The End or a New Beginning

A writer's block is probably the most painful and requires considerable effort to overcome. This post is the result of an epic battle fought and won over ennui and a blank mind.

The world around us seems to be going about its job and we are eight months into this year 2012, which was hyped as the one which shall witness the end of mankind or something like that. Calculations made by the Mayan tribes and the end of a certain calendar has been interpreted to signify a cataclysmic end.

The fear psychosis does not seem to have spread as was expected and charlatans hoping to make a quick buck would be sorely disappointed at the turn of events. Media has been caught in a web of its own doings and the great Indian political and social drama continues unabated. Unmistakably, though, one can sense a level of restlessness never seen before and the minds turning to the negative and morbid.

At the same time, a sure change sweeping across is the rise of spirituality and the tired mind trying to seek refuge and "live" in the real sense of the term. I have seen so many agnostics turn towards spirituality, (as distinct from religion and rituals) that I keep wondering endlessly.

If one takes refuge in our ancient philosophy, the end, sad though inevitable,  also signifies the start of a new cycle or a new era.A fresh beginning hopefully will be on a cleaner state and there is an environment that encourages the realising of full human potential.

This is a time for change. Change is in the air. It may not seem obvious to most but it is perceptible. 

I do not know which way this can go but change is inevitable.  This is not a divine occurance and the change is being brought in by us - the human race.

I believe this change shall herald in a new beginning where values will matter and society will be more humanistic. The responsibility for this rests on us. I feel I am upto this challenge and am contributing. Are You?

Navratri........My Search for Meaning

Dasara or Dushera is a major Indian festival and is the culmination of and follows a period of nine days preceding it. This day is also known as Vijayadashmi, the tenth day - a day of victory. It is celebrated in most parts of India.

In a large country as ours and with diverse cultures co-existing, it is but natural that there will be varying interpretations. This is often seen in different themes that seem prominent in each region.

To me, a product of post independence India, and, moulded in the liberal school of thought, this was a dilemma of sorts. What is this festival? What is its significance?  

I found that most of us had no clue about the deeper meaning. It was identified as an event that happened in hoary times...destruction of the demon Mahisasura by Goddess Kali or the defeat of Ravana at the hands of Lord Rama. At some places it was identified as worshipping the feminine aspect of the divine and thus Goddess Durga was worshipped for the first three days, Goddess Laxmi for the next three and Goddess Saraswati for the last three days. The "Devi Kavach" honours the nine forms of the Goddess.

Come west to the state of Gujarat, and Garba takes centre stage. I do not refer to the modern day dancing to film and pop music. Traditionally, Garba form of dance was a worship of the Devi-Shakti, and the earthern pot with with a "diya" lit inside represented the womb and fertlity.

I felt these linkages seem symbolic and a message is being conveyed or these indicate that it is time to introspect, review and change.

In my next post, I hope to share with you all how I understood the significance of Navratri and what it really meant.

Another Time........... Another Journey

As I was writing on my experiences on the recent trip to my native place, I remembered my conversation with Rajesh and Laxmi, a couple from South Africa.

We were together on the trip to Kailash - Mansarovar. As we got to know each other, we began discussing about the Indian diaspora in South Africa. These were the descendants of those who were carted out in overcrowded ships to a unknown places across "Kala Paani" to serve new masters.

I am referring to the indentured labour that were taken to South Africa, specifically and in general to other places like Mauritius, Fiji, West Indies, Malaysia and Sri Lanka. The white man seems to have made a habit of this. Africans were carted to Southern and EasterAmerica. The Chinese were slave labour in California.

This story of Indians being taken as slaves to serve business interests of the British businessmen is that part of our history we seem to have missed out completely and erased from our collective consciousness. We seem to have forgotten all about them and abandoned our long lost brethren. 

Modern day life seems to have brought them back in focus. Are we doing anything at all? Is it enough and is it helping? These and many others questions will be examined in the coming posts. I will also attempt to re-create the life of these "slaves" and their gritty and now prosperous descendants who are the proud citizens of South Africa. Yet, they long for India as their roots are here.

I thank Rajesh and Lakshmi for giving me plenty of background material and an insight into their life and the social structure they grew up in. I hope that I will be able to do justice to these poor souls, who went through terrible trials and tribulations in the hope of a better tomorrow for their children.

 

Attitudes Are Hard to Change

I wrote a short "tweet" version on this subject at "India Tweets" and I felt this needs to be elaborated further.

