Midday Report

Got up this morning just like any other day in the recent past with the sun having climbed high enough on the horizon to start more intensely demanding my acknowledgement. As usual after the initial orientation in terms of who I am and where I am and the checking of the various movable parts of the body that happens every morning to ensure that the vehicle is running ok and the mandatory thoughts of special ones, I asked myself the usual questions. What do I really need to do today? The answer from my personal assistant was an evening drink with Naveen. Very nice, nothing to scramble around for and at the end of the day.. a drink with old friends.

Got out of bed, did the daily tasks and workouts , finalized the venue for the evening drink ( good old Akshaya), had my breakfast at lunch time and took up the day’s newspaper. Smoked a joint and decided to sit under the shade of the tree that covers my terrace and read the day’s paper. Nature blooming in April in Bangalore and looking even more fresh after the good rains last evening, ha what bliss!

Hmm.. what’s the world been up to? First article in the papers that caught my eye was about Mohandas Pai having quit Infosys since he presumably wasn’t offered the top job by NRN. Didn’t realize that there was more to this in the inner pages where there were stories about others as well who had quit from top management. Hmm.. India’s corporate flagship drifting?? Also found in the inner pages about how ICICI is rethinking its overseas strategy as the UK and Canada are demanding a share once again of Indian loot for their local businessmen. (Wonder what the terms are for their businesses here?) An Indian is in line for Nestle’s top job. Looks like Indian industry is in flux from within and without and corporations may after all be national entities and not the global entities we thought them to be.

Next thing was a Supreme Court statement (i think) that the state of Karnataka had been robbed naked of its mineral ores ( and of course its forest cover) in the past few years. Interesting observation but a little late, maybe the Anna Hazare effect?? There were further articles in the paper about Binayak Sen being freed on bail and the SC giving the Chattisgarh government a lesson on the definition of sedition. The Chatisgarh government hits back by saying that Sen cannot enter Chattisgarh which the SC overrules. Veerappa Moily says the law on sedition needs to be changed and that he will initiate this. Wow three way fist fight between state government (non incumbent?) and judiciary and center? Is this a response to the threat of an alternate legal entity called the Lokpal (Jan?) committee or a flexing of muscles to show who has power? Also in the middle of all this are photographs of members of the Lokpal committee with both government and non government members lined up against each other in true IPL fashion. Looks almost like a lagaan match up. Mouthwatering fare for a media and nation obsessed with cricket. Isn’t SC versus governments itself good enough I wonder?

Now for the inner pages.. Hindi answer scripts burnt in Mysore district forces re-examination for thousands of students. Any connection with strikes by staff for extra pay or some kids wanting to prolong the good old school years?? Has stuff like this ever happened I try to recall and put myself in the shoes of the kids who need to rewrite the exam. Not nice.. I hope this whole thing was an accident and suddenly answer scripts are not a powerful weapon for war games.

I wade through the nonsense on the science page.. Something about where language originated, how to prevent creasing on your cleavage at night with a wonder bra, the usual messages about what is good or not good for you in total contrast to what was said yesterday.

The next page caught me for a long time. The Allies are at it again. Hooray... war games for the blood thirsty. The dogs of war are busy fighting over the remaining meat. Russia protests, Gaddafi forces use Russian made weapons to attack rebels, NATO makes noises about innocent deaths while planning offensives, Gaddafi’s daughter screams defiance from her bomb shelled balcony like a modern day revolutionary, Al Qaida tells surrounding Arabs to devour the infidels who survive the current blood bath. All this alongside an article about how US organizations sponsored the protests and allegedly fomented rebellion against the regime. Close by is news about Obama raising record campaign funds and asking for his supporters to show their strength. Something going on here?? Is it white vs black America or warmongers vs peaceniks all over again? Is it Hillary vs Obama? Around all this are the thumb sized articles of political fires all around Africa. Somebody suggests using the stem cells of the workers in Japan battling radiation to regenerate parts of their bodies in case they are irreparably damaged. This is after more than 40 days of extreme radiation exposure. Real human bodies and reality for a nation obsessed with virtuality but a little too late? Looks like we are being presented with sufficient lab material to test out all our advances in medical science what with war torn bodies, radiation burned bodies, cancer ridden bodies and what not.

Beneath all this is a photograph of 13 year old girls crying at Justin Beiber’s show in Israel and a girl dressed as a bride wanting to marry him. Are these kids (possibly disguised Palestinians?) trying to escape Israel or is it the music industry’s very successful strategy of plying younger and younger audiences I wonder.

Finally the IPL maze. I try to go through the articles and decide I am not up to it. The battles going on and all the egos involved is too much for me. I could get easily lost in this world (as if the other worlds aren’t bad enough). I’ll probably catch up with the match..if i remember.

This is a summary of what the print media has updated me on in terms of what’s happening in the world. TV channels will be carrying identical images.

