Baby-Seat, Gas and Peta Garam And Our Resurgent Brethren

Flight 6E 785, from Hyderabad to Bhubaneswar took off 45 minutes late.

At 9.45 PM as soon as the seat belt signs were turned off, I chose to steal some sleep. The day had not been particularly kind to me. My eyes closed, and in a few minutes, I could realize that I am sitting amidst a bunch of men who were returning after a wild vacation.

Rows 9, 10, and 11 were almost taken over by them. The harder I tried to stay detached from their conversation, the more I was getting drawn into their world. How to miss the ringside view when I was at the center of the ring?

Observing that most of the conversations were directed at the one sitting at 9C I could guess that he is the leader of the pack. He demonstrated his knowledge and experience of doing many flights in the past by first taking the responsibility of ordering snacks for his fellow mates - he only knew how to order by speaking in a language the air hostess could make sense of. He also showed off his confidence by objecting to the quality of masala tea that was served. Having made the hostess apologize, he turned back to give a victorious look at his friends who were sitting behind him. His friends giggled and he took a bow by giving a broad toothy smile. I saw three completely black gutka-stained teeth. His alpha-male status in his pack was not without a reason.

Then he suddenly realized that he has forgotten to give very important instructions to his friends before they had started eating their snacks. He alerted everyone of a piece of white plastic locked to the back of the seat to their front. He said that it’s a food tray and not to be confused with a baby seat. One of his sisters-in-law had confused that to be a baby seat and had tried to make his toddler sit in an attempt to feed him. The naivete of his relative had left him red-faced. His friends joined in with a chorus of giggles.

After a few minutes, our alpha curled to the side and a few of his friends started giving him vigorous massages around his neck and back. His tee-shirt was wet around the neck. He was in acute pain. We naturally got worried about his health and I finding one of his friends sitting next to me calmly looking at the development in the front row, asked him what was happening. He told me that Alpha has been eating whatever he found available since morning. Now because of PETA GARAM, he has GAS, and because of this, he has JARA and now KAMPA. A good Samaritan sitting around him offered to give him some tablet he was carrying in his luggage.

I was curious to know more about these guys. They were 12 of them mostly from Pahala and Hansapal areas who for the last 7 days have been doing Mysore, Ooty, Bangalore, and now returning home after doing two days of Hyderabad. Many of them are doing real estate, transportation, and rasagola and civil contract business. They chose this time of the year for their vacation as many of them got their claims paid at the end of the financial year.

Some 15/ 20 minutes had passed in between. After taking the Tablet of India - Dolo 650; our alpha male had started feeling better. By that time the announcement of arrival was already made and the hostesses had sprung up to get the craft and passenger ready for landing some 25 minutes away. Things were much less tense and the air was filled with guffaws, serially getting up to go to the loo and exchanging their seats and also sitting at the partially vacant emergency exit. Their game which was attracting the hostess’s attention kept them excited.

All these times our Alpha was keeping quiet. He twisted his torso and swung his head to the back to ask loudly if anyone has checked what has been cooked back at home for dinner. On being told that its Chakuli and some vegetable curry without onion and garlic for Rama Nabami, our alpha male gave a disgusted look. He expected a bigger and better spread for his heroics and homecoming. Even immediately after his near-death experience, our Odia Bhai hadn't forgotten his first love - food.

Some days back a friend was lamenting how modern development has killed many micro-cultures in Old Town areas. But it was so assuring to know that they now exist 37000 feet above mean sea level.

Similar Slaps and it's Different Echoes

At a time when the deafening noise of the Russian bombing of Ukrainian cities has been relegated to ambient music status, two small incidents created some noise in the media. One was a slap by a celebrity actor at the Oscars and the same act by a faceless Swiggy Food delivery boy at a crowded footpath in Bhubaneswar.

It's interesting to analyze the two incidents for their similarities in the action and justifications of it and the dissimilarities at the level of echo it created. Both the perpetrators had their personal reasons but there was a vast difference in the way the organizations they are members of responded to it.

