Time - An intriguing concept

‘Time’ is an intriguing construct. It has fascinated humans from time immemorial. Time machine and Time travel have caught our imagination. ‘Time Machine’ by H G wells continues to fascinate even the current generation. We take ‘Time” to be absolute and still believe so! When a great scientist like Albert Einstein says “Time is an Illusion”, it is counter intuitive to most of us. Understanding his space-time continuum is all too much for us, the lay people.

It is interesting to see how time has been perceived and adopted since ages.

The Gregorian calendar, is today’s international calendar, named after the man who first introduced it in February, 1752 – Pope Gregory XIII. Before 1752, England and her Empire followed the Julian calendar, first implemented by Julius Caesar in 46 BCE. However, this calendar had an inbuilt error of 1 day for every 128 years, due to miscalculation of solar year by 11 minutes! This affected the date of Easter, traditionally celebrated on 21^st March, as it started to move away from the spring equinox with each passing year.

To get over this problem, Gregorian calendar was introduced. This is a solar calendar, based on a 365-day year divided into 12 months. Each month consists of 30 or 31 days with one month consisting of 28 days and once in 4 years a leap having a month with 29 days. This was adopted in many countries like France, Italy etc., in 1582 with Turkey adopting it as late as 1927. As a result, the year 1751 was just 282 days from 25^th March (start date of the Julian year) till 31^st December. 1752 started on January 1.

England adopted this in September 1752, but there was a problem. To align the calendars, England had to “drop” 11 days from the calendar – Wednesday, 2^nd September was followed by Thursday, 13^th September! There are rumours floating that there were riots in England with workers demanding their “lost” 11 days! Quite hilarious to say the least and whether this is true or a myth is not known!

While the European civilization was thus accounting for time, it would be interesting to see what our ancestors thought of time and how they accounted for it. Ancient Indians had the concept of “Yuga” and we had four Yugas running one after the other. It starts with the Krita Yuga, followed by Tretha Yuga, Dvapara Yuga and the present Kali Yuga in that order.

Going bottom up, Kali Yuga is 432,000 years in human life terms.

Dvapara Yuga is two times of Kali Yuga - 864,000 years.

Tretha Yuga is three times of Kali Yuga - 1,296,00 years.

Krita Yuga is four times Kali Yuga - 1,728,000 years.

These four continue in a cycle and together are called a ‘Chatur Yuga’. Therefore, a Chatur Yuga is 4,320,000 Years or 4.32 Million Years!

Kali Yuga started in 3102 BCE after Krishna left Dwaraka at the end of Dvapara Yuga. Since we are in 2019 CE, we have only spent about 5121 years in Kali Yuga and technically Hindus call this “pratame pathe” or first quarter of Kali Yuga. Therefore, we have another 426,879 years for Kali Yuga to end at which time, according to scriptures, Lord Vishnu would incarnate as Kalki Avtar (the original one!) to redeem the world and establish Dharma.   

Once Kali Yuga is over, the Krita Yuga commences again!

1000 Chatur Yuga’s is called a “Kalpa” which translates to 4.32 Billion Years! And, as per our scriptures, Brahma, who created the world, has a DAY consisting of 1 Kalpa and a NIGHT consisting of 1 Kalpa.

If this is not already mind boggling, ancient Hindus have gone even further. And Brahma, lives for 100 celestial years! Thus, the life of a Brahma is equivalent to 2X4.32X365x100= 315.36 Trillion Years in human terms! That is the life span of a Brahma!   

These 1000 Chatur Yugas are managed by 14 Manus and roughly each Manu gets about 71 Chatur Yugas. Each of these 71 Chatur Yuga segments is called a ‘Manvantara’.

We are presently in the first day of 51^st year of the current Brahma, in the 28^th Chatur Yuga and managed by the 7^th Manu titled Vivastha Manu (Vivasvaan). If you think all these are farfetched, you are mistaken. Whenever we perform a Homa or a pooja, we do a sankalpa. This is nothing but a statement of purpose for the pooja much like the SOP’s we prepare to get admitted to prestigious schools. This is what we chant:

Adhya Brahmanaha – Current Brahma

Dvithiya pararthe – Second half of the 50 years of the Brahma

Swetha Varaha kalpe – 1^st day of the above year

Vivastha Manvanthare – ruled by Vivastha Manu

Ashtam vigumsathi thame – 28^th Manvantharam

Kaliyuge pradame pathe – first quarter of kali Yuga

This is followed by the Geographical location of where we are doing the pooja – Bharata Varshe etc., if we are in India and suitably modified if you are in other countries. Can it become anymore systematic and detailed?

If you look at the celestial day of a Brahma, it is 4.32 Billion years in our time scale. It roughly equates to the age of the earth as computed by scientists today! How uncanny! Further, our sastras go on to add that once the life of a Brahma is over, all plurality is resolved and the entire universe goes from a manifest state to an unmanifest state! Remember that matter can neither be created nor destroyed. When a new Brahma takes charge, after a deep slumber as it were, the entire creation moves from a unmanifest state to a manifest state! This is called pralaya and Shristi in the Sastras – what the modern scientists call expansion-contraction; evolution-involution. Thus, the Universe goes in a cyclic form of manifestation and unmanifestation.  The whole Universe goes in a cyclic form eternally!

If you are not astounded by such an imagery and deep insight of our forefathers, please listen to what Carl Sagan, one of America’s greatest astronomers has to say about this.

“The Hindu Religion is the only one of the world’s great faiths dedicated to the idea that the Cosmos itself undergoes an immense, indeed infinite, number of deaths and rebirths. It is the only Religion in which the time scales correspond, no doubt by accident, to those of modern scientific cosmology. Its cycles run from our ordinary day and night, to a day and night of Brahma, 8.64 Billion Years long, longer than the age of the Earth or the Sun and about half the time since Big Bang. And there are much longer time scales still.

