Our education system needs a rethinking

Image courtesy - The Huffington Post

Today, in the lift in my building, I met a 4th or 5th standard schoolboy carrying a heavy bulging school-bag on his back. He looked sharp and brilliant. But he was drenched in sweat in a fine weather and had his back bent in a curve because of the weight. He was returning back from school. Normally kids carry typical nonchalance and endearing mood and would unknowingly spread the joy. But that look of him told that he already was feeling the weight of responsibility and school had turned out to be an occupation for him. And this isn't just one kid. It is the same story when I see the others.

That one look of the boy trigged the reminiscent imagery of my own school days. It didn't take me time to understand that India's education system hasn't changed much (except for the instant gratification of giving non-deserving institutions prestigious tags by our government), and if at all, it hasn't changed positively.

I mean... How can that boy be thinking of the new learnings and new hobbies to surprise me and you of his achievements in an astonishingly young age. How can he be picking up a new sports or really understanding the meaning of his being with the pristine brain a child possesses when we instruct him to lead a life under instructions-get up early in the morning, go to school, come back to home, take lunch, do you homework, be obedient, get higher rank in class otherwise you are a waste . How can he be thinking on his own and getting curious of small and big facts that the world bestows on that little mind when we say all that? How can he discover his REAL potential? Let me close the scope of this question within the boundaries of our country. How can we make fantastic citizens of tomorrow who are not made up by impositions like a potter makes pottery but are actually self-discovered and self-evolved like the coral reefs - diverse, rich, health-giving and beautiful. Each one as beautiful and important as the other and not ranked on the basis of how-much-oxygen-did-you-produce-yesterday? I only imagine how can we have a truly beautiful education system where these kids will not be ranked and classified but will be understood and flourished in their unique ways.

May be what I implicitly suggested is a fairy tale proposition. Since the economy needs jobs and jobs needs employees, employees come from colleges and colleges demand certain qualifications and RANKS, the suggestion seems least plausible on first thought. But just for a moment let us think over what I call the Bonsai Model. Consider the economic engine of country be the flora - trees and big plants which actually do the photosynthesis- where all the real work happens. If we shrink all these big trees to a small proportion of their size they become bonsais. Now if the bonsais were children and did all the work similarly on smaller scale while developing and being curious and having fun, the whole bonsai fraternity when normalised into trees will function just right without any fight and without being boring. Each will have his/her important place in the flora.

The outcome of it will be a system in which where there will be plenty of jobs and plenty of fields to work have fun in. The students or employees will be really confident and would upfront know what they are doing and why they are doing. They will all be originals. Another way to look at this said goal is this. Either make more and more fake prestigious institutions or make it irrelevant for a child to join a prestigious institution at all. The prestige should be the outcome of the right choice taken by the right talent, not by the by-product of the MATHEMATICALLY NORMALISED ranking system.

At the end, let me leave you with a dream school where teachers will let students to perform and flourish in the following real world subjects- Lego, music, maths, movies, comedy, astronomy, comics, radio, rock and rap, humanity, machines, computers, nature, animals, oceans, business, robots, acting, poetry, history, dance, gardening, science and sports. Let students fit themselves in amongst these choices and the outcome would be a beautiful coral reef, healthy and happy. That may probably be the most robust act of nation building.

Movie Review - Bhaag Milkha Bhaag

After Rang De Basanti and Delhi 6, much was expected of Rakeysh Om Prakash Mehra's next flick and it hasn't disappointed. Rather, I'd say, Bhaag Milkha Bhaag surpassed it's hype.

But before I put my thoughts about the movie, let me say to them (movie critics) to KINDLY rise above the overly exaggerated approach of meticulously analysing a beautiful inspiration like BMB and tainting the efforts of an inspired filmmaker. Please!

Just how many of the Indian filmmakers choose to inspire than to mint?

When Milkha Singh himself watched the premier of the movie in London, he couldn't hide a tear. And that, to ROPM, was the true reward of his creation. It pretty much sums it up, doesn't it?

Ok... the review... here it goes..