Will Smith the celebrated actor who was the nominee for the Best Actor award was in the front row of the 94^th Oscar ceremony and the world audience couldn't believe it when he walked up to the presenter Chris Rock and gave a dramatic slap across his face. That was at the other part of the world. Closer home, various social media channels were filled with the video of a Swiggy food delivery boy delivering perfectly timed slaps to a girl who refused to be subdued. In both situations, no one could immediately know what the provocations were.

The similarities of action ended here.

Will Smith got upset by a joke by Chris Rock where he pulled the legs of Jada Pinkett Smith, his wife. Smith as the husband felt it was his job to teach her tormentor a lesson. Our Swiggy boy had a different reason, he was taking videos of a couple who were having some altercations and the girl objected to it. He had his reason to justify his action and when he couldn't reason it further, he chose to let his slaps do the talking. He is conditioned to complete his task in time to get a good customer rating along with his fees. The most interesting part was his justification on camera for doing what any sensible man is expected to do – play moral police and restore discipline in the society by punishing the deviant woman.

Such rare acts of chivalry are not seen these days.

The audience of both the cases reacted as expected. Some supported and some suggested that both could have avoided the unpleasantness by holding back their anger. Many of Will's friends said that this matter will get sorted among themselves like family. Chris Rock refused to press charges. Will in his acceptance speech accepted his folly and asked for forgiveness and in an Instagram post sought forgiveness from Chris.

Though the matter looked to have been sorted out between the two and would have naturally died down like many other late-night party incidents; the Academy of Motion Picture Association in a statement told that the matter will be taken up at their board meeting about to be held on 18th April and appropriate decisions will be taken. As I write this article, the news of Will Smith resigning from the Academy membership rolled in. We know how Will must have been given Hobson’s choice of honorable resignation or suspension or termination for his unacceptable conduct. He must have chosen the former.

The echo of the two slaps at the institutional level is the most interesting part of this article. We don't know what stand Swiggy has taken as one of his contract workers was involved in an act which is just not misconduct but surely criminal. Also, what has been done by the police is still not known.

Public memory being short, we will soon forget this incident as a regular one that we see on the roadside these days? But institutions involved in this also forgetting this or letting it pass is a serious systemic flaw. How callous are our institutions towards their own rules and reputation that they chose not to react to this publicly? Does that demonstrate how accepting we are of conduct practically that in the rule book mentioned as unacceptable? We don't stand with the values which we mention in the letter but fail to accept in spirit.

In the background of these two incidents, it's necessary to analyze how we as members of various organizations and a citizen of society define what is considered unacceptable behavior and how far we go to enforce it neutrally without any bias. Are we uniformly unforgiving to any member big or small, important or non-important, famous or not so famous when it comes to their conduct?

We all are aware of the 'Tu Janta Nahin Main Kaun Hun' culture of the North and how law enforcer treats them differently in fear. We have an adage that says 'Panditanka pua Mankada Marile Dosa Nuhen' which points to the societal acceptance of considering the importance of the person involved in such acts before any attempt to penalise him is initiated. The higher the echelon he belongs to, the softer has to be the penalty for him. That’s an unwritten but accepted code. Our fear and respect for the people with privilege and importance don't allow us to bring them down to the ground and crush their career or public reputation. Society thinks that as he is from a good family this misconduct was an isolated aberration, and he should be allowed to realize and make corrections.  

That perhaps bares the contrast between our society and the western ones when it comes to fairness and integrity.  

The younger brother I never had

The lump in my throat when I shared this news with my wife surprised me. When a classmate asked me how well I knew him, to which I told him that I knew him more in the last 5/6 months and knew him socially since the last 5/6 years; this was his turn to get surprised.

My degree of grief defied the conventional logic of proportion.

His passing away didn’t take me by surprise. Since morning I was dreading to face this news and by noon it was all over and by early evening, I was seeing his mortal remains a few minutes before it was about to be consigned to flames. With tears welling up and lumps in my throat I chose to leave the place. At this same place, I had bade farewell to many of my dear ones in close succession in the last few years.

