Today we celebrate the Festival of Lights where the lights or lamps signify victory of good over the evil within every human being.
Diwali or Deepavali has many legends associated with it. In North India, it is associated with the story in Ramayana where people of Ayodhya welcomed Rama (after a 14-year exile) by lighting rows (avali) of lamps (deepa). In South India, it is celebrated as the day Lord Krishna defeated Narakasura.
Founder of Jainism, Mahaveer is said to have attained Nirvana on this very day. Additionally as the day, chief disciple of Mahaveer, Gautam Swami attained complete knowledge, makes Diwali an important Jain festival. Sikhs celebrate Diwali as the day of the release from prison of their sixth Guru, Hargobind along with 52 other princes with him, from detention in the Gwalior Fort in 1619.
For the Hindus, the festival marks the triumph of good over evil and the homecoming of goodwill and faith. For the Jains it is a celebration of complete knowledge. For the Sikhs, it is a struggle for freedom. And it is a confluence of all these reasons that will add meaning and purpose to our lives.
Hence when we seek to banish the darkness, it is not enough to light lamps only during the Festival of Lights. We must join the fight of the “right” against “might”. We have to connect with our faith in human values of equality, justice and peace for all. We need to connect to knowledge and a better understanding with what’s happening around us. And of course, let’s embark on the struggle for freedom from darkness, both, within and without.
To BE BETTER at banishing the bleak shade…
Stop cursing, and light the lamp within instead!
- Pravin-da
Monday, October 27, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
SIEGE
Way back in 1990, thousands of Goan students came down to Panaji to join the rally called by the Architecture students who had been protesting peacefully for 18 days. Since the Government was not responding to their valid demands, as a last resort, the students laid siege to the entry points of the city thus crippling all traffic.
As the leader of that agitation, I was called upon to sort a commotion at one corner. A local salt-farmer was vociferously objecting to the obstruction of his cart. Since our intention was only to create a nuisance for the Government, and not the people, fresh instructions were given that all pedestrians and vehicles of farmers, fishermen, elderly and ailing persons were to be allowed passage.
By afternoon, our siege brought us success. The Government succumbed to our demands. The next day’s newspapers carried headlines of our success. But one vernacular daily carried a small news item about an ailing woman‘s being denied passage by our siege. They had to take a long winded route to get to the hospital and the woman had died enroute.
My smile disappeared. I felt responsible for her death for I had planned everything about the siege but I had not planned for ensuring that those who were not responsible for our problems should not be adversely affected. I told my friend, Sunil that I wanted to go and apologise to her family. Sunil cautioned me against doing so as I could get beaten up by the angry family members. However, I decided to go and Sunil insisted on coming along and sharing the consequences of my mistake.
When we reached the house, there was a huge crowd there that had just returned after the cremation. I pushed my way through it till I reached the dead woman’s husband and introduced myself as the person who had organised the siege that was responsible for the delay in his wife getting access to life saving medical treatment. I stood there ready to be slapped but the man said, “Don’t be too harsh on yourself… it was destined to be so…” I broke into tears as he hugged me.
“Protesting is fine, son, as long as it does not punish the innocent”, his words guide me in every cause that I associate with. Every time we have to lay siege as a tool of protest, we must ensure that we are not forcibly obstructing the lives and livelihoods of our fellow citizens.
To BE BETTER at protesting with a siege for a cause…
We must save the innocent from a painful pause!
- Pravin-da
As the leader of that agitation, I was called upon to sort a commotion at one corner. A local salt-farmer was vociferously objecting to the obstruction of his cart. Since our intention was only to create a nuisance for the Government, and not the people, fresh instructions were given that all pedestrians and vehicles of farmers, fishermen, elderly and ailing persons were to be allowed passage.
By afternoon, our siege brought us success. The Government succumbed to our demands. The next day’s newspapers carried headlines of our success. But one vernacular daily carried a small news item about an ailing woman‘s being denied passage by our siege. They had to take a long winded route to get to the hospital and the woman had died enroute.
My smile disappeared. I felt responsible for her death for I had planned everything about the siege but I had not planned for ensuring that those who were not responsible for our problems should not be adversely affected. I told my friend, Sunil that I wanted to go and apologise to her family. Sunil cautioned me against doing so as I could get beaten up by the angry family members. However, I decided to go and Sunil insisted on coming along and sharing the consequences of my mistake.
When we reached the house, there was a huge crowd there that had just returned after the cremation. I pushed my way through it till I reached the dead woman’s husband and introduced myself as the person who had organised the siege that was responsible for the delay in his wife getting access to life saving medical treatment. I stood there ready to be slapped but the man said, “Don’t be too harsh on yourself… it was destined to be so…” I broke into tears as he hugged me.
“Protesting is fine, son, as long as it does not punish the innocent”, his words guide me in every cause that I associate with. Every time we have to lay siege as a tool of protest, we must ensure that we are not forcibly obstructing the lives and livelihoods of our fellow citizens.