*** Spoiler Alert! ***

The storytelling
Despite the celebrity status of the Flying Sikh, I doubt whether many knew the lows and highs of his life. Movie's first challenge was to highlight the struggle of a boy to make good of his life, let alone to strive for being a national sports hero and the story did full justice to that. The depiction of how the boy, who was once reduced to a bum out of tragic circumstances, pulled himself together, believed to earn a life, fought, stumbled, muscled, ran and sprinted through the crests and troughs of a teenage life, and that too with a self-assuring smile, came out beautifully. The best part was how the protagonist's latent spirit of "fearlessness" gleamed through his condition of "helplessness" without being portrayed explicitly. The screenplay of a solo toddler sniffing off a herd of much older antagonists with just a stare felt so true and believable. Quite a memoir for me. I rarely clap in a multiplex (full of super civilised gentry) but at that moment I couldn't resist the uncalled-for-action-in-their-eyes.

The screenplay
The mix of flashback, present and flashback-in-a-flashback gelled well with the screenplay. It was never a confusing approach (except to them). Rather, the different strands of timeframes seemed a natural knit into a linear unraveling of intrigues and awes. The bit of VFX just added the right proportion of salt. The sword & horse nightmare scene needed support of the after-effects to induce a high tide of rage in the audience. I won't call it overly tech-dependent approach on part of the director. To make a classic masterpiece would come second to create a justified biopic in my books.

The Romance
Lately, the frequency of a romantic buildup in a rustic Indian landscape has caught more eyeballs than those in a concrete jungle. For an instance, recall the highly mischievous act of a shy Don furtively touching the hands of a female in The Gangs of Wasseypur 2. Another memoir. Such subtle instances induces more pheromones than by a three hour long romantic boredom. Really. Similarly, however short, the romance in Bhaag Milkha Bhaag, has just enough material to compel a smile, a wry, an exchanged squint and a tear. (Well, the greatest romantic stories ever told have been tragic in end ). It not only had tips for the starters and the stalkers but also had pensive interpretations for the experienced professionals in the matter.

The Run
To make a sport based movie, wherein the sport involved is not cricket, is a herculean task in India. More so, when the sport is a mono-event type like sprinting. In that view, the movie pulled off the track-and-field scenes really well. Second only to the evident dedication of Farhan Akhtar in bringing out the different phases of the physical attributes of Milkha Singh, the thoughtfulness behind those shots was the biggest plus point of the movie. Every other such shot was different from the last and full of variations. Everywhere, it kept the audience engaged. It moved them in their seats, kept them abreast of the other runners' position while focussing on Milkha, made them feel short of breath at finishing lines, accelerated their heartbeat with high bpm soundtrack and even finished a whole running event without a thud or a mutter. It gave space for hungry-for-inspiration souls to connect to themselves. Right there, lies the beauty.

The Comedy
The inclusion of notoriety, wry humour and some standard punchlines in the convoluted timeline of the movie kept the audience adrift of an otherwise serious storytelling whenever needed. May be those vouching for a masterpiece-like creation would have asked the editor to truncate these portions, but for me, these jolly moments cemented the serious bricks well and weren't unnecessary. More than that, very subtly they gave us a very strong message of enjoying oneself even during the tough times.

The X-factor
The X-factor was revealed in the promo itself. The six packs, the strenuous training sequence with a heavy tyre tied at the waist, the Ladhakh scenes, the push-ups with a foreign babe on back had enough masala to attract the non-ardents in the cinema halls. But, in fact, the promo served to be a good impostor. The movie stumped me with with a more than expected solidity and originality.

The Realities
Few subtleties of human relations can only come out of a real life story. His sister's constant motherly affection, his first trainer's sweet scoldings, his sharing of punishment with the childhood friend, his childish revert to the second trainer during Asian Games, the stalking along the railway lines and his never-revealed feeling for the hottie in airline indeed fused reality in the drama.

The Verdict
I would not try to write the message of the story here otherwise we would go back to zero, that is equal to the driving force of a daily food for thought. One must watch and live the 185 minutes to etch his/her personalised take of the movie in the mind. To the young-at-heart-folks, if you have even an ounce of adrenaline flowing through your lymphs, then let it rush. Give yourself a chance to change gear and run. Give yourself a chance to fly like the Flying Sikh. Go and watch.

