(No) Every man is an island entire to himself.

The famous English poet, satirist, lawyer, and priest John Donne was so very mistaken, when he notably had said, “No man is an island entire of himself”, in his poem – No man is an island.

The recent research in human brain goes to prove something starkly opposite – every human is in a solitary journey. No one is with her. She is all alone, deep in the recesses of her consciousness. One’s experience, feelings and way of comprehending the objective world out there, is very unique. This perception is based on many factors, which positions each individual in a very special, private and unique position. A human mind is mathematically incapable of positioning itself in the same context of another mind. Certainly with more and varied experiences the degree of this handicap varies. But the other’s position cannot be exactly comprehended but by being the self who is experiencing her own consciousness. 

Your own consciousness is not simply that it belongs to you, as, say, your car or your legs belong to you, by virtue of being under your control; it is that it is absolutely private. There are no doors between one consciousness and another. Everyone knows directly only of his or her own consciousness and no one else’s. One cannot fathom the exact perception of another person to the same scheme of things in the physical world. Nothing else in the world is private in the same way that conscious experience is. Everything else in the world joins up in the four dimensional space-time manifold that basic physics says is sufficient to describe the universe. But consciousness, it seems, is essentially different. Each individual’s consciousness is as much a world apart, on its own plane of existence – a universe in itself – quite different from the other.

Complemented to what I have tried to explain in my previous essay – “The Love Affair”-
http://criativ-mind.blogspot.com/2011/08/love-affair.html, it is very important for you to appreciate yet another dimension of human consciousness – its unique position – its privacy. The kaleidoscope of the love affair – the tapestry of the personal reality woven by a person, is always unique and different from the other. The point is not only about the uniqueness. But also more importantly about the inability of another mortal to even grasp that tapestry, to its entirety! 

Effectively  every human is set out in her solitary journey of existence in the limited period between her birth and death, into this world of magical illusions. What interests me further, is the deep seated aspect of humans to be social! We yearn to be understood, to be loved, to share, to care, to collaborate, and team up! Like minded people form their own circles. They group up and create things of wonder! All this is certainly delightful. But this coherence is in the meta-level. There is a deep seated solitude inside the consciousness of each of the link in the team. That solitude gives their special uniqueness – their special differentiation, which wonderfully integrates to form a complementary team – creating  a social network which is much more than just integration of the conscious units involved!

The creation looks like a sparkling collage of precious gems – each of different color and shape. And the most intriguing part is each gem is blind to the other’s true radiance. Only what is visible is the macro mesmerizing mosaic of colors giving a sense of dreamlike magic charm.

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William James

Born – January 11, 1842 – New York City
Died – August 26, 1910
School – Pragmatism
Main Interests –
Pragmatism, Psychology, Philosophy of Religion,
Epistemology, Meaning

William James is frequently looked upon as the most representative of American philosophers. The philosophical movement that he developed and promoted is also often considered to be the most original contribution that United States has made in philosophy.

He, the eldest of five children, was born in New York City on Jan 11, 1842. Henry James, the novelist, was his younger brother by some fifteen months. William was slow in finding his vocation. He studied painting with William M. Hunt in Newport, Rhode Island, attended the scientific school and then the medical school at Harvard, accompanied the Agassiz expedition to Brazil,, and pursued the study of psychology in Germany. This uncertainty about a profession was also attended by a severe mental depression and something of a spiritual crisis. His deliverance seems to have come mainly from two sources: first, his reading of the French philosopher Charles Renouvier on free will, and then in 1872, his appointment to the post of instructor in physiology at Harvard. He welcomed the latter as “a perfect god-send to me just now, an external motive to work – dealing with men instead of my own mind, and a diversion from those introspective studies which had bred a sort of philosophical hypochondria.”

James spent almost his entire academic career at Harvard. He was appointed instructor in physiology for the spring 1873 term, instructor in anatomy and physiology in 1873, assistant professor of psychology in 1876, assistant professor of philosophy in 1881, full professor in 1885, endowed chair in psychology in 1889, return to philosophy in 1897, and emeritus professor of philosophy in 1907.

James studied medicine, physiology, and biology, and began to teach in those subjects, but was drawn to the scientific study of the human mind at a time when psychology was constituting itself as a science. James's acquaintance with the work of figures like Hermann Helmholtz in Germany and Pierre Janet in France facilitated his introduction of courses in scientific psychology at Harvard University. He taught his first experimental psychology course at Harvard in the 1875-1876 academic year

In 1875 James began teaching psychology and set up the first laboratory in America in experimental psychology. Three years later he married a Boston school teacher, Alice Gibbens, and at the same time contracted to produce a textbook in psychology by 1880. But the work grew ever larger as he wrote it, and it was not until 1890 that it was completed and published as the two volumes – Principles of Psychology. The book was an immediate success and established James as the leading psychologist of his day. Yet, ironically, his own interest in the subject was on the wane.

James had always been interested in problems of philosophy and religion. And after the publication of his “Psychology” he devoted himself mainly to these subjects. In addition to his teaching at Harvard, where he became professor of philosophy, he was in great demand as lecturer and became a popular speaker from coast to coast. The first volume of his lectures appeared in 1897 under the title “The will to believe and Other  Essays in Popular Philosophy”. 

In a lecture at Berkeley, California, in 1898  on philosophical concepts and practical results, James had revived what he called “Peirce’s Principle” of twenty years before. This marked the start of his philosophy of Pragmatism. In the course of his lectures he claimed to find the pragmatic method at work among many philosophers, including Socrates, Aristotle, Locke, Berkeley, and Hume. 

