Book Review : Sons and Lovers:

Dear all

DH Lawrence (1885-1930) ,  first published his Autobiographical novel, Sons and Lovers, (S&L) in 1913 . Hundred years later I finished reading it for the second time .  S&L, is placed as ninth among the best hundred  novels of the twentieth  century and  was first published when Lawrence was just 28 years old ( He died at the age of  44  )

S&L was written exactly 14 years after Sigmund  Freud published his magnum opus Interpretation of dreams where he propounded the concept of  Oedipus complex  , psychoanalytically a dynamic  emotionality  and possessiveness of a child to its  parent of the opposite sex and vice versa.

As per the proponents of the Freudian psychoanalysis, Oedipus complex is construed as repressed sexuality. Its prevalence in human society is argued by the Pro-Freudian modern psychologists as the reason for idealization of man –women marital relationship to that of a parent- child relationship syndrome, creating a structured identity complex among men and women in their married lives leading to divorces and unhappy marriages.

In S&L, Lawrence propounds over this theme by his intellectual subtlety through the portrayal of the protagonists Paul Morel and his mother Gertrude Morel. Mrs Morel had a terrible relationship with her husband , a collier,  who gave her seven children and paltry income to survive. Mrs Morel being from the higher class was magnanimous in her character and behaviour and she was able to bring up the children against the vicissitudes caused by a drunken miserable husband who gave her no love and care. The struggles of a mother in a post industrialized 19^th century England - a time in English society where marriage was considered sacrosanct and no scope and means for separation – is vividly portrayed in this novel. As time passes, Mrs Morel develops a strong bonding with her son Paul , which gets reflected  in her annoyance to the passionate relationship Paul have with  two other women in her life,  Miriam and Clara. Paul on the other side realize that there is nothing beyond  passion that his lovers could give him and breaks off from them with a conclusion that true love of man is always with his mother.

The Novel is autobiographical in nature as Paul is the characterization of Lawrence himself when he was torn between his love for his mother and his passionate relationship with his lovers Jessie chambers and later Frieda weekly (subsequently Lawrence married Frieda).

In India, characterization of the relationship complexity of a man with his mother on one side and his sexual partner (Read wife or lover) on the other side is the basis of all   Sas-Bahu serials and Lawrence’s theme is relevant in today’s Indian society as well.  Ask any man and women married in a traditional Indian set up on this proclivity and they would have something to say.

Is  the miserable Indian male  getting strained in between true love and passion with an   Oedipus complex is not the purvey of this writing nor I intend to pursue further on this speculation, but the novel is 100 times worth reading on its hundredth year of publication…. A free downloadable version is available in Kindle.. good reading

Sanyasi
 

Road accidents: 10 earthquake equivalents in India

Dear all

The callous attitude shown by society to accident victims were amply demonstrated when a family in a two wheeler was hit by a speeding truck in Jaipur on 16^th April. The man lost his wife and daughter while he was yelling to the passer-by’s and vehicles for an hour to save his kin. The whole incident was captured by a CCTV camera and shown in the media. It should be recalled that there is a high court judgement which protects the passer-by from police or court harassment, but in spite of this the social insensitivity was  seen in the open.

Lakhs of people die every year in India alone due to road accidents and this is a continuous catastrophe  in this country . We are in fact faced with the death toll of 10 earth quakes a year on  a continuous basis. Lack of driving sense and culture is the single reason for this malady which is high time to be rectified by strict action. An immediate public sensitivity program should be initiated by the government and the civil society both at the schools and organizational levels. This should be followed by strict vigilance on the roads. Gujarat is far better in this regard than other states with the 108 EMRI service available on phone call. Similar quick response teams and mechanism should be implemented with no room for intolerance.