Jai Hind!

True tribute to the India's daughter

Leave girls and women, no brother, leave brother, no HUMAN Indian wouldn't have not felt a piercing sting in the heart over this tragic - what do I call - incident? rape? murder? moral demolition? beginning of an end of conscience? Whatever it is, it points a finger at us in the face and says - "You can do nothing about me. Can you? Can you?"

HELPLESSNESS

This morning my friend told me about her death. Emotions soared high. Feet wanted to move. Palms clutched air. And that's it.

Arnab Goswami on Times Now is asking to maintain calmed demeanor and rightly so "as it will be a great disservice to the martyr to take a violent form on this occasion". We need to introspect. What will happen by protesting at India Gate? Only some visual images would stimulate those on the other side of the camera to give them this (non)sense of something is happening. Like people standing up and calling quotes and displaying posters will change us for the better. Nope, I'm afraid, not. If it were to happen, it would have happened. Aaye din TV pe ye cases aate rahte hain. Nothing taking away from "probably the greatest tragic incident in India" (as quoted by Mr. Jethmalani), I strongly feel such violent upheaval wouldn't prove much benefit to the society. A good example is Mr. Anna Hazare's demeanor against that of Baba Ramdev in the anti-corruption movement and their respective effects on public mood.

Mr. Manmohan Singh is asking us to "channelize our emotions in a constructive way" which means - keep mum like him and see the next parliament session on DD National. We'll do that. Is it? Or is it not? The shame in this "shameful incident" is on us.

Us - The watchful spectator, the silent Indian.

No. Not this moment. Just not this moment. Let's not forget the bravery.

The Braveheart- The very next day the news of gang rape was aired, three of us friends were discussing over the interplay of emotions that that girl would have been facing in case she were conscious. "Should I live? Or should I better die? How can I live with so much trauma for the rest of my life?" Ms. Jaya Bacchhan wept in the parliament empathizing with the girl. And, the fact is that she wanted to live. In such serious condition she battled for 13 days. For life. For dignity. For cause.

"A girl on death bed may have changed the course of young India" said a reporter.

I 'd be happy to think of the positive. So, what is that course? It is not being violent and definitely not being silent. To list few common formulations:
Nationwide violent protests (leads to nowhere, only agitates what is in the bowl)
Talking to friends and colleagues (time pass?)
Candle light marches (temporary arousal of emotions)
Better voting decisions in next Lok Sabha elections (this is a lazy excuse)

Those listed above aren't proper measures in regards to the rape cases. Plus, we as a general public aren't participating in the removal of this social malice. Let me list a few measures whose effectiveness can be discussed over.

1) Every girl over a certain age (may be 15) should be provided with free rechargeable electric stunners, which they may carry in their handbag. Just as the TB patients are being provided free medicines from medical shops. If government doesn't provide free, buy it.

2) Value education - Insert moral builders in the morning pledges of schools such as what Prince Hector says in the movie Troy "All my life I've lived by one code. And that is simple. Love your country. And respect your woman". If the day comes when India registers zero cases of rape, it will only be through value education.

3) This is for the social entrepreneurs. Invent small GPS enabled gadgets like pagers and link it to local police systems. On press of a button from a would-be victim a red alert will be sent to nearby policeman who will be having the receiving pagers. (Policemen are also humans. they are just not inspired enough. If they know of such an imminent incident in the vicinity they will surely run to help.)

4) Compulsory martial arts for girls from class 5th to 12th. In incidents like this one where attackers were a group of men, it may not be useful but in other cases it may be life saving.

5) Make being silent witness to such an incident a crime officially. Indian girl is lot more vulnerable since independence and there must be some necessary changes in law. If such an incident is happening in front of someone, he must try to stop it no matter what.

6) Stop guarding and start arming - Tell your sisters and daughters that they can take care of themselves. Truth is you cannot always protect them. It's about mental strength too. They will act smarter if god-forbid they are cornered.

7) Capital punishment - This is a nuclear weapon. There are problems applying it in the legal system. But again drastic situations calls for drastic measures. Problem is that there may be cases in which innocents can be tricked into a forged rape case. Supreme court stuff.