Although James, with typical generosity, gave major credit for the formulation of the Pragmatic school of philosophy, to others, there is no doubt that it is to him that Pragmatism owes its fame as a movement in philosophy. The works on Pragmatism were written in vigorous and popular style that James called “deliberate anti-technicality”. 

The Love Affair

Human children in the first three years of life are consumed by a desire to explore and experiment with objects. Humans have an incentive to investigate the nature of things in their own right and will forever learn more about the practical – life-enhancing – potential of world they lives in.

That way of course, lies biological success. Moreover, that way, in the longer run, lie grand science and human civilization too. For it is this love affair with the natural world that drives men and women to their boldest feats of exploration and invention. 

Richard Dawkins – the exponent evolutionists – has caught the mood exactly: 

“After sleeping through a hundred million centuries we have finally opened our eyes on a sumptuous planet, sparkling with color, bountiful with life.” Within decades we must close our eyes again. Isn’t it a noble, an enlightened way of spending our time in the sun, to work at understanding the universe and how we have come to wake up in it? This is how I answer when I am asked-as I am surprisingly often-why do I bother to get up in the mornings.”

If the atheist temperament of Dawkins does not suit to your taste, let Henri Poincre say it instead:

“The savant does not study nature because it is useful: he studies it because it is beautiful. If nature was not beautiful it would not be worth knowing and life would not be worth living.”

It is undeniable that there is a deeply engrained sense of delight genetically coded in the DNA of humanity – their unfaltering love for this enchanted existence of ours – our life, nature, the drama of every day existence, family, friends, art, science, etc. Since millennia humans have been is in love with life and its mysteries, its adventures, the opportunities, its dreams, its hopes, its silent love, its desires, its pains, its pleasures, its aspirations, and its grandeur. 

Interestingly this profound attraction is created inside the phenomenology of the interaction of the never endings in the brain. The objective external world where the drama happens is just the starting point. That triggers a set of excruciatingly complex mathematical signal processing inside one’s mind. It is inside, where this sparkling, seductive, mushy, luscious, and elegant qualia – what we call our experience. There is a borrowed phenomenality that the external world takes up which adds that sheen in one’s existence. I say often – “Perception is a project of internal Self”.

How often have you stared into a flaming fire, listened to the hoot of an owl in dark dangled your feet in cold stream, or watched the sun setting in a blaze of color and been knocked back by the transcendent beauty of it? How often have you been captivated by some gemlike detail of your environment that seems almost too right and too good to be true, leaving you gasping? How often you have had that special person in your life whose just one smile or a frown either beautifies, or devastates your entire week? Certainly every one of you would have go through such profound experiences in your own lives.

As per Vincent van Gogh, “I have never had such a chance, nature here being so extraordinarily beautiful. Everywhere and all over the vault of heaven is a marvelous blue, and the sun sheds a radiance of pale sulphur, and it is soft and as lovely as combination of heavenly blues and yellows in a Vermeer of Delft…I am ravished with what I see…I have a lover’s insight or a lover’s blindness.”

Imagine an existence which is entirely guided by physical science, business utilitarianism, and self preservation and proliferation agendas. It would be a world of zombies, of robots. A zombie would never make the mistake of coloring the world with projected qualia or of misjudging his own boundaries and feelings himself mysteriously connected to nature and the world outside. Indeed, imagine if you can the zombie’s world. It would have to be a disenchanted world – a world where things no nlonger glow or have any phenomenal  significance. The great psychologist William James raised that possiblility as a dreadful thought experiment, “Conceive yourself if possible, suddenly stripped of all the emotion of which your world now inspires you, and try to imagine it as “it exists”, purely by itself, without your favorable or unfavorable, hopeful or apprehensive comment. It will be almost impossible for you to realize such a condition of negativity and deadness! “

Certainly you would have had glimpses of such states of zombies in your everyday life, where existence is motored by eerie realism, scientific objectivity, personal agendas of self preservation and proliferation, sole pursuits of money, power and status. Life indeed is so very dis-enchanted and dark for those.

This profound love-affair with which humanity has evolved since hundreds of millions of years, has given rise to something what scientists call consciousness. This aspect turns every human to a poet, a lover and a maverick. This has a very important evolutionary role to play. For the first time, we have a living form (humans) in this planet, who do things not just it is useful to do. But it takes delight in doing so. This added sense of delight, mushy longing, appreciation and aesthetics and beauty increases the probability of existence and sustenance of humanity over years of evolution. Certainly that deep fear for death, and all that humans meticulously do to avoid death, is due to this profound love-affair they have with life and the world. The first thing that a depression patient taking into suicide loses before contemplating suicide is his love affair with life. 

Shakespeare in his following sonnet beautifully expresses how we cast this magic dust on our reality of world, making them glow!

My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun;

Coral is far more red than her lips' red;

If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun;

If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damask'd, red and white,

But no such roses see I in her cheeks;

And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know

That music hath a far more pleasing sound;

I grant I never saw a goddess go;

My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare

As any she belied with false compare.

This profound love affair inspired Viktor Frankl to use wretched environment of Hitler’s concentration camp of Auschwitz to use as a laboratory for his research on logotherapy! The other inmates who lost this sheen of romanticism either died of depression or some other bodily disease due to unhygienic state of existence, without food and clothing. This love affair inspired great souls of likes of Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Vivekananda, Subhash Chandra Bose, Einstein, Newton, Freud, Darwin, Steve Jobs, Ratan Tata, Ram Charan, Michelangelo and thousands and thousands of them, to go beyond the seemingly dry realistic and limiting circumstances, and transmute the mundane existence of themselves, to awe-inspiring creations they made or still making in their lifetime.

Certainly it is a pleasure to be in love. 

It is a pleasure to be a romantic maverick. 