The ministry of Road transport and the traffic department conducts numerous programs on road safety weeks , but all this programs has not found any effect as the public participation and practice is not enforced. It is easy in this country to break rules and pay the local police and escape, and off late only major cases of media intervention has found remedial action, making our safety management  systems continue its death journey

 

Sanyasi

The New Gods of Indian Cricket

As Indian cricket team cheers itself on its  sweeping four test victory over Australia for the Border-Gavaskar trophy  , questions ponder as to whether it was the much acclaimed captaincy of MS Dhoni or the sheer performance of the new comers which yielded result. Leadership is always admired in all team achievements, but it was indeed the splendid performance of   youngsters like R Aswin, Murali Vijay, Cheteshwar Pujara, Shikhar Diwan and Ravindra Jadeja , which eventually resulted in this whitewash win for India. It is quite ironical to note that, whenever there is a victory there is always a successful leader but the same does not hold true in all cases of failure particularly in Indian cricket. Leadership judgements always have key words like tactical errors, or middle order failures to point fingers.

It is now time that the cricket savaged media in India give due credence to these new kids on the pitch than being pen pushers to Dhoni and Sachin. With a four test victory the media’s romance with Dhoni is justifiable but not to the halalullas they still sing for the ‘’God of cricket’’   who could hardly get double digit scores this season. It is still not late for the God to realize that a respectful retirement from Test cricket a la what he did for his  One Day matches , will keep him intact in the annuls of History and  with  hopes of a Bharatratna   kept alive .

There may be reasons for the media, the PR Managers and the endorsement gurus to tell us the God story, but it is time now for the God himself   to move on by giving his baton respectfully to the new Kids who made India proud..

Itally conned India

       The two marines who was detailed by the Kerala government was allowed to go home for voting and now when it is time to come back, the Italian government has turned back . It is a matter of shame that the government allowed the marines to leave the shores of the country with a surety. It need to be thought that if any Indian citizens have done the same thing in Italian waters, would the Italian government allowed them to come to India. Now maximum what we could do is to summon the Italian ambassador and wave a protest. More than that what could be expected from this lame duck government?

Modi and Mouse: Anatomy of Humour:

Hi

When India’s economy was waggling between 3 to 3.5 % of GDP growth, Western media referred India as the land of Snake charmers. Today at a time when our IT and IT enabled services are our growth drivers India is now a land of ‘’mouse’’ charmers. This was what Narendra modi , Chief Minister of Gujarat said today.

Modi is known for his usage of humour as part of his regular rhetoric and his replacing the word ‘’snake’’ to ‘’mouse’’ communicated a larger picture of a changing India. Whether this humour is metaphoric or metonymic is left to the reader, the thought of the day is on the usage of humour in public life.

In his research publication, Psychology of humour , An Integrated Approach, Rod A Martin from the University of Western Ontrio, UK writes on the social significance of humour in particularly in human communication and relationship management. A ‘’sense of humour’’ is not just a quality or style of communication, but is indeed a soft skill to be reckoned with in communication management.

Humour used with a sense of sarcasm and indented to create a bad taste is often used by politicians in the public forum for ridiculing a person, party, or a community. Lots of Modi’’s Pot-shots on Nehru-Gandhi family are such examples. The much known sardar jokes can also be caricatured into this category. Humour is also used as a communication tool for conflicts and ego clashes among adults to score a point over the other and is often seen in office politics and grapevine .However affiliating and enhancing humour is a positive leadership communication tool which is a skill to be acquired. Business leaders often use such humour as a motivating factor to ease work stress and build in team spirit. Off late humour is a multimillion dollar industry be it TV or stage shows, not to mention about the laughing clubs spurting all over the health conscience world .

Coming back to Narendra Modi and his conversion of India from a snake charming to a mouse charming nation drives home the fact, that humour is indeed a leadership skill.

As long as it does not hurt and brings in a sense of bonhomie , humour is worth trying.

Sanyasi:

Your Feedbacks:

Dear Readers

Making up this blog was not pre planned nor my idea , but was a suggestion given by an old time college mate, who used to call me Sanyasi.  She once told me, ''whatever you blabbered should be written down and there would be many ''hapless'' souls out there in Internet space , patient enough like me to listen to you" ....

Three months back when i started writing in this blog with a Pseudonym called Sanyasi , I didn’t expect that in this vast and growing domain called social media I would get such encouragement and accolades from both known and unknown friends spread over 12 countries .