There can be lot of other improvements and most of us know them. Let us give ourselves a day to think about it and do whatever we can. If we really want something, it will happen.

Condolences to the girl's family and salute to the girl who after the heinous incident faced multiple organ failures, a heart attack and finally cerebral edema, today un-clutched her fist forever.

Time to pay true tribute to the India's daughter through actions.

I'll leave you with following quotes in air related to the incident.



"Abnormal people. Human beings don't do such kind of thing"
"Respect is still so entrenched in the society that the public's anger became evident at India Gate"
"Time bound justice required"
"Must have at least traffic lights on all the roads"
"They must be tried in Saudi Arab style"
"Occasion of speechlessness and grief'
"Not to be taken just as an incident but as an awakening and constant battle"
"We should make sure that we introspect over this loss"



---- Thanks to Shalabh Kumar and Ankur Kalia for their thoughts.

Connecticut Analyzed - Why did it happen

Ok, it's been long since I've published any article or story. And I probably wouldn't have done that for another month if the unfortunate event at Connecticut hadn't happened.

This is not another story on the web to report that, but an attempt to analyze what pushed Adam Lanza, the gunman, over the threshold of holding oneself back from executing such heinous crime.

What happened in a line - An odd, 20 year old student open fired at an elementary school classroom with a stolen gun from his mother, whom he killed first the same day while she slept, and thereby killed 28, mostly  6-7 year old children, teachers, a principal and at last, himself.

The officials are still identifying "his purpose" of killing schoolchildren and adding mental disease like aspergers to his portfolio just to give "meanwhile" answers to the demanding media, to the heartbroken parents and to the global community. They probably will never be able to identify the real motive. However, investigation will happen and in the end they will produce a report summary with "some" motive. So, I said, let us help them.

Before I go ahead, let me put in lucid terms, the debate of possession of guns wouldn't help much in this case. It's the doer, his ideas, his actions that produce such results. Guns are just "first option" to achieve them. And Adam, didn't even possess them. He stole them from his mother. If not from mother, then from someone else. If not semi-automatic guns, then simple rifles and use conversion kits to make them semi-automatic. If no conversion kits, then probably bombs. If not bombs, then a masterplan of car-bombs. There are so many ways of achieving mass murder that we'd need wikipedia to chronicle it. We can only stop such incidents by stopping the motives, not identifying and stopping the means of achieving them.

That said, since guns ARE the first option, proper administering the gun possession licensing would certainly reduce the frequency of such incidents. Maybe Lanza would have not even thought of killing if he didn't know that his mother had stored guns in the closet.

Anyway, let's shift the gaze to the main point which is similar to the subject I covered in the post Colorado and Manesar - Signs of 2012

Adam Lanza is characterized as a loner, odd individual, a computer geek, one of those of your acquaintances whom you'd not see for days and on re-appearing they wouldn't even see hello. They are calling him retarded or mentally ill, but he may be just all right technically. May be, just a series of events in his life guided his thoughts, overwhelmed him, to balance his low social activity graph.

I researched about him a bit. He was born on May 26, 1992 that categorize him as a pure Gemini (not on a cusp). And most important characteristics of a gemini are
a) They are dual natured, complex and inconsistent.
b) They demand attention and admiration from people around them.
c) They are high spirited, creative and capable of surprising anyone with their breathtaking ideas.

.............which Adam certainly did.

According to sources, his mother was fond of guns. She would take young Adam to shooting ranges. Now Adam was a high IQ, bright kid. He didn't have friends but a laptop to share feelings with. Probably, everyday he faced social neglect from probable relatively lower IQ kids whom he attests as misunderstanding fools. He played first person shooter games to extract the anger built up from the constant social neglect. He would get double kills, triple kills, ultra kills in Quake or Counter Strike. But he would eventually realize that he was just wasting his time on the stupid games. He had done nothing to demand attention and admiration from his surrounding people. He had done nothing to show those finger-pointers that he isn't a loser, stupid kid. He would turn into a computer geek, learn hacking and become a system destroyer. Will he achieve his aim then? No. He probably would funnel out his anger by disrupting systems but even then he wouldn't teach those early life school acquaintances a lesson. Amidst all these accumulated grievances and self questioning that tortured him night and day, he still had one fascination in his life which seemed to fit him, which he really, really enjoyed a lot. Guns. Every night he would plot, plan and replay the array of events he would perform using this fascination. And when he is convinced of the foolproof planning, he would get a sound sleep.