Who was Smarajit? And what was he to me? And why was I reacting like this?

If my memory serves me right, we bumped into each other at a pre-Holi party organized by his doctor friends. That was 2015/16. A friend took me there to escape from another boring party. Joining a party uninvited isn't new to men and my hosts were at ease in minutes. The only odd thing was that I wasn’t their age. In minutes it was free for all with expletives flying about and snacks flying off the plate keeping pace with it. But in that chaos, one guy could sense my discomfiture and kept chatting up with me to distract me from what was happening only a few feet away. Valiant was his effort even though chagrin was written all over his face. In the air filled with irreverence, he instantly established our equation which he maintained till the end.

That I'm the respectable senior and he, my junior.

We met many times at his workplace, Apollo Hospital mostly while chaperoning some relatives for their orthopedic problems. Courteous as ever, he would deal with me with his signature inimitable style. Later I realized that I wasn't the only one who was touched by his good manners and disarming smile. Hundreds of posts on FB bears testimony to the happy patients he helped get back on their feet. He had a legion of satisfied patients from every possible part of the society – important to common.

My wife's persistent heel pain took both of us to him some years later. He in his courteous best told us that he can numb the sore area which will make the patient falsely believe that she is cured or undergo physiotherapy to strengthen the parts thus progressively lessening the pain. We chose the latter. At that time was dealing with his mother's cancer and the trauma had made him philosophical. He, commenting on the uncertainties of human life and lack of family support because of dwindling numbers of family members in the future, told that he has instructed his attendant to give him some basic food when he is all alone battling loneliness and old age. A few days later he was detected with cancer. God had made sure that he will neither see old age nor deal with loneliness. A bulwark of response got initiated with the latest and best possible treatment regime under the subconscious realization that the countdown has begun. That was 2018.

2021; after working on a concept to preserve our mother language since 2019 and keeping it on deep freeze for the duration of two waves of Covid, chose to push for the launch of ReciteWorld. With only the goodwill of friends and faith in the purpose, we unleashed all our energies. Any sane man would have said it's akin to spitting into the oncoming wind or sure-shot hara-kiri, but we kept moving.

Smarajit called me up once after seeing one of our contents on our YouTube Channel and offered his all-out support. He after listening to one story had realized how little he knew about our literary heritage. His guilt spurred his resolution. He was a man on a mission. He would in a state of excitement call me to tell me how this has now become his new passion. He would forward the links to hundreds of his friends and check the status on the channel. Starting from arranging the chief guest to sending a flawless invitation letter spoke of his sense of commitment. He from his self-imposed bunker would handle every issue like a master puppeteer. The day it was inaugurated, his sickness kept him away from watching the event on TV. But like the blind Dhrutarastra watching the war, wanted me to brief him about every minute detail just to ensure that everything went well.

On realizing that ReciteWorld is free to air and is fully dependent on private contributions, offered to arrange resources. I was shocked upon knowing that the amount committed by one of his close acquaintances for his medical treatment got diverted to us to take care of the production expenses.

That was him. A warrior even if he is on a hospital bed.

Life for him was a cycle of battle with the Big C, trudging back to normal with occasional bouts of treatment-related trauma. These bouts became more frequent with time. I kept track of his health from common friends and his postings on FB. He always wore a smile, this time the smile was that of a brave soldier who has returned from the borders amputated.

We kept exchanging notes. He would ask for his favorite chicken stew and caramel pudding but then refuse it next time when we offered to send some when we cooked it again, but each time making ensuring that I am not hurt by his refusal. I could sense that he was getting exhausted after his treatment sessions, staying disconnected, and avoiding communicating with others. I was dreading that the slide to the worst has begun. When a friend from the US who was his classmate called me up early morning yesterday to inform me about his deteriorated status; I knew the worst is about to happen in just a few hours. And here I am after 24 hours, grieving his death and trying to decipher my attachment with him. Now, I kind of am ready to answer the question my friend asked me yesterday - How well did I know him?

The answer is - he was the younger brother I never had and yesterday he became the younger brother I don't have.