As per statistics provided by Google-Blogspot , this blog has crossed 1000 hits and as I pass this milestone, many thanks to all of you who read and appreciated my views .

I intent to take up this initiative to the next level by giving a visual identify to ''Sanyasi" and create a characterization of this  Pseudonym , there by distance my individual persona away from the character itself.

 ''Sanyasi"' is envisaged to be a wandering monk unattached to persons, party , policies or issues but would put up his views in an unbiased and fearless manner with metaphors, humour and sarcasm with the only objective of making his disciples (readers) think in a different way.

While a competent designer is working on this initiative , I solicit your views and feedbacks .

You can write to me in my gmail id (rajeshmenon69@gmail.com)

Once more thanking you

Rajesh Menon

 

Bad Politics is always Good history

Dear friends

As I glanced across the morning Sunday news from my first floor balcony biting the cold breeze , I overheard  my daughter preparing for her social studies exam . She was reading on the Mauryan dynasty….

Chandra gupta maurya was a street kid from a peacock charming clan in Pataliputra who over threw the Nanda dynasty and established the Mauryan empire. After Chandragupta abdicating his thrown and settling down into the reclusive Jain enclave in Shravanbangola, his son Bindusara became the King. Bindusara was extravagant and lived on the spoils of his father and his pleasure seeking pursuits made the kingdom shaky, prompting his son Asoka who was the governor of Taxila to take on the reigns of the Mauryan Empire. Emperor Ashok’s life and actions changed the course of the then India’s social, religious and political life. Not much is known of the Mauryan rule after the times of Ashoka, However as per my historian wife, since the time of Ashoka , Mauryan empire enforced the strict principles of Buddhism which was called Dhamma and prohibited extravagant rituals, animal sacrifices etc, which hit the underbelly of Brahmanism forcing the Brahmin Chief of maurayan army Pushyamitra sunga to kill the king Brihadrata and establish the Sunga dynasty. This happened in 185 BC and was a classic case of divide between the secular and communal forces in the political landscape of Ancient India .

Exactly 2198 years later today when I gazed at the newspaper report on Rahul Gandhi being elevated to the number two position in the congress party, I understand that much water has flown since then , through the rivers of the northern plains of India, but , its sour contents ,of dynastic rule and politico-cultural divide remains the same .

The dhamma of secularism is still the corner stone of our political divide between the congress and the BJP with the former proclaiming themselves as the torchbearers of secularism. While Ashoka conceptualized Dhamma and engraved its meaning in the monolith rock pillars, the emperors of modern India engraved secularism in the pillars of our constitution. Dhamma was well defined and practiced, but secularism- even though a noble concept imported from Europe- was a convenient means for our dynastic rulers to create fear and then appease the minority community whose population is now much more than an average European country. Administrative measures are taken with vote bank politics in mind, like special status to institutions runs by minorities or their reservations in education and employment and these are labelled as secular practices but no legislations are made like enforcing uniform civil code, regulating religious conversions, enforcing nationalistic and modern educational practices in madrasas etc. Through Dhamma the Mauryan rulers enforced the principles of right living, but protagonist of secularism in India , do not mind forging alliances with Muslim league and the Hyderabad based communal outfit MIM -now more known as Akbaruddin Owaisi’s party-

As a reaction to this the BJP talks of another dhamma called Hindutwa without a clear and logical discourse on the same confusing the majority of liberal minorities in our country, and there by encouraging speculative politics. While dynastic congress have one Raja or a Rani with a sycophantic praja , the BJP has many kings or no kings making its own praja search for a Sultan in Gujarat as their leader who was hitherto portrayed by the secular congress as some sort of a modern Chengiz Khan, only to create fear among those special species called minorities.

As we move on to 2014 for the General elections, political divide in India is thus cantering around secularism, hindutwa, youth and leadership and the elevation of the new prince in the congress dynasty should be looked upon in this context. Whether he becomes an enlighten Ashoka preaching his own dhamma or dwarfs into a brihadata only to be defeated by a communal Pushyamitra Sunga is yet to be seen.

As the Jaipur meet of the congress party concludes wishing the new King a good battle ahead.

Bad politics is always good History.

Sanyasi