There is an appealing notion that the world is but a dream of GOD, who after a hundred Brahma Years, dissolves himself into a dreamless sleep. The Universe dissolves with him, until after another Brahma century, he stirs, recomposes himself and begins again to dream the big cosmic dream.” He also goes on to add,

“In India, there are many GODs and their many manifestations. The Chola bronzes cast in the 11^th Century, include several different incarnations of God Shiva. The most elegant and sublime of these is a representation of the creation of the Universe at the beginning of each cosmic cycle, a motif known as the cosmic dance of Shiva. The GOD, called in this manifestation Nataraja, the dance King, has four hands. In the upper right hand is a drum whose sound is the sound of creation. In the upper left hand is a tongue of flame, a reminder that the Universe, now newly created, will from billions of years from now, be utterly destroyed.

These profound and lovely images are, I like to imagine, a kind of premonition of modern astronomical idea.”

What else can one say?

I started this blog using the word “construct” for time. Why is it so? Is Time real? Does it really march onward or as Einstein said is it an illusion? These questions need a serious enquiry!

Now that we are on the subject of Time and since the New Year is round the corner, let me wish you all a very HAPPY NEW YEAR!

How Buddha saved me!

I was heading the delivery unit of an IT company a few years ago. There is never a dull moment in IT companies – customer escalations, appraisals and wage revisions, resignations, client visits, P&L pressure et al – you are always on tenterhooks. You get so much used to these situations that anything less feels like boredom! As I was meandering through my daily chores, I received a call from my Country Manager in Singapore stating that I need to urgently travel to Singapore to meet a disgruntled client. Further enquiry revealed that the client wanted to sue us for a few million dollars, as contracted, due to a failed delivery. Now, that was not only disturbing but also something grave. We had implemented a e-procurement product for this client in their factory in Indonesia and as all start-up products are wont to, it failed to meet their overrated expectations. But my million-dollar question to the country manager was “Why me?” as I was a banker and had nothing to do with e-procurement! His response was a classic one which I had never heard before – he said “if you plead sincerely with the client, he would not proceed suing us!” I didn’t know that I was such a great ‘pleader.’

Not one to shirk responsibility, I took upon this onerous task of meeting the client in Singapore. I browsed through the manuals to get a hang of the product and spent a couple of days with the development team to know about the nuances of the product. My background in such processes in my earlier avatar in the US helped me ease my tension a bit. I reached Singapore and met the client manager Mr. Chang – an Indonesian Chinese. He briefly met me, was curt, unfriendly and dropped a bombshell that we were travelling to the factory in Indonesia the next day! I did not have an Indonesian visa and he promised that he would take me there without a visa in a steamer! I was dumbstruck and refused to budge as the prison cells of Indonesia danced before my eyes. Much to my surprise, he arranged for a visa in Singapore which was a feat in itself. Later, the following day, I, Mr. Chang and two of his colleagues embarked on our journey to Indonesia.

It was nothing short of an adventurous trip. First, we took a steamer and landed on the Indonesian soil after about 30 minutes. We then took a jeep ride for about 2 hours to another city. Mr. Chang, obviously upset with our company, was very aloof and detached – quite understandable. However unfriendly a group may be, when all are thrown in a group in a jeep with nothing else to do, you tend to start a conversation. By some quirk of fate, the conversation veered towards religion and I came to know that all the three of them were Buddhists. I casually asked them about the significance of the 4 noble truths propounded by Buddha. Surprisingly, they were not very well informed. Then I talked very eloquently about Buddha and how his principal teaching was in the 4 noble truths. They listened with rapt attention. They were under the impression that the 4 noble truths were very basic. I dispelled their notion with extensive quotes from the books / articles that I had read. They were quite surprised, to say the least. I talked to them about the American Buddhist Monk Ajahn Sumedho and his brilliant book as also about his master’s book ‘A Tree in a Forest’ by Ajahn Chah, a Buddhist Monk from Thailand.  Knowing that I was a practicing Hindu, they were astounded. I promised to send them links to these books. Their entire demenaour changed after this conversation.

On reaching our destination, we boarded a plane, travelled for another hour or so and then had a jeep ride for about 30 minutes and reached the factory in the middle of a forest. The team there was waiting for our arrival. We right away entered the meeting and the factory head, a lady Ms. Chin, was waiting anxiously and after a brief introduction shot a question at me in an exasperated voice, ‘You are the expert. Please tell us how to solve all our problems?  ‘Expert – me’ was the incredulous feeling that crossed my mind and as I was marshalling my thoughts how to respond, Mr. Chang jumped from his chair and said that as an expert I cannot answer all trivial things and that I would sit with the team, study all the problems and come up with a recommendation. What a relief – I did not see Mr. Chang, but I saw Buddha himself standing there! That gave me the necessary breathing space. Later on, I also came to know that Mr. Chang and Ms. Chin were at loggerheads. 

   

To cut the story short, I managed to gather all the issues, offered a few work arounds and generally managed to wriggle out of the situation. On return to Singapore, my good friend Ram prepared a brilliant presentation based on my inputs giving not one, but 4 different options to proceed. I went ahead and made this presentation to Mr. Chang and his team. He appeared reasonably convinced. Once I was done and about to leave, Mr. Vincent, Mr. Chang’s assistant, shook hands with me and told me in a whisper, “Mr. Ganesh, when Mr. Chang takes up an issue, he doesn’t rest till he sees blood. You are the first man to go scot free like this!” Mentally I profusely thanked Lord Buddha for his compassion and mercy on me!

Finally, the client made a settlement with us after we agreed for a small compensation and closed the project. How did the cantankerous Mr. Chang agree to this proposal – only Lord Buddha knows! And the moral of the story is, any knowledge, however trivial it may seem, will come in handy at some time one way or the other!  

  

Meaning of MY Life!