Goodbye Smarajit; I'm sure much more people are waiting in the other world to benefit from your grace and kindness than the number of people whose lives you had touched positively here. You will always be remembered my younger brother. 

So long!

Language Extinction and its consequences on us

According to UNESCO, a language is lost every two weeks. Cultural and linguistic diversity is of the utmost importance to build sustainable societies. Every country realizes how preserving and nurturing the mother language of their people is vital to their holistic psycho intellectual development. In fact, it’s the most important cultural asset around which the identity and salience of a community are built.

Since 2000, UNESCO has been celebrating International Mother Language Day every year on February 21. It serves to remind us of the importance of language as a cultural asset. This date was not chosen at random though. It was a tribute to the Bangladeshis' (former East Pakistan) battle and the sacrifices made for their mother tongue in 1952 when Pakistan imposed their language of Urdu on them as the official language of the country.

Ms. Audrey Azoulay, the UNESCO Director-General, highlighted how four out of 10 children worldwide do not have access to education in the language they speak or understand best, meaning the foundation for their learning is more fragile. "Using technology for multilingual learning: Challenges and opportunities" is the theme for this year 2022. This year's theme focus is to advance multilingual education based on the potential role of technology and support the development of quality teaching and learning for all.

The language we see today is the language that has evolved from the past. It's a product of development and cross-pollination from its lateral languages through voluntary or involuntary infusions. Languages like so many things have their typical life cycle. They evolve, develop, stagnate, and die. Many languages in the past had reached their peak and they are not in use now. Rich language like Sanskrit which has influenced so many others is now in the archives. That shows that languages evolve and get enriched when used by the masses across their various layers of application and it dies when not used or it becomes the preserve of the privileged few.

Language Extinction is real and the consequences of it befall the society which is responsible for its extinction.

Is our language endangered? Are we aware of it? Are we allowing the demise of our mother language in our complacency, or we are doing it out of callousness that looks almost as if by design? Let us see the state of our language in comparison to the global and national trends and evaluate what, where, when, and how we need to intervene to stop its extinction and lead it to an enriching evolution.

Globally seen, of the world's 6,000 languages, 2580 (43%) are estimated as endangered. On the other hand, just 10 languages account for over 4.8 billion (60%) speakers of the world population of 7.9 billion. If the top 3 languages are analyzed; English 1.13 billion (Native 379, Non-Native 753); Mandarin 1.11 billion (Native 918, Non-Native 199); Hindi 0.61 billion (Native 341, Non-Native 274). That shows that few languages are growing at an exponential rate over the demise of many. Let us see our national trend. From 1991 to 2011 Hindi spoken as a percentage of the Indian population has grown from 39.29% to 43.63% whereas from Bengali to all other languages it has remained flat. The percentage of Odia has dropped from 3.35% to 3.10%. What are the factors behind this trend of the rising popularity of English and Hindi which is being adopted by the non-natives with such ease?

Globally English language has positioned itself as the bridge language for most non-natives. For the last few centuries has been the language that gave people access to higher economic opportunities. Electronic communication which shrunk the world into a global village with only the different time zones rode on the internet which was in English. Various language contents were made available in different languages on the web, but the highways, lanes, road signs, and driving rules are in English. IT has reduced personal communication to structured and mechanical business languages for easy processing and unambiguous facilitation by the service providers. The need for creating subtle expressions has been shunted out and the participants are encouraged to choose keywords that allow easy numerical evaluation at the processing level. Spellcheck, Grammarchecker, Predictive texting, Autofill, Emoticon, and GIFs are helping people not to go through the grind of mastering this language of opportunity and start using it and get the bulk of their needs met. In ease of adoption lies its popularity.

Coming to the rise of Hindi at the national level, the IT industry since 1990 has fuelled massive migration both at the national and international levels. English has always been practiced by the privileged few and has remained aspirational for many. The later cohort who was not very comfortable with English because of their medium of education and exposure adopted it with glee as the bridge language with their adoptive state. The soft power of Hindi movies and easy availability of entertainment content familiarized itself to the new generation from their time of birth. The kids of the current generation are as much at ease with Hindi as with their mother language. Hindi now enjoys the same fashion quotient which English enjoyed 4/5 decades back. This multilingual trend has a negative side too. This has given rise to a hybrid language which is a mix of Odia sentences peppered with subaltern Hindi expressions which is a pain to the ears of practitioners of classic forms of our mother language.