Grievance and fascination.

But why kill such little school children? There are two possibilities. One. He didn't think of which age group to kill. Just went in to wreck havoc upon the nearest school which had minimum event-barriers. Two. He spent the ugliest years in that age group and was jealous of these school children. Since, he hadn't matured by mind, may be he didn't feel the psychological barrier of those children's innocence.

The police investigated and interrogated the gun sellers, the near shooting range dwellers and whomever they could, if anyone had practiced with guns in the vicinity. Since, to carry out a massacre in even a school, one would need some amount of training. According to the report, no one witnessed such a thing. And probably Adam wouldn't have trained himself physically. Somewhere the time wasted in Counter Strike had to come of use. There are many who learned 90 percent of driving just by playing NFS.

All he needed was a detailed description of the school, classrooms, number of watchmen, teacher staff's sex ratio, number of guns and bullets. So he went to nearby schools for survey and chose a school. With that mental imagery he planned it all, nights after nights. And one night he watched Nike's commercial. So, he quietly stole the guns after his mother slept off and felt them physically. He felt powerful. Adrenaline pumped and right then he had decided to carry out the plan the next morning. But, again, why would he kill his mother. Again two possibilities. One, he held her partly responsible for his "condition". Two. he didn't want her to read the news. So before she woke up, he shot her in the face so that she dies without pain. Next, he stuffed all those guns in a school bag and stepped out of the house to play a real game in 3D.

And he played with his developed instinct. Reportedly, the school principal, a 51 year old lady pounced on him to save the schoolchildren. But was caught in air by the bullets. The teachers ran astray as he caught them in terror. And the tiny children. They wouldn't even have known what they are facing. This single image of those cute little children staring at a gunman in utter ignorance and innocence only to be shot the next second had me in tears when I read the news as it had many others. "My heart goes out to those children" was the most typed tweet in the following day. Add to that the image of those lucky children who were later escorted out of the school with their eyes closed so that they don't witness a lifelong depressing and horrific aftermath. Yes, the heart does go out.

After he had accomplished the mission, either out of quirk of whim or sudden realization of shame, he killed himself.

I wrote reasons for an unreasonable act. One may deem it foolish do. But that doesn't wipe them away. World's population is near 7 billion. Twenty percent of them are children. A percent of them may be are currently living under social neglect which CAN be suppressed. That number can be pretty huge. Putting the age where social media is the most happening thing the effect will only be compounded. Our children can be taught to discourage bullying or laughing upon someone just as ragging is banned from colleges. Every personality which is not in disorder should get the necessary respect.

The solution is not just banning the semi-automatic guns but also providing these easily identifiable neglected children the admiration and attention they seek.

Nobody chooses to be alone. 

Motorcycle and the Art of Handling Energy Crisis

If you’re a guy, close your eyes (and go to sleep?) and feel the grunt, the thrust of a Harley Davidson (gals can hop-back). Only the roar adds 10 mph to its speed. Its muscle complimenting yours, its beautiful handle blending in your palms, a laser correct stability on-road and a monstrous dominance off-road makes living-in-this-world so much worthwhile. Now imagine 2075. Imagine an “i-Robot” style electric car that is self-manoeuvred, programmed and integrated to the online traffic feedback system. It doesn’t make a sound. It’s fast-n-sexy-n-funky. It has a dozen of triple character technologies that make it safe and non-risky. Well, did you feel suffocated? Maybe The Terminator felt so and came back from future to feel the magic of the former. 