In recent times, we have attempted to enact a law that is quite revolutionary. That of reserving 33% of electoral seats for women. It is not a simple straight forward piece of legislation and like many of our other laws, this too will have many "ifs" and "buts" that could dilute many good intentions. This has also seen a rare unanimity between the three major and influential political formations in the country which have supported this change.

In a decidedly male dominated society and that goes for politics too, this is a paradigm shifting event. One may debate on the usefulness of this piece of legislation or feel that we did not require a law and our intent could be demonstrated just by ensuring more women candidates in the fray. These are valid observations and one may not have convincing arguments to the contrary except that much can be done but does it ever get done???

Initial opposition soon snowballed into a fierce "no-holds barred" filibustering, nay street fight. A couple of political formations saw this as a great affront to their cultural leanings. The stridency of this opposition surprised many but an astute observer would find that this was entirely along expected lines and should not  surprise any one. After all, the idea of a woman boss is still quite distasteful to many.

This experience highlights something basic. Any law or element of compulsion that has to do with some action (or its absence) results in high compliance...e.g., compliance to tax rules, laws to ensure public order and against misbehaviour or laws against crime.....do deter many. This is not to argue that crime is wiped out but these laws have a "deterence" effect and we see reasonably high level of compliance.

There can be no law to ensure change in attitudes. Laws abolished untouchability many years back but its practice is widespread. In some places, it is brazen and in many cases it is subtle. We have not changed from within and are gulity of practising discrimination in one form or other.

The uplift of women and giving primacy to their health, education, status, legal protection, legal rights, access to opportunities....has been a very contentious issue in our society for the last century or so. Every change has had to be brought in the face of very stiff opposition. I can easily site the example of banning polygamy amongst Hindus had raised temperatures in the early fifties. (Sad, though, it did not cover all Indian women). Extending property rights to women of the family was another issue that raised the heckles of many. 

Now we have the Women's Reservation Bill. I am not sure the efficacy of this piece of legislation as there is every likelihood of women from existing political interests will be pushed forward and there will be much back seat driving. Just a little more than a decade back Rabri Devi managed her kitchen cabinet with Lalu Prasad Yadav being the master puppeteer.

Yet, there is hope. Process of evolution is always slow and when it comes to attitudes and cultural mores, it would require generational shifts. Legislation can have a "nudge here - nudge there" effect and hopefully society moves in the desired direction.One must not expect any dramatic change from this law and we must view this effort as a facilitator of some social reform, the fruits of which may be seen by our future generations.

It is, however, upto us (the present generation),  to ensure that a change in society is brought about and we emphasise on human values and a liberal culture.

Violence - A Virulent Cancer in our Society

Many blogs have waxed eloquent during the Domestic Violence Awareness month. These posts have been written with a lot of feeling and treat this serious problem with a lot of sensitivity and objectivity.

Instances of domestic violence can be gory and one can empathise with the victims living through hell every day of their life.

Activism and retaliation is widely advocated as a means of regaining some sanity in life and a means to lead, hopefully, a normal life. The moot question here is how many would actually take the desperate step of moving out. It may seem so very logical for a distant bystander but does this hold true for the victim and thereby hangs a tale of all silent sufferers.

This phenomenon that has assumed gigantic proportions in our modern day society (not just Indian but I can say for many countries around the world). Psychological counselling is touted as one possible solution but in reality and unfortunately this has very negative connotations here. Further, this sort of help is not easily accessible and it does not come cheap either.

Domestic violence should not be seen only in a physical dimension. It can be mental torture and emotional violence too. Many a time a sense of terror pervades the atmosphere along with physical violence. Unfortunately, violence finds an outlet only against our near-n-dear ones and those weaker than us.

If we look around carefully, there is plenty of repressed violence in us. We seem to be "Highly Inflammable" and ignite at the slightest provocation. Just a small divert - Have you seen the road rage that boils over in the event of a minor collision or the savagery displayed following some minor altercation in a Mumbai local train. Those who give in to such outbursts are not always the "poor" or "lower strata" as we pompously would like to say. They seem economically prosperous, well educated and seemingly very normal. Many others would just bottle up and bang the person who opens the door in the evening.

This build-up in us is the result of so many frustrations that we face in daily life, the stress that we generate and absorb, the struggle to be successful, the battle to survive, the violence that we absorb from sources "stronger" than us sometime for long years of our life and in many cases from childhood, the problems of addictions and its negative impact on family relationships.