I put the paper aside and go sit down near the old lady. She looks more weary than usual. Says she threw up in the morning and hasn’t eaten much. She’s been battling with her day like all these years and working tirelessly to keep her near and dear ones nourished but mother earth is growing really weary. Looks like a longer day than usual for her today. I wonder what I can do to make things easy for her. Maybe wash a few dishes that she may have forgotten in the sink. I conclude that my absence may be the best medicine and vamoose like the coward I am to sit and write this and feel like I’m doing something she would be proud of.

Well, am done with this now.. my mid day report. Still half the day ahead,  guess I’ll go and stuff myself some more with my mama’s nourishment and then there’s still time for a nap, a joint and some ayurvedic tuning of the mind before the evening beers with the boys

Has the world changed or has it always been like this I wonder? Life and death on all levels in a constant dance, sometimes blissful, sometimes terrifying. The chaos of the external world and the disturbed calmness of the inner as a result of it. Glad with the rate of flow of time immediately around me. Enough time to calm the mind I guess and withdraw into the bliss that the babas spoke about.

Sustainable Retreat

All of us are aware to at least some extent about the massive damage and destruction happening to nature in recent times due to man’s overbearing presence. This awareness comes from actual experience or from information that reaches us through various channels. The spotlight has been on industries, governments, scientists through various naturalists and environmental activists across the world. The formation of bodies like the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, the climate control talks at Kyoto, Copenhagen, etc have shown that human pressures on the environment are key issues for our leaders and mankind today. The results from these initiatives have been insignificant so far.

Many of us are clear in terms of what needs to be done. Man needs to somehow start consuming less and less of the earth’s resources, create less unsustainable products and learn to maintain a sustainable life. Currently all the impetus and focus is on more and more. We only look at positive economic growth. It would be anathema for us to even contemplate negative economic growth as a way of life. James Lovelock I think it was who coined the phrase ‘sustainable retreat’ as a way for the human race to bring back balance to nature. I am of the strong belief that massive change in the form of man shrinking his footprint on nature is what needs to happen and this should be on the scale of a global revolution for nature to have any sort of chance to reach a reasonable amount of stability for sustainable life (especially ours).  This revolution in terms of a completely new way of thinking and living needs to come from the individual rather than an organization for it to be anywhere close to as effective as it should be. It is true that if governments, scientists and industries really willed it, there could be positive change. But what we seem to be so unbelievably blind to recognize is the fact that these organizations exist because of us and hence will inevitably reflect only our way of thinking and living. If most individuals are concerned with making as much money as possible and consuming as much of the earth as possible in their brief lifetimes, what else would you expect from the organizations that these individuals aggregate to form?

We have all heard enough of fabulous quotes like – Change begins with me, Be the change that you want to see in the world, etc. Given that we are all familiar with this way of thought, the only conclusion that I can draw is that there are only a few people who think that there needs to be a change and who actually act upon it, most of us are happy with the current situation and trajectory of mankind and life. We raise our voices and apply pressure on industries and governments since they are suitable scapegoats and there is also no one who can be singly held accountable. More often than not, these organizations have a licence to kill since what they are looking to do ultimately is to enable wealth creation for their shareholders and vote banks. The recent go ahead by the Indian government for POSCO to mine in Orissa being an example. So when everybody – individual and the organization are working towards a common goal how can the change towards sustainable retreat happen unless the individual takes the initiative?

Over the past few years, I have often worried over what it is that I can do myself to bring about this change. I have tried to scrutinize my thoughts and actions closely to see what I can do. Having spent many years on the road to more and more economic assets, it takes great effort for a person of my mental strength to try and change my philosophy to one of sustainable retreat. I realized that I will never be the sort of man like a Buddha or a Jesus to drop everything and walk away from civilization. The attachments, habits and pleasures I have gathered over these years are many. I came to the conclusion that I will gradually try to reduce the amount of consumption that I do as an individual from the earth and try to become lighter and lighter on mother earth till I reach the lightest stage of all – death. I’m aligned with a philosophy where I believe the right way to go about life’s journey is to spend the first half learning how to live and the next half learning how to die in a graceful way so that in the end you dissolve into harmony just like how you first emerged from harmony. The human body after the age of thirty is already in a process of starting to slow down and it is important to align our thinking and actions to this accordingly.

The first thing that became obvious in this way of thought was that almost the entire human race, bar a few exceptions, will leave behind much more than what they came in with. This is all the accumulated possessions and creations that we gather in our journey of life. All life forms barring man leave no trace of themselves in this physical world when they are gone. Their remains will dissolve in a short span providing the basis for new life to emerge. Man’s remains currently look like they are meant to ensure that no new life ever emerges. The possessions we accumulate and then finally leave behind may take millions of years for the earth to reabsorb and digest if at all. Are we a sort of duster to wipe the slate clean for something else to emerge or are we here to just witness the end given that we are the most intelligent and blessed species?

