Rio Olympics 2016 : Retreating Monsoons and our seasonally affected disorders-- (SAD)

At a time when the monsoon clouds recede from the Indian landmass the Olympic season  at  Rio is coming to an end. While monsoons bring with it, the positives of good harvest and prosperity so also it gives us a taste of floods and disasters. This  thirty-first Olympics bought in glories from stalwarts like Michel Philips , Usain bolt, Mo Farah , and Simone Biles with the US tallying high as expected in the medal tally . It also  bought disappointments and  despair among individuals and nations alike.

Well as the clouds of this sporting event  recedes we as a sub-continental nation-- with more than a billion people with most of them young – return back with just  two medals. Let us  console that the grace of the nation , at least marginally,  was saved by few  outstanding ladies.  While Sindhu and Sakshi came up with medals , Dipa with Lalitha Babur bought in hope . The glory of a  traditionally patriarchal society with gender biases  was thus upheld by these females. Sakshi ‘s win in the male-dominated sport of Wrestling  on the background of her coming from the infamous land of female infanticide conveys thus the right message:  

As like the monsoon,  our contingent saw many disasters too. Hockey which was our traditional grace saver did not move ahead beyond  the quarter-final . Similarly,  individual star performers from tennis and shooting went  down the line of expectation.  Poor Narsinh Yadav turns up into a doped tragedy and the list goes on

When  the game closes we come home with a bronze and a silver and a whole nation rejoices in line with  its culture – content on  whatever you get, I recall a   Pakistani tweet   ..''they get one and they rejoice as like 'getting 100

The game also has had its socio-political tamashas.  One of India’s top pulp fiction author who stinks with elitism got trolled for a remark on non-performance of athletes proving  that  whatever she speaks and writes is just indigested gas:  The Delhi walla Sports Minister invites the wrath and embarrassment for the   rude and unruly behaviour of members of his entourage. An unduly large crowd of babus and cronies from the Indian Olympic association and sports ministry had an opportunity to behave as in the Delhi railway station at the Olympic village. We also heard  a relative of IOA head  going on a Rio retreat in the garb of being a sport doctor.

  

As like during the monsoon this Olympics also    convinces us about our seasonally affected disorders which come because our sports machinery is infested  by nepotism and in efficiency . While Gopichand has proved how an individual's  training and mentoring can yield result the sports ministry has shown how a billion nation of mostly aspiring youngsters can be held ineffective through the web of ineffective bureaucracy  :

As we wait for the next Olympics in Tokyo as like we wait for our monsoons , let us be cross- fingered whether it is  going to be  thumbs down or a  thumps up:

Triumph of the right wing : Brexit and Roti

Friends,

The British referendum and India’s NSG endeavours filled the limelight in the mainstream media last week. Britain’s ‘’exit’’ vote and India’s ‘’no entry’’ vote has a larger connotation in the context of national aspirations. From the empire where the Sun never sets, today it a matter of Roti kapada aur makhan for Britain, that they decided to be independent of the diktat and burden of the EU to move,  in  a new direction based on their aspiration. Today they are more concerned about  building up their economy without taking the burden of immigrates . In that context, British vote signifies a right-wing nationalist aspiration.

On the other side, notwithstanding the leg pulling from China, India has made a valiant diplomatic effort in getting an entry into the elite Nuclear Supplier Group. Even though the attempt failed,   this effort leaves behind shadows of diplomatic manoeuvres made by a nation to find a  place among the comity of elite nations:

The former case of BrExit is a turning point in the history of Europe because the significance of a  larger European identity has dwindled. A United States of Europe is still a utopia and what matters is the identity based on  economic interests. If the EU, in particularly Germany and France, did not strive to dictate terms through EU bureaucracy,  probably this would not have happened, However what matters as a lesson to India is on accepting the diversity of its socio-economic landscape and take consensus-based decisions , particularly in the case of GST, rather than resorting to arbitrary actions:

If as a nation we are asking for a due share of global recognition, that is because of the opportunity that we provide as a growing market  .The hullaballoo that we heard in NSG emanates from a sensing of this opportunity by western nations contradicting  to the envy  of our neighbours. Both ways India emerges a winner.

