reflected by the enormous number of self financing professional institutions they have sponsored. Thirty six out of forty nine engineering colleges and six out of nine medical colleges in the self financing (private) sector are owned by individuals or groups belonging to these communities. Many among the rest of the colleges are run by secular organizations like banks, while one or two are owned by the “majority community” (This euphemism in Orwellian Newspeak refers to any small faction- an obscure caste or tribe- of Hindus).

The Government of Kerala introduced the new Act on self financing colleges to bring about a social control on the managements who have been exploiting students extorting money in the form of Capitation fee. While the managements swear by Supreme Court judgments on minority rights they shamelessly gloss over the order that has banned Capitation fee in any form. The easiest way to continue their exploitation is to hide behind the “minority rights”, and go scot-free under the safety and protection of Law. In Tamil Nadu there was an interesting instance of a Hindu Gounder converting to Christianity (Hail Jesus!!), changing his name from Palani to Devasahayam to get minority status for his college. He really got it, and made mountains of money. In those days a popular pun on minority was “moneyority” in Shatri Bhawan, New Delhi. Robbery under the cover of minority status is carried out equally well by religious organizations and Charitable Trusts. Founding fathers of our Constitution must be turning in their graves at the sight of how “protection” given to the weak could wreak havoc by promoting exploitation, infringing upon the educational rights of the poor.

The brute majority of minorities and their unfettered right to extort are closely linked to the “vote bank politics” of Kerala. Religious leadership has always supported and safeguarded the interests of the wealthy in the name of religion. The secular parties, in their eagerness to placate religious leaders flout all secular values and assist minority pressure groups to occupy higher echelons of secular establishments. Minority politics and vote bank politics work exactly like the organized sector dictating terms to the vast numbers of disorganized ordinary people. The disorganized “majority community” has no option but to succumb to the blackmail of the well organized capitalists working under the cover of special privileges and enjoying the patronage of religious leaders and political parties. The residual population or the “majority community” need not hope for anything better. The days are not far when they are reduced to tourist attractions like the American Indians.

Dialogue: Jayanth MPC

Jayanth Responds to President Abdul Kalam's Hyderabad Speech

>>Why is the media here so negative?(Media has a watchdog role.Watchdogs bark when a thief enters the house, not otherwise.They are in fact doing a constructive role)

>>Why are we in India so embarrassed to recognize our own strengths, our achievements? We are such a great nation. We have so many amazing success stories but we refuse to acknowledge them. Why?

>>(Our rishis taught us to to cultivate a mind that is devoid of thoughts and attain supreme bliss or NIRVANA.They called it PARAMATMATATWA.So the yogis were able to sleep inside a stinking toilet without any discomfort.We mistook this for greatness.But, systematically, this sort of religious indifference allowed our country to become one of the dirtiest in the world.We consistantly allowed the earth to be raped thinking that everything is destined by GOD.So it is time someone pointed to our failings and start corrective action.There is nothing wrong in such negativism that triggers positive action)

>>We are the first in milk production.

>>We are number one in Remote sensing satellites.

>>We are the second largest producer of wheat.

>>We are the second largest producer of rice.

>>Look at Dr. Sudarshan, he has transferred the tribal village into a self-sustaining, self-driving unit. There are millions of such achievements but our media is only obsessed in the bad news and failures and disasters.

(I do not want to list the areas where we will be on top of the ROGUE gallery.It will take all my computer space!)

>>I was in Tel Aviv once and I was reading the Israeli newspaper. It was the day after a lot of attacks and bombardments and deaths had taken place. The Hamas had struck. But the front page of the newspaper had the picture of a Jewish gentleman who in five years had transformed his desert into an orchid and a granary. It was this inspiring picture that everyone woke up to. The gory details of killings, bombardments, deaths, were inside in the newspaper, buried among other news.

>>In India we only read about death, sickness, terrorism, crime. Why are we so NEGATIVE?

( News papers have a defined role of projecting reality.For portraying inspirational values, we have the churches, temples and psychiatrists.)Another question: Why are we, as a nation so obsessed with foreign things? We want foreign T. Vs, we want foreign shirts. We want foreign technology.

(We badly need foreign technology.Believe me as I have spent my entire life trying to convince Indians to go for good technology from abroad.Just one example.We were trying to convince Indian Railways for the past 6 years to introduce robotic welding systems to weld bogie frames.They are yet to decide.In the same 6 years, the Austrian company sold 160 such machines to China.We are happy to go back to our culture by introducing mudpots in trains and our culturally advanced poor man continues to die in train accidents.)