To BE BETTER at protesting with a siege for a cause…
We must save the innocent from a painful pause!
- Pravin-da
Monday, October 13, 2008
Space Pen
My friend, Sunil Sardessai brought me a very special gift from London: a replica of the writing instrument used by Soviet cosmonauts on early manned space flights. He had heard of the writing instrument from me. And I had read about it in some version of Modern Myths. The story went thus:
When NASA first started sending astronauts into outer space, they stumbled upon a major problem: they realized that the ball-point pen would not work at zero gravity. But the determined Americans were made of stern stuff. The search for the alternative began in full earnest.
A million dollar investment and two years of tests and toil by the best of their brains, the Americans developed a very special space pen that could write at zero gravity, work upside down, on almost any surface and at temperatures ranging from freezing to high extremes.
The modern myth further mentioned that when confronted with the same problem, the Russians used a pencil!
So often we waste our time, money and energy on searching for alternatives when the answer may be staring us in our face. Quite often, the way out is exactly the one we are standing on. Advancement is all about being able to notice the solutions that lie in our grasp instead of ignoring the obvious and pursuing stranger substitutes.
To BE BETTER at finding a remedy for any ailment under the sun…
Just look around and you are likely to find an already available one!
- Pravin-da
When NASA first started sending astronauts into outer space, they stumbled upon a major problem: they realized that the ball-point pen would not work at zero gravity. But the determined Americans were made of stern stuff. The search for the alternative began in full earnest.
A million dollar investment and two years of tests and toil by the best of their brains, the Americans developed a very special space pen that could write at zero gravity, work upside down, on almost any surface and at temperatures ranging from freezing to high extremes.
The modern myth further mentioned that when confronted with the same problem, the Russians used a pencil!
So often we waste our time, money and energy on searching for alternatives when the answer may be staring us in our face. Quite often, the way out is exactly the one we are standing on. Advancement is all about being able to notice the solutions that lie in our grasp instead of ignoring the obvious and pursuing stranger substitutes.
To BE BETTER at finding a remedy for any ailment under the sun…
Just look around and you are likely to find an already available one!
- Pravin-da
Monday, October 6, 2008
EMPATHY
Incidents that celebrate the spirit of humanism often escape our scrutiny. On 2 October, the local newspapers highlighted the exemplary empathy shown by the Muslim community of Jodhpur in response to the tragedy where many died in a stampede at a temple on 30 Sept. Besides, ferrying the injured to the hospital in their auto rickshaws and taxis, entirely on a voluntary basis, the Muslims queued up for blood donations and "offered water to those coming from cremation grounds after performing the last rites of their loved ones."
Jodhpur's Muslim community chose to scale down Eid celebrations. The move was in response to the human tragedy that affected their city brethren. While, such empathy may be a natural response, we cannot ignore the significant lessons emanating from Jodhpur. It not only challenges the blatant stereotyping of Muslims, but also shows that bonds of love can transcend every wall of hatred.
15 years ago, on the same date: 30 Sept, a deadly earthquake devastated lives and homes in Latur and Osmanabad. Many were engulfed by the emotion of pity for the grief of the affected. Some showed their sympathy by collecting and dispatching money and materials. And there were yet others who chose to scale down Diwali celebrations like they would have if the tragedy to visit one of their own family members.
We easily feel pity for the pain of others. Sometimes we stretch our words and actions to show sympathy. But it is the emotion of empathy that puts us in the other person’s shoes and adds greater meaning and purpose to our reaction. Thus we transform ourselves into responsive and responsible human beings.
In the wake of human pain, it is natural to feel pity and show sympathy…
But to BE BETTER as human beings, let’s embrace the response of empathy…
Regards
Pravin-da
Jodhpur's Muslim community chose to scale down Eid celebrations. The move was in response to the human tragedy that affected their city brethren. While, such empathy may be a natural response, we cannot ignore the significant lessons emanating from Jodhpur. It not only challenges the blatant stereotyping of Muslims, but also shows that bonds of love can transcend every wall of hatred.
15 years ago, on the same date: 30 Sept, a deadly earthquake devastated lives and homes in Latur and Osmanabad. Many were engulfed by the emotion of pity for the grief of the affected. Some showed their sympathy by collecting and dispatching money and materials. And there were yet others who chose to scale down Diwali celebrations like they would have if the tragedy to visit one of their own family members.
We easily feel pity for the pain of others. Sometimes we stretch our words and actions to show sympathy. But it is the emotion of empathy that puts us in the other person’s shoes and adds greater meaning and purpose to our reaction. Thus we transform ourselves into responsive and responsible human beings.
In the wake of human pain, it is natural to feel pity and show sympathy…
But to BE BETTER as human beings, let’s embrace the response of empathy…
Regards
Pravin-da
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