So this week’s lesson is that exiting a group or not being admitted to a group is NOT essentially a failure but a harbinger of success. Both are triumph of the rightwing 

Sanyasi

Swahum Swahum. New Paradigms of Spiritualism. The AOL story:

Dear devotees

I am a spiritual seeker. In my search for spiritual fulfilment, I have come across many people and institutions and one among them was the Art of Living foundation. In fact I have done both the ''basic'' and the ''advanced"' courses of AOL and  regularly practice the Sudarshan kriya, the controlled breathing technique which is proved to be a panacea to  a plethora of psycho somatic illnesses . 

Guruji as we call  Sri Sri Ravishankar   is an enlighten soul with an enchanting personality who has attracted  best of the talent in spreading his  principles of universal love. I have come across graduates from the best Engineering and Business schools working passionately for him with rigour and enthusiasm. Observing the energy and dedication of each karyakarta  of AOL, I used to feel , that if this level of motivation is embalmed to our private , public government sectors, India can cross the threshold of basic socio economic development in just few years. Yes AOL is a great organization and its contribution to global society is commendable. However the recent cultural festival held on the plains of Yamuna which attracted a fine of Ra 5 Crore  for AOL from the Green tribunal and resultant outcry from the so called liberal left intellectuals needs thinking;

Spiritual Gurus of the yesteryears went to the Himalayas or other secluded places and attained enlightenment but they were not known to the outside world. However it was the efforts of few yogis of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that have resulted in ensuring the flow of Indian- Hindu knowledge system of Yogic practises to the developed world. First to mention among them was  Swami Vivekananda himself whose speech in the parliament of religion opened up the ‘’Hindu view of life’’ ( as Dr S Radhakrishnan named it )  to the western world . Swami Vivekananda was followed by Shri Paramahamsa yogananda and later by Swami Chinmayanda in propagation of this knowledge of Vedanta into the modern times . Chinmaya  mission and the Vivekananda mission,  are providing  yeomen service to society,   be it in social sector or in education . Having said that what makes AOL, which is also involved in a similar exercise being looked with scepticism? Can it be just levelled as cynicism of an atheist liberal left media?

The fundamental basis of spiritual teaching in India in a social context was egalitarian in nature and endowed with simplicity. That is why Swamy Vivekananda’s principles were  labelled as Vedantic Socialism where the monks travelled bare foot and built up trust and rapport with the subaltern but not with the affluent. A globalized growing India with its  burgeoning middle class lives in a web of expectations and runs into  a baggage of disappointments, uncertainty and stress. Spiritual solutions or KRIYAs are handy capsules and are nothing but controlled breathing techniques derived from the practices of Gurus of the yesteryears  and codified in various texts. Yog Vashistam by Sage Vashista and Patangili’s Yogasootran  are two main texts which gives a scientific and logical reasoning on Yogic practices .

 

Modern spiritual gurus have ''corporatized'' this knowledge  into a model of service delivery riding on the evolving demand supply gap of spirituality, thereby taking it away from the personal realms of individual prayer rooms. ''Corporatization'' results in corporate characters and behaviourism creating a jet set, lap top dashing culture of spiritual power point presentations:

I don’t believe this as a retrograde development as it is only the adaptation to a newer technologically driven social reality. The successful case in point is Swami Ramdev Baba whose’’ Patanjali products ’’ have  made the popular FMCG brands run for their money. Patanjali has since evolved as a success story of innovative thinking popularising the Indian Yogic practices as well as traditional medicinal knowledge.

Coming back to AOL, if it is involved in a Guru based branding exercise and spreading peace in the process what is wrong. The Salesians  , Jocobites or the Jamat Ulema –e -hind had always their brand of socio- spiritual  engineering , so what makes the difference?

The difference comes when there is state patronage and when the revenue and expenditure of such spiritual extravaganzas are not available  in the  public domain making it as Rajdeep Sardesai says ‘’Crony Spiritualism’’ . 

Till that time we can always say Swaham Swaham. No problem:

Sanyasi:

SINO-PAK STRATEGIC RELATIONSHIP AND ITS IMPLICATION ON INDIA:

Dear all.