>>Why this obsession with everything imported. Do we not realize that self-respect comes with self-reliance? I was in Hyderabad giving this lecture, when a 14 year old girl asked me for my autograph. I asked her what her goal in life is. She replied: I want to live in a developed India. For her, you and I will have to build this developed India. You must proclaim. India is not an under-developed nation; it is highly developed nation. Do you have 10 minutes? Allow me to come back with a vengeance. Got 10 minutes for your country? If yes, then read; otherwise, choice is yours.

>>YOU say that our government is inefficient.

>>YOU say that our laws are too old.

>>YOU say that the municipality does not pick up the garbage.

>>YOU say that the phones don't work, the railways are a joke, The airline is the worst in the world, mails never reach their destination.

>>YOU say that our country has been fed to the dogs and is the absolute pits.

>>YOU say, say and say. What do YOU do about it?

>>Take a person on his way to Singapore. Give him a name - YOURS. Give him a face - YOURS. YOU walk out of the airport and you are at your International best. In Singapore you don't throw cigarette butts on the roads or eat in the stores. YOU are as proud of their Underground links as they are. You pay $5 (approx. Rs. 60) to drive through Orchard Road (equivalent of Mahim Causeway or Pedder Road) between 5 PM and 8 PM. YOU come back to the parking lot to punch your parking ticket if you have over stayed in a restaurant or a shopping mall irrespective of your status identity...

In Singapore you don't say anything, DO YOU? YOU wouldn't dare to eat in public during Ramadan, in Dubai. YOU would not dare to go out without your head covered in Jeddah. YOU would not dare to buy an employee of the telephone exchange in London at 10 pounds (Rs.650) a month to, 'see to it that my STD and ISD calls are billed to someone else.'YOU would not dare to speed beyond 55 mph (88km/h) in Washington and then tell the traffic cop, 'Jaanta hai main kaun hoon (Do you know who I am?). I am so and so's son.Take your two bucks and get lost.' YOU wouldn't chuck an empty coconut shell anywhere other than the garbage pail on the beaches in Australia and New Zealand.

Why don't YOU spit Paan on the streets of Tokyo? Why don't YOU use examination jockeys or buy fake certificates in Boston??? We are stilltalking of the same YOU. YOU who can respect and conform to a foreign system in other countries but cannot in your own. You who will throw papers and cigarettes on the road the moment you touch Indian ground. If you can be an involved and appreciative citizen in an alien country, why cannot you be the same here in India?

(Because in other places mentioned above, they take their physical well being seriously.Here we have patented our spirituality which is somehow considered superior to these lousy foreigners!We have developed the Chalta Hai attitude and professional feel-gooders like our beloved president keep feeding us with the fairy tale that we are somehow superior and there is no problem with our country which is on the edge of being dysfunctional, but somehow functions neverthless.)

>>Once in an interview, the famous Ex-municipal commissioner of Bombay,Mr.Tinaikar, had a point to make. 'Rich people's dogs are walked on the streets to leave their affluent droppings all over the place,' he said. 'And then the same people turn around to criticize and blame the authorities for inefficiency and dirty pavements. What do they expect the officers to do? Go down with a broom every time their dog feels the pressure in his bowels?

>>In America every dog owner has to clean up after his pet has done the job.Same in Japan. Wil l the Indian citizen do that here?' He's right. We go to the polls to choose a government and after that forfeit all responsibility.

>>We sit back wanting to be pampered and expect the government to do everything for us whilst our contribution is totally negative. We expect the government to clean up but we are not going to stop chucking garbage all over the place nor are we going to stop to pick a up a stray piece of paper and throw it in the bin. We expect the railways to provide clean bathrooms but we are not going to learn the proper use of bathrooms. We want Indian Airlines and Air India to provide the best of food and toiletries but we are not going to stop pilfering at the least opportunity.This applies even to the staff who is known not to pass on the service tothe public. When it comes to burning social issues like those related to women, dowry, girl child! and others, we make loud drawing room protestations and continue to do the reverse at home. Our excuse? 'It's the whole system which has to change, how will it matter if I alone forego my sons' rights to a dowry.' So who's going to change the system?

>>What does a system consist of ? Very conveniently for us it consists of our neighbours, other households, other cities, other communities and the government. But definitely not me and YOU. When it comes to us actually making a positive contribution to the system we lock ourselves along with our families into a safe cocoon and look into the distance at countries far away and wait for a Mr.Clean to come along & work miracles for us with a majestic sweep of his hand or we leave the country and run away.

>>Like lazy cowards hounded by our fears we run to America to bask in their glory and praise their system. When New York becomes insecure we run to England. When England experiences unemployment, we take the next flight out to the Gulf. When the Gulf is war struck, we demand to be rescued and brought home by the Indian government. Everybody is out to abuse and rape the country. Nobody thinks of feeding the system. Our conscience is mortgaged to money.