To spend the life is silent appreciation of that perfect river, 

That magnificent formation of cloud in the twilight,

Seen from the terrace of one’s home,

The sense of being lost in intoxication of those Most Beautiful Eyes,

The pleasure retrieved from a work done well,

That feeling of being loved,

In the appreciating and understanding eyes,

Of family and friends!

That deep sense of faith in the heart of the kid,

In the mother’s casual answers to her curious questions!

To that satisfying feeling of being relevant,

In doing something that will live beyond ones life,

Making a positive difference to posterity to come!

That deep fulfillment of shedding sweat and blood,

Fighting for some victory for humanity,

Either in forms of a social activist, a musician, a poet,

Or a scientist, an engineer, an artist, or a mother.

Certainly it is a pleasure to be in love.

It is a pleasure to be a romantic maverick.

______________________________________________ 

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When you said, “I love you too”..

A lively lightness overtook my soul,
My heart throbbing with joy,
Like never before!
Ready was it,
To break open the cage
Of the limiting mortality!

Bounce in my feet,
Like a feather cruised I,
From hills to plateaus,
Across pastures and jungles!
Like rainbow crossing one horizon to the other,
In just one span of the step!

Spring all around,
Blossomed happiness in all corners!
There was music in air,
Soft, scintillating and ingenuous,
All strangely in harmony –
The screeching of brakes,
The horns of traffic,
The shout of the street urchin,
Selling sour mangoes,
And the symphony of the Fakir,
Passing by the pavement,
Busy with his organ!

All seemed sharing my limitless exhilaration!
The joy of gnat's dance
Dolphins surfing the wave
Dogs chasing their tails in frenzy
Chimps giving each other erotic body rub
Cats stretching themselves before the fire
Lambs frolic on the spring pastures,
Monkeys leap from high cliffs into waterpools!

It was like the ivory colored seagull,
Having got the view of the open sky,
After spending a life,
Inside a dark dungeon!

All was free,
All was light!
Seemed it like a world,
Before the Pandora’s box!

With freedom all around,
Where nothing existed,
But only love, happiness,
Understanding and camaraderie!
When there was no difference,
Between the self and the God!
Where the world was the abode of Angels,
And we both were its center!
Dew drops of the life giving nectar,
Drizzling all around,
Wetting our being to oneness!

The time had stopped,
So was the beat of heart of the universe!
The Wind held its breath,
The fall stilled down its passion!
The ocean calmed its waves and tides.
For the entire creation was awestruck,
Spellbound by thy grace,
Intoxicated by the soft caress of thy voice –
Proclaiming to all Elements,
Confessing to me, “I love you too!”
O God…

______________________________________________
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Super 30 coaching - More such bold enterprises needed to march India forward.

Demolishing financial barriers. Building new careers.
In an ideal world, Anand Kumar would be found sitting comfortably with his feet up in either Darjeeling or Varanasi listening to the soothing sounds of Indian classical music. If he ever felt hungry, a wonderful spread of the most-sumptuous food would magically appear before him - all including his favourite platter of paneer kebabs! Ah, but what would make Mr.Anand Kumar happiest? The answer is mathematics.

Yes, Anand Kumar loves solving all kinds of intriguing and mystifying mathematical problems.

"I always wanted to become a mathematician", smiles Anand Kumar, the man who formed a Mathematics Club, 'Ramanujan School of Mathematics' during his graduation. "My teachers encouraged me a lot and under the guidance of my mentor and guru, Devi Prasad Verma, (then the Head, Department of Mathematics, Patna Science College), I started a training programme for mathematics lovers. It was a free programme, which anybody with interest in Mathematics could join." As time rolled by, Anand contributed several problems and papers on Mathematics to various national and international journals, magazines, and newspapers.

Then in 1994, opportunity came knocking at the door in the form of the prestigious Cambridge University. Unfortunately, financial hardship ended that dream even before it had begun. "I felt the pangs of poverty", sighed Anand, "I decided to do something for the poor students, who invariably fade away without getting right opportunities."

This led to the birth of the new and improved 'Ramanujan School of Mathematics'. "Here we trained a small group of students for various competitive examinations at a very nominal fee." However, many of his students were extremely poor and were in no position to pay even that small amount. But Anand Kumar was about to change the rules and his first rule was to shatter financial constraints for such students.

"They just did not have to pay anything", declared Anand, "After some time, I decided to shape this programme seriously to cater to the poor, but meritorious students more significantly." His brother, Pranav Kumar, a talented violinist from Mumbai, agreed to join his team and that lead to the formation of the innovative Super 30 programme.

Super 30 is a highly ambitious and innovative educational program running under the banner of the "Ramanujan School of Mathematics". It hunts for 30 meritorious talents from among the economically backward sections of the society and shapes them for India's most prestigious institution - the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT). In the last six years, it has produced hundreds IITians from extremely poor background. During this program students are provided absolutely free coaching, lodging and food. Children of brick kiln worker, rickshaw puller, landless farmer, roadside vendors have all gone on to become top technocrats much to the joy and amazement of their parents.

Talent knows no boundaries. It all around us - even in the most unlikely places. All that is needed is for one to spot that talent and nurture it till it blossoms. Super 30 is doing just that over the past six years and the results have been encouraging. The talented students have been given quality teaching and an open atmosphere to perform to the best of their potential without any financial constraints. If they have it in them, Super 30 is there to guide them to where they belong even if that means providing this service for free.

