HIMALAYAN DEVELOPMENTAL BLUNDERS

Originally the term 'Himalayan Miscalculation' was used by Mahatma Gandhi in 1922 when the first Non-cooperation Movement turned violent. In later times 'Himalayan Blunder' was used to refer to the 1962 Indo-Chinese conflict and the mistakes of Jawaharlal Nehru that led to India's humiliating defeat to its northeastern neighbour. However, there are other kinds of blunders that can be committed so far as this mountain range is concerned, blunders that can affect the lives of millions of people. A glance at the story (link below) will show how. 

https://tatsatchronicle.com/risky-rides/

BANARASI TOMATO ‘CHAT' AND 'ESPRESSO MALAIYO’

What do you think about Kashi?

IF you think Banaras is only about the journey to the other world and things spiritual, you are way off the mark. It offers its fair share of goodies for the pleasures of this world too particularly gastronomical delights for those more materialistically inclined. This venerable city serves a variety of mouth-watering street food prepared with great care and expertise to meet every taste. It has something for those who like it hot and spicy as well as those with a sweet tooth. 

                                                                    

Nai Sarak

While tour guides of Varanasi are apologetic about the rather untidy nature of their city, particularly with respect to European and American tourists, the fact is that the real charm of the ‘centre of the world’ lies in its crowded alleyways that lead to from the main streets above to the ghats on the banks of the Ganga below. Some may find the going ‘dirty’ in the narrow lanes but these are the very lanes and by-lanes around which the culinary delights of Banaras are available. 

Tomato Chats Served Hot & Spicy

                                                                      

Out of all the foods available on the colourful streets of Banaras, four stand out and must-try-out for every visitor. I will relate them in the order of my preference. The first place goes without hesitation to ‘tomato chat’. It is available at ‘Deena Chat Bhandar’ on ‘Nai Sarak’ or the new street of this oldest of the world’s cities. The chat is a mixture of a number of vegetable ingredients the dominant among which is the American fruit called tomato. The sting is provided by fine

'Espresso Malaiyo'

ly chopped green chillies. It is served on a plate of leaves sown together with twigs. 

The second is a milk espresso snack called ‘malaiyo’ which is flavoured and sweetened milk worked up into a thick froth with a light-yellow colour, filled to the brim of an earthen tumbler. It resembles the better-known candyfloss. The third delicacy is the ‘lal peda’ a delicious sweet meat that can be purchased at Rajshree Sweets in the cantonment area. 

The last (not by any means the fourth) is the Banarasi Paan, or green betel leaf rolled up into a triangular shape and available virtually anywhere in the city. The best, in my opinion, is the ‘saada’ or plain one, not the sweet paan as the real flavour of the leaf can be tasted only in a plain paan. A paste of red kattha (catechu powder) and chopped betel nut is applied on the leaf before it is rolled up and stuffed into the mouth whole. The combination leaves a characteristic red colour on the inside of the mouth and red pan stains in corners of stair cases and on walls is a ubiquitous sight everywhere in India. The real Banarasi paan just melts in the mouth leaving no fibrous remnants.

Banaras wisdom: 'Birth Is a Matter of Fate but Death is a Matter of Time'

 

Chopped wood is stacked up in several neat piles waiting to feed the pyres at Manikarnika Ghat, the cremation ground on the banks of the Ganga in Banaras where the pyres burn day and night. It is a unique cremation ground where the customary Hindu rule of cremating bodies only between sunrise and sunset does not apply. The special blessings of Lord Shiva himself, the lord of the city ensures the liberation of the soul. 

Burning Pyres at Manikarnika

 

As I lean on the railings of the terrace of a temple at the Ghat in the afternoon watching the flames and smoke rise from at least half-a-dozen pyres below, I am joined by a Buddhist monk in the characteristic maroon gown. “Everyone should pay a visit to this place to keep the ego in its right place,” he opines. He is accompanied by an elderly white lady – maybe European or American – who too, perhaps has come to Banaras in a search for the meaning of life – or is it death?