I was born on Teacher’s day – 5^th September, much to the delight of my parents and grandparents. My parents had three daughters, and as was the norm then, were happy to see a baby boy in the mix. My grandfather, who had built a Ganesha temple at our native village of Nerur, had just completed the ‘Kumbhabhishekam’ of that temple! Hence, he not only named me Ganesh, but asked a jeweler to open his shop and bought me a gold chain to adorn my waist! Like little Ganesha, I was a very naughty chap and my vague memory of my younger days were my periodical thrashings from my father and my fights with my immediate elder sister. My father, being in a place without much of schooling facility, sent me to a boarding school at the age of 6 or 7. I was reluctant to leave my mother and go but had no choice. Nevertheless, that experience of staying away from home at such a young age made me adjust to all situations and made we what people today call a ‘people magician’.

I rejoined my parents as they moved to a large city when I was in my 9^th grade. Teenage years were fun. All girls in the class looked ravishing beauties! Obviously, you have a crush on most of them. Outdoor games were the norm. My parents used to shout at us for being outdoors all the time. Cricket, Lagori, ball Badminton, Tennis – you name it, we played it all. We did not leave indoor games either. Life was a carefree endeavour without much thought about the ensuing day. Then came the time when we had to enter college. Only then I slowly realized that I must do well and get a job! That seemed to be the priority in life and the sole purpose at that point in time. My college mates were brilliant and you cannot be a duffer when the whole class oozes with brilliance. I did well in studies and got a probationary officer’s job in a Nationalized Bank – a prestige those days. My life’s ambition and purpose seemed to be over!

It was at this juncture, my brother-in-law introduced me to Vedanta lectures by a Swamiji of the Arsha Vidya Gurukulam founded by Swami Dayananda Saraswathi. These lectures, including topics like Bhagavad Gita, Mandukya Upanishad etc., gave a different perspective on life. It set me thinking and I attended more lectures including those by Swami Parthasarathy and a host of others. I read a lot of books on Vedanta and non-dual literature. I built a house, got married and had children – activities that most of us did as part of living. However, my value system had a solid foundation in our Vedic tradition.

My wife’s brother gifted me a book titled ‘COSMOS’ by Carl Sagan which rekindled my interest in Physics (though I was a honours student, I hardly knew Physics, but scored very high marks!). Being away in the US, without the family, helped me to read a lot of books on cosmology and Quantum Physics. On the one hand, the vast expanse of the empty space extending to billons of light years, accentuated our insignificance as a species. On the other, to know that the distant galaxies and we are made up of the same stuff, made my mind expand as vast as this Universe. I was often wonderstruck at the grandeur of creation. If this was macrocosm, the quantum physics was the microcosm. The concepts and discussions on reality seemed to be mind boggling! The modern scientific thoughts seem to be converging on what non-dual Advaita talked about thousands of years ago – Adi Sankara being the one who expounded it with his Bhashyas.

Once you are born, you have to die! That is the only thing that is certain. In between we live a life and as I had explained, go through various phases of life which has also been explained beautifully in the Sastras. The million-dollar question is, “Is there a purpose or meaning in life?” Great minds have discussed this over centuries. I am too small a person to attempt this. Nevertheless, I shall attempt to do so purely from MY perspective.

Sankara defines Reality at three levels. It must be understood that Reality is only one and for our easy understanding three different perspectives were discussed. For our present discussion, we shall restrict it to two. The first level is the ‘Vyavaharika Sathyam’ – transactional reality or empirical reality. This is what we experience as the phenomenal world of appearances that we take to be real. The subject-object duality. The other perspective is ‘Paramarthika Sathyam’ – Absolute Reality - which is the highest Truth or ONLY ontological reality – that is Brahman. 

From an Absolute Reality perspective, the entire creation of names and forms that we see are technically called “Mithya” – neither real or unreal and many times wrongly attributed as “illusory”. Then such a construct begs an answer to the question as to why this Absolute one appears as many? What is the purpose etc. Even the great Sankara answered that it is ‘anirvachaniya’ – inexplicable. Hence there is no point in discussing our life’s purpose from an absolute stand point.

However, our scriptures state that, as explained earlier, the world of pluralities is ‘Mithya” which is caused due to ‘Avidya’ or ignorance and our sole purpose in life is to transcend this ignorance through rigorous self-knowledge and become one with the Absolute. This is what modern Gurus call ‘Awakening’. However, most of us do not bother to go anywhere near such an endeavour, including yours truly except for feeble attempts from the periphery!

Hence for our discussion, coming down to our phenomenal world is more appropriate. Do I have a purpose in life? I have taken sessions to managers on Purpose and goals etc., But seriously come to think of it, life, in MY humble view, does not have any stated purpose. We lead a life, trying to be a good human being, socially responsible, being helpful to others, follow your ashrama dharma’s, take care of those who are less fortunate than you, pursue your passion etc., Pablo Picasso summed it up succinctly when he said,” The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose of life is to gift it away!” If we analyze life more than this, I feel that we cannot find any answers. Victor Frankl, a nazi camp survivor, wrote the classic ‘Man’s Search for meaning’ and he believes that individuals are strongly motivated to find meaning in their lives, understand the nature of their personal existence and feel it is significant and purposeful. I believe that it is very psychologically satisfying to feel so. All of us need to become, what modern Psychologists call, a ‘Self-actualized’ person.

However, I am a dreamer and philosopher at heart. I would go with Emerson, who said,

“To laugh often and much;

To win the respect of intelligent people and affection of Children;

To earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends;

To appreciate beauty, to find the best in others;

To leave the world a little bit better, by a healthy child,

A garden patch or redeemed social condition;

To know one life has breathed easier because you have lived;

This is to have succeeded.”

Nothing more, nothing less. I equate success with living.

Bertrand Russell one of the greatest thinkers of modern times talks about this very eloquently in his book “The conquest of Happiness” as follows:

“The happy man is the man who does not suffer from either of these two failures of unity, whose personality is neither divided against itself nor pitted against the world. Such a man feels himself a citizen of the universe, enjoying freely the spectacle it offers and the joys that it affords, untroubled by the thought of death because he feels himself not really separate from those who will come after him. It is in such profound instinctive union with the stream of life that the greatest joy is to be found”.