But where was the money going to come from? Surely a Mathematics(Hons.) graduate could rack up the numbers? "Initially, making all arrangements for 30 students, was not so easy", he admitted, "but I generated funds by tutoring students of other schools, while my mother, Jayanti Devi, cooked food for the students." For the students, however, there was only one goal - to study hard. The results came as a big surprise in the very first year as 18 of 30 students cracked the IIT entrance. This spurred on Mr.Kumar and his team of dedicated teachers to strive for even better results. In total, 152 out of 180 have made to the different IITs of the country since the program began. However, the 'magic moment' came in 2008, when an astonishing 30 of 30 students made the grade! "It was 'a dream come true' for me and my team", beamed our entrepreneur, "What is more, the extended batch of Super 30, comprising another 70 students, also fared brilliantly with 39 of them cracking the IIT-JEE." This was a new batch started in 2007, with the effort of his committed group of teachers following an overwhelming demand.

The primary objective for the programme is to help more and more students from economically poor sections reach the IITs. "We want students from all across India", urged Anand, "It is for the government to change the face of Bihar so that we get more students from the other states."

The programme aims to change the selection criteria from the current Plus-Two level to a much younger set of children. "If talented students are spotted at the school-level it can work wonders", states Anand. In the coming 5-6 years, they want to increase the class count to 500 students and subsequently set up more schools for poor children. Innovative teaching techniques will be used to develop an interest in Mathematics and Science subjects at an early age. It would shape them for different Olympiads and prepare them for other competitions. The thrust would be on developing inquisitiveness - a quality that is all important for science and math education.

To end his YourStory interview, Anand Kumar imparted a few wise words of advice to the young entrepreneurs of our country:

"Start the business with whatever amount of money you have and try to avoid taking help from people. Even I have never taken any monetary help from anybody I was getting offers from not just the government of Bihar but big business tycoons. While I am grateful to all those who approached me with help I am happy the way I am - pursuing my love for mathematics."

The above article is taken from yourstory.in - 

http://www.yourstory.in/entrepreneurs/entrepreneur-of-the-week/1528-anand-kumar-super-30-patna

Death of the Uncle Cynic

This article is written by Chetan Bhagat for The Times of India on Aug 13, 2011.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


We have all had that one uncle who keeps on reminding you how India is terrible. He tells you about how every government authority takes bribes- from the RTO to the ration shop to the municipality. He will tell you how no government department does its job well - the potholed roads, abysmal conditions at government schools and poor healthcare all being examples to support your uncle's theory. It is hard to argue with him, for he is right. Things don't work. There is no justice. Power talks. Equality doesn't exist. All of this, even though uncomfortable to hear, rings somewhat true.


However, the uncle goes on to say this: "Nothing will ever change." He is convinced that our society is damaged irreparably, and India is destined to live in misery. Uncle Cynic goes on to doubt almost everyone, assumes the worst in people, and anyone who is trying to improve the country is branded as someone with a hidden agenda.


This is where i think the uncle gets it wrong, horribly wrong. For it is one thing to point out the problems, it is quite another to give up trying to fix them. Cynicism is not a counter-argument, it is an attitude. For the fact is we still have good people in the country: in society and even in government departments. It is just that they are crushed.


I don't want to give you the reasons why you must support Anna Hazare. It is almost beneath Anna's dignity that he actually has to beg or make a case for support when he is fighting for you, against an abusive, corrupt regime. Still, let me do a quick recap of the facts.


Anna did a fast in April, which became the nation's movement and spread virally. Concerned, the government agreed to make a good Lokpal Bill, shook hands with the activists and in principle agreed to Anna's version, designed to truly check corruption. Since then, the government has insulted Anna's team, thrown away their draft, and come up with its own almost pointless draft of the Lokpal Bill.


The draft the government is presenting to Parliament will not check corruption. Only 0.5%, or one in 200 government officials are under its purview. Your corrupt ration shop, RTO, passport office, panchayats or municipal authority will not be covered. State scams will not be covered - yes, the Adarsh society scam or the Jharkhand scams are all out of its purview. The prime minister is excluded as well. Ever heard of a corruption law in a democracy that only applies to a certain section of people?


The government is throwing magic dust in your eyes - and counting on India's illiterate and ignorant to not know the difference. However, you reading this are educated. You know when wrong is being committed. You know that while you have lived your life with corruption, you do not want your children to do the same. A bad Lokpal Bill may not affect you today - but tomorrow it will hit you when your child does not get a college seat, when your hospital gives shoddy treatment, when your government work doesn't get done. We live in a poor country - poor not because we don't have what it takes to be rich, but because our leaders have let us down. We have given them too much power, and they consider our vote as a mandate to steal and be incompetent. They hate accountability. However, without accountability, our progress will stall. There are countries where the average income per person is 50 times more than in India. Don't we deserve the same?


Thus, whatever your personal view on Anna, it is not him but his cause that needs support. The government can crush a few activists. However, it cannot crush India on the streets. A peaceful, firm, decisive protest is every Indian's birthright, and must be exercised in times of need. Come Monday, and we Indians have a job to do. We have to save our country's future.


A word for the government too. Just what exactly are you thinking when you are trying to shove an impotent law down people's throats? And what makes you feel that threatening, crushing or insulting Anna will take away people's need to rid India of corruption? Anna did not create an anti-corruption sentiment, he merely tapped into it. Crushing Anna will not take away that sentiment. It will just make it fester more. Right now, the movement is still controlled. By going back on your word, displaying arrogance and not listening to the people, you are risking the country's descent into chaos. Be careful. Accountability is much easier to deal with than anarchy. Fix the Lokpal Bill now, please.


Finally, for the people of India, it is time to prove Uncle Cynic wrong. There is a bigger truth than his 'nothing ever changes in India'. That truth comes from the Gita, which states "Nothing is permanent". The Gita also says, "When the pot of sin overflows, something happens to restore order." Now, it is up to you to determine if the pot of sin has overflowed. It is for you to say what it means for Indians to act out their dharma. And you, and only you, will decide if it is time to come on the streets.