Folks, today we have a beautiful present, but it may be ephemeral. Last century saw the petroleum consumption go twenty folds the consumption in 19^th century. Our oil extraction technologies have outgrown the renewable energy technologies in the last two decades. The extractors have also started angling the spoon to get the liquid gold out of its caves. To date world’s population is nearly 7 billion and it is said to stabilize till 9 billion. It takes a million years for those naïve plants to capture sun’s energy and compress it into a high energy density fuel. We are already aware that the fossil fuels will deplete. According to estimates, if we assume that they are reliable, oil will last around 43 years, coal -131 years and natural gas -60 years. If we balance out and predict through mathematical model, the combined fossil fuel content will last around 75 years. But they may deplete sooner than research or perception marks and alarmingly sooner than we are ready. 

I’m writing this piece neither to press the panic button nor to load your mind with a statistical analysis of world’s energy usage. This is an attempt to address one question that has bothered us since childhood but left un-digged – How will we cope without fossil fuels? This is an attempt to convolute action and compulsion in our thoughts and generate a conscience. A widespread conscience.

The recent power outage in Northern India saw – 19 affected states, cancelled trains, stationary Metro, blackened homes, airport & hospitals on backup, AIIMS begging power from Bhutan, unplanned holiday in offices – a jolt at par with a war situation wherein enemy takes control of the arteries and veins of the nation. A necessary jolt though. It at least replaced the #10ThingsToEatBeforeYouDie trend with #BenefitsOfPowerCuts. We, at least, had a talk about the impending energy crisis. It is another thing that talk is not enough. But still.Reports say that such a situation was bound to happen as the major affected states imported heavily from neighboring states. Demands skyrocketed in peak hours and transmission lines got overloaded and tripped. You may look at it in three ways – Utter power distribution failure, improper maintenance of plants or a beginning of the end, inevitability. Having only 6 nuclear plants as against 65 in US, India is just a vulnerable child. More than 85% of its power comes from coal, oil or gas and that too majorly from import. This stat is close to the world average but given the stature of a to-be-superpower nation, it is far from sustainable. Denmark’s  19% energy source in form of wind; France’s 80% in form of nuclear power; and Germany’s over 70% in form of nuclear plus renewable sources is but a laugh at that said claim. It doesn’t need to be re-stressed that nations don’t need only fire power to win a war now.  

But why am I crying about India’s energy security? The blackouts are happening at more places. We have a bigger problem at hand.Yesterday’s Black Monday hurled me to dig the internet, hoping to encounter serendipity in terms of the solution of world’s energy crisis, hoping to find inspiration in affluent nation’s energy usage map, but found myself startled and at utter detest against this one country – United States of America. Let me repeat – utter detest. The reason is this statistical analysis, a must read. I’ll put its summary in 3 points as follows. Number one- Food processing & consumption is an energy cycle. System takes in some energy (that includes fossil fuels) and gives some back to environment. On an average, worldwide, such systems give back 50% of what they take in while US gives back just 13%. In fact it consumes in 2100 W of non-renewable energy to produce 100W of food. Number two – Per capita energy utilization of world is 5kg of energy unit per day; Indians use 1.4, Chinese 6.4 while US citizens – 23.6. Africans – not even worth mentioning. Number three- If every nation starts using energy at US’s rate, fossil fuels will deplete in just 16 years! Now that’s what is called being developed.

One may feel inquisitive now– why no major outcry? There are a group of reasons.

Development of nuclear power plants is the biggest of them. According to estimates, U-235 and plutonium resources would last around hundreds of years if used by current non-breeder type nuclear reactors. If we succeed in developing breeder reactors, we would be able to utilize U-238, which is amply present in oceans to last for millions of years. Then there is mother of all – nuclear fusion (technology of producing energy by combining hydrogen isotopes viz. deuterium and tritium) that may provide energy for billions of years. It is theorized that we’d be able to build fusion reactors in 50 years from now. At first, these facts spring us in air like Uncle Scrooge’s nephews. However, they are hardly an appeasement. Chernobyl incident, recent nuclear plant destruction by tsunami in Japan, under-developed technology to handle nuclear waste, a setup prone to hijack by terrorists all converge to the fact that nuclear plants are not yet safe. More of them mean more chances of mishaps. A recent survey shows that less than a third of sustainable energy experts feel that nuclear energy is a straight answer to problems.