With such profound thoughts in the background, I go through life enjoying the spectacle it offers always believing that the Universe is unfolding as it should.

Despite all the trappings of success and achievements of the phenomenal world, the fundamental yearning for that limitless freedom and to be one with the Absolute will remain with us forever. It is simple yet not easy to achieve. There has to be an intense desire to achieve that in this lifetime followed by sustained efforts in that direction. Unfortunately, for most of us, neither the desire nor the efforts seem to be forthcoming. We seem to be contented with the fleeting joys and achievements of the empirical world!

As for me, I shall renew my attempts with more resolve and vigour, now that this question has been asked of me!

Hindi or No Hindi!

I graduated in 1974 when I was 21. Jobs, as always, were far and few especially for “vanilla” graduates. Mrs. Gandhi’s nationalization of banks had given a fillip to branch expansion and that was my only hope. My father, in all his enthusiasm to encourage me, got me a probationary officer’s guide which cost him Rs. 15/=.  There were no coaching classes or internet to get information on finger tips. Competition Success Review magazine was a constant companion. I embarked on project “job hunting” in all earnestness! I appeared for all exams that allowed me to appear – from Management trainees to clerks to Probationary officers! I had appeared for an entrance exam for IIM, Calcutta in my final year and that was a tough nut to crack. But that failure was certainly an experience to cherish for compared to that, the PO exams were, to put it Chennai parlance “Jijubi”. I got selected as probationary officer in 2 banks besides as a clerk in another Bank. God was kind was all I could say with a sigh of relief!

Canara Bank was a great place to start my career. Having had my initial training stint in Jamshedpur in Bihar and Dhenkanal in Orissa, I was finally posted to Moradabad. It was in Western UP and I landed there with lot of trepidation. I did not know the language and it was far away from home. My first day in office was quite intimidating. Most of the staff spoke only Hindi and I was asked to manage the “bills” counter. In walked a gentleman and he asked in chaste Hindi “Saab, woh chautha sow pachpan bill nikaaldo”. I felt as if I was hit on the head by a Joffra Archer bouncer. Cheques were written in Hindi numerals. The pay in slips were also in Hindi. I cursed the Tamil Zealots back home who did not allow folks like us to learn Hindi. But then, being a positive person that I am, I sought the help of a local colleague, Mr. Ved Prakash Dbey ji – we called him Dubey ji. He gave me a brilliant idea – watch movies! That sounded a great idea and since he was a forced bachelor, he used to accompany me to at least 3 movies a week! All the Amitabh Bachan starrer of those days like Zanzeer, Kabhi kabi, Amar Akbar Antony were seen gleefully. The morning radio sounded Kundan Lal Saigal and evenings were with Ameen Sayani. Mohammed Rafi was my all-time favourite. Soon enough I started learning Hindi, the right way!

My Hindi was very chaste without the Tamilian accent and people started accepting me as their own. One problem with learning Hindi in UP is the usage of, what we call “Sanskrit” words in between. For those who are uninitiated, we call it swear words. You see these words lovingly uttered by our Virat Kohli whenever India takes a wicket. You will not understand the pleasure of mouthing these words unless you have lived in UP or up North. I had a colleague by name Triloknath Chaturvedi – and his name implies that he was a master of 4 Vedas- nothing can be farther from the truth. If he opened his mouth, it would be the choicest of “words” in Hindi. And he was a great influence on me, so much so, I started using a similar language! Once I was travelling from Delhi to Amritsar with my friends and a vendor tried to cheat me. I unleashed a barrage of abuses selected from Chaturvedi’s exclusive dictionary. An elderly man, obviously stunned at this onslaught, sitting opposite to me, seeing us talking in Tamil earlier, gently asked me in Hindi “Are you a Madrasi?”. I said yes and he responded “Even I do not know so many “good” words in Hind!”. My friend Chaturvedi must have been proud seeing the progress of his protege! 

Then I moved on from there to various places, left the Bank and worked in Puerto Rico before moving to the US. In Puerto Rico, a Spanish colleague proudly told me that his Indian friends had taught him Hindi and much to my liking uttered all those “good” words that I had forgotten in a while! On return to India I joined HCL. For some strange reason all sales and marketing guys in IT companies are North Indians! My Hindi helped me to build a bond with them and whenever we had something to quietly discuss which the client should not know, we always switched to Hindi! Needless to add, I have built lasting friendships with many of them. And after all the drama, I have retired to a senior living home which is run by North Indians and yes, my Hindi helps here too!

So, the point I am making is that learning a language is definitely an advantage and enriches you. I appreciate Mr. Modi’s speech for most of the part, enjoy Kumar Vishwas’ kavi sammelans, enjoy reading jokes in Hindi etc., I can go on and on. Similarly, I have also learnt Kannada and can speak reasonably well. And you can see the pleasure in someone’s face when you talk to them in their native language. It is priceless.

By learning a language, I don’t think Tamil will lose out. But unfortunately, those who defend Tamil are those who do not know the beauty of the language. There is a vast literature in Tamil and I am sure most of these chaps do not even know the ABC of these classics. In modern days who would know about Sekizhar or Silapadikaram or the great Thiruvalluvar. They generate new words that are extremely colloquial and purists like me do not understand. For example, for one of my FB posts, one person had commented “mass sir!’. I did not know what it meant. I quietly called my niece and asked her what it meant. She said mass=awesome as if it was something universal like E=MC² ! Recently in our senior living, we conducted a competition where people had to speak extempore for a minute on a given topic without using English words. All of them failed! So much for our Tamil skills. As for me, I am making it a point to read Tamil devotional classics like Thiruvasagam etc., and am fond of quoting from Thirukuaral. More than Tamilnadu, it is Tamil folks in countries like Sri Lanka, Malaysia, France, Canada are fostering the language the way it should be done.    