Despite the depressing trends of most languages, multilingualism does exist and is thriving. Prof. Jatin Nayak says that there hardly is a profession or sector in which one can survive with proficiency over only one language. He rues that education is the only sector that has callously neglected our mother language from primary through post-graduation. Be it in terms of improving the quality of language teachers, empowering them with newer tools to encourage students for creative expression both in its spoken or written form; the downward slide has been worryingly steady.

The discussion above is more on the spoken form of the languages.

But is the role of a language limited to communication between two entities or it's a tool of learning of the evolutionary past of the society?

Anil Dhir one of the leading conservationists of the state feels that invaluable knowledge exists at the community level which verbally gets passed from generation to generation. It has stood the test of time. But the recent trend of migration and remaining detached from their social context is doing irreversible damage to the knowledge base as these pieces of knowledge are not documented anywhere. It will die with the death of those persons. As migration for economic prosperity is unstoppable; he strongly advocates that many tribal dialects need help to develop their alphabets and lexicons. And with the advancement of AI technology that is very much possible. But it requires support from a compassionate state and sponsor. That will help them document those pieces of knowledge for future generations. The loss of this knowledge is a loss of humanity.

Let’s think of a scenario where the rock edicts of Ashoka had not been deciphered because the person who could read them was not available at that time. The world would have been so poor without knowing anything about Ashoka and the political life of that time. The same is going to happen soon here when the contribution and sacrifice made by our forefathers who could carve out a state based on the languages we speak will be lost in oblivion because the texts which have documented the past will be incomprehensible to most of the current generation. Who will be the loser? Not them but we as the society for sure.

Study shows that usage of mother language for reading, and writing is now limited to senior citizens who are well past 65 years of age. Most of the groups between 14 to 64 have no practicing contact with the language. Many of them can speak and not write well. Most of them don't read anything beyond the local newspapers. While the practicing population is 5.3%, 63.6% practice this haphazardly. The ones below 14 years which are 28.6% stand to see no better scene. Imagine a society where 92% of its population are disconnected from its heritage literature as there is no need for this either in their daily life or profession. It is not fashionable, nor does it assure any reward or career advancement.

We connect with our past from our heritage literature and the only way to get it is through our mastery over our mother language.

By not familiarizing themselves with the heritage literature of their language, we don't acquire a sense of the socio-political identity of the society we belong to; no knowledge of the major milestones in the past as no history book talks about the history of our state. We don't know about the evolutionary cultural processes our ancestors have gone through. What do you call such an ignoramus community and what would keep them bound together in the future?

It's said, never erase your past. It shapes who you are today and will help you to be the person you'll be tomorrow. We learn from yesterday, live for today, hope for tomorrow.

Preservation of mother language should be as important as our instinct for self-preservation. Where have we lost our humanity? That leaves everyone in some position of privilege with a set of very uncomfortable questions to answer on this International Mother Language Day.

How safe is our future in the hands of such people?

Is economic development the only sign of sustainable development of a society?

Can we risk such a scenario in the future?

What are we doing about it to prevent it?

How big should be the efforts?

What is going to be the roles of the state, society, and individuals?

The Real Viswaguru

In 2021, almost a year back when Modi told the world that India had arrived and was ready to take its role as the Viswaguru, some in his constituency, freshly recovering from the first wave of Covid and in a delusionary state of victory over it agreed. A few peppy words coming from the peripatetic PM soothed some lungs. Their faith in illusion and the comfort of staying in a state of delusion made them believe that the panacea to COVID-19 has been discovered in Kadha and its management technique at Patanjali Institute of Management. 

A fortnight later the country was hit by the second wave of Covid with Delta leading the onslaught. That euphoria in a Kadha Cup in Kochi was short-lived and not discussed much after that. 