A distant second is a group of these – hydel, solar, wind, shale gas, oceanic, bio-fuel etc. Each has its own limitations. Hydel is non-pervasive and non-perennial. Wind is moody. Oceanic is too under-developed and remains unpromising. Bio-fuel has its own cycle of taking in energy and giving back, though far-promising than aforementioned. Shale gas is new, promising but not everlasting. Solar is still highly inefficient and far from a social success. A lot of research has to go into solar power harnessing. Nevertheless, the sun remains the biggest “star” of future. A no. of nano-technologies are being developed to achieve affordability and efficiency in this medium. Fingers crossed.

After going through all these research, the mood is neither skeptical nor optimistic. The stone in hand has turned into mud but yet has to become sand.

Since long I had a simple code to get through complex situations – come back to nature. Whether it is school, college, office, family, friends or enemies – nature provides a good sample of all situations. In nature, every small entity is important. Everything from bacteria, virus, caterpillar, butterfly, grass, weeds, animals, plants, and what not – every single entity has a role to play. The more the variety of strands, the stronger is the web. The petrol-diesel-gas-solar-hydel-wind-nuclear-ocean-shale-geothermal web is of a similar kind. The longer we hold this web, the better for us. Each small initiative such as self-energy-sufficient villages, zero-energy buildings, solar powered appliances, commuting office by cycle, one wind mill in locality, buying an electric car, global earth hours, planting a sapling and minimizing food wastage matters. Howsoever small, they are important. And the trick to make such initiatives effective is being part of a similar-minded active community. We will continue to dig and rig till the last ounce of coal & oil remains, we are so inextricably chained with them. But, we CAN slow things down.

OK, enough said. Let me leave you with a thought. On a cool Sunday afternoon in autumn, over a straight smooth road spotted with sun-rays filtered through the shades of eucalyptus, when the fallen leaves whirl incessantly, if you feel playful, what can you do best? 

Just go back to the first paragraph.

Colorado & Manesar - Signs of 2012?

Putting the pen down now, during the supposed-to-be-dooms-year is exciting, at least to writers. It is still July, five months from D day and already a set of horrible news has given a good launchpad for the things to follow. Click every "50 new Tweets" button and it will uncover at least one mishap/tragic/horrible event. Wait a sec, did I mention mishap? Or should I say inhumane?

Let's start from January. The news of asteroid's near missing of earth made me ponder once over the whole 2012 concept. And NASA's asteroid hunting mission's kick-off date (somewhere in 2017) wasn't helping either and made my stomach twist. However, after a mountain of research and re-assurances I was convinced that Nostradamus and Aztecs were wrong. Thereafter, my calendar was set as usual. Days were once again filled with the daily chores, indulgences, ogling, boss-fights, documentation, debugging and career milestones. A lot to accomplish. I completed the whole IPL T20 course and partial EPL & CL course too. Though a few minor speed bumps, like Japan earthquake and tremors where I live made me wonder over those reassurances, I figured that mother Earth, who toiled for billions of years to make air, soil, water and a fantastic ecosystem, can't be that cruel to cause a 2012. It had to be an alien force. 

One may mention global warming to complicate the argument, but then it's not a catastrophe. It's too gradual a deterioration process to make a selfish guy like me worry. Only to clear global warming out of my fear factors, I'd say it is still an ultra-debatable theory. Yes, this year was the hottest ever which is a concern to some extent; yes there are a few more glaciers melting than ever, but I'm sure that we'll soon develop an effective technology like carbon sequestration to counter the extra carbon dioxide. Statesmen like Al Gore,  master of exaggeration (see him ascending over that electric stair in this video) may infuse a sense of urgency in your hearts while running for presidential elections. If they did, then please read Michael Crichton's State of Fear to dilute that urgency.