Bereaved waiting for cremation

As I trudge up the narrow alley from the cremation ground to the main road, the hustle and bustle around continues. Several funeral processions wind their way down to the ghat chanting ‘Ram naam satya hai’ (taking the name of Ram is the only truth). The Ganga meanwhile flows serenely down towards the sea carrying the ashes of the dead.

Words of Wisdom

Not that the belief is universal. I find a sceptic in a tourist guide and an old-time inhabitant of Banaras. How is it possible, he asks that ‘moksha’ is assured just by being cremated at Banaras regardless of merit.

Ganga Cruise

 

BENARAS CRUISE

Cruising along the Ganga at Banaras is at once a spiritual journey and one that offers the beautiful shimmering reflections of a medley of multi-coloured lights that play in the rippling waters. The Uttar Pradesh Tourism launch M.V. Sam Manekshaw glides softly upstream 

Manikarnika cremation ghat of eternal pyres

Ganga Arati

Sunset at Malaviya Bridge

starting from NAMO Ghat, among the latest to the added to the famed 84 Ghats, sites on the left bank the Ganga for the holy dip and other religious rituals. The cruise covers all the ghats from Ravidas Ghat to Raj Ghat and can be booked online at – https://alaknandacruise.com/Home/Booking_new

The eternal journey of life (and death) can be viewed from the launch. Vibrating life is evident in the Ganga Aratis in which the river is worshipped as the source of life for one of the world’s still living oldest civilizations. Priests blow conch shells, chant sacred mantras and sing hymns accompanied by bells and swinging huge brass torches. Thousands gather on the steps surrounding the Ghat or sit in boats anchored on the river front to watch the proceedings with reverence.

But barely a hundred yards downstream comes the reminder that life is not all song and dance and the human journey is a mortal one. This is the Manikarnika Ghat where cremations are carried out day and night. In fact, legend has it that the pyres have burned there continuously for centuries without a break. Hindus believe that though the body is cremated to return it to the elements, the soul attains ‘moksha’ or freedom from all earthly ties if the cremation in carried out in the Kashi of Vishwanath who helps them along with the ‘Tarak Mantra.’

 

 

 In Defence for Nature: The many hurdles of forest dwellers in Uttarakhand - Indian Ruminations

This is a story of the result of arrogance of so-called civilization and the know-alls who refuse to acknowledge that the have-nots may have something from which they can learn.

SNAKE IN THE GRASS

SNAKE IN THE GRASS

                            (illustration by Chaitali)

Snakes perhaps are among the most vilified animals in the world. Spiders are crawly while lizards are creepy though, except for a few species, none of them inspire terror like snakes. So much so that they have even snaked (pun intended) their way into human language in the form of such negative idioms like ‘snake in the grass’ or ‘forked tongue’. Recently a Bengali Bollywood and Tollywood star set off a furore when he threatened to strike his opponents like a cobra.

Among the few writers who have treated these reptiles with sympathy and understanding is P.G. Wodehouse who has not only included a benign snake named Peter among characters included in his 1921 novel ‘Indiscretions of Archie’ but has endowed him (indeed PG identifies its gender too) with emotions that are almost human. Though I may personally hesitate to go such lengths, from experience I would not hesitate for a second in endorsing his implied message that at bottom every snake is a good- hearted gentleman, despite the fact that its heart has only three chambers.  

To relate how I arrived at this conclusion I will have to go back half-a-century in time to Dehra Dun, the place where I grew up and attended school. My father, a government doctor, had been allotted a residence that was not only rather big but also had extensive gardens on two sides. Just next to the compound of the house was a fair-sized orchard of lichee, mango and jackfruit trees where incidentally I picked up most of my sporting skills. Many people would sound a caution to me against moving about so freely in that orchard, some even going to the extent of telling me to beware of a dangerous ‘monster’ that lived there.

Being young and optimistic, I naturally viewed these warnings sceptically imagining that they cynically wanted to prevent me from enjoying myself. But after many years of running around in that orchard I had an encounter with the ‘monster’ in person. The warnings had not been without foundation. Let me assure you that it was not a terrifying experience though it was definitely a startling one – both for me and the ‘monster’. The encounter revealed to me an unknown but very attractive side of the much-suspected wilds which inspire in most of us that feeling known as ‘unnamed fear’, usually associated with disembodied spirits.