   

So long as it is not compulsory, I guess learning a new language is a great advantage and one must make efforts to learn a language whenever an opportunity arises. There should be no coercion. At the same time, if there is a necessity, I feel that people will learn a language. After all, all languages are beautiful and are useful in some way. So, the more languages you know, the more friends you can have! What else one needs?

MODI-2.0

Heartiest Congratulations to Mr. Modi and BJP for this stupendous victory. Most of us did not expect such an overwhelming response by India! In a way it is good because, reforms can now be pushed through at a much faster pace.

Leadership is one of the key drivers for success of an organization – be it an enterprise, or a cricket team or a political party. It is the leader who communicates his vision to his constituents. This message as well as the messenger is of utmost importance. I had written about Mr. Modi’s leadership in my blog http://nsgmusings.blogspot.com/2019/04/is-mr-modi-truly-great-leader.html on 12^th April. I had also ended that blog with the lines that till a worthy challenger emerges, Mr. Modi is THE Man. He is a great orator and very cleverly he made this election as Modi vs the rest – a sort of presidential referendum. So, the candidates became irrelevant. He kept repeating “your vote to Lotus is a vote for me!” Marketing Gurus can learn a lesson or two from Mr. Modi. It is great to have a vision and strategy. You will come a cropper if that strategy is not executed properly. Just imagine Dhoni as captain tells his bowler to bowl a line and the bowler does not heed his advice! Here again BJP scored big time. If Mr. Modi was BJP’s face, Mr. Amit Shah and his band of karyakarthas were the arms and legs working behind the scenes to make this happen on the ground – not only during elections but much before that. Unfortunately, none of the opposition came anywhere close to BJP in these two aspects. All they had to say was “remove Modi” – which seemed to add to Mr. Modi’s popularity. Of course, there were many other factors that were at play for such a huge victory.

Having said that, in a democracy, a strong opposition is a must. Whether one likes it or not, Congress is the only pan India party. In all fairness, it started off after independence as a left of the centre, liberal, secular party. But over the years right from Nehru days it had changed slowly initially but accelerated during Mrs. Gandhi’s period. The Congress today is not the Congress that was formed initially. India NEEDS a party like that. Congress would do well to reinvent itself, build grass root level workers, promote regional leaders, ELECT a LEADER through democratic means and START FROM TODAY. We can then hope to see a challenger for Mr. Modi in 2024. If they still harp on old methods, I am afraid this trend cannot be reversed soon. As for all the other regional parties with 5-10 MP’s and aspiring to become prime Ministers, what can I say? I think we should slowly move towards a 2-party system like in the US.

As Mr. Modi rightly pointed out in his acceptance speech, the election rhetoric is over. The reality is staring at us. It is fine to be euphoric for a few more days. After that, the new Government has its task cut out. The economy is not in great shape. While the inflation is low, the growth at 7% may not be good enough. There is huge Government spending and oil prices have been favourable. Some industry sectors are not in good shape. Banking needs a fillip. Consumption has slowed down. Jobs need to be created as unemployment is one of the biggest problems. Agrarian crisis is for real. Something needs to be done about it. Water management also needs immediate attention. Interlinking of rivers is a project worth pursuing. The MSME sector needs to be given an impetus which would also contribute to job creation. We can go on and on – but I guess one gets the drift. It is another matter that these were not issues in this election. Further Mr. Modi cannot blame his predecessors now for he was at the helm for 5 years! The budget in July will be very interesting and will give us an insight into shape of things to come.

It is here that I feel that Modi’s supporters must play a constructive role and hold the Government accountable. People should remove their supporter cap and wear the critique cap. Whenever the Government makes a dubious decision or a poor implementation, I think all supporters should raise the issue. For heaven’s sake, please do not make Mr. Modi larger than life equating him to GOD. He is also not infallible like any of us. He is bound to miss a trick or two and let us be vigilant. After all, we the people, have given him this opportunity.

And finally, I am glad that Mr. Modi spoke about inclusive growth. This is a must. For some reasons, the social fabric of this country is under pressure like never before. He must be the soothing balm and carry the entire nation with him – true to his word “Sab ka Saath, Sab Ka Vikas”. The fringe elements in all sections of society that are wreaking havoc on the social cohesion of this great nation must be reined in with an iron hand. This land has a glorious culture of accommodating everyone and is by nature Dharmic. That tradition must be maintained. Mr. Modi can be the catalyst to accelerate this process.

I am sure he will be the leader of every Indian – whether he is in India or abroad – and work tirelessly for the glory of this nation as he has been doing hitherto. It is our duty to contribute our bit in this great endevaour. I fervently hope that Mr. Modi would work with the integrity and intent that he is known for with malice towards none and charity for all. May GOD be with him. Jai Hind!       

Is Mr. Modi truly a Great Leader?

Leadership is a nebulous subject. There are as many opinions about leadership as there are leaders! Are leaders born or are they made? The debate has been endless and hence there is no simple answer to this vexing question. ”Who is a leader?” and what constitutes leadership has also evolved over the ages. The essential trait that makes a good leader has also changed with time, with a strong correlation to the context in which it is discussed.  However, some Gurus who have been writing and coaching leaders all over the world have written innumerable books about leadership. Hence it would be appropriate to go by their views assuming that it is the distilled wisdom of the current age.

And what is leadership? According to John C Maxwell, one of the leading authors on leadership, the true measure of a leader is Influence, nothing more nothing less. If this is what he says about corporate leadership, this is more so in the case of political leadership. In his classic “The 21 irrefutable laws of Leadership”, in law no 2 called the “Law of Influence”, he states the following as the key factors that make a leader. I have summarized them as under with my subjective assessment about Mr. Modi.

