"It is so hard to
believe because it is so hard to obey."
—Soren Kierkegaard (Danish, 1813-1855)
Word
for the day
Milliner (n)
A person who designs, makes, or sells hats for women.
Malice
towards none
Those filing
hundreds of PILs on non-issues, may please consider filing a PIL requesting SC
to order a judicial review of all orders passed by the controversial Kolkata HC
judge! Please.
First random
thought this morning
The entire pharma industry seems to be passing through
its Galileo moment.
First, the scientists challenged the diabetes standards.
Then came the big challenge to the entire theory of good & bad cholesterol
and its impact on cardiac health. And now someone is challenging the impact of
salt (sodium) intake on human health.
I am not sure who will go the gallows this time - the
challenger Galileo or the defender pharma giants. But certainly we have
interesting times ahead.
Let our children grow as Indian
A few months ago, the government
of Maharashtra decided to erect a colossal statue of the great Maratha King
Chatrapati Shivaji off Mumbai coast, broadly on lines of the Statute of Liberty
off New York coast.
While I fully appreciate commemoration of one of the greatest sons
of India, I feel, the proposed statute may not be a justice to his memory and
stature. It may be seen as yet another poor attempt at Americanization of
India.
This needs to be appreciated that the Statue of Liberty is deep
rooted in the American consciousness. Freedom of people, thoughts and ideas is
at the core of American State. The Statue came after the American State
enshrined the idea of liberty in its consciousness. The flame carrying lady
represents what USA stands for. It is widely considered both a reminder of core
values, and inspiration to many.
In India, outside the erstwhile Maratha kingdom, the knowledge
about the ideology and Vision of Chatrapati Shivaji is scant. The school
history books outside Maharashtra contain few short stories about his valor,
but nothing beyond that.
Unless, the students across the country are taught about the great
vision, struggle and contribution of the great king, in a manner that it leaves
an indelible imprint on their collective conscience, the proposed Statue may
just remain a tourist attraction.
Not only this, the same is in fact true about most great kings,
saints, religious leaders and literary genius. School students in Maharashtra
read little or nothing about history and legends of South, East or North India.
The same is true about most states. The students are taught only about the
respective regional personalities.
Students in Mumbai & Delhi could not even name all North
Eastern states. None of several 10th class Delhi students I spoke to were aware
about a region named Rohilkhand in India (located just 160kms from Delhi).
Students in UP, Punjab, Bihar, Rajasthan are mostly ignorant about Tukaram,
Thiruvalluvar, Subramanya Bharti, Eknath, and Chandidas.
To a person sitting in Mumbai, Bangaluru, Chennai or Hyderabad,
the state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) may not mean much more than – Taj Mahal,
Varanasi, Lucknow, Kebab, taxi drivers and construction labor. Very few
residents of the western and southern states appreciate that UP is as diverse
as India itself. Various regions of the state, i.e., Awadh, Brij, Rohillkhand,
Bundelkhand, Purvanchal, and Doab, have distinctly identifiable history, food,
dialect, customs, deities, and problems.
The consequence is that student grow up with mostly misplaced sense
of supremacy of their regional identities and culture vis-à-vis other regional
identities and cultures.
Under these circumstances, how could one expect people in general
to have a national approach to any issue! Politicians who emerge from these
people only, naturally have parochial viewpoint of most issues concerning
growth and development of the country.
...to continue next week.
Read with the following
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