The writer is a best-selling novelist .

Anna's Fight - An Inspiration to millions!

Anna Hazare's fight for change has inspired millions of Indians

The arrest of the anti-corruption campaigner has brought people from all walks of life together to demand an end to the old ways

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• Chetan Bhagat
• guardian.co.uk, Wednesday 17 August 2011 20.04 BST
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Anna Hazare, right, burns a copy of draft legislation for setting up an anti-corruption watchdog which is said to only cover 0.5% of government officials – he recently went on hunger strike for the second time. Photograph: Rajanish Kakade/AP

At the time I write this, millions of my countrymen are on the streets, fighting for a strong anti-corruption law. Many more are glued to their TV sets, watching developments as the initially defiant Indian government looks on track to eat humble pie.

This fight is led by Anna Hazare, a 74-year-old activist, who is on hunger strike until parliament considers the bill that would establish a Lokpal – ombudsman – with the power to investigate and punish corrupt politicians and civil servants.

Hazare had fasted in April and forced the government to agree to include his team in drafting the bill. His non-violent yet aggressive, Gandhi-like method of protest, together with his anti-corruption cause, struck a chord with Indians. Thousands of non-government organisations fight for social causes every day in India, but none has ever achieved this kind of support. From rickshaw drivers to software engineers, from businessmen to spiritual leaders, people from all walks of life back Anna. So do I.

This level of support is unusual here. The usual Indian response is phrases all of India's young are used to hearing from the older generation: "Nothing will ever change in this country", "nobody can touch the powerful", and "the common man is meant to suffer".

Cynics thrive in India, and they have ample evidence to support their attitude. After all, things have not changed much over the past five decades – governance is as incompetent and corrupt as ever, and the guilty are almost never punished.

Archaic laws, designed for autocratic, colonial rulers with no accountability (yes, blame the British for everything) have been retained and abused to the hilt by the current politicians. Power talks; truth and justice are often crushed. We remain a poor country, despite having world-class talent and ample natural resources.

And yet, something is different about India's class of 2011. Despite all the Uncle Cynics, people from all walks of life came forward to fight for the bill. From their parents' generation that said "nothing will ever change", they came forward to say: "I am the change."

I had spotted this desire and aggression in the young during my travels as a speaker in 50 Indian cities over the past two years. I could sense a disconnection between the aspirations of the young and the leaders. I never imagined a 74-year-old could tap into it so well.

Yet, even though the government agreed to engage with Anna in April, it backtracked and insulted, ignored and snubbed his team during the drafting of the new legislation.

The government made a lame, impotent bill of its own which covered only 0.5% of the government's officers, and disincentivised whistleblowers. The government hoped that with half of India illiterate, and most of the other half ignorant, nobody would know the difference.

Disillusioned, Anna threatened to start another fast on 16 August. The government played shady games, like not giving him a venue or not letting him set up a tent in the rainy weather. Support grew as people witnessed the government's hubris on television.

In a serious lapse of judgment, the government arrested Anna from his home on the morning of 16 August. News spread, and the nation exploded on to the streets. By evening, the government wanted to release him. In a masterstroke, Anna refused to come out of jail, and continued his fast there. The country is in a frenzy, and the government is in a fix.

The ruling class, most from three generations ago, are bewildered. They don't understand movements going viral, with social networks acting as catalysts. Seasoned politicians they may be, but they cannot fathom why students from the premier Indian institutes of technology and farmers from rural villages are backing this activist, who seems to have come from nowhere.

What's worse, the government cannot figure a way out. If it passes an anti-corruption law, many of its own lawmakers may end up in jail. If it does not, people will keep flooding on to the streets. The best outcome would be for the government to eat humble pie and bring Anna back to a real, equal negotiating table. Whether it will or not remains to be seen.

What has happened? How has a sleepy, defeatist India suddenly been galvanised into action? Why do our people, used to a feudal-colonial setup for centuries, suddenly want their politicians to be accountable, rather than treat them like kings? It is difficult to answer these questions at the moment, as we are still in the middle of the movement. However, a few things are clear: India seems to have suddenly woken up to an intense craving for the good and the honest.

With Anna's repeated success at shaking the government, it has also become cool to be righteous. The young generation, brought up to believe that power is everything, now sees a role model in Hazare, who is taking the mickey out of India's most powerful by goodness and virtue alone.

This mass infusion of morality in young Indians will be the biggest contribution of this movement, beyond the actual law. Truth has trounced power, and that does not happen very often in India.

On a flight from Delhi to Mumbai on 16 August, I teased a policeman at the airport security check. I asked him why the police arrested Anna in the morning. He kept a studied, official silence as he frisked me and stamped my boarding pass. As I left the checkpoint, he whispered in my ear: "Sir, my seniors may be with the government, but I am with Anna."

Chetan Bhagat is India's best-selling English-language novelist and, according to Time magazine, one of the 100 most influential people in the world. Born in Delhi in 1974, he travels widely in his home country, often to small towns. His books deal with the lives, fears, aspiration and troubles of young Indians.

The Futility

No matter how much you earn,
Futile it is to be proud of.
For soon comes the yearning for more,
When you see people even richer,
Having all those possessions, which you still don’t have!

No matter how high you climb,
Futile is the rest.
For always you are below someone.
Always there is a man you want to become,
There are powers you still don’t have,
Status you have still to earn!

No matter how creative you are,
Futile it is to be complacent.
For there is always that budding prodigy in coming,
To make your art look without sheen!

No matter how many hearts you have won,
Futile is to feel accepted and absolute.
For you will in a moment discover,
People who have just opposite takes,
Rejecting you forever, with smiles fake!

No matter how talented you are,
Futile it is to feel gifted.
For you will come upon soon,
People with many folds talents more than you!