That said, other issues such as Iran-Israel impending nuclear fight, hardly shook my feet. Instead, they amused me. The trio of US, Israel and Iran (alongwith a few Islamic nations) is in a state of stable equilibrium. Or I should say, they are in a love triangle. Iran has oil and money and on semi religious, semi-political grounds loves to invest in power and control across borders. Israel, we all know is like the 300 spartans group that goes out of its own borders and terrifies a 100 times bigger a country like Iran. And US is US. It finds a way to beautifully seep into a tug-of-war situation with camouflaged needs. So the situation is - US continues to get cheaper oil from Islamic countries through two-faced negotiations & assurances; Iran's political & army commanders continue to give their public-arousal-wings a flutter and Israel gets extra-protein flexed muscles through enhanced military research, spending & related businesses. Everyone loves the other. So, the third world war or even a mini third world war remains out of picture. India & China, Obama's about-to-be-concluding Afghan mission, global economic stutter and near-salvaged Euro crisis are not even worth mentioning. The world seemed as smooth as does Google's new Jelly Bean OS on my Nexus S. Just then, a few evenings back, the following events happened and gave my stomach another twist.

I was sipping a cup of green tea and was simultaneously trying to push up some Indian twitter trends just when I heard about a one-of-a-kind labour unrest incident in Manesar manufacturing plant of Maruti Suzuki, India's leading car manufacturer. Reportedly, a group of workers of the shop floor took a barbaric course to "handle-the-whatever-issue" and wrecked havoc upon the managers present at the plant, destroyed cars & equipments and set ablaze a portion of the plant. In the process, given the nature & discipline of the business in context- not a coal mine, not a rail-road construction, not a building construction in a crowded city whereby civil issues may prevail, no, not even close- shockingly injuring more than 80, and even more shockingly & unfortunately killing one general manager. Gulp! This whole event was indigestible and caught the whole nation by awe. Howsoever be the business scenario & local administration, whatever be the trigger point, whatever be the cause of unrest, the mode was just not humane. Plus, such an act was unprecedented in such a business scenario. 2012? I'd exclude the Great Railroad upheaval of 1877, which saw a loss of $10m of property and a 100 lives, because that happened ages ago-during Industrial revolution, during extreme circumstances of a long depression, and also because the genes of discipline in mass-production/manufacturing had just started to take shape then. One may stop and surmise here - Has capitalism churned us so much that no more juice is left? Is it the time to read Karl Marx's theories and follow socialism, which by the way has its own bag-full of shortcoming and problems. 

Two days later, just when I began to muster normality in thoughts, a news channel flashed "Shootout in Colorado:10 killed and 40 injured". Are you kidding me? Getting into the details of it was even more kidding. An orange-haired, young & innocent looking psychic/ psycho /psychopath (one of these three, which one I'm not sure), does a "joker" at a movie theatre during a Friday night premier of The Dark Knight Rises. Aurora, Colorado that ranks the 9th safest city in US saw its statistical repute getting rock-bottomed in just a minute. What was done, was done. What happened next? Internet journalism fraternity were quick to jump into the chronic debate of "Guns kill people or people kill people?". Some started debating "do movies kill people?". The US Govt. even went ahead to ban batman costumes! Some are busy in analysing- how did James Holmes manage a 2 bullets to 1 hit ratio when state police averages 4 bullets to 1 hit in such a scenario. Well, all these arguments are beside the point. Who comes at the base of the fault-chain is what they must think over. The psycho, the guns, the gun manufacturers, the costumes, the local administration, the cinema's security personnel, the society or the government? Psyche is a result of many factors, a major factor is the society and its attitude towards one and all. The best resource to understand this is "The Adventure of Sherlock Holmes". It happens to cover a case in which an orange haired guy, owing to how UK's society treats orange haired community, made an attitude of defence and retaliation, closely a manner of proving oneself. I don't know what James Holmes had to prove (that he is a batman is just a superficial statement), but I know that he had to prove something basic, very basic. Just to add, if it makes any sense, US's big daddy nature is supported by a lot of daddies, and a lot of daddies makes a lot of naughty sons.

These two completely distinct incidents intersect at only one question : Who is killing whom and why? Numerous other questions arise too, which needs to be properly addressed by you and me. The mortality rate of world is 107 deaths per minute. Causes may be natural or accidental or murderous. Earthquakes, wars, diseases etc. contributes a lot. But the share of causes based on human disconnect (exactly what joker tried to take advantage of in The Dark Knight) may trigger it tremendously. But that was just a movie, and that came in 2008. Bad joke!