( Excerpt of my lecture to a Major in Indian Army for his Staff Exam )

Strategic relationships between nations evolved as a  tool in geo-politics, mainly after the cold war. Countries till then had formed military alliances like the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the WARSAW PACT, mainly with a strategic intent of protecting the ‘’world order’’ based on the ideology of - Communism v/s Capitalism - . Such alliances were centred around the super powers of those times namely the Soviet Union and the United States.

The end of the twentieth century witnessed tumultuous changes in geopolitics and the political economy of the world. The Spread a market economy model into traditional socialist economies like India and China resulted in the emergence of these countries as centres of growth. The spread of the internet and flow of talent added to this process. The Emergence of religious extremism, especially with a pan-Islamic appeal which engulfed the globe starting with the collapse of the world trade centre made terrorism a global threat. At this juncture, strategic alliances between nations became  an effective tool in geo political manoeuvring. 

It was on the basis of the above developments that International relations shaped the world order in the twenty-first century with India and China emerging as economic powers. The economic growth of India resulted in an acknowledgement of its democracy and shared values with the democratic west. The emergence of global terrorism with its epicentre in Pakistan - Afghanistan belt shifted the strategic dialogue between the  US -led western world and India. China’s emergence as an economic power had a strategic significance due to its reinforcing its interests in the South China Sea posing a threat to Americas strategic interest in the Pacific. The Leverage of Chinese manufacturing in the US market with a burgeoning trade deficit in favour of China has also provided for a strategic re-thinking in US policy towards India. With the US tilting to India, China  followed a balancing act of aligning with Pakistan.

Having set the background of a post-cold war  Indo- US entente and its impact on Pakistan- China relations let us analyse the intent of an SINO-PAK Strategic engagement. Having failed all its military misdemeanours with India, the Pakistan policy of military engagement with India was through the proxy wars. This begins with engaging anti-India forces by providing Logistic and resource support to them. Indian Islamic extremists, Kashmiri separatists and the growing web of a terrorist network  in the Af-Pak region were directed by Pakistan  into an anti -India engagements with the latest being the attack on the Pathankot airbase in the beginning of the new year. With a democratic Pakistan and its public policy having little say in its military engagements, India is gasping with an anti- terror proactive strategy with its only recourse being diplomatic dialogue.

On the background of its strained historic relationship and border problems, China considers India as a threat both economically and militarily with the Indo -US axis like – read the  2008 INDO-Nuclear deal-   exasperating the same. This has resulted in a Sino- Pakistan strategic relationship as an effective counter strategy to contain India.  Having tied up India in proxy wars,  an alliance with China provided Pakistan access to Chinese nuclear technology enabling it to be capable in delivering nuclear-powered ballistic missiles at India. On the Chinese side, they did get access to the Karakoram range which resulted in a 1500 km highway between Gilgit  region  in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to the Xinjiang region in China referred as the new silk route which gives China access to Pakistan. Pakistan also has recently allowed China to access its Gwadar port. A pipeline connecting this port parallel to the silk route entering China is also planned  which will enable China, ensure its oil supply in case of India blocking  the Indian ocean region for Chinese supply from the middle east in case of a conflict. This Port led Strategic engagement with Pakistan and similar exercise of Chinese submarines docking in Colombo port should be of concern to India. This SINO-PAK strategic engagement with a win -win situation has an origin when Pakistan laid the foundation of diplomatic relations with China in 1951 and for China, this engagement is not only centred on India but also to contain growing US interest in the region.

The Significance of this relationship is manifold. On the strategic and military perspective in a conventional war with Pakistan, China can play a major support role in finance, logistics and diplomacy. China can also use Pakistani soil for a Pakistan military thrust into India in case of heightened tension between India and China. On containing the US influence in the region, China can use Pakistan in influencing its US Policy as a counter to US muscle-flexing in the South China sea. The recent involvement of China in the Pakistan – Afghanistan dialogues is a pointer

The impact on India is both economic and military. While China is claiming that it will maintain a balanced approach in its relationship with India and Pakistan, for India such claims can’t be taken for granted. Securing of the Indian Ocean from Chinese and Pakistani influence and building up the Blue water navy should be a priority with an eastern and western fleet containing these two nations. The Build-up of strategic engagement with South Asian nations and Japan is another move which India need to harp upon. A decisive counter-terrorism policy against Pakistan with short pursuit options need to be worked upon.

Sanyasi