I don't know about the foreigners, but many sensible persons in India would have fallen off their seats laughing. A strong country that is a role model for others is built silently over decades and stands on its fundamental character, the traces of which are commonly found across its populace in their attitude and behavior.

Great nations in the past were built over human behavioral concepts like enterprise, professionalism, quality, innovation, industriousness, punctuality, integrity, honesty, honor, loyalty, commitment, and many such things and those countries proudly identified themselves with those characteristics and wove their pride and identities around them. It made me search what exactly were those mythical building blocks over which our nation has magically been built overnight which is now presented to us gift-wrapped. 

When in our day-to-day life we don't see these values in practice and their appreciation both at an individual or a systemic level, I insist on remaining a Viswaguru skeptic still.

Today, from early morning various reminder posts of mine and many friends on social media reminded me of the importance of this day as the day on which Mahatma Gandhi fell to his assassin's bullet. Gruesome and disturbing; assassination as a last and desperate method of eliminating a person from that prevailing socio-political equation is not new; both a state and radicals use it selectively. Many great men, as well as abhorrible terrorists, have met this end. From Julius Caesar to Martin Luther King and from Bin Laden to Jamal Khashoggi the list is endless. 

While some are easy to eliminate with just a few hot lead pellets some because of their work and what they stood for remain permanently etched in the hearts and minds of people.

In India which till 2013 had almost forgotten the characters and the contribution of the likes of Gandhi, Nehru, Patel, Bose, and Shastri, the new political dispensation has resurrected them in their reinterpreted avatar. The Nehru, Patel, and Boses have been exhumed and their relationship reinterpreted and represented before a populace that stands distinctly divided on their inherited and recently influenced interpretation of these historical characters. In a country that loves to forget its history, the motives are more political than their quest for truth.

That brings us to this question – what the truth was and who knows it. 

Is the documented history which heavily depends on archived letters, notes, and journals as evidence to reconstruct a past event and interpret the role the characters took in it? Role and Contribution, yes; but are they enough to define a person.

Gandhi in his myriad of dimensions as a person, humanist, husband, father, lover, politician, political strategist, social reformer, labor leader, journalist, and leader of the independence struggle is now ripped apart and dissected under various microscopes whose lenses are colored from the manufacturing stage. 

Will we ever get to the truth? Or does it matter?

Each of us - those who have a perception of him through secondary sources and - those who knew him personally in his various dimensions naturally would have different stories to tell. Both sides are not fully right and not fully wrong in their opinion. We have to limit ourselves to what his contribution to our nation-building has been. To me, 

- He gave us our identity as citizen of a nation rising above region, language, faith, caste, and class which was missing. 

- He is still our moral and ethical role model and in these seventy-odd years, no one has come anywhere close to him. 

- He gave us a purpose and rallied the nation around him in the freedom struggle. 

- He helped us rediscover the merit of our traditional values and mixed it with other great nations' practical and professional principles to build a great nation. 

Sarojini Naidu, on 1st February 1948 few days after his assassination addressed the nation to remember his death as a pledge to right action. She told - While we all mourn—those who loved him, knew him personally, those to whom his name was but a miracle and a legend—though we are all full of tears and though we are full of sorrow, I feel that sorrow is out of place and tears are a blasphemy. How can he die, who through his life and conduct and sacrifice taught the world that the spirit matters, not the flesh, that the spirit has the power greater than the powers of the combined armies of the earth, combined armies of the ages? He was small, frail, without money, without even the full complement of a garment to cover his body … how was he so much stronger than the forces of violence, the might of empires, and the grandeur of embattled forces in the world? It was because he did not care for applause. He only cared for the path of righteousness.

Continue maligning him; he doesn't care when he is alive or when he is dead. 

If this country ever will become a strong nation and be the Viswaguru, it will be only by practicing the precepts that he espoused. If the world recognizes this subcontinent today, it's because of him and Buddha because what they stood for is not relevant to us as a country but to humanity as a whole. Such people are forever.