This may seem over-simplified (believe me this is not a justification) but the fact is we keep on accumulating garbage over the years till an outlet is found. Usually, this outlet is in the form of violence and abuse in the safe confines of our own homes.

So, what is the solution and how do we go about spreading it on? Is there a standardised answer? Will public shame or punishment help or only aggravate? ........there are so many questions and I am afraid not many have a straight answer.

This is just looking at the perpetrator of violence. It is scary to think about the victims. The unending mystery is why do these victims continue to absorb their daily dose of abuse? I shudder as I try to imagine their life but just cannot fathom their compulsions.

I always believe that our education has only made us literates and never has it taught us about life and how to handle its many ups and downs. We have low EQs and are emotionally and spiritually bankrupt.

Till we are at peace within ourselves, no amount of external help or social activism can help. Social activism may stop one type of incidents but give rise to far more dangerous alternatives. Anything that is achieved out of compulsion or fear could ricochet back with deadly effect.

So what do we do????.....

Eternal India - A Woman's Place in our Society

In India, "the female" is supposed to be worshipped as the "other half" necessary to make one complete. The "female element" is worshipped as "Shakti" and as "destroyer of evil".

All this in the realm of history and popular religious ritual. Let us now see the reality as potrayed, as experienced or probably as it exists.

We witness umpteen instances of women being abused in our country. These are events which have been reported. There are, probably, a million more cases which never get reported. Physical and sexual abuse is the most common and wide spread. Gender based discrimination, denial of education and dowry related abuse are also evils that have taken root deeply as part of our contemporary culture. Equally true, though vehemently denied, is the fact that many "educated" (read: westernised) women have strayed so far away from their roots that an alien culture is found more comforting.

We express disgust at such news reports but think nothing when we ourselves stoop to low levels and indulge in abuse on our own women. We profess great respect for "the female element" and worship "Devi Mata" and make countless trips to Vaishno Devi. Back home, no thought is spared before an angry hand whacks "the female element" and establishing an ephemeral male superiority.

I wondered what could cause this steady decline (if you could call that) in our personal standards and the situation that exists today.

• Is it our education system that makes us ashamed of our own roots?
• Are we exposed to a culture (movies, literature, arts, movies and others) that glorifies being licentious, at a very young age?
• Have we been influenced by our elders who probably behaved in an irresponsible fashion?
• Are we so stressed out that we just cannot behave in a civil manner with women and abuse is the only option?
  

As I was reading literature on Swami Vivekananda, I was curious to know his views on the state of women in India and how this should evolve...Read on and let us discover what this Divine Being had to say

"If you do not raise the women, who are the living embodiment of the Divine Mother, don't think that you have any other way to rise. That country and that nation which do not respect women have never become great, nor will ever be in the future."

On another occassion HE goes on to say..."Otherwise, how could the country come to such a fallen condition? How can there be any progress of the country without the spread of education, the dawning of knowledge?.......but know for certain that absolutely nothing can be done to improve the state of things, unless there is spread of education first among the women and the masses...."

Read further...."It is only in the homes of educated and pious mothers that great men are born and you have reduced your women to something like manufacturing machines; alas, for heaven's sake, is this the outcome of your education?"

"The uplift of women, the awakening of the masses must come first, and then only can any real good come about for the country, for India"


Amazing words and how true they ring today. We seem to have forgotten all these words of advice and caution. Our show of respect seems, in comparison, almost ritualistic and superficial. Have we lost our innate goodness or it is just covered by some garbage that needs to be removed. Is it possible for our society to move towards a more humane, more just and a balanced one?

I stand to be enlightened by your views.

I am a Voice without a Form

...so said Swami Vivekananda at the begining of his mission.

I want no name - I want to be a voice without form....Through the Lord's will, the desire for name and fame has not yet crept into my heart and I dare say never will. I am an instrument and HE is the operator. A brilliant life that lived to its fullest potential, Swamiji was and (I would say) still is a great inspiration to us Indians.

His was a life conveying complete surrender to the Divine and yet so rooted to the ground realities of India of those days. He represented limitless energy and tireless action with a serene mind devoid of any feverishness or sense of attachment.

His appeal crossed all boundaries but to us Indians he foresaw the rise of this giant more than a hundred and ten years back. He was a live wire and sought to awaken a mass which seemed to be in very deep slumber for over a millenia. He awakened Indian society to the new realities and inspired them to be strong and purposeful.

As I read more about this divine soul, I am awe struck by an amazing clarity of thought and an ability to pinpoint to where we as a society had gone astray. His advice to our society is so apt and relevant (even today).