The ’monster’ in question was a rather large and black king cobra. My mother had passed away and I was attending university in Delhi. As a result, there was no one to frequent the garden around our house – for the sun in the winters and the gentle breeze in the evenings. Taking advantage of the absence of the “human nuisance” the cobra would come to the concrete walk next to the veranda to sun himself (or herself, it’s difficult to tell). But it made off as soon as it heard my steps on the veranda. In a jiffy it had crossed the 20 feet or so of the garden and disappeared into the undergrowth of the orchard. A second time I only some days later I only heard the rasping noise as the snake hurried off, this time in another direction along the concrete walk.

For me it was a revelation. Hitherto I had regarded snakes as unpleasant and at times frightening animals. The hiss of an angry snake can be quite ferocious and unnerving. But the one that I encountered had been living in close proximity to us and we had never come to know. We went about our business and it went about its business. Though we made no special efforts to keep out of its way, the king cobra certainly went out of the way to keep out of the way!! Since then, my conviction has grown that animals are by and large harmless and it us humans who are guilty of spreading the greatest harm by wantonly killing all kinds of animals and insects without any provocation. Besides, our existence is vitally depended on the birds, animals, plants and trees around us. Without them we as a species are doomed.
 

HAS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE CHECKMATED HUMANITY?

 

DIGITAL INTRUSION?

Last June I posted an entry titled ‘Google As Pied Piper’. That chronicled an experience with Google maps that I found to be not only alarmingly but intrusive to the point of being definitely dangerous. The good news that time was that we were able to reach home unmolested. But it could have been anything depending upon how the so-called algorithms behind Google Maps functioned. However, much has come into public focus since then and it turns out that large sections of people all over the world are coming alive to the real danger posed by social media to the fabric of society. It has been recognised that it poses a clear threat to democratic processes and that it has played no small role in muzzling the voices of millions of people across the world. Most recently it has been Facebook and Chinese apps that have been facing flak. Mark Zuckerberg was summoned by American congressmen after the Cambridge Analytica uproar over sharing of personal information. But other bigwigs of the digital world like Amazon, Facebook and Google were also summoned by the Intelligence Committee of the American Senate on the apprehensions of foreign interference in US elections. Curiously, neither Alphabet CEO Larry Page or Google chief executive Sundar Pichai appeared for the hearing, raising suspicions about what they may have had to hide.     

The Watergate Scandal it may be recalled involved the bugging of the US Democratic Party headquarters by President Nixon and his Republican boys. So huge was the Watergate Scandal that it resulted in the unceremonious exit of President Richard Nixon. The book and the film ‘All the President’s Men’. (Those interested in knowing more about it could see an interview of Richard Nixon by Robert Fox, ironically available on the site of another social media giant – YouTube). Earth shaking events by any standards, considering that in those days the United States was one of only two super powers in the world. In terms of economic might, it was the only super power. The ripple effects of a drastic regime change there was sure to be felt all over the world.   

But the world has changed vastly since those days both in terms of US power and the value of privacy. Soviet Union, the other Super Power, disintegrated in 1991 apparently leaving the US as the unchallenged power. In terms of technology the internet has seemingly trapped the entire world in its so-called world-wide net but instead of a spider there are several giant corporations that have become the biggest private media companies ever known to man. The older seven or eight giants have paled into insignificance compared to new companies like Google, Facebook and Amazon all of which gather enormous amounts of information from individual human beings who also happen to be their customers. Getting bugged or spied upon is no big deal any longer, partly of course because of the fact that few people are actually aware that they are under close surveillance. People just walk around nonchalantly with such scandals literally in their pockets. I am of course, referring to the ubiquitous mobile smart phone loaded with applications or apps and “wonderful” high definition cameras on both surfaces of the phone which are actually two-way cameras. You use it like an ordinary camera while images are passed on to the various software operators on the phone.