In this ocean of futility,
Futile it is even,
To be hopeless!

It is about how better one can be.
It is about how much one can use oneself –
Ones time, energy, knowledge, and skills,
To create something that makes a difference!
It is about how genuinely and authentically,
One can leave the stamp of one’s own self,
In what one does,
Each time leaving a better version of the self – one after another!

It is not about reaching a destination,
Or to be like someone, someday!
Rather it is about what is done,
That expresses who one is at her core,
And what one stands for!

It is about achieving those incremental victories,
Each and every day – in one’s own ways,
No matter how small in scale!

It is about being consistent in the direction,
The direction of the full blossoming of one’s own unique self!

At the end of the day,
It is not about what you do.
But how meaningful was it what you have done!
It is about creating a difference,
No matter how insignificant.
But the point is about making a difference,
A positive difference!

It is not about what would have been,
It is neither about what went wrong.
It is even not about that you fell down.
Rather it is about the direction you looked at,
After the fall!
It is about the road you took,
After being defeated!
It is about the story you create,
At the face of the frustration!

It is not just about the journey.
Destination is important!
It is the grandeur of the destination,
What keeps the journey on!
It is the passion for the destination,
That creates the power to face perils,
And keep the journey continued!

If the destination chosen
Is in competition with someone else,
If it is a passion to out-do someone,
Or be “like” someone,
Or might be to prove something to someone,
The journey taken is futile –
A war already lost!

It is about being aware of oneself,
It is about leveraging one’s own unique circumstances,
It is about making best use of what life has to offer,
It is about being receptive about
One’s own uniqueness –
Uniqueness of one’s temperament,
Of one’s own interests and likes,
Of one’s strengths and weaknesses,
Of one’s own life circumstances!
And then, creating something unique, something novel,
Which has the imprint of all that is unique –
All that is special with one’s own existence –
Creating a never before painting,
Expressing one’s own true self –
Never in competition with someone else!

Time is to take a break from the rat race,
Detaching oneself from
The apathy in human soul:
The ever faster pace of our lives,
The lack of contact with nature,
The artificiality of our relationships and communications,
The ephemeral and utilitarian goals we set for ourselves!

The time is to be an authentic human being:
Who can distinguish between,
The essential Vs the non-essential,
And yet give both their proper values.
Who can be creative and free,
At the same time responsible and graceful.
Who keeps her journey on,
Inspite of obstacles many!
A journey towards her chosen destination,
Unique and very personal to who she is,
And what she stands for!

It is about keeping the glow of the destination alive,
With fuel of faith, love, hope and courage!
It is about defining one’s own worth,
With the scale, beauty, meaning and novelty of that destination!

It is about being busy walking the road less taken,
Persevering the peril of time,
Incrementally improving oneself,
Making one worthy of the beacon emitting destination!

It is about seeing the unseen,
In the darkness of reality,
Through the light created from within!

Futile it is to sing someone else’s song.
But rather breaking open that silent music,
Deep hidden in one’s own heart,
To resonate with the sky and the stars!


It is about waking up from the slumber of futility.
To the new dawn of
Meaning, Freedom, Creativity, Grace and Responsibility!

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Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar

F-R-I-E-N-D-S!

More than
Just a well wisher,
An understanding soul,
Being that much needed support,
That warm kinship!

More than
Those happy moments spent together,
About passing weekends together,
About going movies in group,
The treats and parties,
Those painful birthday bums,
The irritating pranks and PJs,

More than
That ability to know each other’s nerves,
Being able to confide,
About the pains, ecstasies and adventures,
My Friends,
You all have been much more to me!

You were a beacon,
In the night dark,
Helping me to discover myself,
Who was I, who was I not!

It was not that much, how similar we are,
But it was more about how different were always were!
That made me feel -
You are so special – So am I.

You all were those multiple open windows,
In the deep dark cavern of my mind,
Filling in light of thousand hues!
Enlightening my being,
With your thoughts, your perspectives, your takes!

Being bound with so many of you,
Near, far, across distant lands,
It was always a feeling of being beyond the confinement of body,
It was like being alive in an extended realm,
Beyond the constraints of
Time and Space!

Each of you going to places -
With your own unique stories of success!
Makes me realize the paths varied,
To the same destination of being fulfilled, happy and relevant!

Your achievements and feats,
Makes me aware of what is possible!
Always they are the guiding constellations,
When I get lost in the darkness of my follies!

Though we might not see each other,
Though we might not be in touch,
But that mere awareness that you are there,
In some part of the world,
Makes me feel connected and known!

Who I am, what I stand for,
Are concrete and real,
Just because you are present!
Or else I would have been unknown
Another human being, lost in anonymity!

You are among those very few in this world,
For whom I need not to prove,
Each time, creating my relevance!
It is just a relaxing being –
Being cozy in the feeling of being accepted!

In the indifferent universe,
You are the buffer of providence for me!
I know it does not matter to the universe,
I am alive or dead!
But it will at least leave a scar,
In one way or other,
In your heart, when I am no more!
That feeling makes me feel pampered!

We have been, and will be –
Bands of connected souls,
Working together doing something great!
Which my single hand, mind and heart,
Would have never been able to create!

This journey of life,
Have been like a celebration long,
For only you were there,
With all merry makings, noise and songs!

You were the only means for me to realize,
What love, faith and hope is,
When we talked and laughed together!
Also you were the only means for me to realize,
What sorrow, abandonment, melancholy is.
When we never talked and avoided each other!

You made me realize how wretched the ego is,
You made me realize how slimy the mind can be,
For only those episodes of rift and friction!

Thank you All!
For being my friend -
Sailing the journey of life,
Together with me,
In the ruthless and real – the stormy sea of existence!
Helping me discover myself and Life!

