Bicycling

Pedro loved moving around on a bicycle. His friends would seek to discourage him by listing out the disadvantages of bicycling. But for every detriment, Pedro had a counter argument of a greater benefit.

If bicycles are condemned as slow, Pedro would point out cycles easily escape traffic jams. If detractors argued that they were physically tiring to ride, Pedro would explain that they make for a healthy lifestyle. Pedro had many arguments for the simple, affordable, reliable, clean and environmentally fit sustainable means of transportation.

However, the larger argument for bicycling is the influence it has on the rider. In the fast paced world, it slows you down. It makes you conscious of the environment and community. It helps explore inaccessible places by travelling across narrow paths.

The bicycle promotes mutual understanding and respect and facilitates social inclusion and a culture of peace. All these are found only in one other activity – walking! Between them, we have wonderful choices to move without polluting the path.

Cycles are great way to move around

sans impurity of air, space or sound

As a choice it is only second to walking

let’s sustain our world through bicycling!

~ Pravin K Sabnis

Stimulus

‘My childhood determined how I turned out’ was the reply of two brothers to describe their way of life. They shared a common stimulus of a terrible childhood. Their mother died young and their father was an abusive alcoholic who best up his children. The negative strokes had a huge impact on their eventual life scripts.

One brother gave up on his school education. Like his father, he took to alcoholism. He would abuse and beat up his wife and his children, just like his father did. An unfortunate story was being repeated all over again.

His other brother too dropped out from school. He joined the trade of a mechanic and began to earn a decent living. He was a sensitive and supportive husband to his wife and a caring and doting father to his children.

Both were exposed to the same stimulus of a troubled past. Yet their divergent life scripts were due to contrary responses. While one succumbed to the dead weight of his past, the other chose to learn from his past and ensure that it was not repeated.

The stimulus does not determine our response. We have the opportunity to choose our response. There is always a choice available to us. The stimulus may not be in our control but our response is a matter of our discretion.  

response need not hinge on the stimulus

the choice we make depends only on us!

~ Pravin K Sabnis

Learned

Our state has recorded over 80% literacy. However the ground reality reflects a strange trait. Half the citizens show a lack of ability to follow simple instructions. Cars zoom past signposts that restrict speed. No parking boards become pegs for parking vehicles. Spit accumulates under the panels that have bold instructions of do-not-spit.

This is surely a common civic phenomenon all over India. It is not about the ability to read or the lack of literacy. It is about the attitudinal paradigms which annihilate the ability of the literate. Where the literate may not be learned!

In fact, most civic signs or instructions are visually graphic enough to be understood even by illiterates. But we literates tend to veer to civic behaviour which we ourselves might find uncivil, offensive or even boorish, when committed by others.

We must examine whether our literacy measures up to the standards of learnedness. We must confirm whether our acquisition of the ability to read is followed by the consecutive learning. Knowing to read, actual reading and appropriate response based on such reading can be totally dissimilar in terms of genuine behaviour.

Robert Pike said that ‘learning has not taken place until behaviour has changed’. It is not enough to be literate; we must use the literacy to good effect and display that learning has happened. We must align our actions to what we have really learned!

The learned don’t just read the sign-board

They align actions to the responsive road!

~ Pravin K Sabnis

Flux

During a lecture, a student asked his master, ‘I've been listening to your lectures for years… but I just don't understand. Could you just please put it in a nutshell? Can you reduce Buddhism to one phrase?’

Everyone laughed. Suzuki laughed. ‘Everything changes,’ he said. Then he asked for another question.

Zen teachings in Buddhism insist that everything in life is in a state of flux. ‘Everything changes’ is a deep thought with a wide meaning. The individual is impermanent. Relations are impermanent. Residence is impermanent. The world is impermanent.

Holding onto to things is a root cause for suffering. We need to be aware and accept the ever-changing nature of reality and appreciate the present moment. It's not about letting go; it's really about not clutching in the first instance.

We should stop fretting about the future. We should quit waiting for a better moment. We must learn to enjoy the moment while it lasts, before flux sets in. If we can learn to live in this way, we can find happiness in every instant.

Flux will happen… life will take a turn

Joy is in living not in wishes to yearn!

~ Pravin K Sabnis

Pause (a poem)

Pause

Many a cause

Sometimes a short break

Sometimes a breath intake

Pause

Quiet claws

Stop for the station

Transitory punctuation

Pause

Roads at a cross

Short of words to say

Thoughts going astray

Pause

Damp moss

The numb feel

A life going still

Pause

Unsure clause

Too short a rope

Flickering of hope

Pause

Apparent loss

Screams that are still

Grit on downward drill

Pause

Spilled sauce

Palate gone wrong

The end of the song

~ Pravin K Sabnis

Debate

Debates are defined as formal methods of interactive and position representational argument. Whether televised or online or real debating, the exchanges travel the entire range from being researched to opinionated, angry to comforting, personalised to ganging-up, hurt to hope, old wounds to new dreams.

The churning, created by the exchange of well thought out points and counterpoints, helps facilitate a broader understanding of an issue, situation or even an attitude. In an increasingly polarised and argumentative world, there is a growing need to connect and communicate – and arrive at multiple dimensions.

There can be many dimensions to any issue. And more often than not, we stand positioned in a stationary manner and hence see a singular dimension. When we share our opinion, somebody else can confirm or dispute our prejudice by sharing another dimension. This gives opportunity to shift one’s position and perspective.

A debate may start with differences but it can eventually move to a discussion that explores varied dimensions. The journey from conflict to consensus needs communication, not indifference. However, we must ensure that we do not turn disagreeable when we disagree. After all, the intent of every debate should be to ‘express’ rather than ‘impress’!

Worthwhile dimensions can emerge from debate
If we leave prejudice and indifference at the gate!

~ Pravin K Sabnis

Heirs

Imagine a huge amount of ancestral land that is inherited by many heirs. The land is naturally blessed with a stream that has nurtured vast fields and splendid orchards. However, since the area is vast, it is a challenge to protect it as well as maintain it. The harvest too requires considerable efforts and singular focus.

The heirs are many and their preferences are different. They have built homes, careers and lives elsewhere. They think it is a risk to relocate and take on a tough life. Hence, they decide to divide the property and leave it to each recipient to make their own choice from selling the land to giving it out on lease or ‘develop’ it.

The land is now smaller sets of different types. The fewer fields are now grasslands. The trees are being cut to make way. The stream is drying up. The naturally blessed land is losing its original splendour and character. The value of the land has dwindled and future heirs have diminishing benefits.

Consider the above analogy for Mother Earth. Wendell Berry said it so well, ‘The Earth is what we all have in common.’ It is our common inheritance. If our future generations have to enjoy this legacy, we must collectively ensure that we not only preserve the present but also add positive value.

If we don’t take on collective responsibility for the collective ownership, we ensure a collective failure for our generation and collective doom for the future generations. We must see the larger picture and rededicate to a collective resolve to sustain our planet through responsible and responsive actions.

Heirs who consume what they inherit will never leave a legacy. The fruits we eat are the efforts of those who planted the trees and ensured they grew. Legacies are built over efforts of many persons over many years.  We must not only safeguard what was nurtured by our ancestors, we must add to the value of the inheritance.

Let’s be responsive heirs who truly know

…that legacy needs inheritance to grow!

~ Pravin K Sabnis