We seem to have all the wisdom and knowledge within our culture and somewhere it is ingrained in our psyche. The question which keeps repeating in my mind is why inspite of all these treasures we seem to be constantly looking outside for inspiration and direction. Why is it that our society appears so fractured and where have we forgotten this noble way of living?

It is tempting to presume that our society has descended into a black-hole never to recover or are we just being too pessimistic?

I would like to share some examples of this "Eternal Wisdom" in the following posts and hope to reflect on our current state. I have liberally referred to various books and published material and would refer them in quotes with appropriate acknowledgements.

With this, I dedicate my fiftieth post to the blogging world.

Swinging between Extremes

It has been an amazing month that has passed us and what strikes me is our tendency to embrace the extreme at every possible opportunity on every possible matter.

Let me list a few of these extremes:

Election results:

The results were a surprise to every one including those in the Congress Party. Anybody who claims that he had foreseen this would be lying.

- We went around town screaming about the decisive mandate. Decisive Mandate???? The government is in a precarious situation and depending on the support of a couple of allies.

- We shouted from the roof tops about the maturity of the Indian voter. Maturity???? The votes were divided as never before.

- An impressive showing in UP was touted as the master strategy of Rahul Gandhi and how he had arrived on the scene.

- The orchestrated chorus in which every one joined to plead with the PM to include RG in the cabinet
- That this was the demise of regional parties


Stock Market:

Post the election results, the stock market decided to join this celebration and achieved what no other stock exchange has achieved in the world. We saw exuberance in its wildest form as the indices hit, what is known in stock market parlance, the upper circuit and we saw a 30 - 40% jump in prices of almost every share. Some exceeded even this.

Nobody has been able to fathom what had changed between April and May. Economic indicators seem as buoyant or lacklustre as earlier. The clouds have vanished and investors feeling left out of this rally are furiously buying as if there is no tomorrow.

Our instant switch from irrational pessimism to exuberance has no explanations, but such extreme swings seem very normal.


Reservation Bill for Women:

This is classic. One section behaved as if this was manna from heaven and would have us believe that womenfolk was on the verge of deliverance. All the oppression, prejudice and age-old rigidities seemed to have vanished like clouds on a windy day. That this enabling platform would deliver us women confident of taking the bull by horns overnight.

The other extreme were the menfolk who felt threatened by this expected onslaught and were compelled to resort to theatrics.

Tokenism...zindabad!!! Tapping potential gene pool ...zindabad!!!


Sports:

Let us look at cricket. Mahendra Singh Dhoni was the perfect cool headed captain who could do no wrong. He was the best in the world and the T-20 world cup was as good as bagged.

What a fall from grace in just two weeks....I understand his effigy was burnt today and the media lampooned him for his "mistakes".


It is plain that none of the positions we took or none of our reactions were based in reality nor were they representing a sense of proportion.

Are we a nation of "extremists". I am amazed at our continued tendency to take extreme positions. We seem to have forgotten that there exists a middle path. Irrationality takes over and we react emotionally to all matters of social and national importance. There is then no hope for a proper debate.

Is it a trick to throw the real issues off-balance? or are we just hard wired in this fashion?

Either way, I note this characteristic with a sense of amusement and just wave it away. Should I also adopt the maxim - "If you can't convince them, confuse them" and add to the chaos. A tempting thought......I must say.

Regionalism – Spilling over to Politics

In my previous post, I argued that –

“The existence of regionalism is a logical corollary to the idea of India. One cannot imagine a uniform and homogenous country like India. Regional vibrancy and its expression have a crucial role to play in this day and age.”

This was all fine till regionalism was restricted to all matters outside the sphere of politics. The leadership of the day after independence had to give a direction to this young new-born nation and set a broad framework to facilitate this.

The consensus that formed was to give to ourselves a written constitution. A group of political statesmen and men of colossal intellect and integrity came together to put on a piece of paper the hows and the why’s of governing this vast sub-continent.

It is interesting to note that even before states were formed on linguistic basis and regionalism was recognized as existing, these wise men thought that a “Federal” structure of government structure would suit India the best. Unknowingly, were sowed seeds of regionalism and partial autonomy in governance for different regions, whilst the Centre would play a strong and decisive role in matters more national in nature.

Politically, regionalism did not surface till about twenty years after independence. Infact, though there were many political parties, it always seemed as a single party rule in almost all the States of India. The carving of states on linguistic basis had been largely completed by the early sixties.