God Bless you All!
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Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar

The Fakir and his Love

After a month long travel
And stay with yogis
In the caves, forests and falls
In the Himalayan ranges
Did the fakir return
To the bustle of Kolkata.
For his dearest love
Was waiting for him!

Yes, he was deeply in love!
Had he known no love
More profound, more seducing,
Ever Before!

The Fakir was back to his work
As the chief advisor of
Research in Biophysical Sciences,
At the Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics!
His domain was his love,
His long found beloved!

It was a very long and toiling story of the Fakir!
From the hilly and harsh landscapes of Kabul,
To the serenity of the Hooghly!
From the hopeless nights of poverty,
To the bright halo of international recognitions!

The Fakir with his cyan turban and white robe,
With flowing long silver beard
Walked to his chamber ardently.
In no time was he deeply immersed
In the world of his beloved
In the wonderlands of his only Love –
The Biophysics!

He was in love!
He had chosen his beloved for all his births!
All was from an insight
During one of those deep
Satori on one of those special days,
In the long hours at the laboratory,
At the Presidency College,
Watching a whole new world,
Under the electron microscope!

It was a revealing insight!
A conscious decision had risen,
To dedicate ones whole life
To the domain of BioPhysics!

It was during those days
When he had lost all he loved!
In search of love and strength
The Fakir had then kept wandering!

At times he was conned
By the illusory passions.
There was once an apparition
Of the angel with the Most Beautiful Eyes
And then was the seduction of the
Gold and riches
And There was once the eerie
Pull towards power and status!

All his loves were ephemeral,
All abandoned him in due course,
Just to make him craving for more,
Left alone in heartbreaking solitude!
What a mirage was that!
Fooling one with elegance and style!

And then in an existential vacuum
He was all alone in the journey of his life.
The Fakir was in search of
His true love. His true beloved!
An accompaniment of meaning and joy!

Decided he to transcend beyond
The debilities of humans,
Their just self preserving nature and their ego,
And natural selection’s hidden agenda at play!
Going beyond one’s push and pulls of genes!

The Fakir chose to dedicate the remaining days of his life,
To the unfaltering love for his domain of Biophysics!
Now his life was only about
Exploration the unknown horizons of Biophysics!

His domain became his medium
Of expression of his love – his creativity!
20 years have passed!
He is a veteran in his field today!
He has his own contextual world woven around him,
Shielded away from the objective world of forms!
It is his own world, His own creation!
He and his Biophysics and numerous research work!
Today he has contributed new theories,
New findings and new insights in the domain!
He has enabled humanity to be empowered with new knowledge!
New avenues of thoughts and expressions!

With his love today he was able to
Create a legacy for the posterity –
An indelible footprint of his
Left behind in the sands of passing times,
Towards eternity!

He knows his love is divine,
The lesser mortals and their ways,
Were not just the avenues right,
To waste his time, his energy and passion!

Today he is just a Fakir,
All alone lost in his own world!
He feels redeemed.
For he was able to express his love to the fullest!
He was able to advance Biophysics to the realms unchartered!

Life was simple,
An opportunity to be in FLOW,
Every moment,
Each time with a new challenge –
A scientific puzzle to un-ravel!
It was straight. It was predictable.
It was about fixing the missing jig-saws,
Completing his life to a masterpiece!

Now there was no complexity of human emotions to tackle,
None were the cravings of the ego,
Cravings, lust, desires – all were done away with!
Certainly a clean canvas to carve out the painting of life!

He needed no material possession to boost his ego,
Neither was a need of any guarantee of his security and safety!
He was just a Fakir!
Nothing to lose, nothing to hoard!
He was just lost every moment,
In his world of Biophysics,
In a meaningful and creative trance!

Often he used to walk down the streets of Kolkata!
For he found an age-old spirit there –
The spirit of creativity,
The spirit of invincibility,
The spirit of achieving victory for humanity!
Some people called him
The merchant of dreams,
Some called him the Sage Scientist!
Some just addressed him – The Fakir!

He was dynamic!
He was ever evolving!
Un-attached to the baggage of human existence.
He was like a river –
Adapting himself to whatever route possible,
Never forgetting its objective : sea!
So fragile at its source,
Gradually gathering strength!
After a point, its power is Absolute!
In its journey,
It was not touched by a hammer,
Or ripped to shreds by a knife!
The strongest sword in the world
Couldn’t scar its surface!

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Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar

The Light House

This poem is a sequel to the previous Simoni’s poem – Faith, Hope and Love –
http://criativ-mind.blogspot.com/2011/07/faith-hope-and-love.html

THE LIGHT HOUSE

Suddenly woken up from deep sleep,
Simoni found himself in between a sandstorm!
It was pitch dark night,
Sparkling sky, with twinkling stars,
Silently gazing on the show below!

From nowhere had the fiery sandstorm come!
Not an object to stand,
All strewn hither and thither!
The crumbled letters of love,
The dagger, the flute, the paint brush.
All flew in air, strewn over places!
All lost years back from the stranded caravan,
Now being dug up from deep beneath the dunes of sand!

All was in topsy-turvy.
Simoni could not stand straight,
Was he put to his knees by the ruthless wind,
The ruthless storm!

Remembered Simoni all of a sudden
He had to reach the distant land of Andrea,
To see the Sun!
He had to make his destiny,
Walk his path,
To his dream land of Andrea!

Perplexed by the crushing storm,
In between the stormy air
Of abandonment, heartbreak,
Indifference and wickedness,
All around hopelessness and pain,
Simoni looked on to his trees –
Faith, Hope and Love,
Gazed hi in askance to them!