1.    Character – who they are: True leadership always begins with the inner person. People can sense the depth of a person’s inner character. The fact that so many people adore him, so much so, they are called Bhakts is because of who he is! His integrity, sincerity, discipline, hard work and commitment to the nation is what makes people admire him. People perceive him as one who has no personal axe to grind. A hypothetical question to test this trait would be to ask “Would people vote for BJP without Modi?” I am sure a majority would not vote for BJP! That speaks for itself. Character of a leader matters. Some people say that he is authoritarian and does not trust anyone. He is ruthless. He treats his opponents not as adversaries but as enemies. Maybe. Nevertheless, even his worst critics do not cast aspersions on his integrity, character, hard work and commitment. My rating for this trait is: 8

2.    Relationships – who they know: With deep relationships with the right people you can become a leader in an organization. Mr. Modi, being nominated as the PM candidate in 2014, from being an unknown persona, is probably the starting point. He was the most vilified Indian politician in India and abroad so much so our elected MP’s sent letters to US asking them not to grant visa to an elected CM of a state.  Today his supporters include many of the PM’s and premiers of different countries. He was the first PM in Independent India to visit Israel – and their PM calls him my friend - and Mr. Modi had the audacity to visit Palestine, a sworn enemy of Israel, immediately thereafter! And despite being portrayed as anti minorities locally, he received the highest civilian award from 2 Islamic nations – UAE and Saudi Arabia. And India was invited to the OIC for the first time as a keynote speaker despite the protests from Pakistan! Based on his request, the first Hindu temple in UAE is being opened. Apart from his numerous international awards, he is considered one of the top international leaders of this time. His entire image and that of India have undergone a tremendous change over the past 5 years without a doubt. And his direct connect with the people is brilliant using unconventional tools like the outdated radio! On the downside, it is said the he has sidelined seniors who have built his party. He ignores his cabinet and runs the show with his PMO and bureaucrats. He has no friends in his party. He has complete disdain for the Main Stream media and so on. There may be elements of truth in these allegations based on anecdotal evidence. My rating for this trait is: 7

3.    Knowledge – What they know: Information is vital. You need a grasp of the facts to develop an accurate vision of the future. Leading a nation as vast as India with internal complexities coupled with a highly sensitive external relationships is no ordinary matter. Obviously no single person can have the expertise in such diverse areas like technology, economics, healthcare et al. Experts assist a modern leader. But the leader should be smart enough to understand these nuances and take the final decision owning up the responsibility. Mr. Modi, despite lacking any experience of even being an MP, has learnt the ropes of managing a nation fairly quickly, a fact that was even acknowledged by our former President Mr. Pranab Mukherjee. Maybe at times, he portrays himself as a “Know all” with an over confidence tinged with a bit of arrogance is what some of his detractors say. He does give that impression at times. My rating for this trait is: 6

4.   Intuition – what they feel: leaders seek to recognize and influence intangibles such as energy, morale, timing and momentum. This is something that Mr. Modi is a master. Both on the Government side and on the political front, he has been amazing with his indefatigable energy, timing and setting the narrative. To me the 2014 election was won purely based on his passionate campaign and unbelievable travels criss crossing the country. Having intuition is one thing, but articulating that to the masses is another talent altogether. Here again Modi is a magician. However, his critics point out that he goes overboard with his theatrics at times and is attention seeking hogging the limelight to himself. Maybe there is some validity in their arguments too. My rating for this trait is: 8

5.    Experience – where they have been: the greater your past challenges, the more likely your followers will let you lead. Here again Mr. Modi scores high because of his experience both as an administrator as chief minister and the challenges he faced due to riots in Gujarat and the prolonged enquiries and investigations he faced. His formative years as a RSS pracharak have taken him to the nook and corners of the country and he is aware of the ground realities that have shaped his experience. The opposition barb that he is only a “chaiwala’ was catastrophic, as we have seen. My rating for this trait is: 7

6.    Ability – what they can do: the bottom line is followers want to know whether you can lead them to victory. As soon as they believe that you cannot deliver, they will stop following. This is absolutely true in India! India is a complex country with numerous segments with varying expectations. Hence there is bound to be claims and counter claims as to what Mr. Modi has promised and what he has delivered. Sifting the wheat from the chaff and looking for data amidst all this cacophony, I personally feel that he has done reasonably well. He has risked failure by implementing projects like GST, has been firm in dealing with militants, going ahead with Swachh Bharat programme despite ridicule, enhancing the usage of Aadhar, Jan Dhan, Ujjwala scheme, housing for poor, improved infrastructure, opening up defense production under Make in India, improved tax compliance, containing inflation and fiscal deficit so on and so forth. There have been misses too like job creation, farmer’s distress, etc. Could he have done better? Absolutely yes. However, it is fair to say that he has delivered reasonably well in this short tenure.My rating for this trait is: 6

So Mr. Modi scores 42 out of the maximum 60 which works out to about 70% which is really good. It is a moot point if we benchmark any other current political leader against the same traits and see where they stand. Of course, I have used a framework by one author whom I know. There could be several other frameworks similar to this which could also be used.

Marshall Goldsmith is a very highly ranked Executive coach and #1 leadership thinker in the world. In his recent book he states that “Leadership is a matter of how to Be, and not how to Do.” This resonates well with the framework we discussed earlier. He goes on outline the development of leadership over the ages. He also emphasizes that another paradigm that we need to consider when evaluating leadership is to see how future proof these leaders are. Based on extensive research, he has identified seven key trends that have emerged and will dramatically impact the leader of the future throwing out all the old assumptions about leadership because of the cataclysmic changes that we are seeing in the evolution of our nations. Will Mr. Modi fit this emerging framework? Well, I suggest that you fit in the arguments of the earlier framework and decide for yourself!

The seven key trends are:

1.    From thinking locally to thinking Globally

2.    From requiring uniformity to seeking diversity

3.    From understanding one technology to becoming technologically savvy

4.    From leader as a knower to leader as a learner

5.    From eliminating challenge to encouraging constructive dialogue 

6.    From leading in the Hierarchy to Building alliances and teams

7.    From the leader as Boss to leader as facilitator

While this framework essentially for the corporate world, as stated earlier, we can extrapolate it to apply for political leadership as well.