I have already over the years accumulated clothes, CDs, books and what not – the result of a yuppie lifestyle. I decided that I will try and minimize my role as a consumer as much as possible and not buy any more clothes, shoes, etc. The only luxury that I will afford myself is the purchase of an occasional book or CD but not until I have read all the books and listened enough times over to all the CDs I have with me currently. I have been able to implement this to a significant extent in the last three years, of course getting clothes as gifts from family and friends and the occasional pilferage from them does cushion things.

The next major component of my consumerism is the amount of fuel I burn in my diesel guzzling SUV. Its been with me for 5 years now and in the initial two years I burned enough fuel to deserve to be hanged. Over the next 3 years, I started leaving the car more and more at home. I cycled to work for a couple of years. I have now quit work so I have ample time to get to where I am going either by walk, bus or train. The pleasure I crave for out of driving is quenched through the less frequent long distance trips with a group of people that justifies taking the car out to a small extent (pathetic excuses).

The reason why I decided to quit work was because I was feeling guilty working for a corporation where profit maximization is the key objective. This of course is the key objective of most corporations, governments and religious bodies. I have decided that I will bide my time and live off the savings I have till such time as I find a job that seems right. The only work I do these days are things which cannot be quantified as many women who support their families from home have found out. The savings I have will last me a few years but am trying to stretch it as much as possible before I look to an income based occupation if at all. I feel it is important for each of us to be fully aware of what is enough to take us through life. Some of the wealth amassed by individuals will not finish even if many many generations of their children live in excess.

I have also given up using soap, detergents, stuff like shaving cream, after shave, deodorants, etc. I use a coir like material called ‘inja’  (which was used extensively in Kerala before and still is by rural folk) to scrub myself when I have a bath. I occasionally use a regular bar of soap to give my skin the harsh treatment that cosmetic companies promise. I have been doing this for nearly a year now and so far no one has complained about the stink. I am doing this because I feel that man in his/her obsession to look more attractive to the opposite (and sometimes the same) sex has gone way beyond the bounds of rationality. The damage caused by the products and processes of the cosmetic industry to the world is mind boggling. The pollution to fresh water sources starts right in our bathrooms and kitchens and percolates into our environment on a deadly speed and scale.

I take bath in water at room temperature and don’t use a geyser to heat water. For a place like Bangalore this temperature is pleasant throughout the year. I avoid fans and air conditioning as much as possible. This has resulted in serious arguments with some friends occasionally but it’s worth it.

I have avoided all forms of pharmaceutical products for nearly 17 years now and rely on exercise, yoga and diet control to keep myself healthy. So far so good and I would rate myself as reasonably healthy enough to get by. The only medication i like is reasonable quantities of alcohol (preferably toddy), tobacco (preferably beedis) and natural psychotropic substances like marijuana, hash and mushrooms (if lucky)

I am trying to switch to a more self reliant life style in terms of food where i start to gradually grow as much of the things I need as possible and only buy food when absolutely necessary. This currently is a challenge that I hope to overcome in the next three four years but you have to experience it to know the ignorance of the city bred individual..believe me

I have started getting more and more pleasure in time spent on low cost activities like trekking, reading and spending time with family and friends. This is an effort to cut down the splurging at pubs, bars and restaurants that used to happen before. Of course I still just can’t resist a good movie in a cinema theatre.   

When I am not traveling and in Bangalore I mostly stay at my parents’ house and in the same room that I have spent my childhood and early adult years in. I am fully satisfied by the facilities that this offers and don’t believe in the idea that there should be one house per human being on the planet.

I don’t have children, this is of course incidental to the path that I have chosen, but knowing fully well how inhuman I sound, more and more humans is just not helping. All the top economists and scientists agree that 8 billion people are the ceiling in terms of resource availability on earth to support human life. We are already past 6.5 billion and will reach 8 billion in the matter of the next few years even if we cut down population growth by half given the momentum of these large numbers. Each new child we bring into the world will probably have to be that much stronger to be able to live with lesser and lesser resources and increased competition for it. Would be parents who are conscious of this fact and who align their children to this thought process are the need of the hour.

Are these things that I am doing enough for one individual? If everybody adopted similar measures would there be a significant positive impact on nature and the prospects of life? I feel that this is just a start and that I need to constantly be keeping my eyes open and weeding out excesses to make my life worthwhile for myself and all life, now and in the future. Walking this path has made me realize how weak and soft I have become over all these years as a human being. By trying to live with less I am becoming stronger and stronger physically and mentally. Nietzsche stressed on the aspect of great health when he spoke about the need for the Superman ( human beings who will be the leaders  to take the human race in the right direction)

I am not sharing this because I want any kind of appreciation or applause from you. I am doing this because I feel this is the right thing for me to do, this is my dharma. I am obsessed with this and nothing else will do for me but this way of living and thinking. You can go to hell any which way you choose, that choice is forever yours..