And to top it all, the bugging is even considered to be prestigious if your grossly overpriced device carries the sign of a moth-eaten apple on it!! Reminds one of the economics propounded by that Wizkid who helped Obelix market his practically useless menhirs in Asterix comics. The tragi-comedy of it all is that most people who use smart phones are not even aware that the wonderful multi-megapixel cameras with which they click those cute selfies are also used to spy on their every activity and gather all manner of information. Do you want an example? Well, my phone informs me every evening ‘ten minutes to home’ just about half-an-hour before the end of work time. No such messages now as I work from home. Un-nerving, for it rubs it in that my movements are not only being tracked but also recorded.

Its laughable to think that not so many years back one of the indicators of development was the number of phones per thousand of population – the higher, the more developed. India, of course was way down in the list and dismissed variously as underdeveloped, least developed or developing, according to taste. After a great deal of ‘progress’ Indians own an estimated five to six hundred million phones, roughly one for every 2.5 persons (the .5 possibly referring to children)? Now it seems virtually impossible to get rid of that instrument somewhat in the manner of Mary’s little lamb. People responded to Arogya Setu app with great suspicion and only about a hundred million downloaded it, and a large number had it forced down upon them. The Orwellian ‘big brother’ seems to have become a reality.

A rather startling declaration in this connection was made in recent television documentary ‘Social Dilemma’ by Tristan Harris, a former Google employee. According to him, eventually technology is destined to overtake human intelligence and strengths and replace them. But that is in the future. The tipping point it seems has already occurred. Technology, he asserts “already exceeds and overwhelms human weaknesses – and is at the root of polarisation, radicalisation, outragi-fication and vanityfication…. this is checkmate humanity.” In simple terms, what Harris is saying is that machines have already crossed a threshold that will enable them eventually to take over (or overtake) man. Are Harris’s fears well founded or was he overstating it? Was it just a digital social media marketing ploy? “Don’t even try…you don’t stand a chance,” most of the characters seem to be saying in the documentary. Remember, he is a former Google employee and part of the team that created the behemoth. So it is surprising that about the only thing that he found objectionable in the whole Google project was that there was no one thinking of making it less addictive. So why should, to draw a parallel, a cigarette manufacturer think up ways to make cigarettes less addictive? Or cocaine cartels seriously working to reduce dependence on hard drugs? D..n it, their business model works on the human weakness of addiction.

As I watched the documentary, I definitely got the impression that most of those who were interviewed were convinced that technology and social media were unique events in human history in which machines would simply push human beings to the second spot. But it also had a participant who pointed out, sensibly in my view, that humans had successfully negotiated new technology in the past and would do so in future too. But Harris sounded like he was roughly the first person, an insider at that, who had noticed this very grave danger though no one in the entire documentary offers any way out of the apparently inevitable social dilemma. In fact, I did not see any evidence of analysis of the problem, always the first step towards dealing with it. But perhaps Harris and his colleagues would be happy to know that the problem had been recognized and analysed long back by not an American but by an eastern philosopher - Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941). The answer too lay in the analysis. Alas, only if it had been heeded.

Delivering a lecture 88 years back, ‘Asia’s Response to the Call of the New Age’, Tagore accurately diagnosed the problem of Western Civilization. He said that Europe had made science the vehicle of its greed “hurting the very spirit of science which is disinterested and high above all clamour of profit-hunting. When excess of passion in any form becomes the principal motive power in man’s nature then he is wire-pulled by it like a mechanical doll and is powerless to check its blind movements even when urged by reason. Such uncontrollable spasms of greed or of anger, or jealousy or of suspicion are truly materialistic, however intelligent may be their method and means.” It was not the use of machinery itself that was responsible for this “degradation”, Tagore said, and identified the cause in the “spiritual lacunae, in emergence of primitive barbarism in some civilized form. When a free lunatic hurts himself, then it is not the external freedom which is the cause of his hurt but lunacy itself, and if he is a skilful one his danger is all the more fatal.”

The plot in the Silicon Valley contains all the ingredients mentioned by Tagore and like a mechanical doll it seems powerless to check its blind movements even when urged by the reason of the likes of Tristan Harris!!