Finally, I would also like to establish a difference between two concepts, namely fact and opinion. While this may not be relevant to leadership per se, it assumes significance in the arguments for and against a particular leader. A fact cannot be disputed – like India got independence on 15^th August, 1947. Opinion, on the other hand, is someone’s view of a particular event or situation based on his perception, understanding and interpretation of facts. For example, Mr. Rajiv Gandhi was a better Prime Minister than Mr. Manmohan Singh is something that cannot be settled – all of us have our own opinions on this argument! Opinions generally tend to be coloured by prejudices, swayed by emotions and persuaded by ideologies that one may profess. It could also be deliberately biased.  Even if shorn of all these aberrations, an opinion is an opinion and not a fact. Unfortunately with the advent of social media, our polity and the followers of various leaders and parties are not able to differentiate between fact and opinion. Hence no one is able to digest - leave alone appreciate and disagree with - the opinion of another person. We see discussions descending to levels of indecency that are not acceptable in a civilized society. We need to bear this in mind while evaluating and discussing all issues, more so political ones including political leadership.

In the final analysis, going by the definitions of leadership discussed above, in my humble opinion, I feel that Mr. Modi is truly a great leader with a mass following that this country has seen after independence. Yes, he may have his failures and failings, like many other leaders of the past. But in the pantheon of current political leadership in this country, I do not see any worthy challenger. Having said that, another great leader will emerge over the horizon when there is a dire need, just as Shastri ji came to the fore after Mr. Nehru’s demise! Till then, Mr. Modi is THE man!

Bibliography:

1.    The 21 Irrefutable laws of Leadership

By John C Maxwell

2.    Work is Love made visible

By Frances Hesselbein

    Marshall Goldsmith

    Sarah McArthur

Giving Doles - a boon or a bane?

I was elated to receive the news of my promotion in late 1982. Thanks to Mrs. Gandhi’s Bank nationalization, hundreds of youngsters like me not only had a job but also had a rare opportunity to be of service to people. The euphoria was, however, very short lived. A transfer order followed, posting me as a branch manager to a rural branch in Tamilnadu. While the challenge of managing a branch independently excited me, having lived all my life in an urban area, the prospect of living in a rural village with a young family was not appealing. However, as luck would have it, I was permitted to stay in a big town closer to the village and operate. This gave me some relief. However, when I say that those 18 months of work in the rural village was an experience of a life time, I am not exaggerating even one bit.

Unless you live in a village, you don’t understand the caste equations and the dynamics which the politicians seem to be fully aware of. Having been brought up in a house with an egalitarian mindset in a city, caste and religion were not even talked about in our house. But what I saw in the village was just the opposite. Everything revolved around caste which seemed quite incredible. To cite an example of the prevailing situation, let me share an instance. After having my lunch, I always walked across to a petty shop, managed by an old lady, to have a banana. I used to call the old lady “Patti” meaning grandma as she was very old. Once my landlord came along with me and when he saw me calling her thus, he gave me a bewildered look and said, “Why are you calling her Patti? You are a Brahmin and she is an AD.” Innocently I asked him what is “AD?” He replied it stands for Adi Dravidar meaning that they were Dalits! I was stunned! I asked him where caste comes into this whole transaction. After all she is like my grandma in terms of age and what is wrong in my calling her thus? It was his turn to look puzzled though he had no answer.

Caste apart, the inequality was very stark too. There were farmers who lived in opulence owning property in acres living in farm houses with all the facilities – tractors, bikes, cars et al. On the other side were the Dalits who lived on other side of the village totally shunned by the upper caste. There were landless labourers too getting a pittance as wages after toiling hard for a full day in the hot sun. And women were paid less for the same work!  I was aghast when I knew the farmers got very little after toiling hard for almost a year when they tried to sell their produce in the market. The middlemen pocketed most of the money while the farmers got very little for all their hard work. The rural economy was pathetic! Taxes were unheard of in those places! I learned a lot of agriculture and its economics during those eventful days.

Those were the days of Congress regime when the minister of state for finance Mr. Janardhan Poojary was at his peak. He used to invite Bank managers to public meetings where borrowers were present and literally pulled up the manager for not granting loans to the public in full view of the public gathering. Managers were portrayed as villains in these tamasha euphemistically called “Loan Melas”. While I did not have a firsthand experience of such a circus, it was the talk of the town those days. There was pressure on all managers to give loans especially under the 20 point programme of Mrs. Gandhi and schemes like Integrated Rural Development Program (IRDP) where the poorest of poor were given loans at 4% interest with subsidy as high as 50% of the loan to the SC/ST beneficiaries.

I was young, idealistic and in all earnestness, I wanted to implement the Government’s programme in a village that had been adopted by my branch. In this village most of the residents belonged to SC/ST. The men folk were weavers. It was the practice there that these weavers wove mats for a master weaver. The master weaver always advances a fairly large sum to these weavers so that they work for them regularly. I felt that we would help augment their incomes by sanctioning loans for the women folk to buy milch buffaloes. By selling this milk to the nearby cooperative milk society, they would be able to increase their monthly income by about 400-500 rupees (which was a good sum those days) based on the milk output. I spoke to them and all the women got the form approved by the Block Development officer (BDO). I was told that to get this subsidy of almost 1500/= for a loan of Rs. 3000/=, they had to spend at least spend Rs. 1000/= as bribes to the VAO, BDO etc., I couldn’t do much about it.

Being very earnest and sincere, I took the local veterinarian with me to a market about 60 kms away, identified good milk yielding buffaloes, about 30 of them, completed all formalities and distributed these animals to the respective beneficiaries – all of them women. I ensured that the loan was utilized for the purpose for which it was sanctioned. I had also made arrangements with a local milk society to collect the milk on a daily basis and the villagers were also paid based on the fat content of the milk which was measured using a lactometer.