>>Dear Indians, The article is highly thought inductive, calls for a great deal of introspection and pricks one's conscience too.... I am echoing J.F. Kennedy's words to his fellow Americans to relate to Indians..... ASK WHAT WE CAN DO FOR INDIA AND DO WHAT HAS TO BE DONE TO MAKE INDIA WHAT AMERICA AND OTHER WESTERN COUNTRIES ARE TODAY'

>>Lets do what India needs from us. Forward this mail to each Indian for a change instead of sending Jokes or junk mails.

Finally I agree with the idea that we INDIANS have to contribute as individuals.We have to first get rid of our pseudo-indianness and face the reality that we have the one of the lowest per capita incomes, lowest life expectancy and lowest literacy.Let us work to change all this.

Jayanth

MPC Replies to Jayanth

Dear Jayanth,

I do not know how to agree or disagree with a set of self-contradictory realities. I can cetrainly tell you that you are barking up the wrong tree when you blame India's spirituality for all evils. Have you thought about the sustainability of "Development" at local and global levels? Have you thought about the relation between sustainability and speed of "Development" ? If the rich countries in the world (Singapore is after all a parody to the word 'country') sustain their riches it is because poor countries take all the garbage. That is true with the rich men in Bobmbay too. Their drainage seeps into wells of the poor and the effluents of their automobiles are inhaled by the poor. Sustainable local development is posible only by listening to the rishis who lived in harmony with Nature and valued the right of all living creatures to share this planet (You are wrong if you think rishis slept in stinking toilets. In fact we, the so-called developed people suffer the stink of toilets)

In fact I am disappointed by the President's address if it is to all Indian people. He means to correct only the microscopic minority of the rich and educated. He should be kidding if he was addressing the slum dwellers of Mumbai and Chennai who couldn't care less on where to throw the cigarette butts in order to make their city look like Singapore, because they themselves are eking out a living on the garbage they live in.

Our perception on the Indian People should change. Who are they? The slum dwellers? The villagers who do not use even half a unit of electrical energy? Or just the IT professionals who make cheap labour for American Express bank? This last lot should in fact worry about their cigrette butts. They can also be a little more patriotic and start drinking Kingfisher Beer instead of Heinikan Beer.

MPC

Jayanth writes to MPC

Dear Sir,

I own the fault of addressing our concerns from an urban perspective.Thanks for opening up that vision as to what India in reality is.But I am still not willing to let our symbolic religion off the hook for being mainly responsible for our backwardness.Harmony with nature is still possible in developed world.I am reminded of this while touring in Switzerland.If developement is a dirty word, then life in LUZERN should have been worse than life in KORAPUT.Our villagers also do not live in harmony with nature anymore.They have started enjoying Coke, unfortunately.They should be saved from the clutches of inactively symbolic religion,I believe.May be we need more Gandhis and Narayana Gurus.(Too much to expect in times of our globe trotting marginal politicians and community leaders like the ugly Vellapally Natesan!

Jayanth

Jayanth Continues..

Frankly, I have my doubts if sustainable local development is possible only by listening to the rishis who lived in harmony with nature.In principle the logic sounds robust, but somewhat romantic.Just as technology helps us to evolve smaller but complex and efficient machines that do more with less energy,may be our big and ugly cities may be replaced by smaller energy efficient environment friendly rural communities.May be these compact communities can use technology to harness energy sources that are locally available, like wind and solar power.I firmly believe that sustainable development can be brought about by advanced technology by using recyclable materials and energy sources.I have no quarrel with spirituality, if it helps us curtail our greed for cornering resources more than what we need as Gandhiji had wished.

I welcome the spirituality of Gandhi and Einstein rather than that of our rich Bishops and Amrithanandamayis who presides over large coffers of wealth.

We must teach our children from young age that nature has all answers but the resources have to be frugally used.Sensible technology only can help reduce poverty in developing countries.Otherwise the greed with which we charge developed nations for having looted nature will also destroy developing countries.Koraput , in orissa is a timeless tribal belt untouched by development.I go through that area once in 3 months.One common sight is tribal women, cutting trees and carrying the firewood to city based lorry drivers to sell for peanuts so that they can buy garishly coloured synthetic clothes from the exploitative weekly market.Unfortunately, developing countries are following the same anti-nature attitude exhibited by developed countries 50 years ago.There is need to encourage scientific temper to fight problems arising out of environmental degradation,greenhouse effect,and energy crisis.If the spirituality can support such holistic scientific push towards sustainability, I have no quarrel with such spirituality.

Regards,

Jayanthram.