Balance Sheet 2021

IN SILENCE AND SOLITUDE ON THE LAST DAY OF THE YEAR and with only a few more hours to bid adieu to 2021; it is time to take stock of incidents of my life and draw up a balance sheet.

As I mentioned this annual stocktaking habit of mine to a wise friend, he told me that it is undoubtedly a year of gain as I am still alive and able to do that exercise with all limbs and mental faculties intact. This defines the year that was – the year of minimum. Could not agree less. Though the year started with our resolute plan to kick out of the gloom of 2020; Delta resurfaced with new vigor and its accompanying doom. Govt chose not to lock us or shut us down but could do little to stop the dance of death around us. Death never was so pervasive and close. People young and old, famous and common, powerful and rich were falling like nine pins.

We chose to launch our dream project on the revival of language and Literature https://recite.world

which was in a planning stage since 2019 as a mark of defiance to the #Covid and it was a thundering success with huge acceptance from the public. Sustaining it with regular releases is a challenge we voluntarily embraced. Call it a leap of faith or suicidal stunt; our credo, embrace malady who knows God wanted to find a remedy through us. The places the appreciation came from only validated our belief that there is still hunger for our heritage literature amongst us.

Baba had started showing every sign of losing his will to carry on further and we matched it by mustering more medical support. The struggle started in February, and he beat us all and chose to join his parents in early September. His incremental deterioration prepared us for the impending doom. Only one anguish, he wanted to speak to me to hand over the responsibility formally and I dint want him to do that as I feared that it will only accentuate his slide. What he wanted to say remained a permanent mystery to me - forever.

The support from immediate family and close relatives helped us tide it over and the passivity of close friends to our tragedy surprised us. But then that is the only way to know the true character of friends.

Coinciding with it we had to face that phase of parenthood where they must let go of their kids to fly away to make a life of their own, and much to my own surprise, we did a good job of accepting it. The soothing sound of wings slicing through the wind coming from far assures that all is well.

The last quarter of the year threw us into the worst possible professional situation- it almost shook our belief in the power of good service and the values which underpin our business model. But patience and sustained effort helped us just not nullify those malefic forces but turn them into bigger opportunities. Perhaps, God chose to kick us in our butts to get us going faster. Someone had said, what doesn’t kill you only makes you stronger. And I bet we have come out through the fire far stronger after being thrown under the wheels of fate and let down by close friends.

We are ready to face the new year 2022 with a bulwark of confidence and carefreeness. I do not care if I survive till the year-end to take my annual stock again. The world will still rotate and move on.

Let’s continue to live on as life unfolds itself before us.

Wish you all a happy New Year.

The Tale of Two Commissionarates

NEAR THE VICTORIA EMBANKMENT ON THAMES RIVER, ONE WOULD find this humble building with basic signage identifying it as the New Scotland Yard. This is the new headquarter of the London Metropolitan Police. Built in the year 1930, the Met Police operated out of this building till 1960. It is only in 2013 that the decision to relocate from its earlier place was taken and redesigned to suit the new age requirements. The old one is now converted into a hotel and is owned by an Indian.

The word Scotland Yard takes us to our growing up ages where had pictured a stern disciplined efficient police force ready to crack down the crime networks of London of that period. This imagery of the fabled franchise and their slogan - Working together for a safer London was largely influenced by the TV serials of that time and the novels we read. It was a tad disappointing. The humble reality crushed my perception of that institution.

No match to the impressive Greco-roman architecture-inspired Police Commissionerate we have back here in Bhubaneswar. Both were commissioned around the same time in 2012, our Commissionerate building can be compared with their National Gallery overlooking the famous Trafalgar Square. While ours was an awe-inspiring structure with a large setback overlooking the second most important road of the city, theirs was so timid in comparison.

The new age resurgent Indian in me felt good that like in many other areas like Cricket and IT, we have beaten the Brits hands down on one more count.