The Indian National Congress was the prime political party with a pan-India identity and presence. All other parties were small bit groups with little political support. The Communists were the first to capture power in Kerala in 1959 but the government was dismissed before completing its term.

What then contributed to the slow and steady rise of regional political parties? The States were definitely giving enough scope for regional groups to do their own thing within the ambit of the Constitution. Then what was triggering this need for a separate political group that would have done better than the INC in that state.

An analysis reveals that

Inner party democracy became one of the first casualties within the Congress and the Central High Command became very powerful. The irony of the situation was probably never appreciated. We prided ourselves on being the largest democracy in the world but our main political party showed scant respect to the concept and practice of inner party democracy.

This in many ways led to much disgruntlement at the ground level. Leaders were hauled to Delhi for flimsy reasons and were replaced arbitrarily. Much of the newer crop of politicians learned fast and focused on money and muscle power as the means to get the High Command attention. This was a great way to attract all lumpen elements to politics. After all, the perks of power and position far outweighed any possible punishment.

Genuine regional aspirations seem to have been brutally brushed aside. Regional fears were never dealt with to generate confidence, instead we had attempts to divide the people and create problems that ultimately became Frankenstein monsters. Tamil Nadu, Punjab and Assam are mute witnesses to this game.

This has been one long story of endless mis-management, men of straw and doubtful integrity at the helm of affairs, blatant abuse of power, instituionalised corruption, open prejudice, devious games, politics being kept as an exclusive preserve of a few classes to the exclusion of the vast majority, over centralisation, politics of appeasement, imposing social hegemony through language…etc., crony capitalism are just some of the reasons.

The Congress, being the major organized all-India political party has to take much of the blame for this. That is not all. We as a nation also have been mute witnesses to the wanton destruction of our cultural ethos and its utter degradation. Indian society – and that means all of us – has also to be blamed for keeping quiet and worse still conniving in this social downfall.

In my next post, I hope to examine a few such instances and policies which have suddenly made regional political parties appear as saviours.

The Rise of Regionalism – Logical or an Aberration

In my two previous posts, I first spoke of India being at crossroads and followed it by examining our concept of nationhood, more in a political form than as a cultural union of sorts that existed for multitude of centuries before that.

This young nation came into being with plenty of trauma associated with childbirth and seemed to be in a state of turmoil for a considerable period of time after that. A union of states was fused together into India. Things like a common constitution, rule of law, currency and a federal structure to follow, were right ideas to pass the common unifying thread through diverse lands, people, languages, cultures and religions.

Through this exquisite and colourful collage, what we witness is large homogenous groups coming together to constitute a great idea called India. The best part of this is this formation of a common platform was envisaged and came about not by surrendering individual cultures but by strengthening one’s own leanings.

Regionalism was and is the life of this collage. The existence of regionalism is a logical corollary to the idea of India. One cannot imagine a uniform and homogenous country like India. Regional vibrancy and its expression have a crucial role to play in this day and age.

This was, to my mind, further aided by the formation of states on a linguistic basis. This, of course, was not a smooth process and there was much violence and ill will at that time. Many experts also questioned the wisdom of forming states on a linguistic basis. Doomsday prophets were quick to dub this as a divisive move which would eventually disintegrate India.

I feel this was an erroneous and short sighted view taken by people. I remember even Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi had once remarked that linguistic division of states was a mistake. I believe that states formed on linguistic basis has given each group in the country a social and cultural platform to express themselves, evolve and develop in a way they want. Further, some contentious and emotive areas were not the cause of prickly Centre – State relations.

When I reflect on all this and the current reality of a fractured polity referred to in my earlier post – The Concept of Nationhood, some pertinent questions arise in my mind

- Was social and cultural autonomy fuelling larger ambitions of people?

- Were the spill over of these ambitions into the political field inevitable?

- Is the desire for social, cultural and political hegemony responsible for the aggressive expression of regionalism?

- Have these attitudes of certain groups contributed to strident regionalism in other groups?

- Could there be other reasons which have contributed to regional insecurity and instigated those people to become extremist in thought, word and deed?

- Can economics reasons fuel an aggressive regional approach?

- Why do people feel safe with their own political dispensations in place?

I will try and examine some of these issues in my following posts. I believe that the rise of regional political aspirations, are an extension of our social and cultural evolution and, perhaps, aided by some other factors like mis-management, prejudice and short-sightedness which seem to have compounded matters.