I had a sense of pride that I could do something for this socially and economically weaker section of society. I spent a lot of time with them educating them about importance of savings, family planning (yes, family planning!) educating their children etc., My colleagues at the branch used to make fun of me saying that had I chosen to stand for elections in that area, I would have won hands down. Both DMK and the ADMK councilors of the area were my supporters too. As for caste, I was accepted by every community as being one of their own!

All was well with the world for a month. Then one fine morning the master weavers turned up to the Branch and in a chorus said “Sir, you have totally ruined our business!’ I was nonplussed as I had nothing to do with their business! Then they explained that the weavers, for whose wives I had given a loan to buy buffaloes, were not turning up for work. Instead, they were drinking with the extra money that their womenfolk brought and failed to turn up for work. Once again I made a visit and gave them a big lecture about the evils of drinking and the need to save money. It was a sight to see – I was seated in a cot that you usually see in such small huts and the villagers used to either sit down or stand. There were no mobile phones those days to take selfies and post it in FB! The situation improved but a new problem cropped up soon enough. The villagers complained that the milk society was adulterating their milk with water to lower the fat content and they were being paid less because they were Dalits. I picked up a fight with the President of the society and threatened to make a complaint to the collector that he was harassing Dalits which was a criminal offence. He also fell in line. To the villagers’ credit, they were paying their dues very regularly.

I was transferred to another branch and the whole village saw me off. I have never again seen such love and affection for a person who only did what he was supposed to do. Even after 20 years of my leaving the branch, people were still enquiring about me! Be that as it may, a few months after I left the place, I ran into my old colleague. What he told me shocked me. He said none of the villagers for whom I had toiled to give these buffalo loans were repaying and they were back to their old ways. I felt really sad but it was a lesson for me that I will never forget. More of it a little later.

Now let us look at the famous NYAY scheme that the Congress announced in their election manifesto. Much has been said and written by people more erudite than me and in the know of things. But pointing out to a few contradictions will not be out of place. The economists who were “consulted” like Mr. Raghuram Rajan (RR) and Mr. Abhijeet Banerjee (AB) say that many subsidies have to go and perhaps the taxes may have to be increased. The inflation will also go up. Mr. Sam Pitroda, the man who has been taking Mr. Rahul Gandhi around and parades him before the public in overseas locations, says that the middle class should not be selfish and should be prepared to dish out more taxes etc. To cap all these, I saw the interview by Ms. Barkha Dutt (BD), with the master himself – with Mr. P Chidambaram (PC) – yesterday. It was a classic interview which the crass may choose to call it bullshit while the more urbane folks of the likes of Mr. Shashi Tharoor may call it obfuscation. PC says this scheme will motivate people to try other things – what and how is not clear. To a question as to what would finance this as this is 1.8% of GDP, PC disagrees saying that the denominator is not constant meaning the GDP will grow and the scheme when implemented fully over the next 5 years will not be that high. She then quotes RR and AB saying that they have stated that some subsidies have to go and that Congress has not mentioned them in the manifesto. PC haughtily replies that she has to take time out to read the manifesto in greater detail. This is only a manifesto and once they are in government a design team would be formed – and he doesn’t know who would be there – would deliberate and come out with specifics learning lessons from the ground looking at such schemes from other countries etc.

On her further insistence about subsidies he cooly responds saying that there are over 800 subsidies, some even dating back to 100 years and he is not sure which ones would go, despite BD stating that RR said so. My question is PC was in government and FM to boot, why did they not rationalize subsidies then? Instead of a simple yes and getting on with the interview, he goes about beating around the bush circumventing the issue. He also has the audacity to say that this is only a manifesto and not a cabinet paper! The next question was on the source of funds and would there be a tax increase. PC’s answer is a classic - PC at his best. He said that the middle class is a child of India’s liberalization which was created by the congress party and their policies. So Mr. PC, what? He also says each economist has his own way of raising resources and that they would not burden the middle class (with taxes I presume!). He nonchalantly asks her to wait till they come to the form the government! When asked about India’s inequality, PC says with disdain that India’s prosperity is unequally and unfairly shared and goes on to cite Thomas Piketty (The Economics of Inequality). When BD says that Piketty has recommended inheritance tax to punish the rich, PC says he does not endorse Piketty’s recommendations! Being an articulate man, PC has given nothing away during the entire interview leaving the listeners with the same questions that they started with!   

Now coming back to my experience narrated earlier, I strongly believe that you cannot give doles to people and make them come out of poverty. This needs enormous individual efforts and an effort by the government to change the mindset of these poor people. Unless a person wants to change and improve, no force on earth can make him / her do it. You can take a horse to the pond, but cannot make it drink. In psychology it is called an ‘internal locus of control’. So do we twiddle our thumbs and watch it all unfold? Absolutely not.

They need education, primary health, skill development, better means of agricultural production, sanitation, housing, social equality, self-belief that they can earn and live with dignity and an overall feeling of subjective well being. Any well meaning government should start investing in these areas and look at long term benefits rather than short term political gains. Why are the creamy layers of the various reserved categories still enjoying all the benefits denying these fruits to other deserving people? There has to be a comprehensive reform to end all this and look at alleviating poverty. We have tried out giving doles and writing off loans for decades without any desired result!

It needs investment in a number of areas that are not even talked about today. Doles are being given in other countries but only as a temporary respite from loss of jobs. It is not a permanent cure for a chronic problem. In my experience with the villagers, the government was supportive with subsidy, the Bank had implemented it with dedication but it still failed because the people were not motivated enough to grow and move on. The motivation that PC so eloquently talked about will not come just like that after seeing a paltry sum of Rs. 6,000/=. They would only spend it on consumption of white goods and other wasteful expenditure. Poverty alleviation needs much more and these schemes will only create a generation of alms seekers.

In my humble opinion, NYAY is conceptually flawed and the efficacy of the scheme is also questionable based on my experience. In addition, it also appears to be detrimental to the overall economy of the country. It is for people to decide if this is going to be a game changer or a last ditch effort by the Congress to woo voters.