Back in my room after a tiring day after hopping on and off buses and walking around large art galleries, I was tempted to revisit that conflicting emotion of disappointment and pride upon seeing New Scotland Yard. My trip to Westminster had evoked a similar feeling. At their Parliament building, one could see the main entrance from the road which was just a few meters away. MPs take the famous London bus service or come in the underground tube. No security cordon thrown around it and no menacing marshals ordering you to keep off the road or not to loiter. By looking at the Westminster and the Big Ben clock behind it you wonder if the historical decisions you have read in your textbooks were taken by people working in these places. It leaves you wondering if it’s progressing into a weak state.

The sense of superiority that I was overcome with was now overtaken by deep thought.

Everything about their Government and various arms of it was so basic and accessible - so approachable. The country which was our colonizer only 70 odd years back terrorizing generations of our ancestors its police and policymakers maintain such low profile is a choice or its compulsion. I dug further into various websites to know more about this building. One website which talked about the underpinnings the building is built upon and what are values it communicated to the people it serves read as follows.

“A revolving sign – one of the most iconic features of the Met's old home in Victoria – has been retained and now signposts the AHMM-designed entrance pavilion. Spanning almost the full width of the front facade, the pavilion is raised on a pale stone plinth that visually marries the addition with the Portland stone walls of the original building. Its curving glass walls are intended to convey a message of organizational transparency and create a ‘non-institutional’ entrance. The pavilion is also intended as a memorial for officers who died in the line of duty, with an eternal flame and contemplation pool visible through the glazing.”

Two phrases ‘Organizational Transparency’ and ‘Non-Institutional’ caught my attention. The confusion about their being accessible and approachable was getting clearer. That this was not the sign of a weak state but was the intended purpose on which the whole government is structured. The conscious effort to descend from the pedestal of the ruler to the ground to serve the citizens. I perhaps had found my answer and the food for thought for our situation back in our own country which we rule ourselves.

From awe-inspiring buildings which are named various Seva Bhawan, people with cadres which end with some Seva (Service), people from amidst us operate in a black box inaccessible to many. Forget accountability even they have insulated themselves from being questioned by the public. The people who do these are not from outside but are people like us. But then why do they behave differently or like a ruler when their role changes? Do they elevate themselves to a different class because of the power and privilege they enjoy and behave as the role expects them to? Is it because of the general acceptance of the society of that role? To a large extent – Yes.

So much has been the acceptance and internalization of this that a common man doesn’t react to being violently pushed aside to give way to the passing VIP cavalcade. Being abused if he stops his car near Gate No. 1 of the Secretariat; being rudely dealt with by a peon in an office when he realizes that the visitor doesn’t pose a threat to his job. A junior officer when is ill-treated by his superior considers this as an occupational hazard. It is not limited to the common man only. An officer immediately on his retirement when gets harassed by his former colleagues or juniors who reported to him once is not seen as an exception. He is just being meted out what he had done to others. The smart ones choose to bribe and butter their way through the system.

Are they in line with what they are supposed to be? While addressing the first batch of IAS officers and retired ICS officers told them that from the ones who ruled to serve you will change to serve to rule. 74 years after gaining independence from being ruled by the Brits and their loyal officers, the common man still is governed by a set of mindsets who feel that they are here to rule the populace in the guise of serving them. This CLASS is the new CASTE.

There exist two worlds one for the rulers and the other for the ruled. Two worlds – the world of the former colonizers and the world of their colonies. In these 74 years, our former rulers and the global colonizers have started the sincere process of governance with the attitude of service at its core, but we seem to be stuck to that binary legacy of the ruler and the ruled.

At the core of this rut is our mindset. The mindset of an average citizen and that of the ones whose job is to serve the citizens. The mindset of an average citizen is to break away from the situation where he is not fairly treated but to Segway into a class where he can use his power and position - no one tries to change things. The cycle continues. In how many years will be the next discussion be held where the administrators will sit with the designers to consciously redesign the next Commissionerate building which is open and inviting and not imposing and awe-inspiring? When will a common man rise from the pits to change the status quo? 

Till that happens we have to fill our chests with pride watching how great our rulers are and staying in a state of awe seeing their impressive buildings.