DEMANDING SILENCE

A year has passed since the murder of social reformer, Dr Dabholkar but his killers remain at large. In February, social activist, Pansare’s killing went unchallenged by the authorities. Yesterday, renowned Kannada writer and research scholar, Kalburgi was killed in cold blood. All of them were senior citizens who refused to play silent to the cacophony of anti-social actions.

Similar killings felled bloggers in Bangladesh, a Dalit boy in Ahmednagar (for having a mobile ringtone praising Dr B R Ambedkar) and human rights activist, Sabeen Mahmud in Pakistan... all were first threatened and then murdered for not acceding to the demand for silence. Sadly, apologists are justifying these cold blooded killings. They are demanding the silence of the rest.

Alice Walker said it so well that ‘No person is your friend who demands your silence or denies your right to grow.’ The demand for silence is a rejection of the diversity of opinion. It is a regressive attitude of refusing the right to dissent and disagree. Diversity is the strength of any community and it will only flourish with sane debates.

In personal or public life, when we demand such silence, we align with the thoughts and actions of inhuman murderers. We may not agree with the other voice, we may even vehemently disagree... but there can be never any justification for demanding silence by threatening and then killing. While the authorities need to arrest the criminals, we need to arrest our thoughts that demand such silence!

Collectives are elevated by diverse expression
Demanding silence is an act of regression!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Tentative

Pedro invited three friends out for lunch to a popular restaurant. He asked each one, ‘what would you like to drink?’ The replies were tentative: ‘Anything will do’... ‘Whatever you order will be fine with me’... Pedro ordered karela (bitter gourd) juice for them and lime juice for himself!

So often, so many of us suffer the end result, at the dining table, of the choice of being tentative. Sometimes, we are just avoiding being branded as gluttons. However, most of the time, we are playing slaves to the habit of ‘being unsure’ or avoiding the decision of making a choice.

The word – tentative – is derived from the Latin tentātīvus. It refers to ‘testing’, ‘trying’ and describes uncertainty. Feeling hesitant or unsure about something is the opposite of being confident. Confident persons may take some time to decide... they may seek information on options before they choose, but they will not rush to choose being tentative.

Take the time... scan every alternative
Never rush the choice to be tentative!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Cosmic View

When she was in middle school, my daughter told me that they were learning a very complicated concept in Mathematics – factors! She just did not seem to comprehend the theory. I showed her a ten-minute film on my computer and she could easily understand the idea of base and exponents.

The film begins with the camera 1 meter (10⁰) above a man. The camera zooms out to a view ten meters (10¹) to a view of the man in a park. It further pans to a view of 100 meters (10²) to Chicago's lakefront. Further on we see on the way the views of Lake Michigan, our earth, our solar system, the Milky Way… the zoom continuing to a view of 10²⁴ - the size of the observable universe.

The camera then zooms back to the man's hand and moves on to zoom into views of negative powers of ten: 10⁻¹ (10 centimeters), and so forth. The zoom moves the range from the surface of the skin to the inside right up to the proton in a carbon atom at 10⁻¹⁶ meter.

The 1977 short film ‘Powers of Ten’ depicts the relative scale of things in the Universe using factors of ten. The film, made by Ray and Charles Eames, is an adaptation of the 1957 book Cosmic View by Kees Boeke. The film thus travels two extreme extents of our universe. However, the lessons from the film go beyond the attempt to understand the universe

The cosmic view guides us on the journey between the larger-picture and the smaller-picture. We need to see ourselves and our situation from a perspective that moves from a wide-angle outlook to a deeper insight. It is only such perspectives that will help us comprehend the larger vision and the minute intricacies of the situation that surrounds us.

Larger and smaller picture holds details new
we must zoom and pan to the cosmic view!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

Puzzle

This is incident took place over 22 years ago. When I reached the home of my friend Nishta Desai, the maid informed that she had gone out. I sat in the verandah reading the newspapers lying there. When they came back, Nishta went into the living room and promptly rushed out, ‘How did you solve it?’ Seeing my quizzical expression, she pointed out to a jigsaw puzzle.

The jigsaw puzzle was one of pieces of different sizes which had to be joined to form a rectangle that could fit in the box that contained the puzzle. Nishta could not put it together and she thought that I was able to solve the puzzle. Realising that I had not even seen the puzzle, she called out to the maid to enquire whether somebody else had come visiting while she was away.

When the maid replied in the negative, a puzzled Nishta asked, ‘Then who did this?’ and pointed to the box in her hand. The maid was immediately apologetic, ‘Didi, the pieces were lying around. I just put them in the box while cleaning up the room.’ She had cracked the puzzle without even knowing it!

The lesson is simple. Puzzles are often solved without trying to solve them. Most of the complications are just blocks in our own minds. We must avoid getting too competitive such that we focus on every challenge as a race to be won. Stress-free approaches can liberate us.

Too often we look at life’s puzzles and are overwhelmed by their imagined magnitude. To be better at solving life’s puzzles, we must take on challenges as normal interventions and not be overawed by them.

The pieces of the puzzle will fall in place…
if we see every challenge not as a race!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.

CAPABILITY

Yiannis was born in a poor family in Greece. At the age of 14, he broke the national record for the 50 meter freestyle swim. He did not have a coach but he beat swimmers that had coaches and trained for many days. He listed the reason: ‘I believed that anything was possible, or at least because I didn't put together everyone else's 'facts' and believe that winning was impossible.’

 At 18 years, Yiannis arrived in USA and worked part time as a dishwasher. In university, he struggled as he was unfamiliar with English. He wrote, ‘I'd never been so frustrated, but as they say, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. I studied with the book, a notebook, and a Greek/English dictionary’. Yiannis persevered to graduate in psychology.

But he then his passion for music took over. While he had his ups and downs, worked with different bands, he had a desire to create his own music. But it was a music that was unlike others. He faced many challenges but was able to move ahead due to his steadfast determination. We know him now as the amazing pianist, composer and music producer, Yanni!

Yanni puts it all on the line: ‘We are all capable if we have faith and passion.’ He showed how a person born in challenging circumstances can overcome obstacles by empowering his faith and passion. So often, so many of us await the acquisition of capability. We find our capability when we passionately belief in making possible all dreams.

Never let other peoples’ facts to overwhelm you
Capability forms when passion meets belief true!

- Pravin K. Sabnis

Goa, India.