The Concept of Nationhood

India has been, is presently and will continue to be at crossroads…so said somebody. Well, we have to constantly make choices for our collective journey through time. As we stand today, pausing and wondering on which path to take, I would like to discuss in this post the concept of nationhood that confronted us and our struggle to grapple with this new idea. Read on…..

An ancient civilization donned robes of a new-born nation at the stroke of midnight of 14-15^th August 1947 hoping to wake up from its long slumber and make its “Tryst with Destiny”.

An ancient race that was spread over a vast multitude of kingdoms and jagirs woke up a new reality of a vast nation – India or Bharat desh or Hindustan to many more. This, probably, was an abstract and a scary concept as against the cocoon like security of one’s small kingdom.

A population that owed allegiance to a central figure – the King and his family suddenly came alive to the vague concept of State and distant rulers.

People used to a certain form of governance for ages had to suddenly learn an alien concept of “Democracy” and come to terms with the niceties of debate and consensus building.

A rigid and feudal structure and a society divided along caste lines were confronted with the frightening possibility of having to live the rest of their lives practicing “Justice - Liberty – Equality and Fraternity”. This value was sought to be transplanted by those who had access to modern education and had a dream of how this young nation should shape up in the decades to come by.

Till we attained our Independence, the sole focus of our people was to attain Independence from the British. Naively, people believed that all our ills were just due to colonial rule and once independent, they would just vanish into thin air as wisps of smoke, if you will. No thinker, probably, recognized the many inherent contradictions existing and simmering just below the surface.

A pan-Indian identity was as alien as sharing the same bench in a school with an “untouchable”. We grew up and limited our identity to our jagir - Kingdom or Province.

These and many contradictions came to the surface and in fact still keep doing so at repeatedly at regular intervals severely testing our faith and patience. Many wring their hands in despair and are convinced about the futility of our experiment with newer ideas and in some extreme elements the idea of nationhood.

Are we close to writing the final verdict? Where and how do we go? Is the political process over-shadowing everything else? Is there hope at all for us? These and similar questions arise in our minds and torture us as we stand almost decade in this new millennium.

I am more sanguine.

What we see today and what depresses and disturbs us should be seen in the light of what I have discussed above. The last sixty two years have been a process of overcoming these inherent contradictions, assimilating newer concepts, learning a new way of life.

We began as a group of nations and commenced the journey to meld together as a cohesive whole. Our society is grappling with many known and unknown currents and evolve it will. This belief is not based on foolish hope but on a study of human behaviour. Given the diverse background, a sense of identity and reconciliation will emerge in due course and all divisive and disruptive elements would quieten down and merge into the mainstream.

After all sixty years is just a small patch across a canvas stretching over tens of millennia or more.

Give India time…..we will sort ourselves out.

Edited to add:

Priyank made a very pertinent observation. We began an experiment six decades back that EU has just started a decade back and the complexity, religious and social diversity is much more that what EU can imagine. Let me add here - all this has been done without two world wars and tens of millions of human casualties. This is amazing and very creditable and we should be proud of ourselves.

India – At Crossroads

India is an ancient civilization tracing its origin back deep into the past well beyond five - six thousand years. In fact, there is no definite date or period to which its origin can be pegged to.

India, as a political entity, is a young nation in its sixty second year of existence, a toddler compared to the civilization it seeks to represent.

This, in an essence, holds a clue to this “Grand Puzzle” called India. In this apparent dis-similarity lies the clue to this current chaos that reigns supreme. The sense of despair and helplessness that drives us up the wall and makes us exclaim in frustration, “India….What is your future?...Where are you hurtling?”

In my very first post, I had this to say about India

This is that ancient land which claims to have the answers to the deepest riddles that have foxed mankind eons on end and yet it struggles to find answers to various issues that seem to keep it chained to the dark ages.

India has been an unending mystery where the ancient co-exists with the modern, where a fledgling democracy wages a valiant battle with feudalistic mores, where modern values attempt to heal deep societal divisions.

Yet, India is fascinating and deep.

India presents the picture of a modern fledgling “avatar” struggling against an ancient social structure. At the same time one can clearly discern ancient mores and a traditional way of life at significant variance with a more permissive and egalitarian segment of society.

This gives rise to a pertinent question….”Is India at Crossroads?” and how and where do we go from here?

I now hope to embark on a completely different journey. I will attempt to study this complex juxtaposition of the ancient and the youthful and try to make sense of it.

This will be a new series and I also hope to continue with my series of posts on Financial Literacy and Financial Planning.