In unison, did sing in chorus,
The Faith, Hope and Love –
“Hold on to your dream,
Don’t get swayed by the illusion of the storm,
Head ahead to the land of Andrea,
You Beautiful Soul!”

And lo!
In the darkness pitch black,
Of the maddened night,
Laid a steady streak of light,
From the Faith, Hope and Love,
Paving a calm, sturdy and defiant path to Andrea!
Simoni set on to his journey,
Like a light house was there strong straight and tough,
His Faith, Hope and Love,
Showing him the way to
The legendary city of Andrea!

The heavens joined in the enterprise!
The veteran stars up there
Like constellations of light houses,
Were twinkling with renewed brightness,
Showing Simoni his way!

Among the veterans were
The love of art,
The love for love,
The passion for knowledge,
The perseverance of focused
And un-daunted pursuit for finesse,
In a domain, an art, or a vocation!
Also was the pride of originality,
The urge to create!

Of the long gone caravan,
The mortal lovers, friends and brethrens,
Had all perished not withstanding
The ruthless storm of time!

Only what remained were
Those immortal twinkling veterans,
Like steady light houses,
Giving strengths to passing travelers
Of the likes of Simoni,
Who were alive to achieve a victory for the mankind!
Who were alive to carve out their destiny!

Beautifully the cosmic light houses,
In the heart of the ruthless storms,
In the wilderness of thousands of sand dunes,
Guided Simoni steady and strong,
To his beloved city of Andrea!

The wicked storm watched with amazement!
Not one hair of Simoni was touched,
Amidst all commotion everywhere,
Was he guarded by the veterans,
From the kingdom of the Gods!

Walking his magical journey,
Simoni realized-
Only what was real and eternal,
Was the spirit – his veterans – the mystic lighthouses!
All the rest was just a passing illusion,
Winnowing ups and downs,
Pushes and pulls,
In the anxiety of the temporal storm!

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Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar

The Stranger deep Inside

Beyond the conscious world,
With all its superficial make-beliefs,
And phony stories,
Constructed with the
Mediocre and in-efficient world of Language,
Meets my identity with the Stranger within!

Know I very well my identity,
Its name, status, possessions, successes and failures!
But have known I never - that Stranger,
Lost in the darkness of the inner crevices of my self!

With its own strange idiosyncrasies,
The Maverick stranger,
Sings his own song,
Walking on his own drums,
Absolutely irreverent of my conscious self – my Identity!

Known I have never,
Although tried a million times!
Anything more about the Stranger within,
More than his song,
The same song, the same tune!
With an intangible pain, and in-comprehendible fervency!

Does not he get bored of the same way of himself?
Sublime and lost forever,
In deep trance in his own tune,
Music from his soul!

Like a defiant brat,
Continues he, his mindless ways,
Irreverent of the world and its ways!
You Stranger deep inside,
Listen to me, or die!!

Gives he no heed to my call.
Continues he on his solo journey,
The walk by the river Nile!
Deeply lost in his solitude,
And his song!

The Stranger deep inside me,
Never have I understood him,
What he dreams, what he desires!
For keeps he strolling with stoic indifference,
To the ways of the world!

When I write my poems,
That Stranger deep inside
Looks at me, Says he none,
Just flows into the words,
Beautifully crafted with the ink on the paper!

Not aware who is he,
Sad he is or joyous,
Never has he spoken to me.
That every ecstatic wanderer
The Stranger deep inside!

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Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar

Like a Sunflower…

Like a Sunflower,
That follows every moment of the Sun,
So, I turn towards you,
To follow you – my Joy!

Like the purple mimosa,
Recoiling at the sight of the deer,
The vagabond deep inside,
Surrenders to thou elegant grace!

Like the humble drops of falling rain,
With no desire, and no ambition,
Fall freely from the stony cliff of ego,
Here I fall freely to the depths unknown!

Like the relief of the sigh released,
Feeling the weight on the limbs,
Sink I to the solitude of aloofness,
Eternity of insignificance and obscurity!

Dis-integrated to dust,
Being one with reminiscence of that rapturous Joy,
The lovelorn soul becomes one with the song,
The Song of the Eternal Togetherness!

In unison with the memories,
One with the intoxicating fragrance from
The deep recesses of the long gone past,
 Dances the soul, one with the Joy – ecstatic to the core!

When the self does not exist,
But only that exists,
Is that in-expressible ardor,
That trance of attraction!

A beautiful world,
Where nothing exists,
But only that Joy, That Bliss.
 That never-ending symphony,
In the theater of the heart!

In the loneliest juncture of the journey,
The traveling soul is but ecstatic,
For he is not alone, But is eternally escorted,
With the closeness of those inebriating intimacy of thy thought!

Like none in the physical realm,
Is that Love eternally sublime,
Handicapped it is for none,
In the expectation of a manifested reality!

It lives its own life,
Free of captivity of the limitations
Of the world of form,
Eternally throbbing with life!

With its own pride, and Its own grace,
Silently passes by the soul,
Births after births,
Millennia passed by.
Deep inside in the innermost core,
Lies on the venerated altar,
The flowers of dedication,
Of that immortal Love!

Like a sunflower,
Deeply bound with the love of the Sun,
My soul eternally woven with the Angelic phantasm,
Is one with the Joy of that sublime Love!

Seasons come and seasons go,
Sunflowers grow, and then wilt,
The Mortal cage around the soul,
Decays away in its own death!

But that surreal and love for my Inamorata,
Lives forever, One with the elements – forever and ever!
Long after this flesh and body decays away to dust,
Long after this identity is lost in obscurity!
Forever young and free – throbbing with the sheen of Life!
Keeps flying with spread out wings,
The ethereal and pristine,
Love of Thine!

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Copy Right © All rights reserved - Samrat Kar